Half a year passed, and Yang Guang was indeed unchanged in viciousness. While trying hard to squeeze the people's strength, he stepped up the construction of a large ship, and prepared to go to Yangzhou for fun; while leading the few elite troops in the country, he went north to the border to show off his power.

Two years ago, Bi Khan died of illness. His younger brother Jie Li, with Bi Xuan's support, defeated his nephew Tuli, and took up the throne of Turkic. He was ambitious and kept looking for opportunities to go south.

Yang Guang came to the door, so he naturally would not be polite and sent a large army to siege. Fortunately, the sick tiger still had three points of power. Several troops of king-supporting the king would block the Turks and rescue them.

This battle completely wiped out the majesty of the Sui court, and even the border troops were determined. From west to east, Li Gui, Xue Ju, Liang Shidu, Luo Yi and others all supported themselves. On the contrary, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, who was quite concerned about Jiang Yan, remained silent and seemed extremely loyal.

The country is in full swing, bandits are everywhere, and the building is about to collapse, it depends on who pushes this last one.

At this time, Jiang Yan said goodbye to Lu Miaozi and Shang Xiuxun, and prepared to come out of the mountain to find the whereabouts of the "Nine Yin Sutra".

And the first stop is Xiangyang.

In the past six months, he has sent people to inquire about the news. A few years ago, a meteor fell from the sky, and it happened everywhere. The place closest to the Pegasus Ranch is here.

It happened that the largest gang in Xiangyang, the Hanshui Gang, ordered a batch of goods from the ranch, and Jiang Yan volunteered to join the second deacon Liu Zongdao and the fourth deacon Wu Zhaoru, protecting a batch of horses, preparing to pass through Jingmen and head north.

Liu Zongdao was quite familiar with him and joked: "Miss Xiuxun is so lucky. Before his son-in-law married her, he rushed to do a family business for her."

The four deacons, Liang, Liu, Tao, and Wu, were originally the ancestors of merchants, Shang Zhen’s generals. After they settled here, they mainly worshipped merchants for generations, and they prospered and lost, and their relationship was extremely close.

Wu Zhaoru was the youngest among the deacons, less than thirty years old, fair and not very cunning. A trace of unhappiness flashed in his eyes, and he snorted coldly, saying:

"The rules of businessmen are that both men and women can inherit the position of the owner, but they must have the surname Shang. Therefore, no matter whether they are the previous generation or the present, even if the owner is a woman, there is no saying that a man will marry.

Jiang Shaoxia has a lot to do with Ning Zhenren. Why can't he marry into a marriage? He is not afraid of laughter from all over the world."

He had already married a wife, not because he had a crush on Shang Xiuxun, but because he didn't like a Jiang Yan outsider. He occupied such an important position in the ranch. Even the ancestral recuperation place of merchants in the back mountain were occupied, and he would inevitably overwhelm their heads and even worry about occupying the magpie's nest.

Jiang Yan had very little contact with him, and he was not angry at the moment, and said calmly: "I have known this for a long time, and it is not a big problem. Xiuxun and I will discuss countermeasures and don't bother outsiders."

"You!" Wu Zhaoru was furious and was about to speak, Liu Zongdao hurriedly advised: "Deacon Wu, they are all family, why bother arguing?"

It took him a long time to eliminate the dispute, and he advised Wu Zhaoru not to make trouble; and Jiang Yan had already turned around and returned to the carriage, meditating and practicing, and did not take this matter seriously at all.

...

After passing Jingmen and going up the Han River, Liu Zong got a piece of news and became nervous. He gathered Jiang Yan and Wu Zhaoru and said:

"I got the news that Xiang Batian and the 'no-grape', one of the four major bandits, saw the tripod appearing in this area, probably for us."

The Sui court lost its majesty and was unable to suppress all directions. Apart from those stolen princes who had great ambitions and intended to change the world, they were more thieves who took advantage of the situation.

