The eight years of Jian'an passed unconsciously in the smoke and flames of war in the land of China, and the time entered the first month of the ninth year of Jian'an, but the smoke of war on the land of China still did not subside, and the ambitious warlords of all sizes for their own interests are still constantly launching fierce wars one after another, with different scales, some attacking and defending, some crying and some laughing, and the purpose is also righteous and evil, great and despicable.

At least Deputy Director Tao thinks that his purpose of the war is great and righteous, because Deputy Director Tao's current opponent Yuan Shang after the defeat of Yishui, despite the resolute opposition of Jiang Qi and the general of Daijun, went to Mobei in person to ask for help from the Xianbei chief Kebineng and Wuhuan Shan Yulouban, and desperately contacted the King of Liucheng Karasuma and the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, in a vain attempt to defeat his brother-in-law with the power of the Hu army, and recapture the land and city that was robbed by his brother-in-law. It also completely lost the support of the generals of Yuan's northern Xinjiang, and the generals of Youzhou, who refused to cooperate with the enemy of different races for many years, defected to the Xuzhou army one after another, and the previous resolute support for Yuan Shang's resistance to the Xuzhou army also submitted a surrender table to the Xuzhou army, and the land that the team loyal to Yuan Shang could directly control was only Shanggu and Guangyang two counties.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao also wanted to go north immediately and kill the third brother-in-law who tried to lure the wolf into the house, but the winter of the eighth year of Jian'an was almost as cold as the first year, so cold that even the river surface was frozen out of the ice, the grain and grass transportation was very inconvenient, the military food was not enough, and at the same time, the naturally formed Hebei River was too tortuous, and the ships had to travel dozens of miles by sea to send the grain to the front line in Youzhou, which greatly lengthened the grain transportation route and increased the consumption of grain transportation. Therefore, Deputy Director Tao listened to the suggestion of the demoted official Xinbi and sent Xinbi to organize the people of Jizhou to dig the Pinglu Canal and the Quanzhou Canal, laying the foundation for the long-term peace and stability of northern China in the future. Deputy Director Tao himself led his troops north again after the beginning of spring, attacking Zhuo and Ji's counties, and eradicating Yuan Shangjun, Jiang Qi, Han Yan and other teams entrenched in this area.

After nearly a year of hard fighting, it finally completely eradicated the Yuan forces that refused to surrender in Jizhou, and forced the landing of the Black Mountain thief Zhang Yan team entrenched in Zhongshan, and collected more than 100,000 people. So that the whole territory of Jizhou is both in name and in fact. They all really fell into the clutches of Deputy Director Tao. Deputy Director Tao named Zhang Yan as the Marquis of Ting, the general of Pingbei, accepted the elite of his subordinates as the army, and transferred them to Youzhou to participate in the war, and the rest were sent to grow grain, ploughing cattle and farm tools and moved to the hinterland of Jizhou. He also arranged for Zhang Yan's son Zhang Fang to go to Xuchang as an official. Zhang Yan was very sincere. They acted according to the order one by one, and won the praise and praise of Deputy Director Tao and the reward again.

On the side of Bingzhou, Chen Zhi's team broke through Huguan in June of the eighth year of Jian'an. Hou Cheng's team has also taken Hanoi, breaking the Hanoi guard Guo Yuan and Duan Xuan, and Chen to the team in the largest grain production area in Bingzhou, Yuan Tan Jun Jiang Yiqu refused to surrender, and the Xuzhou army fought for more than three months before it was completely defeated, Guo Yuan died in battle, Duan Xuan surrendered, Jiang Yiqu led dozens of horsemen to flee to Taiyuan to survive, Hou Chengjun chased closely to Taiyuan, and then broke Jiang Yiqu in Longshan, Song Xian stabbed Jiang Yiqu to death in pursuit, and the Xuzhou army took Taiyuan. However, after capturing Taiyuan County, the Xuzhou partial division in Bingzhou has also reached the end of the strong crossbow, especially in terms of military rations, so Hou Cheng and Chen Zhi's team had to stop going north, and temporarily took the Southern Xiongnu entrenched in Yanmen Shan Yu Huchuquan helplessly, and prepared to go north to snatch back Hou Cheng and others' hometown Yanmen County after the ninth year of Jian'an.

