The early appearance of cotton, an important crop, did not change the historical trend of Daye in the past ten years. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, who worked hard to perform all kinds of tricks to death, ignored the fatigue of the people and popular uprisings, and brazenly announced on the third day of February that he was preparing to launch a third personal expedition to Goguryeo.

, asked the civil and military officials to discuss the matter of marching the army, and then for several days, no one in the court dared to say

Word by word, until Emperor Sui Yang became furious and threatened to kill anyone who remained silent, the civil and military ministers reluctantly spoke up, supported Emperor Sui Yang's third personal expedition, and followed Emperor Sui Yang's wishes to formulate a campaign to mobilize the entire country's troops to march north.

Plan. So, on February 20th, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty did not hesitate to issue an edict to recruit the entire army to join the war.

The news spread, and the world was shocked. The soldiers of the Sui army who were transferred to the war were afraid that they would die in vain in Liaodong, so they fled from the army and went into exile. Many people even turned into bandits directly, preferring to be wanted criminals rather than robbers.

They were willing to go to Liaodong to join the war, and the Ding men who could not bear the hard labor fled even more prosperously. From east to west, from south to north, in the 190 counties and 1,255 counties of the Sui Dynasty, they sang "Wu Xiang" almost everywhere.

Song of "Liaodong Wandering Death"

Like the previous two expeditions against Goguryeo, the decision of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty immediately triggered a new round of large-scale civil unrest. The overwhelmed peasants and common people rose up one after another, holding high the flag of righteousness and rebelling against the Sui Dynasty. War broke out all over the world, especially when the civil unrest was serious.

In the Qingxu area of ​​the disaster area, there are countless bandits, big and small, and uprising teams

Like a crucian carp crossing a river, countless careerists and conspirators took the opportunity to stir up trouble. Almost all the rebel bandits who had already launched an army took the opportunity to expand their ranks and expand their strength crazily. The local troops of the Sui army ran east and west and suppressed everywhere, but they still pressed the gourd and floated the ladle.

, focusing on one thing and neglecting the other, there is no way to curb the spread of chaos.

This happened even in Qiao County, which had a better financial and food situation. Some people in Chengfu County were afraid of serving in Liaodong, so they raised flags in the Jiangjun Ridge area south of Chengfu and tried to contact the bandit leader of the neighboring county.

The two gangs joined forces to fight against the Sui Dynasty. Fortunately, Chen Yingliang responded in time and dispatched the troops immediately after receiving the news.

Ma Sanbao led four regiments to the south to crusade and quickly extinguished the rebel army. At the same time, he ordered the counties to suppress the civil uprising immediately once they discovered it. This did not give the time and opportunity for the civil uprising to expand. However, many soldiers and civilians fled in the seven counties of Qiaojun.

Many people left their hometowns with their families and went to neighboring counties to join the rebel army.

Fortunately, Chen Yingliang's boss, Xu Minlian, the governor of Qiao County, was a relatively reliable official. His raids were not too ruthless in normal times, leaving more or less a way for the people to survive. After a lot of hard work, he finally managed to get the necessary items.

He mobilized the number of civilian men and used eighty acres of equal land as bait to replenish five regiments of government soldiers. Captain Fang Kuang led the government soldiers to escort the civilian men.

The team went north and completed the mission with great efforts, which temporarily satisfied the bottomless appetite of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and temporarily restored tranquility in Qiao County. However, they still experienced many twists and turns during the period, causing many lives, and because of the soldiers'

With many people fleeing, no one is cultivating, and a large number of newly planted fields are abandoned. It is a foregone conclusion that the money, grain, and tax revenue will drop sharply after autumn.

Qiao County is a relatively small county. Xu Minlian, who has a gentle personality, handles civil affairs and is somewhat merciful to the people. There is also a famous executioner like Chen Yingliang who is in charge and shows no mercy to civil unrest and chaos. He will immediately suppress it with an iron fist at the slightest sign of rebellion.

, which is barely guaranteed.

