Chapter 1011: long live the prince
Chapter 1011 Long Live the Prince
Chengqian was awakened by the sound of the horn.
In the darkness, the ox horn was shaking the world, Murong Xi gently shook his arm, "Your Highness."
Chengqian woke up. Last night, he chatted with Murong Xi and was warming up by the fire. He didn't know when he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, he looked at this woman with some uneasiness on his face.
Rubbing his eyes, he saw that he was able to fall asleep while sitting by the fire in a blanket and armor. It seemed that he was indeed too tired.
The Luben knight stayed behind the prince all night. After all, there are so many Tuyuhun women in the tent, and the prince still has a sweating Tuyuhun wife in his arms. of.
"Your Highness, we are about to dispatch troops."
"Is it dawn?" The yurt is so thick that you can't feel the dawn at all inside.
"It's not bright yet." The guard said truthfully.
Chengqian wanted to stand up, but his legs and feet were numb. The guards supported him to stand up. Chengqian moved his numb hands and feet while letting him lift the felt tent. It was really gray outside, but the whole camp had already come to life. .
Hustle and bustle everywhere.
The soldiers were making preparations for the expedition in an orderly manner, feeding horses, dismantling tents, packing up weapons, and cooking.
Breakfast is stewed meat. The dead horses and wounded horses that fought yesterday, as well as the many cattle and sheep seized, had Chengqian's order to let them eat, so not only stewed the dead and disabled horse meat, but also picked a lot of cattle and sheep to slaughter together. .
Ten soldiers in each tent got a lot of meat. The meat was stewed in a big pot, and then fried rice porridge was cooked. The camp was full of fragrance.
About 2,000 slightly wounded soldiers stayed behind, responsible for taking care of more than 3,000 seriously injured soldiers, and guarding more than 10,000 captives, as well as those seized tents, livestock and other spoils that were full of mountains and valleys.
Walking out of the big tent, after a night of heavy snowfall, the muddy ground was once again white with powder.
In the camp, the officers were shouting orders, the messengers were running, and the reconnaissance cavalry began to gallop out of the camp.
Weapons collided and horses neighed.
The sound of the horn is still blowing, and Cheng Qian can accurately hear the military orders conveyed in it.
"This is not a battle cry, but a wake-up call." He told Murong Xi. "I'll be off in a while, you stay here."
Murong Xi looked at the young prince, he was so domineering yet gentle last night, she finally slept in his arms all night.
I don't know whether to expect him to leave or stay.
In the end, there was only one sentence, "Take care."
She knew that he was going to lead troops to attack her husband, but she didn't know what to say.
"Wait for me to come back!" Cheng Qian smiled, turned around, pulled her into his arms, then lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose, then her cheek, and finally landed on her lips.
Finally put her tongue into her mouth...
Murong Xi struggled, trying to push him away, but couldn't.
Chengqian finally let go of her, bursting into laughter.
Murong Xi reached out to wipe her lips.
"You will be my woman from now on, wait for me to come back, I will take you back to Chang'an!"
Chengqian strode away.
The Luben knight brought the prince's mount, a majestic Kangju Dawan BMW, and with the support of the guards, Cheng Qian, who was in full armor, stepped onto the horse.
He turned his head on the horse and waved goodbye to her.
Liang Jianfang, Xi Junmai and other generals had already been waiting in the distance, watching the kiss between the prince and Murong, they couldn't help grinning.
"Our Highness really looks like Duke Wei in every way, not only in his military portraits, but also in his passion."
"Couldn't it be true that the army on this battlefield doesn't forget to be romantic, and our Highness is indeed amazing. The Murong family was just captured yesterday, and they conquered it overnight?"
"Look at their appearance, I dare say that Murong must have fallen in love with the crown prince."
"How could it be so exaggerated!" Gao Kan shook his head.
"So although you are a son of a famous family, but you are a Yulin lump, you can't even see a woman's mind. You look at the appearance of Murong just now. It seems to refuse, but in fact it is half-hearted, and even if you want to refuse, you still welcome it. Know what tricks the crown prince used to make this Murong family fall in love with him overnight." Gao Zhensheng looked envious.
In the military camp, women are always the best talking points.
Xi Junmai also laughed, "I guess he learned from Wei Gong too!"
Gao Zhensheng immediately said, "Then next time, I must ask Mr. Wei for advice."
Chengqian came over on horseback, "Brothers, are you all refreshed?"
"After a night of rest, I recovered pretty well." Gao Kan said, "Your Highness, we have stewed mutton soup. Your Highness, go over and have some."
