Yang Xiaoyu had expected this to be the case, and was not at all surprised, and ordered Zhou Heguang to lead his troops to guard outside the city to count the dead bodies, and he led Zhou Tong to escort the prisoners into the city.

Xia Zhen belongs to the main road of Caoyun, and there are more than 1,000 households in the city.

Because the thief army started an incident under the guise of benevolence and righteousness, it did not commit any crime against the people of the town.

Most of the money and food of the thief army were intercepted from the canal, and Yang Xiaoyu was not polite, and with a wave of his hand, all the money and food belonged to the Jinyi guard army.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Yang Xiaoyu asked people to count the specific amount of money, found three thousand households, and asked them about the number of casualties, and the result surprised him, after today's battle, 3,000 Jinyi guards were killed and wounded nearly 400 people, of which more than 200 were killed in the battle under the command of Zhou Tong.

The casualties under Zhou Heguang and Cao Tai were very small and negligible.

More than 130 horsemen were wounded, most of whom were slightly wounded, and could continue to fight after a few days of recuperation.

Yang Xiaoyu thought about it for a while, and waited until Sun Chuanting, who was chasing and killing the thief army, came back, and ordered: "In today's battle, our army has suffered a lot of losses, and this official has decided to recuperate in Xia Town for two days for the time being, first, to wait for the news of the military situation in Shandong transmitted by Tiqi, and second, to send people to send the prisoners to the nearby county town to be imprisoned!" ”

"My lord, the soldiers are fast, our army's momentum is high, if you take this opportunity to attack the back of the thief army, it can have a surprise effect!" Zhou Heguang frowned and said.

"My lord, Xia Guan thinks that it should be held according to Xia Town, this city is the main road of Cao Yun, and it is also the transfer point of Xu thief's money and grain, and now this city has been captured by our army, Xu thief can get the news in two days, then he will definitely give up Yanzhou and other places to counterattack Xia Town, our army should strengthen the city wall, and wait for work!" Sun Chuanting stood up with a different opinion.

Yang Xiaoyu smiled bitterly: "This official knows that this city is the main road of Cao Yun, and Xu Hongru will not give up this city easily, but have you thought about it?" Our army only has 3,000 soldiers and horses, how can we hold the city? Moreover, the city wall of Xia Zhen was destroyed by our artillery, and it was difficult to strengthen it in a short time, Xu Hongru must be under the city within five days, and then only rely on the broken city wall. It would be good if our army could hold out for one day! ”

"Does the Lord mean to give up Xia Zhen?" Sun Chuanting asked uncertainly.

The three thousand households looked at Yang Xiaoyu's face and were also quite puzzled.

Yang Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "Xia Zhen cannot be defended or lost, after thinking about it, this official thinks that only by sending troops to intercept Xu Hongru's army can it be possible to keep Xia Zhen?" ”

Without waiting for everyone to speak, Yang Xiaoyu ordered Tiqi to take out the route map of the march, spread it on the table, and pointed to several dangerous passes from Yanzhou to Xia Town, and said with a smile: "These natural dangers are important passages for Xu Hongru's soldiers to enter Xia Town. I believe that the reinforcements from the surrounding area will arrive, and then our army can take this opportunity to level Xu Hongru in one fell swoop. ”

When everyone heard Yang Xiaoyu's plan, they all gasped, what a big move, they actually wanted to swallow Xu Hongru's soldiers and horses.

Although Ti Cai did not find out how many troops Xu Hongru used at this time, he still knew the approximate strength.

Since Xu Hongru's move, he has won successive battles. The number of soldiers and horses under his command increased to more than 120,000, and most of them stayed in Juye, Yuncheng and other places. The number of troops around Xu Hongru is only 40,000.

Moreover, Xu Hongru's troops left in Zou County, Teng County and other places were about 20,000.

In this way, although the thief army has a large number of troops, it is guarded in different places, and it is difficult to reach Xia Town for a while.

Moreover, the defenders of Shandong, Henan and other places are rushing towards these counties. They are still too busy to take care of themselves, how can they still support Xu Hongru?

