At that night, piles of bonfires were lit in the wilderness south of Zaolin Town. The Youzhou Army dragged horse corpses from the battlefield, killed injured horses that could no longer fight, and happily ate barbecue and enjoyed the joy of victory. , everyone was in high spirits, making loud noises, bragging about their great achievements; as if in the daytime battle, everyone was the unparalleled overlord Xiang Yu.
Yang Ji, Yang Shanhui, Xue Ju, Li Daliang, Yuchi Gong, Wei Zheng, Ling Jingye and a dozen Youzhou officers were sitting around a bonfire, talking about today's day's battle. Different from the indifference of Yang Ji and others, the generals of Youzhou were all high-spirited and full of interest, and unanimously asked Yang Ji to fight the main force of the rebels as soon as possible.
If Qiao Zhongkui's 40,000 rebels are defeated quickly, then the Youzhou Army as the Northern Route Army will take the lead in suppressing the rebellion. These generals will not only receive generous rewards, but also receive promotions in their positions, so no one wants to Pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"With such a weak combat power, how dare you call yourself Bingzhou Jingqi? It's simply laughable. We can all the army go south tomorrow, kill Qiao Zhongkui's rebels to pieces, and push the war to Jinyang .”
"Your Majesty, we will go find Qiao Zhongkui's main force tomorrow and fight them to decide. All the brothers have this confidence and this ability."
The speakers were Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi, the lieutenants of the Youzhou Army. They were also the actual controllers of the Youzhou Army. Each of them had five lieutenants, and each lieutenant led a force of a thousand men. team, and as long as the two of them control these ten generals, it is equivalent to firmly controlling the entire army.
Zhao Shixin comes from the Zhao Gui family in the "Eight Pillar Kingdom", and He Lanyi comes from the He Lanxiang family in the "Double Twelve (Twenty-Four Kaifu) Generals". Both of them come from military families, and some are unique to military families. His heart is high and arrogant.
Like the Dugu, Yuan, and Dou families, their family also coveted the Hehuang area with fertile land and convenient irrigation. However, because of Yang Ji, they could hardly get any land.
As the saying goes, cutting off a person's financial path is like killing his parents, and what Yang Ji did was naturally hated by the Zhao and Helan families. This time, Yang Ji was also appointed as the general manager of the school inspection in Youzhou. Otherwise, how could these two people be obedient?
These two people came from the prosperous Daxing to the bitter cold Youzhou for training because of their family arrangements. However, there has been no war in Youzhou for a long time. They stayed there for several years and they were already tired of Youzhou. Today's victory aroused their utilitarian ambition to be promoted through military merit, so they urged Yang Ji to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the rebels.
Yang Ji knew that they were greedy for success, but as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Route Army, he shouldered the important task of protecting the northern part of Bingzhou. How could he risk the lives of thousands of soldiers and the safety of Bingbei with them? Besides, knowing that reinforcements are coming, why risk the whole army to be annihilated by taking a small risk to win a big one? So he said: "Our mission is to ensure that Daizhou is always in the hands of the court before the Shuozhou Army arrives, instead of rushing to annihilate the rebels. If today's battle is the rebels' arrogance, then our tomorrow's By rushing south, we fell into Qiao Zhongkui's scheme. If our army is defeated in the ambush, Daizhou will be doomed. So what we have to do now is to use the cavalry's motivation advantage to intercept the rebels outside Yanmen City."
"What the king said is absolutely true!" Yang Shanhui, Xue Ju, Li Daliang, Yuchi Gong, Wei Zheng, Ling Jing and Hou Mo Chenyi listened to Yang Ji's words and nodded in agreement.
In terms of the current overall situation, as long as Daizhou is not lost, even for the imperial court, it is cost-effective to sacrifice the entire Youzhou army, but the premise of the sacrifice is to put national affairs and Daizhou first, not to satisfy a certain person. Some people take risks based on their utilitarianism.
