Chapter 288 Lobbyist

Yinzhou Pass was defeated, although Zhang Dashou tried his best to block the news, but under the spread of Cao Wenzhao and others, it quickly spread throughout Yan'an Mansion. This fiasco had too great a spiritual impact on the entire peasant army in northern Shaanxi, and the peasant army was originally in awe of the border troops of Xuanfu and Datongfu, especially Tiemo, the living king of Yama, but now it was another big defeat, which deepened the fear in his heart.

Not long after Liu Wenxiu withdrew to Ansai City, Yuan Ma, Zhang Yichuan and others also began to shrink their forces to Ganquan City and Wild Boar Gorge. At this point, Yuan Ma is iron-hearted, as long as the officers and soldiers do not fight the Wild Boar Gorge and Ganquan City, and let them toss, it is impossible to easily start a war with the officers and soldiers anyway. Now the corporal is panicking, once the war starts, the result will not be too good.

Of course, the saddest thing is Zhang Cunmeng in Hequ City. When the results of the Yinzhou Pass war came, Zhang Cunmeng couldn't wait to slap himself a few times, and his heart was full of regret at this time, if he cooperated with the troops, the Yinzhou Pass war would not be like this. But there is no regret in the world to take medicine, and he can't be blamed entirely on Zhang Cunmeng, the officers and soldiers approached Hequ City, and kept firing artillery, and the soldiers defending the city were bombed with heavy casualties and low morale. Zhang Xianzhong was angry, but did he know the situation in Hequ City? Whoever has been bombarded like this for a few days will not have the courage to lead the army out of the city, right?

This time Zhang Xianzhong was offended to death, and it is unlikely that he will expect others to rush to the aid of Hetao. Now the only one who can be mobilized is Zhang Xianzhong's soldiers and horses, and the leader of the king and Zhang Dashou still have to guard Qingyang Mansion and Yan'an Mansion, even if they gallop to the Hetao, it is impossible to divide too many soldiers and horses.

For the first time, Zhang Cunmeng felt that it was not a good thing to have too much territory. The combat effectiveness of the rebel army has always been a problem, in order to deal with the officers and soldiers, they can only win by numbers, and now they have to hold their territory and cannot fight on the move, which directly limits their own military superiority. Whether it is Hetao or Qingyang Mansion, dealing with officers and soldiers alone, the superiority in strength is not obvious.

On April 24 of the third year of Chongzhen, when the good news flew to the capital, the border army of Xuanfu and Datong Mansion once again came to Hequ City. At noon that day, under the command of Man Gui, Lou Daji and Liu Guoneng took the lead in launching an attack on Hequ City, and the artillery bombarded for a quarter of an hour, and more than 3,000 border soldiers carried various siege equipment to Hequ City. This time, it was a real siege, and Zhang Cunmeng felt that a danger was coming.

Under the repeated bombardment, the city of Hequ has long been dilapidated, and the defense that was hard to get out before has also been destroyed. The city wall is not high, and there are gaps in some places, and it only took half an hour for Lou Daji's left wing to attack the city wall and start a hand-to-hand battle with the peasant army defending the city. Not long after, Liu Guoneng also led troops to attack the western city wall. The first official siege of the city was hit on the city wall, although Zhang Cunmeng was prepared in his heart, he still felt a little shocked.

The peasant army in the city continued to rush to the aid of the city wall, and after an hour of fierce fighting, finally drove the officers and soldiers down. However, in the first official confrontation, not only was the city wall attacked, but also the lives of more than 3,000 soldiers were lost. temporarily kept Hequ City, but Zhang Cunmeng obviously felt that there was a panic in the city, and everyone's confidence in holding Hequ and even the entire Hetao was getting smaller and smaller.

A dilapidated house with leaky air and dark walls. Some time ago, the house was destroyed by the shelling of officers and soldiers, when the roof collapsed, and the bodies of six brothers were dug up inside. At that time, everyone had a feeling of dazed helplessness, the feeling of letting others slaughter but not being able to do it, which made people suffocate and despair.

