When night fell, a pile of bonfires lit in the camp of the Sui army, Yang Yuanqing ordered to kill cattle and sheep, and reward the three armies, the soldiers were thunderous, the barbecue on the bonfire was browned, the fat fragrance was overflowing, the firelight reflected the faces of the soldiers who were full of expectation, a jar of sheep wine was opened, talking and laughing and drinking, and the joy of victory was overflowing in the entire Sui army camp.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, hundreds of generals and schools gathered together, all the captains and above were gathered here, everyone was drinking and eating meat, and whispering, at this time the commander Yang Yuanqing stood up, and the big tent suddenly quieted down.

Yang Yuanqing picked up the wine bowl, everyone also picked up the wine bowl and stood up, Yang Yuanqing's eyes swept over everyone's faces, and said slowly: "This first bowl of wine, we sacrifice the four hundred and ninety-five brothers who died in this battle, and may they look at Jiuquan." ”

Yang Yuanqing slowly sprinkled the wine on the ground, at this time, many veterans remembered the situation when the old marshal Yang Su rewarded the soldiers of the three armies after breaking the Turks.

Yang Yuanqing picked up the second bowl of wine and said to everyone: "This bowl of wine is for His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Sui, let us shout long live and drink this bowl of wine!" ”

"Hooray!" The crowd shouted and drank the wine.

Yang Yuanqing waved his hand and asked everyone to sit down, he poured a full bottle of wine, picked up the wine bowl and said: "Today's victory of the army has scouts' reconnaissance and everyone's efforts to kill the enemy, everyone here has merits, but this third bowl of wine is dedicated to today's first hero." ”

Yang Yuanqing's gaze looked at Pei Xingyan, "Where is General Pei?" ”

Pei Xingyan's heart was extremely excited, he slowly stood up, hugged his fists and said, "The end will be!" ”

"General Pei led 10,000 cavalry, defeated the enemy with an arrow array, advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, had proper tactics, and made great contributions to the victory of the army.

Pei Xingyan stepped forward to take the wine bowl and drank it all, and there was applause in the big tent.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing took out a horizontal knife and said loudly to everyone: "A bowl of wine is just a tribute, not an honor is this knife, I have a total of twelve such blades, named after my words, called 'Huqing Knife' These twelve treasure knives, I will reward the soldiers who have made great achievements, whether it is a soldier or a general, you can get today is the first reward will be awarded to General Pei Xingyan!" ”

In a round of applause and envious eyes, Pei Xingyan knelt down on one knee and saluted, and took the first 'Huqing knife' with both hands: "Xie Dashuai gave the knife!" ”

Facing everyone, he slowly pulled out half of the knife, only to see the cold light, unusually sharp, causing countless sighs.

When Pei Xingyan came to Fengzhou in Yuwence, because Yuwence had the emperor's holy decree, he took the initiative to hand over the military power, and then he has been feeling uneasy and guilty about this matter, today Yang Yuanqing gave him a knife in public is undoubtedly an affirmation of him, and finally erased a shadow in his heart, at this time he only had silent emotion in his heart.

Pei Xingyan's emotions were not easily revealed, he bowed deeply to Yang Yuanqing, returned to his seat, Yang Yuanqing smiled at everyone: "Let's drink heartily and eat meat, you can get drunk tonight." ”

The crowd cheered, and the big tent was filled with noise and noise again.

Yang Yuanqing walked out of the big tent and inspected the situation in the barracks, and his confidant Yang Jiachen followed him, Yang Jiachen said in a low voice: "Son, why should those two bowls of wine be given to Emperor Sui?" ”

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him and said with a faint smile: "Soldiers need to have sustenance, after all, everyone is still the Sui army, and I can only sell dog meat with a sheep's head now, and I have to respect Emperor Sui on the surface." ”

Yang Jiachen also smiled: "When can I say that the second bowl of wine is given to my lord Ran?" ”

Yang Yuanqing patted him on the shoulder and smiled slightly, "Don't worry about these false names, you must firmly control the army and the upper land in your hands, this is the reality, let Emperor Sui bear these false names!" ”

Yang Jiachen nodded silently, "I understand." ”

At this time, a personal soldier rushed over and whispered a few words to Yang Yuanqing, Yang Yuanqing turned back to Yang Jiachen and said: "Tell a few overseers, don't really get drunk, ask everyone to pay more attention to the safety of the camp, I will go to the county seat." ”

After speaking, Yang Yuanqing turned over his horse and galloped towards the county seat with hundreds of personal soldiers.

In the county office, the county commander Zhao Zhisong and Fengzhou Governor's Office Sima Zhang Ting were accompanied by Wei Siyun, the Taishou of Lingwu County, who had just arrived, Wei Siyun was the former governor of Fengzhou, and served as the chief of the history for five or six years.

This time, Wei Siyun came to Yang Yuanqing because the Fengzhou ship had already passed through Lingwu County, and the embargo of Fengzhou by the imperial court made him quite uneasy, and he felt the need to have a good talk with Yang Yuanqing.

The three of them were sitting in the room chatting, and a servant reported, "Manager Yang is here!" ”

"Please!"

The door opened, Yang Yuanqing walked in quickly, and laughed: "Brother Bosheng is here, why don't you go to the barracks, and put up a shelf, let me come to see you?" ”

Yang Yuanqing and Wei Siyun have an excellent relationship, the two have worked together for many years, and they cooperate very tacitly, Wei Siyun also smiled: "Why can't you give me a face and come to meet me?" ”

"I'm not here......"

The two laughed, and Wei Siyun waved his hand, "Yuanqing, please take a seat!" ”

The two sat down, Zhao Xianling and Zhang Ting retreated with interest, only the two of them were left in the room, Wei Siyun muttered and said: "I want to thank the Fengzhou Army for eradicating Liu Jialun's bandits and relieving one of our henchmen." ”

"Do Liu Jia's bandits also affect Lingwu County?" Yang Yuanqing asked with a smile.

