Xiangyang Gucheng County Ya, Dugu Yanyun's face was full of grief, under him was a group of Beizhen Army generals, that day Wuchuan Wei and Tu Qu Gai had civil strife, a big fight, Dugu Cheng took the opportunity to summon a message, let them choose a place to stand, and said that as long as they are in, the people in the city will be safe, Dugu Yanyun according to the order to seize the valley city, but today, Xiangyang Xizuo has come to the information that each family was exterminated.

He raised the letter in his hand and said sadly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a very unfortunate news for you. The traitor king Li Yuanji was ordered by the dog emperor Li Yuan to destroy more than 30 Guanlong nobles such as the Dugu clan, the Yu clan, and the Zhao clan yesterday. ”

There was a mournful sound above the lobby, although everyone has been worried about this, and even has a certain psychological preparation, but when it comes to the end, they still can't accept it, after all, the people who were killed are their closest relatives.

Looking at these generals, Dugu Yanyun said as if he was not violent: "In addition, Li Yuanji has entered Shu today, which means that the relatives of Yizhou will soon follow in the footsteps of the Xiangyang clan." ”

The generals wept and wept, and some of them even fainted with blood from their mouths.

'Bang! When the generals were almost vented, Dugu Yanyun punched on the top of the case, making a loud noise.

The cries of the generals stopped abruptly, and they all raised their heads and looked at Dugu Yanyun blankly.

"I want to cry too, but even if we cry to death, the relatives who were killed by Li Yuanji will not be able to come back to life." Dugu Yanyun's eyes were full of heavy evil energy, staring at everyone like a falcon, and said word by word: "Our relatives are dead, but we are still here, we still have more than 30,000 soldiers, and we still have the ability to avenge the deceased relatives......"

"Yes, we want to take revenge...... Yu Qinming wiped the tears from his face, and said in a hateful voice: "Gucheng is a small city, if you defend it for a long time, you will lose it, once we all die, who will avenge our people?" Therefore, the top priority is to discuss the matter, to decide the next strategy of the Beizhen Army, even if you want to cry, you have to wait until you get out of trouble and take revenge. ”

"Ask the general to give the order."

"Command, General."

At this moment, the generals showed unprecedented unity for the sake of their deceased relatives and for themselves.

Dugu Yanyun breathed a sigh of relief, what he was most worried about was that someone would lose his mind and take his soldiers to Xiangyang like moths to death.

He said slowly: "What I said may be a little ugly, but please don't think about it. We used to be passive everywhere because the people in Xiangyang City were constrained, but now, we have no worries and can give it a go. ”

The generals nodded.

"There are only two ways in front of us, one is to abandon Gucheng, break through the layers of encirclement regardless of life and death, kill Yizhou, and rescue the Yizhou people. But Li Yuanji, the dog thief, has no worries, and when we arrive in Yizhou, the corpses of the clansmen are probably all decomposed, even if the clansmen are still alive, we can't do anything if there are not a few people left, so this road to self-destruction is not advisable.

This is a fact, and no one can object to it, and they all ask, "What is the second way?" ”

"The second way is to descend to the Sui, if we tear a hole in the Hanshui defense line, the Sui army will continue to enter the country, if the Sui army is under the city of Xiangyang, then Li Yuanji can only turn around and come back to help, and our clansmen in Yizhou will be safe." Dugu Yanyun said slowly.

Yu Qinming said: "The ultimate goal of our military advice is to oppose the Tang and surrender to the Sui, and at present, only the Sui army can help us achieve the goal of encircling Wei and saving Zhao, forcing Li Yuanji to turn around and return to Xiangyang." I'm in favor of descending the Sui. ”

"I'm in favor of it too."

"I'm in favor of it too."

“……”

Dugu Qingyun, Helan Shiren and others slowly expressed their attitudes.

