There was a map of Heluo in the hall, and Zhu Xicai was talking endlessly about the situation of the rebels east of Yanshi.
"Li Huaixian, who is stationed in Xingyang, has led his troops to support Chen Liu. Lang Jun may have fought with him. I have served under Li Huaixian before and am familiar with him. He is a Khitan and is proficient in riding and archery, but has no loyalty at all.
Heart, you can rebel against An Lushan because you get a lot of benefits. In short, you are a mother if you have breasts."
"In the battle of Yongqiu, we defeated Li Huaixian's tribe." Wang Nan said casually.
Zhu Xicai was in awe and said: "As long as Lang Jun leads his troops eastward, captures Xingyang, and attacks Li Huaixian with the Tang army in the east, he will surrender Lang Jun and let him in turn serve as my general."
Xue Bai listened and only wanted to understand the rebel generals. He was not very interested in attacking Xingyang eastward.
He spent a lot of time detouring around Songshan Mountain. The news that the imperial court wanted to arrest him had spread to Yanshi, Henan, Huainan, and Shandong counties. He hoped that the officers and soldiers would join him in attacking the rebels.
They also expected to betray him and achieve meritorious service.
The way that best suits his interests is to attack Luoyang, contact Ge Shuhan and the Tongguan army to attack the main force of the rebels, and then send his troops to Chang'an to support Li Cong.
It seems that the most dangerous way is to face the most elite 100,000 border knights and Luoyang City, which is guarded by An Lushan himself. But in fact, as the situation in Hebei reversed, the main force of the rebels was surrounded in several states in Henan.
, even Anlu Mountain was panicked. If Luoyang, Tongguan, and Shaanxi Province could be defeated in one battle, the more than 100,000 elite soldiers between Luoyang, Tongguan, and Shaanxi County would immediately become turtles in the urn. They would have no food and grass, and their morale would collapse. The only way to surrender would be to surrender.
If so, if Xue Bai convinces Ge Shuhan, they will have more than 200,000 troops under their command, but more than 300,000 elite troops. Why worry about not being able to reorganize the country and establish the new emperor's authority as emperor?!
By then, all accusations and suspicions will be gone.
But as for how to fight this battle, there is currently a lack of intelligence, and relying on Xue Bai's mere thousands of troops is not enough. He also needs a certain degree of cooperation from Ge Shuhan in the west, Yan Gaoqing and Zhang Xun in the east.
.
So he did not rashly attack Luoyang, but instead built a city and dug ditches to defend Yanshi County. He sent out a large number of sentries to collect information and at the same time build momentum to publicize that the rebels were in dire straits and shake their morale.
In one day, almost all the regiments and people in Yanshi County were recruited to participate in the construction of defenses. Each person could get two to five loaves a day. This food was not from the warehouses in Yanshi County, but from the warehouses in Yanshi County.
It is the food reserve of Luhun Villa.
In addition, Xue Bai also gave more encouragement to the soldiers and civilians, telling them that "the king's division has recovered Henan and Hebei, and the rebellion is imminent", and promised a large number of rewards, and made clear rewards and punishments. There were also many residents among them.
I heard that after the rebellion was over, their banknotes could be used to cash out the property stored in the bank, so they were very motivated.
The soil in winter was hard, so they shoveled the snow to build a low wall in front of the city, and froze sharpened bamboos in it to form natural barriers. After nightfall, they carried water and poured it on the city wall before dawn.
It can freeze, is strong and smooth, and is difficult to climb.
There were especially many fortifications built in the north of the county to ensure that Shouyang Mountain and Shouyang Mountain could form an angle and support each other. A large number of civilians also moved the baggage from Shouyang Mountain into the city. Later, the regiment trainers also equipped themselves with armor and crossbows. , trained by Wang Nan's veterans.
Inside the city wall, huge stone cannons are being set up, and they can throw not only huge stones, but also bags of explosives.
"Woo——"
The sharp horn sounded, and on the high tower, the defenders could see the sentry horses running back from the horizon from a very long distance, and even knew clearly the color of the flags they were waving.
