Chapter 191 This chess game can still be played
On the top of Youzhou city, it was approaching evening, but there was no sunset. The sky was covered with dark clouds, which piled up layer by layer, so that the entire sky turned ink-black. There was only a sense of depression between heaven and earth. The indifferent cold wind blew sharply in all directions, and the bloody smell in the air was still lingering in the nose.

On the side of the horse path leading up to the city wall, Sun He, the commander-in-chief of the Yichang Army, and officers of all ranks under his command all bowed their heads and waited.

They all had weapons on their waists, but no one was in the habit of holding the hilt to show their martial arts demeanor. At this moment, the generals of the Yichang Army who came from Cangzhou stood with their hands hanging down, looking a little restrained and at a loss.

During this time, some of them would raise their eyes from time to time, carefully looking at the tall figure standing in front of the city wall with a knife in hand, quietly scanning the area below the city.

The figure was wearing a red robe and a fu hat. The black cloak behind him was constantly fluttering in the cold wind, gently lifting up backwards, so that one could see the hand under the cloak lightly holding the hilt of the knife, tapping it neither lightly nor heavily.

Although this wait was really tiring, no matter how rebellious or self-important these Yichang Army generals had been in the past, at this moment they could only wait silently with their heads down at a distance behind this man, not daring to say a word.

If they were like this, then those so-called surrendered generals of the Yan army who were not even qualified to go up to the top of the city walls and could only line up at the foot of the city walls could only wait in fear with their hands clasped behind their backs. As everyone exchanged glances with each other, they felt their breath getting heavier and their faces turning pale.

"Xiao Shuai."

Heavy footsteps sounded on the path leading up to the city. It was Yu Zhong walking through the crowd with his sword in hand. He looked calm, but his chin was raised high. If someone tried to peek at him, they would only see two nostrils looking down at him.

However, Yu Zhong was still able to barely suppress his sense of superiority. The group of personal soldiers following behind him were all very arrogant. Although they were just personal soldiers, they walked like generals in the army and were very arrogant.

The generals of the Yichang Army who came from Cangzhou gritted their teeth secretly, but when they looked at their main general Sun He, they saw that the latter was just watching with his eyes and nose and his nose and heart, so they could only grit their teeth and swallow it.

There was nothing he could do. In the battle to destroy Yan the day before, Yu Zhong's army was the most valiant. He led 500 cavalrymen under his command and forged a gap in the layers of Yan army's camps, thus blocking the route for the defeated soldiers to flee to the north. It was almost with his own strength that he stopped the loss of tens of thousands of defeated Yan troops.

Yu Zhong was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Dingbadu because of his merits. His status was no lower than Sun He. In fact, because Dingbadu was an outstanding subordinate of Xiao Yan, his status was much higher than Sun He, a general of the Yichang Army who did not have a close relationship with Xiao Yan.

At this time, following Yu Zhong's call, the red-robed figure standing at the parapet finally turned around.

Yu Zhong then crossed his arms and saluted, saying, "General Xiao, the names of the various Yan troops have been roughly counted. Including women, children, the elderly and the young, there are more than 94,000 surrendered troops. The rest are either dead or escaped. I really don't have the energy to continue pursuing. In addition, all the generals and commanders of the Yan army are waiting at the foot of the city, ready to be summoned by General Xiao at any time."

"There's really no need to chase after him."

Xiao Yan had stubble on his chin and his cheeks were thinner, but this made him look much more mature than his 19 years old. In addition, he had an upright posture and sharp eyes. Even Yu Zhong, who had been known as a top-level general in the past two days, seemed a little lacking in momentum in front of him.

He loosened the handle of the Tang sword at his waist, put his hands behind his back, looked outside the city and pondered for a moment, then said: "When Han Sima (Han Yanhui) arrives, I will give him the list. Then let him draft a manifesto and send it to each military state.

Now that most of the Yan army has been destroyed, those garrison commanders who surrendered to the Yan army, either forced or voluntarily, are required to submit their surrender letters as soon as possible. At the same time, they are required to strictly guard their respective military states and beware of the Yan army's defeated soldiers forming bandits to harass.

Besides, I don't ask them to send troops to wipe out the bandits in their respective territories. After all, I didn't help them when the Yan army was causing chaos in various places. But now that I have returned to Youzhou, I will let them weigh their heads. I can ignore their past collusion with the Yan army to seize private property, but if there are still those who dare to protect the bandits and not report them, don't blame me for being too sharp. "

Yu Zhong's face was solemn. His mind was spinning rapidly. He asked the soldiers beside him to remember everything Xiao Yan said. He memorized it word for word before bowing and saying, "I've remembered it."

