Indeed, as the rangers of the Hundred Battles Army discovered, Li Shaobin had already crossed Cangxi when he went out from Langzhou, and the next destination of the army was indeed Jiangkou and Zhangcun.

Contrary to Meng Ping's expectations, Li Shaobin's forward did not ask Li Shaobin for any military orders during the period when he stayed outside Zhangcun. Because before leaving, the vanguard had received Li Shaobin's clear order, if he saw the vanguard of the Hundred Battles Army, he could try to fight.

Li Shaobin has only heard of the combat power of the Hundred Battles Army, but has never experienced it, so he needs to find out first. As for whether there are other deep meanings in this, it is not difficult to imagine.

When the vanguard of the two armies was fighting in Zhangcun, Li Shaobin was still a day's or two distance away from Zhangcun.

The first military report Li Shaobin received was that the vanguard had discovered that there was a pioneer of the Hundred Battles Army stationed in Zhangcun, and after a short rest, he had begun to fight with it.

Li Shaobin was a little worried.

"No matter how strong the Hundred Battles Army is, it will not be stronger than the straight horses of the year, and the military commander doesn't have to worry." Wang Hui saw Li Shaobin's melancholy face and persuaded him.

Li Shaobin bowed slightly, as if he recognized Wang Hui's judgment.

This time out of Langzhou, Li Shaobin left 4,000 people to defend the city, and brought 24,000 people to the battle, and the formation was huge. Among them, there are more than 10,000 Xichuan troops under Zhao Tingyin and Meng Sigong. In general, the strength of the Eastern and Western Sichuan armies is roughly equal, but the vanguard is Li Shaobin's descendant, and it is the elite force in his hands.

In less than an hour, the second military report arrived.

Li Shaobin frowned when he read the strike report.

"The Hundred Battles Army has strong bows and crossbows, and the forward battle is unfavorable, and it is preparing to withdraw from the battle." Seeing Wang Hui coming, Li Shaobin concisely stated the contents of the letter.

Wang Hui bowed his head solemnly and did not say much.

What is the combat strength of the forbidden army, Wang Hui, who has fought with him in Jianzhou, will not be bottomless in his heart - if it weren't for the fact that the other party was too difficult to deal with, he had 10,000 elites in his hands that day, how could he withdraw the army after only fighting for one night?

What Fang Cai said just now was just that he hoped that Li Shaobin would not show his worries, so as not to be seen by the soldiers and affect the morale of the army.

But how can Li Shaobin not be worried? is not in his position and does not seek his own politics, Wang Hui can hardly understand Li Shaobin's suffering at this time.

Although he took the initiative to attack before and captured Langzhou and Guozhou in ten days, Meng Zhixiang also besieged Suizhou with an army of 30,000, and even forced the generals of the Wuxin Army to take refuge, and the situation seemed to be very good at that time. Li Shaobin almost thought that the matter of Liangchuan was almost done.

But in the blink of an eye, the situation took a turn for the worse. First of all, the well-guarded Jianmen Pass was taken by surprise by the Jingnan army, and the soldiers approached Jianzhou City, followed by Shi Yanchao in the Wuxin army, which greatly revitalized the army, and then Guo Wei's Wanzhou army, which captured Hezhou unconsciously and shook Shuzhong.

These three happened almost at the same time, which caught the two rivers off guard.

Now, in the north, Jianzhou and Longzhou have been captured by Li Congjing, and the soldiers have entered Mianzhou; To the east, Suizhou could not be attacked for a long time; To the south, although Guo Wei of Hezhou did not go further into the hinterland of Liangchuan, he contained enough Xichuan troops.

At present, although the situation between the two rivers has not eroded, it has become a critical situation. And once the two rivers are defeated, Dongchuan will bear the brunt. How can Li Shaobin not be worried?

Li Shaobin sighed secretly, wanting to clean up his mood, but he was worried about the battle situation in Mianzhou, and he was worried.

