Li Qing did not say that he was greedy for life and afraid of death, but said that he was afraid of harming the people in the city. These words struck Yan Yu's heart. He nodded repeatedly and said: "As the magistrate and county captain of Xiliang County, you and I cannot
No matter whether the people in the city live or die!"
"Exactly!" Li Qingda nodded.
Yan Yu no longer hesitated and shouted loudly to Liu Zhi outside the city: "Brother Bo, if your subordinate surrenders, will the Great Sima really let it go? Will he really not harm the people in the city?"
Liu Zhi's face straightened and he replied loudly: "Zhi guarantees it with his head!"
As if he had gone through a fierce inner struggle, Yan Yu stamped his feet and said: "I trust Brother Bo's character and am willing to surrender to Da Sima!" As he spoke, he sent orders to the left and right: "Open the city gate.
!”
Following Yan Yu's order, a creaking sound was heard from the city gate. First, the suspension bridge was slowly lowered. Then, the city gate opened, and Xiliang County officials headed by Yan Yu walked out of the city one after another.
come out.
Seeing this, Liu Zhi was not surprised at all. Yan Yu and Li Qing were both greedy for life and afraid of death. At this time, he saw more than two thousand troops of his own approaching the city, plus the main army commanded by the Lord behind them.
With the character of these two people, they would never hold on to the city.
Facts have proved that Liu Zhi's speculation was correct. Yan Yu and Li Qing knew that Liu Xiu had come to Xiliang in person, and they were so frightened that they did not even resist, and directly surrendered.
Liu Zhi's troops captured Xiliang City without any blood, and the news soon spread back to Liu Xiu.
Hearing the battle report from the front, Liu Xiu smiled and said to his left and right: "It seems that I made the right choice in letting Bo Xian lead the army to attack Xiliang. We didn't lose a single soldier, and it went smoothly without any effort."
We captured Xiliang City!"
Everyone around them raised their hands on their horses and said, "My lord is wise!"
Kou Xun asked: "My lord, when we get to Xiliang later, do we want to enter the city?"
Liu Xiu thought for a moment, shook his head, and said: "Once we enter the city, I'm afraid we won't be able to leave today. The top priority is that our army must rush to Xindu City as soon as possible to relieve Xindu City's urgent needs!"
As he spoke, he looked at Yao Qi and asked, "Secondly, is there any news from Xindu City?"
Yao Qi said: "The scouting report just came back and it turns out that Chen Yizheng is commanding more than ten thousand people to storm Xindu City!"
Liu Xiu frowned and said, "Didn't the five counties send six thousand troops? Why did it become more than ten thousand?"
Yao Qi said: "I heard that part of the Fifth Academy Army has also joined in!"
"The Fifth Academy Army!" Liu Xiu asked with a frown: "When did the Fifth Academy Army collude with Wang Lang?"
The Fifth Academy Army is one of the rebel armies in Hebei. It is quite powerful and has a large number of people. It is said that there are more than 100,000 people.
Yao Qi said: "The spies did not find out the exact information. They just heard that Wang Lang intended to recruit the Fifth Academy Army and promised the Fifth Academy Army that as long as they were willing to submit to him, the leader of the Fifth Academy Army would be granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister!
"
Liu Xiu squinted her eyes, lowered her head, and was silent in thought.
Wang Lang's Handan court had little contact with the local rebels in Hebei. Although Wang Lang extended olive branches to various rebels, none of them responded. Liu Xiu could somewhat understand what the rebels were thinking.
The idea is, firstly, that they are unwilling to obey orders and be subordinate to others. Secondly, the rebel army is also waiting and watching, wanting to see who can win in the end between the two coexisting courts of Liu Xuan and Wang Lang.
However, the army of the fifth school turned to Wang Lang. This move undoubtedly broke the current delicate balance. It is still uncertain whether it will trigger a series of chain reactions and make more rebels defect to Wang Lang.
Kou Xun took a breath and said solemnly: "My lord, the army of the fifth school has turned against Wang Lang, which is very detrimental to our side!"
