Even if the mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of buildings, even if he has not received accurate information, but only with the clues collected through various channels, Li Zuoche, who was respected by Han Xin as a teacher in history, has already smelled the smell of danger, and also has a premonition that if the main force of the Huns is really completely angered by the various provocations of the Han army, he decided to launch a large-scale southern expedition this winter, and the first target is likely to be the Yanmen Defense Area of Daijun that he is responsible for.

At the beginning of November, the guessed Xiongnu reaction was confirmed, and Mao Dun really issued a mobilization order to all the Xiongnu tribes on the grassland, ordering the Xiongnu tribes directly under him and the Xiongnu tribes under the command of Youxian Wang to assemble closer to Saiyin Mountain.

After confirming this point again and again, Li Zuoche did not dare to slack off, and in addition to immediately reporting to Xiang Kangyu to warn, he also held a military meeting in the county of Yanmen County to arrange for the deployment of troops for defense. Then the meeting just began, Li Zuoche said to the participants straight to the point: "Let me tell you a good news, our army has confirmed that the main forces of the Xiongnu in the middle and right are gathering in the area of Saiyin Mountain, if nothing else, the Xiongnu will definitely have a big move this winter, and the target will definitely be the Han State, and the direction of attack is also very likely to be the defense area we are responsible for." ”

Hearing Li Zuoche's words, the venue was also in an uproar, the generals of the Han army reacted differently, nervous, worried and excited, Xiang Guan couldn't wait to ask: "Guangwujun, are you sure?" Is the main force of the Huns really coming to attack our defense area this winter? ”

"It can't be confirmed for the time being, but if the main force of the Huns really moves south, we will bear the brunt of it and become the first target of the Huns." Li Zuoche didn't bother to analyze to everyone the detailed reasons why the Xiongnu would attack his own defense area, but said: "But please rest assured, all the generals, this point is not only expected by our Majesty, Your Majesty has not taken precautions, and has already made all kinds of preparations for a decisive battle with the main force of the Xiongnu this winter, so although our pressure must be very great, as long as we survive the first wave of the Xiongnu attack, it will not be long before hundreds of thousands of reinforcements can quickly rush to the north to reinforce us." ”

After that, Li Zuoche added casually, "Although Your Majesty has not yet issued an edict, but as far as I estimate, Your Majesty is very likely to send us more than 400,000 reinforcements this time, and it is very likely that you will personally lead the army to fight this decisive battle with the Huns, so if nothing else, we can also see Your Majesty's face again after a few years." ”

The venue was in an uproar again, and even Xiang Zhuang said with some suspicion: "Guangwujun, are you sure that Your Majesty will bring so many reinforcements?" As far as I know, our Majesty's use of troops has always been not expensive, and the largest number of troops sent at one time is just over 300,000, and this time he will send more than 400,000 troops to reinforce us in one go? ”

"There will be so many of them if you don't leave ten." Li Zuoche replied very confidently: "Your Majesty has been preparing and deploying for nearly a year for this battle, and attaches great importance to it, and the size of the Xiongnu army is conservatively estimated to be more than 300,000. ”

"If that's the case, then we've won!" Xiang Guan hurriedly said: "Your Majesty's reinforcements, plus our army, as well as Yandi's army, can easily break through 500,000, more than 500,000 to fight 300,000, but it is difficult to win a complete victory." ”

"But the premise is that we must withstand the first wave of the Xiongnu's attack, otherwise, we may not have the opportunity to see the day when the Han army will win a complete victory."

Li Zuoche replied with a smile, and said: "Also, if my expectations are correct, the Xiongnu will definitely take the lead with the elite, kill us by surprise with lightning speed, and strive to annihilate our main border force at the first time, and do not give Your Majesty the time and opportunity to calmly send troops to rescue us." Therefore, starting tomorrow, our Yanmen, Daijun and Yunzhong three places must all enter the highest state of alert, and we must also greet Li Shu in advance in the territory, and make all preparations for the strong wall and clear the wilderness, once we see the Great Wall beacon tower and sound the alarm, all the soldiers and civilians must immediately enter the camp and city, and do not stay in the field to let the Xiongnu elite slaughter. ”

The generals clasped their fists and sang promises, and Xiang Zhuang hurriedly asked, "Guangwujun, how do you plan to deploy defense?" ”

"General Fu Kuan's 22,000 troops are responsible for guarding Yunzhong County." Li Zuoche replied casually: "Among them, 8,000 are stationed in Wuquan, 3,000 are stationed in Yuanyang, and the rest are all stationed in the clouds. There were 32,000 people under the command of General Wangling of Daijun, 4,000 were stationed in Pingyi, 4,000 were stationed in Anyang, 10,000 were stationed in Banshi, and the rest were stationed in Daixian, temporarily abandoning Takayanagi. ”

"The most important thing is Yanmen County." Li Zuoche paused, and then said: "Of the 45,000 troops of Yanmen County, 12,000 are led by General Xiang Zhuang, and the county is stationed in Shanwu, 8,000 are stationed in Pingcheng, 3,000 are stationed in Loufu, and the rest are led by me and General Xiang Guan, stationed in Mayi, serving as the general reserve. ”

