The nine commanders of the Yuanshan Cavalry, you said one sentence to another.
Yuan Shan suddenly felt a headache. He rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Forget it, let's not discuss this matter. How many people the young master has instigated will be exposed after this battle, and we will all know by then."
When the nine commanders of the Yuanshan Cavalry heard Yuanshan's words, they shut their mouths instantly.
Yuan Shan continued: "What we need to pay more attention to now is the war in Yangguan. Just now I went to the Chinese army's tent to discuss matters. An Ziluo proposed that we use those Song people we caught on the road to force Di Qing and Chen in Yangguan.
Yao Zi came out to fight with us."
"Damn An Ziluo!"
"If you dare to use our people to force a fight, he will not regret his death."
"..."
The nine commanders of Yuanshan Cavalry spoke one after another, scolding An Ziluo with indignation.
Yuan Shan glanced at them and said weakly: "Now is not the time to talk about this."
The nine commanders of the Yuanshan Cavalry shut their mouths again, but there was a trace of anger on their faces.
Yuan Shan said in a deep voice: "Once An Ziluo sends those Song people to Yangguan to force a fight, Di Qing and Chen Yaozi will have to make a choice. If they can't hold on and let those people scream, then what will happen to us?
Don't do it either.
If they come out, it will be difficult for us."
When a Yuanshan cavalry commander heard this, he said angrily: "What can't we do? Just rebel and accompany them to kill the Qingtang people."
Yuan Shan glared at him and said: "Don't forget the instructions given to us by the young master. Take the command arrow as a signal. If you see the command arrow, you will betray us. If you can't see the command arrow, you can't do anything."
Even if the Qingtang people are killing our Song people, we can't move.
If they delay sending the command arrow, we won't be able to do anything.
You even have to rush up and fight them to the death."
The faces of the Yuanshan cavalry commanders became a little ugly.
"Brothers killing each other?!"
"They wouldn't be so stupid as not to release the command arrow at the critical moment?"
"..."
Yuan Shan glanced at them and said in a deep voice: "To us, they are our own people. To them, it remains to be verified whether we are our own people. Our identities cannot be made public, so they will have a trace of us.
Suspect.
So no one can say whether they will release the command arrow at the critical moment."
The Yuanshan cavalry commanders looked at each other, and someone said: "They don't release the command arrows, do we really have to fight with them?"
Someone nodded and said: "They are not weak, and neither are we. When the two tigers fight, it will be very fierce. Either they will be maimed by us, or we will be maimed by them."
It is of no benefit to anyone and will only give the enemy an advantage."
Yuan Shan sighed and said: "So I said, if they don't send the command arrow, it will be difficult for us to do it."
"How about...send someone to remind you..."
"..."
"no!"
Yuan Shan decisively refused, "To the Qingtang people, we are always outsiders. In the military camp, they will not care about us. But if we send people to leave the military camp, they will definitely notice something strange and send people to follow us.
.
We will be easily exposed by then."
"What are you afraid of? There are only our soldiers and horses here and Kruy's soldiers and horses here. Kruy is one of our own. So the soldiers and horses here are all our own. The only outsiders are An Ziluo and his subordinates.
soldiers.
If he really finds out, we will just kill him with our backhand, end this war, and then rush to Yumen Pass to clean up the hornets."
A Yuanshan cavalry commander said carelessly.
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the tent was stunned.
Since Kruy is one of our own, the troops attacking Yangguan this time, except for the Liao soldiers and An Ziluo's personal soldiers, the rest are our own.
It doesn't matter whether there is a war or not, just deal with An Ziluo.
When Yuanshan heard this, he glanced at the commander of the Yuanshan cavalry who was speaking, and said: "The matter is not as simple as you think. If I guessed correctly, Krui defected to the Song Dynasty and did not tell his men
those soldiers.
Therefore, no one can say whether his soldiers will join him in returning to Qingtang.
If he had told his soldiers in advance, and if his soldiers had agreed to fight with him to escape Qingtang, then he would not have come to me at this time.
He will definitely look for me on our way to Yangguan, and then conspire with me to capture An Ziluo, and then lead his troops to stab Jiao Siluo in the buttocks.
