In the big tent, Fang Xuanling and Ling Jing were discussing something, Fang Xuanling had just returned from inspecting Yanling City, Yanling City was Jingkou, where the Sui army's sailor camp was located, this time Zhang Xuan would launch an unprecedented Jiangnan campaign, in order to achieve effective control over the counties in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhang Xuan transferred more than a dozen middle and senior officials from Jiangnan from the imperial court, including Xiao Yu, the squire of Zhongshu, Xiao Yu will be appointed as the Shangshu of Jiangnan Xingtai, and is fully responsible for the establishment of effective rule in Jiangnan by the Northern Sui. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

At present, Xiao Yu and others are setting up Shangshu Xingtai in Jiangdu, and the battle in Jiangnan is about to kick off.

At this time, a soldier shouted outside the tent: "The handsome man has arrived!" ”

Fang Xuanling and Ling Jing hurriedly stood up, as soon as the curtain was lifted, Zhang Xuan walked in quickly, the two hurriedly bowed and saluted, Zhang Xuan smiled and waved his hand, "Hard work, come!" We sat down and talked. ”

The three of them sat down, and the soldiers brought them tea, Zhang Xuan didn't care about drinking tea, and asked Fang Xuanling first: "What news is there from Meng Haigong's side." ”

"Meng Haigong is still the same, eager to enjoy the emperor's pleasure, but one of our scouts unexpectedly got a map, which was given to this scout by Jiang Yuanchao, the former commander of Wu County."

Fang Xuanling took out a map and handed it to Zhang Xuan, who took the map and asked, "Does Jiang Yuanchao know that the other party is our scout?" ”

"This scout pretended to be a merchant and met Jiang Yuanchao in the tea shed, and he didn't know if Jiang Yuanchao recognized it, but Wechen carefully studied this map and found that this map had extremely high military value, and Wechen felt that Jiang Yuanchao had seen the identity of our scout."

Zhang Xuan opened the map, the map was drawn on jute paper, about five feet long and wide, densely drawn, and if you look closely, you will find that it is actually a waterway map of Wu County, including Taihu Lake, full of large and small rivers, each river is marked with the upper limit of navigable boats, Zhang Xuan was overjoyed, with this map, their attack on Wu County is equivalent to an eye.

"It seems that it is necessary for me to visit this Jiang Juncheng at that time."

Zhang Xuan took the map and asked Ling Jing again, "What is the current situation in Xiangyang County?" ”

Zhang Xuan had already received the news from the Luoyang Intelligence Bureau that Wang Shichong and the Tang Dynasty had exchanged land, and this news made Zhang Xuan immediately realize that the Tang army was about to send troops to Jingxiang to launch a war of annihilation against Xiao Miao.

However, these actions of the Tang army did not affect the interests of the Sui army, and it can only be said that the Tang army was snatching some sporadic food next to the tiger claws of the Sui army, so Zhang Xuan was not in a hurry to interfere in this matter, but only reminded Xiao Mo that he must prepare for war.

Ling Jing bowed and said: "Back to Your Highness, the speed of the Tang army stationed in Xiangyang is very fast, in just ten days, the Tang army has 40,000 troops in Xiangyang County, including 20,000 Xiangyang County rebels, the main general is Qu Tutong, and Wu Shi Tong is the head of Xiangyang County, which is also closely related to the concerted efforts of Xiangyang County to assist the Tang Army in entering Xiangyang County." ”

Speaking of this, Ling Jing sighed and said, "Your Highness, there is something that Weichen doesn't know whether to say or not. ”

"You say!"

"His Royal Highness shouldn't have given Xiangyang County to Wang Shichong in the first place, this decision made Xiangyang County, from the scholars to the ordinary people, very dissatisfied with His Highness, losing the hearts of the people, and it would be difficult to redeem it."

"Is it related to Zhu Ji?"

Ling Jing nodded, "This is the reason, Xiangyang and other counties in Jingbei hate the man-eating demon king to the core, after His Royal Highness handed over Xiangyang County to Wang Shichong, Wang Shichong considered using Zhu Wei to seize the six counties of Jingbei, so it aroused a strong backlash from the people of Xiangyang and other counties, Weichen went to Xiangyang and found that the people of Xiangyang had listed His Royal Highness and Wang Shichong as tyrants. ”

Zhang Xuan was a little bitter in his heart, although he was far-sighted, but he didn't expect this, he only considered opening an opening for Wang Shichong to go south, but completely ignored the feelings of the people of Xiangyang, which led to the hatred of the people of Xiangyang, which he did not expect.

After a while, he also sighed slightly: "In this way, I did make a mistake. ”

Fang Xuanling comforted: "The people of Xiangyang are just angry with His Highness, but His Highness can't be compared with Wang Shichong, I believe that everyone has a scale in their hearts, in fact, it is easy to make up for this matter, since the people of Xiangyang are dissatisfied with His Royal Highness on Zhu Ji, then as long as Zhu Ji is killed to thank the people of Jingbei, then the hearts of the people of Xiangyang will be restored, and His Highness does not have to worry too much." ”

Zhang Xuan felt a little better in his heart, he walked to the sand table, stared at the sand table for a moment, turned back and asked the two: "You say, what is the intention of Tang Jun and Wang Shichong to exchange land?" ”

"I discussed this issue with Ling Senjun just now."

