Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 98 Big Fish
On May 29 of the second year of Zhonghe, the imperial court joined Zhuge Shuang and Zhongshumen to make peace and inspect Situ, ordering him to go south as soon as possible to fight against the nest thieves.

Zhuge Shuang really led his army south, but stopped when he reached Sanyuan.Li Xiaochang of Kunfang was obviously the commander of the camp in the northeast, but he had to come to the north and follow the commander Zhuge, but he was quickly driven to the south to camp in Yueyang County.The Tielin army also went south to camp in Gaoling County, less than twenty miles away from the Kunfang army.

Meng Kai's army of [-] people was stationed in various places in the two counties, the main force being located in Gaoling County, about [-] people.After Shao Shude set up his camp and inquired about the surrounding military situation, he invited him to fight all day long.

Fighting in the tough village has given him a resounding reputation, so why not continue to carry it forward?My soldiers are all veterans, they are rewarded on time, they are well fed and clothed, they exercise every three days, they train frequently, and they have won several consecutive victories.

On the third day of June, Meng Kai sent 3000 people to fight, and Shao Shude sent more than [-] cavalry to fight. The Chao army was disadvantaged in the field and retreated to Gaoling.Afterwards, they simply stopped dispatching, nestled in the city, and thought of other ways.

The thousand cavalry of Li Xiaochang in Kunfang was borrowed again.Zhu Shuzong and Zhe Siyu took the two thousand cavalry to travel around Gaoling, Jingyang, Liyang and other places all day long, expelling scouts, killing messengers, and intercepting food routes.

This exposed a very fatal problem of the nest army, that is, the cavalry was too poor.Chao Zhong penetrated all the way from Guangzhou to Chang'an, and he had never encountered the towns of Hebei and Hedong, where there were many cavalrymen.Although there are some cavalry in Henan, the army of Fanzhen basically allows you to cross the border. The Chao army has never been beaten by a large-scale field cavalry group along the way.

The cavalry in their hands were all trained by the infantry after grabbing the horses. Compared with the professional cavalry, the gap was very obvious.Later, after witnessing the tragic killing of Huang Chao's infantry by Li Ke's cavalry, the first thing he did after arriving in Xuanwu Town was to set up a professional cavalry unit.

Meng Kai's army of [-] also had more than [-] cavalry, but Zhu Shuzong and Zhe Siyu had less than [-] cavalry.Losing the protection of the cavalry brigade, the scouts and messengers of the nest army fell into blood and mold. They were rounded up by people, and there were many casualties. Some important letters were even intercepted by the Tielin army and sent to Shao Shude's desk.

"Zhu Wen's letter for help was actually stopped by Meng Kai, and Shang Rang didn't give him a chance. Huang Chao sat in the palace all day, how could he know Tonghua's predicament? How old are these two people? Hate!" Shao Shude threw the intercepted letter to Chen Cheng, and said with a smile, "Zhu Wen won't last long, he will surrender!"

"After staying, why don't you hand over these letters to Wang Chongrong, let him know about Zhu Wen's situation, and take advantage of the situation to intensify his attack, Zhu Wen must be surrendered even if he does not surrender." Chen Cheng suggested.

"Is it possible for Zhu Wen to surrender to us?" Shao Shude asked.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult. Wang Chongrong is the commander of the eastern line of business, and Yang Fuguang has just been transferred from the south line to the commander of the eastern line of business, and his status is no worse than ours. Moreover, Hezhong is already rich, and Chongrong's brother Chongying is an observer of Shaanxi Province. As the envoy to the east, Wang Chongrong has another [-] troops, and he has repeatedly defeated Zhu Wen. If Zhu Wen surrenders to us, it will be no good, and secondly, it may anger Wang Chongrong. The most important thing is that they are close to Wang Chongrong." Chen Cheng shook his head and said: "It is Li Xiang is somewhat likely to drop us, but it is more likely to drop Wang Chongrong."

"Wang Chongrong is a sly battle. I didn't expect that he could make two great achievements in a row, sigh." Shao Shude thumped the case a few times and said, "Li Xiang's side fight for it as soon as possible. If he surrenders, immediately let him quietly go westward. , attacked Weiqiao Town, and cut Meng Kai's way back."

******
Autumn and July, Tongzhou.

Zhu Wen returned from the front line irritably again, and confidants such as Xie Tong, Zhu Zhen, and Hu Zhen rushed over immediately.

"Master." Everyone saluted.

"Don't be called a big commander. The soldiers are not full of ten thousand, and the five counties can't be ruled. It's not very interesting to be a commander." Zhu Wen sighed, and his interest was waning.

"General, Li Xiang sent an envoy over yesterday." Xie Tong, Hu and Zhu looked at each other and stood up and said.

"Oh?" Zhu Wen glanced at the three people in the house and knew what he meant, but he still said deliberately: "Again asking for food? No. He owns two counties in Huazhou, and a certain only has three counties. How can he have extra food? ?"

"General." Xie Tong whispered: "Li Zhenshi intends to invite the general to return to Tang together."

"Crash..." Zhu Wen stood up in shock, staring angrily at Xie Tong, Hu Zhen, and Zhu Zhen, and said, "Someone has received a great favor from King Huang, and he has to hold the King's Festival. It's just a small setback now, and he's about to turn his back. The king is gone, it's not right!"

