Long Wuju shook his head and said, "The order that the Lord gave us was to 'cut off the way back'. The number of light cavalry who went west to the river was not large, but it was only the vanguard of Zhang Shao's department, and if we rushed into battle, we were afraid that we would be startled by the grass and snakes, which was not conducive to the combat strategy set by the adults. Cannot. ”

"Then watch them cross the river?"

"The focus is on the main force of Dingxi led by Zhang Shao, not this vanguard. And send more scouts, we must always grasp Zhang Shaobu's whereabouts in our hands and report it to the adults in time, so that the adults can know themselves and the enemy, and the situation is the key. ”

Although the name of the main general will not be embroidered directly on the general flag, but the official position and military position of the main general, there will be on the general flag, and the scout has figured out what the official position and military position of the main army in Dingxi will be in Dingxi, so Long Wuju naturally knows who the opponent of this battle is.

It's none other than the former Wuji lieutenant, Zhang Shao, who was worshiped as the general of Wuwei by Dingxi after the First World War in Qinzhou.

Regardless of whether Long Wuju's claim to be a member of the Yanqi royal family is true or not, he is a native of the Western Regions, and his background as a nobleman in the Western Regions is true, Zhang Shaojiu is in the Western Regions, Long Wuju is still more familiar with him, knowing his fighting style, he pondered for a while, and then said to his subordinate Rouran officers with a cautious attitude: "Zhang Shao has been stationed in the Western Regions for more than ten years, and I know this person better. He was cautious by nature, and when he used his troops, he never ventured forward, but repeatedly reconnoitred the enemy, and then went to war.

"The desert area where we are located is west of the river, that is to say, when Zhang Shao led his troops to cross the river, this desert area was equivalent to being behind him. We have to guard against whether he will send scouts to this desert to investigate before crossing the river, so as not to be attacked by our army from behind when crossing the river. If our whereabouts are exposed, it will affect the combat deployment under the adults! Summoning the order, arrange more secret sentinels outside this oasis where we are stationed, and report as soon as we find the scouts in Dingxi! ”

Zhang Shao has been stationed in the Western Regions for more than ten years, and has experienced seven or eight large and small battles with Rouran and the countries of the Western Regions, because of his cautious character, basically there is no big loss, but he is not brave enough compared to another Western Regions general in Dingxi, Suo Gong, but he has not achieved any big victories, because after knowing that he is the main general of Dingxi's attack on Shuofang, Long Wuju although he has more eyes and is not a lot more cautious, but he does not attach great importance to it, and he is still very confident in the battle plan set by Wen Shilan before the war.

Waited for two days in the camp of the oasis.

The scouts outside came back one after another to report the dynamics of Zhao Xing and Zhang Shao, until Zhao Xingbu had found the ferry, and after a short battle, a small army that Gao deliberately left at the ferry to pretend to defend was defeated, and after the river crossing was completed, Zhang Shaobu came one after another, and also began to cross the river, but the secret post outside the oasis never found that the scouts in Dingxi appeared.

Long Wuju said with joy and left and right: "Zhang Shao has always been cautious, but now he is careless, he didn't send anyone to find out whether there were ambushes on the back road, thinking that it should be the previous victory in Qinzhou, which grew his pride." Art of War: Proud soldiers will be defeated! Zhang Shao died on this day! ”

……

"If you are afraid, you will lose this battle!"

On the east bank of the Yellow River, Zhao Xing, who had just crossed the Yellow River in accordance with the established order of crossing the river and leading his headquarters, said this to Jin Sufu and the Marquis of Qi Nu worriedly. As he spoke, he led his mount and stopped on the shore to watch the rest of the troops crossing the river.

The Marquis of Qi Nu was puzzled, touched the pigtails hanging down around his bare head, and asked, "The battle hasn't been fought yet, how can the adults say that?" ”

"Before crossing the river, I suggested that General Zhang should first send some scouts into the desert west of the river to see if there are any enemy troops stationed, in case I cross the river, I will be attacked by the enemy, but General Zhang refuses to listen to me!"

"My lord, I know about this, but now that our army is almost finished crossing the river, and there are no enemy troops coming out of the desert over there, this means that there are no enemy troops stationed in that desert. - We are running thousands of miles, and it is not surprising that the Qin army in Shuofang was unguarded, so it was not able to garrison in that desert in advance. General Zhang did not listen to the advice of adults, although it is not right, but it cannot be said that our army will be defeated. ”

Zhao Xing said: "Shuofang's Qin army may be unprepared, but from General Zhang's refusal to listen to my good words, it can be seen that General Zhang is really a little stubborn!" The main general is stubborn, and our army is a long distance of thousands of miles here, it can be said that the lone army is deep, and the combination of the two is not defeated? ”

"This ......" Qi Nuhou couldn't say it again, and he couldn't help but feel that Zhao Xing was making a big fuss.

