The summer morning was unusually dry. The sun was slowly rising. The bright sunshine was falling down in strands. It fell on Chuying in Chenglingguan. It was obvious that it would be a good weather.
The Chu camp was in disarray, devastated and smoky, with some corpses scattered around, and the smell still permeating the air was very pungent. In order to retreat safely, Zhou Xingfeng was fully prepared. In addition to leaving an army at the rear, he also covered the camps and passages with hay and sprinkled them with grease. After setting up an ambush, a fire still delayed the Han army's pursuit.
Stepping onto Chengling Pass, Han Tong's face was full of exhaustion. He looked at the low earth wall that was being stepped on and couldn't help but cursed: "This Zhou Xingfeng really won't let up at all and won't let me have a good night's sleep." !”
"Du Jian, although the Chu army was well prepared, they retreated in a hurry after all!" A side general next to him reported the night's battle to Han Tong: "Although he was hindered by fire and ambush, he was still pursued by General Du. . In a chaotic battle last night, we killed and captured nearly three thousand enemy troops. However, except for the two remaining battalions, they were all old, weak and wounded soldiers who were abandoned by Zhou Xingfeng."
"This person is quite ruthless!" Han Tong sighed and asked, "Where is General Du?"
"Zhou Xingfeng retreated to Baling. General Du has already followed his lead and pursued him to the gate of Baling City!" the general replied.
"How is the fighting situation over at Junshan?" Han Tong asked again.
"No news yet!"
"Send someone to investigate immediately!"
On the Chengling Pass side, because they were so close, the Han army reacted faster, but on the Junshan side, they received the report more than half an hour later, and immediately sent Wei Lin to lead the navy to encircle and suppress it, disrupting its retreat. . At the beginning of discovering the Chu army's sudden movement, the Han general Zhang Xun who led the army also chose to test and attack. After finding out his intention to retreat, he concentrated his best troops to attack.
Without waiting too long, Junshan’s battle report came. Although the Chu army there retreated suddenly, they finally retreated across the lake. Even if you cross the river normally, you need to prepare for a lot of time, and what's more, it's a temporary order and it's dark night.
At Junshan, Zhou Xingfeng directly invested half of his troops there, led by Zhang Chongfu, the deputy envoy of Jingjiang Army appointed by Zhou Xingfeng, to be responsible for the attack.
Excluding the losses in previous attacks and defenses, with Zhang Xun's attack and the support of Wei Lin's boat division, less than 5,000 people successfully evacuated across the lake from Junshan. Wei Lin, on the other hand, made some further contributions. During the final cover, the Chu army's navy was basically wiped out. Those who died died and those who surrendered were surrendered.
"...In the night battle at Junshan, General Zhang led his troops to pursue them and annihilated more than 7,000 enemies. The Chu navy was wiped out. It was considered a great victory!" The general reported to Han Tong: "However, , I learned from the prisoners’ mouths that the enemies they destroyed were mainly weak brigades, and the soldiers who retreated across the lake to Baling were all the strongest men in their army!”
"Ha!" Han Tong couldn't help but sigh: "Being ruthless and decisive enough, concentrating the strong, shrinking the troops, and discarding the old and weak is tantamount to throwing away burdens and saving food! Calculated in this way, there are still nearly 10,000 people in Baling City. If we reorganize our strong soldiers a little and rely on Baling City to hold on, I'm afraid they won't be that easy to deal with. Zhou Xingfeng is really a character!"
The general said: "However, no matter how hard he persists, it is nothing more than a trapped beast still fighting!" The general said: "He gathered 30,000 water and land troops here, but it has only been 20 days, and he has lost 70% of his troops, and all his water troops are gone. Now. Morale is low, military morale is turbulent, how can a mere Baling city stop my army!"
Analyzing only from the data, Zhou Xingfeng was indeed defeated, which is of course true. If Zhou Xingfeng wants to hold on and make a comeback with only ten thousand soldiers, the possibility is slim.
"That's right!" Han Tong acknowledged what the general said and his expression became increasingly serious: "No matter how cunning and cunning he is, he can only struggle to the death. If he wants to resist in Yingcheng, I will fall into the city and destroy the army. He No matter how tough he is, I don’t believe that the people under his command are all hard-hearted and don’t know whether to live or die and want to live or die with him!”
"Pass my order, the whole army will rest for a while, set up a stronghold in Baling in the south, and lay siege to the city!" He took a deep breath, with a ruthless look on his face: "Instruct Wei Lin again to lead the navy from Dongting Lake to blockade Baling City. Cut off their way out on the water. Then mobilize ships to transport the soldiers from Junshan over!"
"yes!"
After giving the order, Han Tong's serious expression quickly changed. He opened his eyes wide and stared southward in his trademark way, with saliva flying from his mouth: "Zhou Xingfeng is really a tough guy. He has reached this point. You still have to resist, wasting my time and troops. Just watch, when I break the city, I will crush it to ashes to vent the hatred in my heart!"
"Captain." At this time, the general called out hesitantly.
