On the ninth day of the second month, in Dingling County, Wei Chi hurriedly climbed the East City Gate Tower and found Wang Yan who was standing on the lookout.

"General Wang." Wei Chi said hello from afar.

Wang Yan glanced back, and when Wei Chi approached, he pointed to a white snowfield outside the city and said, "Do you see those people?" It's all the rebels' eyeliner...... The rebels' surveillance of Dingling is getting tighter and tighter, I'm afraid it's not ready to do it......"

Wei Chi looked in the direction Wang Yan pointed, and sure enough, he saw two groups of figures wandering in the vast white snowfield outside the city.

He whispered: "The soldiers who transported the grain came back, they were intercepted by the rebels on the way, in order to prevent the rebels from taking the grain and grass, the soldiers transporting the grain could only set fire to the grain wagon, but it was still difficult to avoid a part of the grain and grass falling into the hands of the rebels......

“……”

Wang Yan frowned deeply.

Dingling County can't be defended, Wang Yan and Wei Chi know this.

After all, Dingling County is close to Zhaoling County but far away from Ye County, and there are only more than 2,000 soldiers led by Wang Yan and Wei Chi in the city, so it is unrealistic to want to defend the city.

It is no exaggeration to say that when Dingling County fell again and was taken by the rebels, it was completely up to the rebels who were stationed in Zhaoling.

This point, Yexian County Commander Yang Ding realized as early as last year's pursuit battle, when he saw that the Changsha rebels who failed to completely defeat Guan Shuo.

The reason why he asked Wang Yan and Wei Chi to lead the remnants of the army back to Dingling after that was to put it bluntly, he still couldn't let go of the grain and grass hoarded in Zhaoling County.

This batch of grain and grass belonged to the rebels, and after Guan Shuo conquered Dingling County last year, he used this city as a hoarding place for grain and grass, so that he could raid Zhaoling and the city afterward.

With such a large batch of grain and grass, even Yang Ding was a little tempted, so he discussed with Wang Yan and Wei Chi to see if he could transport some of it to Yexian.

After all, what is fought in a war is food, such as 'the three armies have not moved, and the grain and grass go first', Yang Ding is still very clear.

Therefore, since returning to Dingling County last year, Wang Yan and Wei Chi have organized several teams to transport grain and grass hoarded by the rebels in Dingling to Ye County, but due to the weather, they only made two trips in the winter of more than three months.

Even, dozens of soldiers were frostbitten to the price of their hearts and lungs.

A day ago, Wang Yan and Wei Chi organized the third grain delivery team, but today Wei Chi only got the news that this time the grain transportation was unfortunately intercepted by the rebels.

After all, the outside of the city was covered with thick snow everywhere, and the grain transport team could not go fast at all, even if the rebel army of Zhaoling only got the news after the Zhaoling army, it was too late to catch up with the slow grain transport team.

"We've got to get out."

Walking into the city gate tower with Wei Chi, Wang Yan said worriedly: "The rebels in Zhaoling, it is said that there are still thirty or forty thousand people, even if they can't afford to attack Ye County for a long time in a short time, but Zhaoling County, I think the rebels will still capture it as soon as possible......

"Hmm."

Wei Chi nodded slightly, agreeing with Wang Yan's point of view.

He also felt that the rebels were bound to capture Zhaoling, not only to recapture the grain and grass, but in fact Dingling County was also of strategic significance to the rebels, and only by occupying Zhaoling County again would the rebels dare to continue to advance north.

"What about the grain and grass hoarded in the city?" He asked in a low voice.

Wang Yan clenched his fists: "It's burned!" ”

This time Wei Chi did not agree, he frowned and thought about it, and immediately put forward his suggestion: "Why don't you distribute the given Ling people?" ”

Wang Yan looked at Wei Chi in surprise: "Do you expect the people in Dingling City to fight the rebels alone?" ”

"Not really." Wei Chi shook his head.

How could he have expected the Dingling people to fight the rebels?

You must know that before and after the rebels invaded Dingling County, they killed almost all the people in this city who wanted to resist, and those who are still alive today are at least those who dare not resist the rebels in the open, hoping that these people will muster the courage to fight the rebels again? It would be better to pray for the sudden and unexplained death of tens of thousands of rebels.

While shaking his head, Wei Chi said his thoughts: "The grain truck was attacked yesterday, it can be seen that the rebels are already preparing for us to transport grain to Ye County, since the other party has taken precautions, it is impossible for us to transport this batch of grain in the city." Instead of burning it down, it is better to distribute it to the Dingling people in the city, and when the rebels attack Dingling again in the coming day, if they are short of food, it is possible to attack these Dingling people......"

Hearing this, Wang Yan's eyes lit up, and he stroked his palm and praised: "Wonderful." ”

Without further ado, Wang Yan and Wei Chi immediately began to act.

The next day, they instructed their soldiers to carry as much grain as possible from the grain and grass hoarded in the city, and immediately informed the people in the city to distribute the grain and grass free of charge.

Most of the people were ignorant and short-sighted, how could they know that Wang Yan and Wei Chi had bad intentions, and as soon as they heard that there was free food distribution, they immediately went to rob them.

And when the people of the whole city were coaxing and grabbing food, Wang Yan and Wei Chi decisively led the soldiers to retreat and retreated towards the south bank of the Shahe River.

As soon as they left, the rebel spies in the city, or those who had been bought by the rebels, sent the news to Zhaoling County.

Without saying a word, Guan Shuo and Chen Miao led their troops to Dingling, and two days later, that is, on February 13, they reoccupied Dingling.

