To the south of Wuchang County are still endless hills and forests. The green water is winding like a jade belt, and farmlands are distributed between the green water and forests. Occasionally, a village will appear in the beautiful scenery.

Compared with the deserted south of Fushui, the population here has gradually gathered. In mid-spring, a vibrant scene appeared on the land of Jiangxia.

In a hilly area about 70 miles away from Wuchang County, a Tang army with about 8,000 people was marching south quickly. This Tang army was the eight thousand troops sent by Li Shenfu to support Li Xiaogong. The number of eight thousand people was not large or small. If there were fewer, the court would blame Li Shenfu for his poor rescue. If there were too many, Li Shenfu was worried that he would be surrounded and defeated by the Sui army.

The general who led these 8,000 people was Li Leishi. He was over thirty years old, tall and burly, with a square face and a stubborn face, and looked very powerful. He was one of Li Shenfu's confidant generals. The weapon he used was a green dragon slate, weighing about 70 kilograms, and was brave and good at fighting. He had fought fiercely with Xue Rengao for dozens of rounds in Longyou without deciding his victory.

Before leaving, the eight words that Li Shenfu repeatedly explained were "Be cautious and slow, and retreat when encountering obstacles." Li Leishi knew his lord's thoughts very well. The lord did not really want to rescue Li Xiaogong, but was forced to express it under pressure.

It was precisely because of Li Shenfu's statement that Li Leishi was particularly cautious. The army took two days to walk seventy miles, while Fushui was still three hundred miles away.

At this time, Deputy General Wu Ping stepped forward and whispered: "General, we have only brought dry food for seven days and we have to consider returning. If we continue like this, we may not be able to reach the rich water. Why don't we go to the mine to get some food!"

Green Tongshan is eighty miles southeast of their country, with 3,000 garrisons and tens of thousands of miners there, so food supply is not a problem.

Li Leishi shook his head, "The prince has an order not to lead the Sui army to the mine, and do not mention the matter of the mine."

"But our food"

"I know very well!"

Li Leishi interrupted him unhappily. He was about to explain that he would withdraw his troops tomorrow, but suddenly he remembered that except for himself, his generals did not know the prince's true attitude. Such things must not be known to the people below.

Li Leishi changed his statement, "General Wu sent scouts to the front to investigate, and I must be careful of the ambush of the Sui army. I will arrange other things."

"Abide by the orders!"

Wu Ping had no choice but to bow and arrange a scout.

The army continued to march. At afternoon, at least one hour before dusk, Li Leishi saw that there was a small wood next to the road, and the woods were still dry, so he ordered the soldiers to rest overnight. The soldiers were happy and rushed into the woods, looking for an ideal place to sleep.

Generally speaking, the army should not be too tired when marching. Getting up late and going to bed early is helpful to ensure the physical strength of soldiers, and can face the enemy's sneak attacks calmly. It is not too much to walk thirty or forty miles a day, and it is within the normal range.

But Li Leishi's army went to put out the fire, and Li Xiaogong's army could no longer support it. In this case, we should force our army, run day and night, and march more than a hundred miles a day. This is called emergency rescue.

Therefore, Li Leishi's leisurely march really puzzled many generals. Everyone was full of doubts, but they did not dare to ask more questions, so they had to communicate secretly. Everyone agreed that the prince was afraid that he wanted to protect himself.

After the soldiers had enough, they began to relax and fall asleep. At this time, dusk had already come, and there was an endless wilderness in the distance, and the sunset dyed the entire earth a layer of gorgeous red.

At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from a distance, and then a soldier shouted: "Discover the enemy's situation! Discover the enemy's situation!"

Li Lei Shiteng, who was just about to fall asleep on the stone slab, sat up and asked anxiously: "Where is the military information?"

At this time, the sentry on the tree also shouted, "I found the enemy situation in the distance!"

When they found that the news of the enemy situation spread throughout the army like the wind, the Tang army who were sleeping stood up one after another, and they were very nervous. However, the Sui army did not seem to have raided them. Many Tang soldiers saw that a long black line appeared in the wilderness several miles away, with at least thousands of cavalry.

"General, what should we do?" Wu Ping asked Li Lei Shidao nervously.

Li Leishi could not see the intentions of the Sui cavalry. If he wanted to fight with them, he could fight out now, but they did not move. Could it be

A thought popped up in Li Leishi's mind. Is the Sui army just warning them?

A hint of luck arose in his heart and immediately ordered: "Go north immediately!"

The order to withdraw the troops immediately spread throughout the army. The Tang soldiers quickly left the woods and retreated to the future. However, the Sui cavalry did not let them go, but continued to follow them, always keeping a distance of two miles from them.

The distance between two miles is a charge for the cavalry, and they are patiently staring at their prey, waiting for the opportunity to hunt.

The Tang army retreated ten miles northward. At this time, night had gradually come. Deputy General Wu Ping took the lead in reacting. He found Li Leishi and said anxiously: "General, the Sui army is waiting for darkness to attack!"

