In the southeast direction of one hundred and fifty miles away from Dong'an County, there is another county seat, Yishui County, which is also a small county, which is close to Gaomi County, and is the only way to enter Gaomi County from Langya County.

Yishui County also has more than 1,000 thieves stationed, compared to Dong'an County, which benefits from the Beihai County Trade Road, the business is slightly prosperous, and the defenders have a lot of oil and water, while Yishui County is much poorer.

First of all, there are not many merchants in Gaomi County going south, and the trade route of Beihai County is too far away from Yishui County, which makes Yishui County only have a little military value, and holding Yishui County can prevent the army of Gaomi County from going south, and at the same time, it can also prevent the thief army of Langya County from entering Gaomi County.

The defenders of Yishui County are actually the remnants of Meng Rang, after Meng Rang fled from Gaomi County to Langya County last year, he first stayed in Yishui County for a few days, and collected more than 1,000 remnants of the defeated soldiers who fled from Gaomi County, he let this army of more than 1,000 people hold Yishui County, regard Yishui County as his foothold, and he went south to see Sun Xuanya.

If Sun Xuanya refused to accept him, he would use Yishui County as the foundation, expand his power in the north of Langya County, and wait for an opportunity to kill back to Gaomi County, but Sun Xuanya accepted him and named him Sima, which was quite important to him.

Despite this, Meng Rang still didn't want to give up Yishui County easily, he knew very well in his heart that if he didn't have a foundation, it would be difficult for him to gain a foothold in Langya County, especially Yishui County was his springboard to kill back Gaomi, and he would not give up easily.

The guard of Yishui County is called Meng An, who is Meng Rang's younger brother, when Meng Rang divided Gaomi County, he led a thousand soldiers to defend Zhucheng County, so he was not affected by the Sui army's attack on Gaomi County, and was able to lead the army to retreat and become the last army that Meng Rang could rely on.

At this time, Meng An also received an order from Sun Xuanya, asking him to defend himself against a possible attack by the Sui army from the direction of Gaomi County.

Meng An was originally a street scoundrel in Zouping County, Qi County, and caused trouble all day long. He didn't learn and didn't know how to do it, and he looked very obscene, because his brother Meng Rang became one of the bandit leaders in Changbai Mountain, he ran to defect, and even Meng Rang thought he was useless and refused to reuse him. Responsible for the management of logistics, grain and grass, etc., has not been productive.

Meng An heard that the Sui army was going to attack Yishui County, he was very frightened, and hurriedly sent someone to report to Meng Rang, he would not listen to Sun Xuanya's orders, only Meng Rang could command him, but before he could send someone to set off, Meng Rang had already sent someone to send an urgent letter.

In the room, Meng An listened to the messenger's dictation with a pale face. Because he was illiterate, Meng Rang sent a message from his henchmen.

"The lord said that it is necessary to preserve the strength first, if the Sui army does not fight Yishui, then hold Yishui County, and if the Sui army has signs of attacking Yishui, immediately abandon Yishui County and retreat south."

Meng An nodded again and again, and his brother's message said that his heart was on the road. How could he resist the large-scale attack of the Sui army, and he also felt that it was safer to retreat south.

He asked again: "How do I know that the Sui army has signs of attacking Yishui County?" ”

The messenger smiled bitterly. He had to ask himself about this kind of thing, how did he know, he had to reply helplessly: "The lord means to let the general judge for himself, and withdraw the army immediately once the situation is not good, the key is to preserve the strength, and the general's task will be completed." ”

"Okay!" Meng An also had no idea. You can only take one step at a time.

The messenger went back first, Meng An'an was distracted, and he didn't have the heart to eat, drink and have fun, so he put on his armor and patrolled the city in a serious way, and he sent more than a dozen spies to check the movement.

Until the next morning. There was no movement outside the city, Meng An was already tired and exhausted, and was about to go back to sleep, at this moment, a soldier pointed to the north and shouted: "General, look! ”

To the north of Yishui County was a low hill covered with tall and dense pine forests, and I saw several of his spies running down the hill path with one of them towards the city.

The more Meng An looked at it, the more frightened he became, although the man was dressed in tatters, he could vaguely see that it was the uniform of his army, and the soldiers were also dirty and embarrassed.

After a short time, the spies rushed to the city with the soldier and shouted, "General, the brother who has fled from Dong'an County!" ”

Meng An was taken aback, and hurriedly ordered to open the city gate left and right, he also ran down the city, the soldier had been led into the city, and was sitting under the root of the city devouring two pieces of dry cakes, eating too quickly, he was choked and rolled his eyes, Meng An asked him to drink water, and after a while, the soldier came back to his soul, kowtowed and cried: "General Meng, the Sui army is really killed, General Hu was killed, the brothers were all wiped out, more than a dozen of us escaped from the north city gate, and we escaped with our lives." ”

Meng An was frightened, and hurriedly asked, "How many troops are there, and who is the main general?" ”

"There are at least seven or eight thousand troops, and the main general who has attacked the city seems to be the giant spirit god Captain Chi Gong!"

