Chapter 7 Chapter VII

Wang Jian said with some shame: "Don't blame the superintendent, it's a trick that the subordinates had to use. At that time, Guangyuan and I came to the army at the beginning, and exchanged the head of the enemy general. The men in Xuzhou refused to accept my discipline. I thought to myself, if the twenty people under my command cannot be united, it will be difficult to win against a strong enemy. I also have a teenage boy named Wei Hongfu under my command. According to him, Well, these Xuzhou men under my command deeply believe in ghosts and gods. In that fierce battle with Shang Rang, the horse happened to stumble, so I asked Wei Hongfu to hide a black snake in the horse's belly in advance, and this is..."

Jin Hui said with a smile: "I think back then, when Chen Sheng rebelled, in order to convince the masses, he wrote 'Chen Sheng Wang' on silk with cinnabar and hid it in the belly of a fish. Very surprised. Starling's move is similar to Chen Shengzhi's move!" Yang Fuguang laughed after hearing this: "So that's the case! I almost fooled me too." "I also ask the supervising army to keep the secret for the subordinates. If the soldiers find out, the subordinates will have no face to see everyone again." "You don't have to worry about this, now is the time to use you, and the soldiers must obey your orders!" As he said, Fu Guang would explain the reason why the two were summoned. "Originally, Marquis Zhang Yu recommended the two of you as generals to lead troops to Yizhou. Now, with our relationship, you are the best candidates. This dispatch of troops is of great importance. As long as you can repel the grass army, Make meritorious deeds, when you come back, I will definitely report to Jiedu Envoy Du Gong to give you two more officials and ranks."

Jin Hui thanked: "The military supervisor has entrusted us with such a heavy responsibility, Jin Hui has nothing to repay!" "I think Wang Guangtu is not only brave, but also resourceful. I plan to let Guangtu be the commander of my Zhongwu expedition to Yizhou, and Guangyuan as the deputy envoy. What do you two agree?" "It's all at the command of the superintendent!" "Okay! The two of you go down and count the soldiers and horses. Three days later, the soldiers will be dispatched to Yizhou!" With Yang Fuguang's mediation, Du Shenquan finally allocated 2,000 infantry and 800 armored cavalry to Wang Jian, all of whom were strong men.After Wang Jian got the military power, he named some brave soldiers as Shichang and centurion commanders.Then, he called Li Shitai, Zhang Jie, Tian Wei and other former brothers who were hiding in Xuzhou into the army and went out with him.So, this elite team drove to Yizhou under the leadership of Wang Jian and Jin Hui.

On this day, the team had just passed Xuzhou for about twenty miles, and saw the two armies fighting fiercely not far ahead.Wang Jian led a few generals to climb a hill, and it was faintly visible that the banner of the rebel army was tumbling on the outer layer, while in the center there were about hundreds of well-dressed officers and soldiers surrounded by groups. "Which army do these officers and soldiers belong to?" Jin Hui looked intently, seeing that the rebel army had the upper hand, and the trapped officers and soldiers suffered numerous casualties. "Returning to the school master, that is the banner of the Yicheng Army."

Jin Hui frowned: "The Yicheng Army is also a team sent by the imperial court to Duke Song of Pinglu, why is it so vulnerable?" "Since the allied army has suffered, saving people is the most important thing right now." Wang Jianyi huddled together, turned sideways to Li Shitai who was behind him, and said, "Thank you, brother Shitai, for running to rescue the trapped allied army." Li Shitai immediately raised his sword and clasped his fists: "Don't worry, our brother has entered the imperial court's ranks, this first battle will not be ambiguous!" After finishing speaking, he called a few desperadoes and ordered two hundred cavalrymen.Holding a long knife in his hand, Li Shitai was the first to rush down the mountain like a tiger descending the mountain.Wang Jian was afraid that Li Shitai's departure would be unfavorable, so he asked Tian Wei to lead 500 people to make a detour to meet him from the side, just in case of accidents.Unexpectedly, Li Shitai took the lead and rushed in front of the team. This vigorous cavalry team cut off the rebel army of nearly a thousand people from the middle.Because they couldn't figure out how many reinforcements were on the top of the mountain, the rebel army panicked. The team that was still neat and tidy just now was smashed to pieces by Li Shitai's two hundred riders.When the besieged Yicheng army saw someone rescue them, they immediately regained their spirits. As a result of the internal and external attacks, the rebel army hurriedly fled north.

