In Fengcheng, reinforcements from all over the place have been arriving one after another during this period. The reinforcements along the way have to fight and break off some troops before they can enter the city.
Zhang Li, the king of Anxi, was looking at the reinforcements that had entered the city after losing their troops and generals, and suppressed the anxiety in his heart. Others can be anxious, but he cannot be anxious.
"Your Majesty, the men and horses from Baicheng and Zhongcheng have arrived. The two armies have joined forces and rushed into the city. There were no major casualties." An official hurried over to report to King Anxi.
King Anxi nodded lightly, but before he spoke, another official rushed over: "Your Majesty... Chengnan, please go and have a look..."
When King Zhang Lizheng of Anxi saw him out of breath, his heart tightened and he asked in a deep voice: "Has the South City Gate been broken down?"
"No...no, the Beiyi soldiers and horses at the South City Gate were killed and dispersed..." the official replied breathlessly.
"Been killed and dispersed?" King Anxi was surprised. There were Beiyi soldiers and horses in each of the four southeastern and northwest cities of Fengcheng, especially Beicheng and Nancheng. Beiyi sent heavy troops to guard them, with 40,000 horses in front and behind. Unless all the soldiers and horses in Fengcheng rush into one place, how can they defeat so many soldiers and horses?
Without waiting for Zhang Lizheng to ask, the official hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, please go to the South City Gate and have a look!"
Zhang Lizheng ignored the inquiry and strode out of the palace with the officials, heading south of the city.
Arriving at the south of the city, Anxi King Zhang Lizheng climbed to the top of the city and looked down. Sure enough, the Beiyi soldiers and horses had already retreated, leaving only the camp in the distance.
"What's going on?" King Anxi asked Jiang Yong, the guard in the south of the city.
Jiang Yong pointed to a large open space on the southwest side of the other side of the city: "Your Majesty, please look over there."
Zhang Lizheng looked far away and saw a large continuous military camp built there, with flags fluttering, but it was too far away to see clearly the words on the flags.
"Where are the reinforcements?" Zhang Lizheng asked.
Jiang Yong smiled bitterly and replied: "The general has sent people to investigate. The big sign on the flag is 'Loyalty Gong', which is Li Ziqi..."
"Mr. Zhongyi?" Zhang Lizheng was a little confused: "Isn't Li Dingxing in Ancheng? When did he come to Fengcheng?"
Li Dingxing, Wang Xuan and others moved their troops from Sichuan and Sichuan to Ancheng. The three northern kings had already investigated this matter clearly. The nearest northern king's sentry troops kept inquiring about their movements day and night. It turned out that there was no movement when they arrived at Ancheng, and the sentinels relaxed. Unexpectedly, due to this negligence, many soldiers and horses had quietly reached the vicinity of Fengcheng.
Jiang Yong replied: "Your Majesty, after the soldiers and horses from Baicheng and Zhongcheng entered the city, we had just closed the city gate, and suddenly we heard the shouts of killing coming from outside again. We thought there were reinforcements arriving outside the city. I didn't have time to come in. As soon as I opened the door and rushed out with my troops, I saw the Beiyi soldiers and horses being charged and killed by this group of soldiers and horses."
"Those Beiyi people were waiting for a counterattack to fight. When they saw us rushing out of the city, they were so frightened that they fled in a panic. They didn't even have time to pull out the camp and withdrew to the east."
Zhang Li was rubbing his chin, and only then did he realize that when Li Dingxing led his troops here, they happened to encounter the reinforcements from Zhongcheng and Baicheng entering the city, and they were fighting. They came to help in the battle, but reinforcements entered the city. The defenders on the city heard the fighting outside and thought there were reinforcements, so they opened the city gate to receive them.
Such repeated riots actually frightened the Beiyi soldiers and horses outside the city, thinking that they were going to cooperate with each other and attack together, so they were so frightened that they fled eastward.
