In the room, Jang Hyun had been standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands for an unknown amount of time, the tears in the corners of his eyes had dried, and there was only endless hatred left in his sad eyes.

He was tormented by deep self-blame, if it weren't for his efforts to keep this army, they would have been disarmed and returned to the field, reunited with their wives and children, and it was his erroneous and unwanted thoughts that caused them to die tragically in the wilderness of Qinghe County.

Those soldiers who fought with him on the battlefield of Goguryeo ended up dying in the hands of the bandits, and the knife that killed them also had his share of Zhang Xuan, his arrogance, his self-righteousness, and his ignorance of the heavens and the earth, and finally brewed a bitter wine that he could not accept.

"General!"

Wei Yunqi's deep voice came from behind him, "Don't blame yourself too much, this is Feng Xiaoci's responsibility, and it has nothing to do with the general." ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head slightly, "I don't want to shirk responsibility, but it's not time to blame myself." ”

He turned around suddenly and asked Wei Yunqi calmly, "Have you informed Pei Xingyan?" ”

"An eagle message has been sent, and it is believed that he should be on his way back now."

Zhang Xuan nodded slowly, "Wei Changshi, I will leave five hundred soldiers for you, and Beihai County will ask you for the time being." ”

Wei Yunqi nodded silently, Zhang Xuan picked up the silver helmet beside him, walked quickly to the gate, and when he walked to the door, he said in a deep voice: "I am not in Beihai County, all government affairs are implemented according to the original plan, Changshi can call the shots, and there is no need to wait for me to come back." ”

"I know, take care of yourself!"

Zhang Xuan slowly put the silver helmet on his head, strode out of the courtyard, and walked towards the outside of the county office, where the war horse was already prepared in front of the steps. Zhang Xuan turned over his horse, rode his horse with his legs, and the war horse galloped out, escorted by more than a dozen cavalry guards, and ran towards the camp outside the city.

An hour later, Zhang Xuan led 3,500 soldiers out of the camp and drove towards Qi County. At the same time, a thousand soldiers from Donglai County, under the leadership of Pei Xingyan, also left Donglai County and converged in the direction of Qi County.

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The crushing defeat of the Sui army in Qinghe County had a huge impact on both Hebei and Shandong. Not only did Dou Jiande and Gao Shida bow down to Zhang Jin, but even Zhang Xutuo, who had always been cautious, knew that the situation was serious, and he didn't care about asking the imperial court for instructions, and began to urgently mobilize the garrisons of various counties in Qingzhou to assemble in Qi County.

In the afternoon of this day, Zhang Xuan led the soldiers of Beihai and Donglai counties. A total of 4,500 people arrived at Zhu'a County, Qi County, which is bordered by the Yellow River in the north, and is the first county after Qinghe County crossed the river into Qi County.

Zhang Xutuo focused his defense on Zhu'a County, not only stationed 1,000 soldiers here, but also heightened and thickened the city walls and dredged the moat, turning Zhu'a County into a fortified city.

The drawbridge slowly fell, and Jang Hyun's army began to march into the city. Zhu'a circumference is about 12 miles, it is a middle county, but the population of the county has moved to Licheng County, there are only more than 300 households in the whole county, and the rest of the vacant land is all used as a military camp, and the city is full of soldiers, and more than 10,000 people have gathered in the city.

Zhang Xuan's war horse had just entered the county seat, and a team of cavalry rushed in front of him, led by the handsome Zhang Xutuo, who hurriedly urged the horse to salute. "See the big handsome!"

Zhang Xutuo's mood was very heavy, and he waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite, are the troops coming?" ”

"I will leave 500 people to guard Yidu County, and the remaining 4,500 people will all bring in. Also cavalry. ”

Zhang Xutuo sighed, "Then now except for Jia Wuben's Gaomi army, the rest of the army has arrived, and Fei Qingnu's army will arrive tonight." ”

"Dashuai, how many people have escaped from Qinghe County?" Jang Hyun asked in a low voice.

"The first group fled back to about 3,000 people, and then more than 1,000 people fled back one after another. Now there are about 4,300 people, and the highest military rank is the captain, hey! The losses in this battle were too heavy. ”

Zhang Xuan's expression was gloomy, and he nodded silently, Zhang Xutuo patted him on the arm and comforted him: "Don't be sad, thinking about how to completely annihilate Zhang Jincheng is what we should do, go to the barracks with me first, and we will discuss how to deal with it." ”

Zhang Xuan instructed Wei Chigong and Pei Xingyan a few words, and then turned the horse's head and followed Zhang Xutuo towards the barracks, they walked into the big tent, only to see Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin and You Junda also came, the three of them stood up together, Zhang Xutuo waved his hand, "Everyone sit casually!" ”

Several people sat on the ground, Zhang Xutuo said slowly: "Qinghe County fiasco, I have sent someone to the capital to report urgently, according to the latest information I have obtained, Zhang Jin said that the army did not retreat to Gaojibo, but stationed in the area of Gaotang County, less than 100 miles away from the Yellow River, now the Yellow River is frozen, it is easy for them to cross the river, with Zhang Jin's treacherous, we must especially beware of his night attack." ”

"How did Feng Xiaoci fail, did the marshal investigate?" Jang Hyun asked.

