At the vernal equinox in the second year of Xiangfu, if the intensified war in the northwest was still ignored, then the situation in Guangling Road, which was originally good, suddenly took a turn for the worse, which worried the capital of Liyang. It all came from the young man Xie Xizhen "Turning decay into magic", after the soldiers on the eastern front of Guangling got used to Kou Jianghuai's dispatch of troops, the chief general Song Li slowly advanced step by step, constantly reducing the room for the Western Chu army to play, not only regaining all the lost ground, but also Successfully instigated several Xichu captains who rebelled at that time, and compressed Xie Xizhen's main force of 20,000 infantry on the line of Dangyin River and Yaming Valley. At that time, there were not only 30,000 Guangling Road infantry in Song Li's army, but also With eight thousand skilled cavalry as a mobile force, and Song Lisu's prudent use of troops, it looks like a sure-fire situation. The only question is whether they can capture the old capital of Western Chu before the beginning of summer. But at this moment when the results of the battle were within easy reach, Xie Xizhen, who was at a disadvantage in military strength, suddenly began to exert his strength and took the initiative to form an attack. Afterwards, it was rumored that Song Li sent out all his cavalry, and wanted to "thin his formation" with thousands of cavalry. Taking advantage of the grassland nomadic cavalry's best skills, the 8,000 cavalry were divided into three groups, and each group was divided into five horizontal teams. The fine cavalry is in the back, and when the enemy is approaching, the fine cavalry quickly crosses the gap and charges forward, launching a projectile, and then while keeping the front line neat, the fine cavalry retreats, and the light cavalry retreats in turn, repeating this, trying to maximize the cavalry and shooting advantage, when the enemy's formation is in chaos, they can attack and fight like piercing. However, Xie Xizhen only had 5,000 Lijian heavy armored infantry, armed with Zhang Yumo Dao and lined up in a horizontal dense formation, ignoring the arrows, advancing like a wall. After the real charge, facing these heavily armored infantry who seemed to be reappearing from the western Chu euphorbia, it turned out to be the six words that made the officials of the Tai'an City Military Department look at each other afterwards, "The men and horses will be broken immediately"! Then the remnants of the defeated cavalry could only go out of the battlefield by the two wings of their own central infantry, followed by an even more tragic infantry battle. Although the morale of the Guangling infantry at the bottom of the valley did not retreat, they still could not stop the advance of Western Chu. The chief general Song Li did not hesitate to get into the battle himself, and led eight hundred dead men to break through the Western Chumo sword formation. Even so, in the ensuing battle, Xie Xizhen, whom the Liyang court laughed at before the battle as "a clever woman can't cook without rice", The active forces who have been mobilized to the battlefield have been mobilized many times, and the number is less than a thousand, but all of them have accurately remedied several critical situations. Song Li was by no means a mediocre general, he fought bloody battles, he led his troops twice to rush to the front of Xie Xizhen's formation, but was shot back by random arrows. Afterwards, Xie Xizhen charged thousands of cavalry in ambush in the rear, and Song Li had already responded to this. Even if the battle was stalemate, he still strictly ordered the cavalry who suffered heavy losses not to "enter the battle lightly" to fully support his side. Only led by a cavalry lieutenant The five hundred cavalry took turns killing the enemy, and this was how the Guangling cavalry and infantry would not collapse in a single battle under the charge of the three thousand Western Chu cavalry. The two armies of Western Chu and Guangling fought from noon to dusk, with corpses strewn all over the field. The 20,000 infantry under Xie Xizhen's command killed and injured as many as 15,000, while Song Li's 40,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry finally withdrew from the battlefield. The number of people with combat power is less than 5,000. But the truth that really made the soldiers of both sides feel chills was that, more than ten miles away from Song Li's voluntary retreat from the battlefield, Xie Xizhen dispatched three thousand light cavalry that seemed to have descended from the sky to prevent the cavalry from expanding. It was the five thousand ambush soldiers that Song Liyi wanted to use to win by surprise.
