Chapter 37 People Return to Water

Since Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei led a large army from the south of Yuezhou to attack the states and counties in the south of the Yangtze River, they have conquered Tanzhou, Qianzhou and Jizhou, and their military forces have been vigorously and shocked the south of the Yangtze River.

When the first and fourth villages of the Rebels were celebrating the victory in Jizhou, the emergency documents of Langzhou and Hongzhou were sent to Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei. After seeing it, the second generals knew that Zeng Yuanyu led the army to invade Yuezhou, and Gao Xiang and Yin Chao led their troops to attack Hongzhou. The two Tang troops were organizing the attack day and night.

Meng Kai hurriedly summoned the generals of Jizhou to the government office for deliberation. Soon, the generals gathered in the council chamber. Meng Kai said, "I just received urgent documents from Huang Kui in Yuezhou, Wen Ying, Xu Jian and Mi Shi in Hongzhou, saying that Zeng Yuanyu took advantage of our army's expedition and sent a large army from Ezhou to cross the river to attack our Jiangnan supply base, so that our army did not have a good foothold. This move is very poisonous! Let's talk about how to deal with it!"

Yue Lingfei generously said: "Zeng Yuanyu's hands were stained with the blood of the generals of Daqi. At the beginning of this year, he gathered heavy troops in Huangmei to encircle and suppress Brother Xianzhi and killed Brother Xianzhi. I must avenge this deep blood! I want to personally unify the elite teacher and go to Yuezhou to find Zeng Yuanyu to settle accounts!"

Zhao Zhang said, "According to Ma Feibao, Zeng Yuanyu also set up a journey of Tang soldiers in western Zhejiang this time, led by Li Fu and Liu Jurong. It seems that Zeng Yuanyu racked his brains to send three Tang soldiers to disrupt the Jiangnan strategic pattern. Therefore, we must think of a perfect solution to smash these three Tang soldiers and drive them all back to Jiangbei!"

Zhu Wen sat in an inconspicuous corner, with his eagle's eyes slightly closed and his chin in his hand, without saying a word.

Lu Qi shouted, "This time I'm going back to Yuezhou with my brother Lingfei and smash Zeng Yuanyu's skull with a hammer!"

The generals laughed, and Meng Kai pressed down second-hand, and the generals stopped laughing. Meng Kai looked at Yue Lingfei and said in a discussative tone, "Lingfei, this time you, Zhao Zhang and Lu Qi will take 50,000 horses to rescue Yuezhou and fight against Zeng Yuanyu to ensure that Yuezhou is foolproof. I led 50,000 people to Hongzhou to fight with Gao Xiang. Then, Dongjin and Brother Huang Chao met outside Raozhou and jointly attacked Raozhou. After you rushed back to Jiangbei, you informed the first villager Ma in Dongting Lake that Huang Kui and Zhu Cun led him to Raozhou to meet me. Zhu Wen temporarily stayed in Jizhou to handle military and political affairs. The defense around Dongting Lake has been handed over to your fourth village. What do you think?

Yue Lingfei nodded: "Brother Meng Kai is considerate, and all departments return to the management of this village, which is convenient for unified command. I agree."

Zhao Zhang smiled slightly: "After Brother Meng Kai and Brother Huang Chao joined forces to conquer Raozhou, they took Xinzhou by the way, and then went east to western Zhejiang with Cao Min's second villager stationed in Shezhou, and cooperated with Cao Shixiong's people to complete Zhejiang. In this way, Daqi had the whole Jiangnan money and grain supply base, which was bound to greatly increase, and the people returned like running water. Lay a solid foundation for the decisive battle with Li Tang!"

The next day, Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei each led 50,000 troops from Jizhou. Meng Kai rushed to help Hongzhou. Yue Ling flew back to Yuezhou. Zhu Wen stayed in Jizhou. Most of the people in Jizhou came out to see off the generals of Daqi. A few people did not come out to see them off because they were relatives killed by Zhu Wen.

A few days later, Meng Kai's army approached Hongzhou and began to look for the main battle between Gao Xiang and Yin Chao. Tang Jun visited Ma Fei and reported to enter the camp: "General Gao, General Yin, it's not a big deal! Tens of thousands of troops of the thief Meng Kai's army are rushing to our camp at a glance. Please make a quick decision!"