Zhang Xutuo nodded, "This time Feng Xiaoci's army was defeated, I carefully inquired about the defeated army, even I have to admire Zhang Jincheng's cunning, he knew that Feng Xiaoci's grain was about to run out, so he deliberately pulled a team of grain boats, as a result, Feng Xiaoci sent people to sneak attack the grain boats, and the whole army was annihilated, Zhang Jincheng sent people to pretend that the Sui army came back from robbing grain, and deceived the city gate-"

Without waiting for Zhang Xutuo to finish speaking, Luo Shixin slammed his fist on the ground, and couldn't help but praise: "It's really smart!" ”

Zhang Xutuo glared at him fiercely, "What did you say?" ”

Luo Shixin lowered his head in fright, not daring to say more, Qin Qiong smiled on the side: "Don't be angry, Zhang Jin said that this thief does have some ability, if we don't fully understand him, we will also be tricked." ”

Zhang Xutuo glanced at Zhang Xuan again, "Do you think so too?" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "I have fought with him for a few months, he used a rabble to attack the city, trying to lure me out of the city, fortunately I was not fooled, General Qin said well, we must first of all not underestimate the enemy, and secondly, we must know ourselves and know the enemy." ”

Zhang Xutuo agreed with everyone's opinions, and continued: "This is just one thing, there is another thing, I am worried that we will go north to Qinghe County to make Qingzhou and Qi County empty, Sun Xuanya will take the opportunity to go north to sweep and make us suffer from the enemy in the abdomen, how to arrange defense is also a matter that cannot be taken lightly, let's talk about it together." ”

Zhang Xuan immediately thought of Fang Xuanling's plan, and he smiled and said, "The marshal can contact Yang Yichen and ask him to put pressure on Sun Xuanya in the south to force Sun Xuanya not to go north." ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded, "This is actually my idea, since everyone coincides, then without further ado, I will write a letter to Yang Yichen and ask him to send troops to assist." ”

"Wait, Dashuai!"

Zhang Xuan stopped Zhang Xutuo's thoughts, and Zhang Xutuo's brows furrowed slightly, "What else?" ”

"There are also Dou Jiande and Gao Shida, and even the Wagang Army, hasn't the marshal considered their threat?"

Zhang Xutuo pondered and said: "Gao Shida and Zhang Jincheng have a grudge against killing his wife, and so is Dou Jiande, he was driven out of Gaojibo by Zhang Jincheng, and all his subordinates and cronies were killed, even if the two of them bow to him now and are forced to pay tribute, if the Sui army attacks Zhang Jincheng, I believe they will only be happy to see it, and they will never send troops to help Zhang Jincheng."

As for the Wagang Army, I heard that they have been in a little trouble internally recently, and it is unlikely that they will send troops to the east, and I have deployed several teams of more than 100 people to patrol the areas of Fan County and Shouzhang County in Jibei County to closely monitor the movements of the Wagang Army, and even if something happens, we will get the news in time. ”

Zhang Xuan saw that Zhang Xutuo had made all the arrangements, so he asked, "Then how should we fight this battle?" ”

Zhang Xutuo glanced at everyone and said slowly: "The reason why I sent troops without permission regardless of the opinions of the imperial court is because I found an Achilles heel of Zhang Jincheng, if we can seize this opportunity, we can defeat Zhang Jincheng's army, if we can't catch it, we can only retreat to Qi County, and we will go all out to defend against Zhang Jincheng's large-scale attack on Qi County." ”

Zhang Xutuo's words made everyone's blood boil, and You Junda rubbed his hands and said: "Dashuai, say it!" ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded, "I plan to divide my troops into three ways in this battle!" ”

The Yellow River rushes from the west, flows through the hinterland of the Central Plains, and enters the hilly area of Shandong, and the riverbed suddenly becomes spacious, and the Yellow River between Qi County and Qinghe County is more than ten miles wide.

Usually, the river surface is turbid and turbulent, but after entering the middle of winter, the river begins to freeze, and the riverbed more than ten miles wide has become a thick ice field, which is not only feasible for travelers, mules and horses, just like a cart full of goods can also pass smoothly through the ice surface of the Yellow River.

But the ice surface of the Yellow River is not arbitrary, because the ice surface is more than ten miles wide, the cold air permeates people, the weak people often can not withstand the huge cold on the ice surface, and will often freeze to death on the ice, even if the strong people, if there are not enough defense measures, even if they get out of the ice will be seriously ill.

Therefore, walking on the ice field needs to be carefully guarded, first of all, the legs and crotch need to be wrapped with fur, and then wear very thick clothes and pants, the legs and belly of the war horse should also be wrapped with layers of cloth, and the baggage is transported with the help of a sled, so whether it is the thief army going south to attack Qi County, or the Sui army going north to recover Qinghe County, it is not an easy task.

At night, Zhang Xuan's army was actively preparing for the crossing by the Yellow River, and his army was the third way, crossing the river from the northern part of Qinghe County, cutting off the back road of Zhang Jincheng's army in a roundabout way, and Zhang Xutuo supplemented Zhang Xuan with 1,500 men with Feng Xiaoci's defeated army, bringing his army to 6,000 men.

Qin Qiong also led 6,000 troops to cross the river from the south of Qinghe County to protect the main force from the side, and Zhang Xutuo led 10,000 troops to cross the river from Zhu'a County to the north and will face Zhang Jincheng's army head-on.

The three armies were only thirty miles apart, and they could echo each other, so that they would not be crushed by Zhang Jin's army. (To be continued.) )