Chapter 1002 Betting on Dogs

Chapter 1002 Betting on Dogs

Chapter 1002 Betting on Dogs
From Didao County, Longxi County to the north, it has become a sea of ​​troops.

The flags of the Left and Right Jinwu Guards and the Left and Right Yulin Guards covered the sky and filled the mountains, rivers and valleys of Longxi and Jincheng.

They were in neat formation, marching leisurely, and their morale was high.

Occasionally when resting on the roadside, you could hear words like "counting merits". Looking at the eager expressions on their faces, you could understand everything: these warriors who came thousands of miles from the Central Plains were very eager for military merits and had an extremely strong desire to fight.

What do you call this? This is called being happy when hearing about war.

This kind of morale is different from that of a temporarily assembled force.

There were also a large number of horse-drawn carriages, ox-drawn carts, and mule-drawn carts in the team, which were loaded with armor, spears, axes, wooden clubs and other equipment, as well as food and other military supplies, which showed that the team was very well prepared.

Morale is high, supplies are plentiful, and there are defectors within the enemy ranks, so this battle is extremely easy and pleasant to fight.

In front of them, the soldiers from Sangcheng Town also set out, a total of 5,000 people, including both infantry and cavalry.

There were not enough carriages and horses, so many people actually walked with spears on their shoulders.

The cavalrymen were wearing sheepskin coats and were reluctant to ride their horses, so they also walked.

From these small details, it can be seen that Sangcheng Town is really poor. At least for the time being, it has not accumulated enough wealth to fully arm itself.

The light cavalry of the Right Cavalry Guard passed by them.

In the dense wormwood grass, there were galloping horses everywhere.

The horses were tall, generally one or two heads taller than the war horses of the soldiers in Sangcheng Town. Even in spring, they looked sleek and smooth, and it was obvious that they were well taken care of and were just waiting to go to the battlefield.

The most important thing is that they had more than one horse, so they marched very quickly and had already rushed to the front.

Jin Zheng climbed a hill outside Sangcheng Town and overlooked the overall situation.

The terrain of Longxi and Jincheng is simple yet complex, consisting of mountains and valleys.

In terms of transportation, there were no surprises, let alone unexpected events.

Since the Qin Dynasty, easy-to-travel roads had long been explored, and relatively wide and straight post roads had been built.

When wars broke out in every dynasty, these post roads would be repaired. During the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, countless wars were fought on this land. Zhao Chongguo, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei, Guo Huai and others all left their marks here.

Now it's his turn, Kim Jong-un.

Jin Zheng's gaze was focused straight ahead.

General Miao Yuan, a veteran general of the Right Feathered Guard, led three thousand soldiers and three thousand troops to turn westward in the direction of Fuhan.

The surrender of Fu Han brought a very positive change to the entire war situation. Otherwise, the army would have to march westward to besiege Fu Han and guard against the enemy troops coming down from Woganling.

If the siege on Fuhan fails for a long time, the enemy will have the opportunity to gather troops and food, and the battle will become more difficult.

Xin Yan had conflicts with his uncle and nephew Zhang Mao and Zhang Jun a long time ago, but he did not surrender when the Huns attacked. Instead, he put aside his past grudges, tolerated them for the sake of his country, and cooperated with the Liangzhou soldiers who came from Wuwei and Jincheng to fight.

Now that the Daliang army has arrived, he surrendered after careful consideration. This comparison made Jin Zheng feel more favorable towards Xin Yan.

This is a person who sees the big picture.

He might be cruel and bloodthirsty, but those were minor issues. In terms of major principles, he lived up to the family tradition of the Longxi Xin family.

The army marched forward. Miao Yuan's troops would replenish supplies in Fuhan, and intimidate the local Hu and Han people, and then follow the old route of Xin Yan's expedition, crossing the river from Zuonanjin and heading north through Guangwu County.

General Yao Yuan of the Left Yulin Guard also led 6,000 people to turn northeast, cross the Wogan Ridge, enter the Agan River Valley, and head towards Jincheng.

After deterring the enemy and cleaning up the mess, they will cross the river from Jinchengjin and head towards Guangwu.

