This year's New Year came a little late, making it look like the last line of a page. After turning over the pages, new content came. People suddenly discovered that the cold winter was about to end.

When the wind blows, it is still very cold, but sometimes at dusk, a gentle spring breeze will unexpectedly blow from the south. There is no cold and spicy atmosphere in the sky. The ice in the river also becomes thinner, floating on the water like crystal duckweeds. After a long silence, the sound of the shepherd's bamboo flute comes from the river.

This is Laishui County in Shanggu County, and it is also the closest county to Shanggu County. It is only fifteen miles away from the border of Zhuo County. After crossing Laishui, you will reach Zhuo County after walking a while.

This place is also a place where great army gathers. The Sui army stockpiled 20,000 troops in Laishui County, divided into two camps, ten miles apart and each other as a supportive corner. The Beidaying was commanded by general Xie Yingdeng, and the Nandaying was commanded by Wang Junguo.

Zhuo County, fifty miles away opposite, is also stationed by the 50,000 coalition forces of Luo Yi and Gao Kaidao, and the two sides have been in a confrontation for two months.

After two months of combat preparations, the Sui Dynasty had transported 300,000 stones of grain and a large amount of military supplies such as armor, tins, and tents to Shanggu County. More than 30 huge warehouses were built in Yi County, with 3,000 troops stationed.

The hills on both sides of Laishui are undulating, with large areas of dense forests distributed. In the valleys between the hills, there are large areas of farmland. Most of the farmland is deserted due to war, but some farmlands have shown signs of reclaiming. As spring gerries, farmers can be seen by chance at the edge of the farmland.

That morning, a team of more than a hundred Sui army patrol cavalry rushed past a farmland, and more than a dozen farmlands were looking at them in surprise. According to usual experience, these Sui army cavalry would inevitably stop to say hello to them or ask for some water to drink, but today they were in a hurry, as if something big was happening.

"Will there be a war?" a farmer asked worriedly.

"I don't know. Let's go back early!"

More than a dozen farmers packed up their things and left the farmland and walked towards the village several miles away.

More than a hundred cavalry were still speeding up. They were carrying out an emergency mission. The Sui army established more than 20 sentry towers on the border, and each sentry tower was guarded by five soldiers. They mainly observed the movements of the enemy. One sentry tower was equipped with an eagle slave, and the eagle would be sent back to Yi County to report the situation every day. This also proved that the sentry tower was safe. However, yesterday, there were five sentry towers that did not send eagles back, which aroused the worry of general Xie Yingdeng. He immediately sent a patrol to investigate the situation.

The cavalry team ran all the way. They soon arrived at the first sentry tower, which was a wooden building located on a hill, only a few hundred steps away from the official road. They could clearly monitor the situation on the official road, and then walked one mile eastward. They crossed another hill and entered Zhuojun.

"Stop!"

There were hundreds of steps away from the wooden tower, and the brigade coach of the cavalry team noticed something abnormal. He shouted, and the team stopped immediately. They had seen the wooden tower from afar. The wooden tower that originally stood by the pine forest had collapsed, half of which had been burnt, and fell incompletely on the hillside.

"Zhang Shun'er. Take your brother to see it, be careful!"

The brigade coach gave an order, and a fire chief ran out of the team and waved his hand, "Follow me!"

He led nine cavalry toward the sentry tower, and several cavalry searched for a while. The fire master stood up and shouted, "Not our brothers, nor are there bodies!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a cold arrow suddenly shot out from the pine forest above. Huo Chang was caught off guard and was shot in the neck by an arrow. He screamed and rolled down from the hillside.

The sudden incident surprised the Sui army patrols. They all set their bows and arrows and aimed at the pine forests on the hills. The other nine Sui soldiers next to the sentry raised their shields and drew their swords, while the two soldiers ran to rescue the Fire Chief.

The pine forest was very quiet, as if nothing had happened. Just when the brigade coach felt a little confused, he instinctively turned around and found that on the official road behind them, there were a large group of Youzhou soldiers, hundreds of whom were quietly approaching behind them, about a hundred steps away from them.

"There is an enemy attack!"

The brigade general roared and turned his horse's head. The Sui soldiers turned around one after another. At this time, arrows were fired in the mountains and forests on both sides. More than 20 Sui soldiers screamed and turned over and fell off the horse.

The brigade commander almost bit his lips and bleeding, there was a blockage behind him, and there were ambushes on both sides, but there was no army on the side of Zhuo County. Another round of arrows came, and more than a dozen Sui troops were shot down again. He had no time to think about it anymore, and hesitated to wipe out the entire army.

"Follow me!"

The brigade general shouted, turned his head again and ran towards Zhuojun. The remaining nearly sixty Sui cavalrymen galloped hard and rushed into Zhuojun in a moment.

At this time, a large number of soldiers rushed out of the mountains and forests, with more than a thousand people. The general led by the leader looked at the Sui cavalry and rushed into the Youzhou territory. He sneered and immediately ordered: "Go and report to the prince quickly, the Sui army patrols and crosses the border!"

.........

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Luo Yi used the excuse of arresting the Sui army's patrol in Zhuo County to condemn the Sui army's cross-border provocation, and then ordered 50,000 coalition forces to concentrate their forces to launch an attack on Laishui County, Shanggu County, to attack Laishui Beiying.

