Yinguan City is the seat of Yanmen County, it is bordered by the Sanggan River in the north, and leans on the Xiawu Mountain and the Gozhu Mountain in the south, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the terrain is very dangerous.

Today, it is also the location of Li Yi, the general of Zhenbei.

A few days ago, Li Yi had already led nearly 30,000 iron horsemen to this place at the same time.

In the big tent, Li Yi looked at the latest news submitted by Xiao Zuo, and then handed it to Xu Maogong and Liu Bowen.

"The army of the four generals has changed the direction of the march and is rapidly approaching the city of Yinguan." Xiao Zuo pointed to the map and introduced, "The Youzhou army led by Shen Zhengnan is rushing to the Yin Pavilion day and night in order to meet as soon as possible. ”

"When will the cavalry of the Changshui Battalion led by Xu Rong be able to arrive at the Yin Pavilion?" Li Yi asked.

"About six days later." Xiao Zuo said.

Li Yi nodded and motioned for Xiao Zuo to continue to report on the military situation.

Xiao Zuo pointed to the area around the big corner of the Yellow River on the map and said, "Lady Mu, General Chang, and General Xu's cavalry are slowing down the enemy's attack speed in the area of the big river. ”

The Mrs. Mu that Xiao Zuo said was naturally Mu Guiying. After encountering Mu Guiying in Feihuyu earlier, after a battle, the two solved the "misunderstanding", Mu Guiying and her father Mu Yu and uncle Mu Shun took Mu Kezhai's 500 soldiers and successfully "defected" to Li Yi.

What made Li Yi complain powerlessly was that the identity assigned by the system to Mu Guiying, a heroine, turned out to be a thief, and there was also an uncle named Mu Shun.

Because he is a native of Bingzhou, Mu Guiying is more familiar with the local situation, after the army entered Yinguan City, Mu Guiying volunteered to lead 20,000 iron cavalry to the border of Dingxiang County, delaying the attack of the Xianbei army, and buying time for Li Yi to accumulate strength to meet the Xianbei army.

Li Yi asked, "How fast is the Hu people marching?" ”

"It's not very fast. It's only a few dozen miles a day. Xiao Zuo replied, "The news sent by Mrs. Mu said that the Hu people were fighting steadily and advancing as a whole, and they did not give us any chance to sneak attack at all. The Xianbei people have suffered losses from the lord and the Youzhou Iron Rider in Youzhou, and they are very careful this time. Whether marching or camping, the defense was very tight, and the distance between the armies was kept very tight. I heard that Mrs. Mu had the intention of attacking the camp, but she has not found the right time so far. ”

"Why do Hu people walk so slowly?" Xu Maogong asked curiously, "Although the road from Yunzhong to Jiling is rugged and difficult, there is obviously a problem with the speed of this march. Do they still have a great army behind? ”

"We think so too." Xiao Zuo looked at Li Yi and said cautiously, "We suspect that the 40,000-strong army of the Western Xianbei Lord Lu Ri Deduction, the Eastern Qiang Leader Kui Xianyi, and the Xiongnu Tu Clan Leader Du Gaiyan have left Shuofang County and entered Wuyuan County. In the near future, they may cross the Yellow River and rush to the area of Huangganshui and Baiqushui, where they will join Putou and Bald Pigu. ”

The bald Pigu is the leader of the Xianbei bald tribe. His real name is Tuoba Jiegu, and he is the eldest son of Tuoba Jiefen, a Xianbei lord in the north, but Tuoba Jiefen has another son, Tuoba Liwei, as his heir. This made the bald Pi Gu very dissatisfied, and led the people of his headquarters to rebel out of the Tuoba tribe and set up his own door.

In fact. He is the eighth ancestor of the bald and lonely founding monarch of Nanliang during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period.

Li Yi said with a solemn face: "This guess is very correct. Ritsuri and the others had already occupied Shuofang County last month, according to the speed of their march. The attack on Gohara should have started a long time ago, but we have not received any news that the enemy has been discovered in Gohara County, what does this mean? It shows that they did not go deep into Wuyuan County at all, nor did they cross the desert to the south to attack the Dacheng fortress and Dacheng County, and then go south to raid Shangjun to attack Hedong, they just wanted to make a breakthrough from Xihe County to make the Xiongnu Zhonglang General and Nandan Yuting line. so that they may join up with Putou and Bald Pigu and attack our army together. ”

"One hundred thousand?" Liu Bowen exclaimed in surprise and said, "Lord, if the army of Lu Ri Deduction, Kui Xian, and Du Gaiyan arrives in Yanmen County. We're going to have to deal with 100,000 horsemen. My lord, our strength is not enough. ”

Xiao Zuo sighed: "We only have less than 80,000 people, which is indeed a little worse in terms of troops, but we have a good location. Even if you can't win, you can still protect the front line of the Great Wall. ”

He pointed to Dingxiang County on the map and said: "You see, this is Guanshui Mountain, known as Yanjing Mountain in ancient times, it runs through the north and south, the momentum is majestic, and it has always been a place where soldiers must fight. Out of Guanshui Mountain, it is the city of Mayi, before the city of Mayi, there are four cities of Wucheng, Luoxian, Wuzhou and Zhongling. If we hold these four cities and intercept the Hu people in the Hetao area outside the pass, we can keep the area south of Yanmen. ”

Guanshui Mountain bears the remaining veins of Luliang in the south, reaches the Yin Mountain in Inner Mongolia in the north, carries the flank of Hongchou in the east and reaches the east bank of the Yellow River in the west, stretching for thousands of miles to become a natural barrier to defend North China.

