Li Yuan was late in trying to prevent merchants from selling grain to Chen Yingliang. When the warrior Xun, the father of a famous black fungus, brought the news to Qi County and Taigu area, asking local merchants not to sell grain to Chen Yingliang, most of the local merchants Having already made a deal with Chen Yingliang and sold a large amount of grain to Chen Yingliang, plus the grain brought by Chen Yingliang with the army, within at least forty days, Qiao Peng's Sui army no longer needed to worry about shortage of grain and grass.
No way, the businessmen in Qi County and Taigu are not fools, they are also very smart. Knowing that King Qin’s army will continue to go north and pass through the local area, there is no doubt that the price of food will skyrocket, but no matter how high the price of food rises, it will be It is useless for the wolves and tigers to use knives to force the price of food to be sold at a low price. If they don’t sell it at that time, they will be accused of communicating with Turks. In all likelihood, it will be on credit. That being the case, instead of keeping these grains and being robbed and causing trouble, it is better to sell them to Chen Yingliang who bought them at a high price with real money.
After supplementing this batch of military rations, Chen Yingliang immediately continued to lead the army northward, but on the way, he ran into Li Jiancheng, the only one in the old Li family who could get along with each other. , Surprised why we can meet here and now, and then Chen Yingliang is not polite, inviting Li Jiancheng to go north with him on the same road, while saying goodbye to each other on the road.
Li Jiancheng is not a scheming person, of course he also knows the consequences of being robbed by Chen Yingliang in front of his father, but Li Jiancheng's character is relatively kind, and he knows that deliberately delaying Chen Yingliang's marching speed is not only useless, but will only offend Chen Yingliang. My family is very sorry for my friend, so Li Jiancheng did not hesitate, and immediately led the entourage to rush side by side with Chen Yingliang, and also offered to let his own horse out to help Qiao Peng Sui army carry food and grass, and share the war horses necessary for Chen Yingliang's battle. pressure.
Without stopping, Chen Yingliang chatted with Li Jiancheng for a long time, and only then did he learn that after Li Yuan became the comfort ambassador of Hedong and Shanxi, Li Jiancheng came to Li Yuan's tent to practice, and accompanied Li Yuan to suppress the peasant uprisings of Wuduan'er and Chai Baochang successively , and once personally went into battle to kill the enemy, and made a lot of contributions. He is currently serving as a civilian under Li Yuan's tent. And when Chen Yingliang asked why Li Yuan and his son hadn't gone north to King Qin, Li Jiancheng also told the truth, explaining that his father was in Changping when he received the edict, and his preparations were seriously insufficient. The hasty organization of troops and horses delayed time, so he has not yet led the main force. The team went north to Yanmen.
After hearing Li Jiancheng's answer, Chen Yingliang gloated secretly, and asked Li Jiancheng directly: "Brother Jiancheng, since you are not ready, then I might go to King Qin of Yanmen before you. What do you think if I took the lead?"
"Of course I think you are not interesting, my dear brother." Li Jiancheng also confessed, and said with a smile: "My father is stationed in Taiyuan, which is very close to Yanmen, and my brother, you are stationed in Pengcheng, which is thousands of miles away from Yanmen. Rushing to King Qin's battlefield first, let my father lose face, Brother Yu, as a son of man, of course he must feel that Brother Xian is taking credit too much."
"Brother is indeed a real person, this is too real." Chen Yingliang laughed and asked again: "Brother, do you want me to wait for your father and go north to King Qin together, or just persuade me to give up the first meritorious service of King Qin?" Your father, let him lead the army north?"
"Of course I do." Li Jiancheng replied more frankly, and said with a smile: "But I will never say such a thing, because if I say such a thing, then you will look down on me, my brother, and our Li family will be even more sorry for you gone."
