The body has long been changed into the clothes of ordinary soldiers, and the helmet has long been lost there, even the hairpin is gone, the hair is scattered on the shoulders and back, mixed with sweat and cement and sticky into a pile, the handsome little face is covered with mud and dust, sweat flows down the face, drawing straight or crooked white marks, and wiping it will immediately become a mess. All over the body, from head to toe, he was so embarrassed that he was afraid that acquaintances couldn't recognize Li Er face to face.

It is the third time that Li Er has been so embarrassed in front of the Sui army, the first time was in the Battle of Lishan in Guanzhong, the second time was during the Battle of Huoyi, and the third time is now! Li Er, who was ordered to lead the army to the palace, covered the retreat of the main force of the Taiyuan army, but relying on the cover of Li Shentong's digging embankment and releasing water, Li Er easily fled for more than 100 miles, but before he could withdraw to the city of Qixian County, the Sui cavalry led by Cheng Yanjin and Qin Qiong had already caught up, and fought a fierce battle with Li Er on the shore of Lize Lake.

Li Er was very skeptical that he had Cheng Biting Jin and Qin Qiong having the hatred of killing his father or taking his wife, the main force of the Taiyuan Army, which was dominated by infantry, was actually more than ten miles ahead, and the cavalry of the Sui Army could catch up with the main force of the Taiyuan Army led by Li Jiancheng as long as they had a little effort, but Cheng Biting Jin and Qin Qiong seemed to have taken the wrong medicine, and let the brigade of the Taiyuan Army not chase and cut, and let Li Jiancheng lead the army to go away calmly, but they also focused on the palace army of less than 4,000 people under Li Er's command, and also divided the army into two, taking turns to pursue and fight and take turns to rest.

Encountering Li Er's army in a formation, the Sui cavalry retreated and refused to fight with Li Er, but as long as Li Er's army began to march, the Sui cavalry would immediately catch up, and if there was a chance, they would charge and raid, and if they didn't have a chance, they would shoot a random arrow so that Li Erjun was forced to fight in formation, resolutely biting Li Er's tail, and not giving Li Erjun a chance to escape in stride. Then, the cavalry of the other Sui army, which had rested before, would rely on strong mobility to rush back to the front of Li Erjun's army, stop Li Erjun's retreat on the spot, and then charge and raid the melee when he had the opportunity, and continue to drag Li Er's with random arrows if he didn't have a chance, consuming the physical strength and strength of Li Erjun's troops, and constantly weakening the morale and fighting spirit of Li Erjun.

Although Li Er can fight well, but his body is not iron, and the Taiyuan soldiers under his command are not iron, under such a high-intensity physical exertion, they only lasted for less than a day*, Li Erjun was so tired that he almost collapsed, and more than half of the soldiers were scattered and fled, and the feather and arrow reserves were also consumed a lot, and there was no way to shoot away the Sui cavalry that charged and killed with a strong bow and crossbow. Although the physical consumption and bow and arrow consumption of the Sui cavalry were also very serious, they were better anyway, so when the Sui cavalry seized the fighter to block the front and chase after the force, Li Erjun could no longer hold on, and was completely defeated by the Sui cavalry with a charge, and was forced to flee in all directions from top to bottom, and never dared to reassemble.

Even if Li Er was smart, when he withdrew to the side of Qi County, Zhu Cang, Wang Huaiwen and other subordinates all suggested that Li Er enter the city to temporarily avoid the pursuing soldiers, but Li Er was not confused, knowing that once he entered the city and wasted time, he was likely to be surrounded by the infantry brigade of the Sui army, and there was no chance to leave the small city of Qi County, so he insisted on continuing to flee north with the army. Then when he realized that the army could not hold on, Li Er quickly changed into soldiers' clothes so that the soldiers of the Sui army could not distinguish his identity, and finally when Li Erjun was about to completely collapse, Li Er also ordered the standard-bearer to flee separately from him under his own banner, successfully deceived the attention of most of the Sui cavalry, and took the initiative to dismount and walk away without being able to attract attention, which was fortunate not to be bitten by the Sui cavalry immediately after the collapse.

