"General, Chengdu urgent!"

Just when Zhu Ming was besieging Yixian, a so-called 800-mile express was sent from Chengdu.

Zhu Ming opened it and read, and soon his face turned cold.

Dali has sent troops!

Aduman, Baozhai Man, these barbarian tribes, originally relied on Dali to get closer, although they accepted the canonization of the Great Song Dynasty on the surface, but in fact, they listened to the orders of Dali State. (If there is a choice, none of them want to listen to any of them.) ）

Now that Dali sent troops, it was invited by the Great Song Dynasty court, and the two suzerains spoke together, and these tribes naturally had to follow.

Qiongbu Chuanman was beaten badly by Zhu Ming, and there should have been no suspense at this time, but there was an accident.

Half a year ago, I heard that the Great Song Dynasty asked Dali for help, and Tho Meng, who lived in Tokyo, begged to see Song Huizong: "The official family, the minister has been the master of the hundred barbarian capitals for 20 years, and he has prestige in the south of the Dadu River. If you let the ministers go back, you will definitely be able to persuade the barbarians to raise troops and help the imperial court recapture the land of Shuzhong! ”

Song Huizong was overjoyed and praised: "Qing Zhen is a loyal minister!" ”

So, Tho Meng and his son were sent to Dali to lead the barbarians as the lord of the great ghosts of the hundred barbarians.

I heard that Tho Meng is back, and he is especially the great ghost master of the Hundred Barbarian Capital, who originally planned to attack Sichuan's Qimang, Li Shunen, and Miwang, and immediately connected to resist the invasion of Dali.

These three brothers are the leaders of the Qiongbu Sichuan Barbarian, the Two Forest Barbarians, and the indigenous White Barbarians, and they are also the Great Ghost Masters of the Hundred Barbarians who Zhu Ming asked the court to canonize!

Now that Tho Meng is back to reset, where will he put them?

If Song Huizong did not fool around, most of the barbarians south of the Dadu River would have jumped back, posing a huge threat to Lizhou and Yazhou.

However, Song Huizong released Tho violently, forcing the leaders of the three major tribes to collectively stand in reverse.

Since they could not defeat the army of Dali, the indigenous Baiman was the first to move north.

Qiongbu Chuanman and Lianglinman were divided, some tribes took refuge in Tho Meng, who returned from the king, and some were led by Mang's drive to the north to attach Lizhou.

The Han ruling tribes and Henan barbarians installed by Zhu Ming also fled the Dadu River in a hurry.

Tens of thousands of barbarians who supported Zhu Ming, under the leadership of Hanyuan County Commander, were stationed at various ferries on the north bank of the Dadu River.

The five tribes also dispatched collectively in the mountainous area of western Lizhou to prevent the Baozhai barbarians from crossing the river to the north. These tribes had no choice, and they had already sent many of their children to join Zhu Ming's rebel team, and were incorporated into the Tengxiang Army as a cavalry unit.

Gao Jingshan and Bai Qi held a meeting in front of Zhang Jinping and had already established a plan to defend against the enemy.

Gao Jingshan was responsible for raising and transporting grain and grass, and Bai Qi ordered the Tengxiang army to attack, and brought the Yazhou barbarians with him.

In addition, Shi Shu, the prefect of Jiazhou, was the commander-in-chief, united the soldiers and horses of various states and counties, and went to Lizhou to fight a decisive battle together.

Shi Yuangong read the emergency report and handed it to Zhang Bo: "Why didn't you say this, how many soldiers and horses have come from Dali?" ”

Zhu Ming had already guessed what the situation was: "The commander of the army of Dali wants to come to eat meat and is afraid of being beaten, so he has been driving the barbarians to fight, but he has not done his best. It is estimated that if you can fight it, you will loot, and if you can't beat it, you will withdraw the army, and let the barbarians fight and fight first. The more barbarians die, the more stable the northern border of Dali will be, and they will not suffer anyway. If you succeed in looting Lizhou, you will make money, and if you can loot the prefectures and counties near Chengdu, you will make a lot of money. With such a shrunken head and tail, how can we figure out their strength? ”

"How is the combat strength of the soldiers left behind in Chengdu?" Zhang Bo asked.

