Chapter 28 The Tiger's Heart

And Pang Cong decided to stay in Shezhou, and then looked for an opportunity to retreat to Xuzhou to satisfy the wishes of the loyal soldiers to return home tired of war. Liang Zhen opposed Pang Cong's practice and insisted that the loyal army follow Zhang Yu's army and attack Muzhou, where the Qi army was stationed. The two generals pressed the hilt of the sword and glared angrily. The soldiers of both sides were also excited and launched weapons one after another, and internal fighting was imminent.

Zhang Yu walked to the middle of Pang Cong and Liang Zhen and shouted, "What's wrong with you two today? Take Dai Lu of the Tang Dynasty and serve the Tang Dynasty like this? If you fight today, then kill Zhang Yu first!"

Pang Cong and Liang Zhen listened to Zhang Yu's words and did not dare to disobey. They all greeted their soldiers to remain restrained, and Tang Ying seemed to have regained their composure.

Zhang Wei said, "I understand the mood of General Pang Cong and the feelings of loyal warriors. According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, the garrison will have a period of going out. The loyal soldiers will be away from home for a long time and eager to return home. When the service period comes, they should return to their hometown to reunite with their families. Pang Xun's mutiny led to the chaos because the court violated the law. I decided to let General Pang Cong lead the loyal army back to Xuzhou and reunite the loyal soldiers with their families. Encircling and suppressing the yellow nest thieves can't work in a short time. This is settled!"

The soldiers of the Tang battalion listened to Zhang Yu's words and felt that the main general was broad-minded and sympathetic to the soldiers. Pang Cong saluted Zhang Yu deeply and burst into tears: "General Zhang, loyal generals, thank you for your great kindness. Pang will repay your kindness today! The green mountains will not change, and the green water will flow forever. We will see each other again!" After saying that, Pang Cong left Tang Camp with more than 10,000 loyal troops and went straight to Xuzhou.

Zhang Yu, Liang Zhen and Zhang Shouyi returned to the middle army tent. After sitting down, Liang Zhen said, "General Zhang, Gaodu has allocated 50,000 horses for you to go on an expedition. In the first few battles, tens of thousands of people were damaged, and Pang Cong took away another 10,000 people. There are only more than 20,000 people in our army now. How can this battle continue?"

"Gao Dutong divided his troops and refused to thieves last time. Only about half of the battalion and horses were there, and he had to transfer troops to defend the critical point. This time, 100,000 horses were sent to attack Quzhou, focusing on taking down the Qianligang village of Xu Tangju's thief bandits. If you take this village, everything will be alive. There is no way out for me. I must move forward bravely, capture Muzhou, and then go south to meet Gaodu. The military situation is urgent. I will start from Shezhou early tomorrow morning!" Zhang Wei said.

Liang Yu sighed: "It seems that this time we can only fight to the death with Xu Tangju. General Zhang, I support your decision!"

Zhang Shouyi said, "I believe that General Zhang Lin is invincible and will definitely defeat Xu Tangju's thieves and capture western Zhejiang."

According to Xu Tangjun's deployment, the fifth village soldiers of Daqi quickly completed the troop adjustment. Gaihong and Ye Xiang's army successfully arrived at Qianligang and strengthened the fortifications; Zhu Zhiguan and Wang Zhixin's army entered the garrison in Muzhou and Wuzhou; Xu Tangju, Fei Chuangu, Liu Ying, Changhong and Wang Mei led 30,000 elite soldiers from Zixi, hidden eastward, and went straight to Hangzhou.

After receiving Gao Qian's order, Dong Chang was overjoyed and gathered the crowd to discuss literature and martial arts.

"Gentlemen, it is a great good thing for Gao Qian to send three soldiers to encircle and suppress Xu Tangju's troops and ask me to march from the East Road to recover Wuzhou! I decided to send troops to fight against thieves!" Dong Chang said rudely with a proud face.

Zhedong observation made Cui Wei say: "Last time the Eighth Metropolitan Army fought with Huang Chao, it was defeated and returned. Now the morale is low and the troops are insufficient. I think it's better to go to the muddy water less!"

Qian Rong, Ruan Jie, Du Qian and others echoed Cui Wei's opinions.

Dong Chang was in trouble when he heard it. Cui Wei is a local official appointed by the imperial court. In terms of administrative positions, he is above him. Cui Yi is not good at military affairs, so the military in eastern Zhejiang has always been commanded and dispatched by Dong Chang. Cui Xixi writes poems and paintings and doesn't like marching and fighting, so he rarely asks about military affairs. But today, Cui Yu stood up and spoke. In front of Wen Wu, Dong Chang had to show his respect on the surface.