But soon, Li Er finally understood why Cheng Biting Jin and Qin Qiong were like having a hatred for killing his father and taking his wife, and after catching up with Li Er's banner and finding out that he was deceived, the cavalry of the Sui Army immediately pursued and killed Li Er's army with all their might, and kept shouting. His Royal Highness the King of Tang ordered to take Li Er's first level and reward a thousand gold's slogan, and kept shouting slogans to say what to hand over Li Er's reward of gold and one hundred taels of gold and seal seven products, encouraging Li Er's army to defeat the water and capture or identify Li Er, so that Li Er couldn't help but start to wonder whether Chen Fuliang robbed his sweetheart again, or did he rob Chen Fuliang's sweetheart?

What's worse is that Li Er, who is as careful as a hair, found that the only five or six remaining entourages around him have gradually become unreliable, including Zhu Cang, who once sold Chen Fuliang, when he secretly looked at Li Er, his eyes had already quietly begun to have bad intentions, as if he might respond to the call of the Sui army at any time to take down Li Er's head and sacrifice it to Chen Fuliang to atone for his sins. was so frightened that Li Er had to whisper to Wang Huaiwen, the only pro-soldier captain with firm eyes, and asked him to pay attention to maintaining a back-to-back position with him, and be on guard against himself at any time? Sneak attack by the retinue.

Fortunately, Li Er's luck on the battlefield has always been quite good, the Sui cavalry scattered and chased and killed, and they never approached Li Er's thirty steps, never found Li Er who drilled grass everywhere, and never forced Zhu Cang, whose eyes were flashing, to the point where he had to do it, and then after the sky, Li Er and Zhu Cang and other five or six people finally came down safely, and they were able to escape into the woods under the cover of night, and then fled to Taiyuan by taking the trail.

When Li Er and the others fled back to Taiyuan City on foot, the time was already the seventh day of June in the third year of Yining, and the main force of the Taiyuan Army also successfully withdrew to Taiyuan City without much loss, and the Sui cavalry who concentrated on pursuing Li Er stopped the pursuit when there were still fifty miles left from Taiyuan, and Li Er, who was so embarrassed that he even had holes in his shoes, was able to enter the city smoothly and saw his brother Li Jiancheng and his fourth brother Li Yuanji and others. And when it was time to meet, Li Er clearly saw that a trace of disappointment seemed to flash in his brother's eyes, as if he hoped that Li Er would die tragically in the rout.

No matter how disappointed you are, it is useless, no matter what, the main force of the Taiyuan army was able to withdraw to the old nest Taiyuan City with slight losses, mainly because Li Er successfully contained the Sui army's pursuers, so Li Jiancheng had no choice but to order his subordinates to bring wine and food to reward Li Er. However, just when Li Er was gobbling up, suddenly a Li Jiancheng's personal soldier hurriedly entered the hall and presented Li Jiancheng with a Tang newspaper with chicken feathers and said: "Yuzuo Governor, Xinkou urgently, Liu Wuzhou's army has arrived at Xinkou, with a strength of about 36,000, Liu Wuzhou came in person, and the striker is his brother-in-law Song Jingang." ”

Bang, hearing this bad news, no matter how deep Li Er's city government was, he couldn't help but have a job in his hand, and asked with a pale face: "Brother, Liu Wuzhou also came to take advantage of the fire to rob?" ”

"Who said that Liu Wuzhou came to take advantage of the fire to rob?" Li Jiancheng glanced at his second brother and said, "Liu Wuzhou is here to help us, and he wants to join forces with us to resist Chen Yingliang's attack." ”

"Liu Wuzhou is here to help us?" Li Er was taken aback again, and exclaimed, "When we formed an alliance with Liu Wuzhou? How did I not know about this? ”

"When Duan Lun accidentally lost Lingshi City, I had already sent Wang Qi north to Mayi and concluded an alliance with Liu Wuzhou. After discovering that Lengquan Pass was likely to hold out for a long time, I sent a fast horse to beg Liu Wuzhou to send troops immediately, but fortunately it was all successful. Li Jiancheng explained quietly, and said: "Also, Liu Wuzhou and you are already relatives. My father is no longer alive, but my brother has made the decision for you, made a marriage for you and Liu Wuzhou's youngest sister, and married our sixth sister to Liu Wuzhou's cousin. ”

