"Wang Lian." Liu Xiu looked at Wang Lian and asked, "I heard that you haven't eaten or drank in the past two days?"
Wang Lian glared at Liu Xiu angrily, gritted his teeth and said: "Rebels, stop talking nonsense, kill them if you want, and give me a good time!"
Liu Xiu said slowly: "It seems that you will not surrender to our army."
"Humph!" Wang Lian sneered, not even bothering to reply to Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu nodded and said, "I won't kill you."
When Wang Lian heard this, he looked at Liu Xiu in surprise, with a look of disbelief on his face.
Liu Xiu said: "I will let you go back, but before you die, you need to convey a message to Wang Yi for me. Wang Mang's wickedness has caused chaos in the world. Now all the heroes are united, all determined to fight against Mang and recover."
Han Dynasty, if Wang Yi still remains loyal to the usurper and traitor, he will die in the end, and he will die together with Wang Mang!"
Wang Lian was confused. Didn't he want to let him go? Why did someone appear before his death again? He sneered twice and said loudly: "Liu Xiu, kill him if you want, don't tease me!"
Liu Xiu smiled and asked: "What? Wang Lian, you don't think you can still survive after I let you go back, do you?"
Wang Lian stared at Liu Xiu without saying a word. Liu Xiu shrugged and said in a brisk tone: "This time, you and Song Yi led five thousand soldiers and horses to attack Yangguan. As a result, Song Yi died in the battle and the five thousand horse soldiers
, the whole army was wiped out, and you were the only one left to escape. Do you think, with Wang Yi’s temperament, he can still keep you?"
After hearing this, Wang Lian's body trembled violently. He turned from staring at Liu Xiu to staring at him blankly. After a while, he slowly lowered his head, his expression changing.
Liu Xiu continued: "As the saying goes, if you win the first battle, you will win the battle. If you lose the first battle, you will lose the battle. You and Song Yi used five thousand against one thousand, and they were killed and the whole army was wiped out. Come to think of it, Wang Yi hates you now.
People have been itching with hatred for a long time. Fortunately, Song Yi died in battle and can still leave a good reputation. And you, Wang Lian, will there be any other end besides being punished and executed?"
Wang Lian's body was shaken again, and beads of sweat flowed down his cheeks. Although he was not Wang Yi's subordinate, he also knew a lot about Wang Yi.
Wang Yi relied on the fact that he was Wang Mang's nephew. He was perverse, cruel, vicious, rebellious and arrogant.
Just as Liu Xiu said, he suffered such a big defeat this time and lost Wang Yi's face. After returning, he will definitely not have any good fruits to eat.
If it doesn't work well, the beheadings will be light, beheaded in the waist, or quartered by five horses. Wang Lian, who was still holding his neck just now, is like a deflated rubber ball, with his head drooping and his shoulders slumped.
Liu Xiu smiled, waved his hand and said: "Now, you can go and go back to Wang Yi. I still have the same request. Remember to convey my advice to Wang Yi before you die."
Wang Lian's body was shaking violently. After thinking about it, he shook his head secretly. If he went back now, he would really be dead.
If the Grand Master is in the army, he might be able to say something nice to him, but if the Grand Master is not in the army, who else will speak for him?
He swallowed, looked up at Liu Xiu, and after a long while, he asked in a low voice: "If...if I am willing to surrender to the Han army, would General Liu be willing to take me under my wing?"
Liu Xiu was stunned for a moment and asked curiously: "Design yourself to the Han army? Wang Lian, aren't you planning to return to Mang camp?"
Wang Lian lowered his head, raised his heart, kowtowed forward, and said: "I am willing to join the Han army, and I hope General Liu can ignore his past grievances and take me under his wing!"
Liu Xiu stood up happily and walked past Wang Lian. At the same time, he drew out his sword and lowered it, Sha and Chixiao swords to cut off the ropes tied to Wang Lian's body.
He sheathed his sword, stretched out his hand to pull Wang Lian up from the ground, and said sternly: "General Wang is willing to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side. Of course, our Han army welcomes it to the fullest. However, during this period, we still need to wrong General Wang and continue to be our army's prisoner.
"
"This..." Wang Lian was confused. He was willing to surrender, and Liu Xiu was also willing to accept him, so why did he continue to be a prisoner?
Liu Xiu said softly: "If General Wang does not stay in our army as a prisoner, how can his wife, children, and children at home still be alive?"
As soon as he said these words, Wang Lian's expression suddenly changed. Yes, if the court knew that he had surrendered to the Han army, his whole family, young and old, would not be able to escape, and they would all be killed.
What he didn't expect, Liu Xiu actually thought of it for him. Realizing this, Wang Lian couldn't help but feel warm in his heart.
If his surrender just now was out of desperation and helplessness, then now he is a little more sincere.
He knelt down again and kowtowed forward. His voice was trembling and he choked with sobs and said: "General Liu is so kind and benevolent. The public ceremony is unforgettable!"
Liu Xiu personally helped Wang Lian up again.
Wang Lian is a veteran who has been on the battlefield for a long time and is quite capable. However, the most crucial point for Liu Xiu to conquer him is that he needs to understand the internal situation of the Mang Army.
Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. At present, the information he has only knows that Wang Yi is the chief general, Wang Xun is the deputy general, and the strength of the Mang army is 430,000. As for the rest, he knows nothing about it.
Knowing so little about the enemy, I am afraid that I will suffer a big loss when facing the enemy in the future. The defeat of Xiao Chang'an taught Liu Xiu the most profound and bloody lesson in his life.
