After Wang Tiezhu and He Wuji took Suiyang, Luoyang's Yu ** team directly withdrew to Yecheng and plundered all the people and materials in Luoyang.

Just as Wang Tiezhu and He Wuji were preparing to enter Luoyang, Zhu Yaoshi's gold medal messenger arrived again, and this time the order was to ask Wang Tiezhu to lead a group of men and horses to go in to block Wu Zhenchang's rebels and let He Wuji continue to advance westward.

Hearing that Luoyang was already within reach, the envoy was overjoyed: "Marshal He is about to recover Luoyang, and the next step to take Chang'an is just around the corner, congratulations."

"Honorable envoy, could you please tell us what happened to Liyang, and why did we know that there were still more than 200,000 horses until today? How did they become rebels again? He Wuji asked anxiously

"Marshal He, don't inquire if you shouldn't ask, if you know too much, you have a lot of worries, if Marshal Wang comes out, you will definitely be able to defeat the rebels and calm down"

"Honorable envoy, I, Wang Tiezhu, am a rough man, please tell us, what has happened in Jinling and Liyang in the past few months? Our grain and grass can't be delivered on time every time, and I'm afraid that this soldier will not be able to bring it if it goes on like this! Wang Tiezhu also saw that something happened in Jinling and Liyang

"Marshal Wang, you just have to go to quell the rebellion, there is nothing big in Jinling City, and everything is fine with the emperor. It's just that someone on the Liyang side has defected, so don't worry"

Seeing that the envoy still refused to reveal it, He Wang and the two had to receive orders, but they knew in each other's hearts that something must have happened, otherwise they would not have mobilized half of the people to quell the rebellion, which was the last family of Zhu Yaoshi.

Outside Suiyang City, He Wuji and Wang Tiezhu walked side by side, and all the wild grasses in the field had grown, and there were many wild flowers, and from time to time there were wild dogs and eagles.

"Brother Wang, you must take care of yourself when you go, remember to send your henchmen to pass on the information at any time, and when I occupy Luoyang, I will leave 10,000 people to garrison, and I will also go to the east to help you destroy the rebels"

"Brother He, the emperor's intention is to let you take Chang'an down as well, aren't you blatantly disobeying the holy decree?"

"No, no, no, the edict doesn't explicitly let us fight Chang'an, not to mention that I think the Yu State in Mobei will definitely go south, so we must be each other's horns, in case the rebels unite with the Mobei people, we will be in danger!"

"Okay, this time I will definitely fight quickly, first solve the rebels and recover Liyang, and then wait for your brother He to defend the Mobei cavalry together"

Hearing the words "quick battle", He Wuji was vaguely worried, but Wang Tiezhu was about to go on an expedition, and it was not suitable to say unlucky words at this time, so he ordered someone to bring two jars of wine prepared for Wang Tiezhu.

Wang Tiezhu took the wine and poured it violently, and after a while, he threw the empty jar on the ground and smashed it, and wiped his mouth again: "Okay, from today onwards, if you don't destroy the rebels, you won't drink anymore!" Brother He, take care, brother, I will destroy the rebels and come back to drink with you"

He Wuji removed half a jar of wine from his mouth and swallowed his throat: "Okay, Brother Wang, I wish you a successful start and success!" ”

After Wu Zhenchang entered and occupied Xinli, his troops were divided into three routes to attack the city in three directions, east, west and south.

The officials in various places were all newcomers sent by Zhu Yaoshi, and they had no foundation in the local area, Wu Zhenchang's army was menacing, and the big families in each city either recommended the officials of their own cities to surrender out of the city, or killed the officials who defended the city to surrender. There was a flood of demotion for a while, and Wu Zhenchang still entrusted them with their original appointments.

But there are exceptions to everything, and Zhang Qiyun, the guard general of Dingtao, knew that these big families were unreliable, so he summoned the big families in the city to discuss the surrender on the grounds of discussing the surrender.

As a result of the deliberations, most of the heads of these large families were beheaded, and their property was confiscated.

Zhang Qiyun led the army and civilians to strengthen the city wall day and night, digging a moat and flooding the lowlands outside the city.

When Wu Zhenchang's soldiers came to the city, the outside of Dingtao City was already full of mud

The walls were also covered with rolling wood and stones for defense.

This Dingtao City left the outer moat of the north gate without digging it, and it seems that it was specially prepared for Wu Zhenchang to attack.

