"Brother Zhixiang, I don't know who received you?" On the way back to the camp, Wu Yanqi, who met Meng Zhixiang, asked softly.

Meng Zhixiang didn't know why, his heart jumped suddenly, and he had a feeling of being a thief. Meng Zhixiang pondered for a moment, he didn't know for what reason, he instinctively didn't want to tell Wu Yanqi that Li Cunhuan personally received the news of his meeting, his eyes flickered, and he replied with a smile: "It's just Fu Cunxian!" ”

Wu Yanqi didn't pay attention to the flicker in Meng Zhixiang's eyes, but said with a self-deprecating face: "In this way, Brother Zhixiang's level is much higher than my brother!" ”

When Meng Zhixiang heard this, he asked with curiosity: "Oh? I don't know who received Brother Yanqi? Isn't it Zhou Dewei? Otherwise, why did Brother Yan Jue say this, could it be that Brother Yan Jue's reception level is even lower than mine? ”

"It's an old Taoist priest, full of immeasurable heavenly venerables. is called Zhou Yanpet, a wild Taoist priest who doesn't know where he came from, and it is estimated that he hugged Li Cunhuan's thigh for some reason and became Li Cunhuan's staff. Talking to him is really playing the piano to the cow! Wu Yanqi laughed at himself, he was quite angry in his heart, he was also a righteous envoy, but Li Cunhuan sent a stupid staff member who could just speak the Tao Te Ching to find him.

If this staff member was Feng Dao or Han Yanhui, Wu Yanqi would not be so angry. If Meng Zhixiang was the same as himself, Wu Yanqi would not even be angry. Thinking that Li Cunhuan is just humiliating them under an excuse has never lacked this kind of thing in history and diplomacy. In order to make the opponent weaken his momentum before fighting, or be swayed by anger. After that, you can have the upper hand at the negotiating table.

When Meng Zhixiang heard this, he was slightly taken aback, and said, "That old Taoist priest is called Zhou Yanpet?" ”

"Exactly!" Wu Yanjue's tone of voice was quite disgusted, and it seemed that he didn't feel good about Zhou Yanpet.

"Hey! I didn't expect Brother Yan Qi to be able to see this strange person! It's a pity I can't see it! What a pity! When Meng Zhixiang heard this, he couldn't help but sigh with regret.

Wu Yanqi couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this, and exclaimed: "Huh? Staring at Meng Zhixiang, he asked, "Brother Zhixiang, what do you mean by this?" What kind of strange person is that old Taoist? ”

"Brother Yanqi, don't you know Zhou Yanpet?" Speaking of this, Meng Zhixiang raised his left hand, patted his forehead and said, "Oh, it's not to blame Brother Yanqi, Zhou Yanpet is Li Cunhuan's new mastermind last year." However, although the time he got was short, he soon became a confidant and became the most valued advisor under Li Cunhuan. I also recently learned about it from a relative who served in the internal guard. ”

"Brother Zhixiang, are you comforting my brother?" When Wu Yanqi heard this, he was still a little skeptical, he really couldn't figure it out, the old Taoist priest wearing a shabby Taoist robe and holding a tattered dust was the first strategist under Li Cunhuan? Li Cunhuan won't be blind, right? But thinking of this, Wu Yanqi felt impossible. Li Cunhuan can be regarded as a generation of heroes, and he is the last person who hopes to win the world after Li Keyong and Zhu Wen. Such a character was deceived by the old Taoist priest, and it is still possible to recruit him as a staff member. But how can he be a confidant or the first strategist? It's so weird!

When Meng Zhixiang saw Wu Yanqi's expression, he knew that he still had doubts in his heart, so he explained on the side that he knew about Zhou Yanpet. But he was relieved in his heart, and he didn't know why, he always had an uneasiness. And this uneasiness stems from Wu Yanqi's questioning about his meeting. I'm afraid that Wu Yanqi will see what the terminal is.

…… The Great Tent of the Chinese Army...... At this time, Li Cunhuan no longer had the triumphant feeling he had just received, and he was shocked by the letter he had just received. Not long ago, Yelu Abaoji discovered that there was an abnormality in the Tatar tribe on the steppe, so Yelu Abaoji ventured to infiltrate and spent a lot of money to get an extremely important information from a Tatar nobleman with nine surnames.

Li Keyong sent an envoy to Tatar and promised heavy profits! More importantly, the Tatars had agreed to come down and were gathering troops and horses all this time. This is precisely because of this, which will cause abnormal movements, thus attracting the attention of Yelu Abaoji.

