That night, the deposed dragon army's night attack failed. The two sides did not fight again the next day. Early in the morning, the top brass of both armies also confirmed that Chanyuan City was broken by Qu Tuda and that Niuda fled westward. information.
By this time, the Deposed Dragon Army was naturally hit hard. The excitement brought by the undefeated scene in the previous battles could not be said to have been wiped away, but there was not much left.
However, what is interesting is that the officers and soldiers were not completely happy here, and even broke up on bad terms again.
The reason couldn't be simpler. The deposed dragon army was worried that after Qu Tuda broke through Chanyuan, he would have no scruples and arrive at the battlefield quickly. The generals in the Hejian camp were generally worried that after Qu Tuda broke through Chanyuan, he would not be able to win enough. Perfunctory achievements, no more eastward march... just like so-and-so took the head of a leader and then lay down.
This can be regarded as a sincere conclusion drawn from a heart-to-heart comparison.
In short, the chaos among the senior government and military officials on this day was basically a continuation of the chaos since they returned yesterday. With everyone having their own secrets, the situation not only did not ease, but became even more chaotic and tense.
This made Xue Changxiong even more upset.
However, he did not stop various military affairs despite being anxious, angry, disappointed and uneasy. In the morning, Luo Shu and Li Li led the Youzhou Army to leave the battlefield as planned and advance to Yangxin in the east, stationed there, and ordered the demolition The "backbone" military order was also sent out last night.
And just after the Youzhou Army left, a man suddenly met with Xue Changxiong privately.
"Let him come in!" Xue Changxiong thought for a moment, and although he was a little irritated, he still decided to come and listen, because what happened in the past two days highlighted this person's reliability and sincerity.
After a moment, a person entered the small tent belonging to Xue Changxiong's personal family at the back of the Chinese army's tent. It was Cao Shancheng, the prefect of Qinghe.
"Mr. Cao Fu, what can I tell you?" Even if it was a private meeting, Xue Changxiong was a little perfunctory, and he didn't even make a gesture to sit down.
"Your Majesty has a military suggestion and a strategy. Please listen to it, General." Cao Shancheng also didn't pay attention to this and just handed it over directly in the small tent.
"you say."
"Please general, please divide your troops to make a detour, pass through Douzigang from the west, and attack the side of the rebel army." Cao Shancheng's calculation was straightforward.
Xue Changxiong paused for a moment, then shook his head and laughed: "Mr. Cao Fu is really persistent."
"Perseverance is a thing. Cao's determination to wipe out the thieves, restore peace to Hebei, and regain a peaceful world has not changed day by day since he saw Zhang Jinscale's unrestrained slaughter. In this world, there must be something. Rules and order, otherwise the soldiers and civilians will suffer heavy casualties, and the bones will be spread in the fields." Cao Shancheng continued to lean forward and answer sincerely. "However, this time's strategy is actually very different from the previous one."
Xue Changxiong thought for a while, then sighed in the seat behind the table, and then raised his hand slightly to signal: "I believe these are the words from the bottom of my heart, Mr. Cao Fu, who truly has the world in mind... Please continue to speak. .”
"That's it." Cao Shancheng stood up straight and explained seriously. "As far as our army is concerned, the current situation is that the chessboard camp facing the opponent head-on has actually encountered resistance, or it has made no progress, so that it cannot see the prospects of this battle, and then the morale of the army is shaken, so it is in urgent need of breakthroughs and results; As far as the enemy is concerned, although they are holding on at this time, they cannot prevent the defeat of Chanyuan. They don't know whether the imperial armies on the western front will come to attack. Therefore, even if they are holding on on the surface, they will inevitably be defeated on the inside. There will be hesitation and panic..."
"So, sending troops at this time may not have miraculous effects?" Xue Changxiong finally listened.
"It's more than that." Cao Shancheng took a step forward and continued talking next to the table. "General, have you ever thought about it. If we are more careful, we can use the cover of moving big logs to the city behind us to separate and send a main force of elite troops there, and then gather from the rear and launch a surprise attack from the Lujiao Pass in the west of Douzigang. If we ask the general to use the banner of General Qutu again, whose army will they think this is? And how will they react?!"
"That's interesting!" Xue Changxiong suddenly clapped his hands and pointed at a chair nearby. "Tell me more about it!"
