late at night! The rumbling sound of horse hoofs echoed in Feihuxing. The huge sound of horse hoofs was like muffled thunder in the sky, making the earth tremble. Yang Ji led an army of ten thousand elite riders and was rushing towards Daizhou in the west. .
Because the mountain road was difficult to travel, the cavalry slowed down. They walked for more than an hour. When the morning light began to show, the ten thousand cavalry led by Yang Ji had arrived at Hongshiyan, the entrance to the west of Feihuxing, which was still 30 kilometers away from Lingqiu County, Daizhou. More than twenty miles.
Yang Ji and Li Zixiong, with the cooperation of Dou Kang, successfully integrated the Youzhou Army in just one day.
The first day after they organized the Youzhou Army, that is, six days ago, they received urgent military information and a letter asking for help from Li Jing, the general manager of Daizhou. It was said that Yang Liang first sent General Liu Song to lead an army of 20,000 to attack Daizhou City and guard it. However, Li Jing in Daizhou City only had 5,000 defenders. In addition, the city was dilapidated and weak, and many gaps appeared one after another after being attacked by the rebels. Immediately afterwards, Yang Liang sent General Qiao Zhongkui to lead 30,000 elite troops to support Liu Song, and Daizhou City The situation is precarious.
But at the same time, Yang Guang's combat order had also arrived in Youzhou, ordering them to lead 30,000 Youzhou elites to attack Jinyang from Jingxing, so as to contain the rebels for the army commander Yang Su, and at the same time to prevent the rebels from killing Jingxing. Zhao Yan Dadi.
After discussing with Li Zixiong, the two decided to split up their forces. Yang Ji felt that Li Zixiong was a general capable of both offense and defense. During his nearly 30 years in the army, he had fought against famous generals from the Northern Qi Dynasty and the Southern Chen Dynasty. His experience in fighting against masters of military art was far beyond his own, but his flaw was that he was not very good at commanding. Cavalry; and his situation is exactly the opposite. Using a small group of cavalry to steal chickens and dogs is what he is good at. So Li Zixiong led the main force of 30,000 to carry out the emperor's combat orders. At the same time, he also sent Zhang Xutuo, Wei Yunqi, and Dugu Pingyun to Li Zixiong's tent to obey orders and steal troops, while Yang Ji himself led 10,000 fine cavalry, the Star Night Cavalry. Rush to aid Daizhou.
Yang Ji stopped his horse and looked forward. In front of him was the place where they attacked Xue Cui. Then he walked northwest along Laishui for three or four miles. He found a small mountain village called Gaojiazhuang. To the north of the village was a road from Laishui. The open terrain on both sides of the tributary and small river is a good place for the army to rest.
He had a large number of scouts posted around, but he was not worried about an ambush here, so he ordered: "The army speeds up and rests by the river in front."
After the order was issued, the ten thousand fine cavalry speeded up and came to the river. They led their horses to the river to drink water. The quiet riverside suddenly became lively.
Not long after the break, several dewy scouts brought three middle-aged men over: "General manager, these three villagers just came from Yanmen County in Daizhou last night. The humble officials felt that they knew the situation in Yanmen City, so they took them without permission. Come here."
"Well done!" Yanmen County is where the administrative seat of Daizhou is located, and the town of Yanmen County is also called Daizhou City. This is exactly where Yang Ji is going to rescue. He first praised the scout, and then smiled at the three A villager asked: "Three brothers, how did you come back from Yanmen City?"
The three villagers were timid at first, but when they saw that the general who asked the question turned out to be a handsome young man, and he had a warm smile and called them "brother" affectionately, they couldn't help but feel good and relaxed. Heart. A courageous villager stepped forward and saluted: "Report to the general, we escaped from Yanmen City."
"Did you escape back? So the situation in Yanmen City is quite bad?" Yang Ji was not angry with these three people. After all, they were just ordinary villagers, not soldiers. They were avoiding harm. Their instinct.
"Yes!" The villager who spoke glanced at Yang Ji and saw that he had no intention of blaming him, and then said: "The offensive and defensive battle lasted until yesterday, which was already the eighth day. The two groups fought fiercely, and several city walls were damaged. It collapsed, there were corpses everywhere inside and outside the city, and the city walls were stained red with blood. It was General Manager Li who led the soldiers and civilians to block the gaps while defending, and they were able to hold on until now."
Yang Ji frowned and asked, "So you just came out of the gap?"
"We also defended until yesterday, and it's not that we wanted to escape." The villagers were worried about Yang Ji's anger, so they carefully explained: "It's because the granary was destroyed by fire last night, and the food in the city can no longer satisfy the soldiers. Manager Li In order to save food, we had to take advantage of the enemy's retreat and let the old, weak, women and children go out of the city at night to fend for themselves. We, we followed suit and left the city."
"I understand, let's go!" Yang Ji nodded, asked the scouts to take the villagers away, and then summoned all the civil and military officials to discuss matters.
