Li Changqing also didn't expect why Jian Huaizhen would lead his troops to attack the city at this time, knowing that the strength of the two armies was really very different. The army of the Ming Dynasty has been short of food and clothing for several days, but at this time she came to attack the city, is it to fight against the water. If so, isn't that a death coming?

Li Changqing thought about it in his heart for a long time, but he still didn't understand what kind of medicine Jian Huaizhen was selling in the gourd.

He saw that the courtiers of Warat attacked him, and the king of Warat seemed to have doubts about him in his heart, so he hurriedly stepped forward and said: "The king is angry, the minister definitely has no second heart for Warat, and after the minister made a mistake in the Ming Dynasty, it was Warat who took in the minister, and the minister's heart to Warat can be proven, the sun and the moon can be learned." ”

The king of Warat has always been a man without opinions, and seeing that the situation is critical now, he does not know who to listen to. He lifted his sleeve and said angrily: "Forget it, it's useless to say anything now, the top priority is to find a way to defeat the Ming army." Someone is coming, hurry up and lead people to send troops to fight the Ming army. ”

At that moment, a general stepped forward to listen to the order.

Li Changqing thought for a while, but said: "King, if our city gate is wide open and the army of the Ming Dynasty pours in, when the time comes, we will definitely win, but many people will definitely die." Why don't we just be on the wall and shoot them with our bows and arrows? ”

Li Changqing's words immediately won the approval of the ministers, and the ministers said one after another: "Lord Li's words are very good, it is now night, they have gathered a large army to attack, and the army is gathered under the city gate, as long as we send tens of thousands of soldiers to draw bows and shoot arrows, they will definitely be killed and wounded at that time." We don't have to open the gates, they don't have access to our city, we don't fight them, and it's them, not us, who will suffer heavy casualties. ”

The words of the courtiers were so much in the mind of the king of Warat that he immediately nodded and said, "All right. In that case, do as you say. Li Changqing, this king will believe you once, and this operation will be commanded by you. ”

Li Changqing saw that the king of Warat was still willing to trust him, so he hurriedly stepped forward and kowtowed, and said respectfully: "Yes, the minister must live up to the king's trust." ”

At that moment, he came to the city gate with tens of thousands of soldiers, and everyone opened their bows and arrows and fired at the city gate.

At this moment, the 100,000 troops brought by Jian Huaizhen put the straw men in their hands on the ground, and they had already retreated to a place where the bow and arrow could not shoot.

But when the Warat army looked down from the city wall, they saw nothing but darkness in front of them, and all figures were shaking. How did they know that this was a straw man, not a real person?

As a result, the bow and arrow were shot down non-stop, and the Ming army also made a "wailing" sound.

This "wailing" sound was actually deliberately issued by Jian Huaizhen to order the soldiers to come out deliberately in the back to lure the enemy.

Li Changqing commanded the Warat army and kept shooting arrows under the city. Before you know it, millions of arrows are being shot down the city and into the straw men.

Li Changqing watched the shooting for an hour or two, and felt that it was almost the same. When he heard the city again, and found that there were few voices from the city, he said to the soldiers, "All right, stop shooting arrows, and go and clean up the corpses of the enemy tomorrow." ”

As soon as the words fell, he heard Jian Huaizhen say to him under the city: "Today, you hurt my 100,000 army, and I will definitely not rest with you in the Ming Dynasty." ”

Li Changqing heard Jian Huaizhen's roar, and he believed in his heart that the 100,000 Ming army had been wiped out, so he became even more proud in his heart, so he ordered the soldiers to withdraw their troops.

When Jian Huaizhen saw that there were fewer enemies in the city, he ordered the soldiers to go forward and each hold a straw man, and immediately withdraw the troops.

When the soldiers heard this, they ran forward to grab a straw man, and then retreated.

In the dim light shadow of the city wall, Li Changqing suddenly found that there seemed to be a lot fewer people under the city, and he heard the sound of tapping and tapping from the city, it seemed that there were many people marching. Horrified, he didn't know what was going on, so he sent his generals to spy on him.

