Generals Cheng Yanjin, Xue Renguo and Wang Fubao led reinforcements to the north quickly! At the same time, Li Jiancheng also quickly arranged the deployment of the army of the defense line of the Bird Mouse Valley, but what made Li Er hate it was that Li Jiancheng still refused to let Li Er take charge of the army alone, or let Li Er and Duan Lun lead an army of 15,000 to garrison the Spirit Stone, and continue to let Li Er accept Duan Lun's command, while Li Jiancheng personally led the rest of the army to retreat to Jiexiu and fortify it tightly in the northern section of the Bird Mouse Valley to resist the attack of the Sui army.

Forget it in normal times, but now that the war is imminent, the strong enemy is current, Li Jiancheng is still so suspicious and wary, no matter how deep Li Ercheng's mansion is, it is inevitable that he will be a little uncontrollable, regardless of Duan Lun being at the scene, he asked Li Jiancheng in person: "Brother, I am the right governor, and I am the brother of the same mother and the same mother as you, my brother-in-law is just a general manager, there is a difference between relatives and relatives, and the top and bottom are clear, why should I let my brother-in-law command and command me?" ”

"Duan Lun is your brother-in-law, you are his brother-in-law, and you are young and orderly." Li Jiancheng replied quietly: "Besides, Duan Lun has always been the head of the southern line, and he is more familiar with the situation in the Bird Mouse Valley than you, of course, he should continue to command you." ”

"But what about the record?" Li Er said angrily: "Since my father led us to raise troops from Taiyuan, how many meritorious deeds have I made for the Taiyuan Righteous Army?" Brother-in-law, how much does he contribute? ”

"That's what worries me the most." Li Jiancheng replied: "Erlang, you have made a lot of contributions to the Taiyuan Righteous Army, but you didn't win on the battlefield by taking risks?" Was that a desperate gamble? It's okay to use your tactics on mediocre opponents, and you can win if you are lucky when you encounter stronger opponents, but this time you are Chen Yingliang! is Chen Yingliang, who has never lost a battle since his debut and has never made a mistake on the battlefield! Even you admit that Chen Yingliangzheng and Qisheng's style of using troops is just your nemesis, he uses soldiers to seek undefeat first and then win, so that you have no chance to be surprised, and you may be attacked by him at any time! ”

Blocking Li Er's mouth with Li Er's own words, Li Jiancheng paused, slowed down his face slightly, and said: "Second brother, it has been replaced by usual, replaced by other opponents, if you want to lead an army alone, I don't think about it." But not this time, Chen Yingliang personally led 80,000 main forces to kill, and together with the front army, the strength of the army exceeded 100,000, and the overall strength was several times that of our army. At the moment of life and death, what our army needs is your brother-in-law's stability, not your rashness and risk! ”

Li Er was speechless, his face was even more gloomy, Li Jiancheng knew his brother's thoughts, so he said again: "If you really don't want to be commanded by your brother-in-law, it's okay, you follow me back to Jiexiu, and change Zhang Lun or Yin Kaishan to Duan Lun as a deputy." ”

Li Er hesitated, considering that following Li Jiancheng back to Jiexiu would be more restrained, and he would not have the opportunity to command the troops alone. Li Er still reluctantly changed his words, expressing his willingness to accept Li Jiancheng's arrangement, and immediately apologized to Duan Lun, asking Duan Lun to forgive his youthful impulsiveness. Duan Lun is a person with a big belly like Li Jiancheng, although he is a little unhappy in his heart, but seeing that Li Er has taken the initiative to admit his mistake, Duan Lun also graciously picked up Li Er and said: "Erlang doesn't have to be like this, who hasn't had a young and vigorous time?" You can also rest assured, you and I will work together to defend Lingshi City, as long as the fighter plane appears, I can also let you lead the army to attack, and I will not completely tie your hands and feet, and will not give you the opportunity to make meritorious contributions and win. ”

Li Er thanked him, but Li Jiancheng interjected and said, "Brother-in-law, second brother, you must be cautious!" Chen Yingliang is not an ordinary person, the fighters that he can see in front of him are all his tactics to lure the enemy, don't forget the lesson of his father going out of the city to fight him. Defending the city is the supreme thing, the grain and grass in Lingshi City can last for four months, as long as you can hold on until the Fenshui flood season in July comes, we have hope. ”

Li Er and Duan Lun agreed together, and then Duan Lun also said: "Brother, don't worry, as long as Chen Yingliang's main force arrives, I will immediately block the Lingshi gates, not give him the opportunity to take advantage of opportunism, and also make it impossible for his artillery to directly blast open the city gates." I don't believe it, the gunpowder in the hands of Chen Yingliang's traitors can be enough to completely collapse the Lingshi city wall! ”

