Northern Dynasties

Chapter 589
The New Year's Eve of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of the Taiqing Dynasty was originally a time for family reunion and celebration of the New Year, but today's Jiankang City is full of soldiers and horses, like a ghost town.

There are many temples and temples on both sides of the Qinhuai River. In the past, incense was prosperous and believers gathered, but now they have become military camps where people from all walks of life are stationed.On the north bank was Hou Jing's rebel army, numbering in the tens of thousands, while on the south bank were troops from all sides of the Southern Liang Dynasty rushing to aid them.

Throughout the day, the troops on both sides restrained themselves, and no large-scale battle was launched.In the evening, the restrictions on the respective camps were somewhat relaxed, and occasionally people walked between the camps.

A tall and thin battalion soldier wearing a blue military uniform and carrying a long ax was walking towards the Datrus North Camp. Wherever he passed, other battalion soldiers looked at him with admiration and awe.

Hou Jing's rebel army has many sources, including the brave warriors recruited from Huainan, and the captives who were captured and incorporated along the way. , Gathered a huge crowd.

So many rebellious soldiers didn't know where they belonged, and the generals couldn't distinguish and restrain them, but the masses soon summed up an experience, that is, to distinguish the status of the rebellious soldiers from the clothes and weapons.

In the old days of Datong, there was a ballad in the south of the Yangtze River that said "green robes and white horses come to birthday". Hou Jingqian begged for brocade from the imperial court, and the imperial court gave them green cloth, so they made clothes for the soldiers in response to the old ballad, so those who got green robes in the army, Most of them are veterans of the rebel army who have followed the rebellion since Shouyang.

Hou Jing's army expanded to Sri Lanka in a short period of time, and there were no more armored weapons for the soldiers.Therefore, there is also an obvious generational difference in the armaments of the sergeants of the battalions. The most elite and core troops are naturally the most well-armed, while the rest of the mob may not even have short-bladed iron weapons.

Wearing a green robe and holding a long axe, this tall and thin soldier must be an elite rebel army.This is indeed the case. This battalion soldier is Han Shao, who was arrested by the Shouyang rebellion in Han Shibei earlier in Huainan.

That day, in order to cover his younger brother Han Xie who was hiding in the reeds, Han Shao took the initiative to show up and was arrested. He was recruited into the army because of his tallness and bravery. The main player of the famous team.

Because of this attire that frightened the crowd, Han Shao was able to travel through the camps, and he quickly arrived at the camp near Zhuque Daheng along the north bank of the Qinhuai River.This is where the middle army of the rebel army is located. Most of the elite soldiers are stationed here, and all the supplies are also stored here.

Many refugees from Beijing and China gathered outside the camp, and many corpses were thrown around the camp.

They were not driven here by the rebel army. The rebel army entered the city as early as October and quickly controlled the whole city.All the men and women captured and captured were also placed around Taicheng, and earth hills were built to attack Taicheng. Among them, the old, weak, wounded and dead were directly rammed into the earth hills, and even the corpses were not seen.

As for the people and corpses on the north bank of Daheng, the city residents who had been hiding everywhere heard that the reinforcements had arrived, and flocked out to meet the troops of the King Qin from all walks of life. Instead, they sent troops to plunder the people in Beijing who were welcoming them, killing and injuring many of them.

On the contrary, Hou Jing's troops came after hearing the news and temporarily frightened the reinforcements from all sides to the south of the Qinhuai River, and then the two sides confronted each other across the river.

Because it was the end of the New Year's Eve, in order to reward the soldiers who had been fighting for days, Hou Jingzhu ordered the soldiers of the army to enter the camp tonight to receive rewards of wine and food, and that's why Han Shao came.

He won the first place in the battle when the army first entered Jiankang and attacked Dongfu City. Naturally, there was no perfect procedure for recording meritorious service among the rebellious army. He only used the official seal captured in Dongfu City to print on the cloth and distribute Give it to the meritorious men as a voucher, and it can be used to receive wine and food today.

At this time, many meritorious men had gathered outside the back camp where the supplies were stored. Although each person was only given two liters of turbid wine and three catties of dried meat, it was already very rare in Jiankang City, which had been in war for more than two months. rewarded.

All the meritorious men who came to receive the rewards were vicious and vicious among the rebels, and the battalion soldiers responsible for distributing the rewards did not dare to neglect. After verifying the certificates, the materials were distributed immediately. It was Han Shao's turn.

However, when Han Shao handed over his certificate of Dongfu City meritorious service, the two battalion soldiers inspected it and then waved their hands and said: "The official has an order, you wait for the soldiers in Dongfu City to fail to protect the crown prince, so that the crown prince dies." Xing, there will be no rewards for any achievements in Dongfu City!"

