The fire burned for more than an hour before the fire slowly weakened and finally extinguished, leaving only curls of green smoke. In the entire Feng family compound, everything that could burn was burned to the ground, leaving only ruins and a piece of scorched earth. Those who were hiding in the houses were probably left with only the blackened bones. As expected, all the people Pan Furu brought were unafraid of death. Not even one of them, including himself, ran out of the fire and surrendered. I don't know if they were fainted by the poisonous gas produced by the burning sulfur from the beginning, or if they were really capable. Endure the burning flames.
Li Zhiyun has never seen such a scene. From beginning to end, he looked calm on the surface, but inside he was in a state of turmoil, and could even be said to be frightened. Dozens of living lives were burned to death in the fire. It was so tragic! Creepy! Will he cause retribution? He transferred the firearms battalion over, hoping to reduce casualties and resolve the battle easily, but he did not expect such a result.
However, he then thought about it. He had given these people a chance, but they just refused to surrender. What could he do? If he ordered a forceful attack, it would inevitably cause a large number of casualties to his own soldiers. So, wouldn't it be another sin? Alas, when the enemy and we are fighting each other, it is originally a matter of life and death, which cannot be tolerated by the heart of a Bodhisattva. Living in troubled times, he wanted to be a prince of peace, but that was absolutely impossible!
Probably due to Li Zhiyun's influence, although they won the battle, no one was happy. Even Fan Shuxiang, who had always been talkative and noisy, looked like an eggplant beaten by frost, with his head drooping. Li Zhiyun ordered Scarface to stay and deal with the aftermath, and left with his people.
After getting the news, Xu Youwei and Ayu absconded and were captured at the gate of the city. They were imprisoned and awaited the court's decision. Zhang Zheng was seriously injured and was no longer suitable to stay on the front line. Li Zhiyun sent someone to take him back to Chang'an by carriage to recuperate.
After the hidden dangers that threatened the safety of the granary were eliminated, Li Zhiyun moved back to the New Army camp. Whenever he has free time every day, he practices martial arts assiduously. Among all martial arts, he preferred swordsmanship. In ancient China, the sword was known as the king of a hundred weapons. Everyone liked to wear swords and practice swordsmanship. Riding and archery swordsmanship was a must-have skill for young people. As the saying goes, "Learn fencing at the age of fifteen and poetry at the age of sixteen." Li Zhiyun is just in time this year. Fifteen years old, so it's not too late to practice swordsmanship now. Zhang Zheng has taught him the entire set of "Yue Nu Sword Techniques", and based on his own experience, he summarized this set of sword techniques into a 24-character formula: "Move inside and be still outside, the last move comes first; full concentration, quick response; ever-changing , take the enemy by surprise." What Li Zhiyun has to do now is practice more frequently.
However, just being familiar with the swordsmanship routines is not enough. You must practice with others and supplement it with actual combat. Zhang Zheng went to Chang'an to recover from his injuries, so Li Zhiyun asked Cai Hu to practice swordsmanship with him. Although Cai Hu's swordsmanship is not as good as Zhang Zheng's, he is still more than enough to be his teacher.
That morning, Li Zhiyun was sparring with Cai Hu with wooden swords. One of the second brother's guards came to him and said that King Qin asked him to go to the Chinese army camp.
Li Zhiyun came to the Chinese army camp and walked into the military tent. The second brother was waiting for him. When he saw him coming in, he asked him to sit down opposite, and then said: "Fifth brother, my father sent his uncle Li Xiaoji, the general manager of Shaanxi Province Yu Jun, and the internal history minister Tang Jian to lead the army. Attack Xia County. Lu Chongmao, who was guarding Xia County, surrendered to Liu Wuzhou and asked Song Jingang to send troops to rescue. Song Jingang has already sent his generals Wei Chigong and Xunxiang to lead troops to rescue. I heard that Yuchi Gong is a very powerful person. I am afraid that Tang Uncle and the others can't resist, so I plan to let you lead 5,000 troops to Xia County for reinforcements, what do you think?"
When Li Zhiyun heard this, he nodded without thinking and said, "Okay, when will we set off?" Since the second brother cared so much about his cousin, of course he couldn't ignore it. As for Yuchi Gong, Li Zhiyun had heard of him in his previous life. This man seemed to have surrendered to his second brother later. Li Zhiyun didn't know when he surrendered. He wanted to meet the surrendering general first to see if he could earn some military merit from him.
"Rescuing people is like putting out fires. Of course, the sooner the better. I have prepared soldiers, horses, food and grass for you. They are in the barracks next to you. Come with me!" After that, the second brother led him out of the Chinese army building. camp, and came to another military camp within a stone's throw.
As soon as they walked into the gate of the barracks, four people walked out of a tent on the opposite side. Li Zhiyun took a look and saw that they were Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin and Fan Botong. The second brother pointed with his hand and said: "Fifth brother, these are the four generals I have selected for you. They will accompany you on your expedition."
Four people came forward and saluted with clasped fists. After the second brother returned the gift, he said: "Generals, you are all brave men. This time I will accompany the King of Chu to the aid of Xia County. I believe that you will be able to succeed immediately and return in triumph!" Cheng Yaojin said with a smile: " Don’t worry, King Qin, we will definitely beat Yuchi Gong until he is rolling on the floor and crying for his father and mother!”
After the second brother handed the troops to Li Zhiyun, he turned around and left. After seeing off his second brother, Li Zhiyun turned around and said, "Generals, who is willing to be the vanguard?" Qin Qiong clasped his fists and said, "King Chu, the last general is willing to be the vanguard." Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "General Qin, Which path are you going to take?”
