Chapter 10 There are always people who better than you

To be honest, Shi Siming was still afraid of Li Guangbi, an old opponent.He has fought for most of his life, and there are not many people who admire him, and even fewer people who fear him, and perhaps the only one he hates and fears is Li Guangbi. However, Li Guangbi is not without weaknesses. Compared with Shi Siming, who is good at field battles, Li Guangbi is better at defending the city, and does not have an advantage in field battles.In Shi Siming's view, as long as he can lure Li Guangbi out of the city for a decisive battle, he will be very sure of winning.Therefore, he was not in a hurry to attack the city, but sent people to Heyang City to scold them every day.

At that time, Shi Siming had a general named Liu Longxian under his command.This person is very brave and arrogant, and often rides alone outside Heyang City, shouting and cursing, greeting Li Guangbi's eighteen generations of ancestors one by one, and when cursing, he also poses in a very exaggerated posture - crossing one leg When it reached the horse's neck, the other leg was still shaking, with a twitching expression on its face. Liu Longxian's provocation quickly annoyed the officers and men of the Tang army, but Li Guangbi remained calm and turned a blind eye to it, turning a deaf ear to it.

Of course, Li Guangbi's not being angry doesn't mean he has nothing to do with Liu Longxian. For several days, Li Guangbi just stood on the top of the city wall and enjoyed Liu Longxian's performance.It wasn't until the soldiers around him couldn't bear it any longer that Li Guangbi suddenly opened his mouth and asked the left and right: "Who can kill this kid?" Pu Gu Huai'en immediately called for a fight.Li Guangbi said: "How can you kill a chicken with a sledgehammer! This is not something that a general will do." Immediately, the left and right recommended a partial general named Bai Xiaode.A moment later, Bai Xiaode was ordered to come and insisted on going to battle.

Li Guangbi asked, "How many people do you want?" Bai Xiaode replied: "The next person is enough." Li Guangbi admired his courage very much, but still insisted on letting him lead the troops into battle.Bai Xiaode pondered for a while, and said: "Then I will bring fifty cavalry as backup; besides, please cheer for me with drums and shouts from the army." Li Guangbi patted him on the back and personally sent him out of the city. With a spear in his hand, Bai Xiaode rode his horse across the shallow water.As soon as he walked halfway, Pugu Huai'en on the tower said to Li Guangbi: "Bai Xiaode has won." Li Guangbi said: "You haven't fought yet, how do you know?" When he puts on the bridle, he looks calm and relaxed, so you know that he has a plan in his chest."

Liu Longxian saw Yiqi walking slowly out of Heyang City, but he didn't pay attention at all.When Bai Xiaode approached, Liu Longxian was about to flatter his horse to fight, but he saw Bai Xiaode waved his hand to signal him, as if he didn't intend to make a move.Liu Longxian was full of suspicion, so he had no choice but to stay where he was.Bai Xiaode continued to walk until he was about ten steps away from Liu Longxian, then reined in and spoke to Liu Longxian. Liu Longxian listened to a few words patiently, but still didn't understand what he wanted to do, so he continued to curse at his throat.Bai Xiaode was silent for a long time, suddenly opened his eyes wide, and asked sharply: "Traitor, do you know me?"

"Who are you?" "I, Bai Xiaode also." "Hey," Liu Longxian sneered, "Where did Bai Xiaode come from?" Bai Xiaode shouted loudly, the spear in his hand flew, and the mount under him rushed towards Liu Longxian like an arrow from the string.Seeing Bai Xiaode make a move, the thundering war drums sounded immediately on Heyang City, and the fifty cavalry who had been waiting behind the city gate also galloped out immediately.Liu Longxian turned pale with fright, and it was too late to shoot an arrow, so he turned his horse's head and tried to escape around the embankment.

However, he couldn't escape. Bai Xiaode was only ten steps away from him, and he jumped behind him.Liu Longxian only heard a puff sound from behind, and then subconsciously looked down, a spear had already pierced his chest... After a while, Bai Xiaode rode his horse back to Heyang city.He came back just as he had gone out, calm and unhurried.It's just that there is one more thing in his hand - Liu Longxian's head. Tang Jun on Heyang City suddenly burst into cheers. The officers and soldiers of the Yan army who were watching from a distance on the south bank were dumbfounded and horrified.

