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In the future, the offensive of the eastern army of the Zhou army that crossed the Huai River was like a bamboo, and the Jianghuai army in both Huaixi and Huaidong fled in disarray, leaving more than ten cities and more than 500,000 surnames fleeing in embarrassment.

After Yu Ming stopped for a while, he led his troops to attack Huai'an. Gaoyou is an important city in Huaidong and the northern barrier of Yangzhou, the capital of Jiang. If it is taken by the Zhou army, there will be no danger to defend the line from Gaoyou to Jiangdu.

As the vanguard of the Eastern Army, Luo Cheng's troops have always been known for their speed, although most of his troops are infantry, but in order to seize the opportunity, lest it be as fast as Song Jingang, who attacked Huaixi, he ordered the army to stay overnight and speed up the march.

A few days later, the army had arrived at the foot of Gaoyou City, and it was already evening, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the city. The defenders of the Jianghuai Army, who had already learned of the arrival of the Zhou army, had already closed the city gates, and the city walls were also full of defending soldiers, and there was a tense atmosphere.

Luo Cheng ordered the army to temporarily set up camp, have a full meal of morale, and then rest well, recuperate, and wait for tomorrow's siege.

Early the next morning. As soon as the day dawned, tens of thousands of troops led by Luo Cheng gathered outside Gaoyou City, with a loud sound of cannons, the Zhou army immediately pushed the catapult, resisted the ladder, shouted and rushed towards Gaoyou City, looking from afar, the black and oppressive Zhou army was like a torrent of steel, and the momentum was like a grandeur.

The boulders thrown by the trebuchets rumbled, and the arrows shot into the city were as dense as rain, and the soldiers of the Jianghuai Army standing on the head of the city did not dare to show their heads at all under this fierce attack.

Luo Cheng also took the lead, rushed to the front, braved the Jianghuai army's arrows and flying stones, took the lead in crossing the moat, and then put the cloud ladder on the city wall and climbed bravely. The Jianghuai army at the head of the city was also desperately resisting, and the rolling stones and trees rained down on the besieging Zhou army. The siege battle was in full swing, showing a sign of great tragedy.

The guard of Gaoyou City was Feng Huiliang, who was once a prisoner of Yuming and was later ransomed with a lot of money. Seeing that the Zhou army was attacking fiercely and had strong combat effectiveness, he was also anxious, so he had to order: "Mobilize all the people in the city to the city wall to help!" Otherwise, with our people alone, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold it! ”

His lieutenant general hesitated a little and said, "Are these people strong and reliable?" King Du told him that because Zhou Jun treated his surname very well, he not only exempted him from poll tax, but also issued farm tools and seeds, so that he could grow grain with confidence. And the grain grown by Zhou Jun is also purchased with money, unlike us, which is levied free of charge. I heard that the surnames in the Jianghuai area are all looking forward to the Zhou army coming in, if these people who have only forcibly pulled into our army are allowed to go to the city wall to help defend the city, I am afraid that they will ......"

Feng Huiliang had already been killed, seeing that the battle was falling into a stalemate, and the Jianghuai army suffered heavy casualties under the attack of the Zhou army's trebuchets and arrows, and a large number of Zhou troops had rushed to the head of the city, and the situation of the city wall was dangerous.

He then shouted, "Call them up!" I can't take care of so much anymore! If they rebel, the city will be lost. But if you don't call them up, the city will also be lost, so it's better to gamble! ”

The lieutenant general thought about it, so he went to inform several leaders of the Minzhuang army and asked them to lead the Minzhuang to defend the city.

The leaders of the Minzhuang army were also happy, promising to immediately gather Minzhuang on the city wall to help participate in the defense.

The deputy general was relieved, and returned to the city to report to Feng Huiliang.

Feng Huiliang's heart was a little wider, and Fang rejoined the battle, but at this time, the north gate of Gaoyou City suddenly opened with a bang, and the suspension bridge was actually put down!

"! Are those people crazy? I told you to tell them to go up to the city wall to defend them, not to tell them to go out of the city to meet the enemy! With their little combat strength, the defense of the upper city can be improvised, and going out to fight a field battle is not a death sentence? Seeing this, Feng Huiliang couldn't help but shout angrily.

The deputy general said with a look of grievance: "General Feng, the last general will notify them to go to the city wall!" Could it be that the leaders misheard? ”

Luo Cheng was also taken aback, thinking that the Jianghuai army in the city was going to kill and destroy his own catapults. When he was about to organize soldiers to line up to meet the enemy, he didn't expect that someone at the city gate was holding a white flag and shouting at them: "Brothers of the Zhou army, come into the city!" We are the subordinates of Mrs. Red Sleeves, and we have rebelled against the Minzhuang army in the Jianghuai army and defected to our army! ”

Luo Cheng was overjoyed immediately, and immediately led a large group of cavalry to rush into the city without hesitation, and then relied on his courage to desperately defend the north city gate and suspension bridge to prevent the Jianghuai army in the city from counterattacking. And the main force behind him naturally did not miss such a good opportunity, and immediately swarmed into the city from the north gate.

Those Jianghuai soldiers defending the city. Although they are all brave people, they are also panicked in the face of such an unexpected situation. They also expected that the Minzhuang army might not be able to help, and they coped with it while defending the city. But I didn't expect that they had already been rebelled. You know, when they were asked to carry rolling stones and wood before, they behaved normally.

