【Battle in Guangzhou】
Huang Chao mobilized all the elites of the Cao Army and issued the highest instruction: conquer Guangzhou without delay.
It's a race against time. The city of Guangzhou must be captured before the imperial court learns that the recruitment failed.
Attacking the city after receiving the letter of commission, rather than before receiving the letter of commission, also reflects Huang Chao's unsteady revolutionary will and lack of sincerity in surrender. This is the "grasping with two hands" mentioned above. He made two preparations.
In order to create a positive image of Huang Chao, some people described Guangzhou's surrender as a "fake surrender" and used a delaying tactic to catch Guangzhou off guard. This is untenable. If he really wanted to fake surrender, he should have taken action before the letter of appointment was issued. That way, he would have more time and a higher error tolerance.
Now, there is not much time left for Huang Chao.
Huang Chao attached great importance to the Battle of Guangzhou and personally visited the front line to boost morale.
Zhu Cun and Zhu Wen led their men and pushed forward slowly against the locust-like arrows. At their feet were the bodies of their first echelon comrades.
"The first one to scale the city wall will be rewarded heavily! Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!" The warlord roared from behind, his voice hoarse.
The company of the two brothers arrived at the foot of the ladder. They continued to carry forward the spirit of not fearing death, took the lead and jumped to the front of the team.
In the eyes of the two brothers, the garrison on top of the city was a ladder leading to happiness.
Zhu Cun, in particular, was even more eager to make meritorious deeds and get promoted. Because in the company, his younger brother Zhu Wen is the captain, and his elder brother Zhu Cun is the deputy captain.
Seeing that the team was about to crawl to the top of the city, happiness was right in front of them. Zhu Cun was so eager to make a contribution that he finally couldn't hold it in anymore. He suddenly roared and jumped out of the queue to compete for the credit of being the first to climb the city wall.
Three steps, two steps, one step...
Just one step away, at the moment of ascending the city, in the chaos, Zhu Cun suddenly trembled, then staggered and leaned back.
Zhu Wen hugged him and said, "Brother, second brother, you..."
It turned out that an arrow hit Zhu Cun's throat without any bias, and the arrow cluster was embedded in the suprasternal fossa between the two collarbones. The blood gurgled out like a spring, bubbling with blood.
Zhu Wen quickly pressed it with his hands, and blood spurted out from between his fingers, sticky and hot.
"elder brother!"
Zhu Cun hadn't died yet. He held Zhu Wen's shoulders tightly with both hands. His eyes were as big as bells and he stared at Zhu Wen. His lips were pursed and blood foam flowed from his mouth.
Zhu Wen quickly lowered his head, his ears almost touching his brother's lips.
"Gulu...Gulu..." Except for the sound of blood spraying, Zhu Wen could hear nothing, and blood poured into his ears.
Zhu Cun's hands were still clasping his shoulders tightly, and his eyes were staring at him more eagerly, but he still couldn't say anything.
The two brothers just looked at each other.
Zhu Cun's eyes stared eagerly. Slowly, there was no more light in his eyes, and his expression froze.
Life is so fragile. In the blink of an eye, there is a gap between yin and yang.
Brothers and sisters who have been struggling on the poverty line for more than 20 years, run rampant in the countryside together, get into trouble together, get beaten up together, and fall into banditry together. Together they seek to make a comeback and seek wealth... The laughter and laughter of the past are still vivid in my mind, and the eternal oaths of friendship are in my ears. Still exist. In the blink of an eye, my brother died tragically in his arms, without leaving a word, with endless regret and unwillingness, and he refused to close his eyes.
Zhu Wen's blood filled his pupils and his eyes were red. He roared, charged, and slashed, frantically breaking through the last line of defense on the city wall. Rushing left and right, as if entering an uninhabited land, with swords raised and lowered, chopping melons and vegetables, opening a gap for the siege troops.
His troops quickly followed up and opened the gap, followed closely by the follow-up troops. The city of Guangzhou was immediately captured by the Cao army.
Zhu Wen's heroic performance was clearly seen by Huang Chao.
Huang Chaohui was very discerning and concluded that this man was too unqualified to be just a squad leader. Hearing that his brother had been killed in battle, he admired and trusted Zhu Wen even more.
Conquering Guangzhou in one day made Huang Chao and even Zhu Wen a success.
From then on, team leader Zhu Wen began to be reused and gradually approached the core leadership.
