Yuan Yougong walked back and forth in the camp with his hands behind his back, feeling quite uneasy in his heart.
As Ma Chu's former military inspector of Zuoyaya and Tanzhou, Yuan Yougong was very favored during Ma Xifan's period.
When Ma Xifan was critically ill, Yuan Yougong, Tuoba Heng, and Zhang Shaodi strongly suggested that Ma Xifan should be treated immediately.
He thought that if he didn't attack immediately, the Chu State would immediately fall into civil strife, but in the end it was stopped by Li Honggao and others.
It was precisely because of this love that Yuan Yougong was not liquidated after Ma Xi'e entered Tanzhou. Ma Xi'e also promoted him to Wu'an Junyamen's military envoy and Zuo Ma infantry commander, in charge of close operations. Half of the Wu'an Army.
But the more this happened, the more uneasy Yuan Yougong became.
Because he originally supported Ma Xi'e, but he did not want civil strife in Ma Chu, and because Ma Xiguang was still in the Central Plains, Li Ma Xi'e could also prevent the court from using Ma Xiguang as an excuse to interfere in Chu's internal affairs.
However, civil strife still broke out later, which put Yuan Yougong in trouble.
Now he has become not only a supporter of Ma Xihe in people's eyes, but also a representative figure of rebellion. In addition, after Ma Xi'e entered Tanzhou, he carried out random killings, making Yuan Yougong even more hated.
Moreover, Ma Xi'e seemed to give him unlimited trust, but in fact this was a big pitfall, because half of the more than 3,000 people commanded by Yuan Yougong were soldiers of the former Qiangnudu.
The last commander of Qiannudu was Peng Shisong, who had gone to Jiangling.
Ma Xi'e thought that Peng Shisong was going to worship the emperor for him and fight for him to succeed the king of Chu in front of the emperor. However, Yuan Yougong knew that Peng Shisong was most likely going to Jiangling to serve as a leader.
As for Ma Xi'e's blind operation of sacking Tanzhou, brutally suppressing the capitals of the original imperial army, and locking thousands of soldiers of the Jingjiang Army into working as coolies in Tanzhou, no one believed that he could stay in power for long.
Peng Shisong was born in the Peng family of Meishan and was the leader of the Dongman alliance in various streams west of Tanzhou. How could he die for Ma Xi'e?
When the time comes, as soon as Peng Shisong leads the imperial army and raises his arms, his soldiers from the former strong crossbow capital will be the first to rise up and cut him into pieces, and then happily surrender to the imperial court.
While I was anxious, there was a sound of voices and footsteps outside, and the footsteps were very neat. In this empty moment of the night, it sounded like an extremely oppressive feeling.
Yuan Yougong listened attentively for a while, but he couldn't figure out which You Yi army suddenly came back at this time.
And since the soldiers of Qiannudu were demoted, they can't walk out with such uniform footsteps, right?
Frowning, Yuan Yougong, who had not yet fallen asleep, put on a robe and led the soldiers out of the door to check it out for himself.
As a troop sent out by Zhu Jinzhong to patrol along the river, Yuan Yougong knew exactly what his soldiers were thinking.
Therefore, they chose to camp in this small village without going far from the main army, and then sent out Yijun in twos and threes to explore along the river for more than ten miles.
At this time, he did not dare to push his soldiers into a hurry. Not only could he not push them into a hurry, he also had to find a way to let all the soldiers at least have a room to sleep in. There were no quilts and enough dry straw to take care of.
If these basic living requirements cannot be met, I am afraid that soldiers full of resentment will rise up in riots at some point.
So when something was wrong outside the village, Yuan Yougong didn't dare to alert the soldiers. Who knew who was outside? What to do?
He doesn't have many people to lead. A total of two to three hundred confidants have been sent out to control the team. Now he has only about ten people around him.
As soon as he led the dozen or so people to the entrance of the village, Yuan Yougong was stunned because the returning team had already entered the village.
The guards at the entrance of the village had long since disappeared, and the soldiers who came in were very skillful in searching everywhere, apparently wanting to occupy key locations.
Yuan Yougong was numb all over, and cold sweat fell from his head in large drops. He couldn't help but hold the handle of the knife at his waist.
Even without watching the movements of these people, Yuan Yougong could confirm just from their appearance and demeanor that it must be Zhou Jun on the other side of the river who came over.
Zhu Jinzhong believed that the imperial army on the opposite side had silver pewter spear heads, but Yuan Yougong did not believe it.
Because his brother-in-law, He Zhongju, one of the eighteen bachelors of Ma Chutiance Mansion, had been to the Central Plains.
Not only did he go there, he also became a Jinshi of the Later Tang Dynasty and served in the army under Li Congrong, the second son of Mingzong Li Siyuan, King of Qin. Later, Li Congrong failed to raise an army, and He Zhongju returned to Hunan.
He Zhongju mentioned the Later Tang Dynasty to Yuan Yougong and believed that even the Chu army during the Ma and Yin period was far behind the Imperial Forbidden Army.
