To the west of Yiyang City, there is the camp of the Holy Guard Army.
Less than half a moment after the soldiers sent the order, Liu Jiangsheng, Luo Erhu and other eight generals of the Holy Guard Army entered the commander's tent one after another. Li Yuan and Xu Kuangheng were already waiting here.
All the generals bowed to Li Yuan one after another: "General, I will pay my respects to Li Yuhou!"
Li Yuan took a seat in the upper position, then waved his hand, and the generals were divided into two sides according to Pin Yi's rank and sat down one by one, remaining silent and waiting for military orders.
"The envoy has given orders that the army will encircle Langzhou tomorrow." Li Yuan said first, and after seeing the excitement in the eyes of the generals, he continued: "And the mission of our holy army in this battle is not to attack the city."
Suddenly, all the generals showed some doubts.
Li Yuan waved gently, and Xu Kuangheng immediately understood. He walked to a military map that had been hung up in the tent and said, "Generals, please look! West of Langzhou and north of Youshui is Xizhou. Seventy years ago , this place was occupied by the Dongxi barbarians. Starting from the third year of Baoda, the Dongxi barbarians secretly communicated with Langzhou and plundered the Chu land many times. In seven years, they occupied the three states of Xi, Chen, and Jin, and robbed the people of food, crops, and weapons. There are countless, and the barbarians are brave and good at fighting, and they can no longer be underestimated.
According to reports from previous scouts, Dongxi barbarians sent 20,000 troops this time. They had left Xizhou three days ago with the intention of marching eastward to rescue Langzhou. If the barbarians take the opportunity to attack while our army is besieging the city, the consequences will be disastrous. Therefore, Ambassador Chen has already issued an order, ordering Li Yuhou to lead his troops to block the enemy who came to help, so as to cut off the retreat of Langzhou soldiers. "
Before he finished speaking, Luo Erhu took the lead and said anxiously: "Hou Yu, I would like to be the vanguard!" Then the other generals could not hold back and asked for battle one after another.
Li Yuan raised his hand to stop the noise and said solemnly: "According to the military order of the envoy and prime minister, the army will attack the city with all its strength tomorrow. It is the time to recruit people. I need to leave half of the troops to guard the central army, and the rest will follow me westward." !”
"Wei Shengjun Liu Jiangsheng, Luo Erhu, Chai Kewu, Fan Renyu!" Li Yuan said loudly.
"The general is here!" Luo Erhu stood up first with a happy face, followed by the other three people.
Li Yuan pretended to be deep in thought and said: "I order the four of you to immediately reorganize our troops and horses, prepare military equipment, and march westward with our Yu Hou tomorrow!"
The four of them shouted back in unison: "General, take your orders!"
Then Li Yuan looked at the remaining four generals and said: "The rest will continue to guard the Central Army and temporarily return it to Li Zhong, the commander of the Fifth Army. The Central Army is the center of the army and must not be lost. You must not despise it. We must protect Prime Minister Chen!"
Li Zhong and the four others also stood up and clasped their fists and said: "The last general takes orders!"
After the four men of Li Zhong were dismissed, the remaining people in the camp were all Li Yuan's brothers and acquaintances.
Seeing this, Li Yuan no longer concealed himself and said directly: "You are all our own people, so I have something to say directly! During this trip, the envoy only promised us food for seven days. Within seven days, if If I can't repel the barbarians, I will tie myself up in front of the envoy to apologize!"
"Seven days of food?" Almost all the generals widened their eyes.
Luo Erhu said angrily: "Brother, if we leave half of the troops and horses, there are only more than 10,000 people left! This battle is already difficult to fight! Why are they only given military rations for seven days? Then what does Chen Jue mean? I believe Look, if we lose this battle, we should ask Chen Jue! How can we ask about my eldest brother’s sin?"
Li Yuan glared at the black man fiercely and said, "Nonsense! Don't you, a black man, always shout louder than anyone else? How can you say defeat before the war has started?"
"Brother, I..." Luo Erhu's face turned red and he couldn't say a word. He could only clenched his fists angrily.
Li Yuan had no time to pay attention and hurriedly asked Xu Kuangheng: "Sir, what do you think of this battle?"
Xu Kuangheng, who was standing in front of the map, bowed his hands to Li Yuan and said to everyone: "Look, everyone, when we send troops from Xizhou to Langzhou, the terrain along the way is complicated, with dense forests and valleys, and tigers and beasts everywhere. Once the barbarian soldiers leave Xizhou, , if you want to enter Langzhou, you must pass through Linyuan City! There are only two roads from Linyuan City to Langzhou City. One is the main road, which is an official road built by the Chu State in the past. It is wide and flat; the second is a small road, which is When Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty built Jiashan Temple 80 years ago, the mountain roads opened for transporting wood and stones were winding and narrow."
Li Yuan then added a few words: "That's right! The barbarians had left Xizhou three days ago, and there were only a thousand Chu soldiers stationed in Linyuan City, so it was extremely difficult to resist them. I'm afraid the barbarians had already passed Linyuan City by now. ! If our army wants to block the incoming enemy, it must first choose which road to march from. These two roads are far apart. If our judgment is wrong, the consequences will be disastrous. "
Everyone followed Xu Kuangheng's fingers, moved their eyes on the map, and fell into thinking.
For a moment, Liu Jiangsheng said thoughtfully: "The 20,000 barbarian soldiers are coming fiercely, just to rescue Langzhou quickly. They will never delay the time, and will definitely choose a wide and flat road."
