Chapter 15 Yan Zhang's death
As soon as Cui Anqian entered Zhang Guan's barracks, he comforted Xuzhou's expedition to Tang soldiers. His military was a little at ease. When he saw Zhang Guan and other generals, he did not blame them for their incompetence. Cui Anqian knew very well that at this moment, he must not annoy these martial artists. Zhang Guan and other generals found that their superiors were not bad for them. When they became deserters, they did not punish them. It was really smoke on their ancestral graves, so they listened to Cui Anqian's persuasion and led people on their way to reinforce Li Fu in Xiangzhou.
Since Liu Yanzhang, Cao Shixiong, Wang Chongyin and Xu Tangju led their troops to Jiangzhou, they have treated the people well, with clear rewards and punishments, and their strength has gradually grown. Liu Yanzhang also set up a navy with more than 100 large and small warships, and often attacked the Tang army. Tao Xiang, the governor of Jiangzhou, was exhausted and annoyed. After discussing with the generals, he decided to mobilize the main force to find the main force of the Rebel Army to relieve Jiangzhou's worries.
General Liu Bingren is a prominent figure in the Jiangzhou army and immediately raised his opposition. Liu Bingren said, "Thieves are uncertain and have strong combat effectiveness. If our army gathers the main force and goes out, if Liu Yanzhang leads troops to attack Jiangzhou, Jiangzhou will be in danger!" Tao Xiang took over: "Wang Xianzhi has broken through Qizhou and Ezhou, and will soon be with Liu Yanzhang's troops. The thief is stronger. It's better to break through each other while they are scattered. This method of fighting is fully in line with Sun Zi's art of war. Don't fight any more. Bingren, you lead the army to defend Jiangzhou, and I will lead the main force to dig out the nest of the thief army, and be sure to annihilate the whole thief army!"
After all, Tao Xiang is the head of a state. As the saying goes, "the official level crushes people to death". Despite the painsuasion of some generals such as Liu Bingren, Tao Xiang still insists on going his own way and began a large-scale encirclement of Liu Yanzhang and Cao Shixiong's righteous army. Tao Xiang ordered 20,000 soldiers, and with a gunshot, Tang Bing left Jiangzhou and embarked on the road of encirclement and suppressing. Previously, Tao Xiang sent his cronies to get in touch with Song Wei and asked Song Wei to send reinforcements to fight together.
Song Wei, an old fox, held heavy soldiers in his hand and hid in Haozhou with Zhang Zimian. He drank and had fun all day long, and only sent a small group of Tang soldiers out to attack the rebels. Tang Bing also learned from Song Wei, but he followed the Rebels from afar and did not dare to approach them. They kept 30 miles away. As soon as they received the troops, they withdrew back to Haozhou early and reported the situation to Song Wei on that day. Song Wei did not punish them. In this way, the three armies shirked each other and gradually lost their combat effectiveness.
Tao Xiang left alone and committed a military taboo. Naturally, Liu Yanzhang would not miss a good opportunity to annihilate Tao Xiang. He summoned the generals to discuss the military situation.
Wang Chongyin offered a plan: "Tao Xiang came out this time without support and was eager to fight. We took advantage of his psychology to lure the enemy in depth to annihilate this main force in Jiangzhou. Tang Ju and I chose an ambush in a steep place. Brother Liu fought head-on and fought and retreated. Brother Shixiong intercepted Tao Xiang's retreat. Let's close the door and fight the dog this time! Tao Xiang can't escape even if he inserts his wings!" Hearing this, the generals expressed their approval, and Liu Yanzhang was overjoyed: "The strategy of Chongyin is quite smart, and this time it will be arranged according to the method of Chongyin."
Tao Xiang has been looking for the main force of the Rebel Army these days. On the way to march, he encountered sporadic resistance of a small group of Rebel troops many times, which made his three corpses jump violently and five thunders in the air. He strictly ordered Jiangzhou soldiers to strengthen their search and must find Liu Yanzhang's main force. One day, the Tang army had just camped, and a detective came to report: "Lord Tao, not far from the front, I found that there were many warships moored there on the river. It should be the nest of the thief army."
As soon as Tao Xiang heard this, he suddenly became energetic: Liu Yanzhang, Liu Yanzhang, my hard work for so many days has not been in vain! You were finally chased by me. He immediately ordered: "The three armies will be launched, chase the pirates, and those who violate the order will be killed!" The Tang army complained that they had just eaten and didn't allow us to rest. Many soldiers were listless, lazily carrying combat equipment such as knives, guns and halberd, and slowly moving in the direction of the river warships.
"Hight! I'm the Liu Yanzhang you're looking for!" Liu Yanzhang appeared on the road with a steel fork and a tall white horse. When Tao Xiang saw it, his eyes were angry. He shouted hoarsely, "Listen to me, everyone. If you capture and kill Liu Yanzhang, I will protect the emperor, reward him with a hundred gold, and become a marquis and worship general! If you don't shrink from the former, Zhulian nine clans, rush for me!"
Liu Yanzhang's eyes widened and roared like thunder: "Tao Xiang, your death is coming, and you still want to kill Uncle Liu. Look at what's around you?" Tao Xiang was amazed. Looking back, he saw the wild flags fluttering all over the mountains, the embroidered belt fluttering, and the shouts of killing in the valley shocked the world. On the other side of the mountain, arrows were like rain, and large and small stones hit the Tang soldiers. Jiangzhou soldiers cried for their father and mother, killing countless injuries.
At this time, Tao Xiang's face was as frightened and panicked. He pulled his horse back and fled. As soon as he escaped not far, he saw a majestic general blocking the exit of the valley. This was Cao Shixiong. Shi Xiong waved his hand, and the rebels shouted to kill Tang Bing. Tao Xiang organized a charge and rushed several times and could not get out of the encirclement. The rebels on the mountain rushed to Tang soldiers, and Liu Yanzhang led the army to rush over. Tang soldiers knelt down and begged for mercy.
