manynovel Chapter 1120 Lucky General
Chapter 1120 Lucky General
Chapter 1120 Lucky General
Just twenty days before the emperor issued the edict of repentance.
It is less than ten miles away from Mingsha City.
General Peng Sun from Jingyuan Road attacked here with more than a thousand cavalry.
Peng Sun had just fought with the Tangut cavalry on horseback, wielding a broadsword.
The Dangxiang had set up several lines of defense to block the Song army coming from the Jingyuan Road. If the Song army ventured too deep and moved too fast, they would be ambushed by the Dangxiang cavalry. If they moved too slowly, they would be of no help in rescuing Mingsha City.
Li Xian, the governor of Xihe Road, and Shen Kuo, the general manager of Jingyuan Road, divided their troops into several groups and were determined to rush into the city and save Mingsha City at all costs.
There were several bloody battles along the way.
Compared with Yu Chong's hesitation before leading his troops from Huanqing Road, Li Xian and Shen Kuo were determined to save Mingsha City at the cost of casualties.
Compared with other troops, Peng Sun was undoubtedly the fastest. As a thief, Peng Sun had a keen sense of smell and had seen through several ambushes by the Tanguts.
Finally, Pengsun arrived within ten miles of Mingsha City, while other rescue troops were still twenty miles away, and the army of Shen Kuo and Li Xian was still thirty miles away.
Peng Sun dismounted and hid behind a patch of sparse grass. There were sand dunes and sparse vegetation covering the area, and nearly a thousand men and horses were barely able to hide.
Deputy General Guo Zhenyan said, "Master Peng, we really can't go any further. If we go any further, we will lose all our troops."
Peng Sun said to Guo Zhen, "You are so stupid. Have you forgotten that last time we led troops to escort food, we were attacked and our food was confiscated by the Western bandits. If it weren't for our small contributions back then, we would have been demoted by Shen Jinglie."
Guo Zhen wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and said, "If I am demoted, then so be it. It is better than dying here."
"Strong? When I was a thief, I traveled thousands of miles to seek wealth. Now I travel tens of thousands of miles to seek an official position. Otherwise, why would I eat sand on Jingyuan Road? I only know one sentence in my life: wealth and honor are sought through danger!"
Guo Zhen secretly groaned when he heard this.
Peng Sun glanced at Guo Zhen's face and scolded, "What are you afraid of? The fortune teller said that I was born with a great destiny. When we go to the battlefield, thousands of troops will avoid us!"
"If it weren't for his good fortune, how could this head still be on his neck? Look carefully, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting here, and the Western bandits' soldiers are defending here, but not there. They can't even keep an eye on Mingsha City, and hundreds of them have escaped. How can they care about our few soldiers?"
"Besides, although we didn't achieve any success on this mission, at least we have explored the routes here clearly. You can be at ease. Even if we encounter the Western bandits, we know where to run."
Guo Zhen knew that Peng Sun was extremely meticulous in his work. He not only explored all the routes during his diplomatic mission to Western Xia, but also bribed more than a dozen Dangxiang soldiers.
You should know that most of the Dangxiang soldiers were also tribal soldiers.
In Hengshan and Jingyuan, many tribes are fence-sitters, and they will follow whoever feeds them. Last year, they were recruited by the Dangxiang to attack the Song Dynasty, and this year they were recruited by the Song Dynasty as archers to fight the Dangxiang.
Peng Sun was good at spending money. He took the opportunity of visiting the Western Xia military camp to bribe a Western Xia leader.
Along the way, these dozen or so Dangxiang soldiers also acted as scouts for Peng Sun and helped them deceive the Dangxiang troops.
While Peng Sun and Guo Zhen were talking, several scouts stumbled over and reported, "General, Mingsha City has been breached!"
Peng Sun and Guo Zhen were both horrified when they heard this.
Several people wanted to stand up and look around, but were immediately stopped by others to avoid exposing their whereabouts.
The Western bandits managed to capture Mingsha City while being besieged by an outer Song army of more than 100,000 soldiers. Although the city was short of food, the Dangxiang soldiers were really good at fighting.