There is no need to wait until now to contact me.”
As soon as Yuan Shan said this, the commanders of Yuan Shan's cavalry shut their mouths one after another.
Because they felt that what Yuan Shan said might be the truth.
Seeing that they were silent, Yuan Shan continued: "Klui must fight a war and use the war to identify those who are willing to join him in rebelling against Qingtang."
The Yuanshan cavalry commanders nodded in thought.
What Yuan Shan guessed should be close to the truth.
Otherwise, there is no way to explain Cruy's behavior.
Yuan Shan continued: "So, the war must still be fought, and we must continue to cooperate."
Speaking of this, Yuanshan stared at the commander of the Nine Yuanshan Cavalry and said solemnly: "Once the war breaks out, we will act according to the situation. If Di Qing and Chen Yaozi don't fire the command arrows, then we will have to attack.
After we attack, we try to avoid head-on confrontation with them.
If you can fight, fight; if you can't, then retreat on the grounds of conserving your strength.
When An Ziluo wants to ask, I will go and tell him."
The commanders of the Nine Dayuan Mountain Cavalry nodded in unison upon hearing this.
After Yuanshan had discussed with the commander of the Jiuda Yuanshan cavalry, An Ziluo was ready and sent people to urge Yuanshan to lead the troops to attack.
Yuan Shan gave a few instructions to the commander of the Nine Great Yuan Shan Iron Cavalry and then left the tent.
The commanders of the Nine Dayuan Mountain Cavalry each returned to their respective armies, ordered their troops and horses, and left the barracks.
To the east of Yangguan, on top of the city.
After the enemy soldiers retreated, Di Qing and Chen Yaozi got together and were discussing the future of the war.
I saw the Qingtang soldiers making a comeback.
The two of them immediately entered a state of alert.
Di Qing was about to return to the west of Yangguan to take charge, but just after walking a few steps, he heard Chen Yaozi shout: "Wait, don't go to the west of the city yet, there is something wrong with the behavior of the Qingtang people."
Di Qing stopped and returned to Chen Yaozi, and accompanied Chen Yaozi to watch the military formation outside the city.
They saw hundreds of people crying and being driven forward, with Qingtang soldiers and horses following closely behind, and constantly shooting arrows at the feet of those people, forcing them to move forward.
Di Qing and Chen Yaozi saw this and looked at each other.
"It's us from Song Dynasty!"
Chen Yaozi said with an ugly expression.
Di Qing said angrily: "They actually used such despicable methods. They are simply seeking death."
Chen Yaozi said with a gloomy face: "They must have felt the power of our firearms and were unwilling to fight us head-on, so they sent people to force us to go out and fight with them in close combat below the city."
When Di Qing heard this, he gritted his teeth and said nothing.
If Chen Yaozi could see it, he could naturally see it too.
It's just that now that they rely on firearms, they can't suppress the enemy, so there is no need to go out and fight with the enemy.
Because they cling to Yangguan, they are sure to win.
If you go out of the city to fight with the enemy, you may be pinned down by the enemy, lose your troops, and even lose Yangguan.
So guarding Yangguan is the wisest choice now.
Although An Ziluo forced hundreds of Song people to come over, Di Qing could pretend not to see it.
Compassion does not command troops.
Sacrificing the lives of a few for the lives of the many can be seen everywhere on the battlefield.
"Perhaps we can go out of the city and give it a try..."
Chen Yaozi suddenly spoke.
Di Qing raised his eyebrows, "They must have made preparations to attack the city. Going out now will give them a chance."
Chen Yaozi hesitated and said: "Their opportunities may not be our opportunities. Don't forget, there are some of us among them.
This situation now is the perfect situation to test them.
I'll lead my men out to fight, and you'll take the opportunity to release the command arrow.
If there are any of our people among them, they can just take the opportunity to rebel and deal with the enemy with us.
Maybe you can defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
If not, we will return to the city with our troops and horses. When the time comes, you will have people on top of the city use muskets and artillery to stop the enemy and give me a chance to escape back into the city.
We only need to spend a small amount of troops.
