In Hedong County's defense general, Yang Yuanqing has been considering the best candidate, as the chief general of Hedong, the first is to be stable, and secondly, to be famous, to be able to shock the Tang Army in Guanzhong, so that it does not dare to act rashly, Yang Yuanqing first thought of Qin Qiong, but although Qin Qiong is stable, but not famous enough.

In this way, Lai Hu'er became the best candidate, he was a veteran of the Sui Dynasty, he was extremely qualified in the army, and he was the best candidate regardless of the art of war.

The only regret is that he is old, but Yang Yuanqing doesn't need him to fight, as long as he can defend Hedong County for himself, it will be a great achievement.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu came down so quickly!"

Laihu'er greeted him with a smile, and clasped his fists on the horse, "Your Highness has worked hard all the way." ”

Yang Yuanqing's mind turned, and he understood, and asked anxiously: "Could it be that there is news from Taiyuan?" ”

Lai Hu'er nodded", there was an urgent report from Taiyuan in the middle of the night last night, let me convey it to His Highness, there is good news. ”

"But the news of 30,000 Turkic cavalry?"

This is what he is most concerned about, except for Taiyuan City, which was not damaged in Loufu County and Taiyuan County, the rest of the county towns were destroyed and burned, and tens of thousands of people died.

This made Yang Yuanqing extremely annoyed, and before he left, he ordered Li Jing and Qin Qiong to annihilate this Turkic army, so when he came to Hu'er to mention the good news, he first thought of it.

"As His Royal Highness thought, it is a matter of 30,000 Turkic troops, they heard that the Mayi Turks were defeated, so they transferred from Jingcheng to Hebei, and it is estimated that they want to go to Liaodong, Taiyuan Express said that General Qin led 20,000 troops to block Jingcheng Pass, and General Hou Mo Chenyi led 10,000 troops to choke Tumen Pass in the east, so that 30,000 Turkic troops were trapped in Jingcheng."

This news made Yang Yuanqing overjoyed, and he immediately turned back and ordered his own soldiers: "Immediately send an eagle letter to Buyang County, and order Li Jing to reinforce 10,000 troops at Tumen Pass, and be sure to trap the Turks in Jingcheng." ”

The 30,000 Turkic army was trapped in Jingcheng and would die sooner or later, and moved a big stone in Yang Yuanqing's heart, but at this time he was more concerned about the situation in Guanzhong and Luoyang.

"Let's go! Let's talk about it in detail when we go to the city. 、。

The group quickened their horses and galloped towards Hedong City.

……

In the Hedong County Ya Hall, Yang Yuanqing's personal soldiers quickly spelled out the sand table in the Guanzhong area, which was only one zhang in size and decomposed into 16 pieces, which was easy to carry.

Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the sand table, staring at the terrain of Guanzhong, but he was listening to Hu'er's report on the battle situation in Luoyang.

"The battle of Luoyang was fought very fiercely, 200,000 Tang troops attacked the city for three consecutive days, with at least tens of thousands of dead and wounded, but the city has not yet been captured, I heard that Wang Shichong forced the whole city to go to the city to defend and poured water on the city to make the city wall smooth, and it was difficult for the Tang army to attack the city."

Yang Yuanqing sighed slightly, "I have to admit that Wang Shichong is very good at fighting, but ...... He will not be able to hold on in the end. ”

At this time, Wei Zheng, the new Taishou of Zaidong County next to him, stood up and saluted and said: "Wang Shichong treats the people brutally, and most of the millions of people finally wither and fall, he is the misfortune of the people in Luoyang, why should His Highness be sad for him?" ”

Yang Yuanqing glanced at Wei Zheng and smiled, "I'm not sad for him, if I capture Luoyang, I will also kill him, and the people are angry, Wei Taishou doesn't have to think too much." ”

Without waiting for Wei Zheng to speak again, Yang Yuanqing said to Lai Hu'er: "Don't mention Luoyang, come to the general to talk about the situation in Guanzhong and Chang'an." ”

