The yellow leaves are flying, the autumn wind is rustling, but autumn is approaching, and the distant mountain tops are covered with gray mist.
After Zhu Kui's army rested in Luyang for a few days, they set off for another campaign, passing through the two counties of Zhenping and Boshan before reaching Wancheng. The two counties were not far from each other and were at the horns of each other.
The army stopped after passing here.
Zhu Kui raised his head and looked to the east. He saw that the sky was a frosty color. The official road had long been deserted, while the official road to the north was also average.
"Sir, do you think we should attack Zhenping County first or Naboshan County first?"
"General, according to reports from sentry scouts, there are three thousand thieves in Zhenping County and four thousand thieves in Boshan County. The two counties are similar in strength, but far inferior to Luyang County." Xi Zhicai said with a smile: "No matter whether we attack
No matter where you go, no matter how hard you try!"
"But the news of the fall of Luyang should have been sent back to Wancheng. The general should capture the two counties when reinforcements arrive, otherwise there will be another big battle before reaching Wancheng."
"That's it." Zhu Kui said immediately without thinking: "Wang Cheng!"
"The end is here!"
"I order you to take the troops and horses of our headquarters, and then together with your five thousand soldiers, guard the main road of Pingdingshan and set up strongholds. If reinforcements from ant thieves pass by, they will defend the fortress and not a single soldier will be sent over. After three days, I will
I will naturally join you and take you directly to Wancheng."
"General, take your orders!"
Zhu Kui thought for a while and then ordered to his side: "Du Hong!"
"My subordinate is here."
"You temporarily return to Wang Cheng's command and obey his orders!"
"Yes, my lord!"
After a series of arrangements, groups of soldiers and horses were separated from the Chinese army. Zhu Kui gently nodded, looked at the county seat to the east, and said: "Zhenping County is closer to us, so let's take Zhenping first."
Zhenping County is a small town with a population of only 20,000. It has earthen walls more than one foot high, wooden gates, and a trench three feet wide. When the ants and thieves in the city saw the officers and soldiers attacking, they quickly closed the four gates, and a few poles were sparsely fluttered on the wall.
Yellow flags, written "Li" and "Sun"; hundreds of soldiers with yellow scarves on their heads stared nervously from the battlements at the neatly arranged officers and soldiers below the city.
"Who is the guard in the city?" Zhu Kui asked Guan Hai in front.
"It is said that one is named Li Tong and the other is named Sun Zhen." After speaking, Guan Hai waved his hand and said frankly: "The Nanyang Yellow Turbans are not familiar to the generals. There are general canal commanders in every state and county, and their subordinates fight separately.
There are very few Xiaoqushuai acquaintances from all sides, let alone the states and counties."
Zhu Kui thought about it for himself, but he had no impression at all. He should be A, B, C and D in the Three Kingdoms, so there is nothing to pay attention to.
"Oh, then as per the rules, shoot the surrender letter and order the two of them to open the door and surrender within an hour."
An hour passed, and there were more and more ant thieves on the city wall, gathering together and whispering to each other, obviously still wavering.
"Still hesitating! Huh!" Zhu Kui snorted coldly: "You will not survive if you do it yourself."
"Come here, order the army to attack the city!"
The loud drum sounds, boom, boom, boom.
As usual, Zhou Tai led the sword and shield soldiers, attracting the cover of arrows, and Gan Ning's first ascending troops roared up on ladders. When attacking Luyang, the first ascending camp suffered the most casualties. Zhu Kui was from the middle army.
Select soldiers to make up the troops.
Guan Hai of the Hou Army also led his troops to follow. This time Zhu Kui didn't talk much about strategy, and the thunderous force came forward.
This is to establish a prestige and give the Nanyang Yellow Turbans a warning. You have been given the opportunity to surrender. If you don't seize it, it will be too late. If you wait until the battle is almost over before surrendering, there will be no way out and no chance to regret.
"Kill! Kill!"
In Zhenping County, two thieves on the city tower, Li Tong and Sun Zhen, were shocked when they heard the sound of drums.
"General Sun, the officers and soldiers have attacked the city. What do you think you should do? They have said that they will surrender, but you can't. You still want to wait for the reinforcements from the commander-in-chief of the gods. There are 40,000 to 50,000 officers and men in the city. This is what the imperial court is doing.
They really want to conquer us, but look at the wave of only 200,000 troops, and they all failed. All we want is for the country to become rich and surrender!”….
The leader of the thieves, Li Tong, kept saying that he joined the Taiping Road for the sake of glory and wealth. He was born in a country rogue and did not know how to save the world and love the people. As a yellow scarf general, it was not difficult for him to switch to the imperial court and become a non-commissioned officer.
Sun Zhen was originally a commander in the Nanyang County army. After Zhang Mancheng raised his army, various counties and counties surrendered upon hearing the news. He was one of them. Because he betrayed Shangguan, he was favored by Zhang Mancheng and was granted the title of general and leader of the army.
