In the first battle, the main force used only a small part of the elite force to successfully enter the Yueyang small city, which is very important geographically, and severely damaged and drove away the reinforcements sent by Dou Jiande. After the victory, there were naturally waves of indulgence in the Sui army camp. More and more flatterers in the Sui army once again rushed to Chen Sangliang to flatter and flatter, saying that the Sui army's military pioneers were so sharp and the leader of His Highness the Tang King was so wise. It was definitely easier to take down the Queshigu and Rat Valley to break Taiyuan City and wipe out the Li brothers than to eat and drink water. The Yining King's army was bathed in the sunny light of His Highness the Tang King, and he will always be invincible and defeated.

Unfortunately, the Sui army's flatterers slapped the flatterers on the horse's legs this time. Chen Sangliang not only did not appreciate it, but also waved his hand to interrupt the flatterers' flattery and pleasing, looking at the direction of the Queshi Valley in the north and said: "Yueyang is only a three-mile small town, and the surrounding terrain is not dangerous enough. Of course, it is very easy to break through and seize. But the Queshi Valley is different. There is the real difficulty, and our real test is just the beginning."

The singular spirits of the Sui army who were blocked at one point thought that Chen Sangliang was deliberately putting their hot faces on their faces. However, two days later, when Chen Sangliang brought them and the main force of the Sui army to Huoyi and came to the entrance of Queshi Valley, the civil and military officials of the Sui army who had never been to Queshi Valley discovered that Chen Sangliang's words were definitely not humble. The real test of the main force of the Sui army was indeed the beginning. He finally understood why Liu Heita, the former leader of the Sui army, fought a huge casualty with the Taiyuan army in Queshi Valley, and did not give the Taiyuan army the opportunity to build fortifications in Queshi Valley. He also understood why after Liu Heita paid so many seemingly meaningless casualties, Chen Sangliang not only did not feel dissatisfied with him, but on the contrary, he also trusted and loved him more.

The reason is that the terrain of Queshi Valley is too steep, and it is surrounded by two major mountains of Taiyue and Luliang. There is also a surging Fen River running through the entire territory, threatening the safety of the marching at any time. The narrowest road is only three or four meters, and the cliffs on both sides are dozens of meters high. Even if hundreds of enemies seize the high ground on both sides and block the road from a high point, it is enough to block the progress of the 70,000 main forces of the Sui army. If the Taiyuan Army has to build a military fortress on the terrain, it can definitely be said to be a fort that is the pass, and tens of thousands of men cannot open. The Sui army does not know how much it will cost to take the Taiyuan army's blocking position.

When we really walked into the Queshi Valley, the deeper we walked into the Queshi Valley, the more we came here for the first time, the more we realized how difficult and painful Liu Heita had fought before. We also thanked the soldiers of the Sui Army in Hedong for the sacrifices and efforts they had made to restrain the Taiyuan Army. We were even more grateful that the Sui Army pioneers could take the Lingshi City first and control most of the Queshi Valley first. Otherwise, even the optimistic Sui Army civil and military officials would not dare to guarantee how much time it would take for the self-armed army to break through the Queshi Valley, which was heavily guarded by the Taiyuan Army, and they would not dare to guarantee that the main force of the self-armed army would definitely be able to break through the Queshi Valley.

After walking back and forth in Queshi Valley once, Chen Sangliang certainly knew more about the hard work that Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and others had made, and was more grateful for the miracle they had created before that won the opportunity for their own army. So after leading the main army to the only Lingshi Basin suitable for garrisoning the main force in Queshi Valley, when Cheng Yaojin, Liu Heita and Wang Fubao, who were lying on a stretcher, came to greet Chen Sangliang, Chen Sangliang took the lead and bowed to them, and said sincerely: "Everyone, thank you for your hard work."

Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and Xue Renguo were frightened by Chen Sangliang's actions and quickly knelt down on one knee to return the gift. Wang Fubao, who was carried to Chen Sangliang, also struggled to go to the ground to return the gift. Chen Sangliang quickly held him down and patted his hand to let him lie down. He helped Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and Xue Renguo up with his three generals, and loudly conferred Cheng Yaojin, Xue Renguo and Wang Fubao as county dukes, and Liu Heita as county dukes, and granted Wang Fubao iron coupons to avoid death twice in addition to rebellion. In addition, he was rewarded with a large amount of gold, silver, money and silk, and gave him real food fief. Cheng Yaojin, Liu Heita and Xue Renguo quickly thanked him respectfully. Wang Fubao, who was very ignorant, carefully reminded: "Your Highness, and the soldiers under the command of the last general, they worked harder."

