Chapter 241 Xinzheng
The new Zhonglang General Zhang Wen set off from Kyoto on August 15th and arrived in Yangdi on the 20th. Accompanying him was a 2,000-strong Jie army, which was much stronger than when Huang Wan, the shepherd of Yanzhou, took office.
Zhang Wen was one of the ministers in the court who was relatively close to the eunuchs. This time Zhang Rang and others could no longer tolerate the military power being controlled by party members or honest people, so they recommended Zhang Wen to Liu Hong against all odds.
Zhang Wen came from the Zhang family, a wealthy family in Nanyang. When he became an official, he followed the path of Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng. The relationship between the two families was irreversible. Therefore, as soon as Zhang Wen settled in Jieyangdi, he called Cao Cao to his shogunate and asked him about the strength of his army.
Cao Cao now had no soldiers at his disposal. If he hadn't known that Shibo Zhang Wen had become the new commander-in-chief, he would have gone back to his hometown in Pei to recruit troops. These days, he has understood clearly that if there are no soldiers in his hand, all his words will be empty.
But now that Zhang Wen came, he asked him about his countermeasures, which made Cao Cao regain his confidence. He said to Zhang Wen:
"Shibo, what is visible now is that the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou have been divided into two groups, one going south, and one going north with the Taishan thieves. The thieves going south are nothing to worry about, as they have the right middle man to fight for peace. But those going north It is dangerous because their goal of going north is probably Aocang. "
"Aocang?"
"Yes, Aocang is a transit warehouse for grain storage, and the amount of corn stored in it is countless. Once it is occupied by thieves, the situation in the entire world will be repeated."
Zhang Wen thought about the seriousness of what Cao Cao said, and he really had to guard against it, so he asked:
"I wonder if my nephew has any plans?"
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao, who had been so arrogant just now, shook his head after hearing this. He told Zhang Wen that there was no way:
"Since the battle of Yingyang, at least in Yuzhou, the Han army and the Yellow Turban Moth bandits have changed their offensive and defensive positions. The Han army currently staying in Yangdi is about ten thousand people, but the general morale of the army is low, and it is difficult to fight against such an army. A soldier of hundreds of battles.”
Zhang Wen always knew that Cao Cao was a bit resourceful, and knew that when he said this, he was not saying that there was no way, but that he had a way, but it was difficult to express it.
He didn't beat around the bush with Cao Cao and just said:
"My nephew, you don't have to go around. Just tell me what to do."
Cao Cao stopped pretending and said frankly:
"We can mobilize Yuzhou's powerful forces to form a team training, just like what Wang Prefect did in Runan."
In this way, Zhang Wen, following Cao Cao's suggestion, finally decentralized the power of the general in order to make up for the lack of troops in the Han army, so that powerful men from all over Yuzhou could organize and train Ding Yong and form regiments.
With Cao Cao's knowledge, he naturally knew that this trick was to drink poison to quench his thirst. What was his purpose in using this trick?
But no matter what the purpose is, the world is going to be in chaos.
——
After obtaining supplies from Changshe, the problem of grain, grain and military resources for the Taiyu Yellow Turbans was temporarily solved. After leaving more than 20,000 old battalions, the three armies later had a total of 20,000 soldiers and 10,000 old battalions, rushing all the way towards Xinzheng where Sili Xiaowei was commanded.
There is a ranger in Xinzheng named Zhou Gui. He was greatly benefactored by the local Taiping Dao in the past. However, when the Taiping Dao uprising occurred in April, he was leading a group of villains to help people collect debts. When he came back, he found out about his benefactor. The entire clan was slaughtered by Xinzheng's order Liu Heng.
Zhou Gui wanted to take revenge, but knowing that he was weak, he could only endure and lurk.
On this day, he learned that General Chongtian from Taishan had captured Changshe and was about to lead his troops north to Xinzheng. Zhou Gui knew that his opportunity for revenge had come.
He gathered two hundred villains in Wubi, and then privately contacted Zheng Xiang, a Shanliao bandit in Xingshan, hoping to invite him to join him in attacking Xinzheng and echoing the Taishan army heading north.
Although Zheng Xiang is a bandit, he is quite ambitious. With a status like his, without any special circumstances, he has been a bandit all his life. So when Zhou Gui contacted him, he agreed without much thought.
So the two of them worshiped at Zichan Temple on Xingshan Mountain and held important events together.
Xinzheng used to be the capital of the Zheng Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Korea was also here during the Warring States Period. Therefore, it has always been a gathering of people. Zheng Xiang and Zhou Gui also admired the stories of their predecessors and swore an oath in front of Zichan's mausoleum to advance and retreat together.
After the two men joined forces, the number was 400.
On the one hand, Zhou Gui found someone to go south to contact the Taishan Army heading north, and on the other hand, he used his connections in the city to continuously send his troops into Xinzheng City.
Originally, Zhou Gui wanted to write a letter to General Zhang Chong, but he was illiterate, and he was worried about asking a scholar to write such an important matter. In his simple understanding, no one of this generation can be trusted. So he had to find a sharp-tongued confidant and go south.
