Li Yanzhao led the horse through the city gate hole that was more than two feet long, and saw Liao Hu, the general above the city head, and several followers behind him, waiting for him outside the door hole. He hurriedly took two steps forward, clenched his left hand into a fist slightly, held the horse's reins with the thumb of his right hand, hugged his fist and bowed slightly to Liao Hu in front of him: "Xiaguan Guangwu Army Ma Duwei belongs to Sima of other departments, Li Yanzhao has seen General Liao." ”

General Liao in front of him looked at Li Yanzhao carefully, and the young man in front of him was dressed as a soldier, but he was handsome and extraordinary. didn't return the salute, for a long time, Li Yanzhao saw the "meat worm" on his face squirm slightly, and then General Liao's slightly cold voice came: "Sima Li Yanzhao of the other department, excuse me." ”

Li Yanzhao thanked him and straightened up. looked at General Liao in front of him without humility or arrogance.

"Ma Duwei said that he had something important to discuss with me, so he ordered you to come and say, what is important for Ma Duwei." Liao Hu asked calmly.

Li Yanzhao hugged his fists and said: "A few days ago, my Guangwu County Mansion heard that the bald department had rebelled, and coerced the remaining more than 13,000 people to capture Linqiang County in Xiping County, and plundered in all directions. Our county government is brave and decisive, and he makes a decision immediately. Quickly strengthen the defense of the county, and at the same time also ordered the infantry of the Guangwu army to defend the county seat and the counties under it, and the cavalry immediately assembled and galloped to the aid of Xiping County. He also ordered Ma Duwei to be the chief general of the cavalry of the Guangwu Army, and set off immediately after the assembly. Our department did not stop, and it lasted three days before crossing the mountains and coming to the bank of the Huangshui. The sentry cavalry reported that the troops of Xiping County were still in the city, and Ma Duwei led our troops to confirm. Xia Guanguo saw that the generals of Xiping County were brave and decisive, and the city defense was impeccable, and the rest of them were admired in their hearts. ”

Liao Hu listened to Li Yanzhao's words, his face was expressionless, and he didn't see joy or anger. Li Yanzhao couldn't help but secretly admire this person's determination.

"Seeing that Xiping County was fine, Captain Ma Du decided to continue to lead the troops, but considering that our troops were weak and weak, he ordered the lower officials to come and ask General Liao for help."

Liao Hu knew the meaning of the song when he heard the strings. frowned at the moment, and said, "Ma Ping wants to borrow troops?" However, the soldiers of my Xiping County Jijun are only able to trap a corner of Xiping, and it is really difficult to obey their fate. Li Sima, please go back, please inform Ma Duwei, it is not Liao's unkindness, and the situation of Xiping County is also worthy of self-protection, and he is powerless to help, please forgive me. With that, he waved his hand, ordered a few guards beside him to send off the guests, and turned around and walked towards the city tower.

Hearing Liao Hu's words, Li Yanzhao was immediately anxious, and it was no accident that he had an idea to ask Ma Duwei to borrow troops from Xiping. In the past few days in the army, he has been exhausted, thinking about ways to make this team grow a little. After all, relying only on the 400 cavalry of the Guangwu County Army, it is too weak and weak. This time I came to borrow troops from Xiping, and I really can't afford to lose.

"General Liao, slow down! The general is long in the army, familiar with the art of war, must know that it is not the best policy to trap and defend the lonely city, and Linqiang has fallen, the thieves are plundering in all directions, and the momentum is flourishing, if the thief army comes out in all directions, continue to attack the western capital, Changning, and Anyi counties. Even if the county town of Xiping is not lost, he will come to the aid of the king of Zang to quell the rebellion, and who will bear the responsibility of losing the land? ”

Hearing Li Yanzhao's words, Liao Hu's figure, who was looking up the city tower by himself, was shocked, and then he looked back and looked at Li Yanzhao noncommittally.

"Xia Guan tried to discuss with Ma Duwei, and wanted to drive my cavalry to the front line of Linqiang and Changning, block the enemy's four raids, exhaust the enemy's soldiers, and make the enemy's brigade sluggish. The enemy is divided into ten, and I am single-minded, so I can find opportunities to break each one. Only at this time! ”

"Think twice!" Li Yanzhao was already bowing down with his fists clenched.

"If we borrow troops, what will our troops get?" Liao Hu was already moved, but after thinking for a moment, he still asked calmly. "I asked about some of the benefits, not the so-called 'immortal deeds'."

