Taiyuan City is still bustling and prosperous, and two armies, one east and one west, are about to launch an attack on Taiyuan Mansion, but the Yuan family knows nothing.

As usual, Yuan Zheng, the general of the Qilin Guard, led a team of cavalry to inspect the security on the streets of Taiyuan, he liked this feeling of being on top of the sky, and looking at the fearful eyes of others, he felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction in his heart.

As he walked past a shop, he suddenly heard a woman shouting, "Da Lang, don't go to the trouble, if it's not true, you will be unlucky!" ”

"You let go of me quickly, I don't say that Taiyuan is about to fall, everyone is finished!"

Yuan Zheng was stunned, reined in the war horse, and saw a short and fat shopkeeper in the store rushing out, and said, "General, I have an important situation to report to the general!" ”

"What's the situation?"

"My brother came from the Flying Fox side early this morning, and he said that he saw tens of thousands of troops on the Flying Fox side the day before yesterday."

Yuan Zheng was taken aback, and grabbed the placket of the shopkeeper's clothes, "Are you serious?" ”

"That's what my brother said, you don't believe you can investigate it yourself."

"Where's your brother?"

"My brother has already gone south, and he told me to flee for my life, because war is about to break out."

Yuan Zheng glared at him viciously, "If you don't want to die, just keep your mouth shut for me, do you hear?" ”

The shopkeeper nodded in fright, "I heard it!" ”

Yuan Zheng let go of him, and the shopkeeper was so frightened that he crawled to the store, and a woman came out to catch him, complaining in a low voice.

Yuan Zheng didn't care about them, turned his horse's head and ran towards Jinyang Palace.

Jinyang Palace is the Palace of the Son of Heaven, located in the north of Taiyuan City, covering an area of hundreds of acres, once became the Northern Tang Dynasty Palace, after Li Yu abolished the emperor, Yuan Xuanhu moved into Jinyang Palace, renamed it Wei Palace, although he was named and king, but Yuan Xuanhu really wanted the country name is Wei, which is the dynasty established by his ancestor Tuoba clan.

Yuan Zheng came to the Yangxin Palace, this is where Yuan Xuanhu usually stays, in fact, the government affairs of Taiyuan Domain are in charge of the eldest son Yuan Jin, the second son Yuan Lu holds the military power, the third son Yuan Chu holds the financial power, and the direct generals are all the children of the Yuan family, such as the Qilin General Yuan Zheng, the Flying Eagle General Yuan Ren, the Longwu General Yuan Lingxiang and so on.

Yuan Zheng waited for a moment, and the guard came out and said, "The old prince asks the general to come in!" ”

He walked into the main hall quickly, but saw the old master Yuan Xuanhu and the three Yuan brothers discussing something?

He hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, "See the old prince and the three uncles!" ”

Yuan Lu frowned, and asked impatiently: "Old Five, what is the urgency you have to see the head of the family now?" ”

Yuan Zheng was a little nervous and said: "I was training on the street in the morning, and I overheard the news that someone had found tens of thousands of troops in Flying Fox. ”

Yuan Xuanhu was originally half-lying, but this sentence made him sit up straight all of a sudden, and he looked at Yuan Zheng sharply, "Is this news true?" ”

"It was a merchant who said that his brother had seen tens of thousands of troops with his own eyes, and told him this morning to run for his life."

Yuan Xuanhu's gaze became solemn, and he asked his eldest son, Yuan Jindao, "Da Lang, what do you think?" ”

Yuan Jin pondered for a moment and said: "The child thinks that there is no need to make up this kind of thing, it should be true, we are sitting here, isn't it just to discuss how to deal with Zhu Tao's troops?" ”

Yuan Lu stood up teng, "Son, this is going north with the army!" ”

"What are you anxious about!"

Yuan Xuanhu glared at his son, and he asked again, "How many troops are there in Yanmen Pass?" ”

Yuan Jin hurriedly said: "There are two thousand troops, and there are also three thousand troops over there at Lou Fu Pass!" ”

Yanmen Pass and Lou Fu Pass are the two major passes that enter Taiyuan Mansion in the north, come from the Flying Fox, first of all, go to Yanmen Pass, but Yanmen is extremely precipitous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, then you can only continue to go west for hundreds of miles to go Lou Fu Pass, Lou Fu Pass is a valley road that is tens of miles long, several miles wide, the north valley pass is built with a high wall, although it is not as steep as Yanmen Pass, but it is not so easy to break.

Yuan Xuanhu pondered for a moment and said: "Immediately send someone to Yunzhou to deliver a message, asking Hui to send troops according to the agreement, and add 8,000 troops to Lou Fu Pass and 2,000 troops to Yanmen Pass." ”

.........

The Yellow River Wharf in Yanfu County is the Yellow River Ferry in Wubao County today, the water surface of the Yellow River here is not very wide, the width is only dozens of zhang, but the water flow is very turbulent, the best way is not to cross the river by boat, but to use boats to build pontoon bridges.

