Wei Yunqi's judgment was not wrong, because the thief army had marched for more than 200 miles in a row, it was already tired and exhausted, and more importantly, this attack on Beihai County was a temporary decision made by Zhang Jinshu, and he did not do a good job of intelligence investigation in advance.

An Shouxi didn't know how many defenders there would be in Yidu County, so he didn't dare to act rashly, so he didn't march overnight, but ordered the soldiers to rest in place for the night and continue the march at dawn.

As soon as the morning dawned, An Shouxi continued to lead 5,000 soldiers to leave the small village and continue to march towards Yidu County, An Shouxi was still a little worried in his heart, and sent his general Guo Song to lead a thousand troops as the front army, opening the way in front, and he led the army to walk slowly behind.

Guo Song was about 30 years old, he was a ruffian in Qinghe County, he was black and strong, his face was full of meat, and he had a pair of cold dead fish eyes, he was very cruel, and last night he led his army to slaughter a small village, and tortured two young women to death.

Guo Song volunteered to be a pioneer, and last night he was very dissatisfied with the small village, with a small population, less money, and not enough food to fill his teeth, but fortunately, there were a few young women who allowed them to vent happily.

He hoped to meet a few larger villages or county seats, and in fact, he wanted to go to Linzi County, but the king gave a death order, so they had to take Yidu County, so he had no choice but to do so.

"Speed up!"

Guo Song raised his axe and shouted: "If you encounter a village or town, let everyone grab it happily." ”

So the thieves were all excited, and they quickened their march, but they were disappointed in the end, and the villages they encountered along the way were all broken walls, no people, not even a dog, and the fields were even more barren, not even crops.

Guo Song cursed all the way, walked for about 60 miles, and near noon, they walked into the outer official road of Yidu County, where there is only one official road leading directly to Yidu County. Dense woods on both sides.

At this time, suddenly a soldier pointed to the ground and shouted: "There is money on the ground!" ”

"There's it too!"

Unexpectedly, the soldiers were pleasantly surprised to find that they shouted one after another, and there was actually money on the official road. It's not the rotten money now, but the good money minted during the Kaihuang period, all of which are Huang Chengcheng's finest copper coins, and the shouts of the soldiers came from everywhere, and the ranks began to disperse. The soldiers looked around for the copper coins.

More and more copper coins were found, some people even picked up jewelry, and several soldiers each picked up a gold ingot of five or six taels, and the stimulation of gold made the soldiers gradually become crazy, rushing forward to run forward, all trying to pick up the gold first.

A soldier pointed to the front and shouted: "General, there are several chests in front that seem to be studded with jewels!" ”

Guo Song himself is a rogue leader, and he was promoted to an official with a ruthless spirit, where does he know what to march and fight. He had only women and wealth in his eyes.

Guo Song urged the horse to rush forward, he couldn't hold back any longer, and joined the ranks of snatching gold.

"Damn, the box is Lao Tzu's, who dares to rob me!"

There was a mess on the official road, hundreds of people were grabbing around a few large boxes, and the boxes full of jewelry made all the soldiers red-eyed, and no one would think about why there were cash boxes on the official road at this time.

At this moment, there was a bang sound in the woods next to him, and the five hundred Sui troops who were ambushed in the woods fired arrows in unison. Dense arrows shot at the thieves who were snatching the jewels, the arrows were like flying locusts, and there were screams on the official road, and countless thieves fell to the ground.

Then the second round of arrows arrived. Many soldiers who fled were also hit by arrows, and even the thief general Guo Song was hit by more than a dozen arrows and died tragically after falling off his horse, and more than 100 pieces of jewelry he grabbed were also scattered all over the ground.

These copper coins, gold ingots, and jewelry were the wealth that Wei Yunqi borrowed from Teng Xuan, and Teng Xuan also knew that once the city was broken, these wealth would not be able to be preserved. Although he was reluctant in his heart, he finally took out all the money hidden in the cellar and handed it to Wei Yunqi.

It was this money that made the thief army confused and was ambushed by the Sui army.

Wei Yunqi shouted: "Kill out!" ”

Five hundred Sui troops rushed out of the woods, like a stream of iron rushed towards the thieves in the chaos, two rounds of arrows knocked down more than 300 thieves, the rest of the thieves ran for their lives, lost their armor, and even threw away the copper coins and gold that had just arrived, only wishing to grow two more legs.

However, the Sui army's killing cut off the fleeing thief army, and the war knife and spear mercilessly killed the enemy, killing the thief soldiers crying and screaming, corpses all over the ground, and the thief soldiers knelt down and surrendered, begging for mercy.