Zhu Ming said: "Except for the 3,000 Tengxiang troops and the 3,000 Han sergeants, the rest are all temporary local troops. The three thousand Han sergeants must stay in Chengdu, not to guard against the barbarians, but to guard against the rebellion of the Shuzhong clan! ”

Zhang Bo pondered: "To put it mildly, if the Dali army is allowed to plunder Lizhou and Yazhou, and the Dali soldiers and barbarian soldiers are put in, the Shuzhong clan will return to their hearts." In order to defend Sangzi, they must recruit their own township soldiers and always stand on the side of the righteous army. Even if the Dali soldiers were invited by the emperor, the gentry and heroes would resolutely resist, and they would resist to the end even if they were thieves. ”

"Exactly!" Shi Yuangong hurriedly agreed.

He always feels that his thinking is half a beat slower, before Gao Jingshan, now Zhang Bo, always stealing his limelight.

Zhu Ming said: "With the gentry and heroes, there will definitely be nothing wrong in Shuzhong, but Yazhou and Lizhou must also try to keep it." There can be no more delay here, and the fighting must end as soon as possible. ”

The situation in the south is very delicate, no matter how the Dali soldiers burn and loot, as long as they do not enter the Chengdu Plain, they have nothing to do with the Shuzhong clan, and they may even take the opportunity to make trouble. Therefore, the 3,000 Han sergeants could not move and must always be stationed in Chengdu City.

Once the Dali soldiers entered the Chengdu Plain, the Shuzhong clan would immediately change their minds and automatically recruit troops to help the rebels fight desperately.

"Luogu Pass has been taken by surprise," Zhang Bo pointed to the map and said, "At this time, you can divide the troops, Duozha grass people confuse the defenders of Yixian, and the main force of the righteous army will take Yuxian County to the west!" ”

Zhu Ming also had this idea: "I will stay in Yi County, and you will lead the troops to fight Yu County." ”

"Promise to live up to your mission!" Zhang Bo gave up his hand to receive the order.

Shi Yuangong was a little envious, he could only be a military advisor, but Zhang Bo could lead the troops at a critical time.

That night, Zhang Bo quietly left with the main force, away from Weishui and along the mountain, and marched at full speed to kill Yu County.

The other 2,000 soldiers were divided to support Luogu Pass, where only 2,000 people took the pass and held on, so they had to increase their troops to prevent Liu Yanqing from jumping off the wall in a hurry.

And Zhu Ming continued to besiege Yixian with miscellaneous troops and people, and only 3,000 soldiers around him were elite.

Many of the rebel camps stretched for miles were empty, and the straw men were dressed as soldiers.

The more empty the camp, the more you have to bluff.

The day after Zhang Bo led his troops away, Zhu Ming took the initiative to go out of the camp to provoke, so frightened that the defenders of Yixian County could not hold out.

In order to prevent the defenders from going out of the city to attack at night, Zhu Ming took the initiative to make a disturbance at night, and sent miscellaneous troops and people to carry torches and beat drums and shout in the west and south of the city of Yi County.

"This is the tired tactic of the Zhu thief," the seed master analyzed, "day and night constantly shouting and provoking, so that our army is always nervous and afraid." When our army was accustomed to it, and the soldiers were exhausted, they suddenly attacked the city by surprise at night. ”

Liu Xi nodded in agreement: "It must be so." ”

Liu Qi said: "The thieves kept beating drums at night, and most of them couldn't sleep themselves. In a few days, when the thieves can fall asleep, I will take my own soldiers to attack the camp, and I will always let the thieves taste the taste. ”

They still don't know that Luoguguan has fallen.

Because the rebels attacked and captured the pass, the guards could only flee to the south, and the valleys in the north were all blocked, and it was impossible for the rout to run to deliver information.

On the third day of the division of troops, Liu Guangzu, the guard of Luogu Pass, was escorted, and this old man was Liu Yanqing's nephew.

