Several large pits had been dug outside the valley mouth, and the auxiliaries were carrying the dead enemy corpses back and forth into these large pits. The corpses of their own soldiers were loaded onto carts pulled from the camp and prepared to be transported back to the county seat for burial.

"In this battle, the enemy's head was six hundred and seventy-seven ranks, and the enemy's ordnance was counted with two hundred and eight bows, four hundred and thirty-one swords, one hundred and sixteen guns, and no arrows. Eighty-six enemy horses were captured......"

"The captured goods were sent to the county seat after the military horses, and the ordnance was hoarded in the camp. The head was pulled back to the county town and reported to the king. Li Yanzhi interrupted Zhou Xing's report and said expressionlessly: "How is Cao Jian there?" ”

Zhou Xing arched his hand and said even more admiringly: "Sima Miao is exhaustive, the enemy army sent a light cavalry to try to bypass the valley and attack the flank of our army. Cao Sima led his troops to repel it and cut more than 40 of them. ”

"What about our casualties?" Li Yanzhi mentioned this problem that no general wants to face. But whenever there is a battle, it is inevitable that there will be a large number of casualties among the soldiers under his command. And how to face this kind of casualties, measure the combat power that you have next, so as to continue to gain an advantage in the battle with the enemy, and then accumulate small victories into big victories, is the most severe test for the general.

Zhou Xing hesitated for a moment and said, "Our army's auxiliaries, crossbowmen, and old battalion foot soldiers were killed and wounded...... One hundred and sixty-nine people. Thirty-four were killed and twenty......-seven were wounded."

Li Yanzhi nodded and sighed: "Although it is a small setback to the enemy's vanguard, the casualties of our army are not light......" Zhou Xing was silent when he heard this. After a while, as if he remembered something, he said: "The sentry cavalry has returned, and the enemy army here has withdrawn from the camp." The rest of the movement has not yet been discovered, and the enemy forces continue to be followed. ”

"The enemy army has retreated and joined up with the headquarters...... Li Yanzhi muttered to himself, "After arranging everything properly, we will withdraw to the front and return to the camp." Wait for the sentinel to detect the situation of the enemy army, and then make plans. Today's battalion ordered double the number of soldiers to be on duty, and instructed that the enemy army could attack at any time, so don't be careless. ”

Zhou Xing hugged his fists and took his life. Not long afterward, the auxiliaries came with hastily prepared stretchers and put all the wounded on stretchers. Two auxiliary soldiers came to Li Yanzhi with a stretcher, but Li Yanzhi was blown away on the grounds that he could still walk. The convoy carrying captured enemy ordnance, military merit leaders, and their own fallen soldiers set off for the camp one after another. Immediately afterwards, auxiliaries, cavalry, and ironclad infantry also returned to the camp one after another.

Due to the lack of manpower, Li Yanzhi had to order the teams that returned to the county town to return in batches. The first was the convoy carrying their own fallen soldiers. The plan was to wait for their return before ordering the convoy carrying the military leaders to depart. In this way, there were always enough soldiers left in the battalion to defend. Even if the enemy army goes and returns to this point, the response will not be too hasty.

After returning to the camp, except for the soldiers who were assigned to be on duty, the rest of the people have returned to the camp to rest. However, Li Yanzhi was not sleepy, although he had severely defeated the enemy's vanguard in this battle, but the enemy's main force was still strong, and he was also unsure of what the enemy would do after that.

If the enemy army is still the same as it was in the eleventh year, this is undoubtedly the situation that Li Yanzhi and the generals of Liangzhou want to see the most. Once the rest of the counties in Liangzhou send reinforcements and continue to be firmly nailed to both sides of Jincheng, then the things that Liu Yue experienced in eleven years will be repeated again today.

