Chapter 373 Before the East becomes difficult

Chapter 37 (The follow-up outline has been straightened out, and I can't guarantee anything else. I can only guarantee that the following will be more wonderful and will never disappoint my brothers.)

When the thieves on the West Road fell into an unfavorable situation, the thieves on the East Road marched south under the leadership of Xu Yande. Shenwu Zhongwei and Yingzhou Qianzhongwei Sanwei, plus more than 20,000 soldiers and horses of Tianjin Sanwei, with more than 50,000 troops, which can be said to be a must.

It took a day for the thieves led by Liu Liu, Yang Hu, Qi Yanming, Xinghu and Xinghu on the East Road to capture Jinghai County after entering from Wen'an County. Before the arrival of the three guards of Tianjin, Liu Liu had swept Jinghai away and quickly went south with 2,000 strong men and more than 100 soldiers who surrendered by Jinghai. The two counties of Dacheng and Qing County went straight to Cangzhou and Hejian Prefecture.

There is still a guard and horse stationed in Hejianfu, but there are only more than 1,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Cangzhou. The two places are not enough to protect themselves, and there is no spare strength to rescue each other. After the three counties of Jinghai, Dacheng and Qingxian, a large number of people were armed with troops surged to more than 8,000, and the situation was suddenly critical.

At this time, Xu Yande still led Shenwu Zhongwei and Yingzhou on the way down to the south slowly.

On the second day of September, facing the looming of Tianjin Sanwei, after six days of rest, the thief soldiers launched a fierce attack on Cangzhou, which was stationed with only 1,000 soldiers and horses. After a whole day of fierce battle, Cangzhou officers and soldiers shot all the arrows, threw all the wood rolling stones, and finally defeated the thief soldiers who ignored the dead and wounded. More than 2,000 people were injured. At the cost of death, Liu Liu, Yang Hu, Qi Yanming and others led the remaining 5,000 thieves to capture Cangzhou City.

Cangzhou City is the last strong city to enter Shandong in the south. Once the city is broken, there is no barrier from the south. Because of the fierce resistance of Cangzhou's soldiers and horses, the people in the city also participated in the defense of the city and paid a heavy price. Liu Liu, who was shot by an arrow on the shoulder by the defenders in front of the charge, was ashamed and angry, and violated his previous promise not to kill civilians. There was a massacre in Cangzhou City for two days and two nights. More than 3,000 people were slaughtered in Cangzhou City in two days, and the houses were burned down, leaving a piece of scorched earth.

On the fifth day of September, the three guards of Tianjin were under the city of Cangzhou, and Cangzhou had gone to the city, leaving rubble and charred corpses everywhere. On the ninth day of September, when Xu Yande led more than 20,000 troops to the front line of Cangzhou Hejian Prefecture, Liu Liu's soldiers and horses had gone south to break through the two counties of Nanpi and Dongguangguang and arrived in Shandong.

At the same time, in order to make the officers and soldiers exhausted, Liu Liu divided his troops again and ordered Yang Hu and Qi Yanming to lead 3,000 soldiers and horses to attack Leling, Yangxin and other counties in the northeast of Jinan Prefecture, and he led 5,000 troops to the southwest to attack the counties around Dongchang Prefecture. The two thieves were like two sharp knives deep into the two hinterlands of Shandong, interspersed vertically and horizontally, such as Enter the realm of no man.

Xu Yande felt panicked. On the way, he thought that he would be captured, and the thief soldiers would bow down when they heard the wind, and a military merit was readily available. But it was not until then that he knew that he had been in big trouble. The army had gone on an expedition for nearly 20 days, and he didn't even see the hair of the thief soldiers. He only saw that the big and small cities that the thief soldiers had ravaged were scorched earth. , shocking.

After joining forces with Tianjin Sanwei, Xu Yande did not dare to hang himself up and ordered to quickly enter Shandong. However, because the thief soldiers were divided into east and west, it was difficult to track and pursue. After entering Shandong, Xu Yande ordered Tianjin Sanwei 20,000 soldiers and horses to go directly south to Jinan, and he led 20,000 soldiers to Dongchangfu.

