On the east wall of Yanmen City, Hou Mo and Chen Yi, who were in charge of the defense, remained silent. They just stared at the rebels retreating to the other side of the Hutuo River with a pair of bloodshot eyes. There was no trace of joy or excitement on his face, just because of what he saw in front of him. The rebels retreated in an orderly and leisurely manner, and even the catapults, well traps, and ladder trucks were pulled to the other side, which shows that they did not encounter too much pressure. Now they are just making tactical adjustments based on the development of the battle situation. As long as they complete the adjustments, they will still come back to attack the city.
Hou Mochen's surname is Xianbei. After Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he clearly distinguished his surnames and clans. He said in the edict: "The old clans of all the heroes who moved to Luoyang from Daijun will have their surnames changed if they have duplicate surnames." So, He took the lead in changing the surname of the royal Tuoba clan to the Yuan clan, the Ba clan to the Changsun clan, the Dugu clan to the Liu clan, and the Qiu Muling clan to the Mu clan... After changing the surnames, the Xianbei people no longer have the same surnames.
The descendants of Hou Mochen who followed Emperor Xiaowen to the south changed their surnames to the Han surname Zhongchen. However, the Hou Mochen who lived in the six towns in the north still retained their complete surnames. The ancestor of Hou Mo and Chen Yi was one of the six town sergeants. After the mutiny was suppressed, his ancestors were deported to Bingzhou, and their ancestral home became Bingzhou from then on.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi are only in their twenties this year, but he has been in the army for eight years and has been promoted to the third division of Yitong among the honorary officers. Just when he was trying to figure out why the rebels retreated, something sounded in his ears. Li Jing's voice: "Reinforcements have arrived?"
Hou Mo and Chen Yi turned around, saluted Li Jing, and expressed his judgment: "Reinforcements should have arrived, but I don't know whether the reinforcements are from Youzhou or Shuozhou."
"General Manager, a group of cavalry is coming from the north." The soldier beside Li Jing suddenly said.
Li Jing and Hou Mo and Chen Yi were watching the rebels who had retreated far away. After hearing the soldiers' arrival, they all looked around and saw ten cavalrymen, led by a general, galloping from the northeast.
"General Manager, if this cavalry is a messenger for the reinforcements, the reinforcements should be the Youzhou Army." Hou Mo and Chen Yi saw that this cavalry came from the direction of Fanjue County in the northeast, and the northeast of Fanjue County is Lingqiu County, where Fei Huxing was located, expressed his opinion: "If these are the messengers sent by General Manager Yang Yichen, then they should come from the northwest."
"Not bad!" Li Jingshen nodded with approval. He originally thought that Yang Ji would arrive later than Yang Yichen because he was busy with trivial matters, but unexpectedly he arrived before Yang Yichen. If this cavalry is really Yang Ji's soldier, it means that he is still I underestimated Yang Ji.
Just as they were talking, the cavalry ran along the pontoon bridge built by the rebels to the outside of the city. They slowly stopped a stone's throw away. The general rode forward alone and said loudly at the bottom of the city: "A humble position is Li Daliang, an official of Prince Wei's palace, came to see Manager Li on the order of Prince Wei."
"Open the city gate and let them enter the city." Li Jing had seen Li Daliang in Hongshiyan, and he recognized him immediately. He was overjoyed. Sure enough, it was Yang Ji who came, and he came too timely.
The defenders lowered the drawbridge as ordered, slowly opened the city gate, and Li Daliang led ten elite riders into Yanmen County. In a short time, Li Daliang, led by several defenders, arrived at the city. He bowed his hands to Li Jingxing and said, "Li Daliang, a military officer in the office of the King of Wei, is here to see Mr. Li."
