The battle gradually ended after an hour, the Sui army killed more than 6,000 enemies, captured nearly 20,000 people, and lost only a few hundred people, and achieved an extremely beautiful volley victory, but Meng Haigong and his son escaped in the melee, which became the biggest regret of this battle.

The prisoner of war camp has been set up on the east bank of Surabaya, and a group of prisoners of war were escorted to the camp, waiting to fall, Zhang Xuan stood on a small mound on horseback, coldly watching the soldiers clean up the battlefield, this battle is over, he has to return to Donghai County, he needs to lay a fast passage between Jiangdu and Qingzhou.

At this time, a team of soldiers escorted a middle-aged man wearing a small soldier uniform and a disheveled hair to Zhang Xuan, "General, I have caught Han Zhishui, the military division of the thief army!" ”

Han Zhishui was quite embarrassed, he changed into a soldier's military uniform, his face was smeared with the bottom of the pot, and his appearance changed completely, he thought that he could be sent home among the prisoners of war, but he was reported by other prisoners of war.

Zhang Xuan glanced at him coldly, his eyes burst with murderous intent, Jiang Du's personal soldiers said in his letter to him that it was this Han Zhishui who single-handedly planned the assassination of his family, if he succeeded, not only his wife's life could not be saved, but also his unborn child would be gone.

"Han Zhishui, I didn't think you would fall into my hands!"

Han Zhishui snorted heavily, twisting his head to the side, "If you want to kill, kill it, I won't beg!" ”

Zhang Xuan said coldly: "I could have spared you, but you dared to assassinate my family, so despicable and shameless, then you don't want to live." ”

"Is this despicable? Are there still few despicable and shameless people in the court? Since they are enemies, then your family is also enemies, and it is only right to kill them! ”

"That's a good thing to say, but it's a pity that you touched my scales, so don't worry! Respect you as a man, and leave you all dead. ”

Zhang Xuan waved his hand. "Drag him down and put him to death, reward him with a coffin!"

Han Zhishui didn't say a word, and was escorted down by the soldiers, Zhang Xuan snorted heavily, and urged the horse to go to the camp, just arrived at the gate of the camp. met Li Qingming head-on, with a thief army civilian officer behind him, Li Qingming saluted and smiled: "General, I found the person who traded war horses with Silla." ”

Li Qingming didn't say it, Zhang Xuan almost forgot about it, Meng Haigong bought thousands of Khitan war horses from Silla, and they actually came from the sea, which really made Zhang Xuan deeply interested, and he glanced at the people behind Li Qingming. "Is that him?"

This is a man in his thirties, who looks like he should be a scholar, and he is polite, he stepped forward and bowed to salute, "Villain Wu Yingqin, unfortunately ** is a thief, thank you for the rescue!" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "Let's talk about it!" ”

Jang Hyun returned to the big tent. After a while, Li Qingming brought Wu Yingqin up. Zhang Xuan glanced at him and asked, "Where are you from, why did you follow Meng Haigong?" ”

"General Qiyu, the villain was originally Cangcao of Donghai County to join the army, a native of Donghai County, Meng Haigong was the Taishou of the Donghai Sea at that time, and the villain was his subordinate. When he raised the army, he threatened the villain, and if he didn't follow him, he would kill the villain's whole family, but the villain had no choice but to commit himself to being a thief. ”

"Then you should know what I want to ask you?"

"Li Senjun also told me just now, this matter is indeed handled by a villain. It was probably from March to May of this year that we purchased a total of three ships of Khitan war horses from Silla, totaling 1,083 horses. ”

"What kind of ship did you use to transport the sea?"

"General Hui Yu, is to use a transverse boat, not a transverse ocean boat like a five-tooth warship, but a transverse ocean boat that crosses the sea and transports, the Great Sui built a total of twenty ships, with a carrying capacity of up to 20,000 stones, when the first attack on Goguryeo, twelve such transoceanic boats were used to transport grain, but unfortunately the first attack on Goguryeo was defeated, the transverse boat was burned nine, and the other three were captured by Goguryeo, and later sold to Silla, Silla used these three transverse boats to transport war horses."

Zhang Xuan took a few steps and asked, "You said that a total of twenty ships were built, I want to know where the other eight are?" Also, where was this transoceanic boat built? ”

"General Hui, Meng Haigong is also very interested in this kind of big ship, and specially ordered the villain to investigate, there are indeed eight more ships of this kind of transoceanic boat, two in Luoyang, two in Jiangdu, and four more in Beiping County, which are built in Luoyang and Jiangning respectively."

Zhang Xuan was stunned for a moment, there are still two ships in Jiangdu, why don't you know, and there are four more ships in Beiping County, isn't it the mouth of the river? He didn't see this kind of transoceanic boat at all.

At this time, Zhang Xuan had a bad feeling, half of the warships at the mouth of the river were dismantled, and the four transoceanic boats were probably also dismantled, and the parts were all in the warehouse in Beihai County, all of which were bought back by him.

