Chapter 59: CH 59

Teng Yun had made great achievements.

Emperor Xue ordered people to send wine and meat to Ming River as rewards to them. He also sent an Imperial Decree to Yu Chen, saying that Emperor Xue was going to reward the Imperial Harem and De-fei would soon become a high-ranking Imperial concubine, so he was allowed to go back to the Capital to congratulate him. 

Yu Chen thought it must be true. He happily prepared his things and intended to go back to the Capital.

The Generals saw that he was leaving, but they felt it was too early to be happy as they were afraid he would change his mind. They hoped he would return to the Capital quickly. Otherwise, the Xue Army would have to put up with him being in the camp and not doing anything every day.

Taking advantage of Zhang Hong’s illness, Teng Yun ordered the army to re-camp, shortened the frontline, and deliberately left a gap in the middle, waiting for Zhang Hong to recover and take revenge.

Zhang Hong finally recovered after a month. His first thought after his recovery was naturally to take revenge. How could he not repay the enemy for such great humiliation? He called another general to lead the army to battle. 

General Qi Zhan and General Qi Zijie were of the same family. Qi Zhan had always hated Qi Zijie’s war achievements and finally forced Qi Zijie away. Thinking that no one could compete with him now, he led the battle.

Qi Zhan observed the terrain and couldn’t help sneering. He found it ridiculous when he saw Xue Army’s camp. The left end and the right end were divided into two piles, leaving a gap in the middle. If he broke in the middle and cut them off, Emperor Xue’s army could be scattered and he could break them one by one. Xue country’s large numbers of soldiers would not be terrifying anymore.

Qi Zhan made his army shout and berate Teng Yun. The words they were yelling were very unpleasant.

Teng Yun had waited for this moment and asked his generals, “Who is willing to lead the army?”

After the previous battle, most of the soldiers were already convinced by Teng Yun. Now that some people were berating their Commander-in-Chief, the soldiers were all too eager to fight.

Lang Jing smiled and said, “Zhang Mo can go and lead the troops.”

Zhang Mo blushed and said awkwardly, “I didn’t know that I would be in the battle when I joined the army. This Zhang… This Zhang can only lift a pen in his right hand, not a spear. It’s really… It’s a heavy trust.”

Everyone heard that Lang Jing deliberately made things difficult for the Official Registrar, so they turned against Lang Jing. However, they heard Teng Yun say, “This approach to join the battle is just what I want.” 

Teng Yun’s meaning was not clear for everyone, so he continued to say with a smile: “Although the Official Registrar isn’t able to hold a sword to fight, he still hopes to be in the battlefield and make meritorious service, isn’t it?”

Zhang Mo nodded and said, “Of course, otherwise, this Zhang won’t continue to stay in the barracks, even as a clerk.”

Teng Yun said: “Then you should thank the recommendation for joining the army. This time, as long as you fight, you don’t need to do your best to lead the enemy into the formation. Join the army and lead a team of soldiers and meet the frontal flank head-on. I will personally take a team of soldiers to encircle the rear flank, and the rest will go back to the camp separately. At that time, we will just wait and catch the turtle in the urn.”

Zhang Mo immediately understood the plan when he heard it and said with a smile, “I see!” 

Afterwards, everyone dispersed and went back to the camp. They asked the soldiers to make a fire and cook food for the entire army. Only when they were full could they fight.

Qi Zhan let his soldiers shout for a whole day, and the soldiers who were shouting insulting and unpleasant words were already very bored and getting tired.

Finally, it was getting dark. He was about to withdraw his troops and would call for the battle tomorrow, when he saw a team of soldiers and horses coming their way, led by Zhang Mo.

Qi Zhan and his soldiers were tired shouting all day, waiting for the enemy to attack. At this time, when he finally wanted to withdraw, he saw someone coming. He immediately called out angrily and rushed up to meet the enemy holding a broadsword in his hand. 