Although Li Daliang is the commander of the Xuanwu Guards in the palace, officially he is still only a sixth-rank record officer participating in the military. This is not because Yang Ji does not want to promote him, nor does he want him to enter the military, but because he follows him in the palace. Yang Ji grew up together and was also infected by the lazy plague. Based on his understanding of Yang Ji, if he officially becomes an official, then Yang Shidao, who is busy every day, will be his role model. What's more, he is still young. As long as he follows Yang Ji, he will not be afraid of not having the opportunity to experience and be a superior, so Now, like Xue Ju, Song Zhengben, Hao Yuan and others, he just wants to be a happy salted fish.
Their current mentality is exactly the same as that of Yang Ji in front of Yang Jian and Yang Guang. Yang Ji knows that if he wants to be a high official, he can become a high official with just one sentence that others cannot achieve despite their hard work, so he has lost interest in being an official. Interest, the mentality of Li Daliang and others is almost the same.
"General Li, please wake up!" Li Jing was always humble to his subordinates, so even though Li Daliang was only a military official, he did not neglect him at all. He smiled and asked, "Is King Wei leading his army to help?"
"Exactly!" Li Daliang bowed and said: "King Wei has led ten thousand Youzhou elite cavalry to Yanmen Zaolin Town. As long as there is a chance to defeat the enemy or Yanmen City is in danger, he will attack the rebels from the outside. . In addition, King Wei heard that Yanmen’s grain was burned by the fire, and he has ordered officials from Lingqiu and Fanju counties to transport official grain to help.”
"On behalf of the army and people of the state, I would like to thank King Wei for his rescue!" Li Jing saluted Li Daliang.
Li Daliang also knew that the gift was to Yang Ji, not to himself, so he accepted the gift generously and said with a smile: "They are all serving the imperial court. Mr. Li is being polite."
Li Jing pondered for a long time and asked Li Daliang: "General Li just said, 'If there is a chance to defeat the enemy, or Yanmen City is in danger, he will attack the rebels from the outside.' Can I understand that King Wei will not take the initiative?" Attack the rebels?”
"That's right!" Li Daliang explained: "Originally, we planned to bring all the Youzhou troops over, but when we received the urgent military information from General Manager Li, the Holy Order came again. The Saint ordered King Wei to lead 30,000 elite troops from Jingxing. To attack Taiyuan, King Wei had no choice but to let General Li Zixiong lead the main force southward, and he led 10,000 elite cavalry to support Daizhou. Although there were still more than 10,000 elite soldiers in Youzhou, King Wei was worried that the Turks, Goguryeo, Xi tribe, and Khitan would take advantage of the chaos. We are marching into the army, so we dare not bring them all."
"I can understand King Wei. If it were me, I would arrange it the same way." After Li Jing said this, he asked: "So, King Wei is planning to hand over the attacking generals to General Manager Yang Yichen, right? "
Li Daliang said: "In principle, this is the case, but if there is an opportunity to defeat the enemy, King Wei will naturally not miss it."
Li Jing said: "Please ask General Li to go back and tell King Wei that the more than 40,000 rebels are the elite army of the King of Han. The leader Qiao Zhongkui is both civil and military and resourceful. He uses troops in deceitful ways and must not underestimate the enemy."
He roughly understood what Yang Ji was thinking, but he still couldn't help but be worried for Yang Ji: First of all, since Qiao Zhongkui has learned that the reinforcements have arrived, and the reinforcements are not as large as his own, his target must have shifted to Yang Ji's side now. Only After Yang Ji was dealt with first, he could attack Yanmen City without any distractions; secondly, the army commanded by Yang Ji was not the well-informed Liangzhou Army, but the hastily assembled Youzhou Army. However, the Hebei area including the Youzhou Army Most of the troops are descendants of the Six Towns, and they are particularly tough and domineering. They will rain whenever there is a storm. At critical moments, they may not obey the orders of Yang Ji, the young coach who took office urgently.
