Early in the morning, the rumbling war drums resounded in the wilderness outside Zhuoxian County, 30,000 Dou Jiande troops surged up like a tide, concentrated on the southern city to launch an attack, a wooden bridge across the moat, hundreds of siege ladders set up the city, tens of thousands of soldiers frantically attacked the city, the arrows on the city head were like a torrential rain, the rolling wood and stones were dense like hail, the war drums, screams, and shouts echoed inside and outside the city, Xue Wanche led 10,000 Youzhou troops to resist the attack of Dou Jiande's army tenaciously.

Ten miles away, the Sui army was still stationed in the original camp, on the same tower, Yang Yuanqing coldly watched the attack of Dou Jiande's army on Zhuo County, he was now completely sure that Dou Jiande just wanted the five thousand heavy armored cavalry.

Looking at the tide of Dou Jiande's army's offensive, Yang Yuanqing resolutely ordered: "Pass my order, and order Xie Yingdeng and Qiu Shunde to each lead 3,000 cavalry archers to harass the enemy attack!" ”

'Woo-' The horn sounded in the camp of the Sui army, and two cavalry archers galloped out from the two wings of the camp, although each Sui soldier was equipped with a bow and arrow, but the archery of the cavalry generally had to dismount and shoot, after all, there were not many cavalrymen who could shoot arrows on galloping horses, and the cavalry archers were specially trained, they were skilled in riding, they could control the horse with their legs, and they could shoot with their bows on high-speed galloping horses, and some cavalry could even shoot their bows left and right.

The biggest difference between the archers and the ordinary cavalry is that they are equipped with short spears, a shield in the left hand, a spear in the right hand, and the spear is inserted in the spear sheath behind the horse, which can be drawn out at any time for battle, and secondly, the archers have three pots of arrows, which is enough to ensure their consumption in war.

In large-scale legion battles, the archers are mainly responsible for perimeter guerrilla, disrupt the enemy's formation, and to some extent also play the role of scouts, which is why many scouts are born from archers.

6,000 archers rushed to the southern city of Zhuoxian County in two ways, and at the same time, Dou Jiande was also observing the movements of the Sui army in the camp, and the re-killing of the Sui army was as he expected. But after all, the Sui army and Youzhou are not allies, if the Youzhou army is compared to a sheep, then the Sui army is another group of wolves fighting with him for this fat sheep.

It depends on who is quick and ruthless, then he can grab the fattest piece of meat. He Dou Jiande only needs the five thousand heavy armored cavalry, and he can give the rest of the flesh and blood to the Sui army, but the problem is that Dou Jiande also knows that things may not be as good as he thinks, how can the Sui army easily let him get the fat of the heavy armored cavalry.

"Lord Wang. The cavalry of the Sui army came out! A pro-soldier shouted from the side.

Dou Jiande had already seen that it was impossible for him to let the Sui cavalry harass his siege, and Dou Jiande immediately ordered, "Order Dong Kangmai to lead 10,000 cavalry to intercept!" ”

The drums thundered, and 10,000 cavalry came out of Dou Jiande's camp, and they also divided their troops into two ways to meet the Sui army's archers.

At this time, the camp of the Sui army also changed, and another cavalry of 6,000 people slaughtered out of the camp. Led by the deputy general Qin Qiong, Qin Qiong took the lead and brandished a long lance. The roar was like thunder, and the six thousand cavalry were like an iron dragon, and they suddenly entered Dou Jiande's cavalry group, and the two cavalry fought together in the wilderness, and Qin Qiong led the army to kill it, effectively sharing the pressure of the archers.

The two archers galloped all the way, broke through the siege of Dou Jiande's army, and soon rushed to the southern city, where they launched an attack behind the besieging soldiers, and the six thousand Sui archers galloped on horseback. Arrows shot out of their strong bows and rained down on the besieging soldiers.

At this time, the siege battle has reached the most dangerous moment, Dou Jiande ordered the first person to rush into the city to reward a huge amount of gold 3,000 taels, the first ten people each bounty 1,000 taels, greatly stimulated the fighting spirit of the siege soldiers, one hundred and fifty siege planes densely crawled with crazy attacking soldiers. The arrows flying all over the city suppressed the counterattack of the Youzhou army at the head of the city.

Although the city has been ambushed with corpses, but the rich ** let the siege soldiers still climb up desperately, shouting and scolding, the spear pierced the chest, the horizontal knife chopped off the head, blood splashed, broken limbs flew horizontally, hundreds of people have rushed to the city, and the Youzhou army fought desperately, more and more siege soldiers rushed to the city.

At this moment, a group of Sui archers and cavalry flew past the most dangerous siege ladder, and the arrows flew into the sky like a storm, and the dense rain of arrows caused the siege soldiers on the city ladder to be hit by arrows one after another, screaming and falling off the city.

The Sui army archers and cavalry were in a team of 100 people, and the attacks from all directions made the 40,000 siege soldiers chaotic, which was like enjoying a delicious meal, and was suddenly stuck in the throat by a hard fish bone, although there were only more than 1,000 casualties, and the casualties were not large, but it seriously disrupted the siege of the soldiers, especially the soldiers who attacked the city were not good follow-up, and were counterattacked by the Youzhou army with great morale, and drove the enemy army down the city in one go.

Gao Yaxian, the general in charge of the siege, hated blood in his heart, and he was forced to have no choice but to order the withdrawal of the army, 'Dang! While! While! The bell rang for the retreat of the city, and the besieging soldiers retreated like a tide, and the precarious siege situation was immediately resolved, causing the defenders of the city to cheer.

