After dawn, the bandits in the village woke up one after another. What they saw when they opened their eyes was not the aftertaste of the hangover of the brothers and sisters last night, but the bright swords of the trapped camp. They were all confused, even Apart from scratching his head and looking around, he was a little at a loss.
When they fully reacted, they could do nothing but follow the guidance of the trapped camp and go to the designated place where the prisoners were held. After all, they had no weapons in their hands, let alone armor.
There are three thousand people in the entire Dazhai, and if there is no guy in their hands, they are no different than lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
No one dared to try to resist, because they saw with their own eyes that Du Chang, the second in charge, was holding his head and obeying the command.
Not to mention them, even Zhang Yan, who woke up after being poured cold water on Yan Liang who had lost his patience, wanted to ask who these brothers were.
Zhang Yan didn't know Zhao Yun, but he had seen Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and knew that they had surrendered to Lu Bu. Naturally, he understood that he had become Lu Bu's prisoner.
For a moment, my heart was filled with annoyance. I didn't expect that just because of a careless decision, the Montenegrin Army, which had been working hard for more than ten years, was involved.
Even Yuan Shao, who was at the peak of his strength, used Mo Naihe's Black Mountain Army to be disbanded in just one night.
However, he couldn't understand. Shouldn't these two people follow Lu Bu to fight in Youzhou? Fan Yang was five or six hundred miles away, so how could they appear here.
Moreover, there are more than 30 cottages in the Taihang Mountains that stretch for thousands of miles. He will move around regularly. Before moving, even his subordinates don't know how they accurately positioned themselves.
This thing is very strange.
However, everything is no longer important. After all, he is a man who has seen strong winds and waves. Even though he is a bandit, his more than ten years of military career have long separated this legendary bandit from his ordinary banditry. , with a bit of general style, he glanced at Yan Liang Wen Chou and the unknown general in the room, and sneered.
"Okay, with you, it only took one night to crush the Black Mountain Army that I had worked hard for more than ten years. You two are also famous in the Northern Kingdom. I have fallen into your hands. I admit it. If you want to kill or scrape, just give me a good time."
Probably, they didn't expect that Zhang Yan was still a tough guy, tougher than many warriors on the battlefield, and they didn't know how to say the threatening words he had prepared in advance.
After Yan Liang glanced at Zhao Yun and Wen Chou, he stepped forward and stepped on the bed, shouting sternly: "You are quite crazy when you become a prisoner. I will give you a chance to survive. Help Wen Hou take care of Xiahou Dun, and I won't kill you." !”
Zhang Yan didn't even look at him. She raised her head nonchalantly and exposed her neck in front of Yan Liang in a provocative manner.
In fact, it is true that Zhang Yan is a tough guy, otherwise how could he have the confidence to dare to deal with Yuan Shao for so many years, and still be able to have both sides when faced with the solicitations of Lu Bu and Cao Cao.
But what he did now was just because he felt that he would die anyway, and he didn't want to make a wedding dress for Lu Bu.
Lu Bu never intercepted the secret message between him and Cao Cao from the beginning to the end, but Zhang Yan did not know this. He just let the envoy fool him, and he also believed that Lu Bu had the secret message in hand.
Based on his understanding of Lu Bu's mind, or in other words, the mind of a prince who was able to become so powerful that he now dominates the Northern Kingdom, he would never tolerate a bandit who had once been in charge of Cao Cao to stay in his territory and serve as the governor.
What's more, in the past years of plundering in the Northern Kingdom, no aristocratic family, powerful man, or wealthy businessman has suffered their own losses. Now that Lu Bu has become the leader of the Northern Kingdom, even if he is willing to be more generous, the people below will not agree.
"you"
Feeling insulted, Yan Liang picked up the golden back knife and started to attack, "See if your neck is as hard as your mouth!"
Wen Chou on the side hurriedly stopped him. Wen Chou didn't know what Lin Mo's plan was, but he couldn't just kill Zhang Yan after spending so much time capturing Zhang Yan alive.
"General Zhang, what benefits did Cao Cao give you, so that you are completely devoted to him?" Zhao Yun, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. He stared at the once unparalleled leader of the Black Mountain bandits in front of him. He really didn't understand why he would surrender to him. Lu Bu resisted so much.
Zhang Yan just sneered, without even looking at Zhao Yun, "Who are you?"
"Zhao Yun."
