"There weren't enough mulemen, so I was used as a mule driver to drive the army to transport rations."

"Why?"

Sun Xuanya stared at him sternly, "Why are you acting as a muleman?" ”

"Because this is the only chance to escape, otherwise I will stay in the prisoner of war camp and don't know what the fate will be, so the Sui army recruited mules, and I was the first to sign up, and I was at home to drive mules." Sun Ying replied stiffly, he was obviously a little unhappy.

Sun Ying's explanation was not too sufficient, but he couldn't find fault with it, Sun Xuanya thought of his blood relationship with him, the doubt in his heart was slightly lightened, and he pondered for a moment and asked, "Why would you rather go to Wang Bo than come to me?" ”

Sun Ying lowered his head for a while and whispered, "Third Uncle should know the reason." ”

Of course Sun Xuanya knew, because she killed Sun Daqing, Sun Xuanya's father.

"And how did you figure it out again now?"

"Because my nephew doesn't want to be poor anymore." Sun Ying said this with difficulty.

This sentence softened Sun Xuanya's gaze, this is the truth he wants to hear, he came to himself only when he wanted to get rich, not to mention that he killed his father back then, 'wealth can make people forget the revenge of killing their father', what a classic sentence.

Sun Xuanya patted him on the shoulder, "I'm sorry for what happened back then, I didn't want to at that time"

Sun Xuanya sighed, "In short, I will double my compensation to you, and I believe that your father will forgive me." ”

"Thank you, Third Uncle!"

"Go ahead! Rest well, and we'll talk about it later. ”

Sun Yingxing bowed and retreated, Sun Xuanya looked at his distant back, there was always a trace of doubt in his eyes, Zhang Xuan was too cunning, so he had to be careful. Especially Sun Ying came at this sensitive moment.

Sun Ying's arrival did not cause too many waves, Sun Xuanya did not take him too seriously, at this time all Sun Xuanya's attention was on Zhang Xuan, and he had a strong premonition that Zhang Xuan would inevitably take action after the success of ambushing Wang Bo. He had to keep track of the Sui army's every move, so Sun Xuanya sent a hundred spies to investigate the news near Mengyin Fort and Dong'an County.

On the morning of the third day, Sun Xuanya came to the city wall again, looking at the north from afar, and he wanted to know the current situation of Mengyin Fort.

At this time, one of the soldiers whispered, "Didn't the king's nephew escape from Mengyin Castle?" Can you ask him. ”

A sentence reminded Sun Xuanya, he pondered for a moment, and immediately ordered: "Go and find him to see me!" ”

The soldiers rushed away, and brought Sun Ying up after a short time. Perhaps because of eating and sleeping well, the complexion on Sun Ying's face was much better than the day before yesterday, Sun Xuanya glanced at him and asked with a smile: "Are you satisfied with the accommodation?" ”

"Thank you for the arrangement, the little nephew is very satisfied, but the little nephew can't be idle and wants to do something for the third uncle."

Sun Xuanya knew that he was asking himself to be an official, so he smiled faintly and said, "Don't be in a hurry to do it beforehand, take care of your body." There's something for you to do. ”

"Little nephew obeys!"

Sun Xuanya changed the topic and asked, "I remember you said that you escaped from Mengyin Castle, right?" ”

"Back to the third uncle. Mengyin Fort is heavily guarded, where can the little nephew escape, the little nephew is a mule driver to deliver food, and escaped halfway back to Dong'an County. ”

"So, you've been in the Castle?"

"The little nephew stayed in Mengyin Fort for two days, mainly to carry grain into the warehouse."

"How many soldiers are there in the castle. Do you know? Sun Xuanya asked quietly.

"I don't know how many little nephews there are, but it seems that there are only about a thousand people."

"What?"

Sun Xuanya was taken aback, he was a little overwhelmed and asked, "You're not mistaken!" How can there be only a thousand people, it should be 3,000 troops. ”

"Third uncle, the little nephew also served as a soldier. Three thousand people and a thousand people are clearly distinguished, the castle is so big, it is very crowded to live in three thousand people, but there are really not many castle defenders, only a thousand people, and the little nephew dares to vouch. ”

Next to him, Sun Xuanya's brother Sun Zhi'an couldn't help but say: "A-Ying, let me ask you, who is the master of Mengyin Castle?" ”

"Fourth Uncle Hui, it seems that his surname is Li, he is very young, what is his name Li, I have forgotten a little."

"Li Shoujie?"

"That's right! Right! Just the name. ”

Sun Xuanya's brothers glanced at each other, and both of them were very puzzled in their eyes, if Li Shoujie was the main general, what about Wei Chigong?

Of course, if it is Li Shoujie as the main general, it is normal if there are only 1,000 troops stationed in Mengyin Fort, but Sun Xuanya remembers very clearly, ten days ago, he also found that Wei Chigong was patrolling the head of Mengyin Fort, and now Sun Ying actually said that he was not there, what is going on? Could it be that Sun Ying is deliberately deceiving herself?

