After approaching the boundary of Huaizhou, Dong Zhang listened to Li Jitao's suggestion, no longer marched day and night, but changed to a normal daytime march, camped at dusk, and rested at night, but the speed of the army was still very fast, traveling sixty or seventy miles a day. In this way, Dong Zhang was still not satisfied.

Returning all the way, Dong Zhang was anxious. Since receiving the news that Huaizhou was trapped a few days ago, there has been no news from Huaizhou for several days, Dong Zhang is worried that Huaizhou has been conquered, and on the other hand, he is worried that Li Congjing is false and real, and he is ambushed in the middle of the road. He sent countless rangers to Huaizhou to inquire about the movements, but few people came back to restore his life, which made his heart sink to the bottom of the sea.

Li Jitao saw that Dong Zhang was worried, and hit his horse to keep up, "General Dong is worried that Huaizhou has been lost?" ”

Dong Zhang's wrinkled brows couldn't be loosened, he sighed, and said: "There has been no news back in the past few days, and the spies sent out have not returned, which is really worrying." Zezhou is not kept, if Huaizhou loses again, Dong is guilty! ”

Li Jitao persuaded him with good words: "Intercepting and killing the rangers, this is the method that Li Congjing has always used, and he has done a good job at this point, General Dong must not mess up his position because of this, so that Li Congjing can succeed." ”

Dong Zhang was speechless, and said in his heart: Li Congjing is not attacking your lair, you are naturally as stable as Mount Tai, Huaizhou is where my Lao Tzu is rooted, how can Lao Tzu not worry?

"General Li, there is a plan that can resolve the current dilemma." Dong Zhang suddenly had a sense.

Li Jitao was quite surprised, and said curiously: "General Dong, come quickly!" ”

"You and I can send the horse army to Huaizhou first, if Huaizhou is not lost, it can be relieved, and the second is that the horse army is fast, and any situation can be reported, so that we can know the situation ahead, not as in front of us, like a headless fly!" Dong Zhang spoke eloquently, and looked at Li Jitao after speaking.

When Li Jitao heard this, his color changed, and he hurriedly said: "This matter must not be done!" ”

Seeing that Dong Zhang was angry, Li Jitao's tone was a little softened, and he said seriously: "General Dong, I know that you are eager to come back to help, but you must not act like this." Once the horse army is exhausted, if Li Congjing is ambushed halfway, his horse army will be weak and unable to stop the enemy. ”

Dong Zhang slapped the saddle in annoyance, and said indignantly: "It doesn't work in the east, and it doesn't work in the west, can you and I only march like this, and have nothing to do?" ”

Li Jitao was also angry in his heart, he forcibly suppressed his anger, and said: "The current situation is nothing more than two situations that are unfavorable to me. One Li Congjing has already conquered Huaizhou, but he is new to Huaizhou, must be tired, and Huaizhou's city defense has been destroyed, at that time, as soon as our army arrives, it will definitely be able to recover Huaizhou, Li Congjing can not resist; The second is to set up an ambush in the middle of the road, when the time comes, we should ensure that the army is in one place, in the face of the crisis, only then can we have the strength to resolve it, if the division of troops is attacked by its division, but fall into the trap! ”

After Li Jitao finished speaking, Dong Zhang thought for a while, and said angrily: "This can only be the case!" ”

Li Jitao thought for a while and ordered: "Spread the rangers, send a commander out, rely on each other before and after, look left and right, isn't Li Congjing good at hunting and killing scouts?" I'd like to see how he hunts down my scout team of 500 men! ”

Immediately, a horse army galloped away.

Li Dong's coalition army traveled from Zezhou to Huaizhou, and the road was mostly hilly, and the same is true now.

In mid-spring, everything recovers and plants sprout, but the mountain trees have not completely come out of the winter shadow, and the dead branches and leaves are still in the majority, and the new shoots are only a small part.

It hadn't rained for a few days, and it was a dry day, and the scenery still looked a little depressed.

Li Jitao touched his chin and rode forward, for no reason, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and a faint sense of ominousness rose. This made him annoyed at the same time, but also secretly wondered if there was any hidden danger.

Because of the eagerness to rescue Huaizhou, the army marched all the way, and there was really no preparation. But Li Jitao doesn't think that Li Congjing can play any tricks, after all, there are many people on his side, and there is no dangerous terrain along the way. Although he said that Li Congjing would set up an ambush, he actually didn't think so.

If he were Li Congjing, he would definitely do his best to conquer Huaizhou, so that he would not use inferior troops to set up an ambush halfway - if he did not attack with the defenders of Zezhou inside and outside, he would run all the way to Huaizhou, and set up an ambush for the halfway, is Li Congjing sick in his brain? Besides, how can Li Congjing have the strength to divide his troops to ambush again?

Li Jitao also didn't think that Li Congjing could conquer Huaizhou in a short period of time, it was also a state city, even if Huaizhou was defenseless, but after all, there were 1,500 defenders, and with the town troops he had collected in various towns in Luzhou, he knew what the combat effectiveness was, and wanted them to conquer Huaizhou? Pipe dream.

Li Congjing's Hundred Battles Army, the combat strength should not be bad, but it will take some time to conquer the city and replace Li Jitao with the An Yi Army himself.

Suddenly, it seemed that a bright image crossed Li Jitao's eyes.

The sound of crackling, in an invisible place, sounded quietly.

At first, Li Jitao thought that he was hallucinating because he was tired for days, but the crackling sound became louder and louder, more and more three-dimensional, as if he was scurrying in the depths of his heart, and he couldn't afford to look around.

"What sound, what sound?"

"There are people in the woods, there must be people in the woods!"

"What's going on? What's going on? ”

Dong Zhang and Li Jitao changed color at the same time, they reined in their horses, rode with the restless soldiers, and watched left and right.

