As Xu Shiji said, Nanpi County is only a small county, because it is located on the east bank of the Yongji Canal and the official road must pass through and has become a strategic place, with access from north to south and east to west.

But after all, the county seat is too small, and it already has a population of more than 100,000 people, and now the hundreds of thousands of troops originally stationed outside the city have suddenly poured into the county seat, making the county town become crowded, quarrels and fights are continuous, and the public order is very chaotic.

Gao Shida stood alone at the head of the city, staring at the south with a stern gaze, he wondered a little in his heart, why did Zhang Xuan station his army fifty miles away instead of continuing north, did he hope that he would go south to fight him?

Gao Shida shook his head, he knew very well the combat effectiveness of the Qingzhou army, with his more than 100,000 people, he would definitely not be able to withstand Zhang Xuan's 50,000 troops, and he could only rely on defending the city and consuming it with the other party, but fortunately, his food was still sufficient

'Grain! ’

Gao Shida's heart moved, could it be because of the grain Zhang Xuan did not immediately attack Nanpi County, think about how much food Zhang Xuan's 50,000 army needs to consume every day, and Zhang Xuan's army is moving north so quickly, how can his military food supply keep up? Gao Shida looked at the official road in the distance, and he was eager to get the exact information of the spies.

"King!"

Deputy General Sun Lianhuan didn't know when he appeared beside Gao Shida, he also looked into the distance and said: "I think we should move to Yangxin County in the south, where the city is taller and stronger, and the city is big enough to defend the city." ”

Gao Shida snorted coldly, "Shall we fly over?" ”

He turned around and walked towards the city, and Sun Lianhuan hurriedly followed, "The humble position is just a suggestion." If you have the chance."

At this time, Gao Shida stopped, and several old men in front of him were blocking the road and crying, and when they saw him appear, several old men struggled to crawl over, and were stopped by a group of pro-soldiers. Gao Shida frowned, "What happened?" ”

"King, let us call the shots!"

Several elderly men cried out: "The army has seized our house, driven out our families, and we are sleeping on the streets, with nowhere to go!" ”

Gao Shida turned his head to look at Sun Lianhuan, Sun Lianhuan smiled bitterly: "There is really no way, we need a house to house the wounded soldiers, so we can only occupy some houses." ”

"Give them a tent for each of them!"

Gao Shida commanded. turned around and left, and there were several old men's unrelenting cries from behind, which made him upset for a while, the county town was too crowded, if the Sui army attacked the city with trebuchets, or attacked by fire, they would not even have a place to hide.

Just then, a soldier rushed. He whispered, "King, the spies are back!" ”

"Bring them to the barracks." Gao Shida walked briskly towards the barracks.

The barracks are located in the west of the city. Occupying 30% of the open space in the county seat, Rao is so, the barracks can only accommodate 80,000 troops, and tens of thousands of troops can only go to the residential areas to find a station. The residents were miserable and complained.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, a spy lieutenant reported to Gao Shidayu: "We saw two batches of grain trucks, each batch of about a few hundred cars, as well as mule carts and horse-drawn carts. In addition, the Qingzhou Army was collecting grain trucks in nearby villages, and we asked some shops along the way, and they did not see the army carrying grain and baggage. ”

Gao Shida nodded, as he expected, Zhang Xuan was stationed in Lianshan Town because the food did not keep up, and once the food was replenished, his army would definitely go north.

Gao Shida's eyes were fixed on the map again, although he could retreat north to Hejian County now, but the problem was that once he retreated north, the Qingzhou army would definitely chase and kill, and he would also be wiped out.

After pondering for a long time, Gao Shida turned around and asked Sun Lianhuan, "How likely do you think it is that we will move to Yangxin County?" ”

As night fell, a cavalry of 3,000 men left Nanpi County from the north gate, made a long detour, and ran south along the Yongji Canal

As soon as the cavalry left the city, they were discovered by the scouts of the Qingzhou army, and immediately a scout urgently returned to the camp in Lianshan Town to report.

Thirty miles south of Lianshan Town is a continuous hilly area, although the mountains are not tall and steep, but they are not low hills, the mountains are densely forested, the valley roads under the mountains are vertical and horizontal, and the valleys are the passages to the south, the basins and the valleys are interspersed, and there are patches of farmland and villages.

There is a valley of more than 20 miles near Rao'an County, the two sides of the valley are tall mountains, the forest is very lush, but the valley is about 100 zhang wide, the road in the valley is very flat, a clear stream flows through it, making it a place where the official road between the north and the south must pass, in the morning, a grain transport team composed of thousands of carts is resting in the valley, the weather is already a little hot, the valley is particularly stuffy, the people who transport grain and grass complain constantly, while drinking water while fanning the cold with their hats.