Qi Zhan was also a fierce general and since Zhang Mo’s right hand was injured, he didn’t dare to fight hard. After swinging a few blows and blocking attacks a few times, he immediately pulled his horse back and fled. When the soldiers behind him saw Zhang Mo fleeing away, they followed him and also ran back.

When Qi Zhan saw this, he thought that the Xue army was fleeing in fear. In great joy, he asked the soldiers to beat the battle drums to cut the enemies and chase hard the retreating Zhang Mo.

The enemy soon rushed into the trap left by Teng Yun. There were camps on the left and right sides. The archers shot down from the high sentry tower. Zhang Mo, who was defeated in front, suddenly reined in his horse. At this time, Lang Jing’s troops had come and blocked the pursuers.

Qi Zhan saw that the situation was bad and hurriedly called out to his soldiers to withdraw. Just as everyone had turned around and retreated, Teng Yun and a team of elite soldiers blocked their way. At that moment, Qi Zhan’s troops and horses were surrounded by Xue army in all directions. The soldiers held the flag of “General Teng Ying”. Qi Zhan’s flag that had long been worn out by random arrows, fell to the ground and was trampled on by his own people. 

Teng Yun captured Qi Zhan and his men and horses alive. They took out wine and meat to celebrate the win. They trapped the prisoners under the tents and let them watch the soldiers celebrating with wine and meat, but they couldn’t eat anything.

Qi Zhan yelled and berated Teng Yun at first, but then he gradually lost strength.

Teng Yun said at this time: “This Teng had long heard of the reputation of General Qi Zhan, and it turned out to be the case today. Even when he was already captured, he didn’t bow his head.”

Qi Zhan screamed with hunger. He was a little ashamed to hear him say so, but he still stuck his neck and refused to accept his defeat. 

Teng Yun seemed to have drunk too much wine. He staggered towards him, his head nodding over and drew out the Tiger Wing sword from his waist with a smile. The Tiger Wing sword was completely black, but was emitting a cold aura at night.

Qi Zhan watched warily at his unstable hands for fear that he was too drunk and would miss his steps and chop him off.

Teng Yun held the sword and shook it casually. He heard a soft sound of “chuck“. The rope that bound Qi Zhan was cut off, but Qi Zhan was not even injured by the point of the sword. This made him have a faint fear of Teng Yun in his heart .

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Qi Zhan had no choice, so he pretended to surrender. He then ate until his stomach was full, and pretentiously said: “This villain is already a surrendered soldier. How kind of the General can treat me like this. This villain is naturally willing to follow the General.. . But this villain couldn’t bear to give up his brothers who had lived and died with him under the thief Zhang Hong’s army. There are two generals under Zhang Hong’s army, and they both have great friendship with this villain. Won’t it be better to give this villain a fast horse and let him go back? This villain is willing to persuade them to surrender. Isn’t it a good thing to lead the soldiers to surrender together with this villain?! ”

Teng Yun just smiled and pretended to be surprised: “This Teng has heard that there are many brave Generals under Zhang Hong’s army. This is indeed a good thing.”

So he personally took Qi Zhan out of the tent and led him to the back of the camp to the horses stable. As they were walking along the way, Qi Zhan saw the Xue army’s pile of grains and provisions, in an open tent without any soldiers guarding it. 

Qi Zhan silently laughed at Teng Yun for being so gullible and unprepared and secretly noted down the location of the pile of grains and provisions.

Teng Yun then led him to the stable and asked him to choose a horse he liked and go back to Zhang Hong and persuade the other two Generals to surrender.

Qi Zhan picked a rare and fast horse and rushed back to Zhang Hong’s camp overnight.

Seeing him coming back alone, Zhang Hong was immediately furious and asked someone to pull Qi Zhan down from his horse and chop his head for public display. 

