Unlike Shi Siming's high-spirited fighting spirits, the more than 10,000 militiamen under Yang Ping'an were depressed as if they were mourning.

They are not regular soldiers, they just want to protect their loved ones, train in their spare time, and earn two salaries for their families to improve their lives.

If the enemy army attacked Yangzhou, in order to protect their relatives, they must have fought bravely to kill the enemy, but now they are out of the city to face the battle, the enemy army is not only more numerous, but also far superior to them in combat effectiveness, which of the more than 10,000 militia is not in a heavy mood.

Because of the death of 5,000 pro-soldiers, they didn't want to live since the first day of being a soldier, so they barely had some morale, but Yang Ping'an's action of hitting the stone with an egg still made them feel heavy.

"Big brother, it can't go on like this." Yang Guozhong, who was riding on a horse, glanced at the soldiers around him, and said in a low voice in Yang Ping'an's ear.

This time out of the city to meet the enemy, Yang Guozhong and An Lushan were both brought by Yang Ping'an, the former is the big housekeeper in the army, responsible for logistics, grain and grass, etc., and the former is a general under Yang Ping'an.

An Lushan also nodded solemnly when he heard this.

Yang Ping'an smiled lightly and nodded slightly, signaling that he knew, and then asked Yang Guozhong to lead five thousand soldiers to hold back, in case there were deserters, while An Lushan led dozens of horsemen to explore the way forward and find a mountain pass, and he wanted to open a mobilization meeting.

Soon An Lushan found a suitable place, ten thousand soldiers and horses Chen Yu in the mountain pass, Yang Ping'an, accompanied by An Lushan and Yang Guozhong, climbed to a breakthrough in the mountain pass, took out the iron horn specially made by the blacksmith in the city before, and said: "Brothers, be quiet, I have something to say." ”

His prestige in Yangzhou City was still very high, not only because he had charged forward with the dignity of a horse before, but also because he was rich and generous, and because he was kind and kind to these soldiers and did not put on a show.

With the help of the tin horn and the echo of the col, all the soldiers heard his voice, and his assurance.

"I know what everyone thinks in their hearts, but I didn't take everyone to die, but led everyone to get promoted and make a fortune, just in time when the people in the troubled world are not living, these have nothing to do with my brothers, but the enemy invades my home, kills my relatives and robs my property, how can we sit still and wait for death.

At the same time, we have killed more enemies, more military merits, and more rewards from the court, and when the war subsides, the court will reward meritorious deeds, brothers are willing to protect him for the official I am promoted, willing to make a fortune, I will ensure that he makes money, if someone unfortunately dies on the battlefield, your family is my family, I will take care of the family for those who died and raise the elderly, of course, if I am also unfortunate enough to die in battle, except for the case where I am unfortunately killed. ”

In ancient times, the class hierarchy was extremely strict, and not only the ruling class but also the ruled class at the bottom were very recognizable to this.

Although Yang Ping'an didn't say it, almost everyone thought that Yang Ping'an's surname was worth more than them, because Yang Ping'an was a colt.

His statement greatly alleviated the panic and depression in the hearts of many people, but this was not all his guarantee.

When a soldier couldn't help but ask loudly if he really wanted to meet the 40,000 soldiers and horses of the enemy general Kou Xiong, Yang Ping'an's answer made them feel excited.

"Are you kidding, we only have 15,000 people, but the enemy army has 40,000 people, how can I be so crazy, don't worry, I assure you that every battle we fight is to fight more and less, and we must take advantage of it, and we will never outnumber the enemy and let everyone shed blood in vain."

The crowd was in an uproar.

Yesterday, they all heard about the bet between Yang Ping'an and Shi Siming, but now Yang Ping'an said that he would not attack Kou Xiong, this, this ......

Seeing that many people showed skeptical looks, Yang Ping'an said loudly: "Each of you is my relative, how could I let you die for myself, remember, I brought you out to make you meritorious, as for the gambling contract, what if I lose, don't forget that I am the most valued colt of the saint, and the marriage contract between me and the princess was given by the queen mother as a matchmaker." ”

It was noon, everyone buried the pit to make food, ate and drank enough to rest for half an hour, the army set off, the morale at this time was not as low as in the morning, but many people still had doubts in their hearts, and some people even discussed, if Yang Ping'an really led them to fight with the powerful Zhou army, the words in the col were to fool them, and they fled.

Since ancient times, Chinese farmers have had their own unique wisdom.

The soldiers and horses of the Kou Xiong Department who came from the west side of Yangzhou, speaking of which are also Yang Ping'an's old acquaintances, came from Zhenjiang, Du Bin led 20,000 soldiers and horses from Zhenjiang to attack Yangzhou a few months ago, and the defender of Zhenjiang at that time was Kou Xiong.

Now Kou Xiong led 40,000 troops to cross the Yangtze River north to invade Yangzhou, which is far closer than the 50,000 soldiers and horses of Ning Zhen Mobu who sent troops from Hailing.

There is a necessary way for Kou Xiong's army to attack Yangzhou, that is, Changfeng Valley, this valley is long and narrow, the terrain is precipitous, although it is not as dangerous as a line of sky, but if it can hold a section of the valley mouth, even if there are only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, it is enough to resist 100,000 people, if you can use both sides of the valley to set up ambushes, then Kou Xiong's army is in danger.

Before Yang Ping'an led his troops out of the city, Xu Yuan and Xue Yufeng made a plan with him, that is, to defend Changfeng Valley, unless Kou Xiong was willing to go far, he could only take Changfeng Valley all the way, but if he went far, he was afraid that he would encounter other Tang troops, but whether his troops could come to Yangzhou was still a matter of two words.

