Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 22: Baoyi (Seeking follow-up reading)

Seeing that Fei Yanggu was about to retreat, the man named Li Da also prepared to take his men back.

Only Uncle He and another leader named Zhang Dai were still standing, while Zhao Huaian's disciples held their weapons without moving.

Zhao Huaian glanced at Zhang Dai, nodded, and then ignored Fei Yanggu and Li Da.

He first said to Zhao Liu:
"You will raise our big flag later, and then follow me."

Then he ordered Sun Tai and Zhao Hu:
"You two protect Zhao Liu, as long as he's alive, the flag will be with us!"

Both of them had experience in military battles and knew the importance of the big flag, so they accepted the order and responded in kind.

Then, Zhao Huaian instructed the remaining Lao Mo, Yang Mao, Wang Li, and Niu Li:
"In a moment, you guys will follow the big flag. Wherever the big flag goes, you will go!"

Suddenly, Zhao Huaian saw He Wenqin again. When he got closer, he saw four dwarfs standing behind Wang Li and the others.

They looked at themselves with anticipation.

But among these five, except He Wenqin who held up the Tibetan armor, the other four looked like dolls in the armor.

Can these five-inch sticks be used to fight?

But since they were already there, Zhao Huaian still assigned He Wenqin and the other four to Lao Mo's side, letting them follow Lao Mo as the second echelon.

After arranging his own people, Zhao Huaian smiled at the still uneasy He Bo and the eager Zhang Dai:

"I'll lead the men downstairs in a moment. You just stay here and cheer for me. There's no need for you to fight. If there's any spoils later, you'll still get a share."

Uncle He smiled "honestly", while Zhang Dai hesitated, but when he saw the mountain shed next to him, he finally agreed.

At this time, Fei Yanggu, who was following behind, also heard this and hurriedly squeezed in with Li Da.

The two men smiled flatteringly at Zhao Huaian, patting their chests and saying that the mountain singers in their village had the loudest voices and all of them were good at singing folk songs.

Zhao Huaian curled his lips, what a bunch of troublemakers!
Without caring about them, Zhao Huaian began to check the equipment with Xian Yuyue, Ren Tong and Song Yuan. Soon, they would be the first to attack as a assault team.

……

While Zhao Huaian was making preparations, new changes occurred on the battlefield on the dirt road.

Because the attack on the mountain was not going well, the Nanzhao soldiers withdrew some of the people from the caravan. At this time, there were less than fifty people guarding the baggage carts and prison carts.

At this time, a group of people rushed out from the mountains in the east again. They were wearing all kinds of clothes and had a variety of weapons.

Led by several Tang army warriors, they rushed directly to the prison cart and then fought with the Nanzhao soldiers guarding there.

The fighter jets are coming!

Zhao Huaian jumped up and yelled:
"Put up the flag!"

Zhao Liu also jumped up holding a big flag. The military flag fluttered in the mountain breeze. It was the big flag with the word "Tang" that Zhao Huaian brought out from the Dadu River battlefield.

Then Lao Liu raised his suona and began to blow hard:

"duo~"

Amid the passionate suona music, Zhao Huaian took the Mo Dao handed over by Lao Mo, raised the sword and roared:

"Kill me!"

After saying that, Zhao Huaian took the lead and headed straight for the convoy along the slope!

Behind him, Xianyu Yue and others stood up and rushed down following Zhao Huaian and the Tang Dynasty battle flag.

He Bo and the others who stayed on the hillside began to shout loudly:
"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!"

It is when the dust rises that I throw away my life and fight for wealth and honor.

……

Zhao Huaian was the first to rush forward, but not the first to launch an attack.

Beside him, Xianyu Yue held an ox horn bow and shot arrows while running, killing three Nanzhao soldiers in a breath.

Zhao Huaian yelled:
"Good archery skills!"

After roaring, Zhao Huaian carried the Mo Dao on his shoulder and ran away with big strides.

But at this moment, the four five-inch shooters who had originally come with He Wenqin to cast suddenly ran in front of him.

These four men wore Tibetan armor, held up long swords that were almost as tall as themselves, and charged forward without hesitation.

