The sky is a little gray, and the light rain is falling non-stop. The spring grass all over the mountains and fields stretches out and grows vigorously under the nourishment of the spring breeze and rain. Looking around, the mountains and fields are full of green.
"King!"
Yan Zhou came on Pegasus from a distance, and raindrops kept hitting him. When he was only an inch away from the cloak, a weak blue light lit up, and the raindrops automatically fell to both sides.
Seeing Zhao Kuo, Yan Zhou got off his horse and walked over, his clothes and armor clattering against each other. When he came to him, Yan Zhou knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists and saluted.
Zhao Kuo strode forward to greet him, grabbed Yan Zhou's arms, lifted him up, and happily patted Yan Zhou on the shoulder: "Hahaha, my king's general is here."
During the march, Zhao Kuo was so surprised that he was almost speechless when he received the news that Yan Zhou led nine thousand cavalry into Yan's 150,000-strong army and captured the Yan army's commander, Li Fu.
He had never thought that this general of Zhao, who was only recorded in history books with only a few words and was rarely known to future generations, could be so powerful!
"The general deserves the first credit in this battle." Zhao Kuo grabbed Yan Zhou's hands, personally helped him to the right side and raised his head, and said solemnly.
The generals around looked at Yan Zhou with envy, but they had to be convinced in their hearts.
To be fair, if they were Yanzhou, they would never be able to charge into an army of 150,000 soldiers alone.
This is not only a matter of strength, but also of courage.
Generally, those who have the courage do not have the strength, and those who have the strength will not take such risks.
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty." Yan Zhou stood up quickly, feeling a little flattered.
"Are they Lifu and Rongxiao?" Zhao Kuo looked at the two men who were brought in by several soldiers, with only a rope tied to their hands.
Both of them had their inner energy sealed by Yan Zhou, so they didn't have to worry about breaking free from the rope and escaping.
"Your Majesty, the one on the left is Li Fu, and the one on the right is Rong Chong." Yan Zhou said. The two of them were lucky enough to avoid being shot to death by him.
However, Li Fu's eyes have been dull in the past two days, and sometimes he opens his mouth and lets his saliva drip on his clothes, looking a little stupid.
Yan Zhou didn't know whether it was because he was too cruel and hurt Li Fu's brain, or whether he was just pretending.
"Rong Chen has met King Zhao." Rong Chen said dejectedly, and there was no reaction from Li Fu next to him.
"General, are you willing to surrender to our army?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"I wish to surrender." Rong Chen said immediately.
"Untie General Rong." Zhao Kuo waved his hand.
The two guards immediately stepped forward and untied Rong Hao.
Li Fu still stood there with dull eyes, neither answering Zhao Kuo's words nor accusing Rong Chen of betraying the country.
"Take Li Fu down." Zhao Kuo waved his hand. Looking at Li Fu's appearance, it was obvious that he had not gotten over the failure yet.
But it's normal. Anyone who suddenly goes from being the Prime Minister of a country to being the commander of an army becomes a prisoner, or is captured among hundreds of thousands of people, will not be able to accept this blow.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the gradually warming weather suddenly turned a little cold. The Lifu march was not going well, but the weather forecast was quite accurate.
Zhao Kuo walked to the high platform outside the camp and looked towards Huchi. He could vaguely see small black dots busy in the distance. It seemed that the Yan army was building a barracks and seemed to be planning to fight.
"Your Majesty, the Yan army is not ready yet. Now is the time to launch an attack. It is better to let the last general lead the charge." Jia Yan cupped his fists and said.
It is a taboo for military strategists to camp with their backs to water, and the Yan army has just suffered a major defeat, the commander was captured, and it is raining heavily. If they launch an attack at this time, the Zhao army will definitely win!
"The Yan army should now hope that the princes' son Lejian will take the lead." Zhao Kuo thought for a moment and said, "Send someone over to try to persuade them to surrender."
Anything can happen on the battlefield. If Le Jian dies on the battlefield when the two sides are fighting, even if Le Yi doesn't say anything, there will be an unhealable rift in his heart with Zhao Guo or Zhao Kuo. .
If it can be avoided, it is better to avoid it.
"I will go there in person," Liu Ping said.
"Okay, then I'll trouble you, sir." Zhao Kuo nodded.
Liu Ping only took two guards to the Yan army camp, but he came back not long after.
"Your Majesty, my subordinates are incompetent, and the leader of the Yan army, Lejian, refuses to surrender." Liu Ping leaned over and said.
"Your Majesty, if that's the case, let's attack. Lejian will die in battle, and I hope you guys won't be able to say anything." Pang Nuan also said.
The two armies were fighting, and they were enemies of life and death. Zhao Kuo sent someone to remind him, which was the end of his kindness and righteousness.
Moreover, this is a good time to attack. If the Yan army waits for the general to set up camp, the Zhao army can defeat it, but it will incur some casualties.
Zhao Kuo was also very moved. Just when he was about to order an attack, a personal guard suddenly came over and reported.
