One of the direct effects of Gao Jie's death was that Sun Chuanting finished preparing the rebellious troops overnight, and hurriedly bid farewell to Zhao Dangshi early the next morning and led the army north. Zhao Dangshi sent him out of fifteen miles to meet with He Zhen's department before he turned back.

Sun Chuanting's psychology, Zhao Dangshi, can also roughly guess a few points. No matter how Gao Jie said it, he was also Sun Chuanting's pro-general of the standard camp, and although he killed Gao Jie who was raising troops and rebelling without authorization was a means of self-defense, Sun Chuanting, as Gao Jie's superior, was skeptical after all.

Even so, it was impossible for Zhao Dangshi to stop that night and hand over Gao Jie to Sun Chuanting for his own disposal. After all, since he moved the killing intent and set a trap with great effort, Gao Jie did not die in front of him, so it could not be regarded as a success.

Two days later, the Shaanxi troops basically gathered in Yuzhou, and Sun Chuanting immediately marched directly into Ruzhou, and when Zhao Dangshi later arrived in Yuzhou, it was reported that Sun Chuanting's line had been set up near Jiaxian, so Zhao Dangshi continued to the north to reach Lushan County in the south of Ruzhou Prefecture.

In addition to Zhou Jin's Zhenxiao battalion of 2,000 people to continue to defend Nanyang Fucheng, Guo Ruke's Qihun battalion, Han Gon's Feijie left battalion, Ma Guangchun's Feijie right battalion, and Zhou Yuji's Changning battalion, a total of 5,000 horses, were all stationed in Lushan County with Zhao Dangshi, and Zhang Tianli, the deputy general of the Yansui Town Xixi Association who stayed in Lushan County with Sun Chuanting, worked together to maintain the smooth grain route from Tongguan to Ruzhou Mansion.

Not long after arriving in Lushan County, news came from the front line that the troops of Xuzhou were gathering in Yuzhou, Xiangcheng County and other places one after another, and they were only separated by a line from Jiaxian, where Sun Chuanting's army was located. It can be expected that within half a month, there will be a big war.

It was a gloomy day in Lushan County.

Recently, there are bandits Li Ruxian and Sun Xueli in Lushan County who led the crowd to loot and harass the people, and Zhou Yujishi, who is in charge of the peripheral outposts, killed and dispersed a group of bandits in the north of the river, captured more than 10 people in the thief canal, and asked Zhao Dangshi to come and land.

Some of the bandits were insignificant, but at this time, it was a delicate period when the Shaanxi army was about to start a war with the Chuang army, and Zhao Dangshi, who promised Sun Chuanting to help Zhou Gu Liangdao, did not want to go wrong because of the bandits, and he still acted in a straightforward and meticulous manner.

More than a dozen heads landed in the sound of the order, and Zhao Dangshi ordered these heads to be inserted in a row along the water, hoping to deter the nearby bandits, and instructed Zhou Yuji to follow up and lead the horse away. Unexpectedly, there were seven or eight horsemen treading water in the distance, and Zhou Yuji also said that it was the re-attack of the Tukou, and he ordered the soldiers on the left and right to be on guard, but when they saw each other, they found out that it was their own people.

"Subordinate Hei Bangjun, I've seen the lord!"

"It's a quick journey, from Van River City?" Zhao Dangshi let go of the reins, clapped his hands and asked.

Hei Bangjun replied: "Yes, the villain turned around from Wuchang Mansion a few days ago, and as soon as he arrived in Fanhe City, he received the order of the lord, and he didn't dare to slack off, so he came non-stop immediately!" ”

"Everything in Wuchang Mansion is still safe?" Zhao Dangshi asked again. When Zuo Mengeng was still in Henan, he was all connected with Hei Bangjun, who was in charge of Henan's intelligence, and now Zuo Mengeng went to Wuchang Mansion, Hei Bangjun's mission came to an end, and he was assigned by Zhao Dangshi to go to Wuchang Mansion to carry out some finishing work, and hand over the follow-up personnel arranged by Pang Jinming.

"Pretty much nothing." "There's good news and bad news. ”

"What's the bad news?"

"Offering thieves to ravage the north and south of the river, flying boats come and go, the officials and soldiers can not control, and they are now close to Huangzhou Mansion, and it is expected that they will disturb Huguang in the near future."

Zhao Dangshi stroked his beard and said: "It was expected, the thief has been tossing in Nanzhili for a long time, attracting officials and soldiers from all over the country to be on alert, and sooner or later he will have to move to Huguang." This is not bad news. He had already informed Lao Bai about this, and he was prepared. Then he asked, "What's the good news?" ”

"Rao Liubo is pregnant, please ask the hexagram aunt to calculate, the possibility of a boy is great."

Zhao Dangshi smiled and said, "This is indeed good news. "Zuo Mengeng is young and has no heirs, although Rao Liubo is a partial house, but if he can give birth to his eldest son, he will be more favored, and his status in the Zuo family can also rise again. This is very beneficial to Zhao Dangshi's further control of Zuo Mengeng.

