Before Liu Province was recognized by the Liyang imperial court as the fourth province of Beiliang, Mount Qingliang had already started to build two large courier roads. They started from Qingyuan Military Town, which controlled the west gate of Liangzhou, and Jishou Pass, which was northwest of Lingzhou. They led to Qingcang City, where the provincial governor's mansion was located.
The tragic Battle of Miyun Pass had just ended when three caravans entered Qingcang City under the protection of the elite cavalry and the men of sacrifice of the Fushui Chamber.
The backbone of the three carriages was the same. They were all provincial governors and generals of their respective provinces. They were fully deserving of their titles. Liangzhou had Shi Fu Bai Yu, Youzhou had Song Yan, Huangfu Ji, and Lingzhou had Chang Sui and Han Laoshan. Of the six, three provincial governors had taken office in the third year of the Auspicious Talisman. This was especially true for Bai Yu, the newly appointed provincial governor of Liangzhou. He had shocked the officials of the Northern Liang Path. No one had expected that Mr. White Lotus of Mount Longhu would become a 'subject of the Xu family'. In comparison, Chang Sui, who was the disciple of Shangyin Academy's Dao Master Han Guzi and Xu Weixiong's senior brother, rose to become the provincial governor of Lingzhou in one step. As for Song Yan, who was originally from Lingzhou, he took advantage of the situation and became the number one civil official in Youzhou. Today, everyone in Beiliang knew that this ruthless official, who worshipped magic, was connected with the new Liang Prince when he was temporarily the general of Lingzhou. He was one of the second ministers to join the new King, second only to Li Gongde, Huangfu Ji, and Han Laoshan.
When the three caravans entered Qingcang City from east to west, another group of people entered from west to east. Including the provincial governor of Liu Province, Yang Guangdou, a total of seven provincial governors came out of the city to welcome them. In Beiliang, whether it was military or political, this was an extremely rare and high standard.
As far as the city gate could see, there were more than eighty riders with swords on their backs, Xu Yanbing with an iron spear in his hand, and the two Fu Shui Fengjie and Fan Xiaochai, as well as more than twenty riders without armor or sabers.
The caravan stopped outside the city gates. After the leading carriage lifted the curtain, a travel-worn young civil official jumped down. After greeting the provincial governors and generals with a smile, he turned to look at the second carriage and called out, "We've arrived."
Following the line of sight of the young civil official, these Beiliang high-ranking officials who were secretly meeting in Qingcang City saw a man and a woman slowly getting off the carriage. They were not old and their appearances were not outstanding. The man was tall and had a Xianbei jade belt that was unique to the nobles of Beimang. The woman had a plump figure and there was an exquisite scented pouch on her waist that looked like lavender. It was embroidered with the pattern of a woman wearing a pipa. It was a pity that it was badly damaged. He looked at the west gate of Qingcang City with an indifferent expression.
The twenty riders surrounding the carriage looked as if they were facing a great enemy. Every one of them was on high alert. Although these riders of unknown origin were unarmed and unarmed, they were veterans of hundreds of battles. They still chose to sit on the back of their horses and assumed a resolute posture, ready to charge at any time.
If a rider died on the back of a horse, it would be a good death.
The young man with the Xianbei jade belt on his waist said flatly in Beimang language, "Dismount."
Although the riders were unwilling, they did not hesitate to dismount and land on the ground. Many of them were clearly injured, but each of them stood tall and straight.
The two young men of similar age were both from Beimang and came from prominent backgrounds. However, their fates were completely different. The former was the grandson of the former king of Beimang's Northern Courtyard, Xu Huainan. Now, he was visiting Xu Beizhi of Mount Lantuo as the deputy provincial governor of Beiliang. The latter's identity was only known from the military spy report of the provincial governor's residence. He was Xia Jaboo of Beimang, Zhong Tan, the eldest grandson of the Zhong family. He was one of the few famous generals of the new generation in Beimang's imperial court.
Just like the old saying, you can escape the first time, but you can't escape the second time. Zhong Tan, who had previously broken out of the siege at the Gourd Mouth of Youzhou, was successfully intercepted by Xu Yanbing and the eighty Wu Family Sword Tomb cavalry at the border of Gusai Prefecture. Then, he met up with Xu Beizhi at the military town of Linyao and came to Qingcang City together.
