In the night, a team of more than 20,000 cavalry is rushing to the Xinfeng granary along the official road, this is the elite cavalry of Shenji, the safety of the granary is also related to the vital interests of this cavalry, the forage of their own war horses can only last one day, if something really happens to the Xinfeng granary, their war horses will run out of food tomorrow, which makes the main general Chen Jian's heart full of anxiety.

Chen Jian is about forty years old this year, in the era of Huangfu Xuande, he was the head of Fengxiang, and he was the second only military official in the entire Guanzhong region after Shenji, he was attached to the Shen family and was promoted, and his sister was Shenji's ex-wife, who died of illness three years ago, but Shenji did not ignore him because of this, but continued to reuse, and he is now Shenji's right-hand man.

Although Shen Ji did not tell him that Tongguan had been broken by the Chu army, Chen Jian still guessed a clue, he was a general in the army, how could he not know the danger of only 20,000 troops guarding Tongguan, especially in winter, after the Yellow River lost its defensive role, this danger was more direct.

He also persuaded Shen Ji, but Shen Ji's heart was already full of seizure of power, and he couldn't hear any suggestions, and now, Chen Jian also estimated that Shen Ji's heart was full of regret, so he didn't say to himself that Tongguan had been lost, and he couldn't afford to lose this face.

If Tongguan is broken by the Chu army, even Chen Jian himself doesn't know what to do, so he can only take one step at a time.

"Order the whole army, speed up the march, you must rush to Xinfengcang before the third watch!"

With the order given, the 20,000 cavalry quickened their speed and galloped in the direction of the Xinfeng granary.

At this time, they have passed Xinfeng County, about forty miles away from Xinfeng granary, on both sides are endless wheat fields, winter wheat has grown a little green stubble, quietly waiting for spring in the cold winter.

The cavalry team crossed a small bridge, there is a post station next to the small bridge, it is the Xinfeng Station, there are horses in the post station, there are also guest rooms, it is an important facility to ensure the smooth communication and the accommodation and rest of the officials, when he heard that the army was coming, the post man took two entourages and carried a few baskets of wine and food and waited on the side of the road.

Seeing the arrival of the main general Chen Jian from a distance, Yi Cheng greeted him, "General, this is a little wine and food prepared by the post station, please eat it." ”

Two attendants carried the basket, which contained fifty white steamed buns, cut beef in sauce, and two jugs of wine.

Chen Jian hugged his fists and saluted, ordered his soldiers to accept it, and he asked Yi Cheng again, "What is abnormal in the past two days?" ”

"There is a point, more than a dozen deserters came this afternoon and robbed a little silver from the post station, and I heard them say that it seems that they have fled back from Feng Yi County, saying that the Chu army has entered Guanzhong from Feng Yi County.

Chen Jian nodded, and sure enough, he guessed that it was the Chu army that attacked Guanzhong, and Shen Ji still refused to say, did he think he could hide it from himself?

He asked again, "What's going on over there in Xinfengcang?" ”

"It is said that the defense is very strong, and those deserters tried to steal food, and several were shot dead."

"Thank you!"

Chen Jian's heart was put down, and he immediately ordered: "The whole army will speed up again and enter Xinfengcang to rest." ”

The 20,000 cavalry galloped towards Xinfengcang, and Yi Cheng watched them walk away, with a cold smile on his face.

．．．．．．．．． Not long after the post station, it is a gentle hill, the hilly slope is very low, the highest point is more than ten zhang, but this hill covers a wide area, stretching for more than ten miles, after this hill and then go twenty miles, it is Xinfengcang.

The hills were covered with dense forests, and it was the middle of winter, the leaves were withering, and the whole forest looked bleak and desolate, and the cold wind passed through the forest, making a terrifying roar, but the 20,000 iron horsemen did not have the heart to experience the strange roar and fear in the forest, and they accelerated their speed to pass through this mountain forest that stretched for more than ten miles.

At this moment, danger has quietly descended, and a cavalry of 30,000 people has approached the Yongzhou army from all directions, and they are lurking in the depths of the forest, waiting for the signal to kill.

Before entering the forest, about less than eighty steps away from the official road is the Guangtong Canal, at this time the canal water has been frozen into ice, more than a dozen large wooden boats are frozen in the glacier, this is a very common flat-bottomed tugboat in the Guanzhong area, it is also extremely normal to be frozen in the river in winter, no one will pay attention to their abnormality.

At this time, more than a dozen wooden boats appeared with a black hole in the open artillery, aimed at the Yongjun cavalry eighty steps away, this kind of artillery does not shoot a single shell, but shoots dense iron pellets, a cannon will shoot hundreds of iron pellets, is the sharpest weapon against the cavalry.

The Chu army's silver brigade used this kind of artillery to deal a heavy blow to the Mugguls in the grassland, and today it is the first time it has been used in a civil war, there are not many artillery, only twelve, the Chu army obviously does not want to use this kind of artillery to cause large-scale casualties, its greater effect is a kind of horror.

Most of the 20,000 Yongjun iron cavalry have already entered the official road of the mountains and forests, and there are thousands of people, and under the moonlight, the last thousands of people are also speeding into the mountains and forests, and at this moment, the captain on the bow of the ship gave the order to shoot.

More than a dozen fires lit up at the same time in the darkness, igniting the fuse, and then a series of earth-shattering artillery sounds sounded, and more than a dozen white smoke rose into the air in the darkness, and thousands of iron pellets shot out, shooting towards the Yongjing cavalry eighty paces away like a storm.

