Tibet

The Three Gorges Road consists of Kuizhou, Guizhou and Xiazhou. Kuizhou is controlled by Li Lin, while Guizhou and Xiazhou belong to Shannan East Road and are currently under the jurisdiction of Jingxiang Jiedu Prefecture.

Back in Guizhou, an army of 30,000 people, led by Li Zhen, Li Lin's third son and Prince of Jiujiang County, was marching rapidly on the North Road of the Three Gorges.

In order to capture Jingxiang this time, Li Lin sent a total of 50,000 troops, of which 20,000 were backup troops and 30,000 were front troops led by Li Zhen.

The first step for the 30,000 former troops is of course to seize Guizhou. Currently, there are three counties in Guizhou, Badong County in the west, Zigui County and Xingshan County in the east. According to the latest intelligence, there are no troops stationed in Guizhou. All armies are determined to win.

At noon, the army approached Badong County, and the county magistrate Kaicheng surrendered. The 30,000-strong army did not stop and handed over Badong County to the rear army. The army continued to march toward Zigui County and Xingshan, two hundred miles away.

The former army did not carry any baggage. Each soldier only carried six days of dry food and not even much water. There were streams and springs on the way to replenish the army. The army traveled lightly and quickly. Two days later, the army arrived at Zigui County.

Yang Zilin, the governor of Guizhou, led a group of officials out of the city to welcome the arrival of the Bashu Tang army. To them, this was not surrender, it was all the Tang army. The court did not issue a declaration of war, so the other party was not the enemy.

More importantly, Yang Zilin was a member of the Supreme Emperor and had a good relationship with Li Lin. He originally wanted to go to Bashu with Li Lin, but was persuaded by Li Lin to stay and continue to be the governor of Guizhou.

This means that you can dedicate Guizhou to Li Lin at any time.

But there is an idiom called "Carving a boat to seek a sword." A few years ago, Yang Zilin was loyal to Li Lin, but when Li Ye in Helong became more and more powerful, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Li Ye could destroy Li Lin at any time.

So, can Li Lin still find Yang Zilin's sword at the original location of the carving boat?

The 30,000-strong army was really a little tired, so Li Zhen ordered the army to enter the city to rest.

There was a sudden uproar in Zigui County, and the people were forced to vacate their houses for the soldiers to rest. Many people left with only a few belongings, and most of the belongings left in the houses were looted by the soldiers.

The pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks in the city were also plundered and used as rations for the soldiers. It took more than two hours before they finally calmed down.

In the state government office, Li Zhen and Marching Sima Duqing were asking about Jing Xiang's situation.

The governor Yang Zilin saluted and said: "Your Highness, as far as I know, Ji Guangchen's two sons Ji Shouchun and Ji Jiangning turned against each other. The two brothers were fighting for military power. I heard that the army was divided into two, and Ji Shouchun occupied Xiang. Prefecture, while Ji Jiangning occupied Yuzhou."

Marching Commander Du Qing frowned and said, "Isn't Ji Shouchun an official in Helong?"

"He came back in time and attended his father's burial. After the burial, the two brothers began to turn against each other. In fact, everyone knows that Ji Shouchun represents Helong's interests, and Ji Jiangning represents the interests of the court. In the past, Ji Guangchen used to stand on both sides. , let Ji Jiangning serve as Yuzhou governor and military envoy, leading 15,000 troops to station in Yuzhou. However, the deputy envoy Chen Jingguang was appointed by Li Ye. He was loyal to Helong, so Ji Shouchun got his support and was able to control Xiangzhou. .”

Li Zhenshen thought so. They had long discovered that Ji Guangchen was in two boats. One of his two sons was loyal to Helong and the other to the imperial court. He was very capable.

"So how are the two brothers now?" Du Qing asked again.

"I heard that the two brothers were fighting like blackbirds. Each led an army to confront each other in Tangzhou, and both wanted to devour the other. Tangzhou is Ji Jiangning's territory, and Ji Shouchun should have started the dispute first."

"What about the Jingxiang navy?"

"They are in Jiangxia and Hanyang, and the Navy has declared to remain neutral!"

"He's also an old fox, and he can't offend either person."

Li Zhen snorted and said to Yang Zilin: "I know, thank you so much, Ambassador Yang!"

