Taiyuan City.

The siege continues, thousands of Youzhou cavalry gallop around the main city of Taiyuan, from time to time a round of arrow rain is thrown into the city, and the city head also has a good shooter with a strong crossbow and a hard bow to counterattack, but the people at the head of the city have a shield protection, the people under the city move quickly, although the two sides shoot a lot of arrows, but the results are really limited.

As if wolves roamed outside the flock from time to time, the Youzhou army was in this way, constantly trying to exert pressure on the defenders in the city, in a vain attempt to deplete the morale of the defenders in the city. Of course, it is useless, in fact, they themselves have no confidence, they do this, just with the previous thinking inertia, to seek a peace of mind.

In the night attack of the Taiyuan garrison in the middle of the fifth day of September, more than 30,000 Youzhou troops were completely unprepared, and nearly half of them were killed at once, and even the main general Cai Xide was not in the army.

Immediately afterwards, their morale was hit even harder, because on the second day, the military flag of the Tiance Army, which made them extremely frightened, was raised at the head of Taiyuan City!

The remaining 17,000 Youzhou rebels fled immediately, and the Hedong army led a light cavalry to chase 40 miles back, successfully rescuing tens of thousands of Hedong people who were captured by the Youzhou army, and their morale was greatly boosted.

On the seventh day of the first month of September, the follow-up army of the rebels arrived, and the fleeing Youzhou rout was collected, and at noon, the main force of the Chinese army of An Lushan arrived under the city of Taiyuan, rested for an hour, and began to attack the city, and the result was a bloody encounter.

Generally speaking, the bigger the city, the more difficult it is to defend, like Taiyuan City, the circumference is forty-four miles, and 16,000 troops are distributed on the city wall of forty-four miles, which is extremely thin. The besieging side, on the other hand, can concentrate a little. focus on offense; And if the defenders of the city also focus on defense at this point. The besieging side can secretly divide their elite troops in advance and launch a surprise attack in the opposite direction of the defender's concentration or in any other empty place.

Therefore, although Taiyuan City is majestic and strong, in the eyes of Tian Qianzhen and others, it is not impossible to conquer, but the result is that the soldiers and generals have not even touched the city wall.

It's not that the Youzhou Army is too useless, it's really that the Tiance Army is too cunning!

From a distance, the walls were empty. I couldn't see a single person standing guard patrolling, as if it were an empty city; But when his side of the foot and horse sneaked closer, behind the female wall, on the side of the battlement, there will be a lot of defenders, strong bows and crossbows like flying locusts, if you are lucky to attack the city, and the people will smash the oil canister down, hundreds of people will be swallowed by the sea of fire in an instant, and the pain screams before dying. I can't bear to hear it.

Naturally, they didn't know that Nan Jiyun had divided the city wall of more than 40 miles into sections early. Each general was in charge of a section of the city wall, which was divided into dozens of areas, either requisitioning the storehouses and shops of merchants, or setting up temporary tents, and stationing a certain number of soldiers, even if the rebels did not attack, these soldiers were also on standby;

In the arrow tower on the city wall, two people take turns on duty at every other time and twelve hours a day, observing the enemy situation with clairvoyance, so that before these rebels approach, the city wall will be prepared early.

After a day of storming, more than 70,000 Youzhou troops except for leaving more than 7,000 corpses under Taiyuan City, nothing was found, and even when the frontal siege was the most fierce, an acropolis suddenly opened the city gate, rushed out more than 500 horsemen, rushed out of the rear of the Youzhou army, killed two or three thousand people, and left!

An Lushan was so anxious again that he almost fainted, and the other senior generals and staff of the Youzhou Army were also extremely depressed one by one.

Originally, because of the stupidity of Du Qianyun in Hedong Jiedu, 100,000 Youzhou elite soldiers entered Hedong, all the way like a bamboo, and the Hedong army fled in despair, and the situation was very good! As long as Taiyuan is captured, Taiyuan can be used as a base, and quickly pounce on Chang'an, Chang'an is empty, and the Jingzhao garrison is like a fictitious formation, and it will be broken in a battle, and great things can be achieved!

But the Tiance Army suddenly appeared at this time, reversed the situation in an instant, and smashed the wishful thinking of the Youzhou Army! This Tiance army is really haunting, and it is extremely hateful! It seems that no matter where the Youzhou army goes, the Tiance army can always block the front of the Youzhou army! Not only can it kill and injure a large number of Youzhou soldiers, but it can also severely hit the morale of the Youzhou army!

Could it be that this Tiance Army is really the nemesis of the Youzhou Army? Why is it that the Tiance Army without Xiao Quai's illness is still so powerful, and the bravery and strategy of Li Qi, the king of Jianning, are not inferior to Xiao Qu's illness!

