From Pengcheng County to the north is almost a vast plain, there are also some gentle hills and slopes, in addition to rice fields, there are large black forests, and there is also a narrow swamp area of hundreds of miles, which is the Weishan Lake in later generations, at this time the lake has not been fully formed, but has become a swamp, during which the water is dense, hundreds of miles of desolate and uninhabited.

Meng Haigong actually didn't want to go to Qingzhou, he wanted to return to his hometown Donghai County, but Xiapi County had been captured by Zhang Xuan, and the road to Donghai County had been blocked, so he was afraid of Zhang Xuan in his heart, so he had to give up the idea of returning to Donghai County and was forced to go north to Qingzhou.

The 30,000-strong army marched mightily on the official road in the northern part of Pengcheng County, on one side of the official road was a swamp that was hundreds of miles long, and on the other side was a wide Surabaya, and the land that could be walked was only a few miles wide, making the team extraordinarily long, and the 30,000 army plus the logistics baggage stretched for more than 20 miles.

Of course, they could also go north to Pei County, but it was farther away, and Meng Haigong finally gave up going to Pei County and chose to go north along Surabaya.

Meng Haigong's mood at this time was really bad, from the beginning of the army swept Xuzhou, with more than 100,000 troops, and defeated the general Zhang Jin, how brilliant it was at that time, but in less than two months, they quickly fell, only tens of thousands of troops remained, the comparison is really embarrassing.

Meng Haigong also repeatedly considered the reasons for the defeat, in addition to the strong opponent, there was also an important reason that his subordinate generals quickly degenerated, one by one indulged in wine, up and down, in just two months, Pengcheng's Qinglou soared from eight to more than thirty, the entire city was filled with the smell of wine, and the combat effectiveness was declining, how could they not be defeated?

At this time, Meng Haigong's son Meng Yi rode a horse to catch up with his father and said, "Father asked the third uncle to guard Pengcheng County. The child always felt that this was a distraction from our forces. ”

Meng Haigong glared at him fiercely, "We disperse our forces and force the Sui army to disperse our forces as well, at least Yang Yichen will not go north, we will only face Zhang Xuan's army, if we defeat him." We can make a comeback in Qingzhou, do you think I didn't think about it? ”

"The child knows his mistake!"

Seeing that his father was angry, Meng Yi stopped talking, paused, and said in a low voice: "The child has heard about one thing, I'm afraid it's very important." ”

"If there's anything, just say it, don't babble."

"Yes! The child heard that Shang Huaizhu was secretly sent to Jiangdu by the military advisor. ”

Meng Haigong's heart jumped, he also said why he didn't see Shang Huaizhu, it turned out that he was sent away by Han Zhishui. At this time, Meng Haigong suddenly remembered something, Han Zhishui made a suggestion to himself, but he was rejected by himself at that time, did he really do it behind his back?

Meng Haigong was suddenly anxious and annoyed in his heart, and immediately shouted: "Quickly order the military advisor to come to see me?" ”

He asked his son Meng Yi again, "What else do you know?" ”

"The child heard that the military advisor wanted to assassinate Jang Xuan's family and force Jang Xuan to withdraw from the army."

Meng Haigong gritted his teeth with hatred. Sure enough, Han Zhishui was going to kill himself.

Then. Han Zhishui hurried over, "Is there something wrong with the lord looking for me?" ”

Meng Haigong gave his son a look and asked him to leave first, and Meng Haigong said quietly: "I want to discuss with the military advisor, our team is too long now, and the logistics baggage is easy to be attacked by the Sui army." I want to cross Surabaya in Liuxian County, and then go north to Peixian, what does the military advisor think? ”

Han Zhishui hesitated, "If you go to Pei County now, it is better to take the direction of Pei County from the beginning." It is an extra hundred and fifty miles from Lu County, and it is a waste of a day and a half, so it is better to grit your teeth and go north directly. ”

"The military advisor may not understand what I mean, I think that Pengcheng's army will drag Yang Yichen, it is likely that only Zhang Xuan's army will chase us, I want to fight Zhang Xuan in Peixian, if it is possible, I still don't want to go to Qingzhou."

Han Zhishui was stunned, "Why did the king change his mind again?" ”

"Most of my subordinates are from Xuzhou, let them go to Qingzhou, have you considered their feelings?"

"But if the king wants to do big things, how can he take care of this little thing, after he has a firm foundation in Qingzhou, it is not too late to come back."