The official family mentioned by this battalion is not Xiao Yan, Emperor Liang in Jiankangtai City, but Xiao Zhengde, King of Linhe, who served as Hou Jing's nephew and supported the rebels entering the city.After Hou Jing's rebel army entered the city, Xiao Zhengde became emperor impatiently with the support of the rebel army, and made his eldest son Xiao Jianli the crown prince.

Dongfu City is an important place for defense in the city, its location is second only to Taicheng and other few places in importance, and it also stores a large amount of supplies, so Hou Jing ordered the crown prince Xiao Jianli to go with his general Yi Lu Huilue was stationed in Dongfu City.

Xiao Zhengde was extremely enthusiastic for the common cause, and spent all his family wealth to help the military and reward meritorious men.The newly promoted crown prince Xiao Jianli probably felt heartbroken when he saw the family wealth was gone. In addition, he was irritable and rebellious against the law. , probably trying to make up for the dwindling household, but was shot to death by Liu Ya.

This incident caused quite a stir among the rebellious army at that time. Even the pawns in the rebellious army couldn't figure it out. Everyone carried their heads and followed the Supreme and Hou Wang to rebel and steal the country. His Royal Highness Go to Daheng to snatch those three melons and two dates, but it cost you your life. What is the plan?

"Open your dog's eyes and take a closer look. I am under the command of General Zhibo Renzhi, not the dog prince's servant! To see the crime, withhold the reward, and deceive me that the ax is not good for me?"

Han Shao himself had a domineering temperament in the village. After being coerced by the rebellious army, he soon adapted to the rules of survival in the rebellious army. After hearing this, he swung his long axe and chopped through a piece of wood.

The meritorious men who lined up to receive the reward all applauded and cheered after seeing this. Although they were all vicious people, they all felt that the meritorious service that they put their lives on could not be nullified because of the involvement of the Xiao dog prince.

The battalion soldiers in charge of distributing the rewards also turned pale with shock after seeing this, and no longer cared about the so-called supreme decree, and directly distributed Han Shao's rewards to him, and even added a little more.

After receiving the reward, Han Shao withdrew from the camp here, and then searched all the way along the fence on the north bank of the Qinhuai River. After more than an hour, he finally found the target of his trip, a camp with about a thousand people inside and outside. camp.

"May I ask if Huainan Guo is buying General Guo? A person from Huainan has heard of General Guo's name for a long time. He misses his fellow countrymen during the New Year's Eve. It coincides with the time when the Marquis rewards him with food and wine. Come and pay respects to the general!"

Han Shao waved the food and drink in front of the soldiers guarding the camp, and said with a smile on his face.

The camp soldiers did not dare to be negligent after seeing this, and rushed into the camp to report, and after a while, they led Han Shao into the camp.

Battalion General Guo Zhengmai sat at the head of the tent, and beside him stood a maid from the East Palace who was gifted by the Hou Wang a few days ago, and was pouring wine carefully for him. When he looked up and saw Han Shao walking in with the wine and meat, he said with a smile: "Look at it!" You are indeed a brave soldier, where is your hometown? Which general is you under now? Now that you know my name, why didn’t you vote earlier?”

Guo Zhengmai is a local tyrant in Huainan, and he led his trilogy to serve Hou Jing as early as in Shouyang. subordinate.

Han Shao knelt down to Guo Zhengmai with the gifts he had received before, and respectfully answered Guo Zhengmai's questions, and expressed his willingness to rely on Guo Zhengmai to continue to make contributions and honor his ancestors.

Guo Zhengmai also laughed when he heard the words, and ordered a trilogy general to wrestle with Han Shao in the tent. Seeing that Han Shao defeated several warriors under his tent in a row, he couldn't help but love him more and keep him. Give wine to drink together in the tent.

The sky soon darkened, and mist began to float on the Qinhuai River. Some soldiers entered the camp to convey the order of the king. It was said that there were signs of large-scale deployment of the Liang army on the south bank, so the battalions should be on alert and beware of night fights against the Liang camp. .

After Guo Zhengmai heard the words, he couldn't help secretly expressing bad luck, but he didn't dare to disobey the order of the king, and even ordered to stop the banquet in the tent.And Han Shao, who was trying his best to please him at the banquet, couldn't help but secretly said it was a pity after hearing this.

All the members in the tent dispersed, and Han Shao, as a new recruit, was appointed by Guo Zhengmai as the team leader to lead the newly attached pawns. Let's have a rest together first.

Although Han Shao was a newcomer, he was well liked by the masses because of his bravery and boldness. After he entered the other tent, five or six people in the same tent were still discussing Huainan's rural affairs with great interest.Han Shao asked casually: "Although General Guo is a nobleman in the village, he was not so powerful in the village in the past. How can he become so powerful after serving the queen?"

"Of course there is a way..."

Several people didn't suspect him when they heard this, so they talked about Guo Zhengmai leading his troops to plunder and gather people in Huainan Township, but Han Shao still smiled and said, "Is there another person named Xiafengzhuang among them?" Village?"

