After a summer rain, the weather quickly became stuffy, and there were still undry raindrops hanging on the leaves, which were particularly dazzling under the direct sunlight. The summer cicadas were moistened by the rain and dew, and the screams became louder. The heat on the earth was steaming, which was unbearable.

This summer is particularly hot. The old man said that it was because too many people died in war and the resentment could not be dispelled.

Weishi County, the northernmost part of Yingchuan County, is also a large plain area. However, one or two hills will occasionally pop up on the plain, adding a bit of scenery to the monotonous plain scenery.

About a dozen places west of Weishi County, there is a three-mile hill called Heminggang. Legend has it that an immortal crane dances and sings on the hill and is named after it.

The hill is a hundred feet high, with a long gully in the middle. The trees are deep inside, and the springs are gurgling. A thousand-year-old tree as high as ten feet tall rises into the sky. The tree is straight and the canopy is like a cover, which is particularly eye-catching.

At this time, in the ravine, a group of war horses were standing quietly by the stream drinking water and eating grass. Under the trees not far from the stream, there were more than a dozen tired Sui soldiers lying everywhere. Most of the soldiers' helmets were covering their faces and they were already asleep.

This is a Sui army scout composed of twenty people. Their mission is to investigate the information of the Tang army in Weishi County. The 80,000 main forces of the Tang army have advanced to the north of Yingchuan County, and the Tang army scouts have entered Xingyang County.

The current situation is that the Tang army controlled Yingchuan County, while the Sui army controlled Xingyang County. The two forces intertwined on the borders of the two counties, forming a confrontation. When detecting the deployment of the other side's troops, this became the main task of the scouts of the two armies.

This Sui army scout had been searching for Weishi County for three days. All signs showed that there should be an enemy army in Weishi County. Now the scouts suspected that this Tang army was in the county town.

Due to the abnormal heat, the scouts of the Sui army hid in the morning and walked at night, rested during the day and saved their energy, and went out to patrol at night.

The scout leader was a brigade coach named Zhao. Because he shouldered heavy responsibilities, he could not rest and fall asleep like the soldiers. He leaned against a big tree and was refining the results of the two days of investigation.

Suddenly, the charcoal pen in his hand stopped. He found that their investigation had missed a place, that is, Chenjia Village in the northwest. Three hills were arranged in triangles, covering Chenjia Village in it, with a radius of about ten miles.

Zhao Lushuai frowned slightly. He was recalling why he gave up on investigation of Chenjia Village. After a while, he remembered that it was because he discovered a Tang army patrol at that time. They temporarily evacuated to prevent being discovered by the patrol.

Since there are Tang army patrols there, it is very likely that Chenjia Village will also be stationed in the army.

At this moment, a sentry on the big tree shouted: "Lu Shuai Lang, the others are back!"

Soon, two young men, who looked like businessmen, walked into the ravines. They were also scouts of the Sui army and were ordered to pretend to be businessmen to go to the county town to investigate the situation. Zhao Lushuai stood up and greeted him, "What's the situation in the county town?"

A scout said: "There is no main force of the Tang army, only a few hundred garrisons."

Zhao Lushuai frowned. If there were no troops in the county town, then the Tang army would be in Chenjia Village. He could not wait for the night and immediately ordered: "Everyone gets up and sets off immediately!"

A quarter of an hour later, twenty Sui army scouts rode out of the ravine and rushed northwest.

.........

The place where Chenjia Village is located is called Sanlonggang. The three hills are arranged in an irregular triangle. There is a large open mouth in the northwest direction. In the middle is a plain covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. There is a village at the foot of the mountain at the edge of the plain.

This village is called Chenjia Village. There were originally more than 200 families, but in the eighth year of Daye, they were plundered by two gangs and became a deserted village.

In the past two years, as forces in various places no longer plunder and kill as before, they began to know how to release water to raise fish. Some villagers who fled to foreign lands have returned one after another, and the mountain village has gradually gained some vitality and has now recovered to fifty families.

But in the past few days, a Tang army was stationed next to the village. The huge camp dwarfed the small village. There were 10,000 Tang troops stationed in this camp, led by Mao Wenli, the general under Li Xiaogong.

The scouts of the Sui army had already touched a hill. They were condescending to them and could clearly see the Tang army camp. Zhao Lushuai was carefully counting the tents and estimating the area of ​​the camp. From these details, they could roughly infer the scale of the Tang army.

As night fell, twenty Sui army scouts quickly left the hills under the cover of the night. They divided their troops into two groups. Several scouts returned to report, while Zhao Lushuai continued to lead the rest of his brothers to monitor the movements of the Tang army.

...........

The main camp of the Sui army was located about 80 miles south of Guancheng County. Just two days ago, General Niu Jinda led 10,000 troops from Dongjun to join Li Jing's army under the order of Qin Qiong. In addition, there were thousands of surrendered troops in Guancheng County, which made Li Jing's total strength reach more than 45,000.

However, there were three thousand troops divided into three thousand troops to guard Hulao Pass, as well as some troops to defend Guancheng, Xingyang and other counties. Currently, there are 40,000 troops in the Sui army camp.

Li Jing was fully responsible for the Eastern Front. He divided the Eastern Front into two steps. The first step was to seize and consolidate Hulao Pass and stabilize the defense.

Until Yang Yuanqing led the main force of the Sui army to cross the river and forced Li Shimin to leave Luoyang, Li Jing led his army south to start his second strategy.

