To the surprise of the generals of the Sui army, two days after the water was cut off, on the night of the 28th, the rebels in Yongfeng Cangcheng came out to grab water in the dark. mosquito. Although Chen Sangliang and the generals of the Sui army also felt a little strange about this situation, considering that the rebel soldiers suffered a lot in the water grabbing battle in the previous two nights, Li Jiancheng did not dare to send a small number of troops out of the city to die in vain. It's normal, and it's also logical to be ready to go. For this reason, Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and other accomplices also warned Chen Sangliang: "Stay behind, be careful of sudden attacks by thieves, and take advantage of our slack to go down the mountain to grab water."
"Of course." Chen Sangliang smiled confidently, and said, "However, it is not so easy to take advantage of me. If Li Jiancheng dares to send heavy troops out of the city, I will dare to take the opportunity to storm Cangcheng."
"Brother, it's best to arrange for an elite army to wear the military uniforms of rebels." Pei Xingfang, who has been completely led down by his unscrupulous cousin, suggested in a cold tone, "If the rebels go out of the city to grab water at night , then the situation must be very chaotic, our army is fishing in troubled waters, taking the opportunity to infiltrate Cangcheng, as long as we can succeed, we can go to Yongfeng Cang in one battle!"
"A good idea." Chen Sangliang smiled, and said with a smile: "Although he is not sure, Li Jiancheng is a very stable person, but there is still some hope, it is worth a try."
Wei Zheng didn't want to let the younger generation be alone, and suggested: "Stay behind, do one thing and keep doing two things. Our auxiliary soldiers are also idle. We might as well ask them to build another row of earth barriers in the north of Cangcheng, and set them up on the river beach. Wooden piles, build a water village, it will be difficult for the rebels to attack and get water!"
The establishment of the water village was actually in Chen Sangliang's consideration, but two days ago, Chen Sangliang hadn't made up his mind whether to attack Yongfeng warehouse as soon as possible or besiege the city to help, so he didn't make this time-consuming and laborious decision. The tactical plan for besieging the city and fighting for aid has been finalized, and Li Jiancheng is gathering strength to prepare to make a move. Chen Sangliang can't help but reconsider this point. After a little calculation, Chen Sangliang nodded, and was about to agree, but Li Jing's voice came from outside the tent. Of course, as a junior, Chen Sangliang couldn't put on airs in front of his cousin, so he nodded in agreement immediately .
After a while, Li Jing entered the account to have an audience. To the surprise of Chen Sangliang and others, Li Jing also asked the soldiers to escort two wounded bandit prisoners of war. Chen Sangliang was still surprised, so he took the initiative to ask: "Uncle cousin , What happened to these two captives? Where did you catch them?"
"I didn't catch them, they were captured by our soldiers the night before yesterday." Li Jing, with dark circles on his face, shook his head and explained: "Last night, I led some people to interrogate all the prisoners one by one. I asked some very important confessions from my mouth, so I brought them to you, please listen to them."
After all, without waiting for Chen Sangliang's order, Li Jing turned to the two captives and ordered: "Tell Chen Liushou what you said to me before, and tell the truth, it will naturally benefit you."
The two captives hurriedly nodded their promises, and said to Chen Sangliang scramblingly: "Report to the left-behind master, in fact, the left governor has stored a lot of clean water in Yongfeng warehouse city for fire prevention. The water tank is always full, and the water is taken from the bottom of the mountain every day, and the fire fighting water is not allowed to be used at will. Later, General He escorted the grain to Daxing, moved the grain to vacate the granary, and Zuo Dudu asked us to move in the middle of the night. Many wooden barrels and water tanks went in, all filled with water, we don't know how many, but there must be a lot."
Chen Sangliang's face changed slightly, and he quickly asked, "Where did you get so many wooden barrels and water tanks?"
"It seems that they were sent from places like Feng Yi, Chaoyi and Huayin." The two captives replied truthfully, "They were sent by carts or boats. There are a lot of barrels and vats."
