To the east of the city, the camp of the Qi army.

Qing Yu Zhongwang's guess was not wrong, the Qi army suffered little loss in the previous two small-scale battles, and the Gainyan army had been losing since two years ago, and it was weak in the face of the Qi army, and the effect of the usual drill could not even be brought into play, and the resistance that could be caused to the Qi army was almost negligible.

Another reason that supported Qing Yu Zhongwang's conclusion that there was an ambush behind Lu Shen was that he received a return from the defenders of the Gongcheng and the 3,000 cavalry, and the Ruishi battalion and the Lai'an army that appeared in the east of the Gongcheng were still intact, judging from the size of the camp and the banner, the other party did not divide the troops.

In this case, who will garrison Qingliu Pass and Raoyang City, which the Qi army has already captured?

In this day and age, the city passes captured by the army during the march are very important, as they can be a key node on the logistics baggage line, providing protection for the baggage team, and serving as a transit point on this line.

Obviously, there are still a large number of hidden Qi troops behind the Ruishi Battalion and the Lai'an Army.

It's just that Qingyu Zhongwang couldn't have imagined that the third commander who appeared in the Qi army's camp was not Su Zhang, the commander of the Xunyang Army, nor He Gui, the commander of the Jianghua Army, nor Li Bingxue, the commander of the Feiyu Battalion, but Song Shifei, the commander of the Feiyun Army, who was supposed to be responsible for guarding Pingli City and Ningling City.

In the handsome tent, Song Shifei's voice was as loud as ever, and he said with a smile: "Old Duan, Brother Lu, I was so bored and crazy defending the city in Ningling, I heard that you have advanced by leaps and bounds on the Western Front, and your military exploits are one after another, and you are about to kill me!" ”

Lu Shen and Duan Zuozhang looked at each other and smiled, and the latter teased: "You can't rob Su Zhang's task and deliberately bully this new commander, right?" ”

Song Shifei waved his hand and said: "Even if my old Song has this ability, he doesn't have the courage, although Su Zhang was only promoted to the commander of the first army last year, but if I dare to rob him of his work, most of them will not be able to pick my skin?" ”

Lu Shen said with a smile: "So now it is the Xunyang Army that replaces your Feiyun Army, stationed in Pingli and Ningling?" ”

Song Shifei nodded and said, "That's right, this is the commander of the Grand Governor." Su Zhang's kid looked polite, but he was actually not convinced, but this can't be helped, our army has always paid attention to a first come, first come, first come. Back then, when we followed the Metropolitan Governor to fight on the battlefield, he was still a big soldier, and now when he encounters this opportunity to participate in the war, he naturally has to line up in the back. ”

The smile on Lu Shen's face was a little strange.

Duan Zuozhang was thoughtful, and scolded with a smile: "What a Song Mangzi, saying these sour words in front of Brother Lu? ”

"......"

Song Shifei was not stupid, and reacted immediately.

He joked here that Su Zhang was young and had little qualifications, but he forgot that Lu Shen was the real junior, after all, he had joined the Huaizhou Army for less than two years.

"Brother Lu, don't mind, I didn't mean that. Su Zhang's kid himself doesn't have many combat exploits, and he is completely promoted by seniority, so I said this, but you are different! When it comes to military exploits, except for the Metropolitan Governor, there is no one in the Huaizhou Army who can compare with you, so the Metropolitan Governor asked you to preside over the military affairs of the Western Front, and my old Song was convinced! ”

Facing Song Shifei's straightforward explanation, Lu Shen shook his head with a smile and said, "Brother Song, if you praise me like this without reservation, I will definitely be proud." ”

Song Shifei touched his head and said: "Don't misunderstand, the first thing in the army is military merit, and then seniority and age, which will never change." ”

"Okay, okay, you haven't had a doorkeeper for so many years, and you don't listen to what the Metropolitan Governor says."

Duan Zuozhang stopped his chatter, and then smiled: "Let's get down to business." ”

There is also one person in the tent, who has been looking at these generals chatting indifferently, he is Su Yunqing, the warp weaving department Huaizhou inspection school.

During this time, in order to cover the battlefield information, the spies of the Beiyan Prosecutor's Office and the scouts of the enemy army were isolated to the west of the Gongcheng, and the Warp Weaving Division could be said to be elite, and not even a single bird was spared. Su Yunqing even led a group of henchmen to sit here in person, and cooperated with the cavalry of the Ruishi Battalion led by Li Chengen, so that the enemy army could only see a fog from beginning to end.

Talking about business, Lu Shen said to Su Yunqing: "There is Master Lao Su to give us a brief introduction to the latest situation. ”

Su Yunqing bowed slightly, and said unhurriedly: "This morning, the Warp Weaving Division received two more military information, one is the Yaoshan Pass, which is more than forty miles west of the Gongcheng, and yesterday there were a large number of Jing Army foot soldiers stationed in the pass, and the number was about five or six thousand. The reason why they didn't come directly to Gongcheng is, in my opinion, because they don't want to give our army a chance to attack them halfway. ”

Lu Shen continued: "From another point of view, Qing Yu Zhongwang intends to abandon Gongcheng and use Yaoshan Pass as a stronghold to block the continued advance of our army. ”

Duan Zuozhang said: "In other words, the cavalry of the three thousand Jing Army outside the Gongcheng will continue to withdraw to the vicinity of Yaoshan Pass?" ”

Lu Shen nodded and said: "That's probably the case, Gongcheng is just a small county town, the city walls are low and in disrepair, Qing Yu Zhongwang will not choose to defend here." On the contrary, Yaoshan Pass, as the strongest barrier in the east of Heluo City, has now been reinforced by thousands of Jing Army foot soldiers, with a total strength of nearly 10,000 people in the pass, and 3,000 cavalry flanks to protect it, which is a relatively difficult bone for us to gnaw. ”

Song Shifei received Xiao Wangzhi's command not long ago, and the Xunyang Army led by Su Zhang took over the defense of the two cities, and he took the Feiyun Army to take a detour to the Ruishi Camp and the Lai'an Army.

