The fierce battle between the Sui army and Meng Haigong's army in Xiao County had been carried out on the fifth day, and both sides were a little exhausted, and within a radius of dozens of miles west of Xiao County, it was a battlefield of bloody battles between the two armies.

In the five-day fierce battle, the Sui army occupied a huge advantage with excellent equipment and well-trained, and annihilated more than 40,000 enemies, but because the thieves were three times larger than the Sui army, Yang Yichen's army also lost more than 30%, with more than 10,000 casualties.

The Sui army also lost its initial sharpness, morale began to decline, and two fierce battles in a row could not repel the enemy army, Yang Yichen had to retreat twenty miles, occupy a high place and confront the army of Meng Haigong.

In the big tent, Yang Yichen was pacing back and forth with his hands in his hands, anxious in his heart, Yang Yichen was tall and burly, good-looking, although he was over fifty years old, he was still not weaker than his prime.

Yang Yichen's surname was Wei Chi, and Emperor Wen of Sui adopted and gave him the surname Yang, his father, from the time of the first emperor to enter the camp of high-ranking officials, it has been thirty years, both in the court and the military have great prestige, but in recent years Yang Yichen has not been happy, he was suppressed and snubbed by Yang Guang because of his prestige, and served as the commander of Pengcheng County for four years.

Because Yang Yichen and Meng Haigong have confronted each other for many years and know Meng Haigong very well, he was transferred by Yang Guang to deal with this wave of rebellion against Meng Haigong.

Yang Yichen knew in his heart that the tens of thousands of militia strongmen and low-level officers he had trained in the four counties of Xuzhou over the years finally made wedding dresses for Meng Haigong, which was also the reason why Meng Haigong was able to grow rapidly in just over a month, and then Yang Guang transferred himself to deal with this rebel army, which was tantamount to letting him personally stifle the results of his years of training.

Just when Yang Yichen was at a loss, a report came from outside the tent: "Marshal Qiyu, General Zhang sent someone to deliver the letter." ”

Yang Yichen was stunned. "Which General Zhang?"

"Jianghuai recruits General Zhang Xuan!"

Yang Yichen was immediately overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Please come in quickly!" ”

After a short time, a messenger walked into the big tent quickly, knelt down on one knee and saluted, and presented a scroll of Zhang Xuan's handwritten letter, "This is a letter from my general to the commander!" ”

Yang Yichen took the letterbox. First asked, "Where is your general now?" ”

"Qiqi Dashuai, we are in Xiapi County."

Yang Yichen took out the letter shaft and slowly unfolded it on the table, the more he looked at it, the more surprised he became, Zhang Xuan had completely annihilated Meng Qi's 30,000 rear army, and now he was ready to enter Pengcheng County at any time, Zhang Xuan hoped that he could contain Meng Haigong and not let Meng Haigong retreat in the direction of Qingzhou.

Seeing this, Yang Yichen couldn't help but smile faintly. It seems that Jang Hyun understands the deep meaning of his letter.

At the end of the letter, Zhang Xuan reminded him that he was afraid that Meng Haigong had already known the situation of the Xiapi battle and was about to retreat, and hoped that he, Yang Yichen, could try to hold Meng Haigong as much as possible, and Zhang Xuan would immediately lead his army into Pengcheng County.

After reading the letter, Yang Yichen asked the messenger again: "Has your general set off?" ”

"Back to the marshal, when the villain set off, my general was packing up. It should have entered Pengcheng County by now. ”

At this moment, another soldier reported from outside the tent. "Marshal Qi, the enemy army has retreated back to Pengcheng."

Yang Yichen suddenly understood that it must be Meng Haigong who got the news of Zhang Xuan's westward advance and retreated in a hurry, and he immediately ordered: "Order the whole army, prepare to pull out the camp and set off!" ”

Meng Haigong's army was indeed urgently retreating east to Pengcheng. Just over an hour ago, he finally received the news that his younger brother Meng was ghosted, and Zhang Xuan suddenly went north, not only annihilating Luo Bingqian's army, but also crushing 30,000 rear troops near Xiapi County. Meng Qigui only led more than 1,000 people to flee back to Pengcheng County in a hurry, and Xiapi County was completely lost.

This news made Meng Haigong almost vomit blood, and he deployed Meng Hao's 30,000 troops to prevent the Sui army from going north, but he didn't expect Zhang Xuan to go north and annihilate this army, which made the west door of Pengcheng County wide open, and Meng Haigong was in danger of being attacked by the enemy on his back.

Meng Haigong's 50,000-strong army was retreating towards Pengcheng County, stretching for more than ten miles, and the banner covered the sky and the sun.

