Li Hong watched the enemy horses gallop away, and he was so angry that he jumped like thunder.

Fast, too fast.

He did not expect that nearly 20,000 enemies would surrender after a little resistance, neither forming a defensive formation nor rushing to block the attack, but surrendered.

Li Hong's plan was to cut off the enemy's front army and the middle army, and then attack the front army to block the enemy's middle army, so that the entire battlefield would be spread out. Once the battlefield was rolled out, the enemy's cavalry was held back at the front, and there was no place to turn back. As long as his infantry resolutely cut off the enemy and blocked the enemy's breakthrough, Xu Rong was able to quickly organize a part of the deserters to join the battlefield, and the encircled enemy could be completely annihilated.

However, the situation on the battlefield did not develop as Li Hong had expected.

The first is that the enemy's Chinese army is out of touch with the former army, and even now, the enemy's Chinese army has not yet appeared.

Secondly, because the enemy's front army was too tired and had no combat effectiveness, it suddenly gave up resistance, and as a result, in order to encircle the enemy, the infantry had to throw the troops that were originally going to block the enemy into the battlefield of encircling and suppressing the enemy's front army. In addition, the surrender of the enemy also caused the battlefield to not be rolled out in time, and there were still dozens of paces of space on both sides of the road that were not filled by troops.

The third is the rapid withdrawal of the enemy's cavalry. This is also something that Li Hong did not expect. He believed that the rebel cavalry would hold out for a while in order to cover the breakthrough of his front army. Unexpectedly, the enemy's cavalry simply ignored the fact that their front army was surrounded and annihilated, turned around and fled. At the speed of their escape, even if the infantry carried out according to the original plan, it would be too late, and they simply did not have time to form a formation.

Li Hongtu was helpless.

"Order the cavalry to chase after him until dark, to the Orange Garden, to the Pasture Garden......"

"Order Xian Yufu to immediately lead the three armies of Yushi, Yan Liang, and Yan Rou, ride on war horses, pursue the rebels all the way, and contain the prisoners."

"Quick...... Fast...... Hurry up ......"

The ambush battle, which was originally intended to be a vigorous and bloody battle, ended hastily.

Li Hong looked at the chaotic battlefield, and couldn't help but think of Zhao Yun, thought of Arc Ding, abandoned Shen, and thought of his two thousand black panther righteous servants.

Will the raid tomorrow morning go so smoothly?

＝＝＝

Zhou Shen was lying on a stretcher, and Xu Rong, Lu Yi, Sun Jian, and Hua Xiong gathered around him.

"Won." Zhou Shen said with relief, "It's good to win." ”

Xu Rong and a few people looked at each other, and they didn't feel good in their hearts. Although the battle was won, none of the four had a smile on their faces. This battle was won by Li Hong's Jizhou troops, to put it bluntly, the credit is all people's, and it has nothing to do with the Northern Army and the Xiliang Army. Everyone should be demoted, and those who should return to Beijing to receive their guilt still have to go back to Beijing to receive their crimes.

Koji stomped hatefully and let out a long sigh. He wasn't convinced.

"This leopard-sama is very lucky." Lu Yi looked at Zhou Shen and said, "There are more than 100,000 rebels in Xiliang, and they will be solved by giving him two battles." ”

Zhou Shen was slightly surprised, he was very skeptical of Lu Yi's statement, and turned his head to look at Sun Jian.

Sun Jian nodded and said, "Lord Koji is right. Last month, Bian Zhang's 80,000 rebels were attacked by General Dong at Luofengling, losing about 10,000. Last night, he attacked us in the Orangery, and lost more than 10,000 people. Now there are at least 20,000 captives here. In this way, the rebels lost more than 40,000 people. With only 40,000 rebels left, there is no way out, except to cross the Yellow River and flee to the Qiang land. In other words, Xiliang's counterinsurgency, after Li Zhonglang's two battles, basically ended. ”

Sun Jian looked at a few people and exclaimed: "In the past, we thought that he defeated the Xianbei people because he was familiar with the terrain and took advantage of the geographical advantage; The Yellow Turban Army defeated Zhang Niujiao because of the help of the weather and the Jizhou army, and it was stained with the light of time and people. Now it seems that he is indeed a soldier, although he is young, but ......" he shook his head and sighed in admiration, "He is very talented, and he is not comparable to me." ”

