Chen Fuliang deliberately let the unreliable Liu Changgong lead the army as the vanguard, and also deliberately transferred the most reliable army under Liu Changgong to serve the country, the purpose of which was of course to use General Liu's unreliability to lure the enemy, showing the enemy weakness so that the Turkic army would not run away.

The effect of this did not disappoint Chen Yingliang, General Liu, who was very unreliable in the defense of the Eastern Capital, was still as unreliable as ever, even as the most dangerous pioneer, General Liu relied on a large number of friendly troops behind him, with the support of Chen Yingliang, a good brother, and still did not spend a lot of effort to rectify military discipline, and the team under his command was still as lazy and lazy as ever, the banner was crooked, the formation was chaotic, and it was as loose and comfortable as an outing. The due charm of a fish belly division was vividly deceived, and many experienced Turkic scouts were deceived by preconceived ideas, and the preconceived ideas gave birth to a lot of contempt for the enemy, and incidentally, the evaluation of the entire Sui army was also lowered a lot.

Of course, if these Turkic scouts could see the speed of the escape of General Liu's team, the speed of the gods with rolling yellow sand on their buttocks that even fast horses and light horses could hardly catch up, maybe they would not be so light on the enemy.

The main force of the 140,000 Sui army, of which 130,000 were brought north by Chen Yingliang to the Yanmen battlefield, leaving only more than 10,000 troops to protect the rear grain road, although this is to ensure the frontal combat effectiveness of the Sui army, but it gives the Turkic light cavalry a good opportunity to outflank and sneak attack the Sui army's grain road - although the road between Laoxian and Yanmen is narrow, it is not very conducive to the Turkic cavalry to outflank it, but since the Sui was fought, the Turkic army and the Sui army have fought more than ten times, I really haven't encountered such a good thing.

In view of Chen Yingliang's heavy mistake in the deployment of troops, and in view of the loose incompetence of the vanguard of the Sui army, coupled with some special circumstances, Shibi Khan and Ashina's family quickly came to an answer that Chen Yingliang wanted them to come to - the 130,000 Sui troops coming from the south were not terrible, and the defeat in Laoxian County was completely due to the heavy rain, which had nothing to do with Chen Yingliang's military talent. At the same time, Ashina's family also made a tactical decision that Chen Yingliang wanted them to make, that is, to besiege the city and send reinforcements, to wait for work, not to interfere with the march of the main force of the delayed Sui army to the north, wait for the main force of the Qin Wang Sui army to arrive at the Yanmen battlefield, and then wait for the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Sui army's Qin Wang team in one fell swoop.

It was also thanks to the blessing of Ashina's family's decision, relying on the forward of an unreliable army to open the way, the main force of the Sui army did not encounter any attacks and harassment during the first day of the north, and walked thirty miles very smoothly, and then stood up for the village, step by step for the battalion to slowly pull out to the Yanmen battlefield, the safety of the march was guaranteed, and the tired division represented by the Jiangdu Qinwang army also got the opportunity to recover the body, and at the same time, Chen Yingliang also got the opportunity and time to send scouts to reconnoiter the enemy's military situation. And also took the opportunity to grasp some specific conditions of the Yanmen battlefield.

Judging from the preliminary reconnaissance of the enemy situation by the scouts of the Sui army, the Turkic army still attached great importance to the prevention of the Sui army coming from the south, and the main forces were arranged in the southwest of Yanmen City, which was the most open terrain, and the golden tent of Shibi Khan was also arranged in the northeast of Yangtou City (now Yangmingbao), ten miles southwest of Yanmen City, blocking the Qinwang road of the Sui army; The troops deployed to the east and north of Yanmen and south of the Hutuo River were not large, and they only played a role in preventing the breakout of the Yanmen defenders; At the same time, the Turkic army deliberately opened the road leading from the northwest of Yanmen City to Xicheng Pass (known as Yanmen Pass Sui), adopted the regular siege tactics of encircling three queyi, and deliberately exposed a road containing killing opportunities to lure the Yanmen defenders to break through, and also used this to disperse and weaken the will of the Yanmen defenders to resist.

