Harue Kagetsu: Chapter 95

Two days later, Gu Huilong led the army and rushed to Shunyang early.

However, it was still a step too late.

He was greeted by the fallen city and Li Mu's army on the other side of the river, who were waiting in full force.

Gu Huilong jumped like thunder, and immediately ordered the search and dispatch of ships to cross the river to attack. But was dissuaded by one of his advisers.

The advisor said that Li Mu had a reputation for being good at fighting, but this time he was asked to seize the opportunity to occupy Shunyang, and now he is waiting for work. Although the number of the emperor's army was superior to that of Li Mu, the army had come here after a long and hasty journey to aid Shunyang before. If he attacked immediately, he would definitely be attacked by Li Mu. Not to mention reaching the other side, it would be a problem even if he could force the crossing smoothly. It is better to station on the north bank first, wait for the soldiers to slow down, and then adapt to the situation and look for fighters.

Although Gu Huilong has a violent temperament and will retaliate against his anger, he is not a brainless person. Otherwise, when he was not in power before, he would not have caused Hou Ding to lose his wife, or even nearly lost his country.

After calming down and knowing that the counselor was right, he took the advice and ordered the soldiers to station and rest while waiting for the fighter plane.

The river is wide and the place where the two armies confront each other is dozens of feet wide, but on a sunny day, the movement on the other side is faintly visible to each other.

What he did not expect was that just after he gave the order, the soldiers had not even had time to set up the camp, and a large army was quickly assembled on the other side. Lined up.

In an instant, arrows shot like rain, swish across the river. Countless stone cannons were also fired with arrows and landed on the north bank of the river, splashing a large amount of water.

The foremost soldiers along the coast could not escape. Some were hit by arrows, some were hit by stone cannons, and the scene became a mess.

Obviously, Li Mu was going to cross the river to attack while he was exhausted.

Gu Huilong was furious again, and immediately ordered the army to form an array, and quickly mobilized a large number of archers and catapults to counterattack toward the opposite bank.

Under the counterattack of arrows and stone cannons, the ships that had already been launched turned around and the soldiers went ashore.

Seeing that the opponent's momentum was finally suppressed, Gu Huilong's soldiers cheered, spit at the opposite side, and cursed loudly.

Before Gu Huilong could catch his breath, the soldiers came to report again, saying that just now, they found a narrow place in the river more than ten kilometers away, and another large army of the Southern Dynasties was crossing the river. Disembark from there.

Gu Huilong was furious again, hurriedly dispatched troops, and rushed to snipe.

On both sides of the north and south shores, they shot arrows and hurled stones at each other, and they scolded each other. The battle was in full swing, and it was reported that at another ferry crossing, the troops of the Southern Dynasty were once again found gathering to cross the river.

On this day, Gu Huilong was like this. The mobile army arranged by Li Mu was transferred to run around, exhausted, and it was difficult to wait until it was dark. It could have been temporarily rested, but he did not expect that the other side would not stop.

That night, the exhausted Xijin soldiers just fell into a deep sleep. On the other side of the river, the torches were suddenly lit again. The southern army, taking advantage of the night, ran across the opposite side in turn, the voices of people were loud, the horses kept neighing, the horns sounded one after another, and the clamor bursts. If you want to build momentum, you want to cross the river at night to attack.

After many days of rushing, another Xijin soldier who was tired during the day woke up from his sleep and had to continue to cheer up and deal with the attack.

For three consecutive days, day and night, it was like this. Not to mention the Xijin soldiers were extremely tired and complained. Even Gu Huilong himself couldn't bear it.

He also understood that Li Mu was commanding the army to deliberately move in different directions, building momentum to cross the river to attack and drag down his army.

The counselor also suggested that he should no longer be led by the nose like this. Because there are not enough ferries to gather at the moment, it is better to gather a large army, choose a suitable place to station, take a good rest, and then send a small group of soldiers to set up an outpost along the river to closely monitor the situation of the enemy on the other side.

Gu Huilong accepted what the counselor said.

In the next few days, the army of the Southern Dynasty continued to attack, and when the soldiers of Xijin gradually turned a blind eye, they received news from the spies. . Hou Li, who was in command of the army, was bent on revenge, eager to seize Xijin's exhausted fighters at the moment, and wanted to cross the river to attack. But Li Mu didn't accept it, and wanted to confront him first, using this method to anger Gu Huilong, telling him to take the initiative to attack when he couldn't bear it, and he would wait for it. The two quarreled.

