On the official road about twenty miles east of Xiangcheng County, Jingyang County, a logistics grain transport team composed of thousands of ox carts slowly walked on the official road, with more than a thousand Tang army guards on both sides. This was the grain transported by the main force of the Tang army attacking Luyang Pass from Xiyang County to Xiangcheng County. According to the calculation that each ox cart transported twenty stones of grain, 3,000 ox carts should transport sixty thousand stones of grain.

Without river transportation, collecting these 3,000 ox carts alone consumed a lot of energy from the Tang army, which led to the resentment of the people of Shangluo County and Xiyang County, but there was no way. He was not in charge of the army and could not tolerate too much compassion in the war. Li Shimin ordered the forced recruitment of these ox carts.

The grain transport team took a shortcut, directly from Danshui County to enter Jutan County in Nanyang County, and then from Jutan County to the northeast, they entered Xiangcheng of Jingyang County. This was hundreds of miles less than going south to Rang County, the capital of Nanyang County.

Although there are as many as 3,000 ox carts, they are not too long. The wide official road is enough to accommodate three ox carts in parallel, making the length of the 3,000 ox carts only three miles.

The ox cart squeaked northward, looking bloated and struggling. The soldiers carried spears and followed the sides of the ox cart with tired legs. They had walked three hundred miles, and the soldiers were exhausted, but they had to walk at least one hundred and fifty miles before they could reach Luyang Pass.

It was noon, and a low hill about tens of miles long appeared on the right side of the official road. The hills were covered with dense forests. One tree stretched to the foot of the mountain, and there were still large forests ten miles away from the hill. This area is a wealthy agricultural area, but it seemed sparsely populated due to the war. Most of the people fled, the fields were deserted, and a small village not far away had no life, and even the barking of dogs from the farmhouse was gone, as if they were dead.

At this time, an army of tens of thousands of soldiers was ambushing in the woods only one mile away from the official road. This army of ten thousand people was Guo Shiheng's army coming from Huaian County. Although Guo Shiheng surrendered to the Northern Sui Dynasty, he was still bargaining with Zhang Xuan in terms of title. He was no longer satisfied with the Duke of the County and hoped that Zhang Xuan could add him to Duke of Shen.

Zhang Xuan did not agree, but did not refuse, just hoped that he could make great contributions, so that all wealth and honor would naturally be at your fingertips, and wealth would be sought in danger. Guo Shiheng resolutely led his army to sneak into Jingyang County and prepared to attack the Tang army's logistics supplies. This was Zhang Xuan's clear requirement for him, restraining the main force of the Tang army from heading north.

Guo Shiheng held an iron spear in his hand and rode his horse and stared at the grain convoy slowly moving on the official road. He was secretly happy that there were only more than a thousand soldiers.

At this time, deputy general Tian Zan ran over and whispered: "Brother, are there too few guards from the Tang army?"

"Too many guards will consume food, and it is normal for more than a thousand soldiers to consume."

Guo Shiheng curled his lips and said, "Li Shimin thought that we would send Liu Hongji to lead 10,000 troops to guard Fangcheng, close to Huaian County, so we dare not act rashly. How could he know that there is more than one road from Huaian to Jingyang?"

"It's not too late, let's do it!" Tian Zan encouraged him.

Guo Shiheng nodded, and he tightened his gun and shouted loudly: "Bang the drum and attack!"

"Dong!Dong!Dong!"

The sound of war drums suddenly rang in the woods. The 10,000 Huai'an troops who had been waiting for a long time roared loudly. Under the leadership of the chief general Guo Shiheng, the ox cart and grain team were blocked and killed at the official road a mile away.

But the guards of Tang were not panic. They seemed to have already prepared, and they squatted on the ground, aiming at the enemy troops who were hiding their way.

Just as the Huaian army entered within 120 steps, the sound of chungsten sounded, and the grain and oil cloth on the ox carts were raised one after another. Countless Tang soldiers appeared from the ox carts and raised crossbows to shoot arrows at the Huaian army that was coming.

It turned out that there was no food in the ox cart, but it was carrying 15,000 Tang soldiers. When Guo Shiheng led his army to leave Biyang County, the Tang army scout hidden in Biyang County immediately sent a letter of eagle to Li Shimin. Li Shimin immediately set up a trap and waited for Guo Shiheng's army to come to rob the food.

Guo Shiheng, who was rushing in the front, saw a large number of Tang troops appearing on the grain truck, and was shocked. He knew that he had fallen into a trap and hurriedly ordered: "Retreat!"

But it was too late. The Tang army fired thousands of arrows at the Huai'an soldiers like a storm. They screamed loudly, and the soldiers were shot to the ground. Guo Shiheng was shot three arrows, and more than a dozen arrows were shot in a row in the war horse under his crotch. He fell to the ground with a neighing sound. More than a dozen personal soldiers behind him rushed forward to rescue, but were shot down by arrows. The remaining two personal soldiers did not dare to come forward to rescue again. They turned around and fled to their lives, which made Guo Shiheng so angry that he cursed.

At this time, the Tang army rushed up with shouts and drums on both sides. Two cavalrymen came from afar and surrounded them from three sides. Seeing that the situation was critical, Guo Shiheng struggled to get up. At this moment, a cold arrow shot "swoosh!". The arrow was extremely powerful and hit Guo Shiheng's throat. Guo Shiheng raised his head incredibly. This arrow was not shot by the Tang army behind him, but from the direction of his own army.

