Tibet

Wei Feng had no interest in being a county magistrate, so he readily accepted Lei Wanchun's invitation to become his staff.

In the county government office, Lei Wanchun asked Wei Feng for advice on his next move.

Wei Feng smiled slightly and said: "General, just follow the instructions of His Highness King Qi!"

Lei Wanchun sighed and said: "I also understand that I have to follow orders, but I want to know the first one, and I want to know the second one even more."

Wei Feng said slowly: "Now I know how powerful the King of Qi is. He is indeed well-planned and all arrangements are watertight. The general should know it. He clearly knows that there will not be many defenders in Liyangcang. Why doesn't His Highness the King of Qi let the general lead a group?" Ten thousand people came to seize it, but should we lead 25,000 people?"

"I thought they were going to intercept the enemy troops!"

Wei Feng shook his head, "No, let the general lead more than 20,000 people to guard Liyangcang to prevent the enemy from destroying Liyangcang."

"But only three thousand people can defend Liyangcang City!"

Wei Feng said calmly: "So the general does not have the foresight of King Qi. If more than 20,000 enemy troops retreat, surround Liyangcang and fire a volley of rockets, and more than 20,000 rockets are fired into the granary, what will be the consequences?"

Lei Wanchun suddenly realized that it was easy to defend Liyangcang, a few thousand people were enough, but to protect Liyangcang from losses, at least 20,000 people were needed.

"Now I understand that His Highness King Qi gave me 25,000 men to keep Liyangcang intact."

"Since the general understands, just stay in Liyang with peace of mind! Preserving the food and supplies in Liyang is the greatest contribution. Otherwise, what is the purpose of King Qi sending troops to regain the four states of Xiangwei? Isn't it just for Liyangcang?"

Li Ye left 5,000 soldiers to guard the logistics center of Wen County, and he led 50,000 cavalry to kill in the direction of Weizhou.

As we approach the border between Huaizhou and Weizhou, there are more and more mountains. These are also branches of the Taihang Mountains. To be precise, they are branches of the Wangwu Mountains. Wangwu Mountain itself is part of the Taihang Mountains.

Li Ye became vigilant. He sent several scouts to explore the road ahead, especially on both sides of the valley, to prevent the enemy from ambushing in the mountains and blocking them in the valley.

After exploring and walking for three full days before entering Weizhou, nothing unusual was found. After entering Weizhou, plains and hills intertwined, and the team also speeded up.

That afternoon, still about a hundred miles away from Ji County, news came from the scouts that the main enemy force, about 40,000 people, was found fifty miles ahead.

This news shocked Li Ye. He had 50,000 cavalry, but the opponent only had 40,000, most of them infantry. Do they think that infantry can defeat cavalry?

In fact, Li Ye didn't want to fight Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen's troops at all. It was not the time for him to clean up the vassal town. The political time was far from mature. Taking action too early would have a serious impact on his plan to ascend to the throne, and would harm the king of Yue. Li Xi made a wedding dress.

The reason is also very simple. If he annihilates too many enemy troops, it will inevitably seriously weaken the power of the feudal town. Li Heng will definitely seize the opportunity, make Li Xi the marshal, and Guo Ziyi the deputy marshal, and lead an army of 100,000 to attack the feudal town.

With Guo Ziyi's sophistication, Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen were unable to fight against the imperial court and could only be wiped out one by one. In the end, Li Xi would achieve a shocking feat and be recognized by the world as the master of the ZTE. Then what would happen to him, Li Ye?

At this time, Nan Jiyun smiled and said: "We didn't display King Qi's battle flag. I'm afraid they thought we were the imperial army?"

It is possible that when the imperial court sent troops from Luoyang, they would first cross the Yellow River to Huaizhou, and then fight from Huaizhou to Weizhou, which was exactly the same as his current route.

More importantly, according to the emperor's request, they went to war in the name of the imperial army and did not show the banner of King Qi.

If the other party's information is not accurate and timely, misunderstandings can easily occur.

Didn't Tian Chengsi secretly interact with Li Fuguo? This is strange.

Li Ye couldn't figure out the reason and didn't think much about it. He immediately ordered: "Send the order to the whole army to slow down the horses and move forward at a faster pace!"

Marching at pace means no longer running, but walking slowly. This is a kind of rest for the horses and cavalry, and is more effective than resting on the spot.

After walking for about twenty miles, it was getting late, and Li Ye ordered the entire army to maintain their formation and rest where they were.

He immediately sent someone to the enemy to declare a battle, agreeing to a decisive battle tomorrow morning.

Li Baochen and Tian Chengsi's eldest son Tian Wei each commanded 20,000 troops and prepared to face the Tang army thirty miles away.

