There was a faint smell of medicine in the military tent, his face was a little unnaturally pale, his hands would tremble even with a teacup, he pretended to be calm but he didn't even have the strength to speak loudly and coherently, and he could only rely on the accomplices next to him to help him finish speaking. But this time, hehe, because the enemy coach this time is notoriously unconscionable, the old Li family has to weigh it carefully.

Of course, it is not absolutely impossible to do this, Chen Fuliang's health is not very good, the old Li family has long been aware of this, knowing that four years ago during the Eastern Capital War, the weak Chen Fuliang had been drenched in a sudden illness by the torrential rain, and also saw Chen Fuliang faint in front of Emperor Yang of Sui, in the first half of this year, Chen Fuliang was tired again in the post left behind in the Eastern Capital, this matter Lao Li family also received a secret report, there are several precedents in the front, Chen Fuliang suddenly fell ill may not be nothing, and it is quite small.

"Father, be cautious, if Chen Yingliang's thief pretends to be sick, his purpose must be to lure our army out of the city to fight." No matter how big Li Er may be, he didn't dare to be fooled casually, and pointed out to Li Yuan: "Although our army is numerous, it is not as brave as the enemy, although the enemy army is fine, but the geographical advantage is not as good as our army, the field battle is beneficial to the enemy, and the battle based on the city is beneficial to our army, Chen Yingliang is a thief who is good at using soldiers, and he must understand this reason, pretending to be sick and showing weakness to lure our army out of the city for a decisive battle, this may be greater than the possibility of him suddenly falling ill, for the sake of prudence, we had better be cautious." ”

Li Jiancheng, Pei Lin and the others all agreed with Li Er's opinion, and they all felt that it was best not to risk fighting, Li Yuan also nodded in approval, but after approving the construction of his precious son, Li Yuan frowned and said: "The old man also knows that Chen Yingliang's thief may pretend to be sick, but what does Yuan Tiangang, the old puppet who pretends to be a ghost, deliberately say that sentence in front of Liu Shilong?" Heavy snow is about to fall in three days, and the moat is frozen and can be passed directly, so hurry up to build siege weapons? What is the purpose of Chen Yingliang's thief? ”

"It's just a bluff." Li Er said contemptuously: "It's nothing more than to let us know that the official army is going to attack the city in three days, and I feel that it is not a way to just defend the city, and we have the idea of a decisive battle in the field, or let us take it lightly and launch a sneak attack within these three days, this is the old trick of Chen Yingliang's thief." ”

The rebel Zhu Wenwu echoed again, although Li Yuan also nodded, he still said secretly in his heart: "Threatening to attack the city in three days to lure us out of the city for a decisive battle, Erlang's opinion is a bit far-fetched, even if the moat is not frozen, Chen Yingliang's thief can also use the shrimp toad car to fill the river to attack, and he can't make a fuss about it." Chen Yingliang's thief did this, in addition to the possibility of launching a sneak attack within three days, I am afraid there are other reasons. ”

Although he did not fully agree with the opinion of the baby son, for the sake of prudence, Li Yuan did not waver in the slightest in the strategy of defending the enemy, in addition to letting the army continue to strictly defend the city, and then there were many scouts to closely monitor the main force of the Sui army, and keep the communication with the Xinfeng division unimpeded, in addition, there was no new action, and the main force of the Sui army only made every effort to strengthen the camp, and the deep ditch and high fortress were prepared for a long time, and did not invest a single soldier to launch an attack, The first day after the main force of the Sui army arrived at the eastern capital also passed in a state of restraint and calm on both sides.

The next day, October 13, the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, in the morning, Li Yuan, who had been working hard all day, had just gotten up to work, and before he had finished reading the first official document, Li Jiancheng and the two Li brothers rushed into the hall with nervous expressions, and Li Yuan hurriedly asked what had happened, whether the Sui army had launched an attack on the city? Li Jiancheng and Li Er shook their heads together in denial, and then said in unison: "Father, something strange happened!" Our army scouted and reported that Chen Yingliang's thief actually arranged for a partial division to go out of the camp, threatening to attack Shiping and Meixian in the west, and take precautions to cut off our westward escape route! ”

"Chen Yingliang's thief has divided his troops again?" Li Yuan jumped up in surprise and exclaimed in disbelief: "He's crazy? His troops were originally only one-third of ours, and he dared to divide his troops to the west? Did the scouts get it wrong? ”

"Absolutely." Li Jiancheng hurriedly replied: "The children have already seen Chen Yingliang's partial division out of the camp on the city tower, carrying a large amount of heavy grain and grass, and it looks like they are preparing to launch a westward expedition!" ”

Li Yuan was dumbfounded, and after coming back to his senses, he didn't say a word, and immediately led his two sons out of the hall quickly, and went straight to the Chunming Gate, which was the closest to the Sui army camp, and when he climbed the high place of the city tower and looked in the direction of the Sui army camp, Li Yuan couldn't help but be stunned again-the Sui army camp had indeed left the camp with a considerable number of troops, and it had already carried a large number of baggage vehicles to the west. The rebel scouts rushed back and forth in the wilderness, constantly rushing back to the city to report loudly about the changes in the enemy's situation, and soon found out that the size of the Sui army's partial division was about 10,000 people, and the main general was Ma Sanbao, who was given to Chen Fuliang by Lao Chai Jiabai, and the deputy general was He Panren, who had previously pitted the main force of the rebels.