What's more, under Liu Yin's rate today, there are no more than 20,000 people at most. At that time, Liu Yue's army of nearly 50,000 was trapped on both sides of the strait and could not advance an inch, not to mention the situation like Liu Yin today? The warlike divisions in the Zhao army have all been transferred eastward to prepare for a possible war with Shi Zhao. Although Liu Yin was outnumbered, the battle with Han Pu undoubtedly made him more confident. The elite of Liangzhou almost lost a fight, and he was confident that there would be no obstacles on his way north.

Until this time, he sent nearly 5,000 pioneers who were ready to pull out the Liangzhou military camp on the south bank of the river, but they were defeated by the Liangzhou army that took the initiative to attack. What's more serious is that until he was defeated by the enemy for a while, he still didn't know what kind of Liangzhou army was coming from in this block.

Early the next morning, he received a report from the sentry cavalry, saying that the vanguard of the Zhao army retreated more than 50 miles and joined the main force of Liu Yin's department. Immediately built a fortress and defended it, and there was no movement yet, Li Yanzhi breathed a sigh of relief, and then summoned the generals to report on the current situation and situation on the battlefield. Another sentry was sent to report the situation to Zhang Lang, the guard of Jincheng County.

Li Yanzhi still ordered Tao Heng to send more sentry cavalry to reconnoitre. According to the current situation, he decided to still hold Jincheng for the time being. However, after determining the enemy's movements, they had to cross the river and continue to build fortifications on the north bank. At the same time, the various situations in Henan were written into military reports, and more than ten horsemen were dispatched to report to the county seat, Yongdeng, Zhiyang, as well as Guzang, Wuxing and other counties.

After the auxiliary soldiers who transported the bodies of the fallen soldiers returned, Li Yanzhi successively dispatched several groups of auxiliary soldiers to transport the military meritorious leaders and the wounded soldiers back to the county seat, and Liu Jiwu, who stayed behind, arranged for treatment. At the same time, the 1,000 auxiliary soldiers who stayed in the county seat and hundreds of county soldiers were sent to transport the ordnance and materials produced in the workshop. It's a busy place.

Three days later, the sentry cavalry reported that the Zhao army had set out of camp and turned east. The generals were all relieved. While Li Yanzhi breathed a sigh of relief, he still had a lot of doubts, so he ordered Tao Heng to continue to follow the main sentry of the Zhao army. And the armies were still stationed in this camp on the south bank of the Great River. All the generals returned with Zhao Jun, and they were quite puzzled by Li Yanzhi's decision. Li Yanzhi said to the generals: "Liu Yin broke 30,000 Liangzhou elites before, and his momentum was flourishing, how could he lead his troops to turn back because of a small setback in the vanguard?" Probably because he was afraid of falling into the situation of the eleventh year, he did not want to stop the army under Jincheng, so he confused us with the withdrawal of troops. Wait for the guard to be relaxed, and then travel lightly and rush forward, and conquer the city in one fell swoop. ”

He raised his eyes and looked at the towering city wall of Jincheng County two miles away, and sighed again: "Previously, Han Governor was defeated and lost, and the vitality of our state has been injured, and now the defenders of Jincheng are less than half of the eleven years. If Liu Yin wields his army to cover up and kill, he will definitely be unable to support himself. If Jincheng falls, Liu Yinda can take this as the root, and he can enter the counties of Guangwu in front of him, and retreat to protect the land of Henan. In this way, it will be difficult for our army to fight back. After Li Yanzhi finished speaking, his fingers slammed on the map. The place he was referring to was the location of the Golden City.

When the generals heard this, they were all silent. In all fairness, after fighting abroad and experiencing the tragic battle at Taniguchi, the generals and generals of the army now miss their hometowns. Hearing that Zhao Jun turned to the east, he was relieved and wanted to go home as soon as possible. However, Li Yanzhao ordered them to remain stationed here for this reason, and the generals inevitably had some complaints in their hearts.

