The changes in the situation on the battlefield in Guanzhong exceeded everyone's expectations, and even exceeded the expectations of Chen Fuliang, a traverser, which can definitely be regarded as ever-changing, unpredictable, dazzling, and at a loss.

No, on the morning of October 18, Li Jingbu of the Sui Army in the Eastern Capital and Qu Tutong of the Daxing Sui Army had just arrived at the Daxing Battlefield, completely reversing the inferiority of the Sui Army on the Daxing Battlefield, and only in the evening, another Sui Army's partial division Ma Sanbao sent 100,000 urgent news with fast horses, saying that although the Sui Army's partial division had been stationed in Meixian yesterday, Xue Renguo's Division, the forward of Xue Jujun's army, which had sent troops on October 14, had advanced faster, and it took only one day to cross the Great Earthquake Pass, and on the 15th, it hit the city of Huangyuan. If Dou Jin, who is currently unclear about his attitude, does not send troops to stop him or directly open the city and surrender, it will take at least three or four days, or at most six or seven days, and Ma Sanbao will have to fight with Xue Ju's eldest son and crown prince Xue Renguo.

In addition, the situation in Fufeng County is also complicated and abnormal, Taishou Dou Jin just did not publicly play the red and white anti-flag, in fact, he deliberately allowed Li Yuan's rebel official envoys to operate in Fufeng County, and Li Yuan's intention to rebel was clearly revealed, the Sui army's partial division was stationed in the small city of Meixian County after several robbers, the residents in the city were less than 600 people, the city was ruined, grain and grass were scarce, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in Meixian County's palace Anren Palace was burned into a pile of ruins, the officials and people in the city were obviously hostile to the Sui army, if not they were powerless to resist at all, It is even possible to refuse to accept Chen Fuliang's order to arrest the ambassador in Guanzhong, and let the Sui army be stationed in Meixian County.

In addition, there is also the slave Bai Yu's mother-in-law department active in the northwest of Fufeng County, Li Hongzhi, who previously claimed to be the emperor of Chu, and Tang Bi, who claimed to be the king of Tang, were entrenched in Nanyou, which were also not a small threat to the Sui army's partial division, and Hechi's uncle Xiao Guo was also ready to move, under the pretext of leveling the thief's troops in Sanguan, it was possible to enter the pass and join the battlefield, and he could also receive Li Yuan's rebels into Shu at any time. Ma Sanbao, who only has more than 10,000 troops, has no relatives in Fufeng, and it is difficult to support it alone, not to mention that it is difficult to force Dou Jin to stand in line with Yongxian County, even if it is difficult to protect itself.

After quietly and carefully reading Ma Sanbao's military intelligence report, he personally marked the approximate location of the enemies on the sand table in Guanzhong, and pondered for a moment on the sand table, Chen Fuliang said with a gloomy face: "The situation of Fufeng is too complicated, unless the main force of our army moves westward and crushes it strongly, it will not solve the problem of Fufeng." At present, we can only let Ma Sanbao endure and hold on, stop Xue Ju to buy us time, and there is no other way. ”

"Chen Liushou, why don't you consider sending a reinforcement army to help Ma Sanbao?" Yuan Tiangang asked: "Increasing the number of troops in Meixian County can more effectively block the westward advance of Xue Ju's thief army and buy us more time, at the moment our troops on the Daxing battlefield have exceeded 110,000, and it is not a big problem to divide the troops into 20,000 or 30,000 in the past?" ”

"You can't divide your troops, and you don't need to divide your troops." Chen Fuliang shook his head and said: "Now that the division of troops is advancing westward, it is equivalent to telling the thief army in Sù City that their reinforcements are about to arrive, which makes the thief army more determined to defend the city." Ma Sanbao is quite reliable in the war, even if he can't win against Xue Renguo, it shouldn't be a big problem to defend himself, enough to buy us a lot of time. ”

"Then we have to move faster." Fang Xuanling said: "First, we don't know when Xue Ju will send the main force west to Daxing, and second, He Panren, who is next to Ma Sanbao, has not joined our army for a long time, and it is difficult to guarantee that he will be as loyal as General Ma Sanbao. ”

Chen Fuliang nodded, thought about it a little, and quickly said: "If Dugu Huai'en's side goes along with it, there should be news delivered tonight, then we will take the outer city of Daxing tomorrow night." If Dugu Huai'en's side does not progress well and fails to win the control of the Daxing City Gate, then we will use gunpowder to blow up the door tomorrow night and plan to take the Xuanwu Gate, of course, it is best to succeed, if we can't succeed, we will launch a strong attack the day after tomorrow, and we will forcibly take the Daxing Outer City first! ”

Fang Xuanling, Yuan Tiangang and others agreed, in addition to ordering Ma Sanbao to let him resolutely defend the palace, while discussing with Chen Fuliang the specific plan for clever attack tactics, while patiently waiting for Dugu Huaien's gang to send news, but waited left and right, until nearly the second watch, Daxing did not see any movement. In desperation, Chen Fuliang had to yawn and personally patrol the camp to check the sentry round, and then returned to the sleeping tent to rest exhausted, and entrusted the task of receiving the secret envoys in the city to Fang Xuanling.

