The chief general of Jiexiu County is called Li Dan, is Li Huaiguang's nephew, about 30 years old, dark skin, strong physique, very tall and burly, Li Huaiguang was named Huo Guogong, hussar general, commanding 20,000 troops to guard the Jinzhong Pass.

Li Dan paced back and forth restlessly in the big tent with his hands in his hands, the food in the army could not support for five days, and the grain in the official warehouse had long been gone, he knew in his heart that even if he went to the people to rob it, he couldn't grab much, what should he do?

What frightened him even more was that Huoyi County and Lingshi County were both captured by the Hexi Army, and his retreat was broken, what should he do?

As for surrendering, he didn't dare to think about it, everyone could surrender, but he couldn't, he was Li Huaiguang's nephew, and surrendering was only a dead end.

At this time, the staff member Xu Gui said in a low voice on the side: "If we can capture Lingshi County, maybe there are tens of thousands of stone grains for us to support for a while, and when the prince's army captures Huoyi County, we can get out of the crisis, at present, it seems that there is only one way." ”

Li Dan sighed slightly, nodded and said, "You're right, it seems that there is only one way." ”

........

At the end of the third watch, only 84 stone of grain were found, plus some dogs and chickens, barely enough for an army of 15,000 to eat for a day.

In desperation, Li Dan had to lead the army to leave Jiexiu County at the fifth watch and evacuate to the south, his only hope was to take Lingshi County and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

Li Dan left Jiexiu County on the front foot, Guo Song got a report from the scout, he ordered Pei Xin to lead a thousand soldiers into the city to investigate the situation, and found that the enemy army had indeed withdrawn, so the army pulled out of the camp and drove into Jiexiu County.

The 6,000 people in Jiexiu County were already without rice, and Guo Song immediately ordered the soldiers to boil porridge on the streets to help the residents of the city.

At noon the next day, Guo Song personally led 20,000 cavalry and 2,000 Modao troops south to pursue the enemy, and they did not rush to catch up with the enemy, but kept a distance of thirty miles from the enemy.

At night, 15,000 Jin troops camped at Baiheling on the border of Fenzhou and Jinzhou, the road ahead was cut off, there was a pursuit behind, and food was about to be cut off, so that the morale of the army was very low, and the morale of the army changed.

The rear army numbered about 5,000 men, and the camp was about a mile away from the Chinese army, and once they were attacked by the Hexi army, the Chinese army still had a little time to prepare.

There was no main general in the rear army, and a total of three Lang generals commanded 5,000 troops.

At the first watch, the two Lang will sit under a big tree and discuss in a low voice, these two Lang will be two brothers, one is named Chen Feng, and the other is called Chen Rui, both of whom are from Wenxi County, Jiangzhou.

"The Hexi army followed us unhurriedly, they were still cavalry, and they didn't even want to use the trick of attacking at night, which shows that the other party is confident, and I'm afraid that the annihilation of the whole army will be inevitable this time."

Chen Rui sighed and said: "Brother is right, the key is that our food is going to be cut off, as long as the food is cut off, and the Lingshi Pass cannot be taken down, the army will inevitably collapse without a fight, and the other party is estimated to be waiting for this step!" ”

"I mean, it's better to lead the army to surrender Guo Song now, this is called a rebellion, at least there is merit, maybe you can continue to be a general and seek a fortune."

"Brother and I want to go together, it's better to call Bao Qing together, and our 5,000 rear army will surrender together."

"I'm afraid that Bao Qing will not surrender, but will betray our brother, it is better to set up a Hongmen banquet and invite him to discuss, if he refuses, he will be killed on the spot."

The two brothers discussed it properly, and immediately sent soldiers to invite another general, Bao Qing, who was also from Wenxi County, Jiangzhou, and the Chen brothers were fellow villagers, and their subordinates were basically Jiangzhou people, so they were also called Jiangzhou Army.

There was no accident, Bao Qing agreed, and led the army to surrender to the Hexi Army with them.

"I have long had this idea, the Hexi Army is moving steadily step by step, recovering the Western Regions, seizing Longyou and Shuofang, and capturing Taiyuan Mansion, Guo and Song have been domineering in the world, Li Huaiguang has gone, and the bird chooses a good tree to perch, we don't have to be martyred for him."

The three of them hit it off and carefully discussed the countermeasures, the army set off at the fifth watch, and they had to go north before the fourth watch.

Just after the third watch, the 5,000 rear army got up and assembled under the orders of the three generals, and they moved quickly, and without waiting for the news to reach the Chinese army, they set off to the north.

Chen Rui took the first step and went to inform the Hexi Army.......

Guo Song was woken up by his own soldiers in his deep sleep, he sat up and asked, "What happened?" ”

"Enlighten the envoy, the enemy army of 5,000 troops has come to surrender."

