Zhang Maolan, the word Dexin, is a native of Zhangqiu, Shandong. In the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, he was awarded the county of Julu for the first time, and Ding Wei went home to serve the funeral, and was re-awarded the county of Renqiu.

During her tenure as the magistrate of Julu, Zhang Maolan took the initiative to give up her qualifications for exemption from service. This monarch is as clear as water, and the county is not full, and the dynasty knows its name, which is called "Zhang Maolan, the official of the world".

If honesty is just for example, then after his mourning, his actions in Renqiu County are enough to be called a capable official.

Three months ago, when Zhang Maolan took office, Ren Qiu had already been robbed by thieves.

Seeing the thieves heading south, the governors of Gyeonggi prefectures and counties no longer took the thieves seriously. Zhang Maolan was the only one who swore to scatter grain, build city walls, reorganize soldiers, and appease the hungry.

Liu Liu, Liu Qi and Yang Hu, when they passed by Renqiu County this time, saw that the county seat was heavily guarded, and went directly around the city to Wen'an.

If it weren't for Zhang Maolan's preparations, the rebel army would not have been in Wen'an, but would have chosen to be in Renqiu!

……

"County Zun, the thieves have gone up to the east city wall, and the brothers really can't stand it!" The county lieutenant sent someone to ask for help.

Zhang Maolan had long been accustomed to it, so she drew her sword out of her sheath at this moment and said to the reserve team behind her: "Neighbors, fellow villagers, do you still remember the tragic incident four months ago? For the sake of parents, wives and children, they will all kill the enemy with me! ”

"Kill!"

The villagers shouted in unison, not afraid of life and death, and ran towards the east city wall.

These villagers are not only the people in the city, but also the villagers of Siye who were broken by thieves a few months ago. They all have a deep hatred with the rebellious army, and when they meet a magistrate who dares to do anything, where is they not competing to defend the city?

I saw Zhang Maolan and a scribe, taking the townsman to climb the city wall, and killing the thieves and thieves.

He was not strong enough and did not personally cut a thief, but he greatly boosted the morale of the officials and people defending the city. There were even villagers who spontaneously protected Zhang Maolan's side, used their bodies to resist swords and guns for this county honor, and worked together to kill the enemy, and all the thieves in the city were killed in an instant.

Seeing that Zhang Maolan's face and chest were stained with blood, the county lieutenant asked in surprise, "Is the county lord injured?" ”

"It's not my blood," Zhang Maolan's hands trembled, forcibly suppressed her disgusting emotions, and her mouth was dry, "I just killed a thief, and he vomited blood and sprayed it on my face." Leave me alone, go and kill the thief! ”

The county lieutenant said: "County Zun, the thieves have retreated, and it is estimated that they will not come again today." ”

"It's good to retreat, it's good to retreat," Zhang Maolan sat directly on the city tower with weak legs and feet, closed her eyes and said, "Let me sleep for a while, and then wake me up when the thieves come." ”

The county lieutenant did not dissuade him, but asked people to prepare a meal, and when Zhang Maolan woke up, he immediately served it.

Half a month ago, the reason why the main force of the thief army went around the city was because there were still officers and soldiers stationed in the city who rushed to suppress the thieves. At this moment, the official army in the city has already gone to Bazhou to join the army to encircle and suppress the thieves.

In the entire county, there are now only 2,000 villagers, all of whom are improvised mud legs.

Replaced by the magistrate who has no responsibility and no means, this dirt city wall has long been breached, where can it hold on for several days?

……

Anti-thief camp.

The leaders of the thieves advised one after another: "Brother Sun, let's retreat, this county order guarding the city is powerful, why bother to fight hard here?" ”

Sun Hu is an old thief who started earlier, he was beaten by the official army two months ago, and now he has finally coerced tens of thousands of homeless people, which is also a revenge.

At this moment, Sun Hu patiently explained: "Brothers, the states and counties along the way have been robbed, and even the small villages and towns have been robbed by other rebels. There are hundreds of miles in this vicinity, and only Hejian Mansion and Renqiu County have not been broken. The city of Hejian is very tall, and we will definitely not be able to defeat it. If you don't seize Renqiu County, where will you grab grain to feed more than 10,000 troops? ”

A thief leader said: "Go to Bazhou to join the army, and the two generals Liu will naturally give food." ”

Sun Hu sneered: "You grabbed the food in your hand, are you willing to share it with others?" ”

The thieves were speechless.

