Thanks to Kan Liang's blessing of killing the Quartet, the relationship between the army of Qian County and the army of Qi County was not harmonious enough, and the red-eyed Luo Shixin became a laughing stock in the army, not to mention, many generals of the Sui Army of Qi County who lost miserably were also full of fire, although they were not scolded without taste, but they were also indispensable to hate the Qian County army in their stomachs, and it was not enough to rob the credit of the friendly army and win the money of the friendly army, which was even more hateful than the thieves and enemies! When you have the opportunity, you have to take revenge for this evil breath!

What made Chen Yingliang speechless was still behind, in view of Ma Sanbao's bad reputation for playing money, I heard that Kan Liang actually won the friendly general's war horse armor in the gambling game launched by Ma Sanbao, and the inner members of the Qianjun army all agreed that this must be a set by Ma Sanbao and Kan Liang joining forces, and joining forces to slaughter thousands of fat sheep! For this reason, they laughed at the stupidity and incompetence of the friendly team, and as a result, these ridicules were heard by some Qi County soldiers who were not dead, and then they quickly reached the ears of Luo Shixin and a large group of losers, and Chen Yingliang and other cadres immediately changed from hateful to damned in the eyes of Qi County soldiers.

The consequences of the further deterioration of relations were soon manifested, and the next morning, because there was no large river near the garrisons of the two armies, the officers and men of the two armies clashed over the ownership of a small stream with clear water. After the incident, although Chen Yingliang punished the soldiers who provoked trouble, he also knew that it would definitely not work if he continued like this, so he hurriedly decided to withdraw before more conflicts appeared, preparing to lead the army back to Yongcheng.

Ordered the army to prepare to withdraw, Chen Yingliang personally came to the Qi County Army to say goodbye to Zhang Xutuo, just in time for Zhang Xutuo to convene the generals to discuss the military situation in the Chinese army's big tent, and learned that Chen Yingliang arrived, Zhang Xutuo immediately put down the military affairs that were not very eager, and directly met Chen Yingliang in the Chinese army tent, and asked people to sit for Chen Yingliang as soon as they met, and apologized to Chen Yingliang: "Chen Tong forgives the sin, I already know what happened just now, it is the people under the old man's account that are wrong, and the old man has already blamed the troublemakers for twenty military sticks, I hope that Chen Tong will keep his mind on the same hatred and hatred, and don't be wary of such a trivial matter. ”

"The old general is too polite, it should be the juniors who apologize to you." Chen Yingliang hurriedly returned the salute and said politely: "I have also carefully inquired about the situation just now, and I know that we also have something wrong, and I have already whipped the person who took the lead in making trouble twenty lashes. I also ask the old general not to care about these trivial things, which hurt the harmony between your and our armies. ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded, smiling very gracefully, and He Yanyu on the side said coldly: "Chen Tongshou only drew twenty lashes from the person who took the lead in making trouble, but we beat the military sticks of ten soldiers, and Tongshou really rewarded and punished clearly. ”

As soon as He Yanyu said this, he was immediately full of anger, Chen Yingliang's face was full of embarrassment, and Zhang Xutuo immediately shouted: "Shut up!" This matter has already passed, and whoever dares to mention this matter again will immediately be severely punished with forty military sticks! ”

He Yanyu had no choice but to shut up, but Chen Yingliang was even more embarrassed, hurriedly changed the topic, and said to Zhang Xutuo: "Old general, the juniors came to see you, and the juniors were preparing to lead the army back to the Yongcheng garrison, so they specially came to say goodbye." ”

"Chen Tongshou is leaving?" Zhang Xutuo was a little surprised, and hurriedly said: "Chen Tongshou, your two armies have finally got together once, and the battlefield cleaning and other affairs have not completely ended, why don't Chen Tongshou stay here for a few more days?" ”

