Chapter 194: This Mobei, there has always been only one chess piece, the Queen
The rumbling thunder broke through the last day of early spring in February.

The cold rain of early spring fell heavily, turning the ground, which had just begun to thaw, into a muddy place.

Large groups of cavalrymen wrapped their weapons in tallow cloth, without unfurling their military flags, and marched silently from south to north in the rain, along the official roads and plains.

Looking from a distance, one could see this large group of knights forming a black line, marching continuously through this already desolate borderland of Youyan. The unarmored knights steering their war horses exhaled long white breaths in the cold rain.
Behind them were thousands of war horses and pack horses, cared for by auxiliary soldiers, carrying military supplies that were also covered with oilcloth, and so on. They followed the wave of knights in front without stopping, also rumbling northward, looking like a galloping cavalry.

On the hillside beside the road, Xiao Yan, wearing a bamboo hat, sat on horseback in the rain. He did not hold the reins, but just waved the whip leisurely at a steady pace.

Behind him, more than a dozen generals also stopped their horses and stood in a line, all squinting at the rare beauty in front of them. The so-called heroism of men was fully inspired by the rush of thousands of cavalry.

In fact, there are not only the ten thousand cavalrymen in front of him, but also hundreds of scouts on horseback led by more than twenty bad people. They are divided into twenty or so teams and have already spread out ten miles away. It can be said that all movements within the ten-mile radius can be monitored by Xiao Yan.

At this moment, when all the generals were still intoxicated by the beautiful sight of thousands of cavalrymen rushing forward, a rider came from the south from afar. It turned out to be a bad guy.

He reined in his horse at the foot of the hill, and without dismounting, he shouted in the rain, "General Xiao, news has come from the south that the cavalry from Bianliang has arrived near Zhuozhou. The majority of the reinforcements are from the left and right Dragon and Sovereign armies. Others, such as the Dragon and Tiger Army and the Divine Martial Army, have also gathered some cavalry, totaling about 4,000 cavalry, and the commander is Xie Yanzhang, the cavalry commander of the Bianliang cavalry."

"This guy has the same name as Wang Yanzhang?"

Behind him, Yuan Xingqin was speechless.

At the side, Wang Yanzhang snorted coldly, and rarely did he say anything to Yuan Xingqin. He just hummed and said, "This Xie Yanzhang is the adopted son of the Inspector General Ge Congzhou. Unlike me, he may not seem famous, but he has been famous in the Daliang army for a long time. Before Your Majesty was stationed in Xuanwu, he had already followed Ge Congzhou in the battles, and he learned a lot from Ge Congzhou's military tactics. He is the best among the Daliang cavalry generals."

Yuan Xingqin nodded in understanding and thought in silence.

Then, Wang Yanzhang spat, "General Xiao defeated the Yan army, and the reinforcements just arrived in Zhuozhou. This Xie Yanzhang couldn't even get a sip of soup. My great name is in vain."

Behind him, several Longxiang Army generals laughed and said, "The commander of the cavalry should be the commander-in-chief."

"What are you laughing at?" Wang Yanzhang waved his hand, looked at Xiao Yan, clasped his fists and said, "Commander Xiao, Xie Yanzhang is not Zhao Yan's equal. You have to be careful when dealing with him."

"I have inherited Ge Congzhou's true teachings..."

Xiao Yan smiled and said to the bad man at the foot of the hill: "Go back and tell Han Yanhui. When Xie Yanzhang arrives, let him lead his troops west to Yizhou to prevent the Jin army from invading again."

Wang Yanzhang scratched his head and smiled, obviously thinking that this move was very appropriate.

Although Xie Yanzhang was the commander of the Bianliang cavalry, Xiao Yan was the commander of the imperial guards and cavalry, and was Xie Yanzhang's immediate superior. In addition, Xiao Yan was the commander of the Eastern Route Camp and was on a tour of inspection in Hebei on behalf of the emperor. The so-called reinforcements were originally under his jurisdiction, so it was natural for Xie Yanzhang to obey his orders.

In this way, there is no need to worry about whether this guy will keep an eye on Xiao Yan on behalf of the court.

"besides."

In front, Xiao Yan waved his whip, looked at Wang Yanzhang, and said, "You are the commander of the Longxiang Army, but you have been leading our 600 cavalrymen. What kind of commander are you? Go back and take over the military power of the Longxiang Army, and bring them to me. Since we are going to go deep into Mobei, how can we not use the Longxiang Army?"

Yuan Xingqin agreed with him and nodded in agreement: "I also have this suggestion. Even if we don't take the Longxiang Army out of the border, it would be fine to let Wang Yanzhang lead the army to station at Zhagubeikou in Tanzhou."

