The news that Emperor Jin first appointed Xu Zongwen as Cavalry Captain naturally did not spread to Xuzhou so quickly. After quelling the turmoil in the treasury, Xu Zongwen only stayed in Xiapi for a day and a half, and he led the Beifu soldiers and Xiapi County More than 4,000 cavalrymen composed of soldiers began to attack Tancheng, the seat of Donghai County in the east, day and night.
Xu Zongwen was from the Donghai Xu family, a second-class gentry. Of course, the entire Donghai County gentry was not only the Xu family, but also the Donghai Wang family, the three branches of the famous top lord Wang family (Langya Wang family, Taiyuan Wang family, and Donghai Wang family). , as well as the Nie family of Donghai, Hu family of Donghai and many other gentry crowns who stayed in the local area but did not move south to Jiangzuo.
Ten miles away from the east gate of Xiapi City, Xu Zongwen and four thousand fine cavalry began to gallop in groups towards Tancheng.
The banners of the Beifu soldiers unfolded in the wind, and more than 4,000 cavalry rode around the mountain forest in a mighty manner, and soon disappeared into the airtight forest mist...
"Luoyang fell, and the ladies of Zhongzhou fled to the south of the Yangtze River for sixteen or seventy years." - "Book of Jin"
The commandery of the Xu family in the East China Sea was in Tancheng. Sixty or seventy years ago, when Yongjia was crossing south, the Xu family left Tancheng, their long-established home base, and went to the south along with a large number of noble families.
When a noble family moves south, other noble families will join them, including their clans, guests, tribes, etc., so a southward migration team can often reach tens of thousands of people!
Not only the nobles moved south together, but also more than a million refugees who had lost their homes. Some of these refugees gathered in large numbers in Jingxiang, while others settled south of Jingkou.
In order to settle the gentry and refugees, the Jin Dynasty established many Qiaozhou, Qiaojun, and Qiaoxian in the south of the Yangtze River. In the beginning, the Qiaojizhou and counties actually did not own land. Later, the Jin Dynasty set taxes for the exams and set taxes many times. The soil division method was adopted to compile unified household registration, delineate the boundaries of counties and counties, cancel some counties and counties where residents live, and at the same time divide a part of the territory of the old counties and counties in the south as the actual land of retained overseas Chinese counties.
Only then did Qiao set up prefectures and counties with real land, the population was checked, the powerful were dealt a blow, and the Jin court's tax revenue was also greatly increased.
At the beginning of the hour, the dew is thick, outside Tancheng.
At the foot of the Qinglong Slope three miles away from the city gate, the originally lush forest has lost all its richness, leaving only the abrupt branches, which only adds to the desolation. There are quite a few tall bushes in the forest, clustered together in small groups. Even if they are dry, they are not sparse, but very dense.
You are not lonely in the dark forest. Under the cover of the night and the trees, a huge crowd of people is hiding in it!
After a faint rustling sound, a half-hunched spy walked slowly and slowly behind a white birch tree.
"Captain, my subordinates have found out that the news of Xiapi's surrender has not been leaked, and Tancheng does not know that we are about to attack the city!"
Two days ago, Xu Zongwen closed the four city gates when he surrendered Xiapi. Only entry was allowed but no exit was allowed. Martial law could not be lifted until Zhu Xu's army took over the city.
The purpose of Xu Zongwen's doing this is to prevent the other counties in Xuzhou from knowing that the Beifu soldiers have begun the Northern Expedition, so that they can succeed in a sneak attack and catch the enemy by surprise!
"Okay!" Xu Zongwen, who was leaning against the tree trunk, clenched his fist and then unclenched it. He ordered, "Brothers, please pay attention to the movement nearby and be sure not to alert the soldiers guarding the city!"
"You go back and continue to investigate. If there are any changes, report immediately."
