In Xiao Mansion, Taiyuan Mansion, Xiao Mohe was sitting upright on his knees on a soft couch, receiving two young scout leaders in the central hall.
Xiao Mohe was one of the chief generals of the Bingzhou Governor's Mansion. With the help of King Yang Liang of Han Dynasty, when the news that Yang Ji divided his troops into two groups reached Taiyuan, he knew it immediately. For this reason, he specially sent a brigade of scouts disguised as The merchants searched and followed Yang Ji and others in the territory. This scout discovered Yang Ji and his party in Jiezhou, and followed them all the way. However, the guards led by Yang Ji were all dead soldiers of the royal palace. They were heavily guarded and well-defended along the way, making them There was no chance to take action, so Xiao Mohe decided to take action at Jingxing leading to Youzhou.
"General Xiao, I didn't expect that the other party was so vigilant. They clearly arrived at Jingxingkou, but they suddenly changed their route to the north in a hurry. This means that the other party already knew that we were following them, so they suddenly changed their route and caught us off guard."
The scout brigade marshal who spoke was none other than Wang Xuba, who was following Yang Ji and others. He was a rare handsome man with bright eyebrows, outstanding demeanor, and majestic air. He was a branch of the Wang family in Taiyuan, and his ancestors went to Yi during the war years. The state is established, but due to the long time and no contact with each other, the Wang family of Taiyuan no longer recognizes their branch. When he visited the Wang family's ancestral home with the genealogy, he was kicked out as a liar. From then on, Wang Xuba vowed to do something great and let the direct descendants of the Wang family, who looked down upon others, know about the side branch. You can accomplish great things without relying on their support.
Next to Wang Xuba is his fellow countryman Wei Daoer. This man is about 20 years old. His bronze face has sharp edges. Under his two thick eyebrows is a high nose bridge and deeply sunken eye sockets. His appearance is striking. , you know that you have Xianbei blood.
Xiao Mohe regarded himself as an authentic member of the Chinese clan, and was really unhappy with Wei Daoer's unruly appearance, but after all, the other party was a minor role working for him, so he did not show his displeasure.
"He was actually discovered. It seems that the leader of this army is quite capable." Xiao Mohe pondered for a while and asked coldly: "Since the other party entered the country, his behavior has been normal. How come he suddenly discovered that you are following him?"
Wang Xuba did not dare to conceal it, so he had to tell the truth: "Yesterday at noon, when Bei Zhi and others were having dinner, they bumped into each other. There was a man named Yuchigong in this team who knew Bei Zhi. This person He disguised himself very well, but the humble official recognized him with his weapon yesterday."
"Yu Chigong? Is he the former Chariot General Wei Chigong of Shuozhou Military Mansion?" Yang Liang had long had the ambition to rebel, and was extremely concerned about the armies of surrounding states, and the soldiers of Shuozhou were also members of the Shangjun Mansion, so he The generals were very concerned, and Xiao Mohe, as Yang Liang's confidant general, naturally knew about Yu Chigong's resignation.
"Exactly! It is said that after Yu Chigong resigned, he was recommended by Chief Yang Yichen and became an official in the Palace of Prince Wei." Seeing that Xiao Mohe had no intention of blaming him, Wang Xuba secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he Suddenly, a strong feeling of jealousy arose in my heart. He asked himself that his ability was no worse than that of Yu Chigong, but so far he was just a scout and brigade commander, while Yuchi Gong became an official of Prince Wei's palace through his connections. This world is really unfair.
"Oh?" Xiao Mohe's eyes lit up after hearing Wang Xuba's words. In fact, Xiao Mohe didn't necessarily want to annihilate this group of people before. His true intention was to arouse the enemy by attacking. , as long as this group of troops becomes vigilant, they will warn Yang Guang, prompting Yang Guang to deploy troops as soon as possible to prevent Yang Liang from suddenly attacking Guanzhong. This will allow Yang Liang, who failed in the attack, to give up Pei Wen'an's strategy and instead segregate Qi to stand on his own.
But now that he heard that Yang Ji's personal subordinate Yu Chigong had sneaked into Bingzhou, Xiao Mohe guessed that the leader of this group was Yang Ji himself. While marveling at Yang Ji's boldness, he also took action to annihilate him in Bingzhou. idea. He thought for a long time and then said to Wang Xuba: "You continue to follow this group of people. I will arrange for others to attack them. If there is any news, be sure to report it to me as soon as possible."
"I obey my orders! I take my leave." Wang Xuba and Wei Dao'er were just junior officers at the lowest level. They didn't know that Yang Liang was about to rebel, nor did they know that King Wei Yang Ji, whom they admired very much, was in the team they were following. Of course, he didn't know that Xiao Mohe was trying to assassinate the king.
