When Li Fazhu and Tian Yu returned to the confronting crowd again, Tian Yu immediately led the Yangzhou troops and went behind Li Fazhu.
The implication is very clear. The decision of the Yangzhou hunting team to join Li Fazhu's alliance has become a fact.
Yue Pengju and others who saw this scene became even more gloomy.
In the current situation, the four hunting teams of Jiangyou, Hedong, Fengxiang and Yangzhou have united together to confront the combined forces of the three teams of Heshuo, Xuzhou and Yaozhou. Overall, Yue Pengju's side is clearly at a disadvantage.
Whether in terms of the number of masters or the total number of people in confrontation, the temporary alliance formed by Li Fazhu is much more powerful than Yue Pengju and others.
Li Fazhu's temporary alliance, masters of the Tianxuan realm, include Li Fazhu, Li Kuangba, and Shen Guang from Jiangyou; Li Cunxiao and Mu Chen from Hedong; and the two sisters Huo Nu and Yu Nu from Fengxiang.
Finally, we have to add Tan Qiao and Tian Yu from Yangzhou, a total of nine Tianxuan masters, which is three more than Yue Pengju's side.
Among them, Li Kuangba and Mu Chen are both masters of the Shi Ran realm; not to mention, there is also an unfathomable old immortal Tan Qiao from Huating. No matter how you look at it, Yue Pengju and others have a slim chance of winning.
Even so, Master Li was still not satisfied. His gaze hesitated for a while and then fell on the Henan hunting team.
The leader of the Henan hunting team was none other than Wang Yanzhang, who was famous during the Five Dynasties period.
This is a big man who is as fierce as a wolf and a tiger, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a mighty and majestic figure. Just one look at him and you can be sure that this man must be a great hero.
When Li Fazhu's eyes fell on Wang Yanzhang, before he could open his mouth to persuade him, the other party suddenly said, "General Li, there is no need to look at him anymore, and there is no need to waste your thoughts and words any more."
"My family's chief steward supports His Royal Highness Prince Shou. It is not reasonable for us to join your alliance."
"The general gathered people from all sides in the name of supporting Prince Ji; as a supporter of Prince Shou, I had no choice but to join General Yue's alliance."
When these words were spoken, not only Master Li was stunned, but even Yue Pengju and others were also inexplicably surprised.
Amid mixed emotions, everyone understood the reason behind Wang Yanzhang's statement that he wanted to join the Heshuo faction after a moment of calm and careful consideration.
Li Fazhu brought together three hunting teams and, together with their Jiangyou faction, formed a four-party alliance; their alliance was composed entirely of people from powerful vassal states of the time, all of whom were powerful vassal states that supported Prince Ji.
Once this temporary alliance gains the upper hand and defeats Yue Pengju and others who support Prince Shou, Henan, which also supports Prince Shou, will inevitably be attacked by the other side.
The reason is simple, because the two sides stand on different sides, they cannot coexist; knowing this truth, how could Wang Yanzhang join Li Fazhu's alliance
At this point, Yue Pengju and others, with the support of the Henan hunting team led by Wang Yanzhang, instantly had the confidence to fight against Li Fazhu and others again.
You know, the Henan hunting team is equally strong. Wang Yanzhang and Gai Songtao are both top masters in the natural realm.
Yue Pengju's side originally had six Tianxuan masters, and with these two, the number of masters increased to eight. With eight against nine, although still at a disadvantage, in terms of numbers, such disadvantage is no longer obvious.
Looking at the entire Tang Dynasty, there are a total of nine powerful vassal states. Now, except for Wang Jian of Xichuan, the other eight parties have all gathered here; moreover, the troops of the eight parties are divided into two groups and confronted each other on the spot.
Looking at Wang Yanzhang's back as he led his men towards Yue Pengju's side, Master Li's eyes flickered with a complex and incomprehensible expression.
actually
Wang Yanzhang decisively rejected Li Fazhu. Rather than saying that he was not giving the other party face, it would be more appropriate to say that he was forced by Li Fazhu to side with Yue Pengju.
If Fazhu Li had not formed an alliance, perhaps the Henan Hunting Team would have just stood by and watched; however, in order to deal with Yue Pengju and others, Fazhu Li formed an alliance with the four powerful vassals. With their combined strength, even Yue Pengju and others, with the combined strength of the three parties, were far inferior to Fazhu Li's side.
In this way, once Master Li defeats Yue Pengju and his men, no one in the other hunting teams will be able to contend with Master Li and his men.
What's more, Zhu Quanzhong supported Prince Shou. If Wang Yanzhang were asked to join Li Fazhu's alliance, he would not dare to do so even if he had the courage.
After all, Jiangyou and Henan now belong to different positions, and there is fierce competition between them. How could Wang Yanzhang, a subordinate who is loyal to Zhu Quanzhong, disobey the will of his master
Since he could not join Li Fazhu's alliance, Wang Yanzhang, as the leader of the hunting team, had to be responsible for the survival of the entire hunting team. In order to protect himself, at this time, Wang Yanzhang had no choice but to stand on Yue Pengju's side.
This choice was reasonable, but it was beyond the expectations of Master Li and others. Wasn't it because they were forced by Master Li
As Master Li was looking at Wang Yanzhang's hunting team and walking towards Yue Pengju and others, a cold snort immediately sounded in his ears: "Hmph, you are shameless. Wang Yanzhang, since you have chosen to be our enemy, do you have the courage to stand up and compete with this general?"
Even if he didn't look back, Master Li knew that the person who challenged him must be Li Cunxiao.
