The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 947 Accidental Victory
At the same time when Li Zhongwen led a main force of 500 troops and many auxiliary units to march towards Yanting County, Xincheng County, a Sui army of about [-] people appeared in Xishui County. These were elite soldiers belonging to the Sixth Army. Ordered by the coach Xue Wanjun to go north secretly, the purpose is to monitor Li Zhongwen's every move and provide Xue Wanjun with the most accurate information so that he can plan the next military action.

Yu Zhan is the leader of this elite team. They used climbing tools to cut bends and straighten, and shuttled directly between the mountains. It took only three days to reach Xishui County. Because the marching route was secret, it was Neither the woodcutter nor the mountain folk knew of their existence.

They hid in an inaccessible valley, only twenty miles away from the Xishui Camp of the Tang Army.

The valley was very quiet at this time. Except for the necessary patrols, most of the soldiers were taking the time to rest. Only when they had enough energy could they complete the following tasks with strong physical strength and full spirit.

Two sentries on a leafy tree at the entrance of the valley suddenly found three figures running towards this side. They immediately raised their crossbow arrows and aimed at the figures that were getting closer. When the uninvited guest approached, the two sentries recognized one of them. The two were the spies they sent out last night, but the other was wearing a rough jacket and looked very strong, like a mountain villager.

The sentry found out that it was one of them, put down the crossbow and whistled, and the spies who stopped at the sound waved to them, and then pointed to the valley, which meant that they wanted to report to the valley, and a sentry immediately shot an arrow into the valley, Not long after, several soldiers rushed out and brought the spies and the mountain people into the valley.

In a hidden corner of the valley, there is only a small tent for marching. They travel lightly, and it is not appropriate to carry too much supplies. This small tent is only used for command and decision-making. Yu Zhan is drawing a route on the map in the small tent. His There are two tasks, one is to closely monitor Li Zhongwen, and the other is to choose an opportunity to harass the Tang army's grain road, so that Li Zhongwen's army cannot obtain sufficient supplies. Although there are not many soldiers under his command, everyone's combat effectiveness is extremely high. At least 500 people can be used, and he thinks it should be no problem to harass Tang Junliang.

At this time, a soldier reported outside the account, "General, Shang Deng is back."

Shang Deng is an experienced scout brigade commander who was sent by Yu Zhan to investigate the situation of the enemy camp.Hearing that he had returned, Yu Zhan said quickly, "Let him in."

After a while, Shang Deng followed the messenger into the big tent and saluted. "For a humble position, see the general."

Yu Zhan was not polite to him either, and immediately asked, "How is the situation in the Tang army's camp? Have you heard any news?"

Shang Deng quickly replied: "General, Li Zhongwen led the main force to advance to the southwest at noon today. There are about [-] shi of food in the camp, and the deputy general Pilou Wuche led [-] soldiers to guard it closely."

"Where did Tang Jun's grain come from?" Yu Zhan was a little surprised. If Tang Jun could transport more than 6 shi of grain from Shu County to Xishui County in a short period of time, it would really make him feel unbelievable. The water transportation network is similar; is there a transportation force in Brazil County that I don't know about?

"Reporting to the general, I have found a woodcutter who has lived near the Xishui camp for a long time. He is more familiar with the situation of the Tang army."

"Where are the people?"

"It's just outside the tent."

"Bring him to me quickly."

"Here." Shang Deng went out and brought a young mountain man, who saluted and said, "Caomin Guanshan pays homage to the general."

"Guan Zhuang is free." Yu Zhan asked him to stand up, and asked in a harmonious voice, "Where is Guan Zhuang from?"

"Caomin is a native of Feishan Village, Xishui County, who earns his living by collecting firewood."

Yu Zhan asked again: "Guan Zhuangshi, do you know where Tang Jun's food is shipped from?"

Guan Shan said uncertainly: "It is estimated that it was transported from Langnei County. I heard that General Zhang Shigui put the grain in Langnei County before. After he left Brazil, he did not have time to transport the grain."

