Chapter 134: Shattered Dreams

"Wang Family..." Yelü Deguang uttered two characters.

His complexion instantly became extremely gloomy.

He finally understood why Fu Yanqing dared to raise the banner and, under imperial edict, campaign against the rebels.

As it turned out, someone was backing him from behind!

"Interesting." Yelü Deguang's eyes turned sharp, "I haven't even gone to look for you, yet you've come to my door. Good, saves me another trip to Jiangnan."

He ordered the Khitan commander behind him: "Pass the order! The Pishilu Army moves out! Let me see whether your Han iron armor is harder, or my Khitan warriors' sabers are sharper!"

"Woo——"

The desolate horn sound echoed through the clouds.

Tens of thousands of Khitan iron cavalry began to slowly advance, pressing forward.

They are the finest warriors on the steppe. They believe that before their invincible iron hooves, any infantry formation will be easily torn apart.

However, just as they were preparing to launch the charge,

On the left and right flanks of Weizhou City, suddenly, a sky‑high dust rose on the distant horizon.

Two huge banners fluttered in the wind.

One bore an embroidered "An" character.

The other bore an embroidered "Shi" character.

The reinforcements of the Heavenly Peace Army and the Manifest Righteousness Army have arrived!

They were equipped with identical standard gear, a black mass sweeping toward the flank of the Khitan army to envelop it.

Yelü Deguang's expression changed.

Only then did he realize he had fallen into a trap meticulously prepared for him.

"Jiangnan, Wang Family!" Yelü Deguang ground his teeth and enunciated the name syllable by syllable.

His heart filled with anger at being toyed with.

He swore that once he tore apart these Han armies before him, he would surely lead his troops south to uproot the Wang Family that dared provoke him, leaving not even a chicken or dog.

"Retreat! Full army, fall back!" Yelü Deguang made a swift decision and issued the withdrawal order.

If the fighting continued, his Pishilu Army would be slowly worn to death here by these three well‑equipped Han armies.

However, thinking it easy to leave, it was not that simple.

Fu Yanqing, seeing the flank reinforcements arrive on the city wall, was greatly heartened and immediately shouted: "Open the gates! All troops, sortie! Don't let a single Khitan dog escape!"

The gates of Weizhou flung open, the reserve troops surged out like a tide, joined with the frontline Weibo Army, and launched a full‑scale counterattack against the advancing‑then‑retreating Khitan army.

On the battlefield, the situation instantly reversed.

"Retreat! Quick retreat! Protect Your Majesty!" the Khitan commanders bellowed hoarsely, desperately organizing their troops to break out through the northern gap of the still‑unclosed encirclement.

However, the Han armies' offensive was simply too fierce.

Especially An Chongrong leading the Heavenly Peace Army—he himself had a generations‑old grudge against the Khitan, now his eyes ran red with blood, charging ahead brandishing a Wang Family‑specially made long‑handed great blade; wherever he went, Khitan soldiers were shattered, man and horse alike.

"Slaughter these Khitan dogs! Avenge my father!" An Chongrong, mad as a berserker, roared as he charged into the enemy formation.

Meanwhile, Shi Hongzhao, though not as valiant as An Chongrong, saw his Manifest Righteousness troops grow excited as the Khitan began to retreat; to them, the Khitans' equipment and their warhorses were nothing but pure silver.

"Brothers, the time to make a fortune has come! The more Khitan heads you chop, the greater the reward!" Shi Hongzhao shouted from the rear, though he himself cherished his life and did not rush to the front.

On the front, Fu Yanqing's Weibo Army morale was like a rainbow. They had personally witnessed the Khitan's arrogance and with their own hands shattered the myth of the invincible Khitan cavalry; now their hearts swelled with the pride and arrogance of victors.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The earth‑shaking cries of slaughter echoed through the clouds.

Under the death‑defying protection of his personal guard, Yelü Deguang gazed at his troops with an ashen face, unable to fathom how his ten‑thousand‑strong, invincible iron cavalry that had swept the steppe could be so badly beaten by a group of well‑equipped infantry on the plains of Zhongyuan.

"Wang Family! Again, Wang Family!" he muttered the name over and over, the hatred in his eyes almost congealing into substance.

"Your Majesty! We can't wait any longer—the Han encirclement is about to close; if we don't leave now, we truly won't be able to escape!" a loyal Khitan general, drenched in blood, rushed to his side and urged loudly.

Yelü Deguang glanced aside at the "child emperor" Shi Jingtang, who had completely lost his wits.

Shi Jingtang's face was etched with despair and fear. He watched helplessly as his Hedong Army was crippled in the first wave, then scattered by the fleeing Khitan troops, losing all cohesion; and the "father emperor" he had placed his hopes in could now barely protect himself.

His imperial dream was shattered.

"Father emperor… save me… please save me……" Shi Jingtang, like a drowning man, clung to Yelü Deguang's horse reins, begging desperately.

A flicker of extreme disgust and contempt flashed in Yelü Deguang's eyes.

"Trash!"

He kicked out hard, sending Shi Jingtang tumbling from his horse.

"Bringing him along is too much of a hindrance!" Yelü Deguang coldly told his personal guard, "Let's go!"

