In the first year of Longsheng, Wuyin, on the ninth day of the first month of March, the water camp of Yongze Prefecture and the water camp of Qinzhou of the Northern Han Dynasty fought in Qinshui, the Yongjun army was half destroyed, and Liu Dai, the deputy commander of the Northern Han Water Army, and the fourth son of the king of Jinjun were captured.

―― "Zizhi Tongjian-Yongji III"

Boredom looked up at the sky full of feather arrows, I calmly stood on the boat, it was really because the river in this area is not particularly wide, Xiao Shunzi is enough to take me ashore to escape in a critical situation, so I also showed a calm and fearless appearance, if it was really dangerous, I was afraid that I would have let Xiao Shunzi take me away. Looking at the chaotic river in front of me, I was a little tired from standing and would love a chair to sit on, but I had to stand there straight for the sake of morale. It's been fighting for nearly an hour, and there should be Yongjun coming to support nearby, but I looked up, but there was no figure, and I couldn't help but feel uneasy, could it be that the Northern Han Army had come out to challenge, and now the Ji clan was unstable, how could they fight at this time.

When I was thinking about it in my heart, Su Qing said coldly behind me: "My lord, the last general has thought about it carefully, this naval army should have been newly built at the beginning of last year, and the general who commanded the naval army was Ji Sheng, the confidant general of the Northern Han Dynasty, and the last general got information that he had established a new army in the upper reaches of Qinshui, but Ji Sheng has always been at odds with Long Tingfei, and the information that the last general got was that he asked for the training of the new army in order to confront Long Tingfei, so the last general did not pay special attention to it, and now I think that they should use the lake at the source of Qinshui to train the water army." Because of the protection of the Demon Gate masters, the scouts we sent over could not penetrate the defense line there, and the last general was ordered to preside over the overall situation in the Qinzhou area at that time, so there was such an omission, and I ask for your forgiveness. ”

I waved my hand and said, "It's come to this point, it's useless to say more, but Na Jisheng shouldn't be good at the navy, how could he become the commander of the navy." ”

Su Qing thought for a while and said: "The last general looks at the warships of the Northern Han Navy, it should be the standard ship of Southern Chu, presumably there must be a general of the Southern Chu Naval Army to help train, although Ji Sheng is also a cavalry general, but he is a Qinshui fisherman, at least it is more suitable than other generals." ”

I pointed to the young general who had just shot me three arrows, and at this moment he had already brought several ships to try to break through the interception and deal with the heavy ships, and I could not help but be quite moved to see that he was brave and good at fighting. Su Qing glanced at him, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and said: "This person is a relative of the Northern Han royal family, Liu Dai, the fourth son of the king of Jinjun, most of the sons of the king of Jinjun are not talented, only this concubine is all-round in civil and military affairs, and originally had the intention of becoming the prince, but the princess of the county was born in a famous family in the Northern Han Dynasty, so she naturally refused to let the position of the prince get out of her hand, and repeatedly embarrassed Liu Dai, so the king of Jinjun was forced to send Liu Dai to the army as a general. Unexpectedly, this person has become a general of the navy. ”

I exclaimed: "The Northern Han royal family is really talented, this Liu Dai was probably also a cavalry general, it will not be too long to learn water warfare, although there are still some deficiencies, but it is extremely rare, if we can capture this person alive, then this battle is a small setback, and it is worth it." I saw him hit several times, but failed to rush through the blockade of our navy, to attack the baggage boat behind, I couldn't help but move in my heart, thought for a while, and whispered to Zhuang Ru: "Can you let him go, and then put on a small half of the baggage, and capture him, this person is a relative of the Northern Han Dynasty, and a rookie of the navy, if you can capture and kill this person, the morale of the Northern Han navy will inevitably be frustrated, and then the water will be the world of our army." ”

Zhuang Ru said in embarrassment: "If it is a heavy loss, I am afraid that His Royal Highness the King of Qi will blame it." ”

I laughed and said, "As long as I capture this person, I will do it." ”

