Chapter 317 Yangxian Zhou Clan
Xu Kun’s face was ugly. In just an hour, the Zhengnan Army camp in front of him had begun to take shape.
They still didn't know how capable the Zhengnan Army was, but the speed at which the Zhengnan Army set up camp made them feel a little chilled.
After careful consideration, Xu Kun nodded: "Then add more troops and send him another two hundred people."
The military stronghold outside the city is not large, and it is mainly to protect the city gate. , if you put five hundred soldiers in it, it will be quite saturated. If you put more people in, it will have the opposite effect.
Xu Yi nodded in agreement.
Xu Kun and others watched at the top of the city for a long time. By the time they left the city, the wooden fence in front of the Conquest South Army camp had been erected, and some people were even assigned to dig trenches. , the speed is amazing.
Xu Kun secretly evaluated his own steps in his mind. I am afraid that it would take a day and a half to achieve such progress.
After returning to Wuxi County Government, Xu Kun sent orders to all ministries to prepare for defense.
The Southern Army marched south with such great fanfare and established camps so quickly that they may launch an attack on Wuxi within two or three days.
The generals also agreed with Xu Kun's judgment and mobilized their respective units, waiting for the upcoming war.
Early the next morning, messengers came to the city to persuade them to surrender.
Of course Xu Kun could not agree, so he dismissed the envoy on the spot.
Originally Xu Kun and others thought that since they had repelled the envoys who persuaded them to surrender, what would follow would definitely be a massive attack. But contrary to the expectations of everyone in Wuxi, the Zhengnan Army seemed to be addicted to civil engineering.
In the next seven or eight days, the Southern Conquest Army actually continued to carry out construction projects. While expanding the camp, they also cut down trees and made tools.
In the past few days, we have even begun to dig large rocks from Huishan, Junzhang and other mountains back to the camp.
These strange behaviors made Xu Kun and others greatly puzzled, and at the same time they also secretly became wary.
It is not that Xu Kun has not tested his opponent, but the Zhengnan Army did not fall into the trap. Even if Xu Kun took the initiative to attack the opponent, the Zhengnan Army still focused on holding on to the camp and could not hold on.
Only as time went by, on the tenth day, the Southern Expedition Army detached a group of 6,000 men and 4,000 civilians to build a camp at the foot of Zhangshan Mountain in the west of the city, relying on the mountains.
On the 15th, after the camp in the west of the city was completed, the Southern Expedition Army once again divided into 6,000 men, and also took 4,000 civilians with them to the east of the city and began to march down to the camp.
When the Southern Expeditionary Army arrived in Wuxi on the 20th, three battalions had been set up to surround Wuxi from three directions.
Xu Kun and others were surprised and suspicious. They went out of the city several times to test, but the results of the tests made them even more shocked and confused.
Because the Zhengnan Army ignored their harassment at all, they just made up their mind and could not stand out, so they just drove them back.
Xu Kun and the others wanted to cause trouble, but they were worried that this was just a ploy by the Southern Army to lure the enemy, and they were in a dilemma since then.
In fact, this is really not a trap for the Southern Army. Liu Feng's orders are just like this.
After finally getting rich, there really is no good strategy at the moment. The only thing facing the Southern Army is a stupid battle. In this case, Liu Feng can only be patient and do his best to minimize losses.
In the past twenty days, Liu Feng's Southern Conquest Army has built eight counterweight trebuchets, enough for four artillery groups to use two rounds.
In addition, six siege ladders, three charging vehicles, four well gates, eight trench-filling vehicles, etc. were also built.
But Liu Feng still felt that it was not enough and wanted to continue civil engineering.
According to the news from the southern line, all ministries have already acted according to the plan and are opening up new supply lines. At the same time, Zhou Yu's troops are heading north and stationed in Liyang.
Zhou Tai's four naval forces also used more than 200 large and small warships to enter Changdang Lake from Xiangxiang River, then pass through Ganhu Lake and enter Zhenze.
However, the so-called big ships here are only compared to small ships such as sailing boats, scouts, and yachts. At most, they can only carry thirty or fifty people on a stern warship, which is not worth mentioning compared to a building ship. .
It’s not that the Xuzhou Army doesn’t have building ships. In fact, the first batch of five building ships has been completed. However, these building ships are all sea-going ships. They can make do with sailing into the Yangtze River, but they really can’t. The Vanilla River and Hangou also need to be dredged before such large ships can enter. Secondly, if these building ships want to have combat effectiveness, they also need a period of training and running-in. If they join the battle in a hurry, they will increase losses.
Therefore, these behemoths that can carry hundreds of people were not used in this battle, and small and medium-sized ships were still used as the main force.
