On the mountain road, arrows rained down, occasionally mixed with huge fireballs. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThese bamboo balls, which are completely wrapped in linen cloth that has been soaked in grease for a long time, are as hot as the sun that has fallen into the mortal dust. It can't crush people, but its heat can burn those who touch it, and let out a terrible cry that is even more terrifying than the legendary ghost cry, which is their cry before they die.

The night breeze blew slowly, helping the fire spread. The flames danced happily in the night wind, making people feel the power of the wind even more. Thick black smoke rose as the grass and trees burned, causing the people fleeing the entire mountain road to suffer another blow that was worse than death. When the cough is uncontrollable, when the tears are unstoppable, when the breathing of the individual has become very difficult, they have lost the strength to run. Although the road leading to the fire was ahead, and they wanted to keep moving forward, they could no longer run. They could only crouch in frustration, coughing violently, and constantly tugging at their throats with their hands, as if trying to make it bigger so that they could take in more air.

Of course, this is impossible, and their final outcome can only be suffocated and died in such constant struggle. It was undoubtedly painful, but most of them didn't seem to have to endure such pain, because there were so many people coming up from behind, and they stepped on their bodies without mercy, stepping on their feet, their heads, their chests, their heads, and their heads, and after the trampling of hundreds of thousands, they had become a pile of flesh, and they had no life, and naturally they did not have to suffer the pain of suffocation.

fled in a panic, and under the sudden blow of the 6,000 remnants of the Shixie Army, there were only more than 3,000 people left who had to be very lucky to break out of the fire. At present, they are slowly moving forward all day long, and fatigue, hunger, and pain all leave deep traces of hunger on their bodies. They were lucky because he was alive. They are unfortunate again, because they are no longer human. There is not a single one who has not been burned by smoke and fire, and there is not a single one who has not been injured. If it is said that after experiencing Yang Ling's pursuit, there are still thousands of people in their hands who can fight, then at this moment, the number of people who can still resist the enemy's blow is all integrated, and the statistics of the full fight are only less than a thousand.

The enemy did not pursue. Perhaps the grass and trees they burned on both sides of the mountain road increased their momentum and stopped them from pursuing and killing.

A few miles away, you can vaguely hear the uninterrupted shouting and killing behind you, and you can clearly see the scene of the mountains and forests making red, this is not far from the ambush point set by the enemy, but the people of the Shixie army are very unbearable. They gasped and slowed down, eager to sit down and rest. This is not allowed. In order for these soldiers to get back on their feet and continue to take their own steps in the direction of Changping, Shi Xie had to take the risk of ordering the whole army here and cheered them up: "...... Being tied down by ourselves is not a good thing for them, but for us, it is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps it is because of this that we were able to escape the pursuit of the enemy intact. It is possible to be lucky to return to Changping. I know you're all exhausted, but please hold on. Although this is our own territory, since the enemy may appear in front, it is naturally possible to appear in the back. Therefore, we must act quickly to get out of the way. ”

"That's ...... too!" As soon as Shi Xie, who was the lord, said such a thing, it immediately aroused the approval of his subordinates, and those generals echoed it one after another. After all, for those of them who had lost the heart to fight any longer, fighting, counterattacking, and winning again could no longer arouse any interest in them, and saving their lives, retreating, and gaining safety were their most concerned issues at the moment. What Shi Xie is saying now is undoubtedly pulling down the bottom directly, pointing things above the joints, which naturally resonates with them.

After establishing such a marching policy of "fleeing first", the morale of the Shixie army rose slightly. After hearing the words, "If you leave now, you may still get a chance of life, and if you delay, you may be killed by the enemy", the soldiers suddenly burst out, as if they were running frantically with the strength of their own milk. People clinging to people, with only the torches in the hands of a few people, they kept running forward.

Tirelessly running, none of the soldiers of the Shixie Army were willing to stop their steps for the sake of their most precious lives. They ran like this for most of the night. I don't know how many hours passed, and they gradually saw a huge gap in front of the difficult mountain road. It was a sign that the mountain was coming to an end, and these people in the Shixie Army understood this, and they immediately became excited about it. They had passed through here before they set out for Huai'an, and naturally they also understood that as long as they passed through this gap and walked a short distance further, they could reach their goal, Changping City.