Xu Yande's intention was to tighten the two giant gates south before the thief soldiers attacked Jinan and Dongchang Prefecture, and then waited for the opportunity to fight against the thieves raging in the surrounding states and counties of the two prefectures. However, this move gave the thief soldiers a chance to expand and live; the thief soldiers were like no one's land. It made a mess in Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture in the northeast.

......

The situation on the eastern line has become rotten. Under the city of Yizhou on the western line, the 2,000 cavalry crossing the water have just arrived under the leadership of Song Nan, and the city in front of them has also become scorched earth. Last night, the thief attacked Yizhou. Although Yizhou is a Xiongguan, the Maoshan guards and horses stationed there had no choice but to withdraw. The city are less than 300 soldiers and can't resist the thief soldiers. The siege was broken in the middle of the night.

Thieves and soldiers are rampant in the city. This is a place where troops are stationed. Most of the people in the city are military households. Liu Qi knew that it was unrealistic to coerce them to join the gang, so he and Zhao Yu ordered to burn, kill and loot. Fortunately, they knew that the cavalry had chased to the south bank of the Yishui River and did not stay too much. They looted the city and killed hundreds of military families. He hurried out of the city at dawn and ran to the west. Before leaving, he lit dozens of fires and burned the houses in the city to white.

The cavalry rode silently on the messy streets of Yizhou, and the sunset shone with wisps of smoke on the broken walls. There were mourning people everywhere, and there were corpses everywhere, as if walking in a nightmare.

Song Nan frowned and stood on the rubble cross street silently; several cavalry galloped from the East Street and rolled down in front of Liao Ping, the commander of Maoshan Guard next to Song Nan.

Liao Ping asked nervously, "How's it going?" Have you found it?"

The soldiers lowered their heads and said nothing. Liao Ping took a breath and said in a low voice, "Say, what can I say?"

A cavalryman said in a hoarse voice, "Lord, the guard gate of Maoshan in Dongcheng has become coke, and we are waiting in the inner hall... We have found more than a dozen bodies, and... found this thing!"

The soldier took out a small bag of rags from his arms and handed it over; Liao Ping trembled and took it away, lifting the cloth bag layer by layer, slowly revealing a goldpin full of black and gray and a piece of gold lock.

The people present were bright. The golden hairpin and lock sheet must be from Liao Ping's wife and children. After the fire, everything will be burned into coke. Only the golden hairpin and lock piece made of gold have been transformed, but they still exist. Liao Ping's wife and children have obviously been buried in the fire.

Liao Ping's face was snow-white, shaking and stuffing the golden cup and lock into his arms. His eyes were red, but he gritted his teeth and couldn't help crying. Song Nan reached out and patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "My condolences!"

Liao Ping gritted his teeth and looked up and said, "Lord Song, if the thief goes west, he must attack the Bauhinia Pass. Please order the reinforcement of the Bauhinia Pass immediately, otherwise my Liao Ping's tragedy will be repeated on Commander Tan."

Tan Zhang was already anxious. His family was not in the Bauhinia Pass. After the thief broke through the city, his wife and children were inevitably the same fate as Liao Ping's wife and children. If he hadn't known that he could only dispatch more than 700 horses and were unable to compete with the thief soldiers head-on, he would have already taken the horse to rescue. Seeing Liao Ping's request, Tan Zhang was blind Looking at Song Nan silent, he expected Song Nan to order the brocade guard cavalry to pursue together.

Song Nan sighed and said, "Okay, Hou Zhenfu, Zheng Zhenfu, you two lead a thousand cavalry and two commanders, Liao Ping and Tanzhang, rushed to Bauhinia Pass to rescue. The thief soldiers left Yizhou this morning. At this moment, they had better catch up with them halfway."

Hou Dabiao and Zheng Da answered the promise, and Tan Zhang said, "Lord Song won't go?"

