After Zuo Liangyu left, Liu Fan did not attack silently, but calmed down, and the broken army was stationed outside Wu'an City to repair, train soldiers, and send a large number of scouts to inquire about the news.

Three days later, Liu Fan summarized the news he had received from various places, and convened a meeting of the staff team and officers at all levels to discuss the next action. In the big tent of the Chinese army, officers at all levels gathered together, there were no less than fifty people, Liu Fan sat on the upper left and said, "The main reason for calling everyone here this time is to discuss our future actions, my broken army has traveled thousands of miles to Jinan, what is it for, in order to exterminate the Liukou and play out the prestige of my broken army!" Now is the time for me to make a name for myself! Sun Liang, tell me about the current situation! ”

Sun Liang turned out to be the captain of the teaching team, and was appointed by Liu Fan as the squad leader of the staff squad because of his outstanding talent. After hearing Liu Fan's question, Sun Liang replied, "Yes!" Handsome! Then he walked over to the map hanging in the center of the tent and said, "Everyone! Now let me explain to you the current situation! According to the information obtained by our department, since June, under the encirclement and pursuit of Cao Wenzhao in Shanxi, Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi, and Zuo Liangyu in Changping, more than 200,000 people in the 36th battalion led by King Zijin Liang were killed and wounded by the officials and troops after repeated blows. Since Wang Ziyong's death, the 36th Battalion Alliance has existed in name only, and the rest has been taken over by Gao Yingxiang. In September, Cao Wenzhao was transferred to the general army of Datong, and the Liukou broke through the encirclement of the official army and entered the Taihang Mountains, mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of the northern Taihang Mountains such as Anyang, Wu'an, and Shexian. Now the leader of the Liukou is Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, and his troops are active in Anyang and other places. In addition, there are eight kings Zhang Xianzhong, Cao Cao Luo Rucai, Liu Neng, Lao Hui Ma Shouying, Guotianxing Hui Dengxiang, and the sweeping king, the black god and other more than 100,000 people are active in Wu'an, Shexian and other places! ”

After listening to this, Liu Fan nodded and said, "Hmm! It's very detailed, it's very good! Let's talk about the analysis of your staff class! ”

Sun Liang nodded and replied, "It's handsome!" "Turning and pointing to the map, "Everyone, please see, the middle of Wu'an to Shexian is a long and narrow valley terrain, this is one of the eight paths of Taihang, Fukou Cheng, is a canyon formed by the confrontation with Shenlu Mountain in the south of Gushan. This is an important pass since ancient times, and this ancient road is the only way to Changzhi in Shanxi. The mountains here are high and the ravines are deep, and it has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times. The thieves are now distributed in the mountains on both sides of the canyon, and the towns along the way are under its threat, among which Shexian is the most, although Shexian is still in the hands of the imperial court in name but has actually been occupied by the Liukou, only with the walls of Shexian County and hundreds of defenders in the city can not stop more than 100,000 Liukou! Now the closest to us is the Heavenly Star Hui Dengxiang, whose department is in the Phoenix Mountain of Anziling, west of Wu'an! The terrain of Anziling is dangerous, and it is basically impossible for our army's artillery to be transported to the mountains, which is very unfavorable to the use of our firearms. The only way to defeat the rogues is to lure them deeper and get them out of the mountains. But these thieves are now like frightened birds, and they will not leave their nest easily! ”

After listening to Sun Liang's explanation, everyone had a bottom in their hearts, and they followed to think about countermeasures, and soon Wu Tao said loudly, "Liukou lives in the mountains, as long as our army divides troops to guard the traffic arteries, the walls are clear, and do not leave a grain of food for the thieves, the Liukou will inevitably collapse after a long time, and when the time comes, they will definitely leave the mountains to fight a decisive battle with our army and seek a glimmer of life!" ”

Hearing this, Sun Liang shook his head and said, "Commander Wu! You're right, but there's no shortage of food. As soon as the artesian invaders entered southern Jinan, they plundered Zhaozhou, Xingtai, Shexian, Wu'an and other places and obtained a large amount of food and property, at least until the beginning of spring, the rogue will not be worried about the food problem! But it's not impossible, the rogues are robbers, and they will definitely not stay in the mountains honestly, what we have to do is to find an opportunity to lure them down the mountain, and then annihilate them! ”

Liu Fan heard the conversation between the two, nodded and said, "Now it seems that it is a little unrealistic to besiege the Liukou, not to mention whether it can succeed if it is tempted, even if it is really successful, the results will not be too great, we don't have so much time to spend here with them, we can't let the Liukou live so easily!" ”

Saying that, Liu Fan stood up, walked to the map, and said, "Since it is impossible to outwit, then we will attack, Cao Wenzhao with 3,000 people can chase more than 200,000 rogues all over the ground, and our 20,000 people can't be cowardly!" Now I command! Wu Tao, you take a battalion out of Wu'an and seize Yangyi, Li Xiaohu, you take a second battalion and stay in Guantao! Song Cheng, you take the three battalions of Fenyong to the west into Hejin Town! Sun Liang, you sent someone to inform Zuo Liangyu of Cishan to block the exit of Cishan! I took four battalions and five battalions to attack from Wu'an! Surrounded on all sides, first defeat the star Hui Dengxiang! This battle is the first battle for me to break the captivity army out of Shandong, and you must fight it well for me! ”

Everyone stood and replied in unison, "Yes!" Handsome! ”

Just when Liu Fan dispatched troops to surround the Liukou, the Liukou side also got the news of Liu Fan's arrival. The Anziling cottage was very lively, and the leaders of the Liukou, Ma Shouying, Hui Dengxiang, Liu Neng, Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and others gathered in the cottage to discuss countermeasures.

In the conference hall, as the host Hui Dengxiang is in the first place, the leaders of each department sit on both sides, the hall is full of wine, the table is full of chickens, ducks and fish, the leaders of each country regardless of the image of the roast chicken and roast duck in their hands, from time to time to pick up the wine bowl next to them to drink, rude scolding and noisy voices fill the whole hall, the atmosphere is very warm.

After eating and drinking, Hui Dengxiang opened his mouth and sighed, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have been surrounded by officials and soldiers for more than a month from September to now, and the food in the cottage has been almost consumed!" If you don't think about it, I'm afraid things won't be good! ”

Zhang Xianzhong, who was sitting at the top left, put down the chicken leg in his hand and laughed: "Lao Hui, you have food and drink in Anziling, and you are still crying poor here in Lao Tzu!" I haven't tasted meat for half a month! What happened to the officers and soldiers? It's not been a year or two since we killed officials and rebelled, and we haven't seen any battles! There is a way for soldiers to block the water and cover the earth! I'm afraid of a ball! ”

Luo Rucai, who was beside him, heard the words and said, "Eight kings! That can't be said, now we are surrounded by officials and soldiers in the mountains, and we are indeed very passive! The court has plenty of time to send troops to besiege us! Everyone knows the current situation, although there is no Cao Wenzhao's relentless pursuit, but that Zuo Liangyu is not easy to get along with! I heard that now Chongzhen Xiaoer has sent officials and troops from all over the country to aid Jinan! Once surrounded by them, it will be difficult for us to get out again! ”

Ma Shouying, Liu Neng and others agreed, "It's indeed this reason!" Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan are full of officers and troops, and now the officers and troops have formed a situation of encirclement against us! If we don't think about it, I'm afraid we'll have to explain it again! (To be continued.) )