socalfunplaces Page 409
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The white-robed Guanyin was somewhat astonished, as Jiange Pass was a full thousand miles away from Yanjia Lake in the north.
Even the most elite corrugated cavalry had to march a thousand li in five days, traveling day and night, with only two or three hours of rest each day.
Huo Qubing continued, "Go now and select elite troops. My five thousand White Horse Cavalry and thirty thousand Tang Iron Cavalry will also go north with you."
The White-Robed Guanyin dared not disobey Li Chang'an's orders in the slightest. The Waleng tribe's current status was all thanks to Li Chang'an's support.
If the Waleng tribe shows even the slightest sign of disobedience, Li Chang'an can immediately switch his support to the Yage tribe and completely annihilate Waleng and the Red Sect.
The White-Robed Guanyin often felt saddened by Li Chang'an's indifference. They were both women with whom she had physical intimacy, yet Li Chang'an treated her entirely as a subordinate.
"Waleng tribe obeys the order. I will now select the most elite cavalry."
If it weren't for the most elite cavalry, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the marching speed of Huo Qubing's army.
After the white-robed Guanyin left, Huo Qubing continued to say to Zhao Dingxiu, "Lord Zhao, His Highness has appointed you as the governor of Western Shu Road. I hope you will take good care of yourself."
Zhao Dingxiu had worked diligently in Shazhou for several years, and his loyalty to Li Chang'an had long since reached a state of absolute devotion.
If at the beginning this former official of Western Shu still had a sliver of hope for restoring his kingdom, that hope has now vanished.
Now, Zhao Dingxiu and other former officials of Western Shu and Western Chu have become fervent supporters of Li Chang'an's ambition to become emperor and establish a new country.
They gave up on restoring their kingdom, but they did not give up on the idea of overthrowing the Li Yang court.
Of course, there were some die-hard restorationists among these people, but Li Chang'an had already secretly sent people to eliminate them.
Zhao Dingxiu cupped his hands and said, "General Huo, rest assured, this old minister will definitely guard the Western Shu Road for Your Highness. As long as this old minister is here, the Western Shu Road will be here!"
Another former official of Western Chu expressed the same attitude. Huo Qubing continued to arrange, "I will only leave 10,000 men to guard Jiange. You will need to recruit the troops from Western Shu and Qingzhou yourselves."
"His Highness doesn't have high expectations of you. As long as you can defend the state capital and the major prefecture, you will have rendered meritorious service to the country!"
In these two prefectures, Huo Qubing annihilated the Liyang army, but left only a small force to guard the weapons and provisions.
The purpose of sending these civil officials to their posts was to have them recruit soldiers locally and protect these areas.
Because Li Chang'an currently has limited military strength, he must concentrate his efforts to defeat Northern Mang and Northern Liang. Western Shu and Qingzhou are not currently considered core interests.
One by one, these veteran officials expressed their determination, and then left with great confidence.
The next day, Huo Qubing led more than 70,000 cavalrymen through Liangzhou and rushed to Yanjia Lake.
At this moment, north of Yanjia Lake, on the southern plains of the Rouran Five Towns, Li Cunxiao was preparing to engage Gong Pu in battle.
Laohuai, Rouxuan, Jilu, Gaoque, and Wuchuan are the five towns of Rouran. To the north of these five towns lies the Rouran Mountains, and above the mountains is the Beimang Dazong Tibing Mountain.
The fifth leader of Tibing Mountain died in the chaos in Shazhou, and now the one in charge is the former deputy leader, Gong Pu.
As a great battle was about to begin, two calm figures stood on the Rouran Mountains.
It was as if the battles and bloodshed miles away had nothing to do with them.
An old man with white hair and beard, his face bearing a faint trace of vicissitude, his old eyes not cloudy, yet seemingly able to see through everything.
A woman in a yellow shirt rode on the back of a giant panda, idly playing with a willow twig as she watched the impending battle unfold.
This old man was none other than Huang Longshi, who was known as the champion of chess, calligraphy, and arithmetic in the Spring and Autumn Period, and was also the mastermind behind the chess game.
In the original work, he instigated many of the wars during the Spring and Autumn Period. He also scattered a portion of the Jianghu's fortune into the Jianghu, which led to the emergence of dozens of terrestrial immortals.
Huang Longshi's goal was to establish a global order, freeing the martial arts world and the human realm from the control of the celestial beings.
The woman in yellow is his adopted daughter, Hehe Girl, a world-renowned assassin.
"Old man, the situation in the world seems to be quite different from what you calculated."
Huang Longshi frowned and said with concern, "It's not just different, it's worlds apart."
"This Li Chang'an has absorbed too much fortune, preventing many experts who could have become terrestrial immortals from advancing."
"However, what he wants to do is also to free the human world from the fishing of the celestial beings, which coincides with my own thoughts."
The girl, as her name suggests, said, "I heard that after Li Chang'an broke through to the Earth Immortal realm, Wang Xianzhi is already preparing to head north to cause him trouble."
"That second-best in the world has always opposed closing the Heavenly Gate. He wants to provide a path for martial artists to advance to a higher level."
"Martial artists should pursue the highest realm, breaking through the terrestrial immortals to enter the celestial realm, where they can continue to cultivate!"
Huang Longshi disagreed, saying, "The celestial beings in heaven fish for the fortunes of the mortal world, and they most hope that the world cannot be unified and is better off being torn apart."
