Chapter 18 Zhanhao State

Meng Kai listened to Zhu Cun's self-introduction and had a good impression on the Zhu Cun and Zhu Wen brothers. In view of their excellent performance in the ambush in Xiangyi, Meng Kai specially invited the two brothers for a drink, and Huang Kui and some other generals also participated.

At the banquet, Meng Kai praised Zhu Cun and Zhu Wen for their strong martial arts and skillful bows and horses. He patted Zhu Wen on the shoulder and said happily, "Zhu Wen, you are very young. You have just made your debut. In the future, you will become a famous general of our volunteers, overthrow Li Tang, and establish a regime that really belongs to us. It depends on your years. Light people work harder, and their future is unlimited! Young man, work hard. I will recommend you two brothers to be my deputy generals to General Huang Chao. How about that?

When Zhu Cun and Zhu Wen heard this, they simply didn't believe their ears. Unexpectedly, Xiangyi changed from a soldier to a general, and he was the deputy general of Meng Kai, a general under the Huang Chao Uprising Army! That was a step to the sky. Zhu Wen's mind turned faster than his brother. He immediately left the table and knelt on his knees in front of Meng Kai. He was grateful: "Thank you, General Meng for looking up to our two brothers. General Meng is different. My brother and I must go through fire and water and risk our lives to repay General Meng's kindness!" After saying that, two lines of tears bleed down from Zhu Wen's cheeks.

The generals saw that this young man was really affectionate and righteous. As soon as General Meng was promoted, he knew how to repay his kindness and was very clever. Huang Kui looked at Zhu Wen's kneeling performance and felt a little too much. Everyone was drinking and leaving the table to do this, which made people feel an indescribable taste. Everyone fights for the poor, is equal to each other, and it is normal to have the ability to be promoted, so Huang Kui is a little puzzled by Zhu Wen's move.

Meng Kai laughed, picked up Zhu Wen, pointed his hand at Huang Kui, and began to introduce: "Zhu Wen, this is Huang Chao's own brother, Huang Kui, a general in the army. If you have anything to do in the future, you can also find him."

Zhu Wen is a personal figure. The strange expression that Huang Kui passed by just now has long been seen by him. He immediately walked to Huang Kui, saluted him deeply, and said humbly, "I hope Uncle Huang can give me more advice in the future. The Zhu Wen brothers marched to fight and deal with their shortcomings in the world. Please ask Uncle Huang for more help."

When Huang Kui saw Zhu Wen open his mouth as an uncle and closed his mouth to an uncle, he felt that this young man was quite sensible, civilized and polite, which has been recognized by people since ancient times. Huang Kui smiled and said, "I also agree with what General Meng said just now. Zhu Wen, I believe that your brothers will grow into independent generals and do the next big cause for the poor people."

Zhu Wen nodded repeatedly, and Zhu Cun also said a conversation to thank General Meng, Uncle Huang and so on. Meng Kai then introduced the generals who attended the banquet to Zhu Cun and Zhu Wen one by one. This wine lasted for four or five hours.

After drinking, the Zhu Wen brothers walked out of the tent. At this time, the stars were all over the sky, and the bright moon was in the sky. He knelt down and walked to his tent, and the joy in his heart was not mentioned. As soon as the two brothers entered the tent, the sergeants in the tent surrounded one after another. They smelled the smell of wine and red faces, and began to make fun of each other.

Zhu Wen's childhood partners Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu grabbed Zhu Wen's clothes and asked Zhu Wen to tell everyone about the banquet. Zhu Wen coughed and began to make a speech, telling the process of the banquet, but did not talk about the scene of his kneeling. Towards the end of the speech, Zhu Wen suddenly raised his voice: "Our brothers are now deputy generals. You follow us to work hard and will soon be promoted to military schools and generals, brothers, right?" Hearing this, the sergeants in the tent danced happily and hugged each other.

After Song Wei issued a military order to the towns, he also dispatched troops in Haozhou City to prepare for the expedition equipment for two days. Early on the third day, Song Wei led the selected 30,000 Tang troops to march towards Songzhou. In order to prevent being ambushed by the Rebels, Song Wei, who had been fighting for a long time, sent multiple sent outposts to search for Zhecheng, Gushu and Xiayi. After the intelligence analysis learned, he did not choose to enter Songzhou from Zhecheng and Gushu, but chose Xiayi, which is the farthest from Songzhou, can be regarded as an attack route.

