Chapter 1 A Bloody Battle Unfolds

The sound of the horns marked the beginning of a battle.

The more wars Zheng Fan experienced, the more he understood Li Fusheng's mindset. Thousands of people followed you into battle, advancing according to your will. That kind of passion forged in blood and fire was truly intoxicating.

It was different from strategizing and overseeing the big picture in the imperial court,

And different from the calm and gentle breeze of a literary master.

It was direct, realistic, and confrontational.

Lord Zheng's pre-war mobilization was truly inspiring because the Keyan tribe was, after all, newly arrived guest soldiers, like a newly adopted pet. You always have to start by stroking its fur.

When the Xue Hai army was already lined up and charging, the Naiman tribe had just barely finished reorganizing their troops.

The Naiman tribe, which had been on the offensive for the past few days, seemed ill-prepared to face the sudden attack of the Yan army. This was not due to the stupidity of the commander.

Rather, it was because the military system of the barbarian tribes was too crude, even primitive.

First, the division of command was unclear. The commander could only control his own direct subordinates. The rest of the arrangements could only be entrusted to the other nobles around him to complete separately, with those nobles commanding their own direct subordinates.

This was like subcontracting in later generations. As each layer was subcontracted, the quality would only get worse and worse.

At the same time, the efficiency of operation was extremely low.

Moreover, because the Great Prince had led five thousand Naiman tribe warriors back to support them, the vacant part was actually the real backbone. After losing the restraint of the backbone, the troops of other nobles were fine; even if they were slow, they could at least put on a show. However, the cannon fodder troops composed of the subjugated soldiers and slaves could not be mobilized normally as before.

In short, the barbarians fought like hunters going out with hunting dogs. When the hunter was too weak to suppress the hunting dogs, he had to worry about being backstabbed at any time.

If the Great Prince was still here, or if the Second Prince was the commander, they could directly kill the chickens to scare the monkeys with their status as princes, because their killings were justified.

However, because the Naiman King was worried that his son would seize power and turn against him, he chose his younger brother as the commander. This commander was capable, but he had long lost his influence within the tribe. The reason he was still alive was because he had always been low-key and would not be suspected by the Naiman King.

Therefore, under various restraints,

When Lord Zheng led the Keyan tribe warriors to charge and gain momentum, the Naiman tribe had just barely managed to form a decent formation.

If this was in the past, and he had the Zhenbei Army, or the Jingnan Army, or even his own Shengle veterans, Lord Zheng would not have been worried about such opponents at all.

But because the troop under his command was a newly arrived barbarian army, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

The one in charge of the overall command was Jin Shuke.

This was an order personally given by Lord Zheng, which made Jin Shuke very moved. He even came to Lord Zheng last night to ask for advice on tactics.

Lord Zheng was not stingy and directly analyzed the enemy's situation and summarized the theme of "defeating the enemy with one blow."

In fact, it was basically the same as saying nothing, but Jin Shuke felt greatly inspired.

After all, Lord Zheng was the "direct disciple" of Marquis Jingnan, and since he joined the army, he had been invincible. His various achievements of winning more with less or winning by surprise attacks were countless.

Of course, this time it was not that Lord Zheng was cowardly, but for the sake of prudence. At the same time, the biggest problem was that he thought it would be difficult to command a barbarian army that had not been trained smoothly. Instead of doing so, it was better to fight this battle steadily first.

When attacking,

Jin Shuke's eyes were red, and he was extremely excited. The Lord's intention to cultivate himself was too obvious.

At the same time, recalling how he had risen from a barbarian slave to where he was today, the Lord's great kindness to him was truly higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea.

Lord Zheng did not have time to think about Jin Shuke's mood at this moment. Although he was not personally directing the command, he was actually silently deducing the direction and planning of the battle in his heart.

In any case, there would always be battles that he would personally command in the future. He couldn't just keep learning the dragon-slaying technique without using it.

What made A Ming breathe a sigh of relief was that this time, his master did not take the lead in charging forward, but found a small slope to watch the battle. At the same time, a group of Xue San's subordinates were responsible for guarding him.

These people might not be as effective as the regular army in organizing a charge, after all, they were no longer adapted to large-scale scenes. But if the situation took a turn for the worse, it would still be no problem to rely on them to protect him and escape back to Xue Hai Pass.

On the contrary, the Pixiu under Zheng Fan's crotch seemed very eager to go to the battlefield, but its master was unwilling to satisfy it, which made it very depressed and couldn't help but keep digging pits with its hooves.

"The cavalry on the front two wings are staggered, suppressing with arrows." Zheng Fan muttered to himself.

Sure enough, under Jin Shuke's command, the more than four thousand Keyan tribe cavalry charging in front did not take the initiative to collide with the Naiman tribe. That kind of real cavalry collision did not happen. Instead, they staggered on both wings and detoured in a flank-pulling manner. At the same time, they drew their bows and arrows and began to fire.

