On the fourth day of October, the day after Zhang Xing burned his accounts, Li Shu captured Dingtao.
It's hard to say that it was conquered, because it was more like someone gave up on their own initiative... Dingtao ordered Liu Bi and Song Yi, the son of Song Chang, the prefect of Jiyin, persisted for a day under the offensive of Shan Dalang, who arrived first, and immediately realized that Guxuan was in Jiyin. There was no need to defend a city to the north of the water, so before the rebels gathered, they built a pontoon bridge from the south gate behind the city overnight, and then drove a bunch of women and children across the river. However, they led hundreds of elites to protect Liu Ben's family from the west gate. He escaped and crossed grandly from the upper reaches.
Shan Dalang fell into the opponent's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain, so he chased him across the river, but missed.
Taking this opportunity, the Dingtao defenders and Jiyin defenders joined together to further stabilize the city defense.
On the fifth day of October, Li Shu joined forces with Bonan, Dan Tonghai, Wang Shuyong, and Shang Huaizhi in Dingtao, with a total of five thousand people. They crossed the river on the sixth day, hastily surrounded Jiyin, and then tested the city to see if it would be unfavorable.
There is no way, Jiyin is a county town, the city is tall, the repairs are successful on weekdays, the treasury and ordnance are sufficient, plus the gathering of Dingtao defenders, and the methods of the prefect Song Chang, it is really mind-numbing.
After this battle, Xiong Bonan, who was already a master in the Chengdan stage, once wanted to rush into the city and perform beheading tactics, but was stopped by Li Shu, Shan Dalang, Wang Wulang, and Shang Huaizhi... The reason couldn't be simpler. The family records of the Fang brothers and Shang Huaizhi, including some of the righteous soldiers, are still in Jiyin City.
At the same time, there are at least five obvious core command levels in the city: Song Chang, Song Chang's son Song Yi, Dingtao Ling Liu Bi, plus Jiyin Jun Cheng and Jingan Taijun Hei Shou.
In this case, a beheading operation that is close to an assassination, as long as the five people are not killed in one go, or even five people are killed in one go, it is likely to attract retaliation... and the latter belongs to the attacker. It is unbearable for the rebels, and at least it is not worth it at the moment.
"Considering that many of the rebel leaders, Jiajuan and Fang, are still in the city, the best way is to let Song Chang and his son retreat in the face of difficulties and leave the country with dignity. We will give them gifts." On the eighth day of October, in the evening, At Shang Huaizhi's request, a temporary military meeting was suddenly held. Li Shu, who was wearing leather armor and a warrior's crown, got straight to the point and made overall strategic arrangements. "Of course, if he really is a loyal minister and a filial son, he will die together, which is his choice."
Several big leaders all went to see the gray-faced Shang Huaizhi. This serious captain of the county was naturally one of the top figures in the county. Seeing the heated situation that day, he hit it off with the Deposed Dragon Gang and was almost recognized as the leader. He was a big leader, but this time he fell into disgrace... That's all he was about being disgraced. The key is that Shan, Xu, and Wang all performed exceptionally well in their actions, but it seemed that he was incompetent despite having a large number of troops.
Of course, it seems difficult to say that he is incompetent, because there are still Fang brothers who can pass the blame, and Song father and son who can pass the blame. But things are going round and round, and people still have to ask, why are you so unlucky?
In front of everyone, Shang Huaizhi's expression changed again and again, but he really didn't know what to do because he had realized that he could no longer control or influence the final decision.
Therefore, Leader Shang, who was not sure whether he could still be a big leader, paused for a long time, and just nodded: "That's the only way...but we should still find a way to defeat the enemy without fighting, or use tricks to capture the city. , I have an old confidant who has always been safe and stayed in the city that day..."
"This is natural." Li Shu quickly comforted him. "I came here today just to listen to your plan..."
"There has to be a way out!" Shan Tonghai, another left-wing leader, was obviously impatient and directly interrupted the military discussion. "This method of treating a dead horse like a living horse is useless... Now that we have gathered together, let's make it clear first, when and under what circumstances will we all die together? Do you really think we can't defeat it?"
Shang Huaizhi was completely silent, and the other leaders were also silent.