"Guangwujun, are you stationed in Mayi?" Xiang Zhuang was extremely surprised, and hurriedly said: "Guangwujun, why did you choose to be stationed in Mayi?" Shanwu is the county of Yanmen, located in the north of Mayi, and there is a gallop road with Dai County, and the money, food, and military supplies hoarded in the city also rank first in Yanmen. ”

"Because I am greedy for life and afraid of death, I dare not stand in front, so I want to hide in the safer Ma Yi to avoid the sword." Li Zuoche said a joke, and then said: "Don't worry, I dare to predict that if the main force of the Xiongnu invades Yanmen on a large scale, the primary target will definitely not be Shanwu, but Mayi in the south of Shanwu, so in addition to giving you 5,000 cavalry as a mobile force, there is also a very important task that I have to explain to you separately." It's an important task, and you'll have to do it for me. ”

"Since Guangwujun has commanded, the general will naturally do his best." Xiang Zhuang hurriedly replied, and hurriedly asked: "But the last general still doesn't understand, Guangwujun, why do you expect that the Xiongnu barbarians will attack Mayi first, instead of Shanwu or Pingcheng further north?" ”

"Because Mao Dun is good at using soldiers, and he is especially good at winning by surprise, if I were him, I would definitely fight Ma Yi first, not Shanwu first."

Li Zuoche replied with a sneer, and then explained: "As for the reason, the Xiongnu are better at field warfare, of course, they will go all out to break the enemy in the field, Shanwu is the county of Yanmen, the most money, food and military needs, and it is located in the north of Mayi, anyone will think that we will put the main force in Shanwu, and it will never be placed in Mayi, which is located in the south, so Maodun will definitely feint to attack Shanwu and contain our main force, in fact, with the main force elite Mayi, kill us by surprise, in this way, if we don't mobilize garrisons in other places to rescue Mayi, If we mobilize garrisons from other places to rescue Mayi, Maudun can take the opportunity to besiege the city and send reinforcements, destroy our reinforcements in the field, and then calmly take Mayi and other Yanmen cities. ”

"Although this is the truth, but Guangwujun, if there is any deviation in your expectations, then we will be in big trouble." Xiang Zhuang frowned and reminded.

"Absolutely not, this is Maudun's consistent style of using soldiers, unless he suddenly changes his temperament, he will definitely fight Ma Yi first." Li Zuoche shook his head with a smile, and said with a smile: "What? General Xiang Zhuang, are you so afraid that the Huns and barbarians will really fight Shanwu first? If you're afraid, how about I leave you a little more troops? ”

Li Zuoche has already said to this point, of course, Xiang Zhuang can only hurry up and sing a promise, guaranteeing that he must hold the town of Shanwu with 12,000 troops, Li Zuoche nodded with satisfaction, and then he put aside everyone, called Xiang Zhuang to the side, and explained an important task to Xiang Zhuang alone, and arranged for Xiang Zhuang to do one thing after he left Shanwu, Xiang Zhuang remembered with his heart, and sang a promise again.

In this way, after quickly arranging the defensive deployment, as soon as the deployment was confirmed, Li Zuoche arranged for the main force of the Yanmen garrison to leave Shanwu in batches at night, so as to confuse the Xiongnu in the eyes of Yanmen, so that the Xiongnu side could not quickly find out the defensive deployment of the Han army, and at the same time, Li Zuoche himself said goodbye to Xiang Zhuang at night and secretly left Shanwu under the protection of the guards. However, to Li Zuoche's surprise, just as he was saying goodbye to Xiang Zhuang, news suddenly came from Daijun's side, saying that the Xiongnu Zuoxian Wang's troops had gathered in the area of Chahannao and Angu Linao, and at the same time, the Xiongnu light cavalry continued to harass the beacon towers of the Great Wall of Daijun, and there seemed to be signs of a large-scale invasion of Daijun.

In this regard, Xiang Zhuang, who has a cautious personality, is of course worried, extremely worried that Li Zuoche's expectations will deviate, the main force of the Huns will hit Daijun first, but Li Zuoche was unmoved, and said categorically: "The Huns will definitely not fight Daijun first, the people of Daijun are short of food, and it is of little significance to fight down, and at the same time, it will only give us the opportunity for follow-up reinforcements to go north quickly, and ignore Daijun's side." Even if Dai County encounters danger, Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi will also send troops to rescue at the first time, Jicheng is only a hundred miles away from Fuyang, and there is a road to Dai County, we can rest assured that Dai County is entrusted to our Yandi army. ”

Seeing Li Zuoche's confident and resolute attitude, Xiang Zhuang, who was repeatedly asked by Xiang Kang to obey Li Zuoche's orders, had no choice, so he had to say goodbye to Li Zuoche with fear, and watched him go south to Mayi overnight, and then continued to fight Li Zuoche's banner in good faith even more fearfully, and nervously waited for the next move of the Huns in the gradually blowing cold wind.

