After Jingzhou and Qizhou were settled, the area occupied by Daliang formed a siege on Youzhou. In Duan Xu's camp, the generals gathered around the map. Duan Xu drew on the map with his hand and said, "Qingsheng, the conditions for going out to sea at Yuyan Port in Qizhou are good these days. You lead the Chengjie Army to go out to sea from here and attack Fengzhou in the north by water. After half a month, press to the area from Jixian to Nanyicheng to put pressure on the northeast of Youzhou."
Xia Qingsheng accepted the order.
Duan Xu turned his head and saw Shi Biao's excited eyes. Shi Biao rubbed his hands and said, "General Duan, another batch of feather chariots have arrived. In addition to the Guihe Army, they can also be used by the 50,000-man army. Now that we have come to this, shouldn't we show off our unique skills?"
Bandits usually have bad tempers, and Shi Biao is no exception. When Duan Xu tried to persuade this arrogant guy to surrender, he leisurely brought out his plan to attack Danzhi in the future, as well as the model of the feather formation chariot. At that time, Shi Biao, who was in the mountain cave, immediately felt that he was not a hero for occupying the mountain and being the king. A real hero should follow Duan Xu to fight the Huqi people.
Later, he obediently accepted the amnesty and came to Guihe Army, where he saw the first batch of feather-formed chariots designed by Duan Xu, and began to follow Duan Xu to secretly select soldiers to practice chariot battles. He felt that Duan Xu was a genius at such a young age to design such a tactic, and he admired him so much that he didn't even want to call him General Duan, even Shi Biao would recognize him as Grandpa Duan.
In response to Shi Biao's generous praise, Duan Xu just smiled and said that it was also due to the guidance of a master, not just his own credit. Thousands of years ago, large-scale battles on ancient battlefields always involved chariots. A big country is often called a country with thousands of chariots. However, over the past thousands of years, cavalry and infantry have been continuously strengthened, and chariot warfare has gradually declined. He just made a feather formation chariot according to the ancient Eight Formations and combined it with the tactics of the Danzhi cavalry.
What he didn't tell Shi Biao was that when he was looking through ancient books, he found that many of the designs of chariots were vague and almost lost. At that time, He Simu was lying on his back reading those ancient books. When he heard him sighing about those precious things that had been lost, he smiled and said - if you take good care of me, these things will not be lost.
This master who has lived for hundreds of years loves to stroll around battlefields, and he has seen those things with his own eyes.
Duan Xu laughed and said to Shi Biao, "It's time to give them a surprise."
In October of the 14th year of Tianyuan, Duan Xu divided his troops into three routes, led by Xia Qingsheng, Wu Shengliu and himself respectively, and attacked Youzhou from three directions, starting the most famous Youzhou Campaign in Daliang's history.
Among them, the Guihe Army led by Duan Xu brought out a peculiar chariot, named Yuzhen. The chariot was light and the carriage was very flat, which was convenient for moving in narrow and dangerous places. The carriage had holes on all four sides, and the soldiers could live in it. They could defend themselves by inserting sharp wooden spikes all over their bodies. When they reached an open area, the chariots could be connected to form a square formation, with a maximum of thirty chariots connected, like a city that could be moved.
When Hu Qi attacked the previous dynasty, he suffered a great loss because of the city walls and fortresses. Now Duan Xu turned the field battle into a siege. The feathered chariots that stretched like a city shocked the Danzhi defenders as soon as they entered the battlefield. After long-term drills, the Guihe Army was proficient in the use of the feathered chariots, and the soldiers on the chariots were all selected through layers of screening. They were strong men who could at least pull a four-jin bow. Arrows rained down from behind the chariots. Even the Danzhi cavalry, no matter how strong they were, had no place to attack.
The biggest problem with the Yuzhen chariots was their speed. The Danzhi could not attack, so when they retreated, Duan Xu quickly sent cavalry to pursue them. The cavalry led by Ding Jin were fast and light, and they were trained in riding and archery by Duan Xu himself. They chased while waiting for the Yuzhen chariots to catch up.
