The west entrance of Feihuxing is called Hongshiyuan, which belongs to Lingqiu County of Daizhou. It is less than 20 miles away from the county seat. Hongshiyuan is a hilly area with gentle undulations and dense forests. If it weren’t for the eye-catching "Flying Fox" standing on the roadside, "Xing" stone monument, it is hard to imagine that the entrance to Feihu Xing, the most steep among the eight passes in Taihang, is so gentle.
An unusually eye-catching military camp has been established at the entrance, with a thousand soldiers stationed inside. The leader of this army, Xue Cui, is a descendant of the Xue family in Hedong, and is also Xiao Mohe's confidant general. He was ordered by Xiao Maha to lead a thousand soldiers. From Taiyuan, Yang Ji was besieged. Since he set out later than Yang Ji, Yang Ji arrived at Hongshiyan half a day after entering Feihuxing. However, he was not in a hurry because Xiao Mohe said something in the letter. The entrance has been blocked by Dou Kang's five thousand soldiers. Yang Ji's only way is to retreat. When the time comes, it will not be too late to kill them. So Xue Cui set up camp at the entrance, waiting for him to come.
This arrangement is not because Xiao Mohe does not want Xue Cui to chase him all the way, but because he is worried that Li Jing, the general manager of Daizhou, will kill Xue Cui from behind; if so, not only will Xue Cui not be able to kill Yang Ji, but Li Jing will be killed. Jing and Yang Ji join forces to fight back. So Xiao Mohe had no choice but to ask Xue Cui to adopt the stupid method of "waiting for the rabbit".
Xiao Mohe knew that although Yang Ji only had more than a hundred people, Yang Ji was a lunatic who used troops in an eclectic manner, and he could not be judged by common sense. He asked Xue Cui to be careful to avoid being killed by Yang Ji.
Xue Cui didn't take this explanation to heart: on the one hand, the strength gap between the two sides was there. Now that they had finally escaped from the encirclement of the King of Han, how could they rush back? On the other hand, Yang Ji has a heavy responsibility and does not have much time to waste on the road. Now he must be sulking and moving forward. If they are intercepted by the Youzhou Army and retreat, it will only be four or five days later.
Compared with Yang Ji, who had few soldiers and important responsibilities, Xue Cui paid more attention to and worried about the Daizhou Army.
Li Jingxiao, the general manager of Daizhou, was brave and good at fighting and riding and shooting. As early as the battle to destroy Qi in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Li Jing had already emerged and was awarded the post of Yitong Sansi. Later, he achieved brilliant results in pacifying Yuchijiong's rebellion and was promoted to Kaifu. Yi and the three divisions were awarded the title of Duke of Pingkou Founding County. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, he accompanied Wang Shiji to attack Nanchen as the military commander, and was promoted to Kaifu for his meritorious service. When Gao Zhihui and others rebelled, Li Jing followed Yang Su and put down the rebellion in Jiangnan. He was appointed governor of Yanzhou after his class.
Later, he accompanied Wang Shiji on an expedition to Goguryeo. Although the Sui Dynasty was defeated without a fight this time, Li Jing fought against the Turks many times afterwards and killed a large number of Turks. The late emperor Yang Jian was full of praise after hearing his deeds. , and was successively awarded the positions of governor of Hanzhou and general manager of Daizhou.
How can such a person with rich practical experience be an easy companion? How could Yang Ji, who was so lucky, be comparable?
Moreover, although Yang Liang has not yet raised the banner of rebellion, many things have been known to everyone for a long time. Based on Xue Cui’s understanding of Li Jing, if he learns that he has led troops to break into Daizhou, he will definitely lead troops to fight hard To expel himself, he only has a thousand soldiers here. If he and Li Jing were to quarrel, the chance of winning would be slim.
It was precisely because of this obvious tendency in Xue Cui's mind that the establishment of camps and sentry towers, the arrangement of the army, and the distribution of scouts were all biased towards Daizhou, while Feihuxing's side did not even have many scouts arranged.
However, danger often occurs in unexpected places.
The moonlight is bright tonight, and the bright moonlight illuminates the vegetation on the hills extremely clearly, and even the vegetation on the roadside can be distinguished clearly. At midnight on the moon, Yang Ji had already brought more than a hundred of his guards to the woods a hundred steps away from the military camp. A pair of pairs of eyes like evil wolves were paying close attention to the military camp not far away.
Xue Cui's military camp was built on the south bank of Laishui. Due to the narrow terrain, dozens of tents were distributed one after another along the Laishui river bed, showing an east-west arc, with the protruding parts pointing to Lingqiu County in the distance. direction, and the southeast of Feihuxing entrance was full of spears, which were used as a defensive formation to defend the stolen camp, but there were no spears in the north and southwest near the water. On the one hand, they only had a thousand light cavalry and no troops. There were so many spears. On the other hand, their general's defense awareness was weak and he did not expect Yang Hui to kill a "returning spear".