What is now in front of An Lushan and the generals of the Youzhou Army is a dilemma!

If you can't beat Taiyuan City, if you continue to advance and go straight to Chang'an, there is such a big nail on the back road, and there are 16,000 troops, and there are Tiance troops to command them, naturally they will not be honest just stick to it, and they will naturally continue to attack repeatedly, and the back road will be broken, if Chang'an can't break through quickly, there will be no way to retreat!

But if you continue to storm Taiyuan, Taiyuan City is so tightly defended, I am afraid that it will be difficult to capture it in a month, and when the time comes, when the Tiance Army and the Right Army of Anxi Long return to the division, and after the other Tang troops defeat the opponent, waiting for the Youzhou Army is the end of destruction; If you retreat to Youzhou like this, you will also admit defeat, and then you will have to wait for Tang Jun to free up his hands and slowly clean himself up, so he can't easily retreat unless he has to.

On the other hand, the morale of the 70,000 Youzhou army has become extremely low again, if it weren't for An Lushan's constant propaganda that the Tiance army would kill all the Hu people, if it weren't for the fact that King Jianning had repeatedly said that he would never forgive, I was afraid that these mercenary, rebellious Hu soldiers and generals would have disagreed at this time, tied up An Lushan and others, and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty again.

The high-level of the Youzhou army discussed for a long time, and most of them advocated plundering everywhere in the east of the river, and then retreating to Youzhou, and if the Tang army gathered to crusade, they would run to the Mobei grassland or the northeast grassland, and then be a rogue from then on;

Only Yan Zhuang resolutely advocated leaving the infantry to continue to surround Taiyuan City, the five acropolis dug deep trenches to trap each other, and the main city of Taiyuan was encamped opposite the city gate tower, building fortifications, deep ditches and high bases, as long as the other party dared to go out of the city to attack, it would resolutely beat the opposite back, so that there was no Taiyuan this stronghold and supply point on the back road, but the back road was still unblocked, as long as the light cavalry could take Chang'an, Taiyuan would naturally not attack!

Regarding the opinions of the two factions, An Lushan and Tian Qianzhen are also in a dilemma. That's when it happened. The news came from Hebei Province. It is said that Emperor Li Longji was too jealous of the Tiance Army and the King of Jianning, so he actually came to the front line of Hebei Province in a white dragon suit, took over the military power of the Tiance Army, and put the King of Jianning under house arrest, and more importantly, the only 6,000 flying dragon forbidden army in Gyeonggi Province that could fight also followed Li Longji to the front line of Hebei.

Now the emperor and the 6,000 Flying Dragon Forbidden Army, as well as the 5,000 Dragon Martial Forbidden Army, are desperately rushing to Chang'an, but from the front line of Julu County to Chang'an, it is 1,500 miles. And Taiyuan to Chang'an is only 1,100 miles, nearly 400 miles!

In Hebei, the 30,000 Tiance army was defeated by 10,000 Youzhou cavalry, and the Youzhou army only lost more than 800 people, killing and wounding 8,000 opponents, and the battle loss ratio was 1 to 10!

This means that the Tiance army is not invincible, under the command of a faint monarch like Li Longji and a big straw bag like Yang Guozhong, no matter how strong the army is, it will only end up defeated!

Yang Guozhong had fought with Nanzhao three times before. Did you bury 200,000 Datang elites? Now send away hundreds of thousands, what's so strange!!

And so. Tian Qianzhen immediately made a decision, agreed to the solemn decision, persuaded An Lushan, after hesitating for a while, An Lushan also made a decision, and personally led 40,000 light cavalry south to attack Chang'an, all the way non-stop, must catch up with the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army to capture Chang'an.

Then leave Tian Chenghei to lead the remaining more than 30,000 infantry, as well as the troops left along the way, to continue to besiege Taiyuan and ensure that the rear road is unblocked. In addition, send people to Youzhou again, continue to recruit troops to the south to support, anyway, most of the Hu people in Hebei Province do not study, do not produce, since childhood, horse archery, once recruited, it is a combatable army.

So, at five o'clock in the afternoon of the eighth day of the ninth month, the 40,000 Youzhou army began to move south overnight, and then at noon the next day, the sentinels of 3,000 forwards ran head-on into Xiao Quai, who had been rushed all the way by in Wenshui County, about 110 miles away from Taiyuan City.

The first person to encounter Xiao Qu's illness was a ten-person Xi cavalry scout team, he was the elite sentinel of Xi King Li Riyue before, and after the Xi Ju clan surrendered to An Lushan, he returned to An Lushan.

