Start with Baihuguan

Chapter 250 The prince is so calculating!

Before the long knife fell in Zhou Ang's hand, he felt a pain in his heart, and his whole body was suddenly provoked by a strong force.

Big mouthfuls of blood gushed out of his mouth, Zhou Ang suddenly felt his body fly up, and the next moment he fell hard, and then a darkness submerged his consciousness.

He killed Zhou Ang with a single blow, and at the same time, the rebel army was already in chaos under the impact of the cavalry.

It was originally a group of mobs, many of them were local hooligans in Qingyang Mansion and bandits recruited by King Anhua.

These people may still have some combat effectiveness if they are fighting with the wind, but once they are frustrated, they will definitely be defeated and flee in all directions immediately.

Just like now, if the [-] army were to fight to the death, they might not be able to cause some troubles for Li Huan and others, but it's a pity that these people didn't dare to fight at all.

Just under a wave of impact, the rebel army was defeated.

Especially after Zhou Ang was beheaded by Li Huan, the rebels who had no fighting spirit completely lost their commander, and were immediately chased and killed by the cavalry.

On Ningzhou City in the distance, although He Jin and the others as guards said they could not see the specific battle situation clearly, they could still see a thing or two about the battle between the two sides.

When they saw the arrival of the reinforcements carrying the Zhou character banner, He Jin and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, feeling that they were saved.

It was a really sad night, and I was always worried about whether the imperial army outside the city would attack the city. Once the city was broken, the imperial court would never let them go, these rebellious rebels.

Perhaps the soldiers at the bottom will not lose their lives, but these generals will inevitably be ransacked by the court to warn future generations.

After finally waiting for dawn, they finally saw the reinforcements, and even He Jin and others saw the reinforcements attacking the imperial army in a strong manner.

It's just that what He Jin didn't expect was that the reinforcements led by Zhou Ang were so vulnerable, and they collapsed completely after being attacked by the imperial army.

Especially at this moment, looking at the rebels who are being hunted around, no matter how slow He Jin's reaction is, he knows that there will be no reinforcements in Ningzhou this time.

With a thud, He Jin fell to the ground directly, with a look of despair on his face.

Ningzhou City was broken.

I saw a group of soldiers surrounding a hundred household officer, and the hundred household official was holding several heads in his hands, one of which was He Jin.

Li Huan looked at the hundreds of household officials who bowed in front of him, with a smile in his eyes.

Although he knew that Ningzhou could be broken, Li Huan never thought that Ningzhou would be broken so quickly, and it was broken in this way.

Zhou Ang, He Jin and the others in the army chose to support King Anhua to rebel. Naturally, they brought along a lot of soldiers in the army. Aren’t all the soldiers in the army willing to rebel? .

The Baihu officer named Chu Liang in front of him is a general who is unwilling to rebel, but Zhou Ang and He Jin suppressed them before, bloodbathed several generals who dared to jump out of the army, and suppressed all the generals in the army. situation.

But this time Li Huan led the imperial court's counter-insurgency army to defeat the reinforcements sent by King Anhua in the first battle, and beheaded Zhou Ang. The soldiers and generals of the imperial court saw hope.

So when Chu Liang ascended the heights, a group of people gathered immediately, taking advantage of He Jin's refusal to recite, directly beheaded He Jin, and then killed several generals loyal to King Anhua, and then opened the city. Door.

It only took one day from Li Huan's arrival at Ningzhou City to the return of Ningzhou City to the imperial court.

Li Huan didn't think it was a difficult task, he could only say that the rebels under King Anhua were too vulnerable, but He Jin and Zhou Ang were good generals, relying on the solidity of the city, no matter what they could hold on for a while. time.

Even if you stick to it until the Tatars cross the border, it is not impossible to go south and enter the Central Plains.

If that was the case, King Anhua, with the help of the Tatars, could really bring a lot of trouble to Daming, but it's a pity that King Anhua didn't have any talents that could be used at all.

The mere He Jin and Zhou Ang are mediocre. If they can't even deal with such a mob, Li Huan feels that he should return to Beijing early.

