When the Northern Zhou Dynasty attacked the Chen Dynasty, a rope ladder was built in the narrow part of the Yangtze River in Qiting Town, which was twisted with a thick rope and covered with reed planks to form a simple rope bridge across the river.

At the same time, the Northern Zhou army built a military fort on the south bank of the rope bridge, called Dingshu Fort, and there were garrisons until the Sui Dynasty, and after the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, this military fort was gradually abandoned.

However, after the Tang army occupied Jingxiang, the Yiling Road connecting Jingxiang and Bashu became the focus of the Tang army's defense, not only stationed 3,000 troops in Yichang County, but also stationed 300 troops in Dingshu Fort to guard the chain bridge connecting both sides of the Yangtze River.

At the beginning of the night, a Tang army of 5,000 people was sweeping from the north, bypassing Qiting Town, directly stepping on the iron lock bridge, heading to the south bank of Chang'an, the Tang soldiers of Anshu Fort had no doubts, they received a document from Jingzhou Xingtai in advance, and the general Wang Yi was appointed as the general of Yiling, and led the 5,000 troops to garrison Yiling and Yichang counties.

Anshu Fort was undoubtedly under the command of General Wang, and the 300 Tang troops of Anshu Fort were lined up under the military fort under the leadership of the captain, waiting for General Wang to come and review.

The red and white battle flag of the Tang army fluttered in the river breeze, and the five thousand Tang troops walked neatly and stepped on the south bank.

Captain Anshu Fort hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down on one knee in front of the Tang Army's commander, "Captain Li Jin of Anshu Fort see General Wang." ”

'General Wang? ’

Wang Junkuo sneered, he is indeed surnamed Wang, but this king is not the other king, he pointed at the captain with a whip, "Take it for me!" ”……

Yichang County in the Sui Dynasty was not the Yichang of later generations, and it was dozens of miles to the west, located at the entrance of today's Xiling Gorge. The county seat was built behind Huangniu Mountain.

There are many rapids and reefs in this area, the mountains on both sides are steep, the roads are steep, and the north bank of the canyon originally had a passage, but a few years ago, the mountain collapsed, and thousands of boulders destroyed a section of the plank road built on the cliff, which required huge manpower and time to repair and dredge.

In the chaotic times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, the local government was unable to repair the plank road. So much so that in recent years, it can only enter Shu from the southern mountain road. Yichang County, which was built in a dangerous place, has also become a battleground for soldiers.

Yichang County is not big, it can only be regarded as a small county in the Central Plains, the circumference is only ten miles, the city wall is made of huge stones, it is old, and the city wall is covered with moss and vines. It has become one with the surrounding canyons and mountains.

The population in the county is not large, only more than 1,000 households, because the county seat is slightly smaller. Unable to accommodate too many troops, there are currently only 3,000 garrisons, but it is these 3,000 people. With the danger of the county seat, it is also enough to resist the attack of tens of thousands of people.

The reason why Yang Yuanqing sent 10,000 cavalry to attack Yichang County actually has a deeper meaning, that is, the soldiers are pointing at Bashu.

The night was getting deeper and deeper, and it was already the third watch. Dozens of torches are inserted on the head of the east city of Yichang County, illuminating the city head as if it were day, and below the city gate are hundreds of stone steps, slowly narrowing downward, and in the distance is the mountain road carved in the cliff, which extends into the distance.

At the head of the city, more than 100 soldiers paced back and forth at the head of the city, and the city had not been attacked by the enemy for decades, and the long-term peace had developed a careless style of the people of Yichang County.

However, Li Xiaogong's strict orders still made the defenders more or less vigilant, and they no longer dared to leave only one or two soldiers to keep vigil as before, and the number of soldiers patrolling at night increased to a hundred.

Suddenly, several soldiers looked at the plank road that was submerged in the darkness, and they seemed to hear a little movement.

After a while, sure enough, there was a clicking sound from the depths of the darkness, and more than 100 defenders suddenly became nervous, stretched out their bows and arrows, and aimed at the plank road in the distance.