Qin Shubao made a "please" gesture, "King Chu, please come into the tent and talk." Everyone walked into the military tent. Qin Shubao led him to a military map, pointed at the map and said: "Look, There are two roads to go from Baibi to Xia County, one is the main road and the other is the small road, but both roads have their own advantages and disadvantages. The main road is easy to walk, but it has to pass through Song Jingang's defense area; the small road is difficult to walk because there are many mountains along the way. Gully, rapids and rapids.”
Li Zhiyun took a closer look at the map and found that Baibi, Jiangxian and Wenxi were all in Jiangzhou (now Xinjiang), while Xia County belonged to Yuzhou (now Yuncheng). The official road leading from Baibi to Xia County passes through Wenxi. He knew that there were thousands of Tang troops in Wenxi County, and they were being surrounded by Song Jingang's army on three levels inside and three outside. The trail does not need to take a detour to Wenxi, but goes directly diagonally to reach Xia County. The distance is also closer than the official road.
He turned around and said, "What do you think, generals?" Cheng Yaojin advocated taking the high road, while Fan Botong advocated taking the small road. Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said: "When we go to Xia County for reinforcements, we must seize the time and arrive as soon as possible. If we take the main road, we will inevitably have to fight against the enemy, which will easily delay our time. So we should take the small road. Although the small road is difficult We should walk a little bit, but today is December 14th, and there will be moonlight all night long, so we can travel all night to gain back the time."
When everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement. Seeing that everyone was unanimous, Li Zhiyun said to Fan Bo: "General Fan, please be responsible for escorting the grain and fodder. Since we are walking along a small road, there is no need for large carts. We can use mules and horses to transport it, and we don't need to carry too much." , enough to feed the horses for ten days." Fan Botong cupped his fists and said, "Follow your orders!"
"Generals, go get ready. We will set off in the afternoon."
After the generals took the order and walked out of the tent, Li Zhiyun called out to Fan Shuxiang and whispered: "Miss Fan, fighting is a matter for men. Why do you, a girl, join in the fun?" Fan Shuxiang rolled his eyes and said, "Don't you look down on women? ? Don’t forget, last time in Dongjiabao, it was this girl who saved your life." Li Zhiyun touched his nose and fell silent.
Since the second brother gave him five thousand soldiers and horses, there is no need to bring the new army. The new army is a powerful force, and good steel must be used on the blade. I guess the second brother means the same.
After lunch, Li Zhiyun led 5,000 soldiers and horses, left the army camp and headed straight for Xia County. Qin Qiong found a local guide and the guide led the way along the trail. The trail is really rugged and difficult to navigate. Not only is the road narrow, but there are many mountains and valleys. Sometimes it goes up the mountain and sometimes it goes down. In fact, the distance traveled is much longer than the main road.
Li Zhiyun knew that this reinforcement to his uncle and the others was a race against time. Xia County is located due south of Wenxi, about 150 miles away from Wenxi, while Baibi is about 180 miles away from Xia County. The main force of Song Jingang's army was stationed in Jiangxian and Wenxi areas, so they were closer to Xiaxian. Li Zhiyun didn't know when Yu Chigong set out, but the second brother must have received the information later than when Yu Chigong set out. Therefore, compared to them, Yu Chigong was closer and set out earlier, so he would naturally arrive at Xia County before them. After Yuchi Gong arrived, he was bound to attack his uncle and the others. So, can Uncle Tang and others withstand Yu Chigong's attack? His only hope now is that his uncle and the others can hold their position and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
The roads taken by the army were all field trails or mountain trails trampled by woodcutter, and basically no horse riding was allowed. Therefore, Li Zhiyun leads the horse most of the time. When encountering a shallow stream, those with horses could ride through. Soldiers without horses could only take off their shoes and socks, roll up their trousers and wade across the stream. In the middle of winter, walking barefoot in the freezing cold water is an uncomfortable experience. Fortunately, these streams are not too deep. Otherwise, we would have to cut down trees to build floating bridges, which would be too time-consuming.
At night, the team continued to march under the moonlight. At the third watch, Li Zhiyun saw that the soldiers were too tired, so he ordered to camp on the spot and wait until dawn tomorrow before leaving.
After the fifth watch, some cooking soldiers got up early to make rice. After the soldiers had finished their breakfast and the army was preparing to leave, they saw a war horse galloping along the mountain road on the hillside in the distance. The horse galloped forward, and the scout immediately dismounted, ran to Li Zhiyun, knelt down and clasped his fists, saying: "Inform the King of Chu that Yuchi Gong has arrived in Xia County and defeated the 'Xiaoji Camp'. King Yong'an Li Xiaoji and the Governor of Shaanzhou Yu Yun , Internal History Minister Tang Jian and others were all captured." When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was shocked, what? Uncle cousin and the others were completely wiped out so quickly? Still a prisoner? It seemed that they must have been unprepared and were caught off guard by Yu Chigong.
Several generals gathered around, Qin Shubao frowned and said: "King Chu, King Yong'an and others have been defeated and captured. Should we go to Xia County?" After hearing this, Cheng Yaojin glared and said: "Of course I want to go!" Let’s go have a big fight with Yuchi Gong and get him back!”
Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said to Cai Hu on the side: "Go and get the map." Cai Hu quickly walked into the tent, brought the military map, and spread it on the grass. Li Zhiyun knelt down and stared at the map for a while, then pointed with his hand and said: "Generals, after Yuchi Gong relieved the siege of Xia County, he must return to his home base. Meiliangchuan is the place he must pass on his way back, so let's Let's ambush him there." When Cheng Yaojin heard this, he couldn't help shouting: "Great, we'll wait for him there!"
Seeing that everyone had no objections, Li Zhiyun rolled up the map, stood up and said: "The army will set off immediately, heading for Meiliangchuan."