"It's no secret that Li Chang'an wants to close the Heavenly Gate. Wang Xianzhi will certainly not agree to it, so a battle between them is inevitable."
The girl chuckled and asked again, "Old man, whose side are you going to take?"
Huang Longshi shook his head. "I'm the mastermind behind the scenes. Why would I personally get involved?"
The girl laughed so hard she almost fell over. "Clearly, they couldn't beat either of them, yet they made it sound so high-sounding."
Huang Longshi remained silent. Li Chang'an was disrupting his plans, but Li Chang'an's idea of closing the Heavenly Gate was in line with his own, so he really wanted to watch from the sidelines and see what Li Chang'an was up to.
"Old man, I'm going to kill Xu Fengnian and change his fate of dying tragically before the age of thirty and bearing eternal infamy."
When Hehe Girl was a child, Xu Fengnian paid for her mother's funeral, so she regarded Xu Fengnian as her benefactor.
However, Huang Longshi calculated that Xu Fengnian's fate was unfortunate, and that he would suffer a disgraceful and tragic death before the age of thirty.
"Since it's fate, it's not so easy to change."
"You can go, but if you can't kill him, there's no need to force it."
The girl patted the panda with her legs and then sped away.
"When this young lady takes action, there is no one she cannot kill."
At the foot of Rouran Mountain, 100,000 iron cavalrymen exuded a terrifying aura.
Facing him was Li Cunxiao, who commanded 5,000 Xuanjia soldiers, over 30,000 ordinary Shazhou cavalry, and 20,000 grassland cavalry from the Huyan tribe, totaling nearly 70,000 men.
For hundreds of years since the fall of the Great Feng Dynasty, it was always the Northern Mang cavalry that marched south, and never any Central Plains cavalry that marched north.
Gong Pu took the lead, his long spear radiating murderous intent, shouting, "Southern barbarian, how dare you provoke the Rouran iron cavalry!"
"That old bastard Xu Xiao has never even set foot in the Rouran Mountains, are you all tired of living!"
Li Cunxiao, holding a horse spear, let out a contemptuous laugh, "Gong Pu, you brat, Hong Jingyan and Fifth He died in Shazhou, now it's your turn."
"What Xu Xiao dares not do, the Tang King will do! What Xu Xiao dares not kill, the Tang King will kill!"
Looking at the invincible Rouran cavalry behind him, Gong Pu still had confidence.
Although Li Chang'an's Xuanjia Army defeated the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, in the eyes of the arrogant Rouran cavalry, the cavalry of the Central Plains Dynasty were all no match for them!
"Rour warriors, follow me and kill!"
"Whoever flattens Shazhou and kills Li Chang'an will be made a king!"
Gong Pu, shouting the Empress's decree, charged out first.
The Rouran cavalry's strength surged, and along a battle line stretching over ten miles, the cavalry began their charge!
This was a massive cavalry charge that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years, with 170,000 cavalrymen charging across the grasslands!
"Young warriors of the Tang army, today is the day to expand our territory!"
At Li Cunxiao's command, the Xuanjia Army charged out first!
These warriors, almost all of whom had reached the third rank, were like five thousand thirsty butchers!
This elite force, having been tempered by numerous wars, had long yearned for such a major battle.
The powerful fighting spirit once again condensed into a dark blue battle intent celestial phenomenon, fiercely charging into the Rouran iron cavalry.
Hong Jingyan, who could gather the battle intent of the celestial phenomena among the Rouran cavalry, had already died in the desolate mountains of Shazhou, having lost the initiative in the clash of battle intents.
The black dragon galloped through the Rouran cavalry, crushing one Rouran soldier after another beneath its horse!
Subsequently, the vanguard of the Xuanjia Army charged into the enemy ranks and began a wanton slaughter!
A third-rank veteran in black armor can kill three or four elite Rouran cavalrymen with a single swing of his lance!
Such formidable fighting strength and will caused the Rouran cavalry to experience a brief period of chaos, but as the most capable cavalry on the grasslands for decades, the Rouran cavalry quickly regained their formation.
A head-to-head battle, a clash of ace players, has begun once again!
"The Tang Emperor's Xuanjia Army is the best in the world!"
The soldiers of the Xuanjia Army fought with increasing ferocity and excitement, like a sharp, thick nail embedded in the Rouran iron cavalry.
With each breath, hundreds of cavalrymen fell in battle, and the grassland was gradually enveloped in a thick stench of blood, with the corpses of men and horses and blood covering the lush wild grass.
At the foot of the Rouran Mountains, the slaughter turned the place into a living hell!
Lingzhou was the garrison of the Northern Liang army.
Xu Xiao received the latest military intelligence report, and a glimmer of life finally appeared on his gloomy face.
He was accompanied by Xu Yanbing, Yuan Zuozong, and Xu Fengnian.
Xu Fengnian told Xu Xiao about his breakthrough to the first rank. Seeing that Xu Fengnian had regained his spirits, Xu Xiao was naturally also invigorated.
This is also why he swallowed his pride and wrote a letter to Empress Murong; he wanted to help Xu Fengnian lay a better foundation.
Seeing Li Chang'an's rise to power and the impending chaos in the world, the Xu family, with 200,000 troops at their disposal, was not without the resources to contend for the world.
The eyes of his son, Xu Fengnian, often gleamed with the light of a ruthless hero, making Xu Xiao seem more than ten years younger.
"Gentlemen, there is news from the north."