Just when Zhao Xun sent an envoy to Li Huaiyuan, Li Huaiyuan was secretly negotiating with the people of the Khitan Fubu.

Li Huaiyuan has been in Youzhou for more than ten years, from a low-level officer, step by step to the position of governor of Youzhou, how can he have no means. The eight Khitan tribes, I dare not say that each of them is connected to him, but some of them are indeed very connected. Although Li Huaiyuan is not the governor of Youzhou, he has now become a general of the Xiaoguo Army, and his prestige is even heavier.

Although there was no governor of Youzhou before, he had to obey the imperial edict in everything. But now the Xiaoguo army doesn't have so many ways, and it provokes him, and no one will sell his face, so he will go to war directly. You don't see, the tribes of the Shen Ya in the northern part of the country were divided one by one by the Xiaoguo Army, and the whole was miserable.

"Li Dudu, I haven't seen you for many years, how could you take refuge in the command of the Xiaoguo Army! In the past, you were the lord of Youzhou! Could it be that this is also your new abacus? "A big man in his forties, with a national face, but looking at his clothes, you can know that this person is not Han.

Li Huaiyuan smiled disappreciatively: "The lord of Youzhou? Was I really the lord of Youzhou in the past? Brother Lost should know this best. Compared to the current Lord of the Xiaoguo Army, the Metropolitan Governor of Youzhou, I am nothing. ”

"In the past, he rose from the ground and took advantage of the time, place and people, and I just took advantage of the trend. Besides, I am now in the Xiaoguo Army, and I am more comfortable and heroic than I am in the reigning court, you should understand this. ”

Kuokuo also knew what Li Huaiyuan meant, Xiaoguo Army was not a court, and he had to back down on everything. This is also to tell him that the current Xiaoguo Army is not an army under the orders of the imperial court in the past, and it should not be humiliated, otherwise, you will bear the consequences.

"Brother Li, what is your purpose? What do you want me to do? ”

"Our purpose is to keep the Khitan Third Division, and as you know, the Khitan Third Division is the periphery of the northwest of my Youzhou, so to speak, and it is also the first line of defense of my Xiaoguo Army. The Turks and Murwei people are all targets for us to guard against, and in addition, they have the war horses, cattle, sheep, livestock, furs and other items we need. Therefore they cannot be destroyed. ”

"As for you, since the war has begun, it is natural that you will decide the winner. Of course, as a former friend, you can lead the team out of this battle, of course, if you fight back, that's the best. Li Huaiyuan said lightly.

Kuo smiled and said, "Brother Li, I heard you right, right? Let me quit and don't say it, and hope that I will fight back and help you? The current situation is that you have lost consecutive battles and retreated for a hundred miles. The war is coming to an end, but I'll intercede for you when the time comes, and we're good friends when we were young. ”

"Losing streaks?" Li Huaiyuan said with a smile: "I have retreated for a hundred miles, I admit it, but I have lost consecutive battles, I don't admit it." This is not your defeat, I have retreated. I'm just reorganizing the army, do you really think you've decided the winner? ”

Li Huaiyuan was right, saying that he had won consecutive battles, and he knew that this was not a real victory, but Li Huaiyuan gave up automatically. Although Li Huaiyuan said that he was rectifying the army, with his understanding of Li Huaiyuan, he guessed that Li Huaiyuan must have some treacherous schemes. This is also the reason why he came to the appointment at the invitation of Li Huaiyuan, otherwise, how could the head of the Yitangtang clan enter the range of the enemy army.

