Dong Xizhi served as the envoy of Jingxiang Jiedu, mainly governing Xiangzhou, Dengzhou, Tangzhou, Junzhou, Fangzhou, Suizhou, Yingzhou and the northern part of Jingzhou, with an army of 30,000 people, of which 20,000 were imperial army troops, and the other 10,000 troops were privately recruited by him under the pretext of recruiting local militia groups.

Dong Xizhi has already obtained the situation, the general Li Hongxin led an army of 50,000 from Luoyang to the south, and went straight to Dengzhou, Dong Xizhi was shocked, especially the commander of the army was his old enemy Li Hongxin, he knew that Zhu Jun was going to kill himself.

He and Li Hongxin have a grudge of killing his wife and son, 20 years ago, Dong Xizhi, who was then the envoy of Longyou's soldiers and horses, was drunk at a banquet, molested a woman in the back garden, and was severely scolded by the woman, Dong Xizhi kicked the woman off the pond in anger, the woman was pregnant, the child was miscarried, and the woman died soon after.

But he didn't expect that this woman was Li Hongxin's wife, Li Hongxin came back from the front line, and learned that his wife died of illness, the child was gone, and there were two lives.

But Li Hongxin and Dong Xizhi have taken over a deep hatred since then, and Zhu Zhu also knows that there is a feud between them, and has always avoided contact between the two, so many years, the two basically have no intersection.

But this time, Zhu Zhu actually sent Li Hongxin to lead the army to attack him, which shows that Zhu Zhu has left no room for himself.

Dong Xizhi ordered his eldest son Dong Zhu to lead 5,000 troops to defend Xiangyang, and he personally led 25,000 troops to Dengzhou to meet Li Hongxin's army from the north.

Shangzhou, a Tang army of 30,000 people has arrived in Wuguan, this army is led by Pei Xin, this time Pei Xin is the first time to stand alone, his deputy general is still his old partner Yang Xuanying, Guo Song gave them two obvious tasks, using Zhu Jun and Dong Xizhi's internal strife to seize Xiangyang and the surrounding areas.

In the north of Wuguan, there are large tents, 30,000 cavalry are stationed here, in the largest tent, Wang Yu pointed to the map and said: "The latest information is that Dong Xizhi personally led 25,000 troops to the north, leaving only his son Dong Zhu to lead 5,000 troops to defend Xiangyang, this is our opportunity." ”

Yang Xuanying asked on the side: "What does the military advisor think is Dong Xizhi's victory?" ”

This time, Wang Yu served as a military advisor, nominally as an assistant, but in fact, Guo Song had an explanation in advance, and Wang Yu was the main leader in major decisions.

It's just that Wang Yu is more modest and low-key, and he still consults with the two of them.

Wang Yu smiled faintly: "In this battle, Dong Xizhi will definitely lose!" ”

Pei Xin said with some disbelief: "The military advisor doesn't know about the 50,000 troops sent by Zhu Jun, why are you so sure?" ”

Wang Yu explained with a smile: "I'm not saying that there is a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides, of course, this is also an important reason, but more importantly, Dong Xizhi's army is unknown, why should he compete with Wang Shi?" How many people are willing to die for him, if his army is recruited and trained by himself, if his generals are all trained by himself, he can also fight with Zhu Zhu's army, but he has nothing, he will lose morally first, does he have any hope of winning this battle? ”

Pei Xin and Yang Xuanying nodded at the same time, "I see, we have been taught!" ”

Pei Xin was also convinced, and he said, "Then when will we leave?" ”

Wang Yu pondered for a moment and said: "If there are deserters in Dong Xizhi's army, it is very likely that he will withdraw his army back to Xiangyang, without further ado, I suggest setting off overnight tonight!" ”

The 30,000 cavalry immediately got up, they prepared seven days' dry food and forage for the horses, and the army left Wuguan and galloped towards Xiangyang City.......

Dong Xizhi led the army not to stop in Nanyang County, but continued to go north and killed Luyang Pass in Fangcheng County.

Luyang Pass is a strategic point in Dengzhou, here is just a key point of the passage to the south, there is Funiu Mountain on the left, there is Fangcheng Mountain on the right, two big mountains are horizontal, there is a north-south passage about 100 miles wide between the two mountains, but this passage is like an inverted gourd, the north is wide, slowly narrowed to the south, Luyang Pass is just on the gourd mouth, it is a passage about five or six miles wide, and a pass was built.

