Li Tong deliberately let his cousin go to Wei just in case the Han Dynasty could protect the clan when the Han Dynasty fell. But for individuals, Li Tong was still loyal to the Han Dynasty. As the former general, Gushihou and the eldest princess' husband, whether it was power, glory, or favor, it was only more or less than the short princes and kings during the Gengshi regime, and the cost of changing the party was too high.

He recently learned that Liu Xiu defeated the Wei army's rear team in Jianghan and successfully besieged Cen Peng and Dangyang, which made Li Tong's confidence in the Han country: Even if it was difficult to restore the Central Plains, it was difficult to remain in the old city, but there was still hope to maintain the south for several generations.

But the premise for the victory of the Han army was that Li Tong could stop the aggressive Geng Yan and Liu Xiu could calmly attack Cen Peng.

"It seems that Geng Yan's troops are the reinforcements sent by the Fifth Reun to support Cen Peng."

"Jiangxia is the flank of His Majesty, and the Minghe Sanzhan is also the gateway of Jiangxia. Geng Yan led the Huaibei army to attack this, in order to repeat the strategy of Wu's army entering Ying in the Spring and Autumn Period!"

In the late Spring and Autumn Period, there was a war that influenced the world. Under the planning of Sun Wu and Wu Zixu, the army of King Helu of Wu took an extremely unusual path: they did not fight upstream from the Yangtze River as expected by Chu State, but instead asked the Wu army to go to the Huai River and land on the shore in the Huaixi region. Then, following the country, they advanced south from the rugged Minghe, and suddenly appeared in the hinterland of the Jianghan State of Chu State.

This led to the Chu army being quite in a hurry, and it was defeated seven times in seven battles and was finally invaded to Yingdu by the people of Wu. Wu Zixu whipped the tomb of King Ping of Chu, and the great Chu almost destroyed the country...

After King Zhao of Chu restored the country, he learned this painful lesson and built cities and blocked passes in Ming Erjia, leaving behind heavy troops. It was not too late to make up for the sheep. During the Warring States Period, Ming Er blocked the Qin army for more than 50 years. This place was also valued by military strategists. In "Lüshi Chunqiu" and "Huainanzi", they were both selected as one of the nine major passes in the world.

In fact, Minge has three pass cities, namely: Da Tun, Zhiyuan, Minge, and Minge, which belong to three counties, each guarding the pass path between Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain. Currently, it is commanded by General Pang Meng, Pingyue. On average, there are only more than a thousand guards in each pass.

This made Li Tong quite worried. He had led his clan and the remnants of the Green Forest to live in the Three Passes for a long time, and was very clear about the reality and reality there: "Although the three passes are dangerous, they are mutually supportive. If Geng Yan concentrates his troops to overcome one pass first, the other two passes will be broken without waiting for attack."

So General Pang Meng, the Pingyue general, hurriedly asked for help and asked Li Tong to support him quickly.

Li Tong immediately sent four messengers to report to Liu Xiu’s main force on the west bank of the Han River; those who went south informed Deng Yu, the Grand Sikong who was in charge of Xiakou, coordinated the food and fodder and supported him; two people went north, one went to Sui County, and informed General Yanghua that Jian was careful, while the other replied to Pang Meng: "The former general has led his troops north, and the three passes are the keys to the Huai and Han, so it must not be lost!"

This time, Liu Xiu personally expeditioned almost all the new troops in Jiangdong, and there were very few troops for Li Tong. He even pulled up the soldiers and county soldiers of Jiangxia County, and only collected five thousand people. He traveled north anxiously at the end of May, hoping to catch up with the rescue of Minghe.

Anlu is only five days away from Minge, but it is the plum rain season in Jianghan. It is raining continuously, and the troops are walking and stopping and are quite tired. Li Tong's clothes have never been dry.

Three days later, when the team arrived at the village called "Yingshan" between Anlu and Minge, the weather showed signs of sunshine. However, without waiting for Li Tong to take a breath, he changed into a dry armor and the scout arranged in front was frightened to give him a fright:

"Former General, we are facing a large group of Wei troops, less than five miles away!"

"What?" Li Tong was shocked in the carriage and almost fell down: "Minge was broken so quickly?"

Li Tong had no time to think about what happened on the front line. Before the Han army could turn from a long column to a horizontal battle against the enemy, the sound of horse hooves trampling on the water, the cavalry with tall heads and big horses roared and rushed the Han soldiers who had not yet reacted!