After initially grasping these Turkic military information, and personally marking the location of the enemy camp with a flag on the map sand table, Chen Yingliang focused his eyes on the Xicheng Pass, which was also holding the Turkic blue flag, and asked Ma Sanbao, who was in charge of reconnoitring the enemy's situation: "How many Turkic troops are there in the Guancheng of Xicheng Pass?" How much damage was done to Sekijo? Is there still a value to be held? ”

"Marshal, our scouts are taking the mountain road to reconnoitre, and we can't confirm how many Turkic defenders there are in Xicheng Pass, and we can't judge the specific damage to Xicheng Pass." Ma Sanbao replied truthfully: "But listening to our scouts, the situation in the Xicheng Pass looks good from a distance, and the Turkic troops entered and exited through the gate, and did not directly enter and exit through the wall. ”

"Strengthen the reconnaissance and sentinel of the Xicheng Pass." Chen Yingliang instructed: "Try to figure out the number of Turkic troops in Guanzhong and the city defense situation as much as possible, the more detailed the better." ”

Ma Sanbao sang the promise, and said: "Dashuai, there is one more thing to report by the way, the Ma Yi interpreter Hu Jingde you sent to me before is a good hand, the battle of Lao County the day before yesterday, he beheaded seven bodies on the battlefield, yesterday I sent him to our scouts to lead the way north to reconnoitre, and he killed three enemies in the scout battle, our scouts can successfully complete the task, and initially spy on the Turkic military situation, he can be regarded as the first merit." ”

"Reward him with five taels of gold and ten taels of money." Chen Yingliang didn't even blink his eyelids, and said casually: "By the way, tell him, I already know his merits, tell him to do a good job, and I'll wait for more news of his meritorious service." ”

Ma Sanbao sang the promise again, and then he retreated and left, but as soon as Ma Sanbao left on the front foot, Li Jing next to him smiled and said: "Dashuai, you have a lot of appetite, you have not met the main Turkic force and are eyeing Xicheng Pass, is it that Dashuai, you don't even want to let go of a Turk, even the Shibi thief chief wants to shut him down and beat the dog to block him in Xicheng Pass?" ”

"Since you have this opportunity, no matter how small your hope is, of course you have to fight for it." Chen Yingliang smiled and frankly admitted that his ambition was by no means smaller than Li Jing's, and then Chen Yingliang asked again: "Li Juncheng, the terrain of Xicheng Pass is so steep, why didn't the emperor fail to hold it when he withdrew to Yanmen City?" How did you lose Xicheng Pass? ”

"The Turks came too fast." Li Jing replied: "Before the escort army to protect His Majesty had time to withdraw to the pass, the Turks had already entered the city in the melee, and the incident happened too suddenly, and there was no war in Xicheng Pass for many years, and there was no emergency gate such as a thousand jin iron gates, so it failed to block the main Turkic force from continuing to attack the pass, and finally more than 1,000 imperial forest troops behind His Majesty were wiped out, and Xicheng Pass also fell into the hands of the Turks. ”

Chen Yingliang nodded silently, just pondering and calculating, Li Jing was a little worried when he saw this, and hurriedly said: "Dashuai, you shouldn't want to surprise attack Xicheng Pass, right?" The Xicheng Pass is the choke point for the Turkic army to retreat to Mayi, even if the Turks are light, the enemy will not wait to ignore it, and must have deployed heavy troops to prevent accidents, and send troops to surprise attacks, the slightest carelessness may lead to the annihilation of our strange troops, and seriously demoralize our army, which is not conducive to war. ”

Seeing that Chen Yingliang was silent or calculating, Li Jing was even more worried, and hurriedly said: "Dashuai, Xia Guan thinks that instead of taking risks, it is better to continue to use his strength on the front, anyway, the road on the side of Xicheng Pass is narrow, and there are restrictions on the gate and the city, and it is impossible for more than 200,000 Turks to withdraw from the pass in one day anyway, as long as we can break through the Turkic army head-on, one day is enough for us to severely damage the vitality of the main Turkic force." ”

"Li Juncheng, your construction is very right, under normal circumstances, I must adopt your suggestion." Chen Yingliang nodded, and suddenly said: "But now the times are different, and the war will gradually change, and some things that were impossible to do before may not be hopeless now." ”

"Times are different? What do you mean? Li Jing, who didn't know that Chen Yingliang was still hiding his hole cards, was a little surprised.

