Originally, Mi Zhu should greet Zhang Zhao and others in person, but when he heard that Zuo Rong had brought more than 100,000 people at once, Mi Zhu couldn't leave him alone. After all, he and Zuo Rong were also old acquaintances. Mi Zhu had no choice but to entrust Yu Fan with the matter of welcoming Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong.
According to the soldiers' reports, Zhang Zhao and the others were traveling in their own boat, and with navy soldiers as guides, they should be able to arrive at dusk. As a result, they couldn't wait either left or right, so Yu Fan had no choice but to let Gan Ning They went to the banquet first, while he continued to wait by the river. Therefore, Gan Ning said that Yu Fan was going to pick up some friends and would come later. Those friends were Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong who came from Guangling. , Xu Sheng and Zang Ba. Mi Zhu naturally knew who Yu Fan was going to pick up, and he couldn't keep Zuo Rong waiting, so he agreed to Yu Fan's instructions and started the banquet first.
In fact, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong had a very smooth journey. The reason why they arrived late was because they set off too late. Zhang Hong not only brought gold and silver, but also brought out all the books collected at home. He Although he is a famous scholar in Guangling and has quite a fortune, he cannot afford expensive paper. These books are all written on bamboo slips, which are heavy and take up space. They are time-consuming and laborious to carry. Going back and forth wastes time. Come down.
Yu Fan waited until the lanterns came on before he saw several large ships slowly approaching from the north of the Yangtze River.
After everyone met and introduced each other, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but ask: "Why haven't you seen Mr. Zizhong?"
Yu Fan said with a smile: "Zizhong is busy entertaining another distinguished guest from Xuzhou - Master Zuo Rongze."
Zhang Hong was shocked when he heard this and asked repeatedly: "Master Yu is talking about Pengcheng Prefect Zuo Rong?"
Yu Fan smiled and said: "It's Master Zuo, the governor of Pengcheng."
Zhang Zhao also became anxious and said: "When we left Guangling, I heard that Zuo Rong was killing people and setting fires in Guangling. He committed all kinds of evil. How can Zizhong tolerate such a villain?"
Yu Fan muttered: "Master Zuo is coming to Jiangnan this time, and there are more than 100,000 Pengcheng people following him. He should not do such a thing. The rumors must be wrong and should not be fully believed."
"Seeing is believing, hearing is believing" Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong both understood. Since Zuo Rong could take more than 100,000 people to flee together, he would not do such a thing as a beast, so they both couldn't help but hesitate.
Yu Fan chuckled and said: "Zizhong held a banquet in the big tent to welcome a group of officials and gentry from Pengcheng. If you two gentlemen don't believe it, you will know it as soon as you see it."
Everyone went straight to the big tent where Mi Zhu held the banquet. Even Zhang Zhao and the others didn't have time to take off the bamboo hats and raincoats they wore to protect themselves from the fog on the river.
As soon as he entered the big tent, Zhang Zhao realized that something was wrong. Since the people here were all officials and gentry from Pengcheng, even if he could not know them all, he should know at least most of them. The result surprised him. He was sitting with Zuo Rong in the big tent. I don't even know any of these people together.
Zhang Zhao was already resourceful, but why couldn't he discover the problem here? He quickly whispered in Yu Fan's ear: "Master Yu, be careful of fraud!"
Yu Fan had heard Zhang Zhao's name for a long time, so how could he not pay attention to his reminder? He immediately stopped and whispered to Zhang Zhao. When he was by the river just now, he heard that Zuo Rong was killing the people in Guangling, and he was still a little agitated. I am doubtful, but if Zhang Zhao is not mistaken, it is somewhat intriguing that Zuo Rong hired a group of unrelated people to pretend to be officials and gentry in Pengcheng. Yu Fan, like Mi Zhu, both advocated governing the country with benevolence and morality, and treated those who harmed the people. He was deeply disgusted, so he asked Zuo Rong about him on the spot.
Zuo Rong learned that the person who followed Yu Fan was Zhang Zhao, a famous scholar from Pengcheng. He knew that he could not hide it, and he couldn't help but regretted. If he had known this, he might as well have directly asked Mi Zhu about borrowing the passage. Why would he covet these grains and cloth?
However, there is no regret in selling medicine in this world. Facing Yu Fan's aggressive eyes, Zee Rong suddenly became jealous and threw the wine cup in his left hand to the ground. He jumped up and rushed towards Yu Fan.
As he walked over, there was already a gleaming sharp knife in his hand.
Throwing the cup was a signal that Zuo Rong had agreed upon in advance. Following this throw, Fan Neng and the others overturned several cases one after another, drew out the sharp blades they carried and rushed towards Mi Zhu and the others.
The sharp knife in Zuo Rong's hand was only one step away from Yu Fan. Suddenly, he heard the sound of wind in his ears. Before he could react, his head buzzed and he received a heavy blow. It turned out that Zuo Rong happened to walk towards him at this time.
In front of Gan Ning. Although Gan Ning drank a lot of wine, he still reacted quickly. He kicked several cases in front of him away and hit Zuo Rong on the head.
While Gan Ning kicked several cases away, he jumped up from the table and landed right in front of Zuo Rong. He punched Zuo Rong hard on the lower abdomen with his left hand and snatched the sharp knife from Zuo Rong's hand with his right hand.
