"What happened?" Li Shang asked confusedly.

"Shhhh You look ahead. ”

Li Shang's eyes immediately widened, and he also saw that there were more than a dozen big men building a tea shed on the side of the official road about a hundred steps in front of him, and the materials used in the tea shed were very old, as if they had been directly dismantled from somewhere.

"What the hell is going on?"

"They should all be thieves, you see they all have swords, and there are spears on the ground."

"So what do we do? I'm afraid I won't be able to get over this. ”

Xie Zhiping patted him on the shoulder, "Cross the river first, and walk from the other side of the river." ”

The two took off their hats and coats, slid into the water silently, and swam to the opposite shore

Jang Xuan's army was about to arrive in Qian County two days after entering the water, and that afternoon, the team was sitting on the east bank to rest and have lunch, while Zhang Xuan got on the big ship and sat in the cabin to study the map.

He has left the Huai River for almost three hundred miles now, but he has not found the whereabouts of the thief army, Zhang Xuan is a little worried, after all, Miao Haichao's team is only a small part of Du Fuwei's army, and he has been staring at Miao Haichao, is it a bit of a waste of time?

However, Zhang Xuan also knew that Miao Haichao was the main force of Du Fuwei's army on the Huai River, and if Miao Haichao's army was not solved, Tongji Canal would never have peace.

Of course, there is another possibility, Miao Haichao has returned to the Huai River along the Tongji Canal, but if that is the case, he should also be discovered by his own scouts.

Just as Zhang Xuan was pondering left and right, his own soldiers reported outside the cabin, "General Qiyu, the two scouts with the cargo ship have returned." ”

Zhang Xuan was overjoyed, he was waiting for news from these two people, and hurriedly ordered: "Bring them in!" ”

Not much. The two scouts were brought in, and Zhang Xuan asked his own soldiers to invite Fang Xuanling.

In the cabin, Zhang Xuan and Fang Xuanling listened attentively to the reports of the two scouts.

Zhang Xuan soon found Bolonggang on the map, which is a branch of Jishan, and the details of the terrain could not be seen from the map, only that it was about eighty miles away from them. In the territory of Linli County.

"You say that there are all reeds and waters, and the ships of the thieves are hidden in the waters."

"General Hui, this is true, but there are only some of their ships there, and most of their ships are still hidden in Lu'er Gully, there are hundreds of them, many of them are full of grain."

Zhang Xuan found Luergou on the map again, about thirty miles away from Bolonggang, Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and asked, "Then where is their main force?" ”

Xie Zhiping said: "There are about thousands of people over there in Luergou. However, eavesdropping on their conversation, Miao Haichao and the army should be hiding in Jishan. ”

With the information of these two scouts, the situation immediately became clear, and Zhang Xuan had a plan in his heart, at this time, Fang Xuanling on the side asked: "What else do you have to report, such as what abnormalities were found along the way?" ”

A sentence reminded the two scouts, Xie Zhiping hurriedly said: "There is another strange thing. When we returned, we found a group of people building a tea shed, using old materials. And this group of people is suspicious, feeling like thieves soldiers. ”

Zhang Xuan sneered in his heart and asked, "Why do you see that they are thieves and soldiers?" ”

"General Qiyu, they all carry swords and spears, and they are burly and strong, and they are not good at first glance."

Jang Xuan nodded. Lingdao: "Take them down to rest, and each of them will be rewarded with fifty taels of gold!" ”

"Thank you, General!"

The two scouts went down happily, and Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "It seems that Miao Haichao thinks that Gongsun Shangzhe will not tell the general the details of the defeat in Yancheng, so he actually copied it as it was." ”

Zhang Xuan snorted coldly, "Since he wants to play." Then we'll have a good time with him! ”

Jang Xuan's army continued to set out after resting for an hour, but by this time it was almost dark, and the march became more cautious, marching very slowly, and it only took twenty miles in an hour.

At the same time, Luo Shixin led 3,000 troops away from the main force and galloped north along the Tongji Canal.

The next morning, Zhang Xuan led the army through Linli County, and after a short time, he saw a long-aged tea shed beside the official road, with tattered banners, and the Ming tile was covered with greasy, and the horse tie stakes were also polished by the reins from the south to the north.

As the army passed by, there were no guests in the tea shed, and several men hid at the door to watch, only the fat shopkeeper stood on the side of the road with his hands in his sleeves, happily watching the soldiers pass by, a pair of small eyes flashing with eagerness to wait, and a trace of imperceptible cunning.