The faces of Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and others changed drastically, and Chen Sangliang's face became ugly, but Li Jing continued to hit his nephew, saying: "Nephew, you'd better ask again, those water tanks and wooden barrels, When was it sent to Yongfeng warehouse?"
Chen Sangliang hurriedly asked again, and the two captives answered truthfully: "When Yongfeng Cang was building the city, after General Li left Tongguan, Yongfeng Cang began to build the city, and these water tanks and wooden barrels were brought in one after another during the period. At first, they were used by civilians who helped build the city, but later they all stayed in Cangcheng.”
The faces of Wei Zheng, Pei Xingfang and the others changed even more, and Chen Sangliang also closed his eyes, secretly cursing that the old thief Li Yuan is indeed an old fox, who has already noticed the danger of water shortage in Yongfeng Cangcheng, which is too high, so he made preparations ahead of time. A large number of water storage devices and a large amount of water storage are to prevent him from cutting off his water source at any cost and dying of his Yongfeng warehouse garrison from thirst. Over there, Yuan Tiangang refused to give up, and asked the two captives how much water could be stored in the warehouse for a few days. Unfortunately, both captives were grassroots soldiers, and Li Jiancheng had never announced the real reason for the large amount of water storage, so the two A prisoner naturally couldn't answer.
After pondering for a long time, Chen Sangliang waved his hands to let the soldiers take the two captives away and give them preferential treatment. Then, as soon as the two captives were taken away, Chen Sangliang immediately bowed his hands to Li Jing and said, "Thank you, uncle, for your carefulness. Thinking of carefully interrogating the captives to understand the enemy's water storage situation, otherwise, my nephew would have been deceived by Li Jiancheng. My cousin is so careful, my nephew is really ashamed."
"My family, why are you being polite?" Li Jing smiled, and said again: "Actually, I have been deceived by Li Jiancheng before, sent troops to grab water twice, and paid the price of thousands of casualties. I also believe that Li Jiancheng's water storage can't last for a few days. Asking about the capture of prisoners is just to know how much drinking water there is in the rebel army, and I never expected to get such a harvest."
Chen Sangliang nodded, first thanked his uncle for his dedication to him, and then squeezed his chin and calculated: "Since the bandit army has prepared, how many days will their water storage last?"
"It is estimated that only a few important generals of the bandit army know about this." Li Jing said: "However, if the bandit army works hard to save water, there should be hope that it will persist until the main force of the bandit army returns to help. In addition, our elite guards guard the fence line day and night, Although it is possible to rotate, it will inevitably increase fatigue, and some flaws will be exposed after a long time. As long as Li Jiancheng seizes one of the opportunities to attack suddenly, not only may he grab the water, but he may also bring us a lot of losses. .”
Chen Sangliang agreed with his cousin's judgment, but he didn't say a word, but Li Jing went further: "Nephew, in fact, I was worried from the very beginning that if we persist in the tactical plan of besieging the city and fighting for aid, I'm afraid it will be self-defeating, and it will actually be a mistake. Opportunity for the bandit army to turn defeat into victory. It is true that besieging the city and fighting for reinforcements can wait for work, and you can get a chance to defeat the main force of the bandit army without attacking a fortified area. However, we don't know the strength of the main force of the bandit army. The strength of the war, there is also the bandit army Dou Cong stationed in the Pujin Pass area, and it is possible to go south to join the war. We don't know enough about the enemy's specific strength, and there are too many battlefields. No matter how strong the soldiers are, there is great danger. We must be cautious. act."
Chen Sangliang kept a gloomy face and did not speak. He was only nervously calculating countermeasures in his mind. Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling and others over there also frowned and thought hard. Let's attack by force, we hope to take Yongfeng warehouse by force, and we will try our best to take more losses, first take down Yongfeng warehouse city, and completely cut off the bandit army's desire to open up the grain road again."
