Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 176 Eagle Wolf Peak Eagle Wolf Look

"Be careful, Mr. Big Brother!"

Zhu Tianshou also saw the actions of the black-clothed warrior. He roared and dragged Liu Huai up with all his strength.

The two men still held hands tightly. The incident happened suddenly, and even with Liu Huai's strength, he was dragged by Zhu Tianshou and staggered.

"Accept my fate!"

The black-clad warrior raised his crossbow and just as he shouted, he was shot to the ground.

One of the two arrows pierced his forehead and the other hit his chest.

The crossbow arrow shot out when he fell on his back and flew towards the sky above.

Among the guards brought by Liu Huai, three were good at using continuous arrows. At this time, the bowstrings of two of them were still trembling, and the remaining one had a half-full iron bow, and he swept a sharp look at the people brought by Zhu Tianshou.

The remaining four armored cavalrymen dismounted, holding shields, and strode forward quickly, using their steel shields and bodies to protect Liu Huai and Zhu Tianshou in the middle.

Zhu Tianshou also stood still at this time, regardless of the fact that his hands were still being held, as if they were clamped by red-hot iron pliers. He looked around hurriedly and found that he had only retreated half a step, and he couldn't help but feel a little shocked.

Zhu Sanlang was also the top figure in the upper reaches of Yishui, but he didn't expect that when Liu Huai was caught off guard, he exerted all his strength to drag him, but he only pulled him half a step.

The power gap is so huge, if they meet on the battlefield, wouldn't the outcome be death on first sight?

"Put down your weapons! Put down your weapons! Everyone, come out! Stand where you can be seen."

Seeing Liu Huai looking at him with a half-smile on his face, without any sign of his life hanging by a thread, Zhu Tianshou felt even colder in his heart, and hurriedly gave orders to his attendants.

Under the gaze of the armored knights, several black-clad warriors did not dare to resist at all. They took off their weapons and walked out of the village.

However, Liu Huai still had a playful expression on his face and continued to hold Zhu Tianshou's hand.

Seeing this, Zhu Tianshou was immediately discouraged. "I know that at this moment, it's useless for me to say anything. You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you. But I still have to say that I really don't mean to hurt Dalangjun."

Liu Huai laughed heartily and finally released Zhu Tianshou's hands. "Zhu Sanlang, it's just a trivial matter. How can I not trust you because of this? Go back now. I won't abandon you. In the next two days, the Loyalty Army will make up their minds. Even if they don't attack Yishui County, they will evacuate you Han people behind them and will never let you suffer any harm from the war."

After saying that, Liu Huai waved to the head of the personal guards: "Guan Qilang, come here."

Guan Chongyan had a cold face, still holding the bow and arrow in his hand, and rode his horse forward.

"I'll have him inform you of the specific plan when the time comes, Zhu Sanlang. Remember, only when this face comes to you will it be a serious military matter."

Liu Huai comforted Zhu Tianshou a few more words. After agreeing on the time and place, Liu Huai did not stay any longer and got on his horse.

Zhu Tianshou breathed a sigh of relief, only to see Liu Dalang turning back on his horse and pointing to the highest stone mountain not far away. He asked, "Zhu Sanlang, since you're a local, you're naturally familiar with the surrounding scenery. Let me ask you, what is this stone mountain called?"

Zhu Tianshou felt like his mood was on a roller coaster today. When he heard Liu Huai only asked about this matter, he immediately laughed lightly: "This rocky mountain was formerly called Yinglanggu. During the pre-Song Dynasty, there was a good official named Meng Liang who trapped a group of bandits here. The bandits used the dangerous terrain to resist. The officers and soldiers tried to charge in several times but failed, so they could only surround the bandits.

After a few days, the bandits surrendered. It turned out that there were no trees, grass, or water on this rocky mountain. The bandits tried to dig a well, but after digging only ten feet, they hit a pile of rocks. They had no choice but to surrender.

From then on, Juzhou was stable, and the people named this place Menglianggu in memory of this good official named Meng Liang.

Liu Huai listened quietly, then looked back at the stone mountain in a daze, gasped with a hiss, and made a decision in his heart.

We absolutely cannot station troops on this kind of rocky mountain!

Thinking of this, Liu Huai bowed and said goodbye to Zhu Tianshou on his horse.

Zhu Tianshou bowed deeply, not standing still until Liu Huai and the others had disappeared from view. He frowned and turned back, "What is this fellow Hu Er up to? I did ask you to bring weapons in case of an emergency, but how dare you attack Mr. Liu? Did I give the order?"

The leading black-clad warrior shuddered. "Third Master, we don't know what's wrong with Hu Er today. Could it be that he's been bribed by the Jurchens?"

