After returning to the post house, Zhang Dezheng already knew it. The most important places in Zhangnanbao are the barracks, the south gate and the north gate, and if you seize these three places, you will control the entire castle.

After dinner, Zhang Dezheng called Mao Jue and several school assistants to the room, told them about the reconnaissance, and then said: "Let's take action tonight, I will lead people to seize the barracks, and a few of you will seize the south gate and the north gate." The action must be concealed and the enemy is taken by surprise! Mao Jue and several school assistants hugged their fists and said: "Yes!" ”

After the second watch drum was beaten, in the window of Zhang Nanbao's house, an oil lamp was extinguished one after another, and the castle suddenly fell into the dark abyss. Near the third watch, Zhang Dezheng led 300 elite soldiers to leave the post station and march in the direction of the barracks.

The sky was full of stars, but the faint light of the stars could not dispel the darkness on the ground. In the middle of the night, the streets were silent, and only the footsteps of soldiers broke the deathly silence. At night, when the temperature plummeted and his hands were so cold that he felt painful, Zhang Dezheng took a deep breath and inhaled the air close to freezing into his lungs, and the cold from his body lifted his spirits.

Two oil-paper lanterns hung at the entrance of the barracks, and the dim light illuminated the two armed soldiers. The two soldiers stood for a long time, their bodies were almost freezing, and they could only keep stomping their feet to maintain their body temperature. A soldier with sharp eyes suddenly saw a large group of figures shaking in front of him, hurriedly grabbed the weapon in his hand, and was just about to shout loudly, when an arrow flew with a sizzling sound that pierced the air, pierced his throat, and the soldier fell to the ground. The companion next to him was so frightened that he was about to shout loudly when another arrow flew and made him shut his mouth forever.

Zhang Dezheng put away his bow, drew his saber, and ordered in a low voice: "Rush over and kill into the barracks!" "The soldiers rushed into the compound with weapons in hand, it was pitch black, and the enemy was sleeping in the barracks. The soldiers of the Tang Army broke into the barracks, slashing and killing indiscriminately, and bursts of screams were heard from each barracks.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard to command Zhang Dezheng, he heard shouts and fighting in the direction of the north gate and the south gate, and it seemed that the battle in those two places had also started.

At dawn, the battle was over, and the defenders were completely annihilated. The sun rose as usual, but Zhang Nanbao had a new owner.

King Shimin of Qin led his troops from Longmen to cross the river by Bingjian, Tunbaibi, and held on to Song Jingang...... The generals invited the Song King Kong to fight, and the people said: "King Kong hangs the army deeply, the elite soldiers are fierce, and the Xian gathers so, Wu Zhou is based on Taiyuan, and relies on King Kong as a cover." The King Kong army has no accumulation, and uses capture and plunder as funds, which is beneficial to a quick battle. I closed my nutrition to frustrate its front, divided my troops into Fen and Xi, and rushed at its henchmen, and they were exhausted in food, and they should flee. When waiting for this opportunity, it is not advisable to fight quickly. ”

——"Information Governance Tongjian"

In Jiangxian County, after Song Jingang came out of the granary, his face was full of dark clouds. Just now, he inspected the army's largest granary in the county seat, and there was not much grain left in the granary. In fact, since the Tang army captured Zhangnanbao a month ago and cut off the grain route on the east side of Fenshui, he has not received a grain of grain. Now, seeing that the hoarded food is about to run out, how can he not be anxious?

Song Jingang felt that Li Shimin was really not simple, he had been with him for more than five months, but he couldn't get out of the wall. Of course, Song Jingang knew that Li Shimin was consuming his food, but he was helpless about it and couldn't think of any good countermeasures.

Since April last year, Song Jingang and Liu Wuzhou have waved their troops south, and they have been invincible all the way. It is precisely because the battle was fought so smoothly that the battle line was stretched too long. After he conquered Jiangxian County, the entire front had more than a thousand miles. As soon as the front line is long, the supply of grain and grass becomes a big problem. Li Shimin's garrison in Baibi, across the Yellow River is the Guanzhong area, which can continuously transport grain from Yongfeng Cang. Therefore, Li Shimin's soldiers could eat and drink enough every day, lie on the grass and bask in the sun, while his Song Jingang's soldiers could only eat one meal and be hungry.

The current situation on the battlefield is also unfavorable to Song Jingang. The Tang army also occupied Haozhou (present-day Fenyang), Luzhou (present-day Changzhi), and Wenxi, and although there were only a few thousand defenders in these cities, they were repeatedly attacked. If the battlefield is compared to a game of chess, these cities are the few chess eyes that the Tang army used to work on his Song Jingang's territory, and Song Jingang's two chess eyes on the Tang army's territory, Pu Yan and Xia County, were successively eaten by the Tang army.

At present, several strategic points from Pingyao to Jiangxian County, except for Zhang Nanbao, the rest are still in the hands of Song Jingang. However, if Pingyao to Jianxian is compared to an avenue, then the few chess eyes that Tang Jun did happened to be located on both sides of the avenue, and they were constantly squeezing in the middle, threatening the safety of his rear at any time.

The grain and grass are about to run out, and the battlefield situation is extremely unfavorable, does Song Jingang have any other choice than retreat?

Back at the big tent of the Chinese army, Song Jingang sent the guard general Chi Gong to call over. After the other party sat down, he said: "Jingde Gong, our army's grain route has been cut off by the Tang army, and the stored grain is about to be eaten, and it can no longer hold on, so for the sake of today, we can only retreat." When Wei Chigong heard this, he hurriedly said, "King Song, where are you going to retreat?" ”

"Jiexiu."