At this moment Li Huan looked at the generals in front of him.

These generals led their troops to the city of Ningzhou about a quarter of an hour ago, and the leader was Cao Xiong, who was appointed as the acting commander-in-chief.

Cao Xiongsheng has a strong back and a strong waist, he is about forty years old, he looks like a good general, and several generals under his command are also very imposing.

Ability aside, at least the appearance is really not bad.

When Li Huan was looking at Cao Xiong and the others, Cao Xiong and others were also secretly looking at Li Huan.

Cao Xiong had previously learned that King Anhua had rebelled, so he sent people to notify Yang Yiqing, the governor of the three sides, and at the same time dispatched troops to recruit troops from the surrounding courts, and directly blocked the line of the Yellow River, which was regarded as stopping the rebels under King Anhua at the river. the north.

According to Cao Xiong's thinking, he only needs to stop the rebels under King Anhua, and then cooperate with Yang Yiqing's army to easily put down the rebellion of King Anhua.

It's just that Cao Xiong didn't expect that Yang Yiqing didn't mobilize troops. Instead, the imperial court sent Li Huan to lead the army to suppress the rebellion.

Cao Xiong was very puzzled, and even thought that the emperor sent Li Huan here on purpose to grab credit, after all, at least not a fool can see that King Anhua's rebellion can't make any trouble at all.

In this case, as long as the general in charge of the three armies countering the rebellion is not a fool, King Anhua's rebellion can be put down easily.

But no matter how easy it is, it is also a great achievement to put down the rebellion of the clan and princes. With this achievement alone, there is even hope of becoming a marquis.

Therefore, in Cao Xiong's heart, Li Huan was someone who came to grab credit, so when facing Li Huan, Cao Xiong faintly showed a bit of contempt.

Naturally, Li Huan could see Cao Xiong's attitude, and he could guess Cao Xiong's thoughts to some extent.

However, Li Huan didn't care at all in his heart. To be honest, Li Huan really admired Cao Xiong's emotional and angry reaction. Yin is stronger than normal.

Li Huan smiled at Cao Xiong and the others: "General Cao, everyone who came here in a hurry must be tired too, let's sit down and talk."

Cao Xiong cupped his hands at Li Huan and said, "Thank you, General."

As Cao Xiong sat down, the other generals also took their seats, which shows Cao Xiong's position in the hearts of these generals.

Li Huan looked at Cao Xiong and said: "Li looks at General Cao's face with fear. Could it be that he thinks that Li came here this time to compete with you for merit?"

As soon as Cao Xiong and the others changed their expressions, they saw Cao Xiong stand up suddenly and said to Li Huan: "The general is joking, how dare the subordinates think so."

Li Huan waved his hands calmly and said, "General Cao, sit down. In fact, even if General Cao doesn't say anything, Li can guess."

Cao Xiong was about to open his mouth to distinguish, but Li Huan suddenly turned his face straight and said: "Speaking of which, if it is really just King Anhua's rebellion, His Majesty and the court elders will not think about sending troops here. With the elite soldiers and strong generals under the governors of the three sides, the Anhua King's rebellion can be put down."

Hearing what Li Huan said, Cao Xiong and the others couldn't help looking up at Li Huan, with doubts in their eyes.

Li Huan said slowly: "Everyone, are you wondering why it is most appropriate for Governor Yang to send troops here, but Governor Yang did not mobilize a single soldier, but this general led the elite of the Beijing camp to come here?"

Cao Xiong looked at Li Huan solemnly and said, "Please ask the general to clear up the confusion for the young general."

A flash of light flashed in Li Huan's eyes and he said: "Because Dayan Khan has assembled an army of [-] to go south, I am afraid that he has already arrived at Xidu City."

"what!"

Cao Xiong was not a border general, so he didn't know the news of the border, nor did he know the news of the Tatars going south, so the reaction was great.

"The Tartars going south?"

The faces of Cao Xiong and other generals changed drastically. As military officials in Ningxia, they don't know what it means for the [-] Tatar troops to go south.

