In the big tent, Duan Decao stood in front of the map for a long time and pondered. He was facing unprecedented severe tests. He was facing the elite Northern Sui army whose equipment and troops exceeded his strength, and behind him was the powerful pressure from the emperor.

If he didn't fight this battle, he would be suspected of having troops and relied on his own, which would make him have no choice but to send troops. Duan Decao didn't know how to fight this battle.

At this time, Liang Li slowly walked to Duan Decao's side, and he whispered: "General, the Sui army has not attacked Rulin County so far."

Duan Decao nodded, "I know, they are waiting for me."

"They obviously know that the emperor will force the general to send troops, will it be?"

"You are right. This must be because Zhang Xuan used a counter-split plan in the court, so the emperor would suspect that I had the army to stand up."

"Despicable!" Two words burst out from Liang Li's teeth.

Duan Decao shook his head, "You can't say that others are despicable. If it were me, I would do this. This is a strategy, a very clever strategy, just."

Speaking of this, Duan Decao showed deep sorrow in his eyes, "Even the emperor's will is controlled by the enemy. Wouldn't such a court be heartbroken?"

Liang Li was silent. He did not have the stinging feeling like Duan Decao, nor did Duan Decao feel disappointed with the emperor. On the contrary, the emperor's attention to him made him grateful, which also made him insist that Zhang Xuan's methods were despicable.

However, out of respect for Duan Decao, Liang Li did not refute Duan Decao's arbitrary discussions with the court, but asked in a deep voice: "What should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Send troops! We will do our best to fight, and even if the entire army is destroyed, we will be worthy of ourselves."

Speaking of this, Duan Decao ordered Liang Li: "Send troops in one hour and ask each soldier to bring dry food for seven days, so that he will not bring food, grass and supplies."

"Abide by the order!"

Liang Li bowed and hurried away. Duan Decao sighed slightly, knowing that there was a lot of danger, but he still had to send troops. The result could be guessed before the battle was fought.

One hour later, Duan Decao and deputy general Liang Li led 15,000 troops to leave Yanlu County and once again rushed towards Diaoyin County.

The Sheyanshui flows in a huge canyon in Hengshan. The canyon is about forty miles long and one to two miles wide. In addition to the surging river water, there are also large forests. The towering mountains on both sides do not have many trees, but a huge Chu black rock body. It is actually in line with the Heti Mountains in the east, but it is not as high as the Heti Mountains, and the mining value is not great.

The Tang army set out at dusk. After resting halfway, they entered Hengshan Valley the next morning. Five thousand Tang troops lined up along the Sheyanshui River Beach. As long as the army maintains a fast march, they can walk out of the valley within a maximum of two hours.

At noon, the Tang army was about to walk out of Hengshan Valley. Duan Decao rode on his horse and watched the situation on both sides of the valley. He intuition told him that this time the Sui army had set up a net of heaven and earth to wait for him to arrive, but he was not sure where the Sui army would take action. However, the last time the Sui army took action shortly after their rear army walked out of the valley. That area was indeed a relatively easy place to ambush.

At this time, a general urged him to step forward and said, "General, brothers are a little tired. Do you want to sit down and rest?"

Duan Decao looked back and saw that the soldiers were indeed a little tired. It was five miles away from the valley entrance. They needed to wait for news about the scouts. Duan Decao nodded, "Stay on the spot for half an hour, so that the troops behind can follow immediately!"

The order to rest was passed, and the tired and hungry soldiers ran to the river to scoop water, and then returned to the river beach to brew dry food and eat. The cold and silent river beach suddenly became lively.

At this time, thousands of central troops led by Liang Li also arrived, and the soldiers joined the ranks of washing their faces by the river. Deputy General Liang Li stepped forward to find Duan Decao and said to him: "I just remembered something. I heard that the Sui army is good at night fighting. It is very likely that they will attack us tonight. I was thinking, it is best for us to camp early today, and we can stop the march in the afternoon and build defensive fortifications. Anyway, we have entered Diaoyin County, so we are not in a hurry. What do the general think?"

Duan Decao nodded and smiled, "The general's caution is worthy of praise. We have seen the same thing. After leaving the valley, walk for another hour, and rest in Shiraishibara. The terrain is high there, so it is difficult for the enemy to attack."

Just then, a soldier pointed to the mountain and shouted: "Look, there is smoke of war!"

Everyone looked up and saw a thick smoke rising from the mountains, floating straight towards the sky. This was obviously wolf smoke, the most common way to report messages on the grassland.

Duan Decao suddenly felt something was wrong and immediately ordered: "So, please go to the entrance of the valley to check!"

Several scouts ran away. Liang Li wanted to order the soldiers to get up and line up. Duan Decao waved his hand to stop him, "Shut up, don't make a sound!"

Soon, several scout cavalry rushed from the front. They ran and shouted loudly, "There is an enemy situation ahead! There is an enemy situation ahead!"

The soldiers suddenly had a chaos and didn't care about eating. They stood up one after another. Duan Decao strode forward and shouted sternly: "What's going on ahead?"

The leader scouted the cavalry and knelt down on one knee to report, "Report to General, we found a large group of Sui troops at the entrance of the valley, with at least more than 10,000 people, and are building fortifications."

Duan Decao was stunned and was actually at the entrance of the valley. Why didn’t the scouts he sent before notice? He asked again: “Where are the other scouts?”

