In the room, more than a dozen generals gathered together, Zhang Xutuo spread out a very detailed map, pointed to the terrain around Jiaoxi County with a wooden pole to the people: "Jiaoxi County is surrounded by mountains and hills, and there is little flat land, which is not conducive to large-scale battles on the battlefield between the two armies, and the combat effectiveness of the thief army is weak, and Meng Rang will not fight a positional battle with us, I estimate that he will stick to the city, rely on the city and fight with us, and finally wait for us to withdraw when we run out of food." ●⌒，.”

In order to attack Mengrang, Zhang Xutuo planned for nearly a year and made a lot of meticulous preparations, including exploring the opening time of Gaomi County, including the enemy's defensive deployment in Jiaoxi, and various strategies for attacking Jiaoxi County.

It was these meticulous preparations that enabled Zhang Xuan to lead the army to seize Gaomi County in one fell swoop, which Zhang Xuan had deeply experienced.

He looked at the dense various annotations on the map, the number of enemy troops, the degree of training, weapons and equipment, grain and grass materials, terrain distribution, river crossing locations, etc., all of which were recorded in detail, allowing Zhang Xuan to experience Zhang Xutuo's combat style, Zhang Xutuo was known as the god of war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and it was no accident.

"How to attack the city will be considered next, now we need to think about how to survive the glue, what are your good suggestions"

The tooth general Fei Qingnu bowed down and said: "Dashuai, the surrounding forests are luxuriant, you can cut down trees as rafts, make pontoon bridges, and deploy pontoon bridges to cross the river at night." ”

"Logging for rafts is a good method, but Meng Rang should have learned the lesson of losing Gaomi County, if we make a slight move, they will immediately find out that when there is a fierce battle, we will fall into passivity, and we will suffer heavy casualties, so we have to think of a supplementary way."

As soon as Zhang Xutuo's words fell, Zhang Xuan smiled and said: "Doesn't the big handsome already have a way to deal with it?"

Zhang Xutuo was stunned, he followed Zhang Xuan's gaze, and saw that there was a mark on his map in the north about dozens of miles away from Gaomi County, where the river could be crossed

"General Zhang has good eyesight"

Zhang Xutuo laughed, "Yes, that's my idea, I just hope there is a better plan." ”

"Dashuai, this plan is the best plan."

Zhang Xuan stepped forward, bowed down and saluted: "I am willing to lead the headquarters to cross the river north."

Zhang Xutuo looked at everyone again. The rest of the generals were silent, and Zhang Xutuo nodded slowly, "Since everyone thinks this is the best plan, then adopt it."

Night. Under the cover of the dark night, Zhang Xuan's army of 3,000 was marching north along the glue, and the thieves blocked the river crossing point within 20 miles of the other side of Gaomi County, and they had to find another way to find a new place to cross the river.

Most of the banks of the glue are low hills. Most of them were undulating hills with wide valleys and gentle slopes, interspersed with large fields in between, and the march was not difficult, and after an hour and a half they had marched nearly fifty miles.

"General, the crossing point is ahead"

The man who led the way for Jang Xuan was a scout lieutenant of the Sui army, and a month earlier, he had been ordered to lead fifty scouts along the glue to find a place to cross the river, and they found the best place to cross the river, so that Zhang Xuan did not have to scratch the spot.

"Arrived"

The Scout Lieutenant pointed to the foot of a hilly hill in front of him and said, "This is it."

Jao Hyun looked around. Surrounded by dense forests, a small hill cut off their path, and they had to go around the hill or directly over the hill to continue their march, which should be the mark on Zhang Sutuo's map.

At the foot of the hill is a flat open field, where the river bends, and the originally turbulent water becomes gentle, making it a good place to cross the river.

"Are there any bandit patrols on the other side?" asked Jaang.

The Scout Lieutenant nodded, "Not a patrol post to be exact, but two beacons, one on a hill five miles south. The other was ten miles away, with ten soldiers each, mainly to see if we would be killed from the north, again. There are also two beacons on the south side, and these four beacons were built a year ago. ”

Zhang Xuan couldn't help nodding secretly, no wonder Zhang Xutuo said that this Meng Rang was very cunning, it seemed that he was not only cunning, but also very thoughtful, and he had prepared Fengsui a year ago.

Then yesterday Gaomi County was lost. Will Meng Rang send another patrol to closely monitor whether the Sui army will cross the river from the north and south to attack?

Zhang Xuan had to consider this possibility, and although he hoped that there was no such possibility, reason told him that with Meng Rang's careful consideration, the patrol was very likely to appear, and he had to be careful every step after crossing the river.