The two of them walked to the door, and a polite civil servant of the General Manager's Office passed them by. The civil servant came directly to Xiao Mohe and saluted: "Zhang Boying, who is a humble official, has met General Xiao."
"Zhang Boying!" Xiao Mohe stood up from the soft couch, returned the gift to Zhang Boying, and asked with a smile: "Did the king summon you?"
Zhang Boying nodded: "Exactly!"
Xiao Mohe asked solemnly: "What happened?"
Zhang Boying hesitated for a moment, then whispered: "It is said that Dou Kang sent 15,000 soldiers to block the east entrances of Jingxing, Feihuxing, and Junduxing. The king didn't know what he planned to do, so he summoned all the ministers to discuss it. .”
"I understand!" Xiao Mohe's eyes sparkled. He thought for a moment and said, "Please Zhang Shijun to inform the others first. I will be here soon after changing my clothes."
"I'm sorry to say goodbye." Seeing Xiao Mohe in casual clothes, Zhang Boying didn't doubt his presence. He bowed and left the Xiao Mansion in a hurry.
Xiao Mohe wrote a letter and handed it to the guard beside him, and ordered: "Give this letter to General Xue Cui immediately."
"Here." The guard responded and left.
. . . . . . . . .
Feihuxing, named Feihukou, is also one of the eight passes in Taihang. The pass is named because it crosses Feihu Gorge. It starts from Lingqiu County of Daizhou, Bingzhou in the west, and ends at Feihu County of Yizhou, Youzhou in the east. The total length is more than 100 miles. The mountains on both sides are steep, with high mountains and dense forests all the way, and the roads are extremely complicated. It can be said that one man can pass the pass and ten thousand men can't open it. Continuing eastward from Feihu County, you will reach Puyinxing, which is controlled by Youzhou.
In the early morning two days later, Yang Ji and others had entered Feihuxing. The road was winding and rugged, with thousands of walls standing on both sides. However, the road surface had been continuously smoothed and expanded by the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, allowing carriages and horses to travel freely. Xue Ju rode a horse and walked in the middle of the team. He kept looking up and looking at the surrounding terrain. He saw that the passage was about three feet wide, with cliffs dozens of feet high on both sides. Only a sliver of sky could be seen above his head. If someone was ambushing in front, If they roll down logs and rocks from above, they will surely suffer heavy casualties. If not, they will end up with the entire army annihilated.
The danger that Xue Ju thought of was also thought of by Yang Ji, but there is a saying that "riding a tiger is difficult to dismount." They had already walked more than thirty miles, how could they turn back? Besides, other than this road, where else can they get to Youzhou? Although there is still a military line in the north that can enter Youzhou, in terms of time, it is obviously too late. If it delays the opportunity and leads to the court's defeat, he cannot bear the responsibility.
However, compared to Xue Ju's worries, Yang Ji was more optimistic. Their sudden change of route had caught the enemy off guard. Not only did they eliminate all the traps that the enemy might have deployed in Jingxing, but their own side also acted quickly and would follow them. The scouts were left behind. When the scouts went back to report, they had actually jumped out of the opponent's encirclement. In other words, even if there were enemy troops ahead, they would only be a small number of rangers.
Not long after, everyone passed through the tunnel with thousands of walls, and their eyes suddenly opened up. This was a flat land on the mountainside. Looking down from here, they saw undulating mountains, densely colored forests, and maple leaves all over the mountain as red as fire.
"Stop and rest." When Yang Ji saw a clear spring splashing down from the mountain, he gave the order to rest. Since their whereabouts were exposed, he asked Yihuo guards to drag the carriage loaded with goods to Yanmen County in Daizhou. , and his group went into battle lightly and headed straight for Feihuxing, thus creating a time lag with the enemy. This is also the reason why Yang Ji dared to leave Feihuxing. However, for the sake of preservation, he still deployed scouts at the front and rear.
"Here!" Everyone heard the sound and dismounted. They were worried that the spring water was poisoned, so they first let a crossbow horse go to the creek to drink water. Only when it was confirmed to be non-poisonous did they dare to drink and feed the war horse with confidence.
Yang Ji sat on a stone, opened the map he carried with him, and stared at the line of sky they passed before. They had just crossed the line of sky safely, which also meant they had passed through the best place for ambush. Although there were still some more dangerous places ahead, the road conditions were better compared to the line of sky and the dozen or so dangerous places behind them. A lot.
"Young Master, you have made thousands of mistakes, and they are all the fault of your humble position." At this time, Yuchi Gong stepped forward and said dejectedly.
"It really has nothing to do with you, and it's because of you that we knew we were being followed. Otherwise, we would have been ambushed in Jingxing at this moment. So not only did you have no fault, but you have made great achievements."