The county is peaceful, and no large-scale civil uprisings and rebellions have occurred within the territory. The situation is relatively good, but the situation in several neighboring counties bordering Qiao County is not good. Thieves are everywhere, refugees are everywhere, civil uprisings and uprisings are happening one after another, and local officials

Worried and exhausted, unable to cope.

The most serious situation is in Pengcheng County. Although Dong Chun's troops left behind in Pengcheng are far more numerous than Chen Yingliang's, and they are more experienced and capable than the new army in Qiao County, Pengcheng County is inherently large.

, Dong Chun, who also served as General Zuo Xiaowei, had to take care of the neighboring counties of Langya, Xiapi and Donghai. The more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command were destined to be insufficient. Peng Xiao took advantage of his main force.

Not only did Du Fuwei, who had just been created by Chen Yingliang, take the opportunity to re-grow his troops in Xiapi, Zhang Dahu and Zong Shimo, the two major thieves who have left their names in history books, also took the opportunity to raise troops and plunder the northern part of Pengcheng.

, Dong Chun, who was fighting guerrillas with Peng Xiaocai in the Yimeng Mountains, was surrounded by enemies from both sides, and was in such a panic that he had to let Peng Xiaocai go and return to the army to settle the score with Zhang Dahu.

On the Ruyin side in the south, with the help of Sui Yang, the master of suicide, Wang Erhei, the former little bandit leader of Ruyin, took the opportunity to recruit exiled civilian soldiers and strengthened his team by continuously absorbing refugee deserters. It has become a trend.

Fortunately, Wang Erhei also knew that Chen Yingliang was difficult to mess with, so he did not dare to cross Jiangjun Ridge to cause trouble to Chen Yingliang, and chose to go south to harass Ying.

In relatively prosperous areas such as Shang and Xiacai, Fu Yong, the governor of Ruyin, personally led the army to suppress it and defeated Wang Erhei twice. However, due to lack of troops, he was never able to exterminate the bandit. At the same time, there was another risk in the Yingyang area in the north.

A bandit leader named Fang Xianbo appeared, and he joined forces with Wang Erhei to cause chaos, turning the five counties of Ruyin upside down and making the chickens and dogs restless.

The situation in the north was equally bad. Wang Dangren, Zhou Wenju and Li Gongyi suddenly appeared in the north of Liang County. Wang Bodang, who was famous in history, was also called a prince in Jiyang County, which borders Liang County.

Generals and ministers, would you rather have the right kind? Fortunately, they are all in positions where they are raising flags for rebellion.

It is in the border area between Liang County and Jiyin County. It is relatively far away from Qiao County. It will not threaten the safety of Qiao County for a while. - By the way, the current Tongshou of Liang County is none other than Chen Yingliang who happened to have met several times.

The great-grandfather of Yang Yuhuan, Yang Wang, was the ancestor of the former Imperial College.

The situation in Huaiyang County due west is better, but it is not that good. Also because Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty forcibly launched three campaigns to conquer Goguryeo, civil commotions and rebellions continued throughout the territory. I heard that some people killed the escorting civilian husband.

Officials who went north to Liaodong coerced more than 200 civilians to raise flags to rebel. The crime was quite heinous. Fortunately, the scale of these civil commotions and uprisings was not large enough, and they did not threaten the safety of Qiao County for the time being.

In such a harsh environment, no matter how well the seven counties of Qiaojun managed to protect themselves, Chen Yingliang, as the governor of Qiaojun, was still unavoidably worried about it. He was worried that sooner or later these rogue bandits would flee to Qiaojun and cause trouble, so he continued to send out troops.

People monitor the surrounding movements and are always on guard against any banditry that may flee towards Qiao County, lest they become negligent and ruin their hard-earned reputation as an able minister in quelling chaos.

