It was getting dark, and after carefully cutting wood to strengthen the defense of the camp, under the order of Shengjiao, the rebel civil and military generals who had been on the stage immediately gathered in the big tent of the Chinese army to accept the arrangement of the rebel commander Yang Xuangan.

In view of the fact that there was not much time to prepare, as soon as all the civil and military forces arrived, Yang Xuangan directly announced the order: "Wang Zhongbo and Yang Gongdao listen to the order, and you two will each lead two thousand rear troops to ambush on the two wings of the camp tonight, beware of a sneak attack by officers and soldiers at night." Yang Jishan, Lai Yuan, the two of you also led 2,000 elite soldiers each, and they took turns to rest tonight, ready to meet the night attack officers and soldiers head-on. The rest of the generals led their respective teams to rest in peace, but the soldiers were not allowed to disarm, their weapons were not to be left in their hands, and once the war required them, they must immediately enter the battle. ”

The rebel generals who were ordered to rest sang their promises in unison, but several rebel generals named by Yang Xuangan had a difficult face, especially Wang Zhongbo, a veteran general left by Yang Su to Yang Xuangan, who looked even more embarrassed, and after hesitating for a moment, he also bowed his hand to Yang Xuangan and said: "Duke Chu, the last general and the rear army team under General Yang escorted grain and grass baggage, and marched for more than 190 miles in more than three days, and the team was already very tired....... ”

"I know that your rear army is tired, but I can't help it." Yang Xuangan said helplessly: "Part of our main soldiers were left on the battlefield in Luoyang, and part of them were taken to the west of Hongnong by Yang Xuanting, and there are not many soldiers who can fight, so I can't let the auxiliaries and the people serve as ambush missions, right?" So there is no way, I have to make the ranks of your rear army work hard all night. ”

Wang Zhongbo was in a great difficulty, he didn't dare to disobey the order, and he didn't know how to go down to explain to the soldiers, but the old general Li Zixiong stood up and said with relief: "Old General Wang, as long as you work hard all night, your team can rest assured tomorrow." If the officers and soldiers come to attack at night tonight, you can rest if you defeat the officers and soldiers, and if the officers and soldiers do not come to attack at night tonight, tomorrow we will defeat the Hongnong army head-on, or directly cross the Hongnong and go west to join General Yang Xuanting, and the team under your command can rest assured. For the sake of the great cause of Duke Chu, I hope that you will restrain your team with your heart and work hard for the last night tonight. ”

Li Zixiong has said it to this point, what else can Wang Zhongbo say, and he can only take the order helplessly? And although Yang Gongdao, Yang Jishan and the three generals of Lai Yuan also complained in their hearts, they had no choice but to take the order honestly, and at the same time, Yang Xuangan arranged a reliable team to strictly guard the grain and grass.

After the tent was dispersed, the rebels left the Chinese army's tent one after another, and Li Mi deliberately waited for Li Zixiong to come out of the tent together, and said to Li Zixiong alone on the way: "Old general, you built an ambush to guard against the night attack of officers and soldiers, although it was for the sake of prudence, but was it too cautious?" So far, we have not found the slightest sign of night attack by the officers and soldiers of Hongnong, and letting the officers and men work so hard at night is not only detrimental to the morale of the army, but also severely affects the combat effectiveness of our army. ”

"Master, don't take it lightly." Li Zixiong said in a tone of lesson: "Since ancient times, defeating the strong with the weak is all winning by surprise, now that we are strong and the enemy is weak, our army has crossed the narrow mountain road that is easy to be ambushed, if the enemy wants to die and struggle, there is no choice but to sneak attack, if our army does not take precautions and prepare in advance, and the officers and soldiers suddenly kill in the middle of the night, how can we resist?" ”

"That being said." Li Mi hesitated and said: "However, the officers and soldiers do not have any signs of a night attack, if they really don't come to the night attack tonight, then wouldn't the few remaining combat teams have to work hard all night in vain?" ”

"Last time in Michi, when Wei Xuan attacked us at night, did we find signs of a night attack by the official army before?" Li Zixiong smiled and asked, then patted Li Mi's shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't worry, our soldiers will not work in vain, there is a ninety percent chance that the officers and soldiers will come tonight, even if they don't come, won't our team still be able to rest in the ambush ground?" Okay, the old man is also very tired, the old man will go to rest first, you should also go and rest. ”

After that, he strongly persuaded Yang Xuangan to ambush Li Zixiong tonight, and Li Mi sent Li Zixiong away, and then turned to look at the direction of Hongnong in the west, with an extremely heavy mood. Li Mi knew that Li Zixiong's arrangement was also for the sake of the safety and security of the rebel army, and he also knew that since ancient times, the best way for the weaker side to win was to launch a surprise attack, and the possibility of officers and soldiers robbing the camp could not be ruled out tonight. However, Li Mi also knows one thing, there is a bad seed who has been weak and strong all his life, and after dozens of battles, he has not once exceeded one-tenth of the enemy's strength, but this bad seed is a dignified head-on decisive battle every time, and he has never suffered a defeat in his life, this bad race is also surnamed Chen, called Chen Qingzhi.

