Chapter 26 Blood-stained yellow plum

In February 878, there were clouds of war in the area of Qizhou, Huainan.

Under the strict order of Zeng Yuanyu, the main force of the Tang army in the Central Plains successively divided and surrounded Wang Xianzhi's army. In order to get rid of the encirclement and interception of the Tang army, Wang Xianzhi decided to adopt the tactics of attacking east and west and key breakthroughs to bring the rebels to a safe area as soon as possible. Wang Xianzhi sent 5,000 horses to fortify on the east bank of Qishui, which delayed the speed of the Tang army, and sent 5,000 horses to the north bank of Jiangzhou to collect ships to prepare for the army to cross the south of the Yangtze River. Carry out assault training for the new recruits, prepare for the defense on the front line from Yongning to Huangmei, prepare for a decisive battle with the Tang army, and then wait for the opportunity to break through. Because days of running and frequent operations have exhausted the Rebel soldiers and urgently need a rest.

What Wang Xianzhi did not expect was that the advance speed of the Tang army was quite fast, and the rebels responsible for blocking the attack on the east bank of Qishui River had not been fully launched. Zhang Guan, Zhou Wei, Wang Jian and Jin Hui had commanded the Tang army to start crossing the water. The rebels fought desperately. The two sides launched a desperate battle on the east bank of Qishui River. The Tang army was well-equipped and morale Exuberant, coupled with Zhang Guan and other generals commanding well and fighting in the open plains, although the Rebels are brave and tenacious, they are already tired divisions after all. Because of the lack of food and eating tree bark and grass roots to maintain their lives, how can they resist such a tiger and wolf division? After half a day of bloody fighting, 5,000 Rebels were destroyed.

The house leak coincided with continuous rain, and the boat encountered the first wind again. The 5,000 rebels who were ordered to collect ships on the north bank of Jiangzhou met the main force of the Tang army led by Yang Fuguang, Lei Yinfu, Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong. The two sides had a scuffle on the edge of the Yangtze River. The Tang army led by Yang Fuguang had 50,000 people, 10 to 1, serious

Asymmetrical, the Rebels are at an absolute disadvantage. After more than half an hour of the war, the Rebels collapsed on the whole line. Except for two or three hundred people who narrowly killed the siege, all the rest died heroically.

Wang Xianzhi was shocked to learn of the news of the defeat of the Second Route Army. According to previous combat experience, it was impossible for the Tang army to pursue it so much. Is it possible that they took any fierce medicine and became so fierce that they attacked the rebels so desperately?

Wang Xianzhi did not know that Li Yan had appointed Zeng Yuanyu to command the Central Plains Tang army, and he completely lacked understanding of Zeng Yuanyu. Only when you know yourself and your enemy can you win a hundred battles. Wang Xianzhi did not know the commander of the Tang army, but Zeng Yuanyu knew Wang Xianzhi's combat style very well. Zeng Yuanyu is familiar with military books and strategies. He has been in the army for many years, has rich combat experience, and the governance of the army is very strict, far from being comparable to Song Wei. In the general group of the late Tang Dynasty, Zeng Yuanyu was a first-class general. Wang Xianzhi met a strong opponent like Zeng Yuanyu. It was completely impossible to win when the food and fodder were cut off and the troops were weak; it was also even more difficult to break through.

After repeated discussions, Wang Xianzhi and the department decided to break out to the northeast, which still has a glimmer of vitality. Today, Yang Fuguang, Lei Yinfu, Liu Jurong and Liu Hanhong are guarding along the river in the south, Zhang Guan, Zhou Wei, Wang Jian and Jin Hui in the west, and Zeng Yuanyu's army in the north. Therefore, only by advancing to Susong and Shuzhou can there be a way to live. In addition to leaving a few soldiers and horses to intercept and pursue the Tang army, Wang Xianzhi immediately issued an order to march to Susong. After a day of rapid march, the rebels finally reached the periphery of Susong at dusk.

Wang Xianzhi immediately ordered a strong attack on Susong. Su Song did not defend many enemies, only one or two thousand people. The leading Tang general was called Yin Chao, who was Zeng Yuanyu's distant uncle. He usually drank and gambled and did not train soldiers seriously at all, so he was defeated in the first battle. Yin Chao ran faster than the hare and was the first to escape to Shuzhou. Tang Bing saw that the main general took the lead in running away, and the boss was afraid of death. Aren't we soldiers afraid of death? Just run away. In this way, the rebels easily entered the city and got some military supplies. In particular, they found some food in the rich family. The rebels finally had a full meal and slept beautifully.

