Driven by the urgency of food shortage, Xu's army advanced very rapidly, and two days later, Yuwen Zhi and He Yuanmin led 6,000 troops into the territory of Donghai County, and the army only brought three days of dry food, which was not enough to support them to reach Qishan County, and could only rely on plundering along the way to replenish military rations, and their first target was Shuyang County, thirty miles away.

Yuan Min was very silent along the way, in fact, at the beginning of the year, Yuan Min received a letter from his uncle, telling him that it was impossible for the Yuan family to replace the Li family, and that the family had decided to abandon the plan to establish a country, urging him to return to Chang'an as soon as possible.

In the past few months, Yuan Min wanted to leave several times, but he was noticed by Yu Wenhua, Yu Wenhua and angry to kill him to sacrifice the flag, thanks to Yu Wen Zhi and Li Bao was forgiven, but Yu Wen Wen and still not at ease, ordered Yu Wen Zhi and responsible for monitoring him, and threatened his brother, if Yuan Min ran away, he Yu Wen Zhi and will also be guilty.

It is precisely for this reason that Yuwen Zhi and Won Min have to take Won Min with him wherever he goes, including this time to Donghai County to grab grain.

Yuwen Zhihe glanced at him, and said with some dissatisfaction: "Why is Brother Yuan depressed all day long, just like being forced to pay debts for money." ”

Yuan Min thought for a moment and said slowly: "Actually, I told Your Majesty before that we should join forces with Wang Shichong to attack the Wagang army in the north and south, and the Wagang army will definitely be defeated."

Without waiting for him to finish, Yuwen Zhiji said coldly: "Then I will send you an envoy, and when you are halfway through, you will turn around and go to Chang'an, more!" ”

"What do you mean by that?"

Yuwen Zhiji snorted, "Don't think I don't understand your little thoughts, you think that our Yuwen clan is going to be finished, so you want to slip away first, and then clear up the relationship with us, and tell you not to dream, if I didn't take care of the old friendship, you would have died a long time ago." ”

Yuan Min's face was red and white for a while, and he quibbled: "It's because you didn't listen to my plan that you have fallen to this point today, if you had listened to my plan, we would have occupied Jingxiang a long time ago!" ”

Yu Wenzhi looked at him viciously, "I haven't forgotten, who was the person who tried to persuade my brother to go north to Xuzhou in the first place?" Now I want to pay my debts again, when I'm an idiot? ”

After speaking, Yuwen Zhihe whipped the war horse and ran towards the front army, there were soldiers looking for him, looking at Yuwen Zhi and the distance, Yuan Min hated and pulled out the sword, and several cavalry around him suddenly looked at him vigilantly, and held down the handle of the knife together, this is the soldier who monitored him, Yuan Min was helpless, so he had to put the knife back into the scabbard with hatred.

The night was about to pass, the moon was shining like water, and the meadows, woods, rivers, and hillsides were covered with a silvery glow, and the earth seemed silent.

The army had stopped advancing, and the way was blocked by a sparkling river, which was Shushui, which originated in Langya County, flowed through most of Donghai County, and finally flowed into Donghai.

Shushui is more than 30 zhang wide, the water flow is relatively gentle, and the opposite bank is Shuyang County, under the moonlight, the soldiers can clearly see the county city wall.

Yuwen Zhiji looked at the width of the river, although the current was gentle, but the river was very deep, most of his soldiers did not know water, and had to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river.

Yu Wenzhi immediately ordered: "The fourth, fifth, and sixth battalions will cut down trees to build pontoon bridges, and the soldiers of the other three battalions will rest on the spot!" ”

Among the six battalions that went out, the first three battalions were the descendants of Yuwen Zhihe, and the last three battalions were the team of General Song Tao, and Yuwen Zhihe would of course be treated differently.

Three thousand soldiers scolded and went to cut down trees and build bridges around, and the rest of the soldiers sat tiredly on both sides of the official road to rest, Yu Wenzhi and saw that the morale was a little low, so he cheered up the soldiers and said: "When Shuyang County is taken, everyone can grab it as much as you want, women can play as you like, as long as you can take it, you can take all your property away." ”

In order to control this Xiaoguo army, the Yuwen brothers used a very effective but also the worst method, indulging the army to loot ****, most of the soldiers in the army are from Guanzhong, bent on making a fortune and going home, they have no sense of identity with the Xuzhou area, and for more than half a year, they have brought deep disasters to Pengcheng and Xiapi counties.

But on the other hand, the Yuwen brothers have thus controlled this army, and although they have paid a great moral price, this price is no longer significant to their brothers.

With the promise and encouragement of Yuwen Zhiji, the morale of thousands of soldiers began to be boosted, and the speed of cutting down large trees to build pontoon bridges was also accelerated, and everyone was eager to cross the river and kill into Shuyang City.

At this moment, the earth suddenly shook slightly, many soldiers were aware of it, the soldiers lying on the ground jumped up one after another, looking around in horror, these soldiers turned out to be Xiaoguo cavalry, although the war horse was used as military food, but the experience of the cavalry was still there, they all immediately realized what this shaking meant, the soldiers were in confusion, and many people shouted.