The most important thing is that fighting a civil war and fighting aliens are two different concepts, and the fighting methods and tactics are also different. As for Yang Ji, although he has achieved brilliant achievements that have attracted world attention outside the territory, he has never fought against the Central Plains generals who are proficient in the art of war. In a battle, Li Jing was worried that the young and energetic Yang Ji would not be able to defeat the resourceful and cunning Qiao Zhongkui.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi next to him couldn't help but become worried after hearing Li Jing's words, and suggested: "General Manager, why don't you lead the Youzhou Army, and the city will be defended by the late general."
Li Jing kindly reminded Li Daliang to accept it gratefully, but after Hou Mo and Chen Yi said this, everything changed. He now felt that these two people not only looked down on Yang Ji, but also plotted to seize Youyou. command of the state army. His face turned livid with anger, he bowed his hands to Li Jing, and said coldly: "Manager Li, since you have the ability, then fight it yourself! If you don't want to accompany me, I'll take my leave."
Li Jing knew something was wrong when Hou Mo and Chen Yi were talking. When he saw Li Daliang turned around and left in a rage, he quickly chased after him and said, "General Li, General Hou Mochen has no ill intentions, but the power of the King of Wei." Young Master, the soldiers you lead are not the Liangzhou Army, so I am worried that you will be plotted by the resourceful and cunning Qiao Zhongkui."
"After all, you clearly look down on my king, but you also look down on others too much." Li Daliang stopped and said coldly to Li Jing: "When it comes to commander-in-chief ability, my king is not necessarily worse than others. Not long ago, the king controlled the armies in Zhangye and commanded the armies to fight from afar. He achieved the success of annihilating the Tuyuhun army of more than 100,000 troops, and forced the Tuyuhun Great Khan Murong Fuyun to issue a proclamation to the countries in the Western Region: Proclaiming that Shanshan and Qiemo have been the two countries since ancient times. The territory of the Great Sui Dynasty has now returned to its original owner; and because they have illegally occupied our territory of the Great Sui Dynasty since the Western Wei Dynasty and usurped the taxes that originally belonged to our Great Sui Dynasty, they have to make up for the hundred-year tax and tax according to the standards of Shangzhou. The compensation is 300,000 taels of gold and silver each. If the late emperor had not been seriously ill and Bintian, many of my king's methods of concocting Tuyuhun would have been implemented long ago. It's just that you stay away from Liangzhou and the court, and you are ignorant."
Li Jing and Hou Mo and Chen Yi looked at each other in shock. They had indeed never heard of what Li Daliang said. The reason why the imperial court did not announce these deeds to the world and inspire people was obviously due to the late emperor's serious illness, the late emperor's visit to heaven, the state funeral, and the new The emperor's accession to the throne and the rebellion of the Han Dynasty were delayed; once the imperial court put down the rebellion of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court would definitely tell the world about Yang Ji's deeds, so as to eliminate the turmoil, uneasiness, and different thoughts caused by the late emperor Bintian with his great achievements.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi's previous worries were swept away by Li Daliang's words, replaced by indescribable excitement and reverence.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi could probably calculate how many troops there were in Liangzhou, but with just one state, Yang Ji killed Tuyuhun, who dominated the northwest of the Sui Dynasty, to cede territory and pay back taxes, and later even conquered the entire country. You are forced to issue such a shameful notice to neighboring countries. How domineering, how sentimental, and how satisfying is this?
A good man should be like this!
Hou Mo and Chen Yi felt ashamed of their previous worries and doubts. At this moment, he couldn't wait to see Yang Ji, the legendary prince who created a series of brilliant achievements and shocked the world. He also wanted to see with his own eyes how he could easily annihilate more than 40,000 people. Elite rebels.
He pondered for a moment, then raised his hands to Li Jing and said: "General manager, I am willing to go out of the city to assist King Wei, please allow the manager!"
Li Jing considered his own strength and asked Li Daliang: "General Li, where are the three hundred soldiers I lent to King Wei?"
"No one was harmed!" Li Daliang said lightly.
