Zhang Xuan's cavalry and naval army to coerce Jiangdu was not just to force Chen Ling to submit, of course, this is indeed the most important purpose, but there is another reason, that is, to control Jiangdu.

Whether Chen Ling returns to China or surrenders to Chang'an, Zhang Xuan must firmly control the strategic location of Jiangdu County in his own hands.

Otherwise, once Chen Ling surrendered to Tang and retreated to the north, Jiangdu would be empty, and Du Fuwei or Jiangnan would take advantage of it, and his southern plan would be severely frustrated, so Zhang Xuan took precautions, and he must plug this loophole in advance.

Gaoyou County is located about 150 miles north of Jiangdu City, Gaoyou Lake has not yet been formed in the Sui Dynasty, it is still a narrow depression with a radius of hundreds of miles, the depression is covered with forests and swamps, and the north and south are reclaimed for large tracts of cultivated land, and the Tongji Canal runs through this depression.

In the north of the county seat, 30,000 cavalry are stationed on the east bank of the Tongji Canal, there is a military camp of the Xiaoguo Army, the military camp is huge, occupies a circle of five miles, because the Xiaoguo Army is also dominated by cavalry, so all kinds of cavalry facilities are readily available, which greatly facilitates the cavalry of the Sui Army.

It was only a little time, overgrown with weeds and moss, and it took only half a day for the soldiers to clean up the barracks and settle in, and the food and forage on the ship were also moved into the barracks.

At night, most of the lights in the barracks are extinguished, the soldiers of the Sui army also fall asleep and rest, there are piles of mosquito repellent wormwood burning in the barracks, the smoke is filled, in the summer season, a large number of mosquitoes breed in the nearby swamps, 30,000 soldiers and war horses become their crazy attack targets, fortunately, things are restrained in nature, a large number of wormwood grows around the swamp, the mosquitoes do not invade the body when the juice is applied, and the mosquitoes can be repellent when burned, although there are many mosquitoes, but the soldiers and war horses sleep relatively peacefully.

At the end of the watch, an army of thousands of people quietly approached the west bank of the Tongji Canal, headed by Du Fuwei, Du Fuwei's forces were almost wiped out by Zhang Xuan, fortunately, the Bohai Sea will be raging in Hebei, Zhang Xuan was transferred back to Qingzhou, so that Du Fuwei got a chance to breathe, when the Luoyang court was established, Du Fuwei immediately submitted to the Luoyang court, and was named the Duke of Chu by Emperor Tai, he also changed his flag, played the banner of the Great Sui, and became the Sui army overnight.

After several years of development, his army once again exceeded 100,000 people, separating Jianghuai, at this time Du Fuwei had the idea of establishing a dynasty and becoming the emperor, seizing Jiangdu County, and setting the capital in Jiangdu became the key to Du Fuwei's opening of the national dynasty.

In order to seize Jiangdu City, Du Fuwei planted a large number of spies in Jiangdu City, he was very aware of the current predicament of Jiangdu City, there were too many people in the city, and after not getting food supplies from other counties, Jiangdu City immediately fell into a food crisis, and Chen Ling's military rations were also in difficulty, and Du Fuwei thought that his opportunity was coming.

But people are not as good as heaven, a large number of Sui troops suddenly appeared in Jiangdu, which surprised Du Fuwei, he at the same time thundered, and immediately killed a staff member who analyzed the intelligence of the Sui army for him, this staff member thought that the Sui army was caught in the Goguryeo Campaign, unable to take care of Jiangdu, so that Du Fuwei had the idea of winning without a fight to seize Jiangdu, but the sudden appearance of the Sui army seriously disrupted Du Fuwei's strategic deployment.

In a panic, Du Fuwei personally led thousands of elite soldiers to Gaoyou County to test the details of the Sui army.

"Duke Chu, there are boats in the canal!" A soldier whispered as he pointed to the flotilla in the canal.

Duvowe also saw a long fleet moored on the east bank of the canal, black and swarthy with tarpaulins, I don't know what was inside, if it was grain and forage, maybe he had a chance.

Du Fuwei turned around and ordered: "Send a team of water ghosts to see what is in the boat, and then see the situation of the Sui army on the shore." ”

After a short time, more than a dozen water ghosts infiltrated the Tongji Canal, and they divided into two teams, one team dived to the fleet moored on the opposite bank, and the other team went ashore to find out the movements of the Sui army.

Half an hour later, the water ghosts who were scouting the fleet returned first, and they brought the news that Duvowe was disappointed, that there was nothing in the two hundred small boats, and that it was an empty fleet.