"Done right." Li Jiancheng nodded with satisfaction, and casually ordered: "At that time, not only must the city gate be blocked, but also the dam must be built in the city gate and prepared for waterproofing." ”

"Why?" Duan Lun was stunned at first, and then suddenly remembered something, and asked in surprise, "Brother, do you want to use that trick?" ”

Seeing Li Jiancheng's gloomy nod, Duan Lun was even more shocked, but Li Er was also surprised and said, "Impossible, right?" The upstream of Jiexiu is Lize Lake, where the Fenshui cannot be dammed to store ......? Wait a minute! ”

Surprised Speaking of this, Li Er's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said in surprise: "Wen Shui! Wenshui flows into Fenshui next to Jiexiu, there is space to build a dam to store water upstream, and it is not easy to be detected by the Chen thief army in the rear, we build a dam in the upper reaches of Wenshui, and wait until the main force of Chen Yingliang's thief army goes deep into the Bird Mouse Valley, and suddenly digs the dam, even if Chen Yingliang himself cannot be drowned, it can also severely damage his main force! ”

"Water attack is not that easy." Li Jiancheng first gestured for Li Er to speak in a low voice, and then said in a low voice: "Now is the dry season, no matter how much water is stored in the Wenshui tributaries, it is destined to be unable to create a mountain flood that is enough to break the enemy in the Bird Mouse Valley, and Chen Yingliang is proficient in the art of war, and personally led the main force to come, needless to say, it is the troops stationed on the high wall or the high ground of Dusuoyuan, and the small-scale mountain flood has almost no effect on him." If you want to attack him with water, unless you can drag him until the Fenshui flood season, and then it is possible to find a fighter, otherwise, even if I dig an embankment and release water in the upper reaches of Wenshui, it will only anger Chen Yingliang even more, and it will have no effect. ”

"Brother, rest assured, the younger brother will definitely persist until the Fenshui flood season." Duan Lun said gloomily.

"Go for it." Li Jiancheng nodded, and said in a low voice: "Keep it secret, even our soldiers can't let them know that building a dam in the city gate can only be said to be used to resist the thief army's artillery, not to prevent floods." ”

Duan Lun and Li Er hurriedly agreed, Li Jiancheng nodded again, and then said: "I will take the army back to Jiexiu tomorrow, Lingshi will be entrusted to you here, Liu Heimin will definitely make trouble for you at any cost, you can't build strong fortifications in the valley road, you don't need to waste your strength, the branch army is fighting and confronting him, making every effort to repair the city defense, and give me time to build fortifications in the northern section of the Bird Mouse Valley." ”

After instructing these essentials, and feeding his younger brother and brother-in-law a reassuring pill, Li Jiancheng took the main army north with a heavy heart, and Li Er led the army to catch Liu Heimin, and fought with Liu Heimin with the help of narrow terrain, not giving Liu Heimin the opportunity to quickly approach Lingshi City, Duan Lun also commanded the army to strengthen Lingshi City with all his strength according to the order, digging trenches and building city walls, and everyone was busy, and they were all busy.

During this period, Liu Heimin launched many attacks on Li Er's position, but Li Er could both fight and defend, and Liu Heimin would not hesitate to do it again? Attacking fiercely, the Huoyi Sui army, which had been fighting for more than two months, had difficulty in defeating Li ** near Lingshi City, on the contrary, it also consumed a lot of physical strength in the offensive battle, and also lost a lot of troops, and fatigue gradually appeared.

Liu Heimin's hard work was by no means without gain, Huoyi Sui Army was tired and suffered large casualties, Li Erjun was also tired and had many casualties, and also consumed a lot of sharp morale, so when Cheng Yanjin, Xue Renguo and Wang Fubao, the three fierce generals, led 11,000 rear troops to the battlefield and replaced Liu Heimin's tired division, Li Erjun also had no courage to spend any longer, and Li Er, who knew how fierce Cheng Yanjin and Xue Renguo and others were, did not dare to slack off, and did not even dare to fight a tentative contact battle. Hurriedly scolded Wang Fubao's traitor to seek glory, so he led the army to retreat and fled to Lingshi City in a puff of smoke.

Seeing Li Er's retreat from the abandoned camp, Cheng Yanjin and Xue Renguo, who were eager to make contributions, of course immediately ordered a pursuit, and Xue Renguo once again volunteered to serve as a pursuit arrow, but Wang Fubao, who had just arrived on the fourth day after joining the Sui army, stopped Xue Renguo and pleaded with the main general Cheng Yanjin: "General Cheng, please let the last general serve as the vanguard pursuit." ”

"You have injuries on your body, let's let General Xue chase after you first." Cheng Yanjin kindly persuaded him, and Xue Renguo over there also expressed his position, persuading Wang Fubao to rest and let himself pursue.