"I thought I would, but I wouldn't dare." Chen Yingliang was depressed in his heart, and knew very well that with the current situation, if his team and Zhang Xutuo's team continued to get along, it would definitely only make the conflict bigger and bigger, so Chen Yingliang could only stubbornly say: "Old general, it's not that the younger generation doesn't want to stay a few more days, listen to the old general's teachings, it's that the area of Linjuan in Qian County has found signs of rebellion among the homeless people, so the younger generation has to withdraw to Yongcheng as a precaution." ”

"Linlian? If the old man remembers correctly, it should be bordering the south of Pengcheng, right? Zhang Xutuo didn't look at the map, but asked with concern: "Is the situation of thieves strict?" Are there any signs of a large-scale civil uprising? ”

"The situation is not bad, but the officers and soldiers in that area are empty, and it is difficult to control the displaced people, so there are often some small disturbances." Chen Yingliang said casually, and said: "Old general, after the juniors leave, the matter of cleaning up the Mangdang Mountain battlefield will trouble you, and the capture of your army does not have to be distributed to the juniors, just keep your army on its own." ”

"Chen Tong is so generous." Mulan laughed maliciously, and said in a strange manner: "Chen Tongshou took away all the war horses, armor and good weapons, and the pitiful food and tattered military tents belonged to us, and we have to thank Chen Tongshou for our good life." ”

Hearing Mulan's words, Chen Yingliang couldn't help but be a little angry no matter how good his temper was, and said angrily: "Then how does General Mulan plan to distribute the spoils?" During the battle the day before yesterday, I had already let out the cows, mules, and donkeys east of the barricades, and General Mulan was still dissatisfied? ”

"Cows, mules, donkeys, is it expensive to have war horses?" Mulan's anger was greater than Chen Yingliang's, and she said angrily: "Without us chasing hard behind, Meng Rang's nearly a thousand war horses can be ...... by you?" ”

"Shut up!" Zhang Xutuo opened his mouth again and shouted angrily, glaring at Mulan and scolding: "Shut your mouth!" Before the war, we didn't agree with Chen Tongshou on how to distribute the spoils, your spoils of war belong to whoever captures them, Chen Tongshou took the initiative to give us the cattle and mules and donkeys that dragged the baggage, it was already a big measure, you are not satisfied, are you? Shut up! One more nonsense, military law is engaged! ”

Mulan closed her mouth with a gloomy face, and the faces of He Yanyu and Luo Shixin and other generals next to her were also gloomy, and Zhang Xutuo apologized to Chen Yingliang again: "Chen Tongshou, don't be like a child, it's the old man who has no way to govern the army, and she is used to being like this, and the old man will teach her a heavy lesson in a while." Don't worry, all the war horses and ordnance you have captured belong to you, and the old man will not share them with you. ”

"It's okay, General Mulan has a misunderstanding about me, I know that." Chen Yingliang smiled reluctantly, stood up again, and said, "Old general, if there is nothing else, then the junior will leave." The old general has taken care of the aftermath, if he has time, he might as well lead the army south to Yongcheng and his party, and the juniors will definitely sweep the couch to greet him, and he will definitely do his best to entertain the old general's team. ”

"Chen Tongshou, don't worry." Zhang Xutuo shook his head and said, "Please sit down for a while, the old man just has a major military matter that he wants to discuss with you." ”

For the selfless Zhang Xutuo, Chen Yingliang really respected him from the bottom of his heart, and when he heard Zhang Xutuo say this, he immediately sat down again, and quickly asked Zhang Xutuo what he wanted to discuss. Zhang Xutuo was not polite, and asked directly: "Chen Tongshou, have you heard of Meng Haigong, the thief?" ”

"Meng Haigong?" Chen Ying's conscience rose with an ominous premonition, and he replied very reluctantly and truthfully: "I have heard that the younger generation heard that this thief was a matter of March last year, and he has been wandering in Jiyin, and occasionally goes to Liang County for activities, and has successively broken through the two county towns of Dingtao and Chengwu, and once besieged Jiyin County, which is the largest team of thieves in Jiyin. ”