The Tang army during Li Siyuan's period was already somewhat powerless when facing the Khitan cavalry.
But the Zhou army was able to kill two Khitan emperors in a row. Could it be a silver-like pewter spear head? Besides, the Hexi Army and the Liangzhou Cavalry should never be called weak.
So when he took a look at the soldiers who came into the village, they were all big and round, full of energy, and solemn expressions. They had a bit of murderous intent in every movement, especially the two slightly fat generals in front of the team members, even if they were deliberately crouching. Even though he was standing still, he still couldn't conceal the temperament of a powerful general with ten thousand enemies.
wrong! Yuan Yougong's eyes suddenly widened!
"One, two, three..." He couldn't help but start counting, and he didn't stop until he counted to ten. He was already numb.
What does this mean? Is this a wholesale sale of generals? Or did Emperor Shaotian come to attack in person?
As soon as Guo Rong raised his head, he looked at a guy not far away who was wearing a robe and had his hand on the handle of a knife at his waist. However, his eyes were wide open and he was looking at them like a stupid boy.
Guo Rong never dreamed that what made him exposed was that they were too strong and disciplined to look like a Ma Chu army at all.
Just as Yuan Yougong was about to pull out the knife, the guards around him also noticed something was wrong and were about to run away with Yuan Yougong. Zhao Kuangyin, Wang Shenqi, and Murong Yanzhao had already discovered them.
In an instant, the three divine arm bows were raised!
In this flash of lightning, two thoughts flashed through Yuan Yougong's mind, one was to run away quickly, the other was to surrender on the spot, no! It should be called surrender.
Yuan Yougong, who was born in a family of officials and had read several books, suddenly realized that perhaps it was true, as the rumors said, that Emperor Taizongwen saw the world in chaos and came down to earth to save the people. Perhaps a Holy Lord would emerge and the world would be unified again.
Yuan Yougong, who was so blessed, suddenly bowed to Guo Rong with an empty bow, and then shouted loudly: "But Brother Zhou is coming from the north? Yuan came down immediately to pay his respects."
Brother Zhou, to the north, this hint couldn't be more obvious. Guo Rong stopped Zhao Kuangyin from firing, and then took Zhao Kuangyin and others a few steps forward.
The followers behind Yuan Yougong were all members of the Yuan clan in Daozhou. Seeing Yuan Yougong put down his weapons and walked over, they looked at each other for a few times and could only follow him.
The two sides were only a few steps apart. Guo Rong glanced at this strange guy, suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist, and then pulled him violently in front of him.
A dagger was pressed against Yuan Yougong's waist, and Zhao Kuangyin, Wang Quanbin and others quickly handed over the weapons of the guards behind Yuan Yougong.
After Yuan Yougong planned to surrender, he didn't panic at all. He looked at Guo Rong with a bit of excitement in his voice.
"Where did the general come from? What do you want?"
Guo Rong was silent for a moment, then lowered his voice and replied: "A certain family is General Zuo Bao Tao Wei Lang, who came here on the orders of Zhang Zhangye."
Guo Rong didn't lie, because he quickly realized that the guy in front of him probably already knew who they were and was just confirming.
And from the current point of view, he has no intention of resisting, but rather seems to want to surrender.
After hearing the affirmative answer, Yuan Yougong was overjoyed. He ignored the sharp knife at his waist and instead grabbed Guo Rong's arm.
"Yuan Yougong, a wild man from Xianghu, has been looking forward to the king's army going south day and night. Today he saw the general. Finally, the clouds opened and he saw the bright moon. He is so happy!"
Guo Rong slowly took back the dagger in his hand, but his hand was still tightly holding Yuan Yougong's left wrist.
"In the separatist land of Hunan, are there any righteous people who know about the imperial court?"
Yuan Yougong squeezed out a few tears, "General, why do you despise this great world so much? Although I am in Hunan, I know that my country is under heaven.
If the emperor of the Central Plains were like the pseudo-Jin, the righteous men of Hunan would naturally disdain to join him.
But when they heard that the Holy Lord of the Great Zhou Dynasty had come out, even the people in the wilderness knew how to go north and worship. How could a certain ancestor eat the royal salary in his previous life? "
This sentence contains two very important messages. One is that Yuan Yougong knows the justice of the world, and the other is that he comes from a family of officials. His ancestors have received imperial salary and received favors from the imperial court.
When Guo Rong heard this, he immediately took back the dagger in his hand and crossed his arms at Yuan Yougong.
"It seems that he is a certain Tangtu righteous man. May I ask the commander of this battalion where the big tent is? Please ask the righteous man to lead the way."
Yuan Yougong shook his head. Guo Rong thought he was unwilling, but Yuan Yougong pointed to his nose and said seriously.
"There's no need to go to the commander's tent. This is the commander of the Ma Infantry Army, Yuan Yougong.
The general asked him to come with him. There were dozens of Ma Xihe's supervisors and followers in the east of the village. After they were dealt with, he personally took the general to visit Zhu Jinzhong's camp. "
Even though Guo Rong was wandering around, he was stunned for a moment. Pan Mei and Wang Shenqi next to him couldn't help but open their mouths.