Sun Hu got up and drew his sword: "Tomorrow we will step up the siege of the city!" ”

And all the thieves were discouraged, and they left the tent every man. They also wanted to attack the city, but their thieves kept calling.

These more than 10,000 young people have been coerced for only half a month, and it is okay to fight a good battle, but after the siege of the city has been repeatedly frustrated, they are not willing to sell their lives at all, and even some people quietly escape every day.

On the second day, the offensive and defensive battles began again.

The thieves rushed towards the city walls in a swarm carrying with rudimentary siege equipment. As soon as he came to the city, he was hit by gold juice and hot oil, and immediately fled back in groups.

The old thieves were slashed and killed, and finally forced the recruits to turn around and attack the city, and after a few ladders were overturned, the thieves under the city fell into chaos again. Many recruits who did not want to fight did not dare to retreat or rush, but only fled horizontally around the city wall, and the nearby friendly troops were also in a mess.

The whole morning was spent in this chaos, and the siege effect was worse day by day.

But the gold juice, hot oil, and stones in the city were almost exhausted, and the defenders of the city were also on the verge of collapse. If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Maolan, the magistrate of the county, had already established his prestige and personally went into battle at the moment of danger, the villagers would have given up resistance long ago.

At noon, Sun Hu was scolding in the account, and executed some thieves who escaped from the battle.

Suddenly, a henchman came in and reported: "Big brother, a group of officers and soldiers have been found in the southwest. ”

Sun Hu suddenly became nervous and asked, "How many people are there?" ”

"About two or three hundred, all cavalry, well armoured." The comer said.

Sun Hu sneered: "Don't worry about it, it's just two or three hundred officers and soldiers, and continue to attack the city in the afternoon." Let them press all the old battalions, the new battalions are young and strong at all, and the county seat must be taken today! ”

The comer hesitated: "Big brother, the brothers of the old camp are noble, and they can't die here easily." ”

Sun Hu said fiercely: "If one dies in the old camp, one will be made up from the new camp." We have suffered heavy losses in the past few days, will the officers and soldiers in the city be better? The siege near noon, with no hot oil or falling rocks, was a good opportunity to fall in one fell swoop! ”

……

Three miles away from the thief camp, all 200 cavalry dismounted to rest.

A brocade-clothed guard sentry rushed back to report: "The thieves are camped two miles southeast of the city, and because the terrain is flat, it is difficult to climb high and overlook, and the specific situation cannot be figured out. But the few camps on the outskirts were all in disarray, and they did not strengthen their garrisons when they saw us coming. ”

"Keep listening!" Wang Yuan ordered.

"Yes." The sentinel turned and walked away.

After another half an hour, the sentry came back again: "The thief army is ready to attack the city, and it is a nest!" ”

Wang Yuan originally planned to find an opportunity to attack at night, but when he heard the news, he immediately took his four Zhu sons and personally led the horse to observe the enemy's situation.

These rebellious armies actually knew that there was a lack of one in the siege, and they only attacked the city from three directions: east, west, and south.

At the beginning, the battle was about the same as in the morning, all the recruits were filling in with their lives, and the fighting was chaotic.

Suddenly, a large group of veterans blended into the fleeing procession and ran directly to the defensive northern wall. The soldiers and civilians defending the city were caught off guard, and Zhang Maolan, the magistrate of the county, personally led the reserve team to resist the enemy and fought with those old thieves on the city tower.

When Sun Hu got the news, he immediately said: "The whole army shouted, the northern city has been broken, attack from all sides!" ”

"The northern city has been broken, kill!"

"The northern city has been broken, and the whole army is attacking!"

The hearts of the soldiers and civilians defending the city fluctuated for a while, and the county lieutenant led the crowd to shout: "Protect the family and defend the county, and swear to live and die with Renqiu!" ”

There was a shout in the city, and even the old men and women took up arms.

It's really that Liu Liu and Liu Qi's reputation is too bad, and they often do things to slaughter townships and destroy counties. Renqiu County has already suffered a military disaster, which of the people in the city has not lost their relatives? They have long given up the luck mentality, and under the leadership of the magistrate, they vowed to live and die with their homeland.

