Yongcheng North, Fifteen Miles, Qishan, Jiankuoling.

The night is low, on this mountain range, the branches and leaves are dense, but in the valley behind the ridge, there are a large number of Tang army infantry dressed in crimson clothes in ambush, and in the mountains and forests, people are ranked, horses are chewing, more than 20,000 cavalry stand quietly in the forest, almost silent, Li Shimin rode a horse and stood in the forest, a pair of eyes were blazing, like lightning, staring at Yongcheng more than ten miles away.

Looking at the hundreds of black smoke rising from the city, the corners of Li Shimin's mouth hooked, and he sneered: "The fish is really hooked, it seems that Xue Ju's brigade has entered the city and is burying a pot in the city to make rice!" Offend me Datang, we have to teach them a profound lesson! ”

Dou Jin said with a smile: "Qin Gong really expected things like a god, deliberately left some rice grain in the city, Xue Jujun came from afar, and it was night, he must be hungry, at this time he entered the city, he must be drowsy after a full meal, we left three thousand sharp soldiers in the hidden tunnels in the city, they never imagined that there were ambush soldiers in the underground where they slept, and they were sleeping on the tip of a knife!" Ha ha! ”

Li Shimin laughed and said to Dou Jin: "Thanks to the past few years that Dou Jun has been guarding Ren Fufeng, he has taken precautions early, and he has dug tunnels and hidden pits in the city, in this dark night, Xue Jujun will definitely not be able to find out, just wait for us to start here, our ambush soldiers will come out of the city and set fire everywhere, Xue Jujun's army will inevitably collapse, and our army can win in one battle!" ”

As he was talking, a rapid sound of horses' hooves sounded, Li Shimin's brows furrowed, and he asked in a deep voice: "But General Duan Zhixuan Duan is back!?" ”

A fierce and brave general galloped into the forest and gave a military salute to Li Shimin on his horse: "The last general, Duan Zhixuan, reconnoiter the enemy's military situation and return, Duke Qin, this time we have an accident, who do you think this person is?!" ”

Li Shimin looked at this moonlight, and saw a horse behind Duan Zhixuan, riding a strong man dressed in black by Xue Jujun, as soon as this person saw Li Shimin, he had tears in his eyes, couldn't cry, turned over and knelt down and said: "Duke Dunhuang, I can't imagine that I, Liu Bao, will have a day to see you alive!" Whining~! ”

Li Shimin was surprised: "Hey, aren't you Liu Bao, the younger brother of the doctor Liu Shirang?" I recognize you, wasn't your brother captured by Xue Ju, why are you here? ”

Liu Bao wiped his tears and said: "My eldest brother Liu Shirang was ordered by the Tang King to pacify Longyou, but he encountered the enemy's cavalry, these Longyou cavalry are really fierce, and my brothers can't resist it!" After the defeat, we were all captured by the Qin army, and Xue Ju escorted us to Anding City, put a knife on my brother's neck, and asked him to say that the Tang army in Guanzhong had been defeated and wanted to surrender in Andingcheng, but my brother shouted to the city, saying that the Guanzhong army was coming, and Xue Ju would be eliminated, so that they must not surrender, they must persevere! ”

Li Shimin was moved when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "Then is there something wrong with your brother?" ”

Liu Bao shook his head and said, "Xue Rengao was so angry that he wanted to kill my brother on the spot, but Xue Ju said that my brother is also a righteous man, and it is unlucky to kill him." So he left his life, but treated him politely and imprisoned in Qinzhou! ”

"Taking this opportunity, my brother asked me to pretend to be a soldier of Xue Jujun's army and go with him on the expedition, this time the Qin army attacked Yongcheng, so I took the opportunity to escape and marched all the way to Guanzhong, wanting to report the situation of the Qin army to the Tang King!"

Li Shimin smiled slightly, patted Liu Bao's shoulder, and said: "Liu Bao, don't worry, let me tell you a good news first, just a few days after your brother went out to fight with Xue Ju, we supported the acting king Yang Yu as Emperor Gong, and my father was also promoted to the throne of Tang, as for me, hehe, now it is not the Duke of Dunhuang, but the Duke of Qin!" ”

Liu Bao was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly knelt down and bowed: "See Qin Gong!" ”

Li Shimin shook his head with a smile, helped Liu Bao up, and said with a smile: "We have fought side by side, brothers who captured Chang'an City together, besides, you are loyal and brave after the defeat this time, and you have also suffered, so don't be so polite, I should want to thank you!" Okay, to make a long story short, when you escaped this time, did you happen to run into General Duan on the way? ”

Liu Bao nodded: "Yes, General Duan happened to come out to capture and reconnoitre, and he met him all of a sudden." Then I'm here to see you, Gong Qin, now is the right time to attack! ”