Meng Haigong's face became more and more gloomy, and he said coldly: "Isn't it okay for me to make a decision?" ”

Han Zhishui was silent, and after a while, he nodded, "If the king decides to fight with Zhang Xuan, there is no opinion on the lowly position, and the lowly position will prepare first!" ”

Han Zhishui turned around and left, Meng Haigong never mentioned Shang Huaizhu's matter, now is the time to employ people, he doesn't want to turn his face with Han Zhishui, he looked up at the sky, it was getting late, he ordered: "Twenty miles more march to the camp!" ”

At this moment, there was a commotion from behind, and someone shouted: "Something has happened to the rear army!" Meng Haigong was taken aback, looked back, and saw thick smoke billowing in the distance, which was the direction of his grain and grass baggage team, Meng Haigong was shocked, and urged the horse to gallop behind.

A cavalry of more than 1,000 Sui troops, led by Pei Xingyan, broke through the defensive line of the rear army, and they set fire to carts full of grain and forage, and the fire spread rapidly, and even the carts carrying tents were set on fire.

The war horse galloped, and the Sui soldiers threw torches onto the cart, and even if the rest of the carts were too late to burn, they would be split by the Sui army with a knife, and once the axle was broken, the entire cart would be completely destroyed.

At this time, more than 10,000 thieves in the distance swooped down on this side, Pei Xingyan saw that the other party was fierce, and shouted: "Retreat!" ”

A group of cavalry turned around one after another, following Pei Xingyan to retreat to the southeast, the Sui army had already opened a passage there, and in a moment, the Sui cavalry retreated cleanly.

The thieves killed from all directions, they didn't care about pursuing the Sui army, desperately trying to rescue food supplies, at this time, Meng Haigong also came, looking at the burned cart baggage, he was so angry that his face was pale, his fists were clenched rattling, and the rear army of tens of thousands of people was so easily won by the Sui cavalry, if the two armies were facing each other, how much chance did they have?

"Father, there's no way to go anymore, just stay in the camp!" Meng Yi whispered on the side.

Meng Haigong wanted to go to stay in the county to camp in front of him, but the situation in front of him was really bad, most of the vehicles were damaged, food and materials were piled up, and when they finished cleaning up, it was already dark, helpless, Meng Haigong had to shout: "Pass my order, camp on the spot!" ”

Just when the thief army was stationed on the spot, the 15,000 army led by Zhang Xuan also set up a large camp thirty miles away, and his army entered Pengcheng County from Xiapi County and chased all the way, basically without much rest, the soldiers were very tired, although they were about to catch up with the thieves, but Zhang Xuan was still unwilling to take risks, and ordered the soldiers to camp on the spot to rest.

In the big tent, Zhang Xuan stood in front of the sand table with his hands in his hands, his eyes flashed with anger, just now he received news from Jiangdu, Meng Haigong actually sent an assassin to assassinate his family, fortunately Zhang Chuchen protected him in time, the assassin did not succeed, but this despicable act made him tremble.

They thought that if they assassinated their own family, they would withdraw their troops back to Jianghuai, but he may not have thought things too simply, and assassinating his family would only bring them a hundredfold and a thousandfold revenge.

Jang Hyun tries to calm his anger down, and although he is very happy that his wife is pregnant, this assassination also makes him realize that in the future, he will not only face the threat of enemy troops, but also the revenge of other enemies, and he must once again strengthen the safety of his future wife and children.

"General Pei is here!"

The report outside the tent interrupted Zhang Xuan's thoughts, and he nodded, "Let him in!" ”

After a while, Pei Xingyan strode into the big tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the general." ”

"Hurry up!"

Zhang Xuan hurriedly smiled and helped him up, "I'm waiting for the information, tell me about the situation of the enemy army first." ”

"Returning to the general, I didn't have much hope for the lowly duty to sneak attack the enemy's baggage today, after all, the baggage convoy was heavily guarded by tens of thousands of troops, but I didn't expect it to tear apart the opponent's defense line very easily, and I had a strange feeling at that time."

"What's that weird feeling?" Jang Hyun asked.

"The lowly felt that the thieves seemed to want us to burn the grain and baggage, and when we rushed over, they dodged in both directions, shouting fiercely, but there was no effective resistance, and when we lit the fire and burned the grain, they watched from a distance, which was really interesting."

Zhang Xuan laughed, "This may be a kind of rebellion that they don't want to go to Qingzhou, the thieves and soldiers are all from Xuzhou, and no one wants to leave their hometown and flee to Qingzhou, and burn the grain, so everyone can't go better." ”

"It seems that this is the case, the morale of the thief army is very low, and the march to the north is very slow."

Zhang Xuan walked back and forth a few steps with his hands in his hands, pondered for a moment and said to Pei Xingyan: "Whether our speculation is correct or not, but the strategy of the tired army must be needed, you don't have to sneak attack the other party's food and grass anymore, just give me to attack the enemy army, let them rest well, and try to make them tired." ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

Pei Xingyan bowed and strode away. (To be continued.) )