Hulu Mountain, in fact, should be called Hulu Valley. Backed by the big mountain, the valley in front of the mountain, one large and one small, is connected together, the mountain wall at the mouth of the valley is steep, and only a narrow mountain path is left.

At the junction between the two valleys, there was originally a stockade. After the Yang family came to Wuyi Mountain to preach, the village grew bigger and bigger.

Because this is the entrance to the north of Wuyi Mountain, the location is dangerous, and under the careful management of the Yang family, it has become an impregnable barrier for a hundred years.

Between the mountain roads at the front, a five-zhang high city wall cut off the passage into the gourd valley like a moat. The blue-black city wall is all made of excavated mountain stones, and the cracks between the mountain stones are covered with paste, which is unusually firm.

Under the city wall, only a city gate was opened, which was made of a century-old giant wood and wrapped in thick iron sheets. Behind the city gate, there are huge rocks, and even the largest chariot would have to take a lot of effort to ram it, not to mention that there is no way to fit a chariot of that size on this narrow mountain path.

In the small valley in front of the gourd valley, the ground is full of dug traps. The junction of the two valleys, where the former cottage was located, had long since been turned into a bustling town, and in front of the town stood an even taller wall, which was densely stacked with arrows, and patrolling soldiers walked back and forth on the wall.

The town is now bustling with people, with 5,000 elite rebels gathered here.

"Haha, Brother Yang, come on! The little ones just entered the mountain and beat a rice dumpling, today we two can have a good drink!"

A hearty laugh woke up Yang Xun, who was contemplating on the city wall.

This is the second city wall of the gourd valley, Yang Xun turned around and looked at the strong man who was holding a millet in his hand and looked up at him, with a trace of displeasure in the depths of his eyes.

"Brother Zhang, let's enjoy it by myself, the younger brother has to be on duty tonight, so I won't accompany him!"

Yang Xun's words were indifferent, and there was no perfunctory politeness on his face. In fact, Yang Xun didn't need to be polite to this person.

This time, Yang Xun is the main general defending Hulu Valley, and this strong man named Zhang Kejiang is just his deputy general. Hulu Valley now has 5,000 elite soldiers, of which nearly 4,000 are Yang Xun's cronies, and this Zhang Kejiang can only command 1,000 men and horses under his own command.

On the same day, Li Yi and others withdrew to Quanzhou by sea, but Yang Xun's department, which was in Gaoyou at the time, did not wait for a sailor ship to come to meet them, and even He Yun and others under Yang Xun were transferred to the main force of the sailor division under the pretext of Li Yi's lack of sailors.

There was no sailor to answer, but Li Yi only gave Yang Xun an order to retreat south by land.

If it weren't for Zhou Kang, who Xu Chen sent to receive Gaoyou, who got the order of his eldest brother and didn't stop Yang Xun's department, I was afraid that these 4,000 people would have suffered a tragic battle when they evacuated Gaoyou.

Although the armies of the southern provinces are weak, how can they express the hardships and dangers on the way when they retreat thousands of miles to the south?

More than 4,000 people set out from Gaoyou, and when they withdrew to Hulu Valley, there were less than 4,000 left, and the battle loss was more than 10%.

What's even more annoying is that when Yang Xun led his troops to retreat to Hulu Valley, they were greeted by this big man named Zhang Kejiang, and there was a military order that Li Yi ordered Yang Xun to lead his troops to garrison Hulu Valley.

Thousands of miles to the south, but it is impossible to return to the center of power!

And for such an arrangement, there was silence within the rebels. Those who were once regarded as elders by Yang Xun are also busy fighting for power and profit in Quanzhou at the moment, and I hope that Yang Xun, the son of the former sect leader, can't go back!

The angry Yang Xun couldn't wait to slaughter Zhang Kejiang, who was called the deputy general and was actually the supervising army, and then led the army back to Quanzhou.

It's just that their Yang family's long-cherished wish for many years has a glimmer of possibility of success. Regardless of the dream in his heart, he is bent on revenge, Yang Xun can't do such a thing...... It really can't be done!

Angry, Yang Xun finally chose to stay and guard this important checkpoint.

In just ten days, Yang Xun completely arranged the city defense of Hulu Valley properly.

This person named Zhang Kejiang seems to be rough-hearted, but in fact, he is as careful as dust and bold, otherwise he would not have been sent by Li Yi to spy on Yang Xun. At the beginning, when Li Yi sent him here, he had already made it clear to him that if Yang Xun had no great cause, then he Zhang Kejiang would be worried about his life. But Zhang Kejiang still agreed to it neatly.

Now it seems that the military division's prediction is still very correct. Yang Xun did not return to Quanzhou in a fit of anger, but chose to stay in Hulu Valley.

Since Yang Xun chose this way, Zhang Kejiang naturally would not be stupid enough to offend Yang Xun, and the thousand men and horses he brought were all happily handed over to Yang Xun. In the daily military discussions, Zhang Kejiang did not say a word, and Yang Xun was the main one everywhere.

Although Yang Xun has never had a good face for him, this Zhang Kejiang doesn't mind at all, and still greets him with a smile.

Zhang Kejiang's behavior, Yang Xun, who was making trouble, couldn't even find the reason to clean him up, and he had to look at each other coldly every day.

After listening to Yang Xun's words, Zhang Kejiang immediately smiled and walked away.

On the city wall, looking at his back, Yang Xun's face was heavy.

"This damn guy, I don't know where Li Yi found it, a whole piece of hob meat!"

