The early appearance of cotton as an important crop did not change the historical trend of the great cause for ten years, Emperor Yang of Sui, who worked hard to perform tricks and deaths, regardless of the fatigue of the people, and the people revolted, and brazenly announced on the third day of the second month that he was ready to launch the third pro-expedition to Goguryeo, requiring civil and military officials to discuss the matter of entering the army, and then for several days, no one in the court dared to say a word, until Emperor Yang of Sui was furious and threatened to kill the silent, and the civil and military ministers reluctantly opened their mouths to support Emperor Yang of Sui's third personal expedition. In accordance with the wishes of Emperor Yang of Sui, he formulated a plan to mobilize the country's soldiers and horses to the north. So, on the 20th day of February, Emperor Yang of Sui did not hesitate to issue an edict to levy the whole army to participate in the war.

The news spread, the world was shaken, the soldiers of the Sui army who should be transferred to participate in the war were afraid of going to Liaodong to die in vain, and they fled from the army and went into exile in other places, many people also fell directly into the grass, and would rather be wanted criminals and robbers than go to Liaodong to participate in the war, and the Ding male people who could not bear the hard labor fled even more, from east to west, from south to north, 1,255 counties in 190 counties of the Great Sui, almost everywhere sang the song "Death in Liaodong"!

Like the previous two conquests of Goguryeo, the decision of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty immediately triggered a new large-scale civil uprising, and the overwhelmed peasants and people rose up one after another, holding high the banner of righteousness against the Sui rebellion, and the world was full of smoke, especially in the Qingxu area, which was the hardest hit area of the civil uprising, there were many bandits and bandits, and the uprising team was like a carp crossing the river, and countless careerists and conspirators took the opportunity to make waves, but it is still pressing the gourd to float the scoop, taking care of one and losing the other, and it is impossible to curb the momentum of the spread of thieves.

Some people in Chengfu County raised their banners to rebel in the area of Jiangjunling south of Chengfu because they were afraid of serving in Liaodong, and tried to contact the bandit leader Wang Erhei of the neighboring county to join forces against Sui, fortunately Chen Yingliang reacted in time, and immediately sent Ma Sanbao to lead four regiments to the south to crusade after receiving the news, and quickly extinguished this rebel army, and at the same time ordered the counties to suppress it immediately once they found the rebellion, which did not give the time and opportunity for the expansion of the rebellion, but the seven counties of the county still had many soldiers and people fleeing, Many people left their hometowns with their families and went to neighboring counties to join the rebels.

It is also thanks to Chen Yingliang's boss Xu Minlian, who is a more reliable official, usually the looting is not too vicious, more or less left a way for the people to live, under the hard work of patchwork, he finally gathered the number of people who should be transferred, and used 80 acres of land as bait to fill the five regiments of government soldiers, led by the captain Fang Kuang to escort the people to the north, and it took a lot of effort to complete the task, which temporarily satisfied the bottomless pit appetite of Emperor Yang of Sui, and also temporarily restored tranquility in the territory of Qian County. However, during this period, there were still many twists and turns, many lives were caused, and because of the many escapes of soldiers and people, no one cultivated, and a large number of fields that had just been planted were also abandoned, and it became a foregone conclusion that the income from money and grain taxes fell sharply after the autumn.

There are famous executioners like Chen Yingliang in charge, who shows no mercy to the people, and immediately suppresses them with iron fists at the slightest sign of the slightest sign of rebellion, but the situation is relatively good, but the neighboring counties bordering on the county are not good, all of them are thieves and thieves, and the people are uprisings one after another, and the local government is anxious and unable to cope.

The situation is the most severe is Pengcheng County, although Pengcheng left behind Dong Chun's soldiers and horses are far more than Chen Yingliang, and they are more experienced than the new army of Qian County, but Pengcheng County is already large, and Dong Chun, who is also the general of Zuo Xiaowei, must take care of Langya, Xiapi and Donghai counties next to him, and the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command are destined to be insufficient to support, taking advantage of the opportunity that his main force is still contained by Peng Xiaocai in Langya, not only Du Fuwei, who has just been created by Chen Yingliang, took the opportunity to re-expand the team in Xiapi, Zhang Dahu and Zong Shimo, the two thieves who left their names in the history books, also took the opportunity to raise troops and plundered the northern part of Pengcheng, so that Dong Chun, who was fighting guerrilla warfare with Peng Xiaocai in the Yimeng Mountains, suffered from the enemy on his back, and the wolf was unbearable, so he had to let go of Peng Xiaocai and return to the division to find Zhang Dahu to settle accounts.

