Great Han Empire

Chapter 486
Daqingyuan.

Xu Rong found out that the 6000 Hu coalition forces had retreated rapidly from the cloud, and hurriedly ordered Zhao Yun and Liu Bao, who were attacking the Yinshan pass, to lead their troops to Daqingyuan to assemble.Xu Rong set up six phalanxes of [-] people on the Daqingyuan, and each phalanx was equipped with one hundred ballistas.The left wing of the phalanx is Qu Yi's iron cavalry, and the right flank is Zhao Yun and Liu Bao's iron cavalry.Seventy-seven thousand troops lined up on the prairie, stretching for several miles, with a majestic momentum.

Tuobawei and Xubu Qiyang rushed to Daqingyuan first, and the two immediately commanded the army to attack the Han army regardless of the fatigue of the cavalry officers.The [-] Hu allied forces rushed forward with deafening roars, and the huge roar of galloping horses soared into the sky.

The Huns who rushed to the front were shot wildly by [-] ballistas and [-] strong archers of the Han army. Thousands of iron knights were wiped out in a short period of time. Sweeping past their wreckage.With a loud "boom...", the two sides started a bloody battle, and the shouts of killing were earth-shattering.

The drums are thundering.

Qu Yi on the left, and Zhao Yun and Liu Bao on the right each led their cavalry, roaring out like two scabbard sabers, facing the two flanks of the Hu coalition army and charged in fiercely.

Qu Yi's three battalions of iron cavalry are Duliao Battalion, Fengyun Iron Cavalry Battalion, and Kuangfengsha Wuqi Battalion. These three cavalry battalions used to be the absolute main force in Northern Xinjiang, and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was astonishing.Tuobawei's Xianbei iron cavalry encountered the most powerful iron cavalry army of the Han army very unfortunately. They were blown dizzy by the three hurricanes like fallen leaves all over the ground.

Tuobawei was so angry that he cursed and commanded his bodyguard cavalry to kill several deserters in a row, but the morale of the Xianbei people was gone, they just beat their horses and fled away, and Tuobawei was powerless to stop the defeat.

Yuan Yin came running from afar, his hideous and ugly face was covered with blood, making people daunting.He roared with all his strength, and the spear in his hand flew up and down, invincible.Tuobawei was taken aback, turned around and left.Seeing Tuobawei's battle flag moving backwards quickly, Yuan Yin was so anxious that she burst into tears, and opened her mouth to roar, "Shoot an arrow... shoot an arrow... shoot him to death..."

The long arrow whizzed away, several of Tuoba Wei's personal soldiers were caught off guard by the arrow and fell to the ground.Tuoba Wei's horse also hit several arrows, hissing in pain, it flew up and hit the speeding horse in front, and Tuoba Wei flew more than ten steps away with the inertia of the horse's collision.Just as the Xianbei people were in a hurry to rescue him, Yuan Yin rode his horse and killed four people in a row with a spear like a poisonous snake.The Xianbei people swarmed up, with spears like a forest and arrows like rain, killing Yuan Yin and retreating again and again.The cavalry of the Han army then came, and the two sides squeezed into the narrow space and fought indiscriminately.

Under the protection of his personal guards, Tuoba Wei jumped on his horse and fled in a hurry, and the flag bearers followed him crookedly, holding up the battle flag.Yuan Yin watched Tuobawei get farther and farther away from him, and roared like thunder, screaming, "Kill up, kill up...take down the battle flag, take down...the battle flag..."

The Han army tried their best to advance, and the wave of attacks became more and more violent.Yuan Yin killed several people in a row, and immediately chased after them.Seeing that he couldn't catch up in time, he threw the spear in his hand at the flag bearer.The spear roared fiercely across the air, pierced fiercely into the back of the bannerman, pierced through the chest and abdomen of the bannerman, and then burrowed into the back of the horse.The flag-bearer fell down with a crash, and Tuoba Wei's battle flag fell to the ground.The Han army burst into cheers instantly, and the passionate shouts of killing resounded throughout Daqingyuan.

The right wing of the Hu coalition army was broken by Qu Yi, and the left wing was also attacked by Zhao Yun and Liu Bao frantically. After losing the protection of the flank, Xu Bu Qiyang, who was attacking from the front, was already unable to support himself, so he hurriedly ordered to retreat. There was whimpering on the prairie.