At that moment, the Warat spies came out of the city gate, and they were immediately startled when they saw the situation in front of them. He only saw countless straw men in front of him, each with one hundred and eighty arrows on his body, and the Ming Dynasty troops each held a straw man and retreated.

Seeing this, the Warat spies were furious and hurriedly returned to the city to report the incident to Li Changqing.

Li Changqing looked up to the sky and sighed: "Is it really heaven that wants to kill me?" It was a trick. He felt that there was no need to delay and that there was no need to delay, and immediately ordered one or two thousand generals to lead their troops to rob and kill.

The reason why he didn't order too many generals to go out of the city was because what happened to Li Tianyou last time left a deep impression on him.

He knew that Jian Huaizhen was like a god with soldiers, and if he sent too many troops to ambush him, he might fall for her strategy.

If you wipe out an army of 100,000 in your own hands, the king of Warat will definitely not be so easy to follow, and the Warat army will be lost, and I am afraid that it will not be the opponent of the Ming army in the future.

Second, although the king of Warat is now reused for him, he does not trust him very much in his heart, and the number of troops he can control is not so much.

On the one hand, he sent a general with an army of 10,000 or 20,000 to intercept the attack, and on the other hand, hurried back to the imperial city to report to the king of Warat.

Warat was waiting for Li Changqing to come back to tell him the news of the victory, but when he saw him running in in a hurry, he was already angry in his heart, and asked, "Why are you so panicked, what happened?" Could it be that if you close the city wall, you can't shoot the Ming army? ”

The anger on his face loomed when he spoke, which made Li Changqing feel frightened for a while, so he had to kneel down and cry to Wara: "King, we have been tricked. It turned out that they were not here to attack the city, but to borrow arrows. ”

"Borrowed arrows? What do you mean by that? King Warat looked at Li Changqing inexplicably. But when he saw Li Changqing like a lost dog, he already knew that he was afraid that he would fall for Jian Huaizhen again.

Sure enough, Li Changqing said slowly: "King Qiqi, it turns out that they came at night, not to attack the city. Each of them had a straw man with him in his hand, and they put it outside the city gate to lure us to shoot arrows. When we had shot a lot of arrows, they ordered an army of 100,000 men to come forward and flee with a straw man in their arms. ”

It was only now that the king of Warat understood what kind of medicine was sold in Jian Huaizhen's gourd, it turned out that it was because they lacked food and clothing, and lacked bows and arrows, so they thought of such a way to come to "straw man to borrow arrows". Not only did he not hurt a few Ming soldiers, but he gave hundreds of thousands of long arrows to the enemy in vain, isn't this a big joke?

King Warat was suddenly so angry that a mouthful of blood gushed out, he gasped for breath, and said angrily: "This princess Huaizhen is really too hateful, and the Ming people are too scheming. Li Changqing, you recruited from the truth, did you collude with them and deliberately make things difficult for me? ”

Li Changqing knelt on the ground tremblingly, although he was also a resourceful person, his only drawback was that he was afraid of death.

He cried, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood your minister. The minister didn't have such a mind, but the minister lost to others in terms of strategy. Last time, General Li led the army into the Tianhe Valley by mistake, wasn't it also because of the strategy to lose? ”

Li Changqing didn't mention the last battle in the Tianhe Valley, but as soon as he mentioned it, it touched the heartstring of the saddest in the heart of King Warat. He spat out another mouthful of blood, and the whole person fell on the chair, gasping for air.

Seeing this, the guards on both sides hurriedly stepped forward to relieve him.

He slapped the table and roared angrily: "Li Changqing, no matter what, this time you caused us to lose a million military arrows, and the king will definitely not spare you so easily." ”

Li Changqing knelt on the ground and said cautiously: "King Qiqi, the minister has sent one or two thousand troops to ambush, everyone in the Ming army is holding a straw man, and there are dozens of long arrows on the straw man, they must not be able to run far." Each of them has straw men in their hands, and their ability to fight will be greatly reduced, maybe the 20,000 troops sent by the minister can rob them and kill them by surprise. ”

When King Warat heard Li Changqing say this, the tone in his heart softened a lot, and he said, "Since you said so, this king will wait for news from the front line to see how the situation is?" ”

Li Changqing was wishful thinking in his heart, thinking that one or two thousand troops could rob the Ming army that everyone was burdened with. But he didn't expect that when Jian Huaizhen implemented this policy, he had already planned the way back.

