The Zhai and Li coalition forces were finally forced to give up the plan to storm Luokoucang at any cost, for no other reason, Guancheng was only eighty miles away from the Tiger Prison Pass, and the rapid march could be reached in one day, after Wang Shichong's army pulled out the camp and went north, it walked forty miles on the first day, and there were only more than thirty miles left from the east camp of Li Mi's army.

The matter is not over, the day after Wang Shichong pulled out the camp to the north, the Pengcheng Sui army continued to go north, although it did not directly kill at the east gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, but pointed to the Niuzhukou in the east of the Tiger Prison Pass, confirming the news, Li Mi also wanted to rape Wang Shichong first and then kill, and then rape and then kill, because Niuzhukou is not only the only way for Li Mi's army to supply grain and grass, if Li Mi's army wants to retreat, whether it is to retreat to Jindi Pass, or directly cross the Yellow River north, it must pass through Niuzhukou, Li Mi can tolerate Wang Shichong's troops in the southeast, In any case, it is impossible to tolerate Wang Shichong's troops in Niuzhukou, even if it is stationed near the ferry in Niuzhukou!

Uncle can bear it, aunt can't bear it anymore, for the safety of the grain road and the back road, Li Mi in addition to immediately going to Niuzhukou to increase the garrison, and immediately sent Yang Jishan to lead an army of 10,000 to the south to meet the enemy, and did not expect to be able to defeat Wang Shichong in a battle, only asked to be able to prevent Wang Shichong from going north, and did not allow Wang Shichong to approach Niuzhukou!

Of course, if Li Mi knew that Wang Shichong did not go north to attack Niuzhukou and choke his throat connecting with Liyangcang, and knew that Wang Shichong was only to open up the Yellow River waterway connection with the eastern capital and obtain grain and grass supplies from the eastern capital Luoyang, then Li Mi might not be so nervous, and maybe he would deliberately let Wang Shichong set up camp on the bank of the Yellow River, and in turn make a fuss about Wang Shichong's grain road. But it's a pity that Li Mi didn't know this, Yang Jishan, who resolutely blocked it, and Wang Shichong, who resolutely went north, collided head-on, and the brave won when they met on the narrow road, and naturally a vigorous battle broke out.

The result of the war was the defeat of Li Mi's army, Yang Jishan, who was lucky enough to survive to the present, is a rare brave general, and the soldiers of Li Mi's army under Yang Jishan also have good combat effectiveness, but Wang Shichong's brave generals are more, only one Fei Qingnu who once followed Laihu'er into Pyongyang is enough to confront Yang Jishan head-on, and at the same time, the elite army under Wang Shichong's command is also stronger than Li Mi's soldiers, and the morale and fighting spirit are more high. As he wished, he arrived at the bank of the Yellow River and set up camp, which was only about five miles away from Niuzhu's throat.

The news was transmitted back to the Tiger Prison Pass, Li Mi was so worried that his hair turned white, Zhai Rang also knew that the situation was not good, and quickly found Li Mi to negotiate how to deal with it, and discussed whether to take advantage of Wang Shichong's unstable foothold to work together to drive Wang Shichong away and ensure the safety of Niu Zhukou, but Li Mi, who has always been decisive, rarely hesitated, and never made up his mind whether he should act like this. As a result, after hesitating and hesitating, the Wagang general Xu Shiyun proposed a very crazy adventurous tactic, and said: "Duke Wei, Duke of Dongjun, I heard that although Wang Shichong and Chen Yingliang are relatives of Weng's son-in-law, the relationship between them is not harmonious. ”

"In this case, let's simply ignore Wang Shichong, Duke Wei, your army has also moved to the east of the Tiger Prison Pass to set up camp, continue to concentrate on the strong attack on Luokoucang, with the Tiger Prison Pass Jiancheng to attack the west and defend the east, as long as we defeat Chen Gouguan and take Luokoucang, Wang Shichong even if we completely cut off the connection with Liyangcang, it doesn't matter, with Luokou Grain Storage, we can rest calmly, relax and slap Wang Shichong back and forth, and re-dredge the connection with Liyangcang!"