"If you and the cavalry of our Xiping, the general will be able to return to Qiang County in a few days. After the rebellion is put down, the mules, horses, cattle and sheep of the thieves captured will be divided into half with the general. The first level of military merit is also half that of the general, what does the general think? ”

Li Yanzhao looked up, Liao Hu was already slightly moved, but he still asked, "How to return to Qiang County?" Could the thieves still abandon the city and leave? ”

"The general will wait and see, within a few days, the thieves will march eastward with the whole division, and Linqiang will be able to recover."

"In that case, Ben will lend your cavalry, when will it be built?"

"After the rebellion is quelled, the general's headquarters will be captured with military merits and immediately rebuilt."

"Okay, I will temporarily return the five hundred cavalry belonging to Xiping to your command, and hope that on the day of victory, I will see you practice today's promise."

"A gentleman's word, the horse is difficult to chase!" When Li Yanzhao heard this, his heart was already a lot easier. "Please order the cavalry of his subordinate to bring enough dry food for seven days, and then allocate three days of dry rations for our cavalry. Under the reluctant request, please also ask the general for permission. ”

Liao Hu's face did not change and said: "Accurate! I will allocate three days' dry rations with your department, and when I will ride out of the city, I will bring them to your department together. ”

"Thank you, general, and take your leave!" Li Yanzhao was relieved and said goodbye.

"Bring a message to Ma Ping, Ben will wish him a victory!"

"The subordinate obeys the general's orders, and will bring this to Captain Madu!"

Walking out of the city gate, Li Yanzhao turned over and got on his horse, raised his right hand and waved it vigorously at the city tower. Then his legs were clamped, and the horse under his crotch was already galloping towards his own brigade on the bank of the Huangshui outside the city.

Seeing Li Yanzhao's return, Ma Ping also stepped forward to greet him. Asked carefully about borrowing troops. Li Yanzhao and Ma Ping recounted the process of borrowing troops one by one, and Ma Ping was amazed when he heard it. Xiping was willing to borrow 500 cavalry, and the combat power of his subordinates doubled, and he couldn't help but rejoice in his heart.

Hearing that Li Yanzhao asked Liao Hu to allocate three days of dry food for the more than 400 people under his department, Ma Duwei couldn't help but give a thumbs up and said, "Wonderful, wonderful." I forgot about it, but you still remember to ask that Liao Hu for dry food. It's really a forethought. Li Yanzhao hurriedly waved his hand, not daring to speak.

In the end, Li Yanzhao conveyed Liao Hu's "victory" to Ma Duwei. Ma Duwei quietly glanced at the head of Xiping City, but sighed.

About half an hour later, the gate of Xiping was opened, and hundreds of horsemen lined up from the gate. Seeing that the cavalry who came to help were all strong, Captain Ma couldn't help but be happy.

The cavalry galloped out, and when they got more than 50 steps from the Guangwu army resting on the bank of the Huangshui, they reined in their horses one after another, and after a while, the large group of men and horses had already marched to the front. A general dressed in iron armor stepped out of the formation, rode on a horse and arched his hand at Ma Ping, the head of the Guangwu army, and said: "Wei Yun, the cavalry captain of the Xiping army, has seen the horse captain of the Guangwu army. ”

The cavalry captain of the Xiping army and the cavalry captain of the Guangwu army are of the same level, so when Wei Yun and Ma Ping greeted each other, the horses refused to get off, and their demeanor was still slightly arrogant. However, Ma Ping couldn't attack, seeing that the cavalry lieutenants of Xiping County were all capable warriors. And the strength is more than 500 people in a battalion. And what about yourself? The subordinates were pieced together, including the county seats, and many cavalrymen under the county soldiers of each county were gathered together, and they were only in their early 400s, which was not as many as the cavalry in one city.

Xiping County is located in the land of the river, and it has been the place where good horses have been produced since ancient times, and Ma Ping knows it. And Guangwu is more than a star and a half, although it also produces horses, but the quantity is small, not to mention, the quality and Xiping military horses are not the same.

The cavalry of the Guangwu Army saw that the mounts of the cavalry of Xiping were all incomparable, and their faces couldn't help but show envy. Ma Ping scolded for a while, but he also met Wei Yun, saying that he would need to fight side by side in the future, and asked Wei Duwei to take care of Yunyun.

The two divisions are combined, and the number of people has reached nearly 1,000. Looking at this team, which was more than twice as large as when he set off, Li Yanzhao's heart was agitated. With these sturdy cavalry, in the future war, their own side will definitely have a lot to do.

