Langya County, Linyi City.

Because the city is next to Yishui, the name of the city is Linyi.

Li Xiuning was leading his troops to move to Linyi City at this time, and in front of her, there were three letters.

The first letter was given to her by her husband Luo Cheng, in which Luo Cheng talked about the current situation, and also told Li Xiuning about the future trend, saying that war was imminent and inevitable, so she was mentally prepared.

Luo Cheng asked Li Xiuning to beware of Pengcheng guarding Chen Ling, this is a die-hard loyalist, he sent people to contact him a few times, and found that this guy was very loyal to Sui, so Luo Cheng gave up his plan to win him over.

It was after Li Xiuning received this letter that she found a reason to leave from Chen Ling's camp in Dangshan in the eastern part of Liang County, and she left with more than 20,000 county soldiers on the pretext that there were bandits and bandits in the rear, and went down the Bianhe River through Pengcheng to enter Xiapi, and then returned to Linyi against the Yishui.

There is also a reason why Linyi was chosen to garrison instead of Xiapi County or Donghai County.

Linyi is surrounded by mountains on the west, north and east, and at the same time is close to the Yishui River. The most important thing is that the south of Linyi is the Huanghuai Plain, a horse and a flat river.

But between the mountains on the west, north and east sides, there are still several passages guarded, which can go north to Lu County and Qi County, and can go to Gaomi and Donglai to the northeast, and can also go down the river to Pengcheng and Huai'an in the south.

To put it bluntly, Linyi is an important place that guards the exit from the mountainous areas of eastern Shandong.

During the Warring States Period, the Muling Pass set up by the Great Wall of Qi in Linyi was the first pass in the world at that time.

Garrisoning Linyi means that it can be attacked, retreated, and defended.

Li Xiuning saw through her husband's strategic deployment at a glance, so after she retreated to Linyi, she was stationed in Linyi City, and sent soldiers and horses to be stationed at the foot of the mountain on the west, north, and east sides to support each other.

The second letter on her desk was sent by her father, Li Yuan.

Li Yuan wrote to his daughter to tell him that the imperial court was going to take action against Luo Cheng, and his attitude was very resolute, and Luo Cheng was likely to oppose. But Li Yuan thinks that Luo Cheng's rebellion may not succeed much, after all, although the world is chaotic now, the hundred-legged insect will not be stiff. The most important thing is that Li Yuan thinks that the Luo family has a shallow foundation, and at most he will be supported by some border soldiers, and there will not be many clan lords to support him, and without their support, it will be difficult for a border general from a poor family to have a chance to succeed in the rebellion.

Although there are successful precedents such as Liu Yu and Chen Baxian in history, it was different from today after all.

Li Yuan asked his daughter to control the soldiers and horses in his hand, and he would send Jiancheng over, and then let Xiuning hand over the soldiers and horses to Li Jiancheng, so that they would become the capital of the Li family.

"Although you are the wife of the Luo family, you are the daughter of the Li family. Now that Luo Cheng is rebellious, you can't follow him to make trouble, you go back to the Li family, and your father will find you a son of a well-connected soldier to marry you. ”

Picked up the letter again and read it again, but in the end, Li Xiuning just shook his head.

She muttered a soft sigh.

"The daughter who got married, the water that was spilled, the daughter is now the wife of the Luo family, for the Luo Li family, Luo is in front and Li is in the back. Marry a chicken with a chicken, marry a dog with a dog, marry a husband, no longer follow the father. I'm sorry, father, my daughter is not filial. ”

Putting down the letter, she picked up the third one, but it was sent by her father-in-law Luo Gui.

Luo Gui said that the army is about to start now, so let Li Xiuning go back to Donglai, it is safer over there, and here in Linyi, he will send the second Chengzong to defend it.

"Summoning all the generals and lieutenants to come to discuss the matter, I have an important matter to inform." Li Xiuning called in his own soldiers.

·······

Pengcheng.

Doctor Guanglu, Neishi Shilang, and Governor Rong Guogong came to Hu'er to rush to Dangshan, and he arrived in Pengcheng first, but Chen Ling was in the Dangshan camp, so he came all the way.

Dangshan, guarded by Chen Ling, is at the intersection of Pengcheng County, Liang County, and Qian County, with Dangshan Mountain at its back, and the canal in front of it.

"Rong Gong, you're a step too late."

