The road to Lingtai Tongtingkou is not a post road, but an ordinary folk road. It is narrow and rugged, and it is located in the deep mountains. It is difficult for vehicles and horses to travel. It is useless except that it does not have to go around the huge mountainous area. Walking like this in the snowy winter The road can be called suffering directly.
Suffering and suffering, after receiving Chen Sangliang's order to join forces in the east, Li Jing immediately led more than 23,000 Sui army divisions on the journey, embarked on this difficult road, and walked through the cold wind that cut faces like knives In the snow-capped mountains, people wrap their horses' hooves in felt, and advance towards the entrance of the pavilion in three steps and one slip. Even if Li Jing's army is already the most elite division under Chen Sangliang, in such a harsh climate and bad roads, they can barely march for more than forty miles a day, and it will take at least three days to reach the destination pavilion mouth.
The terrain of the road is too narrow, with high mountains and dense forests on both sides, and Tibetan troops can be ambushed everywhere. Walking on such a dangerous road, even Li Jing, the God of War, had to be more careful, and was forced to send a large number of scouts on foot and cavalry. The purpose of detecting the enemy's situation ahead and possible ambushes on both sides of the road is to prevent the Guanzhong Sui Army, which has been gradually experienced in actual combat, from overturning in the ditch of the difficult mountain road.
Fortunately, this mountain road is difficult for Li Jing's army, which is mainly composed of infantry, and it is even more painful for Xue Ju's army, which is mainly composed of cavalry. Therefore, during the first two days of marching, Li Jing's army did not encounter any enemy soldiers. ambush. However, on the second night, when Li Jingjun set up camp to rest on the mountain road only forty miles away from Tingkou, and when the soldiers of the Sui Army rejoiced that they could go to Tingkou to have a good rest after another day, there was a lot of trouble ahead. Suddenly there was an urgent report, saying that the enemy had been discovered more than 20 miles ahead, and an unknown number of Xue Ju's troops had set up camp, blocking Li Jing's eastward route, and had built a large number of fortifications, making it extremely difficult to break through.
Although he was mentally prepared for this, Li Jing still frowned after hearing the news, knowing that what he was most worried about had finally happened. Xue Ju really didn't want him to join forces with the main force, but Li Jing was not in a hurry , but called Liu Heita’s younger brother Liu Shishan, and asked him to send some elite infantry who are familiar with mountain warfare to go forward and try to grab a few tongues to get a confession.
Liu Shishan, whose elder brother was the king of scouts at the end of the Sui Dynasty, was of course very good at fighting scouts. Just after dawn, the genius sent two scouts from Xue Jujun who were trying to approach the Sui army camp for reconnaissance and sent them to Li Jing. Li Jing interrogated himself and learned that, It turned out that Xue Renguo, an old opponent of Li Jing's army, was stationed in front to fortify and block the road. He had about 15,000 troops. At the same time, he also asked about the approximate location of Xue Ju's army and the current situation of the main force of the Sui army. Taking a closer look at the map, he suddenly frowned again.
The reason why Li Jing frowned was the terrain. The location where Xue Renguo was stationed, as long as he crossed a low mountain ridge, it would lead directly to the open plain of Xue Jujun's main camp. However, they have to go through a narrow mountain road about seven or eight miles away. It is impossible to deploy troops and it is difficult to break through the Xue Renguo camp that has already built a large number of fortifications; Li Jing's side is even worse. The narrower and more winding mountain roads for more than ten miles made it more difficult to deploy troops and quickly break through Xue Renguo's position. Once Xue Jujun dispatched the main force to reinforce Xue Renguo, it would be even more difficult for Li Jing to break through with more than 20,000 troops in his hands. .
Thinking about how to break through the enemy's position and join forces with his devastated nephew, Li Jing suddenly felt moved, and said to himself: "My nephew, why didn't you consider luring the enemy to go deep, let our army act as a bait, and lead the enemy's heavy troops to the west by feigning defeat?" In the depths of the mountain path, if he takes the opportunity to dispatch the main force to join forces with me to pinch the bandit army, even if he cannot destroy the main force of the bandit army, he can at least injure the enemy severely? With his ability, it is impossible not to see this point?"
