Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 289
(PS: It’s Monday again soon, and it’s time to have the cheek to ask the dog for next week’s monthly and recommendation tickets.)
It was not until Young Master Zhang personally sent away Li Zicheng and Zhang Hualong and Li Guo, the envoys sent by Zhang Xianzhong, Sun Chengzong, governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and Hong Chengchou, governor of Shaanxi, that they received the report and ran into Young Master Zhang's tent overnight to verify the authenticity of the news.When the two sides met, the sleepless Young Master Zhang had already picked up the "Historical Records" and was reading the biography of Zhang Yi, the idol he admired the most. Seeing Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou coming in, Young Master Zhang quickly got up and gave up his seat, and invited: "Old Man, Master Hong Please sit by the stove, it’s really cold in Shaanxi’s spring night.”

"Thank you Butang, no need." Sun Chengzong declined, and asked straight to the point: "Master Butang, the old man heard that some thieves in Xi'an City sent envoys out of the city to contact our army tonight. True or false?"

"There is such a thing." Young Master Zhang admitted frankly, "Because the robber Gao Yingxiang was suspicious, and seeing our army build a wall to besiege the city, he was afraid that we would be trapped to death in Xi'an City. Zhang Xianzhong, the nephew of Li Guo, sent his deputy, Zhang Hualong, to test whether our army might accept their surrender."

"My lord, do you agree?" Hong Chengchou asked excitedly.Young Master Zhang didn't hide anything, just nodded and said: "Of course I agree to such a great thing, such as my long-term enemy elimination. I also promised that as long as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong lead the people to surrender to our army, then I will pardon them." For all crimes, they will also be rewarded with the positions of the two local soldiers."

"That's great." Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou were overjoyed together, and Sun Chengzong couldn't wait to ask: "Zhang Butang, what did the envoys of Zhang Thief and Li Thief say later? Did you agree to come from the city when our army attacked the city?" Open the city gate to welcome our troops into the city?" Hong Chengchou also asked nervously: "Have you agreed on a time to do it? Did they agree to open the city gate?"

"Old Sun Ge, Lord Hong, what are you in a hurry for? I'm not sure if Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng surrendered. I'm not sure yet, so how dare we agree on a time to do it?" Eldest Young Master Zhang laughed, raising his hands "Historical Records", said with a smile: "See? I'm sharpening my guns before the battle. I want to learn some lessons from the process of Zhang Yi pitting the Six Kingdoms, and analyze the sincerity of these two thieves. As the saying goes, the more you fight, the more careful you are. As the commander-in-chief , Once the enemy's situation is misjudged, thousands of soldiers may die in vain."

Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou were extremely unconvinced by Young Master Zhang. Sun Chengzong twisted his gray beard and said: "Lord Ministry, I don't agree with this point. Since the two thieves Zhang and Li are suspected by the intruders and are afraid of our military might, It is very normal to offer to surrender to our army, what is there to doubt?" Hong Chengchou also said: "Yes, and we only need the two thieves Zhang and Li to open the gate in the city. If we open the city gate, what loss will our army have?"

"Mr. Sun Ge, you really don't agree with what you say!" Young Master Zhang put away his smile and said seriously: "Mr. Ge, do you still remember your defeat in Liuhe back then? Back then, you believed the lies of the slaves and spies and rashly sent troops to attack Unfortunately, Haizhou fell, which led to the defeat of Liuhe, and now the two thieves, Zhang and Li, claim to be suspected by the intruders and are forced to surrender—who among us has seen it with their own eyes? What if we trust casually and repeat the mistakes of Liuhe?"

Sun Chengzong was so scolded by Young Master Zhang that he blushed and retreated embarrassingly. Young Master Zhang turned to Hong Chengchou and reprimanded him: "Master Hong, your words are even more ridiculous. Opening the gate of the city by the two thieves Zhang and Li proves that they are sincerely surrendering? Let me tell you, if I use soldiers, I can open the city gate for you—but I will set up an ambush on the urn, and install a thousand-jin iron gate on the top of the city gate to lure your army into the city, and then put down the iron gate to trap your army in the urn Catch the turtle in the urn, and kill you to the bone!"

