The fierce battle between the Sui army and Meng Haigong army in Xiaoxian has been on the fifth day, and both sides are a little exhausted. Within a radius of dozens of miles west of Xiaoxian, there are battlefields for bloody fighting between the two armies.

During the five-day fierce battle, the Sui army gained a huge advantage with excellent equipment and good training, annihilated more than 40,000 enemies. However, because the bandits were three times that of the Sui army, Yang Yichen's army also lost more than 30% and suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The Sui army also lost its initial sharpness and its morale began to decline. It was unable to repel the enemy in two fierce battles. Yang Yichen had to retreat twenty miles to occupy a high place to confront Meng Haigong's army.

In the big tent, Yang Yichen was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back, feeling anxious. Yang Yichen was tall and burly and handsome. Although he was over fifty years old, he was still as powerful as his prime.

Yang Yichen's original surname was Yuchi. Later, Emperor Wen of Sui adopted him and gave him his surname Yang. He inherited his father's title and entered the camp of high-ranking officials since the time of the late emperor. It has been thirty years so far. He has great prestige in both the court and the military. However, Yang Yichen's life has not been satisfactory in recent years. Because of his great prestige, he was suppressed and neglected by Yang Guang and served as the governor of Pengcheng County for four years.

Because Yang Yichen and Meng Haigong had been in confrontation for many years and knew Meng Haigong very well, he was transferred by Yang Guang to deal with the rebellion of Meng Haigong. In a sense, Meng Haigong's rebellion was also Yang Guang used the hand of the thief to eliminate the forces that Yang Yichen had cultivated in Xuzhou for many years.

Yang Yichen knew in his heart that the tens of thousands of militia and lower-level officers he trained in the four counties of Xuzhou over the years all made wedding dresses for Meng Haigong. This was also the reason why Meng Haigong was able to grow rapidly in just over a month. Then Yang Guang transferred himself to deal with this rebel army, which was equivalent to letting him kill the results of his years of training with his own hands.

Just when Yang Yichen was at a loss, personal soldiers came from outside the tent to report: "Report to the general, General Zhang sent someone to deliver the letter."

Yang Yichen was stunned. "Which General Zhang?"

"Jianghuai recruits General Zhang Xuan!"

Yang Yichen was immediately overjoyed and quickly ordered: "Please come in quickly!"

Soon, a letter delivery soldier quickly walked into the tent, knelt down on one knee and bowed, and presented a volume of Zhang Xuan's handwritten letter, "This is my general's letter to the general!"

Yang Yichen took the message and asked first: "Where is your general now?"

"You are the general, we are in Xiapi County."

Yang Yichen pulled out the letter scroll and slowly unfolded it on the table. The more he looked, the more he became more and more surprised. Zhang Xuan had wiped out Meng Dangui's 30,000 rear troops and was ready to enter Pengcheng County at any time. Zhang Xuan hoped that he could restrain Meng Haigong and not let Meng Haigong retreat to Qingzhou.

Seeing this, Yang Yichen couldn't help but smile faintly. It seemed that Zhang Xuan understood the profound meaning of his letter.

At the end of the letter, Zhang Xuan reminded him that he was afraid that Duke Meng Hai had already known the situation of the war in Xia Pi and was about to retreat. He hoped that Yang Yichen could try his best to hold Duke Meng Hai as much as possible. Zhang Xuan immediately led his army into Pengcheng County.

After reading the letter, Yang Yichen asked the sender again and said, "Have your general set out?"

"Report to the Grand Marshal, when the villain set off, my general was packing his luggage. He should have entered Pengcheng County now."

At this moment, another soldier outside the tent reported. "Report to the general, the enemy has retreated back to Pengcheng."

Yang Yichen immediately understood that it must be that Meng Haigong had received the news that Zhang Xuan had advanced westward and retreated in a hurry. He immediately ordered: "Send the entire army to be ready to set off!"

Meng Haigong's army was indeed retreating eastward in Pengcheng. Just over an hour ago, he finally received news from his cousin Meng Dangui. Zhang Xuan suddenly went north and not only wiped out Luo Binggan's army, but also defeated 30,000 rear troops near Xiapi County. Meng Dangui only led more than a thousand people to flee back to Pengcheng County in a hurry, and Xiapi County was completely lost.

This news made Meng Haigong almost vomit blood. He deployed Meng Dangui's 30,000 troops to prevent the Sui army from going north. Unexpectedly, Zhang Xuan went north and wiped out the army. This opened the gateway to the west of Pengcheng County, and Meng Haigong was in a dangerous situation of being attacked from both sides.

Meng Haigong's 50,000 troops were marching in a row to retreat to Pengcheng County, with the team stretching for more than ten miles, with flags covering the sky and the sun.