Zhuang Ru showed a relieved look on his face, waved the flag in his hand, not long after, that Liu Dai really successfully broke through the defense line of the Dayong Navy, he was pleasantly surprised to lead the army to rush, the ship of the Navy used rockets, for a while the river was full of fireworks, several baggage boats were set on fire, I know his intentions, to burn those baggage, heavy blow to the morale of our army, and he burned the baggage ships can also be attacked before and after, breaking through the fleet of the Dayong Navy. He rushed and killed smoothly, and led many Northern Han warships to cross through that gap, and those warships were gradually falling into the Yongjun ship formation, but now when they saw the opportunity, they all killed backwards. The killing went smoothly, and most of the Northern Han naval forces did not notice it, in addition to most of the baggage ships retreating, there were more than ten baggage ships that dodged to both sides when Zhuang Ru ordered to let go of the defense line at the beginning, and faintly surrounded the warships brought by Liu Dai. Zhuang Ru's face showed murderous intent, and with an order, these baggage boats rushed towards the middle stream as if they were out of control, and the sailors on board ignited the baggage grain and grass, and jumped into the water to escape, and more than a dozen fireboats trapped Liu Dai and others.

The young general saw it, his expression was pale, he was going downstream, knowing that he could not turn the rudder back immediately, so he had to order to continue to rush forward, at this time, several of the baggage boats that had originally retreated anchored in the middle of the river, and they had been blocked on the water, and Liu Dai's warship happened to crash into it after rushing through the fireworks. The Yongjun sailors on those baggage ships all released rockets, and those baggage ships were also in flames, trapping Liu Dai's dozen warships in the sea of fire.

At this time, Ji Sheng, the commander of the Northern Han Naval Army, saw the fire raging in the rear of the Yong Army, and his vision was blocked by fireworks, and he was still happy that Liu Dai burned the enemy's baggage, who knew that there was a terrible horn sound from behind, Ji Sheng only felt cold in his heart when he heard it, obviously Liu Dai had fallen into a desperate situation, although he had the intention to rescue, but seeing the Yongjun warships swarming from all sides, he knew that if he fought again, he would be unlucky, so he had to order the troops to retreat, and the speed of the Northern Han warships exceeded that of the Yong Army, and they successfully disappeared out of the sight of the Yong Army in a short time.

Zhuang Ru saw that the enemy army had retreated, and hurriedly ordered to clean up the battlefield, collect prisoners, and almost all the Northern Han troops left behind were killed. In this battle, the Yongjun army lost eighteen baggage ships and nineteen warships, while the Northern Han army lost seven ships and twelve fighting ships. This time, the Northern Han Navy was repelled without warning, and the prepared Yong Army could compete for hegemony in Qinshui, they had enough means to make the Northern Han Navy unable to go south, and the fact that they were unable to win did not worry them, after all, the main purpose of the Zezhou Navy was to transport baggage, not to fight with the Northern Han Army. And Zhuang Ru and the others knew that the fact that Liu Dai was captured alive was enough to make the newly built Northern Han naval army lose confidence, so they were even more elated, as for the weight of the loss, they would not take it to heart, who let me bear it.

I happily paid a hundred taels of gold and let the few sailors who captured Liu Dai distribute it by themselves, so that Liu Dai, who was dizzy from the river, would be locked in the bottom cabin. Then I went back to the cabin and wrote a letter to His Royal Highness King Qi with a bitter face, explaining to him the loss of baggage, although I said that I agreed with Zhuang Ru to sacrifice some baggage, but eighteen ships are also a bit too outrageous, but thinking of Liu Dai who has strange goods in his hands, I still smiled proudly.