Now there are more than 10,000 troops besieging Xindu City, including 6,000 county troops and more than 4,000 troops from the Fifth Academy Army. But who knows whether there will be follow-up reinforcements from the Fifth Academy Army?
Once our side arrives at Xindu City and encounters the follow-up reinforcements from the Fifth Academy Army, our situation will become critical. After all, we currently only have 7,000 soldiers.
Liu Xiu pondered for a moment and asked: "Secondly, are there other five-school armies near Xindu City?"
Yao Qi shook his head and said: "The spy has no reward in this regard, either there is none, or he didn't find out!"
Liu Xiu thought for a moment and made a decisive decision, saying: "The city of Xindu County must not be given to the prince. Send the order. The whole army must march at full speed. We must reach Xindu City within three days!"
On the West Liang City side, Yan Yu, who surrendered to the city, knew that Liu Xiuzheng was commanding an army and rushed over to the West Liang City side.
After seeing Liu Zhi outside the city, he simply did not return to the city. He asked someone to fetch a rope and give it to Liu Zhi to tie him up.
When Liu Zhi saw this, he immediately understood Yan Yu's intention. He was putting on a show of pleading guilty and wanted to wait for his lord to arrive outside Xiliang City. Liu Zhi didn't mind helping Yan Yu act out this scene.
He tied up Yan Yu with a rope, and the latter knelt down directly on the ground and kowtowed forward.
Not long after, Liu Xiujun's figure appeared in people's sight. Li Qing first exclaimed: "Here he comes, he comes!" As he spoke, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed forward.
However, what Yan Yu and Li Qing never expected was that the army led by Liu Xiu did not enter Xiliang City at all, but walked directly in front of the city and continued to march eastward.
Yan Yu, Li Qing and others who were kneeling on the ground waited for a long time but saw no one coming. They raised their heads cautiously and saw a large group of soldiers and horses passing by the city in a mighty manner.
He had a confused look on his face.
Before they could ask any questions, they saw a horse running over quickly. The knight on the horse, whom Liu Zhi knew, was Xu Ting, one of the lord's personal guards.
"Mr. Xu Ting!" Although Liu Zhi has been named a partial general, he does not dare to put on official airs in front of Xu Ting. People who can work beside the lord, regardless of their official position, are by no means ordinary people.
"General Liu!" Xu Ting turned over and dismounted, saluted Liu Zhi, and then asked: "Is that the order of Xiliang?"
Yan Yu's body trembled, and he hurriedly kowtowed forward, saying in a trembling voice: "I'm... I'm the official Yan Yu, kowtow to your lord!"
Xu Ting said loudly: "My lord has an order, and the Xiliang order has made great contributions to the city. Let's forget about past mistakes. Whether he can succeed the Xiliang order can be decided by General Liu!"
"General, I obey!" Liu Zhi hurriedly stepped in and saluted.
Yan Yu kowtowed forward repeatedly and said urgently: "Thank you, Sima, for not killing! I thank you, Sima, for not killing!"
Xu Ting did not stay any longer. After passing Liu Xiu's order, he nodded to Liu Zhi, then got on his horse and rode away.xdw8
After Xu Ting left, Yan Yu, Li Qing and others couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Liu Zhi stepped forward, helped them up from the ground, and asked with a smile: "Magistrate Yan, Lieutenant Li, Zhi Suo"
Are you telling the truth?"
Upon hearing this, Yan Yu and Li Qing knelt down in unison, kowtowed to Liu Zhi, and said, "If General Liu hadn't given me some advice today, I would have been dead! I'm deeply grateful for my life-saving grace!"
Liu Zhi helped them both up again, untied the ropes around them, and said, "Okay, let's go into the city and talk!"
Let us say that Liu Xiu and other soldiers marched all the way east, first passing by Xiliang, and then bypassing Changcheng and Fuliu. They traveled quickly and slept in the open air. Two days later, they approached Xindu City.
Before Liu Xiujun arrived near Xindu City, an army appeared in front. On the commander's flag of this army, there was written the word "Chen". Seeing this commander's flag, people knew what the army on the opposite side was like.
