When Qu Neng's messenger arrived at the Ping'an camp under Baoding City, it was already past the hour, and Ping'an had already fallen asleep. But when he heard that Qu Neng's messenger arrived, Ping'an immediately sobered up, he took the military newspaper and glanced at it, then threw it to the guards, walked out while dressing, and commanded in his mouth: "Let Wu Jie and Song Xuan come over, something is wrong." ”

"Yes."

In the big tent, Ping An began to ask the messenger Han Tong, and when the inquiry was almost complete, Wu Jie and Song Xuan walked in. Seeing them come in, Ping An pointed to the military report: "General Qu's military report, you can read it first." ”

Wu Jie and Song Xuan got together and took a look, the content was very simple, including the westward movement of the rebels yesterday morning, and Zhang Yu's camping in Chenjiahe in the middle of the night today, Qu Neng thought that Zhang Yu had backup, and had mobilized reinforcements from the pontoon defenders, and asked for help from Ping'an.

After Song Xuan saw it, he immediately stood up and said, "General, give an order, the last general is willing to lead troops to reinforce General Qu." ”

Ping An shook his head and said with a smile: "General Song, how many soldiers and horses do you want to bring?" ”

"This," Song Xuan thought for a while and said, "In order to ensure safety, the last general will take the cavalry army to go." ”

"Well, General Ben also thinks so, now General Qu's situation is extremely dangerous, but now that he is notified to retreat, it is too late, so he can only send someone to rescue him."

"Huh? Dangerous? Song Xuan read the military report again, but didn't see anything, so he had to ask: "General Zuo, what do you see?" ”

Ping An was stunned for a moment before he understood what Song Xuan meant, he carefully considered his language, and said with a smile: "General Song, General Wu, you have not dealt with Yanshu people, and you don't know him." But General Ben has been under him for a few years, what can he say? Ping An thought for a while and said: "The emperor's evaluation is very appropriate, he is 'cunning like a fox, fierce as a tiger, and cruel as a wolf.' The Yanshu people have been dealing with the Mongols for a long time, and their way of thinking is similar to that of the Mongols, paying attention to 'long-distance raids and roundabout battles'. Therefore, the rebels are more like the Mongol army than our Ming army. ”

"Suppose we are in the position of the Yanshu people, what will we do?"

"There are three places on the Tang River that can cross the river, one is the Yuexiang Bridge in Xiongxian, one is the pontoon bridge in Dingzhou, and the other is the upper reaches of the Tang River, where the river is slow and can be crossed, and even the upstream may still be frozen."

"The purpose of the Yanshu people is to rescue Baoding, the nearest and fastest way is to cross the bridge from Dingzhou, followed by Xiongxian, the upper reaches of the Tang River are unlikely, it is spring now, even if it freezes, it is melting, and it will be dangerous to cross the river from there."

"Therefore, the Yanshu people will inevitably choose Dingzhou or Xiongxian to cross the river, because only these two places can quickly pass a large number of troops. And General Qu's reaction was the same, seeing that most of the enemy army was moving towards Dingzhou, he sent reinforcements to Dingzhou. Then he sent people to cross the river to check the traces, and found that the enemy was moving eastward, so he sent scouts to Xiongxian, and General Qu himself moved to Xiongxian. ”

"But this approach ignores the upper reaches of the Tang River, although it is not easy to walk, it does not mean that it cannot be walked, and small troops can still walk."

"As for General Qu's method of judging the enemy's eastward movement by checking the traces of the camp, this is just a general practice, and it is far from enough to deal with the Yanshu people, who have many ways to make an illusion, such as going east with Zhang Yu, and then turning west; Another example is to wrap the horse's hooves in a cloth to cover the traces, and another example is to send cavalry to the west when General Qu's attention is attracted to the east. ”

"General Ben thinks that the most likely way is to go east with Zhang Yu, and then turn back to the west, because the horse's hooves are wrapped in cloth, and there are still some traces, and although the last way is not risky, it is impossible to reach the pontoon bridge in time."

