The bloody and bitter battle came in the evening, until it was getting dark. Seeing that the Sui army was heavily guarded and there was no hope of breaking the camp, Zhai Rang approached Li Mi to discuss the matter of retreating. , but attached to Zhai Rang's ear again, muttering in a low voice for a while, Zhai Rang showed joy, and separated from Li Mi to act according to plan.
After Zhai Rang and Li Mi conveyed their orders, the golden gong rang, and the exhausted soldiers of the Wagang Army withdrew from the battlefield beside the camp, which was already full of corpses, to rest. Dare to be careless, while taking the time to drink water and dry food, and get torches for night battles as a precaution, while repairing damaged fortifications, rescuing and transporting wounded soldiers, until seeing the Zhai and Li coalition troops withdrawing from the battlefield one by one, changing the rear team to the front team Xiang Shizi After retreating on the other side of the river, the Sui army camp erupted with cheers of victory, and countless Sui army soldiers sat down on the ground, panting heavily, thankful that the enemy finally retreated.
Chen Sangliang, the coach of the Sui Army, also heaved a sigh of relief, and immediately ordered the second-line fresh troops to clean up the battlefield, search and rescue the lightly and seriously wounded on the battlefield with all their strength, and rotate the exhausted front-line troops back to the camp to rest. Cangcheng contacted to learn about the losses over there, and then left the podium to go to the front line to inspect the situation of the army.
This time it was Chen Sangliang's turn to make a miscalculation. As Zhai and Li's allied forces withdrew across the Shizi River one after another, the exhausted Sui soldiers became more relaxed. Li Mi's Hao Xiaode, who was at the end of the army, also quietly prepared for an assault. , After the explosion of the gunpowder bottle, Hao Xiaode, who was always facing the Sui army camp, suddenly attacked with the whole army, and the tide came up towards the Sui army camp again. The various units of the Sui army who were rotating were suddenly in chaos. Chen Sangliang was also taken aback immediately, and screamed: "Oops! I fell for it! It's a fraudulent retreat!"
Of course, the result of the trick was to pay a heavy price. The soldiers of the Sui army had already lost their fighting spirit because of their relaxed mentality. In the face of the enemy's new force that suddenly turned around and turned back, chaos inevitably occurred. , blocking the enemy's assault on the camp defenses, the energetic Hao Xiaode army almost flew to the side of the Sui army's camp, and the Sui army, whose first and second line troops were crowded together, was caught off guard. urgent.
At the same time, Zhai and Li's allied forces, which had been prepared in advance, immediately turned around. Several new forces crossed the Shizi River first, some launched a feint attack on Luokou Cangcheng, and some quickly came to the rear of Hao Xiaode's army to gather and line up, ready to follow Hao Xiaode at any time. The army launched a charge, and the Zhai Li coalition army cheered loudly after the treacherous plan succeeded, and the morale that had been frustrated for a long time was immediately revived.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Chen Sangliang could only quickly play his last card in the southern camp, and ordered the old lineage of the Nationalist Army to immediately leave the camp from the north gate, and attack the new force of the bandit army behind Hao Xiaode's army in a roundabout way, without giving them any assistance. Hao Xiaode’s opportunity to attack the Sui army’s camp, in turn, hit the enemy’s morale. At the same time, he decisively ordered the army to stop the rotation. Regardless of whether the first-line and second-line troops are tired, they will all go forward with all their strength, and desperately resist the attack of the Zhai-Li coalition army. Although doing so will definitely cause casualties Expand, but it is much better than letting Zhai and Li's coalition forces enter the Sui army camp for melee.
Chen Sangliang's immediate decision paid off. After the army rotation was stopped, although the soldiers of the Sui army crowded together caused more casualties, they also firmly withstood the impact of Hao Xiaode's troops. Even though Hao Xiaode's troops who took the lead had already destroyed several sections The fence of the Sui army camp was still blocked by the Sui army soldiers with flesh and blood. The fierce battle was cruel and entangled.
At this time, the Baoguo army had also left the camp from the north gate, and detoured towards the bandit army reserve behind Hao Xiaode's army. Seeing the legendary white-robed cavalry appeared, the bandit army was somewhat flustered. After the feathered arrows they released were almost ineffective against the soldiers and soldiers of the Nationalist Army, the reserve team of the bandit army became even more panicked. After being cut in from their flank by the Nationalist Army who is good at assault, the reserve team of the bandit army no longer had any reinforcements for Hao Xiaode. Opportunity.
