Sunshine, breeze, white robes, the flag of loyalty and dedication to the country fluttered in the wind under the sun. Following this military flag, only more than 700 soldiers of the patriotic army were re-equipped with walking horses and sang in unison The military song "Serve the country with loyalty" embarked on a journey again, marching westward to reinforce Weihan Road.
Yang Tong, the King of Yue, personally led all the civil and military officials from the eastern capital to Hui'anmen to see off the army. Under the secret guidance of Fan Zigai, Huangfu Wuyi and others, Yang Tong, who was only nine years old, praised him very much in a mature tone. The numerous meritorious deeds of the national army require the national army to make persistent efforts, continue to serve the country loyally, kill thieves and make meritorious deeds, and assist Cai Wang Yang Zhiji to guard Hongnong and prevent the rebels from invading Emperor Sui Yang's Hongnong Palace. At the same time, Yang Tong naturally had to encourage the main force of the Sui army led by Liu Changgong, asking Liu Changgong's team to assist the Daxing army to guard the Xiaohan Road, and not to give Yang's rebel army the opportunity to threaten Guanzhong.
Yang Tong was only responsible for talking about the situation. Fan Zigai, the real ruler of Luoyang in the eastern capital, naturally explained something else to Chen Yingliang in private. When parting, Fan Zigai held Chen Yingliang's hand and said: "Remember two things, first, If Wei Wensheng can't stop Yang's rebels, you must try your best to keep Yang's rebels west of Tongguan and buy time for our reinforcements. Second, you have to take care of yourself until they are wiped out. Yang is a rebellious thief, this old man will take you to the emperor himself to ask for credit for you, so you must come back alive for this old man!"
"This is my handwritten letter to His Highness Cai Wang." Huangfu Wuyi also handed a letter to Chen Yingliang, and said in a low voice: "In the letter, I introduced your achievements and talents to His Highness Cai Wang in detail. Your highness is a general-minded and responsible highness. After reading my letter, he will definitely listen to and adopt your military strategy and tactics as much as possible, which can help you quickly gain the trust and reuse of His Highness Cai Wang. But you must also Remember, don’t get too close to His Highness Cai Wang! You are a smart person, I won’t say anything about what will happen if you get too close to the royal relatives. Take care and come back alive.”
Hearing Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi's heartfelt words of concern and kind reminders, no matter how vicious Chen Yingliang was, he couldn't help but be moved. He knelt down and greeted the gray-haired Fan Zigai and the sickly Huangfu Wuyi made a solemn salute, and said in a low voice: "Fan Liushou, General Huangfu, you also take care. Although it is unlikely that Yang Rebellion will attack Luoyang again, it is not ruled out that he will suddenly launch a surprise attack. Before confirming that the main force of Yang Ni's traitor will move, please be cautious, and don't give Yang Ni's traitor an opportunity."
"Of course." Fan Zigai and Huangfu Wuyi lifted Chen Yingliang up with their own hands, and each told them to take care of themselves. Chen Yingliang thanked him, and said goodbye to his distant uncle Pei Hongce who was really kind to him, and then he did not hesitate. Chen Yingliang led the Baoguo army to the west, and without Liu Changgong's words, Chen Yingliang took the initiative to take up the heavy responsibility of the rear, and personally walked to the end of the Sui army's team that aided Weihandao in the west, and was always ready to face the rebels' pursuit team. .
At the same time, as a precaution, Chen Yingliang discussed with Liu Changgong in private and decided that before the army entered Weihan Road, if a large number of rebel cavalry were found chasing them, then the Baoguo army equipped with walking horses would serve as the decoy. The enemy's task, fast horse galloping to lure the rebel team into Xiaohan Road, which is not conducive to cavalry combat, while Liu Changgong's team, which is mainly infantry, temporarily leaves the battlefield and does not fight with the rebel cavalry. The rebel cavalry brigade was blocked in Xiaohan Road, severely injuring the rebel cavalry!
Although the rebel team had mistakenly slowed down the scouting campaign, the Sui army in the four thousand eastern capitals and the patriotic army all wearing white robes joined hands to move westward. It is still impossible to hide from the rebels anyway. The eyes of the scouts, and after the rebel scouts reported the news to Yang Xuangan, Yang Xuangan suddenly became furious, jumped up and shouted, "Assemble the team immediately, the Zhu Kingdom will personally lead the army to hunt down the little thief Chen Yingliang!"