But even so, how could Wu Jingshui's army, which had only eight or nine hundred men left in Zhenze, be an opponent? They lost more than half of their men and ships in almost one encounter, and retreated back to Suzhou to hold on.
At this time, Sun Ce's army was mainly based on the army. It was not like the waterway amphibious force in the future, nor would it be able to fight without leaving the ship.
At this time, Sun's army still focused on land warfare and also took into account water warfare. In terms of ships, it was even inferior to the Xuzhou Army. There were only a few real warships, and most of the others were using merchant ships and fishing boats to make up the numbers.
The main force of Sun Army's only more than 2,000 navy troops has also gone south to participate in the Battle of Qianjiang.
At present, Sun Jun's reputation does not come from water battles, but from land battles. The heroes of Jiangdong surrendered. Compared with land battles, water battles are quite unreliable and have suffered repeated setbacks.
For example, Liu Yao relied on water battles and the Niuzhu Defense Line to block the Sun Army, which could not cross the river for more than a year. In the subsequent Battle of Guling, Wang Lang, Yu Fan, and Zhou Xin also relied on water battles and Gulingjian. The city firmly blocked Sun Ce in the north of the Qiantang River. The two sides fought bloody battles for half a year, and Sun Ce's army was unable to cross the river.
But now Sun Jun finally met his opponent in the land battle. The heroes in the east of the Yangtze River looked forward to Liu Qiaoqi and Liu Zhengnan crossing the river like dew during a long drought, and the innocent children looked forward to their parents.
What’s the point of bullying the fish belly? If you have the ability, go fight the Xuzhou Army!
This should be considered the common sentiment of all the heroes in Jiangdong.
Therefore, the news Liu Feng has received recently is almost all good news.
News came from Zhou Yu that fifteen days ago Sun Ce's army went south and raided Guling.
As a result, Wang Lang's subordinate Cao Yu Fan personally supervised the army and defeated Sun's army in a water battle. He defeated more than 300 levels in the formation and won the first battle.
This battle directly boosted the morale of Wang Lang's army. The Kuaiji army, which was originally a little afraid of Sun Jun, saw that it could actually defeat its opponent without suffering too many casualties. It’s so morale-boosting.
The reason why Liu Feng was so cautious and accumulated was to avoid damaging the morale of Sun's army.
What he wants to do is to destroy the morale of Sun's army.
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After Teng Dan left Qu'a, he took the waterway to Piling, then left Hangou and turned to Gehu Lake, heading straight to Yangxian City.
Yangxian City is actually a peaceful and peaceful scene at this time.
Yangxian belongs to Wu County, but it is to the west of Zhenze, and there is Lishui connecting Liyang, Wuhu, and Wanling, so geographically, it is obviously closer to Danyang.
But Yangxian is located between the two counties. It is six to seven hundred miles away from the nearest Liyang by water. Wuxi and Wu County, which cross Zhenze and arrive at Wu County, are actually about the same distance.
Therefore, after Sun Jun invaded Wu County and captured Wu County, Yangxian became subtle.
He neither agreed to the Sun's army's persuasion to surrender on the other side of Zhenze, nor continued his allegiance to Liu Yao. Instead, he had an ambiguous attitude of disobedience, which felt a bit like battlefield neutrality.
However, Yangxian was indeed peaceful and peaceful at this time. In broad daylight, the city gates were open, allowing people to come in and out.
There were only a few dozen county soldiers outside the city gate, charging a small fee to enter the city, and no other weapons were seen.
Teng Dan stepped forward and paid the entrance fee, but the county guards let him into the city without even checking him.
After entering the city, Teng Dan went straight to the county seat according to his long-planned idea.
Yangxian is a lower-class county. There is only a county magistrate of 600 shi, named Bian Qiang. He has the same surname as Bian Rang, a famous scholar in Yanzhou, but they are not from the same clan.
Bian Qiang is from Shu. He has been the county magistrate of Yangxian for almost twelve years. According to the rules, he should have been promoted or transferred long ago.
It’s just that the world is in chaos now, and there are no transfers or promotions from the imperial court.
Bian Qiang's local reputation in Yangxian is pretty good, but this is not entirely due to Bian Qiang himself. The restrictions of the Zhou family, the chief tycoon of Yangxian, are also the best help to help him be passive and honest.
Teng Dan asked to see Bian Qiang at the gate of the county government office.
Fortunately, the soldiers guarding the gate were very discerning. They saw that Teng Dan was no ordinary person. Not only did they not make things difficult for Teng Dan, they immediately informed him of his entry.
When Bian Qiang heard Teng Dan's name, he immediately jumped up and trotted out to greet him.