After all, Li Jiancheng couldn't help sighing lightly, and Chen Yingliang also sighed lightly, sighing lightly, why is there such a big difference between sweet and sour? Then Chen Yingliang, who had already guessed Li Jiancheng's intention for coming, did not hesitate, and immediately introduced the reason why he came so quickly, explaining that everything was a coincidence. When he received the edict from King Qin, his team happened to be at the most favorable It happened that all the preparations for dispatching troops were made in advance, so the response was so quick.
After hearing Chen Yingliang's introduction, which was true or false, Li Jiancheng was inevitably very envious, extremely jealous of Chen Yingliang's shit luck, and then excitedly said that he finally had the opportunity to fight side by side with Chen Yingliang, and finally had the opportunity to witness Chen Yingliang's battlefield glory with his own eyes. , and said with a smile: "Brother, when you are on the battlefield of King Qin, you have to help Brother Yu more. Brother Yu doesn't want too much credit, as long as you can be promoted to another level."
Chen Yingliang smiled and said of course, and then the two chatted and laughed for a while, Li Jiancheng hesitated, suddenly changed his tone, and said in a low voice: "My dear brother, I have to tell you something, sister Xiuning said, Miss Chai is still thinking about you, she would rather not marry for life, and even commit suicide than choose a good son-in-law. Also, Duke Chejun suffered a stroke last September and has been bedridden for almost a year."
The expression on Chen Yingliang's face disappeared, and he hummed after a while: "Chai Shao must hate me more, right? Maybe he will blame me for his father's stroke, thinking that I caused his father to be like this. "
It was Li Jiancheng's turn to be silent, and after a while, Li Jiancheng said in a low voice: "Brother, I suggest that after you return to Daxing, you might as well go to the Cheshire Duke's mansion to ask for marriage, and take Miss Chai as a side room, so that you can let Chai go." The girl will not be helpless all her life, and secondly, she can let Duke Chejun die in peace, completely resolving this grievance. In any case, both of you are family friends, and letting your Chai Shibo pass away with peace of mind is also a filial piety to him."
Chen Yingliang was noncommittal, and after a while he said: "I'll talk about it later, the state affairs are important now, I can only think about how to kill the Turks and save His Majesty the Emperor from the encirclement."
Li Jiancheng sighed again, knowing that it would not be easy for Chen Yingliang to make this decision, and also knowing that it would be even more difficult for his family to completely resolve the past grievances with Chen Yingliang, so Li Jiancheng didn't say anything more , I just prayed secretly in my heart, "May God bless you, father and younger brother can put aside their past grievances this time, work together once, and alleviate the past grievances. Don't be like before, plotting against each other, and the enmity is getting deeper and deeper. "
Li Jiancheng's prayers were doomed to be of no avail. One day later, when Chen Yingliang led Qiao Peng's army to the city of Taiyuan, he immediately received the news that Li Yuan had led an army of 10,000 to march northward the first day. Knowing this, Li Jiancheng, who knew that his own army was not ready at all, was silent, but Chen Yingliang was unceremonious, and ordered the army to continue northward. Chen Yingliang went to the city for a banquet, and took the initiative to reward Qiao Peng with a large amount of wine and meat, but Chen Yingliang also refused on the pretext that he was busy with the king's business.
The soldiers and horses have not yet assembled, and the main force of the battle has not yet arrived in Taiyuan, but Li Yuan led 10,000 troops to the north. Of course, Chen Yingliang knew the purpose well. Chen Yingliang couldn't help getting angry, he simply ordered the army to march 120 miles a day, vowed to rush to the battlefield of King Xinkouqin before Li Yuan, and slapped him hard. Ever since, a super-large-scale marathon race with as many as 30,000 people started.
