Li Youcai brought two pieces of news. First, because Li Xingzhi sacked Liulizhuang Town, Chen Xinjia, the governor of Xuanda, was so angry that he had ordered Lu Liangzhi, the magistrate of Xin'an, to join forces with Baoding to garrison 800 troops, and then use the troops of Xin'an, Gaoyang, and Renqiu to attack Lijiashan. Second, the eastern captives were gathering their forces in Kerqin. It was expected that they would invade the capital again in less than a month.
Li Xingzhi frowned when he heard the words. To tell the truth, he didn't pay attention to the army's attack. Gao Yang was very clear about the truth and the truth. Huang Wenchang had no soldiers to adjust. This time, it was estimated that he was just catching some refugees to create momentum. The Xin'an garrison was only a few hundred, and he had captured more than a hundred of them. How many soldiers could he send out?
In this way, the total strength of the army is only about 1500 people at most. Although Lijiashan is not dangerous, it is not possible for the army to enter the mountain as long as they guard the key points or block the road.
What worries Li Xingzhi now is that it is the time of summer harvest. Once the eastern captives enter the invaders, these grains will be cheaper for them,
So Li Xingzhi said to Li Youcai at the moment: "Go back and tell Huang Wenchang for my stronghold leader that some family is very grateful for the military situation sent by Huang Guerrilla. Please rest assured that our Li Family Stronghold is fully prepared. The government and army can never break the mountain, but the enemy is just around the corner. For the sake of the people in Gaoyang, please ask Huang Guerrilla to quickly organize people to grab summer food as soon as possible. Don't let the enemy get cheap. ”
Li Youcai kept nodding his head and promised that his purpose of coming to Li Family Stronghold had been achieved. He didn't want to stay in Li Family Stronghold more, in case of being discovered by someone who wanted to. Once the news leaked, he could not bear the crime of being a thief.
After Li Youcai left, Li Xingzhi ordered Yang Biao and other leaders of the mountain stronghold to the Juyi Hall to discuss how to deal with the army's invasion and the eastern captives' invasion.
When Li Xingzhi told the leaders about the deployment of the army, Zhang Shaoqian was very curious. How could Li Xingzhi know the movement and strength of the army?
However, Li Xingzhi didn't hide it from him. He directly said that the intelligence came from Baoding guerrilla Huang Wenchang. Zhang Shaoqian suddenly realized that no wonder Li Xingzhi had so many firearms. He had colluded with Gaoyang's army.
Qian Anning said with a smile, "The leader of the army is now in the control of our army. The so-called" knowing the enemy and knowing the enemy "means that we can win every battle. We can ignore the way of Huang Guerrilla. As for Ren Qiu's army, my subordinates have heard that Xu Zhijian, the garrison of Ren Qiu, is not as good as Huang Guerrilla, so we just need to concentrate on the army under Fu Luliang's direct command."
Li Xingzhi thought for a moment and looked at Zhang Shaoqian and said, "Brother Zhang has been in Xin'an for a long time. I think Xin'an must know something about the truth and the truth of Xin'an and the officers and soldiers in Baoding. Can you talk to your brothers?"
Lu Liangzhi is very popular in Xin'an, and Liu Guangzuo is well known in Baoding for his efforts to fight against Donglu.
Zhang Shaoqian served under the two men for a long time. He also respected Lu Liangzhi and Liu Guangzuo, and had to hesitate to say: "It's only the brothers who don't want to say, but Lu Zhi County is really an honest and upright official who makes decisions for the people, and Liu Zongbing is also a hero who kills Tartars. If we meet them, it may not be consistent with the purpose of our stronghold to act on behalf of heaven!"
Yang Biao curled his mouth and said, "We didn't offend Lu Liangzhi and Liu Guangzuo. They came to us by themselves. According to Brother Zhang, they only allowed us to fight together. We had to stay at home and be beaten by them?"