In fact, it is more than that. After all, the Yan army had risen rapidly before, and there were all kinds of evil spirits among them. Yuan Xingqin and Li Mang could not control all of them tightly. It was inevitable that some ambitious people would take advantage of the chaos to seize territory and establish their own regime. However, these things were not a big deal and could be destroyed by a small army. Xiao Yan was not in a hurry.

In particular, the two most capable scholars around him are not around. Feng Dao is still in Yingzhou, and Han Yanhui is still transporting supplies at Gaoliang River and will not arrive until tomorrow. There are too few people around him who can handle mundane affairs, and the useful officials in Youzhou are all dealing with the nearly 100,000 surrendered Yan soldiers. Yu Zhong may be a good leader in fighting, but he himself knows that he is not capable of being a good chief official.

So after thinking it over again and again, Xiao Yan simply threw everything to Han Yanhui to deal with. He only needed to make the decision in advance.

Therefore, after he finished speaking, he gave another order: "Let the men under your command rest well tonight, so that they can be fully motivated to start the war after receiving their rewards tomorrow. After you have dealt with these matters, go to the military camp to inspect as soon as possible."

"You will finally understand."

"Let Sun He and others come over."

Yu Zhongsui bowed and strode away.

After a while, Sun He, who was a few feet away from here, led a group of generals to come forward, and then knelt on one knee under the gaze of a dozen bad guys on the left and right.

"General Sun He, along with other generals from Yichang Army, are here to see Commander Xiao."

"Meet Xiao Shuai..."

Xiao Yan was calm and polite, with a calm expression. He glanced at the generals with his hands behind his back, and then suddenly laughed and said, "I heard that your Yichang Army has been divided into the Yuyang Division and the Cangzhou Division. Is this true?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, and then looked at Sun He's back.

The latter was silent for a moment, then he clasped his hands and said, "To be honest with you, Commander Xiao, there is indeed such a saying, but I thought it was Commander Xiao's instruction before..."

Xiao Yan couldn't help but laugh, and said, "What if it was my instruction? What would happen then?"

Sun He paused for a moment, and then said, "If it is Commander Xiao's intention, I will only try my best to train my soldiers. After all, the so-called division of Yuyang and Cangzhou is because the former followed Commander Xiao in the battles of Yuyang and Gaoliang River, and is a field division. And the Cangzhou unit under my command has always been less about field battles and more about defending cities in recent years. I guess Commander Xiao's intention is to let me train the Cangzhou unit and be good at field battles...

However, if it was not Commander Xiao's instruction, I should have been careful and alert to the person who spread the rumor after the war. After all, it might be a traitor who wanted to create a rift within the Yichang Army and disintegrate the morale of the Yichang Army... But this is just my bold guess, without any evidence, I hope Commander Xiao will understand. "

While he was talking, Xiao Yan just listened quietly from beginning to end. After he finished speaking, he laughed out loud, then glanced at the generals of the Yichang Army's Cangzhou Division behind Sun He, and asked with a smile: "You, do you think so too?"

Sun He raised his eyelids, somewhat puzzled by Xiao Yan's intention.

"This..." The generals behind him looked at each other, obviously not knowing how to answer. Some of the burly-looking officers seemed to want to say something, but seemed to be stopped by the people next to them with their eyes, so they just blushed and said nothing.

Finally, they all said in unison: "General Xiao, we all agree with this."

They were kneeling on one knee while Xiao Yan was standing. He could see through all these little movements, but he did not point it out. He just held the hilt of the knife at his waist, walked back and forth a few steps, and then chuckled.

"really?"

After saying that, he didn't wait for them to reply, and just laughed and shook his head: "As the commander of an army, General Sun may have some concerns and dare not speak his mind. But why should you be concerned? Instead, you and General Sun are conspiring to deceive me?"

Sun He was horrified and said repeatedly: "General Xiao, I am not..."

Xiao Yan raised his hand to interrupt him, and then said: "The so-called Yuyang Tribe and Cangzhou Tribe are obviously both Yichang Army, why do we have to distinguish them like this? You all know the truth, so why hide it?"

He smiled faintly, rubbed the hilt of the sword in his hand, and answered himself: "This distinction is nothing more than that the Yuyang tribe has fought with me, and the officers and soldiers are also old friends of mine, and even many of them were promoted by me. Outsiders call them the 'Yuyang tribe' just because they know that they have a relationship with me and that I trust them more than you.

To put it bluntly, you are all generals of the Yichang Army, but you are distinguished from the officers of the Yuyang Army by outsiders, and are even suppressed by the so-called officers of the Yuyang Army. It is because of the word "trust", right?"

