After quickly throwing a large number of scouts to the Fuli area to the east of Yongcheng, Chen Yingliang, besides hurrying up to prepare the army, prayed to God and Buddha to open his eyes, so that Du Fuwei, a gangster, would not be here. Continue to the east, and go directly south to find troubles with Zhongli County or Jiangdu Wang Shichong.
Without the Baoguo Army as a thug, Chen Yingliang said that this time he had no confidence in killing Du Fuwei, the hero of troubled times, because when Chen Yingliang took over the Baoguo Army, all the soldiers of the Baoguo Army had already received a training from Dongdu Youwuwei. After more than one year of formal military training, they are completely familiar with formations and battle formations. They already have all the weapons and armor. Chen Yingliang only needs to inspire their morale and fighting spirit.
In the current Qiaojun army, apart from the five government soldiers that had to defend important facilities such as the city's wharf, Chen Yingliang only had ten regiments of more than 2,000 township soldiers that had just been formed in his hands. The captives captured by the bandit soldiers in the mountains are the newly recruited peasant children. They have just started military training and have never been to a battlefield. Their weapons and armor have just arrived. Most of them have never even ridden a war horse. Basically, they were still a group of mobs. They wanted to rely on such a team to win more with less and kill more than 30,000 people under Du Fuwei's command in troubled times. No matter how arrogant Chen Yingliang was, he didn't have much confidence this time.
Of course, it wasn't that they were completely incapable of fighting, because Du Fuwei's team was also in its infancy, and it was also a mob. Chen Yingliang was confident that if he ran into such a team, even if he had no chance of winning, it would definitely not be a big problem just to protect himself. But the trouble is that now Chen Yingliang can't just protect himself, he must also prevent Du Fuwei's troops from fleeing into the relatively affluent Qiao County, killing, arson, money, food and women, let alone Du Fuwei The team borrowed the route from Qiaojun to other places - otherwise, Chen Yingliang's opponents in the court would have something to say.
Evil comes with evil, and if you use Du Fuwei as an excuse, you have to bear the consequences. No matter how much you pray to God and worship Buddha, it is useless. At noon the next day, another urgent report from Fuli was sent to Yongcheng——Du Fu Wei's team did not attack Fuli County, but chose to bypass the city and go directly west. The overwhelmed people in Fuli continued to join Du Fuwei's team like crucian carp crossing the river. Chun was brought to Langya to suppress the bandits, the remaining strength could only protect itself, and Fuli County was even more powerless to suppress the bandits, so he could only defend the city behind closed doors, or send two documents to Chen Yingliang to call the police to go through the motions.
Hearing this news, Chen Yingliang's expression was as ugly as if his wife had died, and he scolded Du Fuwei for nothing, and he didn't dig his ancestral grave, and he didn't molested his sister, why must he not get along with him? Changsun Wuji also slapped himself, scolding himself for being a crow with a good mouth and a bad spirit. On the contrary, Yuan Tiangang did not pretend to be a magic stick this time, and pointed out: "Du Fuwei is a smart choice. To the north of him is Dong Chun, who is left behind in Pengcheng, and to the south is the Huaihe Tianxian and Jiangdu Wang Shichong. Both are easy to provoke. To the east is the sea. With the powerful rogue Zhao Po formation, there is not much room to flee and not much money to be made, only our side is weaker and richer, which is the best choice for Du Fuwei to flee."
"Damn it!" Chen Yingliang cursed, "Dong Chun and Wang Shichong are not easy to provoke, so I, a famous counter-insurgency general, can be easy to bully? This son of a bitch, Du Fuwei, why didn't he think of going to Qi County and Guyang?" Go, cross the Huaihe River directly at Dangtu, and come to Qiao County to make trouble for me?"
"This..., I don't know." Yuan Tiangang was a little dumbfounded when he met Chen Yingliang, a boss who was beggar-thy-neighbor. He should know the answer himself."
"Brother, what you said reminded me, did Du Fuwei really come here on purpose for us in Qiao County?" Changsun Wuji raised his head sharply, and said quickly, "According to common sense, you, brother, are well-known The prestige of the world, if Du Fuwei's rogue team does not want to hit the iron plate and be hit hard, the most ideal way to escape is what you said, brother, via Qixian, Guyang and go south from Dangtu to cross the Huaihe River, or our Qiao County. The south is fleeing westward, harassing rich counties and counties like Ruyin and Huainan, but Du Fuwei does not take these ideal routes, and directly kills us in Qiao County, which seems to be deliberately troublesome for us?"
"Improbable?" Chen Yingliang was a little surprised, and said: "I have no grievances with Du Fuwei, and we have never even met each other. Why did he come to me on purpose?"
