As the sun sets, the county town of Guanghua, on the bank of the Han River in Licheng, as usual, beats the drum and closes the door early. This county and the adjacent Yunyang Mansion, since ancient times is one of the strongholds of Chu Yu outlaw exiles favorite to hide, the Song Dynasty set up "Guanghua Army" in this place, which means "Guangda Wanghua", the garrison cleared the bandits, and later the army and the people were combined into one, and the army was changed to the county and continued to this dynasty.

Since the beginning of the thief rebellion, Guanghua County has repeatedly suffered from military disasters, and the area of Mayao Mountain within the jurisdiction is often a thief cave, the official thieves have been attacking and defending for many years, leaving countless bones of the unclaimed wilderness, if you pass by at night, you can clearly see the phosphorus fire that spreads all over the mountains and fields with glowing green light, and it is indescribably mad.

The Zhao camp set up three battalions of Changhong, which were deployed along the three places along the Hanshui River, with the former battalion of Changhong stationed in Gucheng County, the left battalion of Changhong stationed in Guanghua County, and the right battalion of Changhong stationed in Junzhou, forming a barrier to separate the Xiangyang Mansion of Chengping from the neighboring Yunyang Mansion in the west. The Changhong Left Battalion has an establishment of 2,000 soldiers, and the commander of the battalion is Chen Hongfan's trusted general and his brother-in-law Ma Tingshi, and Li Yanlang is the middle officer in charge of actual military affairs.

Today, on the first day of the third month, Ma Tingshi made a rare appearance and gave a reward to the soldiers defending the city at the head of the sub-city where the army was stationed. Everyone didn't get much money, just a few copper plates, but since the Changhong Zuoying came to Guanghua County, the moon has been unhindered as usual. Although the money is meager, the symbolic meaning is greater than the practical meaning, and the effect is significant on motivating the soldiers. The soldiers took the copper plate handed by Ma Tingshi himself, and they all bowed and kowtowed. What they thanked was not the money they had received, but the expectations and encouragement of the officials.

Li Yanlang smiled and watched as Ma Tingshi walked in front of him from the end of the city, and continued to walk slowly away from the front. At the beginning of the temple town of Beitaishan, he assisted Chen Hongfan, but he felt that although he could not fight, he was victorious in his easy-going temper and obedient to his words, so he cooperated very smoothly. It's not that a family doesn't enter the door, and this Ma Tingshi also has a gentle and honest personality, knowing that Li Yanyi is good at fighting and thinking about the kindness of rescuing the thief army for Zhao, he is very obedient to Li Yanyi. In order to facilitate Li Yanyi to take charge of the army, he consciously rarely appeared in the army to interfere in affairs, and only came out to preside over face-saving ceremonies such as routine rewards.

"How's the booklet going?" Ma Tingshi stuffed the money over, and found that the soldier in front of him looked not very old, and his eyebrows had not completely faded from immaturity, so he smiled kindly and said more. The "Hengyan of the World" distributed by the Zhao battalion has been distributed to the Changhong Zuo Battalion, and the literate officers and soldiers have a book, and the illiterate ones regularly go to the school to listen to the unified lectures of the counselors and overseers in the camp. Ma Tingshi was unable to meddle in military affairs, so he paid more attention to this work.

The soldier didn't expect to be lucky enough to be questioned by the commander, and said excitedly: "Commander, the villain has memorized three chapters!" ”

"Not bad, not bad." Ma Tingshi smiled even brighter, and patted him on the shoulder, "Wait until you memorize all the five chapters, and let you go to Fanhe City to participate in the meeting on behalf of our battalion." "There are a total of five chapters in "Hengyan of the World", and this soldier is estimated to have studied for a month, and it is already remarkable that he can memorize most of it after working hard.

The soldier swallowed and stared wide, as if he could not believe his ears. He remembered that the Counsellor and the Overseer had said more than once that all military generals who had memorized the five chapters of the "Words of the World" were eligible to be recommended by the battalion to Fanhecheng and to be further tested by the "Evaluation and Examination Meeting" sponsored by the General Inspection Institute and once a month, regardless of their position. As long as they can pass the test, they will receive a generous reward, and the head of the battalion and the commander of the battalion will also have their own praise. The best candidates even have the opportunity to directly enter the work of the subordinate departments of the Unified Inspection Institute, which is undoubtedly a ladder to the sky for these soldiers at the bottom.