Xu Rong nodded vigorously and said: "Li Zhonglang is not afraid of danger, calmly uses troops, in this case, he can also accurately judge the enemy's situation, and ambush the enemy's 60,000 people with 30,000 people, the soldiers are dangerous, which is really amazing." Although, he was able to defeat the rebels and win easily, and he did have a lot of luck. Xu Rong looked at Lu Yi and said slowly, "But this luck was snatched from the rebels, not given to him by Lao Bian." If it were us, who would dare to risk setting up an ambush here? I wouldn't dare do that. You must know that once Li Zhonglang's infantry is broken through the blocking position by the rebels, it will be a situation of annihilation if they are attacked inside and outside, and not only will they not be able to save us, but even his own 30,000 people will have to take it in. Yuntian, do you dare to ambush Lao Bian here? ”

Koji swallowed his saliva and licked his lips, sullen and without squeaking.

"He's lucky." Hua Xiong shook a pair of thick eyebrows, and said in a sour tone, "In order to chase us, Lao Bian was disconnected from the main force, so that the front army was easily surrounded and annihilated by Li Zhonglang. Look at how easy Li Zhonglang's battle was. As soon as the infantry and cavalry rushed on three sides, the infantry of the rebels surrendered, and the cavalry of the rebels ran away, and there was no battle at all, and the battle was over, as if Li Zhonglang's Jizhou soldiers were not even wounded. Look at us again......" He suddenly whipped the ground and shouted angrily, "We fought with the rebels for half the night, killed tens of thousands of people, ran for dozens of miles, and didn't catch anything, but instead fished for a crime." Hua Xiong could no longer control the loss and frustration in his heart, and scolded loudly. He is not easy to scold anyone, but he scolds Bian Zhang and the rebels.

Koji Yi suddenly laughed when he saw Hua Xiong's angry appearance. Lu Yi asked, "Ziwei, didn't you participate in the cavalry pursuit?" Li Zhonglang's troops pursued all the way like this, and they could capture at least 10,000 or 20,000 prisoners. Now the rebels are even more embarrassed than when we ran away just now, I guess they are so tired that they can't even lift their feet, why are you ......?"

Hua Xiong glared at him viciously, and said loudly: "Didn't you rush back too, what are you asking knowingly?" Are you trying to me off? Yes? The people of Jizhou felt sorry for us, saying that we had fought in the middle of the night, had been running all morning, were tired and hungry, and rested first, and that they would complete the arduous task of chasing the enemy, and that the task of guarding the prisoners would be easy, and that it would be handed over to us. Hmph......" Hua Xiong sneered, "It's a good thing to say, it's not that we're afraid that we'll rob them of their credit." Hebei people, hum ......"

Zhou Shen moved his body in pain, sighed gloomily, and said: "If Li Zhonglang's troops chase all the way to Muyuan, those who are alive, those who are wounded, and the soldiers who have been captured by the enemy can be recovered, which is already very good." Li Zhonglang not only saved our lives, but also repelled the enemy for us, we should be grateful to others, isn't ......" He looked at Hua Xiong and said, "Can we still ask people to give us the credit?" ”

Hua Xiong's face turned red, and he said ashamedly: "General, I didn't mean that, I just ......"

He thought that soon after, he might be dismissed and demoted for the crime of defeat, and he was suddenly a little disheartened, and he was in no mood to defend himself.

Zhou Shen looked at them and comforted: "I'm old, I don't have any career to speak of, and the responsibility for this defeat is naturally borne by me." Your lords are brave and good at fighting, and I have no credit for following me, and I feel guilty. When I return to Beijing, I will do my best to exonerate you. With my family background, it is still okay to ensure that you are not guilty, not to mention that this battle was won by Li Zhonglang in the end, relatively speaking, our guilt is much lighter. ”

Xu Rong and the others were very grateful, and hurriedly knelt down to thank them.

It is not easy for the four of them to get into this position, they have all fought hard for several years or even more than ten years to have such an official position, and they have nothing just because they lost a battle, of course, it is difficult for anyone to accept it.