After the spies left, Xu Zongwen suddenly stood up and whispered an order to the team leaders lying around: "Once the city gate is found to be open, each team will immediately lead their troops into the city. After entering the city, they will first control the north gate, and then the entire army will gather to capture it." The Prefect's Mansion will surrender the other three city gates. If there are any who refuse to surrender, they will be killed directly without asking for instructions!"
The Jin system has an army of 3,000 people, a building of 1,000 people, and a team of 200 people. The following system is the same as the Han system, which is the wu system. Originally, Xu Zongwen used the captain to lead 1,000 Beifu soldiers and 500 elite cavalry, but there were only less than two Thousands of people, plus more than 2,000 elite soldiers surrendered by Xiapi, actually had an army.
"No!" The sergeants did not dare to shout out in response. They all stared at the city gate in front of them and clenched the swords in their hands.
"Zhuge Kan," Xu Zongwen called Zhuge Kan, the leader of the Beifu soldiers' 500 cavalry, and told him: "You will charge first with 500 men later. With you as the vanguard, we will definitely be able to successfully attack Tan City. When the time comes, you will be the first to break the city, and I will demonstrate your merits to Lord Zhu."
Xu Zongwen looked at the dozen or so garrison soldiers chatting at the top of Tancheng City, with a solemn and expectant look on his face, drawing a pie for Zhuge Kan...
"Tian Luo, Zhang Gui, after you two enter the city, go up to the city wall and change the flag for me. The North City will be handed over to you!"
After getting along with each other for many days, Xu Zongwen realized that although these two people were refugees, they were also fellow Jingkou people. Tian Luo and Zhang Gui had been in the army for many years. They followed Xie Xuan to participate in the Battle of Huainan after Zhu Xu was captured. They were both veterans.
The most important thing is that these two later became one of Xie Xuan's fierce generals. Zhang Gui later changed his surname to Liu. Liu Gui, Zhuge Kan, Tian Luo, Sun Wuzhong, Zhuge Kan, Liu Laozhi, and He Qian were named The Seven Tiger Generals of Beifu, Xu Zongwen never expected that by some combination of circumstances, three fierce generals including Tian Luo, Zhang Gui and Zhuge Kan would be gathered around him!
"Captain, don't worry, we won't let you miss a mere city gate!"
At the beginning, these two people were doubtful about Xu Zongwen's leadership. Can a young boy who is not yet in his prime lead an army to fight?
But later, Xu Zongwen's military exploits of killing Fu Rong spread throughout the army, and they began to slowly accept the fact. Two days ago, Xu Zongwen made a great show of force, pretending to be suspicious, and easily surrendered Xiapi. This completely convinced the two of them. Take it orally!
The time Xu Zongwen and Zhang San agreed on was midnight, because midnight is the time when people are most sleepy and have the least energy. At this time, sneak attacks will be very convenient!
At the north gate of Tancheng, Tao Ke lived.
"Third brother, when will we take action?" A soldier from the Guards asked anxiously.
Zhang San said in a deep voice: "Don't be anxious, calm down, the captain said we can't take action until midnight."
Zhang San closed the floral curtain, closed the window tightly, turned his head and asked, "Have you found out all the soldiers guarding the city at the north gate?"
"There are twenty people on the city tower, twenty people at the city gate, and fifty people in Wengcheng. There are two thousand troops stationed in the nearest North City barracks, which is less than four miles away. Everyone changes guard every four hours. There will be a changing of the guard at midnight, so we can take the opportunity to sneak in at that time, I have all the Qin army armor ready!"
"Well done boy!"
"Have all our people sneaked in?"
"Third brother, one hundred of our soldiers entered the city at different times, and the weapons are all placed in the coffin. As long as you give the order, we will assemble to ensure that nothing goes wrong!"
More than 20 people led by Zhang San got a fir coffin, found an unknown body outside Xiapi City, put it in, hid weapons under the body, and hired several widows from the village to mourn, and Zhang San sent the funeral procession. Heading north to Lanling County, they deceived the city guards by saying they wanted to rest in the city for a night, and the group entered Tancheng openly.