Li Cunhuan hurriedly instructed Zhu Jilong: "Immediately beat the drum and gather the generals!" All the commanders and envoys have summoned the above officers to the big tent of the Chinese army! ”

A group of generals and strategists hurriedly came to the big tent of the Chinese army, and they didn't know what happened to make Li Cunhuan so nervous. A group of generals walked into the big tent of the Chinese army, and immediately remembered the sound of a nail leaf hitting in the big tent.

Without waiting for the military generals to salute, Li Cunhuan had already waved his hand and said, "No courtesy!" ”

Without waiting for everyone to thank him, Li Cunhuan had already thrown out a heavy bomb: "Li Keyong sent someone to envoy the Tatars, and the Tatars have decided to send troops!" The news sent from Yelu Abaoji, pondering the time, now the Tatars are afraid that they have already sent troops! It is said that he is preparing to walk the first line of Shuozhou Mayi. ”

It was really like a nuclear missile exploding, and all the generals couldn't help but talk about it for a moment.

"Oops!" Zhou Yanpet didn't care so much, and exclaimed. Hurriedly came to Li Cunhuan's side, and said with a little panic: "The Tatars have always sent troops quickly, I'm afraid what His Highness said is wrong!" I'm afraid the Tatars are almost in Daizhou! ”

When Li Cunhuan and the others heard this, they couldn't help but be surprised. Li Cunhuan sent troops here, coupled with the special terrain of Jindi. Li Cunhuan's way of marching into the army was to advance all the way. This method is characterized by fast speed and obvious disadvantages, that is, it is easy to be shortened by others. Ulzhou is okay, because Ulzhou Assassin surrendered, there are basically no hidden dangers. But Daizhou is different, Wutai County in the southeast of Daizhou is in the mountains, and Yanmen Pass in the west is steep, Li Cunhuan did not send people to crusade, and now it is still in the hands of Li Keyong's forces.

But now it has become a hidden danger that is enough to make Li Cunhuan fatal. When the Tatars went south, they took the line of Shuozhou and Mayi, and the characteristic of this line was that it must have taken Daizhou. If Yanmen Pass is still in Li Cunhuan's hands, Li Cunhuan doesn't have to be too afraid. But the problem is that Yanmen Pass is not in the hands of Li Cunhuan, and the defense facilities of Yanmen City are really speechless.

"Who is guarding Yanmen County now?" Li Cunhuan also thought of the key point at once, and asked Han Yanhui, the clerk on the side.

"It's Zhou Dewei!" Han Yanhui has an excellent memory, and he pondered it very much, and almost immediately followed Li Cunhuan's words to answer.

"How many soldiers?" Li Cunhuan: This will be asking Fu Cunxuan to judge them. It's all because when it comes to military affairs, it's better to judge them. This is mainly because of Li Cunhuan's military and political separation.

"Twenty-four thousand people, including 20,000 Yan [***] and 4,000 people, are ready to transport grain down!" Fu Cunxian said urgently, and when it came to the people, his face couldn't help but stiffen.

Li Cunhuan also understood, a touch of panic flashed on his face, and he and Fu Cunxian and Zhou Yanpet lost their voices at the same time: "Grain and grass!" ”

Hearing these two words, no matter how dull the person is, he knows that it is powerful. Since ancient times, the art of war has been cloudy, and the three armies have not moved grain and grass first. Since ancient times, it is not uncommon for the whole army to be defeated because of the problem of food and grass. The battle of Guandu in ancient times, and the battle of Xingzhou used by Li Ke in the near future. It was all because the grain and grass were cut off or destroyed, which led to the low morale of the whole army, and the enemy took the opportunity to kill and defeat.

And the four thousand people, just by looking at the number of people, know the quantity of grain. Because Li Cunhuan pays attention to animal husbandry, almost every household in Lu Long has a livestock. Therefore, it is very convenient to transport grain, basically two people are a mule or a horse. Often a person is able to deliver the rations that a soldier needs for a year, and transport them to the front for more than three hundred days with a discount. That is, at least half a month's food for the 80,000 army under Li Cunhuan. There are also some additional arrows, swords, shields, armor, clothing, and other bits and pieces.

Arrows, swords, shields, armor, and clothing are all that. Li Cunhuan won the battle all the way, and a lot of these things were captured, and there were craftsmen in the army to form an engineer battalion. There were hundreds of men in each army. In total, there are more than five hundred people. Although the number of people is small, there is still enough ability to repair those seized things. After all, repair is not building, but because of the repair along the way, the weapons in the army have increased instead of decreasing from the time they went out to the present.

"Troops must be sent to help!" Li Cunhuan didn't wait for anyone else to have any opinions, and immediately spoke.

