"Zhai Rang, Li Mi, stepped up the attack on Wang Shichong??"
Chen Sangliang was extremely surprised and puzzled. His first reaction was to suspect that his unscrupulous father-in-law was cheating, cheating, and running to lie about the military situation. After reporting in detail, Chen Sangliang realized that he had wronged his father-in-law this time. The reasons were firstly that the envoy’s report did not seem to be fake, and secondly that although Wang Shichong was courageous, thick-skinned, and dark-hearted, he should not have the courage to do so. Official documents in black and white were falsified, leaving a death certificate sufficient to behead.
After thinking for a while, Chen Sangliang summoned Ma Sanbao, who was in charge of scouting affairs, and asked Ma Sanbao about the recent military situation at Hulaoguan. Ma Sanbao truthfully replied: "I will stay behind. The army narrowed down the scope of the scouts. Even in the daytime, the scouts rarely leave the five-mile range of Hulao Pass. At night, they basically sent out under the city. In addition, our scouts just had news I came to report that when they reached Hulaoguan, they saw the scout horses of the bandit army using ropes to go up and down the city wall, and the general suspected that the Wagang bandits might have blocked the west gate of Hulaoguan from the inside."
"Blocked the city gate?" Chen Sangliang was even more puzzled, and became more and more suspicious of the real intention of the enemy's move, and then asked, "Where is our internal line? Is there any news to send?"
Ma Sanbao shook his head and said no, Chen Sangliang was also somewhat worried, wondering whether Mulan could not send the news out of Hulao Pass, or whether he had already been suspected, but he couldn't judge, so he could only order Ma Sanbao to try to catch his tongue confession. Ma Sanbao took the order to go, and Wang Shichong's envoy urged: "Chen Liushou, our Wang Liushou, please take care of Weng and his son-in-law, and launch an attack on the west of Hulao Pass as soon as possible. The front section of our Pengcheng army The loss of time is huge, and the army is also very tired. It is no problem to deal with the bandit army's partial division, but it is too difficult to deal with the bandit army's main force."
"I know that your losses are great, but mine is even greater. It is very difficult for me to attack Hulao Pass now."
Chen Sangliang shook his head and spoke the truth. Although the Sui army won the battle of Ten Mile Fort, the loss of the army was definitely not small. Most of the casualties were the main soldiers. In fact, the vitality was also hurt. The force launched a frontal attack on Hulaoguan. So after thinking about it, Chen Sangliang ordered to Wang Shichong's envoy: "Go back and tell your father-in-law, please rest assured, I will definitely launch an attack as soon as possible to share the pressure for him. Tell him again, I know he is under great pressure. If the main force really launches a large-scale attack on him, he can play by ear, but remember one thing, you must never give up the Banzhu camp, you must nail it there!"
Wang Shichong's messenger agreed, and then verbally reported the news that Li Mi had dispatched troops from Liyangcang to attack Wang Shichong southward, and also truthfully reported that the news had not yet been confirmed. He reported himself and sent messengers to leave.
"Strange? Could it be that Li Mi persuaded Zhai Rang to continue fighting? Did he really attack Wang Shichong with all his strength, beat Wang Shichong away, and then take the safest route of Banzhu and Jindiguan back to Liyang Cang? This may be the biggest, but why did Li Mi want to fight?" What is the purpose of this traitor in deliberately spreading this news in the army? Bluffing, using advance as retreat, pretending to attack Wang Shichong with all his strength, taking the opportunity to abandon Hulao Pass, and directly crossing the Yellow River to the north, so as to reduce the loss of being chased and killed by me? If that's the case, Mulan will definitely try her best to send me the news, and it will be very difficult to hide it from the Wen County government in the north?"
Thinking about this idea, Ma Sanbao brought a Wagang Army prisoner in front of Chen Sangliang in the evening, saying that it took a lot of effort to catch him. Chen Sangliang comforted the prisoner and asked about Hulao Pass. Only then did we know that Ma Sanbao’s analysis was correct. The Wagang Army had indeed blocked the west gate of Hulao Guan with earth and rocks. Li Mi had already mobilized the Liyang Cang garrison to attack Wang Shichong, and his confession was basically consistent with Wang Shichong's report.
The more he asked, the more confused he became, and the more he calculated, the more suspicious he became. When the enemy's situation was unknown, Chen Sangliang simply expanded the scope of reconnaissance and sent scouts to cross the Yellow River to the north bank of the Yellow River in the area of Hulao Pass to detect the movements of the bandits. People contacted Meng Shanyi, the general guard of Hanoi, and asked Hanoi to provide intelligence assistance to find out whether there were large groups of enemies in Hanoi County. Then Chen Sangliang could only wait for the reply from various sources, while hoping that Mulan would send news as soon as possible to help him Grasp the enemy's movement.