Song Wei led his army to the Bian River in the south of Xiayi. At this time, it was midsummer. Suddenly, dark clouds rolled in the sky, lightning and thunder, and heavy rain. The 30,000 Tang soldiers brought by Song Wei have all turned into drowned chickens. They will come to Song Wei's Chinese army tents and ask Song Wei for instructions on whether they can suspend the march, camp first, and then take a pontoon bridge to pass through the Bian River after the rainstorm.

Song Wei opened his seemingly green eyes and scolded sharply: "What, are you afraid? After staying in Haozhou for a long time, you can't straighten your hands and feet, can you? Damn, you are usually pave and pavementable. When there is a war, you will be a shrinking turtle. I think you are donkey dung * outside! We are in trouble now, and thieves are more difficult than us! It is said that I will order that the three armies are not allowed to stop marching and immediately build a pontoon bridge to accelerate forward. If you are afraid to move forward and miss the military plane, kill it!"

Song Wei, as the supreme leader of the suppression of bandits, did not dare to disove. They had to go back to their headquarters and build pontoon bridges. For a while, on the south bank of the Bian River, people shouted horses, and many Tang soldiers jumped into the water and piled bridges. Some Tang soldiers rushed into the nearby mountains and forests when their superiors were unprepared, which seemed to run faster than the wild.

As soon as the three floating bridges were built, Song Wei strictly ordered Tang soldiers to cross the bridge. Tang soldiers marched hard in the heavy rain. When the Tang soldiers arrived at the north bank, suddenly, a large number of people and horses were killed in the opposite woods. As a general, he shouted loudly: "Yue Lingfei has been waiting here for a long time. Song Wei, come!"

Yue Lingfei waved the steel gun, and the volunteer bow and crossbowman immediately fired arrows. After a dense rain of arrows, the Tang soldiers who crossed the river were killed and injured. Yue Lingfei took the lead and led the brigade to kill Tang Bing. Tang Bing retreated in panic. You squeezed each other and became a mess. Many people crossing the river were squeezed into the water.

Song Wei stood in the middle of the pontoon bridge because of urging the march and was also squeezed into the water by the rebels. His armor was particularly heavy. After struggling for a while, he sank into the water and disappeared. In this way, the commander-in-chief of the thief ended his life. Tang Bing saw that the commander-in-chief disappeared, and the three armies fled, fled, surrendered, and 30,000 troops were led by Yue Lingfei.

The reason why Yue Lingfei set up an ambush by the Bian River south of Xiayi is Shang Rang's careful planning. Shang Rang arranged the main force on the front line of Zhecheng and Gushu at the beginning and stayed for a day. He felt something wrong, because Song Wei must come to Zhecheng and Gushu according to the speed of the march, so he immediately ordered Yue Lingfei to lead 15,000 people quickly. He set up an ambush in the south of Xiayi and arrested Song Wei's Tang soldiers.

While commanding the cleaning of the battlefield, Yue Lingfei ordered his own soldiers to quickly report the combat situation to Huang Chao and Shang Rang, and at the same time sent a number of reconnaissance teams to explore the surrounding enemy situation.

At this time, the battle on the east and north two lines was also fierce. The men led by Bi Shiduo and Liu Hanhong encountered a fierce attack from Xue Neng's soldiers and horses from Xuzhou in Dangshan. After receiving Song Wei's military order, Xue Neng put together 50,000 horses to advance in the direction of Songzhou. Xue Neng tried his best to invite Liu Jurong, a famous general who suppressed the uprising of King Ying in Zhejiang.

Bi Shiduo and Liu Hanhong's first battle was unfavorable and were separated by Xue Neng's Xuzhou legion. Liu Hanhong saw that he was surrounded by Tang troops and did not actively organize a counterattack. He was afraid of death and surrendered to Liu Jurong. Bi Shiduo's soldiers retreated from Yucheng, convered their troops to defend it, and wrote emergency documents to Huangchao, demanding that reinforcements be sent quickly. Seeing that Shang Rang and Yue Lingfei had solved Song Wei's southern line of the Tang army, Huang Chao ordered them to go to Yucheng quickly to prevent Xue Neng and Liu Jurong from entering the west.

