Liu Xiu grabbed a soldier by the collar and said loudly: "If we all die here, who will spread the news? General Lian's news is wrong. The Green Forest Army has more than a hundred people and more than a thousand people. If General Lian can't
If you know this, you will suffer big losses again in the future!"
The soldiers all understand this truth, but the problem is that they can't run away at all. How can they possibly get rid of the cavalry with their two fleshy legs?
Liu Xiu glanced around at the crowd and shouted loudly: "Follow me to the rebel army to cut off the rear, and cover the brothers in the capital army to return to the county and report the news!"
"Yes!" Gai Yan, Long Yuan and others agreed unanimously.
Those dozen soldiers couldn't believe their ears. If Liu Xiu and others wanted to stay behind and cover their escape, it would be equivalent to leaving the way of survival to themselves, and they themselves chose the path of death!
More than a dozen soldiers were all moved and said in a trembling voice: "Liu Xiu!"
Liu Xiu pushed the soldier closest to him and said, "Quickly leave! If we don't leave, none of us will be able to leave!"
With tears in their eyes, more than a dozen soldiers said one after another: "Liu Xiu, you must come out alive, I will wait for you in the county town!" After saying this, the dozen soldiers fled towards the county town.
After they ran a few dozen meters away, they heard the sounds of fierce fighting coming from behind, with people shouting and horses neighing, and the sound of iron weapons clashing.
People subconsciously looked back, but unfortunately, they could not see anything in the night. They could only hear the sound of fighting changing from weak to strong, then from strong to weak, and gradually, there was no sound at all.
They didn't dare to stop, let alone turn around and go back to check. They threw away their armor one by one and ran forward with all their strength.
Although it was unloyal to escape like this, they kept comforting themselves in their hearts. They were not greedy for life and afraid of death. Their lives were bought by the rebel brothers. They could not let Liu Xiu and other rebel brothers sacrifice their lives in vain. They must be saved.
Return to the county town alive and report the truth about the battle in Zhushan County to General Lian.
They couldn't see the 'battle' behind them, but Liu Xiu could clearly see their fleeing figures.
While he and Li Tongjian were banging their swords, making bursts of iron clashing sounds, he raised the corners of his lips and said, "Lian Dan's subordinates are all just like Lian Dan, they are all selfish people!"
Such an army, no matter how strong its combat effectiveness is, will not last long.
Deliberately letting a group of capital cavalry run away was also Liu Xiu's idea.
If Zhang Ting led a thousand cavalry and were wiped out without a trace in Zhushan County, Lian Dan would definitely think that the matter was related to the rebels. If Lian Dan pursued it, with his cruel temperament, his eldest brother and himself would be
No one's family, or even the families of other rebels, will be fine.
Let the dozen or so cavalrymen of the capital escape, and if they go back to report the news, they can at least let Lian Dan know that during the battle, the rebels stood on the side of the capital army and fought side by side. In this way, the residence of the rebels' families will be safe.
.
As for whether hundreds of volunteer soldiers are dead or alive, Lian Dan is not very willing to delve into it.
After letting go of the dozen or so capital troops, Liu Xiu and others returned to the city and launched a final siege against the remaining capital troops in the city.
In this battle, except for the dozen or so capital troops who were deliberately let go by Liu Xiu and others, Zhang Ting and his thousand soldiers, no one survived, and they were all killed.
Similarly, the Rebel Army and the Green Forest Army also suffered a lot of casualties, but compared with the Capital Army, their casualties of just over a hundred people were nothing.
After the battle was over, everyone was busy cleaning up the battlefield, collecting weapons, armor, baggage, and of course, the most important war horses.
This battle has two most significant significances for Liu Yan, Liu Xiu and others. The first is that a thousand war horses were captured. This is a huge war wealth. At a critical moment, it can play a vital role. around.
Another point is that they have gained a reputation. Being able to annihilate a thousand cavalry under Lian Dan's command is such a brilliant record. With this record, they can attract more people to join them.
While the brothers below were cleaning the battlefield and collecting supplies, Liu Yan, Liu Xiu, Feng Yi, Ma Wu, Yao Qi, Gai Yan and others were not idle either. They gathered together to discuss how they should proceed next.
According to Liu Yan's wishes, they rose up in Zhushan, raised the banner of "overthrowing the tyranny of the traitors and restoring the Han Dynasty", recruited local people in Yizhou, and laid their own foundation in Yizhou.
