When the main force of Li Yuan's rebels had not had time to go south, the Daxing Sui army attacked northward, and it was rainy and rainy throughout July, which was not conducive to attacking the fortifications, and the 60,000 Sui army was cramped outside the small fortress of Jiahu Fort, and it was difficult to advance an inch, and countless bodies of grain and grass were consumed in vain; When the Daxing Sui army was defeated and retreated to Huoyi, and Li Yuan's rebel army approached the city, the Sui army had not had time to establish and improve the city defense of Huoyi, which had been absent from the war for a long time, and on the first day of August, the rain suddenly stopped, the weather cleared, and there were several days of clear skies.

On the second day of the eighth month, he ordered the whole army to expose his weapons, armor, clothes and equipment, and on the third day of the eighth month, he immediately began to arrange the siege, and adopted Li Er's plan to lure the enemy, and sent Li Jiancheng and Li Er's second brother to lead hundreds of cavalry as the vanguard, and led the main force of the infantry to follow, and then Li Jiancheng and Li Er's second brother arrived at the city of Huoyi, and they had to use all kinds of vulgar language to greet Pang Yu, Huo Shiju and other eighteenth generations of ancestors of the Sui army generals, During this period, Li Er naturally had to mention the humiliation of Pang Yu being captured by Yang Xuangan back then, and asked Pang Yu to hurry up and ask Chen Fuliang to come and save him again.

Pang Yu, who was in a hurry, was provoked and gritted his teeth and led 30,000 Sui troops out of the city from the north gate of the east gate to meet the battle, during the city, the rebel infantry brigade led by Li Yuan also rushed to the battlefield, the two armies faced against Yu Ye, Pang Yu divided the army into two, respectively in the east of the city, the north of the city two places in formation, each other is the corner, Li Yuan also divided the army into two, personally led the army and Pang Yu against the north gate, so that Li Er and Duan Zhixuan led the army to meet the Sui army at the east gate.

The formation was just decided, Pang Yu, who had suffered a big loss in the Bird Mouse Valley, couldn't suppress the anger in his heart, and launched an attack first, Li Yuan retreated by deception, luring Pang Yujun to give up the strong formation and launch a pursuit, Pang Yu was hit again, the formation was loose between the pursuits, and the rear was exposed, Li Er and Duan Zhixuan, who were standing in the east of the city, took the opportunity to lead the cavalry to attack, and rushed behind Pang Yu, Li Yuan also took the opportunity to turn around and kill, and in the fierce battle, Li Yu, who was superior in martial arts, cut dozens of enemies with two blades, and both knives cut out of the gap, which was unstoppable, and completely frustrated the Sui army. Seeing that the battlefield had fallen into chaos, Li Yuan ordered the whole army to shout slogans, claiming that the army had captured Pang Yu alive.

It is a very simple attack plan, although Pang Yu's handsome flag has not fallen, it is still flying high on the battlefield, but the morale of the Daxing Sui army is just in the middle of the plan, I believe that under the panic of the commander being captured, many Sui soldiers scattered and left, affecting the fighting spirit of their companions, snowballing generally caused a large number of soldiers to fall into a state of panic, the morale of Li Yuan's rebels took the opportunity to rush and fight, the Sui army was defeated and fled, Pang Yu's efforts to restrain were ineffective, and saw a large number of rebels rushing towards him, and he hurriedly slapped his horse and fled to the north gate with his own soldiers. Li Yuan's father and son pursued and killed with all their might, saying that they would not miss this opportunity to break the enemy.

A huge number of defeated soldiers of the Sui army gave the rebels a free striker, suppressed the drawbridge and could not rise, blocked the city gate and could not close, Huoyi City, which had been absent from the war for a long time, was not like the Tiger Prison Pass, there was a yaksha hanging above the city gate to block the flow of people at a critical moment, Huo Shiju yelled in the city and ordered to close the gate quickly, but the city gate soldiers could not stop the flow of people like a tide, under the pushing, the Sui army city gate officials were also extremely unlucky to be washed down by the crowd, and were trampled to death by their own defeated soldiers, and the gate soldiers were too timid to stop it, The rebels of Li Yuan behind took the opportunity to follow up, first cutting the noose of the drawbridge, and then following the defeated soldiers of the Sui army to rush into the city and seize the important place of the city gate.