"Or someone tipped off the news and sowed discord?" The future big boss and treacherous elder Sun Wuji blinked his treacherous mung bean eyes, and said sinisterly: "The regular army in Qiao County is weak and scarce, and it is not enough to protect itself. The new army It has just been established, and the training and equipment are not yet complete. It is at a time when the situation is unsustainable. As long as people who are hostile to us pay a little attention, they will be able to detect these situations, and these people will report these situations to Du Fuwei. It's hard to guarantee that Du Fuwei won't have the idea of taking advantage of the situation."
"Are you talking about the remnants of Zhang Qian or the brothers of the Tian family?" Chen Yingliang came to his senses, and said, "These people hate us to the bone, and they also know the situation in Qiao County. condition."
"Maybe there are others." Changsun Wuji said: "In addition to the Tian brothers and Zhang Qian, there are a dozen or so small bandits in Qiao County. After you quickly wiped out the two bandits, brother, these small bandits are now Although he disappeared temporarily, he may not want to make a comeback. It is also an ideal choice to collude with foreign bandits and take the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. In my opinion, brother, you might as well send a few people to pretend to be bandits and rioters, and go east to join Du Fuwei's team first to spy on the specific situation. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you prescribe the right medicine and be victorious in every battle.”
"A wonderful plan." Chen Yingliang was very satisfied when he heard it, and immediately ordered: "Go to the barracks immediately, ask Ma Sanbao to find a few reliable people to spy on the situation, and promise them a lot of rewards. As long as you find out the enemy's situation, you can reward them more." Money and food don’t matter. Also, it’s better to find soldiers who surrendered from the bandits’ dens, they are familiar with the internal situation of the bandits, and it’s easier to spy on information.”
Changsun Wuji took the order to leave, and as soon as Changsun Wuji left, Deng Zhexuan, the county magistrate of Chengfu, came to see Chen Yingliang to inquire about the military situation, and he wanted to return to Chengfu to preside over county affairs immediately. Chen Yingliang knew that he was cowardly and wanted to run away, but he didn't mind - anyway, it's useless to force this little county magistrate to stay, so he agreed to let Deng Zhexuan return to the city father immediately, fearing that he would be surrounded by bandits in Yongxian City Deng Zhexuan was overjoyed and hurried to leave. And Chen Yingliang also temporarily changed his mind and asked Deng Zhexuan to keep Zhu Can in Yongcheng for a few days to help him suppress the bandits. promise.
At the critical moment, Chen Yingliang stayed behind to listen to him. Of course, the ambitious Zhu Can was not only not afraid, on the contrary, he was also very excited. He felt that the opportunity to flex his muscles was coming. After meeting Chen Yingliang and accepting the order, he volunteered to lead an army to fight In Du Fuwei's team, Chen Yingliang smiled and shook his head and rejected Zhu Can's request, telling Zhu Can that the enemy's situation is unknown and the enemy is outnumbered, so he can't take the risk to fight, and then sent Zhu Can to see Ma Sanbao and let Zhu Can be Ma Sanbao's Deputy, waiting for Ma Sanbao to command the battle. Although Zhu Can was a little disappointed, he happily accepted the order.
"The situation is urgent, just use it once." Chen Yingliang muttered in his heart: "If there is a chance, killing him on the battlefield will also remove a hidden danger for the common people."
In the next day, Chen Yingliang armed the new army of the four regiments with the weapons and armor awarded to him by Emperor Sui Yang, and let the heavy infantry of these four regiments serve as the main combat force, led by Ma Sanbao; They arranged a mobile team, led by Zhu Can, Zhang Di and others; more than a hundred soldiers who had used bows and arrows were selected, and a team of bow soldiers was hurriedly formed, which was handed over to Li Yi who was transferred from the government soldiers. Leading, Chen Yingliang's personal army team is composed of his own servants and some government soldiers who have been transferred. The rest of the government soldiers are all moved to the city to protect the safety of the Yongcheng base camp.
The army was armed and deployed, but the combat power still made Chen Yingliang very worried. He kept hoping that Du Fuwei would suddenly change his purpose and turn south to find troubles in Qi County and Guyang. But what made Chen Yingliang desperate was that on the same day, The scouts from Qiao County sent bad news one after another. Du Fuwei's huge team has been marching westward, and has crossed Dingtao Mountain and arrived at the bank of Suishui River. It is only more than sixty miles away from Yongcheng. , It is only twenty miles away from the border of Qiao County, and it is possible to cross the county border and enter Qiao County at any time.
