: Inclusion and gathering

A radius of one hundred miles near the Liaohe battlefield.

The morning sun had risen, but the red sun seemed to be frozen by ice. The sunlight penetrated the clouds and shone on the body without any warmth. The thick snow on the ground still had no sign of melting. A thick layer of frost had already formed in the snowless place on the ground. People walked on it, like stepping on stones, making a sound.

More than half of the winter in Liaodong is covered in heavy snow. Compared with the winter in the Central Plains, the winter in Liaodong is even colder. Even when there is no wind, it makes people feel as if they are in an ice cave. It seems that there is a large ice cube attached to the body at all times, sucking away every bit of heat.

Cheng Yaojin walked through the dense forest in Liaodong with a team of wounded soldiers. He was almost unable to remember how long he had been walking, but the fear in his heart drove him to walk continuously with his men.

The ray of sunshine that occasionally penetrated from the tall treetops made him know that it was still daytime. When he came to Liaodong for the first time, he never expected that after he arrived in Liaodong, he did not see the tall and majestic Liaodong city fortress, nor the young hero Marshal Chen Pojun, but he suffered a great defeat as soon as he arrived, leading thousands of people through this deep dense forest.

I miss the days in Shandong so much. Even if it’s colder, I wear a jacket and a leather hat. I can also surround a stove at home and bake a few hot pancakes. What a comfortable life. I really don’t go out and don’t know that my family is good. At this moment, he even wants to go back to Shandong.

"Mr. Cheng, brothers can't walk anymore, stop and rest!" said several soldiers carrying a simple stretcher.

"Okay, just take a break!"

One day and one night, nearly 10,000 Sui soldiers conducted a net-style search on the entire Liaohe battlefield within a radius of 100 miles. Light cavalry, infantry, and teams of soldiers searched all nearby hillsides, dense forests, fields and streams.

Their first goal was to find Zhang Xutuo, and the second goal was to find Su Wei. Another very important task was to search for the slaves of Liao people. If they were willing to surrender voluntarily, the Sui army would let them go and capture them. If they dared to run away, they would be killed on the spot. On this day and night, tens of thousands of Liao people's slaves spreading in the mountains and forests had been killed on the spot, and countless corpses piled up in the mountains and forests.

There was a noise in the forest in the distance, followed by a horn sound. This was the signal used by Sui soldiers to contact in the mountains and forests. When they heard that signal, the nearby search teams were desperately moving closer to the place.

Chen Gui rode dozens of horses and arrived at the noisy place within a short while. As soon as he arrived, he heard someone shouting happily, "I found it, I found it." Hearing the sound, Chen Gui couldn't help guessing the reason, and he hurriedly walked forward.

A large group of soldiers were surrounding a dense forest, with a few figures hidden above a tall pine tree. At this time, a person was already climbing under the tree. Chen Gui recognized at a glance that although this man was covered in dust and covered with hair, he was Huang Ying, a common housekeeper who had been together for two encounters.

"Sir Huang, why did you go up the tree?"

Huang Ying's face turned red and said awkwardly, "The rear army was ambushed, and we were separated by the chaos. There were soldiers everywhere, and we didn't know where to hide, so we temporarily avoided the trees and made this general laugh. Why haven't I seen you in General Zhang's army? Who are you?"

"Chen Gui, the chief marching officer of the right wing army in the Liaodong camp, is here to search for everyone under the order of the marshal. Please be the Prime Minister of Su?" Chen Gui replied with a smile.

An old voice came from the treetops, "I am here, I am here. God bless you, I repeatedly advised Mr. Zhang not to fight with the enemy and wait for Mr. Chen to come and pick him up. Oh, Mr. Zhang just didn't listen. General Chen, where is Marshal Chen now?"

Chen Qing looked at Su Wei with a gray head exposed on the treetops, and couldn't help but be surprised that he, a prime minister who had seen sixties, could climb up such a tall tree. The prime minister was indeed not an ordinary person, even a prime minister in his sixties or seventies, could climb up a big tree seven or eight feet tall.

He sent several soldiers to take the old prime minister down, and Chen Gui brought another horse for Su Wei to sit. When Wei Su heard that the Liao army had been defeated, the remaining 90,000 people were blocked by the bank of the Liao River, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. If Chen Kefu was also defeated, he would have nowhere to hide.

