Lulongsai, now Xifengkou, Hebei, is located in the easternmost part of the foothills of Xuwu Mountain, between two mountains. The left side is Meishan, the right side is Yunshan, Luanhe southeast path Lulongsai, the road from Wuzhong County east out of the Luanhe River, to Linlan, east to Qingcheng, the danger of Lulong, Junhan lingers, so there is the name of Jiuzheng.

Liu He stood on the pass and looked up for a long time, standing on the tower of Lu Long. The height of the big silk is about ten zhang and towers into the clouds, and the black flag is embroidered with a huge "Han" character.

Is the battle for the glory of the Han about to begin!

The iron horse breaks the formation, the wind spear, and gallops the only Han athlete. Ring knife cold clothes, cut off the frost of Lulong, and Baiyun was born in a hundred battles of red sunset. Hengduan Yanshan, who dares to compete for the edge, swallowing whales and shaking Yue only needs a knife light.

After receiving Han Dang's troops back to Lulong, Liu He asked Cheng Pu to understand the situation of the fortress, and he sent men out of the city to cut down the trees near the city, dig trenches, and divert the water of the Luan River as a moat, so as to prepare for defending the city; While going down to the barracks, it took a few days to familiarize myself with the situation in the various departments.

The Art of War: Know yourself and know your opponent! A big war is about to be ushered in, and soldiers can not know the generals, and they will not be able to know the soldiers.

The fortress originally had 2,000 defenders plus 1,000 reinforcements from Liu He, a total of more than 3,400 soldiers, only 600 cavalry, and the rest were all infantry.

Generally speaking, infantry is divided into three categories. One is the "armor soldier", that is, the hoplite, the soldiers are strong and brave, the hard armor is complete, and the equipment is equipped with heavy sharp weapons such as halberds, ge, spears, etc.; One is light infantry, without armor, using light short-handled weapons such as knives, swords, and shields; One type is the "Kick Zhangshi", that is, the crossbowmen, who use bows and crossbows.

The largest number of these more than 3,400 county soldiers were light infantry, accounting for more than half, 1,600 people; The second was the crossbowmen, about 800 men; The number of armor soldiers was the least, only 400.

The armor and light infantry were mixed together, and more than 2,000 people were organized into a "department". According to the usual practice, the crossbowmen and cavalry were organized independently and organized into three "songs".

Liu He personally went down to the various units and songs, and walked over one team after another, carefully verifying the number of soldiers, carefully inspecting the equipment of the non-commissioned officers, and at the same time carefully inquiring about the training situation on weekdays.

It's just that not every one of these 3,400 or so people can go into battle to kill the enemy. Liu He found a lot of white-haired veterans in various songs and teams, when he asked about his age, the older ones were in their sixties, and the younger ones were in their fifties, and they couldn't wear armor or weapons, so how could they go into battle to kill the enemy?

In the Han generation, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "recruitment" was divided into two categories, one was temporary recruitment and disbandment after the war; One category is long-serving professional soldiers. The poem of Yuefu sang: "Fifteen from the army, eighty years to return", referring to the latter kind of recruitment, those fifty or sixty veterans in the fortress also belong to the latter.

However, there are differences between the two. The poem of Yuefu sings the story of an old soldier who went out with the army, couldn't help himself, wanted to go home but couldn't go back, but these veterans in the fortress stayed in the army because their families were poor and stayed in the army for a good meal. It is not easy for the people to live in the army, and it is better to stay in the army and have food and clothing than to be hungry and full.

There are such veterans in each song, and according to statistics, there are more than 100 people. At this juncture, it is not appropriate to dismiss him, in case he provokes someone wronged, it is not beautiful. Liu He simply organized them into a tun and was responsible for logistics and supply.

After settling the old soldiers and investigating the situation, Liu He called the officers above the commander of the tun together and held a small meeting. The purpose of the meeting was twofold, one was to get acquainted with the officers, and the other was to mobilize before the war and boost morale.

Cheng Pu said: "The fortress ditch is deep and high, the city wall is strong, although there are only more than 3,000 soldiers, but there are many large households in the rear Xu Wucheng, with its guests, disciples, slaves and maids, you can get thousands of people, in addition, if you are unfortunate enough to break through the pass and retreat to Xu Wu, there are tens of thousands of people in the city, go to its old and weak women, and there are 10,000 young and strong people who can help prevent and kill thieves." There are strong walls outside, and there are 20,000 soldiers and civilians capable of fighting inside. What's more, the fortress has more than enough food and plenty of ordnance. ”

Liu He thought for a moment and asked Cheng Pu: "Demou, you said 'there is more food for the soldiers', how much grain is in the current plug?" ”

"It's enough for 10,000 people to eat for half a year."

That's the good news.

At this time, Wu Yan, the great leader of Wuhuan, looked at the pale and weak sun in the sky and shrunk his neck. The wind on the grassland was too strong, and before it was very cold, the cold air had already begun to burrow into the clothes.

