Yelü Hongshan When he escaped thirty miles north, more than 5,000 defeated troops had gathered around him.
Most of these people were reserves, auxiliary troops at the rear of the battlefield, and skirmishers who ran into each other when fleeing from the two wings. When they saw the wolf-headed banner, they instinctively gathered together like a drowning man seeing driftwood. More and more people gathered, gradually forming a messy but huge torrent.
"Father, there are too many people." Yelü Yun rode his horse beside his father and whispered, "The target is too big, Northern Army cavalry can easily find us."
Yelü Hongshan looked back - there were more than five thousand people, the team stretched out for more than two miles, like a dying giant snake struggling to squirm on the snowy field. There were indeed too many, and it was too chaotic. These people had no organization or command, and many of them had even lost their weapons, and they just followed the big banner mechanically.
But he needs these people.
"Li Xun wouldn't dare chase if there are so many people." Yelü Hongshan said hoarsely, "Even if he knew I was among them, he wouldn't dare to let the cavalry rush into the crowd of five thousand people to look for me - if I got mixed up in the crowd and fought back desperately, he would suffer heavy losses."
He paused, and a light flashed in his eyes. "And these people, after returning to Mount Wula and reorganizing a little, will be five thousand troops. As long as I return to the royal court alive, next spring--"
Before he finished speaking, the thunderous sound of horse hooves suddenly came from behind.
It's not the chaotic running of broken soldiers, but the sound of neat and well-trained horse hooves, every step is on the same beat, making the frozen soil tremble slightly.
Yelü Hongshan turned around suddenly.
At the end of the snowfield, a black line was advancing rapidly. It was the cavalry, all wearing black armor and black flags, and the horses were galloping on the snow. There were not many, about two thousand, but the formation was strict and murderous.
Brigade General Zhao's Two Thousand Elite Riders.
"They... they are really coming after me!" Yelü Yun turned pale.
Yelü Hongshan's pupils shrank suddenly. He understood - Li Xun's battle was never just to repel the Northern Di army. What he wanted was to eradicate the weeds, and what he wanted was Yelü Hongshan's life.
"Send the order!" Yelü Hongshan almost squeezed out his voice through his teeth, "Leave two thousand people behind and form a formation to intercept! The rest, follow me and retreat north at full speed!"
The order was passed down, but it was very difficult to execute it. When the defeated soldiers heard that they would stay behind, they immediately exploded - everyone knew that staying would mean death. A few centurions reluctantly gathered about two thousand people, and they lined up sparsely at the back of the team. The formation was crooked, and many people's hands holding weapons were shaking.
Brigade General Zhao's cavalry is getting closer and closer. The sound of horse hooves is like a drumbeat, beating in everyone's heart.
"Array! Array!" The commander behind him roared wildly, but his voice was scattered in the wind.
The defense line composed of two thousand broken troops was as thin as a piece of paper in front of two thousand elite cavalry.
Brigade General Zhao didn't even order a charge. He just raised his right hand and made a simple gesture. The two thousand cavalry suddenly spread out to the two wings, like giant birds spreading their wings, bypassing the frontal defense line and outflanking them from the flanks - their target was not these broken troops at all, but the wolf-headed banner in front!
"Hurry up!" Yelü Hongshan saw this and whipped the horse's butt hard.
The remaining 3,000 or so people ran wildly after Da Bao. But the cavalry was too fast. In less than a quarter of an hour, Brigade General Zhao's cavalry had already caught up from the flanks, and the distance was only 300 steps.
"Leave another 1,500 people to intercept!" Yelü Hongshan gritted his teeth and said, "My personal guards are holding down the formation. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed!"
There were even fewer people left this time. The Guards cut down a dozen broken soldiers who tried to escape before barely holding on to their position. The 1,500 men lined up in three rows, with their spears pointing outwards, barely looking like they were there.
Brigade General Zhao finally ordered the charge.
The eight hundred cavalry broke away from the main team and shot like sharp arrows at the intercepting Northern Di infantry. The remaining cavalry continued to chase north - their horses were better and their endurance was stronger, and they soon caught up with Yelü Hongshan's team.
Repeatedly.
Every time he was overtaken, Yelü Hongshan would leave some people behind. These people often collapsed at the first touch, but they could always delay for a while. Brigade General Zhao's cavalry was also being consumed - the horses would be tired, the men would be injured, and the arrows would be used up. By the fifth time, Brigade General Zhao had only a few dozen cavalry left.
And there were only about twenty people left around Yelü Hongshan.
These more than twenty people were the elite Night Scouts who had gathered from the beginning, with the strongest combat effectiveness and the most loyalty. They escorted Yelü Hongshan, Yelü Yun, Helian Zheng, Dugu Xiao and the old military doctor, and fled on the snowy field.
