In the early morning, the thin haze has not yet cleared.

The desolate trumpet and the rumbling war drums sounded at the same time, and instantly blew away the charm of early spring, the flags fluttered, the gold and iron resonated, and the murderous atmosphere between heaven and earth was great.

In the south of Jinyang City, nearly 100,000 troops rose up camp, and people shouted and neighed to the south.

In fact, this was only part of the prelude to the beginning of the war.

Prior to this, the army of scouts had been all over Jiexiu, Pingyao and other places, and the farthest had even bypassed Jiexiu and gone deep into the Bird Mouse Valley southwest of Jiexiu.

With Pingyao as the center, all the miles are within the vision of the army.

At this time, Wenshui, Taigu, Qixian, Pingyao and other counties have almost all been reduced to empty cities, most of the people moved south, and some of them followed the children of the Wang family to Jinyang.

On that day, the Wang family rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and there were repeated chaos in Xihe County, these counties bore the brunt of the loss, and Jinyang fell in front, and then Li Yuanji fled from Jinyang in embarrassment, and took away a large number of young people in these counties when he went south, so these ancient cities of Jin have become a buffer zone for war.

However, Xicheng, the county town of Xihe County on the west bank of Fenshui, is still guarded by some Tang troops, but in fact, it is backed by Luliang and the situation of Xicheng in the east is not good.

Since the end of the Sui war, there have been many rebels around Xicheng, and the people have fled into the Luliang Mountains in large numbers for thieves.

Therefore, a large area in the southern part of the state has been blank for more than half a year, and has become a nest for homeless people, birds and beasts.

Of course, these places will not be empty for long.

Whether the Tang army went north or the army from the two states went south, they would occupy these places as a place for the army to settle down, or a place for grain and grass to gather.

The Tang army did not dare to come north, that was a certainty.

In addition to Xue Ju in the northwest, Li Rail, Liang Shidu, or even under the command of the Tang Army, there are some cavalry forces that can be compared with the Daizhou cavalry, and the rest of the anti-kings, not to mention how many troops you have, when it comes to cavalry, they are all among the ashes.

Under the successive victories of the Daizhou cavalry, they were not as obscure as they were at the beginning, and only the battle in Hebei made them famous all over the world and hidden as the crown of all armies.

If there are no soldiers, it is a very disadvantageous thing to rely on Jinyang too closely.

The cavalry came and went like the wind, and by the time you saw the shadow of the cavalry, the city was already surrounded.

The generals of the Tang Army are not stupid, naturally they will not come north easily, they are strong in these places, and they have left nothing for the southbound army, if it weren't for the Fenshui gushing by the side, they would have been able to make the water source disappear for you.

When he captured Jinyang last year, Li Po could take advantage of the situation to go south and sweep away these county seats.

But at that time, the army was about to go north, and there was no way to disperse the troops, otherwise, the starting point of the army should be in Pingyao now.

The army stepped on the desolate ancient road, came all over the wilderness, rolled up the sky full of smoke and dust, and the dull sound of horses' hooves like thunder completely shattered the tranquility of the ancient city of Pingyao.

The city wall of Pingyao is dusty, it is not brick and stone at a glance, but rammed earth, the city wall is not tall, standing there alone, as if she has been abandoned by an old woman, and the twilight is full of twilight.

This is a city as silent as death, Li Po stood under the banner, only took a brief look, and then ordered the whole army, through the city, continue to the south.

At this time, it was past noon, and the cavalry army was not moving fast, and the two forwards Luo Shixin and Wang Zhibi had already been swarming here for a long time.

The cavalry and the infantry army were very open, Li Po ordered the cavalry to go first, led the cavalry army himself, and left the infantry army to Wei Chixin and Chen Yuan to command, and it is estimated that the infantry army will arrive here tomorrow.

When crossing Pingyao, there was an episode.

On the side of the road, there was an old man in rags and gray hair, kneeling on the left side of the road, and the army passed through the city, only a small pawn untied his horse and threw it beside him, and the rest of the soldiers turned a blind eye.

Li Po didn't even glance at it when he was old, once the army was formed, like most people in the army, his cold heart would become cold and hard.

He has also been an outcast, and he knows the lowliness and pain of the outcasts, and he has also seen their hideousness and mania.

But at this moment, except for things that are beneficial to the army, he will not have any mercy, and his every move is tied to the army's heart and cannot be moved lightly.

Soon, the army left the lonely Pingyao behind.

…………………………

At this time, the Jiexiu Tang army had been alarmed.

The Tang army, which had been staring at Jinyang, was on guard after the news was cut off in the north.

Li Zhongwen hurriedly sent people to the south to ask for reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible, and on the other hand, he recruited Jiang Baoyi and Zhang Lun to discuss Jiexiu defense.

In fact, there is no need to discuss, if Li Dingan leads the army to attack, the Tang army can only wait for reinforcements, which is the consensus of the Tang army.

The cavalry in the north is becoming more and more frightening, and they are fighting in the field...... Forget it, Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, is not far away, and no one wants to repeat the mistakes of the past.

But after discussion, in addition to quickly asking for help from the south, the opinions of several people were unanimous.

Jiang Baoyi became as excited as if he had been beaten with chicken blood, maybe this is the time to feel that the time has come to make meritorious contributions, right? Who knows, anyway, people say that if you don't go out of the city to fight, it is a taboo for soldiers.

