Wang Zuoguan really understood the Peasant Army. The Peasant Army seemed to be powerful, but in fact it was composed of several rebel soldiers and horses. The leaders of various ministries never gave up the opportunity to become bigger, and things like annexation and being annexed happened from time to time.
Happened. In the final analysis, strength is the most important thing in the rebel army. If there is no strength, will Wang Ziyong and Zhang Damou still value Zhang Cunmeng as before? Everything is unknown.
With his strength drastically reduced, what can he do to resist Zhang Xianzhong? Zhang Cunmeng, who has never encountered any major setbacks from raising the flag of righteousness to now, really doesn't want to become someone else's vassal, let alone die.
Wang Zuoguan had been paying attention to the changes in Zhang Cunmeng's expression. Seeing that the other party had not spoken for a long time, he knew that his words had an effect. So he continued: "Zhang Xianzhong is a man who will retaliate for his anger and is ruthless. If he gains power, he will not let you live.
And staying in Hequ City is also a dead end. Brother Zhang, you have been traveling in northern Shaanxi for more than two years, don't you know how to find a way to survive for yourself?"
Zhang Cunmeng's expression changed and he said in a deep voice: "Wang, what do you mean?"
Wang Zuoguan smiled slightly, "It's very simple. Give Brother Zhang another choice. We don't have to fight. Our army can let you lead the troops to evacuate Hequ, and we will not send troops to pursue you."
Zhang Cunmeng sneered: "When did the King of Hell become so kind? Tell me your conditions."
"The gains from the Hetao and the materials in the city cannot be taken away, and of course, they cannot be destroyed intentionally! In fact, the reason is very simple. Brother Zhang needs to use the wealth accumulated in the past six months to buy the lives of tens of thousands of brothers in the city. This deal should be a good deal, right?
?”
"you"
Zhang Cunmeng felt suffocated. He opened his eyes wide and couldn't believe his ears.
Blackmail, naked blackmail. Although the affairs of Zhenxiwei were very secret at the beginning, Zhang Cunmeng and others still knew a little bit about it. Unexpectedly, not long after Zhang Cunmeng was blackmailed, it would be his turn.
Although Wang Zuoguan did not continue speaking, Zhang Cunmeng felt as if someone had seen through him. The move of Living King of Hell was a replica of the move he had used in Zhenxi Guard before, but even though he knew this, he did not dare to refuse directly.
.Compared with strength, those materials and money are not that important. As long as you have soldiers and horses in your hands, you can still rob them in the future. But if there were too many casualties in Hequ City and he was almost wiped out, Zhang Cunmeng's situation in the Northern Shaanxi Rebel Army would be
It's very dangerous.
The strength he has today is the result of annexing other rebel armies. Under mutual annexation, the lives of those under his command may not be in danger, but the leader will definitely have no chance of survival. Zhang Cunmeng hates Wang Zuogai, this man is too
Understand the internal situation of the rebel army. For a while, both sides fell into silence. Zhang Cunmeng did not express his position, and Su Baisheng did not dare to interrupt at will.
After a long time, Wang Zuoguan secretly laughed in his heart. Since Zhang Cunmeng couldn't be embarrassed, he might as well give him another heavy blow, "Brother Zhang, you should be lucky that only Wang entered the city this time. If a large number of troops entered the city, what do you think?"
Can we still sit here and chat calmly? In fact, Commander Tie, like you, doesn’t want to suffer too much because of the Loop."
With a buzzing sound, Zhang Cunmeng felt his chest was hit hard, and his face became extremely ugly. He had been struggling with the negotiation before, but had ignored Wang Zuogai's entry into the city. Now that he thought about it carefully, he couldn't help but
Somewhat scared.
Wang Zuoguan can easily enter the city, which means that there are people belonging to Wang Zuoguan in Hequ City, and this person or a few people have a high status. What will happen if the other party secretly rebels and opens the city gate to welcome the officers and soldiers into the city?