It's a pity that this kind of opportunity is hard to come by, because the people who can be pushed to Fanhe City every month can have a maximum of three places per battalion, and the 2,000 people in the Changhong Zuo Battalion pick out three people, saying that it is not an exaggeration to say that thousands of troops and horses cross the single-plank bridge. This young soldier knew in his heart that he was not the best to memorize, and there were many people around him who had memorized four chapters.

"Give me your name, and I'll speak to the Counsellor Overseer. Remember, a fast memorization is not necessarily a good one. Let's seek quality rather than speed, as long as you can memorize the five chapters, I will let you go to Fanhe City. Ma Tingshi said with a smile. In his capacity as a commander of the camp, saying this is basically equivalent to opening the back door.

"Yes, yes!" The young soldier didn't say yes, and straightened up in nervousness, "The villain is called ......"

Li Yanlang didn't hear the end, his gaze turned to the city when the young soldier was about to report his name.

"Domination."

Ma Tingshi was still laughing with the young soldier, and he patted someone behind his back, turned around and asked, "Lao Li, what's the matter?" ”

Li Yanlang said with a solemn expression: "The people from the right camp are here?" ”

"Right battalion?" Ma Tingshi frowned, "It's getting dark, what are the people from the right camp doing?" "Although the right camp of Changhong is not far from next door, there is something that has to be said now.

"Under the city is the right battalion of Tangma, said that in half an hour the right battalion officer Qin Jinxiao will arrive, and there are ...... There are also thousands of people in the department. Li Yanlang looked back at the direction of the city gate, and in the distance, the Tang Horse that had finished reporting the news was galloping in the sunset.

Ma Tingshi immediately realized that the matter was not simple, and Li Yanlang said: "Qin Zhongjun has led troops, and there must be an extremely important situation. Go to the camp and mobilize the soldiers in case of emergency. ”

"Okay, okay, everything is up to you." Ma Tingshi was a little flustered. The strength of the left and right battalions of Changhong is comparable, and the right battalion is now divided into half of the troops. And fighting a war is precisely his shortcoming.

"Leave it to your subordinates." Li Yanlang nodded, bowed his hand to him, and left quickly. Soon, the horns of mobilization in the barracks of Changhong's left camp sounded one after another, and the north gate of Guanghua County was also closed to a slight opening.

Half an hour later, in the dim light of the sky, thousands of soldiers and horses really arrived outside the city on time, and slowly changed from a long snake formation on march to a loose phalanx on standby under the shouting orders of the officers. Li Yanlang inspected the flags, documents, sigils and other tokens, and then went out of the city to meet Qin Jinxiao, who was neatly dressed.

Qin Jinxiao is a natural martial artist, even if he is not confused, as long as he wears a hood and armor, the spirit of the whole person cannot be concealed at all, and he looks like Li Yanlang is about the same age as Li Yanlang. Li Yanlang invited him into the city, but was refused, and only listened to him: "Gucheng has fallen into the hands of Zuo Liangyu, and it needs to be rescued quickly." ”

Li Yanlang was surprised: "How did Zuo Liangyu enter the city?" Isn't there a front camp in the way? ”

"Front battalion?" Qin Jinxiao sneered, "Just give Chen Hongfan that waste another 100,000 soldiers, and he won't be able to hold it." "And said," Chen Hongfan caught Zuo Liangyu's eagle dog on Shihua Street, and could only secretly send his cronies to sneak out for help. ”

Li Yanlang knew that his language was sharp and never gave people affection, so he didn't say much, and turned to ask: "But Junzhou is still in the north of Guanghua, Chen Hongfan can send people to the right camp, why didn't he send people to Guanghua?" ”

"What's so strange about strange people doing strange things?" Qin Jinxiao said coldly, "Gucheng is an important part of our army's western defense line, if it is lost in the hands of Zuo Liangyu, and his soldiers drive straight in, what will happen to the mansion, you know in your heart." ”

Li Yanlang said: "I know this...... It's just ......," he said, looking up at the sky, "it's just that it's night, and the battle is not easy to fight." "Night battles are easy to say, but it is very difficult to operate in practice, not to mention that the command of the battle defeats the enemy, and it is already very good to be able to restrain the team in the chaos and not mutiny.