Puzzled and then calculated carefully, Li Jing quickly laughed dumbfounded again, secretly said: "It must be because I am afraid that my water will be cut off. The mountain road lacks water. Our army can only rely on melting snow to get water. Once the bandits surround our army, it will take a few days for us The army would be in danger of running out of water, so he didn't want to take such a risk. Little guy, this careful habit of thinking about how to be undefeated before thinking about victory, really can't be changed."
At this time, generals such as Ma Sanbao, Qiu Xinggong, Yu Le, and He Panren all came to the big tent of the Chinese army to listen to the order and asked Li Jing if he would continue to march. Li Jing first introduced the situation of the enemy ahead to his generals before telling them Said: "The terrain ahead is very unfavorable to us. To be honest, we are not very sure of a frontal breakthrough. Even if we can succeed, we must pay a high price. How to break through the resistance of the bandits and join the main force? I wonder if you have any advice?"
Generals such as Ma Sanbao and Qiu Xinggong under Li Jing's command have already experienced in actual combat the ability to be able to stand on their own. After discussing in a low voice for a while, Ma Sanbao came forward and said: "Commander, the last general thinks it is best to fight with the main force first. Get in touch, let the main force of our army know that our army is approaching the battlefield, and send troops to meet us, and then we will launch an attack, and join hands with the main force to pinch the enemy back and forth, and we will have a good chance of breaking through the interception of the bandit army."
"Xue Renguo must have blocked all roads and prevent our messengers from moving eastward to communicate with the main force." Qiu Xinggong added: "But it doesn't matter, we can send people to the high ground ahead and light a beacon on the top of the mountain to send a signal. The main force of our army Seeing the wolf smoke, we naturally understand that we have come, and when we send troops to attack again, the main force will definitely send troops to support us."
"I have also considered this method, and it is hopeful to succeed, but..." Li Jing said in a deep voice, "But the problem is that our main force will send troops to support us, and Xue Ju will definitely send the main force to reinforce Xue Renguo. The road conditions are better, and it will be more convenient to reinforce Xue Renguo. At that time, Xue Ju's army will have camps and fortifications to defend. In order to break through their interception, we and our main force can only launch a strong attack on unfavorable terrain where it is difficult to deploy our troops. Too much loss, casualties and losses must be greater than Xue thief's army."
Ma Sanbao, Qiu Xinggong and others will scratch their heads, knowing that this is a problem, but they don't know how to solve this problem, and they are helpless together. Li Jing thought about it again, and said: "How to break through the interception of the bandit army, you can take your time, first let the main force know that we are approaching the battlefield. Just follow what you said, send some people ahead to the top of the mountain to send a signal. Not today. Go forward, Ma Sanbao, Liu Shishan, you will be in charge of staying in the camp for a while, Xinggong, you take some people to follow me to explore the road ahead, I will personally survey the terrain and see if there is any way to do something on the terrain road."
The generals agreed and took their orders. Li Jing and Qiu Xinggong led hundreds of elite infantry out of the camp, and went all the way east to explore the terrain. High in the north and low in the south, there is no road at all in the south, infantry may be barely passable in the mountains and forests in the north, but it is absolutely impossible to pass through the heavy vehicles, and all the dangerous passes have been preemptively occupied by Xue Renguo's army. Not to mention the time-consuming and labor-intensive breakthrough, Xue Renguo's army reinforces Beishan is also quite convenient. At the same time, Xue Renguo's army had already firmly occupied the low mountain ridge leading to Randian, and it was difficult for the soldiers of the Sui army to cut off the reinforcement road for the main force of Xue Ju's army. Basically, it can be said that there is no opportunity for opportunism to break through.
The exploration of the terrain was not in vain. At least fifteen miles away from the Xue Renguo military camp, Li Jing found a rare open land in the mountains. The open land was about six miles wide from east to west and four miles long from north to south. There is an enemy in the south, if it is not for a fatal weakness, the Sui army's partial division stationed here and Xue Ju's long-term confrontation will have no problem. After exploring the open land again and again, Li Jing had an idea in his mind, and said to Qiu Xinggong next to him, "Immediately send someone back to the camp to send an order to move our camp here, set up a camp against the high mountain in the north, and build a fence and earth barrier. For the long run."
