"Song Bing, it's Song Bing!" Lu Cheng immediately shouted in a low voice, with an expression on his face as if he had seen a ghost: "How could Song Bing come here?" ”

Zhao Ta's expression was solemn, and he looked at the city again, only to see that the team of men and horses stopped at a stone's throw away from the city, although the other party's armor could be seen at this distance, but he couldn't see the face of the leading general, and he didn't know who brought this team.

Lu Cheng's expression was extremely ugly, he called a few soldiers around him, and hurriedly said: "Go to the palace and the prime minister's mansion immediately to deliver a letter, just say that the Song army has come to the city...... Probably two or three thousand cavalry! ”

Several soldiers were ordered to run quickly to the city, Lu Cheng wiped the sweat on his head, looked at Zhao Ta and said, "General Li, why did you say that this Song army came to Luzhou?" This shouldn't be, there are our troops on the three roads, especially the east road, General Duan Wu has just set off a few days ago, if he finds the Song army, he will send a probe horse back to report it. ”

Zhao Ta took a few steps forward, although he still couldn't see the face of the general leading the forbidden army clearly, but he saw the flag next to the torch, held high and drew three circles in a row.

His heart suddenly relaxed, and he said slowly: "General Lu, isn't it that General Duan Wu has an accident so that this Song army can rush to Luzhou?" ”

Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then said: "This is also possible, otherwise this is a lonely army, wouldn't it be a death to come over!" ”

Zhao Ta said: "General Duan Wu took 10,000 soldiers away, if so many people have an accident, then Marshal Gong Duan's side ......"

Speaking of this, Zhao Ta looked at Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng suddenly shivered and said, "General Li means that Marshal Gong has been defeated?" ”

Zhao Ta shook his head and said: "I didn't say that, it's just that this Song soldier is lone and deep, where did he get the courage?" The military situation at the front is certainly not optimistic. ”

Lu Cheng gritted his teeth, and suddenly said ruthlessly: "I don't believe it, the previous Song army was weak, and when it attacked twice, we were beaten and lost its armor, what happened this time?" The prime minister said that the Song army is no different from before, there is no need to worry, if this Song army does not know life or death, and dares to show off his might, he will definitely have no return! ”

Zhao Ta looked at him and said: "What the prime minister said is right, the Song army must still be the same Song army, but this commander has changed, and the battle will definitely be different from before." ”

Lu Chengdao: "General Li said that Zhao Ta, the king of Qi? Didn't you say that this man was under twenty years old, and he was just bluffing? ”

Zhao Ta shook his head and sighed lightly: "It's hard to say in the court, but I've been to Tokyo, but I've heard that this Qi King Zhao Ta Wen Tao Wu Strategy, Yushu Linfeng, is a rare young talent!" ”

Lu Cheng was stunned and said, "Is that really the case?" ”

Zhao Qi nodded and said: "Since this is the case, General Lu, think about it, how can someone who can be accepted by Zhou Dong as a personal disciple is an ordinary person?" That Grandmaster Zhou was the existence of the Marquis of Xiaoao, if he didn't have real skills, let alone the prince, even if he was the prince, he wouldn't take a second look......"

"Ahh Lu Cheng thought for a while and said, "That's true, how can Sect Master Zhou take a fancy to ordinary people!" ”

"That's it." Zhao Ta nodded and said: "So this Song army outside the city is definitely not a hot head and came to show off its might and send it to death, I estimate that there must be a change in front of me!" ”

Lu Chengdao: "According to this, Marshal Gong didn't mention it for the time being, but General Duan Wu must have had an accident?" ”

Zhao Ta said: "I guess so, otherwise the 10,000 troops on the East Road will march north, how can these Song troops run over?" General Lu, you can take a good look, these are all cavalry, they can't cross mountains and mountains, unlike the infantry army who can sneak around on small roads, these cavalry can only take big roads! ”

Lu Cheng touched his face full of stubble, and said in surprise: "What happened to the five generals in that paragraph?" ”

Zhao Ta shook his head and sighed, "Yes, what happened to General Duan Wu?" ”

The two looked at each other, Lu Cheng didn't believe in his heart that Duan Wu had been wiped out by the other party quietly within a few days of walking with an army of 10,000, but if it weren't for this, there was no way to explain the appearance of these Song troops in front of him.

At this moment, a small soldier suddenly said: "General, general, they are gone!" ”

"Gone?" Lu Cheng looked down at the city, and saw that the cavalry of the Song army of two or three thousand people actually turned their horses' heads and ran into the distance, and it didn't take long for them to completely disappear into the darkness.

