Early in the morning, Yang Yuanqing led the mighty army to arrive in Yi County, 50,000 troops began to camp outside Yi County, clear the snow, set up tents, set up camp fences, a full of granaries of ox carts drove into the camp, Yang Yuanqing entered the county seat of Yi County under the escort of hundreds of soldiers, by the city gate, Qin Qiong led more than a dozen generals to welcome the arrival of the lord.

Qin Qiong and the generals knelt down on one knee together, clasped their hands into fists and saluted, "The last general, Qin Qiong, see the manager!" ”

Yang Yuanqing turned over and dismounted, and helped him up with a smile, "General Qin is exempt!" ”

He patted Qin Qiong on the shoulder and said approvingly: "General Qin did a wonderful job in attacking Yixian County this time, and he took Shanggu County without dying, which can be called a model of a soldier who surrenders without a fight, I will record your great achievements." ”

Qin Qiong's face was full of shame, and hurriedly said: "The last general is useless, it is the general who exerted pressure on Wei Dao'er to force the enemy army to take the initiative to withdraw from Yi County, and the last general does not dare to take credit." ”

"But it was your plan to surrender, and it eventually caused the defenders to fall apart, which is the real reason why Zhai Qi'er was forced to give up Yixian, so your credit is still not small, I know it in my heart."

Yang Yuanqing glanced at Cheng Biting Jin next to him, and said with a smile: "The merit of the war is not only about how many enemies are killed, sometimes it depends on the results, this time to take Shanggu County, for our Sui army to open the door to attack Hebei, is an extremely important victory, so this time I want to reward all the soldiers who participated in the war, like General Qin, General Cheng and other meritorious generals, but also give heavy rewards!" ”

Everyone was overjoyed and bowed down together, "Thank you for the reward!" ”

Yang Yuanqing entered Yi County surrounded by everyone, and Yang Yuanqing came to Yi County several times when he was the governor of Youzhou. In his memory, Yi County had a large population, prosperous commerce, and bustling people on the streets, and the cries of selling came and went.

At this time, Yi County in his eyes was terrifyingly deserted, there was not a single pedestrian in sight on the street, all the shops were closed, and the shops were empty. It was looted and smashed, and the whole city presented a desolate and dilapidated scene.

At this time, several gentry were led forward, and they knelt down and wept: "Thanks to the arrival of the Sui army, we have saved our lives, and please ask His Royal Highness the King of Chu to accept our worship." ”

He kowtowed, and Yang Yuanqing hurriedly helped them up, "You don't have to do this, save the people of the Great Sui." This is our business, please hurry up. ”

Yang Yuanqing held the arms of several old people, only to feel that they were as thin as skeletons, this was still the rich gentry in the past, and they were so thin, not to mention ordinary civilians.

He frowned, turned around and asked Qin Qiong, "Is this happening?" ”

Qin Qiong sighed and said, "When we entered the city, we learned that there was a serious famine in the city, and the families of Zhai Qi'er's soldiers could get a little food for their lives. The families of the soldiers of Hengshan County are on the verge of despair, more than a year, at least half of them have died of illness and starvation, and the living people are so hungry that they are almost unable to hold on. If we really wait until next spring to fight Shanggu County, it is estimated that the whole city will starve to death. ”

Yang Yuanqing's eyes flashed with anger, and he said bitterly to the generals: "It has been six years since Wang Bo rebelled in the sixth year of the Great Cause. Hebei and Henan are the hardest hit areas of bandits and rebellions, and it is estimated that there are two or three percent of the population of tens of millions, and the most precious thing now is not the territory, but the population, so we launched the Hebei campaign, the first priority is to compete for the population, and if we can kill less, we will kill less. This time, I will not advocate forcibly attacking the city, and try to use all means. Do you understand my painstaking efforts to surrender without a fight and minimize war casualties? ”

The generals responded, "The last general understands!" ”

"You have to remember that without people, there is no dynasty."

Yang Yuanqing came to the county office, after Wei Dao'er rebelled, the officials of Shanggu County fled, and the county government was changed to Shanggu Wangfu by Zhai Que'er, at this time Yang Yuanqing's newly appointed Taishou had arrived two days ago, the new Taishou name was Li Huanzhi, who was originally the Taishou of Jiyin County under the jurisdiction of Li Mi, after the establishment of the Northern Sui, he abandoned the official and fled to the Northern Sui, and was willing to serve the new imperial court.

Li Huanzhi is about fifty years old, his ancestral home is Longxi, shrewd and capable, Yang Yuanqing appointed him as the Taishou, Ziwei Pavilion appointed Wang Xiaosong, the former county commander of Jiuyuan County, Fengzhou, as the long history, and transferred Zhang Tao to the commander of Leping County, Taiyuan County, as Sima, and the Ministry of Officials also appointed the chief of Cao such as the record to join the army.

According to the decentralization law agreed upon by Yang Yuanqing and Ziwei Pavilion, Yang Yuanqing was the regent and Shang Shuling, and he controlled the appointment and removal power of the county taishou, while Changshi, Sima and the county orders of each county were appointed and dismissed by Ziwei Pavilion, while the following Zhu Cao joined the army and the county officials and county lieutenants were appointed and dismissed by the officials, which can be said to have clear powers.