However, Dong Xizhi came one step late, a 2,000-person Zhu Zhu army cavalry has taken the lead to capture Luyang Pass, the main general of this cavalry team is the Southern Tang Dynasty general Deng Weigong, he led 2,000 cavalry on the shore to protect the eunuch fleet, he saw that the general trend has gone, so he led the cavalry to take the first step, and led the cavalry to surrender Zhu Zhu.

Originally, Dong Xizhi also took a fancy to this cavalry and hoped that they could stay in Xiangyang, but Zhu Zhu knew about it, so he strictly ordered the cavalry to go north to Luoyang.

Deng Weigong was immediately named the county duke, rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver, gave him a beautiful house, and appointed him as the general of the 10,000-horse battalion Tiger Benlang, and the official rank was from the general of Sanpin Yunlu, which can be said to be very important to him.

This time, Deng Weigong's 2,000 cavalry also played the role of a surprise soldier [Bayi Chinese net fo], occupying Luyang Pass before Dong Xizhi, which also opened the door to march into Jingzhou.

Dong Xizhi was helpless, he did not carry siege weapons, so he had to temporarily retreat to Fangcheng County, at this time, Li Hongxin's 50,000 army also arrived at Luyang Pass, the army did not stop at Luyang Pass, but continued to go south, and killed Fangcheng County.

Fangcheng County is only a middle county, the city wall is not high, the city gate is dilapidated, the county seat is not large, the circumference is only fifteen miles, but the worst thing is that Fangcheng County does not have much food, at most it can only support 25,000 troops for twenty days, Dong Xizhi wants to retreat to Nanyang County It is too late, and the main force of the enemy army has appeared thirty miles north of Fangcheng County.

At this time, it was no longer a problem of lack of food, but even worse was that there were deserters in Dong Xizhi's army.

This is what Dong Xizhi did not expect, after his army arrived at Luyang Pass, the morale suddenly became low, and the soldiers were very war-weary, especially when it was rumored in the army that the Son of Heaven sent 50,000 elite troops to suppress the rebellion, and the morale of the army began to be seriously shaken.

Most of the soldiers thought that the army was going north to resist the invasion of the Tang army, but they did not expect that it was to confront the imperial army, and the soldiers who felt deceived began to be seriously dissatisfied, especially when the news that Li Hongxin led 50,000 elite troops south spread throughout the army, morale showed signs of collapse, and deserters appeared.

"Envoy, if it drags on any longer, it will be seriously disadvantageous to us, and it is recommended to attack the enemy's camp at night tonight, and there will be a chance to defeat the enemy."

The general who offered the advice was the deputy general Xiang Zuohui, and his strategy was recognized by Dong Xizhi, their morale was low, and the head-on confrontation was definitely not the opponent of the enemy army, so they could only surprise the army, and it was indeed a better way to attack the enemy camp at night.

Dong Xizhi nodded, "General Xiang's plan is good, let me think about the details!" ”

..........

At night, Dong Xizhi's troops were divided into two routes, he ordered Xiang Zuohui to lead 10,000 troops to defend Fangcheng County, and he himself led a relatively elite 15,000 troops out of the county seat, and with the help of night cover, the army sneaked to the enemy camp 20 miles away.

Soon the army arrived at the west of the camp, Dong Xizhi's army hid in a wood, looking at the enemy camp two miles away, the camp was a wooden camp, very quiet, there were two lights in front of the gate of the barracks, two patrolmen paced back and forth in front of the gate, and the sentry tower could vaguely be seen on the sentry tower.

It is impossible not to be discovered by the enemy, only to seize the time and catch them by surprise before the main force of the enemy army reacts.

Dong Xizhi shouted in a low voice: "Attack!" ”

The 1,000 cavalry in the vanguard were the first to strike, and the army rushed out of the trees like a river bursting its banks, and swept away towards the large camp two miles away.

The soldiers on the watchtower were the first to discover the enemy's situation, and immediately sounded the alarm bell, "When! While! While! "The shrill sound of alarm bells pierced the night sky.

The sentry at the gate turned around and ran into the camp, shouting, "The enemy is here!" The enemy is coming! ”

Dong Xizhi is even more convinced that he will succeed in the sneak attack tonight.

The army slammed open the gates. Directly into the enemy camp.......

But soon they found out that something was wrong, all the big tents were empty, and there was not a single soldier in them.

"Envoy, the enemy's tent is empty!" Soldiers reported one after another.

"Hit the mark!"

A thought came to his head, his face turned pale, and Dong Xizhi shouted in a trembling voice: "Withdraw.... Fall back! Retreat quickly! ”

But it was too late to retreat, only to hear the sound of a landslide and a crack around the sound, and countless enemy troops were killing from all directions.