"Exactly." Zhang Xutuo nodded, and said: "But Chen Tongshou only knows one thing, but he doesn't know the other, the old man also sent people to inspect after he took office as the ambassador of the twelve counties to arrest him, and only then did he know that Meng Haigong, the city and countryside attacked by the thief head, is by no means limited to Dingtao and Chengwu and other places, in fact, the surrounding Chengshi, Jinxiang, Shanfu, Chuqiu and Juye counties are all affected by this thief, and most of the grain that the people in these counties have worked hard to cultivate has actually fallen into his pocket, but the local government is afraid of his obscenity, and is afraid that he will be asked to suppress the thief after reporting the truth, blamed the loss on other small groups of thieves, and helped to abuse, making Meng Haigong, the thief, more and more rampant, and his strength became stronger. ”

"In addition." Zhang Xutuo added: "Meng Haigong, the thief head, is also different from other thieves, and is not satisfied with wandering around to get food, but gathers the money and grain he looted in his hometown Zhouqiao, and organizes the rebellious people to build a castle to resist arrest, and because Zhouqiao is located on the border between Jiyin and Liang County, the officials and soldiers of the two counties push each other, and they are unwilling to contribute to suppress the thief, so that this thief finally built a strong castle, named Menghai City (historical facts, is now Menghai Town), gathered more than 20,000 people, dominated one side, and ambitious, Keep recruiting rebels and plundering the township, if you don't get rid of it early, it will become a great disaster! ”

"All castles?" Chen Yingliang was a little dumbfounded, and said in surprise: "Why have I never heard of this?" ”

"Not long after it was built, the local government deliberately blocked the news before, so it's not surprising that Chen Tongshou didn't know." Zhang Xutuo explained, and said: "The old man has already sent people to investigate the situation of Menghai City, it is very strong, the city walls are high and thick, the moat is also very deep, and the scale of the city is larger than an ordinary third-class county town, which is very amazing. ”

Chen Yingliang nodded, but he was not stupid enough to ask Zhang Xutuo if he had already told Emperor Yang of Sui about this - Zhang Xutuo had been the ambassador of the twelve counties for a while, and said that Meng Haigong's castle had just been built, indicating that Zhang Xutuo had not noticed that Meng Haigong was building the castle under his nose before, and once Emperor Yang of Sui knew the situation, Zhang Xutuo would not be able to escape even if he was favored by Emperor Yang of Sui again.

Zhang Xutuo really didn't mention whether to report the matter to the imperial court, but just smiled and said to Chen Yingliang: "Chen Tongshou, the old man has said so much, with your ability, you should have guessed what the old man wanted to say, right?" What do you think? Are you willing to help the old man and join hands with the old man to pull out this thief's nest? Don't worry, the old man can't treat you badly, the old man will bear the money, food and military expenses for you to fight in the county, and after you conquer Menghai City, we can also discuss the money and grain savings inside. ”

Of course, Chen Yingliang had already guessed the meaning of Zhang Xutuo's words, and he was not in a hurry to agree or refuse, but just thought about it for a moment, and then said: "Old general, the junior wants to ask you a question, about this Menghai City, how do you plan to attack and eradicate it?" ”

"How do you get it uprooted?" Zhang Xutuo was stunned at first, and then immediately smiled and said: "Chen Tongshou This question is a little strange, Meng Haigong's big thief is defending the city, what else can the old man do except attack head-on?" ”

Chen Yingliang's eyelids jumped slightly, and then he hesitated for a moment, and then he arched his hand and said: "Old general, I'm really sorry, it's not that the juniors are unwilling to join forces with you to fight and break the thieves' den together, it's really that the juniors are not strong enough to dare to agree." Presumably, the old general also knows that there are only 12 regiments and 2,500 people under the command of the juniors, and this strength is too weak, even if all of them are sent to the battlefield of Menghai City, it will not be of much use, plus the juniors have to bear the heavy responsibility of defending the territory and quelling the chaos in the county, and the strength is too insufficient, so the juniors can only say sorry to the old general. ”

