The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 966 Great Victory, Great Joy and Great Sadness
It was dusk, and the heavy rain that had been falling for several days finally stopped. The brilliant sunset glow appeared in the western sky, covering Ziyang City with a layer of golden yellow, which was the last time for this city to shine before the darkness came.Guard Han Liang stood on the top of the city and looked at the large number of refugees gathered below the city, feeling very heavy.

The current price of food is ridiculously high. Even a middle and high-ranking general in the Tang Dynasty like Han Liang feels very distressed when he eats a bite of food.Therefore, it is normal for these ordinary people who have no food to be refugees.

Han Liang didn't worry that these refugees could break through Ziyang City, but if this continues, Ziyang will be in chaos sooner or later!

After making the rounds, it was already dark. As soon as he returned to the mansion, a personal guard came to report: "General, those refugees have all retreated."

"Let's go? Let's go!" Han Liang heaved a long sigh of relief. He also came from the troubled times of Daye. People who can't survive are killing people, but he is also the defender of Ziyang City. If the refugees attack the city, he can't bear it anymore and will only focus on the city.

It's just that although there is nothing wrong for the time being, judging from the situation in Shuzhong, if Li Shimin doesn't solve the problem of food prices, even if the Sui army retreats, Shuzhong itself will be in chaos.Han Liang sighed, and ordered: "We are now the rear of General Hou and General Zhang. Maybe the Sui army will leave the front army and send surprise soldiers to attack us. Let the soldiers be more vigilant."

"Report to General," the soldiers were about to retreat, another soldier rushed in hastily outside the door, saluted and said: "There is a report from the defeated army, saying that the food brought from Shu County was killed by a group of refugees. Robbed!"

"What did you say?" Han Liang's face changed drastically, and he stood up suddenly and said, "Quick, bring that man to me!"

"Here!"

After a while, a miserable-looking soldier with tattered armor came in under the leadership of his own soldiers. When he saw Han Liang, he knelt down on the ground with a "plop" and wailed, "General Han, our food and grass have been destroyed by a group of people." The rebellious people have been robbed, so I beg the general to send troops to take back the food and grass."

"Tell me clearly, where exactly were you robbed?" Han Liang was anxious. This was the rations of the two armies. If they were hidden in the mountains by the refugees, the army in front of them would collapse without fighting.

"When we walked to the upper reaches of Zishui in Shu County, a large group of rioters suddenly rushed in and attacked us like crazy. My humble job is to take advantage of them to grab food and escape by feigning death." The rout soldier who couldn't see clearly said Said loudly.

"What a bunch of trash!" Han Liang snorted coldly, turned his head and told his guards: "Call together two thousand soldiers and horses immediately, and follow me out of the city to grab food."

Since the food grabbers were refugees, Han Liang naturally would not have thought that the other party would have any schemes, and according to what the rout soldier said, the other party was obviously a group of hungry and crazy refugees.The refugees outside the city retreated before, probably because they heard that someone had robbed the military rations, so they ran to get a share. Han Liang naturally would not pay attention to such unorganized and undisciplined opponents.

About half an hour later, the closed north city of Ziyang City suddenly opened, and 20 Tang soldiers, led by Han Liang, rushed to the upper reaches of Zishui. Not far from here is Yang'an County in Shu County. Han Liang rushed to the place in less than an hour.

It's just that they didn't see the so-called refugees, not even traces of fighting.

Han Liang looked around and couldn't help frowning. The terrain in front of him was rather dangerous, and he was easily attacked by night, but those refugees probably couldn't think of such a way, right?

Thinking of this, Han Liang, who puts the army rations at the top of his mind, let the army continue to move forward.

……

On the hill, the leader of Qin saw that the soldiers of the Tang army only stayed for a while, and then continued to move forward. He poked Du Zhenglun beside him, and asked very excitedly: "Our ugly army commander, should we start fighting now?"

"No hurry, wait until they all enter the ambush circle before starting the fight. If they are discovered by the opponent at this time, all previous efforts will be wasted." Du Zhenglun leaned on a piece of bluestone with complicated eyes. He never dreamed that he would become a bandit One day, he never imagined that he would become a thief with a group of refugees with no future at all. He already knew that the reason why the leader named Qin Chong became the leader was not because of his ability, but because he was the tallest and strongest. Everyone thought he was more powerful, so he became the leader, but although this person has no skills, he is righteous. From the moment he became the leader, he really regarded himself as the leader, and worked hard to plan and run for everyone. , I was surprised that no one starved to death.