"That's home." Seeing that the target was in sight, and there were no enemy troops chasing after him, the people of the Shixie army, from Shixie himself to the soldiers under him, couldn't help but relax. For them, although they can't be regarded as home at the moment, they are very close to their home, and there should be no enemies, so it seems that they can take a little rest here, tidy up their embarrassed military appearance, and then think about entering the city. After all, the situation of the Shixie army is not optimistic at the moment, and if the news of the defeat of his side breaks out when the back road has been cut off by the enemy, I am afraid that the situation on his side will become more and more uneasy. It may even cause a mutiny among the miscellaneous armies in the city, because after the repeated blows tonight, the army on his side no longer has the strength to suppress those ragtag armies.

"This has to be addressed. I don't want to see my army wiped out because of this problem. Shixie, who ordered the whole army to rest because he could relax, thought to himself about the unknown things in his army, and then quickly ordered to his own soldiers: "You quickly go to Changping and ask Ah Di to lead the equipment and grain of 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers and horses in his headquarters to come and fight with me." It's a death command, and you tell him that way, without exposing our current predicament. ”

"Yes!" The soldiers didn't understand the lord's order very well, but since the lord gave the order like this, they naturally had to agree like this out of loyalty, and went in a hurry. Although on the surface, these were called by their own lords while they were still resting, and they did not show much unpleasantness, but in their hearts, they also secretly slandered them with their own hearts. They didn't say anything more at the moment, but hurried past on the war horses that the lord had prepared for them. "Go early and come back early!" This is what he thinks. It's just that this thinking is not because they are loyal to their jobs and hard work, but because they are desperate to get back here and have plenty of time to rest - they are tired enough.

They departed in such a hurry, not noticing that at a point more than two miles in front of them, several pairs of piercing eyes were secretly watching them under the cover of the grass circle above them. This is an ambush army under the command of Li Sheng himself, under the command of Li Sheng, under the planning of Zhuge Liang, they are ambushed here, ready to strike the final blow on Shixie.

"If we can defeat Shixie here, then the hostile forces in Jiaozhou will be basically wiped out by us. After all, this Shixie is only one of the many leaders in Jiaozhou, although he is absolutely strong, but under him, there are not too few people who can threaten him. Moreover, most of the forces in Jiaozhou are mainly based on commerce and trade, and interests are the key to the separation between each other, if we defeat Shixie, then for the sake of the interests of survival, they are unlikely to continue to fight against us. At that time, as long as we give them some good fruits to eat, I am afraid that the stability of Jiaozhou will not be too difficult. At the beginning of planning this series of battles, Zhuge Liang used such a large reason to persuade Li Sheng.

"Oh? Subdue it with strength, and then with interests, let Jiaozhou settle down. Kong Ming, what you said boils down to this, I'm afraid that's it. Li Sheng smiled slightly, and suddenly asked a question that made Kong Ming feel a little stunned: "Why did you think of using such a method?" Don't you think that slowly collecting Shixie's army and subduing the people with virtue will make it easier for us to rule here in the future? ”

"Alas...... If you have time, of course, it's safest to take it slowly. But right now, I'm afraid we don't have that much effort. The power of the world is undecided, and the strength of us and Uncle Liu Huang is the smallest of all the princes. All our territories, all our people, must be taken from others through war. The future will be a time of endless conquest. This requires that we be able to concentrate our forces on one enemy after another. Under such circumstances, we should not trade time for the security of the place, but expand our territory as much as possible, so that the enemy will find it difficult for us to attack, and to a certain extent, we will not dare to go too far with us. After a brief moment of surprise, Zhuge Liang shook his head and explained the reason for all this to Li Sheng with a little bitterness.

"There is too little time, we can only compete for this day." Li Sheng sighed, obviously deeply touched by this. Actually, it's no wonder. For the urgency of this time, Li Sheng is even more inclined than Kong Ming. Unlike Kong Ming and others, who deduced the general trend of the world and were still a little confused about the future based on this existing information, Li Sheng already had a timetable in his mind that he could refer to for those major events that might occur in the future, which he set based on the knowledge of later generations. Although at the moment, he is not sure how the events on this timetable will change because of his involvement, but at least he is sure that his next life will really be full of urgency and crisis as described in that timetable, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan are not simple characters, and if they want to live and live better in this troubled world, they can only grasp and grasp again and give full play to all their advantages.

