Li Mijun and Wagang Army jointly attacked the Sui army camp in Luokoucang. On the surface, they lost and retreated, but in fact, in terms of casualties and material losses, the coalition forces of Li Mi and Zhai Rang actually won. At least Zhai Rang The Wagang Army won. The Wagang Army, which has strong individual combat capabilities, killed less than 600 people. It killed a large number of soldiers from the Invincible Battalion of the Sui Army and Dongdu soldiers under Niu Jinda's command. With good armor and weapons, the overall situation is definitely a victory.
The casualties of Li Mijun, who lost more than 5,000 people in battle, were much higher, but they were also within the tolerable range, because the vast majority of Li Mijun’s casualties and missing soldiers were refugees and hungry people who had just joined, and Li Mi’s death of 30,000 to 50,000 was also within the tolerable range. I don't feel distressed, as long as there is food in hand, Li Mi will have as many of these powerful mobs as he wants. What makes Li Mi feel distressed is the loss of those elite soldiers. Fortunately, the number is not very large, about 1,300 people. The elite soldiers also cost Chen Sangliang a heavy price, consuming quite a lot of elite Sui troops.
The blame is here. After returning to Hulao Pass, Li Mi, who suffered a heavy loss, felt that he should continue to attack and continue to compete head-on with Chen Yingliang, but Zhai Rang, who had suffered a small loss, insisted on refusing to comply, and refused to fight Chen Yingliang again. spell. There was no other reason, Li Mi asked Zhai Rang to sit at Hulao Pass, and the other Wagang generals led the army out of the city to fight Chen Yingliang under Li Mi's command.
"Mr. Dongjun, I have absolutely no other meaning in doing this. It's just that Chen Yingliang is a treacherous little thief. No one can guarantee that this traitor will not take the opportunity to attack Hulao Pass." Li Mi explained earnestly: "So for the sake of caution, we two There must be one person who sits in the Hulao Pass, although he is not good at secrets, he is willing to take on the important task of going out, Duke Dongjun, you just sit in the city and wait for good news."
"Duke Wei, don't be polite. Joining forces to break the warehouse in Luokou is a major anti-Sui event. I am allied with Duke Wei. How can I just sit back and enjoy peace?" Zhai Rang still refused, and said: "If Duke Wei thinks that the tiger One of you and I must be left in the prison pass, that’s fine, please ask Wei Gong to sit in Hulao pass, and the old man will lead the army to go out.”
Zhai Rang has talked to this point, Li Min still can't understand that Zhai Rang is preventing him from taking the opportunity to annex Wagang elite? At the same time, Li Mi also knew that if he continued to fight, he would definitely expand the conflict with Zhai Rang, repeating the mistake of being separated by Chen Sangliang last time, so Li Mi could only resolutely give up the argument, and changed his words: "Well, since the Duke of Dongjun cares For anti-Sui events, insisting on leading the troops to fight in person is of course the best, so it’s settled, tomorrow we will continue to raise 20,000 troops each to leave the pass, and then go to attack Luokoucang to fight the Chen Yingliang traitor.”
Li Mi changed his attitude, and today he picked Zhai Rang, who was very cheap, and immediately agreed, but Zhai Rang's precious nephew, Zhai Mohou, suddenly stood up and said with a smile: "Uncle, Wei Gong, it is of course no problem to attack Luokou Cang together. But today, uncle, you attack the official camp, and tomorrow you send troops, so is it your turn to attack the official camp? Duke Wei, do you think this is the case?"
Glancing at Zhai Mohou with disgust in his heart, Li Mi said: "Accordingly, it should be so, but our scouts reported that the official army had abandoned the camp on the east bank of the Shizi River, and the whole army retreated to the west bank of the Shizi River. The one-offensive-one-defense tactics we adopted today can no longer be continued. The officers and troops stationed troops at two places in Shizihe, one is Luokou Cangcheng, and the other is a strong camp five miles to the south. The distance between the two places is only five miles. They are the horns of each other, and it is very convenient to rescue each other. It is better for us to adopt the tactic of attacking at the same time. Duke Dongjun, what do you think? If you want, you can choose any one to attack Luokou Cangcheng and the official army camp. "
Before waiting for Zhai Rang's reply, Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou, the precious father and son, quit. They said strangely that Li Mi was too smart, and it was Li Mijun's turn to attack at the same time. Responsible for attacking the fortifications, the Wagang Army is responsible for the task of covering and breaking aid. Li Mi was so angry that if it wasn't for the scruples about a strong enemy, he would have killed Zhai Hong and his son with his own hands. Zhai Rang, who originally planned to accept Li Mi's proposal, was disturbed by his brother and nephew, and felt that he could not suffer too much, so he agreed He echoed the proposals of Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou, and refused to take on the heavy task of attacking with Li Mijun at the same time.
