Before Yang Hongzhang could speak, Yang Sheng on the side was impatient: "I said this master, this black light is blinding, don't delay our time." We came from Gaoyang, and we traveled all the way, and it would take at least four or five hours to bring so many things with us this time. If you encounter a large Qing army on the way, it will be over. Even if we were fine on horseback, the common people would surely become captives again. I said, you can't be a spy of the Qing army trying to hold us back, right? ”

"Presumptuous, my father is the ...... of Hejian" The young man next to the middle-aged man obviously couldn't stand Yang Sheng's unreasonable behavior, but just when he was about to reveal his father's identity, he was stopped by the middle-aged man in time.

Seeing this, Yang Hongzhang also stopped Yang Sheng, who wanted to continue to behave, but let the person go to a secluded place to see what this person wanted to say.

"Little General, Yue Tuo did not immediately take away a large amount of food after capturing Hejian three days ago, nor did he leave enough defenders in Hejian Province. It was a great time for our imperial army to retake the river. Please also ask the little general to tell your general army to do it as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will be too late to arrange it in place. The middle-aged man looked anxious.

"This uncle, you said that Yue Tuo captured Hejian three days ago? How many Qing troops are stationed in Hejian City now?" Although Yang Hongzhang roughly knew the time of the fall of Hejian from the scout's intelligence, the person in front of him should know more about the inside story, so he became serious.

"It won't be more than two thousand paces." The middle-aged man hurriedly replied. Seeing that Yang Hongzhang didn't seem to believe it, he added, "On that day, Yue Tuo led a total of no more than 6,000 cavalry to attack Hejian Mansion, and the defenders of Hejian resisted for two days and then partially fled and surrendered. Among them, the casualties of Jiannu were not small, especially during the battle for the city gate, at least two or three hundred Jiannu cavalry were stoned to death by rolling logs. Later, it was seen that at least 4,000 horsemen went out to the south gate and did not return. The total number of Jiannu infantry and cavalry of the Ming army who surrendered after removing the siege losses should not exceed 2,000, or even less. Therefore, please also ask the little general to report the situation in Hejian to your general army immediately, and it is best to recapture Hejian in these days. Otherwise, the looted goods of the Jiannu will be concentrated in the river one after another, and the defenders of the river will increase one after another. ”

"Hehe, old man, and said you weren't a spy. How do you know so well the distribution of Jiannu's forces? Didn't you become a prisoner, how did you know about the mobilization of Jiannu's troops and horses? Didn't Jiannu deliberately let you leave the river and then lure the imperial army to go, and then join forces in the future? Yang Sheng on the side still didn't hold back, because there were too many flaws in this guy's words. Seeing that Yang Hongzhang was silent, Yang Sheng urged, "Third Young Master, let's hurry up." Although this place is far away from the river, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be an army of Jiannu in the east, and it is safe to return to Gaoyang as soon as possible. You see, these goods, and the people, are not tossed up. Our own people are really hurting in the middle of the night, and the war horses can't bear it, and when we meet Jiannu, we really don't have the combat power to spare money. ”

Yang Hongzhang nodded when he heard this, turned his head to look behind and saw that the scene was almost cleaned up, so he ordered the team to return, after all, Yang Sheng's worries were also very reasonable. Five hundred cavalry rushed through the night, and that was because there was a convoy waiting for Qian Ang, the number of which had not been known. Now that after the battle, there are losses and gains, and it has reached the point where people cry for Mafa, even if they encounter the same number of Qing troops, it is difficult to say the final result.

This is a big deal The middle-aged man was in a hurry, and he trotted all the way beside Yang Hongzhang's war horse while repeating the sentence constantly, Little General, you must tell your family commander the information about Hejian in time. Yue Tuo should have led people to Shandong to plunder, and he would definitely return to Hejian in three or five days, or seven or eight days. Be sure to take it back before you eat it! ”

If Yang Hongzhang is the general soldier of a town, even if he is a deputy general or a general, knowing the situation in Hejian, Ye Keng will consider immediately recapturing Hejian and then defending the city, maybe he can really strategically contain the plundering of the Qing army to a great extent. However, he is not, he is just a leader of the people, and the 500 people he improvised under his command can sneak attack the transport team, and if he goes to attack the city, he is looking for death.

So although the middle-aged man said that Hejian was at his fingertips, Yang Hongzhang was not moved at all! It is wisest to do what you can in these chaotic times.

Seeing that Yang Hongzhang was indifferent, the speed of the team was getting faster and faster, and the middle-aged man was also ruthless, grabbed the reins of Yang Hongzhang's war horse, and his body was in the middle of the road: "Little general, stop, stop!" The old man, the old man is the prefect of Hejian Xiang Si asked! Please, little general. At least tens of thousands of people are still being detained in Hejian Province. Where are tens of thousands of stone grain hoarded, these can't be cheap in vain. Otherwise, if this continues, Jiannu will only become stronger and stronger! Little General......"

Hearing this, Yang Hongzhang was stunned, and after thinking about it, he seemed to understand again, if this person was the captured prefect of Hejian Prefecture, it was understandable that he was in such a hurry to ask the imperial army to recapture Hejian. After all, it is a felony for a military general to lose his division and a civilian official to lose land. Most of the civil officials were martyred or escaped when the city was broken, and the former court not only did not deal with the crime, but also gave compensation. Those who escape will inevitably suffer if they are caught, but only those who are caught must be caught. And Xiang Siwen was the most embarrassed to be captured by the Qing army first, and then rescued by his own people. There is no chance to die, and it is impossible to escape incognito.