Both Ma Wu and Gai Yan agreed, believing that their side had just won such a big victory and it was a good time to start an uprising. Yao Qi did not express his position, while Feng Yi shook his head and expressed his disapproval of Liu Yan's proposition.
He said sternly: "The victory in this battle was really a fluke. If we had not used a plan in advance to get Zhang Ting's troops drunk, and if there were no rebels to provide support within the county, could we really have defeated Zhang Ting's thousand cavalry?"
Everyone looked at each other and lowered their heads in unison. Liu Yan opened his mouth, and finally swallowed back the words that came to his lips. Feng Yi was right. If it were a head-on confrontation, it would be impossible for these hundreds of them to fight in any way. Zhang Tingyi's opponent.
Feng Yi continued: "If we start an uprising in Zhushan now, we will attract not only the 9,000 cavalry from the county, but also the 90,000 capital troops fighting in the southwest of Yizhou. The general thinks, how many people should we recruit to be able to Can he defeat the capital army of 100,000 people?"
Liu Yan named his subordinates Zhutiandubu, and he himself called himself General Zhutian, so Feng Yi addressed him as a general.
After hearing Feng Yi's words, Liu Yan frowned and remained silent. After a long time, he asked: "Gongsun, what do you think we should do now?"
Feng Yi thought for a while and said: "The troops are divided into two groups."
"Why are the troops divided into two groups?"
Feng Yi said sternly: "General's way, Zizhang, Cikuang's way. For general's way, you can go back to your hometown in Nanyang first, recruit troops, accumulate strength, and wait for the opportunity; for Zizhang, Cikuang's way, you can stay in Yizhou. Still under the banner of the Green Forest Army, we are recruiting and training troops. When the time is right, the two groups will join forces and it will be a big deal!"
Liu Yan fell into deep thought, silently wondering if Feng Yi's attention was feasible.
Liu Xiu then said: "Brother, I think what Brother Gongsun said is reasonable. The risk of starting an uprising in Yizhou now is too great and it is difficult to succeed. It is better to go back to our hometown in Nanyang and wait for the most favorable opportunity for us!"
Liu Yan looked at Liu Xiu, then at Feng Yi, and finally he looked at Ma Wu and Yao Qi and asked: "Zizhang, secondly, what do you two mean?"
If they quietly evacuated and returned to Nanyang, leaving Ma Wu and Yao Qi in Yizhou, it would be equivalent to putting all the risks on them, and Liu Yan would feel very sorry.
Ma Wu and Yao Qi looked at each other and smiled. The former said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, general. Even if my subordinates and Ci Kuang cannot defeat Lian Dan's troops, they will still have no problem running away. Besides, we now have these thousand war horses. Starting a battle with Lian Dan's troops will be even more powerful!"
Yao Qi also nodded repeatedly, indicating that Ma Wu was right.
However, Liu Yan was still very sorry and felt that he would be unjust if he left Ma Wu and Yao Qi in Yizhou. Before he could speak, Feng Yi said meaningfully: "The Lian Dan Division will not be too unreasonable in Yizhou." long."
"Oh? Why did Gongsun say this?" Liu Yan looked at Feng Yi in confusion.
Feng Yi said: "First, the defeat of the Xie tribe is equivalent to defeating a backbone of the Southern Barbarian Army. There is not much suspense about the next war. If the Southern Barbarian Army continues to fight in Yizhou, If we go on, we are completely committing suicide. I have thought that before long, the Southern Barbarian Army will definitely choose to withdraw its troops, and the war in Yizhou will come to an end. Secondly, the Red Eyebrow Army in the north is becoming more and more powerful, and has directly threatened Luoyang. , if Luoyang is lost, Chang'an will be next. It is urgent to exterminate Chi Mei, and now in Wang Mang's court, who is the best at fighting?"
Liu Yan's heart moved and he said, "Lian Dan?"
Liu Xiu answered: "Wang Kuang is also good at fighting!"
Feng Yi smiled and said: "Wang Mang will not send Wang Kuang, the sixth prince, to fight unless he has to. The general he is most likely to send out is Lian Dan! So, in my opinion, Lian Dan's troops are Yizhou will not stay long. As long as Zizhang and Cikuang can avoid being caught by Lian Dan's troops during this period, the situation will be safe."
