To the surprise of the Sui soldiers, two days after the water was cut off, on the night of the 28th, the rebels of Yongfeng Cangcheng actually came out to grab water in the dark, causing the Sui soldiers guarding the fence to feed the autumn mosquitoes all night. Although Chen Fuliang and the generals of the Sui army also felt a little strange about this situation, considering that the rebel soldiers had suffered a lot of losses in the battle for water in the previous two nights, it was normal for Li Jiancheng not to dare to send a small number of troops out of the city to die in vain, and it was also normal and logical to be ready to fight. For this reason, Wei Zheng and Pei Xingfang and other accomplices also warned Chen Fuliang: "Stay behind, be careful of the thieves suddenly attacking, and take advantage of our slack to go down the mountain to grab water." ”

"Of course." Chen Fuliang smiled confidently and said: "But if you want to take advantage of me, it's not so easy, Li Jiancheng dares to send heavy troops out of the city, and I dare to take the opportunity to storm Cangcheng." ”

"Brother, it's best to arrange an elite army and put on a traitor's military uniform to die." Pei Xingfang, who had been completely corrupted by his unscrupulous cousin, said in a cold tone, and said: "If the thieves go out of the city to grab water at night, then the situation must be very chaotic. ”

"Not a bad idea." Chen Fuliang smiled and said with a smile: "Although I don't have a good grasp of it, Li Jiancheng is a very stable person, but there is still some hope, and it is worth a try." ”

Wei Zheng refused to let the younger generations be beautiful, and also said: "Stay behind, don't do two endlessly, our auxiliaries are idle, just ask them to build another row of earthen fortresses in the north of Cangcheng, set wooden piles on the river beach, and build a water village, so that it is difficult for traitors to storm and get water!" ”

The establishment of the water village was actually in Chen Fuliang's consideration, but two days ago, Chen Fuliang had not made up his mind whether to attack Yongfengcang or besiege the city to send reinforcements, so he did not make this time-consuming and laborious decision, this will besiege the tactical plan for reinforcements has been finalized, and Li Jiancheng is accumulating strength to prepare to make a move, so Chen Fuliang can't help but reconsider this point. After a little calculation, Chen Fuliang nodded, and just wanted to agree, but unexpectedly, Li Jing's voice begging to see came from outside the tent, and Chen Fuliang, who was a junior, of course couldn't put up a stand in front of his cousin, so he immediately nodded in agreement.

After a while, Li Jing entered the tent to meet him, and to Chen Fuliang and others, Li Jing also asked the soldiers to bring two wounded prisoners of war, Chen Fuliang was still strange, so he took the initiative to ask: "Uncle cousin, what's the matter with these two captives?" Where did you catch it? ”

"I didn't capture it, it was the prisoner our soldiers captured the night before." Li Jing shook his head and explained: "I asked some very important confessions from their mouths, so I brought them to you, and I ask you to listen to them too." ”

After that, without waiting for Chen Fuliang's orders, Li Jing had already turned to the two captives and ordered: "Say what you just said to me, repeat it to Chen Liushou, and explain it truthfully, it will naturally be beneficial to you." ”

The two captives nodded their heads in agreement, and scrambled to Chen Fuliang and said: "Report to the old man who stayed behind, in fact, in order to prevent fire, Zuo Dudu stored a lot of clear water in Yongfeng Cangcheng, next to each grain cellar, the water tank for firefighting is full at all times, and the water is taken from the bottom of the mountain every day, and it is not allowed to use the water for firefighting at will. We don't know how many, but it's certainly a lot. ”

Chen Fuliang's face changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "Where did you get so many wooden barrels and water tanks before?" ”

"It seems to have been sent from places like Feng Yi, Chaoyi and Huayin." The two captives replied truthfully: "There are cars and boats, and there are many barrels and cylinders." ”

Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and the others' faces changed greatly, and Chen Fuliang's face began to look ugly, but Li Jing continued to hit his cousin and nephew, saying, "Virtuous nephew, you'd better ask again, when those water tanks and wooden barrels were sent to Yongfeng Cang." ”

Chen Fuliang hurriedly asked again, and the two captives replied truthfully: "When Yongfengcang was building the city, after General Li left Tongguan, Yongfengcang began to build the city, and these water tanks and wooden barrels were sent one after another. At first, it was for the people who helped build the city, but then they all stayed in Cangcheng. ”

Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and the others' faces changed, Chen Fuliang also closed his eyes, and secretly scolded Li Yuan's old thief for being an old fox, and he had already noticed that the Yongfeng Cangcheng City was in danger of cutting off water in the overly high terrain, so he took precautions to prepare a large number of water storage appliances and a large amount of water storage, in case he would cut off his water source at any cost and die of thirst for his Yongfeng Cang garrison. Over there, Yuan Tiangang refused to give up, and asked the two captives how much water storage in Cangcheng could support a few days, but unfortunately the two captives were grassroots soldiers, and Li Jiancheng had never announced the real reason for the large amount of water storage, so the two captives naturally couldn't answer.

After pondering for a long time, Chen Fuliang waved his hand and asked the soldiers to take the two captives away and give them preferential treatment, and then as soon as the two captives were taken away, Chen Fuliang immediately thanked Li Jing and said: "Thank you Uncle Cousin for being careful, I thought of carefully interrogating the prisoners to understand the enemy's water storage, otherwise, the little nephew would have really been deceived by Li Jiancheng." The cousin's heart is as careful as hair, and the little nephew is really ashamed. ”

"My own family, what's polite?" Li Jing smiled and said: "Actually, I have been deceived by Li Jiancheng before, twice sent troops to grab water, and paid the price of thousands of casualties, like a reaction to the imminent water cut-off, and I also believe that Li Jiancheng's water storage will not last for a few days." When I asked about the capture of the prisoners, I just wanted to know how much drinking water was still in the traitor army, and I never thought that I would get such a harvest. ”

Chen Fuliang nodded, first thanked his cousin for his dedication, and then pinched his chin and calculated: "Since the thief army is prepared, how many days can their water storage last?" ”

"This is estimated to be known only to a few important generals of the thief army." Li Jing said: "However, if the thief army tries to save water, there should be hope that it will hold on until the main force of the thief army returns to help, in addition, our elite guards the fence defense line day and night, although it can be rotated, but it will inevitably aggravate fatigue, and some flaws will be revealed after a long time, as long as Li Jiancheng seizes one of the opportunities to attack suddenly, not only may he grab water, but also may bring us a lot of losses." ”

Chen Fuliang agreed with his cousin's judgment, but he didn't say anything, but Li Jing further said: "Virtuous nephew, in fact, I was worried from the beginning that if we always insisted on the tactical plan of besieging the city and sending reinforcements, I was afraid that it would be self-defeating, but it would give the thief army a chance to turn defeat into victory. Yes, besieging the city and sending reinforcements can be at ease, and you don't have to attack the fortifications to get the opportunity to defeat the main force of the thief army in a battle, but what is the strength of the main force of the thief army, we don't know, Li Jiancheng, who is surrounded by us, still has the strength of a battle, and there is also a thief army Dou Cong stationed in the area of Pujin Pass, and it is also possible to go south to participate in the war, we do not know enough about the specific strength of the enemy, and the battlefield has opened up too much, and no matter how strong the soldiers and horses are, there is also great danger, so we must act cautiously. ”

Chen Fuliang didn't speak with a gloomy face, he was just nervously calculating countermeasures in his mind, and Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling and others over there were also frowning and thinking hard, after a while, Wei Zheng first wavered, and said: "Stay behind, if you really can't do it, give up the water cut, and attack head-on, we have the hope of storming and taking Yongfeng Cang, fighting for greater losses, taking Yongfeng Cangcheng first, and completely breaking the idea of the thief army to reopen the grain road." ”

Chen Yingliang was also very shaken, and almost wanted to open his mouth to order the abandonment of the water cut-off action, but after the words came to his lips, Chen Fuliang immediately changed his mind and said: "No, not only can you not give up the water cut-off, but also increase the water cut-off action, and immediately arrange for 5,000 auxiliary soldiers to go to the fence defense line to build an earthen barrier and strengthen the defense!" ”

"Why?" Wei Zheng and Li Jing and others are all the same.