In terms of planning, Li Sheng approved Zhuge Liang's idea of deciding the outcome of the war. In fact, this is not recognition, because Li Sheng already has such thoughts in his heart. If Zhuge Liang didn't propose to do this, then he would also say this idea and organize his words to persuade Kong Ming. Although this is a certain difficulty for Li Sheng.

Once the general policy has been decided, the next step to discuss is how to use tactical means to achieve it. At first, Li Sheng himself did not dare to pack a ticket to say that Huang Zhong's surprise attack in the south would definitely succeed, so his calculation was to rush to Huai'an first, and wait for the Shixie army under Huai'an City to be solved, and then go further south, and fight with Huang Zhong's army in the south, and surround Shixie in Changping City.

This is a relatively safe method, and it is also recognized by Kong Ming. However, the news of Huang Zhong's capture of Liandao City in the south came quickly, which made Li Sheng and Kong Ming give up such thoughts at once.

There is a cloud in the art of war: "go up to the army to plan, then to attack the enemy, the last to attack the army, the last to attack the city". If Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang originally planned to surround Shixie in Changping City, and then find a way to solve his helpless method, then now that they have received the news that Huang Zhong has captured Lian Daodao, there is undoubtedly a better choice in front of them - to eliminate Shixie between Huai'an and Changping.

"We have to send someone to contact General Huang and Huai'an." Zhuge Liang squinted his eyes and said. Because Huang Zhong has known him for a long time, and he is an old man left by his uncle, he seems to respect Huang Zhong very much, and does not call him by his name, but only refers to him as an old general.

"Are you planning to let General Huang block the connecting road first, and make as much time as possible for our arrangement?" Li Sheng immediately understood Zhuge Liang's main intention: "At the same time, let Huai'an also join our plan, and report to them the news that reinforcements have arrived, so that they can support them longer." ”

"Exactly." Kong Ming's jaw smiled, and then Mingren took the map and compared it with it: "If the old general can block the news for a few days, let us have more time to arrange, and get the cooperation of Huai'an, then it will be very easy for us to deal with Shixie's people." Liandao was the rear line of the Shixie army, and because it was a place for grain and grass hoarding, its importance in this whole war was still higher than that of Changping. Now that we have taken Liandao City and obtained all the food and grass of the Shixie army, if Shixie hears about it, he will definitely be afraid that he will be starved to death as a lone soldier and quickly retreat. When this happens, we can let the people in Huai'an City rush for a while, and break up their formation as much as possible to make their army unstable. Then you can attack them with fire on the mountain road between Huai'an and Changping, and make them even more frightened. In the end, we can put our main force at the exit of the mountain road and at the end of Changping, take advantage of the laxity when they are about to arrive home, deal with them with heavy troops, and encircle and annihilate them here. ”

"That's a good idea. However, there are a lot of things to consider. If one of the links is wrong, I'm afraid the whole plan will become a laughing stock. How sure is Kong Ming about this? Li Sheng thought about it for a while, and seemed to feel that such a strategy was too complicated and could not be grasped in many places, so he was a little worried about whether his subordinates could implement this strategy well.

"That's why we need time. If we have enough time, we can plan everything in more detail and take every detail into account as much as possible. So what are we worried about? Don't you believe in the power of our courtiers? Zhuge Liang said with a smile. He knew what Li Sheng was worried about, so he naturally figured out how to solve Li Sheng.

"Where can it?" As soon as he heard Kong Ming say this, Li Sheng shook his head without thinking about it: "If even you can't believe it, then who else should I believe?" He was speaking in the heart and right.

The matter was decided in this way, and everything was arranged, including letting Shamoke lead the troops to rescue Huai'an, including letting Huang Zhong lift the blockade after blockading Liandao City for several days, including setting up a fire attack team on this rugged mountain pass, including laying down his own heavy troops ...... on the current mountain pass, everything was arranged in an orderly manner. Until now, all the arrangements have also played their own role one by one with the news of Huang Zhong's seizure of Liandao, so that Li Sheng can finally wait for this final moment of closing the net.

