The thief general Wu Jiong was unwilling to be the second Li Yuan, and his attack was almost crazy. He organized a death squad, piled firewood and accumulated wages, and prepared to burn Watergate and storm into the city. The defenders in the city gradually became exhausted, and the city fell in just a matter of days.
Xin Tan asked for help again and went to Hongze to ask for reinforcements.
"We have been rejected once, will it work this time?" Du Xun was worried.
Xin Chen looked at him with determination, "If you don't succeed, you will be benevolent. If you can't borrow troops this time, I will die there!"
Although it was slim, there was no other way and everyone knew it. You can only treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor. The two old friends clasped hands and parted with tears.
Xin Tan carried a door panel on his back to block the arrows and drove a small boat alone. He risked his life to break through and came to Hongze, where he met the eunuch Guo Houben.
The eunuch Guo Houben was deeply shocked by Xin Tan's visit again. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have believed that an old man over fifty years old broke out of the encirclement alone and shuttled back and forth several times among the thieves and soldiers?
Xin Tan's quarrels, reasoning and emotions finally made Guo Houben realize the importance of Sizhou to Huainan and the entire counter-insurgency war, so Guo Houben decided to send troops to assist.
But at this critical moment, a discordant voice suddenly sounded, "The gap between the masses is too great. We ourselves are just like clay Bodhisattvas crossing the river - if we cannot protect ourselves, how can we still have the ability to help you?"
Everyone followed the sound. The person who said this was a Huainan general named Yuan Gongbian.
"General" is located above all generals. "Du" means "general", for example, above "supervision army" there is "du supervisor", above "commander" there is "du commander".
Therefore, Yuan Gongbian is considered to have a high position in this support army, and his words are quite weighty.
Before he finished speaking, Xin Tan was angry and evil in his heart. "Cang Langlang" pulled out his sword, his eyes widened in anger, and pointed his halberd at his nose, "Thieves are attacking the city in a hundred ways, and Sizhou is in danger. You are ordered to fight against it. Thief, if you linger, you are not only betraying the country's favor? If Sizhou is not protected, Huainan will be devastated. When the thieves swarm and trample the land of Huainan, where can you escape and stand by? I will kill you first, and then suicide!"
After saying that, Xin Chen waved his sword towards him.
Eunuch Guo Houben quickly hugged Xin Tan and said, "Calm down."
Yuan Gongbian took the opportunity to escape in embarrassment. All the generals also urged Xin Chen to calm down.
"You see... they won't agree to send troops, so will we... otherwise... next time! We will definitely help you next time, okay?"
For several days, he was busy fighting and traveling, not eating enough, not sleeping enough, and having no time to wash up. He was covered in mud and dust from head to toe, and his gray hair fell down from his bun, making him look even more haggard... Xin Tan stood slumped. Outside the military tent, looking back in the direction of Sizhou, he burst into tears.
He was crying because Sizhou City was about to fall, he was crying because the people of Sizhou were about to be massacred to vent their anger, he was crying because his old friend Du Xin was about to die for his country, he was crying because he was weak and unable to prevent the tragedy from happening, he was crying because What's more, the Huainan soldiers refused to save them...
When a man sheds tears, he doesn't shed them easily, but they are not sad yet.
Xin Tan cried all day long, and the Huainan soldiers were also moved by him and shed tears of regret and helplessness.
The eunuch Guo Houben was finally moved, and he adopted a compromise approach and agreed to allocate 500 soldiers to him. Before leaving, Guo Houben asked the five hundred people, "Are you really willing to go?"
Five hundred soldiers said in unison, "I do!"
Xin Tan was so moved that he "threw himself up and kowtowed to thank the soldiers". He imagined this touching scene on his own, and the word "throw" was particularly expressive.
Xin Tan led 500 people to help Sizhou.
When they arrived at the south bank of the Huaihe River, they saw the rebel army rushing to attack Sizhou and the city walls were crowded.
A young general next to him sighed and said casually: "It seems that we are still late. Sizhou City has been captured. Let's go back."
