weaving

Chapter 558 Cao Cao deserves to be Cao Cao

On the second day after Zhang Xianzhong received the banquet for Luo Rucai, he sent a small number of people to cross the Xiangjiang River quietly by boat, and secretly hooked up some hungry people and soldiers who had not paid their salaries for several months as internal support.

When the war started, all civil and military officials in Fancheng, including the prefect Wang Shuzeng, fled with their family guards. Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai occupied Fancheng without any effort. After that, they organized the people to repair the pontoon bridge.

When Luo Rucai's Cao Ying troops were resting in Xiangyang, Zhang Xianzhong gave Luo Rucai some of the recruits, gold and silver, food, mules and horses he had obtained in Xiangyang, but all the generals of Cao Ying believed that Xiying had made a fortune in Xiangyang. Yes, but now they are only distributed to Cao Ying, secretly resentful.

Several trusted generals around Cao Cao and Luo Rucai even complained to him: "Commander, you should also fight in front of Zhang Shuai. Although Xiangyang City was taken down by their West Camp, it's not that we didn't do our best. We can’t ask Xiying to eat all the meat, just throw us a few bones in Caoying and let’s forget it!”

In fact, Luo Rucai was also aggrieved, but considering the issue of unity with Zhang Xianzhong, he did not allow the generals under his command to talk nonsense, and only persuaded everyone to be patient for a while.

But after all the generals withdrew, he quietly said to Jigui: "Ziyu, now that Jingxuan has captured Xiangyang City and beheaded the old dog of King Xiang, he has plenty of money and food, and he is full of ambition by recruiting troops and buying horses. At the time, it seems that he no longer takes our Cao Ying into his eyes!"

But Ji Gui persuaded him: "Commander, it's not time for us to break up with Xiying. Please don't talk too much about this matter in front of Zhang Shuai. Forbearance is the best policy for the time being. Wait for the right time to come. It's not too late to plan to break up."

Luo Rucai said with emotion again: "Li Zicheng first broke Luoyang and killed King Fu. Now Zhang Jingxuan broke Xiangyang and killed King Xiang. In a blink of an eye, the two of them became famous, but I, Luo Rucai, were the least promising, like a drummer Falling into the well—go down with a bang!"

Ji Gui said with a sneer: "If you lose your horse, what will you do if you don't know it's a blessing? I don't think it's God's will that will perish. Wouldn't it be good for the commander-in-chief to leave more room for maneuver in the future?"

After hearing this, Luo Ru raised his head and looked at Ji Gui and fell into deep thought. After a while, he suddenly realized something, and only nodded slightly without saying a word.

…………

Later that day, because I heard that Zuo Liangyu led an army of 2 horses and chased him all the way from western Hubei, it was only one or two hundred miles away from Xiangyang.

The Xian-Cao Allied Forces stationed in the suburbs of Xiangyang also crossed the Xianghe River and moved inside and outside Fancheng. In order to prevent Zuo Liangyu's attack, they burned down the pontoon bridge again. The palace and the West Tower where King Xiang's body was kept.

Two days later, tens of thousands of Xiancao allied soldiers and horses left Fancheng in a mighty way, and marched all the way to Suizhou. When they passed Zhangjiawan, the sun had already come out.

Luo Rucai rode his horse to catch up with Zhang Xianzhong, walked side by side with him, leaned sideways on the saddle and asked, "Jingxuan, I heard that after Zicheng killed King Fu in Luoyang, he stayed and did not leave. The team is also growing stronger.

Look at his next move, where will he play it? "

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "It's hard to say, this guy is really terrible now, my father saw that his feathers are plump, but he left you and my brothers behind!"

He stopped for a while, then became happy again, and turned to Luo Rucai and said, "Brother Cao, to be honest, I'm not really thinking about my own affairs at the moment, but I'm thinking about another friend of ours, a friend I haven't met. My friend, guess who it is?"

"Who is it?"

"Yang Wenruo! Brother Cao, think about it, what will happen to our opponent now? Don't you care?"

Luo Rucai laughed out loud when he heard the words.

…………

In the camp of Zhang Cheng’s Chinese army outside the West Pass of Kaifeng City, nearly two thousand captives and hungry people stood on the school field in the middle of the camp. In front of them was a high platform.

Zhang Cheng captured more than 4000 thieves in the battle under Kaifeng City. In addition, he also gathered more than [-] hungry people. However, Kaifeng City was unable to resettle them, so he took the matter of resettlement of these people to himself. body.

However, in the last month, Kaifeng still needs to set up porridge sheds to help these people, and Zhang Cheng will have to find a way to solve it by himself after a month.

Some wealthy businessmen and gentry in Kaifeng City even maliciously speculated that Zhang Cheng might use these people to cut off their heads and take credit for their merits, but many smart people exposed this lie. During the offensive and defensive battle outside the city, Zhang Cheng's troops had Killing thousands of thieves, why do you need the heads of these people for military merit.

Yesterday, Zhang Cheng ordered the soldiers of the army under his command to take the thousands of captives to Xiguan, Kaifeng, to kill them outside. In fact, these people were almost all bandits newly recruited by Li Zicheng in Luoyang, and their hands had not yet been stained with too much blood.

It is precisely for this reason that Zhang Cheng wants to take them under his command. The most important task at present is to make the nearly 4000 captives awe-inspiring, and then he can show them kindness and subdue their hearts.

When beheading outside Xiguan, Zhang Cheng only beheaded ten selected old thieves and bandits each time. These people were almost all the small leaders among the captives before, and they were also their backbone.

Although Zhang Cheng only killed ten people at a time, there were as many as a hundred people who accompanied him each time. These prisoners knelt together with the ten old thieves, their faces were covered with black cloth, and they heard the whistling of blades in their ears. In the middle, there was a series of miserable howls, which made them feel as if they were sifting through chaff. Some timid people among them even drenched in feces and urine, and fainted on the spot.

After watching the beheading, Zhang Cheng ordered the clerks accompanying the army, the hungry people, and the literate among the prisoners to register all the prisoners one by one.

Afterwards, the captives were warned, because they were newly attached bandits near Luoyang, so their lives were spared this time, but they wanted to join his army.

In the future, if you do not obey the orders in the military camp, you will be punished according to the military regulations. When you are successful, whether you are fighting bandits or against the Tartars, you must strictly abide by the military orders and work hard to kill the enemy, otherwise you will be defeated. survive.

However, when Zhang Cheng was lecturing, he also made it clear to the prisoners that he would not withhold their salaries, as long as they practiced strictly according to the orders, they would all be well fed, and if they made military achievements, they would be rewarded as a whole.

However, Zhang Cheng also made it clear here that if one of the 12 members of a team escaped from the team, then the head of the leader would be beheaded. If the leader escaped, the remaining 11 people would all be beheaded.

When Zhang Cheng was lecturing, there was silence under the high stage, and the prisoners were all thankful that they would not be beheaded. As for whether to follow King Chuang to fight the world, or to follow Grand Marshal Zhang on the high stage to fight bandits, they were I don't care anymore!
(End of this chapter)