"There is no need to elaborate, some things will be revealed once you talk about it." Cao Shancheng raised his head and answered. "General... The reason why I'm here in private today is that firstly, I only learned about General Qutu's victory at Chanyuan during the military meeting, which was a strategy that was developed in response to the times; secondly, there are many people with mixed opinions, and at this time, it's already..." I have said that this matter should be kept as secretive as possible and carefully concealed; thirdly, I actually know that the previous strategies of inviting people to raid around Douzigang have been refuted. Not only did the general feel that it was not necessary in terms of military affairs, but also the general had doubts about the West. Reinforcements from all the families along the way are all deployed by Dongdu. It is possible that someone will become a new leader of Hebei with the support of Cao Zhongcheng. And this time I want to make it clear to the general that we will divide our troops here. The general can use the Hejian soldiers to do this. For this matter, I can just be a leader and deputy general."
The third article obviously made Xue Changxiong feel slightly embarrassed, but it was only awkward for a moment before the Hebei marching director began to think seriously.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that what the other party said made sense.
From a military perspective, whether to divide the troops or not is just a matter of choice.
But the problem is that now the two heavily armed groups are concentrated around Ban County, north of Douzigang and south of Maface River. The possibility of a large-scale breakthrough in a short period of time has actually been lost. So it is not a bad idea to take some risks and divide the troops to open a new front. No. If the military mentality of both sides is taken into account, pretending to be Qutuda and launching an attack may be really effective.
In addition, there is another thing that Cao Shancheng doesn't know, and that is what is going on in the east. Xue Changxiong only said that there were some bandits arranged by Zhang Xing to harass the Bohai Sea, and asked Luo Shu and Li Li to go to Yangxin for cooperation. We should be on guard and pay attention to the possibility of the rebel army advancing eastward. We did not dare to publicly mention the direction of the rebel army entering the state before the end of the cold flood season, which meant that large-scale support would be provided within a few days.
Therefore, his desire to open up the situation is actually more urgent than Cao Shancheng imagined.
For political reasons, although the other party's words were obviously full of resentment, it seemed to be true.
Moreover, there is something that Cao Shancheng did not think of or simply did not say, that is, if he attacks from the west in the name of Qu Tuda, even if it is not completely effective, it can still play an excellent urging role - let Qu Tuda Tu Da and others could not hesitate and asked reinforcements from all over the west road to come quickly.
Even considering the difficulty of the deposed dragon thief, including the overall complexity of the entire battle, Xue Changxiong must consider the possibility of a long-term battle. And if it is a long-term battle, it will be necessary to divide the troops from the north to the south to trap the thieves and cut off the most direct and effective support route from the east, which is around Lujiao Pass on the west side of Douzigang.
In a word, at this moment and that moment, Xue Changxiong was not only tempted, but also directly convinced to a considerable extent.
As soon as he thought of this, General Xue picked up the straight knife on the bed in front of him and patted the table in front of him with the scabbard. As soon as the table rang, a bell outside the tent also rang inexplicably. When he heard the sound, he immediately Several armored guards came in to salute.
"Go and call Chen Sima." Xue Changxiong immediately ordered.
Hearing this, Cao Shancheng also breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that Chen Bin was Xue Changxiong's deputy and think tank in daily handling of military affairs. He called this person here, firstly, to get his final opinion; secondly, if this person did not object, If so, it is very likely that the other party will be asked directly to help arrange and implement it.
"I think it's feasible." After hearing this, Chen Bin just thought for a moment and then directly expressed his agreement. "But there's one thing...who will be the actual coach? The fourth general or the seventh general? Or the third general? It can't be the manager and you go there in person, right?"
Xue Changxiong smiled, but immediately became embarrassed.
Cao Shancheng, on the other hand, still had the magnanimity to think about the overall situation at this time, and immediately suggested: "In name, under the banner of General Qu Tuda, but judging from the strength of the deposed dragon thief, it is best to have a master of Chengdan in charge. Only in this way can we achieve the best shock effect and self-protection ability. As for the several major generals, there is no harm in sending a few more, but we still have to respect the overall situation."
"This is natural." Xue Changxiong waved his hand. "But Mr. Cao Mansion thinks about it. If we don't send these brothers to lead by example, it will make others worry that this division of troops will lead to death, and then postpone it. Instead of doing this, I might as well wait for General Qu Tuda... ...As for Chen Sima and I, we are mainly afraid that the two brothers will be dissatisfied with each other."
"If the major generals don't go, the general manager is worried that they won't march properly, right?" Cao Shancheng shook his head, but immediately moved away from the topic. "But according to me, if you have to choose a person to call the shots among several major generals, you should still choose General Xue Wanbi... The four generals are the ones with the highest cultivation, the best martial arts, and the most determination to fight among the generals. He is the vanguard general on the front line, and he must be the one to command the divisions, and none of the others can."