It seems that I have been thinking about it for a long time, and it really makes sense, Jiexiu City is small, and the city wall is not much higher than Pingyao, and it is also rammed.

More than 30,000 Tang troops gathered in the city to hold out, once the city wall was taken, as soon as the city gate was opened, everyone became a turtle in the urn, well, in short, it is to say, 30,000 Tang troops are crowded in one place, and they can't show their hands and feet.

This makes sense, the other two have been leading the troops for a long time and are well versed in the battle formation, so they didn't refute it, just waiting for Jiang Baoyi to talk about his plan.

In fact, there is not much hope for the newspaper, this person is a straw bag, which is almost the consensus of Li Zhongwen and Zhang Lun.

Jiang Baoyi said exactly what he said, set up a village outside the city, dug deep trenches, and relied on the Jiexiu city wall to hold on to the enemy.

Li Zhongwen and Zhang Lun glanced at each other, and they both saw contempt in each other's eyes.

It's just talking on paper, it sounds a little reasonable, but it's not feasible.

30,000 Tang troops, how many camps to set up? If you only set up a village in the north of the city, is the enemy army stupid? Do you want to attack your stockade?

If all four cities want to set up a wall, it will not be enough for 30,000 Tang troops to go out of the city.

It's a purely imaginary idea, and it's not enough.

Zhang Lun scratched his beard, seemed to listen seriously, and nodded his head from time to time, as soon as Jiang Baoyi's voice fell, he asked, "If according to General Jiang's intentions, who will guard the camp outside the city?" ”

Jiang Baoyi glanced at Zhang Lun, "General Zhang, don't be afraid, you are the assassin of Jiezhou, so you naturally have to sit in the city with the governor, as for the outside of the city, Jiang is not talented, and he is willing to lead the army to defend ......it."

Well, no matter what Jiang Baoyi is capable of, his loyalty is unquestionable.

Zhang Lun didn't hear the sarcasm in his words, and said with a smile, "Then there is General Lao Jiang." ”

Li Zhongwen coughed at the right time, and secretly scolded Zhang Lun for being cunning in his heart, and spoke with a straight face, "The enemy is now, and the enemy army is approaching suddenly, the two of you must listen to my orders, otherwise, ...... If there is a loss, you and I will die and will not be able to escape the guilt. ”

Zhang Lun's face turned pale, and he immediately hugged his fists and said, "The last general will listen to the instructions of the chief manager." ”

Jiang Baoyi was looking at Li Zhongwen with hope.

Li Zhongwen smiled bitterly in his heart, and he had to coax, saying in his heart that my children had never been so tired.

"General Jiang's loyalty and bravery, I know everything, after this battle, it will be reported to the Supreme to know, but you and I both know that the enemy's edge is too strong, and if you go out of the city to fight, you will be frustrated."

"And the enemy army is mostly cavalry, not good at attacking the city, as long as we are good at defending the city, we will be able to stop its military momentum, wait for the reinforcements to gather, and break it under the city of Jiexiu."

"General Jiang doesn't have to personally venture into danger and fight against him outside the city......"

Jiang Baoyi then argued a few words, and without knowing the essentials, he hugged his fists and walked away.

This time, Zhang Lun didn't leave with him, and he didn't want to say anything bad about Jiang Baoyi again, although this person is golden, he should still be able to defend the city, right?

Zhang Lun hugged his fist to Li Zhongwen, "Chief, the enemy army is coming, although I haven't seen it in person, but Li Ding'an's strength should be expected......

Speaking of this, he paused, looked at Li Zhongwen bowed slightly, and then continued: "Although General Jiang's strategy is rash, there is some truth, and the general thinks ...... Sticking to Jiexiu is really the next policy......"

"Oh?" Hearing this, Li Zhongwen's spirits couldn't help but perk, and his beard trembled, "General Zhang has a good plan?" ”

Zhang Lun grabbed his beard and said with a wry smile: "I don't know the reality of the enemy army today, I can only plan to go bad, if the enemy army comes, see that I can't defend Jiexiu, Xu will surround me in Jiexiu City with light troops, and divide my troops into the Bird Mouse Valley to go south." ”

"If reinforcements come, and they are eager to join me, won't it become a siege and reinforcements?"

Li Zhongwen's eyes flashed, and he also felt that his beard was a little itchy.

"That's according to General Zhang's opinion......"

Zhang Lun gritted his teeth and hammered the table case hard, "The last general thinks that it is better to abandon Jiexiu and enter the Sparrow Mouse Valley to garrison first, and then reason with the reinforcements." ”

Li Zhongwen's brows were furrowed, Zhang Lun's strategy was different from Jiang Baoyi's joking military strategy.

But what could he do?

Abandoning Jiexiu and guarding the Bird Mouse Valley, in addition to gaining time for the arrival of reinforcements, can also meet with the reinforcements relatively smoothly, and can also block the enemy's southward trend.

But then again, as the governor of Jiezhou, he retreated without a fight, and gave Jiexiu to the enemy, and then no matter how much he said his reasoning, how much could others listen to it?

Zhang Lun may be fine, will Li Shentong spare him Li Zhongwen?

Seeing him hesitate, Zhang Lun glared and added, "Don't worry, the manager, the crime of neglect is willing to bear it with all his might......"

Li Zhongwen glanced at him, and said in his heart, hum, it sounds good, will you be able to bear it then?

(Commuter Pass) (To be continued.) )