The weather was getting hotter and hotter. The willow branches drooped listlessly. There was not a trace of wind, and those exposed to the sun soon began to sweat profusely.
The cloudless sky seemed to have thinned out the clouds due to the heat. It was a vast expanse of whiteness. The sun in the vast expanse of whiteness did not have any reflections. It looked no bigger than a pancake, but its fiery light unbridledly spewed scorching heat onto the earth. Its might was something that even a great fire could not compare to.
There was a depression at the edge of the forest, surrounded by a circle of elm trees. It was a rare shade. It had rained a few days ago, and the puddles on the ground looked very deep. Traces of water could be seen on the trunks of the trees, but now there was not a drop of water on the ground. The cracked ground was like tiles, rising up piece by piece.
There was a well at the edge of the forest, and the mouth of the well was crowded with Khitan warriors. Buckets of water were easily carried out by them, and the people and horses had already filled their stomachs. Now, they were using the ice-cold well water to wash their hair, faces, and horses. The ground around the mouth of the well had been trampled into mud.
Under a pergola, Yang Fan carefully wrapped his thigh with a piece of cloth and looked at Fei Mo beside him. Fei Mo's wound was very inelegant. Yang Fan had been shot in the thigh, but Fei Mo had been shot in the buttocks. He was depressed as he lay on a half-new pergola mat. A burly man had just finished dressing his wound.
Yang Fan glanced at him and wanted to laugh. That burly man was really not stingy. Beside him were several rolls of white cloth that he had taken from a wealthy family. He used an entire roll of white cloth to wrap Fei Mo's black buttocks tightly. Now, Fei Mo did not need to wear a robe and did not need to worry about his' spring scenery being exposed '. However, looking at the way the white cloth was wrapped, it would probably be more troublesome if Fei Mo needed to urinate.
After the imperial court rejected the Khitan's request for peace, Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong led the army out of the mountains to fight in Hebei. They were very good at field battles, but they were not good at sieging cities. It was difficult to take down a slightly larger city, and the rations in a small place could not support such a large army.
Helpless, Li Jinzhong could only divide his main force into many small teams and use their powerful mobility to roam around and raid the enemy's rations. Fortunately, ever since they raised the slogan of 'return our Luling and the Prince of Xiang', in order to win over the hearts of the people, they did not dare to go too far.
They rarely harassed the poor and small families. After all, those families didn't have much to gain from it. However, those rich families were out of luck. Whether it was grain, cloth, horses, cows, or medicinal herbs, there was nothing they didn't want. If they obediently offered it to them, they would return it. If they risked their lives and refused to part with their wealth, then they would take away their wealth along with their lives.
However, Li Jinzhong's team was like mud that couldn't support a wall. It was destined that they wouldn't last long. Although they had cleverly chosen the correct political slogan, they had only taken the initiative in politics and exerted a certain amount of pressure on the imperial court. It did not improve their situation at all.
They still didn't have a base of operations, nor did they have a set of long-term strategic plans. Their actions were no different from bandits. It was only because they wanted to win the support of the people that they shouted slogans in support of Li Tang that they couldn't go too far. Compared to the bandits that swallowed everything like locusts, their destructive power was not as great.
The Khitans muddled along for more than a month as they plundered and plundered. Their strategic prospects had not improved, but their relationship with the Xi was growing closer. The Xi saw that the Khitans were unhindered in Hebei and that the imperial court was helpless against them. That lion that had once shaken the east was truly getting old and finally agreed to cooperate with them.
When the Khitans first came into contact with the Xi, this was still a top secret. However, as the two sides came into contact more and more frequently, and after they confirmed their alliance, this information was made public. Li Jinzhong publicized this news in order to boost the morale of the soldiers.
The territory of the Xi bordered the nomadic lands of the Khitans, and the two had always had a close relationship. In the last few years, the imperial court's policies on the border and the ethnic groups had not been good. The empress's thoughts had always been on the imperial court, on cutting down all opposition and passing on the Wuzhou River Mountain. As a result, she had neglected to govern the border.
The border generals who had inherited the border also had the authority to govern the border government, collecting taxes and governing the people living on the border. They took the opportunity to collect taxes and drain the resources of the ethnic groups in the border, causing the relationship between the border tribes and the Wuzhou imperial court to grow increasingly tense.
The Xi tribe's decision to ally with the Khitans actually had no political agenda. They had no ambition to expand their territory, and they had no delusions of overthrowing the imperial court. After allying with the Khitans, they did not have any political goals. They were fighting purely for the sake of war, and this was the culmination of many years of accumulated grievances.
At this time, the army of the King of Jian'an, Wu Youyi, finally arrived.
