After teasing Xu Cheng, Shan Jian cheered up a little, intertwined his fingers, sat in the chair, thought for a while, and asked, "How many troops are there in the city now?" ”

"The 24,000 people of the Yanzhou army, plus the 1,600 people brought by General Xu from Shou County, after deducting tonight's casualties, about 25,000." Bailizan looked at him: "What are your ideas?" ”

Shan Jian touched his smooth chin and smiled, and said, "Twenty-five thousand, double it is fifty thousand." ”

Everyone looked at him with surprised eyes, and Zhiying asked, "How do you turn it?" ”

Shan Jian said with a smile: "Great change of people, leave 5,000 people in the city to guard the pass, General Cao took the rest of the people to bypass from the south, go around to the rear of the Beidi army, and when they start to attack the city, they will cover up from the hiding place, and then raise a handsome banner of the Ganzhou army, to be big, to be eye-catching, and then go to the city gate and shout that the Ganzhou pastor sent a certain number of 20,000 people to come to help, the battlefield is chaotic, who has time to count how many you came?" In this way, isn't there 50,000 people in Huben Pass? ”

"Fabricate momentum to scare off the Beidi army?" Bailizan thought about it and felt that it was not very reliable, "50,000 people can scare the Beidi army back?" I can't see it, and this trick can only be used once, to support the death can make the enemy think that we have 50,000 people, but if we really fight, the real strength will soon be exposed, and don't forget, there is still a spy in the city who has not been eliminated, and the troop movement must not be hidden from his eyes, in case it is discovered, 20,000 people are trapped in the enemy formation and cannot come back, and then we will all have to die. ”

Shan Jian shook his head unhurriedly: "Once there are 20,000 'Ganzhou Army', the Beidi people will not dare to act rashly, it's not that they're afraid of us, it's just that you think that the reason why they can seize the gap that the prince is not in the city must be that they reached a consensus with Cui Jie and obtained the information sent by Xie Yong, so what does it mean for the Ganzhou Army to help the war at this time?" ”

Zhiying muttered as if he had realized something: "The prince and the emperor are not in harmony, Ganzhou Mu Xuan does not dare to send troops to help hastily, once we forge the illusion of Ganzhou reinforcements, it is equivalent to telling the Beidi people that they were deceived by the emperor, and the emperor's real intention is to exterminate them outside the Yanzhou Huben Pass." ”

"Yes," Shan Jian nodded, "it may not be enough to intimidate the wolves, but if it makes them suspicious, the rest will be easy." ”

"What's next?"

Shan Jian smiled slightly, the laziness on his body was swept away, and he became radiant and full of confidence: "The next thing is the point, after the reinforcements from Ganzhou successfully make the Beidi people suspicious, send a team of dead soldiers, still bypassing from the south......"

Bailizan couldn't help but interject: "Burn grain and grass? - No, could it be that it is to send grain and grass? ”

At this time, Cao Qian also reacted, and sat up straight in the chair: "Let the dead soldiers carry more than a dozen carts of rice, pretending to be the people sent by Ganzhou to reward them at the behest of the imperial court?" Good idea! In this way, you can mix in and burn the grain and grass of the Beidi people! ”

"The idea is good, but it's a pity that the people who go to burn grain and grass and a few carts of grain." Thinking of the situation of not having enough to eat before, Zhiying said a little bitterly.

Shan Jian squinted at her and said slowly: "Madam, the war is so cruel, it is too kind of a woman to sit on the dragon chair." ”

Zhiying nodded ashamedly, and Bailizan came out with a smile to relieve the siege: "Then it's decided, without further ado, I can only ask General Cao to immediately order troops on the road, and as for the person who pretends to reward the envoy, I will arrange it again." ”

Cao Qian went without saying a word, Xu Cheng sat in the chair, and then he barely squeezed out an exclamation: "Is this okay?" ”

"Soldiers don't get tired of deceit." Shan Jian lightly dropped this sentence and went home to sleep.

At this moment, there are still seven days before Cui Yi rushes back to Yanzhou Mansion, seven days, to be able to deceive the Beidi people, it is best to let the dead go in to burn the grain and grass, if they can't be deceived, at least they have to make them suspicious, even if they believe that Cui Jie did not betray them, the origin of the ghostly 20,000 people is enough to make them jealous, and if Cui Yi comes back, he will have a better chance of winning.

At dawn the next day, the Beidi army began a new round of siege, and Xu Cheng took over the city defense, standing on the city tower and commanding archery and stone throwing.

After last night's temptation, the Beidi people seem to have confirmed that Cui Yi is not in the city, and the people sent today are more than twice as many as last night, and the plains outside the gate are densely packed with people, and the city-breaking car is carrying thousands of catties of wooden mallets to bombard the city gate, and every time it shakes the ground.

The arrows on both sides came and went, covering the sky and the sun, and before Zhiying walked up to the city tower, he was frightened by an arrow that was diagonally nailed into the wooden pillar and took a step back.

Xu Cheng hurried over after receiving the report and said loudly: "The Beidi people are menacing, please go to a safe place!" ”

The war drums roared loudly, and Zhiying covered his ears and shouted: "I'm afraid that there won't be enough arrows, so I specially asked someone to prepare some substitutes and send them over, and I'll go back when I send them!" ”

Substitute? Xu Cheng looked behind her, but it was a group of people carrying a large clay jar, and the liquid in the jar was rippling, but it was not water.

"This is the oil I collected from the people of the city overnight! There is also a large iron pot and a charcoal stove! If someone comes up, splash boiling oil on their face! ”

Xu Cheng laughed and laughed, yesterday Shan Jian was still talking about her woman's kindness, and today she can splash people with boiling oil. "Got it! Thank you, ma'am! ”

Burns are always more painful than sword wounds, and the boiling oil heats up quickly, and just as someone came up the ladder, the soldiers exhaled a spoonful of boiling oil, and the man suddenly screamed and fell directly from the city gate a few feet high.