Yang Xuangan's brothers quickly agreed, and Li Mi, who was recommended by Li Zixiong and had already returned to the central army's tent to participate in tactical decision-making, quickly stood up and dissuaded him: "Duke Chu, please be safe, our scouts have already checked the facts. The white-robed soldiers under Chen Yingliang's little thief all have horses to travel, and they have already set off for a while, so it is very difficult for us to catch up."
"Why can't he catch up? He has war horses. Could it be that there are no war horses in the army of Benzhu Kingdom?" Yang Xuangan shouted: "Benzhu Kingdom led the cavalry to chase after him. If you don't believe it, you won't be able to catch up!"
"Chu Gong, please calm down." Li Mi said with a wry smile, "You personally led the cavalry to chase after you. You hoped to catch up with the little thief Chen Yingliang, but what should you do if the little thief Chen Yingliang took the opportunity to lure you into Xiaohan Road? The terrain of Xiaohan Road is narrow. It is very unfavorable to the cavalry, and you will not be able to take advantage of the speed of the horses that are interspersed with roundabouts. At that time, Duke Chu, you will not only have no chance to wipe out the white-robed soldiers of Chen Yingliang's thief, on the contrary, you may be lured to the front of Wei Xuan by Chen Yingliang's thief. At that time, the infantry of the official army will block Weihan Road again, Duke Chu, you and our cavalry team will be really in danger."
"Duke Chu, the Fazhu is right. Xiaohan Dao is not good for cavalry, and it is only suitable for infantry combat. Leading cavalry to chase into Weihan Dao will only be short-term and long-term, which will not be good for the battle." Li Zixiong also persuaded: "Be patient for now. , the preparations for our army's westward expedition are about to be completed, and we will send troops to Guanzhong tomorrow. If you send troops to chase after the little thief Chen Yingliang at this time, it will be difficult to return to the camp in time for the expedition tomorrow morning. If so, it will definitely have an impact on our army's morale .”
Yang Xuangan gritted his teeth and remained silent, but he did not continue to insist on personally leading the cavalry to pursue. Li Zixiong guessed Yang Xuangan's thoughts, and said, "Don't worry, Duke Chu. Fan Zigai must be worried about Wei Xuanbing when he sent troops westward. There are few generals, unable to resist our westward marching army, so we sent troops to reinforce Wei Xuan. In this case, the old man thinks that when our army arrives at the Mianchi battlefield where Wei Xuan is stationed, the Duke of Chu is General Yang Xuanzong and our army. A great opportunity for thousands of soldiers to take revenge will surely appear!"
"What does the old general mean?" Yang Xuangan, who was eager to avenge his brother, asked quickly.
"It's very simple. The old man Wei Xuan must go out of the city to fight our army." Li Zixiong said with a smile: "Wei Xuan went west to rescue Luoyang this time. Rescue by the army is definitely a disgrace. With Wei Xuan's old temper, he must be eager to take revenge and save face. Besides, Wei Xuan is still staying behind in Daxing, and it is even more impossible to hide in Mianchi City and watch our army go straight into Guanzhong , the only option is to leave the city for a decisive battle."
"At that time." Li Zixiong smiled even more happily, and added: "Relying on sneak attacks to pick out and slaughter our auxiliary soldiers and civilians, Chen Yingliang, who has already become famous by chance, can't hide in Mianchi City and stay out of it. Being brought out of the city by Wei Xuan to participate in the decisive battle, wouldn't it be easy for Duke Chu to avenge his revenge?"
"It makes sense!" Yang Xuangan waved his hand vigorously, turning his anger into joy and said, "Then there is no need to take the risk of chasing after him. Let the little thief Chen Yingliang be proud for a day or two, and when our main force arrives at the Mianchi battlefield, we will find this cunning little thief." It's not too late for revenge!"
