Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 525 Let go of Zang Tu, let me do it!

Poor Yan King Zang Tu's rebellion this time is considered to have stabbed the hornet's nest. In addition to provoking Xiang Kang's personal conquest, he also immediately attracted three hungry wolves, Xia Shuo, Tao Xi, and Gongsun Tong, eager to consolidate the position of Prime Minister Zhao. Xia said that Tao Xi, who was already famous for his love of taking credit when he was under Zheng Bu's command, and Gongsun Tong, who was also not a good guy, were all full of energy. Squeeze the most credit out of him.

By the way, Yan Yao, the young commander of Hengshan County, is also not a good bird. After Hengshan County turned the corner, he successfully guarded Dongyuan. On the pretext of pushing these tasks to the county magistrate and the county censor, he insisted on leading four thousand soldiers from the county to participate in the Northern Expedition. Everyone on the earth knows what he is up to. If he dared to offend Yan Yao, Xiang Kang's veteran lackey who had already joined the Young Marshal's Army when he was in Tong County, he had no choice but to let him share the credit.

Under the open and secret fights with each other's ulterior motives, of course the three-way Han army marched quickly. They had just finished cleaning the Dongyuan battlefield, and even before Zhao Guo, who was in charge of supplying grain and grass, had finished dispatching the supplies, Tao Xi had already made an excuse to pursue them. The army set off to the north, Xia said not to be outdone, and hastily arranged the task of food and grass transportation, and immediately led the troops under his command to rush northward, and rushed towards Jicheng at the fastest speed. Gongsun Tong did the same, and hastily arranged Juyang defense. Leaving [-] troops to guard Juyang to supply food and grass, he immediately led his army southward, relying on the advantage of distance, and was the first to lead his army to the foot of Jicheng.

Then after arriving in Jicheng, Gongsun Tong was very dumbfounded to find that all the Yan troops had entered the city of Jicheng and did not give him any chance to fight in the field. Fortunately, Gongsun Tong had no choice but to order his soldiers to cut down wood, collect stone bombs, and try our best to build counterweight trebuchets.

As a result, at this time, voices of disunity appeared within the Han army—someone said to Gongsun Tong: "General, trebuchets have extremely high requirements for wood, so we might as well hurry up and get suitable trees around us that can build trebuchets." Cut them all down and store them in our camp, and when General Tao and Xia Xiangguo's army arrive, they don't have the right wood to build trebuchets, and when we discuss how to attack the city, wouldn't our voices be much louder?"

Gongsun Tong laughed, first patted the subordinate who gave him a bad idea, and then said: "Let's do this, give priority to cutting down trees, send more people, and cut all the suitable wood nearby, don't leave any Tao Xi and Xia said."

The soldiers of the Han army under Gongsuntong moved quickly. When Tao Xi led 3 Taiyuan Han troops to the city of Jicheng, all the suitable timber around Jicheng fell into Gongsuntong's clutches. Xi didn't know about this, and ran to Gongsuntong's camp without a smile on his face, and negotiated a gentleman's agreement, agreeing that the army whose army will plant the flag on the top of Jicheng first will be the main force to attack the city, and the loser The person who is responsible for playing support.

Then, after Xia Shuo also arrived in Jicheng with nearly [-] troops, Tao Xi found out that he had been tricked by Gongsun Tong, so he hurriedly dragged Xia Shuo, who was still setting up camp, to meet Gongsun Tong, forcing Gongsun Tong to hold him He gave some suitable wood to himself, of course Gongsun Tong laughed and found all kinds of excuses to shirk, and had a very unpleasant fight with Tao Xi.

Fortunately, Xia said that his fighting skills were mediocre, but his political and personnel acumen was quite outstanding. He stood up as a peacemaker in time and urged both sides to make concessions. It was the promise to give Xia Shuo and Tao Xi fifteen pieces of suitable wood for each army, and let them rush to build trebuchets to participate in the battle, which barely settled the dispute.

Xia said that he was indeed quite smart in politics and personnel affairs. Seeing that Tao Xi was still angry and obviously still very dissatisfied, he smiled and said to Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, since the last time we parted in Pengcheng, the three of us This is the first reunion, this is your place, why, don't you plan to buy us a drink? By the way, let's discuss how we should fight next."

Gongsun Tong was not stingy when it came to food and drink, and immediately sent someone to entertain Xia Shuo and Tao Xi with good wine and rotten meat. Xia Shuo also took the opportunity to reconcile the conflict between Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi during the banquet, and urged them Focus on the overall situation, join hands to attack Jicheng as soon as possible.However, Tao Xi was well aware of the importance of counterweight trebuchets in siege battles. In order to prevent Gongsuntong from stealing credit, he deliberately rejected Gongsuntong's decision to launch a siege within ten days on the pretext that the enemy's situation was not clear enough. , insisting to prepare for more time, and wait until the general situation of the defenders of Jicheng is known through the scouts before launching the siege.

