Heyang Ferry, this is an ancient ferry, on the other side of the Yellow River is the famous Mengjin Ferry, which is the place where King Wu of Zhou will be attacked 1,600 years ago, and Heyang Ferry is also the only ferry on the north bank of the Yellow River suitable for large-scale landing of troops.

The bright autumn sunshine is sprinkled on both sides of the Yellow River, the autumn is high and cool, the cool breeze of late autumn carries a trace of warmth under the sunshine, blowing the Yellow River water one after another, at this moment on the surface of the Yellow River, hundreds of warships are quietly moored, this is a fleet carrying 20,000 soldiers, full of Li Mi's ambition to go north, they try to take advantage of the opportunity of Yang Yuanqing and Dou Jiande's fierce battle in the east of Hanoi County, to occupy the west of Hanoi County in one fell swoop.

But their ambition is not so easy to realize, at this moment on the other side of the Yellow River at the Heyang ferry, 10,000 Sui troops have been in full formation, 3,000 crossbowmen besiege the city in a semicircle, the entire two-mile-long ferry blockade, behind the crossbowmen, 7,000 cavalry with spears in hand, the blockade of the crossbowmen plus the cavalry charge, in any case, it is impossible to land successfully.

Xu Shiji, the commander of the Sui army, immediately stood on a mound, looking at the fleet on the river several miles away, hundreds of warships covered the sky and the sun, waving flags, Xu Shiji's eyes were a little complicated, he had an intuition, Li Mi was very likely to be on these warships, he saw a huge building ship in the middle, which was twice as big as other ships, and a black-edged apricot yellow flag fluttered in the wind, and his intuition told him that this was Li Mi's ship.

Xu Shiji is a person who attaches great importance to old feelings, and he also knows that there are many of his former subordinates in the big ship, colleagues who drank with him, and brothers who fought with him in blood, he has thought about it more than once. When will he be able to see them again, but not now, now is the battlefield, and he will never want to meet his old troops on the battlefield.

At this time, a soldier shouted: "General Xu, a small boat is coming!" ”

Xu Shiji saw it, and a flat boat sailed towards the shore, and there were only three people on the boat. Two rowers, a sergeant, "Let them go ashore!" Xu Shiji ordered.

Moment. The sergeant went ashore and was brought to Xu Shiji by the soldiers, who knelt down on one knee and said, "General Xu." The King of Wei led the army to come to help His Royal Highness the King of Jin to attack Dou Jiande, because the time was too short to form an alliance, but the alliance book had already been sent! ”

The sergeant took out a volume of the alliance book from the burden on his back and presented it, and the soldier transferred the alliance book to Xu Shiji, Xu Shiji opened the alliance book and read it, and thousands of words were written on it, with Li Mi's big seal, what to take the great righteousness, Kuang to support the Sui Dynasty, to benefit the common people in the world, and so on. Only there is no mention of jointly dealing with Dou Jiande.

Xu Shiji's heart was as careful as a hair, he found that the vermilion mud of the big seal on the alliance book had not completely dried, that is to say, this was the big seal that had just been stamped on the ship, he sneered in his heart, and said to the sergeant: "You go back and tell Li Mi." If he really had the sincerity to help the Sui army fight against Dou Jiande's army, then he should go to Liyang to cross the river and cut off Dou Jiande's retreat from behind, instead of appearing here, go! ”

The sergeant saluted, ran back to the boat, and headed for the middle of the river. On the boat, Li Mi's face was gloomy, he saw the soldiers go ashore to contact, but the soldiers on the shore did not retreat, which showed that the other party was not moved, which made him feel annoyed for a while.

Li Mi wanted to seize Hanoi County, it is not accidental, his army in the siege of Luoyang failed, heavy losses, the strength has been sharply reduced from the original more than 400,000 to more than 200,000, including the battle killed, escape and surrender, almost halved, and Henan counties because of the early years of rampant banditry, coupled with famine and annual war, has been ten rooms and nine dead, many counties in a county is only a thousand people left, simply can not continue to recruit soldiers, the source of soldiers is facing depletion, not only the supply of troops is insufficient, but also his Luokoucang grain because of a lot of waste and the army to eat, food is also facing depletion.

