Chapter 8 first quarter

At this time, Di Qing also fell into an extremely dangerous situation! When his commander rushed to the northwest for more than a hundred li, he was suddenly ambushed by the Khitan army on the side of the road. He ordered the army to split up and retreat. Unknowingly, the whole army retreated into a canyon.As soon as Song Jun entered the canyon, the drums in the valley suddenly rang loudly, and the torches on the cliff instantly ignited! The flag of Khitan was reflected under the torch, and it was Yelu Chongyuan, left sage king of Khitan surrounded by all the troops under his flag.The woman in yellow shirt next to him is none other than Princess Pipa.Di Qing pressed his sword and looked around, only a few zhang away in the valley was pitch black, and most of the soldiers were already retreating, so they immediately gave the order: "Take out the torches and light them!"

"Di Qing!" Zuo Xianwang sat with the army, looked down at the panicking Song army in the valley, and laughed, "You have always claimed to be invincible on the battlefield, but today will happen, right? How about it, surrender!" Di Qing said coldly: "The shrouded body in horse leather is the honor of a man, so why bother talking!" "That's good," Zuo Xianwang waved his right hand, and the sergeant set up a girl with red makeup, sneered slightly: "Then you don't even want your wife?" With a sound of "shua", the sergeants on the left and right drew out their long swords and put them on Wu'er's neck.Wu'er had never seen such a scene before, and immediately cried "Wow" in fright.King Zuo Xian was a little proud: "Di Qing, you call yourself a hero in vain, why is your wife so useless?" He paused for a moment, then continued to raise his voice: "Di Qing, I heard that you came from a poor and humble background and used to be a groom. There is an old saying in the Han nationality: "A poor friend should not be forgotten, but a wife of filth will not go to court." Do you have the heart to see her being torn to pieces by knives?"

Di Qing's fingers slowly clenched the hilt of the sword, because no one could see the expression on his face because he was wearing a mask.After a long time, he said calmly: "There is another old saying in the Han nationality: 'Those who care about great things don't care about small things', and for the sake of national affairs, you must give up your personal feelings-King Zuo Xian, you killed my family, and you just made me swear to destroy Khitan. What happened today." Princess Pipa sneered: "I'm afraid you have no selfish feelings for her at all. Today, you are so generous because you are doing business for your own benefit." She pointed at the southwest corner with her whip, looked up to the sky and laughed: "Di Qing, General Fang has already cut off your way back. I'm afraid your Princess Weiyang has already died on the battlefield!"

Everyone looked back in shock, only to see flames shooting up into the sky from the southwest. "The forage field is burned!" Someone shouted, and there was a commotion in the army.There are even some sergeants whose hearts are attached to their wives and children, and they no longer have the heart to fight.Di Qing looked back at the barracks, his hand holding the reins couldn't help but tremble slightly—Master Weiyang...Xuehong...is dead?died!Suddenly there was a burst of uncontrollable anger and sorrow in his heart, he drew his sword backhand, and shouted: "Let's fight! All the troops who retreat will be killed!"

Princess Pipa sneered: "If you want to hit, hit it, are you afraid?" She swung the knife horizontally, only to see a flash of cold light, and Wu'er fell to the ground screaming! "Haha, Di Qing, use your new wife's blood to sacrifice the knife first!" Zuo Xianwang laughed. Di Qing gritted her teeth hard, her hands trembling.After all, Wu'er was his wife in name, who took care of his mother for many years and suffered a lot for the Di family.Now, she didn't wait until the day when her husband and wife would be honored and enjoy the glory, and the blood would be stained on the battlefield, so how could she not make him feel guilty.

He didn't have time to think about personal matters, so he passed on the order: "The left army and the right army each formed a green dragon formation to block the enemy's attack on both sides. "He understands that the terrain here is dangerous, the enemy is condescending, and the situation is like catching a turtle in a jar, which is extremely unfavorable to the Song army. At this time, all the torches on the four walls were extinguished, and the valley became pitch black.The torches of the Song army have gradually been burned out, and the valley is so small that you can't see your fingers. Once the army encounters an attack, they will trample each other to death!