"The head of the thief is over there!" Wu Liande suddenly shouted.

Wang Yuan looked at it fixedly, and sure enough, he saw a big flag. The other thieves were attacking the city, but these two or three thousand men remained unmoved, and there were hundreds of cavalry to protect the flanks.

"Put on your armor, wind your bow and crossbow, and get ready to charge!" Wang Yuan immediately ordered.

At this time, Zhu Zhi no longer complained, and led his cavalry to quickly put on armor.

After a while, the two hundred cavalry began to accelerate slowly, rushing towards the thief army without hurry.

Sun Hu fought with the official army for half a year, although he suffered a lot of defeats, even the old troops were scattered. But he also grew up rapidly in the war, and when he saw the officers and soldiers behind him, he immediately dispatched cavalry to engage in the battle.

In Sun Hu's impression, the officers and soldiers with less than 3,000 troops are all wastes who dare not fight. Obviously, the equipment is better, and the people are tall and big, but they don't dare to fight with the rebels, and they dare to take the initiative only when they have an absolute advantage.

Although the 200 cavalry in front of him were bold, they would definitely flee in the desert with just a few charges.

Wang Yuan held a powerful crossbow in his hand, lay on the horse's back and did not move, pulling the reins to prevent Ah Hei from rushing too fast.

Six or seven hundred anti-thief cavalry rushed over, about two hundred steps away, Wang Yuan suddenly raised his crossbow and shouted: "Throw, release arrows!" ”

This was beyond the effective range of the crossbow, but both sides were charging head-on, and in an instant, forty or fifty thieves were hit by arrows, causing a small area of chaos on the other side.

Wang Yuan threw away the crossbow, pulled the horse's head, and suddenly accelerated.

Zhu Zhi, who followed closely, raised his hand to convey the order, and Zhu Cong and Zhu Xiang immediately led their respective troops to do so.

I saw that the two hundred cavalry suddenly separated, drew two arcs, and bypassed the left and right sides of the thief horse.

And the six or seven hundred thief cavalry couldn't stop the charge at all, and they couldn't play the high-end operation of changing formations near the enemy, so they rushed out dozens of steps before stopping. When they looked back, Wang Yuan had already rushed straight to the Chinese army.

It was only about a hundred steps away from the anti-thief army, and the two hundred cavalry joined the stream again, Wang Yuan raised his lance and shouted: "Follow me to kill the thief!" ”

"Shoot the arrows!" Sun Hu was shocked.

Archers are not so easy to train, and even if he grabbed a lot of bows and arrows, Sun Hu only formed a team of thirty archers.

And, it's a mess.

Seeing that the cavalry was speeding up, most of the anti-thief archers shot out in a panic without waiting for the bowstring to be full, and then hurriedly set up arrows again.

One salvo shot only knocked over one horse of the officer's army, and several people were blocked by their armor.

Wang Yuan took the lead, and when he was more than three meters away, he used his lance to overturn an anti-thief spearman.

"Run!"

These are all old thieves with half a year's experience in the industry, fighting the wind one by one, and defeating the battle one by one. Seeing the 200 cavalry coming, the frontal opponents immediately broke and fled, disrupting all the left and right formations.

A thousand spearmen, who had just met the enemy, were routed like this.

Although Wang Yuan is not good at using a horse lance, this thing has an extremely long attack range. He rushed forward, swept two archers directly, and then killed another spearman, and rode directly into the enemy's formation.

The 200 cavalry behind him, although he couldn't catch up with the main general, was inspired by the courage of the main general, and instantly forgot about his life and death, and brazenly rushed towards the anti-thief Chinese army.

Sun Hu was inexplicably frightened, there were more than a thousand guards around him, but he subconsciously rode his horse and fled, and actually threw down tens of thousands of troops and slipped away.

Seeing this, the six or seven hundred anti-thief cavalry who had turned back to the Savior also hurriedly turned their horses' heads and fled in the opposite direction of the city.

Above the city tower, a sharp-eyed villager immediately opened his throat and shouted: "Reinforcements are coming, the thief has fled!" The thief has fled! ”

The morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city was greatly boosted, and regardless of whether they were recruits or veterans, the rebels subconsciously turned back and instantly lost the courage to continue fighting.

More than 10,000 thieves, all routed!