The four of them were the first to rush into the smoke and dust, and then they stabbed and danced wildly with the long swords in their hands, not blocking at all, showing that they were truly fearless of death.

Zhao Huaian stared with his eyes wide open. This, this, this, are the people in this mountain so cruel?

However, these four were indeed not good at swordsmanship. In just a moment, one of them was kicked to the ground by the Nanzhao warrior on the opposite side.

Seeing that this five-inch man was about to die, Zhao Huaian rushed over, roared like thunder, and then swung his Mo Dao with the remaining light and hit the Nanzhao warrior directly.

The blade first cut through the rhinoceros leather armor, then the ribs, and finally pierced through the hip bone, splitting the man into two steaks.

The spurting blood splashed on the Nanzhao people around him. They were stunned and terrified, but Zhao Huaian's next knife had already arrived. The Mo Dao swept across the waists and abdomens of this row of people, and their intestines spilled all over the ground.

The bravery of one general is enough to inspire the three armies. Xianyu Yue and the others roared as Zhao Huaian killed deeper and deeper.

The leader of the Nanzhao army, who had been maintaining the eastern front, turned pale when he saw the Tang army charging from behind, but he still took the initiative to lead five armored soldiers to block them.

Zhao Huaian was in the middle of a killing spree when Xian Yuyue beside him suddenly shouted:

"Those armored soldiers are Luo Juzi."

Although he didn't understand what Luo Juzi meant, he knew from the appearance of those armored soldiers that they were elite. Xianyu Yue was afraid that Zhao Huaian would suffer a loss, so he drew his bow and arrow and shot at those people.

But these armored soldiers just raised their arms to deflect the arrows, and then, led by the leader, prepared to surround and kill Zhao Huaian.

Zhao Huaian swallowed his saliva, swung his sword suddenly, and chopped off the outermost armored soldier.

Because suddenly, Mo Dao cut off half of his head, but Mo Dao was also stuck in the bone.

The Nanzhao jumped up and chopped at Zhao Huaian's head.

After his Mo Dao got stuck, Zhao Huaian immediately dropped the sword, and then rolled to the side when the Nanzhao warrior jumped and slashed. When he stood up, he raised a cloud of dust with his hands.

Several Nanzhao armored soldiers were blinded. Sun Tai and Zhao Hu behind Zhao Huaian took out two-jin iron bone balls from their waists and beat the two armored soldiers from top to bottom, breaking their jaws.

Ren Tong also knocked over a man, then pressed his knee on the neck of the Nanzhao soldier under him, took out a dagger and stabbed the man to death.

The Nanzhao general was also shocked. The five armored soldiers around him were all elite warriors, but he didn't expect that three of them would die at once.

He did not dare to be careless and retreated cautiously under the cover of the remaining two armored soldiers.

Zhao Huaian had been pulled up by Yang Mao and Wang Li. The roll just now almost made him lose his breath.

Seeing that the Tubo general was about to retreat, Zhao Huaian spat out the mud in his mouth, walked to the corpse of the Nanzhao armored soldier, stepped on the corpse, and pulled out the Mo Dao.

A streak of light flashed across the Mo Dao, and just as it hit the skull, the blade was still as sharp.

Nice knife!

Zhao Huaian placed the Mo Dao in front of his chest, with the blade perpendicular to the ground and the tip facing downwards. He held the handle tightly with both hands, just like a farmer plowing the field.

Nanzhao looked at him strangely, but still stepped back subconsciously.

Suddenly, Zhao Huaian kicked his right foot which was behind him, and the Mo Dao in his hand stabbed towards the middle of the general's head like a spear.

The general had never seen a Mo Dao used as a spear before, and was caught off guard and could only retreat in a hurry. However, he almost bumped into two armored soldiers behind him and fell to the ground because he couldn't keep his balance.

When he fell, Zhao Huaian didn't care about him. He originally held the handle of the knife up and down, but now he changed to holding it left and right. Then Zhao Huaian took a step forward with his right foot, twisted his body, and dragged the knife on the ground. When the other person turned around, his left foot had also stepped forward.

