Jiaocheng, the general's mansion.

Yin Cuo held the letter that the messenger had just handed him in his hand, and after just scanning a few glances, his hands couldn't help but tremble.

This was a letter asking for help, and Tan Feng ordered him to immediately lead all the soldiers in Jiaocheng to rush to Shanyang County as quickly as possible to rescue the besieged army.

Sima Yan died in battle. Tan Feng led his troops across the Yinhua River, and was attacked by Guli's Hun cavalry division, and the tens of thousands of soldiers who had not had time to cross the river disappeared, either surrendered or died in battle, and there were few Liao Liao who could swim across the river and escape with his life. And Tan Feng, who crossed the river, hit a big nail in Xiquan City, a division of the Second Army of the Young Guards Army blocked the way to the road, several fierce battles, Tan Feng did not break through the other party's blockade, and behind, Guo Laofu's main force and two cavalry divisions have crossed the river, there is no way to the sky, and Tan Feng, who has no way to enter the ground, has to retreat to the Lion Ridge in Shanyang County, relying on the terrain to support it.

A lone army, without reinforcements, without food and grass, on a mountain, can it hold today? Even if he did all the soldiers in Jiaocheng, there were only more than 10,000 people, and most of them were new soldiers.

"General Yin, please hurry up and send troops, General Tan's situation is in danger, the grain and grass can only support for a few days, the Han army is strong, and now the Lion Ridge is besieged, if there is no foreign aid, it will be unfortunate!" The bloodied messenger braced himself and said loudly.

"Don't worry, I will naturally send troops immediately, but before leaving, I have to arrange the matter of handing over the city, you have worked hard, go down first and have a good rest, come here, find a military doctor, and wrap the wounds on this brother's body." Yin said wrongly.

Seeing the soldier go down with a thousand thanks, Yin Cuo's face was completely gloomy. After being silent for a long time, he said to the soldiers around him: "Go and ask Mr. Zhang Yi to come over." ”

"Yes!" The soldier nodded. "The messenger who just returned?"

Yin Cuo's eyes flashed with murderous intent, "After inviting Mr. Zhang, you will take a few people to solve him quietly, don't let him talk nonsense, let alone alarm others." ”

"Yes, General, understood."

Zhang Yi has had a good time in Jiaocheng in the past few days, and Yin Cuo has also caused him to move around the city, but he just sent a team of soldiers to follow him to protect his safety. I heard Yin wrong. Looking at the soldier's respectful attitude, Zhang Yi understood that there was news from Shanyang.

"General Yin, there's news from Shanyang, right?" As soon as he saw Yin Cuo, Zhang Yi asked with a smile.

Yin Cuo sighed and handed the distress letter to Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi browsed it hastily and said with a smile: "As expected, General Tan is also a masterpiece of a generation, but he is always unwilling to be left behind. I want to do something on my own, but my heart is higher than the sky, and my life is thinner than paper, if he is honest. Either follow the Qin people or simply follow the Chu people, he will not end up in such a fate, but he is always half-hearted. I want to seek the greatest benefit in the gap between several major forces, so as to strengthen myself, but I don't care. In the end, he will be the first to perish, General Yin, I think you should make up your mind, right? ”

Yin Cuo arched his hand and said: "Mr. Zhang, so far, Yin has no way out except to defect to the Han, I just want to ask, I have been an enemy of the Han for many years, and my hands are bloodstained, can the Han allow me to live a life?" ”

"The general said this is a great achievement, the Han will be rewarded, if you really want to talk about the enemy of the Han Dynasty, hehe, now the one who lives and dies is not the one who lives and dies, but now the general can focus on the people of this Jiaocheng and save hundreds of people from the misery of life, it is a great achievement, and the Han will be rewarded, if you really want to talk about the enemy of the Han Dynasty, hehe, now living on the shore of Dayan Lake, that one was not a big man, and was once the most uncommon enemy of our king, to put it mildly, the general is still not enough compared to them." Zhang Yi said unceremoniously.

"Yes, sir." Yin Cuo nodded, "I've decided to defect to the big man, but now, what should I do?" ”

"Jiaocheng is now in a number of young camps, there are still tens of thousands of young people, this is a powder keg, if they know that Tan Feng is defeated, and the city is now so empty, I am afraid that there will be some incidents, if these people make trouble, it is easy to make a good Jiaocheng into a ruin, you know, you snatched them alive, and forced them to do this long hard work, life and death, there are not a few people who die of illness, these people's anger has accumulated enough, so the first step, It's about dealing with them. ”

"Yes, I'm worried about this too, but how to solve it?" Yin Cuo sighed. "Now I can only use thousands of soldiers in my hands, those new troops, is unreliable, when I think of such a huge young battalion, I only beat the drum in my heart, there was a large army in the past, they did not dare to move, but the news of General Tan's defeat is always hidden, once it spreads, it will inevitably change."