Of course, the other generals had no opinion, but who would bring the troops and how many troops would be brought became a question. Li Cunhuan meant to personally lead the troops.

Fu Cunxian vigorously opposed it, thinking that how could Li Cunhuan, as the commander of the First Army, move lightly. He took the initiative to ask for war and asked to lead his troops and horses to support Zhou Dewei in Daizhou.

But this was opposed by Zhou Yanpet, who said: "Tatar has had a very close relationship with Li Keyong over the years, and for more than ten years, the two sides have exchanged views on the market. The Tatars are very rich, and because of decades of peace, there are definitely no less than hundreds of thousands of people under their control! This is probably also the greatest reliance of the Tatars. Otherwise, no matter how good their relationship with Li Keyong is, they will not intervene in a war with little chance of winning! How can such a small number of soldiers and horses be used? ”

Although Zhou Yanzhong's words are all speculation, they undoubtedly go straight to the core of the problem.

When Li Cunhuan heard this, he immediately made a decision. Liuwang Maozhang led Youyan [***] and 10,000 miscellaneous troops to retreat to Xiurong City, the seat of Xinzhou Governance. He personally led an army of 50,000 to the north.

Soon after, he received news that the Tatars had sent troops, but instead of being happy, he was furious. Because he was going to the Tatars to go to Shuozhou and Lanzhou, he could enter Xinzhou without passing through Daizhou. And he can also join forces with the Tatars to attack Li Cunhuan. But now he can only watch Li Cunhuan retreat calmly. He also left 30,000 soldiers and horses to balance him, so that he could not send troops north.

Before going north, Li Cunhuan secretly summoned Meng Zhixiang, which can be seen from the irrepressible expression on Meng Zhixiang's face after he walked out of the tent. In this negotiation, Meng Zhixiang got what he wanted. And Li Cunhuan soon walked out of the tent with a smile, obviously, this time it was a win-win secret talk.

Soon after Wu Yanqi and Meng Zhixiang and his entourage returned to Taiyuan, Li Keyong summoned Li Siyuan to Taiyuan on the grounds that he was seriously ill, and Li Siyuan immediately rushed back. Li Siyuan was shocked and hurriedly wanted to ask the reason.

Li Sizhao scolded him for fornicating with Lu Long, and Li Siyuan just wanted to explain. Meng Zhixiang shot an arrow and hit it in the abdomen. His subordinates said that this was an order to attack, and they rushed up.

Li Sizhao wanted to hear what Li Siyuan wanted to say, so he hurriedly ordered: "Li Siyuan is a repeat offender in the imperial court!" Capture it alive! ”。

When Meng Zhixiang heard this, he was shocked and said in his heart. Li Siyuan is alive, maybe people may return their innocence, won't what they did be exposed? However, Meng Zhixiang was not an ordinary person in the end, so he immediately came up with a way, grabbed Li Sizhao's arm with one hand on the side, and shouted: "The human and material evidence are there!" The Taibao was also captured alive, could it be that the Taibao was his accomplice? Want to save his life so that he can be rescued later? ”

When Li Sizhao heard this, he hurriedly closed his mouth. This is a major crime of treason, where can you casually pull a relationship?

Meng Zhixiang took the opportunity to shout: "Kill the thieves!" ”

The armor soldiers were no longer bound by their hands and feet, and rushed up, swords and axes at the same time.

A generation of famous generals, Li Siyuan, who defeated Li Cunxuan in history and became the Later Tang Mingzong, was cut into meat sauce with his entourage under Li Cunhuan's discordant plan, and he didn't know who was the entourage and who was Li Siyuan himself.

Li Keyong is also a person with a surname, and after seeing Li Siyuan's death, he remembered that Li Siyuan was good in the past. let people not offend Li Siyuan's family, and let his younger brother Li Kening come forward to bury Li Siyuan. Because they couldn't tell who was the entourage and who was Li Siyuan, they were all buried together.

Of course, this is a later story, now let's talk back to Zhou Dewei in Daizhou. He had just returned from training soldiers and horses outside the city, and he saw the porter standing at the door with a anxious face, probing his brain.

Zhou Dewei couldn't help but shouted: "What are you doing!" The probe probes the brain, like a thief watching the wind! ”

If it was in the past, this concierge would have been frightened by Zhou Dewei's words and knelt down and begged for mercy, Zhou Dewei was serious. Although it is at home, the rules at home are secretly in line with military regulations. Zhou Dewei's scolding, I'm afraid that a few military sticks are indispensable, even if it is a woman, it will not be able to avoid this punishment.