The torches were like stars, the sound of killing was loud, and there was a scuffle inside and outside the camp of the Sui army. Seeing the critical situation, Liu Changgong, who stayed behind at the Luokou warehouse, took the initiative to send someone to contact Chen Sangliang, asking if Chen Sangliang needed the Luokou warehouse. Send troops for reinforcements? In the end, Chen Sangliang flatly refused, and scolded: "Go back and tell Liu Changgong that you are not allowed to send out a single soldier without an order! The battlefield is already chaotic, and we must prevent the Wagang bandits from taking the opportunity to attack Luokou Cang!"
Facts have proved that Chen Sangliang's decision was very correct. On the surface, the Zhai-Li coalition army, which was only a feint attack on Luokou Cang, had indeed been looking for an opportunity to sneak attack on Luokou Cang. Under the cover of confusion and darkness, they reached the west gate of Luokou Warehouse, pretending to be a Sui army soldier returning from the defeat of the Southern Camp to swindle the door. Liu Changgong was a little confused and almost fell for it. Zhi pretended to be the name of the superior and general of the Sui army, identified the true and false, and shot down the cangcheng with a flurry of arrows, which repelled the Zhai Li coalition army's surprise attack on Luokou Cang.
It was the Baoguo Army that turned the situation around. After smashing the enemy's reserve from the flank, Guo Feng, Chen Ci and other old lackeys ignored the possible increase in casualties, and led the Baoguo Army to directly attack the back of Hao Xiaode's army. The target was still Hao Xiaode's banner. Hao Xiaode divided his troops to block them, and Li Mi personally led his troops to attack from behind, but the soldiers of the Bao Guo Army did not stop, without hesitation, they just continued to charge and broke through Hao Xiaode's defense line without saying a word, regardless of the danger of casualties, and regardless of the enemy's advance. Chasing after being blocked, without hesitation, was just to attack Hao Xiaode's banner, and finally forced Hao Xiaode to put down the banner and lead the soldiers to flee for their lives, which affected the morale of Hao Xiaode's army and completely reversed the situation on the battlefield.
Putting down the flag was tantamount to giving up command, and the bandits of Hao Xiaode's army, who had lost the command of the general, did not dare to charge desperately anymore, and retreated and fled for their lives one after another. The generals of the Sui army who were in a panic quickly regained the fence position, and Li Mi personally led the army to charge, but they did not receive it. As a result, seeing that there was nothing to take advantage of, Li Mi ordered to retreat with great regret, and retreated with his bandit army bitterly. In the dark night, Chen Sangliang did not dare to send troops to pursue, but he learned his lesson and dared not let the army relax again, until he repeatedly confirmed that the enemy had retreated through the Shizi River and went far away, and sent people to destroy the pontoon bridge left by the Zhai Li coalition army. Only then did Shang Shang feel relieved a little, and began to clean up the work carefully.
Fighting fiercely with the powerful Wagang main force for a whole day, and being tricked by Li Mi at night, the losses of the Sui army in this battle were of course so heavy that the casualties of each army were counted. Chen Sangliang couldn't bear to look at the numbers soaked in the blood of the soldiers of the Sui Army. What he sighed for a long time was just blaming himself for his carelessness and slack and underestimating the enemy, otherwise the casualties would not be so large. Yuan Tiangang, Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and others continued to comfort Chen Sangliang, saying that although the casualties of the self-armed army were heavy, the casualties of the bandit army who attacked the fortifications were destined to be even greater, and the self-army did not suffer a loss in this battle.
There is no use in blaming yourself. After counting the time with his fingers, Chen Sangliang rekindled some hope, and calculated: "If all goes well, Qian Xiangmin will be able to arrive in Guancheng this evening. Guancheng is far from Hulao. The pass is only eighty miles away. If Wang Shichong can send troops tomorrow, the bandit army will receive news at the latest in the morning of the day after tomorrow. After receiving the news that Wang Shichong is going north, Li Mi and Zhai Rang have to weigh the consequences of continuing to fight me."
Pinching his fingers and counting up to this point, Chen Sangliang couldn't help but howled again, and sighed to the sky: "Qian Xiangmin, you must live up to it! And my father-in-law, you have to give me some face, no matter what we have before. How many feuds and grievances, you are also my father-in-law, you will not just watch my son-in-law spend all the capital of the family, right?"
