The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 924 Outsmarting People and Restoring the County

The names of the prefectures in the Sui Dynasty are very interesting. Some directly use the names of the prefectures, such as Zhangye County for Zhangye County, and Dunhuang County for Dunhuang County; There is no county named Diaoyin; the other type is Badong County. Let’s take Badong County as an example. It governs [-] counties, and there is also a Badong County in its territory, but its county seat is rather strange. It is located in Renfu County, which often makes it difficult for business travelers who are newcomers to tell the difference.

Renfu County is where the county government is located. The scale of the city is naturally the standard of an upper county. The city wall is made of huge stones, covered with moss and vines, and it is as one with the surrounding mountains.

However, the county has a population of just over 1 households, barely reaching the county standard. There used to be 3000 troops stationed in the county, but because of the non-stop fighting ahead, Gao Shilian took half of them to go to Zigui County for rounds of fighting, so there are currently only three Thousands of soldiers, but these [-] people can fully rely on the danger and fortification of the county to deal with the attack of tens of thousands of people. Even if there are enemy troops attacking from the east and west sides, they can still defend according to danger.

The night was getting darker and darker, and it slowly reached the third watch.

Dozens of torches were lit in the east city of Renfu County, illuminating the upper and lower parts of the city like daylight. Below the city gate are hundreds of stone steps that gradually narrow down. The Yangtze River extends to the east.

On the top of the city, there is a brigade of soldiers patrolling back and forth. This city has been inland for more than 40 to [-] years since the Battle of Ping-Chen. It has not been attacked by the enemy, so the long-term peace has made Renfu County develop a comfortable way of life.

However, Gao Shilian's strict orders from the front can somewhat make the defenders more vigilant and dare not be as lax as before. The number of soldiers patrolling at night has changed from one or two soldiers to a normal brigade of hundreds of soldiers.

Suddenly, several soldiers who were in charge of watching the front vigilantly looked towards the dark east, and they had already heard a little movement.

Soon, I heard the sound of rattling coming from the darkness. The defenders immediately performed their duties and waited attentively. Some soldiers had already drawn their bows and arrows, aiming at the official road in the distance.

"It's the sound of horseshoes." A soldier recognized the essence of the 'da da' sound.

Slowly, a soldier of the Tang army came out of the darkness leading a war horse. He dismounted under the steps and walked up while holding the rein.

"Who is here?" The defenders aimed their bows and arrows at him.

This shout made the soldier tremble in fright, he stopped in his tracks, and quickly said: "I was ordered to deliver the letter."

A pure Yizhou accent relaxed the hearts of the soldiers on the city, and a brigade commander on duty asked, "Where are you from?"

The soldiers in the city clasped their hands and replied: "General Gao Xingshui, the general under the command of Gao Dudu, came to deliver the letter. May I ask if General Wan is here?"

The defenders on the city naturally knew that the governor Gao was Gao Shilian, and the brigade commander hurriedly ordered his left and right: "Put down the cage cart for him!"

An iron cage eight feet high and six feet wide was lowered from the top of the city creakingly. At night, any city will only open its doors when there is a big event. No one will break the rules for a small soldier. The cage car is gone.

The soldiers under the city tied the horses to the horse posts outside the city, and then walked into the cage cart, which creaked and hoisted to the top of the city. The defenders took his weapons and took him into the city.

The guard of Renfu was named Wan Zan, who was originally the King of Lu under Xiao Xian's command. After Xiao Xian surrendered to the Sui Dynasty, he, Zheng Wenxiu and many other generals who were obedient and disobedient were unwilling to let go of their military power and simply surrendered to the Tang army. Each of them won the title of duke of the country, who would have thought that the situation could not be controlled at all, when these 'dukes of the country' arrived in Xiangyang, they were immediately relieved of their military power by Li Yuan, and the army was completely taken over by Li Xiaogong, who was so beaten that Xiao Xian couldn't find him, and they all became Today, Wan Zan has the status of a partial general, stationed in Renfu County under the order of Gao Shilian.

Half a month ago, Wan Zan, who had nothing to do, married a woman from a small family as his concubine, and his private residence was arranged not far from Dongcheng.

It was the third watch, and the lights in Wan Zan's study were on.But Wan Zan, the owner of the study, is obviously not studying.

A beautiful girl with half-clouded hair and disheveled clothes was holding on to the desk with both hands, and the two small jade bowls folded upside down in the half-open emerald shirt were gently dangling.Her pomegranate skirt was pushed up to her slender waist, and her white and tight but still immature buttocks were raised high in the air.

A muscular middle-aged man was well-dressed, but his trousers were pulled down to his hairy legs. With his hands wrapped around the slender waist of the babbling girl, he gritted his teeth and contradicted her behind her.

