On August 22, Zhaoling County, which had been besieged by tens of thousands of rebels for two months, was finally broken because it could not get support from Yingchuan County and other counties.

As in the past, the two forces tacitly played their roles: the Green Forest Thieves acted as the ugliest butchers and robbers, while the Changsha Sergeants acted as the 'conscience' opponents, and during the joint occupation of Zhaoling County, the two sides were instructed to have friction within the scope of tolerance, of course, the Green Forest Thieves were basically stopped by the Changsha Sergeants, and even took a few punches.

Along the way, Guan Shuo relied on this trick to transfer the hatred of the local people towards them, although a discerning person could see at a glance that the green forest thieves were actually vassals of the Changsha army, but this trick was still very effective in deceiving the ignorant civilians, and when the green forest thieves robbed enough of the wealth that exceeded their carrying capacity, they seemed to be driven out of the city by the Changsha soldiers in embarrassment, and Zhaoling County's hatred of the Changsha soldiers was also unconsciously reduced a lot.

As for the locals who held their stubborn hatred from beginning to end, the Changsha soldiers would secretly execute them and then blame the Green Forest Thieves.

This is also one of the reasons why Guan Shuo acquiesced to the existence of the Green Forest Thieves.

Guan Shuo himself, on the other hand, returned to Dingling County on the day of the fall of Zhaoling County, and summoned Huang Kang, the general who had returned to Dingling due to defeat a few days earlier.

In fact, as early as August 17 and 18, when Huang Kang led the remnants of the army to withdraw to Dingling County, he made a plea to Guan Shuo, who was then supervising the battle in Zhaoling County, but Guan Shuo ignored it.

Not for anything else, just because Guan Shuo's attention at that time was focused on the matter of 'capturing Zhaoling', and he had no spare energy to deal with other matters, even if he heard that Huang Kang had returned to Dingling County, he guessed that this general had suffered defeat in Yexian and Kunyang.

It is precisely for this reason that Huang Kang rested in Dingling County for a few days with trepidation, although his mood gradually calmed down, but the anxiety in his heart became more and more intense, and he didn't know what Qu Shuai would do with him.

That night, around midnight, just after returning to Guanshuo in Dingling County, he immediately sent someone to summon Huang Kang to his residence.

Looking at Qu Shuai's dusty appearance, Huang Kang cautiously asked, "Qu Shuai, summon the tomb ......"

Guan Shuo's voice was very calm: "Our army has captured Zhaoling, so I have the spare strength to deal with your affairs......"

Hearing this, Huang Kang was both happy and uncomfortable, and his mood was very complicated.

He lowered his head, clenched his fists and said silently: "The last general...... Speechless, please Qu Shuai to surrender. ”

“……”

Guan Shuo glanced at Huang Kang a few times, and said lightly: "You tell me about the defeat first, and I will deal with it according to the situation." …… Don't lie. ”

"The last general will not dare." Huang Kang lowered his head, and immediately told Guan Shuo about the process of leading the army to Yexian and Kunyang.

In fact, Huang Kang had already forwarded the battle situation in the early stage of this battle to Guan Shuo through the battle report, but Guan Shuo still wanted to listen to Huang Kang's face-to-face statement, after all, the written expression of the battle report was not as direct as telling it in person.

Through Huang Kang's narration, Guan Shuo immediately realized that this battle can be divided into two stages: front and back.

The early stage, that is, the day when Huang Kang attacked Kunyang, and the later stage, naturally refers to what happened after Huang Kang was defeated and retreated to the south bank of the Shahe River.

“…… The last general was too light on the enemy at that time, thinking that a small Kunyang County could be conquered in one battle, but he didn't expect ......"

After sneaking a glance at Guan Shuo's expression, Huang Kang whispered.

“……”

Guan Shuo glanced at Huang Kang, tapped his fingers on the table in front of him, closed his eyes and pondered.

Huang Kang is one of his trusted generals, unless the circumstances are serious, Guan Shuo did not think of punishing him, even if this general lost nearly 10,000 soldiers this time, after all, as the old saying goes, thousands of troops are easy to get, and a general is hard to find, not to mention how good a general is, just a general who knows how to read and write war reports is very valuable.

Look at the big and small leaders of the black tiger thieves, how many of them can recognize the words?

At this point, Guan Shuo and Zhao Yu's thoughts are very close, that is, there are no infallible generals in the world, if this loss of nearly 10,000 soldiers can make Huang Kang learn a lesson, Guan Shuo will still think that it is a worthwhile thing - although he regrets that he has lost nearly 10,000 sets of armaments because of this.

And this is also the reason why Guan Shuo has not dealt with Huang Kang for a long time in the past two days, and purely let the latter calm and calm in Dingling County.

From the current point of view, at least Huang Kang still knows where he lost, and Guan Shuo is quite pleased with this.

He said in a deep voice, "Yes, you are indeed too underestimated. …… If you launch an offensive against Kunyang before noon, and don't think about using the Green Forest Army to consume the strength of Kunyang's guards, and lead a total of 16,700 troops to storm Kunyang County on three sides, Kunyang will definitely fall in less than an hour. But you were too conceited, and you only launched an attack until it was dark for an hour and a half, and let the Green Forest Army send those servants to take the lead...... Do you want to teach the people of Kunyang how to kill the enemy? ”

"The original intention of the last general is to let those green forests ......"

Huang Kang wanted to explain, but as soon as he saw Guan Shuo's expression, he immediately stopped talking and lowered his head to admit his mistake.

Guan Shuo was not angry because of Huang Kang's rebuttal, he was just disappointed by Huang Kang's 'naïve' thoughts: "Expect those Green Forest Army to fight hard? Even you yourself have said that it is just a bunch of selfish, two-faced robbers who you expect to sacrifice for you? ”

"......" Huang Kang lowered his head and said nothing.

