Overlord!

Who is most grateful to Sun Ce in these troubled times?

Zhang Yan is definitely among the best.

After all, before Sun Ce's army made the Northern Expedition, Yuan Shang's army was attacking the Black Mountain Army in Zhaojun and Changshan.

Heishan is connected to the north and south of Weijun, Zhaojun, Changshan and other places in Jizhou.

And this place happens to be the heart of Yuan Shao's power. How can others be allowed to snore next to the so-called couch?

Yuan Shao occupied Jizhou in his early years and when he was fighting Gongsun Zan, the Black Mountain Army once stole his hometown Yecheng.

If there hadn't been a traitor in the Black Mountain Army who secretly escorted Yuan Jun's family members out of the city and stabilized Yuan Shao's military morale, Yuan Shao would have been defeated in the early stages of his army.

This battle enabled Yuan Shao to sweep thousands of miles across the Black Mountains from south to north, beheading tens of thousands of people.

Now that Yuan Shao has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, if the capital is still attacked by a group of bandits, then he will simply make the world laugh and be laughed at by future generations.

Therefore, before and after he ascended the throne, Yuan Shang had been leading his troops in raids and campaigns in the Black Mountains.

The elite troops commanded by Yuan Shang were fighting right at the doorstep of Zhao's capital, and they had no worries about logistics. It was no problem to defeat a group of bandits.

He went deep into the Black Mountains, captured tens of thousands, held more than ten chieftains in charge, and penetrated more than a hundred miles into the Jedi. He almost defeated Zhang Yan and was about to be destroyed.

In particular, the Zhao army did not go deep alone. There were troops on both sides of the mountains and important places in the north and south to support them. From Shangdang to Hanoi, and from Zhaojun to Changshan, there were troops guarding the territory.

This left Zhang Yan with no way to retreat, and he had no strategic space to even fight guerrillas.

There was a time when civil strife was about to break out in the Black Mountain Army. The chiefs of various tribes wanted to behead Zhang Yan and begged Yuan Shao to surrender.

Even though it was very difficult for Yuan Shao to defeat the Song army, his sense of oppression against other princes was still very suffocating.

Now Sun Ce asked about Zhang Yan, Zhu Ran, the commander of the Xiuyi Guards at the side, took the initiative to speak and said: "Song Gong, the Xiuyi Guards have contacted Zhang Yan and are trying to persuade him to lead his troops to join Song Gong."

Zhu Ran is the son of Zhu Zhi. Now he is as young as a young man. Of course, he is still three or four years older than Huo Qubing, Lu Meng and others when they joined the army.

Relying on his father's relationship, he became Sun Ce's lieutenant as soon as he became an official. As Zhao Yun was promoted to general, he replaced Zhao Yun in charge of the embroidered guards, responsible for supervising the officials, detecting the enemy's situation, and instigating rebellion against the enemy general.

If this were in later generations, then this would be a meritorious son, living with the country, at least a thousand-niu bodyguard or a sword-wielding bodyguard beside the emperor.

Sun Ce could suspect his ambition, but he would never suspect him of assassination.

Because such a son of a high official would be unwise to betray Sun Ce in any way except for rebelling and treason and replacing Sun Ce as the monarch.

No one could offer enough benefits for him to assassinate Sun Ce at any cost.

Sun Ce also admired the prowess and talent of this Jiangmen disciple, so he made an exception and promoted him to become the second direct envoy of the Xiuyi Guard to succeed Zhao Yun.

Of course, despite this, his age is not much different from Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun is also appointed because of his youth. The most outstanding thing among Sun Ce's army is that he is a talented man from Jiangdong who is young and energetic. Whether it is the governor Zhou Yu or the generals Zhuge Liang, Lu Meng, Zhao Yun, Lu Fan, Tai Shici and others, they are all relatively young and have great appearance.

Speaking of which, Zhu Ran and Sun Ce had a special relationship, which was no weaker than that between Emperor Wu and Huo Qubing.

