The news of Zhang Xutuo's death reached Beihai County, and his old subordinates were all mourned, and Zhang Xuan ordered the three armies to mourn, and the camp gate set up white flags to mourn the old commander.

At the same time, Zhang Xuan wrote to Yang Guang, the Son of Heaven, asking the Son of Heaven to issue an order to thoroughly investigate the truth of Zhang Xutuo's defeat and return Zhang Xutuo's innocence.

Although the officers and men of the three armies were indignant and eager to immediately kill the Xiangdong County and Wagang Army to fight to the death, the reality was very heavy, and the six counties of Qingzhou were also facing a huge threat from the northern bandits.

Dou Jiande's 80,000 troops pressed Qinghe County, and the troops pointed directly at Qi County, and Gao Shida's 100,000 troops were stationed on the north bank of the Yellow River in Pingyuan County, and the troops were pointed at Qi County and Beihai County, and the armies of Qingzhou and Zhang Xuan were under tremendous pressure.

Although the Qingzhou area was the first place where the rebellion broke out in the Great Sui, after several years of painstaking management by Zhang Xutuo and Zhang Xuan, the six counties of Qingzhou have gradually restored their livelihood, both in terms of grain production and population, and even exceeded the level before Wang Bo's rebellion, which also benefited from the abundant labor brought by the flight of a large number of Hebei peasants to the south.

On the contrary, due to the chaos of soldiers and chaos in Hebei every year, there are many bandits of all sizes, although Dou Jiande and Gao Shida tried their best to recuperate, they still could not stop the people of Hebei from fleeing south to Qingzhou.

Especially during the period when Zhang Jin claimed to be raging, about hundreds of thousands of people from the four counties of Hebei fled to Qi County and Beihai County, and the number of people who fled to Qi County and Beihai County in Qinghe County alone reached 200,000.

On the one hand, the large number of people fleeing south has brought vitality to Qingzhou, but on the other hand, it has brought about the withering of the people's livelihood in Hebei and a sharp decline in grain production, which has seriously affected the development of several bandits in Hebei.

At this time, the Great Sui Imperial Court made a stupid move to disband Yang Yichen's army, which had just defeated Geqian, and Yang Yichen himself was transferred back to Luoyang, but the army and generals who replaced Yang Yichen were not in place in time, resulting in an empty force. It gave Dou Jiande and Gao Shida great opportunities for expansion.

Dou Jiande and Gao Shida stared at Qingzhou's coveted fat almost at the same time.

In the afternoon of this day, Dou Jiande's 20,000 troops had secretly arrived in Liaocheng, although Dou Jiande and Gao Shida had put on a posture of attacking Qi County and Beihai County, but Dou Jiande knew that Zhang Xuan's army was cruising on the Yellow River, and it was difficult for them to cross the Yellow River in a large way, and it was easy to be killed by Zhang Xuan's army in a small crossing.

So the crossing of the river in Qinghe County is just an illusion. To confuse the Sui army on the other side, Dou Jiande must first send an army to cross the Yellow River, and secretly increasing troops to Liaocheng in Wuyang County became the best choice in Dou Jiande's plan to send troops.

Dou Jiande rode a horse and stood on the edge of the Yellow River, looking at the opposite bank from a distance, Dou Jiande was about forty years old, with a wide face and deep eyes, he was burly, with long hands and long feet. His shoulders are unusually broad and strong, and he looks like an ordinary peasant, and he still maintains the unique simplicity and generosity of a Hebei man.

Dou Jiande was originally a subordinate general of Gao Shida, and began to form an independent army four years ago, and developed in the area of Xindu County and Hejian County, especially after joining the Bohai Society three years ago, he received strong support from the Bohai Society and had sufficient financial and food support. His army grew from a few thousand to 100,000 today, and he surpassed Gaustar in terms of numbers.

However, with the growth of strength. Dou Jiande began to become increasingly dissatisfied with the Bohai Society that pointed fingers at him, and he began to think about how to get rid of the control of the Bohai Society, but it was not easy to get rid of the control of the Bohai Society, his old wife and son were hostages in the hands of the Bohai Society, and the Bohai Society was very cautious and hid his wife and children extremely hidden. Even ordinary members of the Bohai Society don't know.

This attack on Qi County was not Dou Jiande's original intention, but the request of the Bohai Society, which sensed that Gao Shida had an intention to attack Qingzhou, so he ordered Dou Jiande to occupy Qingzhou before Gao Shida.

On the opposite bank was Jibei County, which was also a weak place for the Sui army. Dou Jiande knew Zhang Xuan's strength very well, and in the face of the threat of nearly 200,000 troops, it was impossible for Zhang Xuan to divide his troops to Jibei County, so he could cross the Yellow River from Jibei County and lay a foundation in Jibei County first.

