People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 464 Suspicion and internal strife, life and death

The sun was setting, and the sunset covered the entire sky.

Outside the east gate of Lanxi County, the water of the Wujiang River was also dyed red at some point.

Blood red.

Rolling stones fell directly from the top of Lanxi City, like a rain curtain.

The fast boat charging on the river was hit by rolling stones from time to time, capsized instantly, and the soldiers on it suddenly disappeared.

The blood floated up from the water, instantly blurred.

……

Yu Ze stood at the top of the city, with Li Yuanyi, Du Bixing, Wang Bo, Wang Qin, Feng Hua, Xu Wen and others standing beside him.

Rolling stones fell from the Wujiang River toward the city wall, and hit the outer wall heavily, making a huge bang.

Although the city wall was shaken for a while, it never hit the city wall.

No one was hit.

Yu Ze looked at the Wujiang River, several warships were quickly approaching the city wall, but they were always hit by the catapults on the city wall as soon as they approached.

The catapult on the city wall was higher than on the ship, and its attack range was much longer. Before the warship got too close, it was already smashed and full of holes.

"It's probably the case today." Yu Ze heaved a sigh of relief, turned around and looked to his side, and said in a low voice, "Immediately spread the word about the prince, and let us know the situation!"

"Follow the order!" A Nanchang mansion guard in black immediately stepped forward, cupped his hands, and turned around quickly.

Yu Ze turned around to discuss with Li Yuanyi and Du Bixing: "We need to beware of their sneak attack tonight..."

……

"Okay, let's retreat for now." Wen Fuzhi commanded his warships to retreat with a livid face, keeping out of the attack range of the catapults on the city.

"The siege of the city can't be accomplished at one hour in a day." Zhu Xi rushed over from another boat, and persuaded Wen Fuzhi, "Now the siege of the city is not good, because the Wujiang River is in a hurry, and the warships Once sideways, it is easy to be moved by the impact of the current, and the hull is unstable, and the catapult is even more inaccurate."

The Wujiang River flows from south to north, and the water travels very quickly.

It may be okay to go upstream, but it is not easy to stop sideways on the Wujiang River.

Wen Fuzhi glanced at Zhu Xi, shook his head bluntly, his eyes were still firmly nailed to the city wall: "The problem is not with the catapults, our soldiers were shot and killed by the crossbows of the city wall as soon as they landed, or There are more preparations behind the walls, and with cavalry roaming around, it is difficult to attack the city."

If you want to capture a city, even a county, you can't just rely on the catapults on the warships.

It's just that the other units on his side couldn't go ashore at all, and they were immediately charged and killed by the cavalry as soon as they went ashore.

Lanxi County has long been prepared to defend the city.

Wen Fuzhi shook his head, and said with a solemn face: "I originally wanted to take part of the fleet to attack the city of Wuzhou directly while the fleet was attacking the city, but now I can't put enough pressure on Lanxi County. We can’t get away, otherwise, as soon as our front foot walks, someone will immediately chase and kill us.”

"It's better to set up a camp on the east bank first, and make a long-term siege posture. In this way, they will not dare to act rashly." Yuan Chao came forward from behind at this time, and put forward his suggestion in a low voice.

Zhu Xi immediately agreed and said: "It's feasible, Sanheguan, Lanxi camp, so they can be connected, even if there is an emergency, we have to retreat, we can hold our ground, and even have the power to counterattack. It can even be reversed."

At the end, Zhu Xi's voice became lower and lower.

It has really reached the last step, which means that all their other actions have failed.

"Something is wrong." Wen Fuzhi shook his head, walked to the bow of the ship, and looked at the warships in the upper reaches of the Wujiang River several miles away to monitor them. Wen Fuzhi's heart tightened suddenly for some reason: "Today Since arriving here, I haven’t seen King Nanchang, and I don’t know where he is hiding.”

"Is the King of Nanchang really not in Lanxi County?" Yuan Chao couldn't help asking.

Wen Fuzhi shook his head, and said firmly: "If he is here, with his style, he must have come out today, so he must not be in the county seat. He may be somewhere where we can see us." , and we cannot see where he is."

Wen Fu subconsciously looked towards the east side, the rolling hills. He really suspected that Li Xuan might be hiding there.

"Or, let's kill the carbine." Yuan Chao said suddenly, leaned in front of Wen Fuzhi, and said in a low voice, "Your official knows that there is a small road to the Pujiang River. Although the road is difficult, it is absolutely unexpected."

From Lanxi to the east, across the mountains, you can reach Pujiang County.

Bypassing the mountain road from the Pujiang River, you can reach Yiwu again.

Yiwu Dongyang used to be Yuezhou and Hangzhou.

It is even possible to attack Wuzhou City from the east.

"Sir, you want to go by yourself." Wen Fuzhi gave Yuan Chao a cold look, as if he directly saw his heart.

Yuan Chao took a step back with a somewhat embarrassing expression, cupped his hands and said, "Going to Pujiang, at least you can collect food and grass, and at the most two days, your subordinates can return with food and grass."

"How can two days be enough? Mister should stay in Pujiang for a while longer." Wen Fuzhi turned his head indifferently, looked at the opposite Lanxi County, and said coldly: "Perhaps we only need to delay for one day. I'll wait for these People will all die under the hands of the King of Nanchang."

"Why is this!" Zhu Xi hurried forward and persuaded: "Young master, although the king of Nanchang is good at calculating, as long as we unite as one, we will be invincible and invincible."

"Invincible, omnipotent?" Wen Fuzhi snorted disdainfully, glanced at Yuan Chao, smiled coldly, and then turned solemn: "You don't know the king of Nanchang, when he does one thing repeatedly for a long time, Or, if he hasn't shown up for a long time, it means that he has already started to calculate something. This time is actually the most careful time, just like what we are doing now. If we don't pay attention, we may be wiped out .”