"Is there such a poisonous trick?" Hong Chengchou broke out in a cold sweat and quickly closed his mouth.Shi Kefa next to him was more honest, stood up and repaired the steps for Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou and said: "Old Sun Ge, Master Hong, don't worry too much, Zhang Butang has carefully analyzed this issue with Master Song just now, and they all think that Zhang Li Er The thief’s surrender this time is at least [-]% sure that it will not be fake. Moreover, Zhang Butang has already laid out a detailed plan, which can not only test whether the two thieves, Zhang and Li, are falsely surrendering, but also... "

"Xianzhi—!" Young Master Zhang was afraid that Shi Kefa would reveal the secret, so he hurriedly stopped and interrupted.Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou's eyes lit up together, and Hong Chengchou hurriedly asked: "Zhang Butang, can you explain your plan in detail? If there is anything that needs to be dispatched, the next official will definitely help."

"You will know when the time comes." Young Master Zhang rejected Hong Chengchou's rare overture with a smile, and then ordered: "Old Sun Ge, Master Hong, the same sentence, these days you just have to command the army to repair the siege fortifications, Supervise the construction of siege equipment, and be prepared. As for how to capture Xi'an City, we will wait until Xuanda's army and slave slaughter army arrive."

"I will follow orders." Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou agreed together angrily.After a few more polite words, Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou immediately offered to leave, but Young Master Zhang didn't ask to stay, and continued to stay in the tent to read.After Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou rushed back to the camp angrily, Hong Chengchou immediately said to Sun Chengzong: "Old Ge, it seems that Zhang Haogu looks down on you and me and the Shaanxi-Gansu army even if he has a chance to break through Xi'an. Let us take credit for this, and be determined to leave the credit for restoring Xi'an to his direct descendants!"

Sun Chengzong was silent, and after a long time, Sun Chengzong said in a deep voice: "Although it is a common problem of leading soldiers and generals to leave the great achievements to the direct descendants, we can't sit still. These days, you let the army quietly do a good job of attacking the city. Get ready, once the opportunity arises, we will act immediately! It would be best if Zhang Haogu, the little thief, agrees to let us attack the city. Even if he refuses, we don't need to obey his orders. What else can he say?"

"Okay, I will secretly inform the generals tomorrow morning." Hong Chengchou agreed without hesitation, and then asked, "What about the siege works? Are they going to be repaired?"

"Repair, of course we have to continue to repair!" Sun Chengzong said quickly: "Not only do we have to repair, but we also have to hurry up to repair! Just now you heard that the two thieves Zhang and Li offered to surrender to our army. The army was trapped in the city of Xi'an. In this way, if our army seizes the time to build the siege fortifications as soon as possible, it can form a huge psychological deterrent to all the thieves in the city of Xi'an. At that time, not only the two thieves Zhang and Li will feel fear and surrender. The meaning is more determined, maybe other leaders of the rebellion will follow in their footsteps and take the initiative to contact our army and surrender."

"That's right, let that smug kid Zhang Haogu see what he said this time, our Shaanxi-Gansu army is no worse than his slave-killing army!" Hong Chengchou roared angrily: "Starting tomorrow, we will Not only are they secretly preparing to attack the city, but they also have to work day and night to speed up the construction of the siege fortifications, deter the rioters in the city, and force the rioters to react. When the opportunity comes, they will immediately capture Xi'an and show Zhang Haogu some color! "

"Huh?" Inadvertently reminded by Hong Chengchou's words, Sun Chengzong suddenly came to his senses, and couldn't help muttering: "Could it be that the construction of the siege is a psychological warfare carefully arranged by that little devil Zhang Haogu? If so, this little devil It's just too scary..."

........................

