History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 88 Ge Congzhou Saves the Lord

【Ge Congzhou saves the Lord】

In front of the Cai thief Qin Zongquan, Chenzhou Zhao Dun was insignificant, and Bianzhou Zhu Wen was not worth mentioning. Even if the two formed an alliance, it would not be a big deal. Qin Zongquan still had an overwhelming advantage, and the situation Zhu Wen faced was still very serious.

Being alone and weak, but in the midst of a powerful enemy, was like sleeping unarmed in a tiger's den. Zhu Wen's sense of crisis was self-evident.

Crisis, there are dangers, but also opportunities. Cowards will only be scared away by danger, while brave people can find opportunities in it.

Zhu Wen is a brave man.

Who says living at the entrance of a tiger's cave is necessarily a bad thing? Whenever the tiger goes out to hunt, the tiger cubs in the cave are my prey; when the tiger comes home, I will touch its buttocks unexpectedly. This is me, Zhu Wen!

Although Qin Zongquan had many soldiers and generals and a vast territory, he plundered everywhere, which stretched the battle line and made him surrounded by enemies. In contrast, although Zhu Wen had few soldiers and generals and a small territory, he was able to concentrate superior forces, wait for opportunities to launch surprise attacks, and accumulate small victories into a big one.

As the governor of Xuanwu, Zhu Wen had limited soldiers to call upon, whether they were hundreds or thousands, and few of them could actually fight in the war of "harvesting vegetables" except for arresting bandits and standing guard. Therefore, in every battle, Zhu Wen had to personally go into battle and serve as the commander-in-chief.

Going to the battlefield in person, even braving the arrows and stones and leading the troops, is a compulsory course for every grassroots Jiedushi. First, it is to boost morale, second, it is to train the team, and third, it is to examine the cadres and talents... In short, the main reason is poverty and lack of soldiers.

Once, Chen and Bian met in the area of ​​Mingshui and threatened the base camp of Cai bandit. Qin Zongquan, the Cai bandit, hurriedly sent troops to fight, and the two sides met in Wangxiazhai.

The Cao army had a glorious tradition of engaging in military real estate projects. They first demolished civilian houses outside the city, and then used these building materials to build military strongholds, naming them "such and such village". Qin Zongquan inherited and continued to use this tradition.

Therefore, the "Battle of Wangxiazhai" can be seen as an active offensive by the Chen-Bian coalition forces.

When the two armies faced off, Zhu Wen's "particularly ferocious" side was once again revealed. He took the lead and launched a charge against the thief Cai.

Cai Ze took advantage of the home field advantage and laid the tripwires in advance.

Just as Zhu Wen rushed to the fish, his horse suddenly fell, throwing him off and causing him to fall heavily to the ground. Seeing this, the Cai bandits swarmed over to grab the big fish.

When the Bian army saw that their commander had suffered a defeat, their morale dropped greatly and they actually retreated in defeat and fled for their lives.

Seeing that Zhu Wen was about to be captured alive, at the critical moment, a Bian general roared and rushed into the enemy army, jumped off his horse, and helped Zhu Wen onto his own warhorse.

"Let the leader go first!"

Zhu Wen took a closer look and found that this man was none other than Ge Congzhou, the young general who had just surrendered to him in the Battle of Wangmandu.

Before he could say anything, Cai's bandits came rushing in like a tide. Ge Congzhou held a gun in one hand and a sword in the other to cover Zhu Wen's retreat.

Although Ge Congzhou was brave, two fists could not defeat four hands, and a hero could not defeat a large number of people. In the close combat, Ge Congzhou was shot in the thigh, shot several times, and his face was also injured. Almost in an instant, Ge Congzhou seemed to be doused with blood, and blood was constantly flowing from head to toe. Even if he had three heads and six arms, it would be difficult for him to escape.

