Lushan is an isolated mountain system that rises in the flat land, there is a mountain called Xiaotianchi Mountain in the north of the mountain, the mountain is majestic and beautiful, it is named because there is a round small lake on the top of the mountain, it is the eighth peak of Lushan, and it is also the temporary foothold chosen by the Chaisang defenders after abandoning the city this time, so after the Chaisang fire was ignited as planned, the Chaisang garrisons immediately divided into two roads from the southeast two gates out of the city, and rushed towards the side of the small Tianchi Mountain at full speed.

Seeing that the Chaisang defenders rushed out of the south gate, Yuan Neng was worried that the Chaisang defenders would fight hard and fight for their lives, which would cause huge casualties to the self-army, so he did not order an all-out interception, but symbolically blocked twice, and the Chaisang defenders were of course unwilling to fall at the last moment of the imminent victory, Transferred to Xiaotianchi Mountain at full speed, Yuan Neng's team shouted and pretended to chase and kill, but they didn't dare to chase too much.

Missed this only opportunity to intercept, and when the main force of the Jingzhou army found out that it was fooled, it was too late to react and send troops to pursue, the time was already late, and the well-prepared Chaisang defenders had already opened up the distance between them and the main force of the Jingzhou army, no matter how much Liu Qi personally led the troops to pursue at full speed, they were unable to catch up with the Qiaorui team before the Chaisang defenders entered the Lushan Mountains, and they had no chance to seize Xiaotianchi Mountain before the Chaisang defenders climbed the mountain, and they could only watch the Chaisang defenders rush up to Xiaotianchi Mountain in pieces. Reoccupy the condescending defensive favorable terrain.

Of course, it is influenced by mountain roads and trees. There are still a lot of Xuzhou troops who failed to quickly withdraw to Xiaotianchi Mountain, or were caught up by the Jingzhou army on the mountain road, or were forced to transfer to other highlands, and the 15,000 or so Chaisang defenders who went out of the city were successfully transferred to Xiaotianchi Mountain with only eight or nine thousand people, which also gave the Jingzhou army the opportunity to chase and take revenge, but the Xuzhou army, which had been prepared for this, did not panic, but just dispersed and transferred according to the prior agreement, waiting for Qiao Rui to ignite the fire on Xiaotianchi Mountain, and then came over to meet the main team.

And so it goes. In the Lushan Mountains where spring is beginning to emerge. Naturally, there were soldiers from both sides of the war, and the Xuzhou army in apricot yellow military uniforms fought and retreated, picking on the steep terrain and dense trees to transfer, and the Jingzhou team that got the order to chase and kill with all their strength was in hot pursuit. Fierce battle with the Xuzhou army in the mountains and forests. The mountains are full of banner soldiers. The shouts of killing echoed among the mountains, and it was spectacular.

In order to share the pressure on their own soldiers who were too late to go up the mountain, and also to attract the attention of the main force in Jingzhou. As soon as Qiao Rui went up to the top of Xiaotianchi Mountain, he ordered the team to play their own handsome flag at the highest place, and the main force of Jingzhou really came to the face like a fly smelling blood, Liu Qi personally led the main team to the foot of Xiaotianchi Mountain, and immediately sent Huang Zhong to lead the army to attack the mountain.

In short, although Huang Zhong is brave, the Jingzhou army is fierce and fierce, but he has just arrived at the mountainside, and he was immediately hit by the Xuzhou army's rolling stones and arrows, every step is thrilling and fearful, and countless people were killed and injured by the rolling rocks, and the well-prepared Xuzhou soldiers quickly cut down many trees, rolled the trunks down the mountain and smashed the enemy, and the Jingzhou soldiers were smashed over a lot, and were pressed on the mountainside, and occasionally some Jingzhou soldiers rushed to the Xuzhou army. He was also quickly stabbed to death by the condescending guns of the Xuzhou army, and the stones were thrown over, and it could not pose a threat to the nearly 10,000 Xuzhou troops on the top of the mountain.