The North Camp of Laishui is stationed on the west bank of Laishui, with 10,000 Sui troops, led by General Xie Yingdeng. Since the five sentry towers on the border were unexpectedly lost contact two days ago, and a patrol sent by him to check the situation also disappeared. Xie Yingdeng felt something was wrong. He ordered the army to be fully alert and sent people back to Yi County to report urgently to the chief general Qin Qiong.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’ The harsh alarm bell rang in the Sui army’s Beida camp, and fully armed Sui soldiers rushed out of the camp tent, and three thousand crossbowmen had been deployed on the front line of the camp.

The three thousand cavalry and the three thousand sword shield army were lined up, and one thousand baggage soldiers were quickly sorting out various armored supplies. Two hundred female guards were also following the baggage army. The female guards were the latest military service of the Sui army. The task was to rescue the wounded and minimize casualties. According to the standard of fifty soldiers matching a female guard, their equipment was a horse, wearing a thin armored iron helmet, a horizontal knife on the waist, and a round shield on the back. The most important thing was to carry a medicine box.

Most of these female guards were northern women, including Han and Hu women. They were generally tall and strong. A total of 5,000 female soldiers were recruited. They enjoyed the same treatment as ordinary soldiers, but their camps were not with the soldiers, but were separated by camp bars.

Xie Yingdeng urged the horse to the front of the camp and watched the movements in the distance. He should have seen that about ten miles away, a long black line appeared, with about five thousand people, which should be the vanguard of the enemy.

"General, are you going to fight?" an officer asked in a low voice.

"No!" Xie Yingdeng shook his head, "This is just the enemy's lure. Not far behind them, there must be a main force following you, so you cannot go out to fight."

"General!"

Someone shouted behind her, Xie Yingdeng turned around and saw a letter sender coming in from the back camp and rushed over. The letter sender stepped forward to give a gift and handed a military order to Xie Yingdeng, "General Qin's order!"

Xie Yingdeng opened the order, which was Qin Qiong's handwriting, with only four words, "Get out of Yi County in the west!"

Xie Yingdeng nodded silently. He understood Qin Qiong's meaning, evacuated to Yi County, concentrated his superior forces, and at the same time extended the enemy's logistics supply line. I believe that Wang Junkuo from the Nanchang of Laishui also received the same letter.

He looked up at the sky. It was still afternoon and there was still time to prepare.

...........

Luo Yi's 50,000 coalition was composed of 30,000 Youzhou troops and 20,000 Gao Kaidao's army, led by Luo Yi himself, while Gao Kaidao's army was led by his younger brother Gao Wentong.

As the weather gradually warmed up, most of the snow in Zhuo County had melted, and the river water also showed signs of melting. Luo Yi knew that after the beginning of spring, the Sui army was about to launch an offensive against Youzhou. After repeated consideration, instead of waiting for the enemy to come, it would be better to take the initiative. If he could occupy Yi County, it would be able to destroy the Sui army's combat preparations for a winter. The Sui army would be forced to evacuate Shanggu County, and the crisis in Youzhou would be resolved.

But at this time, the Sui army did not yet break up with Youzhou, and the Sui army did not say that they would attack Youzhou. Luo Yi was afraid that his soldiers would have doubts, so he set up a bureau to slander the Sui army's sentry to enter Zhuo County first to provoke, so he found an excuse to send troops to Shanggu County.

The 50,000 army slowly pushed to the east bank of Laishui, about three miles away from the Sui Army's Beidaying. Luo Yi did not continue to advance. Laishui had already shown signs of thawing and could no longer cross the river directly. While he ordered people to build a floating bridge by the river, he went to find a place where he could cross the river directly. Now it was just the first time he thawed. Some river sections would thaw slowly and could also walk across the ice.

"Report to the prince, General Gao is here!"

Luo Yi was checking the sand table in the central army's tent. Yang Yuanqing's sand table had already spread. Major forces have learned to use sand tables. Luo Yi also made a sand table in northern Hebei. Although it was a bit rough, it was much more convenient than the map.

He nodded, "Please come in!"

General Gao was Gao Wentong, the younger brother of Gao Kaidao, and was the second person in Gao Kaidao's army. Gao Kaidao was from Xinyang, Bohai County. In the ninth year of Daye, Ge Qian raised an army in Douzigang, and he led thousands of people to raise troops to respond. Then the two armies merged. Gao Kaidao was deeply trusted by Ge Qian and appointed him as his deputy general. Last year, Ge Qian's army was defeated by Wang Shichong's army. Ge Qian himself was unfortunately killed. Gao Kaidao led the remaining troops to retreat to Liaodong, occupied Liaodong, and then went south to occupy Beiping County.

Gao Kaidao's army and Youzhou army were originally hostile forces, but in the process of jointly dealing with Dou Jiande, the two armies gradually gave up their past grudges and made allies. This time, they dealt with the Sui army's expansion in the east, and the two armies cooperated closely. Gao Kaidao ordered his brother Gao Wentong to lead 20,000 elite troops to help the battle.

Gao Wentong is a majestic figure and an extremely rude man, but he is very skilled in martial arts. He used a 100-pound chassis knife with a terrifying courage. When he walked into the tent, he said in a muffled voice: "Why didn't the prince do anything and annihilate the Sui army?"

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Chapter completed!