Guo Song's spirits were lifted, there was no sleepiness, he put on a golden helmet, walked out of the big tent quickly, several soldiers brought Chen Rui up, Chen Rui knelt down on one knee and saluted: "The last general, Chen Rui, the deputy lieutenant of Jiangzhou, see Guo Yuanjun!" ”

Guo Song nodded and asked, "How many generals and troops do you have, why did you take the initiative to surrender?" ”

"Back to Guo Envoy, we have a total of three generals, one is my brother Chen Feng, the other is named Bao Qing, all of them are Jiangzhou Wenxi people, the five thousand troops are basically Jiangzhou children, our rear army is also known as Jiangzhou Army, Li Huaiguang has always been brutal, we are not willing to be martyred for him, we are willing to serve the envoy and seek a future."

Guo Song saw that he was frank and sincere, and immediately had a good impression, so he said: "I can accept your surrender, you put down your armor and weapons, there will be generals to receive you, and it should be your fellow countrymen." ”

Guo Song immediately called Pei Xin and said to him: "The Jiangzhou army has come to surrender, I have approved the surrender, and you will receive this army!" ”

"Obey the order!"

Pei Xin stepped forward to greet Chen Rui, and everyone knew each other when they talked about it, Pei Xin was a disciple of the Pei family, and Chen Rui and others were all cultivated by the Pei Martial Arts Hall, how could everyone not be familiar with it.

Pei Xin then led hundreds of cavalry to follow Chen Rui to receive the surrender of the Jiangzhou army........

The news of the movement of the rear army soon reached Li Dan's ears, and he was immediately taken aback, and immediately sent people to inquire about the news, and soon got the exact news, the Chen brothers and Bao Qing led the five thousand rear army to the north.

Needless to say, this must be to surrender the Hexi army, Li Dan was shocked and angry, but he didn't dare to make a noise, he immediately ordered to block the news, and ordered the army to gather and pull out, and continue to take it.

But there is no impermeable wall in the world, and the news of the collective surrender of 5,000 people in the rear army to the Hexi Army still spread throughout the entire army, and suddenly people's hearts fluctuated, and many people had ideas.

At this time, the sky was not yet bright, when the army was assembled, many soldiers close to the mountains and forests took the opportunity to flee into the mountains and forests, and when the army set off, there were only more than 8,300 people left in the 10,000 army, and in less than half an hour, 1,700 people fled, which really annoyed Li Dan, and he immediately ordered the army to speed up the march and kill quickly to the Lingshi Pass thirty miles away........

At noon, 8,000 troops arrived at Lingshi Pass, Lingshi Pass is located in the north of Lingshi County three miles, is the narrowest place in the whole Mouse Bird Valley, one side is the cliff, one side is the deep stream rapids, here is only a hundred zhang wide, built a tall and strong Guancheng, there are city walls before and after, the distance in the city is only 500 steps, can only accommodate a thousand troops to guard the Guancheng.

However, the Guancheng in the north is in a high place, and has the advantage of being condescending, and it is quite a bit of a one-man pass, and the terrain is very dangerous.

There are 600 soldiers guarding the city, standing all over the city, generally in addition to arrows, the sharp guard weapon is the rolling wood stone, smashed down from a high place, but the Hexi army has installed three whirlwind cannons, that is, small trebuchets, which can throw more than 100 steps of small iron fire mines weighing fifty pounds.

The commander Ma Weijiang personally led the army to guard the Lingshi Pass, and he shouted loudly: "Trebuchet preparation, listen to my orders!" ”

Three trebuchets creaked apart, and three small iron fire mines were placed on the throwing pockets, waiting for the ignition order.

The Jin army killed from Jiexiu County carried twenty siege ladders, and they counted on these twenty siege ladders to capture Lingshi Pass and Lingshi County, but the mountain road could not accommodate the whole army to attack, and could only accommodate a thousand people to launch an offensive.

Li Dan shouted: "The first battalion will attack, and the fourth and fifth battalions will cover with bows and crossbows!" ”

Two thousand crossbowmen stepped forward to a distance of two hundred paces from the city, raised their crossbow arrows, and the dense crossbow arrows shot at the city, and the soldiers on the city crouched down one after another, dodging the arrows.

At this time, a thousand soldiers rushed towards the city with a shout, and they carried ten siege ladders, under the cover of crossbow arrows, to accurately force the siege.

Ma Weijiang saw that the enemy had rushed within 100 steps, and immediately ordered: "Ignite, launch!" ”

Three iron fire mines ignited at the same time, and when they burned to the red line, three trebuchets fired at the same time, and three fifty-pound iron fire mines smashed into the heads of the enemy soldiers.

Guo Song made a rule on the use of iron fire thunder, in the civil war does not use iron fire thunder containing poisonous nails, that kind of poisonous nails are too vicious, even if they do not die, they will be crippled for life, generally only used for foreign races, and iron fire thunder is only used for siege and defense in civil wars.

Three iron thunderbolts rolled into the crowd and exploded violently in the crowd.