Sun Xuanya was a little unhappy in her heart, waved her hand and said, "You go down first!" ”

"Little nephew farewell!"

Sun Ying went down, Sun Xuanya looked at Sun Ying's back and said hatefully: "This kid is talking nonsense!" ”

Sun Zhian hesitated and said, "Big brother, maybe he didn't talk nonsense." ”

"Why do you say that?"

"Big brother forgot? For two days, we didn't have spies in Mengyin Fort, maybe it was because the strength of Mengyin Fort changed in those two days. ”

"How is this possible?"

"But what if it's true?"

Sun Xuanya was a little tempted, if this was the case, he could attack Mengyin Fort on a large scale and take Mengyin Fort over, but Sun Xuanya did not dare to send troops easily, for fear that it was Zhang Xuan's trap, he was silent for a while.

At this time, Sun Zhi'an whispered: "Big brother, I have thought about it, in fact, we can send someone to climb to the top of the mountain, and at the top of the mountain, we may be able to see the situation in Mengyin Castle." ”

Sun Xuanya was suddenly frightened, she was really confused, she forgot that Mengyin Fort was located on the mountainside, and they could indeed climb to the top of the mountain to explore the situation in the fort.

"Your proposal is very good, send someone up the mountain immediately!"

．．．．．．．．

As Sun Ying described, the garrison of Mengyin Fort has been unconsciously reduced, the number is only more than 1,000 people, and the general stationed in the castle has also been changed from Wei Chigong to Li Shoujie, 3,000 people can make the castle impregnable, but only 1,000 people are somewhat difficult to defend, this point, the Sui army knows it, and Sun Xuanya is also clear.

So when Sun Xuanya heard that the castle was only defended by a thousand people, he was really moved, Mengyin Fort was only eighty miles away from Fei County, which can be said to be a sharp sword hanging above Fei County's head, a stinger inserted in their backs, and the foundation of the Sui army's large-scale southern attack.

If this stinger is removed, the supply of military rations and materials for the Sui army's southern expedition will become very difficult, and it will not be able to carry out long-term battles, as long as Sun Xuanya sticks to the city, the Sui army will be defeated without a fight.

Therefore, Mengyin Fort is the most critical chess piece of the Sui army's southern expedition, which is very important to both the Sui army and Sun Xuanya.

Early in the morning, the Sui army stuck to the castle as usual, and the main general Li Shoujie was counting the grain in the warehouse, nearly a month of transportation, there were already 10,000 stone grain in the granary of Mengyin Fort, which was enough to support the 10,000 Sui army for two months of operation, and there were also 10,000 pairs of armor and salt, oil, dried meat, dried fish and other materials.

These food, armor and other materials were allocated to the Flying Eagle Army from Liyang Cang to the Imperial Court to attack Langya County, and Pei Renji transferred them to Zhang Xuan.

The grain is relatively easy to count, one stone of grain is a package, a warehouse is a thousand bags, a total of more than a dozen large warehouses have been built in the city, plus the military camp, the whole castle seems to be crowded.

Li Shoujie looked at the neatly stacked grain bales, as if these heavy grain bales were pressed in his heart, he was really worried, only a thousand soldiers, can they withstand the large-scale attack of Sun Xuanya's army? Once the castle is lost, he will be the sinner of this battle, and I don't know what the general thinks about it, and he actually withdrew 2,000 troops.

At this moment, a soldier rushed to report: "General Qiqi, General Li, the brothers have found that more than a dozen thieves have gone up the back mountain, Captain Wang asks if you want to send someone to capture them alive?" ”

Li Shoujie did not speak, he immediately left the warehouse, walked quickly up to the city wall, and looked at the majestic back mountain in the distance.

Mengyin Fort is built on the mountainside, one side is a hundred zhang high cliffs, the other side is a majestic mountain, the mountain is densely forested, all kinds of huge strange rocks are craggy, from the lush forest abruptly, like a monster head looking down.

Of course, it is impossible to attack Mengyin Castle from the mountain, but from above, you can look down and monitor every move in Mengyin Castle.

At this time, Captain Wang Tao stepped forward quickly and whispered to Li Shoujie: "About fifteen spies of the thief army have come up the mountain, and they must have come to visit the movements in our fort, and they are willing to lead a group of brothers to arrest them back." ”

Of course, Li Shoujie also wanted to arrest this arrogant thief army back, but he thought of Wei Chigong's repeated explanations when he left, so he had to sigh depressedly, "Leave them alone, whatever they do!" ”

Wang Tao was stunned, "Why is this?" ”

"This is the general's order, you ask me, I ask who to go?"

Li Shoujie glared at him dissatisfied, turned around and strode down the city, the captain looked at the mountain, scratched his head again, and really couldn't figure out what the reason was. (To be continued.) )