Wei Ba stayed in Longguan for seven or eight days, although he never left the city in order to recuperate from his injuries, but he was not ignorant of the situation outside the city. From Luomen in the west to Yuzhong and Anding in the north, there are his scouts, and there is uninterrupted information entering his ears every day. Although the information he got was much later than what actually happened because of the time limit, after a few days of accumulation, he still roughly figured out the movements of the Wei army.

Before Zhang He blitzed the wooden gate, the Wei army in Yuzhong went out of the city, and Xiahou Ru and Fei Yao led 5,000 cavalry and rushed over from Yuzhong. Originally, they probably wanted to flank Ma Jian with Zhang He, but then Zhang He waited for the fighter plane and turned to Mumen, and Ma Jian followed, so they stopped at Luomen and occupied this dangerous place.

Zhang He waited for work, easily broke Ma Tan, jumped out of Zhuge Liang's encirclement, and returned to Luomen again. However, this time, he no longer hesitated like last time, but immediately rushed to Xiangshang after meeting with Xiahou Ru and Fei Yao.

Zhang He traveled six or seven hundred miles all the way, and fought against the Shu army many times, although each time it was a surprise, bullying the weak with the strong, and accumulating a lot of casualties. There are 10,000 elite cavalry, and now there are only more than 8,000 left, and after supplementing the troops from Yuzhong, the total strength is about 13,000. However, they have just robbed the Shu army of food, and now there is no risk of lack of food, and the people's hearts are stable and their morale is strong. There are only 10,000 Shu troops under the city of Shangtai, and there are still remnants of Guo Huai's army in the city.

The only requirement is to rush before Zhuge Liang's main force comes back. So far, Zhang He's results are brilliant, but the actual damage is not large, Zhuge Liang's main force basically has not suffered any losses, if he returns in time to help, Zhang He wants to relieve the siege of Shangqi, there is still a lot of difficulty.

Because of this. Zhang He didn't care about the fatigue of the long-distance run, and rushed to Shangqi as fast as possible.

This news was quickly sent to Xiang Lang and Wei Ba.

Xiang Lang reacted immediately. He guarded Shangqi with 2,000 men, and 8,000 men stood in the west of the city, preparing to meet Zhang He's more than 10,000 cavalry.

Hearing the news, Xiahou Ru and Fei Yao laughed dumbly. They thought Xiang Lang was crazy. At this time, if you don't evacuate as soon as possible, you still want to meet the battle with a mere 10,000 foot soldiers. And he fought with the enemy on his belly and back, and it can only be said that he didn't even understand a little basic common sense.

Zhang He was also a little hesitant. He was no stranger to Xiang Lang and knew that he was a capable official, but he had never heard that Xiang Lang had led troops. Could such a person be the same as Ma Yan, who was reused by Zhuge Liang because of his identity as a Jingxiang person? With a scholar like Ma Jian leading the troops, Zhang He felt that this possibility could not be ruled out.

But. Zhang He is Zhang He after all, he did not take it lightly because his opponent may be a scholar who does not know soldiers, he said to Xiahou Ru and Fei Yao: "Although Xiang Lang has insufficient troops, he waits for work at ease, and has a large amount of ordnance to help. It is far from being comparable to the horse who was driven by my nose for more than 300 miles. Now the battlefield is his choice, and the terrain is naturally in his favor and not in our favor. In the event of a strong attack, our losses will be significant. ”

Xiahou Ru and Fei Yao admired Zhang He very much. After hearing Zhang He's words, they glanced at each other, and invariably arched their hands and said to Zhang He: "Everything is under the command of General You!" ”

Zhang He is very satisfied, now he is the supreme commander of the Longyou battlefield, he can arrange tactics as he wants, he doesn't need to listen to anyone's opinions, and no one dares to break his elbows. It was a great feeling, a scenario he had dreamed of for years.

"Xiang Lang wants to meet us with the main force, he will inevitably transfer those ordnance as well, and the number of those who stay in Shangqi City will naturally be greatly reduced." Zhang He said unhurriedly, and as he spoke, he drew a sketch on the ground with a horsewhip. "I plan to contain him with a frontal feint and let Guo Huai attack from the city. Guo Huai has been guarding the city for a few months, and he must be full of resentment now, and we should give him a chance to vent. ”

Zhang He looked at the generals, smiled slightly, and said, "I don't know what the gentlemen think?" ”

The generals daxiao. It is good to follow Zhang He to fight, not only can he make meritorious contributions, but also reduce casualties to a minimum. With more than 10,000 people to attract the main force of the Shu army, let Guo Huai go out of the city to attack the back of the Shu army, and then attack from both sides, he will definitely be able to break the Shu army. What's more, the hardest battle is left to Guo Huai to fight, but the credit is shared by everyone, who doesn't want this kind of good thing?

For Guo Huai, he will not object to this jihua either. As the assassin of Yongzhou, he didn't know anything about the Shu army's attack, and Zuihou was also blocked by Zhuge Liang in Shangqi City, watching the Shu army conquer the city and almost lose the entire Yongzhou. If it weren't for Zhang He's help, he would have either died in Shangtai or surrendered, in short, his career would have been over. Now give him a chance to atone for his sins, can he still be happy?

The generals applauded in unison. Zhang He immediately asked people to send the news to Shangtai City, and made an appointment to start the war early tomorrow morning. In order to avoid Zhuge Liang's sudden return to help, Zhang Heyuan released scouts and closely monitored the movements of Zhuge Liang's main force.