Li Shitai had heard about Wang Jian and Jin Hui's outstanding military exploits after joining the army when he was in hiding in Xuzhou, and thought that now that he had the opportunity to show his face, he couldn't let the brothers who sold salt before laugh at him as a coward.Seeing the retreat of the Yicheng army, relying on his experience in traveling the rivers and lakes, he concluded that the one riding a white horse in front must be the leader.So, he tapped his stirrups, and the horse galloped out like flying.It was too late to say that, Li Shitai leaned half of his body out of the horse's back, and swept the long knife, the man fell off the horse in response, and was captured alive by Shitai.

Wang Jian led the brigade down the hill, and Zhang Bi, the commander of the Yicheng Army who was coming towards him, thanked him a lot.After asking, we found out that the reinforcements for Songwei in Yizhou this time were mainly troops from various provinces in Henan. Except for the Zhongwu Army, most of the Jiedu envoys only sent teams with extremely weak combat effectiveness.The Zhongwu and Yicheng teams merged into one and traveled another distance.When it was about eighty miles away from Yizhou, it was getting late, and Wang Jian ordered the team to set up camp on the spot. Jin Hui could see that Wang Jian was depressed, so he said, "Brother, I heard from Supervisor Yang that Du Gong, the envoy of Jiedu, planned to send an old and weak team to support Duke Song. Later, the supervisor repeatedly persuaded him to focus on the overall situation , This is how to form this elite team. Moreover, the two of us can command this team, and it is Du Gong who intends to preserve his strength and wants to retain the two generals Zhang and Lu. Think about it, if the Zhongwu Army is like this, how can other feudal towns be like this? Will you use the main force?"

"I know that. Pinglu Jiedu envoy Song Gong wanted to borrow soldiers and horses from other towns to be dispatched by him alone. It really took great pains. The emperor gave him three thousand forbidden troops and five hundred armored cavalry, and also sent troops from all provinces in Henan to return. He dispatched. No one in other feudal towns is a fool, willing to hand over the team they run to others. But after all, I did not expect that the team they sent would be so vulnerable..." "This is the case, so we have to think of a perfect plan. It is impossible to wipe out the grass army, but at least we must solve the danger of Yizhou and show the momentum of a loyal military army!"

"That's right, if you want to win this battle, know yourself and your enemy..." Speaking of this, Wang Jian remembered that Li Shitai had captured a leader of the grass army alive during the day, so he could pry out some military intelligence from him.So, Tian Wei was ordered to call several important generals to the big tent and bring the prisoner. Not long after, this man was escorted into the big tent, tilted his head and glanced at Wang Jian from the corner of his eye, then held his head high.Wang Jian looked at this person carefully, and saw that this person was only in his early twenties, with a burly figure and a fair face.

"What position do you occupy in your team?" Wang Jian asked coldly, his face sinking like water. The captive let out a sigh of disdain from his nostrils: "Who are you?" "I am the head of the Zhongwu Army going to Yizhou to command the capital. Which leader will dispatch your team?" The man squinted at Wang Jian again, but said nothing. Wang Jian calmly winked at Zhang Jie who was beside him.Zhang Jie strode up to the prisoner, grabbed the man by the collar and cursed, "His grandma, my starling asked you something, you are so dumb!" Then he pulled out the dagger from his waist and cut it captive's ear...

