Although Guo Song did not demote Wu Zhiyuan to his military position, he weakened his military power, he ordered Wu Zhiyuan to lead 5,000 troops to defend Xingzhou, and Gan Xin to lead 5,000 troops to defend Zhaozhou, and he himself led an army of 35,000 to Jingcheng.

At the same time, Yao Jin also led 30,000 troops through Xingzhou and marched towards Jizhou.

The battle in Jizhou was very fierce, Zhu Tao led an army of 50,000 to attack Xindu City in turn, but the soldiers and civilians of Xindu City did not want Xindu to fall into Zhu Tao's hands, and they resisted under the leadership of the general Huo Weiran.

The soldiers who were originally demoralized became motivated, the whole city of soldiers and civilians participated in the defense of the city, even merchants also donated money and materials, hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of soldiers hated the same enemy, so that the city of Xindu was almost captured, but it was recaptured by the army and the people, and the enemy army was driven out of the city, although both sides suffered heavy casualties, but the city of Xindu still stood majestically, and the Youzhou army could not capture it.

At this time, the news that Yao Jin led an army of 30,000 into Jizhou came, and Zhu Tao was worried that he would be taken advantage of by the Jin army, so he had to lead the army to retreat twenty miles and reorganize the army.

Yao Jin also stopped twenty miles away from Xindu City and began to set up camp.

The arrival of the Jin army made the city of Xindu to breathe, the north gate was a mess, the shops and houses near the city gate were burned, the walls were ruined as far as the eye could see, the corpses of the enemy were piled up on both sides of the city gate, the corpses of the soldiers and civilians in the city were taken away by their families, many people hung white flags in front of the door, and the crying of the family could be faintly heard.

These days, Li Wujun's figure disappeared again, and he arranged for his only son to escape from the south gate at night, but he encountered the patrol of the Youzhou army, and his son was shot by an arrow in the melee and unfortunately died.

When the news came, Li Wujun was discouraged, locked himself in the palace all day long, drank and had fun with dozens of wives and concubines, even if the siege battle was fierce, it could not affect his drunken life and death.

On this afternoon, Liu Kun, a soldier and a military officer, found Huo Weiran, the main general of the city, Huo Weiran was about forty years old, he was actually a civilian officer, and he was appointed as Sima under the Jizhou Soldiers and Horses Envoy, and the Jizhou Soldiers and Horses Envoy was Li Wujun himself.

The Huo family is a wealthy family in Xindu, and they usually help the poor and the weak, and they will actively help the victims in disaster years, so that the Huo family has a high prestige among the people, Li Wujun no longer cares whether Xindu City is alive or dead, Huo Weiran stepped forward, raised his arms and shouted, and immediately responded to the call, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were willing to listen to his command.

"You want me to surrender to the Jin army?" Huo Weiran looked at Liu Kun calmly, there have been many such voices in the army recently, but Liu Kun was the first official to persuade him, which was also expected by Huo Weiran.

"Sima, it's not a surrender, it's a choice!"

Liu Kun persuaded and said: "Jizhou is a place of anointing, tens of millions of people have lived here for generations, and it should not be ruled by brutal people, but since the beginning of the An Lushan rebellion, it has been devastated by war and ruled by warlords, I thought that Li Wujun overthrew Li Baochen's father and son, it should be better, but it turns out that he is also a raccoon dog, under his rule, the taxes are heavier, and the people are more miserable. Isn't that what the people want? Could it be that Sima still wants to go against the will of the people and continue to support the brutal and ungrateful Li Wujun? ”

Huo Weiran sighed and said: "Although Li Wujun has many shortcomings, he does treat my Huo family well, if I surrender to the Jin army, it will be equivalent to putting him to death, I don't want to do this for the time being." ”

Liu Kun had no choice but to say to Huo Weiran: "What I should say has already been said, Sima think about it himself!" ”

Huo Weiran glanced at Liu Kun and said coldly: "Liu Senjun chose to surrender to the Jin army, I understand, and I don't object, but I hope you don't do anything that endangers Xindu, if you dare to surrender the city, then don't blame me for turning my face and being ruthless." ”

Liu Kun glanced back at him, shook his head, and walked away quickly.

Huo Weiran did not turn a deaf ear to Liu Kun's words, in fact, he was also very tempted, but he had no choice, Li Wujun's direct guards used the excuse of protecting his family's safety, and actually controlled his family tightly.

If he made the slightest move, his family would be slaughtered, and Huo Weiran was extremely helpless in his heart.

.........

In the guest room of the Gaosheng Inn, Liu Kun told the shopkeeper Yue about his conversation with Huo Weiran this morning, and he smiled bitterly and said: "Actually, it's not surprising, the Huo family slowly rose after the Anshi Rebellion, they have no intersection with the imperial court, and they are not used to dealing with Chang'an." ”

Shopkeeper Yue said with a smile: "In fact, it can also be seen that the Huo family is cautious, but the people's will and the general trend are not something that his Huo family can stop, you don't have to persuade him, let's wait for the change!" ”

"The shopkeeper is right, I'm a little too eager, I'm too eager for Jin Jun to enter the letter capital......."

