Chen Sangliang deliberately let the unreliable Liu Changgong lead the army as the vanguard, and also deliberately transferred Liu Changgong's most reliable army to serve the country. His purpose was of course to use General Liu's unreliability to lure the enemy and show the enemy weakness Lest the Turkic army run away.
The effect of doing so did not disappoint Chen Yingliang. General Liu, who was very unreliable in the defense of the Eastern Capital, was as unreliable as ever. Even if he was the most dangerous pioneer, General Liu relied on his back With the support of a large number of friendly troops and the support of a good brother like Chen Yingliang, they still haven't made great efforts to rectify military discipline. The troops under his command are still as lazy as ever, with the flags tilted here and there, and the formation is messy. The teacher's due charm was vividly displayed, and he deceived many experienced Turkic scouts. His preconceived ideas gave birth to a lot of underestimating the enemy, and by the way, his evaluation of the Sui army's entire army was also lowered a lot.
Of course, if these Turkic scouts could see the escape speed of General Liu's troops, the kind of godly speed with rolling yellow sand on their buttocks that even a fast horse and light cavalry could hardly catch up to, maybe they would not underestimate the enemy so much.
What pleased the Turkic Ashina family most was the deployment of the Sui army. The main force of the 140,000 Sui army, of which 130,000 were led northward to the Yanmen battlefield by Chen Yingliang, leaving only more than 10,000 troops to protect the rear Liang Dao, although doing so ensured the frontal combat effectiveness of the Sui Army, it gave the Turkic Qingqi a great opportunity to outflank and attack the Sui Army’s Liang Dao. However, since the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, the Turkic army has fought the Sui army more than a dozen times, and such a good thing has never happened.
In view of Chen Yingliang's major mistake in the deployment of troops, and in view of the incompetence shown by the vanguard of the Sui army, coupled with some special circumstances, Shibi Khan and Ashina's family quickly came up with what Chen Yingliang hoped they would come up with. The answer—the 130,000 Sui troops coming from the south are not terrible. The disastrous defeat in Nao County was entirely caused by heavy rain, and had nothing to do with Chen Yingliang's ability to use troops. At the same time, Ashina's family also made a tactical decision that Chen Yingliang hoped they would make, that is to besiege the city and fight for aid, wait for work with ease, not to interfere with the delay of the main force of the Sui army marching northward, and wait for the main force of King Qin's Sui army to arrive at the Yanmen battlefield, and then Waiting for an opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Sui Army King Qin's team in one fell swoop.
Thanks to the decision of Ashina's family, relying on an unreliable army to open the way, the main force of the Sui army did not encounter any attacks and harassment during the first day of going north, and it went smoothly for three days. Ten miles away, the trees were built as a stronghold, and they marched slowly towards the Yanmen battlefield step by step. The safety of the march was guaranteed. The exhausted army represented by Jiang Duqin's army also had a chance to recover their strength. At the same time, Chen Yingliang also got the opportunity to send scouts The opportunity and time of the enemy's military situation, and also took the opportunity to grasp some specific conditions of the Yanmen battlefield.
Judging from the initial detection of the enemy situation by the Sui army scouts, the Turkic army still attaches great importance to the defense against the Sui army coming from the south. In the northeast of Yangtou City (now Yangmingbao), ten miles southwest of Yanmen City, the Sui army's Qinwang road was blocked; there were not many troops deployed on the east and north of Yanmen and south of the Hutuo River. The defenders only played the role of preventing breakout; at the same time, the Turkic army deliberately let go of the road from the northwest of Yanmen City to Xixing Pass (Yanmen Pass was called in the Sui Dynasty), adopting the regular siege tactics of encircling the city with three ques and one, deliberately exposing a road containing The road of murder lures the Yanmen defenders to break through, and also uses this to distract and weaken the Yanmen defenders' will to resist.
After initially grasping the Turkic military situation, he personally marked the position of the enemy camp with flags on the sand table of the map. Chen Yingliang focused his attention on Xixingguan City, which also had the Turkic blue flag, and asked Ma Sanbao, who was in charge of reconnaissance of the enemy's situation: "How many Turkic troops are there in the pass city of Xixing Pass? How much damage has been done to the pass city? Is there still value in holding on to it?"