Di Qing hastily ordered: "Stay where you are and don't move! Get your shield to guard, and draw your bow to prepare for battle!" Before he finished speaking, he heard the sound of "swish" like rain, and thousands of arrows shot down from the cliff!Immediately there was a sound of screams and screams in the ears. The Song army was attacked without any room for retaliation, and immediately lost its position. When the soldiers were avoiding the rain of arrows like locusts, they could not tell the direction. The situation was chaotic, and everyone rushed to escape first.

"General, the terrain is dangerous, you can't see your fingers, and you can't tell where the mouth of the valley is!" The leader of the rear army galloped to report.At this time, the left and right armies on the periphery used bows and arrows to shoot at the Khitan army, and the arrows were gradually used up.The military is on fire! Di Qing looked to the southwest again, knowing that Ding Ning might not be able to rush to the rescue immediately, and he confronted the Khitan's 100,000 army with a mere few thousand troops, tonight was probably more or less ominous.His gaze suddenly became sharp and menacing, reflecting the hideous and terrifying bronze mask was even more frightening!

"Everyone put an arrow on the bow, and don't shoot when it is full." He ordered word by word.Hearing the general's unfazed voice, Song Jun felt a little relieved, stood up one after another, and drew his bow to shoot.At this time, the arrows and logs from the Khitan side continued to attack from the wall, and the Song army had suffered more than half of the casualties. Di Qing looked around again, raised his bow suddenly, and shot an arrow "shua", and the string of lanterns on the head of Zuo Xianwang on the cliff fell down!He had just noticed that the only lantern in this string was the Khitan's pointing lamp, whichever direction the Song army in the valley was heading, the lamp would point in that direction.Therefore, although the enemy and our armies are in the dark, the movement of the Song army is completely under the control of Khitan!

Once the lamp was shot down, the Khitan army also lost their target, and Gushang and Guzhong fell into a melee. Di Qing led a group of elite cavalry to charge around, trying to find the entrance to the valley.But in the vast darkness, the soldiers are in a panic, how can they find it in a short time?The battle armor was already spattered with blood, and sweat flowed down his temples, but in the extreme cold of the night outside the Great Wall, it immediately condensed into ice slag.The soldiers around him continued to fall, and after a few back and forth, there were only a dozen or so cavalry left.

