Li Zhiyun's new army barracks are not too far from the second brother's Chinese army camp. After everything was arranged, the next morning, he came to the Chinese army camp to find his second brother. When he walked into the big tent of the Chinese army, he found that the second brother was not there. The guards said to him that the king of Qin had led people to inspect the barracks. Li Zhiyun sat and waited for a while, and when he saw that the second brother hadn't come back yet, he planned to go back. As soon as he walked out of the military tent, he watched his second brother and several generals come from the gate of the camp and hurriedly greeted him.

There were a total of four generals behind the second brother, two of whom he knew, one was his brother Qu Tushou's father, the left servant shot Qu Tutong, and the other was Yin Kaishan, the secretary of the military department, and the other two generals looked very angry. One of them was about five feet seven inches tall, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, burly and strong, with white skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a pair of tiger eyes; Another is of medium stature, with dark skin, leopard eyes and an eagle nose, a big mouth, and a full beard, which looks like Meng Zhang Fei in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

When the second brother saw him, he smiled: "Fifth brother, are you here?" Li Zhiyun grabbed the second brother, snorted the two generals who were lagging behind with his mouth, and said in a low voice: "Who are those two?" ”

"Oh, these are my two new generals, let me introduce you." The second brother said, and pulled him to the two generals, "Two brothers, let me introduce you to you, this is my fifth brother, Li Zhiyun, the king of Chu." ”

When the two of them heard this, they hurriedly clasped their fists and saluted, and said in unison: "I will not see the King of Chu!" Li Zhiyun hurriedly returned the salute. The second brother pointed to the white-skinned general and said to Li Zhiyun: "Fifth brother, this is Qin Qiong, the head of the Ma Army. ”

When Li Zhiyun heard this, he couldn't help but widen his eyes, looked at the man in a daze, and stammered: "What? You... You are Qin Qiong, Qin Shubao? Qin Qiong nodded with a smile and said, "What, the King of Chu knows about the future?" ”

"Know, know, know too well! Your name is so loud! ”

"That's good," the second brother pointed to another person and introduced: "This is Cheng Zhijie, the third commander of the left." ”

Cheng Zhijie? Haven't heard of it. Li Zhiyun looked at the other party in a daze, hesitated for a moment, and said, "You are Cheng Biting Jin, right?" The reason why he asked this question was because the other party was also surnamed Cheng, and secondly because since this person was with Qin Shubao, it was likely to be Cheng Biting Jin. Cheng Zhijie smiled and said, "Back to the King of Chu, I used to be called Cheng Yanjin, but now I am called Cheng Zhijie." ”

Yes? Sure enough, it's Cheng Biting Gold! When Li Zhiyun heard this, he hurriedly said, "Hey, how good is it to call Cheng Biting Jin?" What a name! Cheng Zhijie still smiled and said, "Zhong, I listen to the king of Chu, and I will call Cheng Yanjin in the future." ”

Everyone laughed and walked into the Chinese military tent. Li Zhiyun was so happy today, he finally met the two famous heroes on Wagang Mountain. After everyone sat down, he approached Cheng Yanjin and said, "Cheng Yanjin, have you been to Wagangzhai?" Have you ever been a demon lord of the world? Cheng Yanjin shook his head and said, "Wagangzhai? I haven't been. The Demon King of the Mixed World? I don't know. ”

Why, haven't you been to Wagangzhai? Haven't been a demon king of the world either? Could it be that these are all made up in fiction? Li Zhiyun was a little unwilling, and continued: "Cheng Biting Jin, our people there know about you, saying that you can only fight with three axes, and also said that you went to Wagang Mountain and became a ......" Cheng Biting Jin was anxious when he heard this, and shouted: "Who arranged my old Cheng like this?" I am a fierce general, and I don't just know how to fight with three axes! ”

"That's, that's, everyone we have there knows you're good, you're a big hero!" Li Zhiyun hurriedly changed his words.

"That's pretty much it!"

……

Soon after the army was stationed in Baibi, Song Jingang led his army to challenge. On this day, Li Zhiyun was chatting with his subordinates in the military tent, and the second brother sent someone to call him to the Chinese army camp. He walked into the second brother's military tent and took a look, oh, there were so many people, it was full of neatly draped generals, and the second brother was sitting on the main seat. When the second brother saw him come in, he beckoned him to sit beside him.

After Li Zhiyun sat down, the second brother glanced at the generals below with his eyes and said, "Generals, according to the report from Tanmalai, Song Jingang has led 40,000 horses to capture Jiangxian County and surround Wenxi County. At present, his army is less than forty miles away from Baibi, and may come to attack us at any time. After the generals return to the camp, they must be prepared for battle and strengthen their defenses. If Song Jingang launches an attack, he must be repulsed, and he must not be allowed to break through a camp! ”

After the second brother finished speaking, Cheng Yanjin stood up, hugged his fists and said, "King Qin, if Song Jingang launches an attack, how uncomfortable will it be for us to shrink in the camp?" Can you take the initiative and kill the enemy back? ”

"No way!" The second brother said resolutely, "You can only stick to the camp, strengthen the defense, and you are not allowed to step out of the gate of the village for half a step, and those who violate the order will be dealt with according to military law!" Did you hear me clearly? ”

When Cheng Biting Jin heard this, he touched his head, and said angrily: "Oh, I know." ”

After Li Zhiyun returned to the new military camp, he also made some arrangements. Although his barracks were in the center of the army and would not normally be attacked, it was also necessary to be prepared just in case.

