The next day, the Tang army set off from the village and walked for about half an hour, when a team of men and horses, about 1,000 people, suddenly rushed over from the opposite side. Not long after the two armies fought, the enemy retreated and fled. In this way, Song Jingang constantly sent small forces to engage the Tang army, adopting the tactics of hit and run.

Although Jiang Baoyi was a fierce general, he was short-tempered and simple-minded, and he finally couldn't bear it anymore, and despite Li Zhongwen's dissuasion, he led his troops to pursue the fleeing enemy. Li Zhongwen had no choice but to follow, he couldn't let Jiang Baoyi go deep alone, right?

The Bird Mouse Valley was originally the valley of the Fen River, and later the Fen River was diverted, and it became a valley. The Bird Valleys vary in width, with some sections being wide and others being narrow. Li Zhongwen chased for a while, and found that the road was getting narrower and narrower, the mountains on both sides were steep, and the trees were overgrown, and he knew that it was not good, and he just wanted to order a retreat, but he saw countless soldiers coming out of the mountains on both sides, and then arrows rained down......

It turned out that Song Jingang set up an ambush here. He kept sending small forces to provoke the Tang army in the past, just to lure the Tang army into pursuit, so as to fall into the encirclement he had set up. Song Jingang's soldiers rushed down the hillsides on both sides, and the Tang army was cut into several pieces. Li Zhongwen led the army to fight hard, and finally broke out of the encirclement. However, Jiang Baoyi was not so lucky, he was captured alive by Song Jingang.

Li Zhongwen led the men and horses to escape to safety, and when the number of people was counted, there were only more than 1,000 people left. With such a small number of soldiers and horses, it is obvious that they can no longer fight. So, he discussed the way out with his generals. A general said: "The surrounding prefectures and counties have all been occupied by Liu Wuzhou, and only Haozhou is still in the hands of Datang." ”

"Okay, let's go to Haozhou."

The Tang army was defeated in successive battles, and Abba was worried about Liu Wuzhou's invasion, and his right servant shot Pei Lin and asked to send him there. Abba appointed Pei Lin as the head of the Jinzhou Provincial March, and went to crusade against Liu Wuzhou, and listened to his cheap actions.

Pei Lin has a cowardly personality and has no military talent. He personally led an army of 20,000 to meet Song Jingang, who repeated his old tricks, sent a small force to challenge, and then fled in defeat. Pei Lin didn't know what to do, so he led the army to pursue, but he was ambushed by Song Jingang, and the whole army was annihilated, and Pei Lin fled to Jinju alone.

Song Jingang fought several big victories in a row and was full of pride. In the evening of this day, he returned to the Chinese army camp after inspecting the camp, only to see a person tied to the stake in front of the military tent, and when he walked over and saw that it was Jiang Baoyi, he asked a general standing next to him: "What's the matter?" ”

"King Qi, this person is about to run away again, and we have captured him and are ready to be executed."

It turned out that Jiang Baoyi managed to escape back to Datang after being captured in the Bird Mouse Valley last time. This time, he followed Pei Lin to fight, was captured again, and wanted to escape again.

Song Jingang walked up to Jiang Baoyi, stared at him sternly, and asked: "You were captured twice, this king respects you as a fierce general, he didn't kill you twice, and he was entrusted with a heavy task, why did you run away again?" Jiang Baoyi did not avoid the other party's gaze, but said calmly: "If you don't leave your wife and children in Chang'an, can An stay here?" When Song Jingang heard this, he was stunned for a moment, pondered for a moment, turned to the general and said, "Let him go." ”

"King Song, isn't that a return of the tiger to the mountain?"

"Let it go." Song Jingang sighed heavily.

"Yes." The general waved his hand to the soldiers, and the two soldiers immediately stepped forward and untied the rope on Jiang Baoyi's body.

Jiang Baoyi moved his wrist, hugged his fist at Song Jingang and said: "General Song's great grace, the general is unforgettable!" Song Jingang didn't squeak, just waved his hand. A soldier stepped forward and handed Jiang Baoyi the reins of his horse. Jiang Baoyi took the reins, stepped on the horse, and left with the horse.

At this time, a guard ran over, clasped his fists and said, "Tell King Song, Madam is here." When Song Jingang heard this, he was pleasantly surprised: "Where is it?" The guard turned around and pointed with his hand: "It's in the tent of the Chinese army." Song Jingang hurried to the Chinese military tent, and as soon as he walked to the door of the tent, Liu Ruolan greeted him with a smile on her face and bowed down. Song Jingang hurriedly pulled her up, "Madame doesn't have to be polite, come, follow the husband into the account to talk." The two walked into the tent and sat down face to face, the guards served fragrant tea and left, Song Jingang took Liu Ruolan's hand and said, "Madame came from afar, and I have worked hard all the way." ”

"How can this little hard work be compared to the battle in front of the husband?" Liu Ruolan said with a smile, "My husband has won a lot of battles, and my brother Longxin Dayue has already issued an order to appoint my husband as Shangshu Ling, holding Huang Yue, holding Jie, and adding nine tin." ”

Song Jingang gently rubbed her soft and said: "The husband doesn't care about these honors and dignitaries, as long as he can stay with his wife, he will be satisfied with the husband......

