Chen Yingliang's crow's beak was also effective, Zhang Xutuo gathered the troops of the three counties to attack Menghai City, and was indeed met with stubborn resistance from the Menghai Gong thief army, and the battle was not only extremely cruel and fierce, but also fell into the most unfavorable stalemate for the official army.

Of course, it is not that the ranks of the official army cannot fight, in fact, in addition to the official army of Jiyin County, which has been accustomed to the abuse of the Meng Hai Gong thief army, even the Liang County official army under the command of Yang Wang, the former president of the National University, is very good, and cooperates with the Qi County team under Zhang Xutuo to fight bravely, defeating the Meng Hai Gong thief army in the field several times, forcing Meng Hai Gong to shrink his forces under the old nest city, overhaul the camp defense, and confront the official army with his back to the city, only defend without fighting, and dare not attack again.

Then the situation gradually began to be unfavorable to the official army, Zhang Xutuo ordered Liang County to guard Yang Wang and Jiyin County Lieutenant Hua Delong attacked the camp several times, all of which were met with desperate resistance from the thief army, in the case of sufficient supplies against the fortified city, the thief army team fought tenaciously with the fortifications such as trenches, fences and earthen ramparts, and each time forced the officers and troops to withdraw their troops, and once achieved a lot of results in the camp battle, and taught a hard lesson to the Jiyin County army under the command of Hua Delong, which severely damaged the morale of the officers and soldiers, was also so angry that Zhang Xutuo ordered Hua Delong, the governor of Jiyin County, who took the lead in escaping, to be beheaded at the Yuanmen, and the military method was to kill the chicken to show the monkey.

Chen Yingliang, who is quite competent, has also been paying close attention to the battle situation in Menghai City, collecting information and intelligence through various channels, and hearing that after Zhang Xutuo defeated Meng Haigong in the field battle, Chen Yingliang did not have any surprises - in the case of a small disparity in troops, if Zhang Xutuo could not win against Meng Haigong again, then he would not be worthy of being called Zhang Xutuo. But after hearing that Meng Haigong's thief army was building a fortress outside the city and defending it, Chen Yingliang was a little confused, and he couldn't understand why Meng Haigong didn't directly withdraw to Menghai City, which was safer and easier to hold, but still had to contend with Zhang Xutuo outside the city, increasing the difficulty of his own resistance?

"Could it be that the city of Meng Hai City is too small to garrison so many troops?" Chen Yingliang once had such suspicions, but after carefully studying the enemy intelligence he had collected, Chen Yingliang quickly denied this possibility - the length of Menghai City from north to south is five miles, and the width from east to west is four miles, and it is more than enough for 20,000 troops to be stationed in such a city.

"Could it be that Meng Haigong is not completely dead and still wants to find a chance to fight back, so he is reluctant to return to the city?" The eldest grandson Wuji proposed a very absurd possibility.

"If that's the case, then Suda has to wake up laughing from his dream." Chen Yingliang pursed his lips and said: "With the combat effectiveness of Zhang Xutuo's army, there is no problem at all in defeating Meng Haigong's thief army in the field, the only suspense in this battle is the Menghai City, Meng Haigong insists on fighting a field battle, and Zhang Xutuo can't ask for it." ”

"Then why did Meng Haigong insist on refusing to retreat to the city? Doesn't that make sense? The eldest grandson Wuji said suspiciously.

"I wonder about that, too." Chen Yingliang said casually: "If I were Meng Haigong, I would have ...... a long time ago, a long time ago?!" ”

Unintentionally said this, Chen Yingliang suddenly showed surprise on his face, and after careful consideration, Chen Yingliang quickly slapped his thigh and said in a lost voice: "I underestimate Meng Haigong too much!" If I were Meng Haigong, I would fight like him! Don't be in a hurry to retreat to the city, first deal with Zhang Xutuo outside the city, this is the most correct tactic! ”

"Why?" Yuan Tiangang and Qian Xiangmin next to him hurriedly asked.

"Meng Haigong is not in a hurry to withdraw to the city, this is a psychological tactic, and it is also a disguised delaying tactic!" Chen Yingliang raised his arms and said loudly: "You can think about it, Meng Haigong's main force is not in a hurry to withdraw to the city, wouldn't it be a great thing for Zhang Xutuo to ask for?" Could Zhang Xutuo not have such a thought, first use the field battle to severely damage Meng Haigong's main force, reduce the resistance to the siege, and then launch a siege war to break the city in one fell swoop? Seeing that there was a chance to break the enemy in the field, Zhang Xutuo would definitely only try his best to induce Meng Haigong to fight a decisive battle in the field, and would not rashly exert his force to force the enemy's main force into the city to hold on! ”

