Late Tang

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The Cao army was defeated and fled, Cao Cunshi, the vanguard of the Tianping army, ordered to pursue them. At this time, one of the vanguard generals came out and shouted: "General, don't chase the poor, be careful of fraud?"

Cao Cunshi immediately looked over, but saw that the one who persuaded him was Zhu Xuan, a junior under his command.Zhu Xuan was originally from Songzhou, and the Zhu family was also powerful in Songzhou. His father was the leader of the Songzhou Salt Gang, who was later arrested and executed by the government. Zhu Xuan and his brothers Zhu Jin, Zhu Qiong, Zhu Yu, and Zhu Han The brothers defected to Wang Jingwu of Qingzhou together.Later, he was incorporated into Cao Quanzhen's subordinates. A few years ago, when the Tianping Army mutinied, Wang Jingwu was ordered by the court to send Cao Quanzhen into the Tianping Army, and the Zhu Xuan brothers also went there.Later, Cao Quanzhen stayed in the Tianping army, and the Zhu Xuan brothers also stayed together.Because of his bravery and outstanding performance in battle, Zhu Xuan was promoted to the general with his military exploits, and is now Cao Cunshi's direct subordinate.

For Zhu Xuan, Cao Cunshi was more polite. When he was in Xichuan, he was almost killed by the Nanzhao people's guns, but Zhu Xuan blocked him with his body.

"What is the basis for Captain Zhu's words?" Cao Cunshi asked patiently.

Zhu Xuan said in a loud voice: "My subordinates thought that there were [-] bandits in this grass bandit, but seeing our army coming, they fought with a thousand men. This is obviously a problem. This is probably a trick of the bandit army to lure the enemy. , the front is full of mountains and forests, be careful of ambushes."

"Hahaha!" Cao Cunshi burst out laughing, "Old Zhu, you are right to be cautious, but you don't have to be too cautious. You have to see who our opponent is, a mere thieves, sorry they can't think of it Such a trick to lure the enemy. Besides, if it is to lure the enemy, then they will not fight to the death, at most they will bluff and flee after a few hits. But now you see, the grass thief can feign defeat just now. Zhixiang, there are at least six to seven hundred people who fell on the ground, even if they feigned surrender, they would not be willing to pay this capital. You don't need to say anything, immediately pursue them, and don't let the bandits run away."

Cao Cunshi's three brothers led a thousand cavalry vanguard in pursuit. Seeing that Cao Cunshi would not listen to his advice, Zhu Xuan had to take Zhu Jin and others with him, and the five brothers each led their troops to pursue.Along the way, they chased and killed more than a hundred of the backward grass army's defeated soldiers.

In the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly.

Cao Cunshi's thousand cavalry had arrived [-] miles east of Qianfeng County, and the scout cavalry flew to report: "Report to the general, the grass bandits in Qianfeng City are fleeing. They are not sticking to the county seat, but are fleeing eastward. Cross the Wen River."

When Cao Cunshi heard that the bandits had abandoned the city, Cao Cunshi sneered, "Quickly report to Xue Shuai, and the rest of the cavalry will follow me immediately."

In his opinion, the grass thieves who had gone away before had lost their courage. After they brought back the news of the arrival of the Tianping army, the thieves in the city must not dare to fight, so they abandoned the city and left.

Immediately led the vanguard cavalry to gallop and gallop away.When we arrived at the north bank of the Wenshui River, grass thieves and hungry people were everywhere on the north bank.Cao Cunshi was not in the mood to take care of the common people attached to the thieves, so he just blindly killed the grass thieves.

Wang Xianzhi had already led most of the troops across the river, and the rest were old and weak. Cao Cunshi killed them, and the grass bandits could not look after each other.Cao Cunshi saw that he couldn't catch up, so he had to turn around and strangle him before crossing the river.

By the time Xue Chong led most of the troops to arrive, corpses had been piled up on the entire north bank of Wenshui River for twenty miles, and the river was dyed red.After Xue Chong arrived, instead of stopping, he ordered the army to kill all the people who belonged to the bandits on the north bank.Afterwards, soldiers and horses entered the already empty Qianfeng County, and the following statistics were reported. In this battle, [-] thieves were killed at the foot of Tingting Mountain.Then the vanguard army killed more than [-] people along the way, and finally rushed to the Wenshui River, beheading more than [-] "grass thieves".The Tianping Army who arrived later also beheaded more than [-] "grass thieves" and recovered Qianfeng County.

After killing tens of thousands of grass thieves in the first battle, Xue Chong was even more excited. After having dinner in the city, he left more than a hundred men to defend the city and led more than [-] troops to cross Wenshui and pursue southward.

Zhu Xuan again spoke to Cao Cunshi, saying that to the south of Wenshui, Culai Mountain and Liangfu Mountain are very dangerous, especially the Langhu Valley in the northeast of Liangfu Mountain, the terrain is even more dangerous, and extreme care must be taken.It is best to wait for Du Ya to lead the [-] soldiers and horses to arrive, and join forces to attack.But Cao Cunshi, who had just won a big victory, couldn't listen to it, so he dismissed him with a few casual words.