Just as Li Ye guessed, both Li Baochen and Tian Wei thought that the other party was the imperial army. This was the intrigue between the vassal towns. Don't look at the alliance between Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen, it was only a superficial alliance.

In fact, Tian Chengsi received information about Li Ye's troop dispatch from Li Fuguo, but he did not tell Li Baochen.

Tian Chengsi was a treacherous man. He used Li Zhengji's army to send troops to Dizhou as an excuse to retreat to Xiangzhou first.

In order to prevent his eldest son from spilling the beans, Tian Chengsi even hid it from his eldest son Tian Wei.

Tian Chengsi issued an order that the eldest son must withdraw his troops and return to Xiangzhou in five days to give the illusion that Dizhou was attacked.

All Ji County and Li Yangcang were given to Li Baochen.

Once Li Baochen covets Li Yangcang's food and supplies, he will inevitably face Li Ye's army. If Li Baochen's army is completely wiped out, Tian Chengsi can annex Li Baochen's territory.

This was Tian Chengsi's wishful thinking, but he did not expect that King Qi's army would come so quickly, so he urgently sent someone to order his eldest son Tian Wei to retreat. This was only the third day, not the fifth day yet.

At this time, Tian Wei had not received his father's emergency military order. He and Li Baochen obtained intelligence from spies at the same time and discovered that tens of thousands of cavalry had appeared in Huaizhou.

Li Baochen immediately realized that these must be reinforcements sent by the imperial court to rescue Ji County.

Li Baochen and Tian Wei discussed for a while, and they both agreed that the only armies in Luoyang that could send cavalry were the Longwu Army and part of the Shence Army.

The Longwu Army was a well-known embroidered pillow army, with good treatment and a superior family background, but it had never been on the battlefield and had almost no combat effectiveness. The same was true for the Shence Army, which had extremely weak combat effectiveness and suffered repeated defeats.

But their 40,000 troops are elite troops who have experienced hundreds of battles. If they can defeat the Tang army in one battle, they will have tens of thousands of horses!

The two decided at the same time to face the imperial court's reinforcements.

At night, the 40,000-strong army had already deployed in formation, and the soldiers were resting in place, preparing to face the imperial cavalry tomorrow morning.

At this time, two cavalrymen came rushing from a distance. They were two of Tian Chengsi's soldiers.

Two soldiers found Tian Wei, handed over the token and said: "The prince ordered the eldest son to retreat to Xiangzhou immediately, without any mistake!"

Tian Wei nodded and smiled: "Father is too impatient. After I wipe out all the imperial troops, I will retreat with the loot!"

The two soldiers looked at each other and suddenly became anxious, "Eldest Young Master, this is not the imperial army, but the Qi King's army. They have already attacked Liyangcang. The old prince was almost caught, so I ordered the Eldest Young Master to retreat immediately."

"What?"

Tian Wei was shocked, "It's Li Ye's army, how is that possible? Isn't it the army sent by the imperial court to assist Xue Song?"

"Who told the eldest son that this was the imperial army? The imperial court did not send troops at all. It was Li Ye who sent troops. Liyangcang has been captured by more than 20,000 troops. We saw it with our own eyes."

Tian Wei's face suddenly turned pale and he hurriedly ran to Li Baochen to discuss it. Li Baochen was also stunned.

At this moment, a soldier came forward to report, "To your lord, the enemy's general has sent someone to declare a battle!"

"Where is the person?" Li Baochen asked in a trembling voice.

A sergeant was brought up, bowed, and handed a letter of war to Li Baochen. Li Baochen borrowed a torch to read it carefully and saw on the cover, "General Tiance of the Tang Dynasty, King Li Ye of Qi addressed to Tian Chengsi and Li Baochen." make. ’

Li Baochen's face also turned pale. It had Li Ye's seal of King Qi on it, which was unmistakable.

He hurriedly asked the soldier who delivered the message, "Where is His Royal Highness King Qi now?"

"The army is resting thirty miles away, and we have agreed to start a battle with your army tomorrow morning!"

Li Baochen nodded, "Please tell His Highness King Qi to have a good rest tonight and be energetic enough to fight tomorrow!"

He immediately wrote the word "decisive battle" in the war letter.

When the soldiers who delivered the message were gone, he panicked and said: "Send an order for the whole army to retreat north immediately!"

Li Baochen was Zhang Zhongzhi. When he was in Chang'an, he experienced Li Ye's fire and oil battles and was deeply impressed.

The opponent had 50,000 cavalry. He was really a fool to think of a decisive battle with Li Ye's army. He suspected that Li Ye's army would attack tonight, so he deliberately issued a challenge to paralyze himself.

At the same time, Tian Wei also ordered the army to retreat northward urgently.

The 40,000-strong army immediately got up, not even leaving their tents and baggage. They took a few days of dry food with them and retreated northward in panic.