Since Yang Yuanqing purged military discipline on a large scale in Heyang County, Xu Shiji has never laughed again, this is the biggest shame of his military career, of course, this shame is not given to him by Yang Yuanqing, but the bitter wine that he was too tolerant of the soldiers and finally brewed.

In the army under his jurisdiction, there were two factions, the Douzigang faction and the Gaojibo faction, which were the centers of the two major bandits in the world, and more importantly, he actually knew nothing about it, which made him deeply hate his incompetence.

In fact, as long as there are factions in the crowd, since ancient times, there will be factions in any army, and there will be competing interests, maybe not called the Douzigang faction and the Gaojibo faction, but it will also be other names, such as the Hedong faction and the Hebei faction and so on.

Gangs have their own rules, and when there is a conflict between gang rules and military discipline, incidents of discipline will naturally occur.

This kind of common sense in the army, can Yang Yuanqingyan, who has been in the army for nearly 20 years, know it? In fact, he is just using the topic to play to rectify military discipline and restrain the arrogance of soldiers.

Xu Shiji also understood a little bit, but he didn't know about the existence of gangs in the army, plus he was a very serious person, and he couldn't rub the slightest sand in his eyes, Yang Yuanqing's severe punishment for disciplinary violations made him feel deeply ashamed and blamed.

But Yang Yuanqing didn't care about his mistakes, and still appointed him as the chief general of the Western Route Army, which made Xu Shiji's heart extremely moved.

This time he sent troops to Hongnong County, Yang Yuanqing also gave him the right to self-determination in battle, Xu Shiji had already held his breath, he wanted to completely turn over in this battle and wash away the shame on him.

A Sui army of 20,000 men marched rapidly between the hills in the northern part of Hongnong County, with endless undulating hills and dense forests in the distance, and villages scattered on the edge of the plains between the hills.

The wheat harvest has been completed, the fields are full of green rice seedlings, and farmers can be seen busy plowing the fields from time to time. They raised their heads from afar and looked at the team speeding westward in amazement, their eyes full of melancholy, could it be that the war in Luoyang was going to affect Hongnong County?

The army had already passed Hongnong County and was speeding in the direction of Changyuan County, which was an extremely important logistical grain and grass center for the Tang Army, and had hoarded a large amount of grain, grass and military supplies.

At this time, the deputy general Gao Zikai rode a horse and galloped over. and Xu Shiji walked side by side. He asked worriedly, "General Xu, the chief manager asked us to hold Hangu Pass and block the reinforcements from Tongguan. Now that we leave Hangu Pass and transfer to Changyuan County, will there be Tongguan reinforcements all the way east. Causing us to be guilty of dereliction of duty? ”

Xu Shiji was confident, and said lightly: "The general manager ordered us to keep the letter to Guguan, in fact, it is not to defend against the enemy who came to the aid of Tongguan to the east, the general manager is actually building momentum and forcing Li Shimin's army to retreat westward, as long as Li Shimin's army retreats westward, then Li Jing's pressure in Xingyang will be reduced, and without worries, he can calmly go south to fight with Li Xiaogong's troops." In fact, our task was to attract Li Shimin's army to Hongnong County and not let him retreat south to Xiangcheng County. ”

Hongnong County and Yingchuan County are separated by a Xiangcheng County, which is located directly south of Luoyang, and if Li Shimin's army retreats south to Xiangcheng County, it is possible to support each other with Li Xiaogong's army, thus creating a situation where one plus one is greater than two.

Contrarily. If Li Shimin is attracted to Hongnong County, then there will be no contact between Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong, and they will fight separately, and the situation will be favorable to the Sui army.

Gao Zikai could understand what Xu Shiji meant, and he frowned slightly. "Couldn't Li Shimin think of it? There are so many talented people and strategists around him, can't they think of it? ”

Xu Shiji finally showed a rare smile on his face. "Of course Li Shimin wants it, and his advisers, such as Fang Xuanling, Eldest Sun Wuji and others, also want it, but there are some things they can't help themselves."

Speaking of this, Xu Shiji pointed to the farmers in the distance and said: "A few days ago, it was a big double robbery, the people requisitioned by the Tang Army have already gone home to plant rice, no one carries grain and grass materials for them, and they dare not forcibly recruit the people of Hongnong County, which will provoke a civil uprising, so what should they do?" Throw away the logistics and military rations, and go directly to Xiangcheng County? ”

Gao Zikai suddenly said, I see, he thought about it and said: "But they can divide the troops, for example, 20,000 troops come to Changyuan County to guard grain and grass, and the rest of the tens of thousands of troops go to Xiangcheng County, isn't this okay?" ”

Xu Shiji shook his head slowly, "This is more dangerous, if the main force of the Sui army in charge ignores the army of Xiangcheng County and concentrates superior forces to annihilate the 20,000 Tang army in Changyuan, do you think Li Shimin will do this?" ”

Gao Zi opened his mouth and stammered, he finally understood that as long as the logistics of the Tang army were in Changyuan County, Li Shimin would have to withdraw his troops back to Hongnong County.

Xu Shiji sighed slightly, "I think this is Li Tang's decision-making mistake, we shouldn't divide the troops to map the Central Plains, if Li Xiaogong's army came to support Luoyang at the beginning, Luoyang would have been taken long ago, they combined their troops together, there were nearly 200,000 troops, take Luoyang, and then concentrate on defending the Sui army to the south, then we will be passive." ”

In fact, Xu Shiji's speculation is not entirely correct, because at the beginning, the Tang army did not have the intention of plotting the Central Plains, and only considered capturing Luoyang, and it was only because Li Mi exposed his intention to move eastward that the Tang army temporarily made a decision and ordered Li Xiaogong to go north to Yingchuan County.