Teng Dan is a famous person in Qingzhou. Even without Liu Yao's bonus, he is not someone who can be left out in the cold by a mere six hundred stone county magistrate.
As soon as the two parties met, Bian Qiang immediately introduced Teng Dan into the hall with enthusiasm, and his attitude was so respectful that Teng Dan was not used to it.
But Teng Dan was also secretly happy. He was an honest person. Seeing Bian Qiang's enthusiasm, he felt that this task should be completed easily. Sure enough, Teng Dan lived up to his reputation as an honest man and was guided by Bian Qiang to tell everything about the situation.
When he heard that Liu Yao had been deprived of military power and Niu Zhu's army had defected directly to Liu Feng, Bian Qiang's expression was already stupid.
Then, Teng Dan couldn't see Bian Qiang's deliberate indifference, and continued talking on his own.
Bian Qiang's pretended to be cold expression froze completely when Teng Dan talked about Zuo Rong and Xue Li's heads falling to the ground, and then turned into a mixture of guilt and flattery, and he smiled flatteringly at Teng Dan.
It's a pity that he was just flirting with the blind man. Teng Dan was just immersed in his story and didn't notice that Bian Qiang's expression had changed three times.
Next, Bian Qiang's expression kept changing with Teng Dan's narration. When Teng Dan mentioned that he was entrusted to Liu Feng by Liu Yao and that Liu Feng sent him to Yangxian, Bian Qiang already had some facial cramps. .
"Bianxian Zun, in the southern expedition, he was ordered to cross the river by the imperial edict and the hussar. After arriving in the east of the Yangtze River, he was assisted by Liu Shijun. When he went north, he even connected the Yangzhou seal. They are all left to conquer the south. "
"It is the imperial court's order to conquer the south and lead Jiangdong. I advise the county magistrate not to make a mistake."
After Teng Dan finished speaking, Feeling a little thirsty, I simply started drinking tea. After drinking, Bian Qiang woke up. Why didn't Bian Qiang respond? Then he looked at the other party.
Bian Qiang sat on the seat with a somewhat stiff expression. It was not that he did not want to smile, but that his face had been cramped due to many violent changes. What's even worse is that he, Bian Qiang, is really not qualified to decide where Yang Xian belongs.
Bian Qiang was about to speak, but suddenly froze on the spot, looking straight out of the hall.
Teng Dan was looking at Bian Qiang at the moment, and he would no longer ignore the other person's strangeness.
Teng Dan followed Bian Qiang's line of sight and turned his head, just in time to see a tall man standing outside the hall.
Teng Dan clearly felt that the big man was looking at him, so he curiously asked Bian Qiang: "My lord, do you know who this person is...?"
Bian Qiang revealed a He smiled awkwardly and said: "This person is the county lieutenant, Zhou Bin, the head of the Zhou family in Yangxian."
Zhou Bin?
Teng Dan thought about it carefully and suddenly felt something impressive.
Isn’t the Yangxian Zhou family the biggest powerful person in the area?
He also heard many times around Liu Yao that the Zhou family occupies almost a quarter of the land in Yangxian. The Ding tribe alone has 800 people. It can be said that the Zhou family belongs to Yangxian. The earth emperor.
Fortunately, the Zhou family is quite obedient to the states and counties, paying taxes on time every year without any delay.
It is not an uncomfortable thing for Bian Qiang, the county official.
It’s just that Zhou Bin, the patriarch of the Zhou clan, has a distinctive personality, hates corruption as much as hatred, and particularly dislikes corrupt officials.
Therefore, Bianqiang County had no choice but to serve as the magistrate of Yangxian County for twelve years, but got little.
After hearing what Bian Qiang said, Zhou Bin immediately went to the hall, sat opposite Teng Dan, and then bowed to see him.
Teng Dan is an honest person. Although he does not attach great importance to Wu Fu, he does not have the habit of despising the other party. Instead, he responds respectfully.
This made Zhou Bin secretly happy.
After the ceremony, no one spoke for a while, and the hall became quiet.
Teng Dan looked at Bian Qiang, who looked a little embarrassed, lowered his head and remained silent. Then he looked at Zhou Bin, who happened to be observing him as well.
After thinking for a while, Teng Dan took the initiative to break the silence: "Mr. Zhou is quite brave?"
Zhou Bin was observing Teng Dan, but he unexpectedly heard the other party's question and felt a little confused.
The honest man Teng Dan thought Zhou Bin didn't hear clearly, so he asked again considerately.
Zhou Bin didn't know why, but he still nodded: "Bin is quite brave, good at martial arts, and can be considered brave in Yangxian territory."
Zhou Bin's words are still a bit modest. Yes, he thought that even within Wu County, his bravery was ranked among the best.