…
Chen Sangliang still underestimated some of Li Mi's ability to capture fighter planes, and also underestimated Li Mi's hatred and fear of himself. The overall loss of the Zhai-Li coalition army was indeed greater than that of the Sui army. After being imprisoned, before he had time to rest and sleep, Li Mi immediately found Zhai Rang again, and discussed with Zhai Rang about continuing to attack Luokou Cang. , not giving Chen Sangliang any chance to breathe.
Fortunately, Li Mi has this kind of ruthlessness, but Zhai Rang does not have such a vicious heart. Just after listening to Li Mi's suggestion, he cried bitterly: "Wei Gong, are you joking? Today we have already fought so badly, tomorrow you will have to fight again." Entering the army? Even if the general can bear it, the soldiers can't bear it? Can't you let the soldiers rest for a few days?"
"No rest, let alone a chance for Chen Yingliang's traitor to catch his breath." Li Mi shook his head and said solemnly: "Our army is very tired, but we can boost morale and encourage soldiers by rewarding soldiers generously. As long as we persevere and continue to march tomorrow, Chen Yingliang's traitor has no time to repair the camp defense, heal the wounded soldiers, and the casualties will be further expanded when they fight us, and they will eventually be consumed by us alive. He will pay the price multiple times or even ten times. So we can't rest, we can only continue to march and attack!"
Although Li Mi's opinion is correct, Zhai Rang still refuses to listen, and is even more worried that his capital will be used to make others cheaper, so Zhai Rang still shakes his head firmly. Li Mi is a little anxious, and hurriedly said: "Mr. After entering the army, I will be in charge of attacking the camp of Chen Yingliang's traitors, and you will be responsible for guarding the formation for me, and your army will only guard against the help of the officers and soldiers for me, and you don't need your army to participate in the attack on the camp, right?"
Zhai Rang was a little tempted for a while, but when he asked, it was already halfway through the third watch, and Zhai Rang, who was already exhausted, shook his head and said, "Wei Gong, let's rest for a day. We will march again the day after tomorrow. The soldiers are too tired. Let them rest for a day, and Chen Yingliang's traitor can't do anything for a day. The day after tomorrow we will join forces, bring more torches, dry food, and more reserve teams, and fight with Chen Yingliang's traitor for a day and a night. This will be okay? If you insist on tomorrow Entering the army, I will send you some second-line troops to go into battle, it won’t be of much use and it will be empty?”
Li Mi refused to give up on persuasion again, but Zhai Rang still refused to listen. In the end, Li Mi had no choice but to agree to let the army rest for a day before launching a larger-scale attack. Zhai Rang agreed, and then couldn't wait to leave and go back to rest. Li Mi bid farewell to Zhai Rang. However, when he turned his eyes to the direction of Luokoucang in the west, Li Mi, who had a very keen sixth sense, felt a sudden palpitation. He always felt that if he didn't launch an attack tomorrow, he might never have a chance to catch Chen Sangliang now. His weakness forced Chen Sangliang to confront himself.
Worried, Li Mi even came up with such an idea, and secretly said: "How about I send an army to attack Chen Yingliang's traitor tomorrow? Even if I can't win, I can still entangle Chen Yingliang's traitor and not give him a chance to rest in peace. "
…
Li Mi's sixth sense was right, although it was later than Chen Sangliang estimated, but almost at the same time as Li Mi's palpitations, our Qian Xiangmin joined the army... oh no, now we should respectfully call Qian Xiangmin Qian Ye In short, under the escort of four Sui army masters, our Master Qian has already taken a small path in the mountains to the vicinity of Guancheng in Xingyang County. When the mountain torrents destroyed the road and delayed some time, Qian Xiangmin was still very happy. The rare loyalty did his best, in order to buy time for Chen Sangliang to travel all night with a torch, and when he was still ten miles away from Guancheng, he had already encountered Wang Shichong's army's patrol scouts, and formally obtained Wang Shichong's army. connect.
After explaining his identity and purpose to Wang Shichong's army scouts, Qian Xiangmin was immediately led to Wang Shichong's camp outside Guancheng City, and immediately met Wang Shichong's night duty general. In the end, Qian Xiangmin was very surprised that Wang Shichong's night duty general was actually the well-known Sui army general Fei Qingnu. Qian Xiangmin quickly asked why Fei Qingnu, who was not affiliated with Wang Shichong, was here? As a result, Fei Qingnu replied with a wry smile: "I was suppressing bandits in Jibei County. The prefect Kaicheng surrendered the bandit army and was homeless. Marshal Zhang was martyred, Pei Renji surrendered, and Taifu Yang was recalled by His Majesty to serve in the court. I even asked for instructions." The person who gave the order could not be found, so I had to take the remnants south to Liang County to join Yang Tongshou, and then met Wang Liushou, who brought him here."
