Outside the Yanmen Pass in the east of the river, it is called Mayi in Shuozhou in the north.

Mayi city in Shuozhou Prefecture Zhishanyang City to the northeast fifty miles, in the pre-Qin period, Qin Shi Huang's general Meng Tian in the Yanmen Pass outside this place north to chase the Huns, besiege the city to raise horses, so it has the name of Mayi. There is also a legend, it is said that Meng Tian built a city in Wuzhou Sai at that time, used to guard against the Huns, but the city was about to be built, but there were several places where it collapsed, at this time there was a horse running fast, back and forth, the person in charge felt strange, so he built the city according to the footprints of the horse, and the city was no longer collapsed after it was built, so the city was finally named Mayi.

At the beginning of March, the Great Sui Shangshu left the servant, the head of the hundred officials, the head of the Xiangguo Gao Gong, and at the same time served as the commander of the Northern Expedition Army, Shi Gao Gong stepped into the city of Mayi.

Gao Gong is no stranger to Ma Yi, although he is a civilian official, but he has repeatedly led troops to war over the years. Although Mayi is in a corner, it is really a key point in the border. The northern barrier of this Yanmen fortress is based on stone, about four zhang high, and the female wall is seven feet high and has a circumference of five miles. There are four corner towers, 24 enemy platforms, and there are moon cities outside the east and west gates, which is a castle with very complete functions.

In the city of Mayi, there were 3,000 garrisons on chariots, hussars, and military towns.

For the Sui Dynasty, which had been facing great pressure from the northern Turks since the founding of the country, the first line of the outer Great Wall was too long to hold on, but the first line of the inner city could not be abandoned. Yanmen Pass, Loufu Pass, Thai Opera Pass, Flying Fox Pass, Wuruan Pass, Jundu Pass, Lulong Pass, Yu Pass, this is a place that must be defended, and there is no way to retreat.

The importance of Ma Yi made the imperial court stationed 3,000 soldiers and horses here, and also painstakingly divided them into three departments, one chariot and one hussar and two government soldiers. Plus a town border army, they are not subordinate to each other. The town army was stationed in the city, and the two prefectures were stationed in the south and north of the city. The soldiers of the two prefectures rotate once a year. The town army in the city also rotated every two years to prevent the defenders of Mayi from being bribed by the enemy and breaching the fortress from the inside.

At this moment, Mayi City has far more than 3,000 soldiers and horses.

He Ruobi, the marshal of the Northern Expedition Middle Road, had already moved the Middle Route Army into Mayi, and outside the city of Mayi, the Sui army along the way arrived, and at this time it had gathered 100,000 soldiers and horses. The army surrounded the city and turned it into a huge camp.

He Ruobi led the generals of the 100,000 army to gather in front of the south gate of Ma Yi to greet Gao Gong. Gao Gong is the prime minister. At the same time, it is also the long history of the Northern Expedition, the second-in-command of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the actual marshal is only in command, and Gao Gong is the real commander and decision-maker of the Northern Expedition. Three days ago, Zhao Zhongqing led 3,000 soldiers and horses to the north to support Yunnei, and was ambushed and annihilated by the Turks in Qingliang Mountain. Gao Gong gave an urgent order, and the whole army stopped advancing. Waiting for orders on the spot, those who dare to cross Ma Yi and go north without an order will be killed.

This order is inexplicable, but no one dares to disobey it.

Middle Road Marshal He Ruobi and Deputy Marshal Han Sengshou. Both and Gao Gong are the same party as the prince, although Shi Yu Wenshu and Sima Guo Yan, the chief of the middle lane, are the confidants of the king of Jin, but at the moment they are still in the middle route army. But he was completely hollowed out by He Ruobi and Han Sengshou, and he had no right to speak.

However, although He Ruobi and Han Sengshou did not carry out Gao Gong's order without any discount. But my heart is also full of doubts.

The group welcomed Gao Gong and others into the city, and after a cold noise in the temporary marshal's mansion. Gao Gong asked the generals to retreat, leaving only He Ruobi and Han Seng Shou.

Gao Gong didn't wait for the two of them to speak, and said: "I know that you have many doubts, and I also know what you want to ask, take it easy, don't worry, everything is under the control of you." Gao Gong said with a smile, while slowly taking out a tube of tea leaves, and brewing tea as if no one was around. This is Wuyi black tea, this year's new tea, and this is a new product, and last year's emerging and sought after green tea is different, although it is also fried, but after fermentation, the taste is more mellow, and the tea soup is more rich and wonderful. Do you know that this black tea comes from Wuyi Mountain in the southeast, and it is said that it is a business run by the Lai Hu'er family, the governor of Jianzhou, but as far as a certain know, the black tea business run by the Lai family is actually a partnership with the King of Jin, and the King of Jin has a large share in it, and what is more interesting is that the imperial grandson actually has a share in this black tea business. Well, to be precise, almost more than seventy percent of the tea business today is controlled by the King of Jin. In the end, almost all of the tea of King Jin was sold to the imperial grandson for processing, which is really unexpected. ”