After all, everyone understands the mood of Boss Shan. Everyone knows that his territory and manpower are all on the east side of Jiyin County. In line with the original plan, that is, after taking Jiyin and Dongjun, the Deposed Dragon Gang will make a large-scale eastward move. , launched at the same time as Zu Chenyan of Dongping County, swallowing up the entire Dongping County in one fell swoop... And according to this idea, Shan Dalang's good days are far behind!
Fortunately, no one expected that Jiyin County, which had the greatest control, would become a black hole in the entire uprising process. Due to a combination of circumstances, Wang Wulang and Xu Dalang both obtained their relatively small "shares" as planned. "Territory", but Shan Dalang, who originally had the broadest vision, was dragged here.
Yes, although they have already finished releasing food and burning debts, from a macro perspective, the Deposed Dragon Gang has just launched an incident, and is even at the beginning of the incident... It has only been a mere ten days. Even if It was Li Tingwen, the black-sanded man from Dongjun, who managed to escape immediately and fled to Dongdu. The journey was smooth. At this time, Dongdu knew at most that the white horse might be gone.
Then?
Then there is no more.
At this time, it is understandable that everyone is a little anxious...good times are really ahead! What kind of nonsense is this in Jiyin?
"It's nothing more than a restriction based on the arrival of reinforcements from Liang County..." Wang Wulang laughed, and then became solemn. "I think we must not allow reinforcements from Liang County to merge with Jiyin City."
"That's not the case." Li Shu shook his head. "Liang County reinforcements cannot be allowed to enter Jiyin County... As long as Liang County reinforcements appear on the border of Jiyin County, they must immediately forcibly attack the city. King Xiongtian should be dispatched, and Chief Shan and Chief Wang should use their strength. , I can also wear armor and go into battle if necessary, and I must try my best to capture the four counties south of Jishui!"
"Do you have any explanation?" Dan Tonghai asked in a voice.
"Yes." Li Shu said frankly. "I have an appointment with Zhang Longtou. If the three counties succeed in their righteousness, they will definitely open up the connection between Dahe and Jishui to the east and run through the eastern border..."
"It's natural."
"And if this is the case, I will attack eastward, and he will defend facing west..."
"So, when the time comes, Jiyin will be under the control of Zhang Longtou. If the whole county cannot take it down, why not explain it to Zhang Longtou?" Shan Tonghai seemed to twitch the corner of his mouth, as if he wanted to taunt, but then glanced at Xiong Bo Nan and Wang Shuyong finally controlled some strange emotions and just asked seriously. "If this is the case, can you negotiate with Zhang Longtou to use only Jiyin County as the water hub, and forget about the following counties?"
"Can't."
"no."
"not good."
Li Shu, Wang Shuyong, and Xiong Bonan almost all spoke out at the same time, but the expressions in their words were slightly different.
Obviously, as soon as this statement came out, not only Shan Tonghai was a little panicked, but the three people who made the statement were also a little surprised, so much so that they looked at each other.
"It's unloyal to do this... Why do you have to change your mind before you get to the point of what you agreed to do? Shan Dalang, your uncle did something disgusting in his own family, and you are also a loyal person. Such nonsense People will laugh at you if you show up." Xiong Bonan was the first to come to his senses, then spoke out calmly and expressed his feelings.
"King Xiongtian misunderstood." Shan Tonghai was embarrassed for a moment. This was what he was afraid of. Although he was a gangster, he felt that Zhang Xing did not give him face and easily killed his uncle, but he was not afraid of others pointing fingers at his clan. My uncle's work is too superficial and bad. How can I say that he doesn't care about the overall situation?
After all, what they just did was easily take over the regulations of one and a half dozen counties, and the Deposed Dragon Gang did it in a decent manner. If he turns his back on this kind of thing now, everyone in the world will laugh.
But the more this happened, the more aggrieved he felt.
On the other side, Wang Shuyong smiled again and said nothing.
By the way, the straight-line distance between this place and Lihu is only sixty miles. What happened four days ago, who doesn’t know about this place except Shang Huaizhi? All I can say is that if Shan Dalang is a showman, he might as well keep his mouth shut. If he insists on talking about it, he will be the one who is embarrassed.
"That's not what I meant." Li Shu just ignored it and said another reason. "If we advance eastward, once we succeed, it will definitely shock the world, and the imperial court will definitely come to encircle and suppress us. For now, there are no soldiers in Dongdu, but they are recruiting soldiers. It is estimated that there will be soldiers after the New Year. By then This place may also be attacked, so we must try our best to capture the southern half of Jiyin County, work hard to connect with Mangdang Mountain, and hook up with the Huaiyou Alliance, so that we can turn around and support the situation. Don't forget, Shanfu County, the southernmost county of Jiyin Further south is Dang County.”