On the side of Ruyin in the south, relying on the help of Emperor Yang of Sui, the original Ruyin thief Wang Erhei took the opportunity to recruit exiled soldiers on a large scale, and continued to absorb homeless deserters to expand the team, as if it had become a climate, fortunately, Wang Erhei also knew that Chen Yingliang was difficult to provoke, and did not dare to cross the General Ridge to make trouble for Chen Yingliang, and chose to attack the south to disturb Yingshang, Xia Cai and other relatively rich places, Ruyin Taishou Fu Yong personally led the army to suppress it, and defeated Wang Erhei twice, but because of insufficient troops, he was never able to exterminate this thief head, At the same time, a thief named Fang Xianbo emerged in the northernmost Yingyang area, echoing with Wang Erhei in the north and south, joining forces to make chaos, turning the five counties of Ruyin upside down, and the chickens and dogs were restless.

The situation in the north is also bad, Wang Dangren, Zhou Wenju and Li Gongyi and other thieves suddenly appeared in the north of Liang County, and the famous Wang Bodang in history also shouted out the princely generals in Jiyang County, which borders Liang County. Fortunately, the locations where they raised their flags to rebel were all in the border area between Liang County and Jiyin County, which was far away from Qian County, and they would not be able to threaten the security of Qian County for a while and a half. - By the way, the current Liangjun Tongshou is none other than Yang Wang, the great-grandfather of Yang Yuhuan, the former Guozi priest who had a few encounters with Chen Yingliang.

The situation of Huaiyang County in the west direction is better, but it is not better there, also because Emperor Yang of Sui forcibly launched the war of three expeditions to Goguryeo, the territory is also full of popular uprisings, rebellions are endless, I heard that there are also people who killed the official messenger who escorted the people north to Liaodong, and coerced more than 200 people to raise the flag to rebel, the crime is quite bad. However, fortunately, the scale of these popular uprisings and uprisings was not large enough, and they did not threaten the security of Qian County for the time being.

In such a harsh environment, no matter how good the seven counties of Qian County are, Chen Yingliang, who is the general guard of Qian County, is still inevitably worried, worried that these deviant people will sooner or later flow into the territory of Qian County as a disaster, so as to constantly send people to reconnoiter the surrounding movements, and always guard against a team of thieves who may flow to Qian County, so as not to be negligent and ruin his hard-won reputation as a peacemaker.

At the same time, the neighbor's letters for help also began to be sent to Chen Yingliang one after another, in the case that their own strength could not completely quell the rebellion, Fu Yong and Yang Wang both sent letters of help, inviting Chen Yingliang to send troops to help him quell the rebellion, Dong Chun, who was higher than Chen Yingliang, also put down his shelf and took the initiative to send an envoy to contact Chen Yingliang, hoping that Chen Yingliang would send troops to help sweep the southern part of Pengcheng, where his troops were empty, so as not to give the people who were gradually becoming a climate there a big chance, and by the way, to prevent Du Fuwei from advancing westward again.

The letter for help came as he wished, and they all promised to provide him with military rations, but Chen Yingliang did not dare to move, because Chen Yingliang did not have many cards to play in his hand now, and Du Fuwei and Zhang Dahu, two big thieves, were also wandering around Chen Yingliang's old nest Yongcheng, and they could kill in the direction of Yongcheng at any time, just patiently waiting for the opportunity to appear, and then thinking about how to send troops.

In mid-April, Chen Yingliang sent out the eyeliner to report successively, saying that Dong Chun's main force had returned to Tengxian County, and carried the newly rising big thief Zhang Dahu and Zong Shimo head-on, and at the same time, Du Fuwei's main force also rushed east into Donghai County, and went to grab food with Zhao Po, the big thief who was rampant in that area, and he would not be able to turn back and harass Qian County for a while, Chen Yingliang breathed a sigh of relief, and then began to discuss with Changsun Wuji and others how to send troops to help his neighbors quell the rebellion.

It was also a coincidence that just when Chen Yingliang and the eldest grandson Wuji and others began to discuss sending troops, Zhao Tuo, the Taishou of Huaiyang County, also sent someone to send a letter asking for help, asking Chen Yingliang to send troops to Huaiyang to clean up the ranks of thieves who had risen in the area of Dan County. And after the eldest grandson Wuji first read Zhao Tuo's handwritten letter asking for help, he immediately smiled and said, "Brother, you shouldn't have relatives in Huaiyang, right?" How are these two new thieves in Huaiyang similar to your name? ”

"Similar to my name? What is it called? Chen Yingliang asked.

