He had already put on the clothes of an ordinary soldier, his helmet had been lost for a long time, and even the hairpin was gone. His hair was scattered on his shoulders and back, and it was mixed with sweat and cement into piles. It was covered with mud and dust, and the sweat flowed down the face, drawing straight or crooked white marks, and it became a mess immediately after wiping it off. The whole body, from head to toe, was so embarrassed that even acquaintances would not recognize Li Er face to face.
This is the third time that Li Er has been so embarrassed in front of the Sui army. The first time was in the Lishan battle in Guanzhong, the second time was in the Huoyi battle, and the third time is now! Li Er, who was ordered to lead the army behind the palace, covered the retreat of the main force of the Taiyuan army. As a result, relying on the cover of Li Shentong's digging of embankments to release water, Li Er easily fled for more than a hundred miles, but before he had time to retreat to Qixian City, Cheng Yaojin The Sui Army cavalry led by Qin Qiong had already caught up and had a fierce battle with Li Er on the bank of Lize Lake. On Li Er's tail.
Li Er wondered whether he had Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong ever had the hatred of killing his father or taking his wife. The main force of the Taiyuan Army, mainly infantry, was actually more than ten miles ahead, and the cavalry of the Sui Army could chase after them with a little effort. The main force of the Taiyuan Army led by Li Jiancheng, but Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. They let the Taiyuan Army's brigade not pursue them, and let Li Jiancheng lead the army away calmly. The rear army with less than 4,000 people under the second command also divided the army into two, taking turns to pursue and fight and take turns to rest.
When Li Er led the army to fight in formation, the Sui army cavalry retreated and refused to confront Li Er head-on, but as soon as Li Er army started marching, the Sui army cavalry would catch up immediately. The random arrows shot so that Li Erjun was forced to fight in formation. He resolutely bit Li Erjun's tail and refused to give Li Erjun a chance to escape. Then, another cavalry of the Sui Army who had been resting before would use their strong mobility to detour to the front of Li Erjun, stop Li Erjun from retreating in the right way, and then charge and attack the melee if they have the opportunity, and continue to drag Li Erjun with random arrows if there is no chance. Consuming the physical strength and strength of Li Erjun's army has also continuously weakened the morale and fighting spirit of Li Erjun's army.
Although Li Er is good at fighting, his body is not made of iron, and the Taiyuan soldiers under his command are not made of iron. Under such high-intensity physical exertion, he lasted for less than a day, and Li Er's army was exhausted from top to bottom. Nearly collapsed, more than half of the soldiers were separated and fled, and the reserves of feathers and arrows were also consumed. It was no longer possible to shoot away the charging Sui cavalry with strong bows and crossbows. Although the exhaustion of physical strength and bow and arrow consumption of the Sui Army cavalry is also very serious, it is better anyway. Therefore, when the Sui Army cavalry seized the opportunity to block the fighters and chase them together, Li Erjun could no longer hold on. , was completely defeated by the Sui cavalry's charge, and was forced to flee from top to bottom, never daring to regroup.
Li Er is also considered smart. When he originally retreated to the side of Qi County, Zhu Can, Wang Huaiwen and other subordinates suggested that Li Er enter the city to avoid pursuing soldiers, but Li Er was not confused. Surrounded by the brigade, there was no chance of leaving the small town of Qi County, and they insisted on leading the army to continue fleeing north. When he realized that the army could no longer hold on, Li Er quickly changed into a soldier's clothes so that the soldiers of the Sui Army could not distinguish his identity. Finally, when Li Er's army was about to collapse completely, Li Er ordered the flag bearer to separate from him under his banner And escaped, successfully defrauded the attention of most of the Sui cavalry, and dismounted and walked on foot without being able to attract attention, which was lucky not to be bitten by the Sui cavalry immediately after the collapse.
But soon, Li Er finally understood why Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong seemed to have hatred for killing his father and taking his wife with him. The defeated soldiers kept shouting the slogan of "His Royal Highness Tang ordered to win Li Er's head and reward him with a thousand pieces of gold", and kept shouting slogans about handing over Li Er's gold hundred and taels of official seals, encouraging Li Erjun's defeated soldiers to rebel. Shui captured or identified Li Er, so that Li Er couldn't help but began to wonder whether it was Chen Sangliang who robbed his sweetheart, or did he rob Chen Sangliang's sweetheart
To make matters worse, Li Er, who is as careful as a hair, found that the only five or six followers around him have gradually become unreliable. Quietly, he began to have malicious intentions, as if he might respond to the call of the Sui army's pursuers at any time, and took off Li Er's head and presented it in front of Chen Sangliang to atone for his crime. Li Er was so frightened that he had to whisper to Wang Huaiwen, the only captain with firm eyes, to keep his back-to-back position with him, and beware of sneak attacks from his followers at any time.