Seeing that under his nose, there was such a person who was going to Changping in a hurry, where could Li Sheng not guess that he was going to contact Shiyi in Changping City? Although he didn't know what the specific content of the other party's contact with Shiyi was, it was very likely that he asked Changping to send troops over for reinforcements. This was undoubtedly an extremely unfavorable matter for the encirclement and annihilation operations he was about to conduct, and Li Sheng naturally did not allow such a thing to happen. He frowned slightly, and then ordered softly: "Bring this messenger to me as a prisoner." ”

"No!" The lord of his own family gave this order, where did the guys who were already suffocating here have any opinions? Suddenly, after answering the call, he pounced like a tiger descending from a mountain, and soon pulled down the fellow who only remembered to hurry without any alarm, and captured him.

Suddenly, this guy was entrained by several wolf-like soldiers and slammed into front of Li Sheng. Li Sheng was condescending, looking down at the military envoy of Shixie, who was sitting on the ground and still wondering what was going on, and asked coldly: "Say, what did your lord tell you to go to Changping?" ”

"Huh? Do what? Why did this man ask? The envoy moved the bones of his body that had been smashed in pain, and then he thought clearly: "Could it be that I have fallen into the hands of the enemy?" He looked up and saw that the people around him were dressed in armor that was different from that of his own army. He still had some impressions of this armor, and it seemed that the group of new troops who appeared in the late stage of the Huai'an Raiders War were wearing such armor. "It looks like it's really falling into the hands of the enemy." He was frustrated and frightened, and under Li Sheng's stern gaze, he trembled and poured out the orders he had undertaken: "The lord ordered me to go to Changping to meet my second master, and ask him to come here to meet my lord's guild on behalf of three thousand elites and three thousand supplies." ”

"That's ......" Li Sheng supported his chin with his hand, revealing a look of understanding, but he didn't speak.

"Did he send you one? Did you send anyone else? Zhuge Liang on the side gently shook the encounter in his hand, and asked calmly but very majestically.

"I'm the only one." The envoy replied quickly.

"Really?" Li Sheng's eyes widened slightly suspiciously. He didn't really believe in the envoys. Because this matter is so important, how can you send someone to deal with it? Maybe there really is only one person as a messenger now, but it is very likely that Shi Xie forgot about it for a while. If he remembered, I'm afraid he would have sent more people to come.

"Are you going to start?" Ordered someone to temporarily escort the military envoy down, and Li Sheng immediately asked his military advisor Zhuge Liang, "I'm afraid that something will change if it's too late." He was a little worried about the fruits he was going to get.

"Heh, since the lord is so worried. So what are we waiting for? Let's get started. Zhuge Liang looked at Li Sheng's eager face and shook his head gently, but said very indifferently.

"Well, here we go!" Li Sheng unconsciously responded to Kong Ming, and then made a pre-battle mobilization to his sergeants: "Give me the drums of the attack, let me the horn cannon, now it's time for us to launch the final blow to Shixie." You've been here for a few months, and not to mention that you're a little homesick, but I'm also a little anxious to go back. Now, as long as we win this battle, it will not be long before we will return triumphantly, and then our relatives will take us back to the city like heroes. Because we prevented a massacre! ”

"Oh!" Listening to Li Sheng's sudden majestic words, the soldiers who had been ambushed all night in this dark night suddenly burst into low cheers. They have indeed been away from home for too long, although they may not really have the intention of fighting because of homesickness, but they inevitably have some small thoughts in their hearts. Li Sheng's words undoubtedly grasped the head of their thoughts, shook them again, and depicted the prospect that their relatives would greet them like heroes, which made their blood boil at once. They are all men, how can anyone not want to be a hero? Now that Li Sheng said this, he was naturally elated and full of morale.

