The camp of the Zhe family army is on the east bank, and the camp of the Zhong family army is on the west bank.
Hearing that the Zhong family army had been raided and suffered heavy losses, Zhe Keqiu was even a little happy, because it would give him an excuse to withdraw his troops.
The two families are different, Zheshi is a real warlord.
They have been running Fugu since the Five Dynasties. In order to guard against foreigners, the Song Dynasty court always put the Zhe family on the front line. The Zhe family not only consolidated their territory for generations, but also married their daughters to other generals, such as She in "The Yang Family"
Lao Taijun should actually be called "Old Taijun Zhe".
Wherever there is territory, there is ambition. Historically, after a low price, he even wanted to compete for the position of the pseudo-Qi emperor.
Zhe Keqiu took a boat across the river and went to visit the Zhongjia army camp in a pretense. Seeing that everyone here was in danger, Zhe Keqiu sighed: "The soldiers are so scared, how can we fight? We didn't have a lot of people who escaped last night?"
Zhong Shidao said: "There is only one way to escape, most likely to the grain station further north. I have sent people to recall the defeated troops."
Zhe Keqiu said nothing. He found it difficult to understand the stupid loyalty of the Zhong family.
The Zhong family has been like this for generations. The Zhong family's children have died in battle one after another. Over the past hundred years, dozens of people have been stained with blood on the battlefield. Now, the number of male members in the family has been reduced.
After discussing some countermeasures, we might as well take a boat back to the east coast.
Not long after, rebels came by boat and fired letters at the military camps on both sides of the strait.
After Zhe Keqiu read it, he said to his younger brother Zhe Kecun: "This is not a letter to persuade you to surrender. You can read it yourself."
Zhe Kecun took it and read it: "This is a disaster. If the court finds out, my family will be afraid."
"As long as the prefecture is still in the hands of the Zhe family, the Zhe family has military power. What can the court do if they are afraid of it?" Zhe Keqiu sneered.
Zhe Kecun said: "This is obviously a divorce plan!"
Zhe Keqiu shook his head: "It's not that simple. The purpose of the surname Zhu is quite deep. It is already preparing to seize the world."
The content of the letter from Ju Ming was very simple. He first expressed his respect for the Zhe family and enumerated the illustrious military exploits of the Zhe family's ancestors. Then he said that the war was over and he planned to negotiate peace with the court. He would then ask the emperor to grant a marriage. Ju Ming planned to marry the daughter of the Zhe family.
.
The first is estrangement. If the content of the letter spreads, there will definitely be rumors that the Zhe family is colluding with bandits.
The second is to appease, in order to express goodwill to the Zhe family and allow the Zhe family army to give up resistance and escape early.
The third is to win over, hoping that the Zhe family will double their bets and send their daughter to be the future imperial concubine of the new dynasty.
The fourth is the layout. If you marry the daughter of a general of the Western Army, you will be a family from now on, and you will no longer have to worry about the threat from Shaanxi. Once there are changes in the north, these generals can take advantage of the situation and join Ju Ming.
Zhe Keqiu was already moved. The red thieves were very powerful. The separatist rule of Sichuan was a foregone conclusion. He might even be able to become emperor in the future.
I married my granddaughter, and as long as the red thief is not eliminated, the court will not dare to do anything to the family.
The bigger the ruckus caused by the red thieves, the more the court wanted to appease the Zhe family!
Over at Zhong Shi Dao, I also received a letter from Ju Ming.
"This Zhu Ming is so resourceful." Although Zhong Shidao was angry, he was so angry that he had no temper. Instead, he began to admire Ju Ming's resourcefulness.
Zhong Hao said: "The red thief sent over hundreds of letters, and the literate officers also opened some and read some. Now someone has spread in the army that our Zhong family wants to marry their daughter to the red thief. What else can they say about the two families?
As a family, we don’t have to fight desperately anymore.”
Zhong Shidao lamented: "I am afraid that it will spread to the ears of the imperial court, and the rumors of Zhong family colluding with bandits will be further confirmed."
