Revisiting the old place, Qin Jinxiao did not feel emotional, and his cold expression and vigorous body exuded a more resolute momentum. He didn't stay here for a long time, first, because Qianzhuang Village was the only way to pass through the north and south, and second, because he conveyed Zhao Dangshi's military orders.

"The lord decrees that your department is fully responsible for the ground garrison of Qianzhuang Village, strengthen the fortifications, and be sure not to let the Cao thief stand out by half a step." Qin Jinxiao took a sip of tea and said calmly. With a wave of his hand, the accompanying soldiers handed Zhao Dangshi's letter to Wu Mingfeng.

Wu Mingfeng put the letter on the desk and asked, "Lao Qin, do you want to go south?" ”

Qin Jin held his breath and said in a deep voice: "The lord held a military meeting yesterday to mobilize, and today the three armies sent troops to attack Cao Thief. He said, "I am the front, I am afraid that in less than an hour, the four divisions of Han, Fan, Xiong, and Wei will arrive, and the whole army will be reorganized here for a night, and continue to the south in the early morning of the next day." ”

Wu Mingfeng pinched his fingers and said: "Today is the twenty-fifth day, the lord has been stationed in Dahegang for nearly ten days, and the Cao thieves in the south have not moved, why are they suddenly sending troops again?" ”

Qin Jinxiao took a deep breath and said: "I don't know much about this matter at present, but the use of troops needs to be adapted to the times, maybe the lord feels that the time has come, and he doesn't know." He continued, "On this expedition, only the main prince will sit in Dahegang with two hundred relatives, and the front-line command will be mainly led by Lao Xu, and Lao Han and Lao Guo will be fully responsible. ”

Han Gon Feijie's battalion had 500 cavalry, Fan Jiwei, Xiong Wanjian, and Wei Shanhong had 500 steps each, plus a total of 2,000 horse infantry troops, and Wu Mingfeng's 500 steps held on to Qianzhuang Village. However, according to the report, the Cao Ying Wang brothers and Hu and Xu Zhi, who were sticking to the line from Shijia Xiaochong to Xiaoluozhuang, had a total of more than 5,000 troops, and there were follow-up support from Fang Yuan, Tianjiayao, Guo Zhuang and even Maozichong, so the resistance to the strong attack can be imagined. Wu Mingfeng thought about it, and the only explanation for the main army's long-term delay was that Zhao Dangshi was still hesitant about the war.

"Since the lord doesn't want to fight, why force it." Wu Mingfeng sighed.

Qin Jinxiao was silent for a moment, and said: "I didn't approve of the forcible beating before the head, and I saw that the lord had not moved for a few days, thinking that he was shaken in his heart, but now it seems that the lord may not be reluctant." ”

Wu Mingfeng doubted: "Hesitating in advance and retreat, isn't it reluctant?" ”

Qin Jinxiao replied: "After Lao Fan and I captured Qianzhuang Village, we were transferred back to Dahegang, and I was so depressed in my heart. But in the past few days, when I met with the lord and Han, Xu, Guo, etc., I saw that there was no sadness on their faces, but they were full of confidence, and they were calm and calm in their conversations, without panic. In this way, it can be seen that they must have prejudices against Cao thieves. That being the case, we can do our best to do our best, and think more about what we have and what we don't do. ”

Wu Mingfeng was speechless, and after a while, he smiled and said, "Old Qin, listen to you." His words were not from the scene, but from the bottom of his heart. Qin Jinxiao's straightforward temper is well known, looking at the generals of Zhao Ying, he is the most anxious about the delay of the army during this time, and now even he has said "I can do things diligently and diligently", why should I think too much? There is a strategy, do your job well, and follow it wholeheartedly.

The worry that had been lingering in Wu Mingfeng's heart was completely eliminated at this time because of Qin Jinxiao's unintentional words.

Shortly after noon, the rest of the Zhao battalion arrived. Wu Mingfeng's "friendship with the landlord" one by one, the generals were guided by him, climbed high and looked around the ravines and thousands of times of the southern fortifications of the village, all of them were amazed, Wu Mingfeng saw it in his eyes, and his heart was so unhappy.

Wei Shanhong pointed to the distance and said with a smile: "Yes...... If you have this fortification, you will ...... When a million soldiers come, what am I, what am I afraid of? After that, he turned around and walked to Wu Mingfeng's side, held his hand and said, "Old Wu, no, I didn't think about it, except for leading troops to fight, you ...... You still have this hand. In the future, you have to teach this, teach me. "At present, among the soldiers and horses gathered in Qianzhuang Village, only Wei Shanhong will stay to assist Wu Mingfeng in defending, and the two will fight hand in hand, so Wei Shanhong is particularly excited when he sees the fortifications built by Wu Mingfeng.