"Have you ever sent someone to inquire about their purpose of coming?" Zhang Lizheng did not dare to take it lightly. As the king of Anxi, he was closely related to the three northern kings. Apart from transporting annual tribute to the Central Plains every year, they had already cut off contact with them. Li Dingxing arrived when the Beiyi troops attacked the city. He didn't quite believe that the other party was so kind and came to help.
More importantly, among the eight kings, the Li family of Nanhuai was the first to take the initiative to cancel the vassal territory, and now it has brought troops to Fengcheng. It is difficult not to think about it.
Jiang Yong replied: "My lord, I have already sent people to ask. They only said that they were here to help defend against the Northern Yi, and they did not answer anything else."
"If you send someone again, just tell me that I will invite Li Dingxing to the city to talk." Zhang Lizheng acted vigorously and resolutely. If someone wanted to lie down next to the bed where he was sleeping, he had to ask who he was.
Jiang Yong turned around and called a clever scout and gave some instructions. Before leaving, he specifically asked "be polite". When he looked at Zhang Lizheng's face again, he didn't look sideways and didn't comment. The Northern Yi troops were approaching the city. At this time, Li Dingxing from Nanhuai came with his troops in the name of the imperial court. It is always right to be polite.
On the city wall, everyone watched from a distance as a group of soldiers and horses escorted the scout to Li Dingxing's camp. Soon, the soldiers and horses escorted him back. But there was no movement at all in the camp.
"He refuses to come?" Zhang Lizheng frowned and guessed.
After a while, the scout came to the top of the city and replied: "Go back to the prince, I went to the camp, but I didn't see Mr. Li. I just sent a message. He said that there is a strong enemy nearby, and he will not leave the camp for a long time. Mr. Li If you have anything to say, please condescend to the main camp, and 80,000 soldiers from the military camp will ensure that the prince is safe."
"..."
On the city wall, there was silence.
"Your Majesty, he is so unreasonable! He is just a mere prince, but he actually wants the prince to condescend to go to his military camp. And declaring the Eight Kings' troops is clearly a threat!" Jiang Yong, a military general, said angrily. With.
Just now, he thought of being polite and inviting them as reinforcements, but unexpectedly, he was met with a hot face but a cold butt, which made Jiang Yong feel quite humiliated.
The civil servants on the side were afraid that Zhang Lizheng would be angry, so they quickly admonished: "Your Majesty, now that the Northern Yi is pressing the border, please think twice about everything you do!"
"Coward!" Jiang Yong spat lightly.
When the civil servant heard Jiang Yong's comment, he straightened his back slightly: "If the prince has anything to say, he can tell it to the official. The official is willing to go to Mr. Li's military camp on behalf of the prince! "
"I didn't invite you. I'm afraid I'm just rushing to hug the imperial court!" Jiang Yong said angrily behind the official.
Zhang Lizheng smiled: "Oh, I heard that the second son of the old Li family is very strategic, and it seems to be true. I just want to know how he crossed the many cities in Anxi and came here. But now there are 80,000 soldiers Ma, it’s not surprising to be here..."
"Your Majesty..." The civil servant wanted to say more, but Zhang Lizheng stretched out his hand to stop him: "We are all thinking about each other now that the enemy is in front of us. If he doesn't want to come, it's just like I don't want to go. Since I don't want to, I won't force it. Retreat the Beiyi soldiers and horses first, and then we will take care of it."
King Anxi opened his mouth, and the civil servants and military officers stopped arguing. They all stopped and waited for the prince's next order.
"Did the Beiyi people move to the east gate?" Zhang Lizheng asked.
Jiang Yong called the spies over, and the spies replied truthfully: "The Beiyi soldiers and horses did not turn to the east gate, but formed a formation at the southeast corner of Fengcheng, about twenty miles away from the south gate."
Everyone looked at Zhang Lizheng. He pointed at Beiyi's camp with a smile and said, "Who can hide this little plan? They're just waiting for us to attack their camp before we can counterattack."
