About ten miles north of Yangzhou City, there is a hill covered with lush forests. At the foot of the mountain is a large area of ​​farmland, and several small villages are scattered around the hills. Li Zhen was standing on the top of the hills and looking at Yangzhou City from afar. Yangzhou City is not far away. He could clearly see the tall city walls and closed city gates.

Behind him was a thousand Yangzhou local troops, commanded by a commander of a commander. They were originally under the command of Yangzhou prefect Lin Qing, but Lin Qing had temporarily handed over the military power to Li Zhen, and this army was currently under the full command of Li Zhen.

The commander's name is Zhuang Wentai, from Liaodong. He was about 40 years old. He has been a commander in Yangzhou for three years. He has a big beard, a burly figure and a rough appearance. But in fact, he is an extremely delicate person and is well-versed in official culture.

Although Zhuang Wentai is a fourth-rank military officer and is one level higher than Li Zhen's fifth-rank official rank, Zhuang Wentai is very clear in his heart that Li Zhen is the commander of the inner guard, directly under the command of the emperor, and there are two backstages of Shangguan Wan'er and Gao Yanfu. Such a celebrity in the court is not something he can meet at any time. As long as he can say a few good words to himself in front of the emperor, or give himself a few good words in the report, he will have a chance to be promoted.

It was precisely for this reason that Zhuang Wentai was particularly flattering to Li Zhen and carried out his orders without fail.

At this time, Li Zhen turned around and asked with a smile: "Is General Zhuang familiar with Li Yuanjia's army?"

Zhuang Wentai showed a look of embarrassment on his face. How could he say he was familiar with the rebels? He hesitated and smiled: "It's not familiar, it's just a little bit."

"How powerful does General Zhuang think they are?" Li Zhen asked with a smile.

Zhuang Wentai thought for a while and said, "This army was originally a warrior from the Xingtang Association, with about two or three hundred people. From the beginning of last year, Li Yuanjia began to expand the warriors of the Xingtang Association and recruited outlaws from all over the country. Later, the number of people increased. Many rascals from Yangzhou also joined his army, and the victims in Xuzhou area soon expanded to four or five thousand. The warriors became army. Anyway, there were many soldiers, and there were all kinds of people in the army. It was very complicated. Since last autumn, they have been training on Yangzi Island. Anyway, before the training, they were a group of mobs, and now it may be better."

Speaking of this, Zhuang Wentai said carefully: "Although they have weak combat power, there are many people, and we only have one thousand of them, so it is still a little difficult to fight with them."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Zhen smiled and said, "I won't fight with them, wait for an opportunity to attack."

After saying that, Li Zhen looked up at the sky again. It was already afternoon. Jiangyang County was not far away. If Li Yuanjia was eager to capture Yangzhou, he should have led his army to arrive.

At this moment, a man in black rushed towards the hill along the ridge of the field. Zhuang Wenzhong recognized the person and shouted, "It's our scout."

Li Zhen and other officers were both excited, and the scouts must have brought news from Li Yuanjia.

After a moment, the scout ran up the mountain road to the top of the mountain. He turned over and dismounted and reported on one knee: "Report to Commander Li, Li Yuanjia, leading his army is coming to Yangzhou City, less than fifteen miles away from Yangzhou City."

"How many people are there?" Li Zhen asked anxiously again.

"About 5,000 people"

Zhuang Wenzhong was breathing in a breath. Li Yuanjia was out. He turned his eyes and whispered to Li Zhen: "Commander Li, Li Yuanjia is quite indifferent to the enemy. I think Jiangyang County must be an empty city."

Li Zhen understood what he meant, pondered for a moment, and smiled and said, "I have an idea."

He whispered a few words to Zhuang Wenzhong, and Zhuang Wenzhong immediately praised: "Good plan."

He turned around and waved his hand, "First Battalion and Second Battalion follow me."

Zhuang Wenzhong led 500 soldiers down the hill from another path and headed towards Jiangyang County. Li Zhen looked back at the remaining 500 soldiers, and looked towards Yangzhou City. He secretly prayed in his heart, "I hope Yangzhou City can stay tonight."

On the official road of Jiangyang County passing through Yangzhou, Li Yuanjia was wearing a golden helmet and a golden armor and rode on a Dayuan horse. Although he was old and his hair and beard were white, he was still stronger and stronger, holding a big knife in his hand, looking majestic.

Behind him, a group of soldiers were running in line, full of expectations for the huge wealth of Yangzhou City. In order to understand the army's wishes, Li Yuanjia shouted loudly: "Go into Yangzhou City, take three days off, work hard, you guys, the time to get rich."

The morale of the army was even more encouraging and accelerated its running pace. Li Yuanjia did lead the army out in full swing. He knew very well that the army led by Lou Shide was on the way to Yangzhou. He didn't have much time and had to take Yangzhou. Taking Yangzhou as the foundation, he ordered the world to raise an army to fight against the military.

Li Jingye occupied Yangzhou first, and there were only a few thousand troops when he launched an army, but in just half a month, the army quickly expanded to more than 100,000 people, and defeated Li Xiaoyi's vanguard in the battle of Runzhou.

Li Yuanjia thought of himself again. Although he only had 5,000 troops, Yangzhou had a large population. As long as he took Yangzhou first, it would be no problem to recruit 70,000 to 80,000 troops with the money and grain of Yangzhou. While Lou Shide only had 30,000 troops, he fought by himself and was sure to win.

Zhuang Wenzhong thought that Li Yuanjia underestimated the enemy, but Li Yuanjia did not think so. The key is that Yangzhou prefect Lin Qing had secretly surrendered to him, so Yangzhou City was within reach.

