On the evening of the 21st, Du You, dressed in regular clothes, brought Gongsun Mao to the post house. The two soldiers following him each held a large jar of wine in their hands. When Chu Nanfeng saw this, he smiled at Weng Mu and said, "It seems that Du
The general has found a clever plan."
When Du You came to the hall, the official who came to the post house after hearing the news bowed to Du You and said, "As per the general's instructions, the dishes are ready. Please move to the dining room to eat."
It turned out that before Du You arrived, he had sent someone to ask the post house kitchen to prepare the dishes. Chu Nanfeng and others looked at each other and smiled, then followed Du You to the dining room. After some negotiation, Chu Nanfeng sat in the first place.
Cheng Zheng, Weng Mu, Luo Xiaoyao were sitting on the left, Du You, and Gongsun Mao were sitting on the right. However, seeing the presence of outsiders, Chu and Cheng Rou were unwilling to serve, so Du You had to send someone to the room to eat.
When everyone was seated, Du You took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Chu Nanfeng, "The Marquis has ordered Commander Zhao of Huazhou to lead five thousand troops to Cizhou. Du has presented Senior Weng's strategy.
, I think defeating the enemy is just around the corner.”
Seeing Chu Nanfeng looking at the note with some thoughts, he stopped talking and heard Chu Nanfeng ask: "Who is the Marquis?"
Du You hesitated and replied: "The Marquis is originally the nephew of the Holy Emperor. His surname is Chai and his given name is Rong. As a prince, he now worships the Governor of Chanzhou and the Marquis of Taiyuan."
When Chu Nanfeng heard this, he was secretly shocked, but he kept his expression as usual. He raised his glass and said to Du Youyan: "The general is not wearing armor, but he is even more majestic. I would like to toast the general Chu."
Du You looked at his regular clothes, laughed, and raised his wine glass, "I think Mr. Jingchu, the last general, is the senior general."
In the face of a formidable enemy, no one dared to enjoy themselves. After three rounds of drinking, Du You said goodbye to Chu Nanfeng and others and returned home. At noon the next day, a fast horse rushed up in front of the Yamen in Xizhou, and immediately jumped up to a soldier.
He rushed into the yamen and delivered a small bamboo tube to Du You, who was discussing military affairs with Governor Zhou. Du You hurriedly took out the letter hidden in it, opened it and read it for a while, then handed it to Governor Zhou, turned to the messengers and said: "Send the message to all the battalions.
The commander will come to the state government office immediately to discuss matters..."
It turned out to be a letter from Cizhou reinforcements, agreeing to attack the Han and Liao allied forces outside the city in the early morning three days later. After the commanders of all the battalions arrived, Du You began to arrange military affairs. Suddenly, he remembered something, and called his soldiers to go to the post house to capture Chu.
Nanfeng and Weng Mu were invited. After Chu Nanfeng and Weng Mu arrived at the Yamen, Du You and Zhou Governor welcomed them into the hall. When they sat down, Du You cupped his hands and said to Chu Nanfeng.
: "Dumou has something to ask of me, and I hope Mr. Chu can help me."
Chu Nanfeng glanced at Weng Mu with a thoughtful look, and said to Du You: "General, you might as well say it bluntly."
"Cizhou reinforcements have been deployed according to the strategy proposed by Senior Weng, and it is agreed that around 3:30 in the early morning of the 24th, they will attack the enemy from both front and rear."
Pointing to a marching map in front of him, "The valley where the enemy is hiding is more than forty miles away from Xizhou City and is at a fork in the road. From the south of Xizhou City to this fork in the road, go straight to Jinzhou. Turn right.
It leads to Cizhou, and this valley is three miles away from this fork in the direction of Cizhou."
"At this time, the weather is dry and things are turbulent. Even if the enemy's ambush troops are not burned by the fire, they will be damaged by the thick smoke. They will break up and flee, either to Jinzhou or to join the enemy outside the city. At that time, Cizhou's reinforcements will take advantage of the victory and attack.