But there was no news from another group of water ghosts who went ashore to explore the Sui army, and after another quarter of an hour, there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves on the opposite bank, as if a group of cavalry was galloping, and everyone's hearts were raised to their throats, and then someone screamed, the sound was far away, but in the silent night it still reached the west bank, Du Fuwei couldn't help but clench his spear, and the water ghost spies he sent were discovered by the Sui cavalry.

'Plop! Thump! ’

There was a sound of falling water in a row, and a water ghost escaped from the pursuit of the Sui cavalry, only to see dozens of cavalry on the opposite side, riding horses back and forth on the shore, constantly releasing arrows into the water, one of them reined in his horse and looked at this side, and for a moment, he waved his hand, "Let's go!" ”

Dozens of horsemen followed him and galloped eastward, and in a short time two water spirits who had returned from diving were rescued ashore by the soldiers, both of them were wounded, and one of them had an arrow stuck in his body, and the two were extremely tired and frightened.

At this time, Du Ruhui walked over quickly, squatted down and asked, "How is the situation of the Sui army?" ”

A spy panted and said: "Qi Chu Gong, the Sui army camp is the original Xiaoguo camp, all of them are cavalry, but we don't know how much military strength we have, we were about to approach the camp when we were discovered by the patrol, and only two of us escaped back from the eight brothers." ”

"Are the rest of the brothers dead?"

"Four died, two more were captured, and we were lucky to escape."

When Du Fuwei heard that two more people were arrested, he was a little worried, the Sui army would soon know that he was on the other side, but he was a little unwilling to withdraw like this, Du Fuwei thought about it and ordered: "Go and burn the ships on the other side to me!" ”

Even if he can't sneak attack the Sui army, he has to destroy the ships that transport grain to the Sui army, which may have a little effect

The day gradually dawned, Pei Xingyan led thousands of soldiers to the bank of the Tongji Canal, the Tongji Canal was only one mile away from his barracks, last night he learned that there was Du Fuwei's army on the opposite bank, he also sent troops on the shore to prevent the enemy from destroying the ships, but still could not prevent it, although the enemy failed to burn the fleet, but still destroyed more than 30 small boats by means of digging boats and other means, killing more than a dozen boatmen.

At this time, the Sui army had used more than 60 small boats to build a pontoon bridge, Pei Xingyan had a gloomy face, looking at the Sui soldiers busy building the pontoon bridge, last night it was Du Fuwei who came to attack him, although the sneak attack was unsuccessful, but they also lost an opportunity to strangle Du Fuwei.

A general stepped forward and reported: "General Qiyu, the pontoon bridge has been built!" ”

Pei Xingyan immediately ordered Shi Hengbo, the general of Yingyanglang: "You lead two thousand cavalry to search within fifty miles of the other bank, and if there is any enemy situation, report to me immediately, and be careful not to be ambushed by the enemy." ”

"Obey the order!"

Shi Hengbo immediately led 2,000 cavalry to lead the horse across the pontoon bridge, then turned over and galloped towards the opposite bank

Du Fuwei's army against Zhang Xuan had reached the point where the grass and trees were all over the wood, and when he found that he had been detected by the Sui cavalry, he immediately led his army to retreat westward, until he withdrew from Jiangdu County.

It wasn't until he withdrew from Jiangdu County that Du Fuwei knew that he had made a big mistake by being hot-headed, and that he should not have appeared in Jiangdu County when the Sui army took over Jiangdu, which would make Zhang Xuan feel that he was a threat to Jiangdu, so he would concentrate his forces to eliminate himself.

If he pretended to be the army of the Jiangnan Society to attack Jiangyang City, he would lead the troubles to the south, so that the Sui army would clear the Jiangnan Society first, and perhaps he would be able to get another chance to occupy Jiangdu.

Remorse was useless, and Du Fuwei could only return to Lujiang County with regret.

Jiangdu City, Chen Ling finally had to face the reality, he decided to accept the post of secretary of the Ministry of Rites in the Central Capital, and refused to be wooed by Li Yuan of Chang'an.

A simple ceremony was held in the hall of the county office, Chen Ling would give up his 30,000 Sui troops and hand over the military power to Laihu'er, and Lu Zhuo as a witness, he would read out the regent edict and the empress dowager's decree, Zhang Xuan appointed Chen Ling as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites as the regent, and added Ziwei Pavilion as the senior minister, while the Empress Dowager Xiao issued a decree and named Chen Ling as the Duke of Xuanguo.

Not only Chen Ling was entitled, but Chen Ling's left and right deputy generals Xu Zhenhui and Wang Wei were also appointed as Hu Ben Lang generals, and they were crowned county dukes, and most of the dozens of generals under him were also named Lang generals, each with a reward, and they were all happy for a while.

At this point, Chen Ling officially returned to the Northern Sui, and Jiangdu County was incorporated into the territory of the Northern Sui. (To be continued.) )