I don't know if it's because of the cold wind and rain, or because of the appearance of this group of cavalry, Li Xinchen subconsciously shivered.

And Xiao Shilian stuck the shovel in and pressed the handle of the knife directly: "How many people are there, and in what direction?!" ”

The scout said with a bitter face: "The wind and rain are too strong, and the brothers don't dare to get too close, so they can only see clearly that they are walking in the southwest direction, and the number is about three or four hundred, and everyone is a high-headed horse, it should be the elite scouts of the Northern Zhou barbarians." ”

"Is that true?" Xiao Shilian frowned.

The scout hurriedly explained, "If it weren't for the fact that they didn't go directly south, I'm afraid there would be no way for the subordinates to report the news to the two generals before they arrived." ”

"Shizhong, what does this mean?" Xiao Shilian raised his eyebrows, it was not that he didn't believe in his scouts, but he felt that the scout cavalry of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was not to the south, but to the southwest, which was really not right.

You must know that the west of this city is Jingshan, although it is not a big mountain, but from Jiangling all the way to Xiangyang, the road in the mountain is round and rugged, it is not easy to walk, especially in this rainy weather, the road is slippery, I am afraid you have to use both hands and feet.

It is precisely for this reason that the importance of Zhangshan County has been highlighted, and Li Xinchen and Xiao Shilian are confident that Wei Chi Yuan will not go to Jingshan to bypass Zhangshan County.

Li Xinchen frowned, and said in a deep voice: "You and I have already seen the map around this Jingshan, the small roads in the mountains are longitudinal and horizontal, although there are many, but most of them are for the people who pick wood, and it is impossible to pass the army, but since Wei Chi Yu did not directly send the scouts to the city of Zhangshan County, but went west, he must still have a glimmer of hope for this Jingshan." ”

"So he had to do it?" Xiao Shilian vaguely figured out what Li Xinchen meant, "This Wei Chi Yuan is so anxious, he would rather abandon us behind him and go to Jingshan Mountains than launch an attack on Zhangshan County?" ”

"I'm afraid that's exactly the case," Li Xinchen said helplessly, "I'm afraid that Wei Chi Yuan also had to do it as a last resort, and now the news that Xiao Yue fell into our hands is estimated to have been known to him, so he also knows that Jiangling will not be able to defend for long, and the top priority is not to spend time with us in this Zhangshan County, but to do everything possible to reach Jiangling City first." ”

After a pause, Li Xinchen looked around: "Although the water surface in the east of us is wide, even if we give you and me more men and horses, there is no way to completely block it, but there is General Ren in the lower reaches of the water, and there is General Chunyu in the south of Suizhou City on the other side of the river. ”

"In other words, the current situation in Jiangling City is up to Wei Chi Yu to make another choice?" Xiao Shilian completely understood, "But even so, how can Wei Chi Yuan just rely on the road in Jingshan to keep the army unimpeded?" ”

Li Xinchen condensed and said: "If it is Wei Chi Yuan, he will definitely not make a desperate bet and gather the army under Zhangshan County, after all, in addition to our lone army, there are still Da Chen soldiers and horses in the south of Weiyang and Suizhou in the east, Wei Chi Yuan can't afford to gamble on the next situation, so he can only send a light army through Jingshan and go straight to Jiangling, and then besiege Zhangshan County with a large army." ”

Xiao Shilian bowed slightly, according to Li Xinchen's explanation, Wei Chi Hui was able to send reinforcements to Jiangling City as soon as possible, and was able to lead the army to open up the road to Jiangling, which naturally killed two birds with one stone. And it is estimated that in Wei Chi Yuan's heart, a city that is just guarded by a small number of elite soldiers and horses of Nan Chen should not be so difficult to fight.

"Prepare, we won't be able to run this big battle," Li Xinchen chuckled lightly, looking at the busy soldiers in the wind and rain, "It is estimated that in a few hours, we will be able to see the real main force of the Northern Zhou army." ”

Xiao Shilian gritted his teeth, looked across the vast wind and rain to the north, how much he hoped that he could see through all the wind and rain at this time.

And Li Xinchen carried a shovel, jumped straight into the river, and together with the rest of the soldiers, tried his best to shovel the soil outward: "Boqing, come on, we must fight for a while!" ”

"Xiao Shilian, Li Xinchen"

Under Suizhou City, Chun Yuliang looked at the battle report and chewed on these two names carefully.

The wind carried the cold rain on his face, and the snow-white hair of this Nanchen veteran danced gently in the wind. The surrounding generals all subconsciously held their breath, although they were already old, but the old man who was the general of Zhengxi, the history of the Yingzhou assassin, and the old man who was added to Yitong was enough for them to cheer up their spirits.

At this time, these two young men were leading nearly 3,000 soldiers to defend Zhangshan County, preparing to use such a small number of soldiers and horses to stop Wei Chi's army from the north and south. According to the information obtained by Chun Yuliang, Wei Chi's army was three times larger than the defenders of Zhangshan County.

And as we all know, the defending army often does not include Ding Zhuang, who assists in defending the city, and the people who are responsible for transporting the defending equipment such as the rolling stones, so the manpower of the defending city is often much more than the besieging army in a certain sense, after all, it is difficult for the besieging army to really send the people who are responsible for transporting food to the front line.

And Chun Yuliang, who has been on the front line of Nanchen for a long time, knows very well what the situation is in this Zhangshan County. An empty city with nothing meant that it was difficult for the defending army to get help and support from the people and people in the city, even if it was under the coercion of the sword.

More importantly, the entire Zhangshan County, whether it is grain, grass or equipment, is probably indebted.

Chun Yuliang didn't know what kind of courage these two young generals had to advance to Zhangshan County, but Chun Yuliang knew that what they did was tantamount to inlaying a nail in the only way for Yu Chi Yuan, and Wei Chi Yuan could really be said to be like a fish in his throat.

As a veteran who has competed with Yu Chi Yuan many times since the Southern Liang period, Wei Chi Yu is unlucky, and of course he is happy to be happy.

Although Chun Yuliang knew that Xiao Shilian and Li Xinchen were both Xiao Maha's people, it was Xiao Maha, under Wu Mingche's vigorous cultivation and promotion, that became the out-and-out first person in the Nanchen military.

Before Wu Mingche, this position was originally Chun Yuliang, but because Wu Mingche grabbed Chun Yuliang's task and led the army to the Northern Expedition successfully, this position fell into the hands of Wu Mingche, and now it has fallen into the hands of Xiao Maha, which has nothing to do with Chun Yuliang.

However, Chun Yuliang did not have prejudice against Li Xinchen and Xiao Shilian because of some jealousy and dissatisfaction with Xiao Maha, as a veteran who has been fighting on the battlefield for many years, he can still grasp the public and private, Wu Mingche grabbed Chun Yuliang's position and led the army to attack Huainan, although Chun Yuliang was dissatisfied with this, but he still let his sons on the front line fully cooperate to ensure the safety of Wu Mingche's flank.

This time is also the same reason, in the face of the letter of help sent from Zhangshan County, Chun Yuliang did not hesitate at all:

"How long will it take for Suizhou to take it down?"