For such an 'army', Du Zhenglun wants to leave all the time. What makes him a headache now is that this Qin Chong really regards him as a think tank and keeps him by his side all the time, probably because he is afraid that he will run away. , and specially sent a few people to be his "guards".

"Military Ugly, do you think this Han Liang is a fool? We sent a random person, and he actually led the troops here." Leader Qin felt a little unbelievable when he saw that Han Liang was as Du Zhenglun expected.

Du Zhenglun really wanted to tell Qin Chong that Han Liang was not stupid, he just looked down on you and felt that you couldn't think of any plan. The most important thing was that he couldn't afford to lose the so-called military rations.But when the words came to his lips, he finally shook his head and ordered: "They have already come in, let everyone prepare to attack, we have won this battle, and then we will use the rout to deceive the city."

"Okay!" Qin Chong rubbed his hands together, and was about to order the fight.

"It's not like this." Du Zhenglun quickly pulled Qin Chong, pointed to Han Liang's back with a headache, and said, "Let the people over there push the stone down and cut off their retreat. If they escape Ziyang City, if we want to destroy the city, there is no hope."

"So it's still possible to fight like this? Then I'll listen to you." After hearing what Du Zhenglun said, Qin Chong also felt that this method was good, so he hurriedly sent someone to inform the people over there to break the road, and he was ready on his side. Stones, as soon as the road is cut off there, they will smash down with stones, and then rush down to chop people.

The Tang Army team marching in the mountain road came in with the last soldier, and suddenly heard a muffled sound on the mountain, and saw countless stones the size of a millstone rolling down the mountain, completely cutting off their retreat.

"Not good!" Han Liang, who thought there would be no ambush, changed his face drastically, and immediately said sharply: "All the troops should disperse, and they must not be hit by stones!"

"Throw stones!" Qin Chong shouted angrily on the hillside. The men, women, and children who were ambushing all around frantically threw, smashed, and pushed the stones that had been prepared down the mountain. The implementation that fell from the sky was smashed into meatloaf.

"Archers, fight back!" Han Liang stood in the middle of the mountain road and directed a group of archers to shoot arrows at the refugees on the mountain.

"It's almost the same. The young and strong people rush down to fight with them, and send a signal to let the people outside the valley come out!" Du Zhenglun saw several rounds of stone rain and had stunned the Tang army. The soldiers of the Tang army in the valley were crying for their father and mother , in a mess, and immediately issued an order to attack.

Although he also knew that these refugees would suffer greatly in close combat, but in terms of long-range strikes, they were far behind the Tang army. If Han Liang led his troops to kill under the cover of bows and arrows, this gang of unorganized mobs would definitely Undoubtedly defeated.

As for the old, weak, women and children who had already been removed from the combat team, Du Zhenglun did not let them join the battle, but at this time, he could boost the momentum and play a psychological war against the Tang army, making them mistakenly think that there are enemy troops everywhere.

"Kill!" Qin Chong roared loudly holding a mace. His mace was actually just a jujube stick with iron nails nailed on the front. However, as the leader of this refugee army, he still had a few Those who are very brave, now they bring a group of brave men down, and they are quite impressive.

"Roar~" When other refugees saw that the big leader had brought his 'elite soldiers' to kill them, they swarmed from all directions. Those who were born as hunters continued to shoot and kill Tang Jun with bows and arrows. Although these people's martial arts skills are not strong , but they have been fighting fierce beasts in the mountains and forests all year round, and their archery skills are quite accurate. Tang Army archers have been hunted down by them.

"These refugees really deserve to die!" Han Liang, with red eyes, was angry and hated. He never expected that he would be tricked by a group of refugees in the end. He drew out the saber at his waist and shouted sharply: "Don't panic, form an army to defend against the enemy immediately, and kill these refugees."

It's just that Qin Chong has rushed here with thousands of people who are barely considered young and strong, especially Qin Chong himself. The mace in his hand is quite heavy, and it dances in the crowd. It made the soldiers of the Tang army unable to get close to them, and the rest of the refugees, under Qin Chong's instigation, were also full of murderous looks, and all kinds of strange weapons greeted the soldiers of the Tang army.

However, although the Tang army was small and was ambushed again, they were not completely confused. Under Han Liang's command, they began to form an formation to fight the refugees.

Once the infantry forms an army formation, it will be a powerful offensive and defensive formation with bows and arrows shooting at a distance and swords, shields and spears at a distance. Even cavalry have to bypass it. Although Qin Chong is brave, he was defeated several times in a row. The repulsion caused many rioters to die under the bows and arrows of the opponent. For a while, the battle between the enemy and us began to stalemate.