Caught off guard, Feng Huiliang, the general of Gaoyou, hurriedly commanded his Jianghuai soldiers to rush to the north city gate in an attempt to plug the gap.

But Luo Cheng had already led the main force of the Zhou army into Gaoyou City at this time, in front of such a sharp impact of the Zhou army's iron cavalry and the sharp Damascus black steel knife, where could these Jianghuai troops plug the loopholes?

"Oh my! No wonder King Du told me before, saying that I should beware of those people, who may be tempted by the propaganda of the Zhou army to defect to our army. And let me try not to let the Minzhuang army fight. At most, let them only engage in the work of transporting materials, it seems that King Du is really prescient! Alas, I regret that I should not have listened to His Highness! Seeing that the city had been lost and that he was powerless to return to the sky, Fang Huiliang showed a sad and angry look, pulled out his saber and committed suicide.

Gao You finally fell into the hands of Zhou Jun, and the road to Jiangdu had been completely opened, and Jiangdu was like a woman who had stripped off her clothes, exposed to Yuming.

Luo Cheng was still a little uncomfortable with the sudden victory. After entering the city, he met the personnel of the Intelligence Department who came to connect with him, and learned that long before the southern expedition began, Red Sleeves had ordered the agents of the Intelligence Department to shift the focus of intelligence work to the grassroots officers and soldiers in the Jianghuai Army.

However, they soon discovered that the veterans of the Jianghuai army who rebelled with Du Fuwei were very loyal to him, and it was difficult for them to rebel. And those people who have recently been hard-pulled into the army are very yearning for the peasant life in the Dazhou area. After all, Zhou Jun openly announced that he would distribute land to the displaced people and landless peasants. Even if Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other places cannot be divided, it can also be arranged to distribute land in Liaodong and North Korea. After all, there is an endless plain, sparsely populated, but the climate is a little colder.

Moreover, after the start of the southern expedition, the Zhou army's offensive has been triumphant, so the counterattack work of the agents of the intelligence department has been smooth.

The Battle of Gaoyou was the first real battle of the Zhou army's southern expedition. In order to completely reassure the leaders of the Minzhuang army, the intelligence officers even promised them that even if they surrendered very late, even when the Zhou army was about to win, they would be allowed to enjoy the treatment of the land after surrender.

In this way, the soldiers of the Minzhuang Army compared the treatment they would receive from the Zhou army with the attitude of the Jianghuai army, and it was self-evident which of the two was more popular and attractive.

As a result, they already had the idea of resisting from their hearts, but after all, the Jianghuai army was as fierce as a wolf, and the previous ferocious methods made them worry a lot, and they didn't dare to surrender immediately, they just wanted to wait for the war to end.

And when the Gaoyou offensive and defensive battle was at its most intense, the Jianghuai army guards even wanted to let them go to the city wall to defend as cannon fodder, those soldiers of the Minzhuang army, where could they still endure it, so they took the opportunity to make trouble in the city, intercepted and killed the Jianghuai army veterans guarding the city gate, and opened the city gate to welcome the Zhou army into the city.

Tens of thousands of cavalry of the Zhou army, under the command of Luo Cheng, swarmed in like a tide, rushed into the city, and after meeting with the people who were in trouble, they killed the recalcitrant Jianghuai army when they saw it...... In less than half a day, the entire city of Gaoyou had already fallen into the hands of the Zhou army. Seeing that the situation was not good, the guard Feng Huiliang fled early, and finally escaped back to Jiangdu and picked up a life.

By the time Yu Ming led the main force of the Eastern Army of the Zhou Army to arrive, the black banner of the Great Zhou had already fluttered over the head of Gaoyou City.

Yu Ming was overjoyed, so he recorded the merits of the leader of the Minzhuang Army anyway and rewarded him. However, as for the agents of the intelligence department who are engaged in the work of plotting rebellion, according to the regulations, they can only secretly record their merits and reward them within the intelligence department, and they dare not disclose their names in the list of rewards.

For intelligence officers like them, who need to operate in enemy forces on a regular basis, there is no way to protect their identities.

Relying on the blood and sweat of the intelligence department personnel during the rebellion, as well as the support of the surnames along the way. Wherever the eastern army of the Zhou army went, the surnames of the cities of Jianghuai and the people who were forcibly recruited by the Jianghuai army rose up one after another, killed the Jianghuai army guards in the city, opened the city gate to welcome the Zhou army to enter, less than a month, Lujiang, Danyang, Huai'an and other more than 20 cities were captured by the Zhou army, and the progress of the eastern army was very smooth.

At the same time, Li Jing, the commander of the Western Army, also successfully conquered Wancheng, and used it as a base to clear more than ten county towns north of Xiangyang, opening the road to the city of Jingxiangfu, which made Li Xiaogong, who stayed in Xiangyang, shocked. Because he didn't expect that the Zhou army would dare to attack the Tang army while attacking the Jianghuai army. And his previous preparations were all intended to attack the Zhou army and aid the Jianghuai army, and he did a very poor job in defense.

This time, the Zhou army suddenly came to the city, which made Li Xiaogong a little at a loss. He then hurriedly reported the emergency to Chang'an and asked Li Yuan to send reinforcements.

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