"So we had to dismiss them before the news spread." Zhang Yi said with a smile: "In this Jiaocheng, there is grain and silver, you robbed Tai'an of a fine light, and robbed a small half of Wulong, but you have saved a lot of money, and now you can send these people away with some money." Zhang Yi smiled and said: "Everyone will send some travel expenses, send some food on the way, tell them that they can go home, want to come to these young people, they have relatives or in Tai'an, or in Wulong, if they are released, they must be eager to return home, as long as this person is scattered, there will be no longer any threat." ”

"It's a great idea." Yin Cuo nodded again and again. "Jiaocheng does have more food and more silver now."

"Even your newly recruited soldiers, if you want to go, you can go, but before you go, you have to leave your weapons behind." Zhang Yi smiled and said: "To be honest, Tai'an has made you miserable, our Han sent to Tai'an's county guard, you are hated so much, he now only has some old and weak women and children in his hands, he can't do anything, seeing that winter is coming, he can't do anything except wait for domestic relief, this is really a shame for the officials of the Han Dynasty, if you put these people back, not only those young people will thank you, but even the county guard of Tai'an, you will have to accept a favor from you!" With these young men, he will have something to do this autumn, at least when the time comes for domestic relief, the number will be smaller, and his face will look better. ”

"This is all Lord Zhang's idea, and the last general will not dare to take credit." Yin Cuo waved his hand again and again.

"Of course, this is your General Yin's idea, people like us will never be able to live under the sun." Zhang Yi smiled and said: "After this is done, the rest must be the people that General Yin can control, and then it is naturally Yi Zhi, announcing that Jiaocheng will be under the rule of the Han Dynasty, before the Han Dynasty has not sent the county guard to take over, your General Yin is naturally still the number one person in this Jiaocheng, that is, the Han will send people in the future, and there will be an arrangement that satisfies you General Yin." ”

"In this way, Yin Cuo will listen to Lord Zhang's arrangement." Yin Cuo shook it to the ground, "In the future, please take care of Master Zhang." ”

"That's natural." Zhang Yi said with a smile.

A few days later, more than a dozen young battalions around Jiaocheng opened the camp gate one after another, and these young and strong people who had suffered for more than half a year were full of joy, carrying a small grain bag on their shoulders, carrying ten taels of silver in their arms, and bowing in the direction of Jiaocheng.

They are indeed a group of people who are very easy to satisfy.

On the sixth day, Jiaocheng has returned to calm, tens of thousands of young people have basically gone, and even the newly recruited 5,000 recruits have also gone for the most part, in Jiaocheng, Yin Cuo summoned his generals, announced the current situation of Tan Feng in Shanyang City, and told his generals that he had decided to defect to the Han Kingdom.

Although the generals under his command were stunned and shocked, but the reality is like this, no one wants to die in vain, and no one objected to Yin's wrong decision.

At the same time, Shanyang County, Shishiling, and Tan Feng are already facing a desperate situation.

The Han army did not rush to attack the Lion Ridge, for tens of thousands of troops, the Lion Ridge was indeed too small, the Han soldiers dug a trench at the foot of the mountain, erected a chest wall, and pulled up layer after layer of barbed wire, trapping the remaining army of Tan Feng on the mountain.

There is no more food, and now, everything that can be eaten on the mountain is basically gone, and when you walk on the mountain, you can hardly see a single wild vegetable, and the bark of every tree has been stripped clean. Not to mention the original beasts on the mountain, even the rat's nest hidden deep underground, which has also been hollowed out.

A team of nearly 20,000 people, stationed in such a small place, eats food in a day, and it feels terrible to think about it.

A general walked weakly into Tan Feng's tent, and in a few days, Tan Feng's whole person seemed to be dozens of years old, with mottled hair, swollen eyes, and bloodshot eyes.

"How many did you run again?" Seeing the general coming in, Tan Feng asked directly.

"General, last night, nearly 2,000 people took advantage of the darkness to touch the mountain and surrendered to the Han army." The general said helplessly: "The Han people steamed steamed buns in a big pot at the bottom of the mountain and boiled the broth to lure our soldiers, and the soldiers were also hungry." ”

"How many people are left on the mountain?"

"General, these days, many troops have run down the mountain to surrender in formation, and now there are more than 8,000 people on the mountain. They are all the general's most subordinate all along. ”

Tan Feng smiled bitterly, "The most descendant subordinates, they are also the most loyal to me." Can I watch them starve to death? ”

"General, while we still have the strength, let's kill the mountain, even if we die in the hands of the enemy, it is better than starving to death, this is too much." The general said loudly.

Tan Feng shook his head slightly, "No, you just said, they are all the most loyal subordinates to me, I am at the end of my rope, how can I watch them follow me to death, there is no chance." So, I decided, surrender. ”

"General!" The general was shocked.

"I'm right for you, you take them to surrender to the Han army, as for me, this Lion Ridge is my destination, and I will never surrender to Gao Yuan." (To be continued.) )