Zhao Xing glanced at him, anticipated his thoughts, and said, "I said that we are afraid that we will lose this battle, and there is another reason. ”

"What is the reason?"

Zhao Xing took the iron straight horse whip, pointed to the river surface occupied by the river-crossing troops, and said with a solemn expression: "You and I both know that this ferry is one of the most ferries in the west of Shuofang where Yi Dajun crosses the river. However, the day before yesterday, according to my brother's military report, the Qin army guarding this ferry was actually only more than 200 people, and he was defeated by a single charge, and the ferry was owned by me. …… Come to think of it, isn't that abnormal? ”

When Xin Er complied with the order of Linghu Feng three years ago and rode into Shuofang, Shuofang was still under the control of Zhao Yanli's father and son.

The Marquis of Qi Nu thought for a while and said, "When my lord said this, it is indeed a bit abnormal. …… However, the reason for this is not because Gou Xiong led his troops in Wei, and there were not many guards in Shuofang County, and they did not have enough troops, so there was no way to strictly fortify the ferry? ”

Zhao Xing's young face was full of worry, and he said: "If that's the case, it's okay; If it weren't for that, alas, our army would be worried! ”

Jin Sufu was smarter than the Marquis of Qinu, and guessed what Zhao Xing's real worries were, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, aren't you saying that the Qin army may have already known about the arrival of our army, so they don't garrison elite soldiers at the ferry, in fact, it is to lure our army to cross the river?" ”

"I'm worried!"

"My lord, then hurry up and bring this worry to General Zhang!"

"I'm afraid he won't listen!"

"Anyway, you have to try!"

Zhao Xing defected to Dingxi from Pu Qin, of course he didn't want to become Pu Qin's prisoner anymore, with Meng Lang's "jealousy and hatred", if he was defeated and captured, he would become Pu Qin's subordinate prisoner for the second time, and his life would not be saved. In this respect, he is in line with the interests of the Dingxi troops. Therefore, he finally listened to Jin Sufu's words and went to Zhang Shao to report his worries.

Jin Sufu and the Marquis of Qi Nu wanted to greet and manage the soldiers of the headquarters who had just crossed the river, but did not accompany him.

After about half an hour, Zhao Xing rode back to the headquarters.

Jin Sufu and Qi Nu Hou greeted him.

Kim Sophi asked, "How?" ”

Zhao Xing frowned, and did not answer Jin Sufu immediately, but said first: "General Zhang must have something to hide from us!" ”

This was the second time he had said this.

Jin Sufu and Qi Nuhou glanced at each other.

Kim Sou Fu asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"I don't know."

"Then how can you think that he has something to hide from us?"

"When I asked to see General Zhang, he was facing the map with Zhang and Yang, and I didn't know what they were talking about. Moreover, when I shared my worries with General Zhang, Yang Sanjun closed his eyes and did not say a word, as if he did not hear it, and it was obvious that he was thinking about some other important issue. ”

Jin Sufu speculated: "Maybe the three of them are discussing the strategy of entering the battle after crossing the river?" ”

Zhao Xing said: "Can't you and me enter the war?" If you are discussing a strategy for entering the war, what can you avoid me? ”

"And what are they talking about, adults might guess?"

"......, I can't guess. No matter what they're talking about, in short, let's be careful about everything from today onwards! ”

Jin Sufu and Qi Nuhou responded: "Yes." ”

The Marquis of Qi Nu asked, "What did General Zhang say after the adult's worries were shared with General Zhang?" ”

"General Zhang didn't think so, with a smile on his face, he fooled me a few words and sent me away."

Thousands of Dingxi foot cavalry, by this time the crossing of the river was roughly completed, the soldiers of each department under the command of the general colonel of the headquarters, arrived at the designated position in a row, reorganized the marching formation, and the cavalry and foot soldiers who were on guard also returned to the formation.

The slightly chaotic scene when crossing the river slowly returned to order.