"Well, I happened to be hungry, so we chatted while eating." Chengqian nodded.
In the snow, beside a big pot, Chengqian filled a bowl full of mutton soup in a herdsman's big wooden bowl, and stood next to the horse to drink it.
The wooden bowl was also one of the captured trophies. It was obviously used by some Tuyuhun prince. The wood was made of a rare and precious variety, and it was carved with beautiful patterns, inlaid with gold and silver, and inlaid with many precious stones. The wooden bowl suddenly became taller, and there was even the name and title of the owner of the bowl on the bottom of the bowl.
The wooden bowl even has a layer of pulp, which is transparent and shiny.
Chengqian didn't dislike this bowl, nor did he take this jeweled wooden bowl that was worth at least a hundred yaks too seriously, and directly used it to drink mutton soup.
"It's a pity that there are no green onions here. If you sprinkle a handful of chopped green onions and add some pepper, this mutton soup will be fresh."
The generals of Gao Kan are not so picky, and fresh mutton soup is good. I think they followed Wei Gong to fight Tuyuhun, traveled thousands of miles, marched long distances, marched in snow mountains and ice valleys, and often had to cross hundreds of miles. In the no-man's-land, you can't even see a bison, let alone herders, cattle and sheep, or even a tree. You can only eat ice and drink snow on the road.
Grab a few handfuls of snow and pour it into a water bag, then put it in your arms to warm it up. After warming up, take a sip of cold water, just a sip of fried noodles, or meat floss or jerky, and salt can only be eaten dry.
This is not bad. It is said that during the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, many generals were besieged or cut off food. Rats and insects are not worth mentioning, and there are many cannibals. It is said that when they were most hungry, they buried the bodies of dead soldiers in the ground the night before, and as a result, many people secretly dug them out to eat in the middle of the night.
During the siege of Luoyang, one tael of gold could not buy a bucket of rice. There was even a black market for human flesh in the city.
People will be extremely hungry and can eat anything, even dirt.
"Is there any news about Fan Qi?" Cheng Qian asked while drinking mutton soup. Although he complained about the lack of onion and no pepper, the prince still tasted very fragrant. After a few big mouthfuls, there was only half of the big bowl of mutton soup left.
Xi Junmai hesitated for a while, but finally said truthfully, "A scout came back this morning and found them."
"Where is it, why hasn't it arrived yet?" Chengqian asked, taking a spoon to scoop up the mutton from the pot, with skillful movements.
"Tuoba Chici and the others lost their way first, and went in the wrong direction in the snowstorm. Later, when they turned back, they encountered a reinforcement from Tuyuhun on the way, so they fought hastily in the snowstorm."
"Oh, what's the result? Don't say they can't win with 30,000 riders!"
"When we met, the Tuyuhun people were just a forward. That old guy Tuoba Chici underestimated the enemy. He led his army to charge and won the battle. After that, he chased all the way, but was ambushed by the Tuyuhun people, and was ambushed hastily. , After a big defeat, they mistakenly thought that they had encountered Murong Cheng's army, and some of the small tribe immediately retreated and fled..."
At that time, the 30,000 fan cavalry did not attack with the whole army, but pulled the marching route for dozens of miles. Tuoba Chici pursued and fell in ambush. When he was besieged, most of the rear had not followed. Among the troops, the Xiaofan tribe fled in front of the battle, and the other tribes led to flee, and Tuoba Chici was defeated.
Instead, he was hunted down all the way.
Finally waited for Xifeng Bulai to lead his troops to help him stabilize his position, but the Tuyuhun people had already occupied the valley pass and guarded the favorable terrain.
Dangxiang Qiang and other 30,000 Tibetan cavalry had no advantage in the narrow and critical mountain passes. After a chaotic day of fighting, they failed to defeat the Tuyuhun tribe's soldiers and horses, and were stopped there.
"Oh, so that's the case." Chengqian was not surprised, nor was he uneasy, he buried his head in munching on the soft stewed mutton, "What about Hou Junji, don't tell me, he's lost too?"
"Our scouts haven't found Hou Junji yet, but it's been very snowy these two days, and it's quite possible that they got lost. Of course, it's more likely that they encountered Tuyuhun people just like Tuoba Chici."
"After all, we have been running for a hundred miles, like a drop of water falling into a pot of hot oil. Now there are at least 300,000 people gathered in this hundred-mile land, so there are all kinds of possibilities."
Chengqian nodded.
"Well, indeed, so we can't count on them for the time being, but I don't count on them in my plan. The real tough battle has to be fought by ourselves, so let's go according to the original plan!"
