After a summer rain, the weather quickly became muggy, the leaves were still hanging with undried raindrops, which were particularly dazzling in the direct sunlight, and the summer cicadas were moistened by the rain and dew, and the cries became louder, and the heat on the ground was steaming, and it was unbearable.

This year's summer was particularly hot, and the old man said that it was because too many people had died in the war, and his resentment could not be dissipated.

Weishi County, the northernmost part of Yingchuan County, is also a large plain area, but occasionally one or two hills will protrude on the plain, adding a bit of scenery to the monotonous plain scenery.

About a dozen places in the west of Weishi County, there is a hill with a radius of three miles, called Crane Minggang, it is said that there is a crane of immortals dancing and chirping on the hill and gets the name.

The hill is 100 feet high, in the middle is a long ravine, the forest is deep in it, the mountain spring is murmuring, a thousand-year-old tree up to 10 zhang rises to the sky, the body of the tree is straight, the crown is like a cover, it is particularly eye-catching.

At this time, in the ravine, a group of war horses were standing quietly by the stream to drink water and graze, and under the trees not far from the stream, there were more than a dozen tired Sui soldiers, most of whom had helmets on their faces and had fallen asleep.

This is a group of twenty Sui army scouts, their task is to probe the intelligence of the Tang army in Weishi County, the main force of the Tang army of 80,000 has advanced to the north of Yingchuan County, and the scouts of the Tang army have entered the territory of Xingyang County.

The current situation is that the Tang army controls Yingchuan County, and the Sui army controls Xingyang County, and the forces of the two sides are intertwined on the border of the two counties, forming a state of confrontation, and detecting the deployment of the other party's troops has become the main task of the scouts of the two armies.

This Sui army scout has been looking for Weishi County for three days, and all indications indicate that there should be an enemy army team in Weishi County, and now the scouts suspect that this Tang army team is in the county seat.

Due to the unusually hot weather, the scouts of the Sui army were all day and night. Rest during the day to conserve energy. Come out at night and make rounds.

The leader of the scouts was a brigade commander surnamed Zhao, and because of his heavy responsibilities, he could not rest and sleep like the soldiers. With his back against a large tree, he was redrawing the results of the two days of exploration.

Suddenly, the charcoal in his hand stopped. He found that there was one place missing from their exploration, that is, Chenjia Village in the northwest, where three hills were arranged in a triangle, encompassing Chenjia Village, with a radius of about ten miles.

Zhao Lushuai frowned slightly, he was thinking about why he gave up the exploration of Chenjia Village, and after a while, he remembered that it was because a Tang army patrol was discovered at that time, and they temporarily evacuated in order to prevent being discovered by the patrol.

Since there is a Tang army patrol over there. Then it is very likely that Chenjia Village is also stationed with troops.

At this moment, a sentry on the big tree shouted: "Brigade Marshal, San Lang, they are back!" ”

Soon. Two young men who looked like merchants walked into the ravine. They were also scouts of the Sui army, and were ordered to pretend to be merchants to investigate the situation in the county. Zhao Lvshuai stood up and greeted him, "How is the situation in the county?" ”

A scout said: "There is no main force of the Tang Army, only a few hundred garrisons. ”

Zhao Lushuai frowned, if there was no garrison in the county, then the Tang army was very likely to be in Chenjia Village, he couldn't wait for the night, and immediately ordered: "Everyone get up and set off immediately!" ”

A quarter of an hour later, twenty Sui scouts rode out of the ravine and galloped northwest......

The place where Chenjia Village is located is called Sanlonggang, the three hills are arranged in an irregular triangle, there is a large open mouth in the northwest direction, in the middle is a plain covering an area of thousands of acres, and there is a village at the foot of the mountain on the edge of the plain.

This village is called Chenjia Village, which originally had more than 200 households, but it was looted by two bandits in the eighth year of Daye and became a deserted village.

In the past two years, as the local forces no longer loot and kill as before, and begin to know how to release water to raise fish, some villagers who fled to foreign lands have returned one after another, and the mountain village has gradually gained a little vitality, and has now recovered to 50 households.

But in the past few days, a Tang army was stationed next to the village, and the small village was dwarfed by a huge camp, which contained 10,000 Tang troops, led by Li Xiaogong's general Mao Wenli.

The scouts of the Sui army have already touched a hill, they are condescending, they can clearly peek into the Tang army camp, Zhao Lushuai is carefully counting the tents, estimating the area of the camp, from these details, you can roughly infer the size of this Tang army.

When night fell, twenty Sui scouts quickly left the hill under the cover of night, and they divided their troops into two routes, several scouts went back to report, while Zhao Lushuai continued to lead the rest of the brothers to monitor the movements of this Tang army......

The main battalion of the Sui army was located about 80 miles south of Guancheng County, and just two days earlier, the general Niu Jinda was ordered by Qin Qiong to lead 10,000 troops from Dongjun to join Li Jing's army, plus there were thousands of troops in Guancheng County, so that the total strength of Li Jing's troops reached more than 45,000.

However, 3,000 troops were sent to guard the Tiger Pass, and part of the army defended Guancheng, Xingyang and other counties, and the current strength of the Sui army camp was 40,000.

Li Jing was solely in charge of the operation on the Eastern Front, and he divided the Eastern Front campaign into two steps, the first step was to seize and consolidate the Tiger Pass and stabilize the rearguard.

It was not until Yang Yuanqing led the main force of the Sui army to cross the river and forced Li Shimin away from Luoyang that Li Jing led the army south and began his second step strategy.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Li Jingzheng and Luo Shixin, Wang Junkuo, Niu Jinda, Cheng Yanjin and other generals discussed the military situation, and a sand table was placed in the big tent.