The reason why he rested in the wooden gate for a few days was to let the soldiers recover their physical strength, and on the other hand, to open up the time difference, so that Zhuge Liang could get as close to the wooden gate as possible, and he could not return to Shangqi in time. Staying in Tian Fu to guard the grain and grass at the wooden gate was also in the hope of restraining Zhuge Liang and making him unable to make up his mind.

Now, he has achieved this goal, although Zhuge Liang tried his best to rush back, but he is still more than a hundred miles away from Shangqi, even if he arrives at Shangqi tomorrow, he is still a tired army, unable to control the situation of the battle. Zhang He asked Xiahou Ru to lead 3,000 foot soldiers to set up a formation in the south of Shangtai City, which was enough to block Zhuge Liang and buy time for him to break Xiang Lang and recover Shangqi.

In addition to Zhuge Liang's main force in the direction of Mumen, Zhang He did not let go of the direction of Linwei and Longguan, he arranged people to monitor Weishui in Duangu to prevent the Shu Han army from coming to help from Guanzhong, and also arranged people to monitor Zhao Guang in Longguan. However, Zhang He never expected that Longguan now not only has 3,000 foot soldiers led by Zhao Guang, but also more than 2,000 horsemen led by Wei Ba. After Wei Ba arrived at Longguan, the cavalry did not go out of Longguan, and Zhang He knew nothing about his arrival.

At dawn the next day, the war officially began.

Facing the morning light, Zhang He led nearly 10,000 cavalry and slowly forced the Shu Han camp in the west of Xiangshang. Xiang Lang had already prepared, and set up a large array in Wuli west of the city, and was ready for it. A large number of ordnance originally used for siege was transported to the front of the battle. Rows of baggage carts were connected with iron chains, forming a defensive formation in front of the formation, and foot soldiers armed with iron halberds and spears hid behind the baggage carts, waiting to assassinate the Wei cavalry who charged into the formation. Behind them was an array of hundreds of ballista carts, each loaded with arrows and ready to stand.

Behind the ballista is a tall thunderbolt car, three rows in front and back, staggered. Each thunderbolt was ten paces apart, surrounded by five soldiers, and behind it was a wooden cart loaded with stone bullets and clay pots.

Behind the thunderbolt were three phalanxes of foot soldiers, each with 2,000 people, in the form of inverted characters. Xiang Lang was in the middle army, guarded by a phalanx of foot soldiers, and the other two phalanxes were like two giant fists, ready to attack at any time.

Behind him, across the camp, there was a large array of two thousand people. They were facing Shangtai and closely monitoring every move in Shangqi City.

Whether facing Zhang He outside the city or Guo Huai in the city, Xiang Lang took a defensive position. He not only pushed all the ordnance onto the battlefield, but also prepared a large number of deer firewood, horse rejection stakes in front of the battle, and dug several trenches to hinder the cavalry of the Wei army. Everything he did clearly expressed one meaning: Shangqi, I will never give up. I will hold out to the end until the Prime Minister's army returns.

Zhang He can understand Xiang Lang's thoughts. The victory or defeat of Longyou has been decided, but it is far from the battle situation of Zuihou, and the war between Wei and Shu for Longyou will continue. If he can recover Longyou, then he will have one more way to enter the army in the future. If Xiang Lang guards Shangqi, the Shu Han army will send troops to Longyou in the future, and there will be one more choice. No matter which side it is, if it occupies Shangtai, it is to take the lead.

Therefore, the competition for Shangtai is imperative.

However, Zhang He thinks that Xiang Lang doing this is tantamount to a trapped beast fighting, with only his 10,000 foot soldiers, can he block the front and rear attacks of the Wei army with nearly twice the strength? If he puts the main force in the west, it will inevitably weaken Liliang in Shangtai City, and once Guo Huai is out of the city, he will not be able to deal with it.

Against Shang, Zhang He is bound to win.

Facing the golden morning sun, enjoying the feeling of the cold wind blowing on his face, looking at the battle flag on his head that was blown by the wind and hunting, Zhang He took a long breath: "Attack!" ”

"Attack!" The herald shouted loudly, waved the bunting, and gave the order.

"Boom! Knock knock! Knock knock! The impassioned sound of war drums broke the tranquility of Qingli, and Fei Yao commanded five hundred foot soldiers to move forward, slowly approaching the position of the Shu Han army. A large number of obstacles were arranged in front of the Shu Han army, and they had to remove these obstacles before the main force began to attack.

Hearing the sound of war drums as the Wei army began to attack, and watching the Wei army walk out of the battle formation, Xiang Lang on the command vehicle also gave an order to prepare for battle.

The sound of war drums echoed each other, and the Wei army gradually approached the forward position of the Shu army.

Five hundred steps, three hundred steps, two hundred steps, one hundred and fifty steps, one hundred steps.

"Shoot-" With a loud roar, a branch of Mingdi whistled out and pounced on the Wei army on the opposite side. Behind this arrow, fifty crossbow carts began to roar, and five hundred arrows followed the sound of the arrow, and galloped out, like a large group of warriors charging into battle with the general.

"Raise the shield-" There was also an angry roar in the Wei army's formation, and the foot soldiers made a "hula" sound, raised the shield in their hands, protected their faces, chests and abdomen, and continued to move forward. The archers stopped, bent their bows and arrows, and fought back, covering the infantry to attack.

In an instant, the war drums thundered, the feathers and arrows galloped, and the shouts of killing were deafening. (To be continued.) )