The wild men were a hunting and fishing people. The civilized wild men in the Tianduan Mountains even farmed, so in terms of living conditions and harshness, they were actually better than the barbarians.

Similarly, the barbarians' horsemanship was generally stronger than that of the wild men.

Although the equipment of the Keyan tribe warriors at this time could not compare with the Xue Hai regular army under Lord Zheng's command, the armor penetration rate of the Naiman tribe they were facing was not high, so everyone was evenly matched.

The real reason for this was that the barbarian king had plundered war materials such as ironware and armor and equipped them to his subordinates. It was impossible to leave these things unused and transport them back to the snowy plains as treasures.

At the same time, the various Jin artisans who had been captured back then were naturally first allocated to the tribes that supported the barbarian king.

However, because the main force of the barbarian king was buried in Jin, the armor and weapons were naturally left behind. In addition, the tribes that originally received the artisans and had a long-term vision lost too many warriors, which led to the annexation of other barbarian tribes. These artisans also encountered losses as a result, which led to the fact that the smelting and forging technology of the snowy plains did not improve significantly.

Therefore, the ambitious people on the snowy plains felt that after they lost the barbarian king, the snowy plains had no hope.

The arrow attack focused on both wings, and the two wings of the Naiman tribe were the conscripted soldiers and the slave army. After being attacked, these two troops with more than 10,000 people were immediately disrupted.

On the small slope, Lord Zheng continued to "spiritually command."

"Both wings, penetrate."

The charge of both sides was actually still continuing. Both sides were mainly cavalry, so everything progressed quickly.

After the more than 4,000 Keyan tribe warriors in front adopted a roundabout tactic, the subsequent 3,000 Keyan tribe warriors, led by their young patriarch Keyan Dongge, raised their horses' speed to the extreme, but did not take the initiative to collide head-on with the Naiman tribe's main force. Instead, they directly opened their middle door, and then a side detour, the angle was not large, but it made the direction of the arrow's charge turn a corner, directly hitting the side of the Naiman tribe, that is, the location of the conscripted army!

This kind of close combat, this kind of direct collision of cavalry, was often the least favorite of generals, but it was the fastest way to take effect on the battlefield.

They didn't like it because cavalry was too expensive, and the effect was fast because the galloping horses charged towards you in groups, which was quite terrifying to the spirit and morale of the opponent.

When the Eighth Route Army fought against the Japanese army in later generations, they also knew that they should first fight the puppet army. The method used by the Keyan tribe now was actually exactly the same.

The conscripted army was a team of slaves that the Naiman tribe had recently forcibly detained by annexing other tribes. How could this team have much combat power?

Moreover, the Naiman tribe headquarters had just transferred away 5,000 elites, which directly led to a great imbalance in the composition of this army.

Therefore, after Keyan Dongge led his tribe to fight desperately, except at the beginning, there was some resistance. Slowly, the momentum of advance began to accelerate continuously.

The conscripted army on the right wing was directly broken through, causing a collapse. This collapse was like a dam being breached, quickly leading to a chain reaction.

The collapsing conscripted army on the right wing, with a large number, fled to the middle, directly disrupting the deployment of the Naiman tribe's middle army, making this part of the force, which should have been the strongest in combat will and combat strength, directly brought off course by its own people before it could really play out.

In the distance,

Lord Zheng's hand drew a circle,

Said:

"Rear penetration."

The cavalry led by Jin Shuke, who had detoured on both wings, bypassed the main force of the Naiman tribe on the side and began to penetrate from the rear at the right time.

Lord Zheng saw this,

Clicking his tongue,

Took out a China Iron Box,

Took out a cigarette,

Slowly lit it for himself.

A Ming on the side said: "My Lord is wise."

Honestly, A Ming really admired him a little.

Zheng Fan waved his hand indifferently and shook the ash, and said:

"I'm not the one commanding."

A Ming was about to speak, but Zheng Fan preemptively said:

"Don't tell me there's any difference between this and me commanding."

A Ming closed his mouth.

Lord Zheng stretched,

The battle was set.

Sure enough, the Naiman tribe's army collapsed. First, they lost their formation, then they lost their organization, then the command system failed, and then, the entire army collapsed.

In fact, the number of people who were really killed and injured in the real fight between the two sides was really not many, only a very small proportion.

But many times in war, especially in field battles, there are rarely cases of rigidly fighting for attrition and heads, even in siege battles.

This set of tactics was exactly the same as that used by Marquis Jingnan, Tian Wujing, when he commanded the Zhenbei Army's Jingnan Army's elite to fight against the main force of the barbarian king's army.