Wei Siyun nodded, "It should be said that Chengwei has arrived in Lingwu County, although their brigade has not yet been killed, but a small army often comes to harass them, which seriously affects the agricultural production of Lingwu County." ”

Speaking of this, Wei Siyun sighed again: "The threat of Liu Jia's argument is on the one hand, and there is also the harassment of the slave Bai Yushao, these bandits do not produce and make a living by looting, which has a great impact on Lingwu County. ”

"Brother Wei needs me to do anything?"

Wei Siyun pondered silently, in fact, he hoped that Yang Yuanqing could send troops to destroy Bai Yusao's bandits, but he was worried that if he had too deep contact with Yang Yuanqing, he would anger the saint, so he hesitated for a long time, and he said slowly: "I came to you this time to talk to you, I hope that the Fengzhou army will not be too confrontational with the imperial court, at least to maintain the appearance of tolerance, although the imperial court embargoes Fengzhou, but I think Lingwu County can also provide a little help to Fengzhou." ”

In fact, even if Wei Siyun doesn't come, Yang Yuanqing will send someone to invite him, he has already sent envoys to several nearby counties to invite all the Taishou, Yang Yuanqing is ready to have a meeting with them and reach some tacit understanding.

Among all the counties in Guanbei, he attaches the most importance to Lingwu County, not only Lingwu County is the bridgehead for attacking Fengzhou, and the strategic location is extremely important, but more importantly, Lingwu County is the most populous and the most developed agriculture in the entire northern part of Guannai, Yang Yuanqing attaches great importance to it, although it is not possible to occupy Lingwu County for the time being, but at least Lingwu County must be included in Fengzhou's sphere of influence.

Now Wei Siyun proposed to help himself in the imperial court embargo, which was also in Yang Yuanqing's arms, he smiled and said: "In fact, Fengzhou can basically be self-sufficient, I only hope that Wei Taishou can ensure that Fengzhou's ore ships pass through Lingwu smoothly, and Fengzhou is also ready to provide food aid to Yanchuan, Yan'an, Diaoyin and other counties, mainly through water transportation, which requires the cooperation of Lingwu County." ”

"There is no problem with the transit of ships, and I can fully support it."

Wei Siyun stood up and said, "If Yuanqing doesn't have anything else, I plan to go again overnight." ”

"Wei Taishou might as well go back the day after tomorrow."

Wei Siyun was stunned, "Why?" ”

"Tomorrow afternoon or evening, the Taishou of all the counties in the northern part of Guannai will come here for a meeting, and everyone will discuss the specific methods of jointly defending against the bandits, and I hope that Lingwu County will also join the joint defense and jointly deal with the Bai Yusa bandits."

A wry smile slowly appeared on Wei Siyun's face, he finally understood Yang Yuanqing's strategy.

In the evening of the next day, in Yang Yuanqing's barracks, the Taishou of the six counties from Yan" County, Lingwu County, Yan'an County, Shuofang County, Diaoyin County, and Yulin County gathered in a tent to attend a meeting of the Guanbei Bandit Suppression Committee presided over by Yang Yuanqing, the governor of Fengzhou.

On the one hand, they are grateful to the Fengzhou army for exterminating the bandits, out of a most basic gratitude, they should also give Yang Yuanqing face and attend this meeting, on the other hand, the Fengzhou army has entered Guanbei, so where should the counties go in the future, it is related to the fate of the counties, and they are also extremely concerned.

Yang Yuanqing stood up and said with a smile: "Thank you Taishou for coming to the meeting, Liu Jia's bandits have been annihilated, Fengzhou will urgently take out 100,000 stone to store grain to support the counties for disaster relief, the grain for disaster relief is already on the road and will arrive in Yan...... County soon, and at that time, the grain distribution and disaster relief in each county will be fully responsible for Zhang Sima, the governor of Fengzhou." ”

Zhang Ting stood up and nodded to everyone, the six Taishou expressed their gratitude, at this time food is the most precious resource, the counties because of Liu Jia's rebellion, the food is seriously insufficient, whether it can survive the winter is unknown, with food, it means that the hungry people will not make trouble, will not gather to rebel, although they all know that it is not appropriate to accept the food of Fengzhou, this is like a person who is going to die of thirst, even if he knows that it is poison, he will not hesitate to drink it, and he cannot refuse.

Yang Yuanqing was very aware of the situation in the counties of Guanbei and knew that grain was the weakness of the government, and because of the rampant banditry, the grain in Guanzhong could not be transported at all, and they could only rely on their own support.

Now that the food has been given, it is now necessary to talk about his interests.

"Although Liu Jia's department was annihilated, but Bai Yusa's bandits are still rampant, and without Liu Jia's elbow, Bai Yusa's department will inevitably be active again, expanding to the counties of Guanbei, with the strength of only one county, it is simply impossible to resist the invasion of Bai Yusa's department, I will invite you today, just to discuss together, how to join forces to deal with this banditry, I propose to establish a unified defense, I will leave 10,000 Fengzhou cavalry, leading the defense, and at the same time set up a unified command post, all counties and county soldiers are mobilized by the command post, unified training, so that a county is in difficulty, The rest of the counties can concentrate their support, what do you think? ”

Everyone was silent, everyone understood that this was Yang Yuanqing who wanted to collect the soldiers of various counties, but what was the use of understanding, with Yang Yuanqing's strength now and the food weapons in his hands, who would dare to say the word 'no'.

Yang Yuanqing glanced at everyone slowly, and he nodded, "Okay then!" Since everyone is not opposed, we will sign a mutual defense agreement. ”