Wei Chigong's reputation has long been terrifying in Shandong, and it is rumored by the soldiers to be like a god, even a little more famous than Zhang Xuan, Meng An heard that it was Wei Chigong, and a cold sweat suddenly broke out on his back.

At this time, the spy hurriedly said: "General, we found traces of an army camp on the side of Fox Mountain, there are about fifty stoves, the stoves are still warm, and there are many footprints around. ”

Meng An was stunned for a moment, fifty stoves, that's at least a thousand troops, oh my God! Is the Sui army also going to attack Yishui County?

A lieutenant next to him said: "General, if the Sui army really attacks Langya County, it will definitely not let go of Yishui County, and if it does not sweep the rear, how can the Sui army go south?" ”

A sentence reminded Meng An, how could the Sui army still have a Yishui County behind it and not fight, fortunately, Hushan is still relatively far away, fifty miles away, the Sui army should not be so quick to kill, Meng An immediately ordered: "The whole army immediately assembled, prepare to evacuate!" ”

Half an hour later, Meng An led a thousand soldiers to abandon Yishui County and urgently withdrew his troops south.

According to Zhang Xuan's deployment, Pei Xingyan also led a thousand soldiers from Donglai County, and he went south to Dongguan County, Gaomi County, preparing to attack Yishui with Luo Shixin's army.

But Pei Xingyan didn't expect that the thief army had become a frightened bird, as soon as his army appeared, the thief army abandoned the city in a hurry and fled, and not long after the thief army left, Pei Xingyan's army was killed in Yishui County.

At this time, the gate of Yishui County was wide open, it was already an empty city, Pei Xingyan had just arrived at the gate of the city, dozens of old men walked out of the city, kneeling outside the city gate and shouting: "Yishui Xiaomin kneels to welcome the heavenly army!" ”

These old people were all from the past, and they were afraid that the Sui army would enter the city, and they would wantonly burn and loot them in the name of bandits, and they would really be in trouble at that time.

Pei Xingyan hurriedly dismounted, and smiled at the old men: "I am Pei Yuanqing of the Flying Eagle Army, the Flying Eagle Army will not disturb the people, please rest assured." ”

When the old man heard that they were the Flying Eagle Army, he was relieved, the Flying Eagle Army was strictly disciplined, and it did not disturb the people, and this was Pei Yuanqing, the first fierce general in Shandong, everyone was surprised and happy, and quickly got up to welcome Pei Xingyan and his army into the city.

"When will the thieves leave?" Pei Xingyan couldn't help but ask in surprise when he saw that the defenders in the city had retreated cleanly, and there was not even a single tent left.

The old man at the head smiled bitterly: "Not long after they left, we have no food in Yishui, and there are only a few hundred stones of grain in the county government, and they have all taken it away. ”

"So they just left!"

Pei Xingyan couldn't help laughing, "It seems that this time it's cheaper Luo boy." ”

Yishui County is about 300 miles away from Linyi County, all the way to the south are undulating mountains, there are no county towns, only occasionally some abandoned small villages, the population of Langya County is concentrated in Linyi County, there is no supply on the way, so for the southern retreat of the thieves and soldiers food is the first important, they will sweep away the five hundred stone grain stored in the county office, and there are no mules and horses to carry it, each soldier has to carry five buckets of rice, plus some of their own plundered private property, everyone is burdened with a heavy burden, and the marching speed is very slow.

Meng An was worried, and kept looking back, lest the Sui army chase him from behind.

"Hurry up!"

Meng An whipped the soldier and scolded loudly: "It took half a day to walk less than twenty miles, do you want to die in Yishui?" ”

The soldiers cried bitterly, "General, it's too heavy, let go of half of the food!" ”

"No! Do not throw away the grain, or throw away your copper coins. ”

No one refused to drop the copper coin, and the soldiers had to drag their heavy steps and run desperately, and ran for several miles, one by one they were already tired and out of breath, Meng An saw that the soldiers really couldn't support it, so he had to order: "Rest in place for a quarter of an hour." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, hundreds of arrows came out of the woods. Meng An was shot like a hedgehog, and without even screaming, he planted his horse.

The shouts of killing shook the sky, and countless Sui soldiers were killed in the woods on both sides of the official road, headed by a general, with an iron helmet and iron armor, holding a big iron gun, it was Luo Shixin, the main general of Gaomi. (To be continued......)