The fire burned for more than an hour before the fire slowly weakened, and finally extinguished, leaving only green smoke. In the entire Feng family compound, everything that could be burned was burned to the ground, leaving only ruins and a piece of scorched earth. The people hiding in the house are probably only charred bones. The people brought by Pan Furu were really not afraid of death, and none of them, including himself, ran out of the fire and surrendered, and I don't know if they were stunned by the poisonous gas produced by the sulfur burning at the beginning, or if they could really endure the flames.

Li Zhiyun has never seen such a scene. From beginning to end, his face was calm on the surface, but his heart was overturned, and he could even be said to be panicked. Dozens of lives were burned alive in the fire, it's really tragic! Give somebody the creeps! Will you create retribution? He transferred the firearms battalion over, hoping to reduce casualties and settle the battle easily, but he did not expect such a result.

However, he thought about it, he had given these people a chance, but they just wouldn't surrender, what could he do? If he ordered a strong attack, it would inevitably cause a large number of casualties among his own soldiers, so wouldn't it be another crime? Alas, when the enemy and us meet each other, it is originally a matter of life and death, and there is no room for the Bodhisattva's heart. Born in troubled times, he wants to be a prince of peace, which is absolutely impossible!

Probably influenced by Li Zhiyun, although he won the battle, everyone was not happy, even Fan Shuxiang, who has always loved to talk and make trouble, was like a frosted eggplant, drooping his head. Li Zhiyun ordered Scarface to stay and clean up the aftermath, and took people away himself.

Xu Youwei and Ayu absconded after getting the news and were captured at the city gate. They were imprisoned and awaited the fate of the imperial court. Zhang Zheng was seriously injured and was no longer fit to stay on the front line, so Li Zhiyun sent someone to send him back to Chang'an in a carriage to recuperate from his injuries.

After the hidden danger to the safety of the granary was eliminated, Li Zhiyun moved back to the camp of the New Army. Every day when he had free time, he practiced martial arts diligently. Among all the martial arts, he prefers swordsmanship. In ancient China, the sword was known as the king of a hundred soldiers, everyone liked to wear a sword, practice swords, riding and archery swordsmanship is a necessary skill for young people, the so-called "fifteen learn fencing, sixteen learn poetry." "Li Zhiyun is exactly fifteen years old this year, so it's not too late to practice swords. Zhang Zheng has taught him the entire set of "Yue Nu Swordsmanship", and according to his own experience, he summarized this set of swordsmanship into a 24-word formula: "Internal movement and external quiet, the last to come; Attentive and quick to react; Changeable, surprise the enemy. "What Li Zhiyun has to do now is to practice diligently.

However, it is not enough to be familiar with the routines of swordsmanship, it must be practiced against others, supplemented by actual combat. Zhang Zheng went to Chang'an to recuperate from his injuries, and Li Zhiyun asked Cai Hu to accompany him to practice swords. Although Cai Hu's swordsmanship is not as good as Zhang Zheng's, it is still more than enough to be his teacher.

On the morning of this day, Li Zhiyun was practicing with Cai Hu with a wooden sword, when one of the second brother's guards came to him and said that the King of Qin had asked him to go to the Chinese army camp.

Li Zhiyun came to the Chinese army camp and walked into the military tent. The second brother was waiting for him, and when he saw him come in, he asked him to sit down opposite, and then said: "Fifth brother, Abba sent his cousin Li Xiaoji, the governor of Shaanzhou, Yu Yun, and Tang Jian, the waiter of the internal history, to lead the army to attack Xia County. According to Lu Chongmao, who guarded Xia County, he declared himself a minister to Liu Wuzhou and asked Song Jingang to send troops to rescue. Song Jingang had already sent his generals Wei Chi Gong and Xun Xiang to lead the troops to the rescue. I heard that Wei Chigong is a very powerful person, and I am afraid that my cousin will not be able to parry them, so I plan to let you lead 5,000 soldiers and horses to Xia County for reinforcements, what do you think? ”

When Li Zhiyun heard this, he nodded thoughtfully: "Okay, when will you leave?" Since the second brother cares so much about his cousin, of course he can't ignore it. As for Wei Chigong, Li Zhiyun had heard of it in his previous life, and this person seemed to have surrendered to his second brother later. Li Zhiyun didn't know when he surrendered, he wanted to go to meet the surrendered general first to see if he could earn some military merit on him.

"Saving people is like fighting fire, of course, the sooner the better. I have prepared the soldiers, horses, food and grass for you, and I am in the barracks next to it, and you come with me!" The second brother said, and led him out of the Chinese army camp and into another barracks in a stone's throw away.

As soon as the two of them walked into the gate of the barracks, four people came out of a tent opposite, and Li Zhiyun saw that it was Qin Qiong, Cheng Yanjin and Fan Botong's father and daughter. The second brother pointed with his hand and said, "Fifth brother, this is the four generals I selected for you, and they will go with you." ”

The four men stepped forward and saluted with their fists folded. After the second brother returned the salute, he said: "Generals, you are all brave men, this time with the king of Chu to help Xia County, this king believes that you will be able to succeed and return triumphantly!" Cheng Biting Jin grinned: "King Qin, don't worry, we will definitely be able to beat Yu Chigong to roll on the ground, crying dad and calling mother!" ”

After the second brother handed over the people to Li Zhiyun, he turned around and left. After sending the second brother away, Li Zhiyun turned around and said, "Generals, who wants to be a pioneer?" Qin Qiong hugged his fists and said: "King Chu, the last general is willing to be the vanguard." Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "General Qin, which path are you going to take?" ”

Qin Shubao made a "please" gesture, "King Chu, please enter the account to speak." Everyone walked into the military tent, Qin Shubao led him to a military map, pointed to the map and said: "You see, from Baibi to Xia County, there are two roads to go, one is a big road and the other is a small road, but both roads have their own advantages and disadvantages. The avenue is easy to walk, but it has to pass through Song Jingang's defense area; The trail is difficult to walk, and there are many mountains and ravines, rapids and rapids along the way. ”

Li Zhiyun took a closer look at the map, Baibi, Jiangxian and Wenxi were all in Jiangzhou (now Xinjiang), while Xia County belonged to Yuzhou (now Yuncheng). The official road leading from Baibi to Xia County has to pass through Wenxi. He knew that there were still thousands of Tang troops in Wenxi County, and they were surrounded by Song Jingang's army. The trail does not need to detour to Wenxi, but directly obliquely to Xia County, and the distance is closer than the official road.

