At the same time that General Yun Lao got his wish and let Wang Shichong, Li Mi and Hua and his brothers all lose their lives, the battle between the western front of the Sui army in Guanzhong and Xue Jujun also entered a decisive stage.

The Longxi soldiers under Xue Ju have two major advantages, one is that the soldiers are high, the soldiers are generally strong, brave and fierce, and they are naturally elite soldiers in the era of cold weapons, and they can be put into the battlefield with a little training; Second, there are a large number of cavalry, 70,000 Xue Jujun's main force, and the number of cavalry has reached an astonishing more than 18,000, which is more than the total number of cavalry under Chen Fuliang's command! Moreover, the soldiers of Longxi have learned bow and horses since childhood, and their riding skills are skilled, and their cavalry combat ability is even stronger than the Guanzhong cavalry trained by agricultural soldiers under Chen Fuliang!

Longxi soldiers also have two fatal weaknesses, one is that the number of soldiers is thin, the source of soldiers is insufficient, and the soldiers die one less and one is missing, so it is difficult to be replenished in time; Second, the base area is scarce, the economy is weak, and the grain and grass cannot be supplied steadily. In addition, Xue Jujun also has weaknesses such as relatively weak offensive ability, complex team composition, and poor organizational discipline, and his advantages and disadvantages are equally prominent, but it is undeniable that Xue Jujun is still Chen Fuliang's biggest and most dangerous enemy in Tongguan.

Xue Jujun and Chen Fuliangjun know how to promote their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and Xue Ju, who is economically weak, knows that it is difficult for the self-army to ensure logistics supply, so he simply does not consider the problem of logistics and transportation, leaving only the necessary part of the army to guard the Tianshui nest, and bringing all the troops that can be brought out and the grain and grass that can be carried, and not thinking about supplies at all. Then he condescended and looked down at Daxing.

Not to be outdone, Chen Fuliang's army was not to be outdone, as soon as he received the news that Xue Jujun had entered the Kou, Liu Gan, the acting commander of Anding, immediately ordered the whole county to clear the wilderness, collect the wild valleys in each county and fort, and at the same time ordered the county and township soldiers to stick to the city fortress, increase the difficulty of Xue Jujun's supply, and also delay the speed of Xue Jujun's march, so as to gain time for the main army to come to the north. After hearing the report, Chen Fuliang praised Liu Gan Yitong very much, and immediately removed the word acting in front of Liu Gan's Taishou, and at the same time ordered Qu Tutong, who was familiar with the situation in Guanzhong, to lead an army of 10,000 to the north first, and rushed to Anding to help Liu Gan defend the city.

Chen Fuliang and Liu Gan both underestimated some of Xue Jujun's combat capabilities, only to resist for a day, the westernmost Huating County of Anding County was broken by Xue Jujun, almost all the defenders in the city were killed, only a dozen people escaped back to Anding to report the news, several civilian dock forts around Huating County were also all captured by Xue Jujun, and then Xue Jujun quickly advanced eastward without stopping, and it took only three days to approach Anding City, and at the same time, the vanguard of the Sui army led by Qu Tutong did not even go out of Jingzhao County.

The time to test the stability of Liu Gan has come, Liu Gan, who was originally just a general of the Stability Eagle Yang Lang, surrendered to Li Yuan with the former Stability Taishou when Li Yuan entered Daxing, and made meritorious contributions in the suppression of the original thieves, and was promoted by Li Yuan to temporarily act as an acting Stability Taishou, and then Li Yuan's army was beaten away by Chen Fuliang, and the counties in Guanzhong surrendered to Chen Fuliang anyway, and the isolated Liu Gan was also forced to surrender, as a result, many people thought that Liu Gan was Li Yuan's party, and Chen Fuliang killed him or at least deprived him of his official position as a precaution, Chen Fuliang rejected these definitely well-intentioned Jianyi in order not to chill the general's heart, and continued to let Liu Gan act to settle down and keep Taishou, symbolically gave Liu Gan some rewards, and finally because of Liu Gan's strategy of being strong and clear, he took the initiative to remove the word acting for Liu Gan, and he was barely good for Liu Gan.

Facts have proved that the deception effect of false benevolence and false righteousness has always been good, Liu Gan, who has changed his lord three times, finally served the country loyally this time, in the case of the enemy's large army pressing the territory and the reinforcements in the distance, Liu Gan not only categorically rejected Xue Ju's surrender, but also put Xue Jujun's surrender envoy to the city head and beheaded in public, in order to show his determination not to surrender, which provoked Xue Ju to be furious, and immediately launched an attack on the city.