Qi Zhan knelt on the ground and cried bitterly, “Teng Ying is a scheming man. He can summon wind and rain using demonic methods and throw beans at the soldiers. At the end of the day, I was reduced to such a state only by his magic. If I didn’t fight to win the horse, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to see the commander!”

Zhang Hong watched Qi Zhan cry miserably. Besides, killing Qi Zhan would deeply hurt the other Generals who were great friends with him, it was also not a good time to hire other people to lead his army.

Zhang Mo didn’t understand why Teng Yun released the enemy and let him go back.

Teng Yun just laughed and said: “This has been a long-time method to catch a big fish. Isn’t it too cheap to let Zhang Hong kill Qi Zhan? If I let Qi Zhan go back, I can let Zhang Hong kill Qi Zhan not only himself, but also his two other Generals together.” 

Zhang Mo now understood that Teng Yun had used an offensive scheme. If the enemy was in civil strife, he would not be able to attack again. Ming River would not need to run across the battlefield full of corpses. He admired Teng Yun more and more.

At this time, Lang Jing opened the curtain and walked in, saying, “It’s ready.”

Teng Yun nodded.

Zhang Mo did not know what they were planning. 

Teng Yun just smiled and invited Zhang Mo to watch a good show.

The three went out of the tent and came to the empty training field. The soldiers were already armed. Teng Yun ordered the soldiers to carry the grain and provisions in the granary to a large camp not far away.

It turned out that Teng Yun took Qi Zhan to intentionally see the grains and provisions and set up a chain of traps. He was sure that Qi Zhan would make up for his mistakes after he went back to Zhang Hong and would definitely come back to rob the granary, so he ordered someone to empty the granary and give Qi Zhan an empty plan.

On the third watch of the night, sure enough, a team of people came secretly to intercept the stronghold. They rushed into the camp, but saw no one. When they came to the granary, they couldn’t even see a grain of rice. They immediately knew they had hit a trap. 

But it was too late. Zhang Hong’s soldiers were captured alive by Teng Yun for the third time.

Teng Yun deliberately pretended to be negligent, and let Qi Zhan escape, and then he took Zhang Mo and Lang Jing to see the prisoners.

Teng Yun, holding the Tiger Wing sword in his hand, asked, “Who are Qi Zhan’s subordinates?”

At first no one spoke, Teng Yun smiled and said, “It turned out that there are no subordinates of Qi Zhan here.” He turned to a guard and said, “Kill them all. I have promised I would leave Qi Zhan’s people alive.” 

The prisoners were stunned when they heard this, and then a man shouted, “I’m Qi Zhan’s subordinate.”

Teng Yun asked someone to untie him and take him to eat. When the others saw this, they all scrambled to say they were Qi Zhan’s subordinates.

Teng Yun recruited all these soldiers into the army, and then sent ten people back, asking them to pretend to be defeated. He also asked them to deliver a message to Qi Zhan, asking him and the other two Generals why they hadn’t sent Zhang Hong’s head over. Even if they said the timing was not right, it shouldn’t be delayed again and again. Did Qi Zhan forget the thousand-mile horse General Teng sent him?

The soldiers felt that they would definitely die when they went back. They might as well tell Zhang Hong the news and save their lives. As soon as they got together, they ran to Zhang Hong’s tent and conveyed Teng Yun’s words to Zhang Hong. 

Zhang Hong really fell into Teng Yun’s trap. It turned out that the reason he was defeated three times in a row was because of Qi Zhan. It turned out that Xue Country had bought all his Generals.

Zhang Hong became more and more furious. He called Qi Zhan and asked, “Your horse is a thousand-mile horse?”

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Qi Zhan thought that Zhang Hong liked the horse and he wanted to give it to Zhang Hong. He flattered him and said, “Yes, it’s a rare horse…”

But before he could finish saying that he wanted to give it to Zhang Hong, Zhang Hong angrily pulled out his sword and cut off Qi Zhan’s head with a single swipe. 

