Originally, on the day of Li Mi's plan, Meng Haigong and his wife did not make up their minds to make a choice, the reason is also very simple, the relatively safe abandonment of the city to break through the loss is too great, and the Meng Hai City, which cost countless money and food, has just been built, and Meng Haigong and his wife have not even had a hot house in the city, of course, they are reluctant to abandon the city immediately and flee for their lives; Another risky fight is that the danger is too great, and if you are not careful, not only the city can't be saved, but also your head can't be saved, unless you win the first battle, you will definitely be defeated! Either/or, the gamble is too big, so Meng Haigong and his wife have to think about it and think about it for a while.

Although Meng Haigong and his wife have already set up an altar to ask for rain to the sky, the damn God is still like the prediction of Yuan Tiangang, the first god at that time, the second day of the water break is still still clear and the sun is scorching, and because Chen Yingliang deliberately set fire at the same time as the water is cut off, the little water in Meng Hai City has already been used to extinguish the fire at that time, and there is almost no water storage in the military house, so the water source has been cut off for less than two days, and the old and weak families in the city have been completely cut off from the water. The soldiers could only get two small spoonfuls of water per person per day, and the soldiers and civilians suffered unspeakably.

If this situation is not changed, there is no need for the Sui army to attack the city, Meng Haicheng himself will have to break himself, this truth Meng Haigong and his wife certainly understand, in order to survive and in order to let Ma Saifei have water to bathe, on the third night after the water was broken, seeing that the night sky was still full of stars, Meng Haigong finally made up his mind, determined to adopt Li Mi's adventurous battle plan, fight to the death with the official army, and strive for the only chance to turn defeat into victory, and keep this hard-won Meng Hai City! Chen Yingliang and Li Mi, the fateful rivals, also launched a new round of behind-the-scenes competition............

For days of fine weather, of course, it is a hellish torment for the Meng Haigong thief army who has cut off the water, and of course it is a paradise-like enjoyment for the Sui army, if it is not for the thief army to break through, the Sui army generals simply want to get together for a good drink, and then play a few handfuls of small money to celebrate the enemy's painful situation. The same is true for Zhang Xutuo, the fourth morning of cutting off the water source of the thief city, Zhang Xutuo got up early to go out of the tent to observe the weather, when he saw the golden morning sun shining on the top of the West Mountain as he wished, and saw that it was still blue and cloudless, Zhang Xutuo, who was somewhat worried, suddenly showed joy, twisted his white beard and said with a smile: "I didn't expect Yuan Tiangang to have some ability, saying that it was sunny for days, and it was really sunny for days." Well, it's sunny! ”

"Fool liar, it's just luck that you're right." Mulan, who had a very bad impression of the Qianjun team next to her, snorted coldly, and hurriedly asked Zhang Xutuo: "Dashuai, we have cut off the water source of the thief city for three days and four nights, and the thief team in the thief city should not be able to hold on, in your opinion, should the thief army abandon the city and break through?" ”

"Three days, the old man thinks that within three days, the thief army will definitely abandon the city and break through!" Zhang Xutuo raised three fingers, his expression was quite confident, and then he added, "But the thief army broke through on the specific day, and the old man can't judge it for the time being, and it's difficult to judge." ”

"It's okay, just know that the thief army will definitely break through in three days." Mulan didn't care, just said lightly: "Our team will be on guard for another three days, anyway, there are not many exits from this thief city, so it is easier for us to defend it." ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded, twisted his beard again, and said to himself with a hesitant expression: "Should the old man call that kid Chen Yingliang and ask his opinion?" That little guy has a lot of tricks, and he might be able to guess the specific time of the thief army's breakthrough. ”

"Dashuai, he's not an immortal, how can he guess?" Mulan's tone was even more disdainful, "A little liar who can only steal and play tricks, a little waste who has never killed even an enemy with his own hands, what kind of strategy do you know?" ”

"You ......." Zhang Xutuo hurriedly swallowed back the words that came to his mouth, and reprimanded: "You kid, don't be so small, okay?" Does Chen Yingliang understand Tao Strategy, and the old man can't see it? Without him this time, could we have cut off the thief army's water source so quickly? ”