Only then did Yu Zhan suddenly realize that Zhang Shigui was originally the governor of Brazil's governor's office. Qinghua and Tongchuan under his jurisdiction belonged to the front line. It would be very unsafe to set up the logistics in these two counties. If they will fall into the predicament of having no food to eat, they will simply be placed in Langnei County. As long as they are transported from here to Huacheng County, Qinghua County, they can go north to Changchi, Qinghuabian County through Dangqu Water, and go south to Tongchuan. With the convenience of Langshui and Xihanshui, food can be sent to Pu'an, Yicheng, and Shunzheng in the north through these two waters, and supplies can be obtained from Dangqu and Fuling in the south. Langnei was a shrewd choice that could achieve multiple goals at one stroke. From this arrangement alone, it can be seen that Zhang Shigui is not an easy character.

Thinking of this, he asked again: "Are there any shortcuts from here to Xishui Daying besides the official road?"

Guan Shan said: "There are still a few small mountain roads that are difficult to walk. They need to climb rocks. Animals can't walk at all. If there are too many things, even people can't take them."

After hearing this, Yu Zhan was immediately overjoyed. As long as there is a path to go, he can sneak to Tang Jun's Xishui camp.

Guan Shan glanced at Shang Deng, and then whispered: "The general asked me yesterday if there was a way to climb to the top of the camp. At that time, I said no, but I just saw the picture drawn by the general, and suddenly thought of a mountain road to climb to the top of the barracks."

Yu Zhan was taken aback, and then a very bold thought flashed through him.

. . . . . .

The logistics center of the Brazilian Tang army used to be in Langnei County, but as everything around it fell into the enemy's hands, Langnei, the county government, has become unsafe. Instead, it also funded the Sui army.For safety reasons, Li Zhongwen simply transported the grain from Langnei to Xishui County, and set up the logistics camp to the west of Xishui.

The camp is backed by a steep mountain, the mountain is like a knife, and the wall stands thousands of feet. There is also a stone wall with a radius of several tens of feet hanging above the camp like a huge blue tile, so this mountain is called Wawu Mountain.However, shrubs and vines are overgrown on the stone wall, and the woods are dense.

At three o'clock, Guan Shan brought Yu Zhan and his team to the top of the stone wall, pointed to the cliff in front, and whispered to Yu Zhan, "General, the Tang army camp is below."

After finishing speaking, he pointed to the forest in front of him and continued to introduce: "Going south from the forest in front of us, you can bypass Xishui County and enter Jincheng County directly."

"Thank you Guan Zhuang." Yu Zhan said, and walked to the edge of the cliff by the moonlight, grabbed an old mountain vine, tried it, and then slowly leaned forward and looked down, his whole body was lying on the cliff , everyone including Guan Shan broke into a cold sweat for Yu Zhan, it was too dangerous.

But Yu Zhanyi was brave enough to look down without any fear. His eyesight was extraordinary, and he saw a pitch-black tent below. Occasionally, he saw some torches, which complemented the moonlight, so that Yu Zhan could clearly see the surrounding area. There is a circle of camp fences.

They had observed it during the day, and there were hundreds of large tents and houses built of giant trees in the innermost part. These should be the grain tents and grain depots of the Tang army. There are sentinels patrolling back and forth on the outermost side. It is no exaggeration to say that they are heavily guarded.

But the Tang army seemed to only care about what was within the range of the eyes. It didn't mean that danger could fall from the top of their heads. Maybe they thought there was no way to go up the mountain, or maybe it was because the Sui army didn't take down the surrounding counties of Xishui. They couldn't go so far, but tonight, one of the most elite Sui army appeared above their heads.

Yu Zhan's original goal was not the Tang army's grain camp, but the grain road that came and went, but the opportunity was right in front of him, so naturally he would not give up easily.

