Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 57 Melee
There are two ways in and out of the camp, one is the slope in front of the camp, and the other is the swamp on the north side.

The enemy is cavalry and cannot walk through the mud.

The front part formed a formation on the slope, with long spears raised, like a hedgehog standing.

"Ho ho ho..." The bandit riders roared, and there was no telling how many of them there were in the dark night.

The only thing that is certain is that there are definitely more than fifty riders.

Liu Daogui looked around and saw that the leading horses were wearing fur coats under their iron armor. Their red hair danced with the ups and downs of their horses, and their horses' hooves were wrapped in thick cloth. No wonder they were able to reach the camp silently.

"Barbarians!" Liu Heibin said in a deep voice.

During the Yongjia Rebellion, the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and the Hu people spread throughout the Northern Kingdom, even settling along the Huai River.

The Dingling people actually fled from Mobei to Huatai, south of the Yellow River, and established the Wei State...

Lanling is located north of the Huai River and has always been an important place fought over by the north and the south. It is normal for the Hu people to pour into it.

Seven or eight riders rushed up the slope, and dozens of arrows immediately fell from the arrow tower.

Pin the two riders in front to the ground.

The few riders behind turned around and ran away.

But the roars of the Hu people at the bottom of the slope became louder and louder.

Liu Daogui couldn't help but feel puzzled. Zhou Zheng's infantry formation had already been set up, and they were in a dominant position. With the support of six arrow towers, the enemy didn't have much chance.

Unless they have some other tricks up their sleeve!

"The swamp in the north!" Liu Daogui reacted instantly.

The Hu people are making a feint to the east and attacking in the west!
Liu Zun jumped up from the corpse, holding a long axe that he had obtained from somewhere, and rushed to the north with four or five armored soldiers.

Several torches were thrown into the swamp, instantly illuminating a series of human figures.

"Hahaha, Agui, you are really the reincarnation of Kong Ming, with a brilliant mind!" Liu Zun jumped into the mud and fought without saying a word.

But there are a lot of enemies.

There were Hu people and also northern Jin people, no less than three hundred in number.

The most elite front and left troops went to defend the village gate.

Zhao Lunzhi's rear guard was left with only ten famous followers around Liu Daogui, as well as a few clan confidants such as Liu Guangzhi, Liu Heipi, and Liu Zhong.

No one knew where the assassin was lurking, so Liu Daogui didn't dare to act rashly.

If troops from the front camp were withdrawn, the enemy cavalry might charge forward.

The situation is already unfavorable to us.

The key point is that the soldiers had been traveling for an entire afternoon and fighting for more than an hour. They were exhausted. If they were not careful, the entire army would collapse.

Liu Daogui glanced at the captives. Although many of them had escaped under the cover of night, there were still no less than two hundred strong men, and five or six hundred old, weak, women and children. They were all staring at the Hu people outside, their eyes full of hatred.

The hatred between the Chinese and the barbarians has lasted for more than a hundred years and it is not so easy to eliminate.

"If you can kill the thief, I will forgive you!" Liu Daogui is now trying his best to save the situation.

Bet that their hatred for the Hu people is far greater than their own.

Zhao Lun was surprised, "Agui, the human heart is hard to predict!"

Liu Daogui was straightforward and generous. "I am a soldier from the expeditionary army, and I have been ordered to go north. If you can help me kill the bandits, you can stay or leave after the mission is completed. If you want to stay, we can live together."

"Do you keep your word?" A burly man immediately stood up.

It was one of the three soldiers just now.

Liu Daogui raised his sword and pointed at the sky, but found it was dark. He couldn't even utter the words "God is above". Then, an idea struck him, and he pointed at the lake, "This lake is my witness. If you break this oath, you will die without a burial place!"

The Wei and Jin dynasties believed in the heaven, earth, sun, moon, mountains, rivers, and even the Tianshi Dao regarded heaven, earth, and water as gods.

So Sima Yi swore an oath by the Luo River, and Cao Shuang immediately believed it.

The tragic situation over the past hundred years is a testament to the price the Sima family paid for breaking their oath.

"Kill the Hu!" The burly man picked up the ring-handled knife on the ground and shouted with his arms raised.

"Kill the Hu!" The captives shouted like thunder, their faces flushed and they were extremely excited. It seemed that they had a deep hatred for the Hu people.

