There are two Changbai Mountains in China. The larger one stretches across the eastern part of Northeast China. It is the highest mountain system on the eastern edge of the Eurasian continent. The four major river systems of Songhua River, Tumen River, Yalu River and Suifen River all originate from here. This is the Big Changbai Mountain.
In Shandong, there is also a small Changbai, also known as Changzaishan or Changzaishan. This one is much smaller and covers Zibo, Jinan and Binzhou.
Wang Bo ran into this Changbai Mountain.
Rebellions have always relied on mountains. Food does not grow on the mountains. The reason why Zhang Xutuo urgently recruited troops was because he received a tip that Wang Bo planned to attack Zouping County, north of Changbai Mountain.
Food comes from villages below the county seat, but the granary is in the county seat. How much can you rob from the people? The truth is to grab the granary, and then it is the turn of the small landowners in the countryside.
The rebels are now strong. More than 10,000 people have already gone to Zouping County. Wang Bo's hometown is Zouping County. This kid will attack his own father and fellow villagers first, because he knows the county well. Who has it? Whoever has no money has a clear family.
Zhang Xutuo had experience in countering rebellions, and knew that to capture the thieves first, capture the king. As long as Wang Bo was killed, the rebels would be in disarray.
He spread the word to the outside world and threatened that he would lead an army of 20,000 people and be ordered to catch the thieves. The civilians who were bewitched should return home as soon as possible without being held accountable.
In normal times, these words may still have some effect, but right now, ordinary people will not survive, regardless of whether you pursue them or not.
When he led his army to Zouping County, the county seat had been captured, all the officials were killed, and the wealthy merchants were looted.
The rebels burned, killed and looted without distinction of persons, and would even kill their own people. Wang Bo was still in the early stages of the rebellion and did not know how to restrain his subordinates. After all, he was a blacksmith. Asking him to restrain military discipline would be a embarrassment to others.
But in history, Wang Bo in the later period was still quite organized, because at that time, he had many children from aristocratic families joining his command, and the overall quality of his troops was still very impressive at that time.
The illiterate roughnecks are responsible for killing people, and the educated people are the dog-headed military advisors. This is the standard for rebellion.
Half of Zouping County has been burned to rubble. Zhang Xutuo looked at this scene with great hatred in his heart.
However, he had been marching in a hurry, and his soldiers were extremely tired. They needed to rest before they could continue to pursue the enemy.
"Let's rest here tonight and then go to Linji tomorrow," Zhang Xutuo ordered.
His son Zhang Yuanbei had a good friend in Zouping County, but the other person's house was still covered in black smoke, the fire was not extinguished, and no one was inside.
I only heard him say bitterly: "The traitor is hateful. He kills everyone. Only a few temples in the city are safe. It shows that he is also afraid of retribution."
"This is the advantage and disadvantage between us and the enemy," Zhang Xutuo said solemnly: "The thieves can use any means, but I can't. Didn't we catch some thieves in the city? How was the interrogation?"
Zhang Yuanbei smiled bitterly and said: "What kind of bandit soldiers? They are the farmers in the villages near Zouping County who can't afford to eat and follow the bandit king to do evil. They get noticed in the city and fail to follow the majority of the bandit army. When they catch them, they don't even think about it." I know that the king thief has escaped, but I have found something. I heard that the king’s thief’s lair in Changbai Mountain is no longer wanted, and he plans to take over the county seat. Linji County, I am afraid it will be the next Zouping County.”
Wang Bo's slogan is to follow him to have food. Is there food in Changbai Mountain? There are only grass and stones, so after using this excuse to recruit enough people, the next step is to get food.
Zhang Xutuo said in a deep voice: "Show the heads of these people to the public and hang them on the city gate."
After that, he started discussing with other generals.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the 5,000 men and horses in front of him are a mob. There are 2,000 men in total who have weapons, and the rest are farm tools and sticks.
The military mansion of the Great Sui Dynasty originally stored the ordnance of the imperial soldiers, but the arsenal of the military mansion was relatively dark. Things were thrown away every three days. In addition, Zhang Xutuo led his troops north to Bohai County to quell the rebellion, which consumed a batch of weapons. , most of the treasuries of all Qijun military mansions are empty.
Zhang Xutuo had nothing to do about this situation. If he wanted to employ people, he had to tolerate their shortcomings, otherwise there would be no one available.
The current five thousand soldiers are very difficult to restrain in this difficult situation, so Zhang Xutuo wants to break them up. Those in one place cannot be together with those in another place, and they must be stationed in military schools respectively. The lieutenant is responsible for leading this group of people. He must be tough in the early stage. Kill a few to scare others.
What he really relies on is the more than a thousand people in the army. As long as this army is not scattered during the decisive battle, the chance of winning will be great.
It's a pity that Yang Xuangan sent food to Buqu, but they refused to stay despite his repeated begging. If these people could help, why would Wang Bo worry about killing him?
After resting for a night, Zhang Xutuo led his army on the road the next day.
After walking for a day, he received news on the way that the king's thieves had captured Linji County. This time, the enemy did not burn, kill, and loot the city, but instead built a city and seemed to occupy the city as king.
Zhang Xutuo suddenly realized that something was wrong and immediately ordered a halt to the march.
This is the great thing about them. They have five thousand people who can fight, but it is difficult to fight in the county town.
The key reason is that sieges have always been very costly. If it were a large army, it would be better to say that his subordinates are all temporary farmers recruited. Once the siege fails, this army will be difficult to control.
Moreover, they also carry provisions and baggage, and the rebels in Linji City are probably also probing their movements. If he goes further and is caught off guard by someone waiting for work, he will be finished.
