The war drums were beating, the city gates were wide open, Zhao Jingyu rode a horse, holding a spear, and wearing a fiery red battle robe, and led the troops of the Great Zhou out of the city.
Xie Nanfeng, Cheng Zhiye and Zhou Yuncheng were on his left and right sides respectively, running side by side with him.
General Wuan did not go into battle, so he must have been commanding the battle from his seat.
It is the early afternoon, the scorching heat of the sun is about to dissipate, and the wind blows from afar, brushing across the green grassland, bringing the faint fragrance of flowers and grass. This is the most vibrant season of the year on the grassland, and it is also the most anticipated moment of the day, because in another hour, people will see the most beautiful sunset on the grassland.
However, today, the beautiful scenery is destined to be wasted, and the grassland is about to be dyed blood red.
The two armies met in the wilderness and stood face to face.
It is not very accurate to say it was two sides. To be precise, it should be three to one.
Mu Yuan, Mu Ke, Song Jingxing, and the young commander of the Red Army, Zhan Feiyu, stood side by side in a row in front of the team, facing Zhao Jingyu and the other four from a distance.
Song Jingxing met Zhao Jingyu's gaze, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings and hatred.
It was him. It was because of him that twenty years of his glory were destroyed in one day. Twenty years of his strength were wasted. Because of him, he became a stray dog. What's more infuriating is that he didn't even have a chance to fight him before he was defeated miserably.
God knows how unwilling he was. If he was inferior to Zhao Jingyu in every way, he would have nothing to say about losing to him. But Zhao Jingyu had been a scoundrel since he was a child, and he just enjoyed eating, drinking and having fun, but he took away things that should have belonged to him. How could he bear this
Why? Is it because Zhao Jingyu is better at reincarnation than him
He refused to accept.
He must use his own abilities to take back what belongs to him. He wants to let the world see who is the true son of destiny!
As he was thinking about this, he heard Zhao Jingyu raise his voice and say, "May I ask who that handsome man opposite is? He is so handsome. Would you like to be friends with him?"
Everyone: “…”
Everyone knows that the second young master Zhao loves beauty. However, how can he make friends with the enemy general when the two armies are facing each other
Zhan Feiyu looked indifferently at the young man in red clothes opposite him without saying a word.
Mu Ke sneered and said, "Why, too... Could it be that Mr. Zhao knows he can't beat us and wants to surrender?"
He was originally going to call Zhao Jingyu "Your Highness the Crown Prince", but since Song Jingxing was there, he changed his words temporarily.
Zhao Jingyu laughed out loud when he heard this: "Second Prince, don't speak too soon. It's not certain who will win or lose. If you can promise me that you won't be a deserter, I will respect you as a man."
"Escape? Why should I run away? If I don't drive you out of Youyun Pass today, I will take your surname!" Mu Ke made a harsh statement on the spot with full confidence.
Zhao Jingyu laughed again: "Come on, if I want a son, I can give birth to one myself. I don't want a rebellious son like you even if you give him to me for free."
Mu Ke was furious and stopped talking to him. He drew his sword and pointed it forward, ordering the three armies to attack immediately.
The atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly changed. The Great Zhou army instantly entered combat mode. War drums beat, horns blew, and soldiers from both sides shouted in unison: "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
A fierce battle is imminent.
The scorching sun seemed to sense the bleak and murderous aura and quietly hid in the clouds, leaving the world in darkness.
At this critical moment, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly came from afar, and at the same time a clear female voice rang out: "Wait a minute!"
Everyone clenched their weapons and looked nervously in the direction where the sound came from. They saw a fast horse carrying a thin woman in white galloping from the southwest.
The hearts of the commanders of both sides skipped a beat. At that moment, they all thought that Xie Nanjia had arrived.
Mu Yuan even stood up on the stirrups out of control. He had clearly sent the person back to Yudu in the north, so how could that woman come from the southwest
The commanders did not say anything, and no soldier from either side came out to stop them. Gradually, a person and a horse approached. At this time, everyone realized that she was not Xie Nanjia, but a thin young girl with an unfamiliar face.
The girl came to the front of the two armies, pulled the reins, and shouted: "I am Yun Shu, the daughter of General He Yun. The Red Army must not go to battle without orders!"
When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
"Yun Shu, why is she also called Yun Shu? Could it be that the previous Yun Shu was a fake?" Zhou Yuncheng murmured. Because he was closest to Cheng Zhiye, he subconsciously looked at Cheng Zhiye when he spoke.
