I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 89 Brother Lin and I are really strong

Deng Yuanjue couldn't beat Zhao Zicheng in an argument.

Seeing the shouting and cursing at each other in front of the battle, and being instigated by the other side, making his own people panic, it is no wonder that he chose the option of "Since I can't reason with you, I know a little bit of fighting" in a desperate situation.

Deng Yuanjue thought to himself that this was not a sneak attack, but rather that he was so angry at the other party's scolding that he naturally turned from verbal fight to physical fight. If it got out in the future, it would not damage his reputation in the martial arts world.

But because he was so impatient and irritable, his martial arts performance naturally fell short.

In contrast, Zhao Zicheng on the opposite side was not at all panicked. He just drew out his copper mace and prepared for battle, with a calm look in his eyes that showed confidence.

Because Zhao Zicheng had already observed in advance that Deng Yuanjue's martial arts was definitely not better than Lu Da's, and the weapon he used, the heavy Zen staff, was quite similar in shape and form to Lu Da's.

Zhao Zi claimed he'd fought Lu Da a few months prior, successfully holding the match to a draw for dozens of rounds. Through continued sparring, he'd developed a firm grasp on how to capitalize on his strengths and temporarily restrain the frenzied, maddening Zen staff.

In contrast, Deng Yuanjue on the opposite side had no idea about Zhao Zicheng's martial arts. He thought Zhao Zicheng was a weak scholar who was not even capable of tying a chicken.

This huge gap in cognition resulted in Deng Yuanjue being in the light and Zhao Zicheng being in the dark. Zhao Zicheng almost used one-way perspective to fight with the other party.

When Deng Yuanjue's crazy stick, with the sound of breaking the wind, was passed in front of Zhao Zicheng, Zhao Zicheng flicked his wrist slightly with perfect and delicate movements. With a crisp sound of "ding", the copper mace blocked the side of the Zen stick, and with a light push,
When Deng Yuanjue heard the sound of weapons clashing, he was inexplicably startled and became panicked for no reason.

He himself didn't know why he was panicking. Maybe he was just overwhelmed by the fear of the unknown.

"What's going on? When heavy troops clash, shouldn't there be the sound of metal roaring? Why is it so crisp?" Such a thought flashed through his mind.

This was truly unusual, and the softer the sound, the creepier he felt.

Almost at the same moment, Deng Yuanjue felt a strange pulling force, which made him lose control of his crazy staff, and the staff was swung wide open.

Just as he was momentarily distracted, Lin Chong, who was guarding Zhao Zicheng, had already arrived on horseback. A flash of cold light flashed first, and then his spear shot out like a dragon, fiercely piercing the shoulder socket of the arm that Deng Yuanjue was wielding the Zen staff.

This was because Lin Chong was trying to be cautious and was determined to protect his master rather than kill the enemy, so he stabbed him in the shoulder socket, trying to make Deng Yuanjue lose his fighting ability as soon as possible and drop his sword to the ground.

He was afraid that if he fought against Deng Yuanjue, Deng Yuanjue would become ruthless and fight to the death with Zhao Zicheng even at the cost of his own life. Then stabbing his heart would be useless, and stabbing his arm or shoulder would be the most effective.

"Ugh!" Deng Yuanjue was so frightened that he had already lost his composure. After being hit, he couldn't help but roar like a tiger. His right arm instantly lost all strength and drooped down. Only his left arm could move.

The heavy Zen staff was no longer usable and fell to the ground with a clang. He could only endure the pain in a hurry and quickly drew the sword from his waist, holding the sword in hand and ready to fight.

With just one move, Zhao Zicheng blocked and deflected the opponent's attack with his unique skill of giving the opponent a taste of his own medicine. Lin Chong took the opportunity to protect his master and broke one of the opponent's arms. As a result, the main general of Fang La's army, Deng Yuanjue, lost more than half of his combat effectiveness.

