Chapter 774: Death? It's worth it!

Aozhou

Shun Peng Inn

Early in the morning, when there were few pedestrians on the street, a group of about a few hundred elite guards gathered around a lavishly decorated carriage and stopped at the door of the inn. The soldiers of the forbidden army blocked half of the street, and the front and back of the Shunpeng Inn were surrounded by water. This formation made people a little frightened, even the Yamen of the Mingzhou Mansion didn't dare to get too close.

The pedestrians on this section of the street were driven away, and the otherwise quiet morning was made chaotic by the arrival of these soldiers.

An official in brocade clothes got out of the carriage, glanced contemptuously at the curious people in the shops on both sides of the street, and walked into the inn in a disgusting way twisting his waist, he didn't even look at the shopkeeper and the man standing at the door.

"Where does the Red Lotus Master live?"

When the eunuch swept his eyes and didn't find the person he was looking for, he turned around and raised his chin and asked the shopkeeper of the Shunpeng Inn: "Hurry up, I don't have the time to spend in your dirty and broken place." I don't understand how busy I am, and I can't just tell people like you about things in the palace. ”

"Red Lotus Mage?"

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, and then the Taoist aunt who was sent to the inn by the palace guards a few days ago sounded. He immediately pointed to the innermost upper room on the second floor and said, "It's on the second floor, the best upper room." ”

"Humph! Dumbfounded, it took so long to remember! ”

The eunuch glanced at the shopkeeper and twisted his ass down the stairs to the second floor. Just as he was on the second floor, the sturdy rich merchant pushed the door and walked out of the room. Seeing the brocade-clothed eunuch who suddenly appeared, the middle-aged man hesitated for a moment and retreated.

Seeing that the man retreated, the eunuch, who was not old but was very favored in the palace, still scolded in a low voice: "It's still sensible, I'll just say that a good dog doesn't get in the way......"

The middle-aged man's eyebrows were raised, but he couldn't help but have a seizure. The four or five attendants behind him also changed their faces, as if they were about to rush up and tear the eunuch apart in the next second. The middle-aged man's hand slowly waved behind his back, and the attendants with cold faces immediately held back.

"A bunch of dirt buns."

The eunuch glared at the rich merchant, and walked to the door of the innermost upper room on the second floor: "Is the Red Lotus Master here?" The slave and maid have come to take you into the palace. ”

The door creaked open from the inside, and Dao Gu in a dark cyan robe walked out with a smile. She held a red whisk in her hand, which seemed to have a sense of dust. Although this Dao Gu is wearing a rather wide robe, she can still see that she has an excellent figure. Her long hair was tied up at the top of her head, and she looked very smooth when it hung down at the back of her head.

"There is work"

This Dao Gu bowed her head slightly, and then walked out with the eunuch.

"Mage, the queen mother specially asked people to clean up a courtyard in the palace, specially prepared for you, but you live in this inn...... Look at it, what kind of laypeople live here, even the slaves and maids feel that it is an eyesore, and you are not afraid of falling into your identity. ”

"Cultivation is in the world, looking at the people in the world, walking the roads of the world, doing things in the world, tasting all kinds of hardships, tasting a thousand hardships, if you blindly enjoy it, how can you practice?"

Dao Gu said as she walked: "Time is everything, it is all the truth. ”

"Oops...... Slaves don't understand this. ”

The eunuch smiled flatteringly, which was very different from his arrogant appearance before.

The Dao Gu smiled, and looked at him meaningfully as she passed by the rich merchant. The rich merchant simply turned around and entered the house, slamming the door shut. The eunuch was stunned, and couldn't help but say angrily: "Where did the mountain village man come from, there are no rules at all!" ”

Dao Gu waved her hand and said, "You and I are both mortal people, why should we care about such things?" ”

"The mage is magnanimous."

The eunuch smiled and praised, and led Dao Gu out of the door and into the carriage. When she lifted the curtain and boarded the carriage, Dao Gu's face suddenly changed, and she hurriedly bowed her head and said, "Why did the queen go out of the palace in person." ”

"It's not that I have doubts and am anxious to see you, the mage."