"No wonder this guy is so hateful under Dou Jiande's command, and he really doesn't know how to be a human being."

While the Sui army was whispering quietly, Chen Sangliang smiled and said, "That's of course, how can I forget the hard work of all the soldiers? I passed on my orders that Cheng Zhijie and Xue Renguo's meritorious soldiers will be rewarded and doubled, and Liu Heita and Wang Fubao's meritorious soldiers will be rewarded and doubled! Those who deserve official positions will be awarded one level of official rank!"

Wang Fubao then thanked him respectfully. The Sui army soldiers who had worked hard to restrain the Taiyuan army and the Lingshi City before were also cheered and thanked Chen Sangliang together. Chen Sangliang smiled and waved his hand and said loudly: "Please get up, no need to thank me, you deserve it!" The Sui army soldiers kowtowed again, but still thanked Chen Sangliang again.

After the play of buying military morale was finished, Chen Sangliang was very careful to set up camps in the Dusuoyuan Highlands, and Chen Sangliang held a military meeting in the central army's tent, convening major civil and military officials to attend the meeting, and to learn about the recent situation of the Taiyuan Army from Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and others, and also discuss how to break through the northern section of the Queshi Valley and enter the hinterland of Xihe County.

After the meeting began, Liu Heita and Cheng Yaojin first joined forces to present Chen Sangliang with the latest Taiyuan Army defense map, allowing Chen Sangliang and the main generals of the Sui army to understand the general deployment of the Taiyuan Army, and explained to Chen Sangliang and others: "Report to your Highness, the thief general Li Jiancheng had already led the retreat to Jiexiu before the Lingshi war began. He repaired and strengthened various fortifications day and night. Three fortresses were built within fifteen miles south of Lengquan Pass. All of them were on a dangerous cliff high, and more than 200 soldiers were stationed in one school, and a large number of rolling stones and falling trees were prepared. They could attack our army from a high place at any time, which was extremely difficult to break."

"In addition, Li Jiancheng also spent a lot of effort to strengthen Lengquan Pass at the exit of the valley road." Liu Heita continued: "The wall of Lengquan Pass has been thickened by more than seven feet, and is currently at least 1 and a half feet thick, and is about five feet tall. It is currently as high as two and three feet tall. Eight arrow towers have been built behind the wall, which are three feet tall, which can cover our key research roads, and can also accurately shoot our soldiers in the city during the ant war, which poses a great threat to our ant war. The trench of the guard gate was dug to a depth of 1 and a half feet wide. Sheep and horse walls are built behind the ditch, with dense deer antlers, which are extremely difficult to break through."

"There are also winch crossbows (bed crossbows) and catapults." Cheng Yaojin added: "Our scouts ventured to climb up the high ground to peek inside the pass, and found that the thief army prepared a large number of winch crossbows on the pass wall, with a number of about twenty. There were more than thirty catapults on the high ground inside and outside the pass."

Lengquan Pass is the northern exit of the Bird Rat Valley, and its importance is still above Jiexiu City where the Taiyuan Army stationed grain. Li Jiancheng would definitely build Lengquan Pass into a solid wall. This was long as Chen Sangliang expected. Chen Sangliang's report to Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and others was not surprising. After nodding, Chen Sangliang asked again: "What is the situation in Jiexiu City?"

Liu Heita and Cheng Yaojin looked a little embarrassed, and hurriedly apologized to Chen Sangliang: "Your Highness, the Taiyuan thief army has strictly blocked Lengquan Pass and surrounding roads. Our scouts did not have the ability to cross Lengquan Pass to explore Jiexiu's situation, so the last generals knew very little about Jiexiu's situation. They only knew that the thief army recruited a large number of civilians to strengthen the city defense, and also established a large camp in the northeast of Jiexiu City to station the main army."

"It's okay, it's a normal reaction for the thief army to block the big and small roads. It's not surprising that you can't find out the specific situation." Chen Sangliang waved his hand without any mind and said confidently: "When we break through Lengquan Pass and the soldiers enter Jiexiu City, nothing..., huh? Wait."

Speaking of this, Chen Sangliang suddenly discovered something strange, and hurriedly pointed to the map presented by Liu Heita, Cheng Yaojin and others and asked: "Is this wrong marked here? Why did the main force of the Taiyuan thief army establish a camp in the northeast corner of Jiexiu City?"

Cheng Yaojin and Liu Heita looked at the map carefully and replied quickly: "Your Highness, we marked the wrong mark. When our scout climbed to the high ground, we saw it from afar, and confirmed that the main camp of the thief army was northeast of Jiexiu City."