"Black Wind Valley is ahead!" Dugu Xiao pointed to a narrow mountain pass in the distance, "After passing the valley, walk another fifty miles and you will see Northern Camp! We still have two thousand guards there!"
Hope rekindled in Yelü Hongshan's eyes. Just return to Northern Camp and defend the camp with two thousand personal guards. Northern Army In the end, these dozens of cavalrymen chased so far. They were exhausted and they would never dare to pursue again.
But he was still too optimistic.
Just three miles away from Black Wind Valley, Brigade General Zhao caught up again - this time with only thirty riders, but all of them were murderous, and they were obviously the best of the best.
"Dugu Zhao!" Yelü Hongshan hissed.
"The end is here!" Night Scouts Deputy Commander reined in his horse.
"Lead the remaining Night Scouts and stop them! Give me half an hour!"
"As you command!"
Dugu Zhao is the younger brother of Dugu Xiao and the deputy commander of Night Scouts. He led the remaining twenty or so Night Scouts, turned their horses, and charged towards Brigade General Zhao's thirty riders. They were all elites selected from a hundred, and were good at small-scale fighting. Twenty versus thirty, there was no chance of winning.
The two groups of cavalry collided fiercely on the snowy field! Scimitars and sabers intertwined, blood spattered, and people fell on their backs. Brigade General Zhao was indeed brave, and one person chopped down two Night Scouts. But he soon discovered that something was wrong - these Di People cavalry were not afraid of death at all. Some of them hugged his horse's leg before falling off the horse, and some even bit their arms after they were cut off.
This is a dead man.
Brigade General Zhao's thirty riders were completely stopped here. When he pulled out his long sword from the chest of Dugu Zhao who was hugging him tightly, Northern Army had less than ten people left, and half an hour had passed.
"Your Majesty, Dugu Zhao did it..." This was his last thought as he hugged Brigade General Zhao tightly as a sword penetrated his chest.
Inside Black Wind Valley, there was dead silence.
Yelü Hongshan's group of five - himself, Yelü Yun, Helian Zheng, Dugu Xiao, and the old military doctor - finally got rid of the pursuers and entered the valley. The terrain here is narrow, with steep cliffs on both sides, and a passage in the middle that can only accommodate three horses. Logically speaking, this is an excellent ambush location.
But Yelü Hongshan could no longer care about that much. His horse was foaming at the mouth and about to give out. Yelü Yun's mount was even worse, limping on its front legs.
"Your Majesty, there is our Night Scouts stronghold on the cliff ahead." Dugu Xiao pointed to the faint outline of a wooden house on the cliff ahead to the right, "Would you like to go up and rest for a while? There is dry food, clean water, and you can change horses."
Yelü Hongshan looked up. The wooden house on the cliff was quiet, and the black pennant on the roof did not move at all in the cold wind. Everything looked normal.
But a strong uneasiness suddenly surged in his heart.
It's too quiet.
It wasn't silence without people, it was deathly silence without even the chirping of birds and insects. He had seen this kind of silence too many times on the battlefield - it was the silence before an ambush.
"No." Yelü Hongshan shook his head, his voice dry, "Keep walking, non-stop."
"Father, the horse can't hold on any longer..." Yelü Yun gasped.
"You have to dismount and walk!" Yelü Hongshan said sternly, "If Li Xun really wants to kill me, this is the best place to ambush! He will never let me go!"
He turned the horse's head and was about to urge everyone to move on--
"Boohoo!"
Four arrows shot down from the cliff!
The distance was too far, and the wind in the valley was strong, so the sound of the arrow breaking through the air was mostly covered up by the wind. But Helian Zheng had been fighting for many years, and he had a beast-like intuition for danger. He noticed it almost the moment the arrow left the string, reined in his horse and moved sideways, and at the same time waved the mace--
"Clang!"
An arrow aimed at the back of Yelü Hongshan was smashed away by a mace! The other three arrows were also nailed to the frozen soil around everyone due to distance and wind direction deviation, and their tail feathers trembled.
"There's an ambush!" Dugu Xiao roared, drawing his sword to protect Yelü Hongshan.
On the cliff, four horses rushed down.
They didn't rush down the cliff directly - that was too steep. They first went around to the mouth of the valley, and then charged with horses from the mouth of the valley. Although they took a detour, the horses were full of strength and the charging speed was astonishingly fast.
The leader was none other than Li Zhenwei. He controlled the reins with his left hand and held a knife in his right hand. The blade shone coldly in the snow light. The three people behind him, Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng, followed in a wedge formation.
"Helian Zheng! Stop them!" Yelü Hongshan shouted violently, whipping the horse's buttocks and galloping north.
Helian Zheng did not hesitate. He rode alone and rushed forward towards Li Zhenwei. He swung the mace, and with a shrill sound of breaking wind, he hit Li Zhenwei's knife hard!