Yang Ji looked at Yuchigong speechlessly. He first thought that Yuchigong had exposed them with his single whip. However, the businessmen's attire of Wang Xuba, Wei Daoer and others, as well as their actions of quickly following instead of saying hello, made Yang Ji Ji knew that his party had been under the surveillance of the other party for a long time and had nothing to do with Yuchi Gong.
However, Yu Chigong was too down-to-earth. He regarded Yang Ji's explanation and analysis as comfort, so not only could he not be happy, but he felt even more guilty and depressed along the way.
"Sir, it is a taboo of a general to not reward meritorious deeds and not punish faults." Yang Shanhui, who was walking towards them, happened to hear their conversation. He first winked at Yang Ji, and then said seriously: "No matter what He said, "Jingde has indeed made a mistake, and he feels that he should be punished because of his humble position. If he is not punished, how will the young master lead the army in the future?"
When Yuchi Gong heard this, he bowed solemnly to Yang Ji and said, "Sir, what the chief historian said is absolutely true. Please severely punish me for my humble position."
"Forget it!" Yang Ji knew in his heart that he would never be able to pass the test in his heart if he didn't punish him. After thinking about it, he solemnly said: "Then I will punish you with three months' salary, but because of you, we know Wang Xuba followed us, if not, our entire army would have been wiped out at this moment, so your achievements far outweigh your losses, and I will reward you with half a year's salary."
"Huh??" Yuchi Gong was stunned when he heard such a punishment and reward. In this way, he seemed to be deliberately asking for a reward.
Yang Ji said with a straight face: "Do you think that our lives and this mission are not worth your half-year salary?"
"No, no!" When Yu Chigong heard that Yang Ji had reached this point, he had no choice but to salute with a smile on his face and said: "Being humble in your position is punished, but also you are rewarded."
There was a sound of horse hoofs, and two knights came quickly from the front. They were the guards who were scouting the road ahead. The two dismounted and saluted: "Master, we checked the nearly forty miles ahead, and there was no trace of anything along the way." There is an ambush, and there is a small mountain village ten miles ahead. According to the villagers, Feihuxing has not seen any troops recently."
Yang Ji nodded and said, "Change horses and explore again."
"Here." The two guards changed their horses and ran forward again.
"It seems that our sudden change of route disrupted the opponent's deployment. Moreover, our speed was too fast, so that they had no time to deploy their troops at Feihuxing." Xue Ju breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile.
Ling Jing shook his head and said: "Don't be careless, it's better to be careful."
"Young Master..." At this moment, Li Daliang, who was responsible for inquiring about the news from behind, came with several guards on flying horses. He did not wait for the horse to stop, then jumped off the horse with great skill, and the horse rushed out. He slowly stopped a few feet away, but Li Daliang had already run in front of Yang Ji, saluted and said: "Sir, an army of more than a thousand people appeared behind us. This army came from Taiyuan, and it was obviously the King of Han. The troops sent to pursue us.”
Yang Ji nodded slightly and asked, "Are they chasing us?"
"No!" Li Daliang shook his head and said: "They set up camp at the entrance of Feihuxing, and judging from the posture of their camp, they were to defend us inside Feihuxing."
Wei Zheng had no experience in marching and fighting, and he was not good at military affairs. When he saw that Yang Ji, Yang Shanhui, Xue Ju, and Ling Jing had serious expressions after hearing the news, he asked in confusion: "This is strange. . Could it be that the King of Han gave up the pursuit and planned to build a stronghold to block the Youzhou army?"
"This army is targeting us." Ling Jing pointed to the map in Yang Ji's hand, traced the Youzhou section with his finger, and explained to his friend: "Dou Kang is very likely to have deployed heavy troops in Feihu County. Waiting for us to dive in, the pursuers behind us also knew the news and expected that we would definitely retreat, so they leisurely set up camp at the entrance of Feihuxing, with the purpose of cutting off our retreat."
"What Jingzhi said is right." Yang Ji nodded and said to Wei Zheng: "In short, we have been blocked in Feihuxing by the troops of King Han and Dou Kang. When they attack from both ends, it is us. The day of defeat.”
Everyone was silent after hearing this. There was no point in saying anything now. The only way was to find a way out, but where to fight, it was up to Yang Ji to decide.
Yang Ji did not hesitate at all. He stood up and said to everyone: "We have become turtles in the urn. The only way now is to fight out. Compared with the east entrance where the situation is unknown, there are only a thousand people. It is undoubtedly safer for us to attack the west entrance. A little. What do you think?"
"I have no objection to my humble position!" Yang Shanhui nodded and said: "They didn't expect us to kill them back today, so we have a great chance of winning. Maybe we can catch them off guard."
"Then let's do it!" Yang Ji said to Li Daliang: "Daliang, you and twenty people will be responsible for removing the enemy's scouts."
"I humbly obey my orders." Li Daliang responded and walked towards him.
Yang Ji said to everyone: "Get ready and set off in half an hour."
"Here."
