With the assistance of Ling Zhen and Xu Ning, Shi Jin defeated Hu Yanzhuo's chain armor and horse formation in one fell swoop, captured the victorious general Han Tao, obtained more than two thousand sets of chain armor and horses, countless weapons and armors, and captured a thousand chain armor soldiers. The remaining people besieged and surrendered more than 5,000 imperial troops. Even though several obstacles were placed on Hu Yanzhuo's escape route, Hu Yanzhuo was still allowed to escape in the end.
Shi Jin held a grand banquet, firstly to celebrate the generals who defeated the enemy, and secondly, to celebrate the new generals Lulin accepted, Xu Ning, Ling Zhen, Han Tao, Peng Wei, Tang Long.
Just when all the brothers were gathering together, Kui Er asked Shi Jin privately: "Commander, the brothers who were sent out have all returned. However, why don't you see brother Shi Qian? He should have been with Tang Long that day." Xu Ning came back, but now..."
When Shi Jin heard this, he raised his hand to stop what he was saying, paused, smiled slightly, looked back at Kui Er, and responded in a low voice: "I'm going to Liangshan."
When Kui Er heard this, he knew that he shouldn't know. Shi Jin was extremely trusting by saying this, so Kui Er stopped asking any more.
Shi Jin raised his glass and exchanged glasses with his brothers, and drank a round.
When Wu Song was drinking wine, he asked Shi Jin: "Commander, Hu Yanzhuo is a general. Why didn't you capture him, but you ordered our generals to let him go on purpose?"
Shi Jin smiled and said nothing, and looked at Wu Yong. Wu Yong smiled and said: "I remember when Hu Yanzhuo came, the commander looked back and said to me, this man is a general, breaking the formation is the second best. , specifically asked me to surrender this person for my own use." After saying this, Wu Yong laughed at himself and said: "I really don't have the ability to break the formation, and I have to surrender, but I still have two brushes. Everyone knows that Hu Yanzhuo is After the general, according to his temperament, it is not easy to kill him, and it is even harder to surrender him. Therefore, I gave the commander an idea, which is to attack the heart first."
"Attack the heart," everyone looked at Wu Yong.
Wu Yongdao: "There are so many experts in our Green Forest Army. Whether it was the previous wheel battle or the recent blockade, the brothers were just taking turns with Hu Yanzhuo. Killing the enemy depends on the sharp blade in your hand, but attacking the heart often depends on it." Renyi, we leave him a way out, just to prevent him from being too embarrassed by Hu Yanzhuo's defeat. At the same time, we also want him to understand in his heart that our Green Forest Army is powerful, and we have left enough room and affection. Whether he returns or not, we must It depends on our reputation among the people,"
Everyone nodded after hearing this.
Lin Chong said: "Now that Hu Yanzhuo has taken tens of thousands of the remaining soldiers of the Forbidden Army to the northeast and merged with Chang'an, when will we set off to capture Chang'an in one fell swoop and put an end to the problem?"
Shi Jin put down the wine bowl, picked up his chopsticks and pointed at the plate in front of him and said: "Don't worry, Chang'an now is like the meat on this plate. It can't escape if you put it there, but if you want to eat it, But it’s not easy. If you eat it at the wrong time, it’s not only easy to burn your mouth, but even if you swallow it, you can’t digest it. In the end, you will still have vomiting and diarrhea, which will be troublesome later.”
"The commander-in-chief means..."
"Yes, give Hu Yanzhuo some time, and give us some time. There are now Forbidden Army stationed in the city and reinforcements sent later, as well as the remaining tens of thousands of Forbidden Army under Hu Yanzhuo's command. The total number of these troops is thirty to forty thousand. , In addition, Chang'an is an important town in the northwest of the Song Dynasty. The city is more than five feet high and extremely strong. It is divided into eight gates. Above it are bows and arrows, rolling stones, wood, ash bottles, and hot oil. Everything is available. Outside the city is a circle. The moat is three feet wide, and the city area is very large, larger than two Xianyangs. Judging from the information we have at hand, if we want to eat Chang'an in one bite, I'm afraid it's still a little short of a fire."
"In that case, wouldn't it mean that Hu Yanzhuo should not be allowed to go back? Letting him go to Chang'an is like letting the tiger go back to the mountain," Wu Song said.
