Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 52 Everyone's surprise, Yang Shanhui's decision
Seeing Kong Yan, Yang Shanhui, Cui Duxing and others turned their heads to look.

"Sir, the reinforcements are already riding their horses to chase Zhang Jincheng!"

The Sui army officers and soldiers reported to Yang Shanhui, and then told Yang Shanhui that the Sui army soldier behind him was the one who was currently in charge among the reinforcements.

Hearing the soldiers' words, Yang Shanhui, Qiu Ziqian, Cui Duxing and Fan Yichuan all frowned and looked at each other. What they feared was bound to come true.

"Kong Yan, meet the County Magistrate!"

Kong Yan also raised his hand at this time and saluted Yang Shanhui.

"Who are your generals?"

Yang Shanhui nodded and asked softly.

Now that he knew that the reinforcement general had already gone to pursue Zhang Jincheng, Yang Shanhui could only pray that his soldiers would catch up soon and that nothing would happen.

"Reporting to the county magistrate, our general is named Fu Zihou..."

Kong Yan reported softly.

When Yang Shanhui, Qiu Ziqian, Cui Duxing and others heard Kong Yan's words, they all looked puzzled.

Fu!
Nowadays, when everyone hears a person's name, they have a habit of paying special attention to the surname of the name, and inferring whether the other person may be from a noble family.

Upon learning that the general of the reinforcements was surnamed Fu, Yang Shanhui, Cui Duxing and others immediately ruled out the possibility that he was a son of a prominent county official.

But then, hearing the name Fu Zihou, not to mention Cui Duxing and Fan Yichuan, even Yang Shanhui and Qiu Ziqian couldn't help but frown.

"Where is General Fu from?"

Yang Shanhui's old face was full of confusion, and he couldn't help but ask.

Because he had never heard of the name Fu Zihou. Logically, for someone with such courage to lead less than a thousand people and attack Zhang Jincheng's army alone, it is impossible that he would be unknown.

But thinking back over the years, he knew a few generals, commanders, and even brave men in the army in several counties in Hebei, but he had never heard of anyone named Fu Zihou.

"Where are you from?"

When Kong Yan heard Yang Shanhui's question, he was a little confused. How could he know where the general was from?

"Replying to the County Magistrate, I don't know where General Fu is from. I just met him!"

Kong Yan said somewhat embarrassedly.

These words made Cui Duxing, Fan Yichuan, and Qiu Ziqian look at each other in bewilderment. Yang Shanhui even frowned and looked at Kong Yan in confusion.

When a general leaves his troops, the person in charge will definitely appoint his confidants, but these soldiers said that they had only known the general for a short time.

"Just met you? Where are you from? And where do these reinforcements belong to?"

Yang Shanhui asked.

Looking in the direction of Yongji Canal, there is only one official road after crossing the Yongji Canal. It is not until the official road splits into two roads in the mountains and rivers. One road goes to Yu County and Gaotang, and the other goes to Qingyang County.

Yang Shanhui first planned to find out which city among the three places the reinforcements belonged to.

Under the gazes of Qiu Ziqian, Cui Duxing, and Fan Yichuan, it was also the first time that Kong Yan talked with an important figure like the county magistrate. Facing inquiries, he did not dare to hide anything.

"Your Excellency, I am from Qinghe County and I am not a garrison officer there. When Xin County was recruiting soldiers, I and other friends were worried about our families in Qinghe County, so we volunteered to join the army!"

Kong Yan said, and then looked at the surprised eyes of Yang Shanhui, Qiu Ziqian and others.

"Qin County?"

Fan Yichuan took two steps forward curiously, looked at Kong Yan, and under Kong Yan's gaze, he raised his hand and pointed at the reinforcements in the distance.

"Are those soldiers recruited by Xin County?"

Fan Yichuan asked doubtfully.

Seeing this, although Kong Yan did not know Fan Yichuan, he knew that Fan Yichuan must be an official, so he looked at the soldiers in the distance behind him under Fan Yichuan's gaze.

"Your Excellency, most of them are different from me. They were previously prisoners in Xin County! They were recruited by General Fu to come to Qinghe County to help!"

Kong Yan explained to Fan Yichuan, telling the people in front of him the origins of those soldiers.

"What! Prisoners?"

"prisoner!"

After hearing Kong Yan's words, not only Fan Yichuan's eyes widened, but even Qiu Ziqian and Cui Duxing opened their mouths in surprise, looking at the group of people with some shock and absurdity.

Previously, they had always believed that the group of people were the garrison troops of the Sui Dynasty, but now they were told that most of them were actually... prisoners from Xin County!!!
"Are you coming from Yongji Canal?"

