The morning sun lazily illuminated everything in the world, and several fast horses left the Luoyang military camp, rolled up a piece of dust, and rushed towards the northwest.

On the first horse, it was Dong Xian who was wearing the court uniform of a Han official, and behind him were the Xiliang Army entourage who was protecting him.

Leaving the Luoyang military camp, Dong Xian didn't even dare to look back. Now in his heart, there is only one thought, that is, to hurry back to Zheng County, expose the collusion between Hu Chi'er and Liu Bian, and make it clear to Niu Fu that Liu Bianjun is about to bypass Zheng County and attack Li Dao and Guo Yan from behind.

In the barracks, the officers and soldiers were packing up the camp tents, Liu Wei and Pang Tong stood side by side outside the barracks, looking at Dong Xian who was getting farther and farther away, and when the backs of Dong Xian and others gradually disappeared at the end of the horizon, the two looked at each other and smiled, Liu Wei turned around and shouted towards the barracks: "Soldiers, pack up, follow this king, and beat the Xiliang army fiercely!" ”

"Roar!" As soon as Liu Wei's words fell, the officers and soldiers of Luoyang let out a burst of cheers.

After crossing the Taihua Mountain, the main force of the Luoyang Army drove straight into the direction of Zheng County. At the same time, a team of more than 1,000 people left the army, and under the leadership of a general, this team was ordered to advance in the direction of Chang'an by another road.

The team rushing to the direction of Chang'an set up pots and stoves along the way, deliberately fanning the smoke of the cooking, creating the illusion that the army was approaching along that road. And the real army, when approaching Zheng County, was silent, trying to avoid the road where there might be scouts of the Xiliang army.

Two days later, the main hall of the Zheng County Government.

A lot of blood on his face had dispersed, and only one or two dark blue marks remained, and Dong Xianchang, who had not yet faded, knelt in the middle of the main hall.

Niu Fu sat upright at the top of the main hall, a pair of eyes like torches, moving up and down Dong Xian's body. After a long time, he asked Dong Xian: "General Dong, is the news you brought back conclusive?" ”

"It's true!" Hearing Niu Fu's question, Dong Xian knelt on the ground and said to him: "The last general risked his life to enter the Luoyang Army camp and suffered all kinds of humiliation, so he got the news by chance. The army of the king of Luoyang should avoid Zheng County, pass through the mound leading mountain, pass through the tomb, and cut off the retreat of the two generals behind Guo Yan and Li Dao......"

"What about General Hu Che'er......?" Niu Fu nodded slowly, picked up a roll of bamboo slips re-strung with cow tendons from the side, and asked Dong Xian, "Is this matter conclusive?" ”

Seeing the bamboo slips, Dong Xian looked at the generals who were kneeling on both sides, his eyes lingered for a moment longer, especially on Hu Che'er's face, his eyes rolled, and he didn't dare to say too much, he bent down and said to Niu Fu: "It's not conclusive!" This thing was stolen from the tent of the king of Luoyang by the last general......"

"Ha Lu Ha!" Before Dong Xian finished speaking, Niu Fu raised his head and smiled, threw the bamboo slip to Hu Che'er, and said to Hu Che'er, who was at a loss and didn't know what was going on: "General Hu, if General Dong doesn't care about the friendship of his colleagues and fails to confirm your crimes, based on this letter alone, I'm afraid you will fall to the ground today!" ”

Niu Fu's words made Hu Che'er tremble, and hurriedly bent down to pick up the bamboo slip from the ground.

When he unfolded the bamboo slip and looked at it carefully, his forehead was already covered with beads of sweat, and he quickly stood up and walked to the middle of the main hall, knelt on the ground with a "poof", and said to Niu Fu: "General, this letter is not the handwriting of the last general......

Hu Chi'er wanted to say that someone wanted to blame him, but before he could finish speaking, Niu Fu waved his hand at him and said to him: "General Hu doesn't need to say it again, General Ben knows it in his heart." ”

"I just explored the horse and reported it, and in the area of Tomb Lingshan, I really found signs of the Luoyang King's army marching towards Chang'an!" Stopping Hu Che'er's words, Niu Fu then said to the generals: "Although the two generals Li Dao and Guo Yan have more than 100,000 men and horses, if Lu Bu and the king of Luoyang should join forces, it will be difficult for the two generals to deal with it!" ”

The generals of the Xiliang Army, who were kneeling on both sides of the main hall, knew that Niu Fu already had a combat strategy, and they all turned their faces to him, waiting for him to give further orders.