Qu Yi, Zhao Yun, and Liu Bao led the cavalry to chase and kill, and the battlefield continued to the east of Daqingyuan.

Suddenly, Baima Tong appeared with an army.The cavalry of the Han army hurriedly gave up their pursuit and retreated quickly.

===

Baimatong led an army to set up a camp in the east of Daqingyuan.He sent people to detour to Daqing Mountain and rushed to Yinshan Pass to report to Hou Bu Gudu, hoping to get his support. At the same time, he summoned Tuoba Wei, Xu Kui and Xu Bu Qiyang to carefully discuss the strategy of defeating the enemy.The fast speed of the Han army crossing the river and the large number of people blocking them were completely beyond their expectations.

At present, the combat strategy of the Han army is clear. The Hu coalition army has been encircled by the Han army and is in danger. If the army cannot break through Xu Rong's block before Li Hong arrives at Daqingyuan, defeat will be a matter of time.Now on the Daqingyuan battlefield, the Hu coalition forces have a numerical advantage, so Baimatong plans to concentrate its main force on the flanks of the Han army, in order to quickly tear through the Han army's defense line and successfully break through.

Baima Tong said that the Han army now occupies the favorable terrain to the west of the Daqingyuan. Although we have a certain advantage in numbers, we do not have the convenience of the location.If the Han people withdraw from Daqingyuan immediately after losing the first battle, and then rely on the undulating mountains at the southern foot of Daqing Mountain to set up more blocking positions, then it will be very difficult for us to break through quickly. Therefore, we must drag the Han army as far as possible. In the decisive battle on the Great Qingyuan, a large number of Han people must be killed, so that we can win in one battle.

The next day, the two sides fought again. 10,000+ men and horses entangled in the battlefield with a radius of about ten miles, fighting bravely and murderously.

Baima Tong invested [-] troops on the frontal battlefield.Xu Bu Qiyang led [-] soldiers to attack the Han phalanx, and Tuoba Wei and Xu Kui each took [-] cavalry to protect his left and right wings.In the afternoon, Tituo, commander of Baima Bronze, led [-] cavalry to attack the right wing of the Han army with lightning speed.

Titus and Xukui's combined armies numbered 5000, while Zhao Yun's and Liu Bao's combined armies totaled no more than 2.The Han army was hard to resist for a while, and retreated step by step.

Without hesitation, Xu Rong immediately ordered Qu Yi on the left to tear open the defense at all costs and enter the center of the Hu allied forces, so as to restrain Xu Bu Qiyang's cavalry and reduce the pressure of the Hu allied forces on the Han army's frontal attack.He ordered Gao Lanlei, who was close to the right wing, to lead his troops to move to the rear of the cavalry on the right wing to support Zhao Yun and Liu Bao, and to block the attack of the Hu coalition forces. At the same time, he ordered Yang Chun of the Chariot Battalion to immediately rush to support with two hundred crossbow carts .

Tituo's army was extremely sharp. Thirty thousand cavalry launched a fierce attack on the junction of Zhao Yun and Liu Bao's two armies, and their powerful attack momentum was wave after wave.The Han army resisted desperately and struggled hard.

Xiaowei Tongzi led 2000 people from the headquarters to block the frontal attack, and in the end there were only more than 200 people left.Drenched in blood, Zhizi was fearless in the face of overwhelming enemies. He raised his knife and roared, "Regroup...Regroup...Brothers, go up...".

The war drums were thundering, and the last more than 200 soldiers each took their horses and lined up on the left and right sides of the bobbin.

"Kill..." Tongzi pointed forward with his saber, and flew out on his horse.

More than 200 people followed closely behind and galloped wildly. They held up their weapons and shouted loudly: "Kill..."

More than 200 riders were like a stone thrown into a turbulent river, and they were swallowed up by the Hu nationality coalition forces in an instant.Tongzi chopped down three people in a row, and then chopped down two war horses, and then was picked up into the air by several spears that stabbed him in the face.A long knife passed across the sky, and Zhizi's head shot up into the sky together with spattered blood.

Gao Lan and Lei Zhong led the infantry soldiers to the rear of the right wing of the army as quickly as possible and formed a square formation.At this time, Yang Chun's chariot battalion was already waiting in front of the phalanx.

