Three days before Zhao Yang's army arrived, Xu Fengnian led a thousand snow dragons and hid in the valley near Xionghaiguan, waiting for the opportunity.
When the time came, Zhao Yang mobilized all his troops to attack Xionghaiguan but failed. He was hungry, exhausted, and morale was declining. When he returned, the military formation was no longer as rigorous as it had been a few days ago.
In addition, making fire to cook food made the soldiers slack.
Xu Fengnian immediately understood that the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived, and immediately led Ning Emei, Yuan Meng, Lu Kang, Li Hanlin and other Beiliang fierce generals to break into Zhao Yang's army and go straight to Zhao Yang's commander's tent.
Everything went as Xu Fengnian expected, with the siege in the past few days and the Zhao Yang army fighting fiercely all morning.
Facing the surprise attack from Beiliang's most elite Snow Dragon Riders, there was no time to organize an effective defense.
Xu Fengnian led the Snow Dragon Cavalry and easily attacked the vicinity of Zhao Yang's commander's tent.
Even though Zhao Yang and Gao Shizhi led their elite guards to resist, they could not withstand the charge of Beiliang Snow Dragon Cavalry with Xu Fengnian as the tip.
However, the elite unit of the Western Gyeonggi Army, which had high hopes, was unable to come over due to the obstruction of the rebel army.
Seeing that Xu Fengnian was about to reach the tent, they realized that nothing could be done. Zhao Yang and Gao Shizhi could only leave some of their own soldiers to stop them, and they retreated with less than a hundred troops.
As long as they can break away from Xu Fengnian's pursuit and reorganize their defense line, there is still a chance to turn defeat into victory.
After all, Xu Fengnian only led a thousand cavalry. Even the most elite troops could not stop a hundred with one.
After he regains his breath, stabilizes his position, and joins the Western Army, he can calmly dispatch a large force to surround and kill Xu Fengnian.
After seeing that Zhao Yang and others retreated and the commander's tent was empty, Xu Fengnian ordered his cavalry to unfurl the Beiliang flag that had been prepared.
After the soldiers who originally belonged to Hezhou saw the Beiliang flag flying in the Chinese army's tent, they again recalled the fear of being defeated by the Beiliang army before and were the first to retreat.
Xu Fengnian took the opportunity and ordered his soldiers to shout that coach Zhao Yang, deputy coach Gao Shizhi and others were dead.
As a result, the Jizhou soldiers also collapsed along with the Hezhou soldiers.
The army was in chaos, and countless people were trampled and killed.
The elite Western Army was also dispersed by the huge rebel army, unable to exert any advantage and joined the disintegrating army.
Xu Fengnian led his army to pursue them for more than thirty miles and beheaded more than 5,000 people.
At Gaoshuipo in Jizhou, they surrounded the retreating army commander Zhao Yang and deputy commander Gao Shizhi.
Seeing that the situation was beyond control, Zhao Yang faced Tai'an City and committed suicide. Gao Shizhi was captured.
One of the two commanders was killed and the other was captured. The 120,000-strong army fled and the Liang army captured 50,000 people.
Xu Fengnian dismissed the prisoners that day and asked them to return to their hometown.
In the battle of Xionghaiguan, Xu Fengnian defeated Liyang's 120,000-strong army with only a thousand Beiliang Jingqi.
For a moment, the world was shaken.
After reuniting with Xu Longxiang's Liangzhou left cavalry, Xu Fengnian escorted Gao Shizhi into Jizhou.
Jizhou was already depleted of troops due to the departure of the troops led by Zhao Yang and Gao Shizhi. The garrison stationed here learned the news of the defeat on the front line from the soldiers who were released.
After seeing Gao Shizhi captured in front of the Beiliang Army.
Not daring to resist any longer, he led his troops out of the city and surrendered.
With the surrender of the Jizhou garrison, it meant that the last barrier to the north of Liyang collapsed, and the Northern Liang army could march directly to the gates of Tai'an City.
At this time, Tai'an City also received news of Zhao Yang's defeat and Jizhou's surrender.
Tai'an City is the place where news can't be kept secret the most.
The news that King Beiliang was about to attack Tai'an City spread to every corner of the city in less than a day.