However, during the battle, the taboo coach was unstable, Li Shaobin finally persuaded himself, showing a relaxed look, and he said to Wang Hui: "When Jianzhou is captured, Li Congjing's destruction is imminent!" ”

Wang Hui hurriedly echoed, "I, the Dongchuan army and the people, will definitely be defeated!" ”

It didn't take long for the striker's third report to come back.

"The striker is defeated!" The scout was concise and to the point.

After less than two hours of fighting, Li Shaobin couldn't help but be shocked, and was about to get angry, paused, but finally held back, and then smiled and said to the left and right: "The Hundred Battles Army really lives up to its reputation. He also said to Wang Hui: "The general's previous defeat is not a crime of war, and the commander knows it." ”

Wang Hui hurriedly said: "This time, with the commander in person, he will be able to make the hundred battle troops die or live!" ”

Li Shaobin smiled and nodded, looking very sure, and said: "The vanguard is all a horse army, although defeated, the retreat is worry-free." ”

An hour later, the scout reported four times: "The strikers are damaged, and there are less than 300 escapers!" ”

"What?!" Li Shaobin couldn't hold back any longer, was furious, and scolded fiercely: "A group of rice buckets! ”

No wonder he was angry, three thousand strikers were elite, not only the elite of the Dongchuan Horse Army, but also the main force of the Dongchuan Horse Army, and now that they are all lost, where can Li Shaobin endure it?

Wang Hui's eyes flickered, and he suddenly hugged his fists and said: "Congratulations to the handsome, congratulations to the handsome!" ”

Li Shaobin looked angrily, and almost whipped Wang Hui in the face: Did this guy kick the donkey?

But seeing that Wang Hui looked serious and didn't seem to be talking nonsense, Li Shaobin pressed down his anger and said coldly: "Where does the joy come from?" ”

"Commander, please think about it, isn't it proof that the Hundred Battles Army is fighting so hard, isn't it proof that there is only one army here?" Wang Hui said.

Li Shaobin pondered for a moment, and said, "Reasonable." ”

"Since there is only one army of a hundred battles, Rao is good at fighting, how can he stop my army? Today's setback is really a victory for the coming day! Wang Hui's tone was uplifting.

"General Wang is right, that's exactly what happened." Regardless of whether Li Shaobin believed Wang Hui's words in his heart or not, at least on the surface, he cheered up and seemed confident.

The generals looked like this, and it didn't take long for the whole army to infect the whole army, so the morale was boosted.

Li Congjing went to Zhangcun.

When Li Congjing arrived in Zhangcun, it was raining in autumn.

The smoke and rain were hazy, and both sides of the Jialing River were shrouded in rain, and the soldiers crossed the bridge in the rain, and the chariots and horses neighed. Li Congjing was stationed next to the river bridge, and the rain knocked on the iron armor, crackling, and converging into a stream. Zhangcun is hidden in the mountains and cannot be seen.

When Meng Ping heard that Li Congjing had arrived, he sent someone to report the latest scout report.

Yesterday, Meng Ping fought with Li Shaobin in Zhangcun, and won a big victory without much effort, this battle report Li Congjing received it yesterday, and he didn't comment much, just an ordinary thing. Today's scout report is about the movements of Li Shaobin's main force. As Sang Weihan expected, Li Shaobin's march was slow, and it was still a day's journey from Zhangcun.

At this time, it was already afternoon, Li Congjing did not stop at the riverbank for long, and drove his horse to Zhangcun.

General Meng Ping waited outside the village in the rain.

Li Congjing watched the battlefield outside the village. It has not been twelve hours since yesterday's battle, but now, in the vast rain, there is no trace of the battlefield here. As far as the eye can see, it is nothing more than a flat land that has become muddy in the rain. If there is any special enemy here, it is that there is chaos, the crops are crushed, the farmland is trampled down, and the weeds are not in shape.

"This rain is not coming at the right time." The commander of the Tiger Guard Army made Wang Sitong shake his head and sighed.

Li Congjing naturally understood what he meant. Rainy days are not suitable for combat, especially heavy rain.

Li Congjing turned around and asked Mo Li: "How long will the heavy rain last?" He knew that Mo Li knew the heavens.

