The sun had set, and the sky was dark and cloudy, and it was very low.

Li Shimin held the Mo knife and walked up to the head of the city in the West Pass, and Rong Guogong and the general of the Right Yiwei Lai Hu'er were standing on the head of the city, and his silver hair showed vicissitudes in the afterglow. At this time, above the narrow pass, flags were planted everywhere, gusts of wind blew, and the flags of the sea were hunting, which made it even more tense before the war.

Seeing Li Shimin coming up, a smile appeared on Laihu'er's face, "Shimin, you haven't had a good rest for a few days, why don't you rest well, and run to the city again." ”

"I lay in the tent for an hour, and I couldn't sleep."

Laihu'er looked at the mountain road in the distance with a smile, and said softly, "Victory, don't be overjoyed." Defeat, don't panic. There is a jī thunder in xiōng and a face like a flat lake, you can worship the general! ”

Li Shimin's heart was shocked, and he couldn't help but admire it in his heart when he looked at the expression of Gujing Wubō, who came to protect him. The 300,000 Turkic army would arrive at any time, and he couldn't see the slightest nervousness and panic on his face, and secretly praised him as a general who had always been appreciated by the emperor in the court.

He knew that although Lai Hu'er had always been very appreciated by Yang Guang and had a very high status in the army, his background was not high, and he never overstepped his authority to take care of court affairs other than the military when he was in power.

It is precisely this kind of indifferent heart that makes Laihu'er detached in the battles of the major families. Laihu'er was originally an official eunuch family in Jiangnan, and his father died in 1 hour, and he was raised by his father and mother. Later, the father was killed by the villager Tao Wuzi, and Wu often mentioned this matter to Laihu'er in tears.

At that time, there were hundreds of Tao Wuzi's clans, and they were self-enclosed. Lai Hu'er often wanted to avenge his father, and when Tao Wuzi's family was doing a marriage, Lai Hu'er found a few helpers, went straight into his house, and killed Tao Wuzi, and all the guests were shocked by his actions and did not dare to act rashly. Laihu'er used Tao Wuzi's head to pay tribute to his father, and lived in seclusion in the mountains, and then he was not put into the army until the Northern Zhou Dynasty general Wei Xiaokuan attacked Chen, and since then he has been promoted to the position of general.

"Isn't the general worried about the Turks? Although His Majesty left behind 50,000 guards and 3,000 headquarters of the last general, the Western Pass was not strong. With 50,000 against 300,000, we have no chance of winning. ”

Li Shimin said worriedly.

Laihu'er chuckled, "I have been in the army since I was a child, and I have been in the army for more than 40 years, and there are thousands of large and small battles.

Which time didn't crawl out of the pile of dead people? There is never a battle to be won, and there is no battle to be lost. If it is only calculated by the number of troops and equipment, then there are no famous generals in this world. Fear will only make you lose your courage and will not help you in any way with what is in front of you. ”

Turning around and patting Li Shimin, Lai Hu'er said, "Actually, you are already very good, with 10,000 recruits, but you annihilated the elite cavalry of the fifteen Turkic Ashina tribe, this battle is remarkable." is worthy of the Zhuguo family, with the demeanor of your great-grandfather, Tang Guogong gave birth to a good son.

In time, you will definitely become the most dazzling famous general of the Great Sui, and in you, I see those things that must be of a famous general. ”

"I'm afraid I won't be able to wait for that day." Li Shimin's xiōng was full of anger, and for the first time, he no longer had that kind of respect for Yang Guang, only anger that was difficult to quell. He couldn't understand that he had a big battle with the Turks in Shenwu City, and brought the information of the Turks' southward movement to Yang Guang in time, but Yang Guang ignored his merits and exhaustion, and left him here to die. And the light boy Yu Wenhua, who had nothing to do and had no ability, actually became the general of Zuo Yiwei, and now has an army of 100,000 Praetorian Guards.

The evening breeze was blowing, and the sunset on the horizon was like blood, which made the Sui army in the pass feel more and more heavy.

There was a sound of footsteps, and another chubby general ascended to the pass.

"Uncle Yun Shi!" Li Shimin saluted the visitor.

"When is it, what are you doing with this ceremony, when the fight starts, Uncle will still rely on you to pull it." The fat man laughed.