Most of the people in Tai'an City spared no effort to scold the young vassal king for his treason, believing that as soon as King Qin's army from all over Liyang arrived, King Beiliang would only end up dead.
Unlike the common people in the city, the civil and military officials of Liyang Dynasty, who were usually high-spirited and bossy to Beiliang, rarely remained silent in the morning.
Zhao Zhuan asked about countermeasures, but no one from the civil and military officials of the court responded.
In the end, it was the chief assistant Qi Yanglong who gave the countermeasures.
Beiliang
No one can defeat the cavalry in the field. Only by gathering the troops near Gyeonggi and defending the city can we have a chance.
At the same time, Gu Jiantang was ordered to lead a part of the elite troops of the two Liaos to go south to quell the rebellion.
In addition, the people's support is still with the imperial court, so Liyang also needs to train troops on a large scale for future counterinsurgency purposes.
Following Qi Yanglong's suggestion, Zhao Zhuan issued an order to mobilize elite troops stationed in various parts of the capital to enter the capital.
At the same time, Gu Jiantang was ordered to lead one hundred thousand elite troops south to quell the rebellion.
No one thought that the peaceful and prosperous era of just twenty years would be overturned in one day.
It was also because of the Xu family in Beiliang.
Twenty years ago, Xu Xiao did not choose to divide the river and rule. Since then, Liyang has been unified and the world has been stable.
Twenty years later, Xu Fengnian refused to accept the imperial edict, and his horse trampled the Central Plains. No one could control the huge Liyang.
Liyang's Guo Zuo was actually as rumored. Without the help of the Xu family's butchers, Liyang's official title might not be stable.
All the ministers in the court felt extremely humiliated by this result.
For example, Wen Shouren, the leader of the twelve great scholars, Yan Jiexi, a relative of the emperor, Jin Lanting, the minister of rites, and others.
However, they didn't have much time to feel the humiliation, because the Beiliang Iron Cavalry had already arrived.
Just after Liyang issued an order to gather all the garrison troops in Gyeonggi Province and enter Beijing.
After finally raising 50,000 troops, on the way to Tai'an City, they did not expect the Northern Liang Army to arrive so quickly.
Xu Fengnian led the Northern Liang cavalry to intercept and was defeated in a battle.
The Eastern Army, known as Liyang's most elite army, was completely wiped out in this battle.
Foreign aid has been lost, and there are only less than 20,000 defenders in Liyang City.
Amid the fear of countless people in Tai'an City, 30,000 Northern Liang iron cavalry approached the gates of Tai'an City.
Under the sun, Beiliang's black armor shines brightly.
The Beiliang cavalry deployed in a tight formation and were full of murderous intent, like man-eating beasts. The soldiers in Tai'an City were terrified when they saw it.
Xu Fengnian, surrounded by the Snow Dragon Riders, came to Tai'an City again.
At this time, he was wearing the black gold python robe sewn by the Beiliang Golden Thread Weaving Bureau, riding on the horse Shiwachi, looking at the majestic Tai'an city wall and the sparse soldiers on the wall in the past, and sneered.
Said: "Li Yang, it's nothing more than that."
Xu Yanbing, who was guarding at the side, curled his lips when he heard this.
In the second year of Xiangfu, in late winter, soldiers from Northern Liang surrounded Tai'an City in Liyang.
"Get the bow." Xu Fengnian did not order the attack, but ordered his personal guards to get the bow.
The guard stepped forward with his bow drawn. Xu Fengnian drew the bow to the full moon. His arrow was as fast as a meteor, and he shot down the banner at the top of Tai'an City with one arrow.
When the captain was still in shock, Xu Fengnian's voice came from the city.
The sound was so loud that it could be heard throughout the city.
"What happened today is to avenge you, Liyang, for humiliating the late king of Gubeiliang. When you go back, tell Zhao Zhuan that Liyang has ordered that no one be allowed to enter our Beiliang."
After saying this, without waiting for the reaction of the soldiers on the city, Xu Fengnian led the Beiliang cavalry to leave.
It was thought that the city of Tai'an would be destroyed today, and many ministers secretly wrote letters of surrender. No one expected that this war would end in such an anticlimactic way.
Xu Fengnian led the cavalry southward regardless of what the people in the city thought.