Li Jing was stunned again. He originally thought that Yang Ji was seizing power by force, so he came so quickly. But now it seems that he took down Dou Kang without even fighting. Although he was now a little curious about how Yang Ji did it, it was obviously not a good opportunity to ramble at this time, so he said to Hou Mo and Chen Yi: "You will lead seven hundred fine cavalry to assist King Wei in the battle. Everything must be done with King Wei is the master."
There are still 1,500 elite cavalry in the city, which is also Li Jing's most powerful force. He killed Liu Song with one arrow before and sent this elite cavalry to kill the rebels who were in chaos and achieved considerable success. Results.
Now, with the arrival of Youzhou reinforcements, the war has shifted from Yanmen City to the battle outside the city. The rebel general Qiao Zhongkui did not dare to attack Yanmen City with all his strength before the reinforcements were dealt with. In order to deal with Yang Ji and Yanmen City before Yang Yichen arrived, he must do his best to deal with the reinforcements outside the city. This also made Yang Ji under a mountain of pressure during this period.
As a famous general of the generation, Li Jing not only clearly understands the priorities, but also puts the overall situation first and assigns half of the strongest combat power without hesitation.
And generals like Li Jing, who are both capable and sensible, are undoubtedly the most popular partners, because they not only burn themselves to illuminate others, but they can also discern the importance of complex battle situations, and According to the needs of the battle situation, he cooperates with his partners very tacitly.
In short, I am willing to help, but I am not blind. And in the end, it is often "keep the sadness to yourself, and let you take away your achievements."
. . . . . . .
It was not unreasonable for Yang Liang to give Qiao Zhongkui the important task of attacking Daizhou and stabilizing the situation in the northern part of Bingzhou.
Qiao Zhongkui was born in the Qiao family of Tongzhou, one of the nobles of Guanlong. He was talented in both civil and military affairs and was once Han Sengshou's most capable general. Han Sengshou was the second brother of the famous general Han Qinhu. Like his elder brother Han Qinhu, he was also famous for his bravery and good fighting skills. He was awarded the title of general and the Duke of Changle County for his contribution in quelling the rebellion of Yuchijong. During the reign of Emperor Kaihuang, he was based in Yunzhou. He defeated the Turkic armies going south with a small number of troops many times and intimidated the Turks. He was promoted to Shangzhu Kingdom and was granted the title of Duke of Jiangdu.
Qiao Zhongkui made great military exploits during his long period of following Han Sengshou, and was later promoted to the governor and general manager of Lanzhou due to his meritorious service. Under his governance, Lanzhou changed from a gang-ridden, poor and weak Xiazhou to a The prosperous land of Bingzhou. Later, Yang Jian was assigned to Yang Liang's account and served as a soldier in the Bingzhou Governor's Office. With Yang Liang's win over, he became Yang Liang's staunchest supporter and one of the planners of Yang Liang's rebellion.
For such a capable and loyal confidant general, Yang Liang naturally entrusted him with important responsibilities. He not only named him the Shangzhu Kingdom, but also made him responsible for the tranquility of the northern part of Bingzhou. And Qiao Zhongkui also knew whether Bingzhou could achieve seclusion and whether Yang Liang could dedicate more troops to the Eastern Expedition because of seclusion. Everything depended on whether he could quickly defeat Li Jing.
Qiao Zhongkui had already obtained two very important and unfavorable military information at this time: first, 10,000 Youzhou elite cavalry were rushing from Feihuxing to aid Daizhou and were heading towards Yanmen City; secondly, Yang Yichen, the general manager of Shuozhou, seemed to have expected Yang Liang He was ready to rebel, and had already assembled troops to defend against the Turks in Yunnei County. After he heard the news of Yang Liang's rebellion, he entrusted the defense of northern Shuozhou to Han Senshou, the general manager of Yunzhou, and led 20,000 cavalry and infantry to When Daizhou came, the Shuozhou Army he led would enter the territory of Daizhou in at most two days; this was more than twenty days ahead of schedule as he, Yang Liang and others expected.