Gao Lan looked up at the approaching Hu allied forces, raised his arms and shouted: "Beat the drum..."

All of a sudden, the ballistas were unleashed, and the huge roar was earth-shattering.

===

The fighting on the third day was more intense and brutal.

In the morning, Baimatong put the main attack direction on the right wing of the Han army.

In yesterday's battle, Qu Yi's cavalry from the third battalion first tore through Tuoba's block, and then repeatedly attacked Xu Bu Qiyang's attacking army in the middle. Although under their support, Zhao Yun, Liu Bao, Gao Lan and others on the left Ren led his troops to hold the line of defense, but Qu Yi's cavalry was severely damaged.Today Baima Tong attacked Qu Yi with the main force, because he saw that he was short of troops and intended to lead his troops to break out from the right wing.

Xu Rong ordered Liang Baiwu and Yang Zhen's two battalions of infantry to rush to the left for support, leaving only the four battalions of Hua Xiong, Wen Chou, Gao Lan, and Liao Lei on the frontal battlefield to defend.

Unexpectedly, in the afternoon, Baima Tong changed his formation again. He gathered [-] cavalry and launched a stormy attack on the front of the Han army.Although the Han army had ballistas to help out, the Hu coalition forces had too many cavalry, and the Han army could not resist them at all. The four phalanxes were broken by the Hu coalition forces several times.Wen Chou's battalion was in the middle, and he was hit repeatedly by the Huns. His soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the phalanx was in danger.

Xu Rong ordered Zhao Yun and Liu Bao to lead cavalry to counterattack the Hu allied forces in turn.Xu Rong said, the more fiercely you attack, the less pressure you will face to block.

When it was almost dusk, Wen Chou's phalanx was finally breached by the Hu allied forces again because of the lack of people and the inability to organize an effective defense.Hua Xiong on his left immediately rushed to support with 300 men.Xu Rong also rushed into the battlefield with a thousand personal guards of the Chinese army.The soldiers on both sides swore to the death in a bloody battle, and no one was willing to give up.Within two hundred steps, corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers.

Xu Bu Qiyang, who commanded the attack, was very excited when he saw that a breakthrough was in sight, and rushed to the front to supervise the battle himself.Hua Xiong saw that his battle flag was getting closer and closer, so he wanted to make a surprise attack.He led a dozen bodyguards and leaned towards Xu Bu Qiyang's position while fighting.Xu Rong and Wen Chou understood, and commanded the soldiers to fight forward without retreating a step.

Thirty steps away from Xu Bu Qiyang, Hua Xiong suddenly showed his supernatural power, opened and closed his long knife left and right, and chopped several people in succession. The craziest knife cut off four heads in the air.The Huns became alert, and Xu Bu Qiyang's personal guards swarmed up, and Xu Bu Qiyang himself also rode his horse and retreated. "Sho... shoot..." Following Hua Xiong's roar, more than a dozen bodyguards raised their crossbows at the same time and launched a sharp blow at the flying bodyguards. The Huns were caught off guard and rolled off their horses. .At this time, Hua Xiong rushed towards Xu Bu Qiyang like an agile cheetah at an unbelievable speed.The seven personal guards surrounding Xu Bu Qiyang looked at Hua Xiong who was roaring towards him, and shouted in panic. Some of them rode forward to block the enemy, some stood in front of Xu Bu Qiyang, some Wielding the whip, he lashed at Xu Bu Qiyang's war horse.Holding the knife in one hand and raising the crossbow in the other, Hua Xiong killed three people in an instant and cut off four horse legs. Then he jumped high and chopped down with all his strength, "Kill..." Xu Bu Qiyang and the horse he was sitting on were cut open in the chest and abdomen by this thunderous knife, and blood spurted out together with internal organs.The battle flag crashed down.

At the same time, Zhao Yun, Liu Ming, and Jiang Wu led [-] elite soldiers into Baimatong's army with overwhelming force.The three of them were extremely brave, and wherever they went, the Huns all avoided them like ghosts and gods, fearing that they would lose their lives if they could not dodge.Tongren, the son of Baima Tong, led others to stop him, but was cut off by the furious Liu Ming, "I'm going to kill you...".