"The rebels are coming! Enter the city!"
With such a powerful reconnaissance weapon, coupled with the rebel horses all over the ground, the soldiers and civilians outside the city had already calmly retreated into the city before the rebel cavalry could get close.
…
In the wind and snow, the flag was half hidden.
Tian Qianzhen frowned and whipped his horse without mercy, vowing to raze Yanshi and avenge Gao Shang.
When he saw from a distance that the last group of people outside the city were entering Zhanluo Gate in the west of Yanshi City, he ordered: "Kill them! Don't slow down!"
"Report! General, there are enemy horses ahead."
At the front, there were already several galloping cavalry who were not paying attention due to the wind and snow covering their eyes. They bumped into the bamboo poles frozen in the low wall, and some were stabbed in the stomach, or injured in the legs, or the belly of the war horse. It was scratched and fell to the ground, moaning sadly.
Tian Qianzhen went over, killed the moaning war horse with a knife, and shouted: "Cut these bamboo poles!"
Although he was extremely angry and impatient, he still knew how to boost morale and shouted: "The Tang army is smart, so that we don't have to find bamboo materials and firewood for the camp!"
But no matter what, the rebels came all the way, intending to go on a killing spree, but they were frustrated when they had to stop and chop bamboo in the wind and snow.
It was already getting late. A soldier stepped forward through the snow and was chopping the bamboo inserted diagonally into the ice wall. Suddenly he heard the sound of wind. He raised his head and saw several falling rocks in the sky. He flew over.
But he was clearly still more than two hundred steps away from the city wall.
"Bang."
The boulder cracked his helmet, and then smashed the ice wall in front of him into pieces, sending ice shards flying everywhere.
Only more than ten people died, and the casualties were not too large. Tian Qianzhen's voice was still ruthless and he ordered: "Pass the order, step back fifty steps and set up camp!"
At night, the wind whistled, and the soldiers finally set up camp and took a rest. Suddenly they heard a noise, and then rockets were fired on top of the tents near the camp. This Tang army's rockets were a little different, they could leak out black Graphite is easily ignited.
Tian Qian really didn't expect that Xue Bai would dare to send troops to attack at night. After all, behind him were Luoyang and the main force of the rebels. Fortunately, because of his habit of marching and fighting, he had arranged for defense, and the soldiers were all elite, so the night was not too big. The losses only affected morale.
The next day, the rebels advanced in a more sparse formation, destroying the Tang army's defenses and consuming the stones thrown by the Tang army with small casualties.
In addition, a small group of bold cavalry rushed to the city gate.
"Listen to the Tang troops in the city and return Prime Minister Gao's body immediately! Otherwise, on the day the city is breached, everyone in the city will be slaughtered!"
The defenders on the city did not shoot arrows at them, but responded with verbal threats.
"Gao Shang encouraged the An thieves to rebel, but it is impossible to atone for his crime by cutting him into pieces with thousands of swords! Today, only Luoyang is still alive and the thieves are in dire straits. Therefore, the criminal edict banishes Gao Shang and kills Gao Shang, so that Lushan can be safe!"
Later, an old eunuch was escorted to the top of the city and forced to recite An Lushan's criminal edict to Gao Shang in a high-pitched voice.
As Tian Qianzhen said, when this incident spread, the morale of the army was shaken. Coupled with the fall of Yanshi City, Xue Bai was embedded like a nail into the rebels. This had a huge blow to morale.
He even had the illusion that once he failed to capture Yanshi County, or even was defeated by Xue Bai, his fleeing troops would be like a plague, bringing fear to everyone.
After that, there was another question on the top of the city that caught Tian Qianzhen’s attention.
"Without food in Hanjiacang, how long can the thieves last in Luoyang?!"
~~
With heavy snow falling, some cavalry bypassed Kaifeng City, went south along the canal, and rushed towards Yongqiu.
Soon, Zhang Xun rushed to Yan Gaoqing.
