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Two days later, Zhang Xuan left Zhuo County with 1,700 soldiers and went to Luoyang to assemble according to the instructions of the military department. ￥f。 ￥f

There were more than 800 people in his army who were originally archers of the Youzhou army, but because their main general had been killed, Lai Hu'er incorporated them into Zhang Xuan's 16th battalion as a supplementary force, making them officially Zhang Xuan's subordinates, and upgrading the 16th battalion from a small battalion to a medium battalion.

In this way, Zhang Xuan has a quota of 2,000 soldiers, and Zhang Xuan himself can add about 300 people, either recruiting himself or applying to the imperial court for allocation.

However, what Zhang Xuan is facing now is not the problem of the source of soldiers, but the belonging of his army, which is related to the source of food and grass for his army and the survival of his army.

In fact, not only him, but every army that came back from Liaodong faced the same problem, this time he went to Luoyang, nominally to receive honors and awards, but in fact he was to face a great purge of the army, the hearts of the commanders of each army were heavy, and Zhang Xuan's heart was also not easy.

Zhang Xuan led the army south along the Yongji Canal, and before leaving, Guo Xuan gave him 30 grain boats, and they consigned grain and grass tents and other materials on the boats, and the 30 grain boats lined up in a long line, walking slowly along the river, greatly reducing the burden of the soldiers to carry grain and grass materials.

At the same time, Zhang Xuan hired a small building boat of 500 stone to accompany the grain and grass fleet to accommodate Lu Qingyuan's wife and daughter and his little maid Ah Yuan.

Although the road was not smooth, under the deterrence of the army, they had a smooth journey and did not encounter bandit attacks, and that evening, the army set up a large camp near Qinghe County, and the night was not safe. Lu Qingyuan's wife and daughter and Ah Yuan all entered the barracks.

Lu Qingyuan looked a little worried, he found Zhang Xuan, who was directing the soldiers to camp, "Yuan Ding, I have to tell you something. ”

After five days of companionship, Zhang Xuan now shows that Lu Qingyuan is actually a very verbose and overly cautious person. Along the way, I was worried about this, worried about that, and I always refused to stop.

No, he came worried again, which made Zhang Xuan feel a big head, if he really married Lu Qing in the future. If you have such an uncle, wouldn't you be annoyed to death.

"Brother Lu, what's the matter" Zhang Xuan smiled reluctantly.

"I don't think I should camp in Qinghe County, have you heard of Brother Gao Jibo in Qinghe County?"

Zhang Xuan nodded, "Of course I know." One of the two old nests of the Shandong bandits, is it far from here?"

"Gaojibo is about two hundred miles away from here, but now the thief in Gaojibo is Zhang Jin, a few months ago, he defeated the militia of the four counties, the power is strong, he has gathered seventy or eighty thousand, and he dares to challenge the officers and soldiers, I heard that last month he sent his general Yang Gongqing to rob the southern retreat army. Having taken away dozens of war horses, we are stationed in Qinghe County, will we also be in danger?"

Although Lu Qingyuan is usually very verbose. But his words today have a bit of gold, Zhang Xuangang led the army back from Liaodong, and he knew almost nothing about the affairs of Zhongyuan, but Zhang Jin said that he knew about the defeat of the militia groups of the four counties, and led Zhang Xutuo into Beijing, and even Cheng Biting Jin was also one of the defeated militia groups.

Especially a few days ago, he snatched dozens of horses that Zhang Jincheng said. Maybe Zhang Jin said that he already knew, how would he retaliate against himself

Zhang Xuan can strategically defy Zhang Jincheng. But tactically, he didn't dare to be careless, this Zhang Jin claimed to be the self-proclaimed king of Qinghe. There are tens of thousands of people under his command, and he is a very powerful bandit leader.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "Is it a rumor or an exact fact that the thieves robbed the army?"

"It was Cui Li who told me that this matter was concealed by the military, and he asked me not to go south recently, and recently because of the autumn harvest, Zhang Jin said that he was very arrogant and attacked from all sides to grab grain."

At this moment, a soldier rushed to report, "General, there is a strong man outside the camp who asks to see you"

"Who is it?"

"He said that he was the general's deceased, and he came from Mayi County."