Mulan continued to be disdainful, and continued to insist that Chen Yingliang was just lucky, and it happened that there was a magic stick Yuan Tiangang who knew some feng shui geography under his command. As a result, Zhang Xutuo finally found that something was wrong, looked Mulan up and down, and said with a smile: "Ziying, there is one thing that the old man has always been strange? Almost lost his pants to Shixin of Chenjun, and now he doesn't scold Chen Boy much, why do you still like to target him like this? Do you hate him so much, or do you just like to go against him? ”

was asked by Zhang Xutuo, and then saw the malicious smile of Zhang Xutuo of his grandparents, Mulan's unprecedented face turned slightly red, and then immediately said: "Of course I hate him!" From the first time I met him, I didn't have a good impression of him! ”

Zhang Xutuo smiled even more strangely, and Mulan's face turned a little red again, fortunately, it happened that at this moment, a herald suddenly rushed to report, saying that Qin Qiong, who was camped in the north of Menghai City, sent someone to send a thief army messenger, and there was a handwritten letter from Meng Haigong to present to Zhang Xutuo, Zhang Xutuo no longer joked with Mulan, and immediately returned to the Chinese army's big tent and summoned the thief army to envoy.

The messenger sent by Meng Hai Gong this time was a thin old man, as soon as he saw Zhang Xutuo, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy, begging Zhang Xutuo to reward him with a little water to drink, Zhang Xutuo was anxious to understand the situation of the thief city, so he ordered his own soldiers to send him some drinking water, the old man drank three bowls of water in a row, quenched his thirst a little, and then immediately kowtowed to Zhang Xutuo and said: "The general spares his life, the grass people are not thieves, the grass people were originally a teacher in the city of Chengwu, after Meng Haigong broke through the city of Chengwu, the grass people were caught by his younger brother Meng Qi ghost in the thief army as a bookkeeper, Record the number of grain and grass, if the grass people don't do it, Meng Qi ghost will kill the grass people's only little grandson, and the grass people have no choice, so they are forced to follow the thief. ”

"It's okay, don't worry, the old man won't kill innocents indiscriminately." Zhang Xutuo first comforted the thin old man, and then couldn't wait to ask, "How is the situation of the water cut off in the city?" ”

"General Hui, very strict." The thin old man replied truthfully: "The day after the gourd river was broken, Meng Haigong forcibly took away all the water stored in the city, and the old and weak, women and children like the grass people could not drink a drop of water for almost three days and three nights, and many children could only drink urine to quench their thirst. The grass people's urine was also given to my little grandson to drink. ”

"What about the Meng Hai Gong Thief Army?" Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked again: "How much water can those thief soldiers get every day?" ”

"I don't know, but I've heard that it seems to be two scoops a day, which is not enough to drink." The thin old man continued to answer truthfully: "The grass people have also seen with their own eyes that many thief soldiers drink their own urine, and some thieves fight because of the fight for water. ”

Observing his expression and finding that what this thin old man said should be true, Zhang Xutuo immediately smiled with satisfaction, and then asked again: "So, what did Meng Haigong send you out of the city for?" ”

"General Yu, the grass people came to send a letter for Meng Haigong to make an appointment." The thin old man took out a letter and said: "Meng Haigong said that he is ready to fight you to the death, life is life, death is death, so he sent grass people to send a letter to war." Also, the general, Meng Haigong also took the grass people's little grandson as a hostage, saying that no matter whether you agree or not, the grass people must bring a reply letter back, otherwise, he will chop up the grass people's grandson and feed it to the dogs. ”

Quietly took Meng Haigong's handwritten letter, opened it and took a closer look, Zhang Xutuo found that the content of Meng Haigong's letter was very simple, that is, he asked himself to fight to the death outside the south gate of Meng Haicheng tomorrow morning. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Xutuo took another piece of paper, picked up a pen and wrote the words "Decisive Battle in the coming day", and then handed the paper to the thin old man, and instructed: "Take it back and hand it over to Meng Haigong, and also, bring a few water hyacinths back to your little grandson, after the old man breaks the thief city, your ancestors and grandchildren don't have to worry about running out of water to drink." ”