Qiao Yu and Niu Feng were waiting in Chuqiu. Du Yu and Cao Cunshi came to raise their troops and attacked several times, but did not take any advantage of them. Instead, they damaged 3,000 or 4,000 horses. Together, they would better preserve their strength. They should simply camp and wait and see, and stay still in the north of Chuqiu.

The enemy of Songzhou has long become a frightened bird. The guards Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin brothers are both wise and brave, and they are not idle people. Seeing that the power of the Huang Chao Rebel Army is great, and the reinforcements from all over the country have been delayed, Zhu Xuan has nothing to do. He wrote to Huang Chao with a very humble attitude, to the effect that we have no grudges, and I was born in poverty. The soldiers are also full of sympathy. Can General Huang put it on the horse this time? I promise not to lead troops to attack you and make friends.

Huang Chao and Chai Cun looked at it and discussed it. They thought that Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin were both civil and martial arts, and Songzhou was quite strong. If they attacked hard, they would pay a heavy price and could not be guaranteed to seize them. It would be better to be personal feelings. In this way, Zhu Xuan would at least not become enemies. The result of the negotiation was a symbolic siege, but Zhu Xuan was not allowed to lead his troops out of the city. Zhu Xuan agreed very quickly. In this way, Huang Chao sent Lin Yan to lead 20,000 troops to monitor the Tang army in Songzhou, and the rest of the siege troops rushed to Yucheng. The monks, Yue Lingfei and Bi Shiduo joined forces and beat Xue Neng and Liu Jurong.

Xue Neng and Liu Jurong fled to Xuzhou with only a few thousand horses left. On the way, Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong left without saying goodbye. Liu Hanhong was shameless and actually recognized Liu Jurong as his righteous brother. The "two brothers" led the two thousand remnants to travel east and west in the Jianghuai area and plundered for a living. Together, they thought that Li Fu was tolerant, so they simply defected to Li Fu, who was stationed in Xiangzhou, and mixed up in the land of Jingchu. Li Fu appreciated Er Liu's generals and entrusted him with an important task, hoping to rely on Er Liu to make a big turnaround, defeat Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, and gain political capital.

After Huang Chao defeated Xue Neng, he led the victorious division soldiers to the city of Haozhou. After the Tang army learned of Song Wei's death and the destruction of the main force, they plundered the whole city. The people of Haozhou rose up to resist. Many of the Tang army were killed by the people, and the rest fled one after another, and a few conscience came to join the Rebel Army. As soon as Huang Chao's main force arrived, the city gate had already opened, and the people welcomed the rebels into the city. After Huang Chao and the people, they sent their generals to attack Huangzhou in the south and take Kuangcheng in the north. The army was across the two banks of the Bian River. The Tang army did not dare to fight. They huddled in the city and resisted stubbornly by virtue of the height of the city.

One day, Huang Chao and the generals were gossiping in the government office of Haozhou. Wang Xianzhi sent a messenger to the end that Li Fu, with Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong, sent 100,000 troops to attack the mountain. In order to get rid of Zeng Yuanyu's encirclement and suppress the army and respond to Cao Shixiong's development in Hongzhou, he decided to leave the southwest from Anzhou. Attacking Jiangling, he asked Huang Chao and Shang to send people and horses to reinforce the mountain. Huang Chao immediately made a decision to let Chai Cun and Shang let him lead 30,000 troops, rushed to help the bald mountain, and allocated 20,000 elite soldiers to Yue Lingfei to rush to Wang Xianzhi to help the battle.

Shortly after Chai Cun, Shang Rang and Yue Lingfei left, Qiao and Niu Feng, who were stationed in Kuangcheng, sent their own soldiers to send emergency documents to report that Cao Quanyu and Cao Cunshi, who were in the direction of Qilu, reported that after the main force of the rebel army withdrew from Qilu, they counterattacked. The people in Qingzhou and Yunzhou suffered, and the Tang army suffered. The village passed was looted and cried. Cao Quanyu and Cao Cunshi also threatened to attack Kuangcheng and find the main force of Huang Chao.

Huang Chao looked at the emergency documents, shot the case, and said angrily, "Er Cao mutilated the people. It is difficult to tolerate. I will order you to return to Qilu!"