Early morning.

A horse rushed from the city, and saw Wang Yuan camping on the outskirts of the city, and immediately came up to report: "Wang Yushi, fortunately, you haven't gone far yet. There is an urgent report ahead, the thieves Liu Liu, Liu Qi, and Yang Hu have converged in Wen'an County, and His Majesty orders you and others to immediately go to Renqiu and Dacheng to block the thieves' southward retreat! Find fighters and defeat the enemy in one blow! ”

"Command!" Wang Yuan smiled bitterly.

Wen'an County is a little south of Bazhou, and the two bandits converge, with at least tens of thousands of troops. actually let himself lead two hundred cavalry to intercept the latter, I don't know if the emperor looked down on himself or his two hundred cavalry.

In the past month, all the officers and soldiers of the thieves have been eating dust, and they have never fought against the main force of the rebel army.

On the contrary, Zaoqiang Zhixian made great contributions, and Yaozhi County personally led Ding Yong, arrested quickly, and the people defended the city, beheaded more than 200 thieves, and killed the leader of the rebellious army.

The rebel army was furious and broke the city in three days. Yan Zhixian was shot several arrows and one shot, shouting "kill the thief" and died.

Because the head of the thieves was killed, the thieves slaughtered the city in anger, killing 5,000 people in the city, and more than 50 of them were destroyed.

At that time, the general Song Zhen was stationed in the east of the city, and he watched from the side when he was guarding the city in Zhizhi County. After the thieves broke through the city, he only scolded a few words from afar, and fled with his troops without firing a single arrow.

As a result of the court's handling of this, the court posthumously presented Yaozhi County as the Shaoqing of Taifu Temple, and recorded his son as the hereditary hundred households of Jinyiwei. And Song Zhen, a staff general who fled in fear of the enemy, did not give any punishment, but only made him guilty and meritorious.

Why didn't the imperial court kill Song Zhen?

Because the army of thieves was overstretched, if Song Zhen was killed, his officers and soldiers would not be able to fight.

This is also the reason why Wang Yuan did not kill Zhu Zhi, the two hundred cavalry were all trained by Zhu Zhi, and they only listened to Zhu Zhi's orders. killed Zhu Zhi, should he kill his two brothers? The three leading leaders are all dead, who will be responsible for the specific command? I am afraid that the remaining cavalry will be resentful, and they will not be able to work, and they will flee at the critical moment.

If you really want to kill, you should kill on the spot, and then charge directly into battle with the frightened cavalry, without giving these cavalry any room to think.

During the march, Zhu Zhi must not be killed.

Wang Yuan led the army to continue southward, and as soon as he reached the vicinity of Zhuozhou, he received a battle report from the front, and it was the military situation on the Henan side.

Although the main force of the thief army converged in Wen'an, small rebel armies were everywhere.

Wu'an County, Henan Province was also captured, and Liang Minzheng, the county magistrate, led the crowd to fight in the streets, and was seriously injured and did not retreat. General Dai Yi led his troops to counterattack, capturing and beheading dozens of people, and the thieves fled in a panic. commanded Ding Jie to stay still, only watching the play outside the city, and most of them were ordered to make meritorious contributions.

When the army marched to Ansu County, another military report came.

There were 3,000 thieves who claimed to be Liu Liu Liu and Liu Qi (fake), attacked Nangong County, captured Zhixian, burned down the county government, released prisoners, and sacked Huangzhuang. These 3,000 thieves have already flowed to Hejian Mansion and are looting the surrounding towns and villages, and it seems that they are preparing to join the real Liu Liu and Liu Qi.

Another 1,000 thieves captured Fucheng County, besieged the county, and also went to Hejian Mansion.

Two days later, the two bandits converged, and there were more than 10,000 people. But they couldn't move Hejian Fucheng, so they chose to go north and surrounded Renqiu County.

As for the main forces of Liu Liu, Liu Qi and Yang Hu, they surrounded Bazhou and stiffened up with the officers and soldiers who rushed to help.

Marching to Anzhou, Wang Yuan, as a patrol of the imperial history, asked the eunuch Zhu Ying to contact Zhizhou and supply his supplies by the way.

In the camp tent, Wang Yuan pointed to the map and said: "The main force of the thief army is in Bazhou, and it has engaged the commander Sang Yu, the deputy commander-in-chief Zhang Jun, and the general Wang Cong. It was a big battle with a total of more than 60,000 troops on both sides, and we didn't go to join in the fun. ”

Zhu Zhi was already much more honest and asked, "Which side does Wang Yushi plan to go?" ”

"Anqiu," Wang Yuan tapped on the map, "According to the battle report, there are more than 10,000 thieves outside Anqiu City, and they are the largest thieves south of Bazhou. ”

"More than 200 of us rode and collided directly with more than 10,000 thieves?" Zhu Cong suddenly spoke up, and his words already carried the meaning of fear of the enemy.