, our army goes out of the city to attack from a flank, and the enemy army will be defeated."
After a pause, he moved his finger to another position on the map, "Now the enemy's nearly 20,000 troops are gathered together to annihilate them. I'm afraid our army is not strong enough and can only be divided and destroyed. The enemy troops are attacked from the front and rear by our army.
We will definitely try our best to escape from the east of the city to Fenzhou, and we will definitely pass through Wudunkou of Changshou Village. Du has already ordered his troops to move his two battalions here to ambush the deserters."
After looking at Chu, Weng and the other two said: "It is said that we should capture the king first before we capture the thief. It's just that there are many martial arts people around the enemy generals who will serve as guards. They are afraid that they will not be able to kill them, but will suffer harm instead, so I want to invite..."
Before Du You finished speaking, Weng Mu interrupted and said: "This is feasible. I will attack with the general, and Mr. Chu will hold the battle at the top of the city."
That day, Chu Nanfeng did not join him in attacking the monks. He knew that Chu Nanfeng was not a murderous person, and he was afraid that Chu Nanfeng would be in trouble, so he agreed first.
In the early morning of the 24th, a thousand cavalry and more than 3,000 infantry, wearing armor and holding weapons, lined up at the south gate of the city, ready to go. Du You went up to the crenellations of the city wall and stared at the enemy camp for a while, then looked at Weng Mu and a few people beside him.
The commander said: "If the enemy's ambush in the valley is destroyed, their scouts will definitely find out the news. There will definitely be some movement in the enemy camp by then. At that time, they will open the city gate and go straight to the enemy camp to attack. They will be stationed on the hillside in the southeast.
There is also a purpose, I think it is to retreat to the east and take the road behind the hills to prevent our army from charging directly from the east of the city. Hehe, this is good, and then let them taste the power of Zhou's soldiers and horses.
"
When dawn was about to break, a commotion was faintly seen in the Han-Liao coalition camp, and then a dull sound of horse hoofbeats came from a distance. Du You knew that reinforcements were about to arrive, and shouted loudly: "Send the order, open the city gate and attack."
"Woo, woo" the horn sounded, the war drums suddenly sounded, the city gates opened wide, and four thousand men and horses rushed out from the east gate and south gate to kill the enemy camp. Commander Liu of the Han army reported that the ambush had been wiped out after he scouted the horse.
, immediately ordered the right-wing battalion to turn to the rear camp, preparing to resist the Cizhou reinforcements coming from the rear.
Hearing the sound of war drums in Xizhou City, he felt bad, so he ordered the left wing camp and the front camp to come out to meet him. However, he saw the fire arrows falling like meteors into the rear camp tents, the fire was rolling, and the horses' neighing and killing sounds shook the sky.
As soon as the soldiers from the front camp and the left wing camp rushed out of the camp, thousands of Zhou troops in the city were already attacking. They suddenly panicked and were overturned. In an instant, the two soldiers and horses were mixed together.
Commander Liu didn't know how many reinforcements had arrived, so he was panicked and ordered the Chinese army to retreat to the road behind the hill on the right.
Yelu Zongwu's cavalry was stationed on the left wing. When they heard the roar of horse hooves two or three miles behind, they knew something was wrong and hurriedly ordered their cavalry to prepare for battle. Immediately afterwards, the rear camp was on fire. Zhou soldiers rushed out of the city in front, and Han troops were seen again.
There was a huge chaos. Remembering Xiao Yanbei's words, he hurriedly ordered the cavalry to retreat eastward around the hills.
When Chu Nanfeng heard the horn sound, he and Luo Xiaoyao left the post house and ran to the south gate of the city. It wasn't that Chu Nanfeng didn't want to go to the city gate early, but Du You didn't allow it. He just said that he heard
After the trumpet sounds, just go to the top of the city and watch how the Zhou army kills the enemy.
Looking up, I saw a fire behind the enemy camp. After a while, the flames spread in all directions. Suddenly, smoke billowed, and red and yellow flames reflected the sky above the enemy camp. The burned tents and other objects were turned into ashes, flying up and down in the air.
