Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 524
Zang Tu rebelled in Yan State. The biggest problem was the strength of troops and manpower. Due to the constraints of the times, although Yan State controlled half of Hebei, the West Liao Corridor and basically the Liaodong Peninsula, these places were in the late Qin and early Han Dynasties. Because of the sparse population and the lack of money and food, the four counties of Liaodong, Liaoxi, Yuyang, and Shanggu only have one county seat each. Excluding the troops that must stay in the place, they are fully equipped. The power of the world controlled by the Han court contends.

It was okay for Zang Tu, because he chose to submit obediently before the Han army stretched his hand into the land of Yan, and he never gave the Han court any excuse to intervene in the internal affairs of the country of Yan. The control is very strong, so before the Dongyuan battlefield has decided the winner, Yan has already completed the follow-up conscription work, and urgently assembled [-] troops in Jicheng, the capital of Yan, which is really worrying in the heart The uneasy Zang Tu and Yan Guowen and Wu gave a booster.

During this period, Zang Quan's front-line report was also sent back to Jicheng. Knowing that the Han army had already conscripted in Jingxing, and that the main force of Zhao's army had been mobilized much earlier than he thought, Zang Tu immediately understood the situation. Miao, also quickly made a decision, determined to personally lead the [-] rear troops to the south, to help Zang Quan deal with the main force of the Zhao army, and to seize Jingxing, leaving only [-] troops to guard Jicheng, and his prince Zang Yan temporarily Sitting in the capital.As for the important town of Juyang, which had already been threatened by the Han army in Daijun, Zang Tu could no longer spare any troops to reinforce him, so he just gritted his teeth and ignored it, ordering the defenders of Juyang to defend the city to buy time for himself.

After making up his mind on this idea, on the second day Zang Tu hurriedly led Zhai Xu, Li Liao and other generals to lead the army south, and drove straight to the main battlefield of Dongyuan. As soon as he set off, he ordered the army to take Zhai Xu, who was old in the battlefield, was quite worried when he saw this, and hurriedly said to Zang Tu: "My lord, we have too many recruits, and we don't have time to train and familiarize them. If we keep marching southward at a rapid pace, I'm afraid the soldiers will fall behind. Loss would be serious."

Unlike Zang Quan, Zang Tu was able to listen to the persuasion. After thinking for a while, this was indeed the truth, so he also stopped the speed of the rapid march and ordered the army to march southward at a speed of fifty miles a day. Then Zang Tu comforted himself and said: "It should be like this. Quan'er has a lot of elites. Even if the troops are at a disadvantage, there must be no problem in defending the camp. The widow is not in such a hurry."

It was also a coincidence that after crossing the Fanyang Iron Mine, which Zang Tu had placed high hopes on, that night, Zang Tu had another good dream in his camp. Successfully defeated the main force of the Zhao army that was rushing northward, and then the front and rear troops of the Yan army teamed up to quickly take down the crucial Dongyuan City and Jingxing City. , so when the next day continued to set off, Zang Tu was of course smiling all over his face, thinking it was a good sign.

Even Li Liao and Zhai Xu, who accompanied him on the expedition, saw the signs and curiously asked Zang Tu why he was smiling so happily. Zang Tu didn't hide anything and told them the dream he had. Hearing this, Li Liao also took it for granted, and they both said, "Your Majesty, this is a good sign, and it means that our battle going south will be very smooth."

"Eldest son will definitely be able to do this." Li Liao also said: "Zhao's bandit army is capable, and the last general has seen it on the battlefield of Qidi. It is far inferior to our iron cavalry in Yan. Xia said that man This time, the mob gathered hastily again. They will definitely not be opponents when they meet our iron cavalry from the Yan Kingdom. The last general dares to bet that without our reinforcements arriving, the Eldest Prince can directly defeat Zhao Guo's bandit army! "

"Report—!"

As if to make General Li Liao, who had tried his best to flatter Uncle Zhou, fulfill his promise, at this moment, a fast scout horse galloped back in front of him, rushed to Zang Tu and dismounted to salute, and reported loudly: "Report to Your Majesty, we have met the Eldest Young Master's team, and the Eldest Young Master wants to see you immediately."