Seeing that Huang Zhong's team could not rush up the mountain, Liu Qi was inevitably even more furious, and immediately sent people to the camp to dispatch troops to attack the mountain, Wen Ping hurriedly stopped it, and analyzed: "The eldest prince, since Qiao Rui Pifu dared to burn the city and leave, this is enough to prove that he has received the news that the Xuzhou reinforcements can arrive in Chaisang for reinforcements in this two days, and the mountain is very steep, and our army is difficult to overcome for a while. ”

Liu Qi was silent for a moment, then quickly turned to the new guard captain Wang En next to him and asked, "Is there any news from the scout ship sent to reconnoiter the lower reaches of the Yangtze River?" ”

Wang En shook his head, Liu Qi cursed a dirty word, and asked Wen Ping: "If our army storms this mountain with all its might, how long will it take to take it?" ”

"This ......." Wen Ping was a little embarrassed, and replied: "The last general doesn't know, the last general has never been here, I don't know the situation on the mountain, and I can't judge when I will be able to take this mountain." However, for the sake of prudence, let's go back to the camp as soon as possible to sort out the sailors and prepare for the battle, and leave an army here to monitor the enemy. ”

"Rubbish!" Liu Qi cursed a dirty word in his heart, looked at the sky and saw that it was noon, and after thinking carefully for a while, Liu Qi gritted his teeth and said: "Mingjin, take back the pursuit team, let Deng Long lead the army of 5,000 to garrison at the foot of the mountain, and the other troops will all take back the camp." ”

The gong sounded quickly, and the Jingzhou team that pursued to the depths of the mountain began to retreat back and forth, and Huang Zhong's team, which was pressed halfway up the mountain and couldn't raise its head, also began to retreat down the mountain, sorting out the team at the bottom of the mountain to prepare for retreat, Liu Qi looked at the top of the mountain bridge and hated the military flag, but he was helpless. At the same time, the Xuzhou team on the top of the mountain suddenly divided more than 100 people, holding a shield and slowly walking towards Liu Qi, when the Jingzhou soldiers under the mountain were on strict alert, Liu Qi suddenly saw that among the Xuzhou shield soldiers, two of them seemed to be very familiar, and then raised the original telescope that the teacher gave him when he looked carefully, Liu Qi's mouth suddenly opened and his jaw was dislocated, and he muttered: "Why is he?" How is this possible? ”

"Who? When did Childe surprise so much? Wen Ping, Huang Zu, Deng Long and the others asked in surprise.

"My junior brother Yang Zheng, the eldest son of my mentor Yang Zhongming." Liu Qi's voice was a little depressed when he replied, and he said in surprise: "How could it be him?" Didn't he disappear in Xiangyang? How did you get here? And the veteran oil son Li Lang, why is he here? ”

It was indeed Yang Zheng and Li Lang who were protected by the Xuzhou shield soldiers and went down the mountain, but of course Yang Zheng would not be stupid enough to really go down the mountain to greet Liu Qi, and stopped when he reached the mountainside, and the Xuzhou soldiers used their shields to protect Yang Zhenghou. Another Xuzhou soldier came to the vicinity of the Jingzhou team under the white flag, threw a small bag far in front of the Jingzhou team, and shouted: "Liu Qi Gongzi, this is Yang Zheng Yang Gongzi returned to you!" Please take it! ”

After finishing speaking, the Xuzhou soldiers turned around and left, and quickly fled back to the mountainside, and the Jingzhou soldiers did not receive orders and did not pursue, but picked up the cloth bag and presented it to Liu Qi, who took it in confusion. When you open it and take a look. Liu Qi was dumbfounded again, it turned out that the cloth bag was not filled with other objects, it was the identity token that Liu Qi lost when he drank flower wine with Yang Zheng in Xiangyang more than three months ago! In addition to this token, Liu Qi also found a warrant in the cloth bag. When you take a closer look at the contents of that warrant. Liu Qi's eyes almost popped out. blurted out, "When did I write this warrant?!" ”