Born with a hard life, he didn't sleep long after lying down, Chen Fuliang was cautiously woken up by his own soldiers, saying that Fang Xuanling had been invited, Chen Fuliang thought at first that it was Dugu Huaien and other envoys who asked to see, and he was once overjoyed, but when he asked casually, he got an answer that made Chen Fuliang very surprised - this time it was not Dugu Huaien and other messengers who came to meet overnight, but the messenger of Chen Fuliang's old lackey Zhu Cang, and it was also to discuss how to receive the Sui army into the city.

After all, it is a good thing, although he really wanted to keep Zhu Cang's chess piece in the inner city for reuse, Chen Fuliang still got up in his clothes and came to the Chinese military tent to meet Zhu Cang's envoy. I also learned after meeting that the messenger sent by Zhu Cang was a personal soldier under his account, and when Zhu Cang first entered Zuotunwei four years ago, he followed Zhu Cang as an absolute confidant, and went out of the city on Zhu Cang's order to contact Chen Fuliang, and immediately presented Chen Fuliang with a joint letter from Zhu Cang and Miao Haichao.

took out the letterhead and took a closer look, in addition to a lot of flattering and flattering sycophants, Zhu Cang also took the initiative to mention the hidden matter that he was ordered to lurk for four years, so that Chen Fuliang knew at a glance that it was impossible to fake the letter, and then told Chen Fuliang that he had won Li Er's trust and promotion, and said that he would be on duty at the Daxing Chunming Gate on the night of the 19th, and agreed to light three red lights on the city at the third watch, and open the city gate to welcome the Sui army into the city. In addition, Zhu Cang also said that Miao Haichao also agreed to join forces anyway, and he has not been able to spy on Li Yuan's life or death so far.

Originally, Chen Fuliang deliberately helped Zhu Cang gain Li Er's trust, the original intention was to let Zhu Cang further lurk beside Li Er, and after the Sui army took the outer city of Daxing, he would play a greater role in the inner city of Daxing, but Chen Fuliang never expected that Zhu Cang guessed the help he deliberately gave him, but he was in a hurry to get to this point, and he even wanted to make it difficult to do it while he was still in the outer city, and he couldn't wait to win the merit of dedicating the outer city of Daxing! ——The ninety-mile-long Daxing Outer City is full of breakthroughs, as long as Chen Fuliang is willing to fill it with his life, it is actually very difficult to take the Daxing Outer City.

Fortunately, just when Chen Fuliang quietly regretted it, Fang Xuanling came up in time and said in a low voice: "Our army's previous intelligence, Li Shimin's right capital marshal's mansion is located in Yirenfang, I asked the messenger carefully just now, Li Shimin rests in Yirenfang every day, Yirenfang is quite close to Chunmingmen, if the action is fast enough, we have the opportunity to block Li Shimin in the square." Also, Dugu Huaien and them have not sent a messenger until now. ”

There was some meat on the chicken ribs, Chen Fuliang was somewhat covetous, and after thinking about it for a while, Chen Fuliang asked the messenger sent by Zhu Cang: "Did General Zhu ask you to go back overnight?" ”

"It's up to you to stay." The messenger sent by Zhu Cang replied respectfully: "If Chen Liushou feels that he needs the villain to return to the city, the villain can go back now, and there are people in the city to pick up the villain." If Chen stays behind and is worried about leaking the news, the villain can also stay, before starting tomorrow night, the soldiers who stay behind only need to use three eagle horns to notify under the city, General Zhu will light up three red lights to respond, if there is any accident or the left guard feels that the opportunity is not suitable, and he can't hear the eagle, General Zhu will not do it for the time being, to avoid exposure. ”

"It's been very thoughtful." Chen Fuliang's voice was somewhat dissatisfied, and he didn't like Zhu Cang's personality more and more - he worked so hard to help Zhu Cang gain Li Er's trust, as long as Zhu Cang waited, he would definitely be able to establish greater merit in the inner city, and even have the opportunity to take down Li Er's head at a critical moment, what is the urgency at this time? A typical rush for quick success, throwing watermelons and picking sesame seeds!

