On the second day of February, the dragon raised its head.

The snow covered Huaiyuan, and a thick layer of snow outside the city blocked it, making the city isolated, quiet and cold.

The moonlight was cold, the cold wind was cold, and it swept like a sharp knife, and the snow on the startled branches shivered and fell.

A team suddenly came out of the woods, dressed in white, lowered his body, ran quickly under his feet, staring at the front with cold eyes, like a killing god drilled out of the white world, the leader was Yu Chi Baoqi, in order to succeed in this operation, Yu Chi Baoqi trained frantically and squeezed the potential of the soldiers, which can be described as painstaking, but the effect is very ideal.

Running, the rustling sound of stepping on the snow spread all around, especially obvious in this quiet night, and when he was about to rush under the city wall, Yu Chi Baoqi decisively stopped, using a crawling forward, others followed suit, the voice suddenly became a lot smaller, this kind of training is not a time, everyone has already been proficient.

There was no one to be seen on the city walls, maybe they hid in a corner and stared around, or maybe it was too cold and hid to bake the fire.

But Yu Chi Baoqi did not dare to be careless, the infiltration route deliberately avoided the city gate, once he found that there was a suspicious phenomenon on the city wall, he stopped decisively, and then continued to march after ensuring that it was safe, and unconsciously came to the city wall, everyone leaned against the city wall, their eyes were shining, once they were won, the first merit, no one wanted to.

Everyone took off the flying claws on their shoulders, rotated according to the training method, and then threw hard, the flying claws firmly grasped a certain position on the city wall, pulled hard, and was extremely stable, everyone looked at Yu Chi Baoqi, and Yu Chi Baoqi stared at the top of the city wall, seeing that no one came down to check, he was determined, pulled out the knife and bit it in his mouth, used his hands and feet together, and quickly climbed up.

The others also hurried to follow, silent and skillful.

Soon, everyone climbed up to the city, not in a hurry to climb over the wall to enter, but carefully probed to see, and soon found that many people squatted under the corner of the city wall to roast the fire, holding weapons in their arms to nap, did not sleep and did not bother to get up to inspect, whispered to the people next to him to chat about something, Yu Chi Baoqi quickly turned over, melted into the dark shadow of the wall and touched it, silent, like a raccoon cat walking at night.

The others also rolled over, clenched their swords, and slid against the wall.

At the front, Yu Chi Baoqi was worried about being exposed, so she rushed forward at a sharp acceleration.

A soldier who hadn't slept heard the anomaly and turned his head to look, but he only saw a cold light passing by, and he didn't know anything.

Yu Chi Baoqi wiped off the opponent's neck with a knife, inserted it into the neck of another person, pierced it, flew up and kicked the opponent over, and pulled out the knife to look at the other person, and the other enemies also reacted and dodged one after another.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen enemies all fell.

Yu Chi Baoqi motioned for everyone to squat down, vigilantly looking around, there were still people gathered at the corner of the city wall in the distance, and they were also warming up around the bonfire, it was too cold, it was the middle of the night, and the snow outside was so thick that they couldn't walk, and they didn't expect anyone to touch it.

The opportunity is rare, Yu Chi Baoqi led everyone to rush down the steps, and saw that there was a team of people guarding the door, hiding in the door hole to burn the fire to keep warm, Yu Chi Baoqi grabbed a brigade commander, pointed to the winch next to him, and wanted to open the city gate, he could only turn the winch and let the thick rope pull the jack stone up, otherwise it could not be opened.

The brigade commander nodded knowingly, and led a team of people to pounce on the hintering hand, and the others took out the repeater crossbow and followed closely behind Yu Chi Baoqi, and soon came to the city gate hole, Yu Chi Baoqi squatted down, and his big hand went forward, and the crossbow suddenly sounded, and one after another crossbow arrows flew away, sticking to the target like a life-killing charm, taking away his life.

"Ahh

Screams rang out, shattering the silence around them.

Yu Chi Baoqi knew that it was going to be bad, but there was no better way, there were many enemies in the city gate cave, and it was impossible to solve it silently, using a repeater crossbow was the best and fastest way, all this had been deduced countless times under Qin Huaidao's request, and countless simulated trainings, and everyone knew what to do.

Bursts of arrows roared away, and the killing intent was incomparable.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of enemies were shot, and Wei Chi Baoqi saw that there were torches coming from afar, as well as footsteps and inquiries, he did not panic, and with a wave of his big hand, everyone turned the crossbows, lined up, and waited solemnly.

