Outside Chenzhou City, it was drizzling. A group of cavalrymen dressed in raincoats came and stopped in front of the city gate. The man at the head looked up and saw a long and thin scar like a knife or an axe, exposed under the bamboo hat. Face.
"Zhong Changqing, you are finally back!" Yue Hailou stood behind the wall and said loudly, "Xiangcheng is only more than fifty miles away from here, but I have to wait for several days for you to arrive. It's really difficult to see you! "
After Zhong Changqing entered the city, he dismounted and climbed up the tower. He saluted Yuehai Tower and Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie and other generals beside him, and said: "The marshal sent an envoy to Xiangcheng. Changqing was at Tongbai Mountain at that time, and he rushed back to Xiangcheng." When the city learned that the palace commander had summoned him, he didn't dare to take a breath and came to Chenzhou to meet him."
"Did you go to Tongbai Mountain?" Yue Hailou frowned slightly and asked, "Did you see any old friends?"
"Changqing's family was destroyed, and he raised an army to destroy the unjust clan, and then he fled to Lanzhou. Fortunately, he was supported by the marshal. How can he have any old friends in Tongbai Mountain?" Zhong Changqing said with a bitter smile, "Yaksha Fox is very suspicious when he governs Tongbai Mountain. , the local accents of several of my men have not changed. They want to pretend to be locals and sneak in to spy on the information, but they don’t expect that Tongbaishan has already sorted out the list of soldiers who were sent to Bianzhou. If they hadn’t caught the opportunity quickly, they might have been captured by Chushan soldiers and horses. Living……"
"Is Tongbai Mountain so dense?" Feng Shizhao asked.
Yue Hailou served as a general in the Western Army and had an enmity with Zheng Huaizhong. When a small school violated military discipline, Yue Hailou personally punished him with canings, but he did not want to be too harsh and whipped the small school to death on the spot. Zheng Huaizhong encouraged the family members of the small school to go to Beijing to complain to the emperor. and fabricated many names to frame him, causing Yue Hailou to reduce his position to serve the people.
Afterwards, Yue Hailou took refuge in the Cai Mansion. On the one hand, he organized Cai Qing's private troops, and on the other hand, he plotted a comeback.
Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie and others were mostly military generals of the Western Army. They could no longer gain a foothold in the Western Army due to their crimes, or they were recruited by Yue Hailou for Cai Qing to serve as private generals in the Cai Mansion.
Dai Viet's first northern expedition to Yan was defeated. Yue Hailou assassinated Ge Boyi and framed Xu Huai's failure. Cai Yuanyou wanted to kill Yue Hailou to silence him and put all the blame for the defeat on Yue Hailou to protect his country. The Cai family was powerful; Yue Hailou was angry and defected to Chihu, and more than a hundred people including Feng Shizhao and Meng Jie also followed him.
Chi Hu launched a fierce provocation in Datong and annihilated Xiao Sheng with overwhelming force. Yue Hailou, the main force of the Xuanwu and Wu armies, was awarded the title of Marching Thousand Households for his merits. He led generals Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie, and Jiang Zhaode to recruit the Han army in Yingzhou.
Precisely because they were accompanied by more than a hundred close relatives who were capable of conquering and fighting, such as Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie, Jiang Zhaode, etc., the Han army in Yingzhou soon acquired a combat effectiveness that was not weaker than that of the Cao brothers after its reorganization.
Yue Hailou led his troops to break through Yanmen Pass and move south with the Chihu army. Zhong Changqing and Gao Xiangzhong were serving as idle officers in the Xinzhou Military and Horse Supervisory Department, and they followed the guard general Yin Chao to surrender.
Although Yue Hailou did not come personally to the Tongbai Mountain banditry, in order to find out the truth under the heavy fog, in addition to the handwritten letters left by Zheng Hui, Dong Qifeng and others, Yue Hailou arranged for people to learn about the whereabouts of the people in Tongbai Mountain before and after their rise. A detailed investigation was conducted.