"Your Excellency!"

Cao Tai arched his hand and said with a wry smile: "In today's battle, there are not many shells left in our army, and if you want to use artillery to guard the checkpoint, the lower officials have more than enough heart but not enough strength!" ”

Yang Xiaoyu was stunned when he heard this. His face changed instantly, and without artillery, if he wanted to hold these checkpoints, he would have to use the bodies of the officers and soldiers to block them.

"My lord, Xia Guan once served in Zhenwuwei, and he knows that there are usually artillery in the treasury of the guards, so you can send Ti cavalry to borrow some from the neighboring state capitals!" Sun Chuanting said with a chuckle.

Yang Xiaoyu hurriedly lowered his head and looked at the map, and finally determined three places, Huaiqing Mansion, Qingzhou Mansion, and Dongchang Mansion, all of which have guards stationed in these three state capitals, and they are all important roads, the farthest Dongchang Mansion is only more than 400 miles away from Xia Town, and Ti can go back and forth in three days.

Yang Xiaoyu hurriedly took the pen and ink, wrote three letters, stamped the seal of his Jinyi Wei Zhen envoy, and then ordered Cao Tai's command to ride a team of ten people and ride fast horses to these three state capitals overnight to send letters for help.

After finishing this matter, Yang Xiaoyu turned around, pointed to the danger on the map and ordered: "Deputy General Sun will take people to these places early tomorrow morning to check the terrain, find convenient places for concealment, and ask people to build fortifications and build forts. ”

"The subordinate obeys!" Sun Chuanting commanded.

Yang Xiaoyu then instructed: "Cao Tai, you take your subordinates to escort the captives to Ning County, which is a hundred miles away, send all the captives to the county prison, and tell them to guard them well and not make mistakes." ”

Cao Tai stepped forward to receive the order, and then retreated.

Yang Xiaoyu stretched his brows and said with a smile: "Zhou Heguang pacified the people in the city and guarded the city, Zhou Tong took people to the nearby mountains and forests to cut firewood, make arrows, and bring people to carry boulders and prepare to guard the ordnance!" ”

The two stepped forward to take orders.

After all the trivial matters were ordered, Yang Xiaoyu waved them down to rest, and tomorrow morning, they went their separate ways.

After a tired day, he couldn't hold it anymore, so he sent everyone away, looked at the map for a while, and then went to rest on the bed.

The second day is dawn.

The generals acted separately, leaving only Yang Xiaoyu and Zhou Heguang in the city.

Zhou Heguang led his cavalry to defend the city gate, pacify the people, and make fires and rice.

Yang Xiaoyu was not idle, he combined the information sent by the spies to estimate the battle situation in advance, while sending people to inquire about the surrounding news, waiting for the opportunity to move.

It's easy to get by.

After a few days, he quietly went to Huaiqing and other places to borrow artillery shells, and returned with more than 500 rounds of Francophone shells and more than 1,000 tiger squat shells.

With the cannonballs, Yang Xiaoyu's heart was suddenly full of confidence, however, just when he was ambitious to fight Xu Hongru, the spies reported that Yang Zhaoji, the commander of Datong, led an army of 20,000 to attack Juye City, and led 30,000 guards to besiege Yuncheng with the Shandong Dusi Command Embassy.

Juye and Yuncheng are the places where Xu Hongru started, and the official army attacked these two cities, causing fatal damage to Xu Hongru, who attacked Yanzhou hundreds of miles away.

Yang Xiaoyu took out the route map of the march and looked at it carefully several times, and then Zhou Heguang came and ordered him to send someone to pass Sun Chuanting back to the city as soon as possible.

After Sun Chuanting returned to the city, Yang Xiaoyu hurriedly summoned him in and said, "This official received a report that Yang Zhaoji's general army and the Shandong Guards had attacked Juye City and were besieging Yuncheng, which was Xu Hongru's old nest. He will definitely lead his troops to support! ”

"My lord, if Xu Hongru goes to Yuncheng, won't the fortifications that the lower officials have worked so hard to build in the past few days be useless?" Sun Chuanting frowned.