Xin Tan grabbed the man's hair, pulled out his sword, and was about to behead him.
The soldiers around him quickly interceded for him, saying that this man was the judge of our 1,500-man army, an important officer, and could not be killed.
"When you are in battle, your evil words confuse the people, and you should be killed according to the law!"
The crowd begged to no avail, so they swarmed up and snatched Xin Chan's sword.
Don't underestimate this old man in his fifties. After all, he has been a "Xi Ren Xia" since he was a child. He is strong and has strong martial arts skills. Otherwise, he would not be able to go in and out of the bandit army alone. All the soldiers worked together to snatch it, but they failed to snatch the sword from his hand.
So Xin Tan said: "As long as you all get on the boat, I will spare him."
Five hundred soldiers immediately scrambled to board the boat and rowed to the north bank.
On the ship, Xin Tan announced the wartime discipline, "Those who look back, behead!" Don't even retreat, if you dare to turn around, you will be killed.
Five hundred people have already fully understood what kind of person Mr. Xin Chen is. After landing, five hundred warriors rushed to the city regardless of their own safety.
"Reinforcements are coming!"
The morale of the defenders in the city was greatly boosted and their fighting spirit was high.
Du Xin quickly ordered the soldiers to stand in a row on the city wall, wave flags and shout, echoing the reinforcements outside the city.
The reinforcements should let the defenders know that the reinforcements have joined, and the defenders should also let the reinforcements know that the city has not fallen. Only by responding to each other's calls can we boost each other's morale.
The bandits did not know the details of the reinforcements. How could they believe that a mere 500 people dared to charge against more than 10,000 people? So he quickly retreated with his troops.
What made the bandit army even more unexpected was that these five hundred people actually dared to chase...
Xin Tan led 500 people in a noisy pursuit. After chasing for a long time, he reluctantly withdrew his troops and entered the city. He still had more to say.
Xin Tan explained to the soldiers and civilians of Sizhou that "your uncle is still your uncle", he led the troops to quell the chaos, and if he didn't accept it, he would do it!
Pang Xun was furious and dispatched thousands of elite soldiers to support Wu Jiong. The traitor generals in Haozhou also sent elite soldiers to reinforce Wu Jiong.
The crisis in Sizhou City has not been resolved and is only increasing.
Following the recent Huainan task force, Zhenhai Navy also sent a task force of 4,000 people to rush to Sizhou in a mighty manner.
A total of four thousand people! This actually cheered up the Sizhou defenders.
However, these four thousand people did not even see the shadow of Sizhou. They were attacked head-on by the bandit army and the entire army was wiped out.
The military quality of Pang Xun's bandit army cannot be underestimated, and the battlefield design this time was very particular. It is on the south bank of the Huaihe River, not the north bank. In this way, the defenders of Sizhou City could not leave the city to respond.
The Four Thousand Zhen navy did not expect that Pang Xun's bandits would dare to cross the tower and kill them. They were too arrogant.
On the south bank of the Huaihe River, there is Duliang City, across the river from Sizhou City on the north bank. Huainan reinforcements have moved here from Hongze.
Taking advantage of the victory, the rebel army surrounded Liangcheng, the capital, and conquered it in one go. Li Xiang, Guo Houben, Yuan Gongbian and other Huainan generals were captured alive and sent to Xuzhou for reward.
The Huainan soldiers who were watching the fire from across the bank were finally burned first.
The rebel army then occupied Huaikou and controlled the waterway from Si River to the Huaihe River, paralyzing the waterway transportation from the southeast to Chang'an.
The imperial court ordered three armies to enter Xu and fight:
Kang Chengxun, commander-in-chief of bandit suppression, personally led the Central Route Army;
Dai Keshi, commander of the due south front;
Wang Yanquan, commander of the North Front Army.
Among them, Kang Chengxun once led an expedition to Annan and fought against Nanzhao, and had considerable military exploits; and Wang Yanquan was even more interesting, as he was Wang Zhixing's godson.
Pang Xun finally waited for an opportunity to fight head-on with the imperial court.