Laihu'er took the wooden pole and pointed to Chang'an: "Now the Tang army is pouring out, Shuzhong and Jingxiang have no soldiers, but Chang'an still has 10,000 Yulin troops and 10,000 Jin Wuwei, in addition, there are 5,000 defenders in Tongguan and Pujin Pass, led by Wang Changhuan, the general of Pujin Pass, and Li Shentong, the commander of Tongguan. ”

Yang Yuanqing frowned, "How can Li Shentong be a marshal in Tongguan?" ”

Lai Hu'er sneered and said: "I heard that it is only a temporary part-time position, Li Shentong is going to serve as a guard in Luoyang, and now Tongguan is waiting for the Tang army to capture Luoyang, and he will take office." ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and resolutely said, "Then send troops tonight and attack Pujin Pass at night." ”

……

……

At night, the air is clear and cold, a lonely moon hangs in the dark blue night sky, there are few stars, the cold moonlight is sprinkled on the earth, the snow and the moon reflect each other, making the earth become exceptionally clear, the Yellow River is more than ten miles wide and has long been frozen solid, and the thick white snow covers the river surface, and no one has walked the trace.

Since the silver money incident, the Tang Dynasty has cut off trade with the Sui Dynasty, strictly prohibiting merchants from crossing the river, and not allowing Hedong merchants to enter Guanzhong, coupled with the continuous war, so that the Sui and Tang dynasties have cut off contacts, and most of the occasional figures are spies sent by the two armies.

Under the cold moonlight, a cavalry team composed of about 10,000 people was walking quickly on the river and marching towards Pujin Pass on the opposite bank.

Pujin Pass is a dangerous pass between Qin and Jin, and it is also where the ancient ferry port is, both sides of the Yellow River north of Pujin Pass are cliffs, which is the famous Qin-Jin Grand Canyon, or go north for more than 200 miles, you can cross the river from Yumen, and then go south along the post road.

But take Yumen crossing, it is too late in time, the Sui army can only enter the pass from Pujin, when there are still seven or eight miles away from Pujin Pass, Yang Yuanqing waved his hand, the team gradually stopped moving forward, looking west from the river, the black and swarthy mountain outline on the west bank can be faintly seen, and Pujin Pass stands in the cliffs on both sides.

Yang Yuanqing stared at Guan Pass from afar, he was waiting for news from the striker......

Under the moonlight, a caravan went up to the ferry silently, along the gentle mountain road to a mile away Pujin Pass, the caravan was about 200 people, leading more than 300 donkeys and mules, loaded with cage bales and other goods, a few donkeys with flags, the banner was written with the words 'Punan Commercial Bank', it can be seen that this is a very large caravan.

The merchant at the head is called Zhang Wuzhong, the leader of the merchants of Hedong County, weighing two hundred catties, tall and fat, and it is difficult to walk, so he must sit on the Chengyu, and four people carry him, followed by one person on each of his left and right, it is Luo Shixin and Cheng Yanjin.

Cheng Biting Jin's face was heavy, this kind of deception is his forte, but now he is making him his deputy, and letting a fat businessman cheat the pass, taking the credit of Cheng Biting Jin, really makes him unhappy, if it weren't for Luo Shixin next to him, he would have dug out an ice hole and thrown this fat businessman in.

Zhang Wuzhong could feel Cheng Yanjin's hostility, he was uneasy in his heart, so he smiled at Luo Shixin on the other side: "Now the Tang Dynasty prohibits Sui Dynasty merchants from entering the customs, but there is a ban and countermeasures, and the business still has to be done, but you can't go during the day, you must pass the customs at night, pay a customs fee, and the defenders will let it go, so these defenders are rushing to be on duty at night, and this is the reason, there is a lot of oil and water in it." ”

Luo Shixin glanced at Cheng Yanjin, smiled and comforted Zhang Wuzhong, "Don't worry about proprietor Zhang, Your Highness asks the proprietor to help, naturally he will not treat you badly, with His Royal Highness making decisions for you, others dare not do anything to you." ”

Cheng Yanjin rolled his eyes, this is talking about him! He wanted to throw a few words to save face, but his lips moved, but he still held back, and he had already arrived at Pujin Pass in front.