There is no suspense, although Pang Yu, the main general of the Sui army, also escaped into the city by luck, but the demoralized Sui soldiers could not stop the advance of Li Yuan's rebels at all, and the rebels who picked up the big pie from the sky Everyone scrambled to be the first, all of them fought bravely, and the Sui army in the city that was in a hurry could not parry, Huo Shiju organized the army to fight in street battles several times, trying to recapture the city gate, but they were also defeated by the unstoppable rebels in a few strokes, and finally as more and more rebel soldiers entered the city, the area occupied in the city became larger and larger, Pang Yu and Huo Shiju had no choice but to hurriedly lead the remnants of the defeated army to abandon the city and flee, and the rebels took the opportunity to capture Huoyi, and at the same time divided their troops to chase and kill the defeated soldiers of the Sui army, desperately weakening the combat strength of the Sui army, but Pang Yu and Huo Shiju had a chance to breathe.

After the victory, Li Yuan's rebels were of course jubilant, and after Li Yuan ordered to give the same reward to the auxiliaries and the soldiers, the cheers suddenly increased several times, and the rebel auxiliaries who were more numerous but less rewarded were all overjoyed, and they were all glad that they were with the right person, and felt that it was very worthwhile to work hard for the old Li family, and the icing on the cake was that at this moment, it happened that the rebel division Zhang Lunbu quickly captured Lishi County, and captured the news that Yang Zichong, the Taishou of Lishi who refused to surrender, and the cheers in the rebel team reached their peak all of a sudden, capturing Daxing, The slogan of raising the arms of the king resounded throughout the army and the city, and the morale of the army was extremely excited.

Seeing such a warm scene, Li Jiancheng, the two brothers Li and the senior generals of Li Yuanjun were of course all overjoyed, and they all said that the morale was usable, and the fact that the Freedom Army won Huoyi City in another battle this time was enough to prove that the newly formed army of the Freedom Army had strong combat effectiveness, and it was no less than any of the world's heroic divisions, and it was easy to break through Daxing. However, while being excited and confident, Li Jiancheng, Li Er, Liu Wenjing and other delicate people found that Li Yuan, who was the commander of the whole army, did not have much joy on his face, and occasionally there were some inconsistencies between his words, as if he had something on his mind.

Sensing this, Li Jiancheng carefully asked Li Yuan for the reason, Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "There is no need to hide it anymore, just tell you directly, in fact, I have received the news more than ten days ago that Chen Yingliang has recaptured the Tiger Prison Pass and defeated Li Mi and Zhai Rang." ”

"Chen Yingliang has already taken back the Tiger Prison Pass? Beat away Li Mi Zhai Rang? Several major generals of the rebel army all screamed, Li Jiancheng and Li Er also changed their faces, and Yun Dingxing, the general who was also present, also had a glint in his eyes, but he did not say anything. And the most fierce reaction is, of course, Chai Shao, who has been named the chief of Li Yuan's rebellion against the right army - his hands are clenched so that his knuckles are white!

Li Yuan nodded, his smile was a little bitter, and said: "At that time, we had just entered the Bird Mouse Valley to prepare to fight with the official army, and I was afraid that it would affect the morale of the army and hit morale, so I concealed the news. Zhai let Li Mi was attacked by Chen Yingliang and Wang Shichong before and after, and when Chen Yingliang fought in Shilibao, he was defeated by Chen Yingliang with fewer victories and more victories, and the losses were very heavy, and Wang Shichong was also stuck in the grain road. ”

The rebel generals were silent, Li Yuan sighed softly, and said: "Although the old man is unwilling to admit it, but the facts are the facts, Chen Yingliang, a little horseman, is indeed difficult on the battlefield, Zhai let Li Mi have more than 150,000 troops, of which the number of elites in a hundred battles is quite a lot, and the overall strength actually exceeds that of our army, and there is also a strong pass in the tiger prison pass to defend, and he was still overwhelmed by this little horseman, and was forced to abandon the pass and flee for his life." This little horseman's strength on the battlefield once again exceeded the old man's imagination. ”

"If this is the case, if we want to enter the military pass, there will be a stumbling block of Chen Yingliang on the road." Pei Lian stroked his beard and said: "No matter what the next battle situation is, as long as our righteous division breaks through the Yellow River and sets foot in Guanzhong, Daxing will definitely ask for help from the Eastern Capital at that time. This puppet is cautious in battle, well-armed and scheming, and has countless strong generals under his command, and will definitely become our biggest enemy in Daxing. ”

Except for a few generals who shouted for Chen Fuliang to come, most of the rebel generals were silent, they all served as cannon fodder lackeys for Chen Fuliang on the battlefield of Yanmen, saw Chen Fuliang's military tactics with their own eyes, knew how powerful Chen Fuliang was, and all had a certain fear of fighting Chen Fuliang head-on -- this is also the reason why Li Yuan deliberately concealed that Chen Fuliang had recovered the Tiger Prison.

