The Great Wei Music Bureau

Chapter 73 Interception

Last time we talked about Li Yi and Nangong Xue leading 200 cavalrymen, each riding two horses at a fast march to chase Yuwen Tian. So how did Li Yi use these 200 people to stop Yuwen Tian? Let’s read on.

Li Yi was hurrying on his way, while Dugu Long first learned from the city gate guards that Yuwen Tian and his son had left the south gate with more than a dozen people in the morning. He headed south, following the traces of carriages and horses to pursue them. More than 30 miles south of the city, he found a stove pit left by a large group of people cooking, and from the number of stove pits, he deduced that Yuwen Tian's troops numbered about 2,000 people.

However, as he chased further and further, he found that Yuwen Tian's troops were gathering more and more. On the next morning, Dugu Long finally caught up with Yuwen Tian's troops. At this time, Yuwen Tian had gathered nearly 7,000 troops. Under such circumstances, even Dugu Long did not dare to act rashly. He could only keep a safe distance, continue to follow and leave marks along the way.

Just as he was about to reach Penghe with Yuwen Tian's troops, he saw his own guards. Dugu Long jumped up to the guards and asked, "Xiao Duan, how many cavalrymen have you brought? How far are they from here?"

The guard Xiao Duan replied, "My lord, Master Li has led 200 light cavalrymen to the south bank of Penghe River. Master Li asked me to come here to look for you."

Dugu Long was surprised and asked, "Why did you only bring 200 cavalry? This is too few. Yuwen Tian's army has nearly 7,000 people. How can 200 people stop them?"

Xiao Duan said, "Master Li asked me to come to the young master for this matter. Master Li asked the young master to destroy the two north and south bridges, and he would do the rest."

Dugu Long nodded and said, "I understand. Xiuyuan wants to delay Yuwen Tian by destroying the bridge, but I'm afraid it won't last long. Does he have any other ideas?"

Xiao Duan said: "Mr. Li only said that he had a way to delay Yuwen Tian for two days, so that the young master could destroy the bridge and then reunite with him."

Dugu Long thought for a while and said, "Okay, you go back and tell Xiuyuan not to be stubborn. Yuwen Tian has 7,000 troops, including many masters and elite soldiers. Tell him to be careful. I will meet him after I destroy the two bridges." Xiao Duan clasped his fists and saluted and went back to report the news, while Dugu Long set out to destroy the bridge.

Li Yi asked Dugu Long to destroy the other two ferry bridges in order to lead Yuwen Tian to the bridge where he was. This bridge was built on a relatively wide and flat area of ​​Penghe River. There were woods on both the north and south banks. On the south bank, through the woods was a mountain pass, and passing the mountain pass led directly to Jiangcheng. From the perspective of terrain, it was an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack pass. Under normal circumstances, Yuwen Tian would never choose this road.

However, when Yuwen Tian's scouts reported the destruction of the two bridges, Yuwen Tian guessed that something was wrong. He called in several commanders to discuss the matter. These commanders were his trusted confidants selected from the Mohist school and trained by him to become the leaders of the army.

Yuwen Tian was the cousin of Yuwen Zheng, the head of the Yuwen family. He originally worked in the Ministry of War, but was dismissed from office because he stood on the wrong side in the dispute over the throne. Later, the Yuwen family restored order and supported Tuoba Jun, so he was reinstated.

However, because Tuoba Jun had a bad impression of him, the family arranged him to be the head of the Qingzhou Military Equipment Bureau. As one of the few people in the family who knew how to use troops, he had always been valued by the family, and it was he who negotiated the Mohist family's joining the Yuwen family, so he became the fulcrum of the Mohist family and the Yuwen family. Most of the materials and money needed by the Mohist family were paid from the accounts of the Qingzhou Military Equipment Bureau and the Weaving Bureau, and Yuwen Tian took the opportunity to train his own people.

In Yuwen Tian's team, more than a dozen people sat around a carriage. Yuwen Tian said, "The scouts reported that two of the three bridges over Peng River were destroyed. What do you think about this?" Yuwen Tian raised the topic, and the people below began to talk about it.

This is his usual style, not that he has no ideas. He can listen to everyone's thoughts from their discussions, observe people and their hearts, so as to know how to use them in the future. These are all leaders, not a mob. They can all judge that the matter has been exposed. The pursuers of the Dugu and Nangong families are approaching. The most urgent task is to quickly cross the Peng River and rush to Jiangcheng, where someone will pick them up.