In the carriage, Empress Cao, who was dressed in palace clothes, smiled, pointed to the position next to her and said, "Master, sit next to me." ”

Dao Gu sat down, Empress Cao waved her hand, and the eunuch immediately ordered to start, and the carriage started slowly, and headed in the direction of the palace under the escort of hundreds of forbidden troops.

"Mage...... A few days ago, I was reminded by you, and I sent someone to secretly investigate, and this investigation found some trivial things, but I don't know if it counts as a crime. ”

"Queen, please speak."

"That person had dealings with the people from the Yanyun Army's Military Inspection Department back then, and His Majesty also knew about this matter. But he didn't follow the people of Yanyunzhai, which shows that he still has some loyalty to His Majesty in his heart. But...... And those whom I sent found out that he had a righteous son named Wang Roar, and he was very fond of him. This time, he took this righteous son with him and let him lead the army alone. His righteous son only has the false position of a right attendant, leading an army alone...... It should be regarded as a violation of the law. ”

"Wang roaring?"

Dao Gu pondered for a while, then suddenly smiled and said, "The matter of leading the army is nothing, but the name has already revealed the opposite." ”

"How?"

Wang roared...... The royal robe! ”

Dao Gu sneered: "He clearly has the intention of rebellion!" ”

"Ahh

Empress Cao's face changed, and she immediately remembered one more thing: "Wang Fubao has given the royal robe nine horizontal knives over the years, and nine is the largest...... No more, no less, why did you send nine handles? ”

"This person's antipathy is so obvious, the queen should have reminded Her Majesty earlier."

Empress Cao nodded, and a trace of hatred flashed in her eyes: "The mage has calculated, the one who betrayed my eldest brother is the bane, if he has a rebellion, it can be explained." My eldest brother is the pillar of Great Xia, and only when my eldest brother dies can he lead the army and take power! ”

When Dao Gu heard this, she couldn't help but laugh.

Although the smile was very light, it was extremely relieved.

……

……

Five days

Cui Qian himself didn't expect that he would be able to take these more than 4,000 remnants of soldiers to hide for five days! Two days before, he had been hiding on the low mountain, and when his scouts discovered that the Xia army had gone and returned, he immediately led his men and horses down the mountain and continued to flee south.

Luckily, the sun was shining these days, the snow was melting, and the roads were muddy, but it was better than walking on the snow to expose their tracks. But the trail could not be concealed after all, and the enemy's cavalry and wild dogs were in hot pursuit.

When the men and horses evacuated, Cui Qian sent hundreds of people to run five miles in three directions and return. Then he went down the mountain with his men and horses, and walked all day to find an abandoned village and rest for the night. Before the sun had risen, he and his soldiers continued on their way.

According to Cui Qian's idea, if he can always leave the pursuers of the Xia army behind. Then there is no need to go back to Fanshui, and go directly to Yaocheng to escape to Xu Shiji, the generalissimo of the Northern Expeditionary Army. After all, this place is not very far from Yaocheng, and if you are lucky, you may be able to rush all the way there.

These five days are really like purgatory.

There was not enough food in the ranks, not even enough water. And these are not the most unbearable, eclipsed and ecstatic, only parting. The most unbearable thing is the pain of parting, on that low mountain, in the cold night when everyone snuggles together to keep warm.

More than 400 wounded soldiers committed suicide.

They didn't discuss doing this heartbreaking thing, but it was on such a cold and frightening night that they invariably made this choice, death, and came peacefully in the cold night. By the time the sun rose the next day, their bodies were as cold and hard as ice.

When descending the mountain, the soldiers of the Yanyun Army insisted on taking these corpses together. Cui Qian wanted to stop it, but looking into the eyes of his soldiers, he knew that he couldn't say anything to stop it. Although he knew that carrying more than 400 corpses with him was in itself a failure of the determination of those wounded soldiers when they committed suicide.

In the end, Cui Qian did not order the body to be buried on the spot.

After a vicious battle, the team that survived the catastrophe took the corpses of their comrades and hid for five days, which has to be said to be a miracle. You must know that behind them, there are nearly 20,000 cavalry of the Xia army!

For five days, they struggled to move forward.

For five days, the king roared like thunder.