"Please let the last general chase first." Wang Fubao insisted, turned to Xue Renguo and said: "General Xue, the road here is narrow, our army does not have any chance to outflank, even if you catch up with the Taiyuan thief army, you can't get too much, it is better to reserve your physical strength and let the last general chase first, and the last general can take the opportunity to make some preparations." ”

Looking at the cliffs and surging water on both sides, Xue Renguo, who felt that Wang Fubao had nothing nonsense, closed his mouth and turned his gaze to Cheng Yanjin, Cheng Yanjin hesitated, and then nodded and agreed to Wang Fubao's request, Wang Fubao was overjoyed, and immediately led his more than 1,000 headquarters soldiers to step forward immediately, acting as arrows to pursue Li Er, Cheng Yanjin and Xue Renguo led the army to follow, and also kept a distance from Wang Fubao very carefully, lest Wang Fubao defect and suddenly give his own army a blow.

Wang Fubao, who acted as the arrow first, rushed very quickly, and it didn't take much time to catch up with Li Er's rear army, and Li Er, who was walking at the end of the line when Gao Feng Liangjie retreated, was furious, and Le Ma turned around and scolded, "Wang Fubao's husband!" Ungrateful betrayers, unkind and unrighteous rats, you still have the face to pursue our army! Have you forgotten Dou Jiande's support for you?! ”

Not to mention, Li Er's scolding really played a role, after hearing this scolding, Wang Fubao, who led the army to the front, seemed to feel guilty in his heart, and actually stopped his horse and let the soldiers come forward to pursue, Li Er, who originally wanted to provoke Wang Fubao and wait for the opportunity to release the arrow, had already quietly held the bow and arrow in his hand, and couldn't help but be shocked after seeing Wang Fubao's expression, and secretly said in his heart: "Could it be that this Wang Fubao still has the possibility of abandoning the dark and turning to the light?" ”

Wang Fubao felt guilty in his heart, but those Qiu Eight Masters under his command would not show mercy, and continued to rush up to cut Li Er, Li Er hurriedly put arrows to knock down one person, and then led the army to retreat in a hurry, Wang Fubao's army continued to chase closely, during which Li Er, who was as careful as a hair, was a little secretly happy to find that Wang Fubao had not rushed out of the crowd since then, and had been hiding behind as if he was ashamed to meet Li Er. Li Er was even happier in his heart, but he didn't dare to take it lightly, and led the army all the way back to Lingshi, and Duan Lun, who received the news, also immediately sent troops to respond, catching Wang Fubao with a strong bow and helping Li Er withdraw to Lingshi City with a slight loss.

After returning to the city, Li Er naturally had to tell Duan Lun about Wang Fubao's strange performance on the battlefield, Duan Lun was also a little surprised when he heard it, and then said happily: "Could it be that Wang Fubao is still possible to return anyway?" ”

"I've had this suspicion before, but when I think about it, I think it's probably small." As worried about Chen Fuliang, Li Er really didn't believe Wang Fubao's performance, and said with a sneer: "Wang Fubao was surrounded and had no way out, and died on the eve of death, Chen Yingliang threw down the main force for hundreds of miles and galloped to surrender in person, what kind of sincerity and kindness?" Can Wang Fubao not be grateful? How many are likely to defect from Chen Yingliang's army again? ”

"Not necessarily, our army has already reported that Wang Fubao is loyal to Dou Jiande, as long as no one slanders him, Dou Jiande is okay with Wang Fubao." Duan Lun retorted and said: "Besides, Wang Fubao's performance in the formation today, once Chen Yingliang is told about it, can Chen Yingliang not be suspicious of him?" Can the other generals under Chen Yingliang's command not be suspicious of him? Wang Fubao was wronged in Chen Yingliang's army, can he have any thoughts anyway? ”

Li Er hesitated for a moment and then realized that there was such a possibility, once Wang Fubao's performance in the formation today was reported by someone, he would be subject to some suspicion no matter what. But still that sentence, Second Brother Li is by no means a person who is easy to be deceived, he just shook it slightly, immediately calmed down, shook his head and said: "Be careful, even if there is this hope, we can't take the initiative to take action in this matter, if Wang Fubao really has the heart to do it, he will definitely take the initiative to contact us, and when the time comes, we will carefully distinguish the truth from the false, and then decide how to act." ”

Duan Lun nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Erlang, what should we do next?" The vanguard of the thieves came sooner than we expected, although we can continue to build the fortifications, but there is no way to build the fortifications outside the city, and the timber in the city has not yet been prepared. ”