The fat man who came was none other than Li Yuan's world friend, Yun Dingxing, the general of the Right Tun Guard. He was originally the father-in-law of the abolished prince Yang Yong, and he was extremely glorious. Unexpectedly, in the end, his son-in-law became a dead man, but Yang Guang became the emperor. However, the Yun Dingxing family is a family of Bo family, with huge wealth, and he is usually the most tactful. After huā had a lot of money, he befriended the Son of Heaven's close minister Yu Wenshu, and finally re-entered Yang Guang's eyes by relying on his recommendation, not only did he not have an accident because of his son-in-law's affairs, but the official became bigger and bigger, and now he has become the general of the Right Tunwei. …,

However, the identity of his father-in-law who abolished the crown prince Yang Yong was a trouble after all, and this time he came to protect his son and stayed in the west, not only Li Shimin was left behind. The unlucky Zhi Dingxing was also left behind by Yang Guang.

"Haven't the Turks come yet?" Yun Dingxing looked into the distance and asked. A pair of fat hands slapped on the bricks of the pass, sighed and said, "My old Yun can be regarded as having figured it out, no matter how this time, I can't go back, I just hope that these Turks can come early, die early and be reincarnated early, and I can't stand the torment of this kind of waiting." ”

Lai Hu'er chuckled, "Yungong, you are in a high position, and your family wealth is even more huge, will you give up your life?" I'm afraid you want to live another hundred and eighty years, right? ”

"Then the Turks have to let me live, our 50,000 people are blocking here, isn't it just a mantis arm blocking the car and hitting the stone with an egg? In my opinion, it is better for the Turks to arrive in a while, let's change the flag on this pass and replace it with a white flag, maybe we can sniff for a while and a half? Yun Dingxing said casually.

Lai Hu'er looked at the darkening sky, slapped the bricks on the pass vigorously, and laughed, "General Yun means that we are swindling to delay time?" It's a good idea, if we first fly the white flag, and then slowly negotiate terms with the Turks, this is a great opportunity to delay the army. ”

Yun Dingxing shook his head, "The goal of Shibi is the emperor, but I'm afraid he won't easily agree to our request." If he attacks the city directly, we won't be able to stop it for long. ”

Li Shimin, who was silent on the side, suddenly said: "I think this plan is good!" ”

"Oh, what's your plan?" Both of them hurriedly turned their heads and looked at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin smiled, "It's just a supplement to General Yun, if we take the liberty of saying surrender, we may not believe it at all." So we have to step up a little bit of the stakes so that he has to believe it. ”

"What chips?"

"The art of war says, the real is false, and the virtual is real." Speaking of this, Li Shimin's tone was so slow that he almost spit out a word: "Shibi dared to launch a nationwide army to besiege my Great Sui Emperor, he must have thought that my Great Sui was in a hurry and had no time to rescue."

He didn't want to fight my Great Sui head-on, what he wanted was that the soldiers would march into Hedong to capture the Son of Heaven in Hedong, because once the Son of Heaven was captured by him, he would have the initiative, and he could even get a lot of benefits without a fight. So I think we should give him that possibility. ”

Laihu'er's eyes widened, and he shouted, "Shimin, be cautious." ”

Li Shimin said calmly: "Rong Guogong, rest assured, my Li family is favored by the country, of course I am not a traitor." The meaning of the last general is to give Shibi this hope to lure yòu him and complete our plan to delay the army. ”

"How?"

Pointing to the flags on the pass, Li Shimin said: "Our army should immediately fill the peaks and peaks of the mountains here one by one, and when it comes to the night, it will continue to beat the war drums, and at the beginning it will be mistaken for the 150,000 troops of the Praetorian Guard guarding His Majesty's stay at this pass." In this way, when the beginning is over, we will secretly send a man into the army of the Turks and tell him that there are people in the pass who want to surrender to him and are willing to surrender. ”

Yun Dingxing's eyes flashed with excitement, and he clapped his hands and said, "Wonderful, clever plan." At that time, we can tell Shi Bi that we need a day or two to find a suitable opportunity, so that Shi Bi will definitely be reluctant to use 300,000 cavalry to attack head-on, and there are 150,000 forbidden passes guarded by the elite guards of the Great Sui. He may not agree if it drags on for a long time, but if it's only for a day or two, I'm sure he'll be willing to gamble. ”

Come to Hu'er and give her a fist high-five, "Yes, that's it!" Erlang, I really didn't misunderstand you, and I don't want to say more, just do what you say! ”

After the three of them agreed, they immediately gave the order, and groups of soldiers planted flags all over the nearby hills. When they were planted in the back, there were no flags available, and the soldiers simply took any piece of cloth and planted it, anyway, it was so far away that it was impossible for the Turks to see clearly. Before dark, the Sui army finally planted flags all over the mountains in the pass. From a distance, the flag is like a sea, as if there are thousands of troops and horses stationed at the pass.