"So fast? Have you already met Quan'er's army?" Zang Tu was overjoyed, then froze, and hurriedly shouted, "How is that possible? Isn't Quan'er's army in Dongyuan? Why did we just pass Fan Yang?" , met his army before leaving the country?"

"Your Majesty, forgive me." The scout replied cautiously, "Young Master escaped from defeat, all the infantry were lost, and only a few thousand cavalry escaped back."

With a soft snap, the whip in Zang Tu's hand fell to the ground, and his face turned dead gray, and Zhai Xu, who was beside him, asked Li Liao in a low voice: "General Li, what kind of bet did you say just now? "

After hastily ordering the army to stop advancing, a moment later, amidst the sound of horseshoes, the defeated soldiers of the Yan army, who had lost their helmets and armor, appeared in front of Zang Tu and the others. Immediately afterwards, Zang Quan, who didn't even know where his helmet was, also flew away. He ran back to Zang Tu, bowed down to Zang Tu as soon as they met, and cried loudly in front of Zang Tu. Zang Tu looked at his precious son, and then at the defeated crowd of the Yan army, and then roared and said: "What happened? How did you lose so badly? How many people are left of the [-] troops handed over to you by the widow? How many people are left?"

"My son is incompetent, my son is incompetent." Zang Quan kowtowed and cried loudly, "My son and Xia said that the husband will fight in the southern suburb of Dongyuan, and Xia said that the man's army is more than twice as strong as the son's." , personally led the army into the formation, forcibly tore a gap from the position of the son's central army, and killed the son's flag formation, causing our army to lose command and be defeated by itself. Yan Yao took the opportunity to kill from behind , Our army was defeated and forced to flee back to the camp. Who would have thought that before the defeated soldiers returned to the camp, the thief general Tao Xi led the tyrant army to suddenly kill him, and took advantage of the opportunity to enter our camp. Our army..., our army It was a complete defeat, and there were probably five thousand... more than 5000 cavalrymen who fled back."

After roughly talking about the defeat, Zang Quan pleaded guilty again and again, and crawled in front of Zang Tu crying to death, but Zang Tu, who had a small fortune, was so angry that he whipped his whip and roared wildly, "Then why are you coming back? What are you doing?" What are you doing back here? What are you doing? Why don’t you die on the battlefield? Why don’t you die on the battlefield?”

It was the Yan Jun Wenwu who was next to him who rushed up and grabbed Zang Tu, and Zang Quan escaped the bad luck of being beaten to death by Zang Tu. Among them, Zhaoshe, who also escaped, turned his tail and said to Zang Tu: "My lord! This subject can testify that the eldest son has done his best, not that he is incapable of commanding, but that Zhao's bandit army is attacking too fiercely. Lian Xia said that the man went to the battle himself to boost morale, and the strength of Zhao's bandit army is too great. Da, the eldest son really can't resist, that's why the current situation has been created."

"Your Majesty, calm down." Li Liao also persuaded: "The bandit army of the State of Zhao is notoriously good at fighting cavalry on foot. But they are very normal.”—By the way, this is true, in the era without stirrups and Takahashi saddles, even Zhao’s army in Hufu cavalry and shooting still relied on infantry as the main combat force.

After all, he was his own son. After hearing everyone's persuasion, Zang Tu threw his whip on the ground angrily, and then shouted at Zang Quan, "How many tyrant troops are there on the Dongyuan battlefield?"

"Reporting to my father, I don't know exactly how many there are." Zang Quan replied tremblingly: "My son only knows that the bandit army brought by the bandit general Tao Xi must be more than [-]. Fifty-six thousand, besides, Yan Yao has about six or seven thousand troops in his hands."

"So many?" Zang Tu's face became even paler, and he murmured: "So, the front team of the tyrant's army alone has reached more than [-] troops, which is more than double our total strength?"

"Your Majesty, the strength of the bandit army is far greater than we expected. Dongyuan must not go again." Zhai Xu said hastily: "Where to go next, please make up your mind early."

After pondering for a long while with a dark face, Zang Tu roared, "Order the whole army to withdraw to Jicheng immediately, and make every effort to strengthen the city defense with deep ditches and high fortifications, and prepare to fight to the death with the tyrants and bandits in Jicheng."

