By the time of the third watch, the hooked crescent moon had already sunk, and only the stars were left in the sky. Zhang Bingzhong led the cavalry to gallop on the road from Yicheng to Xiangyang at night. Less than ten miles away from Xiangyang City, he suddenly ordered the team to stop and rest at the foot of the mountain. Because he had already seen the lights above the south gate of Xiangyang.

Now the more than 3,000 people Zhang Bingzhong has with him are all his old backgrounds, with a relatively high degree of organization, and the implementation of military discipline is also better. So even though more than 3,000 people are resting here, there is no sound at all. As for Luo Mengde's department, which was not well organized and trained well enough, he was sent to another direction by Zhang Bingzhong.

After a while, the sweat on the horse's body was collected, Zhang Bingzhong looked up at the stars, he estimated that it should be almost the fourth watch. He stood up and said to the person next to him: "It's almost time, let's go!" ”

After saying this, he led his horse and walked in the direction of the south gate of Xiangyang. There may be a fierce battle for a while, so don't consume the horsepower too much.

At this time, the hooves of all the war horses were wrapped with cloth, and their mouths were also covered, and more than 3,000 people silently approached the south gate of Xiangyang.

Some time ago, when Yang Fei was still in Xiangyang, the rules were strict. Naturally, the fortifications of the city gates were also very strict. However, this strictness does not rely on the encouragement of military salaries, but on Yang Fei's official authority and harsh punishments. But as the saying goes, "the wind never ends, and the rain never ends." "High-pressure measures are difficult to last, so once Yang Fei leaves, Xiangyang's defense will immediately relax, and maybe even because the front is too tight, at this time, the rebound comes out, and everyone is more relaxed than before Yang Fei took up the post of superintendent.

Especially now, the war seems to have moved away from Xiangyang, and now the traitors are either in Henan or Sichuan, hundreds of miles away from Xiangyang. The officers and soldiers defending the city became more and more lax. Although Yang Fei wrote to Zhang Yuxing and the prefect Wang Shuzeng many times, asking them to take strong precautions. And Zhang Yuxing, the prefect of the military department, and Wang Shuzeng, the prefect, also constantly ordered the soldiers to be vigilant and strengthen their precautions. But they did not have enough money in their hands, and most of their soldiers did not receive enough salaries. They don't dare to press too hard now, for fear that something will happen. So they didn't dare to use high-pressure means.

Therefore, now the inventory of the six gates of Xiangyang City is quite strict, but the defense of the city has long been lax, and there is no one after the second watch every night. When Zhang Bingzhong led the cavalry about two miles away from the Wenchang Gate (South Gate), the city was fighting four watches. In the blink of an eye, a fire broke out near Chengtian Temple, followed by a fire near the Duanli Gate of Xiangwang's Mansion, and then a fire also rose inside the Wenchang Gate. The streets were full of people, and some people shouted that the standard camp of the Daotai Yamen mutinied. Li Min'an, a guerrilla general guarding the south gate, heard the shout and believed it to be true, so he took a dozen or so soldiers to prepare to suppress it, and as soon as he got on his horse in the inner street of the south gate, he saw more than 20 cavalry who had entered the city at dusk and lived in Chengtian Temple rushing in. Li Minan didn't understand what was going on, he was caught off guard, and was hacked to death by that "Liu Xingguo" in the head, and fell off his horse. His soldiers to the left and right fled in all directions. In the blink of an eye, this small group of cavalry forced the officers and soldiers guarding the gate who did not have time to flee to open the gate wide and lower the drawbridge. Zhang Bingzhong, who had just arrived outside the city, rushed in with a large army.

The defenders of Xiangyang City were actually more numerousthan Zhang Bingzhong, but they were completely defenseless. In the middle of the night, he was suddenly attacked by Zhang Bingzhong, and the whole army was suddenly in chaos. In fact, except for a few areas where the official army put up some resistance, most of the official army surrendered directly, and the city of Xiangyang fell into the hands of Zhang Bingzhong.

After Zhang Bingzhong entered the Wenchang Gate, he first galloped to Yang Sichang's superintendent Xingyuan left behind in Xiangyang, sent troops to occupy the military warehouse on the left side of Xingyuan, let people guard it, and then rode his horse to Xiangwang's mansion. When he arrived in front of the Duanli Gate, he met his adopted son Zhang Kewang coming out of the palace, so he stopped Zhang Kewang and said, "Has the dog king been caught?" ”

Zhang Kewang hugged his fists and smiled: "I've already caught it, but I want to drag it over and let my father take a look?" ”

"Go to the ball! Where does Lao Tzu have time to see that dog king now! Zhang Bingzhong said, "You take people to guard the palace closely, and don't let people come and go casually." I'm still busy! ”

He didn't have time to go into the palace to see, so Le Ma ran to Yun and Xiangdao Yamen. There were already his soldiers guarding the gate of the Daotai Yamen, and there were several dead bodies lying under the figure eight wall on the left. He got off the horse, walked inside with his own soldiers, and saw his adopted son Zhang Wenxiu welcoming him in the second gate. He asked:

"Did you catch Zhang Yuxing?"

"Back to his father, Zhang Yuxing led his family to escape, but was caught up by our cavalry and killed on the spot. The head has been cut off, so I waited for the dawn to find a place to hang it on the city gate. Zhang Wenxiu replied.

Zhang Bingzhong nodded, strode up to the lobby, sat down on the chair that originally belonged to Zhang Yuxing in the middle, and laughed twice. was happy, but saw his adopted son Zhang Rujing walk in, stood in front of him, and said with a smile:

"Father, the child has already done the job."