When Sun Ce's army first entered Wu County, Zhu Zhiju County surrendered to Sun Ce. Zhu Ran was already thirteen years old at that time. His surname was Shi and he was the son of Zhu Zhi's sister.

That is to say, Zhu Ran was actually Zhu Zhi's nephew, but Zhu Zhi had never had any children, so he wrote to Sun Ce to beg Shi Ran as his heir.

Zhu Zhi's hometown was in Danyang, so Sun Ce sent a letter to Danyang County and ordered the prefect of Danyang Danyang to invite Shi Ran with sheep wine as a gift. After Shi Ran arrived in Wu, Sun Ce sent him a gift, so Shi Ran changed his surname to Zhu.

With this relationship, Sun Ce also paid special attention to this young man. He was worthy of Sun Ce's attention and had outstanding military talents.

Historically, he was a powerful general in the Eastern Wu Dynasty who shocked the enemy. When Lu Meng became seriously ill, he recommended Zhu Ran to succeed him as the governor. When Lü Meng died of illness, Zhu Ran took over the army during the holidays and guarded Jiangling.

Cao Wei sent Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He and other generals to attack Jiangling and built several military camps to besiege the city. Cao Pi even went to Wancheng to garrison in person to provide support. Sun Sheng, the general of Soochow, led 10,000 people to defend the state and built a fortress to serve as Zhu Ran's external rescue force. As a result, he was defeated by Zhang He and returned in a rout, completely cutting off Zhu Ran's internal and external connections, and trapped Zhu Ran in the city with fortifications.

At that time, the Battle of Jiangling was just like the Battle of Xiabo today. Food and grass in the city were cut off, and soldiers often suffered from swelling and diseases due to the climate. There were less than 5,000 soldiers who could fight.

Cao Zhen and other generals led the Wei army to raise mountains, dig tunnels, erect towers and oars, and rain down bows and arrows on the city.

All the Wu troops were frightened, but Zhu Ran was the only one who looked calm and showed no fear at all. So everyone felt at ease, he reunited with the powerful officials, and took advantage of the opportunity to attack the two Wei camps and stabilize the situation. The Wei army stormed in June and was unable to go down to Jiangling, so it was forced to withdraw. Because of Zhu Ran's power, the Wei army did not dare to invade Jiangling again for many years.

In today's troubled times, the direct envoys of the Xiuyi Guard are still mainly military attaches. After all, one does not know when they will follow Sun Ce into the battle as personal soldiers.

As emperor, Zhu Di took the lead, and it was very likely that Sun Ce would lead his cavalry to explore the battlefield before the battle on a whim.

Therefore, Zhu Ran had high hopes and was promoted to the post of embroidered clothes envoy.

It's just that now it seems that he, a straight envoy in embroidered clothes, has done quite well in civil affairs such as strategy and intelligence.

He actually took the initiative to send spies to explore the territory of Montenegro and contact the Montenegrin army.

So Sun Ce smiled and said: "Good! This is very good! In the past, it was the brothers of the Yuan family who sent envoys holding seals and ribbons to contact Shan Yue and Zong Commander behind us to rebel. Now I will give him the same way as him. The body is very beautiful."

In fact, the seal ribbon that can be given to Zhang Yan cannot be too high.

The Han Dynasty had already given Zhang Yan the title of General of the Eastern Expedition at any cost!

Even if Sun Ce contacted him again, the seal and ribbon given to him would only be the general title of Silver Seal and Green Shou, which might not even be as good as General Zhengdong. It could only be a general with some miscellaneous title, such as General Jianzhong or General Quest for Rebellion.

After all, the generals of the Song Army have not yet reached the position of general of the four directions, so it is impossible for Zhang Yan to be superior to the generals.

But this kind of strategy of instigating enemy generals does not depend on who gives a higher reward!

Otherwise, Yang Feng, Han Xian and others, a cavalry general and a general, would not have been killed by Liu Bei, an unofficial governor of Xuzhou, in Xiaopei like a pig, and then all his troops would be taken over.

