Facing the angry and hateful eyes of Qi County's friendly troops, Chen Yingliang led ten regiments of Qiao County troops, singing the increasingly untrue "Serving the Country with Loyalty", and made great strides to the battlefield of Menghai City. No general from Qi County came to welcome Chen Yingliang and the army from Qiao County. Only Yang Wang, the commander of Liang County, felt that Chen Yingliang was pitiful. Seeing the face of his friend Pei Hongce, he brought a few generals from Liang County to welcome Chen Yingliang. The unpopular Chen Yingliang was very grateful , As soon as they met, they saluted Yang Wang Jishou and called him uncle.
"Nephew, you don't need to be so polite, get up quickly." Yang Wang graciously supported Chen Yingliang, patted Chen Yingliang on the shoulder and said with a smile: "My boy, I remember when I first saw you, you were just Henan Zanzhi The mansion's writing and writing official, in less than a year, the official position has already been equal to the old man, if this continues, the old man may have to listen to you in a short time."
"Uncle is joking, how can my little nephew, how can he, dare to have such extravagant hopes?" Chen Yingliang hastily pretended to be modest, "My lord loves me wrongly, and my little nephew is already unable to do what he wants. Don’t dare to have other greed.”
"Don't say such beautiful words. After killing so many big thieves, you still have the face to say that you are incompetent? You want to deliberately satirize me as an uncle?" Yang Wang didn't like Chen Yingliang, and said with a smile: "Okay, don't flatter me , you can be presumptuous in front of me. Be more respectful when you arrive at Zhang Xutuo. Don’t embarrass me. You respect your elders. Go, take your army to set up camp, and then follow me to Zhang Xutuo, your camp I made room too, right next to me."
Chen Yingliang agreed, and quickly led the army to follow Yang Wang to the camp of Liangjun, and ordered the army to set up camp in the open space Yang Wang had cleared for him. Then he led Yuan Tiangang, and followed Yang Wang to the Qijun camp to meet Zhang Xutuo. , and also brought the fine sand table made by Yuan Tiangang himself.
In the camp of Qi County army, Chen Yingliang, who has done a lot of evil, of course received the most unfriendly reception. The soldiers of Qi County looked up and down, looking at Chen Yingliang with malicious intentions, and some people deliberately loudly said that the one who took the credit was here again. , Chen Yingliang graciously ignored it.
The most unfriendly scene was still in Zhang Xutuo's big tent of the Chinese army, seeing Chen Yingliang coming in with Yang Wang, and the generals of Qi County who had just been won by Kan Leng and were almost made of pants not long ago were all expressionless, completely like As if he hadn’t seen the arrival of the reinforcements, Zhang Xutuo was also sitting in front of the handsome table with a big face, sipping tea without even looking at Chen Yingliang, until Yang Wang stepped forward to salute, saying that he was leading Chen Yingliang to meet him, Zhang Xutuo seemed to have suddenly discovered Chen Yingliang's existence was the same, and he pretended to be surprised and said, "Chen Tongshou is here too? When he was in Mangdang Mountain last time, didn't Chen Tongshou say he didn't have time to go north? Why do you have time today?"
"Ambassador, I didn't want to come as an official." Chen Yingliang said with a smile: "Uncle Yang opened the mouth. He and my uncle Li Guogong are life-and-death friends. I dare not refuse. The bandit army outside the city of Menghai was completely wiped out, and all they had to do was break through the city to kill the enemy, and destroy the bandits to get food, so the subordinate officials came to share the credit and the spoils again."
As soon as Chen Yingliang finished speaking, the big tent was already full of anger. Mulan and Luo Shixin also made the sound of grinding teeth, Zhang Xutuo was stunned for a while, and then said with a fake smile: "Chen Tongshou is still here!" It’s really frank, okay, if you want to share the credit, you can also discuss the spoils, take your Qiaojun army to break the thief city, and you can discuss how to share the credit and spoils.”
"Ambassador Zhang was joking. The lower officials only brought ten regiments of more than two thousand people. How can this force be enough to break through the bandit city?" Chen Yingliang continued with a playful smile and said, "So the siege of the city still needs to be troubled by Ambassador Zhang's subordinates. For the generals and soldiers of Qi County, the subordinate officials can only lead the troops from the headquarters to serve as the ambassador's subordinates and help the ambassador wipe out the remnants of the enemy."
"Don't want to attack the city, but want to share the spoils? You Qiao County want to take all the good things in the world?!"
Luo Shixin was the first to roar out unbearably, and then Mulan and other Qi County generals also accused Chen Yingliang of being shameless, stealing and playing tricks. If you don’t want to attack the city, I don’t care about you, and I can’t force you to attack the city, but I don’t want to take on the heavy responsibility of attacking the city, so what should we do if no one is attacking the city? How can we divide the spoils if the city is not broken by thieves?”