"General Wan, urgent report ahead."

Wan Zan, who was struggling to sprint in the room, was so excited when he heard the hurried voice, he crawled behind his concubine to catch his breath for a long time, and then asked feebly, "What happened?"

"General Wan, the messenger of General Gao has arrived."

"Which high general?"

"It's General Gao Xingshui under the Commander Gao's command."

"Gao Xingshui, son of a bitch!"

Wan Zan cursed, left his concubine's narrow and slender back in great displeasure, and pulled up his trousers and tied them up.But his concubine held him reluctantly, and said in a friendly voice: "General, don't you want to rest for a while?"

"Come back later." Although Wan Zan was reluctant to leave, he had to go because his immediate boss, Gao Shilian, had several sons, namely Gao Xingxing, Gao Zhixing, Gao Chunxing, Gao Zhenxing, and Gao Shen. Okay, this Gao Xingshui is most likely Gao Shilian's nephew, if he dares to refuse to see him, if Gao Shilian finds out, maybe he will give him little shoes to wear.

Under the service of his concubine, he got dressed, went to the outside and opened the door and asked, "Where is the messenger?"

"The people have already been brought." Several soldiers led the messenger over.

The messenger saluted and said, "See General Wan for your humble post!"

Seeing that he was about forty years old, Wan Zan asked again, "Where are you from? Do you hold any position in the army?"

This messenger is naturally the soldier appointed by Su Dingfang to deliver the letter. He has been in the army for more than [-] years, and he has already become a soldier. He served as a school lieutenant under General Gao and was ordered to deliver a letter to General Wan."

After speaking, he took out a letter from his pocket and presented it to Wan Zan.The letter said that Gao Xingshui was ordered to inspect Renfu County to make Wan Zan ready. The tone was very polite, but the meaning was very obvious, so he would take advantage of it.

Wan Zan was originally a bandit, and guarding such an important logistics area in Renfu County, it is impossible not to benefit from it. If Gao Xingshui is serious about patrolling, he must be able to find out the problem. Now the other party has written to him first. It was clearly telling him that as long as Wan Zan satisfies the other party's taste, then the other party is just making fun of it.

Wan Zan, who understood the meaning of the letter, breathed a sigh of relief, and asked, "Where is General Gao?"

The messenger replied: "Report to General Wan, General Gao has arrived in Baiyan Town, and will be in Renfu County soon."

Wan Zan didn't know Gao Xingshui, but Gao Shilian had many nephews and generals.There were many people he didn't know, so he didn't take it to heart, but he was very upset when he came here for inspection in the middle of the night. He frowned, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

The messenger smiled wryly and said: "The battle ahead is urgent, Governor Gao set a time for us, and we lost a little time on the way, if we don't hurry up, it will be too late. General Wan also knows that Governor Gao is strict in running the army. Vague."

"That's right!" Gao Shilian governed the army strictly and kept his word. Wan Zan also understood Gao Xingshui's difficulties, so he nodded, "Let's wait at the top of the city together."

Time flew by, and it was the fourth watch. There were hurried footsteps in the distance, and there were many figures in the darkness. Wan Zan, who was waiting impatiently, cheered up, and ordered: "Order more torches!"

"Here."

After a while, dozens of torches were lit to illuminate the fire farther. Not long after, a Tang army with a number of about a thousand people appeared at the foot of the city. The handsome young general at the head was none other than Su Dingfang's deputy Gao Yan.

A Tang soldier had been waiting on the stone steps for a long time, he stepped forward to salute: "Excuse me, is General Gao?"

"Exactly!" Gao Yan agreed coldly, took out the command arrow and handed it to the soldier. The soldier was about to receive the command. This was not Wan Zan's caution, but the military regulations set by Gao Shilian.

The military order is true, because the defenders of Fengjie Town and Baiyan Town were appointed by Gao Shilian. After Su Dingfang attacked these two small military towns, he obtained the order arrows.

The soldiers passed the command arrow to the top of the city through the cage car. Wan Zan took the command arrow and checked it carefully. There was nothing wrong with the command arrow.

Wan Zan stared at Gao Yan in the bright area again. Although he didn't know this person, he was handsome and handsome. Although he was wearing armor, he gave the impression that he was a good man in troubled times. This was different from what he had guessed before. It fits perfectly, after all, Gao Shilian is a member of the famous Bohai Gao family, and he has an extraordinary bearing. It is only reasonable for his children to have such a bearing.

Just as he was inspecting, the messenger next to him who claimed to be 'Lu Ren' was so nervous that his heart was about to jump out, lest Wan Zan see the flaw, at this moment, but seeing Wan Zan waved his hand, he ordered: " Open the city gate!"