"Your Majesty, a man came outside and claimed to be An Zong, the magistrate of Lingshou County. He said that he had urgent matters to report to your Majesty."
"Lingshou County Magistrate An Zong? Please come in quickly," Zhao Kuo said.
Less than two-quarters of an hour after Zhao Jun set up camp, the magistrate of Lingshou County came to ask for an audience. It was obvious that he had been waiting for a long time. If there was nothing important, this would definitely not be possible.
Moreover, the Yan army attacked all the way, and Lingshou was the only city that was not captured by the Yan army, which is enough to show the ability of Lingshou County Magistrate!
Such a character deserves Zhao Kuo to meet him in person.
"My minister, Lingshou County Magistrate An Zong, pays homage to your Majesty."
An Zong, the magistrate of Lingshou County, was about forty years old. He wore a crown, a green Confucian robe, and a small beard at the corner of his mouth. Although he was a little surprised when he saw Zhao Kuo, he still saluted in a neither humble nor overbearing manner.
That means there is no flattery, and no meaning of life.
However, Anzong did not come by himself. He also brought with him a woman who was about 28 years old. She had a face like a peach blossom, eyebrows like willow leaves, bright moon eyes, skin like gelatin, hands like catkins, and long black hair. Falling on the shoulders, it looks slightly soft.
To everyone's surprise, the woman was not wearing an embroidered dress, but a soldier's armor. Coupled with her tall figure and unique temperament, she exuded a heroic spirit despite her weakness, like a phoenix standing proudly on a branch. It's eye-catching.
"Who is this?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"Your Majesty, this is An Ning, the daughter of a lower official." An Zong said.
"Citizen girl An Ning pays homage to the king." The woman took a step forward, clasped her fists in salute, and said loudly and forcefully, looking at Zhao Kuo with her smart eyes.
"Come here, give me a seat." Although Zhao Kuo didn't know why An Zong brought his daughter here, and he didn't look like someone who sold his daughter for glory, he still gave the two of them seats.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." An Zong and his daughter An Ning were a little confused as to why it was a chair instead of a seat, but when they saw other people sitting on chairs with calm faces, they sat down anyway.
"I heard that you have something important to report?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"This matter was actually discovered by the official's daughter, so let her speak." An Zong said.
Only then did Zhao Kuo understand why An Zong brought his daughter, so he turned to look at An Ning.
"Your Majesty, the daughter of the people discovered traces of Yan troops in the upper reaches of Huchi during her inspection, so she followed the traces and found that thousands of Yan troops were building dams upstream. The women suspected that the Yan troops were preparing to flood our army.
, so I came here to report it." An Ning said.
"What!"
Now everyone couldn't sit still.
Water and fire are merciless. In the face of floods, it doesn't matter whether your army is elite or not, unless you can swim or fly. Although Zhao's army is elite, it has not reached this level.
Moreover, most of the Zhao army are landlubbers. Once the Yan army bursts the dike of Huchi and floods the Zhao army, the Zhao army will inevitably suffer heavy losses.
"When did it happen?" Zhao Kuo asked quickly.
"It's been two days. The civilian girl asked my father to take me to look for traces of our army, but the cavalry was too fast. Although we encountered it twice, we never caught up, so we didn't have time to report it today." An Ning
said.
Next to him, Yan Zhou scratched his head in embarrassment. If he was right, he could only be the Zhao Jun cavalry that An Ning encountered.
But he was not to blame for this matter. He had not known about it before, and it was impossible for him to stop and wait for someone he did not know.
"Pang Nuan, immediately send someone to the upper reaches of Huchi to check." Zhao Kuo ordered.
"The folk girl will go with you." An Ning said.
"That's fine." Zhao Kuo nodded.
Pang Nuan and An Ning immediately led hundreds of fine cavalry towards the upper reaches of Huchi Lake.
"Thanks to Magistrate An this time, otherwise our army would have suffered heavy losses even if it defeated Yan in the end." Zhao Kuo walked up to An Zong and bowed.
Other generals followed Zhao Kuo and saluted An Zong.
An Zong stood up quickly, turned aside, and then said: "These are all the merits of the little girl, and the lower officials have no merit."
"Why is there no credit? Yan invaded and everything he went through was defeated. Only Lingshou, who was governed by the county magistrate An, not only did not surrender, but resisted the Yan army for three days, forcing the Yan army to bypass Lingshou in the end.
, attack other places. This is credit."
Zhao Kuo said loudly.
In this era, there is no such thing as the king letting the ministers die and the ministers having to die.
Surrendering and changing nationality are normal things, such as Rong Ben who just surrendered.
Therefore, Zhao Kuo did not feel disgusted with the officials who surrendered. After all, the times were like this and he had nothing to do.
Naturally, Zhao Kuo had to praise him for resisting to the death and set an example for other officials.
An Zong clasped his hands tightly and said with some embarrassment: "Actually, Lingshou was not guarded by the lower officials. These are all the merits of my daughter. She summoned two thousand female soldiers to guard the city in Lingshou. Lingshou was guarded by my daughter.