After all, his grandson goes up the mountain to fight tigers and goes into the sea to fight dragons.
Zhou Bin's courage is really impressive and he is quite confident.
After Teng Dan heard this, he said to Zhou Bin with sincerity: "When Dan was under Liu Shijun, he heard that Zhengnan was good at martial arts. Today he joined Zhengnan. He saw that he paid great attention to warriors and had brave men under his command. They can all be put to good use."
"Since the Zhou warriors are quite brave, why not go to Qu'a and join forces in the expedition to the south?"
Teng Dan said sincerely: "It would also be a good way to gain a great cause. Opportunity."
Zhou Bin was completely stunned. It is quite embarrassing for a local tyrant like him to do so politically.
Although the Zhou family occupies a quarter of Yangxian's land, they can even arbitrarily ignore the county magistrate in the county. But outside of Yangxian, several people recognize him, Zhou Bin, and Yangxian Zhou family?
Zhou Bin opened his mouth to refuse, but he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Because, his heart was moved.
If it were anyone else who said these words in front of him, Zhou Bin would probably get furious.
But Teng Dan gave Zhou Bin the impression of being an honest person, and he also seemed to be considerate of you with good intentions, which made Zhou Bin unable to get angry even if he wanted to.
As a result, Zhou Bin didn't say anything, but Teng Dan thought that the other party was moved, so he quickly continued to add: "Now that the emperor has returned to Luozhong, the Grand Sima, the Grand General, and the Qiaoqi each perform their duties. Eliminate dissatisfaction.”
Teng Dan sighed with emotion as he spoke: "In Dan's opinion, in ten years at most, the world will be stable again. If the Zhou warriors do not seize the opportunity, how can they improve their lintel in the future?"
This is simply a reference to Teng Dan's words. Zhou Bin pointed his nose and said that a warrior like you is only worthy of promotion in the military. If you don't make good use of the present and miss the opportunity in this troubled world, your whole family will not be able to get ahead.
But what Teng Dan said was sincere and sincere, and even felt a little heartfelt. This made Zhou Bin's face change like a soy sauce shop, sometimes red and sometimes black.
Zhou Bin had not doubted Teng Dan, but he had stood outside the hall before, listening to Teng Dan honestly explain various situations and things to Bian Qiang. Bian Qiang didn't even put much effort into it, so he just started with it, and Teng Dan said it all himself.
Zhou Bin really couldn't convince himself that such a person had such scheming intentions.
The most important thing is that although Teng Dan said something very heartfelt, Zhou Bin was really moved.
He pinched his nose to cover up Teng Dan's words. Although the other party was honest, some words were particularly heartbreaking when said by an honest person.
Zhou Bin heard a lot of information from Teng Dan's words of praise for Liu Feng.
First of all, Liu Feng attaches great importance to warriors and likes to promote warriors. He has no prejudice against warriors and even thinks highly of them.
This is enough to make Zhou Bin excited, and he also has great confidence in his own skills. If Zhengnan really takes a fancy to him, then the Yangxian Zhou family will no longer be just a mere A county has become powerful.
When he thought of this, Zhou Bin felt hot in his heart.
The feelings people of this era have towards their families are unimaginable by future generations.
They are really willing to die for their family.
Zhou Bin originally planned to continue to act stupid. Although he is not as clear as Teng Dan, he is still a local snake after all. He has more than 800 people in his private group. It is still better to explore some basic information. With ease.
In the intelligence he gathered, Liu Bei, the general of the Hussars, had just succeeded in a sneak attack and captured Yuan Gongluo, the overlord of the Jianghuai River, in one battle. The remaining Jiangbei counties were decided by the imperial edict.
Except for Liu Xun who has not yet surrendered, even Li Yang's Sun family army has surrendered.
Liu Feng also crossed the river from Liyang. It is said that he brought tens of thousands of troops and horses. He was reinforced by Liu Yao's old troops in Niuzhu. Zhou Bin felt that the opponent had at least 30,000 to 50,000 troops in Jiangdong. .
Since Sun Ce captured Wu County, many strong men from Jiangdong came to seek refuge with him. Now they can be considered as strong soldiers and horses. Just now, Xu Gong's troops and his supporters were almost completely wiped out by his fists.
In Zhou Bin's view, the contest between Liu Feng and Sun Ce was a contest between two behemoths. He was a small and powerful person, and he was not worthy of being involved in a contest of this level.
But deep down in his heart, he still hopes that someone will be discerning, know that he is envious of Zhou Bin, and even be willing to conquer him.
This was also the fundamental reason why he had the patience to talk so much with Teng Dan, an honest man.
He, Zhou Bin, has never been an ordinary person.
(End of this chapter)