At night, several cavalry spies of the thief army appeared on the hill several miles away, and behind them was a large black pine forest, and the night wind was strong, setting off gusts of pine waves.

Mengyin Fort was clearly visible in the bright moonlight, but the spies focused on the Sui army camp at the foot of the mountain, which covered a vast area and stretched for several miles, consisting of three large camps, each of which was brightly lit, and the high guard tower had patrol soldiers pacing back and forth, vigilantly watching the movement outside.

Judging from the scale of the three large battalions, there are about nearly 1,000 large tents, and several spies quickly estimated the number of troops of the Sui army, and a large tent generally houses about 10 to 15 people, and at the same time, it is necessary to deduct the material grain and grass tent and the officer's account.

But since Mengyin Fort is there, food and materials don't need to be placed in the barracks, all of them should be tents, even if the conditions of the Sui army are good, and only ten people live in one tent, then the Sui army has at least 10,000 people.

Several thieves and scouts gasped, the main force of the Sui army actually arrived at Mengyin Fort, they didn't stay any longer, turned their horses' heads and rushed down the hill, galloping towards Fei County.

At least two of the three big tents seen by the thieves' spies are empty camps, and they generally use the increase in stove or empty camp to increase the number of troops and confuse the enemy, adding two military camps, which means that Zhang Xuan's 3,000 troops have become 10,000 in the eyes of the enemy, at least to deter the enemy from coming to attack Mengyin Fort.

In this southern expedition, Zhang Xuan completely learned the lesson of the failure of the previous southern expedition, and they could not rush into the army, but must take step by step and establish a solid grain logistics supply center.

This is also the topographical decision of Langya County, the central part of Langya County is the famous Yimeng Mountain, the mountains are horizontal, the range of 500 miles is deserted, the traffic is very inconvenient, and it is even more difficult to transport grain. Moreover, it is easy for the enemy to set up ambushes in the mountains and attack the grain convoys.

Therefore, it is very necessary to build a strong castle fifty miles north of Fei County, and having a logistics supply castle will completely solve the topographical obstacles of the Sui army's southern attack on Langya County.

Zhang Xuan led the army south this time because he was a little worried that Sun Xuanya would lead a large army to attack Mengyin Fort, after all, Mengyin Fort has not been repaired yet, and the defense capability is not strong enough, but as long as the castle is repaired. This fortified castle can withstand the onslaught of at least 10,000 thieves.

The lights in the big tent were bright, Zhang Xuan was pacing back and forth with his hands in his hands, considering the strategy of breaking the enemy, the Sui army of Qi County had not yet arrived in Dong'an County, and it had been delayed by three days compared to the original plan.

This made Zhang Xuan slightly dissatisfied with Pei Renji in his heart, and he was very active when he begged him to send troops as the main general, but once he sent troops, he dropped the chain again at the critical moment when Pei Renji sent troops to assist.

This made Jang Hyun have to doubt Bae In-gi's true intentions. Does he want to let himself fail and let him give an account to the court? Or do you want to take advantage of the emptiness of the North Sea and take advantage of your own nest?

Although Jang Hyun was reluctant to consider the worst-case scenario, if Bae In-ki's army did not come, he had no hope of winning the southern expedition at all.

At this moment, a soldier outside the tent reported: "General Qiyu, Fang is here to join the army." ”

Why did Fang Xuanling come, Zhang Xuan suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. Something big must have happened, otherwise Fang Xuanling wouldn't have just walked on his front foot. And he came on his hind feet.

"Let him in!"

After a while, Fang Xuanling hurriedly walked into the big tent, bowed down to Zhang Xuan, and said urgently: "General, something big has happened!" ”

"What happened?" Zhang Xuan hurriedly asked.

"There is news from Dongping County that the Wagang Army sent 50,000 troops to the east again. Dongping County has been attacked! ”

Zhang Xuan was stunned, the Wagang army is very good at seizing the opportunity, the Qingzhou Sui army has just decided to conquer Langya County in the south, and they will start the eastward expedition, which is obviously a loophole.

"What about the situation in Jibei County?"

Fang Xuanling said worriedly: "There is no news from Jibei County yet. But I'm worried that the Imperial Court will order the Flying Eagle Army to march west to stop the Wagang Army from going east, so that we will probably be alone in Langya County. ”

"No wonder Pei Renji is reluctant to send troops!"

Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth and said hatefully: "Could it be that he has already received the will of the imperial court?" ”

"The imperial court will not react very quickly, but it is possible that Pei Renji feels that the imperial court will let him go west, or he is afraid that Wagang will take the opportunity to attack Qingzhou, so he refuses to send troops to Langya County."

Zhang Xuan was silent, pacing back and forth in the big tent with his hands in his hands, he only had 6,000 troops in his hands, how difficult it was to use these 6,000 troops to exterminate the bandits in Langya County, if Pei Renji broke the appointment, then could he also withdraw his troops back to Beihai County?

