The Nanyang camp of the Sui army is located at the intersection of Xinye Shuishui, Nirvana, Turbulent Water and Chaoshui, the water flows to the south for dozens of miles, and gathers with the east-west direction of the originating Huai'an, and then there is the white water that crosses the east and west of Chungling to join, and flows to Xiangyang to join the Han River.

In the wilderness south of the barracks, where the four rivers are connected, this triangle between the main stream and the water, the Sui army built a wharf here, and when Du Fuwei arrived, the Eleventh Army led by him became a temporary sailor, and was ordered by Yang Shanhui to make active preparations for the eastward crossing to the opposite Chungling Huyang.

With the continuous arrival of Sui soldiers, the Sui army gathered in Nanyang Xinye has reached 300,000 people, counting Du Fuwei's 'water division', the number is as high as a terrifying 350,000 people, a large number of troops gathered here, so that Xinye has become a huge military town, a huge camp is connected together, the scale is extraordinarily huge, covering an area of thousands of acres, like a county city in the county.

Although the barracks were very quiet, the river was extremely busy, and small and medium-sized Wuya ships and ships came from the south to transport the grain and military supplies that Lin Shihong had hoarded in Jiujiang and Poyang to the barracks.

In addition to the commander Yang Shanhui, there are also Du Fuwei, Kan Leng, Gao Yaxian, Jia Wuben, Xie Yingdeng, He Panren, Xin Fanger and other fierce generals.

It is worth mentioning that Luo Shixin and Gao Yan, who had caused a storm in Xiangyang, also returned.

It turned out that after the battle of Gucheng, the Beizhen Army fought a few beautiful ambush battles in Fangling under the command of Su Dingfang, and the whole army was convinced by Su Dingfang, coupled with the full support of the Dugu brothers without a word, Su Dingfang no longer needed to be like the beginning, and needed Luo Shixin, a famous general, to deter the Beizhen generals. Luo Shixin did not have much room to play in the Beizhen Army, and if he continued to stay there, it would be a waste of talent, so according to the previous arrangement, Luo Shixin and Gao Yan returned to Nanyang early, and obeyed orders under Yang Shanhui's account, leaving only Cheng Yanjin to stay by Su Dingfang's side.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, the commander Yang Shanhui and several generals were discussing the military situation in front of the sand table.

Although the Tang Army has been drilled on the sand table many times beforehand, and each time it has been able to defeat the Tang Army, the fake is fake after all, and once it is real, Li Xiaogong may not follow the envisaged route. Moreover, through the infiltration of a large number of scouts, Yang Shanhui found that he still underestimated the defense system that Li Xiaogong and Chai Shao had painstakingly built in Chungling.

Chung Ling is located at the edge of the Nanyang Basin, its characteristic is that there are many mountains and many waters, Luoshan, Tangzi Mountain, Tongbai Mountain, Ba Mountain, Dahong Mountain, etc. are all famous and precipitous mountains, than water, exhaust water, white water, water water, Zhushui is also turbulent water in this season, galloping endlessly, so Li Xiaogong in addition to the Huyang camp, also rely on these dangerous terrain, establish more than 30 military fortresses, less than 300 garrisons, more than 3,000 garrisons, these military fortresses are built in the steep terrain, and mostly made of big stones, tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, And the fortress and the fortress echo each other, one is attacked, the other several can be quickly rescued, if the Sui army is not enough to attack, it is likely to be surrounded and annihilated by the Tang soldiers of several fortresses, and there are many people sent, there is no terrain to spread out, as long as the other party is strictly defended, it will not be able to enter at all.

It was the powerful defense system of Li Xiaogong and Chai Shao that made Yang Shanhui quite distressed, if he attacked strongly, he would definitely be able to take the entire territory of Chungling, but the price would be very large, and Yang Shanhui did not want to take this Tang army at a heavy price.

In the past, when he quelled the rebellion in Jizhou, his troops never exceeded 4,000, but he used this point to scold Zhang Jincheng and Gao Shida more than 200,000 coalition troops, and won one victory after another, and as a result, Zhang Jincheng, who had more than 100,000 troops, was cut down to ask for merit.

It was precisely the experience of hundreds of battles in the past that made him extremely good at the tactics of attacking more with less, and he also cherished every soldier under his command, and did not want such a thing as killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 of them; if he broke through one fortress after another, he would definitely pay a huge price, and this was a result that he was extremely unwilling to see. But when his eyes swept to Xiangyang in the west, he had a good tactic.

