Chapter 2: The Stormy Weather of Yan and Zhao Section 22

  Feng Xue was overwhelmed with grief and then suddenly switched to extreme joy, she couldn't hold herself back and threw her arms around Li Hong, bursting into tears. Li Hong didn't dare put her in front of him again, he tightly hugged Feng Xue in his arms. Letting her fall for him once more, today her life would be at stake.

  Just a moment's delay, the pursuing soldiers were less than thirty steps away from them. But Hei Bao and Xiao Xue were both precious horses, and when they galloped wildly, they could quickly pull away from the pursuers.

  As time passed, the snowstorm gradually subsided, and she desperately pounded on Li Hong's back, crying out in pain: "Brother Leopard, let me go, let me go."

  Li Hong ignored her and rode his horse at full gallop.

  "Brother Leopard, if I leave, what will happen to my brother? What will happen to the Niu Tou tribe? Please, spare me."

  Li Hong suddenly understood why Feng Xue didn't want to walk with him together, just like he knew that Feng Xue was suffering because she had to marry He Lian, but he didn't lend a hand to help her. They both mistakenly thought that as long as Feng Xue didn't get married, their relatives and tribe would suffer He Lian's revenge. But if it was because of the different national interests that made it impossible for Feng Xue to get married, all the difficulties would be easily resolved.

  The words of Xiao Yu reminded Li Hong. The marriage between Feng Xue and He Lian was, from another perspective, a political alliance that could unite the several major powers of the Xianbei state, but their unity would pose an even greater threat to the Great Han State. Therefore, this alliance must be resolutely destroyed. However, Li Hong did not expect that He Lian and Tuoba Feng were not motivated by such purposes to actively form an alliance with Murong Feng, their motivation was how to better control Murong Feng, a very childish move of revenge and coercion, resulting in the emergence of an even greater crisis.

  Li Hong shouted loudly: "Xiao Xue, you're wrong. It's not that you're escaping with me, but I'm robbing you. The Great Han army is robbing the Xianbei country of its wealth and women, do you understand?"

  The storm suddenly subsided in Li Hong's arms, she no longer violently twisted her body, no longer beat Li Hong, she suddenly understood, she was no longer the storm, she was just Li Hong's spoils of war. He Lian lost her, and his face was utterly lost, but he couldn't vent his anger on her family and tribe, because it was the Great Han army that had plundered He Lian's own property and women. If anyone was to blame, go find the Han people.

  The knot in her heart was untied, and she felt like she had drunk honey, overjoyed. The burden on her back for several months suddenly disappeared. She felt extremely light and comfortable, as if she were about to fly. She wept with joy in Li Hong's arms.

  The wind and snow tightly wrapped around Li Hong, as if afraid he would fly away. The extreme fatigue of her body and mind made her unknowingly fall asleep with the galloping horse.

  Li Hong finally arrived at Qu Lake after running continuously for over ten miles.

  The lake is extremely vast, with towering mountains on both sides. Although it's already late winter, the ice layer on the lake surface is still as thick as two feet, and pedestrians can walk freely.

  More than a hundred riders who had arrived earlier were gathered at a distance of over two hundred steps from the shore. On both sides, there were two teams of more than a hundred people each, already lined up. Li Hong rode his horse onto the lake. Four big men on the lakeside galloped their horses to meet him.

  "Are the axe, wooden stake, pickaxe and iron hammer all ready?"

  "Everything is ready as instructed by the adults." A rather older, bearded man said in a low voice. He saw that Feng Xue was still fast asleep inside Li Hong's embrace and feared to disturb him, so he kept his voice very low.

  The wind and snow still woke her up. She saw several people staring at herself, a pretty face immediately turned red. Although the barbarians are more open to men and women, such a blatant hug together is always a bit embarrassing.

  Li Hong didn't mind too much, he thought that as long as he did what he wanted, it was fine. Besides, he really didn't understand many things. Since losing his memory, he had been learning and remembering things bit by bit, how could he learn so much in a short time?

  He listened carefully to the sound of horseshoes approaching from a distance, then waved his hand and said, "Let's go. This time let Tuoba old devil suffer another loss."