Liu Kun paused slightly, then lowered his voice and said, "I have been cooperating with you for several years, does Shopkeeper Yue think that His Royal Highness the King of Jin will know about my existence?" ”

Shopkeeper Yue smiled slightly: "His Royal Highness the King of Jin knows, especially this time that you informed us of the matter of Iron Fire and Thunder in time, His Royal Highness the King of Jin is full of praise for you, praising you for playing a role at a critical moment, I believe that your efforts over the years will definitely pay off." ”

Liu Kun was very excited, he dragged a big leather bag on the ground, and said to the shopkeeper Yue: "This is the two thousand taels of silver I have collected over the years, in fact, I have never dared to use it, and my wife also criticized me for doing things for money, which is immoral, I decided to return the silver to the shopkeeper Yue!" ”

Shopkeeper Yue laughed, "These are two different things, merit is merit, remuneration is reward, if no one refuses to be paid, we can't do anything, and a lot of important information, you provide it to us without collecting a penny, which shows that you are not entirely for money, but also hope to find a future for yourself, rest assured!" With your performance in the matter of Iron Fire and Thunder, you will not be disappointed. ”

Liu Kun wanted to repay the silver, but he was unwilling in his heart, and the words of the shopkeeper Yue finally made his heart fall, and he was immediately overjoyed, "Then I have to ask the shopkeeper Yue to say a few more good words for me." ”

........

There is also a pass at the entrance of the eastern section of Jingcheng, called Tumen Pass, it is a long and narrow half-mountain road, one side is a steep mountain, the other side is a cliff, this half-mountain road is about ten miles long, the narrowest point is only forty steps, the widest place has a mile, at the end of the half-mountain road is a solid pass.

Due to the terrain restrictions, Tumen Pass, like other passes, could not accommodate too many troops, the long-term garrison of the pass was 500 people, but the army supporting it was 10,000.

Tumen Pass is the last pass to prevent Hedong, once Tumen Pass is lost, the Hedong army can directly enter Hebei.

Zhu Tao attached great importance to Jingcheng, even if the strategic focus of the Jin army was obviously shifted to Fukou Pass, he still did not dare to take it lightly, and still deployed 10,000 heavy troops to guard Tumen Pass.

However, Zhu Tao was also worried that the Jin army in Zhaozhou would go north to Jingcheng, so he sent the general Lu Jinsuo to lead 10,000 troops to occupy Zhaozhou, making Zhaozhou a natural barrier for Jingcheng.

After Lu Jinsuo retreated from Tumen Pass, he did not retreat to Jingcheng, but directly detoured back to Youzhou.

The military camp of Tumen Pass is located on a high ground more than ten miles away, and it is also the entrance to the mid-mountain road, and the reason why the military camp is far away from Tumen Pass for more than ten miles is that the mid-mountain road is too narrow to garrison 10,000 troops.

However, in order to support Tumen Pass in time, the Youzhou Army built a small military camp less than a mile away from Tumen Pass, stationed more than 1,000 people, so that in fact, two support points of high and low troops were formed.

The chief general of the Youzhou army stationed at Tumen Pass is called Li Wanquan, and he is also the Hengzhou soldier and horse envoy appointed by Zhu Tao, a native of Jixian County, Youzhou, about forty years old, extremely majestic and burly, has been in the army for nearly 20 years, and is very old in the Youzhou army.

Although the battle in Jizhou was fierce, and the Jin army continued to increase its troops in Zhaozhou, and there was a tendency for a major war to break out, it was very quiet in Jingcheng Pass, at least so far, there was no trace of the Jin army in Jingcheng.

Li Wanquan is also relatively relaxed, and he can also find time to go back to Luquan County to get together with the concubine.

Before dawn, Li Wanquan returned to the barracks with dozens of personal soldiers, and he went to Luquan County last night, Luquan County was not far from the camp, just a dozen miles away, where he rented a house for his two concubines to live in.

As soon as he returned to the gate of the big tent, a personal soldier nervously greeted him and said, "General, there is a report from Tumen Pass, Meishan Fengsui was lit last night." ”

Li Wanquan was taken aback when he ascended, Meishan is located in Jingcheng, about thirty miles away from Tumen Pass, and a beacon was built on the top of the mountain, and if there were more than 1,000 enemies, the beacon would be ignited.

"When did the news arrive?"

"Just half an hour ago."

A chill rose on Li Wanquan's back, it was still dark half an hour before yesterday, Meishan Fengsui couldn't see far, and he would generally find it at the foot of the mountain, which meant that the enemy army in Jingcheng was only thirty miles away from Tumen Pass, and there would never be an army of a thousand people, at least thousands, could it be that the Jin army would also come from Tumen Pass?

"General, do you want to send a message to the prince?" The pro-soldier asked.

Li completely shook his head, "Wait a minute, let's confirm the situation!" ”

At this time, the war on the side of Xindu City was busy, and if it was not a big event and destroyed the prince's strategy, he would not be able to eat and walk around.