There were a lot of people coming, perhaps because they didn't get a reply, so they scattered and were a little more cautious.

Yu Chi Baoqi glanced at the direction of the hinch plate, a team of people were desperately turning, the hand winch was connected to a thousand catties of boulders, it was not easy to turn, but no matter how many people went up, it would be crowded, meaningless, and shouted in a low voice: "Free shooting, you can't stop, can you succeed in this move!" ”

Everyone nodded, and their eyes became cold.

Soon, a large number of enemy troops rushed over, and the general took the lead, and was about to ask something, when he suddenly found that something was wrong, just to warn, countless arrows flew in, and the thief captured the king first!

The general was taken aback, and hurriedly dodged, but was taken care of, there were too many arrows, and he couldn't avoid them all, he was shot by a few arrows, screamed in pain, fell to his knees, and more arrows flew in, but the interval was only in the blink of an eye, and he was horrified in his heart, and shouted: "It's not good, even crossbows, spread out, warn!" ”

After saying that, he let out a breath and fell to the ground without moving.

The enemy soldiers who followed heard the warning and scattered and fled, but the crossbow was not a bow and arrow, the rate of fire was too fast, one after another, several households chased the enemy to fight, and Yu Chi Baoqi saw that the enemy was going to run, so he rushed up with people.

In the blink of an eye, the enemy soldiers left nearly half of their bodies and fled.

Yu Chi Baoqi did not chase, led the team to return quickly, the top priority was to open the door, looked up, the city gate of the thousand pounds of boulders had been hung up half, there was a dense rustling sound outside the city gate, like countless giant pythons sliding, very weird, that was the planned mercenary.

The mercenary army was first established, Qin Huaidao wanted to test everyone's combat effectiveness, too difficult to fight a big battle, this kind of sneak attack is just right, the second is to let everyone win the first battle, improve morale and confidence, and third, win the battle to give everyone a reward of silver, the reward is in hand, the morale will be higher, and become a strong army, which can be described as well-intentioned.

Yu Chi Baoqi didn't understand why Qin Huaidao wanted to set up a mercenary army, isn't it good to have so many silver hairs rewarded for everyone? But he didn't ask much, ready to see the effect in hand, and shouted to his subordinates: "Be on guard!" ”

The crowd dispersed and waited solemnly.

Warnings sounded in the city, lights were lit up in countless rooms, and neat and dense footsteps came, Wei Chi Baoqi stared at the front and shouted in a low voice: "Don't panic, steady, the army will arrive immediately." ”

The hands of the people holding the crossbows were more stable.

Soon, a large number of enemies rushed forward, carrying torches and knives that flashed with cold light.

However, the mercenaries also rushed in, and in order to boost morale, Luo Zhang rushed into the city first, quickly untied the sled, and rushed up with a stainless steel horse lance, rushed past Wei Chi Baoqi's side, and rushed into the enemy group.

Yu Chi Baoqi saw Luo Zhang's shot for the first time, his eyes lit up, the blood in his heart was instantly ignited, and he had the heart to fight, as the son of the fierce general Li Junxian, the force was naturally not weak, he rushed up and slashed and killed, and instantly put down several people, but saw that the steel horse lance in Luo Zhang's hand was like a windmill spinning, crushing in advance, and flying when he touched it, no one could be it.

In the blink of an eye, Luo Zhang left a corpse behind him.

Yu Chi Baoqi, who watched this scene, was enthusiastic, and he showed his might to chase and kill.

I also saw that the mercenaries who rushed up to kill were excited, whether it was the Xi or the Khitan people, they all admired the strong, and the brave Luo Zhang was like giving everyone a tube of chicken blood, screaming and rushing up, holding a crossbow and shooting hard.

More and more mercenaries rushed in, and when they saw that the people in front of them were so fierce, they were all stimulated and their blood boiled, and they rushed up to shoot and kill with screams, and every head was the same silver.

Soon, 7,000 mercenaries rushed into the city, lined up, and advanced in a crushing manner, shooting all the enemies who stood in their way.

