Chapter 24 Shenzhou War

Wang Xianzhi attacked Jiangling and quickly broke through the outer city, but under the desperate refusal of the Tang army in Jiangling, the rebels launched more than a dozen attacks on the inner city, all of which failed. Yang Zhiwen's poetry flourished. Accompanied by Shen Jian, Pang Hu and others, he toured the north city and improvised poems. Of course, there were people who met him and laughed and applauded.

After Yang Zhiwen finished his poems, he was still excited. He said to Shen Jian and Pang Hu: "In the Three Kingdoms, Wu general Zhu Ran defended Jiangling, and the famous Wei generals Xu Huang, Zhang He, Cao Zhen and Xia Hou Shang besieged them for more than half a year. They could not capture them. Zhu Ran was less than 10,000 people, but he could resist more than 100,000 troops in the State of Wei. Zhu Ran's battle shocked the enemy and left his name in history. This time, Wang Xianzhi's army attacked Jiangling, and you two commanded well, so that the thieves could take advantage of it, which was comparable to Zhu Ran! I want to report to the court and reward you well!"

Shen Jian and Pang Hu smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord Yang, for your love!"

Lots of night, in the Rebel camp outside Jiangling City, except for those standing guard, all the other Rebels sat on the ground with knives and guns and took a nap. Sun Mei and the maid Wen Ying walked into the Chinese army tent and saw Wang Xianzhi lying on the handsome case. Sun Mei was very distressed. She took off her red robe and gently covered Wang Xianzhi's body. Then she sat silently and looked at the flickering candlelight, sighed gently, and Wen Ying obediently leaned on Sun Mei's side. Xianzhi felt a movement around her, stood up, pulled out her sword and asked, "Which one?"

Sun Mei giggled and said, "Who else will it be? It's your enemy!" Xianzhi yawned and said, "For three days and nights, he didn't take down the inner city of Jiangling. Yang Zhiwen still recited poems to laugh at us. What a great shame!"

Sun Mei said crisply, "What do you care about with such a sour literati? When you capture the inner city of Jiangling and cut him off with a knife, you will be relieved."

Suddenly, Ji Zhong walked into the tent and said to Wang Xianzhi anxiously, "General, the big deal is not good. A large number of Tang troops were found in the Jingmen area. Yue Lingfei transferred from Shenzhou to Jingmen. Suddenly, they encountered each other in the regiment forest and the Tang army and were fighting hard. He suggested that you withdraw from Jiangling quickly, otherwise we will be destroyed by the whole army. Danger!"

Hearing this, Wang Xianzhi took a breath of cold air and walked more than a dozen times in the account. His steps became more and more urgent. At this time, he was anxious! Jiangling has been unable to conquer for a long time, and the food and fodder of the Rebels can last for up to half a month. In this half month, if they can't take a bigger city, how can these nearly 100,000 troops survive the winter?

Wang Xianzhi stopped and said to Ji Zhong, "It is said that I will order the army to start overnight. After a short rest in Anzhou, we will go straight to Shenzhou. We must take Shenzhou, so that our supply can be supplemented. You opened the way in front, and Sun Mei was in the middle. She was responsible for protecting heavy supplies and let Lingfei stick to it for another day and go directly to the southern suburbs of Shenzhou to join us. I came to break it to prevent the Tang army from chasing and killing it.

After Ji Zhong got the order, he immediately conveyed to all the units of the Rebel Army. The Rebels rose up the village and marched to Anzhou overnight, and Wang Xianzhi personally broke up. Because of the heavy snow for several days in a row, looking out from the tower at night, the Tang army could see the movements of the rebels, but Shen Jian and Pang Hu did not open the city to pursue, and still huddled in the inner city of Jiangling, waiting for reinforcements.

Li Fu's Tang army fought fiercely with Yue Lingfei in the area of Tuanlin. After receiving Yang Zhiwen's urgent documents, Li Fu quickly allocated 30,000 elite soldiers to Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong to leave Xiangzhou quickly to solve the danger of Jiangling.