Li Huaiyuan said in a deep voice: "Patriarch of Lost Kuo, my Xiaoguo army has more than 200,000 soldiers directly under him, and nearly 100,000 soldiers from various vassals, and I only have 50,000 soldiers here. You say, even if you win this time, so what? Our army can fight in winter, but your troops are in winter, hehe...... You know what the outcome will be. ”

Kuo sneered: "What if I retreat? Isn't it the same as the Tatatars, who were persecuted and exploited by you, and submitted to you? If I didn't have the others, I wouldn't have been able to keep them. ”

Li Huaiyuan said: "You are right, but even if we don't force you, will you be able to survive in peace?" Look around you, there are the Tatar people in the east, the Murowei people in the north, and the Turks, the overlords of the steppes in the west. ”

"What you should be thinking about now is that you have the most to gain by clinging to the one that is most profitable, rather than thinking about being independent. How's it going? Haven't you been subjugated by the Turks, do you think you're stronger than the Uighurs? ”

"You want me to surrender?"

"Not to make you surrender, but to find you the most suitable path. I went north from Shunzhou Prefecture to the Khitan Third Division, and in the east of our present, the tens of thousands of troops of Beihai Protectorate could advance westward at any time. You are a union of five, but after all, it is five, not one. I, the fruit army, are gathered together. Think about it yourself. ”

It is said that Li Huaiyuan's subsequent retreat of Lian San also made his subordinates a little dissatisfied. Fighting, they have all experienced it, from the beginning of the Xiaoguo Army to the present, how could he have been so sloppy, it can be described as a thousand miles. But Li Huaiyuan still insisted on doing so and asked the ministries to follow the order.

Subsequently, Li Huaiyuan and Kuokuo contacted several times, and the two competed with each other for their bottom line and discussed the conditions of surrender or not.

…………

In the wilderness, on the grassland, the soldiers and horses of the two sides fought together, the sabers danced, and the spears were stabbed. After every flash of human sword light, a head will inevitably fly high and smash to the ground.

Gao Lan, the commander of the Fire Word Battalion, was constantly muttering and cursing while wielding a horizontal knife back and forth. He was cursing the Khitan cavalry, and he was also secretly scolding Li Huaiyuan, if it weren't for the fact that he wanted to fight and retreat, he would have fought to the death with the other party, why bother?

Let the military order not be violated, as a cavalry captain, he will naturally not disobey the military order. Seeing that the two sides were fighting together, he ordered his subordinates to slowly retreat.

"Lord Lieutenant, the other three departments have retreated, we should also retreat, the enemy army has already come, according to this is less than ten miles."

Gao Ran looked at the Khitan cavalry behind him, and said coldly: "The whole army retreats!" ”

At the sound of an order, the cavalry of the Xiaoguo Army galloped away and separated from the Khitan cavalry. Seeing the withdrawal of the Xiaoguo army, the Khitans immediately cheered and shook the sky, and their faces turned blue when they heard it.

"Damn, this is already the eighth camp, if we withdraw again, we will directly withdraw to Youzhou."

"yes, we can't go on like this."

"The general has arrived!"

Li Huaiyuan walked into the big tent, looked at the captains with different faces, and couldn't help but shake his head secretly, these people are too calm.

"Captains, go and prepare, prepare to retreat to the next camp!" Li Huaiyuan said lightly.

"General, we have already withdrawn seven camps, and we are still ......" Luo Qi of the Guzi Battalion said in a deep voice, and the dissatisfaction in his words was obvious.

"It's only the seventh, and it's better to abandon the camp than to let your men die on the battlefield, isn't it? We are all fearless in the battlefield, but we have not been able to achieve the desired results in the battlefield, so is it necessary for us to fight to the death? Say no more, get ready to go! ”

Although Luo Qi is angry, he will not act recklessly. He just didn't want to accept the retreat of the army in three successions.

Among the dozen or so lieutenants present, the most difficult to discipline was the cavalry, and the best one to manage was the cavalry, not that the cavalry had no temper, but in their opinion, they only needed to obey the order, and there was no need to argue with the general of the Xiaoguo army, thankless.

"Report ...... Youzhou is coming! ”

"Huh?" Li Huaiyuan couldn't help frowning, he didn't know much about the envoy of Youzhou. He himself lured the enemy deep this time, and sent the Khitan army and the Yan cavalry to attack the five tribes, but he did not report it, so the outside world must have gotten the news of his successive defeats.