"Strange? How could Li Jiancheng place the main camp in this position?" Chen Sangliang recalled: "If I remember correctly, that area is not suitable for the main camp? Not to mention anything else, at least it should be very troublesome to withdraw water. You have to go across Jiexiu City to the Fen River to the west to get water? With his ability, how could he not consider this?"

"It's very strange." Li Jing also said: "Although Jiexiu City has only more than eight miles from Lengquan Pass, this distance is enough to accommodate his main army of less than 30,000. Li Jiancheng asked the army to station in the north of Jiexiu and stretch the distance of advance by himself. This is somewhat unreasonable. Generally speaking, unless it has an ulterior motive, military strategists will not make such mistakes."

After discovering something suspicious, Chen Sangliang couldn't think of the purpose of Li Jiancheng's arrangement. While racking his brains, Yuan Tiangang volunteered to say, "Your Highness, don't worry, wait for the official to personally explore the terrain for you and make sand tables to let you understand the direction of the mountainous water flow in the northern section of the Bird Rat Valley. At that time, your noble will definitely understand the purpose of the abnormal camp of the thief army. In addition, the official will also observe the situation of the thief army's blocking fortress to see if it can be captured with artillery."

Everyone knows how many skills Yuan Tiangang has in this regard. Chen Sangliang naturally would not refuse after hearing this. He immediately arranged for Qiu Xinggong to lead an army to protect Yuan Tiangang to explore the terrain of the road in the north. He also told Yuan Tiangang to pay attention to finding the camp for the army to attack the key points. Yuan Tiangang agreed and Chen Sangliang also commanded the entire army to step up the establishment of the camp.

The distance between Lingshi and Lengquan Pass is about 60 miles, and it is about 70 miles to Jiexiu. It is quite time-consuming to survey, so after Yuan Tiangang set out in the morning the next morning, he did not return to Lingshi until the evening of the third day. After meeting, Yuan Tiangang seemed a little dejected and told Chen Sangliang: "Your Highness, the bandit army is also a geography expert. The lower official carefully explored the terrain and found that among the three forts of the bandit army, the second one might be hit by our army's artillery, the remaining first and third forts were too high to even our artillery. In addition, the bandit army was tightly blocked in the northern section of the Bird Rat Valley. Xiaguan had just seen Lengquan Pass from afar and was forced to retreat and failed to climb a high place to explore Jiexiu's situation."

"It's okay, take it slowly, we still have enough time anyway." Chen Sangliang comforted Yuan Tiangang and asked Qiu Xinggong, who protected Yuan Tiangang's exploration terrain, and said, "Xinggong, you are good at fighting in the mountains. In your opinion, is it possible for our army to attack and capture the three fortresses outside the thief army?"

"Report to Your Highness, it is possible, but the price is definitely not small, and the time will be endless." Qiu Xinggong replied truthfully: "Although the three forts of the bandit army are all located on the high ground, they are easy to defend and difficult to attack, but they have little force and cannot be rescued and supplemented. As long as our army forces attack at all costs, they will still be sure to take it down."

"What if you give this task to you?" Chen Sangliang asked again, saying, "You go to the camp to select a thousand soldiers who are proficient in mountain combat and are responsible for capturing these three fortresses. I will let Liu Shishan lead 5,000 troops to cover you, how about?"

Qiu Xinggong held his fists without hesitation to receive the order. Chen Sangliang was overjoyed and immediately ordered Qiu Xinggong to lead his army to fight. He specially equipped Qiu Xinggong with 120 kilograms of gunpowder and 200 gunpowder bottles to give him sufficient firearms to attack the fort. However, the joint battle between Qiu Xinggong and Liu Shishan invaded the fort attack was slower than Chen Sangliang expected. It took him two days to send people to send good news, saying that he finally broke the first fortress outside the Taiyuan Army, but the soldiers of the Sui army died in the fort attack, and the losses were quite large.

Chen Sangliang, who knew that the difficulty of fighting, understood the difficulties of Qiu Xinggong and Liu Shishan, and showed great patience to give them time. However, the Taiyuan Army also learned the lesson of the fall of the first fort. When the Sui Army attacked the second fort again, the Sui Army soldiers not only encountered more fierce resistance, but also sent reinforcements to harass and destroy them. He fought two fierce battles with the cover army led by Liu Shishan in the narrow valley, helping the second fort to retreat Qiu Xinggong's strong attack twice. In the end, Qiu Xinggong personally led fifty warriors to climb to the top from the steep mountain, and after hard battles, he took the second fort of Taiyuan Army. At the same time, Qiu Xinggong himself suffered heavy injuries in the fierce battle and was forced to be replaced by Liu Shishan to attack the third fort of Taiyuan Army.