  "Bastard, and Lian didn't even open his dog eyes to take a look, he actually dared to snatch our master's woman. This time let him lose everything, see if he dares next time." A fat black-faced big man said with a gloating tone.

  Fengxue's face turned even redder. Several men burst out laughing at the same time.

  "Brother Leopard, are they your subordinates?" Wind and Snow saw several big men driving horses in front of them, raised a red face, and asked softly.

  Li Hong saw the beautiful face of the jade-like person in his arms, and for a moment he was stunned. The wind and snow pushed him once. Li Hong woke up with a start, knowing that he had lost his composure, and smiled awkwardly.

  "They were all bandits who had been forced to flee by the great general. This time I came to rescue you, I only brought one of my men, his name is Yan Wuyi, he was also a bandit in the past. Through him, I contacted these bandit gangs and instigated them to go to Lulong Pass to join the army, just to get through this period temporarily. Once things take a turn for the better, they can leave freely and return to their old ways. The plan has been discussed, but we are short of money. Coincidentally, you were about to get married, so I discussed it with them and decided to make one last move before leaving Xianbei."

  "So you deceived them." Feng Xue laughed.

  "No, of course it's mainly to get some money for use, and by the way, I'll take you too." Li Hong burst out laughing. Feng Xue knew he was skilled at this sort of thing and played it cool, but she worried about her tribe's soldiers and immediately asked: "Later when we fight, won't my brother get hurt?"

  "No. You know, General seems to be unwilling for you to marry He Lian. This time I sneaked into Xianbei and received help from Huo Diao and Wu Bao twice. The route and time of the wedding procession were secretly told by them. So your brother must know what he should do and shouldn't do."

  Feng Xue's face showed an incredulous expression, "But when I went to find my uncle, he said that no matter what, I had to marry He Lian. How could this be?"

  "It must be that Commander has another plan. What kind of person is Commander, he's like a god, there's nothing he can't handle. We naturally wouldn't know. Anyway, this time being able to snatch you from He Lian's hands, Commander must have had arrangements made long ago, otherwise it wouldn't have been so smooth."

  Feng Xue and Li Hong are alike, they can't figure it out so they just don't think about it anymore.

  "My uncle is as good to me as he would be to his own daughter, he's really great." Feng Xue's face was filled with happiness as she leaned into Li Hong's arms, and once again thought of Murong Feng.

  Khelan Bohai led his iron cavalry like a whirlwind to the lake shore.

  Li Hong stopped his horse at a distance, holding the wind and snow tightly in his arms, and shouted loudly:

  "Tuoba Xiaoer, dare you have a battle on the lake?"

  Tuoba Hong's lungs were about to explode from anger.

  "Dismount, dismount! Regroup, regroup, charge forward..." Tuoba Hong raised his battle knife and shouted loudly. The sound of the horn immediately followed. The soldiers hastily dismounted, gathered in formation, and formed a charging array.

  On the lake surface, due to ice slipperiness, riding a horse with a high center of gravity, once fallen, nine out of ten will get injured. So everyone is walking, which is much safer and more reliable.

  Kerulen's hundred or more cavalry immediately followed up from behind, forming a depth. Jietou Feng's troops started the slowest, and he himself was injured, so his troops were slow to complete their assembly.

  Tuoba Hong could no longer wait. He saw Li Hong swaggering on the ice, strolling leisurely as if taking a casual walk in a courtyard, his horse's hooves treading lightly, this provocation was really unbearable.

  He suddenly turned his head and shouted loudly: "Charge..." The horn sounded again. A troop of over 300 people started walking onto the lake surface first.

  Tuoba Hong walked in the front, running all the way, with a majestic momentum.

  Li Hong walked to the front of the troops at a moderate pace and stopped. He took Feng Xue down from the horse, holding her tightly with one hand and pointing at the enemy on the opposite side with the other, shouting loudly at Hu Zi and several leaders:

  "Their formation is too loose. Fire on their flanks and force them into a dense formation."

  Hu Zi immediately ordered his men to sound the horn, and all the archers lined up, drawing their bows and waiting for release.

  Tuoba Hong shouted loudly: "Contract defense, contract defense." The soldiers immediately concentrated towards the center.

