Chapter 342: You Are Like That Fire

The sudden speed of the Guiyi Army's iron cavalry completely exceeded the Fengxiang Army's expectations.

From the moment the cavalry raised the alarm, the Guiyi Army covered those three-plus li in less than half the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, and was already upon the Fengxiang Army.

And at this moment, the Fengxiang Army had not even managed to form a crooked spear-and-crossbow square.

Amid the chaos of men and horses, the first to arrive was the Qingzhou Tangut Li Yanli's unit. This young fellow had gone from being forced to follow at the very beginning to complete submission by now.

Commissioner Zhang handles matters fairly, the food in the Guiyi Army is good, and from time to time there is booty to be distributed. Li Yanli had even received a Hexi fold-eared horse and a set of padded armor.

Add to that a string of victories all along the way, and Li Yanli, like the three men of the Yuanzhou Tangut Li Zhongchao's family — father and sons — had long since become devoted to serving with all their hearts.

The howling Tangut cavalry that came charging in numbered over a thousand. They wore virtually no armor; only their arrow shafts and arrowheads had been reinforced.

And they did not need to wear armor, because they were not required to charge the enemy formation. All they had to do was throw the Fengxiang Army's formation into disorder and make them even more panicked.

Zhang Zhao's strategy of striking hard at the head and ignoring the middle was correct, because it allowed him to concentrate his strength on hitting a single point.

Over a thousand unarmored mounted skirmishers loosed a dense volley of arrows at the Fengxiang Army's vanguard, and in an instant the Fengxiang vanguard of only a little over a thousand men was shot to pieces, men and horses toppling.

There was no way to wear armor on the march!

Still, when someone was out for their lives, these Fengxiang soldiers who dared to seek reward on the battlefield did have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Fire chiefs, squad leaders, and captains — these low-ranking officers — did their utmost to steady the soldiers' nerves, sending the weaker ones forward to hold the line, while the core veterans hurriedly pulled iron armor from the mules, horses, and auxiliary troops and put it on.

Among them, several dozen sharpshooters let out ape-like howls, hiding behind the crowd and firing at high speed. The charging Qingzhou Tangut also began to have men constantly falling from their horses.

Hu Guang, following behind, saw that Li Yanli's unit could not break through, so he steeled himself and charged forward with the several hundred cavalry under his command.

They were made up of Dada Yue riders and Nestorian knights, wearing ring-mail armor and carrying cavalry lances, far stronger in combat than the Qingzhou Tangut.

At once, Hu Guang's unit charged straight in, first shooting with their horse bows, then wheeling around the Fengxiang Army's formation, using their long cavalry lances to rain down blow after blow.

Of course, the Fengxiang vanguard, which had regained a measure of organization, also began to fight back ceaselessly with long spears, great axes, and the like.

After Hu Guang's several hundred men had made a few passes around the formation and ridden off, the several hundred men of the Yuanzhou Tangut Li Zhongchao's unit arrived. They too were unarmored horse archers, and they came up and loosed another round of arrows.

Now the Fengxiang vanguard was beginning to falter. Only a small number of them had finished putting on armor, so even arrows shot from horse bows still did great damage to them.

After suffering several waves of attacks, even the officers could no longer hold the line. They abandoned some baggage and a field strewn with corpses, and began an orderly retreat.

At this moment, Li Congzhao, who had just been helped down from his horse in the center, sternly ordered the main army to advance and reinforce them.

But it was all too late. After three waves of charges by cavalry that could all be considered light cavalry, the main event arrived.

The infantry Commander of the Fengxiang Army's forward camp suddenly discovered that in the distance a cavalry force had appeared, trotting slowly forward.

From where he stood, although this cavalry numbered only a few hundred, both men and horses were fully armored, with even face guards on their faces.

In their hands they uniformly carried long cavalry lances suited for charging formations; no bows or arrows were to be seen at all. Clearly, this was a force of fully armored cavalry specialized in breaking formations.

Moreover, what made this Commander even more terrified was that within that mass of black-armored cavalry, there were two extremely conspicuous figures.

One on a white horse in silver robes, like Xue of Youzhou, and also bearing a striking resemblance to Zhao Zilong.

The other rode a golden Ferghana horse tinged with purple, clad in golden helmet and golden armor. When the sunlight struck him, he looked like a golden-armored divine general, dazzling to the eye.

"Run! Xue of the White Robe has come!"

"Is this not a golden-armored divine general descended to the mortal world? He is not one we can withstand!"