Er Liu did not dare to neglect and immediately set out. When he arrived at the regiment forest, he was intercepted by the army led by Yue Lingfei. After a scuffle, the Rebels suffered heavy casualties. Because there were many cavalry in this Tang army, there were 1,000 Shatuo cavalry, whose combat effectiveness was quite strong and the military strength was superior, so Yue Ling flew for a day and a night, and he couldn't keep the regiment forest, so he had to retreat while fighting. At this time, Wang Xianzhi's siege army had retreated to Anzhou. After Yue Lingfei completed the blocking task, there were only three or 4,000 horses left. He took the remnants from the path to Shenzhou.

Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong's soldiers and horses soon arrived in Jiangling City. Yang Zhiwen heard the news and took Shen Jian, Pang Hu and other generals to welcome them in the city. They had to give them a reward, and held a banquet in the government office to entertain the reinforcements of the Tang army. When the preparations were staggered and the wine was hot, Yang Zhiwen shook his head and began to show his poetry again: "General Zhong Standing bravely at the head of the city, Jiangling Feixue refused to be a thief. The second Liu Shenbing fell from the sky and successfully sealed the marquis.

The generals laughed, and some people flattered Yang Zhiwen: "Yang's talent is agile, and his realm is unique. Even Liu Zongyuan, Han Yu and other great poets are not as good as Lord Yang!"

Yang Zhiwen gently rubbed his short beard and smiled proudly.

In the battle room of the Xuzhou government office, Zeng Yuanyu sat in the middle of the long table, with a frosty face. The two sides of the long table are full of generals who come to the meeting, and there is a map of the military posture of the Central Plains.

Zeng Yuanyu said, "All of you, with the trust of the emperor, promoted Yuan Yu as an envoy to suppress thieves and be responsible for eradicating the thieves in the Central Plains. Over the past two years, Wang Xianzhi, Huang Chao and others have been fighting around, bringing considerable trouble to the Tang Empire. This group of thieves are soft and hard to fight with the court. We must completely eliminate them in order to reassure His Majesty. Before I left Dongdu this time, Your Majesty specially went to Xijing to talk to me. The emperor's kindness was great and specially gave him a sword. His Majesty told me that anyone who violates the military order in the process of suppressing thieves, no matter who this person is, how old he is, or how hard he is, will be dealt with by the minister. I now announce the military discipline of suppressing thieves in the Central Plains: first, behead those who disobey the dispatch; second, behead those who retreat in battle; third, behead those who do not save when they see death; fourth, behead those who falsely report military achievements; fifth, behead those who confuse the demons the crowd! Do you understand?"

"I understand." The generals lowered their heads and answered softly.

Zeng Yuanyu sternly glanced at the face of the Tang general at the meeting, which made people tremble!

Zeng Yuanyu was very proud to see that he would be repaired by himself. He raised his eyebrows and suddenly stood up and shouted, "Huang Chaoyuan is far away in Qilu. He was tightly dragged by Cao Quanhai and others and is fighting hard. I have ordered Mu Renyu, the governor of Xuanwu, and Liu Ye, the governor of Huainan, to firmly guard the various barriers, deep ditches and high bases, and cut off the contact between Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi. According to reliable information, Wang Xianzhi is leading a large army north from Anzhou to capture Shenzhou for a supplementary rest. The food of the bandits has been quite scarce. Now it is in the middle of winter, and it is extremely difficult to eat in the wild. This is the thief bandit of Xianzhi, the king of the Central Plains! I now announce the operational deployment of the Central Plains to encircle and suppress Wang Xianzhi's thief army, and all the generals will obey the order!"

Dang will stand up together and raise his heart to his throat.