Having said that, he hesitated no further, clamped his legs to the horse, and, surrounded by the elite Pishilu troops, bolted northward without looking back.

The abandoned Shi Jingtang, together with his tens of thousands of completely collapsed troops, was left behind, becoming spoils of the Han allied armies.

……

The battle lasted until dusk.

As the setting sun's afterglow dyed the whole battlefield blood‑red, the cries of slaughter finally began to subside.

Looking far and wide, from beneath Weizhou City outward across the plains several li to the north, corpses and shattered weapons lay everywhere; most were Khitan and Hedong troops, but some belonged to the allied soldiers.

Victory never comes without a price.

The surviving allied soldiers each collapsed exhausted on the ground, gulping heavy breaths, yet their faces glowed with the joy of having survived the ordeal and the pride of victors.

Some had already begun eagerly looting the battlefield; the Khitans' warhorses, sabers, and the gold and silver they carried were all a considerable fortune.

Fu Yanqing, An Chongrong, and Shi Hongzhao, the three Military Commissioners, met beneath Weizhou City.

"Hahaha! Exhilarating! Truly exhilarating!" An Chongrong plunged his still‑blood‑dripping great blade into the ground and burst into laughter: "How many years have passed! This is the first time I've seen Khitan dogs beaten so miserably! Fu Commander, your Weibo elite troops truly live up to their reputation!"

Fu Yanqing looked at the fierce, murderous‑looking general before him, also feeling admiration, and clasped his hands: "An Commander, you overpraise me. If it weren't for you and Shi Commander striking timely from the flanks, today's outcome—who would win the deer—would still be uncertain."

Hehe, everyone is just defending the homeland, right? Shi Hongzhao rubbed his hands, grinning as he came over, but his eyes kept glancing at the ownerless warhorses on the battlefield, "Commander Fu, Commander An, this battle is over. Look, this spoil... how should we divide it?"

As soon as he said that, the atmosphere on the scene instantly became somewhat delicate.

An Chongrong frowned, glanced at him disdainfully: "Shi Pangzi, besides money, is there anything else in your head? Although the Khitan main force has retreated, Yelu Deguang is still alive! Thinking about dividing spoils now, isn't that a bit premature?"

"Ah, that's not how you should put it, Commander An." Shi Hongzhao said indifferently, "Brothers, we settle accounts clearly. Our expedition this time involved enormous risk."

"My subordinate brothers have died so many; we ought to give their families some compensation. Besides, although the Wang Family promised military pay, who would complain about too much money? These warhorses are good stuff; one can sell for a tidy sum!"

Fu Yanqing listened to their conversation, secretly sighing. He knew trouble was coming.

Just then, a sound of horse hooves rang out.

Everyone turned to look, only to see Su Qin slowly approaching under the escort of a squad of Wang Family guards. His face still bore that lighthearted, carefree expression, as if the fierce battle before him had nothing to do with him.

"Congratulations, congratulations to the three generals, for crushing the Khitan and establishing immortal merit for our Han house!" Su Qin dismounted, bowed deeply to the three.

"Mr. Su, you're too polite! Without your and the Wang Family's strong backing behind the scenes, we wouldn't have today's great victory!" Fu Yanqing quickly returned the salute, his tone very sincere.

Shi Hongzhao went even further, greeting him with a beaming smile: "Oh, Mr. Su, you've finally come! We were just discussing how to divide the spoils—your timing is perfect, give us your judgment!"

Su Qin gave a faint smile, didn't take his words, but instead clapped his hands.

Only see, the guards behind him pushed forward a huge Iron Control cage. Inside the cage was a disheveled, mud-covered, listless prisoner.

Everyone stared, and they were all startled.

"Shi Jingtang?!"

That's right, the one locked in the cage is none other than Shi Jingtang, who just a moment ago was dreaming of being emperor, and in the blink of an eye became a prisoner.

"Three generals." Su Qin pointed at Shi Jingtang in the cage and said loudly, "Although the Khitan have fled, this chief culprit has already been captured by us. According to our prior agreement, how to deal with this scoundrel shall be jointly decided by the three generals."

Hearing the sound, Shi Jingtang lifted his head, saw Fu Yanqing and the others, and his eyes instantly filled with resentment and hatred.

"Fu Yanqing! An Chongrong! Shi Hongzhao! Don't get too pleased! My father the emperor will not let you off! He will surely return to avenge me!" He shouted hoarsely.

"Pah!" An Chongrong spat a mouthful of thick phlegm onto the cage, "You still have the nerve to mention your illegitimate father? You bastard who forgets your roots! In my view, he should be sliced to pieces as a warning!"

"Slicing him to pieces is too lenient!" Shi Hongzhao's eyes shifted, he said, "Better to escort him to Luoyang and hand him over to the Court. This is a great merit! Perhaps Your Majesty will be delighted and reward us with a few prefectures."

Fu Yanqing furrowed his brows, feeling that both of their ideas were somewhat inappropriate.

For a moment, the three allies who had just fought side by side began to argue again over how to deal with Shi Jingtang and the Hedong territory he represented.

Su Qin stood to the side, silently watching this scene.