Yang Ji has been in Liangzhou for so long, and has done many things in the military by himself. Although he is far from reaching the height of Yang Su, he is not the rookie or weakling he was when he fought against Yiwu. He can quickly see that The flaw in the military camp. In fact, the terrain on the north bank of Laishui is wider and flatter, which is a good place for garrison. However, this army chose to climb mountains and face the water instead, which shows that the enemy they are defending is the Daizhou Army from the north bank, not Feihuxing himself.
Judging from the layout of this military camp, it also shows that the general does not have a big picture view, or that he is overly cautious. After all, he only has a thousand soldiers. If Li Jing really leads an army to attack, no matter where he sets up camp, he will inevitably be destroyed. Moreover, the imperial court and Yang Liang have not explicitly started a war. How could Li Jing, the general manager of Xiazhou, rashly start a war with "friendly forces" without receiving an order from the imperial court? Therefore, if you change to an experienced and courageous commander, you will definitely camp generously on the other side. This will not only have a wide field of vision, but also avoid enemy attacks from hills and water.
"The opportunity to defeat the enemy is right in front of us. We will fight as a whole from the hill to the military camp." Yang Ji pointed to the army at the foot of the hill and said to the civil and military soldiers around him: "In order to be different from the enemy soldiers, We all wear white cloth on our heads."
White folded cloth is a cotton cloth specially used to bandage wounds. Just in case, soldiers who are marching and fighting are equipped with a roll. After the order was passed, the guards took out their armors from their horse bags and put them on. They tied their foreheads with white cloth, raised their swords and stood ready.
At the third watch, the military camp was already silent. Except for the three fire soldiers patrolling the camp, everyone else was asleep.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Yang Ji and others led the crowd to approach the army. He took off the wind and thunder bow and waved behind him. Thirty archers took off their bows and arrows one after another. When the wind and thunder bow buzzed and fired long arrows, thirty An arrow also whizzed towards the patrolling soldiers.
"Ah!" A series of shrill screams rang out in the military camp instantly. At the moment when the screams were heard, Xue Ju and Yu Chigong, who were waiting in full formation, each led a team of cavalry and rushed towards the military camp from the hill. Yang Ji The others followed closely with sharp archers.
The three cavalrymen rushed into the camp in an instant like arrows from a string.
More than a hundred riders rampaged through the camp, killing the soldiers in the camp and screaming. Soon, the whole camp was like a bombing. The soldiers who woke up from their sleep fled from the camp in panic. They didn't know the invading enemy. How many people feel that there are black shadows everywhere, as if they are surrounded by enemies. Groups of soldiers were so frightened that they ran around like headless flies. Since the east and west of the military camp were blocked by spears, and the enemy troops were coming from the south, many soldiers fled towards Laishui and swam desperately to the other side.
At this time, a raging fire was burning in the southeast corner of the military camp. The camps were densely packed and the river breeze was strong at night. The fire quickly turned into a sea of fire. More than a hundred warriors rushed left and right in the area where the military camp was not yet on fire, killing and defending. Corpses of soldiers littered the fields and rivers of blood flowed.
Xue Cui's tent was in the northwest corner. He was awakened by screams and shouts of death in his sleep. He quickly rushed out of the camp with a knife. He thought it was the Daizhou Army attacking the camp at night, but when he saw the intruder clearly, When the enemy only had more than a hundred cavalry, he couldn't help but became furious and ordered: "Stabilize your position and surround them!"
Yang Ji and others originally came towards the side where the big flag was. Yuchi Gong, who was rushing in front, saw Xue Cui coming out to take command, so he flew towards this side and killed the soldiers who had gathered. He went straight for Xue Cui without stopping, the tip of the spear shone with a fierce luster, and stabbed at Xue Cui as fast as lightning. Before Xue Cui could react, the spear blade had already sunk into his chest.
"Your generals are dead, and those who surrender will not be killed." Yuchi Gong roared, and with a force of his hands, he threw Xue Cui's body away for more than ten feet.
The general was killed, and the unmanned soldiers of Yang Liang's army fled in fear.
This battle lasted less than half an hour, and it could be said that it came and went in a hurry. Less than 300 soldiers in the military camp were killed or burned to death, but Yang Ji and others captured more than 400 prisoners. people, but none of them were injured or killed, not even seriously injured.
But even with such a victory worthy of high-fives and celebrations, Yang Ji couldn't be happy, just because this was a civil war that he hated deeply but had to fight. Regardless of winning or losing, the casualties were his own people, not the Turks or Tuguhun people.
