Everyone followed the order and left. At this time, only Li Ji and Guo Song were left in the commander's tent. Li Ji was silent for a moment and said to Guo Song: "Your Majesty, there is something I don't know whether to say or not?"
Guo Song smiled slightly, "We fight side by side and go through life and death together. Is there anything we can't say?"
Li Ji slowly said: "Actually, I want to say to Li Huaiguang that if the Xue Yantuo people invade this time, if the envoy does not inform him, he will definitely use this matter to attack the envoy. I mean, whether he is willing to send troops to rescue is
His affairs, but we must seek help from him."
Guo Song nodded, "You are right, I should indeed ask him for help. I will send an eagle letter soon, and then send someone with my own handwriting to ask for help."
Guo Song took two steps behind his hands and asked again: "How much do you know about this person?"
"I know that this man is from Mohe and was originally a general of Shuofang Army. He was highly regarded by Commander Guo. He is brave and good at fighting. He leads troops well and enforces the law strictly. These are his advantages. It is undeniable, but this man has a reckless attitude.
He is very serious, narrow-minded, and has no tolerance for others. If you reject him in one breath, how can he give up? He will definitely find excuses for you, so you must be more careful."
"How are the generals of Shuofang Army doing now?" Guo Song asked again.
Li Ji sighed and said with a sad expression: "All the generals that Duan Shijun promoted were demoted by him. All the people he brought were in high positions. Military power was taken away. Shuofang's army has become his Li family army."
As an emperor and a courtier, it is inevitable for Li Huaiguang to use his own people. This is not surprising. Isn't it the same for Guo Song?
As for Li Huaiguang's desire to overthrow himself, I'm afraid he can't do it alone.
"We will discuss Li Huaiguang's matter in detail later. Now we must concentrate on defeating the invasion of the Xue Yantuo people!"
...........
A thick column of beacon smoke was lit on the beacon tower in Jiuyuan County, shooting straight into the sky.
This was an alarm when the enemy was attacking. Then, with Jiuyuan City as the center, beacon towers within a hundred miles were lit, and beacons were also lit in Feng'an County.
The people living in the countryside were panicked, and hurriedly packed up their things and rushed to the county town. Jiuxian County also sent thousands of carts, driven by soldiers from the militia to the villages to help transport people and goods.
There was an endless stream of people with panic on their faces, holding their children and carrying large and small bags on their backs. They were all walking in a hurry, wishing they could grow wings and fly into the city.
The people in Feng'an County also began to retreat. They had many experiences and were much more calm. They knew very well that it would take at least several days from the time the alarm was raised to the time Xue Yantuo's army arrived, and there was no time.
The city wall of Jiuyuan City has been heightened and reinforced last year, from the original two feet to three feet. At the same time, dozens of inner city towers were built and the inner city was built.
Fengzhou also made some simple large-scale trebuchets out of pine wood. Each trebuchet required fifty people to operate and could throw boulders weighing more than 100 kilograms 300 steps away.
Thousands of temporary tents have been set up in the county. The county magistrate Xie Changzhi and his young officials and government servants were busy moving around to resettle the victims and arrange for doctors to treat the sick.
Although a large number of people poured into the county in a short period of time, it was not chaotic and orderly...
Beside a small river about three hundred miles west of Jiuyuan, Fengzhou, two thousand Xue Yantuo cavalry were sitting on a big rock to rest. At this time, Xue Chake walked by and ordered: "Get up and set off!"
The soldiers stood up one after another, packed up their things and got on their horses. Xue Chake suddenly saw Darhan rolling out sheepskins. He felt a headache. This guy started praying again. He had to pray twice a day, and it took at least more than an hour each time.
This makes everyone a little annoyed. If I had known better, I shouldn't have brought him with me.
Xue Chake stepped forward and said: "Darkhan, we are about to set off, please pray later!"
Darhan shook his head, "I can't do anything disrespectful to the great god Ahura Maz. You go ahead! I'll catch up myself."
"Then why didn't you pray before and only prayed when you were about to set off?" Darkhan said very dissatisfied.
Darhan pointed at the sun, then ignored him, got down on his knees, and began to murmur scriptures.
Xue Chake was so angry that he was speechless, so he had to turn back, get on his horse, and shouted: "Let's go!"
A centurion whispered: "How about leaving two brothers to accompany him, in case he is caught by Tang Jun scouts..."
