But it was said that Yu Kui, the general sent by Zhou Wen to ask for help, happened to encounter a large group of Qin troops halfway. After a fight, Yu Kui died in the chaos. In this way, Zhou Wenjun became a lonely army and was trapped in Mianchi. As time went by, the food was exhausted. One day, Zhou Wen summoned all the generals and said: "The reinforcements are still coming. If we wait any longer, everyone will die." The general He Zhi volunteered and said: "I will personally go to the false king for help. If I can't see the false king, I will go to Chencheng to see him." Your Majesty, we must move to rescue troops!" Zhou Wen said in tears: "If everyone is as loyal and brave as you, why worry about the Qin Dynasty being destroyed!" He Zhi was ready. Zhou Wen personally escorted him through the siege.
Zhang Han surrounded the city. In order to undermine the fighting spirit of the rebels, he issued a military order saying: All those who escaped from the city were given food and were not allowed to be harmed. Those who were injured must be treated. He knew one thing very well at this time, and that was the famous Battle of Makino in history. In that battle, King Zhou of Shang armed a large number of slaves and merchants and launched a fierce battle with the Zhou army in Muye. At the height of the war, the merchants defected and helped the Zhou army fight back against the brutal Shang army. , wiped out Shang Zhou's army in one fell swoop, leading to the defeat of King Zhou and the demise of the Shang Dynasty. Zhang Han knew this lesson very well, and he was determined not to repeat the same mistake, so he only allowed the Qin army to besiege the city instead of attacking it, and then slowly mobilized troops from all over. As time passed, the Lishan craftsmen began to stir again, and they were very emotional. They kept complaining that Zhang Han would not let them go. At this time, Zhang Han saw that the morale of the army was about to change, so he became determined and decided to end it.
One day, Zhang Han asked someone to write a notice: All craftsmen who want to stay will stay, and those who don't will be sent home. When the craftsmen heard the news, thirty to forty thousand people responded. Zhang Han said to them: "For safety, the Qin army will escort everyone to leave at night." The craftsmen thought that they had been working in Xianyang for more than ten years and it was finally time to go home, so they were very happy. That evening, Zhang Han said to everyone: "In order to prevent you from running into the rebels, let General Yang Xiong escort you across the river from the north." The craftsmen put down their weapons and followed the Qin army to the edge of the Yellow River. It was already dark at this time, and everyone came to the river with the faint starlight. They saw that the river was fast and there was no ferry. They were wondering when the Qin army suddenly pushed them into the Yellow River. The craftsmen were shocked and realized that Zhang Han wanted them to die. They cursed Zhang Han angrily and tried their best to escape to the river bank. Just listen to Yang Xiong shouting: "Fire the arrow!" As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sound of "Whoosh! Whoosh!" It turned out that the Qin troops standing far away had already raised their bows, arrows and butcher knives. After a burst of arrows, the craftsmen fell to the ground. Those who survived were chopped down by the Qin army who rushed up, and they were all killed in the river. In this way, among the more than 100,000 craftsmen organized by Zhang Han in Lishan, in addition to those who died in battle, some Guanzhong people were willing to accept the adaptation and became the official Qin army, while the rest disappeared in the long river of history.
Yang Xiong solved the craftsmen and rushed back to report to Zhang Han. Although Zhang Han was relieved, he was very uneasy in his heart. The figures of the craftsmen kept appearing in front of his eyes. Especially at night, he could vaguely see the tragic scenes of the craftsmen being drowned and killed. I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep, and I stayed like this for several nights. This is exactly what it is: If you do something wrong for others, you are afraid of ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night.
A month later, the situation in Mianchi City became worse and worse. All the food was eaten up, and more and more people escaped every day. In order to prevent the soldiers from escaping, Zhou Wen patrolled the city day and night, and he stood on the lookout without sleeping. After a few days, my beard and hair turned white. One day, Zhou Wen was patrolling the city, and suddenly someone shouted: "General, look, someone is coming from the Qin army's camp!" Zhou Wen looked in the direction pointed by the soldiers, and saw a man wearing civilian clothes coming to the bottom of the city. , shouted: "I am the envoy sent by General Zhang, please open the city gate!" Zhou Wen ordered the sergeant to let the Qin envoy enter the city. After Qin's envoy entered the city, he went straight to Zhou Wen's residence.
After the Qin envoy met Zhou Wen, he said: "Our general does not want to see killings and deaths, so he specially ordered me to come and persuade the general to surrender: Now you are guarding this city alone, surrounded by Qin soldiers and horses. To the east is Xin'an and Luoyang have also been occupied by the Qin army, and you have no way out. You must have run out of food, and you are in danger. General, why don't you submit to our Qin state? In this way, the living can be protected, so you can think twice before acting?" Zhou Wenting After hearing the envoy's words, he said righteously and solemnly: "I am just an ordinary citizen in Chendi. I had the honor to serve Chun Shenjun and also served as a servant for a few days under Chu General Xiang Yan. From then on, I hope that Chu The country can be prosperous and strong, but heaven does not help Chu but helps Qin, and human power cannot do it! Since Xiang Yan died for the country, I have been living among the people, hiding in the east and west, living the life of a subjugated slave! For more than ten years, I have been full of passion, Ambition is hard to achieve. Whenever I see the people trapped in the flames of war, I want to save them. Fortunately, the great hero Chen Sheng took the lead and rose up in the vast land. This move was truly earth-shattering! From then on, he proclaimed himself the King of Chu, occupied counties and recruited wise men. , called on the people, determined to overthrow the violent Qin. When I came to the army, the King of Chu asked me to lead the troops into the pass. I fought all the way and successfully entered Hangu Pass. Unexpectedly, I was deceived by Wang Ben, and my success fell short, resulting in Today's defeat. Alas! God has no mercy on the people of Chu!" The envoy asked: "General, what are your plans?" Zhou Wen paused and sighed: "There is a saying that the voice can be entrusted to the strings and the pipes, and the name can be left behind. Yu Zhubo. 'The day the city is broken is when I will be martyred. What regrets will I have when I die?' The envoy continued: 'Qin's Jincheng Tangchi, do you really believe that Chen Sheng will destroy Qin?' Zhou Wen replied confidently: ' 'Although Chu has three households, if Qin is destroyed, Chu will definitely destroy it!' Chu State will definitely destroy Qin State. If you don't believe it, just wait and see! If anything happens to me, you cut off my head and hang it on the city gate. I must see it. With the army of Chu State, they invaded Guanzhong again. Hahaha!" Zhou Wen stopped laughing and suddenly said angrily: "The two countries are fighting. If we don't kill the envoy, you go back quickly and tell Zhang Han my words. I want to fight with him. Fight to the death!" The envoy wanted to persuade him again, but Zhou Wen scolded him and drove the envoy out.
