Ji Han Liu Zhang

"Peng Jun, why are you here?" Zhang Ren, who led more than a hundred riders under his tent and boarded the boat, asked Peng Yi.

When he saw this scholar who originally followed Liu Zhang south to conquer Soyi, Zhang Ren thought of other things. He, who was always known for his stability, took a step forward and asked Peng Yi with joy in his voice: "Is it possible? Ming Gong has returned to Chengdu, but I don’t know where Ming Gong is now.”

"Ming Gong and I arrived at Chengdu's South Gate Ferry earlier today. Now Ming Gong should be at the Prefecture Mufu." Peng Yi first answered Zhang Ren's most concerned question.

Then Peng Yi gave the answer to why he was on the Tuojiang River: "As for why he is here, it is because Ming Gong noticed some changes in Chengdu and was afraid of accidents. In Chengdu, Ming Gong came to the city to take charge of the city to protect himself. In addition, Tuojiang River is connected to Shu. Jun and Bajun can be regarded as important places, so I was asked to go to Niuchang to recruit the high-rise boats under the command of Lieutenant Liu Xu to patrol up and down the Tuojiang River, so the river appeared here."

After clarifying his reasons, Peng Yi asked him the questions in his mind: "Which family did the soldiers who just crossed the river belong to, and why is Captain Zhang here again?"

"It's the tribe led by Zhao Wei, the general of He De Zhonglang." Zhang Ren explained in detail, telling in detail how Zhao Wei and Liu Mao conspired together to rebel and fled to Bajun together.

Hearing this, Peng Yi frowned and looked deep in thought. When he saw Zhang Ren chasing the boat crossing the river, he felt something was wrong. He guessed that something big had happened. Now he learned the details from Zhang Ren's mouth. Now he joins the army as a soldier. , immediately started thinking about Liu Zhang and began to analyze the current situation.

Peng Yi, who has always dealt with documents, showed his strong memory: "Peng Yi remembers that the person stationed at this ferry is Captain Li Si. Looking at this situation, Li Si is afraid that he has betrayed General Zhao Zhonglang. Otherwise, although Li Si has the strength of the army It's relatively small, but as long as we stick to the camp, General Zhao Zhonglang won't be able to capture this ferry for a while. It can be seen that our general Zhao Zhonglang is indeed a long-standing minister, and there are many secrets behind him."

"General Zhao Zhonglang joined forces with the third son. Instead of going to Chengdu, he went in the opposite direction and ran east towards Bajun. He probably wanted to make a big move in Bajun. Now the thieves sent by Zhang Lu Pu Hu and Yuan Yue are fighting against Anton Zhonglang's general Gao Pei in Brazil County. Looking at Zhao Zhonglang's movements, it is estimated that he and Zhang Lu may also have contact...otherwise it would not be such a coincidence that one ran eastward and the other sent a bandit south to commit crimes. I am Brazil County.”

"According to Peng Jun's inference and the current situation, it is possible." Zhang Ren responded with approval and expressed his opinion at the same time: "No matter what the current plan is, we must pursue it first. The team of General Zhao Zhonglang will not be allowed to reach Bajun. In this way, even if General Zhao Zhonglang has any contact with the rice thief Zhang Luzhen, the two parties will be isolated and there will be no chance of conspiring to rebel. Zhao Zhonglang The chaos caused this time will be relatively small."

"Anyone is sure that he will be able to catch up with General Zhao Zhonglang after landing ashore. Most of his men are infantry and there are very few cavalry. The journey is relatively slow. He can only travel twenty or thirty miles in a day. Even if the situation is urgent now, let's go The speed is only fifty or sixty miles, not as fast as the more than a hundred elite cavalry under my command, who can travel more than two hundred miles in a day and night... But I only have more than a hundred cavalry at the moment, and the large group of cavalry under my command is still behind. General Zhao Zhonglang There are about [-] men under my command. I can only fight and harass General Zhao Zhonglang's troops, but it is difficult to defeat General Zhao Zhonglang."

"It doesn't matter. You don't need to risk attacking General Zhao Zhonglang's troops. You only need to fight General Zhao Zhonglang." The resourceful Peng Yi gave a plan: "I have two thousand people here who can catch up with Zhang Jun. General Zhao Zhonglang, Zhang Jun only needs to entangle General Zhao Zhonglang in front. After I catch up from behind, I will attack and kill General Zhao Zhonglang together with Zhang Jun to eliminate this disaster for the Ming Dynasty."

"When Zhang Jun is chasing, you can arrange some knights to tie branches to the horses' tails. This way, when the horses run, the smoke and dust will be bigger, which can confuse General Zhao Zhonglang and make him fearful and no longer care about him. March eastward.”

"Good." Zhang Ren's eyes lit up, he praised the strategy given by Peng Yi, and then said: "Peng Jun said, Ren should do it."

The Tuojiang River is not as wide as the Yangtze River. The Tuojiang River is smaller. During the conversation between Peng Yi and Zhang Ren, the building boat arrived on the other side of the Tuojiang River.