At the grand court meeting after the Liyang imperial court arrived in the capital with the urgent memorial in eight hundred miles, they impeached Song Li one after another, saying that he was incompetent in using troops, and that he had a great advantage but sat on the ground. Emperor Longyan was furious and ordered Song Li to go to Beijing to plead guilty. However, at the Xiaochao meeting where only the central officials met, the emperor Zhao Zhuan took the lead in full of praise for Song Li, saying that he was not in the Guangling Army, let alone Song Li. Zhao Youling, the second-in-command of Zhongshu Province, even admitted that although Song Li made the Guangling war situation more corrupt, because before Lu Shengxiang entered, Guangling Dao had no power to fight on land for the time being, and he could only hope for the navy of Guangling King Zhao Yi. A large army, but after all, the depth of Western Chu's military strength was tested only at the cost of a small loss. At that time, Yang Shenxing, a veteran of the Spring and Autumn Period, happened to be included in the Xiaochaohui, and immediately knelt down to plead guilty, weeping, but he did not excuse himself, but said that Yan Zhenchun's death was the fault of Yang Shenxing and the veteran of Jizhou. Emperor Zhao Zhuan didn't pursue it, but instead comforted the old general who had lost the face of the court, and even let his eldest son Yang Huchen, who lost an arm in the Guangling battle, be the deputy general of Jizhou, leading the Jizhou army who had just escaped from trouble. The infantry of the Southern Hundred Wars rushed to Jibei to make up for their father's mistakes.
After the vernal equinox, the 100,000 strong troops from southern Xinjiang had arrived in Xiangzhou. Zhao Bing, king of Yan Chi, was seriously ill on the way, and had to be handed over to his son Zhao Zhu to lead the army. At the same time, Hu Yi's general Lu Shengxiang and the meritorious veteran of the same generation as Yang Shenxing and Yan Zhenchun were on the same line, with a total of 40,000 elites. Echoing with the southern Xinjiang army, they attacked the Western Chu rebels. Before that, the Liyang court seemed to have created the prestige of Xie Xizhen and Kou Jianghuai, two young people from Western Chu, with a huge loss of nearly 90,000 casualties and the death of a vassal king.
At this moment, Xishu uttered a voice that shook the world. After Xu Xiao, another king with a different surname in the dynasty, Chen Zhibao, wrote to the capital, saying that he had raised more than 10,000 soldiers and could go out of Western Shu to help Guangling at any time. Although it was rejected by the Ministry of War. But the government and the public were still shocked by it, and praised it as "happy to hear the sound of spring thunder", which shows the detached status of the white-clothed soldier saint in the hearts of Liyang people. It seems that from Li Yang's point of view, those talented writers who "rebelled" from Beiliang, not to mention Chen Zhibao, who has always been very vocal, Yao Baifeng, a master of Neo Confucianism, Yan Jiexi, a relative of the emperor, and Jin Lanting, who is now the Minister of Rites No matter what, it will make Yangyang Tai'an City look comfortable and pleasing to the eye. In Beiliang Dufu Mansion, a group of Liangzhou border generals headed by Xu Fengnian and Chu Lushan were facing a temporary sand table, discussing the outcome of Xie Xizhen and Song Li. This may be the only pastime for the Northern Liang generals during the war.
Huang Laifu, the lieutenant of Huaiyangguan School, was quite disdainful in his words, "The method of using soldiers from the Xie family is not learned from us. In the area where the front lines of both sides are not fully spread, they secretly accumulate strength and invest them in batches at critical moments. The battlefield, our Beiliang frontier army captain who has a bit of eyesight, knows it all. The only thing he can get is the Modao Formation he doesn't know where he trained, but it's okay against the Guangling Cavalry Army, and against us Hey, hey, that’s what happened to the euphorbia warriors from Western Chu back then.”
Xu Fengnian said: "After all, this is the first time since the Spring and Autumn Period that the cavalry was defeated by walking. Regardless of the strength of Song Li's cavalry, we should find out. Is there a detailed layout of the Modao formation?"
As always, Chu Lushan obsessedly looked at the various geographical details on the sand table. After hearing the words, he raised his head and smiled and replied, "I'm still waiting for the news from Fushuifang, but I estimate that the two sides have suffered a rough battle. Xie Xizhen's Modao formation is bigger than before. The halberd battle array should be improved a lot. I believe that Gu Jiantang's Liangliao side will soon spread it, and he will have to ask the lion of the household department to ask for a large amount of military pay."
