When Liu Zeqing and the three men were discussing secretly, the bandits in Wuhu City on the other side were already facing a formidable enemy.
In the past two days, officers and soldiers were building momentum on the other side of the river, claiming to have 200,000 troops going south for reinforcements. How could the thieves and soldiers in the city just sit idly by and ignore it? In addition, the officers and soldiers were constantly moving by the river, and it was obvious that they wanted to cross the river, which forced them to fight. careful.
Wuhu is just a small county under Taiping Prefecture in Nanzhili. In fact, Taiping Prefecture is also a small prefecture. It has only three counties under its jurisdiction, Dangtu, Wuhu, and Fanchang. The prefecture is in Dangtu County to the north of Wuhu, and further north is Nanjing. Well, the reason why this mansion was built was with the obvious intention that if a war broke out, this Taiping mansion would be a forward position that could act as a buffer against Nanjing City. Of course, the people in power did not want this to happen, so they named it Peace!
But the reality is always cruel, and what is supposed to come will eventually come. In order to respond to Huang Lai'er's Eastern Expedition, Bai Wang made a journey along the river to conquer Nanjing, and it went surprisingly smoothly. He suddenly sang songs all the way from the valleys of Jiujiang. Tutu conquered more than ten prefectures and counties. In order to avoid tampering with the pace, Bai Wang stayed in Anqing to consolidate the fruits of victory, and sent his general Wang Tizhong to continue northward along the river to advance towards Nanjing.
The Baiwang Tribe was an elite force that Li Zicheng left to guard "Xiangjing" (Xiangyang) in order to avoid being chased by Zuo Liangyu when he went north to annihilate Sun Chuanting's Tribe last year. Its combat power can definitely be ranked among the top three among the thieves. , otherwise Zuo Liangyu, who could not be beaten, was defeated repeatedly, and Lu Daqi had no way to deal with him.
Such an elite force coming out of the mountain is like a dragon going out to sea. Even if there are officers and soldiers blocking it along the way, it will be defeated at a glance. Moreover, it encounters almost no decent resistance. It is simply easier to walk than the Sunshine Avenue. If they just go all the way to attack cities and plunder territory, if In previous years, there was a lot of burning, killing and looting, but at this time, the bandit army was different from what it used to be. They didn't bother to loot homes and become bandits. They had a greater goal: to establish political power.
In this case, we need to win over the people. First of all, we can't burn, kill, and loot so openly. We have to be targeted. For example, the rich gentry in the city may not commit any crimes against ordinary people, but they are not so blatant. .
In this way, Wang Tizhong separated from Anqing and Bai Wang and led more than 10,000 troops northward to fight all the way to Tongling County, Chizhou Prefecture. When he heard that Li Zi had succeeded or failed and returned to Xi'an, he was shocked and hesitated. At this time, Bai Wang sent a message, saying that the east side would not accept the west side. Liu, Chuang Wang's side suffered a defeat, our side should seize the opportunity to pursue the victory, but the front should not be stretched too long, we should attack steadily and slowly. After all, if Chizhou has a firm foothold in Anqing, it will be far better than hiding in Jiujiang De There is a future in that mountain nest in An County.
So Wang Tizhong decided to stay in Chizhou Mansion to operate, and ordered his warrior Wang Deren to lead two thousand troops and continue northward.
Wang Deren is nicknamed Wang Zamao, which sounds like a bad name, but in fact he is indeed a fierce general in the bandit army, ruthless, addicted to alcohol and lust, and commits all kinds of evil.
Interestingly, in history, Wang TiZhong killed his immediate boss Bai Wang, and Wang Zamao also killed his immediate boss Wang TiZhong, and he was eventually cut into pieces and died, but now he is living quite well. Moisturizing, even a little floaty.
It is said that Wang Zamao was ordered to go north and led his two thousand troops from Tongling. After they came out of Tongling, they looted and coerced the people all the way. When they arrived at Fanchang County, Taiping Prefecture, there were nearly ten thousand people. The magistrate of Fanchang County had some guts at first and could not open the door to surrender. However, when Wang Zamao besieged the city and was about to attack it, he suddenly relented and said yes in order to protect the people in the city and surrendered.
Wang Zamao was not polite. He insulted his wife and daughter in front of him and then hacked him to death.
A few days after the disaster in Fanchang County, Wang Zamao continued his march northward and arrived at the gate of Wuhu City. There were tens of thousands of people there. His force was so powerful that before he could surrender, the county magistrate Wu Zaifa opened the door. Wang Zamao repeated his old trick and beheaded and humiliated him. His wife and daughter were generously rewarded, and they tortured the rich gentry and robbed their women in the city for several days.