Once we find out that there is no one of us among the enemy, we will no longer have to think about it in the future and can respond to the enemy with all our strength."
Chen Yaozi mentioned the strategy of taking advantage of the trend and taking advantage of the opportunity to test, and Di Qing was also moved in his heart.
If Kou Ji had not deceived him and Chen Yaozi, and if the people of the Yuanshan tribe had not really rebelled against the Song Dynasty, then the Qingtang people's move would be an excellent opportunity for them.
An opportunity to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.
Di Qing's eyes lit up slightly, "If the people from the Yuanshan tribe are really our own, we can take advantage of the situation and wipe out the Qingtang soldiers, then lead them into the city, change the city defenses, pretend that Yangguan has been breached, and then the Liao soldiers come in and annihilate them in one fell swoop.
In this way, the siege of Yangguan will be solved."
Chen Yaozi nodded and said: "Not bad..."
After a pause, Chen Yaozi added, "But don't have too much hope. If the Yuanshanbe people are not our own, then we may have to fight the enemy for a long time."
Di Qing laughed and said: "We have been prepared to fight the enemy fiercely for a long time, so the worst result is the same as our preparation, so I will not worry about gains and losses."
Chen Yaozi nodded slowly, "That's good..."
"but……"
"But what?"
Chen Yaozi stared at Di Qing and asked.
Di Qing said solemnly: "It should be me who goes out to fight in the city, not you."
When Chen Yaozi heard this, he was unhappy for a moment, "What? You look down on me, thinking that I am old, not as strong as you, not as good at martial arts as you, and that I can't fight?"
Can’t rush to kill anymore?”
Chen Yaozi said angrily: "I gave up the opportunity that was only one step away from being ranked in the political hall and joined the army just to fight on the battlefield.
I have been in Yongzhou for many years and have never touched a single enemy.
Now that I have arrived in Hexi, I finally have a chance to fight with the enemy, but you actually don't let me go.
Believe it or not, I'm going to fall out with you."
Di Qing looked at Chen Yaozi shouting angrily and didn't know what to say.
Before Chen Yaozi joined the army, he was the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Already occupied the position of important minister in the court.
In addition, the general magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture is almost always held by the Prime Minister.
Almost all those who have served as the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, as long as they have not made any mistakes during their tenure, or have not been opposed by others, can then serve as political advisors.
The Song Dynasty's arrangement of various positions in Kaifeng Mansion Yamen is very interesting.
First of all, the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture is usually the prince.
The magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture is usually the prime minister.
This means that once the prince succeeds to the throne, the three ministers in the center are likely to be acquaintances who have served under him.
In this way, the change of power and the transfer of power will be much easier.
It will be easier for the new king to gather power after he takes the throne.
Therefore, Zhao Kuangyin definitely had good intentions when customizing this rule.
However, so far, among the officials of the Song Dynasty, only Zhao Heng has used it.
None of the prefects of Kaifeng Prefecture before Zhao Heng succeeded in inheriting the throne.
Zhao Heng died too early, and Zhao Zhen was young and had not yet left the cabinet, so he never served as the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Therefore, there are always variables in the transformation of the prince from the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture to the true king.
However, Quan Kaifeng Prefecture's transformation from the prime minister to the truth has not changed much, and it has been implemented.
Therefore, Chen Yaozi said that he was only one step away from the position of prime minister. This was not an exaggeration, but a fact.
This shows that he really wants to be a military minister, not a civil servant.
But even though he wanted to kill the enemy on the battlefield so much, wanted to fight hand-to-hand with the enemy so much, and made heavy sacrifices for this, Di Qing was still unwilling to let him take risks on the battlefield.
Chen Yaozi is now sixty years old. His sides are gray and his beard is completely white.
To describe him as old and frail is no exaggeration.
He rushed out to fight, and he would probably be exhausted after only a few rounds of fighting.
At that time, it will be easy to be killed.
So Di Qing was unwilling to let him take risks.
Di Qing stared at the aggrieved Chen Yaozi and said: "Your martial arts has reached the realm of transformation, I have no right to doubt it.