Zhou Gui was lucky after all. Not long after his confidant went south, he was captured by the sentinel of Taishan Army forward Yu Jin.
When he learned that there was a group of people in the city of Xinzheng who wanted to rebel, Zhang Da, the general of the ban order, selected thousands of good soldiers from the army and followed them to the north quickly to get in touch with the rebels in the city.
As for whether this group of people are Han soldiers in disguise? Of course it's possible, but Yu Jin believes that with Zhang Da's ability, he can judge.
When Zhang Da led thousands of people to the north, he met Zhou Gui and Zheng Xiang who were still outside the city at Xingshan. After Zhang Da understood the reason for the two people's rebellion, he felt that they were still credible.
Therefore, on August 20, the Taishan Army Zhang Da's troops directly launched an attack on Xinzheng City with thousands of troops. As the capital of two dynasties, Xinzheng's city was much stronger than ordinary county towns. Moreover, there is Mishui as the city river. Generally, without an army of 10,000, it would be impossible to capture Xinzheng.
However, with the help of Zhou Gui and Zheng Xiang in the city, Zhang Da only commanded a thousand men and entered the newly opened Xinzheng City. There were less than five hundred county soldiers in the city, who could not withstand Zhang Da's thousands of people. Seeing that the city could no longer be defended, they fled in all directions.
At that time, when the city was destroyed, Liu Heng, the commander of Xinzheng, was sitting in the hall to listen to officials from various counties talking about the situation of this year's autumn harvest. Suddenly, he saw Zhou Gui, a ranger in the city, rushing into the county office covered in blood. He was shocked and yelled:
"What a brave dog, daring to rush into the county office. Come..."
Before long, Zhou Gui had already chopped down the county officials present, rushed to the front of the hall, and stabbed Liu Heng to death in Xinzheng. Not only that, the murderous Zhou Gui also entered the back corridor and killed Liu Heng's wives and concubines. And killed.
After Zhang Da entered the city, he attacked the warehouses and arsenals, so he was one step behind Zhou Gui. When he saw that Zhou Gui had killed Xinzheng Ling and then his whole family, he wanted to reprimand him.
But Zhou Gui suddenly said:
"If his family is not killed, wouldn't the Taiping Taoist disciples who died at his hands die in vain?"
Zhang Da choked and couldn't say the next words.
In the end, he only told Zhou Gui:
"You haven't joined the Taishan Army yet, and you don't know the laws in the army, so it doesn't matter. But if you still want to join the Taishan Army in the future, you must know the difference between private vendetta and public trial killing. It is also revenge, if you kill privately Yes, I must get in eventually.”
Who knew Zhou Gui was overjoyed:
"Dare to disobey orders."
It turned out that he had already heard from Zhang Da's tone that the Taishan Army wanted to recruit him, so how could he not be happy? As for killing privately or not, he was not a person who killed many people indiscriminately. He only did such a thing because he had a blood feud with this Xinzheng Ling. Zhang Da then began to block the whole city, but an accident happened.
When Zhang Da hung Xinzheng Ling's body for public display, more and more people gathered around him regardless of their weapons. They were very excited, and many people were even sobbing after seeing Liu Heng's body.
More and more people were pushing and shoving the Taishan soldiers. The leader of the army secretly thought that there must be something they didn't know about, so he immediately reported the situation here to Zhang Da.
Zhang Da didn't dare to neglect.
As an old brother in the army and a member of the Zhang clan in Dasangli, he knows that one of the advantages of the Taishan Army is the people's support. He knows that the most important thing for Commander Qu is the people's support. If something happens here, let alone his contribution to breaking the city, he will even have to be fined.
He ordered the military officials to first ask the people below to restrain themselves and never conflict with the people. It was best to find a few people who could talk to them and ask what the reason was.
On Zhang Da's side, he immediately sent people to press on the county officials who were still alive and ask what was going on.
An old official with a goatee's beard, seeing the opportunity coming, immediately said:
"Returning to the general, the public is excited because of the general's rebellious behavior. Xinzheng is the ancient capital of Zheng and Han, and the people have been good since ancient times. The powerful and powerful people in Guizhou are in harmony with each other, and each performs his duties. But now, when the general destroys the city, he destroys his family first, regardless of the people's illness. Regardless of the likes and dislikes of the four people, we will kill their leaders first. We have not seen their wisdom, and we don’t know how to live in Xinzheng.”
Zhang Da's face darkened and he asked stiffly:
"Oh, what do you think we should do?"
The old official lowered his head to persuade, so he did not see Zhang Da's face. However, the colleagues behind him saw that the thief's face was covered with dark clouds, and their bodies couldn't help but tremble.
The old official continued to worship:
"The big surname is An, the small people are An..."
The old official could no longer say the following words. It turned out that Zhang Da directly drew out the knife and stabbed him in the chest. The old official's clothes were dyed red with blood. He looked at Zhang Da in disbelief, tilted his head and smashed it to the ground.
