Du Fuwei took advantage of Chen Jun's main force to pursue Ximen Junyi and tried hard to break out of the city, but the direction was east, which was opposite to the direction of Ximen Junyi's dispersion. He not only brought his two thousand troops to recruit troops, but also brought out all the defenders in the county town. Obviously, he wanted to give up Hexian, or give up the entire Liyang.

The combat power of the recruiting troops was indeed well-known. Although Chen Jun set up strong fortifications such as resisting horses by Chen Jun, the four gates, including the Xicheng Gate, had their defensive forces arranged. However, after a hard battle with the recruiting troops, they still broke out and fled to Liuhe in the east.

To the west of He County, Ximen Junyi's defeated army fled for more than fifty miles in the snowy field. These fifty miles were actually chased by the Sui army. Along the way, you could see bandits lodging in the snow. If the opponent had not had relatively few troops, they would have wanted to wipe out the more than 20,000 infantry and cavalry he led.

Ximen Junyi found that the Sui army had given up the pursuit, so she stopped and took a break. He immediately ordered his subordinates to gather the defeated soldiers everywhere. At this time, it was already dark, and there were no small towns or camps around to settle down, so he had to let the soldiers sleep in the wild.

Because this time it was an emergency mobilization, each soldier did not carry any supplies except for a few meals of dry food with him. Of course, there were no items such as quilts and blankets to keep warm. Ximen Junyi was also afraid of being discovered by the cavalry of the Sui army at night, so he ordered the soldiers not to make fire. These bandits had to crowd each other to resist the cold and chew dry food that had been frozen as hard as stones.

The Sui army on the other side was much happier. They entered Liyang City and the chords respectively, and used the ready-made warm barracks. The chefs began to make fires and cook. In addition to the treasury in the city, the fleet sent them was loaded with supplies on the ship, and even wine and meat.

The sun rose from the east, making the white snowfield red, and the bitter cold wind stopped. Ximen Junyi finally survived a harsh winter night. He asked his subordinates to count the number of people, and found that there were only less than 5,000 soldiers who could walk and move but not lose their combat effectiveness.

Ximen Junyi knew that such a few remaining soldiers could no longer defend the remaining Chengxian County in Liyang. He had to take these soldiers to evacuate to Liuhe in the east. He wanted to meet with Li Zitong first, and then look for Du Fuwei. Of course he didn't know that Du Fuwei had arrived at Liuhe overnight.

When Du Fuwei arrived at Liuhe County, the capital of Liuhe County, Li Zitong was already asleep. When Li Zitong was called by his personal soldiers, he was surprised to know that Du Fuwei arrived at Liuhe overnight. He did not expect Du Fuwei would be defeated, at least not so quickly. After all, Du Fuwei had been in Huainan area for two or three years and had many battles with the Sui army. He had always won more than defeat. Even Chen Jun, who was named the Tiger of Huainan, could only confront Du Fuwei. Last year, when Yang Guang went south to tour Xinjiangdu, the Sui Dynasty mobilized several armies in Jiangbiao, Jingzhou and Huainan to encircle Du Fuwei, but it ended in failure.

But now the facts are in front of him, and he cannot believe it. Li Zitong had to get up from the bed and dress neatly, and then go to open the city gate to greet Du Fuwei himself.

When Du Fuwei saw Li Zitong, he looked gloomy and did not speak, and walked straight into the city. He followed the long four rows to recruit soldiers. Li Zitong felt a little sad. He thought [This person was not a fault for not sending troops to support him in time, right?], so he clasped his fists and said to Du Fuwei: "Zitong returned to Liuhe as the general ordered yesterday, and began to mobilize the gathering of troops and prepare to support Liyang, but it was dark at that time. Zitong was worried about walking at night..."

Du Fuwei made a gesture, interrupted him, and responded: "Zi Tong, it's not your fault. Even if you set out yesterday, it would be too late to rush over. By then, I had already lost."

Li Zitong then silently arranged Du Fuwei into a mansion. He wanted to arrange Du Fuwei's recruiting army, which was less than 2,000, to the military camp, but Du Fuwei stopped him and said. The mansion was very generous, so they could stay here with me. After that, he ordered Li Zitong to arrange some food and tent utensils for the soldiers, so that the recruiting soldiers could set up camp tents in the courtyard of the mansion and around.

Du Fuwei's action made Li Zitong feel unhappy. He thought that Du Fuwei was guarding himself. In fact, Du Fuwei's original intention was the same.

Once the seeds of distrust are rooted in the heart, they will grow bigger and bigger under the catalysis of various events. Such seeds have actually been planted in the hearts of the two of them.

In his early years, Li Zitong was also a rebel against the king. He was desperate to come to Huainan to surrender to Du Fuwei, but he refused Du Fuwei to adapt his subordinates and insisted on maintaining relative independence.

Du Fuwei had just gained a foothold in Huainan at that time, and strong enemy four rings were strong, and he urgently needed to unite other forces to fight the enemy. Therefore, he could only take into account the overall situation and make compromises. After conquering the three counties of Liuhe, Liyang and Gaoyou, Li Zitong was stationed in Liuhe and in charge of all Liuhe troops.

After Li Zitong returned to the mansion, he fell on the bed, but tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. One thought after another came up in his heart. At last, he sat up halfway from the bed, muttering to himself: "Why do you have to stay under someone else's roof? I'd rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail, let alone what a phoenix. Li Yang was taken away by the Sui army of thousands of people a day and night, and tens of thousands of soldiers were lost. It's better for me..."

...

When the sun shone on the next day, Du Fuwei had already gotten up and washed up. He sat upright in the room thinking about what to do next, and was worried about what his family members who had been trapped in Licheng were now. At this time, a personal soldier came into the house to report: "Report to General Li Zitong, General Li Zitong sent someone to bring a box of food to the general."

Du Fuwei looked at the food box in his hand, nodded and said, "You just put it here." The personal soldiers put down the food box and turned around and walked out of the house. Du Fuwei had no breakfast habits, and he was also worried about his family, so he had no intention of having a meal. After half an hour, he took out a piece of snack from the food box.

Just as the entrance was about to enter, suddenly there was a sound of killing outside the courtyard. The soldiers recruited soldiers in the courtyard of the mansion, who knew what had happened, picked up their weapons and rushed out of the courtyard. Du Fuwei also stood up, threw away the snack, and rushed from the house to the courtyard.

In the courtyard, he could vaguely hear the call of "Li Zitong rebelled, Li Zitong rebelled". Du Fuwei already understood what was going on and shouted: "My sons, gather the army, follow the general to kill out the rebel Li Zitong!" The six or seven hundred recruits in the mansion had already trained to form charge arrays around him and rushed out of the door.
Chapter completed!