This statement is reasonable and irrefutable.
Shan Tonghai also took the opportunity to pretend and nodded: "In this case, as long as Liangjun's troops and horses are in action, we will immediately strike hard and we will be destroyed."
"Shan father...isn't Shan Dalang's ancestral home?" Shang Huaizhi obviously still found it difficult to accept the words "Share together", and he didn't bother to pay attention to the internal disputes within the Deposed Dragon Gang, but later the words "Shan father", But he caught something. "Is it possible to go directly across Jiyin County and capture Shanfu? Then advance from Shanfu to several counties on the south bank of Jishui, surround Jiyin County from the outside, turn it into a dead place, and force the city to surrender?"
"My family was forced by the Wei Dynasty to move out from Shanfu twenty years ago..." Shan Tonghai sneered. "Otherwise, I wouldn't hang out in Jishui and become a gangster."
"This strategy is actually absolutely correct." Li Shu thought for a moment and shook his head. "But we don't have enough strength, because if we want to shock the city, we need to quickly sweep the four counties in the south. Reinforcements from Liang County may arrive a little later, and we will have to attack by force."
"If this is the case, is it inappropriate to divide the troops from here?" Xiong Bonan was also a little frustrated. "If you want to take it back then, it will only waste time."
"More than that?" Wang Wulang also said seriously. "This is a plan to attack the enemy's heart. Don't say whether we can withdraw our troops or not. It's just a small force. I'm afraid the city will know that our best efforts are just the show of these five thousand soldiers. Instead, they will look down on us and make the plan bad."
"It only took ten days for Xu Dalang to attack the last county of Dongjun to seal the hill. Jijun soldiers and horses surrounded Chanyuan. Niuda hurriedly went to the summit. Leize's isolated city was in the east and he didn't dare to move at all. He divided this place Three, we still need to leave some troops to control the place. Thank God for being able to gather 5,000 troops. How can we expect reinforcements in a hurry?" Xiong Bonan smiled bitterly for a moment, completely helpless. "I have thought about the situation of performing righteousness countless times before, but never thought that doing righteousness is so difficult?"
"It's not that bad." Li Shu quickly comforted him. "In the final analysis, we are just trying to avoid the enemy. The overall situation is always ours... Moreover, Zhang Longtou sent a letter last night, saying that he would try to gather the new army together. Then we will see the scale and decide where to send reinforcements."
"Even if I gather some people temporarily, if I'm honest, I should send them to Niu Da or Xu Dalang." King Xiongtian was still so pertinent.
But such pertinent words also silenced everyone for a moment. They really didn't know what to say.
After half a day, Li Shu, the leader of the Deposed Dragon Gang, managed to regain his energy and looked at Shang Huaizhi again: "Brother Shang, is your old subordinate in the city reliable?"
"Natural and reliable..." Shang Huaizhi responded immediately, but his voice immediately became softer, almost with a hint of pleading. "Mr. Li, send a big leader to suppress the battle tonight and let me try again."
"I will personally hold the battle for you." Li Shu nodded slightly and then warned seriously. "Actually, in my opinion, it's good to be able to steal the city, but if it doesn't work, it wouldn't hurt to take the people out, ask about the situation in the city, and let King Xiongtian go around to find out the location of the hostages."
Shang Huaizhi nodded quickly. The others wanted to speak, but finally did not speak.
In this way, everyone discussed it, and after all, they still found it difficult... In other words, at this point, as long as the Song family and his son in the city do not make mistakes, it can basically be considered that it will probably take a long time. Here comes the "Jade Stone Burns Together" relying on super-level force.
It's just that Shan Tonghai and Wang Wulang don't care about such things as "jades and stones will be destroyed together". Shang Huaizhi, whose family Xiaoquan is in the city, can't help but feel resentful about it, and Xiong Bonan, who cares about loyalty, Li Shu, People who need to take the overall situation into consideration can't help but feel uncomfortable.
It is precisely because of this that the military meeting finally approved the proposal brought by Shang Huaizhi. He followed an old department in the city who took the initiative to contact him and tried to steal the city at night.