"Eat dog intestines! Yuan barbarian, I am on your grandfather's head, I am on your mother's head!"

Wang Yanzhang was furious, and hurriedly said to Xiao Yan: "General Xiao, I'm not going back! That guy just arrived in Zhuozhou, and it will take me at least ten days or half a month to go back and forth, how can I catch up with you!
Yuan Xingqin's nonsense is even more unbelievable. He is clearly greedy for my position as the vanguard. He has no good intentions and only does such mean things. General Xiao, don't listen to his nonsense!"

Not only him, but several Longxiang Army generals behind Wang Yanzhang were also secretly annoyed and glared at Yuan Xingqin.

The latter just smiled faintly, looking as if it had nothing to do with him.

However, the cavalry officers of the Lulong Army under his command also took the opportunity to speak up, "General Wang, since Commander Xiao has given the order, how can you disobey it? The cavalry can reach the destination in three to five days over a hundred miles. Your Longxiang Army has always been the vanguard, so why not give us these three to five days?"

"I'll let your mother!"

Wang Yanzhang had never been afraid of anyone except Xiao Yan, and he immediately pointed at them and yelled, "A hundred miles? You are just a bunch of idiots. You can run back and forth from Youzhou to Gubeikou in three to five days. You are lying. Do you think my six hundred cavalrymen are afraid of your two thousand cavalrymen from Lulong? Do you dare to compete with me?"

The commander was very capable, and the generals of the Longxiong Army under him were also not afraid. They pointed at the generals of the Lulong Army and started to curse them.

Next to him, Yu Zhong watched the two factions quarrel over a vanguard, but he had no expression on his face, just sitting there watching the fight. He was not stupid, and knew that if he wanted to fight for the vanguard, he would be attacked by both factions.

As the main general of Dingbadu, he also has the confidence to wait until the end.

However, the generals under his command were already eager to try, and obviously wanted to get a piece of the pie from this forward position that suddenly seemed to be vacant.

"What's the noise about?"

But at this moment, Xiao Yan couldn't help but laugh and said, "Wang Yanzhang, then tell me, what should we do?"

The generals' quarrels suddenly stopped and they all went to look at Wang Yanzhang.

The latter's momentum was lost, and he glared at Yuan Xingqin angrily, but he still said stubbornly: "I will not go back. I have monitored Kang Huaiying in Hengshan City for the past few months, but I cannot fall behind this time."

In front of all his confidants, Xiao Yan said bluntly: "But I also want to control the Longxiang Army."

Hearing this, a hint of smile appeared on Yuan Xingqin's originally serious face.

Wang Yanzhang was anxious for a moment, but he turned his eyes and looked at the general of the Longxiang Army behind him.

The latter was startled, and immediately reacted, then waved his hands hurriedly: "General, I will not go back..."

"How dare you disobey military orders!" Wang Yanzhang was furious, but he rode his horse over, grabbed the general, and took him a little distance away. He first scolded him, and then spoke earnestly.

The generals had different expressions as they watched Wang Yanzhang pat the general on the shoulder and pat his chest, obviously making some promise.

Everyone present had martial arts skills, and the lowest ones were at the middle star level. As for Yuan Xingqin and Yu Zhong, the former was already at the small heaven level, and the latter was almost there too. Naturally, they could hear what Wang Yanzhang was saying.

Things like "I'll remember your contribution in this battle, you're wronged just for this one time...", "Whether we can suppress the Yuan barbarians depends on this time, and even though Yu Zhong is standing there without saying a word, he must have a lot of bad intentions...", etc., were only heard by everyone in a vague way.

Yuan Xingqin was still okay. Ever since he joined Xiao Yan, he had had many conflicts with Wang Yanzhang, so he was used to it.

But Yu Zhong immediately looked sullen, obviously Wang Yanzhang had figured out what he was thinking.

Finally, the matter was settled. Wang Yanzhang sent his deputy general back to take over the military power for him, while he himself continued to lead 600 Longxiang troops and 2,000 cavalry from various units as the vanguard.

Finally, he glared at Yuan Xingqin arrogantly, while not forgetting to laugh at Yu Zhong.

The two of them naturally turned pale. If Xiao Yan hadn't been present, perhaps the three of them would have really had a fight.

Xiao Yan was of course happy to see his generals arguing over such things. When everyone was in high spirits, he, the commander, would benefit the most. Of course, he couldn't just indulge them. If he caused a rift in everyone's hearts, he would be fine sitting in the army now, but in the future he would inevitably ask the armies to cooperate in battle. If that led to a situation where "friendly troops were in trouble, but they remained motionless like a mountain", it would not be beautiful.