When the Han army's front and rear camp soldiers were fighting with swords, they suddenly saw the Liao cavalry and the Chinese army camp troops retreating behind the hill. They suddenly lost their fighting spirit and turned around to follow the Chinese army camp troops to retreat. For a time, Han and Liao soldiers were killed and injured.
Countless and defeated.
Upon seeing this, Du You ordered his soldiers to join forces with Cizhou reinforcements to pursue the enemy soldiers from behind the hill, while he led a thousand soldiers and horses to turn around and rush from the east road of the city to intercept them.
After Weng Mu followed Du You for more than ten miles, he encountered the Han army retreating from the road behind the hill. At this time, most of the Han army had already rushed onto the road. How could he dare to stop when he saw Du You approaching?
Fighting, they fled quickly, but the Han army who was still in the hill passage saw that they were blocked and had no way forward and backward, but they fought desperately.
Weng Mu followed Du You and blocked any random arrows and sword attacks one by one. He was not a murderous person. He would only blow away the enemies who were close to him when he had no choice but to kill one or two occasionally.
It was helpless. When they followed Du You to a valley dozens of feet square, they saw many Han and Zhou soldiers fighting with swords. A twenty-year-old Zhou soldier wearing a red bird helmet and leather armor
The general was fighting on horseback with a Han general wearing cloth armor.
The general of the Zhou army held an eyebrow-level stick in his hand and swiped it on the back of the fleeing Han general. Thinking that his equestrian skills were extraordinary, the general turned over to the right side of the horse. Unexpectedly, the Zhou general swiped the stick with his stick.
Kong, couldn't help shouting "Okay."
At this time, the Han general sat on the saddle again. When he saw General Zhou turning his mount and galloping towards him, he hit his head with a stick. He quickly raised the crossbar of his spear. The stick and gun collided. The Han general felt his chest shake and his arms
Feeling paralyzed, he almost wanted to let go of his spear. He was frightened. He hurriedly pressed his legs together to urge the horse to gallop forward. When the two horses were passing by each other, Zhou Jiang swung his stick with his right hand and hit the man in the back. The man in the general's mouth
He spurted blood and fell off his horse. Upon seeing this, several Zhou soldiers swarmed up and tied up the Han general. At this time, the Han soldiers were either killed or captured, and the Zhou army in the valley burst into cheers.
Du You urged his horse forward and said to the Zhou general: "The last general is Du You, the defender of Xizhou. May I ask who the general is?"
That Zhou general returned the favor and said, "Zhao Kuangyin, the commander of Huazhou and the pioneer of the Ping Kou West Road, has met General Du."
Du You looked at the dark-skinned and burly Zhao Kuangyin in front of him, and praised: "It turns out to be General Zhao. The general is very skilled in martial arts. It is an eye-opener for Du."
He turned to look at Weng Mu and said to Zhao Kuangyin: "General Zhao, this is Senior Weng who proposed the plan to set fire to the ambush."
"Zhao Kuangyin has met Senior Weng. Thanks to Senior's good strategy, we won a great victory today. Senior Weng deserves a great contribution."
Weng Mu saw that he was twenty-six or seven years old, and his skills were already at the level of Guyuan Realm. This was rare among the generals who held the rank of commander. It should be known that most generals in high positions had less time to practice martial arts and cultivate talents as their official positions were higher.
I was naturally too lazy to practice, but when I saw his polite words, I felt good about him. He stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "General Zhao is the one who can destroy thieves and bandits. General Du is brave. How can I dare to take credit for an old warrior?"
"Senior, that's a compliment." Du You and Zhao Kuangyin looked at each other and smiled, then ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, and together with Weng Mu, each led a group of soldiers back to the city.
In the south of the city, Governor Zhou led a group of officials to prepare early and stood by the suspension bridge to welcome everyone's triumphant return. Amidst a burst of congratulations, Du You looked around but did not see Chu Nanfeng. He guessed that Chu Nanfeng did not like official entertainment and returned.