Ma Wu and Yao Qi nodded while listening. When Feng Yi finished speaking, they bowed and saluted, and said in unison: "Thank you, Brother Gongsun, for reminding me!"
Feng Yi's words also made Liu Yan feel relieved. He said excitedly: "As long as Lian Dan's troops evacuate Yizhou, our opportunity to become bigger will come!"
After discussing the next strategy, everyone felt a lot more relaxed. Next, Liu Yan organized his people to pile up the corpses of the capital army in a dozen thatched huts, poured kerosene on them, added dry firewood, and set a fire. Burn it to ashes to achieve the purpose of destroying the corpse and eradicating traces.
At dawn the next day, according to Feng Yi's idea, Liu Yan, Liu Xiu and others divided their troops into two groups.
Ma Wu and Yao Qi took all the rebels and Green Forest Army, as well as war horses and baggage, and moved south to avoid the upcoming revenge of Lian Dan's troops.
Liu Yan, Liu Xiu, Feng Yi, Gai Yan and others headed northeast and went straight to their hometown in Nanyang County.
In modern times, even if we are thousands of miles apart, we only need to make a phone call to reach them. At that time, message transmission relied entirely on manual labor and was slow. Coupled with the chaos of war, it was even more difficult to transmit messages.
Liu Yan, Liu Xiu and others quietly returned to Nanyang. The news really could not reach Lian Dan, unless Lian Dan sent someone to Nanyang to investigate. But now Lian Dan has no intention to care about Liu Yan and Liu Yan. The life and death of Xiu and others?
Let’s talk about the county and city.
The dozen or so soldiers from the capital who were lucky enough to escape fled all night and finally returned to the county town at dawn.
When more than a dozen people ran to the city gate, they were already dead. They were lying on the ground so exhausted that they didn't even have the strength to speak.
The soldiers guarding the city gate hurriedly carried them into the city and filled each of them with a large bowl of water. Several of them finally recovered and were able to speak. They said in a trembling voice: "Send...send quickly." We are going to see the general, there is an urgent military situation..."
The soldiers did not dare to neglect and carried the dozen or so of them to the prefect's mansion, where Lian Dan temporarily settled.
When they were carried into the lobby of the prefect's mansion and saw Lian Dan, they all burst into tears and said with choked sobs: "General, we were attacked in Zhushan County and our entire army was wiped out..."
Lian Dan was confused when he heard this, his old face sank, and he yelled: "Tell me clearly, what's going on!"
"Last night, when we were stationed in Zhushan County, we were suddenly attacked by the Green Forest Army. Zhang... Master Zhang died in the battle, and brothers... brothers also died in the battle..." At this point, more than a dozen soldiers fell to the ground.
Cry loudly.
Lian Dan even wondered if his ears had heard it wrong. All Zhang Ting's troops were killed in the battle? How is this possible? Even if they were attacked by the Green Forest Army, they would not be killed and wiped out!
He narrowed his eyes, strode up to a soldier, grabbed his collar, dragged the soldier up from the ground, and asked in a solemn voice: "You said you were attacked by the Green Forest Army with more than a hundred people?"
A sneak attack that resulted in the annihilation of the entire army?"
The soldier turned pale, shook his head repeatedly, and stammered: "General...General, the Green Forest Army is not a hundred people at all, but thousands!"
None of them could see clearly how many enemies there were in the sneak attack on them last night. Anyway, during the battle, enemies were everywhere, as if the entire county had been occupied by the enemy.
"Thousands of people?" Lian Dan's eyebrows stood up. Where did thousands of green forest troops appear from? How could there be such a large number of green forest troops in Yizhou?
"You are so bold, how dare you lie about the military situation?!" As he spoke, Lian Dan reached back and pulled out the sword from his ribs.
The soldier almost fainted from fright. His body became weak and he said in a trembling voice: "General, what the villain said is true. If the general doesn't believe it, you can ask them!"
The other dozen soldiers nodded again and again and said in a hurry: "General, I swear to God, there were indeed thousands of Green Forest Army soldiers who entered the city to attack last night. The entire county was full of Green Forest Army soldiers...
"
Lian Dan frowned and slowly loosened the soldier's collar. How could there be so many Green Forest Army hiding in Zhushan County? The assassin explained that there were only a hundred people in the Zhushan Green Forest Army!
He closed his eyes, thought for a while, suddenly remembered something, and asked urgently: "Where are the rebels? Where were the rebels when they were attacked by the Green Forest Army?"