Yang Yuanqing walked into the county office, and the Taishou Li Huan stepped forward to salute, "See the manager!" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Li Yuanjun is exempt from the courtesy, please come to the hall to talk." ”

Yang Yuanqing came to the lobby and sat down, waved his hand to everyone and said with a smile: "Generals, please sit down, everyone relax, I am not supervising the imperial history." ”

Everyone laughed and sat down one after another, and Yang Yuanqing asked Li Huanzhi, "Every time I go to a place now, what I am most concerned about is how many people are left, can Li Yuanjun tell me now?" ”

Li Huanzhi stood up, "Now the population of Yi County has only been counted, there are about 8,000 households, more than 23,000 people, most of them are old and weak women and children, and there are less than 7,000 young and strong men, but I heard that there are still many young and strong people in the army in Hengshan, as for the scope of Shanggu County, there are no statistics on the low position, and some fragmentary information has been obtained from the five counties under the jurisdiction of Yu County, Suicheng County, Yongle County, Laishui County, Feihu County, etc., and the whole county is estimated to be no more than 50,000 people. ”

Yang Yuanqing remembered that when he was the governor of Youzhou, the population of Shanggu County was nearly 200,000, and nearly eighty percent was tossed in just six years, he sighed, and said to Li Huan: "The top priority is to provide disaster relief, and if there is a shortage of manpower, you can ask the army to help, you must do it as soon as possible, you can't delay, I estimate that there are a lot of people hidden in the mountains, and I want to send people to persuade them to come back, and then use the winter to redistribute the land, and after the beginning of spring, we must organize production, and I need to cultivate cattle seeds, I will order Sinong Temple to assist in arranging, in short, we must do everything possible to keep the population and resume production." ”

"I understand that I will live up to the trust of the manager."

Yang Yuanqing said to Qin Qiong again: "Now Li Taishou has a lot of things in his hands, if there are enough people, many things will be easy to do, so you specially set aside five hundred sergeants for Li Taishou to call, in addition, a large amount of grain and military supplies are about to be transported to Shanggu County, and the construction of the required warehouse will be completed by you, and there is no need to hand it over to the locality." ”

Yang Yuanqing meant that Qin Qiong was in charge of the war preparations, Qin Qiong understood in his heart, and immediately bowed down and said, "The last general will obey the order!" ”

．．．．．．．

Yang Yuanqing arranged everything one by one, and let everyone disperse, he came to an official room specially prepared for him, according to Yang Yuanqing's requirements, the room was very simple, a bed, a table, a bookcase, and an incense burner in the corner, the green smoke curled, filled with a faint fragrance, the room lit a brazier, burning vigorously, so that the room was very warm.

Yang Yuanqing saw a map of Hebei hanging on the wall, so he stepped forward with his hands behind his back and looked at the map, the east of Shanggu County is Zhuo County controlled by Luo Yi, since the battle of Shanggu County, half a month has passed, Luo Yi can't be unaware, he should now also send a large number of troops to the border Zhuo County, and Zhuo County is opposite Laishui County of Shanggu County, Yang Yuanqing turned around and asked Qin Qiong, "Is Laishui County stationed in the army?" ”

"Returning to the governor, the last general ordered Deng Chinian to lead 5,000 troops into Laishui County to defend against a possible attack by the Youzhou army."

Yang Yuanqing shook his head, "Actually, I am more concerned about intelligence, I must grasp every move of the Youzhou army, I need to send a lot of scouts to the border area of Zhuo County to investigate the news, and I also want to order Deng Chinian to strengthen the patrol to prevent the other party's scouts, these should not be me to remind you, you should arrange it." ”

Qin Qiong nodded silently, "The last general has already been arranged, and ten teams of 100 scouts have been arranged to sneak into the border of Zhuo County to spy on the situation in Youzhou, and Deng Chinian will also prevent the infiltration of the Youzhou army." ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, took out a piece of information and handed it to him, "This is the information sent by the spies arranged by the Internal Guard Army in Youzhou City, according to the intelligence, Luo Yi sent 15,000 troops to the southwest, I don't know if it is Zhuo County, you can check it against it, and I will send you a copy of the information about Youzhou from the Internal Guard Army in the future." ”

Qin Qiong was overjoyed, in this way, his information would be more comprehensive, and he hurriedly saluted, "Thank you for your support." ”

After a pause, Qin Qiong said again: "The last general has another matter to ask for, that is, about the placement of Zhai Que'er, he is a surrender and not a prisoner, the last general does not know how to place him, please instruct the general manager." ”

Yang Yuanqing sighed and said: "I still have the impression of the name of this Zhai Que'er, in the seventh year of the great cause, I sent Li Jing to exterminate Wang Basu, this Zhai Que'er is the captured Jiuzhai master, at that time because of his humble position, I let him go, he returned to his hometown to farm, I thought he would be honest, but I didn't expect that after five years, he rebelled again, this kind of person has a backbone, I don't know when he will rebel again, can not leave this hidden danger. ”

"The last general understands and will dispose of him as soon as possible."

Yang Yuanqing said lightly: "Don't be too anxious, so as not to affect the surrender of Hengshan County, and after Wei Dao'er is destroyed, it will be disposed of together." ”

Qin Qiong hesitated for a moment, and asked with some surprise: "Is the next target of the chief manager still Hengshan County?" ”

"I guess so! Wei Dao'er let Shanggu this time, Dou Jiande will not spare him, I am worried that Dou Jiande will seize Hengshan County, so I hope that before Dou Jiande seizes Hengshan County, we will kill Wei Dao'er first, we will occupy Hengshan County first, and keep the strategic road of Jingcheng. ”

"But... The manager didn't have an agreement with Wei Dao'er, if he repented, would it affect the manager's reputation. Qin Qiong was a little worried.

Yang Yuanqing squinted his eyes and sneered: "Don't worry! I'll ask him to give me a convincing reason. ”