The city gate suddenly opened with a bang, and Wan Zan came out of the city, clasped his fists with a smile on his face and said, "I can't help but keep General Gao waiting for a long time. Please don't blame the general!"

"You are General Wan Zan?"

Wan Zan froze for a moment, knowing that the other party didn't recognize him, he quickly replied, "It's my servant."

Gao Yan sneered, and suddenly announced in a loud voice: "Refuge General Wan Zan has embezzled military rations and salaries. The amount is extremely huge. I was ordered by Governor Gao to investigate and take him down!"

Dugu Yanyun and Da Xi'an, disguised as soldiers, stepped forward after hearing the news, and cut the foolish Wan Zan's hands behind his back.Wan Zan was also a strong general, but at this moment, he was pinned down by the two men, and he yelled angrily, "You have no proof, why do you accuse me of embezzling military rations?"

"When you arrive in Zigui County, it's not too late for you to explain to Governor Gao!" Gao Yan snorted coldly, and waved his hand violently, "Let me enter the city!"

A thousand soldiers under him walked into Renfu County neatly. The soldiers of the Tang army above and below the city were stunned. The city is coming.

Wan Zan was still confused, in a state of shock and anger. His hands and feet were a little unclean, but which of the generals stationed in the Tang Dynasty was okay?
Why did he only arrest Wan Zan? Is it because he is a surrendered general?At this moment, he suddenly found something unusual. These soldiers were all tall and burly, and they were not in the stature that Bashu and Jingxiang people should have at all.He hurriedly raised his head to look at Gao Yan, but saw the other party looking at him with a half-smile.

Wan Zan suddenly realized that he had been fooled. This was not Gao Shilian's soldier at all. He just opened his mouth to shout, but a ball of rags was stuffed into his mouth just right.

Wan Zan was startled, anxious and frightened, but all the voices representing emotions were unified into a 'woo woo' sound.

"Bastard, do you still want to quibble? Take me down and have a strict interrogation!" Gao Yan sneered, and in a tone of consideration for everyone, he shouted at the soldiers in the city: "I am Gao Xingshui, and I serve you under the command of the governor. I ordered you to come to investigate the case, and you call me all the officers above the brigade commander, and I want to ask them one by one, but I want to see how much money Wan Zan, a bastard, has been greedy for, and how much he has embezzled from the soldiers."

"Here." All the soldiers responded loudly.

These miserable soldiers hated those generals who drank the blood of soldiers the most. It would be great to have someone from the governor come to investigate the case, and they all looked for them happily.

When these generals came, they were arrested and imprisoned by Gao Yan one by one, and the Tang Army in the county fell into a leaderless situation. When the follow-up [-] soldiers of the Beizhen Army came, the soldiers of the Tang Army were frightened by the strong force and all surrendered.It also caused Yizhou's east gate soldiers to fall into the hands of the Sui Dynasty without bloodshed.

Today, there is no need for the Beizhen army to hide their identity, so they lowered the flag of the Tang army and replaced it with the flag of the Sui Dynasty.

When the people of Renfu County woke up the next morning, they found that the white flag with the word "Tang" on the city had turned into a red flag with the word "Sui". Teams of Sui soldiers were patrolling the streets, and all the granaries and government offices had been occupied.

……

All of this in Renfu County was just the first thing Su Dingfang did after defeating Li Anyuan.

After he defeated Li Anyuan, he divided his troops into three groups, led by Dugu Yanyun, Gao Yan, and Da Xi'an, and defrauded the most important people to restore the county.

On the other hand, he and Dugu Qingyun, He Lan Shiren, and He Lianchu continued eastward under the banner of Li Anyuan, and also regained Wushan and Badong counties without bloodshed.

And Xin Han, Tian Jin, and Yixian successively organized all the captured nearly ten thousand soldiers of the Tang army into the Sui army, and conducted intensive training. Padang County has an army of [-].

At the same time, an eagle letter was sent to Yu Qinming, who was followed by another group of soldiers, asking him to speed up his march and occupy Dachang County, north of Wushan County, with only [-] soldiers. Yu Qinming supported [-] soldiers. Five thousand, I am afraid that it can be easily won without fighting.When he completes this step, he will go to Renfu County to join Dugu Yanyun.

If everything is successful, then the strength of the Sui army occupying the four counties in central Badong will be as large as more than [-].

However, this operation jointly completed by Su Dingfang and Li Jing successfully restored the "Battle of Qiting" between Yang Su and Liu Renen, and trapped Gao Shilian in the Tang version of "Lu Zhongsu" into a helpless solitary army.

(End of this chapter)