At this time, after listening to Li Yanzhi's analysis, the generals' expressions became solemn. The possible future movements of the Zhao army were revealed, and these generals realized that there was still a hidden crisis around them. No one complained, and they all looked at the map, thinking about how they would respond if the expected war swept through Henan and even Liangzhou again.

"Li Sima, there is something unclear about your humble majesty, if Zhao Jun has never made a comeback, what should we do? Have you been staying here all along? The words fell, and Li Yanzhi looked up, but it was Wei Xu, the current crossbowman of 100 people. Although Wei Xu is known as the head of a hundred people, in fact, he has four teams of crossbowmen with a total of more than 200 people. Allowing him to take over this position for the time being is also a reward for his previous cooperative attitude.

"We will be stationed here for a month, and if the Zhao army does not march after a month, we will withdraw the camp. After the camp was pulled, the cavalry still needed to reconnoiter and scout the land in Henan, and always pay attention to the movements of the enemy troops here. The rest will return to the county, still need to restrain the soldiers of the station, and be ready to call for battle at any time. Cao Jian still paid attention to stockpiling grain, grass, ordnance, and medicinal materials for military needs. ”

"From this day onwards, stationed in January. When you go out, you must double the sentry ride, and the sentry ride distance can go forward for more than 30 miles. It does not have to be limited to three days. If you notice an abnormality, you will report it immediately. If the military situation is delayed and not reported, the military law will be engaged! ”

When Li Yanzhi said the last sentence, his face was already solemn. No one in the generals here dares to criticize it. When the generals heard Li Yanzhi announce the dismissal of the meeting, they went out of the big tent one after another. In the blink of an eye, the tent was empty.

Li Yanzhi was about to blow out the lights in the tent and then go to rest, but saw the curtain of the tent lifted, and a guard entered the tent and reported: "Sima, Tao Bairen Chang and Sun Bairen are waiting outside the tent. ”

"Call them in!" Li Yanzhi was very strange that these two horsemen did not leave after the meeting of 100 people, but wanted to see him outside the tent, and there must be some extraordinary things to talk to him about. Sun Bairen's name is Sun He, and he is the original commander of the cavalry in Lingju County. After Li Yanzhi was transferred, he still held his old position. behaves in a decent manner, but it is always a little too bland, and it is difficult to have any intersection with Li Yanzhi on weekdays except for official business.

Tao Heng and Sun He entered the account one after another, and Li Yanzhi had already stood up from behind a few cases, stepped forward to look at the two, and said, "But what is the urgent military situation to report?" ”

Tao Heng arched his hand: "Sima, the sentry cavalry that followed the main force of the Zhao army has returned, and informed the main force of the Zhao army to march east for a day and night, and then turned south to ......."

"Do you know where to go?" When Li Yanzhi heard that he had detected the movements of the enemy army, his heart naturally tightened. However, Tao Heng shook his head, but he didn't know.

"Probe!" Li Yanzhi was a little annoyed, and immediately said: "Now that the enemy's situation is unknown, if there is no basis for advancing and retreating in the future, and the army is defeated immediately, it will be our crime of losing the opportunity in battle!" ”

"Sima, I'm waiting to come here, it's Sun Bairen who said that there is a way to tell you. Sun Bairen said for a long time, this matter ...... or it may be related to the movement of the enemy......"

When Li Yanzhi heard this, his face suddenly brightened, and he turned to look at Sun He expectantly, and asked, "If you have any advice from Captain Sun Bairen, you might as well say it clearly." If we find traces of the enemy army because of this, we should take the first credit for Sun Bairen! ”

Sun He clenched his fists and knocked on the ground, and his mouth was terrified. Li Yanzhi dragged him several times with his right hand, but he didn't move. Until the end, Li Yanzhi said: "Get up and speak!" Sun He quickly stood up.

