Li Yu inspected the army up and down in the early morning, and when he returned, Yu Chaoen, Guo Ziyi, Zhang Hanruo, and several Jiedu envoys were already waiting in his camp tent, and Xue Jianli, the Hedong Jiedu envoy who had just arrived, was also included. Su Zong was suspicious of the Zhujie Envoy, so there was no marshal in this expedition, but ordered Yu Chaoen to supervise the army, and after the army set out, he was worried that Yu Chaoen did not understand military affairs, and then sent Li Yu to inspect. Li Yu did not delegate authority to this trip, but since he is the prince, the Zhujiedu envoy naturally obeys his orders, and only treats him as the commander.

Although Li Yu discussed with Guo Ziyi and others about attacking Chou Sigang last night, because Xue Lianli had not arrived for a long time, it was difficult to deploy troops for a while, so the results were not studied. I saw Guo Ziyi again today, but I saw that he was happy and full of ambition, Guo Ziyi has always been old and cautious, and such a situation is really rare. Li Yu smiled head-on: "I think General Guo has a good way to break the enemy." ”

Guo Ziyi arched his hand and said, "Exactly." The old minister has a plan to break the enemy, and today he will discuss it with His Highness and the generals. ”

Unfolding his newly made topographic map, Guo Ziyi said: "You all know that Sigang is an obstacle to Yecheng, and we have forced An Qingxu to this realm, and he will definitely gather troops here and try to fight me to the death." In today's situation, the enemy is dark and I am clear, the enemy is waiting for work, I am working to work, and long-distance attack, it is inevitable that the food and grass will not continue for a long time, and it is only advisable to fight quickly. You see, this is a detailed map of Chosigang," pointed to the map, and went on, "Our army can now rush at full speed with five thousand elite soldiers to this narrow official road to catch the rebels by surprise, and at the same time send another five hundred men mixed with five thousand elite soldiers to set fire to this place...... Well, there are still these places, set fire to ...... The rebels have no place to hide, and they will naturally be forced to fight us in a decisive battle. ”

It turned out that Guo Ziyi started a fire attack strategy, this method is used by soldiers with no specificity, and some generals present smiled and said: "Guo Gongding is to find a local native who is familiar with the terrain of Chou Sigang, otherwise the wind direction is not right when setting fire, then he will lose his wife and fold his soldiers!" ”

Guo Ziyi smiled and said: "This is natural, that local woman is already in our military tent, just wait for His Highness's order, and immediately set off to lead the way." Zhang Hanruo's heart tightened.

Li Yu raised his eyebrows and said: "The two armies are facing each other, and a woman is not afraid of death and is willing to lead the way, which is really commendable." What is her name, when our army takes down An Qingxu, we must reward her for her meritorious deeds. ”

"Hehehe, Your Highness doesn't need to be rewarded, if she makes a great contribution and accepts her as a concubine, it will be a great gift!" Laughing dryly is Xue Jianli, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, Zhang Hanruo felt that he spoke rudely, and glanced at him obliquely, Li Yu did not answer, Guo Ziyi turned sideways and did not face Xue Jianli, and said: "She claims to be Gao Yueming, in order to prevent fraud, do Your Highness and the generals want to see her in person, and check whether it will be a detailed work?" ”

Zhang Hanruo hurriedly interjected: "No need! "Tell me about last night. Everyone had a good faith in Guo Ziyi's vision, and with Zhang Hanruo's circumstantial evidence, they immediately discussed and prepared for the attack.

At three o'clock, all preparations were completed, Li Yu and Guo Ziyi went out of the camp tent, and at the lookout, the soldiers and horses of all departments were ready to go.

When the remnants of the Turks and the Huanggasi people in the northwest of the Hui took advantage of Mo Yansi's absence in Hui Hui, the combined forces went south to break through several cities on the border of Hui and forced Mo Yan to return to Hui in a hurry. Later, although it was basically pacified by Mo Yansi, there were still several remnants of the army to disrupt the border, kill border soldiers, and loot cattle and sheep. This time he attacked An Qingxu, Mo Yan did not send Ye Hu to come, and only ordered Zhan Keming to lead 3,000 elite cavalry to help Tang. These 3,000 elite soldiers were arranged by Guo Ziyi for the second round of attacks, and the rebels were most afraid of returning to the army, so they could strengthen their momentum and strive to get twice the result with half the effort.

