Liu Xun, the general of the Hu and Han cavalry, commanded 3,000 elites, along the Yishui to the east, more than 100 miles, and arrived at the city of Chenggao in less than two days.

When Tanma reported into the city, Pei Cai asked, "How many people are there?" ”

The sentinel replied with a bitter face: "The forward is three or five thousand, and the scout is nearly ten miles away, and it is difficult for us to cross - more than a dozen people have been killed by the thieves - so I don't know if there will be a brigade to follow ...... after that."

When Pei Gai heard this, he couldn't help but bow his head and groan, and was silent for a long time.

Hu Jun will come to fight Cheng Gao, which was expected - Pei Gai came out with tricks and showed weakness for a long time, not to make Hu Jun completely ignore himself and just pick on the hard bone of Zu Ti. His original plan with Zu Ti was that if Liu Cangju came with the whole army, Pei should go out of the city to line up and fight head-on, although there was a huge disparity in numbers, there would be a city defense as a support, and it would not be a big problem to hold for two or three days. After Zu Ti heard the news, he rushed out to the north and copied Liu Cang from the side back to form a pinching effect.

Pei should be in Chenggao, and Zu Qi is at the foot of Yangcheng Mountain, only sixty or seventy miles apart, and the road is smooth, it is precisely to show the trend of horns, so that the enemy attacks one end and both parts should respond.

In the same way, if Liu Cang went to pick the ancestors first, Pei Gai should go west to take Gongxian and Yanshi to cut off the back road of the Hu army.

So what if Liu Cang refused to come in person, but only sent part of his troops and horses to attack Chenggao? According to the original plan, Pei should continue to show weakness, not fight in the field, only defend the city, and it is best to make the illusion that he is almost about to be captured. As soon as the news of his action came, Pei should immediately turn defense into attack, first break the enemy in front, and then attack Gongxian and Yanshi. Of course, Liu Cang may continue to add troops in the direction of Chenggao, so when he increases to a certain number, Pei should not move, but Zu Li can act.

It's just that it's hard to judge now, how many soldiers and horses the Hu army has mobilized, and whether Liu Cang's main force has come...... Pei Gai really wanted to have a drone in his hand and fly to the west to see what was going on. What should we do? Do you go out of the city to fight, or continue to show weakness and defend with your fortification?

Pei Wei and Tao Kan each put forward their own opinions, and after repeated consideration, Pei Gai finally decided: "Defend the city!" ”

As soon as he arrived in Chenggao, he immediately assigned soldiers to repair the city defenses, and built seven new fortresses in the west of the city, in the shape of the Big Dipper, which were connected from end to end, so as to assist in the defense. Now, at the sound of an order, the soldiers who built the fortifications abandoned their tools, threw down their banners, and fled back to the city in embarrassment. After Liu Xun arrived, he settled in these seven fortresses without hurting a single person or horse.

As for Liu Xun himself, he thinks that "Tianquan connects the bucket and handle, is the hub of the seven stars, and the general is also livable", and set up the flag on the Tianquan Fort.

Although Liu Xun was confused by false information and despised Pei Gai, after all, Liu Cangcai sent him 3,000 men and horses, the main purpose was not to attack Chenggao urgently, but to "test the attack", first try to see the Xuzhou army's catties, and then make the next calculation, so he was not sure. It wasn't until he saw that the Xuzhou army abandoned Qibao and fled back to the city in embarrassment, that he completely relieved his heart and ordered the soldiers to rest for a night while being on strict guard, and to attack the city early tomorrow morning.

- As for these weak Jin people, even if there are tens of thousands of soldiers in the city, I am not afraid, not to mention that it is said that Pei Gai has transferred the main force back to the east to suppress those thieves who cut off his food routes.

Moreover, Liu Xun also wrote a letter and ordered people to shoot into the city. The content of the letter is nothing more than that: I didn't provoke you Xuzhou, why did you come to violate the border? (As for the capture and killing of Emperor Huai of Jin, and now he is attacking Chang'an, he doesn't mention it at all, Liu Xun didn't regard Pei as a loyal Jin minister, but only as a separatist force under the leadership of Jiankang temporarily) Now Da Dan Yu led a large army to come, vowing to trample you and others into powder, if you know something, you should quickly withdraw from Henan, and you can still protect the head; Otherwise, the city will be attacked tomorrow, and after the city is broken, it is inevitable that the jade will be burned! It's unpredictable.

