Chapter 112
The west wind gradually rose, it was already late autumn, the grass and trees on the grassland were withered and yellow, and when the moonlight shone on them, it looked like a layer of white frost.
Xie Chen led 3,000 cavalrymen to set out under the cover of night. The entire army moved at an extremely fast speed, and the sound was like thunder. He ordered Lao Zhang to reorganize the army and sent scouts to gather information.
Xie Chen dismounted and took out dry food from the cloth bag on the saddle. This was the dry food prepared for him by Lin Shuge. It was a palm-sized baked cake with a mellow taste. It was not suitable to light a fire now, so the baked cake was just right to fill his stomach. He opened the water bag and ate the baked cake with water.
Old Zhang came over and looked at them eagerly. Xie Chen couldn't bear to see that he looked like he hadn't eaten, so he took out a ration from his cloth bag and threw it to him. Old Zhang said with a grin: "Oh, thank you, Marquis. I knew that Lord Lin would prepare good rations for you." Although they had some too, they were ultimately not as good as Marquis's rations.
Xie Chen was too lazy to pay attention to him. He took another sip of water and said, "The Luoyan Mountain is ahead. When we get there, tell the brothers to approach carefully."
Old Zhang bit his biscuit and nodded vigorously. A voice came from the distance. The scout saw Xie Chen dismounting from his horse and said, "Captain Hou, we found a Qiang tribe ahead. It seems to be a large tribe with many tents. It looks like the Huotu tribe."
The Huotu tribe was also a large tribe. The Qiang people's confessions said that the Huotu tribe and the Shaoliang tribe seemed to be allies, and it also had a role in this conspiracy.
Xie Chen thought for a while, and seeing that the soldiers had simply arranged themselves, he mounted his horse and said, "Everyone, follow me."
The cavalry were in neat uniforms, all mounted their horses, and followed Xie Chen to Luoyan Mountain. In the vast wilderness, the horses' hooves trampled the withered yellow grass leaves, and the autumn geese flapped their wings and made bursts of cries.
Xie Chen looked down at the tribe below. A row of soldiers behind him had already drawn their bowstrings. In the darkness, only a frightening cold light could be seen, illuminating Xie Chen's profile.
The whole tribe was bustling at the moment. Several strong men wearing heavy robes were watching the shirtless wrestling competition in front of them, and the men and women around them were cheering.
From Xie Chen's angle, he could see someone hunched over, pouring wine for a Qiang man who was obviously of high status, but it seemed that the wine was poured outside, and he was immediately beaten and kicked. The man who was pouring the wine fell to the ground and was dragged away.
Xie Chen's pupils shrank slightly, he raised his right hand and made a gesture, and said coldly: "Release the arrow."
Almost in an instant, thousands of sharp arrows shot towards the Qiang tribe like a torrential rain, many of which even carried flames.
Some arrows hit the yurts and they immediately caught fire. The whole tribe was ablaze with flames and screams. Someone reacted and shouted, "Enemy attack, don't panic, follow me and kill them."
She had just caught a Qiang man who was dodging, but unexpectedly a sharp arrow flew and hit the Qiang man in the chest. He looked around and saw Qiang people who were shot by arrows or burned everywhere.
He took off his clothes and beat the burning tent hard, but found that the fire seemed impossible to put out. He drew his knife and hurried to the chief, "Chief, what should we do? It seems like a strong enemy is attacking, and these fires cannot be put out at all."
The chief shouted loudly: "Warriors, get on your horses and charge out." As soon as he said this, the Qiang people, who were in chaos, gradually gathered around him.
But who knew, there was a sound of horse hooves outside the tent. From the sound, he knew that a lot of people had come. The chief's face turned pale. Where did these people come from?
Without time to think, he gathered a group of Qiang people and rode forward to meet the enemy. The rest of the Qiang people retreated with the elderly, children and a large number of cattle and sheep.
"Captain Hou, they are trying to escape." Lao Zhang shouted.
"You can't escape. You lead your men to intercept them from behind, and I will kill the rest."
"Yes, Lord Hou."
The sound of killing was deafening. Xie Chen took the lead, riding a very fast horse, and immediately engaged the Qiang people.
He took out an arrow from his back, squinted his eyes and aimed at the Qiang cavalry rushing towards him. The wind was strong outside the Great Wall, and Xie Chen's arrow was extremely powerful. It shot over like a meteor under the moonlight. The Qiang people shouted something and came towards them like crazy again.
Xie Chen raised his bow, and the soldiers in the back row immediately shouted in unison using the Qianghuo they had just learned: "The chieftain was shot dead, the chieftain was shot dead."
There was a sudden commotion among the Qiang people, with the neighing of horses and the roar of people. Someone shouted, "The chief is still alive, everyone hold on." Unexpectedly, sharp arrows with flames fell to the ground like meteors and shot towards their side. Many Qiang soldiers were hit by the rockets, and they cried out in pain, slapping themselves and fell off their horses.
The man who had just shouted looked at this scene with a sad expression, his eyes full of hatred, and rushed forward with the rest of the people. Suddenly, a spear stabbed straight at him. He blocked it with his knife, but the spear went in a little further. He was a famous warrior in the tribe, but he couldn't withstand the power of this man's spear.
He gritted his teeth and opened his eyes wide to look at the person who came. Under the moonlight, Xie Chen's face was cold and frosty, and his expression was stern. It turned out to be a person from Yan.
In a blink of an eye, sparks flew and a spear brushed past his ear. He immediately raised his knife to chop, but was pinned down by the returning spear.
Who is this?
Xie Chen poked the spear and stabbed the Qiang man beside him off his horse, and then started fighting with the Qiang man again. With a flash of red light, the spear broke through the scimitar and stabbed towards the Qiang man's throat. There was only an inch left before he could pierce his throat.