Facts have proved that the construction of siege fortifications can form a huge psychological deterrent to the rioters in the city. Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou, who were not very interested in this tactic, suddenly became enthusiastic about this tactic. They both went to the construction site to supervise the army and urged the Shaanxi-Gansu army The progress of the project was stepped up, and the Shaanxi-Gansu soldiers who were very convinced by Sun Chengzong and Hong Chengchou also began to work hard, digging holes and building walls one by one, and the progress of the project suddenly accelerated a lot.In this way, the chain reaction is that after the thieves from all walks of life in the city discover this situation, even the calmest thieves will start to worry—their military rations are not like the Ming army, which has a steady stream of supplies from the rear. There is an uninterrupted supply, but eating less and less day by day, and there will be nothing left after eating all of it.And there are quite a few thieves who even began to suspect that the Ming army suddenly accelerated the construction of the siege fortifications. Could it be that the goddamn mad dog army is about to arrive in Xi'an in advance?
With the concerted efforts of 29 soldiers from Shaanxi and Gansu, it took only five days. On February [-], the Zimagou surrounding the three gates of Xi'an, east, west, and south was first completed, making it more difficult for the rioters in the city to break through.And the fear and panic among the thieves in Xi'an became more and more intense, and the debate between the steadfast faction and the breakout faction reached its climax. The chance for the army to reinforce the army burned down the city of Xi'an, took the women in the city to break through, and continued to flee to the hinterland of Shaanxi or Sichuan; Xi'an, never give up until the last moment.Both factions have their own reasons, and neither can convince the other. The biggest thief, Gao Yingxiang, is completely at a loss for what to do about it. Not sure.

After a day in the dispute, at dusk, Li Zicheng, who had been estranged from Gao Yingxiang recently, suddenly offered to ask for an interview, because Mr. Zhang hadn't come to make trouble these days, and Gao Yingxiang's suspicion disappeared a lot. In order to improve and strengthen The assistant's relationship, of course, is to agree to meet immediately.After the two parties met with a few words of politeness, Li Zicheng asked straight to the point: "King Chuang, I have been seeing you for the past few days, and I have been worrying about it. Are you worried about the disputes between the various kings?"

"Apart from this matter, what else can there be?" Gao Yingxiang said sullenly: "Half of the people have to stick to it, and half of the people have to break through. What should I do? I wanted to wait and see, but I was afraid that the puppy officer The mad dog army has arrived, and there is no chance to break through, so I still can't make up my mind and worry."

"King Chuang, the last general has a good idea, which can not only help you solve the problem, but also help you expand some troops." Li Zicheng took the opportunity to say.Gao Yingxiang was taken aback for a while, and then he said overjoyed: "General Chuang, what good idea do you have, come and listen to it."

"King Chuang, I don't think you should let the kings from all walks of life express their views." Li Zicheng kindly suggested: "The kings who are willing to stay in the city must serve you as the master, follow your command, and work together to defend the city. Even if we can't defend in the future, we can concentrate our forces to break through the siege, so that when the various armies fight on their own, the puppy officers seize the opportunity to defeat them one by one. Those who are unwilling to hand over the army, we will not force them, but their army must leave immediately Xi'an, save food and grass for our guarding army. In this way, King Chuang, you can not only expand the army, but also drive away the unreliable army in the city, so that they don't cause trouble when they are in trouble. At the same time, our food and grass can also support us For a period of time, whether it is breaking through or holding on, you don’t have to worry about food and grass.”

"Great plan! Why didn't I think of taking advantage of this opportunity to recruit the army?" Gao Yingxiang slapped his thigh and cheered, but quickly frowned and said: "But this way, if someone doesn't want to recruit me, and doesn't want to leave Xi'an, and What should we do? And those troops who are willing to break through immediately must leave with some food and grass, should we give it or not?"

"King Chuang, you can explain clearly to everyone." Li Zicheng followed the instructions of Young Master Zhang and said, "Xi'an City is ours in the first place, and it is our utmost benevolence to allow the troops who will enter the city to eat and live for nothing for so many days." Why do you want us to continue to give them free food and grass for defending the city? Moreover, the purpose of recruiting their army is to have a unified command during the war, so as not to fight on their own and hold each other back. Make it clear, I believe they will understand. As for those troops who are willing to break through in advance, King Chuang, for the sake of being a rebel army, gave them food and grass for three to five days, which is very interesting. What else can they say? of?"