Seeing this orderly scene, Zhao Xing comforted himself and thought: "Although Dingxi is small, Ranlongdi is still martial, since its founding to the present, the resumption of battles continues, in the past two years, the conquest has recruited good families one after another, the formation of a camp of athletes, compared with the soldiers, more daring to fight, in terms of the combat power of the troops, but enough to compete with Qin and Wei. This time to attack Shuofang, even if you can't win and lose miserably, there is no hope for it! ”

Fortunately, Zhao Xing grew up in Shuofang since he was a child, and he is very familiar with the ground, even if it is really a fiasco of the Dingxi Army this time, he thinks to himself, as long as he is careful at all times and in everything, if he wants to escape with his life, it is still possible, but his subordinates, who can't say, will suffer heavy losses again.

Zhao Xing, who had raised his spirit, continued to move forward with the army after the whole army had been reorganized and then marched.

Shuofang County covers an area of not small, more than 400 miles from east to west, and more than 300 miles from north to south, but most of the areas in its territory, central and southern parts are deserts, and most of the counties under its jurisdiction are located on the bank of the Yellow River in the northernmost part of the county. Don't say the three abandoned counties outside the river, only say Hanoi, there are still Tang and Hu people living together, Qin army garrisoned counties, west is Linrong, Woye two counties, north is Guangmu, Shuofang and the previous Qin Dynasty originally belonged to Wuyuan County and other counties, east is the former Qin Dynasty also belonged to Wuyuan County Manbo and other counties, south and Shangjun bordering the place, there is a big city county.

The two counties of Linrong and Woye are the first places to occupy after Zhang Shaobu crossed the river, in order to have no worries about the future.

In these two counties, there are not many inhabitants in the territory now, and if they are half-abandoned counties, they are all garrisoned by some Qin troops in the county.

Even if the Qin army didn't know about the arrival of the Dingxi army before, the Dingxi army took the ferry and crossed the river, and the Qin army in Shuofang must have known that the troops in Dingxi had arrived. For the sake of caution, Zhao Xing took the initiative to invite Ying, and after his brother Zhao Rangan's vanguard troops, he selected a few shrewd and clever officers from the army, and asked them to disguise themselves as local indigenous herdsmen, leave the army first, rush to the front of the main force, and sneak to Linrong and Woye City to find out the situation of the Qin army in the county.

The scouts he sent out had not yet returned, and the soldiers of Zhao Ran Gan who had delivered the good news had returned first.

"When Qin Lu of Linrong County heard that my Wang Shi had been killed, he had already crossed the river, panicked, and abandoned the city and fled. Linrong is now occupied by our department. ”

Zhang Shao received the news of great joy, and passed the good news to Gao Yancao, Zhao Xing, Bing Bo, Li Liang, An Chong and other generals to watch, stroked his big belly, laughed happily, and said to everyone: "Shuo Fang's garrison is empty, following Gou Xiong's guard of Shuo Fang's high mouth, nameless rat ears, so that Linrong Qin Yu, now I hear that my king is here, but I fled in a hurry!" From this, it is easy for our army to take the Shuo prescription as a spit. Please work hard, wait for the day when the success is completed, and I should share the credit with you! ”

He waved his hand forward and ordered, "I have been living in the desert almost every night after coming out of Guyin, and I have been living in the desert almost every night, and when I wake up in the morning, my mouth is full of sand and my face is full of sand!" I can finally get a good night's sleep. Speed up the march, and we'll stay in Linrong tonight! ”

……

In the desert west of the river, Long Wuju received a military report, and said with a smile to his subordinate general: "Zhang Shaobu has arrived in Linrong, and the adult's plan seems to have been completed!" Let's get ready, we will be out of the camp in three or two days, and rush to participate in the ambush! ”

……

Linrong is not far from the fertile field, only sixty miles away.

Zhang Shaobu entered Linrong, stayed in the county for one night, and the next day it was dawn, and Zhao Rangan, the pioneer, sent someone back to send back the good news.

"The fertile wild captives have escaped at night, and our troops have entered their cities."

Zhang Shao was overjoyed, summoned Gao Yancao and other generals again, and showed them this good news, stood in the tent in his clothes, touched his chin, and asked everyone proudly: "Am I right?" The defenders of the fertile field also fled, and it was not as easy as a slap to take the Shuo side! ”

Zhao Xing couldn't hold it back, and finally got up and said, "General, it's not good." ”

"What's not going to be good?"

"Even if Qin Yu is unprepared, it is impossible to give up two cities in a row! General, is it possible that Ao Gao is tempting me to go deeper? ”

"Haha, haha. Xihaihou, you are too worried. ”

"Worried? General ......"

Zhang Shao interrupted him and said, "Shuo Fang is only a big fart in total, and there are no mountains and rivers dangerous, so 'lure me deep'?" Where can he lure us to? Besides, he is 'luring me deeper', how many soldiers does he have? Can you still ambush us? Asked Zhang Gui and Yang Hezhi, "What do the two of you think when you join the army?" ”

Zhang Gu did not speak.