Under the banner of Yishen, Meng Haigong sighed deeply and said to the military advisor Han Zhishui with concern: "I originally expected Du Fuwei to help me restrain Zhang Xuan, but I didn't expect that he was so useless and retreated in just ten days, causing Zhang Xuan to return to Xiapi County, which made me suffer from an enemy from both sides. I hated!"

Han Zhishui was also very dissatisfied with Meng Haigong. If he had listened to his advice and entered Qingzhou, he would not have been passive today. However, Han Zhishui's dissatisfaction was not revealed and comforted Meng Haigong: "The king still has 60,000 troops, and Zhang Xuan and Yang Yichen's army combined have only 30,000 troops, only half of us. We still have an advantage in terms of military strength, and we still have a way out, so the situation is not that bad."

"The retreat route that sir is to go north to Qingzhou?"

Han Zhishui nodded and smiled: "In fact, whether it is going north to Qingzhou or south to Jianghuai, it is our way to escape from difficulties. The key is that the lord must make up his mind."

Meng Haigong understood what he was saying, but he didn't say anything, and said for a while: "Let's go back to Pengcheng first!"

After saying that, he waved his whip and twitched the war horse, and the war horse ran forward, "The front army accelerated the marching speed."

Han Zhishui looked at Meng Haigong's back and walked away, and couldn't help but shake his head. Meng Haigong's biggest problem was that he lacked courage. He wanted to get many things but did not dare to do them. For example, the thing he advised him in the morning could force Zhang Xuan back, but he did not dare to adopt them. He was afraid of his hands and feet, but he could not do a big thing.

Han Zhishui pondered for a moment and said to his personal soldiers around him: "Go and find General Shang!"

After a moment, Shang Huaizhu, who was thin and like a monkey, ran forward and clasped his fists and said, "Please give instructions from the military advisor!"

“There is something extremely important to you!”

Han Zhishui said a few words to him, and Shang Huaizhu looked embarrassed, "I'm afraid the king will not agree."

Han Zhishui's face sank, "You just do it, I'll bear all the consequences!"

Shang Huaizhu had no choice but to nod, "I understand, I will take my brothers south!"

He also turned his horse's head and ran back. Han Zhishui looked at him far away and couldn't help but sneer. Some things cannot be done on the table, so he can only do them under the table. As long as the goal can be achieved, he can do whatever he wants.

After completely annihilated Meng Dangui's 30,000 troops, Zhang Xuan did not immediately rush his troops to Pengcheng County. Instead, he rested for two days, selected horses to enrich the cavalry, and had to deal with nearly 20,000 prisoners of war.

He selected five thousand capable soldiers from the prisoners of war to supplement his army, bringing his army to 18,000 in Xiapi County.

Although the Ministry of War opposes, it is urgent to replenish troops. He originally had 20,000 troops, and released 3,000 defenders in Licheng County, left 2,000 troops in Jiangdu to assist in defense, and left 1,000 troops in Shanyang County and Suyu County. Now Xiapi County has to leave at least 1,000 people to defend, and the troops are too dispersed, which makes his main army already unable to meet the needs of the war.

Zhang Xuan's camp is located west of Sishui, covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. The joy of victory has not yet disappeared. The camp is busy and the soldiers are busy and full of vitality.

On the colonel field, Yuchi Gong led a hundred elite soldiers to strictly train 5,000 prisoners of war, sword formation and spear formation shouted like thunder, and the team was uniform. The prisoners of war soldiers were wearing Sui army armor, and it was impossible to tell that they were Meng Haigong's bandit army two days ago.

"How about it?"

Zhang Xuan walked to Yuchi Gong and smiled, "The training seems to be very fast! It's just two days old."

Yuchi Gong shook his head, "General, don't praise me, it has nothing to do with me. This is actually Yang Yichen's credit."

"Why?"

"Yang Yichen has trained tens of thousands of militias in Pengcheng County and Xiapi County over the years. More than 90% of our 5,000 troops are militias that Yang Yichen has trained. With a little training, you can become a formal soldier."

Lu Qingyuan next to him was a little puzzled, "But they acted like a mob on the battlefield, and they collapsed in one battle, and they didn't look like they had been trained at all."

Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "This is morale and morale. These soldiers are unwilling to work for Meng Haigong at all, so they want to escape when they fight, and naturally become a mob army. If Meng Haigong can use his extraordinary courage, the situation may be completely different."

"What does the general mean when he is very courageous?"

"Many ways!" Zhang Xuan said lightly: "For example, if you divide the land for each soldier by 500 acres, in order to protect your own interests, these soldiers will fight desperately on the battlefield, and we should be the ones who will lose."
Chapter completed!