At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 544 The Comeback King Dou Xia, Tired of Running for General Zhang

"Hahahaha, Yang Guang, the foolish lord, has made frequent foolish tricks recently. First, he forced Gao Changqing, who stayed behind in Zhuo County, and then dismissed Yang Yichen. This is clearly digging his own grave." Dou Jiande looked up to the sky and laughed.

It is said that Dou Jiande retreated into Gaojibo that day, hiding in the depths and did not dare to show his face. He thought that Yang Yichen and Zhang Xutuo would take advantage of the victory to catch up, but after waiting for more than ten days, there was no movement, so he sent spies to find out Gaojipo. Ji Bo inquired about the news, but the result surprised and delighted him.

It turned out that Zhang Xutuo and Yang Yichen fought with the Youzhou army, and it is said that they almost killed Gao Changqing with tricks. Fortunately, Gao Changqing escaped with his life, otherwise the silly girl Xian Niang would cry to death .

Hehe, but that's fine, although Gao Changqing hasn't officially announced to raise the flag against the Sui Dynasty, but he will definitely not follow Yang Guang's orders anymore, and with his relationship with Xianniang, he may be able to cooperate with Gao Changqing in the future .

Ever since, Dou Jiande began to gather the scattered remnant soldiers continuously, and now his strength has recovered to about [-]. Just when Dou Jiande was about to wait for an opportunity, Yang Yichen was dismissed, and news of Zhang Xutuo's withdrawal back to Qi County came one after another. up.

This made Dou Jiande very happy. This is simply great news. I have to say, this person, when he is unlucky, even drinks cold water and can get stuck between his teeth, but once the time turns, he can kick gold when he walks. God help me too!
At that moment, Dou Jiande immediately summoned his men and horses, boarded hundreds of boats, took advantage of the cover of night to quietly get out of Gaojibo, and headed towards Raoyang County.

Raoyang County is located in the north of Gaojibo. It belongs to Hejian County. It is a small county and relatively easy to take down. However, Dou Jiande is in urgent need of recovery, so he chose Raoyang County.

At midnight, Dou Jiande and Dou Xianniang led [-] elite soldiers to the north of Gaojibo, and then attacked Raoyang County under the cover of night.

It is said that the county magistrate of Raoyang County was named Song Zhengben. He was suddenly awakened by the sound of killing in the middle of the night. He hurriedly got up and lit the oil lamp, and took off the sword on the wall. While dressing, he told his shivering wife on the bed: : "Don't panic, go to the top of the city to have a look for your husband, and remember to lock the gate."

Song Zhengben put on his clothes, went out of the house with his sword in his hand, and brought three classes of yamen servants to the top of the city. At this time, Dou Jiande was commanding the troops to attack the city.

Song Zhengben saw the torches scattered all over the mountains and plains outside, and couldn't help being startled, and blurted out, "Lieutenant Zhou, where did the enemy come from?"

That week's county lieutenant is also confused now, he hesitated and said: "The black lamp is blind, the officer still doesn't know which team it is."

Song Zhengben frowned, this person was rather courageous, he walked up to the female wall and poked his head out to drink and asked: "This official is Song Zhengben, the parent official of Raoyang County, how dare the thieves outside attacking the city report their names?" ?”

"Hey, did this dog official get his head caught by the door, and take an arrow from me!" Su Dingfang bent his bow and set an arrow, and was about to shoot Song Zhengben, but Dou Jiande quickly stopped him and said, "Wait a minute, keep this person, I will kill him!" Useful!"

Su Dingfang had no choice but to put down his bow and arrow when he heard the words, Dou Jiande laughed and said: "A certain Dou Jiande, County Magistrate Song is so courageous, how dare he open the city to fight against a certain family?"

Song Zhengben couldn't help but tremble in his heart. It turned out to be Dou Jiande. This thief was a fateful one. He escaped under the hands of General Zhang and Master Yang. Now that Master Yang has been dismissed and General Zhang has just withdrawn, this guy came immediately Attacked, it really didn't stop for a moment.

"Dou Jiande, you and I have never violated the water in the well, why did you suddenly attack my Raoyang County, retreat quickly, I will spare your life, if you don't listen to the advice, I will teach you to die in the city!" Song Zhengben shouted sharply.

Dou Xianniang raised her brows, twisted her slender waist, and shot an arrow that collapsed, flying past Song Zhengben's scalp, and shot off the official hat, causing the latter to shrink back in fright, cursing angrily. : "The thief is really despicable, it is not a gentleman's action to shoot cold arrows secretly!"

Dou Xianniang couldn't help but laugh, this Song has been a Taiping officer for too long, he's a bit cute, he's fighting to the death, so why don't we set rules with you before we start?
"Fire the arrows!" Song Zhengben was obviously annoyed, and ordered to shoot the arrows, so the two sides shot at each other, and Dou Jun continued to storm the city gate.

Raoyang is just a small county town, the city defense is very simple, and there are not many officers and soldiers defending the city. Dou Jun stormed from two city gates, and finally broke through the city at dawn.

After all, the soldiers under Dou Jiande's command were all bandits. Even if the army is well-run, it is impossible to be as disciplined as the Youzhou Army. Moreover, if Dou Jiande wants to keep the troops fighting, he must give them enough benefits, so plundering is inevitable.

