After thinking about it for a long time, Wang Yanzhang couldn't find a way to relieve the siege of Yunzhou with 500 people, and he couldn't help but feel depressed.

At this moment, the guards came in and reported that the imperial court had sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the army, and now he was almost in Caozhou.

"Your Majesty sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the war? Could it be that the book that has been going on for these days has played a role? ”

Wang Yanzhang was overjoyed, during this time he wrote many times stating that Dong Zhang delayed the fighter plane and refused to send troops, hoping to punish him; Now that the imperial court sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the war, although Wang Yanzhang was very disgusted with Zhang Hanjie, he was full of joy at this time.

"Quick, go and call Dong Zhang and the others to the Chinese military camp tent, and say that there will be something important to announce!" He immediately gave an order to the guards.

During this time, Dong Zhang relied on himself to have heavy troops, and he didn't pay attention to Wang Yanzhang's military orders at all; In order to persuade him to send troops, Wang Yanzhang personally went to Dong Zhang's camp to discuss the military situation every time these days.

Now that Wang Yanzhang thinks that he has the support of the imperial court, he suddenly hardens up and begins to give orders as the main general.

He didn't know that in Dong Zhang's camp tent at this time, the generals were cheering and celebrating.

"Congratulations to the general, he has finally become a supportive envoy, and he no longer has to be subordinate to Wang Yanzhang."

"The general's promotion this time must be celebrated."

……

Yes, the imperial court sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the war, but it was not to support Wang Yanzhang, but to depose him, and ordered Dong Zhang to be the main envoy to support him, with Wang Yanzhang as his deputy general.

It turned out that Wang Yanzhang's army had been staying in Yuncheng for more than ten days, although the real reason was that Dong Zhang was unwilling to send troops, and Wang Yanzhang had also written to the court many times to explain these situations, but the problem was that it was his old enemies Zhang Hanjie and Zhao Yan who held the authority of the court.

Under the arrangement of these two people, in the end, Zhu Youzhen decided that Wang Yanzhang, who was the main general, was dissatisfied with the removal of the post of envoy, so he deliberately delayed the relocation of Yuncheng for a long time and was unwilling to send troops; As for Dong Zhang's crime as he stated, it was Wang Yanzhang's excuse.

Moreover, Wang Yanzhang is the main general, but he cannot restrain the deputy general, which in itself is a manifestation of incompetence, so no matter what, Wang Yanzhang cannot continue to be the main general.

In the end, Zhu Youzhen ordered Dong Zhang to replace him as a support envoy, ordered Wang Yanzhang to be his deputy general, and sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the battle, and claimed that if Wang Yanzhang disobeyed the order, he would be directly taken on the charge of "fearing the enemy and cowardly fighting".

Now Zhang Hanjie has just arrived in Caozhou and sent someone to send the news to the army, but the message to Wang Yanzhang only mentions that he came here to supervise the war, and the message to Dong Zhang revealed his true purpose and asked Dong Zhang to make various preparations.

……

On Wang Yanzhang's side, after sending guards to invite Dong Zhang, he began to think about how to use the troops in his heart.

"The enemy army is huge, even if you add 6,000 infantry, it will be difficult to lift the siege of Yunzhou. The only hope is to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to suddenly kill him, and it is better to break into the city and unite with the defenders. ”

"As long as Ben will lead troops into the city, he will be able to hold on to the city; The money and food savings in Yunzhou City are sufficient, and it will not be a problem to hold on for a year and a half; At that time, there may be new changes in the situation in the Central Plains. ”

Wang Yanzhang waited while calculating in his heart.

It didn't take long to see that the guards who had just been sent had returned, but Dong Zhang and the others did not show up.

Wang Yanzhang couldn't help but ask in a deep voice: "What about Dong Zhang?" Why not? Is it true that he has become the master himself? Speaking of the latter, his tone was already full of anger.

"General, general, I just went to General Dong's camp to give an order, but I got a reply that you have been dismissed, general, and now General Dong is the main envoy for support, and you have been demoted to the deputy envoy for support." The guard turned pale and stammered.

"What? General Wang has already been removed from office? That's impossible! As soon as the guard finished speaking, the faces of the other retinues in the camp changed.

"How could General Wang be demoted to a deputy general, you must be mistaken. Say, what did Dong Zhang tell you? The crowd scolded.

The guard was trembling and didn't know how to explain it, but Wang Yanzhang understood that what he said was very likely to be true.

Before, when he heard that the imperial court sent Zhang Hanjie to supervise the war, he didn't think of this section; Now after hearing the news of his dismissal, thinking back to this arrangement of the imperial court, he immediately reacted to the deep meaning.