"Since Brother Jiancheng wants me to be fooled, then as his friend and younger brother, of course I have to fulfill him." Chen Fuliang replied slowly, and said with a smile: "He saw that I had been fooled, of course, he would relax and relax, he relaxed, and my opportunity came." ”

Wei Zheng, Li Jing and the others suddenly realized, and praised Chen Fuliang for being really wise and martial arts, and after losing his conscience, Li Jing asked again: "Virtuous nephew, since you still want to break the city with a plan, what exactly are you going to do?" ”

"I haven't thought about it yet, but at present, we can only let the enemy relax first, and then find another way." Chen Fuliang frowned and replied, and said with great regret: "It's a pity that my brother Jiancheng has a too stable personality, and he doesn't like to cheat and cheat and use dangerous tricks, otherwise, if he makes the first move, I will definitely have a way to plan and take the opportunity to break the city." ”

According to Chen Fuliang's request, 5,000 Sui army auxiliaries quickly attacked according to the order, carrying all kinds of equipment to the rebels to build earth fortresses and strengthen defenses, the rebels were inevitably worried when they saw it on the top of the mountain, but Li Jiancheng was still still quiet, and categorically rejected the rebel generals' request to go to war, determined to defend to the end and wait for the main force of the rebels to come back. Fortunately, although the Sui army cut off the rebels' water drawing road, the rebel soldiers were still able to receive a scoop of drinking water every day, and ate a little water and flour baked at night.

Another day passed quickly, that night, when Chen Fuliang was still worried about how to break through Yongfeng Cang at the lowest cost, the messenger who claimed to be Yun Dingxing's confidant suddenly came to Chen Fuliang's face, and presented Yun Dingxing's handwritten letter to Chen Fuliang in person. Help the Sui army break the main force of the rebel army and atone for their crimes.

In addition, Yun Dingxing reported to Chen Fuliang that Li Yuan was already jumping over the wall in a hurry, and was storming Daxing Palace City at any cost, and at the same time sent an army to return to Yongfengcang to share the pressure for Li Jiancheng, and also decided to lead the main force to return to the reinforcement immediately after breaking the city, and recapture Yongfengcang, the lifeblood of the Guanzhong battlefield!

Xiang Yun Dingxing's envoy carefully interrogated many questions, but never found any flaws, Chen Fuliang showed a happy look, and ordered the envoy to be treated favorably, so that the messenger could go down to rest first and wait for his reply. However, as soon as the messenger left, several kobold military advisors immediately came to Chen Fuliang and asked if the letter was fraudulent? Chen Fuliang replied truthfully: "I can't tell for the time being, with Yun Dingxing's greedy character and fear of death, it is definitely true that he wants to surrender to us, and it is also very possible to help us at the critical moment, but I can't rule out that this letter was forced by Li Yuan to Yun Dingxing, and he borrowed Yun Dingxing's hand to design a set for us." ”

"If this letter was forced by Li Yuan to Yun Dingxing, then what is his purpose?" Li Jing pointed out the crux of the problem and asked, "If this is a trap, then what does the old thief Li Yuan want?" ”

