Dusk was getting thicker, and officers and soldiers were stationed inside and outside Zhending City to rest and recuperate. They were already exhausted from the fierce fighting for days. Some even found a corner and fell asleep as soon as they tilted their heads. However, they were soon awakened by the smell of rice, and the superiors ordered a reward. , the fragrant horse meat and horse soup was enough, and the soldiers cheered loudly. The aroma attracted the surrounding refugees to come closer and want to beg for food. The officers and soldiers ordered them to stop, and those who entered the restricted area without mercy would be killed.
A little gruel makes you sigh, but you still want to eat meat and drink soup? Chang Yu shook his head on the city and sighed. It's not that he is cruel, but that the matter is serious. The soldiers sacrificed their lives and fought so hard that no one can treat them badly.
Just as he was sighing, Hu Ling went to the city and whispered: "Qiu Maohua and others want to see you."
Qiu Maohua was the prefect of Zhending Prefecture. Before the rebels came to the city, he surrendered together with the guerrilla general Xie Sufu, the defender of the city. In order to win over the people, the invaders allowed him to stay in his post. For the past month, he has been acting as a dog leg. Seeing the strength of the rebel army, they marched northward. , secretly rejoicing when he bet on the right bet, unexpectedly Ma Shiyao suddenly surrendered, which caused him to make a sharp turn and almost hit his waist. After discussing with the gangsters, he felt that Ma Shiyao was the leader of the thieves. If you surrender, everything will be safe and sound. Then you can make up an excuse to endure the humiliation...
He was waiting for Chang Yu to answer the question, but he didn't know that Chang Yu had no time to criticize him in the past two days. But the more he was like this, the more he felt at a loss, so he led a group of scoundrels to ask for help.
They are really good at choosing time, Chang Yu sneered. He was slapped in the face by Li Zicheng. He was still angry and had nowhere to vent his anger, so he asked people to take them to the city.
A total of thirteen civil and military personnel from the Zhending Mansion, headed by Qiu Maohua, were brought into the city by personal soldiers. The first thing they saw was the sneer of the young eunuch. Everyone felt a little uneasy and quickly apologized.
If Chang Yu had just debuted and was very aggressive, he would have drawn his sword to kill him immediately. However, in the past few months, he has matured a lot. Even though he had the green bird in his hand, he would not draw his sword easily.
He was too lazy to lynch these imperial officials who had surrendered the thieves, and simply tied them up and handed them over to the court for processing. However, he didn't know whether they could be exempted from the death penalty. They must suffer the living penalty, and they would have to suffer it immediately.
Then, when night fell, screams were heard in the city, and the soldiers and civilians asked each other in confusion and were horrified to hear that the young governor started beating people in the city, beating Qiu Maohua and more than ten people with bruises and swollen faces, which was horrific.
Chang Yu was fierce, punching and kicking without any force. How could Qiu Maohua and others endure his heavy blows? Many people fainted to death after three punches and two kicks.
Not to mention being beaten, this scene was so frightening that the guards next to him were also dumbfounded. Li Muchian bit his lips secretly and thought to himself: I have heard for a long time that Dongchang is vicious, brutal and even a little perverted. It seems... He thought about it and looked at Qiao San next to him. Xiu, Chen Wangting and others also looked pale, while Hu Ling and other confidants were expressionless.
After a cup of tea, Chang Yu finally stopped breathing heavily, his fists were stained with blood, and there were wailing sounds on the ground: "Lock them all up and send them to the capital."
"Report, Lord Governor, General Liu's troops have arrived at Shenze County. They can arrive as soon as tomorrow morning." At this moment, the spies came to report. It happened that Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji were on the city. Hearing this, he sneered: "Old dog Liu It came quite quickly this time.”
Chang Yu chuckled, wiped the blood on his hands, and said calmly: "He has been watching to no avail. Now when he sees the rebel army fleeing, if he doesn't follow closely and wave the flag to cheer, then his trip will be in vain. This old dog It’s fine.”
Hejian is located due east of Qizhou and more than 300 miles northeast of Zhending Prefecture. When the rebel army retreated from Baoding two days ago, Chang Yu sent an order for Liu Zeqing to send troops from the east to encircle him. This guy was actually very happy this time. The tone of my voice traveled more than a hundred miles.
"Lord Governor, are you really going to let this old dog get the advantage for nothing?" Huang Degong was indignant.
"How can there be such a good thing in the world?" Chang Yu sneered, and then asked Tan Ma to send an order to Liu Zeqing not to go to Zhen Ding Fucheng, but to turn around and go south to help Li Yan pursue the main force of the intruders, telling him to march quickly and arrive at Jinzhou City before noon tomorrow.
Seeing Chang Yu's arrangement, Huang Degong's expression softened and he asked: "From what the governor has seen, has Li Yan caught up with the intruder now?"
Chang Yu raised his eyes and looked into the distance, the stars were dotted under the night: "The Jinwu Guards started chasing the enemy last night. With the pace of the cavalry, they should have caught up, but the governor has not received any news about that side yet. You guessed it?"
how?"
"Li Yan is suppressing it and not repaying it?" Zhou Yuji raised his eyebrows. He had worked with Li Yan for several days and was fascinated by his charisma. He really didn't want to see this scene.