After a while, Bailizan, who had arranged the dead soldiers, also came to the city tower, and was stunned for a moment when he saw a large row of oil pots, and then was overjoyed: "Is there still more oil?" Splashed with a bucket according to the siege engine! Throw the torch downwards after splashing, quick! ”

The soldiers did so one after another, and barrels of boiling oil poured down from the city gates, making the Beidi army operating the siege vehicles cry for their fathers and mothers.

Immediately after Xu Cheng's order, countless torches and rockets whizzed towards the array of vehicles full of oil.

The wooden catapults were already flammable, and when they were poured with hot oil, they were so unstoppable that in the blink of an eye, they were on fire, and the oil-stained soldiers were burned and rolled in the sun—but there was oil on the ground, too! The hot armor is deformed, and you can't take it off, so you can only endure the taste of a soldering iron.

Many people were burned alive on the battlefield, and most of those who did not bother to attack the city, rolling on the ground without their lives, or fleeing to the river, and the mighty siege war ended with charred human flesh and scrapped siege engines.

There were not too many people burned, but there were countless people who were burned, scalded, and severely burned, and the oil caught fire could not be extinguished with water, and nearly half of the catapults of the Beidi army were burned, and they did not dare to launch another offensive for a while.

When the good news reached the palace, Zhiying was reading the letter written back by Cui Yi.

"Everyone's worked hard! I can't do anything about military affairs, and I will wait for the prince to come back and then reward my deeds. Zhiying asked the soldier who had come to report the victory to reward him with some money, and sent him away.

A few days ago, after Cui Yi rescued Yang Qiong, he wrote a letter in a nearby post house, asking someone to send it back quickly, the letter mentioned that Yang Qiong was defeated and injured, and she might come back later than expected.

Zhiying put down the letterhead helplessly, looked at the sunset outside the door and sighed.

It seems that Cui Yi really can't expect Cui Yi to come back and lead everyone to repel the Beidi army, fortunately, he had this plan from the beginning, Shanjian is good at playing with people's hearts, "Ganzhou reinforcements" and "Ganzhou grain transporters" have appeared successively, which can make the Beidi people unable to figure out the north and south, even if they think that this may be a plan, they will never think that the two teams of people are fake, if you want to figure it out, you have to let the grain envoy go in for questioning, and once the person enters, the grain and grass of the Beidi army will be finished.

It is a long distance from Changyao City, the capital of the King of Beidi, to Hubenguan, and once the grain and grass are cut off, they can only retreat.

I can only pray that everything goes well.

Just as she was praying for the best, something unsatisfactory happened again.

As soon as he heard that the Beidi people were coming to attack the city last night, Zhiying ordered Xie Yong to be arrested, and was ready to wait for Cui Yi to come back and deal with it.

Xie Yong is just a chess piece of Cui Jie, a chess piece destined to be sacrificed in this game of chess of the dragon and the tiger.

After dinner, Zhiying handed over Xiao Cui Xian to the nurse to take to rest, and she planned to go to Shan Jian to discuss the next plan.

The place where Shan Jian lived was only half a street away from the palace, and Zhiying only took Xiaoqiu with her, and walked over after cooking by the way.

There was still a war outside the city, as soon as the sun set, there was no one on the street, Zhi Yingzheng felt a little lonely, and two people suddenly rushed out of the alley on the side, and before she could react, a handkerchief dipped in something unknown covered her mouth and nose, and she lost consciousness after struggling a few times.

Xie Yong held Zhiying's mouth and nose with one hand, hugged her waist with the other, and said with difficulty: "Hurry up!" ”

Xie Yuchan on the side was clumsy, she couldn't cover Xiaoqiu, the handkerchief also fell, she didn't care about picking it up, so she covered her mouth with her hand, Xiaoqiu was not a simple person, she wanted to scream when she saw that the situation was not good, and when she was covered her mouth, she bit Xie Yuchan's finger fiercely, Xie Yuchan screamed in pain, picked up a stone on the side of the road and smashed it on her head.

Xiaoqiu also fainted, and Xie Yuchan smashed it a few more times in anger, until Xie Yong urged in a low voice: "Okay!" Come on! The two dragged the unconscious Zhiying and Xiaoqiu into the alley and stuffed them into a carriage.

Xie Yong asked his sister to hide in the car, and drove the car to the south gate by himself.

He has never been taken seriously in the camp of King Wu, and few people in the army recognize him, Xie Yong lied that he wanted to take his sister-in-law to the doctor for medical treatment, and the soldiers guarding the city opened the curtain to take a look, and found nothing abnormal, so he let him go.

When Bailizan finished his work, he went to the palace to report in person, only to find that Zhiying was gone.

"Madame said she was coming to me?" Shan Jian rushed over when he heard the news, and there was a rare serious look on his face, "When did it happen?" I've been at home all day today and haven't been out, so why haven't I seen her? ”

The subordinate who went to the dungeon to deliver food crawled in and reported, saying that Xie Yongmi had overturned the jailer and ran away, Bailizan had a bad premonition, and immediately took someone to the courtyard of Xie Yuchan under house arrest to check, and the guard guarding the door said that there was no abnormality, but when he pushed the door open, the two maids were also stunned, and Xie Yuchan also lost her shadow.

Bailizan was going crazy: "How can this be! ”

Shan Jian turned his head and ordered the soldiers in the palace: "Immediately block the city gate, no one is allowed to enter or leave!" ”

It's a pity that it was late, and when they learned that someone who looked like Xie Yong had gone out of the city in the evening, Xie Yong had already disappeared with someone.