If Li Mi and Zhai Rang adopted Xu Shixian's tactic, of course Chen Fuliang couldn't cry, but this tactic was too risky, and if Li Mi and Zhai Rang missed it slightly, they would have to be wiped out, so even if it was treacherous and vicious like Li Mi, although he was tempted by this tactic, but after careful consideration, Li Mi quickly dispelled this idea, shook his head and said: "It's too risky, once we can't attack Luokou for a long time, and the grain and grass are exhausted, we will be all finished." ”

"But the combat effectiveness of the officers and troops under Wang Shichong is not bad, even if we join forces to defeat him, we will definitely suffer heavy casualties and huge losses, Chen Yingliang and traitors have also taken the opportunity to relieve their breath, at that time, how can we take Luokoucang?" Xu Shiyun asked unconvinced.

Li Mi was silent and did not answer, playing with the brush on the table, but never said a word. At this time, Pei Renji, who surrendered from the Sui army, also spoke, and said: "I agree with Xu Shixian's mention, Wang Shichong and Chen Yingliang have a bad relationship I sued him, I also know that Wang Shichong is a person who values profit over righteousness, even if he raises troops to join forces with Chen Yingliang, he must have the intention of watching the fire from the other side and reaping the benefits, we will attack Chen Yingliang with all our might, Wang Shichong will inevitably see death and not save him, even if we launch a feint and perfunctory, we can easily resist with Tiger Prison Pass Jiancheng, defeat Chen Yingliang and take Luokoucang, We can turn the tide of things. ”

Li Mi was still silent, and Wagang think tanks Bing Yuanzhen and Jia Xiong also hesitated at this moment, and both shook their heads and said: "Having said that, it is still too dangerous, Wang Shichong cut off our grain road back, once Chen Yingliang's side cannot be attacked for a long time, we will not have any chance, it is better to be safe, first beat Wang Shichong away, to ensure that our grain route is unblocked, so that even if the war lasts, we can also worry about the future." ”

"Wang Shichong is a new force, Chen Yingliang is a tired teacher, there is a truth in the world that is difficult first and then easy?" Xu Shiyun and Pei Renji were both anxious, and they both insisted: "Break Chen Yingliang first, and then break Wang Shichong, this is the right reason, give Chen Yingliang a relief, and it will be difficult for us to take Luokoucang again." ”

Of course, Li Mi also knows the difference between the difficult and the easy, but the Wagang Army is barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, but Li Mi, who is holding Liyang Cang in his hand, has already put on his shoes, and he no longer dares to play like the Wagang Army so crazy, so he knows that Xu Shiyun and Pei Renji's construction is correct and reasonable, but for the sake of safety and security, he does not dare to accept it. Over there, Zhai Rang waited anxiously, and urged: "Duke Wei, it's time to make up your mind, Wang Shichong hasn't set up a camp yet, we still have a chance, if Wang Shichong is allowed to build a strong camp like Chen Yingliang, if we want to beat him away, then we will have to pay double the price." ”

With a soft snap, the brush in Li Mi's hand was broken in two, and after throwing down the broken pen, Li Mi got up and said: "Tomorrow we will attack Wang Shichong together, beat him away, and kill him!" Behind us, in addition to the tyrant's soldiers and horses far away in Jiangdu, only Wang Shichong's official army can barely threaten us and kill him, so that we can rest assured that we can survive Chen Yingliang's traitor without worry, and we don't have to worry about any threat from the rear! ”

Xu Shiyun and Pei Renji were shocked when they heard this, and hurriedly tried their best to dissuade them, but Li Mi, who had made up his mind, resolutely refused to listen, Zhai Rang and others also agreed with Li Mi's decision, Xu Shiyun and Pei Renji's persuasion was useless, and they had to give up in disappointment, and then Xu Shiyun shook his head helplessly and said: "It's difficult, I'm afraid there will be no chance to take Luokoucang again." ”

In this way, the Zhai and Li coalition army, which was supposed to be entangled with Chen Fuliang, was forced to turn the spearhead for safety and security, and then it was Chen Fuliang's turn to laugh proudly and Wang Shichong wanted to cry without tears, never expected that the Zhai and Li coalition army would let go of the exhausted Chen Fuliang and not fight, but they wanted to come to a decisive battle with their own fresh army, and Wang Shichong, who was completely miscalculated, could only lead the army to meet the enemy, and the fateful opponents Li Mi and Wang Shichong also launched a fateful duel on the battlefield east of the Tiger Prison Pass.