Fortunately, there are still a few sensible people among the leaders of the Wagang Army, who also understand the principle that cooperation makes strength strong and division makes strength weak, so Bing Yuanzhen, Xu Shiji and others stepped forward and urged Zhai Rang to accept Li Mi's proposal , At the same time, there is no disadvantage in attacking difficulties. Unexpectedly, Zhai Rang's older brother, Zhai Hong, shouted very bluntly and asked: "Are you generals of Wagang? When we fight in Wagang, do we really think that the lives of our soldiers in Wagang are worthless? Why do we always have to suffer?”
Xu Shiji, Bing Yuanzhen and other sensible people looked extremely embarrassed, and Li Mi was also a little embarrassed. Fortunately, Zhai Rang stopped in time to prevent the situation from continuing to be awkward. Then Zhai Rang suggested: "Wei Gong, the little thief Chen Yingliang is very treacherous, and he is very cautious in using troops. It is difficult for us to take advantage of it. Instead of spending a lot of troops to attack the Cangcheng camp, we should ignore Luokou Cang for the time being." Let’s go and deal with Wang Shichong first? In this way, we can not only relieve our worries, but also obtain a large number of supplies and weapons to arm your new army. Wouldn’t it kill two birds with one stone?”
"Mr. Dongjun, if someone else is in Luokoucang, then I will definitely agree with your proposal immediately, and I will definitely propose this tactic early." Li Mi's tone was quite sincere, and he shook his head and said: "But it's a pity , the guy in Luokou warehouse is Chen Yingliang, a thief. If we turn around and go to Wang Shichong, we are giving him a sneak attack. Even if Wang Shichong sneaked up on us, we still have a chance to save the party, but if given If we don’t have the opportunity of Chen Yingliang, the thief, and let him attack us successfully, then we are doomed to fall into a place where we will never recover.”
"Wei Gong was really frightened by Chen Yingliang's traitor, and he was so afraid of him." Zhai Mohou laughed strangely, his appearance and voice were quite like a proud duck.
A flash of anger flashed across Li Mi's face, he only hated himself for too short a time to expand the army, and faced the fatal problem of insufficient army training and not many elites like Chen Sangliang, otherwise, Li Mi really didn't want to join forces with the Zhai family's idiots again.
It is also Li Mi's luck. Although Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou are idiots and hate their father and son, Zhai Rang's temper is somewhat open-minded, and he knows that his talent is not as good as Li Mi's. After listening to Li Mi's analysis, he feels reasonable, so he doesn't Continue to persevere, and after a little more calculation, Zhai Rang also said: "Okay, since Wei Gong thinks that Cangcheng and the official army camp should be attacked at the same time, then it is so decided. Tomorrow you and I will each send 20,000 troops, and I will continue to go." Attack the official army camp, Wei Gong, you attack Cangcheng."
Li Mi was overjoyed when he heard that, although Li Mi's army would still suffer more than the Wagang army in storming the fortified city, Li Mi, with sufficient backup, did not expect to be able to take Cangcheng in a single battle, but only wanted to consume more of Chen Sangliang's elite—actually During the development period, the upper peasant uprising army basically relied on crowd tactics to drown the elite officers and soldiers. So Li Mi not only agreed, but also offered to send 40,000 troops, so that Li Zhai's allied forces would have sufficient reserves at the Luokoucang battlefield. Zhai Rang was very satisfied with what he heard, and the two sides broke up happily.
Luck was on Chen Sangliang's side again. The next day, when the Wagang Army and Li Mijun joined forces to attack again, Chen Sangliang was still a little complaining. Who would have thought that when the Sui Army soldiers hurriedly deployed the camp defense and the Cangcheng defense, Heavy rain suddenly fell from the sky. Chen Sangliang was overjoyed when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered soldiers to dismantle the ten pontoon bridges and two wooden bridges on the Shizi River. Wagang scouts found the situation and reported it to Li Mi and Zhai Rang. Li Mi and Zhai Rang did not prepare enough tools to build the pontoon bridge, and were afraid that the flash flood would threaten the safety of their army, so they followed Chen Sangliang's example once, and retreated halfway to avoid the rain. Chen Sangliang escaped once. Forced to face off against the enemy to consume elite catastrophes.
