Twenty miles north of Yanmen County is the famous Yanmen Pass, the mountains of Wutai Mountain in the south are undulating, the Great Wall in the north is towering, Yanmen County is located between two huge mountains, a river meanders down, runs through the whole county, this is the Hutuo River, it originates in the northeast two hundred miles away from Fanqi County, is the most important irrigation water source of Yanmen County, is the mother river of Yedaizhou.

At this time, Yanmen Pass did not play an important role as a military pass, the enemy came from the south, and the Wutai Mountains did not stop Yang Liang's army of iron cavalry, Yang Liang successively invested 50,000 elite soldiers to attack Daizhou.

Daizhou is connected to Taiyuan Mansion in the south, and is connected to Youzhou by Flying Fox Road, which has an extremely important strategic position, and more importantly, Li Jing is the most resolute opponent of Yang Liang's urgent vanguard, he was the first to issue a letter to the state, reprimanding Yang Liang for rebellion, most of the states in Hedong are because of Li Jing's resolute opposition and maintain a wait-and-see attitude, which makes Li Jing a sword hanging over Yang Liang's head, after he officially raised the flag to rebel, the first thing is to take Daizhou, cut off Li Jing's head to deter the states in Hedong.

Yang Liang knew that Daizhou's troops were meager, the city was dilapidated and short, he sent the general Liu Wei to lead 30,000 troops to attack Daizhou, but only three days later, Daizhou came with the news, Liu Wei was beheaded by Li Jing, the army was defeated, Yang Liang knew that Li Jing was powerful, he did not dare to underestimate the enemy, and sent one of his right-hand men, Qiao Zhongkui, to lead 30,000 elite soldiers to attack Daizhou.

The tragic siege battle has been fought for five days, the inside and outside of the city wall are full of blood, corpses are everywhere, the dilapidated city wall can not withstand the repeated stone throwing of dozens of trebuchets, the city wall collapsed violently.

However, Yang Liang's army did not enter the city because of this, and Li Jing led thousands of brave and skilled defenders to fight to the death against Yang Liang's army, and his officials also performed their duties. Daizhou Sima Feng Xiaoci and judicial Lu Yu were brave and good at fighting, they took the lead, led the soldiers to defeat the attacks of Yang Liang's army again and again at the collapse of the city wall, and at the same time organized the people to build the collapsed city wall.

In particular, Hou Mo Chenyi, the commander of the state army, was very good at defensive and defensive battles, and he was responsible for mobilizing the whole army to defend all parts of the city wall.

Li Jing sat in the city to stabilize the morale of the army and the people, and it was the tacit cooperation of these four people that made the dilapidated Yanmen county town stand tall under the onslaught of 50,000 rebels.

But on the night of the fifth day. A huge crisis arose, a group of soldiers guarding the granary mutinied, set fire to the Daizhou granary, and destroyed 20,000 stone of grain, this unexpected event seriously shook the morale of the army.

Yanmen County. Li Jingzheng led a team of soldiers to mobilize from house to house, hoping that the residents would take out the food stored in their homes and deploy them by the army.

Li Jing was born in a famous Li family in Longxi, six feet three tall, with a big waist and a round waist, he is especially superb in swordsmanship, known as a flower knife general, plus he has a pair of lying silkworm eyebrows and Danfeng eyes. He got the nickname of 'Xiao Guan Yu' again, he liked this nickname very much, and specially replaced his knife with the Qinglong Yanyue Knife, his greatest wish was to win the name of 'West Knife' again, and the North Knife Luo Yuju, the South Knife Zhang Guo went hand in hand.

At this time, several soldiers walked out of a medium-sized house covering an area of three acres, carrying a bag of corn on their shoulders. It's only about 20 pounds.

Li Jing frowned, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face, "Is there only so much?"

