Dou Jiande returned to the camp of the Chinese army, and wanted to try one person, that is, Zhang Xuansu, the household of Jingcheng, the official position is not big, he is in the prime of life, he conquered Jingcheng a few days ago, and was ready to kill some local notoriety officials to vent his anger to the people, but after this Zhang Xuansu was tied up and pushed out, he was begged to be let go by more than 1,000 people in the city.

He was puzzled, so he sent someone to inquire, only to learn that this was a pragmatic Qing official who was very considerate of the local people, so the locals were collectively appealing not to kill Zhang Xuansu.

In the chaotic times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, human life was as cheap as ants, and many rebel armies ostensibly waved the banner of "official coercion and rebellion", shouting the slogan of "saving the Li people", but they really killed the common people but were not merciless, for example, Zhang Jin, the leader of the Shandong Righteous Army, said that he was "more brutal than the thieves, and the people he passed were left behind", and Zhu Cang, who claimed to be the king of Garuda, used human flesh as military food, and was known as "the beauty of food is better than human flesh!" But there are people in other countries, what do I have to worry about? ”

The leaders of the so-called peasant rebel army killed people like hemp, destroyed places, disregarded human lives, and did much more evil than the imperial army.

Although many dynasties reached the end of the period, often the social contradictions were sharp, the officialdom was dark, and the emperor was a courtier, resulting in the people's misery, and the harsh government was fiercer than the tiger, but it was not the bad things done by a certain person, or the court or the army, but the whole dynasty developed to a certain stage, and it became corrupt itself, and various elements such as land annexation, officialdom corruption, aristocratic privilege, and great famine led to the collapse of the dynasty, even so, the army was more principled than these rebels and bandits.

In contrast, among the leaders of these rebels in the north, only Dou Jiande's practice is remarkable, although he is from a poor family, but unlike other leaders of the rebel army, he will kill scholars and Sui Dynasty officials without mercy, not only does he rarely plunder the ordinary people, but even treats the captured Sui Dynasty officials with courtesy.

Half a month ago, Wang Cong, the defender of Hejian, and Dou Jiande faced each other for a long time, and they were forced to surrender until they ran out of food. Because Dou Jiande suffered heavy casualties among the soldiers during the confrontation with Wang Cong and the siege of the city, his deployment asked Wang Cong to take revenge, but Dou Jiande tried his best to dispel public opinion, personally untie Wang Cong's bonds, and ordered that no matter who had a grudge against Wang Cong, he should not harm him and keep his position for his own use.

Along the way to the north, Dou Jiande released all the captured Sui Dynasty officials, let them stay, and even sent troops to escort them.

Dou Jiande returned to agree, Zhang Xuansu was neatly dressed, dressed in Confucian scholar clothes, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, very bookish.

"Although I, Dou Jiande, am a rough person, but I have always admired scholars, such as today's chaos, it's not that I want to rebel, it's really the Sui court is unreasonable, and the people of the world want to oppose him, if I don't stand up, the people will have greater casualties, and they will be injured by the rebels everywhere. After Dou Jiande sat down, he said heartfelt words to Zhang Xuansu, who was standing in the tent.

Song Zhengben is also a scholar who is proficient in the art of the warp and weft of Zhuzi, and said on the side: "Mozi said: 'Righteousness, the ambition is to take the world as a fen', the so-called righteousness, is determined to take the affairs of the world as their own affairs, and take the salvation of the world as their own responsibility, which is the righteousness of scholars. Xun Zi said: Righteousness first and then profit. General Dou is spreading benevolence and righteousness, and then fighting for the benefits of the people and the soldiers around him, which is worthy of glory. Mr. Zhang is young and pragmatic, and must not make mistakes by himself. ”

Zhang Xuansu shook his head and said: "The ancients once said: 'The benefits of the public family, knowing everything, and being loyal.'" 'Those who read should have integrity, know what to do, and not to do something. As a Sui minister, I should be worthy of the official mansion and the imperial food I have eaten, and the more the court is in crisis, the more I can't betray it. I am different from Mr. Song, unlike all of you, you have not been a Sui minister, at best, you are a small official recruited by the local county order, not an official appointed by the imperial court, so you can commit treason and rebellion against the imperial court, but I can't. ”

Dou Jiande sighed: "If everyone is good, the world will be peaceful; If everyone is selfish, the world will be in chaos. The Sui Dynasty ended up like this because the faint monarch was cruel, so happy, and extremely poor and extravagant; The bureaucracy is corrupt, the courtiers are in charge, and they are deceived and deceitful; There is no cure, only people with lofty ideals can understand the righteousness, use fierce medicine to get rid of the disease, and return a bright future. ”

Zhang Xuansu was silent, although he admired Dou Jiande, Song Zhengben and others in his heart, but as a scholar, he believed in the Confucian way of loyalty to the king, so he would rather die than defect.

Seeing that he insisted on this, Dou Jiande waved his hand and asked people to stay with Zhang Xuansu, not to speculate, and to persuade him later.

Zhang Xuansu gave up his hand, although he was unwilling to join the Hebei Army, but he was also a little grateful for the other party's grace of not killing, and turned around and walked out of the big tent.

………

Outside the gate of the Hebei military camp.

20,000 elite soldiers have been drawn out to attack the rear camp of the Sui army on the other side of the Daqing River, including 5,000 cavalry, 10,000 armor soldiers, 5,000 archers, each of whom brought enough food and grass for seven days, went into battle lightly, marched quickly, and bypassed the defense line from the upstream, which took about three or four days.

Su Dingfang, as the chief general of this sneak attack army, was obviously promoted exceptionally, from a partial general to a second general, at a young age, but such a powerful position, which is very rare.

Therefore, Su Dingfang attached great importance to the mission of this attack, and also wanted to defeat the Sui army and break the myth of Luo Cheng.

Originally, Su Dingfang was behind the gate, a young man who studied art, hot-blooded, arrogant, and naturally unconvinced, when he was a teenager, he heard rumors about Luo Cheng all day long, and was compared by his master and father, as his role model, which made him annoying, and the rebellious character in his heart, even though Su Dingfang was eager to fight with Luo Cheng head-on one day and break the myth.

This opportunity is rare, Su Dingfang feels that once he breaks the river embankment defense line and breaks the Sui army, he is likely to compete with Luo Cheng.

"Dingfang, this trip is very dangerous, don't be careless, you must judge the situation and succeed in the sneak attack!" Dou Hongxian stared at Su Dingfang with affection, and gently admonished in his mouth.

Su Dingfang held Dou Hongxian's jade hand, and said arrogantly: "Don't worry, Hongxian, this is the first time I carry out such an important task, I will definitely be more careful, I will not disappoint you and General Dou, not to mention that Luo Cheng is not on the front line, even if he comes, I am not afraid, I still dare to sneak attack his camp, hum, people in the world are afraid of him Luo Cheng, but I am not afraid, I will definitely fight with him if I have the opportunity, and weigh whether he is in vain!" ”