"Zheng County has a total army of 120,000!" After looking around at the crowd, Niu Fu finally spoke: "General Ben has decided to divide 60,000 people to intercept the king of Luoyang, and the other 60,000 people will stay in Zheng County with the general to wait until the king of Luoyang is defeated, and the general will lead the army to intercept and capture him!" ”

"The general is wise!" Niu Fu made a decision, and there was news that Dong Xian brought back from the Luoyang army camp, and the generals did not dare to raise objections, so they bowed down and hugged their fists one after another, and responded.

At noon on the same day, the gate of Zhengxian County was wide open, and a team drove out of the county and rushed straight to the southwest to intercept the so-called main force of the Luoyang Army.

On the hill on the south side, the original army was also withdrawn almost completely under Niu Fu's order, leaving only a small number of soldiers and horses to monitor the south.

After two days of rapid marching, the main force of the Luoyang Army led by Liu Wei had advanced to a forest only more than ten miles away from Zheng County.

Thirty thousand people gathered in the forest, and Liu Wei and Pang Tong stood side by side at the edge of the woods, looking at the hill in the distance, which seemed to be endless, but there was no decent mountain at all.

"Occupy that high ground, our army can overlook Zheng County!" Standing behind Liu Bian's side, Pang Tong raised his hand and pointed to the mountain bag in the distance, and said to Liu Bian: "Our army is holding the high ground, and Niu Fu, who has obtained fake military information, will definitely think that our army is just a small force, and it is beyond doubt that we will send troops to clear it. Defeat the army sent by Niu Fu to seize the mountain, Hu Chi'er and Dong Xian must be infighting in order to save their lives, and the Xiliang army is chaotic, just around the corner! ”

"Pass the order!" After listening to Pang Tong's words, Liu Wei turned his head and said to a soldier behind him: "In the evening, our army will launch a general attack on the high ground on the south side of Zheng County, and we must seize the high ground before the sky completely darkens!" ”

"No!" After receiving the order, the soldier clenched his fists and bowed in response, turned around and ran quickly to convey Liu Wei's order to the whole army.

The army was stationed in the forest and stayed until the sun went down, and the bright sunlight gradually turned orange, and Liu Wei gave the order to the officers and soldiers in the forest to set off.

Attacking the top of the mountain, the cavalry was completely useless, and the first to rush out of the forest was a heavy infantry led by Guan Hai armed with a Pu sword and a round shield.

Guan Qing led the remaining heavy infantry to follow, while Liu Wei and Pang Tong, surrounded by Tai Shici and 10,000 heavy cavalry, followed behind the most part of the team and slowly advanced forward.

The tide-like Luoyang army poured onto the hill south of Zheng County, and the Xiliang defenders on the hill were cleared by the soldiers led by Guan Hai before they even had time to react.

As the sun set, Liu Wei, who was slowly marching towards the top of the mountain surrounded by heavy cavalry, raised his head and looked at the top of the mountain. In the blood-colored remnant sun, pieces of black Luoyang Army battle flags replaced the black flags of the Xiliang Army that were planted on the top of the mountain earlier, and under the encouragement of the mountain wind, the hunt flew over.

When the Luoyang Army battle flag was planted on the mountain, the city of Zheng County under the mountain was already in chaos.

When the Xiliang army entered the city, the people in the city had already suffered a lot of invasions, and they were already afraid of the army entering the city. Hearing that the Luoyang army was outside the city, for fear that the city would be damaged after the city was broken, many people even packed up their belongings and planned to rush out of the city gate and take refuge away from Zheng County.

Niu Fu, who had not received the news that the Luoyang army had arrived nearby, was also taken aback when he heard that the mountain south of the city had been occupied by the Luoyang army, and hurriedly gathered the generals to discuss countermeasures at the official office in the city.