"Commander, our scouts are going up the mountain for reconnaissance, so we can't confirm how many Turkic defenders there are in Xixing Pass, nor can we judge the specific damage to Xixing Pass City." Ma Sanbao replied truthfully: "But listen to our instructions. The scouts said that the situation of the Xixing Pass seems to be good from a distance, and the Turkic troops entered and exited through the closed gate, and did not directly cross the wall to enter and exit. The general speculates that the closed wall of the Xixing Pass should not have been damaged. "
"Strengthen the reconnaissance of Xixing Pass and the city." Chen Yingliang ordered: "Try to find out for me the number of Turkic troops in Guanzhong and the situation of the city defense. The more detailed the better."
Ma Sanbao sang promises, and said: "Commander, there is one more thing to report by the way. The Mayi translator Hu Jingde you sent me before is a good hand. He beheaded seven people in the battle in Nao County the day before yesterday. I sent them yesterday. He led our scouts to the north for reconnaissance, and he killed three enemies in the scout battle. Our scouts were able to successfully complete the mission and initially spy on the Turkic military situation. He can be regarded as the first contribution."
"Reward him with five taels of gold and ten guans of money." Chen Yingliang said without blinking an eyelid, "By the way, tell him that I already know his meritorious deeds, tell him to work hard, and I'll wait for more news of his meritorious deeds." .”
Ma Sanbao sang promises again, and then he resigned and left. As soon as Ma Sanbao left, Li Jing next to him laughed and said, "Commander, you have a lot of appetite. Before you meet the Turkic main forces, you are eyeing Xixing Pass." , Don’t tell me, Commander, you don’t even want to let go of a Turk, and even Shibi Bandit Chief wants to shut him up and beat him to death in Xixing Pass?”
"Since there is this opportunity, no matter how small the hope is, of course we have to fight for it." Chen Yingliang smiled and admitted that his ambition was by no means smaller than that of Li Jing, and then Chen Yingliang asked again: "Li Juncheng, the terrain of Xixing Pass is so steep, Why did His Majesty the Emperor fail to defend Yanmen City when he withdrew? How did Xixing Pass get lost?"
"The Turks came too fast." Li Jing replied: "Before all the escorting troops protecting His Majesty had time to withdraw from the pass, the Turks had already entered the pass in the melee. The installation of emergency closing gates like the thousand-jin iron gate failed to stop the main force of the Turks from continuing to enter the pass, and in the end, the more than 1,000 Imperial Forest Army behind His Majesty's Royal Highness were wiped out, and Xixing Pass also fell into the hands of the Turks."
Chen Yingliang nodded and said nothing, just thinking about it, Li Jing was a little worried when he saw this, and hurriedly said: "Marshal, don't you want to attack Xixing Pass by surprise? Xixing Pass is the throat for the Turkic army to return to Mayi. No matter how underestimated the enemy is, the Turks will not take it lightly, and must have deployed heavy troops just in case, and sent out a surprise attack. A little carelessness may lead to the annihilation of our surprise army, which will seriously damage our army's morale, which is not conducive to war."
Seeing that Chen Yingliang was still planning to keep silent, Li Jing was even more worried, and hurriedly suggested: "Commander, I think that instead of taking risks, it is better to continue to use our strength on the front. Anyway, the road at Xixing Pass is narrow, and the gate and the city are closed. In any case, it is impossible for more than 200,000 Turks to withdraw from the customs within one day, as long as we can defeat the Turkic army head-on, one day is enough for us to severely damage the vitality of the Turkic main force."
"Li Juncheng, your suggestion is very correct. Under normal circumstances, I must adopt your suggestion." Chen Yingliang nodded, and then said suddenly: "But now the times are different, and the war has gradually changed. Some things that were impossible before, now It’s not necessarily hopeless.”
"The times are different? What do you mean?" Li Jing, who didn't know that Chen Yingliang was still hiding his cards, was a little surprised.
Chen Yingliang smiled but did not answer, and asked instead: "Li Juncheng, how wide and high is the gate of Xixing Pass? Is the gate solid wood or iron-clad wood? How thick is it? Do you know these things?"
"This..." Li Jing, the future military god of the Tang Dynasty, was rarely dumbfounded, and it was the first time he encountered such a weird question. He hesitated before answering: "This subordinate really doesn't know, but it's okay, the soldiers under the subordinate There are quite a few old soldiers from Xixingguan, if the general needs this information, the subordinate officials can collect it for you."
"Then please, I need the size, thickness and material of Xixing Pass. The more detailed the better, the Turks focus on attacking and not defending. I guess the closing of the gate has not changed much." Chen Yingliang nodded, and told him worriedly. Said: "But remember one thing, this matter cannot let Ambassador Li know."