Tao Xi’s purpose of deliberately delaying time is also very simple, that is, he wants to send people to a distant place to transport suitable wood to build more trebuchets, so that he can be sure to compete with Gongsun Tong, and Gongsun Tong also saw Tao Xi’s flamboyant intestines at a glance , Immediately, on the grounds that the Yan army could not prepare for too long and that it was difficult to transport food and grass, he insisted on the siege plan that was beneficial to him as soon as possible, and once again fought with Tao Xi.

In this way, the inexperienced Xia Shuo naturally became a mouse in the bellows, and he would offend the other party if he spoke for anyone. As a result, when Xia Shuo was feeling overwhelmed, suddenly Xia Shuo's personal soldiers came in outside the tent and attached himself to him. Xia Shuo whispered something into Xia Shuo's ear, Xia Shuo frowned at first, then suddenly had an idea, and hurriedly said to Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong who were already blushing and thick-necked: "You two generals, stop arguing. There are people who want us to fight harder."

"The person who wants us to quarrel more?" Tao Xi and Gongsun were stunned, and hurriedly asked, "What do you mean? Who is it?"

"You two generals, do you still remember that Li Liao who replaced Zang Yan's traitor temporarily in command of the army on the Qi-Chu battlefield?" Xia Shuo asked back. has brought many presents, and is presently waiting to meet me at my camp."

"Is there such a thing? What does he want to do?" Tao Xi hurriedly asked again.

"I don't know, there must be no good water." Xia said very calmly: "You two arrived before me. If the swallow thief wants to negotiate with us, he should contact you first, but now The swallow thief ignored you, but waited for me to come before contacting me, there must be some tricks in it."

"Xia Xiang, can we go to see him with you?" Gongsun Tong asked in a deep voice.

"Melon Tian Li Xia, if you don't say that, two generals, I will invite you to meet him together." Xia said with a smile, and then said: "Two generals, if you want, let's go, let's go to see him together, anyway, Li Lao knows you too."

The matter involved the secret contact between the Zhao army and the Yan army. Of course Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong would not refuse. They hurriedly followed Xia Shuo to the Zhao army's camp. A few days later, Yan general Li Liao was already sitting in the tent, meeting and talking with a Xia Shuo general they had never seen before.Seeing that Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong came together, Li Liao was also taken aback, and hurriedly got up and left the table to salute Xia Shuo and others.

"General Li, it's been a long time." Tao Xi smiled and said, "Tell me, what do you want to do when you come to see Xia Xiangguo behind our backs?"

Li Lao didn't dare to speak, but Xia Shuo's general, whom Tao Xi and Gongsuntong didn't know, took the initiative to speak up and said, "You two generals, Xia Xiangguo, let me speak for General Li at the end. I want to take advantage of the fact that our three armies do not belong to each other and secretly strive for success, temporarily stabilize our Zhao army, relieve their pressure on the battlefield, and buy them time to wait for the Huns to reinforce them. In addition, if our Zhao army falls into the trap If not, they will definitely make a move in the next step."

"You...!" Li Liao glared at Xia Shuo's general, and said angrily, "You spitting blood!"

"Okay, General Li, your small tricks can't be hidden from others, but from me." Na Xia said with a sneer and said: "Your tricks are just left over from Tian Dan's play in Jimo. My father suffered such a big loss at the hands of Tian Dan, how could I repeat the same mistakes as my elder father?"

"Who is your father?" Li Yao asked in surprise.

"The King of Chang, Le Yi."

Uncle Le answered very simply, and with just one sentence, Li Liao turned into a discouraged ball. Immediately afterwards, Uncle Le told Xia Shuo, Tao Xi, and Gongsun Tong about Li Liao's visit, and clearly pointed out that Zang Tu Deliberately begging for a surrender from Zhao Jun is to hide evil intentions, in vain to make Zhao Jun greedy for merit and refuse to work hard to attack the city, and then design a partnership between the three Han armies. The noisy Tao Xi yelled loudly and pulled out the sword from his waist on the spot.

Of course, Xia Shuo and Gongsun Tong quickly grabbed Tao Xi who wanted to kill Li Yao on the spot, and then Xia Shuo said to Li Yao: "General Li, we won't let General Tao kill you, the reason is that you are an envoy and can't do it. In addition, there is another important reason that we can't let go of this heart, and we always remember the friendship you fought with us on the Qichu battlefield, so you go, we won't make things difficult for you."

"Thank you Xiangguo."

Li Yao arched his hands in shame, turned around and was about to leave, but Xia Shuo stopped him again, and said, "General Li, there is one more thing, I really don't understand why you are so determined to give Zang Tu Rebels working their lives? No one else knows what is going on in the country of Yan. You, the general of the country of Yan, don’t even know. You can’t even defeat our three-way soldiers and horses. How can you stop our continuous follow-up army? "

"Don't count on the Xiongnu, you can't count on it." Xia said again: "It's already spring, this season the Huns have to go deep into the grasslands to breed cattle and sheep, even if they forcefully send some reinforcements to you, it is doomed to be a drop in the bucket. It doesn't help. Also, no matter how strong the city of Jicheng is, it can be as strong as Puyang, Handan and Julu. How powerful are our trebuchets in siege battles? When you were in Licheng, didn't you see it yourself? Have you ever seen it? Ask yourself, how long can Jicheng hold back when dozens of trebuchets are throwing stones at Jicheng at the same time?"