At this time, Hu Yanshou walked in and said with a solemn expression: "My lord, the reinforcements have arrived." ”

While writing hard, I asked: "What's the matter, I remember that there should be at least more than a thousand cavalry nearby, they can't fight in the water, but the Qinshui River is not wide, they can use bows and crossbows on the shore to shoot those Northern Han naval troops, why did they come so late, didn't they see our signal for help." ”

Hu Yanshou said stupidly: "The subordinates have asked the generals who led the army, there are only some small groups of cavalry with a size of 100 people nearby, and after they saw the signal for help, they came to the rescue, who knew that someone had the means to snipe most of the generals of the cavalry in a row, and these cavalry were forced to chase and kill the assassins, and now it is a mess." ”

I looked at the ink-stained letterhead, sighed, threw the unfinished letter into the stove in the corner of the cabin, put it down, stood up with a blank face, and said, "Did it work alone?" ”

Hu Yanshou said gloomily: "Yes, judging from the assassination method, it should be a person, and our army has been clearing the field for many days, and it is impossible for too many assassin spies to stay in this area." ”

I fell into deep thought, looked up at Xiao Shunzi and said, "Do you have such a means?" ”

Xiao Shunzi said coldly: "That person's martial arts are not weaker than mine." ”

I sneered: "How many people in the Northern Han Dynasty can compare with you in martial arts?" ”

Xiao Shunzi didn't think about it and said: "It should be Duan Lingxiao in person, and Jing Wuji won't make a move." ”

I thought for a while, and then said hesitantly: "Xiao Shunzi, do you think Duan Lingxiao will continue to stay in this area, if he wants to assassinate me or King Qi, it should not be easy, but if he assassinates those low-level generals, it will be easy." ”

Xiao Shunzi said coldly: "If Duan Lingxiao stays here, he can only mix among the homeless people or hide in the wilderness, Gongzi might as well immediately order the cavalry in charge of Qingye to take five hundred people as a team, echo each other, and slaughter all the Northern Han people he saw, so that Duan Lingxiao can't hide, even if Duan Lingxiao wants to assassinate again, it will be difficult to easily approach our army, if he is reluctant to do it, then five hundred cavalry can drag him to death, and after the master of our army rushes away, no matter how high Duan Lingxiao's martial arts are, it will be difficult to escape." ”

I thought about it carefully for a while, and said: "The matter is urgent, and I can't report it to His Royal Highness King Qi to know, call for longevity, pass on my edict, order our army to clear the field in advance, and send someone to report to His Royal Highness King Qi that knows." ”

I hurriedly wrote more than a dozen military orders, stamped with my prison seal, and then let people pass it on, although I am a prison army, I can't directly mobilize the army, but this situation is special, I just asked to act in advance, my prison army seal should be easy to make. And I'm also thinking about those middle and low-level generals, if they don't care about their lives, then I can't care about them. Of course, I still specially wrote a letter to inform King Qi, in order to deliver it safely, I asked Su Qing to send it personally, although she is not Duan Lingxiao's opponent, but I can't let Xiao Shunzi send the letter, after all, my life is the most important thing.

On the barren grass post road, a cavalry team galloped past, led by Su Qing, followed by some cavalry wearing cyan armor, she was ordered to report the military situation to the king of Qi, so she quickly stepped up, did not dare to stay for a moment, at this time, the nearby troops have been ordered by Jiang Zhe to clear the field in advance, fortunately, most of the civilians of the Northern Han Dynasty have fled to Ji, so along the way, I didn't see too many slaughter scenes, not to mention that Su Qing's heart is as hard as iron, even if I see that kind of miserable scene, it is just a sun. She left in a hurry, except for her close maid Ruyue, she only brought the cavalry sent to him by Jiang Zhe, and the assassin who assassinated the general of the Yongjun army should not have been captured and killed, so Su Qing was cautious along the way, and did not dare to be careless at all.

Suddenly, Su Qing's eyes swept into the resting pavilion on the road ahead, a gray-clothed man stood with his hands in his hands, Su Qing's eyes were so keen, at a glance, he had already seen the man's appearance clearly, only to see that he was in his thirties, his body was as tall as a green pine, his appearance was square and upright, his eyes were deep, as deep as the night sky, which made people feel unpredictable.