Before the words fell, Liu Qi, who was actually very smart, suddenly woke up, and some questions hidden in his heart were suddenly solved. The whole person suddenly jumped like thunder, slapped the horse and rushed to the front of Yang Zheng, and pointed at Yang Zheng with a horsewhip from more than a hundred steps and roared, "Piff!" Three months ago in Xiangyang, you deliberately deceived my handwriting?! ”

"Not bad." Yang Zheng nodded behind the shield, and said loudly with a respectful attitude: "Brother forgive me, when I was in Xiangyang, my younger brother did deliberately deceive your handwriting." The younger brother is not talented, he has been proficient in calligraphy since he was a child, no matter what kind of handwriting, the younger brother can imitate it as long as he has read it once, this warrant is indeed a forgery of the younger brother's handwriting, and the handwritten letter that Uncle Qiao gave to Yuan Yin is also a copy of the younger brother, and even the letter of Lu Dudu who deceived your forward team did not dare to enter lightly, and the waste letter that Uncle Qiao gave you is also a copy of the younger brother! ”

Liu Qi was so angry that he was trembling all over, if it weren't for the fact that there were some Xuzhou soldiers around Yang Zheng who were holding bows and arrows and were ready to release arrows, Liu Qi would almost want to rush up and fight with the damn junior brother! So after taking a few breaths, Liu Qi immediately scolded him, "Shameless horseman!" Rat! ”

"The elder brother forgives the sin, and the younger brother wants to ask the elder brother a rhetorical question." Yang Zheng asked slowly and loudly: "If the use of fake books is also shameless, and the young man is a mouse, then what kind of generation is it to suddenly destroy the alliance and sneak attack the ally?" ”

Liu Qi was speechless, and Yang Zheng said loudly: "Brother, are you very strange?" The last time the little brother met you, he was in Xiangyang, why did he suddenly appear on the battlefield of Chaisang now? How did I get here through your thousand-mile blockade? Why is your identity token in my hand? How did I know in advance that you were going to attack Chaisang? If the elder brother is interested, the younger brother is willing to explain it to you one by one, and there is absolutely no concealment! ”

"Say!" Liu Qi yelled, gritting his teeth.

"Do as my brother commands." Yang Zheng nodded, then cleared his throat and took a sip of the drinking water brought by Li Lang, and then said loudly and unhurriedly: "Senior brother, in fact, your sneak attack plan is very perfect and hidden, junior brother didn't know that you were preparing to sneak attack Chaisang before he went to Xiangyang, and even when someone inadvertently mentioned in front of me that your team was holding a combat drill in Xiakou, I didn't guess that you were preparing to sneak attack Chaisang." But it's a pity that because of your caution and desire to cover up, I can see your true purpose. ”

Saying that, Yang Zheng introduced how he analyzed Liu Qi's preparation for a sneak attack on Chaisang, and introduced it very carefully, and explained his analysis and reasoning at that time in detail, and then Yang Zheng told Liu Qi that he had already made up his mind to personally send a letter to Chaisang to report an emergency when he was drinking flower wine, and even calculated how to break through the blockade of the Jingzhou army and Hanshui, so he first deceived Liu Qi's handwriting, and then deliberately drunk Liu Qi, took the opportunity to steal Liu Qi's identity token as a token in the carriage, and deceived the Jingzhou army to let him go all the way.

After listening to Yang Zheng's introduction, Liu Qi was not so angry that his whole body trembled, but his hands and feet were cold with anger, but Yang Zheng looked as usual, and said loudly: "Brother, I think there is something very strange about you, how did I pass the Xiakou level at that time?" At that time, Xiakou was already under full martial law, and no civilian ships were allowed to pass through the waterway, and more than half of the Xiakou army at that time was not under your command, and did not recognize your warrant and token at all. ”

"And how did you live?!" Liu Qitie asked with a blushing face.