The Fengxiang soldiers below were all old hands. Many of them, for three generations, grandfather to grandson, had followed Li Maozhen on campaigns in all directions, and they certainly knew which battles could be fought and which could not.

This battle before them was one that absolutely could not be fought. While the fully armored cavalry opposite were still trotting and had not yet built up speed, fleeing for their lives was the proper course.

In an instant, over a thousand men of the Fengxiang vanguard, with perfect tacit understanding, turned and ran, howling.

They howled as they ran, in order to pass the word to those behind as quickly as possible and avoid crowding one another in the flight.

Even that infantry Commander nimbly yanked his reins, and took the lead in charging — only in the opposite direction.

"Attack!"

The enemy had fled, so Zhang Zhao could flourish his cavalry lance and point it forward. Four hundred fully armored cavalry surged forth like dragons emerging from the sea.

At this moment, the Fengxiang Army's main force of over two thousand had just come up, but the vanguard had already collapsed and retreated.

They were still babbling nonsense like "Xue of the White Robe has come" and "a golden-armored divine general has descended."

Before the main force coming to reinforce them could even figure out the situation, Zhang Zhao and Murong Xinzhang, leading the charge, crashed into them.

This kind of chaos was the most suitable for fully armored cavalry to unleash their power. If heavy infantry had formed a forest of long spears, it might not have been so easy to break through, but in this situation, it could not have been easier.

Tong Kong, the Chief Supervisor of the Fengxiang main force that had come to reinforce, shrank back violently, then very quickly realized that this was not something human strength could resist. He at once very sensibly turned his horse around and fled.

"Defeated! Defeated!"

"Xue of the White Robe has come!"

Cries like these began to shake the heavens, and all the Fengxiang officers and soldiers lost the will to resist.

And so, over three thousand Guiyi Army cavalry chased and hammered the front elements of the Fengxiang Army, while behind them Zhebu Jiashi's few hundred men simply made a token interception.

When large numbers of the Fengxiang Army saw that the Guiyi Army had not sealed off the road, they retreated in even greater relief, every man throwing away helmet and armor, baggage scattered all over the ground, fleeing toward Xingping County wailing for their fathers and mothers.

Zhang Zhao had also kept a trick in reserve. He had Bai Congxin drive a portion of the Fengxiang cavalry who had horses westward, and sure enough, these Fengxiang cavalry were very cooperative, turning their heads and heading west, toward Wugong County.

As these cavalry fled, one could hear someone shouting, "Fight our way into Xingping County, capture Li Congzhao alive, and this old master will flay him alive!" and so on.

Zhang Zhao watched these cavalry ride off into the distance, then waved his hand. "Send only a portion of men in pursuit. The rest, clean up the battlefield. We are going to prepare a little surprise for Li Congyan."

In Wugong County, Li Congyan was growing puzzled. Not only had An Shenqi not replied to his letter, but his third brother Li Congzhao, garrisoning Xingping County, had also sent no messengers for several days.

While he was wondering, several personal guards, supporting a blood-soaked officer, hurried in.

"Great King! That Hexi brat has rebelled! The Third Young Lord fell for his trick of luring the tiger from its mountain, lost over a thousand troops, and has retreated back to Xingping County."

"The Hexi men also say they will fight their way into Xingping County and flay the Third Young Lord alive. I beg the Great King to send troops to the rescue at once!"

Li Congyan looked at this blood-soaked officer and recalled that he seemed to be a Captain of the Fengxiang Left Army.

Just as he was about to question him in detail, a louder commotion came from outside. The Chief Clerk of the Prince of Qi's mansion came scrambling in, rolling and crawling.

"Great King! Over a hundred defeated soldiers have arrived outside. They look as though they have fled here from Xingping County. They say the Third Young Lord was ambushed by the Hexi Army three li west of Mawei Slope, lost troops and officers, and retreated back to Xingping County. The Guiyi Army is now fiercely attacking the county seat of Xingping!"

"Bang!" Li Congyan slammed his folding stool so hard it shook the heavens, and he shot to his feet.

"This is intolerable! A mere boy from Hexi, falsely claiming descent from loyal servants of the state, now dares to attack the troops of our great Qi. Beat the drums and assemble the commanders — I shall personally lead a great army to destroy this wretch for the sake of the realm!"

Thinking this over, and perhaps feeling it was not entirely secure, Li Congyan turned to his brother-in-law, Lu Duan, Left Horse-and-Foot Chief Supervisor of the Fengxiang Army.