Su Qing reined in the horse and lived, these war horses were all fully trained, as soon as Su Qing stopped the horse, the war horses behind him also stopped in time, the cavalry team that was originally galloping stopped in time, and those cavalry also knew about the assassination, and they all had killing intentions in their hearts, and the murderous aura of more than 20 people gathered together, making this small piece of heaven and earth seem to be solidified. The gray-clothed man's eyes flashed, and he couldn't help but marvel at the sophistication of this cavalry, he slowly stepped forward and said lightly: "The girl is Su Qing, the chief post of the Dayong military camp?" Although it was a questioning tone, everyone felt that he had already decided this in his heart, and he asked this sentence just to confirm.

Su Qing said coldly: "It turned out that Duan Lingxiao, the first disciple of the Demon Sect, was there in person, Duan Ye didn't know that the mantis arm could be used as a car, and I rode tens of millions of iron horses, why did Your Excellency do such a useless move." ”

Duan Lingxiao smiled slightly: "The girl is right, although Duan's martial arts are strong, but the strength of one person is not comparable to thousands of troops, but some things are better than not doing well, not long ago the girl made a decision to kill on the shore of Qinshui, Duan was very impressed, Duan's junior brother Xiao Tong once told the girl's great achievements in detail, Duan couldn't help but want to meet you, a heroine among women." Today, the left and the left meet, fortunately, the girl doesn't come over, let's talk about it? ”

Su Qing's eyes flashed with a warm light, and he said, "Su Qing feels deeply honored to be able to talk to Your Excellency. With that, he turned over and dismounted, and walked towards the resting pavilion. Her maid Ruyue said in a loud voice: "Miss, he must be going to kill you, how can you talk to him." ”

Su Qing said with a smile: "What kind of identity is Duan Lingxiao, how could the future Demon Sect Master go back on his word, since he invited Su Qing to talk, if he didn't tell him, wouldn't he laugh at the world." ”

Duan Lingxiao's eyes flashed with admiration, he naturally disdained to worry about Ruyue, just glanced at her coldly, and said to Su Qing: "Mr. Su doesn't let the women shave their eyebrows, no wonder Senior Brother Xiao regards the girl as a great enemy in life, and my Senior Brother Qiu also admires the girl very much, it is better to meet when I see it today, it is really better to meet, Miss Su, you are originally from the Northern Han Dynasty, just for personal hatred and family hatred, but you open your eyes for Dayong, it is a pity." ”

Su Qing smiled proudly and said, "Your Excellency thinks that you can take Su Qing's life today, so you feel a pity?" The Northern Han Dynasty has no kindness to me Su Qing, just to avenge the hatred, Su Qing is not indispensable to attach to Dayong, and now Dayong has the Central Plains, the Northern Han Dynasty and Southern Chu are just lingering, even if the Northern Han Demon Sect is innumerable, the general trend is like this, what can be helped, if Your Excellency is willing to abandon the dark and turn to the light, it will definitely be above Su Qing, why bother to hold on to the defects, so that the country will be destroyed. ”

A cold light flashed in Duan Lingxiao's eyes, and he said: "That's it, I also know that Miss Su will not turn back, but I feel a little unbearable in my heart, the girl can know why the Yongjun wantonly drove and slaughtered civilians this time, if the girl is willing to tell her bluntly, Duan can not kill the lives of the girl's subordinates." ”

Su Qing smiled slightly, although he knew that Duan Lingxiao said this to mean that he was going to kill himself, but he didn't take it to heart, and said: "Su Qing is just a scout chief outpost, how can you know about this kind of military aircraft matter, Your Excellency is asking Yu Blind." ”

Duan Lingxiao said coldly: "Is that really the case?" Miss Su, do you know why I suddenly went on a killing spree? ”

Su Qing thought for a while, and said with a solemn expression: "Naturally, these cavalry will not be allowed to rescue the navy, presumably Uncle Duan hopes that our navy will be defeated." ”

