As night fell, Yang Shilin held a banquet in his mansion to entertain Li Zhiyun and others, and invited many celebrities from Nanyang City to accompany him. While the wine was intoxicating, Yang Shilin said: "Your Highness the King of Chu, according to the report from the scouts sent by Yang, Zhu Can forced women and children to serve as military rations. The people in the castles were so frightened that they fled with their families. The people of Xianzhou couldn't bear it. , under the leadership of a man named Tian Zan, rebelled. In addition to Xianzhou, Dengzhou and several other states also rebelled against Zhu Can."
Li Zhiyun listened, nodded, and said: "I have heard about this. Zhu Can is going against the grain, and it will only be a matter of time before everyone betrays his relatives and leaves!" Yang Shilin continued: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, stay in this humble house. Yang has sent someone to go there." Contact the various states and invite the leaders of the various rebel armies to come to Nanyang to gather together to discuss the plan to conquer Zhu Can!" Upon hearing this, Li Zhiyun happily said: "Mr. Yang is still thoughtful, and everything is at your disposal."
After Li Zhiyun stayed in Yang Mansion for seven or eight days, rebel leaders from various states arrived one after another. On this day, Yang Shilin sent a housekeeper to invite Li Zhiyun. Li Zhiyun followed the housekeeper to the front yard and saw Yang Shilin talking to a tall middle-aged man. Yang Shilin saw him coming, pointed at the man and introduced: "His Royal Highness King Chu, this is Tian Zan!" Tian Zan stepped forward and saluted with clasped fists, and Li Zhiyun quickly returned the salute.
Li Zhiyun was invited into the hall by Yang Shilin, and saw a dozen people already in the room. Yang Shilin introduced Li Zhiyun one by one. Then, he asked Li Zhiyun to sit on the left side of the square table, while he sat on the right side of the square table, and the others took their seats on the chairs on both sides of the room. That posture looked like a gathering of martial arts masters from all over the world.
Yang Shilin cleared his throat and said loudly: "Everyone, the world is in chaos today, and heroes are vying for hegemony. Zhu Can rose up and plundered between Han and Huai. What is particularly abominable is that Zhu Can encouraged his soldiers to rob weak men and women and cook women and children. , This is something that beasts do not do, and humans and gods are outraged! We can't bear to see the people being tortured, so we raise an army to resist! However, if we fight on our own, we will inevitably be defeated by Zhu Can individually. We can only form an alliance and join forces to conquer. Zhu Can, only by eradicating the cruelty and violence can we ensure the peace of the people!"
After Yang Shilin finished speaking, Tian Zan was the first to stand up and said: "Master Yang, what you said is great! We in Xianzhou are the first to sign up to attack Zhu Can!" After Tian Zan sat down, other leaders also stood up. He stood up and expressed his willingness to join forces to attack Zhu Can.
As the saying goes, a snake cannot move without a head, and a bird cannot fly without a head. Since an alliance is formed, there must be an alliance leader. Everyone elected Yang Shilin as the leader of the alliance and Li Zhiyun as the deputy leader. They agreed to join forces to attack Zhu Can on Guimao Day next month, that is, ten days later.
That night, Yang Shilin held a banquet in the back flower hall to entertain all the heroes. Everyone drank, talked and laughed. After the banquet was over, the leaders rested for the night in Yang Mansion, and then left Nanyang the next day and returned to their respective prefectures to prepare for sending troops.
Nanyang's army has expanded to 30,000 troops. On the appointed day, Yang Shilin led his troops and horses to leave Nanyang City, and Li Zhiyun also led the new army to follow the army.
The meeting place was chosen at Xichuan, fifty miles away from Nanyang. After two days of march, the army arrived at Xichuan. Tian Zan had already led his men and horses to arrive first. He brought 20,000 soldiers and horses. Then, soldiers and horses from other states also arrived one after another, totaling hundreds of thousands of people.
Zhu Can originally had 200,000 troops. After several battles with Li Zhiyun, he lost tens of thousands of troops. Currently, he still has more than 100,000 troops left. Therefore, the military strength of both sides is about the same.
After the rebels from all walks of life gathered together, they began to march towards Jutan. However, the army advanced less than ten miles, and the scouts came back to report that Zhu Can was very frightened when he heard that people from various states were joining forces to attack him, and he had led his army to flee to Huaiyuan County. Upon hearing this, Yang Shilin ordered the army to turn around and turn southeast, heading towards Huaiyuan (now Xinyang, Henan).
After several days of marching, the army was getting closer and closer to Huaiyuan. Outside Huaiyuan City was a flat plain. Li Zhiyun was riding a horse and saw flags fluttering in front of him, armor in the air, and a large number of people and horses lying in front like dark clouds. It turned out that Zhu Can saw that he had nowhere to escape, so he prepared to make a desperate move and displayed all his hundreds of thousands of troops outside the city, intending to fight to the death with the coalition forces.
The army stopped, spread out their formation, and faced off against Zhu Can's army. The two sides were more than a hundred feet apart. Yang Shilin said to Li Zhiyun: "His Royal Highness, King Chu, your army is a heavenly soldier and a god, so you should not participate in mortal battles. We will go first. If we are defeated, your army will use thunder and lightning to kill these evil ghosts!" Li Zhiyun nodded. Said: "Okay, I listen to you!"
Li Zhiyun led the new army to leave the array and stood aside to watch the battle. Yang Shilin ordered the soldiers to beat the war drums, and then together with the leaders, they raised their weapons and led their men and horses to charge forward. 300,000 soldiers and horses from both sides started a melee outside Huaiyuan City.
