The Battle of Jianzhou went through twists and turns, Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao were attacked and defeated, resulting in Pu'an County, which could have been taken down overnight, but now it has become a fortress, causing immeasurable difficulties to the Northern Route Army - these are not to mention, and after the Hengchong Army conquered Jianmen County again, Li Congjing waved his army south to Jianzhou City, and still stationed troops in Beishan.

The terrain here, is not a horse flat river, but a low hilly area, the height difference is very small, the largest is only thirty or forty zhang, the state city is built by the mountain, quite terrain, but the city is not big, the city of three miles only, without ten thousand people can surround it three times outside the three. However, due to the terrain and the arrangement of the opponent's soldiers and horses, Li Congjing could not besiege the city.

When he arrived here, the Xichuan reinforcements sent by Meng Zhixiang, the 5,000 soldiers and horses led by Li Zhao, and the Dongchuan reinforcements sent by Li Shaobin, nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses led by Wang Hui had already arrived here, plus the original defenders in the city, the three were added together, there were 20,000 people.

With 20,000 soldiers and horses, there is naturally no way to garrison them in the city, and they are basically camped outside the city.

On the day he arrived at Beishan, Li Congjing took a group of staff and generals to ride his horse to a high place to watch Jianzhou City and the enemy's soldiers and horses.

Autumn is strong, the grass and trees are withered and yellow, there is a river in front of the city, and the clear waves are swaying.

The soldiers and horses of the two rivers were camped in three places, one in the city, one behind the city, and one in front of the city. The battalions are heavily fortified, the banners are clear, and occasionally there are war horses galloping, and the soldiers come and go, and the smoke and dust are everywhere. The vegetation on the mountain has been cut down, and in some places it has even been exposed, and in its place are tents, watchtowers, fences, and various fortifications. As a battlefield, this is ready.

Li Congjing pointed ahead, "The focus of Jianzhou City's defense lies in two aspects, one is the river bridge; Both, back mountain. Look, behind the river, the army stationed is playing the Xichuan banner, which can be seen to be Li Zhao's department, and the location of the river bridge guarded by his department is at the throat of Jianzhou City; The Houshan army behind Yacheng is playing the Dongchuan banner, which can be seen to be Wang Hui's department, and there is a favorable location there, and it is condescending. The river bridge, the back mountain, and the arch acropolis can echo each other. Therefore, if our army wants to conquer Jianzhou City, it must first defeat the enemy of the river bridge and the back mountain. ”

Mo Li looked in all directions, looked at it for a while, and said: "Because the terrain at the river bridge is relatively flat, Li Zhao's department has many cavalry, and it is our army that quickly rushes into battle; The back mountain is not conducive to the cavalry galloping, so there are many foot soldiers, retreating can be held firmly like Mount Tai, and entering can swoop like thunder. He took a folding fan and pointed at the surrounding landforms, "The terrain around this area is undulating, and there are few flat land, which is a test of the art of using soldiers." ”

Li Congjing nodded, "Scheduling and coordination are indeed very important. So it is for me, and it is true for him. ”

Gao Xingzhou, the commander of the Hengchong army, had sharp eyes, and he said: "The Shu soldiers are all camped and arranged, and the next battle is afraid that it will not be easy to fight." “

Hearing his words, a famous general laughed out loud and teased: "General Gao is planning to give up the position of the vanguard?" ”

Everyone followed the prestige, but when they saw that the person who spoke was young, he was also a general, with a handsome face, a temperament like the first sun, and a tenacious aura all over his body. How could everyone not recognize this person, the Fourth Army of the Forbidden Army, and the Hundred Battles Army were all commanded by Meng Ping.

50,000 forbidden troops, the first army rampage army, all commanded Gao Xingzhou, the second army Longxiang army, all commanded the envoy Huangfulin - before he was one of the two commanders of the first army, and later the first army of the forbidden army only had one commander, and he was transferred to the second army; the Tiger Guards of the Third Army, all commanded Wang Sitong; The Fourth Army, a hundred battle armies, was commanded by Meng Ping; The Feiyun Army of the Fifth Army was commanded by Li Congzhang, Li Siyuan's nephew, who was good at riding and shooting, and was very brave.