After arriving at the post house, he led Zhao Kuangyin and others to the state government office. After arranging some military affairs, he said to Zhao Kuangyin: "General Zhao, Du wants to take the general to visit a gentleman. I wonder what the general wants?"
Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin didn't know what he meant for a moment and looked confused. Du You briefly described what happened when Chu Nanfeng and his party discovered that the enemy troops were attacking the city. When he learned that Chu Nanfeng came from Taibai Mountain, he looked slightly surprised and looked at Weng beside him.
Mu, "Unexpectedly, Senior Weng and Mr. Chu not only provided strategies to destroy the enemy, but also saved the lives of tens of thousands of people in our Xizhou. Zhao should go and pay homage to Mr. Chu."
Weng Mu laughed loudly, and as Du You took Zhao Kuangyin to the post house, Chu Nanfeng thought that Du You had just finished the battle, and he should be involved in a lot of military affairs. He didn't expect it to arrive so quickly, "Congratulations, general, on your great victory."
,return with glory."
"Thanks to Mr. Chu, Senior Weng for the plan, and General Zhao for his bravery, haha..." Du You paused, and then introduced to Zhao Kuangyin: "General Zhao, this is Mr. Chu."
Zhao Kuangyin looked at the gentle and elegant Chu Nanfeng, bowed and saluted and said: "Junior Zhao Kuangyin, I would like to pay my respects to Mr. Chu. I have admired his name for a long time. It is a great honor to meet him today."
Du You next to him had a look of astonishment when he heard this, and Chu Nanfeng also looked a little surprised. But after hearing that he was known as a junior, he thought of the reason and smiled slightly, "Jungui (Guo Rong's name)...oh, it should be called
It's Mr. Hou, how is he doing now?"
"The Marquis is in Bianjing, and will soon lead an army with Lord Wang Jun to attack the bandits in Jinzhou. Knowing that Xizhou City is trapped, I asked my juniors to lead the troops to come to the rescue."
The marquis in their words was Chai Rong, the nephew of Emperor Guo Wei of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Guo Wei was tabooed by Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty, and all of Chai Rong's family members in Beijing were massacred by Emperor Yin. After the founding of the country, Guo Wei accepted Chai Zong as his adopted son and changed his name.
Guo Rong was appointed as the Governor of Chanzhou and the Marquis of Taiyuan.
Chai Rong's family was very wealthy when he was young. His father heard about the reputation of "Taibai Academy" and sent him to Taibai Academy to study literature and martial arts when he was twelve years old. He did not leave Taibai Academy until three years later.
Chai Rong was deeply grateful for his teacher's kindness and respected his sect. He would go to Taibai Mountain every year to visit his elders at the academy. Later, he followed Guo Wei in his wars in the north and south, but he could not leave. However, he would also order his own soldiers to go to the mountain to send gifts to pay homage to the marquis.
Zhao Kuangyin followed Chai Rong and naturally knew about this. Chu Nanfeng looked at Zhao Kuangyin and said, "General Zhao is so young and brave and good at fighting. He will definitely be the pillar of the country one day."
Zhao Kuangyin's face turned slightly red when he heard this: "The stone thieves are shameless and seceded our sixteen states of Youyun to the Khitan. Today's sages are talented and have great plans. I have a little knowledge of martial arts. I should serve my family and country and follow my sages to regain Youyun."
Chu Nanfeng looked at Zhao Kuangyin with a solemn expression and sighed in his heart. He thought that when his master Yi Wuwei followed Huang Chao, he must have been so passionate. He couldn't help but nodded and praised: "What a spirit."
At this time, Du You's personal soldiers came to report that Jia, who was ambushing in Wudunkou, had returned triumphantly after killing more than a thousand enemies. Everyone was overjoyed. After chatting for a while in the post house, Du You invited Chu Nanfeng.
Cheng Zheng and others went to Zhouya together to attend the celebration banquet organized by Zhou Governor. Naturally, Chu Nanfeng could not refuse, so he went to Zhouya with everyone. The whole city was celebrating, and it was a lively event.