"Mr. Yan, there is news!"
Yan Gaoqing was reading a letter with a look of worry in his eyes. After hearing the words, he raised his head, made a guess and asked, "Is there any news about Xue Bai?"
"I was also worried that Prefect Xue would not be able to circumvent Yanshi. It seems that my worries are unfounded."
This is a joke among cultural people, because Yongqiu is the fiefdom of Qi State.
As Zhang Xun spoke, he quickly walked to Yan Gaoqing, pointed at the map, and said: "The sentry horse has detected the enemy's movements. Li Huaixian, who is supporting Kaifeng City, is leading his troops to the west. This move must be because of Governor Xue. "
He is not just guessing, but has many bases.
Previously, they pretended to attack Chenliu and recaptured Qizhou City north of Yongqiu. Now Helan Jinming led his troops to cross the Yellow River and stationed in Qizhou, but the first thing they did was to order Yan Gaoqing to hand over Xue Bai and obey its scheduling.
Regardless of Helan's purpose of advancing into the Ming Dynasty, as far as the rebels were concerned, the Tang army had increased its troops, and they were quite large.
Under such circumstances, it was too late for Li Tingwang to ask for support, so how could he let Li Huaixian go? It could only be because he was attacked from both sides and had to rush back to Xingyang, which was empty of troops.
Then, the most likely situation is that Xue Bai has already occupied Yanshi. If Ge Shuhan comes, the reaction of the rebels will be to surrender or flee.
"Li Huaixian actually withdrew to the west?" Yan Gaoqing was a little surprised that the rebels ignored He Lan Jinming's threat, and said, "But in this case, Xue Bai's risk will be even greater."
He squinted his old eyes, leaned down, pointed at the map and said: "Yanshi is just a small county, and the terrain is not dangerous. Xue Bai has few troops, is trapped among thieves, and is surrounded by enemies on all sides. How can he win?"
"Therefore, troops must be sent out immediately." Zhang Xun said: "Previously, our feigned attacks have overwhelmed the rebels. Now that Governor Xue is behind the thieves, it is an opportunity to regain Kaifeng and severely defeat the thieves."
He has thought clearly that as long as troops are sent here, Xue Bai can attack Kaifeng and Xingyang from both sides. Even if this plan fails, it can reduce the pressure on Xue Bai and continue to cut off the rebels between Kaifeng and Luoyang.
contact.
This is the time when troops must be sent out.
"Look at this." Yan Gaoqing handed the document he was reading to Zhang Xun.
Zhang Xun first read the signature and frowned when he saw the words "Helan Jinming". It was not that he didn't like the Hebei envoy, but that the country was in danger and the people were suffering, and the other party came with troops.
, but instead of pacifying the thieves and helping the world, they only know how to exclude the heroes.
After patiently reading the letter, Zhang Xun looked shocked and angry, saying, "How dare he?"
The letter said that Wang Chengye, the governor of Hedong Province, had not seen Xue Bai for a long time and suspected that Yan Gaoqing was harboring him, so he had arrested Yan Quanming. Helan Jinming claimed that he had been trying to resolve the matter, but he needed Yan Gaoqing's cooperation.
Cooperation means handing over military power and letting him take over Yongqiu's troops.
If Yan Gaoqing agrees, regardless of the overall situation, generals in the army such as Li Zejiao who have offended Helan Jinming will surely die. In fact, Yan Gaoqing also has an unshirkable responsibility for the death of Helan Zhijia.
"Report!"
At this time, Nan Jiyun hurried over and reported: "Helan Jinming's soldiers and horses in the north bypassed Yongqiu and went to Ningling City in the south."
"What?"
Zhang Xun and Yan Gaoqing looked at each other and their expressions became serious.
Helan Jinming's move must have some deep meaning, or he guessed that Li Huaixian's troops were heading west to attack Xue Bai, intending to allow the rebels to have no worries and kill people with borrowed swords; if they passed Yongqiu and did not enter, he must have no trust in them, or even
It can be said that they were extremely wary; they retreated from the front to the rear, not to mention abandoning the defense of Qizhou City. It was obvious that they wanted them to block the front and face the rebels, harboring evil intentions.