Thinking of the situation in Daizhou and Liu Song and Qiao Zhongkui's 60,000 troops, Yang Ji couldn't help but look at Liu Rumei, who was silently following him.
The rapid march back and forth made Liu Rumei have nothing to do with words such as beauty and beauty. Her fluffy hair was like a chicken coop, gray and full of dust, and her pretty face like a flower was also covered in dust, just like greedy. It was like a playing cat getting into a stove hole, and Zhang Chuchen, Murong Xianyue, and Liuxu, who had returned to their subordinates, were no better. When Yang Ji saw this, he felt funny and pitiful at the same time: "Rumei, thank you for your hard work."
"The hard work is a bit hard, but as long as I am with the young master, Rumei is happy." Marching is certainly not a happy thing, but if she is with her beloved man, no matter how tired she is, Liu Rumei is willing to do it. She is obsessed with it. The man who stared at her infatuatedly, the tenderness and sweetness in his bright eyes seemed to overflow.
"Hey!" Zhang Chuchen, who was not far away, took a breath of cold air and curled his lips and said, "It makes me feel numb."
Murong Xianyue and Liu Xu nodded sharply together.
They were afraid of Yang Ji at first, but after getting familiar with his habits, they slowly recovered their girlish nature. In private,
Yang Ji had good hearing, and Zhang Chuchen didn't try to hide it, so Yang Ji heard her words clearly, but he didn't mind anything and said to Liu Rumei: "The next step is to open and close the battlefield. Zhan, you don’t have to follow me anymore. Take Yingnu and find a place to rest in Gaojiazhuang! Come and join me after the war."
Liu Rumei was quite reluctant to give up after hearing this, but they were good at flexible and small assassination techniques, which would not be of any use on a crowded battlefield. Now there was a huge gap in strength between the enemy and ourselves. If they continued to follow Yang Ji, they would only become his It's a burden, and you must not be emotional, so you just kept silent for a while, and then said with every possible reluctance: "Young master, be careful! We are waiting for your good news in Gaojiazhuang."
Yang Ji nodded and warned: "Daizhou has been reduced to a battlefield. It is not a safe place. You must be careful. If there is any trouble, you must retreat from Feihuxing to Yizhou, and then return to Daxing from Hebei. .”
"Rumei understands!" Liu Rumei nodded silently with tears in her eyes.
At this time, Yang Ji saw that Yang Shanhui, Xue Ju, Yuchi Gong, Ling Jing, and Wei Zheng were walking quickly, so he greeted them.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Twenty miles northwest of Yanmen County in Daizhou is the famous Xijingguan Pass (named Yanmen Pass in the Tang Dynasty) built in the western section of Hengshan Mountain. To the south is the undulating Wutai Mountain. Yanmen County is located in the "Xijing Pass" between the two mountain ranges. Xinding Basin". But at this time, Xijingguan did not play its role as a military pass because the enemy came from the south, and the Wutai Mountains could not stop Yang Liang's army from the north.
The reason why Yang Liang successively invested 50,000 troops to attack Daizhou, which had only 5,000 defenders, was that Daizhou reached the "Datong Basin" in the north, Bingzhou (Taiyuan) in the south, and was connected to Youzhou in the east through Feihuxing. It has extremely important strategic value; as long as he captures Daizhou, he can use a small number of troops to repel the Shuozhou and Yunzhou armies outside Xijingguan in the north, and reject the Youzhou army from Feihuxing in the west. This will eventually stabilize his foundation and advance eastward to Hebei. provides the necessary prerequisites.
On the other hand, it was Yang Liang who raised the banner of rebellion, "Kill the traitorous king Yang Ji, kill the traitor Yang Su, and clear the emperor's side." However, when he spread the word to the world, Li Jing, the general manager of Daizhou, was the vanguard against Yang Liang, and for the first time he One issued a notice of annexation to the state, saying that Yang Liang's name of "Qing Jun Side" was just a cover for rebellion. At the same time, he also analyzed the strength of both the enemy and ourselves, and finally came to the conclusion that Yang Liang was bound to lose, and told everyone not to listen. He talks nonsense so as not to regret it later.
It was precisely because of Li Jing's clear-cut opposition and rational and methodical analysis that most states and counties under the Bingzhou Governor's Office maintained a wait-and-see attitude. How could this not make Yang Liang extremely angry and hateful? Therefore, after he officially rebelled, he first wanted to capture Daizhou to block foreign enemies and behead Li Jing to intimidate the states.
Yang Liang knew that Daizhou had few soldiers and a small and dilapidated city, so he sent general Liu Song with 20,000 troops to attack Daizhou. Unexpectedly, only four days later, news came from Daizhou that Liu Song had been raped by Li Jing. After being shot dead with one arrow, the army was defeated. Only then did Yang Liang realize that the soft-spoken Li Jing was not only good at speaking and writing, but also had first-rate fighting skills. He did not dare to underestimate the enemy any more, and quickly sent Qiao Zhongkui to lead 30,000 elite troops to receive the defeated troops and attack Daizhou again.