"How many people can you produce?" Qin Jinxiao didn't answer him, "I brought a thousand people." ”

Li Yanlang thought for a moment and replied, "It's probably the same number." ”

Qin Jinxiao said: "That's 2,000 people, listening to Chen Hongfan's people, now in Gucheng County, there are 3,000 left horse troops." Laughed dryly, "With this night to detain the county, hehe, I'm afraid that I will lose my wife and lose my soldiers." ”

"Exactly. Moreover, most of the soldiers of the left and right second battalions were new recruits, lacking actual combat, and if they were properly commanded, it was acceptable to defend the city, and it was the next step to take the initiative to attack the city. Li Yanlang agreed, both of them are famous generals in the Zhao camp, they are very experienced, and it is not a problem to distinguish the strength and weakness of the situation between the enemy and us.

Qin Jinxiao touched his beard lightly and laughed at himself: "Night fighting, weak soldiers, siege of the city, our army seems to have the right time, place and people...... And the three battalions of Changhong are mainly defended, and there are no very large siege equipment...... Attached with two thousand ants? Hahaha......"

Li Yanlang's face was solemn, and he continued: "This is okay, but Zuo Liangyu has a large number of soldiers and horses, and now only 3,000 horse troops have rushed into Gucheng, which must be the forefront." If our army rashly attacks the county seat, once Zuo Liangyu's follow-up troops arrive, the city and the field will be lost, and the enemy will be greatly disadvantaged. Thinking of this, I suddenly saw that the team behind Qin Jinxiao had begun to light the torch one after another, and thought secretly: "Qin Jinxiao is a veteran of a hundred battles, and the means are above me, I can think of this kind of disadvantage, he will not think of it." But now he still brought more than a thousand soldiers to look for me, since he knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefer to go to the tiger mountains, he may have prejudices. So he bowed slightly and bowed his hand towards Qin Jinxiao, "Qin Zhongjun's army is a first-class general of our battalion, and the enemy is strong and I am weak, how to choose, and I hope that Qin Zhongjun will advise." But he deliberately made it low and small, and raised Qin Jinxiao.

Li Yanlang's guess was right, Qin Jinxiao would send troops, and he had indeed made a plan. But he has an arrogant personality, pays attention to dignity and humility, and attaches more importance to his status on the battlefield, so he deliberately kept it silent and observed Li Yanlang's reaction.

This move was in Qin Jinxiao's arms, he changed his demeanor, smiled and nodded: "I can't talk about advice, I have an opinion here, you can seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and save Gucheng at the lowest cost." ”

Li Yanlang took the opportunity to ask: "What do you think?" ”

Qin Jinxiao said proudly: "Our army does not fight Gucheng. ”

The night is low, and the four fields are quiet. The city of Gucheng County is unusual, and the lights are bright.

Gao Jinku and Zhou Fengwu, who entered the city, forced Chen Hongfan to open the treasury like monks who had not been exposed to meat for decades, steamed white rice, dried white noodles, and expropriated the cattle and sheep of the people in the city to slaughter, put on a feast, reward soldiers and horses, and Chen Hongfan was also forced to attend the banquet.

Halfway through eating, Gao Jinku, who was blushing, suddenly became irritable, shouted "boring", and said to Chen Hongfan: "There is wine and meat but no beauty to accompany it, just like the waning moon, although it is bright and clean, it cannot be called a satisfactory agreement!" ”

Zhou Fengwu took the opportunity to tilt his body, his eyes turned to Chen Hongfan, and said to Gao Jinku: "I heard that Chen Shuai's main residence is in Xiangyang, but the home here is also accompanied by a beautiful concubine to sweep away loneliness." That beautiful concubine can sing and dance, if she comes to help the fun, wouldn't it be beautiful! ”

Gao Jinku glared, and said with a round mouth: "There is still such a thing, I am a rough person, I can have the opportunity to look at the face of the sky, and it is not in vain to die!" The two sang and harmonized, obviously prepared, and after speaking, they looked at Chen Hongfan together.