Liu Gan unbelievably repelled the attack of Xue Jujun many times, and every time he fought in front of the front line, he personally commanded the battle, inspired the army and inspired the soldiers, and relied on the barely strong city to compete with Xue Ju's strong soldiers, Xue Jujun rushed to the city wall several times, and was also killed by Liu Gan himself with the death squad, killing more than 1,000 generals and soldiers of Xue Jujun before and after, and Xue Ju did not let Xue Ju take the stable city! In the end, Xue Ju was forced to change his strategy, change the siege to besiege the city, and divide his troops to take the other county towns around Anding.

In the face of the powerful offensive of Xue Jujun's army, the surrounding counties of Chaona and Liangyuan both fell, and the fortress-level military strongholds of Zheducheng and Changwu City were also taken by Xue Jujun, blocking the road to Qu Tutong's northern aid to Anding. At the same time, it is worth thanking Chen Fuliang that after the fall of Changwu City, which is located in Beidi County, Ding'an City in Beidi County was also directly threatened by Xue Jujun, but Beidi Taishou Hu Yan was also a reliable character, who also refused Xue Jujun's surrender, and also repelled an attack by Xue Jujun's partial division, successfully kept Ding'an City, and did not let Xue Jujun get a county town.

Relying on the desperate resistance of Liu Gan and Hu Yan, the reinforcements led by Qu Tutong finally arrived at the battlefield before the fall of the two counties, but because Xue Ju's army advanced too fast, Qu Tutong's throat of entering Anding City has been choked, and as a last resort, Qu Tutong can only be a high jaw next to the shallow water plain of the garrison, first keep this throat of the troops, so as to facilitate Chen Fuliang's follow-up main force to enter the army, and prepare to stand on the defense first, and also prepare to meet the division of Li Jingbu, the partial division of the Sui army who is on the way north, and then attack appropriately. share some of the pressure for Liu Gan and Hu Yan.

Qu Tutong also obviously underestimated some Xue Ju, and soon found out that this was a trap before he established the camp, and Xue Jujun, who had already secretly placed the elite forces in the area of Changwu City, suddenly moved, and sent cavalry to take a detour back to Qu Tutong, and attacked Qu Tutong from behind, and the infantry force was stationed in the shallow water plain, attacking Qu Tutong's army head-on, Qu Tutong's abdomen was difficult to parry by the enemy, and he was forced to abandon the camp and leave, and led the defeated troops to cross Jingshui north and fled to Ding'an, Xue Jujun took advantage of the situation to pursue, and the harvest was quite small, Qu Tutong, who commanded the army alone for the first time under Chen Fuliang, lost the first battle, and he could only write to Chen Fuliang in shame to ask for guilt.

At the same time, Xue Jujun's division of Xue Renguo's department also took the initiative to give up the Huanyuan that was hard to take, and led the army north to Chaona, Li Jing led more than 20,000 troops to follow north, and Xue Renguo decisively gave up Chaona and retreated to Liangyuan, the original intention was to fight and retreat, lure the old opponent Li Jing to go deep alone, and then join forces with the main force led by his father to kill Li Jing under the city. However, Xue Renguo's little trick is no different from a child's house in Li Jing's opinion, not only was he not fooled, but he also gave up Chaona City, where the grain had long been emptied by Xue Jujun, and led the army east to Lingtai City, the only city in the south of Anding that had not fallen, where he obtained some food supplies, and at the same time deterred Gao Jaw, waiting to join Chen Fuliang's main force.

History may really be inevitable, between the march and transfer of various armies and units, the decisive battle of the shallow water plain has gradually formed, Chen Fuliang wants to save stability, reopen the connection with Pingliang County, the horse farm, must pass through the shallow water plain, at the same time stationed in Linggu Li Jing's division and temporarily transferred to Ding'an Qu Tutong Division, can also provide help to Chen Fuliang in the decisive battle of the shallow water plain, fighting this decisive battle in the shallow water plain is undoubtedly an inevitable choice.

For Xue Jujun, who has no logistical supplies, luring Chen Fuliang to a decisive battle in the shallow water plain is undoubtedly the best opportunity for a quick victory, and at the same time, Xue Jujun can also give full play to the strengths of the cavalry, and break Chen Fuliang's various partial divisions, and the decisive battle in the shallow water plain is also the best choice for Xue Jujun. Therefore, as soon as it was discovered that Chen Fuliang led more than 40,000 main forces to Xinping, Xue Jujun immediately concentrated his heavy troops in Changwu City, waiting for Chen Fuliang to go north for a decisive battle.