When Zhang Xuan rode past the tea shed, the fat shopkeeper suddenly shouted, "Are you military masters going to fight water thieves?" ”

Zhang Xuan couldn't help but laugh, ignoring them is not good, since the other party wants to act, then accompany him to the end, Zhang Xuan immediately stepped forward and asked: "Shop, inquire about one thing." ”

The fat shopkeeper hurriedly ran forward, and said with a smile on his face: "General, please say, the villain knows everything." ”

Zhang Xuan pretended to be serious and said: "I want to inquire about a water thief, about hundreds of ships, tens of thousands of people, has it passed by here these days?" ”

"Yes! Of course there is, about five days ago, they were very loud, they ate the things in the small shop and still didn't pay for them, a bunch of damn bastards, killing a thousand knives"

The fat shopkeeper scolded more and more, and Zhang Xuan interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "I want to know where they went?" ”

The fat shopkeeper pointed to a hill in the distance and said, "It's called Bolonggang, and when one of my fellows went there to hunt wild ducks, he saw them hiding a large amount of grain in Bolongdang at the foot of the mountain. ”

Speaking of this, the fat shopkeeper turned around and shouted, "Five dogs, how many boats do you see?" ”

A young man ran out tremblingly, bowed down and said, "There are about four or five hundred boats, full of grain bales, I don't know if they are grain, hidden in Bolongdang." ”

Zhang Xuan asked again, "Where did the thief soldiers go after hiding the grain?" ”

"The villains don't know either, but they see that they are walking in the direction of Bolonggang, there are a lot of people, densely packed."

"I see, thank you both for the news."

Zhang Xuan urged the horse to continue moving forward, shouting: "Order the whole army to go to Bolongdang!" ”

The army accelerated the speed of the march, looking at the back of Zhang Xuan in the distance, a fierce smile appeared on the corner of the fat shopkeeper's mouth, as if he saw the scene of the Sui army fleeing back in defeat

Bolonggang is about 30 miles away from Linli County, the west bank of Lianshui, more than 50 miles long, extends from Jishan all the way, to this area of Bolonggang, the mountain is not high, but it is still not easy to go up the mountain, the mountain is densely forested, the strange rocks are craggy, and can accommodate a large number of troops to hide.

At the foot of the mountain is a reed swing about ten miles long, about two or three miles wide, the water is very shallow, only up to people's knees, and it is connected to the water by a canal, and there are countless wild ducks and birds living in the reeds.

At noon, Zhang Xuan's army arrived at Bolongdang, and he was not in a hurry to lead his army into Shuidang, but temporarily stationed troops outside Bolongdang to rest.

At this moment, the soldiers in the northwest corner shouted, raised their shields one after another, and saw a dense number of arrows shot out of the reeds, and dozens of Sui soldiers were shot by the arrows, screaming and falling to the ground, and the soldiers raised their bows and arrows to fight back.

After a short time, the thieves who were ambushed in the water quickly retreated, and the patrol soldiers caught a lone thief soldier and escorted him to Zhang Xuan.

The thief knelt down and cried: "There is an old mother and a child in the villain's house, beg the general to spare his life!" ”

"I don't want to kill you, but you have to tell me, how many thieves are hidden in Ludang?"

"General Hui, there is no army in Ludang, but there are more than 6,000 people in Bolonggang, led by our chief general Miao Haichao himself."

"How many ships are hidden?"

"There are probably more than 300 ships, all of which are official rations looted from the Huai River."

Zhang Xuan stared at him sharply, and he immediately ordered left and right: "Take him down and torture him, chop off one of his hands if he refuses to tell the truth, chop off one of his legs if he refuses to tell the truth, and if he refuses to tell the truth after chopping off all four limbs, he will directly cut off his head." ”

The thief was terrified, "I said! I say! ”

Zhang Xuan snorted coldly, did Miao Haichao really think that he was the second Gongsun Shangzhe?

The thieves were taken to confess, and at this time, Wei Chigong stepped forward and suggested: "General, the reeds here are too dense, and we must guard against enemy attacks. ”

Zhang Xuan nodded and smiled: "You are very right, but I have long expected the enemy's plan, and I am thinking about how to use the plan to wipe out the thief army." ”

Fang Xuanling next to him walked up slowly and said with a smile: "Does the general think that Miao Haichao will be in Bolongdang?" ”

"I believe that he is in Bolongdang, leading five or six thousand soldiers, and the ship is indeed loaded with official food, unlike deceiving Gongsun Shangzhe and using sand to pretend to be official food."

"The general and I think the same, but Miao Haichao should be on the edge of Bolongdang, once the fire starts, they can quickly evacuate, and we will be in a sea of fire."

After listening to the conversation between the two, Wei Chigong realized something, and he asked anxiously: "Since the thieves have set a trap, how does the general plan to deal with it?" ”

Zhang Xuan looked at the reeds with his hands, not knowing what he was thinking, Fang Xuanling and Wei Chigong didn't dare to disturb Zhang Xuan's train of thought, and after a while, Zhang Xuan said to himself: "More than 300 ships are full of official food, at least 30,000 stones, it's a pity to burn them down." ”

At this time, the soldiers came over to report: "General, he has completely confessed, and Miao Haichao is hiding in Bolongdang." ”

Zhang Xuan turned around and smiled at Wei Chigong and Su Dingfang: "This first battle will be handed over to the two of you." (To be continued.) )