The 20,000 Tang army led by Fang Li had just walked more than ten miles south when a tanma came from Taigu County to report the news.

"Qi Tang Gong, Jiang Kui, the vanguard general of the Shen Army, is leading 10,000 horses to march towards Taigu, and it is estimated that he has arrived in Wuxiang Township, and there are still sixty miles away from Taigu!"

Fang Li frowned and groaned: "Oh...... How far is our army from Taigu now? ”

"Duke Tang, our army is still about a hundred miles away from Taigu." The scout replied.

Before setting out on the expedition, Fang Li had already seen the sand table and knew that Taigu County was the barrier to the south of Luoyang, and if Taigu was taken by the Shen army, he could go straight to Luoyang City.

Of course, Fang Li didn't think that Jiang Huan's purpose was to attack Luoyang, and it was a pipe dream to attack Luoyang with Shen Guo's 30,000 troops. It is likely that the intention of Jiang Huan's father and son was to raid the county near Luoyang in retaliation for Ji Zheng's decision to order the Tang State to invade Shen.

If Taigu County is conquered by the Shen army, it is likely that they will plunder before reinforcements arrive, then quickly retreat, and then retreat back to Shen territory to defend themselves.

There are many mountains and rivers in the territory of Shen State, the terrain is dangerous, the people are fierce, there are Funiu Mountains in the territory are undulating, and there are wide rivers passing through the border, plus Wancheng is strong and dangerous, if the Shen army is closed to the door, it is not easy to break the city!

"Where is Zhao Zilong?" Fang Li summoned and ordered, "The widow ordered you to lead two thousand cavalry to march with all your might, and you must arrive outside the city before the Shen army attacks Taigu County, and resist the enemy under the city wall." ”

"Whoa!"

Zhao Yun agreed, with a move of the spear in his hand, he led two thousand Tang cavalry to quickly leave the main force and march towards Taigu County in the south.

"Where is Gao Shun?" Fang Li's gaze swept towards Gao Shun.

Gao Shun's current identity is just a team leader, but he didn't expect that the lord would be able to think of himself when the big war was imminent, and hurriedly stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "The villain is here, please command!" ”

Fang Li pointed the horsewhip in his hand in the southeast direction, and said loudly: "The Shen army is attacking this time, most of them are coming for looting, and when the reinforcements arrive at Taigu City, there is a chance that the Shen army will retreat." The widow ordered you to lead 3,000 soldiers to take a shortcut to the south, and rush to the Shen State to Luoyang, the only way to ambush Dayu Mountain, and ambush when the Shen army retreated. ”

Unexpectedly, the lord actually appointed himself to command 30,000 soldiers and horses, Gao Shun couldn't help but be enthusiastic, and clenched his fists and said: "Thanks to the lord's heavy weapon, Gao Shun will definitely fight to the death and live up to the trust!" ”

"Wait, the last general thinks that it is not appropriate for Tang Gong to use troops like this!"

As soon as Gao Shun's words fell, someone stood up and sang the opposite, and everyone saw that the person who spoke was the general of the Zhou Dynasty.

After all, this army is the army of the Zhou royal family, and I think they are more willing to follow the orders of Concubine Lan than Fang Li, an outsider.

Fang Li asked with a smile: "What is wrong with General Concubine?" ”

Fei Lan hugged his fists and said loudly: "Since ancient times, it is taboo to divide troops under the condition that the army is at a disadvantage, before Tang Gong sent General Zhao Yun to lead the cavalry to rescue Taigu, a certain can still be understood, after all, if you lose Taigu Luoyang, there is no danger to defend." But dividing another 3,000 soldiers and horses will weaken the strength of our army, in case Jiang Huan does not choose to retreat, but charges our army head-on, won't our army be in an unfavorable situation of being outnumbered? ”

"Don't worry, Jiang Huan doesn't have the guts!" Fang Li looked confident, "The widow is afraid that Jiang Huan will flee without a fight, and he is not afraid of a head-on decisive battle!" ”

Fei Lan said in her heart, "Of course you are not afraid, this army is the army of the Great Zhou and not your Tang army, maybe even if the whole army is wiped out, you will not feel distressed!" ”

"Tang Gong's guess is too taken for granted, it will be difficult for him to obey his fate, and he can't gamble with the lives of the soldiers." Fei Lan unceremoniously rejected Fang Li's arrangement.