Zhang Yan's heart skipped a beat and she slowly looked at Zhao Yun. She even wanted to stand up and walk forward to see more clearly, but was pushed down by Yan Liang.
Then he frowned and asked: "Changshan Zhao Zilong?"
Seeing Zhao Yun nod, Zhang Yan laughed loudly and didn't stop laughing for a long time.
"Okay, okay, you are Zhao Zilong. You finally met me today. Not bad, not bad. You have really earned face for us."
Zhang Yan wiped away the tears shed from laughing, and continued to laugh: "In the past, people always scolded me for smearing our Zhending name, calling Zhending a bandit county, until you Xiao Guan showed your power and won a battle He is famous all over the world, who doesn’t know that our Changshan Zhending Zhao Zilong bravely wins the three armies, I admire you."
The two did not know each other, but they were actually fellow villagers. They were both from Changshan Zhending, that is, they were from different villages.
At first, Zhang Yan was very happy when he heard about Zhao Yun's achievements in Xiaoguan, because he saw in Zhao Yun the glory of being a real man, and his hometown would no longer be called a bandit.
Therefore, he respects Zhao Yun out of his heart.
I just didn't expect that we would meet at the end of the road.
"General Zhang, please come back to Marquis Jianwen. In the future, if you and I join forces, we may not be able to make a real pair of jade." Zhao Yun took the opportunity to persuade.
However, Zhang Yan did not change her mind because of this.
In his eyes, Zhao Yun was of course a shining true glory, but after all, he was just a warrior under Lu Bu, so how could he help him.
As a fellow countryman, forget it if you don't help him. Don't hold him back at this time. That would really embarrass the Zhending people.
"General Zilong, if you care about the friendship with your fellow villagers, please burn down the stronghold and dismiss the troops after my death. Don't kill the brats. Many of them are from Changshan." Zhang Yan looked deeply at Zhao Yun.
This is his only wish.
These words made Zhao Yun feel something, and he felt that he was far from the rumored image of a bandit.
"General Zhang, let me ask you something. I hope you will tell the truth out of friendship with your fellow countrymen. Have you made an agreement with Cao Cao that when Marquis Wen conquers Youzhou and Yuan Xi cannot hold out, you will lead his troops to attack Changshan and Zhongshan?" Kingdom and other places, Xiahou Dun took advantage of the opportunity to cross the Taihang Mountains and enter the hinterland of Jizhou to attack the city and seize territory?"
At this time, Zhang Yan could no longer calm down, and an uncharacteristic look of panic appeared on her face.
Coupled with the timing of their appearance and their precise positioning, he subconsciously blurted out: "Is there any of your spies in the village? Is it Du Chang, Chen Xi, Wang Mao, or Zhang Quan?"
The four people Zhang Yan mentioned were the four major captains of the Montenegrin Army, but they were actually the bandit leaders No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Black Mountain Bandits.
Only a few of them knew about this matter, and it was impossible for Zhao Yun to even know this.
Zhao Yun breathed a long sigh of relief, nodded slowly and said, "It's exactly what Yunwen guessed."
Yunwen?
Lin Yunwen?
Zhang Yan was suspicious. What was guessing? How could he guess such a secret?
This guy can't really be as good at the Six Ding Liujia magic as the rumors say.
Zhao Yun walked up to Zhang Yan, looked at him intently, and said in a deep voice: "General Zhang, Yun's personality guarantees that if you assist Marquis Wen to destroy Xiahou Dun, not to mention the people in the village, even General Zhang will be safe and sound. It just depends on whether the general can trust the cloud."
Zhao Yun, who was able to break into the savior surrounded by thousands of Cao troops in Xiaoguan for the kindness of Lin Mo, had long been known as a man of trustworthiness and righteousness.
Coupled with the fact that they were both Zhending people, Zhao Yun's words had a great impact on Zhang Yan.
"Zhang Yan, Zilong is different from us. He is not an ordinary military commander under Marquis Wen. If there is one person in this world who can save you, it must be Zilong." Wen Chou took the opportunity to help.
Zhang Yan and Zhao Yun looked at each other, and the determination in their eyes made him feel at ease.
After a long time, he finally sighed, "General Zhao, even though I am willing to help, Xiahou Dun is not assigned by me. The two sides are executing Cao Cao's war orders. If I trust him secretly, it will only make him suspicious." .”
In the current situation, there are indeed only 20,000 people in Bingzhou, but if Lu Bu openly leads his army to conquer it, Xiahou Dun only needs to hold on and wait for help, and Cao Cao will have plenty of time to send troops to rescue, and there will be no benefit.