This means that even if all the elites of the three sides are exhausted, it may be difficult to prevent the Tatars from crossing the border town defense line and entering the Central Plains, and a bloody battle is about to be staged.

At the same time, Cao Xiong also showed some surprise on his face and said: "No wonder, no wonder Governor Yang didn't mobilize one soldier from three sides to quell the rebellion. It turns out that the Tatars went south."

Taking a deep breath, Cao Xiong bowed to Li Huan and said: "The last general is stupid and ignorant, he misunderstood the general, please punish him."

Obviously, Cao Xiong was apologizing to Li Huan, which showed that he misunderstood Li Huan's intention.

Li Huan waved his hand and said solemnly: "Li came here this time just at the order of His Majesty, to cooperate with Governor Yang and fight against the Tatars together. As for King Anhua..."

Cao Xiong and the others saw Li Huan's disdainful expression on his face and said: "Just a mere King Anhua, even General Cao and you can lead an army to quell him. Why do you need the court to send a large army?"

With Li Huan's praise, Cao Xiong and the others felt that their faces were bright and said modestly to Li Huan: "The general is absurdly praised. The general defeated the rebels in the first battle. It can be said that he has done a great job. How can the last general wait?" Comparable to the Great General."

Li Huan was polite to them, as the so-called bridal sedan chair people carried them. Cao Xiong and others were all generals in the army, and most of them were straightforward. Naturally, I felt that Li Huan was very right-tempered.

Then I heard Cao Xiong say to Li Huan: "Since the general is going to help Governor Yang to fight against the Tatars, the general can allow the general to lead his subordinates to accompany the general to fight together."

Li Huan couldn't help but glanced at Cao Xiong and the others, it seemed that something was beyond his expectation.

Li Huan himself never thought of bringing Cao Xiong and other local guard officials and generals with him. After all, to be honest, Li Huan knew more or less what the local guards were like.

Li Huan himself was born in a local guard, so he was naturally aware of the corruption in the local guard.

Li Huan's previous plan was to let Cao Xiong and others follow the army he led to take over the battlefield, and temporarily stabilize the situation before the imperial court sent officials to Qingyang Mansion.

Now that he heard Cao Xiong's words, Li Huan couldn't help giving Cao Xiong a high look and said, "General Cao has such a heart, and Li deeply admires it, but right now there is still something to trouble General Cao and others."

Cao Xiong said solemnly: "I also ask the general to order."

Li Huan said: "Ningzhou City has returned to the imperial court. Li still needs to lead an army to quell King Anhua's rebellion and break through Anhua City, so this Ningzhou City can only be handed over to General Cao to take over temporarily."

Cao Xiong couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then reacted and said: "General, it is enough for the last general to send a team to stay. Please also allow the last general to lead his subordinates to follow the general to fight against the Tatars."

Li Huan looked at Cao Xiong and said in a deep voice: "General Cao knows that this battle is dangerous, and it is very likely that he will lose his life..."

Before Li Huan could finish speaking, Cao Xiong couldn't help laughing and said: "He has a big scar on his head, if the last general is afraid, he won't ask the general for orders."

Li Huan gave Cao Xiong a deep look, couldn't help but nodded and said: """Okay, I never thought that General Cao would have such a heart, so General Cao led his subordinate Erlang and followed Li to destroy Anhua City first, Let's talk about the battle against the Tartars."

Cao Xiong was overjoyed, and respectfully saluted Li Huan, "Just follow the general's orders."

Anhua City

In the palace of King Anhua.

The king of Anhua, Zhu Zhiyu, was sitting there with a worried look on his face.

Suddenly there was a sound of hurried footsteps, and a figure appeared in Zhu Zhiyu's sight.

When he saw someone coming, Zhu Zhixie's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but said: "Mr. Sun, you are here, but is there any news from Ningzhou City?"

Ever since Zhou Ang led [-] reinforcements to rescue Ningzhou, Anhua King Zhu Zhixiu was very restless in his heart.

