Winter in the north had four distinct seasons. Winter should be a time of desolation. Thus, even though the first snow of the winter had yet to arrive, the mountains were already covered in fallen leaves. Only a few short trees still had a few yellow leaves hanging on them, waiting for the north wind to blow and sweep them away. At that time, the world would be covered in silver and white snow would be the only color in the world.
Due to the yellow leaves, the entire mountain range in the distance had a dark yellow hue. It was clearly different from the withered mountains up close. Under the sunlight, the distant mountains gave off a sense of warmth.
Even though the first snow of the winter had yet to arrive, the wind was already extremely cold.
Tens of thousands of Khitans, old and young, pulled by carriages and horses, carried all their supplies out of the col and headed north for more than ten li.
Most of these troops were old, young, women, and children. If a group of Zhou light cavalry attacked, they could easily inflict heavy casualties. However, Sun Wanrong did not return to escort them, only ordering them to return to the Yingzhou region.
The largest armed force in the Hebei region was now in the hands of Wu Youyi. Wu Youyi, on the other hand, had holed up in the city the moment he arrived in Hebei, not taking the initiative to send troops to fight. Sun Wanrong was certain that as long as his army was active outside, Wu Youyi would not dare to take any risks, so he had boldly made these arrangements.
At this time, the Khitans were as arrogant as Cao Renshi and Zhang Xuanyu when they had first arrived in Hebei.
Fei Mo led his tribesmen and deliberately dragged his feet at the back. When all the troops had left the col, Fei Mo reined in his horse and turned to look at Yang Fan. Because the weather was getting colder, Yang Fan had also put on a Khitan leather robe. Just from his appearance, he looked no different from them.
Fei Mo looked at Yang Fan and loudly said, "You and I will part here!"
Yang Fan did not sneak away. He believed in Fei Mo's promise, and Fei Mo had no reason to lie to him. Most importantly, in this situation, if he left without saying goodbye, the Khitans might become suspicious. Once the Khitans guessed that he knew of their plan to ally with the Turks, it would be hard to predict what the Khitans would do.
Now, Yang Fan only acknowledged the poverty of the Khitans. He no longer dared to look down on their military strength and intelligence.
"Brother Fei, take care!"
Yang Fan didn't say anything. He just cupped his hands towards Fei Mo. Even though they were enemies, she was a worthy opponent.
Fei Mo said, "I'll let you go today, and I'll return the favor. You are a general of the Great Zhou Dynasty and I am a Khitan. After this farewell, it is hard to guarantee that we will not meet again on the battlefield. If that day comes, I will not let you off. "
Yang Fan smiled faintly and said, "It's all in your hands. Saving you is the same as saving myself. I don't think you owe me anything. If we meet again on the battlefield in the future and you fall into my hands, I will let you go once and repay you for today's favor. "
Fei Mo raised his eyebrows and said proudly, "Do you think you can still win?"
Yang Fan said, "When two people fight, the final victor is usually the one who can take a beating. It is the same for the two countries. We have indeed suffered several defeats and had a few pieces of flesh torn off by you. It hurts! But it is still too early to talk about defeat. We can endure this kind of consumption, but you can't even endure it once. If you lose once, you will never have the strength to turn the tables again! We can afford to lose. You can't afford to lose! "
Fei Mo laughed loudly and said, "Good, then let us wait and see! I still have to escort the Khan back to Yingzhou. We will meet again on the battlefield! "
Fei Mo laughed loudly and left with his whip.
All the Khitan generals already knew about the death of Supreme Khan Li Jinzhong. Sun Wanrong needed to borrow the prestige of a great victory to offset the impact of this news. However, this news was not announced to the public because the Zhou army had suffered defeat after defeat and suffered countless casualties, while the Khitans had suffered very few casualties.
In terms of the casualties of the high-ranking generals, the Zhou army had lost many generals, with the highest rank reaching the prime minister. As for the Khitans, not only were the casualties of their soldiers extremely low, they did not lose a single high-ranking general, except for the secret death of Li Jinzhong.
Li Jinzhong was their Khan, their supreme leader. Once Li Jinzhong's death was announced, it would greatly increase the morale of the Zhou army, but to the Khitans, it would break their invincible golden body. It was disadvantageous to the Khitans, so they still kept this news a secret.
Fei Mo laughed loudly as he chased after his clansmen. Yang Fan stood at the foot of the horse mountain and looked in the direction they had gone. He gently patted the horse's neck and turned the horse's head to the col. A 'Nu and Gu Zhuting were walking out of the col.
Yang Fan smiled and stretched out his hand. A 'Nu meekly handed over her small hand. Yang Fan lifted her up and grabbed her slender waist, carrying her onto the horse. There was another horse next to Yang Fan. Gu Zhuting also leaped onto it.
The horse was also carrying some miscellaneous items. It was a pack horse that Yang Fan had requested from Fei Mo on the grounds that he was unfamiliar with the route and needed some food and clothing. A 'Nu and Gu Zhuting's mounts had long been abandoned outside the mountain when they entered the mountain. If they were to bring them along, they would expose A' Nu and Gu Zhuting's whereabouts if they neighed.
Yang Fan asked Gu Zhuting: "Miss Gu, which city is the nearest from here?"