Zhu Ming instantly became happy, and said very generously: "Put this guy back to Yixian." ”

Liu Guangzu thought that he was going to die, and when he heard that he could live, he immediately rejoiced, spread his legs and ran down the city, and when he got closer, he shouted: "Don't shoot arrows, I am Liu Guangzu, the guard of Luogu!" ”

The seed master was taken aback, hung him up in a basket, and asked, "How did you get caught by the thieves?" ”

Liu Guangzu said: "Tens of thousands of thieves stormed Luogu Pass, and I was arrested if I couldn't prevent it. ”

"Nonsense, the main force of the thieves is right in front of you, where are the tens of thousands of people going to fight Luogu Pass?" The planter rebuked.

Liu Guangzu said: "There are not tens of thousands, but also 10,000. ”

The seed master no longer paid attention to this guy, and discussed with the Liu brothers: "Most of Luogu Pass was taken by the thieves. ”

Liu Xi has lost his spirit: "Liu Yanqing and Yang Weizhong's tens of thousands of troops are blocked in Luogu and cannot come out. In the three-way army of Shaanxi, only Yao Gu's troops remained, and the situation of the war could not be reversed. ”

The reason why they stick to Yixian is to wait for help.

When Liu Yanqing and Yao Gu's soldiers and horses all come back, the total number of Western armies will be sixty or seventy thousand, and they can also fight a decisive battle with Zhu Ming in Yixian.

Luogu Pass was lost, and it was basically out of play.

Seed Master, Liu Xi, and Liu Qi are all cautious people, it is difficult for them to understand, the main force of the thieves was nailed to Yixian, how could Luoguguan be taken by a surprise attack?

If a dog is there, you won't lose the castle!

Just as the three of them were discussing countermeasures, a boat came upstream from Weishui and sailed straight to the north wharf of Yixian County.

A bloodstained civil official ran to call the door: "I'm Yang Tong, the county commander of Yuxian County, let me enter the city quickly!" ”

Liu Xi hurriedly brought this person in, and asked nervously, "Yuxian is also gone?" ”

Yang Tong replied: "I defended the city according to the method you gave, blocked all the gates on several sides, and told the people of the city that thieves and soldiers were eager to kill, and recruited thousands of young and strong people in the city to defend the city, and the old and weak women and children also came to carry supplies. But...... But it's useless, countless thieves suddenly appeared on the south bank of Weishui. They crossed the river on rafts and then besieged them on three sides. I had no bow or arrow in my hand, so I could only watch them cross the moat. ”

"Rolling wood, falling rocks, gold juice are useless?" Liu Qi asked.

Yang Tong said in horror: "Yes, but the thieves are not afraid, and these things are not enough." A group of thieves climbed the city wall, and all the young men who had been temporarily recruited collapsed. They are all people in the city, and they don't even have decent weapons, so where can they stop those thieves? ”

The seed master asked, "How many thieves are attacking the city?" ”

Yang Tong replied: "I don't know, I can't count." ”

"You were released by the thieves?" Liu Qi asked.

"Yes, the thief gave back a boat." Yang Tong said.

The three guards looked at each other, unable to figure out Zhu Ming's reality and reality.

Yang Tong is only a civil official and does not know how to fight at all, and he said that there are countless thieves, which is probably an exaggeration. Even if there are really many thieves attacking Yu County, it is possible to mix many people, and Zhu Ming's real elite is in Yi County.

deliberately put this county order back to report the news, in fact, it was to lure the defenders of Yixian County out of the city.

"You can't go out of the city to fight!" Said the seed master.

Liu Qi muttered: "What if the Zhu thief really divides his troops and sends the elite to fight Baoji?" Then the thief camp in front of you will be empty. ”

The seed master said: "If the elite of the thieves fight Baoji, their target is Yao Gu." If they only shoot westward, their target will be Yixian. Both scenarios are possible, and a choice has to be made. ”

Liu Xi said: "If Yixian County is lost, Fengxiang Mansion will not be guaranteed, and Gao Taiwei will not be able to explain it." ”

The three of them were all silent, this thing couldn't make a choice, it was just a blind guess and luck.

(End of chapter)