Dou Jun flooded into Raoyang County like a tide and began to loot wantonly, but the cases of adultery were surprisingly rare, for no other reason, because Dou Xianniang was here, and this aunt could turn a blind eye to the looting , but there is absolutely zero tolerance for adultery. As long as her female soldiers encounter such a situation, they will immediately execute the soldiers who violated the precepts. Once, Dou Xianniang even killed a nephew of Donghai Gong with her own hands. From then on, no one would dare to break the precepts easily in any battle involving the Detachment of Women, unless they were not discovered. Once discovered, there would be ten deaths.

Holding a bloody long knife, Dou Jiande stepped into the bloody water on the ground into Raoyang County, and walked to the county magistrate Song Zhengben.

At this moment, County Magistrate Song was forced to kneel on the ground by two thieves. Kneeling beside him were the county lieutenant and Zhu Bo, while the county magistrate was already decapitated, and the bloody corpse lay nearby.

Seeing Dou Jiande striding forward with a big knife, the county lieutenant and Zhu Bo both trembled in fright and kowtowed continuously begging for mercy, but the county magistrate Song Zhengben, though pale, remained motionless, neither kowtowed nor begged for mercy .

Dou Jiande chopped off the heads of the county lieutenant and the master Bo with two sharp knives, and said contemptuously: "A certain family looks down on this kind of spineless ghost who is afraid of death."

After Dou Jiande finished speaking, he threw the two bloody heads in front of Song Zhengben, and said with a grinning smile, "Master Song is not afraid of death?"

Song Zhengben's body trembled slightly, he shook his head and said: "I am naturally afraid of death, but I will not beg for life from thieves."

There was a hint of appreciation in Dou Jiande's eyes, he threw away the long knife in his hand, bent down to help Song Zhengben up and said: "Master Song is frightened, please get up quickly."

Song Zhengben said in astonishment, "You won't kill me?"

Dou Jiande said slightly: "A certain family is not easy to kill."

"Then why did you kill them?"

"A certain family attacked the city and killed many brothers. How can I explain to my brothers if I don't kill them?"

"This county is the chief officer, and the one who ordered to shoot the arrows is also the county. You should kill me!"

Dou Jiande shook his head and said, "If Master Song orders Kaesong to surrender without any resistance, a certain family will definitely kill you as soon as they enter the city. A certain family does not need people with too soft bones, and Mr. Song is obviously the talent that a certain family needs. .”

After finishing speaking, Dou Jiande waved his hand and said: "Come here, send Mr. Song back to the county office to take a bath and rest, and then prepare a banquet to suppress the shock. No one is allowed to harass Mr. Song's family members. Anyone who violates the order - kill without mercy."

"Master Song, please!" Two of Dou Jiande's personal soldiers stepped forward politely.

Song Zhengben's complexion fluctuated, and finally he sighed secretly, turned around silently and walked towards the county government.

Su Dingfang frowned and said in a low voice: "Although this person has a bit of backbone, he is stupid. Why does the general value him?"

Dou Jiande smiled and said: "This man is not stupid, he just has a bit of a bookish spirit. He is quite capable and a good official. Raoyang County is not bad under his rule. Decide, although we are from bandits, But you can’t be a bandit forever. Donghai Gong’s previous approach was wrong. We can’t continue to follow his way. The land that has been conquered needs someone to manage it. It’s not enough to rely on a bunch of mud legs. If we still catch the officials and kill them, how can there be people who come to join us?"

Su Dingfang nodded and said: "It makes sense, after that, we won't kill the officials if we catch them, and let them help manage the site."

Dou Jiande shook his head and corrected: "Good officials are not killed, bad officials who are corrupt and pervert the law, and officials with a bad reputation must be killed. Remember, our foundation is still the bottom-level people. We don't do things that the bottom-level people don't approve of."

Su Dingfang nodded half-understood, Dou Jiande patted the former on the shoulder and said: "Go, it's almost done, call the brothers together, don't set fires, don't injure lives, try to do things that the people approve of. "

Su Ding and Fang Surong said: "This subordinate has orders."

Dou Jiande smiled, wiped off the blood on the knife, and walked towards the county government. He wanted to entertain Song Zhengben, and he wanted Song Zhengben to invite all the local gentry.

Dou Jiande has long wanted to do this, but he was not the one who had the final say in the past, Donghai Gong Gao Shida has always disapproved of his approach, now that Donghai Gong is gone, he can also follow his own way.

…………

Zhang Xutuo led his Bafengying to go back to Qi County to rest for a period of time, and the memorial was also sent up, but he did not wait for Yang Guang's approval, but instead waited for Yang Guang's transfer order.

The Wagang Army began to attack Hulao Pass, and the soldiers forced Dongdu. Yang Guang ordered Zhang Xutuo to lead the army to destroy the Wagang Army and clear the way so that Yang Guang could return to Luoyang by boat from Jiangdu.

In fact, if Yang Guang really wanted to go back to the Eastern Capital, he could ride lightly on Jian Cong and make a secret detour back, but Yang Guang obviously didn’t want to give up the comfortable dragon boat, and it would be too embarrassing to go back in silence, it seems that he is afraid of Wagang Like a thief.Therefore, Yang Guang decided to send Zhang Xutuo to wipe out the Wagang thieves, and then take a dragon boat to return to Dongdu from the canal.

Zhang Xutuo was invincible and never let himself down, so Yang Guang felt that as long as Zhang Xutuo stepped out, the Wagang Army would soon disappear without a single tile left.

But at this moment, Zhang Xutuo held Yang Guang's imperial decree in his hand, and his vicissitudes of eyes were full of bitterness. He had already promised his subordinate Erlang to go back to Qi County to rest, but now he can only break his promise!

(End of this chapter)