The second attack of the thief army was hastily retreated due to the courage of Wei Chigong, and the attacking general Lu Xingxing was also seriously injured and almost died at the hands of the Sui general, and the arrogance of the thief army's attack was temporarily frustrated.

At this time, the strategist Yang Ji suggested to Zhang Jincheng in a low voice: "The Sui army does not seem to have many troops, they concentrate their forces to defend the city gate, and there will inevitably be loopholes in other defenses, why doesn't the king feint to attack the city gate and then send troops to enter the city from other places?" ”

Zhang Jincheng thought for a while and said, "Did you let me kill through those holes in the city wall?" ”

"Of course, the hole in the city wall can also be used, in fact, although we don't have a siege ladder, we can also climb the city wall by using a human ladder or rope, there are many ways, there is no need to storm the city gate."

Zhang Jin said that he was extremely cunning, he ordered Lu Xingxing to attack the city gate just to test the reality of the Sui army, he had already seen that the Sui army did not have many troops, but the bow and arrow were very powerful, no matter how many of Lu Xingxing's men died, he would not feel distressed, but if his own soldiers attacked the city, he didn't want to suffer such heavy losses again.

Yang Ji's suggestion is undoubtedly a good strategy to avoid losses, Zhang Jincheng nodded, turned around and shouted: "Beat the urging drum again, the five thousand Yama army feints to attack the city gate, only shouting and building momentum, not entering within 100 steps!" ”

He said to the general Fu Jin again: "You can lead 3,000 impermanence troops to kill from the three city wall holes in the north7▼, and directly take the city gate!" ”

"Order Yang Gongqing again, ask him to guard the West Gate for me to prevent the Sui army from breaking through!"

Zhang Jin claimed to have 8,000 elite Chinese troops, all of which were equipped with regular Sui troops, well-trained, and very strong in combat, of which 5,000 were called the Yama Army, and the other 3,000 were called the Impermanent Army.

This time, in order to annihilate the Sui army from Zhuo County, he dispatched all 8,000 elites, together with more than 10,000 auxiliary thief troops, and nearly 20,000 troops to besiege Qinghe County.

A hundred drums sounded again. The drums beat earth-shattering, 'Boom! Boom! Boom! With the shouts of the 5,000 Yama army, a huge siege momentum was created in the dark night.

At the same time, Zhang Jincheng's henchman Fu Jin led another 3,000 elite soldiers to quickly rush to the north of the city under the cover of night, and there were three large holes in the north city wall. Each of the large holes was more than a zhang wide, and from here they could storm into the city.

The thief army has about 5,000 people outside the west city, led by Yang Gongqing, the general of the thief army, Yang Gongqing is a native of Zhao County, about 30 years old, has been practicing martial arts since childhood, and has grown tall and burly, with a full face and beard, and holds a 60-pound big knife. Brave and good at fighting.

At the beginning of the year, he was defeated by Wang Shichong by the Sui army Xiongwulang, Yang Gongqing had to lead the remnants of the army south to defect to Zhang Jin, Zhang Jin said that he valued him a lot, and his army quickly increased from more than 1,000 people to 5,000 people. Become Zhang Jin's right-hand man.

Compared with the ruins of Dongcheng, the cities around Xicheng in Qinghe County are very complete. There was a dry moat, there was a drawbridge and a complete gate, and the walls were also tall and strong, making them difficult to attack.

Zhang Jin said that he was also very aware of this, so he gave Yang Gongqing the task of blocking the West Gate to prevent the Sui army from breaking through the West Gate. He was not needed to attack the West Gate.

It was very quiet outside the west city gate, Yang Gongqing led five thousand thieves to form a half-moon formation, waiting quietly for the moment when the city was broken two hundred steps away, and I don't know when, a big lantern was hung on the city tower. Flickering in the night wind.

At this time, a soldier pointed to the head of the city and shouted: "General, look! ”

Yang Gongqing also saw it, and suddenly three piles of raging fires were lit on the west city wall, which were particularly dazzling and shining in the night, and he couldn't help but be stunned, what does this mean, is it a signal?

At this moment, there was a sudden thunderous sound of horses' hooves behind him, followed by a miserable scream from the soldiers behind.

Yang Gongqing was taken aback, and looked back hurriedly, and in the night, he saw a cavalry entering his team, extremely sharp, and the formation was already in chaos.

This cavalry was the cavalry of the Sui army that went out of the city first, led by Captain Chen Xu, and they were like a pack of wolves, lurking a mile away, waiting for orders from inside the city.

When Shen Guang hung a large lantern on the city tower, Chen Xu immediately knew that their army was about to break through from the West Gate, so he immediately led the cavalry to quietly go around the back of Yang Gongqing's team, waiting for the three fires on the city to ignite.

Three hundred cavalry rushed into the ranks of the thieves like wolves, spears stabbed, swords slashed, and furious horses rushed into everything unscrupulously, killing the thieves' flesh and blood, corpses all over the ground, and the thieves screamed and stumbled and fled in all directions, and there was chaos.