Yang Xuangan has already changed his mind. Even if Yang Xuanting and others who obeyed his elder brother's words were unwilling, they could only obediently withdraw the order to assemble the cavalry. Only Li Mi had some objections, but considering Yang Xuangan's quick temper, Li Mi hesitated after repeated hesitation. Having said that, Li Mi didn't catch up to Li Zixiong outside the tent until after the tent was disbanded, and said in a low voice: "Old general, the younger generation is still a little worried about what happened just now. That little thief Chen Yingliang is very treacherous. Xuan leads the army to retreat to Tongguan, what should we do?"
"Don't worry, Master. Of course, this old man has also considered it." Li Zixiong, who has a very close relationship with Li Mi, said with a smile: "Old man Wei Xuan retreating to Tongguan is indeed the best choice to prevent our army from entering the pass, but that old man must Don’t do that! Don’t forget that the Hongnong Palace of the tyrant Yang Guang and the most important Changping warehouse in Guanzhong are all west of Tongguan. With our army, how to explain to Yang Guang?"
"How did I forget this?" Li Mi stroked his forehead, and said with great joy: "The old general is really good at calculation, the younger generation admires it, our army will no longer have to worry about it."
…
Of course, Chen Yingliang and Liu Changgong couldn't know whether Yang Xuangan decided to send troops to pursue them. To be on the safe side, the Nationalist Army and Liu Changgong's team rushed all the way to Weihan Road, 70 miles away, at the fastest speed. Under the direct threat of General Liu's command, the team under General Liu's command exploded at a speed that can only appear when fleeing for their lives. It took less than four hours to enter the relatively safe Weihan Road, and the Baoguo Army with their horses also entered immediately Xiaohan Road, completely avoiding the danger of being surrounded by rebel troops.
Originally, both Chen Yingliang and Liu Changgong were worried that there would be rebels intercepting them in the narrow Xiaohan Road, but Chen Yingliang soon realized that his worries were unnecessary, because after entering the Weihan Road, he walked westward for less than ten miles, and the Dongdu team They met the scouts sent by Weixuan army head-on, carefully checked their identities, and learned from the Weixuan army scouts that the situation ahead was safe. The army was from the army, and they were extremely happy. While leading the way for the Dongdu army, they dispatched men and flew horses to Mianchi to announce the good news to Wei Xuan.
The distance from Luoyang to Mianchi is about one hundred and forty miles. The cavalry marching quickly can easily reach it in one day. If the lightly armed infantry team does not consider the problem of preserving physical strength for combat, the distance of one hundred and forty miles can also be reached within one day. After the walk, Liu Changgong still proposed to reach Mianchi City within a day when most of his troops were infantry, but Chen Yingliang, who had soldiers under his command with horses to travel, put forward a different opinion, thinking that he could march one hundred and forty miles in one day It hurt too much the infantry's physical strength, and at the same time, the Dongdu army did not inform Wei Xuanjun of the reinforcements in advance, and rushed to Mianchi. Wei Xuanjun must have been in a hurry, and it was difficult to provide tents for the camp. To bother the friendly army, it is better to follow the normal practice of rapid march, let the infantry team only travel 90 miles a day, camp on the spot so that the soldiers can rest for a night, and it will not be too late to arrive in Mianchi the next day, so that everyone can relax.
Chen Yingliang's suggestion was of course unanimously supported by the infantry of the Sui Army. In addition, Chen Yingliang took the initiative to take up the night duty, so General Liu of course obeyed. Now the army camped on the spot, and General Liu led the infantry to take turns to rest. Chen Yingliang divided the Nationalist Army into two teams, and they took turns to rest at night. At the same time, Chen Yingliang carefully arranged a large number of trip ropes with bells around the camp, and a dark sentry beside the bright sentry, to guard against the enemy's sneak attack at night. Enter the campsite of the Sui Army in the Eastern Capital.
Chen Yingliang's arrangements were completely in vain, and nothing unexpected happened overnight. In the early morning of the next day, the Sui army in the eastern capital continued to march west after eating dry food, and successfully arrived at the destination Mianchi at noon. Outside the gate of Wei Xuanjun's camp. What made Liu Changgong and other Dongdu generals secretly angry was that the Sui Army of Dongdu took the initiative to go west to rescue Wei Xuanjun who was in poor condition. It was fine if Wei Xuan didn't come out of the camp to greet him in person, and he didn't even send a high-level official there. To welcome the Dongdu reinforcements in front of the gate of the camp, they just arranged for a messenger to come to the gate of the camp and summoned Liu Changgong and Chen Yingliang to meet Wei Xuan in the tent of the Chinese army.