Zhao Zicheng also tested Deng Yuanjue's combat effectiveness through this move. The opponent was indeed slightly inferior to Lu Da. Moreover, the enemy knew the truth while he did not. The opponent had no intelligence and could not restrain himself in a targeted manner. In addition, one of his arms was broken, which reduced at least half of his combat effectiveness. On horseback, he had to replace the Zen staff with a sword, and the combat environment and weapons were not suitable for him.

With so many DEBUFFs stacked on top of each other, Deng Yuanjue was suppressed almost instantly to the point where he only had 20% or 30% of his combat power left.

Zhao Zicheng wanted to win the battle quickly and establish his authority. His mind raced as he shouted, "Back off! Do you still need Linghu Yuhou (Lin Chong) to protect such a petty thief? Order all troops to beat drums and charge!"

Lin Chong received the order and rode his horse back to the side without hesitation. While continuing to monitor the enemy situation and plunder the enemy's formation for Zhao Zicheng, he raised his spear, signaling the Song army behind him to charge forward and prepare to fight.

Zhao Zicheng said this. After he finished speaking, he inserted the copper mace back into the saddle, took off the steel spear hanging on it, replaced it with a long weapon and started fighting with Deng Yuanjue.

Deng Yuanjue, already extremely shocked and furious, couldn't help but grow even more furious after seeing this unexpected turn of events. He had already switched to a short weapon like the Jie Dao for a horse-riding battle, and now the enemy, who had originally used a short weapon, was using a long weapon? Did they still have any respect for martial ethics?

But he had no way to seek justice, and could only barely hold on with the help of his one-armed sword.

The person in front of him was a civil servant, and he had attacked him first. If he begged for mercy now and couldn't even beat a civil servant, how could he have the face to live like a human being?

Almost in an instant, the soldiers of both armies in the front row were stunned.

General Deng's frenzied attack had clearly reached the incompetent official/President Zhao, so how could it have been blocked? How could that civil servant have been able to fight General Deng back and forth?
Zhao Zicheng was calm and composed, relying on the solid foundation he had laid in two years of martial arts training with the Murong family, as well as the experience he gained from studying spearmanship with Yang Zhi and Lin Chong. He wielded the steel spear with strict technique, every move was precise and methodical, with sweeping and hitting movements that were linked together.

The spear is the king of all weapons. As the saying goes, a month with a staff, a year with a sword, a lifetime with a spear. To master the tricks of a spear, like the wielding of a dazzling spear or the spitting of a snake's tongue, requires years of practice. Zhao Zicheng wasn't a specialist in spearmanship; his martial arts were rather diverse, having been exposed to a wide range of weapons since his inception. Therefore, in his hands, this steel spear could only be wielded primarily in the form of staff techniques, with powerful and sharp sweeps, each move maximizing the advantages of a long weapon.

As the saying goes, a stick sweeps a large area, a spear picks a line. Zhao Zizhang mainly uses sweeping, but he completely restrained Deng Yuanjue who was protecting himself with a single sword.

In less than ten moves, Deng Yuanjue was struck twice by his spear shaft in a flurry of blows. The pain completely lost his composure, his swordplay scattering and leaving him wide open. Zhao Zicheng then seized the opportunity, switching from sweeping to stabbing, and stabbed Deng Yuanjue in the heart. Then, holding the spear in one hand, he reached out with the other, and Lin Chong immediately handed him a waist knife.

Zhao Zi said that he lifted Deng Yuanjue's body, which was hanging from the end of his spear, like taking a large skewer of lamb from a charcoal stove and placing it before his eyes to see if it was cooked. After confirming that it was done, he used the same gesture as cutting roasted lamb to cut off Deng Yuanjue's head with a single stroke and swung the spear to drop the rest of the body.

With just these two moves, the warhorse under Zhao Zicheng's crotch couldn't help but let out a mournful whine, barely able to bear the weight of Zhao Zicheng and Deng Yuanjue. It wasn't until Deng Yuanjue's body was thrown off the spear that the warhorse breathed a sigh of relief.

