At noon on 14 April, inside and outside the barracks on the south bank of the Shahe River, thousands of Nanyang soldiers continued to practice and patrol.

Suddenly, there was the sound of horses' hooves in the distance.

The soldiers who were training nearby subconsciously raised their heads, and then saw a cavalry of about twenty or so men coming quickly from the south.

It was their cavalry brother of the Nanyang Army.

Within a radius of several hundred miles, only his Nanyang Army had cavalry.

Immediately, someone in the patrol soldier said enviously: "It's good, cavalry, riding back and forth is ......."

This drew the echo of the rest of the patrol officers, after all, cavalry has always been a 'superior' class, both in the eyes of their foot soldiers and those cavalry.

Under the envious gaze of many patrol soldiers, the cavalry hurriedly rushed to the barracks on the south bank of the Shahe River, and after turning over and dismounting, they briefly exchanged a few words with the soldiers on duty, and then led the war horses into the barracks in a hurry.

Looking at the hurried appearance of those cavalry, the patrolling soldiers seemed to realize something, and their faces showed a little unease.

At the same time, in this barracks, Wang Yan, the general of the Nanyang Army, was inspecting the camp with several guards.

In early February this year, more than a month ago, Wang Yan and Wei Chi decided that they could not prevent the rebels from retaking Dingling County with their forces alone, so they resolutely abandoned Dingling and withdrew to the military camp on the south bank of the Shahe River when the rebels showed signs of retaking the county seat.

At that time, Wang Yan discussed with Wei Chi and Gao Chun, and immediately, Gao Chun, the county lieutenant of Ye County, withdrew to Ye County with his county guards, and handed over the military camp on the south bank of the Shahe River to Wang Yan and Wei Chi.

However, to be honest, Wang Yan was not sure whether he could hold this 'outpost camp', after all, the rebels they were facing were too numerous in number, and the only thing Wang Yan could do was to consolidate the defense of this military camp as much as possible.

"General!"

Just as Wang Yan was inspecting the camp, a shout suddenly came from afar.

When he looked up, he saw several soldiers hurrying towards him.

"General!"

The soldiers rushed to Wang Yan quickly, and said with a serious face: "The rebels in the Dingling area have made some moves......

Only then did Wang Yan realize that the soldiers in front of him were the cavalry he sent to monitor Dingling, Zhaoling, Yuncheng and other counties.

"Follow me."

As soon as his face tightened, Wang Yan immediately took these cavalrymen to the 'Zhongjun tent' in the camp, that is, a relatively large grass hut.

After returning to the hut, Wang Yan immediately ordered the guards to spread the marching map on the table, and let the cavalry point out the location where the rebels were found.

The cavalry at the head was a team leader, pointing to the map and saying: "Guanqi, it is the rebel generals Liu De and Huang Kang under the command of the rebel leader Guan Shuo, according to the brothers, the rebels are numerous, I am afraid there are thousands of them......"

『……』

Wang Yan frowned and glanced at the cavalry leader, very dissatisfied with the latter's vague description.

He said unhappily, "Can't you just check the ground more carefully?" …… Tens of thousands? Is that in the thousands or in the tens of thousands? The difference between the two is very far! ”

Feeling the unhappiness of the general in front of him, the cavalry immediately lowered his head, uneasy.

Seeing this, Wang Yan let out a long breath and said, "How many days are there left?" ”

The cavalry was cautiously saying, "According to the rebels' schedule, there should be two or three more days. ”

“……”

Wang Yan didn't say a word, and after thinking for a moment, he asked, "Are there anything else?" ”

The cavalry shook his head.

Seeing this, Wang Yan nodded and said, "Okay, I know, allow you to wait in the camp to rest for an hour, and then go to investigate, I want to know every move of the rebels!" ”

"Yes!"

Several horsemen saluted with their fists in their fists, and then turned and left the hut.

Ignoring the departure of these cavalrymen, Wang Yan stared intently at the marching map in front of him.

Since he and Wei Chi led the army back to the barracks here, he did not dare to relax the surveillance of the rebels, and more than half of the 500 cavalry under his command were sent by him to Dingling, Zhaoling, Yuncheng and other counties to monitor the rebels' every move.

With the help of cavalry to probe and deliver news, this may be one of their few advantages.

Wang Yan was a little disappointed that the rebels did not cause unrest in Dingling County after reoccupying it more than a month ago.

He had expected that the rebels would forcibly take back the food he and Wei Chi had distributed to the local civilians due to lack of food.

"Guan Shuo really admitted that the grain was obtained by the Dingling people?"

Wang Yan felt a little incredible.

He really wanted to see Guan Shuo start a bloody storm in Dingling County in order to recapture those grains!

After all, in this way, the rebels will completely lose the support of the people, and they will have the opportunity to get the covert support of the Dingling people in the future.

However, judging from the current situation, Guan Shuo obviously saw through his and Wei Chi's 'good intentions'.

"It's better to burn it down than to know it early......

Wang Yan thought secretly.

Of course, thinking about it, even if they were given another chance, he and Wei Chi would not set fire to the grain and grass that the rebels had hoarded in Dingling County, after all, the food in the Dingling people's homes was also very urgent, if the army in Taye County would rather burn the precious grain than distribute it to the locals, it would be easy to be hated by the Dingling people.

