Inside the big tent, Duan Decao stood in front of the map for a long time and pondered, he was facing an unprecedented severe test, he was facing the elite of the Northern Sui who surpassed him in equipment and troops, and behind him was the strong pressure of the Son of Heaven. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

If he didn't fight this battle, he would be suspected of supporting the army and standing on his own, so that he had no choice but to send troops, and Duan Decao didn't know how to fight this battle.

At this time, Liang Li slowly walked to Duan Decao's side, and he reminded in a low voice: "General, the Sui army has not attacked Rulin County so far. ”

Duan Decao nodded, "I know, they're waiting for me." ”

"They obviously know that the Son of Heaven will force the general to send troops, will it be ......"

"You're right, this must be Zhang Xuan's counter-tactics in the imperial court, and the saint will suspect that I support the army and stand on my own."

"Despicable!" Two words burst out between Liang Li's teeth.

Duan Decao shook his head, "You can't say that others are despicable, if it were me, I would do the same, this is a strategy, a very clever strategy, it's just ......"

Speaking of this, Duan Decao's eyes showed deep sadness, "Even the emperor's will is controlled by the enemy, isn't such a court chilling?" ”

Liang Li was silent, he didn't have the stinging feeling of Duan Decao, and he didn't have Duan Decao's disappointment with the Son of Heaven, on the contrary, the Son of Heaven valued him and made him grateful, which also made him insist that Zhang Xuan's methods were despicable.

However, out of respect for Duan Decao, Liang Li did not refute Duan Decao's presumptuous discussion of the imperial court, but asked in a deep voice: "Then what should we do now?" ”

"What else can I do, send troops! We fought as hard as we could, and even if the whole army was destroyed, we would be worthy of ourselves. ”

Speaking of this, Duan Decao instructed Liang Li: "Send troops after an hour, let each soldier bring seven days of dry food, and don't bring grain and grass baggage." ”

"Obey!"

Liang Lixing hurriedly went, Duan Decao sighed slightly, knowing that there were many auspicious but still had to send troops, and the result of this battle could be guessed before it was fought.

An hour later, Duan Decao and his lieutenant general Liang Li led 15,000 troops to leave Yanlu County and once again slaughtered Diaoyin County.

........

Luxury water flows in a huge canyon in the Hengshan Mountain, this canyon is about 40 miles long, one to two miles wide, in addition to the surging river, there are also large forests, and the towering mountains on both sides do not have many trees, but a huge black rock mass, here and the red iron mountain in the east is actually in the same line, but there is no high iron content on the side of the red iron mountain, and the mining value is not large.

The Tang army set out at dusk, rested for the night on the way, and entered the Hengshan valley the next morning, and 15,000 Tang troops marched in a line along the beach of the Haoyanshui River, and as long as the army maintained a rapid march, it could get out of the valley in two hours at most.

At noon, the Tang army was about to walk out of the Hengshan Valley, Duan Decao rode on his horse and watched the situation on both sides of the valley, and his intuition told him that this time the Sui army had laid a net and waited for him to arrive, but he was not sure where the Sui army would move, but the last time the Sui army did it shortly after their rear army walked out of the valley, and that area was indeed a relatively easy place to ambush.

At this time, a general urged the horse forward and said, "General, the brothers are a little tired, do you want to sit down and rest?" ”

Duan Decao looked back, the soldiers were indeed a little tired, there were still five miles away from the valley mouth, they needed to wait for news from the scouts, Duan Decao nodded, "Rest on the spot for half an hour, let the army behind follow immediately!" ”

When the order to rest was given, the tired and hungry soldiers ran to the river to scoop up water, and returned to the river beach to brew dry food and eat, and the cold and lonely river beach suddenly became lively.

At this time, the thousands of Chinese troops led by Liang Li also arrived, and the soldiers joined the ranks of the river to fetch water and wash their faces, and the deputy general Liang Li stepped forward to find Duan Decao, and said to him: "I just remembered something, I heard that the Sui army is good at night fighting, it is likely that they will attack us tonight, I am thinking, we had better stay in camp early today, and we can stop the march in the afternoon and build fortifications, anyway, we have entered Diaoyin County, and we are not in a hurry at that time, what does the general think?" ”

Duan Decao nodded and said with a smile: "The general's caution is commendable, we see the same, out of the valley, walk for another hour, and rest in the Baishiyuan garrison, where the terrain is higher, and it is not easy for the enemy to sneak attack." ”

At that moment, a soldier pointed to the mountain and shouted: "Look, there is beacon smoke!" ”

Everyone looked up and saw a thick smoke rising from the mountain, drifting straight into the sky, which was obviously wolf smoke, the most common way to report information on the grassland.

Duan Decao suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, and immediately ordered: "Quickly order the scout to go to the valley mouth to check!" ”

Several scouts rushed away, Liang Li wanted to order the soldiers to get up and line up, Duan Decao waved his hand to stop him, "Calm down, don't make a noise yet!" ”

In a short time, several scout cavalry rushed from the front, and as they ran, they shouted loudly, "There is an enemy ahead!" There's an enemy ahead! ”

The soldiers were suddenly in a big mess, they couldn't care about eating, they got up one after another, Duan Decao strode forward, and asked sharply, "What's the situation ahead?" ”

The scout cavalry at the head turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee and reported, "General Qiyu, we have found a large group of Sui troops at the mouth of the valley, at least more than 10,000 people, building fortifications. ”

Duan Decao was stunned, he was actually in the valley, why didn't the scouts he sent out before find out? He asked, "What about the other scouts?" ”

"I don't know, we didn't meet!"