At this time, Di Qing had already made up his mind to die. Holding the Pijiang Sword, he slashed all the way, shouting: "Kill the enemy! Kill the enemy!" He shouted on the horse, soaked in blood, like an ancient god of war.Wherever one person and one rider go, they are invincible. "Song Jun, come with me, let's go out together!" He galloped back and forth in the valley for a few times, and the remaining troops gradually gathered and followed around him. Di Qing was rushing towards nowhere, when suddenly, he heard a faint sound of drums!Such a familiar rhythm! ...what is it? He was stunned immediately - "House of Flying Daggers" turned out to be "House of Flying Daggers"!Di Qing felt unspeakable ecstasy in his heart, and blurted out: "Xuehong!" The drum beat became more urgent, passing through the night like raindrops. The drumbeat is in the southwest. Di Qing turned around and ordered: "Everyone, go to the southwest and attack with all your strength!" He turned his horse's head first and entered the enemy's formation.The enemy's arrows rained down, and the soldiers fell off their horses one after another.Di Qing chopped down several Khitan people with his sword, then raised his head and shot an arrow at King Zuo Xian.The bow of this arrow is like a full moon, and the arrow is like a shooting star. Suddenly, there was another sound of strings, and another arrow shot like lightning!Two arrows hit each other, both hit the ground! ——Princess Pipa of Gaochang Kingdom fired the arrow. After being frightened by this, King Zuo Xian became furious and ordered: "Attack with all your strength, don't let a Song pig slip through the net! Whoever kills Di Qing's head will be rewarded with a thousand catties and promoted to three ranks!" As soon as these words came out, the Khitan army attacked more is ferocious.More than half of the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty had been killed or injured, but they still embraced the commander with all their strength and rushed towards the place where the drum sound came from. The sound of the drum was like a guiding light.Princess Pipa frowned, and sneered: "Why, she's not dead yet?" She hesitated for a while, gritted her teeth, listened to the direction of the drum sound, raised her bow, and pointed towards the sound of the drum. An arrow shot past where it came from. In the darkness, the sound of the drum really stopped! As soon as the sound of the drums disappeared, the officers and soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty couldn't find their way all of a sudden, they rushed around in the dark night, and lost their positions again. "Xuehong, what's wrong with you!" Di Qing yelled in his heart, raising his head over and over again, trying to see the direction of Taniguchi.But in the dark night, there were only pieces of snowflakes slowly falling, and only the geese chirping from the sky—could it be that he and the 10,000 soldiers of Song Dynasty were about to die here? Suddenly, one sound, another sound, the drum sounded again!Extremely slow, yet extremely powerful.The officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty were all shocked, and began to fight desperately in that direction again. Princess Pipa's eyes were full of murderous intent!She stomped her foot and shot another arrow.But this time, the drums only paused for a moment, and then continued to sound slowly.It was slow, but extremely firm and powerful.She let out a long sigh, and retracted her bow with a dejected expression. At this time, suddenly there was a loud fight in the southwest corner, and a spy ran over to report: "Your Majesty, Ding Ning has calmed Commander Fang's army and is moving to attack the periphery of our army!" King Zuo Xian was taken aback and couldn't sit still any longer: "That kid Fang Tianyu boasted that he would definitely capture Ding Ning alive! Now...how can Zengsheng be better now!" He looked at Princess Pipa beside him as if asking for help.Princess Pipa didn't even think about it, and said coldly: "Ding Ning and Di Qing are both generals of the generation. Now if we attack together from inside and outside, our army will definitely not be an opponent! We should retreat immediately while it is still dark, so as to preserve our strength." Di Qing led the crowd to charge towards the place where the drums sounded, corpses lay all over the ground along the way, and blood stained his battle clothes.After an unknown amount of time, he rushed into another group of people, and suddenly heard someone shouting: "Di Qing, is that you?" He looked up in surprise, and saw the military flag of Song Dynasty reflected under the torch, and a man rushed towards him.As the torch flickered, he recognized that young but resolute face.He pulled off the bronze mask and rode his horse to meet him. As they approached, the two embraced tightly on the horse.The two young generals who are equally young and have the same commanding spirit burst into tears at the same time!It's like a lifetime away from the fierce battle! The meeting on the battlefield and the brotherly friendship made the two men tear up.But neither of them wasted time. Ding Ning quickly returned to normal, asked about the situation of the battle in extremely concise words, discussed with Di Qing, and immediately decided on a new deployment. "Di Qing, you have fought hard all night, and your strength is exhausted. Take the rest of the troops back to the camp to rest. Leave it to me to pursue the defeated Khitan army!" Ding Ning patted him on the shoulder.Seeing that out of the 10,000 soldiers who went with him, there were only more than 2,000 