"In this way, Zhang Xutuo will completely fall into the trap of Meng Haigong." Chen Yingliang said quickly: "The official army does not dare to attack Meng Haigong's camp outside the city too strongly, Meng Haigong's thief army relies on deep ditches and high bases, and it is naturally quite easy to defend, and then rely on the camp battle to fight a few small victories, even if it is a few small victories from the officials and troops of Liang County and Jiyin County, the confidence of the thief army will be established, and the morale of the official army will inevitably be affected because of the lack of success, and it will inevitably give birth to such a mind - even the camp defense of Meng Haigong's thief army is so difficult to attack, isn't Meng Haicheng even more difficult to attack?" ”

"What a clever psychological suggestion tactic!" Yuan Tiangang, a psychological master, also said in a lost voice: "After establishing the confidence to defend the city, Meng Haigong suddenly withdrew all the troops to the city, and the thief army will inevitably be more confident and morale will be high when defending the city." Zhang Xutuo's team was afraid of the hard battle because they couldn't break through the Menghai Gong Thieves' camp repeatedly, and their morale and fighting spirit were greatly affected, and it would only be more difficult to break through Menghai City! ”

Chen Yingliang nodded, admitting that Yuan Tiangang's analysis was consistent with his worries, and then the eldest grandson Wuji also came to his senses, and quickly picked up the intelligence summary to take a closer look, and then exclaimed: "Brother, Zhang Xutuo is afraid that he has been tricked!" The intelligence we collected showed that after Meng Haigong retreated to the camp under the city, Zhang Xutuo did not dispatch the main force of the official army of Qi County to attack the camp of the thief army, and several times the attack camp was to send the officials and troops of Liang County or Jiyin County. From this point of view, Zhang Xutuo should have the intention of inducing Meng Haigong to go out of the camp for a decisive battle, so he did not invest in the main force of Qi County, which was the most capable of fighting. ”

"Chen Tongshou, this is a good opportunity to ease our and Qi Army's army." Qian Xiangmin was not surprised, and hurriedly said: "Chen Tongshou, you might as well write a letter to Zhang Xutuo, explain this to him, and persuade him to immediately attack the thief camp with all his strength, and not fall into the psychological trap of the Menghai Gong thief army." ”

"Qian joins the army, your idea is still bad enough." Chen Yingliang said angrily: "Who is Zhang Xutuo?" Who am I? He's older than me in terms of age and official position, and I just offended him again, and then wrote to point out that he was wrong, and put a hot face on his cold ass? Scolding or hate? ”

Qian Xiangmin was speechless, and quickly closed his mouth, and the eldest grandson Wuji said in the court: "Brother, you can tell Yang Wang about these situations, in this war, Yang Wang is Zhang Xutuo's de facto deputy, his qualifications are not shallower than Zhang Xutuo, and he can be regarded as highly respected in the imperial court. Besides, Yang Wang has always been very friendly with us, and he has always loved you, so we should give Yang Wang a reminder. ”

Remind Yang Wang that there are no other consequences, and he can sell a favor to a neighbor and elder who has a good relationship, of course Chen Yingliang will not refuse such a good thing, and Chen Yingliang immediately took up the pen in person at the moment and wrote a letter to Yang Wang to inform him of the situation, and Yang Wang persuaded Zhang Xutuo to do his best to avoid continued consumption of morale, and first break the camp of the thief army and then consider how to break the city. Then after checking that the letter was correct, Chen Yingliang had just sealed the letter, and knew that Qian Xiangmin, who was absolutely not in danger on this errand, had already come up, and volunteered: "Tongshou, let the villain deliver the letter for you, the villain promises to deliver the letter to Yang Tongshou within two days." ”

Chen Yingliang handed out the letter easily, but took it back halfway, then turned to hand it to Yuan Tiangang, and said: "Mr. Yuan, please make a hard trip, send this letter to Yang Wang, and then do an errand for me by the way." ”

"Please keep the commands." Yuan Tiangang didn't refuse, and reached out to take the letter.

"Please sir carefully explore the terrain around Menghai City for me, draw a map and bring it back." Chen Yingliang said: "Although the detailed work we sent out before also depicted the terrain map around Menghai City, after all, they had limited ink, and the map they brought back was too rough and simple to be of much use at all. You're a master at this, so please do this for me by the way. ”

"No problem, if I need it, I can make a sand table and bring it back." Yuan Tiangang, a feng shui demon who could be counted on his fingers in history, agreed, and then said with a smile: "Tongshou, you still want to help Zhang Xutuo." ”

"No way, who called me a court official." Chen Yingliang smiled bitterly and sighed and said: "For the sake of the court's major affairs, you must help when you need to help." ”

………………

After taking the task assigned by Chen Yingliang, bringing some survey tools, and leading ten cavalry as retinues and bodyguards, Yuan Tiangang set off north to the Menghai City battlefield on the same day. Although the world is chaotic, the border between Qian County and Liang County has always been relatively peaceful, and Zhang Xutuo and Chen Yingliang have just joined forces to sweep the Liang County battlefield, Yuan Tiangang and his party arrived at the Menghai City battlefield two days later, and under the guidance of the Sui army scouts, they soon found the camp of the Sui army in Liang County, and immediately met Yang Wang, the Taishou of Liang County, who had always maintained friendly relations with Qian County, and presented Chen Yingliang's handwritten letter to Yang Wang.