In the afternoon of this day, Li Zhiyun came to the governor's mansion and met the fourth brother as soon as he entered the front yard. The fourth brother pulled him to a remote place and whispered: "Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang have already led a large army to attack Bingzhou, and I am ready to return to Chang'an with my troops." ”

"Jinyang is gone?"

"No, I don't keep it. Song Jingang is too powerful, we can't beat him, thirty-six plans, go as the best plan. You go back and get ready, let's go out of the city overnight tonight. ”

Li Zhiyun returned to his mansion and called Scarface and the two subordinate officials over, saying that the fourth brother was going back to Chang'an, and we should also hurry up and reorganize the team, prepare our bags, and prepare to evacuate Jinyang with the army.

When the lights were lit at night, everything was ready, Li Zhiyun walked out of the gate of the mansion, and was about to get on his horse, when Scarface came over and whispered: "King Chu, I heard that King Qi deceived Sima Liu Dewei, saying that he would lead a strong army to meet Song Jingang, and let him lead the old and weak soldiers left behind to guard Jinyang." ”

Li Zhiyun let out an "oh", ready to step on the horse, after thinking about it, he couldn't bear it after all, turned around and whispered to Scarface: "You send a confidant to tell Liu Dewei, just say that we are back in Chang'an, Jinyang He can keep it, and if he can't keep it, run away." Be careful, speak quietly, and don't let anyone else know. Scarface nodded, and turned to make arrangements.

Li Zhiyun rode on his horse, led his men and horses, and withdrew from Jinyang City overnight with the army of the fourth brother, heading in the direction of Chang'an.

After leaving Chang'an City for several months, Li Zhiyun finally returned to the Chu Palace. When they heard that he was back, all the people in the house, from the subordinate officials to the subordinates, all ran to the front yard to line up to welcome him. Li Zhiyun walked into the gate of the palace with his head held high, smiling and waving to everyone frequently, as if he had not escaped from Jinyang, but a triumphant general.

Three days after they left Jinyang, Jinyang City fell. While they were still on the road to Chang'an, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang occupied Jinzhou, Luzhou, Yuzhou, Jiangzhou, etc., and finally captured Longmen Ferry. At this point, except for Xihe City in Haozhou, a large area of territory in the Hedong region belonged to Liu Wuzhou, and the Tang Dynasty only left a corner of southwest Jin.

When the news reached Chang'an, the dynasty was shaken. Up and down the government and the opposition, everyone was panicked. Liu Wuzhou's military strength was too strong, the offensive was too powerful, and the nascent Tang regime was greatly threatened. In the Manchu Dynasty, everyone was worried, but Li Zhiyun was not affected at all, and he was still elated every day. Because, only he knows the final result. The Tang Dynasty will eventually dominate the world, and the loss of the Hedong region is just a small episode, and it is nothing at all.

What makes Li Zhiyun happy is that in the past few months since he left, his "great cause" has made great progress. When he was in Jinyang, he corresponded with Wei Xiaobao every day. Their messengers traveled between Chang'an and Jinyang every day, in an endless stream. At present, his business territory has covered the entire Guanzhong region, hotels have been opened in every county, and money villages have also been opened in every state.

Of course, he did not fight alone, but borrowed ships to go to sea, borrowed chickens to lay eggs, and partnered with others to do business. He used all kinds of modern business ideas, such as cooperatives, partnerships, joint-stock systems, and modern business concepts. In this regard, the future father-in-law Liu Hong has made great contributions. He has served in the center of the imperial court for many years and has a wide range of contacts, although some of the former ministers of the Sui Dynasty are no longer officials, they all have a lot of money and wealth. Hearing that it is very profitable to open hotels and money banks, they have invested in shares. In this way, Li Zhiyun's industry is like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger.

As for the arsenal, it is also beginning to take shape, and hundreds of craftsmen are already employed in the factory. Li Zhiyun divided the more than 60 subordinate officials of the palace into two groups, half of them were engaged in commercial operations, and half were engaged in management work in the arsenal. In addition to their own official positions, those subordinate officials also have part-time jobs, such as factory directors, directors, section chiefs, etc. As for craftsmen, they mainly hold technical positions, such as chief engineers, engineers, technicians, technicians, etc., and each of them is paid according to the level of their position.

The arsenal purchased and made a lot of equipment, but in order to engage in production, it was first necessary to solve the problem of power. The northwest region originally contained a large amount of coal, and Li Zhiyun marked a few places on the drawings according to the memories of his previous life, and sent the drawings to Wei Xiaobao and asked him to send someone to find them. Wei Xiaobao sent people to find coal, and then opened a coking plant on the outskirts of Chang'an, which was smelted into coke and then transported into the city. Based on the drawings drawn by Li Zhiyun, the craftsmen built boilers and steam engines, and used steam power to drive the equipment.

Before Li Zhiyun went to Jinyang, he drew dozens of drawings of various weapons, and wrote out the construction principle, production process, and performance parameters of each weapon, and bound them into a book, all of which were left to Wei Xiaobao. By the time Li Zhiyun returned, the manufacture of weapons had made great progress, and craftsmen had made grenades, bird guns, rifles, grenadiers, and even a small mortar, and various ammunition had also been developed. Although these weapons are still very crude and have a lot of room for improvement, they are not simple.