The embarrassed performance and slow progress of the main force of the Sui army in the battle were like a needle booster, which finally boosted the morale of the original army, so that the soldiers of the original army, who were almost desperate after being defeated in successive battles, saw the hope of victory for the first time, and also let the confidence and courage return to the officers and soldiers of the original army, so when Li Jing led the army to arrive at Lengquan Pass on the first day, he launched a tentative attack on Lengquan Pass, which was not only easily repelled by the original army, but also greatly boosted the morale and confidence of the original army again.

In fact, the attack launched by Li Jing was entirely for the purpose of firepower reconnaissance of the original army's defensive deployment fortifications and the coverage of long-range weapons and shooting blind spots, and the original army really won only 40 people, and for the main force of the Sui army with a total strength of more than 80,000, it was not even a matter of injury and fur, but seeing that the soldiers of the self-army were all happy, and cheered constantly inside and outside Lengquan Pass, Li Jiancheng still ordered to reward the soldiers guarding the pass, and held a celebration banquet in the camp outside Jiexiu City, and celebrated the first victory of the pass with his subordinates - after all, Morale can be boosted but not discharged.

Of course, Li Er, who was still the former governor of the right capital of the army, also participated in this banquet, although he did not participate in the battle of guarding the pass, but Li Er also had his own channels to know the real situation of the battle at Lengquan Pass, so when he arrived at the banquet, Li Er kept congratulating his brother on his victory, but there was always a trace of sarcastic smile on the corners of his mouth and eyes, and he sneered at his brother's words and deeds of slapping his swollen face and fat fat, and disdained it.

That is, Li Erkou is not right, and the mood of other former military officials is still quite excited in general, and several people have pointed out, "I have long heard that Chen Yingliang traitors are most afraid of fighting tough battles, and now it seems that this rumor is absolutely true, and he barely captured a small fortress with only one school guard, and more than 1,000 people died in the Chen thief army. It can be seen from this that this thief is extremely afraid of attacking tough battles, as long as our army resolutely adopts the correct strategy of the left capital to supervise the fortified wall without fighting, it will definitely be able to consume the thief Chen and keep the enemy out of the country! ”

"Cold Spring Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is not difficult to defend, but the key is that we can't have internal problems!" Yin Kaishan, a veteran of the former army, pointed out: "The Chen thief is treacherous, and every time he encounters a famous city in Xiongguan, it is difficult to conquer, and the Chen thief must be a trick, or buy a discord, or a sneak attack, and do everything he can to abduct and steal chickens and dogs!" At the beginning, we suffered such a big loss when we were in Daxing, and were betrayed by Chai Shaopifu, which led to the defeat of our army without a fight, this time, we must learn a lesson, and we can no longer give Chen Thief the same opportunity, and we must no longer believe any of Chen Thief's rhetoric, big and small temptations. ”

"What the old general said is, it should be so!" Li Er agreed with Yuan Junwu, and then Li Er added in his stomach, "It's all nonsense!" If you say it, you don't say it! ”

Sneering, Li Er paid attention to observe his brother's expression again, and saw that although Li Jiancheng also nodded his head, his expression was not excited, obviously he also disagreed with Yin Kaishan's correct nonsense, Li Er continued to sneer, just as Li Jiancheng also raised his eyes to look at Li Er, and said to Li Er: "Second brother, our army won a small victory today, although it boosted morale, but after all, it did not hurt the main force of the thief army, and the thief army will definitely launch a larger attack on Lengquan Pass next, in your opinion, Will our army be able to hold back the full force of the thief army? ”

"Brother, if you can't stop it, don't you have to stop it?" Li Er replied quietly: "Unless my brother wants to change his strategy, put the army of Chen thieves into the original hinterland, rely on the original to fight mobile warfare with Chen thieves, and constantly attack Chen Thief's grain route, otherwise, our army can only defend Lengquan Pass with all its strength and keep the enemy out of the country." ”

Li Jiancheng was silent, in fact, Li Er had already put forward such a strategy, persuading Li Jiancheng to lead the main force to retreat to the original, and let Li Er lead the partial division as a guerrilla army, constantly attacking the Sui army's grain route and the Sui army to fight guerrilla warfare, but Li Jiancheng did not adopt it out of various considerations, and was determined to hold on to Lengquan Pass and wait for the water attack fighters to appear, and was unwilling to use the adventurous tactics of the second brother - this cannot be said who is right and who is wrong between Li Jiancheng and Li Er, in fact, both of these tactics have hope of success, but also have their own shortcomings and dangers, Li Er and Li Jiancheng do not agree, It is also completely because the two brothers have different styles and habits of using soldiers.