Cheng Zhiye finally got over the previous blow and forced himself to believe that Yun Shu must have been coerced into doing that. After they captured Yudu, if he could see her again, he would definitely plead for her and let Zhao Jingyu give her a chance to explain.
But now it seems that it is very likely that even her identity is fake.
She must be a complete spy.
Cheng Zhiye felt a pang of heartache. The battle hadn't even begun yet, but he felt as if he had been pierced by thousands of arrows.
Zhao Jingyu felt as if spring thunder rolled through his heart. In just a short moment, he understood Xie Nanjia's true intention.
It turns out that the Yun Shu before was not the real Yun Shu at all. Xie Nanjia should have met the real Yun Shu in Xirong, and also learned the method of commanding the Red Army from Yun Shu. So, she deliberately staged a big drama to confuse the fake Yun Shu and the brothers Mu Yuan and Mu Ke. But when Mu Ke dispatched the Red Army, the real Yun Shu would appear and use another method to command the Red Army.
He guessed that Xiu'er would reverse the situation, but to be honest, he had not really guessed Xiu'er's plan until he went out of the city to fight. The reason he dared to come was entirely because of his trust in Xiu'er.
In comparison, except for the only outsider Song Jingxing, the other three from Yu Ze were relatively calm. Mu Yuan had already learned from Xie Nanjia that the previous Yun Shu was a fake, so although he didn't know whether this Yun Shu really had the ability to command the Red Army, he was relatively not that shocked.
As for Mu Ke, the matter of the real and fake Yun Shu was his idea. He was more uneasy than surprised when the real Yun Shu appeared.
As for Zhan Feiyu, his face remained indifferent and no one could tell what he was thinking.
Mu Yuan asked Mu Ke: "What's going on? Isn't it said that whoever has the Red Clothes Order will be obeyed by the Red Clothes Army? What's going on with this girl who suddenly appeared?"
"Don't worry about her. She must have been arranged by Zhao Jingyu to confuse the public." Mu Ke said, and turned to look at Zhan Feiyu, "General Zhan, there is no time to lose. We should not waste time because of the nonsense of a yellow-haired girl. Let's start the war quickly!"
"She is not talking nonsense. The Red Army cannot go to war without orders." Zhan Feiyu said indifferently.
"…" Mu Ke's heart was shocked, and he forced a smile, "General, why do you say that? Haven't we already verified the authenticity of the Red Clothes Order face to face? If it was fake, why would you come here with me?"
"I came with you because you have the Red Clothes Order," Zhan Feiyu said, "but your Red Clothes Order can only be used to mobilize troops, but not to command the Red Clothes Army to fight."
This was even more shocking than Yun Shu's arrival. Mu Ke immediately lost his composure: "General Zhan, are you kidding me? You brought 20,000 troops with me and came to Lechuan day and night, but you said that I can't command you to fight. Are you here to watch the fun?"
"Yes, General Zhan, what is going on? We are all people of Yuze. Now is a critical moment for the survival of Yuze. Why are you just standing by and watching?" Mu Yuan was also anxious, staring at Zhan Feiyu with his eyes like copper bells.
"Of course I'm not here to watch the fun, but my army and I don't belong to the Yuze Kingdom." Zhan Feiyu said, "We are the Seventh Princess's people. We will listen to whoever the Seventh Princess tells us to listen to."
"Then tell me, who did the Seventh Princess ask you to listen to?" Mu Yuan said.
"Whoever has the token will be obeyed."
"Isn't the talisman here?" Mu Ke was almost going crazy. He took out the jade ring from his arms and held it high.
"This is a token, not a command token." Zhan Feiyu said, "This token can only be used to mobilize troops, not to command battles."
"…" After going around in circles, the question returned to the starting point. Mu Ke asked again in frustration, "Then why did you come with me?"
"I'm here to find someone who can truly command the Red Army." said Zhan Feiyu.
"Who is the one who can truly command the Red Army?" Mu Ke asked.
"I don't know. You have to ask her. She said we can find it here." Zhan Feiyu pointed at Yun Shu.
Everyone followed his finger and looked at Yun Shu.
"There are not one but three real Red Shirt Orders," Yun Shu said. "To command the Red Shirt Army, three people with Red Shirt Orders tattooed on their backs must appear at the same time. Among the three people, one has the tattoo on the left shoulder, one has the tattoo on the right shoulder, and one has the tattoo in the middle. The one with the tattoo in the middle is the one who can truly give orders to the Red Shirt Army and is the master of the Red Shirt Army."
"Oh my God, it's just an army of 20,000 people, is it necessary to make it so complicated?" Zhou Yuncheng whispered in surprise.