Two days later, the Xijin soldiers on the north bank faintly saw that the Han army and Qiuchi's army on the south bank were divided into camps, and they were stationed separately. Seeing that the other side was still bluffing, they all sneered and sneered, calling the people of the Southern Dynasties shrewd turtles.

Li Mu's army, however, did not seem to be moved at all. During the day and night, they would inevitably be harassed several times, and they had never really crossed the river once.

Until seven or eight days later, in the middle of a foggy night, he sent soldiers to continue making noises on the south bank to cover up the noise. In fact, he quietly transferred all the main force and the ships that had been gradually dispersed every day to a pre-selected location dozens of miles upstream. Good ferry.

At the fifth watch, before dawn and before the fog cleared, he gave an order, and a large number of ships hidden in the reeds by the river quickly assembled, carried soldiers, and quickly crossed the river.

The Xijin Sentinel noticed the change on the other side and reported it.

Previously, a large number of soldiers from the Southern Dynasties pretended to cross the river frequently at this ferry, day and night, regardless of the time of day, and even returned halfway through the crossing.

The leader who was sent here has long been indifferent to such news. Although I heard the sentinel say that this time the scale seems to be larger than before, but I think that in all likelihood, the other party is attacking the west, and these days, the emperor has a very short-tempered, scolding at every turn, and the day before yesterday because of the Guhui and Tuyuhun The soldiers killed two people in a private fight for supplies. When they heard the news, they were furious and killed a leading Tuyuhun officer. In case a large army is transferred at this moment, and it is found that they have been tricked again, I am afraid that I will not be able to eat and walk around, so I will ask people to stare at it again, and wait until the motive of the other party is discovered, and then decide, without immediately alarming the emperor.

It was this one who stared and missed the moment.

The sky was bright and the fog had cleared. When the north bank finally saw it clearly, this time the south bank was not pretending to be mysterious, but real. Countless boats, full of soldiers from the Southern Dynasty, were rowing towards this side, and Fang hurriedly went to report the news. - but it's too late.

A large number of soldiers from the Southern Dynasties landed, easily wiping out the hundreds of troops. Under the cover of dawn, the army massacred towards Gu Huilong's army camp.

At the same time, the remaining troops who were originally waiting on the south bank also quickly built a pontoon bridge with boats.

All the 70,000 horses crossed the river without any hindrance in an instant, and attacked the sleeping camp of Xijin.

Gu Huilong woke up from his sleep, and before he had time to put on his clothes, he hurried out of the tent, wanting to command the army to assemble and fight. However, the enemy will not give him such an opportunity.

The company was on fire, and the order was invalid. A large number of Xijin soldiers were awakened by the sound of being killed in their dreams, not to mention obeying orders to assemble in formation, and even unable to find their own armor and weapons. In the face of the soldiers of the Southern Dynasty who came from all directions, how could you resist them? Those who took up weapons, but only fought hard for a while, then followed the crowd and fled.

Looking around, there are enemy soldiers everywhere. Gu Huilong saw that the general situation was over and knew that he could not stay for a long time, so he abandoned the camp, and under the protection of his cronies, he broke through the encirclement and took the lead to the north. He wanted to escape to Pingxing County, where the city defense was stronger. He was blocked by the cavalry, but helpless, he was forced to rush westward and fled to a military town a hundred miles away from Shunyang, where he took a breath and gathered the remnants.

The 100,000 army was brought out, and at the moment, it is still with him, less than half, the remaining dead are dead, and the scattered ones are scattered.

Gu Huilong was so angry that he almost vomited blood and vowed to smash Li Mu's body into ten thousand pieces. He immediately sent a message to Chang'an, and ordered President Gu, the emperor's younger brother, who was stationed there, to send troops to come to the rescue.

As soon as his news came out, Li Mu's army followed and caught up, surrounded the town, and launched a fierce attack.

Bingzhen is just a small town, the city wall is less than two feet high, and the foundation is mud. It has been in disrepair for a long time.

Within two days, the city wall collapsed.

Gu Huilong's army had long since lost its fighting spirit and lost the protection of the city wall. Like birds and beasts, they fled in all directions. Gu Huilong fled again, wanting to rush back to his hometown in Qincheng first, and then discuss revenge, but was surrounded by soldiers from the Tuyuhun tribe of Xianbei who had long been dissatisfied with him. After killing him, he cut off his head. The Tuyuhun tribe supported the generals of their own tribe and fled to Qincheng, where they decided to occupy Qincheng and change the dynasty.

Gu Huilong had previously captured Chang'an, and ordered the emperor's younger brother, President Gu, to be stationed. He raised his troops south to attack Li Mu. Not only did he bury an army of 100,000 troops, but he was also cut off by the rebels, and his head was in a different place.