The key is to look at strength. After all, if you take the opponent's seal and ribbon, you must be able to live and enjoy the treatment.

It is self-evident to choose between an official position of ten thousand dan, which will last less than three months, and an official position of two thousand dan, where one can enjoy a lifetime of peace and leave a legacy to future generations.

This is why it was the Yuan brothers who used to instigate rebellion against the generals behind others, because most people in the world felt that these two people could ultimately rule the world.

But now, everyone in the world can probably see that the one who will ultimately determine the world must be the Sun family! The generals were not interested in these strategies, and someone immediately asked: "How many troops does the Montenegrin Army have now?"

Zhu Ran replied: "According to the spies' report, Zhang Yan claimed that the Black Mountain Army still has 100,000 troops and 3,000 horses. As soon as the war opportunity arrives, he will send troops out of the Black Mountain to sweep the lands of Zhao and Wei. Help Song Gongping to rule the world. , Yikuang Liuhe."

Hearing this, there was a burst of laughter in the tent.

Zhang Hong shook his head with a smile and said: "This Zhang Yan is quite clever. He never mentioned the reward. He only said that he wanted to help the Duke of Song to rejuvenate the king's army and act according to the opportunity."

The people in the tent are all heroes of the moment, and they can be said to have been battle-hardened for a long time.

No one took Zhang Yan's claim to heart.

At this time, there are still 100,000 people in Montenegro?

I am afraid that this includes even infant babies and even monkeys in the Black Mountains.

Regardless of whether they can move or not, as long as they are in human form, he dares to call them his subordinates.

If he really has 100,000 troops, how can he resist coming out to grab the credit at this time?

Even if a county is conquered, hundreds or even thousands of additional households can be granted when rewards are given in the future!

Sun Ce also smiled, and then said sternly: "Although Zhang Yan was defeated by Yuan Shao many times, he was able to stabilize himself in the Black Mountains, and his direct lineage must not suffer much loss. Most of those abandoned by him are probably old and weak. If you look at them alone, what will you gain?" The number of one is particularly credible.”

The tithe means that there are still more than 10,000 young men and hundreds of horses.

Everyone nodded slightly at this number. The real number would not be too different from this number.

Even if there are less than five thousand or six thousand, it will have no impact on Zhang Yan. Even if he actually only has three or four thousand troops, as long as he comes out of the Black Mountain and launches a counterattack.

Under the current situation, he can quickly recruit Wanqingzhuang and invade the western part of Zhao State.

When his flag is raised, heroes and thieves who intend to rebel will definitely gather in his army.

So Sun Ce looked directly at Zhu Ran and said: "Xiuyiwei sent a message to Zhang Yan, telling him that the fighter plane has arrived and that the troops will leave the Black Mountain immediately! If he does not see the smoke in the west of Jizhou within half a decade, he will be regarded as a grass bandit! No! Allow him to surrender."

This time Sun Ce's attitude was very tough.

At this time, it is already a critical time for everyone to fight and prove their worth.

If he waited until the Song army invaded Zhao County before he thought of surrendering, it would be too late.

By granting him the title of Marquis, do you think the rewards from the Song Army were too much? I'm afraid that a large number of generals in the Song Army will be dissatisfied. He and Zhang Yan can be granted the title of marquis, but their own generals fight to the death but get nothing?

Then why not simply rush into Black Mountain and take advantage of the situation to defeat Zhang Yan?

Moreover, Sun Ce was also happy to transfer the title of lord given to Zhang Yan to the general of the Song army who conquered Black Mountain.

Zhu Ran immediately handed over his hand: "I will arrange a messenger to go to Montenegro overnight to contact Zhang Yan."

Sun Ce was very sure that with Zhang Yan's intelligence, he would definitely give in. Even if he didn't give in, the leaders around him would help him make a decision.

Montenegro is a group of interests and has offended Yuan Shao. They may not have the courage to continue the bloody battle with Sun Ce.