Copper Blade fled in pain.Liu Ming was about to burst into tears, with a ferocious expression on his face. He stared at a pair of blood-red eyes and chased after him. He kept shouting wildly: "Give me back the jade carving, give me back the jade carving..."

Seeing Liu Ming suddenly lose his mind, Zhao Yun turned pale with fright, "Follow up...follow up..."

"Brothers, follow me and kill in..."

Looking at the big banner flying in the distance, Jiang Wu suddenly raised his sword eyebrows and roared back, "Brothers, go in... cut down the big banner, cut down the big banner..."

The iron cavalry of the Han army was inspired by the invincibility and bravery of the three upper officials. Everyone looked excited and shouted: "Cut down the big banner, kill the white horse copper..."

Liu Ming soared from the galloping horse, and slammed into the copper blade that was galloping with all his strength, "You go to die..."

The two fell off the horse and rolled for more than a dozen times before they stopped. Liu Ming rushed forward in a dizzy manner, and threw his fist, "I'm going to kill you for the jade carving..."

Copper Blade roared angrily: "She always calls your name in her dreams, how can I not kill her? I just want to kill her, I cut her into pieces, you go find her..."

"Ah..." Liu Ming hoarsely howled like a wild wolf, "Go to hell...".Liu Ming punched him on the throat, and Tongren opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of blood, and he was killed immediately.

"Jade carving..." Liu Ming raised his hand and looked up at the sky, tears streaming down his face, "Jade carving..."

Zhao Yun flew over, grabbed him and threw him to an empty horse behind him, "Brother Qiansi, calm down...Qiansi..."

Heartbroken, Liu Ming buried his head in the horse's mane and sobbed softly.

Jiang Wu rode by with his horse, slanting his body with a knife, and the flying copper-bladed head was kicked into the air by the horse.Countless war horses trampled over Tong Ren's corpse, and in a blink of an eye, the corpse became a bloody mess.

Baima Tong personally led the guard cavalry to kill him.

"Blow the trumpet, send an order to withdraw the troops, and surround and kill Zhao Yun."

===

In the middle of the night, there was a bloody wind on the Daqing Plain, and countless bonfires were lit on the grass, turning half of the sky red, and the tragic atmosphere of the war enveloped the entire grassland.

Baimatong, Tuobalian, Xukui, Titu and others sat in the big tent silently.The war has been going on for three days, and the soldiers suffered serious losses. Several senior Xiongnu generals such as Xubu Qiyang and Tongren were killed in battle. The morale of the army is getting worse and worse. If they can't break through the blocking of the Han army immediately, the leopard army will come up.As soon as the leopards arrive, the encirclement will be established, and it will be even more difficult to break through at that time.

The scouts rushed into the account, and the leaders of the various ministries looked up nervously.

"The army of leopards is coming?" Bai Matong asked.

The scout glanced at Baimatong and nodded in panic, "It's still eighty miles away from Daqingyuan, and we can arrive at dusk tomorrow."

Baima Tong waved his hand, signaling the scout to back down.

"Why hasn't there been any news from Da Shanyu?" Xu Kui said dissatisfiedly, "If he can't lead the army to attack the back of the Han army tomorrow, we will be surrounded by the Han army."

"Da Shanyu didn't go down the mountain to reinforce us, which means Master Tuobafeng hasn't arrived at Gaoque yet." Tituo looked at Bai Matong worriedly and asked, "Time waits for no one, should we hurry up again?"

Bai Matong shook his hands and said with a stern expression: "Don't worry, Da Shanyu and Tuobafeng will send troops to support immediately, but..." He looked at the people in the tent, "Da Shanyu and Tuobafeng have more troops Limited, even support may not be able to solve the problem, so if we want to rush through, we have to rely on ourselves, not support."

"How to fight tomorrow, we will discuss."

Baimatong planned to attack the formation from the front tomorrow, but Tuobawei, Xukui and others believed that the frontal attack on the Han people's phalanx had too many casualties, and they believed that they should choose to break through from the right wing of the Han army.

While the chiefs were arguing, Baimatong's bodyguard Qiequ ran in sweating profusely, "The Great Chanyu has sent a message."

"What do you say? When did he send troops? Tuoba Feng arrived in Gaoque?" Bai Matong asked in surprise.