"The people outside the wall are not kings and are very greedy! They want to fish but are reluctant to give up the bait, so let them wait there!" Zhang Lizheng laughed loudly and walked down the city wall. He had to admit that 80,000 soldiers and horses The amount really gave him a reassurance.
The King of Anxi now has no need to worry, not only to sit back and relax.
…
"Hu Yanlan! Come out! How dare you deceive me!" Kuo Zuoyi grabbed a broken sword, pushed aside the Beiyi guards who came to block him, and strode towards the commander's tent.
This loud voice called out some of the other generals in the camp and gathered outside the commander's tent. Everyone knew Kuo Zuoyi's temperament. Some folded their arms and waited to watch the show, some were worried about Hu Yanlan's safety, and some simply didn't understand what was going on.
The curtain of the commander's tent was lifted, and Hu Yanlan walked out of the tent: "Has General Kuo Zuoyi invaded Fengcheng?"
"What kind of Fengcheng are you attacking? Our army only has 10,000 troops. We can only attack it if we can! You old boy tricked me into attacking the city, causing our army to lose three thousand brothers in vain. What on earth did you plan to do? Heart!" When Kuo Zuoyi saw Hu Yanlan, he said angrily and wanted to grab him by the collar.
Hu Yanlan stood there, only smiling and saying nothing. It was not until Kuo Zuoyi came closer that several Beiyi generals appeared on both sides and stopped him.
"General Kuo Zuoyi said that I deceived you. May I ask the general, how did I deceive you?" Hu Yanlan asked lightly.
"You said there were those two boys in the city. I attacked the city for a long time and never saw them at all!" Kuo Zuoyi said angrily.
Hu Yanlan frowned and looked at Kuo Zuoyi as if he were a fool: "General, there are more than tens of thousands of people in Feng City? You just attacked a north gate, and you didn't see anyone, so you concluded that there is no such person in the city?" "
"Uh..." Kuo Zuoyi was stunned. Seeing his appearance, Hu Yanlan couldn't help but smile to herself. This guy was even stupider than she thought.
"The general failed to attack the city, how can you say that what I said is wrong? Now I am rushing here to ask for an explanation, but I can't do anything. Generals, please don't stop me. As long as you report today's events to the generals truthfully, Just sweat." Hu Yanlan calmly imitated the way of the Central Plains people, standing with hands behind her hands, not hiding at all.
The other generals saw that Kuo Zuoyi had calmed down a lot and let go of him. He did not continue to be aggressive, but stood still, thought for a while, then slowly turned around and walked towards the camp gate.
"By the way, how many casualties did the general just say? I want to make a record and report it to the Khan." Seeing his appearance, Hu Yanlan called him from behind.
Kuo Zuoyi was shocked when he heard this, and quickly turned around and ran to Hu Yanlan's side. Hu Yanlan took two steps sideways, ignored him, and shouted loudly: "Generals, please return to your camps to prepare for war, and be ready to obey military orders at any time." , turned around and entered the handsome tent.
Regardless of their purpose, the surrounding generals all felt a little bored and dispersed when they saw that what they thought was a good show turned out to be this.
Kuo Zuoyi thought for a moment, rushed into the camp, and knelt down with a thump: "Master Huyan, please don't worry about this little man's recklessness and save me!"
"Keeping this secret for you?" Hu Yanlan asked, looking down at him.
"I can't thank you enough! I can't thank you enough!" Kuo Zuoyi nodded repeatedly.
These soldiers and horses were all brought out from the Hefan tribe in Tibano. If he knew that he had gone out to fight without permission and lost three thousand soldiers and horses, coupled with the defeat a few months ago, he would probably be dead.
"Well, don't worry, General." Hu Yanlan responded with a smile on her lips.
Looking at the back of Kuo Zuoyi leaving the military tent, Hu Yanlan was a little curious. What was he thinking when he led 10,000 troops to attack Fengcheng...
What Hu Yanlan didn't know was that Hu Yantuo even led five thousand soldiers and horses to attack Fengcheng not long ago...