What consequences?
As he was thinking about it, a layer of cold sweat broke out on Zhang Cunmeng's back. Su Baisheng turned pale and almost blurted out, "Who is that person?"
As soon as he finished asking, Su Baisheng was stunned on the spot. Sure enough, Wang Zuogao raised his eyebrows and glanced at Su Baisheng as if he was looking at an idiot. However, Wang Zuogao ignored Su Baisheng and said to Zhang Cunmeng: "Brother Zhang,
Please believe that Wang came with sincerity. As long as Brother Zhang agrees to this exchange, Wang will leave Brother Zhang’s internal troubles behind. Hequ City was attacked by Li Ying Wai, and Brother Zhang had no choice but to retreat to Yan’an Prefecture. Our troops
Because the losses were too high before, we did not take the risk to pursue him. In this way, General Tie has an explanation to the court, and Brother Zhang did not lose anything on Wang Ziyong's side."
Wang Zuoguan's words almost admitted in disguise that Hequ City had his own old army, and this old army was very powerful and could affect the battle situation in Hequ City. Likewise, he also conveyed a signal that as long as Zhang Cunmeng was willing to conclude this deal
, he will keep his old troops and not leave any hidden dangers to Zhang Cunmeng.
Until now, Zhang Cunmeng has to agree whether he agrees or not. He is indeed one of the three kings of the rebel army. Who knows how many old troops Wang Zuogao has? After several years of development, the rebel army has already been
The organization was disrupted, especially after Wu Yangui was wiped out by the imperial court, the troops in various departments became even more chaotic, and the source could no longer be traced.
Zhang Cunmeng would not doubt that Wang Zuoguan would lie. He did not need to. Moreover, given Wang Zuoguan's original influence in the rebel army, it was not surprising at all that his old troops would remain.
Wang Zuoguan did not leave Hequ City, but stayed. As for the matter of delivering the message, someone else would take care of it. Wang Zuoguan never left the county government, which made Zhang Cunmeng very upset and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to find the insider.
The spy's thoughts were gone. Similarly, Zhang Cunmeng also understood that there was also Wang Zuoguan's spy in the county government.
The more I think about it, the more scared I become. I feel more and more that I can’t stay in Hequ City. Suide is Wang Zuoguan’s hometown. I really can’t tell how many of Wang Zuoguan’s people there are in this place now. Looking at this situation,
As long as Wang Zuoguan is willing, he can send someone to wipe someone's neck at any time, and the success rate is not small.
The two sides ceased fighting the next day, but the situation suddenly changed at night. Wu Shide, the leader of the Peasant Army stationed in Nancheng, suddenly turned back and opened the north city gate. Wu Shide then led more than 3,000 people in his unit to act as a leader, leading the officers and soldiers to quickly occupy
The whole North City of Hequ. There was chaos in Hequ City for a while. Zhang Cunmeng led his troops to escape from Hequ from the east and retreated southward along the hilly areas. Because it was too dark and the hilly areas were not suitable for cavalry, the officers and soldiers gave up the idea of pursuing.
Gushan Ridge, the rolling hills extend to twenty miles northwest of Fugu. On the long hills, a huge army of soldiers and horses walked slowly. The dawn broke through the clouds and illuminated the panicked faces.
Zhang Cunmeng followed the team at the back. He looked back from time to time in the direction of Hequ City. It seemed lively last night, but in fact the two sides did not fight. But even so, the tens of thousands of troops under his command were still less than 4,000. The more than 4,000
You can imagine where people have gone with your buttocks. As expected of Wang Zuoguan, he took away more than four thousand brothers as soon as he showed up. Fortunately, the living king of hell did not want too many casualties, otherwise, Wang Zuoguan raised his arms and shouted, this
If more than 4,000 people suddenly rebelled and tried to cooperate inside and outside, then Zhang's fate would be disastrous.
