Gao Renhou couldn't bear the loneliness, so he rushed to Linhuan with some Tibetan soldiers, and then followed the Feilong Army to the east.
On this day, the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly. Lao Gao was thinking about how to deal with Shi Shucong when he suddenly caught sight of something from the corner of his eye and stopped immediately.
"Who are these?" Gao Renhou pointed his riding whip and asked.
In the grass in the distance, hundreds of people, old and young, were sitting, with worried faces, and even some crying softly.
"Go back to Commander Gao, these are the local people who have been recruited to help transport food and grass." A military academy replied.
"This is the border of Fuli County. It is only more than ten miles away from the county seat. Are there any family members of the rebels?" Gao Renhou asked.
"have."
"Pick it out." Gao Renhou got off his horse and said.
"As ordered." The military academy immediately complied without asking why.
Soon, soldiers from Liangdi came forward to ask. At first no one was willing to say anything, but they couldn't stand the threats and inducements, and soon someone was willing to come forward and identify him. No accident, he was reviled by many people, betraying the villagers, it is not
What a good reputation.
"Why are there still sick people?" Gao Renhou walked up to the singled-out Liang Jun family and asked.
"Come here, find the doctor and treat them." Gao Renhou said loudly.
Everyone was a little surprised.
If it was benevolent not to kill the family members of the thieves, why should we treat them? But Gao Renhou was the deputy commander of the Luoyang camp and was more senior than their military envoy Qi Banzhang. No one dared to disobey, so he was quickly ordered to do so.
The doctor and doctor came over.
The doctor didn't waste any words. He came forward to check on them one by one, and then ordered his men to cook the medicine.
Everyone watched silently and said nothing.
"Zhang Weng is so old, let's go home." Gao Renhou walked up to an old man again. Seeing that his beard and hair were all white, he sighed: "The people in Xu Town are suffering. In the early years, there was the Pang Xun Rebellion, and later there were Zhu Quanzhong and Shi Pu.
They have been attacking and killing for many years. Every year they are buried in the wilderness with war drums. It is pitiful that there are not many people left in the countryside, right?"
The old man was still a little afraid, but when he heard Gao Renhou's words, he immediately complained and said that he was originally from Bianzhou and moved to Suzhou with his two sons. One of the two sons was in the Xiongwei Army and the other in the Feisheng Army. They were both serious people.
The yamen soldiers thought they were living a good life, but who could have imagined that they would fight every year, and from the first day of the new year to the winter solstice, there would only be a few days of family reunion. The old wife cried every night, worried so much that her eyes almost went blind from crying.
Gao Renhou also sighed and said: "The king of Xia is benevolent. He does not kill prisoners, does not surrender, and does not treat the people harshly. You are over fifty years old. It's time to go home and enjoy the blessings. Let's go. Someone, come and send this stick man away."
"
After that, he took out a pack of dried meat and two pieces of cheese from the saddle, and said, "Take these with you and eat them on the way."
The old man couldn't believe that Zheng Fu could be put back. He looked at Gao Renhou intently, and seeing that he didn't seem to be hypocritical, he immediately thanked Gao Renhou profusely and left with a smile on his face.
There was silence in the venue, and everyone was looking at Gao Renhou.
Gao Renhou looked calm, and asked a few older people to ask, and then sent them away.
"You are a martial artist!" Gao Renhou walked up to a strong man, looked at his thick calloused hands, then looked at his body shape, demeanor, and temperament, and said with a smile: "You are still an old martial artist."
"General, you have good eyesight." This man did not dare to look at Gao Renhou and said in a low voice: "I am a ranger of Feisheng Army. I was caught by your army. After being tortured, I was sent to work as a coolie."
"Where are you from?"
"A native of Xuchang, Xuzhou."
"I am from Changshe, and I unexpectedly met a township party member." Gao Renhou said with a smile, "Do you still have any relatives at home?"