During this period, Deputy Director Tao naturally also received the news of the sudden emergency on the battlefield in Jiangdong, but Deputy Director Tao had no choice, the main force of the Xuzhou army had basically been put into the Hebei battlefield, and the second-line team in the hinterland was only enough to protect itself, and the main force was transferred back thousands of miles not only in time, but also useless in catching up -- in the absence of trains, cars and ships, the army was probably tired before entering Huainan, and the strength of the Xuzhou Navy Division was there, As long as the Jingzhou army hides on the water or in the south of the Yangtze River, the infantry and cavalry army of the Xuzhou army can fight ten at a time, and it is useless if they can't cross the river and can't get on the boat.

Considering these circumstances, Deputy Director Tao could only give Lu Su such a vague order after repeated calculations, "The water division is difficult to build and practice, give priority to preserving the water surface strength, carry it as much as you can, and give up if you can't carry it." Although the order was vague, Deputy Director Tao believed that with Lu Su's skills, he would definitely be able to understand what he meant.

By the way, after receiving the news that Yang Zheng gave up the task of meeting Yuan Mai and risked himself to deliver a letter to Chaisang, Deputy Director Tao scolded Yang Zheng very much behind his back, "Is Yang Lao's head sick?" The Jingzhou army is preparing to attack Jiangdong secretly, can it not tightly seal the Han River waterway? He took Li Lang, a veteran soldier, and wanted to walk thousands of miles of the Hanshui waterway, shouldn't he wake up with a high fever and talk in his sleep? Because of this, Deputy Director Tao didn't give Yang Changshi much of a good look for a long time, and Yang Changshi didn't cry and scolded his baby son for being stupid, how could he do such a stupid thing yesterday?

The iron-clad fact quickly swollen Deputy Director Tao's little white face, and after learning that Yang Zheng had really passed through the blockade of the Jingzhou Army and hurriedly traveled thousands of miles to send the news to Chaisang City first, Deputy Director Tao's mouth was open enough to fit three eggs, and he was dumbfounded for almost a pillar of incense before he said such a sentence, "Yang Lao is greedy for this precious son, could it be that he inherited his bad luck against the sky, and let him do such a thing?!" ”

Whether Yang Zheng has inherited Yang Changshi's good luck against the sky, this is not clear at present, but our Deputy Director Tao has a sentence that is right, Yang Zheng's head is indeed sick! In the vague order given to Lu Su by Deputy Director Tao, it was actually implied that he could give up the land in the south of the Yangtze River if he couldn't do it, and Lu Su, who was in Jiangdong, was also mentally prepared for the loss of Chaisang, and only hoped that Qiao Rui and Yang Zheng could hold on to the weather in Chaisang until the weather warmed up, and until the spring when the wind direction turned favorable to the Xuzhou Sailors, and then took the main force of the Sailor to save Chaisang, and Yang Zheng's head, which was not filled with wine-colored wealth like his father, was brewing some more crazy thoughts.

Liu Qi, who was destined to become a stepping stone for his fellow disciples, gave Yang Zheng this opportunity. After being made miserable by Yang Zheng's discordant plan, Liu Qi did not let the Jingzhou army, whose morale and morale had been hit hard, withdraw from Chaisang City, but decided to continue to storm Chaisang with red eyes, saying that he would take Chaisang City in everything, and he would snow the shame he suffered in the stratagem battle! Because Liu Qi knew very well in his heart that if he withdrew from the army like this, he would forever lose the trust of his father and the Jingzhou gentry, military and people, and the important civil and military ministers of Jingzhou who were inclined to him would not firmly support his succession. It's impossible to sit still. So Liu Qi had no choice but to insist on continuing to fight and use the blood of the enemy to wash away his shame.

Fortunately for Liu Qi, although the ally Liu Xun's team has retreated to Haidu. Yuan Yin's team can still be used. So the night of the Xuzhou Army's divisive drug plan was exposed. Liu Qi reached another joint agreement with Yuan Yin, Yuan Yinjun helped the Jingzhou army take Chaisang, and Jingzhou army helped Yuan Yinjun eliminate Liu Xun. After the matter was completed, Liu Qi expressed Yuan Yin as Yuzhang Taishou, and allowed Yuan Yin's team to continue to be stationed in Nanchang, accept the command of the Jingzhou Army, and provide money and food for the Jingzhou Army to capture Jiangdong. Yuan Yin couldn't help but agree, and it happened that Yuan Yin's son Yuan Neng was a filial son, so he also accepted the agreement, and led Yuan Yin's army, which still had more than 10,000 yuan, to continue to assist Liu Qi in attacking Chaisang City, while Yuan Yin himself stayed in the Jingzhou military camp as a hostage.