Yang Shanhui also looked at those soldiers, with a hint of surprise in his old eyes. He did not expect that the support troops were actually composed of prisoners.

Because they had been besieged in the city all along, Yang Shanhui did not know Zhang Jincheng's troop deployment and thought that the reinforcements were coming from other cities in Qinghe County to rescue them.

When Yang Shanhui, a veteran general, heard Kong Yan say that they were from Qian County, he immediately realized why this reinforcement force appeared behind Zhang Jincheng's troops.

Yongji Canal!!!
This is the only possibility.

"Reporting to the County Magistrate, we are indeed coming from Yongji Canal!"

Kong Yan looked at Yang Shanhui and nodded. He really was traveling in the ice last night. The cold wind on the river at night was much more biting than that on land. He would probably never forget it in his life.

"really……"

Seeing that his speculation was correct, Yang Shanhui became more and more curious about the general named Fu Zihou. He actually thought of leading troops from Yongji Canal, and most of the troops were prisoners, and the number was not even enough...

Less than a thousand?
No, if prisoners were used, how could the number be less than one thousand?
As the prefect of Qinghe County, Yang Shanhui knew better than anyone the number of prisoners held in a big city. He thought that he dared to use less than a thousand people to raid Zhang Jincheng's rebel army.

Yang Shanhui suddenly had a premonition that these thousand people were probably all selected personnel.

Thinking of this, Yang Shanhui became more and more surprised, and then looked at Kong Yan.

"Tell me everything that happened!"

Yang Shanhui really wanted to know what deployments the general named Fu Zihou had made before.

soon.

From Kong Yan's narration, Yang Shanhui discovered that things were just as he had guessed. The man named Fu Zihou had indeed personally selected his men and his methods were extremely sophisticated.

Generally speaking, such people, without exception, have either studied military books for many years and led troops in the army, or... have learned from a great master!
From Kong Yan's description, the boy was very young, so he must be the latter.

When Yang Shanhui thought of this, he couldn't help but sigh. He really wanted to know which master could teach such an outstanding disciple.

If you have a chance, you should ask in person.

“No wonder Zhang Jincheng’s troops outside the city today are much less!”

"Indeed!" Qiu Ziqian, Cui Duxing and Fan Yichuan all learned what had happened. When they learned that Fu Zihou had specially asked Zhou Hao, the chief clerk of Qian County, to send out two decoy troops to attract Zhang Jincheng's troops, they finally understood why they felt that Zhang Jincheng's troops were not as numerous as before when they were watching the fleeing rebel army outside the city today.

"Sir, do we need to take this opportunity to raid the rebels ambushed in Wucheng?"

Qiu Ziqian looked at Yang Shanhui and asked softly.

Now that Zhang Jincheng was defeated, Qiu Ziqian undoubtedly saw the opportunity to weaken the rebel forces and launch a counter-encirclement of Wucheng against the rebels who were ambushing on the Wucheng Road.

"No! Watch out for Wucheng!"

Yang Shanhui shook his head.

Now that he knew everything that had happened, Yang Shanhui also vaguely realized that something must have gone wrong with the Sui Dynasty officials in Wucheng.

"The most important thing right now is to get him back. Xu Jinpeng, Zhang Jincheng's confidant, is not that easy to deal with!"

Yang Shanhui sighed. If there was no problem with Wucheng, he could take the opportunity to launch an offensive. But obviously something had happened in Wucheng. The most important thing right now was to wait for the young general named Fu Zihou to come back. Then they could work together on how to deal with the rebel army's attack in the future.

"Xu Jinpeng?"

When Kong Yan heard what Qinghe County Magistrate Yang Shanhui said, he spoke immediately.

Seeing the puzzled looks from Qiu Ziqian and Fan Yichuan, Kong Yan quickly raised his hand.

"Reporting to the county magistrate, the rebel leader named Xu Jinpeng has been killed by General Fu on the battlefield, and his head has been chopped off!"

Kong Yan thought about it and decided to report.

As soon as he finished speaking, Kong Yan saw Qiu Ziqian, Fan Yichuan, and Cui Duxing all changed their expressions. Even the county magistrate Yang Shanhui turned around and looked at him in an instant.

Looking at the gazes of these people, Kong Yan's Adam's apple moved, and he raised his hand and pointed to the distance behind him.

"Sir, the head is... right there!"

Kong Yan didn't understand and spoke cautiously.