"Clang--!"
The loud sound of weapons clashing echoed in the valley, making people's eardrums hurt. Li Zhenwei The war horse under his crotch was so shaken by the blow that its front hooves were raised and it screamed. He held on to the reins tightly, the tiger's mouth burst, and blood flowed down the handle.
But this blow also stopped Li Zhenwei's charging momentum.
Helian Zheng's horse was blocking the middle of the valley road, with its mace pointing diagonally at the ground and a fierce light in its single eye. Behind him, Yelü Hongshan's four men had already galloped forward more than ten steps.
"Get out of the way!" Li Zhenwei hissed.
He looked up, suddenly froze, and his pupils suddenly shrank. He stared at Helian Zheng's face. That face had become much older under the erosion of time and wind and frost, but the scar on the brow bone and the empty left sleeve... yes, it was him.
Ten years ago, Li Zhenwei was just a soldier who had just joined the army for two years. He and his brothers from the same village were ordered to investigate, and they bumped into Helian Zheng. His brother clamped the head of Helian Zheng's gun with his life, and cut off his arm himself.
This knife, which was repaired by Qin Tiexin, was left to me by my brother.
From that day on, Li Zhenwei vowed to find the one-armed Di People and kill him with his own hands. He joined Northern Army, climbed up from the bottom, and rushed to the front in every battle, just to accumulate military merit, obtain intelligence, and expand the search scope. But ten years later, Helian Zheng seemed to have disappeared from the world and never appeared again.
It turns out that he is here. Next to King Northern Di, he has become the commander-in-chief of Iron Pagoda.
"It's you..." Li Zhenwei's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, and every word smelled of blood, "My brother's life should be paid back today."
Helian Zheng was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized. He had killed so many people that he couldn't remember every face. But when the other party mentioned "broken arms" "ten years ago", he remembered - those two Great Xuan soldiers who would rather die than retreat. Before they died, they cut off his left arm with a knife. He had to give up his family's marksmanship and practice mace instead.
In ten years, he delayed his military success for ten years!
"So it's you." Helian Zheng smiled ferociously, "I didn't kill them all back then, so I'll make up for it today."
The two looked at each other with deep hatred in their eyes. But Helian Zheng quickly came to his senses - his mission was not to take revenge, but to stop these people and buy the king time to escape.
Li Zhenwei also understood this. He looked back at the three Qin Tiexin and said sternly, "You chase! Leave this to me!"
"General!" Qin Tiexin said anxiously.
"Execute the order!" Li Zhenwei has never used such a stern tone.
Qin Tiexin gritted his teeth, reined in his horse, and was about to rush past Helian Zheng from the flank. But Helian Zheng's mace swept across, forcing him to retreat. Tu Dazhu's huge shield slammed into it, but was blocked by Helian Zheng - this Di People's physical strength was amazing. The mace weighed more than forty kilograms, but it was as light as a lamp grass in his hand.
Lin Feng was agile and tried to go around from the other side. Helian Zheng actually dealt with three people at the same time. The mace danced so airtight that he blocked all the paths by himself.
"It's useless." Helian Zheng laughed hoarsely, "No one of you can even think about going there today."
Determination flashed in Li Zhenwei's eyes. He knew that if Helian Zheng was not dealt with first, they would all be dragged here and watch Yelü Hongshan escape.
"Tiexin!" Li Zhenwei suddenly shouted, "I'll hold him up, you guys rush over!"
Before he finished speaking, he rushed forward on horseback. The knife in his hand no longer pursued exquisite moves, but the simplest and most direct slashing! He used all his strength with every knife, completely ignoring his own defense, just to force Helian Zheng to hit hard!
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
Three consecutive blows, each one heavier than the last. Helian Zheng was shocked to the point of numbness in his arms, and had to concentrate all his energy to deal with it. At the moment when the fourth blow was struck, Li Zhenwei suddenly changed his move - not a chop, but a stab! The tip of the knife was directed towards Helian Zheng's face!
Helian Zheng quickly turned his head to dodge, raising his mace to block. At this moment, a flaw was revealed in his middle door.
"Now!" Li Zhenwei shouted.
Qin Tiexin, Tu Dazhu, and Lin Feng rode forward almost at the same time! They squeezed through the gaps on both sides of Helian Zheng! Helian Zheng wanted to stop him, but Li Zhenwei's knife came again, forcing him to defend.
The three of them broke out of the siege and chased north without looking back.
In the valley, only Li Zhenwei and Helian Zheng are left.
The two faced each other five steps apart. The horses were breathing heavily, and white mist spurted out from their nostrils. The wind blew snow foam in from the mouth of the valley, hitting their faces painfully.
Helian Zheng grinned. "Kill you first, then kill them."
Li Zhenwei hissed, "Yelü Hongshan will die today, and so will you."