What's more critical is that the Sui army was a preemptive strike, and the deployment of troops was very targeted, which also counterbalanced the possibility of Li Xiaogong and Li Shimin joining forces.

At this time, a local soldier pointed to the distance and shouted: "General Xu, look over there, there is Yangjia Village!" ”

Xu Shiji also saw that there was a gentle hill about five miles away, the hills were densely forested, and along the edge of the hills, there was a large village of about 300 households.

Xu Shiji was quite impressed, it turned out that this was the ancestral home of the governor, and the powerful minister Yang Su came out of here, and Yang Zhong, the ancestor of Sui Yang, also boasted of being Hongnong Yang, a generation of Sui Dynasty, and had too many marks on this Yangjia Village.

Gao Zikai looked at it for a long time, and said in a low voice: "General, since you are passing by here, should we give a stick of incense to the Yang ancestral hall?" ”

Xu Shiji shook his head, "The chief manager may not want us to go to the Yang clan to offer incense, forget it, don't be too troublesome." ”

Xu Shiji turned his horse's head and continued to move forward, and not long after leaving, a soldier came to report, "General Xu, there are several villagers in front of you who want to see you, and the leader calls himself the patriarch of the Yang clan." ”

"Invite them to come and meet!"

Xu Shiji turned over and dismounted, he didn't dare to slack off, it was actually the patriarch of the Yang clan who came in person, and he had to give this face.

In a moment, the soldiers walked briskly with several men, led by a middle-aged man in his forties, with big ears, walking calmly, and a bit of majesty between his gestures, he was Yang Wenjin, the current patriarch of the Hongnong Yang clan, and his brother Yang Shanhui is now the Xiangguo of the Sui Dynasty.

Yang Wenjin stepped forward and said with a smile: "I heard that the Sui army was coming, Hongnong Yang specially prepared a glass of water and wine for the general to catch the wind, in order to fulfill the friendship of the landlord." ”

Xu Shiji also hurriedly replied: "Under Xu Shiji, he was a general in front of the King of Chu, passing by Hongnong, and it stands to reason that he should go to the ancestral hall, but the task is urgent, so he couldn't go, I hope the patriarch will forgive me!" ”

"Might as well be! Might as well! ”

Yang Wenjin smiled reluctantly: "As long as General Xu has this heart, it doesn't matter if he can't be incense." ”

Although Yangjia Village is Yang Yuanqing's ancestral land, in fact, Yang Yuanqing has never come back once since he was a child, so even if Xu Shiji goes to Shangxiang, he can't find any trace of Yang Yuanqing, but is embarrassed.

A soldier spread a mat on the side of the road, Xu Shiji and Yang Wenjin sat down, a family member poured a glass of wine, Yang Wenjin served the wine to Xu Shiji, "This glass of wine must be drunk by General Xu, it can be regarded as the Yang family's wine for the Sui army." ”

Xu Shiji was a little embarrassed, he was born in Wagang, his mind is very smart, of course this kind of wine from unknown sources can not be drunk, he took the wine glass and said with a smile: "The military discipline is strict, and you can't get a drop of wine during the war, otherwise it is a capital crime, His Royal Highness the King of Chu specially explained before leaving, so I understand the wine, and I respect Hongnong Yang." ”

After speaking, he slowly poured the wine on the ground and returned the wine glass to Yang Wenjin, "Thank you, master!" ”

Yang Wenjin saw that he refused to drink, and there was no way, so he had to take the wine glass and smiled: "If I guessed correctly, the general is going to attack Changyuan County!" ”

Xu Shiji's heart moved, the Yang family is the king of Hongnong County, can they give him any help?

"I'm going to attack Changyuan County, what advice does the head of the family have?"

Yang Wenjin smiled, "I can't talk about advice, but I can help the general a little bit." ”

He beckoned, called a young man behind him forward, and said to Xu Shiji: "This person's name is Zhang An, he is a talented man in my Yang Xuezhong, only nineteen years old, his father Zhang Hongbang, who is also a disciple of Yang Xue, is now a Changyuan County Cheng, and knows the logistics and material warehouse of the Tang Army well. ”

Xu Shiji suddenly understood, he was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you for your help." ”

"Huh! You're welcome. ”

Yang Wenjin's eyes smiled into a slit, he had his own plans, Yang Yuanqing had not come to Hongnong Yang so far, he hoped that Yang Yuanqing could come back to take a look, even if it was not an official ancestor worship, but a private trip would also be a great incentive for the Yang family, and it would be of vital significance to the revitalization of Hongnong Yang.

Today, he helped the Sui army once, and this General Xu will inevitably tell Yang Yuanqing, will Yang Yuanqing accept this favor and come to Yangjia Village?

Yang Wenjin had an idea in his heart, so he said to the young man Zhang An: "Why don't you give General Xu a gift?" ”

Zhang An hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to salute, "Student Zhang An, I have heard of General Xu's prestige for a long time, and I am willing to serve the Sui army!" ”

Xu Shiji saw that he was handsome and very shrewd and capable, and he liked it in his heart, so he hurriedly said: "Zhang Shaolang doesn't have to be polite, this time I have to ask Shaolang to help Sui Jun." ”

"Zhang An is willing to help with all his might, please arrange it for the general."

Yang Wenjin said goodbye and left, Xu Shiji found a capable subordinate and wrote a letter to him, instructing: "You disguise yourself as an entourage, go to Changyuan County with Zhang Shaolang to see his father, and hand over the letter to him for me." ”

"Obey the order!"

The subordinates took Zhang An away, and Xu Shiji ordered again: "The whole army stops advancing and rests on the spot!" ”

With Zhang An's path, Xu Shiji has a new plan