Li Mi is also worthy of being the first ruthless character who can deceive Chen Sangliang on the battlefield. Chen Sangliang has not received the reply that Chen Sangliang was expecting. Xian Bo led an army to escort a large number of military supplies, and sent them directly to Xingze County, which was controlled by the bandit army, via Dahai Temple. The Sui army scouts in Pengcheng found out the news and reported it to Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong was afraid that this was Li Mi's lure. He didn't dare to take any action, and watched helplessly as the military supplies were sent into Xingze City from under his nose.
On the third day, another bandit army marched from Hulao Pass to Xingze. The number was quite large, and there were women, old and weak in the army. The scouts flew to report to Wang Shichong. Bypassing Banzhu and crossing the river from Xingze, he wanted to attack and intercept, but he was still afraid that this was Li Mi's trick to lure the enemy, and knowing that no matter how many such enemies were killed, Li Mi and Zhai Rang would not feel sorry for them, so they did not dare to act rashly. As a result, the scouts quickly flew a report saying that the flag of the bandit army was being sent out in the mountains and forests around Dahai Temple. Wang Shichong was grateful for his wise decision and dared not send troops. He just sent another messenger to report the matter to Chen Sangliang.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Sui army in Pengcheng discovered that Zhai and Li's rebel army had built a pontoon bridge in the Xingze area. It was already night when Wang Shichong received the news, and found out that the second batch of rebel troops had arrived in Xingze. , and quickly sent scouts to investigate the ambushes arranged by the bandit army in the Dahai Temple area, but found nothing.
On the evening of the same day, the scouts sent by Chen Sangliang to reconnaissance north of the Yellow River finally returned to Luokou Cang. To Chen Sangliang's surprise, only nine of the 20 scouts sent across the Yellow River came back, and the surviving scouts reported It is said that they were ambushed by the scouts of the bandit army in the north of Hulao Pass, and they failed to find out the specific movement of the bandit army, but only found that the ferry on the north bank of the Yellow River was brightly lit last night. It can be confirmed that there was a large number of crowd activities, but the specific situation is unknown.
The distance was too far, and the throat was blocked by the Hulao Pass in the middle, and the information traffic was too inconvenient. Wang Shichong suspected that Zhai and Li's bandits were planning to detour to Xingze to retreat in Banzhu, but Chen Sangliang suspected that Zhai and Li's bandits were planning to retreat in Luokoucang. Directly crossing the Yellow River to the north to escape, under a misjudgment, Chen Sangliang sent people to contact Wang Shichong by water and land, and asked Wang Shichong to strengthen the reconnaissance of the Yellow River ferry east of Hulao Pass. The pursuit of the army crossing the water.
In the early morning of the next day, the messenger sent by Chen Sangliang from the waterway was lucky to get rid of the pursuit of the patrol boat of the Wagang Army, and successfully delivered Chen Sangliang's letter to Wang Shichong, and also reported to Wang Shichong that he , It was found that both sides of the Yellow River in the Niuzhukou area were brightly lit. As a result, this situation completely confused Wang Shichong's command and judgment. Wang Shichong couldn't figure out what Li Mi wanted to do, let alone judge which way Zhai Li's bandits wanted to retreat, and fell into a dilemma.
Li Mi was obviously determined to confuse the judgment and command of the Sui army. When Wang Shichong was worried that his judgment was completely opposite to that of Chen Sangliang, the scouts suddenly came to report that Zhai and Li's bandits had sent troops eastward again. It was a grain cart full of grain bags, and it still took the shortcut from Hulao Pass to Dahai Temple in Xingze. Wang Shichong hesitated again and again when he heard the report. In order to judge the enemy's situation and because he was greedy for precious food, Wang Shichong finally ordered troops to intercept, and personally led the army out of the camp to ambush on the road that the bandit army must pass to transport food.
Even Wang Shichong himself did not expect that this robbery of grain would go so smoothly. Just as his ambush soldiers came out from both sides, the thieves who were guarding the grain had already screamed and abandoned their carts. At that time, they all screamed that the bags were full of mud. Wang Shichong immediately understood the trick and ordered to retreat back to the camp. , Wang Shichong's army ran for their lives in panic, you pushed each other, and the team was in chaos. Although Zhai Li's bandit army was a second-line army, they still chased Wang Shichong's ass and beat them hard, and gained a lot of gains.
When Wang Shichong finally found out that the fighting power of the chasing soldiers was not strong, and when he found that there was no one in the mountains except for the drums shouting to kill, it was too late. The emergency beacon had already been ignited at the Sui army camp in Pengcheng, and three fires were ignited one after another. At the same time, there were messengers flying reports that Zhai and Li's rebel army suddenly sent troops to attack Wang Shichong's camp from both water and land. Wang Shichong attacked Wang Shichong's camp on the way, Wang Shichong wanted to cry, but he didn't dare to pay attention to the chasing soldiers behind him, he just rushed back to the camp for rescue.