Qiu Xinggong first sang promises reflexively, and then immediately came back to his senses and exclaimed: "Marshal, are you kidding? The terrain here is awkward, easy to enter and difficult to exit. Although it is conducive to defense, the bandit army If we wait outside our camp and surround us with deep ditches and high fortifications, it will be very difficult for us to fight out. Also, there is no water source in this place, not only is it inconvenient to get water, once we are surrounded, we will not be able to hold on for a few days."
"Why is it inconvenient to fetch water?" Li Yuan picked up a handful of snow-white snow from the ground, and said with a smile, "Isn't this just water? There are very few water sources on our way to the east, and most of the water is obtained from melting snow. Isn’t it the same to be stationed here? Besides, our main force is confronting the main force of the bandit army, how can the main force of the bandit army be free to surround us?”
Considering that the camp where he was stationed last night also had no water, and that it would be more convenient to send troops here, Qiu Xinggong didn't say anything more, and immediately sent someone to notify the army to transfer the camp. Ma Sanbao, Liu Shishan and others led the army to transfer to Therefore, according to Li Jing's order, relying on the high mountains in the north, a crescent-shaped camp focusing on defense was established. During this period, the soldiers of the partial division of the Sui Army also successfully climbed the Nanmian Peak, and lit the beacon to send a signal to the main camp of the self-army.
At the same time, of course, Xue Renguo was also closely watching every move of his old opponent Li Jingjun. After discovering that Li Jingjun had moved the camp, Xue Renguo also went out to investigate the situation of the Sui army camp in person, and found that the Sui army had nowhere to go. After Gaoshan set up camp in the open field, Xue Renguo, who hated Li Jing so much that his mouth hurt, almost smiled crookedly. He quickly drew the camp of the Sui Army's partial division into a picture book, sent a fast horse to the main camp of Randian, and suggested that his father dispatch the main force to The Sui army's partial division launched an attack and completely encircled the Sui army's partial division camp. When the snow in Li Jing's camp was exhausted, breaking the Sui army's partial division was as easy as pie!
Xue Renguo's suggestion is quite reasonable and has great hope of success. Basically, as long as Xue Jujun can contain the main force of the Sui army and prevent Chen Sangliang from being able to respond to Li Jing effectively, Xue Jujun is very hopeful that he can defeat the Sui army's partial division first. However, although Xue Ju was very moved, he still did not immediately adopt the tactics proposed by his precious son. Instead, he listened to the advice of his beloved think tank, Hao Yuan, and decided to continue to wait and see the changes until the main force and side divisions of the Sui army made the next move, and then Then decide whether to concentrate on killing the partial division of the Sui army first.
By the way, there is another very important reason why Xue Ju listened to Hao Yuan's advice, that is, Xue Ju wanted to test the true strength of the main force of the Sui army and see how the legendary little Chen Qingzhi and Chen Sangliang would fare on the battlefield. How much skill do you have? Prepare to understand the combat effectiveness and strength of the Sui Army's main force first, and then consider whether to concentrate on breaking through the Sui Army's partial divisions first.
Xue Ju and Hao Yuan soon found out that they had no chance. The reason was that they sent a detailed report to inquire about the main force of the Sui Army, saying that it was rumored in the main camp of the Sui Army that Chen Sangliang seemed to have fallen ill due to overwork. The soldiers of the Sui Army were looking for good doctors to treat Chen Sangliang. Xue Ju and Hao Yuan couldn't believe such good luck, and hurriedly asked Xizuo from the army if the news was reliable, Xizuo replied truthfully: "Your Majesty, the villain can't be sure, but it should be true. The villain pretends to be true." As local people, they were inquiring about the bandits near the camp of the bandits. A captain of the bandit army named Zhao Peng led some bandits to stop the villain, and asked the villain if there was a good doctor nearby. He accidentally mentioned the bandit Chen Yingliang. Shuai has already fallen ill."