The 5,000 elite soldiers in the first round have been lurking under the front slope of Chou Sigang, and most of them are soldiers and horses under Guo Ziyi. Guo Ziyi pointed to the back of one of the green shirts and said, "That's Gao Yueming, who is now dressed as a man." I have instructed that special protection be strengthened so that she is not harmed in any way. ”

As he was talking, thinking that someone behind him was asking, Gao Yueming looked back and answered. Although it was far away, it could still be seen that her eyebrows were clear, and Guo Ziyi smiled: "This woman is very handsome, although Xue Jianli is a rough person who speaks foul words, it is not impossible." His Royal Highness the Prince, what's the matter, let's attack? After saying that, he didn't hear Li Yu's answer immediately, turned his head sideways, but saw that he was a little distracted, and was stunned, Li Yu waved his hand and ordered: "Attack!" ”

The battle went very smoothly and fiercely.

After an order, five thousand elite soldiers rushed into the official road under the sorrow Gang, as expected, the rebels were killed in an instant, but in half an hour, bursts of fire burst out in several places in the sorrow Gang, and the fire quickly swept to the entire sorrow hill by the wind, and the rebels and the ** narrow road have been in chaos. At this time, the Hui Iron rode into the narrow road, and the head fell to the ground at the swing of the knife, blood splattered on the scorched earth, invincible, and the rebels panicked and retreated. ** Riding on the victory, the bloody battle lasted for more than five hours, forcing the rebels out of Chou Sigang. An Qingxu led the remnants of the army to retreat to Yecheng, closed the city and defended it alone, and Guo Ziyi led the Chinese army to besiege Yecheng.

At that time, the fighting initially ended.

When the battlefield was cleaned up, the captain reported that the battle beheaded 30,000 rebels, and the casualties were less than 5,000. Li Yu was overjoyed, and ordered the wine and food to be widely distributed and congratulated with all the soldiers.

Li Yu and Yu Chaoen and Zhu Jiedu envoys were drinking in the camp tent, Guo Ziyi was late, and sighed "not good" when he entered, everyone was busy asking why, Guo Ziyi said: "It's all the old man who is not good, and Miss Gao, who led the way for us, was actually taken away by the rebels!" ”

The sound of "bell", everyone looked back, and it turned out that the wine glass in Li Yu's hand fell to the ground. Zhang Hanruo was beside Li Yu, hurriedly stretched out his hand to hold Li Yu's arm, and said with a smile: "Your Highness has drunk too much, and he can't drink too much." ”

Li Yu withdrew his arm and looked as usual: "Where is it, I was very surprised to hear the words of General Guo. This Miss Gao ...... She is no less than a man, and since we have been taken captive by our army, of course we must not be unrighteous people, but we must save her. General Guo, since this matter started because of the poor protection of your subordinates, how about you deploy it to save people? ”

Guo Ziyi promised and said: "This is natural, the old man does not dare to resign." ”

Li Yu thought for a while, and said: "This matter can't be forced, if you can save it, you can save it, if you can't save it, don't throw my soldiers' lives at will." ”

After drinking wine for a while, the envoys of the festivals retired one by one.

Zhang Hanruo stayed at the end, there was no one else in the tent, Li Yu poured wine and drank by himself, without being drunk, and did not raise his eyes to look at her. Zhang Hanruo slowly approached Li Yu and said in a low voice: "You don't need to worry - that Gao Yueming just looks very similar, not really Sister Shen......"

Li Yu raised his neck and drank the wine in the glass, put down the wine glass, and raised his eyebrows to look at her: "Even if she is really Shen Zhu, do you think my attitude will be different today?!" ”

Zhang Hanruo has never seen such a Li Yu, he seems to be drunk but not drunk, his eyes are full of light, and he looks at him, as if the wind and thunder are splitting the air, unable to breathe, and have no thoughts, but in this glorious float, there is obviously still a wisp of melancholy and sadness mixed in it.