Li Mi's long-planned attack was well prepared, and before he set off, he directly told the army that his own army was preparing to retreat. If Wang Shichong's nail was not pulled out, no one would be able to return to Liyang Cang to have a full meal! Enthused by the army, Zhai and Li's bandit army attacked very violently this time. Zhai asked Li Mi to lead the army by land, and Xu Shiji led the army by water. Fang Xianbo and Hao Xiaode, who had transported luggage and protected their families to Xingze, all It was everyone scrambling to be the first, all of them using their lives, rushing and beating around Wang Shichong's camp, vowing not to withdraw troops until Wang Shichong's camp was broken.
If Wang Shichong himself is still staying in the camp with the main force, then no matter how fierce Li Mi's three-way attack is, Wang Shichong's army, who is good at defensive battles, is also very confident that he can hold the camp, but it is a pity that Wang Shichong was defeated by Li Mi. A series of feints made me dizzy. This time I personally led the troops out to rob food, and did not stay in the camp to take command. When I finally fled back to the vicinity of the camp in embarrassment, I was hit head-on by the allied forces of Zhai and Li. But when Li Mi was pleasantly surprised to find that he had cheated Wang Shichong out of the way this time, he immediately suspended his attack on Wang Shichong's camp, mobilized the whole army to attack Wang Shichong, and said nothing to give Wang Shichong a chance to return to the camp to breathe.
This was a fierce battle full of surprises. Wang Shichong did not expect that Li Mi would use fake food to lure snakes out of the cave, nor did he expect that Li Mi would attack his camp in three ways. Li Mi had only planned to weaken Wang Shichong's strength so that he would not dare to stop him. After retreating from the army, I didn't expect that the old fox Wang Shichong would come out of the camp to rob food in person. The command and response of both sides were a bit hasty and chaotic, but the situation was more favorable to the Zhai Li coalition army after all. On the contrary, there are more and more enemies around. Wang Shiyun and Yang Wei, who stayed in the camp, feared that Wang Shichong would lose, and hurriedly sent troops to respond. An unexpected melee also started outside Wang Shichong's camp.
If it weren't for Chen Sangliang who had severely injured Zhai and Li's coalition forces in the battle of Shilibao before, and the main force of Zhai and Li's bandits was too tired and injured, it would be difficult for Wang Shichong to escape this battle, but this was enough. Wang Shiyun, Yang Wei and others It took a lot of effort to bring Wang Shichong back to the camp, but the Zhai Li coalition army still took advantage of the momentum and entered the Sui army camp. Wang Shichong tried his best to restrain the army and resist desperately, but he still couldn't stop Zhai Li's bandit army from attacking him. People killed people and set fires everywhere in the camp, and burned his military tents. Fortunately, Wang Shichong's greed for life and fear of death played a role at this moment. The Sui Army in Pengcheng still had a stronger Chinese army camp to defend, and Wang Shichong himself was quite decisive. Seeing that the outer camp was difficult to defend, he immediately ordered to retreat to the camp of the Chinese army, determined to save his capital first.
Li Mi is also a person who knows how to choose. Seeing Wang Shichong leading the defeated army to defend the camp of the Chinese army, he knew that he would lose a lot of teeth if he gnawed on this iron bone, so he immediately adjusted his tactics and deliberately released the south road for Wang Shichong to escape. It is a pity that Li Mi's siege was intended to let Wang Shichong get out of the way, but Wang Shichong, who was suspicious by nature, suspected that this was another attempt by Li Mi to lure snakes out of the hole. As a result, the fierce battle lasted from the afternoon to midnight, and Zhai and Li's bandits never managed to break into the Sui army's camp, and Wang Shichong never broke through the road that Li Mi deliberately gave up.
Both sides were exhausted from fighting, and both sides were beaten to death like mountains and rivers of blood. Finally, seeing that Wang Shichong could not be driven away, Li Mi gritted his teeth, and finally accepted Zhai Rang's almost begging request, ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops, and led the army back Rest in the Hulao Guandong Camp—If the fight continues, that unscrupulous Chen Sangliang will definitely come to take advantage of the fire and rob him. However, Wang Shichong's army, whose strength was greatly weakened, did not dare to send troops to pursue it, and watched helplessly as the exhausted Zhai Li thief army retreated.
