There is a hill covered by lush forests about ten miles away from Yangzhou City, under the mountain is a large area of farmland, several small villages are scattered around the hill, Li Zhen is standing on the top of the hill at this time, looking at Yangzhou City from afar, Yangzhou City is not far away, he can clearly see the tall city wall and the closed city gate.

Behind him stood a thousand local troops of Yangzhou, commanded by a lieutenant, who had originally been under the command of Lin Qing, the Taishou of Yangzhou, but Lin Qing had temporarily handed over military power to Li Zhen, and this army was currently under the full command of Li Zhen.

Du Wei's name is Zhuang Wentai, a native of Liaodong, about 40 years old, he has been a Du Wei in Yangzhou for three years, he has a big beard, a burly body, and a rough appearance, but in fact he is a very fine person, familiar with officialdom culture.

Although Zhuang Wentai is a fourth-rank military attaché, one level higher than Li Zhen's fifth-rank official rank, Zhuang Wentai knows very well in his heart that Li Zhen is the commander of the internal guard, directly managed by the saint, and there are two backstages of Shangguan Wan'er and Gao Yanfu, this kind of court celebrity is not something he can meet at any time, as long as he can say a few good words to himself in front of the saint, or give himself a few good words in the report, then he will have a chance to be promoted.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Zhuang Wentai was particularly stammering with Li Zhen and carried out his orders to the letter.

At this time, Li Zhen turned around and asked with a smile, "Is General Zhuang familiar with Li Yuanjia's army?"

Zhuang Wentai's face showed embarrassment, how could he say that he was familiar with the rebels, he hesitated and smiled: "It's not familiar, it's just a little bit of it." ”

"What does General Zhuang think of their combat effectiveness?" Li Zhen asked with a smile again.

Zhuang Wentai thought for a while and said: "This army was the first samurai of the Xingtang Society, about two or three hundred people, probably from the beginning of last year, Li Yuanjia began to expand the Xingtang Society warriors, recruiting outlaws from all over the country, and later the number of people increased, many Yangzhou ruffians also joined his army, as well as the disaster victims in the Xuzhou area, soon swelled to four or five thousand people, the samurai became an army, anyway, there are many sources of soldiers, there are three religions and nine streams in the army, there are everyone, it is very complicated, since last autumn, they have been training on Yangzi Island, Anyway, they were a rabble before training, and now maybe it's a little better. ”

Speaking of this, Zhuang Wentai said cautiously: "Although their combat effectiveness is relatively weak, they have a large number of people, and we only have a thousand people, and it is still a little difficult to fight with them." ”

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Li Zhen smiled slightly: "I won't fight with them, just wait for the opportunity to attack."

After speaking, Li Zhen looked up at the sky again, it was already afternoon, Jiangyang County was not far away, if Li Yuanjia was in a hurry to seize Yangzhou, he should have led the army to arrive.

At this moment, a man in black in the distance rushed along the ridge towards the hill, Zhuang Wenzhong recognized the person and shouted, "It's our scout"

Li Zhen and the other officers were in good spirits, and the scouts must have brought news of Li Yuanjia.

After a while, the scout ran up the mountain road to the top of the mountain, he turned over and dismounted, and reported on one knee: "Commander Li, Li Yuanjia is leading the army to Yangzhou City, less than fifteen miles away from Yangzhou City."

"How many people?" Li Zhen asked anxiously.

"About 5,000 people"

Zhuang Wenzhong next to him gasped, Li Yuanjia was out of the nest, he rolled his eyes, and whispered to Li Zhen: "Commander Li, Li Yuanjia has the intention of despising the enemy, I think Jiangyang County must be an empty city." ”

Li Zhen understood what he meant, pondered for a moment, and said with a smile: "I have an idea. ”

He whispered a few words to Zhuang Wenzhong, and Zhuang Wenzhong immediately praised: "Good strategy"

He turned around and waved his hand, "The first and second battalions follow me"

Zhuang Wenzhong led five hundred soldiers down the hill from another trail and went around to Jiangyang County, Li Zhen looked back at the remaining five hundred soldiers, and then looked in the direction of Yangzhou City, and secretly prayed in his heart, "I hope Yangzhou City can hold on tonight,

On the official road of Jiangyang County through Yangzhou, Li Yuanjia was dressed in a golden helmet and golden armor, riding on a big horse, although he was old, his beard was white, but he was still old and strong, holding a big knife, looking majestic.

Behind him, groups of soldiers were running in formation, full of expectations for the great wealth of Yangzhou City, Li Yuanjia deeply understood the desire of this army, he shouted loudly: "Kill into Yangzhou City, take a three-day holiday, work hard, the time has come to get rich." ”

The morale of the army was more invigorated, and the pace of running was accelerated, Li Yuanjia did lead the army out of the nest, he knew very well in his heart that the army led by Lou Shide was on the way to Yangzhou, he did not have much time, he must take Yangzhou, take Yangzhou as the foundation, and then order the world to rise up against the army.

At that time, Li Jingye occupied Yangzhou first, and there were only a few thousand men and horses when he started the army, but in just half a month, the army quickly expanded to more than 100,000 people, and defeated Li Xiaoyi's vanguard in the first battle of Runzhou.

Li Yuanjia thought of himself again, although he only had 5,000 troops, but Yangzhou had a large population, as long as he took Yangzhou first, with Yangzhou's full of money and grain, it would not be a problem to recruit 70,000 or 80,000 troops, while Lou Shide only had 30,000 people, and he fought according to the city, and he could hope to win.

Zhuang Wenzhong thinks that Li Yuanjia is a bit underestimated, but Li Yuanjia doesn't think so, the key is that Yangzhou Taishou Lin Qing has secretly surrendered to him, so Yangzhou City is at his fingertips.