He Ruobi frowned, not understanding what Gao Gong's intention was in pulling this tea at all. Tea is it, is it important? Even if tea is very popular now, this business is limited. Besides, King Jin and Taisun did a tea business together, so what is there to say strangely. It's true that everyone has their own positions, but business and money don't. Taisun opened Daxing Bank in Beijing, with a share capital of 10 million, almost all the powerful and wealthy families in Beijing have shares, and he himself has invested 100,000 yuan, and it is said that Gao Xiangguo's San Lang also entered 1 million yuan.

"Don't underestimate this tea, do you know, now the tea industry in the south of the Great Sui has reached millions of guan a year, and the profit of it is at least three million guan a year, which is not a small amount of money. The king of Jin controlled the tea trade in the south and earned at least one million guan a year, while the imperial grandson cooperated with the king of Jin and earned even more, at least two million a year. ”

"So, so what?" He Ruobi asked. Now is the wartime, the front Yunnei City has fallen, Zhao Zhongqing's 3,000 reinforcements have been overthrown, Heng'an Town is also in danger, and it will fall at any time, at this time, Gao Xiangguo ordered not to let them send troops north, but as soon as they came to Mayi, they would first pull this tea and talk about trading, what does this mean? Could it be that Gao Xianggong also wants to intervene in the profits of this tea business, but now is not the time.

Gao Gong ignored He Ruobi, and just continued to take care of himself: "Since the rise of the imperial grandson in Huaihuang, he has also quickly controlled the livestock trade and fur trade between the grassland and most of the Central Plains, and also monopolized the trade of cloth, porcelain, sugar and wine to the grassland. Do you know how profitable it is here? ”

"You don't know, you don't know at all, how much money the imperial grandson can make a year now, and these are just part of the business he can make money, as well as ordnance manufacturing, war horse trading, medicinal herbs and medicines, paper, books and banks, etc., the imperial grandson's ability to make money is beyond all of our imagination, and the imperial grandson is really making money every day. And it's not just about making money. He partnered with the King of Jin in the tea business, and partnered with the Saiwai Sanfan in the livestock and fur trade. Run a bank with local tycoons from all states and counties in the world, and operate a variety of hot-selling commodities. Even. He took out a lot of money to build a academy in Youzhou and buy a large number of Confucian scholars, do you really think that the imperial grandson is very simple? Gao Gong shook his head and slammed the teacup in his hand on the table, "No, the power of the imperial grandson is beyond our imagination, and the expansion is too fast. Especially. The imperial grandson has never shown much awe and support for the crown prince. ”

Gao Gong's words were not untargeted, but the astonishing conclusions he came to after carefully searching for Yi Feng's information. Taisun's power has expanded too fast, but his attitude towards the crown prince is ambiguous, for this young emperor and grandson who they hold the throne of Taisun in one hand, Gao Gong feels a strong threat and uncontrollable.

It's a loose horse!

Deputy Marshal Han Seng Shou glanced at Gao Gong, and a trace of jealousy flashed in his heart, this old guy is too ruthless. This is to clean up the grandson. Do you want to train your grandson?

"Bring me the map." Gao Gong Road.

He Ruobi personally brought the map and spread it out.

"Marshal He Ruo will mark the current offensive situation of the Turks on the map for me."

Although He Ruobi has been stagnant in Mayi, he is very clear about the offensive of the Turks, and he quickly marked it on the map.

"After the Turks stormed the Great Wall. In total, the army was divided into four routes, and the total of 200,000 troops was divided into four routes, each with 50,000 troops. All the way to Heng'an, all the way to Huai'an, Daning. All the way to Ulju and the north of Yanzhou, the target direction is Jundu Pass and Feihu Pass. There is also a road outside the Great Wall, and the goal is deserted. ”

"Well, it's clear that Marshal He Ruo's reconnaissance is doing a good job." Gao Gong commented with a little approval.

"King Li Yaowang is still holding on, but it is estimated that Heng'an Town will not last long, and he has less than a thousand soldiers and horses." Han Seng Shou reminded. Heng'an's Li Yaowang is Han Sengshou's nephew. Han Seng Shou is the brother of Han Baohu, who was known as the general of Ping Chen and He Ruobi at the beginning, and is also the brother of Han Hong, the governor of Modern Prefecture. Han Seng Shou fought bravely, and his reputation for being good at fighting was no less than that of his brother Han Baohu, and he has never been defeated so far. The three brothers of the Han family were all fierce generals for a while, but they were covered up because of the brilliance of their brother Han Baohu, and the imperial court also intended to suppress Han Seng Shou and Han Hong until Han Baohu died. After Han Baohu's death, the two brothers had the opportunity to reuse, but Han Seng Shou was the prince's party, and Han Hong was the party of the Jin king. Li Yaowang, the Li pharmacist brothers, has always been closer to Han Hong. But no matter what, Pharmacist Li is also Han Sengshou's nephew, and at this time he can't see death without help.