However, it is a pity that there is an accident, just because the decisive battle here is beneficial to Xue Jujun, Chen Fuliang, whose combat style is diametrically opposed to Li Er, does not want to fight this decisive battle in Qianshuiyuan, and rests outside Xin'an City at night, facing the generals who have asked to serve as the vanguard to seize Gaojaw and open the way to enter the army, Chen Fuliang shook his head again and again, and explained: "We can't be in a hurry, Gaojaw is the throat of our troops, but we can't rush into the army, there is a trap, we rush north, there will be a danger of being broken by the enemy." ”

"But if we don't take Gaojaw, we won't be able to enter the army, and we won't be able to join forces with the army of the old general Qu Tu and Li Shangshu?" Luo Shixin asked.

"The enemy is looking forward to us attacking Gaojaw and joining up with our division there." Chen Fuliang replied: "In this way, the superior cavalry under Xue Ju's command will be put to use, and our partial division will leave the camp and the protection of the city, just giving them the opportunity to raid the cavalry." ”

"What then?" Luo Shixin hurriedly asked.

"Of course, it is to hold the danger, so that Xue Ju's cavalry is useless, and then wait for work to lure Xue Ju to take the initiative to fight with us." Chen Fuliang replied casually, put his finger on a position on the sand table, and said: "This is a good place for us to fight a decisive battle with Xue Ju, we set up camp here, and try to lure Xue Ju to the south for a decisive battle." ”

Everyone hurriedly took a closer look at the sand table, and found that the location pointed by Chen Fuliang was Tingkou, thirty miles north of Xin'an, about forty miles away from the shallow water plain of Gaojiao, and also the throat connecting the north and south, the terrain was relatively open and could be used to garrison troops, and there was a road leading to the Linggu where Li Jing was stationed, which was not only suitable for meeting with Li Jing, but also suitable for a decisive battle with Xue Ju, and at the same time, the terrain around Tingkou was far less open than that of the shallow water plain, which was conducive to infantry combat, but there was very little space for cavalry to intersperse with detours.

They all nodded and admitted that Tingkou was more suitable for the decisive battle between the army and Xue Ju than the shallow water plain, and Du Ruhui, who was familiar with the situation in Guanzhong and went out with Chen Fuliang for the first time, said: "Prime Minister, Tingkou is a good place for our army to fight a decisive battle with Xue Ju's thief army, but this place is forty miles away from the shallow water plain, and it is hundreds of miles away from Changwu City, where the main force of Xue Ju's thief army is stationed. ”

"It's a little hard, but it's not impossible." Chen Fuliang replied with a smile: "And even if it fails, it doesn't matter, anyway, we consume grain and grass, and we are definitely not afraid of him Xue Jufu." ”

After smiling, Chen Fuliang casually ordered: "Qin Qiong, from tomorrow onwards, you will be the vanguard, lead the four thousand foot cavalry to the north first, give me a direct crossing of the pavilion, set up camp twenty miles north of the pavilion, and let out the wind, just say that we will take the high jaw first, and then join our partial division there, and let Xue Ju's thief army be happy first." The day after tomorrow, your army will not move to me, and then let out the wind, just say that Yu Wenhua and Pifu have the support of Li Mi and are marching to Chang Ping, I am hesitating whether to return to the army to save the eastern front, so let you stop marching, if Xue Ju's thief army sends troops to attack you, the defeat will be withdrawn to Tingkou. ”

Qin Qiong smiled and sang a promise, Chen Fuliang turned to the other generals with a smile and asked, "What should our main force do tomorrow, do you still use my orders?" ”

"No need." The generals of the Sui army shook their heads together, and the honest man Kan Liang also said with a smile: "Tomorrow, while threatening to fight the high jaw, we will enter the entrance of the army pavilion, and then the day after tomorrow will not move, and let out the wind to say that Yu Wenhua and Pifu will enter the army and threaten to close the position, and our rear is in an emergency, so we can only temporarily stop marching." ”

"I didn't expect that even Kan Liang was taken badly." Chen Fuliang laughed, and then said: "But in order to pretend to be a point, we will still walk forty miles tomorrow to camp ten miles north of Tingkou, and the day after tomorrow we will retreat ten miles back to Tingkou and set up camp." Besides, I need a messenger who can speak the word, what good candidates do you have? ”

In this way, under the request and order of Chen Fuliang, in the early morning of the next day, the main force of the Sui army continued to rush north to the shallow water plain, and the main force led by the forward Qin Qiongbu and Chen Fuliang personally crossed the pavilion without hesitation, and spent the night in camps only twenty and thirty miles away from Gaojaw one after the other, and at the same time brazenly threatened to take Gaojaw in a battle, and fought to the death with all the soldiers and horses of Xue Jujun. The scout of Xue Jujun, who was closely monitoring the movements of the main force of the Sui army, flew the news to Xue Ju, and Xue Ju sneered again and again, and said that Chen Fuliang would just come over and keep the shallow water plain as Chen Fuliang's burial place.