As soon as they met, Chen Ling told Laihu'er with some regret that before he received the secret order from the imperial court, Li Xiuning had already left with more than 20,000 township soldiers on the grounds of going back to suppress the bandits and quell the chaos.

"Now that Li Xiuning has been stationed in Linyi, she has 20,000 township soldiers, and a 1,000-strong Turkic cavalry, who crossed the sea from Liaodong."

Laihu'er listened and sighed.

"The imperial court's previous attitude towards the Luo family has always been hesitant, and as a result, they have lost a lot of time by fighting over each other."

"Rong Gong, what should I do now? Sending troops to conscript? ”

Lai Hu'er shook his head, as the prime minister, came to Pengcheng, then he was the pacification envoy in Henan and Shandong, and even the Huainan pacification envoy was subject to his moderation.

It can be said that as long as he comes to Hu'er to fight, then Chen Ling will send troops.

However, as the prime minister, although he has a lot of power, he has a lot of things to weigh.

"I'm not here to command the war, I'm here to eliminate this military crisis, not to start this war." In the DPRK, Lai Hu'er is also a mediator, not a hard-line suppressor like Xiao Yu.

"Don't fight? But Luo Cheng has already shown his countermarks, and his actions everywhere are all in the deployment of troops, if we don't seize the opportunity to attack, and when he is properly deployed, we will be passive. Chen Ling believes that it is impossible to succeed in reconciliation, it is impossible for Luo Cheng to hand over the military power, and at this point, even if Luo Chengzhen hands over the military power, it is impossible for the court to keep them thorough.

So, in the end, there is only fighting.

Of course, it is better to play late than early.

But Laihu'er also has his own troubles, fighting, what to beat.

When he came this time, the emperor sent him an army of Xiaoguo, but along the way, the more he looked at this army of soldiers and horses, the more he sighed. There are 25,000 people on the right side of the army, but there are few soldiers who are really capable of fighting. The army was filled with a large number of forcibly captured civilians, as well as homeless beggars, and even many of them were prisoners who had been held in previous prisons and rebels who had been recruited.

What is the use of such a team, even if the equipment is not bad.

It's really a fight, and Laihu'er doesn't have much chance of winning.

I don't even have a chance of winning, so what are you in a hurry to fight? Isn't this self-inflicted humiliation?

As a qualified commander, you can't fight an unprepared battle, let alone take the initiative to provoke a battle that has no chance of winning.

"Luo Cheng has not yet rebelled, so we can't take the initiative to provoke a war yet, and maybe things have not yet taken a turn for the better."

There are still some expectations for Laihu'er, and the imperial court has already sent a secret envoy to Liaodong outside the Guan, which may be the only hope.

Where the results didn't come back, Laihu'er wasn't ready to go to war first.

Of course, if you don't go to war first, you don't have to act.

After some discussion with Chen Ling, he decided to withdraw the main force of Dangshan's soldiers and horses to Pengcheng, leaving only a few thousand people to garrison here. Then, Laihu'er personally sat in Pengcheng and asked Chen Ling to lead his troops north to Lu County, which was known as Yanzhou in ancient times, and was the meeting place between the Qilu Mountains and the Huanghuai Plain.

Like Linyi, occupying Lu County is of great strategic significance.

"The Xiaoguo army led by Sima Dekan was stationed in Xiapi with 10,000 people, and Yu Wenhua led 10,000 people to be stationed in the East China Sea. Our four armies formed a line and blockaded Shandong. "Come to Hu'er.

Chen Ling was surprised, "Yu Wenhua, why did he come too, wasn't he exiled to Dunhuang, Hexi?" ”

In this regard, Lai Hu'er helplessly explained that when the emperor recalled Yu Wenshu, he had already issued an order to recall Yu Wenhua and his brothers at the same time. Yuwenshu died in Jiaozhi, but Yu Wenhua and He Zhihe still returned to Jiangdu. Because of Yu Wenshu's death, the emperor even let Yu Wenhua attack the Duke of Xu Guo, and even made him the general of Youyiwei, and this time he specially sent him with the army.

When Chen Ling heard this, he could only shake his head speechlessly and sigh.

The other party is a fierce man like Luo Cheng, Luo Siye, and Zhang Xutuo, but on his side is a guy like Yu Wenhua and Sima Dekan, how can this battle be fought?

Now he really hopes that the turning point that Laihu'er said will appear.