"Yes, Master Tuoba Feng's reinforcements have arrived at Gaoque." That Qiequ said excitedly, "Da Shanyu sent someone to say that he has ordered five thousand cavalry to descend from the path and attack Jiuyuan City tomorrow."

"Attack Jiuyuan City?" Baimatong and Tuobawei glanced at each other.The latter said with a smile: "Da Shanyu's plan is good. 5000 troops are too small. If it is used to attack the back of the Han army, it may not be effective. If you are not careful, you may be eaten by the Han army. But if you use it It was different when 5000 people attacked Jiuyuan City. In order to stop us, the Han army put almost all of its troops in the direction of Daqingyuan. Qian cavalry attacked Jiuyuan City, even if they could not capture the city, they could at least cut off the transportation of grain and grass for the Han army. When the Han army got the news that the transportation of grain and grass had been cut off, they had to send troops back to help. This strategy is very clever."

"Attack Jiuyuan City tomorrow?" Xu Kui sighed, "Why not today? Leopards are coming tomorrow."

"As long as Xu Rong divides his troops back to aid Jiuyuan City, we will have a chance to defeat the Han army." Bai Matong said with a frown, "Whether the leopard comes or not, we have a chance."

===

On the fourth day, Baima Tong used [-] iron cavalry to contain the Han army's left-wing Quyi army, [-] iron cavalry to attack the Han army's middle-road Xu Rong and Yang Fengjun, and [-] iron cavalry to attack the Han army's right-wing army Zhao Yun and Liu Baojun.

In the continuous battle, the two armies of Zhao Yun and Liu Bao suffered a lot of losses. They were unable to resist the attack of [-] cavalry, so they had to fight and retreat.Xu Rong immediately transferred Hengji's Fengyun Iron Cavalry Battalion to the right-wing battlefield, and ordered Liang Baiwu and Li Yao to line up behind the right-wing battlefield to block the attack.Xu Rong told them that the army of General Bei Da will rush to Daqingyuan to encircle the Hu allied army at dusk, so as long as they defend until tonight, they will win the battle.

At noon, Baima Tong suddenly changed the main attack direction. He ordered Tituo, who was attacking the right wing of the Han army, to join the frontal battlefield with 3 people, and let Xu Kui lead the army to continue to contain Zhao Yun and Liu Bao's armies on the right wing.The sudden change of formation of the Hu allied forces brought the infantry phalanx of the Han army on the verge of collapse, but as Qu Yi and Zhao Yun led the troops to counterattack from the left and right flanks, the powerful offensive of the Hu allied forces was gradually contained.The battle situation once again fell into a stalemate.

At dusk, Chen Ming rushed to the battlefield on a flying horse and told Xu Rong the amazing news that Jiuyuan City had been raided by Houbu Guduhou's iron cavalry and had fallen.

"General, what should we do? Do you want to return to help immediately? Jiuyuan City fell, the transportation of food, grass and military equipment was cut off, and our military supplies were all cut off. This battle can no longer be fought." Chen Ming said anxiously, "The general's The army is about to rush to Daqingyuan, and his food, grass and military equipment will also be replenished from us. Ji Wei is too careless, how could he lose Jiuyuan City? Now he is dead."

Xu Rong sat on his horse and looked at the battlefield ahead, as if he had never heard of it.

Chen Ming glanced at him in surprise, and slightly increased his voice: "General, General..."

"Bai Matong will know the news immediately. He may attack overnight. General, what should we do? Should we send troops to support immediately?"

Xu Rong shook his big hand and asked, "How is Ji Wei? Did he and the soldiers from Cao Ying leave Jiuyuan safely?"

"Ji Wei sent someone to send this news." Chen Ming said, "He is retreating to Yiliang City with soldiers from Cao Ying."

Xu Rong nodded and said, "That's good. You immediately send someone to contact the general, and prepare to besiege Baima Tong tomorrow."

Chen Ming looked at Xu Rong suspiciously, and asked, "General, what about Jiuyuan City? Do you want to return aid?"

"There's no need to come back." Xu Rong stroked his beard and smiled, "What I'm waiting for is Xubu Guduhou going down the mountain. As long as he goes down the mountain, the Yinshan Pass will be ours."

===

Gaoque is an important pass of the Yinshan Great Wall, located at the junction of Ural Qianshan and Daqingshan.

