Chapter 206 Pan Zhang
When Zhang Chong heard that it was the local Puyang Yellow Turbans who had defected, he immediately went out of his tent to greet them.
He was having a headache and didn't know the situation of the Han soldiers, so a local snake came, so he was naturally happy. When he left the camp, he saw a small team of 2,000 motley hedgehogs gathering outside the camp. They were also cursing at the defenders of Zhang Chong's camp. It was obvious that something unpleasant had happened just now.
The person guarding the south wall of the camp is Yu Jin. He and his troops are also looking at the so-called comrades outside the camp with vigilance, not daring to relax. Seeing Zhang Chong coming, Yu Jin hurriedly explained the situation to him:
"Qugui, the people outside here claim to be the Taiping Road of Puyang, but I think they look like bandits, so we must keep an eye on them."
Zhang Chong nodded, knowing that Yu Jin was right to be cautious. It was already night, and Zhang Chong could not rashly open the door. He could not confirm the identity of the other party even if he did not tell them. Even if he was really a comrade, he could not let them in. War has no room for luck.
But it was obvious that Yu Jin's caution annoyed Puyang Taipingdao outside the camp. In fact, if you think about it from their perspective, they must be very angry. They got the news that the Taishan Army had arrived in Puyang, and they were exhausted from coming all the way. What next? When they arrived, they wouldn't even let them in and questioned their identity. Who would be offended by this?
Zhang rushed to the wall and listened to the commotion below. Some said that the Taishan Army looked down on people and would not serve these Taishan gangsters; some said that they came for no other reason than to fight the Han soldiers with the Taishan Army and avenge their dead comrades.
Zhang Chong listened for a while, and then looked at the window above the heads of the people below. He had already judged in his heart that most of these people were the local Taiping Dao.
If these people are an incoming camp disguised as Han soldiers, they must be selected elite soldiers. As for the following group of people, there are only a few dozen people with windows, so they are unlikely to be Han soldiers.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chong ordered the ban wall to be opened, and they all came out of the stronghold to meet these Puyang comrades.
Yu Jin wanted to persuade him, but he knew that Zhang Chong always had numerous military orders, so he had no choice but to obey them. After opening the wall, Yu Jin finally felt uneasy and asked Chang Xi to lead the soldiers in front. He and Zhang Nan surrounded Zhang Chong on the left and right before exiting the wall.
On the other side of Puyang Taiping Road, when they saw that the camp suddenly opened, they thought they were going to attack them, so they all retreated. But later when I saw these Taishan troops coming out, they just surrounded one person and did not attack, so I knew it was a big shot.
Then three of the leaders came out and paid homage to Zhang Chong:
"May I ask if he is a disciple of General Renggong, the most righteous hero in the world, Commander Fangqu of Mount Tai, and the great general who swept across Heji?"
Zhang Chong, who was surrounded, sighed at the politeness of these Puyang comrades and gave him so many names. At the same time, he strode forward, helped the three of them up, and said warmly:
"Ashamed, I just don't have talent, and I don't know who all the Puyang comrades are heroes?"
The person in front of me who was the oldest in the grade and had a loyal face. Although he had long arms and legs, he seemed to have no courage at all. He spoke first:
"General Chongtian, I am the leader of the followers of Puyang. My name is Changjiao. I am also the commander-in-chief elected by our brothers in Puyang. The original Qu Kui was killed by the dog slaves of the Tian family in Puyang, and we are the only ones left."
As he spoke, he probably thought of his comrades who died. Wang Chang burst into tears as he spoke, which made the two people next to him a little embarrassed.
Zhang Chong and others stroked Wang Chang's back and comforted him. He was feeling better. He looked at Zhang Chong gratefully and introduced to the two people beside him:
"These two are both heroes on the river, one is Luo Gang, Luo Dakui, and the other is Pan Zhang and Pan Dakui. They are both friends of our Puyang Taiping Road. If not for their help, our Puyang Taiping Road would really be wiped out. .”
After Zhang Chong heard this, he stared at the man named Pan Zhang. He saw that he was eight feet tall, wearing a worn two-level armor, and a red sweat scarf hanging around his neck. He looked like a rough man.
Unexpectedly, I met Jiang Biao's twelve tiger ministers here. Is this Pan Zhang from Shandong? Zhang Chong originally thought that the twelve tiger ministers of Jiang Biao were all from Jiangdong. I also thought that this person's original plane was the one who captured and killed Guan Yu, but now that Guan Yu was in the tent, and Pan Zhang had also surrendered, I couldn't help but feel that fate had played a trick on him.
Then Zhang Chong looked to the side named Luo Gang and couldn't help but nod. He was a brave man.
Finally, Zhang Chong apologized to Puyang and said:
"You came all the way, traveled a long way and were hungry, and then you were blocked outside the camp by my subordinates. You have wronged everyone. Don't blame my subordinates. He has always been cautious. I apologize for him and all my comrades here."
With that said, he bowed to all the Yanzhou Taiping Taoist disciples.
This frightened the man named Wang Chang. He knew the prestigious name in the sect. It could be said that he was their flag against the Han, a hero who upheld justice for heaven, and made decisions for poor people like them. hero. As Wang Chang was just a low-level believer in Puyang before, he could not bear Zhang Chong's worship, so he hurriedly grabbed Zhang Chong.
Of course, this is why the king came up to pull him. The man named Luo Gang and Pan Zhang were angry at first, but seeing that this famous man was still polite, they didn't leave in a hurry.
Now, why don't they both deserve this big bow? Therefore, both of them stood still and bowed to each other.