people left to break through, and all of them were covered in blood. I didn't feel guilty, "It's really hard for you. I was held back by Fang Tianyu's traitor, and I came too late. ,sorry." Only then did Di Qing realize that there were many bloodstains on his battle armor. His shoulders, left rib, and lower back were all injured, and blood gushed out from the wounds.He slashed like crazy just now, but he didn't feel the pain at all. He smiled palely: "We are both contributing to the country, so why not be polite." Ding Ning didn't say any more, and ordered his troops to rush to the front line.But just after running a few steps, he reined in his horse and turned back, and whispered in Di Qing's ear: "Weiyang... how is Weiyang? Have you seen her?" There was unconcealable anxiety and concern in his tone . Di Qing was shocked!Only then did he realize that at some point, the drumming had stopped! "Xuehong!" He shouted, turning his horse's head and galloping towards the valley. Ding Ning's complexion also changed, knowing that something serious must have happened.But after a moment of hesitation, he turned his head back and said, "March quickly!" He followed the chasing Khitan army without looking back.He is the commander in chief. A large group of people passed by, and yellow dust rose all over the wasteland. Moon black geese fly high, Shan Yuye flees.If you want to chase Qingqi away, the bow and knife will be covered with heavy snow. The battlefield was a bloody mess.Many corpses were piled on the ground randomly, some were headless, some were missing hands and feet, and some were disemboweled.Many jackdaws and hawks were circling in the sky, nibbling at the dead man's flesh.Di Qing was looking for someone, wading through the pile of dead bodies in a panic. The sound of drums last night, like a lonely lamp in the long night, gave hope to the soldiers and horses of the Song Dynasty who were on the verge of extinction.The rhythm of the drum beats exactly the song "House of Flying Daggers"!He had heard Princess Weiyang play this song.He could tell that it was she who was beating the drums at Taniguchi. He left his horse and climbed up the steep mountain face.The injuries all over his body made him almost lose consciousness, but he still leaned on the ground with his long sword and walked up the snow step by step.After climbing to the steep mountain top of Taniguchi, his eyes lit up! He saw a snare drum, a snare drum half buried in the snow!On one side of the drum, the cowhide has been broken.It can be seen how heavy the hands of the drummer are. However, princess Weiyang... where is Weiyang?Di Qing looked around, only to see a vast expanse of whiteness.Suddenly, he found something protruding from the snow.It's an arrow feather.Carved feathers and arrows. He rushed over in a few steps and scraped away the snow on the ground with his hands.There is only a thin layer of snow, and there is a lotus-like beautiful person in the snow.Princess Weiyang. She lay prone in the snow quietly, the blood around her had already frozen into ice.Two arrows hit her in the back, one went in behind the shoulder and exited under the collarbone; the other nailed her back.Di Qing suddenly lost the strength in her knees, knelt down involuntarily, and slowly bent down to pick her up from the ground.Her face was as white as blood and seemed transparent.His long, jet-black hair was covered with snow and fell to the ground behind his ears.She still held the drumstick tightly in her hand. "Xuehong, Xuehong!" Di Qing finally couldn't help calling out loudly, shaking her shoulder vigorously.She just swayed unconsciously, motionless.Di Qing hastily took out the golden wound medicine from his bosom, applied it on her wound, took off the wine bag from his waist, and gave her a few gulps.Wine is an extremely strong burner, and it is said that it can be used as oil to light a lamp. He looked at the surrounding terrain, found a shelter from the wind, sat down with her in his arms, untied his armor, and embraced her in his arms, who was cold all over.He knew how badly she was hurt after being shot by an arrow and buried in the snow for another night! She is really like a beauty carved from ice.Crystal clear, but lifeless. Di Qing's thoughts flew back to a long time ago...the first meeting by the Yinma River, the beautiful and naughty little princess in the palace; The stable; and the night when she left crying, the snow outside the Great Wall... everything seems to be far away, but it vividly appears in front of my eyes. But when she appeared in front of him unexpectedly again as Princess Weiyang, she was about to become the general's wife. Princess Weiyang and Xuehong are completely two people, she is noble, elegant, reserved and polite, she is a perfect noble lady.However, from such a sharp contrast, he felt all kinds of struggles and pains in her heart like never before. At this time, Weiyang County in his arms took the initiative.Di Qing woke up from his contemplation, and hurriedly looked down at her. She struggled to open her eyes, but saw a hideous mask at a glance.A trace of panic flashed through her eyes: "Who are you?" As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she immediately remembered and smiled, "So it's you, General Di." Her face was still extremely pale, and her voice was extremely weak . "The troops... are all out of danger?" She asked softly, "That battle was really... tragic." "Xuehong." Di Qing slowly pulled off his mask, staring at her, the ice in his eyes melting away.He has been suppressed for too long. Only then did Princess Weiyang realize that she was leaning