"Silang, go at once to Zhouzhi County. Prepare rich gifts and deliver them to Kang Fu, then seek out the young lord of the Xiongwu Army, the Horse-and-Foot Chief Commander.

Tell him that I am willing to memorialize the throne to appoint him Acting Military Governor of Xiongwu, and that he should raise troops at once and join forces with me to chastise that little boy from Hexi together!"

While Li Congyan was making contact with Kang Fu, Zhang Zhao was already on the road, and had already chosen the battlefield for Li Congyan.

He had now arrived at the famous Mawei Slope, where there was a small town that had originally served as a way-station grain depot for the Fengxiang Army. Zhang Zhao easily forced the hundred-odd soldiers there to surrender and seized several hundred shi of grain.

At this moment, however, the attention of nearly all the Guiyi Army officers had been drawn away by a Buddhist shrine at Mawei Slope.

An old soldier came trembling before Zhang Zhao and the others. "Sir, it was in this very shrine that the Great Sage Great Bright Filial Emperor ordered Gao Lishi and the others to strangle Yang Taizhen with a hempen cord!"

"The kingfisher banners swayed, the procession halted once more; west of the capital gate, a hundred li and more. The six armies would not advance — what could be done? The delicate moth-brows perished before the horses. Her floral hairpins fell to the ground, none gathered them up; kingfisher plume, golden sparrow, jade hair-scratcher. The sovereign covered his face, powerless to save her; he turned and looked back — blood and tears flowed mingled together."

Zhang Zhao recited this softly. The old soldier assumed these people had come to pay respects to Yang Taizhen, but to his shock, Zhang Zhao suddenly drew the hengdao saber at his waist, frightening the old man half to death.

"A fine line — 'the delicate moth-brows perished before the horses.' A fine line — 'he turned and looked back, blood and tears flowed mingled together'!

Yang Taizhen and Yang Guozhong, those brothers and sisters, wallowed in arrogance and debauchery, framed loyal ministers, deceived those above and fawned on those below. The Great Sage Great Bright Filial Emperor cared only for his own pleasures and gave no thought to the suffering of the common people.

That is what stirred the two traitors An and Shi to raise rebellion in Hebei, throwing the realm into chaos — who knows how many lives were lost to the underworld.

Had it not been for that affair, how could the Tibetans have taken Anxi and Hexi? How could we have fallen so low as to become barbarians' subjects?

Even if their 'delicate moth-brows perished before the horses' was a most pitiful end, how could it compare to our misery?

For the sake of that one family, how many generations of us have died in battle in distant lands, and to this day cannot return home? Who knows the bitterness of us people of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou?"

As he spoke, I, Minister of Works Zhang, forced out a few tears. "We lift our eyes to the sun, but Chang'an is not to be seen. Yet when we finally reached Chang'an, we found that those villains who call themselves great kings but are in truth bandits have already trampled Chang'an beyond recognition!

Our sons fought bloody battles to put down the rebel armies, yet not only were they not rewarded, but the wealth and goods that were rightfully ours were snatched away. If this can be endured, what cannot be endured!"

"Minister of Works! That Li Congyan is the son of the traitor Li Maozhen. Their Fengxiang Army forced the death of the Chief Minister, murdered princes at will, plundered the Son of Heaven, and sacked Chang'an.

They are the rebel army, the bandits! This is intolerable — we beg the Minister of Works to lead us against this wretch and strike him down!"

Guo Tiance, being of one mind with Zhang Zhao, knew that war with Li Congyan was about to begin and that Zhang Zhao was rousing morale, so he quickly spoke up in support.

"Right! I crossed mountains and ridges for thousands of li to get here. We're the ones who do the beating — no one has ever dared strike us. No rewards, and they even rob us of our goods? Then we'll go take it from Li Congyan ourselves!"

Bai Congxin roared in agreement. He was genuinely angered by the Fengxiang Army's seizure of Xingping County.

"Exactly! There are traitors in the court, and we must root them out for the court!"

"Right! Strike down that treacherous minister Li Congyan!"

"Right! Expel the wicked! Execute the traitors to the realm!"

Zhang Zhao nodded with satisfaction. The army's morale could still be used.

Li Congyan's family had entrenched themselves in Fengxiang for decades, and the Fengxiang Army was no soft persimmon. If he did not stoke the fire in his soldiers' hearts, this would not be an easy fight!

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view.