On the day when Li Mi proposed the plan, Meng Haigong and his wife did not make up their minds to make a decision. The reason is very simple. The relatively safe abandonment of the city would cause too much loss. If you don't live in the heat, you are of course reluctant to abandon the city and run for your life; the other risky one is too dangerous. If you are not careful, not only the city will not be safe, but your head will not be safe either. Unless you win the first battle, you will definitely be defeated! Either one or the other, the gamble is too big, so Meng Haigong and his wife have to think about it for a while.
It was the damn weather that prompted Meng Haigong and his wife to make up their minds. Even though Meng Haigong and his wife had already set up an altar to ask for rain, the goddamn heavens were still as predicted by Yuan Tiangang, the number one god at the time. , the sun was scorching, and because Chen Yingliang deliberately set the fire while cutting off the water, the little water in Menghai City had already been used to put out the fire at that time, and there was almost no water in the military building, so the water source was cut off within two days. The old and weak families in the city have been completely cut off from water, and the soldiers can only get two small spoonfuls of water each day. The soldiers and civilians are miserable.
If this situation does not change, and the Sui army does not send troops to attack the city, Meng Haicheng will have to break down by himself. Of course, Meng Haigong and his wife understand this truth. In order to survive and to let Ma Saifei have water to bathe, on the third night after the water was cut off, see When the night sky was still full of stars, Meng Haigong finally made up his mind and decided to adopt Li Mi's risky battle plan, fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, strive for this only chance to turn defeat into victory, and keep this hard-won Menghai City! Chen Yingliang and Li Mi, the fateful rivals, also launched a new round of behind-the-scenes competition...
Days of fine weather, for Meng Haigong's bandit army who had already cut off the water, it was hell-like torment, and for the Sui army team, it was a paradise-like enjoyment. Want to get together for a good drink and a few pennies and celebrate the suffering of the enemy. The same is true for Zhang Xutuo. On the fourth morning when the water source of the thief city was cut off, Zhang Xutuo got up early and went out of his tent to observe the weather. When the sky was cloudless, Zhang Xutuo, who was somewhat worried, suddenly showed joy, twisted his gray beard and smiled and said: "Unexpectedly, the boy Yuan Tiangang is still a bit capable. He said that it was sunny every day, and it was really sunny every day. Okay, it’s sunny it is good!"
"You're a liar, you're just lucky." Mulan, who had a bad impression of the Qiaojun team next to her, snorted coldly, and hurriedly asked Zhang Xutuo, "Marshal, we have cut off the water source of the city of thieves for three days and four days. It's getting dark, and the bandits in the city of thieves can't hold on anymore, in your opinion, should the bandits abandon the city and break through?"
"Three days, the old man thinks that within three days the bandit army will definitely abandon the city and break through!" Zhang Xutuo raised three fingers with a confident expression on his face, but then he added, "But the specific day when the bandit army breaks through the siege, The old man is not yet able to judge, and it is difficult to judge."
"It's okay, as long as you know that the bandit army will break through within three days." Mulan didn't care, but said relaxedly: "Our team needs to be on guard for another three days. Anyway, there are not many exits from this bandit city, so it's better for us to guard it." easy."
Zhang Xutuo nodded, twisted his beard again, and said to himself hesitantly: "Should I call that kid Chen Yingliang over and ask his opinion? That little guy has so many tricks, maybe he can guess the thief army The specific breakout time."
"Marshal, he's not a god, how could he guess it?" Mulan's tone became even more disdainful, "A little liar who only knows how to steal and play tricks, a little waste who has never killed an enemy himself, what kind of strategy does he know?"
"You..." Zhang Xutuo quickly swallowed back the words that came to his lips, and reprimanded: "You boy, don't be so small-minded, okay? Does Chen Yingliang know strategy, and the old man can't see it? Not this time He, is it possible for us to cut off the water source of the bandit army so quickly?"