"The heads of Shi Bao and Deng Yuanjue are here! Anyone who follows the thieves must die! Kill!"

Zhao Zicheng waved the sword that Lin Chong lent him and moved forward. Two thousand officers, soldiers and infantry had already rushed up to attack. The corridor between the military formations naturally bypassed the two sides of Zhao Zicheng and Lin Chong and rushed forward.

The commander-in-chief was a civilian official, but he actually killed the rebel general who tried to assassinate him in front of the battle line. This scene was such a huge boost to the morale of the government troops. For a moment, everyone was brave and had a heroic sense of witnessing history.

As for whether Zhao Tongpan had taken advantage of the opportunity, the ordinary soldiers did not care. In everyone's opinion, the villain Deng Yuanjue suddenly attacked and attempted assassination, and Zhao Tongpan's guards counterattacked and intercepted him. Isn't that what they should do? There is no point in talking about the code of conduct with a rebel.

Deng Yuanjue's soldiers were completely stunned. Even though they had fought in battles before, they had never seen anything like this. Not only in battle, but even in drama, they wouldn't dare to act it out. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, has anyone ever seen Zhuge Liang scold Wang Lang to death, only to have the enemy rush forward in anger and be killed by Zhuge Liang?
The government troops, with 500 heavily armored spearmen as the core and 1,500 lightly armored auxiliary soldiers as the two wings, just rushed into the enemy army of nearly 10,000 people.

The rebel army had never yet captured an important city like Hangzhou, so they had not seized any high-quality weapons and equipment from the government troops. They were very short of powerful crossbows, and they did not even have a single divine arm bow. They could only rely on scattered ordinary bows and arrows to stop the charging government troops.

Such an attack was no match for Lin Chong's 500 heavily armored main force. Lin Chong led the charge, and the 500 heavily armored soldiers quickly tore the remaining troops of Deng Yuanjue in two, leaving the north and south unable to respond to each other.

The rebel leader was beheaded and then split into two by a piercing blow. The morale of the rebel army plummeted to the bottom and soon became completely chaotic. Countless soldiers fled in all directions.

Zhao Zicheng saw that Lin Chong succeeded in his attack, and the enemy did not have strong long-range firepower, so he was unwilling to be left out and personally joined the charge.

He ordered the guards holding the general's flag to follow him closely, and wherever he went, the general's flag would point to that place.

All the officers and soldiers of the government army witnessed this magnificent spectacle, and they became more and more excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

"Brothers, don't be cowardly! Even Zhao Tongpan, a civil servant, has charged into the front lines! We can't be cowards!"

"The Song Dynasty has been around for so many years! Apart from Emperor Taizu, who else in the Zhao family can do this? Follow Zhao Tongpan and kill the bandits together!"

"Follow the flag! Whoever runs slower is a fucking sissy!"

The rebels had no cavalry and had lost their formation, so they were in chaos. Zhao Zicheng personally led more than ten cavalrymen to charge and kill them. Lin Chong was at the forefront and served as the vanguard. He was specifically responsible for tearing through the enemy's stubborn points. For a moment, it was as if they were in an empty land.

Zhao Zicheng wielded a steel spear like a coiled dragon stick, sweeping it left and right, knocking down countless bandits who were running around like headless flies along the way, and finally he killed his way through the enemy formation.

The bandit army under Deng Yuanjue's command completely collapsed and scattered, with many surrendering.

……

While Zhao Zicheng was killing his way through the enemy's formation, the Song army and local militia defending the city wall of Wuxing County behind the enemy camp had already discovered that the enemy besieging the city was in chaos and that something major had happened.

Unfortunately, the distance was too far and they couldn't see clearly what was happening outside the city. They only knew that most likely reinforcements from the imperial court had come to rescue Huzhou.

Wei Xian, the governor of Huzhou, did not dare to rest these days, fearing that the morale of the soldiers would be low, so he slept in the city wall to supervise the battle. He was a middle-aged man in his forties and had little energy, so he was taking a nap at this moment.