Zhang Xun paced and thought, worried that these things would have a negative impact on the morale of the army, so he immediately wrote a handwritten letter asking Helan Jinming to send troops together to fight against the rebels.
In addition, in order not to make the soldiers feel aggrieved, he did not hesitate to ask Helan Jinming in the letter why he was fighting for power when the clan was in danger.
After writing the letter, Nan Jiyun volunteered to deliver the letter to Ningling. Zhang Xun was worried and sent thirty cavalry to follow him.
~~
Without this rebellion, Nan Ba, who was boating on the canal, would not have discovered that he had an amazing talent for riding and shooting.
With the rapid improvement of his martial arts, in just a few months, he has undergone earth-shaking changes, becoming full of vigor and bearing the bearing of a general.
Running from Yongqiu to Ningling, he met a group of rebel sentries on the road. Nan Jiyun was very fierce and led his men to kill them without hesitation. He shot two enemy soldiers with his bow in succession.
Frightened, thirty Tang soldiers attacked and defeated them. Nan Jiyun's sharp eyes recognized the enemy's leader and killed him with another arrow.
After a small encounter, he rode over to inspect the seizures and got the information that the rebel sentry cavalry had discovered.
"The generals who entered the Ming Dynasty and suspected it will build the East Palace. If they want to trap Bai, they will not come out."
Nan Jiyun had just started practicing calligraphy. He had been pondering this military situation for a long time and still didn't quite understand it. In addition, he was also wondering how the rebel cavalry got the news.
He continued on his way and arrived outside Ningling City. After reporting, the Tang army in the city opened the door and led him to the county office.
Before entering the gate of the county office, I could faintly hear the sound of silk and bamboo coming from inside.
Walking further inside, there is a beautiful voice singing.
"Chonglan grows at the bottom of the stream, and the fragrance fills the secluded forest. If you want to collect it as a gift, who is of the same mind..."
The blood on Nan Jiyun's body was not yet dry, so he walked to the hall, raised his fists, and deliberately shouted loudly: "Prefect Yan, County Magistrate Zhang ordered me to deliver a message!"
In front of him, a singer wearing colorful silk that could not cover her snow-white skin turned back, frightened by his appearance, and timidly covered her mouth.
Nan Jiyun had never seen a beauty dressed like this so close. When he smelled her fragrance, his crotch immediately stood up and pressed against his armor.
But in the next moment, he didn't look at her anymore, handed the letter over and said: "Prefect Yan, Magistrate Zhang asked Prefect Helan to send troops together to attack the rebels and regain Kaifeng!"
Helan Jinming let out a long sigh and said: "The thieves are surging and our army is not yet firmly established. This is not the time to send troops rashly."
As for forcing Yan Gaoqing to hand over power, he didn't need to talk to people like Nan Jiyun. He just lowered his head and read the letter. Yan Gaoqing also replied. Although the words were nice to hear, he said he was willing to accept the request. If Kaifeng was regained, he would be willing to do so.
It was because of this that he promoted Governor Helan to be the leader, but he never submitted the right to send troops, and he did not care about Yan Quanming.
Zhang Xun's letter was intended to be a deterrent, saying that all the prefectures and counties in Henan would work together to fight against the thieves, and advised Helan Jinming not to offend the public at this time. At the end, he even dared to reprimand the perpetrators a few times.
Helan Jinming was angry and wanted to give Zhang Xun a blow, but he was afraid of forcing him to rebel. When he was thinking about it, he noticed that Nan Jiyun was very brave, so he decided to instigate him first.
"You have come a long way and sat down to have a drink. Someone come and serve some more meat to the strong man."
With that said, Helan Jinming waved, and a beautiful maid holding a gauze came forward to help Nan Jiyun sit down.