Another young general, Zhang Yanshou, also turned his horse and rushed into the battle array, charging left and right, slashing in front and killing behind, fighting with Ge Congzhou, one on horseback and one on foot, to protect their master. Zhang Yanshou's charge tore a gap in the encirclement of Cai's army. Ge Congzhou was quick-witted and quick-handed, seizing the fleeting opportunity to protect Zhu Wen and successfully break through.

Zhu Wen quickly commanded his troops, fighting and retreating, and finally turned defeat into victory, killing thousands of Cai bandits, achieving a tragic victory in the "Battle of Wangxiazhai", and retreating to Mengshui.

Zhu Wen reorganized the troops and severely criticized the generals who participated in the battle, accusing them of fighting poorly. They were all demoted and demoted; only Ge Congzhou and Zhang Yanshou were rewarded.

After this battle, Zhu Wen became more aware of the importance of discipline. It is not the quantity of soldiers that matters, but their quality. Zhu Wen had learned this lesson in the Cao army. The mob is often like this, each with his own trumpet and his own tune, like a wolf but not a dog, rushing forward when there is profit, and scattering at the slightest danger.

Small bandits can do this, euphemistically called breaking up into smaller groups. But now Zhu Wen is the general in charge of a larger and larger army, not a bunch of hooligans fighting in groups. Fortunately, Ge Congzhou and Zhang Yanshou risked their lives to save him today, but what about tomorrow?

After careful consideration, Zhu Wen carried out military reforms and established the "Ba Dui Zhan" system. The system was very simple, with only one sentence: "If a general dies in battle, all his subordinates will be killed." This means that if a general dies in battle, all his subordinates will be killed.

If the squad leader dies, the whole squad will be killed; if the regiment leader dies, the whole regiment will be killed. Simple and brutal.

After the implementation of the "Ba Dui Zhan" system, the combat effectiveness of the Bian Army was greatly improved, and it became a fierce and powerful army that the Cai bandits feared.

Everything has its positive and negative sides. The "Ba Dui Zhan" also gave rise to deserters to a certain extent. When a general was killed in battle, his soldiers often fled for fear of punishment and dared not return to the team.

Ge Congzhou's wonderful life began from then on. He jumped from an unknown "bandit surrendered general" to an important general of the Bian Army and made countless military achievements to help Zhu Wen establish his own kingdom.

Qin Zongquan was very embarrassed by the defeat at his doorstep, so he decided to retaliate by sending a large army to attack Bianzhou in response to Zhu Wen.

Ge Congzhou led his troops to repel the Cai bandits, killing more than 3,000 of them, capturing two bandit generals alive and beheading them for public display.

Although Zhu Wen won more battles than he lost in the battles with the bandit Cai, he did not become proud and complacent because of this. Instead, he often suffered from sleeplessness and anxiety.

Zhu Wen is very clear about the current situation, and Qin Zongquan's main focus is currently on the periphery.

Qin Zongquan's strategic intention was very clear. He first enclosed the land and then cultivated it carefully. He sent Sun Ru to attack Luoyang, the eastern capital, to push his power to the east of Chang'an. He also sent generals to push his sphere of influence to Jingnan and Huainan. Wherever Cai's iron hoofs trampled, it was the territory of "Da Qi". As for "thorns" like Chenzhou and Bianzhou, he adopted a strategy of temporarily shelving them.

Zhao Dun of Chenzhou and Zhu Wen of Bianzhou did not escape Qin Zongquan's control at all. Although they won small victories, they had already been part of Qin Zongquan's strategic layout.

When Qin Zongquan's strategy entered the second stage, from rough to fine, removing nails one by one, it would be the end of Chen and Bian states.

We cannot criticize Qin Zongquan's strategic thinking from a God's perspective. We can only say that he was very unfortunate to meet Zhu Wen.

When the Bian army was immersed in the illusion of repeated victory, only Zhu Wen kept a clear mind. He knew that he had little time left. He had to race against time and complete the original accumulation before Qin Zongquan shifted his strategic goals.

Zhu Wen gave his team the highest instruction: "Develop slowly and don't waste time."

(End of this chapter)