"You're right, why should I use my food to feed them for nothing?" Everyone has a selfish mentality, and Gao Yingxiang is no exception. After being provoked by Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang has long wanted to be the leader of the gang of thieves Immediately made up his mind and said: "This matter should be done sooner rather than later. The mad dog army riding on the puppy officer has not yet arrived. I will hold a meeting tomorrow morning. I want these people to express their views. Those who want to stay in Xi'an to enjoy the blessings will hand over the army." Come out, accept my command and work together to defend the city! If you don’t want to hand over the army, I will give them three days’ food and grass, and let them leave with the army and go elsewhere to enjoy happiness!”

After making up his mind, the next morning, which was also the morning of February [-]th (lunar calendar) in the ninth year of Mingqi, Gao Yingxiang called all the thieves in the city in Sun Chengzong's original governor's mansion, and held an alliance meeting, asking all the thieves to The head expresses attitude.And when Gao Yingxiang said what he meant, the thirty or forty thieves present immediately exploded, and several thieves shouted directly: "King Chuang, you are too mean! We only ate a few Do you want to swallow all of our army's food?" "Yes, King Chuang, all the departments of our rebel army can elect you as the leader of the alliance, but it is impossible to hand over the army!" "King Chuang, you It's taking advantage of the fire to rob, and throwing stones into the well!"

"My lords, please don't get me wrong." Li Zicheng stood up and said, "King Chuang did this not because he wanted to take advantage of the fire and eat you, but for your own good! You can imagine for yourselves, if we are in such a mess again Go on, when Officer Zhang Xiaogou starts to attack the city in the future, who will go to the city wall to defend the city? You are not afraid of someone who wants to preserve his strength and deliberately hides behind to let others go up to die? Only by gathering the troops together and accepting the command of King Chuang in a unified way can we Like an arm commander, fight to the death with Officer Zhang Xiaogou's mad dog army. Even if it is really impossible to hold on in the future, you can unite and work together to break through-otherwise, my lords, tell me, who of you can hold this place alone? Xi'an City? Who can break through the siege of Officer Zhang Xiaogou alone?"

Li Zicheng's words are very reasonable, at least the big and small thieves present couldn't find enough reasons or excuses to refute. Some of the thieves who are particularly weak and don't want to leave Xi'an, the happy nest, agree with it, and Gao Yingxiang's other generals also echoed. He said loudly: "General Chuang is right. This is the reason. A chopstick can only be broken if it is broken. Only when everyone obeys King Chuang's command can we hope to defend the city of Xi'an!"

"It sounds good, but after all, don't you want to eat us?" Zhang Xianzhong was not happy, and jumped out and shouted: "I don't want to do it. It's okay to recommend King Chuang to be the leader of the alliance, and it's okay to defend the city in sections, but if you want me Hand over the army, dream! I would rather leave than hand over the army!" Zhang Xianzhong took the lead in firing, and most of the bandits immediately agreed, saying that they would not hand over the army.Li Zicheng shouted angrily: "Eight Great Kings, since you don't want to hand over the army to King Chuang for reorganization, then please leave now. Xi'an City was captured by King Chuang, why should you let you live for nothing? Take the army to protect you and live happily in the city?"

"Just leave, what's the big deal?" Zhang Xianzhong said angrily, "We can leave if you want, but the food, money and women in the city must be divided equally according to the army's amount. I will take my share and leave!"

"Xi'an City was captured by King Chuang, why should it be divided equally with you?" Li Zicheng, Ma Guangyu, King Gaining Xiang and several other generals of Gao Yingxiang roared angrily.Over there, Zhang Xianzhong said eloquently: "Why do you want to share equally? You forgot the Fugu League last time. When you elected Shan Wang Jiayin as the leader of the alliance, everyone agreed that if you fight the Gouguan, no matter what you grab All equally?"

"The Eight Great Kings are right. Everyone said at the beginning that no matter what they grab, they will share it equally!" Many thieves who feared that the world would not be chaotic followed suit, and immediately quarreled with the strongest general, Gao Yingxiang.The other thieves, who were dissatisfied with Gao Yingxiang's taking advantage of the fire, also took the opportunity to get angry and stood up to fight. Only Luo Rucai and Fan Wencheng stood up to smooth things over, and urged and persuaded both sides, "My lords, don't quarrel, don't make trouble. There must be civil strife." "King Chuang, Little Mad Dog Zhang is watching outside the city, how could you suddenly think of recruiting everyone's army, isn't this trying to make everyone fight among themselves?"