Sun Jingwen shook his head slightly when he heard the words, obviously he didn't get any news.However, looking at the worried look on Anhua King Zhu Zhiyu's face, he couldn't help comforting Zhu Zhiyu: "My lord, you can rest assured that General Zhou Ang has an army of [-], which is twice as many as the imperial reinforcements. General Zhou is going to defend Ningzhou City. It is not a problem to stop the imperial soldiers and horses outside Qingyang Mansion and persist until the Tatars come."

Sun Jingwen's words reassured Zhu Zhiyu a little, and he looked at Sun Jingwen and said, "It's a matter of success or failure. This king feels uneasy, but it made me laugh."

Sun Jingwen smiled when he heard the words: "My lord was joking, my lord's reaction is very normal, but my lord should have confidence in the two generals Zhou Ang and He Jin. No matter what the two generals say, they are better than the emperor sent. That Li Huan is reliable."

Zhu Zhixiu couldn't help nodding his head and said: "Sir, what you said is that Li Huan is just the lucky minister of the emperor. He was lucky to be favored by the emperor. He wants to command the army at a young age. He really thinks he is the champion of the big man."

As if he was cheering himself up, after Zhu Zhiyu finished speaking, the worries in his heart disappeared, and he couldn't help showing a little smile: "The lonely king is here waiting for the good news from the two generals Zhou Ang and He Jin."

Zhu Zhiyu looked at Sun Jingwen and said with a smile: "The lonely king does not want Li Huan's head, as long as the two generals Zhou Ang and He Jin stop the court's soldiers and horses, and persist until the Tatars go south."

Sun Jingwen's eyes flashed with determination and said: "The two generals will definitely not disappoint the prince."

King Anhua, who was stroking his beard, looked at Sun Jingwen and said, "Mr. Sun, do you think Zheng Wen'an's going here can make the Tatars go south quickly?"

Sun Jingwen nodded for a while and said: "If the Tatars are not stupid, they will definitely choose to go south quickly. After all, if the Tatars have the help of the prince, they will not only be able to gain a foothold in Ningxia, but it will only be for various supplies at that time. The Tatars can save a lot of trouble."

While talking, Sun Jingwen looked at Zhu Zhiyu and said: "The Tatars will definitely support the prince with all their strength, and they may not even support the prince. You divide the territory and proclaim yourself emperor to attack the court."

A light flashed in Zhu Zhixie's eyes, don't look at him playing the banner of the Qing emperor, but anyone who is not a fool knows that the so-called Qing emperor's banner is just a fig leaf.

But among those who rebel, how many of them don't want to sit on the supreme position.

Hearing the words, Zhu Zhiyu couldn't help but said: "If so, the lonely king will never treat you badly!"

Sun Jingwen coughed lightly and looked at Zhu Zhiyu, "It's just that the prince must understand that once the prince accepts the support of the Tatars and proclaims himself emperor, he will probably be reviled by all the people in the future..."

Zhu Zhixiu sneered and said, "So what? Thinking of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, it's different. He once thought that the barbarians bowed their heads. Taizong Li Shimin also had an alliance with the Weishui River. As long as this king is stable, he may not be able to follow Li Shimin in the future. History has always been the same. It was written by the victor, at that time, the lonely king was the victor, and people in future generations will only know that the lonely king endured humiliation..."

Sun Jingwen looked at Zhu Zhiyu, couldn't help but bowed to Zhu Zhiyu and said: "Your Majesty has great ambitions, Sun admires him, and is willing to do his best for you."

Zhu Zhixiu laughed loudly and said, "Mr. Sun is the son of a lonely king..."

Just when the two were performing the scene where the monarch and his ministers get along well, they suddenly saw a guard of the royal palace rushing over with a look of fear.

"My lord, something is wrong."

For some unknown reason, Zhu Zhixiu felt a thump in his heart, looked up at the guard, and shouted angrily, "Quickly, what happened?"

The guard fell to the ground and said in a trembling voice: "My lord, I just got the news that the army led by General Zhou Ang was defeated by the imperial army and was defeated in the first battle. The [-] army was defeated..."

