The latest battle report also came from the Huaihe River battlefield. Under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Ma Ju, the newly formed South Front Army divided 30,000 elite troops into three groups to forcibly cross the Huaihe River and liberated Sizhou City in one go.
At this point, Sizhou City has been besieged for seven months.
Du Xun, Xin Tan, and all the soldiers and civilians of Sizhou, with almost no ammunition or food, stood ready and resisted tenaciously. From beginning to end, the Xu thieves were not able to enter the city.
Sizhou's isolated fortress was captured, which is of great significance. First of all, Sizhou undoubtedly contained part of the Xu bandits' troops, providing an objective guarantee for the victory of other fronts; secondly, Sizhou penetrated into the bandit area, providing strategic support for the "center bloom" in the counterattack stage; finally, Sizhou The soldiers and civilians of the Tang Dynasty received a shot of stimulant with their perseverance and unyielding spirit.
When Ma Ju entered Sizhou City, the sight in front of him made him, a seven-foot-old bloody man, shed tears: From Du Xun down, all soldiers and civilians suffered from long-term fatigue and hygiene problems, and their facial skin was stained and ulcerated, almost inhuman shape, as if Every savage.
Ma Ju choked up and held Du Xin and Xin Chen's hands tightly: "We are too late!"
Without time to feel sad, Ma Ju led his troops to capture the second strategic stronghold: Haozhou.
Inspired by the spirit of Sizhou, Ma Ju commanded the due south front army, destroying all the way and regaining lost territory one after another.
The world is full of reincarnation, no one will be spared by heaven.
Wu Jiong, who besieged Sizhou for seven months, was fortunate enough to experience being besieged after escaping to Haozhou. It's just that there is no Xin Chen-like figure among the bandits in Haozhou.
From summer to winter, Haozhou ran out of food and the tragedy of cannibalism occurred. Wu Jiong made a desperate move and led his troops to break through.
Those who come out to fool around will have to pay back sooner or later. The Haozhou bandit army was completely wiped out, Wu Jiong was killed, and Wang Hongli was shot to death under Sizhou City earlier.
Gentlemen are harmonious but different; villains are harmonious but not harmonious. A gentleman is likened to righteousness, and a villain is likened to benefit.
Rumors are their political foundation and the origin of everything; plunder is their means of survival; banditry is their main body. There is no vision, no belief, only the present contentment.
Even if there are 200,000 people advertised to the outside world, the Pang Xun gang cannot escape the chaos.
Under the high pressure from the outside, internal hidden dangers can quickly explode.
The farmers who were coerced and deceived collapsed without a fight, and fled and surrendered like a torrent and a tsunami, which could not be stopped; the bandits from all over the country who readily joined the gang also showed their true colors of "real hooligans, pretending to be righteous" and surrendered collectively in exchange for official status. The benefits promised by the army.
The thief general Chen Quanyu led thousands of thief soldiers to surrender and helped the army recruit deserters; Qixian local tycoon Li Gun surrendered the entire county; Pei County Zhu Mei surrendered the entire county...
When the wall falls down, everyone pushes it, when the drum is broken, thousands of people beat it. The more opportunistic the villain, the more sensitive his sense of smell. Surrender now and you will not only be exempted from guilt, but you can also become a formal civil servant of the country. He who knows the current affairs is a hero.
As Kang Cheng trained his troops without losing any blood and recruited troops all the way to Suzhou City, the biggest hero in the Pang Xun Group also stepped onto the stage of history.
【The most dangerous traitor】
Kang Chengxun led the army and approached Suzhou City.
There are tens of thousands of bandits in Suzhou City, and it is said that they are holding on. Suzhou became a roadblock, blocking Kang Chengxun's steps towards Xuzhou.
Zhang Shi, the thief general in the city, sent a letter to Pang Xun overnight, proposing a plan to encircle and mobilize reinforcements: Use Suzhou City to contain Kang Chengxun's main force, and Pang Xun would surprise him by going around behind enemy lines and harassing Songzhou and Bozhou in order to charge up military resources and fight a war of attrition; if When Kang Chengxun returned for reinforcements, Pang Xun set up an ambush at a dangerous point, and the Suzhou soldiers counterattacked and pursued him. Under a pincer attack, Kang Chengxun was bound to be defeated.
Pang Xun is already a drowning man. Whenever someone offers advice, he will accept it without hesitation. He even dares to adopt Zhou Zhong's suggestions. Is there anything else that Pang Xun can't digest?
This strategy should fully learn from the lessons of Sizhou and improve it to enhance subjective initiative.
Kang Chengxun is not a famous general. Looking at his command and combat history, he can be summarized as "mediocre". The basic idea is to gather an army, squirm forward, stay there if you win, and run away if you lose. The only advantage is that he knows that he is mediocre, so he is better at adopting the suggestions of his subordinates.
Pang Xun's encirclement and reinforcements can definitely pose a fatal threat to Kang Chengxun.
In order to get rid of the dilemma as soon as possible, Kang Chengxun discussed with the eunuch Yang Xuanjiao, planning to flood the Bianhe River and flood Suzhou City.
Although the power of nature can be used to destroy all human fortifications, water and fire are merciless, and the people of Suzhou will suffer from flooding the city.