Wu Zetian accepted Di Renjie's conditions. The day after she visited the Di residence, she issued an edict that Di Renjie, assistant minister of Luantai, Tong Feng Pavilion's Luantai Pingzhang, as well as Yinqing Guanglu Daifu and Na Yan, would be promoted to the Chief Scribe of the Political Affairs Bureau. He would be given a purple robe and a tortoise belt, and she personally wrote on the purple robe, "Apply Political Wood, Be Diligent and Diligent, Be Promoted to Prominent Position, Encourage Ministers."
At the same time, according to Di Renjie's request, she appointed Crown Prince Li Dan as the Grand Marshal and Di Renjie as the Deputy Marshal. Of course, Wu Zetian could not really let the Crown Prince be the Grand Marshal. What if the Crown Prince gathered enough troops to launch a counterattack on the capital?
The Crown Prince's Grand Marshal was only a nominal position, and Di Renjie would be the Deputy Marshal. Even so, this action was approved by the Crown Prince Society.
The Crown Prince Society also knew that this matter could not be accomplished overnight. It was enough to use this matter to expand the Crown Prince's prestige and influence. Thus, Wei Yuanzhong, Yao Chong, and the other ministers of the Crown Prince's faction changed from non-violent non-cooperation to fully cooperating with Di Renjie, using the Crown Prince's banner to recruit troops.
The Crown Prince Society, Luling Society, Taiping Society, and other remnants of Li Tang's imperial family, along with the cooperation of the various aristocratic families, turned the previous resistance into the greatest driving force. They quickly recruited an army and prepared enough provisions.
Just by using the title of Crown Prince, he had gained so much power and was supported by so many people? Wu Zetian had no idea how these hidden powers worked, and she was only shocked by the results. Her determination to pass on the empire to the Wu Clan's descendants began to waver.
She did not want to die like this. She believed that as the only female emperor in history, she was a great emperor on par with Qin Shihuang and Sui Wen Emperor. Only because of this did she not want to follow in the footsteps of Qin Shihuang and Sui Wen Emperor. If the successor she had chosen did not have the support of the people, not only would her empire not be able to pass on, even her grave would not be preserved.
This matter wavered Wu Zetian's resolve, and she began to reconsider her plans for the future of the empire.
She personally gave a farewell dinner to Di Renjie. As the new Prime Minister of the Wu Zhou Empire, Di Renjie led his army to the Western Regions, meeting up with the Helong Border Army and launching a counterattack against the Turkic Khan Moqie.
As for the northern army, because of the Emperor's concession, their political goal had been achieved. The various anti-martial factions in the empire could not allow the Khitans to grow in power in the north and cause even greater harm to the court. Thus, Wu Youyi's army finally gathered enough men and began to head for the battlefield in Hebei.
However, there were a large number of prisoners and servants in the Northern Army. These people might be valiant in battle, but their military discipline was simply too poor. Things like stealing chickens and dogs, falsely claiming military merits, and raping women were endless. Compared to the harm the Khitans caused to the local people, they were not inferior in any way.
After Wu Youyi led his army to Hebei, he was extremely fearful of the Khitans' military strength because his 160,000 strong army had been completely annihilated. At this time, there was also news that King Xi had sent troops to ally with the Khitans. Thus, he adopted a conservative strategy of confrontation. He concentrated his main forces on the frontlines of Yuyang and Youzhou, resisting the Xi in the north and the Khitans in the south.
The Khitans were naturally not stupid enough to initiate a decisive battle. They continued to attack in all directions, only avoiding the places where Wu Youyi had stationed his troops. The two sides thus entered a phase of confrontation. The Khitans continued to wreak havoc in Hebei, while the imperial army was as steady as Mount Tai. More than 100,000 troops were stationed on the frontlines of Hebei, and the expenditure of money and rations was like flowing water.
The Khitans did not dare to attack the heavily fortified cities, so they could only sweep through some small villages and towns. There was no point in raiding villages and towns that had already been swept through. Gradually, there was a severe shortage of rations and fodder. Helpless, Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong could only once again set their sights on Lulong.
Lulong was an important city, and there were very few other cities in the vicinity that could garrisoned troops to help defend it. It was the best target. If they could capture this city, the supply problem would immediately be solved. Wu Youyi did not dare to sit idly by and watch such an important city fall. After receiving the news, he immediately sent a large number of troops to help.
The Khitans could not attack Lulong, and the imperial court's reinforcements had already arrived. They used the same trick again and used the advantage of the cavalry's mobility to travel day and night to attack Danzhou. However, they had already played this trick once. How could the Zhou army fall for it? Danzhou's walls were high and thick. As long as they were prepared, it was wishful thinking for the Khitans' cavalry to attack it.