The plan of 'descending the Sui' was instantly unified, but there were still many problems that they needed to solve, only to hear Dugu Yanyun say in a deep voice: "In our north, it is Liu Hongji, and after unifying the army sent by Zhang Shigui, Liu Hongji has 40,000 troops; In the southeast, Dou Cong was in charge, and the number of troops was also 40,000, apparently to prevent our army from uniting with the Sui army; According to the information I received, Li Shimin will arrive soon, and he should besiege the south of Gucheng, judging from the layout of the Tang army, to force us to evacuate to the west. Gucheng is the remaining vein of Wudang Mountain, the terrain is relatively gentle, in addition to building water in the west of the county, there are dozens of large and small rivers, once we fall into it, we will be annihilated by the Tang army. From the current situation, our 30,000-strong army needs to fight against more than 100,000 Tang troops, and only by defeating them can we break out of the encirclement and retreat to Nanyang, which is controlled by the Sui Dynasty. ”

"General, there is an official road on the other side of Gucheng that leads directly to Nanyang, as long as we defeat the Dou Cong army, we can cross the Han River and enter Nanyang Sui County, why fight with more than 100,000 Tang troops?" The speaker was Da Xi'an, the grandson of the famous general Da Xi Changru, who held the post of General Hu Ben and led the 5,000 soldiers of the Second Division of the Beizhen Army.

"Yes, although Dou Cong has 40,000 soldiers, his soldiers are made up of private armies of various ethnic groups, and it is not a problem for us to beat him 40,000 with 30,000 people." Dugu Qingyun, deputy commander and commander of the first division, also said.

"If we fight to the death with Dou Cong, Li Shimin and Liu Hongji will not sit idly by." Dugu Yanyun said in a deep voice: "The key is that we don't have cavalry, but the other party does." If we lose the city, we will be besieged by the outnumbered Tang legions, and then annihilated by their cavalry in the wilderness. In addition, although Gucheng is small, it is a key node in the Han water defense line of the Tang Dynasty, and I don't want it to fall into the hands of the Tang army again. ”

Yu Qinming suddenly said: "Does the general want to dedicate Gucheng to the Sui army?" ”

Dugu Yanyun nodded and said, "Gucheng is located on the west bank of the Han River, at the southeast foot of the Wudang Mountains. The south is based on Jingshan, the west is Wudang, the east is bordered by the Han River, the north and south two rivers and the east flow into the Han River, the Yin City and Junyang Tang Army in the upper reaches of the Han River are supplied by the downstream Xiangyang City, as long as the valley city is not lost, the Tang Army in the upper reaches can not get any supplies, and it will not be long before the people will panic because of the lack of food. ”

"What does the general mean ......"

"Send an envoy to Nanyang, shoot to the right servant of the Great Sui to express his courtesy, and ask him to send the Sui army and us to attack Dou Cong in front and back, and take over Gucheng in an all-round way." Speaking of this, Dugu Yanyun smiled coldly: "Li Yuan's so-called Hanshui defense line is simply a big joke. This is also our 'rebel army' occupying Gucheng, Li Yuan did not pay enough attention, if it was replaced by the Sui army, Xiangyang would have been in chaos a long time ago. ”

I have to say that Dugu Cheng, the leader of the Dugu faction, is incompetent, but the Dugu Yanyun he values is indeed a far-sighted figure, and he sees the essence of the Li Tang Dynasty clearly.

"Who can do that?" Yu Qinming asked.

Dugu Yanyun thought for a while, and said with some embarrassment: "My fourth brother and I have the title of Sui Dynasty, and either of us is the best candidate, but the big war is imminent, and neither of us can leave." I want Sima to go, how about it? ”

"I'm fine, but I don't have any weight, I'm afraid Yang Shan won't believe me, if I delay the fighter, our army will be bad." Yu Qinming voiced his concerns.

"I'll go then." Dugu Qingyun got up and said.

Dugu Yanyun hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "That's it!" ”

"General Qiyu." At this time, a herald rushed over, and saluted uncertainly: "There is a Sui army elite cavalry from the east bank of the Han River by boat, and the general headed by himself is the general of the Sui Dynasty's left leading army, Shen Guogong Su Dingfang, please tell the general." ”

"Huh?"

In the hall, the generals who were having a headache to contact the Sui army and win the trust of Yang Shanhui stood up in surprise and joy when they heard this.

"What about people?" Dugu Yanyun asked urgently.

The herald hurriedly said: "They are outside the gate of the East City, there is no general order, and the patrol soldiers dare not open the door without authorization." ”

"Please...... No, let's go and meet them together. Before Dugu Yanyun's words fell, he took the lead and walked out, and everyone followed.

"This ......" In the empty official office, the herald looked dazed.

