and state, Xihe County.

Located in the middle of Bingzhou, it borders Taiyuan County in the north and Linfen County in the south.

The majestic Luliang Mountains in the west of Xihe County and the rolling Taetake Mountains and Zhongtiao Mountains in the east are 90% of the land in the county is terraced rice fields distributed among the tall and majestic mountains. Fenshui runs through the north and south from the heavy mountains, and has become an important water transportation channel to communicate with the north and south of the state.

The only official road connecting the north and south of the state is built in a river valley nearly 100 miles long, and this canyon is the very strategic Sparrow Mouse Valley.

Although there are countless trails and secret roads hidden in the mountains, there is only one official road that can walk heavy trucks, and this valley road is a lifeline for all travelers.

The Bird Mouse Valley starts from Jiexiu County of Xihe County in the north, and reaches Huoyi County in the north of Linfen County in the south, the widest point has dozens of miles, but the narrowest point is only about two miles, and there are several important strategic fortresses distributed in the valley road that is nearly 100 miles long.

One is Jiexiu County, which is the north gate of the Bird Mouse Valley, and its importance lies not in the terrain, but in the fact that it is a material transit station.

The second is the Yindiguan at the junction of the West River and Linfen, it stands between two mountains, the city wall is tall and solid, the terrain is very dangerous, and it is also the narrowest place of the whole Bird Mouse Valley Road.

The reason why Li Yuan was able to successfully clear the Bird and Mouse Valley was because the Yin Land Pass would be his people, so he passed this pass without blood.

The third dangerous place is Huoyi County, Huoyi County is located in the north of Linfen County, is the junction of Linfen, Shangdang County, Xihe County, Longquan County, the strategic location is very important, the north of Huoyi County is Gaobi Ridge, the east is also the mountain range, Jieshan, Huoshan Mountain, Wuling Mountain three large mountain ranges stretch for thousands of miles, and the southern part of the state is separated into two. At the beginning, Li Yuan used a plan to kill Song Laosheng, so that he was able to successfully march south.

The strategic position of the entire Bird Mouse Valley was so important that the Tang army naturally deployed heavy defenses, and deployed 3,000 troops each in Jiexiu, Yindiguan and Huoyi, which were under the unified command of the governor of Bingzhou.

The lord of Huoyi County is Li Zhongwen, who is the grandson of Li Bi, one of the eight pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, the son of Li Yan, the prince of Zhenxiang County, and the cousin of Li Mi of Wagang.

Li Zhongwen and He Panren, Li Zhongwen, Xiang Shanzhi, Qiu Shili and others were all small rebels in the west of Chang'an, resisting the slaughter of the remaining troops of the Beijing Division, repeatedly defeating its front, gradually growing, and finally surrendered by Li Xiuning, the princess of Pingyang, in Ju County. After Li Yuan became emperor, Li Zhongwen served as Taichang Shaoqing, and then served as Huoyi's guard.

Two months ago, Pei Lin sent a henchman to Huoyi to inspect, not to mention the bad attitude, and asked Li Zhongwen for a bribe, but the bribery failed, so he made false accusations in front of Pei Lian, saying that Li Zhongwen, like Song Laosheng, was a reckless man who was stubborn and self-serving, talentless and incompetent, Pei Lin didn't say a word, and immediately demoted Li Zhongwen to the captain, and at the same time appointed Pei Yang, a child of the Pei family, as the general of Huoyi.

Li Zhongwen sent three defense letters to Li Shenfu in a row, all of which were in vain, which made Li Zhongwen completely disappointed, and he no longer cared about military affairs, and only drank in the city every day.

At noon on this day, a large caravan composed of hundreds of mules came from the south full of goods, accompanied by a hundred cavalry with swords, and it could be seen that they were not small caravans, but large caravans with deep backgrounds, which was not common in the previous trade routes of Bingzhou.

However, since Li Tang and Da Sui each occupied half of Shangdang County and Changping County, the two armies in the confrontation, invariably exterminated and incorporated more than 100 large and small bandits that may threaten themselves, which is no longer troubled by mountain bandits, and the caravan of Bingzhou has risen rapidly, and there are as many as 10,000 merchant mules walking on the trade road of Bingzhou every day.

At this time, Huoyi South City was very lively, and dozens of soldiers guarding the city shouted and scolded to maintain order at the city gate.

At this time, some soldiers saw the mighty caravan coming, and hurriedly shouted to the city, "There is a big caravan!" ”

The soldiers guarding the city gate suddenly became excited, according to the convention, when they encountered this kind of large caravan, they could earn hundreds of wine money, so some soldiers reported to the guard Pei Yang.

Compared with Li Zhongwen, the Huoyi defenders prefer Pei Yang, although Li Zhongwen is strong in martial arts, he is too strict with the soldiers, and strictly prohibits the soldiers from extorting businessmen, and the soldiers are not allowed to accept bribes from businessmen, and Huoyi is the only way for the caravan, and the guards cut off everyone's financial route, and the soldiers below are naturally dissatisfied.