"Can't Ambassador Li know?" Li Jing trembled in his heart, and asked cautiously, "Commander, are you worried that Ambassador Li will cooperate with the enemy?"
"Ambassador Li probably doesn't have the guts to take the risk of collaborating with the enemy." Chen Yingliang replied, "However, my quarrel with him is too deep. You must not leak the news about the unexpected soldiers from Xingguan, and you must not let interested people know my idea of attacking Xixingguan."
Li Jing nodded in agreement, but said in his heart: "Ask me to block this news, are you determined to attack Xixing Pass? It's too risky, do you know that? But, why do you want to know about the closing of the gate? Also, War is about to change gradually, so what does that mean?"
…
Deliberately showing the enemy and using weakness to induce the Turks to make a decision to wait for work with ease, through Li Jing, the second son of Sui Yang Emperor Yang Hao was temporarily appeased, and Li Yuan, who was anxious to form an alliance with Yang Hao, did not come to make trouble. On the first night, at a distance of only ninety miles from Yanmen City, Chen Yingliang had a good night's sleep and got enough rest. After waking up full of energy the next day, Chen Yingliang immediately ordered the whole army to continue northward. The formation remained the same, and they still marched thirty miles a day slowly northward, approaching the Yanmen battlefield cautiously.
At the time of departure, Sun Shunde, the eldest son of the Turkic camp, also returned to Chen Yingliang with Shibi Khan's reply, saying that Shibi Khan agreed to Chen Yingliang's exchange request, and promised to allow the Sui army to send 5,000 hu of military rations to Chen Yingliang. Entering Yanmen City, in exchange for Chen Yingliang releasing more than 5,000 Turkic prisoners of war, Shibi Khan did not agree that Chen Yingliang humiliated his army and wanted to cut off two fingers of the prisoners, so Chen Yingliang was required to agree to let these prisoners of war return to the Turkic army intact Only then did Shibi Khan agree to give way to deliver food.
"Want to let his soldiers go back intact? Dreaming!" Chen Yingliang, who hated these grassland barbarians, snorted coldly, and shouted: "Wei Zheng, reply to the Turkic Shibi Bandit Chieftain for me, saying that you have offended me, Da Sui Tianwei. Yuan must be punished, I will cut off two fingers of the Turkic prisoners, if he refuses again, I will immediately cut off an arm of each Turkic prisoner!"
Wei Zheng nodded in agreement, but Changsun Shunde's face turned pale, and he hurriedly said tremblingly, "Marshal, I dare not send this letter."
"It's okay, of course I won't let you take the risk."
For the sake of his lovely future wife, Chen Yingliang did not embarrass his elder Sun Shunde too much, but ordered a Turkic prisoner to be released immediately, cut off his left little finger and ring finger, and then asked him to take the letter back to the Turkic camp to deliver the letter, the eldest grandson Shunde breathed a sigh of relief, and when he quickly offered to resign, Chen Yingliang asked casually: "Mr. Changsun, have you seen the Turkic Shibi thieves? What did you talk to him about? Do you have any letters to bring back?"
"Commander, I have not been able to see the Shibi bandit chieftain." Eldest Sun Shunde replied tremblingly: "Although I have entered the Turkic army camp, only a Turkic inspector came forward to receive me and asked me about my envoy. The reason is that I forwarded your letter to Shibi Bandit Chieftain, Commander-in-Chief, and then gave the humble official this verbal answer, but there was no reply."
Hearing such words, Chen Yingliang looked at Changsun Shunde suspiciously, hesitated to speak, and the Yin Shishi next to him stepped forward and said with a smile: "Mr. Changsun has worked hard on missions, and he is exhausted for the important matter of delivering food to His Majesty." It must be very uncomfortable to be covered in sweat, right? Come quickly, set up a small tent immediately, and wait for Mr. Changsun to change clothes."
Immediately behind Master Yin, a few soldiers stood up and respectfully invited his elder Sun Shunde to go down and change his clothes. The elder Sun Shunde knew that Master Yin wanted to take the opportunity to search his body, but he didn't dare to resist, so he obediently followed Master Yin's unscrupulous soldiers to the road He went to change clothes in the small tent next to him, and changed into a brand new one from head to toe, inside and out. At the same time, Yin Shishi gave his mouth to the two followers of Changsun Shunde, and immediately other soldiers of Yin Shishi stepped forward. , asked the two attendants about the situation in a low voice, and quickly reported back: "Report to the commander-in-chief, report to the prefect, the two attendants we arranged failed to enter the Turkic Central Army. I wonder if Changsun Shunde saw the Shibi thief?" I don’t know what he said or did in the Turkic military camp.”