The centurion shook his head, "We've searched it all, and all we found in the cellar was this bag of corn." ”

Li Jing couldn't help but sigh secretly, in fact, Yanmen County is not big, there are less than 1,000 households. In the past two days, a total of 300 stone of grain has been found, which is already very difficult, and these 300 stone grain can only last for five days at most, and the food will be cut off after five days.

He turned back to ask Bing Cao Zhangzhi. "How many horses are there in the city now?"

"Returning to the envoy, there are more than 500 war horses and more than 700 animals. ”

If you really can't kill horses and animals, it is estimated that you can support it for a few days, Li Jing's only hope now is pinning on the reinforcements, he has sent people to Yang Yichen, the governor of Shuozhou, and Li Xiong, the acting governor of Youzhou, for help, I only hope that they can arrive in time, otherwise Daizhou will be over.

"Envoy!"

In the distance, a cavalryman rushed quickly, and said on his horse: "General Hou Mochen ordered me to report to the envoy, the rebels have retreated and crossed the river." ”

"What!"

Li Jing was stunned for a moment, the rebels had retreated twice, both of which were fake retreats, and they would not retreat across the Hutuo River, if the rebels retreated across the river, it would be another matter.

He was amazed and delighted, and he did not care about food, so he turned on his horse and galloped towards the wall.

On the city wall, Hou Mo Chen Yi silently watched the group of rebels in the distance cross the river and retreat eastward, his eyes were unusually calm, and there was no joy and excitement, he saw that the rebels retreated in an orderly manner, without the slightest panic, which showed that they did not encounter any great pressure, just a change of tactics, they will come back.

Hou Mo Chen is a Xianbei surname, after Emperor Wen reformed, Hou Mo Chen changed to Chen in the south, but Hou Mo Chen in the six towns in the north did not change the surname, they still retain the surname left by their ancestors, as well as the courage and tradition left by their ancestors.

Hou Mo Chenyi's ancestor was the sergeant of the Six Towns of the year, after the Six Towns Mutiny was suppressed, his ancestors were sent to Youzhou, and his ancestral home became Youzhou from then on.

Hou Mo Chen Yi is only twenty-three or four years old this year, but he has been in the army for nearly eight years, and has been promoted to the third division of Yitong, commanding thousands of state soldiers in Daizhou.

Tianwu's army is the implementation of the government soldiers and state soldiers coexist in the two systems, the government soldiers are mainly stationed in important states and counties, led by the general management, and the state soldiers are the local soldiers of the states, generally under the jurisdiction of the local government, this is why the history of the assassin can lead the troops to fight, the actual history of the assassin is the integration of the military and the government, there is a set of civilian classes, and there is a set of military general classes, all of which are concurrently served by the history of the assassins.

Hou Mo Chen Yi is the officer who commands the Daizhou state soldiers, and his top boss is Li Jing, who is thinking about the retreat of the rebels, when the voice of Li Jing suddenly sounded in his ears.

"Are reinforcements coming?"

Hou Mo Chen Yi nodded, "It should be, I don't know if it's Shuozhou reinforcements or Youzhou reinforcements." ”

"Look!"

Several soldiers next to him shouted: "A troop of cavalry from the north is coming." ”

Li Jing and Hou Mo Chen Yi both saw that a team of more than a dozen cavalry was galloping from the north, and the rebels had withdrawn. In a moment, the cavalry crossed the pontoon bridge and galloped to the ground.

The cavalry galloped up, and the leading officer said loudly under the city: "In Xia Su Lie, I came to inform Li Tingshi on the order of General Yang Yuanba." ”

Li Jing had seen Su Lie once at the entrance of the Flying Fox in Lingqiu County, and he was overjoyed, sure enough, it was Yang Yuanba's reinforcements who had arrived, and it was just too timely, and he immediately ordered left and right: "Open the city and let them in." ”

The drawbridge was slowly lowered. Su Lie led his men into Yanmen County, and after a while, several soldiers brought Su Lie up, at this time Su Lie had already joined the army, and killed more than 100 people in the battle of Flying Fox Pass for meritorious service. was promoted to the head of 100 people by Yang Yuanba.

He stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, and saluted: "Hundred people long Su Lie see Li Thorn History." ”

"General Su, please get up!"

Li Jing's attitude was very polite, although Su Lie was only a hundred people, he did not slack off at all, Li Jing smiled slightly: "But General Yang led the reinforcements to arrive?"

Su Lie bowed and said: "General Yang led five thousand cavalry to march day and night, and has arrived at Zaolin Town, forty miles away. Don't get breached at the last minute. ”

"Thank you for your rescue, please General Su Xiao go back and tell General Yang that the rebels besieging Daixian are Yang Liang's elite army, with a total of more than 40,000 people, and the main general Qiao Zhongkui is even more resourceful, and must not underestimate the enemy. ”

Li Jing was still a little worried, there were only 5,000 cavalry, and Yang Yuanba's troops were still small. Coupled with the fact that he is too young, can he beat Qiao Zhongkui, who is both civil and military?

At this time, Hou Mo Chen Yi suddenly said: "It's better to make the king go to lead the Youzhou cavalry, and I will defend the city." ”

His words were obviously a little contemptuous of Yang Yuanba, Su Lie's face suddenly swelled red, and he said angrily: "You dare to be so rude, we will return to Youzhou immediately." Don't save it!"

Li Jing hurriedly stopped Hou Mochen with a look, and said apologetically to Su Lie: "General Hou Mochen is by no means rude, it is really that your troops are too small, and the other party has more than 40,000 elite soldiers, I am very worried that you will not be able to resist." ”

Su Lie sneered. A few months ago, he led the cavalry of the 300 Tianwu Army and more than 1,000 guards of the Qimin Khan to defeat more than 20,000 people of the Xue Yantuo Department on the shore of Lake Harry, and personally killed the Western Turkic Luo Khan, Weizhen Grassland, but you are ignorant. ”

Li Jing and Hou Mo Chen Yi glanced at each other, their eyes were moved, they had never heard of the battle that Su Lie said, Hou Mo Chen Yi was moved, he really wanted to meet this young general of the Megatron Grassland, and see how he defeated Yang Liang's 40,000 elites.

He bowed to Li Jing and said, "I am willing to assist General Yang, please ask for your permission!"

Li Jing nodded slowly, "You can lead five hundred people to assist, and everything is under the command of General Yang." ”

。。。。。。。。。

Qiao Zhongkui was originally a Lanzhou assassin, both civil and military, outstanding in China, not only able to govern the place, but also good at leading troops to fight, he is a firm supporter of Yang Liang, but also deeply respected by Yang Liang, was named Shangzhu State by Yang Liang, and became one of his right-hand men.

This time, Yang Liang specially handed over the important task of attacking Daizhou and stabilizing the situation in northern Taiyuan to Qiao Zhongkui, and at the same time successively allocated 50,000 elite soldiers and handed them over to Qiao Zhongkui to command, making the Daizhou battlefield the key to Yang Liang's capture of the northern part of Bingzhou.

Qiao Zhongkui is about forty years old today, medium in stature, very mediocre in appearance, and there is nothing special about his appearance, but he is very knowledgeable, and he is also very proficient in military strategy, he has practiced martial arts, and he is skilled in bows and horses, so that a bright silver spear can also be charged and killed in battle, of course, he does not belong to the type of fierce general.

Qiao Zhongkui has already received information that 5,000 cavalry are coming from Flying Fox and are coming to Yanmen County, and at the same time he has obtained another information, Yang Yichen, the governor of Shuozhou, is also leading 20,000 cavalry infantry to Daizhou, and at most two days later, Yang Yichen's army will also enter Daizhou.

These two news made Qiao Zhongkui very nervous, he paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking hard about how to deal with it, he was thinking about retreating to Taiyuan Mansion first, or concentrating his forces to break through the two support armies one by one.