At this time, it was not early, the strong enemy was present, Li Jiancheng did not dare to let the generals gather all night to drink, and when he was about to let everyone disperse, a personal soldier suddenly came in outside the tent, and said to Li Jiancheng: "Governor Zuo, the patrol officer of our army captured a fine work on the mountain road, and a letter came out of him, and the letter was addressed to the right governor. With that, the soldier also held a letter over his head.

"Sure enough!"

Before the words of the pro-soldier were finished, the Li family brothers and the original military martial arts had already laughed out loud, and Yin Kaishan also said with a smile: "The old man is really not wrong, that Chen Yingliang traitor saw that Lengquan Pass was strong and difficult, and he really gave birth to a shameless poisonous plan of abduction and abduction, and it is still his best divisive plan." It's a pity that the left governor is not Zhai Rang, and the right governor is not Li ....... ”

Speaking of this with a smile, Yin Kaishan realized that he had given a very inappropriate analogy, and quickly closed his mouth - it was rumored that Li Mi was forced to kill Zhai Rang by Chen Fuliang with a discordant strategy. Fortunately, Li Jiancheng and Li Er didn't mind his gaffe, Li Er also turned to Li Jiancheng and smiled: "Brother, Chen Thief must have come to report to you that the younger brother is preparing to sacrifice the Cold Spring Pass, do you believe it?" ”

"If someone else says Erlang, you are ready to surrender, maybe you will return the letter for your brother." Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "But what Chen Yingliang said, he can only listen to it the other way around." ”

Everyone in the original army laughed together, and they all said that this was exactly the case, and what Chen Fuliang, who had a reputation for being famous in this regard, was indeed the most correct only to listen to it in reverse. In the laughter, Li Jiancheng smiled and accepted the letter presented by his own soldiers, but after only seeing the envelope, Li Jiancheng's smile froze on his face, and blurted out: "Feng Deyi!" How is it a letter written by Feng Deyi to his second brother?! ”

The laughter in the big tent of the Chinese army stopped abruptly, and Li Er also looked up in surprise and asked, "Feng Deyi's letter from his uncle?" Not Chen Yingliang's? ”

Li Jiancheng showed the envelope in his hand, and let Li Er see that the words of his virtuous nephew Li Shimin and Feng Deyi were clearly written on the envelope, and then Li Jiancheng asked again: "Second brother, since this letter was written to you by Uncle Feng, how about you take it for yourself?" ”

Li Er thought about it for a while, and then replied: "It's better to ask my brother to dismantle it on my behalf, although Uncle Feng has had a lot of dealings with his younger brother before, but I heard that he has betrayed Yuhua and defected to Chen Yingliang's rebel thief, and he is already a thief Chen, junior brother, it is better to ask my brother to dismantle it on his behalf." ”

"You're welcome to be a brother."

Li Jiancheng was really not polite, he immediately opened the letter sealed by fire paint, and took out the letter written by Feng Deyi to read it, but after only reading two sentences, Li Jiancheng's face became very solemn, his expression became more and more serious, and finally he couldn't help but glance at Li Er. The former army warriors, who had always observed Li Jiancheng's expression, secretly screamed in their hearts, and Li Er was inevitably a little worried, and couldn't help asking, "Brother, what's wrong?" What did Master Feng say in the letter? ”

Li Jiancheng didn't answer, nor did he hand the letter to Li Er to see, and after thinking about it in silence for a while, Li Jiancheng suddenly stared at Li Er and asked, "Second brother, did you tell Feng Deyi about the plan for your brother's water attack?" ”