Sun He stammered, then lowered his head and remained silent.

Most of the generals were speechless, but a few of the normally rebellious generals could no longer hold back and stood up and shouted, "Since Commander Xiao knows, why don't you trust us? You are being partial to one and not the other, and it's obvious that you want to break up our Yichang Army!"

After that, one of them couldn't help but add, "To put it in a broader sense, I'm not afraid of you, Xiao... Xiao Yan! You haven't even fully grown your hair yet, how can you be trustworthy? We surrendered to you in the first place, and have been living under someone else's roof ever since. First it was you, and then it was that damn Li Zhen!
"I've figured it out now. You just want to cultivate your own cronies. There's not a single officer in the Yuyang Division that I know. It's full of your people. I'm afraid that my position as the battalion commander will be given to them sooner or later! Humph, we served as soldiers and got food, just to fight for a promising future. Now that we have no future, what am I afraid of? The worst that can happen is death!"

The generals who stood up turned pale, obviously not expecting this guy to be so stubborn.

It was true that they were dissatisfied with Xiao Yan, but they were also afraid. Otherwise, why would they wait so obediently and respectfully for half a day? Xiao Yan was indeed young, but he had power and soldiers in his hands. He was also in charge of the army in Hebei. These so-called Hebei surrendered soldiers were not only his soldiers in fact, but also soldiers under the banner of his Guide Army in name.

Not to mention dismissing them, even if all of them were to be liquidated, they have the strength and name to do so.

The outspoken man had obviously given it his all, but after he finished speaking, he seemed to regret having implicated so many of his colleagues. His originally glaring eyes began to become evasive, and he seemed to lack confidence for some unknown reason.

Sun He's heart sank. He had been wavering when facing Li Zhen before, and was unwilling to contact Liu Shouwen because he vaguely saw the shadow of Xiao Yan behind the Yan army. All his actions were also to protect himself and his old subordinates. Who would have thought that the idiot would actually run into Xiao Yan's gun.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan still chuckled, pointed at the man, and said, "What is the name of this general? What is his current position?"

The man stiffened his neck and said, "I will not change my name, I am Zhao Haoxiong! I am currently the commander of the first battalion of the first city of the Yichang Army's infantry!"

"Okay, from today on, General Zhao will be the first commander of the infantry, commanding two battalions of infantry. Tomorrow, he will march north with the army to Danzhou."

Zhao Haoxiong didn't even think twice, veins popping out on his neck, and said fiercely: "Go ahead, at worst you can die on the battlefield if you want!"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he realized that his colleagues around him, including Sun He, turned around and looked at him blankly, and he was stunned.

The next moment, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have been promoted...

He stared blankly at his superior, the former first-ranking general who had been replaced by him, and scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Idiot, why are you standing here instead of thanking Xiao Shuai!?"

Zhao Haoxiong started to panic amidst the curses, but he had not yet forgotten that he had just scolded Xiao Yan. He stood there with his hands clasped, wanting to say something, but before he could utter a word, he seemed to have a brain short circuit and was about to kneel down on one knee to express his gratitude.

It's no wonder that he was so dazed. Let's not talk about promotion for now. Just following the army north to Danzhou was purely for military merit. They all knew that there was a Yan army in Danzhou, but they knew what the Yan army was like. Their Yichang army was not as good as Dingbadu, but dealing with the Yan army was not as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

To put it another way, doesn't this mean that Xiao Yan is willing to use them?

"Master Xiao..." Sun He was also panicked.

"You all stand up." Xiao Yan smiled faintly, then put his hands behind his back and said frankly: "If we talk about trust, I do trust the so-called Yuyang tribe more, not only because I have seen their combat power, but the most important point is that I know they will be loyal to me."

He brushed his cape, pressed the hilt of the sword at his waist, and said with a smile: "Here, there are only me and you. There is no Zhu emperor in Bianliang, nor any prime minister or official in the court. To be honest, if you can be as loyal to me as they are in Hebei, why would I hesitate to give you a trust and a future?

But I can do it with you, and can you do it with me?"

For a moment, the city fell silent. Smart people like Sun He naturally understood what Xiao Yan was talking about.

Previously, Li Zhenzhi wanted to mobilize the Yichang Army to quell the rebellion, but the Yuyang Army refused to move at that time, and even put pressure on Sun He and others, making them refuse to obey the orders.

This means that between the imperial court and Xiao Yan, he chose the latter, which is also what the latter called "loyalty".

