Chapter 56: Bloody Battle of the Ice River

  The vast campsite has been abandoned, and as far as the eye can see, only a solitary tent stands upright in the cold wind. When blown by the north wind, it makes a rustling sound, which is annoying to listen to.

  "Hah..." Wang let out a mouthful of hot air, rubbed his hands together and said discontentedly: "What kind of weather is this? It's getting colder and colder, trying to freeze people to death?"

  The deputy general beside Wang said faintly: "General, the commander-in-chief has been gone for three days, we can withdraw our troops."

  "Oh! I see." Wang turned his head to take a glance at the deputy general, and for some reason, he always felt that this deputy general had an attitude towards him that was somewhat strange, with a hint of hostility, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

  "The whole army sets out." King Wang gave a loud shout, turned his war horse around and headed east.

  "Oh......Oh......" Seeing the last army leaving under the city, the defenders on the city wall suddenly cheered up, and the whole city's people cheered together, a huge sound shook the sky.

  This year, they have experienced two wars, both of which were outnumbered by the enemy, and the psychological pressure was enormous. Seeing Zhang Yan's army finally retreat, some people even shed tears with excitement.

  Li Chong led the crowd to stand on the city wall, watching Wang Dang lead five hundred elite cavalry slowly disappear into the distance. He tapped his hand on the green bricks of the city wall and sneered: "It's finally our turn."

  After a while, the city gate of Guangwu County opened wide, and a cavalry team of over 300 people marched out in a long line. Far away, Wang Dang's cavalry was hanging high, and at the end of the team were several horse-drawn carts, with hay piled up slowly.

  A cold wind swept through the snowflakes and blew from behind. Li Chong tightened his leather jacket and shivered.

  Turning back to take a look, Li Chong couldn't help but smile, seeing that the three hundred cavalrymen all had their heads shrunk in, as if they wanted to hide their heads in their collars.

  This is why Tai Shi Ci and his men often raided outside the Great Wall; otherwise, where would they get so many furs to keep warm?

  At night, everyone took down the tents from the sleds and camped in the snowy wilderness, lit bonfires, drank strong liquor, and gnawed on hard-roasted meat.

  But compared to them, Li Chong and the others were in a relatively better situation, at least they had strong liquor to keep warm. While more than ten miles away, Wang Dang and the others could only gnaw on dry and hard flatbread, drinking snow water.

  Even if Li Chong made sufficient preparations, after passing through the clouds, more than ten people in Li Chong's team had already suffered from frostbite. All Li Chong could do was to order that every night when resting, they should use snow to rub their bodies forcefully to promote blood circulation.

  Wang Da was extremely annoyed at Li Chong's pursuit, neither engaging in battle nor retreating, but instead hanging around and causing trouble.

  Wang Duo had thought of ambushing the pursuing troops, but the pursuers were timid and did not dare to approach. In fact, Li Chong would not have let Wang Duo's cavalry escape either. When Wang Duo returned to Changshan, there was only one road along the Hutuo River that could be taken; unless Wang Duo was willing to cross the Taihang Mountains, he would not find another path.

  After Dingxiang, Wang De's cavalry finally stepped onto the ice surface of the Hutuo River.

  "Hah..." Wang Da used force to shake off the snowflakes on his body, and let out a long sigh of relief in his heart. The icy surface of the Hutuo River was covered with a layer of accumulated snow, trampled by the retreating troops earlier, like a flat and broad road, where they could gallop their horses without any worries.

  On the icy surface of the Hutuo River, it was easy to shake off the pursuing soldiers behind.

  In less than an hour, Li Chong also stepped onto the icy surface of the Tuo River. Li Chong immediately ordered a section of the river to be cleared of snow, revealing the smooth ice surface.

  Tai Shi Zi rode his horse onto the ice, the horse's hooves trampling on the ice surface, making a "crunch... crunch..." sound, kicking up fine ice chips.

  "Haha……" Tai Shi Ci burst out laughing, rode his horse in a few circles, and said loudly: "This hoof is really useful, it can move freely on the ice, this time Wang will definitely die, let's see how he can withstand our cavalry."