When Dugu Yanyun and the others arrived at the head of the eastern city, they saw that the billowing smoke and dust outside the city gradually dispersed, and a group of about 2,000 elite horsemen assembled outside the city.

Although their numbers are small, they all have a strong killing atmosphere, and their momentum is like a rainbow.

In front of the more than 2,000 cavalrymen, two generals lined up, their waists still straight, and their momentum was extraordinary, like two sharp blades out of the sheath, straight into the sky.

Dugu Yanyun sighed: "It's really worthy of being a soldier in a hundred battles." ”

Although the Beizhen Army is not bad, it is too far from the group of soldiers who crawled out of the mountain of corpses and blood in front of them, and this momentum alone is far inferior.

The river wind was fierce, the sun was like blood, and he rode like a fly, rushed to the city, and said loudly: "The general of the left leading army of the Great Sui and the general of the left Wuwei, please tell General Dugu Yanyun of Hexi County." ”

When the generals in the city heard this, they all gasped, they didn't expect that in addition to Su Dingfang, Luo Shixin also came. Compared with Su Dingfang, who is not famous, Luo Shixin, who has achieved a series of brilliant achievements, is undoubtedly more shocking.

"I am Dugu Yanyun." Dugu Yanyun took a deep breath and said in a loud voice: "It is a matter of the safety of the 30,000 soldiers of the Beizhen Army, please show me the certificate that convinces me." ”

"The credentials are here." The soldiers of the Sui army under the city took off their bows and arrows, drew out an arrow, opened their bows and arrows, and the soldiers at the head of the city used shields to protect Dugu Yanyun, and the soldier's bow and arrow were raised upward, and the arrows came out of the string, and when they reached the sky above the city, they fell to the ground lightly.

"General, there's a letter." A soldier picked up the bamboo arrow on the ground, took down the letter, and handed it to Dugu Yanyun.

Dugu Yanyun opened it and looked at it, and couldn't help but be stunned, this was actually a letter written by Dugu Cheng to him, asking him to lead the Beizhen Army to surrender to Sui and obey the orders of the generals of the Sui Army, not only with the code, but also with the signatures of Yu Yun and many other family heads.

"How?" Dugu Qingyun stepped forward and asked.

"The letter is written by the head of the family, and the handwriting, paper, and code all match, which is true, but I can't believe it."

"Are you worried that the letter will fall into the hands of the Tang Army and use it to defraud the city?"

"Not bad."

"Faith can be faked, but people can't." Dugu Qingyun said: "Have you forgotten? When we went to Yecheng Shenwu Palace to accept the canonization of Emperor Shengwu, Luo Shixin was on the side. ”

Dugu Yanyun suddenly didn't know Su Dingfang, but Luo Shixin did know him, because the other party was famous all over the world, he also looked at it a few more times, and hurriedly said loudly: "Please General Luo come forward and talk about it." ”

Luo Shixin urged him to step forward, raised his head and said, "I'm Luo Shixin, what does General Dugu have to say?" ”

Dugu Yanyun took a closer look and found that the other party was indeed Luo Shixin, and saw that his brother also nodded to him, so he said: "The last general suspects the origin of the letter, and is worried that you are pretending to be ...... Tang Jun."

Luo Shixin frowned: "What do you have to do to believe it?" ”

"The last general knows the general, and that's enough." Dugu Yanyun turned around and shouted, "Open the city gate." ”

Luo Shixin didn't say anything more and retreated to Su Dingfang's side.

After a while, the high hanging suspension bridge was slowly lowered, and it was only half a cup of tea before and after, the city gate opened, and the suspension bridge was lowered to the bottom, and the generals of the Beizhen Army went out of the city.

Dugu Yanyun, who was walking in front, hugged his fists respectfully and said: "The last general, Dugu Yanyun, meet General Luo and General Su." ”

"General Dugu, don't be polite." Luo Shixin and Su Dingfang dismounted, helped them with their hands, and said with a smile: "General Su is the main general, and I am the deputy general." ”

Dugu Yanyun hurriedly said: "The last general doesn't know, please ask General Su to forgive me." ”

"He who does not know is not guilty." Su Dingfang smiled faintly: "General Dugu, I saw the letter from the head of the Dugu family." ”

"Tell General Su that the last general has already seen it, and the whole army swears allegiance to the Great Sui. As long as the general gives an order, he will not hesitate to go to the soup. Dugu Yanyun held the talisman high with both hands.

