Chapter 36 Storm
When Jiao Fei and Zhan Bing saw that Zhu Wen's general Kou Wei was down, they couldn't help but be angry and led their own soldiers to rush out to kill. Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu quickly commanded the volunteers to surround Jiao Fei and Zhan's soldiers and horses, and the two sides fought to the death.
Zhu Zhen intercepted Jiao Fei's fight, and Pang Shigu blocked Zhan's fighting. Not long after the fierce battle, a general turned over and fell off the horse. It turned out that Zhan Bing was defeated by Pang Shigu and was split by Pang Shigu. As soon as Jiao Fei saw it, he was furious. The turtle bone whip in his hand danced like a windmill. One whip was as tight as a whip, and one whip was as fast as a whip. Zhu Zhen couldn't stand it and retreated repeatedly.
When Jiao Fei saw Zhu Zhen retreat, he opened a passage, quickly urged the mount, and led his own soldiers to rush out, seeing that he was about to break through the siege. Seeing this, Zhu Wen quickly picked up his bow and arrow, looking at it kindly. He passed with an arrow and hit his left leg. Jiao Fei shook the horse a few times and slowed down the speed of the charge. Zhu Zhen quickly chased him up, and the iron pen barrel gun straight on Jiao Fei's back. Jiao Fei had no time to dodge. He was shot and fell off the horse. He was surrounded by a group of volunteers and hacked to death.
The three Tang generals, Kou Wei, Jiao Fei and Zhan Bing, died together in Gukou. Only a few Tang soldiers rushed out by chance. Most of them surrendered without death, and the Rebels won a complete victory.
Zhu Wen ordered more than a thousand soldiers to dig a pit to bury the bodies of the soldiers killed on both sides. After digging for several days, they dug the big pit. Zhu Wen also ordered the surrender soldiers to put down the pit digging tools and carry the bodies of the dead soldiers to the pit and put them into the pit. After obeying the order, they thought that Zhu Wen would either release them or recruit them to join the army. Unexpectedly, Zhu Wen ordered the surrounding volunteers to surround the surrender regiment and kill the surrendered soldiers.
Pang Shigu said to Zhu Wen, "Brother, it's not right for you to do this. These surrender soldiers have wives and children. They have surrendered their weapons, so please forgive them!"
Zhu Wen listened and was furious: "Sigu, how can you speak for these Li Tang soldiers?! Can you promise not to fight against us after letting them go back? They are the elite men in Jizhou. They are quite loyal to Li Tang in their hearts. If they hire them, they are likely to make trouble in the future. If you let them go back, they will suffer endlessly! So if we solve them now, we can successfully win Jizhou!"
At this time, dark clouds rolled in the sky, spring thunder sounded in the distance, and the wind was significantly strengthened. Zhu Wen ordered loudly: "The crossbowman is ready, target Li Tangjizhou soldiers, open the bow and shoot arrows!"
Under Zhu Wen's strict orders, the volunteers had no choice but to shoot arrows at the unarmed surrender soldiers. The surrender soldiers were furious and shouted in groups and rushed to the volunteers, and the two sides were entangled. Some surrendered soldiers seized the weapons in the hands of the volunteers and cut them randomly. The volunteers had to fight, killing the soldiers and accumulating corpses, and all of them died on the battlefield.
Pang Shigu looked at such a bloody massacre scene and shed tears. Zhu Zhen said, "Shigu, you sympathize with these surrenders. If we are captured alive by Li Tang soldiers, it will also end!"
Pang Shigu said with tears, "Why are your hearts so hard?! These surrenders are so pitiful. I don't think you did it right!"
Suddenly, thundered and stormy. Zhu Wen ordered the volunteers who had just died in the battle be buried in the pit, and then returned to the camp. All the killed surrendered soldiers were thrown into the wild without anyone.
On the way back to the camp, Pang Shigu was very dissatisfied with Zhu Wen's inhumane behavior. He said in his heart: Since ancient times, the atrocities of Zhu Wen and Zhu Zhen today will be punished by God in the future!