Mulan continued to be disdainful, and continued to insist that Chen Yingliang was just lucky, and happened to have a master Yuan Tiangang who knew something about Fengshui and geography under his command. As a result, Zhang Xutuo finally realized that something was wrong, looked Mulan up and down, smiled and said: "Ziying, there is one thing that has always been strange for me? I almost lost my pants to Shixin from Qiao County, and it's not a big deal now." You scolded Boy Chen, why do you still like to target him like this? Do you really hate him, or do you just like to fight against him?"
She was taken aback by Zhang Xutuo's question, and seeing the malicious smile of her grandfather Zhang Xutuo, Mulan blushed for the first time, and immediately said: "Of course I hate him! I have never seen him since the first time I saw him." , I don’t have a good impression of him!”
Zhang Xutuo laughed even more strangely, and Mulan's face turned red again. Fortunately, at this moment, a messenger suddenly rushed to report, saying that it was Qin Qiong who was camping in the north of Menghai City. He sent someone to send an envoy of the bandit army. There was a letter written by Meng Haigong to present to Zhang Xutuo.
The envoy Meng Haigong sent this time was a skinny old man. When he saw Zhang Xutuo, he knelt down and begged for mercy, begging Zhang Xutuo to give him some water to drink. Zhang Xutuo was eager to understand the situation of the thief city, so he ordered his soldiers to send him Bring some drinking water, the old man drank three big bowls of water to quench his thirst, then immediately kowtowed to Zhang Xutuo and said: "General, please forgive me, Caomin is not a bandit soldier. Caomin was originally a teacher in Chengwu City. After Chengwu City, Caomin was caught by his younger brother Meng Yigui and served as an accountant in the bandit army, recording the amount of food and grass. If Caomin didn't do it, Meng Yigui would kill Caomin's only grandson. Caomin had no choice. Forced to follow the thief."
"It's okay, don't worry, the old man will not kill innocent people indiscriminately." Zhang Xutuo first comforted the skinny old man, and then asked impatiently, "How is the water supply in the city?"
"General, it's very serious." The skinny old man replied truthfully: "The day after the Hulu River was cut off, Meng Haigong forcibly searched all the water in the city. There are almost three people who are old, weak, women and children like Caomin. I didn’t drink a drop of water for three days and nights, and many children could only drink urine to quench their thirst. All the grass people’s urine was given to my little grandson to drink.”
"What about Meng Haigong's bandit army?" Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked again: "How much water do those bandit army soldiers get every day?"
"I'm not sure, I just heard that it seems like two tablespoons of vegetables a day, which is not enough at all." The skinny old man continued to answer truthfully: "The grassroots also saw with their own eyes that many bandit soldiers drank their own urine, and some bandit soldiers drank their own urine because of Fighting over water."
Observing his expression, he found that what the skinny old man said should be true, Zhang Xutuo immediately smiled with satisfaction, and then asked again: "Then, what did Meng Haigong send you out of the city for?"
"General, Cao Min came to send a letter to fight on behalf of Meng Haigong." The thin old man took out a letter and said, "Meng Haigong said that he is going to fight you to the death. Life is life, and death is death, so I sent grass people to deliver the letter. War. Also, General, Meng Haigong also took the little grandson of Caomin as a hostage, saying that whether you agree or not, Caomin must bring a reply letter back, otherwise, he will chop up Caomin's grandson and feed it to the dogs. .”
He calmly accepted Meng Haigong's handwritten letter, opened it carefully, and Zhang Xutuo found that the content of Meng Haigong's letter was very simple, that is, he asked himself to fight to the death outside the south gate of Menghai City tomorrow morning. After thinking for a while, Zhang Xutuo took another piece of paper, picked up a pen and wrote the words "A decisive battle in the future", then handed the paper to the skinny old man, and ordered: "Take it back and give it to Meng Haigong. Yes, take a few water hyacinths back to your little grandson, after the old man breaks the thief city, your grandchildren don’t have to worry about running out of water.”
The skinny old man was overjoyed, and hurriedly kowtowed his head to express his gratitude. At the same time, Zhang Xutuo, who was a little negligent for a while, suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly asked: "Wait, why did you leave the city through the north gate? Old man Your camp is in the south, how did you go out of the city from the north gate and come here in a circle?"