Everyone was as surprised as he was. It took a very clever mind to come up with such a complex and rigorous verification method. It seemed that the Red Army was truly the life's work of the Seventh Princess.
So, to whom will she leave her life's work
The most likely possibility is naturally her only son.
Everyone looked at Zhao Jingyu following this line of thought.
Zhou Yuncheng asked in a low voice: "Yu'er, do you have a tattoo on your back? How come I don't know about it?"
"There are a lot of things you don't know." Zhao Jingyu said in a calm tone, but his heart was trembling.
"Nonsense!" Mu Ke said sternly from the opposite side, "As everyone knows, the Red Army is the army of my Yuze country, and is definitely not the Seventh Princess's private army. The late emperor only gave the Red Army Order to the Seventh Princess for safekeeping. When the Seventh Princess was expelled from the country, the late emperor forgot to take it back, which is why the Red Army was left to wander outside without anyone to take over. Now that I have obtained the Red Army Order, the Red Army is naturally under my command. General Zhan, I order you to go into battle immediately!"
The soldiers on both sides suddenly became nervous, gripped their weapons tightly, and were ready to fight at any time.
Zhan Feiyu was indifferent, just like he didn't take Mu Yuan seriously before, he also didn't take Mu Ke seriously now. He suddenly raised his hand and pulled his collar back, revealing his solid honey-colored right shoulder blade and a green tattoo pattern, which was exactly the same shape as the jade ring in Mu Ke's hand.
Everyone who was nearby cried out in amazement. Seeing this, Yun Shu imitated his movements and displayed his left shoulder to everyone's sight.
On her snow-white left shoulder, there is also a green jade ring pattern tattoo.
Everyone held their breath and looked at Zhao Jingyu again.
Zhao Jingyu took off his armor, unbuttoned his clothes, and exposed his back.
Her skin, as white as jade, dazzled everyone's eyes, yet it was smooth and clean without even a single black mole.
For a moment, the world became quiet.
No one expected this outcome.
Mu Ke laughed out loud, and the soldiers of the Yu Ze Army also laughed out loud.
The laughter was full of sarcasm, but at the same time it carried a sense of relief at having escaped death.
Fortunately it wasn’t Zhao Jingyu, otherwise I would have been dead today.
"How could this happen?" Zhou Yuncheng shouted in surprise and disappointment.
"What's the hurry?" Zhao Jingyu smiled and turned her back to him, "Come, help me peel off that piece of skin."
“… What do you mean?” Zhou Yuncheng was stunned, then he understood what he meant, moved closer to his back and took a closer look, then peeled off a piece of fake skin that was the same color as his skin.
Under the fake skin, there was a tattoo of a green jade ring pattern, the same as the ones on Yun Shu and Zhan Feiyu.
For a moment, the world became quiet again.
Mu Ke didn't have time to hide his smile, and it froze on his face.
There was a faint unrest among the Yuze army, and the morale that had been boosted by the joining of the Red Army gradually weakened.
Zhan Feiyu turned over, dismounted, knelt on one knee in front of Zhao Jingyu, and said loudly: "Zhan Feiyu, the son of the loyal and brave general Zhan Qingfeng of the Red Army, pays homage to the Lord!"
Behind him, 20,000 red-clad soldiers knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "Red-clad soldiers pay homage to the Lord!"
The loud shouts rolled across the sky like thunder, echoing throughout the grassland, shaking people's hearts and livers.
Zhao Jingyu's eyes suddenly turned red.
These 20,000 red-coated soldiers are the most precious wealth his mother left him, and they also represent his mother's deepest love for him.
The sudden change caught the two brothers Mu Yuan and Mu Ke off guard. While the Red Army was paying homage to their master, Mu Ke quietly gave orders, ordering the Yu Ze Army and Song Jingxing's army to retreat to both sides urgently, keep a distance from the Red Army, and then wait for an opportunity to retreat.
However, Zhao Jingyu didn't intend to give him this opportunity. With his shirt half-open, he looked at him with an evil smile on his face: "What? After seeing my body, you still want to run away?"
Mu Ke: “…”
Zhao Jingyu put on his clothes slowly and adjusted his armor. He drew out the sword from his waist with a clang, and pointed the sword towards Yuze Jun with a cold light: "Kill!"
At the command, 20,000 red-clad soldiers instantly turned against their own side and rushed towards the Yu Ze army like a flame. Wherever they went, it was like a prairie fire, and the Yu Ze army fell down one after another.
Zhou Yuncheng was dumbfounded and finally realized that he had underestimated this army of "only 20,000 people".
On the other side, Xie Nanfeng also led the Great Zhou army to attack Song Jingxing's troops, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.