"Your Highness, we still feel that this plan is too risky. Now the place is full of dangers, and the people of Tuyuhun are all on alert, and the wind and snow are blowing outside, which is not conducive to marching and fighting. We have an idea," Xi Junmai proposed a brand new battle plan "At present, we already know the location of the 30,000 Fanqi. It is about 50 miles away from us, not too far away, and behind us, there are now about 20,000 Tuyuhun people blocking the way. We might as well suspend the pursuit of Murong Cheng for the time being. , kill the carbine, and first attack the 20,000 Tuyuhun tribes who are standing between us and the 30,000 Tibetan cavalry, and after killing them, join the Tibetan cavalry..."
Chengqian ate a large bowl of mutton soup, still unsatisfied, picked up a spoon and continued to scoop up another bowl, half a bowl of meat and half a bowl of soup, "It's almost tasteless without pepper and green onions!"
"The new plan you mentioned is very good, but I'm not the kind of person who changes from day to day. Destroying more than 20,000 Tuyuhun miscellaneous fish is not very attractive to me. What I want is to defeat the main force of Tuyuhun. Before Murong Cheng fled far away, he was captured alive, of course, it is also possible to kill him off the horse."
"Your Highness, please think twice!"
"I've already thought about it, and I still firmly believe that our 10,000 riders still have a great advantage over Murong Cheng, especially now that our army's morale is at its peak, so we can't waste it. If we If Murong Cheng can be killed in this battle, then the Tuyuhun rebellion will be put down."
"If we turn around and hunt those 20,000 miscellaneous fish, we will let the big fish go. At that time, Murong Cheng will run back to Fucheng City, or even Heyuan, or even flee to Bailan. Are we going to let the war continue forever? Continue to be led by the nose by Murong Cheng?"
"No, war is about controlling people rather than controlling people. We must always grasp the strategic initiative. Let Tuoba Chici continue to fight with the 20,000 Tuyuhun tribe. No matter the outcome, as long as we can hold them back, It can be considered a meritorious service.”
"Everyone, don't hesitate any longer. You have all been under Qin Lang's command and followed him to win one beautiful victory after another. Don't tell me that now, just because I, Li Chengqian, is in command, are you starting to shrink back in fear?"
"Please trust me again, let's make contributions with Gu!"
"I will use a beautiful victory to prove myself!"
"Your Highness, you are the heir apparent of the Tang Dynasty, so it is useless to prove anything to anyone!" Gao Kan persuaded.
"No, I have to prove myself! I have to prove to the sages, to Qin Lang, and to the people of the world, that I, Li Chengqian, deserved to be the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, and that I am the well-deserved Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty!"
The bugle humming in the distance, low and melodious, even makes the soul tremble.
Ten thousand Guanlong elite warriors had already eaten and drank enough, were fully armed and determined, stepped on their horses one after another, and white steam spewed out of their mouths.
Chengqian threw the jeweled wooden bowl worth a hundred yaks on the ground, pulled up his black-lacquered dragon-pattern horse spear standing on the ground, and rode the horse slowly towards the gate of Bingqiang Village.
The four generals Gao Kan persuaded the prince not to move, so they could only bite the bullet and mounted their horses, followed closely behind.
Dawn comes, and the morning light suddenly appears.
In the smoggy morning light, the Crown Prince Chengqian urged the horses to move forward, and the Guanlong cavalry of the Tang Dynasty were like peonies in full bloom.
The iron cavalry slowly drove out of the gate of the ice wall village, and assembled in the wilderness.
Ten thousand cavalry, divided into five battalions.
Xi Junmai insisted that he command the front barracks, Crown Prince Chengqian was in charge of the middle barracks, Gao Kan and Gao Zhensheng were the two generals who commanded the left and right barracks, and Liang Jianfang was in charge of the rear barracks.
Chengqian insisted on personally commanding the Chinese military camp.
The knights all have two horses. After a night's rest, they are full of energy again.
Long lance, horn bow, iron bone, silver hammer, hand axe, steel whip, copper mace, mace, iron shield...
Chengqian rode his horse and galloped slowly in front of the steel cavalry formation, inspecting the army that had just followed him and established his miraculous achievements.
The flag is fluttering!
The snowflakes are still fluttering, and the young prince is standing upright on horseback.
"Da Tang, Wan Sheng!" Cheng Qian shouted.
10,000 cavalry roared in unison, "Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng."
"Da Tang Wan Sheng!"
Someone shouted, "Prince Wansheng!"
"Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng, Prince Wan Sheng!"
Someone shouted again, "Long live the prince!"
“·······”
(end of this chapter)