Chapter 195 Shared Suffering
The army was defeated like a mountain!
The army was defeated like a mountain!
When Guan Yu's Zuo Xiaowei troops appeared in the Dongping Army Formation, his army immediately collapsed.
Afterwards, the Taishan Army began to attack the enemy's position from front to back, but more specifically at the capture point, because there was no resistance at all.
The collapse of Dongping's army was naturally a good thing, but its chaos also objectively made it difficult to capture military officials.
When the Dongping national army was in chaos, Liu Gan, a powerful man without salt, led his troops to charge against Guan Yu's tribe who came out from behind, but he was quickly shot to death by an arrow from Chen Huan who rushed towards him. The powerful soldiers of Zhao Shu and Li Zou protected Li Zan's shogunate, such as Wang Kai and Xu Si, who rushed all the way to Wenshui. There were several elegant ships stationed there. It was originally used to cross the Wenshui River, but later it was abandoned after seeing that the Taishan Yellow Turban did not take the waterway.
And now those ships have become the lifeline for Li Zan and others.
Wu Zi, who was in the front line of Dongping Kingdom, was broken through by Zhang Da's armored soldiers. Wu Zi fought with Zhang Da for more than ten rounds and was finally captured. However, Liu Xiang, another warrior of Dongping Kingdom who joined forces with him, was not so good. As luck would have it, his head was taken directly by a few Taishan Army soldiers.
It is worth mentioning that the one who took off Liu Xiang's head was Zhang Shi, who was originally under Zhang Da. It seems that he can join the collision team this time.
There was also Gao Ya who fought with Xi Shen on Mount Gao. Seeing the collapse of Dongping troops at the foot of the mountain, he originally wanted to retreat from the western foot of Mount Gao. But in the end, he was still entangled by Xi Shen. In the end, Gao Ya had no choice but to surrender with his troops.
The smartest one was Huang Cen, a local snake. He was already leaning against Li Zan's big banner. When he saw Li Zan running towards Wenshui, he immediately followed him.
When they arrived at the Wenshui River, they immediately swarmed up. Many people were squeezed into the Wenshui River and were still struggling to climb onto the side of the ship. The Dongping soldiers who had already boarded the boat didn't care about their friendly troops and rowed wildly up to the Wenshui River.
The Taishan Army on the shore had already arrived, and Chen Huan directly ordered his troops to launch attacks. The Dongping soldiers on these three ships were hit by arrows and fell into the water, but the ones in the ship's cabin were lucky enough to survive. They drove all the way in the opposite direction and finally saw Zhangxian County on the west bank of Wenshui River. After hurriedly arriving at the shore, they embraced Li Zan and entered Zhangxian County.
Li Zan is ruthless and still wants to defend Zhang County. Of course, this is mainly Huang Cen's intention. His family and business are all in Zhang County. If Zhang County is lost, there will be no point in his life.
After entering the city, Li Zan and others were still in shock. Especially his aide Xu Si was frightened and immediately remembered what happened yesterday.
Yesterday, Li Zan insisted on going out of the city to ambush the Yellow Turban Army. On that day, Xu Bin and his friend Li Xian from the county teamed up to do divination, and he also entered Li Zan's shogunate with him. The two of them went to a temple in Taishan Prefecture in the county to pray for dreams and predict good or bad luck.
That night, Xu Bang dreamed that the ambush failed miserably, and the Dongping national army fought for the boat to escape, while he was squeezed into the water and was about to drown. Suddenly, a goddess in palace clothes appeared in front of him. She reached out and pulled him onto the boat. Then, with eyes full of golden light, he returned to the boat. The goddess disappeared, but there was only a peach charm in his hand, which read:
"Peace and joy."
After waking up from the dream, Xu Bang didn't take it seriously. In this escape, his friend Li Xian was obviously walking with him, but when he finally got on the boat, he failed to squeeze into the boat and drowned in front of Xu Si.