However, at the moment, although the generals were bickering, it was because of their different temperaments, not because of real discord. As warriors, they were inevitably a little rough, and since they were colleagues in the army, they would not be so cautious in what they said.

Moreover, they are competing for the vanguard position not simply for credit. After all, they don't really have a clear idea of ​​the situation in Mobei right now, so what great credit can be gained by not having a vanguard position?

Not to mention other people, just Wang Yanzhang is simply a war-loving guy!
After the commotion, the atmosphere became more lively. Wang Yanzhang pointed to a group of horses standing still in the rain not far below the hillside and shouted, "General Xiao, these guys are nothing but some playboys. Why are you taking them in?"

Everyone looked back and understood what troops Wang Yanzhang was referring to.

It was a cavalry force of about a thousand men, none of them wearing armor and their uniforms were of different colors, looking like a ragtag army.

This cavalry was formed by the sons and nephews of local powerful people in Yan area, leading the brave men from their respective clans.

During the suppression of the Yan army, many powerful families in the fortresses were almost completely defeated. Convinced, almost all the surviving powerful families took the initiative to send their sons and nephews to serve under Xiao Yan. Wave after wave, they gathered nearly a thousand people, which were what Wang Yanzhang called "Hua Hua Tai Sui".

In addition, upon hearing of Xiao Yan's victory, Hebei nobles such as the Fanyang Lu family all sent food and military supplies. As the "leading family in the northern province", the Fanyang Lu family even sent several sons of the main family for Xiao Yan to use at will.

Of course, whether Xiao Yan would use these people or not was one thing, and whether they would send them or not was another. And although it was called surrender, in reality it was just sending hostages to show their loyalty.

“If Marshal Xiao doesn’t accept them, the families behind them will probably not be able to sleep at night.” Yuan Xingqin said lightly.

Wang Yanzhang stroked his beard and shook his head in disdain: "I'm afraid they are difficult to use." Xiao Yan laughed instead and said: "These people are all descendants of wealthy families, men from Yan, and have been skilled in archery and horse riding since childhood. How can they be difficult to use? It's just that they have not been properly reorganized. In addition, if we accept them, we can appease more than tens of thousands of people. You, Wang Yanzhang, dislike them, but I want to accept them and use them."

Wang Yanzhang laughed dryly: "My family's words are of no consequence..."

"Okay, stop talking nonsense."

Xiao Yan pointed his whip at the cavalry at the foot of the hill and said, "According to the previous plan, if Wang Yanzhang rushes to be the vanguard, your troops will speed up and rush directly to Gubeikou to take over the city defense, and then control the situation outside the Great Wall, allowing the army behind to drive out of the Great Wall."

"I obey your orders." Wang Yanzhang bowed first, then hesitated and said, "General Xiao, Gubeikou was previously occupied by the Queen of Mobei. Now that Yelu Abaoji has jumped out again, Gubeikou must be..."

Everyone was obviously concerned about this issue, and they all looked at Xiao Yan.

The latter just smiled and said, "Just take over the city defense."

"I understand." Wang Yanzhang felt relieved immediately, and then led his generals and soldiers and rode away.

Once they left, a large area on the hillside became empty. Yuan Xingqin and others immediately followed orders and left, joining the tens of thousands of cavalrymen heading north.

In this northern expedition, in addition to the 8,000 troops of Dingbadu, there were also 2,000 cavalry of the Lulong Army, 600 cavalry of the Longxiang Army, nearly 6,000 auxiliary troops, more than a thousand Mobei cavalry left by Shuliduo, plus the thousand men of those local warlords, it was already a scale of nearly 20,000 people. Moreover, the auxiliary troops were composed of elite soldiers from various armies who were captured, and they could even fight in the field when necessary.

This time, Xiao Yan mobilized almost all the war horses in Youzhou.

You must know that he had captured thousands of war horses in Yuyang, and later captured a batch of horses from Li Cunxu. Together with the thousands of horses that Shuliduo had given him, almost all of the 20,000 war horses were put into this battle. In other words, all of his troops were cavalrymen in this battle, and he had also gathered all the armies. He could directly equip 3,000 armored cavalrymen, not to mention that among the 20,000 cavalrymen, 70% were wearing armor.

In this battle, Xiao Yan almost exhausted all the troops and equipment in Hebei Province. The military supplies for 20,000 cavalrymen also used up all the supplies that Feng Dao had transferred. It could even be said that the entire Hebei Province was exhausted by him.