Fang Li was a little depressed, and said dissatisfiedly: "General Fei, how can you win if you use troops in a disciplined manner like you, and you can't strike first?" It is safe to divide the army, but if the Shen army withdraws, what results can we gain? ”

Ji Dai hurriedly stood up and reconciled: "Tang Gong is angry, angry, according to Xiao Wang's opinion, it is better to do this, how about sending two thousand soldiers and horses to Dayu Mountain to ambush?" In this way, there are fewer soldiers and horses, and the impact on the main army is less, and if the Shen army really retreats like Tang Gong said, it can also be killed. ”

"It's okay to divide the troops and ambush, but you must send a general, and let a team lead our generals, what kind of system?" Fei Lan also showed dissatisfaction, protested loudly, and brought out the most dissatisfied places.

"General Concubine is right, our generals can let a team lead the command, and if we say it, how can we save face for our brothers?"

After listening to Fei Lan's words, several Zhou generals and colonels echoed one after another, "If Tang Gong wants to divide his troops and ambush him, he must select a general from among us to lead the army." ”

Fang Li sneered: "It turns out that you look down on Gao Shun's position, since this is the case, the widow will be promoted to Gao Shun as a partial general on the spot, what else do you have to say?" ”

Fei Lan protested: "How can the military be child's play? Tang Gong is inevitably suspected of insulting my Zhou army soldiers by doing this! ”

Fang Li made concessions again: "Since General Concubine is so calculating, then how about you select a military general from your command to command the troops, and I let Gao Shun accompany the team and allocate him five hundred people to command?" ”

After all, it was Zhou Tianzi who invited Fang Li to lead the army, and if he wanted to defeat Shen Guo, he had to rely on the strength of the Tang army, and Fei Lan did not dare to make trouble with Fang Li too stiffly, so he had to agree to Fang Li's proposal, and sent the deputy general Chen Kui as the main and Gao Shun as the deputy, leading two thousand Zhou troops to take a shortcut to the south to Dayu Mountain to set up an ambush.

In order to avoid Gao Homeopathy's loneliness, Fang Li's Wang Dali and Jian Kuai led fifty personal soldiers to follow Gao Shun south, and did their best to kill and injure the retreating Shen army in Dayu Mountain, so as to relieve the pressure on Zhou Yu to destroy Shen.

"Lord, please rest assured, you will definitely live up to your mission!"

Gao Shun said goodbye and left, took Wang Dali, Jian Kuai and others to follow the two thousand Zhou army and the large army parted ways, and went to the direction of Dayu Mountain along the trail.

Taigu.

This is a county town located on the way north of the Shen Kingdom to Luoyang, there are 20,000 people in the city, and 1,200 county soldiers.

Knowing that the Shen army had conquered Liang County, the pioneer general Jiang Kuizheng led 10,000 soldiers and horses to march towards Taigu, which frightened the people in the city.

After noon, the Shen army came to the city of Taigu, only to see the banner waving, the dust flying, more than 10,000 soldiers holding their weapons high, swept in like a tide.

Jiang Kui, who is eight feet five inches tall, has a black face and a beard, and has a big waist and a round waist, is the first to charge with a spear: "Soldiers, attack the city with all your might, and you must break through the gate of Taigu before the reinforcements arrive!" ”

"Kill, those who descend will not die!"

Under the leadership of Jiang Kui, more than 10,000 Shen troops carried shields on their heads and ladders on their shoulders, and launched a fierce attack on Taigu County.