Zhang San said sternly: "At three o'clock in the morning, we will gather in the alley of Tao Keju. Brothers and sisters, please be careful and don't be careless. If something goes wrong, I will skin you!"
"Listen! As long as we can open the door and hold on for another half-quarter of an hour, our people will be able to enter the city. This time it is done, and the captain will be rewarded. Do you hear me?"
"Don't worry! Third brother, let alone half a quarter of an hour... there will be no problem for half an hour! Since we are following the captain, how dare we not only try our best? After tonight, you can just wait to be promoted and make a fortune!" "The soldier said with a smile.
"As for your glib talk, go and see what's going on in the inn. Don't go downstairs and disturb the guests." Zhang San said worriedly.
"No!" the soldiers of the Guards responded respectfully.
It's a dark and windy night, when people are killing people and selling goods.
As soon as midnight arrived, shouts of killing came from the north gate city. The soldiers on the city tower were alerted and all lit up torches and went down to the city to support. At this time, Xu Zongwen "canglanglang" pulled out his sword and pointed it straight at Tancheng in front of him and shouted an order. He said: "Brothers, come on! If you take Tancheng, each person will be rewarded three thousand yuan and one hundred catties of corn. The first person to enter the city will be promoted to the second level and be rewarded thirty thousand yuan!"
The four thousand men and horses under Xu Zongwen were already howling. When they heard that the reward had been doubled, they quickly got on their horses, raised their whips and charged!
In just one breath, Zhuge Kan's 500 vanguards rushed out of Qinglongpo. When Xu Zongwen mounted his horse to follow the large group of troops, the vanguard cavalry was already close to the Tancheng wall!
"Come to me and kill them all!"
Inside the city, Zhang Sanzheng led a team of 100 soldiers to rush towards the city gate, but was blocked by the Tancheng defenders who came down from the city tower to support him. Ah San became angry and took the lead in charging with a steel knife in hand!
Seeing the captain fighting like this, the guardsmen each and every one of them put their life and death at risk and hacked towards the city gate. At that moment, the guard on the city tower shouted: "Come up and defend the city for me, someone is attacking the city!"
Upon hearing the news of the siege, the defenders panicked and didn't know whether to go up to the tower to support or go down to protect the city gate. In this dilemma, Zhang San saw the right moment and chopped off the arm of the last enemy in front of him.
"Ah!" The soldier who lost his arm fell to the ground and shouted, and then he was hacked to death by the swords of the soldiers who rushed up...
When Zhang San called for people to open the city gate, Zhuge Kan was waiting anxiously outside the city. He had been waiting for a full quarter of an hour, but there was no sign of the city gate being opened. He only heard the sounds of killing and the clash of weapons inside. He was so anxious that he was sweating, because the defenders on the tower had gathered more and more, arrows had begun to fall, and several brothers who were unlucky had already been killed by arrows!
When Zhuge Kan's forward cavalry was confronting the Tancheng defenders on the female wall of the city tower, Xu Zongwen personally led the main army in a half-moon formation to encircle Tancheng.
"Fire the arrow and shoot down the enemy. Cover!"
The Beifu soldiers and Xiapi County soldiers took off their iron bows from behind, took out their arrows and started firing at the enemy troops on the city. More than 3,000 arrows flew towards Tancheng in turn, forming a small wave of fire in the dark night. After several rounds of arrow rain, there was no enemy left on the North City tower.
"Squeak——"
"Brothers, come in quickly!" Zhang San finally opened the city gate with all his strength. He welcomed Zhuge Kan's vanguard army into the city. Not long after, he fell down in front of the city gate due to lack of physical strength. Zhuge Kan ordered people to carry him when he entered the city. As he was leaving, he discovered that there was an arrow stuck in his back!