"I can't see it yet." Chen Fuliang frowned and replied: "Li Yuan will personally lead the main force back to Yongfeng Cang, this is normal, first send a partial division back to share the pressure on Li Jiancheng, this is not surprising, it is all reasonable, I can't guess Li Yuan's real purpose." Among them, there may be another possibility, Li Yuan is deliberately casting a long line to catch a big fish, first letting Yun Dingxing leak some not very important correct information to us, deceiving our trust, and then when it is time for the real decisive battle, he will use Yun Dingxing to set a real deadly trap for us. ”

Li Jing nodded and asked again, "What should I do then?" ”

"Catch big fish with a long line too!" Chen Fuliang replied categorically: "First pretend to be a trick and maintain underground contact with Yun Dingxing, in the future, I will have my own way to distinguish whether Yun Dingxing was coerced by Li Yuan to use a scheme, and then I will plan it and turn it into a trap for him Li Yuan's old thief!" ”

Seeing that Chen Fuliang's tone was confident, and he knew that Chen Fuliang was scheming and never suffered losses on the battlefield, Li Jing, Yuan Tiangang and others did not say much, and they all nodded and praised. At that moment, Chen Fuliang immediately put pen to paper, wrote a reply letter to Yun Dingxing, in which he pretended to trust Yun Dingxing, and asked Yun Dingxing to continue to lurk among the rebels and provide him with important military information at all times, and then in the early morning of the next day, Chen Fuliang sent Yun Dingxing's messenger, ordering him to return to Daxing with the book to deliver the letter, and when they parted, Chen Fuliang instructed the messenger again: "Go back and tell Uncle Sù Yun, for the sake of prudence, no matter who he sends to contact me next time, he must answer me a question." ”

"Dare to ask Chen Liushou, what is the problem?" Yun Dingxing messenger asked respectfully.

"When I met Uncle Yun for the last time, what was my last verbal explanation to him?" Chen Fuliang said: "My last explanation to him, only me and him know, it is very important, he must not forget it, next time the person he sent must answer my question." The Yun Dingxing messenger's eyes flashed, and he respectfully agreed and left.

On the night of the 29th, there was still no new action on the part of the Yongfeng Cang rebels, and they still refused to go out of the city, and Chen Fuliang, who hated this kind of turtle tactics the most, had nothing to do, and after sending away the Yun Dingxing messenger, he could only start to think about how to attack and take Yongfeng Cang. However, at this time, the soldiers outside the tent suddenly came to report, saying that Li Jiancheng had sent an envoy to the camp and asked Chen Fuliang to meet him.

After another period of time, when Li Jiancheng's envoy, a middle-aged man in his forties, was led into the Chinese army's big tent, what surprised Chen Fuliang was that his important staff member Fang Xuanling jumped up in surprise and exclaimed in unison: "Wang Jue, Wang Shuju, why are you?" ”

"Brother Qiao Song, I haven't seen you for a long time, don't come here unharmed?" Li Jiancheng's envoy Wang Qi arched his hand, and said with a helpless expression: "After a few years, I didn't expect to be able to meet Brother Qiao Song here and now today, I'm ashamed!" ”

Fang Xuanling hurriedly returned the salute, and Chen Fuliang also hurriedly asked about Wang Jue's origin, only then did he learn from Fang Xuanling that Wang Jue was the same as the previous Great Sui Zigan Wu Li Gang, and was also a famous scribe in Guanzhong, because his uncle was implicated in the rebellion of Yang Liang, the king of the Han Dynasty, and lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain, not only with Fang Xuanling is an old acquaintance, but also with Du Ruhui is also a good friend. Then Wang Jue introduced himself again, saying that he was deceived by Li Yuan's rebels, and because he was implicated by his uncle, he could not enter the court of the Great Sui, so he brought his own dry food to Weibei to join the army, and was included by Li Jiancheng and used as a pawn.