A look of embarrassment flashed across Xue Changxiong's face, then he thought seriously for a while and finally nodded.
Because it is.
Chen Bin still had no need to express anything, he just agreed.
In other words, Xue Changxiong liked his younger son very much. While the eldest son was being held hostage in Jiangdu, he vaguely regarded the seventh Xue Wanquan as the successor to Hejian Camp. However, the other Xue brothers have been dissatisfied with this, especially Xue Wanbi, the fourth child with the most outstanding ability, did not dare to express his dissatisfaction with his father and could not talk to the seventh child about the matter because his eldest brother was still alive in Jiangdu, but he hated Chen Bin, Xue Changxiong's confidant. people.
Since the beginning of the war, Chen Bin has been ridiculed and attacked by Xue Wanbi many times, but it is not really because of Chen Sima's errands.
But Chen Bin still agreed, not because he was generous, but because he still hasn't been able to get over what happened yesterday. He probably will only deal with Xue Changxiong before this battle is over, and everything will go according to his wishes. coming.
"How many people do you think we should send?" Xue Changxiong continued to ask after seeing that the matter had been decided.
"I'm afraid it won't be effective if we send too few. The core force must at least exceed the size of General Qu Tuda, and it must have a strong military force... I thought it should be four Zhonglang generals, preferably five, and 15,000 elites... ...It is only appropriate to mix the soldiers from Qinghe County led by me and the soldiers from Pingyuan County led by Lord Qianfu." Cao Shancheng said solemnly. "Manager, Mr. Qian's anger yesterday was justified, but he never thought that if the thieves were not eliminated, the whole Pingyuan County would be poisoned, so he was angry... In short, he will turn around sooner or later. What's more, the soldiers in his department know the topography of Douzigang better than any other department."
"You can't use him." Xue Changxiong waved his hand. "It's not that I'm being stingy, but it's such a big deal, involving the success or failure of hundreds of thousands of troops, and strict military security is the top priority. According to his angry state yesterday, even if it's for his own good, he shouldn't be allowed to go... he can be allowed to go When his soldiers from Pingyuan County returned to Ande or Jiangling, they only said that they would transport large trees, and then you would take them as guides, but he himself must stay with me to take care of them personally."
Cao Shancheng sighed. He originally wanted to defend Qian Tang, but he was more worried that the plan would fail and things would not be accomplished, so he simply stopped mentioning the matter.
But Chen Bin just skipped this topic and continued: "If this is the case, how about letting Ande's three generals directly participate in this battle? The troops from Ande, Pingyuan, and Jiangling cities will follow us. There are only four generals and one Chengdan general, plus two county soldiers..."
Xue Changxiong hesitated for a moment: "Are the troops still too few?"
"If we don't move too many troops, wouldn't it be dangerous in the camp?" Although Chen Bin was not prepared to do anything disobedient to Xue Changxiong, he couldn't help but feel a headache at this time. "We have already divided the Youzhou Army to go to Yangxin. Together with Leling's troops and horses, we have transferred another 15,000 troops at this time. Adding in the casualties in the previous few days, there are actually only about 30,000 left. The Hejian Camp has become elite, and some more troops will be sent to suppress Ande City, which is the most critical area...it cannot be reduced."
"That's not necessarily the case." Xue Changxiong said disapprovingly. "The rebel army's twenty-fifth battalion, 50,000 strong, is accurate, but you have also seen that their combat strength of the organized troops is actually not as good as ours. They can barely hold their own when they defend. At this time, the number of casualties in consecutive days of fighting has been reduced. Coupled with the garrison of Banxian County and Pingchang County, how many people can fight even if there is an emergency? Moreover, we have mountains, camps, countless auxiliary soldiers and civilians, and many local states and counties have sent them in advance. There are quite a few county soldiers to deal with errands. If an emergency comes, I am not afraid that they will come to us, but I am afraid that they will be noticed if they don't move, and they will suffer a loss in a hurry."
"Then..." Chen Bin was instantly discouraged again. "Three thousand more soldiers or six thousand more? One general or two generals?"
"Let Lao Wu go too." Xue Changxiong thought for a while and spoke seriously. "Let Gao Zhan take charge."
"General Murong Zhengyan seems to be safer." Cao Shancheng couldn't help but suggest.
Xue Changxiong's eyelids twitched and he wanted to refute, but Chen Bin shook his head repeatedly: "General Murong Zhengyan's company has fought many times, and the number of troops has been reduced..."