Under his leadership, he blocked the Yan army's attacks many times. Xiaguan... Xiaguan did not have any credit except for providing some food and grass so that the female soldiers guarding the city would not go hungry. Xiaguan did not dare to hide it from the king. If Xiaguan was allowed to
Defending the city, this Lingshou might have been captured by the Yan army long ago."
After saying that, An Zong lowered his head and did not dare to look up at Zhao Kuo.
No wonder An Zong was wearing a Confucian robe, while his daughter An Ning was wearing armor. It turns out that her daughter is the "general!"
"Your love (this name should not have been called this at this time) is really a good wife of my Zhao country." Zhao Kuo said with emotion.
Then, Zhao Kuo talked with An Zong about some governance matters.
Zhao Kuo discovered that although Anzong was not good at military affairs, he was still qualified to govern. Previously, almost all Zhao's strong men were on the front lines, and normal farming could not be done everywhere. Lingshou had the least impact among the nearby cities.
There was a famine in other places and people were fleeing everywhere. Although the people in Lingshou were not doing well, they could barely survive and even accepted many refugees.
Among them, there is the reason why Lingshou was the capital of the Zhongshan Kingdom before and it has a rich cultural heritage. There is also the reason why An Zong worked hard day and night to manage Lingshou.
Therefore, the people of Lingshou are willing to follow their father and daughter to guard Lingshou!
In less than half an hour, Pang Nuan and An Zong rushed back.
"Your Majesty, there is really a Yan army building a dam upstream. I was afraid of disturbing them, so I didn't dare to get close, so I chose to go around. Judging from the water level upstream, the Yan army will breach the dam in Huchi by tomorrow morning at the latest." Pang Nuan said quickly.
"Thankfully our king still thought of leaving a way for Na Lejian to survive. I didn't expect that he actually wanted to flood our army. He is simply a despicable and insidious villain," Jia Yan cursed.
"When I catch Lejian, I must make him look good." Yan Xiong also shook his fist as big as a sandbag and said with a glare.
"Your Majesty, I would like to lead an army to destroy the Yan army in the upper reaches of Huanchi." Yan Zhou immediately asked for orders.
"Your Majesty, let me come." Pang Nuan quickly followed.
"Your Majesty, let me come."
All the generals asked for orders one after another.
"Pang Nuan." Zhao Kuo looked around and said.
"I'm here."
"Immediately lead an army of 10,000 to destroy the Yan army in the upper reaches of Huchi Lake."
"No." Pang Nuan immediately said with his fists clasped and strode outside.
"Lecheng." Zhao Kuo said again.
"I'm here." Lecheng took a step forward and said with cupped fists.
"Lead an army of ten thousand to test the Yan army." Zhao Kuo said.
If Lejian planned to flood the Zhao army, it would be impossible to station an army of 150,000 troops by the river. Otherwise, the water from the upper reaches would wash down and the losses of the Yan army would definitely be much more serious than that of the Zhao army.
There must be something wrong here.
"No." Le Cheng immediately understood what Zhao Kuo meant.
"Are there any highlands or mountains nearby?" Zhao Kuo looked at the Anzong County Magistrate and An Ning.
"There is a big mountain to the east, not far away, only about ten miles away." An Zong said.
"Jia Yan, immediately take people to the mountains to check whether there is an ambush by the Yan army. Yan Zhou, you are responsible for responding." Zhao Kuo ordered.
If the Yan army by Huchi is a decoy, then the main force of the Yan army must be ambushing nearby, waiting for the water to flood the Zhao army and rush down to defeat the Zhao army.
"No." Jia Yan and Yan Zhou immediately accepted the order and left.
"In addition, the entire army is ordered to be on alert. Once the flood comes down, all food, grass and baggage will be thrown away immediately to save lives," Zhao Kuo said.
Although Pang Nuan has led his army to destroy the Yan army upstream, it is difficult to say that no accident will happen.
"No." Everyone else turned around and went down to make arrangements.
Only Zhao Kuo, An Zong, An Ning, and Ben who were always by Zhao Kuo's side were left in the camp.
An Ning looked at Zhao Kuo with beautiful eyes. He could actually think of so many things in one moment and arrange them in an orderly manner.
The way he gives orders is so cool!
When looking for a man, look for someone like this!
"Either you are smarter than me, or you are stronger than me, otherwise why should you conquer me?"
Now, An Ning feels that she has met a man who is both smarter and stronger than herself!
An Zong sighed deeply when he saw his daughter's appearance. He knew that his daughter was attracted by Zhao Kuo.
It's normal when you think about it. Zhao Kuo first led the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms to defeat the Qin State, and then besieged Handan and became the monarch of the Zhao State. He was also very handsome. What woman wouldn't want to marry such a man.
But I don't know why, even though Zhao Kuo is the most noble person in the Zhao Kingdom, An Zong still feels a little unhappy. He always feels like the vegetables that have been grown at home for many years have been overtaken by pigs.
