Chapter 4: The Thief (Part 5)

Cheng Mingzhen has entered Juluze again!

When the news spread, many people had mixed tastes in their hearts.

The fact that Zhaozhou can become the most prosperous place in southern Hebei is thanks to the fact that Cheng Mingzhen and his wife were here in Tuntian. In the past few years, the canal was repaired and the embankment was built, and the river was dredged and the dam was repaired. When tens of thousands of acres of bone-ridden wilderness were finally restored to fertile land, this great couple was ungrateful and driven into the giant deer by Dou Jiande.

Back then, forced by the military strength of Prince Dou, the father and elder of Zhaozhou had no choice but to abandon the benefactor who had taken him in and support Dou Jiande instead. After all, in life, survival is the first thing, and everything else cannot be taken into account for the time being.

But the human heart is made of flesh. Even the first group of people who took refuge in Dou Jiande back then, occasionally mentioned the names of Cheng Mingzhen and his wife, and they were not without guilt.

However, not long ago, they watched as the woman who had been kind to them was killed at the gate of the city by random arrows.

They are all flat-headed people, who have no strength or courage, and raise their knives to avenge the cuckoo. But the pole in his heart quietly began to drift to Datang because of the tragic death of the cuckoo.

Before the news of Du Juan's death spread, Liu Heimin was half the master of Hebei. For the sake of the villagers, everyone should also help him secretly, not help Datang.

The officials sent by Datang scraped the ground and should be killed. Pei Ju, Qi Shanxing and others ate Dou Jiande's food, but immediately surrendered to the enemy after Dou Jiande's defeat, damn it. But the woman named Du Juan didn't deserve to die, no matter what reason Liu Heimin's people killed her, in the minds of the people of Zhaozhou, they all owed a heavy blood debt.

Now the man of the cuckoo has come back to trouble Liu Heimin. Moreover, there is a strong strength behind the cuckoo's man, and the above reasons are added together, and everyone should be directed to whom, who to help, do not ask.

The people's hearts are quietly changing unconsciously, and the storm is brewing bit by bit, but in the Liu family, except for a few sober people, most people don't care about Cheng Mingzhen.

There are two reasons for this, one is that the Liu family army is now surrounded by strong enemies, and the Zhaozhou battalion, with a total strength of less than 5,000 troops, is really the smallest number of soldiers and horses in Zhulu who are heading towards Hebei. Second, today's Zhaozhou is not the Zhaozhou of the year, since Dou Jiande built the capital in Yongnian, Ping'en, Zhushui and other counties as the Gyeonggi important land, the city wall was rebuilt, several times higher and wider than the original. The various defenses at the head of the city were also abundantly replenished. With 5,000 soldiers and horses, he wants to attack one of them, and it's strange if he doesn't knock his front teeth down!

Therefore, throughout the autumn and winter, Liu Jiajun did not put much energy into the exit in the direction of Juluze. It was just a matter of recruiting people to build a few beacon towers and building a civil fort at the exit of the swamp. This is still under the strong attention of Liu Heimin himself, and he has no choice but to do it himself. If you follow Dong Kang's intentions, simply send a group of soldiers and horses to rush directly into Zedi and leave, and come to plow the court to sweep the caves. Never again. Although Dong Kang spent a lot of money to buy it, he didn't even recruit a guide to enter Ze.

That Cheng Mingzhen himself was also very calm. Shouldering a deep blood feud, for a whole winter, he only sent a small number of cavalry to tentatively harass the people who built the fortress twice. Seeing that the nearby Liu Jiajun was waiting for him, he retracted into Julu Zezhong very interestingly. When the fort at the exit of the Zedi was repaired, he would not dare to show his head. Slowly, Liu Jiajun didn't have time to pay attention to this itch of scabies, and under pressure, he turned his attention to the southern battlefield.

In the south, since the autumn rain stopped, Liu Jiajun gradually fell into a passive situation. After all, the Tang Dynasty had strong national strength, and quickly recovered from the blow, and sent Li Shimin, the king of Qin, Li Shiji, the prince of Shuguo, and Li Daoxuan, the king of Huaiyang, to each lead a large army to Hebei to quell the rebellion. The three-way soldiers and horses marched side by side, echoing each other from afar, and fought more than a dozen vicious battles with Liu's army within two months. Although they have their own wins and losses, as time goes by, Liu Jiajun gradually shows fatigue.