Sima Ke knew that from Jincheng upstream, one hundred and ten miles away, there was a ferry, called Yuyin Pass. This is the place where the Zhuqi and Qiang tribes go back and forth to both sides of the big river and live in pursuit of abundant water and grass. Hexi is cold in winter, and the grass and trees are yellow. Many Qiang tribes crossed the river and went to Longxi. And when the spring comes, we will cross west from here and return to Hexi......"

Li Yanzhi spread out the map and called Sun He to come closer: "Can Captain Sun Bairen point out where this Yin mouth is?" ”

Sun He lay down on a few cases, carefully examined them, and after a while, his hand pointed to a point: "This is it!" ”

Li Yanzhi took a closer look and saw that the point that Sun He pointed out was actually at the junction of the big river and Huangshui, and it was only thirty miles away from Caohan. The west bank is the boundary of Jinxing County. However, the Hu and Han people in the jurisdiction of Jinxing County live together, and the situation is far more complicated than that of Jincheng and Guangwu.

Li Yanzhi was a little puzzled, and asked Sun Hedao: "If Sun Bairen leads his subordinates and wants to attack Hexi from Longxi, Sun Bairen will give up the near and seek far, and choose to cross the river here?" In the case of the place where the river was crossed, Sun Bairen thought for a long time, how would he forge ahead? ”

"Although this place is far away, after crossing the river, the enemy can advance lightly and quickly, and go north to Guangwu. If there are three or five thousand light horsemen, they can go out to prey. ”

"Why don't you put Jinxing and Xiping nearby, but go north to Guangwu?" Li Yanzhi tapped the map repeatedly with the index finger of his right hand, puzzled.

"The two counties of Jinxing and Xiping have always been anointed places. The soldiers of the two counties are strong, and the world is widely known. In the eleventh year, only a few of the Zhao army of tens of thousands were left in the line of Jinxing and Xiping, and most of them attacked Jincheng, in a vain attempt to go north to take Guzang. Today, Liu Yin's soldiers are few and few, and if he forcibly takes the two counties, most of them will be defeated. However, on the line from Jincheng to Guzang, the previous army had been defeated and its vitality had been injured. Liu Yin abandoned the smooth road and took a detour, which was not intended to put me in danger. If Yin is taken by surprise, many of the counties under our county are defenseless, or they return from plundering, or they attack our county and then approach Guzang, all of them are calmly ......"

Li Yanzhi listened to Sun He's words and began to think carefully about this issue and the feasibility of adopting this plan. After thinking about it for a long time, in the end, he still took a few shots: "Captain Sun Bairen, you will send your men to monitor the Yinkou, if the Zhao army crosses the river with light horses and raids, he will be disguised and disguised." Once it is found that the brigade of young people has crossed the river to the west, it will be reported quickly! ”

"Humble command!" Sun He clenched his fists and knocked on the ground.

Li Yanzhi turned to Tao Heng again and said, "Tao is a hundred people long, and he ordered the cavalry to continue to investigate the movements of the main force of the Zhao army, and once there is any change, he will report back immediately!" ”

"Yes!" Tao Heng bowed and clenched his fists. After the two received the order, they turned around and wanted to leave, but Li Yanzhi suddenly called Tao Heng and said, "Captain Tao Bairen, after returning to the camp, call Cui Yang to come to see me." ”

Tao Heng nodded, then lifted the curtain and disappeared into the night.

Li Yanzhi felt a wave of tiredness hit him. However, he still waited for Cui Yang's arrival. A moment later, Cui Yang finally lifted the curtain of the tent and came to the tent to bow down and clench his fists: "Li Sima, subordinate Cui Yang." ”

Li Yanzhi reluctantly straightened up and beckoned to Cui Yang. Cui Yang followed suit, and when he got closer, Li Yanzhi lowered his voice and said, "You go back to the camp, change into civilian clothes, and go to Didao City to ......."

Li Yanzhi's voice became smaller and smaller, but Cui Yang, who heard him whispering for a while, his face became more and more solemn.