The blood formed a pool and was about to stain the boots of the county officials behind them, but they did not dare to move because the thief in front of them was looking at them eagerly.
I saw Zhang Da wiping the ring-shou knife with a sweat towel and cursing:
"You're an old man, you're a fool to fight for your position based on your nonsense? You want to confuse me with your words? This world has never been ruined because it didn't treat the big names well. On the contrary, it was too good to you guys.
How miserable are those poor people? As long as there are good girls in the countryside, they will be snatched away by you, causing yin and yang in the countryside to be at odds with each other. There are many taxes and taxes in the world, and they are increasing year by year, but which one of them falls on the heads of powerful people like you? That's all, but the other generation is greedy and colludes with you greedy officials. One share of the tax is worth three cents to the poor. How greedy and money-loving are you guys with powerful surnames?
The same goes for your court. Every time we ask for corvee work, we don’t ask about the farming season. If a noble family wants to build a garden, they force us to do it. Don’t you know that everyone needs to eat? Don’t you know that millet is grown from the ground with sweat? You people, even if you have been away from the fields for too long, you have forgotten that if you don’t eat, you will really die. Not only our lives are taken, but your lives are also taken. ”
This is not over yet, Zhang Da continues to say that what he heard in the military academy and what he saw in the battle will be told today. He will not only kill these people, but also kill their hearts:
"I joined the army with General Chongtian and fought all over the world. I saw how many poor people died. Come on, I'll tell you. If I hadn't been beaten to death by you cruel officials, I would have been randomly taken to the prison temple by you and given to someone. These people died because of the crime. They were either killed by thieves or were flogged to death because they could not pay taxes. They were either starved to death because of lack of food, or they were killed by this epidemic. Tell me about this world. Will we still give the poor a way to survive? ”
Zhang Da kept talking about death with such murderous intent that the county officials shook themselves into chaff, fearing that Zhang Da would stab them to death with a knife.
But just when everyone was frightened, a young official in the outermost circle stood aside from his colleagues. He bowed to Zhang Da and said loudly:
"General, let go of the thunderous anger for a moment. The old official just now was very talkative. If he thought he had some eloquence, he would play with the general. Wouldn't it be a pity to die?"
Zhang Daqian looked at this person and sarcastically said:
"Aren't you just showing off? What are you doing now? Why don't you back down?"
Unexpectedly, after being reprimanded by Zhang Da, this person did not panic, but said loudly:
"General, the most important thing now is to solve the problem of public anger outside. And I can help General."
Zhang Da narrowed his eyes, lowered his sword, and said coldly:
"Oh, then come out and talk about it."
Obviously, if this person continues to talk confusing nonsense like the person just now, then this knife will strike again.
Of course this man knew it, but he still said calmly:
"General, the people are angry not because the people are angry at the general, but because they are unfair to the Xinzheng Order."
"Oh, how to say."
"Back to the general, although Duke Liu of Xinzheng was brutal in politics, especially when he suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the county in April, he killed 400 people, but he really loved the people. Let me just talk about one thing. In April last year There was a severe drought in Xinzheng, so Liu Gonggong kept grain in his warehouse, but unexpectedly, the grain in the warehouse had been stolen and sold by Shuo Shu, the warehouse official, in collusion with the big households in the city. At that time, Liu Gong personally led people to go to various houses to beg for food. Not only did he kill those involved, he also recovered 200,000 shi of grain and grain for disaster relief. Therefore, in other words, Liu Gong helped the people in the city survive. Well. Now the general not only killed Liu Gong, but also hung his body. This is the reason for the people's anger. "
Suddenly the young county official was shocked and saw the thief put his hand on his neck, and then heard the other person ask:
"Is this true?"
"Everything is true."
"Then has Mr. Liu ever been corrupted?"
"It's not clear, but I never thought about it."
"Then Mr. Liu has done such a big thing, and he can still sit in this position?"
"Liu Gong is a descendant of the King of Hejian, and there are people above him."
"Hmph."
Then Zhang Da took off the ring-shou knife, and then ordered the guards around him:
"Go and put Xinzheng Ling's body down, and then find a good coffin to put it in."
The guard was obviously a brainiac. He hesitated and asked:
"General, it doesn't matter if Xinzheng Ling is a good official. He just killed 400 of our comrades and hung their corpses in public. Moreover, if we do this now, the newly attached Zhou Gui will definitely be dissatisfied. Why bother? Does this make both parties unhappy?”
Zhang Da glared and cursed:
"Then what do you think we should do about the people outside?"
The guard shook his head, not knowing what to do.
"That's alright, just go ahead and let you do it. Our Taishan Army has clear grievances. If Xinzheng ordered to kill my comrade, he will naturally die. But his actions to save the people are also true, so naturally he cannot torture his corpse. As for you Talk to Zhou Gui, I will explain it. Besides, if we can put it down, we can still hang it up. If it doesn’t work for a while, we will hang this person up as well.”
As he spoke, Zhang Da pointed his halberd at the young county official.
(End of chapter)