＝＝＝

Li Hong has been surrounded by people, and his head has been dizzy. He successively arranged the matter of sending troops to pursue, the matter of taking prisoners, the matter of pacifying deserters, and the matter of urging food and grass, but there were still many expressions one after another, as if they could not be dealt with. At this time, Zheng Xin squeezed in and shouted, "My lord, why haven't you gone to see General Zhou?" ”

Li Hong didn't react for a while, and replied loudly: "I'll go right away." Then I went back to arranging things, and I didn't take it seriously.

Zheng Xin was anxious, grabbed him, leaned into his ear and shouted: "People, if you don't go, you will snub General Zhou and despise the officials. ”

Only then did Li Hong react, he hurriedly called Wei Zheng over, and ordered: "Guoan, you deal with the affairs here, and I will go to see General Zhou." ”

Wei Zheng asked in surprise, "The adults haven't gone yet?" ”

"Forgot, forgot......" Li Hong said embarrassedly, "I really forgot." ”

＝＝＝

Zhou Shen saw Li Hong, who knelt on the ground and bowed to worship, and his heart was very moved.

Although there is a two-level difference in rank, Li Hong saved himself, and he has just lost the battle again, and he is about to be exempted from the official position and be unlucky, at this time, don't say that Li Hong will pay a big salute, that is, Li Hong will not come to visit, and it is normal to ignore himself. In officialdom, where is there any affection to say, especially when you are unlucky, it is very good not to be kicked by others. But seeing Li Hong's modesty and repeated apologies, Zhou Shen really didn't know what to say except for thanking him repeatedly. The young man was smiling and gentle, and there seemed to be nothing like the bloodthirsty leopard of legend except for his tall and burly body.

Zhou Shen lay on the stretcher and couldn't move, and hurriedly ordered Sun Jian to help Li Hong up.

Sun Jian, Xu Rong, Lu Yi and Hua Xiong immediately saluted Li Hong. Li Hong returned the gift again and again.

Li Hong smiled and said to Xu Rong: "I haven't arrived in Western Xinjiang yet, but I heard your name." You are from Xuansu County in Liaodong, and we are fellow villagers. ”

Xu Rong's heart warmed, and a sense of closeness arose, and he said slowly: "Brother Bo Jue often mentions you, so I also knew the prestige of the adult for a long time. ”

Li Hong asked in surprise: "You and Brother Bo Jue know each other?" ”

"He is from Liaoxi, and I am from Liaodong, so of course I know each other. We've been friends for a long time. Xu Rong said with a smile, "I am really happy to see so many fellow villagers in Xiliang, to see Karasuma people, and to see Xianbei people." Xu Rong said as he spoke, his heart was sour, and his eyes were a little moist. He hadn't been home for years.

Li Hong grabbed his big hand and said with a smile: "In the evening, we people from Northern Xinjiang gathered together, and said okay, I will invite you when I come back." ”

Sun Jian smiled: "Why, the adults only invite Xu Duwei, and they don't invite us?" ”

Koji Yi also smiled on the side: "Master Li arrived in Xiliang, and the rebellion was quelled in two battles, and he made outstanding achievements. ”

Hua Xiong sighed: "Your Excellency probably looks down on us who have been defeated. ”

Li Hong laughed, "Under the command of General Zhou, you have made great contributions by deceiving and luring the enemy, defeating the rebels, and capturing tens of thousands of enemies. I came all the way with my troops to bring you food, you should have invited me to a meal, why did you turn around and ask me to invite you? ”

When Zhou Shen heard this, his face was stunned, and the wrinkles on his forehead immediately squeezed together.

Sun Jian looked at Li Hong with a serious expression, as if he wanted to see something from his face.

Xu Rong glanced at Li Hong suspiciously, thoughtful.

The smile on Koji's face suddenly disappeared, and he was replaced by a look of surprise.

Zheng Xin's face changed greatly, he stared at Li Hong's smiling face, and he wanted to pounce on him and hit him a few times.

Hua Xiong's thick eyebrows trembled violently a few times, he looked at everyone cautiously, and then asked cautiously, "My lord, what did you mean just now......"