Pei Cai continued the letter, couldn't help sneering, and was still thinking about how to reply, Pei Wei persuaded him: "At this time, it is useless to swear to stick to it; If the words are cowardly, it will make the king famous. How to ignore it? "If you reply to a letter, you should not have seen it.

Pei Gai did not reply to the book because of this, but only ordered the city to be under the banner, pretending that the number of guards was very small; At night, many bonfires were lit in the city, causing the people to clamor again to show their fear of turmoil.

How many Xuzhou troops were there in Chenggao City at this time? The "Pengshan Left Battalion" went to suppress Chen Chuan, the "Lifeng" three battalions were stationed in Chenggao Pass, the "Wulin Right Battalion" was damaged and returned, and the left battalion was still there...... So a total of six regular battalions, plus the pro-guard troops, Xuzhou auxiliaries, and newly recruited soldiers and horses along the way (including Cheng Gao's soldiers), the total number is still more than 10,000 - if not, how dare he wait for Liu Cang's main force to come over to fight in the field?

More than 10,000 people defended the city, and 3,000 people dared to attack, which is also a strange story......

Pei Gai ordered Lu Yan to lead 3,000 auxiliary soldiers to defend the city, and the rest of the people were temporarily ambushed in the city. Lu Yan was very unhappy, and even said that this battle was difficult to fight - "If you don't let the thief enter the city, he will be suspicious; If you make a mistake in the city, you will not be able to escape the blame......"

Pei Gai smiled: "Let's go and defend the city, if you win, you will have a chance, and if you lose, you will not be guilty." Then he looked around at the generals: "I want a general to lead a hundred brave men to patrol the city, and if there are Hu soldiers in the city, I will force them down - who will obey the order?" "This is hard work, tiring work, and the purpose is to turn the tide of the war in an instant under extremely dangerous circumstances. Pei should be the dignified and young governor of Xu after all, don't he have a hundred warriors under his command? It's normal to spread this cronies as a firefighting team, right?

Sure enough, it was Zhen Sui who took the lead in asking for orders, and he said that I don't have to choose, those young men who led the attack on Chenggao Pass at the beginning are all strong men, and they are no worse than the Dudu You are really a cronie!

Zhen Sui opened his mouth to ask for orders, but no one dared to rob him. As for Pei's subordinate Governor Wenlang, he originally wanted to fight, but after thinking about it again, half of the Tai under his command are cavalry, and he may not be stronger than Zhen Sui if he pulls up the city to fight with the Hu people...... Okay, I'll leave it to you, I'd better continue to guard the governor.

——————————

In the early morning of the next day, smoke burned in the Seven Star Fort outside the city, presumably Hu Jun was burying the pot for cooking, and when he was full, he was ready to attack the city. Pei Gai heard the report in the city, and couldn't help laughing: "The so-called 'extinguishing this dynasty food', it is easy to eat when you capture the city, why rush to cook?" General Hu doesn't know much about things, and the soldiers are full of food, how can they fight? ”

In these years, only the nobles began to get used to three meals a day, and the common people and soldiers still only had two meals, not breakfast. So since you have lit the cooking smoke, you must have made a main meal, and the big guys are all full, although they have great strength, but then they have to use it vigorously, and you are not afraid of gastroenteritis?

Pei Gai also ordered the city to make rice, but only provided a bowl of brown rice and half a salted radish to the soldiers who went to the city to garrison, and it would be a cushion for the stomach. Immediately, he also went up to the city under the escort of Wen Lang and other personal guards, and looked at the enemy base from a distance.

Pei Wei persuaded Pei that he didn't have to move lightly, just stay under the city - because there is no point in you going to the city. It has always been the main general to go to the city, either to command the battle, or to boost morale, but now that the city defense has been entrusted to Lu Yan, Pei should not approach as the lord of an army - even if you don't want to be restrained, keep your eyes open and staring behind, Lu Yan will inevitably be restrained. And as for boosting morale...... Do you really want to win this battle and greatly kill and injure the besieging Hu soldiers? Showing weakness and feint defeat, where is the need for you to deliberately run to supervise the battle?

But Pei Gai smiled: "I have never guarded the city, and I want to see it in person." ”

The only time the enemy attacked the city before was that Zhiqu Liu attacked Huaiyin, but Pei opened the city gate and set up an ambush slightly, so he scared the other party away, so he camped outside the city for a night, and the next day he flew away, and there was no reinforcement to attack. Therefore, Pei Gai lacked experience in defending the city, and he was eager to make up for this lesson.