The envoy fled out of the city in embarrassment and reported to Zhang Han. Zhang Han said angrily: "The traitor Zhou Wen gave you a way to survive, but you don't know what is good or bad!" At this time, Zhang Han's guilt for killing the craftsmen had disappeared. He saw that the number of Qin troops was gradually increasing, and the internal situation was also Once stable, prepare to launch an attack on the city.
He Zhi asked the King of Wu for help. He was besieged by the Qin army in Xin'an. After struggling to escape, he heard on the way that Luoyang had been occupied by the Qin army, so he crossed the Yellow River from Pingyin and ran straight to Hebei. He Zhi came to Handan, saw King Zhao, and reported the situation in Mianchi truthfully. King Zhao summoned Zhang Er, who said: "It has been more than two months since Zhou Wen's defeat. During this period, we have encountered a lot of things. Now the Yan Kingdom in the north is watching with eager eyes, and they want to avenge the last sneak attack. The people of our country, Zhao, have not yet surrendered, and the Qin army in the north also wants to go south. Zhao has strong enemies on all sides, so we must not divide our troops anymore?" King Zhao hesitated and said, "But General Zhou Wen is trapped in Mianchi. , If you don’t save him, how can you reply to General He Zhi?" Zhang Er said: "Even if Chen Sheng comes, it will be easy to reply, let alone a small He Zhi! Tomorrow I will reply to him and say that Qin General Wang Li is attacking Jingxing Pass. We must go all out to deal with the Qin army in the north, and we can no longer rescue Mianchi."
Early the next morning, He Zhi came to see King Zhao again in a hurry, and in tears he urged King Zhao to send troops as soon as possible. Zhang Er told He Zhi what he had said last night. Seeing that Zhao Guo refused to send troops, He Zhi cried loudly: "If this is the case, General Zhou will be doomed. How can you bear it?" He Zhi was unwilling to give up, so he banged his head on the ground and begged King Zhao to send troops. Zhang Er said angrily: "The State of Zhao is really powerless. Why don't you go back to Chencheng and ask King Chen for help?" After Zhang Er finished speaking, he ordered his left and right men to blast He Zhi out. When He Zhi saw Zhang Er being so heartless, he cursed and ran out of the city and ran straight to Chencheng.
It turns out that Zhang Han's advice to Zhou Wen to surrender was false, but it was true to find out the truth. The messenger came to the city and reported everything he saw to Zhang Han. He also said: "The bark of the trees in the city has been eaten away, and the rebels have completely lost their ability to fight." Zhang Han was very happy and ordered an attack on the city. . Zhou Wen led his army to fight and defended the city. One day later, he suffered heavy casualties. Han Qi and other generals persuaded Zhou Wen to find a way to break out of the encirclement. Zhou Wen saw the dense Qin army outside the city and knew that Luoyang had also been captured by Sima Yi. The true power was gone and it was useless to break through, so he had to order to hold on. After a few more days of this, more than half of the sergeants' casualties were lost, and too many people ran out to surrender. Three days later, someone reported that the city had been captured by the Qin army. Han Qi commanded the soldiers to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Qin army, and was eventually killed by an arrow.
Zhou Wen came to the city to take command and saw that the Qin army was gathering more and more, so he held the horizontal sword in his hand and his eyes were like a torch. The Qin army did not dare to approach when they saw it. Zhou Wen looked around and saw Qin troops everywhere, so he faced south and said plausibly: "Your Majesty! I am incompetent! We can no longer fight on the battlefield. Please take care of yourself!" He wiped his neck with his sword and died heroically for his country. By the time Zhang Han arrived at the city, Zhou Wen had died. The generals of Qin State saw that Zhou Wen's beard and hair were all white and he looked haggard, and they were deeply moved by his act of committing suicide and martyrdom, so they all bowed respectfully. Zhang Han asked the sergeants to carry Zhou Wen's body to the western suburbs and bury it. One poem sighed:
At that time, several famous generals came to power and moved the country.
He worshiped the generals at high places and received great responsibilities. He traveled far and made extraordinary achievements.
The grand plan failed to save the sacrifice of the ancestors, but the Fangjie still inspired future generations.
The rolling Yellow River never ends, and the waves roar through the ages.
Zhou Wen was dead, and Zhang Han immediately reported to the court. King Chen's second anti-Qin army, which was also a stronger army, was destroyed in this way.