Wu Mingfeng shook his hand and pretended to be modest and said: "The small skills of carving insects are not enough to worry about. In my heart, I was secretly glad that I was fortunate that I often took turns to lead troops to temporarily serve as sappers in Sichuan, built walls and fortresses in various places, and accumulated a lot of experience, so I was able to effectively complete the task laid by Zhao Dangshi in a short period of time. Looking around the entire battalion of Zhao Ying, there are those who are good at fighting and training, but there are very few people with such cultivation skills. However, thinking that since he returned to Zhao Ying, he has never had the opportunity to show this skill in particular, but Zhao Dangshi can see his potential ability from the bits and pieces of his daily life, and his knowledge of people can be seen to be extraordinary.

Except for Wu Mingfeng and Wei Shanhong's two outposts, the rest of the troops will open early tomorrow morning and continue to the south, while Guo Ruke, who arrived with the army, will temporarily serve as the commander-in-chief of the Qianzhuang Zhai area, control Wu and Wei, and wait for Han Gon and other army generals to go downhill one after another, he said hello and put the two together.

"Domination." Wu Mingfeng and Wei Shanhong saluted in unison. Although Guo Ruke is a rising star in Zhao Ying who was promoted from among them, and he is slightly younger than Wu and Wei regardless of his appearance, he has excellent military quality and solid combat records, and no one dares to underestimate him by half a point.

Guo Ruke's face was expressionless, staring at the two for a long time, Wu Mingfeng was very uncomfortable with him, and asked cautiously: "Command?" ”

"Look at the fortifications." Guo Ruke breathed a long sigh of relief and said suddenly.

Wu Mingfeng and Wei Shanhong glanced at each other and said, "We've all seen it." ”

Guo Ruke said: "Now that I have seen it, then I want to ask, what do you think this fortification is for?" ”

Wu Mingfeng replied: "Naturally, it is guarded. ”

"Who's the guard?"

Wu Mingfeng hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Cao thief in the south." ”

Guo Ruke said: "Very much. So how many Cao thieves are there in the south? ”

Wu Mingfeng said without thinking: "Only counting the Shi family Xiaochong and Xiao Luozhuang, no less than five thousand." ”

Guo Ruke's face sank like water, and said: "Five thousand, and our army is here, you two smashed pots and sold iron, and you only got a thousand people." He added, "With a thousand men against an enemy of five thousand, if we are on the plains, what are the chances of our army winning?" ”

Wu Mingfeng said: "Our army is better than Cao thief, but the opposite side is the Wang family brothers, and there are many soldiers, in my opinion, victory or defeat...... Victory or defeat should be in the number of five or five. ”

Guo Ruke smiled: "Oh? And what about another thousand on the other side? ”

Wu Mingfeng thought for a while and said: "Fighting to the death, there is also a half chance of victory." ”

"A thousand more? Or 2,000? ”

Wu Mingfeng was stunned, and Wei Shanhong was surprised: "Commander, what you said and said is true, true?" ”

Guo Ruke shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter if it's true or false, it's just a guess." And these speculations may not come true. ”

Wu Mingfeng said at this time: "Command, if the Cao thief comes to attack with more than 6,000 troops, if you want to win, you must use this ravine wall." He added, "As long as we can make good use of the fortifications, even if we double the number of thieves, our army will have a chance to win." ”

Guo Ruke's face suddenly turned solemn, and he looked at the low wall of the ravine that stretched out in all directions in front of him, and sighed: "In this battle, we must rely on the solidity of this fortification, and if we get it, we can win, and if we don't have it, we will lose." He smiled instead, "Whether the fortifications are strong or not depends on Lao Wu." ”

Wu Mingfeng immediately said: "I will abide by the Lord's public opportunity, be conscientious, and never steal or cheat." When building the fortifications, he did not know the reason, but he faintly felt that this might be the key to dealing with Cao Ying's battle.

Guo Ruke nodded and said, "That's good." He also said, "If the two armies compete with each other by comparing people, ordinary field battles are like street and alley fights." Now digging trenches and erecting walls to fight, it is like me sitting on a chair and stool to meet the battle, to sit and fight. ”

"Sitting on the ......" Wu Mingfeng and Wei Shanhong listened, and they both bowed their heads and muttered from afar.

