Chapter 133 The Queen Falls into the Trap (Part )

The campaign against You was relatively smooth for Li Cunxu.

After all, the two armies of Liu Shouwen and Liu Shouguang were fighting fiercely in the east, and Youzhou's elite army Ding Badu was also withdrawn to the east. The guards of Youzhou headquarters alone could not pose any threat to him.

The only thing that was unexpected was that the inner city of Youzhou was actually very difficult to attack. According to reports from below, not only did the defenders in the city retreat, but it seemed that most of the civilians had also been moved into the inner city.

However, Li Cunxu was not annoyed. He immediately sent people to Youzhou to recruit the surrender of various counties and towns, and then recruited local soldiers and civilians. He no longer planned to continue to use the elite troops brought from Hedong to fill the gap. Youzhou was within his reach, and he could just use these local soldiers to trap it.

The current target can be transformed into the unknown enemy in the east.

It won't take long, maybe within ten days, the number of troops under his command will surge to a terrifying 50,000. Although the elite troops are still from Hedong, they have lost several thousand, less than 20,000. But it is enough to deal with the troops from Hebei.

……

Youzhou, inner city.

Liu Rengong was very frightened during this period, and this fear was much stronger than when he was imprisoned.

At that time, he was imprisoned in the Jiedushi Mansion by Liu Shouguang. Although he had no freedom and his treatment was not good, to be honest, it was not a problem for him to survive for a long time.

But when he heard that Zhuozhou and Yizhou had surrendered and Li Cunxu's army was at the gates of the city, he was so scared that his bile almost came out. If he was imprisoned in Liu Shouguang's hands, it would not be difficult to survive, but if he fell into Li Cunxu's hands, it would be wishful thinking to keep his body intact and die well...

After Liu Rengong betrayed Hedong, he not only sent a letter to insult Li Keyong, but also detained all the Taiyuan generals in Youzhou, luring many people to defect to Youzhou with huge profits, thus digging deep into Hedong's corner.

Li Keyong was of course furious, and immediately led the Hedong army to Youzhou, but was defeated and almost half of his troops were killed. In addition, Liu Rengong, in his pride, also presented all the heads of the Hedong soldiers to Zhu Wen, which was really an insult to Li Keyong, making him spit blood in anger.

It was after that battle that we heard that Li Keyong's legs were disabled and he had to spend his days in a wheelchair.

But now the situation has changed. Who could have expected that Li Keyong had a son who was both talented in civil and military affairs? Now he has blocked him in the city and attacked it day and night, which scared Liu Rengong so much that he has not slept well every night.

"Commander Li, Commander Li..."

At this time, Li Mang, who had retreated from the city wall covered in blood, was found by Liu Rengong.

There were several Youzhou garrison commanders nearby, but Liu Rengong obviously didn't care about all that and quietly pulled Li Mang to a secluded place.

In fact, there were few secluded places in the Jiedushi Mansion. Except for the innermost part where Liu's large family lived, the outside was crowded with people coming and going, and it was difficult not to run into people.

But Liu Rengong was a military governor after all, and he still had authority, so no one dared to challenge him.

Although he is in his sixties, he has always looked youthful and energetic. But now he has wrinkles all over his face and looks like a weathered old man.

"Can we still hold it?" Liu Rengong asked in a low voice.

"Don't worry, General. The soldiers are all brave and their families are all in the inner city. How can they not fight to the death?" The scars on Li Mang's face made him look very fierce, but his voice was very gentle. He said kindly, "The Xiao envoy will be back soon. As long as we hold on for a few days, the Jin army will retreat. Don't worry, General."

"You said so half a month ago."

Liu Rengong seemed a little impatient, and kept walking back and forth, muttering to himself: "Outside the city is Li Cunxu, Li Cunxu. This guy is best at field battles, and his use of troops is something that even Zhu Wen dare not underestimate. Can you, Xiao Junshi, defeat him?"

Li Mang did not refute, but just looked at him calmly with his hands.

"The commanders of Zhuo and Yi states are a bunch of idiots. Liu Shouguang is such a short-sighted wretch, how can he accomplish anything?"

Liu Rengong paced back and forth, as if venting his anger. He cursed for a long time, cursing whatever he thought of. In the end, he even cursed his eldest son Liu Shouwen, who seemed to be relatively loyal and filial to him. He said that he had wasted all these years of training and that he was in charge of the entire Yichang Army, but was beaten into a dog by that evil creature Liu Shouguang, and that he had ruined the foundation of Hebei, etc.

In short, he blames everyone but himself.

Li Mang could see that this guy was not cursing out of anger, but rather trying to cover up his inexplicable fear.

"Commander Li, let's escape..." At the end, Liu Rengong suddenly lowered his voice and said, "There are tens of thousands of Jin troops outside the city, and how can 'that guy' win? They have the advantage of time and place. In a field battle, I don't think General Xiao will win."

Li Mang was stunned. "There are still several thousand soldiers in the city, with sufficient food and supplies. They are more than capable of defending the inner city. The soldiers are ready to fight to the death. Isn't this move by the commander-in-chief disheartening?"