Wei Chi Baoqi knew very well that his task was to open the city gate, the first merit was enough, and he couldn't make another attack, and he stayed at the city gate in case in the past, a brigade commander said with some envy: "Captain Li, I heard that they have always had a head to kill the enemy, if only we had it, wouldn't what we killed just now be counted on their heads, right?" ”

"No, who dares to report military merits indiscriminately, and can't find death? Also, they are mercenaries, they have no establishment, they may be disbanded one day, we are a regular army, and we have to pay the military if we don't fight every month, they don't, you want to go? Go back and talk to the general."

"Forget it, let's talk about it, it's better for us, take the military salary every month, the general is benevolent and righteous, and give us a silver reward after every war, although this period of time is a little hard, but every time we win a big victory, we get more silver than we earn in a lifetime, and it is happy to follow the general." The other party hurriedly said.

"Who's speaking ill of General Ben?" A voice came.

"I've seen the general!" Everyone saw that it was Qin Huaidao, and hurriedly saluted.

Qin Huaidao looked at the flames in front of him, shouting and killing, his heart was settled, and he said with a smile: "If you can win Huaiyuan this time, you will have the first merit, and you will be rewarded again, and there will be the name of each of you on the merit list, and the saint will see it." ”

"Really? Will the Holy One see our names? The crowd was excited.

"Why, General Ben doesn't believe what he says?" Qin Huaidao asked rhetorically.

"No, no." Everyone hurriedly said.

Qin Huaidao looked at the brothers beside him and continued: "Yu Chi Baolin, take your people to take care of the grain depot, Li Yixie, take people into the city lord's mansion and protect the supplies, Cheng Chumo, take a thousand people to patrol the city, strict military discipline, Cheng Chuliang, Cheng Chubi, you two take over the city defense, guard the four gates, and then put away everyone's sleigh boards." ”

When the mercenaries were first established, they had to be used and guarded against, especially the Khitans, who had weapons in hand, and if they defected in the position, they would have a lot of fun, and they had to be stared at to death.

"Obey!" The crowd nodded knowingly and hurried away.

Qin Huaidao looked at Wei Chi Baoqi and the others and said with a smile: "From now on, you will temporarily be incorporated into the pro-army, and replace Fang Yiai to protect the safety of General Ben, okay?" ”

"I am willing to die for the general!" Everyone was overjoyed and hurried to answer.

"An Guogong, let's go—go to the City Lord's Mansion."

Successfully taking Huaiyuan, Qin Huaidao was in a good mood and strode forward.

Not long after, everyone came to the City Lord's Mansion, Li Yixie rushed in with a hundred Royal Forest Army, cleared the remnants, and ensured safety, Qin Huaidao said to Yu Chi Baoqi: "Close the gate, just in case." ”

"Obey!" Yu Chi Baoqi hurriedly answered.

Qin Huaidao and An Guogong entered the city lord's mansion together, the mansion covers a large area, pavilions and pavilions abound, although it is not atmospheric enough, luxurious, but it is also pleasing to the eye, the two entered a large hall, at first glance it is the office place, Qin Huaidao sat down on the top, motioned to An Guogong to sit next to him, and said with a smile: "An Guogong, this battle is quite smooth, take Huaiyuan, we can do a big job." ”

"Thanks to the wise command of the general, this battle - the old man followed the light." An Guogong said with emotion, before he came, he thought he was abandoned by Li Er, otherwise how could he let a person who has not dried up and has never been on the battlefield command? But the holy order is difficult to disobey, I have to follow, thinking that it would be good to be able to die less, I don't dare to think that I can successfully take the Khitan, and now I have taken Huaiyuan, and the casualties are almost negligible after a few battles, which is a miracle.

At this moment, An Guogong understood why the Eastern Turks were defeated in the first place - the saint is wise and can use people!

Qin Huaidao didn't expect to take Huaiyuan so smoothly, and after chatting for a while, Li Yixie came back from the backyard of the City Lord's Mansion, holding a person in his hand - Zhu Lifeng, the Taishou of Huaiyuan City, unceremoniously threw the person to the ground, clasped his fists and said: "General, according to the confession of the person who was caught, this person is Huaiyuan Taishou Zhu Lifeng. ”

"Don't be so rude, convince people with virtue and move a stool." Qin Huaidao said with a smile, looking at Zhu Lifeng's eyes was a little cold, although this person did not enter the territory of the Tang Dynasty and did not stick to the blood of the people of the Tang Dynasty, but he was also an enemy.

Treat the enemy as indifferently as the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.

Li Yixie didn't believe that Qin Huaidao was kind, and the main general he caught before said that he would cut it, and he couldn't surrender if he wanted to, but he still moved a stool and retreated to a group of people to stare at it, just in case.