Yang Xiaoyu waved his hand and said: "This official looked at the map, if Xu Hongru wants to go to the rescue of Yuncheng as quickly as possible, he will have to pass through Sandao Mountain and Yangshugou, these two places are dangerous passes, and these two places happen to be in the middle of Xia Zhen and Yanzhou Mansion!" ”

Sun Chuanting's brows furrowed, and he said with a smile: "My lord wants to ambush these two places first?" ”

"Yes, this official can't let Xu Hongru easily wave his army to rescue Yuncheng!"

Yang Xiaoyu sneered: "You lead the cavalry of your headquarters to these two places to check the terrain, and this officer will lead the army to come later." ”

Sun Chuanting bowed, turned around and retreated.

Yang Xiaoyu called Ti Cai and ordered Cao Tai, who rushed back last night, to lead the soldiers and horses of his headquarters to Sandao Mountain with artillery, and ordered Zhou Tong to set off with ordnance.

Then, he ordered Zhou Tong to collect grain and grass, and after carrying it, he needed to rush to Sandao Mountain.

The military situation is urgent, and there can be no delay for a moment.

The three thousand households who received the order hurriedly gathered their soldiers and horses, brought enough dry food and weapons out of the city and headed for Sandao Mountain.

Yang Xiaoyu took the soldiers and horses under Zhou Tong's command, and walked at the back with grain, grass and baggage.

Sandao Mountain is only eighty miles away from Yanzhou City.

With the speed of Xu Hongru's army, it will definitely be able to arrive by tomorrow morning.

In order to be foolproof, Yang Xiaoyu had to rush ahead of Xu Hongru first, curb the mountain danger, make it impossible for him to support Yuncheng quickly, and squeeze out ample time for Yang Zhaoji and the others to capture Yuncheng with peace of mind.

Sandao Mountain is three big mountains of different heights, the surrounding terrain is steep, the mountains are different, the trees on the mountain are luxuriant, the forest is dense, look at it from a distance, a piece of green, and you can't see the specific situation on the mountain.

In order to support Yuncheng, Xu Hongru will definitely choose to cross Yangshugou through Sandao Mountain, and finally lie down on the Baili River, change the route to the west, and go to Yuncheng from this road, the road is short, and it will take less than five days to arrive.

Yang Xiaoyu came to Shandong to suppress bandits this time because he came to make meritorious contributions.

At this moment, the credit is in front of him, how can he let it flow away in vain.

Yang Xiaoyu rushed to the foot of Sandao Mountain with his follow-up cavalry, and ordered Sun Chuanting to take five hundred cavalry to the back of Yangshugou to build fortifications and build forts.

"My lord, Xia Guan has 500 elite cavalry, which can crisscross the ground and gallop across the field, please allow Xia Guan to bring 500 elite cavalry to meet the battle!" Sun Chuanting was a little unhappy, he didn't want to keep building fortifications and doing some miscellaneous work.

Yang Xiaoyu said in a deep voice: "The mountains here are steep, the roads are narrow, you lead the elite cavalry here to meet the enemy, it is tantamount to self-destruction, this official leads the army to meet the enemy here, relying on the power of artillery and bows and arrows!" ”

"Xiaguan is going to Yangshugou!" Sun Chuanting bowed sullenly and turned away.

Yang Xiaoyu waved his hand to summon the cavalry and ordered them to move all the baggage and ordnance to the mountain, leaving nothing under the mountain.

The bulky Franco cannons were erected by five horsemen, one by one, and the cannonballs and arrows were carried up the mountain without interruption.

Cao Tai led his cavalry to guard the first mountain with 20 Francophone cannons and 15 tiger squat cannons, assisted by 50 crossbowmen, and the rest of the cavalry were assisted by boulders and other ordnance.

Zhou Tong led his subordinates to guard the second mountain, using the Franco cannon and the tiger squat cannon as the artifact to curb the pass. (To be continued......)