Liu Rengong didn't care about that. As if afraid that Li Mang would refuse, he grabbed his hand and said mysteriously, "When Li Keyong personally led an expedition to Youzhou, I was afraid that I would be defeated, so I dug a secret passage in the city that leads directly to Gaoliang River in the south. Although he was defeated and retreated to Hedong later, the secret passage has been preserved until today."

After that, he continued, "As long as Commander Li is willing to escort me... Commander Li doesn't want to leave, it doesn't matter. As long as you let me go, I will only take 10% of the property in the mansion, and the rest is yours. Send a team to escort me out of the city. As long as Commander Li doesn't say anything, who will know? These days, I haven't appeared in front of the soldiers very often...

"If Commander Li is willing to go out of the city with me, the commanders of Cangzhou and other places will definitely recognize me. At that time, Commander Li can be appointed as the deputy governor!"

Unexpectedly, Li Mang didn't listen to Liu Rengong's nonsense at all. He was overjoyed and grabbed his arm. He looked around and asked in a low voice: "What did you say? There is a secret passage!"

The latter was stunned, feeling uneasy, with an unnatural expression on his old face: "It may have collapsed after more than ten years..."

Li Mang didn't believe it at all. If the secret passage couldn't be used, would this old man bring it up at such a critical moment of life and death?

"Tell me! Where does the secret passage lead to outside the city? And where does it lead in from inside the city?"

It was not until then that the scar on Li Mang's face that went through half of his face finally looked truly terrifying. Liu Rengong was immediately frightened so much that his legs went weak, and he looked at the map and told Liu Rengong the location of the secret passage in detail.

Li Mang was overjoyed. He asked several bad men from Cangzhou to guard Liu Rengong, while he left in a hurry.

Liu Rengong was in tears and felt sad.

The generals under Xiao Yan's command are not normal people!

……

Li Cunxu covered his forehead with his hands, narrowed his eyes, and looked up at the Saker Falcon that flew out of the city.

"Who can shoot this falcon for me?"

The generals surrounding him looked at each other in bewilderment. The beast seemed to be flying low, but that was only because the sky was clear. It was at least a thousand meters above the ground. Who the hell could hit it?
"If anyone hits the target, I will personally report the achievement to my father."

Now, all the generals were eager to try, and each of them drew their strong bows. Those with high skills could even shoot arrows hundreds of meters high.

But everyone was a little short of strength after all, and the Saker Falcon was very alert. It immediately took off with the wind, as if it was going to rush into the clouds.

Li Cunxu snorted coldly and shouted:

"Mirror Heart Demon!"

"The little slave is here."

A small man stepped out from the crowd, picked up a strong bow weighing several stones, and instantly pulled the string, which was like a full moon rising into the sky.

Everyone's pupils shrank.

Everyone thought that the actors that Li Cunxu kept were just clowns who brought disaster to the country. How could this Mirror Heart Demon have such a skill? That bow weighed at least three stones. It was a heavy bow that Li Keyong used in his early years. It was now presented to Li Cunxu.

Although this Mirror Heart Demon was thin and small and looked frail, he managed to pull the heavy bow so tight that it creaked, which was quite funny but extremely shocking.

A pulling force of 360 kilograms is something that not even an ordinary warrior can do. Does this Mirror Heart Demon have the strength of a Heavenly Rank?
"Snapped."

The Mirror Heart Demon concentrated his attention, completely ignoring the discussions around him, and the arrow suddenly shot up into the sky and passed through the clouds.

Unfortunately, the arrow almost flew into the clouds, but it was not accurate enough. Not only did it fail to injure the Saker Falcon, but it also caused it to soar into the air and disappear into the sky in an instant. The Mirror Heart Demon was immediately disappointed, and then fell to the ground in frustration and apologized: "My little servant is not good at archery, please punish me, Your Highness..."

Li Cunxu frowned and looked at the bird shadow gradually moving away without saying a word.

Just at this moment, heavy footsteps seemed to make the ground tremble, and suddenly hit this place from a distance.

"It's Taibao!"

Everyone murmured.

The Mirror Heart Demon lying on the ground suddenly raised his head and watched Li Cunxiao pick up the heavy bow. Although he was bulky, he was extremely fast. In a few steps, he ran forward more than ten feet. Then, with the teeth-grinding sound of pulling the bow, an arrow shot through the air.

"This bastard!" Mirror Heart Demon couldn't help but feel annoyed.

This time, everyone saw that the Saker Falcon, which was almost flying up in the clouds, suddenly trembled. It was obvious that its left wing was injured. It staggered like a human and was about to fall down.

But to everyone's surprise, the beast suddenly let out an eagle's cry, dived towards the east, and disappeared from sight in an instant.

Li Cunxiao was stunned for a moment, scratched the back of his head, looked at Li Cunxu apologetically, and handed over the almost broken three-stone strong bow.

The latter was overjoyed and couldn't help singing in operatic tones: "Old Ten~ is truly a tiger general~"

All the generals also praised him with admiration, which made Li Cunxiao feel a little embarrassed and he kept scratching the back of his head.

