It's almost April, and the river valley should be full of tents and mountains full of cattle and sheep, but there is not a single shepherd in sight. The water of the river is crystal clear, and the banks of the river are verdant and stretch to the hills in the distance, where all kinds of birds are singing happily in the woods, and pheasants, rabbits, and foxes chase and play in the grass from time to time. But this quiet and peaceful scene was broken by the sound of the horse's hooves, and the foxes, rabbits, and pheasants fled to the woods as fast as they could, and disappeared, and the birds in the woods stopped singing, and circled over the trees in panic, and finally fluttered their wings and swooped down on the distant mountains, never to appear again.

Yang Wen stopped his horse, gasped, and pointed to the high mountain in the distance and said: "Geng Yanshi, the hills here are undulating, and Wu Gang's car can't go up anymore, this place is actually not suitable for the army to move, so you have to take it with you, you try to bring some fried noodles, fish floss, meat floss and the like, so that you can move for a while." ”

"You take Dingliao Zhongwei and Jinzhouwei over the mountain, go to the other side of the mountain to see, you must be very careful, there is not far from the fishing sea, if you meet the enemy, don't fall in love with the war, just retreat, I will build a simple camp on the opposite mountain to meet you."

Speaking of this, Yang Wen patted Geng Xuan's shoulder and said with emotion: "Brother Geng, my brother admires your courage very much, take care of yourself all the way." You must not fall in love with the war, the loss is too great to explain to the emperor. ”

Geng Xuan looked at his boss, grateful in his heart, Yang Wen actually took on a lot of responsibility for him, Yang Wen is a generous person and does not treat his subordinates harshly, but unfortunately sometimes he is too generous, resulting in his subordinates being careless, thinking of this, Geng Xuan hugged his fists and said: "Lord Commander, I will pay attention to it in the end, thank you, my lord." ”

Yang Wen also said solemnly: "Go ahead, be careful all the way." ”

The two said goodbye.

It took Geng Xuan and his cavalry three days to cross the high mountain, which was the middle ridge of the Great Xing'an Mountains, and the place where Yang Wen was located was called the Xing'an League in later generations.

After walking out of the mountains, Geng Xuan sent scouts around, and then asked everyone to hurry up and rest, and wait for the scouts to report before making a decision.

The scout cavalry was sent out for more than an hour, and Qiu Zengshi, the commander of the Dingliao Central Guard, reported to him: "Your Excellency, the scout cavalry sent out has two people back, but it seems that there is an enemy chasing them behind. ”

"Huh?" Geng Xuan stood on a high place, observed with a telescope, and found that this was indeed the case, and there were not many Mongolian cavalrymen behind, only five or six people, and he wondered in his heart, are the Mongols so stupid now? He dared to chase after him, and immediately ordered: "You take people to copy from behind, try to catch it alive, this general feels that there is a problem, you must ask it clearly." ”

"Okay, my lord."

After a short time, Qiu Zengshi escorted five Mongolians over and said, "My lord, one of them was accidentally killed, and there are only five left." ”

Geng Xuan ordered an immediate interrogation, and he continued to observe with a telescope, but in less than a stick of incense, Qiu Zengshi came over in person, a five-foot-tall man, but his steps were a little staggering, his face was pale, he walked up to Geng Xuan, and said in a low voice: "My lord, according to the Mongol captives, our army has been defeated. ”

What the? Geng Xuan's hands trembled, the telescope fell to the ground, he didn't care to pick it up, but grabbed Qiu Zengshi's neck and said viciously: "You dare to lie about the military situation?" ”

Qiu Zengshi was out of breath and couldn't help coughing, Geng Xuan hurriedly let go of his hand and said in disbelief: "Really? ”

"The last general didn't dare to believe it, but the five people all said so, saying that there are a lot of cavalry of our army scattered on the steppe today, and the Mongols gathered to arrest everywhere, and the six people just now thought they had a good opportunity, so they chased after them, according to them, caught a Han cavalryman, the Great Khan rewarded three sheep, and the armor did not have to be handed over."

"How is this possible?" Geng Xuan's mind was buzzing, and he grabbed the war horse before he could barely stand still. After a long while, Geng Xuan said, "What else?" ”

"No, by the way, they were all conscripted herdsmen, and their lele carts and wool were conscripted."