"No more." Jun Han said calmly: "They all died in the hands of Qin Zongquan."
"It's a pity." Gao Renhou sighed: "You can leave too. It's outrageous for a warrior to be a coolie."
"If the general lets me go, but I have nowhere to go, I will probably go to find Fei Shengjun. Do you really want to let me go?" the soldier asked.
"You are quite courageous. How dare you say that? Are you not afraid of being chopped down by me?" Gao Renhou asked with a smile.
"Just tell the truth." The soldier said calmly: "A warrior is straight forward, so what can't be said?"
"You go, I will stick to my word and I won't tell lies."
"I can only return to Fei Shengjun, it's better to starve to death."
"Get out of here!" Gao Renhou scolded with a smile.
The soldier climbed up and stood up. He subconsciously glanced at the direction the old man was leaving, then at the doctor who was treating patients, and left without looking back.
Gao Renhou continued to patrol and asked a few questions from time to time.
Some enemy prisoners who came out to collect firewood were captured. They were given rations and allowed to leave.
Some who were too weak to be used were sent home.
Even those whose fathers and brothers were in the Liang army were released.
For a time, hundreds of people walked away. He was not surprised. There were so many people in Liang Jun. It was impossible for all their family members to live in the city. The closer to the city wall, the more family members of the sergeants.
In the afternoon, Qi Binzhang rushed back with more than 2,000 people. After hearing the report from his subordinates, he was also surprised and immediately found Gao Renhou who was chatting with the doctor.
"What do you mean by Gao Dutou? Why did you indulge so many people?" Qi Bizhang asked.
He recruited soldiers aggressively in the three counties of Chengfu, Yongcheng, and Linhuan. To this end, he suppressed a military rebellion and finally pulled up the troops. After entering Suzhou, he repeated his old tactics and planned to enlist Latin in the army. As a result,
Was he actually let go?
"Don't worry, envoy Qibi. The thieves have been defeated in a row and the morale of the army is low. It has nothing to do with the overall situation if I let a few soldiers go." Gao Renhou said with a smile: "The general has returned with great joy, must he have gained something?"
"Not much was gained. Shishu Cong was also a tough opponent. I attacked a part of his front army, but he couldn't attack it. The two armies had similar casualties, which was really unlucky. When I returned to the army, I took a detour and defeated a group of local warriors, capturing and beheading several
Hundreds of people." Qi Banzhang said with a gloomy look on his face.
"Take your time, fly to victory, the mighty army is not a weak force, but also a proud and arrogant people. I have never suffered, so of course I am not convinced." Gao Renhou smiled and said: "Fight slowly, don't rush, rush.
If there are any flaws, people will take advantage of them."
"I don't like the way you fight." Qi Banzhang said bluntly.
According to Qi Banzhang's strategy, he continuously sent out the Tibetan cavalry to delay and consume the enemy's troops, and then sent out the flying dragon army to quickly maneuver and appear elusive to attack the enemy, trying to defeat them at the cost of huge casualties.
What is so scheming and calm is not in line with the aesthetics of warriors, just like a hairy awl, if you don't like it, you just don't like it.
Gao Renhou didn't argue with him, just shook his head and smiled.
Everyone's fighting style is inherently different.
Some people are brave and diligent, beating the old master to death with random punches, beating the calm and composed so-called Confucian generals and wise generals to pieces, defeating ten meetings with one effort, and then ridiculing you after the end, killing people; some people are cunning and calculating, and they can see three things with every move.
Step by step, he has calculated everything, toying with the enemy to applause; some people fight like clay puppets in the temple, their emotions do not change, they are ruthless, they wait patiently, they only pursue the goal and use any means...
It is strange that in a group, all the generals have the same style.
******
Shishu Cong's army left Xiacai County and headed east along the Huaihe River.
Marching like this, the road actually became longer, which was not very suitable. But there was no way. The Xia people sent a large number of Tibetan cavalry to harass them along the way, which was very annoying. They forced him to change the marching route and go down the Ying River, arriving at Yingkou first.