It was just bullying you for having a mixed composition of troops, just bullying you for being a patchwork, just bullying you for not being a monolithic whole, and then, on your side, you occupy the unified command and belief, cut and disintegrate you, and then, after you collapse, carry out slaughter.

When wolves hunt herds of prey that far outnumber them, they often use similar methods.

If you insist that the Keyan tribe warriors' combat order and quality are very high, this is actually not accurate, but the key is that they are a tribe.

They have come to a strange place thousands of miles away, facing a new environment, and will instinctively be more united.

Therefore, they dared to disperse the already small number of troops, so they dared to completely open their middle road.

Generally speaking, opening up the middle road and dismantling the troops is actually a great taboo in field encounters, because it is easy to dismantle, but it is very difficult to reassemble them, and it is easy to collapse themselves.

But you always have to dare to do it, dare to gamble, and dare to fight to dare to expect the most satisfactory result.

After the Naiman tribe's army collapsed, the next step was actually to chase and kill them.

Lord Zheng had seen too many similar scenes. The Yan people were actually the best at this kind of warfare, defeating you and turning you from an army into a flock of sheep.

"Does the master seem unhappy?" A Ming asked.

"The opponent is too weak, and there's no sense of accomplishment."

Then,

Zheng Fan waved to the people around him who were protecting him, and said:

"Let's go, don't let the big fish escape."

The pursuit and escape were destined to be something that could not be decided in a short period of time. After all, most of both sides were four-legged. At this time, if they could take the opportunity to capture more of the other side's big fish, they could reduce the possibility of the other side collecting the remnants and posing a threat to you as much as possible.

After solving this here, and then taking a step forward, cooperating with Liang Cheng to flank the Naiman tribe headquarters, this expedition would probably come to an end.

Even,

Zheng Fan felt that even if he didn't help Liang Cheng, with Liang Cheng's ability, although he was leading not many troops, they were the real Xue Hai Iron Cavalry elites. Liang Cheng alone could probably take care of that Great Prince.

He carelessly threw the cigarette butt away,

Zheng Fan stretched to the extreme,

A long sigh came from his throat,

Said to A Ming:

"I want to take a bath."

"My Lord, the deep pool is right here."

"I want to take a hot bath."

"This subordinate will boil water for you."

"I want a massage."

"This subordinate also..."

Zheng Fan glanced at A Ming.

A Ming nodded,

Okay,

You're thinking about Si Niang.

...

"I said, you're recovering well now."

In the dungeon,

The Barbarian King reached through the iron fence and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the plate in front of him.

Sitting outside the fence was the Sword Saint.

"Thanks to you, it's okay."

The Sword Saint poured two glasses of wine, one in front of the Barbarian King's fence, and one for himself.

"Alas, it must be boring to stay in the city, right?" the Barbarian King asked.

The Sword Saint was, after all, a member of the martial world and used to freedom. Although Xue Hai Pass was big, it was equivalent to living in a small house for the Sword Saint.

"It's okay, I send my children to school every day and wait for my wife to come back and cook dinner at night."

"What about later at night?"

The Barbarian King asked while throwing peanuts into his mouth.

"Oh, I forgot, your body hasn't fully recovered yet, hehe."

The Sword Saint took a sip of wine.

"Judging by the time, Lord Zheng should have reached the Naiman tribe by now, right?"

"I heard you were the one who came up with the plan?"

"It seems they really treat you as one of their own. The people in this county are really strange. He's not the emperor, and his background is average. How could he gather so many talents in just a few years?

Just take that blind man,

Doesn't talk nonsense or brag,

If I hadn't failed,

I wouldn't even frown to give him the position of Grand Tutor."

The Sword Saint also nodded. He had lived in Shengle City for a long time, and at the same time, he had been with Zheng Fan and the devils for a long time.

"Maybe some people just have good luck."

"Alas, my luck was actually not bad. If I hadn't been slashed by you with a sword at the cost of your own disability, I should still be carefree on the snowy plains."

There was a lot of time in the dungeon, but very few things to do. There were many times to review.

In the Barbarian King's view, the direct reason for his failure was the Sword Saint's sword that killed Geli Mu outside Xue Hai Pass.

If Geli Mu was there, the Yan army might not have been able to defend Xue Hai Pass at all. If he hadn't been trapped by Xue Hai Pass, the decisive battle at Wangjiang would not have happened. He would have returned fully loaded and calmly integrated the entire snowy plains.

But two great enemies,

Could now sit together drinking wine and eating snacks.

But there was no sympathy between the two.

For the Sword Saint,

A peaceful life was mellow, but it was inevitably too peaceful, so he came to see the Barbarian King.

Seeing him living so miserably,

He was happy in his heart.

For the Barbarian King, too few people could enter the dungeon where he was imprisoned. He was happy that the Sword Saint came to talk to him.