At midnight on the next day, Chu Nanfeng, Luo Xiaoyao and his entourage packed up their horses and drove away from the post house in the direction of Cizhou. Someone informed Du You, and Du You and Zhao Kuangyin galloped after hearing the report.
Chu Nanfeng, who was three miles away from the city gate, saw the two men rushing towards him. Before they could speak, he smiled and said: "There is no such thing as a banquet in the world. Generals, please go back. Jinzhou is still in danger.
The two generals still need to take care of themselves, so Chu left without saying goodbye because he was afraid of delaying the military affairs of the two generals."
Du and Zhao both knew that what Chu Nanfeng said was reasonable. They looked at each other and Du You said: "It is a time of war. Mr. Chu is returning to the academy this time. There may be many soldiers questioning him on the way. Wait for Du to send some relatives."
Send the troops to Cizhou to save you some trouble."
Chu Nanfeng naturally refused, and Du and Zhao had no choice but to see him off. Under Chu Nanfeng's urging, he bowed his hands and said goodbye. The journey from Xizhou to Cizhou was about two hundred miles, and they arrived at Cizhou City Tianye.
It was almost dark, so everyone found an inn in the city to rest for the night.
The next day, after traveling more than 30 miles out of the city, we entered a village. As we walked along the village road, we suddenly heard a burst of yelling. Suddenly, we saw a little girl rushing out of an alley on the street, holding a chicken in her hand. She almost ran into her. The mount of the arrow guard in front.
Chasing behind was a village woman holding a wooden stick, cursing at the mouth. The little girl had a ponytail, her face was covered with dirt, and she was wearing a large dirty cloth robe. She turned her head and hid beside the carriage. I thought it was a naughty child and was beaten by an elder, but now I saw the little girl pretending to be a naughty child and realized that she was wrong.
The woman chased him and cursed: "Where did you come from, little beggar? You dared to steal my chickens. I want to teach you a lesson, you little thief." After saying this, she raised her stick to beat her.
Weng Mu hurriedly dismounted and stopped him: "Madam, please tell me slowly if you have something to do..."
At this time, Ms. Chu also opened the car curtains, but she saw that the little girl was about ten years old. Her face was as dirty as a melon seed. She thought she hadn't washed her face for a while, and her watery eyes were filled with tears. She was really pitiful, so she got down. He got off the carriage and said to the little girl: "Little girl, where is your home? Why did you steal other people's chickens?"
The little girl bit her lip, tears dripping down, but remained silent. Mrs. Chu sighed when she saw this, and said to Cheng Ju, who was leaning out of the carriage window: "Rou'er, get some dry food."
Mrs. Chu took the dry food from Cheng Rou and handed it to the little girl, "You return this chicken to others, and you can eat the dry food. It is not good to steal other people's things."
Unexpectedly, the little girl hugged the chicken to her chest and shook her head, but she refused. Mrs. Chu frowned and saw that she didn't say a word, so she couldn't help but wonder: "Little girl, did you hear me?" Words?”
The little girl nodded when she heard this. Mrs. Chu smiled bitterly, squatted down and said softly: "Why don't you return the stolen chicken to others?"
The little girl hesitated for a moment, "My adoptive father is sick... he wants to eat chicken..."
Mrs. Chu stood up, shook her head and sighed: "Hey, this world..."
Then he took out a piece of broken silver from the bag and handed it to the village woman, "This lady, this child is also very filial, so I will give this chicken to her. You can accept this piece of silver as compensation."
The village woman looked at the money in Chu's hand that could buy more than ten chickens. She happily reached out and took it, saying, "You little thief, you are really lucky. You have met a noble person." Thank you. After meeting the Chu family, he turned around and left.
"Thank you, madam." The little girl bit her lip, wiped her tears with her dirty sleeve, then turned around and ran out of the village.
Mrs. Chu shouted from behind: "Hey, little girl, bring some dry food..."