So he left Pei Wei and Tao Kan in the city, restrained the soldiers and soldiers, and appeased the people not to panic, so he only took a few relatives and boarded the west city of Chenggao. The cities of Henan have been repeatedly attacked, and the Hu army did not send heavy troops to defend after breaking Luoyang, so most of the city defenses are broken. Since Pei Gai arrived in Chenggao, he immediately vigorously renovated the city wall, but the fort tower on the city has not had time to repair, only a few ruins support half a cloth canopy, which is very simple.

Pei Gai set up a bed in the castle tower, opened the umbrella cover, and Wen Lang made several powerful sergeants hold large shields to protect him. In this way, the safety factor is guaranteed to a certain extent, but the field of vision is extremely narrow, and the Hu army under the city cannot be seen at all. Anyway, before the official start of the fight, Pei Gai immediately held a bamboo cane in his hand, took a few steps forward, and looked down with his wall.

The Hu army is all in the Seven Star Fort, these fortresses were originally used by the defenders to assist in defense, so they are not far from the city wall, even the farthest Tianshu Fort is less than a hundred steps apart, and the nearest Tianji Fort is only sixty or seventy steps. Normally, the siege troops would camp a mile away from the city wall, and if they were too close, they would easily fall within the range of the defenders' bows and arrows when they came out of formation—after all, they could shoot from a height, and even ordinary soldiers could easily shoot a hundred and fifty paces away, and they could not even compare with Yoyuki on flat ground.

Now it is easy to put the Hu army within 100 paces, and there is a fortress as a support, which is quite unfavorable for the defenders of the city, the Hu army can line up in the fort, and then a charge will reach the city, and the bow and arrow on the city are almost useless. Pei Gai wanted to ask Lu Yan if he had prepared all the corresponding equipment to defend the city, but after thinking about it again, there is no doubt about employing people, I just came to the city to watch the battle, so don't bother him.

The time was not long, and I heard the sound of Hu in Tianquan Fort, and knew that the Hu army was about to attack the city. Wen Lang persuaded Pei to quickly retreat and stay away from the city wall, but Pei Gai smiled: "His formation is not listed, how can he hurt me?" And is there anyone who is sixty paces away from the bottom of the city and can shoot to the top of the city? ”

Actually, it's not necessarily that you can't shoot. The city wall of Chenggao earthen rampart is less than three zhang, converted into the metric scale of later generations, it is five to six meters, and the triangular hypotenuse is calculated according to the Pythagorean theorem, I am afraid that it has reached less than 70 steps, plus gravity...... It is not difficult to shoot to the head of the city at this distance. But Pei Caixin said that I am so unlucky, there is a city wall separated by a battlement, and it can still make the enemy soldiers see clearly, and then come to shoot me? It is true that the sword has no eyes, and anything can happen on the battlefield, but if I refuse to take even such a little risk, what soldiers will I lead and what kind of battle will I fight? Hurry up and return to Huaiyin to concentrate on creating people with the Xun lady......

Thinking about it this way, it has been almost two months since I left Xuzhou on this expedition, I don't know how Xun Guanniang is in Huaiyin now? If she is newlywed and her father is not around, will she feel lonely?

Seeing that the Hu army drove out of the fort one after another, many of them were still carrying siege equipment on their shoulders - mainly long ladders made of temporary logging and splicing, and there were no big guys, because Pei Gai had already ordered someone to cut down all the big trees that were too thick within ten miles of the surrounding area to prevent the other party from creating siege vertebrae - Pei Gai turned around and returned to the fort under Wen Lang's repeated urging, and sat upright on Hu's bed and behind the shield.

However, he couldn't help it, so he still ordered someone to send a letter to Lu Yan, saying: "I see that the Hu army is very neat, and it should be elite, so be careful not to ignore it." "I want to make up the class, you also have to make up the class, I'll see if you can stop the Hu Hanjing soldiers with these 3,000 auxiliaries."

Xuzhou's auxiliary soldiers mainly have poor fighting skills, and they are mostly engaged in queue training, and their organization and discipline are acceptable. If you don't put Hu Bing on the city, it is estimated that his shortcomings will not be exposed, and if Hu Bing enters the city, there will be no Zhen with those hundred people.

As soon as Pei Gai sat down, he heard the drums in the city, and couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart: "It's here!" ”

Recommended reading: The new book of the Silkworm Potato God "Yuan Zun", the new work of the Cat Greasy God "