The Great Wall was built at the southern foot of the Yin Mountain in the ancient Zhao State (the Yin Mountain in the Qin and Han Dynasties is the current Ural Front Mountain and Daqingshan Mountains), and later the Great Qin State reinforced and lengthened this section of the Great Wall.Gaoque is the westernmost end of the Great Wall of Zhao State, one hundred miles to the east is the Weique Pass, and then three hundred miles to the east along the Great Wall is Wuquan City in Yunzhong County.

After Xubu Gudu left with five thousand cavalry, there were only two thousand cavalry in the pass.Tuoba Feng's [-] reinforcements are currently stationed in Qingyue Canyon, [-] miles away from Gaoque. It is precisely because of the arrival of this reinforcement that Xubu Gudu Hou made up his mind to raid Jiuyuan City with [-] cavalry.

Mustafa rushed to Gaoque with more than 1000 people in a panic.

The guards stationed at the pass did not dare to open the gate, so they rushed to report to Lan Shamang, King Li of Yougu.When Lan Shamang heard that Xi'anyang's defenders had fled back, he was surprised and delighted, and hurried to the tower to distinguish the truth from the fake.The attack of the Han army was fast and fierce. So far, the Huns don’t know how the Han army cavalry crossed the river, and how Xi’anyang, Chengyi and Yiliang along the river were lost, especially the Xi’an Yangshou at the westernmost end of the river. There has been no news from the army, and no one knows what happened in Xi'an Yang, whether the defenders in the city are dead or alive.

Mustafa was pulled up to the tower by the guards with a blue basket.Lan Shamang asked a lot.Mustafa explained one by one. He said that the Han army passed through the Gongxian Desert. Xi’an Yangcheng, where he was stationed, was first attacked by the Han army. With the soldiers, they ran from the direction of Yangshu Lake to the Ural Mountains, and then ran to Gaoque from the Ural Mountains.

Lansamang didn't know Mustafa, but the two captains stationed at the pass knew him.Lan Shamang heard that he was a relative of Baimatong, and the little worry in his heart disappeared.More than 1000 of Mustafa's men were immediately put into the pass.

That night, Mustafa led his troops to capture the city gate.Captain Sun Feng and two thousand cavalry who were hiding in the Ural Mountains had already arrived at the city.The army swarmed in, quickly killed the Xiongnu rebels, and successfully occupied Gaoque.

Sun Feng urgently wrote to Xu Rong to report his success.

Sun Feng is Jiang Wu's deputy.This time he first followed Zhao Yun and Jiang Wu to attack Wei Que, and later Xu Rong called Zhao Yun's army back quickly because he wanted to stop Baimatong in Daqingyuan.Before leaving, Zhao Yun left Sun Feng and Mustafa to garrison Manyi Valley, and at the same time gave them a secret letter from Xu Rong.Now that the two of them have completed what Xu Rong told them to do, they will naturally repay their credit happily.

===

The news from Xubuguduhou is very accurate. Jiuyuan City has only [-] soldiers from the Cao Ying of the Han army, and they are vulnerable.He succeeded in the surprise attack and successfully captured Jiuyuan, and he was very happy in his heart, but he couldn't laugh the next morning. He was surrounded by Yu Fuluo and Qubei's [-] troops.

He knew he had been tricked.The news he got was all false, what Yufuluo and Qubei were helping the Han army deliver food and grass in Meiji, what the four cities along the river combined had only [-] infantry, and why Jiuyuan City had piles of food and grass piled up like mountains All the supplies are fake, and his trusted friends have betrayed him long ago.

Hou Bu Gudu looked to the north, thinking of the 10,000 army that was surrounded by siege, all thoughts were lost in an instant.I have [-]+ iron cavalry and dozens of cities. Why did I lose so quickly?Why can't it last for two months?Betrayal, all because of betrayal.A year ago, I betrayed the Great Shanyu Qiangqu, but a year later, I was betrayed by others.Nemesis.

At this time, Baimatong, who was far away in Daqingyuan, received the news that Jiuyuan City had been captured from Xubu Guduhou. He discussed with Tuobawei, Xukui and others, and decided to stop the attack.As long as Xu Rong divides his troops to attack Jiuyuan City, he will lead his troops to break through.

===

The emperor's decree was delivered to the camp of the Northern Expedition Army.

(End of this chapter)