The next morning, Luo Bingqian's army had reached the north of the Huai River in Shanyang County, and thousands of soldiers stood on the side of the Huai River to shoot arrows at the boats in the river, although there was no effect, but they were extremely provocative, but Zhang Xuan ordered that no one was allowed to counterattack, and his army was still stationed in Shanyang County, without any movement, like a tiger lying on the mountain rock staring at its prey.

The patience of the Sui army and the arrogance of the thief army were in stark contrast, although many Sui soldiers felt puzzled and dissatisfied, but Zhang Xuan's personal strong prestige suppressed the complaints of all people, and Zhang Xuan did not intend to explain clearly to the generals, sometimes maintaining a kind of autocracy and arrogance is often more majestic.

If we go back ten days, we will find the true intention of Meng Haigong in doing this.

Ten days ago, in Huainan County, a messenger cavalry galloped past the southern gate of Shouchun County and ran to the camp of the thief army about five miles south of the county seat.

Thirty-five thousand troops have been assembled here, and the fiasco of the sneak attack in Licheng County made Du Fuwei dare not act rashly, but he is not reconciled, if there is a real opportunity, he may not be moved.

Du Fuwei was also paying attention to Meng Haigong's every move, he was originally allied with Meng Haigong, and after Meng Haigong was recruited by the imperial court, the alliance between them was in a state of rupture.

But since Meng Haigong raised troops again, the old friendship between them has shown signs of recovery.

"King Qiqi, there is an urgent letter from Pengcheng!"

A report from the soldiers came from the door of the tent, and Du Fuwei, who was pondering, hurriedly said: "Come in!" ”

In a moment, a messenger walked into the big tent quickly, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "By the order of my lord, I hereby send a message to the king." ”

With that, he held a scroll high in both hands, and his own soldiers presented the letter to Du Fuwei.

"Any more messages?"

"Returning to the King. There is no need for a message. ”

"Take him to rest and eat."

Du Fuwei waved his hand and asked the soldiers to retreat with the messenger, he spread out the letter on the table, and skimmed through it, the content of the letter made him a little unconvinced.

'Zhang Xuan has already stationed troops in the Huai River? ’

Du Fuwei's brows furrowed, of course he understood what Meng Haigong was referring to, Zhang Xuan was planning to enter the Central Plains. But is it possible? Maybe it's just to prevent Menghai Gongnan from invading Jiangdu.

Du Fuwei read the letter carefully, and at the end of the letter he found a sentence, "The imperial court has approved Zhang Xuan's request to send troops. ’

This sentence made Du Fuwei stand up suddenly, and he immediately ordered the soldiers on the left and right: "Let the left army division come to see me immediately." ”

In a moment, a thin middle-aged man hurried over, it was Du Fuwei's military adviser Zuo Caixiang, who had not played a role in the previous wars, because he had been preparing military rations in Huainan.

Zuo Cai was in charge of Du Fuwei's intelligence system at the same time, and a lot of important information had to pass through his hands first. He walked into the tent and bowed, "See the king!" ”

Du Fuwei handed him Meng Haigong's letter, "This is Meng Haigong just sent someone to deliver it, you can take a look first." ”

Zuo Caixiang read the letter carefully, and he was also secretly surprised in his heart, he also realized that Zhang Xuan might attack Meng Haigong and contain Meng Haigong from continuing to expand.

"Do you think it's possible?"

Zuo Caixiang nodded, "I think it's very possible!" ”

Duvowe was in good spirits. "Why?"

"Without him, Zhang Xuan can't leave Qingzhou. His 20,000 troops are all Qingzhou soldiers, which is destined to be his dead knot, unless the imperial court has a heavy army in Qingzhou, otherwise Zhang Xuan will definitely go north to contain Meng Haigong. ”

Du Fuwei nodded slowly, worthy of being his own military advisor, and his vision was really unique. One sentence penetrates Jang Hyun's bottom line.

He took a few steps and asked, "Isn't he worried that I'll take advantage of it?" ”

"In the battle of Liyang, he may have thought that the king retreated in a corner of Huainan, and the king would not dare to challenge the Sui army in two or three years."

Speaking of this, Zuo Caixiang suddenly realized, "The king doesn't really want to take the opportunity to attack Jiangdu, right?" ”

Du Fuwei was silent for a long time before he said: "If Zhang Xuan is not in Jiangdu." I am sure that I will capture Jiangdu, I think, with the importance of Jiangdu to the emperor of the Great Sui, as long as Jiangdu is lost, Zhang Xuan will not be able to escape the blame no matter what, at least he will be demoted and transferred, and at worst he will be dismissed and sent to prison and severely punished, just like Yu Juluo, he will die in prison sooner or later, I think this is an opportunity to drive Zhang Xuan out of Jianghuai. ”

"This matter is very important, please think twice!"

"I'll think it through!"