However, it is only now that I experience what true despair is. Several peasant soldiers leaned against the broken wall, their faces pale, their heads hanging like frosted eggplants. A middle-aged man touched his beard, revealing a vicissitudes of life, "Hey, this Hequ City can't be defended, this battle is ...... is worthy of the living Hades, every time I meet him, there will be no good fruit to eat. ”

The young man next to him fiddled with the dirt on the ground, and said angrily: "There are still tens of thousands of my brothers in the city, why can't they hold it?" ”

The middle-aged man sighed, raised his hand and patted the other party's shoulder, "You, you're still too young and have too little experience." Didn't you notice anything wrong with today's battle? In the past, the troops of the Living Hades were proud of the musketeers, and today those musketeers did not show up. If the musketeers had suppressed and covered the siege as before, we would have suffered more casualties. You haven't fought against the troops of the living Hades, and his soldiers and horses are notoriously capable of fighting, and they often fight with the Mongol Tatars on the steppe. But today, although they rushed to the city, they did not continue to increase their troops in the follow-up, not to mention that they did not even have the strength to take the city wall in one fell swoop. ”

"They're staying, the real siege hasn't started yet, and today is just a temptation. When the real attack comes, that terrible artillery bombards down, musketeers cover, officers and soldiers attack the city, can we hold it? The middle-aged man raised his head and looked at the long street not far away, where groups of peasant soldiers were hurrying by, "Look at them, they are all panicked, do you still think we can hold it?" ”

The young man was stunned, and although he was not convinced, he did not know what to say.

.......

On this day, the officers and soldiers did not launch a second offensive, nor did they continue to bombard the city of Hequ, which gave the peasant troops in the city a rare opportunity to rest. When night falls, many people find a place to sleep with their heads in their cats. Those who have been tossed by that terrible artillery these days are going crazy, they haven't had a good night's sleep, those people are firing at night, and if they die, who knows which shell will fall on their heads?

In the quiet city of the river, full of stars, in the dead of night, a person quietly entered this heavily guarded city. He was dressed in a black robe and could not see his face.

Hequ County Ya, Zhang Cunmeng sat in the lobby with a restless expression, the food next to him was already hot, but he still had no appetite at all. In today's battle, some veterans can see the problems, and he can naturally see them. I thought that the officers and soldiers would soon launch a second round of onslaught, but the other side died down and did nothing. Zhang Cunmeng doesn't think this is a good thing, those invisible dangers are the most terrifying.

The sound of footsteps outside interrupted Zhang Cunmeng's thoughts, and when he looked up, he saw his close brother Su Baisheng hurrying over. Su Baisheng is inconspicuous in the peasant army, and it seems that it is easy to be ignored, but this person has a well-known nickname, nicknamed "Black Fox". Those who know Su Baisheng know that this person is cunning and strategic, and he is Zhang Cunmeng's real confidant, and he has always been relied on as a strategist.

"Brother Su, something happened to the city defense?" Zhang Cunmeng was most worried that something would go wrong on the city wall, so he hurriedly asked out loud, Su Baisheng shook his head with a straight face, hesitated, but still frowned, and said in a low voice: "Leader Zhang, someone wants to see you." ”

"Who?" Zhang Cunmeng had just finished asking, and Su Baisheng hurriedly got closer and said something. Soon, Zhang Cunmeng's face changed greatly, and his first reaction was to disappear, and even wanted to order the other party's head to be cut off. Su Baisheng knew what Zhang Cunmeng was thinking, so he hurriedly persuaded: "Leader Zhang, it's better to meet him and see what he can say, and it's not too late to make a decision then." ”

"Let him in" Zhang Cunmeng snorted and turned back to the main seat. A moment later, Su Baisheng led a black-robed man into the lobby, and after the man entered, he took off his hood and revealed a familiar face.

Looking at that face, the corners of Zhang Cunmeng's mouth grinned, he fell to the ground, and said with a cold smile: "Wang Zuohang, you scum, I didn't expect you to dare to come to see Lao Tzu, aren't you afraid that Lao Tzu will kill you with a knife?" ”

That's right, the person who came was Wang Zuohang. In the face of Zhang Cunmeng's threat, Wang Zuohang's expression was calm, and he arched his hand with a warm face: "Brother Zhang, I haven't seen you for a long time." It's understandable that you want to kill Wang, but it would be a big mistake to say that Wang is scum. can only say that you and I have different paths and different choices, or rather, in your eyes, Wang is a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, greedy for wealth and wealth? ”

"You ....." Zhang Cunmeng was suddenly dumbfounded, even if he hated Wang Zuohang, he didn't think that the other party was a villain who was greedy for wealth and afraid of death. There are many capable people in the peasant army, but there are no more than three that he really admires, and Wang Zuojiao is definitely one of them. I remember that when I learned that Wang Zuohang went to Zhangbei and took refuge in the living king of Hades, he was angry and didn't eat for a day.

So far, Zhang Cunmeng can't understand why Wang Zuohang did this, "Have you forgotten why you raised troops in the first place?" Have you forgotten what you said earlier? ”

Wang Zuohang was calm, sat in the chair next to him, and said with a faint smile: "It is precisely because he has not forgotten that Wang chose to follow the iron guard." At the beginning, Wang scattered all his family wealth and raised troops in his hometown, in order to let the villagers live a good life, and in order to stop starving people everywhere in Qinchuan. However, since Wang Mou raised troops with his brothers, what has he gotten? There are more and more hungry people, and the people of the entire land of Qinchuan are struggling to make a living....."

