The Wagang army that ambushed Yang Qing's army was Li Jiancheng's army, which had just returned.

Many things are so wrong, Liyangcang, which originally had only 5,000 defenders, strengthened its defenses, and the strength of the army was temporarily increased to 10,000, so that Li Jiancheng, who had been planning for a long time, had to temporarily abandon the plan to attack Liyangcang.

But just when Li Jiancheng was about to lead his army to Hanoi County, the news came that Jiangdu had ordered the encirclement and suppression of the Wagang army, and Li Jiancheng immediately realized the crisis of Wagang Village, and immediately led the army back to Wagang to ambush Yang Qing's army.

The valley was in chaos, the Sui army retreated quickly, and the war horse was difficult to run in the crowd, so hundreds of Yang Qing's personal soldiers simply pulled him off his horse and carried him to run back desperately.

The battle that took place in the Central Plains was full of too many dramatic surnames, and if it weren't for the increase in troops in Liyangcang, Li Jiancheng's army would not have been able to rush back to Wagang in time.

And if Zhai Rang retreats one day later, he will be able to get the news that Yang Qing attacked Wagangzhai and returned defeated, maybe he will stick to the tall and strong Songcheng County, and no longer retreat in a hurry, and the situation in the Central Plains will be reversed.

But all this was hypothetical, and the Wagang army did not have a tall and strong city to rely on, so it had to retreat all the way north to Chenliu County.

At this time, Pei Renji also led 8,000 troops from Jiyin County to Chenliu County, and joined Zhang Xutuo's army, the Sui army and the Wagang army confronted each other in Chenliu County, both sides refused to launch an offensive easily, and the battle situation in Chenliu County temporarily stabilized.

．．．．．．．

Just when the Central Plains Campaign was in full swing, the battle of Langya County also reached the confrontation stage, Zhang Xuan ambushed Wang Bo's army in Lu County, so that Wang Bo's 20,000 elite soldiers lost more than half, he did not stay in Lu County for a long time, and immediately escorted the prisoners of war back to Dong'an County, Langya County.

The Sui army captured more than 5,000 prisoners of war, almost half of whom were former Sui troops, who were disbanded and returned to their hometowns and were robbed by various bandits. The end result fulfilled the fears of many officials, and disbanding the army and returning to their hometowns would only end up being a riot everywhere.

Wang Bo had collected a lot of wealth in Qi County, although he was defeated by Zhang Xutuo and driven out of Qi County, Wang Bo's wealth was not lost. It was with these wealth that Wang Bo recruited a large number of disbanded Sui troops at a high price, and also obtained a large number of Sui army equipment, so that Wang Bo had an elite army of 20,000 people in just one year.

A clearing in the west of Dong'an County was piled up with a large number of weapons and armor captured by the Sui army, and the 5,000 prisoners of war were taken to a prisoner of war camp north of the city, where they were guarded by hundreds of soldiers.

Dozens of craftsmen are examining the captured weapons and armor to see how many can be reused.

In fact, the war caused the wear and tear of weapons and armor to be very staggering, and a spear and a knife went through several battles. Basically, it can no longer be used and must be replaced, which is also one of the important reasons why war consumes national strength.

Zhang Xuan casually picked up a pair of armor, which was the standard armor of the Sui army, made of cloth, and he picked up another pair of armor, but this was a pair of leather armor, made of two layers of cooked leather.

"This leather armor is good. There are a lot of them, and it seems that Wang Bo has indeed made a bloody investment. ”

Generally speaking. It is impossible for ordinary soldiers to make their armor out of iron, and the Great Sui does not have so much pig iron, and only generals above the rank of lieutenant can wear scaly iron armor.

Junior officers below the rank of lieutenant wore Mingguang armor, that is, iron armor that used iron to protect the front chest and back of the heart, which was already very good, while ordinary soldiers could only wear cloth armor or mixed cloth and skin armor.

Only the 100,000 Xiaoguo army guarding Yang Guang, the Son of Heaven, reflected the strong financial resources of the Great Sui. Each soldier was equipped with a Hexi war horse, a steel cavalry spear and a horizontal sword, wearing blood-colored bright light armor and a red gold leopard helmet.

In addition to this, only armies directly under the Ministry of War can be equipped with leather armor. As for the Sui army recruited by the general guards in various places, they can only be equipped with cloth armor or cloth skin mixed armor.

Therefore, Wang Bo claimed to have obtained the standard preparation of the Sui army, in fact, it is also the lowest level, most of which are mainly cloth armor, but after these cloth armor has been treated by special processes such as oil immersion, it also has a defensive ability similar to leather armor, which can resist bow and arrow shooting fifty steps away, but crossbow arrows can't be stopped, if you add shield defense, you can basically resist the strong power of crossbow arrows.

Cao Sining, the general next to him, smiled at Zhang Xuan and said: "Most of these armors are intact, and it is estimated that these armors can equip four thousand troops." ”

Zhang Xuan glanced back at the prisoner of war camp in the distance and said with a smile: "Look at those prisoners of war!" ”

At present, Jang Hyun only has 13,000 troops, and he has to face a thief army that exceeds his own strength by three or four times, and the strength is still slightly insufficient, so increasing the number of troops has become a top priority.

