The coldness of late autumn always comes very quickly. The trees are stained with white frost overnight, and the leaves that have not yet withered yellow in the fields are also frozen. After experiencing several cold waves, the winter of the ten-year period of Daye quietly came.∽↗

In short, Zhang Xuan's army has been stationed in Qi County for nearly a month, and they have gradually integrated into the Flying Eagle Army. Whether it is equipment, training, logistics supply, etc., it is no different from the Flying Eagle Army.

This is also directly related to Zhang Xuan's low-key cooperation. Although Zhang Xuan has the privilege of independent leadership, except for the appointment and removal of military generals, he basically gave up the rest of his power, and the Flying Eagle Army also completely accepted the army that joined halfway.

In the cold wind, the vast Three Thousand Flying Eagle Army was running along the official road. This is the tradition of Zhang Xuan's army. He exercised his strength by running long distances. Every day, he ran from the barracks located in Licheng County to Zhangqiu County, more than fifty miles away, and then turned around and ran back, about one hundred miles.

At first, some soldiers were not used to it, and they ran exhausted and complained about it, but after running for more than twenty days, all soldiers gradually got used to this high-intensity training method.

At noon, three thousand soldiers ran back to the barracks. As soon as Zhang Xuan rode his horse into the barracks, a personal soldier of Zhang Xutuo rushed over and shouted, "General Zhang, General Zhang, please go to the general's tent to discuss important matters."

"knew!"

Zhang Xuan turned over and dismounted, threw the reins to the soldiers, and quickly walked towards Zhang Xutuo's tent.

In the big tent, Zhang Xutuo was standing in front of a map and pondering. Zhang Xuan said at the door: "Is the Grand Marshal looking for me?"

Zhang Xutuo looked back at him and waved quickly, "Come in!"

Seeing that there were several rows of small Hu stools in the coach's tent, Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "It seems that I missed a discussion."

"It doesn't matter, it's about the plan to launch a winter offensive. I'll talk to you again."

Since the court appointed Feng Xiaoci as the guard of Qinghetong, the threat from Qi County was lifted. In addition, Zhang Xutuo obtained 30,000 stones of grain and 100,000 stag of money from Xu Yuanlang. With the confidence of this money and grain, Zhang Xutuo decided to launch a winter offensive to completely wipe out more than 100,000 bandits entrenched in Donglai County and Gaomi County.

Zhang Xutuo pointed to a mountain in Donglai County with a wooden pole and said, "This is Sakuragou Mountain, and it is also the nest of Zuo Xiaoyou's army. There were about 130,000 chaotic bandits gathering, and the more combat-capable army had about 50,000 people."

He pointed to Gaomi County and said, "Meng Rang's nest is in Jiaoxi County, with about 50,000 troops. Wang Bo and Meng Rang rebelled in Changbai Mountain, and the momentum was huge. Last year, I defeated him. Wang Bo led thousands of remaining troops to surrender to Sun Xuanya of Langya County, while Meng Rang led tens of thousands of people to retreat to Gaomi County.

Meng Rang was very cunning. In the war last year, his subordinates basically suffered no losses, but Wang Bo's army was destroyed. I was going to attack Meng Rang first, otherwise I would defeat Zuo Xiaoyou, and Meng Rang would lead his army to Langya County, which would strengthen Sun Xuanya's power."

Zhang Xuan thought for a while and said, "When the general attacked Gaomi County, Zuo Xiaoyou and Sun Xuanya took the opportunity to attack Qi County and surrounded Wei and rescue Zhao?"

"It's possible. However, there is a Lu County between Sun Xuanya's Langya County and Qi County, so I said that with Lu County, there will be a defense depth. Especially Wang Bo and Meng Rang have turned against each other. Now Wang Bo is the second largest figure in Sun Xuanya's army and has a great influence. So I believe that Sun Xuanya will not take the risk of saving Meng Rang. Instead, Zuo Xiaoyou and Meng Rang signed an offensive and defensive alliance, and he will definitely save Meng Rang. Or send troops directly to Gaomi County, or attack Qi County and Beihai County. I must send an army to keep an eye on Zuo Xiaoyou."

"Did the coach decide to let me go?"