On the contrary, I am not very good at martial arts, so I need to hone it on the battlefield, and then you can show me what flaws I have and need to make up for them."
Chen Yaozi glared at Di Qing, "Don't say such nice things to me. In terms of flattery, even ten of you can't compare to me. I have to go to this battle."
Di Qing glanced at Chen Yaozi, sighed and said, "Then you will stay."
Chen Yaozi puffed his beard and glared and wanted to defend himself to Di Qing, but he heard Di Qing say quietly, "Don't forget, in this Yangguan, you are second and I am the first, so you have to listen to me."
Chen Yaozi was stunned and speechless for a moment.
In the officialdom, regardless of civil and military affairs, the distinction between priorities and priorities is very important.
A chief officer can suppress the subordinate officers to the point where they cannot lift their heads when doing things.
This is how the so-called official level crushes people to death.
Such rules are even more important on the battlefield.
On the battlefield, the general's orders are military orders, and there is no room for quibbles or discussions.
Military orders are like mountains. Once you say them, you can only carry them out to the end.
There is no room for negotiation.
So Di Qing used his position as chief official to suppress Chen Yaozi, and Chen Yaozi could do nothing but blow his beard and stare.
"I think you deserve to be beaten. If you dare to brag about your beard and stare at the commander on the battlefield, you should be cut off from the sacrificial flag."
Li Di didn't know when he reached the top of the city and stood behind the two of them and said quietly.
Di Qing saw Li Di and bowed slightly.
Chen Yaozi was not polite at all and glared at Li Di, "What are you doing here, old man? Is this a place where you can come?"
If a cold arrow flies over and kills you in one fell swoop, your death will be tragic. You will probably stink before your son collects your body."
Li Di rolled his eyes and said angrily: "A dog can't spit out ivory from its mouth."
Chen Yaozi said unceremoniously: "That's better than you, a bedbug that's always scared."
Li Di glared at Chen Yaozi and was too lazy to argue with Chen Yaozi anymore.
Because there is no advantage.
In terms of identity, background, family background, knowledge, force, and quarrels, Li Di could not compare to Chen Yaozi.
The Chen family has three heroes and three masters.
The Li family has one family and one father.
The difference is obvious.
Li Dicai is a man of eight talents, and he is rich in knowledge and knowledge.
More importantly, it was under his mother's persuasion and coercion that Chen Yaozi developed his favorite military strategy and martial arts, and devoted himself to studying knowledge.
In other words, learning is not his favorite thing.
In areas that others don't like, they can be on par with Li Di.
Li Di naturally has no advantage when comparing knowledge with others.
It's better to quarrel, and when the quarrel gets urgent, it's time to take action.
With Li Di's little martial arts skills, it was okay to bully Ding Wei.
Fight against Chen Yaozi, Chen Yaozi can beat a group of them.
Therefore, Li Di knew that he did not have the upper hand and decisively stopped the bickering.
After Li Di came to his side, Di Qing asked the same question as Chen Yaozi, "Li Gong, why are you here if you don't take me with you in the city? It's very dangerous here!"
Li Di's face turned slightly cold and he said, "I heard that someone was taking our people in Hexi as hostages, so I came here to take a look."
While speaking, Li Di's eyes had already fallen outside the city.
Seeing the people in Qingtang driving the people away like animals, Li Di's face became even colder.
"Fighting is the duty of the soldiers. It has nothing to do with the people who should be killed."
Di Qing said: "We have a plan. We should be able to save those people."
Li Di was silent for a long time, gritted his teeth slightly and said: "If you can save, save, if you can't save, forget it. There are more people in the city."
Di Qing nodded and said, "I'll try..."
Chen Yaozi shouted: "Are you finished? The enemy is almost at the top of the city. If you keep talking, the enemy will be on the city wall."
Di Qing immediately stopped talking to Li Di, turned around and said to Chen Yaozi: "You stay here and send out the command arrows. I will take 10,000 people out to meet them."
Chen Yaozi curled his lips and refused to compete with Di Qing for the right to leave the city.
After the matter was settled, Di Qing did not hesitate, immediately climbed down the city wall, ordered 10,000 soldiers and horses, and rushed out of Yangguan.