Li Shimin said with a smile: "Let's talk about the current situation of the thief army, how many of them are there, and how is the defense arranged?" ”

Liu Bao Zhengse said: "Xue Ju raided Tang Bi this time, in order to pursue this degree, he did not bring a large group of infantry, but only brought more than 50,000 Long right cavalry to attack, Tang Bi is really incompetent, actually when he was about to fight, his subordinates defected, the whole army fell apart, he himself fled, and his subordinates more than 100,000 people, most of them surrendered to Xue Ju. Xue Ju left half of his men and horses to garrison in place, and picked more than 50,000 strong, together with his more than 50,000 cavalry, known as 200,000 troops, and came straight to Fufeng! ”

Li Shimin said with a smile: "I'll just say, Xue Ju wants to face Jiang, Dou, and your brothers at the same time, and fight Tang Bi, he can't distinguish so many soldiers, how is his defense situation now?" ”

Liu Bao hooked the corners of his mouth and said: "Originally, Xue Ju wanted to enter the city by himself, but his military advisor Hao Ying said that it was getting late, the city was not clear, and the peripheral situation was unknown, so it was best for the commander to be stationed outside the city." So now more than 50,000 infantry from the original Tang Bi army have entered the city, and Xue Ju himself has more than 50,000 Longyou cavalry all stationed in the west of the city! ”

A trace of disappointment flashed in Li Shimin's eyes: "Are you sure that Xue Ju and the leaders and chiefs of the Longyou tribes did not enter the city, but in the west of the city?" ”

Liu Bao nodded affirmatively: "This is a small special inquiry, what I saw with my own eyes, it is true!" ”

Li Shimin sighed: "It seems that Xue Ju can escape this time, no matter what, I don't expect to destroy him in a battle anyway, the order, the whole army attacked, beat drums five miles away from the city, raise dust, let the ambush soldiers in the city rise around, light fire, set smoke, can't extinguish Xue Ju, I will also destroy more than 50,000 infantry troops in his city!" ”

The next day, Huangyuan County.

At the head of the city of Huangyuan County, Xue Ju was sweating profusely, his face was covered with dust, and the golden helmet that symbolized the supreme authority of the overlord of Western Qin had also disappeared, his head was scattered, covered all over his head, he was unbeatable half a day ago, he was high-spirited, but now he was like a defeated rooster, his face was full of frightened fear and frustration.

Hao Ying was still standing by his side, and the barbarian leaders and chieftains of the various tribes in Longyou were sitting in a group, and the vast majority of the defeated soldiers who had dispersed had already thrown away their armor and were bare-handed.

Xue Rengao, Zong Luoyu and other generals all took their subordinates and guards to intercept these routs, and then guided them to the areas where the various troops were contained.

Outside the city has become a large temporary barracks, tens of thousands of horsemen, all sitting on the ground in the open air, the sound of crying and scolding shook the earth, while the people and auxiliaries in the city ran back and forth, sending baskets of steamed buns and pots of gruel to various containment points so that the defeated soldiers could have their stomachs fed.

Xue Ju sighed and said, "It's all my fault, I'm careless, fortunately I listened to your words yesterday, our cavalry didn't enter the city, otherwise, I'm afraid that I, like the 50,000 infantry, will become a prisoner of the Tang Army!" To be honest, it is not surprising that the Tang army has ambushes in the mountains to the north, but I don't think about it now, how can there be a fire in this city? And those Tang troops wearing our army's armor, did they fall from the sky? ”

Hao Ying sighed and analyzed: "We all underestimated Dou Jin, I'm afraid that he has already left a large number of tunnels and caves in Yongcheng to hide, and those Tang troops who wore our army's armor should have been killed from the tunnels!" The night is too dark, our army does not argue about the situation, and after the fire breaks out in the city, it will kill each other, causing chaos, and then the infantry will all collapse! And our cavalry also has no fighting spirit and fighting spirit after seeing that the mountains and fields are full of defeated troops, and it would be good to be able to run back! . Alas, yesterday I should have insisted a little more and kept the army out of the city! ”

Xue Ju gritted his teeth and said, "But even if there are no troops in the city, the more than 20,000 Tang Army cavalry killed in this night are really brave and fierce!" I, Xue Ju, think that Longyoufei is unparalleled in the world, and only the Xiaoguo Army can fight with it, but now the cavalry of the Tang Army is no worse than us, and even surpasses it! In this night, tens of thousands of horsemen attacked like this, without the slightest confusion, from the beginning of the assault to the addition and then to the sprint, just like in the daytime, on the plain, this cavalry general, too powerful! ”