"I don't know, we didn't meet!"

Duan Decao and Liang Li looked at each other, and both of them understood that the Sui army must have received the wolf smoke signal and just arrived, otherwise the scout would have discovered them long ago.

"General, let's retreat first!"

Liang Li was very worried that they only brought dry food for seven days. If they were trapped in the valley, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Duan Decao shook his head, "We should rush over while they are in a stable position."

"But what should I do if the Houjun?"

Duan Decao's face changed. They had 5,000 troops from the rear before they arrived. The censor Cheng Duo was also in the rear army. If the censor was lost, the consequences would be as serious. Duan Decao knew in his heart that the censor sent by the emperor was actually a military supervisor, "holding the sword of the emperor and urging the three armies." The meaning of this sentence is evident.

If the rear army arrives and breaks through, it will be too late. The Sui army is ready and the opportunity to break through will no longer exist.

But if the entire army retreated, he was worried that Cheng Duo would impeach the emperor and fear the enemy and not fight.

For a moment, Duan Decao didn't know what to do.

Liang Li understood Duan Decao was embarrassed and hurriedly said, "Go to urge the rear army and ask the Censor Cheng about his attitude. If he agrees to withdraw the troops, then we will retreat."

Duan De was helpless in his heart. With the military supervisor, he had to discuss and ask for instructions in everything. This feeling of being constrained was really uncomfortable. He had to nod and agree with Liang Li's suggestion.

Liang Li immediately turned his horse's head and ran away with more than a dozen personal soldiers.

Duan Decao immediately ordered: "Three armies line up and prepare for bows and crossbows!"

．

．

．

．

．

．

Generally, the main army needs to be divided into front, central and rear armies. This is mainly to prevent one of the troops from being ambushed by the enemy, and the other two armies can rescue in time.

This time the Tang army's eastward advance was no exception. Duan Decao personally led 5,000 troops to be the front army, Liang Li led 5,000 troops to be the central army, and the rear army was led by the Censor Cheng Duo, and the three armies were about ten miles apart.

Cheng Duo was the son-in-law of the Prime Minister Chen Shuda. He was a Jinshi in the third year of Daye. He was the first to be an official in the Ministry of Rites. Later, he was transferred to Yan'an County to serve as the magistrate of Fushi County. After Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he entered the Censorate and became the Attorney Censor. Among the eight Attorney Censors in the Taiyuan Court, he ranked first. In other words, if the Censor Central Chief is vacant, he will be promoted to the first place.

This time, Li Yuan sent him to supervise Duan Decao. On the one hand, Cheng Duo had been an official in Yan'an County and was familiar with the situation in Diaoyin County. On the other hand, because his father-in-law called Shuda, Li Yuan gave him this opportunity to supervise the army.

Cheng Duo was very smart and skillful, and also understood the worldly ways. When he set off, his father-in-law repeatedly told him that Duan Decao was a member of the King of Qin and should not do impeachment unless he had no choice.

So although he was a military supervisor, he did not show an aggressive aura. On the contrary, he did not make any statement in the deployment and mobilization of the army, and tried his best to respect and obey Duan Decao's arrangements. So when Duan Decao suggested that he lead the rear army, he agreed without hesitation.

Cheng Duo was just a civil servant and was leading the army for the first time, but this did not affect his appointment as the chief general of the army. He did not need to ask about the details of the specific marching camp. The Sima Association of the marching was arranged one by one, and Cheng Duo only needed to make decisions on major issues.

The five thousand rear troops were still in the middle of the valley at this time, about twenty miles away from the entrance of the valley. At this time, Liang Li rushed to Cheng Duo with more than a dozen personal soldiers. Liang Li clasped his fists and said, "Chief Xu, there is an enemy situation ahead!"

Cheng Duo was shocked and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong?"

"The scout found a large group of Sui troops at the entrance of the valley. General Duan wanted to ask the attitude of the Censor Xu, should we advance or retreat temporarily?"

"What is General Duan's opinion?"

"As soon as the Sui army arrived, General Duan advocated breaking through the encirclement immediately, but because the rear army had not arrived, General Duan temporarily stopped moving his troops and asked the censor to come and ask the censor's attitude."

Cheng Duo pondered for a moment and asked, "How many Sui troops are there?"

Liang Li shook his head, "I don't know the details very clearly, about 10,000 people, but I can't be sure."

Cheng Duo was really embarrassed. This was his first time participating in a battle. He didn't know whether to advance or retreat. Moreover, he was just a military supervisor. He was only responsible for supervising whether Duan Decao was loyal to the court. The specific battle had nothing to do with him.

After hesitating for a while, Cheng Duo said, "My attitude is very simple. Following General Duan's arrangements, he is the main general. It should be his decision to fight, not me."

At this time, a cavalry rushed over and raised his arrow and said, "General Liang, Censor Xu, General Duan, asks you to retreat immediately and quickly withdraw from Hengshan!"

Liang Li hurriedly asked, "What happened again?"

"The situation is not good, the main force of the Sui army has arrived. General Duan is worried that the retreat will be cut off, and hopes you can retreat."

Liang Li was also shocked. He suddenly remembered that they had only brought dry food for seven days and said to Cheng Duo urgently: "We must retreat immediately, otherwise we will be trapped in the valley."

Cheng Duo nodded and shouted to the marching Sima: "General Duan has an order, retreat immediately!"
Chapter completed!