in his arms, and she couldn't help feeling uneasy: "This...is not very good. Others will gossip when they see it. General Di, what's wrong with Ding Ning? Where is Wu'er? " She intentionally mentioned these two people in order to let Di Qing understand each other's identities, and she no longer allowed any further ties between the two. "One is gone, the other is dead." Di Qing's face was livid, and there was an undeniable determination in his words.There was also a flash of light like lightning in his eyes.He seemed to have made a big decision. "Xuehong, I love you." He said with a trembling voice but without hesitation, "I have loved you since the first time I saw you by the stream—but don't you think this is ridiculous? A groom, a prisoner, by virtue of Why do you have unreasonable thoughts about a princess princess? What's more, in my capacity, I have a high court and a wife, so how can I be allowed to have extravagant thoughts?" Princess Weiyang stared at him blankly, thinking for a moment that she was in a dream. ——In this case... I thought that I would never have the chance to hear him say it in my life. He sighed: "Since I was a child, I have always wanted to get ahead in the army and make my family famous. I really don't want... I don't want to ruin my career." Princess Weiyang smiled slightly: "No...it's nothing, I don't blame you. A good man...a good man should clean up the world...cough, cough...the Huns are still alive, why do you call yourself home...right?" Her pale eyes There was a strange tide of blood on his cheeks, and his pale face suddenly became alive. Di Qing stroked the Pijiang sword, and said in a gloomy voice, "I am different from Ding Ning. He is the son of a general, and he was born to be a commander... But I, everything, can only walk out step by step on my own. I can't give up casually." Princess Weiyang leaned on his shoulder, staring at him with her beautiful eyes without blinking, took a few breaths, and said in a low voice, "I...I suddenly feel very cold..." Her thin body was like the wind The dead leaves in the tree are generally trembling. Di Qing hugged her, fed her a sip of strong wine, and asked anxiously, "How are you?" Just now, he was calm and calm under the tens of thousands of troops, but there was an uncontrollable tremor in his voice. "Cold...cold to the bone marrow..." Princess Weiyang's teeth were chattering, and her voice was out of breath.She managed to calm down her panting, and said tremblingly, "very... good... you finally... admitted... and... not in vain... not in vain for me..." Before he could finish a sentence, he gasped again. Tears flowed from her eyes, and crystal tears flowed down her pale cheeks, where they froze into ice.Her hand was held in Di Qing's warm and strong hands - such warm hands were what she had longed for in the cold upbringing of the palace... But, but... Is it too late? Di Qing said slowly: "Wu'er is dead. I am also going to disarm and return to the farmland. You... you still come with me?" Princess Weiyang looked at him in surprise: "You...your ambition, what about your dream?...You don't want...you don't want to be a...a generation of famous generals whose name will go down in history?" Di Qing looked up at the Pijiang Sword stuck in the snow, with a wry smile on his face: "It's better...forget it." Princess Weiyang smiled weakly and shook her head.Shaking his head slowly but firmly. "Impossible... You must never... Do not destroy yourself... Future, I... I don't want... I don't want to block your... your way. If... If... Thousands of years later, in the annals of history... there is your... ...Name, I...I will be...very happy." With a smile on the corner of her mouth, she said intermittently, saying something, taking a breath, "Ding Ning... Ding Ning is... a very good person, I, I can marry him , is also...a blessing. I don't want...to lose face for the General's Mansion...and the County Prince's Mansion..." Di Qing looked down at her with tears in his eyes.Who is different in the sad place? "Please...take me...back. It's me...I'm dead, and I...bring the body...to him. We...the Zhao family is a heavenly clan, and we will never go back on what we said..." Before she finished her sentence, the blood color quickly faded from her lips and cheeks, and her voice also slowly dropped. In the blue sky, a pair of white eagles spread their wings across the sky. That day, the wind and sand were so strong that people couldn't keep their eyes open.Di Qing got off his horse in front of the gate of the camp, and was about to help the people on the horse, when he saw a rider coming from the north, and also landed ten feet away.Ding Ning.The two slowly led the horse and walked over. "I have something for you." Ding Ning said slowly, and hugged a person from the horseback, "Wu'er is not dead, she was only slightly injured and passed out temporarily." Di Qing's eyes flickered, but he still reached out to take his wife. "I don't know if this makes things more difficult for you, but...you know that I must bring her back." Ding Ning said. Di Qing suddenly became angry, and blurted out: "Shut up! Who do you think I am? Just because you don't like someone, do you want her to die?" He slightly suppressed his out-of-control emotions, and whispered: "I also Brought someone for you...just, just...sorry, I'm not sure if she'll survive." Ding Ning saw Princess Weiyang on the horse and the two arrows on her vest, his expression changed drastically. Without saying a word, he immediately picked her up and rushed into the camp. As he walked, he told the soldiers: "Please call the imperial doctor!"