Lele car? Wool? What is it for? Geng Xuan couldn't figure it out when he scratched his head, but the situation was urgent and couldn't be delayed, so he immediately ordered: "General Qiu, you take the men and horses of your headquarters to search north, try to catch some nobles, kill all the others, and don't spread the news that we are here, and find our cavalry as much as possible, ask about the situation, you must return here before dark, and we will discuss what to do next." ”

Then he called Wu Sheng and said, "Brother, I will take 4,000 people to the south to check the situation, and the remaining 1,000 people will be handed over to you, you have to defend here, this is our retreat, we must not lose, otherwise we will never go back." ”

"Also, you send someone back over the mountain to tell Lord Yang, and ask him to mobilize the army, grain and grass to respond."

"Okay, big brother, the little brother will keep it, you have to be more careful."

"Hmm."

Valley, in the military tent.

Geng Xuan, Wu Sheng, and Qiu Zengshi sat opposite each other, speechless. After a long time, Geng Xuan sighed and said: "Now that the situation has become clear, our army has indeed been defeated, how it was defeated, it is not clear, how our army will act next, let's talk about your views." ”

Qiu Zengshi thought for a while and said: "My lord, the place where our army was defeated is about 300 miles away from here, according to the prisoners, the enemy has 200,000 cavalry, let's hurry up, it will be troublesome if it is discovered." ”

"Well, what about Wu Sheng?"

Wu Sheng had a careful personality, he didn't answer immediately, but rubbed his scalp, his lips tightened, and said in a deep voice: "The opinion of the last general is just the opposite, we have to stay." ”

"Why?" Qiu Zengshi and Geng Xuan asked together.

Wu Sheng held a stick in his hand, drew a few times on the ground, and said: "You see, our current position is here, the fishing sea is here, the place where our army was defeated is there, the distance between them is less than three hundred miles, the cavalry is fast and whipped, and it will be there in one day, we are all cavalry, if we can't beat it, as long as we retreat here and go up the mountain, the enemy will have no choice." In addition, even if our army is defeated, the enemy's losses will not be small, and after the enemy is victorious, he will inevitably go south and show off his might at our border, so we should only have small troops around, and we may not be able to fight a battle. ”

"We stayed for two purposes, one was to rescue our prisoners, these people who were captured will inevitably be taken to the rear, maybe not far from us, the robe is in distress, we must help; On the other hand, if our army is not completely annihilated and a part of the army flees south, then the king of Ning and the king of Gu must be among them, and we may be able to relieve their pressure and help them return to the border pass. ”

As soon as Wu Sheng's words fell, Geng Xuan and Qiu Zengshi's eyes lit up, Qiu Zengshi clenched his fists and said, "If we rescue King Ning and King Gu, it will be a great achievement." But," Speaking of this, he smiled bitterly: "If King Ning and King Gu are here, there must be a lot of guards, and we may not be able to eat it." ”

Geng Xuan looked at the simple map drawn by Wu Sheng, clenched his fists, gasped in his mouth, and after a long time, he slammed his fist on the table: "Lao Tzu did it, turn the Mongols' nest upside down!" What about you? Do you dare? ”

", what's not to dare!" Wu Sheng yelled. However, the two found that Qiu Zengshi had no words, and couldn't help but turn to Qiu Zengshi, so they saw Qiu Zengshi spread his hands and said: "Both of them are young marquis, and there will be endless glory and wealth in the future, both of them dare to take risks, what else do I not dare?" Fuck it! ”

The three of them stretched out their hands and clasped them together, laughing.

In the end, Geng Xuan said with a straight face: "I will report the plan to Lord Yang in a while and ask him to send reinforcements, but I estimate that it will be difficult, after many transfers, Liaodong is already very empty, not only to defend against the Mongol counterattack, but also to suppress the Jurchens." So it's probably up to us. ”

"Well, the last general understands!" "The last will understand."

"Well, let's discuss how to act tomorrow one last time, and that's my opinion...... If, that's what we'......

"Well, the Admiral agrees with ......"

Gradually, the voices of the three people lowered and became inaudible......

Yang Wen was shocked when he received the news of the defeat of the army, and hurriedly reported the news to the imperial court and copied it to King Yan.