Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 8

  Ke looked like he was over forty years old, with a short beard all over his face and a pair of piercing eyes.

  At this moment, he was sitting alone in the big tent, eating a plate of roasted meat with a gloomy face. He didn't like to drink and eat with his subordinates, making a lot of noise, as he thought it would affect his mood for eating.

  In the past, when he was with Murong Feng, he was a very outgoing and lively person, but after betraying Murong Feng, he found himself becoming increasingly reclusive and enjoying a solitary life.

  After capturing Murong Feng, he was afraid to see the disdainful eyes of the great general, and he never went to see him. It just so happened that at that time, the Zhe Xi tribe had internal strife, and he took advantage of the situation to lead his troops out of Hu Du. Let the king and Lian decide how to deal with it.

  Thinking of He Lian, Ke Zhong felt disheartened. He Lian was really too disappointing.

  He Lian was the second son of Shi Le. He was not good at fighting, but if it came to plotting and scheming, no one in the Xianbei tribe could match him. Shi Le's eldest son Shi Hu was brave and skilled in battle, with many achievements. At that time, under any circumstances, the position of the great king of the Xianbei would not have gone to He Lian. However, things changed unpredictably, and no one expected that the powerful King Shi Le would suddenly die at a young age. When Shi Le died, Shi Hu was leading his troops with Murong Feng against the Dingling tribe in the north. He Lian immediately killed all the opposing civil and military officials in the capital city and easily took the position of great king of the Xianbei state. Shi Hu knew about it but did not say a word for several days, thinking deeply in his tent. Finally, he convinced Murong Feng that he was unwilling to divide the country into four or five parts for a throne, which would destroy the foundation built by Shi Le and them over twenty years of hardship and sacrifice, with tens of thousands of lives lost. So, despite Murong Feng's strong opposition, he took three hundred attendants back to the capital city to attend Shi Le's funeral and congratulate He Lian on his accession to the throne.

  Just as Murong Feng predicted, how could Hualou believe that Huai would give up the throne? He measured the gentleman with a small man's heart and would not let go of Huai no matter what. Huai himself also understood this, so after getting Hualou's guarantee to spare his wife and children, he took his own life. Huai was great; for the sake of the Xianbei people's unification cause, he willingly sacrificed his own life.

  Huo Yan, having eliminated his greatest enemy, began his grand enterprise of governing the country. However, Huo Yan indeed lacked the talent for governance. He possessed all the evil traits of a foolish ruler: greed, extravagance, cruelty and bloodlust, favoritism towards relatives, judging right and wrong based on personal preferences, and believing in the slanderous words of treacherous underlings. What followed was only natural: many tribes were excessively oppressed, leading to rebellions. Then came suppression, but the more he suppressed, the more tribes rebelled. This vicious cycle greatly reduced the power of the Xianbei state, rendering it powerless to conquer and expand its territories.

  The most wrong thing that Heli did was to force Murong Feng, the commander-in-chief at that time, to rebel. Because he lost this experienced Xianbei general who could conquer and pacify everywhere for him, in less than a few years, more than half of the tribes in the Xianbei country had defected from the Pohan Mountain King Court. Heli still didn't know that under the flattery of his surrounding officials, he thought his civil and military achievements were even more brilliant than those of his father, Tan Shi Huai. So he suddenly came up with an idea to find Ke Zui and thoroughly eliminate Murong Feng, who was gathering a crowd to rebel, adding another heavy stroke to his own merits. Ke Zui was frightened at the time. It was already a blessing that Murong Feng didn't come to trouble him; relying on his abilities to eliminate Murong Feng would be nothing but asking for death.

  He looked at him with a terrified expression and scolded him as a coward. Ke was extremely angry, gritted his teeth and agreed, and the conspirator who was scolded like an idiot told him a brilliant strategy to lure the enemy. This plan was almost flawless, making Ke admire it endlessly.