As in history, Wang Shichong and Li Mi's chess opponents were extremely fierce, and Li Mi, who was helped by Wagang's elite soldiers, regained the upper hand in terms of strength, Wang Shichong was also as tenacious as in history, even if he was at a disadvantage, he still gritted his teeth and resisted, with the imperfect camp and Li Mi fought in the dark, the sun and the moon were dark, and finally Li Mi's army successfully took Wang Shichong's camp and forced Wang Shichong to lead the army to retreat to the Banzhu Palace site east of Niuzhukou, but he also paid a heavy price for it, And did not achieve the goal of completely annihilating Wang Shichong's army, Wang Shichong's 30,000 troops still had the strength to fight after more than 5,000 casualties, and they could still threaten the back of the Zhai and Li coalition army.

Li Mi, who finally avenged the revenge of an arrow, refused to give up, taking advantage of the opportunity that Chen Fuliang was still licking his wounds in Luokoucang, Li Mi continued to march with the power of victory, and continued to join forces with the Wagang army to attack Wang Shichong, but Wang Shichong once again stubbornly faced the battle, and refused to be defeated, although the Zhai and Li coalition forces won the field battle again, they failed to break through Wang Shichong's Banzhu camp again, and relieved a little, Wang Shichong also immediately strengthened the camp in the deep ditch of Banzhu, and at the same time sent people to contact Dongdu and Chen Fuliang to inform the situation of the army, also asked Chen Fuliang to enter the army as much as possible to share the pressure on himself.

Wang Shichong's messenger took a lot of effort to send the news to Chen Fuliang, and learned that Wang Shichong and Zhai Li Coalition Army had fought several times before and after, Chen Fuliang of course couldn't even close his mouth with laughter, Liu Changgong and Yuan Tiangang and other people with bad personalities laughed wildly, and said: "Wang Shichong, you old slippery head also have today?" When you hid on the other side of the city to watch the fire before, why didn't you expect that there would be today? ”

After laughing wildly, Liu Changgong, who had the worst personality, immediately instigated: "Brother Yingliang, leave him alone, let Wang Shichong, an old slippery head, continue to fight hard with the thief army, and when they are completely defeated, we will not be too late to make a move." ”

Chen Fuliang, who also likes to take advantage, did not agree, shook his head and said: "No, this time we can't see Wang Shichong to death and not save him, if Wang Shichong is finished, we will have to face the pressure of the Wagang thief army and Li Mi alone, only Wang Shichong can hold on, and the thief army can not attack us with all his strength, so that it is in our best interests." ”

"What my brother said is very true, this time we must work together with Wang Shichong." Pei Xingfang also said: "If we don't save Wang Shichong when he sees death, even if he consumes some of the strength of the Wagang thieves, the Wagang thieves can quickly recover their vitality with the help of the grain in the Tiger Prison Pass Jiancheng and Liyang Cang, and pose a threat to us again, and only by keeping Wang Shichong is the most beneficial to us." ”

Chen Fuliang nodded, and said: "It's decided, tomorrow 10,000 troops will be sent to attack the thief camp west of Tiger Prison Pass, so that Li Mi will be difficult to care about and exhausted!" ”

Finalized the decision, early the next morning, Chen Fuliang personally led 10,000 Sui troops to the Tiger Prison Pass, and also dispatched a large number of elite Sui troops, including the Baoguo Army, Hao Xiaode, who was stationed in the west of the Tiger Prison Pass, was not to be outdone, and sent Li Wenxiang to lead the headquarters out of the camp to meet the ground, the two armies would fight in the field, Chen Fuliang, who had been aggrieved for a long time, did not wait for Li Wenxiang to set up a position, and immediately ordered the Baoguo army to rush into battle. Then rushed out before the enemy encircled and killed, successfully frustrated the enemy's morale, Chen Fuliang took the opportunity to order Kan Liang to lead the army to attack, passively beaten for a long time The Sui army lecturers everyone scrambled to be the first, all like a tiger down the mountain, Li Wenxiang was defeated and fled, the Sui army in the eastern capital marched forward, all the way to the front of Hao Xiaode's camp, Hao Xiaode did not dare to go out of the camp, and defended the wall, the Sui army could not fight, and calmly retreated.