After thinking for a while, Wen Fuzhi looked sideways at Yuan Chao again, and said, "Mr. Yuan, go draw up a list and ask them to set off for Pujiang immediately. If they can return in time, they may become a surprise army."

"I will obey the order." Yuan Chao bowed his hands to accept the order, and after turning around, a grim expression appeared on his face.

What returning in time, what surprise soldiers, is nothing more than sending his people out so that he can't do anything at the critical moment.

This kind of wariness and distrust is simply fruitless.

Immediately, Yuan Chao's face completely calmed down. The reason why he did this now was to let his cronies escape the catastrophe!
The King of Nanchang is so easy to deal with!

Yuan Chao couldn't help but let out a sneer in his heart. When he was on the ship before, the King of Nanchang had already looked at every ship, and even met every team leader. Knows well.

Yuan Chao was not blind. From Sanhe Pass yesterday to Lanxi County today, King Nanchang didn't even show his face.

Wen Fu knows himself and does not know the enemy, and in the first battle, he has already lost half of his chances, while the king of Nanchang knows himself and the enemy, and in the first battle, his chances of winning are more than half.

Soon, Yuan Chao drew up the list and sent it to Wen Fuzhi, and the first person was Yuan Lin.

Seeing this selfish list, Wen Fuzhi's expression darkened immediately, but he finally nodded and said, "That's it."

After Yuan Chao withdrew, Wen Fuzhi immediately said in a low voice, "It seems that he is sure that we will be defeated."

Zhu Xi loosened the robe on his body, looked at the Lanxi city in the distance, and then looked at Wen Fuzhi and said, "I promised earlier that he would succeed Shi Xu as the governor of Muzhou, the governor of Muzhou, Wu Yue The general manager originally expected to give him the position after taking Wuzhou, and after Meiling Pass was defeated, he immediately begged for surrender from the court, perhaps because he saw that the future was hopeless."

Wen Fuzhi suddenly turned his head, looked at Zhu Xi, and asked with a frown, "Could it be that he knew about our plan in advance, so he suddenly rebelled?"

The real headmaster of Tianyin Sect is Wen Fuzhi, and it will always be Wen Fuzhi.

Their original plan was to ask Yuan Chao to resign as chief executive after taking Yuezhou, "abide" to Wen Fuzhi, and Yuan Chao would go to serve as a servant, and then find a time and a reason at random to send Yuan Chao this The servant shot is also exempted.

This is their plan.

After all, Yuan Chao is not one of their own, how can the position in the new dynasty be reserved for outsiders.

If Yuan Chao is sensible, then he will be given a casual job to take care of him in the future. If he is not, then he can only be sent back to the west.

This is the tacit understanding that the middle and high level of Tianyin Sect have had for a long time.

"Probably not. Who would tell him about this kind of thing." Zhu Xi shook his head immediately.

"Either he overheard it from somewhere, or he guessed it himself, so he postponed the speed of marching from the beginning." Wen Fuzhi looked serious, waved his hand and said: "Don't talk about it , Immediately ordered people to build a camp on the east bank, and secretly sent people to collect food and grass.”

"Follow the order!" Zhu Xi turned around and arranged without any hesitation.

The Tianyin sect claims to establish a heaven on earth where everyone is equal for the people. Even at the beginning of the uprising, they planned to seize food and grass from the government's warehouses, and did not intend to plunder from the people at all. Not much anymore.

Although the east bank is at the foot of the mountains, there are not many people living there, but there are still many villages.

Unlike the west bank, the cavalry of Qianniuwei roared in and roared away, and they couldn't gain a foothold at all.

It's not that Wen Fuzhi didn't send a brigade to set up an array and plunder the surrounding villages, but the people on the west bank have already been evacuated.

During the time they were delayed at Sanhe Pass, Li Xuan had already sent people to make comprehensive preparations.

From Sanheguan to Lanxi County, there were a large number of iron chains across the river every five miles along the way, and there were occasional hidden piles lurking underwater, which made them dare not go forward with all their strength, and it took them more than half a day to reach Lanxi.

Coupled with the cavalry charge on the shore, they couldn't collect food away from the shore.

Wen Fuzhi understood that Li Xuan wanted to make them short of food, so they had to rush to attack, and if they couldn't attack for a long time, they had to choose another way.

Wen Fuzhi had a feeling that he was stepping into the trap set by Li Xuan step by step.

There is only one way to break the trap, and that is to kill Li Xuan.

You die and I live.

Thinking of this, Wen Fuzhi immediately looked at the orderly soldier beside him: "Send order, leave in half an hour and go to Wuzhou City overnight."

"Here!"

……

On the bank of Yanxi River, Li Xuan was sitting under the thatched hut, with a brown teapot on the table beside him, and Sima Yao Zhi, the governor of Yuezhou, was sitting opposite him.

On the side of the Wujiang River, all six warships were leaning on the shore, with swords and guns bristling above them, flags flying, and soldiers majestic.

The fast horse came quickly from a distance, and a black-clothed mansion guard jumped off the horse, holding a small bamboo tube in his palm.

Li Zhu took the bamboo tube, pulled out the note inside, and handed it to Li Xuan.

After Li Xuan glanced at it, she passed it to Yao Zhi.

"Wenfuzhinan is here!" Yao Zhi looked surprised, then looked at Li Xuan, and asked softly, "Is the prince planning to defeat him here?"

Li Xuan stood up, looked at the Wujiang waterway in front of her, and said softly: "From the south of the Wujiang River to the Yanxi River, any ship must slow down, especially when going up the river. A single merchant ship is fine. The fleet of many merchant ships will inevitably be divided into three parts, and then take the opportunity to make a move..."

(End of this chapter)