In this way, Ji Wang, which was known to be an impregnable place, was captured in just five days after being attacked by Guihe Army. Danzhi retreated in a panic and was pressed step by step by Guihe Army.
Of course, Duan Xu did not forget his best tricks. Many magnets were found in the Tianluo Mine. He equipped some feather formation chariots with those magnets. The soldiers on the chariots all wore rattan armor and held wooden sticks. Once the Danzhi soldiers touched these magnetic chariots, their armor and iron hooves were attracted by the magnets and they staggered and had difficulty walking, as if they were under a spell. Duan Xu continued to spread the content of the "Cangyan Sutra", saying that these were miracles, and started a psychological warfare with the Danzhi army.
The battles on the southern and eastern fronts went smoothly, but Wu Shengliu encountered stubborn resistance on the western front and made slow progress. Duan Xu ordered the Guihe Army to continue advancing, and he led the light cavalry with Shen Ying to the western front to cooperate with Wu Shengliu to disintegrate the resistance of the Danzhi Army.
Duan Xu's deeds were widely known among the people, and naturally also reached He Simu's ears.
He Simu was reading the battle report by lamplight in Yuzhou City, Jiang Ai was helping to read the memorial beside him, Bai Sanxing was bored and propped up his chin to read the lamp, then suddenly stood up and said, "It's too boring, I want to go back."
Jiang Ai looked at him with a smile and said, "No, I haven't rested yet, and you want to rest?"
"I have nothing to do here!"
"Then I'll give you some of these memorials so you can see what your old subordinates are doing?"
"What's so interesting about this long speech? It's so boring."
"Haha, when you were the leader of the Ghost Palace, didn't you read the reports from below?"
Bai Sanxing's expression changed, and he gritted his teeth and said nothing. Jiang Ai understood and said, "Yan Ke was the one who helped you to watch over him, right? You deserve to be sold out without knowing it."
As she spoke, she piled the papers in her hand in front of Bai Sanxing and said with a smile, "Take a good look at them, and tell me what you think after you finish reading them."
Bai Sanxing had a sinister look in his eyes. Jiang Ai raised his hand and shook the bell on his wrist. He then reluctantly picked up the letter and began to look at it indignantly, his eyes seeming to poke two holes in it.
He Simu looked at the two evil ghosts, thinking. She had heard that Bai Sanxing had a violent temper, but in front of Jiang Ai, he felt like he couldn't vent his anger. If it wasn't Jiang Ai but any other evil ghost controlling him, according to Bai Sanxing's temper, he would rather be reduced to ashes than surrender.
Jiang Ai picked up the next book and exclaimed as he read it: "I never realized that Yan Zhang was such a good fighter."
"She was originally the daughter of a military commander. Later, her father was convicted and she became a courtesan. She was also betrayed by her lover. She had a very miserable life and was filled with deep resentment, which transformed into very strong magical powers." He Simu said.
"You promoted her, and she is very loyal to you. Also, the new leader of the Ghost Hall, the Ghost Hall, and the Ghost Hall almost immediately expressed their loyalty and sent troops to attack Yan Ke."
He Simu flipped through the battle report and said, "Yan Ke has his followers, and I naturally have mine. I won't end up being a lone man like he thinks. Even if these hall masters are not used to target him, they will be used in the future."
After a pause, she raised her eyes and looked at Jiang Ai, saying, "Bai Sanxing will show up in a while. Now Yan Ke still thinks that I know nothing about Bai Sanxing and thinks that this is just a quarrel between you and me. Is he trying to win you over recently?"
"I closed the door to visitors, and he was also worried about being caught by you, so he only sent people to pass on the message a few times. The hall masters led by Yan Ke now are all from the previous dynasty, and have been taken care of by Bai Sanxing to some extent. If Bai Sanxing shows up and accuses Yan Ke of betrayal, then the hall masters he leads will definitely be nervous." Jiang Ai glanced at Bai Sanxing, who had a gloomy face, and smiled at He Simu, "Simu, when you originally said that you planned to end this rebellion in half a year, I thought you were bragging. Look, maybe it can really be over in half a year. Are you going to see your little friend earlier in order to end it earlier?"