Tens of thousands of troops from the south marched northwards in a mighty force, not only shocking some of the people in the Lingnan counties who were still wavering, but also taking the opportunity to clean up the area...

******
Although Huan Wen was only seventeen years old, he was really a smart man, especially after Wen Qiao gave him instructions in person.

On the ninth day of April, a group of people were trapped in the Yellow River Valley west of Jincheng County, Jincheng County (now west of Lanzhou).

This tribe had about a thousand people and was besieged on the north bank of the river by soldiers from powerful families such as the Qu, You, Zong, and Bian families.

They deployed the classic Liangzhou soldiers' formation of using infantry to resist cavalry, with their backs facing the Yellow River, large shields in front, and long spears and hard bows behind them.

The soldiers from the noble families knew that such a head-on fight would be difficult and would result in heavy casualties, but they still launched the attack without hesitation. It was obvious that they had received a death order from their superiors to eliminate this group of elite Diqiang soldiers from Dou Tao's army.

Huan Wen led 500 cavalrymen and swept past the periphery of the battlefield, chasing another group of troops that were fleeing westward.

The 5,000 Diqiang soldiers, who were once so powerful, were first ambushed by the Qu family and then intercepted by soldiers from various powerful families in Jincheng. By the time they fled to the western border of Jincheng County, more than half of them had been lost.

At this moment, more than a thousand people were surrounded, and there were only twelve or thirteen hundred riders who followed Dou Tao to flee westward.

When passing the junction of Nishui River and Yellow River, Dou Tao hesitated briefly and did not go north. Instead, he continued west to Hehui City, where he made his fortune in his early years. The city was located at the confluence of Huangshui River and Yellow River, hence the name. It was roughly located in the later Dachuan Town of Lanzhou, and the foundation of the ancient city still exists.

But can others let him run back so easily?
While riding away on his horse, Dou Tao turned his head and looked back. He saw smoke and dust all over the sky in the east, the sound of hooves like thunder, and he didn't know how many people were chasing him.

He couldn't figure it out, and after just a moment's hesitation, he didn't even have the chance to surrender. Even though he shouted in front of the battle line to surrender to Emperor Liang, no one paid any attention to him and continued to fight.

No one knew who was chasing them the most. Judging from their attire, they were obviously Di Qiang. But judging from their horses and weapons, they were obviously not Di Qiang. They looked more like the imperial court's regular army.

It’s a pity that there is no chance to figure it out now. Dou Tao sighed and ordered to speed up the retreat.

Of course, even if they were retreating, they were not running away. Huan Wen felt it at this moment.

In the air, arrows flew back and forth, and the sound of breaking through the air was endless.

The closest one even brushed past his ear.

He felt a tremor all over his body.

It was a feeling he couldn't describe. It was a mixture of fear of being only one step away from death, yet also a bit of excitement and even a hint of thrill.

He grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, and usually prided himself on his proficiency in archery and horseback riding. However, on this battlefield in the northwest, the little horsemanship he had learned seemed to be lost in the crowd.

You can kill others, but others can also easily kill you. You have no advantage and can die on the spot if you are not careful.

But he had no way out.

In the current situation of the Huan family, can they not fight? Can they have a future? Gritting their teeth, they put arrows on the bowstring one after another and shot them away.

In the blink of an eye, he had already shot down two bandits. But it was not enough. No one would take this insignificant achievement seriously, and it might not even be recorded for you, let alone convince others.

The retreating enemy launched a counterattack. Hundreds of cavalry rushed down from the slopes on both sides, outflanking them, and there were hundreds of people blocking the front, with a fierce momentum.

Huan Wen subconsciously wanted to gather his troops and retreat, waiting for the follow-up troops to catch up, but for a moment, a hysterical roar came from the bottom of his heart.

You Di Qiang thugs, can't you just dismount and surrender? Why are you still resisting? Why can't you become my military achievement? Why are you making things difficult for me?

His eyes turned red and he shot arrows repeatedly, killing two more people.

He was blinded by fame, wealth and power.

He was controlled by vague self-destructive emotions.

He put his life on the gambling table to see who dared to gamble with him.