Master Li, of course, hopes to unite as many people as possible. In this way, he can be more certain to keep Yue Pengju and others in the hunting ground forever.
However, from Li Cunxiao's perspective, he did not want Wang Yanzhang to join them.
As everyone knows, Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong are a pair of mortal enemies; and as their generals, both Li Cunxiao and Wang Yanzhang hope to keep the other in the hunting ground forever.
Therefore, as soon as he saw Wang Yanzhang choose to stand on Yue Pengju's side, Li Cunxiao immediately started to challenge him.
The confrontation was set in stone, and with each side having four major hunting teams, a fight was inevitable.
Upon hearing Li Cunxiao's challenge, Yue Pengju and others immediately frowned and began to think; since fighting was inevitable, they had to consider how to fight with the opponent in a way that would be beneficial to themselves.
If they charge forward all at once, that's just a gangster fight, using such tactics, which is obviously not a suitable option for two armies in a life-and-death situation.
In a real confrontation between two armies, no commander would choose a desperate fight unless he was absolutely sure of defeating the enemy.
Since Li Cunxiao chooses to fight on the battlefield, Yue Pengju and others naturally cannot give in; but who to choose to fight remains to be seen.
"Li Cunxiao is the most powerful general in Hedong. His strength should not be underestimated. Everyone, who should we let compete in this competition?" After thinking for a while, Yue Pengju turned his head to look at everyone and spoke solemnly.
When everyone heard this, they all fell silent.
It's not that they are timid, but even if they ask themselves honestly, they have no confidence in defeating Li Cunxiao. This is why everyone fell silent.
"Then let me go. I would like to see how powerful Li Cunxiao is, who is known as the most powerful general in Hedong." After a short silence, Long Qie, with a resolute look on his face, recommended himself.
Following the voice, Yue Pengju looked towards Long Qie. To be honest, he didn't know much about this person's strength. Of course, it wasn't just Long Qie's strength that counted. He couldn't tell the difference.
Yue Pengju also didn't understand the strength of others.
He asked this question precisely because he did not understand everyone's strength; his intention was very obvious, which was to let everyone weigh for themselves whether their strength was suitable for fighting against the enemy general.
"General Long, are you sure that you can remain undefeated in the battle against Li Cunxiao?" Yue Pengju asked a little worriedly.
After all, this was the first battle, and its impact on subsequent morale was extremely crucial, so he had to be cautious; after all, he was nominally the commander-in-chief of the group.
"Whether we can remain undefeated, I don't know, but I assure the general that I will do my best." In response to Yue Pengju's inquiry, Long Qie promised seriously.
In fact, even if Long Qie is not as good as Li Cunxiao, he should not be much worse.
Some say that there are five great generals of Xiang Yu in later generations, while others say that there are four great generals. The difference between these two statements lies in whether Long Ju is counted among the generals.
Zhongli Mei, Ji Bu, Ying Bu and Xiang Zhuang are the undisputed generals of Xiang Yu, and there should be no controversy about this; after all, each of these four people is a figure with outstanding military achievements, and there is nothing wrong with them.
The key is Long Ju. There are very few records about him in history. His most famous battle achievements were defeating the Qin army and defeating Ying Bu who betrayed Xiang Yu.
In the most credible "Records of the Grand Historian", there are only records of Long Ju's two victories and two defeats.
If we insist on saying that he is a general, his military achievements may not convince the public; if we say that he is not a general, even Ying Bu, one of the four great generals, a brave and skilled general, was not his opponent. How can we say that such a person is not a general
In my humble opinion, Long Ju was not completely a general. His status in the State of Chu was much higher than the four great generals including Zhongli Mei and Ji Bu. The reason was simple, he was Xiang Yu's confidant, a loyal confidant.
From historical books, we can see that Ying Bu rebelled, but Xiang Yu remained calm; Zhongli Mei fled from the Chu camp, but Xiang Yu remained composed.
However, when Long Ju was ambushed and died on the battlefield, Xiang Yu panicked.
Why
Because, among so many generals of the Chu State, the only foreign general who was most trusted by Xiang Yu was Long Ju.
Xiang Yu regarded Long Ju as his right-hand man. When Long Ju was defeated, Xiang Yu thought he had lost an arm and became panicked.
From this we can see that Long Ju's status in the State of Chu must be higher than those of the four great generals.
In addition, the fact that Long Qie was able to defeat Ying Bu on the frontal battlefield is enough to show that he was far superior to Ying Bu in both bravery and wisdom.
You have to know that Ying Bu was not an ordinary person. He once defeated Liu Bang so badly that he had to hide in the city and dared not show his head. Even after his death, his body was dismembered by Liu Bang. This shows to what extent he forced Liu Bang.
To sum up, if Ying Bu is compared to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, then Long Ju's martial arts is at least at the level of Lu Fengxian. When it comes to martial arts, the Overlord of Chu is unparalleled throughout the ages, so naturally he also likes brave and powerful generals.
In that era, Long Ju was naturally inferior to Xiang Yu; but his martial arts must have been higher than the other four, and he was also loyal to Xiang Yu, which made him trusted by the other party.
After this comparison, the author dares to say that even if Long Qie is not as good as Li Cunxiao, he is not far behind him.
Since Long Ju asked for a fight, although Yue Pengju was worried, he still allowed him to fight against Li Cunxiao based on his trust in his employees.
By the Kunming Lake, Li Cunxiao, who was as thin as a giant monkey, picked up his Bi Yan Lao without waiting for Li Fazhu's permission and walked towards the open space between the two sides; while Long Ju, wearing a Nielongbi on his head and a silver dragon armor on his body, came forward with a spear.