Finally escaped the pain of confrontation with the enemy, Chen Sangliang, who had lingering fears, hurriedly called a group of his staff to discuss how to drag Wang Shichong into the battlefield as soon as possible to share the pressure and attract the Wagang Army's artillery fire? However, in view of Wang Shichong's superb character of desperately trying to take advantage, even Chen Sangliang himself was a little helpless about it, let alone Wei Zheng, Yuan Tiangang, Qian Xiangmin and others who were not very good at intrigue. Pei Xingfang pointed out: "Brother, with the current situation, if I were Wang Shichong instead, I don't want to send troops to the north immediately. I want me to send troops unless the bandit army makes an adjustment."
"What adjustments to make?" Chen Sangliang asked quickly.
"Li Mi's rebel army moved the camp." Pei Xingfang said: "Li Mi's rebel army came with a hundred thousand people. The camp was set up outside the east gate of Hulao Pass. If Wang Shichong goes north now, he will have to fight with Li Mi's rebel army immediately. Of course, Wang Shichong did not want to take this risk. But if Li Mi's rebel army moved outside the west gate and confronted us directly, Wang Shichong would be in a safe place to go north, and it would be much easier to lure him north to attack behind Hulao Pass. "
"Although the words are reasonable, it is impossible for Li Mi to move the camp." Chen Sangliang shook his head, and said: "Li Mi's thief's lair is in Liyang, and moving the camp outside the west gate of Hulao Pass, the back road of the grain road is equivalent to being controlled by Wagang thieves. With Li Mi's treachery and cunning, it is absolutely impossible to take such a risk."
"Stay behind, Li Mi is not willing to move the camp, but Zhai Rang is definitely happy." Yuan Tiangang said: "Li Mi moved the camp to Hulao Guanximen, which is equivalent to building a line of defense between us and Zhai Rang. Zhai Rang must be very happy Li Mi does this. We just need to find a way to make Zhai Rang make such a request to Li Mi. It is beneficial for us if Li Mi agrees. If Li Mi does not agree, Zhai Rang will be dissatisfied. gone?"
Chen Sangliang was a little tempted, and after thinking for a while, Chen Sangliang nodded and said: "Okay, then give it a try, Mr. Xuan Cheng, I'm worried that you will write a letter to Li Mi for me, and use my tone to laugh at him for being timid." Like a mouse, he only dares to hide outside the east gate of Hulao Pass, and dare not move his camp to the west of Hulao Pass. Confront me head-on, and encourage him to move his camp and come outside the west gate of Hulao Pass to fight us to the death. By the way, don’t seal the letter. , the envoy must see Li Mi and Zhai Rang present at the same time before presenting the letter."
Wei Zheng agreed immediately, and immediately picked up his pen to write a book, but Qian Xiangmin, who happened to be present there, turned pale, and said with a pale face, "Chen Liushou, I don't dare to deliver the letter, I have already deceived Wagang when I sent the letter last time." Thief once, Wagang thief hated me to the bone, if I go..."
"Don't worry, I don't want you to go." Chen Sangliang said impatiently, "Of course I will send another person to provoke the enemy on purpose. Anyway, you have been with me for so many years, and the possibility of losing your head is high. I won't send you either."
Qian Xiangmin suddenly beamed with joy, and finally felt that he was following the right person for the first time, and then Qian Xiangmin also made a very rare suggestion: "Stay behind, the humble job thinks that Wang Shichong used the excuse of insufficient military rations to station troops and manage the city, and he did not go north. It's an excuse. We all know the situation in Pengcheng. It was completely destroyed. Since the city and Daliang did not fall, there must be a lack of food and grass. Even if Wang Shichong collected food and grass in Guancheng, he would not be able to collect much. Since this is the case, we want to lure Wang Shichong to go north, so we might as well do something about it.”
"How to make a fuss?" Chen Sangliang looked at Qian Xiangmin in amazement and asked—and indeed, it was almost four years, and it was the first time that Qian Xiangmin said something reasonable.