"How can I remember that..."

One of the battalion soldiers had already felt that something was wrong, and before he finished speaking, Han Shao had already rushed forward, stabbing his chest with a short knife in his hand, and the person next to him felt a sudden gust of wind, turned his head and shouted: "Han Er what to do..."

However, he was not spared, and his throat was cut.The members were already drunk and hazy, but Han Shao came prepared and raised his voice suddenly, killing five people in the tent without making too much noise.

"Sister, the enemy has been found! Don't worry, I will send the righteous master to the underworld tonight!"

He bent down and threw a few people onto the felt, and grabbed the soil to cover their wounds to cover up the smell of blood. He went out of the tent to let the night wind blow away the blood smell from his body, and then continued to buy it from Guo Zheng on the grounds of being lost. Go to the tent.

However, at this moment, Guo Zhengmai was walking out in armor, because the enemy army was approaching Daheng and had to upgrade his security. Seeing Han Shao coming, he ordered him to follow behind his own soldiers and go out of the camp where the fog was thicker.

This night, the north and the south of the big truss are destined to be restless. Under the strong recommendation of his cousin Wei Can, Liu Zhongli was finally able to serve as the general leader of the aided armies, and gained the power to command the armies in name.

But Liu Zhongli also knew that if he wanted the army to truly respect and obey, he still needed to have enough brilliant achievements.Before Shaoling King Xiao Lun led his troops away, Pei Zhigao and Huainan troops were in close contact with Poyang King Xiao Fan.There are also other clans and town generals who have their own conflicts, and the internal personnel of the entire coalition army is extremely complicated.

Among the armies that have arrived in the vicinity of Jinei so far, it can be said that only Liu Zhongli and Wei Can, as the heirs of the prince, are really eager to save Jiankang from the danger. It is possible to secretly expect Hou Jing's rebellious army to take away the two palaces.

"Whether the danger of Jiankang can be lifted, we will fight here!"

After nightfall, Liu Zhongli visited Wei Can's camp directly from Xinting, and told his cousin his battle plan. He would move the camp to Dazheng and fight Hou Jing from the front. Kang's road, and threatened the enemy's Liangbei camp from the side.

Now all the armies are stationed in the Qinhuai River and south of the river, and Pei Zhi's senior department is even far away in the middle of the river. Wei Can knew that going to Qingtang would mean going deep into the enemy's territory. Under Liu Zhongli's persuasion, and he was also eager to save the East Palace, he agreed to come down and prepare to take a risk.

In the night, the fog is even thicker, and you can't see your fingers. Even the lights of the fishing boat hanging on the bow are compressed by the fog into an inconspicuous light spot.

Such a situation naturally exacerbated the difficulty of marching, not only to avoid being discovered by enemy scouts, but also to ensure that they arrived at Qingtang in time and set up the camp. Wei Can and his party had worked hard.

Suddenly there was the chaotic sound of gold and iron in the night, and Wei Can ordered people to go forward to look around, only to find that there was an enemy's inconspicuous sentry point in the creek and pond ahead, and more than a dozen enemy corpses had been slaughtered. Around the sentinel, a bloody soldier was struggling to pull his saber out of a general's corpse, and the soldier himself was wounded in the abdomen and back, and was critically injured.

"Could it be that all the soldiers here were slaughtered by strong men?"

Wei Can went forward to look at the battle situation, and couldn't help admiring the seriously injured man who was on the verge of collapse, and then said: "A certain king's master is traveling at night to attack the bandits. May I ask the strong man's name? Will you go with him?"

"Old man of the Xiao family, he indulged evil and raised thieves, causing my relatives to be slaughtered. I killed the thieves for revenge and died without regret, but I will never work for the Liang family again! What kind of teacher is a diligent king, a jackal who is no different from a thief teacher!" Just a dog, I would rather die than go with you!"

Han Shao finally slew his enemy with his own hands, and let out a sigh of relief in his chest. Hearing Wei Can's words, he couldn't help but sneered.

Wei Can's expression darkened when he heard Han Shao's words, but seeing that the man was seriously wounded and dying, he didn't care about his disrespect and offense, and ordered his followers to leave some medicine to treat the knife wound and stop the bleeding, and take it away The people moved to a more remote location and settled down, while they continued to march.

Han Shao originally wanted to die, but he didn't expect to have such an encounter. When he was about to faint from pain, he gritted his teeth and asked Wei Can's entourage in a deep voice: "May I ask what is the surname of your master? If you don't die in the future, I will This favor must be repaid."

After hearing the words, the attendant smiled and said: "My lord is the Marquis of Yongchang, the direct descendant of Wei Kaifu of Jingzhao Weiss. If you, a desperado, can survive by luck, you can hide yourself and steal your life. You don't need to repay your kindness."

(End of this chapter)