Xue Chake snorted and said: "It doesn't matter if he is caught. It will be troublesome if one of our people is caught."
He ignored Darkhan and urged his horse to gallop. The two thousand cavalrymen shook their heads at Darkhan and urged their horses to follow him. In just a moment, the two thousand horsemen galloped away.
After the two thousand cavalrymen walked away, Dahl suddenly stood up, waved his hands towards a pine tree in the distance, took out a folded cloth from his arms, and placed it on the big stone.
He rolled up his sheepskin, got on his horse, and chased in the direction where Xue Yantuo was running.
Just when Darkhan walked not far away, several Tang Army scouts and cavalry came out from the pine forest. The leader was called Song Ling, a scout brigade commander. He looked at Darkhan's retreating figure and felt really strange in his heart.
"Commander of the Brigade, that Sogdian discovered us just now, why didn't he tell the enemy commander?" A soldier next to him asked in confusion.
Song Ling shook his head, "I can't figure it out either. It's really strange. Let's go see what he left behind?"
Everyone urged their horses to run up. Song Ling picked up the white cloth from the big stone, opened it and looked at it. He was surprised. This turned out to be a detailed piece of information. The cloth should have been torn from his underwear, and it was written all over with charcoal.
Although the writing is crooked, I can barely read it.
This 2,000-man vanguard was led by Xue Chake, the general of Xue Yantuo the year before last. Behind them there were 20,000 Xue Yantuo's main force, three days apart.
It was also written on the white cloth that the anti-war sentiments of the two thousand cavalry were serious and their hearts were at home. As long as the main general Xue Chake was killed, the morale of the cavalry would be shattered.
Finally, he wrote that the cavalrymen were all in leather armor and could hardly block crossbows from a hundred paces away.
Song Ling was surprised and happy, this was the most core information!
Who is this Sogdian man? He actually provided such important information, and he was very professional and knew exactly what kind of information they needed.
"Commander of the Brigade, there is a name on the back!" a scout reminded him.
Song Ling turned the cloth over, and there was indeed a name on it, 'Kang Bao, the slave of Guo Song'.
Isn't Guo Song the name of Shijun? This man turned out to be Shijun's slave.
Song Ling couldn't figure it out, but he immediately decided to let the envoy make his own judgment on the matter. He immediately wrote an eagle letter and sent it to Jiuyuan County.
........
Outside Jiuyuan County, 10,000 troops have been assembled. Guo Song left Li Ji to guard the city. He personally led the army to stop the 2,000 Xue Yantuo vanguard army.
Just when the army was about to set off, a cavalryman ran out of the city, rushed to Guo Song at lightning speed, clasped his fists and said: "Scout for urgent information!"
Guo Song unfolded the information, and he was stunned. Kangbao! He immediately remembered what happened in Lingzhou. After the blacksmith was liberated by him, he returned to Sogdia. How could he come back after several years?
?Still in the Xueyantuo army.
"Your Majesty, what's the latest situation?" Liang Wu stepped forward and asked.
"It's an old friend who's back."
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "Do you still remember the Sogdian man I rescued when I first arrived in Lingzhou? At that time, Andre Li wanted to steal my Iron Wood Sword."
Liang Wu nodded, "I remember, he seems to be called Kang Bao, and he was once the deputy commander of the Sogdian army of 100,000 people. Later, the army was defeated, and he became a prisoner of war and sold as a slave. He was exchanged for an iron-wood sword.
to his freedom."
"He is now in the Xueyantuo army and has provided us with information."
Guo Song handed the information to Liang Wu. Liang Wu read the information and thought for a while and said: "I remember that he was a blacksmith at the beginning, and he should be a blacksmith in Xue Yantuo's army now. It is possible that he came back from Sogdia and passed by Xue Yantuo.
tribe, work as a blacksmith for them temporarily and find a place to survive the winter."
Liang Wu's inference is more reasonable. In fact, it is not important why Kang Bao is in Xue Yantuo's army. What is important is that Kang Bao's intelligence basically confirmed their guess. The main force of the opponent is indeed an army of 20,000. They are three days apart. If
Carrying baggage will make the move slower, and at the same time Kang Bao points out the weakness of this vanguard.
Guo Song immediately gained confidence in this battle, and a battle plan quickly formed in his mind.