In the dry and cold and empty night, a bright moon hung high in the night sky, the whole land was a silver-gray, and the soldiers of the Han army uniformly dressed in orange and red on the official road were rushing all night.

Gao Fei and the 20,000 soldiers in Jicheng soon caught up with Fu Xie and Gai Xun, and the two groups of people immediately joined the army, and the vehicle team carrying the baggage was guarded by more than 700 personal guards led by Gao Fei, while the Han soldiers walked in an orderly manner under the leadership of each army Sima.

Gao Fei walked at the front of the team, surrounded by Fu Xie and Gai Xun, although the two did not witness the scene of killing Zuo Chang in the evening, but it is not difficult to imagine that it takes courage to do such a thing, and the two of them can't help but admire Gao Fei.

"Today, Gao has to thank the two adults a lot, if it weren't for the two adults who lent me the previous holy decree, I'm afraid that I have no evidence, it is difficult to convince everyone, and I have this equipment, I also have to thank the two adults for the gift." Gao Fei rode forward on his horse and thanked Fu Xie and Gai Xun.

Fu Xie and Gai Xun responded politely: "With a show of hands, Master Hou has no worries. ”

Gao Fei was followed by his personal entourage, so he dared to speak so blatantly, he continued: "This is a bad word, if it weren't for the help of the two adults, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to succeed." But don't worry, once the court investigates, I will definitely not affect the two adults in this matter......"

"Hou Ye said this to treat us as outsiders, and the reason why we spared no effort to help Hou Ye was naturally because we understood Hou Ye's purpose in doing this. If the court investigates, the two of us are willing to bear it with the Hou Ye, and write to His Majesty to explain the truth of the matter. Gai Xun hurriedly interrupted Goofy's words.

Gao Fei said: "But I still feel very guilty in my heart after burdening the two adults. ”

Fu Xie said: "Hou Ye doesn't have to feel guilty, now we are grasshoppers tied to a rope, since we have decided to help Hou Ye do this, we are not afraid of being implicated, we are all loyal to the Han people, I believe Your Majesty will definitely understand our painstaking efforts in doing this." At worst, it's just a head-killing, and twenty years later, it's a good man. ”

Gao Fei heard Fu Xie and Gai Xun say this, so he thought about it and said: "In this case, just don't do anything, and simply make the accusation of Zuo Chang's collusion with the Qianghu rebellion true, anyway, there is no proof of death, even if the imperial court asks Tingwei to pursue it, as long as the confessions of the two adults and me are consistent, I believe there will be nothing." In this way, the crime of killing the official of the court without permission can be exempted, and the matter of falsely transmitting the holy decree can be even more reasonable, what do the two adults think? ”

Fu Xie and Gai Xun are both benevolent gentlemen, and they are afraid that they can't do it in their bones for such a plain and unprovoked thing, but now their lives are hanging by a thread, not to mention that Zuo Chang is insatiable, they also feel that it is not worth giving their lives for such a person, after glancing at each other, the most common tacit understanding burst out in the eyes of the two, and they both nodded in unison, and said in unison: "What Master Hou said is reasonable, then we will decide like this." ”

After that, the three of them chatted casually, this chat doesn't matter, Gao Fei heard from the words of Fu Xie and Gai Xun that they were dissatisfied with the ten permanent servants, although they were dissatisfied, but they were helpless, after all, they walked around the emperor every day, and they were deeply loved by the emperor, even if there was a mistake, it was at most a fine of money, and those ministers who served the country and the people in the top ten permanent servants, without exception, were killed by these eunuchs.

Gao Fei doesn't like the officialdom of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and he doesn't want to mix in Kyoto, even if you are a three princes and nine secretaries, but like an assembly line, things often happen, today is still a captain, tomorrow it may be a common man, so he is definitely a good choice for local officials, and remote areas like Liaodong are the best choice.

Liaodong, he once again unconsciously remembered Liaodong, that was the place where he was haunted by his dreams, and it was also the place where he was worried, and he secretly made an oath that after quelling the rebellion in Liangzhou, he must occupy the territory of Liaodong.

When the sun first rose, more than 20,000 troops stopped on the side of the road, and they all felt tired after running all night, and the speed of the march was much slower than that of pure cavalry, and the foot soldiers walked on their feet, and the degree of hardship was naturally more than that of the cavalry, but Gao Fei could not leave these foot soldiers, that was 18,000 people. In the army of 20,000 people, there were only 2,000 cavalry, and the rest were crossbowmen, sword and shield soldiers, pikemen, and halberd soldiers to form an infantry phalanx, which was a regular Han army formation.