At the same time, letters for help from neighbors began to arrive in front of Chen Yingliang. When they were unable to completely quell the rebellion, Fu Yong and Yang Wang both sent letters for help, inviting Chen Yingliang to send troops to help them put down the rebellion. Their official positions were higher than that of Chen Yingliang.

high

Dong Chun also put down his arrogance and took the initiative to send envoys to contact Chen Yingliang. He hoped that Chen Yingliang would send troops to help sweep away the southern part of Pengcheng where he had no military strength, so as not to give the rebel team there a chance to take advantage of, and also to guard against Du Fuwei.

Head west again.

The letter asking for help came as expected, and they all agreed to provide him with military rations, but Chen Yingliang did not dare to move, because Chen Yingliang did not have many cards to play now, and the two big thieves Du Fuwei and Zhang Dahu were also in Chen Yingliang's hometown.

There are people circling around the city, and they may attack in the direction of Yongcheng at any time. They just wait patiently for the opportunity to appear, and then consider how to send troops.

The opportunity came to Chen Yingliang. In mid-April, the informants sent by Chen Yingliang reported back one after another, saying that Dong Chun's main force had returned to Teng County and had taken on the newly-rising thieves Zhang Dahu and Zong Shimo.

At the same time, Du Fuwei’s main force also

Dong rushed into Donghai County to grab food from the big bandit Zhao Pozhen who was rampant in that area. He would not be able to turn back and attack Qiao County for a while. Chen Yingliang breathed a sigh of relief and then began to discuss with Changsun Wuji and others.

How to send troops to help neighbors suppress rebellion.

It was also a coincidence that just when Chen Yingliang, Changsun Wuji and others began to discuss sending troops, Zhao Tuo, the governor of Huaiyang County, also sent a letter asking for help, asking Chen Yingliang to send troops to Huaiyang to deal with the rising bandits in Dan County.

Team

Wu. After Zhang Sun Wuji read Zhao Tuo's handwritten letter asking for help, he immediately smiled and said: "Brother, do you have relatives in Huaiyang? What about these two new thieves who have appeared in Huaiyang?"

Is it similar to your name?"

"It's similar to my name? What's it called?" Chen Yingliang asked in confusion.

"One is named Chen Yingshang and the other is named Chen Yingjue. They are two brothers." Changsun Wuji smiled and replied: "Zhao Tuo said in the letter that he has found out that the two thieves are brothers. Last time

It was the two brothers who killed the officials and coerced the people to rebel. Their team

There is also a third bandit leader named Liu Zhiyuan, a poor teacher by the Caishui River. He has some evil ideas and is good at convincing the refugees to become thieves. The Chen brothers were able to grow their team to more than 3,000 people in more than a month.

It was Liu Zhiyuan who came up with the plan."

"Chen Yingshang? Chen Yingjue?" Chen Yingliang was a little surprised and hurriedly took the letter from Changsun Wuji. After carefully looking at the letter, he saw that it was indeed these two names on the letter. He couldn't help laughing and said: "It's really these two names.

, are these two thieves really related to me from the same clan? OK, if they are willing to surrender in the future, for the sake of their names, I can consider sparing their lives."

Changsun Wuji laughed and said that if the names of these two thieves were obtained, they would at least be able to earn two lives in exchange for their names when they met Chen Yingliang. Chen Yingliang personally wrote the names of Chen Yingshang and Chen Yingjue on a small side of the paper.

On the flag, he placed this small flag on the map sand table that Yuan Tiangang made for himself, so as to understand the surrounding situation.

Qiaojun on the sand table has been filled with small flags representing the enemy, surrounding Qiao Jun from all directions. Standing next to such a sand table, Chen Yingliang frowned slightly, and for a moment he was undecided to pull out the flag first.

Changsun Wuji pointed at the position of Yingyang in the southwest of Qiaojun with a bamboo pole, and suggested: "Brother, send troops to suppress the situation."

In order to clear the surrounding area, I think we should get rid of the thief Fang Xianbo who killed Yingyang first, because next to him is Jiangjun Ridge. The area has high mountains and dense forests, and is vast and sparsely populated. Once Fang Xianbo is able to establish a foothold in this area,

It will seriously threaten our Chengfu, Guyang and Qiao County and other places. It is extremely difficult to exterminate him. It is better to get rid of him as soon as possible to avoid future troubles."