Zhang Hanruo suddenly burst into tears.

Li Yu glanced at her, stretched out his arms, held one of her hands, and said softly: "Hanruo, you are very good, very good...... Zhang Hanruo closed his eyes, did not dare to look sideways at him, just waited for him to continue. After waiting for a long time, he didn't hear a sound, for fear that he would fall asleep drunk, and when he opened his eyes and looked back, he had said slowly: "Gao Yueming is Shen Pearl." ”

The next day, Li Yu pulled out the camp and came to the downstairs of Yecheng City.

Yecheng was painstakingly operated by An Qingxu for a long time, the city wall was strong, and An Qingxu plundered a large amount of grain and grass when he was defeated, plus the grain stored in the city, there was no problem in supporting it for three or five months. Therefore, Anqing Xu defended the city by himself, and he attacked the city several times in more than ten days, and he never opened the city to meet the battle, but only shot ** with crossbowmen and arrows, and rolled stone torches and other things. Li Yu and others thought that they could set up Yecheng within three or five days, but who knew that half a month had passed, not only was it useless, but also Li Siye was also shot by a stray arrow and unfortunately died.

Guo Ziyi wanted to save Gao Yueming, but Gao Yueming had been taken captive into the city, and now Yecheng has become a veritable lonely city, ** can't enter, the rebels can't get out, and even the city can't pass the news, how can he enter the city to save people?

Seeing that the weather was as cold as a day, the soldiers were on an expedition, the clothes were not enough to carry, and the camping in the field was very cold, Li Yumeiyu became more and more gloomy, but he asked the soldiers to rest for a few days before seeking countermeasures.

When the day had passed, Li Yu was inspecting the map in the camp tent, Guo Ziyi hurriedly entered the camp tent, and said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, that Miss Gao Yueming turned out to have a great background!" ”

Li Yu said "oh", put down the candlestick in his hand, asked Guo Ziyi to sit down, and smiled: "What do you say?" ”

Guo Ziyi said: "Lao Chen thought that Miss Gao, we can't save us for the time being, but we have to give her family an explanation, so I will order several attendants to visit her home today." How do you think, her parents were still there a few days ago, but today they went to the empty building, and only found this thing in a chest of drawers - "Hand the thing in his arms to Li Yu."

It turned out to be a golden crow. Li Yu looked around by the candlelight, touched the inner wall with his hand, as if there were words, and then looked at the candlelight, and was suddenly startled-

Guo Ziyi smiled and sighed: "Although this golden ctenophora is exquisitely made, it is not unusual. But the strange thing is its material. I asked my subordinates that this gold ctenophorie seems to be made of pure gold, but in fact, it is also doped with a special substance of the same color as gold, so the texture is harder and not easy to break. This thing is the only one in the world, and it was given by the emperor twenty years ago when the current saint accepted the concubine. Therefore,—— inner wall of the golden crow is engraved with a thin seal character 'Wei'! (Note: This gold crow appears in the third chapter of this article, "The Golden Hibiscus Spreads to the Sky", and those who are interested can look back.) ）

Li Yu Huoran stood up and said in surprise: "You mean: Concubine Wei, she is actually here, it is her...... Gao Yueming's mother? ”

Guo Ziyi smiled: "The old minister is stupid, this is a royal matter, and His Royal Highness has his own opinions." ”

Li Yu walked a few steps to the tent, wanted to lift the tent, but suddenly stopped, and asked, "Did the old general send someone to recover Concubine Wei?" ”

Guo Ziyi still just smiled: "The old minister said that this is a family matter between the Holy Lord and His Royal Highness, and the old minister did not dare to make a claim, so the old woman and her husband have left." ”

Li Yu pondered for a while, but still walked back to sit on the chair and said, "What the old general said is that this matter cannot be forced. ”

Then discuss with Guo Ziyi about breaking Yecheng. Guo Ziyi said: "Although our army was frustrated for a while, I want Yecheng to defend only a lone army, with His Royal Highness in command, and all the festivals will work together to take it soon." Guo Ziyi's idea is that there are 300,000 troops, and the strength is much stronger than An Qingxu, the weakness of the army is not to continue cutting grain and grass, and the weakness of the rebel army is not to continue to be in the army, but if there is a long-term fight, although both sides are easy to drag down, it will definitely be more unfavorable to **. The two discussed, and immediately after resting, they organized a large army to call for battle or night attacks in turn, crushing the morale and combat effectiveness of the rebels, and capturing Yecheng in one go.