The soldiers got up from the ambush and walked out onto the road. They quickly formed a line to the beat of the drums, lined up in a dense phalanx, holding half-human high shields, and marched in unison. The sound of neat footsteps bridged the silence of the night, radiating a calm majesty. Inflicting a final blow on the enemy with upright soldiers was a decision made by Li Sheng and Kong Ming after consultation. Although it seems that it can annihilate more enemies in such a situation, the so-called annihilation is only for the average creep. It is inevitably impossible to use a neat queue to attack with ambushes, and the inability to use a neat queue represents a weakening of the general's control over the army on the battlefield. Such a deficiency is what Li Sheng does not want to see. He didn't care how many soldiers of the Shixie Army could be killed, he only cared about whether he could capture or kill Shixie in this battle.

"As long as Shixie, the rest doesn't matter." Li Sheng rode his horse and stood in the center of the entire phalanx, and the waning moon in his hand shouted loudly to the sky.

"No!" The soldiers responded with a bang and agreed.

"Kua...... Handsome......! They slowly pushed forward, in the direction where Shi Xie was stationed.

At this moment, Shi Xie had been awakened by this voice. He had never fallen asleep in the first place, and the expression on his face suddenly became extremely ugly when he listened to the sound of drums and footsteps that were particularly clear in the black silence. "Enemy, enemy again." Shi Xie frowned tightly, he didn't see such a group of enemies in front of him, his life and death were likely to be decided tonight.

"The whole army is ready to fight!" The appearance of the enemy was undoubtedly something that Shi Xie did not expect. But now he has no better way. With the enemy's footsteps approaching step by step, there were only two ways in front of him to retreat or attack. The narrowness of the mountain path made it impossible and unnecessary for him to be exposed to blows from both flanks. If you meet the enemy, you will naturally have to fight hard with the other party. Needless to say, as for retreating on this narrow mountain road, they could only retreat in the direction of Huai'an, and there were also their enemies there. So the current Shixie encountered such a situation, advancing against the enemy is likely to lose to the enemy whose morale is much higher than his own, and retreating without any doubt will be ambushed by the troops on both sides of Li Sheng and Huai'an. If moving forward is just a matter of nine deaths, then going backward is basically no different from sending you to death. Under such circumstances, Shi Xie naturally chose the path of nine deaths and one life very clearly.

As the footsteps got closer and closer, and the drums became louder and louder, Shi Xie, who had long thought that the current situation was very bad, finally saw you Li Shengjun who was slowly pressing over in the hazy darkness, and saw the "General Zhennan" banner that belonged to Li Sheng.

"Can Li Zhennan be in the army? Please also elaborate. Although it was dark night, although the battlefield where the war was about to break out was a little inappropriate, since the two armies collided head-on like this, Shi Xie instinctively wanted to follow the rules, and he loudly made a request to Li Sheng's side.

"What do you want to say? No one wants to see something like this happen. You can say that you can make a wrong move and lose the whole game. As the head of a family, how can you drag an entire family into battle for the sake of an unworthy descendant? That's not a smart move. Thinking that this was likely to be Shi Xie's last night, Li Sheng naturally didn't want to worry more about him, so he appeared in front of him very generously and said to him with such a serious sentence: "If you want, you can stop now." I will do my best to guarantee you and your family. This is Li Sheng's persuasion to surrender, and it is also Li Sheng's ultimatum to Shixie.

"It's late. General Zhennan, don't call me haha. Now that such a big thing has been done, if you had agreed to let me go just because of my surrender. Don't say if I'm really relieved about it, even you won't be safe. Uprooting our scholars is something you're pretty much sure to do in the future. Shi Xie shook his head, not believing Li Sheng's words: "Tonight is the final decisive battle between you and me." If I'm lucky enough to escape, then the rest of the story will be said. If not, I will naturally live and die, and it can be regarded as a retribution. In such a situation, I only hope that you will promise me one thing. Shi Xie's expression was very solemn.

"What's the matter" Li Sheng looked at him solemnly.

"I hope you'll give my bloodline a way out and don't kill them entirely. Of course, as compensation, I will make Changping's younger brother surrender to you and hand over all the Shi family's property to you. Shi Xie said calmly, as if he was saying something indifferent.

"Good! I promise you. Feeling that this would not cause much loss to himself, nor would he leave much trouble for himself, and it was more likely to win some fame for himself, Li Sheng naturally agreed. He then turned around and turned back, no longer meeting Shi Xie, who was also in his ranks, but directly gave the most important order: "Attack." ”

The shouts of killing began, and countless people fought together because of this.