Unexpectedly, the Qiang people who were fighting fiercely with the soldiers of Dayan nearby suddenly rushed over. Xie Chen reacted quickly and swept his spear, knocking the weapons in the hands of the two men. The Qiang man got a chance to catch his breath and started fighting with Xie Chen again.
The sound of killing was so loud on the battlefield, but because the soldiers of Dayan had the upper hand, the words "the chief is dead" had thrown them into disarray. Therefore, it was obvious that the soldiers of Dayan had the upper hand at this time, and soon they killed all the Qiang people.
Xie Chen seemed to be at a disadvantage. He looked at the Qiang man calmly and even wanted to retreat on his horse. Seeing that there were fewer and fewer soldiers around him, the Qiang man just wanted to kill the Yan commander to escape, so he chased him straight forward. Unexpectedly, Xie Chen turned his spear, turned the spear head, and stabbed him. The Qiang man was stabbed in the chest, spitting blood and fell off his horse. The Yan soldiers all pointed their guns at him.
"What a great counterattack." A soldier laughed loudly.
Xie Chen retracted his spear and rode over, "Leave a few people to clean up the battlefield, and the rest of you follow me."
"Yes." The soldiers replied.
Xie Chen led his soldiers to chase in the direction where the other Qiang people had just fled. Not long after, they saw Lao Zhang leading his soldiers towards them, followed by a group of Qiang captives.
"Captain Hou, Captain Hou..." Before I could see the person clearly, I could already hear Lao Zhang's loud voice.
Old Zhang was very successful this time, so he rode over and said, "Captain Hou, we have captured all the Qiang people who just escaped, and killed those who put up a fierce resistance."
Xie Chen hummed, looked coldly at the captives squatting on the ground, and said in a cold voice: "If you want to live, send someone out to talk to me." There was still blood on his face, the spear in his hand was shining coldly, his face was cold, and the murderous intent in his eyes had not faded, like a killing god.
"General..." one of the prisoners stood up and said.
"Are you from Yan?" Xie Chen asked.
Suddenly, many people stood up and said, "General, we are all Yan people, and were captured by the Qiang people." A woman with tattered clothes and a haggard look stood up, but her eyes were filled with hatred.
She looked at the Qiang people with hatred and said, "General, some of us are from Wei County, some are from Dingyuan County, and some are from Longxi. We were all captured slaves by them. There were many of us when we first came, but now, only we are left."
"General, we are lucky that you have killed these barbarians today and we are saved from death. Please save us and bring us back." She leaned down, and the other Yan people also knelt down.
"Bring them out and give them food first." Xie Chen ordered.
"General, that's the chief's son Hu Zhuo. If you want to know anything, you can ask him." The woman pointed at a tall man wearing thick cashmere.
Hu Zhuo had been keeping his head down and not saying anything, but when he heard her accusation, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.
"Are you from the Huotu tribe?" Xie Chen said in Qiang language.
"Yes, we are from the Huotu tribe." Hu Zhuo saw that the situation was hopeless and his life depended on the mood of the young general in front of him. He decided in his heart that he would tell any question as long as he could survive.
The few Yan people who had just arrived wanted to go up and translate for Xie Chen, but were stopped by Lao Zhang.
"Why did the Huotu tribe collude with the Shaoliang tribe and plot evil? The Yan court sent me here to ask you if you really want to rebel?" Xie Chen pointed the long spear in his hand at him.
Hu Zhuo said quickly: "It was the Shaoliang tribe that threatened us. The Shaoliang tribe sent people to tell us that they have contacted the Xiongnu and want to cooperate with us to attack Dayan. If we don't agree, they will make us suffer."
"They got a lot of weapons from somewhere, and their fighting power has also increased a lot. We can't beat them, so we cooperated with them. But we didn't expect you to come first." He saw that the soldiers of Dayan around him were furious, and said anxiously: "General, we were forced."
Huns? Xie Chen's expression changed slightly. He glanced at Lao Zhang and whispered something to him. Lao Zhang was shocked and quickly retreated.
"Besides you, are there other tribes also threatened by the Shaoliang tribe?" Xie Chen asked.
"Yes, yes, yes. There is also the Huatu tribe."
Xie Chen put away his gun and stood by with his arms folded. "Since you are willing to surrender, I can let you make amends for your crime. The lives of the remaining tribesmen are in your hands."
"I am willing, I am willing. I can do anything as long as I can stay alive." Hu Zhuo seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw.
Xie Chen called the woman over, asked her a few questions, nodded and let her leave, "I want you to inform all tribes that this rebellion is the fault of Shaoliang tribe. As for the other tribes, Dayan already knows that they were coerced. If there are those who are willing to surrender, Dayan can forgive them. If they are stubborn, your Huotu tribe will suffer the same fate as them."
Hu Zhuo was surprised by his last sentence and immediately said, "Yes, I will do it right away."
"Also, if you can destroy the Shaoliang tribe this time, not only can you survive, you can even gain merit..."
"General, I am willing to join you in wiping out the Shaoliang tribe." Hu Zhuo gritted his teeth.
"Very good, you are sensible." After Xie Chen finished speaking, he asked the soldiers to take them down and the entire army rested.
Lin Shuge was watching Fang Yuan blasting the furnace when a soldier came to report excitedly, "Sir, good news. Just now, it was reported that Wei Houchang killed more than a thousand Qiang people, captured more than four hundred people, and seized more than fifty thousand cattle and sheep."
"Really? Is this the news from Zhong Xuan?" Lin Shuge asked hurriedly with a smile on his face.
"Yes, the soldiers are outside."
"Let him come in to see me quickly." Lin Shuge said quickly.
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