As the only general under Yang Ping'an, An Lushan naturally knew this strategy, but he found that after the army marched for two days, it was not stationed outside Changfeng Valley, but went around from Changfeng Valley to the north, and actually abandoned Changfeng Valley.

"Big brother, aren't we going to face the enemy army in Changfeng Valley?"

Changfeng Valley is definitely a wonderful place, holding Changfeng Valley, if the enemy wants to break out of the valley, they can only pay huge losses with refueling tactics, and the narrow terrain in Changfeng Valley makes it impossible for the enemy to expand the formation at all.

But Yang Ping'an actually abandoned this place.

Yang Ping'an didn't answer his words, just shook his head slightly, and then led the army north, going around to Tianchang County: "Fatty, let's go [***]." ”

Tianchang County is in the hands of the Tang army, and [***] has been captured by the Zhou army, otherwise Kou Xiong would not have come to knock Yangzhou.

The army went north and marched into Tianchang County, which made the soldiers excited, because Yang Ping'an did not break his promise, and really did not resist Kou Xiong, how could they not be happy, not to mention that Tianchang was still in the hands of the Tang army.

Kou Xiong was not Tiancewei, but he was the first group of generals to throw himself into Wulu and was trusted by Li Guangbi.

When Li Guangbi led 100,000 troops to fight against Guo Ziyi in Chuzhou, he handed over 50,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Zhenjiang and ordered him to find an opportunity to conquer Yangzhou.

At first, he really looked down on Xu Yuan in Yangzhou, even if he knew that Shi Siming was leading the troops, he didn't care, he had also served as an official in the Tang Dynasty, how could he not have heard of the arrogant and arrogant Shi Siming.

Just when he was about to attack Yangzhou, he received a secret order from Li Guangbi, ordering him to transfer 20,000 soldiers and horses to Du Bin, who would be the pathfinder.

Du Bin was defeated in Yangzhou, but it was his own loss, so that Kou Xiong began to officially attack Yangzhou for the first time, and this time he took advantage of the fact that Yangzhou fell into the hands of the Zhou army, and he immediately united with Ning Zhenmo to divide his troops into two ways to attack Yangzhou.

He knew very well that the Tang Army in Yangzhou should not be underestimated, even if its internal forces were divided, but he also understood the truth that his brothers were insulted outside the wall.

Therefore, when entering the army, it is also careful everywhere, strictly prevent an ambush, and now arrive outside the Changfeng Valley, it is already the last and most dangerous pass on the road to Yangzhou, if the Tang army sets up an ambush inside and outside the valley, I am afraid that the situation is worrying.

Out of caution, he first sent people to climb on both sides to find out if there was an ambush by the Tang army in the valley, but the information he got back was that the valley was clean and unoccupied, and the army could move forward smoothly.

How could there be no ambush soldiers, Kou Xiong frowned, could it be that the information is wrong, doesn't it mean that Yang Ping'an led more than 10,000 people to guard again.

There is absolutely no mistake in the information, thinking that this information came from Tiance, because of his loyalty, Li Guangbi has accepted him, and asked Tiance Guard, who was lurking in Yangzhou City, to inform Kou Xiong and Ning Zhenmo of the news they had discovered, and the latter was from Tiance.

The news they got was very accurate, Yang Ping'an made a bet with Shi Siming, and led the people of the headquarters to go out of the city to meet the enemy, and his opponent was Yang Ping'an.

Yang Ping'an's cunning, he has heard of it, Du Bin's defeat and Li Guangbi's advice, all of which made him pay a lot of attention to Yang Ping'an.

But there is no ambush in the Valley of the Long Wind, and this is why.

Soon, another Tanma reported that there was no Tang Army outside Changfeng Valley, which made Kou Xiong even more puzzled.

You must know that Changfeng Valley is the last gateway to the west of Yangzhou, and if Changfeng Valley is not guaranteed, he can directly kill under Yangzhou City, and the Tang Army of Yangzhou is not mediocre, how can he not know.

Before coming here, he was ready for a terrible battle in Changfeng Valley, but ......

"Are you sure there are no enemy troops out of the valley."

"The subordinates are guaranteed by the head, and there is indeed no Tang army outside the valley."

Kou Xiong pondered for a while and did not hesitate, and immediately ordered the whole army to march through the Changfeng Valley immediately.

40,000 soldiers and horses immediately set out, passing through quickly and methodically, at first they were cautious, in case there was really an ambush of the Tang army in the valley, but when the vanguard troops came out of the valley and formed a formation outside the valley, the follow-up troops did not have the slightest worry, and soon Kou Xiong led 40,000 soldiers and horses through the Changfeng Valley.

Looking at the Pingchuan in the distance, Kou Xiong suddenly felt in a trance, could it be that Yangzhou is really so easy to attack.

Was Du Bin too incompetent, Marshal Li overestimated Yang Ping'an, or was Tang Jun really too incompetent and gave up this place.

Without the danger of Changfeng Valley, how can the Tang army stop our army from approaching the city.

Kou Xiong suddenly burst out laughing, and then set up camp in the terrain as a final rest before attacking Yangzhou City.

After today, he will use the strategy of suspicious soldiers to make the Tang army think that he is attacking Yangzhou, and he will lead the main force of soldiers and horses all the way east, unite with Ning Zhenmo, and defeat Shi Siming's troops in front and back.

At that time, the two soldiers and horses were united, and it was difficult to resist even if Yangzhou City was strong.

At dawn the next day, when he had just woken up from his sleep, he suddenly heard a soldier outside the tent reporting that there was a trace of the Tang army fifty miles away.

"The whole army is ordered to prepare to meet the enemy."