"There is another advantage before Xianbo loses his house first." Changsun Wuji added: "That is to help Fu Yong, the prefect of Ruyin, get rid of the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, so that he can try his best to deal with Wang Erhei and let Wang Erhei

The black army cannot threaten our most remote Shansang County, killing two birds with one stone, allowing our southern line to avoid major threats for a long time."

"From a strategic point of view, this suggestion is good." Chen Yingliang nodded, then shook his head and said: "But from a tactical point of view, this suggestion is a bit risky. The area where Fang Xianbo is located is too vast. We will send troops to conquer him.

, if he takes him and runs away in the deep mountains and old forests, we will have to be like Dong Chun, playing hide and seek with him in the deep mountains and old forests every day. Then once we are restrained by him in the southern mountains for a long time, there will definitely be problems in the north and east.

.”

Changsun Wuji was stunned for a moment, then nodded, agreeing with Chen Yingliang's concern. Dong Youze, the magistrate of Yongcheng County next to him, couldn't wait to say: "Chen Tongshou, let's send troops to Pengcheng to help Dong Liushou sweep the southern part of Pengcheng."

Bandits, please prevent bandits from becoming powerful and threatening Yongcheng and Tongji Canal, and affecting our financial resources."

"Pengcheng is too big." Chen Yingliang still shook his head and said: "If Pengcheng County is divided into two halves, the southern part alone will be much larger than our Qiao County. If I take all the twelve regiments there, it will only go there.

Sprinkling a handful of salt into the sea will not have much effect. Even if it is easier to clear out these small groups of rogue bandits, it will definitely take a long time."

Dong You also shut his mouth. Although Dong You's suggestion was completely selfish, he wanted to eliminate the recent threats so that he could be an official with peace of mind, but since Chen Yingliang didn't nod, Dong You, who had the evaluation power in Chen Yingliang's hands, didn't dare to

Nonsense. At this time, Chen Yingliang’s other

The staff member Qian Xiangmin also spoke up and said: "Chen Tongshou, how about we go north to help Yang Tongshou? He is a relative of the emperor and a former Imperial College minister. He has many disciples and is acquainted with you.

If we help him, the gains will not be small at any level."

Hearing what Qian Xiangmin said, Chen Yingliang looked at the several uprising flags in Liang County in trance, without nodding or shaking his head, because deep down in his heart Chen Yingliang really wanted to send troops to Liang County to help his old acquaintance Yang Wang and recruit some

The Shandong soldiers who are capable of recruiting and fighting will increase their strength, and they will also try to capture and surrender those who have already emerged.

Future famous generals such as Wang Bodang and Shan Xiongxin took the opportunity to look for opposition talents such as Cheng Yaojin and Niu Jinda, and they were able to achieve success with one fell swoop. However, the densely packed rebel army flags in the northern part of Liang County still had a relatively long march, but

This also discouraged Chen Yingliang, whose current strength was still insufficient.

As he was thinking about it, Chen Yingliang's triangular eyes accidentally glanced at the small flag that he had just planted on the sand table. He also glanced at the marching route. A bad idea suddenly came to his mind. Then Chen Yingliang thought for a moment and said: "Everyone,

How about we send troops to Huaiyang first, before killing my two brothers Chen Yingshang and Chen Yingjue?"

Hearing Chen Yingliang's words, Changsun Wuji, Yuan Tiangang and others looked at each other, and then Changsun Wuji asked doubtfully: "Brother, why did you think of sending troops to Huaiyang first? Among our neighbors, there are many from Huaiyang.

The best situation is that Chen Yingshang and Chen Yingjue, who have just emerged, can only hold a mob of three thousand people, and they pose almost no threat to us, so why use precious combat power on them?"

"Yes." Dong You also quickly agreed: "These Chen brothers are operating in the Dan County area of ​​Huaiyang County. The Tongji Canal does not flow through Huaiyang County and poses no threat to us. There is no need to attack them.
To be continued...