  "...Release!" At the same time, Hu Zi gave a loud order, and the long arrow whizzed into the sky.

  "Raise the shield......" Tuoba Hong shouted hoarsely. At the same time, he was dragged to the back row by his own guards.

  Long arrows fell like dense rain, hitting the cowhide shields with a dull thud. Some soldiers were shot and wounded, and cries of pain rang out continuously. The enemy's two wings suffered intense shooting, and everyone intentionally or unintentionally squeezed towards the middle of the team.

  "Advance...!" Touba Hong yelled, raising his sword in the midst of the crowd, as the horn-blowing soldiers beside him continuously sounded the charge. The soldiers defended against the hail of long arrows from the opposite side while steadily advancing on the icy surface of the lake. Successively, soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ice, their bodies and wounded comrades abandoned behind the troops.

  When the two sides were eighty paces apart, the Xianbei soldiers' long arrows began to take effect. The archers, under the cover of the shield-bearing soldiers, poured out row after row of long arrows with abandon.

  On the lake surface, long arrows flew in the air, piercing the sky with a sharp whistling sound, and the arrow clusters fell onto the ice surface, producing a crisp crashing sound. The Xianbei soldiers marched in unison, their footsteps steady and firm, without any pause, their thick leather boots trampling on the ice surface, producing a huge rumbling sound.

  "Concentrated fire, concentrated fire..." Li Hong shouted loudly. All the soldiers raised their longbows and shot arrow after arrow of anger into the sky.

  "What's going on? Why hasn't the ice surface changed?" Li Hong asked loudly and anxiously as he saw the enemy still approaching.

  The whiskers and pickaxe gazed at the wooden stake and iron hammer, four people looked at each other in confusion.

  "It's all taken care of, it should collapse." Mu Zhuang was a sturdy and robust man, looking at the approaching enemy, he felt somewhat bewildered.

  At this moment, a terrifying cracking sound of ice breaking suddenly came from the surface of the lake, crisp and huge. Initially, the sound was intermittent, then it became continuous.

  In an instant, all the Xianbei soldiers were shocked and terrified, with a huge fear looming over their frightened faces.

  "Here they come! Here they come! Cease fire! Cease fire!"

  Tuoba Hong's anger was immediately covered by the fear of the ice layer breaking. He looked around in a panic, intending to find the source of the sound of the ice layer breaking. The surrounding soldiers stopped their feet at the same time, and did not dare to take another step, fearing that they would increase the speed of the ice layer breaking and be unable to escape.

  Suddenly, Lie Kuangfeng opened his mouth and shouted: "Quickly run back, run back, run..." He took the lead, running at the front with no elegance. The soldiers were already frightened, and when Lie Kuangfeng shouted and led the charge, they immediately scattered in all directions like a burst dam, crying out like ghosts and wolves, desperately running towards the shore.

  They were close to the shore, and would soon be there. But they scattered and ran wildly, disorderly, immediately shaking the ice layer, and the cracking sound grew louder and more intense.

  He was running with the fierce wind, being shouted at and chased by soldiers who were also running back and forth. However, he soon became separated from his own guards. He ran for over a dozen steps before turning around to look towards the distant troops of Tuoba Hong.

  He didn't see Tuoba Hong and his soldiers, he saw the ugly old face of Diao Chan. Diao Chan gave him a slight smile, and brushed past him. Helian Bobo immediately felt severe chest pain, he lowered his head to look down, and saw a long arrow that had pierced through his body. Helian Bobo fell backwards.

  Tuoba Hong and his soldiers did not dare to move, although the troops behind them were fleeing wildly, but they could not, the distance from the shore was too long, once they ran halfway, the ice layer completely broke, it would be a fate of drowning in the lake.

  Tuoba Hong turned his gaze towards the enemy in front of him, and immediately understood that he had been deceived by Li Hong. Seeing their calm and composed appearance, he knew that all this was the doing of these Han people. He had accidentally fallen into their trap, and it was a fatal one.

  He glared furiously, with sparks of hatred that seemed about to shoot out from his eyes.

  Suddenly, he thought of a way to escape from death.