Li Zhen and Di Renjie finally failed to persuade Wu Youyi, and that night, Wu Youyi led an army of 100,000 out of Yuguan and went to Yingzhou to kill.

In the room, Di Renjie paced back and forth with his hands in his hands, he was very anxious in his heart, this time the imperial court sent fewer troops, Wu Youyi took all the troops to Liaodong, Hebei is empty, once the Tang army is defeated in Liaodong, the iron cavalry of the Khitans may sweep Hebei, and the consequences are simply unimaginable.

And he can't stop Wu Youyi from leading his army north, and now I'm afraid that he can only rely on the Holy Decree to stop Wu Youyi's adventure, but his express letter to the Holy Lord was only sent out two days ago, and the Holy Decree will arrive at least four days later, is it still too late then?

At this time, Di Renjie felt something, and when he turned around, he saw Li Zhen standing at the door, Di Renjie asked with a smile, "Haven't you rested so late?"

Li Zhen walked in and said, "I've been thinking about it for a long time, it's best for me to lead the army north to meet the Tang army." ”

Di Renjie didn't answer Li Zhen directly, he asked Li Zhen to sit down, and ordered the soldiers to bring two cups of tea, Di Renjie took a sip of hot tea, and then said slowly: "I understand your feelings, but things are not as simple as you think, in fact, Wu Youyi is right, the reason why the saint named you the governor of Pingzhou is that he hopes that you will hold Pingzhou and hand over the war in Liaodong to Wu Youyi." ”

After a pause, Di Renjie smiled and said: "This is also the emperor's balancing technique, although she doesn't want Wu Youyi to use military power to suppress you, so that you are not allowed to be controlled by him, but she also has to consider Wu Youyi's feelings, besides, Wu Youyi is still the main commander, if you rob him of his credit, the entire Wu family will regard you as an enemy." ”

Li Zhen shook his head, "But this is not a matter of grabbing credit, but the serious consequence of 100,000 Tang troops being completely annihilated by the Khitan, how can we sit idly by?"

Di Renjie laughed, Li Zhen's courage reminded him of his youth, when he was not like Li Zhen, he was strong in blood and daring.

"In fact, we can't be sure whether the Khitan is a trick to lure the troops, we are just speculating that if the Turks really attacked the Khitan's lair, then Li Qianzhong might really want to negotiate peace with the Tang army, besides, Yuguan can't be guarded without people, you lead the army away, what should Yuguan do?"

Li Zhen was speechless, and said in a deep voice for a while: "Are we just watching the 100,000 Tang Army annihilated?"

"No"

Di Renjie did not hesitate to deny Li Zhen's worries, which made Li Zhen stunned, just now Di Renjie advised himself to calm down and not to send troops, but now he denied it, what did he mean? Li Zhen looked at Di Renjie puzzled.

Di Renjie said lightly: "I didn't advise you not to send troops just now, I just hope to understand the consequences of sending troops, and I hope you can understand the deep meaning of the saint appointing you as the governor of Pingzhou, if you can understand, then you can send troops." ”

"But ......" Li Zhen was still confused: "I still don't understand a little, since there are many consequences of sending troops, then my responsibility for sending troops-"

"I will bear all the consequences of your sending troops"

Only then did Li Zhen understand Di Renjie's hard work, and he felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart, he lowered his head and shook his head gently, "Maybe we can wait a little longer." ”

"You don't have to worry"

Di Renjie understood Li Zhen's worries, and said with a smile: "Things are not as bad as you think, I am the envoy of the Guanjun, I have the right to correct some unreasonable practices, besides, I am the Taishou of Yingzhou, isn't it natural to send troops to Yingzhou?"

Di Renjie gently patted Li Zhen's shoulder and said with a smile: "Go to Yuguan and let me guard it, I have written to Zhang Jiujie in Danzhou, and transfer some more troops from him, it may arrive tomorrow, I believe I can hold Yuguan." ”

Li Zhen nodded silently, got up and saluted, and left the room quickly, Di Renjie looked at his back and walked away, and nodded with satisfaction, this young man cares about the Tang Dynasty, has courage and responsibility, if he can become his son-in-law, it will also be his blessing.

Just after dawn, Li Zhen left 2,000 troops for Di Renjie, he led 5,000 troops north to Yingzhou, on the afternoon of Li Zhen's departure, Danzhou Taishou Zhang Jiujie led 3,000 troops to Yuguan, strengthening the defense of Yuguan.

Li Zhen led 5,000 troops all the way north, this army consisted of 3,000 Lu Long troops and 2,000 recruits, and in the total annihilation of the Khitan army, and captured thousands of war horses, Li Zhen selected 3,000 sturdy war horses to transport food and armor, so that the soldiers could march lightly, the march was very fast, and in the afternoon, they gradually caught up with Wu Youyi's rear army.

However, Li Zhen led the army to take another old official road, and the main force of the Tang army went north in parallel, the two sides were about twenty miles apart, at night, Li Zhen's army stopped in a valley to rest, the soldiers did not bring camp tents, each wrapped in a blanket, and slept in the open air, marched for a day, most of the soldiers were exhausted, crowded together and fell asleep.