The people in the tent looked at the map carefully and remained silent. Although Xiao Zuo's method is very conservative, it is very safe. The Hu people couldn't fight for a long time, and their follow-up was weak, so they had to retreat.

But the question is, can the Han army hold these four cities?

"Now in Wucheng, Luoxian, Wuzhou and Zhongling, how many troops do we have?" Li Yi asked.

"There are 500 people in Wucheng, and there are only 300 people in Luoxian, Wuzhou and Zhongling." Xiao Zuo smiled bitterly, "It's not vulnerable at all." ”

Li Yi and the others were taken aback when they heard this.

"Why are there only so many people?" After Liu Bowen was shocked, he glared and asked, "This place is a choke point, why is it equipped with such a small number of troops?" Are the captains and generals in charge of military affairs in the Great Han Kingdom blind? ”

"I asked Bingzhou Thorn Shi Dingyuan about this, and he said that the imperial court knew about it, but because the Xiongnu had been rebelling in the area of Manbo in Wuyuan County and Meiji in Xihe County for the past sixty or seventy years, and the Xianbei people had only invaded Wuyuan County, Yunzhong County and other border counties, so those bureaucrats in the imperial court one-sidedly believed that this place was no longer a strategic place. So, in the face of a shortage of military resources, they abandoned these four cities and treated them as ordinary small passes. ”

"Who would have thought that this time the Xianbei people would send hundreds of thousands of troops to invade my Han?" Xiao Zuo smiled bitterly, "At the end of last year, when the Xianbei people were at the border of Chen Bing, many people thought that the Xianbei people were bluffing and did not dare to attack on a large scale at all, but now look at it, the Xianbei people not only came in, but the scale was staggering. From the north to the west, attacks were launched simultaneously from thousands of miles of borders, and the Xianbei people went crazy. ”

"I don't think the Xianbei people are crazy, but they have been premeditated for a long time. Its ultimate goal is one, and that is to destroy my great man. Xu Maogong sneered, "Now the northern army of our town is the barrier of the Han Dynasty, and it is also an obstacle to the southward movement of the Xianbei people, and the Xianbei people want to destroy the northern army of our town in their dreams." Now, under the pretext of avenging the fool of Helian, they invade in a big way. They divided into several routes, and attacked the border counties of Youzhou, Bingzhou and Xiliang at the same time, but their primary goal was to attack our Zhenbei Army, because if they did not get rid of our Zhenbei Army first, they would not be able to invade the interior of the Han Dynasty with peace of mind. Therefore, after the invasion of several other groups of men and horses, they all died down, or did not move forward, or secretly rushed to Bingzhou to participate in the attack on the northern army of our town. ”

"On the surface, the Hu people are attacking from multiple directions, but in fact, they are all deceitful, and the real direction of attack is Youzhou, which is guarded by the lord. The Hu people entered the state from the prairie, and then fought from the state to Daijun and Shanggu. Xianbei people are very skilled in the use of the virtual and real ways in the art of war.

Xu Maogong paused for a moment and continued: "In my opinion, the Xianbei people are very well prepared this time, and once the fight starts, we will have a hard time. Especially now, the Xianbei people are still two hundred miles away from Wucheng, and our armies from all walks of life, except for the 30,000 cavalry led by the lord himself, are still on the way. Even if we want to defend the four cities, we don't have enough troops, how can we defend them now? What to keep? The current situation is very unfavorable for us, the situation is serious. ”

Li Yi nodded again and again, and said worriedly: "Yide, they haven't arrived at the Yin Pavilion today, and it will definitely be very difficult for them to rush to Mayi City in three days." Xu Rong: It will take at least four or five days for them to reach the Yin Pavilion. The Jizhou army led by the trial and distribution office was even slower, and it would take them about half a month to reach their destination. Now, only our 28,000 cavalry, plus a few thousand men and horses in the state, can buy us time. ”

He glanced up at Liu Bowen and said, "Bowen, immediately draft a few orders." ”

Liu Bowen hurriedly agreed and picked up the pen.

"Order Gui Ying, Chang Yuchun and Xu Da to immediately lead the army to retreat into Wucheng, Luoxian and Wuzhou, and each of them will lead their camps and defend the three cities."

"Tell Yide to order them to throw away all their baggage and immediately rush to the four cities as fast as possible."

"Inform Xu Rong to immediately lead the Changshui camp and rush to Mayi City."

"Mayi City......" Li Yi suddenly remembered something, and muttered to himself, "Mayi City, Mayi City." ”

He lowered his head and looked at the map carefully, and said slowly, "What should we do if the army of Ri Ri and the others suddenly appears outside Mayi City?" ”

Everyone immediately looked at each other, and the gloom on their faces became even stronger.

Xiao Zuo smiled reluctantly and whispered, "Will the law be so smart?" Will he evade our scouts, cross the river, and fight first to the pass? ”

Later, he lost his confidence, and his voice was so low that he couldn't even hear it.

"Otherwise, how can we explain the slow march of the pampede and the bald man? They had 60,000 men, three times the number of iron cavalry led by Gui Ying, were they still afraid of Gui Ying's attack? Their intentions have been completely exposed, and our army is rushing to the front line of Wucheng, don't they know? Li Yi suddenly slapped the case hard, and said loudly, "The reason why the others must have arrived in the Hetao area, and the purpose of Putou's slow march is to drag Gui Ying in order to cover the army of the Liri to take the pass and kill directly to Mayi City." As long as the Xianbei people take Mayi City, Gui Ying's 20,000 army will be the turtle in the urn, and they can't run away if they want to. ”

Li Yi stood up abruptly and shouted loudly: "Blow the trumpet, assemble the guard battalion, I will rush to Mayi City immediately." (To be continued.) )