At dawn the next day, Wang Xianzhi arranged the rebels to advance to Shuzhou, but fate always likes to joke with people who are suffering. At this time, the surrounding of Susong City was full of Tang soldiers, and the Tang army surrounded Susong on three floors. It turned out that at dawn, the army led by Zeng Yuanyu and Zhang Zimian also rushed to the Susong area and found that the rebels were going to march in the city.

Zeng Yuanyu immediately ordered to surround the Susong group. Zhang Zimian surrounded the north gate, Qi Ke let him besiege the west gate, Fei Yang and Luo Sheng surrounded the south gate, and the east gate was surrounded by Zeng Yuanyu himself. Zeng Yuanyu knew that Wang Xianzhi had no way to go and would definitely break through to the northeast, so in this direction, he and Zhang Zimian arranged a heavy siege. No one Wang Xianzhi has three heads and six arms, it is difficult to get out of this direction.

Wang Xianzhi walked to the head of Susong City and went to the East Gate. She saw that the outside of the city was dense, full of soldiers and horses from the Tang Dynasty. Zeng Yuanyu wore armor, a robe with a belt, and a three-pointed two-edged knife in his hand and came out to the front of the battle. Zeng Yuanyu saw Wang Xianzhi coming out with a wolf knife and shouted, "Anti-thief Wang Xianzhi, do you know Zeng Yuanyu?" Wang Xianzhi concluded from Zeng Yuanyu's tone that this person was the commander of the Tang Army and sneered, "Wang Xianzhi only knows heroes in his life. How can he know the unknown rats!"

Zeng Yuanyu was furious and shouted: "Attack the city! Give me all my strength to attack and capture Wang Xianzhi alive!" The Tang army rushed up and shouted to kill the head of the city. Because when the Rebels attacked the city last night, the city wall had collapsed in many places, so the Tang army quickly attacked from the gap, and the two sides launched a fierce battle. Wang Xianzhi commanded the Rebels to resist and launched a street battle with the Tang army. Wang Xianzhi had a wolf knife, which was majestic on all sides. After a cold light, the heads of the Tang soldiers fell to the ground one after another.

While fighting, Fei Yang and Luo Sheng two generals led a Tang soldier to Wang Xianzhi. The second general thought that Wang Xianzhi was trapped and wanted to take this opportunity to capture Wang Xianzhi and make great achievements, so that he could be promoted and get rich. The square mace in Fei Yang's hand hit Wang Xianzhi left and right. Luo Sheng's wolf teeth were also tight, and he was determined to win.

As soon as Wang Xianzhi saw these two people, she remembered Ji Zhong's tragic death in Shenzhou City. She was really angry and broke her teeth! He roared, as if he had made a Thunderbolt for a long day, and split Fei Yang with a move of "raising a knife and sharpening the flag". Fei Yang was not Wang Xianzhi's enemy. He had a knife on his neck, turned over and fell off his horse, blood splashed, and his life screamed. As soon as Luo Sheng saw it, he was shocked and left. Wang Xianzhi let Luo Sheng get out, followed by a move to "turn the universe", wrapped the knife in the cold wind, and cut off half of Luo Sheng's head.

Seeing Wang Xianzhi split two Tang generals in a row, the Rebels increased their confidence and shouted to kill the Tang army. The Rebels finally killed the south gate and ran in the direction of Huang Mei. Qi Ke didn't dare to approach Wang Xianzhi too much, but led his army to follow him far away. After a while, Zeng Yuanyu and Zhang Zimian led the brigade to come over and chased after Qi Ke.

Wang Xianzhi led the army back to Huangmei, stopped in a dense forest to rest, and took inventory of people and horses. They were more than half dead and injured, less than 20,000. Xianzhi was so sad that she raised her eyes and looked around. Most of the volunteers hung up their colors, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. Wang Xianzhi formed the wounded according to their severity. The most serious injuries were placed in the middle of the team, and the strong soldiers were arranged before and after.

Shortly after the rectification, Zhang Guan, Zhou Wei, Wang Jian and Jin Hui led the Tang soldiers to kill and run here. The Rebels just went through the Su Song War and marched for a long distance. Before they could breathe, they hurriedly fought. They were cut off by the Tang army into several sections and suffered countless deaths and injuries. The Tang army led by Zhang Guan was the most cruel, and it was terrible to kill the seriously injured who were unable to fight. Seeing that the situation on the battlefield was deteriorating, Wang Xianzhi immediately organized a rebel army to carry out a countercharge. Over Huangmei, the golden drums made a great deal, and the killing sound was shocking.