For a while, crossbow arrows flew everywhere, and the Shen army relied on the strength advantage of nearly ten times, and soon formed an overwhelming advantage over the county soldiers who were stubbornly defending, and saw that the first dead soldier was about to step on the ladder and jump to the top of the city.

At the critical juncture, the sound of horses' hooves in the north was loud, and Zhao Yun led two thousand Zhou Dynasty cavalry to kill, shouted, and launched a surprise attack on the Shen army from the flank.

The war horses of the Zhou army were sponsored by the Qin state, were of high quality, and they charged extremely fast. In addition, with Zhao Yun, a tiger general, leading the charge, it was unstoppable like a torrent, and everywhere he went, he was invincible.

"Death to those who stand in my way!"

Zhao Yun roared like thunder, the spear in his hand stabbed out with the sound of the wind, and with a "poof" sound, he pierced the armor of a captain who was running into him, and dropped off the horse with a single shot, which frightened the surrounding Shen troops to retreat.

Zhao Yun waved his spear, flipped up and down, and the spear of one zhang seven shone with silver light, almost every shot would knock down a Shen State soldier, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten people were picked up.

"Kill!"

Seeing Zhao Yun so brave, the soldiers of the Zhou army were all full of blood and high morale, and they rode their horses and galloped, brandished the spear in their hands and stabbed fiercely, raised their big knives and slashed, and the Shen army that killed them was in chaos.

"Reinforcements have arrived, and the soldiers are defending the city!"

The Taigu County Commander carried a sword in his hand to supervise the battle loudly, and led the remaining more than 800 county soldiers to resist stubbornly, defending the city to the death, and smashing the rolling stones and trees down the city wall continuously.

The lack of success made Jiang Kui angry, and he pulled the bowstring like a full moon and ran on the city wall is an arrow, impartially in the chest of the county commander, fell off the city wall and died on the spot.

Although the county order was killed, Zhao Yun led the cavalry to clash back and forth under the city, Jiang Kui had no choice but to withdraw his troops, suspend the attack on the county seat, and urge the horse to raise a spear to fight Zhao Yun, "Zhou Jiangxiu is going to be rampant, eat my Jiang Kui's spear?" ”

Zhao Yun galloped on his horse, facing Jiang Kui's throat is a shot: "I am Changshan Zhao Zilong, General Tang Guodangkou, where did General Zhou come from?" ”

The two horses staggered, the weapons intersected, and the sparks of the collision flew everywhere, making a huge sound of gold and iron resonating, and the eardrums of the surrounding soldiers buzzed around the shock.

"Huh...... This Jiang Kui seems to have good martial arts, and he is many times stronger than the generals of the Kingdom of Qiu! Zhao Yun praised in his heart, he didn't dare to hold it up, and he fought with all his might.

Jiang Kui is known as the "second warrior of the Shen Kingdom", a spear has been fought all over the Shen Kingdom without encountering an opponent, he is quite conceited on weekdays, and he does not pay attention to the recent rise in fame of the Tang monarchs, and at this moment he bumped into Zhao Yunfang and knew that it was indeed worthy of his reputation.

"Tsk...... No wonder the Tang Kingdom was able to destroy the Kingdom of Yu with the power of destroying the withering and decaying, it seems that there are really a few generals! Jiang Kui muttered to himself in his heart as he brandished his spear and used what he had learned in his life to fight against Zhao Yun.

After forty rounds of fierce fighting, Zhao Yun gradually gained the upper hand, Jiang Kui was left and right, knowing that he was invincible, he immediately withdrew from the battle group with a false move, and shouted: "Soldiers, besiege the Zhou army for me!" ”

After all, the Shen army was nearly 10,000 people, five times his own, Zhao Yun did not dare to fight, whistled, turned his horse and left, led his troops to rush away from the Shen army's bag and walked around the city for half a circle, and entered the city from the west gate of Taigu.

There were reinforcements into the city, Jiang Kui knew that there was no hope of breaking the city, so he could only lead his troops to retreat, repay Shenhou Jiang Huan and his son, and then make plans.