"Ride on the other side of the mountain to hope for the return of the Pass. When I don't see the return of the Pass, I burst into tears." [Poetry·Wei Feng·Meng]
"Will he come?"
This question not only bothered Zhu Jun, Guo Jia and the others, it also made Zhang Miao and others who were sitting in Yongqiu City unable to help asking questions from time to time. Zhang Miao, Zhang Chao and others were not as rebellious as Chen Gong last year. It was said that the situation was overwhelming and invincible. From the beginning of support from all parties and fires everywhere, the situation quickly went downhill as Cao Cao led his army back.
Until now, Zang Hong was defeated and retreated to Dongjun, and Tian Fen was clinging to Juancheng. The main figures in Yanzhou who had participated in the rebellion saw that things were not going well, and found that Yuan Shao had no intention of intervening, and most of them turned to Cao Cao again. Cao Cao changed his original plan to govern the state. He was so harsh that he did not carry out any liquidation of the powerful and high-ranking men who had participated in the rebellion, and treated them leniently. For example, Bi Chen, who had betrayed his promise and promised in person that he would not betray, and then returned to Dongping and immediately participated in the rebellion, was recaptured by Cao Cao. When they met each other, everyone thought that Bi Chen was about to die soon, but Cao Cao said: "As a son, if you can be filial to your parents, how can you be unfaithful to your emperor?"
So not only did Bi Chen's faults be written off, but he was even re-employed. After the Yanzhou scholars saw it, they spread the rumors that Cao Cao had changed his temper. In addition, he had a strong army and elite soldiers, and he had the title officially given by the imperial court. Among the famous Yanzhou scholars, Cheng With the lobbying of Yu and others, he rejoined Cao Cao's command. As a result, the situation in Yanzhou changed, leaving only Yongqiu standing alone in the west of Yanzhou.
Zhang Chao was furious at the powerful and powerful people at both ends of the gang. He complained all day long in the mansion, but he could do nothing.
"Cao Cao won't come!" He replied to Zhang Miao, trying to make him give up: "Even if he comes, he will come to take my life. Cao Cao is a man who cares most about grudges. We have betrayed him, and now we have betrayed him." No reconciliation is possible anymore!"
"Eh" Zhang Miao let out a long sigh. He has been keeping his strings tight these days. In order to prevent Zhu Jun from outside the city from suddenly attacking the city, he almost always wears armor. He has always considered himself a gentleman and a scribe, even though he can write Swordsmanship and archery are just common entertainment skills for scholars. In the past, he wore light and elegant long robes and dark clothes. Nowadays, he wears armor that he rarely wears. He often doesn't recognize himself when he looks in the mirror. .
The increasingly bloated body filled up the armor, which did not convey much power, but instead looked bloated. Wearing that heavy armor, Zhang Miao always felt that there was a heavy weight on his shoulders, and he was about to be suffocated by the armor. coming.
After letting out a long sigh, Zhang Miao felt like a deflated rubber ball, and his armored body immediately became loose. He sat on the porch and stared blankly at the grass and trees in the courtyard. Not far away from the courtyard gate, people gathered together. He was surrounded by relatives and family members of the Zhang family in Dongping. Children who were ignorant of the world were laughing and whispering under the square sky. The female family members guarding them occasionally let out a slight sigh of sadness.
"I was confused for a moment and was deceived by the huge profits promised by Chen Gongtai, so I made a big mistake. It not only wasted Meng De's hard work over the past few years, but also almost caused him to die... Thanks to his tenacity and endurance Don't be frustrated, otherwise, I will really regret and die now." Zhang Miao seemed to have aged ten years. He pursed his upper and lower lips and said slowly: "I know I have failed him, but I still want to When I see him again, I hope that for the sake of our decades of brotherhood, he can be accommodating to our clan and family members."
