The Zhu Jiajun who rushed in were exhausted, their jackets were soaked with sweat, they were panting like cattle, and some soldiers' hands and feet were trembling. Faced with this situation, Deng Youde knew clearly that the soldiers urgently needed rest to regain their strength and urgently needed to fight.
But at this time, how can we delay?
"Our brothers are risking their lives. With the grace of superiors and the orders of our fathers, it's time for us to put in our efforts. Listen to everyone, divide into two thousand families and attack Shuimen. The rest will follow me to attack Ximen!"
After Deng Youde gave the order, he took the initiative to lead his troops and rushed forward.
The defenses of Huzhou City were still tight, and soldiers and horses were assigned to each city gate, and they were ready. Unfortunately, because the water gate was suddenly breached, Zhang Tianqi led the rescue, and sent troops and horses from each city gate, and there was a lack of commanders. And Deng Youde was indeed the leader.
A fierce general, he wears two layers of armor, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
First, he concentrated his bows and crossbows and fired them, so that the defenders at the top of the city could not lift their heads. Then he climbed up a simple ladder, like an ape, and jumped up to the city wall. This was not the first time he took the lead on the city wall.
Deng Youde was very skillful. When he arrived at the top of the city, he waved his weapons and killed them wantonly. The soldiers followed quickly and successfully opened the door with almost no effort...
After entering the city, Deng Youde ran into trouble. Huzhou City was not small, so where was the most valuable target? Should he rescue Li Wenzhong, or attack a crowded place?
Just when he hesitated, a group of young men from the city, about twenty or thirty people, ran out of an alley.
"Go this way, go this way quickly!"
Deng Youde was still hesitant, but the other party hurriedly said: "We are from this city, and this is the Yamen!"
Deng Youde thought for a while and finally decided to take a gamble. He asked the soldiers to follow him and moved forward quickly. Sure enough, after crossing a few streets, he arrived in front of the original prefect's Yamen.
Right now, this is Zhang Tianqi's residence, which is the center of the city defense. A three-foot-high flag is fluttering in the wind.
Deng Youde saw this and couldn't help being overjoyed, "Set fire to this bastard's nest!"
In an instant, the fire shot up into the sky, like a big candle, and could be seen throughout Huzhou City, with thick smoke billowing and flames flying.
At this time, there are still more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in the city, which is almost four times the number of Zhu's army. If they can be mobilized, they can still turn defeat into victory.
But when a fire broke out in the prefect's Yamen, everything went into chaos.
The soldiers and horses in the city lost their command, and the people were in chaos.
Some people said that Zhang Tianqi was dead and his head had been chopped off. Others said that Zhu Jiajun had all come to kill him. There were hundreds of thousands of troops, and magic soldiers descended from the sky.
By this time, no one could tell the truth from the false. There were constant shouts of death in the city, and flames shot into the sky.
Many people simply threw away their weapons and ran away.
The people's hearts are broken. The consequences are really terrible and there is no way to deal with it.
Zhang Tianqi was shocked to find that there were not many soldiers and horses around him. On the contrary, Zhu's army actually had the advantage, and there were shouts of killing from all directions.
His face was earth-colored, and at this moment, he felt something flew away from his head. He had seen how ferocious the Zhu Jiajun was just now. If he fell into the hands of these gangsters, he would not be shattered to pieces!
Without much hesitation, Zhang Tianqi turned around and ran away.
Even the generals were running for their lives, not to mention the others. Everyone fled, and the number of people around Zhang Tianqi was visibly reduced.
He fled to the east gate in a hurry. Just as he was about to escape, a group of Zhu Jiajun soldiers suddenly appeared in front of him.
Zhou Dexing rushed forward with weapons in hand.
"Don't let that grandson go! Catch him alive!"
Zhang Tianqi was so distraught that he turned around and ran away, but where else could he go? Many young men in the city came out with courage and gave the Zhu family directions.
Wherever there is a defeated army, they will attack there.
Occasionally, lone soldiers would be ambushed by young men and captured directly.
The battle lasted for a day and a half. Xu Da's main force also arrived and successfully captured Huzhou.
After counting, it was found that the Zhu Jiajun had suffered losses of more than 1,100 people, and nearly 500 people from Li Wenzhong's advance team alone had died.
Including Li Wenzhong, there were three injuries on his body, especially a cut on his neck by an arrow. If he had gone deeper, the artery would have been shot, and he would have died.
Xu Da also sighed, "You have made a great contribution this time, and I won't agree to it even if the superior doesn't give you a big reward!"
Li Wenzhong respectfully expressed his gratitude.
At this time Zhou Dexing also came, and he was lucky enough to catch Zhang Tianqi.
"This grandson escaped into a private house, even got a set of women's clothes, and planned to escape in disguise... You can't even look at it. He has a beard and wants to deceive me! Go ahead and dream!"
Zhang Tianqi's old face turned red, he was frightened and angry, he could only grit his teeth and said: "Hurry up and kill me with one knife! Give me a good time!"
Xu Da looked at him and sneered: "There is no need to dress up as a hero. We have our own rules and will not wrongly accuse good people! Naturally, we will not let the bad guy go and take him down!"
With Zhang Tianqi captured, the battle in Huzhou ended quickly.
Even Xu Da couldn't help but shout that he was lucky.
Siege warfare has always been a difficult problem. Even in Hongdu, it took Zhu Jiajun more than two months, and Zhang Shicheng was famous for his good defense.
It is normal to fight for a year and a half.