However, Yang Ji's statement did not arouse the attention and resonance of Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi. They only focused on meritorious service and official position, and they did not want the Shuozhou Army to share the credit for annihilating Qiao Zhongkui equally, so Zhao Shizhu frowned. Wrinkled, he said in a questioning tone: "But have you ever thought about it, Mr. Yang, that the long wait will not only make the fighter plane disappear in a flash, but also weaken the morale of the brothers?"
"Yes, Manager Yang!" He Lanyi then said proudly: "Brothers, the morale is high. It is time for a decisive battle with the main force of the rebels. What do we have to worry about in Bingzhou? Even if it's one hundred thousand, we Youyou The state army doesn’t take it seriously either. Manager Yang, let’s fight!”
The ten generals next to him were also full of anticipation, and they also echoed and shouted one after another:
"Manager Yang, let's fight!"
"Manager Yang, let's fight!"
"Manager Yang, let's fight!"
"Manager Yang, let's fight!"
Yang Ji and others just watched indifferently, as if watching a bunch of clowns jumping up and down; Yang Ji and others did not speak, but Hou Mo and Chen Yi, as a member of the Bingzhou Army, were shocked by He Lanyi's words: " "This bunch of miscellaneous soldiers in Bingzhou" was offended. He sneered: "I really don't know how high the sky is and how thick the earth is! Do you really think that the elite soldiers of Bingzhou are puppets of Nihe? Do you know the former coach of Bingzhou?" , who is the general in charge of the army?"
"Who?" He Lanyi asked coldly.
"The saints, King Zhao of Wei, Yang Su, Duke of Yue, Gao Jun, Duke of Qi, Shi Wansui, the general of the left army, Zhao Zhongqing of Shangzhu State, and Wei Gong of Qichun, Da Xi Changru, all served as commanders of the Bingzhou Army many times. King Wei Zhao of Baidao and When the Shah Turks met, he personally led King Cai, King Teng, Generals Li Chong, and General Li Che to lead five thousand fine cavalry to defeat the Turks. Khan Shabolue was severely injured and threw away the gold armor he was wearing. He lay down in the grass and pretended to be dead before escaping. After a calamity. Do you know what kind of soldiers King Wei Zhao's five thousand elite cavalry are? They are the 'miscellaneous soldiers in Bingzhou'. In the 19th year of Emperor Kaihuang's founding, the Duke of Yue used his cavalry to attack the cavalry and defeated Bujia Khan. It’s also ‘Bingzhou’s bunch of miscellaneous soldiers’.”
When Hou Mo and Chen Yi said this, he glanced at these self-righteous guys with disdain and said teasingly: "In the eighteenth year of the founding of the Emperor, the late emperor sent an army of 300,000 land and sea troops to attack Goguryeo. The army was an elite soldier from Youzhou who was 'good at recruiting and fighting.' Lord, what's the result? Before the battle even started, the delicate Youzhou elite soldiers died of cold and disease. You can just talk nonsense. Now for your own selfish interests, you have deceived the King of Wei to send troops, but you said 10,000 Youzhou soldiers. You can defeat hundreds of thousands of Bingzhou's miscellaneous soldiers with just one golden soldier. Who gave you the courage? That made you say such ridiculously ignorant, pathetic, and pathetic things."
He Lanyi got so angry at the scolding that he kicked the table in front of Hou Mo and Chen Yi away. With a "clang" sound, he pulled out his sword and pointed it at Hou Mo and Chen Yi and roared: "Shut up!" You’re talking nonsense, believe it or not, I’ll kill you with one knife.”
"Qiang, Qiang, Qiang..." Zhao Shizhu and the ten generals also drew their swords and surrounded Hou Mo and Chen Yi. If Hou Mo and Chen Yi dared to continue talking at this time, they would be angered by these You Mo and Chen Yi. The state general was hacked to death with swords.
"Draw a sword against Pao Ze, are you thinking the opposite? Sit down and sit down." Although Yang Ji hates regional differences, Hou Mo and Chen Yi's words made him listen happily. Of course not Because of the Youzhou Army, but because Hou Mo and Chen Yi scolded He Lanyi, an ignorant and arrogant person.