In the next month or so, the Jingzhou army and Yuan Yin's army, under the command of Liu Qi, launched many attacks on the city of Chaisang, and also used a variety of siege methods to try to break the city, but unfortunately the bridge was good at defending, and after getting the assistance of the genius freak Yang Zheng, it was like a tiger with wings, and each time the Jingzhou army repelled the siege, and successively thwarted the Jingzhou army's tired tactics, night attack plans and lure the enemy and other siege tactics, the Jingzhou army continued to attack the city, and morale became more and more low. However, Liu Qi also learned the lesson of the first two sieges that too many troops were invested in the city, resulting in excessive casualties, and each siege was to the point of end, and if the situation was not right, he ordered the troops to be withdrawn, and the casualties of the army were reduced as much as possible, so the casualties were not very large overall, and the strength still had the absolute upper hand.

Of course, the Chaisang defenders are not as safe as Mount Tai, the internal hidden dangers gradually emerged, many times the city was defended fiercely, the casualties of the Chaisang defenders also exceeded four thousand, the consumption of materials to defend the city was huge, the most important feather arrow inventory has only three percent, at the same time, the people have also begun to have a shortage of food, and when the reinforcements arrived there is no news, Qiao Rui is quite worried about this, Yang Zheng is still optimistic, in addition to persuading Qiao Rui to be cautious in the use of materials to defend the city, and then there is to tell Qiao Rui to say, "Uncle Qiao, please rest assured, In almost two months, Lu Dudu did not send a single soldier to rescue Chaisang, which is enough to prove that Lu Dudu is brewing a large-scale counterattack, but the wind direction was unfavorable and the preparation was insufficient, so he did not dare to risk using troops, so when the spring breeze rose, our army reinforcements would arrive. ”

On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, a carrier pigeon finally flew into Chaisang City, and on the note carried by the carrier pigeon, Lu Su wrote a sentence in his own handwriting, "Reinforcements will arrive in late February." ”

Seeing this, Qiao Rui seemed to have unloaded a thousand catties of burden, and the whole person was relaxed, but Yang Zheng frowned, and it took a long time for such a sentence to come out, "Lu Dudu came too late, and he will only arrive at the Chaisang battlefield in the second half of next month, although he has ensured that the wind direction is favorable to our army's sailors, but what should Liu Qi do if he runs away during this period?" ”

"Wouldn't it be better to run?" Qiao Rui smiled: "It saves us from worrying every day, and we don't even dare to sleep." ”

Yang Zheng was silent, and sighed for a while: "However, this is a rare opportunity to break the Jingzhou army, we have dragged Liu Qi in Chaisang for almost two months, the Jingzhou army has reached the rhythm of the old man and the old man is tired, the morale is low, the soldiers are home, our army and the decisive victory is very great, if we do not seize this opportunity to defeat the Jingzhou Naval Division, in the future, our Poyang Lake Naval Division and Chaisang City will still be threatened by the Jingzhou Naval Division." ”

"Although it makes sense, Lu Dudu can't help it." Qiao Rui spread his hands and said helplessly: "At least until the beginning of February, the spring breeze will gradually rise in this area of Chaisang, and the wind direction will be repeated, and in mid to late February, the wind direction will be completely stable, which is the most beneficial to our army's water division, and the strength of our water division is still not as good as the Jingzhou water division, and it is still very dangerous to send troops if it is not safe." ”

"We have to think of a way to drag the main force of Jingzhou to death under Chaisang City." Yang Zheng muttered to himself.

"Virtuous nephew, you think too beautifully, right?" Qiao Rui smiled and said: "The main force of Jingzhou is not under your command, what can you do to let them continue to besiege the city?" ”

"Uncle Bridge. If the little nephew has a way to drag the main force of Jingzhou under Chaisang City to die, then do you have the courage to hold on to Chaisang for another month? Yang Zheng asked rhetorically.