, against Zuo Rong’s throat, he shouted loudly: “Stop it!”
Zuo Rong was hit by several cases, and he was already in a daze. He was hit hard by Gan Ning, and his eyes were so painful that there were stars. But with the sharp tip of the knife on his neck, he couldn't dare to move, so he had to peek and observe.
There was movement in the tent, hoping that his trusted sergeants would be lucky enough to exchange hostages, but the result was naturally a disappointment to him.
In the big tent, in addition to him and Fan Neng, there were another twenty-four confidant sergeants pretending to be officials and gentry. The number was actually more than Mi Zhu and the others. Half of the twenty-four sergeants pretending to be officials and gentry pounced on them.
Mi Zhu. However, the four flying tiger guards behind Mi Zhu
One to ten, they cut down five or six sergeants in a blink of an eye, but Mi Zhu was not injured at all. As for those around him, Gan Ning was like a wolf and a tiger, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin were all easy to mess with.
Among the people who came in with Yu Fan, two people jumped out and started fighting.
Most of the people on Zuo Rong's side, including Fan Neng, were already lying down. Even if Gan Ning did not restrain Zuo Rong, the remaining few did not dare to continue to attack, and dropped the sharp blades in their hands one by one.
They were captured obediently. They may not have realized that doing so was the wisest choice. Because Liu Xin had always emphasized military discipline and prohibited the slaughter or abuse of prisoners. As long as they voluntarily put down their weapons, their lives would not be in danger for the time being.
As a result, the good-looking reception banquet came to an abrupt end. The big tent changed its appearance and turned into a courtroom for interrogating Zuo Rong. The facts are very clear, almost the same as what Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong heard in Guangling.
They are exactly the same, and the fact that Zuo Rong came to the banquet with a hidden knife further proves that he has bad intentions.
While Yu Fan and Mi Zhu were interrogating Zuo Rong, Gan Ning, Huang Gai and others had mobilized naval vessels to surround all the more than 500 merchant ships and fishing boats moored by the river. There were still more than 10,000 people following Zuo on those boats.
The soldiers who came from the fusion. Not only because
These soldiers are Zuo Rong's men, and because, according to the information brought by Zhang Zhao and others, these soldiers have committed unforgivable crimes in Guangling and deserve to be punished, so even Yu Fan and Mi Zhu, who are kind-hearted, cannot
Let them go.
In order to prevent these soldiers from escaping, in addition to Gan Ning's naval officers, Mi Zhu also selected more than 3,000 young men from the people in the refugee camp to assist them in this capture operation.
The general offensive was launched at the third watch. When the navy officers who had been waiting all night quietly approached the merchant ships and fishing boats, they encountered no resistance at all. Almost all of the Pengcheng soldiers on the ship were naked and sleeping with women in their arms. Shui
The officers and men of the army are also very hot-blooded.
The young men who saw such an unsightly scene inevitably felt a little hot, and many of them had physical reactions. However, no navy soldier dared to do anything that violated military discipline. This was not only a matter of life, but also a matter of life.
It is more related to the honor of a Han soldier.
The battle went extremely smoothly and was over in less than half an hour. Groups of prisoners were led naked onto the river bank. Except for more than a dozen soldiers who resisted and were killed on the spot, none of them escaped the net. Because during the battle,
Mobilized before, water
The officers and soldiers had long known about the crimes committed by these people, and they were all filled with righteous indignation. Naturally, they did not like these soldiers who came from Pengcheng. Although they knew that it was freezing outside, they did not let them put on their clothes and let them freeze one by one.
Got to tremble.
However, this is not considered torture of prisoners, because these soldiers were naked when they were captured, so Gan Ning and the others just turned a blind eye and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.
As for the young women who were kidnapped from Guangling, they were naturally treated differently by the navy soldiers. The navy officers were very sympathetic to these women. They not only found clothes for them to cover their shame, but also freed up their own military camps for them.
They rest and live.
When the first ray of sunshine rose in the morning, the river bank that had been noisy all night slowly became quiet. Mi Zhu and Yu Fan looked at the mountains of gold, silver and jewelry piled on the bank, but they were not happy at all. Suddenly there were so many more
Property is naturally a good thing for a refugee camp that is in urgent need of funds. However, it is not difficult for them to imagine how many people in Guangling have lost their families and their lives as a result.
Seeing Mi Zhu, Yu Fan had a heavy look on his face. Gan Ning cupped his hands and said, "My lords, now is not the time to be sad. You should quickly report the situation here to your lord and ask your lord for instructions on whether to send troops to Guangling."
A hardship can lead to wisdom. If it had been in the past, Gan Ning would have led his troops across the Yangtze River without hesitation and occupied Guangling first, but now he would not dare to do so again. However,
Knowing that Guangling was now under the jurisdiction of no one, Gan Ning didn't want to let go of the piece of fat on his lips, so he kept urging him.
Mi Zhu nodded and said: "General Gan is very worried. Mi will write a letter and send it to Xiangyang, asking the lord to make an early decision and rescue the one hundred thousand people who were abandoned by Zuo Rong in Guangling."
.”
Yu Fan also sighed and said: "The suffering people in Guangling are also in dire straits and there is no time to delay."
Everyone was lamenting when they suddenly saw a fast horse galloping towards them. The knight on the horse came and said loudly: "Report! Sir, there is an urgent message from Xiangyang!"