Zeng Yuanyu's voice echoed in the war room: Zhang Zimian, Fei Yang and Luo Sheng led 30,000 troops and rushed to assist Shenzhou, only to be stationed outside Shenzhou. The task was to constantly attack and harass the thief army, and closely cooperated closely with Qi Kerang and Qin Zongquan who defended Shenzhou, and the tired thief army. It was difficult for him to fight and retreat. The four generals of Cui An's submarines, Zhang Guan, Zhou Wei, Wang Jian and Jin Hui, ordered 20,000 troops and set up a hidden ambush in the area of Yingshan in the north of Anzhou. When the thief army retreated from Shenzhou to the south, they suddenly killed them, which could deal a great blow to the main force of the thieves. The thief army fled, and the four generals must bite tightly with Zhang Zimian, Fei Yang and Luo Sheng, so that the thief has no chance to breathe. I repeat, it is a continuous march. When they rest, they have to take weapons and are not allowed to unload their armor to sleep. After Yang Fuguang and Lei Yinfu met in Jiangling, they searched east with Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong's soldiers and horses. , on the front line of Fuzhou, Ezhou and Qizhou, to prevent the main force of the thief army from going south; Li Fu, Cui Anqian, Qi Kerang and Qin Zongquan cooperated with each other to prevent the thief Chai Cun, Shangrang and Zhao Zhang from going south to rescue Wang Xianzhi; I unified the army and stationed in Huangzhou and Lanxi. I expected that Wang Xianzhi would break out from the southeast. Meeting with Cao Shixiong, a thief in Jiangzhou and Hongzhou, Yuanyu weaves this big net for Wang Xianzhi and must catch Wang Xianzhi, a big fish! Find the main force of Wang Xianzhi, fight a decisive battle, completely eliminate the main force of the Central Plains thieves, and repay Your Majesty's trust in our Central Plains soldiers! This battle of the Central Plains is different from usual. You must move forward bravely and lead your troops to annihilate Wang Xianzhi's thieves. If you violate military discipline, you will know the consequences, and I won't say more!"

The generals agreed to this plan, and then Zeng Yuanyu asked the generals to start action tomorrow morning, and then announced the end of the meeting. The generals will return to their headquarters to prepare for the war.

Wang Xianzhi took a rest in Anzhou and marched north to Shenzhou. Along the way, there was no interception by the Tang army, which was very smooth. Ji Zhong said to Wang Xianzhi, "General, this time, all the main forces of our army will attack Shenzhou in the north. What if they can't attack Jiangling for a long time? If Zeng Yuanyu sends elite soldiers to besiege us, our army will be in danger!"

Wang Xianzhi smiled and said, "Jiangling is a famous historical city. The city is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but Shenzhou is different. First, the city defense is not as strong as Jiangling, and the other party did not expect that I would give up Jiangling and carry out a long-distance attack, so I must neglect to prevent it. After taking Shenzhou, the brothers can get great supplies and their combat effectiveness can be restored. In addition, we recruit troops and buy horses. I don't think it's a big problem to defeat Zeng Yuanyu in a year and a half. Ji Zhong listened and was speechless.

After an urgent march, the army arrived at the city of Shenzhou at noon on the third day. Wang Xianzhi let the rebels gnaw some dry food and organized an attack on the south gate and east gate of Shenzhou. For a moment, there were shouts of killing, and the Rebel soldiers launched a strong attack on Shenzhou. Qi Ke, the general of Shenzhou, sat at the south gate to command the counterattack. Qin Zongquan was responsible for the defense of the east gate. The two were well virulative, commanded well, and repelled many attacks by the rebels. The rebels left countless bodies in Shenzhou, but they could never attack the head of the city.

The sun slowly fell to the west and it was getting dark, but the attacking rebels made no progress. In addition to casualties, the rebels were exhausted, hungry, and their mouths were dry, and they were unable to organize a strong offensive. Wang Xianzhi's plan to take Shenzhou in one fell swoop failed, so he had to order the camp, rest for one night, and attack Shenzhou tomorrow.

