The border of Hanoi County and Hebei Ji County is also a continuous mountain range, which is a branch of Taihang, stretching for more than 200 miles, just like a leg stretched out from the Taihang Mountains, extending to the Yellow River, and the branch veins are covered with lush primeval forests.

Because of the river flow and natural collapse, there are more than a dozen large and small passes in the branches, and these passes have become natural passages for people to travel between the two places, most of these passages are concentrated in the central and southern regions, among which Gongcheng Road, Linqing Pass and Yanjin Pass are the most famous.

Song Jingang Department is to take the Gongcheng Road, this area of the mountain is high and steep, the county is easy to defend and difficult to attack, they occupied Gongcheng County, for Dou Jiande's army to enter Hanoi County provided great convenience, Song Jingang also knew the importance of Xinxiang County and Linqing Pass in the south, how could he not have enough troops, did not dare to divide the troops, had to watch the Sui army occupy Xinxiang County and Linqing Pass, Yanjin Pass.

Song Jingang also knew in his heart that the north of Gongcheng County was a mountainous area and the south was a plain, and the grain produced was far from meeting the needs of the army, and at most it could only be a passage, and if he wanted to obtain a logistics base to attack Hanoi County, he had to take Xinxiang County.

In order to maximize the opportunity to seize Xinxiang County, Song Jingang sent his nephew Song Hu to lead a thousand cavalry along Baimenpi to the south to open the road.

Baimenpi is a long irrigation pond, formed by the collection of mountain spring water, the east bank of the river pond is an endless field and large and small villages, at this time the autumn harvest has ended, farmers burn rice stalks everywhere on the side of the ridge, so that the sky is shrouded in smoke, the four fields are gray, and the air is filled with the smell of choking smoke.

At this time, in the white smoke, a large group of people supporting the old and the young, they covered their mouths and noses, and cursed in a low voice the people who burned the rice stalks, and there were ox carts in the crowd, and the ox carts were full of grain, and the crowd was getting longer and longer, there were as many as three or four thousand people, women were holding children, men were carrying valuable soft goods, and the old people were leading pigs and sheep, these people were all nearby villagers, who were evacuated to Xinxiang County by the Sui army, and their homes were about to become battlefields.

There are more than 30 villages and thousands of families between Xinxiang County and Gongcheng County, and some prophets have fled to Xinxiang County since half a month ago, and in recent days, organized by the Sui army, various families have been mobilized to move south, thousands of people have moved south every day, and today this team is the largest group of southward migration teams.

Next to the team were more than 600 Sui cavalry, they looked around vigilantly, they had received information, and Song Jingang's patrol post had been found around, which meant that a large group of men and horses would appear.

The leader of this Sui cavalry was called Du Yanshen, the official was the general of Eagle Strike Lang, and he was Gao Zikai's general, and he and Xinxiang County Cheng were responsible for organizing the evacuation of villagers from more than a dozen villages in the west.

At this time, they were still more than 30 miles away from Xinxiang County, but the people who moved south walked very slowly, and these 30 or so had to walk for at least a day.

Du Yanshen was a little anxious in his heart, he beckoned a soldier and instructed him: "You go and tell Zhang Xiancheng to speed up and strive to arrive in Xinxiang County tonight."

"Yes!"

The soldier turned his horse's head and ran south, and the soldier had just gone to give the order, when the sound of horses' hooves came from the north, and several Sui army scouts passed through the white rice stalk burning area and galloped over, "General Du!" ”

Du Yanshen turned his horse's head and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Song Jingang's army has been discovered in the north!"

Du Yanshen was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "How many people are there and how far is the distance?" ”

"There were about a thousand men, all cavalry, about seven or eight miles away from us, and they were speeding south.

Du Yanshen beat a small drum in his heart, if it was a cavalry, seven or eight miles away would be in an instant, he looked back at the large crowd of fleeing people and nearly a thousand ox carts, he was really a little worried, Song Jingang's army was not fierce before, but recently it has also become burning and looting, if they rush down, these thousands of people are just their fat sheep.

Du Yan pondered for a moment, and then ordered a brigade commander: "You lead a hundred brothers to guard the villagers and quickly go south. ”

He shouted again, "The rest of the brothers come with me!" ”

Du Yanshen led five hundred cavalry to the north to meet the battle......

Song Jingang has a total of three nephews in the team, respectively in charge of his three thousand elite cavalry, among which Song Hu is the strongest among the three nephews, about thirty years old, making a wild goose feather sword, fierce appearance, strong physique, following Song Jingang for many years, killing people like hemp.

This time Song Jingang gave him the task of opening up the way to the south, but for Song Hu, robbing money is their top priority, in the past few months, Song Jingang suppressed their tyrannical desires in order to sit firmly in Hanoi County, and now it has finally let go, so that Song Hu's heart is full of desire to kill,

His team was equally full of tyrannical desires, and they all wanted to make up for months of lost money before they left.

To the disappointment of Song Hu and his men, they made their way south, passing through several villages, all of which were empty and empty, causing their anger to build up quickly, and the white smoke that filled the fields made them unable to open their eyes.

"General, there are a few people over there!"