After confirming the news, Chen Yingliang had only two options left. One was to lead the army to take the initiative to defend against the enemy outside the gate of the county; Fuwei robbed wantonly outside the city, and then fled to other counties via Qiao County. As a last resort, Chen Yingliang had no choice but to hold an emergency meeting that night to discuss the strategy of defending against the enemy with the officials of Qiao County and his aides and accomplices to see if there was any other way.
The results of the discussion and discussion were fruitless. The civil officials headed by Dong You and Xie Weiping insisted on closing the city and defending it firmly. Du Fuwei's team had no food to go in Qiaojun after they had run out of food. Yun Da Shaoqing, who participated in this meeting, also strongly echoed this opinion—in fact, this method is also very safe. At the beginning of the spring, people's food storage is scarce, and Du Fuwei will have to leave in a few days. But it is a pity that Chen Yingliang can never adopt this safe strategy.
Ma Sanbao and Zhu Can insisted on fighting. The reason was that although Du Fuwei's team was large, it was still a mob with not strong combat effectiveness. After more than a month of military training in Qiao County, the new army already had some regular troops. The appearance, weapons and equipment are far above the enemy, and supplemented by some regular troops, there may not be no chance of defeating the enemy. — This opportunity does exist, but it is too risky. Chen Yingliang, who is currently in the initial stage, really does not want to take this risk until the last moment.
The two chiefs of staff, Sun Wuji and Yuan Tiangang, were silent. They both knew that these two methods had their own disadvantages, and they couldn't make up their minds about what to do. They could only let Chen Yingliang make his own choice, and Chen Yingliang himself was even more hesitant. , I couldn't make up my mind for a long time. Seeing this scene, Yun Da Shaoqing, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, was a little impatient, and urged: "Nephew Yingliang, you are the general guard of Qiao County, you have to talk about this matter, why keep silent? Disturbing the distance between the thieves Yongcheng is only sixty miles away, maybe you can reach Yongcheng tomorrow afternoon, if you don't make up your mind, maybe it will be too late."
"Uncle, don't worry." Chen Yingliang shook his head and said, "I'm trying to figure out a way to see if there is a third way, which can prevent Du Fuwei from invading Qiao County without taking risks."
"What else can I do?" Yun Da Shaoqing said impatiently: "You can't give Du Fuwei some gifts like in the officialdom, and ask him to retreat or change course? Quickly order, let the army retreat to the city to guard city..."
"Old man, what did you say?!" Chen Yingliang, who was racking his brains, suddenly raised his head and asked Young Master Yun: "Old man, what did you say just now, it can't be the same as in the officialdom, and then what?"
"I said, you can't give Du Fuwei some gifts like you do in the officialdom, and ask him to retreat or change his course." Yunda Shaoqing repeated in doubt, and then said in surprise: "Nephew, you don't really want to give Du Fuwei a gift?" Is Fu Wei offering gifts and bribes?"
Chen Yingliang stopped talking again, blinked his triangular eyes and thought for a long time, and suddenly showed some smiles, and said: "It's not necessarily true, if you give Du Fuwei gifts and bribes, even if you can't make him retreat, maybe he will receive better rewards." Effect."
Yunda Shaoqing, who didn't understand the art of war, was tongue-tied, while Changsun Wuji's eyes lit up, and he said, "Brother, do you want to show the enemy a lie, make the enemy take it lightly, and then suddenly attack and defeat the enemy?"
"Your brother is too polite, don't use the word showing the enemy to be false, just say that there is a knife in the smile." Chen Yingliang laughed, and said: "Don't worry, let me think about how to hide the knife in the smile..."
"Report!"
Before Chen Yingliang finished speaking, the old neighbor San Gouzi rushed in to make trouble again, reporting that an insider sent by Ma Sanbao had returned and brought back an emergency military situation. After questioning, not long after, He Er, the little bandit soldier who accidentally helped Ma Sanbao take down Zhang Qian's head, stumbled up the hall and shouted out of breath: "Master Tongshou, Brother Ma San, It's Tian Baishe! The thief from Tian Baishe defected to Du Fuwei, and one of the insiders you sent to spy on the military situation was recognized by Tian Baishe and was buried alive on the spot!"
Chen Yingliang suddenly stood up, his face turned ashen, and he ordered: "Don't worry, drink some water first to catch your breath, and report the situation slowly, the more detailed the better."
He Er agreed, drank some water to calm his breath, and then introduced in detail how he went to spy on the enemy's situation. It turned out that after He Er was ordered to spy on the enemy's situation, he got in with Du Fuwei, who was recruiting refugees everywhere to strengthen his team. The team was incorporated into Du Jun and Miao Haichao's department. However, not long after He Ergang joined Miao Haichao, he saw Tian Baishe, who had a broken hand, leading a group of thieves to bury alive Qiaojun's eyeliner who had accidentally exposed ——The eyeliner was recognized by Tian Baishe because it was from the Mangdang Mountain bandit team and was seen by Tian Baishe. Then Miao Haichao's team also began to screen the newcomers. He Er, who was born in Jishan's bandit gang, managed to get away with it, and then fled back to report the news.