When Zhong Tan identified the people at the city gate through the spider web spy report, his already heavy heart sank to the bottom. The reason why he assisted Huang Songpu in commanding the battle of Liuzhou seemed to be the aftereffect of the defeat at the Gourd Mouth battle and was abandoned by the Beimang Imperial Court outside of the main battlefield where he could obtain military merits. However, this time, not only did the Zhong Family have high hopes for him to make a comeback, even the Imperial Court of Taiping also paid close attention to him. And before the battle of Miyunkou was over, Zhong Tan was only one step away from success. Once the tens of thousands of monk soldiers from Lantuo Mountain surrendered to Beimang and cooperated with Huang Songpu's army, it meant that the situation of Liang Mang and Liang Mang in the battlefield of Liuzhou was not just a disparity in military strength, but also the fact that Beimang was the first to achieve a "general trend" on the battlefield. Swallowing the Long Xiang Army was inevitable. Moreover, to the west of Liangzhou that was supported by Qingyuan Military Town, and even to the entire Lingzhou that did not participate in the first battle of Liang Mang, it would be a huge deterrent. No matter how Huang Songpu's victory in Liuzhou was a pyrrhic victory, in the end, he only needed twenty to thirty thousand cavalry to invade the northwest of Lingzhou. Destroying Lingzhou meant destroying the vitality of the Beiliang Frontier Army, and the strategic depth of the Xu family cavalry would also be greatly reduced.
However, all of these became laughable "ifs". Not only that, Zhong Tan also saw a group of Beiliang's top officials gathered here. Only at this moment did Zhong Tan completely confirm that Beiliang was determined to make a big move in Liuzhou. Therefore, the battle of Miyunkou was definitely not a last minute idea of the two young Beiliang generals.
Riches and honor were sought in danger, and if one succeeded, it would often be great riches and honor.
Zhong Tan sighed slightly. He was the same. It was just that Zhong Tan's luck was really too terrible. Later on, when he learned that Mount Lantuo had discovered Cao Wei's cavalry, they did not watch the fire burn across the river. On the contrary, they quickly gathered twenty thousand monk soldiers and rushed to the battlefield. There were even three thousand of them who left the main army behind, almost biting the tail of Cao Wei's cavalry. Mount Lantuo could be said to be very decisive. If Zhong Tan had been given another hour, he would have been able to break through the bloody defensive line piled up by Xie Xi's corpses outside Miyun Pass. Perhaps if Cao Wei had been just a moment slower, he would have been completely entangled by the three thousand Mount Lantuo monk soldiers. Zhong Tan really could not understand. Cao Wei was one thing. After all, he was a Beiliang general born and raised here, but why was Xie Xi willing to fight to the death for Beiliang and not retreat? Why was he even willing to give his life to Cao Wei?
Zhong Tan only felt that this defeat was very unjust, but it was also not unjust at all.
At this moment, Zhong Tan still did not know that his defeat to Cao Wei and Xie Xi's alliance would be praised by later historians as a glorious defeat. This was because Cao Wei and Xie Xi's alliance had steadily occupied the top ten generals for three hundred years after the Auspicious Talisman. Many years later, Zhong Tan would become the first person from Beimang to enter the central government of the Central Plains. He and Cao Wei would each become the left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of War. At that time, Xie Xi's voice was very loud in the court and was most qualified to compete with Kou Jianghuai for the position of Minister of War. However, between the height of the imperial court and the distance of Jianghu, Zhong Tan chose the latter. Later generations would laugh that if Xie Xi's did not give up his official career, then the Ministry of War's yamen could be called Miyun Pass.
On the way to Qingcang City, Zhong Tan and Xu Beizhi, two people who belonged to different camps, one to the military and the other to the civil, had several open and honest conversations. Zhong Tan more or less knew that after becoming a prisoner, his head would not be used as a sacrifice to the Beiliang border cavalry for the time being, nor would it be directly chopped off and thrown to the other side of the gourd to "add bricks and tiles" to those huge temples.
Zhong Tan did not believe in the saying that death was better than living. As long as one was still alive, there was hope to rise from the ashes.
So along the way, Zhong Tan didn't make any small movements that brought contempt upon himself. Of course, this was also because he was well aware that unless the Northern Mang Army's god, Bodhisattva Tuoba, personally led the troops over, otherwise, with the terrifying combat strength of Xu Yanbing's troops and the 80 Wu Family swordsmen, even an immortal on earth would be unable to save them.
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