Although he had doubts for a long time, it was at this most critical moment that Li Er finally confirmed one thing helplessly - that is, as long as he meets the conscienceless Chen Sangliang, he will definitely have bad luck. ! Any good thing can turn into a tragedy!
This time is the most typical and the most serious. Originally, Li Er’s calculation was very good. Selling out his brother can not only please Liu Wuzhou and deepen his friendship with his future wife and brother, but also take the opportunity to get rid of his incompetent brother’s control and become independent, and take the opportunity to control the control of Yuci City. Quan, the third is that the target is small and it is not easy to attract Chen Sangliang's main force to attack. The danger is far less than staying in Taiyuan City, which may be surrounded by floods at any time. The deep friendship with Dou Jiande, a powerful ally, will seek more benefits for the future, serve multiple purposes, and will not suffer no matter what.
The wishful thinking was slapping, and in fact, he got his wish and tricked Liu Wuzhou into Taiyuan City to join hands with Li Jiancheng to contain the main force of the Sui army, and accidentally tricked a thousand horses. When Li Erzheng was secretly happy, disaster fell from the sky! Luo Yi, the warlord of Zhuojun who had been vacillating before, suddenly turned against him at a critical moment. He changed his flag and surrendered to Chen Sangliang and took the initiative to send troops to contain Dou Jiande. For the benefit of his own army, Liu Wuzhou, who turned his face and flipped the book, stood by Li Jiancheng without hesitation. The white-eyed wolf Li Er who had just offended his brother to death had no way out, so he could only obediently salute Liu Wuzhou Jishou immediately. Begging Liu Wuzhou to take him in who is already homeless, he is extremely useless and depressed.
Not bad, Liu Wuzhou barely showed loyalty, and immediately nodded and agreed to take Li Er in. Li Er didn't completely become a bereaved dog, but if he was not a family, he would not enter a family. In addition to the thousand horses that he promised to give to Li Er, he also asked Li Er to take up the important task of the queen, and use Li Er's little remaining capital to support Yang Jun to resist the Sui army's pursuit. He was happy and didn't dare to complain, he could only return the horse with both hands obediently, and lead the troops of the headquarters to shoulder the important task of the rear.
The horses that have just arrived and have not been counted have to be handed back suddenly. At the same time, they have to walk at the end of the team to resist the wolves of the Sui army. Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and other Li Er's cronies are of course confused and full of displeasure. Li Er, who was in distress, could only use the excuse that the military situation needs to be kept secret, and asked all the generals under his command to just follow the orders, and wait until Yuci to explain any problems. Although Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and other generals did not dare to forcefully ask the question to the end, they still reminded: "Your Commander, it is no problem for the horse to go back, but I am afraid we can't do it if we are the queen. You don't know how many people are left here. How can we resist Chen Yingliang's traitor's main pursuers?"
"You don't have to worry about this. I have my own arrangements. You just need to restrain the soldiers and fight carefully. When the pursuers come, I will have my own way to retreat."
Li Er's calm answer reassured Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and the others, so they didn't say anything more, and honestly took over the task of the queen, and Li Er was not just bragging, after arranging the task of the queen, he would make some calculations. Then he entered the camp of Dingyang Army again, found Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang and others who were hurriedly packing their luggage, and said, "Brother, it is more than 50 miles from here to Yuci, and the road is relatively far away. No matter what, it is very difficult for our army to get rid of the pursuit and retreat to Yuci smoothly. If you are a little careless, you may suffer huge losses. The younger brother has a suspicious strategy, which will definitely make Chen Zei feel timid and dare not raise troops to pursue. "
"My brother, if you have a clever plan, tell us quickly, we don't have time." Liu Wuzhou said casually while directing his soldiers to pack up their belongings.
"Brother, you might as well send hundreds of cavalry to go south first, cross the river from the pontoon bridge controlled by the Taiyuan Army, sneak quietly to the east of the Chen bandit camp to ambush, and then ask the Taiyuan Army to send a troop to form a formation along the north bank of the Dongwo River. Make a bluff with torches." Li Er suggested: "When our army retreats, our cavalry will be beating gongs and drums outside the bandit barracks, honking horns and shouting to kill, pretending to rob the camp. Chen bandits are attacked in the dark. Sticking to the camp and not daring to fight lightly, and seeing that the torches in the Dongwo River are bright, we will definitely suspect that we are preparing to lure the enemy into an ambush, and we dare not fight easily. In this way, our army can take the opportunity to advance eastward with all its strength and quickly get rid of Chen's pursuit soldier."
"Would it be counterproductive to do so, and make Chen's bandits prepare earlier and dispatch troops to chase our army earlier?" Liu Wuzhou asked suspiciously.