Li Er's mouth was almost open to the ground, so surprised that he couldn't believe his ears, Li Jiancheng misunderstood the meaning of the second brother, so he said again: "Second brother, don't blame me, in order to join hands with Liu Wuzhou to fight against the strong enemy, the brother had to be forced to take power." But you are not young, it is time to marry a wife, Liu Wuzhou's sister Liu Xiaoyan is sixteen years old this year, I heard Shu Jue say that her appearance is quite good, and she is worthy of you. ”

"No, no, no." Li Er hurriedly waved his hand and said with a happy smile: "Brother misunderstood, you set such a good family business for your younger brother, and it is too late for the younger brother to be happy, how can you blame you?" Thank you brother, thank you brother, the younger brother is very satisfied with this family business, I can't ask for it! It's really hard to ask for! ”

When he said this, Li Er's face was full of smiles before he washed off the mud and sweat, and he rarely smiled very sincerely and easily, definitely from the heart. Li Jiancheng, who knew what kind of virtue his second brother was, sighed secretly in his heart, and scolded secretly: "Liu Wuzhou Pifu, sure enough, he is also an old fox, I don't agree to ask for my fifth brother Li Zhiyun, I want to marry my sister to me, an ambitious second brother, and it is clear that I want to split my internal and find an opportunity to eat our army in one bite!" ”

Sighing is useless, things have come to this point, Li Jiancheng knows that letting the second brother marry Liu Wuzhou is a cup of wine and has to drink it hard, so Li Jiancheng nodded again and said: "It's good if you are satisfied, you will officially marry after defeating Chen Yingliang, and besides, I will never break my promise if I say it, I will give you 5,000 troops after a few days of rest." ”

"Thank you, brother, thank you, brother." Li Er hurriedly thanked Li Jiancheng again and again, and hurriedly asked: "Brother, Liu Wuzhou promised to form an alliance with our army and send troops to help us resist the Chen thief army, I'm afraid there are any additional conditions, right?" ”

"Of course there are strings attached." Li Jiancheng sighed at this time, and said quietly: "Yanmen County, add 10,000 iron armor, 30,000 stones of grain and 10,000 pieces of cloth, plus the grain and grass expenses for Liu Wu's Zhou army to fight in Taiyuan. Fortunately, Chen Yingliang rejected Liu Wuzhou's land claim to Yanmen County, otherwise, Liu Wuzhou might have stood on Chen Yingliang's side and helped Chen Yingliang attack us. ”

"Brother doesn't need to be sad, it's definitely worth sacrificing a Yanmen County in exchange for an alliance with Liu Wuzhou." Li Er comforted: "Not to mention that we can get direct help from Liu Wuzhou to save the immediate need, after repelling Chen Yingliang's thief army in the future, we can also reopen the salt horse road, get horses, cattle and sheep from the Mobei grassland, and form more cavalry teams." ”

"You don't need to comfort me, I know it's a drink to quench my thirst, but now I can't think of a better way than to drink a duck to quench my thirst." Li Jiancheng shook his head and sighed, knowing that forming an alliance with his long-cherished enemy Liu Wuzhou was tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger, and it was even more important to lure a wolf into the room, but he had no choice but to save the immediate need first.