But the more this happened, the heavier Lu Cheng's heart became, and he couldn't help but say: "General Li, I want to enter the palace to see the king, can we join us?" ”

Zhao Ta shook his head and said: "This northern city can't be missed, only one of the two of us can leave at this moment, if they are both gone, if the Song army comes back to harass it, it will be inappropriate!" ”

Lu Cheng gritted his teeth and said: "This is a big matter, I must meet the king in person, since General Li is the defense envoy of Luzhou, he can also guard the city gate, so General Li will suppress it here for a while, and I will go back after going to the palace to report!" ”

Zhao Ta looked at him and said: "It's okay for General Lu to suppress Beicheng, but General Lu has to go back quickly, otherwise once something happens, if I can't make the decision, what chaos will be caused, but it is General Lu's responsibility!" ”

When Lu Cheng heard this, he thought to himself, although this Li Fei is strong in martial arts, he is also a person who is unwilling to take responsibility, but it doesn't matter, even if the cavalry who ran away just now turns back, it is estimated that it will not be able to make any big deals, after all, there are only two or three thousand people, and there is no vehicle baggage, and there is no way to attack the city at all, and he will go back as soon as he goes.

He hugged his fist at Zhao Ta and said, "If there is really something, it will naturally not drag General Li down!" ”

Zhao Ta said: "That's good, General Lu go and come back quickly." ”

Lu Cheng turned around and went down the city wall, Zhao Ta watched his back disappear, and then he came to the battlement again, looked at the vast night in the distance, and fell into deep thought.

Although he didn't know who the general of the cavalry was just now, since the other party had waved the flag, everything was in his calculations.

Two days earlier, in the morning, he had sent Huang Gu out.

Although he couldn't be sure whether Zong Ze would send troops to attack Luzhou, he always had to be prepared so that Zong Ze would not really send troops and be unable to communicate with each other.

He asked Huang Gu to go to Luzhou East Road to hide and wait, if there was really a Song army coming, contact him and tell him about the situation in the city, and then find a way to inform himself.

As for how to inform himself, he agreed with Huang Gu that in the future, he would stay at the head of Beicheng at midnight for a period of time, and if there was an army coming, it would be convenient for the flag to be displayed outside the city.

As for how to play the flag language and what content each action represents, these Zhao Ta have already discussed with Huang Gu, the flag language on the battlefield is complicated, if it is a specially agreed flag language, outsiders will not be able to see the specific meaning.

And the flags set by Zhao Ta and Huang Gu are relatively simple, there are no too special actions, and they will not show any horses' feet.

For example, the flag of the Song army outside the city just now drew three circles, firstly, Zhao Ta knew that Huang Gu had already contacted the other party, and secondly, the other party had a total of more than 3,000 cavalry.

In this way, Zhao Ta had a number in his heart, Huang Gu would tell the other party the general situation in Luzhou City, including any position in his own family, what rights he held, and even about the West City Gate having his own people.

As for what plan the other party will draw up to attack Luzhou, they will also say a general idea of the flag again at the right time, so that they know each other.

Zhao Ta stood at the head of the city, did not move for a long time, the city was empty at the moment, since Duan Wu led the troops away, there was no longer a garrison outside the city, all the thieves retreated into the city, and only sent out scouts to investigate every day.

But at the moment, it seems that at least the scouts on the eastern road have been found and killed, otherwise these 3,000 cavalry would not have been able to run directly to the city of Luzhou.

As for what happened to Duan Wu, Zhao Ta actually couldn't tell, but Wang Qing didn't receive the military report sent back by Duan Wu, and Gong Duan's military report didn't mention Duan Wu, so it is likely that the two did not converge.

Just as Zhao Ta was pondering, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps behind him.

He turned his head and saw that there were many people coming up from the city, led by Prime Minister Li Zhu, followed by Duan Er, Fan Quan and other ministers of the DPRK and China.

Li Zhu didn't have a trace of expression on his face, it was completely different from the warm spring breeze on weekdays, and he was seen looking out before he walked quickly to the battlements.

Zhao Ta said: "Prime Minister! ”

Li Zhu glanced down and said, "General Li, Song Bing left and never returned?" ”

Zhao Ta said: "I haven't returned, and I haven't seen anyone stay behind to secretly investigate!" ”

Li Zhu nodded: "But I underestimated this Zhao Ta, I didn't expect him to be able to go to Luzhou." ”

Zhao Ta's eyebrows trembled and stepped aside.

Duan Er said: "Prime Minister, I also received a report from Gong Duan today, saying that I didn't see Duan Wu, I thought that Luzhou is not far from Shouzhou, Gong Duan's army is stationed in the middle of the road, there must be scouts to explore the horses, how can I not even find the shadow of Duan Wu's army?" ”

Li Zhu pondered for a moment when he heard this, and said: "There is no way to guess about this matter, the important thing at the moment is how to deal with this Song army outside the city!" ”

Fan Quandao: "The Song army of two or three thousand people is not enough to cause trouble, and it will be necessary to go out of the city at dawn tomorrow to search and hunt for it." ”

On the side, Fang Han shook his head and said, "How do you know that the other party really only has two or three thousand people?" Don't forget about Gong Duan and the others being ambushed, maybe these two or three thousand people are just bait. ”

Fan Quan thought for a while and said, "What does the privy council think is good?" ”

Fang Han said: "In short, don't go out of the city easily, wait for the scouts to find out the reality outside the city and the number of troops on the other side, and then make plans." ”

Fan Quan shook his head and said, "Wouldn't that be a matter of letting the other party arrange it outside the city?" ”

Fang Han said: "Since there are scouts for horses, how can they be arranged by the other party?" ”

Li Zhu said: "Don't fight, the Song army won't come again tonight, go back and rest first, and prepare for battle tomorrow morning!" ”

When the people heard this, they stopped talking, looked outside for a while, and then went down to the city.