She ordered Nangong Jiuzhong to bring 20,000 troops to ambush in front of her, as long as the Ming soldiers fled with the straw man, Nangong Jiuzhong would take the 20,000 troops to kill, ready to cut off the enemy's back road at any time.

The 20,000 troops were all disciples of the Confession Sect and the Candle Shadow Shake Red, all of whom were strong in martial arts, and although they did not have strict infantry and training methods, they were still more than enough to deal with the lowly Warat army.

Although there were 10,000 or 20,000 people in Warat under the leadership of the generals, it was dark night, and their strict marching method could not be used at all. The second is that they all set off in a hurry and did not go through strict training, so in the face of the 20,000 troops led by Nangong Jiuzhong, who had been ambushed a long time ago, they had no choice but to be captured.

The disciples of the Confession Gate and the Candle Shadow Shake Red were all strong in martial arts, and they quickly killed the 10,000 or 20,000 troops of Warat.

After an hour or two of fighting, the Warat army was quickly crushed, and countless people were killed. The generals saw that the big thing was not good, and hurriedly retreated with the remnants of the army.

Nangong Jiuzhong said: "The so-called poor Kou Mo chases, if we chase down, we may fall into their trap." Now that we've borrowed the arrows, let's go back. ”

Seeing that the commander had given the order, everyone was overjoyed and followed Nangong Jiuzhong back to the army.

When they returned to the army, the rest of the tens of thousands of troops also returned with straw men in their arms. Sure enough, there were dozens to hundreds of long arrows on everyone's straw man, and they pulled out the long arrows under the commander's order and piled them up neatly.

Originally, their long arrows were far from enough, but after a night of borrowing arrows from the straw men, they had eight or nine hundred thousand long arrows, which were more than enough to deal with the enemy.

The soldiers of the Ming army only now understood: why Jian Huaizhen ordered them to collect firewood and grass to tie the straw man, and why he ordered everyone to carry the straw man to the city of Wara, it turned out that all this was just a straw man borrowing arrows.

Everyone in the Ming army felt that Jian Huaizhen was strategic, and he used his troops like a god, and his morale was greatly boosted for a while.

Jian Huaizhen told the ins and outs of the matter, explaining that this was Jiang Shaoheng's strategy.

Everyone knows Jiang Shaoheng's name in the rivers and lakes, and although the generals don't know Jiang Shaoheng's martial arts, they know that he is the master of the previous dynasty, and he is highly used by the emperor, and his strategy is so superb. With Jian Huaizhen, Jiang Shaoheng and others leading them, it is not difficult for them to kill the Warat army and return triumphantly.

For a while, everyone cheered, and the sluggish morale was suddenly reinvigorated.

Li Changqing was waiting in the palace for the victory of the 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers, who knew that when it was early in the morning, it was the general who led the remnants of the defeated army to return in ashes. There were originally more than 18,000 soldiers brought out, but less than 3,000 returned, and the remaining 15,000 were killed and wounded, and were killed by the 20,000 troops led by Nangong Jiuzhong of the Ming army.

Seeing this, Warat was so angry that a mouthful of hot blood surged up his throat and spewed out, and the whole person was so angry that he couldn't speak for a long time. He bent his chest, pointed at Li Changqing and said, "Come on, come on, drag this person down and hack him to death." ”

Li Changqing saw that King Warat's face suddenly changed, and knew that he was distressed by the loss of the long arrow and the loss of 20,000 troops, so he knelt down and said, "King, please forgive the villain." The villain didn't expect this to be that the villain was loyal to the king, and no one could guarantee victory in the war. ”

When the king of Warat saw that he was arguing on this basis, his anger became even more unswerving, and he said, "It is true that no one can guarantee victory in war, but what about you? If your plan fails, you will be punished. Someone, drag it down and hack it to death. ”

The ministers of Warat have long been dissatisfied with Li Changqing's courage to show his behavior, and seeing that his plan failed, it was too late for everyone to be happy, who would intercede for him.