At this time, there are still ten miles away from Yangzhou City, and he can already faintly see the swarthy city wall of Yangzhou, Li Yuanjia is even more excited, at this time, the eldest son Li Xun丨 urged the horse to catch up with his father and said: "Father, the child has something to say." ”

Li Yuanjia restrained the war horse, he didn't like this eldest son very much, he had too many concerns, and he lacked the qi to cut off and kill, he asked unhappily: "What's the matter?"

"Father, the child feels that it is not good for the whole army to press, Jiangyang County is almost without soldiers, and we don't have much food, in case someone takes the back road and captures Jiangyang County, our situation is worrying. ”

"Of course I do"

Li Yuanjia reprimanded his son fiercely, "We don't have many troops, of course we have to concentrate our forces to capture the city, seize Yangzhou City and then return to Jiangyang, don't bother me anymore." ”

Father's attitude was very strict, Li Xun丨 was so frightened that he didn't dare to say more, so he could only retreat slowly, and his brother Li Chen ran past him and snorted disdainfully, "I'm afraid of wolves in the front, and I'm afraid of tigers in the back, what big things can I do?"

Li Yuanjia heard this sentence, and he praised loudly: "Well said, how can you spare yourself when you do great things?"

Li Xun丨's face was flushed, he turned around and urged the horse to go to the rear, he was originally a weak scholar, obsessed with calligraphy and painting, and now he actually wants to follow his father to rebel, how can he not be worried and afraid, compared to the passion of his father and brother, he is much calmer, seeing that his father is bent on going his own way, he has to sigh in his heart, and he doesn't want to say a word more.

Li Yuanjia led the army to Yangzhou City, at this time, at the head of Yangzhou City, Lin Qing, the Taishou Lin Qing and everyone were looking at the flying dust in the distance, everyone's heart was extremely heavy, Li Yuanjia finally killed.

"Lin Taishou"

Zhao Qiuniang walked forward quickly and said to him: "I have an idea, can I show weakness first and lure Li Yuanjia into the urn city?"

Lin Qing didn't say anything, he knew that if he wanted to lure Li Yuanjia into the urn city, he had to go down to the city to greet him, and Li Yuanjia would be fooled, but by doing so, his risk was too great, and he didn't want to risk his life.

Zhao Wenchu understood Lin Qing's distress, and said on the side: "Captain Zhao doesn't know, Li Yuanjia is extremely cunning, if you want him to enter the city, you must have a thousand state soldiers go out of the city and surrender first, otherwise he won't be fooled, but our state soldiers are not in the city, so-"

Zhao Qiuniang saw that they refused to accept their plan, and couldn't help but feel annoyed in her heart, and said: "Since this is the case, we will empty the city plan, open the south city gate, and die down, and all the archers will ambush the city to see if he can enter."

This plan is acceptable, Lin Qing said happily: "This plan is feasible, everything is up to Captain Zhao"

He and Zhao Wenchu went down to the city first, and Zhao Qiuniang immediately ordered: "All the banners and soldiers are hidden for me, and all the archers are concentrated around the urn city."

Groups of newly armed soldiers moved one after another, the war drums stopped, the battle flags fell to the ground, the soldiers hid behind the city walls, and Di Yan, who had just been appointed as the commander of the archers, commanded three thousand archers to ambush on both sides of the urn city.

Di Yan was very nervous in her heart, she originally only led fifty archers, but because the bows and arrows she led performed well, the queue was neat, and the morale was high, and more importantly, Lin Qing heard Zhao Wenchu mention that her father was Di Renjie, so Lin Qing suggested that Di Yan lead three thousand archers, Di Yan did not refuse, and gladly accepted the order.

The three thousand archers should be distributed near the four gates of the city, but considering that Li Yuanjia's troops are not many, they are likely to concentrate on attacking one city gate, most likely the southern city, so Di Yan concentrated all the three thousand archers in the southern city.

This is the first time she has led so many people, the excitement at the beginning is gone, now only nervousness, she has no experience at all, can only lead the troops by intuition, she saw that three thousand soldiers were squatting behind the city wall, so she called several executioners to her side, and ordered: "Pass my orders one by one, you can shoot arrows when you hear the sound of bangzi, whoever dares to shoot arrows in advance, I will kill him"

One by one, the soldiers passed down her orders, and she didn't know what it had become in the end.

Di Yan held a pair of bows and arrows in her hand, wound the arrows, and her heart was pounding with nervousness, how she hoped that Li Zhen would be by her side at this moment, so that she could have something to rely on.

Li Yuanjia's army finally came to the south of the city, only to see that the drawbridge had been lowered on the wide moat, and the city gate was wide open, but there was no figure in the city cave or on the city wall.

Li Yuanjia was very puzzled in his heart, what was going on? It was neither like welcoming himself into the city, nor like turning himself away from the city, could it be that all the officials and soldiers in Yangzhou City had run out?

"Father, we don't have siege weapons, take advantage of the fact that the city gate is open now, seize the opportunity to kill in" Li Chen said impatiently on the side.

Li Yuanjia hesitated for a long time, he still didn't dare to take this risk, he turned back to a Lang general and said: "General Zhou, you can lead your headquarters into the city, if you take the city, I will reward you with three thousand taels of gold."

The general was also a little worried in his heart, but for the sake of three thousand taels of gold, he decided to take this risk and enter the city, he turned around and waved his sword, "Sons, follow me into the city"

A thousand soldiers in armor, holding spears in their hands, rushed out of the ranks, followed the Lang general to the city gate, everyone's eyes were focused on this thousand-person team, whether they could take Yangzhou City, it was in one move.