"That's right." Na Xizuo added: "I heard from the soldiers of the bandit army that Chen Yingliang, the bandit general, has always been in poor health because he suffered a lot when he was young. Been sick."
"Your Majesty, I have also heard about this matter." Hao Yuan said: "Chen Yingliang's family was in trouble when he was young, and his life was very hard when he was a teenager. The root cause of his illness has fallen, and his health has never been very good. He fell ill suddenly because of a heavy rain, which delayed a lot of troops. After the Yanmen War, he was exhausted and passed out in front of Yang Guang."
Nothing is more convincing than the facts. After nodding in satisfaction, Xue Ju stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Okay! But don't be careless. The little thief Chen Yingliang is notoriously treacherous. We have to guard against him and let the scouts pay attention Inquire about this matter, ignore him for the time being, and continue to wait and see what happens."
Xue Ju's safe tactics made Li Jing quite uncomfortable. After moving the camp, he waited for a day and saw no movement from Xue Ju's army. At the same time, the main force of the Sui army hadn't contacted Li Jing. Forced to desperation, Li Jing could only decide to initiate an attack. A tentative attack, trying to break through the blockade of Xue Renguo's army by force, and also scouting the attitude of the cousin's nephew by the way.
Although it was only a tentative attack, Li Jing invested the elite forces in the army to launch the attack. He mobilized tens of thousands of infantry in one go, and slowly advanced with Liu Shishan as the vanguard, trying to attack Xue Renguo's camp defense, and also waited for the reaction of the main force. It's a pity that the roads are narrow and the troops cannot be deployed, and the Sui army's troops that can launch a frontal attack are quite limited.
As soon as he received the news of Li Jing's dispatch of troops, Xue Ju immediately prepared the main force for the battle, and at the same time sent a large number of scouts to closely monitor the movement of the Sui army's main camp. What made Xue Ju and Hao Yuan quite happy was that Chen Sangliang, who was already ill, had basically sent an infantry team of about 6,000 people to the Xue Renguo camp for reinforcements in order to meet the partial division led by his cousin. The scouts were still condescending and saw clearly that the infantry of the Sui army also carried four legendary artillery pieces into battle, and they really moved to attack Xue Renguo's camp.
After receiving the report that the main force of the Sui army used artillery, Xue Ju did not dare to be negligent, and immediately dispatched reinforcements to the crucial unnamed low mountain ridge. He was sent out and asked him to be an eye for himself, to go to the scene to understand the specific power of the Sui army's artillery, and to prepare for the next main decisive battle.
When Hao Yuan arrived at the unnamed mountain ridge with cavalry reinforcements, Xue Renguo's army had already joined forces with the Sui army's partial division at the west end of the camp. It was difficult to move an inch in front of the fence and earth barrier, and they were constantly shot down by Xue Jujun's bows and arrows. At the same time, a group of Sui army infantry tried to attack the unnamed mountain ridge to grab the high ground, but they were easily repelled by the Xue Jujun soldiers who had fortifications to protect them. It was also impossible to break through Xue Jujun's interception, and the rear army was also restricted by the narrow terrain. It was very difficult to even rotate the attacking army, let alone step forward to help the battle. The fight was very difficult and painful.
There is no need to worry about the western front. Hao Yuan focused his attention on the eastern front. At this moment, the main infantry sent by Chen Sangliang to meet his cousin had already arrived on the eastern front, and they set up their cannons without hesitation to bombard them. Xue Jujun's position was shaken by the roar of cannons, and the infantry of Xue Jujun who were hiding behind the fortifications were also in a panic-but fortunately, the panic of Xue Jujun's soldiers was basically frightened by the loud noise of the artillery, and they were really shocked by the stones. There were not many soldiers killed and injured by Iron Horn.
Not to mention, Li Jing was really taken aback when he heard the roar of the artillery. He also said that his nephew was determined to meet him to break through the interception of Xue Renguo's army, so he dispatched the gunpowder cannon, the magic weapon of the Sui army in Guanzhong. For this reason, Li Jing was also forced to change the tentative attack into a strong attack, requiring the soldiers to attack with all their strength to put pressure on the enemy, which increased a lot of unnecessary casualties.