Gao Xingzhou laughed, "If the Hundred Battles Army wanted to fight for the position of the vanguard, it would have been conceded!" ”

"Then thank General Gao in advance." Meng Pingxu has a presence.

Li Congjing smiled and waved his hand, "You don't have to fight, the pioneer has already been selected." After that, he looked at a young general beside him, "General Shi is ready?" ”

Shi Chonggui clenched his fists awe-inspiringly, "As long as the commander gives the order, you can go into battle at any time!" ”

Li Congjing expressed his satisfaction, "This is very good. Rest all night today, and tomorrow, dawn to war! ”

When Li Congjing and others were standing on a high place and pointing out the defense of Jianzhou City, the generals of Liangchuan on the Jianzhou side were also observing the formation of the imperial army.

Now, the Liangchuan army is headed by Wang Hui, Li Zhao is deputy, Pang Fucheng and Xie Qi Although they have won the victory the day before yesterday, they have not been promoted so quickly, so they are still young generals, but with the results of the day before yesterday, the weight of the two of them in the minds of the soldiers is unusual.

"The Tang Army can be described as menacing." Wang Hui is known as a good general, in order to crown Dongchuan, Jianzhou is so important, Li Shaobin did not come in person, but sent him to help, it can be seen that Li Shaobin has great respect and trust in him, he looked at the camp of the imperial army, "There was a report from the scout before, and the army led by Li Congjing was no less than 50,000. Now it seems that it is indeed true. ”

"It is a fact that the enemy is outnumbered, but the victory or defeat on the battlefield is never determined by the number of soldiers and horses, Rao is he Li Congjing has 100,000 male soldiers, and it is difficult to break my sword state." Li Zhao is quite arrogant, he is so confident, but there is a reason, he and his soldiers were originally the "kings" of the imperial court, brave and good at fighting, and their combat power is very high.

Li Zhao continued: "When we followed Guo Gong to fight against Wang Yan before, there were only 60,000 troops, but the soldiers were invincible, so didn't Wang Yan have several times the army? However, what is the result, I will wait for two months to decide on two rivers! This attack and defense are easy to do, we occupy the right time and place, Li Congke and Shi Jingjiao are also prestigious, leading more than 10,000 troops, but they were defeated by more than 1,000 of my soldiers in a battle! Although he Li Congjing also has some military exploits, after all, he is young, Hugh said that compared with the two marshals, even if we wait, I will not be afraid of him for half a point! ”

Wang Hui has a steady temperament, even if he has such words in his heart, but he will not say it, he said on the matter: "This time the Tang army is coming, three ways at the same time, there is Li Congjing in the north, Guo Wei in the south, Baoning and Wuxin two towns in the east, right now, Langzhou has been broken, Baoning army no longer exists, although Suizhou is stubbornly resistant, self-protection is still difficult, and it is difficult to provoke any storms, although Guo Wei said that he seized Hezhou, but there are two Sichuan combined forces to attack, with the combat power of his Wanzhou army, it is not difficult to win. Now, only this Li Congjing is left, and he is still hard-boned. ”

"The sudden capture of Jianmen Pass by the Jingnan army was indeed unexpected, however, through the battle the day before yesterday, it is not difficult to see that although the army under Li Congjing's command is very powerful, it is easy to defeat. Moreover, our two rivers have been preparing for this battle for a long time, and now they have Jianzhou as their backing, as long as they can frustrate their sharp spirit and keep Jianzhou from losing, Li Congjing can only retreat. If so, he has no sword gate, and it will be useless. Now, our two Sichuan soldiers have won many victories, their morale is high, their fighting spirit is surging, and they are ready to use their soldiers! ”

After that, he asked Pang Fucheng and Xie Qi two generals, and asked them to comment on the combat strength of the imperial army.

Pang Fucheng and Xie Qi's second generals said with a smile: "It looks like it is mighty, but in fact it is just a rabble!" "The day before yesterday, they defeated more than 10,000 people with more than 1,000 people, and they really have the confidence to say this.

