After listening to his eldest son's introduction, Gao Zongchang was also very satisfied, and immediately clapped his hands and praised:
"Very good! Dingshan, you did a great job..."
Gao Dingshan was also very proud of his father's praise, but on the surface he still pretended to be very humble and said:
"Thanks to the commander-in-chief who taught you how to be kind to the people on weekdays, the people's hearts returned to where our army went, and they started to eat pots of pulp to welcome the king's army!"
Listening to Gao Dingshan's answer, Gao Zongchang's face became even more happy. Seeing this scene of a loving father and a filial son, Chief Envoy Yang Yuanze and others also jumped out to congratulate him in time. Seeing that the room was filled with a happy atmosphere. , Gao Zongchang seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly asked Gao Dingshan:
"Dingshan, how is the situation around Yingcheng? This is a major production area in Hebei Province and we must not lose it!"
As a veteran bureaucrat who climbed up from the bottom step by step, although Gao Zongchang has been very mediocre in recent years, he is not a waste who doesn't eat minced meat. He is very clear about the importance of food in today's troubled times. Listening to Gao Dingshan's words, although Now the peasant uprising has been temporarily suppressed, but as long as the problem of food supply is not solved, the peasant uprising may break out again at any time!
Hearing the name "Eagle City" coming from his father's mouth, Gao Dingshan's face changed slightly, and he secretly cried out in his heart! ,
Gao Dingshan also attached great importance to Zhu Sanshan, the "three mountains are good", who had been entrenched in Daya Mountain for many years and had not been eliminated by the Henan Army in several sieges. From the beginning, he assembled a heavy force to attack Yingcheng. Things went very smoothly at first, although they did not succeed. After killing Zhu Sanshan, he fled back to Dayashan, but he also successfully recaptured Eagle City and killed a large number of bandits. He was able to make a deal... ········
Originally, Gao Dingshan was relatively satisfied with this result, and was planning to bring back the army so that local policemen would not be able to arrest Zhu Sanshan quickly. After all, tens of thousands of troops went to war, and the daily consumption of money and food was also very huge. Now Hebei and Henan's financial situation is very bad. In the past few years, we have been demolishing the east wall to repair the west wall, but we still need to be as frugal as possible.
But what Gao Dingshan never expected was that just a few days after his army withdrew, Zhu Sanshan, who was severely damaged in Eagle City, came out to make trouble again. This time, Zhu Sanshan learned the lesson of the tragic defeat in Eagle City and did not Instead of attacking Yingcheng, they carried out guerrilla attacks in the surrounding areas of Yingcheng, specifically to attack some landlords and old wealth.
In addition, Zhu Sanshan was also very courageous. He actually dared to provoke the Fengwu Army's group of Hell Lords. He first attacked the firearms sold by the Fengwu Army to the Qi Army, and then attacked an arsenal within the Fengwu Army. Wu Jun snatched a lot of firearms from his hands, and with the firearms he snatched, Zhu Sanshan was able to hit the high-end compounds of wealthy landlords one by one.
In just seven days, five squire and landowners around Yingcheng died tragically at the hands of Zhu Sanshan. Their wealth, thousands of stones of food, and their concubines, wives and daughters were all distributed by Zhu Sanshan and others, and most of all. The terrible thing is that Zhu Sanshan is no longer satisfied with making trouble around Eagle City, and even dares to expand his efforts to Fengqiu and other places... ·
Zhu Sanshan's various actions immediately triggered widespread appeals from the gentry class. They began to call on the Henan Army to completely wipe out the sinful Zhu Sanshan. Gao Dingshan, who was originally very angry that Zhu Sanshan dared to come out, heard the appeals of these gentry. Afterwards, he asked for a batch of money and food, and then vowed to order his Henan troops to kill a carbine around Yingcheng, with the intention of completely eradicating Zhu Sanshan.
At first, Gao Dingshan thought that this time's counterattack would be as simple as the first time. The soldiers surrounded the border and did not give Zhu Sanshan any chance to breathe. However, he soon realized that he was wrong. Zhu Sanshan, who had learned from the experience of Yingcheng's tragic defeat, Sanshan, this time did not give Gaodingshan a chance for a decisive battle.
Zhu Sanshan followed the advice of Zhang Zhen and others and dispersed his troops into several groups. Taking advantage of his familiarity with the terrain and the support of the masses, he hid in the mountains and had no chance of confronting Gaodingshan. Instead, he attacked the grain road that harassed Gaodingshan. , if you chase me, you can escape by taking advantage of the terrain. If you stop, I will continue to harass you.
Just this move made Gao Dingshan feel like he had been punched on cotton. He was so frustrated and angry that he had no place to use his strength!