Zhang Cunmeng made up his mind. After returning this time, the first thing to do is to break up the existing organization to prevent what happened in Hequ City from happening again.
"I didn't expect that it would be Feitianhu Wu Shide. He turned out to be Wang Zuoguan's old subordinate." In Zhang Cunmeng's impression, Wang Zuoguan didn't like to take power, so the real direct subordinate of Wang Zuoguan was the big thief Miao Mei. However, the Shaanxi pirate
At that time, Wang Miaomei also joined Wang Zuoguan and joined the Living King of Hell. Who would have thought that besides Miao Mei, Wu Shide was also one of Wang Zuoguan's people.
Flying Tiger Wu Shide was born in Mizhi, and could be regarded as a leader of Wang Jiayin. After Wang Jiayin was killed, he went to Wang Ziyong, and later was assigned to Zhang Cunmeng. Wu Shide was brave in battle and was a man of love and justice, so he was entrusted with important tasks by Zhang Cunmeng.
, and asked him to guard the south city wall where officers and soldiers were heavily concentrated. I never imagined that Wu Shide was actually Wang Zuogao's man.
The incident in Hequ City quickly spread throughout northern Shaanxi. Wang Ziyong and others did not know the details, so it was difficult to understand the matter. Zhang Cunmeng still had more than 40,000 troops in his hands, and he was guarding Hequ City. How could he be beaten by officers and soldiers for two days?
Time to get it? Two days later, Zhang Cunmeng led the defeated troops of Hequ City to withdraw to Ansai City. At this time, the details about Hequ City were learned. When he learned about Hequ City, Zhang Cunmeng was shocked.
After all, he had no intention of blaming Zhang Cunmeng anymore.
Wu Shide led the crowd to rebel and let go of the city gate. If he did not evacuate in time, God would open his eyes if only 10,000 of the 40,000-strong army were left. In Yan'an City, Zhang Dashou was hunched over, with a stern look in his eyes, "Wang Zuo
Damn, you are really the scum of our generation. If it weren’t for him, why would the Hetao Plain be lost so quickly?”
Zhang Cunmeng was able to lead the crowd to withdraw in time. Wang Ziyong and Zhang Damou were naturally relieved, but one person was very unhappy. This person was Zhang Xianzhong in Mizhi City. Zhang Xianzhong had been looking forward to the officers and soldiers fighting Zhang Cunmeng to death. It would be best for both sides to fight
Both sides suffer losses, but the result is heavy thunder and little rain.
Zhang Xianzhong was very unwilling. In order to save the Hetao, he helped Zhang Cunmeng and sent heavy troops to attack Yinzhou Pass. In the end, he suffered heavy casualties, including Sun Kewang. He suffered heavy injuries, and Zhang Cunmeng, who should have been even worse than himself, actually took most of the people with him.
The soldiers and horses returned to Ansai City. Isn't this unfair?
Who is the Living King of Hell? He is the master of meeting and peeling off layers of skin. How can Zhang Cunmeng retreat easily under the eyes of the Living King of Hell? Zhang Xianzhong does not believe Zhang Cunmeng’s nonsense. There is something fishy about Hequ City.
With the fall of Hequ City, the situation in northern Shaanxi also changed dramatically. After learning the news, the Shaanxi officers and soldiers who had stormed Ganquan City suddenly retreated. Under the command of Hong Chengchou, the officers and soldiers withdrew again and again, and even took the initiative to abandon Lin.
Prefecture, retreated to Yuhua Mountain to garrison. At the same time, Chen Qiyu's Xi'an Prefecture army also gave up the attack and took the initiative to retreat back to Xianyang City.
The large-scale retreat of the officers and soldiers directly disrupted all Wang Ziyong's deployment. He originally wanted to take advantage of Zhang Cunmeng's return to concentrate his forces to defeat the officers and soldiers near Ganquan City first. Who would have thought that the officers and soldiers would withdraw on their own initiative and as soon as they retreated?