The small Wuhu County town is not enough to satisfy Wang Zamao. His target is Dangtu, a city in Taiping, dozens of miles away to the north. If he captures a city, it will be a great achievement, something he can boast about, and even more, he can make money and play with.
It's just that the prefectures are generally tall and have thick walls and are stationed with soldiers and horses. Especially when Dangtu and Nanjing are so close to each other, how can we fight?
In the past, he was confident that he could attack a city with two thousand thieves, but it was different now. If he was given an iron rod, he would dare to pry the earth. He even thought that with two thousand soldiers, he could conquer the city of Nanjing.
Three days, three days later, we will send troops in vain. First, we will seize the bridgehead of Nanjing, and then recruit more people to attack the city of Nanjing. I want to play with all the women on the Huaihe River... Bah, look at my potential, I Want to sleep with those princes, women from the Marquis’ family...
Wang Zamao has been thinking about the colorful world of Jinling these days, but suddenly a piece of news wakes him up instantly: the imperial court has transferred 200,000 reinforcements from the north, and their vanguard has arrived on the other side of the Yangtze River!
I almost broke out in a sweat, two hundred thousand!
Then he curled his lips again, Damn, he can brag better than the leader, where did the 200,000 troops from the north come from?
Although he knew that there was water in the 200,000 yuan, Wang Zamao also knew that there would be no chance, so he sent people to explore. The news he got really made him frown: the fishermen said that there were indeed officers and soldiers stationed on the other side of the Yangtze River, and It wanders along the river day and night, as if crossing a river.
If he really came across the river, he was afraid that Wuhu, which he had just acquired, would have to change hands, and his trip to Nanjing would be a futile effort. Wang Zamao was in a complicated mood, while sending people to report back to Wang Tizhong, and at the same time sending people across the river to explore the truth. .
There is no news about the people going to Tongling, but the detailed reconnaissance across the river has brought the latest and most detailed information: tens of thousands of officers and soldiers are indeed stationed on the other side, and the government is requisitioning fishermen and fishing boats from counties along the river...
We are really going to cross the river! Wang Zamao didn't know how to deal with it for a while. If tens of thousands of reinforcements came across the river to kill him, he was afraid that he would be defeated when he first arrived, so he called in his dog-headed military advisor Yan Xuming to ask for advice. This Yan Xuming wore a Taoist robe and claimed to be a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain. , as for the authenticity of his origin, no one knows, but he has a good rapport with Wang Zamao and often makes suggestions for him, which won Wang Zamao's trust.
"Two hundred thousand is definitely not credible, but where did tens of thousands of soldiers and horses come from?" Yan Xuming frowned: "The imperial court does not have many soldiers and horses in the north, and it has been used in the battle for several months. There are only a few soldiers, and there are border fortresses that need to be defended... They can only be the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp guarding the city of Beijing, and it is not ruled out that they are the emperor's personal guards! It seems that the imperial court has exhausted its strength, and now it is even trying to squeeze out its old capital. I turned them all out and used them.”
"What do you care about the soldiers? I'm just asking you how to deal with them and how to fight them!" Wang Zamao laughed.
Yan Xuming said unhurriedly: "General, don't worry, listen to Pindao...the reinforcements coming from the north, no matter whose troops they are, are not good. After all, there have been constant wars in the north in the past few months, no matter who is in Beijing." Both the battalion and the personal guards must have participated in the war, and they are no longer the wax-headed guns of the past..." Seeing that Wang Zamao was about to curse again, he quickly went straight to the point: "It is useless if you are not good at it. After running thousands of miles, the men and horses are exhausted and even exhausted. It may not be acclimatized to the climate, so its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. In addition, our Yangtze River is naturally dangerous, so what do we have to fear from tens of thousands of people?"
"Stop beating around the bush and just tell them how to fuck them." Wang Zamao breathed a sigh of relief when Yan Xuming said there was nothing to fear.
"There are tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, don't we also have tens of thousands?" Yan Xuming chuckled: "If they want to cross the river, we will let the common people go to pick them up and wash away the dust, even if they are exhausted after passing that level. At that time, when the general leads the elite troops to attack them, will they be able to withstand it? If they retreat ten thousand steps, how many people will be left? At that time, if we retreat into the city and hold on, they will not be able to attack the city for a short time without the baggage. During this period, Our reinforcements have arrived, and we will definitely kill him inside and outside..."
Stay! Wang Zamao touched his palms and was overjoyed: "To defeat tens of thousands of officers and soldiers would be a greater achievement than to capture the city of Taiping!"
"Hey, if the general defeats these tens of thousands of officers and soldiers and recruits them to surrender, then he can just pull up the mountain by himself. Not to mention the king's body, even the Bai family will have to give you some points..."
Wang Zamao grinned and said: "Go ahead, this battle must be fought." He suddenly frowned again: "Will Nanjing take advantage of the situation and come over?"