"If you stay behind, you might as well show up to His Royal Highness the King of Yue, and show the merits of Wang Shichong's help from thousands of miles away. Please ask His Highness the King of Yue to issue a decree to reward Wang Shichong's army with food, cattle and sheep, fine wine, gold and silver." Qian Xiangmin carefully suggested: "Then send They went to Guancheng to reward Wang Shichong with the decree of Yue Wang Jun in their hands. During the period, they deliberately spread the news to Wang Shichong's soldiers, explaining that as long as Wang Shichong went north to the bank of the Yellow River and got in touch with us by water, the official ships of our Eastern Capital could go down the river. , to send the reward to Wang Shichong's army. Wang Shichong's army is short of food, and the soldiers will certainly not have enough rations. They may all rely on wild vegetable dumplings to satisfy their hunger. Hearing this news, he will definitely ask Wang Shichong to go north immediately, from bottom to top Forcing Wang Shichong to join the army..."
Having said this carefully, Qian Xiangmin, who lacked courage, noticed Chen Sangliang's strange expression, and saw that Yuan Tiangang, Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and others were all looking at him strangely. Qian Xiangmin was even more courageous and flinched Shuo said: "Stay behind, if the humble position is wrong, then it is not said. If you think it is okay, the humble position dares to take up this position. Keep the rewards from our Dongdu, so that every subordinate of Wang Shichong I know... Chen Liushou, Mr. Yuan, Brother Pei, stop looking at me, I'm afraid."
Both Yuan Tiangang and Pei Xingfang were amused by Yuan Tiangang's bear appearance, Chen Sangliang also laughed, and he was quite relieved, saying: "It's rare to hear that you Qian Xiangmin has such a correct opinion, okay, since you are even more rare Volunteering once, then it’s settled, I’ll immediately submit an order to His Royal Highness King Yue, and then you will personally go to manage the city and act according to the plan.”
Qian Xiangmin was overjoyed, and hurriedly said that Chen Sangliang's praise was nothing but absurd praise. In fact, it would be difficult for him to take on the big responsibility if he was not well-versed in martial arts. Then he naturally begged Chen Sangliang to send him more reliable guards with high martial arts skills. Chen Sangliang smiled I agreed. At present, Chen Sangliang and others acted according to the plan, while asking Yue King Yang Yu to reward Wang Shichong, the shameless old man, and at the same time wrote a shocking letter, and sent the envoy who was not afraid of death last time to let Hulao pass to Li Mihe Zhai Rang delivered the letter.
Even Chen Sangliang didn't expect that Pei Xingfang pointed out the direction and the aggressive tactics he used at will would be so effective. In the evening of that day, after the Sui army envoys sent the unsealed letter to Hulao Pass, there was no need for the Sui army envoys to wait to communicate with Li Mi and Zhai. Rang and Rang met at the same time, and Zhai Rang had already come to the front to inquire about the intention of the Sui army envoy, and directly asked for the unsealed letter to take out the letterhead to read. After reading Chen Sangliang's letter, the idea that he was too disadvantaged has already arisen in his heart-why should his Wagang Army confront Chen Sangliang head-on? Confronting a traitor like Chen Sangliang directly, I can't even close my eyes in sleep, is it a loss
After reading Chen Sangliang's letter, and hearing Zhai Rang explain with a smile that he read it first because the letter was not sealed, Li Mi scolded Chen Sangliang for being shameless and vicious, but his face remained calm. After some calculations, Li Mi Instructed the Sui army envoy: "Go back and tell Chen Yingliang, little thief, thank you for his reminder. I really forgot that it is more convenient to move the camp and tiger prison to send troops outside the Guanxi Gate. Tell him to wash his neck and wait for death. I will do as he said." Wish, tomorrow the camp will be moved to the west of Hulao Pass!"
The envoy of the Sui army was overjoyed and left immediately. Zhai Rang over there was even more overjoyed. As soon as the envoy of the Sui army left, Zhai Rang asked hypocritically: "Duke Wei, are you really planning to move the camp? The traitor Chen Yingliang deliberately provoked you to move the camp. I'm afraid there may be fraud in it, have you considered it carefully?"