Li Jiancheng shook his head and sighed, but Li Er's heart blossomed with joy - of course Li Er also knew that Liu Wuzhou's alliance with the self-army was ill-intentioned, but it didn't matter, Li Er's self-confidence and fighting heart were definitely better than his future brother-in-law Liu Wuzhou, and he believed that after getting Liu Wuzhou's strong arm, he would definitely be able to trample the damned brother under his feet, continue the army position left by Li Yuan, and reproduce the Li family's heroism! And after the secret joy, Li Erbu asked again: "Brother, what about Luo Yi and Dou Jiande?" Did they promise to send troops to help us? ”

"No news yet." Li Jiancheng replied casually: "Dou Jiande's side should not be a big problem, he has always been disgusted with Chen Yingliang stealing the power of the imperial court, not only expelled Chen Yingliang's envoy several times, but also made a big enmity with Chen Yingliang on the battlefield of Linfen, and now it is far more convenient for him to send troops from Jingcheng Pass than from Shangdang, even if he will not personally lead the main force to come, he will at least send another reinforcement army to share the pressure on us." ”

"As for Luo Yi's side......." Li Jiancheng frowned a little and said: "What I'm most worried about now is him, although he refused Chen Yingliang's appeasement and canonization before, but he was very respectful and kind to Chen Yingliang's envoy, leaving enough way back, if he stands on Chen Yingliang's side at this critical moment, not only will he threaten our rear, but he may also bite Dou Jiande, so that Dou Jiande can't spare his hand to help us." ”

"Brother, the younger brother has a plan, maybe he can persuade Luo Yi to form an alliance with our army." Li Er smiled and said: "Junior brother heard that Luo Yi and his wife Meng and his wife have a deep relationship, and there are some fears of guilt, why don't my brother buy his wife with rare treasures first, so that Meng Shi will tell Luo Yi the reason that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, and urge Luo Yi to also send troops to fight against Chen thieves with our army?" ”

"Meng loves Zhucui." Li Jiancheng said casually: "I gave her three sets of pearl and emerald jewelry from the collection of Jinyang Palace, but I don't know if she is satisfied." ”

Li Er laughed loudly, and rarely praised his brother from the bottom of his heart, and then asked about the situation of the main force of the Sui army, Li Jiancheng introduced that the main force of the Sui army is not advancing fast, and the latest report is that he is still attacking Jiexiu to ensure that the grain road is unimpeded, and at the same time dividing troops to attack Xihe County to govern Xicheng, Li Er was completely relieved, and laughed at a few words of Chen Fuliang's life of being cautious in using soldiers, and then picked up the rice bowl and ate again.

The second day after Li Er returned to Taiyuan, it was only on the ninth day of the first month of June, Song Jingang, the vanguard of Liu Wuzhou's army, had already led an army of 5,000 troops to arrive at the city of Taiyuan first, stationed in the northeastern suburbs of Taiyuan, and then the next day, Liu Wuzhou, who had already proclaimed himself Emperor Dingyang, also personally led the main force of Dingyang to Taiyuan. Li Jiancheng didn't dare to slack off when he heard the news, and hurriedly led Li Er and the Taiyuan army out of the city for twenty miles to greet him, while Li Yuanji was worried that Liu Wuzhou would not be good at refusing to go out of the city, and Li Jiancheng did not force him, so he and his absolute henchman Feng Li guarded the city together, and at the same time brought some elite hands to prevent accidents.

Li Jiancheng obviously misunderstood Liu Wuzhou, after the two armies greeted each other, the flag flashed, Liu Wuzhou, who had met the Li brothers on the battlefield a few times, under the guidance of Li Jiancheng's henchman Wang Qi, led some civil and military officials to take the lead in patting the horses out of the ranks, and also dismounted in front of the army and walked forward, indicating that there was no malicious intent. Li Jiancheng and Li Er breathed a sigh of relief when they saw it, and they dismounted together, strode forward to meet Liu Wuzhou and the others, and saluted together with their fists from a distance, shouting loudly: "Chengji Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, I have seen His Majesty Emperor Dingyang!" ”

"The two virtuous brothers don't need to be polite." Liu Wuzhou, who is now more than Chinese New Year's Eve years old, is obviously also an acting school, laughed and hugged his fists to return the salute, and then grabbed Li Er's hands, patted Li Er's shoulder and laughed heartily, and said: "Erlang, let's finally meet again!" The last time I was annoyed in the building, I was almost killed by you with an arrow, and I gritted my teeth and swore to take revenge on you, I really didn't expect that we would meet again this time, and we would soon become relatives! ”

"Your Majesty forgives you for your sins, and the younger brother really offended Your Majesty at that time."