"Dong Xian, didn't you say that the army of the King of Luoyang went to Chang'an?" As soon as the generals entered the main hall of the official mansion, Niu Fu raised his hand and pointed at Dong Xian, and shouted to him angrily: "How should you explain the army of the King of Luoyang who seized the southern mountain?" ”

After being asked by Niu Fu, Dong Xian trembled, and hurriedly hugged his fists and bowed down to Niu Fu and said: "General Qiyu, the scouts also sent back news earlier, claiming that they found that the army of the king of Luoyang was rushing to Chang'an, and the enemy who occupied the mountains south of the city must be the king of Luoyang who attacked the west in order to prevent the general from dividing his troops to rescue Chang'an, so he set up a suspicious formation......"

"Oh?" Listening to Dong Xian's words, Niu Fu's mood calmed down a little, he put his hands behind his back, walked back and forth in the hall a few times, and then raised his hand, nodded at Hu Chi'er, and said to Hu Chi'er: "General Hu, you have fought with the King of Luoyang several times, and you also have a deep understanding of the Luoyang Army, this time you will lead 10,000 soldiers to attack the enemy on the south side of the mountain early tomorrow morning!" ”

"No!" Although he didn't believe in his heart that there were a small number of suspicious soldiers sent by Liu Wei on the mountain, Niu Fu had already given an order, and Hu Chi'er didn't dare to disobey, so he hurriedly responded with a fist, first took two steps back, and then turned around and walked out of the main hall.

"Dong Xian!" When Hu Chi'er withdrew from the main hall, Niu Fu said to Dong Xian again: "You go to defend the southern city, if the outside of the city is not a suspicious soldier, but the main force of the Luoyang army, you must defend the city to the death, and not a single Luoyang soldier is allowed to enter the city, otherwise you will come to see the general!" ”

"No!" was shouted by Niu Fu, Dong Xian shivered with excitement, hurriedly responded with his fists, and quickly exited the main hall.

"The rest of the generals!" Seeing Dong Xian run out of the main hall, Niu Fu shouted to the generals in the hall: "You wait to defend the city, if the city wall is broken by the Luoyang army, you must fight to the death with the king of Luoyang in the city!" Don't lose Zheng County! ”

After receiving the order, the generals also hurriedly responded and withdrew from the main hall one after another.

When he was the only one left in the hall, Niu Fu walked to a court pillar, clenched his fist, and smashed it hard, leaning on the court pillar that he punched, and his brows were tightly twisted.

The thick pillar of the court shook with a heavy punch, and a lot of dust fell from the top. The dust was fluttering, and Niu Fu was all over his head and shoulders, but Niu Fu didn't seem to be aware of it, and he was still thinking about how to resist the Luoyang Army in his mind.

Knowing that the Luoyang Army appeared, Niu Fu's arrangement seemed to be inappropriate on the surface. But he ignored an extremely important matter, although there were 60,000 Xiliang troops out of the city to aid Chang'an, but the number of Xiliang troops in the city was still twice that of the Luoyang army.

If he set up a decisive battle with the Luoyang army in the south of the city, with the combat strength of the Liang army in the west, Liu Wei would not necessarily be able to take too much advantage. But Niu Fu used the tactic of adding oil and ordered Hu Chi'er to lead 10,000 people to storm the mountain, so that the 10,000 army was sent into the mouth of the Luoyang army in vain.

At the same time as Niu Fu dispatched troops, on the top of the mountain south of the city, Liu Wei stood on the top of a huge rock, with one hand on his forehead, blocking the direct shooting of the sunset to his eyes, looking at the Zhengxian town under the mountain.

Looking down from the heights, Zheng County is like a dry well that has been fenced, and the city wall under the sunset, the bluestone wall is plated with a thin layer of blood, as if it has predicted that a fierce battle is about to take place around it.

The people in the city have fled. Many of them fled from the city gates before they were closed, and they were scattered in the wilderness outside the city, and ran for their lives everywhere; More are those who are slow or late to get the news, these people are separated from the city by the closed city gate, and they are unwilling to be surrounded with the Xiliang army, and they are still crying at the city gate and begging the Xiliang army guarding the city gate to let them out of the city.