Chen Yingliang was also extremely shaken, and almost wanted to order to give up the water cutoff, but when the words came to his lips, Chen Sangliang immediately changed his mind and said, "No, not only can't give up the water cutoff, but also increase the water cutoff action, arrange immediately Five thousand auxiliary soldiers are dispatched to build earth barriers at the fence line to strengthen the defense!"
"Why?" Wei Zheng, Li Jing and the others were all taken aback.
"Since brother Jiancheng wants me to be fooled, then of course I, as his good friend, have to fulfill him." Chen Sangliang answered slowly, and then smiled and said: "He sees that I have been fooled, so of course he will relax." Relax, he relaxes, and here comes my chance."
Wei Zheng, Li Jing and others suddenly realized that they all praised Chen Sangliang for being so wise and mighty, Li Jing asked again: "Nephew, since you still want to use tricks to destroy the city, what exactly are you going to do?"
"I haven't figured it out yet. At present, I can only let the enemy relax first, and then find another way." Chen Sangliang replied with a frown, and said with great regret: "It's a pity that my brother Jiancheng's character is too stable, and he is not very serious. I like cheating and tricking, otherwise, if he makes the first move, I will definitely have a way to follow the trick and take the opportunity to destroy the city."
According to Chen Sangliang's request, the 5,000 Sui army's auxiliary soldiers quickly attacked according to the order, carrying various equipment to the places where the rebels must pass to obtain water to build earth barriers and strengthen defenses. When the rebels saw it on the top of the mountain, it was inevitable that they were even more worried. However, Li Jiancheng remained calm, and categorically rejected the request of the rebel generals to fight, determined to hold on to the end and wait for the main force of the rebels to come back for help. Fortunately, although the Sui army cut off the rebels' water-drawing road, the rebel soldiers still received a scoop of drinking water every day, and ate a little water and noodles baked at night. Water shortage and chaos.
Another day passed quickly, and that night, when Chen Sangliang was still worrying about how to break through Yongfeng warehouse at the least cost, the messenger who claimed to be Yun Dingxing's confidant suddenly came to Chen Sangliang, Presented Yun Dingxing's autographed letter to Chen Sangliang face to face, Chen Sangliang was overjoyed, and when he quickly opened the letter to check the content, he saw that Yun Dingxing had not only told himself about his farewell feelings in the letter, but also told him that he was forced to surrender to Li Yuan's rebellion. In addition to the difficulties of the army, he also took the initiative to express his willingness to serve as an internal response to help the Sui army defeat the main force of the rebel army and make atonement.
In addition, Yun Dingxing reported to Chen Sangliang that Li Yuan was in a hurry and was attacking Daxing Palace City at all costs. Lead the main force back to help, and regain the lifeblood of Yongfeng Warehouse, the Guanzhong battlefield!
After carefully cross-examining Yun Dingxing's envoy with many questions, but still not finding any flaws, Chen Sangliang showed a joyful look, and ordered the envoy to be generous and let the envoy go down to rest and wait for his reply. However, as soon as the messenger left, several dog-headed military advisers immediately approached Chen Sangliang, asking if the letter was fraudulent? Chen Sangliang replied truthfully: "I can't tell for the time being. With Yun Dingxing's character of greed for life and fear of death, it is definitely true that he wants to surrender to us. It is also very possible that he will help us as an internal response at a critical moment, but I do Now it cannot be ruled out that this letter is Li Yuan forcing Yun Dingxing to use Yun Dingxing's hands to set us up."
"If Li Yuan forced Yun Dingxing to write this letter, then what is his purpose?" Li Jing pointed out the crux of the problem and asked, "If this is a trap, then what does that old thief Li Yuan want?"
"I still can't see it." Chen Sangliang replied with a frown: "It's normal that Li Yuan will personally lead the main force back to Yongfeng warehouse. It's not surprising to send a partial division back to share the pressure with Li Jian. It's reasonable, so I can't guess Li Yuan's real purpose. There may be another possibility, Li Yuan is deliberately putting a long line to catch big fish, first let Yun Dingxing leak some correct information that is not very important to us, and defraud us Believe me, when it comes to the real decisive battle, then use Yun Dingxing to set us a real deadly trap."