The Zhe family has a fixed territory, so of course they are not afraid of the imperial court's manipulation.
The Zhong family did not have such a deep foundation. Although they had always suppressed the Zhe family due to their positions, the court could deal with them at will.
The content of the letter spread, and coupled with the defeat, Zhong Shi Dao, Zhong Shi Zhong will no longer be able to lead the army in the future.
On the south bank of the Shahe River, the rebels were gathering more and more, and it was obvious that they were going to attack the Zhong Family Army, while the Fang Zhe Family Army was only defending from the plank road.
Master Zhongdao issued an order to Zhe Keqiu, asking half of the Zhe family's army to come over and jointly defend the camp on the north bank of the Shah River.
However, Zhe Keqiu sent someone to reply: "The Zhejia army must also stick to the east bank. The morale of the Zhejia army is low and the morale of the army is unstable. It is difficult to send troops to the west bank to support the friendly forces. The enemy navy is powerful. If the Zhejia army crosses the river to support them, they may be killed in the river.
The thieves were defeated."
It was just an excuse. If you were afraid of the rebel navy, you could just cross the river quietly further upstream.
Such a reply made Zhong Shidao furious: "Zhe Keqiu, this person, doesn't obey military orders and is so ambitious!"
Zhe Keqiu wanted to withdraw his troops early and just wanted to preserve his strength.
The letter sent by Ju Ming strengthened his plan and even made Zhe Keqiu have a fantasy.
At this point, the Western Army in front of them finally split up. The Zhejia Army, which had more strength, no longer joined the battle, and only the Zhongjia Army, which had suffered a heavy loss in strength, still wanted to hold on.
Ju Ming stood on the river bank, observing the enemy's movements with a telescope, and saw only sporadic small boats coming and going.
He also sent several warships to patrol upstream every day, but the Zhejia army showed no signs of crossing the river.
"Seed, defeat two generals, and the separation is successful." Zhu Ming said with a smile.
Shi Yuangong flattered him and said: "The general's clever plan, I never thought of asking to marry the general's daughter."
Zhang Bor suddenly said: "The more I think about it, the more absurd it becomes. We are rebels. After winning the war, we neither plan to proclaim ourselves emperor nor minister. We still have to negotiate peace with the court, and we also ask to marry princesses and generals' daughters."
Can the court agree?"
Zhu Ming said: "The Hunjun will agree. Even if I help my father ask for a concubine, Zhao Ji will obediently send his beloved concubine. The premise is that he leads the troops to kill Tongguan!"
It is a pity that the Concubine Liu Guixiang whom Zhu Guoxiang liked died of illness two years ago.
A total of six pig iron cannons weighing more than 2,000 kilograms were gradually transported to the south bank of Shahe River by boat.
The artillery position was set up and the artillery was lined up.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The six artillery pieces did not fire in a salvo, but fired in rotation to ensure continuous bombardment as much as possible. The target was the Western Army camp in the distance.
Thirty squatting tiger guns were also firing in rotation, targeting the nearby Western Army fortifications.
In front of the artillery position, an earth wall was built, with only the gap of the gun barrel exposed, to prevent the Western Army from counterattacking with crossbows.
The damage caused is actually not great, because it is all blind shooting.
But the pressure on the Western Army was too great. The shells from the six artillery pieces fell directly into the Western Army's camp, hitting two or three people from time to time.
Due to the terrain, Zhongshidao could not retreat because there was a lack of place to set up camp. If he wanted to retreat at this time, he would have to retreat more than ten miles and give up the mouth of the Shahe River in vain.
Moreover, if you are chased by the rebels during your retreat, the whole army will easily collapse!
The shelling continued intermittently for half a day, taking a break when the barrel was hot.
The soldiers of the Zhong family were having trouble living in their own camp. They sat or lay down close to the hillside, and no one even dared to stand casually in the camp.
Zhong Shidao ordered the civilians to dig trenches, hoping that the soldiers would hide in the trenches.
However, there are many rocks on the shore, and it is extremely difficult to dig trenches. It is much more difficult than Ju Ming to build earthen walls for artillery positions.