Before the fighting even started, did they instigate Ma Chu, an infantry commander in charge of more than 3,000 people, to rebel?
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Zhu Jinzhong's award ceremony was very grand, and it was deeply rooted in a kind of lack of self-confidence.
Because Ma Xi'e now has a rebellious identity, he doesn't even dare to call himself King of Chu, but only dares to call himself General Tianshun.
Zhu Jinzhong, who came from the Ma Xi'e family, was of course even less confident.
Therefore, the two masters and servants have always liked to use grand occasions and gold, silver and brocade silk to show their status and prestige.
Ma Xi'e specially sent someone to deliver a batch of rewards from Tanzhou to Xiaodukou Town. Although Zhu Jinzhong blocked Zhang Zhaojun, the reason was that Ma Xi'e got the time and credit for bargaining with Zhang Xi.
But more importantly, I still want to use this situation to strengthen Zhu Jinzhong's position in the army and consolidate Zhu Jinzhong's ability to control the army.
Of course, Zhu Jinzhong also understood Ma Xihe's thoughts, so he put on a court uniform made of brocade and simply took this opportunity to hold a banquet in the army. Except for the generals on duty, everyone in the Chu army drank to their heart's content.
Of course, Zhu Jinzhong was almost done drinking. He happily recruited two prostitutes brought from Tanzhou to the Chinese army's tent and slept with them under a big blanket.
At the same time, Guo Rong led Zhao Kuangyin and others to a place only five or six miles away from Zhu Jinzhong's camp.
Along the way, they put on Ma Chujun clothes, in the name of changing their defenses, and with the help of Yuan Yougong, they passed the level without any danger.
Guo Rong could see the reason for this success very clearly, and he was very confident that he could launch a surprise attack immediately, because the Chu army's combat effectiveness was not to mention, but its military discipline was really poor.
The excuse of changing defenses is actually not perfect, because in an army, such as Zhang Zhou, whether it is the Hanshan capital, the pro-army, the forbidden army or even the guard army, hundreds or thousands of people change defenses, and the warrants are one after another. Strictly inspected.
From the commander-in-chief's autograph signature, to the marching commander's seal, to the commander's special military orders with secret imprints and formats for defense changes, if one thing is missing, you will never be able to escape.
But on the side of the Chu army, as long as the commander Yuan Yougong comes forward and talks a few words, plus some small favors, the checkpoint can be bypassed immediately.
Even Guo Rong clearly felt that the previous checkpoint had become suspicious, but he still let them go.
The reason for letting them go was very simple. When Yuan Yougong was about to shout at the checkpoint, he took off the gold-inlaid jade ring on his hand. Then Zhao Kuangyin and others also surrounded him. Then Pan Mei also had an idea and also He came up and threw out a small gold nugget.
Du Tou immediately became silent and immediately let these more than a thousand people go.
Moreover, the people who stayed behind to monitor them also discovered that as soon as they cleared the customs, the commander of the checkpoint immediately took a few of his cronies and disappeared southward into the vast mountains.
This happened first because Ma Chu had not experienced a major war for more than 20 years since he made peace with Gao Jixing and Li Min at the end of Ma Yin Dynasty.
Although Ma Xifan continued to establish new capitals for the Forbidden Army after he succeeded to the throne, he still could not stop the decline of the Chu army's combat effectiveness and the deterioration of military discipline.
Moreover, Ma Xifan was not a wise leader at all. Even if he could organize an army, it would not be able to compare with the armies that fought all year round in the Central Plains and Hexi.
Secondly, what Ma Xi'e did was really unpopular.
Originally, before the army was launched, everyone in Ma Chu still had a sympathetic attitude toward Ma Xi'e.
But after he colluded with the barbarians to start an uprising and reduced all parts of Ma Chu, especially Tanzhou, to rubble, everyone's perception of Ma Xi'e immediately changed.
Now the people of Chu State deeply resented the military disaster caused by Ma Xi'e, and wished that he would be wiped out by the court immediately.
Finally, there was the pressure from the imperial court. As mentioned before, the reason why Ma Chu existed was, firstly, because of Nanping's obstruction, and secondly, because Ma Chu was internally stable and did not give the imperial court a chance to intervene.
But now, Nanping has donated land, the Ma brothers are in civil strife, and even Tanzhou has been destroyed. These two advantages completely disappear now. Ma Chu cannot separate the country, which is almost everyone's consensus.
Under this situation, no matter whether they were officers or soldiers, except for Ma Xihe's absolute confidants, few people were willing to work for Ma Xihe.
Guo Rong originally planned to divide his 700 warriors into seven teams after arriving outside Ma Chu's camp, and then attack everywhere, killing and setting fire to create chaos.
But when Yuan Yougong surrendered directly and found out that Zhu Jinzhong had just hosted a banquet for the generals, Guo Rong made a bold decision.
He wanted to take the risk and touch the Chinese army's tent directly, and then kill Zhu Jinzhong, Ma Xi'e's absolute confidant.