This not only allowed Yue Hailou to be the first to see the connection between the people in Tongbai Mountain and the Jingsheng Army and Wang Xiaocheng, but also gave him a deep understanding of the allied generals of the various villages in Tongbai Mountain, and knew that Zhong Changqing was really extraordinary. .
In addition to his superb martial arts skills, Zhong Changqing was also good at managing the military and using troops, and his decision-making was superior to ordinary people.
At its peak, the bandit alliance in Tongbai Mountain grew to more than 20,000 people. Zhong Changqing can be said to be the second person besides Chen Zixiao.
Before Zheng Hui died, he also admired Zhong Changqing very much.
Facts have proved that Chen Zixiao's awesomeness has another reason. Zhong Changqing is the number one bandit in Tongbai Mountain. Pan Chenghu and Guo Junpian would still be inferior to Zhong Changqing if they had not taken advantage of Xu Huai's refuge.
Yue Hailou had long believed that the people in Tongbai Mountain would be his most formidable enemies in his life. Of course, he was the first to recruit Zhong Changqing and Gao Xiangzhong, who were both gangsters from Tongbai Mountain, under his command, and even helped them.
The people recruited the old troops from among the captured soldiers of the surrendered army as direct relatives, and gave a part of the Xinzhou surrendered army to their command.
At the beginning, Gao Xiangzhong thought that the Chihu people might not be able to gain power, and his mind wandered, but Zhong Changqing saw this as a great opportunity. For more than two years, Zhong Changqing led the Xinzhou surrender army to follow Yue Hailou in the south and north, attacking cities and villages.
He took the lead and made many military exploits, and his merits were even higher than those of Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie, Jiang Zhaode and other direct generals of Yue Hailou.
Yue Hailou was granted the title of Privy Envoy of the Kingdom of Chu, but before he could also command the Jiedu Envoys of Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou and lead the main force eastward to Chenzhou, Zhong Changqing had to be granted the title of General Manager of Marching Thousand Households and Xiangcheng.
He led his troops into Xiangcheng County, southeast of Chenzhou, as the vanguard to contain the remnant Yue Xuanwei Army and Tianxiong Army.
Zhong Changqing led his troops to station in Xiangcheng. Although it was still far away from Huaichuan and Chushan, he did not dare to relax at all. In addition to rectifying the defense, he also repeatedly sneaked into Zhenyang, Huaichuan and other places to spy on the military situation.
However, Xu Huai set up rural bureaus in Chushan and Xinyang, and repeatedly sorted out the households in the south of Qingyi Ridge, Zhouqiao, Shixihe, Huaiyuan and other places. His grasp of the local area was far beyond what he could compare with the earlier days of the clans with big surnames.
Zhong Changqing personally led people to sneak into Tongbai Mountain, hiding day and night, and hiding in the mountains and woods. There was no problem. However, when he wanted to contact the villagers to gather more detailed information, his flaws were repeatedly exposed, and he returned without success several times.
.
Of course, this can also be considered a kind of intelligence on the other hand.
Before Yue Hailou moved to Chenzhou, his main focus was on preparations for the attack on Xiangcheng, and he did not have the energy to take care of too many things at the same time. At this time, he heard Zhong Changqing talk about the investigation of Huaichuan, Chushan and other places during this period.
, nodded in praise: "Chang Qing, here, can always do the work very carefully, and I can always rest assured!"
"Isn't Xu Huai good at using dangerous tricks? Why has he turned into a turtle now?" Feng Shizhao scratched his bearded cheek and asked in confusion.
"Chu Shan squeezed his fist back, it's actually more difficult to deal with!" Zhong Changqing said.
"Yes, Yang Lin is good at running the army. He is strict in self-discipline and obeys the generals. He is a strong enemy. However, he divided his troops and horses to guard Xiping, Zhaoling, Shangcai and other cities. The deployment and movement of troops are clear at a glance. We crossed the Ying River,
When approaching Ru River, if Yang Lin sends troops, we will prepare for the battle and we will win or lose without having to think too much."