"General Li, don't worry. We have 3,000 soldiers. We will wait for two or three days. If we really can't hold it, we will open the door and surrender. According to Sun's experience, this will attract more attention from the court generals and give them more
reward."
"Come here, the officers and soldiers are attacking the city, defend it well!"
"Shoot! Shoot!"
Li Tong nodded helplessly, hoping that what the other party said was reasonable, and led more than a thousand of his men to scatter in all directions to block the offensive of the army.
Unfortunately, by overestimating his own worth, he missed the opportunity to surrender. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late!
Whoosh... Arrows rained down from the city wall.
It is a pity that the general has no intention of fighting to the death, so the combat effectiveness of his soldiers is naturally greatly reduced. The deterrence of the arrow rain is incomparable to that of Luyang County.
A small number of running soldiers were hit by arrows. They endured the blood that continued to flow out of the wounds, and still carried the ladder and continued running. The smell of blood aroused the animal nature of the siege soldiers.
Soon, the first group of warriors arrived at the city gate, and rows of ladders were erected on the city wall with a clattering sound.
Shouting: "Go up to the tower and kill!"
The ant thieves were not slow to respond. They stuck their heads out of the crevices and raised their knives to cut. Those who were hit by the knives would fall down with a loud sound.
One by one, the ant thieves were pushing the ladders with push hooks in their hands, only to find that the ladders did not move at all. It took a lot of effort to knock down the ladders.
Sun Xia was the former captain of the Bocai Logistics Camp. Zhu Kui had seen that he had great experience in making ladders. After some questioning, he learned that this carpentry skill was originally a ancestral skill. Unfortunately, he could not exchange for food, so he joined the Taiping Road.
Because of his ability in making siege equipment, he was highly regarded by Bo Cai, so he dared to compete with Guan Hai for women.
After surrendering to Zhu Kui, he was still ordered to build siege equipment by the logistics commander. The tripod ladder did not live up to his expectations, and the effect was much better than the original ladder.
An early soldier climbed up to the top of the city, killed a bandit with a wave of his hand, occupied a crenel, and soon led 20 soldiers to climb the battlement too!
More and more soldiers climbed up.
The numerical superiority of the officers and soldiers suddenly became obvious. Guan Hai and Gan Ning had already climbed up the tower and started to fight towards Shuai Qi.
Sun Zhen shouted at this time: "What's going on? How come these officers and soldiers have become so fierce! It's completely different from before. We are like paper, and we were beaten by a bucket! It's over, it's over."
At this time, Li Tong also found that the city could not stand it anymore. The officers and soldiers were too fierce. In just an hour, the city wall fell. He fought desperately back to Sun Zhen and shouted: "What should Commander Sun do now? Can you still surrender?"
"Surrender!" These two words flashed through Sun Zhen's mind instantly, as if grasping a life-saving straw, she shouted: "That's right, surrender! Surrender! We surrender!"
Li Tong was the first to put down the weapon in his hand. He looked at Sun Zhen who was looking crazy and felt bitter in his heart. He had already said that he was surrendering and so many brothers died, so he put down his weapon.
When the thieves and soldiers around saw it, their morale was greatly reduced and they all fell to the ground to surrender.
"Surrender? Hahaha" Guan Hai, who was full of anger, couldn't help laughing loudly: "General, if you refuse to surrender, kill me!"
The ant thief stood motionless for a moment, and the officers and soldiers showed no mercy, especially Guan Hai's men, who took the opportunity to raise their swords and drop them, causing a large number of people to fall to the ground.
The thieves and soldiers soon discovered that something was wrong. The officers and soldiers were not prepared to give them a way to survive, and they immediately became determined to fight to the death.
"Brothers! If you fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, you will have to support them even if you die!" Li Tong, the leader of the thieves, realized that since there was no way to survive, he naturally wanted to make a final counterattack. Now he felt very regretful.
In front of the officers and soldiers who were several times the number of thieves, resistance was futile, and they were slowly eaten away one by one. The leader of the thieves, Li Tong, was cut into pieces by Guan Hai; the leader of the thieves, Sun Zhen, was beaten to death by Gan Ning with an iron rope.
The whole battle lasted for more than two hours.
"Report, general, the situation in the city has been decided, general, please enter the city!"
"I know, let's go down." Zhu Kui waved his hand and said, "Enter the city!"
At this time, the rear army immediately stepped forward: "Report! General, a large number of soldiers and horses have appeared twenty miles away!"
"Oh?" Zhu Kui was a little surprised.
"General, it must be the ant thieves from Boshan County who heard the news and came to rescue them, but they didn't expect them to arrive so quickly!" Xi Zhicai said.
"Well, the order is sent to Guan Hai, Gan and Ning to quickly control the county and eliminate hidden dangers. Remember not to disturb the people!" Zhu Kui emphasized the military order again.
"The army turned around and asked us to see who the leader of the bandits in Boshan County was. They actually reacted within three hours."