The thin old man was overjoyed, and quickly kowtowed to thank him, but at the same time, at this time, Zhang Xutuo, who was a little negligent for a while, suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly asked: "Wait, why did you go out of the city from the north gate?" The old man's camp is in the south, how do you go out of the city from the north gate to make a circle here? ”

"General Yu, the south gate is all blocked." The thin old man replied truthfully: "A few days ago, when you were attacking the city, you set fire to the south gate, and Meng Haigong was afraid that you would burn the door and take the opportunity to kill it, so he completely blocked the south gate with stone sandbags, so Meng Haigong let the villain go out of the city through the north gate. ”

"Then Meng Haigong's thief army, mainly there?" Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked again.

"Both the South City and the North City have it." The thin old man replied honestly: "But there are many soldiers on that side, and the grass people only keep accounts, so I don't know very well." ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded with satisfaction, and then waved his hand to send the thin old man away, and as soon as the thin old man left, Zhang Xutuo immediately patted the handsome case in front of him, and said with a smile: "Okay, there is no need to ask that Chen Yingliang kid, the time for Meng Haigong's breakthrough, the old man already knows, just tonight!" ”

"Dashuai, how do you know?" Mulan, Fan Hu and Tang Wanche next to him all asked in surprise.

"Meng Haigong told me this letter." Zhang Xutuo held up Meng Haigong's handwritten letter, and said with a smile: "The battle of Menghai Convention is fake, it is true to deceive the old man to take it lightly, he wants to break through and is afraid of being attacked by our army, in order to reduce the difficulty of his breakthrough, he deliberately wrote a book to make an appointment, wanting the old man to feel that he will not break through tonight, and even induce the old man to draw troops back from the northern front to prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle. ”

"So, Dashuai, you deliberately agreed to the decisive battle, and you also wanted to induce Meng Haigong to break through with confidence tonight?" Mulan asked, thoughtfully.

"Of course." Zhang Xutuo sneered and said: "In this siege battle, our army suffered a lot of casualties, if the old man let Meng Haigong rebel successfully break through the siege, how can he be worthy of those loyal and brave soldiers who died in battle?" The old man just wants to pretend to be a plan, let him Meng Haigong rebel thief break through to the north with confidence, and then meet the head attack, capture him alive, crack the car and execute him, and avenge the death of our army! ”

After saying it viciously, Zhang Xutuo commanded again: "Mulan, Fan Hu, the two of you each led 1,500 troops tonight, and sent troops at the beginning of the shift, under the cover of twilight, the troops were divided into two roads, and they went to the northwest and northeast corners of Meng Haigong to ambush them, and found that the thief army broke through, and immediately killed it, and joined forces to flank the thief army!" ”

"No!" Mulan and Fan Hu hugged their fists and agreed neatly, and then Mulan asked cautiously, "Dashuai, what should you do?" Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and He Yanyu have already moved to the north gate in advance, and after the last general and Fan Hu each led 1,500 troops out of the camp, there were only about 3,000 troops left on the side of the camp, and some of them were wounded soldiers and auxiliaries, and the combat effectiveness was not guaranteed. ”

"It's okay, the thief army won't break through to the south." Zhang Xutuo smiled and said: "The old man has already asked clearly, the south gate of Menghai Thief City has been completely blocked by earth, stone and sandbags, and he can't get out of the city. Even if the thief army can re-clear the city gate, it will not be able to do it for a while, as long as the old man sends more scouts to monitor the city gate, it will be no problem. ”

"It's okay, you guys go." Tang Wanche also said arrogantly: "You guys are gone, and me, if the thieves dare to come, I will keep and kill them without leaving a piece of armor!" ”

Mulan and Fan Hu thought about it carefully, so they no longer insisted and firmly accepted their orders. Zhang Xutuo called Zhang Zhizhi to the front again, and instructed: "You go and contact Chen Yingliang and Yang Wang, so that they can also prepare for night battles, and find that the enemy is breaking through to the north, in addition to strictly holding the position, you can appropriately divide your troops to the north and reinforce the main battlefield at the north gate." ”