The first to land was Zhang Ren and more than a hundred of his cavalry. According to Peng Yi's plan, they tied branches to the horses' tails to create smoke and dust, making it look like a large group of cavalry was attacking. After the arrangements were made, Zhang Ren led more than a hundred of his men to chase Zhao Wei's troops on the road.

As soon as Zhang Ren left, Peng Yi ordered the soldiers on the ship to disembark, form a formation, and follow Zhao Wei's movement forward. In addition, Peng Yi did not take all the soldiers away, he left some people behind. On the boat, they were ordered to drive the boat back to the other side to pick up the next wave of teams that might come chasing Zhao Wei.

In the age of cold weapons, horses were the most important strategic resource. With a husband, there was nothing better than a dragon in moving through the sky, and a horse in walking on the earth.Horses are the foundation of armor and soldiers, and have a reputation of being of great use to the country. Relying on their speed, cavalry can be erratic on the battlefield and appear in important positions.

Just like now, Zhang Ren's cavalry quickly chased Zhao Wei, who had a large force of infantry.

"Mr. Zhao, the enemy is catching up." Liu Hao looked at the billowing smoke and dust behind him, like an unknown cavalry, and said to Zhao Hao with panic in his words.

Liu Mao was very afraid. The imprisonment during this period of time had given him great psychological pressure. He used to be a noble master and a slave who did not dare to look directly at him. During this period, no matter whether he was walking or sitting, his every move, every word and every action , were looked directly at by the lowly slaves, and monitored as if they were looking at criminals. He was extremely afraid of such a day, and also hated such a day.

So Liu Mao joined forces with the outsider Zhao Wei. He not only simply wanted to get back the Yizhou Mu that he thought belonged to him, but more importantly, he wanted to get rid of the dilemma of being a prisoner.But things are not going smoothly now. First, his subordinate Wang Sheng did not come back to resume his life. Not to mention whether Wu Ran was killed or not, and then Li Yi, who was sent to inspect the rear, was actually killed by Zhang Ren.

Now that he had crossed the Tuohe River, Liu Hao thought he had escaped death, but now he saw what might be a large group of cavalry chasing him. This made him feel that he was afraid of being killed. Even if he was not killed, he would be captured and taken back to Zhoumu. After that, he would no longer be able to go hunting like he was before when he was imprisoned. He was afraid that he would be truly imprisoned, with high walls on all sides, and he could only see the sky at the four corners of the high walls in the yard.

Zhao Wei was also uneasy. He was wondering why the chasing cavalry came so fast. Obviously all the boats at the ferry were being used by him. The chasing cavalry could only go downstream to Niuchang and cross the Tuo River from Niuchang. , after two trips back and forth, he had already gone far away. By the time he reached Bajun, it was like a fish entering the sea and a bird entering the mountains and forests.

Although Zhao Wei felt uneasy in his heart, as a coach, his expression showed no fluctuation, no trace of panic, no fear written on his face like Liu Hao.

"Don't worry, sir. Although the enemy cavalry is noisy, the situation is still unclear. I will send scouts to investigate first." After Zhao Wei comforted Liu Hao, he made a mental calculation.

The thought of abandoning the army and running away was eliminated by Zhao Wei as soon as it arose. Abandoning his troops and taking more than a hundred riders with him, he could indeed escape and ascend to heaven, but those who followed him were all the sons of the Zhao family. As the clan leader, he , how could he abandon his men and run away? Moreover, these talents are the foundation of his life. If he abandons these foundations, he will have no possibility of success in the future.

Zhao Wei thought about it and dismissed the idea of ​​turning back to face the enemy. The troops he commanded were all infantry. It was unwise to use infantry against cavalry. The cavalry was erratic. With the speed of the horses, there was no need to fight against him. As long as he harasses his tribe, he will lose sooner or later.The way of a general is to fight if you can fight; if you can't fight, move away; if you can't move, defend; if you can't defend, surrender; if you can't surrender, die.

Now that Zhao Wei was facing a situation where both fighting and leaving were ruled out, he thought about the possibility of defending. As for surrender and death, he had never even thought about it. In the current situation, there was no difference between surrender and death in battle. Rebellion is a serious crime for the Yi clan. It would be better to surrender and die in an upright battle. At least you can die with the honor of a scholar-bureaucrat.

"Dad." Zhao Xi on one side called Zhao Wei who was deep in thought with a worried look on his face.

Zhao Wei turned to look at the only son who looked a little panicked, showed a gentle smile, and comforted: "It's okay, it's okay."

At this time, the scouts sent to investigate the pursuit of the cavalry in the rear came back, but their number was a few fewer than when they were sent out. The leader of the scouts reported the situation to Zhao Wei: "Chief, Zhang Renyue and others And when he came charging at us, he was unstoppable. If we hadn't run fast, we would have been killed by him. As for the number of chasing horses, looking from a distance, I saw smoke billowing behind the chasing horses. There were at least a thousand. Riding people.”

'Zhang Ren. "Zhao Wei has a toothache. Like Zhang Ren, a general who can ride a thousand horses at a time. He has been a general in charge of the army for many years, but he has not dug it out and used it for his own use."If Zhang Ren is under his command, his plan will have an extra chance of winning, and he will not be controlled by Zhang Ren like now.