Li Jing nodded and asked again: "Then what should we do?"
"It's also a long line to catch big fish!" Chen Sangliang replied decisively: "Pretend to be tricked first, and maintain underground contact with Yun Dingxing. In the future, I will have a way to distinguish whether Yun Dingxing was coerced by Li Yuan. Follow the plan, and turn him into a trick for Li Yuan, the old thief!"
Seeing Chen Sangliang's confident tone, and knowing that Chen Sangliang's scheming never suffers on the battlefield, Li Jing, Yuan Tiangang and others didn't say much, and they all nodded their heads. Immediately, Chen Sangliang wrote a book and wrote a reply letter to Yun Dingxing. In the letter, he pretended to trust Yun Dingxing and asked Yun Dingxing to continue lurking among the rebels and provide him with important military information at all times. After the early morning of the next day, Chen Sangliang sent a message from Yun Dingxing's messenger, ordering him to bring the book back to Daxing to deliver the letter. Before parting, Chen Sangliang told the messenger again: "Go back and tell Uncle Yun, just to be cautious. , no matter who he sends to contact me next time, he must answer a question for me."
"Dare to ask Chen Liushou, what's the problem?" Yun Dingxing asked respectfully.
"When I met Uncle Yun for the last time, what was my last verbal confession to him?" Chen Sangliang said: "My last confession to him is only known to me and him. It is very important. He must have not forgotten, the person he sends next time must answer my question." The messenger Yun Dingxing's eyes flashed, he respectfully agreed, and left.
On the twenty-ninth day and night, the Yongfengcang rebels still had no new actions, and they still defended Cangcheng and refused to leave the city. Chen Sangliang, who hated this kind of turtle tactics the most, had nothing to do. After sending away Yun Dingxing's messenger , immediately can only start to think about how to take down Yongfeng warehouse by force. However, at this time, the soldiers outside the account suddenly reported that Li Jiancheng had sent envoys to the camp and asked Chen Sangliang to meet him. Chen Sangliang, who was worried that Li Jiancheng would not move, was overjoyed and ordered to meet him immediately.
After a while, when Li Jiancheng's envoy, a middle-aged man in his forties, was led into the tent of the Chinese army, what surprised Chen Sangliang was that his important staff member, Fang Xuanling, jumped up in shock. Unbelievably exclaimed: "Wang Gui, Wang Shujie, why is it you?"
"Brother Qiao Song, I haven't seen you for a long time. Are you okay?" Li Jiancheng's envoy, Wang Gui, cupped his hands and said with a helpless expression, "It's been a few years since I left, and I never thought I'd be able to meet Brother Qiao Song at this time and place today. I'm ashamed!"
Fang Xuanling hurriedly returned the gift, and Chen Sangliang hurriedly asked about Wang Gui's origin, and only then learned from Fang Xuanling that Wang Gui, like Li Gang, the former Zigan Wu of the Sui Dynasty, was also a famous literati in Guanzhong, because his uncle was implicated in the conspiracy of Han Wang Yang Liang , lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain, not only was an old acquaintance with Fang Xuanling, but also a good friend with Du Ruhui. Then Wang Gui introduced himself, saying that he was deceived by Li Yuan's rebels, and that he was unable to become an official in the Sui court because of his uncle's involvement, so he brought dry food to Weibei to join the army, but was accepted by Li Jiancheng and used as a signature.
Of course, Chen Sangliang had to give Fang Xuanling face, and he vaguely remembered that Wang Gui was also a famous historical figure. Of course, Chen Sangliang immediately gave Wang Gui a seat of tea, expressing his admiration for Wang Gui, and then asked Think of Wang Gui's intention to come. Wang Gui was also polite, and immediately presented Li Jiancheng's autographed letter to Chen Sangliang, which was written in blood, and asked Chen Sangliang to read it.