"Your Majesty, what about Zhuo County and Yi County?" Zhai Xu hurriedly asked again: "There is also Fan Yang behind us. There are two small towns, the old and the new, where troops can be stationed. Whether or not the troops will be stationed, how much will be given?" Shall we buy some time?"

"Our troops are already insufficient, so don't stay here and let the Han thieves defeat them one by one." Zang Tu told the truth with a sigh, "Let's give up the two small cities in Fanyang, as well as the guards in Zhuo County and Yi County. Army, those who can be transferred back, all will be transferred back, and we will only guard one city in Jicheng from now on."

Those who hit Zang Tu even more were still behind, and led the army back to Jicheng in a dejected manner. After the army approached the city of Juyang, some of the defenders of Juyang suddenly rebelled and joined forces from inside and outside to help the Han army take Juyang. Zang Tu heard the news and complained even more. City, convened civil and military cronies to discuss countermeasures.

This is also the most frustrating and dull court meeting held by Yan State since Zang Tu became king. Facing Zang Tu's roar, Yan State's civil and military personnel were all silent, and they didn't even dare to take a breath. Standing up alone to offer advice and suggestions to help Zang Tu resolve the crisis in front of him-this is also impossible, the disparity in strength is too huge, even if Han Xin really arrives in the country of Yan, he is basically doomed to do nothing, let alone It's someone else.

In the end, Zang Tu forced him into a hurry, and Zhang Sheng, Zang Tu's brain trustee, said bravely, "My lord, since the matter has come to this point, we have no choice but to defend Jicheng and ask the Xiongnu for help. , and only when the Xiongnu dispatched an army to rescue us, can we hope to get through this difficulty."

"Is it that easy to ask the Xiongnu for help?" Zang Tu said in a bitter voice, "Let's not say that the border tribes between us and the Xiongnu suddenly turned against each other. We sent reinforcements. Spring has come, and according to the living habits of the Huns, now is the time for them to migrate north to breed cattle and sheep. Will the Xiongnu Shanyu sacrifice their livelihood for the next year for us?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, we don't need to ask the Huns to come out to rescue us." Zhang Sheng hurriedly said: "We only need to ask the Huns to send out [-] troops to rescue us, and we can hope to stop the attack of the tyrants. Don’t give up, I am willing to go to the grasslands to ask for help from the Xiongnu on behalf of the king.”

"Father, let the son go." Zang Yan, who surrendered to the Huns in history, hurriedly stood up to grab the job, and asked Zang Tu: "The son is the prince of Yan, and you are going to ask the Huns for help on behalf of the father. It can prove our sincerity to be a vassal, and we can also make an impromptu decision on behalf of the father and agree to other additional conditions proposed by the Huns."

"It has to be like this." Zang Tu sighed helplessly, nodded and said: "Then the prince will go, as long as the Huns are willing to send troops, you can agree for me no matter what the conditions are. Zhang Sheng stayed and continued to help the widow Come up with a plan to deal with the tyrant army."

Zhang Sheng had no choice but to clap his hands and sang promises, then gave Zang Yan a sneaky look, and said in his heart: "Prince, you slipped fast enough."

It happened that Zhang Sheng's resentful eyes happened to be seen by Zang Yan, and Zang Yan also understood Zhang Sheng's thoughts, and said in his heart: "Don't think that the prince doesn't know that you want to slip, the prince must slip, I The crown prince was appointed by the emperor himself, and my father rebelled against me, if I don't sneak to a safer grassland, I will die without a place to bury him when Jicheng is destroyed."

Zang Tu really should have kept Zhang Sheng behind. Next, when Zang Tu asked everyone how to defend the capital, everyone still kept silent. Only Zhang Sheng, who had nowhere to retreat, opened his mouth and offered two One is to have all the troops stationed in the city to ensure that there are enough troops available when defending the city; the other is to organize other people in the city to assist in the battle to help the Yan army defend the city, and at the same time spread rumors that the Han army was defeated. After the city, the city will be massacred, forcing the people in the city to defend the city with all their strength.