———–

Feng Ming had kept Qi Zijie watching the battle on the other side of Ming River. Qi Zijie reported everything that happened with the two armies to Feng Ming. Feng Ming was a little surprised and said, “This man named Teng Ying will be a big trouble in the future.”

Lu Shichen knew that Teng Ying was the Marquis Tengnan who kept him under house arrest before. Marquis Tengnan’s behavior was considered a gentleman at that time. He didn’t make things difficult for himself. He thought it would be a good thing if Teng Ying could submit to Feng country.

However, Feng Ming didn’t think so. Raising tigers was too dangerous. When Teng Ying defeats Zhang Hong, Emperor Xue would definitely let him continue to fight against Feng Country. 

Qi Zijie said, “As I have seen at the end, Teng Ying may not win this time.”

Feng Ming said, “Why?”

Qi Zijie said, “Did the King forget that there is still Yu Chen under Teng Ying’s camp?”

When Feng Ming heard this he suddenly laughed and said, “That’s right. Yu Chen may not be able to win the war, but he will be very competent to make them lose the war. At that time, we will lend a helping hand to help Xue Country’s army beat Zhang Hong back.” 

So when Yu Chen was happily preparing to return to the Capital, someone suddenly said to him, “General, why are you happy? You will die as soon as you enter the Capital. Emperor Xue was afraid that you would not return to the Capital if he summoned you, so he lured the General with the pretext of promoting the Imperial concubine De-fei. I’m afraid there have been arranged swords and axes on both sides of the gate of the Capital, waiting for the General.”

As soon as Yu Chen heard this, he immediately felt disillusioned. That night, a man secretly left the military camp and went to Zhang Hong….

Zhang Hong had beheaded Qi Zhan and wanted to kill the other two Generals as well. Afraid that they would get the news and rebel against Zhang Hong, he set up a banquet and invited them. At the banquet, he prepared swordsmen and archers for ambush.

In the chaotic fighting, Yu Chen rushed in and stopped the fight, saying, “It’s all Teng Ying’s trick. You’ve been tricked!” 

After listening to Yu Chen’s words, Zhang Hong felt unjustified and regretted that he had beheaded Qi Zhan.

Yu Chen said with a smile, “Beheading Qi Zhan was also useful. Why don’t the commander let the other two Generals take the soldiers, put Qi Zhan’s head in a box, and pretend to surrender? They would tell Teng Ying that this is the Commander’s head. They found out that the Commander wanted to kill them, they had no choice but to raise troops and had no way to go. They came to surrender and specially presented the Commander’s head to Xue Army.”

Zhang Hong listened to the plan and agreed to it, “In this way, Xue army would be caught off guard!”

Zhang Hong rewarded Yu Chen and asked him to serve as a reinforcements to wipe out Ming River’s army. 

Yu Chen also said: “The army pretending to surrender would be unexpected. With Teng Ying’s false benevolence, he will certainly not flee in the hinterland, where people are living not far away. He would have no other place to escape than the other side of Ming River.  At that time, this General will be willing to lead a thousand soldiers and lay an ambush in the lower reaches of the Ming River. Just wait for Teng Ying to flee there and take a net attack!”

Zhang Hong was so happy that he didn’t know what to do, so he called out his troops and horses and asked Yu Chen to set up an ambush.

Within two days, Teng Yun received a report from the sentry that there was a large army outside of the camp, led by the general under Zhang Hong. Everyone in the army held a white cloth and signaled to surrender.

Teng Yun was afraid that it was a trap and did not let them into the camp. He just personally came out to meet with the army. 

The chief General knelt down on the ground and said: “Please take Zhang Hong’s army in! Zhang Hong killed Qi Zhan and set up a banquet to ambush this villain. This villain clashed with his army brothers and had to cut off Zhang Hong’s head. Now there is no way for us to go. Please take our soldiers in. This villain is willing to present Zhang Hong’s head and vows not to rebel to death.” he said and presented the box to Teng Yun.