"Hey, Chen Tongshou doesn't have to be modest." Zhang Xutuo smiled and said: "The old man is not blind, he has long seen Chen Tongshou's style of governing the army, you would rather lack than abuse, right?" As far as the weapons and equipment of your twelve regiments are concerned, if they are used to form an ordinary army, even if the army is expanded to twenty-five regiments, it is more than enough, but you would rather concentrate the money and food on the ranks of these twelve regiments than expand the army, first, to prevent the imperial court from pursuing you for the army of a county is too large, and second, for the sake of the noble and inexpensive soldiers, right? The old man can conclude that if Chen Tongshou is willing to lend a hand and send ten regiments north to Menghai City, the role you can play is far better than the old man summoning 5,000 troops from other counties! ”

"General Xie praised." Chen Yingliang still refused, and continued to prevaricate: "But the juniors know their own family affairs, and the juniors have too few troops in their hands, and they must ensure the safety of the seven counties of Qiaojun, so the juniors still can't agree." ”

Seeing that Chen Yingliang insisted on refusing, Zhang Xutuo, who had always had a good attitude towards Chen Yingliang since the meeting, finally became a little angry, and said: "Chen Tongshou, can you beg the old man?" The old man also knows that although the old man is the ambassador of the twelve counties of Henan Province, he has no right to command and mobilize your team because he is not in charge of the county, so the old man begs you, help the old man! At the same time, after a large number of troops are drawn from other counties and counties, it is likely to give other thieves a big opportunity, far less convenient and fast than borrowing troops from you, and please do not shirk for the sake of your family and country. ”

Chen Yingliang was in great difficulty, knowing that if he continued to refuse, he would definitely offend Zhang Xutuo, and he had to take into account all other aspects, so he hesitated for a while, and Zhang Xutuo said: "Chen Tongshou, if you do the old man this favor, the old man will definitely remember your favor, and after breaking the enemy, the old man will definitely report to the court according to the truth and personally ask for credit for you." ”

Chen Yingliang was even more embarrassed, and hesitated for a long time, and then he stubbornly arched his hand and said: "The old general is kind, and the juniors understand it, but the juniors just want to do their best to fulfill their responsibilities, so I'm sorry, the juniors can't agree." ”

Zhang Xutuo's face finally changed, he looked at Chen Yingliang coldly and was silent, Luo Shixin, He Yanyu and Mulan and others looked at Chen Yingliang's eyes and almost wanted to breathe fire, Qin Qiong, the only one under Zhang Xutuo's account who didn't have a particularly bad impression of Chen Yingliang, was also disappointed, looking at Chen Yingliang's eyes full of indifference. Chen Yingliang got up again, arched his hand and said: "Old general, if there is nothing else, then the junior will leave, it is not early, if the junior does not leave, it will be difficult to return to the Yongcheng station before dark." ”

"Walk slowly, don't send it!" Zhang Xutuo's voice was unusually stiff.

Chen Yingliang hung his head and left, but as soon as he left, Zhang Xutuo's Chinese army tent was of course immediately scolded, and all the generals of Qi County scolded Chen Yingliang's villain, indifferent and ruthless, cowardly, greedy for life and afraid of death, Zhang Xutuo's face was gloomy, and he slapped the table for a long time, and roared angrily: "I don't need him to help, the old man will fight Meng Haicheng by himself!" Pass the order down, and clean up the Mangdang Mountain battlefield today. Tomorrow, move to Xiayi, replenish grain and grass and military supplies, rest for seven days, and then immediately go north to attack Menghai City! This time, the old man wants to gather the soldiers and horses of Liang County and Jiyin County, and pull out the thief's nest of Meng Haicheng in one fell swoop! ”

"No!" The generals of Qi County sang their promises in unison, and then continued to scold Chen Yingliang for his arrogance and disrespect for his elders.