This cavalry had a total of 20,000 or 30,000 people. The Han army was defeated. The temporary recruitment of Jiangxia County soldiers and county soldiers were defeated one after another. Li Tong only looked back on the way to escape with his attendants and his personal guards to escort them to escape. He judged their numbers from the enemy's flag:

"Youzhou Tuqi!?"

...

This encounter was one-sided. The attack of the thunder cavalry caught the Han army off guard. Five thousand people quickly scattered, and the thunder cavalry did not let go. They stared at the heads of the Han army's neck and roared and pursued, which led to Li Tong having to retreat to the hills and forests to the west and not daring to appear on the plain again.

A moment later, Wang Liang, the general who was commanding the battle, rode the Wuhuan horse. Seeing the men chasing the dead and chasing the north, laughing, he was puzzled: "The Han soldiers are so weak. Why did Brother Gai be defeated and captured five years ago and be imprisoned in Jiangdong?"

Back then, Gai Yan and Wang Liang followed Wu Han, killed the prefect of Yuyang, and surrendered to the fifth reunion, so they were called the "Three Masters of Yuyang". After that, Wu Han became a general all the way, holding military power. Gai Yan also followed Ma Yuan in the Central Plains, gaining a reputation and becoming a miscellaneous person. Only Wang Liang stayed in Yuyang as the prefect. Although he was granted the title of Earl, his military position was still a "big general" and he was inevitably a little ashamed.

But his chance came. Now that Gai Yan has been captured for many years, he has no idea of ​​life and death. Wu Han is in Bingzhou to defend against the Huns, and most of them will miss this battle. The Yuyang soldiers are unruly. Except for him, only Wang Liang can control them, so he is the fifth point to go south. Wang Liang brought three thousand Yuyang cavalry and arrived at Kunyang Pass with Hebei soldiers. After passing through Runan County, he joined the shogunate of the General Cheqi...

Geng Yan's command of 30,000 people were mostly Qingxu infantry, so Wang Liang was able to lead the cavalry as the vanguard and headed south first. He never thought that he would defeat the Jiangxia defenders in one battle and clear the obstacles for the road ahead.

The next day, Wang Liang's "Yingshan Victory" spread to the three passes of Minghe on the rugged mountain road, and Geng Yan's main army was constantly passing through this place.

"Wang Liang has made great contributions."

After seeing the good news, Geng Yan said to a thin young civil servant accompanying him: "But Captain Zhang's contribution is no less than that of Wang Liang. If the Captain didn't send the Embroidered Guard to persuade Pang Meng, open the door and surrender to Wei, and with the danger of the underworld, it would probably take an extra day or two to break through this place."

This person is Zhang Yu, who presided over the information of Wei State in the south. He humbly replied: "Even if Pang Meng surrenders, with the power of General Geng, the three passes of Mingwei are not a problem. Zhang Yu is just here to help him by the order of the emperor."

Liu Xiu and Li Tong would probably be shocked when he heard this. It turned out that the rapid loss of the three passes of Minghe was actually because General Pingyue Pang Meng surrendered to Wei!

Don’t say that they couldn’t figure it out, even Geng Yan felt strange. At this moment, he asked Zhang Yu: “I often heard in Huaibei that Pang Meng is highly valued. Liu Xiu thought that this person could be entrusted to a six-foot-foot-long orphans, grant titles and generals, and value them. How could Pang Meng quickly descend on the matter of eating the king’s fortune and loyalty to the king?”

"This is not surprising." Zhang Yu smiled and said, "After the order of Your Majesty, the Embroidered Guard will collect and study all the important officials, generals' backgrounds and preferences of the enemy country. From Feng Yi, Deng Yu, Pang Meng and others, they all have their weaknesses."

Seeing that Geng Yan was interested, Zhang Yu talked about the story: "After we searched, we learned that when Pang Meng was young, he fled from his hometown because of hurting someone. This is nothing. Our horses and tens of thousands of generals also went into exile in the north, so we met His Majesty. But at least we would settle the family and not involve him, but Pang Meng ignored his parents, wife and children and just ran for his own life."