The bloodless recapture of Dingling finally made Guan Shuo, who had been depressed all winter, feel a little better, however, when he learned that Wang Yan and Wei Chi had distributed the grain and grass of his Changsha Yishi to the Dingling people in the city before withdrawing the army, Guan Shuo's mood suddenly sank to the bottom.

Huang Kang, the general under Guan Shuo, said angrily for this: "How dare they take away the grain and grass of my righteous master? …… Qu Shuai, give an order at the moment and order the people of Dingling to hand over the grain! ”

Guan Shuo did not agree, as a party commander, of course he understood what Wang Yan and Wei Chi were for distributing food to the people of Lingling.

He discussed with him privately: "That Wang Yan and Wei Chi are also cunning, seeing that they can't transport the grain in the city, they simply divide the grain and grass to the Ling people, if we take back the grain, we will definitely lose the support of the people." ”

Chen Miao smiled and said, "I really underestimated those two...... originally thought that only Zhou Hu's gang was more difficult, but now it seems that the people around Yang Ding should not be underestimated...... I thought they burned the grain? If they do this, we can also stir up public opinion and try to trap the people of Ye County in injustice......"

Guan Shuo nodded thoughtfully, then frowned and said, "Then what about this batch of grain and grass?" Just give it to the people in the city for nothing? ”

Chen Miao pondered for a while and said, "Wang Yan and Wei Chi are trying to use these grains to buy public opinion, if you and I send someone to take it back from the people in the city, it will damage the name of the righteous teacher's 'benevolence and righteousness'...... The matter has come to this point, it is better to notify the whole city, announce the 'tricks' of the people of Ye County, and take the opportunity to invite the people to buy the hearts of the people and recruit soldiers. ”

"Hmm."

Guan Shuo nodded approvingly.

On the same day, Guan Shuo sent someone to inform the whole city, announcing to the public the 'trick' of Wang Yan and Wei Chi to release grain for no reason.

Under the guidance of the rebels, the people of Dingling only learned at this time that Wang Yan and Wei Chi distributed the grain and grass that originally belonged to the Changsha Yishi to them, in order to instigate the Changsha Yishi to recapture the grain and grass.

For a time, the people of Dingling in the city scolded the people of Yexian for being despicable and shameless, and at the same time, they were also deeply worried about whether the Changsha Yishi would once again raise a bloody storm in the city in order to recapture the grain.

And just when everyone was panicking, Guan Shuo righteously comforted the people of Dingling: "...... Guan Mou knows right from wrong, naturally he will not fall for the provocation of the people of Ye County, although those grains and grass belong to my Changsha Yishi, but since they have been distributed and cannot be recovered, I will simply suffer this ......loss from my Changsha Yishi."

Guan Shuo's statement surprised the people of Dingling.

Just like Wang Yan and Wei Chi thought, those who really had the heart to resist the rebels were swept away as early as before and after Guan Shuo captured Dingling, and the rest were some people who did not dare to resist, or who didn't care who would rule this city.

Now Guan Shuo is vigorously showing goodwill to the people of Dingling, and the people in Dingling City naturally have a good impression of Changsha Yishi, after all, Guan Shuo said very clearly, if it is replaced by other armies, it will definitely not hesitate to raise bloody storms in the city, and the lost grain and grass must be recovered.

What he didn't do is enough to prove his benevolence!

In this way, Wang Yan and Wei Chi's plan to make the rebels lose the hearts of the people did not succeed, on the contrary, Guan Shuo also took the opportunity to gather a group of people's hearts, so that the Dingling people gradually accepted the rule of Changsha Yishi.

Now that the people's hearts and minds had been won, Guan Shuo took the opportunity to recruit troops again in Dingling County to make up for his troop losses in Kunyang last year.

Afterwards, the matter reached the ears of Wang Yan and Wei Chi, and the two of them could not do anything except feel sorry and secretly scolded Guan Shuo for being cunning.

Around 15 February, Wang Yan and Wei Chi led more than 2,000 soldiers to retreat to the barracks on the south bank of the Shahe River.

This military camp was built by the rebels in Guanshuo last year, and later, in order to prevent Ye County from immediately learning of their evacuation, the rebel generals Zhai Shang and Tian Xu did not dare to set fire to the camp, so they fell into the hands of Ye County.

After last year's pursuit battle, Yang Ding returned to Ye County, leaving the county lieutenant Gao Chun with 2,000 soldiers to garrison this camp as the outpost of Ye County.

After retreating to the barracks on the south bank of the Shahe River, Wang Yan and Wei Chi met with the county lieutenant Gao Chun and told the latter what had happened.

Of course, Gao Chun also understood that with the little strength of Wang Yan and Wei Chi, he could not hold Dingling, and he was not surprised by the decision of the two, he asked the two: "According to the two of them, when will the rebels move north?" ”

"It's hard to say." Wang Yan shook his head and said: "Last year, there were more than 30,000 troops left in the rebel army, and it was enough for these troops to capture Dingling, but the long-distance attack on my Ye County, I'm afraid it was a little reluctant, I guess he will step up the conscription, all in all, there should be some time...... In short, let's send someone to notify Yang County Order first, by the way, do you want to notify Kunyang over there? ”

"Let me know." Wei Chi thought for a while and said.

On the same day, several Nanyang cavalry left the barracks on the south bank of the Shahe River, came to Kunyang along the bridge over the river, and rushed towards Kunyang City.

At the same time, Jia Shu and Qin Yu were leading thousands of subordinate soldiers to reclaim wasteland in 'Nantun', and when they saw those Nanyang cavalry, Qin Yu raised his head.

“……”

Watching those Nanyang cavalry gallop away, in a hurry, he was thoughtful.