It seemed that everything was expected by Xue Ju, but after another day, Xue Ju received a report that surprised him very much, Chen Fuliang's main force actually withdrew to the south of Tingkou and set up camp, and Qin Qiong, the vanguard of the Sui army, did not move forward further. At the same time, Xue Jujun's meticulous work also heard rumors that Yu Wenhua had already worked hand in hand with Chen Fuliang's nemesis Li Mi, and after receiving Li Mi's food support, he was marching into the army, preparing to attack Chen Fuliang's largest granary on the Eastern Front, so Chen Fuliang was forced to retreat.

The road is far away, and all the passes are controlled by Chen Fuliang's lackeys, and it is difficult for Xue Jujun to get half a catty of salt from the salt pond in Hedong controlled by Chen Fuliang, let alone get the specific battle situation news of the Dongdu battlefield farther away. So after hearing this report, Xue Ju was suspicious, but inevitably a little overjoyed, and said happily: "Okay! It's best if this rumor is true! Yu Wenhua and the puppet attacked Chang Ping, Chen Yingliang's little puppet had to retreat, he got out, the old man took Anding and the north, and there was great hope for the army to flourish again! ”

"If that's the case, it's really good for us." Xue Ju's think tank Hao Ying nodded and said: "Yu Wenhua and the Xiaoguo army under his command are strong and brave, and their combat power is strong, if he goes all out to the west, Chen Yingliang will have to deal with it with all his might." ”

"Yes, that's the truth." While Xue Ju rubbed his hands and laughed, he had an idea, and hurriedly asked Hao Ming: "Wei Qing, since this is the case, how about we take the opportunity to enter the army?" Chen Yingliang is in a hurry to return to the division to save the Eastern Front, he must have no intention of fighting, and he will definitely show flaws at that time, we will take the opportunity to send troops to break it, not only can we get a large amount of grain and grass and military supplies, but also hope to break his main force, and then take Daxing? ”

Before Xue Ju's words fell, Xue Renguo, Zong Luohu, Zhang Gui and others next to him had already applauded loudly, but Hao Ying, the strictest Stockholm syndrome patient in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, hurriedly objected: "Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry to decide, although Yu Wenhua and Jinbing Kun Handao may be very big, but Chen Yingliang is notoriously treacherous, and he needs to be guarded against This is his plan to lure the enemy." However, the best plan for today is to wait and see what happens, and wait for Chen Yingliang to really retire from the army. ”

"Your Majesty, Hao Weiqing is right, our army can't risk entering the army now." On the other hand, Xue Ju's Huangmen squire and the father of a famous person, Lu Liang, also objected: "Chen Yingliang is not only notoriously treacherous and cunning, but the Tingkou where he is currently retreating is also a dangerous place, where the terrain is narrow and the roads are complicated, which is where the main infantry under his command comes in, but it is very unfavorable to our cavalry to fight. ”

Xue Ju hesitated for a moment before giving up this plan, nodded and said, "Then don't worry, fortunately, our grain and grass can still support it for a while, wait and see if he Chen Yingliang really retreats." ”

Ignoring Xue Renguo and Zong Luohu's unconvincing repeated requests to enter the army, and arranging for additional scouts to closely monitor the movements of the main force of the Sui army and listen to the news as much as possible, Xue Ju sighed again: "It would be great if there was any way to get the news of the battlefield in the Eastern Capital, as long as it is confirmed that he Yu Wenhua and Pifu are going westward with all their might, what is it to enter the pavilion?" When I arrived at Tingkou, I insisted on not fighting, and saw who could survive whom! ”

Of course, Chen Fuliang also knows that Yu Wenhua and whether he really enters the army and often closes the position is very important to Xue Ju, as a benevolent and moral person in power, the magnanimous Prime Minister Chen Dacheng never let his enemies down, just after that day, Du Ruhui's brother Du Chuke came to Xue Jujun with a handwritten letter from our Prime Minister Chen Dacheng, asking to meet Xue Ju, and bluntly told Xue Jujun that he came to seek peace for Chen Fuliang! asked to make peace with Xue Jujun's army, conclude an alliance, and promised to give Xue Ju a batch of grain and grass and military supplies. Let's see who can survive whom! ”

Of course, Chen Fuliang also knows that Yu Wenhua and whether he really enters the army and often closes the position is very important to Xue Ju, as a benevolent and moral person in power, the magnanimous Prime Minister Chen Dacheng never let his enemies down, just after that day, Du Ruhui's brother Du Chuke came to Xue Jujun with a handwritten letter from our Prime Minister Chen Dacheng, asking to meet Xue Ju, and bluntly told Xue Jujun that he came to seek peace for Chen Fuliang! asked to make peace with Xue Jujun's army, conclude an alliance, and promised to give Xue Ju a batch of grain and grass and military supplies.