The excavated earth was piled up in front of the ditch and filled with stones, so that it became a low earth wall as high as two meters, and left holes for crossbows and arrows, which was also very strong. Then push the mule cart to the inner perimeter of the earthen wall, strengthening the strength of the earthen wall against the enemy's onslaught.

Beyond the low walls, sharpened wooden pouts and thistles covered the slopes, and there were pits, trips, and ropes, and in a word, traps and traps everywhere to deal with the enemy's onslaught.

And the grass in the woods around it will be destroyed, and all of them will be removed, so that the enemy will not have something to hide.

The barracks were based on the former method, using eight formations, with the main camp in the center and the six armies on two wings, forming a semicircle protruding forward. The camp is more than three feet away from the low earthen wall, and unless the earthen wall is breached, the camp will be out of range of enemy arrows.

After a few days of busyness, I finally managed to open a trench outside, set up a barrier inside, and then lay wood outside the trench to trap the pit, and defend it with a strong bow and a hard crossbow, which is really solid.

In order to prevent the enemy from attacking, Zhang Xiaotian dug a ditch with the water from the mountain spring behind him and introduced it into the camp. By the time everything was set up, five or six days had passed.

On this day, when Zhang Xiaotian commanded his subordinates to set up rolling stones on the top of the slope, the spies reported that they found a group of horse thieves with a strength of nearly 10,000 people coming from the plain.

Everyone suddenly knew in their hearts that it must be an enemy who had been waiting for them for a long time in the grassland, and finally couldn't bear to attack them head-on.

And this also proves that their guess is right, if there is no regular Pengcheng soldiers and horses mixed in these enemies, no one will believe it.

Even though they knew that this was the case, they still couldn't understand why Tao Qian was so desperate, and the only explanation was that he didn't want the court to wedge a nail in him and live under surveillance all day long.

As for the other reasons, it is not for them to know. Tonight was spent safely, and the next day, Zhang Xiaotian ordered all the soldiers on duty, except for the soldiers on duty, to rest so that they could recuperate and deal with the attack of the incoming enemy.

Fortunately, they captured a large number of weapons, arrows, and food from the Red Eyebrow, and they were not afraid of running out of food for ten days and a half.

Another thing that the enemy didn't expect was that they would build a city, so they probably didn't have the tools to deal with it, so it would be much easier for them to deal with it.

At dusk, the mighty horse thieves appeared on the plain and set up camp, as if the two armies were facing each other.

Zhang Xiaotian was carefully observing the enemy at this time, and suddenly lost his voice: "Look! Isn't that a red eyebrow? The others used their eyes to see a group of thieves galloping closer, looking up at them, and the leader was none other than Red Eyebrow.

Chen Cheng said angrily: "In this way, Red Eyebrows must be Tao Qian's people, those horse thieves are also dressed up by officials and soldiers, and they are responsible for disrupting the economy and security of the imperial court, Tao Qian is really vicious!" ”

Gongsun Ce shook his head and sighed, "I really don't understand why the imperial court would marry our most beautiful princess to Tao Qian's ungrateful bastard. ”

Chen Cheng was frightened and said, "You speak carefully, if it reaches the ears of the imperial court, you and your people will be in great trouble." ”

Gongsun Ce smiled bitterly: "Then let's live tonight!" ”

Zhang Xiaotian knew that he saw that the thief was huge, and his strength was ten times that of his own, and his heart was empty. It can be seen from this that other people will also have this mentality, which has a huge impact on morale, and with a frown, he said to Chen Cheng: "Prepare a batch of rockets for me immediately, I can use them tonight." ”

After speaking, he ignored their puzzled gazes, returned to the camp, and after collecting all the tools, he walked towards the back of the camp. Came between the camp and the cliffs behind the mountain,

Zhang Xiaotian raised his head and carefully studied the shape of the cliff and the nearby mountains, and easily climbed it with a rope hook, until he climbed to the top of the stone mountain next door, put on a thick rope, and then climbed back to the camp.

As long as he climbed over the neighboring mountains, he could easily descend from this "secret path" to the plains dozens of zhang away, and he could carry out any secret operations at any time.

As soon as he returned to the handsome tent, Chen Cheng came to him in a hurry, "Come and have a look with me!" ”

When Zhang Xiaotian came to the front line again, he saw that the thieves below had already taken action, cutting down trees, sharpening one end, each about a zhang long, and placing it neatly on the ground.

"What do they want to do!" He Bao frowned;

Zhang Xiaotian also muttered at this time, and then suddenly realized: "What they are making now is a tool to attack our earth city.

All they had to do was lay the trunks side by side on the slope so they wouldn't be afraid of our arrows. ”

Gongsun Ce said in horror: "This trick is very clever, as long as the front and back are put together, not only do we not have to be afraid of rolling stones, but also can block our vision, so that we can't see their dynamics clearly." ”

He Bao sneered: "If they want to lay down this thing, I'm afraid they will have to pay a terrible price first." Then he sighed, "If only they had fewer soldiers and horses." ”

The implication is that even if they will sacrifice many people, the remaining army will still be able to break through the earthen city.