"Let's go into the woods!" Dong Zhang and Li Jitao ordered almost at the same time.

But it didn't take the soldiers to get into the woods, they saw it.

Gray smoke, orange fire.

Ahead, in the hills, a fire was rising.

In the mountains and forests on the left and right, the fire spread rapidly, like an ancient beast, rushing out of the forest!

"It's on fire, it's on fire!"

"Fire, General, what a fire!"

"Burn the mountains and forests, and some people burn the mountains and forests!"

"It's a fire attack, the enemy is attacking with fire, fire attack, run!"

In an instant, within a radius of dozens of miles, the fire swept away, and the flames soared into the sky. The flames engulfed the mountains and forests, and also devoured every living creature in the mountains and forests, and as far as the eye could see, there was a sea of fire.

Panicked shouts resounded throughout the marching ranks.

"Run, run!"

"Run, ......"

Li Jitao and Dong Zhang glanced at each other, and they both saw the panic on each other's faces, "Li Congjing, this bird has used fire attack!" He dared to burn the mountains and forests! ”

The surrounding mountains and forests are dense, and the grass and trees are thick, and the range of 100 miles is like this. As veteran generals in the army, why didn't Li Jitao and Dong Zhang know that they were trapped in it, the mountains and forests were on fire, and they were absolutely dead?

The soldiers on the road threw away their armor and turned around and fled in a panic.

"Lee, Cong, Jing! Li Congjing! Dong Zhang raised his head and shouted sadly, the anger and pathos in his tone were so sad that his eyes were black and he fell from his horse.

"Withdraw! The whole army retreated! Li Jitao turned his horse's head, waved his whip, and angrily beckoned his soldiers to evacuate, taking advantage of the fact that the fire was not completely burning, quickly evacuating the fire attack range, which was the only way to save his life. All the soldiers, abandon the baggage and evacuate quickly! ”

The soldiers of Li Dong's coalition army, you chase me and I will chase you, while screaming and running in fear, he discarded the armor, untied his armor, and threw it to the ground, no longer caring about the formation, no longer caring about any military orders, just hoping to run out of the sea of fire.

In the mountains and forests on both sides, the fire was like evil ghosts, and the smoke was like Yama, rushing towards the middle of the road, and they pounced on the Li Dong coalition army on the road with their hot hands and huge mouths.

In the firelight, everyone pushes me and I push you, many people use their hands and feet together, just to run faster, the one who accidentally fell to the ground, was trampled under the feet of the people behind him, screamed and stretched out his hand, vomited blood in his mouth, desperately tried to climb, but could not get up again.

If someone in a group falls, a large group immediately falls, blocking the passage, and you push me. A Liang soldier was anxious, waved his knife and cut down, slashing the An Yijun who was blocking him to the ground, killing a bloody way.

But he had not taken a few steps when the fire fell upon him, and immediately burned him into a burning man, and he screamed and danced, and fell to the ground, and fell into the fire, struggling, and gradually being blackened and charred.

The fire finally spread to the crowd.

As soon as the fire entered the crowd, the people who were burned by the fire rushed to all directions, immediately leading the fire to other people, and more people ran blindly and bumped into the people nearby.

Li Jitao and Dong Zhang, under the escort of the pro-soldier guards, ran forward as if they were dead. The war horse galloped up, bumped into a lot of running sergeants, some soldiers gritted their teeth and became ruthless, their hands rose and fell, and the sergeants who were blocking the front were hacked to death, and those with red eyes took out the horse lance, and even stabbed and slashed, killing the flesh and blood in front of him, "Get out, get out!" Let the general go first, let the lord go first, don't get in the way! Straight sissy thief! ”

Li Jitao watched as their retreat road became a bloody road, and his body was covered with blood stains and corpses, but he did not dissuade them, but his eyes were red and his eyes were full of tears. Dong Zhang's eyes were anxious, and he shouted: "Don't kill, don't kill, General Li, let your own soldiers stop, you can't kill your own sergeants!" ”

"Shut up!" Li Jitao roared angrily.

Dong Zhang saw his cannibalistic appearance, and he didn't dare to say more for a while.

With a few "booms", there were violently burning trees and branches on the side of the road, falling and falling in the middle of the road, and the current pro-soldiers were smashed, screaming and burning.

"General, you can't ride anymore, get off the horse!" Beside Li Jitao, a young general said urgently, but it was the team surnamed Guo who had escaped from Li Shaocheng before.

Everyone hurriedly rolled off the saddle, and the soldiers protected Li Dong and the two in the middle, running forward desperately.

Occasionally, there were grass and trees with fire falling on the pro-soldiers, and the pro-soldiers suddenly howled miserably, and the team surnamed Guo was angry, stepped forward with a knife, cut down the pro-soldiers, and continued to open the way with red eyes.

"General, there's a big fire ahead, you can't get through!" Some of the soldiers panicked.

"Fill the corpse, fill the person!" Li Jitao gritted his teeth and popped out a few words from between his teeth.

The team surnamed Guo was in tears, shouting, "Ah, ah", raising their knives to slash at the soldiers around them, and then threw their unburned bodies into the fire, and everyone ran over quickly.

The dirt road has become a fire road, and it is impossible to get through.

Along the way, there were countless dead people, and the corpses were densely packed, or trampled to death, killed, or burned to death by their comrades, but their corpses fell on the road, and they all became fires and charcoals, and the tragic situation of dying made people unbearable to see.

Li Jitao was desperate, looking up to the sky and howling, inexplicably sad and indignant, "Cangtian, straight mother thief, do you really want to kill Li here?!" ”

The team surnamed Guo suddenly shouted: "Waterwheel, there is a waterwheel in front, quickly carry it over and pour water on the general!" ”