Late Tang

(Thanks to Lao Tzu for the monthly ticket for the book shortage, and thanks to Mengmengmengmeng, 72 stunts, and Lieutenant Lanyan for their birthday blessings and birthday red envelopes!)

Huang Chao was defeated and returned to Juancheng, Puzhou, where he summoned the generals to discuss matters.Counselor Zhao Zhang said: "At present, although the officers and troops of the six towns have been burned by our army, they have to retreat to Caozhou Jiyin temporarily even though they have won the victory. The morale of the people is panicked, especially when the king's capital leads the cavalry to go south alone, and the morale of the army is even weaker. There are six towns in the west, and six towns in the east. The east and north sides are not allowed to go, and now the officers and soldiers of the six towns in the west should retreat, and immediately lead the troops to the south and leave this place."

Another adviser, Gai Hong, immediately retorted, "You can't go south. If you want to go south from Puzhou, you must first pass through Cao and Yanzhou. Right now, Baigou and Sishui are intercepted by the government army. There are six towns in Caozhou. Yanzhou also has the Taining army, not to mention that both Song and Xu states have soldiers and horses stationed there. Going south is not a good strategy at this time. Some people think that it is better to go east. According to the report from the explorer, Wang Jingwu of Qizhou recently fought against the Pinglu army and won consecutive battles. You can go to the rendezvous."

"Brother Gai, don't forget that there are Li Jing and Zhen [***] to the east!" Zhao Zhang said.

Huang Chao's complexion was very bad, pale and bloodless, this time the defeat hit him hard.Hearing the non-stop arguments of the two advisers under him, he frowned impatiently, but when he looked up, he happened to see Zhu Wen sitting there solemnly, watching his nose, mouth and heart.He couldn't help but said, "Brother Zhu, which way do you think we should go?"

"I thought I could go east!"

"What is the basis?"

Zhu Wen sorted out his thoughts and replied seriously: "The current situation, I think it is not appropriate to go south. To go south, you have to go through Cao and Yanzhou, and even Song and Xu. We won’t retreat for a while. If we send them to our door, they will be very eager. We have just fought two consecutive battles with the troops of the Six Towns, and now we have suffered heavy casualties.

After a pause, Zhu Wen also spoke more and more fluently, "But going to the east is different. General Gai also said just now that Wang Jingwu of Qizhou is now gaining momentum with successive battles and victories. Now we will meet Wang Jingwu in the east. It only takes time. Besides, compared with Caozhou's [-] officers and troops, we go east and face very few officers and troops. Right now, the soldiers and horses of the three towns of Tianping, Zhenguo, and Taining in the east are defending in the east. intercepted, but they were very separated. Zhen[***] is the strongest, but it is stationed in Qianfu City by the Xiawen River of Mount Tai. We don't have to face him, we can directly follow Jishui from the Tianping Army's defense area After passing by, Xue Neng of the Tianping Army has very few soldiers and horses, and he is a bit reluctant to hold on to Yuncheng, so he can't stop us."

"Will Li Jing sit and watch us pass?" Huang Chao asked worriedly.When facing the Allied Forces of the Six Towns, he still dared to muster up the courage to attack at night with the whole army.But if it is Li Jing's town [***], he has a lot of worries.The name of a person, the shadow of a tree, Li Jing's fame is too great.

Zhu Wen chuckled: "Commander, I think that as long as we don't go to Qianfu City in Yanzhou and choose the Xue Chong tribe of Yunzhou to break through, Li Jing will never come to stop us."

Huang Chao was surprised, "Why?"

"I also stayed in the town [***] for a while. Although it wasn't long, I knew a thing or two about Li Jing's use of troops. Li Jing has always used soldiers without seeing rabbits or hawks. He likes to have a clear purpose. , pay attention to the strategic layout. For the sake of the overall strategic plan, he can even neglect to give up many tactical successes that are contrary to the overall strategy. In the current situation, I think that eliminating us will not be of much benefit to him, so he does not They will send troops to intercept us."

