After hearing this, Mai Mengcai immediately came out and said: "General, since the defeat of Xiao Xian, there has been no fighting in Jingxiang for many years. The Jiangling garrison has about 15,000 people. After Yang Gongren's rebellion, many soldiers were unwilling to follow him in rebellion. , fled from the army one after another. A few days ago, Qilang defeated the rebels and killed thousands of prisoners. According to the final estimate, the number of regular troops that Yang Gongren can use now should be around 10,000."
Xu Wei, the military advisor who accompanied the army, said: "In the past few days, I have asked the Jiangling garrison who escaped to Xiangyang and the rebels captured by Qilang, as well as the spies who went to Jiangling to reply. After Yang Gongren launched a mutiny, he forced young men to join the army in Jiangling and recruited civilian husbands on a large scale. Repairing the city wall seems to be an attempt to rely on Jiangling to resist!"
"Yang Gongren is just talking nonsense!"
General Qu Neng sneered disdainfully: "Jiangling has been under the rule of the Sui Dynasty for a long time, and the people's livelihood is stable. No matter how Yang Gongren uses all kinds of methods, it is impossible to win over the hearts of the people and make the soldiers and civilians in the city work for him in just over a month. . As long as my Sui army comes to the city, Jiangling will be destroyed without attack!"
"General!"
Having said this, Qu Neng turned to Yang Yanzhao and asked for orders: "Please allocate an elite force to the general. Within ten days, the general will capture Jiangling and take Yang Gongren's head!"
When Yang Yansi heard this, he quickly came out and said: "Sixth brother, leave this matter to me! Seven days, I only need seven days to capture Jiangling!"
Yang Yanzhao did not look at the two generals Yang Yansi and Qu Neng who were asking for battle. Instead, he turned to look at Han Shizhong who was silent and said, "Good minister, what do you think?"
After Yang Gao gave Yang Yanzhao the order to send troops to quell the rebellion, Yang Gao also mentioned Han Shizhong's name, saying that this man was brave and resourceful. Only then did Yang Yanzhao want to see what Han Shizhong was capable of.
Han Shizhong stood up slowly, looked around the hall, and then said: "The last general heard that Yang Gongren also fought on the battlefield in his early years, and fought hard to defeat the enemy when suppressing Yang Xuangan's rebellion, and his achievements were greater than those of other generals. Jiangling is an isolated city, and it is trapped in an isolated city. It is impossible for General Yang Gongren not to understand this."
Yang Yanzhao's eyebrows twitched slightly, he looked at Han Shizhong and asked in a deep voice: "What do you mean by the good minister?"
"The general believes that Yang Gongren's current appearance of defending Jiangling is to confuse the public and cover up his true purpose."
Han Shizhong said in a deep voice: "Li Shimin, the puppet king of Qin in the Tang Dynasty, led an army of hundreds of thousands to invade Bashu. Everything they do now should be aimed at Bashu, and the rebellion against Yang Gongren is no exception.
The general believes that Yang Gongren is now using Jiangling City as bait to attract the attention of our army. In fact, he is likely to send an elite force to sneak attack Bashu.
When Li Tang invaded the country, all the main soldiers of General Li Jing rushed to the front line to defend against the enemy. The rear areas of Bashu were empty. At this time, even a rebel army of several thousand people could turn the rear areas of Bashu upside down! "
"What Liangchen said coincides with mine!"
Yang Yanzhao nodded, secretly admiring Yang Gao's ability to recognize people. He could still find good generals like Han Shizhong as far away as Hebei.
"Han Shizhong, Yang Yansi listen to the order!"
Yang Yanzhao quickly gathered his thoughts and shouted loudly: "I order you two to lead five thousand elite cavalry and set off at starry night, with Han Shizhong as the leader and Yang Yansi as the deputy. Remember, we will never allow a rebel to enter Bashu!"
"I will obey your orders!"
When Yang Yansi saw Han Shizhong analyzing things clearly in the lobby, he knew he was a capable person and didn't care that he was above him. He and Han Shizhong clasped their fists and took orders.
. . . . . . . . . .
Yiling, named because "the water reaches here and the mountains are flat, and the mountains reach here and the mausoleums", has an extremely important strategic position and is the choke point from Jingxiang to Bashu.
A team of 8,000 people was walking at high speed on the mountain roads of Yiling County. The leading general, with a face as heavy as a jujube, a beautiful beard hanging down from his chest, a green dragon sword in his palm, and a jujube red horse on his hip, is none other than Wang Junke, the fierce general of the Tang army.
Li Shimin knew that Yang Gongren did not have many strong generals, so he sent Wang Junke, a brave general, to return to Chang'an and follow Yang Shidao to Jiangling.
In addition to Wang Junke, this team also had two commanding generals, Yang Gongren's confidants Zhou Yi and Wang Xiu. Their trip was to attack Bashu and support Li Shimin.
In order to conceal their whereabouts, these thousands of people marched day and night, and sometimes had to walk through steep and dangerous mountain roads to bypass villages and towns. This made these soldiers who had just changed their flags complain endlessly. But soon, after Wang Junke beheaded several of the most yelling generals in public, no one dared to speak out.
"Send an order to the entire army to set up camp on the spot!"
Seeing the east gradually turning white, Wang Junke reined in his horses and formed a camp by the water. The soldiers were exhausted after running around all night, and soon they wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep.
By this time the stream had thawed and was gurgling along the river. The wind in the mountains whistled and made strange whistles. At this time, more than a hundred figures suddenly appeared in the forest, and the leader was Han Shizhong.
"It's really here!"
Han Shizhong curled his lips slightly. Although Wang Junke tried his best to hide his whereabouts, how could a team of thousands of people not leave any traces? How could they not find it as long as they tried their best to inquire?
It must have been for this reason that Yang Gongren built a great momentum in Jiangling in an attempt to attract all the attention of the Sui army.
"Go down, be careful not to be discovered by their patrols!"
Han Shizhong lowered his voice and waved his hands, and the group of people walked down the mountain path cautiously. Whether it was because Wang Junke was confident that their itinerary was secretive or because the rebels were too exhausted, Han Shizhong and his party approached the camp without meeting any patrol posts.
"superior!"
Han Shizhong reached out and made a move, and hundreds of Sui warriors rushed in quickly like tigers descending from the mountain. They took out the flammable substances such as saltpeter, sulfur, and pine oil they carried with them, and threw them freely, and the fires ignited quickly.
"It's gone, it's gone!"
The rebels suddenly fell into chaos. Many soldiers were ignited by the fire while they were sleeping. They were running around the camp on fire. Screams broke out one after another, and the entire camp turned into a mess.
"kill!"
Seeing the fire started, Yang Yansi, who had already agreed with Han Shizhong to wait for a long time, raised the black gold gun in his hand, gave a long shout, and rode out first. The sound of horse hooves rumbled and swept towards the chaotic rebels.
"Ding dong, it has been detected that Yang Yansi has entered the charging state, the force is +6, the base force is 99, and the current force has increased to 105."
"Ding dong, it has been detected that Han Shizhong has entered the brave state, his force is +6, his base force is 98, and his current force has increased to 104."
On the other side, Han Shizhong snatched a war horse from the rebels. He wielded a big sword with great courage. He was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. He ran rampant among the rebels and was so unstoppable that he killed the rebel soldiers and fled in all directions. .