"Ah?! Is Meng Kai here? He is the first tough general in Daqi. After entering the south of the Yangtze River, he has defeated several states. Now his soldiers and horses are strong. Where are our soldiers and horses his opponents!" Gao Xiang immediately panicked when he heard the report of Tan Ma.

Yin Chao was already scared and said to Gao Xiang tremblingly, "General Gao, I think we'd better evacuate. Although we took advantage of the attack on Hongzhou, the thief Xu Jian and Mi Shibu defended the city, and we could not conquer it. Now Meng Kai led a large army to attack us. If we stay here, the whole army will be destroyed!"

"Well, let's order to retreat to Ezhou, where to come from and where to go back." Gao Xiang said weakly.

Yin Chao couldn't wait for Gao Xiang to say this. He quickly walked out of the tent and ordered the army to go.

Gao Xiang and Yin Chao organized the Tang army to retreat all the way north. The leading troops of the Rebels were very quickly. They were the elite light cavalry under Meng Kai, about 56,000 people. They were personally led by Meng Kai to chase Gao Xiang and Yin Chao's soldiers and horses, killing countless Tang soldiers and surrendered to the rebels one after another. Gao Xiang and Yin Chao fled and ran to repair the water. Fortunately, they got on several fishing boats of the boatman before they got out of danger. When they fled to Ezhou, there were only dozens of soldiers.

Meng Kai ordered the army to clean up the battlefield and enter Hongzhou with a winning drum. Xu Jian and Mi Shi had already set up a banquet and warmly hospitality to the brave and fearless first village soldiers of Daqi. During the banquet, Xu Jian and Mi Shi repeatedly praised Meng Kai for his bravery in fighting, which made the Tang army afraid of the news. Meng Kai listened and returned home drunk.

Yue Lingfei, Zhao Zhang and Lu Qi led a large army to rescue Yuezhou. When they passed through Tanzhou, they took a short rest. At Zhao Zhang's suggestion, Yue Lingfei ordered his own soldiers to come to Li and Yang Neng's house late at night and informed them to secretly go to Yue Lingfei's residence.

Li Qiang and Yang Neng did not dare to neglect them. They took a few soldiers and quietly came to Yue Lingfei's residence. Yue Lingfei saw Li Qian and Yang Neng walk into the living room, motioned the second general to sit down and said, "Tanzhou turned out that you two are loyal and righteous men. This time our army expedition to Qianzhou and Jizhou, your logistics work has not done well. Wrong, I specially gave 100 taels of silver to each of the two generals as an encouragement.

Zhao Zhang came to Li Jian and Yang Neng and said pleasantly, "Please rest assured that Yuezhai and I absolutely trust you two. It's a big deal for you two to come late at night. At present, Gao Jie is the nominal chief general of Tanzhou, but Gao Jie is mean and ungrateful. Because Gao Jie took the initiative to surrender to Daqi, there is no formal betrayal yet, and we have not cut his position. But we are really not sure about Gao Jie. Tonight, we specially grant you two the following power: If Gao Jie betrays Daqi one day, you two can kill him at any time, and we will definitely have a heavy reward!"

Hearing this, Li Qian quickly knelt down: "The last general is willing to obey the order of Lord Yuezhai and General Zhao!" If Gao Jie dares to betray Daqi, I will kill him with my own hands!"

Yang Neng also said: "The masterpiece is vicious and has many enemies. If he plots to do something wrong, I will definitely take down his dog's head with Li Yu to correct military discipline!"

Yue Lingfei nodded with satisfaction: "In order to enhance your strength, I will allocate 3,000 elite soldiers and horses to you two, which are directly commanded by you two and is not under the jurisdiction of Gao Jie. Every time you go out, the accompanying soldiers should not be less than 500, so that Gao Jie can't harm you two. In addition, you two should widely publicize Daqi's policy propositions in Tanzhou, so that more people can understand Daqi and support Daqi!"

Li Qian and Yang Neng repeatedly said that they would resolutely follow what Yue Lingfei said.