"General Qu transferred the army of the pontoon bridge to encircle and suppress Zhang Yu, so it doesn't take until dawn for the pontoon bridge to be lost, and the Yanshu army will cross the river, and then it will turn east," Ping An pointed to the map: "Besiege General Qu." ”

"However," Wu Jie put forward a different opinion: "General Zuo, you are just conjecturing, and General Qu's judgment is based on facts, and Zhang Yu is camping and not leaving, it is likely that he is waiting for support from the rear." ”

"If that's the case, General Ben doesn't have to worry, General Qu Neng will definitely sprinkle scout cavalry around Zhang Yu, once the army behind Zhang Yu is discovered, General Qu will inevitably withdraw quickly, although it does not achieve the purpose of hindering the enemy army, but there will be no danger."

"Let's imagine now, if there is a large army behind Zhang Yu, what should his reaction be?"

Song Xuan tapped his temples with his index finger and said, "If I were Zhang Yu and there was a large army following behind, then I would rush up, entangle General Qu Neng, and wait for the army to arrive." ”

"yes, that's a normal reaction. But Zhang Yu stopped to camp, what does it mean? In fact, this shows that there is no big army behind it. ”

"However, this may also be Zhang Yu's trick to lure the enemy."

"Hehe, General Wu, if it is Zhang Yu's plan to lure the enemy, as long as General Qu spills out the reconnaissance horse, he will not fall for the trick, how to lure the enemy?"

"General Qu Neng doesn't have to wait until dawn to find that there are no ambushes around Zhang Yu, and at that time, the cavalry he recruited will also arrive, and at that time, General Qu can only make a desperate bet and annihilate Zhang Yu."

At this time, the most unprepared place for General Qu was behind him, in the direction of the pontoon bridge. And this direction is precisely the direction that General Ben believes is the most likely attack of the Yanshu people. ”

"......" Wu Jie and Song Xuan were relatively speechless, and they were all stunned by Ping'an's analysis, Wu Jie only now understood that the emperor appointed Ping'an as the main general, not him, and this kind of flexible and flexible way was indeed not something he could handle.

"So," Ping'an pointed to the map: "General Song, you lead the Guards Cavalry Army to rescue General Qu, remember, after you leave the camp, first go east in the direction of Anzhou, and then go west along the river to attack the rebels from the east of the Chenjia River." As long as you go in time, there will not be too many rebels who rush to Chenjiahe to flank General Qu, and the Guards Cavalry Army is enough to break the rebels and rescue General Qu Neng; In addition, even if General Ben's analysis is wrong, and Zhang Yu has an ambush behind him, if you attack from this direction, you can also take the rebels by surprise. ”

"Yes."

"Also, after you save General Qu, don't fall in love with the war, return immediately. Because the reinforcements of the rebels will also arrive soon, the Guards Cavalry Army is the most elite cavalry of our army, and it will be of great use in the decisive battle with the Yanshu people. ”

"Yes, General."

"Okay, you go, General Qu's messenger is outside, let him be your guide."

"Yes."

After Song Xuan went out, Wu Jie stood up and arched his hand: "General Zuo, is General Qu Neng in danger?" ”

"To be honest, it's very dangerous, General Qu's 8,000 cavalry against Zhang Yu's 5,000 cavalry should be a sure victory, as long as he can kill Zhang Yu before the rebel reinforcements arrive, he can retreat calmly; But if the rebel reinforcements arrived when he was glued to Zhang Yu, it would be troublesome, unless Song Xuan could arrive in time, General Qu would definitely die. ”

"Well, the Yanshu people's use of troops is indeed extraordinary, and only generals can match it."

"Hehe, An Luhou praised it, the Yanshu people are not easy to deal with, and General Ben does not dare to say that he will win. Of course, the emperor has long seen this, so even if he mobilized nearly 600,000 troops to quell the rebellion, he did not order to smash Beiping directly, because most of our army are southerners, and at this moment Beiping is dripping into ice, and the rebels have 200,000 people, and it is unlikely to be overcome, so this general will come to attack Baoding, where the climate is similar to Zhending, and it has little impact on both siege and field battles. ”

"Yes, but even so, there are still many soldiers who are not used to it and are frostbitten."

"This is also something that cannot be helped, according to General Ben's idea, it is to attack again in March, when the climate is warm, and our soldiers can adapt to it. But the Yanshu people came over to kill people and set fire after the New Year, and they couldn't do it if they didn't fight. However, General Ben is not afraid, at this time Sheng Yong should go north along the canal and threaten Beiping, so in the first month, the Yanshu people will have to withdraw their troops, and then we can calmly capture Baoding. ”

"Well, that's exactly what the general said."