But before Sun He and others could continue to ponder, Zhao Haoxiong suddenly patted his chest behind him, as if he had completely forgotten his previous bold words.

"Since Commander Xiao has given us a future, why shouldn't I show my loyalty? We say we are joining Daliang, but how can those gentlemen in Bianliang see the merits of us low-level people? If there are more treacherous officials like Li Zhen, we won't even get a reward, let alone a future! Our future is still decided by Commander Xiao alone!"

Sun He no longer hesitated and bowed with his hands folded: "General Xiao is in charge of the power of Hebei, how dare I not obey your orders!"

Xiao Yan laughed loudly, glanced at Zhao Haoxiong, and then said, "From now on, anyone who speaks of the Cangzhou and Yuyang tribes to the Yichang Army will be executed without mercy."

"Here!"

Regardless of whether they were sincere or not, everyone expressed their opinions respectfully.

Xiao Yan smiled, pointed at the increasingly dark sky, and said: "It's getting late, I'll finish telling you everything." Then, he looked at a bad guy beside him.

"Go and call the surrendered generals of the Yan army below and ask them to select thirty leaders to come up."

The latter strode away, and Sun He also saluted: "I dare not delay General Xiao's meeting..."

"No, you stay."

Xiao Yan pointed left and right, and Sun He and others were stunned, then they understood and stood on the left and right.

Soon, a group of big men in different clothes and armors climbed up to the top of the city wall, and then they bowed down and said in different panic tones: "We are surrendered soldiers of the Yan army, and we are here to see Marshal Xiao."

"You all recognize me."

"How could we not know Marshal Xiao..." A big man said with a smile, "Last year, Marshal Xiao conquered Youzhou and summoned us to Youzhou to meet him..."

Xiao Yan hummed, then held the hilt of the knife and said nonchalantly: "Then you dare to surrender to Liu Rengong? Don't you take me seriously?"

"No! No!"

The big man didn't know that he had said the wrong thing. He was so anxious that he jumped up and down, saying, "How dare you! I heard that Marshal Xiao was forced to return to the Central Plains, so I wanted to join the Yan army to try my luck and get rich. I really started the army because I heard that Marshal Xiao was no longer around!"

Xiao Yan sneered and looked at the other twenty people: "What about you?"

"That's right!" The others nodded hurriedly, saying, "If Marshal Xiao was in Youzhou, even if we had a hundred guts, we wouldn't dare to follow Liu Shouwen to besiege the city!"

Xiao Yan sneered. How could these people really be that afraid of him? At least before this battle, they would not be so exaggerated. It was just the situation. The knife was hanging over their heads, forcing them to lie down and act like dogs.

But he was too lazy to expose these things. He just turned around, pointed at the city, and said indifferently: "In the past, you may have been local tyrants or fortress owners who owned thousands of acres of fertile land. You may be rich and powerful. I know all this. However, now that you have become my captives, you can swallow up all your tyranny and rebelliousness."

"That's as it should be. That's as it should be." Everyone hurriedly agreed.

"Have I finished what I wanted to say?" Xiao Yan's face turned cold and he glanced at them sideways.

Sun He and others stood on the left and right, all holding their swords, looking coldly at these surrendered generals of the Yan army, just as those bad guys looked coldly at them just now.

The thirty bandits suddenly fell silent.

Xiao Yan smiled coldly and glanced outside the city.

Everyone followed suit and looked out.

However, under the city of Youzhou, tens of thousands of refugees were being watched by soldiers of the Yichang Army and guards recruited from nearby. They were shouting slogans and hammering wooden stakes that would be used as fences into the ground. Some were even setting up tents, and it seemed that a series of neat huts were taking shape.

These refugees were shouting slogans and building huts here, while outside, thousands of cavalrymen were divided into small teams and shuttled back and forth among them, or stationed on high places, holding torches to strictly control the movements of all refugees.

In addition, a few hundred steps away from the construction site, a porridge stall was built and began to emit steam. The fragrance of rice could be smelled from far away on the city wall.

At this sight, both the generals of Yichang Army and the thirty surrendered generals were only slightly stunned by the scene.

Sun He and others finally understood why Xiao Yan had been gazing outside the city for a long time.

"Tomorrow, I will lead my army northward to completely wipe out all the remnants of the Yan army."

At this time, Xiao Yan finally spoke softly.

All the surrendered generals pretended to listen attentively.

"After I lead the army north, these 90,000 Yan troops will be divided among the thirty of you. You all have acquaintances among them, so I don't care how you divide them. But when I return, I hope to see that these 90,000 people have been completely settled. Do you need me to explain the word 'settled'?"

