Chapter 149

The carriage suddenly shook violently, Jiang Yanyi grabbed the window sill in time, Huo Jianjia stretched out a hand and pressed her shoulder, Jiang Yanyi was able to stabilize her body.

Chenyu was not so lucky, her head hit the wall of the carriage hard, but she didn't care about the pain and rushed to protect Jiang Yanyi.

Bing Shao's voice came from outside the car: "A light cavalry is coming, Yang Xiu went to meet the enemy, Jianjia, you protect the master."

Huo Jianjia replied neatly: "Leave it to me!"

The enemy army will not come so quickly, this light cavalry is likely to be an insider.

Jiang Yanyi immediately said, "Let's get off the carriage!"

The news of her in the barracks must have reached the ears of the allies tonight. Now she was riding in a carriage, which was tantamount to telling others that she was in the carriage. If the enemy shot arrows, they would be shot into a sieve.

Huo Jianjia protected Jiang Yanyi and got off the carriage. They were all wearing ordinary soldiers' clothes. The night was dark and they could not be recognized in the crowd. Jiang Yanyi

and others hid behind a grain cart. When she looked back, the carriage she had been riding in had indeed been shot into a sieve by arrows.

The enemy was in the dark, and they were in the light. From time to time, cold arrows were shot, making the soldiers panic.

Jiang Yanyi said worriedly, "This won't work. We have to knock down the archers first."

Huo Jianjia was thoughtful. She closed her eyes amid the noise and listened attentively to the sound of the bowstring being pulled tight and released to identify the position of the archers. "Four in the southeast, five in the south..."

Bing Shao saw the carriage being destroyed and came over worried that Jiang Yanyi was injured.

Huo Jianjia called him directly, "You stay to protect the boss, I'll go and deal with those archers!" Yan

Yi didn't wait for Bing Shao to respond, he carried his sword and rushed into the noisy night.

Huo Jianjia glanced at the moon in the sky while running, muttering, "It would be better if the moon was a little darker."

Her sword was as shiny as snow, and the reflection in the moonlight made it easy for the other party to notice.

Perhaps God was helping her at this moment, and a dark cloud just covered the round moon that looked like a jade plate.

Huo Jianjia was so excited that she almost jumped up. When she ran, her hands were directly placed at her sides in a wind-breaking sword shape. When she was about to reach her destination, the archers had not yet reacted to someone approaching. She stretched her hand behind her, pulled out the machete, and chopped horizontally and vertically. Suddenly, the whole forest was filled with muffled groans and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground.

She was like an agile leopard. After chopping here, she shook off the blood on the sword and jumped to the other side in an instant.

When the dark clouds covering the moon dispersed, the archers hiding in the woods were left with only corpses.

The general leading the attacking cavalry looked like a tough guy. Yang Xiu barely fought him a few moves, but was defeated.

Seeing Yang Xiu being thrown to the ground, the general was aiming his spear at Yang Xiu's throat when a skinny dwarf suddenly jumped out with a broken knife in his hand and directly cut off the long spear in the general's hand.

The general on horseback was numb from the force. He looked at his smoothly cut weapon and then at Huo Jianjia who appeared halfway, and his expression was as if he had seen a ghost.

The main reason was that Huo Jianjia was small to begin with, and the smallest size military uniform in the barracks was tailored for men, so it was ridiculously large for her. When she let her hands hang down, the sleeves would drag directly to her knees.

Although Huo Jianjia had tied her cuffs and ankles with cloth tape, she looked like a child in a troupe who had stolen someone else's costume.

And she had strange strength, so the general felt like he had run into a little monster.

He shouted, threw away the sakura spear with the tip cut off in his hand, pulled out the double maces hanging on the saddle, and rode his horse towards Huo Jianjia.

Huo Jianjia dodged the horse nimbly, and the general rushed in vain.

He saw that Huo Jianjia was agile, so he turned his horse around and rushed over again, bending down and trying to sweep Huo Jianjia away with his mace. Huo Jianjia relied on her short stature and did not move a step. When the mace came, she just leaned back and dodged it easily.

On the contrary, the general was very annoyed because he could not hit him several times. "Damn, where did this little dwarf come from! What's the point of just dodging? If you dare, fight your grandfather with a hard move."

The soldier's hat that Huo Jianjia wore was too big and did not fit her head. She leaned back and almost knocked the hat off.

Facing the scolding, she stuck her broken sword into the ground with an expressionless face, put on the hat with both hands, and picked up the sword again.

The general had never been looked down upon like this in his life, and he was so angry that his teeth were itching. He shouted "I will kill you" and rushed towards Huo Jianjia to kill her.