After Hei Bangjun's report was finished, Zhao Dangshi said: "It's really important for you to come this time." ”

"I can worry about the Lord, and the villain doesn't feel hard at all, but only feels very happy!"

"Okay, you have to go to Tongguan again and bring a few people back for me." Zhao Dangshi smiled, "If there are too many miscellaneous people, just bring Gao Jie's wife and children." ”

"'Mountain Harrier' Gao Jie's wife and children?"

"Yes, this guy is dead, and his family stays in Tongguanwei. His nephew Li Benshen knows the path well and will go with you. ”

"My subordinates understand." Hei Bangjun has a lot of experience, as long as the external conditions are in place, he has his own plans to plan.

"I want to see people in five days, time is pressing, you can go back to the camp with me later, take Li Benshen and leave." Zhao Dangshi said solemnly, "Li Benshen is a little slippery, guard against him, don't be merciful if you dare to play tricks." ”

Hei Bangjun bowed down and promised, Tongguanwei was not far from Ruzhou, hurry up, go to two days and two more days, and do more than one day.

After that, for three consecutive days, the wind and waves were calm. At the beginning of October, the battle in Jiaxian suddenly came.

Generally speaking, the Shaanxi army won first and then lost.

At the end of September, Sun Chuanting heard that the army took the initiative to advance, first ambushed the mound in the northeast of Jiaxian, and then sent Niu Chenghu's troops to lure the enemy, and feigned defeat after a little confrontation. The morale of the breaking army was like a rainbow, and they pursued it to the mound with all their might, but they didn't expect to be attacked by ambushes, and then Zheng Jiadong and Dong Xueli attacked left and right, and Niu Chenghu also turned back to fight, and the army was killed and wounded by thousands of people, and they were not defeated and retreated. Seeing the victory, the officers and soldiers of all ministries rushed in one after another, completely ignoring Sun Chuanting's order to withdraw his troops.

In order to delay the pursuit of the officers and soldiers, the invading army abandoned all the military resources of the armor battle, and when the officers and troops of the various departments saw this, they immediately began to scramble, and instantly lost their fighting spirit, and the army was suddenly scattered. The army did not expect that the effect of this move exceeded expectations, and they stopped running away after judging the situation, and reorganized the team to counterattack. Zuo Xian, the deputy general of the third battalion of Guyuan Town, thought that a large number of reinforcements from the Chuang army were coming, and he was very frightened, so he first led the army to flee, and the rest of the officers and troops followed in his footsteps and were defeated one after another. The army turned defeat into victory, chased out the official army for dozens of miles, and the camp of the official army in Jiaxian County all fell.

"As I said earlier, Zuo Xian's father-shadowed wreckage is unreliable."

Guo Ruke shook his head when he heard the situation on the front line, and he received an order from Zhao Dangshi to temporarily command the Qihun Battalion, the Feijie Right Battalion and the Changning Battalion to the north to rescue Sun Chuanting, who had not yet been heard from.

The Qihun battalion is all infantry, but everyone has horses, so they are on a par with the Feijie Right Battalion and the Changning Battalion, and they are very fast. In the morning, the ten thousand hooves turned, and in the afternoon, it went from Lushan County to the south of Jiaxian.

The road ahead was covered with smoke and dust, and the birds flew out of the forest, Guo Ruke ordered the soldiers of the Hun battalion to dismount and line up, and Ma Guangchun and Zhou Yuji each led the horse army to distribute the two wings. After a short time, a Biao army rushed out from the deep forest hundreds of steps away, and Guo Ruke fired several cannons, which frightened the soldiers and horses on the opposite side. It was only when they saw the banner of Guo Ruke's army that the soldiers and horses relieved themselves, and they separated several horses to see Guo Ruke.

"The governor ordered Li Guoqi, the deputy general of the Wuyong Battalion." The leading knight was dressed in blue armor and had short hair, and he arched his hand and said, "Brother is from Yunxiang Town?" ”

Guo Ruke reported to his home, looked at the gradually gathering not far away, and frowned: "General Li is retreating from Jiaxian?" "It is rumored that the official army of Jiaxian County was defeated, and it can be seen that most of Li Guoqi's soldiers and horses are good, the banner is not chaotic, and the army is neat, how can there be the slightest decline of the defeated army.

"yes." Li Guoqi nodded, and found that Guo Ruke had a questioning face, so he said, "I pressed the formation in the rear, and I heard that the front left and other troops were defeated, so I retreated." And said, "It is estimated that the kid on Zuo Xun died in despair, and I sent people to inquire about Niu, Zheng, Dong and other departments, and they are all good." ”

"Didn't you say the war was unfavorable?"

"It's not good, otherwise how would Li come here to meet you."

"Where is Sun Junmen?"

Li Guoqi shook his head and said: "I don't know, it should be with He Zhen, Gao is outstanding, and the surname He is lucky, and he goes up." There was some disdain in his words.