He Simu smiled softly when he heard this.
Jiang Ai said, "I recently heard that he is very famous in the human world and is very good at fighting. Let him come to our ghost world to help you fight, so that you don't have to be separated from each other."
He Simu waved his hand and said lightly: "He has his battles to fight, and I have mine to fight. Aunt Jiang Ai, don't always blame him."
"Why, you missed him?"
He Simu looked at Jiang Ai, and looked into her eyes that were full of smiles and teasing. He Simu looked at her, and then looked at Bai Sanxing who was frowning beside her. After a moment of silence, he leisurely closed the battle report and said with a smile: "Then I'll trouble Aunt Jiang Ai for the rest of the battle report."
Jiang Ai was stunned, and before he could react, he saw a puff of green smoke passing by, and His Majesty the Ghost King disappeared.
Her Highness the Ghost King suddenly dropped the responsibility and went to look for her lover.
He Simu occasionally recalled this time, and would wonder if she also had some kind of inspiration to suddenly go to find Duan Xu. For example, people in the human world would feel chest tightness, panic, and eyelid twitching, but of course she would never have such a feeling.
All she felt was that at that moment she suddenly missed him very much.
Perhaps she felt somehow that if she didn't go to find him this time, it would be like letting go of his hand in the dark ocean of time, and she would never see him again.
As soon as He Simu's feet touched the ground, a soldier covered in blood pierced her soul and body. In the unfamiliar bedroom crowded with countless people, she was confused for a moment whether she had gone to the wrong place. However, the next moment she saw Duan Xu lying on the bed through the gap in the crowd.
She kept recalling this scene for a long time.
As the candlelight flickered, Duan Xu's upper body was naked, his hair was disheveled and stained with blood and sweat, sticking to his face, and his left chest was wrapped in thick gauze, but the entire gauze had been stained dark. His face was as pale as paper, with a dark color stained by blood at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were quietly closed.
He Simu was very familiar with battlefields, familiar with death, and even more familiar with dying people like this one.
"Doctor, call the doctor! General Duan was shot by an arrow! The bleeding won't stop!"
"It's been two hours... Will it be too late..."
"What nonsense!"
"The blood is black, the arrow is poisonous!"
People coming and going kept passing through He Simu's soul. She stood there for an unknown amount of time, as if she didn't know how to control her body. When she wanted to move forward, she saw the doctor turning Duan Xu's body. Duan Xu's left hand hung on the side of the bed, shaking weakly.
The candlelight flickered, and his pale fingertips swung back and forth between the shadow and light of the bed, the amplitude gradually decreasing, and then stopped moving. Dark liquid flowed down his fingertips, dripping onto the ground.
He Simu stopped walking, and she called out softly, almost helplessly: "Duan Xu."
"Duan Huli, Duan Shunxi, Duan Xu!"
She began to walk forward, her voice getting louder with each step, shouting his name so that no one but him could hear it. No matter what happened before, she always woke him up when she called his name like this. She squatted beside his bed, shouting his name, and reached out to touch his face, but her fingers went straight through his cheek.
Her hands began to tremble, and she felt a sense of panic that she could not catch him. She always felt that Duan Xu was like a calm burning flame. When she leaned on his chest, she could hear the crackling sound of sparks exploding. He was always bright and fearless.
But it seemed like in just a moment, as she blinked, she saw the flame weaken and the sound became lower.
It seemed like he was about to perish.
When Duan Xu led his army back to Hejun from the western battlefield, he encountered an ambush by the Danzhi army, and Shi Biao failed to rescue him in time. Duan Xu's 5,000 cavalry were trapped for three days, and finally Zhao Xing from Qizhou led his troops to support him. When breaking out, Duan Xu was shot in the chest by a Danzhi Shenji crossbow, seriously injured and unconscious.
The arrow is extremely poisonous and will cause continuous bleeding, which is very dangerous.