"Brother, don't listen to him." Liu Xiaomou, who had been ordered not to leave Liu Wuzhou's side at any time, yelled: "He can only come up with bad ideas, and we will definitely suffer a lot if we listen to him."
Fortunately, Song Jingang stood by Li Er's side and said to Liu Wuzhou: "Brother, this plan is very clever. The main force of our army marched westward overnight. No matter what, we can't hide it from the eyes of Chen Bandit's scouts. It won't be long before Chen Bandit They will send out soldiers and horses to pursue our army. It is better to do the opposite and pretend to rob the camp, which is likely to buy us more time. Anyway, the south of the Dongwo River is open, and our cavalry can retreat to the east at any time We will have nothing to lose when we cross the river in Yuci and return to the team."
"Okay, then you guys go do it, move quickly, we don't have much time." Liu Wuzhou finally nodded in agreement, Li Er, who was more expensive than Li Jiancheng, heaved a sigh of relief, but Liu Xiaomou curled his mouth, He muttered another bad idea in a low voice.
The three pontoon bridges outside the Taiyuan camp have not been damaged. Under the cover of the already dark night, three hundred Dingyang cavalrymen carrying gongs, drums and horns quietly crossed the river and went down the river. Li Jiancheng also promised to send an army to line up on the north bank. More than halfway through the second watch, more torches were used to bluff, intimidating the Sui army from sending troops easily—but Li Jiancheng explained in advance that the soldiers of the Taiyuan army were only responsible for bluffing. Withdraw to camp immediately.
The main force of the Sui army really wanted to go all out to pursue Ding Yang's army. There was no need to cross the river from General Taiyuan's defensive position. It was quite interesting to be able to risk bluffing. Of course, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang were not too demanding. When the second quarter of the second watch arrived, the main force of Ding Yang's army had already basically left the camp. He tried to light as few torches as possible without making any noise. He quickly counted the soldiers and vehicles, and arranged the retreat formation. Just after the second watch, Liu Wu issued an order After that, the main force of Ding Yang's army set off immediately. Song Jingang personally led the army to open the way, Liu Wuzhou led the central army to protect the food and supplies, general Huang Ziying led the rear army, and Li Er's 2,000 or so Taiyuan army walked at the tail of the crane. The most dangerous last position.
The various ministries of the Dingyang Army cooperated very well. As soon as the main three armies were dispatched, the sound of gongs, drums and horns came from the darkness in the south, and there was a faint sound of shouting and killing. The Taiyuan army's defensive position was also full of flames, and thousands of torches were ignited. From a distance, it looked like thousands of soldiers were ambushing, and the momentum was quite scary.
Seeing this scene, Li Er was of course smiling complacently. Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and other generals who had already known Li Er's ingenious plan also showed joy, and praised: "You Dudu's ingenious plan, no matter how treacherous Chen Yingliang is, he must have died at this moment." He was so frightened that he was at a loss and was at a loss, and when he reacted, if he tried to catch up with us, he would definitely have no chance."
"It's impossible to scare Chen Sangliang to death. That traitor has been on the battlefield for a long time, so this little movement can't scare him." Li Er gave Chen Sangliang a rare compliment, and then said with a smile: "However, traitors are always cautious when using soldiers. If there is no change, it will definitely not be easy to send troops if you don’t investigate and understand. This time there are too many, I dare not say, and it will definitely not be a problem to hold him for a while.”
After speaking confidently, a pretty face appeared in Li Er's mind again, and he hummed secretly in his heart: "Little girl, dare to say that the governor's clever plan is a bad idea. When you enter the bridal chamber, let me see how I deal with you!"
…
Not to mention, although the main force of the Sui army has already prepared to send troops to pursue at any time, when the cavalry of the Dingyang army suddenly beat drums and drums to the east of the Sui army camp, Chen Sangliang and Li Jing were really scared. Jumping, he also said that he had made a mistake in anticipating the enemy. The enemy did not retreat tonight but took a risk of robbing the camp, and he was very nervous for a while. However, when the Sui Army scouts reported that they heard drums and gongs outside the camp and saw no trace of the enemy, and saw the fire on the north bank of the Dongwo River from a distance, Chen Sangliang and Li Jing immediately came to their senses, and asked each other in unison: " Your Highness (uncle), what do you think?"
"It's a bluff, it's a trick of suspicion." Li Jing and Chen Sangliang, the unscrupulous uncles and nephews, replied in unison: "Otherwise, the enemy will not set fire to the river bank, but will only set up an ambush in the dark!"