I don't like it, I don't like it, Zhu Can's attitude towards the city is very sincere, and it is absolutely reliable and feasible, seizing this opportunity can at least reduce a large number of casualties, and there is also a chance to block the most dangerous opponent Li Er in Yirenfang, and finally Dugu Huai'en has not sent news so far, Chen Fuliang finally nodded very reluctantly, and said to the messenger sent by Zhu Cang: "Understood, you have worked hard, you don't have to risk going back to the city, stay." Come, invite this strong man down to receive the reward, wine and meat to entertain him. ”

Zhu Cang's messenger went down to receive the reward happily, and Fang Xuanling immediately asked Chen Fuliang: "Brother Xian, is Zhu Cang's letter reliable?" ”

"Reliable." Chen Fuliang nodded and said: "He is a chess piece that I laid four years ago, let him take advantage of the opportunity to serve under Yun Dingxing, and deliberately get close to Li Yuan's old thief family who had already formed a big enmity with me at that time, no one else knows about this matter except me and him, he deliberately mentioned this matter in the letter, just to let me distinguish the truth from the false." ”

"In this way, it will be easy for us to take the outer city of Daxing." Fang Xuanling was first overjoyed, and then also regretful: "It's a pity, it's good that Zhu Cang can calm down a little longer, with his current identity, he will definitely follow Li Shimin into the inner city in the future, and when the time comes, he will definitely play a greater role." ”

"The mud can't hold up the wall!" Chen Fuliang scolded angrily, and said: "Wait until tomorrow, if Dugu Huaien and they can send news tonight, we will see who has a greater grasp of who will use it first, if Dugu Huai'en has a greater grasp, I will send Zhu Cang's personal soldiers back, let him give me an honest continue to stay by Li Er's side, follow Li Er into the inner city, and have the opportunity to open the inner city gate for me again, or kill Li Er for me!" ”

Fang Xuanling also agreed with Chen Fuliang's decision, but waited left and right, until the sky was dark, Dugu Huaien and others still sent a little bit of news, and at the same time, the Sui army scouts also repeatedly confirmed that the Dugu banner was not found on the city of Daxing South Sanmen, proving that Dugu Huaien did not get the military power of Nansanmen. Chen Fuliang was disappointed, but he had no choice but to say: "There is no way, in order to reduce the casualties of the soldiers, and in order to let the army enter the city to avoid the wind and snow, I can only use the line of Zhu Cang." ”

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng, who already knew the situation, also agreed with great regret, but Yuan Tiangang said: "Good opportunity, if the wind direction remains the same, there should be snow tonight, just enough to cover us to launch a surprise attack." From the bottom of his heart, Chen Fuliang, who was reluctant to use Zhu Cang's volt in advance, nodded sullenly, and could only hold the idea that it was better to have no fish or shrimp, and began to carefully ponder the night attack plan.

………………

Now it's time to take a look at the situation on Zhu Can's side, after he couldn't wait to send the contact messenger out of the city, Zhu Cang continued to work hard to capture the wavering people in the rebels and express his loyalty to the old Li family, and naturally he couldn't wait to start fantasizing about the glory and wealth he would get after the success of dedicating the city, and he also felt that as one of Chen Fuliang's oldest accomplices and lackeys, his qualifications were second only to Ma Sanbao and Yuan Tiangang and other Chen Fuliang's absolute cronies. At least there must be tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, so that he can show his strength and kill all sides.

In addition to Mei Zizi's fantasy, Zhu Cang also considered that if he had the opportunity, he should also cut off Li Er's beautiful head and give it to Chen Fuliang to get more merit and reward. It's just that taking into account Li Er's good martial arts and the many pro-soldiers and fierce generals who are always around, Zhu Cang still quietly dispelled this idea, and didn't dare to think about how to put it into practice, deciding that it is better to be down-to-earth, and first grasp the merit and reward that is destined to be in hand and don't be too greedy.

The messenger, who never came back, gave Zhu Cang another shot of strength, feeling that Chen Fuliang was not to miss this opportunity so that he would no longer let the messenger venture back to the city to avoid extraneous branches, and under the secret joy in his heart, Zhu Cang quietly found Miao Haichao on the morning of the 19th, and told Miao Haichao about the situation of the plan, and asked Miao Haichao to act according to the plan.

In the blink of an eye, it was already afternoon, and the good news came again, in view of Zhu Cang's ability to capture the vacillators in the army, Li Er suddenly sent someone to summon Zhu Cang to the palace of martial virtue to discuss matters, and the envoy was still full of smiles and continued to ask Zhu Cang for a reward and said that it was a great thing, Zhu Cang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and wanted to take the opportunity to find out the mystery of Li Yuan's life and death, so he followed the envoy into the palace without hesitation, and came all the way to the Wude Palace, the general headquarters of the rebel army, which was heavily guarded.