In fact, this was also expected by Du Zhenglun. No matter how many people there are, once the regular army stabilizes their position, they will be able to turn defeat into victory. Therefore, in response to this situation, he also made some arrangements in advance. If you go down, you will be killed by the Tang army. Immediately ordered: "Throw weapons!"

Qin Chong heard the sudden roar of the young and old on the mountain, and immediately reacted, and said sharply: "Brothers, throw all the weapons in your hands to me!"

After finishing speaking, Qin Chong pulled up all his strength and swung out the mace in his hand. The mace weighed at least a few dozen catties, but he swung it out more than ten steps away and hit the shield hard. , Several shield hands were knocked and flew out.

The other rioters followed suit, and all of a sudden axes, hoes, sickles, hatchets, rakes, hunting forks, sticks, wooden hammers, stones and other weapons rushed down towards the Tang army.

Although the Tang army was protected by a shield array, it couldn't stand up to the opponent's various and numerous hidden weapons. Especially after the shield array collapsed, more weapons fell towards the middle, so that the archers behind the shield array had no resistance at all. This kind of hidden weapon killed the army completely.

And this does not mean that they have no weapons. Everyone still has a lot of stones in their pockets; when the long weapons are gone, the stones become their long-distance weapons.

Han Liang tried his best to block a scythe falling from the sky, swept away some stones, and said loudly: "They have no weapons, and they are definitely no match for our army!"

"Kill!" At this moment, there was another earth-shattering shout of killing, and another mighty team of refugees came to kill here. Judging from the size of the number of people, there must be tens of thousands of people Bar.

"General, there are too many of them. We can't stop them at all. Let's go to Yang'an County first." A school captain pulled Han Liang and said.

"If we retreat, these refugees will definitely go to attack Ziyang City. If Ziyang City is lost, how can we explain to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?"

Han Liang didn't expect that these refugees would not only ambush, but also hide ambushes. They were first attacked by the opponent with rocks, and they had already suffered a lot of losses, and then they fought in close combat.He originally hoped to drag these refugees down, but now the refugees have come with a large number of reinforcements. Now that the morale of the Tang army is in chaos and everyone has lost their fighting spirit, how can this battle continue?
"Don't worry, general, there are not only a thousand defenders in Ziyang City, but also a solid city. These refugees have no siege equipment, how can they break through the city? Let me wait for Yang'an to settle down for one night, and borrow a thousand or two thousand soldiers tomorrow. It’s not too late to suppress the rebellion!” the captain said loudly.

"It has to be like this." Han Liang knew that if he didn't leave now, he would have no chance. Although there were few soldiers in Ziyang City, he didn't think that these refugees could pose a threat to Ziyang City. An County was evacuated.

"Brothers, the soldiers of the Tang army have escaped, follow me to hunt them down!" Qin Chong screamed excitedly when he saw that he was running away.

Although he was very arrogant before, he didn't really have much confidence in his heart. Seeing that the regular army has been beaten away, how could he let go of the opportunity to expand his achievements?
"Come back quickly, the leader, don't chase after the poor!" Du Zhenglun saw that the overall situation was settled, and he was walking down the mountain. He was shocked when he saw Qin Chong chasing Han Liang's soldiers desperately, and asked them to pull them back.

Now it's hard to scare Han Liang away. If he is really forced to a corner, it's not clear who will win and who will lose.

"Haha, we won!"

Qin Chong and others who were called back cheered excitedly, but more people were crying silently. Although they followed Du Zhenglun's method to successfully drive Han Liang to Yang'an in the north, they paid a heavier price.

Han Liang had at least a thousand more soldiers who successfully retreated, but the winning side paid more than double the price. This was the result of Han Liang's indifference to fighting, otherwise, the outcome might be reversed.

Looking at the wildly laughing Qin Chong, Du Zhenglun sighed and shook his head. If he hadn't met him and followed his advice, this group of people would have carried out the previous tactics of storming Ziyang City, and it was estimated that none of them would be left.However, although they acted according to their own plan, they clearly took advantage of the number of people and ambushes, and then created a huge psychological pressure, which almost made Han Liang come back. Achieve great things.

I can't keep entangled with these refugees any longer, I have to find a chance to slip away, otherwise, I will be killed by these people sooner or later.

"Ugly Army Master." Just as Du Zhenglun was looking for an opportunity to escape, Qin Chong walked over excitedly and said loudly: "This time, it is all up to you to defeat the Tang army. In the future, except me, who would dare not fight?" Listen to your words, I will beat him up for you myself!"