Several cavalrymen also frowned, although they were dissatisfied with Li Huaiyuan's concession, but they also knew that Li Huaiyuan was not really defeated, but just slowly retreated. Could it be that Youzhou is dissatisfied with this place? The generals thought secretly. Li Huaiyuan is Zhao Xun's father-in-law, if he is really withdrawn, these thorns will remain deep in the hearts of the other party. This is different from victory, if you win in the end, the opponent will definitely not mind this little thing. Luo Qi and the others were a little secretly anxious.

"I've seen the military envoy!" Li Jinqian entered the big tent and saluted Li Huaiyuan. He said that the military envoy was not a general, that is, he used the name of the military affairs department to meet with the officials.

"Jin Qian, it turned out that you were here to give the order!"

"Yes, my lord asked me to experience the reality of war with the general. General, this is a secret order given to you by the lord, and after this battle, you may have to use it. ”

Then, Li Jinqian took out a golden short sword from the guard behind him.

"Xiaoguo Military Order Imperial Golden Sword!" The generals stood up at the same time and bowed their heads.

Li Jin said: "The lord has an order, the general ordered the Khitan generals to participate in this war, and anyone who does not obey the military order can be cut first and then played!" ”

"General, I see that everyone is going to act again, are you preparing for a decisive battle?" Li Jinqian handed the golden sword to Li Huaiyuan and said with a smile.

Li Huaiyuan carefully accepted the golden sword and replied: "Yes, the camp here is the burial place of the Khitan army. ”

"Listen to the generals! Each battalion should immediately retreat as planned, and leave some supplies in the camp for them to enjoy a dinner before tonight. ”

"I know that the generals have a right question, here, I will tell you that the big camp under our feet buried the gunpowder that I had stored in Youzhou for half a year, in other words, this big camp is standing on the gunpowder pile."

At this moment, the faces of the generals kept changing, Nima, if this exploded, wouldn't the people in the camp be blown to ashes.

"Don't blame me for not telling you in advance, this is also to let you fight against the Khitan army, and the withdrawal of the army is real, and the heart of defeat is not angry. Because of the special appearance of some captains, the Khitan army was already very suspicious of our withdrawal. Speaking of this, Li Huaiyuan also deliberately glanced at Luo Qi and the others.

"As for the Sandu cavalry and the Khitan cavalry, I asked them to have other tasks. Remember, tonight is the time of the final battle, we can't leave all of the other side, but we must also leave some of them, and if the other side desperately escapes, then let them escape, this is no longer our duty. After reading the secret order in his hand, Li Huaiyuan canceled the plan to forcibly leave most of the enemy army, but preserved his strength.

"Remember, don't fight with your brother's life, their life is not worth as much as ours. Remember, to preserve strength, if anyone disobeys military orders, the order in my hand is not an ornament. I think you've seen it too, I went to get the secret order first, and that's when we really fight, do you hear? Li Huaiyuan finally explained.

"Obey the general's orders!"

"Well, the armies withdraw, remember, to create a sign of panic and leave."

"Obey!" A dozen lieutenants shouted in unison. Although they knew that things were definitely not as simple as they imagined, they were all full of excitement about victory.

"Golden sword, it seems that my golden sword is a bit redundant!" Looking at the empty handsome tent, Li Jin said with a wry smile.

"Superfluous? No, not at all, if it weren't for this golden sword, I would have asked them to preserve their strength and not fight with the Khitan army, do you think they would listen? Li Huaiyuan shook his head and said.

"More importantly, I have confidence in this Khitan battle." Li Huaiyuan sighed. He privately contacted the patriarch of one of the five Khitan tribes, and privately used Zhao Xun's name to mobilize the soldiers of the three Khitan tribes, which were all manipulated. This makes the Imperial Golden Sword not used to deter these captains, but to cover up their own loopholes.

Li Huaiyuan knew that what he was doing was in Zhao Xun's sight, but he thought that he was not selfish and was not afraid of anything. So I didn't report it in time, but now that I think about it, it seems that I was careless.