In the central army's tent, Li Jingzheng and Luo Shixin, Wang Junkuo, Niu Jinda, Cheng Yaojin and other generals discussed military information. A sand table was placed in the tent.

Li Jing pointed to the northwest corner of Yuchi County with a wooden pole and said to the generals: "I just received a report from the scout that a camp of more than 10,000 Tang troops were found in this basin called Sanlonggang. This is the closest Tang army to us, less than fifty miles apart. What do you think?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Wang Junkuo said: "Sir, I will think that this Tang army is hidden very deeply. Perhaps it is to seize our retreat, attack Guancheng County, and cut off our supply of food and grass."

Seeing that Luo Shixin was about to speak but stopped, Li Jing asked with a smile: "What do General Luo have any ideas?"

Luo Shixin smiled and said, "Maybe I was thinking a little dark. I think this is the Tang army's plan to divide the troops."

"General Luo, please continue!"

Luo Shixin took the wooden pole and pointed at Xuchang County. "The main force of the Tang army is located in Xuchang County, about 60 miles away from us. There is no need for them to divide another 10,000 troops to go to Weishi County. Now our biggest problem is that the force is only half of them. If we divide another 10,000 troops to deal with the Tang army in Yushi County, then our main force is only 30,000 troops, and the opponent's main force is 70,000 troops, and the advantage is more obvious. So I think this is the Tang army's strategy to divide the troops."

Li Jing nodded and asked Niu Jinda and Cheng Yaojin again, "What are the two generals' thoughts?"

Niu Jinda is relatively silent and very opinionated. Although Luo Shixin made a lot of sense, he still sticks to his ideas.

"The last general believes that the Tang army stationed 10,000 troops in Weishi County to restrain us from going south. Once our main force goes south to Xuchang and confront the Tang army, the Tang army in Wanweishi County will surround us, not only cut off the food route, but also form a force of attacking from north to south, and we will be very passive."

As soon as Niu Jinda finished speaking, Cheng Yaojin opened his voice and shouted: "I haven't done anything for a long time to discuss it. I've gathered here to keep farting. Since I've found out, then go and fight! Forty thousand to ten thousand, beat it, and piss it off!"

Although Cheng Yaojin's words were rough, his reason was not rough. However, his broken voice and sharp words aroused everyone's anger and they glared at him together.

Li Jing felt a little overwhelmed, and then he understood why every time he discussed military affairs, the general manager sent this guy out. His stinky mouth was really annoying.

"This... General Cheng, you can't say that. If we can't see through the enemy's intentions and fight rashly, what should we do? The main force of the enemy is not far from us. This is probably their plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, so we can't take it lightly."

Cheng Yaojin smiled, "I just made a suggestion. The chief minister felt it was inappropriate and just didn't accept it."

At this time, Wang Junguo said in a deep voice: "The chief minister does not need to worry. He only has three thousand cavalrymen to defeat the Tang army in Weishi County. If he cannot win, he will come to see him!"

Luo Shixin also proudly requested an order, "Sir, I only have three thousand cavalrymen, and I am willing to issue a military order."

Li Jing glanced at the two of them and smiled and said, "General Luo has made contributions to Hulao Pass, so let this battle be handed over to General Wang!"

He said to Wang Junkuo again: "According to the general's words, I will give you three thousand elite cavalry. If you cannot defeat the Tang army of Weishi County, I don't want your head. I remember you will be defeated once."

Wang Junguo clasped his fists and said, "The last one will obey the order!"

Half an hour later, Wang Junguo ordered three thousand elite Sui cavalry, rushed out of the camp gate like a strong wind, and rushed towards Weishi County.

......

The main camp of the Tang army was located in the north of Xuchang County, about 60 miles away from the Sui army camp. Li Xiaogong led 80,000 Xiangyang Tang army to send troops for nearly twenty days.

For Li Xiaogong, his northward trip to the Central Plains was also divided into three steps. The first step was to consolidate the two counties of Huai'an and Runan, and replace the officials of the two counties with Tang officials to ensure the Tang Dynasty's control over the two counties.

The second step was to go north to Yingchuan County and strive to occupy Yingchuan County. This was also the bottom line given to him by the court. The troops advanced to the Central Plains and occupied the south of Yingchuan County.

After nearly half a month of hard work, his army has occupied most of Yingchuan County and is advancing steadily northward. If they can defeat the Sui army, they can also occupy Xingyang County and reach the south bank of the Yellow River.

Of course, Li Xiaogong also knew that he would encounter a tough counterattack from the Sui army. If he was a little careless, he would not even protect Yingchuan County.

In the afternoon, Li Xiaogong wrote a military memorial to the emperor in his big tent. This was also a task assigned to him by the emperor. He had to write one every three days. Li Xiaogong had only the right to deploy combat but no strategic decision-making power.

Including Li Shimin, he had no strategic decision-making power, and major strategic decisions must be reported to Emperor Li Yuan. For example, Li Shimin's decision to stop attacking Luoyang and withdraw Hongnong County in the west must be implemented with Li Yuan's consent.

At this point, the Sui army had a clear advantage. Yang Yuanqing personally directed the entire battle, and he could quickly make some strategic decisions based on changes in the situation.

It was when Li Xiaogong was holding a pen and pondering, and a personal soldier outside the tent reported: "Report to the prince, the old general Qu Tu has something to ask for a meeting!"
Chapter completed!