Chapter 68: The Journey's Turbulent Battle (Part One)
Tens of thousands of people, carrying their families and luggage, pushing carts and driving oxen, slowly followed the army. These people had staked their future on their trust in the invincible army and Zhao Kuangyin, embarking on an unknown journey. As the sun rose in the east, its golden light gradually illuminated the horizon, as if adding a few more degrees of sacredness to the world.
Because the common people's progress was extremely slow, they only advanced more than 100 miles in a day. Zhao Jiong had already expected that the imperial spies in Taiyuan City would soon inform the court of the news. Zhao Jiong had already anticipated this, which is why he let the common people set out ahead of time. Before long, the court will surely send troops to capture Zhao Jiong. If they allow Zhao Jiong to become powerful, the consequences will be unbearable.
As they left Taiyuan City further and further behind, after several days, Zhao Jie led the army to the land of Yan Fei Du. The scenery here was not particularly unusual, but the mountains on both sides were quite high, with two mountain ranges relying on each other along the road. In peacetime, it seemed that there was no great use for this place, but once war broke out, as long as Yan Fei Du dispatched troops to form an array, they could block enemies from two directions. It was a place where ambushes were set up, like a throat, and was absolutely a place that military strategists would contend for. Zhao Jie felt somewhat uneasy in his heart, having not seen a single scout from the imperial court's Song army for several days in a row, as if the imperial court had forgotten about the powerful troops he led.
Zhao Song didn't think the imperial court had become so muddled as to allow a force that threatened its own existence to slowly take root. Moreover, since this matter was personally overseen by the King of Yue, it must be suspicious. Zhao Song felt uneasy and sent out a large number of scouts. As he looked at the Yan Fei Du in the distance, his unease grew stronger, thinking that if he were to set up an ambush, he would also choose this location. Suddenly, Zhao Song slapped his forehead, almost forgetting his own powerful tool. He took out a thermal imaging device and scanned the area, instantly breaking into cold sweat. The mountain cliffs on both sides of Yan Fei Du were filled with flashing heat sources, roughly estimated to be in the thousands.
Zhao Yin's heart flashed with a thread of anger, if he led the army into the mountain path, as long as they threw down large stones to block the entrance and exit, and then threw down a large number of incendiary devices, even if Zhao Yin's soldiers had three heads and six arms, they would definitely not escape such an attack. The court was indeed good at plotting, and King Yue was indeed thinking of making these innocent civilians, brave warriors who had achieved great military exploits, disappear together with Zhao Yin from the world.
"Don't blame me for being ruthless then." Zhao Jie thought to himself, his heart cold and hard. He called Liang Fangxu and Yang Zaixing over and whispered a few sentences in their ears. Both of them were shocked. Zhao Jie said in a low voice, "Later, I will order the army to set up camp at Yanfei Pass, cook food, and then you two will lead the troops to sneak up from behind and capture some of the officials in charge. As for the rest, not one will be left alive, all will be killed."
Li Fangxu bowed his head to accept the order, while Yang Zaixing smiled coldly, his eyes filled with bloodlust and indifference. The army advanced towards Yan Fei Du Kou, where everyone began to set up camp. Many civilians were curious, wondering why they had stopped again after just resting a few hours ago. However, the civilians were more than happy to accept this unexpected rest time. After several days of rushing on the road, many people were already exhausted from the arduous journey, but since they followed Zhao Jiong out, not following the army's advance would mean certain death. The civilians understood this logic all too well, so they had no choice but to persevere.
What's even stranger is that more than 10,000 soldiers are missing, and it's unknown where they went.
However, the people hiding on the cliff of Yanfei Mountain were not all court troops as Zhao Jun had guessed. Although the court has repeatedly vilified Zhao Jun, saying that he is rebelling, holding arms and killing civilians, many people are not so easily deceived. Zhao Jun's heroic deeds have been widely spread among the people, and his reputation in the army is very high. Great generals of the Song Dynasty such as Zong Ze privately praised Zhao Jun as a hero of the Song Dynasty, and it was not easy to issue an order to eliminate him. Under pressure from all sides, Emperor Huizong had to issue an order to temporarily suspend the dispatch of troops, and let King Yue be responsible for persuading Zhao Jun to "surrender" to the court.
King Yue naturally didn't want Zhao Jie to return. If Zhao Jie returned to Bianjing and cleared up all the misunderstandings with the Emperor, he might even become the Crown Prince. With his high position and power, combined with his control of the military, King Yue feared that he wouldn't be able to suppress Zhao Jie. Therefore, he could only ask the bandits from the surrounding mountains to attack Zhao Jie's army. However, the three leaders of the Qingyun Association, the largest group of bandits in the area, were quite arrogant and cut off the ears of King Yue's envoy, cursing him until his face was covered in blood. Although they disliked the imperial troops, they had also heard that Zhao Jie had fought bloody battles for months to protect the people of Yanshan Prefecture and Taiyuan City, so they wouldn't help King Yue do evil.
King Yue was not a soft persimmon, and when he encountered such a thing, he could still bear it. He immediately led the Imperial Guard to attack the Qingyun Association. Although the Qingyun Association mountain bandits relied on the terrain and fought with the Imperial Guard for a while, they were eventually breached by the Imperial Guard. After the second master Li Dacheng was captured, he continued to scold and curse, and King Yue directly threw him down from the top of the mountain peak, smashing him into pieces, making everyone sigh in amazement.
King Yue warned Chen Manke, the head of the household, before leaving that if he couldn't kill Zhao Yan, he would have to wait for San Dangjia and all the mountain bandits to collect his body. The head of the household, Chen Manke, could only nod in agreement with King Yue's request to set up an ambush against Zhao Yan at Yanzhi Pass.
At this time, there were only a few hundred of the Yue king's men as a vanguard on the mountain cliff, and the rest were all mountain bandits. This was the route that Zhao Jian had to take when he returned to Bianjing, so they chose to set up an ambush here, but they didn't expect that Zhao Jian would discover them one step ahead of time. The butcher's knife of death would soon descend upon their heads.
Chen Manke really wanted to shout and remind Zhao Kun, but looking at the mountain bandits being forced by the king of Yue's men behind him, Chen Manke's rationality told himself that he couldn't. Just then, the army marching far away suddenly stopped at Yan Fei Du Kou, letting Chen Manke breathe a sigh of relief, secretly rejoicing while thinking about how to tell Zhao Kun this news.
The wind was still blowing across the land, and the fragrant grass was swaying in the breeze. One of Yue Wang's men suddenly said to someone beside him, "Do you smell a burning smell?"
"It seems so, I don't know who set it on fire, but if the pharmacist finds out, we're in trouble." Another person replied.
"No, it seems like the flavor is getting stronger and stronger."
Just as the two were talking, a fierce fire rushed towards the people hiding in ambush. The people hiding in the grass were suddenly shocked and panicked, getting up to run forward, forgetting to hide their figures. But how could they outrun the fire? Soon, some of them were engulfed by the flames, and their mournful cries echoed through the wind, sending chills down one's spine.
Before the hidden mountain bandits and the forbidden army could react, Yang Zai Xing and Liang Fang Xu led a force of 10,000 elite soldiers to attack them. At this time, the mountain bandits who had been scorched by the flames had already lost their morale and were fleeing in all directions, no longer an effective fighting force. The soldiers under Yue Wang's command who had survived the burning flames did not surrender but instead charged towards Yang Zai Xing's side. A hint of approval flashed across Yang Zai Xing's eyes - such soldiers were truly worthy warriors. With a flash of his silver spear, several soldiers charging towards him suddenly found an extra hole in their necks.
