【Ge Congzhou the savior】
In front of the Cai thief Qin Zongquan, Zhao Yan of Chenzhou was insignificant, and Zhu Wen of Bianzhou was not worth mentioning. Even if the two formed an alliance, it would not be a concern. Qin Zongquan still has an overwhelming advantage, and the situation facing Zhu Wen is still very serious.
Alone and weak, but in the hinterland of a powerful enemy, it is like sleeping unarmed at the entrance of a tiger's den. Zhu Wen's sense of crisis is self-evident.
Crisis, danger, but also opportunity. Cowards are only scared away by danger, but brave people can explore opportunities.
Zhu Wen is a brave man.
Who says living at the entrance of a tiger's cave must be a bad thing? As long as the tiger goes out to hunt, the tiger cubs in the cave are my prey; when the tiger comes home, I will accidentally touch its butt. This is me, Zhu Wen!
Although Qin Zongquan had many soldiers and generals and a vast territory, he plundered everywhere, and the battle line was also lengthened, and he was surrounded by enemies on all sides. In contrast, although Zhu Wen had a small army and a small land, he was able to concentrate superior forces, wait for opportunities to attack by surprise, and accumulate small victories into big victories.
Respected as Xuanwu Jiedu, the number of troops available for recruitment under Zhu Wen's command is really limited, whether it is a few hundred or more than a thousand. In addition to those who hunt for bandits and robbers and stand guard, there are only a few who can really devote themselves to the war of "harvesting vegetables". Very few. Therefore, every time there was a battle, Zhu Wen had to go into battle personally and act as the regiment leader with the title of commander.
Going to the battlefield in person, even taking the risk and taking the lead, is a compulsory course for every grassroots military governor. The first is to boost morale, the second is to train the team, and the third is to inspect cadres and talents... In short, the main reason is poverty and no soldiers.
Once, Chen and Bian met in the Anshui area and threatened the Cai bandit's base camp. Cai's thief Qin Zongquan hurriedly sent troops to fight, and the two sides met at Wangxia Village.
Caojun has a glorious tradition of engaging in military real estate projects. First, the people's houses outside the city were forcibly demolished, and then these building materials were used to build a military stronghold, named "XX Village". Qin Zongquan inherited and used it.
Therefore, the "Battle of Wangxiazhai" can be regarded as an active offensive by the Chen-Bian coalition forces.
As the two armies faced each other, Zhu Wen's "particularly fierce" side showed up again. He took the lead and charged against Cai's thieves.
Cai Thief took advantage of playing at home and laid the stumbling rope in advance.
Just as Zhu Wen rushed closer, his horse suddenly fell down, throwing Zhu Wen away and falling heavily to the ground. Seeing this, the Cai thieves swarmed up to grab the big fish.
Seeing the defeat of their coach, the Bian army's morale was greatly reduced, and they even retreated and fled for their lives.
Seeing that Zhu Wen was about to be captured alive, at the critical moment, one of the Bian generals roared and rushed into the rebel army, got off his horse, and helped Zhu Wen onto his horse.
"Let the leader go first!"
Zhu Wen took a closer look and found that this man was Ge Congzhou, the young general who had just surrendered in the "Battle of Wangmandu".
Within a few words, Cai thieves came like a tide. Ge Congyi held a gun and a sword in one hand to cover Zhu Wen's retreat.
Although Ge Congzhou was brave, he could not defeat the four-handed man with his two fists. A hero could not stand against the crowd. In a hand-to-hand encounter, Ge Congzhou was hit by an arrow in the thigh, shot several times in the body, and his face was injured. Almost instantly, Ge Congzhou seemed to have been poured blood, with blood flowing from head to toe. Even though he had three heads and six arms, he could not escape.
Another young general, Zhang Yanshou, also turned his horse's head and rushed into the formation, rushing left and right, slashing forward and killing. He and Ge Congzhou mounted and stepped down one by one, fighting to the death to protect the master.