The mountains on both sides covered the moonlight, casting a huge black shadow, making the front of the pass a little dim, and it was impossible to see the situation on the top of the city, and in the darkness only someone shouted on the head of the city: "Who is it?" ”

The caravan stopped advancing, Zhang Wuzhong came down from Chengyu, and stepped forward with the support of two entouragemen: "Which general is on duty in the city, is it Captain Ma or Captain Ding?" ”

At this time, another rough voice came from the city, "I'm Ding Tao, is the person below Zhang Dongzhu?" ”

Zhang Wuzhong has been going back and forth to Pujin Pass for decades, and everyone has long been familiar with it, Zhang Wuzhong hurriedly smiled: "It's down!" General Ding, can you make it convenient tonight? ”

Someone leaned out of the city, it was a very tall person, he looked at it for a while and said, "Master Zhang, it's a little difficult to do!" The imperial court just issued an edict yesterday, requiring that those who pass the customs be strictly checked, and those who exceed five people are not allowed to pass the customs, if you come two days earlier, there will be no problem. ”

Next to him, Cheng bit Jin in a hurry, he was just about to speak, but Luo Shixin grabbed him, only to see Zhang Wuzhong unhurriedly smiled: "General Ding also knows that it snowed heavily two days ago, where can I get out, it's easy to wait for the heavy snow to stop, so I hurried here, and if it doesn't open, the brothers will drink the northwest wind, General Ding, please help!" ”

The people at the head of the city were silent for a while, and then said: "Proprietor Zhang, it's not that I don't want to help you, everyone has been dealing with each other for more than ten years, all for the sake of eating, I understand your difficulties, but you also have to understand my difficulties!" I took such a big risk to let you pass, you said that if you were found out from above, it would be a trivial matter to lose this lowly official, and maybe you would lose your head, you look at this matter......

……

Zhang Wuzhong smiled, "Then let's add another two percent to pass the pass!" ”

Cheng Yanjin suddenly realized, it turned out to be a bargain, he really didn't understand the rules of these businessmen, the dissatisfaction in his heart suddenly disappeared, if he was asked to cheat the customs, it might not be successful.

The officers at the head of the city seemed to be too few, and said: "This time is extraordinary, plus three percent." ”

"If I add 30%, my profit will be gone, General Ding will let it go!"

"Who doesn't know that Zhang Dongzhu's goods can be sold at a high price, several times the profit, Zhang Dongzhu also wants to let our little soldiers drink some gruel!"

"Oh well! It's just thirty percent, and it can't be more. ”

The two sides bargained and reached an agreement, and soon, the gate of Pujin Pass slowly opened, Zhang Wuzhong turned around and gave Luo Shixin a look, Luo Shixin held the iron gun hidden on the back of the mule, and led the mule into the Pujin Pass first, the caravan accelerated and entered the pass one after another......

A few miles away, Yang Yuanqing was still patiently waiting for the news, he had a backup plan, if the fraud failed, then he could only attack, in fact, it was not that the attack could not be attacked, but it would take some twists and turns, and there would be casualties, Yang Yuanqing really didn't want to have any more casualties now.

At this moment, a soldier pointed at the pass and shouted: "Your Highness, there is a fire!" ”

Yang Yuanqing also saw that there was a fire at the head of Pujin Pass, and he immediately ordered: "The whole army set off and enter Pujin Pass!" ”

10,000 cavalry suddenly launched, horses' hooves like thunder, galloping to the other side of the Yellow River, not long after, 10,000 Sui cavalry into Pujin Pass, rushed into the enemy camp behind the pass, the guard Wang Chang Harmonic Cang panicked, fled to Tongguan to report.

Take Pujin Pass, the Sui army did not stay, continued to rush westward, at the third watch, the Sui army crossed the Wei River from Xingdejin, 10,000 Sui cavalry under the leadership of Yang Yuanqing, galloping to Chang'an.