In this way, under the already very tired situation, the rebel rear army team escorting grain and grass did not even have a chance to rest for a night, and was forced to drag their tired bodies out of the camp again, and lay in the open air on the left and right sides of the rebel camp. In this regard, the rebel soldiers who were already exhausted were of course full of resentment and complained, while Wang Zhongbo and Yang Gongdao and other rebel generals had no choice but to appease the soldiers as much as possible, repeatedly preaching that as long as they worked hard for another night, they could rest well the next day, and they had exhausted all their efforts, so that the army could be deployed in place.

Li Mi soon found that his worries were in vain, because ......

"Woo! Knock knock knock! ”

The first shift was just over halfway, the sky had just completely darkened, the rebel team who had marched hard all day had just fallen asleep, among the mountains and mountains south of the rebel camp, suddenly there was a drum horn that shook the sky, the noise was incomparable, the loud horn and the sound of war drums resounded through the heaven and earth, and the sound spread for ten miles under the night sky where everything was quiet, and the mountains echoed, and the rebel camp was in chaos, and the rebel team thought that the Sui army had come to rob the camp, and hurriedly went out of the tent to check the situation, and Yang Xuangan, who was still depressed for the ant group words during the day, rushed out of the tent barefoot, Looking around, "The officers and soldiers are here?" Are the officers and soldiers coming? Over there? Over there? ”

Because the damned opponent was too despicable, Yang Xuangan certainly didn't see the shadow of half of the enemy, and when Li Mi, Li Zixiong and other rebel ministers quickly ran to Yang Xuangan to wait for his life, the sound of war drums and horns suddenly stopped, and the mountains to the south were suddenly quiet as if nothing had happened. Seeing this scene, Li Mi's face suddenly turned pale, knowing that even without Li Zixiong's plan tonight, the rebel team would not have thought about resting for the night.

"Oops!" Li Zixiong also came to his senses and screamed: "I can't imagine that Chen Yingliang is such a treacherous thief and actually comes up with such a tired plan, tonight, we are offended!" ”

Because Li Mi had used this method to clean up the defenders of the Eastern Capital under the Eastern Capital before, without Li Mi and Li Zixiong explaining, Yang Xuangan already knew the tactics and objectives of the Sui army, and immediately shouted: "Send a thousand troops to search immediately, see if there are any official and military ambushes, if not, slaughter all those officers and soldiers who pretend to be ghosts, drum and bugle bearers!" ”

"Duke Chu, no!" Li Mi hurriedly dissuaded: "The south is full of lofty mountains, high mountains and dense forests, and the terrain is complicated, and our army is like sprinkling a handful of salt into the sea, which is not only useless, but will also make the soldiers work harder. ”

"What then?" Yang Xuan roared angrily.

"I can only let the soldiers take turns to rest." Li Mi replied with a sad face: "No one dares to guarantee that the officers and soldiers will not suddenly come out of the ten fakes, and the only way is to let our army take turns to rest and take turns to be on guard." ”

Yang Xuangan gritted his teeth, gritted his teeth and hesitated for a long time, and finally gave the order to let the army take turns to rest and be on guard. Li Migang breathed a sigh of relief, but Yang Xuangan used him as a punching bag, and roared: "It's all a good thing you did!" If you hadn't used this trick to deal with Fan Zigai's old puppet, how could Hongnong's officers and soldiers use a despicable trick? ”

Li Mi smiled bitterly, and Li Zixiong said, "Duke Chu, why don't we also send some drum and bugle corps to harass the Hongnong officers and soldiers, so that they will not be at peace all night." ”

"General Li, what are you kidding?" Li Mi couldn't bear it anymore, "The officers and soldiers have a city to defend, and we don't have any siege weapons, so fools don't have to worry that we can attack the city wall!" Besides, the official army has Hongnong garrison guarding the city, so do you need to be afraid of our drum and trumpet harassment? ”

Li Zixiong shut up with an embarrassed face, and roared like thunder in his heart, "Little horseman! Give you three points of color, and you will open a dyeing workshop for the old man! Dare to scold the old man like this, wait for the old man to break Chen Yingliang's thief, and see how the old man cleans you up! ”