After Chen Yingliang and Yin Shishi nodded, the soldiers who served Changsun Shunde's clothes also came to report back, saying that they didn't find any hidden letters on Changsun Shunde's body, so Chen Yingliang smiled at Yin Shishi very ungratefully: "Yin Prefect, isn’t it too much? If you don’t trust our envoy, it will hurt Ambassador Li’s heart.”
"It's okay, anyway, I have offended Ambassador Li many times to death, and I don't care about offending one more time." Yin Shishi smiled relaxedly, and then said: "Marshal, I can't let Changsun Shunde go back immediately. Go to Ambassador Li and hand him over to me for a day. Firstly, I will continue to check him just in case, and secondly, I can take the opportunity to observe Ambassador Li's reaction. If he really has a ghost in his heart, he will show some flaws."
"He's already stripped of his clothes, how do we need to check?" Chen Yingliang asked in surprise.
"Hairpin, Gu Dao." Yin Shishi replied casually: "Hide the letter in the wax pill, and then stuff the wax pill into Gu Dao, to prevent the little trick of body search. To deal with this little trick, it is the first shit to spy on him."
"Gu Dao?" Chen Yingliang was a little dumbfounded, and almost suspected that Yin Shishi was a time traveler like himself, and even knew about the method of hiding poison in chrysanthemums. However, considering that Yin Shishi did this for his own benefit, Chen Yingliang acquiesced in this matter. under the situation.
In fact, there is no need for Yin Shishi to deliberately release the news. Ambassador Li Yuan, who also attaches great importance to intelligence work, already knew the news that the eldest sun Shunde had returned. In addition to the anger, there was a cold snort, and he said to himself: "Check it out, check it out, and see what you can find out! The more carefully you check, the better, just so that Changsun Shunde can see clearly the identity of your little thief, Chen Yingliang. Hypocrisy! And you Yin Shishi, you have already shown your feet when you sent someone to spy on His Highness King Qi, and you dare to be so rude to my staff. When I see His Majesty, I will see how I can join you! Take the wrong medicine Even if you are from a small family in Wuwei, dare to fight with me in Guanlong, wash your neck and prepare to die!"
When the march reached noon, Liu Changgong, who was the vanguard, finally encountered several groups of Turkic guerrilla sentry cavalry with more than a hundred people. He also tried to harass the Sui army vanguard with his good riding and shooting, which also surprised General Liu himself. Fortunately, Liu Changgong brought King Qin this time and the Sui army was no longer full of second-line soldiers like in the Eastern Capital War. Now there are many elite Youwuwei who were participating in the battle in Goguryeo. Without Liu Changgong's order, these elite soldiers have already used strong The bow and crossbow shot the Turkic sentry cavalry who were trying to harass them, and fled away in embarrassment. Then they only dared to monitor the progress of the Sui army from a distance, and did not dare to get too close to the Sui army.
The forward news flew to Chen Yingliang who was in the fourth team. Yin Shishi, Wei Zheng and others suggested that Chen Yingliang dispatch cavalry to teach these extremely rampant Turkic sentry cavalry. Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin also volunteered to lead the troops to fight, while Chen Yingliang was cold Hum said: "It's just to test our fake soldiers, don't pay attention to them, just keep moving forward, use strong bows and crossbows to entertain them when they are close, and let them toss around if they are far away. Anyway, we only walk thirty miles a day, and we have plenty of time to spend with them. kill."
"Marshal, is this too much to show weakness?" Yin Shishi asked worriedly.
"It's nothing, I just want to show weakness on purpose and invite the Turkic army to take the initiative to fight." Chen Yingliang replied very frankly.
No one is perfect, and Chen Yingliang, who has always been considerate, finally made a miscalculation this time. He didn't consider another possibility—that is, behind the rampant Turkic sentry cavalry, is there any other purpose besides testing the strength of our own army? As a result, it was precisely because of this miscalculation that Hou Junji, who was covered by the Turkic guards and went south, was able to hide in the mountains and forests on the side of the road while wearing the uniform of the Sui army. After Liu Changgong's team passed by, he suddenly appeared in the Standing next to the Taiyuan Sui Army in the second team, when the soldiers of the Taiyuan Sui Army found something wrong and came forward to inquire, Hou Junji immediately showed the Li Yuan guard badge that the Turkic army returned to him on his own initiative. The result was very natural, Hou Junji It is logical to return to the front of Ambassador Li Yuanli again.