"What?" Li Er's surprise was not trivial, and he exclaimed: "I told Feng Deyi about your water attack plan, brother?" Whose nonsense is this? The little brother hadn't seen him for at least a year! How to tell him? ”

"Water attack? What water attack? At the same time, there were many former military soldiers who were surprised - because of their loyalty and close relations, in fact, many of the former military soldiers did not know that Li Jiancheng was going to use the flood to clean up Chen Fuliang and the main force of the Sui army. And Yin Kaishan, Zhang Lun, Zhang Daoyuan and other important ministers of the former army all changed color on their faces, and exclaimed together: "Thief Chen, you already know that we are going to attack with water?" ”

Li Jiancheng didn't answer anyone's questions, but just carefully observed Li Er's emotional reaction, although he never saw any flaws, but Li Jiancheng knew very well in his heart that the depth of this younger brother's city was still above him, and his acting skills were far better than his own, so Li Jiancheng was still a little suspicious, and after thinking about it for a while, Li Jiancheng handed the letter to Li Er, and when Li Er quickly took it and looked at it carefully, a little white face quickly turned iron blue.

The general content of the letter is as follows: "Shimin Xian nephew, the letter you wrote to my uncle last time, I Feng Deyi has received it, thank you for reporting to me, saying that Li Jiancheng is building a dam upstream of the water to prepare to flood our army, uncle, I don't have to worry about feeding the fish in a daze, and he is still in the limelight with His Royal Highness the King of Tang." His Royal Highness King Tang said, although there is some grudge between him and you, and you have also broken your trust in him, but he can even forgive your brother-in-law Chai Shao several times, not to mention that you still atone for your sins this time, and took the initiative to report to our army your damn big brother's water attack and poison plan? You are afraid that he will care about those things in the past, and you don't dare to contact him directly and ask your uncle to report on your behalf, but in fact, you don't have to! You don't have to! ”

"So you can rest assured to kill your eldest brother Li Jiancheng, as long as you slaughter Li Jiancheng and surrender, His Royal Highness the King of Tang will not only not blame the past, but also make you the county duke, the chief of the Hebei Provincial March, let you take the original soldiers and horses to do Luo Yi Dou Jiande, Bo a wife Yin, the prince Wandai, His Royal Highness the King of Tang is true to his words, and he can follow the law, you can put a heart. By the way, there is another thing, the messenger you sent to deliver the letter accidentally broke his leg in the mountains, so I have no choice but to choose one of your old troops from the prisoners of war to deliver the letter. Your uncle Feng Deyi. ”

After reading this vicious letter, Li Er simply strangled Uncle Feng Deyi's thoughts, and laughed angrily: "Okay! Good! Chen Yingliang's traitor really did everything to harm me, and even Feng Deyi moved out, this old puppet is also hard working and loyal enough to please his new master! I'm afraid that he is not as loyal to Yang Guang as he is to Chen Yingliang and a traitor now! ”

After saying that, Li Er immediately knelt down on one knee to Li Jiancheng, hugged his fists and said: "Brother, the younger brother can swear to the sky, the younger brother definitely did not send someone to contact Feng Deyi's old horseman, let alone reveal to him your water attack tricks, brother!" If the younger brother has half a lie, heaven and earth will not tolerate it! ”

"Of course I can trust you." Li Jiancheng nodded, and then said suspiciously: "But Chen Yingliang's side, how did he know that our army was going to attack with water?" Even in our army, only a few people know about this, how did Chen Yingliang know about it? ”

Yin Kaishan, Zhang Daoyuan and several other insiders all changed their faces, and hurriedly saluted together, swearing that they had never divulged this important plan, and then Yin Kaishan also said cautiously: "Zuo Dudu, did Chen Yingliang's traitorous investigation know?" ”

Li Jiancheng was silent, and Li Er suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "Brother, could it be leaked out by my brother-in-law?" Brother-in-law, he also knows about your plan, and he was unfortunately captured alive by the Chen thief army on the Lingshi battlefield, and he may report this matter to the thief army. ”

"No way!" Li Jiancheng waved his hand resolutely and said solemnly: "I still believe that one or two of the thief army's fine works have passed through our army's blockade and reported the news to Chen Yingliang, but Duan Lun is absolutely impossible, with his temper, he would definitely rather die with the main force of the thief army, and never leak a word to Chen Yingliang!" ”

