Early the next morning, the king of Zhenxi led all the civil ministers and military generals, 5,000 soldiers, and set off from Xiamaguan to receive Tongyuan City.

Captain Chu led 2,000 officers and soldiers under his command early to greet him outside Tongyuan City.

Seeing the king of Zhenxi leading a large army from afar, the captain of Chu immediately dismounted, stepped forward quickly, came to the king of Zhenxi, and bowed to the ground: "Tongyuan City folded and rushed to the captain Chu to meet the king of Zhenxi first, and the minister is willing to dedicate the city to the king of Ming, and he will not give up, and he will serve life and death." ”

The king of Zhenxi immediately got off his horse, stepped forward to help Chu Weixian, and said: "General Chu, please get up, today this king can get the help of General Chu, it is really a great fortune for the country." ”

After Chu Weixian met with all the civil ministers and military generals, he led everyone into the city.

The king of Zhenxi set up a banquet to celebrate his achievements in Tongyuan City, and feasted all the generals and soldiers. and ordered the reward of meritorious officials. Reward Chu for the first 10,000 taels of silver, named Dingyuan general, the town of Tongyuan County; reward Zhao Jian and Tianci silver 2,000 taels each, Zhao Jian as the governor of Tongyuan, and Zhang Tianci as Tongyuan Zhixian.

Tianci resigned from his official position on the grounds that he had entered the Taoist gate and had no intention of becoming an official. He also suggested that the king of Zhenxi should exempt Tongyuan County from taxes for two years in order to win the hearts of the people. The king of Zhenxi agreed, and ordered the whole city to be exempted from the imperial tax for two years. The whole city rejoiced and sang praises of virtue.

At this time, the herald came to report that the imperial court had sent Fang Dingchao, the general of the auxiliary state, to lead 80,000 troops, and Qin Yifei, the king of Zhennan, to lead 60,000 troops to march westward.

When the king of Zhenxi heard the news, he was very frightened and hurriedly summoned all the ministers to discuss the matter. The ministers thought that the focus of prevention and control should be on the city of Xiama Pass, the terrain of this pass is dangerous, the so-called Xiama Pass, that is, if people come here, it is difficult to ride a horse, and they must get off the horse and walk on foot before they can pass. This pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Pan Yu's envoy has been conquering for many years and has failed to benefit, which is also because of this.

After hearing this, the king of Zhenxi decided after careful consideration that General Situ and 2,000 soldiers would assist General Chu in garrisoning Tongyuan County, and ordered all the soldiers and horses in the Western Regions to rush to Xiama Guancheng to deploy defenses within a few days. Then he led all the civil ministers and generals and the 3,000 officers and soldiers he rode back to Xiama Guancheng.

This is a worrying thing for General Chu stationed in Tongyuan City, the officers and soldiers of Tongyuan led by him, and the army that has been incorporated into the army, there are only more than 5,000 people, plus the officers and soldiers of General Situ who stayed behind to assist in the defense, there are less than 8,000 people, how can they resist the attack of tens of thousands of horses and horses in the imperial court?

Even if it is surrounded but not fought, this Tongyuan City can only support more than a month at most, and when the time comes, the ammunition and food will be exhausted, and the people in the city will not face a catastrophe?

Thinking that the king of Zhenxi used this method of abandoning the car to protect the commander, it is really indignant, and now this lonely city with a shortage of soldiers and food is about to face the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court.

General Chu urgently summoned Situ Qian, Zhao Jian, Tianci and other three people to come to discuss countermeasures.

General Situ Ji spoke first: "The king of Zhenxi arranged this way, which is nothing more than asking us to defend the city to the death and buy some time for the improvement of the defense of the city. We can only resist desperately, and we can defend one more day, as long as we can ensure that the city is not lost, sooner or later the king of Zhenxi will have a chance to send troops to recover this city. ”

"That's so, but most of the officers and soldiers in this city are the children of the people in the city, once they are lost, it is inevitable that the people in the city will be implicated, and they will be ruined, although Chu is not sorry for his death, but it will affect the people of the city to bear the charge of rebellion and be killed, Chu really can't afford it!"

After listening to what General Chu said, Tianci said: "General Chu doesn't have to worry, I have already expected this move of the King of Zhenxi, and I have my own countermeasures under it, but I can protect Tongyuan from loss." ”

General Chu was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately sent salvation to heaven.

Tianci pondered for a while and said: "As the soldiers say: before the soldiers and horses move, the grain and grass go first. Since the imperial court has sent troops to come, its grain and grass troops must have set off for the Western Regions in advance. The grain and grass troops did not know that Tongyuan City had been taken, and its destination was to go straight to Tongyuan, and if our army intercepted its grain and grass first, it would have won two percent first. ”

"The news of the loss of Kirihara Castle will definitely be known to the imperial court in the near future. I will immediately inform the army of the Western Expedition, where will I be covered in my bones and automatically sent to the door when the time comes?" Zhao Jian said.

That's exactly what I said. Tianci said, "You can order someone to take a picture and take a look." ”

General Chu immediately ordered someone to take the map and unfold it on the case.

Tianci pointed to the Puxi mouth on the map and said, "I have found out that the grain and grass are also transported here today, please ask General Chu to mark where the nearest post station is from here?"

General Chu looked at the map, pointed to a place and said, "This is Chentang Pass, which is less than 20 miles away from Puxikou, and it is the nearest post station." ”

"After the imperial court receives the letter, it will order the post envoy to hurry up and send an order with an expedited gold medal of 800 miles to inform the ministries. We only need to immediately send people to Chentang Pass, seize the post station, intercept the messenger, and we can be sure that we are safe. God's gift said.