Unbelievable, he rode his horse and rushed to the southeast corner of the outer city of Daxing, until he saw with his own eyes that the Sui army bypassed the Daxing city and marched directly westward, Li Yuan finally believed that the division of troops by the Sui army was indeed true, and after coming back to his senses, Li Yuan was also immediately full of anger, and suddenly scolded: "Chen Yingliang, arrogant child, dare to despise the old man so much!" The strength is far inferior to the old man, and he even dares to divide the troops again and again when he is in battle, he simply doesn't take the old man in his eyes at all! ”

Li Jiancheng, Li Er, and the rebel Wenwu's faces were also very ugly, because Chen Fuliang was indeed a bit deceitful and too deceitful, obviously the strength of the army was only one-third of the rebels, and they dared to swagger under the noses of the main force of the rebels, and they simply despised the main force of the rebels to the extreme. And Chen Fuliang is also very good at adding fuel to the fire, at this time, a rebel soldier rushed to Li Yuan and presented Li Yuan with an arrow book that had just been shot into the city, and when Li Yuan took the arrow book and looked at it carefully, the green tendons on his forehead couldn't help but jump a little again.

The content of the letter is, of course, provocative and humiliating, ridiculing Li Yuan for being as timid as a mouse and not daring to fight, Li Yuan, who is old in the city, is not an impulsive person, but Chen Fuliang's division of troops is like a slap in the face, and it is heavily slapped on Li Yuan's face, and after seeing Chen Fuliang's arrogant and mean provocative letter, Li Yuan really gave birth to the idea of leading the army out of the city for the first time. But fortunately, Li Yuan quickly calmed down again, knowing that the angry army would inevitably fall into Chen Fuliang's arms, and the chances of victory were not good, and he was likely to suffer another heavy blow.

After obtaining Li Yuan's consent, Pei Lian, Li Jiancheng and others passed on Chen Fuliang's provocative letter a little, and all of them had gloomy faces because of the content of the letter, and quietly gritted their teeth, but Li Er always remained calm, and sneered after reading the letter, and wanted to return Li Yuan, but halfway through it, he suddenly remembered a big event, and quickly picked up the letter and read it carefully, especially paying attention to Chen Fuliang's autograph, and then soon, Li Er suddenly blurted out: "No! ”

"What's wrong?" Li Yuan asked, slanting at his son.

"Chen Yingliang's autograph." Li Er pointed to the signature on the letter and said: "Chen Yingliang's handwriting is not strong enough, the ink marks are a little disordered, he should have insufficient wrist strength when he put down the pen, and his hands are likely to be a little trembling!" ”

Li Yuan's eyes lit up suddenly, and he quickly took the letter and looked at Chen Fuliang's handwriting carefully, and found that although Chen Fuliang's regular script was quite neat, his pen power was obviously insufficient, and the ink marks on the pen were also slightly disordered, and it was indeed like his wrist was trembling when he signed. Li Jiancheng and Pei Lin on the other side also had some research in this regard, and after reading it carefully, they quickly said in surprise: "Really, Chen Yingliang's handwriting is indeed a little disordered, and it should be that his hands are trembling when he puts down the pen." ”

"Could it be that Chen Yingliang's thief is really sick?" Li Yuan ignited hope in his heart, and blurted out, "Can you tell if it's a disguise?" Chen Xiaothief's handwriting, is it deliberately pretending to be like this? Or did you inadvertently expose the heavenly secrets? ”

Li Jiancheng, Pei Lin and the others all shook their heads, admitting that their calligraphy attainments had not yet reached this point, and Li Er's research in this area was not very profound, but he just thought about proposing a possibility, and said, "Father, is there such a possibility?" Chen Yingliang's thief was really sick, and he was not lightly ill, and he was afraid that we would take advantage of the fire to rob after we found out, so he deliberately divided his troops, bluffed, and deliberately selected archery skills to show his strength, so that we did not dare to go out of the city to fight, so he took the opportunity to treat and recuperate, and then launched a war after his body recovered. ”