The Khitans were helpless. Due to the lack of rations and fodder, they could not immediately escape back to the mountains, so they could only wander around the vicinity. Now, they had captured Gui Zhou and the surrounding villages and towns. Gui Zhou was the famous Zhuolu in history.
This place was in the middle of the various cities guarded by the Zhou army. All along, the Khitans had been worried that they would be surrounded by the Zhou army if they attacked this place, so they did not dare to attack lightly. However, firstly, they urgently needed to replenish their rations. Secondly, after this period of confrontation, they also understood Wu Youyi's strategy. They predicted that Wu Youyi would not dare to take the initiative to fight, so they boldly launched an attack on Zhuolu.
Zhuolu City was originally guarded by about 3,000 Zhou soldiers. There were also about 2,000 soldiers who had retreated here. Although the city walls were not high, the casualties were not small. Therefore, in the beginning, the Khitans wanted to use the captured Zhou generals as meat shields to easily take down Zhuolu.
Unexpectedly, when they escorted the captured Zhou generals to the front of the city, the Zhou army in the city fired arrows and killed all the Zhou generals who were used as meat shields. The captive generals and the Khitans who were escorting them to attack the city were immediately shot into hedgehogs.
Yang Fan was also a meat shield. Thankfully, he had sharp eyes and quick reflexes. Just as the Zhou army raised their bows and nocked their arrows, he saw that the situation was amiss and fell to the ground. He rolled towards a slightly undulating mound beside him and kicked Fei Mo to the ground. In the end, only the two of them survived and scrambled to escape.
When the imperial court refused to negotiate for peace, Zhang Xuanyu and Ma Renjie, the two generals, had been beheaded by Li Jinzhong to vent his anger. If Sun Wanrong had not stopped them in time and said that these surrendered generals were still useful, the other dozen or so captive generals would have died.
Sun Wanrong's idea was to use these captive generals as meat shields, but he was completely wrong. The Tang people did not have the tradition of compromising because of hostages. If someone took hostages, the government would never care about the hostages' lives. They would rather kill them decisively than compromise with the criminals.
Although they were in the army and this was no ordinary criminal case, the Zhou army would not cower and wait for death just because of them. Yang Fan had been forced to save Fei Mo. Of the Khitans, only Fei Mo had a good impression of him. If Fei Mo died, even if he managed to escape the crossbows of the Zhou army, he would still be killed by the enraged Khitans. Fei Mo was his protective umbrella.
The slogan 'Return my Luling and the Prince of Xiang' was a fulcrum, while the Khitan army and the various anti-martial factions in the court were the two ends of the lever. Yang Fan had used this lever to easily alter the political situation that Wu Zetian had painstakingly managed from the moment she ascended to the throne, but he was still helpless in his own situation.
Fortunately, this meat shield incident had slightly improved his situation. Because of the attitude that Yang Fan had always displayed toward the Wuzhou Imperial Court and the fact that he had saved the lives of the Khitan generals, the Khitans no longer held much hostility toward him. Other than still restricting his freedom, they now completely treated him as one of their own.
Yang Fan's chances of escaping the enemy camp had greatly increased, but he still needed a chance. He was currently in the center of the Khitans, so escaping was just wishful thinking. Moreover, his leg just happened to be wounded by an arrow, making it even harder for him to move.
Fei Mo struggled to get up, but after struggling for a long time, she couldn't move. She couldn't help but angrily curse, "How the hell did you bandage it? This old man can't even separate his legs! "
Yang Fan said, "It's really hard on the big man to have him embroider. Lie down and don't move. I'll do it! "
He propped himself up with both hands and dragged his injured leg closer to Fei Mo. Just as he was thinking about how to untie the knot on Fei Mo's buttocks, a few Khitan soldiers escorted a group of well-dressed people over. One of the Khitan soldiers cupped his fists towards Fei Mo and said, "General Fei, we've brought all the gentry of this town!"
Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong had already entered Zhuolu City. As Fei Mo had been injured during the siege, he had been withdrawn and left to guard the town that had already been occupied. Now that Zhuolu City had been conquered, they could only care about the town in front of them. Their only goal in attacking Zhuolu was to resupply, so they naturally wouldn't let this town go.
Gathering the aristocrats in the town to intimidate them was the experience the Khitans had accumulated over the past few months of plundering. Some of the landlords' food was hidden extremely well, so it was time-consuming and laborious to search for it themselves.
Seeing that the aristocrats had arrived, Fei Mo temporarily stopped Yang Fan's actions. She struggled to sit up, ignoring the fact that her "snow-white" buttocks were still exposed. She pretended to be fierce and prepared to intimidate them.
Yang Fan didn't care about the aristocrats and only casually swept his gaze at them. Therefore, he didn't notice that one of the aristocrats had a strange look of surprise in his eyes when he saw him.
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