When a vicious battle is over, the losses of the Don army can be replenished from the rear in a blink of an eye. However, the soldiers of the Liu family army were killed in battle, one less than one. The grain and grass needed for 100,000 soldiers and horses were counted in thousands of stones every day. The Tang army could transfer old grain from all over the country, even the Liyang Cang and Hongnong Cang left by the Great Sui. Liu Jiajun could only gnaw on the old books left by Dou Jiande back then. And because of the continuous war in Hebei, the treasury was empty, and it was impossible to provide the necessary material support for the army. In addition to Cheng Mingzhen Tuntian, which was later used by Dou Jiande as the Gyeonggi Prefecture area, the people of other counties were also very withered, and the temporary grain collection could not make up much.

Barely supported until January, and the front was in a hurry. Unable to do so, Liu Heimin could only shrink his forces into a group, concentrate on the edges of Xiangguo County and Wu'an and Qinghe Counties, and use Zhangshui as a barrier to try to start a decisive battle with the Tang army.

Seeing this, Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, also adjusted his strategic deployment. Combine the three armies into one road and completely hand it over to Li Shimin, the king of Qin. The two sides faced each other across the river in Zhangshui and on both sides of the river, a small fight in three days, a big fight in five days, knives and arrows came and went, and the sound of killing shook the sky. The Zhangshui River was dyed red, and even the spring flood could not dilute the heavy blood.

As soon as the soldiers and horses were concentrated, the problem of food and grass supply became even more troublesome. The Tang army has the entire empire on its side, and although the transportation route is farther, it can barely be supplied with the convenience of the Yongji Canal. Liu Heimin's eight counties are now only one and a half counties left, and in order to ensure military supplies, they have to forcibly requisition all the seeds sown in the spring of the people's families. Even so, all the food stored in the states and counties combined, at most, was only enough for the army to eat for another three months. If the war is not over at the end of the summer, from Liu Heimin himself to the ordinary soldiers below, they can only dig wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger.

The house leak coincided with even rain, and since the beginning of spring, the security on the ground in Zhaozhou has also begun to deteriorate sharply. After the spring-sown seeds in the hands of the people were taken away, the last trace of goodwill towards Liu Heimin and others was gone. Originally, for the sake of Dou Jiande's tragic slaughter, he still had some hatred for the same enemy with Liu Jiajun. Now, most people hope that Liu Heimin will be defeated as soon as possible, and the peaceful days will come one day earlier.

The desperate people did not have the strength to fight the army head-on, but they had a way to add chaos to Liu Heimin. The military rations transported to the front line by the government treasury in various localities were either looted by the people who transported the grain, or robbed by bandits who suddenly appeared during transportation, and less than 60 percent of them could be transported to the barracks! Liu Heimin was forced to withdraw a strong brigade from the front line and form a special grain transportation team, so that the fire of resistance in various places could be barely suppressed.

In addition to escorting the only remaining grain from various counties to the camp in Lishui, another task of the grain transport team was to go deep into the countryside to collect and dig three feet into the ground, and also to find out the grain hidden by the people and supply it to the front. I have to say that Liu Heimin still has a unique vision in employing people. Wang Xiaobo, the general of Dingyuan under his command, had been a guest of Liang before following Dou Jiande's rebellion, and he had a clear understanding of the psychology of the people hiding things, and after receiving the military order, he personally led the team to demonstrate, starting from Jingcheng County, a Tuntian point next to a Tuntian point, and searched all the way to Pingxiang like a net, and soon "raised" a large amount of food for Liu Jiajun.

With more than 8,000 brothers, Wang Xiaobo put together the grain he had "raised" with his own hands and the stocks of several county towns, loaded them into carts, and walked slowly along the official road. It was less than forty miles away from the large camp in front, and at the current pace of marching, he could give orders to Liu Heimin before sunset. The thought of the continuous horn drums in the barracks made his shoulders feel relaxed. Rather than face the hatred in the eyes of the people, he would rather face the front army. Although the former could not cause him any tangible damage, the anger that was forced in his eyes burned Wang Xiaobo's heart twitching for a while, and he wanted to immediately turn around and drop the food and flee.

In essence, he is not a vicious person. Deep down, I don't want to be so cruel and take away the last grain of food that the people rely on to hang their lives. But if he doesn't, Liu Jiajun will definitely not be able to support this upcoming summer. The Tang Dynasty is not Great Xia, and Mrs. Li will not be as soft-hearted as Prince Dou was back then. What will happen to a person like him once he is caught, the lessons of the past are clearly there, everyone can see it, and no one needs to remind him at all.

Dou Jiande once caught Li Shentong, Xu Maogong, and Wei Zheng. Dou Jiande treated them as if they were guests. Dou Jiande was caught by Li Tang once, and then he was in a different place. Also in different places are Wang Shichong, Li Mi and Zhu Can. As long as they were enemies of Datang, they would not be able to escape their lives. Even if a very simple martial artist like Shan Xiongxin took the initiative to submit to softness, begged for loyalty to the Tang Dynasty, and made meritorious contributions, he would not be let go.