He traveled hundreds of miles to attack Yuhua Mountain with heavy troops, but Wang Ziyong was not stupid enough.
In Yan'an Mansion, Zhang Damou, Zhang Cunmeng and others gathered together, but they were all at a loss. Zhang Yichuan said with a dark face: "What the hell are the officers and soldiers doing? They have just captured the entire Hetao and their morale is high. They should not strike while the iron is hot and attack Ganquan City and Ansai
A city? Why did you withdraw just like you said?"
Things were so weird that Zhang Damou didn't even dare to take advantage of the opportunity to go out of the city to pursue him.
How could people like Zhang Damou know that the border troops of Xuanfu and Datongfu were also exhausted at this time, especially the cavalry and artillery under Tie Mo's command. The cavalry was almost spinning, and they were exhausted to death. The artillery was even worse.
There were less than ten shells left. Logistics and supplies could not keep up. The accumulated shells were almost empty, and the workshop could not replenish them for a while.
The cavalry can't run, and the artillery has no shells. To put it bluntly, the frontier troops in Hetao can't attack and need time to rest and recuperate.
As for Hong Chengchou and others, it’s easier to understand. Wang Ziyong has hundreds of thousands of peasant troops, and his strength cannot be underestimated. He attacked Ganquan City before, in order to cooperate with the frontier troops in the north to capture the Hetao. Now that the Hetao has been captured,
There is no need to fight to the death in Ganquan City. Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao were not dazzled by the victory in front of them. They knew very well that the troops in their hands were not enough to take the initiative to attack the peasant army.
Even if the border troops in the north of the Hetao cooperated with the north-south attack, they still couldn't take down the hard nut of Wang Ziyong. It was definitely impossible to fight, so it was better to withdraw as soon as possible. If Zhang Cunmeng was asked to increase his troops in Ganquan, it would not be easy to withdraw at that time.
In Yuhua Mountain, the breeze is blowing and the sun is warm. Hong Chengchou is dressed in a red robe, looking radiant and full of energy.
"The Loop has finally been taken down, and it can be considered as an explanation to the court. If the court can increase its troops in Shaanxi in large numbers, it is not impossible to take this opportunity to destroy Wang Ziyong's bandits. It is a pity."
Hong Chengchou seemed a little unwilling, but Cao Wenzhao was very satisfied with the current result, "Master Hong, actually you and I both know very well that it is very rare to have this situation. You have to know that Commander Tie and Commander Man are
Isn’t it good to fight on the side?
Easy. As for increasing troops in Shaanxi, it can only be a luxury in the short term. You also know the situation of Xuanfu and Datong. Especially Xuanfu, after successive fierce battles, has never rested. This time, General Tiefang gritted his teeth.
We drew out our troops and came here."
"What's more, the situation in Henan seems to be very bad. The imperial court must protect Henan first."
Hong Chengchou frowned, instantly adding a bit of sadness.
Everything was just as Cao Wenzhao said. When the good news from northern Shaanxi arrived in the capital, the entire Ming court became nervous because of another incident. At this moment, the court had no time to pay attention to the rotten land of Shaanxi.
On April 28th of the third year of Chongzhen, the peasant army Gao Yingxiang, with Li Yangchun as the main general, led an army of 20,000 to besiege Nanyang City, which finally kicked off the peasant army's entry into Henan.
Almost on the second day after Nanyang City was besieged, Xiangyang City responded. Xiangyang garrison Huang Lin led more than 5,000 troops to rescue Nanyang. As expected, he was ambushed by Li Zicheng's troops in Xinye, and Huang Lin was beaten.
Defeated, they had no choice but to return to Xiangyang.
The soldiers and horses of Xiangyang were repelled, and at this time the soldiers and horses of other prefectures and counties near Nanyang were even more of a mob. For a time, the city of Nanyang was in turmoil, and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before it fell.
