Outside the city of Yunzhou, in the Wu army camp, a group of patrol guards accompanied by the officer's whispered orders, interspersed from time to time, and the atmosphere of the entire barracks was calm.

In the camp of the Chinese army, the lights were still bright at this time, and the generals were discussing the military situation.

After getting that Zhou Ben had successfully captured Yang and Liu Nancheng, Liu Xin and other generals were gearing up one by one, wanting to break through Yunzhou as soon as possible.

Yunzhou is a state city, although the city is not big, but it is very strong; When the Wu army first broke through Yunzhou, it took a lot of effort; Now facing the Jin army defending the city, how to capture the city at the lowest cost has become the most important issue at present.

"The last general felt that the defenders did not have many troops, and after nearly a year of siege, the morale was now low, and it was not difficult to break through the city. It's better to besiege it directly from all sides, and it won't take long before you think about it. At this time, it was Li Decheng who spoke.

Perhaps because of his poor performance in the previous decisive battle, Li Decheng now wants to show himself, so he is very proactive every time he speaks.

The veteran Li Jian had another idea, he thought for a while and said: "If it is besieged from all sides, although the city can be broken sooner or later, if the enemy army resists stubbornly, it will inevitably bring great casualties to our army." ”

"Then according to the general's wishes, how to attack the city?"

"In the old man's opinion, it is better to build more Suzhou cannons and bombard them day and night; Then spread the news of the defeat of the Jin army to the city, and the enemy's morale will definitely be greatly reduced after learning the news. If our army takes the opportunity to attack the city again, it will be able to win easily. ”

Yang Wu nodded, feeling that Li Jian's suggestion was very reasonable.

He turned his head to look at Liu Xin and said, "General Liu has led his troops to besiege the city for many years, and I think he is the most familiar with Li Siyuan, I don't know what General Liu thinks about the siege strategy?" ”

Liu Xin thought for a while and said, "The last general thinks that what General Li Jian said is extremely true, it is better to attack the city than to attack the heart. The morale of the enemy army is already low, and if it is supplemented by the method of attacking the heart, it will definitely achieve miraculous results. But there will be another plan, and it may not be so troublesome. ”

"Oh, I don't know what General Liu's good plan is?" Yang Wu suddenly became interested.

This Liu Xinai is a veteran of Wu State, and Zhou Ben is an old qualification in the same period, although his personality is a little jumpy, and he occasionally makes some low-level mistakes, but as a general, he is still very good, otherwise Yang Wu would not have handed over the heavy responsibility of besieging the city to him, and he has not been replaced for nearly a year.

"Returning to the king, the last general has often fought with Li Siyuan in the past year, and the last general found that this person's character is extremely resolute, if he learns that the army of the king of Jin has been defeated by our army, he will definitely not continue to defend the city, but will immediately try to break through. So ......"

Before Liu Xin finished speaking, Yang Wu reacted and said, "So, our army might as well set up an ambush and wait for the enemy to get in by itself, right?" ”

"Exactly! I wonder if the king thinks this strategy is feasible? Liu Xin said in a deep voice.

Yang Wu smiled happily: "Of course it is feasible, if you can ambush the enemy army outside the city, at least it will be better than attacking the city."

Easy, right? Besides, even if it doesn't work, we don't have anything to lose, right? ”

After the plan was decided, Yang Wu immediately ordered all his troops to go back immediately to prepare for the battle, and at the same time selected three people from the previously captured Jin generals and asked them to go to Yunzhou City to persuade them to surrender.

At this time, it was late at night, the gate of Yunzhou City was naturally closed, and the defenders on the city wall were always vigilant, and when they saw three people riding horses under the city wall with torches, these soldiers immediately became nervous, and one by one they drew their bows and arrows, ready to fire at any time.

Before they could come within range of the bows and arrows on the walls, the three stopped, and one of them, a black-faced man in the middle, rode forward and shouted loudly.

"A certain is Meng Hongbo, the commander of Ma Zhizuo under the command of the King of Jin, and the two beside him are Gao De, the commander of the guards under the command of the King of Jin, and Cao Xiu, the commander of the cavalry under the command of the King of Jin. Which general is on duty on the city walls? Please come out and see you! ”

At this time, the general on duty on the city wall was Li Congke, Li Siyuan's adopted son.

This Li Congke's original surname is Wang, born in an ordinary family in Pingshan, Zhenzhou, who lost his father since he was a child, and his mother Wei depended on each other; Later, Li Siyuan led the army to capture Pingshan, captured Wei's mother and son, and took Wei as a concubine, and Li Congke was adopted by Li Siyuan as an adopted son and changed to his current name.