After watching it for a while, Yu Zhan went back to the woods and asked the soldiers to take out ten rope net bags, and then asked the soldiers to take out balls of dried algae from their rucksacks. These they brought were first soaked in lamp oil for three days , and then took it out to dry, it has become soft and dry, not only easy to catch fire, but also resistant to fire, each soldier brought a hundred regiments, compacted and put them in the rucksack.

When a thousand balls of dry algae are put into ten rope net bags, they become ten big round balls.

Yu Zhan said: "Although launching rockets has the same effect, it also exposed our whereabouts. Instead of these ten big fireballs, Tang Jun has no idea what is going on. As long as we throw the fireballs down, it will be a cliff. The Tang army camp below, even if the mountain wind blows away, it will fall within the camp, and we must retreat immediately if we succeed or fail."

When everything was busy, everyone pushed ten big balls to the edge of the cliff. A soldier lit the big balls with a torch. The flames spread rapidly, and then Yu Zhan threw them down the cliff one by one. Evacuate deep into the woods.

……

"Look, everyone, what is that?" At this time, a group of Tang troops was patrolling under the cliff, and a soldier suddenly saw ten fireballs falling from the sky, and shouted in shock.

In fact, there is no need to remind, the others have seen it too. After all, these ten big fireballs are too eye-catching. They all saw ten big fireballs falling one after another. The small fireballs fell on the big tent.

This is the net bag of the big fireball was burned by the raging flames in mid-air. When the mountain wind blew, the oil-soaked and dried algae inside were scattered and fell. Heaven fell.

As countless small fireballs fell, dozens of large tents in the camp were ignited one after another.

The wind assisted the fire, and the fire borrowed the power of the wind. The fire spread rapidly, and the flames rose into the air in an instant. The fire swallowed the food and materials in the tent and spread to the surroundings.

"It's so noisy outside, what happened?" Pilou Wuche, the general of the Tang army who was falling asleep, was pushed awake and asked in a daze.

The soldiers shouted very anxiously: "General, something is wrong. Our barracks caught fire, and the fire has spread to the entire grain camp."

"What?" Pilo Wuche was so shocked that he didn't even bother to put on his shoes, so he ran out of the tent with bare feet to watch. He saw that the fire in the inner camp was raging, and the blazing fire engulfed the entire grain camp. Many soldiers were terrified. Shouting and running back and forth to put out the fire, but soon, even the barracks were ignited by the engulfing fire. The stunned Pilo Wuche was at a loss for a while, and even forgot to give the order to fight the fire.

At this moment, I heard the soldiers shouting in panic, but it turned out that a large burning tent was blown up by the strong wind and was rushing towards Pilou Wuche. The soldiers hurriedly pulled Pilou Wuche away. Run, the flying tent just covered the main entrance of the Chinese military tent, and the Chinese military tent was completely engulfed by the fire without any surprise.

After running for a hundred steps, Pilo Wuche finally recovered from the shock. Seeing that the fire was about to engulf the entire barracks, he shouted anxiously: "The fire is too big, you don't have to do useless work, everyone leave the barracks." , retreat to a safe place for me."

At this moment, the soldiers of the Tang army also realized that they were powerless, and they withdrew out of the camp one after another. Pilo Wuche and his soldiers escaped from the camp step by step, but there were still more than a thousand people who approached the grain camp and slept soundly. Zhengxiang's soldiers were unable to escape and were burned to death in the barracks.

On a safe high ground outside the camp, thousands of soldiers stared blankly at the raging fire that engulfed the grain camp and the military camp.

But all their military rations, military resources, and equipment were all burned. What about the army that has already set off?What should they do?
"See the general for humble rank." A group of patrolling soldiers was quickly brought in front of Pilo Wuche. They were the first to discover the fire and ring the bell as a warning.

"What exactly did you see, I will tell you in detail!" Pilo Wuche's sharp eyes patrolled the sentinels back and forth. Their precautions were very strict, and no one was allowed to bring fire into the grain camp. Soldiers who are patrolling the grain camp have to go through the inspection of his direct descendants before they can enter, and the barracks are not even allowed to light lamps while sleeping, and even the meals are prepared ten miles away by the Huotou army, and then sent to the camp. , Why did it catch fire for no reason?Moreover, it was the internal grain camp that caught fire first, which made Pilo Wuche really puzzled.