Fortunately, the Qiao Peng team under Chen Yingliang may be lacking in other aspects, but it is a first-class expert in long-distance marching. , Qiao Peng Sui Jun has already practiced scud all of them, and has accumulated countless rapid marching experience. For example, when it was impossible to confirm whether the water source ahead was sufficient, Qiao Peng Suijun did not foolishly prepare dry hard food such as dry food pancakes, but chose to soak the straw bags with salt water, then use the straw bags to hold cooked rice, and put them in the car to go with the army. When you are hungry, reach into the bag and grab a handful and eat it. In this way, the salt water can not only prevent the rice from spoiling, but also can season and add salt after gradually penetrating the rice. The taste is better than eating those dry steamed buns in the past. Big cakes are easy to digest directly, so naturally there is no need to replenish a lot of drinking water and search for water sources, and the marching speed can also be guaranteed to a certain extent.
In this way, although Qiao Peng's Sui army set off more than a day later than Li Yuan's team, after more than a day of rapid march, Qiao Peng's Sui army gradually caught up with Li Yuan's team in the north of Fenyang—accurately speaking. A large number of fallen soldiers from Li Yuan's team boarded. After learning about the approximate location of Li Yuan's troops from these stragglers, Chen Yingliang, who felt that there was still hope, was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered the troops to continue to keep up the speed without the slightest negligence. go ahead.
Finally, when Qiao Peng's Sui army crossed Xizhou Mountain and arrived at the Lanshui River, they finally saw Li Yuan's team crossing the river. While Qiao Peng's soldiers cheered loudly, Li Yuan also panicked and ordered the army to speed up. After crossing the river, there should be no pause, no rest, and then Xu Shixu, who accompanied Li Yuan to the north, suggested destroying the bridge and slowing down Chen Yingliang's advance, but Li Yuan slapped him hard and scolded him for looking for death. With so many people destroying Chen Yingliang's marching route and slowing down Chen Yingliang's Qin Wang speed, even if Chen Yingliang sues Li Yuan for treason, he still has evidence!
Originally, Qiao Peng and the Sui army suggested that Chen Yingliang build a pontoon bridge, cross the river immediately, and continue to compete with Li Yuan's team in speed. After making some calculations, Chen Yingliang flatly shook his head and refused, and ordered the army to rest on the spot. While cooking and preparing torches, he waited for Li Yuan The team crossed the river, ready to wait for Li Yuan to leave before crossing the river. When everyone asked the reason in surprise, Chen Yingliang smiled and said: "I have already asked clearly from the guide. There is still 70 miles to Xinkou after passing Lanshui. We have enough rest here. After passing Lanshui, we can go straight Rest at Xinkou, the distance of seventy miles is enough for us to surpass Li Yuan."
The generals Qiao Peng suddenly realized, hurriedly explained Chen Yingliang's request, and asked the lieutenant soldiers to take the time to rest. After passing Lanshui, they immediately went north until Xinkou and set up camp to rest. The well-trained Qiao Peng soldiers followed the order , Countless people sat on the ground and fell asleep directly, patiently just waiting for Li Yuan's team to cross the river. At the same time, although the distance between the two armies was only a few miles away, none of the soldiers communicated with each other, and the sparks of mutual competition rattled.
About half an hour later, Li Yuan's Qin Wang team finally crossed the Fenshui River and headed north. Before leaving, Xu Shixu, who was loyal to Li Yuan, quietly ordered the soldiers to do something on the ropes of the wooden piles of the pontoon bridge. Make the pontoon less reliable. It's a pity that Chen Yingliang had been guarding against this for a long time. In addition to letting the food, grass and luggage pass through the fixed bridge, he also sent people to cross the river to strengthen the floating bridge, nail new wooden stakes and carefully check the ropes to ensure that the team can cross the river safely. He quickly discovered the little tricks Xu Shixu made.
The well-trained Qiao Peng Sui army crossed the river at a much faster speed than Li Yuan. It was just getting dark when Qiao Peng Sui army crossed the Lanshui. At the same time, although Li Yuan's team had already lit up the torches and continued to go north, there were more cases of falling behind. At the same time, due to insufficient training, the marching speed was also greatly slowed down. On the contrary, they were chased closer and closer by Qiao Peng's Sui army, and the distance between them was quickly shortened to within fifteen miles.