After speaking in unison, Chen Sangliang and Li Jing also laughed together, then Chen Sangliang immediately got on the horse, clasped fists to Li Jing and saluted immediately, and entrusted the army camp to his cousin, Li Jing returned the salute, and ordered Chen Sangliang Be careful and safe, Chen Sangliang thanked with a smile, and after Chen Sangliang gave the order, the Sui Army soldiers numbering more than 20,000 immediately lit torches, and the soldiers went out of the camp together in six groups, and quickly stood outside the east gate of the camp. Assemble into a team, led by Chen Sangliang himself to attack, without hesitation to kill the Dongzuohe position in charge of Dingyang's army.
It was the turn of the Dingyang Army and the Taiyuan Army to be dumbfounded. From a distance, they saw that the Sui Army's camp suddenly exploded with torches, turning half of the sky red, and saw these torches lined up in marches and striding out of the camp in six groups. Song Jingang sent The cavalry of the Sanbaiding Yang Army, who were in charge of the task of suspecting soldiers, almost didn't pee out of fear. They didn't even dare to investigate the specific situation of the Sui Army carefully, so they immediately dropped the gongs, drums and horns and fled. And the more than a thousand infantry soldiers of the Taiyuan Army who were bluffing on the north bank of the Dongwo River were all out of their wits. They prayed to God and Buddha only to pray that the main force of the Sui army would not come to attack their position, and they were already ready to run away at any time.
The ones who were frightened the most were of course Li Er and the main force of the Ding Yang army. It was a dream from top to bottom. They never imagined that just after they retreated, the main force of the Sui army would immediately dispatch such a large number of troops to the north, screaming in panic. Incessantly, Liu Wuzhou and Song Jingang even yelled, "Is there a traitor? Why does Chen thief seem to have been prepared?"
"I've said it a long time ago, I can't listen to that bad idea of embroidered pillows." Of course Liu Xiaomou had something to say, but the little girl was quite knowledgeable, knowing that the lives of countless soldiers of her own army were at stake, she didn't dare to gloat, she just followed Liu Wuzhou's instructions. He asked to follow his elder brother closely and hurried all the way east.
Although Ding Yang's army had selfish intentions, it was still loyal. Keeping the main force of Ding Yang's army was tantamount to keeping the hope of victory in defending the city. With the troops already in dire straits, Li Jiancheng still bit the bullet and dispatched 3,000 troops out of the camp. Let Yang Wenqian lead the way to stop the main force of the Sui army from crossing the river. However, when Yang Wenqian led the Taiyuan Army to the river defense position left by the Dingyang Army, he was stunned to see that the main force of the Sui Army didn't even bother to build floating bridges or trench bridges to cross the river. Throwing soil-filled straw bags into the Dongwo River one after another, a temporary embankment was built at the slow-flowing part of the Dongwo River in a short while. The water volume downstream of the embankment was greatly reduced and the water level dropped. He directly charged at Yang Wengan, Yang Wengan hurriedly fought, and there was no way to prevent the main force of the Sui army from crossing the river.
Straw bags filled with earth were thrown continuously into the section of the Dongwo River that Yuan Tiangang had secretly explored earlier, and an earthen bridge was gradually built on the river. Soldiers of the Sui army strided across the river with torches in their hands, and continued to enter the battlefield on the north bank. , the number surpassed Yang Wengan's army in a blink of an eye, and threw a large number of gunpowder bottles to harass the enemy without hesitation. Back and escape. Then the main force of the Sui army crossed the river, and after quickly regrouping, Chen Sangliang gave another order, and the 20,000 elite Sui troops immediately marched eastward, rushing like a flood towards Yuci, where the main force of the Dingyang army was retreating.
After discovering the situation of the battle, the kind-hearted man Li Jiancheng gritted his teeth and ordered Yang Wenqian to turn around and fight again, biting the tail of the Sui army to slow down Chen Sangliang's pursuit. Li Jing also ordered general Qu Tutong to lead an army northward to attack the Taiyuan army camp, not seeking to break the enemy but only trying to contain them. Li Jiancheng, who was also preparing to withdraw his troops, was forced to have no choice but to recall Yang Wengan to stick to the camp with all his strength, and to abide by his promise to stick to it until the fourth watch before going north and withdrawing to Taiyuan City. Other than that, the only thing Li Jiancheng could do was to pray secretly, "Brother Wu Zhou, please run faster and bring more main force back to Yuci! If you are finished again, I will really be completely finished!" "
Praying is useless, the distance of more than 50 miles is doomed not to arrive immediately on horseback, and the main force of the Dingyang army carrying a large amount of military supplies is mixed, and the retreat speed cannot be fast at all, while the Sui army is traveling lightly. With the infantry as the main force, they still marched like flying. Just after the first quarter of the third watch, the general of the Sui Army Qiu Xinggong who led the way led the light infantry to catch up with Li Erjun who was hanging at the end, and immediately shouted and charged directly Li Erjun fought in close quarters.