The further it went, the harder it became. The third fort of Taiyuan Army was only five miles away from Lengquan Pass. Every time the Sui army attacked, they had to guard against the Taiyuan Army's assistance. They had to face the more steep terrain and the more alert Taiyuan Army soldiers. They failed to capture four strong attacks and sneak attacks. On the contrary, they lost more than 350 people - they were all elite combat soldiers. Finally, they relied on Liu Shishan's quick wisdom and saw the small weakness of the mountain top of the Taiyuan Army's third fortress. They cut down a large amount of wood to catch fire under the cliff, and covered the enemy fort with thick smoke for a whole day and two nights. This forced the Taiyuan Army, which could not bear the smoke and fire, to abandon the fort and flee. However, the three forts were defeated one by one, and the Sui army paid the price of sacrifice of more than 1,600 soldiers, and it took a whole nine days.

There were only three small fortresses with only one school of more than 200 people. Liu Shishan and Qiu Xinggong led 6,000 troops and paid such a great price for so long. In the end, all the enemy's third fort defenders escaped. The Sui army could definitely be said to be very embarrassed and failed in this battle. However, in the face of such a result, Chen Sangliang did not accuse Liu Shishan and Qiu Xinggong of a word and half of the sentence. None of the civil and military officials of the Sui army complained about the ineffective combat of Liu Qiu. On the contrary, they were extremely grateful that Liu Heita had a proper restraining strategy at all costs and Wang Fubao's surprise attack was successful. Otherwise, the main force of the Sui army would not even see the Lingshi City.

The real test of the Sui army was only to open one. After three highland forts were taken down, there was a more difficult and difficult Lengquan Pass. At the same time, the open area in the northern section of the Queshi Valley was very pitiful. The main force of the Sui army went north and could not even find the garrison where the camp could be established. Therefore, Chen Sangliang could only continue to lead the main army to station in the Lingshi Basin, and sent another general to lead an army to attack Lengquan Pass north. Fortunately, Chen Sangliang also had a cousin Li Jing who was more reliable than him in fighting wars. Li Jing, who was good at fighting tough battles, also wanted to use Lengquan Pass, which was heavily deployed by the Taiyuan Army as a stepping stone. He volunteered to lead the army to 15,000 north to be responsible for attacking Lengquan Pass. Chen Sangliang agreed and sent Yuan Tiangang and the artillery team to help Li Jing.

The next evening, Li Jing led his army to the vicinity of Lengquan Pass and met with Liu Shishan's army who had arrived here first. Due to the terrain, the army was forced to divide the army into two and set up camps in two open areas. The Taiyuan Army also understood that the battle of Lengquan Pass was coming, and the high grounds of Lengquan Pass were brightly bonfires, and the patrol teams under the gate were constantly on fire. There were many open and secret whistles and whistles, and there were no chance for the Sui army to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Li Jing, who had really had this plan, saw that the enemy was prepared, and he only gave up this plan with great regret.

The next morning, while the army was asked to step up the camp, Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang, with the help of the ropes of the Sui army soldiers, both climbed to the commanding heights of the high ground to the east of the camp, observed the terrain from a high point, and also observed the situation of Jiexiu City farther away. However, they only looked at the direction of Jiexiu in the north. The faces of Li Jing, the world's chief military use expert, and Yuan Tiangang, the world's chief geographical expert, changed together. After carefully looking at the situation of the main camp of the Taiyuan Army, which was vaguely visible, Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang looked at each other first, and then said in unison: "No wonder Li Jiancheng wanted to station troops in Jiexiu northeast, away from the water intake point, where is the high ground! He is also preparing to attack with water!"

"It's okay!" Yuan Tiangang patted his chest with glory and said, "The flood season in Fen River is July, and today is May 25th. There is still a month left before the flood season. We still have time. But..., but isn't it?"

When I was so glad to myself that I had arrived here, Yuan Tiangang suddenly remembered a big event and said hurriedly: "No! When I followed His Highness to Yanmen to serve the king, I walked through this road. After leaving the Fen River, I walked not far north along the Fen River and walked northward, leaving Ze Lake. The terrain had become flat. The Fen River had no terrain and space to build a dam to store water. The Taiyuan thief army could not use the Fen River to flood our army no matter what," he said.

"Wenshui (Wenyu River)!" Li Jing said firmly: "The Fen River upstream of the Queshi Valley does not have flood storage, but Wenshui has! Although the water volume of Wenshui is not as good as the Fen River, as long as we store enough water, it can at least destroy our path of advance, make our food and grass transportation difficult, and slow down our advance speed. In the July flood season, Wenshui will be far more likely to flood disasters than the Fen River. If the Taiyuan thief army is a little better, it is not without hope that the water will flood our main force!"