Fortunately, Li Er's luck on the battlefield has always been quite good. The cavalry of the Sui army scattered and chased them by accident, and they never came within 30 steps of Li Er. The flashing eyes of Zhu Can forced him to do something, and when the sky darkened, Li Er, Zhu Can and other five or six people were finally safe, and they were able to escape into the woods under the cover of night, and then took a small path to Taiyuan.
By the time Li Er and others fled back to the city of Taiyuan on foot, it was already the seventh day of June in the third year of Yining. The army cavalry stopped their pursuit when they were fifty miles away from Taiyuan. Li Er, who was so embarrassed that his shoes had holes in them, was able to enter the city smoothly, and saw his elder brother Li Jiancheng and fourth brother Li Yuanji and others. And when it was time to meet, Li Er could clearly see that there seemed to be a hint of disappointment in his brother's eyes, as if he really hoped that Li Er would die tragically in the fleeing battle.
It's useless to be disappointed. In any case, the main force of the Taiyuan Army was able to withdraw to Taiyuan City, its old nest, with a slight loss, mainly because Li Er successfully contained the Sui Army's pursuers, so Li Jiancheng had no choice but to It is to order the servants to bring wine and food to reward Li Er. However, just as Li Er was gobbling it up, suddenly a soldier of Li Jiancheng hurried into the hall, and presented Li Jiancheng with a pond report with chicken feathers on it: "Report to Governor Zuo, Xinkou urgently reports that Liu Wu Zhou's army has arrived Xinkou has about 36,000 troops, Liu Wuzhou came in person, and the vanguard is his brother-in-law Song Jingang."
With a bang, upon hearing the bad news, no matter how deep Li Er's palace was, he couldn't help being charged with his job, and asked with a pale face, "Brother, did Liu Wuzhou come to take advantage of the fire?"
"Who said Liu Wuzhou came to take advantage of the fire?" Li Jiancheng rolled his eyes at his second brother, and said, "Liu Wuzhou is here to help us, and he wants to join us in resisting Chen Yingliang's attack."
"Liu Wuzhou came to help us?" Li Er was taken aback again, and exclaimed, "We formed an alliance with Liu Wuzhou? Why didn't I know about it?"
"When Duan Lun accidentally lost Lingshi City, I had already sent Wang Gui northward to Mayi and concluded an alliance with Liu Wuzhou. After finding out that Lengquanguan was likely to persist for a long time, I sent a fast horse to beg Liu Wuzhou to send troops immediately, Everything succeeded." Li Jiancheng explained calmly, and then said: "Also, Liu Wuzhou and you are already relatives. My father is not alive, so my elder brother made the decision for you, and made an appointment for you and Liu Wuzhou's youngest sister. Dear, we married our sixth younger sister to Liu Wuzhou's cousin, so we will get closer."
Li Er's mouth almost fell to the ground, and he was so surprised that he couldn't believe his ears. Li Jiancheng misunderstood what the second brother meant, and said again: "Second brother, don't blame me, in order to join hands with Liu Wuzhou to fight against the powerful enemy, for brother You have to be forced to follow the authority. But you are not young anymore, and it's time to get married, Liu Wuzhou's younger sister, Liu Xiaomou, is sixteen years old, and I heard from Shu Jie that she looks pretty good, and she is worthy of you."
"No, no, no." Li Er hurriedly waved his hand and said with a happy smile: "Brother misunderstood, you have arranged such a good marriage for the younger brother, and the younger brother is too happy, how can you blame you? Thank you, brother, thank you, brother. My little brother is very satisfied with this marriage, I wish for it! Really wish for it!"
When he said this, Li Er's face, which hadn't washed off the mud and sweat, was full of smiles, and it was rare that he smiled so sincerely and easily, it was definitely from the heart. Li Jiancheng, who knew the virtues of his second brother, sighed inwardly, and cursed inwardly: "Liu Wu and Mr. Zhou are indeed an old fox. I refused to agree to marry my fifth brother Li Zhiyun, but wanted to marry my younger sister to my ambitious second brother. Make it clear." I just want to split my interior and find an opportunity to eat our army!"
It's useless to sigh secretly. At this point, Li Jiancheng knew that getting his second brother married to Liu Wuzhou was a cup of poisoned wine and he had to drink it bravely, so Li Jiancheng nodded and said: "It's good if you are satisfied. After you beat Chen Yingliang back, you will formally drink it." Marriage, and, I will never break my promise, I will give you five thousand troops after a few days of rest."