"Kill!" Men, women, young and old all picked up the weapons on the ground and rushed into the mud without hesitation.

At this time, the fighting in front of the village became fierce.

A group of infantrymen, bearing large shields, slowly advanced towards the camp. "So many Taishan bandits?" Liu Daogui was surprised.

There were three or four hundred people in the north, and no fewer than four hundred in front of the camp, including not only cavalry but also armored soldiers...

Liu Zhong said, "I'm afraid... someone in the military headquarters has already leaked the news and is joining forces with the Lanling bandits to deal with us!"

Liu Daogui thought so too. It had been almost a month since the document for suppressing the bandits was submitted. He was afraid that the news had leaked out long ago.

Guangling is a strategic point between the north and the south, where merchants gather and news spreads most quickly.

"I'll go and lend them a hand!" Liu Guangzhi took a few people and prepared to go to the village gate.

The thieves had already attacked with their shields and were fighting with the front group.

The seven armored soldiers remained motionless, surrounding Zhou Zheng on the left and right, with a distance of seven or eight steps between them.

They did not take action, but stood still, blocking others in the front and weakening the power of the formation.

Liu Daogui stared at them intently.

With the attack of the bandits, the battlefield became chaotic, and Zhou Zheng moved left and right, as if he was trying to get rid of them.

The seven soldiers were gradually pushed away, but they still tried their best to get closer to Zhou Zheng.

Liu Daogui's heart was filled with murderous intent. The other party wanted to kill him, so he couldn't just sit there and wait for death. "You and Hei Xiong, take more people up there, eliminate those seven armored soldiers, and control Zhou Zheng. I have something to ask him!"

Even if the assassin wasn't from the front, these seven soldiers had to be eliminated. If they were there, the front wouldn't obey his orders...

Liu Guangzhi and Liu Heibin were both stunned, their eyes full of confusion, but they nodded slightly and picked nine old soldiers to go over.

The attack of this group of bandits was much more fierce than that of the people in the water fort, and they were in a fierce battle with the people in the front.

Zhou Zheng was caught in a dilemma and tried his best to resist.

Liu Guangzhi, Liu Heipi and others approached quietly, but did not act hastily. Instead, they worked together to resist the thieves.

With the arrival of reinforcements, the morale of the front troops was boosted and they withstood the enemy's attack.

While everyone's attention was on the thief, Liu Heibin and several others unknowingly surrounded a soldier in the middle, blocking everyone's sight, and stabbed the soldier in the face with a knife.

The soldier fell down without even a groan...

The "Hei" in Liu Heipi's name was indeed correct, and his moves were both dark and ruthless.

Liu Guangzhi retaliated in his own way, shooting the soldier to death with a hidden arrow.

In the blink of an eye, four of the seven soldiers fell.

Another person died at the hands of the Hu people.

The remaining two soldiers noticed something was wrong and pointed their swords at the charging Liu Heibin, "How dare you!"

Immediately, the front soldiers stood in front.

Liu Daogui felt a sinking feeling in his heart. As long as one of them was still alive, internal strife would be inevitable.

The soldiers in the front were all from the Western Jingzhou Army, and they were not on the same page with the Northern Army on the left, right, and rear.

How could those who are killing them now let it go?
Liu Daogui took two steps at a time and led his men to rush up the mountain, ready to strike first.

But at this moment Zhou Zheng suddenly turned around and stabbed a soldier in front of him to death with a spear, and the other soldier was knocked to the ground by other soldiers in the front, and was chopped into meat paste by a riot of swords.

"These two are in cahoots with the enemy and want to kill us. Now they will be executed according to military law!" Zhou Zheng roared.

The surrounding soldiers looked at each other, their eyes filled with horror and surprise.

"What are you still standing there for? Kill the Hu bandits!" Zhou Zheng was quite prestigious in the front and he calmed his subordinates with just a few words.

Everyone turned around and continued to fight with the thieves.

Liu Daogui rushed forward and fought the enemy side by side with Zhou Zheng.

The tribe isolates the others.

"Did Huan Chengzhi send you to kill me?"

"You joined the army to save me. Huan Chengzhi threatened my entire family, so I had no choice..." Zhou Zheng's eyes were bloodshot.

Sure enough, Huan Chengzhi had no intention of letting him go.

These thieves must have been leaked by him or summoned in advance.

Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why they came so quickly and in such large numbers...

(End of this chapter)