The sentinel team was whispering: "Reporting to the general, I only saw ten balls of fire falling from the sky, and then scattered in all directions, one after another sprinkled on the tents of the grain camp, and then a big fire broke out."

Pilo Wuche didn't quite believe it, so he asked some witnesses who were sent in one after another, and everyone's statements were similar, so he couldn't help but not believe it.So I raised my head and looked up to the Yinghong mountain. There were cliffs in the middle that could not be climbed, and dense forests at the top, but there was no way to go on it. Who could climb it?

"General, there are often clusters of gloomy and faint blue will-o'-the-wisps in the cemetery. This kind of will-o'-the-wisp will scatter when it burns." A Tang deputy general came to Pilou Wuche's side and said in a low voice: "Soldiers The description is very similar to this kind of ghost fire. Could it be that this thing is causing trouble?"

Pilo Wuche shook his head: "I also know about will-o'-the-wisps, and I've seen them more than once, but although that kind of fire looks very scary, it can't even burn dry grass, let alone a tent. Someone must have set the fire on purpose."

The deputy general asked suspiciously: "Who could it be? And where did it start?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?" Pilou Wuche said angrily. Although he believed that the fire was man-made, but now there is no basis, and it is impossible to judge who set the fire. After a long thought, he turned around. He told a general: "Send more soldiers to search for all useful clues, and don't miss any news. Be sure to find out the truth for me."

"The last general obeys." The general hurried to make arrangements.

Pilo Wuche looked at the grain and military camps that had been completely engulfed by the fire, and his face became more and more ugly: the governor entrusted himself with the heavy responsibility of guarding the grain, but as soon as the army left during the day, the logistics area turned into ashes at night, so what about him? Explain to the governor?What did Tang Jun eat in Brazil?

The raging fire also spread the situation here tens of miles away through the flames. The [-] soldiers of the Sui army who were descending the mountain saw the red half of the sky, and they all smiled happily. I was so excited that I jumped up and was pleasantly surprised by this unexpected fire.

With such a fire, even if Tang Jun didn't let the fire burn out completely, the food and military supplies would probably be burned.

This is definitely an unexpected victory that even he could not have imagined.

……

At the same time, the large tent of the Chinese army in the Sui army camp in Nanchong was also brightly lit. The chief general here was General Youwuwei of the Great Sui Dynasty and Xue Wanjun, Duke of Tengguo.

In the attack on Tongchuan and Dangqu this time, in addition to using the [-] elite troops of the Sixth Army, he also brought [-] slave soldiers. When the army is fighting, it is more for the armies of all parties to contain the three main forces of the Tang army, Li Zhongwen, Zhang Shigui, and Hou Junji, so that they can fight with their hands tied. This tiger must be taken into account.

Of course, his current army is more than 2, and there are more than [-] extra soldiers. Although these soldiers are not elite soldiers, it is not a problem to build up his momentum and carry his luggage.It's just that they have no military discipline at all, and they need to be reorganized before they can be put into use, otherwise, they may escape cleanly.

Xue Wanjun handed over the reorganization to Su Dingfang, who had no combat mission for the time being, and at the same time gave him [-] slaves to guard Qingshi County in Suining in the name of the Sixth Army's partial division, and let Shi Jin and Dugu, who had been assigned to him, Qing Yun led [-] main forces and [-] slave soldiers to attack Changjiang County. He himself led [-] main forces and [-] slave soldiers to sit in Nanchong. Eat your stomach.

Xue Wanjun's camp is located on a highland in the northeast of Nanchong County. This is the intersection of Nanchong, Xiangru, Nanbu and Jincheng counties. A few hundred steps away is the official road to Xiangru County in the east. He set up the camp in Here, Li Gaoqian's headquarters in Xiangru County can be defended, and it is not far from Li Zhongwen's headquarters. The scouts have sent definite information that Li Zhongwen has led [-] main forces to the south, preparing to attack Yanting County, a new city from the southern county.