The words strategy and tactics are very fresh, but when Zhu Wen carefully explained these new words learned in the town [***], everyone felt that these words were very reasonable.Especially the fact that Zhen [***] defeated the grass army before, but let Wang Xianzhi escape, which made Huang Chao somewhat believe it.

Clenching his fists, Huang Chao frowned in thought. After a long time, he finally slammed his fist on the case and said loudly: "The whole army goes east!" It was still defeated, but in fact it can also be said that it was a victory, at least the officer army was repelled.Now, he wants to gamble again, betting that Li Jing will really not come to intercept him.

Immediately, Huang Chao ransacked Juancheng, took all the gold, silk, money, food, young and strong men and women in the city, and marched eastward.

Not far from Juancheng, Yuncheng, the prefecture of Yunzhou on the north bank of Juyeze!

Xue Chong, the governor of the Tianping Army, heard that Huang Chao was approaching, and hurriedly summoned the generals to discuss strategies to defend against the enemy.

Xue Chong covered his head and said weakly: "Marshal Li of Zhen [***] has sent an envoy to convey the military order of Ximen Dujian. We don't have to stop the grass thief and prevent them from fleeing eastward. Li Zhenguo is currently stationed in Qianfeng City, Yanzhou. , stick to the front line of Wenshui. Taining army commander Li is stationed in Xiaqiu, Yanzhou, and sticks to the front line of Surabaya. Our Tianping army must stick to the front line of Jishui. Now, the grass thief Wang Xianzhi is leading his troops to flee south, heading for Taining The army is gone, but Huang Chao is leading his troops to the east and is heading straight for us. Please tell me, how should we deal with it?"

Everyone in the yamen knew that Cao Quanzhen, the envoy of soldiers and horses, said directly: "Although the yellow thieves were defeated and fled to the east, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Our army is currently insufficient in strength, so we have to hold deep trenches and high fortifications to resist them. In less than half a month, when the supplies of his troops are exhausted, and the generals and soldiers of Caozhou and Yanzhou will come together, then the rebels will be defeated. Then our army will go out of the city and lead our troops to pursue them, and we will be invincible."

Xue Chong was disappointed when he heard the words. He had been defeated by grass bandits several times before, and almost all the Tianping army fell into the hands of bandits.Xue Chong knew very well that once the grass thieves were wiped out, he would definitely be punished by Qiuhou, and he might be locked up and taken to Beijing for interrogation.Therefore, Xue Chong knew very well that unless he could win a big battle now, otherwise, even if he followed Cao Quanzhen's instructions, it would be difficult to wash away his guilt.

"Cao Xianfeng, do you have a good strategy?" Xue Chong looked at Cao Cunshi, hoping that this young general who has always been aggressive can put forward different opinions.

Cao Cunshi urged to send troops last time, but the result was that the eight thousand elite Tianping troops were wiped out. This time has been decadent.Hearing Jie Shuai's suggestive words right now, he couldn't help but said: "The grass bandit has just been defeated and fled in a hurry. This is the time to wipe out the grass bandit in one fell swoop. I am willing to lead the soldiers and horses in the city out of the city to ambush the grass bandit, and kill the yellow bandit immediately. The head of the thief, dedicated to my subordinates!"

Cao Quanzhen was furious, "Don't talk nonsense, Lizi, if you leave the city today, you will be defeated."

Cao Cunshi said coldly: "If my army is defeated, I would rather beheaded!"

Cao Quanzhen didn't expect his nephew to be so extreme, so he could only let out a long sigh.However, he still tried to persuade him a few words, and after no success, he made a plan for his nephew, "There is Liangshan Mountain in the north of Yuncheng and on the north bank of Jishui River. The road is steep and steep, and you can ambush your troops here."

Xue Chongnai handed over Yuncheng to Cao Quanzhu, leaving only five hundred old and weaker than him.Zi and Cao Cunshi led 3000 troops to ambush at the foot of Liangshan.