After reading Chen Yingliang's handwritten letter, Yang Wang's first reaction was to feel unbelievable, and he couldn't believe that Princess Meng Hai had not returned to the city to defend the city with all his might, because of this reason analyzed by Chen Yingliang, until after thinking about it repeatedly, Yang Wang went to the camp of the Sui army of Qi County suspiciously, and told Zhang Xutuo about Chen Yingliang's analysis in his own tone, and built yì Zhang Xutuo to stop greedy for the benefits of the field war, and do his best to break through the camp of the thief army, even if he kills some enemies less in the field, And don't go on to confront the enemy, which will hurt morale and consume time.

After saying these words, Yang Wang was originally a little worried that Zhang Xutuo would accuse him of talking nonsense, but who knew that Zhang Xutuo not only did not get angry, but after thinking about it for a long time with a gloomy face, he suddenly asked: "Yang Tongshou, why are you only saying these words to me now?" ”

"Why now?" Yang Wang was stunned at first, and then hurriedly said: "The ambassador forgives the sins, the old man also figured this out just now, what?" Ambassador Zhang, do you think the old man's shallow and foolish views are reasonable? ”

"Actually, I've had this suspicion for a long time." Zhang Xutuo didn't hide it, and said frankly: "Actually, the old man sent your Liangjun army and Jiyin army to attack the enemy camp in turn, in fact, he didn't expect you to be able to break through the enemy's strong camp, the real purpose was to let you lure the main force of the thief army out of the camp, and then take the opportunity to fight a decisive battle." But Meng Haigong has never been fooled, he has always only defended and not fighting, the old man has long felt that the situation is a little wrong, but I didn't expect that at your level, Meng Haigong dared to use the old man to hone his army, establish his confidence in defending the country, and also take the opportunity to kill our morale and confidence. ”

"Zhang Xutuo's thoughts were also expected by Chen Yingliang's boy?" Yang Wang was taken aback, and then hurriedly asked, "Ambassador Zhang, since you have already discovered that something is wrong with the situation, why didn't you make up your mind to launch an attack earlier?" ”

"The old man wants to make siege weapons." Zhang Xutuo replied: "The old man originally thought so, while rushing to make siege weapons, he asked you to come forward to lure the enemy, of course, it is best to lure the enemy, and if you can't lure it, you won't delay the work." ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Xutuo slammed the case in front of him, and said with annoyance: "Now it seems that the old man miscalculated!" The old man should not have the luck of luring the enemy to a decisive battle, he should go all out to break through the enemy's camp, or simply ignore it, and not give the Meng Hai Gong Bandit Army a chance to build confidence and boost morale! As a result, now that our spirit has worn off, the siege battle is even more difficult to fight! ”

"I really didn't expect Meng Haigong to be so treacherous and kill us all." Yang Wang was also very remorseful, and hurriedly said: "Ambassador Zhang, you and I have the same opinion, then don't hesitate, do your best to arrange the camp, kill as many enemies as you can in the field battle, and win a battle, which can also boost our morale." ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded, and immediately raised the account to order the troops, but in view of the fact that it was not early enough to send troops immediately, he had to order the whole army to prepare for battle, and launched an all-out attack on the camp the next morning, demanding that the enemy camp must be broken in one battle, and take advantage of the opportunity that the enemy could not quickly withdraw to the city in a hurry, and eliminate as many enemies as possible to reduce the pressure of the siege in the future. At the same time, in order to prevent the enemy from detecting the movement of his own army and retreating to the city overnight, Zhang Xutuo arranged double scouts to monitor the movements of the enemy camp, and ordered Luo Shixin to lead an army to wait for orders at any time, and once the enemy was found to have retreated overnight, he immediately attacked and took advantage of the chaos to obtain greater victories.

Zhang Xutuo's careful arrangements seemed to have been wasted, and after the double scouts were dispatched, he did not receive any alarm reports for a whole night. In the early morning of the next day, when the sky was still hazy, Zhang Xutuo had already gathered the elite of Qi County to go out of the camp and set off towards the camp of the thief army eight miles away. The troops of the neighboring Liang County and Jiyin County also sent their own troops out of the camp and joined forces with the Qi County army to go north.