The Zhuang Shuo captain from Qingyuan Army Town frowned and said: "As far as the spy information is concerned, Xie Xizhen and Song Li are not one-sided, they are both ghosts and ghosts, and they are very cautious and bold in their respective riding. In the past, I only heard that Kou Jianghuai of Xichu is good at long-distance raids without hesitation. Even if the overall force is smaller than the enemy, he can form a local battlefield to fight more and fight less. He never defends the city or attacks the city. The pawns can be used as cavalry, very chewy."
Chu Lushan laughed and said: "Kou Jianghuai is using a series of dazzling victories to tell the world how to fight the battles in the Central Plains in the future. It is no longer as simple as you attacking the city and I defend the city. All battles are based on destroying the enemy's vital strength. As a purpose, if you hide in the city, I will force you out of the city to fight in a different way. If you have a large number of troops to go out of the city, I can not fight for now. If you find the right opportunity, you will be sure to win. I will kill you again. Anyway, it is a quick knife. , two or three catties at a time, and more times, you will see the bones. If Gu Dazu first proposed to fight outside the door, it was enough to open the eyes of later generations of military strategists, then Kou Jianghuai's unique and novel style of fighting is a kind of Perfectly extended, it can be called fighting outside the city, and weakening the meaning of the city to the greatest extent. If you use it well, you can take the initiative everywhere. Of course, I was fighting in the hinterland of Beimang at that time, and I had already played like this, but the point If it wasn't aimed at Li Yang, those officials and lords in the court wouldn't know the pain."
General Liu Ya rubbed his chin and said, "It's not easy for Guangling Dao to have a general like Song Li who knows how to fight, but the Emperor Liyang was kicked by the donkey, and he just took it to Tai'an City for questioning? It's obvious that Zhao Yi Cao Changqing's navy will also eat it."
Xu Fengnian shook his head and said softly: "As far as the Guangling War is concerned, Song Li should not be moved. But from the overall point of view, the court's seemingly self-destructive approach is actually the same. General, now the Zhao family needs to gather the military power in the world so that they can deal with the situation of fighting Beimang with all their strength in the future. The suppression of the rebellion by Yang Shenxing and Yan Zhenchun with their private army is one side of the matter. Xiang, General Longxiang Xu Gong, Liaoxi General Tang Tieshuang, and the current Song Li, these people have entered Beijing as officials one after another, which is a relatively hidden side. The imperial court intends to condone the restoration of the Western Chu, except that it did not expect that the Western Chu started It will give them such a big blow, and other things are happening step by step as expected. Even now, King Yanchi dispatched 100,000 troops to the north to support them, which has been arranged long ago. The battlefield was cleared in one breath, but in fact it was just helping the court to let Yan Chi Wang Zhao Bing die more people. In the final analysis, the court is using this to reduce the power of the vassal and suppress the power of local generals, it is a conspiracy."
After the Liu Ya cavalry scolded the Zhao family's two successive emperors for being bad birds, he immediately said with a smile to Xu Fengnian: "My lord looks at things differently from us bastards. ?”
Huang Laifu quickly interjected: "Gao Wujian... Damn, I forgot too."
Chu Lushan rubbed his forehead, a little ashamed.
Xu Fengnian smiled and said, "From a high place."
The two school lieutenants said in unison: "Yes, a high-rise building!"
Then they each praised, "My lord is so talented!"
Our Lord Protector of Beiliang seems to have a somewhat melancholy look in his eyes.
Xu Fengnian jokingly said: "Okay, flattering is not suitable for you. You should lead your troops to fight honestly. If you win a big battle in the future, I will have no problem flattering you."
The whole hall roared with laughter.
After Xu Fengnian finished discussing the layout with the generals after Chu Lushan returned to Liangbei Sand Table, the two walked to Chu Lushan's residence. After Xu Fengnian walked into the cramped courtyard, he said with emotion: "It's really hard for you."