"Thank you, brother, thank you, brother." Li Er hurriedly bowed his hands to Li Jiancheng to thank him, and then asked, "Brother, Liu Wuzhou agreed to form an alliance with our army and send troops to help us defend against Chen's army. Is there any additional conditions?"
"Of course there are additional conditions." Li Jiancheng sighed and said quietly: "Yanmen County, plus ten thousand collar armor, thirty thousand stones and ten thousand pieces of cloth, plus the supply of food and grass for Liu Wu Zhou's army to fight in Taiyuan. Fortunately, Chen Yingliang refused Liu Wuzhou asked for the land in Yanmen County, otherwise, Liu Wuzhou might have stood by Chen Yingliang and helped Chen Yingliang attack us."
"Brother, don't be sad. It's definitely worth sacrificing a Yanmen County in exchange for an alliance with Liu Wuzhou." Li Er comforted: "Not to mention that we can get Liu Wuzhou's direct help to save our urgent needs. After defeating Chen Yingliang's bandit army in the future , we can also reopen the Yanma Road, obtain horses, cattle and sheep from the Mobei grassland, and form more cavalry troops."
"You don't need to comfort me. I know it's drinking poison to quench your thirst, but now I really can't think of a better way than drinking poison to quench your thirst." Li Jiancheng shook his head and sighed. But he had no choice but to save the immediate emergency first.
Li Jiancheng shook his head and sighed, but Li Er's heart was filled with joy—Of course Li Er also knew that Liu Wuzhou's alliance with the self-army had bad intentions, but it didn't matter. After Liu Wuzhou's strong support, he will definitely be able to step on his damned brother, continue the military position left by Li Yuan, and reproduce Li's glory! After secretly rejoicing, Li Er hurriedly asked again: "Brother, what about Luo Yi and Dou Jiande? Did they agree to send troops to help us?"
"No news yet." Li Jiancheng replied smoothly: "Dou Jiande should have no problem. He has always disliked Chen Yingliang's stealing of the imperial power. It is far more convenient for him to send troops from Jingxing Pass than from Shangdang, even if he will not personally lead the main force, he will at least send another support army to share the pressure with us."
"As for Luo Yi..." Li Jiancheng frowned, and said, "I'm most worried about him now. Although he declined Chen Yingliang's envoy before, he treated Chen Yingliang's envoy with respect and kindness, and left enough for him. Lu, if he sided with Chen Yingliang at this critical moment, not only would he threaten our rear, but he might also bite Dou Jiande, preventing Dou Jiande from helping us."
"Brother, I have a plan, maybe I can persuade Luo Yi to form an alliance with our army." Li Er said with a smile: "I heard that Luo Yi and his wife, the Meng family, are deeply in love with each other, and they still have some internal fears. Yibao bought his wife, made Meng Shi tell Luo Yi the truth of death, and Luo Yi also sent troops to fight against the Chen bandits with our army?"
"The Meng family loves jewels." Li Jiancheng said casually, "I gave her three sets of jewels from the collection of Jinyang Palace, but I don't know if she is satisfied."
Li Er laughed out loud, and rarely praised his elder brother from the bottom of his heart. Then he asked about the situation of the main force of the Sui army. Jiexiu ensured that the food roads were unimpeded, and at the same time divided his troops to attack Xicheng, the prefecture of Xihe County. Li Er was completely relieved and laughed at Chen Sangliang who was only cautious in using troops in his life, so he picked up his job and started eating again.
Liu Wuzhou, who was determined to help the Taiyuan army, came very quickly. The second day after Li Er returned to Taiyuan, it was only the ninth day of June. They were stationed in the northeastern suburbs of Taiyuan, and the next day, Liu Wuzhou, who had already called himself Emperor Dingyang, also led the main force of Dingyang to Taiyuan in person. Li Jiancheng didn't dare to be negligent upon hearing the news, so he hurriedly led Li Er and the Taiyuan Army civil and military troops out of the city for twenty miles to meet them. Li Yuanji was worried that Liu Wuzhou's intentions were not good enough and refused to leave the city. At the same time, he brought some elite fighters with him just in case.
Li Jiancheng obviously misunderstood Liu Wuzhou. After the two armies greeted each other, the flags moved away. Liu Wuzhou, who had met the Li family brothers on the battlefield a few times, was led by some civil and military officials to take the lead. , Dismounted in front of the army and walked forward, expressing that there was no malice. Li Jiancheng and Li Er breathed a sigh of relief when they saw each other, and hurriedly got off their horses together, strode forward to meet Liu Wuzhou and the others, and clasped their fists together to salute from a distance, shouting loudly: "Chengji Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin have met Emperor Dingyang!" His Majesty!"
