After listening to Zhang Yongtong's report, Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Yuan Tiangang and other aides and accomplices were all overjoyed. They all said that the trick to lure the enemy had finally succeeded, and the old fox Li Yuan finally agreed to a decisive battle tomorrow. On the contrary, he was very calm, and kept asking Zhang Yongtong about his mission, paying attention to every detail, and never showed any expression of relief and relaxation.
After listening to all the details introduced by Zhang Yongtong, Chen Sangliang then ordered to reward Zhang Yongtong who was carrying his head on the errand, and let him go down to rest. Thinking quickly. Wei Zheng, Yuan Tiangang and other aides beside him saw that Chen Sangliang was not at ease, so they tentatively asked: "Stay behind, do you suspect that Li Yuan is cheating?"
Chen Sangliang nodded, and said frankly: "In front of so many bandit generals, Li Yuan may be really angry after being humiliated, but even if he promised to fight tomorrow, he can still find an excuse to swallow what he said. After all, we have used a lot of tricks like calling out the battle first and then breaking the appointment to tease the enemy, we can use it, and the old thief Li Yuan can also use it."
"Then what should we do?" Yuan Tiangang asked quickly.
"There is nothing we can do, we can only resign ourselves to fate." Chen Sangliang replied helplessly: "The strategy of the Guanzhong battlefield is in our hands, and we have the final say on how we want to fight. The tactics of the Daxing battlefield are in the hands of the old thief Li Yuan. It’s up to us how we want to beat him, and the only thing we can do now is to pray for God’s blessing, so that old thief Li Yuan will not be as shameless as we are, and make excuses to break his promise when he promises a decisive battle.”
Chen Sangliang said a self-deprecating joke, but Fang Xuanling, Wei Zheng, Yuan Tiangang and other staff members did not laugh. On the contrary, they were preoccupied. Chen Sangliang himself was not amused by his joke. After shaking his head and sighing, Chen Sangliang Sang Liang could only order: "Let's get ready for the decisive battle. Order the whole army to start preparing for the decisive battle tomorrow morning, and let the soldiers prepare everything that should be prepared. If the decisive battle can really start tomorrow, it will definitely be tomorrow night." There are also night battles, the torches and dry food for night battles, let the auxiliary soldiers start preparing."
The staff agreed and immediately arranged messengers to deliver orders to each battalion. Chen Sangliang pointed to Yuan Tiangang again, and said, "Mr. Yuan, that thing should go to the battlefield tomorrow. Except for a few of us, no one else has seen those things. There is no need to hide and hide, load the gunpowder and shells in advance tomorrow, and place them in front of the formation openly, and then you will be responsible for measuring the shooting range and commanding the battle."
Yuan Tiangang agreed, and asked curiously: "Stay behind, where is our first target? The front of the bandit army? Or the bandit flag formation?"
"No!" Chen Sangliang shook his head and said with a smile: "We have a better choice for the first target. I will arrange for you at that time, and I will personally fight for you. If everything goes well, we will This decisive battle can be won very easily.”
The preparations for the first night of the decisive battle began. After receiving the order, the battalions of the Sui Army immediately started to check the weapons and equipment under the command of the generals at all levels of the Sui Army. The knives and guns that needed to be polished were polished, the arrowheads that needed to be supplemented, the armor and shields were repaired, and the shoes were inspected. Sockshoes, prepare dry food and water, and then most of the elite soldiers immediately go to the account to rest, and get enough physical strength to fight. Only a small number of elite soldiers are left to take turns to guard the camp, and the auxiliary soldiers continue to prepare meals, water tankers, and siege aircraft. Yuan Tiangang also personally led the firearms team directly under Chen Sangliang to inspect all kinds of gunpowder weapons, prepare ammunition and review the operation at the end.
During the busy preparations for the war, an accident happened. The rebel army actually sent another envoy to visit Chen Sangliang around the second watch. To be cautious, Chen Sangliang arranged for Fang Xuanling to meet him on his behalf. The result was not too long. Soon, Fang Xuanling returned to Chen Sangliang with a set of women's clothes, and said very confusedly: "My dear brother, the bandit army also sent you a set of women's clothes, but there is no letter. He didn't say anything, just said that this is a gift from Li Shimin to you, brother, you will understand after reading it, and then left."
"I understand it after reading it?" Chen Sangliang was a little confused, but after taking the woman's clothes and unfolding them, Chen Sangliang really understood everything immediately, because this is a dress worn by a girl, light yellow , and when Chen Sangliang and Yang Yuer met for the second time, Yang Yuer wore exactly the same dress. Seeing things and thinking about others, and thinking of his sweetheart Yang Yu'er who was still imprisoned in Daxing City, Chen Sangliang couldn't help feeling sad again, and his heart, which was already not calm enough, couldn't help but churn again.