Wei Yun brought three more days' worth of dry food to the cavalry of the Guangwu Army, which was also distributed to the Guangwu Army at this time. Wei Yun rode his horse, arrived at De Ma Ping's side, and asked: "Since our department has joined forces with Du Wei, how to deal with it next, I hope that Ma Du Wei will make it clear." ”

Ma Duwei didn't raise his head, and said: "Set off immediately, and go to find the footprints of the thieves and traitors." Reconnoiter their movements, block their raids, disturb their morale, exhaust their soldiers, and seek opportunities to divide their troops. ”

What Ma Duwei said was very general, Wei Yun was confused when he heard it, but he didn't ask anymore, anyway, this time, Liao Hu, the thousand-man governor of the Xiping army, also told him that he was just assisting the Guangwu army to harass the tired thieves. If Ma Ping ordered all the soldiers to storm the fortified city of the anti-thief camp, he would lead his troops back to the division and scatter in two.

After hearing Captain Madu's military order, all the sergeants got up, tied dry food and other things to their bodies, stepped on their horses, lined up, and left Xiping and continued to march westward.

The sentry horses had dispersed. There are still nearly 70 miles from Xiping to Linqiang. Fortunately, these 70 miles are along the banks of the Huangshui River, and the cavalry no longer have to suffer from climbing mountains and mountains. It's just that they are walking towards Linqiang, and they don't know when they will meet the enemy, and everyone is in a worried mood. And Ma Duwei also sent several groups of sentry horses to reconnoiter in batches.

After about half a day's journey, the sentinel in front has already returned, saying that the people are less than twenty miles away from Linqiang County. And the thieves are still staying in Linqiang County, and there are still thieves looting everywhere. The bandits who stayed in Linqiang were stationed in the county seat, and most of them camped in the south of the county seat.

"The enemy situation is clear, what is Li Sima's plan?" Ma Ping listened to the report of the sentry rider and turned to ask Li Yanzhao.

Li Yanzhao has not yet adapted to his title of "Sima of Other Departments". Didn't react. It wasn't until Ma Ping called him several times that he suddenly turned his head.

Li Yanzhaoce immediately stepped forward and clenched his fists: "Captain Yudu, the last general thinks that the thieves are still stationed in Linqiang, and the troops are swept around, and the bald hair and the orphans hurriedly raise troops to rebel, and coerce the tribes, I am afraid that many of them will not be convinced." In the end, the general observed the behavior of the lonely person, exerted more brute force, and lacked strategy. “

At this time, the autumn grain had just been sown, and the summer grain had been consumed, and the grain stored in the warehouse of Linqiang County was not enough for more than 13,000 people. He still stayed in Linqiang, but because he had not yet decided how to act. The last general thought that our troops could send 200 troops back to Xiping County, and asked General Liao Hu to assist in building a pontoon bridge over the Huangshui outside Xiping County, so that our troops could repair it here, and when it was late at night, the whole army would go out and attack the thieves in the southern camp of Qiang City, not seeking to kill and injure the thieves, so as to make them chaotic. “

When the chaos was over, our army set fire everywhere, then withdrew, quickly returned to Xiping, crossed the Huangshui from the pontoon bridge, and then went straight to Changning. The thieves did not have much food in stock, and Linqiang could not hold on, so they would definitely go down the river and attack Xiping County. And Xiping County is well defended, and the thieves will have no chance to take advantage of it. In desperation, the thief will cross the Huangshui with the intention of capturing Changning. If Changning can't be captured, the thieves will immediately march east and attack our Guangwu County Governor's Office. All we have to do is follow them all the way, exhausting the enemy. When they can enter our county office, there is nothing to plunder, and the army is discouraged, it is the best time to defeat the thieves! ”

Ma Ping asked Li Yanzhao for advice, and Wei Yun was also listening, but the two did not shy away from him. After Li Yanzhao finished talking about this series of arrangements, Wei Yun was already secretly frightened. He finally learned why the Guangwu army dared to attack the enemy with only a few hundred cavalry. The other Sima surnamed Li in Ma Ping's army is a temple. However, he saw a loophole in it.

"If Changning County can't resist the enemy, what should we do?" Wei Yun couldn't help but tell the only question in his heart about Li Yanzhao's series of calculations. He is not worried about Xiping County, if Xiping County can't hold it, then there are no cities in Hexi County that can stop the thief army. However, Changning, who has few soldiers and generals, looks like the next soft persimmon to be pinched by the thieves.

"If the thieves really want to attack Xiping, I will go to Changning County and advise the county generals on how to resist the enemy." Li Yanzhao looked at Wei Yun and smiled mysteriously.