And Xu Si actually survived, what a miracle! Could it be that I am also blessed with luck? He did not tell the leader Li Zan about this, but quietly changed his mind.
That night, the Taishan Army digested the prisoners outside the city and surrounded Zhang County with water.
And this siege lasted until April 23rd.
On this day, Li Zan, who was sitting in the county office, called Chu Si to him and asked:
"Why is the mutton so thin lately! Why can't you do this?"
The kneeling Chusi said aggrievedly:
"Minister of the State, the mutton these days is indeed thin and barren, but this is entirely due to the lack of care of the county officials who transported it. The sheep sent are either thin or old."
As a son of the public family, Li Zan always paid attention to the fine food and fine meat, so even during wartime, he would organize people to buy the best lambs. This is not simply to satisfy the appetite, but the dignity of the family of the noble family. Not to mention the Lips of the Orangutan and the Tail of the Elephant, the conditions are a bit more difficult now, so forget it if you can't get these. But one meal of lamb a day is not too much, right? He, Li Zan, has dedicated his life to the Han Dynasty for decades, so he can’t have a meal of lamb at this time?
So Li Zan naturally called the county official who was transporting the ingredients and scolded him for not being careful in his work.
The county official seemed to have a hard time and looked troubled, but in the end he didn't tell Li Zan and just agreed.
Li Zan also saw the county official's difficulties, but he didn't think about what happened if he had difficulties. He was eating and sleeping all night because of the moth thieves. It was the time when he needed nourishment. How could he cut off the meat at this time? When the time comes, people like myself will starve, and no one will take charge of the defense of the city. If the Yellow Turban thieves enter the city, won't it be the common people who suffer?
After Li Zan arranged this matter, he asked the county officials to step down. During this period, he was really worried about coordinating the city's defense. This will still give him a headache. At this time, Wang Kai came in by name.
Wang Kai was well-known in Yanzhou and had a close relationship with Zhang Miao, one of the eight chefs, so he was trusted by Li Zan. Basically, he could enter and exit Li Zan's shogunate at will as long as he had a common name.
After Wang Kai came in, his face was not good. Li Zan was surprised when he saw Wang Kai took off his crown of virtue and placed it on the ground. Then he gathered his clothes and bowed heavily to Li Zan, and said:
"The prince is trapped in Zhang County, surrounded by thieves, and the people in the city are in chaos. It is the right time to show frugality to show that the superiors and subordinates are united to tide over the difficulties. But why do you blame the county officials for the fatness of a sheep? Isn't it like giving people a handle? , let the outside world think that Mr. Fu only cares about enjoyment? ”
Li Zan didn't expect that Wang Kai would give him a big surprise as soon as he came in. Hearing these words made him feel uncomfortable. What does it mean to be trapped in Zhang County? Wasn't it Li Zan who guarded Zhang County and kept the enemy at bay? He is the prime minister of the country guarding the country, and he is unparalleled in courage. Why did Wang Kai say that he was in trouble in Zhang County? I never thought Wang Kai was so incapable of speaking before.
What else does it mean to show frugality? What happened to Li Zan eating mutton? He is a son of the public family and a natural carnivore. How can he be called a carnivore if he doesn't eat meat? And to put it bluntly, Zhang County can be lost, but the status and dignity of his sons cannot be lost.
But what Wang Kai said is that he really needs to pay more attention to giving people the power to make the outside world think that he, Li Zan, is a person who is greedy for pleasure, which will damage his reputation.
So in the end, Li Zan pretended to be surprised, apologized hurriedly, and then revealed the matter.
This is what Wang Kai came to talk about. Now that he sees that the leader knows his mistakes and can correct them, he has fulfilled his duty to remonstrate. Therefore, after reporting some more on the city defense situation, Wang Kai retreated.
Li Zan looked at Wang Kai and sighed. He picked up the honey water on the table and poured himself a bowl. After drinking it, he felt better. But after looking at the honey water in the clay pot, he sighed again and called out. Maid, let her take away this honey water. Isn’t it just about being united? It's not easy yet.
