Chapter 205 Hitting the road
At the end of the Tianbao period, the Tang poet Lu Lun wrote a song about the frontier, which reads:
It was a dark and windy night, and the Chanyu fled at night.

To drive Qingqi away, the snow is full of bows and knives.

Hundreds of years later, no one knows whether this poet, who experienced the prosperity and decline of the Tang Dynasty, was recording the real scene or simply the artistic conception when he wrote this poem. However, in the cold spring in the frontier area a hundred years later, this scene was exactly described.

On a cold spring night in April on the grassland, the wind was still blowing fiercely. Dozens of riders surrounded the two men and galloped westward on horseback. They were covered in cold sweat under the moonlight, but they did not stop for a moment and did not dare to slow down and rest for a moment.

During this period, from time to time someone wanted to draw his bow and shoot backwards, but he was immediately shot off his horse by arrows flying from behind.

The ownerless mount ran away with a loud wail, but an old man holding a bow immediately jumped up from his mount behind it, landed on the warhorse's back, and stabbed the horse's belly hard, which actually shortened the distance between the two parties again.

Behind him, there were a dozen old men dressed in the same manner, chasing closely with bows in hand, shooting arrows from horseback from time to time, not seeking accuracy, but just to prevent the dozens of fleeing riders in front from speeding up.

"Ten riders, stay behind to cover our retreat!"

Wanyan Agunai turned his head fiercely, opened his big hand, and grasped an arrow that was shot at him. His palm felt pain due to the friction of the huge force, so he shouted loudly to the Jurchen knights who were protecting him behind him.

At the command, more than a dozen Jurchens responded without hesitation, reined in their horses, turned around, drew out their scimitars, roared, and charged towards the old man who was following closely behind them.

Among the pursuers behind, the one who was at the front was of course Gong Yang Zuo.

He chuckled and reacted quickly. He grabbed two arrows from the quiver with one hand, and shot two riders almost at face value. Then he bit the bow in his hand, and then drew the Tang sword from behind with one hand, and the Mobei iron sword next to the saddle of the war horse with the other hand. The horse did not slow down, and just when it came into contact with the two Jurchen knights, two cold lights flashed by quickly.

By the time they passed each other, the two Jurchen knights were already dead.

He rode almost without slowing down, and charged through the dozen or so riders, taking four lives. The dozen or so bad men from Yingzhou behind him also caught up. All of them estimated the speed and dropped their bows and drew their swords. Under the hazy sky, the sound of Tang swords being unsheathed rang out, and more than ten people fell off their horses at the same time.

There was a Jurchen knight who was so brave that he was not killed by the attack and was even roaring to slow down the speed of a bad guy.

However, the latter simply stretched out his long arm and pulled the living Jurchen knight off his horse. His force was so great that the Jurchen knight and his horse rolled into the dust together. Then the back of the Tang sword followed closely and with a snap, half of the Jurchen knight's skull was easily smashed into pieces, and he fell to the ground and died without a sound.

From the beginning to the end, these dozen or so bad guys from Yingzhou cooperated with each other so well and so skillfully that they didn't even need to utter a single word in this brief fight. Who killed whom and who protected whom was decided as if it had been planned in advance. However, this fight was just a temporary engagement.

It is like a feast of slaughter. Everyone is a master chef in their respective fields. Each process is orderly and extremely pleasing to the eyes.

Wanyan Agun looked back with bloodshot eyes, almost vomiting blood in hatred.

Considering the Jurchens, there were only a few thousand adult men at most, and the brave ones among them had spent more than ten years honing their skills in a cruel environment. They roamed the Black Water Mohe tribe and hardly ever encountered an enemy.

He had always cherished these men, but in one night, they were slaughtered as casually as cattle and sheep by these small groups of people who appeared from nowhere. Their deaths were so tragic and inhumane!
Even he himself had never been so cruel to his enemies.

Even so, Wanyan Agunai had no choice but to flee. Seeing that sending out people to cover the retreat was a failure, he immediately shouted, "Great Khan, this won't work! If we can't get rid of the horse, we will lose our strength!"

In front, Yelu Abaoji, who had been running away silently, did not say a word.

He was in a very bad mood. His best brother Yelu Helu was covering his retreat but he could not catch up with him. However, these mysterious old men were getting closer and closer. It was obvious that Yelu Helu's situation was not optimistic.

In addition to this, all the troops he had captured from Xiao Yan were gone overnight, not to mention the nearly 10,000 soldiers from Yan. He didn't even have time to bring Liu Rengong out because things were urgent when he was escaping, and his last few subordinates couldn't catch up with him. At this time, there were only a few dozen Jurchens led by Wanyan Agunai and a few Mobei cavalrymen around him.