"The siege of Heng'an is the 50,000 Turkic army led by Du Lanqin, right?" Gao Gong asked.

"Yes."

Gao Gong sneered, "Dulan's 50,000 soldiers and horses besieged Heng'an, which was held by less than 1,000 people of Li Yaowang, you sue Sù, how did Li Yaowang get it, so that he could hold on to it until now and not lose the city?" ”

was reminded by Gao Gong, He Ruobi and Han Seng Shou, the two fierce generals, also had to think of a possibility that they had thought of a long time ago, the Turks were fishing, and to put it bluntly, they were besieging the city to send reinforcements. They deliberately surrounded but did not break it, and used Heng'an City and Li Yaowang as bait to lure the Sui army to rescue. The Sui army left the fortified city and came to the field to fight them. Zhao Zhongqing died like this, and 3,000 soldiers and horses left the city to go north, only to be ambushed halfway and the whole army was annihilated.

"Ma Yi has an army of 100,000 troops, and there are 150,000 horses in Yanmen Tower and Taiyuan behind him." Han Seng Shou has not been defeated for many years, and of course he has thought of the Turks' plans, but he doesn't care, because they have a lot of troops and generals, and the Turks want to fish, but they are crocodiles.

Gao Gong shook his head, he looked at He Ruobi and Han Sengshou, "Why did we come?" ”

"Fight the Turks!" Han Seng Shou replied.

"Destroy the Turks!" He Ruobi replied.

"Yes, but not entirely, we are here to win, to win, and it has to be a big victory, a big victory. It is not enough to repel the Turks, it is not enough to defeat the Turks, it is necessary to defeat the Turks, inflict heavy losses on the Turks, and even annihilate the main forces of the Turks, and even capture the Turkic khans alive! This is the purpose of our trip, to win a big victory, to prove to His Majesty that the crown prince still has our ability, and finally help the prince to stabilize the position of the prince, and help the prince succeed to the throne in the future. Gao Gong said loudly. If we want to achieve our goal, then we have to fight this battle beautifully, and very beautifully, because we have snatched the handsome position from the hands of King Jin, and we must fight beautifully. For the sake of this goal, no expense will be spared. ”

Looking at Gao Gong's passionate demeanor, He Ruobi and Han Seng Shou didn't know how to answer. After a long time, Han Seng Shou asked, "Then don't you save yourself when you die?" ”

"That's a necessary sacrifice, the court will remember them, and they will get the glory behind them." Gao Gong said without hesitation.

"Okay, what are Xiangguo's plans, can you tell us, so that we can cooperate." He Ruobi didn't care about the life and death of King Li Yaowang and hundreds of Heng'an defenders, one will be a success, and there are too many pawns sacrificed on the battlefield, nothing surprising. What he wanted to know was Gao Gong's plan, he was a mid-lane marshal, and he didn't want to be kept in his bones.

"The plan is actually very simple, just wait for the right time."

"Just sitting?"

"That's right." Gao Gong replied with a chuckle.

"And when are we going to strike?"

"When the opportunity comes." Gao Gong picked up the teacup again and said confidently. In Gao Gong's plan, Yunnei and Hengan were abandoned early on, and even Mayi and Shuozhou were to be abandoned in the plan. In Gao Gong's plan, there is only one goal of this battle, that is, to inflict heavy damage on the Turkic army, at least to annihilate more than 50,000 Turkic soldiers and horses, otherwise the expected plan will not be achieved. And it is very difficult to inflict heavy losses, or even annihilate at least 50,000 Turkic troops, or even more Turkic troops. The Turkic army was cavalry, and once it could not defeat the Sui army, it would immediately flee. And the fleeing Turks, it is difficult to catch up, especially when they are in the steppe.

Therefore, in Gao Gong's original plan, his battle plan was actually very simple, that is, to lure the enemy deeper, Yunnei and Hengan to give up, Ma Yi and Shanyang to give up, and finally lure the Turks to Yanmen and Loufu Pass, and finally send a large army from Xindai to Ulzhou, and then go around to Heng'an in Yunnei, block the retreat of the Turks, cut off their grain and grass, and then attack back and forth, gather and annihilate them.

And now, the situation has changed.

The Turks captured Yunnei as he had planned, but set up a decoy in Heng'an to lure the Hedong army north. At the same time, they did not go south, but divided their forces to attack east. (To be continued......)