………………

Zhang Xutuo and the generals of Qi County were furious, but Chen Yingliang was extremely depressed, and the way back to Yongcheng with the army was always sullen, and the staff Yuan Tiangang saw that something was wrong, so he asked Chen Yingliang tentatively about the reason, Chen Yingliang did not hide it, and calmly told Yuan Tiangang about the situation. Yuan Tiangang was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "Chen Tongshou, you have greatly offended Zhang Xutuo this time, this time in the battle of Mangdang Mountain, we got almost all the credit for our good luck, and all the most important war horses and ordnance were captured, the soldiers of Qi County were already very dissatisfied with us, and you categorically refused Zhang Xutuo's plea, and the soldiers of Qi County still have to hate you to death?" ”

"Of course I know that, but I can't help it." Chen Yingliang replied extremely depressedly: "Originally, it was absolutely no problem to help Zhang Xutuo with this, and this was also the best opportunity to resolve the contradiction between us and the Qi County army, but Zhang Xutuo replied to me that sentence, so that I didn't dare to send troops at all." ”

"Zhang Xutuo replied to your words?" Yuan Tiangang recalled for a while, and hurriedly asked: "Tongshou, what you said, could it be that Zhang Xutuo told you that he planned to attack Meng Haicheng head-on?" ”

"Yes." Chen Yingliang nodded and replied: "It was because of this sentence that I changed my mind and didn't want to send troops to help him, to be precise, I didn't dare to help him." ”

"Why?" Yuan Tiangang hurriedly asked.

"Because Zhang Xutuo's team has never fought a tough battle." Chen Yingliang replied even more depressedly: "I have carefully studied Zhang Xutuo's achievements, and I know that when he quelled the Queensland Rebellion with Shi Wansui and Yang Su to quell the Yang Liang Rebellion, he fought several siege battles, but none of them were commanded by him. Later, he was appointed as the general guard of Qi County, although he was invincible on the battlefield and repeatedly broke the thieves, but every time he fought a field battle, he basically did not fight any decent siege warfare. ”

"I don't know if Zhang Xutuo himself is familiar with siege warfare, but the Qi County team under his command is not familiar with the siege of battles, I am sure, Menghai City is a newly built city, the city is high and deep, the defenders are more and more food, I am worried that the frontal attack will be protracted, and the war is likely to be protracted, so I dare not agree to anything."

"Understood." Yuan Tiangang suddenly realized and said: "Tongshou, you are worried that after we cooperate with Zhang Xutuo to send troops, once the battlefield of Menghai City is protracted, there may be problems in our empty rear, and at the same time, because of the long-term attack on Menghai City, it will affect the morale of our army, and it is easy to make the army tired and weak, and it is more likely that because of the failure to attack the city, there will be huge casualties." ”

"That's it." Chen Yingliang nodded, and said: "Originally, I was also a little hesitant, considering whether to agree first, accompany Zhang Xutuo to send troops to Menghai City, and then find a way to break the city by skill to avoid excessive consumption of the army, but I am not familiar with the situation in Menghai City, and I basically don't know anything about the enemy, so I really don't have this certainty, let alone let Zhang Xutuo completely listen to my plans and tactics, and I don't want to take this risk, so I simply refused." ”

Yuan Tiangang nodded, agreeing with Chen Yingliang's decision, and then said: "Although Tongshou's decision is correct, it is just that in this way, it will be even more difficult for us to get along with the Qi army in the future." ”

Chen Yingliang's face was gloomy, and after thinking about it for a long time, Chen Yingliang ordered again: "Mr. Yuan, after returning to Yongcheng, you and Wuji will immediately collect all kinds of information about Meng Haicheng and Meng Haigong for me, the more detailed the better." ”

"Tongshou, do you still want to help Zhang Xutuo?" Yuan Tiangang asked curiously.

"It's not to help him, it's just in case." Chen Yingliang said with a sad face: "I have a hunch that I have to wipe Zhang Xutuo's ass again this time." In addition to the soldiers and horses of the twelve counties under Zhang Xutuo's command, the strongest imperial court soldiers and horses closest to Menghai City are only the army of our Qian County, I am worried that once Zhang Xutuo attacks Menghai City for a long time, the imperial court may issue an order for me to help, so I have to prepare first, so as not to be caught off guard and cause more trouble. ”