Outside Yangguan.
An Ziluo saw the Yangguan gate open, and Di Qing led ten thousand soldiers and horses to rush out, with a bright smile on his face.
"Hahaha... big things have happened..."
After laughing, An Ziluo turned his head and smiled at Yuan Shan who was walking side by side: "I didn't expect Di Qing to be so stupid that he would rush out of the city gate to fight with us for the sake of these hundreds of people."
Yuan Shan looked solemn, glared at An Ziluo unceremoniously, and said in a stiff tone: "His move is very stupid in terms of military affairs.
But as an official of the Song Dynasty, he could disregard his own life and death and come out to save the people who fell into our hands. His behavior is worthy of admiration.
We shouldn't mock him.
Just think about it, if one day we end up like the Song people we captured, who will save us?"
The smile on An Ziluo's face disappeared in an instant. Not only did he lose his smile, he even felt some disgust towards Yuan Shan. He said in a neutral tone: "Compassion does not control soldiers. This is the simplest truth.
He is stupid for disregarding the safety of the people in Zhiyang Pass for the sake of hundreds of people."
Yuan Shan had a cold face and did not continue the argument with An Ziluo.
An Ziluo watched Di Qing lead 10,000 troops across the rope bridge, and decisively said to Yuan Shan beside him: "Chief Yuan Shan, it's time for you to lead your men to attack.
As long as you entangle them and prevent them from retreating to the pass, I will have the opportunity to lead other soldiers and horses into Yang Pass."
Yuan Shan glanced at An Ziluo and immediately ordered the commander of the nine Yuan Shan cavalry under his command, "Get ready to attack!"
The Yuanshan Iron Cavalry Commander led ten thousand Yuanshan Iron Cavalry, and they all put on heavy armor and transformed into heavy armored cavalry.
Ten thousand heavily armored cavalry stood there neatly, giving people a solemn feeling.
An Ziluo stared at the Yuanshan Cavalry several times.
Known as the strongest heavy armored cavalry in the Western Region, it is indeed very strong.
Compared to the heavy armored cavalry built secretly by Qingtang, they are only stronger but not weaker.
Yuan Shan didn't pay attention to Jiao Siluo's gaze. He stared at Di Qing and the 10,000 Song Dynasty cavalry who were rushing towards them, and slowly raised his hand.
The commanders of the Nine Dayuan Mountain Cavalry put their hands on the handles of their swords, looked at each other, and sighed in unison.
As of now, the other party has not yet fired the command arrow.
Once they rush out and build up the momentum of the charge, even if the opponent fires a command arrow, it will be difficult for them to turn back for a while. At that time, they will inevitably have to collide with Di Qing and the soldiers and horses under Di Qing's command.
Yuan Shan frowned and lowered his hand with difficulty.
The Yuanshan cavalrymen had slowly laid down on their horses, preparing to charge.
Sudden.
"Bang!"
There was an explosion.
An arrow that looked like a flying monkey soared into the sky.
The thick smoke ejected from behind the arrow instantly appeared in everyone's field of vision.
Yuanshan's pupils shrank and he shouted, "Beautiful!"
He was shouting crazily in his heart that the person holding the command arrow was too smart and knew the timing too accurately.
An Ziluo was startled by Yuan Shan's sudden shout.
Seeing the smoke and dust rising above Yangguan City, Yuanshan shouted, "Beautiful."
An Ziluo's heart almost jumped out of his chest.
In an instant, he realized that there was something wrong with Yuan Shan.
He immediately turned his head and looked at Yuanshan.
Just as he turned his head, a bright sword appeared in front of him.
An Ziluo hurriedly dodged and almost fell off his horse.
While Yuan Shan was chopping An Ziluo, he shouted to the Yuan Shan cavalry behind him, "What are you waiting for? Kill all these Qingtang dogs for me!"
Without saying a word, Yuanshan Cavalry picked up his sword and slashed at the Qingtang soldiers beside him.
An Ziluo dodged Yuanshan's slashing while staring at Yuanshan and yelling, "Yuanshan! How dare you betray my king!"