The government and the army were trying to avoid the enemy, but neither Kang Chengxun nor Yang Xuanjie dared to shoulder the blame.
At the critical moment, a man who understood current affairs appeared in Suzhou city-Zhang Xuannen, who not only successfully solved the problems in Suzhou, but also directly solved the root cause of the problem-Xuzhou.
Zhang Xuannen was not evil by nature. He was originally a meritorious soldier guarding the border. He was just waiting to return with honors, be promoted, and spend the rest of his life in glory. But he was helplessly coerced by Thief Xu, and he lost his virginity and became a thief, always feeling resentful in his heart. Since taking over Liang Pi, I have been lamenting day and night as I have seen the power of thieves disappearing day by day, and their ships sinking in just a short time.
When the war in Suzhou fell into a stalemate, Zhang Xuannen secretly summoned dozens of cronies to understand their interests and gained unanimous support. Therefore, Zhang Xuannen secretly contacted Kang Chengxun and agreed on the matter of city dedication.
On this day, Zhang Shi and others were drinking in the city. Zhang Xuannen led his trusted generals to launch a sudden attack, captured and killed Zhang Shi and other thieves, and then announced to the city that the imperial policy would not be held accountable and everyone would be exempted. After comforting the soldiers and civilians in the city, Zhang Xuannen opened the city to welcome the king.
Kang Chengxun immediately issued an order from Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty to appoint Zhang Xuannun as the Censor Zhongcheng, and he also received generous rewards.
Zhang Xuanzhen kowtowed to thank him, and then gave Kang Chengxun a big gift: "Now, other states and counties don't know the news of Suzhou's return to the imperial court. Let's just sing a double act and pretend that I am still resisting tenaciously, and then pretend to be defeated. Deceive the city gates of Xuzhou to open, then cooperate with the outsiders to capture Xuzhou in one fell swoop!"
Kang Chengxun expressed great appreciation and immediately allocated 30,000 soldiers from Suzhou to surrender, plus hundreds of cavalry from the imperial court. After distributing rewards, he handed them over to the leadership of Zhang Xuannun.
In the evening of that day, Zhang Xuannen lit the "safe beacon" as usual to report safety to the rear.
That night, Zhang Xuannen was not idle. He ordered his men to collect thousands of bundles of firewood, pile them all on the city wall, and light them all at dawn. Suddenly, black smoke billowed over Suzhou City, creating the illusion of a massive attack on the city.
Subsequently, Zhang Xuannen led his soldiers to "flee in embarrassment" and went straight to Fuli County. The defenders of Fuli County quickly opened the city gate and welcomed them into the city. After Zhang Xuannen entered the city, he immediately killed the guard and read the imperial edict to the rebels in Fuli County.
Fuli County returned to the embrace of the motherland.
Zhang Xuannen brought more than 10,000 Fuli County defenders with him and continued the "rout" in the direction of Xuzhou without stopping.
Xuzhou still got the news of Zhang Xuannen's rebellion first and stepped up its vigilance.
Zhang Xuannun rushed to the city, but did not attack. He walked to the city in person, showed himself to explain, and read out the imperial edict, "Only punish the first culprit, and ignore the rest." "Brothers, I am already the censor Zhongcheng, why are you still hesitating? Are you going to be buried with Pang Xun?"
The thieves came out of the city one after another and surrendered in front of the formation.
The former soldiers of Cui Yanzeng's army finally got the chance to avenge Cui Yanzeng and Wen Tinghao.
There was a small official in Xuzhou named Lu Shenzhong who was greatly favored by Cui Yanzeng. When Cui Yanzeng was martyred, the guards were bribed during the road trial to collect Cui Yanzeng's body. Now, Lu Shenzhong led the dead soldiers and opened the city gate to welcome the officers and soldiers, so the officers and soldiers poured into the city in one fell swoop.
Stationed in Xuzhou were Pang Xun's father Pang Juzhi and Xu Ji, the "dog among dogs" who ranked first among the "Four Dogs of First Righteousness". Seeing that the situation was over, he broke out at the north gate.
Zhang Xuannen pursued them closely and killed the two men. The other party members committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river.
Kang Chengxun's army then entered Xuzhou City to search for the remaining leaders of the Pang Xun Group and their relatives. A total of several thousand people were captured and all beheaded.
Pang Xun was in Dangshan County when he heard the news of the fall of Xuzhou. He immediately led his troops to rush westward, burning, killing and looting wherever they passed, leaving behind a scorched earth.
Kang Chengxun ordered Zhu Xie to lead his Shatuo cavalry to lead the charge westward to pursue Pang Xun, followed by an army of 80,000 men.
Now, there are reward notices posted by the government everywhere, asking for Pang Xun's head at a high price.
Pang Xun was at the end of his rope. No matter where he went, he would encounter stubborn resistance. This is the final stage of the war, beating the drowned dog.
The Shatuo cavalry quickly caught up with them, and Kang Chengxun's 80,000 main force also arrived on the battlefield in time, and the strategic encirclement was quickly completed.
The next battle was no longer a battle, but a massacre.
Except for more than a thousand people who surrendered in time, all the remaining thieves and soldiers were killed, and no one escaped. The chief culprit Pang Xun was also killed.
In the next month, Pang Xun's remaining forces were completely eliminated. At this point, the "Pang Xun Rebellion" came to an end.