"Here!" Although Yang Ji, the chief inspector of Youzhou School, is temporary, even if he does not have this position, He Lanyi, Zhao Shizhu and others cannot afford to offend him, so they all glared at Hou Mo and Chen Yi fiercely. , put away the knife and sat down.
"I know that you are eager to make contributions and stand out through this war, but saving your own life is the first priority. If your life is gone, not only will you not be able to enjoy the rewards, but you will even be married off for the rewards you exchanged for your lives. The man who took your wife will enjoy it. I know how the next battle will be fought." Yang Ji stared coldly at the heckled He Lanyi and said, "If anyone thinks that his background is better than mine, Yang Ji No matter how hard you try, I don't mind beheading the general and slaughtering his entire family in front of the battle."
Yang Ji didn't know the abilities of Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi, but their eagerness for quick success caused them to lose their basic ability to judge. Years of comfortable life had made these two people forget and ignore them. The dangers of war, or perhaps, they don't even understand real war. The root cause of the conflict in front of him is that the Youzhou Army is not his subordinates and its military discipline is not as good as that of the Liangzhou Army. If it were the Liangzhou Army or the Liangzhou area, who would dare to draw a sword in front of Yang Ji?
At this moment, a soldier came to report: "Report to the General Manager, the messenger sent by Yang Yichen, the General Manager of Shuozhou, has arrived."
"Oh?" Yang Ji quickly stood up and asked, "Where is he?"
The soldier replied: "It has been sent to your council."
"Well! Go down!" Yang Ji turned to the generals and said, "Have a good rest tonight. We will discuss military affairs tomorrow morning."
After finishing the explanation, Yang Ji took Yang Shanhui and others and walked quickly towards the "Chinese Army Tent".
Hou Mo and Chen Yi had nothing to talk about with these people. Seeing Yang Ji and others leaving, he followed him and said to Yang Ji: "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Through his performance just now, Yang Ji knew that Hou Mo and Chen Yi were completely different from Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi. He was a wise and calm general. When he saw him chasing after him, he slowed down and asked: "You If we want to talk about something, it should be today’s battle, right?”
"Exactly!" Hou Mo and Chen Yi said with some worry: "Your Majesty, today's battle is really too strange to win. Can you see this?"
Yang Ji also knew that the victory was tricky, otherwise he wouldn't have said the words "arrogant soldier strategy", but he always liked to brainstorm ideas, and he had no habit of depriving his subordinates of their right to speak. At this time, when he heard what Hou Mo and Chen Yi said, Then he stopped and said, "Tell me what you think!"
"Here!" Hou Mo and Chen Yi saw that Yang Ji was willing to give him a chance to speak. He immediately cheered up and said quickly: "Xiaguan fought with Wang Ba many times in Yanmen City. He knows his style very well. This man is very He advocates offense, and his combat style is to advance without retreating, using offense instead of defense. If there is no order to retreat, he can fight all day. Today he is the leader of the rebel army, and he has the final say over the entire rebel army, but he is so aggressive He came to kill him, but he put up a square and circular formation that was seriously inconsistent with his style. This is the first doubt."
"What about the second doubt?" Yang Ji was not familiar with Wang Ba, but Hou Mo and Chen Yi had been fighting with him for so long. Since he said this, his credibility was still very high.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi said: "The second doubt is that Wang Ba is not only good at fighting, but also knows the art of war. He was shot off his helmet by the king today, but he himself was unscathed, but in the end he abandoned the square formation that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. They immediately withdrew the troops without a word of agreement. It gave me the feeling that they deliberately let us win. What else could this be if it wasn't to feign defeat and pretend to lose? In order to confirm the doubts in his heart, the official even asked several prisoners specifically. According to their confessions, They were soldiers who only retreated after receiving the king's support."
Yang Ji nodded. This was the biggest flaw and the main reason why he was unwilling to take risks. Seeing that Hou Mo and Chen Yi seemed to have something to say, he said, "Keep talking."
