In Ha Duong County, Hanoi County, the Yellow River is still frozen for thousands of miles, the river is covered with thick ice, the north wind is howling, the cold air hits people, in this icy and snowy world, you can see traders and horse-drawn carriages coming and going on the ice from time to time.

Thousands of cavalry lined up on the north bank of the Yellow River, Yang Yuanqing inspected the situation in the Yellow River accompanied by Xu Shiji, Yang Yuanqing only stayed in Hedong County for three days and came to Hanoi County, came to Hanoi County to appease the soldiers and spend the New Year with the soldiers, but Xu Shiji told an unexpected information.

"Boss, this is it!"

Xu Shiji pointed to a faintly visible black spot in the Yellow River, "There is Zhongjunzhou, and there is Heyang Pass on the island!" ”

Zhongjunzhou is an island in the Yellow River, covering an area of thousands of acres, the island is built with Heyang Pass, it is an extremely important military fortress in the Yellow River, it is currently occupied by Li Mi, Zhongyuzhou is only two miles away from the south bank of the Yellow River, but there are eight miles away from the north bank of the Yellow River, Li Mi wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of Dou Jiande's invasion of Hanoi to take advantage of the fire to rob, it is to take Zhongjizhou as a springboard.

After Li Mi's sneak attack on Hanoi failed, Xu Shiji once wanted to capture Zhongbizhou, but the time was not ripe, and he did not do it for the time being, and now Li Mi's main force was dragged by Yu Wenhua in Pengcheng County, and he was unable to fight with the Northern Sui army on two fronts, and the time was ripe.

Under the afternoon sun, the sky was exceptionally clear, and the line of sight could be seen far away, Yang Yuanqing saw Zhongjunzhou in the distance, but he was thinking about Xu Shiji's suggestion in his mind.

On the other side of the island is the famous Montsuto. Thirty miles to the south is Luokou City, the capital of Li Mi. About 100 miles to the southeast is Luoyang City, if you can take Zhongyuzhou, it can indeed become a springboard to seize Luoyang City in the future.

But at this time, Yang Yuanqing is not only thinking about a Zhongyu continent, but also Li Mi's other strategic resources, Li Mi is now being dragged by Yu Wenhua and the army, and the rest of the army is strictly guarding Luokou City and does not dare to come out, and Wang Shichong is eyeing and preparing to attack Luoyang Junchen, the power on both sides of the Yellow River is a blank, only Hanoi County is dominant, he does not take the opportunity to seek a little benefit. That's stupid.

"How many defenders are there in Zhongchuan now?" Yang Yuanqing asked quietly.

"About a thousand."

"What about the distribution of Li Mi's ships, do you know?" Yang Yuanqing continued to ask.

"Back to the chief manager, he sent scouts to inspect the next month, and Li Mi's ships numbered about 4,000. Mainly distributed in Mengjindu and Liyangdu, he went south to Pengcheng County to take more than 1,000 ships to transport grain, and there were more than 400 ships parked in the harbor before and after Zhongjizhou. ”

"Do you know how many garrisons there are in Liyang City?"

Xu Shiji's eyes gradually lit up, "What does the chief mean to capture Liyang City?" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled and nodded, "Do you know the situation of the defenders of Liyang City?" ”

"My subordinates probably know a little bit, the defenders are about 3,000 people, led by the general Zhang Tongren."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, picked up a branch and drew a river channel on the ground, "If you go to the north bank, you have to pass through Jijun." It is easy for the other party to discover our intentions, and if we go to the south bank and attack Liyang City after passing the East County, it will have a surprise effect. ”

"But..... If we take Liyang City, will Dou Jiande accept it? Xu Shiji asked with some concern.

Yang Yuanqing smiled and said: "It was indeed very important when there was grain in Liyang City in the past, but now that the grain is empty, there is no difference between Liyang and ordinary cities, except for a few thousand ships, it has no strategic significance for Dou Jiande, but it is not the case for us." I mainly consider that in the future, the fleet will go north, and taking Liyang City will pull out the biggest obstacle that hinders the fleet from going north. ”

Xu Shiji was silent. He did know that standing on the Liyang Cangcheng could condescendingly attack the ships in the canal. With a hundred trebuchets, a thousand ships can be destroyed and Liyang City can be captured, which can become an important logistics place for the southern front to attack Dou Jian's German army.

"Chief, let me go when you attack Liyang City! Only I am the most suitable. ”

After talking for a long time, Yang Yuanqing meant this, he laughed, and said to Xu Shiji: "Today is the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, there are three days before the New Year, and it is the weakest moment for defense, you set off now, I will give you 5,000 cavalry, and after three days, you must take Liyang City for me, and at the same time capture the ships of Liyangdu." ”

"The last general obeys!"

Xu Shiji turned over and rode towards Xinxiang County with more than 100 guards, Yang Yuanqing looked back at Zhongyuzhou, his eyes showed strong interest, he hadn't been in battle in person for a long time......

The night gradually fell, the night shrouded both sides of the Yellow River, the night sky was covered with stars, the snow on the ice of the Yellow River reflected the faint starlight, so that the river surface seemed to be sprinkled with a layer of silver light, in the night, an army of 3,000 people marched quickly on the river.

The Yellow River has been frozen very strong, and it is covered with a thick layer of snow, so that the surface of the river is not slippery. With a sound, Yang Yuanqing rode on his horse and looked at Zhongyuzhou in the distance, which was getting closer and closer.