"One is called Chen Yingjue, and the other is called Chen Yingjue, they are brothers." The eldest grandson Wuji replied with a smile: "Zhao Tuo said in the letter that he has found out that these two thieves are two brothers, and the last time they killed the official messenger and coerced the people to rebel, it was the two of them, and there is also a three-thief head in their team named Liu Zhiyuan, who is a poor teacher on the bank of the Caishui River, and has some ghost ideas, and is good at bewitching the homeless people and thieves, and the Chen brothers were able to grow the team to more than 3,000 people in more than a month, relying on this Liu Zhiyuan's advice. ”

"Chen Ying's injury? Chen Yingjue? Chen Yingliang was a little surprised, and hurriedly took the letter from the eldest grandson Wuji, and carefully looked at the letter and saw that it was indeed these two names, and couldn't help laughing: "It's really these two names, these two thieves, are they really related to me in the same clan?" Well, in the future, if they are willing to surrender, for the sake of their names, I can consider sparing their lives. ”

The eldest grandson Wuji laughed, and even said that the names of these two thieves were good, at least when they met Chen Yingliang, they could rely on their names to get two lives, and Chen Yingliang personally wrote the names of Chen Yingshu and Chen Yingjue on a small flag, and inserted this small flag on the map sand table made by Yuan Tiangang himself, so as to clarify the surrounding shape.

Standing next to such a sand table, Chen Yingliang's brows were slightly furrowed, and he couldn't make up his mind to pull out the flag first, and the eldest grandson Wuji pointed to the location of Yingyang in the southwest of Qianjun with a bamboo pole, and said: "Brother, send troops to clear the surroundings, the younger brother thinks that Yingyang's thief Fang Xianbo should be killed first, because next to him is the General Ridge, the area is high and densely forested, and the land is vast and sparsely populated. Once Fang Xianbo is allowed to gain a firm foothold in this area, it will threaten our city father, Guyang and Qianxian and other places, and it will be extremely difficult to exterminate him, so it is better to get rid of him as soon as possible to avoid future troubles. ”

"There's another benefit to killing Fang Xianbo first." The eldest grandson Wuji added: "That is to help Ruyin Taishou Fu Yong get rid of the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, so that he can do his best to clean up Wang Erhei, and also make Wang Erhei unable to threaten our most remote Shansang County, killing two birds with one stone, so that our southern front can avoid a big threat for a long time." ”

"Strategically, this is a good idea." Chen Yingliang nodded, then shook his head and said: "But from a tactical point of view, this Jian yì is a bit risky, Fang Xianbo's area is too vast, we send troops to recruit him, if he runs away with the deep mountains and old forests, we have to be like Dong Chun, play hide and seek with him in the deep mountains and old forests every day, and then once we are restrained by him in the southern mountains for a long time, there will definitely be problems in the north and east." ”

The eldest grandson Wuji paused for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with Chen Yingliang's concern, and Dong Youze, the commander of Yongcheng County next to him, couldn't wait to say: "Chen Tongshou, then let's send troops to Pengcheng, help Dong stay behind and sweep away the thieves in the south of Pengcheng, so as to avoid thieves from sitting big, threatening Yongcheng and Tongjiqu Canal, and affecting our financial resources." ”

"Pengcheng is too big." Chen Yingliang still shook his head and said: "Divide Pengcheng County into two halves, the southern part alone is much larger than our Qian County, and the twelve regiments in my hand are all brought over, but they are just a handful of salt into the sea, which will not have much effect, even if it is easier to sweep away these small groups of bandits, it will inevitably take a long time." ”

Dong You also closed his mouth, although Dong You's construction was completely selfish, and he wanted to sweep away the recent threats so that he could rest assured that he could be an official, but since Chen Yingliang didn't nod, Dong You, who was pinched by Chen Yingliang in his hands, didn't dare to talk nonsense. At this time, Qian Xiangmin, another of Chen Yingliang's staff, also spoke, and said, "Chen Tongshou, why don't we go north to help Yang Tongshou?" He is a relative of the emperor and the country, and he is the former prince of the country, there are many people, and I know you, we help him with this, no matter what level of harvest will not be small. ”

Hearing Qian Xiangmin's words, Chen Yingliang looked at several banners of the people in Liang County, and did not nod or shake his head, because Chen Yingliang really wanted to send troops to Liang County in his heart, help an old acquaintance Yang Wang, and recruit some Shandong soldiers who can fight well to strengthen their strength, and also try to surrender the future famous generals such as Wang Bodang and Shan Xiongxin who have already emerged, and by the way, look for Cheng Yanjin and Niu Jinda and other wild talents, and really count them in one fell swoop. However, the dense banner of the People's Army in the north of Liang County, and the relatively long way to march, discouraged Chen Yingliang, who was still not strong enough.