Before the slender hand fell on Nan Jiyun's blood-stained armor, he was so startled that he took two steps back and said, "I don't dare to drink wine and eat meat. I only ask the prefect to send troops."
"Let you sit down." He Lan Jinming emphasized his tone, "Won't you give me this thin noodle?!"
Immediately, many generals in the hall stood up, not wanting the general to be humiliated. The guards outside the hall also turned to Nan Jiyun, their armors clanking, as if they would not let him leave the place unless he sat down.
Nan Jiyun used to be just a boatman. When he encountered such a battle for the first time, he was inevitably at a loss for a moment. He glanced around and saw that there were beauties, fine wine, delicious food, and blades that could strike at him at any time.
The authority of the important officials of the imperial court came and he could not refuse.
"Boom!"
Nan Jiyun suddenly pulled out the saber from his waist.
"Stop him!"
"Protect the governor!"
Everyone in the hall was shocked. They did not expect that this reckless man really wanted to assassinate Helan Jinming.
However, with a flash of the knife, Nan Jiyun actually cut off a section of the middle finger of his left hand.
The middle finger fell on the bluestone floor and jumped slightly.
"What are you doing?" Helan Jinming was originally frightened, but now he was surprised.
"Before I came, everyone in Yongqiu County had been hungry for a long time. The prefect ordered me to sit down and eat meat. I didn't dare to disobey, but I couldn't eat this meal alone. I just left this finger to accompany the prefect and invited me
Allow me to go back and report state affairs to the county magistrate."
This was the style of the Jianghu people on the canal, but this was the first time Helan Jinming saw it, and he was really frightened by the bloody finger, and he didn't know what to say for a while.
Nan Jiyun clasped his fists again, turned around and walked away. Everyone was frightened by his momentum, and no one dared to stop him.
After leaving the county office, the soldiers who came with him rushed up one after another, seeming to have something to say.
"Let's go."
After everyone left the city, someone took out a few sea arrest documents and said, "Look, they are searching for Prefect Xue."
The painting was well done, with a handsome young man drawn, but unfortunately it did not have the charm of Xue Bai. They could directly tell from the document below that this was a search for Xue Bai. The wording of the crime was very complicated, although they did not know the writing.
, but because I often heard about it, I knew that it was "making false claims for prophecies and criticizing Chengyu" and so on.
"Weird, what's the use of this?"
"You know that Governor Xue is not here, why do you still want to go to sea?"
Only then did Nan Jiyun realize why the rebel sentries were able to find out the information. He then thought about it and suddenly cursed.
"Eating dog intestines! I understand. Helan Jinming deliberately spread the news so that the rebels would know that he would not send troops, so that they could dispatch troops to attack Prefect Xue without any worries."
"How can this be done in the current national crisis?"
Nan Jiyun thought about it and finally understood. The reason why Governor Yan and County Magistrate Zhang asked him to deliver the message was because they were worried that Yongqiu would send troops alone and that Helan Jinming might be doing something behind his back.
"drive!"
He turned the horse's head and galloped towards Ningling City again. At the same time, regardless of his fingers bleeding again, he picked up the bow and nocked the arrow.
This formation frightened the defenders on the city, and they also drew their bows one after another. Nan Jiyun had just reached the place where the arrow was shot, and he had already shot out an arrow. It was nailed to the city wall with a "swish", and half of the arrow shaft was not even penetrated.
Among the cracks in the wall.
There was a sudden shout of exclamation in the city, and arrows were fired at him.
However, Nan Jiyun had already returned to his horse and shouted at the same time: "I will leave an arrow today to show my ambition. When I return from defeating the thief, I will kill Helan and enter the Ming Dynasty!"
~~
Horse hooves were rolling, and a group of soldiers and horses had appeared east of Yanshi City.
This was the seventh day after Tian Qianzhen attacked Yanshi, and Li Huaixian finally arrived.