Placing a bet at this time, although slightly risky, is already the time to gain the most!

After this time, their profits are lost every day. And when the main force of the Song Army entered Hebei under the command of Sun Ce, their profits had bottomed out. They were losing money every day from then on, and the risk of death became greater the further they went.

However, in the current situation, Zhang Yan's dispatch is still very important to Sun Ce.

Sun Ce wanted to use peace talks to support the offensive and war, but he must not let the peace talks hold him back. The offensive and war could never stop.

Zhang Yan's counterattack, located in the heart of Zhao State, greatly restricted the Zhao army's hands and feet, making it unable to fight the Song army with all its strength, and unable to mobilize all its troops to improve the battle situation.

At this critical moment of the world's struggle, the less determined the will to fight is and the wavering between war and peace, the greater the probability of defeat.

Sun Ce made no public announcement at all that he would have peace talks with Zhao, so the army in Hebei was still advancing with great success.

Zhou Yu and Zhao Yun joined forces to invade the territory of Zhongshan. Zhuge Liang's army entered the territory of Julu. Zhang Yan was also cunning. He could not withstand the pressure of Sun Ce, and at the same time he did not dare to really march towards the capital of Zhao, so he After a detour of more than a hundred miles, he sent troops from Jingxingguan and returned to his hometown of Changshan. Then he sent an envoy to Zhao Yun to ask for help from the king's division.

If he hadn't conquered Jingxing Pass, Zhou Yu would have killed him!

He was a surprise force when he came out of Heishan. He had the greatest surprise effect at the beginning. He gained the most from attacking Zhao County. He could directly overwhelm the entire Zhao court and make countless officials flee.

Attacking Wei County secondly can frighten the Zhao army in the south and cut off their retreat.

As a result, he ran to Changshan! This place is located in the north, close to Zhongshan, and the Song army will attack soon.

When his troops leave this place, the risks are minimal and the benefits are minimal!

It's just that Zhao Yun and he are from Changshan, so they put in a good word for him. Bingxingguan carries Taihang on its back, faces the Hebei plain in the distance, strangles the throat of Shanxi and Hebei, and is a must for military strategists.

Zhang Yan's victory over this powerful pass was actually beyond everyone's expectations. It at least cut off a choke point for the Yuan family to escape to Bingzhou.

Moreover, his troops coming out of Changshan did have the effect of giving orders to Hebei. The heroes of Changshan followed suit, and his troops quickly expanded to more than 20,000.

At this time, Zhang Yan was beheaded, and the heroes would inevitably be frightened and scatter in all directions.

Zhang Yan sent an envoy to ask for help from Wang Shi, but only received a mediocre reward. He also realized that he probably went too far.

After all, the Song army has no shortage of troops in Hebei. Zhou Yu, Zhao Yun, and Xian Yufu originally had 30,000 to 40,000 troops in Zhongshan. In addition, Zhuge Liang's troops in Julu and Qinghe areas, as well as a large number of heroes and volunteers, Hebei fought for Song Gong. I'm afraid there are more than 100,000 troops.

There is no shortage of his 20,000 or so Montenegrin army bandits. In Song Gong's eyes, he is just one of the group of thieves who have been brought under his command.

If he hadn't been located in the heart of Zhao State, he wouldn't have been worthy of Song Gong's personal intervention.

There are so many bandits in Hebei, and most of them have never even heard of Song Gong's name.

So Zhang Yan quickly sorted out his mentality and launched an attack on Yingtao, the place of his destiny.

Zhang Niujiao, the leader of the Black Mountain Army, was killed by an arrow while attacking this place, so he entrusted his troops to Zhang Yan.

The reason why Zhang Niujiao died here is precisely because the city here is high and the pond is deep, and it is the seat of Julu County!

If Zhang Yan really captured the giant deer, it would be enough to shock Hebei. It will be enough to trap all the defenders who fled Zhongshan to death in the northern part of Jizhou. (End of chapter)