Ask yourself, Wang Xiaobo feels that his reputation and ability are far inferior to those mentioned above. Therefore, if the Liu family's army is defeated one day, he will definitely have no way to live. Therefore, for now, he can only erase the last bit of kindness in his heart. If it was really unfortunate that there was a day, he would rather cut his neck with a knife. Blood for blood!

"This is what I owe to my father in Hebei, not the son of the Tang Dynasty." Squinting his eyes and glancing at the slanting sun that was slowly falling, Wang Xiaobo thought a little sadly. He actually knew very well in his heart that that day would eventually come, and even if he tried hard, it would only be a matter of time.

Suddenly, a piercing scream interrupted his daydream. Looking back, a puff of smoke rose from the rear of the team, and dozens of fast horses broke into the grain team. The man on horseback stretched out his sword diagonally like a flying sickle, cutting the brothers over an entire row.

"What a fast knife!" Wang Xiaobo, who was immersed in grief and indignation, did not react to adjust the deployment, but secretly cheered for the attacker in his heart. Immediately, he was awakened from his dream by the screams of the brothers, "Formation, formation!" As if it weren't his voice, it shouted out of his dry throat and spread through the field like a gong. Immediately after, a rain of arrows flew in, putting down a large piece of Liu Jiajun, who was in a hurry to fight.

was suddenly attacked, and Liu Jiajun was beaten dizzy. Fortunately, there were enough of them to barely hold their ground after paying more than 300 lives. The cavalry that had previously rushed into the ranks and slashed had retreated, regrouping more than a hundred paces away. On horseback, a thin general waved his sword and pointed at him, "Ping En, Cheng Mingzhen is here to seek revenge, which brother is opposite, put down the grain and grass, Cheng will not trouble you!" ”

"Cheng Mingzhen?!" Wang Xiaobo's brows furrowed tightly. I really can't understand how Cheng Mingzhen, who has disappeared for several months, suddenly appeared in the hinterland of Xiangguo County. In my memory, Juluze's exit to the south has been blocked by beacon towers and fortresses, and even if a duck flies out of Ze Field, it can't escape the eyes of the watchers. But Cheng Mingzhen actually killed him again unconsciously, with at least 4,000 brothers behind him.

It was only more than 30 miles away from Liu Heimin's camp, and after receiving the alarm, the cavalry could rush to the battlefield within half an hour. After experiencing the initial panic, Wang Xiaobo quickly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the situation on both sides in his heart. gave the deputy general Liu Dazhuang a look and motioned to the other party to adjust the formation. He himself took his mount forward, left the formation a few steps, and gently bowed his hand at Cheng Mingzhen, "When I was under the command of Prince Dou, I heard your name. A certain Wang Xiaobo, who is responsible for escorting grain and grass to the barracks today, and also asked General Cheng to read on the old feelings and give Wang a convenience! ”

As if he didn't realize that Wang Xiaobo was taking the opportunity to delay time, Cheng Mingzhen put his hands on the handle of the knife and returned the salute with a smile, "I've seen Brother Wang." Cheng is not here for you today! As he spoke, his voice suddenly raised, and he shouted like a lion's roar at the thousands of brothers of the Liu family who were escorting grain and grass: "Liu Heimin killed my wife, and I don't share the sky with him." This is a personal vendetta, and it is not your brother's business. Please stand out from the brothers on the other side and let me burn the grain and grass. There is a wrong, there is a debtor, Cheng has a knife, and he doesn't want to touch his brother's blood! ”

"There is a wrong, there is a debtor, please the brother on the other side retreat, I wait for the knife, I don't want to touch the blood of my own brother!" Several cavalrymen raised their swords high and followed Cheng Mingzhen to roar loudly. The sound was like thunder in the middle of the night, and the faces of the grain guards turned pale.

At this point in the war, many people have long lost hope for victory. It was only for fear of the Tang Army's retaliation that he followed the coach to support it. What kind of grudge there is between Cheng Mingzhen and Liu Heimin, at least seven or eight of the ten ordinary soldiers don't know anything. But Cheng Mingzhen's sentence "There is a wrong, and the debtor has a master" made them feel excited.

"What's wrong with Liu Dashuai's surname Cheng? He dared to rob grain with such a small number of people? Immediately, some of the soldiers were talking to each other.