At this time, a small boat came to the north bank of the Yellow River, and in the boat were two spies pretending to be fishermen, they went ashore, and quickly came to Dou Jiande's war horse and knelt on the ground to report, "Qi Dou Gong, there are only more than 3,000 Sui troops on the other side, stationed in Lu County. ”

'More than 3,000 Sui troops? ’

Dou Jiande frowned, how could there be so many troops? He asked again, "Is it Jang Hyun's army?" ”

"Back to Dou Gong, it's not Zhang Xuan's army, but the county soldiers recruited by Jibei County not long ago, and the equipment and training are relatively backward, and Zhang Xuan hasn't had time to incorporate them."

Dou Jiande was a little relieved, not long ago, many counties recruited troops under the pretext of King Qin, and the county soldiers of Jibei County were also one of them, he knew that these so-called county soldiers were actually 'three no army', no equipment, no fighting spirit, no training, just some idle prodigal sons joined the army in order to earn a piece of money and food, they were a group of rabble, and they were not worth his attention.

Dou Jiande looked at the sky, and then ordered: "Cross the river at one watch tonight!" ”

Jibei County is the south bank of the Yellow River Lu County, the Taishou is called Song Wenqian, originally the Ministry of Rites, was sent by the imperial court in October last year to replace the original Zhang Xuan appointed Taishou, the original Taishou is called Sun Jian, originally Linzi County Order, because of the outstanding performance of Linzi County was appointed by Zhang Xuan as the Jibei County Taishou, but the imperial court did not recognize Zhang Xuan's appointment, after Song Wenqian took office, Sun Jian was demoted to Jibei County Commander.

Song Wenqian is not bad, although he is a weak scholar, but he was born poor, he has a little real talent and learning, he tries to be as light as possible, does not disturb the people, he is not harsh on the original Taishou Sun Jian, does not deliberately suppress, and tries to treat each other politely, so he has only been in the Taishou for less than half a year, and he has won a good reputation.

When night fell, the gate of Luxian County was closed, every household closed their doors, and the county quickly quieted down, and there was a military camp near the east gate of the county seat, in which two thousand county soldiers were stationed, and another thousand people were stationed in Jibei County.

This is a few wealthy families in Jibei County to pay money and grain, and asked Song Wenqian to recruit in the name of the official Qinwang, although they are nominally county soldiers, but in fact they are the private army of several wealthy families, which is used to protect the safety of their families and the grange.

The 3,000 army was commanded by a Lang general, this person was called Zheng Lin, a native of Lu County, originally an eagle strike Lang general of the Sui army, who was laid off and returned to his hometown after the first Goguryeo Campaign, and is now hired by Song Wenqian as a county soldier Lang general, but Zheng Lin was a little troubled in the past two days, he received a military order from Zhang Xuan three days ago, ordering him to lead 3,000 troops to Qi County for training.

Zheng Lin of course understands that Zhang Xuan is going to incorporate his own army, although he doesn't want to offend Zhang Xuan, and he also wants to lead the army to Qi County, but the army does not belong to him, his opinion is meaningless, after asking for instructions, several wealthy families unanimously oppose the army being absorbed by Zhang Xuan, and Song Wenqian, the Taishou Song Wenqian also remained silent, after Zhang Xuan returned to Beihai County, he did not go to Beihai County to see Zhang Xuan once.

So Zheng Lin was very embarrassed in his heart, he knew that Zhang Xuan was the first to salute and then the soldiers, if he toasted and did not eat and drink, then Zhang Xuan would soon lead the army to Jibei County, not only directly absorb his own army, I am afraid that he will also be kicked out of the barracks.

This made Zheng Lin worried, not only helpless because the major families in Jibei County did not know how to lift, but also worried about his future and fate.

At this time, a soldier rushed over, pointed to the Yellow River in the distance and shouted: "General, look, the beacon is on fire!" ”

Lu County is about 20 miles away from the Yellow River, Zhang Xutuo built dozens of beacons on the side of the Yellow River, extending from Fan County in the westernmost part of Jibei County to Licheng County, there is a beacon on the side of the Yellow River in the north of Lu County.

Zheng Lin also saw Fengsui, and was immediately surprised, this is a thief army crossing the river.

He turned around and ran towards the city, leading a dozen soldiers to the back house of the county government in one breath, banging on the courtyard door, "Open the door quickly!" ”

At this time, it was almost two o'clock, Taishou Song Wenqian had already fallen asleep, and after a while, a small crack in the door opened, and an old family member said impatiently: "The master has already slept, let's talk about it tomorrow!" ”

"Tell Song Taishou that the thief army has crossed the Yellow River!"

The old family was also startled, and hurriedly ran back to report, and after a while, Song Wenqian, the Taishou Song, came out with a robe and asked, "General Zheng, what's the matter?" ”

"Envoy, the beacon by the Yellow River is ignited!"

Song Wenqian was still able to calm down, he frowned and said, "Could it be an alarm from Fan County?" ”

"It's not! It's our beacon here, there is no fire in the west, it must have crossed the river from us, so you should evacuate quickly! ”

Song Wenqian said for a while: "Let me leave the people of the county to escape by myself, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it!" ”

"Envoy, let the people also flee for their lives, there is still a little time, I will lead the army to meet the battle and prevent the landing of the thief army."

Song Wenqian could only think about it, "Okay! Inform the people to evacuate the county immediately. (To be continued.) )