Two days later, I didn't know that Li Zuoche had gone to Daijun in Mayi to send an urgent report to Shanwu again, saying that King Zuoxian personally led the main force of his subordinates to go south from the area of Chahannao, and the forward directly crossed the Great Wall in the northeast of Daijun, and the intention of directly attacking Daixian was very obvious. Xiang Zhuang was of course even more worried when he heard the report, so he had to hurry up to report to Li Zuoche, and at the same time secretly inform Wang Ling, so that Wang Ling knew that Li Zuoche had actually gone to Mayi.

Two days later, Wang Ling, who had not yet had time to receive a reply from Xiang Zhuang, sent an urgent report for the third time, saying that King Zuoxian's light cavalry had raided near Anyang, seriously threatening the communication between Dai County and Yanmen. If the Xiongnu really hit Daijun first, there is no need to rush to take down Anyang, as long as Anyang is surrounded and the road is broken, our Daixian will be isolated. ”

"There's no way, he's the governor of the three counties, and we can only obey the deployment he decides." Xiang Zhuang replied sullenly, and said: "Wait patiently, fortunately, there are still reinforcements from Yandi on the side of Daixian County that we can count on, even if we are isolated, we don't need to worry too much." I only hope that Anyang's side can hold on, otherwise, Anyang will definitely become the second Takayanagi. ”

In the evening of the same day, when they gathered for dinner, a guard suddenly rushed into the room, panting and reported to Xiang Zhuang: "General Xiang Zhuang, Daihai urgently, early this morning, an unknown number of Hun cavalry suddenly appeared near Daihai, and it seems that there is an attempt to attack the pass of the Great Wall in the north of Shanwu. ”

"Daihai?!" Xiang Zhuang was so shocked that his chopsticks fell to the ground and shouted loudly: "What are our scouts doing with fine work?" Daihai is only one hundred and twenty miles away from Shanwucai, how did the Hun cavalry suddenly appear there? How many troops did the Hun barbarians have? ”

"Back to the general, time is in a hurry, and I haven't had time to confirm how many enemies are coming."

Before the guard's answer fell, there was a dense gong alarm sound in the distance outside the room, Xiang Zhuang and Xiang it glanced at each other, hurriedly threw down the dishes and chopsticks, and even rushed out of the room to check the situation without even having time to wipe their mouths, and soon confirmed that the sound of the gong alarm came from the north gate of Shanwu, Xiang Zhuang hurriedly ordered martial law in the whole city, and all the troops entered a state of combat readiness, and then it didn't take long for another guard to rush to report, saying that the beacon tower of the Great Wall lit up the beacon smoke, and called the police that the Xiongnu invaded the Great Wall pass in the north of Shanwu, That's why Shanwu City rang the gong to call the police.

Xiang Zhuang nodded with a blue face, and then immediately ordered troops to rescue the attacked pass, to buy time for the people outside the city to clear the wall, and at the same time ordered the people outside the city to return to the city overnight to avoid the war, and finally said: "It seems that it was really expected by Guangwujun, the Huns really attacked the east and the west, and attacked the county of Dai in the Ming Dynasty, and actually attacked Yanmen, fortunately we were not fooled." ”

"But Uncle Qiu, we are still not sure whether the main force of the Xiongnu will actually attack Yanmen or really fight Daijun." Xiang It jumped out again and poured cold water, and then said: "Also, even if the Xiongnu really attacked Yanmen, we can't tell whether they will fight Shanwu first or Mayi first." ”

Xiang Zhuang nodded helplessly and muttered, "I hope everything is expected by Guangwu Jun." ”

The situation is indeed worthy of Xiang Zhuang and Xiang its uncle and nephew to worry about, after a night of hard work, the people outside the city who had been prepared for a long time were all transferred into the city for protection, but because the Great Wall left by Qin Shi Huang has been very dilapidated and the Han court has not been able to take money and grain to rebuild, by the morning of the next day, the Great Wall defense line has always been successfully broken through by the Xiongnu iron cavalry, and the Han soldiers guarding the pass were forced to flee back to Shanwu City, and at the same time brought the approximate number of Xiongnu troops - at least more than 30,000, There are many more follow-up troops behind!

Knowing the approximate size of the Xiongnu's troops, Xiang Zhuang's heart once again raised his throat, and he said to himself: "Although the Xiongnu still have the possibility of bypassing Shanwu and directly attacking Mayi, if the Xiongnu really fight Shanwu first, my trouble will be big." ”

In other words, out of duty, Xiang Zhuang, who was known for his due diligence, immediately ordered the Han army soldiers to set up more banners on Shanwu City, and sent more soldiers to take turns to go to the city to take precautions, pretending to have a lot of soldiers and horses in the city, and at the same time continued to falsely beat Li Zuoche's banner, so that the Huns thought that Li Zuoche was still in Shanwu City. - As for whether it can be effective, that is, Xiang Zhuang and Li Zuoche themselves don't know.