Duan Decao and Liang Li glanced at each other, and both of them understood that the Sui army must have just been killed after getting the wolf smoke signal, otherwise the scouts would have discovered them a long time ago.

"General, let's retreat first!"

Liang Li was very worried, they only brought dry food for seven days, and if they were trapped in the valley, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Duan Decao shook his head, "You should rush over while they haven't gained a foothold." ”

"But what about the rear army?"

Duan Decao's face changed, they still have 5,000 rear troops have not arrived, and the imperial history Cheng Duo is also in the rear army, if the imperial history is lost, the consequences will be as serious, Duan Decao knows in his heart that the imperial history sent by the Son of Heaven is actually the supervising army, 'holding the sword of the Son of Heaven and supervising the three armies', the meaning of this sentence could not be clearer.

If you wait for the arrival of the rear army to break through the siege, it will be too late, the Sui army is ready, and the opportunity to break through no longer exists.

But if the whole army retreated, he was worried that Cheng Duo would impeach him in the sky for not fighting for fear of the enemy.

For a while, Duan Decao didn't know what to do.

Liang Li understood that Duan Decao was embarrassed, and hurriedly said: "Go and urge the rear army, and ask Cheng Yushi's attitude again, if he agrees to withdraw the army, then we will retreat with the whole army." ”

Duan Decao was helpless, with the prison army, he had to consult and ask for instructions on everything, this feeling of being constrained was really uncomfortable, he had to nod and agree with Liang Li's suggestion.

Liang Li immediately turned his horse's head and galloped towards the rear with more than a dozen personal soldiers.

Duan Decao immediately ordered sharply: "The three armies are arrayed, and the bows and crossbows are ready!" ”

......

Generally, the march of the main army needs to be divided into the front army, the middle army and the rear army, which is mainly to prevent one army from being ambushed by the enemy, and the other two armies can be rescued in time.

The eastward advance of the Tang army was no exception, Duan Decao personally led 5,000 troops as the front army, Liang Li led 5,000 troops as the middle army, and the rear army was led by Cheng Duo, the imperial historian, and the three armies were about ten miles apart.

Cheng Duo is the son-in-law of Xiangguo Chen Shuda, the third year of the great cause, the first official in the Ministry of Rites, and later transferred to Yan'an County as the Cheng of Fushi County, after Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he entered the Imperial History Observatory as a servant of the Imperial History, and in the eight major imperial histories of the Taiwan Academy, he ranked first, that is, if the Imperial History was vacant, he would be the first to be promoted.

This time Li Yuan sent him to supervise Duan Decao, on the one hand, Cheng Duo had been an official in Yan'an County and was more familiar with the situation in Diaoyin County, and on the other hand, because his father-in-law called Shuda, Li Yuan gave him the opportunity to supervise the army this time.

Cheng Duo is very shrewd and sophisticated, and he also understands the sophistication of human feelings, and when he set off, his father-in-law repeatedly told him that Duan Decao was the person of King Qin, and he should not be impeached unless he had to.

So although he was the supervisor of the army, he did not put on an aggressive posture, on the contrary, he did not express his position in the deployment and transfer of the army, and tried to respect and obey Duan Decao's arrangement, so when Duan Decao suggested that he lead the rear army, he agreed without hesitation.

Cheng Duo is only a civilian official, and it is also the first time to lead the troops, but this does not affect him to serve as the commander of the rear army, and he does not need to ask about the details of the specific marching camp, and the marching Sima will arrange them one by one, and Cheng Duo only needs to make decisions on major matters.

The 5,000 rear army was still in the middle of the valley at this time, about twenty miles away from the valley mouth, at this time, Liang Li rushed to the front of Cheng Duo with more than a dozen personal soldiers, Liang Li hugged his fists and said: "Xu Yushi, there is an enemy situation ahead!" ”

Cheng Duo was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"The scouts found a brigade of Sui troops at the mouth of the valley, and General Duan wanted to ask Xu Yushi's attitude, are we advancing or temporarily retreating?"

"What is General Duan's opinion?"

"As soon as the Sui army arrived, General Duan advocated immediately breaking through the siege and rushing over, but because the rear army had not arrived, General Duan did not move for the time being, and let the humble post come to ask for the attitude of the imperial history."

Cheng Duo pondered for a moment and asked, "How many Sui troops are there?" ”

Liang Li shook his head, "I don't know the specifics, about 10,000 people, but I can't be sure." ”

Cheng Duo was really embarrassed, this was the first time he participated in the battle, how did he know whether to advance or retreat, and he was only a supervisor of the army, he was only responsible for supervising whether Duan Decao was loyal to the imperial court, and the specific battle had nothing to do with him.

After hesitating for a while, Cheng Duo said: "My attitude is very simple, follow General Duan's arrangement, he is the main general, and how to fight should be decided by him, not me." ”

At this time, a cavalryman rushed over, raised his arrow, and said, "General Liang, Xu Yushi, and General Duan ask you to retreat immediately and quickly withdraw from Hengshan!" ”

Liang Li hurriedly asked, "What happened again?" ”

"The situation is not good, the main force of the Sui army has been killed, General Duan is worried that the back road will be cut off, and I hope you can retreat."

Liang Li was also taken aback, he suddenly remembered that they had only brought seven days of dry food, and hurriedly said to Cheng Duo: "We must retreat immediately, otherwise we will be trapped in the valley." ”

Cheng Duo nodded and shouted to the marching Sima: "General Duan has an order, retreat immediately!" ”

The 5,000-strong army turned around and headed for the place from which it had set out in the west. (To be continued.) )