"General Wu, go back and rest, the rebel vanguard may arrive tomorrow afternoon, and there will be a battle at that time."

After Ping An took office as General Ping Yanzuo, he stepped down from his post as the commander of the Guards Cavalry Army and was succeeded by Song Xuan. The Guards Cavalry Army was a cavalry built by Zhu Yunwen with great effort, and it was quickly assembled under Song Xuan's orders, but the losses from the last attack on the Xishan camp had not yet been replenished, and there were only 17,000 people. Song Xuan, under the leadership of Qu Neng's messenger Han Tong, made a detour to the southeast, and when it was dawn, he reached the Tang River.

Song Xuan ordered the cavalry to rest for a while, replenish water and food, and half an hour later, Song Xuan led the cavalry to the battle. Song Xuan sprinkled elite soldiers around, and all the pedestrians he encountered on the road were detained, and if they resisted, they would be killed. There are not a few people who fled in panic and were unjustly killed along the way, but it was a matter of military affairs, and no one cared.

On the way, Song Xuan met Lu Fang, who fled in embarrassment, and when Lu Fang was attacked by the Yan army, he was suddenly blinded, and he fled, of course, according to him, he went back to ask for help. Song Xuan didn't care about dealing with him, but inquired about General Qu Neng's situation in detail. Lu Fang also knew that Qu Neng would definitely not be able to spare himself when he came back, so he could only redeem his merits, so he introduced all the situation by pouring beans from the bamboo tube.

When he knew that Qu Neng should now be trapped at the confluence of the Chenjia River and the Tang River, Song Xuan was in a hurry and immediately ordered Lin Tianmu and Long Qicheng to lead 10,000 cavalry along the Tang River to the east to rescue Qu Neng; He led Morgen and 7,000 cavalry to make a detour from the north to ensure that the Yan army was completely annihilated.

Maybe Zhu Di loves talent too much, maybe Zhu Di is careless, and under the absolute advantage, he actually wants to persuade Qu Neng, but Qu Neng does have the qualifications to be persuaded by Zhu Di personally, as the deputy general of Pingyan and Zhu Yunwen's confidant, Qu Neng's surrender has a great political impact; Moreover, there are many Qu Neng's cronies and subordinates in the Heian Army. Therefore, once Qu Neng surrenders, the possibility of Zhu Di defeating Ping'an will be greatly increased, and such a big temptation makes Zhu Di unable to give up.

Hearing Zhu Di's persuasion, Qu Neng just sneered, bowed his head and said, "Tao'er, for a while, my father is going to fight to the death with the rebels, you take the opportunity to escape." The emperor treats the Qu family well, and his father will repay him with death, you are still young, don't die here, and avenge your father in the future. ”

"Father, I'm not leaving, since my father is going to die in battle, then my son will also accompany him, my father is a hero, and my son can't be a coward!"

Qu Neng paused for a moment, and said with a smile: "I don't want my son to be so arrogant, okay, child, let us go to the national disaster together, but it is not so easy for the rebels to kill me Qu Neng." ”

Zhu Di saw that Qu Neng didn't answer, and asked loudly: "General Qu, have you thought about it?" Before Qu could respond, a vibration sounded and everyone on the riverbank involuntarily turned downstream, and someone in the Yan army immediately shouted: "Black ...... The black armor whirlwind, the black armor whirlwind is coming. ”

Zhu Di was furious: "Those who disturb the morale of the army, behead!" ”

With a scream, the Yan army calmed down, and when Zhu Di looked back again, he found that more than 10,000 black-armored cavalry were like mercury pouring into the ground, killing this side with a overwhelming momentum. Zhu Di said angrily: "Zhang Yu, Wang Zhen, you lead the headquarters to kill Qu Neng, and Huo Zhen, Tan Yuan and others follow the king to kill the enemy." ”

"Yes."

The Yan army was well-trained and quickly divided its troops, Zhang Yu led people to pounce on Qu Neng, and Zhu Di personally led the troops to meet the black-armored cavalry.