When the bandit army outside the city was in chaos, the military officer guarding the city woke up the prefect. Wei Xian rubbed his sleepy eyes, but did not slow down his steps. He quickly climbed to the highest level of the city wall to look out.

Not long after Wei Xian reached the top floor, he saw a large flag with the word "Zhao" on it from afar. Wherever Wei Xian went, the enemy troops were like waves splitting apart, and he tore the enemy formation in half.

Wei Xian looked from a high place and had a clearer view of the overall situation than the soldiers on the ground. He could clearly see that the number of Song troops breaking through the enemy's formation was probably only one-fifth of the enemy's army, or even less.

"Is this reinforcement from Xiuzhou or Suzhou? Could it be the imperial guards from the north? I've been an official in Suzhou for many years, how come I didn't know there was a brave general named Zhao in Liangzhe? Whose general is this? May God bless the Song Dynasty! Quick! Prepare to open the city walls to meet the enemy and intercept them! Assist our allies in pursuing them! Don't let the defeated soldiers escape!"

Wei Xian couldn't help but feel surprised and shocked.

The military officer defending the city was still hesitant and afraid to fight, and pretended to remind him: "My lord, don't move rashly! What if this is a treacherous plot by the enemy to lure the enemy..."

Wei Xian was so angry that he almost wanted to draw his sword: "Coward! Have you ever seen a thief lure the enemy like this? You are just too cowardly to fight!"

While they were arguing on the city wall, the dozens of cavalrymen who had fought their way through the enemy's formation had already rushed to the city wall, just outside the range of arrows. They passed by. The leader, a man in a brocade robe and riding a fine horse, was holding a wooden trumpet and shouted towards the city wall:

"My old friend Zhao Zicheng is leading his troops to rescue Huzhou! Why doesn't the Wei governor open the city walls to help?"

Because of the long distance, and also because he was afraid that the crossbows on the city wall would not distinguish between friend and foe and accidentally injure us, Zhao Zicheng's voice seemed very vague.

But Wei Xian recognized Zhao Zicheng's voice. They had worked together as colleagues for more than a year and had a good relationship.

Wei Xian's eyes widened as they grew larger than copper bells, his heart filled with horror. "Zhao Zicheng?! He actually led his troops into battle? He even pierced through the enemy's entire formation? This... even when Emperor Taizu followed Zhou Shizong in the Battle of Gaoping, he never displayed such bravery... Could it be that the Great Song Dynasty is truly saved..."

The other soldiers on the top of Huzhou City were also instantly impressed by Zhao Zicheng's appearance of riding a horse with his spear in hand.

"I've heard that Judge Zhao of Suzhou is a descendant of Emperor Taizu. He truly has his ancestor's style. Tsk tsk, back when he conquered four hundred military prefectures with a single coiled dragon staff, that must have been his heroic spirit."

After a brief moment of shock, Wei Xian hurriedly urged, "What are you hesitating about? I've worked with Zhao Tongpan for a year, and I'll admit my mistake! Friendly forces are outside the city, and you're not even coming out to help. Do you still have the nerve to say you have any guts? Quickly open the city walls and intercept the fleeing soldiers!"

At this point, the Wuxing defenders dared not refuse anymore. Moreover, they had already confirmed that now was a good time to grab heads and gain military merits. If they didn't fight this favorable battle now, when would they?

The city gate of Wuxing County was quickly opened, and more than a thousand soldiers and thousands of temporary militia rushed out in a chaotic manner, trying their best to block the fleeing soldiers' way.

In a short while, most of Deng Yuanjue's troops were wiped out.

Because they were attacked from both sides, the number of bandits who escaped was even smaller than that of Shi Bao's troops who attacked Suzhou before. Zhao Zicheng captured as many as five to six thousand prisoners.

To the east of Wuxing County, there were piles of captives gathered in a black mass, which was a spectacular sight.

(End of this chapter)