And in the evening of that day, the rebels of the Deposed Dragon Gang once again suffered a shameful defeat, and the heroic soldiers and civilians of Wei Jiyin once again won a glorious victory.
To be honest, when Shang Huaizhi found out that he was ambushed at the extension wall of the west gate of Jiyin City that he was familiar with as agreed, although he was extremely frustrated for a moment, he was not surprised. Instead, he just sighed. Then he stooped on his horse and walked away in embarrassment. Li Shu behind him didn't even come to respond, so he ended the theft of the city in a hurry.
Five corpses were left, more than a dozen people were injured, and four or five mules and horses were damaged.
This is also the limit of damage caused by two rounds of crossbows on the extended wall fortifications of a county in the core hinterland of the Wei Dynasty.
It can be seen that even Captain Shang is just doing his best, and may even be fighting political wars for his subordinates who are young in the city.
However, even if the casualties were negligible, it still had a huge impact on the morale of the rebels, especially since the torment this night was endless.
The rebels outside the city sent out troops at the second watch and hastily withdrew their troops at the third watch. No one expected that the defenders in the city actually went crazy and launched a surprise attack at the fourth watch under the leadership of Song Chang's son Song Yi... Song Yi He's not that stupid. He just set foot in the camp, otherwise any big leader he meets will be killed on the spot. However, this does not prevent him from acting in a low-key manner. Taking advantage of the night and carrying a kindling made of autumn wheat straw, he can easily set off a fire. He reached the camp, lit a few tents on fire, and then took advantage of the chaos and darkness to sneak back from nowhere.
Just like the previous ambush, it does little harm but is extremely insulting.
Up to this point, the reckless attitude of the rebels, or the true character of the grassroots team, has been clearly revealed... In other words, from the very beginning of the uprising, there were many mountains, internal fighting, no military literacy, gang habits, arrogance, and no organization. The lack of discipline is clearly evident.
Li Shu is also tired, and his heart is also tired.
After only sleeping for an hour, he had been sitting upright in the brightly lit tent to appease people's hearts. He tried his best to take care of every trivial matter in the army... He comforted this one and encouraged that one. At dawn, he then King Zhuoxiong returned from the city and breathed a sigh of relief... But in fact, Xiong Bonan couldn't do anything when he entered the city this time. He couldn't even find the positions of several generals, and suffered a crossbow miss. But to some extent, relying on his amazing cultivation, he killed a few officers as retaliation, which suppressed the arrogance in the city.
I can only say that it was a good thing that Yang Shen was defeated so quickly that he had no shame to say it. Otherwise, he might have been able to break his composure and shout to these people in public, "Who did I lead during that rebellion?" Now you let me lead you... lead you. If you still don't obey me, you will make a fuss about this and that... If you continue to make trouble like this, will you be beaten by some rich man in the village? !
Return the rebels? !
Still making trouble?
Also, it connects the east border between Heji and Heji? !
However, Yang Shen was defeated very quickly back then, and he was embarrassed to say some things.
"Let's break up!"
Maybe he is not young anymore, but Li Shu, who was in a particularly distracted mood today, only tried his best to smile under the white background with the word "deposed", but he also comforted Xiong Bonan. "King Xiongtian, don't worry. It doesn't matter. Let's recuperate for three days. If it doesn't work, we will attack the city in a big way. I don't believe it... A small Jiyin City, only two masters of magical scriptures, a thousand How can we resist with so many defenders in front of us?”
Xiong Bonan could only nod, and then turned back in frustration.
Li Shu was finally able to return to his central army tent and catch up on his sleep.
However, he slept for less than two hours. Before noon, he didn't even have a stomachache. He only went to Xiaoguan and was awakened by the movement in the camp... He was really awakened. He couldn't understand why the army Can there be commotion and noise in broad daylight?
Are those people in Jiyin City so bold? Are you, King Xiongtian, Shan Dalang, and Wang Wulang, all dead?
"Where are the people?"
Li Shu almost fell off the couch with some kind of ungrateful anger, and then he couldn't suppress it at all, and yelled sharply on the spot. "What happened again?!"
"Big dragon head!"
Zhang Jinshu, the leader of the Central Wing, who was also the deputy general of the Central Army this time, heard the sound and ran in quickly from outside, with a smile on his face. "Big dragon head, come out and take a look!"
"What are you looking at?" Seeing the other person's expression, Li Shu breathed a sigh of relief and felt his head hurt.