Seeing this, Guan Shuo let out a breath from his nose and changed the topic to the place he was interested in: "Tell me about the situation in Kunyang County." ”

"Yes."

Huang Kang hugged his fists, and Zhengse said: "The defenders of Kunyang County can be divided into two teams...... No, three. …… The first group was a group of local bandits with black scarves on their heads, but somehow they fell to the Kunyang County Ya and united against our righteous army. These people are called 'Black Tiger Thieves' by the locals, and the soldiers of our army are called 'Black Turban Pawns' and 'Black Turban Thieves'......"

Guan Shuo's eyes flashed a few different colors, and he interrupted: "I remember that you mentioned in the battle report that the leader of these black tiger thieves is a man named Zhou Hu, right?" ”

"Yes......" Huang Kang nodded, and immediately looked at Guan Shuo thoughtfully, with a puzzled look in his eyes.

"Go on." Guan Shuo, who quickly came back to his senses, said calmly.

"Yes." Huang Kang nodded and continued: "This group of black turban thieves, in my opinion, is the biggest obstacle to the capture of Kunyang, among the old soldiers, although the number is small, but very brave, especially after the first day of the first month of the month, these black scarf thieves even left the county and frequently attacked us at night. For this reason, I sent the Green Forest Thieves to contain them, but in just five days, the Green Forest Thieves were defeated by those Black Turban Thieves, leaving me in a passive ...... The second is the local county army in Kunyang, the strength is average, the number is not much, but there are many people, the only thing that is commendable is that they dare to sacrifice ......"

Hearing the words 'dare to sacrifice', Guan Shuo glanced at Huang Kang, and couldn't help but think of Zhaoling County, which had just been occupied by them.

The people of Zhaoling County, just like Huang Kang said, dared to sacrifice, so that the soldiers of the Changsha Army under his command paid a very heavy price.

That price made Guan Shuo really want to take revenge on those who resisted by a massacre after the city was broken - fortunately, he still had reason and refused the instigation of his subordinates.

Seeing that Huang Kang didn't say a word, Huang Kang continued: "The third group is a militia composed of a group of civilians, with neither weapons nor armor, and only when those black turban thieves and county soldiers need to breathe, they are sent to the city wall to die, delaying time......"

After a pause, he seemed to think of something, and added with an ugly face: "Before this, Kunyang County may be short of armaments, but they have captured a lot of our army's armaments, and Ye County has also organized a convoy to transport several batches of baggage, and the last general suspects that the guards of Kunyang County are probably more than those ...... before."

"How many batches of baggage did Ye County transport to Kunyang?" Guan Shuo frowned.

"Yes." Huang Kang's forehead oozed a few traces of cold sweat, and he lowered his head and said: "The general also knew about this matter from the green forest thieves sent to the north bank of the Shahe River, and learned that Ye County organized horse-drawn carriages and carts for three consecutive days on July 27th, 28th, and 29th, and transported a batch of baggage to Kunyang County...... Many. ”

Guan Shuo frowned slightly, his fingers tapped on the table, and nodded thoughtfully: "First to help Kunyang, and then to help Kunyang...... It seems that Ye County doesn't want Kunyang to fall too soon......"

Huang Kang echoed: "Yes, for this reason, Ye County also sent a Nanyang army of 3,000 people, which is now stationed in a village on the north side of Kunyang County. ”

"Huh?"

Guan Shuo heard a little clue, and the fox asked: "The village on the north side of the county? Isn't it settled in the county seat? ”

Huang Kang shook his head and affirmed: "For some reason, the three thousand Nanyang troops did not enter the city and station. ”

Hearing this, Guan Shuo was also puzzled, after all, in his opinion, there was really no reason for Kunyang to let the three thousand Nanyang troops stationed outside the city - it stands to reason that strengthening the garrison of the county seat is not the top priority?

Could it be that Kunyang is guarding against Ye County?

But...... Why?

Didn't Ye County reinforce Kunyang? And Kunyang also cooperated with Ye County to launch a joint offensive against his general Huang Kang......

Could it be that the Kunyang County Ya and the Yexian County Ya are not in harmony?

It is undeniable that Kunyang County belongs to Yingchuan County, and Ye County belongs to Nanyang County, which is indeed not in the same county, but it is too unbelievable to say that Kunyang County does not allow the reinforcements sent by Ye County to settle in the county because of this.

Unless......

『…… Unless it is the Kunyang County Government that is giving orders at this moment, it is not the Kunyang government......

A thought flashed in his heart, and a name immediately appeared in Guan Shuo's heart.

Zhou Hu!

"Yes! Zhou Hu is a thief, and Yang Ding, the county commander of Yexian County, is an official, so Zhou Hu has to guard against Yang Ding...... But how did Zhou Hu get the Kunyang County Ya to obey him?"

Rao is Guan Shuo, and it feels a little incredible at this time.

Because according to his guess, the gang of bandits named the Black Tiger Thieves has actually controlled Kunyang County, that is to say, it was not the Kunyang County Ya who resisted his Changsha Xinchu Army in Kunyang County, but the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves, Zhou Hu, that is, the object that Zhang Zhai asked him to try to entrap in Nanyang County.

After pondering for a while, Guan Shuo said in a deep voice: "Take the remnants of your command and go with me to the ground in Kunyang and Yexian, as for the punishment of you, I will deal with it after I have seen Kunyang and Yexian with my own eyes!" ”

“…… Be. ”

Huang Kang lowered his head and clenched his fists, secretly relieved.

Although he didn't understand the reason, it seemed that the commander in front of him did not blame his incompetence for his defeat.

And this means that he still has a chance to keep his position and atone for his sins.