Zhao Meng was in Qianzhou and learned that Tu Yang was defeated in the north of Qianzhou City. Zhan Bing was killed in Yongxin, Kou Wei and Jiao Fei. Qianzhou's reinforcements and Jizhou elite soldiers were defeated and lost, and he sighed. Zhao Meng thought over and over again and felt that Qianzhou was definitely not safe, so he cleaned up the gold and silver with his family, took his own soldiers, quietly left Qianzhou City one night, went straight to Chang'an, and went to his old friend Zhang Zhifang, to avoid the limelight. Zhang Zhifang was the son of Zhang Zhongwu, a general of the Tang Dynasty. Zhang Zhongwu served as Lu Long's jiedushi and was a famous general of a generation. Therefore, Zhang Zhifang was deeply favored by Li Yan and held an important position in the army as General Jinwu. Zhao Wei went to Zhang Zhifang's mansion and told Zhang Zhifang about the Qianzhou war. Zhang Zhifang listened and arranged Zhao Wei to be his staff. From then on, Zhao Wei stayed in Chang'an.
Meng Kai, Yue Lingfei and Zhao Zhang led a large army to the city of Qianzhou. When the defenders of Qianzhou learned that Zhao Meng had abandoned the city and fled, they opened the city gate and surrendered to the rebels. The rebels entered Qianzhou, came out of the list to calm the people, opened warehouses and released grain. Qiu did not commit any crime, which was deeply supported by the people. Many children of poor families enthusiastically joined the army, and the strength of the Rebel Army was further strengthened.
After Luqi won the victory, he went north to Jizhou. Zhu Wen also led his troops east into Jizhou. The soldiers led by Meng Kai, Yue Lingfei and Zhao Zhang rested in Qianzhou and also went north. The defenders of Jizhou fled when they heard the wind, and the Rebel soldiers occupied Jizhou without bloodshed. Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei have taken a count of people and horses in Jizhou. 50,000 horses when they set out from Yuezhou have expanded to more than 100,000 people. The soldiers and horses are strong and powerful, shocking the south of the Yangtze River.
Meng Kai learned from the messenger about Zhu Wen's indiscriminate killing of troops in Yongxin, and couldn't help but be furious and immediately ordered Zhu Wen to ask questions. Zhu Wen received the order and did not dare to neglect it. He quickly came to Meng Kai's command post in Jizhou.
When Meng Kai saw Zhu Wen enter the command post, he asked, "Zhu Wen, I heard that you killed more than 1,000 soldiers in Jizhou in Yongxin. Is this possible?"
Zhu Wen held his fists and said, "Brother Meng, there is this. Considering that Jizhou is a brave soldier and difficult to tame, he has to kill Jizhou's surrender soldiers in order to develop smoothly in Jizhou."
Meng Kai's eyes were wide open, and his eyebrows were raised: "Zhu Wen, you are so bold! How dare you kill the soldiers who surrender to Daqi? In this way, the title of the benevolent and righteous division of Daqi will be stained by you. If you don't kill you today, it will be a great disaster for Daqi! Where is the knife and axe? Push Zhu Wen out of the door and behead to show the public!"
Zhu Wen was shocked and hurriedly begged for mercy: "Brother Meng, I know I'm wrong. Please give me a chance to reform. Zhu Wen will never do it again in the future!" After saying that, he climbed to Yue Lingfei and Zhao Zhang and said, "Brother Lingfei, Zhao Zhang, Zhu Wen and his brother Zhu Cun have been loyal to Daqi since they joined the Daqi Rebel Army. This time, Meng Kai's brother was angry because of ignorance. I hope you two will plead for Zhu Wen. Zhu Wen will not forget the great kindness of his two brothers in this life!"
When Yue Lingfei and Zhao Zhang saw Zhu Wen's two lines of tears, they unconsciously moved their compassion. Yue Lingfei took a step forward and said to Meng Kai, "Brother Meng Kai, in view of Zhu Wen's loyalty and courage to kill the enemy, let's forgive him this time. If he commits again next time, he will punish both crimes!"