"Brother, what happened?" Fang Xuanling saw that something was wrong, and asked cautiously, "What do you mean by this woman's clothes?"
"It's Li Er's scheming, the purpose is to disturb my mind and attack my psychology." Chen Sangliang replied with a wry smile, then shook his head and said: "This move is really powerful, my thoughts are really messed up, I don't know How did Li Er know about the relationship between me and that girl? I don’t know how much he knows, let alone what is going on with that girl now. What happened to Li Yuan’s old thief’s family? The next step is even harder to guess.”
Fang Xuanling remained silent, and didn't ask Chen Sangliang whether he was worried about being distracted by that girl, but just comforted him: "My dear brother, this is not a bad thing, Li Yuan and his son suddenly attacked your psychological weakness and disturbed your mind It indirectly proves that they want to fight tomorrow and do so in order to maximize the chances of victory, and the possibility of them breaking their promises and breaking the contract tomorrow is very small."
Chen Sangliang nodded, but he was still worried about the beautiful girl who had a four-year relationship with him, and his thoughts were greatly affected. In addition, he was worried about the next day's war, and worried about the rear of the Eastern Capital. It was night, Chen Sangliang stayed up all night...
He is afraid of beating wolves with hemp poles. In fact, Li Yuan, the commander of the rebel army, did not sleep well this night. Although he has arranged for the army to prepare for the decisive battle the next day, the powerful threat from Chen Sangliang and the Sui army in the Eastern Capital is still heavy like a huge rock. Pressure on Li Yuan's heart, several times almost made Li Yuan want to go back on his words and find an excuse to give up the decisive battle the next day, but thinking of all the new and old grudges with Chen Sangliang, and thinking that Chen Sangliang might be sick , it was a great opportunity to break through the main force of the Sui army in the eastern capital, but Li Yuan was extremely unwilling, and wanted to fight Chen Sangliang no matter what, to fight to the death and fight to the death.
Tossing and turning, Li Yuan fell asleep in a daze until after the fourth watch. After sleeping for more than an hour, he was awakened by the sound of drums at the second quarter of the hour. The beautiful maid came up and asked Li Yuan softly if he got up to wash. The bed was motionless, the maid said that Li Yuan still wanted to rest, but when he was about to step back, Li Yuan suddenly sat up, startled the maid and cried out, but Li Yuan's face with dark circles was calm, Instructed: "Serve the old man to wash up and prepare breakfast."
At the same time, at the camp of the Sui army outside the city, Chen Sangliang, who had not slept all night, also heard the drumming of the army, and lifted the quilt by himself. He turned his face to regain his sobriety, and then calmly ordered: "Prepare me green salt and breakfast, and feed my war horse."
At the beginning of the hour, the rebel army took the lead in blowing the promotion account, and the rebel army gathered in Wude Hall, waiting for Li Yuan's order. After Li Yuan came to the hall with dark circles, all the generals saluted neatly. , The old man dreamed about his ancestor Li Haogong last night. The ancestor told the old man that he must fight today, and he must win the battle. In one battle, he can defeat the tyrant's minion Chen Yingliang, regain Tongguan, restore Yongfeng warehouse, and then sweep Liuhe! Sweep all directions!"
"Sweep Liuhe, sweep all directions!" The rebel generals shouted in unison.
"Very good." Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction, and then said loudly: "Generals, the time has come to decide the fate of our army. It’s like nothing! It’s tolerable, what’s unbearable, now that our army has rested and is strong and strong, it’s time for a decisive battle to defeat the enemy, this old man decided to personally lead the army out of the city today, and fight to the death with that Chen Yingliang dog thief!”
"Our army will win! The volunteers will win!" The rebel generals shouted again in unison. There were also a few civil and military officials who were worried. They still kept their mouths shut, not daring to spoil Li Yuan's interest.
"Father, how can you use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken?" Li Er was very good at talking, and he went out and cupped his hands and said, "Father is a man of gold, how can he move lightly? Although my son is not talented, he is willing to lead the army in place of his father. Destroy the enemy, father just sit high in the city and wait for the good news of the baby!"
"No, this battle is very important, and I have to go out in person for my husband!" Li Yuan flatly refused, and then said loudly: "In this battle, I will lead 70,000 troops out of the city. Erlang, you will go out of the city with me to join the battle. You will stay in the city and Shaoer will guard the palace. City, Dou Cong, you lead an army of 10,000 out of the city from Yanping Gate, line up in formation, and beware of the Eastern Capital Army returning to the main battlefield!"
All the generals agreed, but only Chai Shao pleaded again after fulfilling his promise, cupping his hands and said: "Father-in-law, please allow my son-in-law to go out of the city with you. My son-in-law is willing to be the vanguard, and go to the front for my father-in-law, and avenge my old hatred!"