"Don't blame the old general." Yang Zheng was very righteous and did not betray the name of the Jiangxia general, and also excused the Jiangxia general: "In fact, he has already understood that he has committed an unforgivable sin, so he has been in the siege war these days. The old general often took the lead in personally attacking the city, and also used his magic arrow to shoot many soldiers of our army, he just made an unintentional mistake, and after seeing your warrant and token, he believed it to be true, so he personally sent me a civilian ship through Xiakou, and what he did was also because he was loyal to your brother, and asked my brother to forgive him. ”

Hearing Yang Zheng's words of scolding the bald donkey in front of the monk, Liu Qi immediately looked angry, turned his head and looked at Huang Zhong behind him, and Huang Zhong was extremely surprised. Hurriedly shouted at Yang Zheng and asked, "The kid over there." Are you talking about me?! ”

Of course, Yang Zheng would not be stupid enough to answer Huang Zhong's question, he just sighed loudly, and then said in a tone: "Brother, whether you believe it or not. In fact, the younger brother has been from beginning to end. They all have great respect for you in their hearts. Not only because you are your father's protégé, but also because of your hard work in the face of adversity, as well as your talent and intelligence. It is rare to be able to do this with the guidance of my father and his old man for a few days. But alas, brother, you've stepped into the devil's path. ”

"The son does not say anything about the father, and the younger brother should not blame the father for his actions." Yang Zheng said again: "But in front of you, brother, I still have to say something from my heart, my father is a smart man, but his intelligence is used in the wrong place, so the things he taught you have completely misled you." He taught you how to cheat, form gangs, and fight for power and profit, but he did not teach you how to be upright and convince people with virtue, let alone how to gain the love of soldiers and the trust of your subordinates. Your foundation is insufficient, this time with the support of Jingsheng Gong, even if you really take down Chaisang and defeat our Poyang Lake Water Division, your victory can only be temporary, not long-term, and you will never be able to reach the height ......of the junior brother Lord Tao Taiwei. ”

"Shut up!" Liu Qi roared and interrupted, yelling, "What kind of thing are you, dare to teach me a lesson?" ”

"The younger brother is reckless, please forgive the elder brother." Yang Zheng apologized, and then said loudly: "Brother, don't be obsessed, surrender, seeing that since we dare to give up Chaisang and retreat to Lushan, you must have guessed that our reinforcements are coming soon." Little brother doesn't hide it from you, our reinforcements will be able to rush to the Chaisang battlefield as soon as tomorrow night, and early the day after tomorrow at the latest, your team has been dragged by us to exhaust the old man, consumed heavy casualties, and demoralized, it is impossible to be the opponent of our main force in Jiangdong, rather than letting these innocent Jingzhou soldiers sacrifice in vain, it is better to lay down their arms and surrender earlier! ”

Liu Qi laughed wildly, pointed at Yang Zheng with a horsewhip and laughed and said, "Yang Zheng, you shouldn't be talking in a dream, right?" Now that you are surrounded by us, you still have the face to persuade me to surrender?! ”

"Brother, you're surrounding us." Yang Zheng said politely: "But you don't have time, our soldiers all have three days of dry food on them, and there is plenty of water on Xiaotianchi Mountain, so we have no problem holding on for three days." But you only have less than two days, if you can't capture this small Tianchi Mountain in two days, you will be completely finished! ”

"Brother, listen to my advice and surrender! Chai Sang's battle has been fought like this, after you go back, even if Jingsheng Gong forcibly appoints you as his heir, you will not be able to sit firmly in the position of the lord of Jingzhou. But if you surrender with the army, the younger brother's lord, Captain Tao, will definitely be reused by you, and you may have the opportunity to become the assassin of Jingzhou in the future. But brother, if you continue to be obsessed, there is nothing the younger brother can do. ”