"Relax! I have my own clever plan, you come to see their barracks, there is no defense at all, and the grain, grass and horses are left behind.

If we send surprise soldiers to burn their grain and grass armaments, what do you say their expressions will be, the enemy has committed a military taboo at this time, it is to underestimate the enemy.! Zhang Xiaotian said with a smile on his face;

At this time, He Bao and the other three were frowning, watching the enemy encircling this hill, and secretly said in their hearts: Where is the other party underestimating the enemy, but rats, I am afraid it will be difficult to sneak out and set fire to the camp.

Zhang Xiaotian smiled slightly at this time, didn't speak again, returned to the camp and fell asleep, and when he woke up, it was already dusk, and Mrs. Fen was waiting for him to eat together.

Zhang Xiaotian was full of energy at this time, and after freshening up, he ate three bowls of rice in a row. "It seems that you have already figured out a strategy against the enemy, but I really can't figure out why you still have the certainty of breaking the enemy this time." Mrs. Fen looked at him strangely,

Zhang Xiaotian took her into his arms and said with a smile: "Fen'er, are you afraid?" ”

Mrs. Fen smiled: "I was really scared when I didn't see you, but after I saw you, I was suddenly not afraid of anything." That's right! Go to the fourth princess and see her! She said she had something to do with you. ”

Zhang Xiaotian secretly said in his heart at this time: These four princesses give him more headaches than those horse thieves. After entering the tent of the four princesses, I saw the beautiful four princesses waving off the maids,

came to him and said shyly, "Xiao Tian, can I borrow something from you?" Zhang Xiaotian asked strangely when he heard this: "Then what do you want to borrow?" “

"I want the dagger you have with me."

Zhang Xiaotian trembled in his heart and said: "You have no confidence in me, we will definitely be able to return to Chang'an." ”

"I don't want you to take me back to Chang'an, I can go anywhere, just don't return to Chang'an." The fourth princess said shyly.

There are no words that can clearly express her affection for Zhang Xiaotian more clearly than these words.

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaotian's blood rushed up at the moment, and he came out of his mouth, "Okay!" I promise you, even if you return to Chang'an, I will have a way to take you out of Chang'an unharmed. ”

"That's true!" I heard that the four princesses were shocked;

At this time, Zhang Xiaotian felt that her whole pretty face was bright, full of vitality, and gritted her teeth and said, "This is a man's promise!" ”

After saying this, the whole person became relaxed.

In fact, since he learned that the imperial court wanted him to steal the "Secret Record of Duke Lu", and then learned from Finfu's mouth that he had another task to secretly escort the fourth princess to Pengcheng to complete the marriage,

So he had the idea that he couldn't make this kind of sacrifice to be an accomplice to the lifelong happiness of the fourth princess, and he couldn't breathe.

However, now that I have expressed my intentions, the stone in my heart has finally landed, and I feel extremely relaxed.

Then he took out the dagger and stuffed it into her little hand, "You must not kill yourself with this dagger unless it is a critical moment." "Knock...... Boom!!! "At this moment the sound of war drums came from down the mountain,

Seeing the situation under the mountain, Chen Cheng and the others' faces were like ashes, only He Bao still had that cold expression.

At this time, the enemy had succeeded in laying down all the escape routes under the mountain with rows of wooden platoons about two meters wide on the ground.

There is only one foot of space left between the wooden rafts, which can only be passed by one person, and cannot be passed if you are riding a horse. A posture of catching the fish in the urn.

Wind lanterns are hung on the top of the wooden rafts, like searchlights in the 21st century, illuminating the slope below.

At this time, nearly 4,000 horse thieves gathered outside the wooden raft, and the 400 men at the front held a huge wooden shield as high as a human body, and the bottom of the shield was sharpened, so that it could enter the earth and resist the attack of the arrows and stones.

Another two to three hundred people armed with hoes and shovels and other tools, apparently to break through the obstacles on the slope and fill in the pits with spikes.

Followed by

The lineup is a thousand long-range attackers with crossbow bows, and then there are thieves with long weapons such as hooks, spears, halberds, etc., and the lineup is at its peak, which makes people feel chilled to see.

At this time, Red Eyebrows and several leader-like people stood tall on their horses, pointing at them, obviously discussing attack countermeasures.

At this time, He Bao pointed to the big man with a donkey face next to Red Eyebrows and said: "That person's name is 'Donkey Man' Liao Hua, a famous horse thief in this area, as famous as Red Eyebrows, I can't imagine that he is also Tao Qian's person." ”

Zhang Xiaotian said at this time: "In this way, this 10,000-strong army should be horse thieves distributed in various places, but these horse thieves are all people sent by Tao Qian.

Oh! I somewhat understand that Tao Qian's treatment of us is of course to sweep away the spies of the imperial court, but it also contains personal grudges, because I have killed and injured a large number of red-eyebrow people. ”

Then I realized in my heart that it was no wonder that Li Lei secretly communicated the news to Chimei that day, asking Chimei to rob horses and women, because they were all spies sent by Tao Qian to Chang'an to stir up trouble and trouble.