Located on the slope not far from the north of Yecheng Sanbei, Ma Qiu stared at the crowded city head, as well as the flag hanging on the city head that had often awakened him in his dreams in recent years, and his slightly sunken eye sockets were full of solemn thoughts.

Compared with a few years ago, his appearance has been very different, his body is more majestic and thick, he has a steady and firm temperament, at a glance it is clear that he is a general who is accustomed to life and death, and has been in battle for a long time, no longer the powerful and powerful generals in the early years, although full of sharpness but less than the difficult and experienced generals.

In fact, he followed the King of Zhongshan back to Hebei, defeated the Duan clan, attacked Murong, drove Lin Hu, and captured the head of the rope, and his prestige was no longer limited to the general of the Zhongshan Palace, and he was already the leading young general in Hebei, and he became one of the most relied on generals under the command of the King of Zhongshan, and even the veterans such as Kui An among the elders of the Qian nationality were dwarfed in front of him.

But even so, he still had a long-lingering nightmare in his heart. Or it's not just him, most of the generals who followed King Zhongshan to the south to participate in the Huaishang War have such a scar that they don't want to mention.

Defeat is not terrible, what is terrible is that at the moment when life is the most beautiful and the most longing for the future, suddenly I wake up from a sweet dream, and I flee in a hurry with a very absurd appearance, full of shock, full of unwillingness, full of chagrin, and full of palpitations.

Although later, they followed the king of Zhongshan to fight in Hebei under extremely bad circumstances, reversed the unfavorable situation little by little, and once again became the first male army in Hebei, and the collapsed confidence was restored and strengthened again.

But in the big defeat of Huaishang a few years ago, even in private, they didn't want to mention it to each other, and even felt the deep fear in their sleep, and they were still full of strong humiliation when they woke up.

In this year's war, from the beginning of learning that the Huainan Army was heading north, the generals under the command of King Zhongshan and Ma Qiu were full of attention to it. Shi Kan's sluggish reaction and the disputes of his subordinates, they all saw it in their eyes, and their hearts were filled with an indescribable evil taste, and as bystanders, they saw Shi Kan dazed and did not know that death was coming.

But when they realized that the current Shikan tribe was in a similar state of mind to them back then, this evil pleasure was inevitably greatly reduced.

When he learned that the Huainan army had reached the chasm, the king of Zhongshan gathered his generals and made it clear that he wanted to capture Yecheng. In the eyes of other generals, this is just an ordinary strategic goal, although they are already strong at the moment, but only by taking Xiangguo and Yecheng can they be regarded as the real overlord of Hebei.

But only Ma Qiu and others knew that the reason why King Zhongshan was bound to take Yecheng was that there was another layer of revenge and hatred and even wiped out the fear in his heart.

If you just regard Yecheng as a strategic goal, you will not give up the occupation of Qingzhou so early, after all, Qingzhou is a huge source of money and food. Moreover, Xiangguo has been besieged for so long, and it is already about to run out of oil, and there is no need to mobilize troops from Yuanyi at all.

King Zhongshan subconsciously already felt that Shi Kan would not be the opponent of the Huainan army, and the Huainan army might not be willing to take advantage of them, so a big war would break out between the two sides in Hebei, so it was necessary to concentrate all the forces in his hands and meet the Huainan army in the best state.

This kind of obsession, if you have not experienced the original ordeal, may not be able to understand it, and if you can't take revenge, the person concerned is ashamed to mention it.

It is precisely because of this obsession that the King of Zhongshan has always paid close attention to the situation in Yecheng, and as soon as the defensive strength of Yecheng is insufficient, he immediately sent Ma Qiu to lead the cavalry to come quickly, wanting to occupy Yecheng first and consolidate the geographical advantage.

At present, the battle on the Xiangguo side has also reached a critical moment, and the sudden withdrawal of thousands of cavalry troops has a great impact on the war, so Kui An and other veterans are a little incomprehensible.

In their opinion, after all, the Huainan army went out to fight, and Shi Kan was not mediocre, and he had tens of thousands of male troops in Hebei, and it was impossible to divide the victory and defeat too quickly in the southern war, even if he wanted to capture Yecheng, there was really no need to rush for a while, or Xiangguo should be put in the first place, first correct the law, and then reap the benefits of the south.

Taking a step back, even if the Huainan Army defeated Shikan in the near future, it occupied Yecheng first. But after all, the guest army is fighting, and Hebei is a battlefield environment that they are completely unfamiliar with, and they can easily break it.