After throwing down this sentence, Yang Zheng turned around and walked up the mountain, Li Lang and more than 100 Xuzhou soldiers carefully protected Yang Zheng and retreated to the mountain, the Jingzhou soldiers did not get Liu Qi's order and did not chase and kill, Liu Qi gritted his teeth and watched his junior brother leave, when Yang Zheng and his party gradually walked away, Liu Qi suddenly shouted: "Order the whole army, stop retreating, surround this small Tianchi Mountain on all sides, and prepare to attack the mountain!" Let the big battalion send 10,000 troops over, bring more oil torches, and before dawn tomorrow, you must take this small Tianchi Mountain for me! ”

"Eldest prince, the enemy ...... reinforcements."

Wen Ping hurriedly opened his mouth to persuade, but Liu Qi interrupted with a roar and roared: "Shut up!" This is a military order, and those who violate the order will be immediately beheaded! ”

As the saying goes, good intentions are not rewarded, Yang Zheng's bitter and emotional persuasion received a countereffect, and the Jingzhou team, which was already ready to give up attacking the mountain, turned around and came back under Liu Qi's order, surrounded Xiaotianchi Mountain on all sides, and launched a comprehensive attack on Xiaotianchi Mountain around Shenshi, in order to cheer up the army, Liu Qi also yelled and issued such an order, "Who can cut off the head of Qiaorui, reward a thousand gold, and eat a hundred households!" Who can cut off the head of Yang Zhengpifu, reward 2,000 gold, and eat 200 households! If you can't attack this mountain before dawn, all the generals will be killed! ”

The difficult and arduous battle to attack the mountains began. Under the coercion of Liu Qi's strict order, the Jingzhou soldiers stepped on the rugged mountain road and charged upwards with difficulty, the shouts shook the sky and covered the wilderness, rushing to the top of Xiaotianchi Mountain from all directions, the offensive was as fierce as the tide torrent, but unfortunately they were greeted by hail and raindrops of wood rolling stones, and the big stones rumbled down with a thousand momentum, and the Jingzhou soldiers who were unfortunately hit were crippled on the spot even if they did not die, and it was difficult to form an effective threat to the enemy on the mountain no matter how fierce the offensive was. But Liu Qi didn't care at all at the bottom of the mountain. just desperately waved the army forward to attack the mountain, and the bitter persuasion of the generals in Jingzhou was also scolded away by Liu Qi, and two tooth generals retreated when attacking the mountain, and were pushed to the bottom of the mountain by Liu Qi and beheaded on the spot.

The onslaught at all costs is not without gain. When it's dark. The Jingzhou Army Brigade finally reached the front of the Xuzhou Army. In hand-to-hand combat with the Xuzhou army, the Xuzhou army, which had no way to retreat, fought back and fought extremely fiercely with the Jingzhou army. The upper part of the entire Xiaotianchi Mountain has completely become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, the living people step on the corpses of the dead and fight with blood, knives and guns on the slope full of thorns and stones, feel and roll, hug and roll down the hillside and end up with countless people, blood flows down the hillside, and merges into one after another bloody stream.

After all, the Jingzhou army has the absolute advantage of having more soldiers and a wide range of generals, and there are rotational new forces to use, and the Chaisang defender team is only a second-line team in the Xuzhou army, and its combat effectiveness is far less than the Xuzhou elite who completely abused the Jingzhou team on the Nanyang battlefield, and it has no advantage in hand-to-hand combat, so when it was dark, the Jingzhou army finally rushed to the edge of Xiaotianchi, and cut the Xuzhou army into two, and launched a more fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Xuzhou army. Huang Zhong and Deng Long and others all slashed dozens of Xuzhou soldiers, and finally understood that Yang Zheng was dividing his own Huang Zhong also personally cut off the head of Qiao Rui's nephew Qiao Wei, making Qiao Wei the rank of general who died in the Xuzhou Army in this Chaisang War.