In the afternoon of the next day, Huang Chao led his army to the city of Yuncheng.Cao Quanzhen, with his helmet on and his armor on, sat on the top of the city himself, with flags planted all over the city, and there were many people.Huang Chao looked at the city and saw that the flags were heavily guarded, so he had no intention of attacking the city.Seeing that the top of the city was closed and defended, there was a loud voice, "Xue Chong is incompetent, he is as cowardly as a mouse!" Huang Chao's army swaggered under the city for a while, and then went straight to the east.

The grass army passed under the city of Yunzhou swaggeringly, and no one in the city dared to leave the city.Cao Jun couldn't help laughing out loud, feeling somewhat complacent.At night, the grass army set up camp on the spot.

At the fourth watch of the night, Xue Chong, Cao Cunshi, Cao Xiang, Cao Yi and others led three thousand soldiers and horses to rush out from the back of the mountain, and went straight to the grass army camp.The Cao army was raided, and there was chaos in the camp. Cao Cunshi and others just rushed around.

Huang Chao woke up from his sleep. Hearing Tianping's army attacking the camp, he couldn't help being furious. Zhu Wen rushed to the horse and said, "I am willing to take Xue Chong's head for the commander-in-chief!"

The three of Zhu Wen and his headquarters were originally stationed in the rear team, but they were not dispersed at this time, so they ordered all the headquarters to attack all the way.Cao Quan's eldest son, Cao Yi, was leading his troops to kill, and the two fought in a melee.Zhu Wen had already seen that Cao Yi was wearing precious armor, and he must be the leader of the army, so he rode his horse and drew his gun to kill him.Cao Yi was seventeen years old, brave and invincible.Zhu Wen deceived him when he was young, so he came to stab him with a spear, but after a short fight, he was stabbed by Cao Yi and fell off the horse.

Cao Yi was about to take Zhu Wen's head, but Zhu Zhen had already arrived and shouted, "Don't hurt my brother!"

The two fought several times, Zhu Zhen was also stabbed off the horse, Zhu Cun rushed to the horse again, Zhu Wen and Zhu Cun got on the horse one after another, the injuries were not serious, the three surrounded Cao Yi and fought together.Unexpectedly, Cao Yi was so brave that none of the three were opponents.At the time of Guan Jian, Zhu Wen saw an opening, pressed a hidden crossbow hidden in the sleeve on his right arm, and hit Cao Yi's face with the crossbow.

Cao Yi fell off his horse, Zhu Zhen and Zhu Cun rushed forward, and each of them shot Cao Yi dead.

As soon as Cao Yi died, the soldiers and horse sergeants of the first battalion under his command had no owner, and they quickly fled under the cover of the army led by Zhu and Wen.Zhu and Wen took advantage of the momentum to pursue and kill Xue Chong, Cao Cunshi, Cao Xiang and others were blocked by the generals of the Cao army. At this time, they were rushed by the rear army of the Cao army and were immediately defeated. Seeing that the momentum was not good from a distance, he quickly led [-] soldiers out of the city to respond, and after a while of fighting, Xue Chong, Cao Cunshi, and Cao Xiang were finally connected to the city.

The [-] soldiers who left the city, plus the [-] soldiers of Cao Quanzhen, had less than [-] soldiers when they returned.

Huang Chao had already interrogated the captives at this time, and knowing that the defense of Yuncheng was empty, he took advantage of the victory to attack the city.After Cao Quanzhen returned to the city, he heard that his eldest son had died in the rebellion army, and immediately passed out.The grass army attacked the city outside the city, and Cao Quanzhen was unconscious again. Xue Chong was so terrified that he refused to defend, so he ordered people to open the south gate. The boat fled directly into the Daze.

There was no owner in Yuncheng, and there was chaos for a while, and the defenders did not hold for long. When it was almost dawn, Yuncheng was attacked by the grass army.Tens of thousands of grass troops poured into Yuncheng, looted and burned, and the city of Yunzhou was turned into ruins. After Huang Chao robbed the city of money, food, gold and silk, young and strong men and women, as well as armaments and armor, he ordered to set fire to Yunzhou City, and then engulfed the population, transported the looted money, food and luggage, and continued to flee to Jeju in the northeast along the Jishui River. (To be continued.)