Among them, the four major bandits flowing between the river, Huai and Han River were the most famous. They gathered forces of rioters, and had more than a thousand young and strong people, plundering everywhere, which was extremely fierce.

In addition to Xiang Batian and Fang Jianding, there are also "Scorched Earth Thousand Miles" who meet Mao Ji and "Ghost Crying God" Cao Yinglong. Just listening to the nicknames of these four people, you can tell their temperament.

Wu Zhaoru's heart was shocked, he stood up, blurted out and said, "But it is true?"

Liu Zongdao nodded and said, "Although they are cunning, they have many people, and it is not that easy to hide. They were found by the owner of Jingling Duba Villa and sent the news."

"Since it is news from Master Fang, it's naturally not wrong." Wu Zhaoru said in a heavy tone: "War horses are important materials for military strategists. Cao Yinglong once asked someone to come and blackmailed them and asked the ranch to send three thousand horses, but the owner refused without hesitation.

At that time, I knew that they would not give up. As expected, they came now. I just didn’t know if they were Xiang Batian and Fang Jianding, or Maoji and Cao Yinglong were also hiding on the other side."

Liu Zongdao said: "The other two are not here, and are now helping Zhu Can, who calls himself "King of Garula", attack the imperial soldiers and horses in the area of ​​the champion, and have no time to distract themselves."

Wu Zhaoru finally breathed a sigh of relief. At present, they were only more than 300 people. It was already very difficult for them to deal with Xiang and Fang. If there was Mao and Cao attack, he would probably not be able to return to the Pegasus Ranch.

Jiang Yan said at this time: "Deacon Liu, have you sent someone to inquire about it? Where are the two thieves now?"

"One is in front, the other is in back." Liu Zongdao smiled bitterly and said, "It just happened to stop the way and the return journey, so we could not advance or retreat."

Wu Zhaoru's face changed drastically and he shouted: "In this way, aren't we surrounded by them?"

"That's strange." Jiang Yan frowned and said, "We were very careful when we delivered the goods this time. We walked all the way, but we didn't even enter the city. We were traveling through the path. There were still people exploring along the way. Logically speaking, they would not be able to easily intercept us."

"Maybe the horse population is too large, so they have found traces." Liu Zongdao sighed and said, "The leader of the Hanshui Gang, Qian Duguan, had wanted to send someone to pick up the goods, but Xiangyang City is not peaceful at the moment.

He was fighting with the county magistrate and could not draw any troops. Besides, the owner did not want to have too much contact with the other party, so he sent us to his doorstep. He didn't expect this to happen."

Jiang Yan said: "It's time to come, thinking too much is useless, so let's see how to deal with the enemy. The Hanshui Gang may not know about it, and the distance water cannot quench the near thirst, so there is no need to consider it.

As for Dubashan Villa, they only sent people to notify them but did not send troops. Obviously, they were also worried and could not count on them, so they had to rely on ourselves.

Deacon Liu, the first priority now is to choose a place, set up camps, and prevent them from surrounding the enemy from being attacked on both sides."

"It's still Brother Jiang to calm down!" Liu Zongdao sighed and wanted to get up to find out the location.

Wu Zhaoru hurriedly said, "It's up to me to do this. Brother Liu is still here. It's important to stabilize the morale of the army."

Liu Zongdao hesitated for a moment, nodded in agreement, and said, "So, since it was proposed by Brother Jiang, how about he and you?"

"No need!" Wu Zhaoru said unhappily: "Dashi Liu can't believe me for a small matter?"

Liu Zongdao had no choice but to let him go and asked Jiang Yan for advice. The latter thought for a while and said:

"There are three important things at the moment. First, find out the enemy's position as soon as possible so as not to be caught off guard; second, collect the horses so that the battle will not start, and rush to the ground. If you want to break through, you have to rely on them; third, take advantage of the gap and quickly bury the pot and cook, so that your brothers can eat enough to deal with the next fierce battle."
Chapter completed!