They witnessed the whole process of Liu Longxian being beheaded by Bai Xiaode.As if in the blink of an eye, this self-proclaimed "valiant general" was decapitated. It seems that Liu Longxian is at best a "roaring general", not a brave general. After Shi Siming's tactic of luring the enemy was thwarted, he quickly came up with another trick. This trick is called psychological tactics. Since most of the Yan army's war horses were fat and strong, Shi Siming ordered the soldiers to pick out more than a thousand horses, and asked them to take these horses to the sandbar on the south bank of the Yellow River to take a bath every day to show off the combat effectiveness of the Yan army's iron cavalry.

In order to show that he has a large number of war horses, Shi Siming asked the soldiers to take out only a few hundred horses at a time, and then wash them batch by batch.In this way, from morning to night, the cycle goes on and on, even if each horse is washed dozens of times to wash off the skin, it will not hesitate.In addition, in order to reflect the sturdiness of the war horse, Shi Siming also specifically confessed: must choose a stallion. Looking at the fat and strong Beidi good horses on the other side, the officers and soldiers of the Tang Army in Heyang City were itching with hatred.But they still have to admit that the advantage of the Yan army's cavalry is indeed far superior to that of the Tang army.

However, one day suddenly, Shi Siming's soldiers came back with a sad face and reported that early this morning, all the war horses rushed to the opposite bank as soon as they jumped into the water, and then ran into Heyang City happily, without any horses. remain. Shi Siming was furious and asked why. The soldiers said that Tang Jun also took their horses out to take a bath. Shi Siming was puzzled.They wash theirs, we wash ours, why does our horse run into other people's cities with joy? Shi Siming was suddenly enlightened by the soldier's next answer. The soldier said: Because what they brought out was a mare.

