Chapter 2 The Strong Man (Part 1) Half a month ago, Guo Fangyu, a bandit from Beihai County, went to Niushan again, trying to make a big profit at the end of the year in Zichuan. Zhang Xutuo led his brothers from Qi County and severely rewarded the rebels.
After a "violent chisel", they were chased into Yaoshan Mountain before they were able to show their armor. But at midnight last night, a large number of them entered the city and dispersed to go home to rest. Unexpectedly, just after breakfast this morning, a scout horse came back to report that Pei Changcai
, two big thieves from Shizihe broke through Changqing County in Jibei County three days ago and plundered all the grain and livestock in the city. Now they are crossing the border with great momentum, and their troops are directed at Licheng (Note 1). The incident happened in a hurry, and they summoned
The county soldiers were too late and Zhang Xutuo had no choice but to ask the county governor Pei Cao to organize the army on his behalf. He led his trusted generals Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin and Dugu Lin out of the city to find out about the enemy. As soon as everyone arrived at Xifang Heting, they saw the bandits.
Like dark clouds, a few people rolled in from the sky. They couldn't bear to see the villagers who had no time to evacuate into the city being slaughtered by the bandits. They quickly raised their flags beside the pavilion. The bandits were afraid of Zhang Xutuo's reputation, and saw that he only had three men under his command.
The subordinates were afraid of encountering an ambush, so they stayed near Xifanghe Pavilion and did not dare to launch an attack. Just when the enemy and we were in a stalemate, a loud shout of death suddenly came from behind the rebel army. A famous warrior rode two horses, one man and two men.
pass through
Zhang Xutuo admired this man's bravery and quickly ordered Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin to go to the rescue. As a result, he just received the arm assigned to him by the court.
"Li Zhongjian, the last general, has been ordered to come and listen to General Zhang's dispatches!" Li Xu saw an old general wearing the iron clothes of a fourth-grade Sui general under the pavilion. Knowing that this person must be Zhang Xutuo, he jumped off his horse and hurried forward.
Two steps, fist clasping greeting
"I heard that the imperial court sent General Li to help out. I was looking forward to it day and night, but I didn't expect that General Li actually came from behind the enemy's army and came in front of me at a critical moment!" Zhang Xutuo just saw Xuzi break through the enemy's formation alone, and he was very surprised.
I admired his bravery and listened to his name. He immediately got off his horse, stood in awe with his hands folded, and solemnly returned the military salute.
"Dugu Lin, the deputy commander of the Licheng County Army, has met General Li!" Another military general who was following Zhang Xutuo also stepped forward to say hello. His official position is slightly lower than that of Li Xu. According to military regulations, he must take the initiative to salute his superiors. But the County Army Soldier
They have never been in the same system as the imperial soldiers. The imperial court suddenly put down a general from the fourth grade to be among them, which really made people feel uncomfortable.
"I've seen Captain Dugu!" Li Xu turned sideways, cupped his fists, and returned the greeting. He was a newcomer. He was very sensitive to the reaction of the local generals. Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin had just fought side by side with him. They had seen each other's skills, so they naturally felt more familiar.
Zhang Xutuo has a reputation of being tolerant, and he is his superior, so he will not be too repulsive towards him. However, Captain Dugu feels cold to others, and his behavior shows rejection.
attitude thousands of miles away
The enemy was in front of him. Xuzi had no time to argue with others. He looked around and quickly observed the situation of both the enemy and us. He found that the pavilion beside him was not far from Licheng. From here, he could vaguely see the people of Licheng's wall brigade.
Swarming towards the city, two groups of soldiers stood with weapons in hand, seemingly maintaining the order of entering the city. Apart from that, no soldiers from their own side could be seen. Under the mound, the bandits swarming at least
More than 15,000 people watched the flags come from two forces, one held a gray flag, and the other held a dark red flag.
"The enemy army is approaching fiercely!" Li Xu hugged Zhang Xutuo and concluded in a low voice that the mound under his feet was just blocking the only way to Licheng. If the enemy army did not want to go far around, they must take the official road near the pavilion.
After passing through, General Zhang chose an ideal blocking point, but where his soldiers were lying in ambush, Li Xu didn't see any of them.
Before he could continue to ask questions, the bandits at the foot of the mountain started shouting loudly. They had heard for a long time that Licheng was rich and powerful, and they were coming fiercely, but they were blocked by four people under a small mound. After a long time, it was inevitable that they would feel irritated. At this moment, seeing each other, they didn't show any signs of it.
He doesn't take himself seriously and only cares about "chatting". He is so angry that he yells and curses with a southern and northern accent, one after another, making it so noisy that people can't hear clearly even when they are talking face to face.
Luo Shixin was furious and said hello to Zhang Xutuo. He once again mounted his horse and rushed down the mound. He galloped in front of the enemy and cursed: "You have the guts to come out to fight, are you all shrews selling meat?"
Well, you can do nothing but curse!"
The battle between the two armies is about the generals' strategies, and the quality of the army is not about gangsters grabbing territory. There is no such method of one-on-one combat. But at the moment, the county soldiers are gathering and will not be able to leave the city for a while, so Zhang Xutuo and others can
If you delay the rebels for a while, you will naturally have to delay them for a while longer.
The rebels didn't know that Luo Shixin was a deceitful person, so they were startled by his sudden move. Their voices suddenly became quieter and they rushed forward. However, Luo Shixin refused to stand still and was beaten. He mobilized his war horses to make a quick circle in front of the enemy.