"That's true, the flooding of Wenshui in the "Shuizhuan" is more records than that of Fen River." Yuan Tiangang quickly nodded and agreed, and said, "You must report this to Your Highness immediately and ask him to prepare."

Li Jing nodded and replied, "I have to report this to Your Highness immediately, and I have to take down Lengquan Pass as soon as possible, and go to the upper reaches of Wenshui to stop the thieves from storing water. But how can I take down Lengquan Pass quickly?"

How did Li Jing quickly take down Leng Quan Guan Gu, just said that Chen Sangliang was so angry that he turned over the table for the first time after receiving the Pegasus report from Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang. He kicked the case in front of him into the air and was still not satisfied. Chen Sangliang roared again, "Li Jiancheng! A man! I can't bear to hit Taiyuan and flood you immediately after hitting Taiyuan. You actually want to flood me first! Since you are unkind first, don't blame me for being unrighteous! After I hit Taiyuan, see how I build Fenhe Park in advance!"

"Fortunately, Shangshu Li and Shangshu Yuan were aware of the traitor's plan in time, otherwise our army would be in danger!" Feng Deyi, a famous flatterer who had recently joined Chen Sangliang, also patted his chest with glory, and then quickly said: "Your Highness, since the traitor's army has a plan to attack water, will our army move the camp to a high place and prevent it from happening?"

"There's no need." Chen Sangliang shook his head and said casually: "The Dusuo of our army's camp was originally a high ground, so there is no need to worry about the sudden flooding of Wenshui River that needs to be injected into the Fenshui River. It is not the flood season now. Even if the Taiyuan thief army suddenly releases water, at most it will only wet the low-lying parts of the road in the Bird Valley, making it more difficult for our food and grass to transport, and cannot threaten the safety of our army."

"That's good." Feng Deyi let out his mouth and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, since we don't have to worry about the thief army's water attack for the time being, then we will quickly take down Lengquan Pass and break through Lengquan Pass. Our army can immediately divide our troops to the upper reaches of Wenshui to stop the thief army from building a dam, and no longer have to worry about the danger of mountain torrents during the flood season."

"Lengquan Pass is not that easy to take down." Chen Sangliang shook his head and pointed at Li Jing and Yuan Tiangang who were kicked to the ground by himself and reported in a joint report: "In the pond newspaper I cousin gave me, in addition to reminding me to be wary of the thief army's water attack, he also attached a map of the fortifications of the thief army at Lengquan Pass, but did not mention how he attacked Lengquan Pass word by word. This is enough to show that Lengquan Pass is strong and difficult to attack, and he is not sure of seizing Lengquan Pass within the time limit. I am not good at fighting the tough battle, he is not sure, and I am not sure."

Feng Deyi, a flatterer who is ranked among the world, quickly opposed it, saying that Chen Sangliang was too modest, and His Highness the King of Tang was invincible and defeated all the battles without losing. How could he be not good at fighting tough battles? Chen Sangliang, who was in a bad mood, was too lazy to pay attention to Feng Deyi's flattery, but he continued to grit his teeth and said arbitrarily: "This must be Li Erlang's plan! Li Jiancheng and I are close friends. He is kind-hearted and cannot come up with such a vicious plan! Only Li Erlang, only Li Erlang has such a vicious heart!"

(Li Er: "..., why is it my turn to be more unfair than Dou E?!")

Of course, Chen Sangliang didn't know that he had wronged Emperor Li Er this time. With secret hatred, Chen Sangliang suddenly had such a vicious thought in his mind, and he said intimidatingly: "The thief army strictly blocked the big and small roads, which basically guaranteed that our army's scouts could not find out that they were building a dam upstream of Wenshui, and we could not expect that we could guess that they were going to attack with water based on their camp location! Can we use this point?"

The triangular eyes were spinning around and thinking for a moment, Chen Sangliang pondered and said, "Fu Jia, pick up the pen and make a book for me."

Sun Fujia immediately spread the letter paper and picked up the pen. When asked what to write, Chen Sangliang changed his mind again, shook his head and said to himself: "No, I can't come forward in person. My reputation in this regard is a bit bad. Once my letter reaches the enemy's hands, the enemy will immediately understand that this is my plan."

Sun Fujia and Feng Deyi rolled their eyes, and they all thought that you are a little self-aware of yourselves. You are not just a little stinky in terms of cheating and cheating the enemy. You are just a little stinky in this regard? You are simply smelling in the wind!
Chapter completed!