"Marshal, we have the advantage of having more people and more time, and we can easily and persistently fight, and the Tang army is in a hurry to retreat west to Xiangyang, as long as they move, our opportunity will come." The silent tent sounded Du Fuwei's voice, and he used the wooden pole in his hand to point at the position of the Tang army's camp, and said: "The Tang army has 120,000 troops, but they are mainly deployed in Huyang and Zaoyang counties in the north-central part of Lingling. The will to fight of the Don Army is not strong, and it is likely that when we complete the first step, they will collapse. So that we don't have to fight one fortress at a time. ”

Yang Shanhui pondered silently, Du Fuwei's tactics are good, but they need to deploy the army in a big way, if there is a loophole somewhere, the Tang army can escape through this gap. Even if the Tang army is besieged in Huyang as he wishes, the Tang army, which jumps over the wall in a hurry, will inevitably fight a bloody battle with the Sui army to the end, and the decisive counterattack of the 120,000 Tang army will inevitably cause huge casualties on both sides of the enemy, which is not only inconsistent with his combat ideas, but also contrary to Yang Dong's civil war idea of "if you can not fight, you will not fight, and if you can fight a small battle, you will not fight".

After all, the soldiers on both sides of the Sui and Tang dynasties were the people of the Great Sui, and Yang Shanhui, as the right servant, had to consider not only defeating the Tang army, but also ensuring that the casualties on both sides were minimized. Therefore, he will not launch such a tragic bloody battle unless he has no choice but to do so.

It's not that Du Fuwei's idea is wrong, but the two have different positions, so they look at the problem from different angles.

"Dashuai." Luo Shixin smiled, "On the basis of General Du's strategy, General Mo has a little addition. ”

Yang Shanhui smiled: "General Luo, please speak." ”

Luo Shixin said with a smile: "As General Du said, our biggest characteristic is that there are many people and many generals, we might as well send tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to Xiangyang with great fanfare, put on a posture of capturing Li Jiancheng, force Li Xiaogong to leave the mountainous area, gallop to Xiangyang, and leave the plains around Zaoyang and Caiyang to the Tang army as a channel for retreating westward, as long as he rescues Xiangyang, it will be our opportunity to destroy the enemy." ”

"It's a 'encirclement point to send reinforcements', General Luo's strategy is indeed a hundred times better than Du's tactics."

After Luo Shixin's tactics were revealed, the two combat ideas were judged to be superior, and Du Fuwei did not put so much effort into it, not only did he not feel uncomfortable, but he was full of praise.

"Don't dare to be, don't dare to be......" Luo Shixin said modest words in his mouth, but his face showed a heavy look of pride.

Everyone couldn't help but laugh.

Yang Shanhui also smiled, looking at Luo Shixin's gaze, full of appreciation, Luo Shixin's thinking was completely consistent with himself, if he really wanted to divide his troops to besiege Li Jiancheng, who stayed in Xiangyang, he would definitely be able to force Li Xiaogong to Xiangyang, so that the military fortress that he had worked so hard to build would not work.

However, once they attacked Li Xiaogong, it would be an act of openly tearing up the truce agreement, and the Tang army would naturally not abide by the agreement and cede the five counties of Xiangyang, Chungling, Jingling, Yiling, and Qingjiang in a peaceful manner.

Although as long as Li Xiaogong's army is defeated, the five counties will be in a dilemma of empty troops, but there are still 30,000 Tang troops in Xiangyang City, which is tall in the city, and if Li Xiaogong's rout is added, he can get 40,000 or 50,000 people, and how to annihilate the 450,000 Tang troops in Xiangyang is also a practical problem that he has to consider.

At this moment, a soldier's voice came from outside the tent: "Great marshal, the battle report from the Holy Lord and the information of the Chungling Scout arrived at the same time. ”

"Bring it in."

"Whoa."

A pro-soldier walked in outside, presented two red letterboxes to Yang Shanhui, Sui's highest level of intelligence is the red letterbox, everyone only glanced at it, and knew that something big must happen, everyone stopped communicating and looked at Yang Shanhui together.

Yang Shanhui first read the battle report sent by Yang Tong, and said to everyone: "What the saint sent is good news......

After saying this, Yang Shanhui found that everyone was indifferent, pampered and not shocked, their faces were covered with natural colors, and a pair of black and white eyes seemed to be saying, "Isn't this nonsense?" ”

Well, the Holy Lord won the battle, and I, Yang Shanhui, am not surprised. But what kind of expressions do you have?