Du Fuwei said in an accentuated tone: "I now want to know whether the emperor of the Sui Dynasty has issued an order to agree to Zhang Xuan's northward departure, you immediately use the flying pigeon to send a message to Luoyang, so that our people can confirm it." ”

．．．．．．．

Just when the Sui army was always standing still in Jianghuai, a thief army of about 30,000 people had quietly killed in the area of Yongfu County in Jiangdu County, which was the last army that Du Fuwei assembled, and it was also his entire capital.

In the drizzly night, Du Fuwei's army was stationed by a small river east of Vinh Phuc County, and tens of thousands of soldiers were busy burying pots and cooking.

Du Fuwei stood on the hill by the river, his eyes staring coldly to the east, followed by a group of generals.

"Brother Xian, isn't it a bit reckless for us to raid like this?" Behind him, the assistant was very worried.

Fu Gongqi knows Du Fuwei very well, Du Fuwei loves adventure in his bones, and Jianghuai is to some extent captured by Du Fuwei's adventure, but Du Fuwei's fiasco in Liyang County has made Fu Gongwei feel uneasy to this day, and he has an inexplicable fear of Zhang Xuan.

After a while, Du Fuwei said coldly: "I can't let Zhang Xuan stay in Jianghuai, it is our nightmare for him to stay in Jianghuai." ”

He looked back at the auxiliary prince and said: "Jiang Du is the reverse scale of today's son, once Jiangdu is lost, the current emperor will never spare Zhang Xuan lightly, and will not let him stay in Jiangdu again, this is also our only chance to get rid of Zhang Xuan." ”

"But ......."

Fu Gong sighed, "I'm worried about Zhang Xuan, he is really cunning, although he led the army north, he didn't attack, maybe he was just waiting for us to throw himself into the net." ”

"I also know that Jang Hyun is cunning, so I also have to make sure that he really goes north, otherwise I won't attack recklessly."

Du Fuwei was also very jealous of Zhang Xuan, he felt the worry in Fu Gong's heart, so he comforted him and said: "Brother don't worry, Meng Haigong will also cooperate with us, he will lure Zhang Xuan to the north and create opportunities for us." ”

"Brother Xian, there is something I don't know whether to say or not."

"Brother, please speak!"

Fu Gong said worriedly: "Meng Haigong is a person with despicable morals and repeated untrustworthiness, although he keeps saying that he will create opportunities for us, but I think his words may not be reliable, and he will even deliberately sacrifice us to fulfill himself." ”

"Brother is too worried!"

"Nope! It's not an overthought. ”

Fu Gong's voice suddenly raised, and he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, "Did you forget?" Last year, Meng Haigong invited us to attack Xiaqiu County together, but our army went, but was ambushed by Yang Yichen, thousands of brothers were killed, and Meng Haigong's shadow was nowhere to be seen. ”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and finally knelt down on one knee and begged: "It's a matter of our life and death, Brother Xian, just listen to me this time!" Don't be deceived by Meng Haigong. ”

The right general Wang Xiongdan also begged Du Fuwei bitterly: "King, this is our last bit of capital, if we are defeated by the Sui army again, we will have no foothold in Jianghuai, please be cautious!" “

"The king is cautious!" Dozens of generals in the back also knelt down one after another,

Looking at everyone's worried faces, Du Fuwei also hesitated a little, he didn't expect that everyone would oppose his surprise attack on Jiangdu, he had to start thinking about the consequences, once he failed again, he would lose his prestige, and I am afraid that no one would obey his orders anymore.

"Alright! I accept everyone's advice, I will act cautiously, and I will not send troops to Jiangdu until I am absolutely sure. Duvowe had to give in to the crowd.

……….

On an abandoned official road about thirty miles northeast of Yongfu County, a team of twenty scouts galloped through the mud, and they were the outpost scouts of the Sui army.

At this time, it was the fifth watch, the rain had stopped, the dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, revealing a deep black sky, a cold full moon came out of the dark clouds, and the silver moonlight sprinkled all over the earth.

At this time, they suddenly found something, reined in their horses, and looked at the dense forest on the left.

The scout team was already prepared, swinging their swords to slash the oncoming Ming Di, which was actually an order to attack, and immediately rushed out from the woods dozens of paces away, nearly a thousand thief soldiers, killing from all directions.

The first member of the burly general, holding an eighty-pound mountain-splitting axe, is Du Fuwei's number one warrior Wang Xiongdan, he shouted and ordered: "Cut off their retreat, give me a life!" ”

More than 300 thieves first cut off the retreat of the Sui scouts, they did not release arrows, obviously trying to capture the scouts alive.

"Breakout!"

The Sui scouts realized that something was wrong, and immediately ordered the scouts to break through.

They turned their horses and broke through to the east, and were met with hundreds of thieves and soldiers, and on the narrow and muddy official road, the cavalry did not have the advantage, and the two armies fought fiercely, spears pierced, blood foamed everywhere, and the two sides continued to scream in hand-to-hand combat.

At this time, the two cavalrymen finally fought desperately to open a gap, and the remaining nine Sui scouts followed them to fight their way out of the encirclement and fled to the northeast.

The thieves did not pursue, and they captured two wounded Sui scouts. (To be continued.) )