Zhao Zhang sighed: "It is impossible to kill and surrender, but it has happened and we can only face the reality. Zhu Wen's brother Zhu Cun is now stationed in Langzhou and is loyal to Daqi. If he knew that Zhu Wen was stabbed in Jizhou, he would be in great pain. I made a guarantee for Zhu Wen today. This kind of incident will never happen again. If Zhu Wen kills the soldiers next time, it will be right immediately!"
Lu Qi also said, "Brother Meng, just forgive Brother Zhu Wen. He is also dedicated to Daqi!"
Meng Kai listened to Yue Lingfei and others's words and waved to the knife and axe hand that had just come in, and the knife and axe hand immediately retreated. Meng Kai knew that Yue Lingfei was Wang Xianzhi's sworn brother, the elder of the rebel army, and the fourth village owner of Daqi. Compared with his first village owner, Yue Lingfei came out to plead for mercy, so he had to give this face.
Meng Kai said harshly, "Zhu Wen, this time I see that on the face of the Lingfei brothers, Zhao Zhang brothers and Xiao Lu, I will spare you not to die!" But the death penalty has been avoided, and the living crime can't escape. Come on, drag Zhu Wen out and beat 20 military sticks again to serve as an example!"
When several soldiers heard Meng Kai's order, they immediately came in, set up Zhu Wen and went out, rolled up their sleeves and raised their sticks, and cracked. After the 20th military stick was beaten, Zhu Wen was beaten to the skin and flesh, which was painful, but he gritted his teeth and said no word.
Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu were very distressed to see that Zhu Wen was beaten and scarred. After asking Meng Kai for instructions, the two carried Zhu Wen to their barracks with a stretcher and immediately invited Lang Zhong to heal Zhu Wen's wounds. Lang Zhong bandaged Zhu Wen's wound and added some herbs for Zhu Wen to take the soup.
Zhu Zhen fryed a large pot of soup with herbs, poured it into a bowl and handed it to Zhu Wen to take. Zhu Wen said to Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu while drinking, "Today, Meng Kai first wanted to kill me. Later, Brother Lingfei and others pleaded for me, so that I was spared from death. I will not repay this revenge. I, Zhu Wen, swear not to be a person!"
Zhu Zhen and Pang Shigu have had a life-and-death friendship with Zhu Wen very early. They are brothers of the opposite sex. Pang Shigu advised: "Brother, don't be angry. In my opinion, you have indeed gone too far. When you ordered to kill the soldiers, I came to dissuade them. But I know that ten cows can't pull back your temper and decisions. It's better to be careful in the future.
After Pang Shigu finished speaking, Zhu Zhen also took the opportunity to persuade Zhu Wen a few words. Zhu Wen was not in the mood to listen to these. At this time, the stick injury was faintly painful. He hated Meng Kai, but there was helpless. Later, Zhu Wen rebelled against Qi and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, causing great harm to the revolutionary cause of Daqi, which was the root of the disaster planted at this time.
Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei's army stayed in Jizhou for less than ten days and received an emergency letter from Huang Kui in Yuezhou, saying that Zeng Yuanyu personally led a large army to attack Yuezhou while the main force of the Dongting Lake Rebel Army went south. Yuezhou's garrison was very tight, and Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei's army returned to relieve the siege.
At the same time, Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei received a military report from Hongzhou. Because at this time, Huang Chao led the main force of the Chinese army to attack Raozhou. There were only a few thousand defenders in Hongzhou. Huang Chao sent Xu Jian and Mi Shi stationed them and were attacked by Gao Xiang and Yin Chao of the Tang army. The two sides were in a state of confrontation. Xu Jian and Mi Shi asked Meng Kai. Yue Lingfei sent troops to reinforce Hongzhou, so that Huang Chao's main force could attack Raozhou with all his strength.
Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei discussed and decided to divide the army into two routes, one way to rescue Yuezhou, and the other way to rescue Hongzhou. I don't know how the two generals can divide the tactics, let's look at the next chapter to decompose.