He felt disheartened and all his fighting spirit was destroyed overnight. If he hadn't known that the queen was still ahead, he would have even planned to stay and fight to the death.

However, it was precisely because of the queen that Yelu Abaoji was reluctant to die like this. Perhaps there was also a bit of unwillingness at not being able to take revenge at work, and he finally mustered some fighting spirit and gave loud orders.

"Escape separately, all heading west!"

In fact, Wanyan Agunai had already had this intention. He had already discovered that the target of the pursuers behind him was obviously Yelu Abaoji. Perhaps after abandoning this Khan of Mobei, he would be able to escape.

But as the saying goes, one must go down the same path to the end. If Wanyan Agunai gave up Yelu Abaoji, he would not know what else he could do on the grassland, so he could only protect Abaoji and flee westward.

However, by this time, the Jurchen warriors under his command were either scattered or dead, and many were even trapped in the camp without time to escape. Even if he was stubborn, he was reluctant to waste the last bit of his fire here.

You must know that if one Jurchen dies, one less will die, but they are not like the grassland people who have to be conquered in batches. Mobei has conquered most of the tribes on the grassland in recent years. As long as the power of the royal court remains, the troops that can be recruited can be said to be endless.

But the Jurchens cannot do that. If all his people die here, the word Jurchen will most likely become extinct in this world.

"Split up and flee! As many as you can escape, don't get entangled with them!"

Following Wanyan Agunai's loud orders, the dozens of Jurchen riders behind him all fled in irregular groups, some guarding Wanyan Agunai, and some going away on their own.

But no one continued to follow Yelu Abaoji.

Anyone else would have lost heart in this chase, but these Jurchens, who were poorly equipped and even had no armor, persisted from beginning to end. They were very resilient and were able to maintain a certain order at such a critical moment, which was truly rare.

Gong Yangzuo, who was chasing closely behind, couldn't help but narrow his eyes and secretly admire. He couldn't help but feel curious about this group of northern Hu people. However, at the moment, he ignored these scattered Jurchens and just stared at Abaoji's figure.

The horses of both sides had already been exhausted, and they could not outrun each other for much longer, but Ram Zuo did not want to wait any longer.

He stabbed the horse hard and fell off its belly. Without the obstruction of the Jurchens in front of him, the distance between him and Abaoji was shortened by more than ten steps in an instant. At this time, he had already picked up the Mobei iron knife, put the power into his right arm, and threw the iron knife towards Abaoji's back with great force, and then instantly picked up the riding bow in his hand.

The iron knife came like lightning. The two Mobei cavalrymen who were protecting Abaoji tried their best to block it with their swords, but they were no match for such a huge force. Sparks flew as it brushed against their swords, but the knife didn't miss at all.

"Your Majesty!"

Before the two men shouted, Abaoji had already sensed the crisis, so he suddenly half-turned around, leaned down most of the way like a stirrup, and with the energy in his palms, he hit the iron knife with all his strength. The cold light flew straight past his nose, causing blood to flow from the tip of his nose. The wind blew his cheeks so hard that it almost cut off his nose.

Abaoji didn't care about his nose. In pain, he just gritted his teeth and looked back. With one hand, he pulled out the bow hanging next to the saddle. While dodging, he made a gesture of holding the moon in his arms and fired a series of arrows.

Gong Yangzuo laughed loudly, but he just twisted his body on the horse to avoid the first two arrows. Then, with his hand as swift as the wind, he avoided the momentum of the last arrow and caught the tail of the arrow with his backhand, and then quickly put it on his bow.

"I thank the fleeing Khan for the arrows!"

He did not hesitate at all and shot an arrow as well.

However, this arrow only knocked down a Mobei cavalryman who was following behind Abaoji. Gong Yang had a cavalry bow in his left hand, and the power of the bow was not as strong as Abaoji's infantry bow. With the wind behind him, this arrow posed no threat to Abaoji, so he threw the knife out.

He had already seen that this Mobei Khan was actually quite powerful in martial arts.

Abaoji in the front was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He could tell from the way Gong Yangzuo caught the arrow so easily that although the old man from the Central Plains was far inferior to him in archery skills, he was probably even better than him in terms of skill.

Not to mention that there are more than ten old men with almost the same strength behind him.

Any one of these old men with superb martial arts skills would be famous in the martial arts world. Not to mention that they have good cooperation and are very skilled in killing. More than ten people can fight against an army of hundreds of people.