One person suggested, "General Yuwen, I suggest that we build another bridge. It will take less than a day to build it using local materials. We must not cross the previous bridge. There is a mountain pass behind that road. If there are ambushes, it will be difficult to conquer."

Another person said, "I agree, but we need to build several bridges at the same time. Since the invaders were able to destroy the two ferry bridges so quickly, our bridge will certainly be destroyed as well, so building several more is the best strategy."

The people below nodded in agreement. Someone else suggested, "I am in the open and the enemy is in the dark. It is useless to build a bridge. No matter how many bridges we build, they will be destroyed. I suggest sending out scouts to explore the way across the bridge until we reach the mountain pass. If there are no ambushes, we can cross."

Another person retorted: "How could there be no ambush? Both bridges were destroyed, and only this one was left. And no ambush was set up? Do you think the people from the Dugu and Nangong families are all fools?"

Someone else suggested, "General Yuwen, I suggest that the troops rest on the north bank first, and then divide into four groups. Three of them will build bridges. There are many Mohist disciples in the team, so building bridges will be a piece of cake. For the last group, we need to select elite troops and cross the bridge in front. Even if there are ambushes on the other side, they are at most light cavalry and the number of troops will not be too large. We can attack them directly. If we cannot get through, we will hold on and wait for the other three groups to cross the river before breaking through!"

After hearing the proposal, Yuwen Tian nodded with satisfaction and said, "This idea is exactly what I want. I have already sent scouts to the front to check. Let's act according to this idea. Gao Jing, you take a thousand men to build a bridge twenty miles east of here. Fang Hui, you take a thousand men to build a bridge ten miles east of here. Chen Ran, you take a thousand men to build a bridge ten miles west of here. If anyone destroys it, report to us immediately! The rest of the troops should rest where they are, and they are not allowed to take off their armor or set up camp. They should be on guard. In addition, send out two waves of scouts, one to investigate the other side, and the other to investigate the whereabouts of the pursuers." After Yuwen Tian gave the order, everyone followed his orders and acted separately. The team of nearly 7,000 people acted separately.

After destroying the two ferry bridges, Dugu Long rushed to meet Li Yi. When he saw Li Yi, he said, "Xiu Yuan, do you have any way to hold back these 7,000 people for two days?"

Li Yi said with a smile: "All is fair in war. Yuwen Tian is like a frightened bird and cannot stand being frightened. Let me scare him."

Dugu Long was puzzled. Li Yi said, "Brother Long, I have something else to trouble you. I guess Yuwen Tian will not risk everything and will definitely find another way to cross the river. Brother Long, please patrol along the Peng River. If they want to build another bridge, please stop them. But don't reveal your identity. If Yuwen Tian finds you, he will definitely force his way across, and that will be a disaster."

Dugu Long asked: "Why is that? Yuwen Tian must have known that I was coming to Qingzhou, so he ran away. If I hadn't come, he would have used other methods to delay."

Li Yi explained, "Brother Long, as the saying goes, a cornered dog will jump over the wall. If you show up, Yuwen Tian will definitely try his best to break through. Although this mountain pass is dangerous, we only have 200 people and it is impossible to defend it. If my guess is correct, there must be someone around Jiangcheng to support them. If we let them get to Jiangcheng, all our efforts will be wasted. I don't want you to reveal your identity, just to give Yuwen Tian a chance of winning, so that he will have the confidence to get through here. I don't need to delay him for long, as long as I can stop him before Brother Yuqi and Brother Qi bring their men. Once the infantry arrives, Brother Long will show his power again and kill him without leaving a single piece of armor!"

Dugu Long nodded and smiled after hearing this: "You want to use conspiracy and trickery to deceive Yuwen Tian, ​​right? Well, I am not good at this, so I will do as you say."

Li Yi bowed and said, "Then I'll leave it to you, Brother Long."

Nangong Xue asked: "Then what should I do?"

Li Yi smiled and said, "Of course you have something to do. If nothing unexpected happens, Yuwen Tian's scouts will come to check this place soon."

Nangong Xue said calmly, "I understand. Kill them all, right?" She raised her sword and was about to leave. Li Yi stopped her and said, "Miss Nangong, you can't kill them all. Let one person go back. Remember, only let one person go back! And you have to let him reach the mountain pass and return safely."