Now Du Zhenglun has also acquiesced in the title of 'Ugly Military Advisor', which is a bit ugly, but if he thinks about it, he can hide his true identity. Seeing that he can't get rid of them, for his own safety, he has no choice but to make the follow-up plan Said it out: "Leader, now let people strip off the armor of Tang Jun who died in battle and put it on. Whether Ziyang City can be broken depends on these armors."

"Why?" Qin Chong was stunned for a moment, and asked, "These armors can't kill people, how can they break the city?"

Du Zhenglun smiled wryly and said: "Han Liang will definitely come back with his army tomorrow. If we can't take Ziyang City tonight, tomorrow will be even more hopeless."

"Okay, okay..." Qin Chong's eyes lit up. Du Zhenglun used the armor of a scout to lure Han Liang out of the city to fight. Go alone?"

"As many people as there are pieces of armor." Du Zhenglun sighed in his heart, and had to explain patiently: "Now we are going to disguise ourselves as the Tang army's rout and return to the city. The able-bodied men went to swindle and open the city gate, and after entering the city, they guarded the city gate, and the others rushed into the city. There are not many troops in the city, as long as we can enter the city, Ziyang City will naturally be destroyed."

"Good way." Qin Chong suddenly smiled.

Seeing that the other party had realized it, Du Zhenglun said again: "Leader, go ahead and find some quick-witted people, and I'll teach them how to trick the city gate into opening."

"There's no need to look for it." Qin Chong waved his hand.

Du Zhenglun asked curiously, "Why didn't you look for it?"

"Master Ugly, your mind is the most active. I think the effect will be better if you go in person."

"..." Du Zhenglun.

"I knew the ugly military division would not object, haha, let's make it so."

"..." Du Zhenglun.

. . . . . . . .

In the dark night of Ziyang City, everything was as usual. Although Han Liang personally led the army to exterminate the food-grabbing refugees, the lieutenant who stayed in the city did not feel that there was anything wrong, let alone that Han Liang would be defeated.In his heart, the refugees are a bunch of ants who are not even considered as mobs. How could they be the opponents of the elite of two thousand?So what they want to guard against is the Sui army who is very likely to come from the east gate.But when he waited until Chou Shi, the deputy general did not wait for Han Liang to return triumphantly, and began to feel a little uneasy.

"Has the general not come back yet?" It was already dark at night in the northern city, and it was impossible to see things ten feet away. The guard who came to the top of the city again asked the guarding soldiers with a heavy heart.

The chief general Han Liang has been gone for several hours, but up to now, there is no news. The guard thinks that Han Liang is extremely dangerous, but the important task of guarding the city is imposed on him, so that he can't leave without authorization. I can only worry in my heart.

"Report to General, General Han has not yet returned to the army."

"Then has anyone sent back a message?"

"Neither this one."

"That's it..." Just as the guard was about to make up his mind to ask someone to investigate, the soldier who was talking to him excitedly pointed to the front and said, "Look, General, the torch is coming. It should be General Han who has returned."

The guard followed the sound, and really saw a large group of torches ignited in the thick night, rushing towards this side like a fire dragon. When he got close, his heart was cold, and he saw these soldiers wearing their own armor , The formation is messy, more refugees than the refugees during the day.

"General, do you want to open the city gate?" The soldier also saw that this army was a bit abnormal, and it didn't look like a regular army that had won a battle at all.

"Wait for a second."

"Here."

This waited for about two quarters, when they came to the city, the guards saw that these soldiers' armors were torn and their expressions were decadent, obviously they had experienced a disastrous defeat, and they couldn't help frowning even tighter.

"Is General Wang here? The lowly position is the Brigade Commander Du San." Under the city, a soldier wearing the armor of the Brigade Commander squeezed out from the crowd: "We were ambushed by refugees and came in a disastrous defeat. Please, General Wang, let us go in."

The surname of the guard will be known by just asking anyone. As for Du San, who is just a brigade commander, how would the guard know, he said in a deep voice, "Where is General Han?"

"Our army was dispersed by tens of thousands of refugees. As for whether General Han is alive or dead, I really don't know." The person who claimed to be Du San was naturally Du Zhenglun, and he was pushed to cheat the city.

"Just tell me what happened one by one." General Wang didn't dare to be careless, and continued to question him patiently.

"We went to Luoxia Valley at the intersection of Yang'an and Ziyang. We only saw the wreckage of the grain cart, and all the grain on the cart disappeared. General Han believed that the grain had been divided up by the refugees. If they were allowed to enter the mountain, they would definitely not be able to catch up. He came back, so he continued to pursue, but the mountains on both sides suddenly rolled down rolling logs and rocks, and then..." Du Zhenglun articulated clearly, and the matter was planned by him, so he could naturally convey the matter clearly.