Glancing at his son-in-law, Li Yuan nodded and said, considering that this battle really requires brave generals who are not afraid of death, and said, "Your son-in-law has great ambitions, and you are allowed to fight with the army! Li Shentong, you will temporarily replace Shao'er as the guard." Miyagi, don't be careless!"
Chai Shao and Li Shentong agreed together, Chai Shao's expression was still very excited, then Li Yuan arranged for the generals and troops to join the battle, and brought most of his most powerful generals to the army, the brains Pei Ji, Dou Wei and Yin Kaishan He and others were also staff officers with the army, and the army was based on Li Yuan's direct lineage in Taiyuan as the core backbone, supplemented by the Guanzhong army that Chen Sangliang had never commanded before, and then the reorganized Sui army surrendered troops and newly recruited troops from various places. The number of elites only accounted for half of the total number, leaving enough troops to defend the inner and outer cities of Daxing.
It is worth mentioning that this time, Li Yuan handed over all the cavalry to his precious son Li Er, supplemented by Duan Zhixuan, who had performed well in the cavalry battle before, he had high hopes for Li Er, and he was determined to have a chance The idea of raiding Chen Sangliang's banner to capture the thief first and capture the king first. After arranging all these, Li Yuan issued a loud order, "At three o'clock in the morning, the army will leave the city from Tonghua, Chunming and Yanxing gates at the same time. The time is right, and they must join forces outside the Chunming gate. There must be no mistakes!"
In the Sui army camp at the same time, even though Chen Sangliang hadn't ordered the account number to be raised, the generals of the Sui army who knew that there would be a big battle today had already come to the Chinese army's tent to be ordered. It was Chen Sangliang who was leisurely acting as an official document. When the generals of the Sui Army asked Chen Sangliang when he would gather the troops to leave the camp, Chen Sangliang smiled and replied, "What's the rush? Wait until the bandit army makes moves."
Although the words were easy, Chen Sangliang's wrists trembled involuntarily when he signed the official document. This time, Chen Sangliang really didn't pretend.
Meteor scouts kept rushing to report, saying that they had noticed an unusual movement of the bandit army in the city. Chen Sangliang was still as stable as Mount Tai, and he had some leisure time to drink tea. He asked about the movement of Ma Sanbao's side division, and learned that Ma Sanbao's army After everything went well, Chen Sangliang nodded, but still refused to speak.
Not long after the three quarters of the hour, the news that the rebels left the city from the three east gates of Daxing at the same time was sent to Chen Sangliang by a fast horse. Only then did Chen Sangliang smile, put down his teacup and order to blow up the account number, and stayed outside the account all the time The waiting generals of the Sui Army immediately swarmed into the tent and lined up. Seeing that the generals of the Sui Army arrived quickly and orderly, Chen Sangliang smiled again, and then said calmly: "Bless the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, the old thief Li Yuan has finally escaped from the city by tricks." , This battle is related to the direction of the Guanzhong battlefield, whether our army can quickly take the outer city of Daxing, generals, today you must fight bravely, kill the enemy bravely, report the state's kindness to the king, and live up to the expectations of Li and the public."
"Be careful to stay behind the orders!" The generals of the Sui army answered more neatly.
"Very good." Chen Sangliang nodded in satisfaction, and then said casually: "Today, we will send 30,000 troops to fight against the bandits. Wei Zheng will lead the rear army to stay in the camp, and the rest of the generals will follow me to lead the battle."
The generals of the Sui army agreed loudly again, and Chen Sangliang arranged for second-line generals to assist Wei Zheng in guarding the battalion, and accompanied him to the various armies that went out to the decisive battle, taking away 80% of the elite soldiers in one go, and at the same time sent people to contact Li Jing and Qu Tuntong ordered them to continue to storm Xinfeng, and strive to break through the city within today, so as to free up their hands to reinforce the main battlefield of Daxing, and sent someone to Ma Sanbao, ordering him to lead the army to deploy defenses in Fengshui to prevent Li Yuan's rebels from fleeing westward. In the end, Chen Sangliang smiled and said: "Go and prepare. At the beginning of the time, we will go out of the camp and assemble, and we will have a decisive battle with the bandit army with our backs, and we will set up a moon formation."
On October 14th, the thirteenth year of Daye Daye in the Sui Dynasty, it was cloudy, at three o'clock in the morning, and in the bitter cold wind, the three gates of Chunming, Tonghua, and Yanxing on the east side of Daxing City, which had been closed for many days, were opened at the same time. Under Li Yuan's personal leadership, they went out of the city through three gates, and then gradually joined forces under the Chunming Gate. At the same time, the Yanping Gate to the west of Daxing was also opened. The westward Sui army slanted to Ma Sanbao's department. Hundreds of Chinese and military officials in the city went to Chunmingmen to see Li Yuan off, and voices of congratulations for Li Yuan's victory came and went one after another.