Li Mi really didn't fully see all of Chen Sangliang's intentions, and said that what Chen Sangliang did was just to further sow discord between himself and Zhai Rang. For the sake of big things, Li Mi smiled and said: "Dong Don't worry, the county magistrate, it doesn't matter, Chen Yingliang's traitor provoked me to move the camp, just to make it easier for him to sneak up on the camp, or fish in troubled waters to take the opportunity to sneak up on Hulaoguan. There is no return. If Duke Dong doesn’t mind, this matter is settled, and I will move the camp to the west gate of Hulao Pass tomorrow.”
Someone was guarding the door for free, and Zhai Rang would only refuse if he was stupid. With a few hypocritical polite words, Zhai Rang accepted Li Mi's request with a smile on his face, and patted his chest to promise that he would do his best to help Li Mijun quickly get to the west of Hulao Pass Establish a strong camp, if Chen Sangliang dares to attack Li Mi's camp, Zhai Rang will definitely send troops to rescue immediately.
Li Mi thanked Zhai Rang for his kindness with a smile, and then said: "However, the Duke of Dongjun, I have something to say first, because my food road and back road are all east of Hulao Pass, and the tyrant sent Wang Shichong to guard the city. He may go north to threaten at any time. My food road is on the back road, so for the sake of caution, I can only divide 30,000 troops to set up a camp west of Hulao Pass, and confront Chen Yingliang's traitor head-on. Do, I hope you understand."
Zhai Rang's personality is indeed quite generous. He felt that Li Mi's words were reasonable, and felt that Li Mi's division of troops and camps could also defend himself against the threats from Chen Sangliang and Wang Shichong, so he nodded immediately and said: "What Wei Gong said is very true, it should be Pay attention to protect our grain roads, that's it, after you divide your troops and set up a camp, when we join forces to attack Luokou Cang, it will be much easier for you to send troops."
Li Mi smiled and cupped his hands to express his thanks, then sneered in his heart and said, "Think you can rest easy after I divide my troops into camp? Just wait, little thief Chen Yingliang, you also wait for me, don't think that I'm forced to divide up into camp If you succeed, you will have a solid chance of winning. Like you, I do not have many elite soldiers, but I am a little stronger than you. I still have some capable troops that I am afraid to use with confidence. In front of them, you may not be able to fight. What can I ask for."
What Li Mi said about the capable teams that he didn't dare to use with confidence, of course, meant that after he captured Liyang Cang, he could only defect to his army in order to have a stable army ration. The famous bandit Hao Xiaode, who was not completely wiped out under the blows of Yang Yichen and other famous generals of the Sui Army, although Hao Xiaode behaved quite obediently after defecting to Li Mi, the cunning and suspicious Li Mi still did not dare to completely trust him. The army also deliberately brought him into the army. Now they need an army that can fight to the west of Hulao Pass to confront Chen Sangliang head-on, and can also play other roles when necessary. Li Mi was the first to think of Hao Xiaode.
Because Li Mi offered to add some troops to Hao Xiaode, and let Hao Xiaode command Li Shicai and Li Wenxiang, who were also ordered to relocate, two militia armies. In addition, he had never dealt with Chen Sangliang, so he knew Chen Sangliang's insidiousness and cunning. Not long after, Hao Xiaode accepted Li Mi's arrangement very willingly. The next day, just after dawn, Hao Xiaode led the army to start moving the camp. According to Li Mi's request, the camp was moved to a high-rise five miles west of Hulao Pass. Zhai Rang kept his promise and sent people to help Hao Xiaode set up the camp as soon as possible. He also provided Hao Xiaode with a lot of materials necessary for the construction of the camp. The gap between the Li Mi Army and the Wagang Army also made up for it. Friendship, even Zhai Rang's baby brother Zhai Hong and baby nephew Zhai Mohou smiled because of this, sighed that they could finally sleep well, and praised Li Mi for his friendship and loyalty.
One of Hao Xiaode's generals was also excited about this. After Hao Xiaode led his army to the camp to the west of Hulao Pass, this general commanded his subordinates to quickly build the camp, and at the same time, he kept looking at the direction of Luokou Cang in the west. He was muttering something, and when he was curiously asked what he was talking about, he smiled and said, "Of course I'm counting how much grain there is in Luokou warehouse. I heard that Luokou warehouse has three thousand rations of grain cellars, and each cellar stores eight thousand shi. Take the Luokou warehouse down, and you will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of your life."
"General Liu, we have to take it down and count." Zuo Zuo laughed.
"Isn't it easy to take it down?" The general smiled confidently: "With me, Liu Heimai, the Luokou Warehouse must be in our pocket!"