Zhang Bingzhong said with a smile: "Little bastard, you did a really good job!" Did it go smoothly when you entered the city? ”

Zhang Rujing replied: "Fortunately, it's easier than the child originally thought." Our documents and talismans are really no longer real, where can there be any problems. ”

Zhang Bingzhong laughed, then got up from the chair, patted Zhang Rujing on the shoulder and said, "Good boy, worthy of being Lao Tzu's son!" To say, the most important thing is neither the banner and trumpet of the official army, nor the official documents and military talismans, but your kid is bold and careful, and his expression is natural, so that those bastards guarding the city gate can't see the slightest flaw, and you can't believe it! If it's someone else, it's a real guy, and maybe it's going to show flaws. Well, what is the wind of the general, this is the wind of the general! ”

After saying this, he laughed again, patted Zhang Rujing's shoulder again, and said, "You have made a great contribution to Lao Tzu this time, and Lao Tzu will reward you heavily." ”

As he was talking, he saw the general Bai Wenxuan striding in, and when he saw Zhang Bingzhong, he clasped his fists with both hands and said, "Dashuai, Wang Shuzeng's turtle son has escaped." ”

"What? Why did you let him run away? Zhang Bingzhong asked with wide eyes.

"Dashuai, you can't blame me for this." Bai Wenxuan said, "Wang Shuzeng is not in the yamen at all, that dog is a gambler, he is in the Fuqing palace at night with the king of Fuqing, the king of Jinxian and the official Kuang Yueguang to hang the horse, so he has never slept all the time." As soon as he saw the fire in the city and the shouts, he led his family to escort the two county kings to escape, and they fled faster than rabbits. I first went to the yamen of the palace to pounce on the air, and then to the Fuqing Palace, and heard that he had fled, so I chased him to the north gate. I didn't see it when I arrived at Linjiang Gate, and I heard that twenty or thirty people had just run out of the circle gate. I chased out of the circle gate, and they had already escaped from the Gongchen Gate and crossed the river from the pontoon bridge. I chased to the dock of the pontoon, which had already been set on fire by the officers and soldiers guarding it. Only Kuang Yueguang, the little dog, ran slowly, and I caught up with him in the Gongchen Gate, and killed him with one knife. It's a pity that Wang Shuzeng still ran away. ”

Zhang Bingzhong has a short temper, but he is not a completely unreasonable person, and he is in a good mood under the big victory. When he heard this, he laughed and scolded: "How can this not blame you? Isn't it that your TMD luck is too bad to meet this kind of dog officer who is still playing horses and hanging for four days? When it dawns tomorrow, don't you go to find a temple to burn incense, go to bad luck! ”

Then he asked, "What about the county?" ”

"I turned back to the county yamen, and the county magistrate Li Tianjue had already hanged himself, and the county seal was placed on the public case. According to his servant, he was afraid that we would kill the corpse, so he handed over the county seal before he died. Bai Wenxuan replied.

"A petty official with sesame mung beans, Lao Tzu can't kill him for a while. Let's talk about a county official's big seal, it's a fart. There are so many Lao Tzu. Zhang Bingzhong said, "Forget it, just leave him a whole corpse." ”

After a while, it was dawn. Zhang Bingzhong worked all night, but he didn't get tired at all. He ate indiscriminately, remembering that he had caught King Xiang, so he loyally ordered someone to set up a Taishi chair under the front porch of the Cheng'en Palace, sat down first, and then ordered King Xiang to be escorted and asked to kneel down the steps. King Xiang prostrated and pleaded,

"Ask Grandpa Wang to spare his life!"

Zhang Bingzhong noticed that he was talking about "big (da) king" instead of "big (dai) king" usually used to describe bandits, so he scolded: "CNN, you are the king, but you call me the king!" Also, compared to me, the great king, you are actually the real great king. I don't want anything else from you, but I borrow one thing from you. ”

King Xiang hurriedly kowtowed and said: "As long as the king spares the life of the little king, don't say borrow a thing, and the gold and silver treasures in the palace will be used by the king." ”

When Zhang Bingzhong heard this, he became angry and happy: "You N, Lao Tzu has now occupied Xiangyang and your palace, how can you not let Lao Tzu move it?" Lao Tzu doesn't admit your empty love! There is only one thing, and you must borrow it from Lao Tzu. ”

King Xiang said in a trembling voice: "I don't know what Chitose wants." As long as there is one in the small palace, he is willing to give. ”

"What is in the palace, I naturally don't need to borrow it from you. But now that you are also in the palace, originally, Lao Tzu doesn't need to borrow from you, but Lao Tzu is a polite person, so ...... I'm going to borrow your head for it, okay? ”

King Xiang kowtowed again and again, crying: "I beg the king to spare his life!" Spare your life! ”

Zhang Bingzhong laughed and said, "You don't have to kowtow and beg for mercy. I originally wanted to kill Yang Sichang, but he was in Sichuan, and I couldn't kill him, so I had to borrow your head to use it. If I cut off your pig's head, Emperor Chongde will cut off his dog's head. I'm busy today, so I'll borrow it right away. He shouted to his soldiers, "Bring me a bowl of wine!" A personal soldier immediately brought a bowl of leftover wine from breakfast, and according to Zhang Bingzhong's eyes, brought it to King Xiang's side. Zhang Bingzhong smiled kindly and said, "King, please drink this bowl of wine, be strong, and walk out of the west gate of the city and straighten your neck!" ”

King Xiang was still prostrating, but he was dragged up from the ground by the soldiers on the left and right, and he was not forced to drink the death wine, and pushed him to stagger out of the corner of the Duanli Gate that was destroyed by the fire.