Of course, Zang Tu adopted these two strategies without hesitation. After a little calculation, Zang Tu also made up his mind and said: "Also, if all the troops are stationed in the city, a large number of civilian houses in the city will definitely be requisitioned. It will definitely be affected. How about this, you go back and prepare quickly, let your parents and wives all live in Miyagi before sunset tomorrow, and be protected by the guards of the widows, so that you can defend the city and fight in peace."

Knowing that Zang Tu wanted to take the hostages, but none of the officials of Yan State dared to point it out, they could only honestly bow their hands and sing promises, and accept Zang Tu's arrangement with humility.Then it was at this time that Zhang Sheng, the think tank, suddenly remembered a big event, and hurriedly said: "My lord, I suddenly remembered a big event. The tyrant army marched into Jicheng from three directions. How come we still don't know what happened to the tyrant Qin army? Who is the coach?"

It was Zhang Sheng who reminded Zang Tu that the situation was indeed wrong—Xia Shuo, Tao Xi, and Gongsun Tong marched into Yandi at the same time, why didn't one of them be the main general?He immediately said: "That's right, how could you be negligent about this point? The strength of the three tyrant armies is not much different, and they don't belong to each other. Why haven't I heard who is the commander?"

"Your Majesty, there should be two possibilities." General Wei Man of the Yan Army said, "First, the imperial court did not appoint the frontline commander of the tyrant's army at all, but let Xia Shuo and Gongsun fight with these idiots individually. Second However, the chief general appointed by the Tyrannical Court may still be on his way, and it will take some time before he arrives in Yandi."

Zang Tu nodded slowly, thinking about it and said: "This is an opportunity. You can think of a way for me, and see if you can take advantage of the fact that the tyrants and bandits are not under each other's control and are fighting on their own, and do something."

All the officials of the Yan Kingdom finally regained their spirits. During the discussion, some people offered advice and suggested that Zang Tu should attack decisively and defeat the three armies of Han. Roaring and vetoing, "Destroy each of them? It's easy to say, we only have more than 3 troops in total, and we have to keep the army to guard the capital. We don't have the upper hand in front of the tyrant army. How can we defeat the Han thieves one by one?"

"My lord, as far as our current situation is concerned, the possibility of defeating the tyrant's army is really very small." Zhang Sheng said again, "However, I feel that using this point to make some articles to slow down the army may be able to win us over." A certain amount of time."

"How to delay the troops?" Zang Tu asked hastily.

"My subject thinks that Zhao thief Xia should be dealt with." Zhang Sheng thought about it and said, "Xia said that the husband is not the emperor's direct descendant, and his position is not stable. He definitely hopes to use this opportunity to make great achievements and consolidate his position as Prime Minister Zhao. That's the case. , why don't we send a secret envoy to negotiate with him and pretend to surrender to the Zhao army, Xia said that seeing Jicheng can be won without a fight, he will definitely not be in a hurry to attack the city, so we can Reducing a lot of pressure will help us stick to Jicheng for a long time."

"Then at a certain time, we can deliberately spread the news to Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong. As long as the two of them become suspicious of Xia Shuo, they will no longer be so united. Without a command, we must face less pressure on the battlefield."

Zang Tu nodded slowly, and after thinking for a while, Zang Tu said: "You can try it, how about sending someone to negotiate with Xia in secret, that is, as long as he can come forward to ask the imperial court for an edict of pardon for us, We will immediately lay down our weapons and surrender to Zhao's army under his command."

"Your Majesty's trick, Xia said that as long as a man is greedy for merit, he will definitely bargain with us. It is even possible to go to the tyrant's court and pray for us to be pardoned. As long as he does this, we can buy time." Zhang Sheng hurriedly praised him, and then asked: "Your Majesty, who will you send to secretly contact Xia Shuopifu? It's not because the ministers are greedy for life and afraid of death, but because the ministers have never had any contact with Xia Shuopifu. Even if they go to the enemy's camp, it is difficult to convince them Xia said he was tempted."

Zang Tu decided not to say anything, but watched the officials of Yan State present looking for suitable candidates, and soon, a friendly general of Yan State who had fought side by side with Xia Shuo was quickly targeted by Zang Tu...

(End of this chapter)