The only way is to write a letter to lure Xiahou Dun out.
However, this path simply doesn't work.
Even before he sent troops to harass the Northern Kingdom, Xiahou Dun did not dare to cross the Taihang Mountains rashly. After several defeats, the guy became more cautious.
Zhao Yun just smiled and shook his head, "General Zhang, you only need to send troops to attack Changshan, Zhongshan and other counties as planned. We will take care of the rest."
"What on earth do you want to do?" Zhang Yan was confused. Now that he knew Cao Cao's plan, why did he still play like this?
It is definitely not an ambush, because there is no need for it. As the soul of the Black Mountain Army, as long as he is killed, no one can lead this team. Even Du Chang does not have this prestige.
"Just do as you're told, I'll tell you later."
Zhao Yun stepped forward to help Zhang Yan, who was sitting on the couch, and said in a deep voice: "I am not threatening you, but I still want to convey Yunwen's original words to you."
"Marquis Lanling? What did he say?"
Zhao Yun opened his mouth, as if he was a little embarrassed. After all, he was from the same hometown and he was so cooperative.
Wen Chou on the side coughed, folded his hands and said: "The exact words of Marquis Lanling, if we can catch you once, we can catch you a second time. If you dare to play tricks, not only the 20,000 or 30,000 people of your Montenegrin Army will be arrested." , together with their family members, the entire Taihang Mountains will be buried with you, regardless of gender, age or child."
Hearing this, Zhang Yan's eyebrows tightened. This was the first time he heard such threatening words.
He had always been a soft-spoken person, but when he wanted to reply with a few harsh words, Zhao Yun patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yunwen can do what he says, don't doubt him.
However, as long as you follow our plan, you won't have any trouble. Don't think about yourself or the people on the mountain. "
Zhang Yan squinted her eyes, she had long heard that these guys had unparalleled strategies, but she didn't know that his thoughts were so vicious.
But it's right to think about it. Can you be a kind person by helping a desperate Lu Bu to become such a powerful person today?
He took a deep breath and said with a wry smile: "Okay, tell me when to do it."
"Don't worry, wait for our fast horse to send the letter back first."
Seeing that Zhang Yan had completely surrendered, Zhao Yun's tone softened a lot, "General Zhang, we will still be nagging you on the mountain these days, please bear with me."
Understand, hostage, if I don't do what you say, you're going to cut me into pieces, right?
Zhang Yan nodded helplessly, "Okay, anyway, I have been friends with General Zhao for a long time. I do have something to tell you, but the brats still have to be released, otherwise the news will leak out sooner or later."
"This is natural." Zhao Yun nodded.
In this matter, it is impossible to do it without leakage. The only thing that can be done is to use people with confidence.
Therefore, Zhao Yun simply asked the trapped camp to release the people from the prison camp, and then asked Zhang Yan to calm the morale of the soldiers.
Even during this process, their people had already armed themselves with weapons. If they wanted to resist, they could actually do it.
Because since dawn, people have started to kill people from the surrounding cottages. However, because Zhang Yan and Du Chang were all captured, some of them were afraid of rats, and they also lacked a backbone, so they did not take action for a long time and just stayed at the village. Outside.
Perhaps it was because Zhang Yan had truly made a promise, or perhaps because Lin Mo's threat was too heart-wrenching, and there were so many incredible things about this action, Zhang Yan felt that Lin Mo did have the ability to overthrow her again.
So, he chose to compromise.
After a meal of comfort, the people in the village returned to calm. At dusk, people in other villages also returned the same way, as if all this had never happened.
But Zhang Yan knew in his heart that before long, the Black Mountain Army's designation would no longer exist, and Zhang Yan's name in the Taihang Mountains would also be wiped out from the world.
However, he was quite curious as to how Lin Mo wanted to use himself to catch Xiahou Dun since Xiahou Dun was not assigned by him.
At Fan Yang's front line, Lin Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the letter from Zhao Yun.
It seemed that he was lucky this time. Zhang Yan just moved his den more than a hundred miles south. If he went out of the territory of Zhongshan Kingdom, he would probably be in vain this time.
"Capture the thief first. Capture the king first. This battle was really good, Yunwen."
I really didn't expect that the problem that had plagued the Northern Kingdom for more than ten years would be solved by his son-in-law overnight with hundreds of people and zero casualties. Otherwise, Cao Cao could say that his son-in-law could stop a million troops by himself.
