"Mr. Zihui was indeed shot to death by random arrows?"
Chen Zixiao took a long breath and stared at Guo Junpan, who had personally sneaked into the vicinity of Huangqiao Village to scout for the enemy, with his deep eyes like a hawk.
He still can't believe it. Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others conspired to ambush Xu Huai, but ended up with the tragic end of the entire army being destroyed?
This made him feel a chill in his heart. How could Xiaoxiaotongbaishan be hiding like a dragon and crouching tiger?
"Zheng Zihui's body was not seen, but the heads of Mr. Dong and others were hanging outside the village gate building. These thieves were afraid that we wouldn't recognize them clearly, so they carefully wiped the blood off their faces with a wet cloth!"
Guo Junpan said with hatred and annoyance, "What are you doing to Zheng Zihui and the others? They are not going to die in vain! Fortunately, we did not listen to his deception this time."
"Why was the entire army destroyed?" Pan Chenghu asked in shock.
"Who can know the details? It's possible that they were not secretive and were discovered by the other party in advance. In turn, they were ambushed and killed by the other party!" Guo Junpan said.
Zheng Hui initially wanted to recruit more experts from here to work together, but Chen Zixiao and Zhong Changqing believed that there was no need to cause trouble at this juncture, so they did not agree - Zheng Hui finally pulled Dong Qifeng and others away, but did not
Tell them the specific ambush plan.
In the current situation, they could only roughly guess that Zheng Hui and the others were not secretive, and the news leaked out at a certain point. How could they possibly think that Zheng Hui and Dong Qifeng had stepped into a death trap from beginning to end without knowing it?
"This matter cannot be changed, and there is no point in thinking about it. After all, Zheng Zihui and the others shoot at geese all day long and end up pecking at their eyes. But it seems that we still need to think carefully about how we are going to go from now on?" Zhong Changqing frowned.
He frowned and said hesitantly.
"What's there to think about? Without Zheng Zihui, the sun won't rise from the east tomorrow?" Gao Xiangzhong said.
After Dong Cheng officially went to Tangzhou as a servant to preside over the recruitment process, Zheng Hui also revealed his identity to Gao Xiangzhong, Zhong Chang and other main leaders of the coalition forces.
Guo Junpan, Pan Chenghu, Gao Xiangzhong, and Zhong Changqing, no matter what their reasons were for turning into bandits in their early years, they all have one thing in common at this time, that is, they have turned Tongbai Mountain upside down.
, where they will go next, and what their ultimate goal is, but no one has a clear answer in their hearts.
The Huaiyuan Township Camp was too hard, and Huaiyuan City was officially built and extremely strong. No one, including Chen Zixiao, had the intention to recapture Huangqiao Village and fight eastward - even if they fought hard to capture Huangqiao Village, it was unlikely that they would succeed.
To capture Huaiyuan City, there is no point in fighting eastward.
However, heading west to break out of Tongbai Mountain is now unrealistic.
In addition to Dong Cheng arranging troops and horses in Biyang City to prepare for counterattacks into the mountains at any time, the Economic Strategy and Pacification Department of South Beijing Road also deployed tens of thousands of forbidden troops to the south and west of Biyang.
In the midst of a dilemma, Zheng Hui disappeared for a few days and came back to tell everyone that he, Dong Qifeng and others were actually secret envoys sent by Privy Councilor Cai Qing. As long as everyone accepted the recruitment with peace of mind, from now on they could become generals of the imperial court and take advantage of the imperial court.
Salary, they would be crazy to refuse.
Zhong Changqing didn't want to find out the true intentions of Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others who had sneaked into Tongbai Mountain early and stirred up troubles to create all this. But one thing he was sure of was that they had been getting along with Zheng Hui and Dong Qifeng for a long time.
Hui and Dong Qifeng knew their details and had basic trust in each other.
When they accepted the recruitment, they went directly to Cai Qing's sect under the guidance of Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others, so they were less likely to be suspected and ostracized. To say the least, even if they only followed Zheng Hui and Dong Qifeng from now on, their lives would be over.
Neither is too bad.
Fortunately now, Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others were all ambushed and killed by the Huaiyuan Township camp. Without them to lure money, they could continue to accept the recruitment, but the problem is that without Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others
Threading the needle, is Dong Cheng worthy of their trust?
In other words, without the guarantees of Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others, would Dong Cheng be able to accept these "extremely evil" bandits with confidence?
Zhong Changqing was deeply suspicious of this.
Gao Xiangzhong felt that Zhong Changqing's worries were unfounded.
Besides, if they don’t accept the offer, can they go to heaven?
They kill people, they set fires, they rape, rape and plunder, aren't they just waiting to be recruited and become good boys one day?
Although Chen Zixiao knew that there should be deeper secrets to be unearthed in the deaths of Zheng Hui and Dong Qifeng, most of the leaders were still eager to accept recruitment, so he could only follow the good example and was silent for a while before saying:
"I will arrange to go to Biyang City to meet with Dong Cheng to discuss recruitment matters, but Dong Cheng is not familiar with us, and we do not know Dong Cheng as a person. The recruitment conditions promised by Mr. Zihui may be subject to major changes.