At this time, Li Mi naturally thought of the counties in Hedong with a large population, especially south of Taiyuan, which almost did not suffer from any bandits and disasters, with dense populations and abundant money and food, if he could seize Hanoi County as a springboard and recruit troops and grain in Hedong, then his strength would be restored to before, his strength would be restored, and the strength of the eastern capital would not be restored, so if he could fight Luoyang again, he would be able to finally take it.

What made Li Mi have another worry is an incident that just happened, he got information yesterday that Li Yuan's army went out of Guanzhong, captured Hongnong County, and surrendered to Yang Gongren, which made him a little frightened in his heart, Li Yuan's power expanded eastward, and sooner or later it would collide with him, at that time, what capital did he have to fight against Li Yuan, the torn Henan Province?

Li Mi began to deeply realize that the last fight for hegemony in the world is strength, population, people's hearts and money and grain, Li Yuan was able to occupy Guanzhong and grow rapidly, because he was supported by the nobles of Long, and with the support of the land of money and grain in Shuzhong, Yang Yuanqing was able to preemptively drive Li Yuan out of Hedong, because he had accumulated a lot of money and savings in Fengzhou for many years, and he fought in the north and south, almost all the money and grain were consumed, he fought for many years, but in the end he made a wedding dress for people in vain, and he was not reconciled in his heart. He was anxious to find a place where the population was rich in money and food, and Hedong was undoubtedly one of them.

At this time, the sergeant got on the boat, knelt down on one knee in front of him and reported: "King Qiwei, the main general of the other party is Xu Shiji!" ”

"Sure enough, it's him!"

Li Mi gritted his teeth for a while, he didn't miss the old love, and cut off his own way of life, at this time, Bing Yuanzhen stepped forward and said with a smile: "Your Highness, Xu Shiji is a person who values the old love, I have worked with him for many years, I know him very well, Your Highness might as well use the old kindness to impress him, at the beginning, he had followed His Highness to take Liyang Cang, and then followed His Highness to capture Luokoucang, it is enough to see his admiration for His Highness in his heart, if His Royal Highness personally went to persuade him, and then brought Ma Qingwu and his old subordinates with him, and then promised to be heavy, maybe he could impress him." ”

Li Mi pondered for a moment, then nodded, "Let a car and ship come out!" ”

In a moment, a thousand-stone warship sailed out, this is a kind of ship pedaled by manpower, invented by Zu Chongzhi of Southern Qi, also known as the Qianli Boat, is a medium-sized ship, can carry 200 soldiers, Li Mi and Bing Yuanzhen got off the boat, and brought Xu Shiji's old subordinates aboard, the boat slowly sailed to the shore, stopped when it was dozens of steps away from the shore, and a sergeant shouted: "King Wei, please General Xu answer!" ”

A soldier quickly reported Xu Shiji, Xu Shiji was silent for a moment, and then urged him to go to the embankment, Li Mi saw Xu Shiji, saw him handsome, majestic, and couldn't help but regret it secretly, if he could save Xu Shiji at the beginning, and now he is also his right-hand man, why is there no one available now?

Li Mi is indeed encountering a talent dilemma now, after Zhai Rang's death, many of Zhai Rang's former generals were unwilling to work for him, and they left one after another, like Xu Shiji, Cheng Yanjin, as well as Liu Heimin, Zhang Shengwu, etc., dozens of people left, and the people who stayed behind were also messing around, unwilling to work hard, and attacking Luoyang was also related to Zhai Rang's old department's refusal to contribute.

Li Mi also hopes to reunite the hearts of the Wagang army, but Zhai Rang's prestige is too high, and it is not easy for him to win the hearts of the people.