With just two consecutive steps, Zhao Huaian had swung the Mo Dao in his hand into a full circle, and chopped it towards the Nanzhao armored soldier on the right with unparalleled kinetic energy.

The armored soldier could only hurriedly raise his sword and hold it to his right shoulder, trying to resist, but it was in vain.

There was a loud sound of metal, and the man's head flew across the sky mixed with the broken knife.

At this time, the only remaining armored soldier had been completely stunned. He stood there stupidly and was then kicked and stabbed to death by Xianyu Yue.

Wang Li, together with He Wenqin who rushed over, pressed Nanzhao's head to the ground. Then Zhao Hu stepped forward and cut off his head while the latter was crying and wailing.

Zhao Hu then held up the general's head and roared to the battlefield:

"The thief general is dead! Surrender!"

The remaining Nanzhao soldiers did not understand Tang language, but they recognized the head. Seeing that their main generals were dead, except for a few who fought their way out, the others knelt down and surrendered.

But surrendering did not guarantee their survival. The group of people who had previously emerged from the mountains in the east rushed over and chopped them to the ground without mercy.

At this time, He Bo and the others who stayed on the hillside also rushed down shouting. They saw that Zhao Huaian's side had won, and ran down excitedly to make a fortune!

These people from the mountain huts went straight to the baggage carts, knocked off the boxes neatly, and saw that they were filled with gold, silver, copper coins, coarse salt, cloth and tri-color porcelain. They all shouted excitedly.

Zhao Huaian was also very happy. He was about to look for Xian Yu Yue, but found that he was not around.

After looking around, he saw Xianyu Yue had already brought Ren Tong and Song Yuan to run towards Song Jian in the prison cart, and there were three unfamiliar soldiers with them.

They split the wooden fence, carried the weak Song Jian out, and then bowed to Song Jian.

After surviving the disaster, Song Jian was very excited and spoke to Xianyu Yue and others.

Zhao Huaian cursed inwardly after seeing this. This old man was so uncouth that he didn't even call him for such a public event.

Although he didn't know how high an official position the Vanguard Youyishi held, his uncle was the Jiedushi of Pinglu, which meant he was definitely a local lord. So, Zhao Huaian also prepared to show his face.

Doing good deeds without leaving a name is not his style!
So he walked over and shouted to Xianyu Yue:
"Old Yue, let's pack up and leave, otherwise we'll be in trouble when those Nanzhao people come back."

Xian Yuyue smiled and said to Song Jian beside him:
"Sir, this is the Lizhou Army general Zhao Huaian I just mentioned. He is truly a brave man who can't be matched by ten thousand men."

Although Song Jian was weak, he still smiled and praised Zhao Huaian after seeing him:
"You are a good man. I saw your attack clearly just now! You are truly brave beyond compare."

Zhao Huaian knew very well that this was flattery. Even if he didn't know how to count, he knew that this kind of praise was given to Guan Erye and Zhang Sanye. How could he deserve it?

But everyone is carrying the sedan chair, and since the leader said this, he certainly can't spoil it, so he can only clasp his fists:
"Envoy, we are merely borrowing the strength of those heroes, and we dare not claim to be brave."

Song Jian was a Han Chinese man, so he didn't say anything. Instead, he introduced several unfamiliar warriors here to Zhao Huaian.

The three men didn't have much ill will towards Zhao Huaian. They just looked at him curiously and then introduced him:
"We are the Chengdu generals Zhao Huaiyi and Xie Zaixing."

"I am Li Shitai of the Zhongwu Army."

Now Zhao Huaian understood that Lao Yue had met his brothers.

Zhao Huaian also quickly responded by clasping his fists, giving enough face.

However, he did notice that there was a soldier following behind the three men. Although this man's clothes and armor were torn, his temperament was restrained and strong, and he looked like a hero.

So, Zhao Huaian also politely saluted, but he didn't expect the man to be flattered and responded:

"Greetings, General Zhao Ya. I am Sun Chuanxiu from the Baoyi Army."

(End of this chapter)