The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 108
Bingzhou and Xihe County.

Located in the middle of Bingzhou, it is adjacent to Taiyuan County in the north and Linfen County in the south. Among the fifteen counties in Bingzhou, it is just an inconspicuous and poor county.

The majestic Luliang Mountains in the west of Xihe County, and the rolling Taiyue Mountains and Zhongtiao Mountains in the east, [-]% of the land in the county is terraced fields distributed among the tall and majestic mountains.Fenshui runs through the north and south from the mountains, and has become an important waterway connecting the north and south of Bingzhou.

The only official road connecting the north and the south of Bingzhou was built in a river valley nearly a hundred miles long. This canyon is the very strategic Queshu Valley.

Although there are countless trails and secret roads hidden in the mountains, there is only one official road that can be used to walk the heavy vehicles. For all the people who travel, this valley road is the lifeline.

Queshu Valley starts from Jiexiu County, Xihe County in the north, and reaches Huoyi County in the north of Linfen County in the south. The widest part is tens of miles, but the narrowest part is only about two miles. fortress.

One is Jiexiu County, which is the north gate of Queshu Valley. Its importance lies not in its terrain, but in its material transfer station.

The second one is Yindiguan at the junction of Xihe and Linfen. It stands between two big mountains. The city wall is tall and strong, and the terrain is very dangerous.

The reason why Li Yuan was able to successfully pass through the Queshu Valley was because the gatekeeper of Yindi was his own, so he passed the pass without bloodshed.

The third dangerous place is Huoyi County. Huoyi County is located to the north of Linfen County. It is the junction of Linfen, Shangdang County, Xihe County, and Longquan County. The strategic location is very important. To the east of Gaobiling, there are also continuous mountains. Jieshan, Huoshan, and Wulingshan are three large mountain ranges that stretch for thousands of miles, separating the southern part of Bingzhou into two.At the beginning, Li Yuan killed Song Laosheng with a plan, and only then was he able to march south victoriously.

The strategic position of the entire Queshu Valley is so important, the Tang army will naturally deploy heavy troops for defense. They have deployed [-] troops in Jiexiu, Yindiguan and Huoyi respectively, under the unified command of the governor of Bingzhou.

The general of Huoyi County is Li Zhongwen. He is the grandson of Zhao Guogong Li Bi, one of the Eight Great Pillar Kingdoms in the Western Wei Dynasty, the son of Li Yan, the Zhenxiang County Duke, and the cousin of Li Mi in Wagang.

Li Zhongwen, He Panren, Li Zhongwen, Xiang Shanzhi, Qiu Shili and others were all small rebels in the west of Chang'an. Surrender.After Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor, Li Zhongwen served as Taichang Shaoqing, and later served as the guard of Huoyi.

Now, Li Zhongwen and Li Shenfu, the general manager of Bingzhou, have been emptied by Pei Ji. Two months ago, Pei Ji sent a confidant to come to Huoyi for inspection. Not only did he have a bad attitude, he even asked Li Zhongwen for bribes. When the bribe failed, he falsely accused him in front of Pei Ji. He said that Li Zhongwen, like Song Laosheng, was a self-willed, incompetent, reckless man. Without further ado, Pei Ji immediately demoted Li Zhongwen to the rank of captain, and at the same time appointed Pei Yang, a son of the Pei family, as Huoyi's guard.

Li Zhongwen sent three letters of defense to Li Shenfu, all of which fell to nothing, which made Li Zhongwen completely disappointed. From then on, he no longer interfered with military affairs, and just drank in the city every day.

At noon that day, a large caravan composed of hundreds of mules came from the south with a full load of goods, accompanied by hundreds of cavalry with sword guards. It can be seen that they are not small caravans, but large caravans with deep backgrounds. The former Bingzhou trade roads were not common.

However, since Li Tang and Da Sui each took half of Shangdang County and Changping County, while confronting each other, the two armies coincidentally exterminated and collected more than a hundred bandits, large and small, that might threaten them. Troubled, the Bingzhou caravan has sprung up rapidly, and there are tens of thousands of merchant mules walking on the Bingzhou commercial road every day.

At this time, the southern city of Huoyi was very lively, and dozens of soldiers guarding the city shouted and cursed loudly to maintain order at the city gate.

At this time, a soldier saw the large caravan coming, and quickly shouted to the top of the city, "There is a large caravan!"

The soldiers guarding the city gate suddenly became excited. According to the usual practice, when they encountered such a large caravan, they could earn hundreds of coins for wine, so some soldiers reported to the guard Pei Yang.

Compared with Li Zhongwen, Huo Yi's defenders liked Pei Yang more. Although Li Zhongwen was skilled in martial arts, he was too strict with the soldiers, and he strictly forbade the soldiers to blackmail the merchants, let alone accept bribes from the merchants. On the way, the guard cut off everyone's wealth, and the soldiers below were naturally dissatisfied.

