"Victory!"

"Hooray!"

"Oh-"

In Yingyin County, nearly 10,000 county soldiers raised their arms and cheered, cheering for the capture of this county seat.

However, in this festive atmosphere, the scholar Liao Guang's frowning brows were never stretched.

In his opinion, this battle was too smooth - in fact, in order to capture Yingyin, his county army also paid a lot of sacrifices this time, with nearly 2,000 casualties, and attacking a city with only 3,000 rebels stationed but paying this number of casualties, this really cannot be said to be smooth, but it is undeniable that his county army was successful in this reoperation, at least to capture Yingyin County in one go.

But...... Liao Guang always felt that something was wrong.

He remembered very well that before they sent out to attack Yingyin, that Zhou Duwei had reminded him, reminding him that this trip was 'destined not to go well', and asked them to bring more grain and grass...... Is that really just a mockery?

Just when he was full of doubts, he suddenly saw a fire in the city, and he asked in astonishment, "Who set the fire in the city?" ”

A moment later, a soldier came to say: "Enlighten the Liao soldiers, when the rebels abandoned the city and fled, they set fire to the granaries in the city. ”

"Granary? …… Food?'

Liao Guang chuckled in his heart, and immediately thought of what Zhou Duwei had reminded him of.

Frightened, he immediately led people to the granary.

Fortunately, by the time Liao Guang led the people to the granary area, the fire here had been controlled by the county army, at least it had not spread; Unfortunately, this huge granary, along with an unknown amount of grain in the warehouse, was burned by the rebels.

"That's not right...... Something must be wrong.'"

Squatting down and grabbing a handful of ashes left after the grain was burned, Liao Guang changed color slightly.

He remembered very well that when Zhou Duwei reminded him to 'bring more food', there was no mockery in his tone, not as Cao Duwei understood.

Frightened, he immediately asked, "Where is the captain?" ”

"At the East Gate Tower." Left and right replied.

Hearing this, Liao Guang immediately went straight to the East City Gate Tower, and sure enough, in the open space in front of the East City Gate Tower, he saw Cao Suo who was looking out of the city.

"Liao Guang."

After being reminded by the people around him, Cao Suo also noticed Liao Guang who came in a hurry, pointed to the outside of the city and said with a smile: "Look, it was Zhong Fei's reinforcements from Yingyin." ”

Liao Guang walked to Cao Suo's side, looked out of the city, and sure enough, he saw that in the southeast direction, about two miles away from the county seat, there was an army stationed, with about several thousand people.

Cao Suo said with a smile: "It's really thrilling, thanks to you and Tian Qin fighting hard to attack the city, otherwise, my army is afraid that we will fall into a situation where we will be attacked by the enemy on our backs......"

"The captain is overrated."

Liao Guanggan laughed twice, and immediately, he clenched his fists and said the doubt in his heart: "Du Wei, when Yingyin's rebels abandoned the city and fled, they set fire to the granary in the city, and the grain in the warehouse was burned, I suspect that this may be the reason why Zhou Hu reminded me to bring more food......

Hearing Zhou Hu's name, the smile on Cao Suo's face froze slightly, he glanced at Liao Guang, frowned and said lightly: "The rebels and we are friends and enemies, and when he left, he set fire to the grain and grass, what is there to make a fuss about?" If we are forced to abandon the city, we will inevitably burn the food that we can't take away, and will it be left to the rebels? ”

Liao Guang shook his head and said, "Captain, I always feel wrong......

Cao Suo said in surprise: "Liao Guang, that day, you and Tian Qin suggested that I send troops to seize Yingyin, and take the opportunity to share the power of the Zhou Tiger's army." ”

"That being said, but ......"

A trace of hesitation flashed on Liao Guang's face, and after struggling in his heart, he clenched his fists and said: "The correspondence of the rebels is indeed a little wrong, maybe this Ying Yin is really a trap set by Xiang Xuan......

"That's enough."

Cao Suo frowned and interrupted Liao Guang's words, only to see him take a deep look at the latter, and said unhappily: "That's just Zhou Hu's self-respecting rhetoric." If it weren't for the rebels, how could he, a bandit leader, threaten Cao's status? …… Do you still remember when Zhou Hu first arrived in Xuchang? He laughed at me for not daring to go out of the city to fight the rebels, but what about himself? Didn't you shrink in Xuchang during this time? …… After all, he didn't think about fighting the rebels at all, he just used this incident as an excuse, as an excuse for him to replace me Cao Suo, he wished that you and I couldn't do it, and you still took his ridicule seriously. ”

Seeing that he couldn't convince Cao Suo, Liao Guang retreated and clenched his fists and said, "That's ...... Please send someone to Xuchang to urge food immediately, there is food in your hands, at least you don't panic. ”

"Of course I do."

Cao Suo's face turned a little pale, nodded and said: "Later, I will write a battle report and order someone to send it to Xuchang, in which I will mention the matter of grain and grass." …… Anything else? If nothing else, you might as well help Tian Qin appease the people. ”

“…… Be. ”

Liao Guang hesitated for a moment and retreated with his fists clenched.

A moment later, when Cao Suo was writing the battle report in the East City Gate Tower, Liao Guang found Tian Qin and told the latter of his suspicions.

"Immediately withdraw to Xuchang?"

Tian Qin listened to Liao Guang's words, was greatly stunned, and said puzzled: "Persuading the Commander to divide troops to garrison Yingyin is a strategy that you and I came up with for the Commander at the beginning, with this 10,000 military power, at least the Commander and Captain Zhou can be on an equal footing, and now you want to withdraw to Xuchang?" …… Not to mention what will happen to Li Junshou, what should this Yingyin do? Will it be thrown to the rebels again? ”

“……”

Liao Guang was speechless.