For this, Liu Changgong, who is also a famous and expensive general of Youwuwei Hu Benlang, was of course full of anger, and quietly scolded Wei Xuan for putting on airs by repaying virtue with grievances. Chen Yingliang was also a little surprised, because Chen Yingliang knew that Wei Xuan must have a bad impression of him Good, but it is unreasonable for Wei Xuan to treat Liu Changgong like this.
Following the messengers all the way to Weixuan's big tent of the Chinese army, and passing by the soldiers outside the tent, Chen Yingliang entered the tent together with the resentful Liu Changgong, and finally saw the Tu Emperor who was on his head a while ago, Daxing left behind, Jingzhao internal history and minister of the Ministry of Punishment, Wei Xuanzi Wensheng. At the same time, Chen Yingliang also saw that the big tent was already full of civil and military officials from Wei Xuanjun, all of them had serious faces and unfriendly eyes. Only Pang Yu, who was standing in the civilian train, nodded to Chen Yingliang to express his gratitude, and at the same time He winked at Chen Yingliang again, as if to remind Chen Yingliang to be careful when speaking.
Wei Xuan, with snow-white beard and hair, was older than Fan Zigai, and was already seventy-three this year. Although his body was not as tall and burly as Fan Zigai, his expression was as serious and fierce as Fan Zigai's. Saluted by himself, not only was he not polite, he even shouted even more rudely: "Why are you here now? Fan Zigai sent you to lead the army to reinforce the old man. Isn't there a time limit? Do you know that in order to make room for you He Junzhang, how long did our soldiers work hard last night?"
"Forgive me, Lord Shangshu. Fan Liushou did not set a time limit for the arrival of the generals." Liu Chang respectfully replied: "Fan Liushou only asks the generals to arrive in Mianchi as soon as possible to join forces with the Daxing friendly army."
After answering, Liu Changgong added very unscrupulously: "Originally, the last general could reach Mianchi last night, but Chen Jishi was worried that the soldiers were exhausted, and also worried that Wei Shangshu's team was too hasty and flustered to prepare the camp tent for our army. I urged the late general to camp for one night before going westward to Mianchi, so the late general did not go westward overnight."
"Rush and panic are the old man's business, and have nothing to do with you!" Wei Xuan yelled forcefully, "Even if Fan Zigai didn't set a time limit for your arrival, don't you understand the truth that the military situation is like fire? The enemy is in front of you. If you dare to camp on the spot, what will you do if the Yang Rebel bandits suddenly attack your campsite?"
Liu Changgong was completely speechless, and knew that Wei Xuan, who was in a state of anxiety, was using himself as a punching bag. Fortunately, Wei Xuan immediately changed the target of venting his anger, and turned to Chen Yingliang who was wearing a white robe next to him. He looked Chen Yingliang up and down, and then asked with a cold snort: "You are Chen Yingliang? I heard that you are a clerk, is there such a thing?"
"Chen Yingliang, secretary of the Zanzhi Mansion in Henan, the villain, I pay my respects to the Shangshu, the guard left behind in Daxing!" Chen Yingliang saluted as standard as possible, and Lang Sheng replied.
"It's really a reporter!" Wei Xuan snorted coldly, and said: "Go back and tell old man Fan Zigai that he has acted recklessly, ignored the imperial court, and appointed you, a small official of the reporter, to lead the army to fight. Send it to the emperor's Luan, tell him to prepare the defense memorial."
Chen Yingliang smiled wryly, and began to worry about the situation of Fan Zigai and Wei Xuan's next meeting—the two old stubborns would most likely stage a version of Mortal Kombat for the important officials of the Sui Dynasty! After a wry smile, Chen Yingliang had to reply respectfully: "Be cautious of the orders of the Master Shangshu. After the villain returns to Luoyang City, he will definitely report the truth to Fan Liushou."