Zhu Tianshou slapped the black-clad warrior to the ground and said, "What nonsense! Those men are wearing armor, and Nai Gong is only wearing cloth. You want to kill him? I will die before him!"

"Investigate for me! Who has the audacity to instigate my trusted aides? Or is it this Hu Er who has the audacity to betray me?!"

Not to mention that Zhu Tianshou was full of doubts and furious.

On the other side, Liu Huai, who was driving his horse back to the army, was also full of questions.

These questions can ultimately be summed up in one point: Can Zhu Tianshou be trusted?
It's really hard to say.

Because Liu Huai didn't know this guy, he had only heard that he was greedy for money and power, and it was He Boqiu who mentioned it.

Considering the relationship between Zhu Tianshou and He Boqiu, who are located upstream and downstream of Yishui River, and the fact that both of them are tycoons who do business on the river, whether legal or illegal, it is hard to say how credible He Boqiu's words are.

And what’s so wrong about being greedy for money and power?

He was a powerful man, but not an honest official who would be remembered for generations.

However, even if Zhu Tianshou truly defected to the Loyal Army, could this information be true?

Could it be that the magistrate of Yishui was also a loyal minister of the Jin Dynasty, who plotted against Zhu Tianshou and wanted to use Zhu Tianshou to lure the loyal army into an ambush?

The key point that Liu Huai was confused about was that the plan Zhu Tianshou mentioned was feasible to a certain extent.

If we can capture Yishui County, we will be able to roughly control the vast area between Yishui and Shuhe River.

The reason why Liu Huai gave up attacking Yishui County was very simple. He was not sure that he could capture the city within a few days.

Moreover, fifty miles ahead from here, there is only the Mengshan Mountain in the west and the hills in the east, with the Yishui River sandwiched between them. The terrain is really too bad. If the Loyal Army wants to take this road, they will be in almost the same situation as the Tianping Army when they crossed the Mengshan Mountain.

Even though Liu Huai understood the terrain and military strategies better than Geng Jing and others, and even though the Loyal Army was much more cautious and well-organized than the Tianping Army, they were still likely to be ambushed and delayed in this kind of terrain.

If we were defeated at the gate of the city and then captured by the Jin army, that would be a big deal.

But now with a powerful person like Zhu Tianshou as an insider, as long as the city can be quickly captured, we can attack Yishui County.

But Liu Huai still felt something was wrong.

"Especially that arrow today. Was it Zhu Tianshou's instruction? If he wanted to ambush me, why didn't he bring more people and more bows and crossbows?

Is he really so confident that he can kill me with just a crossbow and a single arrow?

Zhu Tianshou had chosen the location, so he had plenty of time to prepare. Why didn't he gather dozens of men and fire dozens of crossbows simultaneously? Was he afraid of being alerted? What kind of excuse was that?
And if it wasn't Zhu Tianshou's order, who would have wanted to kill me?"

"That arrow... that crossbow bolt..."

When recalling carefully, Liu Huai suddenly reined in his horse and turned back, shocking the guards following behind him to tighten the reins at the same time, and the neighing of war horses filled the air.

Liu Huai finally recalled what he saw out of the corner of his eye at that moment.

The crossbow arrow was not shot at him, and the cry of "I accept your death" was not directed at him.

But he went for Zhu Tianshou.

Thinking of this, Liu Huai narrowed his eyes.

At that time, Zhu Tianshou pulled him, seemingly to help him avoid the crossbow arrow, but who knows whether Zhu Tianshou wanted to pull Liu Huai to the position where the crossbow arrow was pointing?

But it's still not right. This kind of cooperation is a bit too difficult.

What’s the difference between this and Ma’s triangle killing?
The key point is that it was Liu Huai holding Zhu Tianshou's hands at that time, not the other way around.

Zhu Tianshou might have really just seen the crossbow arrow coming and wanted to escape.

"Commander-in-Chief?" Guan Chongyan rode forward, but seeing Liu Huai's expression changing from gloomy to uncertain, he hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

Liu Huai calmed down and shook his head: "It's okay, we'll discuss it after returning to the barracks."

When the group returned to the military camp, they found that Zhang Baiyu had been waiting at the camp gate.

Upon seeing Liu Huai arrive, Zhang Baiyu stepped forward, grabbed the horse's reins, and reached out to stop the others from approaching. Ignoring Liu Huai's continued presence, he anxiously whispered, "Just now, a seriously injured Jurchen rode into the camp. He called himself Xiemao Zhanggu and said a bunch of incoherent words before falling unconscious. Only one sentence of his speech was clear enough to be heard."

"Don't trust Zhu Tianshou!"

(End of this chapter)