Shaking his head regretfully, Wang Yan asked the guard beside him, "What about Wei Chi?" ”

Left and right replied: "Vice General Wei seems to have gone to the river." ”

Wang Yan was stunned and said in surprise: "He went to see the Kunyang people on the other side of the river again?" ”

As far as he knew, the Kunyang people had recently reclaimed wasteland on the north bank of the Shahe River, and they had sown seeds a few days ago, and he didn't know if they were idle, so Wei Chi was going to the river to peek at the cultivation of those Kunyang people almost the next day.

Left and right smiled and said, "Do you want to send someone to summon Vice General Wei?" ”

Wang Yan thought for a while and said, "Forget it, I'll go find him, and go for a walk by the way." ”

As the guards around Wang Yan said, Wei Chi at this time was indeed standing on the south bank of the Shahe River, quietly peeking at the Kunyang people on the other side of the river across the river.

To be precise, not all of the people who farmed on the other side of the river were Kunyang people, and as far as Wei Chi knew, there were about 10,000 rebel captives farming in the entire territory of Kunyang County.

You must know that there may not be 10,000 soldiers in Kunyang County, but they actually enslaved 10,000 rebel captives to farm, Wei Chi really 'admired' that Zhou Hu's courage - isn't this guy afraid of the 10,000 rebel captives rebelling?

And for now, the people of Kunyang don't seem to be worried about this matter, but he Wei Chi is terrified, and he will come here the next day to see if the group of rebel prisoners is safe.

"Wei Chi."

Just as Wei Chi was observing the other side of the river from afar, Wang Yan's voice came from behind him.

Wei Chi glanced back, and immediately clasped his fists and saluted: "General." ”

"Huh."

Wang Yan waved his hand casually.

He is the younger brother of Nanyang general Wang Shangde, Wang Shangde is the nephew of Wang Ying, the imperial master, and Wei Chi is one of Yang Ding's most trusted generals, and Yang Ding is a disciple of Taishi Wang Ying, in other words, they are all their own people, so naturally there is no need to be too outside.

Standing side by side with Wei Chi, looking at the newly cultivated farmland of the Kunyang people on the other side of the river, Wang Yan frowned and said: "Only then did the cavalry come to report, the rebels in Dingling have begun to move, and they are slowly coming towards this side, looking at the banner, it should be Liu De and Huang Kang, and the specific strength is not ......known for the time being."

"Oh."

Wei Chi responded, and said without looking back: "Since the rebels in Dingling have moved, the rebels in the area of Zhaoling and Yuncheng should also march together......

He exhaled and continued: "In the winter of last year, Guan Shuo was defeated so badly, and only more than 30,000 people of the nearly 100,000 army fled back to Zhaoling, it is estimated that he received reinforcements, otherwise how could he be sure to use troops again?" …… Since his defeat last year, in just three or four months, including the snow season, he has not had time to transfer troops from his Changsha County, and the only reinforcements he can get are the Jiangxia rebels who are said to occupy Runan County......"

"I guess so."

Wang Yan nodded, and glanced at Wei Chi with a little surprise, surprised that Wei Chi, the general next to Yang Ding, could see the situation so clearly.

Of course, this is also the reason why he treats Wei Chi equally, otherwise, the title of 'Yang Gongzi's general' alone is not enough for him to treat Wei Chi so politely.

"Words ......"

Towards the other side of the river, Wang Yan teased with a little smile: "You keep an eye on those captives for Kunyang every day, do you expect Zhou Hu to pay you?" ”

"Huh." Wei Chi was amused by Wang Yan's words.

Immediately, he frowned and said, "Zhou Hu is playing with fire...... I don't know what he's thinking, isn't he really worried about the rebellion of the 10,000 captives? ”

"Kunyang is short of labor."

Wang Yan shrugged his shoulders and said: "In the last battle, he Kunyang killed nearly 20,000 young people, and he didn't need more than 10,000 captives to cultivate, how could he Kunyang have the spare strength to deal with this year's spring ploughing?" ”

"I'm afraid it's more than that......"

Wei Chi narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Kunyang followed Juntun's example and reclaimed thousands of wastelands in one go, I can understand that Zhou Hu wanted to grow more food, but the problem is ...... Is he sure he will hold on to the grain? With his cunning, he could not have imagined that the rebels would make a comeback this year, but how could he ensure that the newly planted fields would not be affected by the fighting? ”

After a pause, he continued: "A while ago, I saw Kunyang reclaiming Xintian, and I thought that Zhou Hu was going to fight the rebels with me here and refuse the enemy outside the county, but I didn't expect that Zhou Hu refused the invitation to send troops to my barracks, then I wondered, when the rebels came, we could abandon this barracks, retreat to Yexian County with my corporaries, and hide in the city, but what about Kunyang? Is there a way to move this farmland to the city? …… The rebels are not blind, and if we can see the fields on the other side of the river, the rebels will certainly be able to see them. ”

"You mean ......"

Wang Yan's color changed slightly: "What agreement did Kunyang and the rebels make in private?" ”

"I don't know."

Wei Chi shook his head, and then frowned and said, "But Kunyang's actions, and Zhou Hu's attitude, make me have to think about this aspect......

“……”

Wang Yan glanced at Wei Chi, and his face showed a little solemnity.

"I'm going to see that Zhou Hu!"

After a long time, he said in a deep voice.