"The cavalry is coming, and the cavalry is coming!"

Yuwen Zhiji was also stunned, and after a while, he suddenly reacted and immediately shouted: "The army is assembled immediately!" ”

At this time, the soldiers who were cutting trees in the woods to the south cried and ran out, and behind them, the black-pressed cavalry chased out of the woods, slashing with bright swords, and ruthlessly assassinating these Xu soldiers who were scattered and fleeing.

In the west and north, the overwhelming cavalry rushed towards the river, and before the Xu army could complete the formation, the thousands of cavalry in the north took the lead in killing, Pei Xingyan waved his lance and shouted: "Kill me, kill these beasts!" ”

The horse's hooves flew and rushed into the enemy ranks in a frenzy, countless soldiers were knocked down by the horses, wailing and struggling under the iron hooves, but the cold tip of the lance ruthlessly pierced their chests, although the Xu soldiers resisted desperately, there was still no suspense about the outcome of the victory, 30,000 cavalry surrounded the 6,000 infantry regiments, and the Xu soldiers had no choice but to die in despair.

Yuan Min's idea of fleeing was finally cut off, he died in the chaos of the army, his horse was like mud, and no one recognized the bloody corpse as the mastermind of the Jiangdu Incident, and his head was cut off by a soldier for credit.

In desperation, thousands of soldiers jumped into the water to flee for their lives, but most of the diving soldiers were dragged into the bottom of the river by heavy armor, and only a few soldiers with good water skills took off their armor in time and swam to the other side, they stumbled into the distance for fear of being killed by the people.

At dawn, with the last hundreds of soldiers killed by the cavalry, the massacre finally ended, except for less than 100 soldiers who escaped by swimming, the rest of the soldiers were either killed by the cavalry, or drowned in Shushui, the Sui army did not leave prisoners of war, these soldiers were deeply guilty and did not deserve pity, and the Sui army must use the most severe punishment to win the support of the people of Xuzhou.

The main general Yuwen Zhihe did not die, he was recognized by the Sui cavalry, and was captured alive by the Sui army when he broke through and escaped, Yuwen Zhihe was tied up by two soldiers and carried to Pei Xingyan, his legs were weak and he was already unstable on his feet.

"Yuwen Zhiji, I didn't think you would have today?" Pei Xingyan said coldly.

Yuwen Zhihe was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he trembled and said: "I am willing to persuade my brother to surrender, and I hope that the general will spare his life!" ”

Pei Xingyan shook his head, "I won't kill you, because I don't have the right to kill you, and the life and death of you and Yu Wenhua will be decided by His Royal Highness King Qi, and they will be pulled down and put into the prison car!" ”

Yuwen Zhihe was taken down, Pei Xingyan looked at the battlefield covered with blood and corpses, he was really unhappy, these soldiers were too fierce, and the cavalry also suffered nearly a thousand casualties, Pei Xingyan immediately ordered to the left and right: "Clean up the battlefield!" Then we went to Qishan County to meet the arrival of the coach. ”

Yu Wenhua never imagined that he wanted to kill Donghai County to seize the grain of Qishan County, but Zhang Xuan, the regent of the Northern Sui Dynasty, arrived in Donghai County at this time.

Of course, Zhang Xuan was just passing by Donghai County, he was going to Jiangdu to inspect, as the de facto supreme ruler of the Northern Sui, when his army took strategic points, he should appear there in time to appease the people and win the support of the local clans, not to mention that Jiangdu is still the place where he once stayed, and he has a certain affection for there.

Jang Hyun arrived in Donghae County under the escort of 3,000 troops, and was warmly welcomed by the officials and people of Donghae County.

Although Xu Yannian, the Taishou of Donghai County, was coerced and lured by Zhang Xuan to surrender at the beginning, he did a very good job as a Taishou and was quite capable, governing Donghai County in an orderly manner, and the population gradually increased.

The endless wilderness south of Qishan County is covered with dense tents, which are temporary refuge for hundreds of thousands of Xuzhou refugees, and hundreds of officials temporarily transferred from various counties in Qingzhou are busy in the camp, and they have rich experience in reetting refugees.

It was still early in the morning, and the camp was very quiet, with only groups of soldiers patrolling back and forth on the camp roads, maintaining order in the camp.

Xu Yannian pointed to the refugee camp and reported to Zhang Xuanyu: "Your Highness, as of yesterday, a total of more than 234,500 refugees have been accommodated, basically from Pengcheng County and Xiapi County. ”

Zhang Xuan heard that he knew a lot about the situation of refugees, so he asked with a smile: "Is Xu Taishou directly in charge of the refugees?" ”

"It's not! Weichen only assists in management, and the person in charge of managing the refugees is Huang Juncheng of Qi County. ”

"Is **** here?" Zhang Xuan asked with a smile.

"Exactly, although Huang Juncheng is young, he is very capable."

Zhang Xuan nodded, and said to the soldiers on the left and right: "Go and find him to see me!" (To be continued.) )