Zhongchuan Island is a long island, the island is covered with dense trees, it itself is a part of the land, I don't know when a flood of the Yellow River, so that the land in the south is swallowed by the Yellow River, the original river peninsula has become an island, the area of Zhongbin Island has 1,000 acres, there is a fishing village, more than 100 years ago, a castle was built on the island, called Heyang Pass, the castle is also rectangular, the circumference is three miles, more than 1,000 people can be stationed.

At present, there are indeed a thousand soldiers in the castle, the defender is called Sun Fu, is the Eagle Yang Lang general in Li Mi's army, two days ago, Sun Fu got a report from the spies, a large number of Sui troops gathered in Heyang, Sun Fu immediately realized that the Sui army is likely to attack Heyang Pass, if it is not to fight Heyang Pass, it is to attack the alliance Jindu.

Sun Fu was extremely nervous, on the one hand, he sent people to Luokou City to urgently ask for help from the guard Wang Bodang, and on the other hand, he sent spies to patrol day and night to observe the movements on the north bank of the river.

At this time, Sun Fu was patrolling the city, although the weather was cold at night, he still did not dare to be careless, because the line of sight could be seen far during the day, the Sui army generally did not attack during the day, and was very likely to attack at night when the defense and eyesight were weak.

He divided his army of 1,000 into three squads and patrolled the city day and night, when a cavalry patrol came galloping from a distance and shouted from below: "General Qiyu, we have found a Sui army coming towards our castle, about 3,000 men, and it has reached two miles from the river. ”

Sun Fu was taken aback, the enemy army was really coming, and he immediately turned around and shouted: "Ring the alarm bell and order all the soldiers to go to the city to defend!" ”

'When! While! While! ’

The piercing alarm bells rang, and spread far away in the silent night.

Yang Yuanqing reined in the war horse, he clearly heard the warning bell, the other party had already discovered him, he immediately shouted: "The whole army stops advancing!" ”

The team stopped advancing, and at this time they were still a mile away from Zhongyu Island, and they could clearly see the forest on the island, but they could not see Heyang Pass, which was blocked by the dense forest.

Yang Yuanqing turned back to the two pro-soldiers and said: "Go to the city of Sue, just say that I, Yang Yuanqing, personally led the troops to come, let the main general surrender, and he can be crowned an official, otherwise he will not live to dawn tomorrow!" ”

The two personal soldiers urged the horses to go, bypassed the forest, and ran to the city in a moment, dozens of steps away, a soldier shouted: "The lord of the city will listen, His Royal Highness the King of Chu personally led the troops to come, and ordered you to lay down your arms and surrender, you can be crowned an official and knighted, if you dare to resist the heavenly soldiers, you will not live to dawn!" ”

The defenders in the city were in an uproar, it turned out that Yang Yuanqing personally led the troops to arrive, many people showed fear in their eyes, Sun Fu was Li Mi's personal soldier, loyal to Li Mi, and had no idea of surrendering, he sneered, turned around and shouted: "Release the arrow!" Shoot them. ”

The city was surrounded by arrows, two pro-soldiers greeted each other with huge shields, quickly retreated, a war horse was unfortunately shot, neighed to the ground, and overturned the pro-soldiers to the ground, the other hurriedly stepped forward to guard, the two rode a horse together, and quickly fled away.

The report of the two pro-soldiers made Yang Yuanqing furious, a small guard dared to bully him, he pulled out his sword and waved it, and ordered loudly: "Take the city, double the reward, the first to cut off the head of the guard, the official is promoted to three levels, and the reward is a thousand taels of silver!" ”

The morale of the Sui army was invigorated, and 3,000 soldiers galloped towards Heyang Pass, and the 3,000 Sui troops brought ten siege ladders and a battering ram, which was dragged by thirty horses.

In a moment, the army arrived at Heyang Pass, and they did not rush to attack the city, but lined up one hundred and fifty steps away, waiting for Yang Yuanqing's order.

Yang Yuanqing immediately looked at the castle on a mound, under the starlight, the head of Heyang Pass was about two zhang high, there was only one north city gate, the one-zhang wide moat had been frozen into ice, the city was full of dense soldiers, it could be seen that the other party had prepared, and water was poured on the city, making the whole city crystal clear.

It is not easy to capture the city with a siege ladder, Yang Yuanqing's eyes fell on the city gate, it is more reliable to use a battering ram, he immediately ordered: "Check the thistle terrestris first!" ”

Immediately rushed up a few soldiers, lying on the ground groping, and came back after a moment to report: "Chief Qiqi, there is a large amount of thistle terrestris sprinkled on the ground!" ”

Sure enough, as he expected, Yang Yuanqing glanced back at the dense forest around him, and he waved his sword to order, "Chop down the pine forest to pave the way!" ”

The best way to deal with thistle terrestris is to pave a new road, such as paving with bags of soil, such as paving with wooden planks, if there are many trees around, paving with trees is also a simple and effective way, especially pine trees, if the pine trees are tall and dense, dozens of trees can pave a new road.

More than 1,000 soldiers started together, cut down more than 100 pine trees in a moment, the soldiers dragged the pine trees and rushed to the city, at this time the city head was shot with arrows, the Sui army raised a huge shield to defend, paved the pine road in the dense arrow rain, the pine trees were five in a row, and soon a wide pine road was paved, and the iron thistle terrestris all over the ground lost its effect.

At this time, more than 100 soldiers held shields in one hand, while carrying barrels of fire oil, braving the rain of arrows, running along the pine road to the city gate, barrels of fire oil smashed on the moat, black oil flowed all over the place, the soldiers rushed back, a rocket rose into the air, drew an arc in the air, shot in the fire oil, the fire suddenly burned away, and the flames engulfed the moat.