Chen Yingliang smiled and didn't answer, and asked rhetorically: "Li Juncheng, how wide and high is the gate of Xicheng Pass?" Is the door closed in solid wood or iron-clad wood? How thick is it? Do you know any of these situations? ”

"It's ......." Li Jing, the future god of the Tang Dynasty, was a little dumbfounded, and it was the first time he encountered such a strange question, so he hesitated for a moment before replying: "This subordinate really doesn't know, but fortunately, there are many old pawns of Xicheng Pass among the soldiers under the command of the lower official, if the marshal needs this information, the subordinate can collect it for you." ”

"Then please, I want the size, thickness and material of the gate of Xicheng Pass, the more detailed the better, the Turkic heavy attack is not heavy defense, I estimate that the gate should not change much." Chen Yingliang nodded, and said uneasily: "But remember one thing, this matter can't be known to Ambassador Li." ”

"Can't you let Ambassador Li know?" Li Jing's heart sank, and he asked carefully: "Dashuai, are you worried that Ambassador Li will collaborate with the enemy?" ”

"Taking the risk of collaborating with the enemy, it is estimated that he Ambassador Li does not have the guts." Chen Yingliang replied: "But my relationship with him is too deep, and I have to prevent him from deliberately letting me lose the battle, so I plan to make a surprise attack on Xicheng Pass, you must not leak the news, and you can't let anyone know my idea of fighting Xicheng Pass." ”

Li Jing nodded in agreement, and said secretly in his heart: "Ask me to block this news, do you have the idea of attacking Xicheng Pass?" It's too risky, do you know? Why do you want to know about the closure, though? Also, what does it mean that war is going to change gradually? ”

…………

Deliberately showing the enemy to induce the Turks to make a decision to wait for work, Tong Guò Li Jing temporarily pacified the second son of Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Yuan, the thorn, and Li Yuan, who was anxious to reach an alliance with Yang Hui, did not come to make trouble, and on the first night of going north from Lao County, Chen Yingliang slept well and got enough rest when he was only ninety miles away from Yanmen City. After getting up the next day, Chen Yingliang immediately ordered the whole army to continue to march north, and the queue remained unchanged, still marching 30 miles a day and slowly moving north, cautiously approaching the Yanmen battlefield.

At the time of departure, the eldest grandson Shunde, who sent the envoy to the Turkic camp, also returned to Chen Yingliang with Shibi Khan's reply, saying that Shibi Khan agreed to Chen Yingliang's exchange request and promised to allow the Sui army to send 5,000 Hu military rations into Yanmen City in exchange for Chen Yingliang's release of more than 5,000 Turkic prisoners of war, but Shibi Khan did not agree that Chen Yingliang humiliated his army to cut off the two fingers of the prisoners, so Chen Yingliang was required to promise to let these prisoners of war return to the Turkic army intact, and Shibi Khan agreed to give way to send food.

"Want to get his soldiers back in good condition? Dream! Chen Yingliang, who hated these steppe barbarians, snorted coldly and shouted: "Wei Zheng, reply to the Turkic Shibi Thief Chief for me, just say that if you offend me Great Sui Tianwei, although you are far away, you will be punished, I will cut off the two fingers of the Turkic prisoners, if he refuses again, I will immediately cut off one arm of each Turkic prisoner of war!" ”

Wei Zheng nodded and agreed, but the eldest grandson Shunde turned a little pale, and hurriedly said tremblingly: "Dashuai, I don't dare to send this letter." ”

"It's okay, of course I'm not going to let you take the risk."

For the sake of the face of his lovely future wife, Chen Yingliang did not embarrass Changsun Shunde too much, but just ordered the immediate release of a Turkic captive, cut off his left tail finger and ring finger, and then asked him to go to the Turkic camp with a reply letter to deliver the letter. What was talked about with him? Did you bring back any books? ”

"Commander, I didn't meet the thief chieftain of Shibi." The eldest grandson Shunde replied tremblingly: "Although the humble post entered the camp of the Turkic Chinese army, only one Turkic cha came forward to receive the humble post, asked the reason for the humble post, and forwarded your letter to the chief of the Shibi thief, and then gave the humble post this verbal reply, and there was no reply. ”

Hearing such words, Chen Yingliang glanced at Changsun Shunde with some suspicion, and stopped talking a little, while the Yin World Master next to him stepped forward and said with a smile: "Mr. Changsun has worked his mission, and he must be very uncomfortable because he is tired and sweaty for the important event of sending food to His Majesty, right?" Come on, immediately set up a small tent, and wait for Mr. Changsun to change his clothes. ”

The eldest grandson Shunde knew that the Yin Shi Shi wanted to take the opportunity to search his body, but he didn't dare to resist, so he had to obediently follow the unscrupulous soldiers of the Yin Shi Shi to the small tent on the side of the road to change their clothes, and they also changed a brand new one from head to toe from the inside out, and at the same time, the Yin Shi Shi also bowed to the two entourages of the eldest Sun Shunde, and immediately there were other Yin Shi Shi soldiers who stepped forward and whispered to the two entourages to inquire about the situation, and soon reported back: "Yu Dashuai, Yu Taishou, The two retinues we arranged failed to enter the Turkic Chinese army, and I don't know if the eldest grandson Shunde saw the Shibi thief chieftain, nor what he said and did in the Turkic Chinese army camp. ”