Under the banner of the one-pole king, Duke Meng Hai sighed and said to the military advisor Han Zhishui worriedly: "I originally expected Du Fuwei to help me contain Zhang Xuan, but I didn't expect him to be so useless, and he was defeated and retreated in just ten days, causing Zhang Xuan to kill back to Xiapi County, making me suffer from the enemy on my belly and back, hate!" ”

Han Zhishui was also very dissatisfied with Meng Haigong in his heart, if he had listened to his advice and entered Qingzhou, he would not have been so passive today, but the dissatisfaction in Han Zhishui's heart was not revealed, and he comforted Meng Hai fairly: "The king still has 60,000 troops, and the combined army of Zhang Xuan and Yang Yichen is only 30,000 people, only half of ours, we still have an advantage in terms of troops, and we still have a way to retreat, and the situation is not so bad." ”

"The retreat that Mr. refers to is to go north to Qingzhou?"

Han Zhishui nodded and said with a smile: "In fact, whether it is going north to Qingzhou or south to Jianghuai, it is our way out of trouble, and the key is that the lord must make up his mind." ”

Meng Haigong understood what he meant, he didn't speak, and said for a while: "Let's go back to Pengcheng first!" ”

After speaking, he whipped his war horse, and the war horse rushed forward, "The front army accelerated its march"

Han Zhishui looked at Meng Haigong's back and walked away, and couldn't help but shake his head, Meng Haigong's biggest problem is his lack of courage, he can think of many things, but he doesn't dare to do them, such as the thing he persuaded him in the morning, which could have forced Zhang Xuan to retreat, but he didn't dare to adopt it, so cowardly, he couldn't do big things.

Han Zhishui pondered for a moment, and said to the soldiers around him: "Go and find General Shang!" ”

In a moment, Shang Huaizhu, who was thin and small and rode like a monkey on a horse, rushed forward, hugged his fists and said, "Please command!" ”

"There's something very important for you to do!"

Han Zhishui whispered a few words to him, and Shang Huaizhu looked embarrassed, "I'm afraid the king won't agree." ”

Han Zhishui's face sank, "Just do it, I will bear all the consequences!" ”

Shang Huaizhu was helpless, so he had to nod, "I understand my humble duties, so I will take my brother south!" ”

He also turned his horse's head and ran back, Han Zhishui looked at him and walked away, and couldn't help sneering, some things can't be done on the table, so they can only be done under the table, as long as the goal can be achieved, you can do whatever it takes

After Zhang Xuan completely annihilated the 30,000 troops of Meng Qigui, he did not immediately move west into Pengcheng County, but rested for two days, selected war horses to enrich the cavalry, and disposed of nearly 20,000 prisoners of war.

He selected 5,000 sturdy soldiers from the prisoners of war to supplement his army, bringing his army in Xiapi County to 18,000 men.

He originally had 20,000 troops, put 3,000 defenders in Licheng County, left 2,000 troops in Jiangdu to assist in defense, and left 1,000 troops in Shanyang County and Suyu County each, and now Xiapi County still has to leave at least 1,000 troops to defend, and the troops are too scattered, so that his main army is already overstretched and difficult to meet the needs of the war.

Zhang Xuan's camp is located in the west of Surabaya, covering an area of thousands of acres, the joy of victory has not yet disappeared, the camp is in full swing, the soldiers are busy, full of vitality.

On the colonel's field, Wei Chigong led 100 elite soldiers to strictly train 5,000 prisoners of war, the sword array and spear array shouted like thunder, the team was uniform, and the prisoner of war soldiers were wearing Sui army armor, and it was completely impossible to see that they were still Meng Haigong's bandit army two days ago.

"How?"

Zhang Xuan walked up to Wei Chigong and said with a smile: "The training seems to be very fast!" It's only been two days, and it's been like a decent thing. ”

Wei Chigong shook his head, "General, don't praise me, it has nothing to do with me, this is actually the credit of Yang Yichen." ”

"Why?"

"Yang Yichen has trained tens of thousands of militia regiments in Pengcheng County and Xiapi County over the years, and more than ninety percent of our 5,000 troops are militia regiments that Yang Yichen once trained, and with a little training, they can become official soldiers."

Lu Qingyuan next to him was a little puzzled, "But they behave like a rabble on the battlefield, they will be defeated in a battle, and they don't look like they have been trained at all." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled and said: "This is morale and military spirit, these soldiers are not willing to die for Meng Haigong at all, so as soon as they fight, they want to flee for their lives, and naturally they will become a rabble army, if Meng Haigong can use extraordinary courage, maybe the situation will be completely different." ”

"What does the general mean by being very bold?"

"Lots of ways!" Zhang Xuan said lightly: "For example, if you give each soldier 500 acres of land, in order to protect your own interests, these soldiers will fight the battlefield, and we should be the ones who lose." ”

Lu Qingyuan nodded silently, and after a long time, he sighed and said, "I'm afraid this is the reason why many bandits can't make it." (To be continued.) )