When Zhang Xutuo's main force drove to the edge of the camp of the thief army, not only did it not encounter any enemy interception, but the camp of the thief army, which was quite large, was also silent, without any sign of preparation, only the thief soldiers on duty stood guard behind the fence, on the arrow tower and by the camp gate. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xutuo's face of course changed greatly, and he hurriedly sent someone to check the situation, but what made Zhang Xutuo desperate was that the soldiers who came forward to check the situation quickly shouted............

"Handsome! It's a straw man! It's all straw men! We've been tricked! ”

"Straw Man?" The Sui army was in an uproar, and Zhang Xutuo was so angry that he whipped and struck loudly, "Traitor! Treacherous dog thief! actually played a hanging sheep drum under the nose of the old man! Hunting geese all day long, the old man was pecked in the eye by the geese today! ”

When the Sui soldiers smashed open the camp gate and swarmed into the camp, several Sui soldiers who rushed to the front suddenly felt that their feet sank, and they disappeared into the road out of thin air with screams, and at the same time the dust and smoke were filled with dust, and the Sui soldiers behind were shocked, and hurriedly stepped forward to check the situation, but they were extremely sad to see that the four companions before had fallen into the trap dug by the thief army in advance, and they were all nailed through the body by the sharp wooden stakes buried in the trap, and they died a miserable death. At the same time, at this time, on the wall of Menghai City not far away, an earth-shattering cheer and laughter suddenly broke out.

The soldiers of the thief army in Menghai City laughed, but the soldiers of the Sui army who sacrificed four heroic companions in vain were scolding, and Mulan still scolded: "Despicable! Obscene! It's comparable to Chen Yingliang's thief! ”

"Give the old man a flat in this thief camp!"

Zhang Xutuo shouted: "Organize the auxiliary soldiers of the people, use the shrimp toad car to fill the moat of the thief army's city, the old man wants to raze this thief city, and the car will crack Meng Haigong's rebel thieves!" Avenge the sacrifice of the soldiers! The enraged generals of the Sui army agreed in unison and immediately commanded the army to destroy the rebel camp.

Seeing the anger of the Sui army on the city wall, although some people in the thief army team opened their mouths to speak, and felt that it was a pity to take away the military tents, flags and other things that were too late to take away, Meng Haigong laughed, waved his fat palm, and said with a smile: "Some rag military tents, hundreds of military flags, if you lose them, you can lose them, it's a pity!" As long as the army and weapons are withdrawn safely, if there is an army and weapons, are you afraid that you will not be able to get these military tent flags in the future? ”

Laughing, Meng Haigong patted Li Mi next to him again, and said with a laugh: "It's still the Dharma Master, who can see at a glance that Zhang Xutuo's old dog is ready to attack, and he has come up with a clever plan to use a straw man to coax the tyrant's lackey!" If it weren't for the fact that the Dharma Master was like a god, we would not have been able to retreat to the city along the way, I'm afraid it wouldn't be so easy! ”

"The record has been awarded, in fact, thanks to Meng Lushi's precautions, he planted some inside lines in the ranks of Jiyin officials and soldiers in advance, and provided auxiliary information, otherwise, I would not dare to conclude that Zhang Xutuo will launch a general attack today." Li Mi was very gracious and modest, and said: "Record, I think you should try to thank those insiders and find a way to continue to get in touch with them, they may be of great use." ”

"Of course, that's of course." Meng Haigong nodded again and again.

"Husband, Mr. Fa Zhu is so strategic, in the next battle to defend the city, you should listen more to his proposals." A coquettish voice came, and a beautiful woman dressed in fancy clothes leaned on the tall and fat Meng Haigong, and said in a coquettish voice: "Don't put up your stinky shelf again, and make things difficult for Mr. Dharma Master." ”

"Am I upset?" Meng Haigong laughed and said, "I have always loved Mr. Fazhu, no matter what, Mr. Fazhu is the son-in-law of my old friend, and he can be regarded as my niece-in-law!" Hahahaha! ”

The charming woman pursed her lips and smiled, then turned her gaze to Li Mi, and said with a smile: "Mr. Master, it's up to you next, if you have any good ideas, just tell my husband, if he doesn't listen to your good words again, you can sue me, and I will pluck his ears for you." ”

"Please rest assured, Madame, I will do my best."

Li Mi respectfully agreed, and didn't look at the glamorous and moving Meng Haigong's wife Ma Saifei, but turned his gaze to the city, looked at a place under the city, and muttered in his heart, "It's finally come to this point, I hope I won't be detected by the enemy." Fortunately, this flaw can only be used by people who are proficient in geography and water conservancy, and only by soldiers of my level can see that such a person should not exist in Zhang Xutuo's team. ”