The man screamed in pain, like a ghost crying and a wolf howling, and the right side of his face was covered with blood. Zhang Jie ran to his left again, grabbed the man's left ear, and shouted: "Tell grandpa the truth, or I'll cut off your ear too..." "I said I said... I am a general under General Chai..." "Which General Chai?" "My yellow leader's vanguard, Chai Cun." "Oh..." Wang Jian had never heard of Chai Cun's name, but he knew Huang Chao. After Wang Xianzhi raised his army, Huang Chao, his nephews Huang Kui and Huang Enye and other eight people rose up, and the team quickly grew. "Let me ask you again, is it Wang Xianzhi or Huang Chao who besieged Yizhou this time?" The prisoner hesitated just now, but Zhang Jie immediately grabbed his ear: "Say!" "I said, I said...General Tianbuping asked the leader Shangjun to lead the army to attack Yizhou, and my family, General Chai, was in the lead..." "It's nonsense..." Wang Jian interrupted the man sharply, "You just said that Chai Cun was the vanguard under Huang Chao's command, how could he be assigned to Shang Junchang's team? Could it be that Huang Chao handed over all his military power to others?" Seeing that Wang Jian was angry, Zhang Jie was so angry that he simply gritted his teeth and cut off the prisoner's left ear. The man howled for a while as if killing a pig, and then panted, "General, please forgive me! Everything I said just now is true! General Tianbu Junjun asked Shang Touling to lead the rebels, including Huang The king's elite. The siege of Yizhou was Huang Wang's idea this time. Leader Shang was eager to go south, so he only gave Huang Wang ten days to capture Yizhou..." Wang Jian waved at the two soldiers, and the captives were taken away. "Brother, if what this person said is true, then Mr. Shang does not intend to stay in Yizhou. I guess this may also be what Wang Xianzhi meant." "That's right. Wang Xianzhi just escaped from the encirclement of the feudal town. It stands to reason that he should find a soft persimmon and lay down a city as his base before making long-term plans. A place like Yizhou, which is heavily guarded and well-connected, shouldn't be his. The first choice. So that person just said that attacking Yizhou was Huang Chao's idea, which is reasonable. If so, there have been differences within the Cao army. It will be much easier to let Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi be at odds, and then split up and fight against each other." Jin Hui nodded, thinking that Wang Jian's analysis made sense. The next day, Wang Jian stationed his team ten miles south of Yizhou City, and led Jin Hui into the city to meet Song Wei.Afterwards, people from various provinces in Henan to support Song Wei came one after another, but the offensive of the rebel army outside the city was getting stronger day by day.Under Wang Jian's suggestion, Song Wei closed the four cities tightly for seven days in a row, let the Cao army shout and scold, and stood firm without fighting.On the eighth day, it was reported that a large group of grass troops detoured outside the east city and headed south.Song Wei guessed that Wang Xianzhi couldn't wait to capture Yizhou and began to move to find new targets. At this time, it was an excellent time to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.So, the commander gave an order, and all the coalition forces rushed out from the south gate. At this time, Chai had been waiting outside the city for several days.Song Wei couldn't hold on, which really made Wang Xianzhi lose his patience. He couldn't wait for Huang Chao and Chai Cun to take down this fortified city, so he planned to detour to other feudal towns.But it never expected that at this juncture, Song Wei's army came out.Wang Xianzhi's army had already retreated, and without backup, it was wishful thinking to break through Yizhou.Chai Cun saw that Song Wei wanted to catch them off guard when their army moved.At this time, the only thing he can do is to block the menacing coalition forces and allow the rebels to transfer smoothly.Ever since he followed Huang Chao, Chai Cun has conquered the north and the south, and a big gun has shocked the eight states of the Central Plains. In his eyes, the people in the tortoise city are nothing more than a group of mobs, even if there are thousands of troops, they cannot pass him. Outside the city of Yizhou, the smoke of war filled the air; on the battlefield, the drums were beating; the two armies met in front of the formation, and the horses neighed! The first group of troops was easily repelled by Chai Cun, and the corpses of two generals were already lying in front of his horses.Chai Cun gathered his gun on the side of the corpse, wiped it back and forth for a while, then pointed it straight at the west side, and scolded: "Song Wei, the court has no way, but you are obsessed with protecting the faint king. A certain family is here today, and you will