Today's Tongguan was a Guancheng city in the Tang Dynasty, located on the bank of the Yellow River.

To the south of Guancheng is Qizhi Plateau, an insurmountable high plateau. There is a forbidden ditch between Qizhi Plateau and Fengyi Plateau to the west.

In order to prevent the enemy from bypassing the Qizhi Plateau from the east, twelve consecutive cities were set up in the forbidden ditch, forming a complete line of defense with Tongguan.

Therefore, it is said that the dangers of Tongguan are one in Forbidden Valley, two in Qizhi Plateau, three in Jindou Pass, and four in Yellow River...

Liu Yuanli attacked from the west and was able to cut off the communication between Tongguan and Twelve Liancheng.

If Shang Ting wanted to transport grain to the Twelve Companies, they could only bypass the Qizhi Plateau from the east, but the road was difficult and they were unable to provide long-term support.

Liu Yuanli only had to wait for the twelve consecutive cities to run out of food supplies and occupy the Forbidden Valley, then go around to the east of Tongguan, block the roads east of Guancheng, and wait for the food reserves in Guancheng to run out.

He is not in a hurry.

We are not attacking Henan for the time being. We are occupying Tongguan to guard the pass. Of course there is no rush.

Tongguan was originally used to defend against attacks from the east. Before Shang Ting retreated to Tongguan, the autumn grain had not been harvested, and he sent a large amount of money and grain to the north, so there was not enough food and grass.

Liu Yuanli's steady and steady strategy basically has no chance of defeat.

This is why Lian Xixian ambushed his troops in Huashan.

He didn't have many choices. What was great was that he created an opportunity that "seemed" to kill Li Xia even when he had no choice.

Li Xia indeed came in person and led 500 people to guard the rear for Liu Yuanli.

On the ninth day of August, Lin Zi reported a piece of news.

"Commander, I sent people to investigate nearby and found that Lian Xixian drove all the Taoist priests on Huashan Mountain down in order to occupy Taoist temples and store grain. Now the Taoist priests all live in Yuquan Yuan at the foot of the mountain..."

"A female crown with a lotus screen?"

"Yes! Do you want to see me, Marshal?"

Seeing Li Xia nod, Lin Zi waved his hand and ordered someone to invite him.

After that, he added: "I also asked a few Taoists, and they said that there were nearly 400 enemy soldiers, and they had brought a lot of food. With the food stored in the Taoist temple, they might be able to last for a year... In addition, I finally found

The woodcutter found out that there is not only a road up the mountain in Huashan, but also a giant tree in the east that can be climbed up the back of Qinglong to Canglong Ridge."

Li Xia's expression became calmer and asked: "Is it reliable?"

"Reliable, do you want to send a sentry to have a look at the enemy's situation?"

"That's fine, but be careful."

"yes."

In the afternoon, more than ten female Taoists from Lianping Temple were brought to the camp, looking timid.

Li Xia went out of the tent to look around and pointed at one of them.

"Ask questions one by one. You come in first."

This sentence made them cry.

"General... please don't, General... I am a monk..."

"It's not what you think. I swear in the name of the Shu Commander of the Great Song Dynasty, and I really only want to ask a few words..."

~~

Throughout the afternoon, Li Xia had inquired about the news about Lianping Temple, and the seventeen female Taoist priests had said much the same things, without any flaws.

"It is true that a female layman and her maid were sent to Lianping Temple by Mrs. Shang. She said she was a noble person and wanted to live temporarily in Huashan..."

"I heard Mrs. Shang call her niece, and the viewer called her 'Miss Zhang'..."

"Probably early July, the Hungry Ghost Festival? It must be many days before the Hungry Ghost Festival..."

"Well, Pindao is definitely before the Hungry Ghost Festival, which should be the ninth day of July..."

"I went up the mountain on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. Although the female layperson was dressed in men's clothing and looked very beautiful, she usually lived in the small courtyard. The temple owner personally watched her, and it seemed that she was not allowed to come down the mountain..."

"The officers and soldiers went up the mountain and drove us down. They said there was going to be a war. They were afraid of hurting innocent people. The female lay practitioner is still under the supervision of the temple master in the Lotus Ping Temple..."

"The leader of the officers and soldiers has three long beards and an extraordinary bearing. I heard people call him 'Incorruptible Prime Minister', but this is all I know..."