When Chen Hongfan heard this, he was shocked and angry. In the past, whether in Liaodong or Huguang, where did a military leader dare to be so rude to him, everyone before and after him needed to be called "Chen Shuai", even if he went to Beijing to meet with the cabinet ministers of the court, the opposite side had to give three points. Now Gao and Zhou are two mounds and eight, relying on soldiers and horses, not mentioning offensive words and rude behavior, and now they have to give out their own concubines to accompany them, it is true that they don't know that the sky is high and the earth is thick, and they deceive people too much!

But Chen Hongfan could see the situation clearly after all, and he had to bow his head under the low eaves, and he suppressed his anger without attacking, and squeezed out a smile and said: "No, the concubines in the family are ugly and timid, and they can't be on the stage, and the two of you will be disappointed when you see them!" ”

"Chen Shuai is humble!" Gao Jinku came up, climbed the table with one hand, and immediately pulled out the waist knife with the other hand, and slashed on the corner of the table with a bang, "Chen Shuai is such a romantic person!" can give Chen Shuai a look, how can it be ordinary? I'm afraid that the maid who sweeps the floor and clears the road in Chen Shuai's house will be regarded as a fairy when I see the two of them! ”

Chen Hongfan saw that his face was full of anger, and the hand holding the handle of the knife was also slightly rubbed, knowing that he was deliberately intimidating, and he trembled with anger for a while. Zhou Fengwu said at this time: "Oh, yes, senior brother, what can you do?" ”

Gao Jinku's eyelids raised, and Zhou Fengwu said with a smile: "Chen Shuai is high, even if he is a concubine in his family, his status is not comparable to that of ordinary people like me." I'll just say a word and ask for a respectful driver, where do you put Chen Shuai's face? ”

"Oh? What does Brother Zhou mean? ”

"You are drunk and confused, the beauty is invited, and the prostitute is called. If you sit still, what kind of sincerity is it? ”

When Gao Jinku heard this, he slapped his thigh violently, and laughed: "Yes, yes, yes!" Brother Zhou still understands that I am old and drunk a shallow amount of alcohol, and I will be dizzy after these three or two glasses. Hehe, this is a pertinent statement, it was my fault! Saying that, he called Chen Hongfan, "Chen Shuai, don't look at my rudeness, in fact, I will pity the fragrance and cherish the jade." Don't worry, Mrs. Noble Jade Body, I will not be offended, but the opportunity is hard to find, just take a look from afar and open your eyes! Then he threw a color to Zhou Fengwu.

Zhou Fengwu immediately beckoned back, and Chen Hongfan listened to his commands: "A few of you, go to Chen Shuai's house in the city and invite your wife here." Be careful, just like holding a porcelain vase, don't bump it at all! ”

"I can't help it!"

The pro-soldier took the order and went immediately, Chen Hongfan hurriedly stood up to catch up, who expected him to come together, Gao and Erren instantly blocked in front of him, and pushed him back with a smile: "Chen Shuai is generous, he won't care about this little thing!" "That Gao Jinku is even more one-handed with a knife, and the coercion is obvious.

Chen Hongfan was helpless, this hall was full of soldiers from the left, even if he broke through, he was not an opponent of Gao and Zhou, so he sighed secretly and sat back in his seat.

The soldiers on the left are extremely efficient here, and they enter the warehouse for a few glasses of wine, and after a while, they see a cowardly figure standing under the stairs in a blink of an eye. Chen Hongfan jumped up at the same time as him, and exclaimed eagerly: "Evening, you are not being bullied!" ”

The horror on the face of the woman standing there named "Evening" calmed down a little when she saw Chen Hongfan, but the laughter that followed from Gao Jinku made her tremble and didn't dare to move to Chen Hongfan's side.

"Evening, good name, beauty has a good name, wonderful!" Gao Jinku took a deep breath, squinted his eyes and looked at the woman carefully, only to feel that she had a good face and a well-proportioned body, and a little black mole on her lips was the finishing touch, which was really extraordinary, and the restlessness in her heart was like a wild horse galloping, which could not be contained.

Zhou Fengwu coughed, and several left soldiers behind Wanyi stepped forward together, forcing Wanyi to move forward to the hall. Under the shining lights, her temples hung low, not daring to look at people, and her shy posture was even more sultry.