He is more than seven feet long, dignified and steady, taciturn, and majestic, brave and resolute, known for his bravery in battle, and is deeply loved by Li Siyuan.

This time, Li Siyuan led the army to raid Yunzhou, and it was Li Congke who led the vanguard and took the lead in climbing the city wall to open the city gate for the follow-up army.

At this time, Li Congke was taken aback when he heard the shouts of the people from the city.

"What? From the left of the horse straight commander? The other two are the commands of the Raiders and the Guards pro-army? How is this possible? Aren't they by King Jin's side? And how did you break through the enemy blockade and get here? Do you say ......"

Whether it is from the horse, or the cavalry or the guard, these are the most trusted armies around the King of Jin, and his commander and general can only be the most trusted person by Li Cunmiao.

Now that these three people were able to pass through the blockade of the enemy army and come here, Li Congke immediately had an ominous premonition in his heart.

As Li Siyuan's adopted son, he had often fought with Li Cunqiao before, and he also knew a lot about the cronies and generals around Li Cunqiao.

Among the three people whose names were reported in the newspaper outside the city, except for Cao Xiu, the commander of the cavalry, who had not seen him, the other two had seen them before.

At this time, Li Congke took advantage of the light of the torch to look from a distance from the city wall, and quickly confirmed that the other two were indeed not impersonating.

At this moment, he was even more uneasy in his heart, could it be that the army of King Jin had been defeated, and these three people had been captured by the enemy? Now to be Wu Jun's lobbyist?

If this is the case, even the cronies and generals around the King of Jin have been captured, and I am afraid that the army of the King of Jin will be defeated miserably.

Or did these three people surrender to Wu Jun privately? But this possibility is not great, after all, the three of them are all cronies of the King of Jin, maybe one of them may surrender to the Wu army, but it is unlikely that the three of them will betray at the same time.

Of course, it is also possible that the Jin army and the Wu army have made peace, and the king of Jin intends to withdraw their lone army to Hebei, so he sent three people to give orders, which is also possible, but no matter how big Li Congke's brain is, he doesn't dare to believe it easily.

Li Congke in history, as the last emperor of the Later Tang Dynasty, may give people the impression that he is incompetent, brave and unscrupulous; However, in fact, this person has a lot of strategies when he is commanding the army.

After thinking about it repeatedly, Li Congke felt that perhaps the first possibility was greater.

When he realized that something was wrong, he even wondered if he wanted to drive the three men away, lest they say anything inappropriate and affect the morale of the defenders.

But after thinking about it, even if these three people are driven away, it is not very useful, after all, if it is really a big defeat of the Jin army, then the Wu army will always have a chance to disturb the hearts of the defenders.

In addition, for most of the past six months, Yunzhou's contact with the outside world has been completely cut off, and Li Congke and his son are also eager to get the latest news.

So he finally decided not to come forward to talk to the other party, but directly ordered someone to hang the three people into the city with a basket, and then immediately controlled them, strictly prohibiting them from being lifted from outsiders.

He himself quickly sent someone to invite Li Siyuan over.

Like Li Congke, after getting the news of the arrival of the three people, Li Siyuan was also taken aback, even when he realized the seriousness of the situation.

"Third child, do you confirm the identities of these three people? It can't be a fake, right? ”

"Father rest assured, the child has carefully confirmed, there will be no mistake."

"And you asked them?"

"No, the child has locked these three men in solitary confinement, and he does not dare to let other soldiers contact him, so he waits for his father to go and interrogate."

Li Siyuan nodded suddenly, deeply satisfied with Li Congke's disposition.

If the Jin army was really defeated, and the three of them were really sent to persuade them to surrender after being captured by the enemy, then after the news came out, I don't know how much impact it would have on the morale of the defenders.

Now that Li Congke has directly imprisoned the three of them, they can calmly arrange and try to weaken their influence.

The father and son hurriedly went to meet the three of them, and after a conversation, their hearts suddenly cooled.

The reinforcements led by the King of Jin were defeated after crossing the river and fighting with the Wu army, and the elite soldiers lost more than 30,000 people, and even Yang Liu Nancheng has now completely fallen into the hands of the Wu State, and their lone army deep behind the enemy will never be able to wait for the arrival of reinforcements!

As the person who originally proposed to lead the army to raid Yunzhou, Li Siyuan knew from the beginning that he would be taking great risks, and it was very likely that he would be left alone behind the enemy for a long time without any support.

However, he still did so, and the main reason why he made such a decision was because he had faith in King Jin, and he believed that he would be able to wait for the reinforcements led by King Jin to arrive.