At present, such a panic, leading the enemy to move, and sharing the strength not only affects one's own military rhythm, but is also a manifestation of timidity and lack of self-confidence.

On this point, the king of Zhongshan did not give any explanation, but all the generals, including Ma Qiu, knew that they did not have confidence, even in Hebei itself.

Facts have proved that Zhongshan Wang's caution is not superfluous. When Ma Qiunan came on the way, he learned that Yecheng had been captured by the Huainan army, and the self-confidence he had built up in the past few years almost collapsed, and he almost turned back.

However, he also realized that the forces under the command of King Zhongshan were now in an extremely delicate situation.

Although the King of Zhongshan himself is still strong, and he has also made great achievements in the past few years, but after all, he is defeated and returned, and the old Wei is always a little shaken.

If he retreats without a fight this time, not to mention what kind of ridicule he will encounter, the King of Zhongshan will definitely lose face, and even affect the current war in Xiangguo.

Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and continue to come south. Fortunately, on the way to the south, he learned more about the enemy, and knew that the Huainan army's capture of Yecheng this time was only a partial division, although the momentum was not small, but most of the rest were those rabble in Hebei who took advantage of the situation. As for the main force, it is still confronting the Shikan army on the south bank of Liyang.

After learning this, Ma Qiu first breathed a sigh of relief, and then his mood turned heavy again. It's just a partial division all the way, and when the main army has not yet advanced north, it is so easy to capture Yecheng!

"This enemy general Xie Ai...... It's not an ordinary class. ”

Looking at the city not far away, Ma Qiu's brows locked closer. Xie Ai, he had never heard of the name before, and originally thought that even if the Huainan Army went north, it would be able to create such a big momentum, at least it should be a general of the same level as Guo Yu and Mao Bao, but he didn't expect it to be such a lonely and unknown person.

However, although his person is unknown, after asking some of the Hebei people who had fought in the righteous army a few days ago, he also knew something about Xie Ai's deeds since he crossed to the north, and he no longer dared to slack off. Especially when I learned about the three banners military orders that spread extremely rapidly around Yecheng a few days ago, I felt that this Xie Ai was by no means an ordinary general known for his martial bravery.

Such an insight, Ma Qiu in the early years would never have it. In the past, he only felt that in the face of absolute strength, all schemes and the like were false, and they would be broken as soon as they poked, but when their absolute strength surged south, and their brains were almost beaten out, they gradually understood that there is no absolute, only relative.

In particular, war is full of uncertainties, a dynamic contest involving thousands of people, and even relative advantages are fleeting.

Of course, attaching importance to Xie Ai is attention, but it is not enough to make Ma Qiu fearful. In his opinion, even if this Xie Ai has some wisdom, he is just a last person in the Huainan army who is in danger.

Just like in his early years, he always hoped to be able to make great achievements and make many dangerous moves, but in fact, the great generals who can really take charge of the field will not be obsessed with this kind of risky path. This kind of courage is rare if it is only a city or a place, but in a truly large-scale war, one or two mistakes may be effective, but it is also very likely to be self-defeating.

For example, right now, this Xie Ai seems to have extraordinary ability, and the light division marched north to stir up the wind and rain, and in a very short time, he gathered tens of thousands of chaotic people and took Yecheng in one fell swoop. But this is also because of the behemoth of the Huainan Army, and the chaos is also because of the Huainan Army's mighty momentum.

But this Xie Ai made at least two fatal mistakes, the first was to overestimate the appeal of the Huainan army in Hebei, and those attached chaos quickly abandoned them once they learned that a strong enemy was coming.

This is tantamount to consuming the momentum oppression created by the Huainan Army in advance, and even if the Huainan Army gains the upper hand again, these capricious people will not dare to take refuge in the past easily after exposing their shortcomings, for fear that they will be held accountable afterwards.

The second is to take a goal that is too big for its ability to win too early, Yecheng is one of the most important cities in Hebei, and no matter what you gain or lose, it will cause a huge shock in the minds of Hebei people.

At present, the main force of the Huainan Army is still on the riverside, out of touch with the partial division, and it is true that taking Yecheng can strengthen its military strength, but even if it is lost, it will greatly damage the military prestige, which will inevitably affect or even disrupt the combat rhythm of the main force.

For example, right now, Ma Qiu has taken the absolute initiative, he can either surround the point and send reinforcements, or directly and forcefully attack Yecheng.