The sudden appearance of Hou Junji certainly surprised our Ambassador Li Yuan Li. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he was not mistaken. Then Li Yuan asked in surprise, "Hou Junji, why are you here? Didn't you go to Has Yanmen City sent me a memorial? Yanmen is surrounded by Turks, how did you come back?"
"Ambassador, humble and incompetent. On the way to Yanmen, he was captured by Qian Xiangmin, the running dog of Chen Yingliang's thief. Unfortunately, he was captured by the Turks."
The sharp-tongued Hou Junji also confessed, and quickly reported his situation in the past few days to Li Yuan, explaining that he was accidentally framed by Qian Xiangmin, who could speak Turkic, and that the guide was killed. Familiar with the road, unfortunately was captured by the Turkic soldiers, and then he was loyal and unyielding and did not confide in the Turkic. As a result, he was unfortunately recognized by the eldest grandson Shunde in the Turkic army tent yesterday, and his identity was exposed. Only then did Khan decide to release himself and let him help Changsun Shunde to undertake the task of our Ambassador Li Yuan Li secretly contacting Turkic Shibi Khan.
Emperor Sui Yang was besieged in Yanmen City, and the Turkic Khan Shibi who surrounded Emperor Sui Yang took the initiative to send someone to contact him, and he sent his confidant guards. Hearing such an answer, he has not yet had the courage to rebel. Of course, Ambassador Li had a feeling of wanting to go crazy. He was so frightened that the hairs on his body stood on end. His face changed drastically and he asked in a low voice, "Who contacted Shibi Khan? Who asked you to replace Shibi Khan?" Khan secretly contacted me? What the hell is going on?"
"Ambassador forgive me. The villain got involved in this matter unintentionally. After all, the Khan has an order, and the villain has to listen."
Hou Junji misunderstood what Li Yuan meant, and said that Li Yuan didn't want him to know such an important secret, so he hurriedly cupped his hands and bowed, and said respectfully: "Ambassador, the enmity between you and Chen Yingliang, the little thief, is over. I already know, Shibi Khan, please rest assured, as long as you help him deal with the troops under Chen Yingliang's little thief, he will definitely avenge you, and he can also discuss with you about the Central Plains in the future."
As he said that, Hou Junji also took out a sealed letter from his bosom, put his hands in front of Li Yuan, and said with a smile: "Ambassador, this is a letter written by Shibi Khan to you. It is written in Chinese and Chinese characters, please have a look."
Seeing the letter with his name and official position written in both Turkic and Chinese on the cover, the poor Ambassador Li was completely stunned. The letter of confiscating the family and destroying the family was about to be torn with both hands, but the absolute confidant Liu Hongji next to him hurriedly stopped him, and said in a low voice: "Ambassador, don't destroy it. Don't forget that the eldest grandson Shunde is still in the hands of Chen Xiaothie and Yin Shishi. If there is any word of mouth exposed there, you will not be able to clean it even if you jump into the Yellow River!"
Hearing Liu Hongji's warning, Li Yuan hurriedly stopped, then subconsciously stuffed the letter into his bosom, covered his chest like a poisonous snake, and tremblingly said: "Then what should we do? What happened? How could Khan have such an idea?"
"This..., the villain doesn't know." Liu Hongji was also a little confused, and said in a low voice: "In short, this letter can't be destroyed, let alone read. Fortunately, the letter is sealed with wax, which can prove that you haven't read it, but If Shibi Khan really has this intention, there will be a second letter after the first letter, and a little leak may give Chen Yingliang a chance to harm you. And..., and, the ambassador, Changsun Shunde is here In front of Shibi Khan, what did you say to him for you?"
"Changsun Shunde? Could it be that Changsun Shunde really betrayed me and joined forces with Chen Yingliang to set me up for this trick?"
After being reminded by Liu Hongji, our Ambassador Li suddenly thought of this possibility, and he was even more afraid to destroy this deadly letter in private and kill Hou Junji to silence it, so as not to make it unclear later. In desperation, Li Yuan had no choice but to quickly order: "Hurry up, send someone to check on Changsun Shunde's situation, and what's more, just find an excuse and call Shimin here."
"Ambassador, and Li Jing." Liu Hongji reminded in a low voice: "He has been by Chen Yingliang's little thief, call him here and ask him to see if he knows anything."
Li Yuan nodded subconsciously, and began to quickly think about how to call Li Jing in front of him in a reasonable and reasonable way.