"The rebels...the rebels also fought to the death with the enemy, but...however, the enemy was outnumbered and we were outnumbered. In the end, all the brothers in the rebel army...all died in the battle..." At this point, more than a dozen soldiers started to cry again.
Got up.
"Did you see it with your own eyes?"
"The villain saw it with his own eyes!"
Lian Dan closed his eyes again. If the rebels were not causing trouble, then the assassin must be lying. He asked casually: "Even Zhang Ting died in the battle, why did you come back alive!"
Just as one soldier was about to speak, another soldier said first: "General, we were originally surrounded by enemy troops, but it was our brothers who fought desperately to kill the enemy and managed to escape from the encirclement by luck!"
He deliberately did not mention that Liu Xiu and others helped them break out of the encirclement. It seems that Liu Xiu and others had already died at the hands of the Green Forest Army. Instead of letting the dead share the credit, it would be better to leave all the credit to the living!
Lian Dan glanced at them, chuckled, and said: "Since you are so brave, why don't you kill all the Green Forest Army in Zhushan County, instead of escaping back to the county like a bereaved dog?"
"General, I'm waiting to come back to report..."
"Your comrades have all died on the battlefield, and how can you survive and survive? It is an unforgivable crime to run away from the battlefield! Someone comes, drag them all out, behead them in public, and set an example to others!"
Following Lian Dan's order, a group of soldiers rushed in from outside, picked up everyone, and dragged them out.
"General, it's unfair! General, the villain is unfairly accused! The villain didn't run away from the battle, just to come back and report to the general..."
The furious Lian Dan couldn't listen to the soldiers' pleas for mercy. He shouted in a deep voice: "Come here!"
"General!"
"The captured assassin will be executed in Lingchi!"
"As you command!"
"Someone is coming!"
"General!"
"Assemble all the soldiers and horses in the city, follow my commander in person to conquer Zhushan County, kill all the Green Forest rebels, and avenge the brothers who died in the battle!"
"As you command!"
In the morning of that day, Lian Dan personally led nine thousand cavalry and attacked Zhushan County in a mighty manner.
When they arrived at Zhushan County, where was the Green Forest Army anywhere? The huge county town was burning with raging fires, making it impossible to enter.
Lian Dan was so angry that he flew into a rage and ordered all his troops to search the Green Forest Army everywhere. Unfortunately, at this time, Ma Wu and Yao Qi had already led their troops out of Zhushan County and entered the Daba Mountain area.
Daba Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles. In this large mountain range, let alone hundreds of people, even tens of thousands of people will not be able to find it.
Which Green Forest Army of Zhang Ting's troops, totaling a thousand soldiers and horses, was completely wiped out? This became an unsolved case in Wang Mang's court. It was not clear at all, and eventually it became a confusing account.
Feng Yi's guess about the Xinmang court was half correct.
Wang Mang indeed regarded the Red Eyebrow Army as a serious threat, but in Feng Yi's view, Wang Mang did not go so far as to send his favorite sixth prince, Wang Kuang, out. In fact, Wang Mang actually sent Wang Kuang to fight.
Unfortunately, Wang Kuang was defeated, and Wang Mang had no choice but to recall the Lian Dan Division stationed in Yizhou and ask the Lian Dan Division to cooperate with the defeated Wang Kuang in the campaign against the Red Eyebrow Army.
No matter what, Feng Yi's guess was correct. Lian Dan's troops finally withdrew from Yizhou and headed north to attack the Red Eyebrow Army.
The withdrawal of the Lian Dan Division gave Ma Wu and Yao Qi a rare opportunity to expand.
Under the banner of the Green Forest Army, the two men ran around in Yizhou, recruiting displaced people, and the size of the team became larger and larger.
In just a few months, they have grown from a small team of several hundred people to a large team of 3,000 people. The most important point is that they also have a team of
There are thousands of cavalry troops, and the equipment of this cavalry team is exactly the same as that of the capital cavalry. They were personally trained by Ma Wu and Yao Qi, and their combat effectiveness can be said to be extremely strong.
The teams of Ma Wu and Yao Qi also laid the foundation of Liu Xiu's power to a large extent, and made great contributions to Liu Xiu's future campaigns in the north and south.
In the future, Liu Xiu would trust Ma Wu and Yao Qi so much, and this sense of trust was established at this time.