Having had enough of his prestige, he turned around and ran back halfway up the mound. Then, he turned his mount around and charged down again, cursing as he charged, "Come up and challenge me if you have the guts. Only the bitches are meaner than anyone else!" Without waiting.
The other party reacted in any way and quickly came back, which made Pei Changcai, Shi Zihe and others furious, but there was nothing they could do against him.
A group of bandits couldn't stand it anymore and took the lead in attacking. They chased after Luo Shixin and tried to retaliate. On the pavilion, Dugu Lin saw that Luo Shixin was alone and rushed forward with his horse. He moved closer to Luo Shixin and held up his arms.
The horn bow instantly knocked over three of the chasing enemies.
The momentum of the enemy army was blocked by the feather arrows, and it suddenly slowed down. Luo Shixin suddenly took his mount and spun on the spot. His long spear spun around like a black dragon and stabbed the chest of the person closest to him. That was a man holding an iron rod.
The monk was running too fast, so he lost touch with his team. When he saw a long tree suddenly appeared in front of him, he had no time to dodge, so he had to use the iron rod to force Luo Shixin to hit the long tree. He shook his arm slightly and got out of the way.
Then the iron rod hit him again with his backhand, stabbing Monk Hua, who couldn't bear the loneliness, to the point where his heart felt cold.
"Yeah!" Luo Shixin shouted, struggling to lift the monk's body and throw him directly at the group of people who rushed up the hill. Several rebels were running up the hillside and were panting, when suddenly a person was knocked down in mid-air.
, unable to evade, two more were knocked down on the spot. Before the others could recover, Luo Shixin's long spear had reached "Puff!" and "Puff!" twice, stabbing the two thieves facing him over.
Then he stretched his sword downwards and stabbed the other two people who were lying on the ground to death.
These attacks happened in the blink of an eye, and the thieves had no time to react correctly. When they realized that they had suffered a loss, Luo Shixin rode away again. Dugu Lin held up his horned bow and cut off his back. If anyone dared to pursue him, he was hit with an arrow.
The rebels bent their bows to fight back, but the quality of the bows and arrows in their hands were too poor to aim at the fast-moving target. Occasionally, two arrows were shot on target, but the force was too weak and they could not penetrate the iron armor of Luo Shixin and Dugu Lin.
"Why did General Zhang lead three men to fight?" Li Xu looked around and found that there were no signs of an ambush around him, so he lowered his voice and asked.
"The county soldiers dispersed and went home to rest at midnight last night. It was difficult to gather them in a hurry!" Zhang Xutuo explained with a wry smile and shook his head.
"God!" Li Xu secretly admired him after understanding the true situation. He originally thought he was brave enough, but he didn't expect to meet someone even more courageous. Under Liyang City, the Xiongwu Camp fought with five thousand against thirty thousand.
It has created a miracle in the battles of the Sui Dynasty in recent years. At this moment, Zhang Xutuo actually defeated 20,000 bandits with four people. Regardless of whether he lost or won this battle, future generations will regard it as a legend.
"General Li, are you afraid? I just saw you protecting your luggage, but you showed no fear at all!" Dugu Lin just happened to ride back to the pavilion. When he heard that Li Xu thought there were few people here, he couldn't help but sneered.
"Inside the luggage is the military document and seal of the imperial court. Although Li is timid, he dare not let it fall into the hands of thieves!" Li Xu smiled, took out the military document and seal from the luggage and handed it to Zhang Xutuo for inspection.
Dugu Lin and Luo Shixin are both high-minded guys. It can be seen from their performance in battle that in front of proud people, Xu Zi does not want to be underestimated by others.
Zhang Xutuo checked the military document and seal and returned it to Li Xu. He never doubted the authenticity of Li Xu's identity from the beginning. He had a horse, a black sword, a young age but a long beard. These features were too
Obviously, if the bandits wanted to find someone to pretend to be, it would be really hard to find them.
"You're injured, go back to the city and rest first." He was always kind-hearted. Seeing that the wound on Xuzi's shoulder was still bleeding, he suggested in a low voice.
Xuzi shook his head gently and slowly put away his experience in the Yinxin Army. He told him that if he withdrew first today, he would never have to think about speaking loudly in front of the Qijun soldiers. Thinking of this, he went to the foot of the mound again.
After scanning around, I found that the arrogance of the bandits under the mound was no longer as arrogant as before. They had suffered a big loss at the hands of Luo Shixin, and they were adopting a more secure offensive strategy.
"It will take some time!" Asahi explained to everyone, while taking out a short blade from his luggage. Under the astonished eyes of everyone, he swung the knife to cut open the clothes on the injured shoulder, and then gently picked out the flesh with the tip of the knife.
After removing the remaining wood thorns inside, he took a pack of gold sore medicine and sealed the wound. Then, he cut off a section of his sleeve and wrapped the wound and medicine powder tightly.
"It's enough for the four of us here!" Qin Shubao saw that Li Xu was sweating in pain but didn't say a word. He also felt a little admiration for him in his heart. He stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder and suggested
"Since I'm here, count me as the only one." Li Xu responded with a generous smile and took out the armor presented by Duke Tang from his luggage. "Brother Shu Bao, lend me a hand and help me tie the armor silk ribbon on the back!" He smiled.
Following the request, he put on his armor neatly and meticulously.
Note 1: Niushan is located in today's Jibei County near Zibo, Shandong Province, today's Changqing County in Pingyin area of Shandong Province, which is today's Changqing County, less than a hundred miles away from Licheng