The soldiers took two long iron chains on the Yellow River, and more than 100 boats were locked side by side on the Yellow River, and a pontoon bridge was formed by putting wide planks on them.

However, such a pontoon bridge also has obvious weaknesses, once a fireboat drifts downstream, the entire pontoon bridge will be burned, so the Hexi army pulled up an iron chain a mile to the north to intercept the ships coming down from the north.

That night, an army of 30,000 crossed the pontoon bridge, and the army assembled in a wilderness on the east bank.

The towering Luliang Mountain divided Taiyuan Mansion and Shizhou into two, and after taking Shizhou, the Hexi Army had a foothold in Hedong.

The most important city in Shizhou is Lishi County, but the first city to be taken by the Hexi Army is Dinghu County, Dinghu County has no garrison, but it has a beacon, and taking Dinghu County can prevent the enemy from notifying Taiyuan through the beacon.

At the same time, the commander Li Bing led a 5,000-man starry night march, and their task was to take Lishi County before dawn.

At the fifth watch, Li Bing led 5,000 soldiers to finally arrive at Lishi County, which is a big city with a population of nearly 200,000 and a garrison of 1,000 people, but separated by the Luliang Mountains, Zhu Tao in the north could not be killed, and Li Huaiguang in the south could not pass, so that Lishi County did not feel any danger, and the defenders did not have vigilance.

The city gate was closed, there were no defenders in sight at the head of the city, the soldiers spread long planks on the moat, a thin soldier ran towards the city wall with a bamboo pole, and at the other end of the bamboo pole were three strong men, the soldier jumped on the city wall and continued to run upward, the bamboo pole tightly supported him all the way up, and the soldier climbed to the top of the city.

When he saw that there was no one on the left and right of the city, he threw down a rope ladder, and the soldiers climbed up the rope ladder one after another, and in a short time, a dozen rope ladders were thrown down one after another, and more and more soldiers climbed towards the city.

Not long after, the beacon in Lishi County was the first to be removed, and then the city gate was slowly opened, the drawbridge was lowered, Li Bing gave an order, and the five thousand cavalry were launched, and they rushed towards the city like a lightning speed........

The sky was slightly bright, Guo Song led the army to Lishi County, the city had been cleared, and a thousand defenders had become prisoners of war in their sleep, sitting blankly in the open space outside the city, they didn't know what fate they would face?

Li Bing greeted him and saluted: "Envoy Qiqi, Lishi County has been successfully taken, the brothers have not injured a single soldier, captured 1,100 enemies, and the beacon has been pulled out!" ”

"Well done!"

Guo Song approvingly: "Is the beacon fire in Dinghu County lit?" ”

Li Bing shook his head, "It's not lit!" ”

Although I don't know the situation in Dinghu County, as long as the beacon fire in Dinghu County is not ignited, it means that Dinghu County has been smoothly southward, in fact, there is nothing to worry about, there are no defenders in Dinghu County, only a few veterans are in charge of the beacon, the last time the beacon was lit was the locust plague many years ago, after many years, it is a question whether the beacon can be lit or not.

At this time, Li Wantai, the assassin of Shizhou, was brought up by soldiers, Li Wantai was an official loyal to the Yuan family, after Zhu Zhu occupied Chang'an, some officials fled to Chengdu, but many officials fled to Taiyuan, Li Wantai was one of them. He originally served as a member of the Criminal Department, but after arriving in Taiyuan, he was appointed as the assassin of Shizhou.

He originally thought that Shizhou was safe and sound, but he didn't expect the Hexi Army to kill, which shocked and frustrated him.

He lowered his head and saluted: "Xiaguan Li Wantai see Guo Yuanjun!" ”

Guo Song asked coldly: "Let me ask you, can there be garrisons in Linquan County, Fangshan County and Pingyi County?" ”

Linquan County, Fangshan County and Pingyi County are the other three county towns in Shizhou, and the distance is relatively far, and Guo Song can't take care of it for the time being.

Li Wantai hurriedly shook his head and said, "Back to the envoy, there are only a thousand defenders in Shizhou, all of them are in Lishi County. ”

"What about the Beacon? Are they available in three counties? ”

"There are a total of six beacons in Shizhou, one each in Dinghu County and Lishi County, and the other four are in the Luliang Valley Road, and there is a detailed map on the wall of the lowly official room, and you can see the specific location of the six beacons."

"How much food and supplies are in the warehouse?"

"There are 20,000 stones of grain and 30,000 pieces of money, of which 10,000 are old money, and the rest are newly minted Hedong money, as well as 100,000 horses of cloth and silk, and a number of other materials, but there is no armor."

Guo Song saw that he was still honest, so he said to the soldiers: "Send him back to the house under house arrest, and don't let him go out!" ”

The soldiers took Li Wantai down, and Guo Song urged the horse into the county seat.