Chang Yu shook his head: "Li Yan is not that kind of person, and he cannot suppress such a big matter if he wants to. The most he can do is control his subordinates and not retaliate. He cannot control the actions of Jinwu Guard at this time. The reason why
There are only two possibilities for not reporting. Previously, there were rebel forces everywhere outside the Zhending Mansion, so the spies couldn't get through and reported the news in time. The other possibility is that something unexpected happened and they couldn't catch up."
Is that really the case?
It is said that last night, Lu Xing led nearly 10,000 Jinwu Guards cavalry in Qizhou to pursue the intruders because the matter was of great importance. Although the Jinwu Guards were exhausted from fighting for days, they did not dare to neglect them. They held torches and galloped on their horses.
Fortunately, there are no mountains, no rivers, and only flat plains in Qizhou. The Jinwu Guards followed the trail. At dawn, they entered Shenze County and encountered a bandit army. After a fight, several prisoners were tortured and tortured to extract confessions. They learned that the main force of the bandits had indeed already arrived.
Crossing the river should be in Jinzhou at this time.
Lu Xing was overjoyed. He sent someone to report to Li Yan urgently, and ordered his subordinates to rush to Shenze County. They easily broke through the city and slaughtered more than a hundred thieves, and then ordered them to rest on the spot.
It was daybreak, and the scouts came to report that there were nearly a thousand thieves on the south bank of the Hutuo River a few miles south of the city. They should be the thieves at the rear. After repeatedly confirming the strength of the thieves, Lu Xing discussed with the other three commanders and led 3,000 cavalry to easily defeat them.
After crossing the river, it was almost noon.
Just as he was about to lead his troops in pursuit, the spies came to report: Li Yan sent an order to stop pursuing the enemy. The Jinwu Guards were exhausted after a night of pursuit, but the main force of the bandit army was recharging their energy and sharpening their swords. They must not go deep alone and let them wait for the rear.
The main force comes.
Lu Xing received the order and ordered spies to enter Jinzhou territory to keep an eye on the bandits' movements.
At noon, after receiving the report, Li Yan hurriedly arrived with more than a hundred soldiers. Lu Xing informed Tan Ma that he had discovered that the intruders had left Jinzhou and headed south early in the morning, leaving thousands of people behind.
Li Yan frowned. He had been a thief for several years and knew Li Zicheng's family background well. The thief army on the hilltop was filled with many people from all walks of life and was in chaos. After the bandits established their own country in Dashun, they divided their troops into five battalions, Zhongji Camp, Zuoying, and so on.
The right camp, the front camp, and the rear camp are commanded by Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang, Liu Xiyao, Yuan Zongdi, and Li Guo respectively. Broadly speaking, these five battalions are his main force, and his own direct cavalry is the old camp, which belongs to
The fighting chicken among roosters is easy to use.
Liu Fangliang's Zuoying camp was heading to Zhending Mansion at this time. Zhang Nai's troops originally belonged to Liu Zongmin's Zhongji camp. The rear camp led by Li Guo was defeated in Zhending Mansion. At this time, Luo Huzhenshan's camp was commanded by Zhending Mansion.
The city was under siege, and the front battalion led by Yuan Zongdi went to Xiangyang and did not participate in the Eastern Expedition.
Therefore, Li Zicheng now has only Lao Ying and Liu Zongmin's part of the Zhongji Camp left as the main force. They are all real elites. At this time, there are tens of thousands of such elite rearguards, which is really troublesome.
At present, except for the nearly 10,000 Jinwu Guards who are exhausted, there are only more than a hundred soldiers around him, and the rest of the main force is still on the road. Li Yan was suddenly at a loss. However, at this time, he scouted the horse and reported again, and found another enemy in Gaocheng, west of Jinzhou.
The bandit army of more than 5,000 people is heading west...
Not good! Li Yan reacted instantly. This was Li Zicheng's plan to buy the bottom from behind. He hurriedly ordered spies to report to Chang Yu. Of course, he was also mentally prepared. This place was more than a hundred miles away from Zhending Mansion. Even if the road was smooth, he might not be able to make it in time.
, not to mention that there are a lot of thieves there at this time, whether it can survive is another question. The only good thing is that the little governor is sitting in the Zhending Mansion. With him here, things shouldn't be too bad.
But Li Yan also knew that at this time, there were countless thieves and refugees in Zhending Mansion. It would not be difficult for Liu Fangliang and others to forcefully cross the river. If reinforcements came from behind and drew their swords to help, it would be easy. Huang Degong, who was guarding the defense line, would be able to do so.
It's going to be miserable.
Li Yan has always been resourceful and able to draw inferences from one instance to another. At this moment, he didn't know that the fighting had already begun over at Zhending Mansion, but he also knew that the situation was critical. If one was not careful, the officers and soldiers would suffer heavy losses. Since he had surrendered, he had to put himself in the shoes of the officers and soldiers. The only thing he could do at the moment was
The purpose is to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao. Although I don't know whether it will affect the war situation in Zhending Mansion, I will do my best to obey fate.
What does it mean to besiege Wei and rescue Zhao? Lu Xing didn't realize it for a moment. Li Yan raised his hand and pointed to Jinzhou City in the distance: "That's Wei."
The main force in the rear was still thirty miles away. Even if he marched in a hurry, he knew that the exhausted troops would be difficult to use, so Li Yan decided to use the Jinwu Guard as the tip of his sword to knock down the elite intruders. (To be continued)