Li Hong smiled slightly: "Under the command of General Zhou, you skillfully used the Kwaishan Road to lure out the rebels from Yuzhong City, and then defeated in Juyuan, luring the rebels to Xiaoniu Mountain again, and the Xiliang army and our Fengyun Iron Cavalry joined forces to ambush and severely damage the rebels. You have won such a big battle, and everyone has credit, how can you not invite me? I drove more than 1,000 miles in a row, and it was very hard. ”

Zhou Shen heard clearly. Li Hong actually gave away the great credit. Why did he do it? Why did he do it? Zhou Shen looked at Li Hong motionlessly, with a blank expression.

Sun Jian was ecstatic, and his spirit was full of light.

Koji Yi looked at Li Hong in surprise, as if he was looking at an idiot.

Xu Rong shook his head in disbelief.

Zheng Xin gritted his teeth, quietly turned his back, opened his mouth wide, and cursed. Of course, he didn't dare to speak out, so he could only scold dumbly.

Hua Xiong looked at everyone's expressions, he was very suspicious, he hesitated for a moment, and then asked in a low voice, "My lord, you, why are you ......?"

Li Hong smiled dumbly, he patted Hua Xiong's shoulder affectionately, then squatted down, looked at Zhou Shen who frowned deeply, and said: "General, you are an elder and our senior, you have been in the army for decades, of course you know what we are in the army for?" Isn't it just begging for a living, eating with a mouthful of food, where to die and where to bury. Maybe today we are still talking and laughing here, but what about tomorrow? Tomorrow maybe we will all be bloodstained on the battlefield, there will be no bones left, everything will be a cloud of smoke, what do you want? ”

Zhou Shen reluctantly smiled, nodded, and said in a low voice: "You are so young, but you have such a mind, it's rare." It is rumored that you were beaten in Xianbei and forgot the past, and now it seems that this rumor is not false. ”

Li Hong couldn't help but laugh.

Zhou Shen looked at his smiling face and listened to his laughter, the joy in his heart was really uncontrollable, and he grinned rarely. The wrinkles on Zhou Shen's forehead immediately relaxed.

Li Hong smiled while standing up, bowed to Zhou Shen and the others, pretended to be something, and left.

＝＝＝

Zheng Xin followed behind Li Hong, with a cold face, without saying a word.

Li Hong felt very uncomfortable and stopped.

"Keeper, we have been scouts together since Lulongse, and we have been swords and blood together, we are brothers, brothers. You say, you're not happy, why are you unhappy? What am I doing wrong? ”

Zheng Xin glared at him and roared, "We are brothers, that's why I yelled at you." You keep saying that we are brothers, have you thought about our brothers? Why do you give everyone's credit to others on your own whims and mouths? This battle was won by all our brothers with hard work, blood and sweat, not you with a gun, one person, this credit belongs to everyone, not you alone, you know? What will the brothers think if you do this? They will scold you and hate you. You're generous and refreshing, but what about the brothers? Brothers, you know? If you do this, who will give you your life in the future? Who's going to charge you back? Are they? Zheng Xin pointed to the distance and shouted, "Will General Zhou give you his life?" Xu Rong, will these people sell your life to you? The soldiers of the Northern Army, the soldiers of Xiliang, will they give you their lives? ”

Zheng Xin kept screaming and roaring, wishing to slash him with a knife. Because there were many soldiers walking around, Zheng Xin didn't dare to be too rampant, otherwise in anger, he might not have pounced on him and beat people. Li Hong listened all the time, silently.

After shouting for a while, Zheng Xin gradually calmed down.

He looked at Li Hong, sighed, and said, "I'm really angry, Zimin, you're too much, are you damaging your brain to the sun in Xiliang?" ”

Li Hong shook his head and said with a smile: "No, how is it possible." You've said a lot, and I can say a little bit about it. ”

Zheng Xin said weakly: "You still have to save your strength and tell Lord Xianyu, Evergrande people, listen to them." If they knew, they would definitely die of rage. ”

Li Hong laughed.

He put his arm around Zheng Xin's shoulders and asked in a low voice, "What will you do if I die?" ”

Zheng Xin was shocked, looked at him dumbfounded, and didn't make a sound for a long time.