And Pei Yang is just the opposite, he not only canceled the daily training of soldiers, but also after receiving the benefits of the generals below, he turned a blind eye to the lieutenant generals and allowed them to extort businessmen wantonly.

After a while, Pei Yang hurried over, and the soldiers were inspecting the goods one by one.

"Which caravan is it?" Pei Yang asked loudly.

A lieutenant said, "General Qiyu, it's the Lingyun caravan." ”

Pei Yang stopped talking!

Lingyun caravan is a newly emerging trading house, its background is the king of Qi Li Yuanji, there was a defender who did not have long eyes, extorted from it, Li Yuanji was angry and killed more than 500 people, this matter was very big, even Li Yuan knew. However, because Li Yuanji was high-sounding and had sufficient reasons, not only was he not punished, but he was praised by Li Yuan as 'Yuanji is strict in governing the army, and the officers and men of the whole army should follow suit'.

At this time, a soldier reported: "General Qiyu, there is no contraband!" ”

"Let them go into town!"

In the face of the Lingyun caravan, Pei Yang, a child of the Pei family, did not dare to start, because asking for bribes would not be able to see the light, and the other party would have a big background, once he sued Li Yuan, he would definitely die in the end Pei Yang.

The soldiers were ordered to make way for the caravan.

At this moment, a heroic young man stepped forward and saluted, "But General Pei Yang? ”

Pei Yang was stunned and said, "Exactly!" ”

The heroic young man said in a low voice: "The general is working hard to defend the city, and we don't know the rules!" ”

When the words arrived, an ingot of gold was stuffed into Pei Yang's hand, Pei Yang weighed it, it weighed about ten taels, this harvest was good, he immediately smiled and said: "It's not easy to make a living outside!" ”

"Thank you, General, for your understanding."

The heroic young man bowed slightly, and in a flash of lightning, a small dagger pressed against Pei Yang's vest.

"Move, Lao Tzu will stab you to death"

The stinging pain made Pei Yang come to his senses, and he said in a low voice: "Brother, don't mess around!" ”

"Cooperate obediently! Understand? ”

Pei Yang said repeatedly: "I understand, I understand!" ”

"Brothers, General Pei Yang and I hit it off at first sight, and brought over two boxes of specialties." The heroic young man shouted loudly.

"Whoa!"

Under the hot gaze of the defenders, the four guards stepped forward with two suitcases.

"Please, General Pei!" The heroic young man hugged Pei Yang's shoulder, looking like a good brother.

Pei Yang had no choice but to introduce the five people into the city guard mansion, and after the soldiers saw the two large boxes, and after getting a windfall, they retreated without doubt and handed over the business occasion to Pei Yang.

Pei Yang complained bitterly and said in a low voice: "Who are you?" ”

The heroic young man said with a smile: "My name is Shen Guang, someone used to call me Meat Flying Immortal, and now I am the general of the Great Sui Tiger Benlang, serving under His Royal Highness King Qin." Got it? ”

Pei Yang's face turned pale in an instant, and he asked in horror: "General Shen, what do you want the villain to do?" ”

The status was reversed in an instant.

"A small thing, just a little thing!" Shen Guang looked at Pei Yang playfully and said, "Wait a minute, the caravans of the Pei family's Pegasus caravan, the Zheng family's Spring and Autumn Caravan, the Lu family's crescent caravan, and other big family firms don't need to be inspected!" Of course, it won't be your ...... We all hit it off at first sight, and it's normal to get drunk and rest, understand? ”

"Understood!" Of course Pei Yang understood.

Huo Yi is over, and it is over unconsciously. What's even more terrifying is that after it's over, people outside don't know yet.

"You, you, you're going to fight and merge the state?" After a long time, the frightened Pei Yang asked.

"It's really uneducated, it's a shame that you're still a child of the Pei family." Shen Guang lazily played with the sharp dagger and said, "This is not called fighting, this is called recovery!" To be honest, I didn't expect to recover Huoyi so easily, thank you for your greed. ”

Shen Guang praised with a smile!

Huoyi County was originally Li Jing's task, but Li Jing felt that it was easier to take Huoyi from the south to the north, so he quickly suggested that Yang Tong send someone to take it lightly. In the end, the task fell to Shen Guang, who was as light as a swallow, but he never expected it to be so easy.

But after careful analysis, it can be understood.

Although Li Jing's army appeared near Taiyuan City, it was not uncommon for the Tang army in Bingzhou, because Mayi and Yanmen were originally under the control of the Sui army, and the news of the real war had not yet reached Huoyi. It was their carelessness that led the Sui army to easily take Huoyi.

It's just that Shen Guang feels that the results of the battle can actually continue to expand. After understanding the actual situation of Huoyi, he first put Li Zhongwen, who was drunk into a drunken cat, into prison, and then sent a report to Hanoi, asking Yang Tong to send more 'caravans' to Huoyi!

And he and Pei Yang led 3,000 troops north to 'support' Taiyuan according to the order of 'Pei Lone', and the guard general of Huoyi was served by 'Pei Lone's henchman Qian Jie.