Among them, the former general of the army is Li Sixing, the general of the left guard, with a total strength of 5000. His vanguard is [-] elite soldiers led by Xu Shixu. They marched extremely fast and have already entered Jincheng County. They will reach the south at the latest by tomorrow evening. county.

In the big tent, Xue Wanjun was discussing the battle plan with Dugu Yanyun, Yu Qinming, He Lan Shiren, Da Xi'an and others.

These people were all from the Beizhen Army. Li Jing transferred them away from the Beizhen Army he led, not only to dilute the feelings between soldiers and generals, to cut off the communication between them, but also to make up for Xue Wanjun's lack of generals.

They have reached a consensus on concentrating their forces to annihilate the enemy, but there is still no consensus on the direction of the advance. Some people advocate attacking Changjiang County first to cut off Zhang Zhen's retreat, and then unite with Huang Junhan to annihilate him in Tongquan County, Xincheng, and open up the gap between the two armies. connect;

Some people advocated concentrating the troops, taking down Li Gaoqian's headquarters in Xiangru County first, and then turning around to deal with Li Zhongwen. There was absolutely enough time, and there was no need to worry about the safety of the right wing.

There are also opinions that directly attack Li Zhongwen's army. As long as the main force in Brazil is completely wiped out, then Li Gaoqian, Zhang Zhen's troops, and the troops of the counties and counties will be in chaos without fighting, which will lay a good foundation for the Sui army to easily unify Brazil and the two counties of Xincheng. Foundation.

Xue Wanjun pondered for a long time, and then said slowly: "There are Generals Shi and General Dugu leading an army of [-] to attack in Changjiang County. The possibility of breaking the city is very high. There is no terrain for the army to form a position, so the plan to attack Changjiang County first can be ruled out first."

"The general is wise, the last general is short-sighted." After hearing Xue Wanjun's method of elimination, even the three giants Da Xi'an, Tian Jin and Yi Xian who held this opinion were also sincerely convinced.

The biggest difference between military commanders and civilian officials is that they are upright, sensible, and rarely engage in intrigue.Although Xue Wanjun abandoned their idea, there was a reason for it, so Da Xi'an, Tian Jin, and Yi Xian who advocated capturing Changjiang County were not unhappy because of his opposition, but accepted it humbly.

Xue Wanjun said to Qin Ming again: "If Yu Zhan succeeds, it will at least help us contain Li Zhongwen's rear army for two days, and provide us with a guarantee of time to eat Li Gaoxing. Li Gaoqian, who is like a city as a barrier, is undoubtedly more difficult to deal with. I am worried that Xiangru County will not be able to fight for a long time, which will give Li Zhongwen and Li Sixing a chance to retreat again. Therefore, I think it is better to directly attack Li Sixing, and use cavalry to cut off their attack Back off, what do you think, Mister Yu?"

Yu Qinming bowed slightly, and then said with a smile: "General, our army is strong, and the soldiers are all warriors, but the Tang army in Brazil is not as strong as ours, and they are all good and bad troops. We attack at the same time. Li Sixing and Li Gaoqian are not a problem, but for the sake of safety, I don’t recommend doing this. But we have this advantage, we only need to send a general to lead [-] soldiers to stare down the Tang army in Xiangru County, and we don’t have to worry about the right wing being attacked by Li Gao As for the attack on the left, General Shi Jin and General Dugu blocked the Tang army in Changjiang County for us, so we can safely and boldly attack Li Sixing from the north, and I have a plan to uproot Li Sixing's vanguard, Xu Shixu, without any effort , as long as this step is achieved, maybe even Li Sixing is not so difficult to deal with."

Xue Wanjun thought for a while, and suddenly understood Yu Qinming's plan, and laughed loudly: "Mr. Yu's plan can be tried, I think we can succeed."

(End of this chapter)