The news soon reached Chang'an.

At this time, Li Mu's army was continuing to drive north to Chang'an, and it was like a broken bamboo. Along the way, Pingxing, Weixing and other places are invincible, and the army is only seven or eight days away from Chang'an.

When President Gu was terrified, he had to retaliate again. Tuyuhun, who killed his brother, was now heading to Qincheng, as if he was planning to do something wrong.

There is the back base of the Guhui clan and the capital of Xijin.

Losing Chang'an is just a pain in the flesh.

If you lose Qincheng, even the nest will be picked up by someone.

President Gu quickly made a decision to abandon Chang'an and lead the army back to Qincheng to kill the rebellion of Tuyuhun.

But how could he be willing to give away the big piece of meat he already had in his hand?

President Gu led the troops to flee Chang'an, leaving behind an army of 5,000 people, ordering that before Li Mu arrives, he must slaughter the residents of the city and set fire to the city.

Many years ago, when Chang'an was still the Xijing of Dayu, the population once exceeded 500,000, and the business was prosperous and prosperous.

Decades ago, Xiao Shi went south, and Chang'an fell into the hands of the Hu people. At that time, he experienced a tragic disaster. On the third day, tens of thousands of residents were slaughtered, their houses were burnt down, and the whole city was devastated.

After Beixia became emperor, in order to increase taxes, maintain huge military expenditures and expenditures, and stabilize the dynasty, he gradually put away the tyranny. Over the past few decades, Chang'an's population has slowly been able to multiply again, and now it has become a huge city with nearly 100,000 residents.

Just a few months ago, when Xijin attacked Chang'an and Beixia retreated, the city had already experienced calamity and thousands of residents had died. After falling into the hands of Gu Huilong, in the past few months, he was also subjected to cruel treatment. Not only was he robbed of his family, but his kitchen knives were also taken away. It was common for his wife and daughter to be stolen. The four gates of the city were also closed day and night, and Xijin did not let a single resident out of the city.

In a city of more than 100,000 people, the streets are empty even during the day. Everyone was trembling. Except for those who were caught and served in labor, no one dared to go out on the street at will, lest calamities befall them from the sky and encounter unforeseen circumstances.

But the biggest bad luck came.

On this day, the sky above Chang'an was full of blood and rain, and the clouds were gloomy and misty.

President Gu abandoned the city and left the army to carry out the massacre before leaving.

The terror that followed the news spread wildly in the city. People dragged their sons and daughters and ran around looking for a place to hide. But the world is so big, where can you hide?

The east, west, north, and three-way city gates were all filled with boulders, leaving only the south gate to pass through. The massacre and burning of the city also started from the South Gate.

In the light of the fire, the unarmed city residents fled their homes from the southern part of the city, chasing five thousand Xianbei soldiers like wolves and tigers behind them.

Crying and screaming ripped through the city.

Seeing a horrific massacre, the ancient city of Chang'an is about to fall again. Outside the four gates of the city, there was a sudden, earth-shattering cry of killing.

Sun Fangzhi and Gao Huan, leading the Liwu army and two thousand cavalry, appeared in Chang'an.

Li Mu had long expected that President Gu would most likely abandon the city and go west. With Hu Lian's cruelty and inhumanity, it was not impossible for him to slaughter the city before he left. Although his army was unable to arrive in time, he was still in Shunyang, launching a surprise attack and defeating Gu Huilong. As a precaution, he dispatched Sun Fangzhi with Gao Huan in advance, leading the Liwu team and two thousand Qingqi, head to Chang'an first.

This army, traveling day and night, arrived the day before yesterday and has been lurking outside. Today, seeing President Gu leading the army to the west, and seeing fire in the city, I knew that Li Mu had predicted that he had left the soldiers ready to massacre the city. He immediately separated the suspect soldiers and rushed to the east, west, and north gates. The horses drove back and trampled on the yellow mud ground, stepped out of the flying dust, and spread the flags brought beforehand.

At the same time, Gao Huan led a hundred cavalry, and in the yellow dust that was trampled by the horses' hoofs, they rushed to the open south gate, and with the soldiers, in the Xianbei language he taught, they shouted in unison, "Li Mu's army. It has arrived, surrounded the whole city, run for your life!"

The Xianbei soldiers in the city, who were already afraid of Li Mu, a man from the Southern Dynasty, were instructed to hunt down the citizens of the city. Suddenly, they heard the ethnic language calling for escape from their ears. , Who cares about killing people? At this moment, it is important for them to escape, so they turn around and flock to the south gate.