"It's not that serious." Su Dingfang admired the calm general in front of him very much, and when he saw a cadre of generals coming with his bare hands, he knew that the other party had shown the greatest sincerity and took over the talisman.

Dugu Yanyun took a few steps back, hesitated, and said, "General Su, General Luo, and all the brothers have worked hard all the way, please go into the city to rest." ”

"Okay, let's go into town."

Su Dingfang waved his hand, and together with Luo Shixin, under the escort of a hundred personal guards, he entered Gucheng with Dugu Yanyun and his party, and two thousand Xiaoguo troops followed behind under the leadership of Cheng Yanjin, Gao Yan, and Kan Ling.

。。。。。。

Su Dingfang and Luo Shixin led troops to Gucheng, which was undoubtedly reassuring to the confused generals of the Beizhen Army. Looking at Su Dingfang, who was sitting at the top, his eyes were full of fanatical brilliance, and there was faint fear, yes, he was afraid!

Su Dingfang's reputation is not obvious, and they don't know what he can do, but with Luo Shixin, the deputy marshal, as a stepping stone, his status will naturally rise, and after only a while, the generals' belief and respect for him are far higher than Dugu Yanyun, who has worked hard for a long time.

The so-called name of a man and the shadow of a tree are nothing more than this.

It stands to reason that Dugu Yanyun, who is in power, should be the most unhappy, but he is the happiest person.

From the moment their brothers accepted Yang Tong's canonization, they were actually inseparable from the Sui Dynasty, and they swore not to serve the Tang Dynasty in order to avoid damage to the reputation of their father and uncle, and this decision made them quietly regard themselves as loyal servants of the Sui Dynasty without even knowing it. So now there is a kind of surprise in finding the 'organization', and a sense of relief.

Although Su Dingfang didn't know why, he was quite satisfied with everyone's attitude and asked, "General Dugu, how long can the grain last?" ”

"Go back to the general." Dugu Yanyun said respectfully: "Three or four months is not a problem, if you save money, half a year will not be a problem." ”

"Uh......" Su Dingfang was taken aback, and asked strangely: "As far as I know, the Beizhen Army is an army without logistics, where did it get so much food?" ”

"Gucheng is a logistics center that supplies Yin City and Junyang, and we took this city because we value the food here. After the end of the Sui and Wei wars, Li Yuan was afraid of the outbreak of the Sui and Tang wars, and he was even more afraid that the Great Sui would cut off the grain routes of the defenders of Yincheng and Junyang, so he carried it day and night, otherwise, there would be more grain in Gucheng. In addition to food, there are many arrows. In short, don't worry about logistics. Dugu Yanyun said.

Su Dingfang's cheeks twitched a few times, and he could see from Dugu Yanyun that their group of Beizhen Army was quite well mixed, and Li Yuan actually allowed the Beizhen Army to live a chic and happy life in Xiangyang County, how incompetent is this?

Dugu Yanyun saw that Su Dingfang was silent, and said worriedly: "General, in order to annihilate the Beizhen Army, Li Yuan's 120,000 troops were divided into three routes, and they sent troops from Yincheng, Anyang, and Xiangyang respectively, which can be described as menacing. Although we are an elite division, if we really fight one by one, it will be quite difficult to defeat a fourfold enemy with these 30,000 soldiers. ”

"If the 120,000 army comes together, it will naturally be difficult to defeat, but Li Yuan's soldiers are divided into three routes, but it gives us an opportunity to take advantage of." Su Dingfang said with a smile.

"The generals are breaking them one by one?"

"Yes, it's just a time lag for them."

Dugu Yanyun was stunned, thought about the meaning of 'time difference', and then said: "What the general said is not bad, Li Shi's militia came out of Xiangyang, Liu Hongji came from Yincheng, and Dou Cong went out to raise the army, these three roads are scattered in three places, and the time to Gucheng is also very different, our army is enough to deal with them one by one!" ”

"I'm a little worried about the combat power of the Beizhen Army, can it fight a tough battle?" Su Dingfang told the truth.

