After Dong Fang and Yang Mao successively captured Juyongguan and Lulongsai, almost all the Youzhou cities south of Yanshan had changed their flags to apricot-yellow flags.

Although this is only a rough decision and there is no in-depth governance yet, at least for now, no large armed force dares to confront the Taishan Army.

But the Youzhou side was settled, but the Hejian and Bohai counties that Zhang Dan attacked were not so smooth.

In fact, just after the Battle of Zhongrenting, Zhang Chong had already ordered Ding Sheng's troops stationed in Guangzong to attack the northern part of Anping County north of Zhangshui River, and cooperated with Zhang Dan to attack Hejian and Bohai.

Throughout the Taishan Army's Northern Expedition north of the Hutuo River, there was no movement from the Qinghe Kingdom. Ding Sheng was so anxious that he had his war report sent to him several times.

There's no way he can't catch Ding Dawei in one battle.

Therefore, this time Zhang Chong handed over part of the Hejian area south of the Hutuo River and the southern part of Bohai County to Ding Sheng.

Therefore, at that time, Zhang Chong's arrangements were two-pronged in formulating the strategy for the counties in northern Jizhou.

Along the way is Zhang Dan's Right Army Marshal's Department, fighting eastward from Lunu, all the way to Zhangwu, the governor of the Bohai Sea. Along the way is Ding Sheng's Front Army Marshal's Department, heading north from Xiabo to attack the counties in northern Anping, and then along Hutuo

Shuinan attacked to the south of Bohai County.

There are eleven cities in the river, with 93,000 households, and a population of 630,000. There are eight cities in the Bohai Sea, with a household of 130,000, and a population of 1.1 million. In addition,

There are four other cities in the northern part of Anping south of Bo, with a population estimated to be more than 100,000.

So this time Zhang Dan and Ding Sheng's tasks are not easy either.

In the distribution of the results this time, Zhang Chong also made a trade-off.

The county governance in Hejian was left to Ding Sheng's tribe, and the large cities of Zhangwu and Nanpi in Bohai were left to Zhang Dan's tribe. Try to make a fair distribution.

The strategy is roughly like this.

After that, Zhang Dan and Ding Sheng each led their troops to the expedition, making great noise along the way.

Gai Tong, who originally fled from the Hejian Army, also brought two thousand Youzhou cavalry, including Gongsun Yue, Tian Yu, Tian Chou, Gongsun Fan, Xian Yuying and other northern cavalry generals.

When the road to the north was cut off, they could only stay in places such as Hejian. They were an important military force here.

After learning about the defeat of the Han army in Zhongrenting, although the families in Hejian and Bohai felt like mourning their heirs, they were not willing to sit back and wait for death. They found Chen Yan, the prime minister of Hejian who was recuperating in the countryside, and asked him to come out to reorganize the fight against the Taishan army.

team.

In fact, regardless of whether Chen Yan has the ability or willingness to preside over this matter, these Hejian and Bohai aristocratic families just need this flag, so that they can use the banner of the Han Dynasty and gather people's hearts to the greatest extent.

After all the county soldiers in Hejian and Bohai were lost, the task of defending the hometown this time naturally could only be shouldered by the powerful.

Among the nine counties in Jizhou, Hejian has a relatively small population in terms of its size, only 630,000.

The reason for this is that Hejian is called this name because before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the river was divided into three streams from Suxukou and then flowed into the Bohai Sea, so this place is called Hejian.

Because the river channel was not stable at that time, the river often changed its course, especially the middle river, which often moved back and forth.

When the river overflows and the seawater pours back, it is difficult to carry out agricultural production here, so the population is relatively sparse. As early as the Warring States Period, this was the buffer zone between Qi and Yan, and no one would completely occupy it.

Because of this, the aristocratic families in Hejian are generally not strong, and the only one who can be said to be famous is the Zhang family in Mo County.

So this time, under the organization of the Zhang family in Mo County, teams of almost two thousand people gathered in each city.

Yes, you heard it right, it’s two thousand.

It's not that these powerful men can only gather two thousand, but everything has to be done at a cost.

In the past, when the imperial court recruited people, supplies were provided by the imperial court, so they could bring as much as they could. After all, the food was provided by the public. But this time, you have to provide people and recruits yourself, so the account cannot be settled like this.

For example, if there is a small rich man who can produce 400 dan, his small settlement can theoretically maintain 40 people. According to the calculation of one out of ten, that is the size of four people.

In other words, this little local tycoon can be satisfied with his own weapons and armor and three family members. No matter how many people there are, his settlement will not be able to bear it.

So despite the fact that only 2,000 people came, there were actually 500 small tycoons like him participating in this action to defend their hometown. Behind this, there were more than 20,000 powerful people supporting such an action.

In Hejian, a city with a population of only 600,000, such a mobilization ratio is already quite large.

It's not that the powerful people in Hejian really have this little strength. If they really have to fight for their lives, they can pull out another 20,000 people.

But with such a large-scale fighting force, not to mention fighting, as long as the confrontation lasts for more than ten days, these little tyrants are going to rob it.

Moreover, these powerful people are not of the same mind. After learning that the powerful people in Youzhou are living well, they really have no motive to risk their lives with the Taishan Army.

So this number of people is really the current limit in Hejian.

But you say one thousand means ten thousand, even if Gai Tong's assault cavalry is added to this small force, it will be of no use.

…

On September 22, after Zhang Dan pacified Zhongshan, he led eight thousand troops to attack Wuyuan City on the banks of the Sushui River.

This place was the birthplace of Emperor Wu's wife Gou Yi, but the beauty is no longer there, and only this ancient city still stands on the banks of the Sushui River.

