On the way from Zhongmu to Xingyang, a large army stretched for ten miles and was marching.

Hua Mulan looked at the sky and asked, "How far is it from here to Xingyang?" ”

"Back to the marshal, there are still forty miles, and the army should be able to arrive before Shen Shi!"

At this time, a fast horse galloped from the front and stopped in front of Hua Mulan to report: "Marshal Qiyu, I am the messenger under the account of General Liang, this is General Liang's battle report to the marshal!" ”

Hua Mulan took the battle report and opened it to look at it, and said to the surrounding generals: "The Western Route Army of the Southern Dynasty is attacking the Tiger Prison Pass, and the Tiger Prison Pass is only about forty miles away from Xingyang, do you say that Shen Qingzhi, the general of the Southern Dynasty, learned that Xingyang was captured by our army, does he still have the heart to attack the Tiger Prison Pass?" ”

The veteran Guo Sheng said: "Marshal, if I were Shen Qingzhi, I would immediately lead the army to retreat to Yingchuan, and then report the news to the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, and use the Chinese and Western armies to flank our army." Of course, it is not excluded that Shen Qingzhi will return to the division to counterattack Xingyang as quickly as possible after learning the news, if they can capture Xingyang and defend it before the arrival of the main force of our army, with the material reserves in Xingyang City and the ability of the soldiers and horses of the Southern Dynasty to defend it, our army wants to break through in a short period of time, I am afraid that it will not be easy, if they are attacked by them in two ways, then the situation of our army will be dangerous! ”

Hua Mulan frowned, she was worried that Liang Yi would not be able to hold Xingyang City with only the three thousand cavalry in his hand, these cavalry had not been trained to defend the city, and the Southern Dynasty army was good at attacking cities, could Liang Yi be able to block the attack of the Southern Dynasty army before she arrived with the main force?

Regardless of whether Shen Qingzhi would lead the army to counterattack Xingyang, Hua Mulan still decided to send a cavalry to reinforce, and she immediately called Wei Jing and ordered: "You quickly take 3,000 cavalry to Xingyang as fast as possible, if you encounter the Southern Dynasty army attacking the city, do not enter the city to participate in the defense, but stay outside the city to harass the Southern Dynasty army, so that they cannot attack the city with all their strength."

"Yes, Marshal!"

At this time, the army of the Southern Dynasty outside Xingyang City was arranged into a formation under the command of Shen Qingzhi, and Shen Qingzhi even sent people to the city to insult him, trying to provoke Liang Yi and let him lead the army out of the city to fight.

Liang Yi was enraged after being scolded, and ordered the cavalry to assemble and prepare to go out of the city to fight, but was persuaded by the adjutant general: "The general is angry, the enemy general is bullying the general who is young and can't hold his breath, and wants to provoke the general to go out of the city to fight, do you see if the Southern Korean army outside the city is a formation?" They have 15,000 men, you can only take 2,000 men out of the city at most, they are seven times the strength of the formation, your troops are too small, you will definitely fall into the formation and not get out! ”

Liang Yi looked at the outside of the city again, it seemed that it was really a formation, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and immediately extinguished his plan to lead the troops out of the city to fight.

Seeing that the sun was gradually rising, and the guards in the city had not yet led the troops out of the city to fight, Shen Qingzhi in the army was a little unable to hold on, he frowned, and said to the generals: "I heard that Liang Yi, the forward general of the cadre army, is a twenty-year-old young general, and he has been insulted so that he does not go out of the city to fight, it seems that it is impossible for us to break the city before the main force of the cadre army arrives!" The order was given, and the whole army retreated to the south and retreated to Yingchuan! ”

Shen Qingzhi did not drag the mud and water, and withdrew directly with the army. Now time is pressing, if it drags on, it is very likely to be caught up by the cavalry of the dry army, with his current strength if the formation is arranged, even if the enemy cavalry has three or four thousand cavalry, he is not afraid, but once the enemy cavalry catches up, he will not give him time to set up the formation, and if the opponent's cavalry only keeps attacking on the periphery, and does not really attack, the soldiers will not be able to maintain the formation for a long time, and will eventually collapse.

Liang Yi did not lead his troops out of the city to pursue, but he sent a scout team to monitor and reconnoiter the Southern Korean army.

"Come, go and report to the marshal that the Southern and Western Route Army is retreating in the direction of Yingchuan!"

After receiving the order, the messenger immediately headed east, and in less than a moment, the messenger met three thousand cavalry led by Wei Jing on the way.

Wei Jing received the news from the messenger that the Southern Dynasty army was retreating in the direction of Yingchuan, and after thinking about it, he ordered: "Order the whole army to turn south, and we will pursue the Western Route Army of the Southern Dynasty!" ”

The adjutant general hurriedly stopped: "The general can't, the general received the task of leading his troops to aid Xingyang instead of pursuing the Southern and Western Route Army!" ”

Wei Jing didn't care, "The Southern Korean army has withdrawn, and the task of our army does not exist!" I am the main general, and now I will obey my orders and follow me to pursue the Southern Korean army! ”

The deputy general had no choice but to lead the army to follow Wei Jing and take a shortcut to the south to intercept and kill the Southern Dynasty army.

Wei Jing led the troops to intercept and kill the army of the Western Road of the Southern Dynasty was not impulsive, he had considered it, because he and the position of the three thousand cavalry under his command was very good, Shen Qingzhi led the troops to retreat to the direction of Yingchuan in a diagonal line, if he led the troops to the south to intercept but to take a straight line, as long as the speed was fast enough, he could lead the troops to the front of the Southern Dynasty army, so he had enough time to set up an ambush on the way before the Southern Dynasty army withdrew to Yangzhai, the administrative office of Yingchuan.