Although it is very shameful, I have to talk about it.

Yang Shanhui coughed dryly a few times, hiding the embarrassment in his heart, and continued: "Langri Zampu of Tubo took the initiative to invite the Holy Fighting General and Fighting Formation. ”

"Snort..." Luo Shixin let out a sneer and whispered: "If you don't die, you won't die." ”

Everyone nodded violently.

This is said to everyone's heart, not to mention that Pei Xingyan and Niu Jinda are all enemies, even the saint himself is also a fierce general, and Wang Xiongdan is also very capable of fighting, what is it if he fights alone?

"Tubo is indeed dying, only the fighting generals have broken more than ten fierce generals, and the subsequent melee not only lost 30,000 elite soldiers, but also folded dozens of generals, and Tubo fell into a dilemma of having no generals available." Yang Shanhui said again.

"Oh......" The generals all stretched out their voices in unison, and 'oh' was full of teasing 'oh'.

Yang Shanhui shook his head helplessly, and said, "The Holy Lord has approved our battle request......

This sentence finally speaks to the fate of the generals.

One by one, they looked at Yang Shanhui happily and nervously, as if they had come to life.

"Holy... Alas..."

Yang Shanhui's sighing appearance made the generals wilt like frosted eggplants.

"Holy Lord, I agreed." Yang Shanhui looked at the generals with a pair of wisdom beads in his hand, and said in his heart: I know you care about this.

"What?"

"I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Did you really say yes?"

“……”

"The big marshal said that the saint agreed."

"It's finally our turn."

"Long live the saints."

In an instant, the entire Chinese army tent thundered, as if it was about to overturn the roof.

Yang Shanhui ignored these militants, opened the urgent information sent by the Chungling scouts, signaled everyone to be quiet, and said: "The information sent by the scouts says that the Tang army in the Huyang camp is ready to go, and the people we planted in have also received an order to evacuate tonight, and the route is to march to Zaoyang County in the south. ”

Everyone hurriedly looked at the sand table, from Huyang County to Zaoyang County, the distance from the camp south to Zaoyang County, marked more than two hundred and thirty miles, in the middle is a rolling hilly area, the hills are covered with dense trees, and there are dozens of rivers that go to different rivers to join the water, want to chase from Nanyang Xinye, but it is not so easy, a little careless may be ambushed, after all, the terrain at this distance is easy to hide soldiers.

Jia Wuben couldn't help but praise: "What a Li Xiaogong, this is really neat, without dragging the mud and water, the whole game of chess has been completely revitalized, and the unfavorable passive situation has suddenly turned into an active, if we want to defeat it, we can only follow his rhythm to catch up." ”

"It doesn't have to be that difficult." Xie Yingdeng said in a word: "No matter how Li Xiaogong goes, the destination is always Xiangyang City. As long as we grasp this fatal point, Li Xiaogong will not be able to escape. ”

"General Xie is absolutely right." Jia Wuben nodded, very much agreed with Xie Yingdeng's words, and suggested to Yang Shanhui: "However, Li Xiaogong obviously also has such an awareness, in order to prevent him from jumping over the wall in a hurry and suddenly attacking Handong and Huai'an, the last general suggested that the marshal give orders to the two counties, so that they can prepare for battle and defense, so as not to be caught off guard by him." ”

"Marshal, General Jia's concerns are reasonable, and we must guard against them."

"The end will be reconsidered."

"The end will be reconsidered."

The generals have expressed their positions.

Yang Shanhui was as good as a stream, and said to the heralds: "Pass the order, let the defenders of Huai'an, Handong, and Anlu be prepared to defend to the death; At the same time, he transmitted the information of Li Xiaogong's southward movement to Li Jingshangshu, who was sitting in Nanjun, and asked him to choose the opportunity to send troops and occupy Jingling. ”

"Whoa." The two heralds saluted and left.

At this time, Du Fuwei pointed on the sand table with a wooden pole and said: "The distance from Huyang Daying to Zaoyang County is more than 200 miles, this road has mountains and rivers, according to the itinerary of the foot soldiers, the fastest speed will take two days to complete, but Li Xiaogong must have guessed that our army will chase and kill the past, so in order to let the army have the physical strength to fight at any time, he can only march at a normal speed, that is to say, Li Xiaogong's army will have to walk for at least four or five days to reach Zaoyang County, and these few days are our opportunity." ”

Gao Yaxian said on the side: "Since Li Jiancheng knows that Li Xiaogong's army is going to enter Xiangyang, I'm afraid he will make preparations to respond." ”

Yang Shanhui nodded, this was actually what he expected, since the Sui army occupied the north, east, and south directions, cutting off the retreat of Li Xiaogong's army, he had no way out except to withdraw his troops back to Xiangyang, he looked at Xiangyang County and said halfway: "If Li Jiancheng sends troops to respond, it may not be a bad thing." ”

"The marshal thinks Li Jiancheng will send troops to Li Xiaogong?" Duvowe asked.