Dugu Yanyun smiled: "The general can rest assured, although the Beizhen Army is composed of private troops of various ethnic groups, its equipment and training are all compared to the Xiaoguo Army of the first emperor, and it has been fighting against the Liukou bandits in various parts of Yizhou all over the years, perhaps not as good as the experienced soldiers of the Great Sui, but the combat power and combat will are by no means within the reach of the Tang Army with low morale." ”

Su Dingfang pondered for a long time, and then said: "Under the leadership of the Holy Lord, we have fought against the Khitan, Xi people, Eastern/Turkic, and Western Turks. ”

"My Great Sui army is brave and good at fighting."

"The aliens are not ready to fight."

“……”

The generals have given their own 'answers'.

Su Dingfang was noncommittal, and when he saw Dugu Yanyun silent and thoughtful, he asked with a smile: "What does General Dugu think?" ”

"I don't know if it's right or not." Dugu Yanyun arched his hand and said: "As far as the last general knows, the Khitan, Xi, Eastern/Turkic, and Western Turks are all composed of various tribes, and the soldiers are scattered everywhere in peacetime, and only in wartime, they will gather under the command of the Great Khan, their army is composed of dozens or hundreds of tribes, no matter how many people there are, it is difficult to form a strong group with one heart and one mind, thus giving the Great Sui army a chance to break through. ”

"Not bad." Su Dingfang nodded and said: "My Great Sui army is brave and good at fighting, and the alien race is actually not bad, and the soldiers of a single tribe are quite strong, but when they are entangled, there is a problem of inconsistent orders and heavy selfishness." ”

Dugu Yanyun, Dugu Qingyun, Yu Qinming, Helan Shiren, Da Xi'an and others understood that Su Dingfang was a metaphor for the Beizhen Army formed by dozens of families entangled by alien races.

"General, we have considered this problem in Shangyong, today's Beizhen Army has me and I have you, there is no problem of fighting separately, in addition, the Beizhen Army has six 5,000-man divisions and 30 thousand-man guards in accordance with the Great Sui military system, and the combat strength of the soldiers in each division is equal, and the gap is not big." Dugu Yanyun said with a smile.

Su Dingfang smiled: "Then I'll be relieved." ”

"Report."

At this time, a soldier rushed in, although he didn't know why the main general had changed, but when he saw that Dugu Yanyun and all the generals were there, he bowed down and said: "General Qiyu, there is an enemy in the north of Gucheng, and Liu Hongji led an army of 40,000 to kill and seize Gucheng. ”

"Oh?" Su Dingfang asked, "How far is the enemy army from this?" ”

"This ......" the soldier looked at Dugu Yanyun on the side.

Dugu Yanyun said: "If you have anything to say, just say it directly, the Beizhen Army will be dominated by General Su in the future." ”

Only then did the soldier say: "General Qiyu, according to the report from the scout, the enemy army is still forty miles away, and it can reach Gucheng before dark." ”

"The soldiers are fast, not bad."

"General, how will this battle be fought? Is it to defend the city or go out of the city to fight a field battle with the Tang army? Dugu Yanyun asked.

"Defending the city? Field? Su Dingfang waved his hand and said, "No, let's go out and rob the camp." ”

He spoke lightly, but there was already an uproar in the official office.

"Huh?"

"Robbery of the camp in broad daylight??"

"How do you rob a camp in broad daylight??"

Dugu Yanyun looked pitifully at the more reliable Luo Shixin: "General Luo, this... How do you rob a camp in broad daylight? ”

Luo Shixin was secretly amused and explained: "According to the current sky, as well as the normal marching speed, Liu Hongji finished camping ten miles away, and it just got dark, is this a daytime robbery?" ”

"Well, no."

"Even if we can't rob the camp, our army can still beat him ten miles away to wait for work."

As soon as they heard what Luo Shixin said, the generals suddenly became excited, and asked again: "General Su, do you need the whole army to set off?" ”

"Twenty thousand is enough." Su Dingfang said, and then said to Dugu Qingyun: "General Qingyun, the soldiers of your fifth and sixth divisions, collect the grain in the city as soon as possible, and transport it into the deep mountains and old forests in the northwest to hide it, and the soldiers only need to keep the soldiers' rations for three days in the city!" Remember, this is to be done in secret, especially not to let people know where the food is hidden, and there must be no mistakes. ”

"Whoa!" Although this edict was a bit headless and endless, Dugu Qingyun did not show the slightest hesitation, waved respectfully towards Su Dingfang, and turned around.