When all the five thousand people poured out of the city gate and rushed to flee for their lives, Sun Fangzhi, who had been lying in ambush early, took his subordinates to kill them and intercepted them.

Gao Huan ordered people to guard the city gate, and then he also led the remaining cavalry, and together with his companions, went into the pursuit.

In this battle, although the number of people on both sides cannot be compared with the previous battles with 10,000 people as the base, they are more tragic than others.

When Gao Huan was in Jiankang, he also heard about Hu Lian's brutality. But gentle in nature. When I came to Yicheng, I joined the battle several times. On the battlefield, sometimes when my brother-in-law ordered to kill all the surrendered Hu soldiers on the spot, I sometimes felt unbearable in my heart, and was even mocked by Sun Fangzhi as soft-hearted.

Only at this moment, seeing with his own eyes how these Xianbei soldiers who, in his opinion, were ordinary people, became dehumanized under the crushing of the war, and raised their slaughter knives at the innocent old and young in the city, Fang finally turned red. , there was only one thought left in my mind.

A tooth for a tooth, blood for blood.

Born in troubled times, the way of heaven is dead, and human life is as cheap as a dog. The books of sages and sages he read since he was a child, the moral words taught in the books, as well as the romantic, suave demeanor of the famous people who built Kangcheng, and they are famous for Liufu.

In front of the massacre, it was all a joke!

Fight with war, beat violence with violence!

Only with violence in hand, one day can be powerful enough to strangle the rest of the violence, morality can recover, and the world will be at peace!

He was wicked and courageous, rushing up to kill, and slashing when he saw anyone, as if he was crazy and merciless.

The same is true for the rest of the Liwu partners who are with him.

One after another, the Xianbei butchers were slashed to the ground, their bodies piled up, blood all over the ground, and they stepped down, splashing blood.

He caught up with the last Xianbei soldier who escaped.

The man fell in front of him. Looking at him with fear and pleading eyes, begging for his life.

Without any hesitation, Gao Huan slashed down.

A hot liquid suddenly splashed onto his face, dyeing his face blood red!

He lifted the long sword with a curling blade in his hand, closed his eyes, and let the blood drip down his face.

After a while, he opened his eyes, turned his face slowly, and faced the ancient towering city behind him that had been standing on this land since a thousand years ago.

The city gates, which were covered with numerous slashes on both sides, and burnt wood bruises, slowly opened in front of him.

…

After Li Mu led the coalition to the north, the entire Yicheng began to wait.

The days when he just left, the atmosphere in the city was tense and depressed.

In the governor's mansion, the sound of children's books is still loud every morning, but in the afternoon, the empty space in front of the governor's mansion that always attracted many children to gather and play has become quiet, and the sound of children's laughter can no longer be heard. . Because those children were told by their parents that they were not allowed to go there again, lest they disturb the purity of Mrs. Prefect.

Everyone knew that Madam Inspector was waiting for the news of the battle. In this city, no one should be more anxious than her.

Although on the surface, she looked the same as usual.

Gradually, the news finally began to come back.

One after another, all good news.

First, the army captured Shunyang, and on the bank of the river, defeated the menacing Xijin army.

Even the Xijin Emperor Gu Huilong died in the chaos.

Then, another piece of news that no one could have imagined before, also arrived.

Chang'an, this ancient city that has witnessed China's majestic since ancient times, was trampled by the iron hoofs of foreign races, and it was scarred.

Li Mu took Chang'an!

It is said that the day his army arrived in Chang'an, the whole of Chang'an was boiling with excitement. The people sprinkled water to clear the way, helped the old and the young, and went out of the city for several miles to greet him on their knees.

After the news spread, the whole city of Yicheng also boiled.

On that day, almost all the city residents, from all directions, flocked outside the Governor's Mansion.

Li Mu is not here.

But those people went to the empty door and knelt down and thanked them one after another. The first few white-haired old men were even more tearful and could not afford to kneel for a long time.

They were all old people of Chang'an. When it was occupied, it was lucky to escape the massacre. Since then, the duckweed has survived and survived to this day.

When he left, the yellow mouth was hanging down, and now the eldest has gray hair on the temples. The old hometown was so far away that I couldn't even remember it in my dreams, but I never thought that in my lifetime, I would be able to hear the news of its return.

Luoshen could not have felt the same as them. But when she witnessed this scene with her own eyes, her whole person was deeply infected, her heart was full of emotions, and she even cried with excitement.

She began to secretly look forward to Lang Jun's return. Counting his fingers, waiting for him day after day, living like a year.

Finally, one month after the news of Chang'an's return, it felt as if he had been waiting for three hundred years in Luoshen. This evening, Li Mu came back.