Both of these have their own advantages, the former can take advantage of the Huainan army's eagerness to reinforce the psychology of effectively eliminating those who come to reinforce the army. The latter can shock the wavering hearts of those around them and let them realize who is the real master of Hebei.

And these two can also be both, on the one hand, send those rebel troops who have surrendered along the way to besiege the enemy attacking Yecheng, and on the other hand, widely spread scouts in the south, and once the enemy is found, they will annihilate the enemy with the advantage of cavalry field warfare.

Although Ma Qiu also heard those people talk about the news that the Battle of Liyang had ended and the Huainan army had won, he didn't believe that Shi Kan would be so vulnerable. Even if this is true, it is difficult for the Huainan army to hold back the mood when the huge temptation of Yecheng is in front of it, and the army will slow down, and there will be light troops to help, which will still give him a chance to break through.

Therefore, when he saw that there were no large-scale rebel troops going out in the city, Ma Qiu led the army to move around Santai, driving the rebel troops who were wandering near to farther places, but he did not let go of his hands and feet to kill. If they do this now, they will only force them to become enemies of themselves, and there will be no benefit except to vent their anger.

Eventually, Ma Qiu's army stopped southeast of Santai. At present, his army is divided into two parts, one part is the 5,000 cavalry he led from the south, and the other part is the thousands of Hebei rebels who took refuge along the way. Among these soldiers, the leader was Zhang Lu of the local township of Hebei Province.

The cavalry itself is not used to attack fortifications, although these soldiers led by Ma Qiu are the elite of both infantry and cavalry, but they do not intend to completely press the main force. Therefore, the initial siege test was naturally handed over to the rebel army led by Yangping Zhang Lu.

"Yecheng is a majestic city in the country, and it is also the old foundation of the king's achievements, and the stone can be incompetent and taken by the southern thieves, which is a great shame for the strong men in our country! At present, the southern thieves defending the city are only a weak army, if you can fight to recapture it, the king will be rewarded in the future! ”

Ma Qiu summoned Zhang Lu and other leaders of the rebellious army to his eyes, and put on an attitude of encouragement and encouragement, but in fact, he had no lack of disgust towards this Zhang Lu. Because although this Zhang Lu is the gateway of the Jin people, he is commensurate with Zhang Jackal, the general under the command of the king, as a relative, and Zhang Jackal is not lacking in competition with Ma Qiu at the moment.

In the future, Zhang Lu will return to the king, and he will inevitably become the power of Zhang Jackal's lineage. So now that these chaotic armies are arranging to attack the city, Ma Qiu is also thinking of consuming Zhang Jackal's strength in advance, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

The Huainan army's weapons are sophisticated, especially the ferocity of long-range strikes, Ma Qiu still remembers it vividly, Zhang Lu's rabble stepped forward to attack, it was completely consuming human lives.

Zhang Lu and the others didn't know Ma Qiu's sinister intentions, or even if they knew, they were helpless. After hearing Ma Qiu's encouragement, Zhang Lu and the others also laughed: "The southern thieves messed with our hometown and country, and they already had a great enmity with each other. Now that General Ma has led the male division to help, we and other villagers will fight bravely to recapture Yecheng for the king! ”

After these people patted their chests and made a guarantee, they led their troops to approach Santai violently. Ma Qiu sent a large number of scouts to visit the south, and on the other hand, he led the headquarters to follow slowly.

Yecheng Santai is a huge military village, and the outermost part is a large shack residential area, which is interspersed with some luxury manors. However, at present, most of these buildings have long been emptied, and some of the houses left behind are made of heavy wood and stone materials, and they are left there unattended, and now they can be dismantled to make some simple siege equipment.

Outside of Santai, there was a plain, and there were originally some ditches and other supporting fortifications, but a large number of rebels gathered here before, and they recklessly dug and drained water for drinking water, which was not enough to stop the pace of the rebels' attack.

Soon, the rebels advanced under the walls. The castle was built several times during the heyday of the kingdom, and although it was not overhauled for several years, many small-scale defenses were added.

Although a large number of rebel troops fled before, there are still nearly 10,000 people in the city. There are thousands of people scattered on the castle and the pillboxes alone, which should not be underestimated.

The rebels divided into several ways and marched slowly against the planks, and when they reached the firing range, a rain of arrows fell from the city. This caused a certain amount of trouble to the march of the chaotic army, and the already loose formation became more scattered.