Zhang Zhizhi nodded in agreement, and Zhang Xutuo commanded again: "Also, you go to the main battlefield of the North Gate again, and tell Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin that in addition to making every effort to prepare for night battles, when you find that the thief army is out of the city, you can temporarily pretend not to be aware of it, and wait until the thief army is out of the city in large numbers, and then suddenly attack, lest like the previous two times, the thief army will rush to attack as soon as it leaves the city, and fight back without killing a few enemies." ”

Zhang Zhizhi sang the promise again, and then he was ordered to go out to give the order. Zhang Xutuo also ordered the army to prepare a large number of torches and dry food, and prepare for night battles, and at the same time arranged scouts to reconnoiter the movements of the enemy city, closely monitor the south gate of Menghai City, which was blocked by earth, stone and sandbags, and demanded that any abnormality be reported immediately.

It was also a coincidence that not long after Zhang Xutuo fell asleep in the sleeping tent, Chen Yingliang hurriedly came to the door, wanting to ask Zhang Xutuo how he concluded that the Meng Hai Gong Thief Army was going to break through tonight, but unfortunately Zhang Xutuo, who was over half a hundred years old, had just fallen asleep, and what Chen Yingliang said was not a very urgent military situation, and Zhang Xutuo, who refused to wake up by his own soldiers, also directly told Chen Yingliang, saying that Zhang Xutuo had commanded a night battle three days ago in order to guard against the thief army breaking through at night, and had not slept well for four consecutive nights. I hope Chen Yingliang can be considerate of the old man's body and give Zhang Xutuo some rest time. Chen Yingliang had no choice but to wait in Zhang Xutuo's Chinese army tent for the time being, wanting to see if he could wait until Zhang Xutuo rested and woke up.

When I was waiting for boredom, I happened to catch up with Mulan and Fan Hu to come to the big tent of the Chinese army to report to Zhang Xutuo that he was ready to fight, seeing that Chen Yingliang was also in the tent, Fan Hu, who had eased the relationship with the army of Qian County, nodded in greeting, but for some reason, Mulan's attitude towards Chen Yingliang not only did not improve at all, but also worse, and asked coldly: "Chen Tongshou, you are not in your own camp to prepare for battle, what are you doing here?" ”

Originally, Chen Yingliang was too lazy to pay attention to Mulan, but he was really bored waiting, so he said casually: "I want to ask, how did General Zhang conclude that Meng Haigong's thief army would break through tonight, and wanted to help him staff the military plane." As a result, the old general happened to fall asleep, so I waited here. ”

"It's a bit of a conscience, and I know how to understand the hard work of the handsome." Mulan snorted coldly in her heart, looking as proud as a peacock with an open screen, and said: "Thank you Chen Tongshou for your kindness, but don't worry, our handsome man said that the thieves will break through tonight, and the thieves will definitely break through tonight!" If Chen Tongshou really wants to share his worries for the marshal, hurry back and prepare for the night battle, even if there is our Qi County team in front of you, you can also help fight and clean up the battlefield. ”

Chen Yingliang, who had known Mulan's identity for a long time, smiled, too lazy to bother with a little girl, just smiled and said: "General Mulan, don't worry, I have arranged the preparations for the night battle, and I will definitely help when cleaning up the battlefield and dividing the spoils, I just want to ask General Zhang, how to determine that the thieves will break through tonight, why our army has not found any signs of the thieves breaking through until now - but forget it, you don't understand this kind of military aircraft such as the analysis of the enemy situation, and it is useless to say it to you, I'll just wait. ”

"I don't understand anything?" Mulan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course I don't." Chen Yingliang smiled cheaply, yawned, and said lazily: "General Mulan, I know that you are the army that the Holy Lord threw in when he first conquered Goguryeo, and he joined the army for a longer time than me, but he will get on the horse to kill the enemy, charge into battle, the real military essence, such as the judgment of the enemy's situation, the formulation of tactics, the use of weapons and the coordination of troops, these military knowledge that you can't learn in a lifetime, General Mulan, you probably haven't even learned the skin, right?" ”