Fang Xuanling persuaded in a low voice: "General, this matter must not be impulsive, we only have six or seven thousand people, and the Langya thief army is ten times larger than us, even if the thieves can't defend it, we can't capture the city, withdraw to Dong'an County first, and then make a decision when the situation is clear." ”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment, and finally nodded, these seven thousand people are his foundation, and he can't risk his own foundation.

"Let Wei Chi Gong come to see me quickly!"

After a while, Wei Chigong hurried over and saluted Zhang Xuan: "Does the general have something to look for me?" ”

Zhang Xuan said to him slowly: "I will follow the grain convoy back to Dong'an County early tomorrow morning, you can lead 3,000 troops to garrison Mengyin Fort, Mengyin Fort is the key for us to seize Langya County, the stakes are very high, I will hand it over to you, I don't know how long you need to defend, but you must wait for me to inform you before withdrawing." ”

Wei Chi Gong nodded silently and took over the burden, and Fang Xuanling next to him reminded again: "General Wei Chi, once the repair of Mengyin Fort is completed, it will become extremely difficult to attack, and the thief army will definitely do everything possible to lure you out of the fort to fight, this is the only way they can capture the castle, I hope the general will remember!" ”

"Thank you sir for reminding me, I remembered!"

………

Early the next morning, Zhang Xuan led an army of 1,000 to escort the grain cart out of Mengyin Fort, and at the same time, Wei Chigong also withdrew the three large battalions to the fort, he personally supervised the work, commanded the soldiers and craftsmen to work overtime to build the castle, and he hoped to complete the repair of the castle within ten days.

Two days later, Zhang Xuan returned to Dong'an County, two miles away from Dong'an County, Pei Xingyan flew out to greet him, and he bowed on the horse, "See the general!" ”

Zhang Xuan saw that Pei Xingyan was a little worried, so he asked him, "Yuanqing, what happened?" ”

"Qin is used, leading three thousand troops, just arrived yesterday!"

Zhang Xuan and Fang Xuanling quickly glanced at each other, and as they expected, Pei Renji changed his mind and no longer sent 10,000 troops to come, but asked Qin Yong to lead 3,000 troops over to perfunctory himself.

Pei Xingyan took out another letter and handed it to Zhang Xuan, "This is a letter from my father to the general. ”

Zhang Xuan opened the letter and read it, Pei Renji showed a very apologetic expression in the letter, and his previous speculation, either worried that the imperial court would let them send troops to deal with the eastward expansion of Wagang, or was afraid that the Wagang army would take advantage of the weak strength of Qi County and take the opportunity to annex Qingzhou, the letter finally hinted that Zhang Xuan that the Wagang Eastern Expedition and the Bohai Sea would be directly related, and the Qingzhou region was the core of the former Northern Qi Dynasty, which means that the real goal of the Wagang Army was actually Qingzhou.

After reading the letter, Zhang Xuan casually handed the letter to Fang Xuanling, he saw Pei Xingyan's face full of apologies, knowing that he was guilty of breaking his father's promise, so he smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "I don't blame your father, in fact, he did the right thing, once the Wagang Army takes advantage of the emptiness of Qi County and Beihai County and attacks on a large scale, our old bottom will be wiped out, this is not his responsibility, it can only be said that the situation is too complicated." ”

Zhang Xuan's comfort made Pei Xingyan feel a little better, and he said to Zhang Xuan: "My father also said that he has used the Flying Eagle to send a message to the imperial court in Jiangdu urgently, hoping that the imperial court can give us a clear attitude. ”

"I also hope to get a clear attitude from the imperial court, it was the imperial court that asked us to attack Langya County, if we are halfway through the battle, the imperial court changes its attitude and wants us to withdraw the army to fight the Wagang army, we can't afford this kind of toss, so the best way is to stay still."

As he was talking, a team of people rushed in front of him, and the first member of the young general was Qin Yong, who waved his hand happily and shouted: "Second uncle!" ”

Zhang Xuan also likes this simple young man, although it is not Qin Qiong who came with the troops, but in fact, it is better for Qin to use it, and he doesn't have to worry about the problem of not being able to command, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly: "Why didn't your father come?" ”

Qin Yong secretly glanced at Pei Xingyan and whispered to Zhang Xuan: "My father asked me to tell the second uncle because the injury had not healed, but in fact, the handsome man did not let my father come over, so my father asked me to replace him." ”

"You stinky boy, you sold the handsome." Jaung Hyun slapped him and scolded with a smile.

"But I don't want to deceive the second uncle!"

"Okay, I know what to do, let's go back to the city first."

Everyone talked and laughed and walked towards Dong'an County. (To be continued.) )