"Look at the big dragon head and the army!" Zhang Jinshu blurted out.
Li Shu's head hurt even more... But it only took a moment, a shock passed, and he came to his senses: "Master Zhang is here with reinforcements?"
"yes!"
"How many?"
"No less than five thousand!"
"How many?"
"No less than five thousand!"
Li Shu immediately stood up, ran out, and then immediately boarded the rammed earth general platform in front of his tent. When he scanned his flag with the word "deposed" on a white background, he immediately found the word "deposed" on a red background on the other side. Daqi, at this moment, was leading an army no less large than his own, parallel to Jishui, flowing down the river from east to west.
The troops were fully equipped with both horse and foot, and a large proportion of livestock. Although flags and golden drums were lacking, one could clearly see the actual number of troops who were marching in a slightly messy formation. Not to mention this, there is a medium-sized logistics fleet on the Jishui River that complements this force, and it marches majestically to Jiyin City under the warm sun.
Not only the rebels, but everyone in Jiyin City was obviously panicked.
"On what day did Zhang Longtou kill Shan Dalang's clan uncle in Lihu to burn debts?" Li Shu couldn't help but turn around and ask Zhang Jinshu.
"Third grade!" Zhang Jinshu blurted out.
"What day does it fall today?" Li Shu continued to ask.
"The ninth day of the lunar month..." Zhang Jinshu himself was a little frightened. "On the sixth day... no, five thousand troops gathered on the fifth day?"
Li Shu stretched out his hand and calculated: "Forget Xu Dalang's use of the white horse force to attack Fengqiu, Niu Da's use of Puyang force to defend Chanyuan, leaving Lingchang, Xucheng, Weicheng, Kuangcheng, Lihu... There are exactly five counties in the heart of our East County?"
Zhang Jinshu woke up a little and calmed down: "Yes, there are exactly five counties. I said before that these five counties will have 1,500 people, 500 will stay for security, and 1,000 soldiers will return to the gang for dispatch. Zhang Longtou also said Let’s gather together and support...that’s right.”
"Yes, that's right." Li Shu fixedly looked at the slowly approaching red flag with the word "Deposed" on the background, nodded repeatedly, as if he suddenly woke up.
However, no one except the big dragon leader himself knew that he was becoming more panicked and shocked at this moment.
Without him, if the matter is completely incomprehensible to him, then it's okay to say that at most Zhang Xing has foreign aid or other preparations, so what's the point? It would be fine if it were him.
Even the previous Simiandong County song, although the effect was amazing, did not bring any impact to him... Who doesn't eat short crispy pork during the Chinese New Year? It made Li Longtou, like the county magistrate and all the country leaders, have no experience of the world.
But today, Li Shu was really shocked.
Because the current situation is nothing more than five thousand people from five counties... The so-called five counties were quickly settled within fourteen days of the uprising, and a thousand new troops were quickly pulled out, and then gathered and equipped , organize it, and then immediately support the one with the most strength, instead of Xu Dalang and Niuda who seem to need more support... But what does this mean?
What does this mean?
This means that the young Zhang Sanlang did nothing wrong in every step he took.
That is, even he knows every action of Zhang Sanlang and seems to be able to do it, but together, it seems that it is not that simple to complete it so calmly... As the saying goes, I know how to do this, but let me To do it, I am indeed not as good as this young man.
Li Shu, who is extremely proud in his heart, knows very well that people who really know how to do things will be shocked and afraid.
Of course, people who don't know how to do it will do it too.
Under the white banner with the word "deposed", Li Shu turned around. Over there, there was already a panic on the top of Jiyin City, but at this moment, he had no desire and no desire. He just wanted to ask about his life and death. Did Du Caiqian follow him at the same time... If so, he wanted to urgently invite the other party to sleep with him, and then carefully ask the person he trusted the most, what Zhang Sanlang had been doing in the past ten days. What?
He wanted to hear every detail.
"King Xiongtian, you have always traveled far and wide and gained a lot of experience. You said..."
Zhang Xing got off the yellow gelding and smiled at the approaching Xiong Bonan from afar. "Are the fish from Jishui delicious? I asked people from the fleet to catch a lot of them on the way. How about making fish soup before noon and giving the soldiers extra meals?"
Xiong Bonan was caught off guard and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
PS: Good night everyone.