After Zhang Chong expressed his apology, he asked Yu Jin to go back to the wall and open a tent area in the southwest corner for these Puyang comrades to stay overnight. Then Zhang Chong took Wang Chang's arm and led him inside.
Zhang Chong originally saw the behavior of Na Luo Gang and Pan Zhang, and knew that they were not from Taiping Road, so he thought, if these two people had any ideas, in this small place, their lives would depend on him. Zhang Chong thought in a flash.
But fortunately, Luo Gang and Pan Zhang were also lucky. They were just dissatisfied and had no other ideas. In this way, Zhang Chong led the Puyang Taiping Road and the water bandits into the tent area opened by Yu Jin, and then brought water, millet balls and bacon, and directly closed the distance between the two sides.
Zhang Chong even stayed in the tent of Wang Chang and the others that night. On the one hand, they wanted to win people's hearts, but on the other hand, they wanted to know the current situation in Puyang, so the four of them held candles and talked at night.
Let’s talk about Luo Gang and Pan Zhang first. They were originally part of a group of water pirates on the river.
At this time, the Yellow River had not yet become turbid due to the sedimentation of the upper reaches, so it was still called a big river.
The area where this group of water bandits is entrenched is the waterway between Puyang and Baima. This area is also the most prosperous section where Henan and Hebei meet. There is an endless stream of business travelers traveling to and from the river every day.
This group of water pirates have been living on the water for generations. When they are free, they ferry people across the river, and when they are busy, they plunder the river. Later, three heroes emerged from this generation, one was called Big Sheep Head, one was called Luo Gang, and the other was Pan Zhang. The three of them began to sell flags to passing boats. Each flag cost three thousand. If you take the flag, you will not be robbed on this section of the river. In other words, this group of water pirates successfully transformed, no longer plundering, but charging tolls instead.
In April this year, the Taiping Dao uprising broke out across the country, and they also raised troops to respond. This was not because they agreed with the cause of Taiping Dao, but because there was only one way.
It turned out that the river channel occupied by this group of water pirates was an important area, so both Hanting and Taipingdao wanted to win over them. Originally, Dayangtou and others wanted to join the Han court. After all, who wouldn't want to recruit an official? However, Cao Shao, the governor of Dongjun, felt that this group of people was capricious and difficult to truly trust, so he planned to annihilate the Taipingdao in his county and then turn around to deal with these water bandits.
Under this situation, the water bandits in Puyang had no choice but to seek refuge with the Taiping Taoists, so they also raised troops to cut off the river and supported each other with the Taiping Taoists in Puyang.
But something went wrong later. As soon as Dayangtou came into contact with the Taiping Dao in Puyang, he found that these Taoist thieves were all gangsters, and their tribe was not very strong. It was expected that Taiping Dao was not a successful person. So as soon as I returned, I stopped talking about cooperation with Taiping Dao, and just used it as a bargaining chip to actively contact Puyang.
Dayangtou's real name is Yang Du, and what he wants most is to recruit him ashore, but Cao Shao looks down on him and doesn't give him a chance at all. But then his opportunity came. Zhong Shao of the Northern Army followed the military orders of Lu Zhi, the general of the Northern Army, and led a thousand Northern troops to cross the river and go south. He was using his troops to recruit this group of water bandits. Yang Du seized the opportunity and defected to Zhongshao, leading a thousand men to serve as Han soldiers.
But Yang Du wanted to go ashore, but the other two thieves, Kui Luo Gang and Pan Zhang, did not. After they came into contact with Taiping Road, they actively moved closer to the latter, and finally parted ways with Yang Du.
In fact, Luo Gang and Yang Du were at odds with each other. The water bandits in this big river were originally inherited from the Luo family, but later Yang Du became really good and came up with a strategy to collect tolls, which greatly increased his prestige within the group. If Luo Gang hadn't invited Pan Zhang, a foreign aid, to fight with Yang Crossing the court to resist the ceremony, this Puyang water bandit had already been named Yang. Pan Zhang was a ranger from Faqian in Dongjun. He had exchanged lives with Luo Gang when he was young, so he joined the gang as soon as Brother Nai called him.
There is also this contradiction. Yang Du led a thousand soldiers to join the Northern Army, while Luo Gang and Pan Zhang led a thousand soldiers to move outside Puyang. Instead of competing with the Han soldiers, they wanted to join forces with the Taiping Road in Puyang first.
But who would have thought that Puyang Taiping Road would be blocked in May. To say that Taipingdao is really not a rebellious group, although it has an organization and slogans, it does things very loosely. These Taiping Taoists always feel that they have placed spies everywhere over the past twenty years of development, but little do they know that their own territory has long been infiltrated by all the major clans.
For children of wealthy families, they are united by blood relatives and are more resistant to the impact of religious beliefs than ordinary small farmers. Their identification with their ancestors is much higher than that of the so-called Huang Tian. Therefore, the interests of the family are far higher than the interests of the so-called Taiping Road.
Therefore, when the big families in Puyang ordered their children to ambush Puyang Taiping Road, these people did not hesitate much and attacked and killed the leaders of Puyang Taiping Road. The rest could only flee to the countryside to survive.
Later, Wang Chang gathered a few comrades and reluctantly raised a thousand troops to protect themselves. If he hadn't encountered Luo Gang, Pan Zhang and other troops who also went south, Wang Chang and others would probably have become the victims of the Han soldiers. of meritorious service.
However, the three of them could barely protect themselves together, let alone raise an army to avenge their comrades. But it was at this time that they heard that General Chongtian, the leader of the first righteous cause, had mobilized troops to fight in the river and had already reached Puyang.
Now they were saved, and the vengeance of their comrades could be avenged.
(End of chapter)