"What, how could this be?"

Hearing the news suddenly, Zhu Zhixiu couldn't help shaking, almost fell to the ground, leaning on the table with one hand, shouting with red eyes: "Zhou Ang misled me, Zhou Ang misunderstood me..."

At this time, Sun Jingwen stared at the guard with an ugly expression, "Where is Zhou Ang?"

In Sun Jingwen's mind, Zhou Ang led an army of [-]. Even if they were defeated, they should return with the defeated army at this moment. Anyway, as long as they hold Anhua City and persist until the arrival of the Tatars, then it will be time. Keep the clouds open to see the moonlight.

Zhu Zhixiu reacted and also stared at the guard.

The guard took a deep breath and said: "General Zhou Ang died in battle, the army broke up, and less than a thousand people fled back..."

Hearing this, Zhu Zhiyu couldn't help but slapped his palm on the table and said angrily: "Trash, what a rubbish. The [-] army only escaped with more than a thousand people, and even lost their lives. Why did the lonely king believe such a trash? , and sent him to command the army."

The rebels that Zhu Zhixiu had gathered these days were only 4 to 2 people. Zhou Ang took away [-] people, and there were only about [-] people left in Anhua City.

Originally, I thought that as long as I blocked the imperial army, everything would be very simple when the Tatars arrived, but I didn't expect Zhou Ang to be so useless. He was defeated and lost [-] troops in the first battle.

Suddenly Zhu Zhixi stared at the guard with red eyes and said, "Where is the imperial army, have they ever attacked Anhua City?"

It can be said that this is what Zhu Zhixiu is worried about.

Now that the Tatars hadn't crossed the border town's defense line, if the imperial army came to kill him, he really wasn't sure that he would be able to hold on until the Tatars came.

The guard hurriedly said: "Go back to the prince, the imperial army has now arrived outside the city and sealed the four gates..."

With a bang, Zhu Zhiyu grabbed the teacup in his hand and smashed it on the ground fiercely, shouting with horror on his face, "How could this happen, how could this happen, why did the imperial army come so fast..."

At this time, Zhu Zhiyu, who had no master, was really frightened.

Just a moment ago he was still dreaming of enthroning and proclaiming himself emperor, but in the blink of an eye, the imperial court's counter-insurgency army had already appeared outside the city, and surrounded Anhua City in groups. Zhu Zhixiu could hardly bear the excitement passed out.

It took a while for Zhu Zhixiu to calm down, staring at Sun Jingwen like a dying man grasping at straws and saying, "Sir, save me, sir, what should the lonely king do..."

Sun Jingwen, who was sitting there, was sweating profusely on his back, and his legs felt weak, making it difficult to get up.

The news was really astonishing. Sun Jingwen, like Zhu Zhixiong, never dreamed that the imperial army would come so soon.To be precise, Sun Jingwen didn't expect Zhou Ang to be such a waste, and they lost a lot in just two or three days, which made their plan come to naught.

Sitting there paralyzed, Sun Jingwen wanted to get up several times, but he felt weak all over and couldn't get up. His legs were trembling and his whole body was weak.

But in Zhu Zhiyu's eyes, it was Sun Jingwen sitting there with a calm expression, giving the impression that he was holding a wisdom pearl, not panicking at all.

Naturally, Zhu Zhixiu, who was flustered and desperate in his heart, saw Sun Jingwen's appearance and immediately seemed to have caught straws.

Sun Jingwen came back to his senses, looked at the flustered Zhu Zhixie, his heart was full of bitterness, why was he so confused at the beginning, thinking of bewitching Zhu Zhixiu to rebel as soon as his brain got hot.

This is good, the imperial court's counter-insurgency army has appeared outside the city, surrounded Anhua City, and it is unknown when Anhua City will be breached.

At that time, the king of Anhua, Zhu Zhiyu, would be the prince of the Ming Dynasty no matter what. As the clan of the Ming Dynasty, even if it was a rebellion, life and death would be ruled by the emperor Zhu Houzhao.