Tao Xiang's horse was shocked and lifted him off the horse. Tao Xiang looked at the rebels surrounded by him and knew that the general situation had gone. This time, he was determined to pull out his sword to wipe his neck, but his hand trembled violently. As soon as he let go, the sword fell on the rock. Liu Yanzhang rolled down and got off his horse and said to Tao Xiang, "I can forgive others, but But I won't spare you!" After saying that, a steel fork resulted in Tao Xiang's life.
In this battle, the Rebels destroyed the main force of the Tang army in Jiangzhou. Liu Yanzhang is booming. How can he stop? Despite the dissuasion of the generals, he said, "Zhongyin and Tang Ju cleaned up the battlefield. Shi Xiong and I took a warship to fight in Jiangzhou City to see if the Tang army dared not fight against us!"
Liu Yanzhang led more than 100 warships and became the vanguard himself. He stood on a big ship and opened the road first and went straight to Jiangzhou. At this time, it happened to be a downwind, and the speed of the ship was much faster than usual. It was really a wave and vast.
Liu Yanzhang felt that Jiangzhou was in his pocket at this time and was in a very comfortable mood. He sang his hometown folk song on the bow: "A pair of flying pigeons are white and flinched. Hundreds of flowers bloomed and thousands of reds, the grain harvested well, and thousands of people rushed to the beautiful future... "When the Rebel soldiers heard this, they all cheered loudly.
At noon the next day, the warship led by Liu Yanzhang arrived in the Yangtze River in the north of Jiangzhou. Liu Yanzhang ordered his subordinates to beat drums and cheer, and sent a small group of people to Jiangzhou City to shout for the surrender of Jiangzhou defenders.
Liu Bingren received a report from his subordinates and walked to the head of the city to look into the distance. When he saw the Rebel ships lined up on the river, the sound of killing shocked the sky. He couldn't help but "clucked": After that, Tao Xiang must be more or less auspicious. From the shouts of the rebels in the city, Liu Bingren confirmed his judgment just now: Tao Xiang was killed by Liu Yanzhang. After all, Liu Bingren is a general and a person who has seen the world. He quickly stabilized his mood and quickly made a decision: lead a group of people and drive a boat to deal with Liu Yanzhang.
Liu Bingren only arranged a few boats and brought some soldiers. He was dressed in civilian clothes and did not wear swords, so his men sailed to the river. Seeing a big man standing on a big ship in front of him, with a heroic spirit in his eyebrows, Liu Bingren thought to himself: This is probably Liu Yanzhang.
Liu Bingren stood in the bow and shouted, "The person who came is General Liu!" Liu Bingren, who has been in Jiangzhou for a long time, is honored to see Jiang Jun today!" Yanzhang replied loudly, "Yes, I am Liu Yanzhang. Tao Xiang doesn't know the current affairs and has been killed by me. For the sake of the people of Jiangzhou, I advise you to put down your weapons and surrender. If you resist to the end, I will never forgive you!" After saying that, his eyes were like a torch, forcing Liu Bingren and his party to look at him.
Liu Bingren listened and pretended to be afraid and "begged": "General Liu is generous and sympathetic to the military and the people of Jiangzhou. Bingren admires it very much. Can you let your army ship discuss the reception?" Liu Bingren said as he motioned his men to get close to Liu Yanzhang's big boat. Yan Zhang laughed and said cheerfully, "Okay, cross over here!" Let's talk about it first."
When the Tang army's boat was about 20 to 30 meters away from Liu Yanzhang's warship, Liu Bingren suddenly showed his fierceness and waved his hand. Several Tang soldiers and archers drilled out of the cabin and aimed at Liu Yanzhang. Yanzhang was caught off guard. He was hit by several arrows and couldn't stand on the bow. He fell into the river. It can be a pity that a generation of heroes were calculated by villains. , what a pity! It hurts!
The Rebels found that the leader fell into the water and quickly went into the water to rescue him. At the same time, they drove the boat and rushed to Liu Bingren's boat like crazy. Liu Bingren ordered his subordinates to row desperately, and finally got rid of the pursuit of the Rebel ships and fled back to Jiangzhou. Liu Bingren knew that Jiangzhou had few soldiers and it was difficult to support them, so he summoned people and went straight to Hongzhou.
After Liu Yanzhang was carried into the cabin, he was dying. When Cao Shixiong heard the news, he rushed over anxiously. As soon as he saw that Yan Zhang was covered with blood, his heart was suddenly cut like a knife. He grasped Liu Yanzhang's hand tightly and shouted, "Yan Zhang, Yan Zhang, wake up, wake up!"
Liu Yanzhang heard Cao Shixiong's voice, opened his eyes with trouble, and gasped, "Master... Xiong, you...come, good brother... brother, come... just... OK, you must... take this... detachment... Wu, follow Wang... big brother... kill the bad guy!" Cao Shixiong nodded with tears: "Yan Zhang, I will definitely remember your words, kill bad guys and do good deeds for the people." Liu Yanzhang nodded with satisfaction and moved his lips again: "Tian... Buping... Jun, kill... bad..." Suddenly, his head tilted and fell into Cao Shixiong's arms and died with his eyes closed.
Cao Shixiong cried loudly: "Brother Yanzhang, you died so miserably. We must avenge you!" The Rebel soldiers shouted sadly and indignantly: "Revenge Brother Liu! Revenge for Brother Liu!" After a while, Cao Shixiong stood up, wiped his tears, and said firmly, "I will order you to kill Jiangzhou and capture Liu Bingren alive!"
The river wind bursts, and the river whimpers, as if to see off the hero...