As if she had not heard anything, the little girl ran around with the chicken for about three miles and came to a shabby house on the side of a hill. In the corner of this shabby house was an unkempt and unshaven man with a dripping forehead. He was sweating, covering his chest with his hands and looking like he was in severe pain. When he saw the little girl carrying the chicken back, he stretched out his hand to snatch the chicken, bit into the chicken's neck, and sucked it hard. Instantly, the chicken blood dripped down his beard and fell onto his chest. The man didn't care and looked very scary. The little girl seemed to be used to it and showed no fear on her face.
The man drank up the chicken blood, threw down the dead chicken, closed his eyes and meditated, made an appointment for a cup of tea, opened his eyes, exhaled slowly, stood up, and came to the little girl sitting on the threshold. , squatted down and stretched out his hand to touch the little girl's face, smiled and said: "Are you afraid, little Qingqing?"
The little girl named Qingqing was Chang Shan's sister Chang Qingqing who was rescued by Chu Nanfeng. Hearing this, he stretched out his hand to wipe the remaining chicken blood from the man's mouth, but shook his head, "Don't be afraid, foster father.
"
This man's name was Gan Shaolong, and he was from Jinzhou. His family was poor. His father was a tenant farmer of a local wealthy family named Sun. One time, while his father was leading a cow to plow the fields, he encountered several people on horseback. The cow was frightened and ran away wildly.
Gan's father could not catch up, so he had to go back and tell the truth to the big family named Sun about the missing cattle. The big family named Sun was a rich and unkind person. Since he did not believe it, he falsely accused him of selling the cattle.
The cattle were more important to the farmers than their lives. The imperial court also established special laws to protect the cattle. Anyone who killed or stole the cattle would be exiled in the least case or beheaded in the most serious case. Ganfu did not recognize it.
The wealthy family surnamed Sun had their slaves beat Gan Fu severely and sent him to the government office. Two days later, a hunter found the cattle and brought them to the government office. They confirmed that they were the cattle of the wealthy family surnamed Sun, and the government officials released Gan Fu home.
Gan's father was already weak and could not withstand a severe beating. He was already dying when he returned home.
Naturally, the Gan family was poor and had no money to buy medicine for medical treatment, so Gan's mother went to the wealthy family named Sun to argue and ask for the money for the medicine. Unexpectedly, she was kicked out by a slave named Sun. Gan's mother returned home and looked at the dying Gan.
Father, unable to think about it, he threw himself into a well. A few days later, Father Gan also passed away.
Gan Shaolong was only fourteen years old at that time. Seeing the death of his parents, he was filled with grief and anger. He swore in his heart to avenge his parents, so he left his hometown and sought the apprenticeship of someone with a reputation for martial arts. For half a year, he was like a beggar, looking for a teacher everywhere but without success.
Wandering to a village in Fangzhou, I heard that there is Yaowang Valley not far away. The owner of the valley has extraordinary martial arts, excellent medical skills and many good deeds. If the surrounding residents or hunters are injured by poisonous insects or beasts, they will not accept any money from Yaowang Valley for treatment. Gan Shaolong
Then he inquired about the general location and headed towards Yaowang Valley.
Five or six days later, I came to a large mountain. I saw a vast forest and a white mist covering the sky. I could not see the Yaowang Valley. I looked around and saw no one. I thought there might be one or two families of hunters living in the forest.
Feeling brave enough, I entered the forest. Unexpectedly, after searching for more than half an hour, I didn't see anyone. I saw the sky was getting dark, and there were occasional unknown animal noises coming from all around. I was horrified, so I ran down the mountain and accidentally stepped on it.
He tripped over a stone. His body was already thin and he had not eaten for two days. He fell down and passed out.
When he woke up, he found himself lying in a bamboo house. A few rays of light shone in through the bamboo door. He thought it was daytime. He got up, opened the bamboo door, and found that he was in a valley, with ten trees on the left.
There is a bamboo building with three rooms on each side. Opposite are two bamboo buildings two feet apart, surrounded by bamboo fences.