"No, I don't think Hu Yanzhuo is a person who is ignorant of current affairs. Now he still has obsessions. He has never thought about it, and naturally he will not ask himself whether he is loyal to the Song Dynasty court or to the people of the world. What he wants Everything we fight for is for the emperor alone, or for the people of Ming Dynasty. We are fighting with him, and he will have conflicts in his heart. When he figures it out, maybe he will help us at the critical moment." After Wu Yong said it, everyone seemed to understand.
[Somewhere in the wilds of Jingzhao Prefecture]
It is said that Hu Yanzhuo lost many soldiers and horses of the imperial army and did not dare to return to the capital. He had no deputy generals on his left and right, so he had to lead more than 10,000 remaining soldiers by himself. Hu Yanzhuo rode the black horse that kicked the snow and tied all his clothes and armor. Immediately, he fled on the road. However, he was chased by the Green Forest Army and changed his escape route. Not only did he get separated from his deputy Han Tao, but he also had no idea of his location. He was leading a large group of people and he didn't even know when he wanted to go to Chang'an. The road is where to go, but the marching map was left in the Chinese army's tent without being taken out or mentioned. There is no village or shop in front of or behind, and there is no place to ask for directions in the wilderness.
The anguish in Hu Yanzhuo's heart made him secretly miserable. He had no choice but to lead his men along the path. No matter he was going in the wrong direction or lost his way, he just kept running. In less than half an hour, it turned out to be a thorny road. As we walked less and less, our sight became wider. Looking from a distance, we saw a tall wine flag. Hu Yanzhuo and the others had not touched a grain of rice since they got up at the fifth watch. After this fierce battle, even more Hu Yanzhuo was so hungry and thirsty that he was afraid that the Imperial Army would do something to harm the people under such circumstances, so he immediately gathered his troops and made a three-chapter agreement, stating his rules in front of him, and at the same time, he also promised that everyone would be fed and drunk. After all the Imperial Guards heard this, Hu Yanzhuo started his horse again and galloped towards the place where the wine flag was flying.
This was a village hotel close to the roadside. Huyanzhuo was afraid that the imperial army's invasion would cause unnecessary panic among the local people, so he stopped his troops on the roadside a hundred steps away and came over first with a few soldiers.
Hu Yanzhuo and several soldiers dismounted at the door of the store, tied the horses to the tree in front of the door, came in, put the whip on the table, sat down, and asked the bartender to bring wine and meat to eat. The bartender saw Hu Yanzhuo Looking at their attire, they knew that these people had a good background and were all military lords. They complained in their hearts and did not dare to treat them lightly. Needless to say, they were busy and busy.
The bartender Nuonuo walked up to Hu Yanzhuo, humbled himself and said: "This military master, it's not that I don't want to sell it to you. It's actually... I only sell wine here. If you want meat... you can only You don’t kill the sheep until you reach the village. If you want to eat them, the villain has to go back and buy them again.”
When Hu Yanzhuo heard this, he suddenly remembered that when he came out of the camp in a hurry, he didn't have any money around him. He gritted his teeth and took off his gold belt. The bartender covered his face and went to He took two steps back.
Hu Yanzhuo couldn't help but feel a little strange after seeing it. He handed the golden belt to the waiter in the shop and said: "Second servant, what are you afraid of?"
The waiter at the shop didn't dare to pick him up, so he said in a low voice, "I'm afraid of making the military master angry, so I just thought I was going to beat him."
"Hi,,," Hu Yanzhuo took a step forward, handed the gold belt to the waiter, and said, "I'm a little embarrassed today. I don't have any money with me. I wonder if this is worth the money."
The kid looked at Hu Yanzhuo, as if he was making fun of him. Then he slowly took it in his hand and said, "It's worth it, it's worth it. I'll do it right away."
"Slow down," Hu Yanzhuo stopped the waiter.
The waiter's steps that he had just taken suddenly became stiff, and there was an indescribable embarrassment on his face, and he turned around. At this time, the shopkeeper also hurriedly walked out from behind the counter and took the hand from the kid. He took the gold belt and obediently brought it back to Hu Yanzhuo, and apologized repeatedly: "Sir, don't be the same as him. You are new and ignorant. You can eat whatever you like."
