The three thousand elites who quietly returned from Guoxian County have never shown their faces and are hiding behind Ju Ming's camp.
The place where soldiers are hidden is called Wuzhangyuan!
The long and narrow remnants of the Qinling Mountains extending to the north, together with the Xieshui River, form a semi-enclosed terrain, and can also be effectively connected to the Xiegu Pass. This is a natural place for garrisoning troops. If Ju Ming had not wanted to block the Wei River, he would have definitely blocked the Wei River.
The camp was set up in the safer Wuzhangyuan.
As long as the defenders of Yi County dare to leave the city for a decisive battle, and Ju Ming relies on the camp to hold on for a while, the three thousand elite soldiers hiding in Wuzhangyuan will quickly cross the river and appear on the side of the battlefield.
Unfortunately, among the Zhong divisions, Liu Xi and Liu Qi were too cautious and were never willing to lead troops in a decisive battle.
In other words, they have too many worries and have to choose to act cautiously.
The three of them were all complaining about Gao Qiu. What could Fengxiang have to defend? He had to set up the commander's mansion there.
If Gao Qiu moves to Yi County, the Western Army will become more proactive in an instant. Especially the two thousand heavily armored Forbidden Army, which can be called a killer weapon on the battlefield, will not be brought to the front to fight, but will hide in the rear and eat dust.
A galloping horse rushed from the north, bringing news that Captain Gao was going to Chang'an to recruit troops.
Among the masters, Liu Xi and Liu Qi were momentarily stunned, so why did Fengxiang Fucheng disappear inexplicably?
There are two thousand heavily armored imperial troops there. The bandits are attacked from both sides and they dare not send too many troops to attack the city. How can this damn thing be defeated quickly?
The three guards all sat silently.
Liu Guangzu, the guard general of Luogu Pass who was released after being released, couldn't help but murmured in a low voice: "Since Captain Gao has run away, it's useless to guard Xi County. It's better to move to Chang'an to guard against bandits wreaking havoc in Guanzhong."
Liu Qi was suddenly reminded and hurriedly said: "We must defend Chang'an. If the Western Army on the Tangluo Road surrenders, the Yangzhou bandits will definitely occupy Xuxi. Once Xuxi is lost, our army will be attacked on three sides. The thieves can still divide their troops to go to Guanzhong, which is basically
There are only a few soldiers, maybe the bandits will kill Tongguan and approach Luoyang to shock the capital!"
Liu Xi asked: "What should we do with Yao Gu's army? Should we just ignore him?"
Liu Qi said: "How can we care about the bandits? We only need to defend Guo County. Yao Gu can't get through, and we can't get through either. The battlefield has long been divided by the bandits. We can send a messenger to ask him to defend Dashanguan and Baoji. If
If the bandits advance eastward, they can follow them and look for opportunities for a decisive battle."
Master Zhong thought carefully: "If we want to go to Chang'an, we must leave tonight, otherwise we will not be able to leave."
That night, more than 8,000 Western troops marched out from the north gate and marched eastward along the south bank of the Wei River. They took away as much food as they could ship.
Everything that cannot be taken away will be burned.
The Western troops who were responsible for burning grain were afraid that they would be too slow to run away, so they threw torches into many piles of grain and left.
The young and strong men who were temporarily recruited to defend the city rushed to put out the fire and grab food after the Western Army left. Only dozens of stones of food were burned, and the rest was taken home by the people of Xi County.
When Ju Ming heard the commotion, he immediately sent sentries out to check. After learning that the defenders had indeed escaped, he ordered the entire army to enter the city and take control of Yi County.
The next day, three thousand miscellaneous troops were left to defend the city, and three thousand elite troops went to Guo County again (Zhang Boring might have a decisive battle with Yao Gu, and the more troops there, the better).
Zhu Ming led more than 3,000 elite troops to Yuxi.
Yusi was already an empty city and the county magistrate ran away with the officials.
After occupying Yuxi, Zhu Ming quickly went to Luogu Pass and personally recruited Liu Yanqing and Yang Weizhong who had not made any move.
Wang Yuan and Han Shizhong were kidnapped by Liu Yanqing and sent to the wall.
The two baskets were lowered, but Wang Yuan refused to enter them, so the soldiers forced them into them.