"Actually, I know what you mean. Are you finding it hard to understand that I'm now helping the county lord's mansion come up with plans to deal with the snowy plains?

Oh, no, you should be able to understand, because you did this before, didn't you?"

Betrayed the Jin Emperor,

Killed the old master of the Situ family,

You, Sword Saint, have done many similar things.

"I'm different from you." The Sword Saint insisted.

"Different paths lead to the same destination."

The Barbarian King reached out and grabbed another handful of peanuts, continued to peel them, and then said:

"Look at the life you're living now. After I'm done for, your mission is actually completed. Now in this Xue Hai Pass, aren't you just living your own little life?

You've seen the big waves, you've seen them all. You, although you're a member of the martial world, have always wanted to do something for the Jin Kingdom. You've also tried to do it, although you've made a mess of it."

"..." The Sword Saint.

"I'm a little better than you. I almost made it, but...alas, anyway, I failed in the end. To tell you the truth, even if I don't come up with plans now, after this county lord's mansion raises them for two or three years and prepares, isn't the snowy plains a place where they can come and go as they please?

There's no difference.

I have a clear conscience. To tell you the truth, I'm just thinking about saving my life now, living for myself. I want to get out of this cage as soon as possible.

In the evening, I can buy a bag of peanuts and walk to your door and knock on it.

Your son will give me a stool and call me uncle, and your sister-in-law will cook an extra plate of chicken when she sees me coming.

That's enough."

The Sword Saint nodded.

"You think so too, right?" The Barbarian King asked.

"Yes, if I didn't know who you were, I would have been deceived by you."

"There still needs to be sincerity between people."

"As for you, I'm sorry."

"I accept your apology."

"Heh."

"Don't think I'm daydreaming, and don't think that I can't come out in this lifetime, or think that the day I come out is the day I'm sent to the guillotine.

Don't underestimate our Lord Zheng,

His ambition is actually very, very big.

Actually, I'm also strange. Logically speaking, a young noble, trusted by Marquis Jingnan and appreciated by the Yan Emperor, should almost be a man who dies for his confidant, right?

He's different. The feeling he gives me is that he's gearing up to secede and even rebel. This doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense."

The Sword Saint frowned slightly.

Because,

In the circle that can be in contact with Zheng Fan, it's basically already,

Everyone knows Lord Zheng's ambition.

"One day, he'll clean up the snowy plains. One day, when the snowy plains are nothing in his eyes, I'll probably be able to come out.

The two of us are actually self-proclaimed noble, but what's the difference?

It's not that I'm trying to provoke you, but no matter how noble you, Sword Saint, are, when your injuries are healed, if something happens to Zheng Fan, if he's assassinated, can you not save him?

If he asks you to help him kill someone and cries to you a few times, will you not lend him your Longyuan sword?

Actually, you know in your heart that you already owe him too much. Human debts, ah, human debts, you can't help yourself."

"Heh, I'm a Jin person."

"Understood."

The Barbarian King raised his glass and said, "Come, let's have a toast, you and I."

With a light touch,

The Sword Saint still took a small sip, while the Barbarian King drank it all in one gulp.

"I'm just waiting for that day. I believe there will be that day. I only ask that when I come out, you don't draw your sword at me."

"I still don't want you to come out."

"I know, I know, so other than swordsmanship, you can't do anything else in this life."

The Barbarian King leaned against the fence, throwing the peanut shells in his hand over his head, watching the peanut crumbs fall,

Sighing:

"Life is just a series of dreams. When you wake up, if you're in a good mood, you continue to dream. If you're not in a good mood, you sit there blankly until you forget whether you're awake or dreaming."

The Sword Saint got up, seemingly preparing to leave.

"Aren't you going to stay a little longer?"

"It's meaningless to listen to your sighs."

"Heartless."

"I'll come see you again when I'm in a bad mood next time."

"Do you hear what you're saying? Does that sound like human words?"

"You stay locked up, I'm leaving."

"Hey, hey, don't be in such a hurry to leave. I had a dream tonight. Do you want to know what's in my dream?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll have it when I sleep tonight, but I'm saying it in advance."

"Heh."

"In that dream, you and I are standing together. In front of us, there is a vast number of enemies. We are trapped, and the situation is very dangerous.

You ask me what to do?"

The Sword Saint didn't speak.

"You ask me what to do."

"Hurry up and ask me what to do!"

The Sword Saint took a breath.

"Hurry up and ask!"

"What to do?" The Sword Saint.

"Hey, do you know how I answered?"

"I've asked."

The Barbarian King suddenly grabbed the iron fence with both hands,

While shaking the fence to make a sound, he laughed loudly:

"I said, Dad, don't ask, hurry up and run with your son!"

————

Good night, everyone.