Li Mi walked up to the bow of the boat, arched his hand and said loudly: "Li Mi is here, Brother Xu Xian is okay?" ”

Xu Shiji also returned the salute and said indifferently: "Xu is very good, thank you Duke Wei for your concern, I advise Duke Wei to return immediately, the hearts of the people of Hanoi County are towards Sui, Duke Wei will stop using troops and trap the people in fire and water!" ”

Li Mi smiled, "Brother Xu Xian, I, Li Mi, am not a rebel bandit, I am a famous family, I have great ambitions, I am dedicated to saving the people from fire and water, I also understand the principle that only by reassuring the people can the country prosper, how can I use war against Hanoi County, Brother Xu Xian has been with me for many years, don't you still understand what kind of person I Li Mi is?" ”

"Since the Duke of Wei has the heart of the people, then please withdraw the army, I have already said that the hearts of the people of Hanoi County are towards Sui, and they will not accept the rule of the Duke of Wei."

Li Mi scolded secretly in his heart, but he was helpless, he changed the topic, and said with a smile: "I know that Brother Xu Xian is a person who values love and righteousness, and when Brother Xu Xian said goodbye, didn't he have any confidence in me Li Mi?" Don't you want to join hands with me and take over the world together? Brother Xu Xian, I still remember that when we captured Liyang Cang, you also said that the one who won the world was none other than Pushan Gong, the Pushan Gong of the year is still there, but Xu Xiandi has left me, which is very sighing! ”

Xu Shiji didn't speak for a long time, he did say that he was willing to help Pushan Gong seize the world, but the world is impermanent, who could have predicted what would happen later?

At this time, Xu Shiji's old subordinate Ma Qingwu said loudly: "Three masters, go back to Wagang!" The old brothers are thinking about you, you are gone, your seat has always been kept, once Wang Qi sat in your seat, and we beat him violently, we said, the three masters will definitely come back, the three masters, thousands of old brothers miss you! ”

Xu Shiji looked at Ma Qingwu's rough and sincere face, Xu Shiji's eyes also had a little tears, and he choked up and said: "Shiji is not talented, thank you brothers for remembering me." ”

Bing Yuanzhen saw that Xu Shiji was emotional, so he touched Li Mi lightly, Li Mi understood, and immediately said in a loud voice: "Brother Xu Xian, if you are willing to come back, I will give you the Qilu area, crown you as the king of Qingzhou, and allow you to stand on your own, you can also be called a lonely widow, it is much better than being someone else's general, Yang Yuanqing gave you a general Zuo Xiaowei, you don't even have a title, follow me, but you can be crowned king, virtuous brother, which is more important, you should understand!" ”

Xu Shiji was moved by the old feelings of a group of old brothers, but Li Mi's words suddenly made him wake up, Yang Sien, Su Dingfang, Pei Xingyan They have followed Yang Yuanqing for many years before accumulating merit and being named a general, and he has only been here for a few months, and his credit is small, but Yang Yuanqing has named himself General Zuo Xiaowei, and even Ma Shao has followed Yang Yuanqing for more than ten years before he can get a general, this is how important he attaches to himself, he remembered that Yang Yuanqing took him to Pei's house, just because he had Pei Xue's regrets, how could he forget this affection, and, Yang Yuanqing knew that he was an old general of Wagang, but he did not hesitate to hand over the heavy responsibility of blocking the Wagang Army to himself, without any surveillance, how could he live up to this trust, Xu Shiji was secretly ashamed in his heart, and he was almost moved.

Thinking of this, Xu Shiji solemnly bowed, "Thank you Duke Wei for your kindness, thank you brothers for your concern, but since Xu Shiji has served Yang Yuanqing, he will never go to Qin Duchu again, brothers take care of yourself, Duke Wei, please go back!" ”

After speaking, he turned his horse's head and rushed to the high post, and shouted loudly: "Crossbow arrows are ready!" ”

The three thousand army crossbows were raised on the ground and aimed at Li Mi and the others on the river, Li Mi was angry and hateful, and helpless, so he had to wave his hand, "Go back!" ”

The car and boat turned around and sailed back to the big boat in the river, but Li Mi was unwilling to go back.