"General, all the south gates are blocked." The skinny old man replied truthfully: "A few days ago when you attacked the city, you set fire outside the south gate. Meng Haigong was afraid that you would burn the gate and take the opportunity to kill you, so he used stone sandbags. The corridor at the south gate was completely blocked, so Meng Haigong let the villain leave the city through the north gate."
"Where is Meng Haigong's bandit army mainly located?" Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked again.
"Both the south city and the north city." The skinny old man replied honestly: "But the specific side has more soldiers, and the grassroots only keep accounts, so I don't know."
Zhang Xutuo nodded in satisfaction, and then waved the skinny old man away, and as soon as the skinny old man left, Zhang Xutuo immediately slapped the handsome desk in front of him, and said with a smile: "Okay, there is no need to beg that Chen Yingliang boy, Meng Haigong broke through The time, the old man already knows, it is tonight!"
"Marshal, how do you know?" Mulan, Fan Hu, Tang Wanche and other generals next to him asked in surprise.
"Meng Haigong told me this letter." Zhang Xutuo held up Meng Haigong's personal letter, and said with a smile: "Meng Haigong's war is fake, and it is true to trick this old man into taking it lightly. He wants to break through but is afraid of being hit head-on by our army." , in order to reduce the difficulty of his breakout, he deliberately wrote a letter to make an appointment to make the old man feel that he would not break out tonight, and even lured the old man to withdraw troops from the northern line to come back to prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle. Much bigger."
"So, Commander, you deliberately agreed to the decisive battle to lure Meng Haigong to break out of the siege tonight?" Mulan asked thoughtfully.
"Of course." Zhang Xutuo said with a sneer: "Our army suffered a lot of casualties in this siege battle. If the old man lets Meng Haigong's traitor successfully break through, how can he be worthy of those loyal and brave soldiers who died in battle? The old man just wants to pretend to be a trick The appearance of Meng Haigong's traitor will let him break through the siege to the north with peace of mind, and then he will be able to attack him head-on, capture him alive, kill him by chariot, and avenge the fallen soldiers of our army!"
After finishing speaking viciously, Zhang Xutuo ordered again: "Mulan, Fan Hu, you two will each lead 1,500 troops tonight, and send troops at the beginning of the night. Under the cover of twilight, the troops will be divided into two groups, respectively, to Meng Haigong's northwest corner and Ambushes in the northeast corner, if you find that the bandits have broken through, get out immediately, and team up to pinch the bandits!"
"No!" Mulan and Fan Hu clasped their fists in agreement, and then Mulan asked cautiously: "Marshal, what should you do? Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, and He Yanyu have already moved to the north gate in advance, and the final general and Fan Hu will lead each other again." After the 1,500 troops leave the camp, there are only about 3,000 troops left in the camp, and some of them are wounded soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, and their combat effectiveness is not guaranteed."
"It's okay, the thieves will not break out to the south." Zhang Xutuo said with a smile: "The old man has already asked clearly. The south gate of Meng Haigong's thief city has been completely blocked by sandbags, and he can't get out of the city. Even if the thieves can clear it again The corridors of the city gate will not be completed in a short while, as long as the old man sends more scouts to monitor the city gate, it will be fine."
"It's okay, you go." Tang Wanche also said carelessly: "You are gone, and I am still there. If the bandits dare to come, I will keep and kill them all!"
Mulan and Fan Hu thought about it carefully, so they stopped insisting and took orders firmly. Zhang Xutuo called Zhang Zhizhi to the front again, and ordered: "Go and contact Chen Yingliang and Yang Wang, and let them prepare for the night battle. If the enemy breaks out to the north, in addition to strictly guarding the position, you can properly divide the troops and go north. , to reinforce the main battlefield at the North Gate."