So Zhang Xutuo ordered the army to garrison in the village and began to build fortresses, and then sent out sentries to spy on the military situation.
The two sides were separated by twenty miles and were in a stalemate with each other. There was only a small-scale fight between the sentries after they met. Other than that, everything was calm.
But three days later, a person came from the direction of Linji County.
Zhang Yuanbei knew this person because he was a follower of his good friend in Licheng, Prime Minister Luo Ming of Linji County.
"My eldest son has been killed by thieves, and his second son is still in the city. I hope the general will remember the past friendship and go to rescue him," the Luo family attendant cried.
Luo Ming was born in the Luo family of Licheng, and Licheng was the capital of Qi County, so he had a deep friendship with Zhang Yuanbei, who lived in Licheng all year round.
His Linji county magistrate was recommended by Zhang Xutuo.
Now that he suddenly heard the bad news, Zhang Yuanbei was furious: "Where is the scholar's letter hidden?"
"Hiding in the house of one of my tenants, pretending to be his son, and temporarily escaping from danger," the follower said.
Shixin, Luo Shixin, is twelve years old this year. Historically, he began to follow Zhang Xutuo at the age of fourteen and made many military exploits.
But right now, his life is in very danger. After all, one of Wang Bo's slogans is: Kill all the ignorant kings and dirty officials.
As the brother of the county magistrate, Luo Erlang was naturally on the list of people who must be killed. As for dirty officials, in the eyes of the rebellious people, all officials were corrupt officials, so it was right to kill them.
"How is the situation in the county now?" Zhang Xutuo asked.
The attendant said: "No rich household survived, but there is still a shortage of food in the city. The king's thieves are constantly sending people to loot the surrounding villages and transport food to the city."
"Can you sneak in?" Zhang Xutuo asked.
The entourage thought for a while and said: "My family has a hundred acres of fertile land in Luxiang in the north of the county. I have been collecting the rent there. I can pretend to be a tenant there and defect to the enemy. It shouldn't be difficult to sneak into the city."
Zhang Xutuo pondered for a moment, then looked at his confidant Xiong Bao and said:
"You take some people with a Linji accent and go with them, disguise themselves as tenants and sneak into the city. Within three days, find a way to break the bolt of the south gate, set fire to it as a signal, and I will lead the army into the city. "
"I accept the order from my humble position!" Xiong Bao had followed Zhang Xutuo for many years, and was also the recorder of Qijun's Hussar Mansion and joined the army.
Then, Zhang Xutuo said to his son: "Take two hundred people and station them in Yaokou Village. Keep an eye on the direction of the county seat. When you see the fire signal, rush in."
"Okay," Zhang Yuanbei agreed happily.
This is the tacit understanding between father and son. One dares to give orders, and the other dares to go.
At the moment, Jibei County, located in the southwest of Qi County, is also in chaos. However, there is no one like Wang Bo leading the rebellion here. Most of them are bandits who are wreaking havoc.
But there are too many bandits here.
However, the military government of Jibei County hoarded all its troops in Lu County, where it was governed, and did not go out to suppress the bandits at all. Cui Luo, the prefect, ordered all counties and villages to defend themselves against bandits.
In Dong'e County, there was a young man named Cheng Yaojin. He gathered a crowd of 800 people and fought off several groups of bandits. He was promoted to the rank of Dong'a County Lieutenant by the governor of Jibei Province and asked the court to reward him.
Ordinary people, Cui Luo would not ask the court to reward him because it would be useless, but Cheng Yaojin is not an ordinary person.
His father used to be the prefect of Dongping County in the south of Jibei County. He had been in this position for more than ten years. He used to be called the General Manager of Jeju, but his father has passed away.
His grandfather, his great-grandfather, were all ministers of the Qi Dynasty, and their officials were not young, and his father-in-law was Sun Lu'er, the magistrate of Dong'a County.
The reason why Cheng Yaojin clung to Dong'a City was that, firstly, this was his hometown and his family's wealth was all in the city. Secondly, his eldest son had just been born, and he would not allow anything to happen to his wife and son.
Now in Dong'a City, all the soldiers are under his control, and my father-in-law is almost being ignored by him.
This is normal. When war is in chaos, those in charge of the army have the final say.
After returning home, Cheng Yaojin took off the refined armor that he had bought through a relationship. After caressing it for a while, he came to the bedside, raised his son high above his head, and laughed:
"Baojia, Baojia, your grandpa and I are now the Cavalry General of Jibei Military Mansion. In the future, you will be able to take advantage of me."
The eldest son's name was Cheng Chumo. When he was born, Cheng Yaojin happened to have obtained the refined armor, so he gave his son a nickname, Baojia.
His wife Sun frowned and shook her head: "Don't hold him up like that, he won't be able to withstand your strength."
Cheng Yaojin smiled, handed his son to his wife, and said with a smile:
"How can you go into battle and kill thieves if you don't have any strength? A man should be born like a dragon, a tiger, a tiger, strong and mighty. You have to feed my son well. Baojia will definitely be taller and bigger than me in the future. .”
In fact, Cheng Yaojin was not strong in his early years. That is to say, he frequently fought with bandits during this period. He was too tired and ate too much. Within two months, the muscles on his body had already grown up, and he looked very powerful. fierce.
His weapon is not a Bagua Xuanhua ax, but a horse spear for mounting and a Mo knife for dismounting. He is one year younger than Yang Ming. In two months, there have been seventy-four thieves in the military tent. .
He is a ruthless person. (End of chapter)
