Chapter 666: Li Mi's Rise
Chapter 666: Li Mi's Rise
Xiong Kuohai slowly drew out his sword, threw away the leather sheath, and looked towards the opponent like an eagle, his eyes full of provocation.
Zhai Mohou roared, and the two halberds in his hands flew up and down, and he pounced towards Xiong Kuohai like a rolling dark cloud.
Xiong Kuohai was very low-key in the Wagang Army, so low-key that even his superior Xu Shiji didn't know his background. It was Yuan Wen who told Xu Shiji.
In the entire Wagang Army, except Xu Shiji, Zhang Jue and Shan Xiongxin who had just been discovered, no one else knew Xiong Kuohai's background or his martial arts.
When everyone saw that he was actually fighting a life-and-death battle with Zhai Mohou, everyone was worried for him.
In the rolling dark clouds, suddenly a flash of lightning pierced through the clouds, Xiong Kuohai drew his sword, and in an instant the clouds and fog disappeared, and the double halberds fell to the ground with a clang. Zhai Mohou stood in the middle of the wooden platform motionless, and Xiong Kuohai had returned to the edge of the wooden platform, and his eyes were not as sharp as before.
Zhai Hong realized something was wrong and shouted, "Why did you throw away your weapon? Pick it up quickly!"
At this time, Zhai Mohou's skull fell to the ground and rolled more than ten feet away. A headless corpse stood on the wooden platform, and blood spurted out from the jugular artery.
Everyone was stunned. They didn't even see how Xiong Kuohai drew his sword. At the first encounter, the head of the first Wagang master flew off.
Zhai Hong screamed and rushed to the martial arts stage like a madman, hugged his son's body, and howled with his mouth open.
No one sympathizes with him now. Everyone is waiting for the next scene. Zhai Rang loses. How will he give up his life? Will he commit suicide or be held down and chopped to death?
Zhai Hong suddenly yelled, "There is something wrong here, it's cheating, I don't accept it, I don't recognize this result!"
There was a sudden booing from all around. Shan Xiongxin could no longer hold back and stood up and shouted angrily: "If you lose, you must admit defeat and draw your sword to kill yourself! Don't force us to kill you."
Zhai Hong stared at Shan Xiongxin blankly, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind. He pointed at Shan Xiongxin and shouted, "Mr. Shan, you are avenging your personal grudge. You are seeking revenge against this general, and you will not succeed."
He turned around, picked up his son's body, picked up the head, and walked out of the field under the escort of more than thirty soldiers.
Hao Xiaode was furious. He stood up and said sternly, "Zhai Hong, are you going to break your promise?"
Zhai Hong still ignored him and instead quickened his pace. He had only one thought in mind, which was to quickly lead his troops away from Wagang Mountain.
Li Mi winked at Xiong Kuohai, and the long sword in Xiong Kuohai's hand suddenly flew up, like a flash of lightning across the sky, piercing Zhai Hong's neck. Amid exclamations, the long sword pierced through Zhai Hong's neck with a "puff!", and the tip of the sword came out of his throat, nailing Zhai Hong to the ground.
This is the flying sword of the world's number one assassin. The soldiers of the three armies of Wagang finally opened their eyes.
In total silence, Xu Shiji announced that Zhai Hong had lost the Tiandao Wuzheng. According to the bet, he not only lost his life, but his wealth and army also belonged to Li Mi.
Li Mi stood up excitedly. He won the bet. From having nothing the day before yesterday, today he had 15,000 troops. His strength had surpassed Hao Xiaode.
Li Mi immediately appointed Xiong Kuohai and Zhang Jue as left and right generals, each commanding 5,000 troops, and appointed Fang Yanzhao as his secretary to take charge of military affairs.
Fang Yanzao was the only one who followed Li Mi to Wagang. He also participated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion and had always been Li Mi's subordinate. Li Mi then distributed all his wealth to his more than 10,000 soldiers. Although each person got a small amount, only about ten strings of money, the soldiers still cheered and immediately forgot about their stingy old master Zhai Hong and began to be loyal to Li Mi.