Ma Qiu, who was in the back, couldn't help but shake his head and sigh when he saw it in his eyes. Although he hadn't experienced a few tough battles, he could see that it was a hell of a strong and tall city that could be captured by these rebellious armies.

Although Ma Qiu did not plan to send his elite to dismount and attack the city, it was inevitable that he would have some ideas when he was in the battle array, so he led hundreds of horsemen to watch around the city and choose a few suitable locations for the siege.

After looking at it like this, Ma Qiu did make a lot of discoveries, such as in the southwest corner of the city, which seems to be the camp of the Shikan cavalry army. There was a gap in the tall wall, and a gentle slope of earth and stone stretched into the city, which would be a powerful counterattack if a cavalry was suddenly sent out to attack the enemy's position in the event of a siege.

However, this arrangement is obviously not available to the Huainan army, and they do not have a large-scale cavalry team at all. So the gap was blocked by the mud and rocks, and the slope that extended outward was cut in a few sections.

But this arrangement as a whole reveals a hasty and simple taste, but it is also in line with the truth, the Huainan army has only been stationed in Yecheng for a few days, and it is necessary to integrate a large number of chaotic troops, and it is impossible to operate the city without loopholes in such a short period of time.

Ma Qiu tried to lead the crowd to storm the dirt slope once, but the severed ravines could not stop his skilled cavalry. In a few breaths, the group crossed to the gap, and through the gaps between the wood and stones, they saw hundreds of Huainan soldiers waiting behind them.

The Huainan army in the city also discovered the enemy's approach, and hurriedly drew their bows and threw them outward, Ma Qiu swung his knife to split a few messy arrows, and his eyebrows couldn't help but raise slightly, and the strength of these arrows seemed to be weaker.

This discovery was hidden in his heart, and then he turned his horse back and continued to observe around the city. There are several similar defense loopholes, but there are also Huainan soldiers stationed in the rear, which shows that they are really careful in defending the city, but unfortunately the time left for them is too short, and it is difficult to do everything.

When Ma Qiu returned to the attack site, he was so angry that he couldn't help but let out a rough breath in his nostrils.

It was also an excellent place to attack, with the remains of several collapsed barns piled up at the foot of the city, the highest of which was even less than a foot from the head of the city, and a gate was piled up and buried, which was originally one of the passages for the rebel army to enter the city.

The Huainan army has about 2,000 people here, and the number of attacking chaotic troops is more than 3,000 people.

However, halfway through the storm, a squad of more than 100 people suddenly jumped out of the city, rushed into the chaotic army, and slashed and killed dozens of people, and the rest of the chaotic army collapsed. When Ma Qiu returned, the rebel army gathered in piles in the ruins far from the city wall, and it was so deadlocked.

"What a bunch of rat guts!"

When Ma Qiu saw this scene, he immediately scolded angrily, and immediately asked people to rush into the front line and take that Zhang Lu out.

Ma Qiu turned over and dismounted, drew his saber and slashed in front of Zhang Luzu, and roared angrily: "The dog thief is so perfunctory, do you think I dare not kill you!" ”

Zhang Lu couldn't help but tremble after hearing this, touched the sweat on his face, and then said aggrievedly: "How dare the end, the end...... Before rushing to the city, only the last general's department was the first, and as a result, the southern thieves jumped over the wall to kill, and most of the dead were led by the last general. It's really a villager who has been farming for a long time, and it's hard to resist the fierce anger of the thieves! ”

Ma Qiu sneered a few times after hearing this, understanding that these villagers were cunning and fearless of death when looting goods, but in the case of a real confrontation between the two armies, they could not be expected to have any heroic ambition.

After a little silence, he said in a deep voice: "I will give you three hundred elite soldiers, and if you are still cowardly and afraid of fighting later, I will never spare you!" ”

"Don't dare, don't dare ......"

Zhang Lu nodded hurriedly, and then looked at Ma Qiu.

Ma Qiuqiang couldn't bear the disgust in his heart, not only named out three hundred elite soldiers, but even distributed nearly 100 bows, knives and armor to Zhang Lu's army, and always gave some sweetness in order to drive others to sell their lives.

Zhang Lu received these aids, and when he returned to the battle array, he felt quite proud of his eyebrows, first distributed those weapons to his own subordinates, and then took a larger armor for himself, which was quite difficult to cover himself.

Although he felt quite stuffy and heavy, he also had a sense of steady, and then he brandished his sword, drove the soldiers to continue the attack, and personally led nearly 100 cronies to suppress the battle and supervise the battle, which was also quite responsible.