Then more than half a year passed, and the news I finally waited for was the bad news of the Jin army's fiasco.

With no reinforcements, their lone army was surrounded by more than 100,000 enemy troops, and now they were really dead.

"Surrender? No, never! ”

As soon as the idea of surrender arose, it was snuffed out by Li Siyuan from his heart.

Loyal ministers are not the second master, at least for now, Li Siyuan's loyalty to the King of Jin has not changed in the slightest, and there is no idea of betraying the King of Jin in his heart.

At this time, Li Congke whispered: "Father, what should these three people do?" ”

"These three people, turning their backs on the king, should be beheaded, the king can't punish him personally, so he will kill the king!" Li Siyuan replied without thinking about it, this can be regarded as a complete possibility of surrender.

Soon, the three heads were hung up, and the defenders were shocked when they saw it, but Li Siyuan had no intention of explaining for the time being.

After disposing of the three of them, Li Congke asked anxiously, "Then father, how should we deal with it next?" ”

Li Siyuan pondered for a long time, and finally said resolutely: "What else, of course, it is to break through immediately!" ”

"Breakout?" Li Congke was stunned.

Although he is conceited and brave, even if the army dares to charge the battle alone, but at present, the Wu army outside the city has at least forty or fifty thousand people, plus after the Wu army defeated the main force of the Jin army and captured Yang Liu, there must be more troops coming in a steady stream, and the defenders in Yunzhou City can be said to be difficult to fly, and there is basically no hope for breaking through.

Li Siyuan said: "In today's situation, even if we don't break through, there is no hope, our soldiers originally only had 5,000 people crossing the river, and after more than half a year's continuous attrition, now there are only more than 4,300 people, and the enemy's strength is ten times that of our army." ”

"And our army has been trapped in the lonely city for more than half a year, there is no way out, there are no reinforcements behind, and there is not much food and grass in the city, even if our army continues to hold the city, how long can it be held? One month? Two months? ”

Li Congke also understands the current situation, but just like a person who has fallen into the water and wants to grasp a straw, if he continues to hold on, he may be able to hold on for a month or two, but if he breaks through now, there will be no hope at all.

I only heard Li Siyuan say in a deep voice: "Third brother, do you think there is no hope for a breakthrough?" ”

Li Congke was silent.

Li Siyuan analyzed: "In fact, it is not necessarily hopeless. Although King Wu personally rushed to Yunzhou, there were not too many enemy troops outside the city at this time, at least the Wu troops in Pingyin, Dong'e, Yang Liu and other places had not yet arrived. ”

"In addition, since King Wu sent three people into the city to persuade him to surrender, it can be seen that he still has the idea of surrendering without a fight, if our army breaks through tonight, it will definitely be able to catch the enemy by surprise. That's where we can take advantage of that. ”

"As long as we can break through the enemy's defense line tonight, not far north from Yunzhou is the reckless mountain, and it will be difficult for the enemy to catch us when we get there, and we can hide and find an opportunity to try to cross the river and return to the north, which is much better than being trapped in the city, right?"

After listening to Li Siyuan's analysis, Li Congke also had to admit that there was indeed a glimmer of hope for an immediate breakthrough.

He immediately fell to the ground: "The child is willing to be the vanguard and cover his father to fight his way out of the encirclement!" ”

Li Siyuan nodded, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice: "Immediately gather all the generals and prepare to break through tonight!" ”

……

That night, the night was deep, there was no moonlight in the sky, and the howling cold wind was like a ghost crying wolf, whirring and terrifying.

In the night, Li Siyuan's eyes were deep and his mood was calm.

At this time, the soldiers had received the order to break out of the siege tonight, and after a full meal, they began to wipe the weapons in their hands and wound their crossbows.

As ordinary soldiers, they may not know why their general suddenly ordered a breakthrough, and they also do not know the news that the Jin King's army has been defeated, but this does not mean that they do not know the danger of tonight's battle.

How strong the enemy army was, they had long experienced it in the past.

And tonight's breakthrough operation, relying only on their less than 5,000 soldiers, can there be ordinary people or fight their way out of the encirclement?

The soldiers were silent, and the generals were equally heavy-hearted, worried about the battle tonight.

Time passed, and soon it was ugly.

Li Siyuan looked out from the city wall, and saw that there was peace in the camp of the Wu army outside the city, and it seemed that he was not at all prepared for the breakthrough of the Jin army.

He took a deep breath, drew his sword, and shouted softly: "Under the cover of night, the army will break through with all its might!" ”