After a night, the dark eastern sky gradually turned pale green, and a few red glows slowly smeared from the pale green. Under the rising sun, the energetic Chang Guoan paced along the edge of the deep trench. The light shone on the horse road sandwiched between the winding ravines in the distance, and when it turned its back to the light, Chang Guoan saw that several horsemen were going straight to his camp along the road.

The comer climbed up to the camp at a relatively high point, and Chang Guoan greeted him with a smile and said, "Brother Liu, why are you here." The other party has a round face, small eyes and big ears, and looks kind, but how dare Chang Guoan be relaxed, you must know that the man named Liu Xiyao in front of him has just "killed his relatives with righteousness" not long ago, and sold several brothers who have been friends for more than ten years to Luo Rucai. People can't look good, just by looking at their looks, who would have thought that his heart could be so ruthless.

Liu Xiyao threw the horsewhip to his entourage, laughed twice, and then said: "Brother Chang, your ditch has been chiseled under your brother's nose, can your brother not come to take a look at the situation?" ”

The Cao battalion soldiers and horses defending Fang Yuan only had two divisions, Chang Guoan and Liu Xiyao, Chang Guoan's troops were in the west to the south, and Liu Xiyao's troops were in the east and north. After Chang Guoan dug himself into a fortification in the east-west direction in the south, he recently began to build a new fortification in the north. This fortification, which is also composed of a mixture of walls, ditches and hedges, has been basically completed today, and is now only a short section to the east, and the north of this section is the location of Liu Xiyao's camp.

Chang Guoan and Liu Xiyao don't have any special friendship, this time it's just for the sake of the cooperation between the two ministries, maintaining the most basic friendship, Liu Xiyao's words are obviously unhappy with the territory being violated, Chang Guoan doesn't plan to back down, Pi Xiaorou doesn't smile: "The progress is so fast, haha, it seems that tomorrow morning, I will be able to return to the city." ”

Liu Xiyao heard that Chang Guoan was pressuring himself in Naluo Rucai's permission to dig trenches, and said angrily: "Oh? Then Brother Chang is another great achievement, congratulations first. Saying that, he arched his hand with a reluctant face, and continued, "Brother Chang's trench is indeed full of essence, but it's just ...... It's just a little embarrassing to get a brother. ”

"Embarrassed Brother Liu? Guilty of sin, the younger brother is bent on the overseer, and he misses it, if Brother Liu wants to have any opinions, but it doesn't matter. Chang Guoan was deliberately surprised, and his facial expression also looked exaggerated and contrived.

Liu Xiyao pretended not to be aware of his crookedness, and said: "Don't hide it from Brother Chang, the east side is by the river, and the silt is stuffed, which is not as flat as the ground." Trenches were opened over there, and at every point they opened, the silt from under the riverbed poured in. The soldiers of your battalion have only dug for less than half a mile by the river, and the muddy water that has poured out has spread wildly, almost flooding half of my camp. ”

Chang Guoan was surprised: "There is such a thing? ”

Liu Xiyao nodded and said, "Not really." Seeing that Chang Guoan seemed to have a look of retreat, he felt a little proud in his heart, "I can't match Brother Chang's ability to open trenches and build walls, but the situation in the east is different, so I hope Brother Chang will understand." I have already arranged the defense over there according to the location, and if it is foolproof, there is no need for Brother Chang to bother. ”

Chang Guoan nodded secretly, and finally knew that Liu Xiyao's starting point was not anything else, but to compete for merit. Once the war breaks out, even if Chang and Liu join forces to win, but there is the limelight of this fortification, think about it, it can be attributed to the fortifications is equivalent to Chang Guoan, no matter how hard he Liu Xiyao tries, he can only be a supporting role.

Who is Liu Xiyao? For the sake of the future, I can even endure the pain of brotherhood, how can I endure this dumb anger? When Chang Guoan's trench dug to the south of his camp, he finally jumped like thunder, stayed awake all night, and made a special trip to theorize. The so-called "muddy water backfilling" is an excuse, and the most important thing is that we are not accustomed to this kind of hasty behavior of national security.

Chang Guoan's restless heart calmed down a lot at this time, he pondered for a moment, and said with a smile: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say!" It's because I'm not thinking about it, Brother Liu is not to blame. ”

Liu Xiyao got his wish, he was satisfied, and he didn't have much to say, and after a few words, he hurried back on the grounds of military affairs. Chang Guoan sent him on the horse and left with a smile, and his smile froze in an instant, like an iceberg.