When he returned to the palace, the Sogdian merchant Kang Qu Dagan had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw Wu Yingying, he said in a loud voice: "General Wu, the old Sogdian has come to make amends for your crimes, my daughter is not sensible, and she recruits warriors under your command, you must not be like her." ”

Wu Yingying waved his hand and smiled: "Let the past pass, as long as you don't abduct my entire team of soldiers with two hundred yuan of wages." ”

Kang Quda smiled awkwardly, stretched out his hand to greet two guys with big iron boxes, and opened one of the boxes in front of Wu Yingying, it turned out to be all gold and silver ingots, Kang Quda said: "General Wu saved my daughter and protected the Bright Flame, Old Sogdia has nothing else to express his gratitude, although he knows that General Wu is not short of money, please accept the two boxes of gifts." Then he brought another box, which was full of black iron bars. Seeing Wu Yingying looking at him in surprise, Kang Qu Dagan proudly explained: "This box is the best iron from Tianzhu, a total of fifty catties, and it is suitable for the general's use." ”

Wu Yingying knew that this person's temper was a gift that must be given, and the legendary Indian iron was the best material for building weapons in this era, this gift was too tempting, so he smiled and said: "The etiquette is heavy, it is all a matter of duty, so I am better to be respectful than to obey my fate." ”

Seeing that he had accepted the gift, Kang Quda Gan felt a little relieved, and said: "Old Sogdian has a reluctant request, say it and don't laugh at the general." ”

Wu Yingying deliberately straightened his face and said: "If it is really a reluctant invitation, then there is no need to say it." Seeing Kang Qu Dagan's gloomy face, he smiled and said, "But I think you are a reasonable person, and you will not make a request to embarrass me, just say it." ”

Kang Qu Dagan smiled and said, "General Wu is really refreshing. He paused for a moment before he said: "When I waited for the Sogdians to trade everywhere, I was always harassed by many strongmen, and if I was lucky, I was only extorted some money, and if I was unlucky, I often lost my life." It's miserable. I saw the warriors of the general's subordinates at the city gate that day, and I thought that if there was such a group of warriors escorting our caravan, we would not be afraid to go anywhere. Seeing that Wu Yingying was not angry, he continued: "Old Sogdian also regrets that he should not lure the general's warriors away from you, but then I thought of a way to get the best of both worlds, I recruited a group of brave young Sogdian children, and thought that General Wu would take them with him in the future, as if they were your own soldiers who did not have to pay money, and you would let these people come back after two or three years." After finishing speaking, he looked at Wu Yingying without blinking, for fear that he would say a word of refusal.

Wu Yingying pondered for a long time and said with a smile: "With a box of iron, you want me to train an army for you, Lao Kang, your abacus may not be too fine." He saw the disappointment on Kang Qu Dagan's face, and said, "My condition is that I will help you train a person with a box of iron." ”

"Good. As soon as Wu Yingying's words fell, Kang Qu Dagan immediately agreed, and added: "Count the old Sogdians who owe you 5,000 catties of iron, and I will send 100 Sogdian sons to your personal army when I turn around." ”

Seeing that he agreed so happily, Wu Yingying couldn't help but feel remorseful, and said: "My own soldiers are all warriors from a hundred, and your people may not be able to meet the requirements." ”

Kang Qu Dagan stared at Wu Yingying's eyes and said with certainty: "You just treat them as ordinary Han pawns, and if there are those that do not meet the requirements, Old Sogdian will send you as many as they want." ”

Wu Yingying frowned and said, "In this way, wouldn't I have more work to do to select talents for you, and I would have to add some extra silver." After speaking, he looked at Kang Qu Dagan with a bitter face.

Kang Quda didn't feel a little depressed, and said with a dry smile: "General Wu, I originally thought that the Han people were not good at business, but you are an exception, if you have not become a noble general, I will definitely partner with you to do business." Okay, for another person, I'll compensate you two hundred yuan, how about it?" said as he stretched out his right palm in front of Wu Yingying.

"Deal!" Wu Yingying stretched out his right hand and high-fived him loudly in the air, and said with a smile: "Whoever said that generals can't do business." ”

"Lord Cao, the construction of a pontoon bridge on the river is an unprecedented miracle. Since the day when the lower officials were ordered to supervise the construction of the pontoon bridge, they worked diligently and did not dare to slack off, and finally built this pontoon bridge as stable as Mount Tai. Eight works made Hao Shourong boast triumphantly. It was rare that the southwest road camp Ma Bu army was deployed, and Cao Bin suddenly led the generals to inspect the pontoon bridge by boat. It is rare that this pontoon bridge has taken two months since it was built, and it has transported 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers, 6,000 war horses and livestock, 80,000 stones of military rations, and 20,000 bundles of forage to the south of the Yangtze River.

