The Wagang army that ambushed Yang Qing's army was the army of Li Jiancheng who had just returned.∈◆,

Many things are just a coincidence. Li Yangcang, which originally had only 5,000 defenders, strengthened its defense and temporarily increased its troops to 10,000, which forced Li Jiancheng, who had been planning for a long time, to temporarily give up the plan to attack Li Yangcang.

But just as Li Jiancheng was about to lead his army to Hanoi County, news came that Jiangdu ordered the encirclement and suppression of Wagang Army. Li Jiancheng realized the crisis of Wagang Village and immediately led his army back to Wagang and ambushed Yang Qing's army.

The valley was in chaos, and the Sui army retreated quickly, and the war horses were unable to run in the crowd. Yang Qing's hundreds of personal soldiers simply pulled him off and ran back desperately.

The battle in the Central Plains was full of too many drama surnames. If it weren't for the Li Yangcang Cang's army, Li Jiancheng's army would not be able to return to Wagang in time.

If Zhai Rang retreated one day later, he would get the news that Yang Qing had lost his defeat in the attack on Wagang Village. Perhaps he would stick to the tall and solid Songcheng County and no longer retreat hastily, and the situation in the Central Plains would be reversed.

But all this is assumption. The Wagang Army did not have a tall and strong city as a basis, so they had to retreat all the way north to Chenliu County.

At this time, Pei Renji also led 8,000 troops from Jiyin County to Chenliu County and joined Zhang Xutuo's army. The Sui army and the Wagang army confronted Chenliu County. Both sides refused to launch an offensive easily. The battle situation in Chenliu County temporarily stabilized.

.........

Just when the Central Plains Battle was in full swing, the battle of Langya County also came to a confrontation stage. Zhang Xuan succeeded in ambushing Wang Bo's army in Lu County, causing more than half of Wang Bo's 20,000 elite troops. He did not stay in Lu County for a long time and immediately escorted the prisoners of war to quickly return to Dong'an County, Langya County.

Almost half of the more than 5,000 prisoners of war captured by the Sui army were the former Sui army. After they were disbanded and returned to their hometown, they were fought over by various rioters. The final result fulfilled the worries of many officials. Disbanding the army back to their hometowns will only end up fulfilling the rioters from all over the country.

Wang Bo once plundered a large amount of wealth in Qi County. Although he was defeated by Zhang Xutuo and drove out of Qi County, Wang Bo's wealth was not lost. It was precisely because of these wealth that Wang Bo recruited a large number of disbanded Sui army at a high price. He also obtained a large amount of Sui army equipment, which allowed Wang Bo to have an elite army of 20,000 people in just one year.

A clearing in the west of Dong'an County was filled with a large number of weapons and armor seized by the Sui army this time, and five thousand prisoners of war were taken to the prisoner-of-war camp in the north of the city, guarded by hundreds of soldiers.

Dozens of craftsmen are checking the captured weapons and armor to see how many of them can be reused.

In fact, war caused the loss of weapons and armor. After several battles, a spear and a sword basically cannot be used again and must be replaced again. This is also one of the important reasons why war consumes national strength.

Zhang Xuan picked up a pair of soldiers armor, which was the standard armor of the Sui army, made of cloth, and he picked up another pair of soldiers armor, but this was a pair of leather armor, made of two layers of cooked leather.

"This pair of leather armor is good. There are still many more. It seems that Wang Bo has indeed invested a lot."

Generally speaking, the armor of ordinary soldiers cannot be made of iron. There is not so much pig iron in the Sui Dynasty. Only generals above the lieutenant can wear scale iron armor.

Low-level officers below the lieutenant wear bright light armor, that is, iron-covered armor that protects the front, chest, and back heart with iron. This is already very good, while ordinary soldiers can only wear cloth armor or mixed cloth leather armor.

Only the 100,000-strong Xiaoguo Army, who guarded the emperor Yang Guang, reflected the strong financial resources of the Sui Dynasty. Each soldier was equipped with Hexi war horses, steel cavalry and horizontal swords. He wore blood-colored bright light armor and a red golden leopard helmet.

In addition, only the army directly under the Ministry of War can be equipped with leather armor. As for the Sui army recruited by various places, they can only be equipped with cloth armor or mixed cloth armor.

Therefore, Wang Bo claimed to have obtained the standard preparations of the Sui army, which is actually the lowest level. Most of them are cloth armor. However, after being processed with special processes such as oil immersion, these cloth armors also have the same defense ability as leather armor, which can withstand the shooting of bows and arrows fifty steps away. However, crossbow arrows cannot be blocked. If shield defense is added, they can basically resist the powerful power of crossbow arrows.

Cao Sining, the side general next to him, smiled at Zhang Xuan and said, "Most of these soldiers and armors are intact. I guess it is roughly estimated that these soldiers and armors can equip 4,000 troops."

Zhang Xuan looked back at the prisoner-of-war camp in the distance and smiled: "Look at those prisoners of war!"

At present, Zhang Xuan has only 13,000 troops. He has to face a bandit army with three or four times his strength, but his strength is still slightly insufficient, so increasing the strength has become an urgent task.