Yang Hezhi said slowly: "Xihaihou said that Gao is 'luring me to go deeper', there is a possibility of this." ”

Zhang Gui and Zhang Shao agreed and looked at Yang Hezhi.

Yang Hezhi continued: "But instead of saying that he is 'luring me deeper', according to the lower officials, it is better to say that he wants to 'gather troops and resist stubbornly'. ”

Zhang Shao asked, "How do you say this?" ”

"As the general said, there are not many soldiers and horses on the master, if you put yourself in his shoes and think about him, is it better to scatter the few soldiers and horses in various cities and be defeated by me, or gather all the soldiers and horses in one place, stubbornly resist and defend to the death, and wait for backup?"

"Of course it's the latter."

"It was the following officials who thought that it was not so much that he was 'luring me in' as that he wanted to 'gather troops and resist stubbornly'."

"Oh, are you saying that he abandoned Linrong and Woye counties and did not defend them, not to lure me deeper, but just to gather troops to resist."

"Exactly."

Zhang Shao agreed, and said: "Yang's analysis of joining the army is very reasonable! Then he laughed again.

Zhao Xing asked, "What is the general laughing at?" ”

"Gao's backup is now fighting with Murong Xianbei in Yanmen and other counties, give them wings, they can't rush back soon! It was wishful thinking that it was wishful thinking to gather troops and resist stubbornly, waiting for backup, but it was convenient for our army and wiped out all of them! ”

Zhao Xing tried his best to persuade and said: "General, although Gao Gao is unknown, but our army is far away from the quicksand, and now in Shuofang, thousands of miles away from Guyin, it is really a lone army, if there is a change, it will be in danger!" Don't be careless! ”

Zhang Shao said with a smile: "I heard that you are back, the chiefs of the various departments in and outside Linrong County, the Tang people are strong, many of them came to pay their respects last night, and sent us herds of sheep and horses, and wine from the altar. Xihai Hou, after this battle, it is indispensable, in the report of the court, I will give you a great military achievement! ”

Zhao Xing turned his face to look at Zhang Gu and said, "Zhang joins the army? ”

Zhang Gu said slowly: "Yang joined the army and said that Gao wanted to 'stick to and wait for help', and the lower officials thought so. The place where Gao Gao is entrenched is either Guangmu or Shuofang. Whether it is Guangmu or Shuofang, at the bottom, there will be a tough battle waiting for us. General, without further ado, our army will be drawn out as soon as possible today and stationed in the fertile field, right? Rest for a day in the wilderness and then set off! ”

Zhang Shao said: "Okay! It is as if it were to join the army. "Order the generals, "Get out of the city before the hour!" ”

Back at the headquarters, Zhao Xing said to Jin Sufu and Qi Nuhou in a conclusive tone: "General Zhang definitely has something to hide from me!" ”

"Why are you so sure?"

"I am not familiar with Yang joining the army, but Zhang is known for his wisdom and is one of the masterminds under the conquest account. In today's account, I repeatedly advised the general to be careful, but the general didn't listen, Yang didn't listen, so forget it, but Zhang didn't listen either! It's weird. There must be a mystery in this! ”

"Is it He Xuanxu?"

“…… I'm still saying the same thing, let's be careful. ”

After Zhao Xing finished speaking, he looked at the still dim sky outside the tent, and thought hesitantly, "General Zhang and the three of them don't want to use our department as a bait, right?" …… If that's the case, how are they going to turn me into bait? "I thought about it, but I couldn't figure it out.

……

On the north bank of the Yellow River, on the grassland.

Wen Shilan received an urgent report.

The urgent report said: "Zhang Shaobu left 300 foot soldiers to guard Linrong, and led the main force in the west to Woye. ”

He was overjoyed, and said to Gong Fengjing and the generals: "Zhang Shaozhong has my plan!" Quickly send someone to Guangmu and tell Gao that I will lead my troops to quietly cross the river to the south today, enter the desert south of Guangmu, and divide another army, scattered among the fertile fields and Guangmu, and constantly harass Zhang Shao on the way to Guangmu to exhaust him; Waiting for Zhang Shao's soldiers to go to Guangmu, he will first stick to the city, and when I find the fighter, I will kill out of the desert, attack Zhang Shao's rear formation, and he should cooperate with the inside and outside, attack from the north and south, and destroy this Kou together! ”

Gong Fengjing and the generals promised.