Zhang Zhizhi nodded in agreement, and Zhang Xutuo then ordered: "Also, go to the main battlefield of the North Gate again and tell Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin that in addition to doing their best to prepare for the night battle, when they find that the bandits are leaving the city, they can temporarily Pretend not to notice, wait until the bandit army leaves the city in large numbers, and then attack suddenly, lest like the previous two times, the bandit army rushed to attack as soon as they left the city, and fought back without killing a few enemies."
Zhang Zhizhi sang the promise again, and then he took the order and went out to deliver the order. Zhang Xutuo also ordered the army to prepare a large number of torches and dry food, and prepare for night battles. At the same time, he arranged scouts to scout the enemy city, and closely monitored the south gate of Menghai City, which was blocked by sandbags. Well, Zhang Xutuo just took the time to rest for a while, so that he can have the energy to direct the decisive battle at night.
It was also a coincidence that not long after Zhang Xutuo fell asleep in the tent, Chen Yingliang came to the door in a hurry, wanting to find out how Zhang Xutuo concluded that Meng Haigong's bandit army would break out tonight, but Zhang Xutuo, who was over half a hundred years old, had just fallen asleep What Chen Yingliang said was not a very urgent military matter. Zhang Xutuo, who was unwilling to wake up his own soldiers, told Chen Yingliang directly, saying that Zhang Xutuo had three days before the breakout at night in order to guard against the bandit army. He commanded another night battle and had not slept well for four consecutive nights. I hope Chen Yingliang can understand the old man's health and give Zhang Xutuo some rest time. Chen Yingliang had no choice but to wait temporarily in Zhang Xutuo's Chinese army tent, hoping to see if he could wait until Zhang Xutuo woke up from a rest.
While waiting to be bored, it happened that Mulan and Fan Hu joined forces to report to Zhang Xutuo that they were ready to go to the big tent of the Chinese army. They saw that Chen Yingliang was also in the tent, and the relationship with the Qiaojun army had eased somewhat. Fan Hu nodded in greeting, but due to some reasons, Mulan's attitude towards Chen Yingliang not only did not improve at all, but even worsened, and asked with a cold snort, "Chen Tongshou, what are you doing here if you are not in your camp preparing for war?" ?”
Originally, Chen Yingliang didn't bother to pay attention to Mulan, but he was bored waiting, so he said casually: "I want to ask, old general Zhang, how did he conclude that Meng Haigong's bandit army would break through tonight, and wanted to help him with the military plan. But he ran into old general Zhang. The general just fell asleep, so I'll wait here."
"It's a bit of a conscience, and I know how to understand the hard work of the commander-in-chief." Mulan snorted coldly in her heart, with a proud expression like a peacock spreading its tail, and said: "Thank you Chen Tong for your kindness, but there is no need, our commander-in-chief I said that the bandits will break out tonight, and the bandits will definitely break out tonight! If Chen Tongshou really wants to share his worries with the general, he should hurry back and prepare for the night battle. Even if our Qi County team is on the front, you can do it! Help us fight and clean up the battlefield."
Chen Yingliang, who had known Mulan's identity for a long time, smiled. He was too lazy to argue with a little girl. He just smiled and said, "Don't worry, General Mulan. I have already arranged the preparations for the night battle. I will definitely help when cleaning up the battlefield and sharing the spoils. I just want to ask Zhang Old general, how did you decide that the rebels would break out tonight? Why hasn't our Qiaojun army found any signs of the rebels breaking through? , It’s useless to tell you, I’d better wait.”
"I don't understand at all?" Mulan raised her eyebrows.
"Of course I don't understand." Chen Yingliang laughed meanly, yawned, and said lazily, "General Mulan, I know that you were in the army when the Holy Majesty first conquered Goguryeo, and you have been in the army longer than me. Some, but you know how to mount a horse and kill the enemy, charge into battle, the real military essence, such as judging the enemy's situation, formulating tactics, using weapons, and coordinating arms, which can never be learned in a lifetime. General Mulan, you probably haven't even learned the superficial? "
Mulan's complexion became extremely ugly, but Chen Yingliang smiled again and said, "General Mulan, I know these words are ugly, but I'm telling the truth—I bet, although you have always been by Old General Zhang's side, but How did the general determine that the enemy will break through tonight, I’m afraid you’re still confused, don’t you know why?”
