The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

As time went by, the Yellow River soon broke its banks, and news of the disaster in Liaocheng, Heze and other places quickly spread everywhere.

Zhang Ping'an also received secret reports in Kaifeng and couldn't help but worry about the Northern Expedition Army.

Now, every move His Majesty makes in the north has a purpose, and I wonder if this flood will disrupt His Majesty's plans.

However, they did not know that the Tatars that Liu Sanlang had expected had indeed met Bai Chao's army in Guan County just as they had planned.

The Tatars were not fools who believed everything they were told. After comprehensive consideration, they felt that it was profitable to go to Daming Prefecture, so they led their troops south to prepare to attack Daming Prefecture.

They didn't expect to meet Baichao in Guanxian.

Zahe, the leader of the Tatars, is also an old acquaintance of Bai Chao.

Unlike his elder brother Abra who was cautious and cunning, he was a man who refused to submit to heaven or earth. He always felt that Bai Chao was as vulnerable as a pretty boy, and that his elder brother usually exaggerated and was too cautious.

Just based on his title of the tribe's first warrior, defeating him is a piece of cake. If his eldest brother hadn't often stopped him and said that Bai Chao was difficult to deal with, he would have confronted this man head-on.

As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." The people who are valued by Zhahe basically have similar personalities to him and are accustomed to looking down on the Han people.

Bai Chao had just led his troops through a major battle and did not want to cause any more trouble, so he wanted to conserve his troops.

But Zhahe really didn't have the brains of his brother. He kept provoking and didn't listen to what the people sent by Baichao said at all.

He even threatened to chop off Bai Chao's head and bring it back to gain merit.

I can't stand it anymore, there's no way to talk about it.

The two sides fought fiercely in Guan County, and both sides suffered heavy casualties, with tens of thousands of soldiers killed.

Zahe claimed to be the bravest warrior in the tribe, but in the end he died under Bai Chao's sword.

Bai Chao showed no mercy. After piercing the man's throat with his sword, he raised his hand and swung his sword to chop off his head. He then threw it to the ground and said nonchalantly, "Now you know who chopped off whose head, right?"

When Zhahe's head rolled to the ground, his eyes were still open and even turned a few times, as if he died with his eyes open!

Bai Chao didn't even look at it and just let the horse step on it.

After several years of training on the battlefield, Li Mingxuan is generally able to protect himself, not to mention that he is in the rear of the battlefield and has personal guards to protect him.

Seeing that Bai Chao was about to kill Zhahe without a second thought, he didn't even have time to shout, and perhaps it would have been useless even if he had shouted.

"It's over now. Zahe is Abra's most respected brother from the same mother. Now he has completely fallen out with Abra."

Another counselor beside him was stroking his beard and sighing, but said nothing.

Seeing that their leader was dead, the remaining Tatars gave up fighting and fled quickly on horseback.

On the surface, it seemed that the Tatars lost, but Bai Chao was not in an easy situation either. He lost 1,000 of his own troops and 800 of his own. After experiencing two consecutive wars, even if the Yellow River did not burst its banks, it would be impossible for him to launch another surprise attack on Kaifeng.

"Master, what should we do now?" Li Mingxuan leaned over and asked.

At this moment, the military doctor was bandaging Bai Chao's wound, exclaiming, "This Zhahe is a veteran of many battles. That stab was truly cunning, even the armor couldn't protect against it. Fortunately, the master was wearing a full set of gold-wire soft armor underneath, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous, and he would have been seriously injured."

"Zhahe doesn't have even one tenth of the intelligence of his brother Abra. He is just a simple-minded reckless man who disrupted all my plans," Bai Chao said as he sat on the ground and closed his eyes.

I was secretly sighing in my heart that it was God's will. It seemed that the fortune-telling by the master twenty years ago was not in vain.

Is it true that I will die at the age of thirty?

Bai Chao didn't answer Li Mingxuan's question, but instead asked something irrelevant: "Military Advisor, what day is it today?"

"Hmm?" Li Mingxuan was stunned for a moment, but he didn't ask any more questions. He counted on his fingers before replying, "Your Excellency, today is July 7th, the Qiqiao Festival!"

"July 7th, that's not far from the Ghost Festival on July 15th!" Bai Chao said with a smile.

"Yes," Li Mingxuan replied, somewhat confused.

"Okay, let's not go to Kaifeng. Let's go to Guantao County to rest for a while. Brothers have worked hard for so long, it's time to take a break!" Bai Chao stood up and said lightly.

There was still blood oozing from the cotton cloth on his neck, but he acted as if nothing had happened. He jumped onto the horse nimbly, his eyes filled with emotions that Li Mingxuan could not understand.

Somehow, it always makes people feel uneasy.

But at this point, there was no other way out. After the remaining soldiers were reorganized, Bai Chao led his men to Guantao.

As for the defeated remnants of Zahe, they originally planned to flee back to the vicinity of Yucheng.

But before they had gone far, a fat man started grumbling, "We brought 60,000 elite troops south this time, and over half were killed or wounded in Guan County. Not only did we not get a single drop, but Zhahe even got his head chopped off. If we go back in disgrace like this, the others will laugh at us to death. Besides, it's hard to explain to Abula!"

"What the hell do you want to say, you bastard? Can you be more straightforward? Are you a man?" said another thin man who was leading the group irritably. He was also very angry!

"What I mean is, why don't we go to Daming Prefecture as planned? We have to get some benefits back. Now that the Yellow River is flooding, we have suffered serious damage. There is no point in going back. We might as well take the remaining 30,000 people to Daming Prefecture to get some benefits before running away. The spies have already found out that the Northern Expedition Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty went to Jizhou, and there are not many guards in Daming Prefecture, and the manpower is very low!" The fat man suggested.

Many others also agreed, unwilling to go back in such disgrace.

"Ever since that Zhou became the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, our territory has been getting smaller and smaller. I think it won't be long before we are really driven back to our hometown in Mobei. To be honest, I don't want to go back. Mobei is bitter and cold, it's not as comfortable as living in the Han people's territory. You can just rob whatever you want. Now if we don't even rob, what's the point? Tsk", the fat man added fuel to the fire when he saw that everyone was excited.

After some discussion, everyone reached an agreement not to return to Yucheng but to turn around and head towards Daming Prefecture.

"Hey, wait, what if we run into Bai Chao again?" After this battle, the thin man was very afraid of Bai Chao.

In the past, I always thought it was just a rumor, but after seeing it with my own eyes today, I found that this White Nest is indeed not to be underestimated. It was their carelessness.

"The spies just reported that they were seen heading northwest from afar. Let's take a rest first and then go on. We will definitely not run into them," the fat man laughed.

"It seems that you have planned this in advance and even left spies behind," the thin man said unhappily after taking a glance.

"This final idea was not something we all discussed together, nor was it just my idea, right?" the fat man said frankly, not feeling embarrassed at all.