Chapter 373: The Strange Antai Duke, the Northern Barbarians Go South
On the official road from Longxi Mansion to the capital.
A tightly covered carriage was escorted by five hundred soldiers, and in front and behind the carriage were the cavalry of the Xu Mansion.
In the carriage was Xu Huairen, the Duke of Antai, who had escaped from the northern barbarians.
However, the current Antai Duke seems to be abnormal. A grown man, he dresses himself up as a woman.
What’s even more bizarre is that even though Duke Antai is dressed as a woman, his beard is still well preserved.
Some people may think that An Taigong was pretending, but in fact, all the doctors who diagnosed An Taigong came to the same conclusion that An Taigong was abnormal.
Come to think of it, no normal person would do what Duke Antai is doing now.
The Prince of Yan couldn't bear to see Duke Antai's disgusting behavior, so he simply sent him back to the capital and handed him over to the emperor for punishment.
As for how the emperor would deal with the already abnormal Antai Gong, that was the business of those in the court. The prince of Yan had no interest in the games of power and the open and covert struggles involved.
The King of Yan now has only one idea, which is to win this battle.
Emperor Yongping's idea was to delay the battle until the weather turned cold, forcing the Northern Barbarians to retreat.
But the reality on the battlefield was that the Northern Barbarian King, despite mobilizing his entire clan to fight, had settled down outside Longxi Mansion. Apart from launching continuous attacks towards Huangfengkou, he had taken no other action.
With a large army gathered, the daily food and grass consumption can be said to be an astronomical figure, but the King of the Northern Barbarians does not seem to be in a hurry at all.
The strange behavior of the King of Northern Barbarians forced the King of Yan to send Duke Antai back to the capital as soon as possible, and then concentrate on dealing with the actions of the Northern Barbarians.
However, considering that the Northern Barbarians' expedition might have a direct impact on Duke Antai, the King of Yan specially sent 500 soldiers from the Northwest Garrison Army to escort Duke Antai back to the capital.
However, what the King of Yan could not have imagined was that the target of the Northern Barbarians was actually Xu Huairen, the Duke of Antai.
When Duke Antai's carriage was about to leave Longxi Prefecture and enter Donglin Prefecture, a large group of Northern Barbarian cavalry suddenly emerged from the woods on both sides of the official road.
Cavalry has an advantage over infantry.
Now the Northern Barbarian cavalry launched another surprise attack, and more than half of the 500 Northwest Garrison soldiers who were escorting Duke Antai were slaughtered in one encounter.
The Xu Mansion's cavalry escorting Duke Antai did not participate in the battle against the Northern Barbarian cavalry. Instead, they immediately protected the carriage carrying Duke Antai and rushed towards Donglin Mansion.
The Northern Barbarian cavalry ignored the fleeing Xu Mansion cavalry and the carriage of Duke Antai, and instead focused on slaughtering the soldiers of the Northwest Garrison Army.
In just less than a quarter of an hour, all five hundred soldiers of the Northwest Garrison were killed or wounded.
"Behead!"
The leading Northern Barbarian general looked at the dead and wounded soldiers of the Northwest Garrison Army and ordered his Northern Barbarian cavalry to dismount and cut off the heads of all the dead soldiers of the Northwest Garrison Army and take them away.
This will be their military achievement!
…
The Xu Mansion's cavalry and An Taigong's carriage, who had fled, leaving behind the Northwest Garrison soldiers, did not run far before they were intercepted by the second wave of Northern Barbarian cavalry.
The Xu Mansion's cavalrymen who followed Duke Antai to the Northern Barbarians and then fled back were all veterans of many battles.
However, in the face of absolute numerical advantage, their desperate fight was nothing more than a death struggle.
After a stick of incense, the battle came to an end.
The Northern Barbarian cavalry surrounded Duke Antai's carriage.
The next moment, the leading Northern Barbarian general opened the closed carriage and released Duke Antai who was trapped inside.
When Duke Antai Xu Huairen came out of the carriage and saw the Northern Barbarian cavalry kneeling on the ground, he couldn't help but let out a very shrill laugh.
"Walk!"
Duke Antai Xu Huairen glanced at the Northern Barbarian cavalry kneeling on the ground, and seemed to be very satisfied with their attitude. He waved his hand and jumped onto his own mount.
Soon, the northern barbarian cavalry who had sneaked into the Tang Dynasty gathered together and turned into a torrent, galloping southward.
All the villages and towns along the way that the torrent passed through were reduced to ruins by the torrent, and the people in the villages and towns were all killed without exception.
It was two days later when King Yan received the news.
"Pass on my orders, prepare for battle!"
The northern barbarians sneaked into the country and attacked and killed the people of the Tang Dynasty. This is intolerable.
At the same time, Mr. Xu also received the news and immediately asked someone to find a feng shui map.
“Here, here, here…”
“Damn it!”
After looking at the feng shui map, Mr. Xu's expression changed.
"Guan Ting!"
"I will be here!"
Hearing Mr. Xu's call, Guan Ting responded quickly.
"From now on, Huang Fengkou is yours!"
"Remember, no matter what time, you are not allowed to leave the city to fight!"
"As long as the Eight Ox Crossbows are still usable, we will continue to rely on them to defend the city. Even if the Northern Barbarians drive the people of the Tang Dynasty to come, as long as they come within the range of the Eight Ox Crossbows, they will be shot!"
"This is a military order!"
"I obey your orders!"
Guan Ting didn't know what happened, but he knew that something must have happened.
"Big brother, call the second and third brothers, let's go home!"
Old Master Xu immediately picked up his spear and strode out of the camp.
"Dad, are you saying that the northern barbarian cavalry's destination is our place?"
"Ninety-nine percent!"
Mr. Xu was also very confused.
It is simply unreasonable that thousands of Northern Barbarian cavalrymen sneaked into the territory of the Tang Dynasty and did not harass the capital area, but instead headed towards Xiangyi Prefecture.
But no matter whether it is reasonable or not, Mr. Xu basically concluded from the southward route of this group of northern barbarian cavalry that their target is Anshun County.
What is there in Anshun County?
Could it be that the Northern Barbarian King wanted to take revenge on their families because of the death of his two sons?
"Dad, you were ordered to guard the Yellow Wind Pass. If you leave, won't that give people something to talk about?"
Boss Xu looked at his father and said, "How about the three of us brothers go back?"
"What bullshit are you talking about?"
"I am guarding the Yellow Wind Pass, and I am guarding the people of the Tang Dynasty, not anyone else."
"But above the people of the Tang Dynasty are our families!"
Old Master Xu sneered, "Do you really think I'm interested in this damned title? Let's go!"
"Okay!"
Hearing his father's words, Boss Xu breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart.
What he said to his father just now was just a test from his son, because Boss Xu was afraid that his father would have some thoughts after suddenly getting the title.
Fortunately, his father is still his father.
Of course, what was even more fortunate was that his father did not notice his tentative intention.
Otherwise, Boss Xu probably wouldn't be able to escape a beating.
When returning to support Lingshui Village, Mr. Xu did not bring any soldiers or horses with him. After all, they had to travel day and night, and ordinary cavalry could not keep up with their speed.
The most important thing is that if Mr. Xu’s guess is true when he returns this time, then there will be no shortage of fierce fighting.
Old Master Xu had no reason to let someone else's father, someone else's son, someone else's husband risk his life for their family's affairs.
(End of this chapter)
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