Li Yuan pondered and remained silent, and Li Er continued: "If this is the case, then what Yuan Tiangang deliberately said to Liu Shilong yesterday is probably also a bluff of Chen Xiaothief, let us only care about his sneak attack and frontal siege, and not think about going out of the city to fight." If Chen Yingliang's thief really has this purpose, then this is indeed a bluff. ”

"It's possible." Li Yuan nodded, and then said quietly: "But this is more likely to be his desire to capture the old man, he wants to lure our army out of the city for a decisive battle, but he knows that the old man will not be fooled, so he desperately arranges the illusion of bluffing, showing strength on the surface but actually showing weakness, the ultimate goal is still to lure the old man out of the city for a decisive battle, if the old man is out of the city, it will be in his arms." ”

Li Er also nodded, admitting that there was indeed this possibility, and then Li Er said: "Father, why don't you let the child lead a detachment out of the city to fight with Chen Yingliang's thief, and then try his true situation." ”

"Do you want to suffer another defeat and blow our morale again?" Li Yuan asked with a sneer, and said: "Chen Yingliang's thief has many elites, and his morale is booming in consecutive battles, and he boldly divides his troops to reduce the number of enemies. ”

Li Er, who had already seen the elite and powerful under Chen Fuliang, shut up, but Li Yuan said: "If you want to go out of the city to fight, there is only one way, that is, the old man personally leads the main force out of the city and fights him to the death!" But this is only the last choice, and it is likely to fall into the hands of Chen Yingliang's thief, until the last moment, the old man will never consider it! ”

After that, Li Yuan raised his legs and left, and instructed while returning to the city: "Go back to the Wude Palace, continue to closely monitor every move of the official camp, by the way, pay attention to keep the communication with Xinfeng unimpeded, and the old man must know the specific battle situation there at any time." ”

…………

Concerned about the Xinfeng battle situation and Chen Yingliang, in order to meet the needs of the main battlefield of Daxing, Chen Fuliang ordered the division to launch a strong attack on the Xinfeng city, although the division was prepared to suffer a lot of losses, but also habitually worried about the heavy casualties of the division soldiers, but fortunately, several heralds reported to Chen Fuliang that the Xinfeng battlefield was progressing smoothly, and the Sui army and the Daxing Sui army led by Qu Tutong were reclaiming the river smoothly, plus the previous efforts, at noon the Sui army division had basically filled the moat of the south gate of XinfengQu Tutong, who had been a mess in the Hedong battlefield before, was in a hurry to save face and atone for his crimes, and also took the initiative to shoulder the heavy task of attacking the fortifications, and the road to the city had just opened, so he volunteered to personally lead the army to launch an attack on the city, which not only posed an actual threat to the Xinfeng defenders, but also made Chen Fuliang not worry about the casualties of his descendants in the eastern capital.

In order to prevent the rebels from going out of the city to intercept Ma Sanbao, Chen Fuliang also arranged for cavalry to be ordered, and it turned out that Chen Fuliang was only worried in vain in this regard, afraid that this was Chen Fuliang's trick to lure the main force of the rebels into the city, and watched the Sui army's division go away, and then when the Sui army's division crossed the water, Chen Fuliang basically didn't need to worry about Ma Sanbao anymore.

Time passed slowly and quickly for Chen Fuliang, while he was waiting for the reaction of the main rebel army, time was as slow as a snail crawling, and when he was calculating how much time he had left for a decisive battle, time was as fast as the wind, and in a blink of an eye, it was already more than half of the afternoon Shen hour, and the second day was about to pass. And after once again confirming that the main force of the rebel army was still hiding in Daxing City, Chen Fuliang couldn't help but sigh: "Today is hopeless, we can only look at tomorrow, tomorrow will determine the future fate of the entire Guanzhong battlefield, the main force of the thief army will go out of the city for a decisive battle, then there is hope that the battle in Guanzhong will end soon." If the main force of the thief army still hides in the city and does not move, it will snow heavily the day after tomorrow, and there will be no date when the Guanzhong War will end. ”

"Don't worry, brother Xian, even if we can't break the main force of the thief army tomorrow, we still have the upper hand." Fang Xuanling comforted: "Tongguan and Yongfeng Cang are in our hands, our grain and grass supply is worry-free, but the rebels are using grain and grass less every day, and the chance of victory is still in the hands of our army." ”

"Of course I know that." Chen Fuliang nodded, frowned again, and said: "We are indeed still sure of winning the grain and grass, but if the time is too long, there will be too many variables, and if we are not careful, we may have extraneous branches, and our rear is ......." ”

Speaking of this, Chen Fuliang shook his head, trying to make himself forget about the hidden worries in the rear for a while, and after thinking about it for a while, Chen Fuliang gritted his teeth again and said viciously: "Anyway, there is only one last day left, just give him Li Yuan's old thief a heavy one, and provoke him to go out of the city tomorrow to fight with us!" ”

"What are you going to do?" Fang Xuanling hurriedly asked.