It is almost impossible to withdraw to Taiyuan Mansion, and if he does not fight, he will withdraw, and Yang Liang will not spare him, so he can only choose the latter strategy and concentrate his forces to break through the two support armies one by one.

If it is a later strategy, it must be before Yang Yichen's army arrives in Daizhou, first defeat Yang Yuan's overlordship, and then turn around to Xicheng Pass, wait for work, and defeat Yang Yichen's army, which is the most ideal state.

But the question is, is Yang Yuanba willing to fight with him obediently? They are cavalry, coming and going like the wind, if Yang Yuanba knows that Yang Yichen's army is coming, then he will definitely let himself fight Yang Yichen first, and then he will kill from behind at a critical time, so that he will suffer from the enemy, if he is Yang Yuanba, he will also choose this strategy.

Qiao Zhongkui paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, he was thinking, what method to use to attract Yang Yuanba to a decisive battle with him, he sat down and closed his eyes, where is Yang Yuanba's weakness? Young, this should be his biggest weakness, most young generals have a common characteristic, that is, newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, greedy for merit and war.

Qiao Zhongkui thought of a bold plan in his mind, if he didn't invest a little blood, Yang Yuanba would not be fooled.

。。。。。。。。。

Yang Yuanba's 5,000 cavalry stationed in Zaolin Town, about 40 miles away from Yanmen County, Zaolin Town, as the name suggests, is named after many jujube forests, in the east of the town, there is indeed an endless wild jujube forest, covering an area of nearly 1,000 acres, including several hills, all over the mountains, big trees are in groups, and the tallest big trees reach more than five zhang.

Hutuo River flows close to Zaolin Town, brings abundant irrigation water to Zaolin Town's less than 20 hectares of fertile land, the whole Zaolin Town is not big, only less than 200 households, there are two things that are most famous here, one is Yanmen jujube, the skin is thin and the flesh is thick, sweet and long, it has been sent into the capital as a tribute, and the red jujube harvest every day can be sold at a good price.

The third famous thing is the wooden staff, jujube wood is hard and delicate, not easy to deform, is the best material for making all kinds of canes, especially suitable for the ash pole and flagpole used in the army.

Therefore, although Zaolin Town is small, but every household has food, sideline business, and is generally wealthy, but the outbreak of war has brought a huge impact to Zaolin Town, and even a catastrophe, the arrival of the army is first of all to collect and plunder grain, if the military discipline is better, maybe it is just a ruin, if the military discipline is bad, it is a broken family.

At this time, most of the more than 200 families in Zaolin Town have fled into the county seat, the town is deserted, every family is closed, as soon as the five thousand cavalry arrives, the town is lively again, every household is full of troops, they are tired day and night, they fall asleep, and the war horses are also resting.

After a brief period of bustle, the town was quiet again, most of the soldiers were asleep, only a few hundred scouts were scattered within twenty miles of the town, and a sentry of fifty men patrolled the town back and forth.

At this time, a group of 500 cavalry rushed from the southwest, led by Su Lie, who was going to the county seat to deliver a letter, and Hou Mo Chenyi, the general of Daizhou, who had just arrived at the entrance of the town, was stopped by the patrol.

"Dismount and speak!" shouted a centurion.

Everyone dismounted, and Su Lie stepped forward and said, "This is General Hou Mochen, the commander of the Yanmen Army, and I have come to see General Yang." ”

"The army cannot enter the town, and no more than five people can enter the town. The centurion said unceremoniously.

Su Lie immediately said to Hou Mo Chenyi: "The general will settle the army first! ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi was helpless, so he had to order his subordinates to rest and wait outside the town, he followed Su Lie into the town, a little far away from the patrol soldiers, Hou Mo Chen Yi looked back at the patrol officer just now, and finally couldn't help but say: "A little centurion, is it so majestic?"

Su Lie glanced at him coldly, "Within the scope of his authority, he is a centurion who can kill you without guilt." ”