"Later, Pang Meng fled to Jiangxia and joined the Green Forest Army, but was not highly valued in the Gengshi court. He was in charge of the Green Forest Commander Qu. Whenever there was a war, the Qu commander died in battle, but Pang Meng could survive and change his master. It was not until the Red Eyebrow Army went south that Pang Meng joined Wang Chang's command and arrived in Minghe. Later, he defected to Liu Xiu, and then gradually emerged. Fighting in Huainan was for one merit, defeating Red Eyebrow was for two merits, capturing Gaiyan was for three merits, and Pingshanyue was for four merits, so he was highly valued by Liu Xiu and became a miscellaneous person."

Geng Yan nodded: "Although Liu Xiu is not as good as Your Majesty, he is also a hero. He is also a kind of kindness to Pang Meng. If a soldier dies as a confidant, why is Pang Meng dissatisfied with him? He surrendered without fighting?"

"There are so many dissatisfactions." Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Two years ago, Pang Meng had just swept the Shanyue and claimed to be a great contribution, but was ordered to guard Minghe. He despised the poor and wanted to stay in Kuaiji. He was unwilling to take office, so he was scolded by Liu Xiu."

"Pang Meng has always been incompatible with his colleagues, and he is close to friendly forces. General Yanghua, who is guarding Sui County, has resentment. In order to mediate the two, Liu Xiu had no choice but to send Li Tong to Jiangxia as the boss of the second general. However, Liu Xiu's edict has only been sent to Li Tong, and Jian Qing is rarely issued to Pang Meng. Meng then suspicious of Li Tong, and Jian Qing slandered him."

"After all, although Pang Meng was born in Green Forest, his hometown was Changyi, Yanzhou. He was excluded by Nanyang, Yingchuan, Green Forest and Jiangdong. He could only be the lonely minister of Liu Xiu. If his kindness was reduced a little, he would feel uneasy."

"At this time, the general's army was approaching, Pang Meng was shocked and frightened. The embroidered guards hidden in the embroidery took the opportunity to lobby. There was no need to say the disparity in strength between Wei and Wu. They also told Pang Meng that his family, ancestral tombs and the Great Wei were taken care of, and they promised to be granted the title of marquis in the uprising."

"Pang Meng weighed the pros and cons and believed that he could not defeat the general. If he abandoned the pass and left, he would be criticized by Liu Xiu's ministers, and he might even lose his life. It would be better to turn on and off and surrender..."

This is the cause and effect of the empress. After hearing this, Geng Yan only sighed: "Sad, Pang Meng is also a good general. You can fight with me happily. Unexpectedly, he is so unbearable. This battle is really boring."

Zhang Yuying said: "However, Liu Xiu met Pang Meng with such kindness, and he would betray him, let alone us? I heard that Pang Meng asked for an appointment, hoping to lead his old subordinates to besiege Sui County and relieve his worries for the general, but this person is absolutely not trustworthy. I hope the general can remove his military power and send him to the rear to house arrest, waiting for the war to end."

"Since the words of the embroidered school captain."

After dealing with Pang Meng, Geng Yan then learned that after the defeat of the former Han general Li Tong, he fled westward with more than a thousand troops, and may join forces with General Yanghua Jianjun.

"A mere thousands of people are not hindering the overall situation and are not worthy of our army's attention. Let's leave it to the Nanyang army to clean up."

Geng Yan knew his mission very well. He looked back and looked at the majestic Minghe Sanzha. The 30,000 Qing Xu's soldiers had passed the pass. He then ordered: "Only three thousand soldiers stayed to guard Minghe, and the rest brought enough dry food for ten days and headed south quickly!"

After leaving Minghe, Jiangxia Plain was open and unhindered, right in front of him! Xiao Geng, who had been in Huaibei for a long time, felt like fish entered the sea and birds entered the blue sky.

"The order was sent to the order that the army divided into two groups, and the east route was led by General Wang Liang. The Yuyang Tuqi and other 7,000 people went straight to the confluence of the Han River and the river, and passed the Xiakou, destroying the Wu Army Wharf Ferry, leaving Deng Yu unable to respond."

"I personally lead the 20,000 people on the west road, crossing Jiangxia County and heading to Jingling County!"

There was the place where Liu Xiu's boat landed, and it was also behind the Han army. All the food and fodder from Xiakou were stored here.

This is the task given to Geng Yan by the fifth reunion: to encircle and give Xiu'er a big surprise!
Chapter completed!