There are also people.
Kou Xun, who was next to Liu Xiu, looked at the army on the opposite side and said, "My lord, it seems that Chen Yi has transferred all the main forces attacking the city to block our army!"
Liu Xiu nodded and took a closer look at the army on the opposite side. The strength of this army should be no less than ten thousand. In the square formation in the center, the soldiers were all wearing black military uniforms and black leather armor, typical of Wang Mang's army.
.
You can guess without asking that the soldiers in the central phalanx are all soldiers from the five counties summoned by Chen Yi. The phalanxes on the left and right have slightly fewer people, are dressed disorganized, and have a variety of weapons. They must be reinforcements from the five schools.
Lang's army.
At this time, Chen Yi put up a rectangular formation. The rectangular formation is the most basic formation, with no extra tricks or changes. The entire army is arranged in a rectangular formation, which can be used to advance and attack, and to retreat and defend, but the attack is not strong.
The defense is not strong either, it seems to be a mediocre formation, but there are no obvious loopholes in the formation.
Seeing Chen Yi forming a rectangular formation to deal with his side, Liu Xiu raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "Chen Yi has no determination to win!"
With a superior force, he arranged such a rectangular formation, which indirectly showed Chen Yi's current mentality. I don't seek merit, but seek no fault!
If he loses in a head-to-head battle with a rectangular formation, no one will be able to find fault with him.
Hearing this, everyone else murmured in their hearts. If they were Chen Yi, commanding 10,000 soldiers and horses, and facing the lord's 7,000 soldiers and horses, they would probably form a rectangular formation to deal with it.
It's very simple, the lord's reputation is too great. In the battle of Kunyang, the lord defeated the Mang army with 3,000 and 400,000. No matter who had a head-on confrontation with the lord, their morale would not be too high and they would choose a conservative formation.
Liu Xiu looked around and said, "Wu Han, listen to the order!"
"The last general is here!" Wu Han urged his horse to come out and salute Liu Xiu on horseback. Liu Xiu said: "You lead the Yuyang cavalry, insert it from the enemy's left wing, and attack the central army directly!"
"I will obey your orders!"
"Geng listens to the order!"
"The end is here!"
"You lead the Shanggu cavalry, insert it from the enemy's right wing, and attack the center directly!"
"I will obey your orders!"
"Jia Fu!"
"The end is here!"
"You lead five hundred men to attack the enemy head-on with me, wait for the opportunity, and attack the central army directly!"
"I will obey your orders!"
At this time, the Benming army that Liu Xiu was talking about was the famous Benming army in the Han Dynasty. What is Benming? It means walking under orders and running after hearing orders, so it is called Benming.
The Ben Ming Army are all elite men, and they are all desperadoes. As long as there are orders from above, they will dare to rush in even if it is a mountain of swords and a sea of fire.
There were two major death squads in the Han Dynasty, one was the "Brave Warriors" and the other was the "Benming Army".
These two types of death squads are all used to charge into battle, so the casualty rate is naturally very high, but the treatment in the army is also very good.
For example, they can bring their female relatives with them in the army, and their military pay is much richer than that of ordinary soldiers. Before a war, they usually find a hiding place and bury their gold and silver.
Whether they are brave men or Benming troops, most of them are concentrated in the north to deal with the Huns. The five hundred Benming troops currently under Liu Xiu's command were recruited for him by Geng Kuang, the governor of Shanggu, and Peng Chong, the governor of Yuyang.
It can be said that Liu Xiu's achievements in Hebei were certainly contributed by his soldiers, but the contributions of Geng Kuang and Peng Chong were not inferior to those of the soldiers.
Although the two of them did not directly charge into the battle, they provided Liu Xiu with a steady stream of rear support, which provided huge logistical support for Liu Xiu who was fighting on the front line.
In war, it is not about whoever has the strongest force, who can be invincible and unify the country.
In the battle for the world, the competition is based on comprehensive strength, including time, location, people, military strength, people's support, morality, logistics, economy and a series of other factors.