Zhang Xutuo smiled and said, "I originally decided to let you go, but when everyone discussed it just now, I thought that you had 300 cavalry under your command. It was a pity to watch Zuo Xiaoyou, so in the end, Qin Qiong volunteered to lead his headquarters to Beihai County and stare at Zuo Xiaoyou. Your sixth battalion has other arrangements."

Zhang Xuan looked at the map for a long time and said slowly: "Does the Grand Marshal want me to seize Gaomi County first?"

Zhang Xutuo laughed, "It turns out that he is a good fighter. He can see the key to this battle at a glance."

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid that just letting General Qin watch Zuo Xiaoyou may not be useful. After all, General Qin has only a few thousand people under him, and Zuo Xiaoyou has a 50,000 army, and the power is very different."

"What about your opinion?"

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly and said, "There is a lot of military tactics, so I will leave him with my relatives. Is there no crack between Zuo Xiaoyou and Meng Rang?"

Zhang Xutuo seemed to have some understanding. At this time, Zhang Xuan whispered to him again. Zhang Xutuo happily praised: "General Zhang is brave and resourceful, and he is indeed the destiny of a famous general!"

Zuo Xiaoyou's old nest, Sangou Mountain, stretches for hundreds of miles, with high mountains and dense forests and ravines. Zuo Xiaoyou gathered 130,000 chaotic bandits on Sangou Mountain, controlling the entire Donglai County.

However, the population of the entire Donglai County is only a few hundred thousand, and the bandit army that can't support a hundred thousand people even if it is exhausted. In desperation, Zuo Xiaoyou had to cultivate himself and farm and send people to fish in the sea. In addition, the exploitation of the counties in Donglai County can barely maintain the survival of the 50,000 troops.

Zuo Xiaoyou was about 30 years old and from Zhaoyuan County, Donglai County. He was originally a general of the Donglai County government soldier. He was tall and burly, with big arms and round waists, and was born with great strength, so he used a 60-pound iron spear.

He once followed Wang Bo to rebel in Changbai Mountain. Last year, after Wang Bo's army was defeated by Zhang Xutuo, he led his troops back to Donglai County, recruiting soldiers everywhere, and forcing strong men to gradually expand his power.

Zuo Xiaoyou is more brave, but his intelligence is not enough. He also knows his weaknesses well, but he does not trust outsiders, so he invites his clan uncle who has studied as his military advisor.

Zuo Xiaoyou's clan uncle was named Zuo Yunshan. He was about 45 or 46 years old. He was thin and read scriptures well. He was very cunning. He advised Zuo Xiaoyou to keep a low profile and try to keep a low profile, not to invade Beihai County, so as not to become Zhang Xutuo's primary target of attack.

He also advised Zuo Xiaoyou to seize the opportunity to develop his strength. It was at Zuo Yunshan's suggestion that Zuo Xiaoyou developed rapidly and gradually became a major force in Shandong. For this reason, Zuo Yunshan gained Zuo Xiaoyou's trust and became his military adviser and counselor.

But Zuo Yunshan also has a weakness, that is, he is more greedy and lustful. He took five concubines on the mountain and squandered them. The five concubines not only wore gold and silver, but also wore silk silk, but their families also built new houses in their hometowns. They had plenty of money and food, which aroused strong dissatisfaction from Zuo Xiaoyou's generals, who believed that Zuo Yunshan was greedy for money and food to provide for money and food to his squander.

Due to the general dissatisfaction of his subordinates, Zuo Xiaoyou had to warn his uncle Zuo Yunshan a few times and took back the power he had to take back Zuo Yunshan, so he had to restrain himself, but Zuo Yunshan also secretly hated him.

That afternoon, Zuo Yunshan was drinking and having fun in the room with several concubines. A soldier reported outside the door: "I reported to the military advisor, and there was a man who came down from the mountain, saying that he was a junior in the military advisor, and saying that he brought important news from the family."

The inner brother is the brother-in-law. Although Zuo Yunshan is lustful, he is a little afraid of his wife. He squatted in Goushan and married five concubines, but the wife in his hometown didn't know. He was shocked. Could it be that the wife knew that he was taking a concubine on the mountain, and hurriedly said, "Take him to the front hall and wait for me, and I'll come soon!"

The five concubines refused to follow each other, and Zuo Yunshan promised to coax them one by one, and then hurried to the front hall.

When he walked into the front hall, he saw his brother Yang Sanquan at a glance, and hurriedly said, "Don't Sanquan do business in Licheng County? Why do you want to come here to find me?"