That night, just like when Li Mi harassed the defenders of the eastern capital in Anximen, every half an hour, the Hongnong drum and bugle team ambushed in the mountains and mountains had to blow trumpets and beat drums to harass them, although the rebel team took turns to rest and take turns to be on guard, but they were still harassed every time they were miserable and uneasy, and they did not dare to sleep peacefully even if they rested. In the second half of the night, when normal people's physiological conditions were the most exhausted, the drum and bugle corps commanded by Yang Zhiji's staff became even more intense, and they had to blow trumpets and beat drums every other moment, which directly harassed the rebel team to the point of distress and exhaustion, and the morale of the army was even more sluggish.

Fortunately, the night in summer is relatively short, the hour is not yet halfway, the sky has gradually brightened, the Hongnong drum and bugle team ambushed in the mountains and forests has finally stopped harassing, with the familiarity of the terrain and roads, quickly copied the path back to Hongnong City, although the angry rebel team also went into the mountains to search and kill retaliation, but because the terrain is not familiar, it is impossible to find and catch up with those Hongnong locals, and in the end it can only be in vain.

At the end of the day, when the rebel contingent that had not rested well for a whole night was still napping to make up for sleep, nearly 5,000 officers and men of the Sui army, who had rested all night, had already gotten up to wash up and wash up in the sound of morning drums, and feasted on the good meals prepared for them by the Hongnong soldiers and civilians.

Just after the first moment of the hour, after making all the preparations for the battle, and carefully checking the weapons and equipment, the battle team composed of the left and right military guards and the soldiers of the Baoguo Army gathered at the south gate of Hongnong, ready to go out of the city to fight, Wei Xuan insisted on going to battle with Chen Yingliang, Chen Yingliang was not reluctant, and agreed to Wei Xuan's request to fight together under the guarantee that Wei Xuan would not interfere with his command. At the same time, Wei Xuan was puzzled by some straw-wrapped wine jugs carried by the **** soldiers, and when asked the reason, Chen Yingliang categorically refused to answer.

Yang Zhiji personally led the Hongnong civil and military forces to see off Chen Yingliang in front of the city gate, and when parting, Yang Zhiji took Chen Yingliang's hand and whispered: "Don't blame this king for speaking unlucky, after all, the disparity in strength is too huge, your opponent is Yang Xuangan of the three armies of Yongguan, and the old thief Li Zixiong, who has experienced a hundred battles, if the war is not going well, you don't have to be too reluctant, the strength comparison is placed here, no one will blame you." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness." Chen Yingliang thanked him in a low voice, and said in a low voice: "Please rest assured, the villain never does anything that he is not sure of, and this time he will lead the army to fight, he will definitely not disappoint the emperor and His Royal Highness, please wait for good news in the city." ”

"It's up to you, take care." Yang Zhiji shook Chen Yingliang's hand a few times, and then hurriedly said: "By the way, I almost forgot a big thing, after you leave the city, if you encounter a local father and common people who give Yang Xuangan a traitor a reward of wine and meat, you must not stop and ignore it - that is a small gift from this king." Although it is not guaranteed to be delivered to you, if it is, it will definitely make a big difference to you. ”

"Your Highness is clever." Chen Yingliang's eyes lit up, and he said in surprise: "Why didn't the villain think of this?" Yang is a traitor who is good at demagoguery, and he has the support of some ignorant fools who don't know the truth, and there are often some ignorant fools who don't know the truth who take the initiative to send him wine, meat, cattle and sheep to reward his traitor team. ”

"Ignorant fools who don't know the truth?" Yang Zhiji smiled and laughed in a low voice: "Chen Ji's room is really good at talking, and now, Xiao Wang finally has a way to explain in the recital to the imperial brother." ”

Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly, he really didn't dare to continue on this topic with Yang Zhiji - after all, Yang Zhiji was the cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, and when Emperor Yang of Sui was suspicious of Emperor Yang in every way, he still stepped forward at a critical moment and fulfilled the responsibility of a relative of the emperor.

After smiling bitterly, Chen Yingliang suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly whispered: "Your Highness, what ingredients did you add to the wine and meat?" If it's arsenic, you'll be found out right away. ”

"What nonsense?" Yang Zhiji scolded Chen Yingliang and said in a low voice: "Is this king the kind of villain who poisons?" The ingredients added by this king are just to make it impossible for traitors to fight with peace of mind, and they will not be fatal. ”

After smiling at each other, Yang Zhiji gave an order, and the closed gate of Hongnong City slowly opened, followed by Chen Yingliang's order, and the soldiers of the Sui army, less than 5,000 people, marched out of the city, strode towards the rebel camp in the east of Hongnong, and took the initiative to attack the rebel camp when the strength was less than one-tenth of the enemy.