Luo Erhu's eyes also lit up and he said: "Brother, second brother is right!"
Fan Renyu, who had always been calm, spoke unhurriedly: "The general thought that the barbarian soldiers were born in the mountains after all, so I am afraid they would choose mountain roads to march. For them, walking on small roads may not be slower than the main road."
The young general Chai Kewu had been hesitating for a long time, and then stepped forward and said: "Yu Hou, I have heard from my father and brother that the Dongxi barbarians are naturally cunning and use strange tactics, which cannot be inferred by common sense. Our army's western expedition has already been announced. In the world, since the Dongxi barbarians sent out troops, they came well prepared, which means they have already prepared a strategy to deal with our army. Since our army came from afar and did not know the terrain, the barbarians must have judged that our army did not dare to advance from a small road, and they He just takes the small road."
Li Yuan thought about the different opinions of everyone and couldn't help but fell into a dilemma. He turned to ask: "Sir, what do you think?"
Xu Kuangheng brushed his long beard that was fluttering slightly and replied with a smile: "In the eighth year of my stay in Xiabaoda, I served as a marching commander under He Jingzhu. I followed the army into Chu and rescued Ma Xi'e with Peng Shichou's tribe of Dongxi barbarians. , so I have some understanding of the tactics of the barbarians. War horses are scarce in the Chu land. Even the King of Chu’s army rarely has horse troops. How about the Dongxi barbarians? Even though they have been plundering for many years, they are almost all infantry. .
But this time the Dongxi Man's opponent is our Tang army, not the Chu army. The cavalry is the only advantage of our army. Although the Jianghuai area of the Tang Dynasty also does not produce horses, trade is developed. We often purchase war horses with the Khitan, Goryeo, Central Plains and other places to accompany the imperial army. For example, Yuhou's army has five thousand elite cavalry. The barbarian soldiers once joined hands with our army to attack Tanzhou Prefecture. How could they not know that our Tang cavalry army is good at fighting? The road is wide and is very suitable for cavalry to charge into battle. Even if our army cannot win, the barbarians will definitely suffer heavy losses. The barbarian soldiers were eager to rescue Langzhou, so in order to reduce casualties, they must come along the path. "
After saying this, everyone seemed to be suddenly enlightened and nodded in agreement.
General Li Yuan asked suspiciously: "According to your wishes, sir, our army should take a small road? But doesn't this just fulfill the barbarian soldiers' wishes? In this battle, our army only has more than 10,000 men and horses, and we only carry seven days' worth of food." We are outnumbered, the enemy is outnumbered, and we are alone in the depths. The weather, time and place are not in my hands. The gentleman just said that the cavalry is the only advantage of our army, but the path is winding and narrow, and our army cannot lay out horizontally, and it is even more difficult for the cavalry to move. On the contrary, it will become It’s a burden, if you are ambushed by barbarians, how can you win?”
Luo Erhu, who had listened for a long time, could no longer suppress his temper and asked eagerly: "Yes! Brother is right! The path must not be able to be walked! What do you mean, sir?"
Xu Kuangheng just smiled and patted Luo Erhu on the shoulder, then turned and bowed to Li Yuan and said: "Marquis Yu, the barbarians are coming from the alley, so we can't let them pass! Don't Li Jianqi's troops in Yiyang still have three thousand state soldiers?" ? The small road can be handed over to Li Jianqi's troops! Yu Hou only needs to order them to prepare enough military supplies and go quickly tonight. Within seven or eight miles of march, they will reach the Jiashan Mountain. This mountain is steep on all sides and can only be accessed by one road. It is an excellent place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack Land! And the barbarian soldiers just left Xizhou three days ago, and it will take at least two days to reach them along the small road!
Li Jianqi's troops only need to seize the top of the mountain and build a stronghold at a high position. If the barbarians arrive, they can repel them under the rain of arrows and stones. There is no need to go out of the stronghold to fight! If the barbarians attack by force, they will have to cut down trees on the edge of the mountain and build a plank road to attack from above, which will surely cause heavy casualties! The purpose of the barbarian soldiers' trip is to rescue Langzhou, and they will never stay in a stalemate for too long. I predict that within three days, the barbarians will definitely retreat! "
Li Yuan sighed inwardly, he had indeed seen Xu Kuangheng correctly, and he had a good plan for a long time! But while nodding, he still had doubts: "That's it! But sir, why did you let Li Jianqi's troops go? Our holy army is much more capable than his state soldiers!"
Xu Kuangheng said loudly: "Please lead the army directly along the main road to Linyuan City! If the barbarian soldiers are blocked on the small road, they will definitely return to Linyuan City and take the main road! But our army has cut off its retreat and occupied the city. Just stay and wait for the hard work..."
Li Yuan took a deep breath, and couldn't help but feel excited. He stood up and shouted: "The barbarian soldiers must be in a dilemma! Wonderful! Wonderful! Sir, he can be called a national scholar!" At this time, except Luo Erhu, who didn't know what was going on, the others The three generals also cheered excitedly and looked at Xu Kuangheng with extremely admiring eyes.
Xu Kuangheng, who was the focus of everyone's eyes, was calm as usual at the moment. After a while, he walked to Li Yuan and whispered softly: "Marquis Yu, after our army takes Linyuan City, Peng Du's letter will be of great use... ..."