After Chen Yingliang and the Yin World Master nodded, the personal soldiers who waited for the eldest grandson Shunde to change their clothes also came to report, saying that they did not find any hidden letters on the eldest grandson Shunde, and Chen Yingliang was very ungrateful and smiled at the Yin World Master: "Yin is too guarded, is it too much?" Such disbelief in our envoy would break Ambassador Li's heart. ”

"It's okay, anyway, I've already offended Ambassador Li to death many times, and I don't care about offending one more time." Yin Shishi smiled lightly, and then said: "Dashuai, you can't immediately let Changsun Shunde go back to Ambassador Li, and hand him over to me for a day, first, to continue to check and prevent accidents, and secondly, I can also take the opportunity to observe Ambassador Li's reaction, if he really has a ghost in his heart, how can he show some flaws." ”

"He's already stripped of his clothes, how can I check it?" Chen Yingliang asked with some surprise.

"Hairpin, Gu Dao." The Yin Shi Shi replied casually: "Hide the letter in the wax pill, and then stuff the wax pill into the valley road, to prevent the little trick of body search, to deal with this little trick, is to spy on his first." ”

"Gu Dao?" Chen Yingliang was a little dumbfounded, almost suspecting that the Yin World Master was a traverser like himself, and he even knew the method of hiding poison in chrysanthemums. However, considering that the Yin World Master did this for his own good, Chen Yingliang also acquiesced to the matter, and the Yin World Master arranged for people to toss the eldest grandson Shunde on the one hand, and at the same time let people deliberately release the news to let Li Yuan know that the eldest grandson Shunde had returned and was left by himself.

In fact, there is no need for the Yin Shishi to deliberately release the news, Ambassador Li Yuanli, who also attaches great importance to intelligence work, already knows the news that the eldest grandson Shunde has returned, and after learning about the treatment that the eldest grandson Shunde has received when he returned, Ambassador Li has not only secretly angered in his heart, but also snorted coldly, and said secretly: "Check it, check it, see what you can find out!" The more carefully you investigate, the better, just in time for the eldest grandson Shunde to see clearly the hypocrisy of your Chen Yingliang thief! And you, the master of the Yin World, have already exposed the affairs of sending people to secretly monitor His Royal Highness the King of Qi, and you dare to be so rude to my staff, and when you see Your Majesty, see how I can join you! Wuwei Xiaomendi, who took the wrong medicine, also dared to close the Longmen gate with me, wash his neck and prepare to die! ”

When the march reached noon, Liu Changgong's team as the vanguard finally encountered several Turkic guerrilla sentry cavalry with a number of more than 100 people, and tried to harass the vanguard of the Sui army with a good cavalry, which also frightened General Liu himself, fortunately, Liu Changgong brought the Qinwang Sui army this time is not as full of second-line soldiers as the original battle of the Eastern Capital, and now there is no shortage of elite right guards who are participating in the war in Goguryeo at that time. The wolf fled unbearably, and then only dared to monitor the advance of the Sui army from a distance, and did not dare to get too close to the Sui army.

The news of the striker flew to Chen Yingliang, who was in the fourth team, and the Yin Shishi and Wei Zheng and others built a cavalry to teach these rampant Turkic sentinels a lesson, Qin Qiong and Cheng Yanjin also volunteered to lead the troops to meet the battle, Chen Yingliang snorted coldly: "It's just a feint to test us, don't pay attention to them, continue to move forward, use a strong bow and a crossbow to entertain when you get close, and let them toss if you are far away, anyway, we only walk thirty miles a day, and there is time to spend time with them." ”

"Boss, is this too weak?" The Yin World Master asked with some concern.

"It's okay, I just want to deliberately show weakness and lead the Turkic army to take the initiative to fight." Chen Yingliang replied very frankly.

No one is perfect, Chen Yingliang, who has always been thoughtful, finally miscalculated this time, and did not consider another possibility - that is, behind the rampant Turkic sentinel cavalry, in addition to testing the strength of his own army, is there any other purpose? As a result, it was precisely because of this miscalculation that Hou Junji, who was covered by the Turkic sentinel cavalry and went south, was able to hide in the mountains and forests on the side of the road while wearing the Sui army uniform, and when Liu Changgong's team walked by, he suddenly appeared next to the Taiyuan Sui army in the second team, and when the Taiyuan Sui soldiers found that something was wrong and came forward to inquire, Hou Junji immediately showed the Li Yuan guard waist card that the Turkic army took the initiative to return to him, and the result was natural, Hou Junji naturally returned to Li Yuan and Ambassador Li.