The brutal offensive and defensive battle lasted for eight days. Corpses were everywhere inside and outside the city walls, and blood flowed into rivers. The dilapidated city walls were repeatedly hit by dozens of catapults, and many city walls collapsed.
However, the rebels were not able to invade the city. Li Jing personally led thousands of brave and skilled defenders to fight the rebels in desperate and bloody battles, severely defeating the enemy again and again. The generals under him also performed their respective duties and cooperated with each other tacitly. Daizhou Sima Feng Xiaoci and Judiciary Officer Lu Yuxiao were brave and good at fighting. They took the lead and led the soldiers to fight bloody battles with the rebels at the gap, preventing the enemy's strength advantage from being brought into play. , repelling the enemy's attacks time and time again.
In particular, Mo Chen Yi, the third commander of Yitong, was good at both making plans and fighting defensive battles. So Li Jing put him in charge of mobilizing the defenders to defend various parts of the city wall, and cooperated with Feng Xiaoci and Lu Yu to repair the gaps.
Li Jing, who was in charge of the "center", was responsible for stabilizing the morale of the army and the people of Daizhou, and preparing food and defense equipment for the fighting soldiers and civilians. When he heard that there was danger and people's hearts were unstable, he took the reserve troops to support, and Li Jingjian He has superb skills. At this time, he would use his bow and arrows to hunt down the rebel officers. No one would fall in response. The general's magic arrows also greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers and civilians.
It was the tacit cooperation between the four of them that allowed Yanmen City, which was dilapidated, short, and sparsely armed, to remain standing despite the fierce attacks of 50,000 rebels.
But last night, a fatal crisis arose. The rebels, who had been ordered to sneak into Yanmen City, took advantage of the opportunity and set fire to the official warehouse in Daizhou City, destroying 50,000 shi of military rations and official rations.
The practical problem of impending food shortages has seriously shaken the morale of the military and the people.
In the city, Li Jing and a group of soldiers mobilized from house to house, hoping that the people in the city would hand over their surplus food to the army for unified deployment, and said that as long as the rebels were defeated, the court would double the compensation.
Li Jingqing is upright and law-abiding. He has severely punished corrupt officials since he took office. The people trust him very much. In addition, everyone knows that once the rebels enter the city, killings, robberies, rapes and other incidents are inevitable, so Li Jingdong uses his love and understanding to Under this reasoning, they all pooled their remaining grains together, hoping to help the army tide over the difficulties and hold on until reinforcements arrived.
However, Yanmen County in Daizhou is a lower county with a population of only more than 2,000 households. Even if all the food is collected, it can only last for four days at most for the entire city's soldiers and civilians. After four days, if reinforcements have not arrived, the city's army will collapse due to lack of food.
"How many horses, cattle and sheep are there in the city?" Li Jing asked the civilian Cao who was following him.
"Back to the manager, there are still more than 630 horses, more than 1,400 cattle, and more than 2,000 sheep."
"Kill all the sheep first. If you kill them now, you will get a few more taels of meat. They will lose weight in a few days." Li Jing felt reassured. If he killed all the animals, he could still hold on for a few more days. His only hope now is reinforcements.
As early as a few days ago, Li Jing sent someone to ask for help from Yang Ji, the general manager of Youzhou, and Yang Yichen, the general manager of Shuozhou. Now he hopes that they can arrive soon, otherwise Daizhou will be finished. Compared with Yang Ji, he felt that Yang Yichen was more likely to arrive first, because after he heard the news from Yang Ji that Yang Liang would rebel, he had his letters and Yang Ji's letters sent to Yang Yichen. , I heard that he has already assembled the army, and without this assembly process, the speed will naturally be a few days faster.
As for Yang Ji, no matter how powerful he is, it will take a lot of time to capture Dou Kang and recruit the Youzhou Army; before they run out of food, the Youzhou Army may not be able to count on him.
"General Manager!" A cavalryman came from a distance on horseback and said, "The rebels have retreated from the east of the city. They have retreated to the south bank of Hutuo River."
Hutuo River is the irrigation water source of Yanmen County and the mother river of Daizhou. It originates from Fanju County in the northeast of Yanmen County. When it reaches Xinkou in the south, it changes its course to the east, passing through Lanzhou and Bingzhou, and entering Yu County of Bingzhou. Hebei, flowed eastward for a long time, then changed its course to the north, and finally merged with Chenma River and Sanggan River in Tianjin in later generations, and flowed into the Bohai Bay together.
Before this, the rebels had retreated several times, but because the rebels carried a large number of heavy and heavy siege equipment, they had never retreated past the Hutuo River, which was difficult to cross. Li Jing could tell at a glance that it was a fake to lure the defenders to pursue them. Retreat. If the rebels now retreat to the south bank with their equipment, it will be a different situation.
Li Jing was surprised and happy, and couldn't care less about looking for food. He grabbed the horse's rein from the soldiers, jumped on his horse, and galloped towards the east of the city.