"I don't dare ask Marshal Xiao to explain."

Xiao Yan sneered, holding Dao Xumu's hand, and said, "It is already mid-February, the spring ploughing season. When I return to my division, I don't want to see any of your thirty divisions fail to do a good job of clearing the land for spring planting."

The faces of the thirty people who were just delighted suddenly changed. How could they know when Xiao Yan would return? But no one dared to ask, and they all just responded in a hesitant manner.

"After I go north, all matters concerning the thirty tribes will be handled according to the orders of General Sun."

Everyone turned to Sun He and bowed together: "We greet General Sun."

The latter's expression remained unchanged, but he was shocked in his heart. He glanced at Xiao Yan carefully, not understanding why the latter would entrust such an important task to him.

Then, Xiao Yan smiled coldly: "There are so many things. Tomorrow there will be a Han Sima who will come to teach you what to do. You just have to obey. Anyone who has any objections will swallow their stomachs."

Everyone was about to respond, but when they saw that Xiao Yan hadn't finished speaking, they all choked.

"That's all you have to say. You have managed to get to such a high position in the Yan army, so you must be not stupid. You should know what to do and what not to do."

Xiao Yan nonchalantly pointed at the knife on his waist and said, "Also, if anyone thinks they have the ability to stir up trouble again, they can try after I march north. I don't like fighting, but the men under my command are happy to hear about fighting, and they all just want to fight for fame and honor.

If you have the courage, you might as well see if I can destroy you and others a second time after I have destroyed you once.

Do you understand? "

The surrendered generals felt their scalps go numb, and they felt a chill just looking at the unsheathed sword, so they all bowed down and said, "General Xiao, we understand."

"get out."

The next moment, everyone retreated in a hurry.

"General Xiao." Sun He took a step forward.

"Your case is just as I just said." Xiao Yan waved his hand, obviously not wanting to say more, and just pointed at Zhao Haoxiong: "Except for General Zhao's infantry, the rest of the Yichang army is stationed in Youzhou. I will march north tomorrow morning, and the rest of you just need to cooperate with Han Yanhui. Tomorrow morning, you and Ding Ba will receive the reward together."

Sun He was stunned, turned around to look at Zhao Haoxiong who was laughing foolishly, and then said seriously: "I will definitely live up to the trust of General Xiao."

After a while, all the generals retreated one after another.

……

At this time, Xiao Yan had finally finished dealing with all the important matters, so that only he and a group of bad guys were left on the city wall.

He put his hands behind his back, looked at the construction site below the city, which was already ablaze with sparks, and said calmly, "That man, is his name Liu Yi?"

"Captain, this is indeed the man."

Xiao Yan fell silent, obviously thinking.

Behind him, a bad guy took off his mask, revealing a slightly older face underneath, and said in a hoarse voice: "Tian Anxing, the Marshal has already reminded you that the chess piece is not on the chessboard."

"I'm not as good as the Marshal, and I didn't expect this person." Xiao Yan said frankly: "But I don't know why the Marshal would help me."

The bad guy thought about it, then glanced around, moved closer, and whispered: "The old man said that he wanted to see how a chess player who is not a chess player can win.

Then, the old man said, you have missed two pieces, I am afraid you will lose everything. "

Xiao Yan listened to this quietly, smiled, and actually felt somewhat relieved.

"Senior, please go back and tell the Marshal for me—"

The Marshal has great foresight, and I really admire him.

But, according to your calculations, did I really miss two pieces?"

A trace of confusion flashed across the bad guy's old eyes.

------

The cold wind was howling, and in the darkness of the night, several figures approached the big tent.

At the entrance of the tent, two guards from the Mobei royal court had already breathed their last and were being dragged into the shadows by a figure.

The curtain was lifted, and a young man entered the tent cautiously. He bowed slightly to the bewildered but fearless Yelu Yaoguang, and consoled him: "Your servant Han Zhigu, under the order of the queen, has come to take the second prince out of danger."

At the door of the tent, several masked bad guys stared at the two of them, with strange colors in their eyes, without saying a word.

……

Bianliang, Xuanming Sect.

"Meng Po, there is a man traveling south by sea, cautiously entering Bianliang, saying he wants to meet the Hades in secret."

At the top, Meng Po, who was leaning on a crutch, was holding a piece of letter paper, squinting her eyes and saying nothing.

After a while, she spoke hoarsely.

"What's this person's name?"

"According to his own claim, he is Lü Yan."

"Bring him to see me."

The ghost from the Xuanming Sect strode away. Meng Po sighed, looked at the letter thoughtfully, and put it in her arms.

(End of this chapter)