Wen Shilan said again: "Send someone to order Long Wuju again, and tell him to wait for Zhang Shao to lead his troops to leave Woye, and then sneak across the river to see if he can recapture Linrong and Woye. ”

All of you promised.

According to his military order, some people sent people to meet the high in the city of Guangmu and the dragon without a horse in the desert west of the Yellow River.

……

From Fertile Field to Guangmu, the distance is more than 200 miles.

Soon after leaving the city, Zhao Rangan, who was still a pioneer, sent someone to report that he had encountered a small group of enemy horsemen on the road.

Soon, the main force of Zhang Shao's troops also began to be constantly harassed by small groups of enemy light cavalry.

The armor is very heavy, on the way to the march, the cavalry armor cavalry, the infantry armor, out of saving horsepower, physical strength, will not wear armor, in the face of these small-scale harassment, there is no way to use the armor cavalry, armor to fight, Zhang Shao transferred Zhao Xing's Tiefu Hun light cavalry, the two wings of the escort troops, to deal with these flies are also annoying enemy horses.

Light cavalry to light cavalry, in battle, Zhao Xingbu did not fall behind, but those enemy cavalry fought a little and left, in order to prevent ambush, he could not chase after him, he could only watch them go away. So, in this way, they went on a footing and marched into the evening. Those light horsemen of the enemy, holding torches, galloped around Zhang Shao's camp and screamed, which disturbed Zhang Shaobu from sleeping well all night. The next day, the situation was the same as yesterday. In this way, the road of more than 200 miles, not to mention the more than four days of walking, when it reached the outside of Guangmu City, most of the whole army was tired.

But he didn't expect to go to the city, and when he found out that Gao Gao was in the city, he only rested for one night, but Zhang Shao ordered the siege of the city the next day.

Zhao Xing asked to see Zhang Shao again, but he couldn't admonish him, and said: "General, our army is being attacked and harassed along the road, fighting during the day, and not sleeping well at night, and the soldiers are all tired. Although our army is not tired now, it is not far behind! And the captive general is high, and now he is in Guangmu City, according to Yang Senjun's analysis, Guangmu is obviously the place he chose to resist! It is expected that the city defense will be strong. How can our army storm the city now? In the foolish opinion of the last general, the three armies should be told to rest for two days, and then it is not too late to discuss the siege! ”

Zhang Shao said with a smile: "Xihai Hou doesn't know anything. ”

"What does the last general not know?"

Zhang Shaotou said honestly: "The soldiers are fast, this is what I say in the Tang family's art of war!" Thinking about that, why are you harassing our army along the way? Isn't it because his city defense in Guangmu has not been fully deployed? Now that we have arrived at the city, we should immediately launch an attack, and we cannot give him any more time to deploy, otherwise, when he completes his deployment, it will be our army that is not favorable. ”

Zhao Xing was dumbfounded, and said in his heart: "Isn't this nonsense? The so-called loopholes everywhere, but I don't know how to criticize and oppose, he said, "General, you ......"

Zhang Shao waved his hand and said with a pleasant face: "You go and prepare for the siege." ”

Zhao Xing remembered the matter of "bait", and then remembered the tragic past when Meng Lang forced him to lead his troops to attack Longxi County, looking at Zhang Shao's smiling face, his heart jumped, and asked tentatively: "General, do you want the last general to lead the headquarters to attack first?" ”

"Your troops are all cavalry, what to attack first? You and your brother each take their headquarters and guard the flanks of my siege formation. ”

Zhao Xing let go of his worries, but his suspicions could not be stopped, and he returned to the headquarters with a heavy heart, arranging the battlefield position of the headquarters according to Zhang Shao's order.

The siege began in the afternoon.

Before sunset, Zhang Shaoming withdrew his troops.

The next day, the siege continued to be fought until twilight, and the progress was not great, and Zhang Shao was not in a hurry, and still collected his troops.

Gao personally came to the city, the Qin soldiers guarded tenaciously, attacked the city for three days in a row, the troops in Dingxi were almost inch-inch, and the generals such as Gao Yancao and Zhao Rangan were a little anxious, Li Liang, Bing Bo, An Chong, etc. repeatedly asked for battle, asking Zhang Shao to allow them to choose to bring the dead, assault first, and open the stalemate for the siege, and repeatedly rejected by Zhang Shao, on this day, just after noon, under the exposed sun, the scouts in the army hurriedly urged the horses from the south to rush back to report: "In the desert in the south, a cavalry was found, under the banner of Rouran Wen Shilan!" ”