Li Changqing saw that no one pleaded for him, so he had nothing to do, so he could only wait for the guards to drag him down and hack him to death.

After Li Changqing was dragged out, there was a wailing sound outside not long after, and then the terrible howl was gone, and Li Changqing was hacked to death.

The news of Li Changqing's hacking to death soon spread to the Ming army, and everyone knew that the Wara army not only lost two generals, but also more than 100,000 soldiers when fighting with Jian Huaizhen. Even their advisor Li Changqing was hacked to death by the king of Wara, which shows that they have been defeated like a mountain.

The news that Jian Huai was borrowing arrows from the straw man soon reached Zhu Qizhen's ears, and Zhu Qizhen was overjoyed when he heard this.

It happened that at this time, Tang Jingran also came to the palace after all the hardships and dangers, and reported to Zhu Qizhen about the lack of clothing and food on the battlefield.

Zhu Qizhen hurriedly ordered the ministers to reraise the grain and grass, and asked Yu Mian and Li Xian to escort the grain and grass on the road again at the request of Tang Jingran.

Tang was afraid that the grain and grass would be lost on the road, so he specially found three thousand disciples from the confession door and the candle shadow to escort the grain and grass. In this way, it can be said that it is solid, and there is no way for others to have any different intentions.

Cao Jixiang also quickly learned the news of the defeat of the Warat army, and he also knew that even Li Changqing was killed, he was anxious and afraid, and he didn't know how Zhu Qizhen would be punished for escorting grain and grass, and whether Cao Tie would be implicated in this matter? He thought about it and felt that the matter was very important, and now the only way was to kill Cao Tie and extinguish his mouth, maybe he still had his own way to live. He sent a killer to assassinate Cao Tie.

Jian Huaizhen soon learned the news that the grain and grass had been delivered, but if the grain and grass were to be delivered, it would still take more than ten days, and the soldiers would still have to endure the pain of lack of food and clothing.

Thinking of this, Jian Huaizhen once again brought Jiang Shaoheng, Nangong Jiuzhong, Fang Xiao and others together, and they discussed the method again.

Jian Huaizhen first said to Jiang Shaoheng: "Brother Jiang, the last time the straw man borrowed arrows, thanks to you came up with it, we were able to reduce the difficulty of fewer arrows. The biggest problem we face today is the lack of food and clothing. Although the morale of the soldiers is now reinvigorated, if they do not have enough to eat for a long time, their morale will definitely be weakened again. When the time comes, don't say it's a war, maybe there will be deserters. ”

When Jiang Shaoheng heard Jian Huaizhen say this, he had already realized the seriousness of the matter in his heart, and he said: "We are discussing a way to see if we can borrow grain and grass from the Wara army. ”

"I'm afraid that the matter of borrowing arrows from the straw man last time has made the Warat army more vigilant, and if you want to borrow grain and grass again this time, I'm afraid it will not be so easy." Nangong Jiuju frowned on the side and said.

Fang Xiao smiled heartily and said, "The so-called thing is man-made, since Brother Shaoheng's strategy played a role last time, it may not be impossible this time." ”

The four of them got together and discussed for a long time, and finally came up with a solution.

Next, Jian Huaizhen ordered Nangong Jiuzhong to lead 6,000 people on a long journey to attack the capital. Nangong Jiuzhong was ordered to go, and all he took with him were the elite disciples of the Candle Shadow Shake Red and the Confessions.

Warat's spies were watching every move of the Ming army at any time, and when they saw Nangong Jiuzhong heading north with six thousand elites, they knew that something might be a little strange, so they immediately went back to report to the king of Warat.

When the king heard the news, he was distressed and gathered his ministers together to discuss countermeasures. One of the courtiers said: "King Qiyu, this Nangong Jiuzhong is a disciple of the Confession Gate, and the people he leads are all martial arts people. In our previous two confrontations with the Ming army, we were also damaged at his hands. He is now heading north with six thousand men, and I am afraid that things will be very bad. ”

"Oh? If you have any opinions, you might as well share them. ”