At the head of the city, Song Jingang's mood was desperate to the extreme, seeing that Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, Zhai Rang and others were mixed up and made a huge noise, but he could only wait for the final moment of destruction, how unfair his fate was.

At this time, the military advisor Yao Kai appeared behind him and said in a low voice: "The army's heart is a little unstable, the general had better go and appease it." ”

Song Jingang sighed, "Perdition is imminent, what else can be appeased at this time, life and death are in the sky, let them be!" ”

"The general doesn't have to be so pessimistic!"

Yao Kai comforted him and said: "It's not that we don't have a chance, as long as the general is willing, we can start all over again!" ”

Song Jingang turned around and asked puzzledly, "Why did the military advisor say this?" ”

"General, after all, we still have 8,000 people, if the general really feels that Hebei can't gain a foothold, we can still retreat and merge with the state."

"You mean Jing Chen?" Song Jingang finally understood what Yao Kai meant.

Yao Kai nodded slowly, "Exactly!" ”

Song Jingang had a glimmer of hope in his heart, he pondered for a moment, and then hesitated a little, "I'm afraid that we are embattled, Zhang Xuan has cut off all our retreats, and we can't go to Tumen Pass." ”

Yao Kai smiled slightly, "Now there are heavy Sui troops on the northern, eastern, and southern fronts, but not in the west, didn't Zhang Xuan think that we would escape from Jingcheng?" I think Jang Hyun is deliberately letting go of the west, implying that we will go from Jingcheng to Merge State. ”

"Will Jang Hyun do this kind of thing to let the tiger return to the mountain?" Song Jingang was a little unconvinced.

Yao Kai said with a smile: "Zhang Xuan is a far-sighted person, in his eyes, we are not a tiger, so we can't talk about letting the tiger return to the mountain, the person he cares about is Li Yuan, so he defeated us in two battles." But he did not send cavalry to annihilate us completely, and I had just understood his intentions, and he ordered Wang Wei to cut off our retreat to the south, and let Luo Shixin guard the way to the valley in the north, which clearly drove us westward and drove us to the state. Let us become Li Yuan's trouble, I think as long as we go to Jingcheng, he will definitely not stop us. ”

"How do we gain a foothold in the state?" Song Jingang asked.

"It's very simple, Li Yuan's main force is in Guanzhong, and the army of Bingzhou mainly defends Liu Wuzhou in the north, and the south must be empty, we can occupy Shangdang and Changping two counties, which is the weakness of Bingzhou, as long as we don't cross Taihang Mountain. Jang Hyun will not interfere with us, and will even secretly support us, so that the general can establish his own foundation there. ”

Yao Kai's words made Song Jingang see the sun like a cloud, his eyes suddenly brightened, and the melancholy in his heart was also swept away, and he turned around and walked to the city wall and shouted: "Order the whole army to assemble immediately!" ”

An hour later, Song Jingang led an army of 8,000 to leave Jiumen County and rushed towards Tumen Pass, which was a hundred miles away.

Tumen Pass is also the east entrance of Jingcheng. Jing Cheng is the most strategically valuable shortcut through Taihang Mountain, the key is that Jing Cheng can walk mules and horses that transport grain and grass. And directly to the south of Taiyuan County, before that, Jing Cheng was controlled by Lu Mingyue, after Lu Mingyue was exterminated, Song Jingang couldn't take care of Jing Cheng, so that Jing Cheng was not controlled by anyone for the time being.

The next day at noon. Song Jingang's 8,000 troops finally arrived at Tumen Pass, a few miles away from Tumen Pass, on a hill, 10,000 Sui cavalry lined up neatly, like a dark cloud distributed on the gentle hills, Pei Xingyan was at the front of the team. He immediately crossed the lance and watched coldly as Song Jingang's 8,000 army was rushing towards Tumen Pass in embarrassment.

As long as Pei Xingyan gave an order, Song Jingang and his 8,000 troops would all die in front of Tumen Pass, Pei Xingyan slowly tightened his grip on the lever, and at this moment, a cavalryman rushed quickly, holding an arrow in his hand and shouting: "The commander has an order, General Pei must not attack the bandits, let them go!" ”

Pei Xingyan snorted heavily, took the order arrow and the commander's warrant, and sure enough, he asked him to let Song Jingangxi go, Zhang Xuan's military order was like a mountain, Pei Xingyan didn't dare to disobey, so he had to shout the order: "Collect the army!" ”

The 10,000 cavalry turned around and ran eastward, the momentum was earth-shattering, as if the earth was trembling, Song Jingang and his soldiers were stunned, staring blankly at the boundless Sui cavalry rushing away from their north, Song Jingang glanced at Yao Kai and sighed, "Sure enough, it was said by the military division." ”

Yao Kai smiled: "We can go on the road with peace of mind." ”

"Let's go!"

Song Jingang urged the horse to gallop and marched towards the mountains with 8,000 soldiers.

Soon after Song Jingang entered Bingzhou, Wang Basu, the bandit leader entrenched in the northern part of Shanggu County, feared the Qingzhou army, and also led an army of 10,000 to flee from Feihu to Yanmen Pass, and defected to the powerful Liu Wuzhou.

The departure of Song Jingang and Wang Basu meant that Zhang Xuan had unified all the counties of Hebei except for the three counties of Youzhou, and at this time, Li Yuan's special envoy Wen Daya also arrived in Jixian County.