"Why are you so unhappy? Just say what you have to say!" Han Tong saw him hesitating and scolded him with some impatience.
"It is said that General Zhang was furious last night when he saw that he failed to annihilate the Junshan bandit army and took away thousands of people, so he killed thousands of prisoners in anger..." said the report.
"What is said! Who said it? Is it true?" Upon hearing this, Han Tong stared at him seriously.
The general also quickly changed his tone of affirmation: "It is true!"
"This Zhang Xun is a good fighter, how can he be so murderous!" Hearing this, Han Tong couldn't help but cursed: "This time, among our East Route Army, in terms of military exploits, he must be one or two. Isn’t this a crime for himself? Wouldn’t it be better to use those 1,000 captives to attack the city? Kill him in vain! After all, he is a local general, so it’s hard to know how strict the military laws of the Forbidden Army are!”
"Captain, regarding this matter..." the general asked for instructions.
"Let's talk about it after the war!" Han Tong said with a straight face.
Zhang Xun is also a veteran on the battlefield. He has been in the Han Dynasty since Jin Dynasty and has been promoted to military positions. He has excellent army commanding ability and rich combat experience. Looking at his resume, one obvious characteristic is that he has a murderous nature. Every time a city was broken or a stronghold was attacked, more blood would flow through his hands. I have restrained myself somewhat over the years, but once I get to the battlefield, my old habits return...
"Send my general order to find Zhang Xun directly and tell him that I will remember this for him first, but for the remaining prisoners in Junshan, I will ask him to transport them to Baling City one by one. Don't blame me, but he is old. Young Master One person, I'll whip him!" Han Tong said again.
"As you command!"
It didn't take too long. At midnight that day, Han Tong personally led the guardians, Fengguo, Jingnan and a part of the state army to Baling. They occupied the outer crossings and key passes and basically completed the encirclement. Then there were the civilians and prisoners, doing hard work, and strong camp walls rose from the ground. From the north, large amounts of grain, fodder, and ordnance were also transported southward.
In the evening, Zhang Xun also led his army across the lake from Junshan. Faced with the intensive deployment of the Han army, the Chu army in Baling City did not stop. Zhou Xingfeng was also actively responding, rectifying his troops and making targeted arrangements.
However, the soldiers on both sides were extremely tired and refused to invade each other. They also tacitly rectified their weapons and prepared for the next war.
At night, the lights in the Chinese army's commander's tent were brightly lit, and Han Tong ascended the tent to discuss the army. There was a lot of laughter and laughter. He briefly summarized the melee last night, and then analyzed Zhou Xingfeng's movements and plans.
"Everyone, it has been nearly 20 days since we marched south from Xiangyang to Yuezhou and fought against the bandits. The soldiers fought bravely, and as of today, we have finally broken through Sanjiangkou!" Han Tong began to mobilize for war, with an excited expression: "Now, Zhou Ni gathered the remaining soldiers, but he still did not repent and wanted to resist the heavenly army. Zhou Ni wanted to fight our army decisively in Baling, so I will allow him to do so and let Baling City become his tomb!"
After Han Tong finished speaking, Du Hanhui added: "Everyone, after the Battle of Liyang, Commander Murong has moved south, and Langzhou will definitely be difficult to stop. Now, it's up to us to kill his leader and put an end to the war in Hunan!"
"Captain, give the order!" A group of generals said in unison, eager to try.
"I propose that the entire army rest for a day tomorrow, and then launch an attack on Baling the day after tomorrow!" Han Tong opened his mouth and stated his plan: "However, we cannot do nothing on this day. Let the military envoys and clerks You guys, write a thousand letters to persuade me to surrender overnight, shoot them all into the city tomorrow, and then select hundreds of sergeants with loud voices to go to the city to persuade them to surrender! Destroy his military morale first!"
"Even if Zhou Xingfeng has more skills, his morale and morale will not last long in this situation. The effect of this attack on the heart should be good!" Zhang Xun, a veteran with gray beard and hair, commented.
After looking at him, Han Tong asked, "How many prisoners are there in the army?"
"Tens of thousands of people!" replied an army secretary.
"Okay!" Han Tong said with a cold face: "One thousand men per battalion, organize them into ten battalions, and instead of feeding them and giving them weapons, these prisoners will be used to open the way for our army to attack the city in the future!"
"yes!"
At this time, Han Tong could not see any kindness towards the prisoners...
On April 21, the eighth year of Qianyou's reign, he marched to the south to camp the capital prison and led more than 40,000 troops, civilians and prisoners to attack Baling. Zhou Ni from Hunan would rather die than surrender. In this battle, the two sides fought fiercely for four hours, and the city was destroyed in the afternoon. The Han soldiers and civilians suffered more than 4,000 casualties, and the rebels suffered 3,000 casualties. Corpses filled the city gates, the trenches were filled, and the lakes were stained red with blood...
Zhou Ni personally wore armor and carried a standing sword, and fought in Guancheng. When the city was broken, he was killed in the rebel army. More than ten of his generals died in the battle, and the rest of his troops surrendered.
After Zhou Ni was dead, there was no more war in Hunan.