He was afraid that if he didn't come back, Yanshi would have been captured, and all the credit would go to Tian Qianzhen, and he would only be charged with instigating the enemy. But when he arrived, he found that the situation was completely different from what he thought. Tian Qianzhen was not only They did not capture the county seat, so they seemed to have suffered a big loss.
They are all people who often fight. One look at the battlefield and you can tell that Tian Gan really used the ant attack method to attack the city, causing heavy casualties but little effect.
"Ah Hao, this is not how the battle should be fought."
Li Huaixian brought his soldiers to Tian Qianzhen's camp, and since he was older than the other party, he started to teach him a few words.
"Xue Bai has too many tools to defend the city. If you ask the soldiers to use their lives to fill them, it will only make morale weaker and weaker. In my opinion, as long as the city is surrounded, the food and grass in the city will be exhausted in less than half a month."
Tian Qianzhen was young but had a good temper. He immediately became furious and said: "Xue Bai is occupying the small town of Yanshi just to cut off the connection between Luoyang and Kaifeng. If we don't evacuate this city quickly, we won't be out for half a month." The morale of the army is about to lose! Li Huaixian, I think you only care about preserving your troops and don’t think about the overall situation!"
Li Huaixian was so scolded that he could not come to power, but he did not want to lose his troops and attack Yanshi like Tian Qianzhen, so he said: "I know that you have the best relationship with Gao Shang, and you are blinded by hatred, but if you raise an army in anger, you will definitely lose. 伱Calm down first, and then I will find a way to destroy the city."
"I asked you to come, just to level this city with a large army." Tian Qianzhen said, "No need to say more. Tomorrow we will attack from both sides and attack the city!"
Although it sounds ugly, it is true that only by annihilating Xue Bai, Luoyang, and Xingyang can Li Huaixian have no worries and Li Huaixian can pass the test in front of Anlu Mountain. He had no choice but to agree and return to his camp.
When we arrived at the camp gate, there were already soldiers coming to greet us.
"General, the enemy has sent a message."
"What's the use?" Li Huaixian said disdainfully, "Does Xue Bai still want to persuade me to surrender? It's absolutely impossible."
"It's a letter from Zhu Xicai."
"traitor."
Li Huaixian looked disgusted, but he still took Zhu Xicai's letter and read it.
The content surprised him, and he was even a little confused at first. He said that Xue Bai was not a treacherous man like Yang Guozhong who only wanted to do things for the emperor, but a loyal minister who thought about the overall interests of the country like An Lushan.
"What nonsense? We are rebels."
Then he looked down, and when he saw that Xue Bai wanted to support Li Cong and force Li Longji to abdicate, Li Huaixian remembered the slogan "Qing Jun's side" and understood that Xue Bai and An Lushan were indeed loyal ministers.
Afterwards, Zhu Xicai began to analyze the current situation. The rebels were blocked outside Tongguan and were surrounded by officers and soldiers in a few states in Henan. The situation was very unfavorable. Xue Bai's plan was also noticed by the Hunjun and he was wanted. .So, what would happen if the two sides join forces? If so, Xue Bai persuaded Ge Shuhan to open Tongguan, more than 300,000 troops entered Chang'an, supported the crown prince, made An Lushan the prince, and occupied the land of Hebei, getting the best of both worlds.
Finally, the letter said that if Li Huaixian was interested, all he had to do was reply one letter, and Zhu Xicai would definitely apologize and go to the camp to explain face to face.
After reading the letter, Li Huaixian pondered, turned back to the main tent, and dug out several pieces of information, including the sea arrest documents and the attitudes of Tang general Helan Jinming and others that the sentry cavalry had inquired about.
"No wonder he suddenly came to Yanshi."
Li Huaixian murmured in a low voice, thinking that this matter could be exploited. Even if he used deception to deceive Xue Bai, as long as he captured this son, he might be able to capture Tongguan.
He thought that Tian Qianzhen's fiery temperament did not need to be shared with him, so he wrote a reply to Zhu Xicai, inviting him to meet him out of the city.
The worst thing is to capture the traitor Zhu Xicai and behead him in public...