In fact, for them, there is no subjective sense of rebellion, the reason why they followed An Lushan to raise troops south, on the one hand, is to conform to the crowd and habitually obey, but the main reason in their hearts is still from their plundering nature, I have long heard that Gyeonggi Province and Dugi Province are extremely rich, and they have long wanted to rob them.

It was for this reason that at the beginning of the An Lushan rebellion, the enthusiasm and morale of these Khitan, Xi, Turkic, and Sogdian people were extremely high, and they were also the most vigorous in burning, killing, and looting.

But the situation has taken a turn for the worse, in less than a month, more than 200,000 Youzhou troops have suffered heavy defeats one after another in front of the Tiance army, and now the back road is unstable, and the road ahead is extremely slim.

Out of this thought, these Xi cavalry sentry scouts are also a little lazy and not very energetic, plus this way down the sentry, most of the nearby villages and towns run away, and the county and state cities are also defended by the city, and it has become difficult to loot supplies along the way; It was noon again, and the weather was hot, and the ten people became more and more irritable.

At this moment, they saw a curling smoke burning not far ahead, and the leader of the squad named Lao Punu gasped and pointed towards the smoke: "Niang, I finally met a fire, the little ones, let's go there to rest and eat two mouthfuls of hot food." ”

Several other sentry detectives also licked their dry lips, kicked their horses' bellies hard, and rushed towards the smoke, but it was a small col four or five miles away from the main road, and there was a family living alone, living alone at the foot of the mountain, and a small stream flowing slowly down the hillside, which seemed to be the hunters in the mountains.

When he ran in, Lao Punu became more and more happy, and in the courtyard of this family, there were three extremely tall and divine horses on the leash!

The eyes of the ten people turned red at once, and they almost screamed excitedly, but as a veteran of a hundred battles who had fought with Fan Yangping's Lu army for seven or eight years, Lao Punu was not a reckless person, he pointed to both sides of the hillside and made a gesture of outflanking: "It's better to catch it alive!" ”

The nine men nodded, and soon six of them broke up from the group and flanked the family, and with his eyes shining, he drew an arrow from the hulu and placed it on the bowstring.

At this time, perhaps the sound of horses' hooves finally aroused the minds of the people in the house, and Lao Punu saw that a person finally came out of the room, a young Tang army general. He wore a white robe without armor. The most peculiar thing is that there are two flags with yellow characters on a red background on the back. The costume is very strange.

The general of the Tang Army should have passed by here, and when he saw this family, he came in to beg for food, because when he came out, he was still carrying a shiny roast leg of lamb in his hand.

What made Lao Punu feel strange was that the Tang Army general seemed very happy to see his ten people, and walked quickly towards the courtyard gate with a roast leg of mutton, and greeted him loudly: "Oops." How did you finally get there, were you delayed by something? ”

The man's voice was loud, his attitude was enthusiastic, and his expression was affectionate, giving people the feeling that he was just greeting his comrades or distinguished guests.

What the heck? Is there something wrong with this man's brain, doesn't he know that we are Youzhou rebels?

The Han general walked out of the gate, and took a bite of the roast leg of lamb in his hand. In his twenties, he was handsome to the extreme. A pair of eyes were dark and bright, and he asked with some confusion, "You don't know who I am?" ”

Lao Punu did not speak, frowning, his face full of suspicion.

This is a Tang Army general, yes, but why did he react this way, shouldn't he have jumped on a war horse to meet or run away, why did he walk out of the courtyard gate unarmed with a roast leg of mutton, and why did he ask?

"Mom~...... I'm sick! ”

After scolding, the next moment, Lao Punu collected the bow and arrows, took off the spear, and then slammed the horse's belly, and rushed to the side of the Tang army general with the three horsemen around him.

At that moment, he heard the sound of a breaking wind, and then a strong force came from the spear, and the whole man fell from his horse, and then fell heavily to the ground.

When he finally woke up from the chaos and struggled to get up from the fear on the ground, he found that not only himself, but also the other Nine Lives subordinates had also been beaten off their war horses, some of them covered their chests and lower abdomen and screamed in pain, while some were already dead, and at the center of his eyebrows, there was a red wound the size of a soybean, and his eyes were wide open, and he couldn't blink to death.

"Uncle Zhang, come out!"

The handsome young general shouted into the courtyard, and then a middle-aged Han man in his thirties and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy walked out, and the young man's face was full of excitement, and the two of them came out and began to tie up the undead Xiren sentinel on the ground with ropes.

Lao Punu wanted to run but didn't succeed, he was kicked by the Tang general at the crook of the knee, and then knelt down, Lao Punu begged for mercy in a non-standard Tang dialect: "Uncle spare your life!" The little slave is willing to surrender! ”

"You don't know who I am?" The young Don General grinned and crouched down in front of him and asked that question a second time.