Yes, after capturing Yingyin, they already have no way out.

Give up Yingyin and retreat to Xuchang?

If they dared to do this, led by Liu Mu, Lin Qin, and Lin Ji, the three Yingyin people, the few remaining squires and wealthy families in Yingyin would immediately turn against them, just like they did not hesitate to abandon Zhou Hu and switch to Cao Suo.

Seeing that Liao Guang wanted to speak several times and stopped, Tian Qin smiled and said with relief: "Okay, no matter whether the rebels have a conspiracy or not, we will wait and see what happens, if there is really any conspiracy, it will not be too late for me to withdraw to Xuchang when the time comes." After all, Yingyin is only ten or twenty miles away from Xuchang......"

『…… I hope so'

Liao Guang was persuaded and nodded slightly.

Before dusk that day, an envoy sent by Cao Suo arrived in Xuchang and delivered the battle report written by the former to Li Junshou.

Because Cao Suo reduced the casualty records in the battle report, Li Junshou was very happy after seeing this battle report, and said to the left and right with a smile, "If I can recapture Yingyin this time, my Xuchang has finally lifted the biggest threat." ”

"Your Excellency is wise." The officials on the left and right said with a smile.

During this period, one person asked, "My lord, do you want to send this war report to Captain Zhou?" ”

"Hmm......"

Li Junshou pondered for a moment.

In his opinion, Zhou Hu, as the captain, of course has the power and responsibility to know about this matter, but it is not appropriate for him to send someone directly to Zhou Hu, after all, this move has the meaning of 'questioning'.

Thinking of this, Li Junshou ordered: "You can wait for this war report to Wang Tao, the official of the Imperial Commander's Office." ”

"Yes."

A moment later, this battle report was delivered to Wang Tao, the official of the Governor's Office.

Wang Tao has also been an official for many years, so he naturally understands some of the rules of officialdom, and when he saw this war report in his hands, he immediately understood what it meant.

But he didn't dare to send this battle report to that Lieutenant Zhou.

After thinking about it, Wang Tao finally sent someone to report this battle report to Xun Yi, who was in the army of Gongcao.

Xun Yi naturally didn't have so many worries, and after receiving this battle report, he personally came to Zhao Yu's house and delivered this battle report to Zhao Yu.

After receiving the battle report, Zhao Yu asked curiously: "This battle report was sent by the county guard?" ”

Xun Yi then explained: "It was the county guard that sent someone to Wang Gong Cao's hand, and Wang Gong Cao Shi sent someone to my hand. ”

Zhao Yu immediately understood: Cao Suo captured Yingyin, and it did not affect Li Junshou's trust in him in the slightest.

After understanding this, he naturally did not have any burden in his heart.

"Hey, have you taken Ying Yin?"

Looking at Cao Suo's battle report, Zhao Yu's heart did not fluctuate at all, because he knew that Cao Suo had fallen into Xiang Xuan's trap.

After Xun Yi left, Zhao Yu sent someone to invite Changshi Chen Lang and handed over the battle report to the latter.

After carefully reading the battle report, Chen Lang saw that all the people in the house were his own, so he asked in a low voice: "Do you want me to do anything about grain and grass and delay him for a few days?" ”

"Nope."

Zhao Yu raised his hand to stop Chen Lang, shook his head and said, "Xiang Xuan deliberately set this trap, how can it be easily cracked?" If you do something in this matter, you will definitely not be able to hide it from Song Shu, if he reports to Li Junshou and provokes the anger of Li Junshou, not only will you lose your position, but you may also affect me, why bother? The matter of transporting grain, let Song Shu send someone to deal with it, and you don't have to interfere before and after. ”

"Okay." Chen Lang nodded.

At the same time, the envoy sent by Li Junshou also came to Yingyin.

After seeing Cao Suo, the envoy gave up his hand and explained his intentions: "Captain Cao, the county guard has received the battle report, and he is very happy, and orders you to guard Yingyin well, and not to take it away easily to the rebels." As for the grain and grass, Li Junshou has ordered Song Juncheng to handle this matter with full authority, and before dusk tomorrow, a batch of grain and grass will arrive in Yingyin. ”

"Good!"

Cao Suo was very happy and ordered someone to reward him.

That night, Cao Suo slept comfortably in the East City Gate Tower, and even had a sweet dream.

In the sweet dream, he had taken back the position of lieutenant from that damn Zhou Hu, and even, that damn guy fled back to Yingshan in disgrace, and he led the county army to encircle and suppress it.

And just when he was leading the army to attack the Black Tiger Mountain where Zhou Hu was located in his dream, a hurried voice suddenly came from his ears: "Du Wei, Du Wei, the big thing is not good!" ”

Cao Suo opened his eyes, and only then did he see a general's face full of summons.

"What's wrong?" He asked unhappily.

I saw that the general hugged his fists, and said with an anxious face: "The last general can't say clearly, please go to the city immediately, and you will know at a glance." ”

With a little confusion, Cao Suo followed the general out of the city gatehouse, came to the battlement, and looked out of the city.

Just by glancing at it, his face was shocked.

I saw that outside the city, which was empty yesterday, fences have been built one after another.

If you look closely, those fences are clearly composed of countless antlers and horses.

What shocked Cao Suo even more was that about three or four miles east of Yingyin, the rebels actually built a camp overnight, completely cutting off the connection between Xuchang and Yingyin.

"Report!"

Just when Cao Suo was frightened, a herald suddenly came in a hurry.

"What's the matter?" Cao Suo rebuked angrily.

The herald shrank his head and cautiously reported: "Traces of rebels have been found in the south of the city, and the banners are observed, and it is suspected that they are the ...... of Xiang Xuan and Yan Xuan's Second Army."

"What?!"

Cao Suo's complexion changed drastically.