Chapter 249 Blocking
In the Queen's bedroom, Xiao Chanyan looked at the deposed Princess Qi and advised, "Your Majesty and I both have the same opinion, why are you so stubborn?"

Yang touched her slightly bulging belly and said, "It is God's will, I will obey it. I only ask Your Majesty to show mercy, and the child in my belly will come..."

The two of them had known each other since the previous dynasty, and Xiao Chanyan comforted him, "After all, he is your Majesty's nephew. He will have a title to inherit in the future, and I will take care of him."

"Thank you, Madam. Now I have nothing to worry about. The clan residence is not short of food and drink. It is a place for self-cultivation and self-improvement."

After a while, Yang said goodbye and left the palace and returned home. The plaque of the Prince of Qi's Mansion had already been taken down, and the replaced plaque clearly read "Zongrenfu".

In addition to the deposed King of Qi Li Yuanji, there were many members of the royal family. Some were sentenced to permanent imprisonment, while others were sentenced to several years. There were many carriages parked in front of the mansion, and when they saw Yang coming back, they immediately came to greet her.

"Princess, please bring some clothes for me. It's been windy and cold these past few days. How can Chun'er bear it? Woo, my poor child."

"Princess, these two packets of food are my county lord's favorite. I ordered the servants..."

"princess…"

Yang didn't say much. She ordered the servants to check and then took them in. Currently, she was the only one in the clan's mansion who had some privileges. The others, including His Majesty's uncles, had no chance of having any face when they came here.

Even though it was the clan residence, where all the prisoners were royal relatives, there was still a distinction between high and low living quarters. The deposed King of Qi still lived in the most spacious courtyard.

When Yang came back after delivering the things to various places, Li Yuanji, with dishevelled hair, suddenly jumped out from nowhere and said, "Have you seen the queen mother? Have you seen her?"

Yang shook her head: "I only saw the Queen."

Li Yuanji's eyes flashed with violence as he angrily shouted, "Useless thing, you are pregnant, you can make as much noise as you want in the palace, who dares to stop you from seeing the Queen Mother!

Yang didn't say anything, just looked at her husband calmly. Li Yuanji said angrily: "Then why did you come back? Get out, get out, and never come back!"

When Yang heard this, she smiled faintly: "I will accompany you, and this is our palace, I will never leave.

I did not make a fuss, so the queen promised me that the child would be rich and noble in the future."

Li Yuanji did not speak again, but just stared at the sky in despair, forever. It had only been a short time, but he had almost forgotten how to ride a horse and hunt.

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Li Jing took the initiative to meet up with Yang Jishan and Wang Bo, and then began to make arrangements, deploying troops and horses in various important locations in real and fake ways.

Some of them were truly intended to block the enemy, while some were just for show. It would be best if they could scare the Turks, but if they couldn't, that was fine too. The goal was to make the Turks tremble with fear at every step.

With the current number of troops, it is unrealistic to block the Turkic army of more than 100,000, but Li Jing is confident that with his own means, he can turn the Turkic army from withdrawing to fleeing, making them a frightened bird.

Naturally, they did not dare to disobey Li Jing, Yang Jishan and Wang Bo in the slightest. After all, in terms of seniority and status, few people in the court could compare with the Duke of Weiguo.

This man is not only a man of great military achievements, but also your Majesty's teacher. Who dares to offend him?

As time went by, the number of troops under Li Jing's command gradually increased, and the imperial court tried every means to transport troops without disturbing the Turks.

When he found some Turkic deserters, Li Jing knew that the Turkic army was about to withdraw, so he ordered Su Dingfang, Pei Xingyan, Cheng Zhijie, and Xue Rengao to lead 5,000 elite cavalry each to stand by. These four fierce generals and 20,000 elite cavalry were the key to breaking the Turkic army. To defeat an army, there must be not only obstacles in front, but also pursuers in the back, and threats from the sides at all times.

The purpose is to make them feel that they are surrounded by enemies and have no chance to breathe, then it is only a matter of time before their camp is blown up and they are defeated.

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Jie Li and Tong Yehu finally reluctantly withdrew their troops, allowing the rear army to fight with the Tang army, abandoning all baggage and only allowing the soldiers to take a few days' worth of food.

The Turkic army did not dare to stop for a moment, because no one knew how long the remaining troops could hold out. If they were caught up by the Tang army again, who could they rely on in such a hurry?

One always has to hurry on until the mount needs to drink water, eat food and rest, and then one can rest for a while as well, only then can one feel a little relieved.

Jie Li said to Tong Yehu: "The Tang army has been trying to delay us at all costs these days. It must be to distract the troops and horses from surrounding us. There is probably an ambush ahead. We must be prepared early."

Tong Yehudao nodded and said, "If they had enough troops, they would have surrounded us long ago. Obviously, they still don't have enough troops. We should send more scouts and carefully avoid the dangerous places, and then we can return safely."

At this moment, he suddenly heard shouts not far away. Jie Li hurriedly stood on a high place and looked. He saw dozens of his own riders galloping on horseback in the distance.

Suddenly, a flag appeared behind them, and then a large number of helmets were seen, and then people and horses jumped out, and there were more and more densely packed Tang troops.

The Turkic scouts who were still fleeing were shot dead one by one. Without any orders from Jie Li Khan, the Turkic army quickly mounted their horses and prepared for battle.

After finally seeing the Tang army's formation clearly, Jie Li Khan was relieved. There were only five or six thousand cavalrymen.

After mounting their horses, the Turkic cavalry took the initiative to encircle the Tang army, while Jie Litong Yehu led the central army to retreat without making any preparations.

But suddenly, Tang troops also rushed out from the other side, and the Turkic cavalry responsible for guarding the right wing immediately met them.

However, these two armies withdrew after a brief battle with the Turkic army. The Turkic generals, following the Khan's instructions, did not dare to chase them and turned their horses around as quickly as possible to go back to guard.

But not long after, two more Tang cavalry units appeared, harassing the Turkic cavalry from a distance. When they saw the Turkic cavalry coming to fight, they simply retreated.

Jie Li and Tong Yehu had no other choice but to arrange for appropriate forces to be ready at any time, and lead the rest of the troops to rest and concentrate on their journey. But how could the soldiers dare to do that?
Not long after they walked, they saw the Tang army flags erected unobstructed on the forest ahead. There were countless people looming in the woods, and countless birds were startled and flew away.

The Turkic army did not dare to enter and had to take a detour. However, no matter where they went, there were Tang troops. So in a small forest, Jie Li ordered his army not to avoid it, and the Tang troops inside just fled.

The woods were filled with flags and wooden dummies with swords stuck into them.

Jie Li Khan was furious and ordered his cavalry to chase and kill the infantry. However, he did not expect that in addition to the Tang cavalry that had been harassing the left and right wings, thousands of cavalry appeared in front of him and protected the infantry to retreat calmly.

Jie Li Khan could only endure it. Not far ahead was another small forest. If he wanted to go around it, he would have to cross the river, so Jie Li ordered his scouts to explore first.

As soon as the Turkic scouts approached, they were met with a rain of arrows. Jie Li was furious and ordered his men to set fire to the forest. Tong Yehu hurriedly tried to dissuade him, saying that burning the forest was easy, but they would have to take a long detour as the pursuers behind them were not far away.

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(End of this chapter)