"It's the sound of horses' hooves!" A soldier heard the origin of the click.

I saw a Tang soldier leading a war horse out of the darkness and walking along the stone steps towards the city gate above.

"Stop!" A hundred bows and arrows were aimed at him.

In the middle of the night, the Tang soldiers were frightened by a loud shout, and he stopped and looked at it for a long time before shouting: "I was ordered to deliver the letter!" ”

With a pure Yiling accent, the soldiers in the city relaxed their tension slightly, and a captain on duty leaned out of the city and asked, "Where did you come from?" ”

The soldiers under the city arched their hands and said, "I came to deliver the letter on the order of General Wang, may I ask if General Ma is there?" ”

The defenders in the city all knew that Wang Yi had been appointed as the general of Yiling, and a few days ago Jingzhou Xingtai had sent Guan Mu, the captain nodded, and ordered left and right, "Release the cage car!" ”

This chapter is a madman hand-hitting)

After Li Yuan occupied Guanzhong, the bandits in Guanzhong collectively surrendered to the Tang Army, and each had to be crowned an official, and Ma Ling was named a partial general, and was ordered to garrison Yichang County two years ago.

Two months ago, Ma Bijiang married the daughter of a small local family as a concubine, and the mansion was arranged not far from the east city gate.

At the third watch, Ma Ling was sleeping heavily with his concubine in his arms, and a slight knock on the door woke him up. ”

"General, General Wang has sent a messenger."

"Which General Wang?"

"It's Wang Yi, the new general of Yiling."

"General Yiling, raised by a son of a bitch!"

Ma Ling cursed in a low voice, helpless, he had to get up, but the concubine next to him grabbed him, "General, don't sleep a little longer?" ”

Although Ma Ling was annoyed in his heart, he also had to get up, after all, Wang Yi was his boss, Li Xiaogong governed the army very strictly, if he committed the following crimes, Li Xiaogong knew about it, and he had to kill him, Ma Ling sighed and said: "There is a general Yiling, I have to go and see him." ”

He got dressed, went outside and opened the door and asked, "Where is the messenger?" ”

Several pro-soldiers brought the messenger up, and the messenger knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See General Ma!" ”

Ma Ling saw that he was about forty years old, and when he spoke Yiling dialect, he asked, "Where are you from?" What is his position? ”

This messenger is naturally the veteran, who has been in the army for nearly twenty years, and has already become a soldier oil, so he will train a little. Just like that, "In Xia Wuping, a native of Yiling County, now under General Wang, he is a lieutenant, and he sent a letter to General Ma on the order of General Wang." ”

After speaking, he took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Ma Ling, this letter was true, it was a letter intercepted by the scouts of the Sui army in the early morning. It was a handwritten letter written by Wang Yi to Ma Ling, the general of Yichang. The letter meant that his army would be stationed in Yiling County, and that Ma Ling would go to Yiling County to meet him, or that he would come to Yichang County to inspect, in a very polite tone full of hypocrisy.

Ma Ling can roughly read a few words. I roughly understood the meaning of the letter, and suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, Wang Yi was stationed in Yiling County. He asked again, "Where is General Wang now?" ”

"General Hui, General Wang is now stationed in Yiling County, and he is a little sick. I can't come to Yichang County to inspect, and I sent Vice General Zhou to inspect it, and he is already on the way, and he will go to Yichang County immediately. ”

Ma Ling didn't know any deputy general Zhou, but Li Xiaogong had hundreds of generals. There were so many people he didn't know that he didn't pay attention to, but coming to inspect in the middle of the night made him unhappy, and he frowned, "What are you doing in such a hurry?" ”

The messenger smiled bitterly, "King Jing has set a time for reporting, we have been delayed on the way, and it will be too late if we don't report, General Ma also knows the temper of His Royal Highness King Jing, so it can't be ambiguous." ”

This is also true, Li Xiaogong has always been strict in military orders, saying nothing about it, Ma Ling understood Wang Yi's difficulties, so he nodded, "Go to the city and wait." ”……

When the time was almost four watches, there was a hurried footstep on the plank road in the distance, and there were figures in the dark, this was an army coming, and Ma Ling was waiting impatiently at the head of the city, and the footsteps in the distance suddenly made him jerk up, and shouted: "Light the torch again!" ”

Dozens of torches were lit on the head of the city, illuminating the fire farther, and after a while, a Tang army of more than 1,000 people appeared, headed by a general, burly, thick eyebrows and deep eyes, and dignified appearance, it was Wang Junkuo's deputy general Zhou Wencong.

