On the vast plains to the north of Crone Mountain, the sound of a bugle horn shook the heavens.
Huang Songpu had twelve thousand cavalrymen, fourteen thousand Wanyan elite cavalrymen, and thirty-four thousand Second Cavalry. Among them, there were also five to six hundred rare heavy cavalrymen who were fully equipped with armor. The Northern Mang cavalry that had been accumulating power and waiting to set out stretched out five or six li in length, continuing without end. Compared to Beiliang's Liuzhou border army, which only had 30,000 cavalry, Beimang's morale was not inferior. Their military strength was far superior. Commander Huang Songpu did not purposely try to win by surprise. Although the battlefield was vast, this general who had been the number one person in the Southern Dynasty for more than a decade did not try his best to spread out the frontlines. It was obvious that he did not plan to fight a chaotic battle of unprecedented scale. He also did not split into left, middle, and right formations like the Liuzhou border army. Instead, he used his own troops as the vanguard, with the Wanyan elite cavalry following closely behind. The Yi cavalry, which had the largest number of people, brought up the rear. In this way, the Northern Liang border cavalry, who had the advantage of natural armor, could be weakened to the greatest extent. While ensuring the thickness of their formation, it could force the Liuzhou cavalry into the mud and reduce the number of repeated charges.
On the other hand, to be able to make the grassland cavalry that was described in the Spring and Autumn Annals as "the western and northern borders were filled with fierce cavalry that came and went like the wind, and the central plains were unstoppable unless it was a high city", they had no choice but to use such a stable formation to fight. This in itself showed the exceptional strength of the Beiliang cavalry.
Kou Jianghuai and Chen Xiliang stood at the peak of Crone Mountain, their field of vision extremely good. Overlooking the battlefield, they could see that after Liang Mang's cavalry began their charge at the same time, they were like two waves of flood bursting through a dike, colliding into each other.
Chen Xiliang had never considered himself to be an expert in military affairs. When facing the battlefield, he also did not have the hot-bloodedness of a general. It could even be said that this talented second generation Xu family strategist of the Tide-listening Pavilion had an instinctive dislike of killing on the battlefield. The Confucian school advocated cultivating the body, governing the family, and governing the country. The essence, or perhaps the root, lay in the word "governing and peace". Therefore, the world was governed and peaceful. This was the true home of a scholar.
Chen Xiliang subconsciously turned his head and saw Kou Jianghuai holding his horse with one hand and his blade with the other. His expression was calm. Chen Xiliang was often compared to Xu Beizhi, who was also a strategist of Mount Qingliang. This was just like how the imperial court of West Chu liked to comment on the twin jade annulus of Da Chu, Kou Jianghuai, and Xie Xi. It was the same logic as how the West Chu Imperial Court always liked to comment on the twin jade annulus of Da Chu, Kou Jianghuai, and Xie Xi. In Beiliang Pass officialdom and the border army outside the pass, Chen Xiliang and the higher ranked transport envoy Xu Beizhi were polar opposites. The Beiliang Border Army recognized Chen Xiliang, who had personally experienced the first great battle of Liang Mang. They believed that Chen Xiliang had truly inherited the mantle of Tide-listening Pavilion Li Yishan. In the future, he might have a chance to reach a transcendent height that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Li Yishan. However, the officialdom of the three provinces, especially Liangzhou and Lingzhou, where Xu Beizhi had lived before, regarded Xu Beizhi even more highly. They viewed him as a true pillar of Beiliang, a talent comparable to Li Yang's Grand Secretary Zhang Julu. He had the stature of a prime minister that could only be achieved by one person in a generation. On the other hand, Chen Xiliang was probably no more than a military strategist at the border or a minister in the central government.
Chen Xiliang paid no attention to these comments about the undercurrents of Beiliang's upper echelons. This was because of his temperament. Although he was born into a humble family in Gangnam-do and did not even have the qualifications to sit at the same table as famous scholars, compared to many officials in the Li Yang imperial court who seemed to have suddenly turned yellow overnight after passing the imperial examinations, Chen Xiliang was more open-minded. Instead, there were often people who half-jokingly said to him that Xu Beizhi had a competitive heart. Even the provincial governor Yang Guangdou did not mince his words. Whether a gentleman competed or not depended on the timing. He warned Chen Xiliang that Chen Xiliang could not truly not compete for anything and only give in. As for the Twin Jade Annulus of Da Chu, who was currently leading troops and fighting alongside him in Liuzhou, Chen Xiliang felt that he had a slightly better impression of Xie Xibian, who came to Liuzhou later than him. He and this person, one was scholarly and one was martial, but their backgrounds were similar. They were both at the bottom of the marketplace. Moreover, compared to the proud and arrogant Guangling Dao descendant Kou Jianghuai, Xie Xibian was more in line with the image of a scholar as a gentleman. Interacting with him was like bathing in the spring breeze. Kou Jianghuai was always like the blazing sun in the midday summer sky, dazzling and dazzling.
But even so, the deeper Chen Xiliang interacted with Kou Jianghuai, the more sincere his admiration for him grew. He remembered reading history when he was young. He read, "One does not rejoice in victory, one does not feel discouraged in defeat. One who is as calm as a lake even when there is a thunderstorm in his chest can become a general." At this time and place in Crone Mountain, Chen Xiliang gazed at Kou Jianghuai's resolute and resolute profile. In his heart, he sighed, "A master of the art of war should be like this."
Kou Jianghuai did not turn his head. He suddenly said, "If I win this war, but Xie Xibian dies in battle, then to me, Beiliang wins and I lose."
Chen Xiliang, who had been immersed in officialdom for many years, naturally understood the mystery. He asked curiously, "Since this is the case, why did Kou Jiangjun agree to General Xie's generosity and go north?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