It was originally just an ordinary late spring evening. As the sun sets in the west, the afterglow shines on the crenels on the head of the quiet city walls, dyeing the blue-black city walls a dull red. Outside the city walls, there is an endless field with green grass and green grass. On the top of the distant hills, a half-round sunset, and above the sky, the burning sky and burning clouds and sunset glow, reflecting people's faces into a bright red color.

Luoshen thought he would arrive in a few days.

He said the same thing in the private letters he sent to Jiang Tao and to himself.

Suddenly, on this fiery evening in the late spring, a scout rode his horse into the city and rushed to the governor's mansion, bringing her the news that the governor had returned early and that he had left the city.

She came out of the shower, combed her hair lazily, put on her clothes, and when she heard the news, she ran out of the house and ran to the entrance of the yard, where she was stopped by Ah Ju who was behind her.

"My little lady, look at your appearance..."

Luoshen ran back to the house again, and called the maid in a series of voices, combed her hair, changed her clothes, and did not forget to look in the mirror while urging.

After finally combing her hair and changing her clothes, she climbed into her little carriage and urged her to go to the city gate.

No one knows the news of the Inspector's return.

In the city, the smoke from the cooking wafted up, the tiller finished his day's work, loaded his hoe, and returned home from the field. The woman called the child outside the door, but the child was greedy for the last ray of light in the day. As he ran further, he recognized the pony carriage the lady was riding in, and saw that it was hurried towards the city gate, shy, stopped on the side of the road, looked curiously, and the bold chased behind and ran to the city gate.

The soldiers at the gate of the city were patrolling as usual, and suddenly they saw the lady coming, getting out of the carriage, her skin was bright, and her face was bright, and they did not dare to look at it. All with bewildered faces.

Luoshen climbed the city wall in one breath, standing on the top of the wall that had watched him go north on that day, widened his eyes, and looked at the galloping road outside the city gate that seemed to extend to the end of the distant horizon.

Li Mu didn't ask his little wife to wait long.

Luoshen stood at the head of the city, and in the beautiful sunset, a line of galloping horses appeared in the distance.

Horses in battle clothes, billowing smoke.

getting closer. Not only her, but the soldiers near the city gate and the people returning to the city finally discovered it.

"The Inspector is back—"

Excited shouts were heard one after another, one by ten, ten by one hundred, and soon, the city gate, which was originally deserted, suddenly became lively like a market.

Luoshen flew down the city tower and, surrounded by people behind him, went out of the city gate and greeted Li Mu who was coming here.

He came on a horse, and his figure became more and more clear.

Soon, Luoshen could see his face clearly.

With so many people by his side, his two eyes seemed to find her immediately.

Behind him, more and more people poured out of the city gate, and the cheers to welcome his return were endless.

Luoshen's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, he stopped, stood on the road, watching him gallop towards him, getting closer and closer.

Wu Wei finally brought him to her.

Li Mu stopped his horse, bowed his head slightly, and looked at her tender face, which was turned towards him by the sunset glow, and suddenly, a big hand reached out to her.

Luoshen's heart beat faster, he hesitated, and slowly, he stretched out his hand towards him.

He leaned over slightly, grabbed her hand, and pulled her gently, and she was carried on the horse's back by him and sat in front of him.

There was a brief silence all around, and then there was a new burst of cheers.

"Ami, Chang'an is hired, are you satisfied?"

In the ear, there was a man's whispering voice.

That's how Luoshen, and the man behind him who betrothed him with the ceremony of Chang'an, were greeted by more and more people coming out of the road, riding a saddle from the city gate and returning to the governor's mansion.

…

Gu Huilong died, and Li Mu took Chang'an. This battle made the reputation of Li Mu, a native of the Southern Dynasty, shake the world once again.

It was rumored that there were countless Han Chinese from the north who came to join the army.

Before that, in just one month, his troops expanded rapidly.

Li Muliu Sun Fangzhi, Gao Huan and others were stationed in Chang'an to train new recruits.

That night, the lights in front of the governor's house were bright, and the city was full of laughter and laughter. Li Mu told Jiang Tao about the rewarding army, and he returned to the backyard early and never came out again.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Jiang Tao waited for a long time in the front hall before finally waiting for Li Mu's appearance.

Jiang Tao presented an edict.

The edict was issued from the Jiankang Palace. Royal pen jade seal. Delivered last night.

When the emperor learned that he had recaptured Xijing for the imperial court, Long Yan was very happy. In order to show his favor, he announced to the world that he specially ordered him to return to the sanctuary immediately and receive the award.