Huo Jianjia originally wanted to chop the horse's legs, but seeing that it was a precious horse, he changed the direction of the knife halfway through the swing, and asked Yang Xiu who was killing the enemy on the other side: "Yang Xiu, Yang Xiu, can the warhorse I robbed after I killed this grandson be counted as mine?"

Yang Xiu chopped down a soldier, whose clothes and face were all covered in blood. He gasped and replied: "Kill this grandson and you can have ten horses!"

Huo Jianjia's eyes lit up immediately.

The general was angry after launching another failed attack. When he turned around and saw Huo Jianjia's green eyes, he felt a chill down his spine for no reason.

This time, Huo Jianjia didn't wait for him to attack, but ran over with her sword on her shoulder: "Get off my horse, don't touch my horse!"

The general didn't react at all. When he passed by Huo Jianjia on his horse, he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and saw that his leg was already bleeding.

With one leg injured and unable to maintain balance, the general screamed and fell off his horse.

Huo Jianjia was also a strange person. She was afraid that her newly acquired precious horse would be accidentally injured during the melee between the two armies. Seeing that the general had difficulty getting up, she led the precious horse to the nearby woods, tied up the horse, and ran back.

After all, the general had fought for many years and had never been insulted like this. His face turned green for a moment.

When Huo Jianjia ran back happily, he finally stood up with difficulty, leaning on his double maces, pointed at Huo Jianjia and said with gritted teeth: "A gentleman can be killed, but not humiliated!"

Huo Jianjia thought about the rules of martial arts, put the big knife aside, and said sincerely: "I am a man. You are injured, so I will fight you without weapons. Come on, I will give you three moves!"

The general: "..."

Why is he insulting me even more? This

is intolerable!

He shouted and rushed over with his double maces.

The general was injured and moved slowly. Huo Jianjia dodged while counting: "One move."

"Two moves."

"Three moves."

"It's my turn!" Huo Jianjia yelled this and got ready to punch before he could throw a punch. The general spit out blood and staggered to the ground.

Huo Jianjia stared at the arrow that shot into the general's body, then looked at Xiao Han who came to support him on horseback.

Xiao Han had no idea that he had snatched a head and thought that he had just saved a soldier who was being chased and beaten. When he saw Huo Jianjia's height, he frowned: "How old are you? Which camp are you from? War is no joke, children should not come to cause trouble!"

Without waiting for Huo Jianjia to reply, he ordered his deputy general: "Go back and check carefully. All those who are under the age of sixteen will be transferred to the Huotou Camp."

Huo Jianjia did not reply, but her face was full of unhappiness.

She straightened her soldier's hat that was tilted when she was fighting. Because the hat was too big, the brim almost covered her eyes. She had to push the hat back. It looked quite funny. With her notched broadsword that was almost as tall as herself, she seemed like a little kid from some village wearing a soldier's uniform.

Seeing Huo Jianjia rushing into the crowd with a broadsword, Xiao Han frowned. He was about to go over to save her, but after seeing Huo Jianjia's chopping method like cutting watermelon, Xiao Han fell silent.

It's true... you can't judge a person by his appearance.

The leading general of the cavalry team that raided was dead, and Xiao Han came to support them, and the battle situation was quickly stabilized.

All the food and medicine were transported, and Jiang Yanyi was not injured at all. Xiao Han breathed a sigh of relief.

While the soldiers were resting, Xiao Han went to see Jiang Yanyi and said, "All the enemy troops on Hengling have been captured, the traitor has been caught, and the Hengzhou camp is safe now."

This was considered a great victory. Jiang Yanyi was surprised, but she was most concerned

about Feng Shuo: "Where is the prince?" Based on her understanding of Feng Shuo, as long as Feng Shuo was not injured, he should come in person. Thinking of this, her heart, which had just fallen back to its original state, could not help but rise again.

Xiao Han said: "Your Majesty, you have used the trick to get your elite soldiers to change into the uniforms of Minghan Kingdom, disguise themselves as the army that attacked tonight, and return to the Minghan army camp. General Han will be waiting in the dark with 50,000 troops. When the time comes, we will cooperate with the enemy from inside and outside. If nothing unexpected happens, this battle will seriously damage the vitality of the Minghan army."

The morale of the soldiers has been raised, but they still need to win a tough battle to completely stabilize the army's morale and at the same time stabilize the people's hearts.

If this battle is won, Feng Shuo will win half of the game.

Jiang Yanyi asked, "Who is the traitor?"