Zhang Shaoqian blushed when he was run by Yang Biao, and said in his heart, "If you hadn't attacked Liu Lizhuang, how could the government and army have attacked you?".
Li Xingzhi was embarrassed when he saw Zhang Shaoqian, But he smiled and said: "Lu Liangzhi attacked for no reason. Our stronghold leader could not swallow this tone. But according to Li Youcai, Donglu is about to invade. Since we are a rebel army, we should take it as our duty to kill Tartars. As the saying goes, if we fight with Lu Liangzhi, we will only gain advantage of Donglu. Therefore, our stronghold leader intends to stick to the stronghold. Once Donglu invades Beijing The army has retreated. "
When leaders saw that Li Xingzhi had made up his mind, they all nodded their heads and said yes.
Li Xingzhi thought a little and then said, "But to prevent the army from attacking the mountain and also to prevent the enemy from going east, the stronghold leader decided to rearrange the defense line in Lijiashan, which was arranged by Brother Zhang."
According to Li Xingzhi, Zhang Shaoqian, as one of the hundreds of officials and soldiers, is naturally good at setting up fortifications.
Zhang Shaoqian was relieved when he heard that Li Xingzhi did not intend to fight with the army, but only wanted to guard the mountain stronghold.
Although Lijiashan is not dangerous, it is connected to Mapeng Lake. It faces water on both sides, and only the southeast can attack the mountain. The terrain of Dajiaotai is flat, which is suitable for large armies to camp. Zhang Shaoqian believes that if officials or Jiannu want to attack the mountain, they will certainly enter the mountain from the southeast foot of Lijiashan in the area of Dajiaotai.
So under the leadership of Zhang Shaoqian, all the soldiers and civilians in Lijiazhai took action at the same time. They began to dig trenches along the southeast foot of Lijiashan. Lijiashan is only seven or eight miles around, while the area around Dajiaotai where the mountains can be attacked is only about three or four miles.
More than a thousand people moved at the same time, and the excavation of the trench progressed very quickly. The soldiers in the strong steel front camp and the fire camp at the foot of the mountain were working hard with shovels, while the old and weak in the back camp piled up the excavated soil layer by layer along the trench to form a three foot high mud wall, while women and children were working hard to cut bamboo stakes.
The weather was very hot, but the soldiers and civilians had no complaints, because their stronghold leaders and leaders were also working hard to dig. The women in charge of cooking in the back camp also carried buckets of cold mung bean soup and bone soup that had just been cooked. The soldiers and civilians were hungry and tired, so they leaned on the mud wall and ate cakes with bone soup.
The military situation is so hot that Li Xingzhi has only given the soldiers and civilians of Lijiazhai five days. Fortunately, after this period of training, the physical quality of the soldiers in Gangfeng Camp and Jihuo Camp has been greatly improved. In three and a half days, the four mile trench and mud wall have been formed. In addition to the densely covered spikes, the main body of the whole defense line has been basically completed.
The next step is to build arrow towers and watchtowers behind the mud wall. This is not a big problem. The trees on the mountain can be cut everywhere, and the surplus broken trees can be used as rolling logs. It has the advantage of being superior. The arrow towers and watchtowers don't need too much. Li Xingzhi only arranges the soldiers of Gangfeng Camp to make these fortifications, and the rest of the soldiers and civilians transport a lot of stones, Stack these stones orderly behind the mud wall.
While Lijiashan is working hard to build the defense line, Chen Wu, who is responsible for patrolling, also sent more than ten sentries down the mountain to inquire about the trend of the officers and soldiers, in case the officers and soldiers come in the same way, and launch a surprise attack while Lijiazhai soldiers and civilians are busy building the defense line.
However, Chen Wu came with the news that more than 1000 officers and soldiers from Baoding Prefecture and Xin'an County stopped their march after they arrived at Liulizhuang Town the day before yesterday, and now the army and horses actually entered Liujiapu.