Chapter 373 Prince An Will Not Die
The middle-aged man did not dodge.
Everyone thought he would dodge unless he wanted to die.
But he didn’t.
He did not dodge or die.
Except for the twenty cavalrymen, everyone stood stunned there when seeing this.
Without slowing down, the twenty cavalrymen rushed straight to the middle-aged man. They should have knocked the middle-aged man down and then trampled him to death. They were not afraid to do so. The middle-aged man was courting death. They could use this to show off their power lest someone else resisted handing in grain.
But the twenty cavalrymen failed to touch the middle-aged man.
Seven steps away from the middle-aged man, they all flew backward, like hitting the wall!
The twenty cavalrymen, in different directions, seemed to hit twenty walls. They flew up several meters from the ground one after another!
In front of them, the middle-aged man stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
At this moment, time seemed to freeze.
At the next moment, the twenty cavalrymen fell from the air to the ground.
They were not a free fall, but they were like being hit by something.
Around the middle-aged man, the twenty cavalrymen hit the ground heavily, like dumplings.
Dust was rising, and there were twenty big pits on the ground.
Everyone was attracted and looked this way, and then, all of them got stunned at the same time.
All the twenty cavalrymen and their horses were dead.
All that time, the middle-aged man did nothing.
But anyone who was not a fool knew it was he who did this.
The middle-aged man glanced at Taiyuan at the west at the next moment.
Looking at Taiyuan, he disappeared, as if he saw something.
Turning into a long rainbow, he flew to the west!
A long time later, the people of the small town broke out an earth-shattering shouting. Then, they swarmed to see the twenty pits, with intense surprise and awe in their faces.
The young man stood beside the pits, lost in thought for a long time.
Cripple Xu came as well.
The two people looked at each other, speechless.
“Who, who is that man?” The young man swallowed hard, his voice full of awe and regret.
“How many people in the world can have such cultivation?” Cripple Xu remained silent for a moment, and then, he suddenly said, “Do you remember what the man said when he left the shed?”
“Of course!” the young man said loudly, “He said the Pinglu Army would win... because Prince An would not die!”
Cripple Xu looked to the west, in the light of the sunset, his eyes full of memories. “That year, when I guarded Gubeikou, Qidan sent 100,000 troops to invade the south. We only had 800 people. We fought three days and three nights against Qidan until reinforcements arrived.”
The young man was awed, and he yearned for that hot-blooded and heroic spirits. Then, he realized something and asked, “Who could lead the army to have such a success? Who was the commander-in-chief in Gubeikou at that time?”
Full of sacred expressions in his eyes, Cripple Xu said word by word, “Old Prince An!”
The young man was shocked. Then, he felt relieved and said in a worshipful voice, “No wonder. It was Old Prince An!”
Cripple Xu said, “At that time, old Prince An was young, and he became famous after that battle. Later, old Prince An fought throughout the country, governed the country and the people, and was praised by the world. Do you know there was a saying going around the Gubeikou border army?”
“What is it?” The young man was interested.
Cripple Xu took a deep breath. “As long as Prince An doesn’t die, the Tang Empire will not collapse!”
The young man was shocked again. A while later, he said sadly, “But old Prince An died on the Bagong Mountain.”
“No! Prince An is not dead!” Cripple Xu suddenly became excited.
“Old cripple, you...” The young man was a little confused.
Cripple Xu turned to stare at him and said firmly, “That man just said Prince An would not die!”
The young man stood stunned.
...
The barracks of the Pinglu Army.
Liu Dazheng looked gloomy.
In front of him, batches of soldiers were walking fast and carrying the wounded to the back barrack for treatment. Many of them were badly wounded and lost their fighting abilities even though they recovered. The Hedong Army kept attacking the barracks fiercely. What made Liu Dazheng worry about was there were too many wounded people.
The army should not have had so many casualties. With the combat power of the Pinglu Army, they should not have had so many casualties as long as they weren’t crushed by military warriors.
There was only one explanation. The soldiers’ fighting abilities were declining.
Liu Dazheng knew the reason.