In fact, when the fire lit up on the ship, some Yongjun cavalry discovered the abnormality, but before they could react, the dense iron pellets had already roared, and in an instant, hundreds of cavalrymen turned on their backs, and the screams rang out.

The sound of artillery bombardment reached the team in front, causing the team to be confused for a while, everyone stopped and looked to the rear in horror, Chen Jian also reined in the war horse, he suddenly realized in his heart that he was ambushed, did the Chu army arrive so soon?

He hurriedly looked around, the artillery was the signal to attack, the forest erupted around the shouting and killing, the dense Chu cavalry rushed out from all directions, killing the Yongjun army in the center of the official road, the Yongzhou army was suddenly in chaos, Chen Jian drew his sword, and shouted anxiously: "Don't mess up, stabilize your position!" ”

At this time, a series of explosions sounded in the rear, and the rear army collapsed first, with many dead and wounded, and the horses were frightened and fled in all directions.

The chaos in the rear made the entire Yongjun cavalry army in turmoil, except for a small number of soldiers who obeyed the order to fight with the Chu army, the other soldiers were in chaos, and their ranks were smashed by the Chu army.

The cavalry of the Chu army all wore white helmets, they were unusually conspicuous in the dark night, they came fiercely, 30,000 cavalry of the Chu army tore the cavalry of the Yongjun army into four pieces, although they were killed from the forest, there was no formation, but the tactics were orderly, 30,000 cavalry each divided into 5,000 troops to hit the head and tail, and the remaining 20,000 cavalry surrounded the Chinese army where the enemy's main general was, and launched wave after wave of impact on the narrow official road, arrows were like rain, the tip of the spear was like snow, and the sound of shouting and killing shook the sky.

Gradually, the Yongjun casualties became more and more heavy, and finally could not support, under the last fierce impact of the Chu army, the Chinese army collapsed, and the defeated Yongjun cavalry fled to the west, but the way back to the west was blocked by the Chu army, and the defeated army had to flee to the east and north, and there were countless surrenderers.

The main general Chen Jian saw that the general situation had gone, so he fled to the east with hundreds of personal soldiers, but was surrounded by thousands of Chu regiments, thousands of arrows were fired, most of the hundreds of personal soldiers were killed and wounded, and the main general Chen Jian was also shot by several arrows, and died tragically and turned over and fell off his horse.

In this battle, the Chu army attacked the Yongzhou army at night, 20,000 Yongjun cavalry killed and wounded 4,000 people, captured nearly 10,000 people, and the rest of the army scattered and fled.

．．．．．．．． At noon the next day, Shenji's army had not yet arrived, but the 150,000 main forces of Huangfu Wujin had arrived in Xinfengcang.

At this time, Xinfengcang was busy, the soldiers were reinforcing the wall and digging trenches, although the possibility of the Shenji army attacking Xinfengcang was not very large, but the Chu army was still meticulously prepared.

At this time, Jiang Zitong led his brother Jiang Xiaotong forward, "Your Highness, this is my brother Xiaotong." ”

Jiang Xiaotong stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, and saluted Huangfu Wujin with a fist, "Xinfeng Cang guard Jiang Xiaotong see His Royal Highness!" ”

Jiang Zitong is only in his thirties this year, and Huangfu Wujin thought that his brother was about the same age, but he was surprised that Jiang Xiaotong in front of him was about fifty years old.

"General, please get up!"

Huangfu Wujin helped him up and said with a smile: "The general's ability to understand the overall situation and get lost shows the general's heroic nature, and he can win Xinfengcang for me, which is a great contribution to the Daning Dynasty, and I will never be stingy with rewards in the future." ”

Jiang Xiaotong is fifteen years old only Jiang Zitong this younger brother, he is fifty years old this year, far older than his brother in the world, his brother is defeated and surrendered, and he is on the verge of the war uprising, the first motive is different, more importantly, he has seen that Shenji will be defeated, the overall situation of the world has been decided, brother Jiang Zitong still has a little loyalty to Shenji, stubbornly defend Tongguan, until the last resort to surrender, and he is completely different, when he heard that Tongguan has been lost, he immediately decided to fight and revolt, not waiting for his brother to persuade him, He had already changed his flag in Xinfengcang and planted the battle flag of the Chu army.

Jiang Xiaotong knew that the emperor in front of him was the future emperor, and he would not let go of this opportunity.

He hurriedly said: "Your Highness, Weichen has a suggestion for attacking the Shenji army. ”

Huangfu Wujin was a little interested, so he smiled and said, "General, please speak!" ”

"Your Royal Highness, Shen Ji slaughtered the royal family in Xinfeng County, it was done by his own soldiers, the vast majority of soldiers in the army do not know the truth, and Shen Ji has broken with Yongjing, this everyone does not know, if His Royal Highness can spread these news throughout the Shen Ji army, many generals will no longer be willing to serve him, it will inevitably seriously shake the morale of the army, and even deserters, Wei Chen suggested that His Royal Highness attack the heart of the top."

Huangfu Wujin pondered for a moment, and then asked him, "But how can I spread this news to the Shenji army?" ”

Jiang Xiaotong smiled a little proudly, "Your Highness, Weichen knows that there is not much grain and grass in the Shenji army, and it can only last for two or three at most, and if he doesn't come now, he must send troops to loot the grain, and His Highness can let the army sent by Shenji bring the news back." ”

Huangfu Wujin nodded slightly, "Yes, this is a good way!" ”

He immediately said to Zhang Yannian: "Send an army to intercept Shenji's guerrillas, and this matter will be handled by you." ”

．．．．．．．

(To be continued)