It is precisely because of Zhu Sanshan's "guerrilla fighting method" that the morale of the Henan Army troops who were ordered to encircle and suppress them dropped rapidly. The soldiers were exhausted and complained. Because of this situation, although the Henan Army still controlled the Eagle City, it was unable to control it. Townships and towns surrounding Eagle City·····················
Naturally, these situations cannot be told to his father Gao Zongchang, especially now that he has just boasted to his father about his ability to put down the rebellion, so Gao Dingshan pondered for a while and then said:
"Let me tell you, Commander-in-Chief, the towns around Eagle City have returned to normal, and the people have returned to the fields to plant crops!"
Gao Zongchang nodded with satisfaction. Just when he wanted to continue to praise Gao Dingshan for his success, there were hurried footsteps outside the room. Under the surprised eyes of everyone in the hall, a gray-faced general walked away. Come in.
This person is none other than Liu Dahai, the deputy general of Chen Chuande, the commander-in-chief of Yingcheng who was appointed by Gaodingshan not long ago. But now this person does not stay in Yingcheng, but appears here like this. You can imagine what happened in Yingcheng. Realizing this, Gao Dingshan's face instantly turned pale. He tried desperately to give Chen Chuande a look to tell him not to speak, but it was already too late. Liu Dahai walked to Gao Zongchang, knelt down on one knee, and said with a sad face:
"Commander! That dog thief Zhu Sanshan is attacking Yingcheng again. Chief Chen is leading his troops to resist with all his strength. I also ask the commander to send reinforcements quickly. If it is too late, the whole army may be annihilated!"
As soon as Liu Dahai said these words, the whole hall was shocked. Many people secretly focused their attention on Gao Dingshan. They all heard what Gao Dingshan said just now. Under the gaze of everyone, Gao Dingshan's face seemed to be hit. It was like a few slaps, one green and one white, very ugly.
After listening to Liu Dahai's words, Gao Zongchang still didn't know that his eldest son, whom he relied on quite a lot, had been trying to deceive him. He immediately glared at Gao Dingshan, but instead of making Gao Dingshan look bad, he waved his hand to signal everyone in the hall to leave. Following Gao Zongchang's order, everyone in the hall bowed and retreated out of the room. Only Gao Dingshan and Chief Envoy Yang Yuanze stayed in the room... ···
Seeing this, Gao Zongchang looked at Liu Dahai and asked in a deep voice:
"Can you tell me in detail what happened?"
Facing Gao Zongchang's inquiry, Liu Dahai did not dare to neglect and said quickly:
"Our army has been encircling and suppressing Zhu Sanshan and other bandits near Yingcheng during this period under the orders of the young commander. However, the bandits are very cunning and do not engage in direct combat with our army. Instead, they hide in the dark and attack our food supplies everywhere. Dao, they retreated after we chased them out, and even gave us their camp in Daya Mountain. When we were retreating from Daya Mountain, Zhu Sanshan took advantage of the night to sneak attack our camp."
"Brothers Yuebei Fenggao were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties. Many of them even simply..." Liu Dahai wanted to continue talking, but at this moment he seemed to be conscious. When something happened, the voice suddenly stopped. When Gao Zongchang saw this scene, his expression turned cold and he asked in a cold voice:
"Go on, what's wrong with so many people?"
Under Gao Zongchang's intimidation, Liu Dahai's face suddenly turned pale. After hesitating for a moment, he could only say honestly:
"Thousands of people simply surrendered to Zhu Sanshan!"
Upon hearing this answer, Gao Zongchang immediately snorted and glared at Gao Dingshan again. Gao Dingshan, who led the operation, also knew that he was wrong and bowed his head honestly.
After saying the most important thing, Liu Dahai bravely continued:
"After our army suffered a defeat in Dayashan, the remaining brothers immediately returned to Yingcheng, and Zhu Sanshan also pursued them to Yingcheng again... ···”
"Zhu Sanshan led his troops to attack the city. We, General Liu, fought hard, but our morale was low and we were outnumbered. The situation in Yingcheng is getting worse and worse. I ask you, Commander, to send troops to help as soon as possible!"
After speaking, Liu Dahai knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Gao Zongchang three times. Seeing this, Gao Dingshan seemed to realize something and said subconsciously:
"Liu Chuande has 8,000 defenders in Yingcheng, and Zhu Sanshan's group of bandits lack sufficient siege equipment. As long as they can't hold on, how can the situation become so crisis-prone?"
Facing Gao Dingshan's question, Liu Dahai, who was kneeling on the ground, explained without hesitation:
"Young Marshal, you don't know. Gao Zongchang robbed many craftsmen from Youyan, and then asked these craftsmen to build siege equipment for them. During this time, they built many chariot and ladders!"