Standing on the pass and looking north, between the mountains with heavy mountains and banners, there is a trail in the west that winds among them.

"It's coming"

On the peak of Gouzhu Mountain behind the pass, dozens of observation posts have already been arranged. After standing on the top of the mountain and observing for a long time, they finally saw the long-awaited Turkic cavalry arrive. …,

As the news from the mountain peak came down, the war drums and gongs and horns on all sides of the pass sounded. Groups of Sui troops climbed to the top of the narrow pass, and even the mountains on both sides of the pass were covered with soldiers. The torches planted all over the corner lit up the entire pass. Everything was ready to be put into place, and only the mountain wind from the pass blew the flags one by one.

The curtain had fallen, but the dark night had made the defenders above the city clearly see the Turks arriving from the north.

In the dark night, countless torches appeared, forming a huge fire dragon. The dragon got closer and longer, but it never saw the end of it. The fire dragon with no end in sight reached the western pass. The bright torches illuminate the entire western canyon as bright as day.

The canyon is too narrow to accommodate an army of 300,000 at a time. At this time, the Turkic army carried torches from the far north and occupied the pass. As far as the eye could see, there were all Turkic torches, and under each of those dotted torches, there was a Turkic cavalry.

In front of the Western Pass, Shi Bi and the big leaders looked at this pass with cold eyes. Looking at the humble pass in the firelight, Shi Bi's heart was full of jī movement. Since the founding of the Great Sui State and the Turkic Khanate, this was the largest war between the two sides. The 450,000-strong army fought a decisive battle, and the first battle determined the future rise and fall of the two races. It can be expected that this war will be a desperate and brutal battle.

Shi Bi restrained his jī mood, and said to the big leaders next to him, such as Luo Khan and Lingli Khan, as well as his son Tuli, "Can you determine the strength of the troops in the pass?" Is Yang Guang in the pass at this time? "For Shi Bi, capturing Yang Guang is the first goal, if Yang Guang runs away and leaves the army here, even if he defeats these Sui troops, it will not be of much significance.

Lingli stepped forward with a hard head, "Great Khan, the spies who arrived first reported that it was not completely dark when they arrived. I found that the entire pass and the mountain were full of the banners of the Sui army, and from a distance, I seemed to see that there seemed to be a person on the head of the city who was guarded by the stars, which might be Yang Guang. Therefore, I judged that Yang Guang might know that he couldn't outrun us, so he stayed here and wanted to wait for help. ”

Shi Bi snorted coldly, and didn't look at Lingli, "Your spy?" Your spies can't even find the way, and a piece of information has been delayed for six hours, can Ben Khan still believe you? The vanguard army of the 15,000 elite Ashina tribe was actually annihilated by more than 10,000 Sui troops? You have embarrassed the entire Ashina tribe and made it a joke for the other tribes. How do you make Ben Khan still believe in you? ”

Chu Luo Khan smiled a little gloatingly, "Great Khan, when my subordinates arrived earlier, they caught a Sui man, claiming to be going to meet the Great Khan, saying that there was a deal to be made. I have already found out, that person is the general of Yun Dingxing, the general of the right tun guard of the Sui State, and said that his master Yun Dingxing wants to be put into the account of the Great Khan. ”

Shibi was surprised, "Where is this person, bring it over immediately, Ben Khan wants to see him in person."

In addition, immediately collect the information of this Yun Dingxing, and see if there is anyone who knows, Ben Khan now wants all the information about Yun Dingxing. Although he didn't believe in this Yun Dingxing family general who was suddenly sent to legend, he wanted to meet this person anyway.

From this person's mouth, he wanted to find out how many Sui troops were in the pass at this time, especially whether Yang Guang was in the pass or not.

Soon, someone wrote down the collected information about Yun Dingxing on a parchment scroll and presented it to Shibi. Shi Bi carefully looked at the parchment roll from beginning to end several times, and he was already a little familiar with this Yun Dingxing. The father-in-law of the abolished prince Yang Yong, the patriarch of the Yun family, and the current general of the right tunwei, has a wide body and a fat body, and has no real learning, but his family is very rich, and he is better at shooting and walking horses. In general, this is a big fat man who is rich, but has no ability, and was once Yang Guang's enemy.

After reading this, the corner of Shi Bi's mouth smiled slightly, "Bring that Yun Dingxing's home general." (To be continued...)