The Tianping army crossed Wenshui, and Wang Xianzhi was informed by scouts.

At this time, Wang Xianzhi put ten compartments of soldiers between Culai Mountain and Liangfu Mountain, and the ten compartments of soldiers and horses deployed one by one. Since Shang Zang led three thousand soldiers and horses to the center, nearly thirteen thousand soldiers and horses lined up to fight.

When it was almost dusk, the vanguard cavalry of Cao Cunshi of the Tianping Army arrived first. Seeing the grass bandit army lined up for several miles, they were not only not frightened, but very excited.The previous battle had already filled him with contempt for grass thieves, no matter how many grass thieves there were, he would have no fear at all.

But at last he had experienced many battles, so he did not attack immediately, but stopped two miles away, and the cavalry dismounted to wait for Xue Chong's soldiers to arrive.Half an hour later, Xue Chong arrived, and he couldn't help laughing when he saw the grass bandits lining up against the mountain.

An attack order was issued immediately, and more than [-] Tianping troops lined up to attack, advancing steadily all the way.Relying on a large number of archers and crossbows, coupled with solid shield formations, excellent armor, and excellent training, the Tianping Army marched forward triumphantly, unstoppable.

The battle lasted less than two hours, and the thirteen thousand grass army was defeated, and the defeated army was routed to the northeast.

At this time, it was completely dark, and the army was in the mountains again, which was not conducive to attacking, but Xue Chong didn't want to miss the great achievement of completely annihilating the grass bandits.He ordered the whole army to light torches and pursue them. After chasing for more than [-] miles, a group of defeated soldiers fled into a valley with the banner of Wang Zi.

Xue Chong asked his left and right: "Where is this place?"

"Report to Commander, the valley here is called Wolf and Tiger Valley, it is very dangerous, but it is a gourd valley, the outside of the valley is small, and the inside is big, but it is a dead valley, and the only way out is outside."

Hearing this report, Xue Chong was overjoyed. The group of cavalry flying the Wang flag just now must be the leader of the bandits, Wang Xianzhi.Few of the grass thieves could ride horses, so many cavalry escorted and carried the king's flag, who else but Wang Xianzhi.At that moment, Xue Yuan gave a loud order to chase into the valley.

As soon as the army entered the valley, they were about to catch up, but the team of cavalry stopped and did not flee, but turned their horses and stood there waiting.

When Xue Chong was wondering, he suddenly heard countless horns sounding, and countless yellow-clothed soldiers and horses suddenly rushed out from the two hillsides, surrounding them.What surprised him even more was that the opponent had obviously prepared to ambush here. Apart from soldiers and horses, there were countless big grass balls drenched in kerosene rolling down the mountain, with rolling logs and boulders mixed in between.

The Tianping army was caught off guard, and there were many casualties for a while.

"The middle thief is in ambush, Commander. The terrain in the valley here is narrow, which is not conducive to our army's operations. It is better to retreat out of the valley and fight again." Cao Cunshi rode his horse and rushed to Xue Chong, regretting that he should have listened to Zhu Xuan's advice.However, although the ambush of grass bandits caused them some losses, as long as they retreated outside the valley and surrounded the mouth of the valley, the bandits would still fall into their hands.

Xue Chong was panicked at this time, and nodded quickly when he heard Cao Cunshi's words.

The Tianping army fought and retreated, retreating to the valley.As soon as he retreated to the mouth of the valley, there were suddenly countless shouts of killing, countless torches were suddenly lit, and a large army came from outside the valley.Through the bright firelight, one can see a big flag embroidered with the characters of king fluttering in the night wind, unwinding endlessly.

Then there were countless dazzling swords and guns, and then Qizhou soldiers in red clothes.After Xue Chong finally found out that the soldier who typed the Wang character banner was not the soldier of grass thief Wang Xianzhi, but the soldier of King Jingwu of Qizhou, his face was pale, and he was speechless in horror.But at this time, this magical soldier descended from the sky, and the soldiers and horses that suddenly appeared had already rushed in from outside the valley.

Attacked on both sides, the Tianping Army, which was besieged in the valley, collapsed and was defeated without holding on for a moment.Cao Cunshi used to be under Wang Jingwu's command. Qizhou soldiers were originally Qingzhou Yajun, and their strength cannot be said. Otherwise, Song Wei would not have fought until now, and he has not been able to wipe them out.

Cao Cunshi had no intention of fighting again, so he led the cavalry to guard Xue Chong and fought to break through the siege. They fought desperately to make a bloody road, rushed out of the valley, and fled all the way along the same road.They went all the way, but the Tianping Army behind them had become headless chickens. After losing their command, they were surrounded and slaughtered by Cao Jun and Qizhou soldiers who had received reinforcements. In the end, most of them were killed and a few were captured. .

After the battle, the ground was littered with captured weapons, armor and banners.

Looking at all this, Wang Xianzhi couldn't believe it, they actually defeated the elite soldiers of the Eight Thousand Tianping Army.Leaning on his sword and struggling to stand on the blood-stained battlefield, he was in a daze.