"Stinky boy, how dare you provoke your Uncle Qiao?" Qiao Rui scolded with a loving smile, and then said with a smile: "If you have a way to hold back the enemy, Uncle Huai Qingxian will hold on to Chaisang City for another month and help you achieve great success!" ”

Qiao Rui regretted it as soon as he finished saying this, because Yang Zheng had already shown a smug smile and said with a smile: "Thank you uncle for your promise, in fact, the little nephew already had an idea, but I was worried that my uncle would not accept it." That's why a trap was set. If you are offended, please don't blame it. ”

Hearing Yang Zheng's words, Qiao Rui scolded angrily, but after scolding a few words, he hurriedly asked what his idea was. And when Yang Zheng attached it to Qiao Rui's ear, he finished talking about his idea. Qiao Rui immediately burst out laughing. scolded: "Boy, enough damage! Good! Uncle can't break his promise to the juniors, just do as you say! ”

In the afternoon of the same day. The Chaisang garrison suddenly posted a notice in the city to inform the people in the city, saying that the enemy army had besieged the city for nearly two months, and there were many people in the city who had run out of food, but the defenders could not take out food to help the people, so they allowed the people who had run out of food to leave the city the next day, and sent an envoy out of the city to contact the Jingzhou army, asking the Jingzhou army that was determined to seize the entire territory of Jiangdong to plan for the people of Jiangdong, and allowed the people who had lost food in the city to go out of the city and surrender at noon the next day. Liu Qi was overjoyed when he heard the news, and promised on the spot to allow the people to surrender.

The next day, the Xuzhou army really erected a huge white flag on the south gate of Chaisang, with six big characters on the book 'Chaisang people surrender', and at noon, the Xuzhou army also opened the south gate of Chaisang as promised, so that the people who were willing to leave the city with white flags out of the city, the people who were out of the city and the people who were worried about the city's insecurity helped the old and the young, and went out in a row. Liu Qi led the army to monitor outside the south gate, and saw that the Chaisang defenders really allowed the people to go out of the city and surrender, the Jingzhou army was very happy, and they all understood that the Chaisang defenders must be about to be unable to support the grain and grass, and some people ran in front of Liu Qi, suggesting that Liu Qi take the opportunity to launch an attack and capture the city of Chaisang in one fell swoop.

Fortunately, Liu Qi did not learn the teacher's black heart, because he was afraid of accidentally injuring the people and losing the hearts of the people of Jiangdong, he refused to give the order to attack, but ordered someone to summon some people to understand the situation in the city. In addition to creating the illusion that the city is about to run out of food, Yang Zheng did not play other tricks this time, and closed the city gate immediately after the people went out of the city.

After this incident, Liu Qi ignored the gradually sound of retreating troops in the army, and resolutely decided to continue to besiege Chaisang City, ordering the army to build fortifications outside the four gates of Chaisang to prevent the Xuzhou army from abandoning the city and breaking through, and sent scouts to closely monitor the movements in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to prevent the Xuzhou Navy from suddenly coming to help. But what Liu Qi didn't know was that among the people who surrendered to Chaisang City, there were actually three Xuzhou veterans who didn't know each other's identities, and after they got free from the city, they immediately sneaked to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to contact Lu Su's team, and in the letter to Lu Su, Qiao Rui only put forward a request for his beloved nephew Yang Zheng, that is, Lu Su should inform the specific time of the main force in advance to come to help, and confirm that day he arrived in Chaisang!

After a few days, the spring breeze in the area of Poyang Lake gradually rose, and the wind direction gradually began to be unfavorable to the Jingzhou Water Division, and the city of Chaisang could not be conquered for a long time, and the voice of the Jingzhou army once again asked to retreat, but Liu Qi did not listen at all, but continued to besiege the city and decided to adopt the correct strategy of besieging the city to send reinforcements, first breaking the Xuzhou Water Division to reinforce the army, and finally breaking the Chaisang. Later, he launched a number of sneak attacks on Chaisang City at night, trying to find an opportunity for the defenders to break the city, one of which was almost successful, but fortunately, Qiao Rui led the army to fight back the Jingzhou soldiers who had already landed in the city, which kept Chaisang alive, but it was also thrilling, sweaty clothes.