Zhang Xuan's mind turned, could it be

Zhang Xuan walked quickly to the outside of the camp, only to see a majestic strong man standing outside the camp, it was Chi Gong, who was in the grassland, holding a big iron rod, leading a majestic horse, Zhang Xuan was overjoyed, and shouted from afar: "Is it Jingde?"

Yu Chigong stepped forward quickly, knelt down on one knee and hugged his fists and said: "Yu Chigong see Childe"

Zhang Xuan hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, with infinite joy in his heart, "I didn't expect to see Jingde in Qinghe County, did you come directly from Mayi County?"

"Back to Gongzi, I received a letter from Mr., saying that Gongzi was in Youzhou, so I hurried to Jixian County, but I learned that Gongzi had gone south, so I chased all the way, thanks to me going in the right direction, I caught up with Gongzi."

Zhang Xuan knew that the gentleman that Yu Chigong said must be Li Jing, Li Jing left Pyongyang first after the end of the Goguryeo War, but he didn't expect him to think carefully for himself and find Wei Chigong, Zhang Xuan was grateful for Li Jing's kindness, and hurriedly smiled at Yu Chigong and said: "Speak in the tent first"

Zhang Xuan took Yu Chigong into the big tent that had just been tied, asked him to sit down, and asked with concern, "Are your wife and children okay?"

"Thank you Gongzi for your concern, they are very good, after breaking up from the grassland, I went back to Mayi County, but I was complained by the lady, saying that I forgot my righteousness when I saw the benefits, and I didn't care about the son when I got the benefits, I was ashamed, and I went back to Jixian to find the son, but I heard that the son went to Liaodong with the army, I had to go home first, this time I settled my wife and children, I came to find the son again, I am willing to serve the son"

Yu Chigong knelt down on one knee again, clenched his fists high, and his attitude was very sincere, Zhang Xuan sighed in his heart, Yu Chigong came to him twice, which shows his sincerity, how can he not accept such a fierce general.

"You don't need to be polite to Jingde, we are originally brothers, you are willing to help me, of course I can't ask for it."

Zhang Xuan asked Yu Chigong to sit down again, and at this time, Yu Chigong said in a low voice: "I'm afraid that the situation of the son is not good."

Zhang Xuan was stunned, "How do you say this?"

"When I was chasing Gongzi, the existing people were following Gongzi, and I overheard their words, as if Zhang Jin was beating Gongzi's idea of grain, grass and horses, and Gongzi's night garrison should be careful."

First of all, Lu Qingyuan's reminder, and now there is Wei Chi Gong, Zhang Xuan also knows that the situation is not good, he only has 1,700 people, once Zhang Jin Cheng dispatches tens of thousands of troops to besiege them, the situation will be very unfavorable to them.

Jang Hyun pondered for a moment. Immediately instructed his subordinates, "Get me all the captains and brigade commanders, go quickly"

The soldiers rushed away, and after a short time, more than a dozen officers above the brigade commander level rushed to Zhang Xuan's camp. Zhang Xuan introduced Yu Chigong to them, and told everyone about Yu Chigong's current situation.

This made all the generals worried, most of these generals were born in Douzigang, and they knew the habits of the bandits in Hebei, and the brigade commander Yu Jingxuan raised his hand and said: "General, I used to be a small leader under Zhang Jincheng. Can I say two words?"

Zhang Xuan nodded, "You say"

Yu Jingxuan stood up and said to everyone: "Everyone knows that there are three major bandits in southern Hebei, Dou Jiande Gao Shida and Zhang Jin said that the rumor in Hebei is that Dou Jiande is lenient. Gao Shida's greed and Zhang Jin's brutality, Zhang Jin said that he killed people and robbed, and even slaughtered and plundered the city, and committed many atrocities, and many families in Qinghe County were ruined by him.

It wasn't until Zhang Xutuo arrived that Zhang Jin said that he had lost several battles in a row and suffered heavy casualties, so he had to retreat in the Gaojibo area. This man is scheming, especially likes to sneak attack at night, and is good at fire attacks. If he hits our mind, I would like to warn the general to beware of his sneak attacks and fire attacks. ”

Another lieutenant stood up and said, "Brigade Commander Yu is right, we don't have a barracks and enough spears to defend against enemy raids, and we are advised to withdraw to Qinghe County immediately. Use the county city walls to resist the attack of the thief army. ”

At this time, Lu Qingyuan said on the side: "I heard that Zhang Xutuo's army is stationed in Qi County. It is more than two hundred miles away from us, so it is better for us to ask Zhang Xutuo for help at the same time. ”

The so-called three stinkers. At the top of Zhuge Liang, everyone was gossiping and put forward their own suggestions.