Hearing Fei Qingnu's words, Qian Xiangmin couldn't help shaking his head no matter how heartless he was, and sighed about the declining fortunes of the Sui Dynasty. Then he asked about the current situation of Wang Shichong's army, and learned that Wang Shichong's army and As I expected, there was indeed a shortage of food and grass, and I didn't get a few stones of food in Guancheng, which had been smashed. People, the officers and soldiers of Wang Shichong's army present were all overjoyed when they heard this, and they all looked forward to going north as soon as possible to the bank of the Yellow River to replenish food, grass and military supplies through waterways. Go and report to the king to stay behind, and ask him to see you overnight."
"Okay..." Qian Xiangmin swallowed the words that were on his lips, blinked his treacherous little eyes, and had grown somewhat, Qian Xiangmin said: "General Fei, there is no need to be in such a hurry. It's too deep, anyway, it's not an urgent matter, there's no need to ask Wang Liushou to get up overnight to see me, I'm also a little tired, rest for half the night, and it won't be too late for me to see Wang Liushou tomorrow morning."
Fei Qingnu didn't doubt that he was there, and immediately nodded in agreement. He also arranged for someone to bring Qian Xiangmin and his entourage to rest. After Qian Xiangmin was hungry and tired, he not only did not rest, but also ordered the guards to follow him. Help yourself to bathe and change clothes, and at the same time prepare your own court uniform, and specifically explain that you must wake yourself up at Maoshizheng. The entourage asked Qian Xiangmin why he worked so tirelessly, and Qian Xiangmin replied: "Stupid, of course it is to let Wang Shichong's soldiers know that I am coming with a lot of fanfare, and let them know what I am here for. How can we complete the mission Chen Liushou gave us if we coaxed into the Chinese army's tent to read the imperial decree of the king of Yue, and then blocked the news?"
It was rare for Qian Xiangmin to use his brains and heart to serve, but he was still conscientious and conscientious. When he arrived at Maoshi the next day, Qian Xiangmin, who had only slept for an hour, struggled to get out of the bed and replaced him with a sixth-rank Grand Sui official. Qian Xiangmin, who was wearing an official uniform, naturally attracted the attention of many Sui soldiers, and some generals came up to ask about Qian Xiangmin's identity. Not afraid of wasting saliva, he explained that he was ordered by Yang Tong to pass on the reward, and at the same time took the trouble to spread Yang Tong's reward in detail. The soldiers of the Sui army were all overjoyed when they heard this, and some people directly cheered .
In this way, under the pretext that he wanted to go to the kitchen to get the meal, Qian Xiangmin swaggered all the way to the back camp, and also caught up with the representatives of the Sui army battalions to get breakfast as he wished. As Qian Xiangmin expected, the king who was short of food and grass Every soldier in the Shichong Army could only receive a palm-sized wild vegetable dumpling for breakfast, which was still too much food and poor quality. Then Qian Xiangmin immediately yelled and bluffed, while deliberately attracting everyone's attention, while hypocritically asking Wang Shichong why the food is so bad? How long has it been since you ate such pig and dog food
As a result, when Wang Shichong received the news and hurriedly sent someone to find Qian Xiangmin to meet him, our Qian Yezhe was already surrounded by soldiers from the Sui Army on three floors inside and outside, and all of them were full of expressions. Excitedly listening to the spitting speech of Qian Yezhe...
"Soldiers! Soldiers of the Sui Dynasty! You don't have to worry about food and grass. His Royal Highness Yue Wang has issued a decree to reward you with 50,000 shi of grain, 500 fat pigs, 500 fat sheep, and 500 fat sheep. One hundred horses eliminated from the army, five hundred altars of good wine, thirty thousand coins, and thirty thousand pieces of silk and satin! His Royal Highness also specifically explained that as long as you have established waterway contact with us, an official ship will be dispatched to send you Here are these rewards! Let you eat well and eat well! If you have the strength to kill thieves and serve the country, and make meritorious service in suppressing rebellion! When you get back to Hulao Pass, His Royal Highness Yue Wang will reward you again!"
"Damn it, why haven't you sent troops yet?" Nibbling on the bitter wild vegetables, the soldiers of the Sui army were all annoyed and said to themselves, "Why didn't Wang Liushou give the order to send troops? We are only seventy or eighty miles away from the Yellow River, and we have arrived." There? Don’t you have to eat wild vegetable dumplings every day?”