  Guan Hai, Liao Hua, Jiang Qin and others also immediately rode their horses onto the ice surface to experience the difference with or without horseshoes.

  That's right, this is Li Chong's killer mace, Ma Zhang! The cavalry's deadly weapon on the ice.

  Li Chong also galloped his horse for a few laps, finding the effect to be quite good. He then beckoned everyone to gather around and said in a low voice: "Everyone quiet down, I have something to say."

  When everyone gathered around, Li Da shouted loudly: "Wang has repeatedly invaded our territory and deceived people too much. This time we must make him suffer a crushing defeat and let him know our strength... You have also seen that our war horses are moving freely on the ice surface. As long as we choose a good battlefield, this battle will be won without a doubt."

  "We must win!" Taishi Ci raised his long spear and shouted loudly.

  "We must win!" Guan Yu also shouted loudly.

  "We must win! We must win!" Liao Hua and others also shouted along, gradually, the soldiers under Li Chong's command began to shout loudly, the huge roar shook the snow on the trees falling down.

  These soldiers are not just following the lord, they really want to get rid of Wang Dang. Most of these soldiers were recruited from Guangwu County, and Wang Dang has come to Guangwu three times to plunder, which is like smashing their own family's belongings. These soldiers simply hate Wang Dang to the bone.

  The surface of the Hutuo River is as wide as 400 or 500 paces, with a layer of accumulated snow over one foot deep on top, but there are also places where the ice surface is exposed.

  Fishermen near Dingxiang often chisel ice to catch fish in winter. They break open a large hole on the ice surface, and the river water squeezed by the ice layer will gush out of the ice surface like a fountain. Oxygen-deficient fish will gather around the big hole, breathe fresh air, and are often carried out of the ice surface by the surging water flow.

  The river water rushing out will soon freeze into solid ice.

  After a long time, the river with many fish can't be seen with accumulated snow, forming a long ice surface of several miles. Li Chongyi passed Dingxiang and inquired about the situation of the river course, naturally knowing where there was smooth ice surface, choosing to have a decisive battle with Wang Dang on this section of ice surface.

  Li Chong's army suddenly accelerated its march and approached Wang Du's rear army.

  Wang did not want to fight Li Chong, he knew that whether it was Taishi Ci or Guan Yu, their martial arts were higher than his own. Fighting to the death here was completely unnecessary. Moreover, Zhang Yan's deputy general also repeatedly stated that Zhang Yan's order was: to bring back as many troops as possible to Changshan.

  Seeing the smooth and mirror-like ice surface in front of him, Wang Dang sneered inwardly. He decided that once he had crossed this icy stretch, he would immediately set up an ambush ahead and use his bow and arrow to kill off the pursuing soldiers behind. Let's see how these turtles would dodge on the ice surface. Thinking of this, Wang Dang deliberately slowed down his marching speed, waiting specifically for the pursuing troops to catch up.

  Li Chong finally arrived at the ice surface with pursuing soldiers, and in front of him, he could already vaguely see the enemy's figure.

  Looking at the icy surface of the Yanmen River, Li Chong asked: "What does everyone think about how to fight against Wang Du?"

  Tai Shi said in a deep voice: "I will lead 100 elite cavalry to capture Wang Dang, Bo Wen will lead 100 elite cavalry to cut off the enemy's retreat route, Yuan Jue and Gong Yi will be responsible for resisting the enemy who comes to rescue Wang Dang, how is that?"

  "Alright, just be more careful next time." Li said with a nod.

  Tai Shi Zi said in a low voice: "Thank you, sir."

  As he spoke, Tai Shi Ci suddenly straightened up on his horse, and his entire body's joints made a "crack crack" explosive sound, like popping beans.

  "Hah..." Tai Shi Ci took a deep breath, his arms spread wide, and the armor on his arms made a "clanging" sound.

  In a few breaths, Bai Mengmeng's body rose with white mist, which was the phenomenon of snowflakes melting from the gaps in his armor.

  "Zi Yi, what's this?" Li Chong hastily asked, he had never seen Tai Shi Ci make such a move before.