However, the immediate priority was to cross the river first, and Jang Hyun immediately sent a team of scouts to swim over to guard the opposite bank, and he immediately ordered: "All soldiers act together and cut down trees first"

The army crosses the river generally with a pontoon bridge, building a pontoon bridge is very simple, dozens of wooden boats are connected end to end, and a wooden plank can be put on it, three thousand Sui troops worked together, cut down trees, quickly made hundreds of rafts, put on the wooden plank, and the Sui army pulled out a long iron chain on the river surface, and the soldiers could pull the iron chain on the pontoon bridge to run quickly.

In just half an hour, a sturdy pontoon bridge appeared on the river, and the soldiers rushed to the other side of the river with iron chains, and soon disappeared into the night

It is very simple to deal with two beacons, which can be destroyed in one pot, but it is not so easy to deal with the enemy's moving patrols, they are uncertain and difficult to find, but once the Sui army is discovered, it means that the Sui army will likely suffer the consequences of annihilation.

Zhang Xuan ordered Shen Guang to lead a hundred scouts into ten teams to go ahead and look for the enemy patrol.

At the fourth watch, when Zhang Xuan led the main force to arrive fifteen miles away from Jiaoxi County, Shen Guang found the patrol that Zhang Xuan was most worried about.

"Right there"

Shen Guang pointed to a fire in the woods in the distance from a big tree, and laughed in a low voice, "Some of them lit a bonfire, this is not a qualified patrol army. ”

"Maybe it's not that it's unqualified, but that some of them want to surrender to us and deliberately help." Jang Hyun joked with a smile.

Shen Guang also laughed, "Since this is the case, then the humble duty will be surrendered."

Jokes are jokes, but Zhang Xuan didn't dare to be careless at all, he divided the army into three layers, Wei Chigong led a thousand people as the outermost layer, Pei Xingyan led a thousand people as the middle layer, he personally led a thousand people to raid the enemy army, laying a three-layer net, no matter what, no one can escape.

Meng Rang was indeed very worried that the Sui army would cross the river from the north and south, and he was not very worried about Fengsui, so he specially sent two patrol teams, one south and one north, to search for possible Sui troops.

The patrol team found by Shen Guang was the one in the north, with a total of more than 300 people, it was already the fourth watch, most of the thieves had fallen asleep, only a few soldiers were sentry around the woods, and the fire found by Zhang Xuan was the easternmost three sentry thieves.

They were inexperienced and daring, and after grabbing a roe deer, they lit a fire to roast the roe deer meat and eat it, and it was this fire that exposed their position.

The three thieves ate happily, and the captain who had just gotten up to inspect suddenly found the fire and was furious, "You bastards"

He rushed up and kicked over the fire, slapped the three ignorant thieves a few times, and scolded viciously: "You bastards, you will kill us all"

The three soldiers were so frightened that they didn't dare to move, and the barbecue in their hands was quietly thrown away, and the captain saw the barbecue and kicked them a few times, "Put out the fire, dare to light it again, and see how I slaughtered you"

He grabbed the barbecue from the ground and ran away in a rage.

The three thieves cursed in a low voice, and had to step on the fire to extinguish it, and at that moment, several black shadows swooped up from behind, pinned the three to the ground, and ended their lives with a single sword.

Shen Guang let out a few night owl screams, indicating that all the sentries had been pulled out, and Zhang Xuan coldly said to everyone: "Kill me"

A thousand Sui soldiers rushed into the woods from all directions, and the woods suddenly screamed loudly, and in less than a quarter of an hour, except for the captain who was the leader, all the other 300 people were killed, and not a single one was left.

Shen Guang stepped forward and saluted Zhang Xuan with his fists, "General Qiyu, the interrogation has been completed, and there is only this one sentry in the north, a total of three hundred and twenty-two people. ”

"How many people are we going to kill?"

"Hurriedly their leaders together, a total of three hundred and twenty-two people were killed, and none of them escaped."

Zhang Xuan nodded, he looked at the night, it was about four o'clock, according to the agreement between him and Zhang Xutuo, the Sui army commander would cross the river ten miles north of Jiaoxi City at the same time, only five miles away from them, and there was no time at all.

Zhang Xuan immediately ordered: "Order all the brothers to rest on the spot and set off at the fifth watch and three o'clock."

In the early morning of the next day, Meng Rang, who was sleeping, was woken up by the soldiers outside the door, he quickly got up, walked out of the door and asked, "What happened?"

"Your Excellency Qi, I received urgent news from the river, and the Sui army has already shown signs of crossing the river."

Meng Rang was taken aback, hurriedly rushed to the head of the city, stood on the head of the city, and saw that the Sui army on the opposite bank had assembled on the shore in the distance, and the black pressure was all over the west bank, with flags like clouds, spears like forests, and a murderous atmosphere.

On the river, nearly 100 small boats have been lined up in two long columns, about to start building pontoon bridges, Meng Rang was in a hurry, and hurriedly ordered: "Order Du Yaosi to block the Sui army for me, and not allow the Sui army to build a pontoon bridge" to be continued.