In the autumn and September of the second year of the Qianyuan Dynasty, Li Mi crossed the Yellow River and failed to negotiate peace with Li Siye in Puzhou City, and the two sides entered a state of imminent war.

Li Heng kept shouting that he would live and die with Chang'an, saying that he would never take half a step back, and he also asked Guo Ziyi not to retreat. In fact, he had already prepared the fleeing team behind his back. The emperor still has great hopes in his heart, thinking that Guo Ziyi can turn the tide, repel Li Siye, keep Guanzhong, and keep the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, he sent the lieutenant envoy Xing Yanen to the front line to supervise the battle on behalf of the emperor, in fact, he was to act as an ear and eye to report the news in advance, and the distance between Jinpu and Chang'an was only a few counties, as long as Li Siye successfully crossed the river and the Tang army was defeated, they had to run away quickly.

Guo Ziyi distributed the army in Pujindu and Longmendu Tongguan, each along the Yellow River beach to build a camp, Guanzhong only ** million troops were divided into three parts. Because it is estimated that the most likely place for Li Siye to cross the river is Pujindu, so the 30,000 Longxiang army led by Yu Chaoen is stationed here, the 20,000 Longwu army led by Cheng Yuanzhen is in Tongguan, and the Shuofang army is 25,000 people in Longmendu, which is the deputy envoy of Jiedu and Guo Yingyi, and the Shence army is stationed in Longmendu, and Li Siye is always strictly prevented from crossing the river from any place.

This kind of dispersion of troops is very unfavorable to the Tang army, as long as Li Siye concentrates his forces to break through from one place, where can they stop it, this is like using the tip of a needle to penetrate Lu Min. Although it is difficult to cross the river by boat, there is no impenetrable line of defense.

Guo Ziyi was very troubled by this, and he constantly sent scouts to cross the river to explore Li Siye's troop allocation, so as to deduce the exact location of crossing the river, so as to facilitate the concentration of troops to defend and confront. On the other hand, it was decided to send people to build a beacon tower every five miles along the Yellow River, with the upstream leading all the way to Longmendu and the downstream leading to Tongguan.

Li Siye also knew that the longer he waited by the Yellow River, the tighter the Tang army's defenses would be, so he was ready to take advantage of the fact that the Tang army's beacon tower had not yet been built, and choose a place to break through the Yellow River and enter Guanzhong.

Therefore, he sent people to cut down trees at the foot of Nakajo Mountain, and built wooden rafts and pontoon bridges ready to cross the river at any time. and sent a message to Lingbao outside Tongguan, ordering Tian Zhen and Yan Xiaosi to intensify the siege to put pressure on the Tang army in Tongguan, so that the entire defense line from the Yellow River to Tongguan was like a house leaking wind and rain everywhere.

Before the battle, he gathered all the think tanks in the army together, including Yan Lushan's general Yan Zhuang and noble, and Xu Bin Cen Shen, who followed him out of Hexi, together with Cui Qianyou, Cai Xide and others also sat on the seats.

Li Siye put his hands on his knees, and asked confidently: "We are stationed in Puzhou, just to enter Guanzhong, and now Guo Ziyi's troops are divided into three, stationed in Jinpudu, Tongguan and Longmendu in turn, and I called you here today to ask you where we should cross the river and attack Guanzhong." ”

As his number one military division, Xu Bin took the lead in speaking: "Lord, these three offensive locations have their own advantages and disadvantages, Tongguan is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if there is Fenglingdu to cross the river, but the city wall has been extended to the Yellow River beach, and it is very difficult to attack after crossing the river." But there are two advantages, one is to be able to attack Tongguan with Tian Zhen and Yan Xiaosi on both sides, and second, it also has a surprise effect, Guo Ziyi would never have imagined that we would attack from here. ”

"Pujindu, the key defense of the imperial court is in Pujindu, here is also the most ideal place to cross the river to attack, although the pontoon bridge was burned down, but the iron cable on the pontoon bridge is still there, the iron ox pulling the iron cable on both sides is also there, as long as the left and right use wooden boats to feint, lay wooden planks from the pontoon bridge that night, and be able to reach the opposite bank the next morning. But Guo Ziyi personally sat here, and the deployment of troops was also the heaviest, and it was located between Longmendu and Tongguan, once the river was crossed, it was a hard hit. ”

"The third is the place of Longmendu, although it is far away from Chang'an after crossing the river, the Tang Army's military strength is decent, so on the whole, this is the best place to cross the river. It's just that what we can think of, they must also be able to think that Guo Ziyi will definitely make preparations in advance in this regard, so I suggest that the lord attack Guanzhong from Longmendu, but he just needs to plan. ”

Li Siye nodded cautiously, stood up and pinched his chin and asked, "If it is as Xu Gong said, how should it be used?" “