Although Wei Yunqi had already begun to recruit new soldiers in Beihai County, the far water could not quench his near thirst, and it would take at least a year or two for those soldiers to train. Therefore, Zhang Xuan began to attack these prisoners of war and re-suck these prisoners of war into the Sui army.

Moreover, they were all from Qingzhou, either Langya County, Lu County, Qi County and Beihai County. They were also soldiers, and as long as they had brief training, they should be reorganized into the Sui Army.

At the gate of the prisoner-of-war camp, Zhang Xuan happened to meet Pei Xingyan. Pei Xingyan hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "See General!"

"What are Yuan Qing doing here?" Zhang Xuan asked with a smile.

Pei Xingyan's face turned red and scratched his head with some embarrassment, saying, "I want to select a hundred strong soldiers from among the prisoners of war to replenish their troops."

"Most of these prisoners of war will become Sui army. Let's choose after training! I can agree to you with this request."

"Thank you, General!"

The two walked into the prisoner-of-war camp. It turned out to be the Sui army camp. They demolished the vacant houses and rebuilt them. There was a circle of bungalows around them, and a large schoolyard in the middle. You could also see the scattered trees left by the houses.

It was early morning. Five thousand prisoners of war were gathered together to bask in the sun and chat. They were frightened and calmly accepted the reality. According to the customs of the Sui army, they would be released back to their hometown after being imprisoned for more than ten days, including tens of thousands of prisoners of war that Zhang Jin said were also dealt with in the same way. They did not commit any harm to the heavens and should be able to return to their homes.

At this time, the military camp drums rumbling and the prisoners of war were so scared that they stood up and ran to the south of the schoolyard. They quickly lined up and saw several generals coming in at the gate. Many of the leaders recognized it as Zhang Xuan, the leader of the Sui army.

Most of these prisoners of war were from Sui Army soldiers and were well trained. They lined up in less than a moment. Seeing that they were in line, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but nodded secretly. It was a pity to put them back.

Zhang Xuan walked up to the 100th wooden platform and looked at the five thousand prisoners of war below. The audience was silent.

"You are all soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty, why should you commit yourself as thieves?"

Zhang Xuan's tone was very stern, without any concealing his anger, questioning all prisoners of war, "You parents, wife and children hope that you will kill enemies on the battlefield to make meritorious contributions, be awarded officials and receive honors, and give family members a glory, but what did you do? Do you want your children to have a father who is a thief and a son who is a thief, and can't raise your head in front of your neighbors?"

Most of the soldiers lowered their heads in shame, and some young soldiers couldn't help crying. A front-row veteran couldn't help but raise his hands and said, "General Zhang, the court doesn't want us anymore, it's not that we are willing to be thieves!"

"Bad words!"

Zhang Xuan said angrily: "Did the court ask you to be thieves? Is it that you disbanded you, and asked you to go home to farm and take care of your wife, children and parents. How did you do it?"

When the veteran saw Zhang Xuan getting angry, he was so scared that he didn't dare to say anything, and the school was silent.

Zhang Xuan restrained his anger and said slowly: "I am also the one who came back from the battlefield of Goguryeo. We defeated the Goguryeo army under the city of Pyongyang and forced them to surrender. We can say that we have made great achievements in military achievements, but I have also suffered unfair treatment when I returned to Beijing, just like you. I can fully understand your difficulties. You have empty hands and cannot go home to explain to your parents, wife and children."

Zhang Xuan's words touched the sadness of many people. A low sigh sounded on the school ground. Thinking about it, he was, after so many years of being in the army, he finally became a prisoner of war and had nothing. They threw a little savings in Zhuanyu County, making Wang Bo free.

"I'll tell you what my sergeant got, a veteran like you."

Zhang Xuan pulled a veteran and said to everyone: "His name is Li Hongtao, a native of Beihai County. He once joined Liu Badao's uncle's army. Daye was captured at the beginning of the tenth year and became my subordinate. He fought bravely and accumulated military achievements bit by bit. Now he has been promoted to the ranks. He has received a reward of 120 acres of fertile land in Linzi County, Beihai County, and was farmed by his parents, wife and children, and exempted from 20 years of taxes.

In addition, he saved at least a hundred stakes of savings, all of which were the old copper coins of Kaihuang, and was preparing to marry his son in the future. If he was unfortunately killed, his family would receive another hundred acres of land as a pension, which would be inherited by his son and exempted from taxes for life."

These words were like a burst of trouble, and there was a lot of discussion below, and Chen Xu shouted loudly: "Quiet!"

The school ground gradually became quiet again, and everyone's eyes were staring at Zhang Xuan, and the eyes became obviously brighter.

Zhang Xuan continued, "According to the rules, you will be sent home, but I will give you a chance to make meritorious service and atone for sins. If you are willing to be my soldier of Zhang Xuan, you will enjoy the honor and wealth of soldiers like this Li Hongtao. Your family will get land, and you will get rewards and promotions when making military achievements. I, Zhang Xuan, have only one rule, that is, to distinguish between rewards and punishments.

Of course, if you don’t want to join the army, you will be sent home according to the rules. I just hope that you will not commit yourself as thieves and be caught by me again. I will never let you go. Just say so much, you can choose for yourself!"

......(To be continued.)
Chapter completed!