After Song Jingang arrived with a large army, he sent part of his army and made several tentative attacks, all of which were easily repulsed. Song Jingang was an expert and knew that the Tang army had already prepared, and the defense of the camp was impregnable, and it was impossible for him to break through. So, he gave up his intention to attack, retreated thirty miles and camped, and confronted the Tang army.

The camp of the New Army was next to a small river, and every day after dinner, Li Zhiyun went for a walk along the river. At dusk that day, he walked out of the camp and saw a person standing by the river, and when he got closer, it turned out to be the second brother. The second brother stood on the bank of the river, staring at the slow-flowing river in a daze. Under the reflection of the setting sun, the river shines with golden rays, like a jumping golden dragon. Li Zhiyun walked up to him and said, "Second brother, what are you thinking?" The second brother glanced up at him when he heard the sound and said, "Of course I'm thinking about how to defeat Song Jingang." ”

"Are you sure you can defeat him?"

The second brother shook his head and said, "Song Jingang is good at using soldiers, and his military strength is strong and his morale is booming, if I fight it now, I am not sure of winning." Therefore, it is only possible to procrastinate. Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Song Jingang came from afar, and the supply of grain and grass is a big problem. I have heard that they rely on looting the food of the people to meet their military needs. If we confront them and wait until they run out of food, we can easily win. The second brother listened, sighed, and said: "Having said that, our army does not have much food in stock, and I am afraid that it will not be able to consume Song Jingang." ”

"So, have you ever thought about raising food on the spot?"

"Why haven't you thought about it? However, when Pei Lin was in charge of Jinzhou, in order to fight against Liu Wuzhou, he made a big effort to clear the wilderness, burned all the people's grain, and the enemy army looted on a large scale, and the people were afraid of being invaded, so they all hid in the castle. Even the people who did not leave hid what was left. We want to collect food, it's difficult! ”

Li Zhiyun thought for a while and said, "It's better to organize a grain collection team." The second brother looked at him and said strangely: "What is the grain requisition team?" ”

"It is to organize small detachments, ranging from twenty or thirty to forty or fifty people, and send them to various villages and towns to tell the people about the king's religion and mobilize the people to donate surplus grain. We can give IOUs to the people to ensure that the grain borrowed after defeating Liu Wuzhou will be returned in full, or used to pay the taxes for the next year. ”

When the second brother heard this, his eyes lit up, and he nodded: "This method is not bad, if you can really collect enough food, you can be regarded as helping the second brother solve a big problem." ”

The second brother said that he would do it, and the next day he ordered each camp to send a grain collection team to collect grain from towns and villages near and far. Li Zhiyun also led dozens of people to drive the cart to a town about 30 miles northwest of the barracks.

It is a market town of the kind that is common in the countryside, and in terms of the number of houses, there are about five or six hundred households, which is a little smaller than a normal town, but a little larger than a village. One side of the town is next to a large mountain, and the other three sides are fertile fields.

Because the town is so small, there is only one street in the town, and there are only a handful of shops on both sides of the street, judging by the plaques, a rice shop, a cloth village, a grocery store, and a pharmacy. After Li Zhiyun led the people into the town, he asked everyone to disperse and go to each household to collect grain.

He led Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu into a courtyard, where a woman was picking the grain in the dustpan, and when he saw them, he hurriedly ran into the house and closed the door. Li Zhiyun walked over and shouted while knocking on the door: "Sister-in-law, we are Tang Jun, we are here to fight Liu Wuzhou, and we want to borrow some food from you...... Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu also left the courtyard and went to the house next door to knock on the door and explain the situation to the owner.

Li Zhiyun knocked for a while, but the other party just wouldn't open the door. In desperation, he had no choice but to walk out of the yard and onto the street. After a while, Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu also came out of the courtyards of the neighbors on the left and right and shook their heads at him. Li Zhiyun stood on the street for a while, and the people sent out came back one after another, and they were all closed, and everyone was complaining about the grievances they had suffered. It seems that the people of this town did not welcome their arrival. Perhaps, collecting food was more difficult than he had originally envisioned.

"What to do?" Zhang Zheng looked at him and asked.

Li Zhiyun looked up at the sun that was already setting in the west, and said, "Go and set up camp outside the town, and stay here first." "In order not to disturb the people, they brought tents, found a flat land outside the town, and erected the tents.

For the next two days, there was still no progress in collecting food. As soon as they entered the town, the people would hide in their houses in panic and close the doors whenever they saw them from a distance. No matter how they knock on the door, the other party just won't open the door, and no matter what they say, the other party won't respond. Occasionally, one or two accosted people also said that we have no food at home, so you should go away and so on.

In the evening, Li Zhiyun walked out of the tent and came to a nearby stream. The crescent moon hung in the sky, the faint moonlight sprinkled down like mist, and the stream shimmered with a silver light like fish scales. He looked up and saw that the mountains opposite him were shrouded in darkness, and he could not see anything but the shadows of the trees.

Zhang Zheng followed, standing beside him, and neither of them spoke. After a long while, Li Zhiyun spoke: "Zhang Zheng, you say, what other way can the people be willing to donate grain?" Zhang Zheng sighed and said: "Now there are wars everywhere, and the people's lives are very hard, and it is really difficult to get them to donate food." Li Zhiyun was silent for a while, and said: "No matter how difficult it is, we must also collect food, otherwise, we will not be able to consume Song Jingang, and there will be no way to defeat him......"