lose a soldier. This is the way to go!" The generals from all walks of life were shocked by this momentum, and for a while, no one dared to respond. "Child Chai Cun, you are so arrogant, watch me capture him alive!" Under the banner of Zhongwu, general Li Shitai raised his horse angrily, gnashing his teeth.Zhang Jie instructed: "Be careful!" Li Shitai swung his broadsword horizontally, and was about to charge his horse forward. Suddenly, a general from one side of the army came out, stepped off his red horse, put on a helmet and held a copper hammer. A pair came to the front of the two armies while talking.Li Shitai took a closer look, and it turned out that it was Zhang Bi, the Yicheng Jiedu envoy who he had rescued a few days ago. Zhang Bi urged his horse to come up to Chai Cun, and swung his right hammer to hit Chai Cun's horse's head. Chai Cun didn't panic, and raised his gun to meet him.Zhang Bi flicked his right hammer, followed by a swipe of his left hammer, smashing his head and face, the hammer came with dust, one or two feet crowned a thousand jin.Chai Cun raised his gun calmly, and suddenly the hammer and gun collided with each other, and there was only a loud clang, and golden light splashed everywhere—the golden hammer flew away, and in a split second, Chai Cun flicked his wrist, and a long gun came straight to the throat. Before Zhang Bi could call out, he fell to the ground, blood spattered on the battlefield, his horse turned around and ran back to the company battalion. The two sides fought, Chai Cun killed three generals by himself, and the coach Song Wei was dumbfounded.Under the scorching sun, Song Wei's gray beard trembled twice, and he shouted loudly: "Generals, who will go to battle?" There was silence all around.Song Weifu asked: "Generals, who will go to battle?" In the distance, Chai Cun could not stop scolding the formation.Song Wei asked loudly again: "Generals, who is going to fight?" "The last general will go to fight!" Li Shitai glared angrily, and straddled his horse to meet him with a long knife in his hand. In an instant, Li Shitai and Chai Cun fought together, their horses moved their swords to meet their guns, the cold light flashed back and forth, and they fought for more than ten rounds in a short time.Chai Cun thought that this man was so strong and brave that it would be difficult to win in a hard fight, so he thought of swaying his gun and pulling the horse away, Shi Tai followed closely.Suddenly, Chai Cun reined in the reins, leaned against the horse's back, and stabbed with his spear.Li Shitai dodged in a hurry, but his left arm was stabbed instantly, and his left arm was bloody.Shi Tai gritted his teeth in pain, swung his saber back, taking advantage of his opponent's dodge, the army retreated in defeat.Chai Cun yelled "Don't go", and returned to his horse to chase after him.At this moment, it was a close call, and a voice came from behind the formation, "Master Tai, don't panic, Jin Hui is here!" I saw dust flying under the horse's hooves, a horse came out, and a sword was cold, flashing dazzling light in the sun . But seeing an arc of sword light slashing towards Chai Cun, Chai Cun raised his gun to meet him, Wan Jun's strength forced the big gun to shake; the force spread to his palm, and the shock made Chai Cun's tiger's mouth crack.Chai Cun sighed in his heart: It is really rare that this person holds a sword with one arm with such strength, it seems that he needs to be careful when fighting.The two horses staggered their stirrups and fought again.After 20 rounds, Song Wei couldn't help applauding. While ordering and beating drums to cheer him on, he said to himself: "For ten years, this old man has slashed at South Vietnam and conquered Shatuo in the north, but now he has seen such a wonderful sword technique: The strength of the sword is heavy, but it moves lightly, and all the moves attack the opponent's vital points, it is really wonderful! This person is not an ordinary person, he must have been taught by an expert." After forty rounds of fighting, Chai Cun gradually lost his strength and his marksmanship became confused. Taking advantage of Jin Hui's sword not following closely, he hastily feigned a shot and lost to his team.Song Wei was overjoyed, and sent an order to pursue and kill him. The Allied Forces of the Tang Dynasty charged on the battlefield, and Chai Cun was defeated.In less than half an hour, the rebels threw away their helmets and armor, causing thousands of casualties. The Battle of Yizhou was the biggest victory the Tang army had won against the rebel army since the Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao uprising.After Song Wei's victory, he was overjoyed and ordered the disbandment of the reinforcements from all the Taoists in Henan.But Wang Xianzhi's main force took the opportunity to go south, and soon captured Yangdi and Jiacheng, and Ruzhou and Dongdu were also in danger.