You still need to be prepared..."
…………
…………
Although the policy of recruitment is ultimately decided by the court officials, the court officials will not come to discuss recruitment matters in person. Even if they have different opinions or disputes, they can only focus on the governor Dong Cheng and the general magistrate Gu Zhihui.
And the memorials of Biyang Magistrate Cheng Lunying and other officials were launched.
The recruitment minister actually had considerable decision-making power, which fell into the hands of Dong Cheng, Gu Zhihui, Cheng Lunying, Zhu Tong and other local officials. The key was to see how they wrote their memorials.
In this way, Huaiyuan cannot be said to have no influence at all.
In short, the attitude of the local gentry in Huaiyuan and the main generals in the rural camp was relatively consistent, that is, the imperial court could recruit the rebel troops, and Huaiyuan, as a small country, could not interfere in the court affairs, but all the rebel troops must be moved out of Tongbai Mountain and resettled.
Otherwise, Huaiyuan Xiangying would rather bite the bullet and continue fighting than leave such a big hidden danger around.
What's more, in the battles at Tiaohutan and Huangqiaozhai, both sides suffered heavy casualties, and the feud was deep. Who really wanted to place the surrendered bandits in the Zhouxiang Army or even directly as patrol officers after they were recruited?
Can mom sleep peacefully at night?
No matter how much Dong Cheng insisted, General Judge Gu Zhihui and Biyang County Magistrate Cheng Lunying insisted that the thieves had killed a lot of people in Tongbai Mountain in the past year, and the people were very afraid, so they ignored them, fearing that the people's resentment would get worse and another accident would happen.
.
They didn't need to persuade Dong Cheng, they all had the power to directly submit memorials to persuade him.
At the court, in addition to the privy envoy Cai Qing, the left and right ministers and all the ministers participating in the political affairs were all qualified to discuss the recruitment matters, and the voices of separation soon became the absolute mainstream.
This is also directly related to Dai Viet’s tradition of using culture to control military force.
Scholars and ministers have been wary of military generals for more than a hundred years. They want them to feel at ease with the bandit troops they recruit. What's the joke?
The opinions of the allied forces of the various villages are the least important at this time. If they are not willing to accept the separate recruitment conditions, they must have the qualifications and strength not to accept them.
No matter how stupid Dong Cheng is, he will never make the same mistake as his predecessor Chen Shi.
When he returned to Biyang City from Huaiyuan, he sent people to the old Huaidu stronghold to find Chen Zixiao, Gao Xiangzhong, Zhong Changqing and other bandit leaders to discuss recruitment matters. At the same time, with the assistance of Xu Wuqi, he recruited more men from various counties.
We have a large number of elite soldiers and strong generals. We also strictly organize and train the existing forbidden army. We select generals from the bottom who can fight and dare to fight and serve as section-level officers. They will all wait for the middle and low-level military attachés. At the same time, in Tongbai Mountain
A strong fortress was constantly built at the west entrance.
In order to sever ties with the Xu clan, Xu Wu Qi gave up the "Xu" surname in his name and the identity of the "Wu" generation. From then on, he changed his name to Chen Qi and followed him, serving at Dong Cheng's side.
The allied forces of Zhuzhai were also unwilling to accept the recruitment conditions of splitting and resettlement. In the first month of the sixth year of Tianxuan, they twice tried to attack the camp built by the state soldiers at the west entrance of Tongbai Mountain in an attempt to gain more bargaining chips for negotiations.
The Zhuzhai Allied Forces attacked twice and lost three to four hundred troops, but they were unable to capture even a single fortress. They had to admit that the peace on the southwestern road of Beijing had been peaceful for a long time. Although they failed in the initial battle, as long as the foundation was not defeated, the imperial system still existed.
The ability to reorganize troops and mount a counterattack is stronger than Chen Zixiao, Zhong Changqing and others imagined.
By the end of the first month of the sixth year of Tianxuan Period, in addition to the state soldiers gathering 3,000 troops and horses again at Tongbai Mountain Pass, with the intention of extending in depth, Dong Cheng also ordered the Huaiyuan Township Camp to conduct a large-scale assembly, planning to launch a large-scale spring offensive
, Chen Zixiao, Gao Xiangzhong, Zhong Changqing and other bandit chiefs finally walked out of the old Huaidu stronghold and surrendered to Dong Cheng.
Chen Zixiao, Gao Xiangzhong, Zhong Changqing, Guo Junpan, Pan Chenghu and other bandit chieftains were all sent to Jinzhou and other places to serve as inspectors, commanders, generals and other middle and low-level military positions, so that they could serve the imperial court as a sign of their loyalty.
The five thousand thieves who surrendered to the bandits were favored and cared for. Without exception, the band of five thousand bandits were dispersed and replenished the forbidden army in Jinzhou and other places to supplement the lack of defense force against the Khitans in the north of Dayue.
The bandit rebellion in Tongbai Mountain, which once alarmed the government and the public, lasted for eight months, and finally came to an end at this time.