Who on earth could drive them all to work for him at the same time?
As soon as he thought of this, Yelu Abaoji glanced around and saw that Wanyan Agunai and others had already run far away, and there was no one chasing them.

The target of these people is not the nearly 10,000 Yandi soldiers and horses, nor is it Liu Rengong...

From beginning to end, it was only him, Yelu Abaoji!
Abaoji gritted his teeth, knowing that he would not be able to have a good end today under the siege of such masters, so he simply pulled the reins of his horse, dropped his bow, drew out his broad sword, and slashed fiercely at Gong Yangzuo who was coming towards him.

Although Gong Yangzuo was a little unprepared, he just sneered, leaned back while his horse was galloping, and blocked the broadsword that was coming at him with his left hand holding the Tang sword.

Yelu Abaoji reined in his horse and turned back, determined to fight to the death. He used all his strength to strike with his sword, which was powerful. Although he did not hit Gong Yangzuo, he suppressed the latter. During the gap when the horses passed by each other, he took out the sword from his waist and struck hard on the back of the broadsword.

The latter blow was extremely powerful, and Gong Yangzuo was unharmed due to the dissipation of his internal energy, but the warhorse he was riding suddenly felt weak on all four hooves, and it could hardly stand anymore, and was about to fall down with a loud bang.

Abaoji shouted loudly and was about to take another slash while the situation was favorable, but he saw Gong Yangzuo's body twisted exaggeratedly in the air, and the Tang sword quickly circled around his body, hitting Abaoji's blade several times in a breath, creating several sparks, and then used the force to flip to the side.

At the same time, the two scarred bad guys from Yingzhou behind them narrowed their eyes coldly, drew their swords at the same time, and rode their horses straight towards Abaoji. Their horse hooves were like thunder, and they raised their two long, straight, Bailian Tang swords with both hands and stabbed straight at the latter from both sides.

This sudden attack came almost right at Gong Yangzuo's face after he dodged it. Even if Yelu Abaoji was very capable, he would not have time to dodge in front of an opponent of equal strength and could only raise his two swords to shield himself.

However, he had already used tremendous strength to deal with Gong Yangzuo just now, and he had not yet regained the strength after this breath, so he had no ability to block.

"Poof, poof."

The two Tang swords simultaneously swung the double blades in his hands, and then instantly pierced into the shoulder sockets on both sides of his body, penetrating the flesh and splashing blood. Although the two swords did not directly pierce into his heart, they were almost there. Abaoji felt that all the strength in his body suddenly dissipated, and his eyes suddenly went black. The double blades fell out of his hands, and he no longer had the strength to resist.

The two men, one on the left and one on the right, used great force to fork Yelu Abaoji and hang him upside down from the horse's back. They ran several feet in the air before throwing him away fiercely.

With a muffled groan, Abaoji fell down so hard that blood spurted out of his mouth. His hands lost strength and he almost fainted.

The sound of horses galloping on the grassland suddenly stopped.

The remaining few Mobei cavalrymen were stunned in disbelief. In such a split second, they didn't even know why their king turned back, and they never thought that the outcome of the fight would be revealed in just a few breaths.

Wanyan Agunai, who was far away, was also stunned. He narrowed his eyes, and without hesitation, he led his men and rode away.

Gongyang Zuo smiled, shook his sore shoulders, glanced at the fleeing Wanyan Agunai and other riders, and didn't take them seriously. He raised his chin at them, and several bad guys immediately chased after them.

At this time, all the fighting had lost its meaning. Seeing that Abaoji was so badly injured and was slowly half-surrounded by more than a dozen bad guys on horseback, and it was obvious that he could not escape, a few embarrassed Mobei cavalrymen dismounted from their horses, stood in front of Abaoji with knives in hand, all with ferocious faces and unwilling to retreat.

All the scarred bad guys just had indifferent expressions. They stood with knives in their hands, looking down at the people in front of them without saying a word.

Gongyang Zuo had no mercy either. Victory or defeat was a matter of life and death. Whoever won would survive. If Abaoji gained the upper hand, the first person he would want to kill would be Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan asked them to take Abaoji's life, which could be considered a reciprocity.

He slowly wiped the blade, but saw Abaoji raised his hand with all his strength: "Don't, don't kill them..."

"puff."

Gong Yangzuo waved his hand casually, and several Mobei cavalrymen were stunned for a moment, holding their necks, and then fell to the ground with a groan, with blood gushing out from their necks, all over the ground.

Yelu Abaoji closed his eyes tightly.

Gong Yangzuo didn't say much and started to carry him onto the horse.

But at this moment, the sounds of several horse hooves came from the west.