Having just captured a number of fleeing rebels, Kong Yan was curious and asked a bandit what the name of the bandit leader killed by General Fu was. He then learned from the bandit that the leader was a bandit named Xu Jinpeng.

Is there any problem with this?

"Bring it here quickly!"

Qiu Ziqian and Yang Shanhui looked at each other, and under Yang Shanhui's shocked gaze, they hurriedly looked at Kong Yan.

After a while.

As the two soldiers came over, Yang Shanhui, Qiu Ziqian and others finally saw the head.

After confirming that the head was that of Xu Jinpeng, they looked at each other and fell silent. The feelings in their hearts were indescribable.

Xu Jinpeng is really dead!

He was really beheaded on the battlefield!

"This is my niece's sword!"

Cui Duxing looked dazed, but when he saw a soldier holding a folding sword and a scabbard out of the corner of his eye, he spoke with a look of surprise.

Although it was covered in mud, Cui Duxing recognized at a glance that the sword was that of his niece Cui Wenjin.

At this moment, Cui Duxing was very curious, why did his niece's sword appear here?

Could something have happened?

Thinking of this, Cui Duxing's heart skipped a beat and he quickly looked at Kong Yan.

"Where did you get this sword?"

Cui Duxing asked, sounding a little anxious.

"I don't know your niece. I only know that this sword has always been in General Fu's hands. General Fu left the sword behind, saying it was a token of his love..."

When Kong Yan heard what Cui Duxing said, he looked at the sword and then looked at Cui Duxing. Although he didn't know why this adult said it was his niece's sword, he thought that the sword was held by Fu Zihou and he left it personally as a token of his friendship with Cui. So Kong Yan bowed to Cui Duxing and told Cui Duxing everything that Fu Zihou said before he left and the promise Cui made in Qian County.

Kong Yan vaguely guessed that the adult in front of him might be a member of the Cui family.

"Token!"

Cui Duxing listened to Kong Yan's narration, took the slightly bent sword from the soldier, and took the wooden sign tied to it.

"Yuzhe!"

Cui Duxing looked at the name on the wooden sign and was completely surprised. This was his nephew’s ID card, so how could it be here?

The general named Fu Zihou not only had his niece's sword, but also his nephew's ID card?
"I'm afraid the cause of this incident is related to your people!"

Yang Shanhui looked at Cui Duxing and said, after listening to Kong Yan's narration and Cui's promise, Yang Shanhui had concluded that Fu Zihou had a relationship with Cui.

Thinking of this, Yang Shanhui turned his head and looked in the direction Zhang Jincheng escaped.

"Sir, Xu Jinpeng is Zhang Jincheng's trusted general. His prestige in the rebel army is no less than Zhang Jincheng's. Now that Xu Jinpeng is dead, the rebel forces will be terrified! Zhang Jincheng will not dare to attack Qinghe County again in the short term!"

Qiu Ziqian ignored Xu Jinpeng's head, which was covered in blood, and looked at it for a long time before putting it down and looking at Yang Shanhui.

"Yes! The siege of Qinghe has been lifted. No need to worry about the thieves anymore!"

Yang Shanhui listened to what Qiu Ziqian said beside him and nodded. His tense expression finally relaxed.

In this battle, the rebel forces seemed not to have been completely slaughtered, but with the death of Xu Jinpeng and the prestige he had enjoyed over the years, the rebels' morale had already collapsed, and they would no longer dare to attack Qinghe County.

"General Fu must not know the origin of this thief, nor his position in the rebel army, so he went after Zhang Jincheng! Duxing, now that the siege of Qinghe has been lifted, you must immediately go to Qian County in person and restore the freedom of those who have made meritorious contributions to atone for their crimes. Find out the origin of General Fu and send someone to inform me! I will report this matter to the court!"

Yang Shanhui turned and looked at Cui Duxing and said.

Although he had never met Fu Zihou, through this battle, Yang Shanhui had concluded that he was a general who could be used well.

Now the world is in chaos, with bandits everywhere. Talents like this must be used by the Sui Dynasty to stabilize the country.

"Yes!"

When Cui Duxing heard what Yang Shanhui said, he nodded quickly. Looking at his niece's sword and his nephew's ID card in his hands, Cui Duxing also had many doubts and wanted to go to Qian County to figure it out.

Behind Kong Yan.

The two soldiers in armor were excited when they heard Yang Shanhui's words. They were originally prisoners in Xin County, but they did not expect that they would be free now.

Both of them had already thought that when they told other people about this, they would be equally excited.

Thinking of this, in addition to being excited and grateful, the figure of a young man appeared in their minds.

(End of this chapter)