When they saw the dense torches appearing in the rear, all the generals under Li Yuan panicked and rushed to Li Yuan to ask what to do. Li Yuan was extremely hesitant and almost wanted to adopt his nephew Li Xiaogong's suggestion and let the team advance in a row , deliberately blocked Chen Yingliang's way forward, and did not give Chen Yingliang a chance to surpass! Fortunately, the last rationality stopped Li Yuan from doing so. After hesitating for a while, Li Yuan simply ordered: "Send the order, let the army rest on the roadside, and go north to Xinkou tomorrow."
"What? Rest?" All the generals under his command were taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Then, don't we want Chen Yingliang to overtake? His Central Plains team has reached King Xinkouqin before our Shanxi team. How about our face?" What is there?"
"You guys stay and rest, I'll take some cavalry northward first." Li Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "As long as I arrive at Xinkou first and light up the banner of the Hedong comfort envoy, our team from Hedong will be the first to arrive!"
Hearing this deceitful decision, Xu Shixu, Li Xiaogong and other generals all looked mournful, but the cruel fact is here, the mob that hastily assembled could not outrun the regular army under Chen Yingliang's command no matter what. With no other choice, Li Xiaogong and Xu Shixu and others had no choice but to obey Li Yuan's decision and let the team camp and rest on the side of the road. Li Yuan led more than fifty riders to go north first, and rushed to Xinkou overnight to join the King Qin's team there.
On Chen Yingliang's side, seeing that Li Yuan's team stopped to rest, Chen Yingliang was unavoidably puzzled, but General Qiao Peng cheered loudly, and his footsteps became faster and faster. It didn't take long for him to catch up with Li Yuan's team. Passed by the camp. During the period, the soldiers of the two armies still did not communicate with each other. Qiao Peng's team, which won the marathon, walked away with a smile. There was an endless stream of people passing by, with different eyes, some envious, some hated, and more curious, wondering why the original team in the middle could run so well.
Now that he had surpassed Li Yuan's team, Chen Yingliang did not let the army continue to march overnight. After passing Li Yuan's camp for ten miles, Chen Yingliang also ordered the army to stop and camp for a rest. His eyes were already bloodshot, but he still personally led the team to inspect the camp, covered the soldiers with blankets, checked the sentry posts, visited the soldiers on duty at night, and tried their best to do what the Sui movie king can do.
Li Yuan had already gone north first, Xu Shixu and Li Xiaogong naturally led the troops to rest until it was bright before sending troops north. After the scouts detected this situation, Chen Yingliang, who let the army rest for most of the night, also immediately ordered to go north, but led the army Before they had gone five miles, the vanguard sentry suddenly reported that they had discovered the enemy's situation. Chen Yingliang was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly ordered the army to prepare for battle, and went to the front to check the situation himself.
As soon as Chen Yingliang reined in his horse, he saw more than 30 Sui army cavalry rushing back in front of him, followed by nearly a hundred Turkic cavalry chasing after him, and then the group of Turkic cavalry also saw Chen Yingliang's huge team screamed in fright, turned around and ran away, and the Sui cavalry who were being chased by them were able to get rid of the pursuit and escape. Seeing this scene, Chen Yingliang of course understood that he just encountered a small group of Turkic guerrilla sentries. In addition to ordering the army to be careful, he also sent people to contact the group of Sui cavalry who were hunted down to find out where they were. What is the situation on the front line in Xinkou
The envoys sent to contact the Sui Army cavalry stepped forward, but what puzzled Chen Yingliang was that before the envoys approached, the Sui Army cavalry had already rode their horses southward, bypassing his own team far away. Detour south. Seeing this, Chen Yingliang became suspicious, and said that they were disguised as Turkic soldiers, so he decisively ordered the cavalry to intercept and surround the Sui cavalry, and questioned their identities. Qin Qiong, whom Zhang Xutuo lent to Chen Yingliang, did not hesitate, and immediately led the experienced cavalry from Qi County to swarm up, outflanking, and soon surrounded the cavalry regiments of the Sui Army, shouting and demanding that they reveal their identities.