Soon, a complete set of plans came out, Zhang Xuan ordered the army to re-pull out the camp and retreat into Qinghe County, and at the same time, the grain and grass also moved into the county seat, in addition, Zhang Xuan wrote a letter to write a letter himself, asking two cavalry to rush to Qi County to ask Zhang Xutuo's army for help.

Qinghe County was originally the county of Qinghe County, due to the turmoil of rebellion in the territory, Qinghe County was attacked by bandits several times, and it was no longer safe, so the county government was temporarily transferred to Gaotang County, which was close to Qi County, and Taishou and Changshi also moved over.

At present, the highest official in Qinghe County is the county commander, the county commander's surname is Wang, about thirty-six or seventeen years old, he is a protégé of the Qinghe Cui family, and was recommended by the Cui family to be the county commander five years ago.

Hearing that an army was going to enter the city, Wang Xianling was really worried, and hurried to the city gate, only to see that the city gate had been opened, and in the twilight, an army was marching into the city.

Wang Xianling secretly complained in his heart, he and Zhang Jincheng had reached a tacit understanding, as long as he did not let the Sui army enter the city, Zhang Jincheng would not attack the county seat, and now this army entered the city, wouldn't it bring trouble to himself and Qinghe County

He hurriedly found the militia leader guarding the city gate, gritted his teeth and scolded with hatred: "You idiot, how did you let them enter the city"

The leader of the militia said with a sad face: "The militia only has a hundred people, and they have nearly 2,000 troops, how dare we refuse them to enter the city?"

"Then why didn't you report to me in advance?"

"Didn't you send someone to report it, or how would the county order know?"

Wang Xianling stomped his feet in hatred, ran towards the army entering the city, and asked in a loud voice: "Excuse me, which is the general in charge?"

Zhang Xuan had just ridden into the city, and saw an official running towards this side, followed by several officials, seeing that he was in official uniform, this person should be a county order, Zhang Xuan turned over and dismounted and smiled: "I am, may I ask your Excellency."

Wang County Commander hurriedly saluted, "In Xiaqinghe County Commander Wang Kui, please ask the general's surname"

"My surname is Zhang"

"It turned out to be General Zhang, I don't know why General Zhang led the army into the city, the small county has meager food, the population is sparse, the people are poor, and they really can't support the army."

"I have my own food and grass, and we won't disturb the people, just stay overnight and leave early tomorrow morning."

Zhang Xuan didn't tell him that there would be thieves attacking, he was afraid that he would frighten this thin county commander, Wang Xian Ling breathed a sigh of relief, if he left early tomorrow morning, it would not be a big problem, he hurriedly said: "There are a lot of vacant houses in this county, why don't I arrange some houses for the general, which can not only facilitate the rest of the soldiers, but also avoid disturbing the people, what does the general think?"

Zhang Xuan looked at the county seat, the county was dark, there were neither shops nor pedestrians, it seemed to be a dead city, and the surrounding city walls were also full of holes, he also wanted to recruit people to defend the city together, and now it seems that this county town can't be counted on.

Zhang Xuan frowned, pointed to a row of dark houses not far away with a horsewhip and said, "Are there people in these houses?"

"The houses near the gates are almost uninhabited."

"Then we'll live here."

Jao Hyun turned around and ordered: "Find some sturdy houses near the city gate, put the grain and grass in place, and repair the city wall as soon as possible."

Wang Xian Ling was stunned for a moment, he was very shrewd in repairing the city wall, so he asked in a low voice: "General Zhang, is something wrong?"

"Nothing happened, just in case, there are a lot of thieves here, in case there are bandits attacking at night, we have to be prepared in advance, Wang Xian Ling said yes"

Although the words are reasonable, Wang Xianling still feels a little strange, ordinary armies do not enter the county seat, but this army entered the city overnight, and it took great effort to move the grain off the ship.

At this time, he suddenly remembered that this matter had not yet been reported to the head of the Cui family, so he instructed the militia to lead a few words and let him keep an eye on this army, while he hurried to the city. To be continued