Everyone silently left the military cabin and returned to their cabin, only Fang Xuanling was left in the spacious cabin, he was Zhang Xuan's military advisor, he won Zhang Xuan's trust, and he knew Zhang Xuan very well, he knew where Zhang Xuan's inexplicable anger came from today?

"Does the general really think that the Jianghuai bandits are different from the Qingzhou bandits?" Fang Xuanling asked with a smile.

Zhang Xuan said for a while: "Maybe it is Wang Shichong's Huainan Army that left a deep impression on me, the soldiers are generally fierce and strong, as bandits, their personal combat effectiveness is very strong, but they lose in training and formation, but under Wang Shichong's training, they are a very strong army, Du Fuwei can kill from the Jianghuai bandits, there must be something special about him, the defeat of the thief army in the Huai River should have nothing to do with Du Fuwei, on the contrary, if Miao Haichao obeys Du Fuwei's military orders and hides, we have no way to take them." ”

"The general is right, the arrogant army will be defeated, no matter what, we can't underestimate the enemy, but the general seems to have a deep grudge against the Jianghuai county officials, and he feels that the general is a little wrong to blame them."

Zhang Xuan sneered, "I don't blame them, they are the same as those officials in Qingzhou, stepping on two boats, and now they feel that Du Fuwei is too powerful, so they all secretly communicate with Du Fuwei, and when the Sui army defeats Du Fuwei, they will definitely jump out and find out all kinds of reasons to relieve themselves, do we see less of this scene?" ”

"They also have difficulties, the imperial court does not allow the counties to recruit the villagers, the county families can not protect themselves, they can only secretly surrender to the bandits, and the local government is controlled by the wealthy clans of the counties, the skin does not exist, the Mao generals are attached, the scholars secretly surrender to the bandits, of course, the government can only compromise with the bandits, I believe they themselves are unwilling."

Fang Xuanling knew that Zhang Xuan's inexplicable anger today was not because Luo Shixin underestimated the enemy. Rather, it is because of the attitude of the county officials.

The officials of the counties in Jianghuai have so far refused to come to Jiangdu to meet with the envoys and discuss the plan to eliminate the bandits, which really angered Zhang Xuan, so Zhang Xuan was eager to fight Du Fuwei and reverse his political weakness in Jianghuai.

But Fang Xuanling was afraid that Zhang Xuan would do stupid things under his anger, such as severely punishing the Taishou of Liyang County and so on. This not only cannot deter other counties and counties, but will cause the local government to be more centrifuged, especially the major families in Jianghuai began to resist Zhang Xuan, so he must persuade to calm down, not to be in a hurry, let alone impulsive.

Fang Xuanling's hard persuasion calmed the anger in Zhang Xuan's heart a little, he paced back and forth in the cabin with his hands in his hands, and Fang Xuanling said in a low voice: "In addition, there is one thing I didn't think of. I also need to introspect. ”

"What?" Jang Hyun glanced back at him.

"It's the Jiangnan Society, I later talked with the officials of the Jiangdu County Government and learned that the main reason why the Jiangnan Society was wiped out by Du Fuwei in the Jianghuai area was because of the Jianghuai family's hatred for the Jiangnan Society."

Zhang Xuan was stunned and asked for a while, "Why is this?" ”

Fang Xuanling sighed and said: "The grievances caused by history, the south was divided, and the Sima clan rebuilt the Jin Dynasty with the support of the Jiangnan clans such as Lu, Wang, Yu, and Gu, and the Jiangnan clans grasped the power of the dynasty. has always oppressed and exploited the Jianghuai Shi clan, and later the Southern Dynasties such as Song Qi, Liang and Chen did not treat the Jianghuai Shi clan well. Both prevention and oppression, resulting in mutual hatred between the north and south banks of the Yangtze River, the Great Sui army was able to cross the Yangtze River smoothly and go south, which was also related to the full support of the Jianghuai clan. ”

Zhang Xuan was silent, he understood what Fang Xuanling meant,

Fang Xuanling continued: "Du Fuwei can quickly rise in Jianghuai. To a large extent, it is because he has a clear stand against the Jiangnan Shi clan and hates the Jiangnan Society supported by the Jiangnan Shi clan, which is the fundamental reason why the government of the five counties of Jianghuai has refused to come to see the general, unless the general can get the support of the Jianghuai Shi clan, but the general and the Jiangnan Society have reached a consensus on cooperation. That's when I realized that this was our failure. ”

"I understand what the military advisor means, the real purpose of the Jiangnan Society is to use us to weaken the Jianghuai Shi clan, and Du Fuwei is the army secretly supported by the Jianghuai Shi clan."

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuan frowned again, "In this case, why did Du Fuwei cut off the Tongji Canal, isn't this harming the interests of the local wealthy families in Jianghuai?" ”

Fang Xuanling sighed, "The general is very wrong, more than ninety percent of Jiangdu's commerce is controlled by the Guanlong nobles and the Jiangnan scholars, isn't the condition for Jiangnan to cooperate with the general to ask the general to take care of the interests of Jiangnan?" This is not a small number, Du Fuwei cut off the Tongji Canal, in fact, it was to attack the interests of the Jiangnan Society, and the interests of the Guanlong nobles were only collateral damage, otherwise why the court officials were so anxious to resume shipping, there is actually a deep mystery in this. ”

Zhang Xuan sat down slowly, Fang Xuanling's words completely solved the mystery that had plagued him for a long time, why did Du Fuwei cut off the Tongji Canal and cause trouble, now he understands that there is a deep struggle of interests hidden here.