After asking Su Wei, he still couldn't find Zhang Xutuo's whereabouts. Chen Gui had to send someone to escort Su Wei to Chen Kefu first, mobilized people to continue to find Zhang Xutuo's whereabouts. By the time that night, the Sui army soldiers had already found more than 3,000 Sui army defeated soldiers, including Cheng Yaojin's more than 1,000 people. In addition, the army also found about 50,000 Goguryeo civil servant slaves. Basically, as long as they were walking on two legs within a hundred miles nearby, they had been searched, but Zhang Xutuo's figure was still not found. However, the person did not find him, but he found his war horse and the broken iron spear.

After finding his horse and gun, Chen Qing and Chen Gui went to see the place again. There were traces of the battle, and there were red blood everywhere on the snow. The two looked at each other and thought that Zhang Xutuo had already died in battle. With this result, they brought iron spears. Except for leaving a few soldiers to continue searching, most of the soldiers and horses began to withdraw back to the military camps by the Liao River.

When Chen Kefu saw this broken iron spear, he called Zhang Xutuo's generals, eighteen thousand reinforcements. Now that all of them are gathered, there are only more than 5,000 left, and basically everyone is injured. Nearly a thousand people are seriously injured, and it will take a few days to last. There are more than a thousand people with broken hands and feet, and only about three thousand people can continue to fight after real rest. Among the generals under Zhang Xutuo's subordinates, two young generals Luo Shixin and Qin Shubao were the front army, and were finally rescued by Chen Qing and the others. Cheng Yaojin of the rear army escaped into the forest with Zhang Xutuo's cover and escaped.

On the contrary, the veterans who had been with Zhang Xutuo for the longest were basically fighting with Zhang Xutuo until the end. The entire Zhang Xutuo Eight Wind Camp that was powerful in the Central Plains was left with only three lieutenants and three thousand remaining soldiers. The Shandong Corps, one of the five most powerful elite soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty, was destroyed like this.

Looking at the familiar big iron spear, Qin Shubao and the other two couldn't believe it. In their hearts, Zhang Xutuo was a god-like general. How could such a person die so easily in Liaodong?

"Impossible, the general must have not died yet!" Luo Shixin, who had always been cold, roared wildly. Chen Kefu knew that Luo Shixin was only fourteen years old and was transferred to Qi County Mansion to be a choreographer because he was serving in the male service. Since then, he has followed Zhang Xutuo. The two were named superiors and subordinates, but in fact they were more like father-son relationships. If it weren't for Zhang Xutuo's care, Luo Shixin wouldn't have started fighting at the age of fourteen. Even a child from a poor family had already become a sixth-rank captain at the time of the eighteenth century.

Shubao was also very sad. He first came to Hu'er, then joined Xiaoguo, and finally followed Zhang Xutuo. It was said that he had only two or three months under Zhang Xutuo's subordinates, but he was also very cared for by Zhang Xutuo, and even promoted him to be the captain. Now Zhang Xutuo is dead like this, and he feels very uncomfortable for a moment.

Only Cheng Yaojin sighed slightly, but he didn't understand anything in his heart. He originally came to join Chen Kefu, and he only met Zhang Xutuo for less than a month.

"Don't worry, I have sent someone to the Liao Formation to ask for General Zhang's body. I will send someone back to the Central Plains. As for General Zhang's revenge, we will definitely avenge General Zhang. I will blame me for this incident. In this way, we can send someone to pick up General Zhang earlier, so there will be no such surprise." Cheng Kefu patted the shoulders of the people and said in a low voice.

Cheng Yaojin whispered, "How can you blame the marshal for this matter? The marshal doesn't know about our arrival in advance. But the general is inevitable to be killed on the battlefield. Marshal Zhang's heroic death in his lifetime and finally died on the battlefield, but it is also the best destination for a general."

Only Su Wei in the tent was still a little resentful of Zhang Xutuo. He thought that he had been the prime minister for so many years and had encountered something as dangerous as this time. Naturally, he should blame Zhang Xutuo for everything.

"Marson Chen doesn't have to blame himself anymore. General Zhang is also somewhat confident and underestimated the enemy, which leads to some great defeat. However, although he was defeated, he also severely damaged the Liao people and made great contributions to the Sui Dynasty's final defeat of Goguryeo. Otherwise, it would have been a mistake that would have been a mistake that would have ruined the army and the country. I will write a detailed memorial to explain this matter to Your Majesty."

Chen Kefu really didn't care much about this old prime minister. He was sent from the court to the barren land of Liaodong. Needless to think about it, he must be unwelcome to Yang Guang. Now that Zhang Xutuo is dead, his previous worries have already been put into the ground. For him, no matter how hard Su Wei tried, he didn't have to worry about any problems. On the contrary, now, he needs to find a way to put Zhang Xutuo's three thousand soldiers into the account.
Chapter completed!