Li Er hurriedly apologized, but Liu Wuzhou interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said with a laugh: "You don't need to be so polite to Your Majesty, you are about to become my brother-in-law, call me brother!" ”

Li Er hurriedly and modestly said that he didn't dare, but unexpectedly, a crisp woman's voice suddenly came from behind Liu Wuzhou and the others, and said fiercely: "Call Your Majesty!" Brother, I'm not at the mercy of the fourth sister, my Langjun I have to be satisfied with it myself, and if I don't nod my head, it won't count! ”

As Li Jiancheng and the other Taiyuan military civilians looked up in surprise, Li Er's eyes suddenly lit up again, it turned out that a girl in hunting clothes came out behind Liu Wuzhou and others, fifteen or sixteen years old with a graceful figure, big eyes and small mouth, handsome appearance, very moving, and a horse bow and arrow pot on his waist, which looked very sassy, but the expression on his beautiful little face was very rude, and he hummed and asked: "Who is Li Erlang?" Stand up and let me see! ”

The scene became a little embarrassing, and Li Er, who guessed that this beautiful girl must be with Liu Wuzhou's younger sister Liu Xiaoyan, was secretly happy in his heart, but he was embarrassed to take the initiative to speak, Liu Wuzhou was also a little embarrassed, first whispered that his sister was pestering himself to come to Taiyuan together, and then pulled Li Er in front of his sister, and said with a smile: "Xiaoyan, do you see it?" He's the husband I chose for you, brother, how about it? Still satisfied, right? ”

Li Er, who is far above Chen Fuliang, is of course absolutely confident in his appearance, and said that Liu Wuzhou's sister must be very satisfied with her appearance after seeing her appearance, who knows that after Liu Xiaoyan looked Li Eryi up and down, he pouted and said: "Embroidered pillow!" Who knows if you have the ability? Do you know how to ride and shoot? Will you use soldiers on the battlefield? ”

Li Eryi almost didn't laugh out loud when he heard it, and just wanted to say that these two happened to be my best, but unexpectedly, a fast horse suddenly ran from the south, and immediately the Taiyuan army knight held a Tang newspaper sticky with chicken feathers in his hand and shouted 100,000 urgently, Li Jiancheng didn't dare to slack off when he saw it, and quickly asked his soldiers to take the Tang newspaper, and then took the Tang newspaper and opened it, Li Jiancheng's face suddenly became a little ugly.

"Brother Jiancheng, what's wrong? Is it Chen Thief's military intelligence? Liu Wuzhou asked curiously.

"Yes." Li Jiancheng didn't dare to deceive Liu Wuzhou, and lowered his head and said: "Chen Yingliang broke through Jiexiu the night before yesterday, and our army's defender Fan Botong was killed. ”

"So fast?" Liu Wuzhou was a little surprised, and said: "I remember that the envoy of your army said that the Chen thief broke the Lengquan Pass on the night of the second day of the sixth month, and his main force was still in Lingshi at that time, and you also left a heavy army to guard the imperial Jiexiu to give us time to set up defenses, and also released Wenshui to flood the road in the Bird Mouse Valley, why was Jiexiu broken by the Chen thief on the eighth night of the first month the night before yesterday?" ”

"There is a traitor in Jiexiu City." Li Jiancheng said sullenly: "There is a demon monk named Daocheng who went to the city to pray for the blessing of our soldiers, took the opportunity to contact some traitors, and dragged the Chen thief soldiers on the city wall with a Buddha flag at night, and opened the city gate to welcome the thieves into the city. ”

The atmosphere was suppressed, and Li Er also quietly gritted his teeth, but at this moment, Liu Xiaoyan, who was almost forgotten by everyone, suddenly smiled and said to Li Er: "Did you hear that?" If you have the ability to fight wars, I can consider marrying you. Also, I've heard that you have failed miserably in front of Chen Thief several times before, if you can win against Chen Thief this time, I will definitely marry you! ”

Liu Wu pulled his sister to glare, but Li Er raised his head, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay!" I promise you! This time, I must find Chen Thief to settle new accounts and old accounts! ”