Evacuated overnight, Gao Fei did not forget to send scouts to reconnoiter behind, he must know the situation of Beigong Boyu behind him, he knew that Beigong Boyu had already released cruel words, and he would not give up if he was not captured, plus he learned from Li Wenhou about Beigong Boyu's character, so he had to beware of the pursuit behind while marching. However, fortunately, he now has 20,000 horses, even if Beigong Boyu chases him, he doesn't have to be afraid.

When the sunlight shone into the woods on the side of the road, and the withered yellow branches reflected on Gao Fei's face, Zhao Yun rushed over from the side and bowed to Gao Fei: "Master Hou, the scout returns, Beigong Boyu has set off from Xiangwu and is heading towards Jicheng, with about 10,000 cavalry!" ”

10,000 cavalry is a bit of pressure for Gao Fei, he once led 300 cavalry and more than 1,000 cavalry in the front of the rebel army to fight once, and he has a certain understanding of the combat effectiveness of those Qianghu rebels. He hurriedly stood up, said "explore again" to Zhao Yun, and walked straight towards the place where Fu Xie and Gai Xun were.

Fu Xie and Gai Xun were responsible for the logistics of escorting the baggage along the way, and the food and drink of the 20,000 troops were all solved from them. Although Fu Xie and Gai Xun served as civil officials, both of them were from good families and studied Confucian culture, while Confucian scholars learned the six arts since childhood, and there are two kinds of royal and archery in the six arts, royal refers to horsemanship, and archery refers to archery. (Author's note: I personally believe that the six arts of Confucianism pay attention to the all-round development of morality, intellect and physique, although the teaching method of the ancients is a private school, but the way of teaching is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. ）

Fu Xie and Gai Xun were sitting under the tree, the two of them were on the road at night for the first time, not to mention tired, but also sleepy, although they were strong and energetic, but as soon as they rested, they still unconsciously entered the dream.

"Do you two adults sleep soundly?" Gao Fei came to Fu Xie and Gai Xun's side, and saw that the two of them were still asleep, although he couldn't bear to wake them up, but the matter was urgent, and he couldn't manage it so much.

Gao Fei screamed three times in a row, which woke Fu Xie and Gai Xun up, but when he saw that the eyes of the two of them were bloodshot, he said: "It's hard work for the two adults, the situation is special, I have to do it as a last resort, please don't blame the two adults!" ”

Fu Xie rubbed his eyes, strengthened his spirits a little, then stood up and arched his hand: "Are you about to leave?" ”

Gao Fei shook his head and said, "Before we set off, I want to ask the two adults to do something. ”

Gai Xun also stood up and asked: "Hou Ye has something to order, now Hou Ye is the assassin of Liangzhou, and we are all Hou Ye's subordinates, so Hou Ye doesn't need to be polite." ”

Gao Fei said straight to the point: "I want to ask the two adults to make two thousand stoves when the army is marching out." ”

"Stove?" Fu Xie and Gai Xun looked at Gao Fei in confusion and asked in unison.

Gao Fei nodded and said, "I have already received the news that Beigong Boyu is leading 10,000 cavalry to chase after him, and with the speed of all their cavalry, I am afraid that they will soon be able to catch up with our army." Those cavalry were all composed of Qianghu, and the battle was very brave, and 10,000 cavalry was indeed a lot of pressure for our 20,000 horses that were tired from marching all night. So, I came up with an idea to make the rebels take our army lightly, so that even if they were overtaken, our army could attack by surprise and repel them! ”

After all, Fu Xie and Gai Xun are people who have read poetry and the art of war, and after thinking about it carefully, they asked in unison: "Hou Ye asked us to make the stove, could it be that he wanted to follow Sun Bin's clever plan to reduce the stove?" ”

Gao Fei smiled and said, "Exactly." ”

Gai Xun said: "Qiang Hu bullies the weak, and Hou Ye is indeed the most suitable to use a clever plan to reduce the stove at this time." However, since this is to be done, it must not arouse the suspicion of the rebels, I think that the Hou Ye can make the army only travel thirty miles a day, and set up a camp every place, first, you can rely on the camp to resist the harassment of the rebel cavalry, and second, the soldiers can recuperate in the camp, and after three days, you can almost make the rebels believe it, and then the rebels will inevitably worry that our army will flee into Sanfu and attack the camp, then we can surprise and give the rebels a dismount! ”

After Gao Fei heard this, he felt that what Gai Xun said was basically the same as what he thought, so he smiled and said: "Gai Changshi is really proficient in the art of war, and I admire it." ”

Fu Xie smiled: "This is all the credit of Hou Ye, if it weren't for Hou Ye thinking of this clever plan, how could we draw a scoop according to the gourd?" ”

The three of them looked at each other and smiled, and then Fu Xie and Gai Xun took 2,000 people to make 2,000 stoves in an open place, and then got dry firewood from all over the place, put a fire on each stove, and blackened the stove, and the whole process only took a moment.