Xiao Wangzhi asked him to obey Lu Shen's dispatch in everything, in fact, he didn't understand his task very well, could it be that more than 30,000 people really wanted to attack the city all the way to Heluo?

Hearing Lu Shen's analysis at this moment, he couldn't help but ask: "Brother Lu, do we really want to come to Heluo City?" ”

Lu Shen smiled faintly and said, "Actually, at the beginning, I was just testing Qingyu Zhongwang and dismissing his idea of rescuing Ruyin City, but now it seems that the situation is developing in our favor." ”

Song Shifei was confused when he heard this, and couldn't help but cast a look at Duan Zuozhang for help.

Everyone has their own strengths, and so are the tiger generals under Xiao Wangzhi, like Song Shifei who has been on the battlefield for a long time, and is the best at tackling tough battles.

But when it comes to the strategic level, this Song commander is lacking, and he is very weak in this regard. Fortunately, he can recognize his own flaws, and he has always strictly implemented Xiao Wangzhi's handsome orders, which can be called an extremely sharp axe.

Among the generals of the Huaizhou army, there is only one person who can keep up with Xiao Wangzhi's vision and thinking, and that is Chen Lanyu, who was left in Beijing by the Son of Heaven.

Seeing this, Duan Zuozhang said: "What Brother Lu means is that Qingyu Zhongwang still refuses to give up Dongyang Road, otherwise if he guards Heluo, we really can't do anything about him." ”

Lu Shen nodded and said, "Yes, if he can't retreat, we can only withdraw our troops and return to assist the Metropolitan Governor in recovering the entire territory of Dongyang Road." ”

Song Shifei became more and more puzzled, and asked: "Could it be that Qingyu Zhongwang sent thousands of foot soldiers to garrison Yaoshan Pass, just to engage our army head-on in the next step?" ”

Lu Shen didn't sell Guan Zi and explained: "Brother Song, in fact, this is a game of guessing. From the perspective of Qingyu Zhongwang, the Ruishi Battalion and the Lai'an Army have gone deep for a long time, and there must be a large number of reinforcements behind them. On the premise that he is not sure of the actual strength of our army, he will definitely not repeat the mistakes of the Battle of Leize, so he will send troops to defend Yaoshan Pass to prevent our army from really rushing to the city of Heluo. However, he was unwilling to give up Dongyang Road, so he deliberately gave up Qingliuguan, Raoyang and Gongcheng, in order to attract our partial division to continue to go deeper, so as to get farther and farther away from the main force led by the Dadu Governor. ”

Song Shifei suddenly said: "I understand, he thinks that our army wants to fight an ambush war, so it is necessary to ensure enough troops, so that the strength of the Metropolitan Governor's side will be weakened, and he will have an opportunity." Once he can really appear outside Ruyin City, we will definitely not be able to return in time. ”

Lu Shen smiled and said: "Yes, any conspiracy and trickery will have flaws in the implementation, and no one can do it seamlessly." ”

Song Shifei asked again: "But how did he appear quietly outside Ruyin City?" ”

"Logically speaking, if Jing Jun wants to rush from Heluo City to Dongyang Road, the most convenient route is naturally the official road we currently occupy, followed by starting from Teng County in the southwest and crossing the Leize Plain, and then turning to the northeast from near Ningling City. Neither of these paths seemed to be appropriate, until Lord Su brought another emergency military intelligence. ”

Lu Shen looked at Su Yunqing with a calm expression, and the latter answered: "Ladies and gentlemen, the Metropolitan Governor sent someone to deliver a message, and the 5,000 Jing Army stationed on the front line of Fengqiu at the northern end of Dongyang Road has been divided into 3,000 people, and has recently moved south, stopping in Luoshan County, north of Ruyin City, and maintaining a relatively safe distance from the main force of our army. ”

Song Shifei frowned slightly and said, "What does Qing Yu Zhongwang mean by this?" ”

Lu Shen said unhurriedly: "If the enemy army does not move, we will definitely not be able to judge his strategic intentions, but as long as he moves, there will inevitably be clues." The Jing army on the front line of Fengqiu is to defend the Seven Star Army in Baotai Mountain, and now they are dividing their troops to the south, in my opinion, the intention is more obvious, that is, to reduce the pressure on the defenders of Ruyin City, and at the same time, it may also create conditions for the assault of the main force of the Jing army. ”

Duan Zuozhang muttered: "You want to say that Qing Yu Zhongwang will not directly give up Ruyin City?" ”

"In fact, from the moment I learned that Qing Yuzhong wanted to go south, I had a hunch in my heart that he would not go south this time just to defend Heluo City."

Lu Shen looked around at everyone and said unhurriedly: "Qing Yu Zhongwang is Qing Yugong's eldest son after all, and he has made many military exploits in the war of the Jing Dynasty to annex the Zhao State, such a person must be very proud." If you just want to defend Heluo, why bother to come in person? Since he's here, I don't believe he's going to cower in Heluo City. ”

"It's not about any strategy or tactics, it's about the nature of human nature."

(End of chapter)