A few days later, ** did just that. On the first night, Zheng Cai Jiedu made Ji Guangchen lead a small number of soldiers and horses to bluff to attack the city, An Qingxu sent the general Cui Qianyou to meet the battle at the head of the city, Ji Guangchen saw the crossbowmen to the head of the city and ordered the troops to withdraw, and when the crossbowmen withdrew, they beat the drum to attack the city, and so on four or five times before retreating, the rebels were upset.

In the early morning of the second time, Lu Jiong, the envoy of Huaixi Jiedu, ordered his subordinates to call for battle under the tower of Yecheng City. An Qingxu naturally did not open the door to meet the battle, a number of Huaixi soldiers scolded An Qingxu under the city tower, Huaixi dialect was rude, the group of Huaixi soldiers rebelled and scolded from An Lushan, and scolded until An Qingxu killed his father, seeing that there was still no response on the city tower, he recklessly arranged and scolded, what An Qingxu's son adulterated his father and concubine, brother and brother's wife, foul language was unbearable, and scolded many ** laughed under the city, intending to provoke An Qingxu, scolding from early morning to noon, that An Qingxu really could handle it, and never showed up in the city.

Guo Ziyi stroked his beard and smiled at Li Yu: "An Qingxu has become a trapped beast, and if you don't care about it today, you can't hold on for a few days." Your Highness need not worry. ”

Li Yu frowned and said: "The mountains and rivers are broken to this point, and there is no Gaozu and Taizong talent, but they are just worried." ”

While talking, a messenger arrived, presenting a letter from Guo Ziyi's family. Guo Ziyi looked at the letter, her eyebrows fluttered, it turned out that the ninth lady of the family gave birth to a son a few days ago, and asked him to name it. When Li Yu heard this, he hurriedly congratulated him, and Guo Ziyi saw that the timing was right, so he asked Li Yu to give his young son a name. Li Yu couldn't excuse himself, and thought for a while: "In today's sun, why don't you choose the name Ambiguous?" ”

"Guo Hua, good name!" Guo Ziyi was overjoyed and thanked.

"The Divine Decree has arrived! ——”

There was a sound of horses' hooves, and several inner dragon envoys hurriedly drove into the army surrounded by an inner attendant.

Li Yu and others hurriedly placed the incense case to receive the order. The Holy Decree: Henan Jiedu made Cui Guangyuan based on Weizhou for Shi Siming to capture, if Shi Siming marched to Yecheng, then the prince of the country was in danger, it was really worrying, so that the prince Yu immediately returned to Chang'an, Yu Chaoen still performed the responsibility of supervising the army, and the Zhujiedu envoys must work together to overcome Yecheng.

As soon as Guo Ziyi heard the holy decree, his heart was half cold, and all the festivals did not surrender to each other, how could they attack Yecheng without unified scheduling? Secretly sighed that the emperor was too suspicious, this expedition, first suspected the envoys of the festival, and then doubted the fish Chaoen, and now this holy decree is afraid that the prince Li Yu is suspicious? Is this doubt afraid that the prince will be too great, or is he worried that the prince will not be competent?

After Li Yu received the order, he briefly explained a few things to Guo Ziyi, and then went back to the camp tent to change his clothes, and when he walked out of the camp tent, Zhang Hanruo had his back to wait outside.

Li Yu approached, stood side by side with her, looked straight ahead, and said in a low voice: "Don't worry, you have helped me complete the agreement between you and me at the beginning, and I will definitely help you kill An Qingxu to take revenge." Although I am leaving, I have told General Guo Ziyi that with him taking care of you, and with him, you will definitely be able to conquer Yecheng, and you will definitely be able to slash the enemy at that time. ”

(Tianjin)