"No wonder Chief Steward Zhong and Deputy Chief Steward Zhang are not in the army. It's really not unfair," Guo Zhen looked at Peng Sun and said, "Master Peng, let's withdraw our troops."
Upon hearing this, Peng Sun sat down cross-legged, broke off a few pieces of grass and held them to his lips.
Seeing this, Guo Zhen hurriedly shook Peng Sun's leg and said, "Master Peng! Master Peng!"
"Now that Mingsha City has been destroyed, all the troops will surely retreat. The Western bandits may take the opportunity to turn around and pursue Huanqing Road and our Jingyuan Road and Xihe Road. Li Zhizhi and Shen Jinglüe will surely fight and retreat. If we don't retreat, it will be too late."
Peng Sun shook his head and said, "We are not in a hurry."
"Master Peng!"
Peng Sun said, "You said that we are already right under Mingsha City's nose. It would be a pity if we leave without going into the city."
Guo Zhen wondered if Peng Sun was crazy.
Peng Sun said, "Of course we won't go in with a swagger. We will wait until it's dark in an hour, then we will lead our troops to break into the city. No matter what, the defeated soldiers will leave the city. In this way, we can pick up some people and take them back, and this trip will be explained."
"Is it that serious? Master Peng, are we going to give up our lives?" Guo Zhen asked.
Peng Sun said: "Confused, think about it!"
"Who is Zhang Jinglie in the city? He is the nephew of the prime minister. If we can save him, even if we have to carry his body back, Prime Minister Zhang will remember our kindness for the rest of his life."
"But with such a small number of troops, once the Western bandits notice us, they will swallow us up in one gulp. Is it worth sacrificing the lives of thousands of our brothers just to save Zhang Jinglüe? Master Peng, listen to my advice. We don't want this credit anymore."
Peng Sun shook his head and said, "Don't say that. It's not entirely true that we are greedy for merit. Look, Zhang Jinglue led tens of thousands of men from Xihe Road to defend Mingsha City and saved the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers from Jingyuan Road."
"We can't say that all of us in Jingyuan Road have no sense of loyalty. We came here and watched people die without helping. We didn't do this when we were bandits."
After Peng Sun's words, Guo Zhen and several other generals remained silent.
But a few people said, "Master Peng, let's do it. We, the Jingyuan Army, can't let anyone say that we don't have loyalty!"
"It is! It is!"
"Done! Done!"
Peng Sun nodded and said to Guo Zhen, "You take half of the troops and continue to lie in ambush here, and I will lead the other half to rush to the city. If you can't wait for me before dawn, don't wait and go back quickly. I'll ask you to take care of my family in Fujian."
Guo Zhen gritted his teeth and said, "Master Peng, I'll go. You have a big family, I'm afraid I can't take care of them all!"
"Don't be so fussy at this time."
……
When night fell, the sound of shouting and killing still seemed to be drifting in the wind.
Upon seeing this, Peng Sun immediately led hundreds of riders and headed towards the dim direction of Mingsha City.
Along the way, they encountered many Xixia soldiers and horses, many of whom had heads hanging on their horses, chatting and laughing. Although he knew that the Song army in the city was in danger, Peng Sun still gritted his teeth and moved forward. Relying on the maneuvers of the Dangxiang surrendered soldiers and the inability to see things in the dark, Peng Sun and his group also arrived at the foot of Mingsha City.
It happened that they encountered more than ten Dangxiang cavalrymen escorting dozens of Song army prisoners. Peng Sun was overjoyed and immediately ordered his men to approach them and get rid of the ten or so cavalrymen in one go.
After rescuing these dozens of Song prisoners, Peng Sun immediately asked.
The other side was overjoyed when they learned that it was the troops from Jingyuan Road. When Peng Sun asked about Zhang Zhi's whereabouts.
None of them could explain clearly, except one person who said, "I just saw General Wang escorting Zhang Jinglue out of the city. Zhang Jinglue seemed to be seriously injured, and General Wang carried him and the Beiwei Army all the way out of the city!"
"Where are they?"
"I don't know."
Peng Sun was so anxious that he broke out in a sweat when he heard this, but at this moment he could only say, "Retreat."
