On the east bank of Liaoshui, thousands of tents have just been set up, densely packed and stretching for several miles, and 30,000 Goryeo reinforcements have arrived, but at this time, the battle in Yancheng County has ended for three days.

Gai Suwen stood on the shore of Liaoshui with his hands behind his back, staring at the other bank with a cold gaze, and no expression could be seen on his face, which was in line with his character, and his joy and anger were invisible.

He already knew about the defeat of Yancheng, some of the defeated troops swam across the Liaoshui with logs, and his father had no news so far, either he was captured or killed, he knew it, but he was helpless.

At this moment, a soldier beside him pointed to the river and shouted: "Young master, a boat has come from the river." ”

Gai Suwen had already seen that Ye Bian's boat was approaching from the opposite bank, and there were only a rowing boat and a green-robed scribe on board, and the scribe was standing at the bow of the boat with his hands in his hands, wearing a gauze hat on his head, and was about thirty years old.

"Bring him to me!" Gai Suwen coldly ordered, he had already guessed that this must be the Sui envoy.

As the boat approached the shore, it was immediately surrounded by hundreds of Goryeo soldiers, and the scribe was none other than Sun Jiayan, the mastermind of the original Gao Kaidao, who surrendered to Luo Shixin and came to envoy to Goryeo in the name of Yang Yuanqing.

Sun Jiayan is a native of Yanjun and can speak fluent Goryeo, he arched his hand and smiled: "Tell your general, His Royal Highness the King of Chu of the Great Sui Dynasty asks to see him!" ”

Several personal soldiers led him to Gai Suwen, and the two looked at each other, and they were shocked, and they were stunned, and they were surprised that Sun Jiayan was surprised that the King of Chu had expected things accurately, and he actually expected that it must be Gai Suwen who came to the rescue in person, and it was really him.

And it was Gai Suwen who was stunned, he knew Sun Jiayan, the chief military advisor under Gao Kaidao's account, and he actually became a Sui envoy.

"Is Gao Kaidao dead?" Gai Suwen asked contemptuously Sun Jiayan understood what he meant, he was mocking himself for betraying his lord and surrendering to the Sui Dynasty, and he also smiled lightly: "I am originally a Sui people, and it is natural to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty, which is better than being loyal to a foreign race and betraying the nation, but I think that Young Lord Yuan should be more concerned about Ling Zun at this time." ”

"Honor!"

Gai Suwen snorted coldly, "Say it! ”

"I am ordered by His Royal Highness the King of Chu ......"

"Wait!"

Gai Suwen interrupted him, "Yang Yuanqing is in Liaodong? ”

"Exactly, His Royal Highness the King of Chu who defeated Yuanxiangguo, and now Yuanxiangguo is a guest in Liucheng County."

Gai Suwen's face became ugly, and after a while, he asked, "What does Yang Yuanqing mean, and what conditions does he have to let my father go?" ”

Sun Jiayan took out a letter and handed it to Gai Suwen: "This is Ling Zun's letter!" ”

Gai Suwen opened the letter and looked at it, it was his father's handwritten letter, he seemed to have said something else in Liucheng County now, but the content behind it was torn up, and this letter proved that his father was indeed captured.

Gai Suwen sighed, "Mr. Sun, please continue!" ”

Sun Jiayan said unhurriedly: "The Yuan Xiang Kingdom has been a guest in the Sui Dynasty for a long time, and it is inconvenient to continue to rule Goryeo, so it is naturally the Yuan Shao Lord to succeed the Goryeo State Mo Lizhi, His Royal Highness the King of Chu hopes that the Yuan Young Lord can smoothly take over the military and political power of Goryeo, destroy Silla and Baekje as soon as possible, and unify the Three Kingdoms." ”

Gai Suwen's face instantly turned pale, Yang Yuanqing actually saw through his thoughts, although he led the army to support, but deep down he didn't want his father to come back, and at the same time, Yang Yuanqing was also threatening him, not only using his father to threaten him, but also using Silla and Baekje to threaten him.

Gai Suwen looked at Sun Jiayan deeply for a long time, and waved his hand, "Please!" Sir, please come to my big tent and talk about it in detail. ”

Gai Suwen's attitude changed quickly, so that Sun Jiayan felt that Yang Yuanqing's thoughts were far-reaching, he saw through the situation in Goryeo, and also saw through Gai Suwen's thoughts, Gai Suwen did not want his father to come back, only in the absence of Yuan Taiqi, Gai Suwen could take charge of Goryeo.

When they entered the big tent, Gai Suwen immediately ordered his soldiers, "No one is allowed to go near the big tent without my orders, and those who violate it will be killed!" ”

The soldiers went to guard outside the tent, and only Gai Suwen and Sun Jiayan were left in the big tent, Gai Suwen pondered for a long time, and then slowly asked: "I want to know, what are the conditions of the king of Chu?" ”

"The conditions of the king of Chu are very simple, within five years, the Goryeo army will not be allowed to step across the Liaoshui."

Gai Suwen pondered for a long time, he needed two years to master the military and political power, and then he also needed time to destroy Silla and Baekje, Yang Yuanqing could agree to this condition.

"Alright! I promised the king of Chu that within five years, the Goryeo army would not step across the Liaoshui River, and I would never break my word. ”

In fact, a so-called oath or covenant cannot stop Gai Suwen's ambitions, and the key is that Yang Yuanqing also knows that two or three years after Gai Suwen succeeded his father, he did not have the energy to invade Liaodong in the west, and this is the political pattern that will inevitably be formed after seizing Yuan Taiqi, and there will be power struggles and even civil strife within Goryeo, which is very important for stabilizing the situation in Liao.