Seeing that many generals looked worried, Li Yuan was afraid that it would affect morale, so he hurriedly said: "Don't worry too much, as far as the old man received, the elite of the Eastern Capital also suffered a lot of losses in the Tiger Prison Pass battlefield this time, and nearly half of the elite soldiers were lost, and most of the rest were injured, and the army was extremely tired, which has completely damaged the vitality." The self-proclaimed Duke of Wei Li Mi also sent a secret letter to the old man, introducing the battle situation of the Tiger Prison Pass to the old man, confirming that the official army of the Eastern Capital suffered heavy losses in the Tiger Prison Pass this time, and it was difficult to launch a large-scale war in a short time. ”

"Father, Li Mi wrote to you? What else was said? Li Er hurriedly asked.

"I also said a lot, in fact, if it weren't for Li Mi's letter, I might have to reconsider my plan to enter the army." Li Yuan replied casually: "In addition to briefing me on the situation of the battle at Hugao Pass, Li Mi also pointed out to me the characteristics of Chen Yingliang's little horseman's use of troops, and strongly persuaded the old man to lead the army to Hanoi and join forces with him to take Luoyang, and also promised to use the grain from Liyang Cang, so that our army does not have to worry about grain and grass." ”

"Think beautifully." Li Er said contemptuously: "Will Hanoi take Luoyang together? If you want us to charge him into battle and consume the strength of the Eastern Capital, it is clear that we are not uncommon in the grain of Liyang Cang, and there is much more grain in Yongfeng Cang in Guanzhong than in Liyang Cang. ”

I don't know for what reason, Li Yuan suddenly glared at Li Er, Li Er knew that he was speechless, and quickly shut up, Li Yuan said: "In short, you can rest assured, Chen Yingliang's little puppet is indeed difficult, but his main army has been greatly injured, and it is difficult to fight again in a short time, no matter how many recruits and auxiliaries are left, we can only rest assured that we will go south, how to break the enemy and stay until Chen Yingliang encounters it, our righteous army is obedient to the heavens, there is the care of the gods, Chen Yingliang is abusive, for the tiger, the sky is angry and resentful, Certainly not our opponents! ”

The rebel generals agreed, at this time the night was dark, the army was tired from fighting, Li Yuan didn't say anything, and ordered the generals to disperse to rest, leaving only Li Jiancheng, Li Er and Chai Shao, and as soon as the front foot of the civil and military forces left, Li Yuan immediately pointed at Li Er and shouted: "Before entering Guanzhong, you are not allowed to mention a word about Yongfeng Cang!" Our army is newly built, and the people's hearts are not stable, so we must prevent the news from leaking and exposing the heavenly opportunity! ”

Li Er sang the promise honestly, and also admitted that he had lost his words just now, Li Yuan snorted again, and then asked: "Where is Li Xiaochang, is there any news?" ”

"Yes." Li Er replied in a low voice: "Li Xiaochang was ordered to test Liu Gang, the general of Tongguan, for us, and found that although Liu Gang was mediocre and incompetent, greedy for money and lustful, he was loyal to the tyrant, Li Xiaochang mentioned your name in front of Liu Gang, Liu Gang's hostility towards your father was very obvious, Li Xianling was afraid of being exposed, so he didn't dare to try to buy contact, but Li Xiaochang had already drawn a picture book of the city defense layout of Tongguan, and together with the list of captain-level generals of the Tongguan garrison, Li Xiaochang had already sent it to us. ”

"That's fine." Li Yuan nodded and said: "Send another secret letter to Li Xiaochang, telling him not to act rashly, not to contact us in a hurry, so as not to be exposed, the Yongfeng Cang in his hand is related to the fate of the whole army after we enter the customs, and he himself must not make any mistakes!" ”

Li Er agreed, and then asked, "Father, what about Tongguan?" Chen Yingliang has already withdrawn from the Tiger Prison Pass, if we can't take Tongguan before he reinforces Guanzhong, and let his Eastern Capital reinforcements enter Tongguan, the initiative on the Guanzhong battlefield is in his hands. ”