Huang Chao, dressed in golden armor, led Qizhou's reinforcement general, Wang Jingwu's nephew Wang Yanwen, to the front. "General, we have won!"

"We won." Wang Xianzhi murmured.

When Huang Chao proposed this bold and crazy plan, Wang Xianzhi could not accept it, but now it seems that they succeeded.

"It's a pity that the thief Xue Chong escaped!"

At this time, Xue Chong was fleeing all the way to Qianfeng City under the escort of more than a thousand cavalry led by the three brothers Cao Cunshi and the five brothers Zhu Xuan.Even now, he still can't understand that Wang Jingwu actually sent troops to support the grass bandits.

Thinking wildly, the soldiers and horses have reached Wenshui and waded across the river.After crossing the Wenshui safely, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, feeling like they survived the catastrophe.We will arrive at Qianfeng City soon, as long as we retreat into the city and stick to it, then Cao Quanzhu will be there.

Qianfeng nodded a few torches at the head of the city, it was extremely dark, and several soldiers were standing at the head of the city with their guns in their arms.

"Open the gate quickly, Shuai Xue is back!" Zhu Xuan rode his horse to the gate and shouted loudly.

There was a panicked response from the top of the city, and then the city gate slowly opened, and Xue Chong and others rode their horses into the city.As soon as she entered the city, Zhu Jin immediately felt that something was wrong. Although the city had already become an empty city, with only a hundred soldiers and horses guarding the city, it was too quiet now.With so many soldiers and horses entering the city, there was no sound of barking cats or dogs barking.He approached Zhu Xuan, and expressed the worry in his heart.

Zhu Xuan hurriedly turned his head to look up the city, but was shocked to find that none of the guards on the top of the city knew him.

"There is an ambush!" Zhu Xuan yelled.

With this cry, the calm was broken, and countless archers suddenly poured out near the city head and the city gate, and arrows rained down.Ge Congzhou jumped down from the top of the wall and shouted: "You dog thief, take your life!"

Lin Yan and Meng Kai also emerged from the darkness of the city gate, each holding a longbow.

Today and during the day, according to Huang Chao's military order, they first used Ge Congzhou's rear compartment to lure the enemy, and after their defeat they fled into Tingting Mountain, where Lin Yan's front compartment was hidden.When it was dark and midnight, several groups of grass troops hidden in the underground secret room in the city came out, attacked the hundreds of Tianping troops left behind in the city by air, and opened the door to let Zige Congzhou and others enter the city.Then they pretended to be the Tianping Army, and the rest of the troops hid at the gate of the city. Finally, when the defeated Tianping Army came, they rushed out and ambushed the Tianping Army.

The Tianping army was in ambush, and the two sides started a scuffle in the city. On the one hand, Ge Congzhou, Lin Yan, and Meng Kai led more than a thousand soldiers and horses. They were all transferred to Lin Yan's front compartment.At this time, the arrows are raining down, and you don't care about the accuracy, just bow and arrow nervously.

On the narrow streets, the cavalry of the Tianping Army did not have much advantage. They were separated and fought desperately with the Cao Army.

The newly defeated division of the Tianping Army had no intention of fighting after the ambush, and was only worried about the wolves and tigers chasing and killing them.After a lot of fighting, Cao Cunshi broke through the siege again, protecting Xue Chong and escaped from the city.Fleeing all the way to Jeju, Ge Cong and Zhou Linyan chased him for a while, but he couldn't catch up, so he withdrew his troops and returned to the city.

Xue Chong and others fled continuously for a whole day and night before they fled back to Pingyin County by the Jishui River in Jeju.Counting the men and horses, there were [-] elite soldiers and horses, [-] infantry and [-] cavalry. As a result, only [-] cavalry were left in Pingyin City.After being frightened in Pingyin for a day, the grass thief did not come to Jeju, but Cao Quanzhang recruited and wiped out all kinds of small groups of thieves along the way, and led his troops to Pingyin City.

As soon as he entered the city, Cao Quan was stunned when he saw Xue Chong returning after a big defeat.This is an elite of [-] people. Without this team, the Tianping Army is really about to be slaughtered.Xue Chongjing was terrified by this battle, and immediately asked Cao Quanzhen to lead his troops back to Yuncheng together. At this time, he couldn't control the matter of attacking troops that he had originally agreed with Li Xi of the Taining Army.

As soon as Xue Chonggang returned to Yuncheng, he was immediately informed that the grass bandit and Wang Jingwu's army had not returned to Jeju after defeating his Tianping army in Langhu Valley because they had gone to Yizhou.On the second day after his defeat, the grass bandits joined forces with Wang Jingwu's rebel army and defeated the [-] Taining army led by Li Xi at the foot of Xintai City on the border between Yizhou and Yanzhou, south of Langhu Valley.Li's entire army was wiped out, and he only led dozens of cavalry to flee south into Yizhou City. The grass army pursued them all the way, and now Yizhou has been besieged! (To be continued.)