A soldier found a few people standing on the edge of the ridge, Song Hu waved his hand, his cavalry surrounded several people like a gust of wind, these old farmers who were burning rice stalks, he wanted to burn the last pile of rice stalks before retreating, as much as possible for their land, but did not find that the cavalry rushed to surround them, several old farmers ran nowhere to escape, looking at the surrounding pairs of fierce eyes, they were so frightened that they fell to the ground.

"Kill them!" Song Hu shouted angrily, stepped forward and slashed with a horizontal knife, an old peasant's head was cut off, and his men rushed up and hacked several old peasants to death in the field, and a group of cavalry laughed wildly.

At this moment, there was a sound of breaking the air in the thick smoke, and hundreds of arrows whistled and shot towards the dense cavalry group, Song Hu's army was not on guard, and was immediately shot over hundreds of people, the soldiers screamed, the horses neighed, and they fell to the ground one after another, and the thieves were terrified, and there was a big chaos.

"The Sui army is here!"

A cavalryman shouted and ran, at this time, an arrow pierced his neck, he screamed and planted his horse, only to see a large group of Sui cavalry appear in the white smoke, the hooves of the horses were wrapped in straw, passing through the smoke, killing silently.

Du Yan saw that the opponent's team was not in order, this was the best opportunity, and he shouted, "Kill!" ”

Five hundred Sui cavalry like a sharp sword, rushed into the chaos of the enemy, more than a thousand thieves into two, five hundred Sui cavalry divided into five teams, neat and orderly, they rushed to kill sharp, brave and abnormal, in the shortest possible time, the rebels were cut into pieces.

Although the rebel cavalry had more than 1,000 people, and their equipment was not much different from that of the Sui army, there was a huge gap in training.

Cavalry combat pays attention to formation and coordination, and the neat lineup makes the command smoother, and skillful coordination can form a powerful combat force and greatly improve the combat efficiency, without wasting time and physical strength in needless running.

The thief army was killed in the chaos and retreated, Song Hu was furious, he roared wildly, waved his big knife and threw himself into the Sui soldiers, killing fiercely, and knocked down seven or eight Sui cavalry in a row, and the three hundred cavalry behind him also followed him into the Sui army, disrupting a Sui cavalry team.

The chaotic rebel army also gradually began to concentrate on Song Hu, and the cavalry behind him quickly expanded from more than 300 to more than 500, and the disadvantage was gradually turning.

Du Yanshen is a general who has been promoted step by step from a scout soldier, with rich combat experience, he knows that most of the characteristics of the rebel army are called by the leader, and this rebel army is the same, as long as the head thief general is eliminated, the enemy army will collapse immediately.

He immediately ordered, "Concentrate your forces and kill the thief general!" ”

Two Sui cavalry from the left and right, the target was like a mad tiger Song Hu, more than a dozen Changmai stabbed at him together, Song Hu brandished a big knife left and right slashed, he had killed more than 20 Sui cavalry, fierce and abnormal, Sui soldiers were killed by him and retreated.

Du Yan saw the crisis of the situation, he rode his horse and galloped, flew from the side, opened his bow and set up an arrow, and shot an arrow at Song Hu's war horse, this arrow was shot at the left eye of the war horse, the war horse neighed miserably, the front hooves jumped high, Du Yanshen shot another arrow, the arrow pierced the heart of the war horse, the war horse fell to the ground with a bang, and Song Hu was pressed under him, more than a dozen Sui soldiers rushed up, and stabbed Song Hu to death under the horse.

The main general was killed in battle, the thief army lost its command, and quickly fell into chaos, many thieves turned their horses and fled, and the Sui cavalry immediately covered up and killed, and the thief army was defeated and fled, chasing all the way for more than ten miles.

At this time, Du Yanshen restrained his horse, he heard the sound of a whimpering horn, and a soldier pointed to the distance and shouted, "General, look! ”

I saw a black army a few miles away, numbering tens of thousands of people, and it was rushing towards this side, Du Yanshen reacted violently, this is Dou Jiande's army is coming, he shouted anxiously, "Retreat!" Retreat now! ”

Hundreds of cavalry turned their horses and quickly withdrew to the south, which was the vanguard of Dou Jiande's army, with more than 30,000 people, led by Dou Jiande's number one general, Wang Fubao.

Wang Fubao's army has already arrived in Gongcheng County, he has been waiting for Dou Jiande's arrival, Wang Fubao is a general who can fight well, has a clear mind, he is not in a hurry to enter Hanoi County, he knows that if he enters Hanoi County too early, he is likely to be annihilated by the Sui army's concentrated superior forces, he only needs to firmly grasp the passage into Hanoi County, and then wait for Dou Jiande's army to arrive.

In fact, Dou Jiande's army had already arrived in Suixing County, which was dozens of miles away from Gongcheng County, and Dou Jiande issued an order in Suixing County, ordering Wang Fubao to seize Xinxiang County as soon as possible.

An army of 80,000 is not something that a small Gongcheng County can support, Dou Jiande needs a broader area as a base for the troops, and the Xinxiang County Plain to the south of Gongcheng County is undoubtedly the most ideal place for the troops, and it will also be the base for them to attack Hanoi County.

The news of the arrival of Dou Jiande's army was spreading to Xinxiang County and Huojia County to the west at the fastest speed.