On the way back to Shihulao Pass, because most of the Sui army camps were successfully destroyed, the soldiers of the Zhai Li coalition army, who were almost paralyzed, kept cheering, no matter how much blood was on their faces, they still smiled, but Li Mi's face was almost watery. I shook my head several times and lamented, "Both losers, both losers. The original intention was to consume part of Wang Shichong's strength so that he would not dare to intercept us. I really didn't expect it to become like this. It turned into an unexpected decisive battle. If I had known that Wang Shichong would If I was cheated out, I should bring more reserve teams.”
"Forget it, as long as you win." Zhai Rang wiped the blood on his face, and said consolingly: "Although we failed to take down the camp of Wanggou officer this time, and the casualties were a bit heavy, at least we severely injured Wanggou. The vitality of the officer, when we lead the army to retreat next, he will not dare to send troops to intercept us even if he has the courage to do so."
"Yes, we have severely injured Wang Shichong's vitality, but our vitality has also been severely injured." Li Mi smiled wryly, shook his head, sighed, and then said: "Mr. Dongjun, we don't have much time left. , Rest for a day tomorrow, and retreat the day after tomorrow according to the original plan, otherwise, once the dog officer Chen Yingliang transfers new troops from the rear to join the battle, our exhausted army will not be able to hold back."
Of course, Zhai Rang accepted Li Mi's suggestion and let the army rest for a day. On the evening of the next day, Zhai Rang finally announced his decision to abandon the pass and retreat in public, but he was still very careful not to announce the retreat plan in public. The main general called to his room alone, explained the retreat order alone, and asked the general to keep it strictly confidential, and not to disclose it to anyone until the last moment.
The arrangement between Li Mi and Zhai Rang finally paid off. Although Mulan, who brought her own dry food to be Chen Sangliang's traitor, knew that she would abandon the pass and retreat the next day, she didn't know the specific retreat plan, and because Zhai Rang suddenly ordered Xu Shiji to take over Hu Because of the city defense in the west of the customs, Mulan couldn't even help Zhang Kai leave the customs to report the letter. As a last resort, Mulan had to settle for the next best thing and made another arrangement for Zhang Kai...
On the second day of July in the thirteenth year of Daye, after being exhausted from fighting with the Sui Army in the Eastern Capital and the Sui Army in Pengcheng, the Zhai Li bandit army, who was seriously injured, finally gave up Hulao Pass, and abandoned Hulao Pass under the leadership of Zhai Rang and Li Mi. After leaving the pass, he retreated to Dongjun via Xingze. Wang Shichong, who had suffered so much that he could no longer suffer heavy losses, was powerless to stop him. Although they sent troops to attack Hulao Pass at 10 noon, in an attempt to quickly capture Hulao Pass and quickly sent troops to pursue it, they were stubbornly blocked by Xu Shiji, the rear general of the Wagang Army. At a loss, Xu Shiji tried several times to climb the city with a light ladder, but was killed by Xu Shiji.
After nightfall, Xu Shiji abandoned Hulao Pass according to the original plan, and led the rear army of only 800 people out of the Guandong, and retreated down the Yellow River in a small boat hidden in the reed marshes. Before leaving, he resentfully lit Wagang The army didn't have time to order food. Although the Sui army in the eastern capital quickly climbed to the deserted Hulaoguan city, they were unable to enter the pass quickly because the city gate was blocked, let alone launch an attack on Zhai and Li's bandit army overnight. chase.
Of course, it was not for nothing. After the Sui army entered the city, Zhang Kai, who was ordered to hide in a hidden place in the city, ran out. After revealing his identity, he was able to see Chen Sangliang quickly, and presented two letters to Chen Sangliang. Chen Sangliang After receiving the letter, she saw Mulan's signature written on it, so she opened it first. In addition to explaining the reason for not being able to notify the news in advance, Mulan said that she must avenge Zhang Xutuo. The two enemies, Zhai Rang and Li Mi, were willing to continue to act as traitors for Chen Sangliang, and agreed on a secret code for the next contact, so that Mulan could distinguish the authenticity of the envoy Chen Sangliang sent to contact her.
The second letter was not signed. When Chen Sangliang opened it, he saw that there were only a few short sentences in the letter, and the full text was as follows: "Liar! Why did you lie to me in the first place? You made me marry someone else by mistake. Remember me Stay! However, my current husband treats me very well, so thank you."
"Being good to you? Then why have you been married for more than half a year and haven't allowed you to conceive a child?" Chen Sangliang muttered: "If you want to have a child, don't you have to ask me for help? But this time there is no chance, next time, I will definitely help you next time."
After muttering, Chen Sangliang slowly packed the two letters and hid them in his sleeves. When he looked up at the towering Hulao Pass, Chen Sangliang showed a bitter smile and murmured: "Finally I got it back, Although it was very reluctant, and it was a bit anticlimactic, but it doesn't matter, I can get out of Luokou Cang when you come back, and I can free up my hands to deal with stronger enemies. It's a good thing, and it can be considered a good thing."