After some negotiations, Qin Qiong quickly lifted the siege again, led the cavalry team back in front of Chen Yingliang, with a smile on his face, and smiled at Chen Yingliang: "Deputy envoy, I understand the question, and I have checked them carefully. The official defense fish symbols, they are indeed our own people, not the Turkic cavalry disguised."
"Then why didn't they come to join us?" Chen Yingliang asked in surprise.
"Because someone is embarrassed and has no face to meet you." Qin Qiong said with a smile: "Last night, someone led a small number of Qingqi to go north to Xinkou, wanting to snatch our King Qin's first merit. At that time, he encountered a Turkic guerrilla sentry and was chased all the way here. If the Turkic cavalry were not scared away by us, it would be a problem whether he could escape or not. Deputy envoy, you said he still has the face to see you Is it?"
Before Qin Qiong finished asking, the surrounding Qiao Peng generals were already laughing like thunder, and Chen Yingliang couldn't help but smile, and said with a smile: "It's not as good as God's calculation. I want to bring a small number of cavalry to show the banner first and use it to show off the banner. He won the first meritorious service of King Qin by cheating, but almost lost his life in the end, the sky has eyes, and the world is just!"
After laughing loudly, Chen Yingliang said loudly again: "Since even God wants to give us the first meritorious service of King Qin, we can't refuse! Pass my order, and the whole army will continue to go north. Sing loudly! Let His Majesty the Emperor know, let our Xinkou allies know, let the whole world know that we, the officers and soldiers of the three counties of Qiao Peng and Qi, are the first regular army of King Qin to arrive at the Yanmen battlefield!"
"War smoke rises, the country looks north
The dragon rolls up, the horse neighs, the sword is like frost
The heart is like the water of the Yellow River
Who can resist in thousands of years
How many brothers and sisters who are mad with hatred and long swords are buried in a foreign land
What a pity to die a hundred times to serve the country..."
The blood-thirsty military song echoed in the Luliang Mountains. The banner of Chen Yingliang's twelve counties' deputy envoys was unfurled in the mountain wind, and they sang loud and clear military songs neatly. Around Shen o'clock in the afternoon, 20,000 Qiao Peng Sui troops finally arrived The destination of this trip—Xinkou! Hearing this loud and majestic military song, I saw the huge team of the Qiao Peng Sui army. The Turkic sentry patrolling around was in chaos. an emergency.
At the same time, Qin Wang's team from the surrounding counties and counties who first arrived at Xinkou was also startled by the military song. The Qin Wang team, whose number was no more than 2,000, or at least a few hundred, ran to the camp one after another, looking at the south coming to help with great surprise. , and many local officials and generals in Shanxi shouted excitedly, "Tang Guogong's reinforcements have arrived! Tang Guogong's reinforcements have finally arrived! We finally have a backbone! Finally we have a team that can compete with the Turks!"
And as Chen Yingliang's banner gradually approached, and when Chen Yingliang's banner gradually became clear, the excitement of these Shanxi civil servants and generals stopped abruptly, and was replaced by unbelievable screams one after another, "Henan Road Ten Second counties arrest deputy envoys? The team from the Central Plains? How could they come now? Did they fly here?!"
Among the civil and military officials in the surrounding counties, only a middle-aged civil official in his early forties did not scream, but he couldn't help being stunned for a long time, and then he murmured: "How did he come so fast? He is so much faster than Li The ambassador came quickly? How did he do it?"
After muttering, the middle-aged civil servant showed some strange smiles again, and said in a low voice to himself: "Regardless of how you came here, in short, we can finally meet each other, the past, you You forgot, kid, but I haven’t! How should I clean up and teach you a lesson? I’m still a little undecided.”