It was these two important military facts that forced Qiao Zhongkui to withdraw his troops from Yanmen City and readjust his tactics.
In the Chinese army's tent, Qiao Zhongkui was thinking hard about countermeasures in front of the hanging map. He was now considering giving up the southward retreat from Daizhou or concentrating his forces to defeat the two supporting armies one by one.
He personally prefers to retreat south to Xinkou at the junction of Daizhou and Lanzhou. Just because Xinkou is a military fortress in the central part of Bingzhou, it is located at the break of Xinkou Mountain and has always been the gateway from Taiyuan to northern Shanxi. After the siege of Pingcheng was lifted, Liu Bang passed by here when he returned to his army. Not only did he name this dangerous entrance Xinkou, he also built a city and set up dangers here, making it an important defensive position for the Central Plains Dynasty to defend against the enemies of the Northern Army.
Strategically speaking, although the choice of retreating to Xinkou neither captured Daizhou nor beheaded Li Jing to demonstrate to the world, the benefits were equally obvious. As long as he used 10,000 elite troops to guard Xinkou, Being able to keep millions of troops from the north outside Lanzhou will also play a role in merging the northern part of the state. As for the remaining more than 30,000 elites, they can be put into the eastern battlefield.
However, Yang Liang had high hopes for him, and he also needed his achievements to inspire the morale of the army and the people, and to shock the waiting states and counties. If he retreated without fighting, the morale of Yang Liang's army would inevitably be weakened, and the morale of the imperial army would skyrocket.
Such a consequence, for the Yang Liang regime on the rebel side, would be more serious and fatal than the annihilation of the entire army. Therefore, in terms of political influence, Qiao Zhongkui also knew that he could not retreat. He had to concentrate heavy troops to defeat the two supporting armies one after another.
If he chooses the latter, he must first annihilate Yang Ji before Yang Yichen reaches Daizhou, and then take advantage of the power of a great victory over Yang Ji to march to Xixingguan and kill Yang Yichen while waiting for work.
But the problem is that Yang Ji will not fight according to his ideas! Yang Ji relied on avoiding the real and attacking the weak to eat away the Turkic troops from the periphery, and finally killed Bujia Khan. How could such a cunning person take the risk of fighting with him? Moreover, Yang Ji's entire army was on horseback. Once he knew that Yang Yichen's reinforcements were coming, he would definitely hand over the main battle responsibility to Yang Yichen, who had more troops, and then attack from behind at the critical moment, exposing himself to enemies from both sides.
If Yang Ji had been replaced by him, Qiao Zhongkui, he would have chosen this tactic of avoiding the real and choosing the weak, wandering instead of attacking, and delaying the decisive battle until the Shuozhou Army.
"Tell me, what do young people like nowadays? What do they like to play?" Qiao Zhongkui is already in his fifties. In the Sui Dynasty, where the average life expectancy was short, he was already considered an immortal old guy.
After he came to the conclusion that Yang Ji would not take the initiative to fight, he planned to use the characteristics of young people to lure the snake out of the hole. The characteristic of young generals is that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. Once they have a chance to defeat the enemy, they will often become hot-headed and try to defeat the enemy. Big credit. However, for the sake of caution, he still asked the generals present.
A young general with a tall build and a dark face said immediately: "I like money and I like to use a lot of money to play with women!"
"Haha!" As soon as this statement came out, everyone burst into laughter.
Someone even said with a smile: "General Wang Ba, what you said doesn't count, because all men like this, regardless of age."
Although Qiao Zhongkui was worried, he couldn't help laughing out loud after hearing the words of his beloved general. While laughing, he asked: "Besides these, what else do you like?"
"The general likes to fight. After defeating his opponent, he likes to show off!" said a young general named Wang Ba.
After listening to Wang Ba's words, Qiao Zhongkui immediately thought of a very bold plan. If he was not willing to spend a little money, King Wei, who was rich, famous and had no shortage of women, would not be easily fooled.