With the addition of more than 300 elite Qihu elites, the pace of the attack this time was much faster, and the foothold of the city's soil slope was too narrow, and several landing points were erected with wood and stone on the side.

The counterattack at the head of the city has also become busy, and the person in charge of this section of defense is Wang Guang, the general of Jijun earlier, who is also a quite qualified general, and he led the counterattack by jumping off the city head before.

Although the enemy's offensive was fierce, it did not put too much pressure on the city, and Wang Guang drove the soldiers to respond to the enemy with bows, arrows, wood and stones. The main defense of this section of the city is the rebel army of Ji County, although there is a lot of panic, but the enemy army is really not an elite division, and it is defended for a while.

The battle lasted for nearly an hour, and the physical strength of both sides was depleted, and Ma Qiu did not expect these people to cause any breakthroughs, and while the battle was going on, he led nearly a thousand soldiers around the city, while tentatively harassing several defense holes. Although there was no formal attack, the enemy did not dare to relax in such a situation, and naturally needed to deploy troops to deal with it.

After several such temptations, Ma Qiu generally figured out the laws of defense and dispatch of these enemy forces. Nearly 10,000 troops seem to be a lot, but you must know that Yecheng Santai is a huge stronghold that can accommodate more than 100,000 people, so it is natural to focus on defense.

It is obvious that the enemy general Xie Ainai is a fledgling person, although he has dangerous plans, but in such a battlefield environment that extremely tests the basic scheduling ability of generals, he is jerky and immature, and there have been several cases of neglecting one or the other. That is, Ma Qiu has become cautious now, if he really attacks hard, he may have already attacked the city.

When the sun set, the first scouts sent all the way back, saying that there had been a large number of routs in the south, and it was certain that the battle of Liyang was indeed the victory of the Huainan army.

When Ma Qiu heard the news, he felt awe-inspiring in his heart, and after a little groaning, he ordered his soldiers to quickly report the matter to King Zhongshan, hoping that King Zhongshan would send some reinforcements to Yecheng as soon as conditions permitted.

At the same time, he also ordered the army to immediately attack the city, and then build a cooking drink after entering the city. He has already figured out the reality of this enemy general, and there is no need to waste any more time, and it is not of much sense to encircle the point and send reinforcements. In a few hours, a large number of routs may appear in the south of Yecheng, and the first wave of reinforcements from the Huainan Army will also appear.

Therefore, at the moment, it is necessary to seize Yecheng as a stronghold first to avoid falling into a two-front battle, and then place Zhang Lu and others to cooperate in defense, and then lead the crowd to meet the enemy in the field.

Soon, Ma Qiu's cavalry divided into several thousand brigades and rushed directly to the several directions designated by Ma Qiu. And he led thousands of people outside, quickly moving between the battlefields. The cavalry quickly arrived at the battlefield, and then dismounted and charged with swords and bows towards the holes.

Several directions launched an attack at the same time, and sure enough, there was a disconnect in the movement of the Huainan army in the city, and one of the loopholes was not taken into account, and nearly a thousand Qianhu troops rushed directly into it, while there were only hundreds of Huainan soldiers inside, and they were already defeated.

Sensing this, Ma Qiu immediately ordered the soldiers of the rest of the battlefield to quickly abandon the battle and move to the battlefield, and in less than a quarter of an hour, more than 3,000 soldiers rushed directly into the city, tearing out a big gap in this already porous defense.

However, at this moment, several tall warehouses suddenly collapsed near this gap, smoke and dust rose into the sky, and the team of Hu pawns who were still pouring into the city with weapons was suddenly cut off.

"The fish has finally bitten the hook."

At this time, outside the smoke and dust, Xie Ai frowned slightly, staring at the Hu pawns who were knocked down by the stacks and wailing, let out a long breath, and said with surprise in his mouth: "Such an obvious deficiency, this enemy general can still hold the day, I originally thought that this time the arrangement was in vain." ”

Although there was still a hard battle after luring the enemy army into the city, Hu Run and other generals couldn't help but laugh when they saw that Xie Ai's plan was successful: "Or the thief general sent by Ji Long this time also participated in the Huai Yi Battle in his early years, and he was already killed by Wang Shi, so it is inevitable to be cautious." ”

There is no shortage of gimmicks in saying this, but neither the speaker nor the listener probably guessed that this is already true.

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