"Don't hurt our king!"

Countless arrows flew at him accurately, causing Gong Yangzuo to dodge backwards.

Several other bad guys also drew their swords, shot away their arrows, and rode their horses to retreat.

But suddenly, from behind the western hillside, countless riders rushed out on horseback, all of them with tense faces. The first rider held a longbow in his hand and kept shooting arrows.

Yelu Abaoji suddenly opened his eyes and looked back.

But I saw that it was Xiao Dilu who went west yesterday!
Next to him was Wanyan Hanpu, with a solemn look on his face, leading the Jurchen cavalry without firing a single arrow.

Similarly, Wanyan Agunai, who had originally gone west, also returned with the army, and the few bad guys who had followed him turned back on horseback ahead.

“Fuck!”

Gong Yangzuo cursed inwardly and instantly thrust the Tang sword in his hand towards Abaoji.

The latter was prepared. He rolled over, with a knife in the abdomen, and tried desperately to crawl towards Xiao Dilu's direction.

The latter also whipped his horse desperately, leading hundreds of Mobei cavalrymen to use all their strength to shoot arrows madly at more than a dozen bad people, obviously to cover their own king to escape.

At this critical moment, facing such dense rain of arrows, Gong Yang Zuo just had a ferocious look on his face. Even though he was hit by several arrows on the shoulder, he quickly chased after Abaoji.

He couldn't fail to do either of the two things Xiao Yan asked him to do!

Otherwise, how could we have the face to bear the name of Yingzhou branch!
"Ram, you bastard!"

Behind them, there were shouts and curses from more than a dozen other bad guys.

"I!"

Gong Yangzuo's eyes were red, and he used his arms to swat away several arrows. He seemed unaware of the arrows that hit him. He pounced and suddenly pinned down Abaoji's crawling body.

At the same time, Xiao Dilu tumbled off his horse, shouted loudly, pulled the longbow in his hand tightly, and pointed a feather arrow at Gong Yangzuo's head from a distance of several steps.

"you dare!"

At this moment, Gong Yangzuo's hand had already grasped Abaoji's head, and the latter's neck would be broken immediately with just a twist.

Behind them, more than ten bad guys also rushed over, staring at Xiao Dilu with murderous intent, as if they wanted to snatch the person from him.

But it was too close, too close in fact.

Neither side was sure they could kill the other before the other made a move, and they were suddenly deadlocked for a moment.

Xiao Dilu's fingers were trembling a little, but his whole body was tense. He did not dare to shoot the arrow in his hand easily, for fear of hurting Yelu Abaoji's life.

Gong Yang Zuo just smiled and said loudly: "You old guys, go back and tell the kid from the Xiao family that I don't owe him anything!"

The dozen or so scarred outlaws who were over fifty years old said nothing, but just clenched the Tang swords in their hands, with a faintly ferocious look on their faces.

Xiao Dilu's breathing became heavier, but he heard Abaoji's weak voice: "Alu, don't worry about me, shoot him... Go to the queen, Mobei, there is still hope..."

Gong Yangzuo smiled again: "Stop talking nonsense, just follow me..."

"Woo——"

A horn sounded suddenly in the distance.

Everyone's face changed, even the two Wanyan brothers who were watching not far away, subconsciously looked towards the north.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves could be heard, so heavy that the earth was shaking. At the sound of horns, it seemed that a powerful army was coming towards this side.

Xiao Dilu's eyes twitched, and he wanted to look towards the north, but he didn't dare to do so.

Yelu Abaoji suddenly opened his eyes wide, but was reluctant to spend even a moment there, so he just stared towards the north.

However, Gong Yangzuo narrowed his eyes, as if he was waiting for something, or expecting something.

For a moment, both parties tacitly agreed not to get excited anymore and instead fell silent.

The sound of horse hooves was as dense as rain, countless flags were fluttering, and a rider rode out from the north, roaring like thunder.

"You bastard, my commander-in-chief has said that if you dare to touch that old man, the entire Yelu clan will be slaughtered!"

Yelu Abaoji was suddenly startled.

Xiao Dilu was also stunned for a moment, feeling a little confused.

The two Wanyan brothers who were standing nearby narrowed their eyes and looked towards the direction of the cavalry coming from the north, only to see a man being escorted out from the crowd.

"Ram left, let him go."

Hearing this voice, all the bad guys turned their heads and looked.

The next moment, the dozen or so bad guys breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously, and angrily yelled at Xiao Dilu: "You bastard, if you dare to move, your king will be chopped into meat sauce!"

(End of this chapter)