Hao Ying nodded and said: "I heard that the leader of the Tang army is the famous Qin Duke Li Shimin, he is Li Yuan's second son, since the army started in Taiyuan, he is Li Tang's number one general, and the cavalry is the first main force of the Tang army, they have incorporated many elite cavalry of the Sui army's Hedong troops and Guanzhong troops, under the command of Li Shimin, they are even more powerful, and it is not surprising that they have such an attack ability!" ”

A trace of fear flashed on Xue Ju's face, looking around left and right, and the generals behind him also bowed their heads and were silent, at this moment, his great pride, like pouring a basin of cold water, suddenly disappeared, sighed, and muttered: "Li Yuan's son is so powerful, no wonder he has been invincible all the way, Guanzhong heroes, Guanlong gate valves are all looking at the wind, people have a destiny, I heard that since ancient times, there has been a saying that the king has been circulated, if this Li Yuan is really the king, I can never compete with it!" Wise man, you are very knowledgeable, has this Son of Heaven since ancient times surrendered since he went to the emperor? ”

Chu Liang, the waiter of the Yellow Gate on the side, smiled slightly and said, "Of course." At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo seized Lingnan, established the Nanyue State, and established himself as the emperor, and after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, he went to the emperor and sent envoys to be called ministers. Liu Chan, the late emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty, returned to the Jin Dynasty after the country was broken, and also saved his life. In recent times, Xiao Cong, the emperor of Xiao Liang, didn't he also enter the Sui Dynasty and enjoy wealth and wealth? His family is still alive now! It can be seen that turning misfortune into blessing has been around since ancient times! “

Hao Ming's face changed, and he pointed at Chu Liang and shouted, "How can the lord say such a thing?!" Chu Liang, what is your intention in lying with your gossip?! ”

Xue raised his brows, this was the first time Hao Ying had confronted him loudly in public. And Chu Liang was also a little scared, lowered his head, and didn't dare to face Hao Ming's angry eyes.

Hao Ying danced excitedly, but his expression was very resolute, and he said loudly: "Since ancient times, there has been only one emperor in the world. At that time, I said that this emperor is a dead end, either to get the world, or to be defeated, to die and to be annihilated, there is no third way to go. Because in the troubled times, the people who finally got the world will never allow the existence of people who have also been called emperors, otherwise they will lay the root cause of disaster for the future country! ”

Xue Ju sighed and said, "Yes, the wise man persuaded me like this before, so when I raised the army, I was not called the emperor, but only the overlord, which can be regarded as leaving room for me." It's a pity that I was fascinated for a while, and after capturing Lanzhou at the end of last year, I proclaimed myself emperor in Lanzhou and established Western Qin. Now that I've walked this path, can I go back? ”

Hao Ying gritted his teeth and said: "The lord can learn from Zhao Tuo and Liu Chan to go to the emperor's name, and then give up the territory, give up the army, and become an official in the future emperor's family, like Xiao Cong, let others slaughter, even if it is a word from others, he can kill him, is this what the lord wants?" ”

Xue Ju's eyes sparkled, and his mind was uncertain.

Hao Ying said loudly: "Although our army suffered a small setback, the main force was not damaged, Tang Bi's new annex army was originally an unexpected joy, it was not enough to be happy, and there was no regret about losing, our main cavalry, there was no loss, and it still had the strength to compete with Li Tang for the world." This time, Li Shimin just took advantage of the night to raid and use ambushes to win by luck, and he did not dare to fight a decisive battle with us, which itself also shows that he is afraid of us. Why should the lord be so self-conscious? ”

Xue Ju's brows eased slightly: "It's just that the Tang Army has such a powerful cavalry force, and our army has no advantage." Longyou cavalry comes from all the fierce alien races, barbarians, these people are attached when they are strong, and the main is weak, and they are scattered, and there is no loyalty at all, if our army fights two more such defeats, I am afraid that these people will scatter away! ”

Hao Ying smiled: "Then won't you just win the battle?" We started from Jincheng, the lord took a city of land, and laid down the entire Longyou, and now has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and the country is called the emperor, which point is worse than Li Yuan? Li Yuan is now an enemy of us in the west, and Liu Wuzhou is an enemy there, and because he has become a mortal enemy of the Sui army in the Central Plains because of his rebellion against the Sui, his life is not better than ours. As long as we straighten out our troops and horses, and connect the Turks in the north, we can find an opportunity to fight Li Tang again! ”

Xue Ju laughed, patted Hao Ying on the shoulder, and said, "The wise man said it well, I was just joking with everyone just now, try your reaction, don't take it seriously." ”

Hao Ying smiled slightly, and said respectfully with the officials and generals: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" ”