Duan Lingxiao said lightly: "You are right, since the Yongjun army entered Qinzhou, I came to investigate the military situation, this Yongjun invasion, the momentum is huge, life and death are in this battle, Duan Mou also had to go out in person." A few days ago, he saw the Dayong Naval Army, learned that the Hou Jiangzhe of Chu Township was among the Naval Army, and after passing the news back, General Long ordered the Naval Army to fight. It is naturally very good to be able to break through the water army in one fell swoop, and cut off the food route of the Yongjun army, but it can't, if you take the opportunity to kill Jiang Zhe, it is also a great achievement, for this matter, I did not hesitate to condescend to the nobles and personally took action, and assassinated the generals of the various armies who came to help, but unfortunately the Dayong water army was strong after all, and the result was only unsatisfactory. Duan wanted to leave immediately, but when he saw the girl get off the boat, he remembered the girl's identity and status, and he must know a lot of secrets, so he took the risk to intercept it, if the girl was willing to tell all the secrets in her heart, Duan could not take the girl's life, otherwise Miss Su had better hope to die on the spot, if she was captured by Duan, she was afraid that all kinds of torture would make the girl regret her mistakes. ”

An indifferent look flashed in Su Qing's eyes, and he said, "Su Qing has already put life and death aside, and it is useless for Your Excellency to threaten Su Qing like this. With that, she stepped back coldly, and the cavalry guarding her had already surrounded her on horseback, faintly protecting her in it. Speaking of which, Duan Lingxiao and Su Qing both knew that they had already said that, and they could only speak by force.

Duan Lingxiao sighed lightly and said, "It's a pity that Miss Su is such a talent, but she is the minister of Dayong." With his regretful voice, there seemed to be a sudden murderous aura between heaven and earth, everyone knew that he was about to make a move, and couldn't help but be on guard, but Duan Lingxiao didn't make a move, just poured out endless murderous aura from behind him, forcing those cavalrymen to have two thoughts of fighting to the death and abandoning their weapons and surrendering, but these cavalrymen are all battle-hardened warriors, although most of them are not masters of the house, but they have also learned the skills of competing momentum from the battlefield, and they have also released the killing machine in their hearts wantonly, and for a while, the momentum of the two sides is evenly matched.

A trace of helplessness flashed in Duan Lingxiao's eyes, Dayong has such elite soldiers, no wonder he can dominate the world, in comparison, although the soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty are brave and fierce, and most of their personal combat strength is above the Dayong warriors, but if they form a military formation, they will inevitably be inferior. However, he is an innate master, but in an instant, all the distracting thoughts in his heart have been screened out, and even the killing intent has faded without a trace. Those Dayong cavalry were trying their best to support in the murderous aura like the tide of the sea, but suddenly the murderous aura disappeared, and those cavalry suddenly lost their opponents, and they all felt a shock in their hearts, and a few cavalrymen with slightly weaker combat power were already pale, and there was even one person, a mouthful of blood had been splashed on the saddle. At the moment when they turned from the strongest to the weakest, Duan Lingxiao had already made a move.

Su Qing only felt that there was a flower in front of her, Duan Lingxiao's palm had already slapped towards her face, she turned over and retreated to avoid, the cold light flashed, she drew her sword to fight back, the palms and swords intersected, but the sound was like a golden stone, Su Qing only felt that the tiger's mouth was numb, the long sword was almost out of her hand, she took a deep breath, and retreated with her strength, Duan Lingxiao followed her like a shadow, the two fought together, and the blue and gray figures were entangled in the sword light and snow shadows, so that those cavalry had no way to help, so they could only scatter and surround the two, and everyone took out crossbow arrows in their hands, ready to shoot Duan Lingxiao in time.