The matter is not over, that night, Chen Fuliang sent an army to attack Hao Xiaode's camp, the well-guarded Hao Xiaode army noticed the Sui army's action, sent troops to meet the attack, the Sui army was defeated and left, Hao Xiaode personally led the army to pursue, who knew that it was less than ten miles away from the camp, there were already Sui army ambushes on both sides of the road, and the Sui army that served as the task of luring the enemy also turned around and killed back, under the attack of the three armies, Hao Xiaode was defeated and left, and the loss was not small.

The situation on the battlefield of Tiger Prison Pass was gradually reversed, Wang Shichong in the east was defeated and defeated repeatedly, indomitable, and effectively contained the main elite of the Zhai and Li coalition army, and Chen Fuliang in the west attacked in a timely manner, and his tactics were flexible, and Hao Xiaode was discouraged, and he only had the ability to parry, and he had no power to fight back. Li Mi and Zhai Rang were embarrassed and had to sit down to discuss countermeasures, Zhai asked him to go back to the division to save Hao Xiaode, but Li Mi felt that Wang Shichong's defeat had appeared, and he should continue to storm Wang Shichong to solve this worry-free situation, otherwise once Wang Shichong was relieved, he would definitely follow Chen Fuliang's example to attack the Tiger Prison Guandong Battalion, so that Zhai and Li's thief army would be exhausted and unable to cope.

After advocating continuing to attack Wang Shichong, Li Mi asked Zhai Rang again: "Dongjun Gong, can you trust me?" If you can trust me, let Hao Xiaode retreat to the Tiger Prison Pass and join hands with your army to defend the city, so that even if Chen Yingliang and traitors attack, we don't have to worry too much about the safety of the Western Front, and we can also use the defense of the city to consume Chen Yingliang's strength a lot, which is far safer than letting Hao Xiaode be stationed outside the city to defend against the official army. ”

Zhai Rang's expression was extremely hesitant, and after a long time, he said in a slur manner: "Duke Wei, the old man has been friends with you for many years, of course he can trust you, but the old man really can't trust Hao Xiaode, although he is your general, but his subordinates are all his old subordinates, and he only listens to his command, if he ......." ”

"Then forget it." Li Mi sighed, knowing that Zhai Rang was obviously wary of himself, but he didn't say anything, but just said: "Then I will replenish Hao Xiaode's troops, order him to stick to the camp and not come out, and contain Chen Yingliang's traitors for us." It's just that if Chen Yingliang's traitors attack the camp urgently, he also asked the garrison of Dongjun Gong to send aid in time, and don't let Hao Xiaode fight alone. ”

When Zhai Rang heard the great joy, he immediately patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, Duke Wei, I will also give orders to Shan Xiongxin and Zhai Hong immediately, let them always pay attention to the movements of Hao Xiaode's camp, and once Hao Xiaode's camp is in an emergency, let them immediately come to their aid!" Li Mi nodded, and Zhai Rang sent someone to pass the order without mentioning it.

Not to mention Li Mi's arrangement, after Zhai Rang's order was sent back to the Tiger Prison Pass, Shan Xiongxin, who was in charge of staying behind the Tiger Prison Pass, received the order, and out of prudence, he decided to agree with Hao Xiaode on an emergency contact signal, so that once Hao Xiaode was in a critical situation, he would light wolf smoke or light a bonfire at the designated place to report to the Tiger Prison Pass, so that the Tiger Prison Pass defenders could attack and rescue. As a result, it gave Shan Xiongxin a chance to take advantage of the people around him......

Taking the opportunity to patrol the city, Mulan found Zhang Kai, a member of the Sui army who had been lurking in the Tiger Prison Pass for more than half a year, for the second time, and asked him in a low voice if he had a way to go out of the city to contact Chen Fuliang, and Zhang Kai told Sù Mulan, saying that he had the opportunity to go out of the city to patrol this afternoon, and if the matter was urgent, he could try to sneak to Luokoucang to deliver the letter, and if the matter was not very urgent, he had a way to send the letter to Chen Fuliang without leaving the patrol sentry. When Mulan heard this, she was overjoyed, and hurriedly handed over a wax pill that had been prepared long ago to Zhang Kai, so that Zhang Kai could try to send it to Chen Fuliang, and carefully explained that Zhang Kai did not have to risk sneaking to the Sui army camp to deliver the letter, so as not to lose the only channel to contact Chen Yingliang.