At this time, the 70,000 rebels successfully assembled and officially marched towards the Sui Army camp in the northeast direction. At the same time, the Sui Army also led out of the camp and assembled under the leadership of Chen Sangliang. Ru Lin, backed by the Guangtong Canal in the camp, quickly set up a crescent moon formation on the ground that had been frozen by the cold wind, and it was also the main offensive formation of the crescent moon facing the enemy. Both Cheng Yaojin's and Qin Qiong's cavalry were deployed on the right wing of the Sui army by Chen Sangliang, the number one ace reported to the national army as the cusp, and the left wing was handed over by Chen Sangliang to Liu Heitai, who performed exceptionally well in the Guanzhong battle.
The confident Sui army officers and soldiers were not afraid of setting up the main attack formation with few enemies. However, the Sui army officers and soldiers also discovered a strange thing, that is, in front of the central army formation of their own army, there were twelve soldiers lined up on the left and right. It is an extremely weird metal vehicle with an extremely strong iron frame and a thick bronze giant pipe on the body. The black hole of the pipe directly faces the rebel army coming from the southwest. When some soldiers of the Sui Army curiously asked about the function of these strange vehicles, the answer they got was always not to ask too much, and you will know soon.
At two o'clock, the 70,000 rebels arrived in front of the Sui army. Black heads and red and white military flags spread all over the mountains and plains, overwhelming the sky and the earth, far surpassing the Sui army in numbers. Seeing Chen Sangliang's crescent moon facing outward and the deployment of troops, Li Yuan laughed loudly, and immediately ordered his own army to deploy the same formation half a mile away, leading the main infantry to sit on the thick moon, and Chen Sangliang The army faced each other head-on, and Li Er led the cavalry to the right flank to avoid the Sui cavalry and Baoguo army on the left front. He also ordered Li Xiaogong, his beloved nephew Li Xiaogong, and his beloved general Wang Changxie to lead 20,000 infantry on the left flank.
Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing and others were puzzled by Li Yuan's arrangement for a while, and they all asked Li Yuan the reason, but Li Er saw his father's real plan at a glance, and said with a smile: "The little thief Chen Yingliang concentrated the cavalry on our left wing. Our army's cavalry is on the right wing, and we deployed a large number of infantry on the left wing. After the battle began, our army's left-wing infantry attacked first and entangled the officer cavalry. Isn't our right-wing cavalry freed up at any time? Initiate a raid?"
All the civil and military members of the rebel army suddenly realized that they all praised Li Yuan's clever calculations as a god, and that he was sure of winning the battle before the war started. Then several rebel generals pointed to the twelve strange metal cars in front of the Sui army and asked: "Da General, Commander-in-Chief, what is that? Why did Chen Yingliang put those strange cars in front of the formation?"
Naturally, Li Yuan and Li Er couldn't answer this question, and at one time suspected that it was a new weapon similar to the bed crossbow, but they didn't see the arrow shaft and arrowhead, let alone the bowstring thicker than an arm, but they immediately denied the answer. In order not to shake the morale of the army, Li Yuan said casually: "Chariots like the Saimen knife cart are used for charging and can break through the long shield formation, but as long as the soldiers pushing the cart behind are killed, this kind of chariot will be useless. , not difficult to deal with."
Regarding the secret support of the Longba clan, the information from the rebel army has always been accurate and reliable. After listening to Li Yuan's casual remarks, not to mention that the rebels believed it was true, even Li Er thought that his father had known about the various situations of this weapon. Take it to heart. At this time, the Yanyue formation that the rebels used to confront the Sui army had already been set up. When Li Yuan was considering whether to go out and answer a few words with Chen Sangliang, the Sui army's flag formation had already been opened, and the white horse and white robe were still pretending to be aggressive. Chen Sangliang led a group of soldiers from the Sui army out of the battle, stood in front of the battle, and asked people to raise white flags to the front of the rebel army and shouted, "Please come out and answer, Tang Guogong!"
When the envoy stepped forward to shout, Chen Sangliang also turned his face to Yuan Tiangang, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Yuan, do you know who our first target is now? It's up to you."
"Understood." Yuan Tiangang smiled and nodded, immediately got off his horse, galloped to the artillery formation and whispered.
"Answer before the battle?" Li Yuan, who heard the invitation from the Sui army envoy, smiled slightly in the rebel flag formation at this moment, and ordered to the left and right: "Go, I will meet this little thief when I go out. , it’s time to make a conclusion.”
"Father, please let the boy go out with you." Li Er volunteered, lightened the bow and arrow in his hand quietly, and said in a low voice: "If there is a chance, the boy will rush up and give him an arrow."
Li Yuan, who knew his precious son's archery skills, smiled slightly, nodded and said, "It's up to you."