Eight hundred and twentieth chapters Guo Ziyi's plan
As the saying goes, hearing is false and seeing is believing. After Guo Ziyi made his judgment, he also needed someone to find out the real situation to confirm his guess. For this reason, he specially selected dozens of people with excellent water properties from Long Xiang's army.
The scouts took advantage of the darkness to swim across the Yellow River.
Pujin Ferry was heavily guarded at night, and the scouts discovered that the Hexi Army had built a nearly six-mile-long wall with trees cut down from Zhongtiao Mountain along the Puzhou City from the river beach to Tieniu of the Yellow River.
The scouts tried their best to find out what was enclosed within the walls of the village. They disguised themselves as traders and peddlers and entered the military camp to sell flint and furrow belts to the soldiers. As a result, they discovered thousands of rafts and rafts in the camp.
To make these rafts, the Hexi Army needed to cut down a large number of trees, and they must have been prepared for this.
The scouts thought they had obtained real evidence, so they swam quietly across the Yellow River the next night and arrived at Guo Ziyi's camp.
After hearing the reports of the soldiers, Guo Ziyi couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, quickly lowered his head and asked: "Can you see clearly?"
"My subordinates can see clearly that there are indeed a large number of rafts, probably as many as a thousand rafts."
Guo Ziyi turned around, bent down and put his palms on the table, thinking secretly. A raft can carry about ten people, so a thousand rafts can carry ten thousand people across the river at one time, plus the iron oxen pulling the iron ropes on both sides.
By laying wooden planks, all the combat power can be transported to the other side in a few round trips. These rafts are enough to prove that the main attack direction of Li Siye's army is Jinpu Ferry.
After he came to such a conclusion, his mind opened up a lot. Now that he knew the enemy's strategy and understood Li Siye's main attack direction, he would take advantage of the steepness of the Yellow River and kill them all on the river bank. This was very important to Da Da.
According to Tang Dynasty, it will be the meritorious service of rebuilding the country.
At this time, another urgent report from Pugu Huai'en came from Longmendu upstream, saying that the Hexi Army was stationed on the east bank of the Yellow River at Longmendu, and there were thousands of big flags flying.
Guo Ziyi smiled easily and contentedly. The Hexi Army's actions coincided with his expectations. He immediately wrote a reply to Pugu Huai'en in person: "You don't need to worry. This is Li Siye's old suspicion. Most of the Hexi Army's troops are still there."
I already have a good plan to defeat the enemy at Pujin Ferry."
Guo Ziyi decided to take advantage of the situation and removed all his large banners from the west bank camp, led a group of troops to ambush in the north of Dali County, Tongzhou, and ordered people to go to Tongguan and Longmendu to deliver the news to Pugu Huai'en and Cheng Yuanzhen respectively.
They were ordered to dispatch 10,000 troops each to come to Pujin Ferry and form a pocket formation west of Guanque Tower and north of Dali, preparing to defeat Li Siye in one go and eliminate him on the west bank of the Yellow River.
Cheng Yuanzhen, who was stationed in Tongguan, did not rush to set off after receiving the message from Guo Ziyi. Instead, he reported the military order to Li Fuguo of Chang'an. At this time, Li Fuguo was in charge of the military and political power of Chang'an, especially now that Emperor Suzong Li Heng and Shen Ke were sick.
At that time, he was equivalent to sitting in charge and supervising the country. Extremely sensitive, he immediately sent an order to Guo Ziyi in the name of the emperor, asking him in the letter why he wanted to mobilize the Tongguan garrison.
After receiving the imperial edict, Guo Ziyi was naturally frightened and quickly wrote a memorial to the emperor, reporting to Li Fuguo the situation between the enemy and ourselves, as well as his plan to lay out his pockets and prepare to wipe out the Hexi Army at Pujin Ferry.
Li Fuguo seemed to be well aware that he was not at the front, and he could not give random orders without knowing the situation. However, as the head of the court officials in charge of the government, he must take the opportunity to highlight his authority, and showed deep concern about the defense of Tongguan, and wrote a letter expressing his concern for Tongguan.
There are still tens of thousands of Hexi troops outside. Since it has been confirmed that Li Siye will march across the river from Pujin Ferry, more troops from the Longmen garrison will be deployed to ensure that Tongguan has sufficient troops.
Guo Ziyi, who received the imperial edict again, had no choice but to comply. He withdrew the military order to mobilize the Tongguan army, stepped up efforts to mobilize the defenders of Longmendu, and ordered his servant Gu Huai'en to lead 18,000 people to Dali County, leaving only the Shence military envoy.
Guo Yingyi led nearly 7,000 people to garrison at Longmendu.
It was already the autumn and August of the second year of Qianyuan. Pugu Huaien took one last look at the beach of the Yellow River in the distance under his command. There were still thousands of big flags on the beach on the opposite bank. There seemed to be a lot of armor under the flags, and there seemed to be nothing.
None, and there was a deep worry in his heart.