  Eliminating Murong Feng himself has no significance. How big a wave can one person stir up? The key is to eliminate Murong Feng's rebel troops. Ke Zui thinks that Da Wang and Lian are absolutely right. Lian tells Ke Zui, "You spend money to bribe Murong Feng's friends and capture him." Ke Zui is shocked, how is this possible? If it were that easy to capture Murong Feng, he would have killed him himself a long time ago. Seeing Ke Zui's shocked expression, Lian bursts out laughing. The money you used to bribe others was too little, not tempting enough, so you always failed. This time I'll pay the money. Ke Zui immediately becomes happy.

  He Lian said, "You bribe Murong Feng's subordinates again and let them rescue Murong Feng." Ke was confused. After finally capturing Murong Feng, he would release him again - what kind of strategy was this? He didn't know what He Lian ultimately wanted to do, nor did he think about it, and simply listened obediently.

  He Lian said, "You dispatch several thousand soldiers to pursue and capture, creating a tense atmosphere of crisis until all of Murong Feng's rebel troops are drawn out of the Great Yan Mountains. By then, who is Murong Feng's friend and who is his enemy will all be revealed. The rest will be simple, surround and annihilate them." Ke Zui thought He Lian's plan was not bad. Even if they couldn't capture Murong Feng, even if they couldn't completely annihilate Murong Feng's rebel troops, he could still obtain a considerable amount of wealth from the Great King. This plan had only advantages and no disadvantages for him. Ke Zui immediately followed the plan and carried it out. So far, everything has been proceeding smoothly according to He Lian's arrangement without any surprises or accidents.

  He saw Ke Pi leading his troops to leave Hu Du and go to Ping Ding Zhe Xi to quell the internal chaos, he was extremely angry and sent someone to scold him severely. You want to preserve your strength, but don't make it so obvious. This Central Jiebei lord probably doesn't want to do it anymore. Not doing well, the lord of the Changluo tribe, Quanju, has this intention, and the lord of the Xirong tribe, Mengli Zhe, is even more willing to take on the heavy responsibility of being the Central Jiebei lord. After Murong Feng surrenders, you can yield then.

  Ke was helpless, and secretly led the troops back to the vicinity of Hu Du's Zou Xi to station, preparing to set off at any time to coordinate with Da Wang and Lian's encirclement action. As for the task of pursuing Murong Feng, he had long handed it over to his younger brother Ke Ye.

  In the dead of night, a swift horse came galloping over, its hooves pounding out a rhythmic beat that sounded like raindrops, startling Ke Zui who had just fallen asleep.

  "Adult..."

  The kneeling messenger hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping. Ke Zui looked at the painful expression on his face, and a bad premonition arose. He suddenly thought of Ke Ye.

  "Go on," Ke comforted the kneeling messenger, as if also comforting himself. "It can't be anything big."

  "General, Koyla Xiao's 3,000 cavalry were completely annihilated at Ma Zui Slope this afternoon."

  Ke was almost disbelieving his ears, "That idiot Kuo Yeh, I didn't tell him to follow Mu Rong Feng, who told him to provoke Mu Rong Feng. Dammit, that idiot. Where is he? Call him to see me."

  "General, Koye has also fallen."

  Ke was stunned, he looked at the messenger and asked again: "Where is Kaya?"

  "Sir, Colonel K'Oye has fallen."

  Ke stared blankly at the top of the cowhide tent, unable to utter a word for half a day.

  Ke concentrated his 5,000 main force troops and suddenly launched a fierce attack, chasing after Ye Yanwei. If Murong Feng wanted to return to Da Yanshan at the fastest speed, Ye Yanwei was the only way to go.

  Murong Feng led his iron cavalry to arrive at Ye Yan Wei. The scouts from various routes came and went like a revolving lantern, shuttling back and forth without stopping.

  Murong Feng sat under a big tree, closing his eyes and pretending to sleep. Li Hong stood quietly behind him, his eyes occasionally scanning around.

  These days, Murong Feng and Li Hong have been like fugitives on the run, often sitting together chatting idly.