【Northern Expedition】
After capturing Guangzhou, the Cao army became more rampant and looted all counties in the jurisdiction. Huang Chao directly ordered the captured Lingnan East Road Jiedushi Li You to write a memorial for himself.
Li Hao flatly refused, "I have received the emperor's favor from generation to generation, and I should repay the emperor's favor by eating the emperor's salary. I would rather cut off my wrist than write a memorial for a thieves!"
"Then I will help you," Huang Chao said coldly, "Kill him."
Li Hao sacrificed his life to serve the country.
At this point, Huang Chao has gained actual control over the Lingnan area. As long as he controls a few passes and defends them tightly, he can separate his territory and compete with the central court.
However, most of the Cao army were from the north and were not accustomed to the Lingnan climate. The plague spread among the army, and the non-combat attrition rate was as high as 40% (the thieves would be infected by the epidemic, and four of them would die)!
After high-level discussions, Huang Chao resolutely made the decision to conduct the Northern Expedition.
Waiting for them in the north was Wang Duo, the commander-in-chief of the bandit suppression and prime minister.
After Wang Duo arrived in the town, he carried out war preparations step by step, making weapons and armor, recruiting and training soldiers, repairing fortifications, deploying troops and generals... in a very orderly and meticulous manner.
Giving up all the fat in the mouth and trying to break through Wang Duo's defense line, I have to say that this is another big gamble by the Cao Army.
The Cao army mobilized in full force and assembled in Guizhou. Local materials were used to build dozens of large rafts. Taking advantage of the flash floods and the strong water, the entire army rode the rafts down the Xiangjiang River and unexpectedly appeared under the city of Tanzhou (now Gaoguansha City, Hunan).
Who could have expected that the greedy Caojun would give up Guangzhou and the entire Lingnan? Who could have expected that flash floods would break out in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River? Who would have expected that this group of desperadoes would dare to ride a homemade raft in a flash flood?
Seven hundred miles into the mountains, divine soldiers descended from the sky into Fujian, one of the man-made miracles of the Cao army; seeking wealth and wealth in danger, the ghosts and ghosts knocking on Tanzhou, two of the man-made miracles of the Cao army.
Tanzhou has penetrated deep into Wang Duo's defense line and is close to the core area. Its geographical location is very important, guarding the main water and land transportation routes in and out of Lingnan and the mainland. Of course, Wang Duo will arrange heavy military guards and appoint famous generals to take charge.
When Wang Duo came to the town, he realized the importance of Tanzhou. Whether it was the official army's southern expedition or the grass army's northern expedition, the gains and losses in Tanzhou would be a turning point in determining the direction of the war.
Therefore, Wang Duoshangshu recommended his favorite candidate for a famous general - Li Xi, the military governor of Taining.
Li Xi is the queen of the generals, and his great-grandfather is Li Sheng, a famous general, the king of Xiping County, and known as the "enemy of ten thousand people." The Li family has been filled with generals and talented people for generations. Li Xi himself was deeply influenced by his family. He had been familiar with military books since he was a child. He had a quick mind and could always speak clearly and logically when talking about military matters.
Wang Duo believed that Li Xi could take on this important task, so he recommended Li Xi to be the deputy commander-in-chief of bandit suppression and observer of Hunan Province. He assigned him 50,000 elite soldiers and led the Hunan local self-defense force (Tu Tuan) to garrison Tanzhou.
Under Tanzhou City, there will be another fierce life-and-death battle.
Remember, I compared Wang Duo to Zhuge Liang in the previous article. Now I can tell you again that Tanzhou can be compared to a street pavilion, and Li Xi can be compared to Ma Di.
The Li Clan has fifty thousand elite troops, and the local Self-Defense Forces are cooperating with them. They are backed by a fortified city, and the city is secure. And his opponent is a mob bandit who has traveled a long way.
The defenders of Tanzhou were waiting for work and had obvious advantages.
Therefore, under Li Clan's strategizing, Tanzhou paid tribute to Guangzhou and was captured in just one day. Li Xi fled to Langzhou alone.
Huang Chao ordered that all the officers and soldiers stationed in Tanzhou be massacred and their bodies thrown into the Xiangjiang River. The Xiangjiang River was filled with corpses, almost blocking the water.
The Cao army took advantage of the victory to attack. The second-in-command, Shang Rang, personally led the leading troops up the Yangtze River and invaded Jiangling. It was known to the outside world as an army of 500,000.
The garrison of Jiangling was less than 10,000.