Li Liao's expression hesitated, his head hung down, and he refused to speak. Seeing that he had been shaken, Xia said quickly, "Well, General Li, be our internal response and help us take Jicheng as soon as possible. As long as you do this Point, the three of us can guarantee your survival, and guarantee that you will continue to enjoy the glory and wealth you deserve after seeing His Majesty the Emperor, what do you think?"

Li Liao's expression became more hesitant, and Gongsun Tong, who was next to him, saw an opportunity and hurriedly said: "Come on, immediately write a letter of commitment to General Li Liao on my behalf, Xia Xiangguo, and General Tao, and guarantee it for us." As long as General Li agrees with us to take Jicheng, we will guarantee that his whole family will not be harmed, and all his property will be preserved, and we will also guarantee that we will give credit to General Li Lao in front of His Majesty."

According to Gongsuntong's request, the Chinese account clerk hurriedly wrote down a letter of commitment against Li Liao personally. Gongsuntong was the first to sign and seal the letter of commitment. Tao Xi hesitated for a moment, then wrote down his name on the letter of commitment, stamped it with his personal seal, handed it to Li Liao, and said, "General Li, this is the friendship we have remembered in the past. It’s for you, you decide for yourself.”

After hesitating for a long time, Li Liao solemnly took the letter of commitment jointly signed by Xia Shuo and others from Tao Xi, and then said: "Xia Xiangguo, General Tao, General Gongsun, please give me the pen, ink and white silk. I will give you Zang Tupifu's city defense deployment picture."

Xia Shuo and Gongsun Tong looked at each other and smiled, and then quickly asked someone to bring a silk pen, while Li Liao didn't hold back, and quickly drew a sketch of Jicheng's city defense on the white silk, marking the places where the defenders of Jicheng were stationed and the number of troops, the height of the city, the granary and arsenal in the city, and other key locations, after repeated inspections, they presented it to Xia Shuo and others respectfully, and said: "Three generals, move quickly, Zang Tu has already Send Zang Yan to the grassland in person to ask for help from the Huns at any cost. No matter what conditions the Huns put forward, Zang Yan will agree on behalf of Zang Tu. Although you are not afraid, if the Huns really come, relying on your strength alone, you can take Going down to Jicheng will probably be very difficult."

"General Li, you made a wise choice." Xia said, patted Li Lao on the shoulder and smiled.

The matter was not over yet, after dismissing Li Yao who had been bought off as a traitor, he carefully studied the defense map of Jicheng left behind by him, Xia Shuo and the others were also pleasantly surprised to find that, in fact, only the three of them had It is entirely possible to directly break through Jicheng and suppress the rebellion in Yan State.So Xia said quickly, "General Tao, why don't you listen to General Gongsun, hurry up and prepare, and launch an attack on Jicheng within ten days. The three of us will join forces and work together to share this great achievement equally!"

"Work together?" Tao Xi's voice became a little eccentric again, and he said, "I would like to work together, but some people deliberately snatched all the available wood to get credit, so I couldn't make enough wood. Trebuchet, how do I pull together?"

Xia Shuo turned his attention to Gongsun Tong, and Gongsun Tong also hesitated, but at this moment, another guard rushed in from outside the tent, presented a military report to Xia Shuo, and said, "Xiangguo, Qi Zhu Jishi just sent a fast horse to send him here. He wants us to be cautious in advancing troops. We must not be greedy for meritorious service. It is best to give priority to storing grass and food to ensure military supplies. When his army arrives, we will join forces to attack the main force of the Yan thief Attack."

Before the guard's report was finished, Xia said that he had already laughed out loud, and smiled at Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, do you hear that, we want to make meritorious service? Those who want to make meritorious service more than us are still behind, Zhu Xiangguo In other words, it is almost equivalent to directly shouting to let go of Zang Tu and let him come, but with his official position, seniority and prestige, when Zhu Xiangguo's army arrives, you say we have no chance to make meritorious deeds?"

Gongsun Tong blinked and blinked Mung Dou's small eyes, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "120 six pieces of suitable wood, our family has 42 pieces, and within ten days we launched a siege, regardless of the main attack and feint attack, three groups of soldiers and horses attacked at the same time! The location of the siege is ours. Draw lots, discuss things as they arise, and obey decisions made by many people!"

"120 and six pieces of suitable wood?" Tao Xi's nose was almost crooked, and he said, "General Gongsun, in your camp just now, didn't you insist that there were only more than 50 pieces? How come there are so many now?"

Gongsun Tong smiled wryly, and cupped his hands to Tao Xi and said, "Brother Tao, after breaking Jicheng, I'll treat you to a grand feast, don't mind such small things, okay?"

(End of this chapter)