Yang Sheng next to him laughed again: "Old man, you said you are the prefect of Hejian?" Why did the dog officer become a prisoner of Jiannu and mingle among the people. It's a shame for the readers. ”

Hearing this, Xiang Siwen looked ashamed, but when he saw that Yang Hongzhang was finally willing to stop, he hurriedly tinkered with his burden for a while, and finally really took out a bright red seal!

Yang Hongzhang and the young man glanced at Yang Sheng at the same time, which clearly meant to shut up your crow's mouth. Yang Sheng was bored, shrunk his neck, and retreated to the back. Yang Hongzhang hurriedly jumped off the horse, he is not a person of this era, and he has no feeling for those pedantic things that must be martyred to the death. The soldiers and horses of a town in Jizhou Town couldn't stop Yue Tuo for a few days, and some even fled with Wang Fen, and Guan Ning's iron cavalry suffered a big loss in front of Dolgon. Even Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Xuanda, was no match for the Qing army. Yang Hongzhang didn't think that Xiang Si asked a civilian official to be in the face of six or seven thousand, and the momentum was bound to be what the Qing cavalry could do. Yang Hongzhang is not a defender, he will not have any harsh requirements for such a parent official, or he will be scolded for his head and face.

Yang Hongzhang got off the horse and circled around Xiang Siwen, and after confirming that he should be fine, he asked, "My lord still has a son to ride?" ”

"It's okay, but the matter of retaking the river is ......" Xiang Siwen looked at Yang Sheng who was standing on the side, and stopped talking. Obviously, he felt that Yang Hongzhang was lucky to be able to treat him like this, but the guy next to him was not very friendly.

"Your Excellency, come with me to Gaoyang first, and I'll talk about other things later. Yang Sheng, you go and prepare two horses for the adults. ”

Yang Sheng quickly gave the two of them horses, but his face was still unhappy, obviously he didn't have a good impression of this prefect who had lost his territory. Even his teenage son didn't look good. Seeing this, Yang Hongzhang had no choice but to let him flash to the back, and then told him about his situation in Xiang Siwen's surprised gaze.

Hearing that Yang Hongzhang was only a strong man captured by Sun Ge Lao, he had to sigh tastefully. In fact, he also knew in his heart that since the moment the defenders of Hejian broke up, there were still troops around besides Baoding Mansion who could recapture Hejian. This is also the reason why Yue Tuo was so bold and left only 2,000 people to garrison.

And Yang Hongzhang also learned from Xiang Siwen's simple description that the officials of Hejian Prefecture were not without resistance, but the difference in combat effectiveness was too great, and after holding out for two days, the casualties of the Qing army after more than half of the officers and soldiers were killed and wounded were only 100. Xiang Siwen originally had a martyrdom with death, but after all, he was reluctant to give up his son. Xiang Siwen, who is two out of forty, lost his wife ten years ago, and then several concubines also died inexplicably, but they have not been renewed, let alone taking concubines. This made Yang Hongzhang feel surprised. It stands to reason that the official of the fourth rank may not be anything in Beijing, but he can also be regarded as a local dignitary in Hejian Mansion. It is only right that the person who proposes to marry breaks through the threshold. However, judging from Xiang Siwen's son's expression, this matter naturally will not be fake. I think he should be a man who is diligent in his official duties and loves his wife deeply.

Of course, what really made Yang Hongzhang accept Xiang Siwen was that he eagerly identified himself, and then after learning his identity, he was still willing to follow him to Gaoyang. You must know that although Sun Chengzong is a retired old cadre, when he saw him, the prefect of Hejian said that he would also participate in the above-mentioned imperial court.

Looking at the more than 300 newly added Qing soldier heads, Sun Chengzong was also full of emotion. This boy is a newborn calf. In the past few days, the number of Qing soldiers killed by hard work has reached 1,000. And Xiang Siwen and his young son were also stunned when they saw the piles of rat braided heads. After inquiring again, it was actually completed by Yang Hongzhang with hundreds of people in three times. If the army of the Ming Dynasty had such combat effectiveness, where would it be the turn of the Qing army to come to the Guannei to spread wilderness, 100,000 elites would have destroyed the Jurchens and Mongolians long ago. And Xiang Gongzi seemed to be very interested in the jagged stone piers outside Gaoyang City.

Of course, what surprised Sun Chengzong was the arrival of Xiang Siwen, just as Yang Hongzhang thought, although Sun Chengzong has retired, but he has no good color for this kind of parents who have lost their territory, and in the end, Yang Hongzhang helped to say a lot of good things, and Sun Chengzong reluctantly accepted Xiang Siwen. Relatively speaking, Wang Lenian behaved more friendly, perhaps he knew very well in his heart that if it weren't for Yang Hongzhang's birth, Gaoyang County would have been captured by Groha with six hundred Qing cavalry. Hejian Mansion was facing six or seven thousand Qing cavalry. Wang Lenian didn't have Sun Chengzong's determination to die, so he was very able to understand Xiang Siwen. Even so, Xiang Siwen was still frightened, and after arriving in Gaoyang, he didn't go anywhere except to follow Yang Hongzhang. He was afraid that Sun Chengzong and Wang Lenian would privately write a recital to the imperial court and describe themselves as the kind of officials who fled from the wind, and then he was afraid that he would never be able to return. So he complained a little bit about Yang Hongzhang, who insisted on letting him come to Gaoyang, although he also knew what he would do even if he didn't come to Sun Chengzong and Wang Lenian.