The wind howled, carrying snow particles and rustling on the eaves. The Yamen Hall of the Governor's Office was as oppressive as if everyone had a huge stone pressing on their chests, making people unable to breathe.
Seeing Cao Shixiong vomiting blood after sitting on the case, he was frightened and kept silent. However, someone could no longer control himself. He stepped forward and kicked one of the returning generals to the ground, and then stepped on him viciously.
It hit his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. He put the scabbard against his throat and tried his best to restrain himself from directly drawing the knife and stabbing him. He cursed ferociously:
"You useless trash, the second general died on the battlefield, the second young master, and the young master are alive and dead, how can you have the nerve to escape back? I will chop you alive today!"
"Xu Huai, this bastard, bullied me too much in Lanzhou!" A military general yelled angrily. He walked up to Cao Shixiong and gasped, "Please, Commander-in-Chief, allow me to lead my troops to fight this bastard. I won't do it today."
Bring the head of this thief to the Commander-in-Chief, and I would rather go to Huangquan Road to accompany the Second General! I will never tolerate this!"
"Jie Shuai! I am willing to fight the dog thief!"
"Commander Jie, Second Young Master, the Young Master may be hiding somewhere. It is possible to rescue the Second Young Master by sending troops now, Young Master! Don't hesitate any longer!"
All the generals in front of the hall came forward to ask for a fight. They wished they could fly to Huanglongpoyi and tear Xu Huai into pieces.
Xu Huai led the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain to raid Lanzhou for the first time. In addition to killing hundreds of defenders, he also executed 300 rebel generals including Cao Xuanwen, Cao Shixiong's mother and others.
This time, the more than 500 cavalrymen led by Cao Shili to reinforce Minglu Village were Cao Shixiong's bodyguards, and about half of them were the children of generals in the Qing Shun Army.
Cao Shixiong gathered the children of the generals around him, firstly to strengthen his control over the generals, and secondly, to personally train successors of the Qing Shun Army who were loyal to Cao. But who would have thought that of the more than 500 horsemen, only thirty or fifty might escape in the end
After ascending to heaven, the children of each family were picked up again.
Almost all of the Qing Shun generals present had their sons and nephews die in this battle. How could they not be angry? Who wouldn't want to tear Xu Huai to pieces?
Meng Jian was also filled with hatred and anxiety. Among the more than 500 people who died in the battle on the Gorge Road today, how could there be no Meng family nephews?
However, seeing the generals gnashing their teeth, he knew that things would never be as simple as they appeared. He raised his hands to Cao Shixiong and said, "The most urgent task is to find out why this thief is here at this time and how many soldiers and horses this thief has brought with him.
Enter Lanzhou instead of hastily sending troops to fight?"
"You bitch, what are you talking about?" Seeing that Meng Jian actually discouraged sending troops, a bearded military general glared at him and cursed angrily, "You bitch, are you secretly taking advantage of others and talking about these nonsense here?"
"General Zhou, don't get excited. Xu Huai is a thief with many tricks. If he rushes to send troops now and falls into his trap, will he be able to avenge the blood of the second general? Can he rescue the second young master and the younger one?" Meng Jian
He persuaded with a wry smile.
"You just don't dare to fight, you don't dare to engage in battle, you have to think about all the nonsense, so that you can't possibly save the second young master, the young master. You bitch, you don't have any good intentions, the second young master, the young master doesn't have any good intentions
When I brought you back from Bianliang, there are rumors outside that Commander Jie is going to adopt your youngest son. Are you eager for the second son? Can’t you save the younger one?” The bearded military general sprayed saliva on Meng Jian’s face and grabbed him.
He asked, "I don't think you have a good fucking mind!"
"That's enough. The war hasn't started yet, are you going to rebel?" Cao Shixiong kicked over the long desk in front of him and stared at everyone in the hall. After a while, he suppressed the hatred in his heart and left by himself.
When he got to the hall, he turned over the broken long case, waved his hands feebly, and said, "Let's first talk about why Xu Huai is here at this time - I don't even understand this, so I just shouted "beat, kill, kill, give"
I’ll get out!”
Seeing Cao Shixiong's outburst, the generals sat back quietly, but they all looked at each other. Who knew why Xu Huai, a bastard, came north at this time?
Could they have guessed that the second general would die so tragically?
Meng Jian glared at the bearded general with resentment, straightened out his nearly torn robe, walked to the case of Cao Shixiong, and said: "The royal army is sweeping towards Bianliang, the capital of the Southern Dynasty. Xu Huai is the only one in the Southern Dynasty.
There are not many generals who are both wise and brave. It is impossible to go north without any reason at this time, nor is it possible to come just to attack Lanzhou..."
Meng Jian also knew how important Lanzhou was.
Just like King Chihu would not be distracted from attacking Fuzhou at this time.
He couldn't imagine that the Southern Dynasty was at such a huge disadvantage, and that there were only a few capable elites who could travel thousands of miles just to attack Lanzhou.
"According to what you said, this thief didn't come to Lanzhou. Could it be that he came to Taiyuan?" the bearded general asked angrily, mockingly.