Li Zhao laughed and said: "The two of you are right, under the fame, it is actually difficult to deserve!" He sneered and said arrogantly: "Since he Li Congjing is here, we will also let this majestic King of Qin see how brave my Liangchuan soldiers are, and how sharp my Liangchuan armaments are!" From tomorrow's battle, if you don't kill him to the ground, you will lose and be punished by General Wang! ”

Everyone laughed for a while, and they didn't take the imperial army seriously, and the generals were all eager to try. Wang Hui just said that the morale of the soldiers is usable, and he is indeed not wrong.

Chengdu, Shuaifu.

The Jianzhou battle report was quickly delivered to Meng Zhixiang in an expedited manner of eight hundred miles.

The battle between Liangchuan and Sichuan happened when it happened, and it entered a high tide at the beginning, and the front-line battle reports continued to be sent back, which made people overwhelmed.

Meng Zhixiang originally thought that Liangchuan was already a preemptive strike, but now that the war has progressed to this point, he realized that the imperial court will move much faster than he expected. The timing of the war between the two rivers and the imperial court can be regarded as in no particular order at best, and in the snatching of the first move, the two sides can be regarded as a tie at best.

The battle report delivered to Meng Zhixiang had a sequence. At the earliest, it was Li Shaobing's good news of conquering Langzhou, Meng Zhixiang was very relieved when he heard it, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief; Immediately, there was a fierce battle in Suizhou, and the battle was fierce, and the commander in chief, Li Renju, reported that Suizhou could not be taken overnight, which did not surprise Meng Zhixiang, and he was not happy or sad.

Immediately, Guo Wei captured Hezhou and defeated Pan Rensi, which surprised Meng Zhixiang, he didn't expect that Guo Wei would come so quickly, let alone calculate, Guo Wei would take Yuzhou and Hezhou so quickly. Although Guo Wei temporarily abandoned the method of quick warfare afterwards, and instead fought steadily and steadily, stationed troops in Hezhou, and Meng Zhixiang also sent reinforcements to attack, but he was very uncertain in his heart.

Guo Wei has made a move, how can there be no Tang Army outside the Sword Gate?

Sure enough, immediately after, the news of the loss of the Sword Gate Pass was handed to his desk. To tell the truth, this made Meng Zhixiang extremely angry. As early as before sending troops, he reminded Li Shaobin that he must strengthen the defense of Jianmen Pass, and suggested that if Li Shaobin's troops were insufficient, he could help him guard Jianmen Pass - Li Shaobin refused.

Therefore, Meng Zhixiang scolded Li Shaobin fiercely, shouting that Li Shaobing had killed him. However, although he was angry, Meng Zhixiang did not dare to delay, and immediately sent Li Zhao to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses to rush to the aid of Jianzhou, and told the other party that he had to defend Jianzhou City no matter what, otherwise the two rivers would be in danger.

Fortunately, it is estimated that God blesses the two rivers, Pang Fucheng and Xie Qi's two generals were born, and with more than 1,000 soldiers, more than 10,000 people under the menacing Li Congke, Shi Jingjiao, and Li Shaocheng were defeated in a battle and forced to retreat to Jianmen Pass, which made Meng Zhixiang feel a lot more down-to-earth. If Jianzhou City was lost, there was no other way, and he would have to take the only remaining 8,000 mobile troops in Chengdu and set out in person.

The military newspaper that had just arrived made Meng Zhixiang feel reassured, he handed the letter to Su Yuan, and said with a smile: "Jianzhou City is as stable as Mount Tai!" ”

Su Yuan took the letter and glanced at it, it was written that Li Zhao and Wang Hui had reinforcements to Jianzhou, and Li Congjing had troops in Beishan.

Su Yuan bowed his hand, "Congratulations to the marshal, there are 20,000 troops guarding Jianzhou, which is enough to hold the fortress according to the geography." In addition, with the sharp weapons given by the marshal, General Li and General Wang will be able to defend Jianzhou as firmly as a rock, so that Li Congjing has nothing to do but retreat in embarrassment! ”

Meng Zhixiang smiled but did not speak.

Li Congjing did not know what Su Yuan's "sharp weapon" referred to, and in the early morning of this day, he ordered the three armies to line up along the mountain, and after the various departments were ready to take place, he ordered Shi Chonggui to lead the Baoyi army to attack the river bridge, and ordered the national protection army to attack the back mountain.