Yue Hailou frowned and said,
"But it is Chushan. There are not many elite soldiers and horses, but they are all huddled inside. There are only three to five hundred soldiers and horses stationed in Zhenyang, Queshan, Xincai and other cities. They look like they will give up at any time. We are very worried.
It is difficult to capture Chushan's seven inches. Moreover, if we want to attack Yang Lin's or Liu Xian's troops on both wings, we will never know when Xu Huai will stab us!"
No matter how confident Yue Hailou was, he would never think that Xu Huai had shrunk the real defense line to the Qingyi Ridge line because of cowardice.
If Xu Huaizhen was a timid person, would he have encouraged Zhao Tuan to defend Gong County, and would he have caught Cao Shili off guard when he attacked Qingquangou Village and killed him?
If Xu Huaizhen was a timid person, he would have led his troops to attack Taiyuan for thousands of miles, killing Lanzhou, Taiyuan, and Xinzhou with three to five thousand soldiers and horses, leaving the Cao family in pain, and still annihilating the Yunzhou Han army in the north of Taiyuan City?
Yue Hailou knew very well that the second prince Wu Lulie would use him to lead the Bianliang surrender army. There was a big reason that he really paid attention to Xu Huai, a rapidly rising opponent.
At this time, the main force of the Chi Hu was unable to take care of the war on the southern front. Among the many Han generals, he was the one who understood Xu Huai, the situation in Hehuai and even Canyue the best.
Yue Hailou knew in his heart that he was really going to be careless and underestimate the enemy, and Cao Shili would end up in the same fate as him.
"Since Chushan has hidden the snake heads, making it difficult for people to figure out, how can they be lured out? Xu Huai used his troops quickly and cunningly. If he did not draw out the seven inches of the snake heads, he would not really be able to attack Qingyi.
Ling or forcibly cross the Huai River?" Meng Jie asked with a frown.
Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie, Jiang Zhaode and others were all at the same level as Guo Caoling and Dong Qifeng in the Cai Mansion. Feng Shizhao was a rare and brave person in the world, while Meng Jie was good at planning, both civil and military.
They were more fortunate than Guo Caoling and Dong Qifeng. They followed Yue Hailou and surrendered to the Red Husbands, and were able to demonstrate their ability to manage the army on the battlefield. At this time, they were all awarded the title of "Qianhu".
The military system of the Red Husband is relatively simple. Marching Ten Thousand Households is already an absolute general-level figure. Above Marching Ten Thousand Households, there is a capital marshal's office, which oversees military and political affairs in one direction.
The second prince, Ulullie, was also in charge of the Marshal's Mansion of the Zhennan Army. Except for Nayan Muchi, the deputy marshal of the capital, all the other generals under his command had the highest rank of Marching Ten Thousand Households.
Although Yue Hailou was granted the title of Privy Envoy of the Kingdom of Chu, and in addition to his own 20,000 elite troops, he was also able to recruit 40,000 soldiers from Bianliang's surrendered army in the past few months, but his rank under King Chihu was still only that of a general.
With thousands of troops marching, he is not yet qualified to open a marshal's palace in the capital.
Of course, if Yue Hailou can tear apart Canyue's Huaishang defense line and capture Nanyang and Xiangyang this time, he will almost have the qualifications.
Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie and others will have the qualifications to become generals when the time comes, but they are not fools and will not be greedy and rush to send troops to attack Qingyi Ridge, which Xu Huai has worked so hard to manage.
Li Chulin and Yin Chao led tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to attack Taiyuan for a year but failed to defeat it. In the end, they watched Taiyuan soldiers and civilians ask Xu Huai to lead his troops to attack and rescue them. This is enough to prove that the defenders were determined and well-resourced and wanted to storm a stronghold.
How difficult would it be to build a fortress with a strict system on the mountain?
And Xu Huai spent so much money to build the Qingyi Ridge Camp City in more than a year. It can be seen that he had already anticipated the situation at this moment when the Chihu army first invaded the south.
Dare Feng Shizhao, Meng Jie and others despise such a person?