"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Dense arrows flew towards him.

All around him was the sound of breaking air. Suddenly, the warhorse under his crotch let out a whine. Huan Wen secretly thought that something was wrong and immediately adjusted his body position.

The charging warhorse fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Huan Wen fell off his horse, but because he had made preparations in advance, he rolled over to relieve the force, picked up a horse lance that someone had abandoned on the ground, and rushed forward with a roar.

Two riders rushed towards them. They had seen Huan Wen fall off his horse, so they rushed over to take advantage of the situation. They were surprised to see that the enemy general did not run away, but picked up his spears and prepared for a fight on foot.

One of them immediately turned his horse's head and threw an arrow sideways.

"Swoosh!" The arrow flew past Huan Wen's head.

The other man frantically drew his sword, but Huan Wen took a few quick steps and stabbed him with his spear.

Screams echoed throughout the field, and the enemy cavalry fell to the ground, holding their chests.

The horse neighed and ran out in the air, but soon came back and sniffed at the owner's body.

Huan Wen was overjoyed and mounted his horse with his spear in hand. He found a man and continued fighting.

The soldiers rushed over and were greatly encouraged by seeing their commander being so brave. They ignored the enemy cavalry on both sides and surrounded Huan Wen tightly, charging straight towards the enemy cavalry blocking their way.

The two sides passed each other by, and countless people were killed and wounded.

Dou Tao looked at the dwindling number of his followers with heartache. Just as he was about to ride his horse to join the fight, he saw more cavalrymen rushing towards him hundreds of steps away.

Judging from the size of the smoke and dust, there were at least 2,000 cavalry. No doubt they were the troops of the Qu and You clans.

He suddenly lost the courage to continue fighting.

Run! Run back to Hehui City!
He now needs a chance to catch his breath, needs to gather more troops, and needs to find a chance to escape from this chaos.

"Shhh!" The horse's forward momentum stopped abruptly. Dou Tao turned around, only to see the enemy cavalry that had just fought with them rushing towards them again.

The leading young general in white robe was extremely fierce. Even with two trembling arrows sticking out of his body, he still charged forward.

Dou Tao summoned up his remaining courage and called on his men to meet the enemy head-on.

Both sides fired a round of arrows at the same time, then drew out their weapons and prepared for a fight.

This time, misfortune did not befall Huan Wen, but a different person: Dou Tao.

Halfway through the charge, he stumbled and fell to the ground with a bang.

This time it was not the loose formation of roaming cavalry and archers like before, but a dense melee combat formation.

Within a few breaths, the two sides had collided with each other.

Just as Dou Tao stood firm, he saw a dark scene in front of him and a tall horse panting heavily was right in front of him.

"Puff! Puff!" At the same time, several weapons hit him. Even with the protection of armor, Dou Tao still bled profusely and was knocked away.

Thousands of cavalry from both sides passed each other.

Huan Wen covered his aching left shoulder and turned his horse around.

He saw it!

He saw Dou Tao dead!
In a flash, he and several of his followers took action together and attacked Dou Tao.

Because he was eager to deal with Dou Tao, he was hit hard by a spear and almost fell off his horse.

But he won the bet.

He smiled nervously.

If you win this bet, what will happen if you bet all your winnings next time and make another bet?

He was fascinated by the feeling of gambling with his life, but at the same time he felt a deep fear.

The two arrows stuck in his body and the bruised and swollen left shoulder told him that he could win countless times, but if he lost the bet once, he would lose everything.

Do you want to continue gambling? His face slowly turned from rosy to pale...

On April 12, Huan Wen led his troops to Hehui City.

Upon hearing that Dou Tao was dead, most of the Di people fled and the rest surrendered.

This was a confused battle. Dou Tao, who had intended to surrender, inexplicably became someone else's military achievement, and he was not even given a chance to speak.

But no one will seek justice for him.

Wen Qiao and Huan Wen had military merits, and the Qu and You families wanted them dead, so in the military reports they sent over, they would only write that Dou Tao was foolishly loyal to Zhang Jun, fought stubbornly, and was eventually wiped out.

This is the final conclusion.

(End of this chapter)