Hearing this, Mulan almost had the urge to strangle Chen Yingliang to death, her fists were clenched until her knuckles turned white, Fan Hu who was beside her hurriedly stopped her, and said to Chen Yingliang: "Chen Tongshou, you are the leader of the friendly army. We will not hide it from you, it was Meng Haigong who sent an envoy out of the city to contact us, agreeing that we will have a decisive battle outside the south gate of the thief city tomorrow, our commander concluded that the thief army will break through tonight, so we ordered to prepare for the night battle."
"It turned out to be like this." Chen Yingliang suddenly realized, blinking treacherous triangular eyes, Chen Yingliang asked again: "Then how did the old general decide to deal with it? In addition to preparing for night battles, whether to send more troops to attack the north gate of the city?"
"This is an important matter for our military aircraft, why should I tell you?" Mulan shouted angrily.
Chen Yingliang ignored Mulan and just looked at Fan Hu. Fan Hu was a little embarrassed and hesitated before saying: "Chen Tongshou, there are laws and regulations in the army. I can't tell you the specific situation without the commander-in-chief's permission. I can only tell you." Yours is, we have troops to reinforce the North Gate battlefield, so when the time comes, you just need to rest assured to guard the upper reaches of the Hulu River, and beware of thieves attacking the dam."
Chen Yingliang nodded, got up and left, and cupped his hands to Fan Hu and said, "Thank you, General Fan, for your guidance. I already know all the answers I need. Let me go."
Fan Hu was taken aback, and hurriedly said politely: "Chen Tongshou, don't you sit down longer? Wait for our commander-in-chief?"
"Let the old general rest for a while. He hasn't slept well for four consecutive nights. Even a young man like me can't bear it, let alone an old man like him?" Chen Yingliang left the big tent without looking back, and returned I couldn't help but add, "Also, leave early so that no one will always look at me pleasingly."
Mulan was furious, and almost wanted to chase out and beat Chen Yingliang, but Fan Hu managed to hold Mulan back. Mulan angrily looked at the back of Chen Yingliang leaving gracefully, but suddenly felt a strange feeling in her heart, and said to herself: "He, does he hate me that much?"
Zhang Xutuo didn't sleep well for a few days and didn't wake up until you in the afternoon. When he learned that Chen Yingliang had come to see him, Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked why he didn't wake him up. Fan Hu reported the situation truthfully, and Zhang Xutuo Of course she was a little annoyed when she heard it, so she had to scold Mulan a few more times, but Mulan yelled for injustice, saying that Chen Yingliang deliberately provoked her anger. After that, did Chen Yingliang say anything else?"
"No." Fan Hu shook his head, and said truthfully: "Chen Tongshou just said to let you have a good rest, and then left without saying a word."
"That's good." Zhang Xutuo nodded, and said with relief: "With that kid's temper, if he thinks that the old man's judgment is wrong, he will definitely wake me up immediately regardless of everything. Since he didn't say anything, it proves that He also agrees with the old man's judgment, the old man can fight with peace of mind tonight."
After nodding, Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked about the movement of Meng Haigong's thief city. Zhang Zhizhi, who had already returned to the camp, reported the truth, saying that he found that there were many more flags on the southern city of Menghai City, and the number of soldiers also increased significantly. But there was no sign of bandit soldiers dredging the tunnel, and there was almost no movement in the northern city, and there seemed to be no sign of the army attacking. Zhang Xutuo immediately snorted coldly when he heard it, and said: "Sounds from south to north! How do you want to hide such a small skill from the old man's eyes? Follow the plan, Mulan, Fan Hu, you two, go get ready, as soon as the first shift arrives , go out of the camp immediately, and go to the northeast and northwest of the thief city to ambush!"
"Promise!" Fan Hu and Mulan sang promises, and then Mulan said to Fan Hu again: "Fan Hu, you go to the northwest corner, I don't want to join forces with that little thief!"