As a result, within a few days of the war, they were victorious and fell into the hands of Zhu Jiajun. How could he not be overjoyed?
Xu Da decisively ordered that Zhou Dexing lead a force of troops, pretending to be the main force, attack Jiaxing, contain Zhang Shicheng's troops, and then let Deng Youde be the vanguard to take Hangzhou directly.
At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had also led all civil and military forces to Huzhou.
Riding on horseback, Zhu Yuanzhang looked to both sides. Gradually, he discovered that the ridges of the fields on the roadside were neat and the rice fields were continuous. They were very organized. At first glance, he looked like someone who knew how to farm.
"Whose land is this? There is so much of it?"
Zhang Ximeng didn't know either, so he could only ask others. Soon, there was news that Zhang Tianqi had created the military camp.
Lao Zhu was curious, so he jumped off his horse and walked over to check. Zhang Ximeng followed behind. After they passed through a rice field, they found neat houses.
These houses are built of adobe with roofs made of straw.
There is a well in the yard, a warehouse, a barn, and even a pond for fertilization in the back... Everything is available.
Lao Zhu looked around and couldn't help but said: "Let's see, this Zhang Tianqi is a talent!"
Zhang Ximeng also praised repeatedly, "You are definitely better at farming than me!"
Lao Zhu didn't say anything else, he just mounted his horse and led everyone into Huzhou.
"Greetings, superior!"
Li Wenzhong was waiting at the city gate to greet Lao Zhu.
It turned out that Xu Da was unwilling to waste time and had already led his troops south. Li Wenzhong was injured and happened to stay here to recuperate and wait for Lao Zhu to arrive.
Zhu Yuanzhang took his nephew's hand and asked about his welfare, which was quite gratifying.
"Good boy, good fight!"
Li Wenzhong's face turned slightly red, and he suddenly said boldly: "Come on, I, I'm not a child anymore! I can lead troops!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but laugh, "Yes, you are indeed no longer a child, Commander Li Wenzhong! You lead the troops well and strive to fight more and win more battles! Let everyone look at you with admiration!"
Li Wenzhong was overjoyed and thanked him quickly.
Lao Zhu asked about the siege process again, and then asked someone to bring Zhang Tianqi up.
"We heard that you were one of the eighteen carrying poles, and you followed Zhang Shicheng to kill the Tatars?"
Zhang Tianqi hesitated slightly and nodded: "That's right."
"Then I want to ask you, what did you think at that time?"
"No, I didn't think much about it, I just can't live anymore."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Can you survive now?"
Zhang Tianqi was stunned again, and after a long while, he muttered: "I, I can live well under the command of King Cheng. I can kill Wu Guogong if he wants. There is no need to say this."
Lao Zhu smiled slightly and said, "Zhang Tianqi, we want to ask you, if you know that you can't survive and want to rise up, how does Zhang Shicheng manage the land of Suzhou and Hangzhou? Are you worthy of the people who follow you? Are you worthy of who you were back then?"
Faced with the questioning, Zhang Tianqi was stunned and speechless.
It seems that Zhang Shicheng also did the same thing that they were not used to in the Yuan Dynasty.
To build the palace, collect beauties, and levy excessive taxes... In addition to the original various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, he also had to collect a lot more, raise soldiers and officials, and especially spend hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and send them to Dadu to be his loyal ministers of the Yuan Dynasty.
.
Thinking about a few years ago and looking at the present, it does make people feel a little ashamed of themselves.
"Wu Guogong, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, all you have to do is kill people!"
"No!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "The affairs of the world, with billions of people, how can the king succeed and the bandit defeat, how can it be so simple? Conquer the city with force, and suppress the chaos with benevolence. When we first entered Jiqing, we did not commit any crimes in autumn.
Therefore, it is decided in one fell swoop. Every time I hear that the generals won a city without killing them rashly, I feel overjoyed and overjoyed. The conduct of the teacher is like fire, and if you don't kill the generals, it will set a prairie fire. If a general can use not killing as a weapon, is it only for the benefit of the country?
The descendants will truly be blessed by it.”
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "We see that you are stationed in Huzhou and can benefit from farming. You are a talented person with good intentions. I asked you what you were thinking at the beginning because I want to know whether you are still willing to farm and benefit the people.
?”
Zhang Tianqi was surprised again. If Zhu Yuanzhang talked to him about glory and wealth, he might surrender or refuse... But there were always ways to deal with it, but when he talked about this, he became confused.
"I, I can't tell."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled dumbly and said, "Mr. Zhang, what do you think?"
Zhang Ximeng immediately said: "My lord, I have just calculated that the territory of Hongdu is close to Poyang Lake. In terms of situation, it is very similar to Huzhou along the Taihu Lake. If General Zhang is willing, he can go to Hongdu to farm and build water conservancy to benefit the area.
"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then said: "Zhang Tianqi, what do you think?"
When Zhang Tianqi heard that he was going to Hongdu and would not have to fight Zhang Shicheng directly, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. What's more, he also thought about his poor background. Back then, his family didn't even have an acre of land, so they had to carry brine in the salt field.
Let’s not talk about the day.
"I, I do!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with a smile, "We came to Huzhou to eliminate chaos for the people. Immediately put up notices to allow the people to redress their grievances, immediately prepare for the equal distribution of the land, and suspend all exorbitant taxes and taxes until the land is granted. Therefore, officers and soldiers must not harm the people or violate the law.
Order, behead!"
Zhang Tianqi listened silently, his head bowed even deeper...