Although Wei Yunqi had already begun to recruit new soldiers in Beihai County, far water could not quench his thirst, and it would take at least a year and a half for those soldiers to be trained, so Zhang Xuan began to fight the idea of these prisoners of war and reabsorb them into the Sui army.

And they are all from Qingzhou, or Langya County, or Lu County, or Qi County and Beihai County, and they are also children's soldiers, as long as they have a short period of training, they should be able to be reorganized into the Sui army.

At the gate of the prisoner of war camp, Zhang Xuan happened to meet Pei Xingyan, and Pei Xingyan hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "See the general!" ”

"What is Yuan Qing doing here?" Zhang Xuan asked with a smile.

Pei Xingyan's face flushed, and he scratched his head a little embarrassedly and said, "I want to select a hundred strong soldiers from among the prisoners of war to supplement the troops. ”

"Most of these prisoners of war will become Sui soldiers, so let's choose them when they are trained! I can grant you this request. ”

"Thank you, General!"

The two walked into the prisoner of war camp, which was originally the Sui army barracks, demolished the vacant houses and rebuilt them, surrounded by a circle of bungalows, in the middle is a large school field, and you can also see the scattered trees left by the houses.

At this time, it was early in the morning, 5,000 prisoners of war had finished breakfast, and were gathering together to bask in the sun and chat, their fear was gone, and they calmly accepted the reality, according to the practice of the Sui army, they would be released back to their hometowns after being detained for more than ten days, including the tens of thousands of prisoners of war Zhang Jin said that they were also treated in this way, they did not commit anything hurtful to heaven and reason, and they should be able to return home.

At this time, the war drums of the barracks rumbled, and the prisoners of war were so frightened that they got up one after another and ran to the south of the school, they quickly lined up, only to see a few generals coming in at the gate, and many people recognized the leader of the people, it was Zhang Xuan, the chief general of the Sui army.

Most of these prisoners of war were from the Sui army, well-trained, and they lined up in less than a moment, Zhang Xuan saw that they were lined up quite neatly, and couldn't help nodding secretly, it was indeed a pity to put them back.

Zhang Xuan walked up to a wooden platform one foot high, looked at the five thousand prisoners of war below, and there was silence under the stage.

"You are all Great Sui soldiers, why should you commit to being a thief?"

Zhang Xuan's tone was very stern, and he did not hide his anger, and asked all the prisoners of war, "Your parents, wives and children all want you to kill the enemy on the battlefield and make meritorious contributions, be honored as officials, and let your family get glory, but how do you do it?" Do you want your children to have a father who is a thief, and let your parents have a son who is a thief, and you can't hold your head up in front of your neighbors? ”

Most of the soldiers lowered their heads in shame, some of the young soldiers couldn't help crying, and a veteran in the front row couldn't help but raise his hand and said: "General Zhang, it's the court that doesn't want us anymore, it's not that we want to be thieves!" ”

"Bastard!"

Zhang Xuan said angrily: "Did the court let you be thieves? What did you do to dismiss you so that you could go home to farm and take care of your wives and children? ”

When the veteran saw Zhang Xuan angry, he was too frightened to speak, and the school was silent.

Zhang Xuan restrained his anger and said slowly: "I am also a person who came back from the battlefield of Goguryeo, we defeated the Goguryeo army under the city of Pyongyang and forced them to surrender, it can be said that we have made great achievements, but when I returned to Beijing, I also suffered unfair treatment like you, I can fully understand your suffering, you are empty-handed, and you can't go home to explain to your parents, wives and children." ”

Zhang Xuan's words touched the sadness of many people, and a low sigh sounded on the school ground, thinking about it, he had been in the army for so many years, and finally became a prisoner of war, with nothing, and they lost a little bit of their savings in Zhuan County, and they cheapened Wang Bo in vain.

"I'll tell you what my sergeant has gotten, a veteran like you."

Zhang Xuan pulled a veteran and said to everyone: "His name is Li Hongtao, a native of Beihai County, who once participated in Liu Badao's uncle's army, was captured at the beginning of the tenth year of the Great Cause, and became my subordinate.

In addition, he also saved at least 100 acres of savings, all of which were old copper coins for Kaihuang, and was ready to marry his son in the future, and if he unfortunately died, his family would get another 100 acres of land as a pension, which would be inherited by his son and exempt from tax for life. ”

These words were like exploding a pot, and a discussion sounded below, and Chen Xu shouted loudly: "Quiet! ”

The school field gradually quieted down again, and at this time, everyone's eyes were fixed on Jang Hyun, and their eyes became noticeably brighter.

Zhang Xuan continued: "According to the rules, you will be sent home, but I will give you a chance to make meritorious service and atone for your crimes, if you are willing to become my Zhang Xuan's soldiers, then you will enjoy the honor and wealth of a soldier like this Li Hongtao, your family will get land, and you will be rewarded and promoted for your military merits.

Of course, if you don't want to join the army, then send five buckets of rice back home according to the rules, I just hope that you don't commit to being a thief again, and I will not spare you again, just say so much, you choose for yourself! ”

．．．．．．．． (To be continued.) )