Zhang Mo also came over when he heard the news, carrying the Tiger Wing sword in his hand and handing it over to Teng Yun.

At this time, Lang Jing hurried over, said a word in Teng Yun’s ear and entered the camp again.

Teng Yun understood the situation at once. Lang Jing said only four words “Yu Chen ran away”, but the weight of these four words were not small. Yu Chen rebelled and became a traitor, so it must be a conspiracy at the moment. 

The enemy’s army was pressing the formation, but his own army had not been organized yet. How could he meet and fight them? Teng Yun could only delay time and wait for Lang Jing to prepare the soldiers and send troops.

Teng Yun’s palm was sweating, and the enemy General’s palm was sweating too, because the box actually contained Qi Zhan’s head. If Teng Yun decides to open the box, they would be found out.

Suddenly, the sound of battle drums could be heard along the field which shocked the enemy General. Realizing that he had been exposed for a long time, he immediately let his men attack.

For a time, the two armies clashed. 

Although Lang Jing had prepared the Xue army, the preparation was in haste. Unlike the enemy who had a long time to prepare when they had come to the camp.

For a time, the soldiers rushed to battle and were scattered by Zhang Hong’s army.

Zhang Mo was battling with all his might, he chopped off an enemy’s cavalry and grabbed his horse. He saw Teng Yun blocking the enemy’s General’s attack on Lang Jing. Lang Jing was a Civil Minister, he had not practiced any swordsmanship and didn’t know any Martial Arts at all. He looked embarrassed at this time of confusion and chaos.

The enemy General was also a brave man. Although Teng Yun could block him for a while, he didn’t know whether he had enough physical strength to fight him off for a long time. 

Zhang Mo gave Lang Jing his horse and asked Lang Jing to escape and ask for help.

Without hesitation, Lang Jing turned over and got on his horse. Zhang Mo opened the way for him and he rode out off the battlefield.

When Zhang Mo saw that he was gone, he picked up a sword from the ground and went back to the battle. The Xue soldiers were now scattered and their defeat was imminent. Teng Yun and Zhang Mo knew that they should not continue to lead the soldiers to fight, so they led the rest of the troops to retreat.

Zhang Mo couldn’t bear to take the army to escape to the hinterland. After all, the common people living there would suffer if they brought the battle there. So he gritted his teeth and said, “The terrain on the lower reaches of Ming River is dangerous. But we have no choice, we might as well go there, and there are also troops there.” 

At this time, no one could think about any other plan, so they had to head down to the lower reaches of Ming River.

Zhang Hong personally rode out to hunt them down, as if he wanted to kill them all.

Teng Yun led his soldiers and killed their way out of the battle and retreated all the way. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses fought their way out to flee and died. Unexpectedly, there were only about a thousand horses left.

Teng Yun, Zhang Mo and several Generals broke their way out and let the thousand soldiers and horses escape first and caught up with the enemy Generals. Seeing that the enemy would catch up, Teng Yun turned his horse around to meet them head-on. The Xue generals shouted at him to continue to retreat but Teng Yun stood his ground. At this time, the Xue Commander-in-Chief, Teng Ying, with the Tiger Wing sword on his hand, faced the enemy generals, slashed the stomachs of their horses and killed their riders in a swift move. 

Teng Yun then raised up his sword and stood on his horse, daring the enemies to come his way.

Zhang Hong, who led the soldiers to chase him, didn’t dare to move forward. The Xue soldiers who were retreating took advantage of this time to ride far and escape from the battle. The remaining Generals escorted Teng Yun to the lower reaches of Ming River.

Zhang Hong was frightened by Teng Yun’s courage and didn’t dare to chase forward. The counselor also said that the terrain ahead was very dangerous, and the Xue soldiers were already there. He might be ambushed if he continued to chase them. Besides, Yu Chen had already set an ambush at the lower reaches of Ming River, just waiting for Teng Yun and his troops to arrive there. Zhang Hong, not feeling any regret in not being able to capture and kill Teng Yun, withdrew his troops and went back to the camp, waiting for the good news.

