"Generals, just now the general got the news that Wang Yanzhang led his troops to raid the camp of the Xiaoyi army, and almost broke through the defense line of our army. Although they repelled Wang Yanzhang in the end, this incident also reminded the general, we are far from the time of victory, and the enemy reinforcements may arrive at any time, the generals must be cautious, and there must be no slack! ”

In the camp of the Wu army, in the dark night and dim candlelight, Li Chengding said to the generals with a solemn face.

Wang Yanzhang's raid was not only unexpected by Wang Yanyan and Liu Renzhen, but also by Li Chengding.

In their opinion, Wang Yanzhang's 5,000 troops plus Huo Yanwei's more than 10,000 remnants of troops would not play a big role at all.

Therefore, Wang Yanzhang must wait until the follow-up reinforcements arrive before launching an attack.

But they obviously didn't know enough about Wang Yanzhang, so they were put on a table by him, but fortunately, the final result was not bad, and the Liang army did not take any advantage, but lost a lot of soldiers.

"Governor, Wang Yanzhang is in such a hurry to relieve the siege of Song Zhou, which is enough to show that the importance of Song Zhou to Liang State is still more than we expected. Since Wang Yanzhang can send troops so quickly, it is possible that the Liang army from other directions will also come quickly. The Governor must not be left unguarded. Diao Yanneng stood up and reminded.

As soon as the words fell, a guard came in and said: "Governor Qiyu, generals, just now General Li Xing sent someone to report that several Liang soldiers took the initiative to surrender to them, and after interrogation, I learned that Dong Zhang of Caozhou led his army south. ”

"Dong Zhang?" Li Chengding hurriedly stood up, took out the map, and asked while finding the location of Caozhou on it: "Do you know the specific news?" ”

"According to the confession of those surrendered troops, Dong Zhang had already gone south this afternoon, and General Li Xing sent people to ask for support."

Li Xingnai was a commander of the Youzhen National Army, and now led 2,000 troops to defend Chuqiu and guard against reinforcements from the Liang army in the direction of Caozhou.

"Going south this afternoon, the Liang army is mainly infantry, at their speed, they can walk at most thirty miles, and there should be still fifty miles away from Chuqiu at present. If they march overnight, they can reach Chuqiu tomorrow morning. Li Chengding calculated the distance and immediately made a judgment.

"Governor, the last general thinks that Dong Zhang's troops are no more than 10,000 people, and there are still more than 100 miles away from Songzhou, the governor doesn't need to care, as long as he sends three or five thousand people to reinforce Chuqiu, he will definitely be able to block the Liang army." The veteran Li Zhang immediately stood up and said.

"Well, any other thoughts?" Li Chengding was noncommittal, and turned to look at the others.

Li Zhang's suggestion was too conservative in his opinion, Wang Yanzhang of Ningling had a city to defend, so the Wu army couldn't help him for the time being, but if Dong Zhang led the army south, it just gave the Wu army a chance to eliminate it in the field, and if he still adopted a passive blocking strategy, it would be a bit conservative.

"Dudu, the last general thinks that this is an opportunity for our army, why have the defenders of Songzhou been able to hold on until now? It's just that they still have hope for reinforcements, believing that as long as they hold on, reinforcements will definitely come. If our army first concentrates its forces to defeat the enemy's reinforcements, the defenders in the city will inevitably lose their morale after learning the news, and then there will be no need to attack the city at all, and the defenders will collapse without a fight. The last general is willing to lead his troops north and eliminate Dong Zhang! At this time, Diao Yanneng stood up and asked for his life loudly.

"Well said!" Li Chengding's face was overjoyed, and he was extremely satisfied with Diao Yanneng's opinion.

"The defenders are now gaining momentum, and no matter how hard we attack, it will be difficult to take them, so it is better to destroy the reinforcements first; When the reinforcements are defeated, the defenders will naturally surrender when they see that there is no hope. Even if Quan Yan still wants to hold on, but in the absence of any hope, are his subordinates willing to follow him all the time? Li Chengding said in a deep voice.

"Governor, the last general is willing to lead his troops north to eliminate Dong Zhang, please give an order!"

"The last general is also willing to lead his troops north."

The generals nodded again and again, and soon understood the truth of this, and immediately many people stood up and asked for their lives.

Li Chengding shook his head, looked at Chai Kehong and said, "If you want to eliminate Dong Zhang, why bother to mobilize the people?" It was enough for General Chai to lead the cavalry. The other generals should stay here and intensify the siege. ”

"What do you mean?" Chai Kehong wondered.