Fang Xuanling walked up and said slowly: "In fact, the intention of the Tang army is obvious, their first target is the iron ore mine in Jiangxia County, and then when the Tang army is attacking Yiling County in a big way, and then the Tang army of Xiangyang County responds from the north, it should be said that this is a very clever strategy, but we didn't expect Wang Shichong to be a person without faith, this person is by no means reliable, he wants to bet on both ends and play a balance between Sui and Tang." ”

Zhang Xuan sneered and said: "Stepping on two boats, sooner or later the two ends will fail, and we will go back and clean him up!" ”

Zhang Xuan asked Ling Jing again, "What is Xiao Miao's attitude towards this?" ”

"Returning to His Highness, Xiao Mo is extremely worried about this, and he hopes that we can help him resist the Tang Army's Eastern Crusade."

Zhang Xuan paced back and forth with his hands in his hands, thinking about the strategy of assisting Xiao Miao, it was impossible for them to send troops on a large scale to deal with the Tang Army, but it was estimated that material aid alone would have no effect, Xiao Mi himself was not short of materials, and he must use the technique of acupoints to hit the key points of the Tang Army and weaken the Tang Army's crusade as much as possible, and a rudimentary plan gradually appeared in his mind.

........

Five days later, the Sui army held an expedition ceremony in the camp of Jiangning County, sacrificed three animals to worship the god of water and the god of horses, Zhang Xuan personally led the 60,000 troops of foot cavalry to march southeast, and left 20,000 troops to continue to guard Danyang County, at the same time, 10,000 sailors Zhou Meng under the leadership of Yanling, hundreds of warships along the Jiangnan Canal southward, and the old man Hu'er led 20,000 sailors and 500 warships stationed in Liyang County and Dangtu County, strictly preventing Lin Shihong's sailors from advancing eastward.

The Sui army marched smoothly and arrived three days later in Jinling County, which was later known as Changzhou, where in November last year Meng Haigong's army slaughtered the city to demonstrate against the Jiangnan Society, killing tens of thousands of people in the city.

At this time, Jinling County was almost an empty city, half of the houses including the city gate were destroyed by fire, and there were only more than 100 old and weak patients living in the city, and there was no Wu army soldier of Meng Haigong stationed.

All the slaughtered corpses were buried in the north of the city, forming a huge hill, Zhang Xuan led hundreds of generals in front of the hill to pay respects to the innocent people who unfortunately died tragically, and the army then continued to march south, at this time, the scouts came with the news that there were 50,000 troops led by Meng Qigui in Wuxi County, eighty miles ahead, which became the first line of defense for the Wu army to block the Sui army from moving south.

Wuxi County is located in the southernmost part of Biling County, after Wuxi County and then walk dozens of miles to enter the territory of Wu County, is the north gate of Wudu, the capital of Menghai Gongcheng, the strategic position is extremely important.

Wuxi County is also a strong city, the city is tall and wide, the moat is as wide as ten zhang, as early as a month ago, Meng Qi ghost began to clear the wall, he drove all the population of Biling County into Wuxi County, the food and property were looted by the army, most of the villages were burned.

At present, there are more than 200,000 people in Wuxi County, so that the county is crowded, the people's life is extremely difficult, Meng Qi ghost took away everyone's rations, in order to minimize food consumption, and at the same time prevent the civilians in the city from helping the Sui army, Meng Qi ghost frantically built a big prison in the west of the city, all the young and strong men in the city were imprisoned, only a little gruel was hung every day, and the slightest complaint was immediately arrested and starved to death in the dungeon.

In the past month, people have been dying of disease and starvation, or being severely tortured to death, and more than 30 percent of tens of thousands of young and strong men have died.

Meng Qi ghost is even more indulgent soldiers to loot property, **** women, more than 200,000 people in Piling County seem to live in hell, every day countless women are dragged into the barracks and ravaged to death, the soldiers are furious, they no longer think about their future, just want to vent their inner ****.

But what should come is still coming, this afternoon, Meng Ghost received a report from the spies, the main army of the Sui army appeared thirty miles away, which made Meng Ghost extremely nervous, and ordered all 50,000 soldiers to go to the city, ready to fight with the enemy.

The Sui army set up a large camp five miles away from the county seat, and Zhang Xuan inspected the city under the city of Wuxi surrounded by more than 100 generals. There were no trebuchets on the city, and they thought they could defend the city with their bows and arrows? ”

Fang Xuanling also smiled: "Maybe they also think that we only have siege ladders!" ”

"Then let them see!"

Zhang Xuan immediately ordered: "Pass my order, and you must build a dirt mountain for me within five days!" (To be continued.) )