Hou Junji's sudden appearance of course surprised our Li Yuan Li Ambassador Li, rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not mistaken, Li Yuan was surprised and asked, "Hou Junji, why are you here?" Didn't you go to Yanmen City to send me a concerto? Yanmen is surrounded by Turks, how did you come back? ”

"Ambassador, despicable and incompetent, on the way to Yanmen, he was deceived by Chen Yingliang's thief's lackey Qian Xiangminyin, and unfortunately became a Turkic prisoner."

The sharp-tongued Hou Junji also confessed, and soon reported his situation to Li Yuan in the past few days, explaining that he was accidentally killed by Qian Xiangmin, who could speak Turkic, and the guide was killed by unfamiliar with the road, and was unfortunately captured by the Turkic soldiers, and then he was loyal and unyielding and did not confide in the Turks at all, but yesterday in the Turkic Chinese army tent, he was unfortunately recognized by the eldest grandson Shunde, and his identity was revealed, and the Turkic Shibi Khan decided to release himself back. Let yourself help the eldest grandson Shunde to undertake the task of secret liaison between our Ambassador Li Yuan Li and the Turkic Shibi Khan.

Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was surrounded in the city of Yanmen, and the Turkic Khan Shibi, who surrounded Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, took the initiative to send someone to contact him, and sent his own henchmen and guards. Who told you to secretly communicate with me on behalf of Shibi Khan? What the hell is going on? ”

"The ambassador forgives the sin, the villain was inadvertently involved in this matter, Shibi Khan has an order, and the villain can't help but listen."

Hou Junji misunderstood what Li Yuan meant, and said that Li Yuan didn't want him to know such an important secret, so he hurriedly gave it up and said respectfully: "Ambassador, the grudge between you and Chen Yingliang's thief, Shibi Khan already knows about it, Shibi Khan, please rest assured, as long as you help him solve the soldiers and horses under the command of Chen Yingliang's thief, he will definitely help you take revenge, and he can also discuss the affairs of the Central Plains with you in the future." ”

As he spoke, Hou Junji also took out a letter sealed with fire paint from his arms, presented it to Li Yuan with both hands, and said with a smile: "Ambassador, this is a handwritten letter from Shibi Khan to you, written in Turkic and Central Plains characters at the same time, please take a look." ”

Seeing the letter with his name and official position written in Turkic and Chinese on the cover at the same time, poor Ambassador Li was completely stunned, and after finally coming back to his senses, Ambassador Li snatched the letter that was enough to destroy his family, and he was about to tear it with both hands, but Liu Hongji, an absolute henchman next to him, quickly stopped him and said in a low voice: "Ambassador, you can't destroy it, don't forget that the eldest grandson Shunde is still in the hands of Chen Xiaothief and Yin Shishi, if he shows any tone there, you can't even wash it by jumping into the Yellow River!" ”

Hearing Liu Hongji's warning, Li Yuan hurriedly stopped, and then subconsciously stuffed the letter into his arms, covered his chest like a devouring snake, and said tremblingly: "Then what should I do?" What the hell is going on? How could Shibi Khan have such thoughts? ”

"This ......, the villain doesn't know." Liu Hongji was also a little ownerless, and said in a low voice: "In short, this letter can't be destroyed, let alone read, fortunately, the letter is sealed with fire paint, which can prove that you haven't read it, but if Shibi Khan's side really has this meaning, there will be a second letter if there is a first letter, and a little leakage may give Chen Yingliang's thief a chance to harm you." Also, ......, ambassador, what did the eldest grandson Shunde say to you in front of Shibi Khan? ”

"Eldest grandson Shunde? Could it be that the eldest grandson Shunde has really betrayed me and teamed up with Chen Yingliang to set this trap on me? ”

After receiving Liu Hongji's reminder, our Ambassador Li suddenly thought of this possibility, and he did not dare to destroy this fateful letter privately and kill Hou Junji, so as not to be more unclear for a while. In desperation, Li Yuan had no choice but to hurriedly order: "Quick, send someone to see the situation of the eldest grandson Shunde, and if there is any more, just find an excuse and call the people of the world to me." ”

"Ambassador, and Li Jing." Liu Hongji reminded in a low voice: "He has been with Chen Yingliang's thief, called him over to ask, and saw what he knew." ”

Li Yuan nodded subconsciously, and began to quickly think about how to reasonably call Li Jing in front of him.