"Simple." Chen Yingliang put away his hippie smile and said with a smile, "Let Meng Haigong's bandit army come out of the city to fight us decisively, so there is no need to attack the city."
"Then how do you let Meng Haigong's bandit army come out of the city to fight a decisive battle?" Zhang Xutuo asked.
"Cut off his water source, let him have no water to drink!" Chen Yingliang replied decisively: "Meng Haigong's bandit army has no water to drink, so they can only obediently go out of the city and fight us!"
"Cutting off his water source?" Zhang Xutuo was stunned again, and then immediately burst into laughter, laughing and said: "The old man also said that Chen Tongshou could have some clever tricks, so it turned out to be cutting off the water source! I have heard for a long time that Chen Tongshou used soldiers Like a god, there are endless tricks and tricks, I never thought that I could come up with such a strategy on paper, clever, really clever!"
"Ambassador Zhang, this tactic of yours is definitely not just on paper." Chen Yingliang said calmly: "Your official has not been to the city of Menghai for on-the-spot investigation, but there is already an expert who is more proficient in geography and hydrology than this official. The official has carefully surveyed the geography and hydrology of Meng Hai Gong's Thieves City, so I can conclude that as long as we cut off the Hulu River, within ten days, Meng Hai Gong's Thieves City will definitely be destroyed by itself!"
"A master? That master?" Zhang Xutuo smiled dismissively, and pointed to Yuan Tiangang beside Chen Yingliang and said, "This is the county magistrate who lost Yanguan County? He tells fortunes every day Yuan Tiangang?"
"That's right, it's him." Chen Yingliang nodded, and said solemnly: "Ambassador Zhang may not know something. Mr. Yuan Tiangang is not only proficient in Zhouyi gossip, but also has a deep research on astronomy and geography. His attainments in astronomy, arithmetic, geography and hydrology are If you claim to be number two in the world, no one in this world would dare to call yourself number one!"
"It's amazing." Zhang Xutuo sarcastically praised, then slapped the table in front of him fiercely, and shouted: "Have you blown enough? Don't think that the old man has not considered this tactic! But the old man sent someone to investigate and found out, Meng Haigong’s bandit army basically did not draw water from the Hulu River, and personally interrogated the bandit soldiers’ prisoners of war, there are so many wells in Meng Haigong’s bandit city, there is no need to draw water from the river outside the city, the wells alone can be enough for the whole city to drink!”
"There are many wells in the city?"
Chen Yingliang was a little dumbfounded, and almost thought he had made a big oolong, while Yuan Tiangang next to him said calmly: "Those are not wells, they should be underground drains! Students dare to bet Xiang Shang's head that there is absolutely no groundwater in Meng Haigong's thief city. Those so-called wells must be underground channels connecting the Hulu River, through which the river water is drawn into various parts of the city, making it easier for the soldiers and civilians in the city to draw water, and then opening holes in the underground channels to draw water looks like wells."
"Underground culvert?" Zhang Xutuo was startled, and hurriedly asked, "How do you know it's an culvert?"
"It's very simple." Yuan Tiangang said calmly: "As long as the ambassador sends a few more captives and asks them to point out the location of the wells on the map of the thief city, he will definitely find that the so-called wells are distributed in a linear shape, or in a straight line. It may be an arc. If Meng Haigong had considered carefully when building the city, he would have chosen an arc to divert water, so that the water of the Hulu River would continue to flow in the culvert, so that the water quality would remain unchanged and there would be running water available at any time."
Zhang Xutuo blinked his copper bell eyes, and suddenly shouted: "Qin Qiong, go and arrest some prisoners immediately, the prisoners who have entered Meng Haigong's thief city!"
Qin Qiong sang promises, and hurried out of the tent. After a while, several captives from the bandits were taken into the big tent. Zhang Xutuo took out a rough floor plan of Menghai City and ordered the prisoners to point out the location of the wells in the city. What Zhang Xutuo and the generals of Qi County were dumbfounded was that the wells marked by the captives really connected into two arcs on the map of Meng Hai City.
Before this was over, one of the captives also took the initiative to say: "General, these are not wells, but the water intakes of underground canals. When Meng Lushi built the city, because there were no wells dug in the city, he dug two underground canals in the north and south cities." It is connected to the Hulu River, covered with wooden boards and slabs and then covered with soil. It does not affect the road, and only some openings are opened to get water. It looks like a well. The villain participated in the construction of the city at that time, so he knew it, but people who entered the city later thought that Those are wells."
"Then why didn't you say it earlier?" Zhang Xutuo almost vomited blood.