Liu Yanqing's soldiers also wanted to attack Han Shizhong, but Han Shizhong shouted: "I have legs myself!"
The two of them were sitting on baskets, swaying up the wall.
Soon they saw a handsome young man standing on the wall smiling at them.
Zhu Ming took two steps forward and personally untied Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan wanted to spit it out, but felt that it was a bit bad. People treated him so politely, so even if he was a bandit, he should maintain his grace.
"Wang Dao?" Zhu Ming asked.
Wang Yuan replied: "Exactly."
Zhu Ming cupped his hands and smiled: "I have admired your name for a long time, and I will rely on you more in the future."
Wang Yuan said: "If you want to kill or cut into pieces, please do as you please. It is absolutely impossible to become a thief."
Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Believe it or not, when I put Liu Yanqing back, he will definitely lie and claim that you surrendered to the enemy and caused the defeat. Of course, you will not be allowed to bear the responsibility alone, because you simply cannot afford it. Liu Yanqing
They will also impeach the way of cultivating divisions. Among the divisions of cultivation, you can find and save at discounts. It was these people who lost the Baoxie Road in a great defeat, which blocked the Liu Jiajun's retreat."
Wang Yuan remained silent because he knew very well that Liu Yanqing was capable of such a thing.
Ju Ming sighed: "Well, from the moment you were tied up, there was no place for you in the Song Dynasty. When I was negotiating peace with the court, I would not say that you were kidnapped by Liu Yanqing. I would only let it go.
When the imperial court sends your family members, what do you think the emperor and his ministers will think? They must think that they are defecting before the war."
Han Shizhong couldn't help but complain: "As expected of someone who has worn a turban, you have a really vicious heart."
Zhu Ming untied Han Shizhong again and said as he untied the rope: "I have worked hard to win two people. Your reputation as Han Wu has been well known to me for a long time. I even dream of drinking a few bowls of wine with you."
Han Shizhong was surprised and said: "I, Han Wu, really have such a resounding reputation?"
"Otherwise, why are you here?" Zhu Ming pointed to the south, "I can let Liu Yanqing and Yang Weizhong's tens of thousands of troops go home, but you two must stay. In my eyes, tens of thousands of troops plus
When you stand up, it is not worth a single hair on your head."
Although he knew these were polite words when recruiting people to surrender, Wang Yuan still felt happy when he said them in Ju Ming's mouth.
Han Shizhong heard it even more pleasantly. He joined the army at the age of eighteen and was already in his thirties this year. He had wasted more than ten years in the army and made countless achievements, but he was still only a small commander.
But in front of him, the rebel leader who occupied Sichuan praised him so highly. Han Shizhong felt like he had met a confidant.
Ju Ming said: "If you two have concerns, how about you stop leading troops and stay with me as personal guards?"
Han Shizhong looked at Wang Yuan, who nodded helplessly.
Ju Ming gave each of them a pair of captured infantry armor and weapons, and asked them to stand guard for him that night.
Zhu Chenggong, who was insidious and cunning, was also a little scared. After all, Han Shizhong was quite fierce.
The craftsman made a short blunderbuss for him, filled it with ammunition and put it beside his pillow at night, and the fire stick was always smoldering.
Anyone who dares to enter the house will immediately collapse!
Han Shizhong stood outside the door in full force, yawning and jokingly said: "How about we rush in and kill this bandit leader?"
Wang Yuan said angrily: "Do you think he really has no defense? If this man is assassinated and killed, all the tens of thousands of Western troops in Luogu Pass will have to be buried with him. The soldiers will run out of food and starve to death in Luogu. These thieves
Without the control of the commander, the soldiers will inevitably rush into Guanzhong and plunder everywhere. By that time, I am afraid there will be hundreds of thousands of people who will die because of you and me!"
Han Shizhong thought carefully and nodded: "That's true."
Wang Yuan said: "He is buying people's hearts and wants us to sacrifice our lives for him."
"I'm not stupid. Of course you can tell," Han Shizhong pointed in the direction of Tokyo, "but I'm very happy in my heart. Serving as a soldier for the imperial court, let alone anyone who wants to win people's hearts, even for the merits I have made.
Take it away. He can value winning over so much and put his life in my hands. So what if I betray the court and follow him?"