Su Qing tried his best, the sword waves were higher than one wave, but Duan Lingxiao was like a giant reef in the sea, no matter the wind and rain, he didn't bow his head, Su Qing encountered such a strong hand, he only felt that the swordsmanship had never been so enjoyable, even the last time he fought with Qiu Yufei, he didn't feel like this, because Qiu Yufei's martial arts were dexterous and changeable, Su Qing's speed and body skills were not as good as him, and he was overwhelmed, and he could still use his swordsmanship to his heart's content, but Duan Lingxiao's martial arts were strong and strong, so that Su Qing could give full play to his strengths and make it hearty, The shadow of the sword turned into a monstrous wave, revealing countless killing opportunities in the magnificence. Duan Lingxiao's martial arts were far superior to Su Qing's, although he couldn't take her life for a while, but he was at ease, and when he saw Su Qing's swordsmanship posture, a strange light flashed in his eyes. With a clanging sound, a snowy short knife slipped out of Duan Lingxiao's sleeve, and the sound of countless weapons hitting was deafening, and he took Su Qing's onslaught violently, Duan Lingxiao's broken knife turned into a flowing rainbow, and a knife was as fast as a knife, piercing through Su Qing's sword net like a dragon out of the water.

Su Qing had already done her best, and the slightest flaw after the onslaught was broken by Duan Lingxiao, she was resolute by nature, and the long sword in her right hand shot towards Duan Lingxiao, and a dagger in her left hand blocked the blade of the broken knife, with a loud bang, her delicate body fell backwards like a broken kite. Duan Lingxiao let out a long roar and chased away, at this time, those knights who were sweeping the formation on the periphery shouted loudly at the same time, the crossbow machines rang out in unison, and more than twenty crossbow arrows that could barely see the shadow shot at Duan Lingxiao in the air, Duan Lingxiao's sleeves waved, those crossbow arrows stopped as if they encountered an invisible wall, and the reflection fell, at this time, the second and third waves of crossbow arrows had already been shot, Duan Lingxiao's body was rotating in the air like a windmill, those crossbow arrows were reflexively retracted, and the two knights were shot off their horses by the reflected crossbow arrows. But Duan Lingxiao's action was also delayed for a moment, and at this time, Ruyue had already flying by, pulling Su Qing to the horse, Su Qing spit out a few mouthfuls of blood, and said loudly: "Go!" Ruyue led the horse to run the way it came, and those knights chased after Duan Lingxiao with their crossbows. A trace of coldness flashed in Duan Lingxiao's eyes, he grabbed the reins of the war horse thrown by Su Qing, and galloped after him, Su Qing's mount was a horse that was one in a thousand, and Duan Lingxiao was a skilled horseman, and he had already caught up with everyone in less than a moment.

Duan Lingxiao smiled coldly, volleyed out his palm, knocked down the last knight from the horse, and when he rode past his mount, he casually took off his saddle side horse lance, the horse lance flashed thousands of phantoms, and the two knights were stabbed off the horse by him, but in a moment, he had already chased after the Ruyue horse that fell behind the back half because he was carrying the two of them, Su Qing was lying on Ruyue's shoulder at the moment, and seemed to have passed out.

Duan Lingxiao's eyes flashed with coldness, and a lance stabbed at Su Qing's vest, at this moment, Su Qing suddenly fell to the side, Ruyue leaned down, Su Qing revealed a crossbow in his hand, the crossbow machine sounded softly, and three crossbow arrows shot at Duan Lingxiao at the same time, at this moment, the distance between the two was only two zhang, and the horse lance was a long weapon, which could not block the crossbow arrows, fortunately, Duan Lingxiao's riding skills were outstanding, his body seemed to be suddenly broken and leaned back, a crossbow arrow swept past the door in front of him, a terrible horse neighed, Duan Lingxiao only felt that his body was weak, and the war horse galloped out of a distance of more than ten zhang, Falling to the ground suddenly, Duan Lingxiao jumped up, his body fell to the ground, and at the same time, the horse lance escaped, and a black light like thunder and lightning flashed in the air, shooting towards Su Qing, who had already got up from the horse. Su Qing had already used all her strength to complete the act of archery on her back, and when she sat up, it was when her hands and feet were weak and her heart was weak, when she saw the horse lance shooting, she was no longer powerless to dodge, and a chilling smile appeared on her pale face as snow, and she waited quietly for the moment when the horse lance pierced into her chest.