At this moment, hoofbeats rumbled and flames shot into the sky on the other side of Laishui River. A large black army appeared in the night and surrounded the soldiers who had fled to the other side, making it impossible for anyone in Yang Liang's army to escape.
A general from the army rushed to the shore on horseback and shouted to the south bank: "I am Li Jing, the general manager of Daizhou. Where did the soldiers on the other side come from?"
"Same journey!" Yang Ji knew that Li Jing was a loyal man who lived and died for the Sui Dynasty. In order to win Li Jing's trust, he asked a guard to swim to the other side with his seal.
Li Jing confirmed Yang Ji's identity and swam back with the guard. He was wet and saluted and said: "Li Jing, a humble official, is here to see King Wei."
"Mr. Li, no courtesy!" Yang Ji took a look at the general manager of Daizhou by the firelight, and couldn't help but be amazed. This general who fought everywhere turned out to be an exaggeratedly handsome old guy, and he was tall but not thick. , but very fit, just like a bodybuilder. At this time, he took off his armor and wore a soaked lining, which stretched the muscles on his body into clear lines and strong strength.
Seeing that there were not many people in Yang Ji, Li Jing couldn't help but ask: "Why did the king come to this Longtan Tiger's Den?"
"It's hard to explain in one sentence!" Yang Ji smiled bitterly and told his mission exactly. With things going this far, I'm afraid the key figures from all parties knew that they were going to Youzhou to arrest Dou Kang and seize military power. If it happened again, I thought it was a secret, but I was the big SB.
Besides, I have something that I need Li Jing to cooperate with. If he is secretive, how can he cooperate willingly?
"According to your Majesty's words, there is no doubt that the King of Han will rebel?" Li Jing said solemnly.
"It's 100% that he rebelled." Yang Ji nodded and reminded Li Jing: "If Brother Han Wang rebels, Daizhou will definitely bear the brunt. Please make preparations in advance, Manager Li."
"Moreover, the invasion is like fire and moves like thunder." Li Jing added with a wry smile, and then said: "It's just that there are only 5,000 soldiers in Daizhou, so I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand the thunderous power of the King of Han."
"You have two lines of reinforcements!" Yang Ji said: "The first is the Youzhou army I will bring over, but you must guard Feihuxing for me, otherwise I have millions of soldiers and I will not be able to come to Daizhou; the second is Shuozhou. General Manager Yang Yichen, he is defending the border state of the Turks and has a lot of troops. You can contact him in advance and ask him to Chen Binglou Changuan area."
"It's easy to say, Your Majesty, but are Manager Yang willing to listen to me?" Li Jing said with some embarrassment. He and Yang Yichen had a very good personal relationship, but they were both public and private people. Without conclusive evidence of Yang Liang's rebellion, Yang Yichen might not be willing to move from the north.
Yang Ji pondered for a long time and said, "I will write him a letter to clarify the relationship. You can just have someone send it to Shanyang County."
Li Jing was overjoyed: "Thank you so much, Your Majesty."
"They are all serving the country! Manager Li, you don't have to be polite." Yang Ji changed the topic and said to Li Jing: "But I also have an unkind favor here."
Li Jing cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please give me your instructions."
"You lend me three hundred elite soldiers first!" Yang Ji's whereabouts have been exposed, and Dou Kang must also know that he is going to deal with him. If Dou Kang decides to fight with Yang Liang to the end and rise up to resist, he will It’s not enough to point people to the Youzhou Army. So he decided to borrow some troops from Li Jing.
"This..." After Li Jing heard from Yang Ji that Yang Liang would definitely rebel, he felt that Daizhou's five thousand soldiers were stretched thin, no matter where they were deployed. Somewhat embarrassed.
"What?" Yang Ji frowned and said, "Does Manager Li feel embarrassed?"
"Of course not. We can still clearly distinguish the important and the inferior. I will hand over three hundred soldiers to the king. What does the king think?" Li Jing knew that Yang Ji's mission was the most critical link in the northern battle of Bingzhou. Yang Ji The success or failure of this mission is closely related to the safety of Daizhou; if a war breaks out and Daizhou does not receive timely assistance from the Youzhou Army, he will definitely fail here. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is and how small the troops are, Daizhou must work hard to help Yang. To complete this mission, let alone three hundred, he would have to give even three thousand.
"Thank you, Mr. Li. I will remember your favor!" Yang Ji breathed a sigh of relief. It was fun to talk to people who understood the truth. If it were someone who didn't have an overall view, he would definitely put his own interests first at this time. No matter whether others live or die.
"They are all serving the imperial court. Your Majesty, you are welcome!"