"Here!" Hou Mo and Chen Yi responded, and continued: "Qiao Zhongkui is the confidant general of the King of Han. He should know that his mission is to capture Daizhou before the arrival of the general manager of Shuozhou, and achieve the purpose of the King of Han to blockade the annexation of the state and conquer Hebei. If If it were the king, the generals, and gentlemen, they would definitely concentrate heavy forces to annihilate the Youzhou army, and then send troops to Xixingguan to fight the Shuozhou army while waiting for work, or capture Xixingguan and keep the Shuozhou army out of Daizhou. . However, he only sent 10,000 people when he had the advantage of all the troops. How unreasonable is this? How arrogant? How unreasonable?"
Speaking of this, Hou Mo and Chen Yi made a summary: "Based on the above three doubts, the subordinate believes that Qiao Zhongkui is trying to lure the king into a decisive battle with him, so he deliberately fakes defeat and uses today's battle to make the enemy proud. On the contrary, Qiao Zhongkui deliberately pretended to lose. If you come here and see the Youzhou general's desolate appearance, you will know that Qiao Zhongkui's goal has been achieved."
Yang Ji did not express his position, glanced behind him, and then stepped forward.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi caught up and asked anxiously: "Your Majesty, do you think the official's words are fallacious?"
Yang Ji smiled slightly: "It's hard to say whether it's a fallacy or not. But I know that for an unaccompanied and unpopular guest general, before speaking, you'd better be brighter with your skills and smarter, otherwise what will happen? I won’t even know until I die.”
When Hou Mo and Chen Yi heard this, he immediately turned around and saw Zhao Shizhu, He Lanyi and others staring at him fiercely. They all put their hands on the handles of their swords, showing their murderous intentions, and were ready to draw their swords and chop him if they disagreed with him. , Hou Mo and Chen Yi couldn't help but shiver.
Yang Ji ignored these people and walked quickly towards the "Chinese Army Tent". In his opinion, Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi's mountain style was too strong, and their speech and behavior were also full of gangsterism. The important thing was that they were Gongxun lost his mind and might actually send troops secretly behind his back, so when he saw these people arriving, he borrowed the words of Hou Mo and Chen Yi to tell the truth about their powerful relationship. If they don't listen to their nice words and don't know what to say, don't blame him for being rude.
When he came to the "Chinese Army Tent", he saw at a glance two Sui soldiers sitting in the main hall waiting patiently. When they saw Yang Ji, they quickly stood up and saluted: "In this humble position, please see King Wei."
"No courtesy!" Yang Ji saw the appearance of the two men and immediately recognized them as Yang Yichen's generals. Without confirming their identities, he sat down and asked, "Does Manager Yang have a letter for me?"
"Yes!" A family general presented a sealed letter to Yang Ji. Yang Ji took a look at the paint, quickly opened the letter and read it again, raised his head and asked, "Where was Manager Yang before you set off? "
"Reporting to King Wei, before we set off, the general manager had led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to the outside of Xixing Pass. He should have entered the country by now." The older general said: "He was worried that he was no match for Qiao Zhongkui, and he hoped to compete with Wei. Wang joined forces to fight against Qiao Zhongkui, and also said that only by cooperation between the two armies can the rebels be completely annihilated."
"Haha, my eldest nephew is so good at talking." Yang Jixue said happily. What he said about "worrying that he is not Qiao Zhongkui's opponent" was clearly because he was worried that Yang Ji was greedy for merit and wanted to monopolize all the achievements, so he foolishly and hurriedly went to fight Qiao Zhongkui.
The two generals also knew the relationship between Yang Ji and Yang Yichen, and they couldn't help but smile when they heard what Yang Ji said.
Yang Ji thought for a while and said, "I have some things that need to be resolved before I can give you an answer. You go to rest first and come back to me before dawn."
"Here!" The two generals stood up and followed the orders, following the guards down.
"Daliang, keep an eye on Zhao Shizhu and He Lanyi." After Yang Yichen's generals retreated, Yang Ji suddenly stood up and ordered Li Daliang angrily.
At this moment, Yang Ji planned to kill these two black sheep, not just thinking about it.