Zhang Xuan thought for a while and asked, "Have you ever seen this kind of transoceanic boat?" ”

"The villain once went on the big ship of Silla and studied it carefully, and he is very familiar with it."

Zhang Xuan immediately said: "From now on, I am not to blame for your commitment to being a thief, I will appoint you as the military officer of Cangcao in Beihai County, you rush to Beihai County to report to Wei Changshi, I will write to him in detail." ”

Wu Yingqin was overjoyed, and hurriedly bowed down to give a salute, "The villain is willing to serve the general!" ”

Zhang Xuan immediately repaired a letter and sent three personal soldiers to escort Wu Yingqin to Beihai County, at this time Zhang Xuan was eager to rush back to Jiangdu immediately to find the other two Hengyang boats, but the matter of Donghai County was not over yet, and he could only hold back his inner expectations.

At this time, Zhang Xuan received a handwritten letter from Yang Yichen, Yang Yichen received the advice of the Liu family in Pengcheng County, and had broken through Pengcheng County.

Zhang Xuan was not worried that the Meng Hai Guild would flee to Qingzhou, because he still had 20,000 troops in Pengcheng County from his younger brother Meng Qigui, and Meng Haigong's father and son would definitely return to Pengcheng after escaping, and no matter how bad it was, they would flee back to Donghai County.

Zhang Xuan no longer continued to pursue northward, and immediately led a large army to Pengcheng County to join Yang Yichen

As the saying goes, there are three caves of cunning rabbits, and Meng Haigong is no exception, Donghai County's nest is his first cave, and Pengcheng County is his second cave, both of which are open secrets, but Meng Haigong also has a secret nest, guarded by his son-in-law Gu Zhiyuan, and the people who know this secret nest are only Meng Haigong's father and son and his younger brother Meng Zhishui, and even the military advisor Han Zhishui does not know.

This secret nest is located in Jishan, Yongcheng County, Qiaojun County, that is, the place where Zhang Xuan broke the Miao Haichao at the beginning, where the mountains are high and dense, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, and the transportation around is convenient, it is very easy to hide the material army.

Five days later, Meng Haigong and his son led hundreds of soldiers to flee to Jishan, and his son-in-law Gu Zhiyuan personally went down the mountain to welcome his father-in-law's return.

After resting for two days, he immediately called everyone over to discuss the future whereabouts.

"We still have about 5,000 people now, and we should be able to make a comeback, but I don't want to develop in the Central Plains, and Jishan is only temporarily settled, so we have to find another way."

Meng Haigong said very tactfully, in fact, he was extremely afraid of Zhang Xuan in his heart, and he would never want to meet Zhang Xuan again, so he must avoid Zhang Xuan, but he was embarrassed to say it directly, he glanced at his younger brother Meng Xuan, "Second brother, tell me what you think!" ”

Meng Qi thought for a while and said, "Brother has not considered going back to Donghai County, we are well-connected over there and have a certain foundation?"

Without waiting for Meng Yigui to finish speaking, Meng Yi, who knew his father's thoughts very well, objected: "Donghai County has no population, and unless we conquer the counties of Xuzhou again, there will be no future, but we can't repeat the mistakes of the past." ”

In fact, Meng Haigong also wanted to go back to Donghai County, which was his lair after all, but Donghai County was too close to Zhang Xuan, and he would definitely not be able to escape Zhang Xuan's conquest if he developed there, so he had to sigh, "Donghai County doesn't have to think about it." ”

At this time, the son-in-law Gu Zhiyuan said cautiously: "The son-in-law has an idea, and the father-in-law can refer to it." ”

"You just say it, I'll listen."

"When my son-in-law first arrived in Qianjun, Shen Jian of the Jiangnan Society once came to visit me, hoping that I could introduce my father-in-law to him."

Meng Haigong had a little interest in his heart, his son-in-law Gu Zhiyuan was from Wu County, and he was also from a big family, he mentioned Jiangnan, which immediately made Meng Haigong a little interested, he asked with a smile: "Can you still contact this Shen Jian?" ”

Gu Zhiyuan nodded, "He gave me an address, in Jiangdu County, I can find him." ”

Next to Meng Yi understood a little, I was afraid that my father wanted to go to Jiangnan for development, so he interjected: "Father, even if we go to Jiangnan, we have more than 5,000 people, and there are so many materials, grain and grass, how can we go?" ”

Gu Zhiyuan said with a smile: "Don't worry about this, Du Fuwei is now cowering in Huainan County, Zhang Xuan's army is deployed in Jiangdu County and Licheng County, we can take Zhongli County to Lujiang County, and Jiangnan will arrange a boat to pick us up in Lujiang County to cross the river." ”

Meng Haigong glanced at his son-in-law, he knew in his heart that even the route had been arranged, and I was afraid that the son-in-law had already communicated with the Jiangnan Association.

He immediately decided: "While Zhang Xuan's army has not returned to Jiangdu now, we will immediately pack up and go south, and then contact Jiangnanhui when we arrive in Lujiang County." (To be continued.) )