Yang Zilin bowed and retreated.

When Li Zhen saw him walking away, he asked Du Qing, "Du Sima, what should we do?"

Du Qing smiled proudly and said: "This is called a fight between cranes and clams. The fisherman will benefit. Seize the opportunity to capture Xiazhou and Jingzhou first. Xiazhou is the gate of Bashu and must be controlled in our hands. Jingzhou is an important town in Jingxiang. Jingzhou, we already have half of Jingxiang, the key is to be quick, while the two brothers are still fighting, we can seize the maximum benefit, this is our opportunity."

"What if the two brothers join forces?" Li Zhen asked worriedly.

"How can it be?"

Du Qing sneered: "The positions are completely opposite. How can we join forces? The most they can do is suspend the confrontation and turn around to attack us. We can just concentrate our forces and eat them one by one."

Du Qing's idea was completely correct, but all his ideas and strategies were based on the intelligence provided to them by Yang Zilin.

Yang Zilin made up a story for them about two brothers fighting for power, which convinced them both.

Early the next morning, Li Zhen left hundreds of people to guard the county seat, while the 30,000-strong army continued to move eastward at high speed.

Shortly after the 30,000-strong army left Zigui County and entered Xiazhou, at two o'clock in the night, a 5,000-strong Jingxiang army ambushing in the northern mountainous area quietly arrived.

In Zigui County, a group of 300 internal soldiers began to gather quickly. They reached the East City Gate. Most of the 600 soldiers left behind were asleep. Only 100 soldiers were divided into two teams to guard the East City Gate and the West City Gate respectively. .

The reason why the East City Gate was chosen was to cut off the connection between the soldiers and the 30,000 former troops, and to prevent the former troops from turning around and coming back immediately after receiving the news.

There were fifty soldiers guarding the east city gate. It was very cold at night. Most of the soldiers were sleeping in an inn close to the city gate. There were actually only ten soldiers guarding the city gate.

Three hundred soldiers were divided into two groups, and two hundred soldiers rushed into the inn and killed forty sleeping enemy soldiers.

Another hundred people pretended to be a patrol and went up to the city to kill ten soldiers with random arrows.

He easily killed fifty soldiers from Dongcheng.

The city gate opened, and the five thousand Jingxiang troops who were ambushing outside the city rushed into the city. The six hundred garrison who were sleeping almost didn't react before they were all taken away. At the same time, the fifty garrison guarding the west gate All the names were caught in one fell swoop, and no one escaped.

Before dawn, 5,000 Jingxiang troops began to deploy heavy troops at the dangerous points of the gorge road at the east and west ends, cutting off the 20,000 supporting troops from the eastward advance, and also cutting off the retreat of Li Zhen's 30,000 former troops.

Lei Wanchun was worthy of being a famous general trained by Li Ye. He made full use of the weakness of Li Zhen's former army in light-armored marching, and then took advantage of the special terrain of the Three Gorges Road to trap 30,000 former troops to death on the Three Gorges Road. The largest number of 30,000 former troops was The enemy is not the Jingxiang army, but themselves. They only have a few days of food, how long can they last?

Two days later, Li Zhen and Du Qing led an army of 30,000 to Xialao Town, the exit of Xiling Gorge. The team walked on a mountain road only one foot wide. After walking two miles, they entered an open area. Over there was Xialao Town. Then walk another fifty miles to Yiling County, the exit of the Three Gorges Road.

But there is an extremely dangerous terrain in Xialao Town, which is a plank road about one mile long.

At this time, Du Qing already felt that something was wrong. There was no one in the dozen or so villages they passed along the way. There was no food or livestock. It was obvious that they had been moved away.

It would be reasonable to say that they spontaneously fled in panic after receiving the news, but it is a bit far-fetched. They should not have escaped so cleanly, without even leaving a grain of food behind. This is the biggest doubt.

So Du Qing started to beat the drum in his heart, but he had no evidence and could not say it openly. He could only hope to capture Yiling County.

At this moment, the soldiers in front suddenly shouted. Li Zhen reined in his horse and asked, "What's the noise?"

After a while, a soldier ran back and reported, "Your Highness, the plank road ahead is gone and brothers cannot move forward!"