He turned around and said, "What about the opinions of the generals?" Cheng Yanjin advocated taking the avenue, while Fan Botong advocated taking the trail. Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go to Xia County for reinforcements, we must rush to the time and arrive as soon as possible." If you take the avenue, you will inevitably take the road, and it is easy to delay the work by fighting with the enemy, so it is better to take the trail. Although the trail is a little more difficult to walk, today is December 14th, and there is moonlight all night long, so we can rush overnight to snatch back the time. ”

When everyone heard this, they all nodded yes. Li Zhiyun saw that everyone's opinions were unified, so he said to Fan Bo: "General Fan, I bother you to be responsible for escorting the grain." Since it is a small road, the cart is not needed, and it can be transported by mule and horse, and there is no need to bring too much, enough for ten days to eat and feed the horses. Fan Botong hugged his fists and said: "Obey!" ”

"Generals, you all go and prepare, let's leave in the afternoon."

After the generals took the order, they walked out of the tent, Li Zhiyun called Fan Shuxiang to stop, and whispered: "Miss Fan, fighting is a matter for the old man, you are a girl's family, why are you joining in the fun?" Fan Shuxiang rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you look down on women?" Don't forget, last time in Dongjiabao, your little life was saved by this girl. Li Zhiyun touched his nose and stopped squeaking.

Since the second brother gave him 5,000 soldiers and horses, there is no need to bring the new army. The new army is a strong force, and good steel must be used on the blade, and it is estimated that the second brother also means this.

After lunch, Li Zhiyun led 5,000 soldiers and horses, left the camp of the army, and went straight to Xia County. Qin Qiong found a local guide, who led the way and walked along the trail. The trail is really rugged and difficult, not only the road is narrow, but there are many mountains and valleys, one time up the mountain, another time down the mountain, in fact, the distance traveled, much farther than the avenue.

Li Zhiyun knew that this reinforcement of Uncle Cousin was a race against time. Xia County is located directly south of Wenxi, about one hundred and fifty miles away from Wenxi, while Baibi is about one hundred and eighty miles away from Xia County. The main force of Song Jingang's army was stationed in Jiangxian and Wenxi, so they were closer to Xia County. Li Zhiyun didn't know when Wei Chigong set off, but the time when the second brother got the information must have come later than the time when Wei Chigong set off. Therefore, compared to them, Wei Chigong's distance is close and he set off early, so he will naturally arrive in Xia County one step ahead of them. After Wei Chigong arrived, he would inevitably attack his cousin. So, can Uncle Tang and the others resist Wei Chigong's attack? His only hope now was that Uncle Cousin and the others would be able to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

The roads taken by the army were all field paths or mountain paths trodden by woodcutters, and basically no horseback riding was allowed. Therefore, Li Zhiyun spent most of his time leading the horse. When encountering the shallow water, those with horses could ride through the stream, and the soldiers without horses could only take off their shoes and socks, roll up their trousers and wade across the stream. In the middle of winter, walking barefoot in the freezing water of a stream is not pleasant. Fortunately, these streams are not too deep, otherwise it would be too much of a delay to cut down trees and build pontoon bridges.

In the evening, the team continued to march by moonlight, and at the third watch, Li Zhiyun saw that the soldiers were too tired, so he ordered to camp on the spot and wait until dawn tomorrow before leaving.

After the fifth watch, some cooking soldiers got up early to bury the pot to make rice, and when the soldiers finished breakfast and the army was about to start, they saw a war horse galloping along the mountain road on the hillside in the distance. When the horse galloped to the front, the scout immediately turned over and dismounted, ran to Li Zhiyun, knelt down and hugged his fists and said: "King Qichu, Wei Chigong has arrived in Xia County and broken through the 'Xiaoji Camp'. Li Xiaoji, the king of Yong'an, Yu Yun, the governor of Shaanxi, Tang Jian, the waiter of the internal history, and others were all captured. When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was shocked, what? Uncle Cousin, they were wiped out so quickly? Also made a captive? It seems that they must have been defenseless, so they were caught off guard by Wei Chigong.

Several generals surrounded him, and Qin Shubao frowned and said, "King Chu, King Yong'an, they have been defeated and captured, should we go to Xia County?" Cheng Yanjin listened, glared and said, "Of course I want to go!" Let's go and fight with Wei Chigong and snatch people back! ”

Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said to Cai Hu on the side: "Go, bring the map." Cai Hu hurriedly walked into the tent, brought a military map, and spread it on the grass. Li Zhiyun squatted down, stared at the map for a while, and then pointed with his hand and said: "Generals, Wei Chigong has relieved the siege of Xia County, and he will inevitably return to the nest, and Meiliangchuan is the only place for him to go back, so let's ambush him there." When Cheng Yanjin heard this, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Great, we are waiting for him there!" ”

Seeing that everyone had no opinions, Li Zhiyun rolled up the map, stood up and said, "The army will start immediately and go to the Mira River." ”