After that, Gao Fei ordered the whole army, and the army advanced slowly, letting Fu Xie and Bian Xi take a thousand foot soldiers to guard the grain and grass, and let Zhao Yun take five hundred cavalry to guard the last of the team. After the army had advanced slowly for thirty miles, Gao Fei ordered the whole army to stop advancing, and then began to set up camp in a clearing, and constantly sent scouts to inquire about Beigong Boyu's situation.

Half an hour later, the soldiers set up the camp, cut down many trees from the bare woods everywhere, made them into antlers, horses and other obstacles that hindered the cavalry, and circled the camp, and there were many crossbowmen in the camp, and the camp was heavily guarded.

Just after noon, the camp began to bury pots for cooking, and this time the number of stoves was only 1,500, far less than in the morning, and according to the number of pots on one stove at that time, ten soldiers ate at that time, and the number of stoves alone can be seen from the number of stoves.

After a full meal, the soldiers took turns to stand guard and rest in shifts, but the scouts came back one by one, and then went out one after another. Gao Fei planted a scout every ten miles, they walked nearly eighty miles in one night, plus the distance from Xiangwu to Jicheng, it was almost one hundred and fifty or sixty miles, and every time the scout came back to report, he knew that Beigong Boyu's cavalry team was ten miles closer to him.

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Beigong Boyu arrived at Xiangwu yesterday with 10,000 cavalry, but what he saw was the empty Xiangwu City and the hundreds of corpses on the streets of Xiangwu City. When he saw this scene, he knew what was happening, and after a simple night's rest, he began to set out from Xiangwu at dawn and rushed to Jicheng.

After running for seventy or eighty miles, the group finally arrived at Jicheng at noon, and saw that the gate of Jicheng was closed, and the banner of the Han army on the city tower was still fluttering in the wind, and there were still soldiers wearing Han army uniforms standing on the city wall.

Beigong Boyu knew that Jicheng was the seat of Liangzhou Thorn History, and he knew that there were soldiers in the city, so he did not act rashly, but first sent a thousand cavalry with bows and arrows to the moat to shoot the Han soldiers on the city wall. The cavalry sent out shouted and rushed over quickly, ready to guard against arrows from the city wall at any time, but when they saw that the Han soldiers were motionless, they were very angry, thinking that these Han soldiers did not pay attention to them at all, so they raised their bows and arrows and fired indiscriminately.

The arrows hit the city wall and pierced the bodies of the Han soldiers, but what the rebels saw was a very strange scene, they did not hear the shouts, they did not see the Han soldiers fall, but saw their arrows firmly hanging on the bodies of the Han soldiers.

The strange phenomenon made these Qianghu rebels feel very confused, and everyone approached the moat, shielding the sun with their hands, and saw a strange scene on the city wall, which was actually a person tied up with withered grass. They hurriedly reported the matter to Beigong Boyu, and Beigong Boyu sent people to look around the other two gates of Jicheng, and saw that the scarecrows standing on the city walls were all of this kind, and only the east gate of the three city gates was open.

Beigong Boyu immediately transferred his subordinates to the east gate, he thought that the Han army would not give up the city easily, there must be an ambush in the city, so he did not dare to enter the city, so people shouted and cursed outside the city for a while, there was no reaction, and the city was even more deadly silent. Then he sent people to gallop into the city cautiously, and the people who entered the city searched everywhere, but they did not even see a single figure.

Beigong Boyu led the army into the city, and rummaged through the Assassin's Mansion, Taishou Mansion, and the Treasury, leaving nothing valuable, and the entire Jicheng was an empty city. He wondered why such a city had become an empty city, and when so many of the people in the city had been evacuated. After a brief rest in the city, he continued to lead his troops out of the city and pursued eastward along the official road.

In the evening, Beigong Boyu came to a clearing, and when he saw the stoves, he roughly counted them, and there were two thousand. He didn't dare to rush in any longer, he knew what two thousand stoves represented, which meant that he was chasing an army of 20,000 men. He sent scouts to reconnoitre, but he himself led his army to rest here.

After a while, the scouts sent out reported that there was a camp set up by the Han army thirty miles ahead, and that there were almost 1,500 stoves in the camp, and that the Han army had retreated to the east.

When Beigong Boyu heard the news, he was overjoyed at the moment, he firmly believed that the Han army's military spirit had collapsed, otherwise he would not have fled with 5,000 people at once. Regardless of whether there was a trace of Gao Fei in the Han army in front of him, he had to flatten this Han army, and then lead the cavalry directly into Chen Cang, capture Gao Fei's kid, and kill him to comfort his subordinates' spirits in the sky.

"Let's go!" With Beigong Boyu's order, 10,000 cavalry set off again, but this time Beigong Boyu was not in too much of a hurry, since the Han army was afraid of him, he didn't have to be in such a hurry to chase, let them break up on their own, and then annihilate them all with superior forces.