After marching for half a day, Shen Qingzhi called Liu Yuanjing, who was in charge of the broken back, to ask: "Can the cavalry of the cadre army catch up?" ”

"Back to the general, I only found some cadre rangers following behind to reconnoiter the movements of our army, and I have not yet found that a large number of cadre cavalry have caught up!"

Shen Qingzhi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, he was a veteran, he had fought a lot of battles with Qianqin and Houzhao over the years, and he knew that the barbarian cavalry was powerful, if the barbarian cavalry was small, they generally did not fight with a large number of infantry head-on, but kept attacking and harassing on the periphery, disturbing the soldiers and making them uneasy.

As soon as there are many barbarian cavalry, they will rush over without any scruples, and even if they are arranged into a powerful defensive formation without an absolute advantage in troops, they will not be able to stop the opposing cavalry from rushing like a sea of mountains.

Although the Qianguo cavalry is not the same thing as the barbarian cavalry, the tactics of the Qianguo cavalry are more disciplined than the barbarian cavalry, and they know how to cooperate collectively in battle.

At dusk, Shen Qingzhi wanted to order the army to stop and camp, but when he thought that the army was still within the attack range of the cavalry, he was not sure, so he did not order the soldiers to stop and camp.

The generals were a little puzzled, and Liu Yuanjing reminded: "General, it's getting late, do you want the soldiers to stop and camp?" ”

Shen Qingzhi said: "We are not out of the attack range of the cavalry of the Qianjun, I am unstable in my heart, the order goes down to let the soldiers stop and rest for half an hour to eat dry food, drink water, go to the toilet, feed the horses, prepare torches, set off after half an hour to continue to set off, after the sky is dark, raise the torch and hurry, march overnight tonight, we must get out of the range of the cavalry of the Qianjun!" ”

"This ······ Be! Liu Yuanjing wanted to persuade Shen Qingzhi that it was not necessarily safe to travel at night, but seeing Shen Qingzhi's resolute expression, he had to agree.

The soldiers of the Southern Dynasty stopped to rest for half an hour, and continued on the road after solving a series of problems such as eating dry food, drinking water, going to the toilet, feeding the horses, and preparing torches.

The sky darkened, and under Shen Qingzhi's order, he lit torches and marched overnight.

It is one hundred and twenty miles from Xingyang to Yangzhai of Yingchuan Zhisuo, and according to the normal marching speed, it is between seventy and eighty miles a day, but if you rush overnight, you can reach Yangzhai in the middle of the night.

Yang Zhai, as the seat of Yingchuan governance, is a county town, the city is high and the walls are thick, as long as the army arrives at Yang Zhai, Shen Qingzhi's heart will be much more down-to-earth.

There are two roads from Xingyang to Yangzhai, one goes to Chonggao County, the other goes to Yuanling County, and Wei Jing with 3,000 cavalry is to go to Yuanling County, his cavalry marched at full speed, and arrived at Guanyin Mountain north of Yangzhai just after dark.

The east and west roads pass from the left and right sides of Guanyin Mountain, and converge into one south of Guanyin Mountain to extend to the outside of Yangzhai City.

Wei Jing had never been here, regardless of the clear drawing on the map, he led the troops all the way, and kept sending people to ask the local people for directions along the way, and there were road monuments to guide him, and he easily arrived at Guanyin Mountain before dark.

3,000 men and horses set up an ambush in the mountains and forests on the west side of Guanyin Mountain, Wei Jing let the soldiers and generals eat and drink enough, feed the horses, and sent people to control the two surrounding villages to prevent the people in the villages from leaking the news.

Late at night, just as Wei Jing and his three thousand soldiers and generals were asleep, a rapid sound of horses' hooves came from a distance, and it didn't take long for the sentry to report: "General, the guard post arranged ten miles away is back!" ”

"Bring him here!" Wei Jing immediately commanded.

A strong man in armor quickly walked over and bowed to Wei Jing on one knee and reported: "General Qiyu, the Southern and Western Route Army has appeared, and after a while, you can see them marching here with a large number of torches!" ”

Wei Jing quickly ordered all the soldiers to wake up, the soldiers who had been marching long and rapid for a long time during the day had recovered their strength after sleeping and resting in the middle of the night, and the soldiers were woken up and silently began to prepare, eating dry food, feeding the horses beans, water, and going to the toilet, and after the horses finished eating and drinking, put the horses' mouths in cages to prevent them from neighing.

The officers also gave each soldier a wooden stick to hold in his mouth before attacking, to prevent them from speaking, and ordered that no one should take it down without permission, otherwise military law would be involved.

In less than a moment, a long dragon of torches appeared in the northwest direction, and this torch pulled the long dragon more than four miles long.

Before Wei Jing left early, he made arrangements, and he, the deputy general, and the military Sima each led 1,000 people to attack the front and rear of the Southern Korean Army.

Almost all armies march according to the long snake formation when marching, and the cavalry is mostly deployed in the front and rear parts, and the easiest way to deal with this long snake formation is to limit the mobility of the cavalry in the front and rear, so that the enemy army can not echo the beginning and tail, and then concentrate forces to attack the center.

Of course, the generals who understand the art of war battle formation know this very well, if they do not understand the art of war battle formation, and there is no ambush in the rules, it is likely that not only will they not be able to defeat the enemy army in the march, but they will be exerted by the opponent to exert the power of a long snake formation, so that the front and rear cavalry of the opponent will echo back and forth and be strangled.