At this point, without waiting for Cao Shancheng to speak, Chen Binfu hurriedly came to ask Xue Changxiong: "The Fourth General also suffered heavy losses, what should we do?"
"I will send out my elite troops to help him." Xue Changxiong did not hesitate. "Give him my personal bodyguards too!"
Cao Shancheng was speechless, but he didn't dare to say more at this time, for fear that his long-cherished plan would go awry again.
"Is it settled then?" Chen Bin finally asked. "On the pretext of going to the three cities behind us to get the big wood, let General Gao Zhan take Cao Fujun and the soldiers of the two counties to supervise and transport the matter, and then let the fourth general, the fifth general, and the other generals change the defenses of Pingyuan and Ande... except Apart from these generals, there is no need to tell anyone else in the camp. Even the three generals and others are only asked to inform them in person with military orders and tokens?"
"Gao Zhan, the fourth and fifth laos don't need to be notified either." Xue Changxiong made up his mind. "Write the military order and let them read it after they cross the Ma Face River! If you don't know about the plan, how will the thieves know? And if the thieves find out, it will be too late... This is called a surprise attack!"
"That's exactly what I meant." Chen Bin nodded at the end. "Once the restless army passes Douzigang, we can attack from all fronts. The Zhenqi army formed by the masters will be able to travel for only twenty or thirty miles to support each other, ensuring that the thieves cannot use their tactics and defeat them one by one."
"Why is this necessary?" General Xue said with a smile. "As soon as they begin to pass through Douzigang, we will move the entire army to Tushan and press them face to face... to make them more panicked and to ensure the safety of the troops who are not moving." At this point, Xue Changxiong paused, and suddenly Corrections made. "No, if it's a plan, they just think it's General Qu Tu's troops, and they are pressed by us. The whole army will definitely be shaken. At that time, they will either continue to be unable to retreat and be passively beaten, or they will be dispatched from the chessboard village. Concentrate our forces or divide our forces to seize the partial division, and then we can try to launch a general attack head-on, without taking care of both the beginning and the end, so why bother asking for the safety of the partial division?"
"That's it." Cao Shancheng breathed out.
"That's it." Chen Bin also took a long breath.
Xue Changxiong was not a hesitant. Once this strategy was decided, it was immediately implemented. The simple military meeting was immediately reopened. Gao Zhan was ordered to send troops to supervise the transportation of large logs in the three cities. He was asked to strictly enforce military laws. Cao Shancheng led Qinghe and Pingyuan County soldiers went to transport the big wood.
Immediately, Chen Bin promptly suggested that after this incident, the people of the three cities must be resentful of the garrison in the three cities. In addition, the troops had been fighting for days and were quite damaged. It was time to take a break and rotate the garrison from the cities behind them. Therefore, they could take the opportunity to use Xue Wanbi. , Xue Wancheng, Wang Chang and three generals replaced the garrison of the three cities of Pingyuan, and Wang Fubei replaced the garrison of Leling.
The arrangement of things was so reasonable that Xue Wanbi was even slightly dissatisfied about it and made a fuss. In the end, his father promised to separate the headquarters to fill up his unit, and then he agreed to go to Ande City to replace his third brother Xue Wannian.
As for Qian Tang, perhaps he knew that he was a biological father and son, and he had no room for resistance at all, so he unexpectedly did not protest and just watched indifferently, watching his county soldiers being taken away.
In one day, 20,000 to 30,000 people left the camp, but it did not appear empty at all, because in addition to the nearly 60,000 soldiers from Hejian and Youzhou, there were also hundreds of thousands of county soldiers, auxiliary soldiers, and civilians.
Moreover, this kind of thing will not last long, because the few cities they need to go to are Leling, Pingyuan (county), and Yangxin, which is a little further away. The other two cities in Pingyuan County are Jiangling. He and Ander were so close that they could always be regarded as one with the camp.
This time, if there is no need to move a large amount of baggage, it is estimated that both cities can arrive that night and the replacement can be completed at noon tomorrow. Leling and Pingyuan are more difficult and can be completed at most tomorrow night. As for Yang Although the letter is far away, considering that the Youzhou Army has many cavalry and set off early, it is estimated that they can arrive tonight.
It's just the transportation of the big wood, everyone can't help but feel a little bit confused, and they all feel that it may be delayed for some time due to the confusion of defense changes.
In fact, until dark, everything seemed calm and silent.
Even that evening, Sima Chen Bin, the supervisor of the Hejian Camp, received a letter that was delivered quickly, which caught him off guard and made him somewhat angry.