Mulan's face became extremely ugly, but Chen Yingliang smiled again and said: "General Mulan, I know these words are ugly, but I am also telling the truth - I bet that although you have always been by General Zhang's side, how did General Zhang conclude that the enemy would break through tonight, I am afraid that you are still confused, I don't know why?" ”

Hearing this, Mulan simply had the urge to strangle Chen Yingliang to death, her fists immediately clenched her knuckles white, and Fan Hu next to her quickly stopped her and said to Chen Yingliang: "Chen Tongshou, you are the chief general of the friendly army, and we will not hide it from you, it was Meng Haigong who sent a messenger out of the city to contact us, and agreed that we would fight a decisive battle outside the south gate of the thief city tomorrow. ”

"I see." Chen Yingliang suddenly realized, blinking his treacherous triangular eyes, Chen Yingliang asked again: "Then how did the old general decide to deal with it?" In addition to preparing for a night battle, do you want to increase the number of troops at the north gate of the thief city? ”

"This is our military aircraft matter, why should we sue you?" Mulan shouted angrily.

Chen Yingliang ignored Mulan, just looked at Fan Hu, Fan Hu was a little embarrassed, hesitated for a moment before saying: "Chen Tongshou, there are laws and regulations in the army, and the specific situation is not allowed by the marshal, I can't sue you, I can only sue you, we have an army to reinforce the North Gate battlefield, so when the time comes, you just have to rest assured to guard the upper reaches of the Hulu River and beware of thieves sneaking up on the dam." ”

Chen Yingliang nodded, then got up and left, and said to Fan Hu: "Thank you General Fan for your advice, I already know all the answers I need, and I will leave." ”

Fan Hu paused, and said politely: "Chen Tongshou, don't you sit more?" Wait a minute, our handsome? ”

"Let the old general rest a little longer, I haven't slept well for four nights in a row, even a young man like me can't stand it, let alone an old man like him?" Chen Yingliang left the big tent without looking back, and couldn't help but add, "Also, leaving early will save someone from always looking at me." ”

Mulan was furious, and almost wanted to chase out and hold down Chen Yingliang and beat him, Fan Hu finally pulled Mulan down, and Mulan looked at Chen Yingliang's back in a huff, but suddenly had a strange feeling in her heart, and said secretly: "He, just hate me so much?" ”

Zhang Xutuo didn't sleep well for a few days until he woke up until the afternoon was about to come, and learned that Chen Yingliang had come to find him, Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked why he didn't wake him up, Fan Hu reported the situation truthfully, Zhang Xutuo heard that of course it was a little angry, and he had to scold Mulan a few words, and Mulan shouted that he was wronged, saying that Chen Yingliang deliberately provoked his anger, Zhang Xutuo didn't bother to pay attention to her, but asked Fan Hu again: "After knowing the situation, did Chen Yingliang say anything more?" ”

"Nope." Fan Hu shook his head and said truthfully: "Chen Tongshou just said that you should rest for a good time, and then left, without saying a word of superfluity." ”

"That's good." Zhang Xutuo nodded, and said with relief: "With that kid's temper, if he feels that the old man's judgment is wrong, he will definitely wake me up immediately regardless of a qiē, since he didn't say anything, it proves that he also agrees with the old man's judgment, and the old man can fight with confidence tonight." ”

After nodding, Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked about the movement of Menghai Gong Thief City, and Zhang Zhizhi, who had returned to the camp, reported truthfully, saying that he found that there were many more flags on the southern city of Menghai City, and the number of soldiers also increased significantly, but there was no sign of the thief soldiers dredging the road, but there was almost no movement on the north side of the city, and there seemed to be no sign of an army attack. When Zhang Xutuo heard this, he immediately snorted coldly and said, "The sound of the south strikes the north!" With such a small skill of carving insects, you also want to hide from the old man's eyes? Act according to the predetermined plan, Mulan, Fan Hu, the two of you go and get ready, as soon as the first shift arrives, you will immediately go out of camp and ambush in the northeast and northwest of the thief city! ”

"No!" Fan Hu and Mulan sang a promise, and then Mulan said to Fan Hu: "Fan Hu, you go to the northwest corner, I don't want to join forces with that thief!" ”