At this time, there were still ten miles away from Yangzhou City, and you could already vaguely see the dark walls of Yangzhou. Li Yuanjia was even more excited. At this time, the eldest son Li Xun丨 urged the horse to catch up with his father and said, "Father, the child has something to say."

Li Yuanjia stopped the war horse. He didn't like the eldest son very much. He had too many concerns and lacked the ability to cut off the killing. He asked unhappily: "What's the matter?"

"Father, the child thinks it's not good to put the whole army in. There are almost no soldiers or soldiers in Jiangyang County, and we don't have much food. If someone tramples the way back and captures Jiangyang County, our situation will be worrying."

"Of course I know"

Li Yuanjia severely scolded his son and said, "We don't have many troops, so of course we have to concentrate our forces to seize the city. After capturing Yangzhou City, we will go back to Jiangyang. Don't bother me anymore."

My father's attitude was very harsh. Li Xun丨 was so scared that he didn't dare to say more, so he could only slowly retreat. His brother Li Chen ran past him and snorted disdainfully, "I'm afraid of wolves in front and tigers in the back. What big thing can I do?"

Li Yuanjia heard this sentence, and he praised loudly: "Well, how can you cherish your life when doing big things?"

Li Xun丨 with a flushed face, turning around and urging the horse to the back army. He was originally a weak scholar, obsessed with calligraphy and painting, but now he is trying to rebel with his father. How could he not be worried and afraid? Compared to the passion of his father and brothers, he was much calmer. Seeing that his father was determined to do whatever he wanted, he could only sigh in his heart and not want to say another word.

Li Yuanjia led a large army to fight towards Yangzhou City. At this time, the prefect Lin Qing and the generals were looking at the flying dust in the distance. Everyone was particularly heavy in their hearts. Li Yuanjia finally came to fight.

"Prefect Lin"

Zhao Qiuniang walked forward quickly and said to him: "I have an idea. Can I show weakness first and lure Li Yuanjia into the urn city?"

Lin Qing didn't say anything. He knew that if he wanted to lure Li Yuanjia into the city, he had to go down to greet him, so that Li Yuanjia would be fooled. However, he would have too much risk to do so, and he didn't want to take risks with himself.

Zhao Wenchu ​​understood Lin Qing's difficulties and said on the side: "Zhao Zhengwei doesn't know anything. Li Yuanjia is extremely cunning. If he wants to enter the city, a thousand state soldiers must first go out of the city to surrender, otherwise he will not be fooled. But our state soldiers are not in the city, so--"

Seeing that they refused to accept their plans, Zhao Qiuniang couldn't help but feel annoyed and said, "Since that's the case, we will set up an empty city plan, open the south city gate, and stop the drums. All the archers ambushed on the top of the city to see if he can come in."

This plan is acceptable, Lin Qing said happily: "This plan is feasible, everything is decided by Captain Zhao."

He and Zhao Wenchu ​​went down the city first, and Zhao Qiuniang immediately ordered: "All the banners and soldiers are hidden for me, and all the archers are concentrated around the urn city."

Teams of soldiers who had just been armed took action, the war drums stopped, the battle flags fell to the ground, and the soldiers were hiding behind the city walls. Di Yan, who had just been appointed as the commander of the archers, commanded three thousand archers to ambush on both sides of the urn.

Di Yan was very nervous. She originally led only fifty archers, but because the archers she led performed well, the queue was neat and the morale was high. More importantly, Lin Qing heard Zhao Wenchu ​​mention that her father was Di Renjie, and Lin Qing suggested that Di Yan lead the three thousand archers, but Di Yan did not refuse and took the order happily.

Three thousand archers should be distributed near the four gates of the city, but considering that Li Yuanjia has not had many troops, they are likely to concentrate on attacking one gate, and most likely to be Nancheng, Di Yan concentrated all three thousand archers in Nancheng.

This is the first time she has led so many people. At first, there is no excitement. Now she is only nervous. She has no experience at all. She can only lead the troops by intuition. When she saw the three thousand soldiers squatting behind the city wall, she called several bangzi soldiers to her side and sent an order: "Transfer my orders one by one. Only when you hear the bangzi sound can you shoot arrows. Whoever dares to shoot arrows in advance will I kill him."

The soldiers passed her orders one by one, and she didn't know what they finally became.

Di Yan held a bow and arrow in her hand and rolled the strings, her heart was pounding with nervousness. At this moment, she hoped that Li Zhen would be by her side and give her a support.

Li Yuanjia's army finally arrived at the south city, and saw that the suspension bridge had been lowered on the wide moat, the city gate was wide open, but there was no figure in the city cave and on the city wall.

Li Yuanjia was very puzzled. What's going on? It's not like welcoming himself into the city or turning himself out of the city. Did all the officials and soldiers in Yangzhou City run away?

"Father, we don't have siege weapons. Let's take advantage of the city gates now and seize the opportunity to break in." Li Chen said anxiously.

Li Yuanjia hesitated for a while, but he still didn't dare to take this risk. He turned around and said to a general Lang: "General Zhou, you can lead the headquarters to the city first. If you take down the city, I will reward you with 3,000 taels of gold."

The general was also a little worried, but for the sake of three thousand taels of gold, he decided to risk entering the city. He turned around and waved his sword, "My sons, come into the city with me."

A thousand soldiers in armor ran out of the team with spears in their hands and followed the Lang General toward the city gate. Everyone's eyes were focused on this team of thousands of people. Whether they could capture Yangzhou City was in one fell swoop.
Chapter completed!