Speaking of this, Guo Ruke generally knows the truth about the rumored "fiasco of the official army". It is estimated that the left army was indeed defeated by the counterattack of the intruding army, but including Li Guoqi, Niu Chenghu and Zheng Jiadong were probably not waiting for Sun Chuanting's military order, and they were also happy to follow the trend and retreat first without taking the initiative, just like the so-called "defeat without a fight", so Li Guoqi's entire army was safe and sound, and there was not even a trace of fighting. And when they retreated, they were dedicated to themselves, and they didn't even bother to ask about Sun Chuanting's whereabouts.

Li Guoqi said a few words, he didn't want to stay longer, and led the army away, Guo Ruke sighed, ordered the whole army to move forward again, and met the troops of Dong Xueli, the deputy general of Huamachi, on the way, and also let them go. It was not until the foothills of Shenwu Mountain in the north of Jiaxian County that Guo Ruke found out the whereabouts of Sun Chuanting through the villagers, and heard that he was besieged by an army on a small hill at this time, and immediately rushed to help.

The front of the army is coming, from the east, west, and south to each side of the army and horses to meet, respectively, the governor of the train battalion commander Bai Guangen, the deputy general of the Yulin Jingbian battalion You Zhaiwen, and the Shaanxi governor of the battalion Sun Shoufa, I heard that they also happened to find here. But to Guo Ruke's ears, it was just a pretext, and it was very likely that these three soldiers and horses had arrived near here early, but no one took the lead, so they waited and watched. It's just that compared with those officers and soldiers who escaped from the battle, Bai, You, and Sun at least have the fighting spirit, and their performance can really be called "remarkable".

The reunion of the officers and troops was huge, and when they approached the small hill where Sun Chuanting was, the intruding army had long since disappeared. The generals found Sun Chuanting, only to see that his hair was slanted, and his description was very embarrassed, but there was no blood stain on his hand with his sword, which showed that if Guo Ruke and others came to help in time, he would even be ready to kill himself.

Bai Guangen and the others stepped forward to ask for warmth, Sun Chuanting's face was as pale as iron, and Guo Ruke laughed beside him. Sun Chuanting has been in prison for a long time, and he does not know the situation of the generals in Shaanxi, and it can be clearly seen from this battle that those who are close to Zhu are red and those who are close to ink are black, and Li Guoqi, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, Dong Xueli and other Shaanxi generals who had a deep relationship with He Renlong are actually unconvinced by him, not only are they ineffective in combat, so that they regard Sun Chuanting's identity as a dignified governor as a mustard.

Troop consolidation is one thing, and appointing people is also another. As the governor of the three sides, Sun Chuanting can use his own talents to organize the army, but as an outsider who has come from all over, he does not understand the local conditions, does not have an in-depth understanding of the temperament of each general, and only sees with one pair of eyes and listens with one pair of ears, and the appointment and dismissal of personnel is bound to be biased.

Zhao Dangshi said to Guo Ruke that Sun Chuanting's integration of Shaanxi must not be in a hurry, otherwise it is easy to make a mistake and become a thousand years of hatred, and all the previous achievements will be wasted. If Zhao Ying wants to protect him, he must let him have enough time to sort out everything in Shaanxi. Seeing people's hearts in danger, Guo Ruke believes that although Sun Chuanting is as smart as Sun Chuanting, he will inevitably see the faces of the generals in Shaanxi clearly through this battle.

Sun Chuanting was saved, but the threat of the invasion army was not solved, Guo Ruke, Ma Guangchun, Zhou Yuji and the generals of Shaanxi immediately embraced Sun Chuanting and temporarily retreated to Baofeng County, and Zhao Dangshi and Zhang Tianli of Lushan County were horns to prevent the re-attack of the army. At the same time, a letter was sent to Zhao Dangshi to report the situation.

"Lord, after this battle, Sun Chuanting should always see the difference in strength." Han Gon listened to Zhao Dangshi read the Tang newspaper lightly, and asked with a light sigh.

"Well, although Sun Chuanting's losses are not large, he must have insight into the countless shortcomings of the army, and he should be powerful and unintentional. If you don't go back to Shaanxi to cultivate, you won't step out of Tongguan again. ”

"What about the Invasion Army?" Han Gon frowned and said, "The news of our army's departure from Nanyang Mansion must have been known to the Chuang army, and Sun Chuanting was rescued with someone, does it mean that a war with the Chuang army is inevitable?" ”

"Not necessarily." Zhao Dangshi shook his head lightly and said, "If King Chuang knows the situation, he will definitely make moves in the next two days." ”

"What move?"

"War is not a child's play, a 'war' word exits, and payment is not an understatement. I guess King Chuang will salute first and then soldier. Hehe, I'm afraid I'm going to meet King Chuang again. Zhao Dangshi smiled at the corner of his mouth and took a deep breath.

As he expected, at noon the next day, the envoy arrived.