Zhu Lifeng sat down, looked at Qin Huaidao and was silent, his heart was full of shock, speaking Tang language, his identity was self-explanatory, and he actually counterattacked and came to the door, how could this be possible, the 100,000 troops of Goguryeo going south? It's not going to be gone, is it?

Thinking of this, Zhu Lifeng's heart trembled, and the corners of his eyes twitched.

Qin Huaidao also looked at the other party, with a Chinese face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a little elegance in the heroic martial arts, about fifty, and asked, "Zhu Lifeng, how about we talk?" You confess honestly, avoid the pain of flesh and skin, or add heavy punishment to you, force you to speak, which one to choose? ”

"Respected General Datang, Datang is a state of etiquette and is known for its benevolence and righteousness, how can it be so rude?"

"Do you want me to be respectful and treat you well, it's better to let you go, and then let you lead troops to attack Datang?" Qin Huaidao sneered disdainfully, this kind of moral kidnapping is useless.

Zhu Lifeng was stunned for a moment, and found that Qin Huaidao was different from the Tang generals he was familiar with, others would definitely persuade him with good words if he caught it, if he could persuade him to surrender, he would be a great achievement, even if he couldn't persuade him to surrender, he would treat him with courtesy, and when the battle merits were dedicated to the Tang Emperor, this person was so murderous, he panicked inexplicably, and said: "What do you want to ask?" ”

"It's easy to talk to smart people." Qin Huaidao smiled with satisfaction: "How many defenders and how much food are there in the city?" ”

"Less than two thousand, about 10,000 stone of grain."

"How many people are there, and do they have surplus food at home?"

"There are more than 1,000 households and about 4,000 people, and their families are barely living, what do you want? The two armies fought and did not hurt the people, they were innocent. Zhu Lifeng hurriedly said.

"Innocent? What about the people of the Tang Dynasty, are they innocent? Qin Huaidao thought of the murdered people, so he became angry, shouting and shouting: "Everywhere the Goguryeo army goes, they will kill all the people, take away their houses and food, you tell me that you are innocent now, who gave you the courage?" ”

"This?"

Zhu Lifeng was speechless for a while, wanting to say that Qin Huaidao was framed, but it looked like it was true, but if he admitted it, wouldn't it mean that the Goguryeo army was brutal and unkind? After hesitating for a moment, he said, "The general is a benevolent and righteous person at first glance...... If it is really to kill the people of Huaiyuan, Goguryeo will definitely hate the same enemy and fight back desperately. ”

"Then kill them all, kill you and exterminate the clan, what else can you fight back?" Qin Huaidao said coldly.

Zhu Lifeng didn't expect Qin Huaidao to have such a heavy murderous intent, and suddenly his heart was full, it seems that he really killed a lot of people in the Tang Dynasty, otherwise it would be impossible to have such a big hatred, he felt bitter in his heart, and asked: "General, I don't know what I can do to let go of the people in the city, they are innocent after all." ”

"With the war, no one is innocent, and without the people of the city coming up with food support, can the Goguryeo army still go south to the Tang Dynasty? Without the people in the army, how could Goguryeo have an army? There is no right or wrong in the national war, only winning or losing. ”

A speech, deafening!

An Guogong wanted to go to his own tribe back then, and he was also angry in the face of the Tang Iron Cavalry, but he was extremely excited when he went south to ransack the people of the Tang Dynasty, and now, the hatred in his heart is long gone.

Zhu Lifeng also chewed Qin Huaidao's words, and was a little stunned for a while, but he heard Qin Huaidao's voice sound again: "Since ancient times, the king has become a king and a loser, the winner writes history, and the loser has no right to speak, so don't threaten General Ben with the people, if you want to save the people of the city, you can answer General Ben a few questions."

Qin Huaidao definitely couldn't do this kind of thing, but it didn't prevent him from threatening the other party and getting information.

The other party was calmed by Qin Huaidao's cold killing intent, believed it, and hurriedly said, "What do you want to know?" ”

"How many defenders are there in Liaodong?"

"You...... What do you mean? Zhu Lifeng's face changed greatly, staring at Qin Huaidao's eyes without blinking, and said with incredulity: "You still want to attack Liaodong?" ”

"The answer is wrong, someone is coming, ......" Qin Huaidao yelled angrily, with a posture of wanting to kill.