Chu Lushan bent down habitually and smiled: "Don't look at Luqiu'er who has lived an extremely extravagant fairy life these years. When he was poor and crazy, he would be happy to have a hot steamed bun to eat. Later, Jin After joining the Xu family army, this fat body was raised little by little. The prince might not believe it when he said it. Lu Qiuer used to say that he was not as skinny as a stick, but his whole body was about 120 catties of meat. But at that time The meat is firm and can withstand hardship."
Xu Fengnian really didn't know about this, and looked at Lu Qiu'er, who was as bloated as a mountain, "I can't imagine what you looked like when you were thin."
Chu Lushan sighed, "Who said it wasn't, even I almost forgot about it."
Xu Fengnian specially brought the two jars of chess pieces with him today, and Chu Lushan sent someone to find a pair of torreya wood chessboards, which were fairly well-crafted. The two sat facing each other for a long time.
Xu Fengnian lost. Chu Lushan finally won.
Because Chu Lushan has been waiting for so many years, he can finally not deliberately let the chess go. Sitting cross-legged on a wide embroidered pier, Chu Lushan stared at the chess game blankly, and said with a little sigh: "Today I know the true depth of His Royal Highness's chess skills. It turns out that Lu Qiuer back then It is releasing water, and His Royal Highness has never paid attention to it."
Hearing the somewhat unfamiliar title of "His Royal Highness", Xu Fengnian lost his mind for a moment, sighed, and said, "I sent someone to go to Qingzhou to find that Lu Xu, but the result was disappointing. Lu Xu brought me a sentence, saying He would rather go to the capital than come to Beiliang."
Chu Lushan grinned and said, "Everyone has his own aspirations, you can't force them."
Xu Fengnian hummed, and said helplessly: "I heard that Xu Xiao also captured many scholars of the Spring and Autumn Period before, but most of the people he likes are unwilling to work under his command, so they can only be released."
Chu Lushan smiled in embarrassment, and said softly: "The adoptive father was released, but many people were secretly slaughtered by Lu Qiuer afterwards. Among them is Yuan Baixiong, a close friend and elder."
Xu Fengnian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "No wonder Second Brother Yuan said he wants to light your sky lantern!"
Chu Lushan chuckled, "Unlike that Mr. Zhao, I came from the same poor background as Mr. Li, and I was born to be at odds with the people of the family. I am not as magnanimous as Mr. Li. When I saw those guys with eyes above the top, I can’t wait to chop off a head with one knife. Looking back now, I should have been more lenient and killed fewer people.”
Xu Fengnian was speechless.
Chu Lushan twirled a slightly cool chess piece with both fingers, and said: "Leaving aside the officials of Yonghui Zhichun, Tangxi Sword Fairy Lu Baijie, Zhongshuling Qi Yanglong, Guozijian Zuojijiu Yao Baifeng, Dongyuan Pavilion University Shi Yan Jiexi, Nanzheng coach Lu Shengxiang, Longxiang general Xu Gong, etc., these people were Zhao Dun who helped his son invite him to the capital to fill the vacancy after the collapse of Zhanglu. Suppressed chess pieces, so that the next emperor can show his greatness. Then Tang Tieshuang, Minister of War, Fan Changhou, the new chess master, Song Li from Guangling Road, Shaobao Chen Wang, Yuan Tingshan, General of Jizhou, Sun Yin, Lu Xu, These people are the 'newcomers' cultivated by the new monarch Zhao Zhuan himself."
Chu Lushan sneered and said, "Except for the 'unreasonable' every move against us in Beiliang, the rest of the first moves are all in line with orthodox chess principles."
Xu Fengnian said with emotion: "Zhao Dun's selection of Zhao Zhuan, the fourth prince, instead of the eldest prince Zhao Wu, must have been carefully considered. We cannot deny this. So far, Zhao Zhuan has done a good job."
Chu Lushan suddenly looked at Xu Fengnian playfully.
Xu Fengnian rolled his eyes and said: "Don't think wrongly, I have nothing to do with that queen. You are the royal family of the Zhao family, you can't open your eyes and be blind? Besides, you don't know that Yan Dongwu and Li negative really have the same virtue. They all ignore me, but to be precise, they treat me like a bandit."