"He is a thief after all?" Wang Yuan said.
Han Shizhong asked back: "Who among the people who can still eat meat today is not a thief? Even the soldiers of the Western Army, who is not a thief? The court does not pay enough food and wages, so marching across states and counties can only rely on robbery. In the plundered areas
In the eyes of the people, you and I are all thieves!"
Wang Yuan could not refute.
The next day, the prisoners were received in a peaceful and friendly manner.
Regardless of whether they are soldiers or civilians, a team of ten people should come over slowly, and the rest of the Western Army must wait two or three miles away.
Groups of prisoners discarded their armor outside the pass wall. After the officers were screened out, ordinary soldiers could enter the pass. Then, they went out from the north gate of Luogu Pass, collected the food and left immediately.
There are more and more soldiers outside the north gate of Luogu Pass. About twenty or thirty fellow villagers will gather and leave together with food.
Without officers taking the lead, ordinary soldiers would not join the army and would just want to go back and reunite with their families as soon as possible.
It took three days to finally release all the prisoners, leaving only the generals and mid-level and senior officers. These guys would have to be detained for a month before they could be released.
Yang Zhi came to join with more than 10,000 troops, and more than 30,000 Western Army equipment was taken by Ju Ming.
He replaced the good equipment captured by Yang Zhi's troops with the bad equipment replaced by the rebels, and armed the civilians to defend the city.
Immediately occupy Wugong and Fufeng, and let the civilians who have obtained the armor be stationed. After stabilizing the place, they will lead the troops to attack Xianyang.
There were troops in Xianyang, with three thousand troops stationed in the division, and a large number of young men were recruited to help defend the city.
Brothers Liu Xi and Liu Qi led five thousand soldiers to protect Lieutenant Gao in Chang'an.
Zhu Ming led thousands of rebels and armed civilians to surround Xianyang.
Yang Zhi led an army of 10,000 people, and ignored Chang'an and Xianyang at all, and went to Weinan in a arrogant manner.
During the march, Wang Xiong led three thousand troops as the vanguard and suddenly accelerated towards Tongguan.
Tongguan was in disrepair for a long time, and Gao Qiu even fled to Chang'an. There was no defense there, with only a hundred patrol soldiers stationed there.
In fact, Gao Qiu had ordered the defense of Tongguan, but local officials had no money or food, and they are still trying to persuade the powerful to join the army.
Tongguan was occupied by the rebels...
During the great earthquake in Luoyang, there were countless wealthy families there who took the initiative to raise money to recruit soldiers and let the temporarily recruited rural soldiers defend Shaanzhou (Sanmenxia).
…
Tokyo.
A fast ship came from Luoyang and rushed 800 miles straight to the Privy Council.
Two days later, two fast horses came from Nanyang, bringing back the news of Tong Guan's defeat on the southwestern road of Beijing.
Zhang Guangdao has occupied the Nanyang Basin!
Song Huizong finally panicked and said to Wang Fu: "Quickly issue an order and order all troops to go to Beijing to serve the king!"
"I obey the order!" Wang Fu also panicked.
Zhu Meng suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the world is in such ruins because Wang Fu cannot bear to serve as prime minister and assistant. The Duke of Lu (Cai Jing) is highly respected in the country. If he is restored to power, the Zhu thieves will be wiped out!"
Wang Fu was furious: "It is Cai Jing who has exhausted all his wealth and the court is short of soldiers and food. He is blind and can't even read documents. How can he wipe out the Zhu thieves? Will he let the Zhu thieves laugh themselves to death?"
However, Song Huizong asked: "Does the Duke of Lu really have a plan to destroy the thieves?"
Wang Fu became anxious: "Your Majesty, don't listen to this guy's nonsense. Cai Jing has never led an army in a war!"
Song Huizong said: "Please be patient and don't be impatient. I just summoned the Duke of Lu to inquire about countermeasures."
Cai You immediately assisted: "My father is blind and deaf, so he is really not suitable for reappearance."
"The matter of reinstatement will be discussed separately. We will first invite the Duke of Lu into the palace to question him." Song Huizong still had illusions about Cai Jing.
"Official, official, there's a letter from the red thief!"
Eunuch Li Yan shouted, rolling in and crawling in.