At this time, Zhang Xuan suddenly thought of something, he walked quickly to the map, looked at the official road of Liyang County, and his expression became extremely solemn

From Jiangdu along the north bank of the Yangtze River to Liyang County, in the first half of the plain, the terrain is flat, the official road is wide and easy to walk, but after passing Chushui, the terrain gradually becomes complicated, especially after entering Liuhe Mountain, the mountain is undulating, there are many hills, the river valley is vertical and horizontal, and the road is no longer easy to walk.

Pei Xingyan led 800 cavalry as the vanguard all the way south, their goal was not to Liuhe Mountain's Du Fuwei lair, but to rush to the north of Liyang County, to cut off the merger of the two Du Fuwei armies of Luozhu Mountain and Liuhe Mountain.

Although there were many hills and the terrain was rugged, it still did not cause much hindrance to the Sui cavalry, and three days later, the cavalry arrived at Taoye Mountain, and fifty miles further forward was Liyuling, where Du Fuwei's lair was located.

"General Su, it's getting late, let's garrison the troops on the spot!" The partial general Chen Xu suggested to Pei Xingyan.

Pei Xingyan looked up at the sky, the sun had already set, but the afterglow was still illuminating the sky, but a trace of twilight had quietly emerged from the mountains and forests, they were just located in a sunken basin, surrounded by mountains, the field of vision was still open, and in front of them was a bottomless valley.

"How long is the valley ahead?" Pei Xingyan pointed to the valley in front of him with a horsewhip and asked.

The person who led them the way was a post man from Hushu Town, Liuhe County, named Zhao Changgui, a native in his forties, who had been a post man for 30 years and knew the terrain of this area well.

Zhao Changgui said with a smile: "There are seven grains in Taoye Mountain, and the fifth valley is in front, which is called peach five grains by the locals, and it seems that the valley road seems to be long, but it is actually not long, only about three or four miles." ”

"Is there a stream nearby?" The cavalry of the Sui army marched for a day, and the men were tired of horses and horses, and they urgently needed to find a water source.

"After the peach grains, there is the peach leaf stream, which is very clear and sweet."

Pei Xingyan hesitated, now that it was dusk, did they want to go through the valley? Zhao Changgui saw Pei Xingyan's hesitation, so he smiled and said, "Don't worry, general!" There are no bandits in this area, if there are bandits, will our post station still exist? ”

This is very reasonable, Pei Xingyan was about to give the order to move forward, and Li Qingming, who was accompanying Cao Liu, persuaded him: "General Pei, the art of war is cloudy, and it is suspicious to cross the valley, and this place is not far from Du Fuwei's lair, we had better be careful." ”

Chen Xu said with a smile: "Li Senjun is reasonable, but water is also important, and I am willing to take a team of brothers to fetch water." ”

Pei Xingyan nodded, turned back to Zhao Changgui and said, "Please ask Zhao Yicheng to take us to fetch water." ”

"Okay!" Zhao Changgui saw that they were unwilling to cross the valley, so he had to reluctantly agree.

Chen Xu waved his hand, "The First Brigade will follow me to fetch water!" ”

Hundreds of cavalrymen followed Chen Xu with water bags and galloped away, and soon disappeared into the valley, while Pei Xingyan ordered the other cavalry to rest on the spot.

At this time, it was autumn, the night was cooler, the mountains were especially windy, a gust of mountain wind blew, the woods made a loud noise, making a strange whistling sound, I don't know why, Pei Xingyan always had a bad feeling in his heart, but he couldn't say the reason, which made him seem a little restless, and he got up from time to time to look at the valley.

Suddenly, there was a faint shout of killing from the depths of the valley, Pei Xingyan was stunned, what was going on?

At this time, many soldiers stood up one after another, and they also heard the anomaly.

"Get on board now!" Pei Xingyan shouted loudly, and he realized that the situation was not good.

The soldiers got on their horses one after another, and at this moment, two Sui cavalrymen rushed out of the valley, both of them were hit by arrows, they ran out of the valley, and they fell off their horses, and several soldiers hurriedly ran up to help them up.

"What happened?" Pei Xingyan asked sharply.

"There is an ambush in the valley, go quickly! There are too many enemy troops. ”

"What about General Chen?" Pei Xingyan yelled in a hurry.

"All the brethren, all the soldiers" was not finished, and the soldier closed his eyes and passed away.

At this time, the shouting and killing sound in the valley shook the sky, I don't know how many thieves are killing here, Pei Xingyan knew that the terrain here was extremely unfavorable for cavalry fighting, he endured his grief and shouted: "Withdraw with me!" ”

The cavalry turned their horses one after another and followed Pei Xingyan towards the outside of Taoye Mountain.

Not long after, a group of thousands of bandits came out, headed by a general with golden helmets and golden armor, holding tiger teeth and golden knives, majestic, it was the Jianghuai thief Du Fuwei, and he was followed by a middle-aged man, who was Zhao Changgui, who led the way for the Sui army. (To be continued.) )