"General." Xie Tong saw that although Zhu Wennu was angry, but his voice was not loud, he immediately had an idea in his mind, so he hit the rails while it was hot: "King Huang has 600,000 people, and he fought in the north and south, and conquered the two capitals. How brave is King Huang?" ?Where does the destiny belong? No. It should be worth the long-term security of the Tang Dynasty. People don’t practice warfare, so they just take advantage of it. He fought hard outside, but Meng Kai was a villain, and his special affairs were obstructed, so that the memorials were not made. Huang Wang was ruled by mediocrity, and he had no arbitrariness, and the omens of ruin are sure."

Zhu Wen sat gently on Hu's bed and remained silent.

"General, the Tude of the Tang Dynasty is not tired, the foreign soldiers are gathered four times, and the water transportation is waved." Xie Tong knelt down on the ground, and said in a trembling voice: "The general of the Guandong, day and night to benefit the Guanzhong, two thousand Xuzhou soldiers arrived yesterday, today three thousand Xuchang soldiers Tomorrow, 200,000 Heyang soldiers will arrive, and in a few months, there will be [-] Tang troops in Guanzhong. How can the King of Huang be able to defeat him? Only the general will check it out."

Zhu Wen fell into a long silence.Xie Tong glanced quietly and saw that although he was silent, his face was calm, not as if he was struggling and hesitating, so he secretly winked.

Hu Zhen understood it and stepped forward and said, "General, Meng Kai, the villain, hates the general's conferment of honors. The state of Qi is declining day by day, and the river is going down."

Zhu Wen remained silent.

Seeing this, Zhu Zhen also stepped forward and said, "General, what should we do about this matter, but if we make a decision in one word, we will all obey our orders."

Only then did Zhu Wen glance at everyone, and said, "Is it a general idea?"

"General, please make a decision early." The three said in unison.

"It's okay." Zhu Wen slapped Hu's bed hard and said, "Tonight, the guards will be entertained, and you will bury the soldiers in ambush and listen to a certain order."

"Yes." The three responded immediately.

"Also, there is no need to inform Li Xiang. This person is not in harmony with me, and he may not be willing to surrender to Wang Chongrong. Let him go." Zhu Wen said: "Yang Fuguang's side, we have to take care of it."

******
On July [-], a piece of news shocked the entire Guanzhong.

The puppet Qi Tonghua Jieddu envoy Zhu Wen led an army of [-] people to surrender to the east, the capital of the camp, King Chongrong, and recognized him as his uncle.Wang Chongrong and Yang Fuguang were overjoyed when they heard the news, and they sent envoys to Xingzao on the same day to announce the good news to the saint.

Shao Shude was a little regretful when he found out.Linghu Jing once sent an envoy to persuade Zhu Wen to surrender, and they secretly entertained the envoy and sent him back in secret. Obviously, he had no intention of surrendering to the camp in the north.

Forget it, the twisted melon is not sweet.Now that Zhu Wen has subordinated Wang Chongrong, it is time for Li Xiang to work harder.

On July [-], Shao Shude ordered Zhou Rong to lead the Zuoxiang Ya army south to Pan County.Six thousand Xia Suijing troops were stationed in Weibei, and Zhu Wen was in trouble. Li Xiangying felt the pressure and made a decision early.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, more than [-] troops from Tielin and Kunfang marched south together, inviting Meng Kai to fight, but Kai but defended the city and should not.

"Judge Chen, you still have to go to Xiagui." Inside the camp, Shao Shude said solemnly.

"Is it because of Li Xiang's business?" Chen Cheng asked.

"Of course!" Shao Shude looked at Chen Cheng and said, "Meng Kai's 6000 troops are stationed in Gaoling and Jingyang. This is a big fish, and I don't want to release it. This summer, Sui and Fufang have more than [-] troops. Marshal Zhuge will also come, our army has a total strength of [-] people, can't we keep Meng Kai's [-] troops?"

"After you stay, you will know." Chen Cheng took a deep breath and said, "If you want to send an envoy to Huazhou, Li Xiang should come to vote."

"Confused!" Shao Shude reprimanded: "You are a confidant of a certain, so how can you go to a dangerous place lightly. A certain letting you go to Xiagui is to grant the right to make an ad hoc decision, and make it happen quickly."

Chen Cheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "I know, I will leave now."

Shao Shude nodded and said, "Go quickly, the sooner the better. Find a lobbyist who can speak well. If this happens, he will keep his position as Sima of a state."

Chen Cheng was startled, his current official was just Sima of Suizhou.However, he quickly thought that after staying, he has already held the power of a town, and these old people will be promoted in the future, sooner or later.

After Chen Cheng left, Shao Shude immediately went to see Li Xiaochang and said, "Li Dutong, Zhu Wen has fallen, and the thieves are on the decline. Meng Kai has led [-] troops to settle in Jingyang and Gaoling. Credit? Dutong has ten thousand people under his command, so he might as well attack his fortress, without too much effort, just entangle the bandit army and prevent him from crossing the Henan to return."

Li Xiaochang also knew that it was time to make meritorious deeds, so he said, "Where to attack?"

"Divided an army and went to Jingyang to monitor the bandit army. As soon as they crossed the river, they attacked." Shao Shude said: "If the bandit wants to go back, he must not have the will to fight, and he will win a big victory."

"Okay, I will send orders here." Li Xiaochang said enthusiastically.

(End of this chapter)