Li Er closed his mouth, and there was some resentment in his stomach, and said secretly: "Listen to your tone, the trust in Duan Lun, the brother-in-law, is still above me, my own brother?" ”

After analyzing for a long time, he couldn't get the gist of it, and when he believed that it was impossible for the second brother to bend to his rival, Li Jiancheng could only temporarily think that it was the Sui army who was lucky enough to find out that Li Shentong was building a dam to store water in the upper reaches of the water, and luckily passed through the strict blockade of the original army to bring the news back to Lingshi, and did not continue to investigate, and opened his mouth to let Li Er and the generals get up. However, Yin Kaishan raised a new question and asked: "Zuo Dudu, since Chen Yingliang's traitors already know that our army is building a dam upstream of the water, then he must have been prepared, and it is difficult for our army's water attack to be effective. But what do we do next? No matter how strong the Cold Spring Pass is, if the thief army continues to attack at any cost, once there is any mistake in the pass, it will be even more difficult for us to retreat with our whole body? ”

Li Jiancheng's face was gloomy again, in fact, Li Jiancheng also knew very well in his heart that Lengquan Pass could not be defended forever, and it was just to fight for the flood season to come and the water and Fen water would rise sharply, and then open the dam and release water to kill the main force of the Sui army in one fell swoop, and now that the Sui army has been prepared, then the water attack must have little effect, and once there is any mistake in Lengquan Pass, the original army will no longer have any natural danger to defend, and then it will be more difficult to withdraw to the original city a few miles away than to ascend to the sky!

-- The number of cavalry of the Sui army is extraordinarily large, and without the support of the Turks and because Liu Wuzhou robbed the horse farm and cut off the salt horse road, the cavalry of the original army was very small, and there was absolutely no possibility of stopping the pursuit of the Sui cavalry! The cavalry of the Sui army wanted to cut off Li Jianchenggui before the main force of the original army withdrew to the original city, and it was definitely easy!

When Li Jiancheng was thinking about this problem, Li Er was of course also thinking about how to deal with this, but after pondering, Li Er couldn't help but show a little joy, because Li Er suddenly found that the possibility that Li Jiancheng would be forced to accept his plan to resist the enemy next had greatly increased, and this was the only way for the army to fall in Lengquan Pass? Time to protect the army and deal with the pursuit of the Sui army! Secretly happy, Li Er hurriedly went to see Li Jiancheng quietly, but found that Li Jiancheng was looking at him, so frightened that Li Er hurriedly lowered his head, and secretly said in his heart: "You can't be happy at this time, otherwise you can only attract suspicion." ”

Li Er's reaction was a little slower, in fact, the snickering look on his face did not escape Li Jiancheng's eyes, and then thought of Li Er's previous resolute opposition to his strategy to resist the enemy and Yang Fengyin, but Li Jiancheng, who was more kind but definitely not a good stubble, inevitably had a question flashing in his mind, "Could it be that the second brother really deliberately leaked my water attack plan to Brother Ying Liangxian in order to take charge of the army, in order to let me hand over the military power to him?" Forcing me to adopt his plan to defend against the enemy, and forcing me to hand over the power of the army to him? ”

Doubts flashed in his heart, and Li Jiancheng, who knew very well what kind of virtue his other good brother Chen Fuliang was, tried his best to calm himself down, and no longer continued to think about it, and then said to everyone: "How to resist the enemy next, let me think, in short, Lengquan Pass must not give up, how our army will go next, I will also make up my mind as soon as possible." ”

Li Er agreed with the original army, and then Li Er pondered in his heart: "The fake book of the thief Chen framed me, which shows that he has been determined to get rid of me, and then not only is it likely that there will be a follow-up move, but when the cold spring can not be guarded, the thief Chen will definitely not miss the opportunity to kill me in the pursuit battle, and with my brother's suspicion of me, he will definitely force me to lead the army to the queen and let me die in vain." When the time comes, how should I deal with the traitor? And how to get out of the pursuit of the thief? ”

, read please.