"Let's talk about it then, fortunately, Liu Gang is just an incompetent person, and his soldiers have never been on the battlefield, so it is not difficult to deal with, but it is really impossible to attack." Li Yuan snorted coldly, and said: "How to deal with this thief, the old man has already thought about it, and when he arrives in Jiangxian." The old man plans to divide a partial division to feint Hanoi to coerce Luoyang, contain Chen Yingliang's thief's soldiers and horses, and buy us time. ”

"Father-in-law, let me go!" Chai Shao couldn't wait to say: "Please let the little son-in-law go to attack Hanoi and contain Chen Yingliang's thief." ”

"You?" Li Yuan glanced at his son-in-law and refused: "Forget it, just your quick temper, don't be wiped out by Chen Yingliang's thieves before you approach Yiguan, which can threaten the hinterland of Hanoi." ”

Chai Shao insisted, Li Yuan still didn't allow it, and also finalized on the spot that Duan Zhixuan, who had both courage and strategy, would take on this position, Chai Shao had no choice but to retreat, and Li Er said again: "Father, since Li Mi intends to trick you into going to Hanoi to join the alliance, then why don't we plan it, just say that Duan Zhixuan is just a pioneer, and ask him Li Mi to send troops to attack Linqing Pass and enter Hanoi, and ally with us to govern Hanoi County, so as to more effectively contain the Eastern Capital Army and Chen Yingliang." ”

"Will that old fox be fooled by Li Mi?" Li Yuan asked with a smile.

"With Li Mizhi's treachery, we have not confirmed that our main force is heading east into Hanoi, and of course we will not dispatch the main force lightly." Li Er said: "However, the child thinks that although Li Mi will not send the main force, he will definitely send troops, because he also wants to lure us east into Hanoi, and according to the agreement, send troops to attack Linqing Pass, which is undoubtedly the best way to trick us into going east to share the pressure for him." ”

Li Yuan nodded, immediately agreed to accept Li Er's construction, and immediately discussed the specific details with his son, but Li Yuan's other son Li Jiancheng who was present never spoke, and turned his gaze to the direction of the Eastern Capital, muttering in his heart, "Brother Xian, I really can't imagine that the next time we meet, it is likely to be on the battlefield of life and death, and when it really comes, how should we relate to each other?" ”

…………

It was also a coincidence that on the same day that Li Yuan's rebels captured Huoyi City, Chen Fuliang rarely put down his busy official duties, and under the pretext of practicing firearms, he led his henchmen and soldiers north to the mountain known as the navel of China, and in the depths of the mountain surrounded by mountains, there were twelve brand-new bronze smoothbore guns waiting for Chen Fuliang on a basin closely guarded by Chen Fuliang's army.

With the guidance of Chen Fuliang, the traverser, Yuan Tiangang, who was responsible for casting the cannon, of course took many detours, and directly cast the cannon body with a thin front and thick back, reducing the danger of exploding, and prepared a cotton cannon rod to scrub the remnants of the cannon barrel Mars, as well as installing a ruler for estimating the range, and at the same time, Yuan Tiangang's mathematical and astronomical expertise also ensured that these bronze cannons had a fairly high standard accuracy, and directly skipped the link that the shells in the development of ancient artillery must be dedicated to guns, so that the shells can basically be universal, reducing the difficulty of operation, and increasing the air density, which in turn increases range and power.

At the request of Chen Yingliang, Yuan Tiangang commanded his personally trained gunners to let each bronze cannon conduct a test firing, the results of the test firing made Chen Fuliang very satisfied, three of the twelve guns accurately hit the target two miles away, and the rest did not deviate much, and from Yuan Tiangang's introduction, these cannons can hit more than 900 steps at most, the range far exceeds the eight-shot bed crossbow invented by Cui Hongdan, and the speed of loading and firing is far more than ten times, and the power is far superior. The only thing that Yuan Tiangang regretted was that the eight-kilogram shell was slightly smaller, and if it missed the target, it would be useless, and the gun body was too heavy and inconvenient to carry on mountain roads and paths.

"It's not small, but it hasn't been reflected yet." Chen Fuliang smiled and said: "This is a mountainous area, it was rainy some time ago, the ground is too soft, and when this kind of cannonball hits the hard ground, it is more powerful when it jumps, and the Europa side uses this kind of cannon, and the highest record is to kill 32 people in one cannon." ”

Yuan Tiangang expressed disbelief, and Chen Fuliang smiled and didn't explain, but said: "As for the problem of the cannon body being too heavy, it can also be solved by other methods, and when we solve the problem that the iron cannon is easy to explode."