But Wu Zhenchang's subordinate Yang Yan knew very well that outside the north gate was the most dangerous, if the Wu army set up a posture to attack the city, Zhang Qiyun led the cavalry to rush out, and it was very likely that the Wu army besieging the city would be defeated.

If he bypassed Dingtao and went south and west, Zhang Qiyun would definitely go out of the city to cut off the grain route of the Wu army.

In this way, he had to capture Dingtao first, but Wu Zhenchang did not follow Yang Yan's advice: "Dingtao is only a city of land, there are only 3,000 soldiers, and there is no danger to defend, sooner or later it will be in the pocket of our army." When the water outside the city dries, it will be trapped on all sides! ”

Yang Yan was inconvenient to fight, so he had to obey Wu Zhenchang's order to continue to lead his troops south.

Originally, Zhang Qiyun was preparing to attract the Wu army to attack, so as to prevent the Wu army from going south directly to Jinling, but now the Wu army avoided Dingtao and went directly to Xuzhou.

Zhang Qiyun led the army to chase Yang Yan, and the two sides fought a draw, and Zhang Qiyun had to retreat to Dingtao to continue to hold on.

Wu Zhenchang, as always, requisitioned young and strong troops from all over the country, and the newly recruited 50,000 horses came to besiege Dingtao.

The siege strategy was also very extreme, digging dozens of wells on the periphery of Dingtao, and then completely releasing the water from the moat that had been dug up in Dingtao.

There is a lot of grain and grass in Dingtao City, but now it is about to fall into the point of no water to drink, Zhang Qiyun is determined to break through, but the ravines that have been dug outside the city are vertical and horizontal, and it seems that he can't rush out.

Zhang Qiyun was unwilling to sit still, so he recruited the dead to write a letter to break through and ask for help.

The breakthrough was extremely smooth, almost no one stopped him, Zhang Qiyun saw it really at the head of the city, and his subordinates were very excited: "As soon as the reinforcements arrive, we can join forces to defeat the enemy army!" ”

Zhang Qiyun suddenly remembered something, his face changed greatly, and he hurriedly went back and wrote another handwritten letter while others were excited, to the effect that he asked the imperial court to give up Dingtao and not send reinforcements.

The second group of dead soldiers left the city with letters, and all of them were killed by random arrows less than two miles away.

Sure enough, Wu Zhenchang wanted to use Dingtao as a bait to lure Zhu Yaoshi to send an army to the rescue, and then Yang Yan and several other armies returned to the division to eat the reinforcements sent by Zhu Yaoshi!

Zhang Qiyun secretly scolded that he shouldn't have sent someone out of the city to ask for help, but at this time he was powerless and had to resign himself to fate.

The letter asking for help was soon sent to Jinling, and Zhu Yaoshi convened his ministers to discuss, and had already sent Wang Tiezhu to attack Xinli and recover the lost territory in Huaibei. But at this time, the situation has changed, and Wang Tiezhu's army alone may not be able to complete this task.

The result of this court meeting was to send He Wuji to lead the remaining army to Dingtao to rescue, and ordered Wang Tiezhu, who had already set off, to also rush to rescue Dingtao.

Zhu Yaoshi and his courtiers also knew that this Dingtao was a bait, but if they didn't come to the rescue, no one would be willing to hold on to the city in the future.

This time, only by doing his best to break through Wu Zhenchang's encirclement network and save Dingtao can there be a glimmer of life.

Pharmacist Zhu couldn't help but think of the allusion to the chicken ribs, and shook his head: "Chicken ribs and chicken ribs, but I am tired of it!" ”

Wu Zhenchang's plan can be called perfect, but unfortunately a few people were missed.

Zhong Zhiming Lingyun and others, who originally fled back to Juye to recuperate, saw that the Wu army was menacing, so they abandoned the city early and fled to the area around Weishan Lake to hide.

When He Wuji and Wang Tiezhu fought with the Wu army's four-way army on the periphery of Dingtao, Zhong Zhiming and Lingyun led their troops north to attack and occupy Xinli and many cities.

But Zhong Zhiming Lingyun didn't have many people after all, so he let it go all the way to the city, and rushed to Dingtao for reinforcements.

The Wu army had a large number of people, and they put Wang Tiezhu and He Wuji together

Surrounded, prevailed.