The city's garrison saw the Taishan Army's menacing attack and decided not to resist pointlessly, so the combined army retreated from the Sushui River to the lower reaches of Muxian County.

This defense is also quite cunning, knowing that if you retreat like this, you will definitely be pursued by Taishan Army, so you advance instead of retreating.

So he led the county soldiers in the city and Erbai, a powerful tribe in the city, out of the city, planning to take advantage of the unstable footing when Taishan's army first arrived, and attack Zhang Dan's vanguard.

Zhang Dan's vanguard was Mao Shao.

Mao Shao's troops were all warriors, and he didn't even worry about how many people were coming from the other side.

After the first battle, the soldiers and officials of Wuyuan City collapsed and fled one after another. Unable to contain them, the military officials had no choice but to abandon the city and hide in the outdoor pavilions of Wuyuan City.

That night, Wu Yuan soldiers set fire to the camp and fled in a panic. This time, Mao Shao did not expect the enemy to run away, but in the middle of the night he was worried that the enemy was setting up an ambush, so he stopped advancing.

Waiting for fate, Mao Shao saw that Wuyuan City was defenseless, so he formally occupied the city.

On the 28th, the remaining Wuyuan troops collapsed north along the Sushui River and entered Mo County.

Here, Zhang Jiang, a member of the Zhang family in Mo County, is training his army in the city. He plans to fight against the Taishan Army in the Mo County area.

The reason for this is that there is a large swamp in the west of Muxian County, called Dianze, which is known as the lake for digging carp and the abyss of building festivals.

Zhang Jiang thought that if he could not defeat them, he would go into the lake and fight a protracted battle with the Taishan Army.

At the same time, after taking Wu Yuan, Zhang Dan decided to divide his troops. With Xie Bi as the main general, he led four thousand troops northward along the Sushui River and captured Mo County, Wen'an and other places.

And Zhang Dan continued to lead the main force eastward into the Bohai Sea.

This is how Zhang Dan entrusted Xie Bi:

"There is Daze to the west of M County. Ding M County needs to pay attention to the bandits and bandits attacking and supplying supplies in Ding M County."

Later, on October 1st, Zhang Dan handed over the task of conquering the northern part of Hejian to Xie Bi and headed for the Bohai Sea.

Xie Bi also went north to attack Muxian County on the same day.

Zhang Jiang of Mian County was overjoyed when he learned that the Taishan Army had chosen to divide his forces, and was busy setting up defenses at Renqiu in the south of Mian County to resist the Taishan Army.

On October 3rd, Xie Bi sent Xie Kun and Mao Shao as two generals to attack the Han army's wall at Renqiu.

In the afternoon of that day, Zhang Jiang and the two thousand powerful troops he had gathered collapsed and dispersed, leaving only two to three hundred remaining soldiers who fled into Dianze.

On the way, Zhang Jiang deeply regretted that she had acted like a mantis, and on the way, she wrote a secret letter to her family to deal with the current situation:

"Taishan's army is so powerful that we must not be enemies face to face. Now that the troops in Muxian County have been defeated and all the keys to Northeast Hejian have been lost, the situation is over. Now that Mount Tai's army has occupied Yan, Zhao, Wei, and Heshuo, all the land has been lost. It can be seen that the two capitals have been lost."

It must be a shock. My nephew advises my uncle to show respect outwardly. If the two capitals have the intention to regain Heshuo, they will definitely respond. If not, they can just stay dormant in the countryside and make a living. My nephew is in Dianze to respond.

The family will have no worries."

This letter was finally delivered to the Zhang clan leader in the town of Mo County. After learning about the current situation, this old Confucian scholar who had been favored by the Han Dynasty finally sighed and chose to open the door and surrender.

In this way, Mon County, an important city in the river, was conquered, and then Xie Bi just ordered Xie Kun to send troops to capture Wending, Shuzhou and other cities.

In addition, Dong Pingshu, who had been captured by Zhang Dan, and Cheng Ping, who had been captured by Ding Sheng. At this point, the Hejian Kingdom was completely removed.

At the same time, Zhang Dan, who had captured Dongpingshu, also led his army to cross the Hutuo River in the east of the city. His next stage goal was to capture Zhangwucheng.

Zhangwucheng is not easy to fight. It contains the largest salt field in Bohai County. Therefore, there are many strong and powerful Zaohu soldiers and Euphorbia warriors, so the military strength cannot be underestimated.

On October 5, Zhang Dan led 6,000 officials from the Marshal's Department of the Right Army and arrived in the north of Zhangwu City.

After observing the situation outside the city, Zhang Dan set up five camps at the east gate and north gate of Zhangwu City.

That night, Zhang Wu's soldiers in the city attacked Zhang Dan's camp at night. They were ambushed by Pan Zhang and five hundred soldiers were surrounded and killed.

The next day, Zhang Dan's troops attacked the city but failed.

For the next three days, Zhang Dan surrounded and refused to attack.

At the same time, a grain channel was built relying on the Zhangshui River behind.

Zhang Wubing on the city was horrified when he saw this, thinking that Zhang Dan was planning a long siege.

So, on October 10, Zhang Wubing attacked again.

This time Zhang Wubing attacked from the south, west and north gates respectively, but again the battle was unfavorable.

In this battle, Pan Zhang and Luo Gang captured and killed 1,200 people, achieving a great victory.

But the situation changed dramatically on October 13th.

Reinforcements from counties in the southern part of the Bohai Sea suddenly arrived on the battlefield.

Seeing the reinforcements arriving with Nanpi, Fuyang, Gaocheng and other flags hanging high, Zhang Dan, who always had a very good temper, cursed in front of the formation:

"What does Ding Daqi do for food? After staying in the south for a long time, you don't know how to fight? How did you miss Nanpi's soldiers?"
To be continued...