After going to the Wude Palace, Zhu Cang finally found that the situation was wrong - his rebel ally Miao Haichao was also in the palace, and he was kneeling in front of the Li brothers and Pei Lin by several rebel soldiers! At the same time, the smiling messenger beside Zhu Cang had also quietly disappeared, and in his place were a full eight heavily armed rebel guards, all of whom aimed their swords at him!

"General Zhu is here?" Li Er's smile was very kind, and he said with a smile: "The general has worked hard, please come in, we have been waiting for you for a long time." ”

Looking at Li Er's kind smile, Zhu Cang fell into the ice cellar, but the rebel soldiers behind him couldn't help but say, snatched his matching sword, pushed him to Miao Haichao's side with both hands, and forcibly pressed him to kneel, Zhu Cang wanted to resist but saw the bright sword pointed at his body, but he didn't have the guts, so he could only obediently kneel in front of Li Er and the others, and his heart was at a loss, "There is a leak there?" ”

"General Zhu is really a smart man." Li Er smiled approvingly and said: "The hero doesn't suffer immediate losses, he is much stronger than your friend General Miao, and he even wants to pull out a knife to cut us, but he suffers a loss, right?" ”

Peeking at Miao Haichao, seeing that he really had injuries on his body and a lot of blood on his face, Zhu Cang's heart couldn't help but tremble again. Li Er, who was over there, smiled again and said: "General Zhu, you are indeed a smart person, and you almost deceived me when you played a good show with Chen Yingliang's dog thief, and it was really a bit powerful." ”

"What did you say? How could the last general not understand? Zhu Cang asked tremblingly.

"What else are you pretending?" Pei Lian, who was sitting next to Li Jiancheng, opened his mouth and said with a sneer: "Let's tell you the truth, the loyalty drama that you and Chen Yingliang's thief teamed up to play was already seen through by the Right Governor at that time, and the reason why the Right Governor didn't expose you was that you sent someone out of the city last night to contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief." ”

Zhu Cang's body trembled, and he peeked at Li Er, but Li Er smiled even more happily and said, "General Zhu, you look at me quietly, do you want to know how I can see through the ghost tricks of you and Chen Yingliang's dog thief?" In fact, it's very simple, because you are too smart, so smart that you never suffer losses, how could a smart person like you suddenly do things and block his retreat when Chen Yingliang's dog thieves were approaching the city? When you handed me Chen Yingliang's letter of surrender to the dog thief, I was not only moved, but also immediately felt extremely strange, how could a person as smart as you do such a stupid thing? ”

"Of course, at the time, I was just suspicious, there was no evidence, and I didn't want to say much about you." Li Er smiled again and said: "So I simply named you a military judge, so that you can walk freely in the army, and then secretly observe your reaction, the result is the same as I expected, you really sent your most confidant personal soldier Tu Yong out of the city at the second watch last night to contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief, and I completely believe that my suspicions are true." ”

Zhu Cang's face was as pale as paper, and he was sweating like pulp, but Li Er became happier the more he laughed, and said with a smile: "General Zhu, I think you are too eager for quick success, if you can endure and endure until the outer city of Daxing is broken, and retreat to the inner city with me, then I will basically believe you." But why are you in such a hurry to sacrifice the outer city? Doesn't that give me a chance to discern your loyalty? I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, General Zhu, are you hot now? ”

Hearing this, Pei Lin and Li Jiancheng and other high-ranking rebels next to him couldn't help but sneer again and again, but Chai Shao, who was in the palace, didn't smile, and his eyes were still a little complicated when he looked at Zhu Cang and Miao Haichao.

"Say it." Li Er smiled again and said, "How did you contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief, how did you act, when did you do it, and what is the contact signal?" Having said that, not only will I not kill you, but I will also reward you, and if you don't say it, I admire you. "You can walk freely in the army, and then secretly observe your reaction, the result is the same as I expected, you really sent your most confidant personal soldier Tu Yong out of the city at the second watch last night to contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief, and I completely believe that my suspicions are true."

Zhu Cang's face was as pale as paper, and he was sweating like pulp, but Li Er became happier the more he laughed, and said with a smile: "General Zhu, I think you are too eager for quick success, if you can endure and endure until the outer city of Daxing is broken, and retreat to the inner city with me, then I will basically believe you." But why are you in such a hurry to sacrifice the outer city? Doesn't that give me a chance to discern your loyalty? I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, General Zhu, are you hot now? ”

Hearing this, Pei Lin and Li Jiancheng and other high-ranking rebels next to him couldn't help but sneer again and again, but Chai Shao, who was in the palace, didn't smile, and his eyes were still a little complicated when he looked at Zhu Cang and Miao Haichao.

"Say it." Li Er smiled again and said, "How did you contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief, how did you act, when did you do it, and what is the contact signal?" Having said that, not only will I not kill you, but I will also reward you, and if you don't say it, I admire you. ”