Yang Gongqing was so anxious that he shouted: "Don't mess up, stabilize your position!" ”

But his shouts had no effect, and the tremendous impact of the cavalry of the three hundred Sui troops made it impossible for the infantry to resist at all.

Just when everyone was paying attention to the Sui cavalry behind them, the city gate was quietly opened, and the drawbridge was lowered, and more than a thousand Sui soldiers under the leadership of Zhang Xuan silently came out of the city gate, Zhang Xuan shouted, "Don't fall in love, follow me to break through!" ”

He shouted loudly, brandished the green dragon halberd and took the lead in killing the enemy general, and the Sui soldiers behind shouted and followed Zhang Xuan to rush towards the enemy.

A hundred steps away, Yang Gongqing was stunned, he suddenly understood, this is the Sui army is about to break through, seeing that the Sui generals are coming to his side like a gust of wind, Yang Gongqing shouted to the left and right deputy generals: "Give me a battle!" ”

His left and right lieutenants, one named Wang Lei and the other Shen Chong, each made an iron gun, and they rushed out of the banner, one left and one right to kill Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan has already killed in front of him, he saw two enemy generals outflanking and killing him, he couldn't help but sneer, the green dragon halberd swept, although he is still using the old halberd, but it is still more than enough to deal with the two nameless enemy generals, only to hear two loud bangs, two spears were shocked and flew out.

Zhang Xuan shouted, and the halberd slashed horizontally, 'Poof! The halberd blade slashed Wang Lei's head, and the headless corpse fell to the ground with a clatter, and another thief was so frightened that he fled, and fled, but was pierced through the heart by Zhang Xuan's halberd, and the corpse flew out.

Yang Gongqing saw that Sui Jiang killed his two right-hand men in one face, his back was frightened into a cold sweat, he didn't dare to fight, and urged his horse to flee to the chaotic army.

Wei Chigong was furious and urged the horse to chase after the enemy general, but was stopped by Zhang Xuan, "Don't care about him, it's important to break through!" ”

Wei Chigong nodded, picked up the iron rod and killed into the enemy group, he was extremely brave, and instantly fought a bloody way, Zhang Xuan pressed the formation behind, commanding the Sui soldiers to break through and evacuate.

Under the front and rear attacks of the cavalry and the soldiers in the city, Yang Gongqing's army was in chaos, the half-moon-shaped formation was killed in a mouth dozens of zhang wide, and the soldiers rolled to both sides like waves, but Zhang Xuan had no intention of killing the enemy, he had to quickly withdraw before the main force of the enemy army came.

This breakthrough battle took less than a quarter of an hour, and the Sui soldiers broke out of the encirclement and quickly withdrew westward under the leadership of the main general Zhang Xuan.

After Zhang Jin's subordinates paid the price of hundreds of people falling into the pit, the 3,000 impermanence army finally entered the city of Qinghe County, but the city was already empty, and there was not a single Sui soldier.

"King!" A soldier rushed from the city gate and shouted, "There are no Sui troops in the city!" ”

"What!"

Zhang Jincheng was taken aback, his mind turned, and he suddenly understood that the Sui army must have broken through from the West Gate, and he was so anxious that he shouted: "Go to the West Gate, chase me!" ”

Zhang Jin's army rushed into the city gate, directly through the city to the west gate, at this time outside the west gate was already a miserable scene, corpses were everywhere, blood flowed like a river, the surviving soldiers were in chaos, there was no formation at all.

"Where is Gongqing Yang?" Zhang Jincheng rushed out of the city and shouted.

Yang Gongqing, who was lost in his soul, ran over, he knelt down and pleaded guilty: "Humble and incompetent, I have not been able to prevent the Sui army from breaking through and pleading guilty to the king!" ”

Zhang Jin said that he was furious, and whipped Yang Gongqing several times to cover his head and face, and shouted angrily: "How long has it been since you broke through? ”

Yang Gongqing held back the pain and said, "I didn't have long since I left!" “

Zhang Jin said that he turned around and pointed at the general Fu Jin with a horsewhip, "You lead three thousand impermanence troops to chase the enemy army for me, and if you catch up, entangle them, and I will come to support soon!" ”

"Obey!"

Fu Jin waved his hand and shouted to the three thousand subordinates: "Follow me!" ”

He led 3,000 troops to chase into the night, and Zhang Jincheng shouted again: "Pass my order, and all the troops will immediately assemble outside the West City!" ”

Zhang Jin said that he was really unwilling, if he could collect the hundreds of war horses of this Sui army, and then get the two hundred war horses promised by Yuwenshu, he would be able to establish a cavalry of his dreams, and his strength would be greatly improved, and he could compete with Dou Jiande.

As long as this Sui army is still in his sphere of influence, he Zhang Jin said that he will never give up easily