Hu Yanzhuo frowned, tilted his head and looked at the shopkeeper, and said, "Normally, when a sergeant comes here to have a drink, he won't pay for it?"
The shopkeeper didn't understand what Hu Yanzhuo meant, but he saw that this armor was unusual, so he carefully apologized and said: "Of course I can't compare with the general. I will order the cow to be slaughtered and eaten with the general."
"Wait a minute," Hu Yanzhuo knew without asking. It must be the local defenders who come to have a drink on weekdays and don't pay for the drinks. That's why the store is so accommodating. Hu Yanzhuo said: "Don't be afraid of the store, this belt You should keep it first, and I will surely redeem it someday. I won’t owe you the money for the wine. I don’t know where this place is, or how far it is from Chang’an City.”
After hearing this, the shopkeeper dared to accept it and immediately replied: "This is Licun, which belongs to the territory of Chang'an. Not far away is Niushou Mountain."
"Ah," Hu Yanzhuo couldn't help being shocked after hearing this. It turned out that after half a day of panic, he was almost entering the territory of Hu County. This place is not far from Chang'an, but it is not close either. It is at the very end of Chang'an. To the south, because this generation of mountains and forests are dense, if we take the main road to go back, we have to go back no matter what, and walk for half a day. If we do this, we are afraid that we will have to take the road at night, which is not good for the march of the army. We can only go back tonight Let's rest here and go to Chang'an at dawn tomorrow.
"I wonder who is the security guard of Li Village," Hu Yanzhuo asked.
The shopkeeper said: "Of course it's Mr. Li."
"Excuse me, please go and ask Taigong Li to come to the store for a while," Hu Yanzhuo said.
The shopkeeper nodded, asked the waiter to serve the wine first, and hurried to Licun.
Before he could burn a stick of incense, Li Taigong, the Baozheng of Licun, came. When he entered the store, he saw an officer who looked like a general sitting in the store, so he came up to make a ceremony.
Hu Yanzhuo invited Na Baozheng to sit down and said, "Tai Gong Li, I am the general sent by the imperial court to stop the bandit army. I fell into the traitor's trick and had to retreat here. I should have gone back to Chang'an, but I didn't want to go on an errand." Luzi, I’m afraid I’ll bother Taigong Li again tonight,”
"Don't say this, please go and have a drink at the manor, general," Taigong Li said as he thought there were only a few people in Hu Yanzhuo.
Hu Yanzhuo smiled and said: "I will rest here tonight, but I still have ten thousand soldiers and horses under my command. I don't know how much food is left in the village. Can you borrow some food and grass to use with my soldiers and horses? When I return to Chang'an, Send someone to make up for it immediately,"
After hearing this, Taigong Li felt a little hesitant and felt even more embarrassed. The war was in chaos right now. To be honest, food and grass were scarcer than money. This officer could eat ten thousand soldiers and horses twice and still not eat up all the food in the village. If this guy After patting the horse, where should I go to ask for it? Besides, this is a defeated general sent by the imperial court. He cannot resist the Green Forest Army. Sooner or later, Chang'an will be ruled by the Green Forest Army. By then, this food and grass will be of no use, but , If you don't take it out now... Li Taigong didn't say anything. He looked at Hu Yanzhuo with dry eyes, feeling really embarrassed and speechless.
Hu Yanzhuo looked at it and said immediately: "Don't worry, Grandfather, I will send people to return them in full as soon as I return to Chang'an."
"This..." Mr. Li smiled awkwardly.
Hu Yanzhuo said: "The soldiers and horses under my command have fought bloody battles to stop the Green Forest Army. They have been without water for most of the day. Now there are tens of thousands of people and horses, and I am stationed on the road outside. I am afraid of shocking the villagers. , Secondly..." Hu Yanzhuo smiled at this and said: "You also know that when people are hungry, they can do anything. I am afraid that I will lose control for a moment and harm the folks in the village, so..."
Hu Yanzhuo's words were polite and military. When he said this, Taigong Li could feel cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He didn't care about the future at the moment. He said repeatedly: "General, don't worry, although the food is not much, we will have enough food." , I will send people to the camp when I have enough control.”
After hearing this, Hu Yanzhuo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He thanked Baozheng and sent Baozheng back to the village to carry grain and supply food for more than 10,000 forbidden troops. This was not a problem.