But those who bewitched King Anhua to rebel, and participated in the rebellion as King Anhua's shoulders, the court would never let them go, and what awaited them would be the fate of ransacking their families and exterminating the nine clans.

Thinking of these, Sun Jingwen felt a burst of despair.

Seeing Sun Jingwen in a daze, Zhu Zhiyu couldn't help but said: "Sir, sir..."

Sun Jingwen, who came back to his senses, looked at Zhu Zhiyu, with a flash of madness in his eyes and said: "My lord, the only plan for now is to defend Anhua City and wait for the arrival of the Tatars. Only if we persist until the arrival of the Tatars, then we will have hope of life."

Zhu Zhixiu was taken aback for a moment, then he cheered up and said, "Yes, yes, there are Tatars, we still have Tatars!"

While speaking, Zhu Zhiyu shouted loudly: "Come here, come here."

The palace guards guarding the door rushed in.

Zhu Zhixuan shouted: "The order of this king is to order all the soldiers in the city to guard Anhua City. If you guard for one day, each person will be rewarded with five taels of silver, and for five days, each person will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. Each king rewards 20 taels of silver."

As he said that, Zhu Zhixie's eyes were full of ferocity and he said: "Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men. This king doesn't believe that even the rewards of white flowers can't buy the lives of the soldiers who guard the city."

Sun Jingwen couldn't help but looked at Zhu Zhiyu in surprise. To be honest, Sun Jingwen really didn't expect that Zhu Zhiyu would suddenly burst out with such courage. , Ten days later, Zhu Zhiyu will come up with tens of thousands of taels of white money.

Among other things, this courage alone is admirable.

Sun Jingwen suddenly felt hopeful, bowed to Zhu Zhixiu and said, "Your Highness is very courageous. I believe that if the soldiers in the city know that His Highness has given out so much reward money, they will definitely work hard for His Highness."

Speaking of which, Sun Jingwen looked at Zhu Zhiyu with full admiration and said: "Those Qiu Bawei are gold and silver things. As long as the prince can get the gold and silver, let alone defending the city for ten days, even a month is nothing. Difficult."

Zhu Zhixie watched the guards of the royal residence go to deliver his orders. At this time, Zhu Zhixiu, who had regained his composure, glanced at Sun Jingwen and said, "It's just money. If you can't save your life, it's all outside your body. As long as you can persist until the arrival of the Tatars, this king will spend mere money." What's the point of buying people's hearts with tens of thousands of taels of silver?"

Sun Jingwen was taken aback when he heard the words, and said with a puzzled look on his face: "There are tens of thousands of soldiers, the prince must prepare at least 10 taels of silver."

Zhu Zhixiu sneered and said, "Where did you use so much?"

The doubts on Sun Jingwen's face became heavier, and Zhu Zhixie glanced at Sun Jingwen, chuckled and said: "Defending the city will kill people, Mr. Sun will not think that if you defend the city for ten days, there will be tens of thousands of horses left in the city? It would be nice if half of the people survived."

Sun Jingwen was stunned and subconsciously said: "My lord is very calculating."

Zhu Zhiyu said with a bit of color: "According to King Gu, when the Tatars come, there will be 5000 people left in the city. It is enough for the king to spend at most 10,000 + taels of silver."

Suddenly, Sun Jingwen came to his senses and said, "What about those soldiers who died in battle, wouldn't the lord give them compensation?"

Zhu Zhixie glanced at Sun Jingwen and said: "What kind of money does the dead want? Is it true that the king's money came from the strong wind? If it wasn't for that damned Zhou Ang who failed the king's expectations, the king would need to spend so much money To boost the morale of the defenders?"

All of a sudden, there were cheers from the defenders in the city. Obviously, the guards of the palace had conveyed Zhu Zhixie's order.

For the soldiers who came from the army, Zhu Zhixie was willing to give out such a reward, which naturally boosted the morale of these defenders.

[I'm asking for an order, I'm asking for a monthly pass. 】

(End of this chapter)