Song Nan looked around the city and said, "Tens of thousands of people in Yizhou are still there, their homes have been destroyed, and they urgently need proper resettlement. Otherwise, they will have no livelihood, or become exiles and beggars, or thieves. I, Wan Commander and Wang Qianhu must stay to comfort them."

Tan Zhang nodded and said yes. Song Nan looked at the sky and said, "It's getting dark. This is full of mountain roads. You have to be prepared for the ambush of the thief soldiers. In addition, the thief soldiers are used to attacking the city at night and must start as soon as possible. Leave your dry food, just bring a small amount of water. After the rescue is successful, please ask Commander Tan and Commander Liao to lead the troops to stay. Zijing Pass is stationed for defense; our brocade cavalry must return to Yizhou with food, clear water and other relief items as soon as possible. Tens of thousands of people are waiting for rescue and cannot be delayed. Commander Tan is also asked to provide material assistance.

Tan Zhang arched his hand and said, "Don't worry, my humble position will do it."

Song Nan nodded and waved her hand and said, "Let's go."

Hou Dabiao, Zheng Da, Tan Zhang and Liao Ping turned the horse's head and shouted for an order. In a moment, the cavalry went out of the west gate and went straight to the Bauhinia Pass.

Wan Zhi Wang Yong, Li Da Niu and others stood beside Song Nan and looked at the cavalry out of the city. Wan Zhi couldn't help asking, "Your Excellency, can you rest assured that they will rescue at night? There are four or five thousand thieves. I'm worried that they can't save Bauhinia Pass, but will be attacked by thieves.

Song Nan shook his head and said, "No, the thief soldiers will definitely not attack the Bauhinia Pass."

Several people were stunned and said, "How can adults be sure?"

Song Nan said: "You have also seen the cunning of the thief soldiers. This is not the ordinary civil unrest that has occurred in various places in recent years. As soon as the noisy officers and soldiers arrive, they will run away; their ability to break through the siege in the encirclement of our officers and soldiers is enough to prove that they are difficult to deal with. On the way, Tan Zhang mentioned the defense of Bauhinia Pass, which is a majestic pass in the valley. The purpose of building this pass is to guard against the Taranian soldiers and horses after the breakthrough in the north of Weizhou. You can imagine its strength. According to Tan Zhang's description, there are two or three hundred soldiers defending the pass, and the thief soldiers do not want to break it at all. Even if it is broken, it will not take ten days and a half a month. Don't think about it, so, knowing that our cavalry is chasing behind, how can the thief soldiers attack the Bauhinia Pass? That's not Yizhou City."

Wan Zhi said, "Why did the lord order his brothers to follow Tan Zhang and Liao Ping to rescue?"

Song Nan sighed, "You have also seen the tragic situation of Liao's wife and children. Tan Zhang's wife and children are also in the Bauhinia Pass. If they care about it, they will be chaotic. I promised to help him solve the siege of the Bauhinia Pass is to take care of his urgent mood. Besides, so many people whose homes have been destroyed in Yizhou City need to be rescued. How can we stabilize the hearts of the people empty-handed? It can only be retrieved from the Bauhinia Pass. The main task of Hou Dabiao and Zheng Da is to bring back supplies to the people of Yizhou.

The three suddenly became clear, and Wang Yong said, "Your Excellency, where can the thief go?"

Song Nan looked up at the faint mountains in the northwest and said, "Although I don't want to admit defeat, I have to say that we can't catch up with the thief soldiers. When we go to the mountains, the thief soldiers looted and took away a lot of food and drilled into the mountains. There is nothing we can do. We are few, and we have lost the advantage of cavalry in the mountains. You must not pursue it, otherwise you will suffer from it.

Everyone nodded silently. Song Nan sighed, "Let's deal with the matter here. Tomorrow we must go back to the capital and present the truth to the emperor. To eliminate this rebellion, the court may take a lot of effort. If we continue to do it like this, something big will happen."