At this time, the Mirror Heart Demon stepped forward and said, "I will lead the people to find that beast."

Li Cunxu nodded with satisfaction and waved his sword.

"Go quickly~"

But just as he finished his words, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly crashed into the camp.

"Urgent news! Urgent news! Ten miles to the east, the Hebei Army is approaching!"

Mirror Heart Demon raised his two small eyebrows, turned his eyes, and quietly waited behind Li Cunxu again.

Everyone was in an uproar.

"How can the damn Hebei army be so fast? Didn't they say they were still in Beishui two days ago? It's a damn shame that they traveled hundreds of miles and arrived here in just two days?"

"Fuck it, do these Hebei people have four legs?"

But after all, this was a military matter, and no one would think that the scout would dare to spread false information. At this time, they all looked serious and looked at Li Cunxu.

In fact, everyone knew that Li Cunxu had just expanded the patrol range of the cavalry eastward in the past two days, but no one could have expected that the Hebei army, which was still in the Beishui River, would suddenly take over overnight.

Li Cunxu narrowed his almond-shaped eyes.

"Old Nine, Old Ten."

In the crowd, the monkey-like Li Cunzhong instantly jumped onto Li Cunxiao's shoulder and laughed: "Prince, give the order. My tenth brother and I will show you how powerful the Hebei army is."

"You and Lao Shi will lead the Tatar and Uighur cavalry troops from the Yicong Army to test the strength of the Hebei Army."

"Order."

"Sharuchi."

Among the generals below, a young general in his twenties strode out. This man was Li Cunxu's guard commander and could be called a trusted general. "I am here!"

"You lead the infantry of the Yi Cong army to march eastward, deploy your troops, and prepare for a field battle."

"Order!"

First, he deployed the vanguard army, and then Li Cunxu ordered his other adviser, Guo Chongtao, to coordinate the local soldiers, civilian laborers, and the remaining Jin army camps to stay in the rear, with the intention of continuing the siege of Youzhou and also serving as a reserve force.

He personally led 1,500 Crow Army and 500 Flying Tiger Army to set out at the right time.

These two armies were the elite among the elite cavalry. They were all members of the Shatuo tribe and were considered the elite troops of the Jin State in Hedong. Their bravery could be said to be the best in the world, without a doubt.

Back then, Li Keyong relied on the Yaer Army to defeat Huang Chao, leaving a trail of corpses for thirty miles and shocking the world with his power.

The Flying Tiger Army was a group of heavily armored cavalry trained by Li Cunxiao. They had served as the vanguard in battles across the country over the years, and were well-known among the various feudal lords.

As a natural born commander who leads by example, Li Cunxu is naturally belligerent, and he would personally charge into battle in such a field battle. He was prepared to personally lead such a strong army, crush the bones of the people of Hebei, and lay the foundation for the final situation!
……

As Li Cunxu had expected, Li Cunxiao led the Tatar and Uighur cavalry as the vanguard, and soon they clashed with the vanguard of the Hebei Army. The Hebei Army was indeed defeated, with hundreds of heads beheaded, and retreated in embarrassment.

But Li Cunxu was not satisfied. He ordered Li Cunxiao and Xia Luqi to advance eastward, hoping to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the Hebei army and force them to engage in a hasty field battle.

Only a war that would scare the Hebei army would make them afraid to move forward. Then, Li Cunxu would have time to summon troops from various counties, towns, and noble families, and take advantage of the situation to crush them, thus achieving a great victory.

Early the next morning, the main forces of the two armies encountered each other at Gaoliang River and finally deployed their battle formations.

On the endless Hebei Plain, the Hebei Army that had traveled from Yuyang stood with their backs to the river, spreading out from north to south. They were as dark and massive as a tide, and as they slowly approached, they were like huge waves.

Li Cunxu was wearing full armor, but no helmet, and his hair was still loose.

He wore a black mask, and his temperament was cold. The scale of his troops was much smaller than that of the Hebei army on the opposite side, but the Hebei army had come a long way and had just crossed the Gaoliang River, so they were at an unstable point.

Li Cunxu didn't believe that the Hebei army could fight a desperate battle.

"kill."

He drew his sword and pointed it forward.

Almost at the same time, the Hebei army on the opposite side also sounded a sobbing and vigorous horn. Tens of thousands of people fell into the sky and earth, and became dense black dots. For a moment, dust and killing sounds suddenly rose, horses' hooves roared, and arrows flew like rain.

This was an upright battle, without any conspiracy or deception. The only difference was who was braver and who could withstand the onslaught of battle.

For a moment, countless soldiers and horses collided with each other in chaos, and the arrows that shot up from the air were like thunder, tearing apart the clear sky under the scorching sun.

Li Cunxu snorted coldly, picked up a spear, and rode out on his horse.

Behind him, the Mirror Heart Demon drew his sword and shouted, "Follow the prince and charge!"

The rumbling of horses' hooves sounded like thunder as the Crow Army and the Flying Tiger Army crashed into the right wing of the Hebei Army, instantly tearing a hole in it.

At the same time, a cloud of dust rose from the opposite formation.

A fierce cavalry under the general also joined the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)