"Not looking for the chapter anymore?"
"Let's not look for him anymore, maybe Zhang Jinglie has escaped," Peng Sun said firmly, "Let's walk slowly and avoid being ambushed by the Western Xia, otherwise we'll just have to stay here. And bury the body carefully so no one can see anything strange."
Peng Sun immediately took in these dozens of people and led his troops back. Although it was covered by night, he was still frightened when he encountered the Tangut cavalry holding bright torches.
However, the Xixia army had just conquered Mingsha City, and the entire army was extremely excited and exhausted. Peng Sun traveled several miles without any danger, and at this time, a battle broke out in front of him.
But they saw hundreds of Dangxiang cavalry chasing more than ten riders from east to west, shouting loudly.
Peng Sun captured the Tangut surrendered soldiers and asked, "What did they say?"
The other party said, "They said there is a high-ranking Han official! We must catch him."
Peng Sun was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately said, "Brothers, follow me!"
Peng Sun immediately led all his soldiers to mount their horses, seemingly cooperating with the other side to pursue the Song army, but in fact they were approaching secretly. In order to confuse the Dangxiang people, he also made the Dangxiang surrendered soldiers speak the Dangxiang language.
When the troops approached, Peng Sun ordered his men to suddenly draw their bows and arrows on their horses and fire a hail of arrows at the pursuing Dangxiang cavalry.
Dozens of riders were shot off their horses immediately.
"Wrong shot!"
"Wrong shot!"
The rest of the Tangut cavalry scattered and shouted.
Peng Sun laughed and answered in Chinese: "I am shooting at you."
“It’s the Han Chinese!”
The Dangxiang cavalry suddenly realized their mistake, and by then Peng Sun had already caught up with the dozen or so riders in front.
Peng Sun shouted, "I am Peng Sun, the vanguard general of Jingyuan Road. Where is Zhang Jinglie?"
The other 10 or so cavalrymen slowed down upon hearing this, and one of them said, "I'm Wang Shan, I've heard of your name. I've got Zhang Jinglie on my back!"
Peng Sun was overjoyed and went closer to take a look, only to see Wang Shan riding a horse with two men, and Wang Shan was carrying a man on his back.
Wang Shan said: "When the city was breached, Zhang Jinglue was shot by an arrow and fell from the top of the city wall. I saved him."
Peng Sun laughed and said, "Great! No wonder the fortune teller said that I have extraordinary luck. I was able to find Zhang Jinglue among the hundreds of thousands of Xixia troops."
After saying this, Peng Sun burst into laughter again: "On the day when Zhang Jinglie killed Wang Zhongzheng, you, Wang Shan, looked down on our troops from Jingyuan Road. What about today? You still have to rely on us."
Wang Shan cursed in his heart that this man was so vindictive, but he remained silent.
Peng Sun, however, was very proud and arrogant.
Seeing that the Dangxiang troops were chasing them from all directions, Peng Sun immediately led Wang Shan and Zhang Zhi to fight and retreat, and then led them to where Guo Zhen was hiding his troops.
Guo Zhen was overjoyed to see Peng Sun arrive, and immediately led his troops to attack and support him. The Dangxiang pursuers did not expect that there were ambushes from the Song army here, and were killed by surprise, and retreated in embarrassment.
Afterwards, Peng Sun and Guo Zhen retreated quickly on both sides.
On the way, they were overwhelmed by the Tangut troops. Peng Sun led his group to make many detours and fought several fierce battles, losing some soldiers and horses, and were finally rescued by the troops led by Zhong Shidao.
Finally, Peng Sun's forces retreated to Pingxia City in the newly established Huaide Army and joined the retreating army there.
Zhang Zhi was already dying when he entered the city. Shen Kuo did not dare to report it, for fear that he could not be rescued here and would be reported alive there. In this case, it would be better to report that he died for his country directly.
When Zhang Zhi felt a little better, Shen Kuo felt that he could not delay any longer, so he rushed to the capital.
When Zhang Yue saw Shen Kuo's report, he was overjoyed. He read the names of Wang Shan and Peng Sun and memorized them in his heart!
(End of this chapter)