In this way, the stalemate between you attacking and defending was in the middle of February, seeing that the spring breeze was more unfavorable to the Jingzhou sailors, Yang Zheng, who was worried that the enemy would slip away, came up with another plan, so that Qiao Rui came forward to arrange a messenger to go out of the city, and met Liu Qi and presented a letter from Qiao Rui, saying that it was stipulated in the Xuzhou military law that there would be no reinforcements for 100 days to defend the city, and the family members of the defenders could not be held accountable for the surrender of the city, and now the Jingzhou army has besieged the city for more than 70 days, and I implore Liu Qi to suspend the siege for a period of time, and on March 11, Qiao Rui must lead the army and people of the whole city to open the city and surrender.

Liu Qi is obviously smarter than Zhuge Ke, without the strategy of delaying the army of his junior brother, after detaining the envoy, Liu Qi, who thought that the city would be broken, immediately waved his army to attack Chaisang, Qiao Rui led the army to fight to the death, and once again repelled the frontal attack of the Jingzhou army, using the strong city to consume many Jingzhou troops, and also exhausted the Jingzhou team. Liu Qi judged from the number of bows and arrows of the Chaisang defenders that there were not many supplies in the city, and they attacked the city for several days, but they were still repelled by the Xuzhou army, which had taken advantage of the location.

In the blink of an eye, it entered the second half of February, seeing that the city of Chaisang was still unbreakable, but the warm wind from the southeast was blowing more and more tightly, and the Jingzhou Sailor was already at a disadvantage in terms of wind direction, Liu Qi finally began to be anxious in his heart, and began to consider whether to give up the siege and withdraw to Jiangxia. At the same time, on the afternoon of February 22, another carrier pigeon flew into the city of Chaisang, bringing new news of reinforcements to Qiao Rui and Yang Zheng - Lu Su once again personally informed the specific arrival time of the reinforcements, "February 25 night! ”

"Reinforcements arrive in only three days!" Qiao Rui and other Chaisang guards were all cheering.

"There are still three days before reinforcements arrive." Yang Zheng always looked grim and calm as ice when he was about to win.

"Don't worry, our baggage is enough to hold on for three days!" Qiao Rui misunderstood Yang Zheng's meaning, laughed and comforted: "Even if he, Liu Qi, gets the news and attacks day and night in these three days, my uncle is sure to insist on the reinforcements of the governor!" ”

"If Liu Qi attacks Chaisang for three days in a row, then I don't have to worry." Yang Zheng smiled bitterly: "What I'm worried about now is that if Liu Qi receives the news and slips away with the army in advance, then our hard work in defending the city in the past 80 days can be said to be in vain." ”

"What's the plan for the virtuous nephew to delay the army?" Qiao Rui asked with a smile.

"If Liu Qi senses the arrival of our reinforcements, the strategy of delaying the troops will not be useful at all." Yang Zheng shook his head and said hesitantly: "The only way is to take risks." ”

"How can you be in danger?" Qiao Rui asked.

Yang Zheng didn't answer, and thought about it for a long time, and then Yang Zheng smiled and said to Qiao Rui and the others: "Uncle Qiao, Brother Wei, General Sun, General Feng, are you satisfied with your current official position?" Do you want to be promoted? Do you want to be knighted? ”

"You're here again." Qiao Rui and the others laughed and said, "Who doesn't want to be promoted? Who doesn't want to be knighted? Tell me, what the hell is your idea? ”

"Then I'm going to say, you have to be mentally prepared, my plan is very risky."

Yang Zheng smiled, and then slowly said his own dangerous drug plan, but Yang Zheng only said half of it, and the faces of Qiao Rui and Sun Gao changed, and when Yang Zheng finished talking about his long-brewing drug plan, the shock of Qiao Rui and others could no longer be described with pen and ink. Dumbfounded and didn't know how much time it took, Qiao Rui finally trembled and said, "Big nephew, are you crazy?" Do you know what the consequences are? ”

"Of course I do." Yang Zheng said slowly: "I know how risky it is to do this, so I suggested to my uncle that you let the people out of the city early, for this plan!" ”

Looking at Qiao Rui and the others who were stammering, Yang Zheng said solemnly: "Uncle Qiao, generals, choose, either to hold these last three days and receive a small reward for small meritorious service, or to gamble on this and help our main force of the water division to break the main force of the Jingzhou water division, as long as the main force of the water division of the Jingzhou army is severely damaged, whether it is the lower reaches of the Yangtze River or the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the future, it will be our Xuzhou water division that will go sideways." I think that the lord will definitely double the reward for us at that time! (To be continued......)