Wang Yuan explained with a smile: "Of the more than 10,000 thieves in Anqiu County, there were only four or five thousand people a few days ago. And these four or five thousand people also appeared out of nowhere, how many thieves can really fight? More than eighty percent of them are newly recruited. ”

The eunuch Zhu Ying was also very worried, for fear of crippling the emperor's father's two hundred hearts and livers, and advised: "Wang Yushi, I think that I should be cautious. It's better for us to go directly to Bazhou and join them under the command of Sang, there are many officers and soldiers there, and our 200 cavalry can find many opportunities to make contributions. ”

This eunuch had a bad stomach, and planned to mix in the army to watch the excitement, looking for an opportunity to lead two hundred cavalry to seize the merit.

Wang Yuan looked at the three cavalry leaders and found that they were quite moved by the eunuch's proposal.

It's just human nature, why do you have to work hard to be able to paddle, why do you have to risk death to make merit?

Wang Yuan suddenly made an embarrassed expression: "Gentlemen, do you think that this imperial history does not want to join the army?" Who wouldn't steal credit? But why did Your Majesty hand over 200 cavalry to me, and why did you order me to go south to block the back road? I just want us to work hard! If Your Majesty only wants to give credit to his cavalry, and hand it over directly to Gu Dugong, why bother to make me the imperial historian in one fell swoop many times? ”

Zhu Ying, Zhu Zhi, Zhu Cong, and Zhu Xiang's four godsons are silent.

Wang Yuan also said: "If we join the army, Gu Ran can grab a lot of credit, and there is no danger. But do you really dare to ask for this kind of credit? The credit was grabbed, but His Majesty was not happy. I'm scared in my heart, are you afraid? ”

Of course, the eunuch is mainly based on the emperor's wishes, and Zhu Ying first said: "But it depends on the king's imperial history." ”

Zhu Zhi carefully weighed the gains and losses, and felt that no matter how great the credit was, it could not be compared to the favor of the emperor's father, so he immediately led the two brothers and knelt down on one knee and said: "Please give an order to the royal history, I will go to the soup and fight the fire, and I will not give up!" ”

"That's right," Wang Yuan smiled and helped them up, "Although there are more than 10,000 thieves, I have to work together, why can't I break the enemy?" ”

So, Wang Yuan led 200 cavalry, dozens of sentinels, and hundreds of people to rush towards more than 10,000 chaotic troops.

Wu Liande led the sentinels to set off ahead of schedule, and two days later sent someone back to report: "Anqiu County has been besieged for five days, and the thief army has attacked the city wall several times, but they have been killed and retreated by the official and civilian defenders. There are hundreds of cavalry, the rest are foot soldiers, and there are few weapons and armor, and many thieves are still fighting with hoes and kitchen knives. ”

"A rabble!"

Wang Yuan sneered: "Throw down the people, the whole army will lead three days of rations, and follow me to kill the enemy overnight!" ”

Two hundred cavalry were immediately mobilized.

Zhu Zhi didn't know the bottom in his heart, no matter how rubbish the other party was, it was more than 10,000 people, how could he fight his 200 cavalry?

"Prison Army, do you really want to fight?" Zhu Zhi quietly found Zhu Ying, "I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid that the emperor's cavalry will be lost, and then you and I will all have to eat and hang." ”

Zhu Ying is also very weak-minded, but he must figure out what he wants, and the emperor's father is determined to fight a tough battle. He touched his fake beard and scolded him righteously: "Commander Zhu, I'm not afraid of a eunuch without eggs, what else can you worry about?" The emperor has raised you to wait for 200 horsemen for several years, has the military salary ever been deducted? Meat is eaten every day! Raise soldiers for a thousand days, and reimburse Jun's grace only in the present day, and there must be no cowardice! ”

Zhu Zhi scolded his mother in his stomach, and said stubbornly: "Only death, I will definitely live up to the emperor's favor!" ”

Zhu Zhi went back to discuss with the two brothers, but they were all uneasy.

But there is no way, Wang Yuan is the main general, and he acts according to the emperor's wishes. If they dare to disobey the yang and the yin and avoid the enemy, even if they can survive on the battlefield, they will have to live rather than die when they return to the leopard room.

"Big brother, don't think about it," Zhu Xiang persuaded, "Wang Yushi is not afraid of this champion, what am I afraid of when I wait for a martial artist?" If we can accompany Wang Yushi to death, we can also earn it. He died as a champion, and we only died a few fighting men. Isn't that the truth? ”

Zhu Zhi finally broke the jar and broke it, let it go, gritted his teeth and said, "Then fight." Damn, more than 10,000 in 200 dozens, and I don't know how many will survive! ”