Chengdu is a big city with a population of more than 100,000, and such a city cannot be besieged with only 40,000 troops, so Li Siye focused his troops on the west and north of the city, which can prevent the enemy from suddenly going out of the city to break through, but the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, the Jiannan Jiedu in the city can contact the outside world and can ask for help from the local states in Shuzhong.

In this way, Yan Wu, the deputy envoy of Jiedu, and the messenger who delivered messages to the states left the city from the south gate, and by the time they were discovered by the Tang cavalry sent by Li Siye, they had already entered the county of central Sichuan like birds.

Yan Wu is indeed a capable minister, he went directly to the territory of the Kunming army after leaving the city, with the Kunming army of 5,200 people as the center of the convening order to the states, soon the Nanjiang army came from Yaozhou City, the Tianbao army came from Gongzhou City, Chengchuan guarded only 500 people, and the remaining 1,000 and 5 people were quickly assembled to the Kunming army. The rest of the soldiers and horses in the ten prefectures, such as Pingrong City, Yizhou, Maozhou, Victoria, and Songzhou, have also received military orders one after another, and some are waiting and watching, and some are leading their troops to come. In addition to the regular troops of the Jiannan Army, which numbered nearly 20,000 people, there were also regimental training battalions and county soldiers from various prefectures, and Yan Wu estimated that the total strength could reach more than 38,000 people, which could completely fight Li Siye's rebels.

Li Siye's Tang cavalry reported the news of the generals sent in Chengdu to Li Siye, and Duan Xiushi, the vanguard of the former army, stepped forward and proposed: "Li Xian sent the generals out of the city, and it must be to concentrate the forces of the Jiannan Army distributed in various states to crusade against us to rescue Chengdu. ”

Li Siye tugged at his beard and nodded, due to the difficult road into Sichuan, the army could not carry heavy artillery and other siege weapons into Shu, and even because of the burning of the plank road, even the fierce fire and thunder and other baggage only carried a small amount, and it became difficult to conquer Chengdu. Duan Xiushi was right, instead of wasting troops on the city, it was better to take the initiative to defeat the reinforcements that Li Xian had pinned his hopes on, and force him to surrender quickly.

Most things are stronger than unchanged, and every move is better than not moving, he said decisively to Duan Xiushi: "I will give you 30,000 people, and divide the troops to attack the Kunming Army and a part of the assembled Jiannan Army." ”

"How can this be?" Duan Xiushi opened his mouth in surprise and objected: "The enemy's unity battalion in Chengdu City has 14,000 people, how can the army besieging the city be smaller than the number of troops defending the city, in case Li Xun and his subordinates see through the clues, they go out of the city to attack, how can the safety of the lord be guaranteed." ”

Li Siye waved his hand and said: "Don't worry about this, Li Xun is timid and cautious, even if he suspects that our army is divided, he will not dare to act rashly." I can also use suspicious tactics outside the city, keep the scale of the camp tent at 30,000, and prepare the number of cooking stoves every day at 30,000, so as to stabilize the Jiannan army in the city. ”

"In this case, the lord can rest assured that I will be able to defeat all the rest of the Jiannan Army."

Duan Xiushi set off with 30,000 people, but he didn't understand the topography of Sichuan in advance, thinking that entering Shuzhong would be a thousand miles of flat Sichuan and fertile fields. However, Shanzhou is a mountainous area, and the Kunming army is stationed here mainly to guard against Tibet, which is more than 500 miles away from Chengdu.

Yan Wu drove the assembled army to Leshan, Duan Xiushi heard the news and led his troops to arrive, and the two sides had a short confrontation in Leshan, and the combat effectiveness of the Jiannan army was naturally inferior to the Hexi army, and it was quickly defeated and retreated. Yan Wu knew that he was invincible, so he hurriedly led his army to withdraw into the territory of Shanzhou, and sent a messenger to inform the rest of the troops who were preparing to arrive to make a detour from the mountains into Shanzhou to avoid the main force of the Hexi army.

Knowing that he could not defeat the Hexi Army on the frontal battlefield, Yan Wu adopted the tactics of avoiding retreat and not advancing, going around in circles, and constantly recruiting Jiannan troops from all over the country. Duan Xiushi chased all the way, swept away the stragglers of the Jiannan Army, and finally directly captured the city of Shanzhou. However, in order to preserve his strength, Yan Wu took the initiative to retreat from Shanzhou City to Songzhou.

Yan Wu's intentions are obvious, he is playing a trick of procrastination. As long as it persists in dragging on, the Hexi Army will inevitably be tired of veterans and disheartened people, and the difference between strength and weakness will certainly be reversed at that time.

Duan Xiushi also soberly realized this, and wrote in a battle report to Li Siye that the enemy retreated to avoid the battle, trying to exhaust our army, and the victory or defeat in Shu was still very slim.

Five days later, the messenger sent by Li Siye entered the city of Shanzhou, Duan Xiushi was so anxious in the tent that no one seemed to take the letter and waved his hand: "Go down and rest!" ”

The messenger smiled and said, "The general has made a mistake and is trapped in this city of Shanzhou, and I don't know what to do?" ”

Duan Xiushi looked up, held his forehead and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Gongzi Wei, how dare you come to deliver the letter in person." “

Wei Yingwu forked his hand and said: "My duty is to be the main soldier of the main account, so naturally I have to share the worries of the lord, I came this time not only to send a letter to the lord, but also to relieve the general's worries." ”

Duan Xiushi stepped forward in surprise and held Wei Yingwu's hand and asked, "Could it be that Wei Gongzi can help me find Yan Wu's main force to fight him?" ”

Wei Yingwu shook his head and said with a smile: "Yan Wu deliberately avoided the battle and retreated, and we are not as familiar with the terrain in Shuzhong as he is, even if you find him, you won't be able to catch up." ”

Duan Xiushi was suddenly deflated: "If it is like what you said, this time our battle into Shu is destined to be fruitless?" ”

"What the general said, Yan Wu is good at fighting for a while, but Chengdu is at your fingertips."

Duan Xiushi approached him and asked, "How can I get it?" ”

Wei Yingwu waved his fan unhurriedly: "The general conquest of the Jiannan Army led by Yan Wusuo, although there is no big victory, but there should be a small victory, and there should be captures and captures." ”

"Of course, there is."

"Since the general has defeated Yan Wu, he should also have Yan Wu's head, and he can take it back to Chengdu to report his victory to the lord."

"But I didn't defeat Yan Wu, and I didn't have his head, and I was even more ashamed to go back to see my lord."

Wei Yingwu said with a smile: "Don't worry, general, the so-called soldiers are not tired of cheating, this is the lord's strategy." You are facing against his two armies, you should have seen Yan Wu's appearance, find one among the captives who is close to him, and after killing, it will be pickled with quicklime, and it will turn blue and dry up after a long time, unless Yan Wu himself appears, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false. ”

Duan Xiushi hesitated for a moment, this is indeed a trick to deceive people, as a good general, he is really unwilling to use such low-level means unless he has to.

"Okay."

"The general had better leave for Chengdu tomorrow, and don't give Yan Wu a chance to react.

Regarding Wei Yingwu's suggestions, Duan Xiushi complied one by one, found a head according to Yan Wu's appearance, and escorted many prisoners of the Jiannan Army to Chengdu to evacuate.

Yan Wu didn't know what was happening, and after learning that the Tang army had withdrawn from Shanzhou, he led his troops back to Shanzhou, and continued to wait for the accumulation of strength, and when the time was right, he could deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.

……