It has to be admitted that in order to please his future brother-in-law Liu Wuzhou, Li Er spent some effort to fight to the rear. He first shot and wounded many Sui army pursuers with random arrows, and then led the army to charge back in vain to kill the Sui army. The vanguard fights for time to escape. However, no matter how hard Li Er himself is, no matter how loyal his subordinates Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang, and Wang Huaiwen are to fight to the death, the soldiers under their command are tired and wounded, their morale is low, and they can't help but defend themselves in front of the highly morale soldiers of the Sui Army. Even if the strength is not enough, let alone kill and retreat the pursuers, Qiu Xinggong only used one charge to completely get mixed up with the Taiyuan army, and started a melee melee that was most beneficial to the soldiers of the Sui army. Li Er and Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and others fought hard and hard, but they still couldn't kill the Sui army's pursuers.
After barely holding on for a while, when Kan Leng led a large group of Mo Dao soldiers to the scene, all the soldiers of the Taiyuan Army lost the courage to fight to the death. Li Er, Zhu Can and other smart people saw the situation and immediately made a smart choice - let go and run! With only a few hundred remnants of the defeated generals, they fled eastward, while the soldiers of the Sui army walked like flying, chasing after them, and constantly hacked and killed the Taiyuan army's defeated soldiers in the pursuit battle. Killing is not wrong-at this time, the soldiers of the Sui army had no time to take in the prisoners. The soldiers of the Taiyuan army fled faster and more, and many defeated soldiers fled directly to the open north.
Of course, the incompetence of the Taiyuan Army made Ding Yang Jun furious again. If he hadn't known that Li Er would soon become Liu Wuzhou's brother-in-law, Huang Ziying, who led Ding Yang's rear army, wouldn't even have the heart to charge back and hack Li Er to death. While trying to restrain the anger in his chest, Huang Ziying ordered the soldiers to stop advancing and face the whole team, while shouting: "Bows and arrows are ready! Those wastes in Taiyuan dare to charge in front of us, shoot arrows immediately!"
It is true that quite a few Taiyuan army's defeated soldiers panicked and saw that there were many people running there, and died tragically under the random arrows shot by the soldiers of Ding Yang's army without hesitation. Unfortunately, Li Er, Zhu Can and others are smart people, and they know What would be the end of leading the defeated troops to attack the front of the friendly army's position? Early on, with the army that could still be commanded, they detoured to the open north, bypassing Huang Ziying's position and marching eastward. In the end, when he made a detour to the north of Huang Ziying's position, Li Er, who was in shock for a while, took the time to look back at the situation of the Sui army. I was glad that I had successfully escaped, and then suddenly came to my senses, and blurted out: "No! Not good!"
"You Dudu, what's wrong? What's wrong?" Wang Huaiwen asked doubtfully, wiping the blood and sweat off his face.
"Chen Bandit's cavalry did not show up!" Li Er roared, "Chen Bandit's personal expedition brought tens of thousands of cavalry! But the first to catch up with us was Chen Bandit's light infantry! And Chen Bandit's main force There were no torches on the left wing, which proves that the thief Chen did not bring too many cavalry in this pursuit, and there is no need to organize the cavalry into an army and act alone! What does this mean, don't you understand?"
"What does it mean? The general doesn't understand?"
Wang Huaiwen asked in doubt, Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and others also looked at Li Er in confusion, so Li Er shouted crazily with blue veins on his forehead: "Are you pigs? You don't understand?! During the pursuit battle The lack of cavalry and infantry as the main force shows that Thief Chen has already placed his cavalry in front, ready to ambush us! We abandoned our camp and retreated tonight, and Liu Wuzhou led the main force to flee eastward to Yuci, which was already predicted by Thief Chen! A net has been laid out long ago, preparing to kill Liu Wuzhou's main force in a battle!"
Zhu Can, Liang Jianfang and the others finally came to their senses. After being shocked, Zhu Can, whose face was already extremely pale, quickly suggested: "Your Commander, let's run quickly. Before entering the Chen thief's ambush position, we quickly fled to the north." , and then detour back to Taiyuan."
"If only I dared to go back to Taiyuan." Li Er lamented in his heart, but he said firmly: "No! We can't run! We must go to see Liu Wuzhou immediately and warn him to be on guard against Thief Chen. Cavalry raid! We still have hope in this battle, and we must try our best to seize this last hope!"