Chu Lushan said with a playful smile, "Lu Qiuer is thinking of something."
Xu Fengnian scolded with a smile: "Do you really think that all women in the world should like me?"
Chu Lushan put down the chess piece, stretched out his hands, and said with a sense of justice: "My lord, you don't know something. Now the ladies in the Central Plains who are a little well-informed, the little lady who loves you, my lord, has eight thousand instead of ten thousand!"
Chu Lushan said leisurely: "There is no way to do this. There may be quite a few people with superb martial arts in the world for a hundred years, but there are still very few who have grown up like trees and are more romantic. After counting and counting, only the old sword god Li Chungang, Wang Xianzhi? Bad old man. Tuoba Bodhisattva? The northern barbarian. Deng Taiah, swordsmanship is true, but it’s a pity that the appearance can’t pass. Originally, Qi Xuanzhu and Cao Changqing could also Count one each, but one is a Taoist god who has never entered the world, and the other is a nerd who only wants to restore the country, so you are the only one who lives up to expectations. You have traveled to Liyang Jianghu twice, and there are countless anecdotes. Ancheng is the majestic King of Northern Liang, and even killed Wang Xianzhi. There are also countless rare calligraphy and paintings that you have identified as 'fakes' circulating in the capital and south of the Yangtze River. How can those little ladies not go crazy for the prince who passed Huishan to create momentum? That’s really rain after a long drought!”
Xu Fengnian really didn't know that this kind of result would happen, and laughed at himself: "Well, then there must be more people who will hate us in Beiliang." Chu Lushan laughed heartily, "Of course! If you don't talk about it, just take it." Those aunts and aunts in Yanzhi County who are not worried about getting married, say it well, as long as a matchmaker tells a man who looks a bit like you, my lord, the market will suddenly become more popular!"
Xu Fengnian could only laugh it off.
After a moment of silence, the atmosphere in the room seemed to change.
Chu Lushan suddenly asked seriously: "Your Majesty, do you know if you should say something or not?"
Xu Fengnian said: "You can ask, but you may not answer."
What made Lu Qiuer ask so solemnly was not because Xu Fengnian wanted to play tricks, but because he was really unsure of the answer.
Sure enough, Chu Lushan asked a very tricky question, "After the prince went to Beimang, especially after returning to Beiliang with Xu Huainan's head, Lu Qiuer knew that the battle with Beimang would be imagined with everyone. It's not the same. Then, Chu Lushan must ask the prince today, if one day, the same choice as his adoptive father was made in front of the prince, how would he choose?"
Xu Fengnian hesitated to speak, Chu Lushan stared at him, and quickly said: "My lord knows a little bit, the person who will sit on the dragon chair of the Zhao family at that time may not necessarily be Zhao Zhuan, but may be the one who was with the lord at Dantong Pass. That Zhao Zhu!"
Xu Fengnian did not speak, but Chu Lushan, who was asking questions, continued: "If there is such a time, the same choice, but it is not the same world structure. Compared with the Xu family who had no chance of winning back then, there is no doubt that the Xu family will lose. Home, we will win even if we are at our worst! The general trend is in our hands!"
The game of chess between the two is dead.
Xu Fengnian took a deep breath and said bitterly, "Lu Qiuer, I have let you down."
Chu Lushan lowered his head slowly.
Xu Fengnian also bowed his head in silence, staring at the chessboard in a daze.
At some point, Xu Fengnian was still sitting where he was. Chu Lushan had stood up and came to Xu Fengnian. He bent down with some difficulty, stretched out his hand, gently rubbed Xu Fengnian's head, and said softly: "Although I'm disappointed that I didn't hear what I wanted But, Your Royal Highness, you may have forgotten that when you were young, among so many adopted sons, you were always the closest to that silly Lu Qiuer. I have always thought of Lu Qiuer as It’s an honor, more joyful than winning a battle.”
"If one day, Lu Qiu'er, who has been lonely since he was a child, leaves these three hundred catties of fat on the battlefield, don't be sad."
"I, Chu Lushan, have a family in my life, and it's worth it."