"Brother-in-law, something big happened."

Yang Sanquan quickly pulled Zuo Yunshan aside and whispered: "My eldest sister and two nephews fell into the hands of the officers and soldiers. I met them in Licheng County."

Zuo Yunshan was shocked and asked hurriedly: "What's going on?"

Yang Sanquan sighed, took out a letter and handed it to him, "This is the letter Zhang Xutuo gave you, you can read it yourself!"

Zuo Yunshan became nervous, and Zhang Xutuo actually wrote a letter to himself. He hurriedly took the letter and opened it, read it quickly, and was stunned for a moment.

"Are they okay now?"

"It is temporarily safe and under house arrest in the county town. Zhang Xutuo said. It depends on his brother-in-law's performance."

Zuo Yunshan walked a few steps behind his hands, and he asked again: "What is it to give me something in the letter?"

Yang Sanquan took off the package on his back and slowly opened it. Suddenly, the pearls and treasures were radiant and full of brilliance. A pack of various gold, silver jewelry and jade, illuminating Zuo Yunshan's eyes, and dozens of pearls were worth thousands of scattered.

Yang Sanquan whispered again: "Zhang Xutuo said this is only half, and there is still half of the reward afterwards."

Zuo Yunshan nodded, and Zhang Xutuo's letter also said the same thing, and gave half of it afterwards. These treasures that should have been seized by the Sui army.

He grabbed a handful of pearls and looked at them carefully. He showed a look of greed in his eyes. In fact, Zhang Xutuo didn't need to catch his wife and children. As long as he gave him these gold, silver and jewelry, Zuo Yunshan would even sell his soul.

"Brother-in-law, what do you mean by this?" Yang Sanquan asked carefully.

"You go and tell Zhang Xutuo that as long as my wife and children are safe and sound, as long as he can keep his promise and let me go later, I will agree to all his requests."

Yang Sanquan quickly smiled and said, "Don't worry about this, brother-in-law. You also know that Zhang Xutuo is a trustworthy person. He promises a thousand gold medals. Only brother-in-law makes meritorious contributions. He will never treat us badly."

"Okay! I understand what to do."

At this moment, a soldier outside the hall said, "Military advisor, the king has something urgent to look for!"

Zuo Yunshan was startled and quickly put away the property on the table. He instructed Yang Sanquan to send someone to take Yang Sanquan down the mountain. Zuo Yunshan hurried to Zuo Xiaoyou's Juyi Hall.

Since Xu Yuanlang was wiped out by Zhang Xutuo a month ago, Zuo Xiaoyou was also a little nervous. Will Zhang Xutuo point his sword at him next?

In the back hall of Juyi, Zuo Xiaoyou paced back and forth a little upset. A soldier outside the hall reported, "King, the military advisor is here."

"Let him come in!" Zuo Xiaoyou had no idea and had to put his hope on Zuo Yunshan.

After a moment, Zuo Yunshan walked in quickly and said with a smile: "Is there anything wrong with the king who is looking for me?"

Zuo Xiaoyou hurried forward and said, "Uncle Second has to help me this time, I'm having some trouble."

"Your Majesty, don't be so polite, I'm the military advisor!"

The two sat down, Zuo Xiaoyou asked with a smile: "I heard that someone has come from my hometown?"

Zuo Yunshan's heart skipped and he hurriedly said, "It's my brother-in-law who has come. You've seen him."

"Oh! Is something wrong at home?" Zuo Xiaoyou asked again.

Zuo Yunshan smiled bitterly and said, "Has something happened? Your aunt heard from somewhere that I was taking a concubine on the mountain, so she asked her brother to go up the mountain to check it out. I told him, where did I take a concubine?"

Zuo Xiaoyou also laughed. He knew that his uncle was afraid of him, so he actually took five concubines. Seeing how he would go back and explain in the future, he smiled and said, "Where are others? Why don't you come to see me?"

Zuo Yunshan smiled, "How could I leave him on the mountain? Isn't it any more? I've sent him away just now."

"Actually, it's good to make it clear now! It saves you trouble in the future."

"Let's talk about it later! What's the urgent matter for the king to ask me?"

A sentence reminded Zuo Xiaoyou, and he hurriedly said: "Meng Rang has sent an envoy."

(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!