General Wang has never experienced it himself, so naturally he has no way to judge whether it is true or false. However, based on his understanding of Luoxia Valley, Han Liang's emphasis on food, and his contempt for refugees, the possibility of falling into the trap is still very high, and the refugees occupy the With advantages such as numbers and raids, it is actually not difficult to defeat [-] Tang soldiers.He was especially worried, and asked a few internal questions about Ziyang City. Du Zhenglun, who had been prepared for a long time, answered all of them fluently, and then he gave the order with confidence: "Open the city gate and let them enter."

"Crack~" After the suspension bridge was lowered, the Ziyang North City Gate slowly opened in the dark night.

"Give it to me!" When Du Zhenglun, who was still in a miserable state before, passed by the city gate, he threw an unsuspecting guard to the ground, and pressed his knee hard against the opponent's crotch. The soldiers screamed, and then Du Zhenglun snatched the saber from the opponent's waist, and killed the opponent with one blow. As for the other soldiers, they were surrounded and beaten to death by a group of refugees.

Du Zhenglun knew that in the event of a war, the city gates where the arrows cannot reach are the safest places, so he acted so positively. He stepped aside and shouted at a refugee: "Send a signal, and guard this place firmly." City gate!"

"Okay!" The person replied, and suddenly several rockets rose crookedly into the sky, and countless torches suddenly lit up in the distance, and spread rapidly towards this side.

"No, I've been fooled." General Wang on the city sternly shouted, "Hurry up and grab the city gate, and absolutely don't let the bandits enter the city!"

After Du San of the deceitful city led people to occupy the city gate, he did not charge into the city, but led people to guard the city gate. This is clearly someone who is proficient in military affairs coming up with an idea. How can it be a refugee?General Wang even suspected that the refugees were the Sui army in disguise.

Although he handled it well, there are only a thousand people in Ziyang City, and they still focus on defending the west gate. If the city gate is not found, they can still defend the city. Where did the soldiers at the East Gate rescue them in time?
Before the army from the west of the city arrived, Qin Chong had already arrived with a large group of troops, and gathered more than a hundred soldiers from General Wang to defeat him. Although General Wang fought hard, Qin Chong was also a ruthless character. He was so powerful that he killed General Wang's life with wounds, and the main general died in battle. Naturally, the remaining Tang soldiers were even more chaotic.

"Hurry up and find the granary!" After defeating the remaining Tang troops one by one, Qin Chong roared excitedly.

"Boss, the ugly military master is gone!" The strong man in charge of protecting Du Zhenglun ran over at this moment and shouted at Qin Chong.

"The ugly military master is gone?" Qin Chong was stunned when he heard the words, and turned his head to ask, "Where did he go? Did he die?"

"I don't know either! He might be dead." The big man said with a mournful face, "After the ugly military master entered the city, he asked me to help everyone, but he couldn't find anyone afterwards."

"It might be dead! Leave him alone." Qin Chong waved his hand indifferently.

. . . . . .

At this time, under the suspension bridge, Du Zhenglun was climbing up to the opposite bank, and he couldn't help sneering when he heard the roar of killing in the city.

Ziyang City is now the most important rear area of ​​the Tang Army. Li Shimin, Hou Junji, and Zhang Shigui will never sit back and watch Ziyang City be lost. I am afraid that it will be taken back by Han Liang tomorrow. I cannot accompany these short-sighted people to die.

Although he was very hungry now, if he didn't leave now, it would be difficult to leave tomorrow. Right now, he headed south without hesitation.

After driving all night without food, Du Zhenglun was already dizzy from hunger in the morning of the next day, but seeing Yueshan Town in the distance and seeing nothing unusual, he forced himself to go.

Unexpectedly, before they got close, they saw a team coming out of the town. One of them took a look at Du Zhenglun, and found that although the other party's clothes were not Shu brocade, they were also expensive materials, so he said to the other man: "Boss , found a scholar."

"Student? Good! The chief is looking for a military adviser to advise, but unexpectedly, a scholar came to vote for him. It's really eye-opening. Go and invite the chief."

"Ok!"

After a while, a thief chief who came over after hearing the news took a look at Du Zhenglun, and said with a look of disgust, "This man is so ugly, is he really a scholar?"

"Look at the style of his clothes, definitely."

"No matter what, take it down and talk about it first."

"I..." Seeing several fierce men rushing towards him aggressively, the tired and hungry Du Zhenglun's eyes darkened, and he passed out immediately.

(End of this chapter)