There was only one reason. The soldiers had low morale.
“Under the circumstances, I’m afraid that we can’t hold out to tomorrow’s dawn,” Zhao Polu, next to Liu Dazheng, said in a deep voice, “If the casualties keep increasing, soldiers’ morale will collapse, and the outer gate will be broken!”
Liu Dazheng’s face was pale, but he could do nothing, making him very painful.
Because of the shortage of military warriors leading to low morale, the Pinglu Army was defeated rapidly. In front of the battlefield, Liu Dazheng couldn’t solve this problem at all.
He asked, “Where is General Shangguan?”
“She is guarding the outer gate,” Zhao Polu said, “Although she occupies a favorable position, I’m afraid that General Shangguan can no longer resist, if Li Keyong comes to attack with his men.”
“Get her back. General Shangguan is His Highness’s most trusted subordinate. If anything goes wrong with her, you and I can’t explain it to His Highness!” Liu Dazheng said with difficulty. He asked Shangguan Qingcheng, this most powerful fighting ability, to retreat from the battlefield, which meant that he already gave up the battle and was considering retreating.
Realizing Liu Dazheng’s intention, Zhao Polu also felt distressed.
When the Pinglu Army fought Hedong this time, they won every battle. He originally thought that they could capture Taiyuan at one fling, but no one expected that Li Ye would disappear in the middle of the battle so that the situation turned straight down.
None of the generals could save the day.
At present, who was able to save the day and 100,000 Pinglu soldiers?
Without 100,000 Pinglu soldiers, Li Ye not only couldn’t capture Hedong but also couldn’t hold Pinglu! At that time, if the Hedong Army or other vassal states attacked Pinglu, Pinglu would be slaughtered, without the elite soldiers.
Pinglu was Li Ye’s foundation. Without Pinglu, Li Ye had no capital to contend for hegemony in this chaotic world. Unlike the time before the Huang Chao Uprising, all feudal princes had formed their own forces now, and Li Ye had no time to develop slowly.
Both Zhao Polu and Liu Dazheng thought of this, so their faces grew dark.
But now, it was a dead end. What could they do?
When he came to the outer gate, Zhao Polu saw the Hedong Army fighting fiercely against Shangguan Qingcheng’s troops, who guarded the outer gate.
Finding Shangguan Qingcheng, Zhao Polu said urgently, “General Shangguan, General Liu ordered you to evacuate the outer gate!”
Standing behind the parapet wall, Shangguan Qingcheng said, “I can’t.”
Zhao Polu knew Shangguan Qingcheng wouldn’t easily retreat, so he said, “This is a military command!”
Shangguan Qingcheng glanced at him, and then, she pointed to the Hedong Army. “Look, what is it?”
Zhao Polu turned to look at it. Then, he became serious. A hundred steps away, it was Li Keyong’s army flag!
“Li Keyong comes to attack the outer gate personally. If I retreat now, the outer gate will be broken immediately!” Shangguan Qingcheng said calmly.
Zhao Polu kept silent for a while. “General Shangguan, how long can you resist Li Keyong?”
Shangguan Qingcheng said, “It won’t be long. But at least, it will be long enough for General Liu to retreat first.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the Hedong Army suddenly burst out a shout. Then, dazzling light burst in a military formation. It turned out that Li Keyong arrived in the middle of the formation. This formation soon rushed forward and hit the gates and walls, like tides, shaking the whole barracks.
Then, the Hedong soldiers fought fiercely. They put up ladders, climbed the parapet wall, and launched attacks in succession, like ants. Some Hedong soldiers hit the gate by the attacking carts. In both sides’ formations, they kept shooting arrows toward each other’s soldiers, covering for their own side.
“General Shangguan, you’d better retreat, or it will be too late!” Zhao Polu said urgently.
Shangguan Qingcheng looked at him coldly. “You’ve seen what is happening. If I retreat now, Li Keyong will rush into the barracks before our rear troops can have time to defend. At that time, the whole army will be defeated!”
Shangguan Qingcheng was not stubborn. She would retreat if she could. As generals of the army, very few of them would do that at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, except for those who were afraid of death.