"I hope so." After Yang Shanhui finished speaking, he looked at He Panren, who had served for the Tang Army, and asked, "General He, what do you think?" ”

He Panren said with great certainty: "The last general thinks that Li Jiancheng will send troops. ”

Du Fuwei was curious: "How can you see it?" ”

He Panren sighed and said: "Li Jiancheng is a rare gentleman of the Li family, generous and elegant, affectionate and righteous, if Li Xiaogong, who grew up with him, encounters mortal danger, Li Jiancheng will definitely send troops." ”

"I hope so, too." Yang Shanhui laughed, he didn't care too much about Li Jiancheng, although Li Jiancheng was a gentleman, his temperament of valuing love and righteousness was easy to be taken advantage of by the enemy, as long as he grasped this, it was not difficult to deal with him.

However, Li Xiaogong is a powerful figure full of danger, and the current territory of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty is all won by him, if you underestimate him, you will suffer a big loss.

However, Yang Shanhui had no intention of ambushing and attacking Li Xiaogong, after all, the other party had an army of 120,000, and he had to send at least equal troops to play a decisive role. This means that with Li Xiaogong's retreat, the two armies will become a dignified head-to-head contest, and now he is unwilling to fight this kind of battle.

He pondered for a long time and asked Luo Shixin: "General Luo, what do you think is the weakness of Li Xiaogong's army?" ”

"Go back to the big handsome." Luo Shixin saluted and said loudly: "The last general thinks that Li Xiaogong's army has many weaknesses. For example, poor equipment, poor combat effectiveness, low morale, low loyalty, etc., these are all shortcomings common to the Tang army... But none of that matters..."

"It's not important, then you still say?" Yang Shanhui's face turned dark, he shook his head with a headache, and said angrily: "Don't give me all these useless things, let's be specific." ”

Luo Shixin was interrupted before he finished speaking, and was finally accused, he was also speechless, "The last general thinks that the biggest weakness of Li Xiaogong's army is food." ”

"Do you think Li Xiaogong's army is short of food? Out of food? ”

"Not so." Luo Shixin shook his head and said: "Our army scouts have long made it very clear that all the military food that the Tang army can use is in the Huyang camp, and there is almost no food in the official warehouses of Zaoyang, Caiyang, Chungling and other counties, that is to say, Li Xiaogong's army does not get much supply in these places. His army went south to Zaoyang, and then from Zaoyang to Xiangyang, so it took a month to say the least, so he had to take away the food needed by the 120,000 army for a month from the Huyang camp. However, they only had three or four thousand mules and donkeys, but with these few animals alone, they could not transport enough of the 120,000 troops for a month, and in the end they had to rely on the soldiers themselves to carry them. Moreover, the last general believed that these cattle were not carrying grain, but forage for war horses. ”

Jia Wuben said with a smile: "General Luo is right, they do only have three or four thousand mules and donkeys in their army, and there are no carts to transport horse materials, so they can only rely on the horses themselves and these mules and donkeys." ”

Luo Shixin continued: "We all know that when a soldier marches, he has to carry weapons, armor and simple luggage, which alone add up to thirty or forty pounds, and in addition to these necessary things, a foot soldier can only carry ten and a half months of dry food at most, and no more can bear it. But in order not to go hungry, you have to add half a month's worth of food ... In the case of such a heavy burden, it will be six or seven percent of the people in two days at most..."

Yang Shanhui said: "Just like the army of Yuwen Shu and Yu Zhongwen when they were on an expedition to Goguryeo? ”

"That's right." Jia Wuben, who participated in the two battles of Goguryeo, nodded and said, "The situation of the Tang army is indeed very similar. ”

Luo Shixin said: "The meaning of the last general is obvious: that is, to send a large number of scouts to closely monitor the march route of the Tang army, and according to the speed of their march, we can calculate the place where we will go in three days, and we only need to go there and wait, and defeat a group of soldiers who can't stand on their feet, which is quite simple." ”

"Makes sense." Yang Shanhui said with a smile.