Gu Zhuting replied: "If we go north, we will reach Lulong, but then we will have to go the same way as the Khitans. To the southeast is Thousand Gold Smelting City, and then Horse City, but Horse City is a bit further away. "
Yang Fan said: "Alright! Then let's go to Thousand Gold Smelting City and talk there! "
… …
Thousand Gold Smelting City.
On top of the city gate tower, Maqiao walked out from the city gate tower. He cupped his hand over his eyes and looked into the distance. He said to a soldier beside him: "We haven't found any soldiers in the last three days. I don't think there will be any more. How many soldiers do we have now?"
The soldier at the side answered, "There are more than five thousand soldiers who have found their way to Thousand Gold Smelting City, and about seven thousand brothers who have returned from Ma City and Lulong."
Maqiao's expression turned gloomy. He sighed and lamented: "One hundred and sixty thousand soldiers. Only so few are left, and most of them are injured. Sigh!"
He sighed and turned around, saying: "I don't think there will be any more soldiers. Let's go back and report to the Grand General."
The soldier suddenly said: "Someone is coming, riding two horses!"
Maqiao turned around and squinted his eyes to look at the sky. After a few glances, he said with slight disappointment: "They should be commoners."
The soldier also looked at them with his hand on the awning and praised, "Hm! They seem to be commoners, and they're two women. In this chaos, two women actually dare to walk around outside. The women of the Northern Lands are really bold. "
"Is it a woman? Yes, yes, it's a woman. No, that's not right, there are three of them!
"Maqiao narrowed his eyes and looked at them with some doubts in his heart. Recently, not to mention the commoners who visited their relatives and friends, even the merchants didn't dare to walk outside easily. These two women and a man actually dared to walk outside in such a manner. Were they really ordinary commoners?
Maqiao thought for a moment and ordered, "Tell the city to stop them and ask them who they are …"
When Maqiao said this, his body suddenly froze. Not only did his voice stop abruptly, even his body stopped moving. The soldier asked curiously, "Brigade Commander? What's wrong with you? "
Maqiao suddenly let out a strange cry and jumped high into the air. He laughed wildly and said, "It's Brother Fan! Hahaha, it's Brother Fan! He's still alive! "
The soldier jumped in fright and said, "Brigade Commander, what are you talking about? Who's still alive? "
Maqiao ignored him and rushed over. He leaned on the wall and shouted, "Brother Fan, I'm here. I'm Maqiao!"
He shouted twice, but seeing that Yang Fan wasn't paying attention, Ma Qiao became anxious. He leaped onto the city wall, stretched out his hand, pulled a large flag, and waved it in the wind. The large flag fluttered in the wind. Ma Qiao laughed and shouted, tears of joy flowing down his thin, dark cheeks and hanging on his long, untrimmed, messy beard.
"Brother Qiao!"
"Brother Fan!"
The two brothers who had survived the calamity hugged each other tightly, tears streaming down their faces. A Nu stood beside them, smiling as she looked at the two brothers who were revealing their true feelings, gently wiping the corners of her eyes.
In fact, neither Yang Fan nor Maqiao knew that the other had participated in the Northern Expedition.
Although Yang Fan was personally appointed by the Empress, his rank was too low, and the various armies didn't know of his existence. As for Maqiao's expedition to the north, Yang Fan also didn't know about it. This was because the Empress had drawn troops from all kinds of arms and services, and the composition of the entire army was abnormally chaotic. Yang Fan didn't expect that Maqiao would also go on an expedition to the north, so he naturally wouldn't deliberately inquire about his news.
However, after Yang Fan disappeared, the imperial court ordered Yang Fan's name to be found on the list of missing generals and academies. Princess Taiping, Wu Sansi, and various other forces had also searched for him, especially after the propaganda of those "commoners" who had been asking about Yang Fan in the surrounding cities. How could Maqiao, who had been taking in the rebels in the Thousand Gold Smelting Factory these days, not know that his brother had also participated in this battle?
The two of them laughed and cried for a long time before their emotions gradually stabilized. Only then did Yang Fan remember two urgent matters. He asked, "I need to immediately report to my family that I'm safe. At the same time, there is an important piece of news that I need to report to the imperial court. Is there any way?"
Maqiao said, "The fastest way to report to Luoyang is through a military relay station! Now that you've disappeared, I don't know how worried your sister-in-law will be. Let's go, quickly follow me into the city. A military relay station has just been set up in the city, and there will be news coming and going every day. We'll go find a courier and promise him some benefits, so that he can make this trip on the way. "
Yang Fan said, "Of course we have to send a message to my family, but I still have an important military matter to report to the imperial court. I heard that after our army was defeated, the imperial court sent troops one after another. Is there a general stationed nearby?"
Hearing this, Maqiao sneered and said, "Don't mention it. Our army was completely wiped out, and the imperial court sent Wu Youyi. Wu Youyi hid like a tortoise as soon as he arrived. Helpless, the imperial court sent Wang Xiaojie. Great General Wang was ambushed, and the deputy marshal escaped, burying Great General Wang's life. Right now, there is only General Li in the vicinity. "
Yang Fan asked curiously, "General Li? Which General Li? "
Maqiao said, "It's the Great General of the Right Guard, Li Duozuo. He's in charge of escorting provisions for our army."
He laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "A 160,000 strong army. Let's not say completely wiped out. At the very least, the supply camp led by General Li is safe."
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