Of course, Fang Xuanling's face Chen Fuliang had to give, and vaguely remembered that Wang Qi was also a historical celebrity, of course, Chen Fuliang immediately gave Wang Qi a seat of tea, and expressed his long-term admiration for Wang Qi, and then asked Wang Jue's intention. Wang Jue was not polite, and immediately presented Chen Fuliang with Li Jiancheng's handwritten letter, or a blood letter written in blood, and asked Chen Fuliang to look at it.

took Li Jiancheng's blood book and took a closer look, Chen Fuliang found that Li Jiancheng came to beg him for mercy and surrender, Li Jiancheng admitted that he was not Chen Fuliang's opponent, and also knew that Yongfeng Cangcheng, whose water source had been cut off, was doomed to fall, and he wanted to surrender, but because he was the son of Li Yuan, even if he surrendered, he was destined to die, and at the same time, most of his subordinate generals were stubborn, insisting on resisting the Sui army to the end, waiting for Li Yuan to return to the army to rescue, so Li Jiancheng could not surrender, he could only beg Chen Fuliang to open the net when the city was broken, Let yourself survive, let yourself take some of your subordinates out of the city and flee for your life, don't rush to kill them all.

Li Jiancheng's blood book was very mournful, and his tone was very pitiful, obviously his fighting spirit had been completely gone, and he didn't have the courage to fight Chen Fuliang again, he just wanted to survive. The envoy Wang Qi also repeatedly bowed his hand to Chen Fuliang, and said sincerely: "Chen Liushou, Ambassador Chen, water is now as expensive as gold in Yongfeng Cangcheng, and each soldier can only receive a spoonful of muddy water every day, although there is a lot of grain, there is no water to cook, and the men and horses can only eat raw rice millet, and the army is so depressed that it will be defeated without a fight in less than ten days." Zuo Du Du He was unfortunately born as the son of Tang Guogong, no matter what, it is impossible to open the city and surrender, so you can only ask to stay behind for the sake of past friendships, and let Zuo Du Du have a way to live, so that he can go out of the city and flee for his life, so that he will not die in the chaos. ”

Chen Fuliang was silent, and Wang Qi pleaded again: "Chen Liushou rest assured, at that time, the Zuo Du Governor will only flee with three or five cronies, and will never take a large number of soldiers and horses to continue to embarrass you. ”

Saying that, Wang Jue bowed his hand to Chen Fuliang again and again, and his feelings were sincere, but Chen Fuliang was silent for a long time, until Wang Jue knelt down, Chen Fuliang sighed and said: "On the battlefield, there are no eyes for swords and guns, and it is difficult for me to guarantee that I will not accidentally injure Brother Jiancheng." In this way, when the time comes, Brother Jiancheng can escape in the direction of Qinshan in the southwest, and I won't chase after it. ”

When Wang Jue heard the great joy, he hurriedly thanked Chen Fuliang again and again for Li Jiancheng, Chen Fuliang accepted it calmly, and set up a banquet to entertain Wang Jue, and then arranged for Fang Xuanling to personally send Wang Jue out of the camp. After going through these cutscenes, Chen Fuliang and his cousin Li Jing looked at each other and smiled, and asked in unison: "Uncle cousin (virtuous nephew), do you see it?" ”

After asking each other in unison, Chen Fuliang and Li Jing replied in unison, "Zhang Teshou Hefei shows weakness and cheats time." ”

After looking at each other and laughing loudly, Chen Fuliang suppressed his smile and said with a smile: "Li Yuan's old thief's fox tail is finally revealed, arrange Yun Dingxing to surrender, let me see a good opportunity to easily break his main army with ease and waiting, and arrange for Li Jiancheng to show weakness and beg for mercy, so that I feel that I can easily take Yongfeng Cangcheng without fighting, take the opportunity to delay the army, deceive me to suspend the siege, keep Yongfeng Cang and Li Jiancheng's army, and when his main force returns to help, his chances of turning defeat into victory are much greater." ”