"But I don't understand something."
Lu Bu looked at the bamboo slips on the table, groped his chin and said in a deep voice: "Zhang Yan has been doing evil in the Northern Kingdom for many years. All the major families in the Northern Kingdom who killed him will be grateful to us, and we can also take the opportunity to cross the Taihang Mountains and attack Bingzhou directly. Why not?"
"it's useless."
Lin Mo shook his head. It was already late March, but there was still snow that had not yet melted in Youzhou, so he still had to wear a big cloak to ward off the cold, and couldn't keep his hands away from the brazier. "Cao Cao must have arranged a lot for this northern country now." Xiahou Dun will know the eyeliner as soon as we move it, so if we want to move it, we must move it reasonably.
Furthermore, even if we can successfully reach Bingzhou, if he insists on defending Taiyuan, we will not be able to attack with 20,000 people. Once the war is frustrated, we will be unable to resist Cao Cao's aid, and even Yuan Xi will take the opportunity to attack. "
"That makes sense."
After saying this, a look of surprise appeared on Lu Bu's face, "Then, we can only wait for Zhang Yan's people to get some array battles in Changshan and Zhongshan Kingdom, and then mobilize troops for rescue?"
Lin Mo nodded, "Before that, let's move Dazhai a hundred miles forward to form a siege on Zhuoxian County. At least let Xiahou Dun believe that we can't evacuate now."
It is true that Xiahou Dun is a frequently defeated general, but he is not a fool. He will not rashly transfer all the remaining people out of Taiyuan.
If you want to catch big fish, you must be willing to use scented bait.
Lu Bu nodded knowingly and gave the order happily, and the army set off.
On the way, the marching speed was a bit slow due to problems with the coordination of the troops, and Lu Bu was very unhappy when he saw it.
There was no way, all the generals who could be used were transferred out. Zhang Liao, Zhang Xiu, Gan Ning, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun, Wei Yue and even Xu Sheng, Yu Jin, Zang Ba, and Sun Guan were not here.
Sure enough, to achieve great success, we need to recruit more generals.
After this war, if Zhang Yan can be recruited as his subordinate, he should be a very useful talent.
He is capable of leading the Black Mountain Bandits in the Northern Kingdom for so many years.
Moreover, he can fight quite well.
Zhang Yan's personal martial arts skills are 50-50 comparable to Wei Yue's. You must know that before Lin Mo assisted him, the three most capable fighters under his command were Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and Wei Yue.
Therefore, after such analysis, Zhang Yan is definitely a general, or even a handsome man.
I hope he can be more aware of current affairs.
The next direction is basically following Lin Mo's ideas.
The army besieged the city of Zhuoxian, but they only besieged but did not attack. During this process, Yan Liang and Wen Chou's flags were flying under the city gate. Yuan's army in Zhuoxian was frightened and panicked all day long.
Yuan Xi was very hard-working. He had been working hard to calm everyone's emotions, because he firmly believed that as long as he could not hold on, they would not be able to attack in a while.
According to the original plan, Zhang Yan from Taihang Mountain and Xiahou Dun from Bingzhou would take this opportunity to harass Lu Bu's rear, trap him in a quagmire of fighting on all sides, and drag down this giant beast.
The only thing that made him happy was that Lu Bu did not attack the city by force, probably because he hoped to attack his heart. The city defense in Zhuoxian County was quite solid.
The direction of the overall situation did not disappoint him. The Black Mountain bandits came down from the mountain and began to wreak havoc and plunder in the two counties of Changshan and Zhongshan.
However, this time was different from the past. They did not attack the city to plunder. More often, they seemed to just come out to make some noise.
After receiving the emergency documents from the two counties, Lu Bu mobilized an army of 20,000 to go to the rescue.
At the same time, the flag of General Yan Liangwen and Chou standing outside Zhuoxian County also disappeared.
Therefore, although Yuan Xi, who was under siege, did not receive the battle report, he guessed that there must be a problem in the rear, so Lu Bu transferred them away before the battle.
Naturally, Yuan Jun in the city breathed a sigh of relief, as if he really saw the hope of survival. For a time, the morale of the army improved a lot.
Of course we don't dare to leave the city, but Lu Jun is not attacking the city anyway, so don't worry, Cao Cao and Zhang Yan will not let us down.
(End of chapter)