Li Jing pointed to the northwest corner of Weichi County with a wooden pole and said to the generals: "I just received a report from the scouts that a large camp of more than 10,000 Tang troops has been found in this basin called Sanlonggang, which is the closest Tang army to us, less than 50 miles away, what do you think?" ”

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Wang Junkuo said: "Long history, the last general thinks that this Tang army is very hidden, maybe it wants to copy our back road, attack Guancheng County, and cut off our supply of grain and grass." ”

Li Jing saw that Luo Shixin wanted to speak and stopped, so he asked with a smile: "What does General Luo think?" ”

Luo Shixin smiled and said: "Maybe I'm thinking a little dark, I think this is the Tang Army's plan to divide the troops." ”

"General Luo, please keep talking!"

Luo Shixin took the wooden pole and pointed to Xuchang County, "The main force of the Tang Army is located in Xuchang County, about 60 miles away from us, there is no need for them to divide another 10,000 troops to Weishi County, now our biggest problem is that the strength is only half of them, if we divide another 10,000 troops to deal with the Tang Army in Weishi County, then our main battalion strength is only 30,000, then the opponent's main battalion strength is 70,000, and the advantage is more obvious, so I think this is the Tang Army's division of troops." ”

Li Jing nodded, and asked Niu Jinda and Cheng Yanjin again, "What do the two generals think?" ”

Niu Jinda is relatively silent and assertive, although Luo Shixin is very reasonable, he still insists on his ideas.

"The last general thinks that the Tang army stationed 10,000 troops in Weishi County is to contain us from going south, and once our main force goes south to Xuchang and confronts the main force of the Tang army, the Tang army of Weishi County will go around behind us, not only cutting off the grain road, but also forming a north-south attack, and we will be very passive."

As soon as Niu Jinda finished speaking, Cheng Yanjin opened his voice and shouted: "I didn't take action after discussing for a long time, gather here to fart, since I found out, let's go and fight!" 40,000 against 10,000, hit its fart and pee! ”

Although Cheng Yanjin's words were rough, he was not rough, but his gong-like voice and harsh words aroused everyone's anger, and they glared at him angrily.

Li Jing only felt that his head was big for a while, and he understood why every time he discussed military affairs, the chief manager sent this guy out, and his stinky mouth was really hateful.

"This.... General Cheng, you can't say that, if we can't see through the enemy's intentions and rush to fight, what will happen to the battalion? The main force of the enemy army is not far from us, and this is most likely a ploy by them to divert the tiger from the mountain, so it should not be taken lightly. ”

Cheng Yanjin smiled, "I just made a suggestion, Changshi thinks it's inappropriate, just don't adopt it." ”

At this time, Wang Junkuo said in a deep voice: "Changshi doesn't have to worry, as long as there are 3,000 cavalry, you can defeat the Tang army in Weishi County, if you can't win, you can come to see you with your humble position!" ”

Luo Shixin also proudly asked for an order, "Changshi, I only need 3,000 cavalry, and I am willing to make a military order." ”

Li Jing glanced at the two of them and said with a smile: "General Luo has made a contribution to the Tiger Prison Pass, so this battle will be handed over to General Wang!" ”

He said to Wang Junkuo again: "According to the general's words, I will give you 3,000 elite cavalry, if you can't defeat the Tang army in Weishi County, I don't want your head, I will remember you a big defeat." ”

Wang Junkuo clenched his fists and said: "The last general will obey the order!" ”

Half an hour later, Wang Junkuo ordered 3,000 elite Sui cavalry, rushed out of the camp gate like a raging wind, and galloped in the direction of Weishi County......

The main camp of the Tang army is located in the north of Xuchang County, about 60 miles away from the camp of the Sui army, and Li Xiaogong has led 80,000 Tang troops in Xiangyang for nearly 20 days.

For Li Xiaogong, his trip north to the Central Plains was also divided into three steps, the first step was to consolidate the two counties of Huai'an and Runan, and replace the officials of the two counties with Tang officials to ensure the Tang Dynasty's control of the two counties.

The second step is to go north to Yingchuan County and strive to occupy Yingchuan County, which is also the bottom line handed over to him by the imperial court, and the troops will enter the Central Plains and occupy the south of Yingchuan County.

After nearly half a month of hard work, his army has occupied most of Yingchuan County and is steadily advancing northward, if they can defeat the Sui army, they can also occupy Xingyang County and reach the south bank of the Yellow River.

Of course, Li Xiaogong also knew that he would encounter a tough counterattack by the Sui army, and if he was a little careless, he would not even be able to protect Yingchuan County.

In the afternoon, Li Xiaogong was writing a military intelligence note to the saint in his big tent, which was also the task given to him by the saint, and he had to write a copy every three days, and Li Xiaogong only had the right to deploy operations, but not the right to make strategic decisions.

Including Li Shimin also did not have the right to make strategic decisions, and major strategic decisions had to be reported to Emperor Li Yuan, such as Li Shimin's decision to stop attacking Luoyang and withdraw to Hongnong County in the west, which could only be implemented with Li Yuan's consent.

At this point, the Sui army had a clear advantage, and Yang Yuanqing personally commanded the entire campaign, and he was able to quickly make some strategic decisions according to the changes in the situation.

Li Xiaogong was writing and pondering, and there was a report from his own soldiers outside the tent: "Lord Qiqi, the old general Qu Tu has something important to see!" ”