In the West Guest Hall, Xu Shiji is looking at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall with his hands behind his back, these are the works of Pei's children in a hundred years, there are hundreds of them, most of which belong to the boutique, among which several of Pei Zheng's calligraphy and paintings are superb, and Xu Shiji praises them.

Xiketang belongs to your guest room, ordinary people can't stay here, and it is also because of Yang Yuanqing that the Pei family brought Xu Shiji here to rest, Xu Shiji didn't know what Yang Yuanqing led him to Pei's house to do, Yang Yuanqing's coming to Pei's house was his private matter, and it should have nothing to do with him, which made Xu Shiji very confused, but he didn't want to ask too much, so he had to wait patiently.

At this time, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and Yang Yuanqing walked in like a gust of wind.

"Let's go now!"

Xu Shiji was taken aback, "What happened?" ”

"I just got the news from my own soldiers that Li Shuliang's 20,000 troops are on their way to Zhengping County, and we missed them in Jishan County the night before."

Xu Shiji was surprised and delighted, they went south this time to find Li Shuliang's army, and sent more than a dozen scouts, but there was no news, but they didn't expect to come to Wenxi County and get the news.

"Then let's go."

As soon as the words came out, Xu Shiji felt that something was wrong, Yang Yuanqing had been in Pei's Mansion for less than an hour, and he was going to leave?

"Do you want Pei Fu to say hello?"

"I told him, there is urgent military affairs, I have nothing to do here, but you ....."

Yang Yuanqing said apologetically: "I wanted to bring you to take a good look at Pei Xue." But it was too late. I'm really sorry. ”

Xu Shiji's heart welled up with an inexplicable emotion, it turned out that Yang Yuanqing wanted to take himself to visit Pei Xue, just because of what he said on the road, he took it to heart, Xu Shiji didn't like to expose his emotions, he restrained his inner gratitude, and said with a smile: "Next time!" I hope that the next time I come back, Pei Fu will treat me as a distinguished guest, and I no longer need to be accompanied by the manager. ”

Yang Yuanqing understood what he meant, so he nodded. Earnestly staring at his expectant gaze, "It will definitely be!" ”

The two of them said goodbye to Pei's mansion, turned on their horses, and galloped away outside the city with three hundred guards. When they walked away, Pei Lin slowly walked to the gate of Pei's mansion, looking at the team in the distance, he knew very well what Yang Yuanqing was going to do, and the timidity in his heart made him dare not step out of the gate of Pei's mansion in the end.

The cowardice in his heart came from the threat of Yang Yuanqing, but at the same time, he also had the worry of the defeat of Li Shuliang's army, and he did not want to take this responsibility.

At this time, the leader of his entourage ran up, "Pei Changshi, shall we go back?" ”

Pei Lin shook his head. "The things that the main bus gave me have not been completed, so I will not go back for the time being."

He took out another note and handed it to the leader of his entourage, "You immediately send someone to inform Marshal Li, just say that Yang Yuanqing has appeared in Wenxi County, and his army is likely to be nearby, so Marshal Li must not be careless." ”

"I understand the lowly duty, go immediately!"

The leader of the entourage took the note and rushed away, Pei Lin sighed softly. He has done his best, if Li Shuliang is still defeated, it has nothing to do with him Pei Lian.

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The horses galloped and murderous, and 10,000 cavalry rushed through the field. Rushing into a shallow river, stirring up waves of water. Yang Yuanqing jumped ashore, the red eagle banner flew behind him, showing a frightened look in the eyes of the busy peasants in the rice fields, and the cavalry who had been walking leisurely in the afternoon became murderous at this time, and many people fled into the distance screaming.

The war horse galloped on the official road, rolling up the rolling yellow dust, and the cavalry rushed out of Wenxi County for most of the hour, and galloped to Zhengping County in the northwest direction, if everything went well, then they could reach Zhengping County tonight, Yang Yuanqing must intercept them before Li Shuliang's army arrived in Zhengping County, if the enemy army was allowed to enter the county seat, then they would lose this opportunity.

Now there is hope for them, because it is getting dark, and the army will not march at night if it were not for the time of war.

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Zhengping County is also the seat of Jiangjun County, is a city wall with a tall and strong city, the circumference of the city wall is 30 miles, the population is more than 200,000, it is the third largest city in the southeast of Hedong after Hedong County and Shangdang County, and there are 5,000 Tang troops stationed.

Li Shuliang's 20,000 troops were halfway to Zhengping County at this time, and they were still twenty miles away from Zhengping County.

They crossed the Yellow River from Longmen two days ago, and after two days of marching, they entered Jiang County from Hedong County, and set off from Jishan County at noon to Zhengping County.

Coach Li Shuliang is about 40 years old this year, skilled in archery and horses, familiar with reading military books since childhood, can be described as both civil and military, Li Yuan raised troops in Taiyuan, he was recruiting troops in Changping County, so he directly responded to the troops in Changping County, and was therefore named the Duke of Changping County.

Although Li Shuliang is both civil and military, but he does not have much actual combat experience, only participated in the counterinsurgency against Wuweier, he has one of the biggest characteristics, that is, he is cautious and thorough, he will not do anything risky, and the defense is tight, all aspects are extremely thoughtful, Li Yuan is interested in his cautious and thorough point, hoping that he can enter Taiyuan to take charge of defense and defend Taiyuan City.