Sun Jiayan smiled slightly, "We still have 13,000 Goryeo prisoners of war in our hands, is Young Master Yuan willing to ransom them back?" ”

Gai Suwen's face became ugly, the elite of the 50,000 Goryeo army went west, and only more than 2,000 people fled back, and there were only 10,000 prisoners of war, so the number of dead reached 38,000, which was also cruel, he hated it in his heart, but he was helpless! He needed this army so much that he had to ask, "What conditions can redeem them?" ”

Sun Jiayan said without hesitation: "When the Sui army hastily withdrew, leaving a mountain of materials in Goryeo, and 30,000 Sui soldiers became prisoners, and now the Dongjiang mine in Goryeo is working as coolies, and the condition we offer is to release all the Sui prisoners of war. ”

"Bang!" Gai Suwen slapped the table heavily, and said angrily: "Yang Yuanqing is too much!" ”

Sun Jiayan sneered, "Each other, each other!" ”

Gai Suwen paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, -- ten thousand prisoners of war could not come back, and he could only admit it, but he must not allow his father to be given to King Rongliu, who was his political enemy, and once his father fell into the hands of Rong Liufeng, his power would be greatly weakened, and Yang Yuanqing seized his father and made him passive step by step.

In the end, he stopped, didn't look back, and asked helplessly, "Then how to exchange?" ”

"We will build a pontoon bridge, and you will first release the 30,000 Sui prisoners of war, and we will release the Goryeo prisoners of war, which is the promise of the King of Chu."

Gai Suwen was pinched by Yang Yuanqing, he had no choice, so he had to nod, "Okay!" We will make up our word. ”

……

Ten days later, Yang Yuanqing also led 30,000 troops to Huaiyuan Town, and the army was remanded to Zun-13,000 Goryeo prisoners of war, including 3,000 Goryeo soldiers captured in the logistics camp on the east bank of Liaoshui.

The army set up a large camp in Liaoshui, at this time, a simple pontoon bridge on Liaoshui has been built, Yang Yuanqing stood by the river, looking at the other bank of Liaoshui, and could vaguely see that the opposite bank was also full of camp tents.

Although the third campaign against Goryeo more than three years ago ended with the surrender of the king of Goryeo, in fact it was only a kind of decent armistice, and neither side had the energy and national strength to fight again, and the prisoners of war that should be negotiated after the war -- land and materials -- were all closed.

In this battle of Liaodong, the Sui army captured a large amount of grain and materials, and the grain of Gao Kaidao and the Goryeo army alone added up to 400,000 stones, which was enough to support Hebei for more than half a year.

Now Yang Yuanqing is concerned about the return of 30,000 prisoners of war, according to the confession of the prisoners of war of the Goryeo army, nearly 100,000 prisoners of war of the Sui army were escorted to open mines, most of them have died in the past six years, and now there are about 30,000 people left, concentrated in the Dongjiang mining area, mining copper and iron ore.

These 30,000 prisoners of war must come back, and since he Yang Yuanqing inherited the mantle of the Sui Dynasty, he had to treat the wounds of the Battle of Goryeo that year, and at the same time, these 30,000 Sui prisoners of war were very beneficial to replenishing the population of Hebei.

Yang Yuanqing sighed deeply and said to Luo Shixin: "Send someone to tell Lin An, let's start!" ”

-- An hour later, a group of ragged Sui soldiers appeared on the pontoon bridge, and they supported each other and slowly walked towards the west bank of Liaoshui, each with tears in their eyes, what kind of gaze it was, excitement-sadness-hope-joy, all the most complicated feelings of mankind were contained in the eyes of these Sui prisoners of war.

He had desperately thought that he would die in a foreign land, never to see their wife, children, and parents again, but he did not expect that after six years of captivity, he would finally be able to return to his homeland and see his relatives again.

They stumbled across the pontoon bridge, threw their heads on the land of their homeland, cried bitterly while holding the soil, and the humiliation and torture of six years were vented to their heart's content on the land of their homeland.

The sound of crying rang out, and all the Sui soldiers who answered them could not help but burst into tears, and the soldiers hurriedly stepped forward, helped them up, and headed for the camp, where hot soup cakes and clean clothes had been prepared for them.

Yang Yuanqing rode on a horse, looking at this scene from a distance, his eyes were also a little moist, he ordered someone to call Sima Cao Sheng, who was in charge of exchanging prisoners of war, and said to him: "First let them be raised in Liucheng for ten days to recover their strength, and then each of them will give them -- a horse -- twenty catties of rice and ten hangs of money, and let them go home, even if they are the soldiers of Guanzhong, let them go back, do not hinder them." ”

"Obedience!" Cao Sheng saluted, turned his horse's head and headed towards the camp.

As more than 32,000 prisoners of war from the Sui army were released, and more than 3,000 prisoners of war from the Goryeo army were also released, and then the pontoon bridge was burned down, Yang Yuanqing stared at the raging flames on the Liaohe River, and for a long time, he said to himself: "There will be a day, and I will come back again." ”

On the other side, Gai Suwen also stared at the fire on the river for a long time, and he also said coldly: "Yang Yuanqing, the shame of the arrow thirteen years ago, the deep enmity of my father and sister, and the humiliation of today, there will always be a day, I will settle accounts with you!" ”