"Withdraw the troops tonight, I don't care about your life." Zhong Shidao finally took the risk. It doesn't matter if he is dismissed from office, and it doesn't matter if the Zhong family's children are suppressed. This remaining Western Army must be brought back.
If Zhe Keqiu works together to kill the thief, Zhongshi Dao may still persist.
But the Zhe family army is obviously watching the show, so how can Zhongshi Dao have any chance of winning?
After a whole day of shelling, Ju Ming felt that the enemy's morale had almost dropped, so he also ordered: "The whole army should rest and launch an attack at night."
After nightfall, the Zhong family army began to retreat in an orderly manner, without even saying hello to Zhe Keqiu in advance.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The Zhongjia army had only withdrawn more than a thousand people, and suddenly the sound of artillery started again.
The Zhong family troops who had gathered together waiting to evacuate were suddenly hit by a cannonball among the crowd. In the darkness, it was unclear how many people were killed and wounded by the ricochet of the cannonball.
Cries continued to be heard, and the soldiers dispersed in panic.
The reason why I haven't escaped at this time is because there is no place to escape. The passage ahead is very narrow and is blocked by the evacuating troops.
The Crouching Tiger Artillery was also firing towards the north bank of the Shah River, which was to cover the rebels' crossing of the river.
When the rebels were on the south bank of the Shah River further upstream and were ready to cross the river, they immediately beat drums to convey the news.
All the Tiger Crouching Cannons stopped firing, and the rebels floated down from the upper reaches of the Shah River in small boats. Another group of rebels came up from the Baoshui River in large boats, aiming at the riverside position of the Zhongjia Army that had just been shelled.
And the six cannons were still firing towards the Zhong family military camp in the distance.
"Dong dong dong dong!"
The dull sound of drums was like a reminder. The Zhong family army responsible for defending the river bank had just been attacked by several rounds of squatting tiger artillery. Now facing the rebels crossing the river and landing on the bank, they were so frightened that they all collapsed and fled.
The Zhongjia army was retreating in an orderly manner and was bombarded, causing some chaos, but Zhongshidao was able to manage to contain it.
But the rebel army crossed the river and chased the defeated troops, and the main force of the Zhong family army finally collapsed.
Some people squeezed desperately into the narrow passage, some lost their minds and climbed the cliff. Some people remember that the rebels did not kill the prisoners, but threw away their weapons and lay in the corner waiting to surrender.
Even the soldiers who were responsible for burning the grain and grass threw away their torches and ran away. The more clever ones stayed beside the grain and grass, hoping to dedicate it to the rebels to claim credit.
The Zhong family's father and son were also blocked and had no way of escaping.
Many soldiers of various clans were pushing each other in the narrow passage, and the sound of falling water kept coming, and the soldiers fell into the water like dumplings.
"You go to the front to enforce discipline and let the soldiers line up to retreat. I will lead the troops to break up the rear!" Zhong Shidao said to his son and nephews.
At this time, not caring about nonsense, the sons and nephews of the Zhong family all obeyed the order and went to carry out the execution with their own soldiers.
The Zhong family army's camp was in chaos, and the generals could only barely restrain their own soldiers, and were unable to command ordinary soldiers at all.
The shelling finally stopped completely, but soon the rebels came again.
Zhong Shidao led his own soldiers to break up the rear, but they were defeated as soon as they met, even before the battle started. The soldiers quickly ran away with Zhong Shidao on their backs.
One after another, the Zhongjia troops knelt down and surrendered. Ju Ming's effect of not killing the prisoners showed that these Zhongjia troops surrendered without any worries. They just wanted to surrender quickly and be returned to their hometown in Shaanxi by General Zhu.
"Run quickly, don't burn the food and grass, take as much as you can, and leave the rest as a favor to the rebels!"
Zhe Keqiu heard the movement on the other side and knew that the Zhong family's army was definitely doomed. He immediately ordered the entire army to flee, and even deliberately left food and fodder for the rebels.