The cavalry of the Sui army was too fast, and before Dou Jiande could send a second interception team, the situation changed, Dou Jiande was furious, and turned back to the general Liu Heimin and shouted: "Lead my guards to charge and kill the Sui army!" ”

Dou Jiande had five thousand of the most elite cavalry, which was selected from hundreds of thousands of troops, and guarded him by his side, known as the Guards, and generally did not go to battle, but today's disturbance of the Sui army made him angry, and for the first time, the most elite five thousand guards cavalry were dispatched.

"The last general obeys!"

Liu Heimin yelled at the cavalry behind Dou Jiande, "Follow me!" ”

Five thousand cavalry horses galloped, spear tips like a forest, like a black oppressive dark cloud, rushing towards the Sui army archers several miles away.

Archers generally do not fight directly with the enemy, Xie Yingdeng saw a cavalry rushing towards his army, murderous, he immediately ordered the soldiers around him, "Inform General Qiu, temporarily retreat south!" ”

Qiu Shunde is a partial general under Yang Yuanqing, surrendered with Wang Junkuo, strong martial arts, especially good at riding and archery, shooting arrows in high-speed running, 100 shots and 100 hits from 100 steps, extremely appreciated by Yang Yuanqing, and promoted him to be an archer general, commanding 3,000 archers.

He received Xie Yingdeng's order, and immediately brandished his short spear and shouted the order, "Brothers, retreat!" ”

Qiu Shunde turned his horse's head and led 3,000 archers to retreat southward, and Xie Yingdeng's army also retreated south, and soon, 6,000 archers left the battlefield.

At this moment, the bell of the Sui army camp rang to collect the troops, and Qin Qiong, who was in a fierce battle, immediately led the cavalry to leave the battlefield and retreat to the Sui army camp.

There are many ways to force Dou Jiande's army to stop military operations, if the army is arrayed, to force people, and such as concentrating forces to attack the enemy's grain and grass camps, etc., but the Sui army uses harassment, this method can not change the situation of the war, can only suspend the opponent's offensive, it is obvious that the Sui army did not directly stop Dou Jiande's army from attacking the city, but when the situation became precarious, quickly dismantled the offensive of Dou Jiande's army.

Dou Jiande also realized the intention of the Sui army, the Sui army was using his army to weaken the strength of the defenders, and at the same time did not let him capture the city, Dou Jiande also ordered the siege to be suspended, the soldiers returned to the camp, and the two sides reorganized their military horses and formed a confrontation under the city of Zhuoxian......

During the siege on the first day, Luo Yi did not make any movement, he remained silent, and did not even send troops to rescue his city, but the battalion advanced five miles and was stationed ten miles northeast of Zhuo County.

Luo Yi has already received the information, the Sui army has returned to Zhuoxian County, he knows very well that the Sui army will never let Dou Jiande break through the city, since the Sui army wants to stand up for him, why should he not do it?

Luo Yi wanted to preserve his strength, but he only sent a team of scouts to investigate the situation, and his 30,000 Youzhou troops were still standing still ten miles away.

In front of the camp of the Youzhou Army, a three-zhang high lookout tower was also built, and for a whole morning, Luo Yi stood on the lookout tower to observe the battle situation, although he did not send troops, but he was more concerned about the progress of the battle than anyone else.

A group of scout soldiers rushed back to report the situation to him like a marquee, and when he heard that the Sui army had dispatched cavalry to attack the back of Dou Jiande's siege army, his heart hanging in his throat suddenly relaxed.

At this time, a team of sentries escorted several Sui army officials galloped over, and soon went straight to the front of the camp gate, and a sentry stepped forward to report: "Lord Qiqi, the envoy of the Sui army is here to see!" ”

Luo Yi nodded, and said to the guards beside him: "Please ask the Sui envoy to meet at the deputy account of the Chinese army!" ”

He got off the lookout, rode back to the big tent, and as soon as he returned to the deputy tent, his own soldiers led the envoy of the Sui army, a civilian officer in his thirties.

The Sui envoy stepped forward and bowed, "Sui Jun Cangcao's deputy military officer Shi Rong is in charge of Luo!" ”

Luo Yi waved his hand, "Shi joins the army, please take a seat." ”

At this time, Luo Yi's second son, Luo Cheng, also walked into the big tent and stood behind his father, his mood was a little complicated, perhaps because he used to be a general under Yang Yuanqing, and his heart was more inclined to the Sui Dynasty.

He felt that since Yang Yuanqing was willing to send envoys to come, then there was room for negotiation, and he didn't understand why his father refused to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, his father was also Yang Yuanqing's subordinate back then, although he had ideas in his heart, he was a son after all, and he had to follow his father.

Shi Rong sat down, took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Luo Yi, and said with a smile: "This is a handwritten letter from His Royal Highness the King of Chu to General Luo, please take a look at it!" ”

Luo Cheng stepped forward to take the letter and presented it to his father, and he caught a glimpse of the words on the envelope: 'To General Luo Yi, the Governor of Beiping, the Governor of Youzhou. ’

This is Luo Yi's official position in the Sui Dynasty, the governor of Youzhou is his self-styled, and the king of Beiping County is the title given to him by the Tang Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty will never admit it, so Yang Yuanqing calls him by the official position of the Sui Dynasty, which makes Luo Cheng's heart move, and he has vaguely guessed the content of the letter.

Luo Yi looked deeply at the words on an envelope, 'Yang Yuanqing, the governor of Youzhou, sent a letter to General Luo Yi, the governor of Youzhou, the governor of Beiping. ’

He couldn't help sneering in his heart, Yang Yuanqing refused to admit that he Luo Yi was the governor of Youzhou, but wasn't his Yang Yuanqing's governor of the state also self-appointed?

Luo Yi opened the letter, but the content of the letter surprised him.