After listening to He Er's report, Dong You and Xie Weiping, of course, were very angry with the elders in Qiaojun. They scolded Tian Baishe for harming the family for thousands of years, and then lured wolves into the house and led Du Fuwei to Qiaojun to do harm. Chen Yingliang was the first to suddenly realize that Du Fu Wei's understanding of the situation in Qiao County, and then quickly calmed down, and began to question He Er about the enemy's situation, looking for useful information from it.
The situation introduced by He Er is similar to that of the scouts. Du Fuwei's team does have more than 30,000 people, but it is basically composed of ordinary people and refugees. The organization is chaotic, and the weapons and equipment are mixed. , the combat power is not strong, the only scary thing is that there are so many people, and they are very supported by the grassroots. ——Here I have to say a fair word for Du Fuwei. As a troubled hero who once occupied one side, Du Fuwei is also very good at learning lessons and learning to grow. After his strength has developed to a certain level, he also learned to form a Absolutely loyal to their own elite team, named the recruiting army. Of course, this elite team has not yet appeared.
Although the information He Er brought back was not much different from that of the scouts, Chen Yingliang still refused to miss this opportunity to collect information. After contemplating for a while, Chen Yingliang asked again: "He Er, you said just now that you got involved with the thieves. After the team, they were organized into the team of the gangster Miao Haichao, so you are in Miao Haichao's team, have you ever heard the reason why Miao Haichao led his team to join Du Fuwei?"
"I've heard of it." Chen Yingliang was overjoyed by He Er's answer, and He Er replied truthfully: "After joining Miao Haichao's team, I heard a lecture from a leader of the rebellion with some new rebels, saying that Miao Haichao was listening Persuaded by Du Fuwei's letter, he felt that one chopstick was easy to break, but ten chopsticks could not be pulled, so he led his team to join Du Fuwei and accept Du Fuwei's orders. So the leader of the thieves asked us to Unite as one, so that we can kill officials and grab food, so that we can have enough food."
"Then do you know that after Miao Haichao's team joined Du Fuwei, it was organized separately, or mixed with Du Fuwei's team?" Chen Yingliang hurriedly asked.
"This... the little one doesn't know." He Er replied with a sad face: "The little one has joined the rebel team for less than a day, and he is not familiar with anyone, so he doesn't know these things."
"It's okay, just answer one more question." Chen Yingliang hurriedly said, "Will Miao Haichao's team be stationed in a separate battalion, or mixed with Du Fuwei's team?"
"Separate camps." He Er replied without thinking: "Actually, the rogue teams are all stationed in separate camps. Several leaders, big and small, lead their teams to camp in separate camps. The boundaries of the camps are very clear and can be seen at a glance. , but Du Fuwei's team camp is the largest, and Miao Haichao's camp is only the second largest."
"Very good!" Chen Yingliang clapped his hands and was overjoyed. He blinked his triangular eyes and considered for a moment, then turned his eyes to the faces of all the people in the hall one by one, and finally settled on the fact that he followed his eldest grandson Wuji to join him in Qiaojun because of his dismissal. Qian Xiangmin, with a friendly smile on his face, said: "Master Qian, do you want to re-enter the officialdom? Qiaojun is just short of a soldier Cao Shenjun, although it is only the eighth rank, not as good as your previous seventh rank Fucheng, But if you don't re-enter the official career, you won't have the chance to be promoted in the future, right?"
"Thank you Master Tongshou, I am willing to take up this position." Qian Xiangmin replied happily.
"Lord Qian, don't worry." Chen Yingliang shook his head, and said with a smile: "There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If you don't do something for the imperial court and make some contributions, I really can't recommend you to the imperial court again. But just right, Now I have a very simple and easy errand for you, if you finish it for me, I will ask the imperial court to entrust you with the title of Qiaojun Bing Cao Shenjun.”
"Please obey your lord's orders. The villain will go through fire and water, and his body will be smashed to pieces." Qian Xiangmin replied even more joyfully.
"Don't worry, I don't want you to go through fire and water, and I don't want you to be crushed to pieces." Chen Yingliang smiled and said, "I just want you to send an envoy to the bandit army for me, to meet Miao Haichao, and give him some gifts..."
With a bang, before Chen Yingliang finished speaking, Qian Xiangmin fell to the ground and screamed, "Chen Tongshou, is this task easy?"