"Jiexiu? Jiexiu is nearly 500 miles away from here, so let's retreat so far at once? ”

Song Jingang nodded and said: "Jingde Gong, you also know that I, Song Jingang, am not a bad breed, no one in the Tang army is my opponent, Jiang Baoyi, Li Zhongwen, Pei Lian, and Li Yuanji, they are all defeated under me, if Li Shimin dares to come out to fight with me, I believe that he will be like those people." However, Li Shimin did not come out of the wall, and he was working with me. I repeatedly sent someone to ask him to fight, but he ignored it, like a fucking turtle, and cowered in the turtle's shell and refused to probe. Didn't he, Li Shimin, claim that as long as he had 30,000 elite soldiers, he could defeat me and Liu Wuzhou and recover the entire Hedong? Why is it such a bear bag? ”

"I, Song Jingang, am not afraid of war, but I am afraid of running out of food and grass. I originally thought that Li Shimin would only hold out for a month or two, at most three months, and then he would not be able to resist running out to fight me. But I didn't expect that he and I spent more than five months. It seems that I still underestimate him too much. I admit that I was defeated by Li Shimin this time, and I was defeated by his patience. I really don't understand, he's just a twenty-year-old hairy boy, how can he have so much endurance? ”

"However, Jingde Gong, I, Song Jingang, will not admit defeat easily. Therefore, I decided to let you lead 10,000 elite soldiers and withdraw to Jiexiu first. I led the army to follow. As long as the army was safely withdrawn to Jiexiu, the battle line could be greatly shortened. At that time, we can build a grain road in Zhangnanbao, restore the grain road, and build a grain road on the Fenshui River. When we have enough food, we will fight Li Shimin again. I'm sure we can beat him! ”

After listening to Song Jingang's whining words and the withdrawal plan, Wei Chigong left the Chinese military tent. According to Song Jingang's order, he led 10,000 horses to Jiexiu. Five days later, Song Jingang asked Xun Xiang to lead 5,000 men and horses as the rearguard, and he personally led the main force of the army and secretly set off to retreat.

On this day, Li Zhiyun was in the camp of the New Army, and the second brother sent guards to find him and asked him to go to the camp of the Chinese army. Li Zhiyun walked into the military tent and found that many generals were ahead. After the people arrived, the second brother said: "Generals, according to the report from the scouts, Song Jingang has led the army to retreat. Didn't you always want to fight Song Jingang? Now that you've got your chance, get ready and set off right away. We must catch up with Song Jingang and completely eliminate him! All the generals were very happy when they heard this, and they all clasped their fists and said: "Yes!" ”

Song Jingang is by no means an idle person, and he doesn't even know how to run away. He led the army to retreat on March 14, and it was not until three days later that the second brother received the news. It was not until the seventh day, that is, on March 21, that the Tang army led by the second brother caught up with Xunxiang, who was serving as a cover for the rearguard, more than 200 miles away, in Juzhou (now Huo County), and the main force of Song Jingang had already run away without a trace.

As soon as Xunxiang saw that he was caught up by the Tang army, he immediately led his men and horses to hide in Juzhou City, closed the city gate, and planned to hold the city. The Tang army immediately surrounded the city of Juzhou.

After Li Zhiyun arranged for the new army to set up camp, he immediately went to the Chinese army camp to find the second brother. He walked into the military tent and saw that the second brother was pacing back and forth in the tent, as if he was thinking about something. He said loudly: "Second brother, when are we going to attack the city?" ”

The second brother didn't answer, but stopped, looked at him and said, "According to the scout's knowledge, Song Jingang wants to flee to Jiexiu. We can't chase after him so slowly, and it's likely that he'll slip away. In this way, fifth brother, I will hand over the army and grain and grass to you, and I will personally lead 8,000 cavalry to pursue Song Jingang, do you think this will work? Li Zhiyun felt that the second brother's idea was good, they spent more than five months with Song Jingang, and finally exhausted him, it would be a pity if he was allowed to run away. So, he hurriedly nodded and said, "Okay, after I capture Juzhou City, I will lead the army to Jiexiu to meet you." ”

"Okay, that's it!"

After the second brother left, Li Zhiyun began to arrange the siege. The second brother only brought 8,000 cavalry, while Song Jingang had tens of thousands of horses, and the disparity was huge, so Li Zhiyun had to capture Juzhou City in the shortest possible time, and then lead the army to reinforce the second brother.

Li Zhiyun asked Scarface to transfer the firearms battalion over and specialize in the North Gate. Eight red-coated cannons lined up and bombarded the city gate, and the city gate tower was blown down, and the enemy troops on the city head were full of flesh and blood, dead and wounded. Soldiers from the firearms battalion stormed the gate hole, tied dozens of grenades together, and blasted open the heavy gates studded with huge copper nails. As soon as the soldiers swarmed in, in less than an hour, they occupied the entire city of Juzhou and captured Xunxiang alive. Li Zhiyun left 2,000 soldiers and horses to guard Juzhou and led the army to chase after the second brother.

The second brother led 8,000 cavalry to pursue Song Jingang. He took the lead and galloped wildly. Half a day later, they began to catch up with the enemy army one after another, and these were all officers and soldiers who had fallen behind in Song Jingang's army, ranging in number from dozens to hundreds. The cavalry rushed forward, slashing and killing indiscriminately, like cutting melons and vegetables, and the heads fell to the ground one after another. When encountering a large force of resisting enemy troops, they use the shock power of cavalry to quickly break through the enemy's defense line and annihilate the enemy.