At the same time, under the cover of artillery and bows, the main infantry of the Sui army began to attack the eastern section of Xue Renguo's camp. They charged forward with a firm attitude, and their skilled tactics put a lot of pressure on Xue Jujun. On the mountainside of the unnamed mountain ridge, until it was covered by Xue Jujun's bows and arrows, and because the rear army could not keep up, he fled down the mountain in embarrassment.
As the artillery of the Sui army continued to roar, Hao Yuan finally saw some clues. Just like in the legend, Chen Sangliang's magic weapon, the gunpowder weapon, was really effective in creating chaos for the enemy, just because of the thunderous noise. It can make the soldiers of Xue Jujun tremble with fear, but the actual lethality is quite limited. The interval between each shot is quite long, and the number of soldiers of Xue Jujun who were actually killed by the artillery is not many. In addition, Hao Yuan, who is as careful as a hair, also specially asked someone to bring some self-armed soldiers who were wounded by the artillery of the Sui army, and found that the wounds on their bodies were different in depth, the deep ones could be fatal, and the shallow ones were only scratches. Injuries can be healed easily.
After Hao Yuan knew the power of the Sui army's artillery, Xue Renguo's army also entered into a stalemate with the two Sui troops. It is difficult to pose a fatal threat to Xue Ju's defense line, so they can only attack in batches in turn. Xue Renguo's army is the same. The too narrow terrain also limits the strength of Xue Ju's counterattack, and it is impossible to launch a strong counterattack during the Sui army's rotation. The Sui army's confrontation was exhausting. On the surface, the fight was extremely fierce, but in fact it was extremely boring. —Fortunately, Xue Jujun, who was always protected by fortifications, took advantage of this kind of attack, and the casualties were always much smaller than that of the Sui army.
At this time, Li Jing finally realized that something was wrong, and thought to himself: "Isn't it? If my nephew is determined to help me break through the bandit army's defensive position, and then engages in artillery combat, the offensive must be like a thunderbolt. Has it worked? Now that the artillery has been fired for more than an hour, why is there no chaos on the eastern front of the bandit army? Isn't this the wicked style of my precious nephew?"
Thinking in his mind, Li Jing gradually came to his senses, and immediately reserved room for dispatching troops, gradually reserved elite soldiers, pretended to be exhausted, gradually weakened the offensive, and quietly began to conserve strength. At the same time, the main force of the Sui army gradually showed signs of unsustainable strength. It also showed flaws during the rotation of the army, which gave Xue Jujun a chance to counterattack. Xue Renguo immediately sent troops to launch a counterattack, killing the Sui army on the eastern front by surprise. , can only give priority to protecting the precious artillery, and at the same time rise up to resist. It took a considerable price to finally kill Xue Renguo's counterattack, and then the Sui army on the eastern front, which was exhausted, could no longer launch a strong attack. The gong withdrew in a hurry.
After the defeat of the Sui Army on the Eastern Front, Xue Renguo's barracks cheered loudly and their morale was greatly boosted. Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Jing immediately ordered the retreat, and deliberately exposed some flaws to give Xue Renguo's army a chance to counterattack. , defeated the Sui army's chaotic army at the back of the palace, and made a lot of gains. They chased them all the way to the gate of the Sui army's camp, and then they were shot back by the Sui army's side division with random arrows.
Finally, he won a battle against his old opponent Li Jing. Naturally, Xue Renguo shouted and insulted outside the Sui Army's side division camp arrogantly, clamoring to fight Li Jing for 300 rounds. A large part of Li Jing ignored him, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, and secretly said: "Understood, I really thought of something with me. It's rare, I never thought that my careful nephew would dare to take risks one day."
At this time, Hao Yuan also brought some people to the camp of the Sui Army's partial division to survey the terrain himself. After carefully observing the terrain and roads, Hao Yuan made up his mind and said secretly: "The prince's suggestion is feasible, Your Majesty has great hopes. Annihilate all Chen bandit divisions!"