"Ben will be removed from office? Dong Zhang has become a supporter? The imperial court ordered Zhang Hanjie to supervise the war, not to urge Dong Zhang to send troops, but to deal with the general! Wang Yanzhang was sad and indignant in his heart.

As a veteran who has fought for Liang for decades, he is full of hope to inspire the country with his own efforts, so even if he has not been reused for so many years, he will inevitably have some complaints in his heart, but as long as he leads the troops to fight, he will go all out every time, take the lead, and serve the country with the greatest enthusiasm.

Unexpectedly, what he got now was such a result, no matter how loyal he was to the country, the resentment in his heart at this moment completely overwhelmed loyalty.

"I think that I, Wang Yanzhang, am dedicated to the country, but now when I am old, I will be forced by traitors, is it the will of God? The court behaved like this, and was undefeated? For a while, he looked up to the sky and sighed.

"General, what are we going to do now?" All the entourages were also deeply sad and indignant, and their eyes were red one by one, and they looked at Wang Yanzhang.

Wang Yanzhang turned his head to look at everyone, and muttered for a long time before saying, "Although the court treats me like this, I can't be disloyal to the court. Since the imperial court has appointed Dong Zhang as the main general, the more than 6,000 people under his command cannot be counted on. Ben decided to rush to Yunzhou with 500 horsemen under his command and rushed straight to the enemy formation. ”

"What? General, how is this different from sending to death? Although the general has been wronged, as long as he returns to Luoyang to appeal to His Majesty, he may not be able to be reused in the future. ”

"The enemy army in Yunzhou has tens of thousands of troops, and King Wu personally leads the troops, the morale is high, and the soldiers are strong; If the general only brought 500 cavalry to punch the needle, it would be a complete death. ”

"Yes, general, stay in the green mountains, don't worry about running out of firewood. Lifting the siege of Yunzhou was not a task for the general alone, since it couldn't be completed, why force it? ”

"Please think again!"

Everyone hurriedly stood up and persuaded them.

They all knew that Wang Yanzhang had a straightforward personality, and at this time, seeing that he was loyal but in exchange for such a result, he already had the will to die under grief and anger.

There are few generals in this era who are so loyal, and most generals are good if they can fulfill their duties, but when the situation is irreparable, they often choose to surrender.

For example, Quan Yan in Songzhou City, when he still had hope of holding on, he dutifully led the army to resist; Later, after the reinforcements were routed by the Wu army, he wisely chose to surrender.

There are many generals like this, and these are the mainstream of this era.

Of course, there are also some generals who are completely "mothers with milk" and have no loyalty, such generals are not uncommon in this era, and there are even many people who are very good.

There are too few people who can be as loyal to the death as Wang Yanzhang, so although everyone admires it, none of them agree with his choice.

Someone even whispered: "Since the Liang State is hopeless, the general might as well surrender to the Wu State; With the talent of a general, he must be able to be reused when he arrives in Wu State. ”

"What are these words? I will serve the country all my life, but now that I am getting old, do you want to make my old age unsafe? Wang Yanzhang shouted loudly, and his stern gaze glanced at everyone.

Forced by his gaze, everyone lowered their heads one after another, not daring to look at him.

To be honest, just now everyone actually had the intention of surrendering to the Wu State, since the Liang State could not reuse them, then change places, this is not a big deal.

"The general's plan has been decided, and before Zhang Hanjie arrives, the general will immediately send troops and take five hundred cavalry to relieve the siege of Yunzhou; Whether it would have been a fluke or died in battle, it could be regarded as repaying the country's kindness. Wang Yanzhang said in a deep voice: "You have followed Ben Jiang for many years, if you don't want to go with Ben Jiang, you can bring it up now, Ben will never leave any difficulty!" ”

The entourage was silent, and no one stepped forward.

Most of these people are guards, henchmen, etc., who have followed Wang Yanzhang for many years, and they are basically some martial artists, although they oppose Wang Yanzhang's decision, but at this time, no one is willing to stand up and ask to stay.

Seeing this situation, Wang Yanzhang was extremely satisfied and said loudly. "Very well, in that case, then you all go and prepare. Prepare within an hour, and after lunch, the troops will be dispatched. Let's rush to Shouzhang today, and go straight to the enemy's big array tomorrow, whether it is success or failure, and fight here! ”

"Yes!"

……

Just when Wang Yanzhang was about to lead his troops to the city of Yunzhou with the determination to die, on the Yunzhou side, after Yang Wu arranged the affairs in the city, he also began to discuss the next step.