As Wang Fubao said, Wang Yan's temperament is too bloody and violent, and he is a little vain, although he wins more, but Wang Yan, who feels that he has been insulted, if he does not kill those Yanyun army soldiers, he will never return to the Xia army camp. Even if he knew that Wang Fubao had been defeated one after another and only retreated west of the Zhanghe River with less than 20,000 horses, he was still unwilling to give up.

He ordered his subordinate general Lang to lead the infantry to retreat to Qingzhang, and he continued to pursue and kill the remnants of Yanyun's army with all the cavalry. In the past five days, he led the cavalry back and forth, and was led by the nose by Yan Yunjun, but he couldn't find the hiding place of the remnants.

"Wang Ge, send scouts again!"

Wang, who was sitting on the side of the road and resting against a big tree, roared and smashed a punch on the tree: "Within a radius of fifty miles, don't miss any trace!" ”

"Whoa!"

Wang Ge responded, and cautiously glanced at Wang Yan's face: "Young General, the general has sent someone to ask the young general to return to Qingzhang immediately, Xue Wanche's men and horses have taken advantage of the situation to attack the Zhanghe River, the general led troops to deploy in the southeast of Qingzhang, transferred Feixiang, and the people and horses from Pingen and Pingen galloped to help." General...... Cavalry under your command is needed. ”

"I know!"

Wang roared impatiently and waved his hand and said, "You go to An Hou first, and talk about the withdrawal of troops later." ”

"Report!"

Just then, a scout came galloping from a distance on horseback. The scout jumped down from his horse more than a dozen paces away, ran quickly in front of Wang Roar, hugged his fists and said, "Young General, I found it!" ”

The man panted and spoke, looking rather embarrassed.

"Where?"

Wang roared and stood up, his expression becoming a little hideous.

"Less than thirty miles ahead, there was an abandoned fort. Yesterday, the scouts searched that place and found no trace of Yan Yunjun. But when I passed by today, I suddenly found that the road had become much mudier than before, and it was obvious that people and horses were passing by. The humble duty led people to quietly lean over to check, and was discovered by Yan Yunjun's people, and fought desperately, only the humble duty himself was killed. ”

"Blow the horn! Assemble your men! ”

The king shouted loudly, and walked quickly to his horse.

Thirty miles away.

Cui Qian looked at the corpses of several Xia Jun scouts who fell to the ground in front of him, and then looked back at his subordinates with haggard and tired faces. He hesitated for a long time and sighed heavily: "We can't go. ”

He turned around, looked at his subordinates in broken armor, and said after a while: "Go further, a horse and a flat river, even if we go faster, we can't go faster than the cavalry of the Xia army, since the enemy's scouts have found this, it means that the Xia army is not far from here." If we withdraw, we will only show our backs in front of the horizontal swords of the enemy cavalry. You've all been through more than one battle, and you all know what the consequences of turning your back on the enemy's cavalry are. ”

Pointing to the ruined fortress, he said, "I have brought you here because I don't want you to die in the wilderness the first time you follow me on an expedition. But today, there is no room for us to retreat. Although it is dilapidated, it is good for defense. Although the earthen walls of the fort had collapsed considerably, they were able to hold back the charge of the enemy cavalry. ”

"If you have to die...... I am willing to fight you to the death! ”

He pointed to the fortress and said, "This is our last battlefield...... No one wants to die, I am a literati, and I am more afraid of death than you. But if you have to die...... Are you willing to accompany me and die here proudly! ”

The scene fell silent, and after a while, an earth-shattering cry suddenly rang out.

"Fight!"

Cui Qian looked at his subordinates who had haggard faces but resolute eyes, and he raised his arms high: "I'd rather die than live!" ”

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

Thousands of tired soldiers erupted into a tragic but magnificent momentum.

"Defend yourself!"

Cui Qian strode towards the fortress, his shoulders trembling slightly.

He wasn't scared, he was excited.

If he had to die today, then after all, he had done something beneficial to the Cui family, with today's battle, and with the credit of assisting Xue Wanche to defeat Wang Fubao, His Royal Highness King Yan would definitely look at the Cui family differently. The family that has existed for a hundred years has not fallen into its own hands after all.

Die...... It's worth it!