"You never asked me." The prisoner replied aggrievedly.
With a bang, Zhang Xutuo slapped the handsome table in front of him again, causing the arrows to jump wildly on the table, and his expression was extremely embarrassing, and he said very depressedly: "Last time, why didn't the old man pick you? Ask for a statement?"
The generals of Qi County were also extremely depressed. Chen Yingliang and Yuan Tiangang remained calm, but Yang Wang was annoyed and funny, and said, "Ambassador Zhang, it's just a matter of luck, luck, but it's okay, thanks to Mr. Yuan and Ying Nephew Liangxian noticed it in time, so we didn't waste our time, and it's not too late to cut off the water."
"It's really a matter of luck." Zhang Xutuo sighed, first waved his hands to let the soldiers take the prisoners away, and then said: "Chen Tongshou, there is another problem. The old man once sent people to survey the upper reaches of the Hulu River. It was found that there was no suitable place to cut off the water. The Hulu River was said to be big or small. The widest part of the river was three feet, and the deepest was almost ten feet. If such a large amount of water was only blocked but not dredged, the dam we built would be impossible. How long will it take to be overwhelmed, and how to solve this problem?"
"Old general, if we want to cut off the water source of Meng Haigong Thief City, we have to solve more than this problem." Chen Yingliang said with a smile: "There is also the Makeng River. Mr. Yuan has already explored and found out that the water surface of the Makeng River is basically the same as The Calabash River is flat, so even if we cut off the Calabash River, the water from the Maceng River will still flow back into the Calabash River to provide drinking water for the city of thieves."
"But it doesn't matter." Chen Yingliang patted Yuan Tiangang next to him, and said with a smile: "With Mr. Yuan around, these hydrological problems are not a problem at all. Yuan Tiangang has already designed a water cut-off plan for us, as long as we follow the plan , it can be guaranteed that within one day, Meng Haigong Thief City will be completely depleted of water!"
"Okay, then please leave Mr. Yuan!" Zhang Xutuo was overjoyed, then looked at Chen Yingliang suspiciously, and asked, "Chen Tongshou, since you have already formulated the strategy of breaking the city, why don't you directly send Mr. Yuan to the city?" Just send them here, why waste money and food to bring your army over?"
"Because Uncle Yang called me by letter, I have to come." Chen Yingliang shamelessly shifted the responsibility to Yang Wang, and then added with a smile: "Also, I can also help Ambassador Zhang let Meng Haigong rob the city by coming here. The water was cut off quickly and the stored water was completely used, so the next official came."
"If you want to grab the credit and share the money, just say so. Why do you have to make so many excuses?" Zhang Xutuo pointed out Chen Yingliang's real intentions bluntly, and then hummed: "Forget it, for the sake of your contribution, the old man is too lazy I have a dispute with you, after the city is destroyed and the thieves are destroyed, you will share 30% of the money and food in the city."
"Marshal, they just came up with an idea, why are they divided so much?" Luo Shixin was anxious.
Zhang Xutuo was silent, and then said after a long while: "Because, without this plan, the old man really wouldn't be sure to break through this city of Meng Haigong thieves, so don't be unhappy, this is what he deserves."
Luo Shixin closed his mouth, but the expression on his face was still aggrieved. Zhang Xutuo didn't bother to talk to him, but urged Chen Yingliang and Yuan Tiangang to come up with the water cutoff strategy as soon as possible. , Zhang Xutuo was overjoyed when he heard it, and immediately decided to adopt it. Then, Chen Yingliang said: "Ambassador Zhang, while the lower officials suggest cutting off the water, we will also launch a siege, using trebuchets to throw a large number of incendiary bombs into the city, causing a fire in the city and forcing the Meng Haigong bandits to use stored water to put out the fire. In this way, if we cut off the Hulu River and the Makeng River at the same time, Meng Haigong Bandit City will immediately run out of water, and it will collapse on its own within a few days."
After glancing at Chen Yingliang, Zhang Xutuo nodded and said, "Good idea."
It was very rare to praise Chen Yingliang, and Zhang Xutuo remembered another matter, and hurriedly told the story of the bandit soldiers sending grassmen down the city every night for the past few days, and asked Chen Yingliang for countermeasures. Liangyi laughed loudly and said: "It's too easy, arrange several troops to take turns to rest and take turns to be on guard. If the enemy really dares to attack the city, immediately send some people to pretend to be the team of Meng Haigong's thief army and arrange a few obedient prisoners to lead the way. , Go to the gate of Meng Haigong’s Thief City to defraud the city. If the deceit fails, we will take the opportunity to wipe out the incoming enemies. Taking down this city of thieves will be easy."