"By Duvowe's method." Chen Fuliang gritted his teeth and replied: "Send someone into the city, send a set of old woman's clothes to the old thief Li Yuan, give him the nickname Grandma Li, and ask him to go out of the city tomorrow for a decisive battle!" ”

After thinking about it carefully, Fang Xuanling nodded and said: "It's a way, it can also echo our previous arrangement, so that Li Yuan's old fox feels that we are still bluffing, since there is not much time, then we will be a dead horse and a live horse doctor, and finally try again." ”

After that, Fang Xuanling immediately ordered someone to prepare women's clothes, and immediately wrote a letter to Chen Fuliang to humiliate Li Yuan, Chen Fuliang continued to grit his teeth, and said secretly: "Yu'er, pray for God's blessing with me, bless me to be able to successfully lead Li Yuan's old thief to a decisive battle this time, only if this is successful, can we hope to meet as much as possible." ”

When he was gritting his teeth, Yuan Tiangang suddenly hurried in from outside the tent, holding a military report with chicken feathers in his hand, looking anxious but not daring to speak loudly, and deliberately lowered his voice, and said: "Stay behind, the urgent report that has just been sent by the Dongdu with an urgent report of 500 miles, Li Mi rebelled against the thief's voice and attacked the west, pretending to invade Hanoi County on a large scale, and deceived General Wang Shichong into crossing the Yellow River and the Wagang thief army just did it, Li Mi rebelled against the thief and highlighted the strange soldiers, suddenly attacked the Tiger Prison Pass, and also won the Tiger Prison Pass in one fell swoop!" ”

With a soft bang, the brush in Fang Xuanling's hand fell to the ground, and the whole person fell into a state of stupidity, Chen Fuliang was even more stunned than Fang Xuanling, and muttered: "How is it possible?" Li Mi is a traitor, how could he win the Tiger Prison Pass so easily? Our Tiger Prison Guards, and there are scum like Pei Renji again? ”

"No, it's not scum, it's ......."

Yuan Tiangang just wanted to introduce, but Chen Fuliang interrupted him and said, "Don't be in a hurry, let me guess, I guess how Li Mi won the Tiger Prison." ”

Shaking his head and saying, Chen Fuliang tried hard to move his head, calculating and analyzing why another sworn enemy, Li Mi, was able to achieve amazing results so quickly, and then recalled the experience of Zhai Li's thief army abandoning the pass, Chen Fuliang suddenly remembered a major event, and blurted out: "Authentic! At that time, after our army recovered the Tiger Prison Pass, it did not carefully check whether the enemy left a back hand in the Pass, Zhai let Lao Er and Li Mi traitors entrench in the Tiger Prison Pass for nearly half a year, and had plenty of time to dig a tunnel leading to the outside of the Pass. ”

"Staying behind is clever, and the ghosts and gods are unpredictable." Yuan Tiangang replied with a wry smile: "You guessed right, yes, Li Mi's thief army entered the Tiger Prison Pass with the tunnel left in advance, and suddenly attacked at night, killing our defenders by surprise, and easily took the Tiger Prison Pass." ”

Chen Fuliang beat his chest and scolded himself for being negligent, and after recovering the Tiger Prison, he forgot to carefully check the ground in Guanzhong, giving his old opponent Li Mi a chance to fight back. After finally calming down, in addition to ordering the news to be strictly sealed, Chen Fuliang immediately turned to Fang Xuanling and said, "Brother, what are you still doing?" Why don't you write a letter to Li Yuan's thief for me? This time, we really only have the last day left, and we can't break Li Yuan's old thief tomorrow, we just can't consume him if we want to. "Do you leave a back hand in the pass, Zhai let Lao'er and Li Mi traitors entrench in the Tiger Prison Pass for nearly half a year, and have plenty of time to dig a tunnel leading to the outside of the pass, Li Mi traitors can take the Tiger Prison Pass so quickly, is it just using such a tunnel?"

"Staying behind is clever, and the ghosts and gods are unpredictable." Yuan Tiangang replied with a wry smile: "You guessed right, yes, Li Mi's thief army entered the Tiger Prison Pass with the tunnel left in advance, and suddenly attacked at night, killing our defenders by surprise, and easily took the Tiger Prison Pass." ”

Chen Fuliang beat his chest and scolded himself for being negligent, and after recovering the Tiger Prison, he forgot to carefully check the ground in Guanzhong, giving his old opponent Li Mi a chance to fight back. After finally calming down, in addition to ordering the news to be strictly sealed, Chen Fuliang immediately turned to Fang Xuanling and said, "Brother, what are you still doing?" Why don't you write a letter to Li Yuan's thief for me? This time, we really only have the last day left, and we can't break Li Yuan's old thief tomorrow, we just can't consume him if we want to. ”