For this reason, he repeatedly asked Guo Yingyi to closely monitor the movements on the other side of the river. Whenever any situation arises, he will immediately send a horse to the beacon tower to deliver the news. He will definitely send troops to rush to help quickly.
After Pugu Huai'en led his army to Wanli County, he expressed his concerns to Guo Ziyi: "Can you be sure that Li Siye will definitely cross the river from Pujin? In case the Hexi Army is not suspicious of the plan, Longmen Ferry can be used
There are only more than 8,000 people left."
Guo Ziyi was silent for a while, then sighed and said: "It's hard to tell whether the enemy's army is real or not. Even if the forces are evenly distributed, it will be difficult for us to resist Li Siye's superior force when he crosses the Yellow River westward. Therefore, we can only concentrate our superior forces to fight against the enemy. I at least
There is a 70% certainty that Li Siye will march across the Yellow River from Pujin Ferry, so this 70% chance is worth a try."
Pugu Huai'en once again advised Guo Ziyi: "Soldiers should take dangerous measures only as a last resort. At this time when the world is in crisis, it is inappropriate to take dangerous measures again. There are tens of thousands of Yulin troops in Chang'an City now, why don't you ask your Majesty to
Your Majesty has submitted a petition requesting your Majesty to mobilize 20,000 troops to garrison at Longmen Crossing. In this way, even if Li Siye chooses to attack from Longmen Crossing, Guo Yingyi will be able to withstand it for a while with these troops, and we can rush to help quickly."
Guo Ziyi stood there stunned for a moment, stretched out his hand to help Pugu Huaien up from the ground, and said sadly in a low voice: "There are too many things that cannot be done in the world. I led my troops to resist Li Siye in Guanzhong, with the capital and the king behind me. This is equivalent to
Dancing in shackles. What Li Siye can do easily, but I have to put in effort and yet be under suspicion."
Pugu Huai'en's expression gradually turned gloomy, and he said angrily: "Since our generals are so suspicious, what else can such a court do to be loyal to it? It would be better to follow the example of Li Siye, so that the great talents of the Duke can survive in these troubled times.
You can still achieve immortal achievements."
"Shut up!" Guo Ziyi reprimanded him sternly: "As ministers of the country, we have been favored by the emperors of the Tang Dynasty for generations. How can we become rebellious because of a temporary misfortune?"
Pugu Huaien quickly lowered his head and knelt on the ground, put his hand on his chest and said, "Don't blame me, sir. Huaien was just in a hurry. He will never have such thoughts in the future."
Guo Ziyi helped him up, held his hand and said: "Nowadays, all the power inside and outside the court is controlled by eunuchs, and there are procuratorates everywhere to monitor civil and military officials. You are not allowed to mention such words to others, lest they be caught by outsiders.
handle."
"Lead your troops well. This battle can only be won, not defeated. Go down."
Pugu Huai'en folded his hands and left. Before walking out of the camp, he looked back at Guo Linggong. His white hair had grown a lot these days, which was also caused by working hard for the villagers.
Huai'en was worried all day and night. For several days, he did not take off his armor day and night, patrolling the camp with a knife. Even in the harsh autumn wind, he did not change his mind. His loyalty was not so much to the court, but to Guo Ziyi. Without this old man
Even without the support and promotion of his superiors, he would not have achieved what he has today.
…
Li Siye led his army to station in Hejin County, with Feihuqi as the vanguard entrenched on the river beach. Bai Xiaode led his soldiers to cut down trees day and night and build rafts to prepare for crossing the river at any time.
In order to verify whether the Tang army had fallen into the trap, he also sent scouts to swim to the other side at night. However, the Tang army's camp was brightly lit and the gates were heavily guarded, making it impossible for strangers to approach. The villages near the Yellow River also fled because of the impending war.
Two pure.
The scouts who gained nothing had no choice but to swim back to the east bank of the Yellow River and go to the Hejin County camp to report the military situation to Li Siye.
Li Siye twirled his beard and walked around, turning back to ask the scouts who were kneeling on the ground: "The three camps of the Tang army are heavily guarded? No one can approach them more than ten steps away?"
"Indeed, we are incompetent and can't find a way to enter the enemy camp."
He asked again: "When you look at the enemy camp from a distance, do you notice anything unusual?"
The scout reported again: "There is nothing unusual, but the Tang army seems to be very nervous. Almost everyone is wearing armor and is not slacking off. Any slightest disturbance will arouse their vigilance."
"So alert?" He raised his head and pondered carefully: "The Tang army is so nervous. It may be possible that Pugu Huai'en has mobilized most of his troops to leave Longmendu, and the three camps are actually empty."
He decisively ordered: "The entire army will prepare dry food for six days. Starting tonight, we will set up camp and camp. Tomorrow night, we will cross the Yellow River and attack the Tang army's camp with fire arrows."
He took Bai Xiaode as the vanguard, Duan Xiushi in charge of crossing the river, Zhao Chongxuan and Ashina Chuulu leading the left and right rear armies. He led the central army to cross the river in person, and the time was set at Zishi.