The Xue soldiers were exhausted when they reached downstream. The terrain downstream was dangerous, but the scenery was quite spectacular. There was a pool of water not far away. Peach blossoms were planted everywhere around the water, which were just blooming and very pleasing to the eyes. 

Teng Yun saw that the soldiers were very thirsty but were not drinking the water from the pond, and asked, “What kind of water is this? Is it not safe to drink?”

Zhang Mo answered, “This place is called Peach Blossom Pond. There are many reeds in the pond, and these reeds are poisonous after being exposed to the sun. You can’t drink the water, so it’s called Stagnant Water.

Teng Yun looked at the Peach Blossom Pond and suddenly laughed. Zhang Mo asked him why he was laughing.

Teng Yun frowned and said, “We forgot about Yu Chen. Did you see Yu Chen just now?” 

Zhang Mo was surprised at this time. He already understood that Yu Chen might have been lying in ambush here long ago. As he thought of this, they heard the sound of drums. As expected, Yu Chen’s soldiers arrived.

Zhang Mo asked Teng Yun to get on the horse and escape. Teng Yun got on the horse but didn’t run away. He ordered Zhang Mo to take the thousand soldiers to continue downstream. Then Teng Yun just stood there to intercept Yu Chen.

Yu Chen had heard about Zhang Hong’s pursuit but was frightened. He also heard about Teng Yun killing the enemy’s Generals chasing after them with the Tiger Wing sword. He didn’t dare to go forward and sent a soldier to fight as he was afraid to be cut off in half by the Tiger Wing sword.

Yu Chen was even more afraid when he saw Teng Yun alone on his horse, face full with determination to fight. Yu Chen ordered the soldiers to fight Teng Yun first. 

Teng Yun fought with all his might, killing the enemy soldiers attacking one after another. He was already getting exhausted and understood that this was Yu Chen’s strategy, but only in this way could he hold off the pursuers.

Dusk came, Teng Yun suddenly turned over and dismounted his horse. Yu Chen didn’t know what trick he was thinking of, so he didn’t move. He waited for whatever Teng Yun was going to do. Teng Yun walked over to the bank of the Peach Blossom Pond, leaned against a peach tree and sat down slowly. He turned his hand, thrust the Tiger Wing sword into the ground beside him, and closed his eyes.

The peach blossom petals were being blown down by the wind and sprinkled on Teng Yun’s body under the peach tree, but the man seemed to be asleep and didn’t move. Yu Chen stared at the scene for a while before he became furious. He thought Teng Yun was tricking him again and ordered the remaining soldiers to attack him.

But when the soldiers walked over, Teng Yun still didn’t move. One of the soldiers leaned over to check his breathing. He couldn’t feel any breathing at all. Could Teng Yun have already died of exhaustion? 

Yu Chen happily asked the soldiers to destroy Teng Yun’s body, but before that, he wanted to make sure that Teng Yun would be chopped by his sword first.

However, before he could make a move, they were suddenly attacked by a group of soldiers from both sides.

Qi Zijie, leading a group of Feng soldiers, surrounded Yu Chen and Zhang Hong’s soldiers. Qi Zijie, killed Yu Chen with his sword and took Teng Yun’s body away.

When Zhang Mo saw that the escaping Xue soldiers were not being pursued anymore, he quickly took a few of them and led them back to help Teng Yun. When he returned to the Peach Blossom Pond, he saw a dead body. He immediately dismounted, fear could be seen on his face, as he thought it might be Teng Yun’s corpse lying there. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was Yu Chen, lying on the ground and dead. 

However, Teng Yun could not be seen. Only the treasure sword Tiger Wing was left, thrusted deep into the ground, under the peach tree.

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