Li Zhenwei clenched the knife in his hand. The red and blue light flowed faintly on the blade, as if it was trembling with excitement. He searched for famous craftsmen to repair the knife just for this day.
Brother, it's you who come to fight alongside me!!
They both moved at the same time.
There were no temptations, no detours, and it was a life-and-death struggle from the very beginning. Because both of us knew that the longer it took, the greater the chance that Yelü Hongshan would escape—or the greater the chance that Qin Tiexin and the others would catch up.
Li Zhenwei's sword technique is a military sword technique that emphasizes powerful and heavy force, killing with one blow. This is especially true for Helian Zheng's mace, each stick has the power to smash rocks. The two of them fought ten moves, and the weapons collided ten times. Each time, it was a head-on collision, which made the tiger's mouth crack and his arms numb.
The eleventh move, Li Zhenwei blade swept across, Helian Zheng mace struck down. The two weapons collided in the air--
"Crack!"
Li Zhenwei's knife is broken.
It wasn't broken in the middle, but cracked one foot upward from the handle. This brother's knife had been with him for ten years, from a soldier to a commander, and had cut off countless Di Peoples, and also cut off countless weapons. But today, it finally reached its limit.
The broken blade whirled into the snow beside it.
Helian Zheng's eyes were filled with fierceness. He seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, rounded the mace and hit Li Zhenwei's head! If the club hit him, his brain would burst.
Li Zhenwei did not hide.
Instead, he rushed forward and shouldered the club with his left shoulder! The sound of his shoulder blades breaking was clearly audible. He was thrown off the horse and fell heavily onto the frozen soil, with blood spurting from his mouth.
But at the moment he was smashed away, he held the cutting knife in his right hand.
The half of the blade is only one foot long.
Helian Zheng succeeded with one blow, and was about to add another blow to save Li Zhenwei's life, when he saw the other party staggering up from the ground, holding the cutting knife in his hand, and his eyes were frighteningly clear.
"You..." Helian Zheng suddenly had an ominous premonition.
Li Zhenwei moved. He did not mount his horse again, but rushed towards Helian Zheng on foot. The speed was not fast, and he even staggered a little, but every step was very steady.
Helian Zheng swept the mace, trying to force him back. But Li Zhenwei refused to dodge, and used his chest to catch the stick - and at the same time, the broken knife stabbed out.
Not stabbing at fatal places like the throat or heart.
It was stabbed into Helian Zheng's lower abdomen.
"Pfft."
The broken knife penetrated Helian Zheng's abdomen, and half of it emerged from the back. The knife was too short to kill instantly, but it was enough to stop Helian Zheng's movements for a moment.
At this moment, Li Zhenwei let go of the handle of the knife, hugged Helian Zheng's waist with both hands, and rushed forward with all his strength!
Helian Zheng fell off the horse.
When it landed, Li Zhenwei was on the bottom and Helian Zheng was on top. The broken knife was completely pierced through Helian Zheng's body by this fall, and the tip of the knife showed more from behind. Helian Zheng's mace also hit Li Zhenwei's chest hard.
The sound of broken breastplates.
Li Zhenwei was lying on the snow, vomiting blood. There were fragments of internal organs in the blood. He could feel that at least three of his ribs were broken, and one of them might have been inserted into his lungs. Every time he breathed, it was like a knife was stirring inside.
Helian Zheng was lying on top of him, vomiting blood. The broken knife penetrated his abdomen, and his intestines may have been broken. He struggled to get up, but as soon as he moved, more blood poured out.
The two of them were lying like this, face to face, less than a foot apart.
Helian Zheng's eyes began to blur. He looked at Li Zhenwei and suddenly laughed, coughing up blood foam. "You... you can't survive either..."
"I know." Li Zhenwei said calmly.
The snow fell on the faces of the two people, and was quickly melted by the body temperature, and mixed with blood and flowed down.
Helian Zheng's hand moved, as if he wanted to touch the dagger at his waist, but in the end it just hung down feebly. He stared at Li Zhenwei, using his last strength to ask, "Ten years ago, that soldier... who were you..."
"Brother." Li Zhenwei said.
Helian Zheng was stunned for a moment, then grinned, revealing his teeth stained red with blood. "I also have brothers and nephews who died in your hands..."
He stopped talking. His eyes were still open, but his expression was gone.
Li Zhenwei was dying too. He could feel life passing by rapidly, his body was getting colder and colder, and his vision was getting blurry. He turned his head hard and looked to the north - that was the direction Qin Tiexin and the others were chasing.
"Tiexin... Leave it to you..."
"Shitou... I helped you... take revenge."
He murmured, his voice as soft as a sigh.
The howling wind and snow gradually covered the two bodies.
The broken knife was inserted between the two of them, reflecting a dark red light under the snowy light.