The shouts of killing were deafening, the sound of weapons colliding pierced the eardrums, and with every flash of cold light, a fresh life fell, blood splattered, burning half of the sky red, and the most beautiful sunset on the grassland arrived as expected...
It was a brutal and protracted battle, lasting from afternoon to sunset, and from sunset to moonrise. The bright moonlight shone compassionately on the land, and corpses piled up like small hills under the moonlight.
The 50,000 Yu Ze troops were no match for the 20,000 Red Army troops. They were defeated and retreated step by step, fighting and fleeing to the north.
As Song Jingxing said, Song Jingxing's army was very familiar with the strategies and tactics of the Great Zhou army. They were specially trained against the Great Zhou army. As a result, the fight between the two sides was very stalemate and it was difficult to determine the winner.
As the battle progressed, the Great Zhou army began to show signs of defeat. Xie Nanfeng did not dare to continue fighting and fled to the southeast with his troops.
Song Jingxing naturally would not let them escape easily. He led his troops in pursuit of the victory, turning all his hatred into fighting power, and vowed to wipe out the Zhou army in one fell swoop.
However, he still miscalculated. When his army chased to the border of Lechuan and was completely separated from the Yuze army, Xie Zhanting suddenly led a large group of troops down from the sky, forming a two-pronged attack with Xie Nanfeng, and encircled his army in the middle.
Song Jingxing then realized that he had been tricked by Xie Nanfeng. Xie Zhanting was not in the city commanding the battle, but had been lying in ambush here, waiting for Xie Nanfeng to pretend to be defeated and lure him over.
But even so, he did not give up. He gritted his teeth, led his men to fight their way out, and fled towards Shanyang Pass.
By the time they fled back to Shanyang Pass, only 30,000 of the 50,000 troops were left.
Xie Nanfeng still wanted to pursue the victory, but Xie Zhanting insisted on not pursuing a desperate enemy, so he let them go for the time being and returned to support Zhao Jingyu.
In fact, Zhao Jingyu did not need any support. The bravery and fighting ability of the Red Army was beyond their expectations. They chased the Yuze Army all the way and attacked it fiercely, heading straight for Yudu.
Mu Yuan had never fought such a cowardly battle before. After retreating to the end, he was unwilling to retreat any further and was determined to fight to the death with Zhao Jingyu.
Mu Ke disagreed and advised him not to do anything stupid: "We were just deceived by Zhan Feiyu today. As long as we can withdraw to Yudu safely, we will always have a chance to take revenge in the future."
Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden commotion in the team behind him. The soldiers stopped retreating and rushed back, shouting in panic, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
The king? The two brothers were stunned. Could it be that their father learned that they were no match for the Red Army and personally led his troops to support them
But if reinforcements were coming from my father, why were the soldiers in such a panic
"I'll hold on here, you go and take a look at the back." Mu Yuan said to Mu Ke.
Mu Ke responded and rode his horse back.
As he walked along, he finally heard what the soldiers were shouting. They were shouting, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has been captured..."
Mu Ke's heart sank. He whipped his horse frantically with the whip and galloped all the way to the rear of the team. He saw a crowd of people and bright torches in the north direction, not far from their team. The first carriage was illuminated by the fire, and sitting in the carriage was a man tied up. It was his father, the king.
"Father!" Mu Ke was so frightened that his heart almost jumped out of his throat. He rode his horse over and called out in a trembling voice, "Father, what's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong? Can't you see it?" A clear and pleasant female voice sounded, and Mu Ke realized that on a horse next to the carriage, sat a heroic female general. The jumping flames reflected her bright and moving face, and her pair of phoenix eyes were as cold and clear as moonlight, and as bright as stars.
"It's you!" Mu Ke exclaimed, "What are you going to do?"
"Let your father tell you what I am going to do." Xie Nanjia smiled slightly and pointed the sword in his hand at King Yuze's throat.
“Descend, descend, descend…” King Yuze shouted repeatedly, his voice hoarse.
Mu Ke's heart sank.
They had just taken the first step in their mission to unify the world, how come it turned out like this
His father asked him to surrender. In this situation, what was the difference between surrender and death
No, I can't surrender, and I can't die. I still have soldiers and money. As long as I can survive tonight, I will win. I...
"Second Prince, did you hear that? Your father asked you to surrender. Do you want to disobey your father's order?" Xie Nanjia shouted.
Mu Ke came back to his senses, gritted his teeth, put the scimitar back into the scabbard, took out the longbow behind him, put an arrow on the bow, and slowly aimed at the carriage.
(End of this chapter)