At this time, there was a sudden thunderous roar from the north, and the people looked at each other, not knowing what the sound was, and then the earth began to tremble, and I saw more than a dozen soldiers rushing towards them, shouting: "Go up the mountain, the cavalry is coming!" ”

The people were so frightened that they couldn't take care of the grain carts, and they ran to the mountains, and they fled in a moment, and the grain carts were thrown in the valley, and in a short time, thousands of cavalry rushed quickly, and they waved their knives to the grain carts, and found that the grain carts were mainly carrying horse feed, black beans, and fine materials with crushed guillotine, but the grain was very small, and the cavalry soon destroyed the grain carts.

This cavalry of about 4,000 people, it is Gao Shida sent to disrupt the Sui army's grain road cavalry, the head of the general is called Gao Wuxian, is Gao Shida's nephew, he is responsible for commanding this Gao Shida's most cherished cavalry team, the cavalry team all the way to the south, this is the second grain convoy they destroyed, although it is all horse material, but it is in line with Gao Wuxian's mind, he immediately ordered: "Feed the horses first, and then take the horse materials away!" ”

The cavalrymen opened the bags of fine materials, fed their beloved horses, and drank water by the stream, they put black beans on the back of their horses, and the black beans were also the favorite feed of the war horses after cooking, and the four thousand cavalry swept away the fodder, and then a fire ignited the grain cart, and in a thick smoke, thousands of cavalry continued to gallop south.

But they only ran for a dozen miles, but an accident happened, and the road in front of them narrowed, and they saw hundreds of huge trees blocking the valley road, making it impossible for the cavalry to pass.

Gao Wu suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, he ordered more than a dozen cavalry to go forward to check, the cavalry only approached dozens of steps, suddenly a burst of random arrows shot, more than a dozen cavalry screamed and fell off the horse, and then the drum shook the sky, only to see that there were dense Sui soldiers on the giant tree and in the forest on both sides, holding bows and arrows, opening bows and arrows, aiming at them, the cavalry suddenly became chaotic and retreated.

Gao Wushu knew that he had been tricked, and immediately shouted: "Go back!" ”

Thousands of horsemen turned their horses' heads and galloped northward, but they were still disappointed, and ran ten miles north, and the valley road was also full of huge trees, and they could not get out, and they were blocked in a valley of about ten miles, with steep slopes on both sides, and the horses could not go up at all.

Gao Wu was anxious in his heart, and immediately ordered: "Release the eagle letter for help!" ”

The cavalry team generally carries the letter eagle, which is the rule of war, in order to facilitate the cavalry to contact the battalion in time, this cavalry is the treasure of Gaoshida, and Gaoshida is more concerned about their safety.

Several letter eagles spread their wings and flew in the valley, circling and flying to the north, on a mountain rock, Xu Shiji watched the letter eagle go away, the trap he had dug up, now it depends on the cooperation of the big handsome

An hour later, several letter eagles sent the cavalry's distress letter to Nanpi County, Gao Shida was immediately shocked, his cavalry team was trapped in the valley, he immediately realized that he had been tricked, the Sui army was obviously just a bait to lure his army to sneak attack.

There was chaos in the big tent, and several henchmen and generals were arguing fiercely about whether to send troops to rescue the cavalry, and it was obvious that the Sui army trapped the cavalry in the valley road was a trap, and the Sui army must have ambushed heavy troops near the valley road, just waiting for them to take the bait.

But several generals insisted on going to the rescue, those cavalry were their most important army, and they were the magic weapon to defeat Dou Jiande, once they lost the cavalry, it would be difficult for them to gain a foothold in Hebei.

The two sides argued, and the more they argued, the more fierce they became, at this time, Gao Shida couldn't bear it anymore and yelled, "Shut up for me!" ”

There was a sudden silence in the big tent, and Gao Shida said coldly: "Of course you have to save, but why go to Gudao to rescue, I will directly attack Zhang Xuan's Lianshan camp, I think he will leave how many troops to garrison?" ”

"That's a great plan!"

A general praised: "The Sui army will inevitably have heavy troops on both sides of the valley road waiting for us to be fooled, but the battalion will not have many troops, once the Sui army turns around and comes back to save the battalion, we will go to the valley road to rescue, this is called avoiding the real and attacking the false, so that the Sui army is unable to defend against it." ”

Gao Shida has already made up his mind, those cavalry are his most important assets, even if his army is wiped out, as long as the cavalry is still in his hands, he can make a comeback, no matter what, he can't lose it.

Gao Shida immediately ordered: "Pass my order, 80,000 troops will go out of the city and march to Lianshan!" ”

He turned back and said to the adjutant general Sun Lianhuan: "You can lead 50,000 troops to hold Nanpi County, no matter what the situation is, you are not allowed to go out of the city until I lead the army back to the city, remember?" ”

"Please rest assured, the king will definitely defend Nanpi!"

Half an hour later, the 80,000 Gao Shida army divided into two routes, one led by the general Liu Kaiyun, and led the 30,000 troops to the south in a roundabout way, pretending to be the main force to feint to rescue the trapped cavalry.

On the other hand, the 50,000-strong army was led by Gao Shida himself, which was an hour later than Liu Kaiyun's army, and rushed out of Nanpi County after nightfall, and quickly killed the Lianshan camp fifty miles away. (To be continued.) )