It was getting dark, and the deputy general Liu Hongji rushed up and said, "Dashuai, there are still twenty miles away from Zhengping County, do you want to march in one go?" ”

Li Shuliang looked at the terrain, this area is open, two miles away to the south is Fenshui, and more than ten miles in front is a dark mountain range, he shook his head, "It is more dangerous to cross the mountain at night, it is better to camp on the spot, and then go after dawn." ”

Liu Hongji mainly considered that the conditions in Zhengping County were better, and he had been camping in the wilderness, he was a little bored, and he wanted to persuade again, but Li Shuliang's attitude was very resolute.

"Since you have arrived in Hedong, you must defend against Yang Yuanqing's cavalry at any time, you have suffered a big loss from Xue Ju, you should know how fast the cavalry marches, there are mountains ahead, dense forests, and crossing the mountains at night is a taboo for soldiers, we should be extremely careful, don't say it again, pass on my orders, and camp on the spot!"

Yang Yuanqing's Fengzhou cavalry, Liu Hongji also took it into account, but he felt that it was unlikely, the Fengzhou army was mainly attacking Taiyuan, or besieging the city to send reinforcements, even if part of the army went south, it was impossible to be so fast, this is Jiangxian County, and it is almost to the southernmost part of Hedong.

However, Li Shuliang is the coach, since the coach has decided, Liu Hongji can no longer object, he immediately ordered: "The boss has an order, camp on the spot!" ”

"The boss has an order, camp on the spot!"

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An order was passed on, and the soldiers began to camp on the spot, set up tents, inserted hundreds of thousands of spears around the camp, and surrounded them with carts, Li Shuliang personally led his own soldiers to check the defense, and he did not let go of every detail, if according to his character, it should be a camp fence, but unfortunately the camp fence is difficult to carry, so he had to give up.

"Set up ten guard towers, and Fenshui in the south should also set up guard towers to prevent the enemy from coming from the water."

"The granary battalion must be out of the range of rockets!"

Li Shuliang was very careful, found five or six loopholes in a company, and ordered the soldiers to rectify, this time the 20,000 troops he led were the elite of the Tang Army, 3,000 cavalry, 17,000 infantry, all the soldiers were equipped with Mingguang armor, equipped spears and horizontal knives, each soldier had a bow and arrow, and a round shield, even the war horse was a Turkic horse, which was also the most sophisticated equipment of the Great Sui army, and the 20,000 troops were almost all Guanlongfu soldiers, and the combat effectiveness was very strong, although Li Yuan could not send more troops, but he could send the best army.

The team set up camp in an orderly manner to rest, and the night grew deeper and deeper, and at the end of the watch, a shrill siren suddenly sounded from the watchtower, 'Dang! While! While! ’

In the silence of the night, the sound of the siren was exceptionally clear, and it could be heard for miles away, Li Shuliang was awakened from his dream, he jumped up and shouted, "What happened? ”

A soldier rushed to the scene, "Report to the commander, a large group of cavalry has appeared in front." ”

"How many cavalry, with or without armor?"

"Returning to the handsome, I can't see clearly in the night, about 8,000 to 10,000 people, full of armor."

Li Shuliang was excited, this is not a bandit, this can only be Yang Yuanqing's Fengzhou cavalry, sure enough, he expected it, there was an ambush in front of him, he immediately ordered, "Order the soldiers to prepare for battle, transfer five thousand bows and crossbows to suppress the barracks!" ”

A team of crossbowmen rushed to the east of the barracks, stretched their bows and arrows, and waited for the battle, Liu Hongji was also extremely nervous in his heart, the other party was nearly 10,000 cavalry, and they only had 20,000 troops, most of them were infantry, nearly 20,000 infantry against 10,000 cavalry, it would be an extremely difficult battle.

However, Liu Hongji was also secretly glad that the caution of the coach Li Shuliang allowed them to avoid being attacked by the Fengzhou army and escaped a catastrophe, which gave him some confidence that there were still 5,000 garrisons in Zhengping County, if they could rush to support, this battle would not defeat the other party, at least it would not be defeated.

Liu Hongji held a hard bow in his hand and urged the horse to run towards the gate of the camp.

Just a few hundred steps away from the Tang army camp, Yang Yuanqing led 10,000 Fengzhou Sui troops to stand in formation, he led the army all the way to gallop, and finally intercepted them before the other party entered Zhengping City, and they were not in a hurry to attack, using the period before dawn to rest and restore the physical strength of soldiers and war horses.

Yang Yuanqing watched the enemy camp from afar, he was observing the character of the enemy's main general from some details, just from the distribution of the opponent's guard towers, he could deduce that the other party was an extremely cautious person, if it was him, he would build six guard towers, one at each of the four corners, one at the front and one at the front and rear camp gates, but the other party built ten, Li Shuliang wanted to eliminate all the dead ends.

At this time, a scout team was rushing to report: "Chief Qiqi, we observe the enemy's camp, the enemy's camp is invulnerable, and the rockets can't shoot their tents, the spears are dense all around, and the grass is sprinkled with thistles, and we can't get close." ”

Yang Yuanqing sneered, as he expected, this Li Shuliang was too cautious, 'If the water is clear, there will be no fish, and if people are cautious, they will be unwise" This is a wise saying, he wants to let Li Shuliang lose in his prudence.

"Pass my order, and the army will retreat twenty miles north!"

The 10,000 horsemen turned their horses and galloped north, disappearing into the dark night.