"General Chai, after you lead your troops to Chuqiu, you can ambush the cavalry, order General Li Xing to lead a small number of troops to challenge, and then flee in defeat; Dong Zhang's troops were mainly infantry, and in order to move south to relieve the siege as soon as possible, they would inevitably compete for the lead. Did the general understand what the general meant? ”

Li Chengding's words are so clear, if Chai Kehong still doesn't understand, then he is a fool.

He hurriedly replied: "The general's clever plan, the last general admires!" ”

Li Chengding nodded, Chuqiu and Songzhou are more than sixty miles away, if the infantry is dispatched to reinforce, it will not only take time, but the soldiers will inevitably be tired from running back and forth; And the cavalry was useless in these days of siege battles, and just rushed to Chuqiu.

With Chai Kehong's 3,000 cavalry, plus Chu Qiu's 2,000 infantry, as long as they are used properly, it should not be difficult to achieve victory.

He continued: "The general sent troops overnight, and he will be able to arrive in Chuqiu tomorrow morning. Ben will wait here for the general's good news. ”

"Yes, the last general will lead the troops and set off."

Although Chai Kehong's position is the same as Li Chengding's, he is the governor, but his status and qualifications are not as good as Li Chengding's, so he is willing to call himself the last general.

He hurriedly took a few cavalry generals out of the camp and went back to prepare for the dispatch of troops.

In the tent, Li Chengding then asked: "But there is news of General Zhu Qianyou, where are they now?" ”

Zhu Qianyou commanded Zuo Tengxiang's army of 20,000 people to support Songzhou, if he could arrive in time, the Wu army on Songzhou's side would be more sufficient.

"Governor Qiqi, Zuo Tengxiang's army will probably arrive in the morning of the day after tomorrow." The officer in charge of intelligence replied.

"Good." Li Chengding was even more happy: "If everything goes well, we will be able to get good news the day after tomorrow, and at the same time, we can also get reinforcements from Zuo Tengxiang's army." Songzhou will be broken by then! ”

……

Early the next morning, in the woods outside Chuqiu City, three thousand cavalry were hidden here.

Chuqiu is more than sixty miles away from Songzhou, and the speed of the cavalry naturally arrived in one night, and at present, the soldiers are either sitting on the ground to rest, or concentrating on feeding the horses, although their faces are a little tired, but everyone's morale is very high.

The best soldiers of Wu are naturally selected into the cavalry, and they are outstanding in all aspects, and this kind of attack last night is naturally not difficult for them.

"General Chai, you guys are really fast, according to the news that our army has just inquired, the Liang army is still more than thirty miles away from Chuqiu, obviously they camped and rested last night, and they didn't rush overnight."

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with a full beard, and his Hunan dialect made Chai Kehong very unaccustomed to hearing it.

This person is Li Xing, originally a capital under Ma Yin, after surrendering to Wu, because of his bravery, he was gradually promoted, and now he has become a commander, responsible for guarding Chuqiu.

"Come early and prepare early. Since Liang Jun hasn't arrived yet, let's also think about how to deal with them. Chai Kehong laughed when he heard this.

"General Li, you also know our army's plan, I don't know what the general thinks, where is the most suitable terrain near Chuqiu for our army to ambush?" He then asked.

"This ......" Li Xing lowered his head and muttered, and then replied: "Maybe Liujiaji is more suitable, there are eight miles away from here, the terrain is relatively flat, there are no rivers or woods nearby to block the road, which is conducive to cavalry attack, and at the same time there are hillsides suitable for hiding the army." Of course, the specific needs to be seen by the general himself. ”

"Okay, if the general is free, let's go over and have a look." The selection of the battlefield is a very important matter, and Chai Kehong naturally does not dare to be sloppy.

He immediately took Li Xing and others to ride to Liujiaji, and after arriving, he checked and sure enough, as Li Xing said, this place is extremely suitable for cavalry ambush.

"General Li, this is the battlefield. Our army will soon move here, and the general will have to prepare for luring the enemy. Chai Kehong made a decision on the spot.

To the north of Liujiaji, Cao Shui soup soup, the river is endless.

On the river, a stone bridge runs through the north and south, and it is the only bridge in the vicinity for more than ten miles.

It was noon, and the September sun was still strong, scorching the ground like a fire.

Five miles north of the river, an army of more than 8,000 people was slowly moving forward, their faces were tired, the formation had long been scattered, and many people were so hot that they untied their armor.

This army was the central army of the Liang army, which had marched south from Caozhou, and finally arrived here after nearly a day's trek.