The prosperity of the world is all for profit, and the chaos of the world is for profit. All the thieves who rebel and rebel either do not want to starve to death or are unwilling to be lonely. They want to take advantage of the chaos in the world to make a lot of money—that is, a typical The hooligan proletarian revolutionaries, such people, there is no such person who is not a master who would rather die than suffer, and desperately take advantage. Now Gao Yingxiang wants to change his ways to eat their old capital, and of course these people will quit.As a result, the venue was naturally full of quarrels, and those with a particularly impulsive temper simply rushed to swear, and might start a fight at any time.Seeing this scene, Gao Yingxiang secretly regretted that he shouldn't have listened to Li Zicheng's bad idea, and the rest was naturally extremely dissatisfied-damn, you are such bastards who eat and drink for nothing, asking you to bleed is like asking your Fate is the same, why should I support you?Why should I give up the beauties in the city to you?

The venue of the thieves meeting that day can only be described as like a boiled rice porridge. There were crowds of people swarming, cursing, and friction between bodies. As a result, they were noisy from dawn to dusk, but they didn't come up with any solutions. In the end, Gao Yingxiang had no choice but to let the thieves think about it overnight at Li Zicheng's suggestion, and then reconvened the meeting to discuss it the next day.But what Gao Yingxiang never dreamed of was that after dark, the city suddenly burst into flames, and Zhang Xianzhong's army took the lead in the rebellion, looting women whenever they saw them, burning houses when they saw them, smashing open granaries and looting and burning them, and they kept saying that they would bring food and silver. After leaving with the woman, Gao Yingxiang hurriedly sent Li Zicheng to lead the army to suppress the rebellion. It was already too late. Several bandits who were extremely dissatisfied with Gao Yingxiang's looting also joined Zhang Xianzhong's rebel team, killing people, setting fires, robbing and raping everywhere in the city.The rest of the thieves were just about to make a move, each convening their own teams to avoid losses in the melee, and at the same time getting ready to make a fortune and leave the city.

………………

Suddenly fire broke out in the city of Xi'an, and the sound of killing shook the sky. Of course, it attracted the attention of Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou and the Shaanxi-Gansu generals. This is a good opportunity, we should immediately attack the city and retake Xi'an in one fell swoop.Sun Chengzong was extremely hesitant. He wanted to attack the city but he didn't receive the order from Master Zhang to raise the tent. Hong Chengchou who was next to him said loudly: "Mr. There is no order at the hall, so let’s attack the city quickly! Fight a beautiful battle and let Zhang Butang see with his own eyes how our Shaanxi-Gansu army is doing?”

"Ge Lao, let's fight! Ge Lao, fight!" Countless Shaanxi-Gansu generals shouted excitedly.Sun Chengzong was always extremely dissatisfied with being ridden on his neck by a grandson's superior. After a moment of hesitation, he ordered: "All the soldiers of the Shaanxi-Gansu Army obey the order, go out of the camp and assemble, and attack the city!"

"Follow the elder's order!" The generals of Shaanxi and Gansu clasped their fists in agreement, and hurried out of the account to organize the army.After a while, the [-] Shaanxi-Gansu troops assembled, but there was no movement at Young Master Zhang's main camp, and Young Master Zhang himself never showed up. Sun Chengzong was secretly angry at Young Master Zhang's arrogance, and hurriedly led the Shaanxi-Gansu army to take the already Quietly prepared the siege weapons, and rushed towards the North Gate of Xi'an with torches.After arriving at the position, the chaos in Xi'an City has reached its peak. More and more rebel leaders led their descendants to join the team of robbery and arson. Most of Gao Yingxiang's army on the city wall entered the city to suppress the rebellion. The next few have no intention of defending the city at all.Seeing the matter, Sun Chengzong immediately agreed to Zuo Liangyu's request to volunteer as a vanguard, and sent Zuo Liangyu to lead the infantry to attack the city.