The rebels began to bury pots and build tents. At this time, a pout came from the west of Shenzhou. It turned out that 30,000 reinforcements led by Zhang Zimian, Fei Yang and Luo Sheng to attack Wang Xianzhi's army. Wang Xianzhi was furious when she heard the news and hurriedly put on her horse to fight. The two sides had a scuffle and suffered casualties.

Just as Wang Xianzhi was about to send the main force of the Rebel Army to surround the Tang army, Zhang Zimian ordered the Tang army to retreat on the whole line and occupy the large and small hills west of Shenzhou. At this time, Wang Xianzhi was furious and ordered to attack Zhang Zimian's troops. Zhang Zimian commanded the Tang army to resist. Just when the two sides killed inexsoluble, the west gate of Shenzhou opened up. Qi Ke let a horse take the lead and led 6,000 or 7,000 Tang soldiers to rush to the side of the rebels like a whirlwind, and suddenly cut the rebels into two sections. Wang Xianzhi urgently transferred Ji Zhong to fight.

Ji Zhong and Qi Ke fought in 40 or 50. Qi Ke let a big spring and autumn knife play a lot. Ji Zhong couldn't stand it and pulled his horse back to the front. Tang Bing saw that the main general would win and doubled their courage. In addition, they were full of wine and food. After the siege of the city, the rebels did not have a good rest and replenishment. They are exhausted. How can they be invincible? Seeing that Qi Ke asked his soldiers to fight more and more bravely, Zhang Zimian ordered the Tang army to go down the mountain to attack the rebels. The two sides fought to the death under Shenzhou.

After all, the Rebels have an advantage in numbers. Slowly, the initiative of the battlefield came to the side of the Rebels. The second-way Tang army of Zhang Zimian and Qi Kerang was gradually defeated. At this critical moment, the aftermath of the Rebels suddenly became chaotic. Zeng Yuanyu led 100,000 new troops arrived and immediately ordered the people to surround Wang Xianzhi and launched a wave. Another fierce attack, the short soldiers of both sides joined each other and risked their lives to fight. The formations of both sides have been disrupted, and the battle has become white-hot.

Zeng Yuanyu's two generals, one was called Fei Yang, and the other was Luo Sheng. He waved his wolf's teeth and led his subordinates to surround Ji Zhong in the heart and chase him hard. Although the ripe bronze stick in Ji Zhong's hand swept vertically, he killed and injured many Tang soldiers, but one Just now, in the war with Zeke, his physical strength was greatly depleted. Second, he marched continuously to attack the city. He was hungry in his stomach. The more he fought, the more he felt pain in his arms and numbness all over his body. Intention, he was hit on the back by Fei Yang, spewed out a mouthful of blood and knocked him upside down under the horse. Luo Sheng came and was very straightforward. Poor Jizhong, a hero, died in the city of Shenzhou.

Wang Xianzhi was furious when she saw the situation, urged the jujube red horse, waved the Sirius machete, and came to fight Fei Yang and Luo Sheng to avenge Ji Zhong. But there were too many Tang soldiers. Zeng Yuanyu commanded the iron cavalry and attacked the rebels in turn. Wang Xianzhi and Sun Mei were quickly dispersed by the Tang army. Zhang Zimian and Qi Ke saw Zeng Yuanyu's army arrive and ordered their troops to besiege Wang Xianzhi with all their strength. No matter how brave Wang Xianzhi was, they could not stop such a tide offensive, so they had to fight and retreat and escape in the direction of Anzhou.

Sun Mei and Wen Ying led the rebels to rush northwest, and finally broke through the resistance of Zhang Zimian's troops and entered Tongbai Mountain with 6,000 or 7,000 horses.

In the Shenzhou war, the Rebel Army was defeated and nearly 20,000 horses were damaged. Wang Xianzhi led more than 30,000 people to Anzhou to the south. As soon as he entered the mountain boundary, he only heard a few cannons in the four miles. After a rain of arrows, he killed two Tang troops from the left and right wings. The leading Tang general shouted: "Wang Xianzhi, the leader of the thief, does not surrender at this time, when will it take?"