  Murong Feng's subordinates, including his closest friends Gong Sun Hu, Wu Bao and Tie Lang, always showed him great respect and never dared to overstep their bounds, let alone sit down with him for a chat. But Li Hong was different. He admired Murong Feng greatly and would often ask him questions like a curious child. And Murong Feng also liked him very much, answering all his questions patiently. The affection between them was genuine, not because Li Hong had saved his life.

  Murong Feng himself also enjoyed chatting with Li Hong. Li Hong seemed to have been very knowledgeable before losing his memory, and his analysis and judgment of things were often different from those of ordinary people. Murong Feng found Li Hong's unique and fresh insights very helpful to himself.

  After the Battle of Ma Zui Slope, Li Hong suddenly became interested in military deployment. Every evening after dinner, he would stay in Murong Feng's tent to learn from him. Murong Feng seemed to be sincere in teaching him, patiently imparting his decades of experience in military deployment and combat. At the same time, Murong Feng was also surprised to discover that this was the first time he had summarized his life's experiences in decades. The gains and losses of decades allowed Murong Feng to gradually understand many of his shortcomings in military and political affairs. On the basis of summarizing successful experiences, Murong Feng corrected and improved many of his past mistakes in military and political affairs.

  "Leopard, you've killed this Koye well?" Murong Feng suddenly opened his eyes and smiled at Li Hong. Li Hong didn't understand the meaning of his words and waited for him to continue speaking.

  "Ke was enraged. He led the Iron Cavalry to approach us at top speed. According to reason, he should have been advancing side by side with the army of Quan Rong, the army of Lian, and the army of Meng Zhi, and finally crush us in the area of Ruoshui River. And on the east bank of Ruoshui River, Murong Ji's large army was already assembled, waiting to give us the final blow at our most critical moment."

  "Kerouac is now only a day's journey away from us, and has already left the other three armies far behind." Murong Feng said with a smile, "This is our best opportunity to strike at Kerouac."

  "But, General, this wild goose surrounds one horse and flat river, there is no danger to defend, nor can we deploy any clever plans. Li Hong said, "We only have more than 2,000 iron cavalry, to resist Ke's 5,000 strong army, it's like hitting a stone with an egg."

  Murong Feng nodded, "What if we also had an army of five thousand iron cavalry?"

  "There will definitely be a big casualty if we fight here. This is not a good idea."

  "Do you have any ideas?" Murong Feng asked with a smile.

  Li Hong knew that Murong Feng was testing him again. He thought carefully for a moment and said cautiously: "Tonight, Ke Zhi's troops are likely to be stationed at Chenziwei. Ke Zhi is rushing here, his army is tired and needs rest. Chenziwei is fifty miles away from us, so he can let his soldiers get enough rest and launch an attack on us tomorrow afternoon, this is the most stable route of march. I think if we go to raid him tonight, maybe we can achieve a big victory and achieve the effect of a heavy blow that General said."

  Murong Feng didn't say a word, he stood up and walked around the big tree several times. Li Hong didn't know if what he said was right or wrong, nervously gazing at Murong Feng's cold face.

  "Chenziwei is very close to us, Ke Zui's defense must be extremely strict. He won't give us a chance." Murong Feng said slowly.

  "When there is no opportunity, we can create one."

  "Oh." Murong Feng looked at him with some interest, "Tell me more."

  "Ke Zhi knows we have only a little over two thousand men, and if you subtract the lightly wounded, it's less than two thousand. He won't think that we really have the guts to raid his camp, so first we'll send out a cavalry unit to harass him, then every half hour we'll go to harass him again, until Ke Zhi becomes numb and no longer pays attention to us. At this time, it will be the best opportunity for a night raid on the camp. Commander, what do you think of this plan?"

  Murong Feng circled around the big tree again, lowering his head and thinking carefully.

  He suddenly shouted loudly at the orderly who was more than a dozen steps away from him, "Tell several young generals to come here immediately."

  Li Hong was overjoyed and asked Murong Feng: "Does the general think this plan is feasible?"

  "Good idea." Murong Feng exclaimed loudly, "After a successful surprise attack, I'll give you credit for one merit."

  "Let's just forget about it, General taught us this."

  "Oh, you little brat has also learned how to flatter."