"It depends on whether you have the courage, brother-in-law." Li Er sneered and asked, and said: "Cheng Yanjin, Xue Renguo and other horsemen came from Guanzhong from afar, the soldiers and horses are tired, Liu Heimin's army has been fighting again and again, more tired than them, the thief army is strong and crossbow, it is difficult to wear it, brother-in-law, if you have the courage to hand over the new force to me and let me lead the army out of the city to fight, even if we can't break the thief army, we can give them a head-on blow!" ”

Duan Lun's face was embarrassed, and he hesitated and said, "Da Lang explained when he left, saying that it was ...... to be cautious to fight. ”

"Brother-in-law, if you have to be cautious to this point, then I can't help it." Li Er spread his hands and said: "If you don't seize the opportunity of the fatigue of the thief army, then we can only watch the thief army build a strong camp on the high wall or Suoduyuan, eat and drink enough and rest enough, and then come to stop us from building fortifications and attack and slaughter our soldiers out of the city!" ”

"It's ......." Duan Lun hesitated, and only said after a while: "You can think about it, but let me think about it overnight, and then decide tomorrow morning, you are tired, go and rest." ”

Li Er agreed, and then warned: "Brother, the fighter plane is fleeting, and it will never come again!" Don't forget, Liu Heimin, Cheng Yanjin and Xue Renguo are all famous generals in the world, if we don't seize this opportunity, once they take a breath, just these few horsemen are enough to beat us to the point where we don't have any power to fight back! ”

Duan Lun was even more shaken, hesitated again, and replied, "Hurry up and rest, and come to see me tomorrow morning." ”

Li Er smiled, then he said goodbye and left, and said secretly in his heart: "If you are smart, you will agree, you will win the battle with the new force and establish your prestige, and the Lingshi garrison will gradually stop my words." ”

…………

At the same time, Wang Fubao also returned to Cheng Biting Jin, Xue Renguo and Liu Heimin with their heads raised in the suspicious eyes of everyone, although Cheng Biting Jin and the others did not ask about what happened on the battlefield, Wang Fubao took the initiative to tell a few new colleagues about his deliberate weakness very frankly, and then said very directly: "Generals, please believe me, I will definitely be rewarded for doing this." I dare to conclude that the Taiyuan thief army must have had doubts and began to wonder if I could rebel, and they gave birth to this thought, and my next thing will be easy to do. ”

"Of course we believe you." Cheng Yanjin smiled a little reluctantly, and then asked: "But General Wang, His Royal Highness the King of Tang repeatedly told you when he was in Taiping Pass, saying that you can't use tricks on Li Erlang, how can you still ......, what if Li Erlang finds out?" ”

"The last general didn't use tricks on Li Erlang, but just used Li Erlang's tongue to tell Duan Lun, the chief general of the thief army, about this situation." Wang Fubao replied in a deep voice: "Li Erlang is not easy to be tricked, but it doesn't mean that he will be suspicious, if he is suspicious, he will definitely report this situation to Duan Lun and even to Li Jiancheng, Duan Lun knows this situation, and the opportunity for the last general will come." ”

Exchanging suspicious glances with each other, Cheng Yanjin nodded reluctantly again, and then asked, "General Wang, what are you going to do next?" When to cheat the enemy? ”

"Tomorrow. The last general will start to deceive the enemy tomorrow and cooperate with you to take Lingshi City. ”

Wang Fubao's calm answer made Cheng Yanjin and the others almost jump up, and then Liu Heimin hurriedly said: "General Wang, do you want to wait a little longer and make some preparations?" Our men are tired and need to rest, so it's best to wait a few more days for our soldiers to rest and build a strong camp before it's too late. ”

"Chief Liu, the last general knows that your army is very tired, and does you know that General Cheng and General Xue are also tired of your army?" Wang Fubao bowed and said in a deep voice: "But the Taiyuan thief army also knows this, so they would never expect that we would cheat the enemy tomorrow, and they would never have dreamed that we would enter the city of Lingshi City tomorrow!" Capture the Spirit Stone City! ”

Glancing around at Cheng Yanjin, Xue Renguo and others, Wang Fubao said solemnly: "Generals, the last general was poor when he was young, and he didn't read a book, let alone learn any books on the art of war. The last general has always followed this sentence on the battlefield to fight with soldiers, and he has won a lot of battles by luck, so the last general believes that the last general's surprise attack by tomorrow will definitely be able to kill the thief army by surprise and take the Lingshi City in one fell swoop! ”

Liu Heimin, Cheng Yanjin and the others were silent, first exchanged a few glances with each other, and then discussed a few words in a low voice, and then Liu Heimin said: "General Wang, tell us about your plan, if it is reasonable, we can consider it." ”