Lao Punu hurriedly shook his head, and 10,000 grass and mud horses rushed over in his heart, Lao Tzu wanted to know who you were, so powerful, he would not rush over and die.

"Are you illiterate, or are you blind?"

“…… The little slave can't read. ”

"Hey! No culture kills people! The man sighed, then reached out and pulled the flag sticking out of his left shoulder, and said, "Okay, I'll teach you to recognize these three words...... Peaceful...... King! ”

"Ah......" Lao Punu and another Xiqi sentry who could understand the Tang Dynasty were stunned in surprise, and the Orion father and son were also a little stunned.

This young general who pretended to be Li Qi was naturally Xiao Quai.

Because he was worried about the war situation in Hedong, he had been rushing day and night, and finally crossed the mountains and mountains in the middle of the night on the seventh day of September to rush to the Linfen Plain, but at that time, the main force of the Youzhou army was still storming Taiyuan City.

After some inquiry, Xiao Qubing had a general understanding of the situation in Hedong Road, and then met a Tiance internal guard who was working here to organize evacuation and clear the field in Huoyi, so he no longer rushed day and night, and began to slowly move north along the Fen River, and then finally met the vanguard of the Youzhou Army in Wenshui County.

Lao Punu and another sentinel who could understand Tang Yin and Xi were already frightened, and the reputation of Li Qi, the king of Jianning, had spread within the Youzhou army.

The words "never forgive" and "one counts as one, and all of them will send you to hell" are still vivid in my ears, and now that they fall into his hands, can they still live?

Thinking of this, Lao Punu suddenly began to tremble, cold sweat flowed, and the crotch of his pants suddenly warmed, and he was so frightened that he urinated, although Xiao Quzhi was very disgusted, he still smiled and pointed to another flag and said: "There are these two words to be recognized as - Li ...... Whew! ”

Lao Punu shuddered: "You are ...... Jianning Wang ...... King Jianning spares his life! ”

"If you do one thing for this king, this king will not kill you."

Lao Punu said happily: "What's the matter? The little slave must do it! ”

Xiao Qubing stood up, at this time Zhang Orion and his son had already tied up the other five people who were not dead, and the ten war horses were also tied together, Xiao Quzhi said: "Uncle Zhang, the Youzhou army is about to arrive, and you are not safe here, hurry up and run, ride their war horses and run to Wenshui County." ”

Zhang Orion nodded and hurriedly went into the house to pack up two things, his wife and ten-year-old daughter had also prepared the dry food that Xiao Qu wanted for his illness and wrapped it in lotus leaves and put it in the burden on the horse's back, and the family of four was grateful to Dade for riding on the horse, and led the four war horses down the hill slowly, heading towards the county seat.

Xiao Quzhi then took out the horizontal knives on Lao Punu and another Xi Qi, handed them to them, and then said, "Kill these four people first." ”

The two gritted their teeth and killed the four of them, Xiao Quzhi nodded: "Next, tell this king all the information you know, or the information you think I should know." ”

The two scrambled to talk about the information, and after a while, Xiao Qubing interrupted them, and then said, "The following is the business that this king wants you to do, listen up." ”

The two of them only nodded, and Xiao Quzhi finally finished eating the roast leg of mutton at this time, and a smile appeared on his face: "You two now you hurry back and report to your general, and then continue to the Chinese army, report to the mongrel of An Lushan, and say that this king has come to Hedong Road alone."

If you want to go south to Gyeonggi-do, you must pass this pass, and this king is waiting here to stop you in front of you. If you Youzhou wastes have no way to take this king, this king will follow you all the way and kill dozens or hundreds of you when he takes the opportunity.

There is also the mongrel Hu called An Lushan and all the rebels in Youzhou who sleep at night and wake up, don't fall asleep and lose your life......

Also, if the Youzhou army dares to plunder and kill the Tang people, after defeating you, this king will definitely lead his troops to the northeast and kill all your wives and children, and this king will do what he says......"

After saying this, Xiao Qubing let the two go, until he rode his horse and galloped out for ten miles, Lao Punu felt a little unreal, this King Jianning was really angry, and he actually wanted to fight against 40,000 Youzhou cavalry with one person, and accompanied the Youzhou army south throughout the whole process, fighting all the way...... And listening to the meaning of his later words, it doesn't seem to mean that all the Youzhou troops must be killed, let alone that all the Hu people must be killed, was it that An Lushan was deceived before?

Thinking like this, the two soon met the general of the three thousand forwards, Zhang Zhongxiao, and then the news quickly spread to An Lushan's army thirty miles later.

Then, a thrilling chase battle, a night raid battle, unfolded in the hinterland of Hedong. (To be continued.) )