Nangong Xue asked: "Is it also to give Yuwen Tian confidence?"

Li Yi smiled and nodded. Nangong Xue looked at Li Yi and said calmly, "I really don't know what you are up to. I'm too lazy to think about it. Remember, if you can't stop Yuwen Tian for two days, you have to make me another guitar!"

Li Yi bowed and said, "Li Yi understands. I'll leave it to Miss Nangong."

Wang Shuang stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Li, what should we do?"

Li Yi said, "When Miss Nangong lets the scouts go, you lead people to set up various traps in the forest. Yuwen Tian can't wait and will definitely send troops to investigate tonight. We must resolve the battle as soon as possible so that Yuwen Tian can't figure out our true intentions." Wang Shuang took the order and left. Li Yi made arrangements and leaned against a tree to rest...

Soon, Yuwen Tian's scout team of five rode across the bridge and entered the forest. Nangong Xue, who was waiting for the opportunity, easily sent one and four away. When the scout returned, he said that he had not found any ambush along the way, but the four people who were traveling with him had not returned. After waiting for a long time without any movement, Yuwen Tian immediately ordered to select a thousand elite soldiers as the vanguard to cross the bridge and explore the way.

When the thousand people were crossing the bridge, Li Yi used his talent to spread his voice: "There is a road to heaven but you don't take it, there is no door to hell but you come to it. Although a thousand soldiers are not many, the Shura evil ghosts are here to hook your life!"

Li Yi deliberately said these words in a spooky voice. Nangong Xue laughed at the side and said, "Will your bluffing trick work?"

Li Yi replied, "This is just the first step!" He released his talent to cover the forest, which was filled with purple mist. But it was already night time, the moonlight couldn't penetrate the forest, and coupled with the mist, it inevitably made people feel creepy.

The thousand elite soldiers were not timid when they heard Li Yi's words, but they were also a little afraid. Li Yi said to Nangong Xue: "When they go deep into the trap, cooperate with me and scare them again to lead them into the trap."

Nangong Xue laughed and said, "You are really bad enough. Killing people is bad enough, but you also want to scare people."

Li Yi said seriously: "This is called killing people and destroying their hearts, and even more cruel things are yet to come!" As he spoke, the thousand soldiers went deep into the woods, and Li Yi and Nangong Xue began hunting.

While imitating the screams and laughs of ghosts, Li Yi recited the Diamond Sutra and condensed a ten-foot-tall image of Acala. The ferocious expression of the image was indeed quite intimidating. Li Yi jumped in front of the crowd and laughed wildly: "I haven't eaten fresh human flesh for a long time! It seems that I can eat enough tonight!" After that, he rushed towards the team. Although these thousand people were Yuwentian's elite, they had rarely been on the battlefield. Seeing an evil ghost more than ten feet tall and with six arms rushing towards them, each of them used their own special skills, and bows and crossbows, various spears, and sabers were all thrown at the evil ghost.

Of course, this kind of thing is definitely not even a tickle to the Acalanatha. At this time, the officer leading the troops finally calmed down, began to organize the soldiers to attack in an orderly manner, and took out ropes and chains to put on the Dharma image.

Li Yi laughed secretly in his heart, then said in a sinister and terrifying voice: "The meat of that leader must be delicious!" After that, he pointed at the officer. Nangong Xue understood what he meant, and used the Taoist Tianzong's art of controlling objects to control the man's clothes to fly into the hands of the Dharmakāṣa.

Everyone saw that the evil ghost used some magic to suck the officer into his hand, crushed him to death and then swallowed him into his stomach. Of course, this was an illusion created by Li Yi. He just crushed the man to death and threw him from his mouth behind the Dharma image. Then Li Yi increased the Dharma image to ten and a half feet tall, giving people the feeling that he had eaten the man just now and his cultivation level had greatly increased. As the Dharma image grew larger, the ropes and chains that were originally bound to the Dharma image were torn off.

Everyone saw the evil ghost grab a big tree and uproot it, using it as a weapon to chop at everyone. Without the leader, the thousand people instantly became scattered. Li Yi controlled the Dharma image to disperse these people, and then drove them into the trap. Then there were screams, falling into the pit and being stabbed to death by the wooden spikes at the bottom of the pit, being shot to death by crossbows, and being pierced through the chest by flying spears. Screams came one after another.