After taking Li Jiancheng's blood letter and looking carefully, Chen Sangliang found that Li Jiancheng had come to beg for mercy. Li Jiancheng admitted that he was not Chen Sangliang's opponent, and also knew that Yongfeng Cangcheng, whose water source had been cut off, was doomed to fall. He wanted to surrender, but because he was the son of Li Yuan, even if he surrendered, he was doomed to die. At the same time, most of his generals were stubborn and insisted on fighting the Sui army to the end, waiting for Li Yuan to return to rescue him. I begged Chen Sangliang to let go of the net when the city was broken, let him have a way out, let him take some subordinates out of the city to escape, and don't kill them all.
The words in Li Jiancheng's blood letter were very mournful, and his tone was very pitiful. Obviously, his fighting spirit had completely disappeared, and he didn't have the guts to fight Chen Sangliang any more, all he wanted was to save his life. The envoy Wang Gui also bowed to Chen Sangliang again and again, and said sincerely: "Chen Liushou, Ambassador Chen, the water in Yongfengcang City is now as expensive as gold, and each soldier can only receive a spoonful of muddy water every day. There are too many but no water to cook, but the men and horses can only eat raw rice and corn. The morale of the army is so depressed that they will be defeated without fighting within ten days. Zuo Dudu is unfortunately born as the son of Tang Guogong, so it is impossible to surrender the city anyway. , I can only ask you to stay and watch for the sake of past friendship, and let Zuo Dudu have a way out, so that he can escape from the city and not die in the chaos."
Chen Sangliang remained silent, and Wang Gui begged again: "Don't worry, Chen Liushou. At that time, the Zuo Dudu will only flee with three or five cronies. He killed them all, and he also understood why he couldn't open the city and surrender."
As he said that, Wang Gui bowed to Chen Sangliang again and again, with sincere affection, but Chen Sangliang remained silent for a long time. It was only after Wang Gui knelt down that Chen Sangliang sighed and said: "The battle is over. Now, swords and guns have no eyes, and it's hard for me to guarantee that I won't accidentally injure brother Jiancheng. Well, at that time, brother Jiancheng can flee to the southwest of Qinshan Mountain, and I won't chase there."
Wang Gui was overjoyed when he heard that, and quickly thanked Chen Sangliang for Li Jiancheng. Chen Sangliang accepted it calmly, and arranged a banquet for Wang Gui, and then arranged for Fang Xuanling to send Wang Gui out of the camp in person. After going through these cutscenes, Chen Sangliang and his cousin Li Jing looked at each other and smiled, and asked in unison: "Cousin (nephew), do you see it?"
After asking each other in unison, Chen Sangliang and Li Jing answered in unison, "Zhang Te is guarding Hefei, showing weakness to cheat time."
After looking at each other and laughing for a while, Chen Sangliang stopped his smile, and said with a smile: "The fox tail of the old thief Li Yuan is finally exposed, arrange Yun Dingxing to feign surrender, let me see that it is good to easily defeat his main force by waiting for work." Opportunity, arranged for Li Jiancheng to show weakness and beg for mercy, making me feel that Yongfengcang City can be easily taken without fighting. At that time, his chances of turning defeat into victory are much greater."
"Nephew, you don't like the habit of attacking fortified cities, I'm afraid it's also in the expectation of the old thief Li Yuan." Li Jing pointed out: "If you don't want to attack fortified cities by force, you must be opportunistic and opportunistic. Seeing an opportunity, you can win Yongfeng warehouse without fighting. City, nephew, of course you don’t want to use the lives of soldiers to fill the city. This is a bad habit and needs to be changed.”
"Change, change, change today." Chen Sangliang also heard that he must change, and immediately said: "I will send troops to fight Yongfeng Cangcheng tonight. No matter how much it costs, I will take Yongfeng as soon as possible." Cang, completely establish the victory in Guanzhong, and snuff out his last chance to turn defeat into victory for the old thief Li Yuan."