Although Dou Jiande temporarily stabilized the chaotic army by means of self-harm and apologize, Dou Jiande also knew that if he could not solve the food problem within a month, his army would still collapse completely.

In the big tent, dozens of civilian and military generals gathered together to wait for Dou Jiande's final decision, and they all knew very well that Dou Jiande's bitter plan in front of the soldiers was just to appease the army, and the decision he made behind closed doors for three days could only be conveyed within the high-level range.

The injury on Dou Jiande's left hand has been bandaged, and although he has broken a finger, his spirit is very uplifted, and it is obvious that he has made up his mind.

Dou Jiande coughed heavily, attracting everyone's attention, and then he slowly said to everyone: "I have decided to target Gao Lie, but to be clear, I am not here for revenge!" ”

He stopped talking and looked at everyone one by one, he saw that everyone was silent, but Ling Jing was smiling, with a look of approval in his eyes, Dou Jiande smiled: "It seems that Ling Senjun has understood my mind, can you explain it to everyone for me?" ”

Ling Jing stood up and saluted, and said to everyone: "I understand what the lord means, Gao Shida is destroyed, Zhang Xuan's next target in Hebei is either us or the Bohai Society, if we don't want to be Zhang Xuan's target, then we have to take the initiative to attack the Bohai Society for him, so that he can turn around and deal with the Wagang army, and at the same time, we can also get food aid from Zhang Xuan to tide over the current difficulties,"

"But this is just wishful thinking on our part, will Jang Hyun agree?" Liu Heimin asked in a deep voice.

Ling Jing smiled slightly, "I believe that Zhang Xuan will definitely agree, the lord has been thinking about it for three days behind closed doors, and there must be a reason for him." ”

Wang Fubao next to him was really a little dissatisfied and said: "In this way, won't we become Zhang Xuan's eagle dog?" ”

Song Zhengben, the strategist sitting opposite him, sneered, "General Wang, none of us want to do this. But the situation dictates that if we want to survive, this is the only way. ”

Several generals were also a little dissatisfied, but Song Zhengben said this, and everyone was silent, Dou Jiande nodded. "If there is no objection to this matter, it will be decided, if there is anything different, you can talk to me alone!"

Everyone immediately withdrew, and only Dou Jiande, Ling Jing and Song Zhengben were left in the big tent, at this time Dou Jiande sighed, "Don't hide it from the two of you, although I made this decision, I really don't know it." I don't know if Zhang Xuan can accept my plan, to be honest, now that he destroys us, it will be as easy as a finger, if it were me, I would not raise tigers. ”

Ling Jing said with a smile: "The lord's decision is very correct, I believe that Zhang Xuan will accept this plan." ”

"Why?"

"The reason is very simple, Zhang Xuan wants to destroy the Bohai Society. But I want the foundation of the Bohai Society, after all, the Bohai Society has been established for decades. Many Hebei giants still have deep feelings for it, if Zhang Xuan destroys the Bohai Society, it will be difficult to win the support of the Hebei giants, so the best way is to fake someone to eliminate the Bohai Society, don't you think that the real purpose of Zhang Xuan and our alliance is not to deal with Gao Shida? ”

Dou Jiande was dumbfounded when he heard this, and only after a while did he say: "Difficulty, Zhang Xuan has always wanted us to deal with the Bohai Society for him?" ”

Next to him, Song Zhengben sighed slightly. "We are aware of many things, and now I have just woken up, I am afraid that Zhang Xuan has decided to let the lord return to Hebei in Jibei County, and he has decided to let the lord deal with the Bohai Society for him."

The three of them were silent, and finally Dou Jiande sighed. "We really lack Jang Hyun's vision of the big picture, and our defeat today is reasonable."

After a pause, Dou Jiande sneered again: "Although Gao Lie succeeded for a while, he destroyed the Great Wall, and he was also short-sighted, this kind of person can't fight for the world!" ”

Ling Jing and Song Zhengben both have the same feelings, Gao Lie always feels a little worse than Zhang Xuan, but Song Zhengben feels a little bit of it, Gao Lie's eyes are in Hebei, and Zhang Xuan's eyes are in the world.

Thinking of this, Song Zhengben got up and said: "I am willing to be the envoy of Duke Dou, and negotiate with Zhang Xuan for Duke Dou!" ”

Zhang Xuan did not immediately return to Beihai County after exterminating Gao Shida and recovering Pingyuan and Bohai Counties, he still had a lot of things to deal with, he threw prisoners of war and military affairs to Fang Xuanling, as the commander and de facto lord of Qingzhou, Zhang Xuan's most important thing to do was to pacify the local area and stabilize the Qingzhou Army's control of Bohai County and Pingyuan County.

Pingyuan County has little problem with Zhang Xuan, Pingyuan County's Taishou, County Cheng and County Commander have always used the original Sui officials, they have long had secret contacts with Qingzhou, and the recovery of Pingyuan County only turns the darkness into light, and it takes almost no effort.

But Bohai County is different, Bohai County has never entered Zhang Xuan's sphere of influence, and more importantly, Bohai County was completely cleaned by Gao Shida, the original Taishou Cui Huan was driven away by Gao Shida, Gao Shida led Bohai County Taishou, and the following county officials, county orders, county officials, etc. are all served by Gao Shida's army generals, and many county orders are even illiterate, so people will not govern the place, but only fish the people, and in just a few years, Bohai County will be in a miasma.

Fortunately, Gao Shida relied on the military tun to solve the grain, and abolished all taxes and labor in Bohai County, so although Bohai County was chaotic under his rule, there were still many people who were unwilling to leave Bohai County, which was regarded as support for Gao Shida's abolition of tax and labor service.