There is no need to leave the patrol sentry to send the letter to Chen Fuliang, the method is nothing more than to hide the letter in the designated place, simple and ordinary, but the simpler the method, the more effective, after Zhang Kai went out of the city to patrol that afternoon, the wax pill handed over to him by Mulan was sent to Chen Fuliang that night, and he was very excited to break the wax pill and take out the note, and then carefully looked at the words on the note, the handwriting was beautiful, Chen Fuliang also immediately smiled, the note was as follows:

"Zhai asked Li Mi to break Wang Shichong first, let Hao Xiaode stick to the camp and not come out, Tiger Prison Pass and Hao Xiaode agreed, Hao Xiaode's camp is in an emergency, the camp is on the top of the mountain, the bonfire is lit at night, the wolf smoke is lit in the day, and the Tiger Prison Pass sends troops, believe it or not."

After reading this note, Chen Fuliang laughed, put the note to his mouth and kissed him several times, and laughed: "It's finally here, it's finally here, and the Tiger Prison Pass can finally be surnamed Chen." ”

Seeing Chen Fuliang so happy, Yuan Tiangang, Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and others were of course very curious, and when they hurriedly gathered around to read the letter together, Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others were dumbfounded, and said in surprise: "Stay, such a note with no beginning or end, and it doesn't even have a signature, do you believe it?" ”

"Believe, of course I do." Chen Fuliang laughed and said: "You don't need to sign it, just rely on the last sentence to believe it or not, I know who the letter writer is, and I also know that she is not reliable." ”

Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others looked at each other, and Chen Fuliang continued to laugh happily, but at this time, another herald rushed in and presented an official document to Chen Fuliang with both hands, saying that it was an urgent report from the Eastern Capital, and Chen Fuliang, who was in a good mood, took it casually, but when he opened the official document and only looked at it twice, the smile on Chen Fuliang's face suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by an unbelievable shocked expression. Pei Xingfang saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly asked, "Brother, what's wrong?" ”

"Fan stayed behind and died." Chen Fuliang replied in despair: "On the night of Fan Liu's death, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang Guo, suddenly appeared in the Taiyuan Army, organized the old department to launch a mutiny, Jinyang Palace Supervisor Pei Lin opened the gate of Jinyang City to welcome Li Yuan into the city, and Wang Wei of the county was killed and killed, Li Yuan proclaimed himself a general, raised the flag and rebelled against ....... ”

Before Chen Fuliang's words were finished, Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others were already stunned, Chen Fuliang's voice became lower and lower, and finally it was almost inaudible, the hall fell silent, and after a long time, two tears unconsciously oozed out of the corners of Chen Yingliang's eyes, and then tears flowed into tears, crying silently............ The note was put to his mouth and kissed him several times, and laughed: "It's finally here, it's finally here, and the Tiger Prison Pass can finally be surnamed Chen." ”

Seeing Chen Fuliang so happy, Yuan Tiangang, Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and others were of course very curious, and when they hurriedly gathered around to read the letter together, Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others were dumbfounded, and said in surprise: "Stay, such a note with no beginning or end, and it doesn't even have a signature, do you believe it?" ”

"Believe, of course I do." Chen Fuliang laughed and said: "You don't need to sign it, just rely on the last sentence to believe it or not, I know who the letter writer is, and I also know that she is not reliable." ”

Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others looked at each other, and Chen Fuliang continued to laugh happily, but at this time, another herald rushed in and presented an official document to Chen Fuliang with both hands, saying that it was an urgent report from the Eastern Capital, and Chen Fuliang, who was in a good mood, took it casually, but when he opened the official document and only looked at it twice, the smile on Chen Fuliang's face suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by an unbelievable shocked expression. Pei Xingfang saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly asked, "Brother, what's wrong?" ”

"Fan stayed behind and died." Chen Fuliang replied in despair: "On the night of Fan Liu's death, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang Guo, suddenly appeared in the Taiyuan Army, organized the old department to launch a mutiny, Jinyang Palace Supervisor Pei Lin opened the gate of Jinyang City to welcome Li Yuan into the city, and Wang Wei of the county was killed and killed, Li Yuan proclaimed himself a general, raised the flag and rebelled against ....... ”

Before Chen Fuliang's words were finished, Yuan Tiangang, Pei Xingfang and others were already stunned, Chen Fuliang's voice became lower and lower, and finally it was almost inaudible, the hall fell silent, and after a long time, two tears unconsciously oozed out of the corners of Chen Yingliang's eyes, and then tears flowed into tears, crying silently............