Regarding the conclusion given by the scouts about more than a thousand cavalry, Zhao Wei firmed up his inner thoughts. He could not leave or fight, he could only find a place to defend.

After a while, Zhao Wei looked up, with a plan in mind. He reined in his mount, stopped, and signaled his troops to change their direction of action, no longer heading east, but heading northeast.

"Mr. Zhao, where are you going?" Liu Hao immediately asked after seeing this. It was about his wealth, life, and future destiny, and there was no room for him to be nervous.

"Sir, there is a Wubao to the northeast of here. The Wubao has a radius of one or two miles and can be used to defend it. We can observe the situation before we make a plan." Zhao Wei gave an explanation. He thought of defending one first. Observe and observe the situation before making plans.The other is to send envoys to the north to ask for help from Pu Hu and Yuan Yue, who Zhang Lu sent south, and join forces to break the current predicament.

Wubao is not very far from where Zhao Wei is now. Not long after, Zhao Wei arrived in front of Wubao. The owner of Wubao and Zhao Wei were old acquaintances. When he saw Zhao Wei, the lieutenant general coming, he immediately led the way. The sons of the clan went out to greet him, wanting to know why Zhao Wei was here, and preparing to greet Zhao Wei well. Maybe in the future, Zhao Wei would persuade some of the sons in the family to become officials.

However, the plan of the owner of the Wubao failed. Zhao Wei was not a guest, but with the idea of ​​occupying his Wubao, he greeted Zhao Wei's Wubao owner lightly. He was captured by Li Si and used it to occupy the Wubao. One after another, Zhao Wei and his party entered the fort's gatehouse, and they felt a little more at ease after being chased.

Zhao Wei, who entered Wubao, sent several waves of envoys non-stop. Some went to Bajun to find Pu Hu and Yuan Yue, and some went to Hanzhong to ask for reinforcements from Zhang Lu. Then Zhao Wei began to inspect Wubao. As the home of a wealthy family, the food and grass in Wubao was naturally hoarded like a mountain. This made Zhao Wei feel reassured and not worry about the food and grass problem.

Except for the group of Li Si who joined the army at the ferry, Zhao Wei's men are all his son-in-laws. As long as there is sufficient food and grass, there will be no change or internal instability.

Later, he only needed to observe the situation, and if he found an opportunity, he would lead his troops and continue to Bajun, or wait for Zhang Lu's reinforcements to arrive.

More than a hundred cavalry under Zhang Ren's command also arrived at this Wubao, following Zhao Wei's marching trail.

Zhang Ren continued his pretentious approach. He divided his more than a hundred cavalrymen into four batches and placed them in the woodland around Wubao. Their horse tails were tied to branches to stir up smoke and dust, making it look like there were large numbers of troops on all sides of Wubao. Then wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

However, Zhang Ren's approach of going beyond the limit made Zhao Wei, who was standing on the top of the city with a slightly calmer mind, suspicious. Zhao Wei, who calmed down and could think calmly, was now wondering whether he had fallen into a trap, even if the cavalry His speed is fast, but if there are more than a thousand cavalry chasing him, it may take a long time to cross the Tuo River. How can he catch up with him so quickly?

Zhao Wei summoned the scout who was conducting the investigation in front and asked him in detail. When he heard the scout's statement that he could only see the smoke and dust billowing from the rear of the pursuer, but could not get closer to see the number of the pursuer, his eyebrows knitted together. Tuan Mahua.

He looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was already tilting toward the west mountain. Zhao Wei gave up the idea of ​​leaving the city to fight the enemy now. He planned to send people out of the city to fight the enemy tomorrow. At least he wanted to find out the details of the number of cavalry under Zhang Ren's command. Otherwise, he would not be able to fight the enemy now. With his eyes darkened like this and being controlled by others, he might be captured by Liu Zhang sooner or later.
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Jiangyuan County, Shu County.

Wu Yi cooperated with Yang Hong, the magistrate of Hanjia County, and moved more than [-] Qingqiang families from Hanjia County to Jiangyuan County, completing Liu Zhang's orders [-]% of the time.

At this moment, in the county temple in Jiangyuan County, Wu Yi said carelessly: "After I go back, I will explain your achievements to the Duke of Mingyang, and I will add glory to the Yang family with you."

Yang Hong smiled and shook his head, and said humbly: "I have not made any merit, but I have to be the magistrate of Hanjia County. I am always worried that I will let down Duke Ming. The merits I have achieved today are only as good as the magistrate of Hanjia County." Being outstanding in your job is nothing."

After chatting for a few more words, Wu Yi raised his hand towards Yang Hong and explained his intention of visiting today: "Brother Yang, I will do the rest for you... I have received the documents and Ming Gong has returned to Chengdu without permission. This is all." It will probably arrive in a day or two. Now I will go back to Chengdu to report to Duke Ming. If I'm lucky, I might be able to get ahead of Duke Ming and won't make him wait for me."

"That's fine, there's nothing important to do now. Brother, please do as you please, as long as I'm here." Yang Hong, who had made friends with Wu Yi and treated him like a brother, naturally agreed to Wu Yi's request. (End of chapter)