If Xiao Yan hadn't been lying on Daliang's body and sucking his blood, he might not have been able to fight this battle.

But this battle is of great significance.

He has to fight.

"..."

In the heavy rain, Xiao Yan held the hilt of the sword at his waist, looked at the army advancing northward in thought for a long time, and suddenly spoke.

"You Yi."

You Yi, who had brought back most of the bad people from Yingzhou, rode over from a distance and bowed, saying, "I am here."

"Have you received a reply to the letter I asked Gong Yangzuo to do?"

“Not yet…” You Yi thought for a moment, then said, “But I have something to say, I wonder if Tian Anxing is willing to listen.”

"That's right."

"I heard from them that the Marshal came to Yingzhou just to see how Tian Anxing would end up in a miserable defeat. To be honest, I have been following you, Tian Anxing, for two months. The pleasure I have experienced in these two months has made me admire you even more. But that is why I want to advise you. The Marshal believes that you will be defeated miserably, so this trip will definitely be dangerous. Why don't you stop here?"

You Yi paused for a moment, and then said, "I am old and talkative, so please don't take it too seriously."

Xiao Yan smiled and said, "If it weren't for the Marshal, do you think I would lose?"

You Yi hesitated and shook his head: "Whether it is winning or losing, in my eyes, it is only half done. But if it were me, now that I have obtained Hebei, I will not go out of the border again."

"Why?"

"As I said before, I and others have studied you in Yingzhou. The reason you were able to defeat Li Cunxu in the battle of Gaoliang River was because you had the help of the Queen of Mobei. But now there is the variable of Yelu Abaoji, which is what the commander-in-chief said is a 'chess piece off the chessboard'. As the King of Mobei, he should be able to make the Queen of Mobei give up helping you. Without her help, sending troops to Mobei will only be more trouble than gain."

"You're right. Abaoji is indeed a variable that I didn't expect. He is my mortal enemy. No matter what the reason is, he will fight to the death with me."

Xiao Yan pondered for a moment, then laughed again, saying, "But you are wrong again. Perhaps it is the Marshal who made a mistake.

In this Mobei, I have only had one chess piece, the Queen.

This variable is outside the chessboard, how can it affect the chessboard? "

------

It was raining heavily, the road was muddy, and a group of people were walking with difficulty in the wilderness.

Han Zhigu wiped the rain off his face, raised his head and shouted, "It's raining too hard, can you slow down a bit before you go?"

In front, a few bad guys wearing bamboo hats and carrying swords turned around.

The leader's face was filled with indifference: "Even if you have to kill me, you have to keep going."

Han Zhigu had no choice but to comfort Yelu Yaoguang beside him.

"Second Prince, would you like me to carry you on my back?"

"Need not."

Yelu Yaoguang seemed to be in good spirits, but there was still some confusion on his face. He whispered, "Aren't we going to look for our mother?"

Han Zhigu was actually a little confused, but he just explained in a low voice: "The queen is still besieged by Yelu Lage in Hengshan, and we can't go to join her. Now, let's go to the south first. When there are no pursuers behind us and we have settled down safely, we can go find the queen..."

Yelu Yaoguang nodded and didn't ask any more questions. In fact, he seemed very calm from beginning to end, and this heavy rain was nothing to him.

He was just curious about where his mother found these strange men in bamboo hats.
……

After a long time, everyone finally stopped.

But I saw a few shacks beside a river in front of me, with about a dozen people inside and outside, and it seemed that they had been waiting for a long time.

Next to the shack, there were dozens of horses being fed with horse feed by several people who were also wearing bamboo hats.

A man was drinking river water in the rain. When he heard the noise, he looked up.

Through the rain, Yelu Yao could only see that it was an old man with gray hair.

But he looked very agile. He laughed and put on a bamboo hat.

"I have finally waited for you little kids. How many pursuers are there?"

The leader who had been very cold to Han Zhigu before was now very polite: "To be honest, senior, we avoided the small paths all the way, and I really don't know how many people there are..."

"It doesn't matter. We'll kill as many as come." The old man waved his hand indifferently and walked closer, leading the horse.

He stared at Yelu Yaoguang and rubbed his chin slightly.

"Are you the Second Prince of Mobei?"

Han Zhigu was actually a little alert. He subconsciously wanted to hide Yelu Yaoguang behind him, but the latter calmly replied: "It is Yaoguang. Are you also the talented people recruited by my mother?"

"more or less."

Gong Yangzuo laughed out loud, then he picked up Yelu Yaoguang and put him on the horse's back, then smiled mischievously.

"But he is your Aye's man."

(End of this chapter)