Zhou Wencong was the first lieutenant of the Youzhou Army, followed Yang Yuanqing to Fengzhou in the ninth year of the Great Cause, and has now been promoted to the second general, and the title of Marquis of Yongping County, because Wang Junkuo was very famous when he was a bandit in Taihang Mountain, and he was worried that this Ma Ling would know, so Zhou Wencong came forward and pretended to be a deputy general.

A Tang soldier on the stone steps had been waiting for a long time, he rushed forward, Shi Li asked, "Excuse me, but Vice General Zhou?" ”

"Exactly!"

Zhou Wencong coldly agreed, took out the order arrow and handed it to the soldiers, the soldiers stepped forward to ask for the arrows, this is not Ma Ling cautious, but Li Xiaogong's military regulations, order the unity of the army to enter the city, the official document is issued by the military department of Xingtai, and stamped with the big seal of Li Xiaogong, the head of Xingtai, and the place of appointment will generally be notified in advance.

Wang Yi's xìng Tai Muwen who served as the general of Yiling had spread all over the counties and military forts of Yiling County as early as two days ago, so at this time, it was necessary to check the order arrow, which was issued by Li Xiaogong, and it was a silver order arrow, and there were patterns everywhere.

The soldier passed the arrow to the city through the cage car, and the sergeant at the head of the city took out the arrow and handed it to Ma Ling, who took the arrow with an expressionless face and looked at it carefully, there was no problem with the arrow, and the number was engraved below, which was the fourteenth arrow and the same as the inscription.

Ma Ling took a deep look at Zhou Wencong again, he didn't know this Deputy General Zhou, but he looked like a northerner, at this time, the heart of the messenger veteran next to him was so nervous that he was about to jump out, he was afraid that Ma Ling would see the flaw, but Ma Ling waved his hand, "Open the city gate!" ”

The city gate opened with a bang, and Ma Ling came out of the city, with a smile on his face and a fist and said: "Let Vice General Zhou wait for a long time, there is no way, the military regulations are strict, I dare not be careless, please General Zhou is not strange!" ”

Zhou Wencong sneered and announced loudly: "Yichang guard general Ma Ling embezzled military rations, a huge amount, and I came to investigate on the order of His Royal Highness King Jing, and I took it!" ”

Two five or six soldiers rushed up, cut Ma Ling's arm backwards, and bent over, Ma Ling was furious and shouted: "Without evidence, when will I embezzle military rations?" ”

Zhou Wencong snorted, "You go and explain to His Royal Highness King Jing!" ”

He waved his hand, "Into the city!" ”

A thousand soldiers under him rushed into the city, and the hundreds of Tang troops above and below the city were stunned, not knowing what to do, and watched the army enter the city.

Ma Ling is still in anger, he is a little unclean, but there are garrisons everywhere, which one is no problem? Why only arrest him, at this time, he suddenly realized that something was wrong, these soldiers were tall and burly, not the figure of the Bashu and Jingxiang people at all.

He was puzzled in his heart, looked up at Zhou Wencong, but saw Zhou Wencong looking at him with a smile, at this moment, Ma Ling suddenly realized that he had been fooled, this was Sui Jun, he pointed at Zhou Wencong and shouted: "You ......"

But he didn't have a chance, a ball of rags was stuffed into his mouth, he whined and couldn't make a sound, his eyes were blood-red, Zhou Wencong sneered, whipped at him, and scolded: "Bastard, dare to quibble, take me down for a strict trial!" ”

Zhou Wencong shouted to the city again: "All the officers above the rank of captain have called me and interrogated them one by one!" ”

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