Immediately under a leafy tree, the Tang army simply set up a marching tent, the lights in the tent were dimly lit, and Li Zhenzheng and the lieutenants discussed the strategy of going north

Li Zhen hung a map on a tree stump and said to the captains: "If the Khitans are a trick to lure troops, the biggest possibility is to attack the logistics of the Tang army, and without the supply of grain and grass, the 100,000 army will not be able to support it for long." ”

Li Zhen pointed to Yuguan at the bottom of the map with a wooden pole and said, "If I am not mistaken, the subsequent capture of Yuguan is also the top priority of the Khitans attacking the Tang army. ”

A lieutenant below said: "But the Khitans may also attack Danzhou, break through Danzhou, they can also go down to Youzhou from Miyun to the south, a month ago, they sent heavy troops to attack Danzhou." ”

Li Zhen smiled and continued: "Whether it is attacking Danzhou or Yuguan, they must send heavy troops, the reason why the Khitans fought Danzhou and did not attack Yuguan a month ago was because they were short of troops, I believe it will be the same this time, and the strategy of the Khitans is to completely annihilate the Tang army, so they must attack Yuguan and can't take care of Danzhou for the time being." ”

"Excuse me, General, how do we deal with it?" asked another lieutenant.

"We wait for intelligence first, the key is to keep the logistics of the Tang Army, so we can't be too far away from the logistics of the Tang Army, and we must always be vigilant. ”

In the process of Li Zhen leading the army to Liaodong this time, the internal guard warriors who followed him to the north became temporary scouts, and they were divided into five teams to go north first to investigate the situation of the Khitan army.

About two hundred miles away from Yuguan, is a majestic mountain, called White Wolf Mountain, here actually belongs to the remaining veins of Yanshan Mountain, under the erosion of wind and rain for tens of millions of years, a very deep canyon has been formed in White Wolf Mountain, called White Wolf Valley.

The White Wolf Valley is more than fifty miles long, more than ten miles at its widest point, and two or three miles at its narrowest point, with ravines and ravines hidden in it, and countless small canyons, covered by dense forests and shrubs.

Although this White Wolf Valley is geographically important, it is not the only way to go north to Yingzhou, and there is not even an official road, because it is more detouring here, at least more than 40 miles more than taking a straight line east of the mountain, which is still more tempting for a long-distance business traveler to be able to walk more than 40 miles less.

What's more, there are no villages or post stations in the entire valley to supplement food, and wild beasts are rampant, and there are very few pedestrians.

In the evening, in a cave in the White Wolf Valley, five Tang Army internal guard scouts are resting and eating in the cave, the cave is quite spacious, like a stone palace, in the depths of the cave, there are many animal bones, it is estimated that this is the lair of a certain beast, but now it has been temporarily occupied by the internal guard scouts.

Although the internal guard warriors were not regular soldiers, they were stronger than the soldiers of the army, all of them were highly skilled in martial arts, and had rich experience in dealing with all kinds of emergency affairs, and they were the elite of the elite, and they temporarily played the role of army scouts, but they were no less than real scouts.

The five internal guard warriors were led by a team leader, whose name was Yang Honglie, a native of Guanzhong, who was less than thirty years old and had been in the army for seven years.

Because the internal guard is about to expand, it is very likely that Yang Honglie, who has deep qualifications, will be promoted to captain, and it is precisely for this reason that he also worked hard and took the initiative to invite Ying to lead his subordinates to investigate the enemy.

"Yang Teamzheng, what if there are no Khitan soldiers?" one of his subordinates asked with a smile.

"Yes, it is said that the Khitans are going to negotiate peace with the Tang army, and their army has already withdrawn north, how can they go south again?" added another warrior.

"Talking about your size"

Yang Honglie scolded with a smile, picked up a branch and knocked on the two of them, and said: "The time you have been following the general is not too short, you should know the general's methods, is his mind not as good as you two pig heads?"

"Team Yang is right, since the general has asked us to come out to inspect, something will definitely happen. ”

"Lao Zhang is right, you two pig heads to Lao Tzu to listen well, Lao Tzu must make meritorious service this time in order to be promoted to captain, you work hard, don't ruin my career, otherwise don't blame Lao Tzu for being unkind to you. ”

The two subordinates lowered their heads in fright, not daring to say anything more, and at this time, the internal guard warrior surnamed Zhang next to him asked with a smile: "I'm just a little strange, why don't we go to explore the official road? The main force of the Tang army will not go here, if the Khitan army wants to ambush the Tang army, it should be ambushed on the official road." ”

Yang Honglie snorted, and only after half a sound did he say stupidly: "Do you think I don't want to go to the official road? The five scouts drew lots, and I drew to the White Wolf Valley, do you understand?"

Everyone suddenly realized, it turned out that Team Yang was drawing to the White Wolf Valley, no wonder he was always angry along the way, he was unlucky, who was to blame?

At this moment, the soldiers who were standing guard on the big tree outside the cave rushed in and said urgently: "The team is right, there is a situation ahead"

"What's the situation?"

"It looks like an army is coming. ”

Everyone was startled, and hurriedly ran to the outside of the cave, running to the entrance of the cave, Yang Honglie crouched behind a big stone and observed for a while, and faintly saw dozens of Khitan soldiers riding horses slowly coming to this side, searching the woods and shrubs on both sides all the way, this must be the Khitan former army scouts, they will definitely search this cave.

Yang Honglie hurriedly looked around, only to see that the distance next to him was relatively low, and he could climb up the mountain, so he immediately said to several men: "Follow me"

He and his four men quickly climbed up the mountain, and in a short time they climbed the boulder and plunged headlong into the thick bushes.