It would be different if Wang Lian was brought back. In the Mang army, Wang Lian was one of the important generals. It is not an exaggeration to describe him as knowing the situation of the Mang army like the back of his hand.
Later, with Wang Lian's detailed explanation, Liu Xiu also had a better understanding of Mang Jun.
At present, the Mang army has a large number of troops, indeed 430,000 strong. It has all kinds of materials, food and grass. It can be said that it needs soldiers, money and food. The only thing it lacks is low morale.
Among the 430,000 troops, there were only 100,000 capital troops. The rest of the troops were basically cobbled together from various state and county capitals.
These government troops and county troops left their hometowns and traveled long distances to Yingchuan and Nanyang to fight. In their hearts, they were unwilling.
Moreover, the capital army does not look down on these local armies. On weekdays, the food and clothing of the capital army are the best, and the local army cannot compare with them. On weekdays, in the military camp, the local army can only say that they will not go hungry.
People don't worry about numbers, they only worry about inequality. The local army was originally unwilling to go to such a distant place to fight. After coming, they were treated differently and were annoyed by the capital army. It's no wonder that their morale was high.
Others may not think much of what Wang Lian said, but Liu Xiu keenly sensed the fighting potential in it. The force was small, but internally combined, it was like a fist when held, and it hurt no matter who he hit.
There are many troops but internal incompatibility. On the surface, it looks very scary, but as long as it falls into a passive position, it will show the tendency of collapse.
Through Wang Lian's narration, Liu Xiu suddenly had a bold idea in his mind. In the Battle of Yingchuan, his side was not absolutely incapable of fighting! It was not that there was absolutely no hope of victory! Twenty thousand people against 430,000 people did not necessarily lose!
Of course, this was just his inner thought. If he said it out loud, everyone who listened would probably be stunned.
Not long ago, the front troops of the Mang army arrived outside Yangguan City. The strength of this Mang army was about 20,000. After arriving at Yangguan, they did not rush to attack the city like Song Yi and Wang Lian, but instead attacked the city.
Set up camp outside and settle down.
For two days in a row, everything was calm and calm. It seemed that this reckless army had come all the way to camp outside Yangguan City and had no intention of attacking Yangguan on a large scale.
Two days later, the main force of the former Mang army arrived outside Yangguan City. This Mang army was unprecedented in scale, with more than 100,000 people. Looking at the flags in the army, there were both the banners of the Xin Mang court and the king's
The banner of the city.
Wang Lian, who was in the city gate tower, couldn't help being shocked when he saw Wang Yi's banner, and said in amazement: "Wang Yi actually came to the front army in person to command the battle!"
Wang Yi is the commander-in-chief of the entire army and should be in charge of the central army. Now he suddenly came to the front army. This can only show that Wang Yi was extremely dissatisfied with the Battle of Yangguan and came to the front army to supervise the battle in person.
Realizing this, Wang Lian was secretly glad and secretly swallowed his saliva. Fortunately, he did not insist on going back and instead defected to the Han army. Otherwise, even if he had ten more heads, they would not be enough to kill Wang Yi in anger.
of.
With the more than 100,000 front troops and the 20,000 front troops, the total strength has reached 150,000.
What is the concept of 150,000 people? Standing at the top of Yangguan City and looking out, even if you raise your feet, stretch your neck, and look to the farthest point, you can't see the end of this army.
They are all people, densely packed and boundless, with flags fluttering and embroidered ribbons fluttering, as if a carpet of human flesh has been laid outside Yangguan City.
At this time, Liu Xiu had received a letter from Wang Feng asking him to withdraw his troops, and he had indeed begun to withdraw his troops. The materials, grain, horses, wounded soldiers, etc. in Yangguan City had already been evacuated to Xiangcheng.
Make a transit in Xiangcheng and then retreat towards Kunyang.
Currently, there are only 500 elite cavalry left in Yangguan City.
Wang Yi, who was in the front army, was sitting in a tall carriage. He first looked at his magnificent lineup, and then looked at the lonely Yangguan opposite. He raised the corners of his mouth, chuckled, and asked his left and right: "
How long will it take for our soldiers to capture Yangguan?"
The reckless generals around the carriage stepped in and said, "An hour is enough to report back to the general!"
"Looking at the end, we can break through Yangguan in half an hour!"
"General, I would like to take the lead in the battle!" Wang Yi had many generals under his command, and all of them were very high-spirited and asked for help one after another to fight.
A large part of these generals were from civilians. They came in response to Wang Mang's recruitment order. In order to deal with the Han army in Nanyang, Wang Mang not only assembled an army of more than 400,000, but also issued a recruitment order. Regardless of his origin, as long as he
Those who are proficient in the art of war are all recruited into the army. As a result, Wang Yi has a large number of generals with civilian origins under his command. These people have no military merit and may be eliminated at any time. Of course, they are eager to perform.
Seeing that all the generals under his command were asking for help, Wang Yi was very satisfied. He nodded, opened his mouth, and was about to speak. At this time, a reckless soldier ran over quickly, came to the carriage, and intervened in Wang Yi's carriage.
He saluted and said: "Report to the general that there is a Han army leaving the city from Yangguan and heading straight for our army!"
Wang Yi and everyone around him wondered if their ears had heard it wrong. The Han army did not defend the city, but instead took the initiative to go out of the city to ask for a fight? Could it be that the Han army had water in its head?