"The most powerful person in Guandong is Zhu Jun, the former general who holds the integrity. He is the general of Zhendong. How can he have the final say?" Zhang Chao refused to admit his mistakes and his attitude was still a bit tough, but he heard something in his ear. The voice of the female family member in the backyard could not help but soften: "Even if he comes, he may not let us go. Now the only one we can rely on is Zang Ziyuan. If no one else comes, and he He will definitely come to save me."
"Zang Hong is so important to Yuan Shao, why should he ruin his career and come here to cause this trouble?" Since Zhu Jun did not have many soldiers and horses, he could not surround Yongqiu from all sides, so Yongqiu could still communicate with the outside world through a city wall. Communication will not become an isolated island. Zhang Miao talked about the news he got a few days ago, shook his head and said: "He was defeated by Meng De and retreated to Dongjun. Even he may not be able to defend himself. How can he have the remaining strength to support him? What's more, Tian Fen is greedy for life and hates death, and he will not easily abandon Zang Hong, a general."
Zhang Chao's eyes reddened, and his brother's words touched his heart. He paused and said: "Ziyuan is a well-known righteous man in the world. He always puts loyalty first. He will definitely not ignore me. Now that he has not arrived, It must have been blocked by Tian Fen and there was no time to rescue me!"
"Now is not the time for women to cry and complain, we should think about how to break this crisis!" Zhang Miao suddenly shouted impatiently: "The officers and soldiers outside the city have been approaching for several days, but they don't hear drums and gold, and they don't know whether they are attacking or not. It’s time to retreat. Zhu Gong has been leading the army for many years and has detailed plans, so he must have some plans. Isn’t Zhu Wenbo familiar with the art of war and strict in running the army? Doesn’t he have anything to say?”
Speaking of this, Zhang Chao's face immediately turned bad. Zhu Ling was deep in the city. When he first stationed in Chenliu under Yuan Shao's order, he was mostly disrespectful to Zhang Miao, who was the prefect. When Zhang Miao reconciled with Yuan Shao last year, he and Tian Fen When others overthrew Yanzhou, Zhu Ling was very respectful to Zhang Miao and took the initiative to take on the important military tasks of Chen Liuyi for Zhang Miao, which was a great help to Zhang Miao who lacked generals under his command.
But as the situation gradually changed, after Zhu Ling was defeated by Zhu Jun who was better at leading troops in battles and retreated to Yongqiu, Zhu Ling's attitude towards the Zhang Miao brothers changed again. Not only did he use the excuse to dispatch and take away He defeated almost all the capable soldiers under Zhang Miao's command, and even occupied the warehouse, taking control of the entire Yongqiu City, completely ousting the Zhang brothers.
Zhang Chao said bitterly: "Zhu Wenbo is a die-hard loyalist! He has never thought about returning to Hebei alive. He said, 'A husband should be able to stand up in the world, how can he care about his life'? 'If you don't think about retreating, we can only burn together.'" Only Wu Qi, the man who forced his entire family to death, could say these words! He wanted to risk his own life to repay Yuan Shao's promotion, so why bother dragging us to be buried with him?"
"I heard that he is recently organizing people to dig out earth and rocks, demolish the houses in the city, and prepare to block the city gates as a sign of a deadly battle." Zhang Miao also looked ugly. He closed his eyes tightly, opened them again, and asked in a deep voice. : "How did he do this?"
Zhang Chao was a little strange and couldn't help but glance at Zhang Miao and said: "He really plans to do this, not only to block the city gate, but also to use it to defend the city. It's just that most of the houses in the city are owned by Yongqiu powerful men. They He was unwilling to demolish the house and push down the wall, so he had many disputes with the soldiers who came. Zhao Chong and Cheng Ang were both natives of Chenliu. If they could not tolerate this matter, they were punished by Zhu Wenbo with military law."
"Zhu Ling has always been cautious, but unexpectedly he made a mistake." Zhang Miao said suddenly, his eyes deepening.