Seeing Chen Yingliang's calm and calm appearance, Wei Xuan, who had a bad impression of Chen Yingliang, was inevitably more angry, and continued to hum: "I heard that you are under the command of the old man Fan Zigai. He was defeated, and once led four regiments of cavalry to raid the rebel granary among tens of thousands of rebel troops, burn the rebels' grain, and escape the rebels' encirclement without any injuries, and almost killed the rebels. Bandit military master Li Mi, is there really such absurd things like ghosts?"
"Reporting to Lord Shangshu, it is true, but the villain is just lucky." Chen Yingliang hastened to be modest, and explained: "Also, there were not tens of thousands of rebel soldiers, there were about 30,000 rebel soldiers present at that time People, it’s just that they were slack after the big victory, there was no queue, and they didn’t even have an emergency response team assembled to prepare for the battle, which allowed the villain to get away with it.”
"More than 30,000 traitor rear troops?" Wei Xuan laughed loudly, and said, "If this bull is not being dragged, why would you blow it to the sky?"
Daxing civil and military personnel in the big tent of the Chinese army also roared with laughter, and they all sneered at Chen Yingliang's shameless nonsense, but Pang Yu who was present at that time stood up, knelt down on Wei Xuan's knees tremblingly, kowtowed and said: "Shang Shu My lord, I can testify that Chen Jishi indeed succeeded in raiding the granary among the more than 30,000 rebels at that time, and escaped the encirclement of the rebels unscathed. If Lord Shangshu still doesn’t believe it, you can ask them, every soldier of the Nationalist Army was involved at that time.”
"What's the question? It's been so long, and the confessions have already been colluded." Wei Xuan sneered and said, "Don't forget, the old man is still the minister of the court's Ministry of Punishments, and collusion of confessions has been seen a lot."
Pang Yu also smiled wryly, and began to complain quietly in his heart that Chen Yingliang's record was too tough and outrageous. Fortunately, Wei Xuan did not continue on this topic, and said with a wave of his hand: "Well, since you, Chen Jishi, are so brave and good at fighting, and Fan Zigai sent you to reinforce this old man, it is just for the old man to witness it with his own eyes. How brave and invincible you are, are you the reincarnation of Chen Qingzhi, go down and take your white-robed soldiers into the camp to rest, and when the army of rebels arrives, I will give you a chance to make meritorious deeds!"
"Sure enough, I'm here. I want to push Lao Tzu to the front and die." Chen Yingliang murmured in his heart, and then quickly cupped his hands and said, "Master Shang Shu misunderstood, Fan Liushou sent a villain to lead the team westward to reinforce His Royal Highness Cai, and to assist Cai. His Royal Highness guarding the Hongnong Palace is not here to reinforce Lord Shang Shu's Daxing team."
"What?" Wei Xuan froze, and said angrily, "You went west to reinforce His Highness Cai Wang?"
"Master Shangshu, Chen Jishi was indeed ordered to reinforce Hongnong, and the last general's 4,000 elite soldiers came to reinforce the Mianchi battlefield." Liu Changgong hurriedly explained, and presented Fan Zigai's autographed letter to Wei Xuan .
Full of anger, he read Fan Zigai's autographed letter, and saw that Fan Zigai had indeed asked Chen Yingliang to lead the Nationalist Army to reinforce Yang Zhiji. The case in front of him fell heavily, and he shouted: "Why didn't you say it earlier? Since Fan Zigai sent you to reinforce King Cai, what are you still doing here? Get out immediately!"
Chen Yingliang, who had been mentally prepared for a long time, didn't mind, and immediately said goodbye. Before leaving, he also said goodbye to Pang Yu carefully. Liu Changgong didn't want to stay in the big tent to be Wei Xuan's punching bag. He also slipped out, leaving Wei Xuan in the big tent of the Chinese army to continue to get angry, "Fan Huazong, you old bastard, what do you mean by sending reinforcements to Hongnong? I'm worried that I won't be able to stop Yang from rebelling against the traitors." Look down on the old man? Well, the old man will show you this time, don’t think that you are a big deal if you stop the rebels from attacking the city! The old man doesn’t need to fortify the city and deep trenches, and he can still stop him and the rebels in the field!”
"Strange, why does this old man seem to have heard of the name Chen Yingliang?" While furious, Wei Xuan was also pondering a question, "Where did I hear it? Why can't this old man remember it at all? "