After asking questions one by one, Li Xia sent people to send these female Taoist priests back, with occasional doubts in their eyes, waiting for news from Lin Zi.

~~

The next afternoon.

Linzi came in a hurry again.

"Commander, send your troops up the mountain to look through the sight tubes. The Mongolian army is ambushing at Yukou of Huashan Mountain, with more than 400 people."

"I understand, where is the Lotus Ping Temple?"

"I looked with a telescope from a distance. There were people guarding the place outside, and I saw a female Taoist priest delivering meals to several women."

"Um."

Lin Zi waited for a while, but saw no new orders from Li Xia, so he couldn't help but said: "Commander, I have an idea."

"explain."

"How about sending a strange force to carry a green dragon up the mountain, rescue the Zhang family girl, and then sneak attack on the Beifeng to cut off the enemy's food and grass?"

Li Xia asked back: "Don't you think Lian Xixian is trying his best to lure us up the mountain?"

"Probably not." Lin Zi said: "We have carefully examined those Taoist priests and women's crowns, and none of what they said seems to be forgery. The time when the Zhang family girl went up the mountain was before the Battle of the Weihe River. It is not Lian Xixian's forgery."

Li Xia didn't answer, just walked a few steps.

Lin Zi added: "What's more, at the location of Canglong Ridge, you can't see Yukou without a sight tube. Lian Xixian doesn't know about our sight tube, so he can't even count this. Besides, he can't predict the commander.

I will definitely come and find those Taoist priests who were driven down the mountain..."

Li Xia asked again: "Are you sure this is not a trick?"

"If it's a plan, it's too ingenious. From the commander getting Can Xin to today's interrogation of the female crown, step by step..."

"No, Lian Xixian doesn't need to figure it out step by step. He just needs to arrange for someone to assassinate me. If it succeeds, he can wait for me to capture his people. Whether it's Hu Zhiyun or Yelu Youshang, they can tell me

These news... and the reason why I came here is not only because of the news, but also because Chang'an is unstable and assassinations continue, so I need to clear up the secrets as soon as possible. Lian Xixian is using all means to set me up."

"this……"

Li Xia asked again: "Is the news you found today true or false?"

Lin Zi thought for a while and responded: "What you see through the telescope is real. Those women's crowns we reviewed are also real."

Li Xia thought for a while and said: "Well, send some good men to Lianping Temple to rescue the woman. Then arrange for three hundred warriors to sneak around to the back of the Qinglong at night, and then..."

~~

It's late at night.

Now Liu Yuanli has led his troops to the gate of Tongguan Pass, and sent troops to guard the Jingou and capture twelve consecutive cities.

This large camp at the foot of Huashan Mountain is only garrisoned by Li Xia's 500 personal guards.

But on this night, although it looked like there were still 500 people in the camp, 300 people actually left the camp quietly at nightfall.

The Mongolian army did not have a lookout tube, so it was obvious that they could not see this situation.

In the big tent, Li Xia was sitting there wearing armor, holding a long tree on his knees, closing his eyes and concentrating.

As Lin Zi said, Lian Xixian should not have expected that he would attack Huashan with a surprise attack.

Find the Taoist priest for interrogation, sneak onto the back of the green dragon, use the observation tube to see Yukou, and decide to send troops... It's too much chance.

"Woo!"

The sound of dysprosium sounded, and someone attacked the camp.

Li Xia took hold of Changshan and stood up.

I continued to think in my heart that Lian Xixian had thought himself through. Even if there were too many accidents, the most important thing was that this was his Li Xia's style of doing things.

The tricks that Li Xia liked to use in the past have been thoroughly exploited by these enemies in the north.

"Then let's fight."

Li Xiadu muttered something, walked out of the tent, and got on his horse.

"Soldiers!"

"exist!"

A line of soldiers from the Song Dynasty had rushed out of the camp. They were all wearing armor and had not fallen asleep.

"The enemy has indeed attacked the camp, follow me and kill them!"

"Kill the enemy!"

There were only 200 Song troops in the camp, and they had not yet finished gathering. There were only about 80 people around Li Xia.

Among them, there are no more than thirty people with horses, and they are the elite of Yang Ben's command.

Li Xia, however, had already driven his war horse and ran towards the camp.
To be continued...