The maid was about to take away the honey water, but was finally stopped by Li Zan, who said:
"I'll just drink another bowl and you take it away."
The Taishan Army besieged the city on April 20, and it has been three days now. Except for the initial tentative attack, the Taishan Army outside the city has never attacked.
But the civil and military personnel in Zhang County knew the Taishan Army's plan, which was to encircle the area for reinforcements. Because yesterday, these bandits had already placed the flags of the reinforcements from Fucheng in the north under the city in a showy manner.
It seems that the Fucheng soldiers are finished. Who can save them?
Two gloomy days passed in the city. On April 22, Wang Kai once again went to the county office to find Li Zan. This time it was about the morale of the soldiers in the city.
Before he entered the county temple, he saw the Zhang County Magistrate, who was supposed to be in charge of county affairs, talking with several sheepherders in a corner of the county temple. The open space outside the county temple was full of sheep and chickens, and he even saw quails. You know, there are no such things in the city. Looking at the posture of the county magistrate in Zhang, it is obvious that he is counting the ingredients to be supplied to the temple. Who needs to be supplied to?
Wang Kai couldn't believe his eyes. A dignified chief officer of Bailihou even came to take care of the affairs of a chef. Is eating meat so important? Does it have to be handled by the county magistrate with three hundred shi?
And hasn’t the Prime Minister already agreed to show frugality? Now is a difficult time. The reason why he came this time is because the morale of the strong warriors in the city is low. The main reason is insufficient supplies.
He went up the city wall yesterday. First of all, there was not enough firewood. Only twenty people on a section of the wall had a brazier. You must know that even though it is April, it is still cold at night. There is no brazier for warmth, and those who don't even have winter clothes His bravery could not withstand one night. Secondly, the supply of corn has also been reduced recently, and these brave men now only eat half of their normal daily grain intake. If it weren't for the propaganda in the city before, saying that the yellow scarf thieves outside are poor people who can't afford to eat, they will definitely take away everything from you after they break through the city, yes, including your wives.
If it weren't for this fearful rumor that forced these local brave men to work hard, Wang Kai firmly believed that this chapter of the county would have been destroyed long ago.
But there is still a huge hidden danger here, and that is the local county captain Huang Cen's 100 Chapter County Soldiers. During the battle at Gaoshan Ridge that day, Huang Cen once promised that as long as he returned to the city, no one would reward him with a thousand dollars. He also made a high-profile statement that he would use this money to reward the warriors even if his family was destroyed and the country was in trouble.
But in the battle at Gaoshan Ridge, Dongping suffered a disastrous defeat. Half of the original two hundred Zhangxian soldiers died while trying to grab the ferry and on the way back to the city. In the end, only a hundred of them followed Huang Cen and fled into Zhangxian County.
These Zhangxian soldiers didn't say anything about reward money at first, but they became more and more clamorous in the past few days, asking for the reward they had promised before. They asked Huang Cen for it, but Huang Cen refused to give it because he was giving reward to warriors, not deserters. .
But Zhang County soldiers have their own accounts. Didn’t their Zhang County sons work hard outside the city? No bleeding? Didn't you protect Huang Cen back to the city? Now I don't want you to give out two hundred people, just one thousand yuan per person. There are only one hundred people left alive, and each person is given only one hundred thousand yuan from you Huang Cen.
But Huang Cen refused to give him life or death, and the two sides almost came to blows. If it weren't for Wang Kai who mediated and made Huang Cen agree, blood would have been shed in the city.
So this time, Wang Kai came to discuss this matter with Li Zan.
Now the bottom is suffering, but if you want to be stable at the top, you should spend some money, cut some flesh, and pretend to be in the same boat, sharing the hardships, so that we can tide over the difficulties together!
But what now? Don't you even want to pretend it?
(End of chapter)