The soldier also said: The mare is still barking. Shi Siming was dumbfounded and couldn't say a word for a long time. At this moment, Li Guangbi was in Heyang City, patting the fat of those good horses from the Northland, while laughing his mouth crookedly. The reason why the mares that Tang Jun took out for a bath barked desperately was because Li Guangbi told the soldiers to pick the mares that had just foaled.So when the mares leave the city, they are actually calling for their foals, not singing love songs with the stallions on the other side.But those male horses would be wrong and couldn't stand the "temptation" of shouting, so they waded in impatiently and took the initiative to "follow" Tang Jun. Shi Siming was clever but was misunderstood by his cleverness, and suddenly became angry from embarrassment, and decided to attack Heyang. However, before launching a strong attack on Heyang, Shi Siming decided to dispatch the navy first to burn down the pontoon bridge laid by the Tang army on the Yellow River. The reason why Shi Siming came up with the idea of ​​the pontoon bridge was related to the unique structure of Heyang City. There is not only one city in Heyang, but three: Beicheng, Zhongli, and Nancheng; Beicheng is located on the north bank, Zhonglicheng is located on a large sandbar in the middle of the Yellow River, and Nancheng is located on the south bank; the three cities are connected by pontoon bridges, echoing each other. .It is called "Heyang Three Cities" in history. Crossing the bridge from the three cities of Heyang to the south, you can go straight to Luoyang, Tokyo;Since Heyang has such a unique geographical location and city structure, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Some scholars call Heyang "the first important city for north-south communication in the Middle Ages". Therefore, as long as the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River is burned down, Shi Siming can cut off the connection between the three cities of Heyang, and then defeat each of the Tang Army's ministries. A few days later, Shi Siming dispatched hundreds of warships down the upper reaches of the Yellow River.In front of these warships, there is a whole row of "fire boats" burning with raging fire.According to Shi Siming's plan, as soon as these fireboats land on the pontoon bridge, they can quickly ignite the pontoon bridge, followed by hundreds of warships and then swarm up, and they can surround Zhongyi City, so that the three cities of Heyang Tang Jun fell into a situation of fighting on his own. However, Li Guangbi would not let Shi Siming succeed. He had expected that Shi Siming would come up with the idea of ​​a pontoon bridge, so he ordered people to prepare hundreds of long poles in advance, each with a length of more than 100 feet. cross. When the fire boat of the Yan army approached the floating bridge, the iron fork at the tip of the long pole immediately forked the fire boat, making it immobile.In a short while, the Yan army's fireboat immediately "played with fire and set itself on fire", and all of them were burned to ashes.As soon as the warship behind arrived, it was still pinned to death by the iron fork.The Tang army had already set up a catapult on the pontoon bridge, and boulders smashed at the Yan army warships, either smashing the Yan army soldiers into meat paste, or smashing the warships into big holes.In the end, most of the warships of the Yan Army were sunk, and the remaining few turned around in a hurry and fled back in despair. Shi Siming made three moves in a row, but each move was easily resolved by Li Guangbi. This is called soldiers to block, water to cover. This is called the magic height is one foot, and the Tao is one foot high! Does Shi Siming have a fourth move? Have.After a lot of hard work, Shi Siming came up with the fourth trick-to break the Tang army's grain road. At that time, Heyang's grain, grass and supplies were shipped from Guanzhong. In order to cut off the Tang army's grain road, Shi Siming sent troops to guard Heqing (now the South Yellow River Ferry in Jiyuan City, Henan Province) to the west of Heyang.Li Guangbi got the information, and immediately led his troops to Yeshuidu (now the North Yellow River Ferry in Mengjin County, Henan Province), set up camp on the north bank, and faced the Yan army on the south bank from a distance, facing each other tit for tat. Shi Siming couldn't help laughing wildly when he heard that Li Guangbi was going out in person. Li Guangbi, Li Guangbi, I didn't expect you, an old horse, to stumble. He immediately summoned Li Riyue, a fierce general under his command, and said: "Li Guangbi is good at defending the city, but is not good at fighting in the field. Now he suddenly appears in the field. Capturing him alive is like searching for something. You lead 500 elite cavalry and cross the Yellow River overnight. If he catches it, don’t come back to see me if he can’t catch it.” However, Shi Siming didn't know that just when he thought he had the plan, Li Guangbi had already made arrangements and quietly returned to Heyang. Just before leaving Yeshuidu, Li Guangbi specifically confessed to the guard Yong Xihao: "The enemy's Li Riyue and Gao Tinghui are brave generals who can defeat tens of thousands of people. Shi Siming must send one of them to rob me. I will leave now. Set up an ambush here. Once the enemy army comes, you don’t need to fight with it; after the enemy general surrenders, bring him to see me.” When Yong Xihao heard this, he couldn't help laughing inwardly. The enemy will automatically surrender without fighting the enemy?Master Li, have you been dazzled by the temporary victory, how can there be such a cheap thing as you said in the world? However, Yong Xihao would never have imagined in his dreams that such a cheap thing exists in the world! In the early morning of the next day, when Li Riyue sneaked to the front of the Tang army's camp with five hundred cavalry, shouts and whistles suddenly sounded all around.Li Riyue knew that he was in ambush.He remembered Shi Siming's order, and shouted helplessly to Tang Jun: "Is Sikong (Li Guangbi's central official position) here?" Yong Xihao smiled and said, "I left last night." Li Riyue asked: "How many people are there in the camp?" Yong Xihao replied, "A thousand people." Li Riyue asked again: "Who is the general?" Yong Xihao reported his name.Li Riyue pondered for a long time, and said to his subordinates: "If we don't catch Li Guangbi alive today, even if we catch Yong Xihao and go back, we are doomed, so we might as well surrender." When Li Riyue and his 500 men put down their weapons and walked into the Tang camp, Yong Xihao had to admit that everything was expected by Li Guangbi. After Li Riyue surrendered, Li Guangbi immediately made him his confidant.Soon, Gao Tinghui also led his troops to surrender.Afterwards, someone asked Li Guangbi, "Why did you capture Shi Siming's two generals so easily?" Li Guangbi said, "It's human nature. Shi Siming has always regretted that he didn't have the opportunity to fight with me in the wild. He heard that I was in the wild, so he expected to be able to capture me." , so a death order was issued to the general; Li Riyue would not dare to go back if he could not catch me, so he had to surrender all the way; as for Gao Tinghui, his courage and ability were above Li Riyue's If you are trusted by me, you naturally don’t want to fall behind, so you can only follow and surrender.” Thanks to Li Guangbi's sponsorship, Li Riyue, who was descended to the Tang Dynasty, jumped several levels and was named General You Jinwu by the court.Gao Tinghui was also conferred the title of General of Youwuwei, and his official rank was the third rank.And when he was under Shi Siming's tent, he was just a small Wutaifu Guoyi, and his official rank was Zhengliu.