In less than a quarter of an hour, more than two hundred thieves who escaped by luck had already fled without a trace, Wei Yunqi looked at the north, the main force of the thief army should still be dozens of miles away.

Wei Yunqi immediately ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, and sent people to look for brother soldiers or father and son soldiers among the prisoners of war, and soon, several Sui soldiers brought two thieves prisoners of war.

"Changshi, these two are father and son!"

One of the two prisoners of war was nearly forty years old, and the other was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and the older prisoner knelt down and kowtowed and wept: "We are all forced to be bandits, and I beg my lord to spare my son." ”

The young bandit was terrified and kowtowed behind his father and begged for mercy.

Wei Yunqi looked at them for a moment and asked, "Where are you from?" What is your name? ”

"We are from Zaoqiang County, Xindu County, farming for generations, the villain is called Yang Sanpin, my son's name is Yang Shun, nicknamed Gou'er, we have never killed anyone."

Wei Yunqi smiled faintly and said: "I can let you go home, but I have one condition, your son stays here, you go and do something for me, and if you do it well, I will let your father and son go home." ”

"The little ones are willing to serve the adults!"

The main force of the thief army and the forward are about thirty miles apart, there is a vanguard in front of the road, the main force of the thief army marches very smoothly, all the way to the south, according to this speed, he can kill Yidu County in the afternoon.

An Shouxi kept cheering for the soldiers, "Kill in Yidu County and give everyone a three-day holiday, and the wealth and women you get will be your own!" ”

This is the most common way to motivate soldiers from all walks of life, using the robbery of wealth and women's ** to maintain the fighting spirit of soldiers, so the thief army will desperately attack the city, almost all the bandits in Qingzhou counties will more or less plunder the city, but the degree is different, and Zhang Jin said that it is the most thorough implementation of a bandit, and the most brutal.

An Shouxi's promise provoked the soldiers to fight**, and many tired soldiers also cheered up and accelerated the pace of the march.

At this moment, there was a sudden low commotion in front of him, and the team in the process of speeding immediately stopped, and An Shouxi immediately urged his horse forward and shouted, "What happened? ”

"General, it seems that something has happened to the striker."

An Shouxi was secretly taken aback, urged his horse to rush forward, only to see dozens of embarrassed soldiers fleeing back, weapons lost, armor gone, he suddenly roared angrily: "What's the matter? What about Guo Song, where are the others? ”

"General, we were ambushed by the Sui army, General Guo was also killed, and most of the brothers were killed or wounded."

This sentence made An Shouxi's face even more gloomy, he was actually ambushed by the Sui army, the king really deceived himself, he said that there was no Sui army guard in Beihai County, fortunately he didn't believe it, he secretly scolded Zhang Jin in his heart, and asked: "How many Sui troops are there?" ”

The leader team hurriedly shook his head, "The situation was very chaotic at that time, if we knew how many Sui troops there were, I am afraid we would not be able to escape, and the brothers all escaped the battlefield before the Sui army was killed." ”

An Shouxi was immediately furious, he raised a knife in his hand, killed the captain with one sword, and said viciously: "Those who escape from the battle, behead!" ”

The rest of the deserters were so frightened that they knelt down one after another, begging for mercy, An Shouxi was still angry, and whipped these soldiers with more than a dozen whips, and shouted: "Escort them down first, and then punish them severely when they turn back!" ”

At this time, several generals stepped forward and whispered: "General, what now?" ”

An Shouxi was very embarrassed in his heart, he didn't know what to do, he just sent a thousand soldiers to act as a striker because he didn't know whether he was or the enemy, and now that these thousand soldiers were actually ambushed, he also secretly screamed a fluke.

But An Shouxi never dreamed that the other party only had five hundred people, and if it was an army of five thousand people marching, the Sui army would never dare to ambush it easily.

When An Shouxi was in a dilemma, a subordinate general suggested: "General, now that the enemy is dark and I am clear, it is very unfavorable to us, it is better to find out the details of the enemy army before continuing to advance, otherwise we will suffer another big loss." ”

The general's suggestion was said in An Shouxi's heart, he nodded, and immediately ordered: "Send ten spies to investigate the enemy's situation, and the whole army will rest on the spot!" ”

The soldiers of the thief army sat down one after another, and whispered in groups, the ambush of the front army made many people feel like they were being splashed head-on by a basin of cold water, and the desire to rob the city suddenly disappeared a lot, and they began to think about how to protect themselves

(To be continued.) )