"Lord Cui makes sense. It is true that the combat strength of the eight capitals is greatly damaged, but as a soldier, it is his duty to lead troops to fight on the battlefield. The last time I lost to Huang Chao, I was really unwilling and vowed to revenge. Now that Huang Chao's main force has made an expedition to southern Fujian, Xu Tangju is trapped in western Zhejiang. Gao Yu led a large army to encircle and suppress the thieves in western Zhejiang, giving us a good opportunity for the Eight Capitals of Eastern Zhejiang. I don't want to miss this God-given opportunity. Determined to mention a brigade's division and attack Wuzhou with Pei Jing, even if the horse leather shrouded the body, he has no regrets!" Dong Chang's words were impassioned and full of wind and cold water.

Cui Wei sighed: "General Dong must go to war, so let's go to war!" If the war is unfavorable, withdraw early!"

"Thank you, Lord Cui, for your understanding and support!" Dong Chang said a word of flattery.

Dong Chang ordered: "I, Tangjiu, Yuan Yong, Cui Wen, Xu Xun led 20,000 troops and went straight to the nest of the thief Kouzhou. Huang Jie, Li Changzhi and Xu Shu were stationed in Hangzhou; Qian Rong, Ruan Jie and Du Zhen were stationed in Yuezhou; Jiang Gui, Cheng and Ji were stationed in Taizhou. Generals of other states should do a good job of cleaning up the fugitive thieves, and this time they will defeat Xu Tangju in one fell swoop!"

The next day, Dong Chang ordered 20,000 elite soldiers and left Hangzhou, rushing to Wuzhou aggressively. Because Xu Tangju's soldiers and horses camped in the dense forest of the hills during the day and marched quietly at night, they did not meet Dong Chang's soldiers and horses. In this way, Qitang's second road army moved towards their own attack targets.

After Xu Tangjun led his army to Hangzhou, he ordered the siege of the city on a dark night. The Rebels quickly built a take-off bridge and used hook aid, ladders and other tools to launch a sudden attack on the Tang army.

When Huang Jie received the report of Tang Bing, the outer city of Hangzhou had been broken through by Xu Tang Ju's army, and the fifth village soldiers of Daqi marched forward bravely and began to attack the inner city of Hangzhou. Huang Jie was shocked and urgently called Li Changzhi and Xu Shu to discuss countermeasures.

Huang Jie said, "I never dreamed that Xu Tangjun would dare to take the tiger's heart-picking tactics and take Hangzhou directly. Dong Chang, an asshole, used most of the elite soldiers to go on an expedition to Wuzhou, leaving only thousands of people to station us in Hangzhou. Now Lord Cui Yu is also in the inner city. What do you think you should do?

Li Changzhi was also anxious at this time and put out his own suggestion: "General Huang, Hangzhou definitely can't be saved this time. At present, only by sacrificing our lives to break through can we save our lives! I think until dark, so concentrate your strength and take Lord Cui Yu to break through!"

Xu Shu said, "General Huang, I suggest that you break through the East Gate and withdraw to Mingzhou first!"

"Well, let's take action tonight. It's important to save your life. That's settled!" Huang Jie made a good shot.

Cui Yu has always been elegant, and also scolded Dong Chang at this time: "Dong Chang, you bastard! I only know how to compete for territory. Now it's all right. The old nest is also left by Xu Tangju, * eight generations of ancestors!"

At that night, Huang Jie, Li Changzhi and Xu Shu protected Cui Xuan and led 3,000 elite soldiers to open the east gate and rush out. Outside the East Gate was Liu Ying's camp. Liu Ying commanded the troops to fight fiercely with the Tang army. Most of the Tang army was killed and injured. Huang Jie's army finally broke through the encirclement and fled to Mingzhou with Cui Xuan.

After dawn, Xu Tangyu, Fei Chuangu, Liu Ying, Chang Hong and Wang Mei led the generals of Daqi's fifth village to attack the inner city of Hangzhou and quickly attacked it. The rebels occupied Hangzhou and obtained a large amount of military supplies, money and grain in the government treasury.

Xu Tangjun ordered to settle the people, open warehouses and release grain. The military and civilians were very happy, which quickly stabilized the situation in Hangzhou. The children of the poor people joined the army one after another, and the strength of the Hangzhou Rebel Army quickly expanded to more than 50,000.

Soon, Xu Tangju ordered Chang Hong and Wang Mei to garrison in Hangzhou and led 30,000 elite soldiers to attack Yuezhou. Qian Yong analyzed the military situation and knew that his more than 10,000 soldiers and horses were not the opponents of Xu Tangju's army, so he took the initiative to withdraw from Yuezhou, retreated to Taizhou, and joined Jiang Gui and Cheng's soldiers and horses to prepare to counterattack the Rebels and try to make a comeback.