Dealing with Bohai County is not a problem that can be solved by appointing a few officials, but mainly depends on whether the people accept the Qingzhou officials and whether there will be a series of troubles in the future that will resist taxes and rebel.

Zhang Xuan knew very well in his heart that the people were easy to govern, but the difficult thing was the local gentry, they had the right to speak and a large amount of land, they accepted officials, accepted taxes, and the people naturally followed, so as long as he won the support of the gentry, he controlled Bohai County.

And the key to winning the support of the gentry lies in the family, and the family is the biggest gentry, which is a hurdle that cannot be bypassed in the Sui Dynasty era.

Although the Qinghe Cui clan fled to Bohai County when Zhang Jincheng ravaged Qinghe County, they only lived in Bohai County and did not have much influence on Bohai County, but the real family of Bohai County was the Gao family, commonly known as the Bohai Gao clan, and their influence in Hebei was no less than that of the Boling Cui clan and the Qinghe Cui clan.

Including Gao Huan, who established the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the Huhua Han people who were obviously born in the Sixth Military Town of the Northern Wei Dynasty, they also did everything possible to link themselves with the Bohai Gao clan to show that they were also from famous families.

The real outstanding son of the Bohai Gao clan is probably the founding father of the Great Sui Gao Xi, the prime minister who assisted Yang Jian in establishing the Great Sui Empire, in the era of Gao Xi's reign, the Bohai Gao clan was prominent for a while, and groups of scholars came to Bohai County to try to worship under the Gao family, but the success was also Xiao He, and the defeat was also Xiao He, as Gao Xi fell out of favor, and then was executed by Yang Guang, the Bohai Gao family was also completely silent.

Although the Gao family has rarely appeared in the gatherings of major families in Hebei, and they did not appear when Yang Guang inspected Zhuo County, it does not mean that the Gao family has lost influence in Bohai County, on the contrary, the Bohai Gao family is still the leader of the gentry in Bohai counties and enjoys great prestige in Bohai County.

On the third day after the extermination of Gao Shida, Zhang Xuan came to Yangxin County, the county to visit the Bohai Gao clan.

The head of the Bohai Gao family is called Gao Shuyuan, is the younger brother of Gao Xi, the prime minister of the Great Sui, is nearly seventy years old, but he is healthy, and his mind is also very clear, he heard that Zhang Xuan came to visit, and specially ordered to open the door to welcome, which is the first time that the Gao family opened the door to welcome guests after Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui, visited the Gao family.

Gao Shuyuan is thin and small, his spirit is very strong, behind him is a group of important children of the Gao family, Gao Shuyuan's eyes are smiling into a slit, he seems to know that Zhang Xuan is coming to visit the Gao family, in fact, he resolutely does not admit that he has anything to do with Gao Shida, he is just waiting for this day to come, the Gao family has no chance in the Sui Dynasty, so they can only hope for the new superior.

At this time, Zhang Xuan's carriage slowly arrived in front of the mansion under the escort of dozens of cavalry, the carriage stopped, Zhang Xuan, who was wearing Confucian clothes, came out of the carriage, Gao Shuyuan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "Xiaomin Gao Shuyuan welcomes the general to Gaofu!" ”

Zhang Xuan's title is the Duke of Qi, but the Duke of Qi was originally the title of the Gao family, and was later deprived, so Zhang Xuan's arrival always makes the Gao family feel uncomfortable, but this is just a feeling, and the Gao family in the face of reality must not care about such a trivial matter.

Zhang Xuan returned the salute and smiled slightly: "I should have come to visit last time I passed through Yangxin County, but the war is urgent, so it has been delayed to today, please forgive the head of the family!" ”

"Where! Where! The general can come to Gaofu, it is our Gao family that is shining, the general, please come in! ”

Everyone welcomed Zhang Xuan into the Gao Mansion like the stars holding the moon, and came directly to the Guike Hall to sit down, at this time, the other children had already retreated, and the only people who sat with him were Gao Shuyuan and his eldest son Gao Xin, and there was also a middle-aged man who accompanied him, but Zhang Xuan didn't know him.

Zhang Xuan glanced at the middle-aged man and asked with a smile, "Who is this?" ”

Gao Shuyuan smiled, "This is my brother Gao Xiangguo's son Cousin." ”

It turns out that this person is Gao Xi's third son, Gao Biaoren! Zhang Xuan secretly thought, he knew that Gao Xi had three sons and one daughter, and the daughter was Yang Yong's concubine, the eldest son Gao Shengdao died early, the second son Gao Hongde and the third son Gao Biaoren were implicated in their father's case, were deprived of their titles, and moved to the frontier.

Gao Biaoren hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Cousin Ren see the general!" ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly: "Senior brother doesn't have to be polite, Brother Ling is in good health?" ”

Gao Biaoren was shocked, how could Zhang Xuan know that his brother was also in the house?

His expression was a little unnatural and said: "My brother's health is not very good, and he is recuperating, thank you for the general's concern." ”

Zhang Xuan sat down, he glanced at Gao Biaoren again, and already understood in his heart that Gao Biaoren and his brother must have fled back to Bohai County in secret, it stands to reason that he shouldn't show up, and now Gao Biaoren actually appeared in front of him, this is some kind of hint from Gao Shuyuan!

Thinking of this, he quickly glanced at Gao Shuyuan again, and it happened that Gao Shuyuan was also looking at him meaningfully, and the two of them made eye contact, and they both laughed tacitly.

(To be continued.) )