, after obtaining supplies, head east.
There is an advantage to walking this way, that is, there will not be too big a problem with the food road. Because the Huai River is his food road, no matter how powerful the Xia people's cavalry is, they cannot swim into the wide Huai River to fight.
Yang Xingmi is indeed very interesting. The navy he sent never left and stayed at the Yingkou camp to wait. After Shi Shucong withdrew, the navy set off again to help transport the baggage and the wounded, solving a lot of trouble.
Soldiers are the biggest drag on marching speed, so shipping is the best thing.
The Xia thief's combat effectiveness was quite good. The Feilong Army led by the Tibetan general Qi Bizhang was even more of a gang of desperadoes. In a head-to-head fight, the casualties were quite high, which cast a shadow on his heart.
In addition, he had some suspicion that King Liang had lost his bearings.
First, he was asked to recover the lost territory of Bozhou, and secondly, he was asked to pay attention to the movements of the thieves and beware of them attacking Xu Su.
What do you want from me?
Shishu Cong was also a little angry. After thinking about it, since the Xia thieves were marching eastward in large numbers and heading towards Suzhou, they should first go to Wokou, re-establish the camp, stabilize their retreat, and then go north again.
In addition to their main force, Yang Shihou, Zhao Yan, and Zhu Hanbin also had 15,000 to 15,000 troops, marching directly east from Yingzhou and reaching Mengcheng.
They marched in two directions, with a total force of 50,000 to 60,000 people, looking for opportunities to encircle and annihilate Qibi Zhang's tribe.
The strategy is pretty much just that, but Shi Shucong actually doesn't have much confidence in destroying the enemy, because they have horses, so if they can't be beaten, they can just run away. What can you do? It would be good to regain the land where Bozhou was trapped by thieves, but don't think too much about it.
Moreover, the most fearful thing is that Qibizhang will come back after running away. There are too few soldiers, there are too many places where the weapons are empty, and the enemy is rushing on four legs, so it is really difficult to guard against him.
"Commander, Zhou Lai is here." The general walked over quickly and reported.
"Let him come over." Shi Shucong waved his hand and continued to think about his thoughts.
Zhou Ben came with several personal followers on horseback. He walked and watched all the way, and he was full of praise for Liang Bing's military might.
"I've seen Shidutou." Zhou Ben dismounted and saluted.
Uncle Cong was very impatient and got off his horse to return the gift.
"Good news, Shidutou." Zhou Ben laughed.
Uncle Cong glanced at him but said nothing.
Zhou Ben didn't take it seriously at all, and continued to smile: "I just received a letter from King Wu. King Wu is also very angry about the Xia thieves who kidnapped the emperor and caused trouble to the emperor, and he wants to punish him."
"How to ask for justice?" Shishu Cong asked casually.
"The King of Wu said that if the King of Liang is unable to suppress the thieves because of his lack of troops, he is willing to send soldiers and horses from Chu and Si states north to Xusu to help the King of Liang fight against the Shao thieves." Zhou Ben said with a smile.
Shi Shucong's hair suddenly stood up as he smelled a strange and dangerous smell.
Chu and Sizhou were both awarded to his subordinates by Yang Xingmi. Among them, Li Shenfu was appointed as the governor of Chuzhou, and Liu Jin was recently appointed as the Sizhou regiment training envoy to train troops and horses and prepare border defenses.
"This matter requires the consent of King Liang." Shishu Cong was unwilling to offend Zhou Ben for the time being, although he was already very unhappy.
"That's right." Zhou Ben laughed and ignored the matter.
Then they started chatting about other things, and their words were often connotative and meant to win over each other. Shi Shucong was not stupid and could understand the meaning behind Zhou Ben's words, but he pretended not to know and continued to deal with it.
On February 25th, the army arrived at the mouth of the vortex and set up camp.