On February 13, the second year of Guangming Dynasty, on the north bank of the Wei River, a fighting had just ended.
The scale of the battle was actually not large. One side had hundreds of people crossing from the south bank to the north, while the other side had only a few dozen riders wandering around on the north bank. It was not so much to prevent people from crossing the river, but to monitor them. Therefore, after the opponent successfully landed, they only made a brief movement.
He resisted, so he beat his horse and fled north.
"General, two puppet Tang army scouts have been captured." A small colonel came over on horseback and reported to the former army commander Hu Zhen.
"Let's try it now." Hu Zhen ordered.
He was originally an official in Jiangling County. He joined the army when Wang Xianzhi attacked Jiangling, followed Zhu Wen, and fought all the way to the north and south. After entering Guanzhong, Huang Chao gave him a large reward, and he also got the post of general, and he still served under Zhu Wen. This time he went north.
When they attacked Wang Chongrong, he was appointed as the vanguard and led more than 2,000 horse and infantry troops to cross the river in advance to expel any possible puppet Tang government troops and cover the main force of the army as they crossed north.
In the afternoon, General Da Qi's right guard and Zhu Wen, the envoy to the east of Chang'an, led 3,000 infantry across the river. Hu Zhen immediately stepped forward to report.
"Wang Chongrong's hands are very long." Zhu Wenshao was famous for his bravery. After joining Huang Chao's army, he made many military exploits. Now he is one of the generals of the guards, firmly ranked among the top ten.
After capturing Chang'an, Zhu Wen had been stationing troops at the East Wei Bridge, and together with Zhang Yan, Ji Kui, and Peng Zan, they guarded the four gates of Chang'an. Historically, Zhuge Shuang once led the Hedong army to station Yueyang, which was connected with the East Wei Bridge.
There was only Gaoling County between them. Zhuge Shuang was one of the first generals to come to attack Huang Chao. However, without making any move, he was directly lured to surrender by Zhu Wen and moved to Daqi as Heyang Jiedushi.
In this time and space, Zhuge Shuang went south from Yifang. The Hedong Army wanted to go to Yueyang, but was called back to Fuping on the way. Zhuge Shuang missed an opportunity to face Zhu Wen. But it doesn't matter, there is fate, and now there seems to be another chance to collide.
.
"How is the situation in Tongzhou?" Zhu Wen asked.
"General Zhu just sent an envoy to report that there was no movement from Wang Chongrong's army in Hexi. A few days ago, more than ten thousand Tang troops passed by south of Luoshui and north of Pan County (more than thirty miles southwest of today's Dali County), and they seemed to be heading toward the United States.
He left and now I don’t know where he is." Hu Zhen replied.
"It's either Fuping or Meiyuan." Zhu Wen said: "At the beginning of the month, the news was reported. Li Tangbin, the general of the left cavalry, was defeated in Huayuan. Almost all the five thousand people were wiped out, and only a few hundred escaped. The leader was Zhuge Shuang, who should be Xia Sui's army.
There is no doubt that they will go south. Needless to say, the movement of the Hedong Army is to join them in order to go south and threaten the north of Chang'an."
"Didn't Magistrate Pan surrender to Daqi? Why didn't he report it?" Zhu Wen asked again.
"I don't know."
"The officials of the county government have their own families. Their wives and daughters are being used as prostitutes in the camp. Go and deal with it immediately."
"General, I will obey your order." Hu Zhen accepted the order and left.
For the next two days, Chao's army was crossing the river.
Zhu Wen did not give up, but personally led a group of troops eastward to the bank of the Yellow River. Taking advantage of the convenience of the navy, he planned to attack Hedong County. Wang Chongrong had to mobilize a large number of troops from the southern front to return reinforcements, indirectly providing
Huang Ye created an opportunity. However, his movements were very slow, and his troops had not yet completely left Huayin, which made Zhu Wen sigh greatly.
On the night of February 15th, the five wives, concubines, and daughters of Pan County Magistrate Li were escorted to the camp. Zhu Wen invited the generals to have fun all night. The next day, he personally led thousands of people on foot and cavalry who had completed crossing the river.
People went north and headed towards Tongzhou.
Because there were ships to help transport baggage, grain and grass, Chao's army moved very quickly. In the evening of the 16th, Zhu Wen led more than 3,000 people into Tongzhou City.
"Who is Shao Shude?" Zhu Wen asked, pointing to a military newspaper.
"There are more than 4,000 military envoys from Tielin in Xia Sui Town of the Puppet Tang Dynasty. I heard that they have always gained the morale of the army." Advisor Xie Tong replied.
Xie Tong, who is in his thirties, is from Fuzhou. He failed many attempts and was stranded in Chang'an. He joined Zhu Wen a while ago. It happened that Zhu Wen was also short of talents under his command. He saw that Xie Tong was not bad, so he stayed with him.
Act as a counselor.
"I've never heard of this person. I haven't told anyone about Zhang Yan. No one in the court reported it. Alas, I almost missed something important." Zhu Wen gritted his teeth and said bitterly.
"Why is General like this?"
"You don't know something." Zhu Wen snorted coldly and said: "Although Zhang Yan is useless, Li Tangbin under his command is a brave general. He has served as a vanguard many times and has made many achievements. The thousands of people he led,
Although there were new recruits from Henan and Huainan, at least half of them were old people and their strength was not bad. As a result, they were beaten by Xia Sui's army and almost all of them were wiped out. If someone hadn't asked someone carefully, I would have thought that Zhuge Shuang had used some magic trick.
As for the plan, now we know that Shao Shude personally came to the front of the battle to boost morale and defeat Li Tangbin's troops in one fell swoop."