On the contrary, Pei Yang not only canceled the daily training of the soldiers, but also turned a blind eye to the lieutenant generals and soldiers after receiving the benefits from the generals below, allowing them to wantonly blackmail the businessmen. People drink soup, everyone gets something, and everyone is happy.

Not long after, Pei Yang came in a hurry, and the soldiers were checking the goods one by one.

"Which caravan?" Pei Yang asked loudly.

A school lieutenant said: "General, it's the Lingyun caravan."

Pei Yang stopped talking!

The Lingyun caravan is a newly established business firm. Its backstage is Li Yuanji, king of Qi. There was a guard who had no eyes and blackmailed him. Li Yuanji killed more than [-] people in a fit of anger. Even Li Yuan knew about it.But because Li Yuanji was high-sounding and well-reasoned, not only was he not punished, but was praised by Li Yuan as "Yuanji is rigorous in governing the army, and the whole army should emulate it."

At this time, a soldier reported: "General Qi, there are no contraband!"

"Let them enter the city!"

Facing the Lingyun caravan, Pei Yang, a member of the Pei family, did not dare to do anything, because asking for bribes would be shameful, and the other party had a big background, so if Li Yuan was sued, he would definitely die in the end.

The soldiers gave way to the caravan as ordered.

At this moment, a heroic young man stepped forward and saluted, and said, "But General Pei Yang?"

Pei Yang was taken aback for a moment, and said, "Exactly!"

The heroic young man whispered: "The general defends the city hard, and it's not like we don't understand the rules!"

When the words arrived, an ingot of gold was stuffed into Pei Yang's hands. Pei Yang weighed it, and it weighed about ten taels. This was a good harvest. He immediately smiled and said, "It's not easy to make a living outside!"

"Thank you General for understanding."

The heroic young man bowed slightly, and in a flash of lightning, a small dagger hit Pei Yang's vest.

"Move, I will stab you to death"

The stinging pain made Pei Yang wake up, and he whispered: "Brother, don't mess around!"

"Cooperate obediently! Understand?"

Pei Yang said repeatedly: "Understood, understood!"

"Brothers, General Pei Yang and I hit it off immediately, and brought two boxes of special products over here." The heroic youth yelled loudly.

"Here!"

Under the hot eyes of the defenders, the four guards carried two boxes and walked forward.

"Please, General Pei!" The heroic young man put his arms around Pei Yang's shoulders, looking like two good brothers.

Pei Yang had no choice but to lead the five people into the city guard's mansion. After seeing the two big boxes and getting another windfall, the soldiers withdrew without any doubt and handed over the business to Pei Yang.

Pei Yang complained uncontrollably, and said in a low voice, "Who are you?"

The heroic young man said with a grin: "My name is Shen Guang. Someone once called me Rou Feixian. Now I am General Hu Ben of the Great Sui Dynasty, serving under His Royal Highness King Qin. Do you understand?"

Pei Yang's face turned pale in an instant, and he asked frightenedly, "General Shen, what do you want the villain to do?"

The status was reversed in an instant.

"A small matter, it's just a small matter!" Shen Guang looked at Pei Yang jokingly, and said, "Wait a minute, Pei's Flying Horse Caravan, Zheng's Spring and Autumn Caravan, Lu's Crescent Caravan, etc. You don’t need to check it! It’s hard work, of course you won’t be spared... We hit it off, and it’s normal to get drunk, understand?”

"Understood!" Of course Pei Yang understood.

Huo Yi was over, and it was over without anyone noticing.What's even more frightening is that after it's over, people outside still don't know.

"You, you, are you going to fight Bingzhou?" After a long while, the terrified Pei Yang asked.

"I'm really uneducated, but you're still a disciple of the Pei family." Shen Guang lazily played with the sharp dagger and said, "This is not called beating, this is called recovery! To be honest, I didn't expect it to be so easy I recovered Huo Yi, I really want to thank you for your greed."

Shen Guang smiled and praised!

Huoyi County was originally Li Jing's mission, but Li Jing felt that it would be easier to take Huoyi from south to north, so he quickly suggested that Yang Tong send someone to take it lightly.In the end, the task fell to Shen Bald, who was as light as a swallow, but he never expected it to be so easy.

But after careful analysis, it is also understandable.

Although Li Jing's army appeared near Taiyuan City, it was not unusual for the Tang army in Bingzhou, because Mayi and Yanmen were already under the control of the Sui army, and the news of the real war had not yet reached Huo Yi, the long-term peaceful life has made the people and defenders here have the idea of ​​​​living in peace and forgetting danger.It was their carelessness that caused the Sui army to take Huo Yi easily.

It's just that Shen Guang feels that the results of the battle can actually continue to expand.After learning about the actual situation in Huoyi, Li Zhongwen, who was drunk as a drunk cat, was put in prison first, and then someone flew to Hanoi to ask Yang Tong to send more "caravans" to Huoyi!
And myself and Pei Yang followed the order of "Pei Ji" to lead an army of [-] to the north to "support" Taiyuan. As for the guard of Huoyi, "Pei Ji's confidant" Qian Jie was in charge.

(End of this chapter)