．．．．．．

In the Sui army camp in Zhending County, Hengshan County, Fang Xuanling walked quickly to Zhang Xuan's big tent, several personal soldiers bowed to him, Fang Xuanling pointed to the big tent and asked with a smile: "Is the big marshal there?" ”

"Da Shuai is talking to Li Sima."

A soldier had already gone in to report first, and came out in a moment and said, "Sir, please!" ”

Fang Xuanling nodded, and walked into the big tent of the Chinese army, in the big tent, Zhang Xuan was discussing the military merit record with Li Jing, Li Jing, as the Sima in the army, was responsible for marching and camping, recording military merits and other affairs, and also participated in major military and political decisions.

Zhang Xuan mainly took into account the record of the exploits of people like Cheng Bitanjin, this time the Wagang Army turned to attack Luokoucang, so that the Qingzhou Army swept Hebei without worries, Cheng Biting Jin's merits are great, but it can't be recorded clearly, so it is best to establish a dark book, and there will be a basis for rewarding meritorious deeds in the future, so that everyone can be convinced, otherwise everyone will suspect that Cheng Bitingjin's promotion is not good for his reputation.

Li Jing understood Zhang Xuan's intentions, nodded and said, "I understand the lowly position, and the lowly position will go back and arrange it." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled, but he didn't mean to let him go, at this time, Fang Xuanling walked into the big tent and bowed, "See Dashuai!" ”

"Strategist, please take a seat!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked Fang Xuanling to sit down, and the soldiers came in to serve tea, Zhang Xuan said to Fang Xuanling: "I am discussing with Li Sima about the establishment of a secret book of merit, and the establishment of a credit book for some people and things that are not suitable for disclosure, including the merits of Li Qingming and others, what do you think?" ”

Of course, there are merits in what intelligence agencies like Jiangdu and Luoyang do, but these merits are judged by Fang Xuanling, but Fang Xuanling is also responsible for managing intelligence agencies, which seems to be a bit of a division of power and responsibility, lack of supervision and balance, this matter Zhang Xuan also mentioned to Fang Xuanling, and now Zhang Xuan wants to turn into Sima to be responsible for judging the merits of the intelligence department, which is actually a kind of check and balance.

Fang Xuanling pondered for a moment and said: "Last time, the marshal suggested the establishment of a minister or judge, and the lowly position felt that this plan was very good, the matter was a government audit, and the judge was an army audit, and the lowly position supported the establishment of these two positions." ”

Fang Xuanling said very implicitly, but what he meant was to oppose handing over the credit records of the intelligence agency to Sima, in fact, Fang Xuanling was not greedy for power, but he thought it was inappropriate for Sima to interfere with the military division, and his meaning was that the intelligence agency itself would record it, but a judge could be set up to audit it to prevent power fraud.

Speaking of this, Fang Xuanling bowed slightly to Li Jing, "It's not the right thing or the right person, please don't mind Li Sima." ”

Of course, Li Jing understood what Fang Xuanling meant, that is, he didn't want to meddle in the affairs of the intelligence department, he nodded and said to Zhang Xuan: "Marshal, Fang Junshi is reasonable, recording military merits is a matter within the lowly position, but it is not good to overstep the authority to record lowly duties other than military merits. ”

Zhang Xuan also realized that he had not considered the problem well enough, how could he let Sima interfere in the affairs of the military advisor, this was like letting a duck supervise the hen laying eggs, no wonder Fang Xuanling was slightly dissatisfied.

Zhang Xuan said apologetically: "There are too many things, I can't think about it for a while, let me think about this matter again!" There is no rush to implement it for the time being. ”

Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "Actually, the marshal has said the key point, now we are not in charge of the six counties of Qingzhou, in addition to the six counties of Qingzhou, there are also three counties in Liaodong, Donghai County in Xuzhou and fifteen counties in Hebei. ”

Zhang Xuan nodded silently, Fang Xuanling was right, he was too constrained in doing things, the situation has developed to this day, he should no longer take into account the opinions of the imperial court, and the time is ripe to establish a complete set of institutions.

At this time, Fang Xuanling changed the topic and said with a smile: "I just got the news that Wen Daya entered Hejian County from Xindu County, and it is obvious that he is going to Zhuo County, does the marshal want to intercept it?" ”

This news made Zhang Xuan slightly stunned, but he immediately reacted, Li Yuan wanted to surrender Luo Yi, which made Zhang Xuan can't help but scold secretly, Li Yuan is so impatient, just entered Chang'an, his hand reached into Hebei, needless to say, Li Yuan must have been fighting Hebei's idea for a long time.

Li Jing next to him smiled and said: "Dashuai, in fact, this is a good thing!" ”

Zhang Xuan understood what Li Jing meant, once Luo Yi surrendered to Li Yuan, he would be famous for attacking Luo Yi, otherwise both sides would be Sui generals, and he would really not be able to turn his face.

Zhang Xuan paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands, he not only had to consider Luo Yi, but also Li Jing who was guarding the Lushui warehouse, it was he who suggested that Yang Guang send the general to Lushui Cang, just to prevent Luo Yi from getting the grain and grass armor of the Lushui warehouse and sit big, Yang Guang obviously also wanted to use Li Jing to contain Luo Yi.

How to recruit Li Jing under his command, how to take Lushui Cang into his pocket, how to occupy Youzhou, Zhang Xuan has been thinking about these questions, and now with Song Jingang's retreat to the west, he has to face the situation in Youzhou. (To be continued.) )