It is an important river in the Central Plains and the main tributary of the Huai River, which runs through Liang County, Qian County, Pengcheng County and Xiapi County from top to bottom, flows for thousands of miles, and finally flows into the Huai River west of Huaming County.

The water and the Tongji Canal are completely parallel, and the distance between them is only 100 miles, and it is even integrated with the Tongji Canal in Chenliu County.

Most of the two rivers are about 20 miles apart, and due to Zhang Xuan's sneak attack on Miao Haichao near Xuyi County, Miao Haichao, who has been rampant and plundering on the Huai River, was forced to retreat westward, so that there are no more water thieves in the Huai River section of the Tongji Canal.

These days, some merchant ships that have been backlogged in the vicinity of Qian County and Pengcheng County due to banditry have started sailing on the Tongji Canal again.

In the afternoon, a small fleet of five medium-sized cargo ships sailed north on the Tongji Canal, loaded with cloth, and on the shore, a dozen slender men dragged the boats slowly.

This small fleet consists of a total of five cargo ships, and the cargo ships are planted with the pennant of the 'Hung Kee' shipping company, which is one of the five major shipping companies in Jiangdu County, with more than 200 large and small cargo ships, and is engaged in cargo transportation.

The cutting off of the canal by Duvowe's army had a great impact on these ships, almost cutting off their way of life, but they were also the most keenly informed, and as soon as the canal was restored, they immediately got the news and began to rush their goods north.

The steward of this fleet is surnamed Jiang, is a sturdy man in his forties, has been running boats for 20 years, as soon as the Tongji Canal is opened, he is the first batch of fleet stewards, he knows the coast of the Tongji Canal well, and has a lot of experience.

"Steward Jiang, there is Luergou in front!" A guy shouted.

Steward Jiang's face became serious, Lu'ergou is a small river connecting Lianshui and Tongji Canal in Yongcheng County, Qian County. It is also the easiest place for water thieves to haunt, because Huanshui is close to Jishan, and once the water thieves succeed in looting, they will hide in Jishan.

"Let the slender man speed up the boat, and hurry over!"

Steward Jiang looked at the sky, and it was already dusk. There were still two miles to Lu'ergou, and they had to drive there before dark.

But that's often the case, the more you are afraid of something, the more you will come?

The fleet traveled less than half a mile, and suddenly there were more than 20 small boats in front of them, and Steward Jiang and his men were stunned, and Steward Jiang stomped his feet fiercely, and they still encountered water thieves.

"Stop the boat and fly the white flag!"

Each industry has its own rules, and the water thieves on the Tongji Canal are no exception. If the merchant ships don't resist and let them plunder, they can generally save their lives, and the water thieves don't want to do too much, which will cut off their financial routes.

The ship slowly stopped, a dozen slender men fled in a hurry, and five cargo ships docked quietly on the east bank, like five lambs waiting to be slaughtered. More than two dozen pirate boats quickly surrounded the area.

At this time, the last cargo ship. The two newcomers asked in a low voice, "Isn't there no water thieves in the Tongji Canal?" Where did this water thief come from? ”

Several other guys were frightened, and hurriedly scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, don't you see the wolf's head flag on the boat?" This is Duvowe's ship, coming from the other side of the water. ”

The two men glanced at each other and slowly retreated behind the boat, taking advantage of everyone's lack of attention. They dived into the water without a sound.

In a moment, more than 20 small boats surrounded him, and the water thieves got on board one after another, and the water thieves recognized Steward Jiang and scolded with a smile: "I said who ate the bear's heart and leopard gall." Dare to sail on the Tongji Canal, it turned out to be a Hongji boat, are you impatient? ”

Steward Jiang was so frightened that he knelt down and begged, "Third Master, we are also here to eat, so we have no choice but to eat!" Ask the third master to raise his noble hand. ”

"What raise your noble hands, all raise your noble hands, and we drink the northwest wind? This time, General Miao has an order, take the boat away, you either get off the boat or go with us. ”

Steward Jiang panicked, "Third master, didn't you leave thirty percent of the goods for us according to the rules?" You take it all, we can't go back and explain! ”

"Don't talk nonsense, the rules have changed, what are you doing with so much, you dare to break into the Tongji Canal, if you don't kill you, it's already a noble hand, get out!"

Steward Jiang was helpless, so he had to take his things and jump off the boat and swim to the shore, and the thieves got on the cargo ship one after another, talking and laughing and holding the five cargo ships to Luergou not far away.

But they didn't notice that under the last cargo ship, there were two more thin reed pipes close to the bottom of the ship.