Zhao Polu said, “But if you keep on fighting here, you will die!”
Shangguan Qingcheng looked calm. “You retreat first, and I’ll cover you! When the army is defeated, someone must die for the army. I’m now at the outer gate, at this position, so I have no choice.”
Zhao Polu was very anxious. “General Shangguan!”
“General Zhao!” Shangguan Qingcheng suddenly turned to stare at him. With red eyes, she shouted in a low voice, “When His Highness left, he ordered us to surround Taiyuan, hold the barracks, and wait for his return! His Highness is not back yet, but our troops are defeated and his military command is not accomplished. As a general of Militarism, I should die! General Zhao, you go to protect General Liu and retreat. The Pinglu Army is the fruit of His Highness’s painstaking efforts and also the foundation of his contending for hegemony! The army can be defeated, Shangguan Qingcheng can die, but the Pinglu Army cannot be destroyed! Take the soldiers and the Pinglu Army back!”
After saying this, Shangguan Qingcheng turned around. Waving her hand, she ordered her trusted soldiers. “Take General Zhao back!”
And she pulled out her knife at her waist and fought the Hedong soldier who had crossed the parapet wall!
Zhao Polu was carried away from the parapet wall. It was useless for his struggling. Overwhelmed with anxiety, he desperately shouted toward the back of Shangguan Qingcheng, “General Shangguan! You insist on doing this. If His Highness asks about today in the future, how can we explain it to him?”
She wielded her knife horizontally and killed the Hedong soldier in front of her. Hearing Zhao Polu’s words, Shangguan Qingcheng was a little stunned.
At that moment, even in 20 steps away, Zhao Polu could feel Shangguan Qingcheng’s stiffness.
However, her stiffness flashed away. Shangguan Qingcheng wielded her knife to kill another enemy. She said clearly, “Then, please tells His Highness I die without anything to regret since I can follow him to fight throughout the country. But I’m incapable of completing His Highness’s command, and I let him down. I die with hatred! If I have an afterlife, I have to see His Highness rein the world even though I need to fight another 800 battles!”
Zhao Polu was so shocked that he didn’t know what to say but felt bitter.
On the wall, Shangguan Qingcheng got into the Hedong soldiers, out of sight.
In full armor, Li Keyong stood in front of the outer gate of the barracks of the Pinglu Army. He coldly looked at Shangguan Qingcheng fighting bravely on top of the city wall, full of murderous intents in his eyes.
“You force me to attack the outer gate personally, so you can die in peace!” Li Keyong snorted. He pulled out his knife slowly. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran toward Shangguan Qingcheng.
When Li Keyong ran toward her halfway, Shangguan Qingcheng in a bloody armor looked up and saw him.
Without any hesitation, Shangguan Qingcheng ran out and fought him with her knife.
She in the early and middle stage of the general of Militarism fought Li Keyong in the later stage.
Shangguan Qingcheng had no fear.
However, the two people didn’t hit each other because a long rainbow came from the eastern sky suddenly.
It was as fast as lightning.
It landed straight at the outer gate of the barracks of the Pinglu Army.
A gray-haired man in a cyan robe stood on the flagpole of the outer gate with his hands clasped behind his back.
The cultivators above the Qi-refining stage could not help but be attracted to this man.
Liu Dazheng was the first to see the long rainbow and the middle-aged man. He felt so shocked that the muscles on his face couldn’t help twitching. “Your Highness?”
Seeing this person, Li Keyong stopped running forward. Clenching his knife, he stood in front of the outer gate and looked up, on the alert. His eyes were filled with fear.
When Shangguan Qingcheng saw this man, her bright, silent eyes suddenly lit the fire of hope.
As for other practitioners of Qi-refining, many of them stiffened and their Spiritual Qi flowed slowly at just one glance.
An overwhelming pressure made them breathless, like mountains falling on their hearts. Only the cultivators above the high-level Qi-refining could barely protect their minds and not be affected too much.
But at this moment, the man did nothing but to appear in front of everyone.
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