Thinking about it, Chen Yingliang's triangular eyes inadvertently glanced at the small flag he had just planted on the sand table, and by the way, he glanced at the route of the army, and a bad idea suddenly came to mind, and then Chen Yingliang thought for a while, and said: "Everyone, how about we send troops to Huaiyang first, and kill my two brothers Chen Yingxing and Chen Yingjue first?" ”

Hearing Chen Yingliang's words, the eldest grandson Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and the others looked at each other, and then the eldest grandson Wuji asked suspiciously: "Brother, why did you think of sending troops to Huaiyang first?" Among our neighbors, Huaiyang is in the best situation, Chen Yingjue and Chen Yingjue, who have just emerged, are just a rabble of about 3,000 people, and there is almost no threat to us, so why use their precious combat strength on them? ”

"yes." Dong You also hurriedly echoed: "This pair of Chen family brothers are active in the area of Dan County in Huaiyang County, and the Tongji Canal does not flow through Huaiyang County, so there is no threat to us, so there is no need to waste strength on them." ”

"I also don't think I should waste my energy on them." Yuan Tiangang also said: "Although Dan County also borders our county, next to it is our county, and there are Xu Taishou and deputy lieutenant Wu Que leading the township soldiers to sit there, and they can block their eastward advance at any time, so they don't need to worry about it." ”

"Everyone, have you ever heard of the phrase persimmon picking soft pinching?" Chen Yingliang smiled shamelessly, and said even more shamelessly: "Of course I know that there is no need to pay attention to this kind of petty thief, but I hope that our army will fight across the border, and the first battle will be able to make a good start, show confidence and prestige, and first use troops against this group of thieves, there are two advantages for us." ”

"Brother, what are the advantages of those two?" Eldest Sun Wuji asked curiously.

"The first is that it's easy to resupply." Chen Yingliang pointed to the sand table with a bamboo pole and said: "We sent troops from Yongcheng to recruit the thieves in Dan County, first of all, there is no problem in the supply of military food, and the places that we pass through on the way can provide us with grain and grass supplies, and they are a one-day march between each other, so that we can travel lightly under the condition of carrying only one day's grain and grass, which not only ensures the speed of the march, but also reduces the burden on the soldiers and the people. ”

"As for the second." Chen Yingliang smiled again and said: "The people of Huaiyang County are the lightest, and the money and grain situation is naturally the best, after we help Zhao Tuo kill this group of thieves, I think he can ask for money and food, can't he open his mouth to ask for more?" ”

The eldest grandson Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and others all laughed, and they all praised Chen Yingliang for his ability to calculate and extort, and he was a complete profiteer. Then the eldest grandson Wuji said again: "Brother, since you have decided to send troops to Huaiyang first, what should we do next?" Do you immediately inform the soldiers of the decision and let them immediately set about arranging for the expedition? ”

"Good ......." Chen Yingliang wanted to agree, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly changed his mind, shook his head and said, "No! This news will not be announced for the time being! The news of my decision to send troops to Danxian County, you must also keep it secret from me, and you are not allowed to leak it. ”

"Why?" The eldest grandson Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and others froze again.

"Of course, I'm afraid that my two fellow sects will run away." Chen Yingliang smiled and said: "Like this kind of thieves who have just started an incident, no matter how many rabbles there are under their command, they are not afraid on the battlefield, but they are only afraid of letting them run away, and being led around in circles by them, we have already announced the news of entering Huaiyang County, once this gang of thieves finds out the news, we want to break them in one battle, but it is not so easy." ”

"Although my brother's words are reasonable, after our army is assembled, we will march eastward, and it is impossible to hide it from the eyes of the thief team?" The eldest grandson Wuji continued to ask suspiciously, and then suddenly understood something, and hurriedly asked: "Brother, do you want to break the army into pieces and secretly open to Dan County?" ”

"Of course it's a solution." Chen Yingliang nodded, then smiled again and said, "Well, I thought of a better way to give my two fellow sects a bigger surprise." ”