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In the Sui army camp in Xuyi County, the new cavalry Cao joined the army Li Qingming hurriedly walked into the Chinese army's big tent, the army secretary is Zhang Xuan's secretary, currently temporarily vacant, the record of the army is concurrently served by Fang Xuanling, the soldier Cao joins the army by Lu Qingyuan, Cangcao joins the army as Pei Hong, the armor Cao joins the army is Cui Yuanhan, and Li Qingming is responsible for riding Cao to join the army, that is, he is responsible for various miscellaneous affairs of the cavalry, because there are not many cavalry in the Sui army, and Li Qingming is also responsible for intelligence transmission and other affairs.

Li Qingming walked into the big tent quickly and bowed to Zhang Xuan, "General Qiyu, there is news from the cargo ship!" ”

Zhang Xuan perked up, put down the pen and asked, "What do you say?" ”

"Our scouts found the ship's steward Jiang, and one of Miao Haichao's men came out of Luergou and plundered five cargo ships, and our two brothers also followed the cargo ships, and there is no news yet."

Zhang Xuan walked quickly to the wooden frame, on the wooden frame hung a map of the Tongji Canal, which was a map left by the official office of the transfer envoy, very detailed and practical, he soon found Luergou, near Yongcheng County, Qian County, connecting the water and the Tongji Canal, about 20 miles long, in fact, it is a water supply canal.

There is a big mountain on the west bank of the river, called Ji Mountain, the mountain is high and densely forested, but it is a good hiding place.

At this time, Fang Xuanling also got the news and hurried over, and when he saw Zhang Xuan pondering, he smiled and said, "Is the general worried that Miao Haichao is using a trick to lure troops?" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "Judging from the lesson of Gongsun Shangzhe, I am indeed a little worried that Miao Haichao is using a trick to lure troops. ”

Fang Xuanling laughed, "Gongsun Shangzhe is ignorant and fooled, he didn't realize that he had fallen into the trap of the thief army, but we are different, we are prepared, why can't we just plan it." ”

Zhang Xuan took a few more steps and resolutely ordered: "Pass my order, the whole army is ready to go!" ”

An hour later, 15,000 Sui troops set up camp and marched in the direction of Huaming County by land and water, and at noon, they arrived at Huaming County, which was already an empty city.

Along the river to the north belongs to the Huaihe Plain, the terrain is flat, the forest is dense, in the period of confrontation between the north and the south, here belongs to the military buffer zone, the population is sparse, but also the world bandits and the army are concentrated and wreaking havoc, but with the Northern Zhou and Sui Dynasty power expansion to the south, the population here is gradually gathered, all the way north can see a number of villages standing in the twilight, both sides of the river are large rice fields.

After entering the water, the Sui army obviously slowed down the march, Zhang Xuan knew that the other party must be staring at his every move, he had annihilated the opponent's sneak attack army in the Huai River more than ten days ago, how could the other party swallow this breath?

What's more important is that at the critical moment of life and death in the fierce battle between the two armies, how could Miao Haichao still have the heart to continue to intercept the cargo ships in Tongji Canal, isn't this clearly exposing himself?

His intuition told Zhang Xuan that this should be the enemy's deliberate exposure of their whereabouts, luring them into a trap and repeating the scene of Gongsun Shangzhe being wiped out in Yancheng.

Despite this, Zhang Xuan was still cautious, and he sent 300 scouts into 30 teams to patrol north along both sides of the river, and they would not let go of any clues.

There are two county towns on the shore of Pengcheng County, one is called Guyang County, and the other is called Qi County, and after passing Qi County, it will enter Qian County, according to Zhang Xuan's speculation, Miao Haichao's army is hiding in the area of Linli County of Qian County.

Linli County is a small county, the population is only a few thousand, more than 1,000 households, the circumference of the city is about ten miles, because it is close to the water and the Tongji Canal, the land on both sides is fertile, and most of the people in the county make a living by farming and running shipping.

At noon that day, two young peasants walked far away on the official road in the northwest of the county seat, because it had just rained, they were wearing hats, rain, straw sandals under their feet, trousers were rolled up, and their feet and legs were covered with yellow mud, and they carried hoes, looking like two farmers who had just returned from the fields.

These two men were the scouts of the Sui army who followed the cargo ship into the hinterland of the thief army, and they escaped after the cargo ship entered the Jishan Mountains, and they could not find the ship heading south, so they could only steal the hat and hoe in the rice field, and disguised themselves as farmers returning home from farming.

Two scouts, one named Xie Zhiping and the other named Li Shang, both of whom are from Pengcheng County, are extremely water-based, and are the two most effective water scouts under Shen Guang, they have discovered the hiding place of the thief army, and hurried back to the Huai River to report.

However, there are still hundreds of miles away from the Huai River, and it is obviously not practical to travel on two legs, so they walked briskly along the official road, but their eyes were fixed on the river not far away, hoping to find a small boat.

"Hide!"

Xie Zhiping pulled his companion, and the two of them suddenly got into the bushes under the dirt slope. (To be continued.) )