Xiao Han said with a gloomy face, "It's that Xibo Hou, who is secretly in cahoots with Prince Xinyang. Prince Xinyang went to the capital to seize the throne, and was afraid that the prince would withdraw troops to encircle and suppress him, so he colluded with Minghan Kingdom, hoping to use Minghan Kingdom to control the prince."

"Has there been any news from the capital?" Jiang Yanyi couldn't help but worry about Chu Changping's safety.

Xiao Han shook his head, and seeing Jiang Yanyi frowning, he comforted her, "When the prince sent someone to deliver the letter, he also sent an urgent report to Yuzhou. If Major General Chu knew that there was a change in the capital, he would immediately lead his troops north to support General Chu."

Capital.

It was the third watch of the night, in the dead of night, neatly dressed soldiers quietly walked out of their own tents and approached another army tent in the distance.

Yesterday, Prince Xinyang led a large army to the capital, saying that he was ordered by Feng Shuo to come and besiege the capital together with Chu Changping.

The urgent reports sent to the capital were robbed by Prince Xinyang's men on the way. Chu Changping didn't know that he was cheating, but as a vassal king, Prince Xinyang was the only one to go to the capital, so he still felt something was wrong.

Chu Changping was more cautious, and on the day Prince Xinyang arrived in the capital, he sent scouts to inquire about the situation in the south. When Prince Xinyang proposed to camp near the Chu army's tent, Chu Changping refused without a second thought.

Although the Prince of Xinyang was one of Feng Shuo's allies, Chu Changping did not dare to directly hand over the back of his army to such an "ally" whom he had never dealt with before. The

Prince of Xinyang was an old fox. He saw Chu Changping's vigilance, and at the same time he knew that he could not delay any longer. If Chu Changping knew the real purpose of his trip, he would have to fight with Chu Changping before taking the capital. He immediately decided to start the fight that night. In

order to get close to the Chu army's camp, the sentry on the sentry tower must be dealt with first.

The Prince of Xinyang sent a few soldiers out to deliberately create a commotion to attract the attention of the sentry, which allowed the archer to approach secretly. After reaching the shooting range, he shot the sentry to death with an arrow, and the remaining troops rushed to the Chu army's camp.

Compared to the luck of the Hengzhou camp, the Chu army camp did not know about the enemy attack in advance. It was late at night and the soldiers were sleeping soundly.

It is more accurate to call this battle a one-sided massacre. Many Chu soldiers had their throats cut in their sleep. Even if they woke up, they were covered with their mouths and stabbed several times before they could make a sound.

In the dark night, Chu Yangui suddenly opened his eyes and almost sat up, breathing heavily, with cold sweat on his forehead.

He dreamed of Madam Jiang again.

Arrows rained down from the sky, snow stained red by blood, the slowly closing city gate...

After catching his breath for a while, he looked at the wheelchair not far away, supported himself on the edge of the bed with one hand, supported himself on the table in front of the bed with the other hand, gritted his teeth and stood up, and walked towards the wheelchair step by step with difficulty but determination.

He can now stand and walk a few steps alone, but he can't hold on for too long.

This is a secret that even Chu Zhong doesn't know.

After sitting in the wheelchair, Chu Yan returned to the table and poured himself a cup of cold tea. After drinking the tea, he was no longer sleepy at all.

He pushed the wheelchair out to get some cool breeze, but he smelled the strong smell of blood in the wind as soon as he left the tent.

Chu Yangui's expression changed. Just as he was about to push his wheelchair to the side tent to call Chu Zhong, a soldier of the King of Xinyang raised his sword and slashed at him.

Chu Yangui pulled out the soft sword he used to practice swordplay from the secret compartment of his wheelchair, killed the soldier with one sword, and shouted, "Uncle Zhong!"

Chu Zhong, who was sleeping in the side tent, heard Chu Yangui's shouting and came out with a sword in his clothes. He also realized that something was wrong when he smelled the strong smell of blood in the air.

Chu Yangui's shout attracted the attention of all the men of the King of Xinyang, and many soldiers surrounded him.

Chu Zhong killed his way through, then squatted down and motioned for Chu Yan to get on his back: "Young Master, I'll take you to a safe place first."

Chu Yan pushed Chu Zhong and said: "Uncle Zhong, don't worry about me. Go to the sentry tower and find the horn, and blow the horn to sound the alarm!"

The army uses the sound of the horn as an order, and each sentry tower is equipped with a horn. If there is an enemy situation, the sentry at the sentry tower will blow the horn immediately, and all soldiers will be alert when they hear the horn.