Zhang Cunmeng's face darkened, his fists clenched, he glared at Wang Zuohang with some anger, and said gloomily: "Since you remember, then why do you still want to take refuge in the living Hades King, are you worthy of those dead brothers?" ”

"Why can't you take refuge in the living Hades? What was Zhangbei like three years ago? What does Zhangbei look like now? Wang Zuo frowned, his expression became serious and solemn, and in his eyes, there was a little more sadness and dissatisfaction, "The iron garrison has entered the north by itself, so that how many homeless people can live and work in peace and contentment, and let Zhangbei regain its former prosperity." But what were we doing? Why is there a surge of displaced people in the land of Qinchuan and there is no harvest, Brother Zhang, don't you understand it at all...... Ask yourself, how many people have done things that have gone against their dreams...... Wang is unwilling to bury some people's ambitions, why is it wrong? ”

"Wang Zuo hangs ....." Zhang Cunmeng stared at the other party, word by word, and his voice was as cold as ice. If words could be turned into swords, Wang Zuojiao at this moment would have already been cut into minced meat.

"I think you're crazy, Shaanxi has become like this, the responsibility lies with the imperial court, according to your meaning, we are wrong?" Zhang Cunmeng asked sharply, but Wang Zuohang shrugged his shoulders and said noncommittally: "The court has no way, which has led to today's situation, but some people's practices are worse than the imperial court, blindly satisfying their own selfishness, but they don't know how to sympathize with Qin Chuan's fathers. Okay, Brother Zhang, you and I have different paths, and no one can convince anyone. Right or wrong, time will tell. ”

Zhang Cunmeng snorted coldly, but he still tried to clean up his mood, "Let's talk about it, what are you coming to Hequ for?" ”

"Of course, it's to save Brother Zhang's life!" Wang Zuohang's voice was very soft, but when it fell on the ears of Zhang Cunmeng and Su Baisheng, it was harsh and abnormal. Zhang Cunmeng's face was gloomy, and he said sarcastically: "Wang Zuohang, aren't you afraid that Lao Tzu will chop you up now?" ”

Of course, Brother Zhang can do this, but when Wang dies, Brother Zhang and these tens of thousands of brothers will also be buried together. I believe that Brother Zhang is not a reckless person, is he? ”

Wang Zuohang is simply fearless, which makes Zhang Cunmeng feel like he is full of strength but has nowhere to start. Exhaled, and then said: "Zhang doesn't think that although the combat power of the border army is amazing, but now there are still 40,000 warriors in Hequ City, if Zhang Mou is determined to defend Hequ, even if you can swallow Hequ City, you won't be able to eat any good fruit in the end!" ”

"But as Brother Zhang said, but what about the hearts of the soldiers in the city? What if our artillery fire is extended to cover the entire Hequ City, and then the Hequ City is in ruins, how many people will be lost? Brother Zhang, do you really think you have a chance to fight with the Iron Garrison? ”

Wang Zuohang paused for a moment and continued: "Now that the Hetao has fallen into the hands of our army, what is the point of defending Hequ City? Just to fight for breath? Or, Brother Zhang thinks that the sky is full of stars or Wang Ziyong can free up his hands and send heavy troops to retake the Hetao? ”

asked two questions in a row, and Zhang Cunmeng, who was suddenly asked, was speechless. Even Su Baisheng's expression changed greatly, everyone didn't seem to have thought about this problem before, only thinking about how to keep the river meander, but they didn't think about the meaning of guarding the river meander.

Shenmu City was lost, and most of the Hetao also fell into the hands of officers and soldiers, so it was pointless to defend Hequ City.

Zhang Cunmeng was a little unwilling, and snorted: "So what, even so, you can kill Zhang again?" Lao Tzu has tens of thousands of troops, if you want to withdraw, can you stop it? ”

Wang Zuohang nodded, and said with a faint smile: "Of course you can't stop it, but don't forget, there are tens of thousands of my cavalry outside the city, in this case, how many people can escape to Yan'an Mansion in the end?" What's more, there are artillery and musketeers to intercept it, and when it arrives in Yan'an Mansion, I'm afraid it will be less than 10,000 people, right? After the Yinzhou incident, do you think Zhang Xianzhong can let you go? The strength in your hands has plummeted, how do you deal with Zhang Xianzhong? You and I both know that we can't keep you by relying on the stars and the king's own use. ”

The corners of Zhang Cunmeng's mouth twitched, and no one noticed that his hands trembled slightly. Wang Zuo's words were like a steel knife, stabbed into his chest fiercely, cutting straight to the point.