At a time when the two sides fought in a difficult battle, the main force of the Tang army led by Zeng Yuanyu, Zhang Zimian and Qi Kerang arrived, and the doom of this volunteer army inevitably happened! In the fierce battle, Xiaolu's clenched "Tian Bu Average" banner was taken away by a tall Tang soldier. Xiao Lu was extremely angry and desperately hit the key part of the tall Tang soldier with a short sword. The tall man looked at Xiao Lu with two eyes and slowly fell back. Xiao Lu regained the banner. However, Xiaolu and a group of volunteers were quickly surrounded by a group of Tang soldiers. After a fight, Xiao Lu was hit in the head by a gun rod of a Tang soldier. He suddenly fainted and fell into the pile of corpses, but he still held the banner tightly.

When Wang Xianzhi saw Xiaolu fall to the ground, he still grabbed the banner. He opened his eyes and roared, urging the jujube red horse to gallop towards Xiaolu. Seeing that Wang Xianzhi only brought dozens of volunteers to attack and bully others, Tang Bing launched a crazy attack on Wang Xianzhi. Wang Xianzhi attacked several times and was killed by Tang soldiers.

At the time of the stalemate between the two sides, there were shouts everywhere in the northwest corner. A general, ** Qingqi Ma, carrying a muddy iron steel gun, led a man flying here. This person was Yue Lingfei. It turned out that Yue Lingfei blocked the Tang army in Tuanlin and withdrew to Shenzhou. On the way, he heard the news that Wang Xianzhi had retreated to the south and rushed to the southeast day and night. When Wang Xianzhi fought hard with the Tang army, the appearance of Yue Lingfei undoubtedly doubled the confidence of the rebels!

As soon as Zhang Guan saw that someone wanted to rescue Wang Xianzhi, he commanded the Tang army to intercept Yue Lingfei's fight. Yue Lingfei and Zhang Guan's two horses met, and the halberd were held together. Yue Lingfei's move "whirl wind broke the road" and one shot resulted in Zhang Guan's life. The Tang army was frightened and retreated one after another. At this time, Xiaolu woke up and stood up with difficulty holding the banner. Yue Lingfei saw that he was a little soldier and quickly took Xiaolu on the green horse and rushed to Wang Xianzhi's team.

Unfortunately, Yue Lingfei's men were less than 3,000 at this time. Even if he was brave, it was difficult to recover the decline of the battlefield. When Yue Lingfei came to Wang Xianzhi's side, Wang Xianzhi had already hit two arrows, one arrow on his left shoulder and one arrow on his right leg, dressing the wound. At this time, the mountains are full of soldiers and horses from both sides, trying their best to fight.

When Wang Xianzhi saw Yue Lingfei, she blamed herself and said, "I only hate the enemy. I don't know that Zeng Yuanyu used such a powerful army, which led to today's defeat. Lingfei, I don't have many people, and you don't have many. I think I've been hit by two arrows. Zeng Yuanyu, like Han Xin, has set up many heavy soldiers this time. If you and I want to kill Huang Mei, this is absolutely impossible. I have been injured, so I will lead the old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers to drag the enemy, and I will directly face Zeng Yuan directly. Yushang! To attract the main force of the Tang army, you lead the main force of the Rebel army to kill from the northwest corner, meet Chai Cun, Shang Rang and Sun Mei, and then find Meng Kai, which is under the command of Brother Huang Chao.

Yue Lingfei listened and said, "No, Brother Xianzhi, I'll cover you and rush out!" The rebel army can live without Yue Lingfei, but it can't live without Brother Xianzhi!"

Wang Xianzhi suddenly stood up, sank her face, and said in a commanding tone, "I am the commander of this Rebel Army. I now order you to lead the main force of the 8,000 righteous army to break through to the northwest, and I will lead the remaining soldiers and horses to break through to the southeast. You take Xiao Lu first to find the team of Chai Cun and Shang Rang, then find Sun Mei, and then go to Brother Huang Chao. This is the order, it will be executed immediately!" After saying that, Wang Xianzhi turned over and gathered the old and weak soldiers to the southeast, leaving her main force to Yue Lingfei.

Yue Lingfei's eyes filled with tears, knelt on the ground and shouted, "Brother Xianzhi, you sacrifice your life for righteousness. Lingfei will definitely live up to your trust, lead the main force of the righteous army to break through the siege and revenge again!" After saying that, he put on his horse, raised the steel gun, and roared, "Brothers, hold the knife and gun tightly and kill me!"