"The lord should transfer most of his troops to Hejin County, and leave a part of his troops to cut down trees and build bridges and make rafts in Pujindu, so he will deploy suspicious troops and make a big momentum to attract most of the Tang army's troops to Pujindu. Our Hexi army took advantage of the situation to cross the Dragon Gate and attack Chang'an. ”

He stroked his beard and paced in the tent, first hummed approvingly, then turned around and asked: "Guo Ziyi is well versed in the way of using soldiers, so it is naturally impossible not to know the tricks of the virtual and real soldiers. ”

Xu Bin stepped forward and asked, "What does the lord mean......?" ”

"The soldiers are not tired of deceit, since Guo Ziyi can see through the plan of the suspicious soldiers, why don't we go the other way, lead the army to Longmendu to log and build ships, and make the momentum as big as possible, and preach to the Tang army that we are going to cross the river at Longmendu, while the Pujindu side is silent, and only a small number of troops are deployed on the riverside, causing Guo Ziyi to overinterpret and continue to hoard heavy troops in Pujindu, and our army will break through Longmendu into the pass in one fell swoop."

Everyone said yes.

He set his eyes on his adopted son Li Chongbao and asked inquiringly: "How about Leopard Er leading 8,000 soldiers to stay in Pujindu?" Master Cen also stayed behind to assist you. ”

Li Chongbao bowed down and said, "The child obeys." ”

Li Siye said again: "For you to stay in Pujindu, not only to stay still, but also to expose some clues to the Tang Army." You hibernate during the day, and at night you lead your troops out to make some torch movements on the beach of the Yellow River. ”

"Rest assured by the father, the child should do it with all his heart."

After he instructed his son, he gathered the army and set off that night, and the fire shone so brightly that the surface of the Yellow River rippled in the moonlight, and the Tang army scouts on the other side saw this situation and reported it to the deputy marshal Guo Ziyi, who was hesitating in the big tent.

Guo Ziyi was shocked when she heard this, and hurriedly waved her hand and said, "Lead me over." ”

He and Yu Chaoen went to the bank of the Yellow River together, and saw thousands of shining torches forming a procession along the Yellow River in the distance.

Yu Chaoen said with a happy face: "Li Siye's army has moved, he is going north to Longmendu, and cross the Yellow River from Longmen into the pass." Guo Sikong, we should also immediately set off to the Longmen Ferry to reinforce and intercept it. ”

Guo Ziyi lowered his head and groaned, raised his palm and said: "Wait a minute, the movement of the Hexi Army is so obvious, even if it is a night departure, it can be regarded as a big fanfare, Li Siye has always acted thoroughly, and it is impossible to make such a big mistake." ”

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"Immediately order someone to send a message to Fugu Huai'en, reminding him that Li Siye has led his troops north, let him step up the construction of fortifications, keep in order, and set up sentry along the river to monitor the movements of the Hexi army at all times, and inform me of changes at any time."

Although Yu Chaoen disagrees with Guo Ziyi's judgment, he knows the current situation and cannot tolerate the slightest mistake, and it is no wonder that Guo Ziyi is so cautious and suspicious.

The herald rode fast horses from the Pujindu camp to Longmendu, and reported to Gu Huaien, the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu stationed here. Fugu naturally accepted Guo Ziyi's words, and ordered people to step up the construction of lookouts along the Yellow River, and always pay attention to the movements on the east bank of the river.

When the night was quiet, the soldiers of the Tang army climbed on the lookout and looked into the distance, and saw in the distance at the beachhead of the Yellow River, there were countless torches marching upstream, and even the sound of horses' hooves could be heard from the river, and the sharp blades of swords and guns seemed to be reflected on the sparkling water.

The soldiers on the lookout tower were so frightened that they immediately rode to the Longmendu camp overnight and reported the news to Fugu Huai'en.

News came one after another, all of which clearly indicated that the Hexi Army would transfer most of its forces to the north and would concentrate on attacking Longmendu. Fugu Huaien also had doubts in his heart, but he sensibly did not send his judgment to Guo Ziyi as military information, but informed Guo Sikong of all the details in a long letter.

Since Guo Ziyi received this letter, his forehead has not stretched, and he often paces in the camp tent and thinks hard. Li Siye has always been deceitful, and now that Li Guangbi has also joined his command, his strategy will never be so simple, so simple that even a rough person like Fugu Huaien is suspicious.

According to Fugu Huaien's letter, looking at what the Hexi Army did along the Yellow River, there are great doubts. If Li Siye really wanted to lead a large army north to Longmendu, and he didn't want them to know, he just needed to march away from the banks of the Yellow River, and doing so now was just covering his ears and stealing the bell, he would never make such a mistake.

Guo Ziyi has already come to the conclusion in her heart that Li Siye's so-called northward Longmen crossing is just a false shot and a suspicious plan. His main force did not leave Pujindu and Puzhou City at all. If he can't hold his breath, he will also transfer most of his troops to Longmendu under his inducement, Guanzhong will fall into the hands of the enemy, and Datang will eventually be bleak.