On the battlefield, horses neighed, people roared, swords flashed, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. The enemy and we fought from early morning to dusk. The soldiers on both sides were red-eyed. Corpses were everywhere on the battlefield, blood flowed everywhere, and even the setting sun was as red as a drop of blood.
In the end, Zhu Can's army could not hold on anymore and retreated into Huaiyuan City, closing the city gates tightly and unable to leave. The fighting stopped, and the battlefield finally fell silent.
Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu to inspect the battlefield. Within a dozen miles around, there was a mess everywhere. The corpses of soldiers from both sides were piled up in layers. The seriously injured soldiers were lying on the ground crying and howling. A war horse that had lost its master stood there alone, snorting and wagging its tail. Although he had experienced countless battles, Li Zhiyun was still extremely shocked by the large-scale killing in front of him.
At night, the strong bloody smell on the battlefield attracted groups of wild wolves. The wolves' eyes flashed like will-o'-the-wisps, and their howls were terrifying.
After two days of rest, the coalition forces began to attack the city. This time, the new army appeared. The artillery battalion used red cannons to blow down the south gate tower. New Army soldiers used cluster grenades to blow open the city gate and rushed in first. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses rushed into the city and started a street battle with Zhu Can's army.
Zhu Feng'er rushed into the city regardless of Li Zhiyun's dissuasion. She took the lead and overturned dozens of enemy soldiers with the big gun in her hand. She was panting from exhaustion, her pretty face turned red, but she felt extremely happy in her heart.
The coalition offensive was fierce and they were victorious. Zhu Can saw that the situation was over and had to lead thousands of people to escape from the north gate. Soon, Zhu Can led his remaining soldiers to defect to Wang Shichong, and was appointed "General Longxiang" by Wang Shichong.
Later, Li Shimin led the army to attack Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong was defeated and surrendered, and Zhu Can, Duan Da and others were beheaded on the Luoshui River. Because Zhu Can was notorious for cannibalism, the people hated him very much, so they rushed to throw rubble and rocks at his body. In a short time, the rubble and rocks piled up like a tomb. This is a later story.
Zhu Can's army was defeated, and the coalition forces withdrew from Huaiyuan City and stationed outside the city. The next day, Yang Shilin discussed with Tian Zan and other leaders and decided to go to the New Army camp to find Li Zhiyun and formally propose to submit to the Tang Dynasty.
Before Yang Shilin left the station, the master said: "Uncle, have you really considered it? You will not restore Qiuchi Kingdom?" Yang Shilin smiled and said: "Qiuchi Kingdom has become history, let's return to orthodoxy!" After that! He mounted his horse in stirrups and rode out of the military camp. After meeting with other leaders, they came to the new army camp together.
Li Zhiyun welcomed everyone into the Chinese army's tent and sat down separately. After everyone exchanged greetings, Yang Shilin stood up and clasped his fists and said: "His Royal Highness King Chu, we have agreed that we are willing to submit to the Tang Dynasty. We will regard the Tang Dynasty as Zhengshuo, be loyal to the court, and serve the country!" Then, all the leaders also stood up and gathered together. Qi clasped his fists and said: "Be loyal to the court and serve the country!"
Li Zhiyun also stood up and said with a smile: "You are all heroes of the world, passionate men. You are loyal to the people to eliminate violence. Since you are willing to defect to the Tang Dynasty, I welcome you on behalf of the imperial court!" Then, he appointed Yang Shilin was the Daoxingtai of Xianzhou, Tian Zan was the chief historian and the governor of Xianzhou, and other leaders were also appointed as governors or marching commanders of various states.
"Everyone, your duties will be reported to the Emperor after I return to Chang'an, and then the Emperor will formally issue the edict." Li Zhiyun added.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Everyone thanked in unison.
After the army rested for two days, they set off back to their respective state capitals and castles. Li Zhiyun also led the new army back to Champion City.
After resting for half a month in Champion City, Li Zhiyun was ready to lead the new army back to Chang'an. Before leaving, he planned to find Zhu Feng'er and ask her to return to Chang'an with him. However, what he didn't expect was that as soon as he took Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu out of the station, he met Zhu Feng'er. It turned out that Zhu Feng'er came to say goodbye to him.
Zhu Feng'er was dressed like an ordinary village girl, leading a horse and holding a floral cloth bundle on her shoulder. When Li Zhiyun saw it, he quickly said: "Miss Zhu, where are you going? Come back to Chang'an with me. Haven't you always wanted to visit Chang'an?" Zhu Feng'er shook her head with a smile and said: "No. King Chu, thank you. For your kindness, I have another place to go.”
Li Zhiyun felt unwilling and asked: "Where are you going? Can you tell me?" Zhu Feng'er hesitated for a moment and said: "There is a Yuan Mountain fifty miles away from here, and there is a Lotus Zen Temple on the mountain. That is my destination."
Li Zhiyun was shocked when he heard this, and said hurriedly: "You want to shave your hair and practice? Why?" Zhu Feng'er lowered her head and said: "My father has sinned a lot. I want to become a nun, chant sutras day and night, and save the souls of those who were harmed by him. Maybe. , this can wash away some of his sins, and it can also be regarded as a little filial piety from a daughter."
"Miss Zhu, what your father did has nothing to do with you. Why do you want to wrong yourself like this? Can you think about it again?" Li Zhiyun still wanted to persuade her.
"I have made up my mind. King Chu, please stop trying to persuade me, let's just say goodbye!" After Zhu Feng'er said that, she turned around, put on the stirrup, mounted the horse, turned the horse's head, and rode away.