Mo Li was wearing a robe, and he couldn't shake the fan anymore in such weather, "Tomorrow before dawn, it should stop." ”

Li Congjing nodded, turned around and went to the village, "It doesn't hurt to let Li Shaobin sleep one more peaceful night." ”

Originally, Li Congjing was going to attack Li Shaobin tonight, but now the heavy rain and the ground are wet and soft, which is not conducive to the large-scale battle of the Ma army.

The village has become a barracks, with armor soldiers shuttling and cavalry crisscrossing and crisscrossing with a golden and iron atmosphere.

In the "Shuai Tent", Li Congjing asked people to open the map drawn by the Military Intelligence Department, and the generals began to discuss the military.

Sang Weihan proposed to attack Li Shaobin in the rain tonight.

The reason is that rainy days can better hide your whereabouts and achieve the effect of surprise. And gave the example of Li Siyuan's raid on Yunzhou in the first year of Tongguang.

Li Congjing did not agree.

The reason is just as simple. Li Shaobin marched cautiously, although the scouts could not penetrate deep into the territory controlled by the Hundred Battles Army, but within a radius of twenty or thirty miles of the army, it must be very dense. It is unlikely that you can cover your whereabouts in the rain.

Li Shaobin's caution did allow the army to cross the Jialing River, but it also made it impossible for the army to form an effective raid.

That day and night, when the hour had passed, the rain stopped. The next day, the sky was fine.

When Li Shaobin led the army to approach Zhangcun, his scouts were the first to discover that more than 20,000 Wang divisions had gathered in the area of Zhangcun, and in addition to the Hundred Battles Army, there were also the banners of the Tiger Guard and the Feiyun Army.

Li Shaobin finally reacted, and the main force of Wang Shi was in front of him.

Jianzhou and Langzhou are mostly at the edge of the basin, not as good as the Central Plains, with mountains and rivers and rugged terrain, which means that there are few roads. In the plains, scouts can gallop at will, and it is difficult for large armies to cover their tracks, but in the mountains it is different, as long as you know the road in detail, you can send elite cavalry to control it first, and with the ability of a hundred battle troops, it is easy to block the road.

Li Shaobin's first reaction: retreat to Langzhou.

But it was too late. The two armies were too close. His army of tens of thousands of people will be followed by the king's elite cavalry if he wants to turn around and leave.

For the sake of today's plan, there can only be one battle.

How to fight?

Li Shaobin's arrangement was beyond Li Congjing's expectations.

Li Congjing received a military report, and when Li Shaobin's front army was thirty miles away from Zhangcun, it suddenly stopped marching, formed a formation on the spot, and guarded the main road.

Listening to what the scout said, Li Congjing couldn't help laughing, "Li Shaobin is very slippery!" ”

Although Feng Dao did not hinder the military, he also had the convenience of the military as a counselor, he was puzzled, and wondered: "Why did Li Shaobin form a formation on the spot and not march into Zhangcun?" ”

"Naturally, I found out that there is the main force of my army here." Li Congjing said.

"Li Shaobin has no intention of attacking?"

"He's not arrogant enough yet."

"Then why did he enter Jianzhou before?"

"It's just that I want to take advantage of the weakness to enter, and now when I see my army, I will be like a thief stealing, and when I see that there are guards at home, how can I continue to move forward?"

"In this way, Li Shaobin formed a formation on the spot, so that he could wait for his work and wait for our army to attack?"

"Where Li Shaobin stopped, the terrain was narrow and not suitable as a battlefield."

"Is that to hold on?"

"It's in the wild, and it's not suitable for sticking."

"Why?"

"Withdraw."

"Withdrawal?"

"Exactly."

"Since the army has withdrawn, why is it on the spot?"

"The soldiers and horses in the formation are just used as a broken rear."

"Li Shaobin is so decisive?"

"That's why Ben Shuai said he skaters."

"Dare to ask the marshal, how do you plan to deal with it?"

"If he wants to escape, of course Ben Shuai will chase him; He wants to defend, and of course Ben Shuai has to attack. ”

Speaking of which, Li Congjing gave Meng Ping an order: the Hundred Battles Army attacked.