After sending Li and Yang Neng away, Yue Lingfei patted Zhao Zhang on the shoulder: "Brother Zhao Zhang is really expected. It is calculated that Gao Jie will rebel in the future, so they arranged for Li Jian and Yang Neng to monitor. In order to prevent Li Jian and Yang Neng from hesitating, you told me in advance to allocate 3,000 soldiers and horses for him to reassur his heart. ! I did everything you said, hahaha!"

Zhao Zhang smiled and said, "The little skill of carving insects is not enough. In order to achieve great progress, we must deal with complex military affairs. Evil people like Gao Jie will turn back sooner or later. The so-called prevention is also a helpless move. As for Li Jian and Yang Neng, such people will cling to us when the rebels are strong; but when the rebels are in trouble, it is difficult to rely on them. But at present, when using people, these two are also generals, so they should be treated differently from Gao Jie.

Yue Lingfei and Zhao Zhang looked at each other and took a rest.

Zeng Yuanyu, Dou Mei and Song Wentong led 30,000 elite soldiers to the city of Yuezhou and launched a fierce attack on the Daqi defenders, which lasted for many days. Under the command of Huang Kui and Wen Ying, the Yuezhou Rebel Army rose up to fight back. Tang soldiers were killed and injured under the city. Although they invaded the outer city several times, they were soon destroyed by the Rebels, and the battle was very tragic.

Dou Mei came to Zeng Yuanyu and said anxiously, "General Zeng, the Thieves in Yuezhou will not retreat, and our army suffered heavy casualties. I don't think it's possible to win after such a long time under Jiancheng! Let's go somewhere else!"

Zeng Yuanyu shook his head gently: "Turn to attack elsewhere? There is no chance. Think about it, our army finally came to the city of Yuezhou after a long journey, and just took advantage of the opportunity of Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei's army to go out to fight, which gave us time to attack Yuezhou. I know that the bandit reinforcements are on their way back to the division, but as long as we break through Yuezhou before the bandit reinforcements arrive, we will have the initiative on the battlefield. What is war? War is gambling! If we withdraw our troops now, we will lose all our previous achievements. So I can only continue to attack Yuezhou. I don't believe that Huang Kui and Wen Ying, who defend the city, can resist my carefully trained Tang Dynasty brigade?

Dou Mei knew that Zeng Yuanyu was determined to attack Yuezhou, so she had to return to the front line and order her subordinates to strengthen the offensive. For a moment, the Tang army's stone throwing machine kept throwing stones at the head of Yuezhou City. The crossbowman rushed to the city and shot intensively at the volunteers on the city. Tang soldiers set up a ladder, like ants climbing the city and began a new round. The fierce attack finally broke through the outer city of Yuezhou, and Zeng Yuanyu ordered a large number of Tang troops to enter the city.

Huang Kui and Wen Ying saw a group of volunteers falling into a pool of blood, and the people who assisted in defending the city were also killed and injured, and their hearts were like a knife. Huang Kui said to Wen Ying, "It has been more than ten days since we sent out the emergency documents to the two village owners, Meng Kai and Yue Lingfei. So far, there has been no movement at all. Somehow? It seems that Yuezhou can't be preserved this time.

Wen Ying waved the Ziwu mandarin duck sword and shouted crisply, "Daqi brothers and sisters, fellow villagers, it's time to test us. The Tang army has invaded the outer city. In order to defend Yuezhou and prevent the Tang army from destroying it, everyone followed me Wen Ying and the Tang army!"

Huang Kui held high the water-absorbing Tilu gun and ordered loudly: "Daqi soldiers, prepare to fight back and fight the Tang army that invaded the outer city to the end!"

The people of Yuezhou, who assisted in defending the city, also stood with all kinds of fighting equipment, and stared at the tide-up Tang army.

At the critical moment, Yue Lingfei, Zhao Zhang and Lu Qi led the army to appear behind the Tang army. Yue Lingfei held up the steel gun and shouted, "Brothers of Daqi, the Tang army has invaded the outer city of Yuezhou. The brothers and sisters in the city are in danger. I order you to start charging!"