  Even Guan Yu looked at Taishi Ci with a surprised expression, unable to understand what had stimulated him, and he was completely in a desperate state.

  Tai Shi Zi's eyes flashed with a hint of divine light as he slowly said, "I'll try to take down Wang Dang with one shot, that way this battle will be much easier."

  Li Zhong was taken aback and said in a low voice: "Zi Yi, if it can't be done, then don't force it."

  As they spoke, Li Chong's cavalry had already formed their ranks, and Li Chong himself burst out laughing, grasping his long spear.

  Guan Yu saw that Li Dian was about to personally take the field and kill the enemy, and hastily blocked him, saying: "The lord must not take risks, this battle has several generals who are enough."

  Everyone rushed to stop him, saying that they would not let Li Chong rush into the enemy's formation and kill them. Helpless, Li Chong could only smile bitterly and say: "Next time, watch as I personally take down enemies for you... In fact, my martial arts..."

  Tai Shi Zi and others did not want to listen to Li Chong's boasting here, so they hastily adjusted their troops and galloped out on horseback.

  Wang Dangzheng led five hundred elite cavalrymen on the ice, proceeding with caution, when suddenly they heard the sound of horse hooves "rumbling" from behind. He hastily went to the rear and stopped in his tracks, cocking an ear to listen.

  In less than a stick of incense time, a cavalry team suddenly appeared in Wang Dang's line of sight.

  Three hundred elite cavalrymen were divided into three squads of a hundred men each, and like three flashes of lightning, they charged towards their own army.

  Wang looked down subconsciously and found that the ground under his feet was still a smooth ice surface. He was very puzzled in his heart, it didn't make sense! How could their cavalry run on the icy surface? Why did our cavalry slip even when walking?

  In less than a short while, the pursuing soldiers had caught up to about three hundred paces away. Wang Daoguard couldn't afford to think and hastily shouted loudly: "Form ranks to meet the enemy."

  In the urgency of the moment, Wang's cavalry was unable to form a proper array, and many warhorses slipped and fell on the icy surface, instantly ending up in a state of men and horses tumbling over each other.

  "Kill!" Taishi Ci shouted angrily, charging forward on his horse to within a hundred paces, the heavy hooves striking the ice and causing it to tremble slightly.

  Gan Pi's cavalry suddenly accelerated, circled a large arc, and rushed towards Wang Duo's rear team.

  Wang Da's heart sank, and he suddenly understood that this was a kill-or-be-killed situation. What to do? Wang Da became flustered all of a sudden, sitting on his horse in a daze.

  "Whoosh... Whoosh..." Several tranquil soldiers drew their bows and shot arrows at Taishi Ci.

  Tai Shi Zi let out a loud laugh, his steel spear quivering as he deflected several stray arrows. His warhorse accelerated to its limit, kicking up tiny ice shards as it charged towards Wang's face.

  "Hum... Taishi Ci fiercely shook the steel spear in his hand, and the steel spear emitted a vibration like the sound of a great bell, stirring up a whirlwind that charged straight at Wang Dang."

  Wang was so scared that his liver and gallbladder were splitting, at this moment he regretted very much, why didn't he stand in the middle of the team, but instead ran to the back to investigate the situation.

  Sun Qian died under Taishi Ci's move, he knew he couldn't withstand it, and could only stiffen his scalp and stab with a gun. He didn't expect to be able to fight Taishi Ci to a draw, but hoped that Taishi Ci would withdraw his spear and let himself barely hold on for a few more moves, waiting for someone to come and rescue him.

  But Wang didn't know that Taishi Ci's killing intent was so strong, and even Taishi Ci had already made preparations to be injured.

  Taishi Ci had no intention of recalling his spear, but instead twisted his body on horseback, and the spear's shadow instantly pierced Wang Dang's body.

  "Hsss..." Tai Shi Ci spat out a mouthful of turbid air and brushed past Wang Da, charging straight at the enemy army behind him.

  Wang's body shook, and a sudden burst of blood shot out from his chest. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, and was immediately trampled by the iron hooves that followed, turning him into a pulp.

  Red ticket!