"Virtuous nephew, you don't like the habit of attacking fortifications, I'm afraid it's also in Li Yuan's old thief's calculations." Li Jing pointed out: "If you don't want to storm the city, you will inevitably have an opportunistic heart, and when you see the opportunity to get Yongfeng Cangcheng without a fight, of course you don't want to take the lives of soldiers to fill in the city." It's a bad habit that needs to be changed. ”

"Change, change, change today." Chen Fuliang also heard that he would change, and immediately said: "I will send troops to fight Yongfeng Cangcheng tonight, no matter how much it costs, I will do my best to take Yongfeng Cang, completely establish the victory in Guanzhong, and pinch off his Li Yuan's old thief's last chance to win." "If you keep fighting, you just want to survive. The envoy Wang Qi also repeatedly bowed his hand to Chen Fuliang, and said sincerely: "Chen Liushou, Ambassador Chen, water is now as expensive as gold in Yongfeng Cangcheng, and each soldier can only receive a spoonful of muddy water every day, although there is a lot of grain, there is no water to cook, and the men and horses can only eat raw rice millet, and the army is so depressed that it will be defeated without a fight in less than ten days." Zuo Du Du He was unfortunately born as the son of Tang Guogong, no matter what, it is impossible to open the city and surrender, so you can only ask to stay behind for the sake of past friendships, and let Zuo Du Du have a way to live, so that he can go out of the city and flee for his life, so that he will not die in the chaos. ”

Chen Fuliang was silent, and Wang Qi pleaded again: "Chen Liushou rest assured, at that time, the Zuo Du Governor will only flee with three or five cronies, and will never take a large number of soldiers and horses to continue to embarrass you. ”

Saying that, Wang Jue bowed his hand to Chen Fuliang again and again, and his feelings were sincere, but Chen Fuliang was silent for a long time, until Wang Jue knelt down, Chen Fuliang sighed and said: "On the battlefield, there are no eyes for swords and guns, and it is difficult for me to guarantee that I will not accidentally injure Brother Jiancheng." In this way, when the time comes, Brother Jiancheng can escape in the direction of Qinshan in the southwest, and I won't chase after it. ”

When Wang Jue heard the great joy, he hurriedly thanked Chen Fuliang again and again for Li Jiancheng, Chen Fuliang accepted it calmly, and set up a banquet to entertain Wang Jue, and then arranged for Fang Xuanling to personally send Wang Jue out of the camp. After going through these cutscenes, Chen Fuliang and his cousin Li Jing looked at each other and smiled, and asked in unison: "Uncle cousin (virtuous nephew), do you see it?" ”

After asking each other in unison, Chen Fuliang and Li Jing replied in unison, "Zhang Teshou Hefei shows weakness and cheats time." ”

After looking at each other and laughing loudly, Chen Fuliang suppressed his smile and said with a smile: "Li Yuan's old thief's fox tail is finally revealed, arrange Yun Dingxing to surrender, let me see a good opportunity to easily break his main army with ease and waiting, and arrange for Li Jiancheng to show weakness and beg for mercy, so that I feel that I can easily take Yongfeng Cangcheng without fighting, take the opportunity to delay the army, deceive me to suspend the siege, keep Yongfeng Cang and Li Jiancheng's army, and when his main force returns to help, his chances of turning defeat into victory are much greater." ”

"Virtuous nephew, you don't like the habit of attacking fortifications, I'm afraid it's also in Li Yuan's old thief's calculations." Li Jing pointed out: "If you don't want to storm the city, you will inevitably have an opportunistic heart, and when you see the opportunity to get Yongfeng Cangcheng without a fight, of course you don't want to take the lives of soldiers to fill in the city." It's a bad habit that needs to be changed. ”

"Change, change, change today." Chen Fuliang also heard that he would change, and immediately said: "I will send troops to fight Yongfeng Cangcheng tonight, no matter how much it costs, I will do my best to take Yongfeng Cang, completely establish the victory in Guanzhong, and pinch off his Li Yuan's old thief's last chance to win." ”