Li Mi also secretly gave Zhai Hong's three beautiful concubines to Hao Xiaode, gave the weapons collected by Zhai Hong and his son to Shan Xiongxin, and gave Zhai Mohou's one-foot-long blue horse to Xu Shiji. Hao Xiaode, Xu Shiji and Shan Xiongxin were delighted, and the three of them unanimously agreed to list Li Mi as a member of the Chief Affairs Hall and make him one of the four leaders of the Wagang Army.
Next, Li Mi will display his talents and launch an offensive towards the position of commander-in-chief of the Wagang Army.
Time passed quickly and it was early December. Just the day after Cui Mei confirmed her pregnancy, Yang Lihua was ultimately unable to defeat the disease and passed away suddenly in her sleep.
Although Xiao Xia Suichao's mother was still in Qingcheng Mountain, she had an indifferent personality and devoted herself to practicing Taoism. Time had gradually diluted their mother-son relationship.
On the contrary, Yang Lihua cared for Xiao Xia like a mother, loved him like her own son, and gave him great help.
In Xiao Xia's heart, he had long regarded Yang Lihua as his mother and accompanied Yang Lihua through the last part of her life.
The death of Yang Lihua made Xiao Xia extremely sad. He ordered the whole city to mourn. He personally wore mourning clothes and kept vigil for his mother. Yang Lihua's coffin was temporarily placed in Daming Temple.
According to Yang Lihua's last wish, her coffin will eventually be sent to Tai Mausoleum for burial with her parents.
Historically, Yang Lihua should have died on the emperor's way to the west, but because of Xiao Xia's existence, Yang Lihua's fate was changed. She lived another eight years at the age of 57.
Similarly, her beloved granddaughter Li Jingxun should have died of illness ten years ago. It was also because of Xiao Xia's interference that Li Jingxun is now seventeen years old, still alive and healthy, and is engaged to Pei Renji's second son Pei Xingjian.
By late December, with the continuous arrival of battle reports from Lai Huer and Zhou Fashang, Xiao Xia finally came out of the grief of Yang Lihua's death.
Lai Huer led an army of 20,000 to land in Nanhai County, and with the full help of Feng Ang, the governor of Nanhai County, he defeated Lin Shihong's 50,000 troops in Qingyuan County of Nanhai County. Lai Huer pursued the enemy relentlessly, and eventually surrounded Lin Shihong and his 5,000 remaining troops in Fengchuan County of Cangwu County. The rebel general Kunning opened the city and surrendered with his troops. The veteran rebel Lin Shihong finally set himself on fire and died in despair.
Lai Huer led his army to sweep across the Lingnan counties. All the officials who had ulterior motives gave up the idea of rebellion and pledged allegiance to the Jiangnan Dao General Administration.
Xiao Xia immediately gave an order, appointing Lai Huer as the pacification envoy of the counties in the eastern part of Lingnan, and commanding his troops to station in the eastern part of Lingnan. At the same time, he urgently dispatched 10,000 troops to support Zhou Fashang.
As the East Road of Lingnan was stabilized, Xiao Xia sent officials to Nanhai County to open port for trade.
Unlike Lai Huer who ended the war in the eastern part of Lingnan, Zhou Fashang's war to quell the rebellion in the western part of Lingnan had just begun.
Zhou Fashang led an army of 30,000 to Guiyang County and immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the army of Dong Jingzhen, the governor of Guiyang County and the general of Southern Liang. In the end, the Sui army won because of its superior manpower and equipment. It defeated Dong Jingzhen's 10,000 troops, killed more than 6,000 enemies, and captured 2,000.
However, Zhou Fashang also paid the price of 3,000 casualties. This was because the Sui army was not quite adapted to the weather and jungle environment of Lingnan West Road, which led to a decline in the soldiers' combat effectiveness.
Zhou Fashang did not dare to go south easily again. On the one hand, he ordered his soldiers to recuperate in Guiyang County, and on the other hand, he asked for help from Jin Wang Xiao Xia, requesting additional reinforcements and medicinal materials.
(End of this chapter)