Liu Dahai's words immediately caught the attention of Gao Zongchang. This Zhou prince who had dominated the world for decades asked with slightly squinting eyes:
"You mean that Gao Zongchang robbed many craftsmen from Youyan?"
When Gao Zongchang asked about this, Gao Dingshan spoke first before Liu Dahai could answer:
"This is what we are reporting to Commander-in-Chief, because last time we did not follow the request of the remnants of the Yan army to support them and escorted their envoy to Ye Mingsheng, so these people held a grudge and completely forgot about their treachery. The favor our army gave them actually colluded with Zhu Sanshan. They conspired to help Zhu Sanshan occupy Jiyu, and then hoped that Zhu Sanshan could counterattack Youyan and help them revive the Zhao family... ················”
"Although the Fengwu Army now controls the entire Youyan, the Yan Army has been cultivating in Youyan for decades, and secretly there are still many people who support the Zhao family. Therefore, these remnants of the Yan Army are taking advantage of this and hiding in the dark. Capture the craftsmen of Fengwu Army and bring them to Zhu Sanshan!"
"Not only that, these remnants of the Yan Army also raided the Fengwu Army's granary and arsenal, and stole tens of thousands of stones of grain from the Fengwu Army's warehouse, as well as thousands of firecrackers and gave them to Zhu Sanshan. In addition, they He also gave the money and food hidden by the Zhao family to Zhu Sanshan, and Zhu Sanshan relied on the support of these remnants of the Yan Army to quickly make a comeback and compete with our army!"
When Gao Zongchang heard this, a glint flashed in his eyes and he asked lightly:
"What does the Fengwu Army say to these remnants of the Yan Army?"
Gao Dingshan organized his speech and then introduced:
"The Coordination Office of the Fengwu Army has been purging the remnants of the Yan Army recently. It is said that thousands of people have been arrested and hundreds of people killed. However, the Zhao family has indeed been operating in Youyan for decades. The Coordination Office will really return the favor for a while. There were endless arrests. In addition, the Fengwu Army also sent people to negotiate with our army, asking our army to quickly wipe out the remnants of the Yan army hidden in Hebei and Henan. They even said that if our army could not do it, they could send troops in Ji Yu wiped out the remnants of the Yan army! But I decisively rejected it!"
At this point, seeing that his father was so concerned about this issue, Gao Dingshan seemed to realize something. He hesitated and asked cautiously:
"Dad, are you saying that the Fengwu Army is up to something behind here?"
Gao Zongchang pondered for a moment and said slowly:
"It's possible, but it's not certain yet..."
"But Ye Mingsheng is a hawk who looks down upon a wolf. His ambition is known to the world, so it's always right to be more careful with him. Have you forgotten the nursery rhyme from last time?"
Thinking of the nursery rhyme "Lancet, sinking boat, swallowing jade, turning into a dragon", Gao Dingshan hesitated and whispered:
"Dad, haven't we already investigated clearly for this nursery rhyme? Isn't it Zhao Fuqu who was behind it?"
"But Ye Mingsheng's ambition to station troops in our Central Plains is indeed true!" Gao Zongchang said decisively:
Feeling the determination in his father's tone, Gao Dingshan also kept silent for fear of making Gao Zongchang angry again. At this time, Gao Zongchang turned his attention to Liu Dahai and asked:
"How many people are there in our army in Eagle City? How many people are there in Zhu Sanshan?"
Liu Dahai thought for a while and said:
"Our army originally numbered 8,000 in Eagle City. Later, thousands of our defeated soldiers fled back to Eagle City. After these days of bloody battles, there are probably less than 10,000 people in Eagle City now. As for Zhu Sanshan, they are holding the refugees hostage. It has expanded rapidly, and there should be more than 30,000 people now!"
Gao Zongchang, who looked serious when he heard this number, looked at his eldest son Gao Dingshan who was standing aside and said slowly:
"You should be severely punished for lying about military information and deceiving superiors and subordinates. But now is the time to hire people, so I will leave the account to you for the time being. Except for the 30,000 troops guarding Ye Mingsheng in the north, which cannot be mobilized, Fengqiu, Bring all of Yiyang's 50,000 soldiers and horses to support Yingcheng. You must completely wipe out Zhu Sanshan and his gang of bandits within a month, and bring back to me the head of this bitch Zhu Sanshan!"
Listening to his father's murderous words, Gao Dingshan also became alert and knew that he had no way out. He immediately knelt down on one knee and said in a deep voice:
"I will obey my father's command..."