At this moment, just a dozen miles away from Luzhou City, a team of cavalry was resting.

There are no big mountains in the north of Luzhou, but there are many small hills and hills, which go coherently and stretch without seeing the end.

The cavalry rested in the woods on the hill, and in a makeshift tent, the three of them were talking to each other.

The first person is broad, with a square face, thick eyebrows and beard, and bright eyes.

The second person is a young man, wearing bright silver armor, with a handsome face and delicate eyebrows.

The last person was Huang Gu who came out of Luzhou City two days ago.

The leader said, "Brother Huang, can you see clearly that the prince is at the head of the city just now?" ”

Huang Gu nodded and said: "This can't be wrong, the city looks at the coherence of soldiers and horses under the city, and you will definitely not be able to recognize us, but the city is different from the city, I and the prince have grown up since childhood, and we can recognize it just by looking at our figures." ”

The leader seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and said: "It's good that it's the prince, this time the sect supervisor army sent me out to contact the prince, and since I saw it, I let go of my heart." ”

Huang Gu said: "General Wang, when will the army be able to fight?" ”

The leader of the humanitarian: "The battle ahead is quite smooth, according to the arrangement of the Zongjian army, Gong Duan's team has been cut apart, I am afraid that it will be pressed forward in three or five days, as expected, Gong Duan will be defeated and retreat, and then the Zongjian army will chase after each step and go straight to Luzhou." ”

The young man on the side also said: "Duan Wu's team has been led by our nose for a few days, at this time, I am afraid that it is a dilemma, and we want to continue to converge with Gong Duan, we came to their rear again, and if they want to chase us, they will turn around and return to Luzhou within two days of coming out." ”

The leader smiled: "It's Jingren's plan, otherwise I'm afraid it would be difficult to get to Luzhou City so quickly." ”

Huang Gu looked at the young man and said with a smile: "Xiao Lang has been reading the book of soldiers for a long time with the prince, and he is already resourceful. ”

The young man blushed slightly when he heard this, and said, "What can Xian do, it is all taught well by the prince." ”

The young man was none other than Zhang Xian, who was already an envoy in the ninth battalion of the Dragon Guard Army at this moment.

And the man with a broad body at the head was the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the infantry army, but he also served as the commander of the left wing of the Dragon Guard Army before the army set out.

Wang Yu's trip to Luzhou was mainly to contact Zhao Tan, and his subordinates brought the first to tenth commanders of the left wing of Long Wei.

In the Longwei Army, only the two commanders of the ninth and tenth were 500 people, and at that time, Zhao Ta went to Longyou, and each battalion selected people to fill these two commands, but in fact, one commander of the Ma Army was 50 fewer than the infantry army, and these two commanders were a little overstaffed.

As for the rest of Long Wei's other commands, there are no more than 300 people, and the situation of empty salaries and lack of horses makes it impossible to be fully staffed at all, but in the past two years, Zhao Ta has not been less involved in the training of Long Shenwei's four compartments, especially the ninth and tenth commander of Long Wei, and he took these two with him when he went out, and he trained to the death during the drill, and threw Zhang Xian into the ninth commander for this reason.

Originally, according to his official position, Zhang Xian was not qualified to sit in the tent, but the army more or less knew about the relationship between Zhang Xian and Zhao Tan, especially the big drill by the Yellow River last winter, it was obvious that Zhao Tan was deliberately cultivating this young man.

During the drill last winter, Zhao Tan also deliberately hinted that Zhang Xian and Wang Yu would learn the art of defending the city, and the two have been extremely close since then.

And this time, Wang Yu brought ten commanders to Luzhou, and specially called Zhang Xian from the army to follow him.

They rushed to Luzhou from the east road, and after meeting Duan Wu, they started a roundabout traction, but although Duan Wu brought 10,000 troops, the infantry army accounted for the vast majority.

And although Wang Yu's 3,000 cavalry has ordinary combat strength, they are better than coming and going like the wind, and they run after a few hits, so they are holding Duan Wu's nose and walking, but Zhang Xian came up with a plan again, and went around and around directly to stun Duan Wu, and finally ran behind Duan Wu, and then ran all the way to Luzhou, and then met Huang Gu again.

After the two sides talked, they went to the city at midnight and contacted Zhao Ta with the flag.

(End of chapter)