The letter was written by Zhou Prefect of Bohai. He was probably frightened by the threat in the last urgent letter, so he publicly admitted in the letter that he was indeed too afraid to come before, and most of those excuses were his. He was improvising, but he didn't know whether it was true or not. For example, pirates, it seemed that some thieves had gone to the Yanshan Mountain east of Wudi before... He begged Chen Sima to intercede for him with General Xue, and at the same time said that he They had already set off from Wudi at noon that day and were expected to arrive at the front line at noon tomorrow.
Chen Bin immediately gave the letter to Xue Changxiong. General Xue was also furious to death, but there was nothing he could do... This was obviously a temporary top eunuch, what else could he expect?
So, after the two of them were angry, they went to have a rest.
Not to mention the various other situations on all sides that night, just before the second watch, General Luo Li led eight thousand Youzhou cavalry to drive for a day, and finally arrived at the place where the Bohai prefects were captured in the evening of the same day. Yangxin City, the capital, has been abandoned for more than half a year.
Go and call the door with someone.
But in response to these Youzhou cavalry, there was silence for a while.
Luo Shu and Li Li were both anxious, but after looking at each other, they started to coo inexplicably. They all began to think about the real reason why Xue Changxiong asked them to come here to defend this place.
Fortunately, someone appeared immediately on the city wall with a burning brazier, wearing only a turban and a white-haired short cloak. Army, who believes it? Where is the seal and ribbon? Where is the troop deployment document? Is there a co-signature from my new master?"
Luo Shu smiled, only to laugh on his horse: "Why do you pretend to know nothing? We sent a sentry to report first in the afternoon. Why don't you know the basics? Why did you close the door? ?”
The man was stunned for a moment, but he also smiled: "I know who is coming, but it is not me who is entertaining. I only care about the safety of the city gate... If you ask me, so many of you are the officers and soldiers, my county magistrate I won’t allow you all to come in.”
Luo Shu nodded, turned the horse's head, and suddenly the ice energy flowed through his body. Then he turned around, bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot straight towards the city wall.
The man on the city was caught off guard, and he suddenly raised his body-protecting energy, leaned back, and avoided the arrow by wiping his body. However, he still staggered, and then, before he could recover, he drank from the top of the city. scold:
"You didn't have time to send someone, did you? Are you bluffing me? He's so cunning, could he be Qin Er's grandson's uncle?"
Luo Shu was startled for a moment, and then was shocked. But before he could speak, he saw a golden light rising from behind the city wall, like a golden phoenix rising out of the ground, which was particularly dazzling in the dark night.
But in an instant, the golden phoenix flew down from a high position with an afterimage.
Luo Shu, Li Li and below, including Luo Xin and many Youzhou Army masters, instinctively unleashed their true energy and fought hard to attack, but many people were caught off guard and were knocked off their horses on the spot.
"It's Sanniang Bai of Yitianjian!" Luo Xin was blown off his horse and was horrified. "This person cannot be saved by common sense, father, be careful!"
"Don't be afraid!" Luo Shu blurted out in panic after receiving that blow. "I have actually touched Cheng Dan. Together with Lao Bai and the others, if we form a formation together, we may not be able to stop her!"
In the dark night, the scolding male voice from before sounded again: "With such a plan, where would you put me, the deposed leader of the Dragon Gang and the Great Sage Wang Zhen?"
Immediately, another stream of light rose from the top of the city.
At the same time, the city suddenly lit up with lights, and there were formations of armor and uniforms, as if there were a large group of sergeants ambushing them.
There was even another stream of light rising up, and someone couldn't help but laugh in the night sky: "Xianyun Yehe, come and meet the famous generals of Youzhou!"
Li Li woke up and cursed loudly: "This is a large group of reinforcements coming from Dengzhou by sea! Xue Changxiong is a bastard! He had guessed that it was possible and deliberately tricked us into doing such a hard job, but he was still a step too late!"
Luo Shu was stunned and was about to speak. As a result, another golden light several feet wide flew towards him in the dark night. He could only block it with all his strength. However, this time he was obviously shocked by the movement in the city and was not prepared for it, but he felt that There was a turmoil in my chest that was almost unspeakable.
However, this did not delay the fact that he had already cursed all eighteen generations of Xue Changxiong's ancestors in his heart.
After this attack, not to mention how furious the two generals Luo Shu and Li Li were, Luo Xin, who had been easily swept away early, had only one thought at this time - the opponent must have kept his hand that day!
Relying on the sky and slaying dragons, his reputation is well-deserved.