"In—" Li Yixie shouted cooperatively.

"Wait a minute!" Zhu Lifeng hurriedly said: "Since your army is going to die, then you won't stop it, there are 20,000 defenders in Liaodong, well-equipped, and there is no shortage of grain and grass, what do you fight?" ”

Qin Huaidao found from the other party's micro-expression that he was not lying, and quickly calculated in his heart, 20,000 troops were guarded, and there was no chance of a hard attack, so it seemed that he had to outwit it, and asked: "How many defenders are there in Anshi City?" ”

"I don't know."

"What about Jian'an City?"

"I don't know, I'm too guarded by Huaiyuan, I'm not qualified to know the real situation of the other two places, I only know that it's more than Huaiyuan, why, I still want to take these two cities, it's up to you? Don't talk about you, even the power of the Tang Dynasty can't do it. Zhu Lifeng said coldly, his tone was not polite at all.

This kind of unkindness just shows that the other party is not lying.

Qin Huaidao estimated that the two cities had more than 10,000 troops, and it should be easier to take Anshi City than Liaodong City, but the strategic position and value of Liaodong City were higher, and he said to Li Yixie: "Escort down to patrol the city, let him appease the people to stay at home, not to go out, and then lock people up and detain them for a good life." ”

"Obey." Li Yixie hurriedly responded.

"Wait a minute." Zhu Lifeng shouted: "I can appease the people and cooperate with all your arrangements, but you must not kill indiscriminately, let alone touch my family, otherwise I will not let you go." ”

"Take it down." Qin Huaidao waved his hand, and looked at An Guogong after Li Yixie took the people away: "According to the information that the governor has, Liaodong usually has about 10,000 defenders, but now there are 20,000, this battle is not easy to fight, what do you think?" ”

"Siege warfare is beyond my ability, I only know how to attack hard, or the general to take it." An Guogong hurriedly said, he has lived in the grassland since he was a child, and he is not afraid of cavalry rushing to kill An Guogong, but this siege battle is really bottomless.

Qin Huaidao secretly thought to himself, Liaodong City has many high soldiers, even if he rushes to a sneak attack now, climbs the city wall and opens the city gate, there is no way to take down this point of people around him, but it will cause heavy damage, if the army arrives after the snow melts for a while, Goguryeo will know that Huaiyuan is lost, strengthen the vigilance, and there is no way to sneak attack.

Huaiyuan successfully won it because the enemy didn't know that he would sneak attack and was caught off guard.

Once Liaodong is prepared, it will be tricky.

"General."

Wei Chi Baolin hurriedly came over, hugged his fists and said: "General, the grain depot has been controlled by our army, there is still a lot of grain in it, the enemy army has been wiped out, and the mercenaries are bound by Luo Zhang in a military camp, let me ask how to arrange it?" ”

"Did you find a silver vault?"

"No, the silver treasury should be in the City Lord's Mansion."

Qin Huaidao asked Yu Linwei, who was guarding the outside, and really found one, there was a lot of silver in it, and he didn't have time to count it, Li Dejian was responsible for this matter before, and now Li Dejian went to the Khitan territory, Qin Huaidao looked at An Guogong and said: "Li Senjun is not here, there is no one to handle this work, logistics and other things, how about having Lao An Guogong to do it?" ”

An Guogong wished that he was in charge of all deliveries and recorded the merits, and he was worried that he would miss the credit of his own people when he handed it over to others, so he promised: "Obey the general's order, and go here to record." ”

"Wei Chi Baolin, you also go along, take a batch after the statistics are made, send it to Luo Zhang, and distribute it to the mercenaries immediately, and reward it for merit, so as not to be dissatisfied and make trouble" Qin Huaidao advised.

The two said yes and hurried away.

Qin Huaidao took out the map and continued to study, and gradually, a bold idea came to his mind, and his eyes looked at Liaodong and shining, as if it was a piece of delicious fat, waiting for him to get it.

Soon, Qin Huaidao's eyes fell on the Khitan, and he didn't know what happened to Li Dejian and Fang Yiai? One Wen, one Wu, I hope the two of them cooperate, otherwise it will be enough to choke.

And the imperial court-

Qin Huaidao's eyes fell on Pingzhou and Youzhou, and gradually fell on Dengzhou and Laizhou, I don't know how the imperial court will deal with it after learning that he has taken Huaiyuan, and how will it make a move?