After Yunzhou was captured, only Qingzhou and Qizhou were left in the cities that were still resisting Wu in the east.

Among them, Qizhou is the Jinan of the later generations, there are not many local defenders, only more than 4,000 people, grain and grass savings and combat readiness are not as good as Yunzhou's side, and it will be much less difficult to capture it.

Of course, the most important point is that Liu Zunzhi, the defender and assassin of Qizhou, had already sent people to contact the Wu army a long time ago, saying that Qizhou would not bother the army of King Wu to attack, and as long as Wu could capture Yunzhou, they would naturally surrender; If the Wu army could not capture Yunzhou, then even if they divided their forces to attack, they would resolutely resist.

Of course, Yang Wu is clear about Liu Zunzhi's plan.

Qizhou is east of Yunzhou, and the local garrison is not as good as Yunzhou in terms of the number of defenders and the weight of money and grain, and if Yunzhou can't stand it, Qizhou will be even more impossible to hold.

In addition, once Yunzhou was captured by the Wu army, Qizhou would become a completely isolated city, and the Liang army would have no way out even if they had the heart to send reinforcements.

Therefore, as long as Yunzhou is broken by the Wu army, Qizhou has no other way than to surrender.

Since this is the case, Liu Zunzhi naturally sent people to contact him early, and made a promise that "as long as the Wu army captures Yunzhou, they will surrender unconditionally".

Now that Yunzhou has been breached, it is time to send someone to let Liu Zunzhi fulfill his promise.

"As long as Liu Zunzhi is not stupid on the Qizhou side, the king should not need to send troops to attack, and he can persuade him to surrender by sending one or two messengers. Of course, in order to ensure the effect, the minister thought that the king could send a general to lead five thousand troops to deter him, and it would not be long before good news came. Guo Chongtao suggested.

"Of course, it is necessary to send troops to deter, and it is also necessary to integrate Qizhou after its surrender; Qizhou is close to the Yellow River, and if such an important town cannot be firmly controlled by the imperial court, Gu will never be at ease. Yang Wu nodded while staring at the map.

After pondering for a while, he continued: "Okay, just tell Liu Zunzhi that if he is willing to surrender, he will be given two choices, the first option is to continue to hold a military position, the old and weak soldiers in the Qizhou garrison will stay in the local area to be reorganized into the Xiang army or disbanded directly, and the rest will be handed over to him to command, and continue to fight for Gu as the commander of the righteous army, and he will be appointed as an official according to his merits in the future." ”

"The second option is to turn to a civilian position, and the orphan will choose a place in the south and let him serve as the assassin."

Yang Wuti's two conditions are not bad, and there are very few people who can be treated like this once they surrender.

The main reason why Liu Zunzhi is treated so politely is that this person's official reputation in Qizhou is not bad, although he was born as a military general, he also has a good performance in governing the place, so Yang Wu will give him such a big independent choice.

After making arrangements for Liu Zunzhi, Yang Wu then asked, "How is the situation in Qingzhou?" ”

Qingzhou is now leading the army to resist the Pinglu Jiedu envoy Wang Gongyan.

Strictly speaking, this person is not the envoy of the Pinglu Festival, but only the commander of the Qingzhou garrison.

Originally, although Liang Guo appointed the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, it was only an idle position, and he stayed in Luoyang, and did not go to Qingzhou to take up his post.

Later, when Mi Zhicheng led the Wu army from Yizhou to Mizhou, Wang Gongyan took advantage of the chaos to send troops, imprisoned the original Qingzhou Assassin Shi and other officials, and killed the head, and successfully controlled the power after several rectifications, so he called himself the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu.

Although it was self-proclaimed, because the Wu army had already entered the Shandong territory at that time, the Liang State was too busy to take care of itself, not only could not send troops to fight, but because the prince raised troops to resist the Wu army, he took the opportunity to recognize his identity as the envoy of the Pinglu Jiedu.

Now, after Mi Zhicheng led his troops to capture other states, he in turn concentrated his forces and began to attack Qingzhou, and it has been more than a month.

"King, General Mi Zhicheng sent a message not long ago that there is no need to worry about the situation in Qingzhou, and he claimed that in half a month at most, he will definitely be able to take Qingzhou." Guo Chongtao said.

"At most, it will take half a month to win Qingzhou? General Mi is very confident. Okay, Na Gu will wait for half a month to see his good news! Yang Wu suddenly laughed.

If Mi Zhicheng can really capture Qingzhou within half a month, and Qizhou does not have any variables and surrenders according to the previous agreement, then by the beginning of spring next year, the Wu army will be able to seize all parts of Shandong, which is undoubtedly good news.