Uyan was a sturdy middle-aged man, about forty years old, tall and burly. Due to the erosion of time, wrinkles crept up on his forehead prematurely. He had wolf-like eyes, and the fierceness and cunning were written on his thin face. When he was young, he was also a good man on the grassland, and he was famous for his bravery and good killing. Later, he inherited the tribe left by his father and took the lead in claiming the throne in the clan, and those bureaucrats of the Han Dynasty were afraid that they would cause trouble, so they went to make trouble.

When the Xianbei people found him and discussed joining forces to attack Lulongsai and invade the hinterland of Youzhou, he agreed without hesitation. He had been looking forward to this day for many years. In order to get more property and land after the invasion, Wuyan had many negotiations with his old friend, Mika, the leader of the Xianbei in the east, and the Xianbei people were still relatively generous and basically met his requirements. So he led an army of 3,000 to Changyugouzi according to the plan.

The Xianbei army consisted of five thousand troops from the four major tribes of Xianbei in the east plus some small tribes who were willing to participate, and soon after they also arrived at Changyugouzi.

The army marched quickly across the steppe.

Looking at the galloping team of flags fluttering and war horses, and looking at the excited faces, Wu Yan felt happy in his heart: Lu Longsai waited for me to take you down, I will dismantle you, and see how you will stand in my way in the future.

Wu Yan saw Xianbei's friendly army Que Ji galloping towards him, surrounded by several guards. Uyan hurriedly greeted him. Although he is known as the King of Khanlu, his strength and wealth are not more than Que Ji's, and it is simply a joke that he puts the king's score in front of these people.

"The king has worked hard." Que Ji casually arched his hand and said hello.

Que Ji is also a middle-aged man in his forties.

"The leader is hard." Uyan also arched his hand: "Thirty miles away is Lu Longsai." ”

Que Ji smiled nonchalantly: "The siege tools sent by the big leader are just in use. We people are used to fighting on horseback, and we still have to work harder to attack the city. ”

Uyan nodded in agreement.

Cheng Pu was awakened by the rapid sound of drums, and he got up from his chair and strode out of the room, the guards by the door all looking ahead with nervous eyes.

In order to see the enemy approaching Lu Longsai at the first time, Cheng Pu deliberately rushed to the sentry tower. Because he was so tired lately, he fell asleep sitting in the house before he knew it.

Cheng Pu saw the enemy, and from the distant horizon, a huge group of enemies slowly walked in. Luronse's soldiers flocked to the tower almost at the same time as they heard the sound of the alarm drums. Liu He and Huang Zhong crowded to the edge of the battlements of the city wall and looked out over the prairie outside the fortress.

Wuyan's 3,000 troops were in the center, Xianbei Queji's 2,500 troops were on the left flank, and Xianbei Suli's 2,500 troops were on the right flank.

Colorful battle flags fluttered in the wind, bright swords, guns, swords and halberds were dazzling, groups of infantry marched in neat steps, and columns of cavalry lined up in a long queue, under the command of the loud and high horns, stepped on the same pace and walked firmly.

On the city wall, the Han army silently lined up in a scattered formation, motionless as the enemy gradually approached Lulongsei, and everyone's heartbeat followed the pace of the enemy's advance, and the nervous beat.

Liu He slowly saw the enemy's banner clearly, and he suddenly saw Suli's battle flag coming in his direction.

Cheng Pu saw that the sergeants quickly woke up from the shock, and nodded with great satisfaction. He turned back to the herald standing behind him and said, "Tell the drummers to beat the drums!" ”

The herald immediately withdrew from the crowd and said to the flag commander standing on the outermost part: "Order the drum to be beaten." ”

The flag commander immediately jumped to the battlements of the city wall and stood at the drum stand on the Lulong Tower.

The fierce sound of drums sounded in the ears of every soldier like a muffled thunder from the sky. The sergeants immediately scattered like a frying pan in search of the battle flags of their troops, and rallied under the battle flags as quickly as possible.

Cheng Pu looked at the two soldiers on the left and right of the plug lined up in formation, and he couldn't help but feel a lot of pride in his heart.

He jerked out his long sword, held it high above the top, and shouted: "Kill ...... for my big man"

The soldiers around him followed him and raised their arms and shouted: "Kill ......"

The soldiers farther away heard it, all the soldiers heard it, even the drummers heard them, and they all raised their arms and shouted, "Kill...... Kill ......"

A killing sound rushed straight into the sky, shocking the sky.

As if he hadn't heard the shouts of the Han army, Wu Yan rode on his horse with an expressionless face and led the army to move forward resolutely.

The two sides were three hundred paces apart, and Uyan raised his hand to signal the army to stop, and the eight thousand men and horses stopped in unison as if they were one man, at the sound of a huge bull's horn.

The Han army stood silently and neatly on the city tower, watching the movement of the enemy army and preparing to enter the battle at any time.