"When Liu Dashuai raised his troops, he seemed to have caught Cheng Mingzhen's whole family, and then killed them all in one go!" Some people just heard about it, but as if they had seen it with their own eyes, they added fuel and vinegar.

When mortals are in a critical situation, they instinctively want to escape for a while. The prospect of Liu Jiajun is not optimistic, Cheng Mingzhen just led the horse team to rush back and forth, like entering a no-man's land, and his brave appearance also left a very terrifying impression in the hearts of the soldiers. Now he made it clear that he was only here to seek revenge, and he didn't want to fight everyone. The brothers who escorted the food, except for a few officers, lost the courage to fight desperately.

Seeing that Cheng Mingzhen's three or two sentences made his own army feel in chaos, Wang Xiaobo didn't dare to delay any longer, pointed the spear in his hand, and shouted at Cheng Mingzhen, "The surname Cheng will kill him if he has a kind of death." Grandpa will fulfill you today, cut it down, and bury the bodies of you and your wife in a pile......"

As soon as the words fell, the sky suddenly darkened. Cheng Mingzhen, who was on the opposite side, stretched out his bow and took an arrow, and shot an arrow at Wang Xiaohu's front door. Regardless of whether the feather arrow hit the target or not, Cheng Mingzhen dropped his riding bow and clamped the horse's belly with his legs. The solo rider was like lightning, slashing directly into the grain guard.

At this distance, even if you are shot by a feather arrow, you will not be able to inflict fatal injuries. But Wang Xiaobo instinctively came to hide in stirrups. The feather arrow brushed against his waist and fell limply to the ground. When he straightened his body on the horse's back again, Cheng Mingzhen was only more than twenty steps away from him.

"Shoot the arrows!" Wang Xiaohu opened his throat and shouted. I regret in my heart that I shouldn't have said such mean words just now to provoke Cheng Mingzhen, a villain. Liu Jiajun's soldiers were still listening to the two main generals arguing with a very subtle mentality just now, but they didn't expect Cheng Mingzhen, as the commander of one side, to turn his face like an outlaw, and immediately turned his face, and when he heard Wang Xiaobo's angry shouting, he hurriedly raised his bow and shot the feather arrow out in a panic.

Cheng Mingzhen was immediately pierced with three or four feather arrows, and the cavalry who rushed over after him were also shot two or three arrows each, but the attack was launched too suddenly, and the enemy archers didn't have time to draw their bows at all, so the arrows shot were very soft, only piercing a layer of thick leather armor, and then lost the motivation to continue moving.

The archers of the Zhaozhou battalion not far behind the cavalry were not as polite as Liu Jiajun, and when they saw the two sides release arrows, they immediately raised their bows in retaliation. Before Cheng Mingzhen pounced into the military formation, a wave of fine feather arrows came first, "ping pong", and smashed the grain guard team again.

said that it was too late, it was too fast, and he didn't wait for Wang Xiaobo to react correctly. Cheng Mingzhen had already rushed to the ground, brandished a blue-black long knife, and slashed his shoulder diagonally. Wang Xiaobo had also rolled in the sea of blood, and in a hurry, he instinctively erected a spear to block it. Just listen to "Dangchang!" With a bang, the long knife slashed half an inch into the barrel of the gun, bringing up a cloud of sawdust. Immediately after, Cheng Mingzhen withdrew his knife with the help of the speed of the war horse, waved his arm, and slashed at Wang Xiaobo's backbone with another knife.

Hearing the wind, Wang Xiaobo immediately leaned over. The light of the knife brushed against his neck, causing goosebumps. didn't give him a chance to fight back at all, and immediately after, Cheng Mingzhen's third knife came again, this time it was actually running towards the butt of the war horse, and it was viciously whipped down like a leather whip.

"Smack!" Even the belt meat flew out in a large ball. The poor mount was in pain, and his hooves slammed forward, almost throwing Wang Xiaobo out of the saddle. The soldiers of the Zhaozhou battalion who followed on the opposite side just arrived, and several horizontal knives crossed and slashed, falling in front of and behind Wang Xiaobo's horse. Poor Dingyuan general Wang Xiaobo couldn't protect his mount, and was quickly hacked under the horse. Life and death are uncertain. 、

At this time, Wang Xiaobo's personal soldiers woke up like a dream. Wielding his weapon, he tried to step forward to the Savior. was blocked by Cheng Mingzhen's solo ride, and cut down four or five in succession. "There is a wrong, there is a debtor, and no one has to do with it!" In the midst of the chaos, the brothers of the Zhaozhou battalion shouted in unison. Protecting Cheng Mingzhen, he rushed out of a bloody path and rushed to Wang Xiaobo's deputy Liu Dazhuang.