He happened to see Tian Zan put away his bow and arrow and looked at him coldly. Guo Shiheng immediately understood. He reached out and grabbed it, but finally fell down powerlessly and died under Tian Zan's arrow. At this time, dozens of Tang army cavalry had arrived. The head captain slashed Guo Shiheng's head with a knife, raised his head and shouted excitedly, which caused cheers from the Tang army around him.

Tian Zan turned his horse and left. He chased the escaped soldiers and shouted loudly: "Listen to my orders, enter the woods, and escape to the hills!"

The commander Guo Shiheng was unfortunately killed, and the command of the army naturally fell into the hands of deputy general Tian Zan. He was also a general of Zhang Zhenzhou and had a certain appeal to the Huai'an army. Although not all troops were willing to obey his command, at least more than half of the troops were willing to follow him to escape.

After ten thousand troops retreated into the hills, they parted ways. Guo Shiheng's confidant general Zhou Wenzhong refused to accept Tian Zan's command. He led 3,000 soldiers to retreat to Huaian County along the original route.

Tian Zan could not stop persuading him, so he led another 7,000 troops to retreat along the hills to Nanyang County. He knew in his heart that since Li Shimin had laid an ambush circle, Liu Hongji's 10,000 troops would definitely intercept him on the way back to Huaian County to the west. There were blocking in front and pursuers behind, and they would be wiped out.

Only by doing the opposite and retreating to Nanyang County may you still be able to break out of the ambush. Since Zhou Wenzhong is willing to die to protect his retreat south, he is happy to see it happen.

Tian Zan led his army to retreat south along the east bank of the Qingshui River. They bypassed Nanyang County, marched day and night, and finally jumped out of the Tang army's encirclement. Two days later, the army arrived in Xinye County. At this time, Xinye County was already the sphere of influence of the Sui army, and entering Xinye County means that they are finally safe.

There were still several miles away from the county town, and the soldiers were exhausted and could not walk anymore. At this time, a team of cavalry rushed towards him and rushed to him in an instant. They clasped their fists for the cavalry captain and said to Tian Zan: "General Tian, ​​General Tian is in Xinye County, please go and meet!"

Tian Zan was overjoyed and quickly ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot. He urged his horse to follow the cavalry to go to the county town. After walking less than three miles, a mighty army came towards him, with flags waving and spectacular. The general led by the head was wearing a golden helmet and majestic. It was Zhang Xuan, the commander of the Sui army.

Tian Zan quickly turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt on one knee, raised Jin Lingjian and said, "I have completed the task assigned by the commander, I will hand over the order!"

Zhang Xuan nodded and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work, please get on the horse and talk!"

"Thank you, Marshal!"

Tian Zan turned over and followed Zhang Xuan, and Zhang Xuan asked again: "How many soldiers come with General Tian?"

"Report to your Highness, Guo Shiheng led 11,000 soldiers to Xiangcheng to ambush the grain team, but more than 500 people died in ambush. Zhou Wenzhong led more than 3,000 people, and 7,200 soldiers following Beizhi to the south."

"Not bad! Are they willing to follow you?"

"Report to the Grand Marshal, they are more willing to be loyal to the Grand Marshal!"

Tian Zan was very good at speaking, and Zhang Xuan couldn't help laughing and said to Tian Zan: "I heard that General Tian is good at literary talent, so I will give General Tian two choices. If General Tian is willing to go to politics, I will be the prefect of Nanyang County. If General Tian wants to continue to join the army, then he can serve as General Hu Ben and follow General Luo Shixin. General Tian can choose by himself."

After pausing, Zhang Xuan said again: "In addition, I want to tell General Tian that these 7,000 troops will either be dispersed and organized into the armies, or they will be disarmed and returned home. In short, the Huai'an army will not exist in the future."

Tian Zan lowered his head and said nothing, pondering for a moment, he asked again: "Is there any news about Zhou Wenzhong, the general?"

Zhang Xuan nodded, "They were surrounded by the Tang army, Zhou Wenzhong was killed by his generals, and all three thousand troops have surrendered to the Tang army."

At this time, Tian Zan finally made up his mind to say: "I am willing to take off my armor and wear robes and become the prefect of Nanyang County."

"Why did you decide to become the prefect?"

Zhang Xuan was a little puzzled and reminded him again: "If you become the prefect, you may have a very small chance of winning the title in the future."

"I understand the humble job, but I still choose to go into politics."

Tian Zan sighed softly and said, "This is actually the last wish of the father of Beizhi. My father was disappointed with the abandonment of Wenwen and conquering the martial arts. He refused to meet with Beizhi for the last time until his death. Unless I was willing to put down my sword, he would never forgive me. Although Beizhi would rather be a general in the army, for my father's last wish, I could only give up my own wish."

Zhang Xuan didn't expect that he was actually for his father. He was a little moved and nodded and said, "Then I will fulfill your filial piety again. You have made contributions to regaining the Huai'an army. I will also give you the title of Marquis of Biyang County. You are allowed to rebuild your father's tomb with the ceremony."

Tian Zan was extremely moved and choked and said, "Thank you for your accomplishment!"

Zhang Xuan patted his shoulder again and said earnestly: "Be honest and honest, do things for the people, remember these eight words of me, I believe you will have the chance to go to Beijing to become a high-ranking official in the future."

"Abide by the order!"

Zhang Xuan comforted Tian Zan and asked Luo Shixin to recruit Tian Zan's army. He then drew an arrow and handed it to a personal soldier and said, "Run to Xiyang County immediately and order General Liu to act as planned!"
Chapter completed!