"Perhaps, my uncle and I kidnapped them or went back to Lu Longsai to be soldiers, Xian Yu or went back to Youzhou to be an official, bearded fists they probably still went back to northern Xinjiang to be horse bandits, Heng sacrifice Xiaohu They went back to the tribe to herd horses and sheep, Arc Ding abandoned Shen and they returned to the desert, Tiger Head Zilong They went back to Jizhou to see the city gate, everyone must disperse. You're all dead, what are we messing with? ”

Li Hong smiled gratefully and continued to ask, "What will you do if I am loaded into a prison cart and taken to the capital for trial?" ”

Zheng Xin lowered his head and thought for a while, and said: "Our people from Lulongsai and those horse bandits, as well as the Karasuma people and the Xianbei people, are probably going to rebel, snatch you back, and everyone will go back to the desert to fight the world; Mr. Zuo is probably going to return to Taihang Mountain with the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army, they have no place in this world without you; Xian Yu and Hutou are a few Youzhou, and the officers of Jizhou will definitely be implicated, and it is estimated that they will have no way out. You're going to get caught anyway, it's troublesome, even more troublesome than if you're dead. ”

"Why do you ask this?" Zheng Xin asked strangely, "I want to know how much I weigh?" ”

Li Hong slapped him lightly and said with a smile: "One of these two situations may appear." ”

"Forget it." Zheng Xin smiled disdainfully, "Just Cheng Qiu? How bad can he do? That kid is about to be out of luck. Think about it, how big a backstage can he be? We have Shangshu Liu as the backstage, who is afraid of whom. ”

"Really." Li Hong smiled bitterly, "If it weren't for you, in order for my brothers to be able to live and live uprightly, what would I do with such a conscience?" Give the credit to Zhou Shen, do you think I am willing? I can't help it, huh? ”

Zheng Xin looked at Li Hong very seriously and asked, "Zimin, do you have something to hide from me?" ”

Li Hong thought about it for a while, and felt that Zheng Xin was a brother, and some things were better told to him, so as not to cause misunderstandings and bad things in the future. So he told Zheng Xin what Fu Xie said to him that day. Zheng Xin was dumbfounded.

"We're brutes, we don't understand anything." Zheng Xin smiled bitterly, "So, we also want to thank Cheng Qiu?" ”

Li Hong smiled helplessly and whispered, "I really want to thank him." If he hadn't appeared in time, we wouldn't have given this credit to Zhou Shen. ”

Li Hong thought for a moment and continued: "Although Master Fu guessed their backstage, he didn't know what would happen, so he said vaguely, and I didn't understand what he said. Cheng Qiu's sudden appearance confirmed that Master Fu's guess was correct, so I immediately understood what Master Fu meant. In order to be able to fight the war in Xiliang all the time, someone in the DPRK and China actually designed to harm me, who will believe it? Master Fu takes great care of me, and this favor must be returned to him in the future. ”

At that time, Master Fu repeatedly mentioned Zhou Shen's family background and background. Zhou Shen was born in a family of eunuchs, and there are several generations of the family who are related to the royal family, and they are relatives of the imperial family. Listening to Master Fu, General Zhou Shen's son is a popular person around the Son of Heaven and a confidant of the Son of Heaven. His son was the commander of the Central Tibetan Prefecture, who was in charge of the coins, silks, gold and silver in the palace, and many of the fields and possessions of today's son were managed by him. In addition, Zhou Shen had a very good relationship with the general He Jin. In fact, we can also think that the general handed over the Northern Army to this person's command, which shows that the relationship between the two is extraordinary. ”

"Now that I think about it, Master Fu probably meant that I wanted me to find some way to make friends with Zhou Shen, and then dredge the relationship between the upper and lower levels of the court and the central government through Zhou Shen, so as to pass the current crisis."

"Therefore, the battle has not yet been fought, and I have already given the credit to Zhou Shen first. Now that I think about it, I was pretty lucky. If the machete comes late, things are a little troublesome. ”

Zheng Xin looked at him and asked sympathetically, "The first time you encountered this, did you feel tired?" I'm tired of hearing it, and it's definitely even more uncomfortable for you to be in it. ”

Li Hong smiled coldly, gritted his teeth, and said murderously: "Provoke me? Go to hell. ”

Zheng Xin was startled, glanced at him timidly, and suddenly remembered Zuo Feng, who had no bones, and his heart suddenly became cold.

＝＝＝