"What General Zhou said is true, I also have this conjecture." Meng Jian said.
"What you said is nonsense. I said something sarcastic to you. Can't you, you bitch, hear it?" The bearded general had always disliked Meng Jian. Today, the generals' sons were killed so miserably by Xu Huai, a bastard.
, Meng Jian also stopped everyone from sending troops, and he was completely angry.
"Shut up, if you say one more thing, get out of here!" Cao Shixiong was so angry that he slapped the table and told the bearded general to shut up.
"Shut up, just shut up, I just think Meng has bad intentions." The bearded general muttered.
Cao Shixiong was so angry that he closed his eyes. It took him a while to suppress the anger in his heart. He opened his eyes and motioned for Meng Jian to sit next to the case and said, "Keep talking and ignore this idiot who speaks freely."
"The remnants of the Khitan troops advanced to attack Minglu Village and lured the second general to lead troops out of Lanzhou City to help. Xu Huai had already hidden an ambush near Zhufeng Villa. All this was obviously a conspiracy planned by them and was by no means sudden.
Weird thought," Meng Jian said, "after Xu Huai's dog thief ambushed the second general near Zhufeng Gorge Road, one of his troops occupied Huanglongpo Station, and the other troop went directly across the river to Yang Guang's old road. Isn't his intention obvious enough?
"
"There are only three or four hundred cavalry when we cross the river. Are you saying that Xu Huai, a thief like a thief, sent these few troops to sneak attack Taiyuan? Isn't it ridiculous?" The bearded general couldn't help shouting again.
"If Xu Huai's intention is Taiyuan, of course he can't send just this few troops. After all, even if they are covered by wind and snow in the early stage, they can't bring many troops in quietly." Meng Jian saw that all the generals were confused.
He explained patiently, "The traitor Xu Huai sent hundreds of soldiers and horses in advance to block the gorge road to the west and block the news so that he could mobilize more soldiers and horses to go eastward! Let me ask, if we don't follow Yang Guang's old route, what will happen to us?
How long will it take to send people to Shuozhou first, then go east along the Huihe River to Yingzhou, go around Yanmen Pass to Daizhou, Xinzhou, and finally arrive in Taiyuan? Or you can send people directly to cross the mountains two hundred miles to the east to report the news to Taiyuan.
How long will it take? Is this time enough for Xu Huai to transfer the main force ambushed in Fuzhou to Lanzhou, and then attack Taiyuan via Yang Guang's old route?"
"..." Some generals calmed down and thought, and felt that it was indeed possible. After all, after the ambush at Zhufeng Villa, Xu Huai sent hundreds of cavalry to cross the river directly to the west entrance of Yang Guang's old road, regardless of the cold water in the beginning.
.
And now it is a snowy day. Even if we do not consider the interception on the way, it will take two or three days at the earliest to go from Lanzhou City to Yanmenguan to report the news; unlike in clear and snowless weather, the horse relay relay
Letters can carry news reports four to five hundred miles a day.
"Xu Huai's dog thief pointed his sword at Taiyuan and said that he intended to encircle Wei and seek Zhao. This is true from a broad perspective." Meng Jian analyzed it calmly and said.
"He is surrounded by birds. This grandson dares to go to Taiyuan. Taiyuan is their burial place," a military commander cursed. "What kind of terrain is Taiyuan? It is surrounded by rivers and rivers. Even if they can sneak into Taiyuan, don't they want to come out?
"
"That's why I dissuaded General Zhou. At this time, we must restrain our anger and not fall into Xu Huai's treacherous plan," Meng Jian said. "If we hastily send out troops to fight, and the battle is unfavorable, and we lose troops and generals again, Xu Huai will not be able to do so."
They can enter from Lanzhou smoothly, and after attracting the royal army to return to Taiyuan to aid Taiyuan, can they still get out of Lanzhou smoothly?"
"According to what you say, it's right for us to do nothing?" the general asked dissatisfiedly.
"It's not like we don't do anything, we still need to understand the situation before we do anything," Meng Jian said. "Besides, the powerful cavalrymen all followed the royal army southward, and all the fortresses guarding Lanzhou were infantry. In a hurry, what could we do?
Fight with the thieves?"
"We were not aware of the unusual movement in Fuzhou. There must not be too many soldiers and horses. We sent people to mobilize Langu. Ningwu's soldiers and horses slowly surrounded Huanglongpo Station. Is it possible that hundreds of thieves were summoned?
Can the army be frightened?" the general said disdainfully.
"The bandit army is not only in the hundreds. It is still unclear how many soldiers and horses are approaching from Minglu Village, but it will definitely not be only one or two hundred people," Meng Jian said, "Xu Huai appeared in Lanzhou at this time.
, does it mean that the Gu family and the remnant Khitan tribe have completely joined forces to participate in the raid on Taiyuan, we don't know yet - if the Gu family and the remnant Khitan tribe break the pot, they can't muster 20,000 troops and horses! In my opinion
We may not be able to dispatch troops in a hurry at this time, but we also need to consider that Xu Huai, a thief, may block our channel. We need to spread the news at all costs and request reinforcements. Before the reinforcements arrive, we must not act rashly!"