Zhang Yanshou's charge opened a gap in Cai Jun's encirclement. Ge Congzhou had quick eyes and quick hands, seizing the fleeting opportunity to protect Zhu Wen and successfully break through. .
Zhu Wen quickly commanded the troops, fought and retreated, and finally turned defeat into victory. He killed thousands of Cai thieves, won a tragic victory in the "Battle of Wangxia Village", and retreated to Anshui.
Zhu Wen reorganized his troops, severely criticized the generals who participated in the war, accused them of incompetence in fighting, and demoted them all; only Ge Congzhou and Zhang Yanshou were commended.
After this battle, Zhu Wen became more aware of the importance of discipline. The number of soldiers is not large but fine. Zhu Wen had learned from his experience in the Cao Army that mobs often behave like this. Each person has a trumpet and each blows his own tune. The wolf cannot catch up with the dog. When there is profit, they swarm up and disperse in a rush at the slightest danger.
A small group of bandits can do this, euphemistically called breaking it into pieces. But now Zhu Wen is the commander-in-chief of the main town, commanding an increasingly large army, instead of leading a group of hooligans to fight with each other. Fortunately, Ge Congzhou and Zhang Yanshou risked their lives to save them today, but what about tomorrow?
After careful consideration, Zhu Wen carried out military reforms and created the "Bad Team Killing" system. The system is very simple, with only one sentence: "Anyone who loses his school in battle will be killed by all his troops." This means that if a general is killed in battle, all the general's subordinates will be killed.
If the squad leader dies, kill the whole class; if the group leader dies, kill the whole group. Simple and crude.
After the implementation of the system of "Bad Team Killing", the combat effectiveness of the Bian Army was greatly improved, and it became a tiger and wolf army that made Cai's thieves frightened.
Everything has a yin and yang. "Bad team killing" also gave rise to deserters to a certain extent. When a general was killed in battle, his soldiers often fled in fear of crime and did not dare to return to the army.
This is the beginning of Ge Congzhou's wonderful life. He rose from an unknown "grass thief and surrendered general" to an important general of the Bian Army, and made countless military exploits for Zhu Wen.
Qin Zongquan suffered a defeat at home, which made Qin Zongquan very embarrassed, so he wanted to retaliate with teeth and sent a large army to attack Bianzhou to retaliate against Zhu Wen.
Ge Congzhou led his troops to repel the Cai thieves and killed more than 3,000 thieves. He captured two thieves alive and beheaded them in public.
Although Zhu Wen won more than he lost in the battle with Cai Thief, he was not complacent because of it. Instead, he often had trouble sleeping and eating.
Zhu Wen is very aware of the current situation, and Qin Zongquan's main focus is currently on the periphery.
Qin Zongquan's strategic intention is very obvious, first to enclose the land, and then to cultivate it intensively. He sent Sun Ru to attack Luoyang, the eastern capital, and push his power to the east of Chang'an; he also sent generals to push his power to Jingnan and Huainan... The territory trampled by Cai's thieves was the territory of "Da Qi". As for "prick heads" like Chenzhou and Bianzhou, we adopt a temporary shelving strategy.
Chenzhou Zhao Yan and Bianzhou Zhu Wen did not escape Qin Zongquan's grasp at all. Although they had small victories, they were already included in Qin Zongquan's strategic layout.
When Qin Zongquan's strategy enters the second stage, from coarse to fine, and when the nails are pulled out one by one, it will be the end of the two states of Chen and Bian.
We cannot criticize Qin Zongquan's strategic thinking from a God's perspective. We can only say that he was very unfortunate to meet Zhu Wen.
When the officers and soldiers of the Bian Army were immersed in the illusion of repeated victories, only Zhu Wen kept a clear mind. He knew that there was not much time left for him. He must race against time to complete primitive accumulation before Qin Zongquan transfers his strategic goals.
Zhu Wen gave the highest instruction to his team: "Don't waste your time on development."