"I immediately led the two of them to Chentang Pass, robbed the post station, and intercepted the messenger!" Zhao Jian immediately received the order, went down to prepare three good horses, led two elite soldiers, and quickly went straight to Chentang Pass.

Here, Tianci asked General Chu again: "In addition to these 8,000 soldiers and horses in the city, how many strong people can be gathered?"

"At most, more than 10,000 people can be recruited. ”

"We can arm these civilians with the armaments captured by our army a few days ago, and we do not require them to be brave and good at fighting, but only to make them a prestige. When the time comes, the general can order Zhao Jian and Situ Ji to lead 4,000 soldiers and horses and 5,000 armed men to ambush on both sides outside the city, waiting for an opportunity. Godci said.

"Isn't that the city empty, how to defend it?" General Chu asked.

"I'll do it with the general, as well as the women and children in the city. ”

General Chu was greatly surprised, and did not know what to understand. Tianci took out a picture from his bosom, presented it to the general, and said, "The general can make it according to this picture, and after it is completed, put it at the head of the city for later use." It would be best if you could complete 100 in a day. ”

General Chu's exhibition map shows that it is a design drawing of a wooden tool, with a bow and crossbow and a chain of levers, which is not very complicated. Immediately summoned skilled craftsmen to make it in the same way.

It is said that Zhao Jian led two soldiers, changed into military uniforms, dressed as imperial soldiers, and quickly rode to Chentang Pass overnight.

At noon the next day, I finally arrived at the Chentangguan Post Station, and saw that there were seven or eight soldiers guarding the post station, and there were about ten people in total. It turned out that when the grain delivery troops passed through the upper place, they left 500 stone of grain for the subsequent army, and sent seven soldiers to guard it.

Zhao Jian and the others went straight into the post station, and drank to the post envoy in the station: "Gold medal urgent order, quickly pass on the advance grain protection army!

The messenger did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly went forward to receive the token and the letter, and then turned to take out a fast horse and prepare to set off.

Zhao Jian said to the officers and soldiers outside the station: "This order is very urgent and important, and you will send two people to escort you to ensure that it is correct!"

After the soldiers whispered a few words to each other, two soldiers went to lead the horses and galloped away with the messenger.

After sending the messenger away, Zhao Jian pulled out his long sword and walked towards the five soldiers who were guarding the grain and grass: "I am a subordinate of the king of Zhenxi, and I am ordered to intercept the messenger here, and you will immediately abandon your weapons and surrender, so you can save your life." ”

The two soldiers in front were stunned and at a loss, and Zhao Jian stepped forward to collect the spears of the two and handed them to the two entourage.

The two entourages were just about to step forward, but suddenly Zhao Jian jumped up, jumped on the grain stack, and shouted: "Stop!"

It turned out that the two soldiers standing in the distance saw that something was wrong, turned around and ran, and ran to the place where the horses were bolted.

Zhao Jian hooked a bag of grain from the grain stack with his foot and threw it out with all his might, and the soldier who ran at the front was slammed to the ground and let out a miserable scream.

Seeing this, the soldier who followed behind turned his hand and stabbed his spear at Zhao Jian.

That Zhao Jian didn't even avoid it, and pounced on the spear, seeing that the spear was about to pierce Zhao Jian's body, but when he saw that the figure was about to flip, he rolled along the spear towards the soldier.

After Zhao Jian rolled over and stood still behind the soldier, the soldier's head also fell to the ground.

After Zhao Jian and the three of them tied up the three soldiers, they waited for more than an hour before the gold medal envoy of the imperial court arrived.

After deceiving the gold medal urgent, he sent the messenger away. When he opened it, he ordered the grain guards to stop moving forward and wait in place, waiting for the follow-up army to catch up and walk together.

After ordering the two entourages to burn the grain and grass on the post station, Zhao Jian hurried back to Tongyuan City to return to General Chu.

When meeting with General Chu, Zhao Jian reported: "The officers and soldiers who are guarding the grain, after receiving our false order, are hurrying towards Tongyuan City, and may arrive this evening. ”

General Chu was overjoyed, and immediately ordered people to go down and start arranging, ready to rob the grain and grass.

Sure enough, the sky was about to get dark, and the spies in front came to report that the grain and grass army had arrived several miles outside the city, and General Chu immediately ordered thousands of soldiers and horses to go out of the city to greet them.

Soon, a convoy carrying grain and grass came to the city, and nearly a thousand wagons were brought into the city under the escort of a thousand soldiers.

General Chu stepped forward to pay homage to the grain protection generals, and after saying that he had worked hard, he invited all the officers and soldiers into the city and set up a banquet to entertain them. On the one hand, he arranged for his subordinates to count the grain and grass into the warehouse, and arranged it properly.

Here, General Chu and the generals and officers and soldiers of the grain guards were staggered, drinking and talking, and after they were full of wine and food, they ordered people to disarm, take them down one by one, and detain them in prison.

The subordinates reported that a total of 300,000 stones of grain and grass were collected, all of which have been put into storage.

General Chu was overjoyed, and the day before yesterday he heard that the king of Zhenxi had exempted the city from paying taxes for two years, although he won the hearts of the people, he was very anxious about where to raise food for officers and soldiers. Now that there is so much food, enough to supply the officers and soldiers in the city for two years, I sigh in my heart that it is really like a godsend.