After listening to the young master's words, the black-faced young man beside Yang Xun also didn't know how to answer, so he had to be silent.

Suddenly, the black-faced boy raised his head in surprise, ran back a few steps quickly, and came to the north side of the city wall, facing the mountain breeze, his nose fluttered, his eyes squinted, and he sniffed carefully.

"Oh no! Young master, they're coming!"

"It's not good, big brother, the enemy in front of you turned out to be him!"

Almost at the same time, two teenagers, who were only a few miles apart, let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Who is it?"

"Who is it?"

Yang Xun and Xu Chen also asked out loud almost at the same time.

"Young master, it's Xu Chen's men!"

"Big brother, Yang Xun's people!"

Hearing this, Xu Chen and Yang Xun suddenly raised their heads and looked at each other. It was as if the line of sight could penetrate the mountains for a few miles.

"It's him!"

"I didn't expect it to be him......"

Almost the same words, almost the same feelings. At this moment, several people next to Yang Xun and Xu Chen can almost feel the fluctuations in their relationship, this kind of thing is rare in these two people.

"Enemy attack, drumming!"

"Full speed ahead!"

The two of them only thought for a moment, and then immediately gave the order.

In the gourd valley, the sound of drums echoed, and in a moment, five thousand elite soldiers moved!

Zhang Kejiang, who had just slaughtered and skinned the millet seeds, hurriedly discarded the things in his hand, grabbed the blade, and rushed to the first city wall of the gourd valley under the escort of his own soldiers.

Looking at the empty mountain path, Zhang Kejiang looked at Yang Xun suspiciously: "Brother Yang, where is the enemy?"

Yang didn't reply, and replied coldly: "It's here in a moment!"

As if to confirm Yang Xun's words, the moment Yang Xun's voice fell, among the bushes on both sides of the mountain path, several golden chickens fluttered their wings and flew anxiously.

Immediately afterward, the sound of horses' hooves came from the narrow mountain path, and a black color followed.

Black clouds crush the city!

Although the trail is narrow, a continuous stream of soldiers, on horseback, come from the trail like ants in pairs. It's dense, and it's just as shocking.

Xu Chen, escorted by several teenagers, slowly walked to the front of the team, sat on a horse, looked up at Yang Xun on the city wall, and said with a smile: "Brother Yang, don't come unharmed?"

Yang Xun looked at Xu Chen with a blank face, and there was a hint of incomprehensible brilliance in the depths of his eyes.

Zhang Kejiang, who was behind him, naturally couldn't notice Yang Xun's strange appearance at this moment, but when he saw Xu Chen's old friend greeting him like a reunion, he asked suspiciously: "Brother Yang knows this person?"

Yang Xun turned his head this time, glanced at Zhang Kejiang, and replied flatly: "He is the general of Shengzhou." ”

"Oh. Zhang Kejiang didn't realize that there was him, and nodded slowly.

Xu Chen under the city wall, only then did he see Zhang Kejiang beside Yang Xun, and the subtle expression between the two made Xu Chen vigilant, and after only a moment, Xu Chen understood a little. Then he hurriedly shouted: "Haha! Shengzhou farewell, I didn't expect to meet here, Brother Yang, this time we are attacking and defending in different positions, Xu Mou has to ask for advice!"

Hearing this, Yang Xun's eyes rolled slightly, and he was a little funny in his heart, but he still shouted in a deep voice: "Last time, Yang learned Brother Xu's skills, this time I wonder if Brother Xu's ability to attack the city is as outstanding as defending the city?"

"Haha, then please wait and see Brother Yang!"

After Xu Chen finished speaking, he retreated to the team.

The long and narrow mountain path was obviously not suitable for the camp of the army, so Xu Chen left a thousand men and horses to lay various traps along the mountain path to prevent the defenders in the city from sneaking up on Xu Chen while he was camping.

At the end of the mountain path, that is, where Xu Chen had just passed, there was a relatively gentle clearing, and Xu Chen's camp was set up here.

The auxiliaries Xu Chen chose were all sturdy men who were used to farm work, and these people only needed to do some auxiliary work of setting up camp and building equipment. The auxiliaries were not like the soldiers, they were dressed in armor, and they only wore a light cowhide armor on their bodies, and they carried a tool bag on their backs, which was filled with various tools specially designed by Xu Chen for the auxiliaries.

These tools are not heavy, for these peasant men who are used to doing rough work, it is not difficult to walk dozens of miles of mountain roads a day with such a bag of things on their backs.

At this time, half of the soldiers unloaded their armor and rested, and half of the soldiers held their guards with their guns. The auxiliaries took out the tools in their kits one after another and busied themselves in the clearing.

The surrounding mountains and forests were dense, and there was no shortage of timber at all, and the whole 6,000 auxiliary soldiers only worked in full swing for an hour, and a well-rooted camp began to take shape.

Before the sun had completely set in the west, all the soldiers under Xu Chen's command had already entered the clean and tidy barracks.

Soon, the bonfire was lit, and the camp was full of tall wooden poles, on which a huge glass lantern was propped up, and the kerosene contained in it was burning violently and shining brightly.

As night fell, the scent of food reached the rebel walls in the mountain breeze.

The rich fragrance made the rebel soldiers all swallow a mouthful of saliva, and the bright light in the enemy camp in the distance was still clearly visible in the dark night, even across several hills.

Under the firelight of the city, Zhang Kejiang looked at the dazzling light in the north, with lingering confusion on his face......