However, Wang Tiezhu was brave and invincible, and the Wu army was never able to defeat the Liang army, and the siege and annihilation battle became a stalemate.

Looking at the dozens of generals who were hammered to death by Wang Tiezhu one by one, Wu Zhenchang felt a little remorseful, knowing that it would save trouble if Wang Tiezhu was removed in Jinling at the beginning.

The men and horses of the two sides fought a north-south confrontation outside Dingtao City, He Wuji Wang Tiezhu set up camp in the south, and Wu Zhenchang's army also built an earthen city in the north.

After the earthen city was built, Wu Zhenchang did not forget the soldiers and civilians who were short of water in Dingtao City, and built a high platform to project soil and stones into the city.

Zhang Qiyun in the city saw that the reinforcements were camped ten miles away, but they couldn't save him. Although there is a lot of blood, but under the lack of water, there is not much combat power.

But Wu Zhenchang, who was outside the city, did not want to attack the city, he had to wait for the people in the city to beg him for mercy.

The movements of Zhong Zhiming's army, the Wu army was also on guard, and had sent men and horses to ambush in the east and north.

Zhong Zhiming and Ling Yun originally wanted to rush over from the north to disrupt the Wu army's position and join forces with the Liang army.

It's a pity that he was intercepted by the ambushed Wu army, and relied on Ling Yun's double-plate axe to fight his way out of a bloody way before fleeing north.

After this battle, Zhong Zhiming and Ling Yun only had 800 men left, and their vitality was greatly damaged. As soon as the two of them combined, they had to flee back to the island in Weishan Lake to temporarily avoid the Wu army.

Wu Zhenchang was a smart man, Wang Tiezhu was invincible, so he didn't touch Wang Tiezhu, and gathered the elite of the Wu army to attack He Wuji's camp.

Wang Tiezhu's subordinates persuaded him to rescue He Wuji, but Wang Tiezhu refused, not because he wanted to fall into the well for his brother, but because Wang Tiezhu saw Wu Zhenchang's intentions.

Wu Zhenchang attacked He Wuji, He Wuji couldn't resist and could escape, but if Wang Tiezhu went to rescue He Wuji, his camp would also be lost, and then it would be the most dangerous.

Wu Zhenchang was very proud, no matter how Wang Tiezhu chosen, he could not avoid the defeat and retreat of the Liang army.

It's a pity that people are not as good as the sky, a rainstorm came and blocked the Wu army, not only blocked the Wu army, but the sudden flood also washed the Liang army to pieces.

Zhang Qiyun in Dingtao City knelt on the ground and roared in the rain: "Heaven is endless loyal and righteous people!" Everybody! Look at it! It's providence."

The soldiers and civilians in Dingtao City took out pots and pans, buckets and jars to receive water, and Zhang Qiyun also led the soldiers to dig dozens of big pits to store water!

The rain was heavy and fierce, and Wu Zhenchang first watched the Liang army being washed away, and then it was his turn to be washed away by the flood.

In the heavy rain, smoke came out of the chimneys of every house in Dingtao City, and the rainwater and alum charcoal were boiled and the soil was filtered out with a cloth.

Zhang Qiyun sent people to ring the gong to remind the families not to eat anymore, to store water and boil water, and the clay pots and clay pots sold in the city were squeezed through the door panel for a while.

Wu Zhenchang hid on the high platform under the protection of his subordinates, looking at the cooking smoke in Dingtao City and the Wu army camp soaked in the water.

After the flood receded, Dingtao City could no longer be taken, and the Liang army had already fled westward.

Wu Zhenchang looked at the waist-deep quagmire and reluctantly gave the order to withdraw the army, and at this time, someone reported that an old man was coming.

Wu Zhenchang was wondering, Zhang Pingnan was brought in.

"Lord Wu, don't come unharmed, Xiao Kete came to see him and convey Emperor Liang's intention to seek peace!" Zhang Pingnan knelt down in the mud towards Wu Zhenchang

Wu Zhenchang was stunned, he didn't know how to deal with it for a while, the Liang army was no longer able to go north, and he couldn't go south at the moment.

Originally, he also had the intention of seeking peace, but at this time, what are Wu Zhenchang and his subordinates, are they the courtiers of Daliang, or?

Even if he agrees to negotiate peace, his subordinates may not agree, the rebellion has reached this point, and it is no longer possible to negotiate peace.

"Take him down and lock him up!"