Li Leishi suddenly realized that if he had fought at night, he would probably have a lot of danger. He looked around and saw a hilly slope dozens of feet high on the left, covered with woods. Li Leishi immediately ordered: "Tell me my order, the army will go up the mountain!"

The eight thousand troops were led by Li Leishi and rushed up the mountain. This was a lonely hill with an area of ​​about a hundred acres on the top of the mountain, and it was not crowded with 8,000 soldiers. At this time, the Tang soldiers were no longer sleepy. They stood by the woods and set a bow and arrow, waiting for the battle.

At this time, several Sui cavalry rushed from all directions. Five cavalry gathered together, with as many as ten thousand people. Li Leishi's face turned a little pale. Only then did he realize that they had been surrounded by Sui cavalry before. If he had chosen to fight the Sui army fiercely at that time, they would probably have been attacked from all sides.

This made Li Leishi feel a little more gloomy. Fortunately, he ordered to go up the mountain in time, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. As for what to do after dawn tomorrow? He himself didn't know.

"General, before the enemy has completely surrounded us, send a scout to Wuchang for help!" Wu Ping persuaded again.

This time, Li Leishi accepted his suggestion. He wrote a simple letter, took out the military talisman and said to the two personal soldiers: "You two rushed to Wuchang immediately and ask the prince to come and rescue us."

"Abide by the order!"

The two personal soldiers took the letter and the token and put it in close contact. They turned over and ran towards the northeast corner where the Sui army had not yet closed. After a moment, they ran down the mountain and disappeared into the night.

This Sui cavalry of 10,000 people was led by Luo Cheng. His mission was to intercept reinforcements from Wuchang halfway. Luo Cheng was no longer Wuxia Among when he was just leading the troops. The past two or three years of war have gradually accumulated rich experience. The head coach Zhang Xuan did not order him what to do, but let him decide for himself.

Luo Cheng had the patience of a wolf, responded calmly, and did not rush to wipe out the enemy troops. He wanted to obtain as much spoil as possible to the greatest extent.

Luo Cheng's deputy general was named Xiao Jinyong. He was originally a general of Youzhou Army. He used a big sword weighing 70 kilograms, and was extremely brave. He was highly valued by Pei Xingyan. He gradually became promoted to the general of Huya. He was originally a general of Luo Yi, and now he was more natural to follow Luo Cheng.

Xiao Jinyong rode his horse to Luo Cheng and reported to him with his fists: "Report to General, the enemy's informant soldiers have broken through the siege and gone north."

Luo Cheng nodded and smiled at the generals on both sides and said, "Others are besieging the city and fighting aid, but we are surrounding the mountains and fighting aid. It would be best if Li Shenfu can bring his troops to rescue him, so we went directly to confiscate their nests."

Everyone laughed, and Xiao Jinyong asked, "General, what if Li Shenfu refused to send troops?"

Luo Cheng looked at the dark forest and said lightly: "Then I have to take their current food and drinks!"

………

"Dong!Dong!Dong!"

The drums were heard on both sides of Fushui. After a day of truce, the Tang army once again launched the battle to force the crossing of Fushui, and nearly 20,000 Tang soldiers joined the battle.

The north bank of Fushui also invested 20,000 Sui troops to intercept. The battle had been going on for half a day. The Tang army set up pontoon bridges twice in a row, but they failed. The water was covered with messy wood, and countless corpses were washed to the shore by the water, and the blacks were connected into a one-mile corpse line. The Tang army had killed more than 3,000 people.

"The fifth batch goes down the river!" The river crossing master Lu Shangzu shouted with a knife.

The fifth batch of Tang soldiers, about 3,000 people boarded hundreds of rafts of various sizes, and rushed to the other side of the river. At this time, the sound of clappers on the other side of the river sounded, and 20,000 arrows shot towards the river like heavy rain.

The Sui army gradually accumulated experience. Since the Tang army soldiers mainly lay on the raft, the direct crossbow arrows were not very effective in killing, but the stair bows were different. Since the stair bows were shot upwards in an oblique angle, the arrows fell down parabola and had extremely strong penetration, this posed a huge threat to the Tang army soldiers on the raft. Most of the Tang army soldiers died under the edge of the armor-breaking arrows.

As the arrows of the Sui soldiers fell like heavy rain, the Tang soldiers on the raft used shields to block their vital points. Leaving fate, countless arrows shot into the water, and screams sounded on the river surface. The shields could not block the whole body. Most of the soldiers in the middle were arrows on their buttocks and legs, and blood was gushing.

At this time, the sky became darker again, and the second round of 20,000 arrows shot in black, and the air seemed to be suffocating.

‘Dong-Dong-Dong-Dong-

The dull sound of the skin drums sounded, and the Sui soldiers on the shore stopped shooting, and hundreds of winding boats rushed towards the battlefield like arrows.
Chapter completed!