Cao Bin looked at the endless flow of grain and grass carts on the pontoon bridge and the soldiers in front of him, his face was gloomy, and he asked: "With the current level of solidity, if the enemy army hits this bridge down the river with a large ship, can it be supported?"

Hao Shourong said with a sad face: "This pontoon bridge is made up of boats and ships, if the enemy rushes with a large ship that can carry more than a thousand people, I am afraid it will not be able to bear it." After saying that, he looked a little nervously upstream, as if he was afraid that a big ship would come.

Cao Bin looked at him and said sharply: "No matter how big the boat is, if the pontoon bridge is lost, I will only ask." ”

Hao Shourong was so frightened by him that he trembled, and he reluctantly went down to arrange the reinforcement of the pontoon bridge.

Cao Bin then asked, "Secret Quan, you said that the land and water armies will go out of the city and destroy the pontoon bridge in the near future, is the news accurate?"

Wang Yu said with a smile: "This is the news that my heart has passed on to the Jiangnan courtiers of our dynasty, and it is expected that they will not dare to open their mouths." ”

Cao Bin also smiled and said: "It can be seen that the people of Jiangnan are longing, and Jinling will not be able to go down in a few days." His face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "The former army has deployed Cai Jixun, if the Jiangnan thief army and the horse infantry army go out of the city to provoke, you will fight and retreat, and be sure to lure them away from Jinling City." ”

Cai Jixun is a veteran, and when he heard this, he was clever and replied loudly: "Cai Jixun of the former army has an order." ”

"Tian Qinzuo, the supervisor of the left flank battle, you lead the boat division to intercept the Jiangnan naval division out of the city, and cooperate with the front army, so as to make it difficult for the enemy's boat division to march along the river with the horse infantry army. ”

Tian Qinzuo also arched his hand and said: "Tian Mou takes the order." Seeing that Cai Hanqiong and Dong Zunzhi replied yes, Cao Bin nodded, and said: "Fengdu commands Cao Han, you lead the elite of Longjie and Hujie, and after the enemy's rear road is cut off, kill them from the flank, and drive them to the Yangtze River to feed the fish." ”

Cao Han patted the horizontal knife hanging on his waist and said with a smile: "Of course." The generals laughed together.

The Song army waited for two days in a row, and in the early morning of the third day, sure enough, there was a large army of sailors and troops from Jinling, waving flags to cover the sky and the sun, and fighting under the banner of Zheng Yanhua, the envoy of the Zhenhai Festival and the Pingzhang Affairs, and the hero of the Shenwei Duyu Marquis Wu. The former army deployed Cai Jixun according to Cao Bin's arrangement, and fought and retreated, who knew that the Tang army was not fooled, after a period of noisy gongs and drums, the Song army's fortifications and war equipment close to the city were all destroyed, and then the show off and retreated into the city. When Cai Jixun turned around and returned to the city gate to call for battle, the Tang army ignored it, and only sent a few sergeants with loud throats to laugh and scold at the head of the city.

Cai Jixun was so angry that he kept complaining to Cao Bin after returning to the camp, and Cao Bin had to persuade him with good words, saying that the thief army was cunning, and it must be a plan to exhaust the enemy, and the old general still needed to deal with it.

The next day, another brigade of Tang troops came out, this time Cai Jixun still fought and retreated, but did not leave any war equipment and fortifications, etc., the Tang army chased out fifteen miles and then collected troops and returned to the camp. This was the case for the next three or four days, which made the front army complain, and the eyes of the generals looking at the coach Cao Bin also had a lot of ridicule.

After these few days of tossing, Song Jun was all tired, and he slept very well at night. Jing Si of the Konghe Military Academy was on duty this night, and he had to cheer up and look in the direction of the Tang Army in Jinling. He is a general, since his grandfather's generation began to be a general in the forbidden army, to he is the third generation, such as Jing Si The children of the generals are all under the guidance of their fathers since childhood, skilled in guns and sticks, and before the weak crown is with the army to fight everywhere, the experience of fighting and war is not comparable to ordinary soldiers. In the past few days, the army has been repeatedly attacked and harassed by the Tang army, and Cao Han, the commander of the vanguard, also expected that this must be a tired enemy plan of the Tang army generals, so he specially ordered Jing Si to lead the elite of the headquarters to be on duty at night to prevent the Tang army from attacking at night.

"The capital of the horse army, Marquis Cai Hanqiong, the commander of the Xiaowu army, Dong Zunzhi, and the two of you led the iron cavalry, Long Jie, and Xiaowu ten commanded the five thousand cavalry troops, and after the enemy's horse infantry army was far away from the city and the boat division was covered, the rear road was cut off. ”