"Kill!" Amidst the thundering shouts, Zuo Liangyu's army boarded the city wall of Xi'an, which had never been boarded before, with only one charge, and fought bloody battles with the thieves on the wall. Follow-up troops also drove to the city in an endless stream, happily rushing up the city wall.Seeing this scene, Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou, and the Shaanxi-Gansu generals were naturally all dancing and laughing, but at this moment, Master Zhang finally brought a team of soldiers to Sun Chengzong's flag formation, smiling at Sun Chengzong He said hello: "Mr. Sun Ge, the siege of the city is going well. We have already climbed the city wall. It seems that there must be no problem in taking Xi'an tonight."

"My lord, I'm really sorry, the war opportunity is fleeting, and the old man failed to report to you, so he led the army to attack the city without authorization." Amidst the sneers of the Shaanxi and Gansu generals, Sun Chengzong clapped his hands to Young Master Zhang proudly and said: " Originally, this old man wanted to give the credit to Lord Butang’s direct descendants of the slave slaughtering army, but unfortunately, the thieves in Xi’an turned out to be infighting, and this old man had no choice but to disobey Lord Beitang’s order not to attack the city. , and please forgive me, my lord."

"Master Ge, when did you disobey my military order?" Young Master Zhang pretended to be surprised and asked, "Isn't the order to attack Xi'an tonight ten days ago?"

"The order ten days ago?" Sun Chengzong suspected that he was too old to be deaf.The Shaanxi-Gansu generals next to him were all furious, and Wu Zimian, the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi, asked unceremoniously: "Zhang Butang, you said you gave the order ten days ago, where is the order? Is it a password or a written order?" Order? Why don't we know?"

"General Wu, General Du, and General He." Young Master Zhang said slowly, "Ten days ago, I gave each of you a Longquan sword. Do you take it with you? The spikes of the three swords are all It's empty, you can open it and have a look."

"What?" The three generals Wu Zimian, Du Wenhuan, and He Huchen were shocked. They quickly took out the Longquan sword they carried with them and took a closer look. They found that the tassels used for decoration on the sword were indeed empty. Seeing that there was a small piece of paper hidden among the three sword tassels, the third general unfolded the three small pieces of paper again and took a closer look. The mouth of the third general suddenly opened into a circle, and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. !
"What's written on it?" Sun Chengzong, Hong Chengchou, and other Shaanxi-Gansu generals looked up curiously, but saw that there were three sentences written on each of the three pieces of paper. The first sentence is 'infighting among thieves and thieves in the city', and the third sentence is 'take advantage of the momentum to attack the city, don't make mistakes'!Taken together, it means that on the night of February [-]th, there will be internal strife among the thieves in the city, taking advantage of the momentum to attack the city, don't miss it!
"Zhang Butang, did you expect this ten days ago?" Wu Zimian finally exclaimed in disbelief.

"Is it sure that the thieves will fight among themselves? The time is also expected?" Du Wenhuan screamed out of his wits.

"Butang, are you an immortal?" He Huchen asked with admiration.

"I'm overwhelmed." Sun Chengzong seemed to be ten years older.

"I too...convinced." Hong Chengchou finally lowered his haughty head and was convinced.And the other Shaanxi-Gansu generals looked at Young Master Zhang again, and there was no doubt, dissatisfaction, or disdain in their eyes. Apart from admiration, respect, and surprise, there was nothing left but inconceivable.

"Fight hard and take Xi'an back. I will give you credit." Young Master Zhang said with a smile: "Also, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the thieves in the city, have quietly surrendered to me. Bring them back to see me." After finishing speaking, Young Master Zhang returned to his horse and left.

"Zhang Butang, the battle is still going on in Xi'an, where are you going?" Sun Chengzong came back to his senses and asked in alarm.Young Master Zhang replied without turning his head: "Go back to sleep. Xi'an was lost in your hands, Mr. Ge. Of course, you have to take it back yourself. You have an explanation to the court and the emperor. I don't distinguish between you and me." Thanks to the soldiers."

"Zhang Butang..." Sun Chengzong's eyes were full of tears, and he shouted again: "What are you doing in a daze? Respectfully send Zhang Butang back to the camp!"

"Respectfully send the Ministry back to the camp!" All the generals from Shaanxi, Gansu and Gansu stood at attention together, and solemnly clasped their fists to salute Young Master Zhang's back.

(End of this chapter)