"This man is in Fuping now." Zhu Wen sat down, rolled his eyes, and said, "Why don't we send people to Fuping to recruit surrender? If we can get Tielin's army to surrender, we will be more confident in attacking Hezhong.
"
Xie Tong's heart tightened when he heard this and said: "Since the general has this intention, you might as well give it a try."
"Sir, don't worry." Seeing Xie Tong's nervous look, Zhu Wen laughed loudly and said, "This envoy will only send a small school to test his ears. He is only looking for Shao Shude. If he fails, he can also alienate Shao and Zhuge Er.
The relationship between people makes them suspicious of each other."
"The general is wise." Xie Tong cupped his hands and said.
****
"Military envoy, I have revised it some more." In the farm, military judge Chen Cheng handed a manuscript to Shao Shude.
"Whenever the army is marching, the general will discuss with the generals the matters of the day in the morning, and the matters of the night with the generals in the evening."
"Any generals or soldiers who have long-term hatred and suspicion against each other shall not supervise each other and control the same camp."
"Any officer working in the camp must not accept gifts or property from others unless he is a relative."
"Whenever the food service in the tent is finished and the fire is not darkened, the fire must be extinguished. Or if there are documents and transcripts at night that need to be burned, the Lord Shen will be sent to prison and he will listen."
"When the camp has been set up and the soldiers have to go out to collect firewood and trade in the market, they must hold a tooth plate and write their name. The gatekeeper will verify it before they can hear anyone coming in or out. More than three people are not allowed to go alone."
"In the army, there must be no ironic songs or poems with touching tunes, and no sad sounds in the music."
"In the military, no one is allowed to gossip or comment anonymously, for fear of being thieves and harming good people."
…
I don’t know which version of the Tielin Army’s internal management regulations this is. None of us are from a family of generals, and no one knows it from birth. We can only learn by trial and error and constantly sum up experience.
What Chen Cheng wrote is also the essence of what everyone has discussed for many times. It will be handed over to Shao Shude for review today. If there are no problems, it will be sung to the officers above the level of each battalion tomorrow to urge them to implement it.
Internal management is the same as marching and fighting. It should never be ignored. Otherwise, if the camp is usually in chaos or even smoky, how can this army be good?
"Okay." Shao Shude looked at it carefully twice and said, "Just execute it like this and see the effect."
"As ordered, military envoy." Chen Cheng took the manuscript and put it away solemnly.
"Now the Tielin Army has five battalions of soldiers, more than 2,100 auxiliary soldiers, plus 600 cavalry, 400 miscellaneous troops and the general's personal soldiers, the total army is close to 5,800 people." Shao Shude looked out the window and watched the rising sky.
The rising sun said: "This is the foundation of our livelihood, we must not ignore it."
"Let's talk about Chao Jun's affairs." Shao Shude then ordered Fan He to get a map, pointed to the word "Tongzhou" and said: "Last night, a sentry came to report that the thief Zhu Wen led thousands of troops into Tongzhou. Luo
The sails on the water cover the sky and the sun is covered, and they are loaded with food, grass, and soldiers. It seems that they have made up their mind to attack from both sides."
"It is true to divide the troops into two groups, but it is not necessarily true to attack from a pincer." When talking about these military plans, Chen Cheng suddenly became energetic and said: "There have been rumors before that Zhu Wen had few soldiers among the generals in the rebel army, and he was not as good as Meng.
Kai and others are not in harmony. This time, the two routes heading north will be dominated by Huangye and Zhu Wen."
"How to be sure?"
"If you don't send the soldiers of the Hedong Army south to attack Tongzhou, you will know the quality of Zhu and Wen in one try." Chen Cheng suggested: "At the same time, you can also test whether the Hedong generals have the will to fight."
"You can try it." Shao Shude nodded in approval: "It makes no sense for our army to fight life and death, but let the Hedong Army sit idle."
"If the Hedong Army can fight smoothly, they can also send envoys to recruit Zhu Wen to surrender. Chen is not talented, but he is willing to——"
"No!" Shao Shude hurriedly waved his hand to stop him, but realized that his reaction might have been a bit extreme, so he compensated: "Judge Chen is someone's confidant, how can he go to danger? This matter is inappropriate, so don't say more."
Chen Cheng was a little moved when he saw this. My lord loves his subordinates, how dare he not die in service in the future?
"Let's go and see the commander first." Shao Shude asked Fan He to help him put on his armor, and then went straight to see Zhuge Shuang. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he met an old acquaintance.
"General Yi."
"Envoy Shao Jun."
There was some fear in Yi Zhao's eyes. Shao Shude had a good reputation in Hedong. He suppressed rebels, killed husbands and took wives, and his methods were ruthless. It's ridiculous that many people think that he is benevolent and righteous. Hehe, he just wants to buy military morale. He is just hypocritical.
It’s just that idiot Zhang Yanqiu who can’t see it!
"General Yi, please."
"Envoy Shao Jun please come first."
Shao Shude smiled, never having to be so humble, and strode in directly.
After Shao's figure had disappeared, Yi Zhao said to the soldiers on his left and right: "Shao Shude saw that his commander was also in full armor, armed with weapons, and had more than ten soldiers. Zhuge Shuang's guards did not dare to stop him. He was so arrogant and domineering.
Let’s see how he dies in the future!”
"When Shao Shude died, his wife and daughter didn't know who benefited." A close general said with a smile.
"I'm afraid the fate will be worse than that of Deng Qian's wife and daughter. Deng's wife worked as a camp prostitute for a year, and I heard that she was played to death. One of the two daughters was beaten and hanged, and the other went crazy. Tsk, tsk," someone else said.
"That's all, don't talk about people behind their backs. Now that you've come to see Zhuge Shuang, let's go in and take a look." Yi Zhao lazily raised his hand to stop the soldiers from talking: "We won't go to any lengths without a reward."