In front of the Jingzhou team that has fallen into a state of madness, the Xuzhou army began to collapse, the generals and soldiers fled all over the mountains, and Qiao Rui in the armed forces had to be forced to change into the clothes of ordinary soldiers, and joined the deserter team with his own handsome flag, at the same time, Qiao Rui also accidentally found that the future virtuous son-in-law Yang Zhenggongzi and Li Lang in their minds also disappeared in the melee, I don't know whether they are dead or alive, although Qiao Rui is anxious in his heart, but he has no choice but to flee to the east of Xiaotianchi Mountain along the defeated army.

Qiao Rui's luck is very bad, he is in this team of defeated soldiers is very unfortunate to be targeted by Huang Zhong's team, was chased by Huang Zhong's team with torches, Xuzhou defeated soldiers trampled on each other in order to flee for their lives, there were many dead, once even Qiao Rui was pushed down by unwitting own soldiers, if it was not rolled to the side in time, almost was trampled on the chest and abdomen by the next few feet, but even so, the Jingzhou army behind is still chasing closer and closer, less than twenty steps away from Qiao Rui.

"Ahead is a cliff dead end!" Suddenly there was a scream of a Xuzhou soldier in front of him, and a Xuzhou soldier accidentally rolled off the cliff, screaming and falling to pieces.

Hearing this terrible scream, the Jingzhou team behind suddenly resounded with the sound of crazy laughter, and Qiao Rui even turned white, and said secretly: "You shouldn't be greedy for merit." ”

"Bell, bell, bell!" At this critical moment, at the foot of Xiaotianchi Mountain, there was a fierce sound of gold, and at the same time, dozens or even hundreds of gongs were sounded, which seemed to be very urgent, and countless Jingzhou soldiers shouted neatly under the mountain, "Retreat!" Retire! The eldest prince has an order, everyone immediately retreats! ”

Hearing this violent sound of gold and neat shouts, Huang Zhong, who was already only ten steps away from Qiaorui, was taken aback, and after hesitating for a moment, he could only shout: "Withdraw!" Retreat! ”

Jingzhou soldiers followed Huang Zhong's hurried back and forth and withdrew, but Qiao Rui and others, who had been forced to have no way out, were confused, and finally came back to their senses, Qiao Rui quickly turned his head to look due north, but saw that Poyang Lake was already red, and countless boats sailed from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, densely packed like crucian carp crossing the river, with the cold southeast wind at night, rushing to the Jingzhou sailor camp north of Chaisang City at a flying speed!

"Reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are finally here! ”

Qiao Rui raised his fist and roared, and then laughed wildly, and laughed wildly: "Liu Qixiaoer, most of your main force have been deceived by us to come here, no matter how many warships you have, no matter how skilled you are in water battles, there are no soldiers on the warships, and they are also free!" I see how you fight this water war? How to fight?! ”

At the same time, on the top of Xiaotianchi Mountain, which was already full of corpses of soldiers of the two armies and was still stained red with blood, in the Xiaotianchi Lake, two bamboo pipes slowly leaned towards the lakeside, and two wet human heads slowly floated out from under the lake, hiding in the corpse pile of floating corpses in the lake, observing the retreat of the Jingzhou army. Then someone asked in a low voice, "Uncle Li, the situation was so critical just now, how did you find these two bamboo pipes?" Or is it a bamboo tube that opens up the joints? ”

"I was ready for a long time, young master, you said at the time that we were going to transfer to Xiaotianchi Mountain, the villain was worried that there was no water source on the mountain, young master, you said that there is a small lake on the mountain, you don't have to worry about drinking water, so the villain prepared these two bamboo pipes first, just to be prepared, even if the top of the mountain can't be guarded, there is a way to escape, I didn't expect it to be used."

"Uncle Li is clever, he thinks about defeat before he wins, no wonder my father must have sent you to my side." (To be continued......)