Although Chu Zhong is now Chu Yangui's close follower, he followed Chu Changping in the early years and was loyal to Chu Changping. He knew that Chu Changping might be wiped out if things went wrong tonight, so he gritted his teeth and took Chu Yangui to a relatively safe place, then rushed to the sentry tower.

Chu Yangui sat in a wheelchair, struggling to resist the soldiers attacking from all directions, while shouting: "Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

The Chu army in the nearby tents heard his shouts and did not have time to put on their armor, but came out with weapons to fight the enemy. They were unprepared and had no advantage in the hands of the blood-thirsty Xinyang King's soldiers.

Chu Yangui had difficulty walking, so when he swung the sword with one hand, he had to use the other hand to control the wheelchair. The gravel and corpses on the ground blocked the way, making the wheelchair very clumsy. Later, he simply abandoned the wheelchair, stood up with the severe pain in his knees, and fought with the soldiers.

"Woo--"

"Woo--"

When the horn sounded, the Chu army camp behind him suddenly woke up like a sleeping beast, and the two armies fought each other.

The stinging pain in his knees made Chu Yangui's eyes go black. He clearly saw a sword slashing at him, but he seemed to see Madam Jiang, and he was a beat slower. When he dodged again, the sword still slashed on his shoulder.

"Yan Gui!" Chu Changping rode over, and with a swipe of his sword, he directly cut off the heads of three or four soldiers. He pulled Chu Yangui onto the horse's back.

Chu Yangui's entire collar was stained with blood, some of it his own and others'. Chu Changping didn't know where he was injured for a moment. The knuckles of his fingers holding the reins turned white. He tried to tighten his voice and said, "Hold on, I'll take you to see a military doctor."

Chu Yangui covered his bleeding shoulder and said with some pain, "Uncle, I'm fine. You take the rest of the soldiers and retreat first."

Prince Xinyang was a mad dog. The sudden attack in the middle of the night made the Chu army in chaos. The only way now was to withdraw the troops first to preserve their strength.

Chu Changping also knew that the army was demoralized and could not confront the Prince of Xinyang head-on. He quickly ordered his subordinates: "Pass my order, all soldiers retreat to the direction of Dayangou!"

"Song Qi, go and light up all the fireworks that were not set off last night! Warn the people in the capital! Li Rong, you lead 3,000 troops to cover the rear!"

They were all killed by surprise tonight. After they withdrew their troops, the Prince of Xinyang would immediately attack the city, and the royal garrison stationed in the capital would be even more caught off guard.

"I obey the order!"

The two generals named by Chu Changping took their troops to deploy separately.

After Chu Zhong came over, Chu Changping handed Chu Yangui to Chu Zhong and hurried back to command the battle.

It was not until dawn that the Chu army retreated to a safe place. Of the original 20,000 soldiers, more than half were killed and morale was low.

The military doctor simply bandaged the wound on Chu Yangui's shoulder.

The retreat was too hasty last night, and no food or grass was taken away in time. The soldiers who were not injured dug some wild vegetables on the mountain and mixed them with the little rice they had snatched to make wild vegetable porridge to barely fill their stomachs.

Chu Yangui brought a bowl to Chu Changping.

Chu Changping stood on the cliff and looked at the capital in the distance, his expression serious.

Chu Yangui said, "Uncle, drink something to fill your stomach first."

Chu Changping didn't even look at the food in the bowl, his eyes were always fixed on the direction of the capital: "You eat, I have no appetite."

"Victory and defeat are common in the military, it's not your fault that you were betrayed by the shameless Xinyang King." Chu Yangui knew that he felt bad.

Chu Changping didn't say anything, just patted Chu Yangui on the shoulder.

With thousands of lives on his shoulders, as the commander, it was impossible not to feel guilty in the face of such a tragic defeat.

Chu Yangui said: "As long as the imperial garrison can hold out for two days, and cousin Chengmao brings the Yuzhou garrison here, we will attack from the front and back with the imperial army, and the Prince of Xinyang will have no hope of recovery."

The scouts that Chu Changping sent to the south yesterday to gather information only brought back news today. It turned out that the Prince of Xinyang had rebelled and returned to the capital to seize the throne.

The urgent report sent from Hengzhou to Chu Changping was hijacked on the way, but the urgent report sent to Yuzhou was safely in the hands of Chu Chengmao, who had already led his troops to the capital.

Chu Changping sighed: "I'm afraid the imperial court will not last more than two days."

Hearing this, Chu Yangui, like Chu Changping, cast his eyes towards the distant capital. Since dawn, there has been thick smoke rolling there.