…………

When the rebel scouts reported the movement of the Sui army to Yang Xuangan, Yang Xuangan, who still had dark circles on his face, was yawning and eating breakfast for days, and learned that the Sui army team really went out of the city to come to the decisive battle, Yang Xuangan was at first, saying that he didn't expect Chen Yingliang to really fulfill his promise to come to the decisive battle, and then he was overjoyed, and immediately yelled and ordered to blow the trumpet and raise the account, and summoned the rebel army to prepare to lead the army out of the camp for a decisive battle.

After a while, the yawning rebel Wenwu rushed to the big tent to wait for his life, and learned the reason for Yang Xuangan's promotion, the rebel generals with almost black circles on their faces suddenly burst into joy, cheering that they could finally avenge Yang Xuanzong, Yang Wanshuo and their own sleep, Li Zixiong hurriedly said: "Duke Chu, the opportunity is rare, annihilation of Hongnong's officers and soldiers, we will have no obstacles on the way west to Tongguan, and there is no need to worry about the threat from the rear when attacking Tongguan, the old man asks for the order to lead 10,000 troops out of the camp and annihilate the enemy!" ”

"No!" Yang Xuangan flatly refused, gritted his teeth and said: "This time, this pillar country will personally lead an army of 20,000 to fight and avenge the second and fifth brothers with his own hands!" ”

Li Zixiong also knew that the vengeful Yang Xuangan could not miss this opportunity, so he could only nod and echo Yang Xuangan's decision, and Yang Xuangan immediately arranged the battle team, and took all the remaining main soldiers out of the camp with all the elite soldiers, and arranged more than 10,000 auxiliary troops to help the camp in order to make up the number, and the rebel generals agreed and couldn't wait to go out of the tent to assemble the team, but at this time, a loud shout sounded in the big tent of the Chinese army............

"Wait! Ladies and gentlemen, let's slow down and assemble the team! ”

"Who's stopping?" Yang Xuan was surprised and looked at the sound, and immediately found that the person who opened his mouth to stop him turned out to be Li Mi, who was becoming more and more displeasing to his eyes. Furious, Yang Xuangan roared angrily: "Li Mi, what do you want to do? ”

Of course, Li Mi wanted to persuade Yang Xuangan to give up the battle and not to risk a decisive battle with Chen Yingliang, who was uncharacteristically seeking a frontal decisive battle, after seeing Yang Xuangan's angry expression, Li Mi changed his mind and said in a low voice: "Duke Chu, our team didn't have enough rest last night, do you want to stay in the camp for the time being, let the soldiers rest for a while, and it's not too late to fight at noon or in the afternoon?" ”

"I don't need to!" Yang Xuan said viciously: "The soldiers didn't rest well last night, they were all angry, and this pillar country just borrowed their fire to use it!" ”

Li Mi was silent, knowing that it was useless to persuade him, maybe Yang Xuangan left himself in the camp in a fit of anger, in order to help Yang Xuangan correct his mistakes at any time in order to go into battle together, and dissuade Yang Xuangan's impulsive actions, Li Mi could only choose to retreat rationally. At the same time, Li Mi's strong sixth sense also told himself that this decisive battle was definitely not as simple as he imagined.

Without the hated Li Mi to stop the trouble, the rebel army was quickly assembled, and under the personal leadership of Yang Xuangan, the camp advanced westward and went to the open area to fight to the death with the Sui army. And when Yang Xuangan led the army out of the camp, there was also an innocuous trivial incident - some local people who couldn't stand the cruel oppression of Emperor Yang of Sui brought twenty jars of fine wine, ten baskets of steamed buns and two baskets of braised pork that had been cooked to reward Yang Xuangan's righteous master, and they also happened to meet Yang Xuangan's expedition team.

In this regard, Yang Xuangan, who had long been accustomed to going there and received the enthusiastic support of the common people, was not surprised at all, and personally thanked these enthusiastic Hongnong people, Yang Xuangan ordered loudly: "Bring these wine and meat, and after Benzhuguo personally kills Wei Xuan's old puppet and Chen Yingliang's thief, he will use these wine and meat on the battlefield to celebrate the victory and pay tribute to the souls of the two dead brothers of Benzhu Kingdom!" ”

"Strange, seems there's something wrong with it?" Li Mi, who was following behind Yang Xuangan, was a little puzzled, but what was wrong there, Li Mi couldn't remember it for a while.