When the concierge heard this, he was relieved. Zhou Dewei couldn't help but be curious, could it be that this porter is deaf? Or stupid? If you want to be beaten, you still breathe a sigh of relief?

However, the words below the concierge made him understand, "Master, you are finally back!" His Highness has sent a messenger and is now waiting in the drawing-room. ”

When Zhou Dewei heard this, he couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, he didn't know what was going on, and he actually asked Li Cunhuan to send a messenger. In the past, Li Cunhuan and Zhou Dewei were generally just paperwork transmissions, even if there were bigger things, but they just sent a soldier to pass on a word, but now they are sending messengers.

Who is the messenger? That's to a certain extent on behalf of the person who sent it. Although Li Cunhuan is not the emperor now, in the eyes of Zhou Dewei, this is more authentic than the imperial court's Qincha! Something big is clearly wrong!

Zhou Dewei hurriedly turned over and dismounted, lifted his robe, and strode in. Outside the corridor of the living room, Zhou Dewei saw a person sitting inside. Although he tasted the fragrant tea in his hand, he did not have the light wind that he should have when tasting tea, but his face was anxious, and he glanced out of the door from time to time. Seeing Zhou Dewei coming, he couldn't help but have a hint of joy on his face, hurriedly put down the teacup in his hand, stood up, and walked towards Zhou Dewei.

Zhou Dewei's eyesight is good, but if he looks closely, he is half an old acquaintance, and it turns out to be Feng Baodu, a thousand households in Jinyiwei. I saw that he couldn't hide his fatigue, and his clothes were even more dusty, obviously rushing all the way. Zhou Dewei was not polite, and hurriedly asked, "Feng Qianhu, but what big thing happened?" ”

"It's really a big deal!" A flash of worry flashed in Feng Baodu's eyes, and he took out the fiery red silk from his arms, handed it over, and said, "The festival commander will understand when he sees it!" ”

Zhou Dewei was not polite, nodded, and took it, and unfolded it to see that it was Li Cunhuan's handwritten letter. The above is a brief description of the Tatars' intervention in the south. The latter passage is Li Cunhuan's death order, telling Zhou Dewei to hold the Daizhou army rations no matter what, and wait until he leads the army to come over to support.

After Zhou Dewei saw it, his face changed greatly.

Feng Baodu took half a step forward and asked, "Jie Shuai, is there a problem?" ”

When Zhou Dewei heard this, he smiled bitterly: "It's not just a problem! It's a big problem! You don't know how the city defense of Yanmen City is. The city is no more than three feet high, and it is made of rammed earth. In this kind of city, the other party is okay with a small night, but against a strong enemy, I am afraid it will be like Lu Mian! ”

缟 is a kind of thin silk, which is famous for its thinness. And Lu Di's silk is the thinnest, so some people in the Han Dynasty can't wear Lu Min at the end of a strong crossbow, and they come to describe their incompetence when they are exhausted.

When Feng Baodu heard this, he couldn't help but be silent. He Jinyiwei said solemnly that it belonged to the military profession. Although he deals with intelligence all day long, he also knows some art of war, and knows that what Zhou Dewei said is not an exaggeration.

At this time, a person rushed into the living room, and Zhou Dewei just wanted to scold the visitor. But he didn't want the people to see Zhou Dewei, his face was happy, and he grabbed in front of Zhou Dewei's scolding, and arched his hand and said: "Jie Shuai, it's a big deal!" Today, the capturing will find a unique cavalry crossing the Yanmen Pass, secretly setting up an ambush, killing three people, capturing four people alive, and escaping one. Fortunately, one of the captivators was fluent in Tatar, and from the people who captured them alive, he learned that they were actually Tatars from Monan. They are the first troops! The follow-up is known as 200,000! It is the Tatar nine surnames who have all the Tatar soldiers and horses, and the Great Wall is crossed to help Li Ke use it! Now it's only two days away from Yanmen Pass! ”

"What! So fast! And there are 200,000 people who control the strings? Feng Baodu couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this.

Zhou Dewei did not panic when he heard this, but calmly pondered for a moment, shook his head lightly and said, "There are absolutely no 200,000 people!" I estimate that there are only more than 100,000 people, and the old and weak are counted! If it is counted as young and strong, it is no more than sixty or seventy thousand at most! ”

When Feng Baodu heard this, he stomped his feet and said, "But this is also difficult to resist!" Daizhou has food for the army for fifteen days! In case the first generation of states is lost, I am afraid that His Royal Highness and Lu Long's 120,000 army will also be buried in Hedong! The pattern of the world is a big change! ”

(To be continued)