There were more than 7,000 brothers behind him, and there were only a few dozen enemies rushing in front of him. Even if the children of Zhaozhou who were ambushed on both sides of the official road swarmed up, in a short period of time, they would not kill everyone. But Liu Dazhuang was frightened by Wang Xiaobo's result, instinctively turned around, turned around and ran.

"There is a wrong, and there is a debtor. I have no grudge against Cheng Mingzhen, get out of the way! Cheng Mingzhen wiped a handful of blood from his face and shouted on horseback. Easily separated the oncoming spear, and the blade slashed down the barrel of the spear with the momentum of the horse.

With cries of pain, several fingers flew into the sky. The sergeant of the Liu family, who was injured in the arm, held his arm and lay on the ground and rolled in pain.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way. Liu Heimin's sin, what kind of tank are you following! Wang Fei and Zhang Jin were on the left and right, desperately chasing after Cheng Mingzhen. It's out of control again. Since the death of the cuckoo, Cheng Mingzhen's behavior has not reassured everyone. Where was the style that a master general should have in front of the two armies just now, obviously thinking that he had lived too long.!

"There is a wrong, and there is a debtor!" Cheng Mingzhen continued to shout, hoarse. It was only then that he felt that he was still alive. Several Liu family sergeants couldn't dodge, and were chased and slashed by him from behind, and blood splashed. The horse's hooves trampled over the corpses of the enemy, and he chased after Liu Dazhuang. In the red eyes, the guy who fled in embarrassment seemed to be Liu Heimin himself, as long as he took a step closer, he could slash him to death with a knife.

Wang Ermao waved the command flag and brought all the brothers up. Liu Jiajun has been defeated, no matter whether Cheng Mingzhen's behavior today is appropriate or not, his madman-like rush and killing has really achieved unexpected results.

The brothers of the battalion gathered into a torrent and rushed to the grain cart like a tide. This is the real killing move that the two of them have ambushed in advance, but at this moment, it is already the icing on the cake. The enemy army, which had already been led by Cheng Mingzhen and rushed in half, saw a large number of cavalry coming from both sides of the official road, and became more and more panicked, and dared to turn around and run. The timid simply dropped his weapons and knelt in front of the grain and grass cart shivering.

For everything that happened behind him, Cheng Mingzhen didn't seem to see it at all. Maybe it's because he believes in his best friend's ability to command troops, or maybe he's been lost in blood. Chasing Liu Dazhuang's back, he followed all the way. The tip of the knife draws and shakes behind the back of the opposing horse. There were only four guards around him, and more than a dozen steps away, but there were more than a dozen of Liu Dazhuang's henchmen trying to get closer, trying to rescue his general under the knife. Farther away, there were Wang Fei and Zhang Jin, as well as more than fifty cavalrymen from the Zhaozhou battalion. Swift through the scattered enemy forces and leave the battlefield far behind.

"How can I be so unlucky!" Liu Dazhuang desperately beat the horse's belly, and he couldn't cry. Under Liu Heimin, he has fought with many people, and he can be regarded as a brave general. But a madman like Cheng Mingzhen has never met him. Dying at the hands of a normal person, he doesn't feel so wronged. But dying under the knife of a madman is not worth it in any way.

The more anxious he was, the less he could think of turning back to face the battle. Even Liu Jiajun's military discipline was forgotten, and he just wanted to get rid of the madman behind him as soon as possible and escape back to his own camp as soon as possible to report the news. Nearly half of the journey of more than thirty miles had been run in the blink of an eye, and in the distance, he saw several mounts approaching, followed by large clouds of smoke and dust.

It was the rescuers, and the rescuers of the main battalion finally heard the news and rushed to arrive. "Help-" Thinking about the key, Liu Dazhuang opened his throat and howled. The general who led the team paused for a moment and quickly saw the situation he was facing. Handing over the order flag to his colleagues, he led a few of his own soldiers to meet him as quickly as possible.

"Save ——!" Liu Dazhuang was ecstatic and screamed. The cry was only halfway out, but it stopped abruptly. The body that lost its head was carried forward by the war horse and continued to rush forward a few steps, spurting out a stream of red blood, and falling softly into the mud puddle on the side of the road. As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, the head flying in mid-air spun around a few times, and its eyes widened in horror.

Gao Yaxian, the general of the Liu family army who rushed to the front, put away his knife, took the horse, and spat at the ground hatefully, "Coward, shame on Lao Tzu!" After scolding, he raised his head and pointed at Cheng Mingzhen with the tip of his blood-dripping knife, "Gao is here, I want to do my best, just let the horse come!" ”