"Pass the order, and all the departments will rest on the spot!"

Seeing that it was not early, and the soldiers had tired faces on their faces, Dong Zhang ordered to stop and rest, and arranged to bury the pot to make rice.

After receiving the order to rest, all the soldiers who were already too tired to do anything suddenly cheered and rushed into the woods to sit down and rest.

"Whew! Exhausted! ”

After sitting down against a three-zhang tall tree, He Cheng couldn't help but complain to his old partner: "Fighting wars, fighting wars for so many years, when is the head, it's better to surrender Wu directly!" ”

"You're okay, after all, my hometown is in Huazhou, but my hometown is in Bozhou, and now it has been occupied by the Wu army, and I don't know what happened there." His old partner smiled wryly.

It's no wonder that they complained, He Cheng has been fighting in the Liang army for ten years, although he is not brave in battle, but he is loyal to duty in peacetime, but after so many years, his position is only a captain, and he has never been promoted; His old partner is in a similar situation, but many people who are good at greeting have been promoted one after another.

The problem of unfair rewards and punishments was not obvious in the Zhu Wen era, and the people who were reused were generally capable generals, which made the Liang army strong and often able to achieve victory in foreign wars.

However, by now, all kinds of injustices in the Liang army have long made the low-level officers lose the way to be promoted.

If it was just difficult to be promoted, it would be enough, but the Liang army had lost many battles in foreign conquests over the years, losing too many soldiers and soldiers, and the low-level officers and soldiers had no expectations for the future of the Liang State.

For them, being alive is all that matters.

With no hope of victory in sight, coupled with the perennial war, the upper generals of this army are okay to say, but the lower soldiers have long been war-weary; However, the current situation is extremely tense, and it is impossible for the Liang court to give the soldiers any time to rest, so it is extremely normal for He Cheng and the others to complain.

At this moment, the battalion commander of the two of them hurriedly came and announced loudly: "Get up and prepare for battle!" ”

"Could it be that the enemy is coming?" The soldiers were in an uproar.

"It's not that Wu Jun is coming, but we are going to fight it. The strikers met the enemy at Cao Shui, and the enemy was stationed on the south bank of a bridge; The general has an order to order our troops to attack immediately, coordinate with the vanguard to defeat the enemy army, and seize the bridge! ”

"What? Why are we again? "Many people are disgruntled.

The battalion commander explained: "Confused, the enemy has few soldiers, but only a few hundred; This is a meritorious opportunity that our general has finally obtained, so don't make a mistake about yourself! ”

The faces of the officers were a little better, if the strength of the enemy army was really only a few hundred, with the strength of their army of more than 10,000 people, it was indeed not difficult to defeat the enemy army.

In other words, the moment is a fighter with victory and undefeated, and this kind of opportunity for meritorious service is not so easy to strive for, and only Dong Zhang's cronies and generals have the opportunity to get this kind of opportunity.

Encouraged by this, the soldiers of the Wu army, despite their tiredness, began to line up and prepare to attack; Even those generals who were not ordered to attack gave up their original plans to rest and recuperate, planning to wait for the defeat of the Wu army before resting.

However, they did not expect that what was in front of them was not an easy achievement, but a heavy trap, the target of which was their army of nearly 10,000 men.

When Wang Yan, who was the commander of the vanguard, led his troops to attack the Wu army, the 500 Wu soldiers under the command of Li Xing fought bravely and blocked the Liang army on the north bank of the river.

Later, when the main force of the Liang army arrived and sent troops to attack again, this time their attack went very smoothly.

At the very first moment of the battle between the two armies, the Wu army was quickly defeated and began to break back.

"Pursuit! We must catch up with these Wu people and let them understand that this is the Central Plains, not a place where they should come to the south! Dong Zhang was overjoyed and ordered with excitement on his face.

Although it is inevitable that an army of more than 10,000 people will win against the 500 Wu army, but now the situation in the Liang State is difficult, and every victory is particularly valuable.

If the 500 Wu army in front of them can be wiped out, then the soldiers will understand that the Wu army is not invincible, they have the same shortcomings, the same fear, and the same can be defeated.

Therefore, in Dong Zhang's view, the matter of pursuing the enemy army is very important, even if it makes the soldiers tired.

As long as he can achieve victory and boost the morale of the army, he will not care how the victory is obtained.

"Pursuit! Be sure to catch up with the enemy army. Seeing that Dong Zhang had given the order, the soldiers below who were bent on fighting for merit had already chased after the Wu army's "rout", crushing the Wu army's "rout" and fleeing.