"You two virtuous brothers don't need to be too polite." Liu Wuzhou, who is now in his thirties, is obviously also an acting school. He laughed heartily and cupped his fists in return, then grabbed Li Er's hands, patted Li Er's shoulder and laughed heartily. , and said: "Erlang, we finally met again! Last time I was upstairs, I was almost shot to death by your arrow. At that time, I gritted my teeth and vowed to seek revenge from you. I really didn't expect that we would meet again this time. They are going to be relatives soon!"
"Your Majesty forgive me, my younger brother really offended His Majesty at that time."
Li Er hurriedly apologized, but Liu Wuzhou interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said with a big laugh: "You don't need to be so polite to your majesty, you will soon become my brother-in-law, call me brother!"
Li Er hurriedly and modestly said he dared not. Unexpectedly, a clear and clear female voice suddenly came from behind Liu Wuzhou and the others, saying fiercely: "Your Majesty! Brother, I am not the fourth sister who is at your mercy. You have to be satisfied after reading it yourself, if you agree to kiss me, it doesn't count if I don't nod!"
As Li Jiancheng and the Taiyuan Army's civil and military officials looked up in surprise, Li Er's eyes suddenly lit up again. It turned out that a girl in a hunting suit came out from behind Liu Wuzhou and the others. She was fifteen or sixteen years old with a graceful figure and big eyes. He has a small mouth, handsome face, and a very touching appearance, with a horse bow and arrow pot on his waist, which makes him look very sassy, but the expression on his pretty little face is very savage, and he hums and asks: "Who is Li Erlang? Come out and let me see!"
The scene became a little embarrassing. Li Er, who guessed that this beautiful girl must be with Liu Wuzhou's younger sister Liu Xiaomou, was secretly happy, but he was too embarrassed to speak up. Liu Wuzhou was also a little embarrassed, and first whispered that his sister was pestering him to come with her Taiyuan, and then pulled Li Er in front of his sister, and said with a smile: "Xiao Mou, do you see that? He is the husband I chose for you, brother. How is it? Are you satisfied?"
Li Er, who is far superior to Chen Sangliang in appearance, is of course absolutely confident in his appearance, and also said that Liu Wuzhou's sister must be secretly very satisfied after seeing his appearance, who knows that Liu Xiaomou sized up Li Er one by one Finally, he pouted and said, "Embroidered pillow! Who knows if you have the ability? Can you ride and shoot? Can you use soldiers on the battlefield?"
Li Eryi almost didn't laugh out loud when he heard that, just as he was about to say that these two items happened to be my favorites, unexpectedly a fast horse came running from the south, and immediately the Taiyuan army knight held up a pond newspaper with chicken feathers stuck on it. Shouting that it is urgent, Li Jiancheng didn't dare to be negligent when he saw it, and hurriedly asked his soldiers to take the pond newspaper, and when he took the pond newspaper and opened it for a look, Li Jiancheng's expression suddenly became a little ugly.
"Brother Jiancheng, what happened? Is it Chen Zeijun's love?" Liu Wuzhou asked curiously.
"Yes." Li Jiancheng didn't dare to lie to Liu Wuzhou, and bowed his head and said, "Chen Yingliang defeated Jiexiu the night before yesterday, and our army guard Fan Botong was killed."
"So fast?" Liu Wuzhou was a little surprised, and said, "I remember the envoy of your army said that Thief Chen broke through Lengquan Pass on the night of the second day of June. At that time, his main force was still in Lingshi, and you also left behind a heavy guard Yu Jiexiu gave us time to deploy our defenses, and even flooded the road in Queshu Valley with Wenshui, how come Jiexiu was broken by Chen thief the night before yesterday, only on the eighth day of the eighth day of the lunar new year?"
"There are traitors in Jiexiu City." Li Jiancheng said sullenly, "There was a demon monk named Daocheng who went to the city to pray for our soldiers on the pretext of going to the city to pray for our soldiers. He took the opportunity to contact some traitors and dragged Chen's soldiers up to the city wall with Buddhist flags at night. , opened the city gate to welcome the bandit army into the city, Fan Botong was caught off guard and was killed by the bandit army."
The atmosphere became suppressed, and Li Er also gritted his teeth quietly. However, at this moment, Liu Xiaomou, who was almost forgotten by everyone, suddenly smiled and said to Li Er: "Did you hear that? If you have such ability in war , I can consider marrying you. Also, I heard that you have been defeated by Chen thief several times before, if you can defeat Chen thief this time, I will definitely marry you!"
Liu Wu Zhou glared at his younger sister, but Li Er raised his head, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay! I promise you! This time, I must find Thief Chen to settle the old and new accounts!"