Zhang Xutuo had nothing to say, and Chen Yingliang said again: "Also, our troops who take turns on guard don't have to wait idlely. Once it gets dark, we will beat drums and gongs outside Meng Haigong's thief city every half an hour. Shout out, so that the bandit guards can't even sleep well, and always have to guard against our real sneak attack."
"Just do it like this." Zhang Xutuo agreed without hesitation, sat back in the handsome chair easily, and said with a smile: "I was disturbed by the bandits and couldn't sleep well for a few days. It's time for us to take revenge."
Hearing this, Qin Qiong and He Yanyu immediately looked at each other in surprise, and they both remembered Zhang Xutuo's inexplicable words three days ago. Chen Yingliang then said: "Ambassador, I have one more thing to remind you, our plan to cut off the bandit army's water source, in addition to the need to keep it secret to the outside world, and the tasks of organizing civilians to drain water and transport soil to fill the river, we can only use your resources The army of Qi County or my army of Qiao County must not allow the troops of Jiyin County and Liang County to participate."
"Are you worried that there are traitors in the teams of Jiyin and Liangjun?" Zhang Xutuo was taken aback.
"That's right." Chen Yingliang replied calmly: "Meng Haigong's bandit army is mainly active in Jiyin County and Liang County, and must be inextricably linked with the officials and troops of these two counties. The officers and soldiers of these two counties must not know our action plan."
"About this point, the old man has no problem." Zhang Xutuo said with a smile: "But you said that the officers and soldiers of Liang County may not be reliable, it is your uncle Yang Tongshou's problem.—Yang Tongshou, what do you think?"
"Little bastard, dare to say that the old man's army is unreliable and disrespectful to the elders. I will beat you!" Yang Wang smiled and raised his hand to beat you. If you send troops to Liang County, you will be responsible for the food and grass, and the old man will not give you a single grain or rice!"
"Food is easy to talk about, even if uncle doesn't give it, he should." Chen Yingliang cupped his hands, and said: "However, my nephew feels that those spies who may have an affair with the bandit army should not be wasted. My nephew is bold enough to ask my uncle and the ambassador to let the wind out. Let’s just say that my nephew has come here and prepared a special siege weapon, which can break through the thief city within three to five days, and use this false news to confuse the enemy.”
"It's okay to spread fake news, but will the thieves believe it?" Yang Wang asked worriedly.
"Uncle, don't worry." Chen Yingliang replied with a smile: "My nephew has a way to convince the enemy."
Finally it was the turn of Meng Haigong's bandit army to suffer. That night, every half an hour there were gongs and drums shouting to kill the bandit army defenders from their sleep, forcing the bandit soldiers to jump up and prepare for battle nervously to prevent the officers and soldiers from attacking at night. Every time, there is no sign of the officers and soldiers, and they can only take turns to rest and take turns to guard. And when it was half past three o'clock, I didn't know that wicked ghost threw a black thing on the city wall, and the thing exploded in the sky, and there was an earth-shattering loud noise, waking up most of the thieves in the city. The army soldiers also woke up Meng Haigong and his wife who were sleeping together. They were so frightened that the couple jumped out of the bed with their buttocks naked, yelling and asking what happened.
The bandit scouts who went out to scout the city also began to suffer. The Sui army not only invested a large number of cavalry to increase the intensity of scouting, but also suddenly became extremely vicious, digging traps and laying ambushes, and especially liked to lure the bandits forward by pretending to be refugees. Then they either shot back arrows to sneak attack, or suddenly took out weapons to slash and kill, and after the password to distinguish between friend and foe was interrogated and intercepted by the officers and soldiers, the bandit scouts suffered even more—countless bandit scouts suddenly appeared outside the city , Shouting the correct password, stepped forward and approached, and then launched a sneak attack, beating the bandit army scouts dizzily, and did not know who was the companion and who was the enemy, so it was no longer possible to effectively detect the movement of the officers and soldiers. greatly reduced.
What made Meng Haigong and his wife furious was still behind. On the afternoon of the second day after the Qiaojun army arrived at the battlefield in Menghai City, a prisoner of his own family was released back to the city, and brought a copy of Meng Haigong's younger brother Meng Yigui who was on duty in the city. Gifts and a letter written by Chen Yingliang, which not only promised Meng Yigui an official position in the court and a large reward, but also instigated Meng Yigui to launch a mutiny to kill Meng Haigong and his wife, and ask the court for meritorious service! As a result, although Meng Yigui beheaded the prisoner immediately, he also immediately handed over the letters and gifts to Meng Haigong and his wife. Meng Haigong and his wife were still furious because of this, and they scolded Chen Yingliang for being vicious and despicable. Generals are not good for their husbands and wives.
"This is the style of Chen Yingliang's little thief." Li Mi said helplessly. .”