On the night of Cui Xiaofu's decree, Zhang Huan knew the details of the court meeting, and like Wei Ge, he also looked at the final decision of the court meeting from his own perspective, many high-ranking officials of the court meeting were just foils, and they were the witnesses who were kidnapped by Cui Xiaofu to realize their power, and the real dancers were still those few people.

Obviously, the final resolution is Cui Xiaofu's concession to Pei Jun, that is to say, some kind of agreement has been reached between Pei Jun and Cui Xiaofu,

In order to reverse the unfavorable situation, it is beyond reproach that the two of them reached any agreement, the key is that Pei Jun's appeasement attitude towards Xiangyang is really disappointing, he doesn't believe that Pei Jun is really powerless against Cui Qinggong, he only needs to station his army in Xiangyang, even if it is only stationed in 10,000 troops, Cui Qinggong has to think twice.

But in the end, he withdrew the troops originally stationed in Nanyang County to Hedong, and only deployed 30,000 troops in the Linru area, which was obviously his release of water to Cui Qinggong, did he want to wipe out Cui and Zhu in a place far away from Chang'an?

But how to explain Cui Xiaofu's ambiguous attitude towards Cui Qinggong?

Zhang Huan thought of Pei Jun and Cui Xiaofu's tacit understanding in the court, and he suddenly realized that things were probably not as simple as he thought, Xiang Zhuang danced the sword, intended to Pei Gong, what he Pei Jun really wanted to deal with, is it still himself?

At this time, footsteps came from far and near outside the tent, and he stopped in front of the tent, only to hear the soldiers report outside, "Governor, Hu Changshi is here." ”

Zhang Huan's spirits were lifted, and he came in time!

He smiled and greeted him, the sky was full of stars outside the tent, Hu Yong was standing in the night with his hands in his hands, looking up at the sky and a Milky Way across his head, seeing Zhang Huan come out, he bowed his hand and said: "I am busy with official business, I can't come in time, please forgive me!" ”

"Well, the gentleman came at the right time."

Zhang Huan stepped forward and grabbed his arm and smiled: "Come on!" Please enter the account and discuss. ”

The two of them went into the tent and sat down. The soldiers served them tea, and Hu Yong asked with a smile: "I heard that the governor wants to attack Li Zhengji and Zhu at the same time, why has it not been triggered so far." Could it be that it's the same as last time, just making a gesture? ”

Zhang Huan didn't answer, he pondered for a moment. Suddenly, he asked, "How is the conscription in Shuzhong?" ”

Hu Yong's smile gradually disappeared, he took out a fold from his arms, handed it to Zhang Huan and said: "Speaking of which, thanks to Zhu's help, in recent years, the big households in Shu have almost been plundered by him, and a large number of ownerless fields have been taken over by the government. Half soldier and half peasant, if the governor is in a hurry, plus the original old army, 80,000 people can be called up immediately. The rest can be assembled within a month. ”

"Eighty thousand." Zhang Huan's index finger tapped lightly on the table, and pondered for a moment, it would take at least 100,000 troops to attack Hanzhong, and he had already assembled 80,000 troops in Kaiyang County. With backup, it should be enough.

As for Li Zhengji's side, he transferred 70,000 people from Hexi and Hehuang in the past few days, plus the original 60,000 troops and 130,000 troops in Jincheng County, plus Lin Jiuhan in Changsha, to fight on three fronts. I've already poured it out.

"This campaign is extraordinary. I am ready to fight in Zhu's Hanzhong in person, and I have transferred Wang Siyu back from Shuofang. He and He Lou Wuji attacked Li Zhengji on the left and right, and the party Tuoba Wanli, he also said that he would cooperate with us in the fight, and the military supply in the logistics area would be biased towards Mr. Lao. ”

Hu Yong nodded silently, he also knew that these battles were all very important, interlocking, and a first-line mistake would lead to a series of consequences, "Rest assured, raise troops for a thousand days, and use soldiers for a while, I will do my best to ensure the supply of food and grass for the army." ”

After hesitating for a moment, Hu Yong asked in a low voice: "I came here this time to ask the governor, if we defeat Li Zhengji, will we take advantage of the situation to occupy Shuofang?" ”

"Nope! That would give people a handle, and we might as well change the soup. ”

Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said: "Defeat Li Zhengji, I will recommend the veteran Ma to come back and serve as the envoy of Shuofang Jiedu."

On the eve of the 14th Shangyuan Festival of the first month of the seventh year of Xuanren, Cui Qinggong's general Tian Mingzhen led 30,000 troops to fight fiercely in the north of Xinye County and the 20,000 Shannan army of Dengzhou soldiers and horses made Wang Zimeng have a fierce battle, Tian Mingzhen sent people to infiltrate Xinye and set fire, the fire soared to the sky, the Shannan army thought that Xinye had been lost, the army's heart was shaken, and a defeat was lost, Tian Mingzhen immediately led the army to cover up and kill, and captured Xinye in one fell swoop, and the Dengzhou soldiers and horses made Wang Zimeng also die in the chaos.

At the same time, Cui Qinggong's Eastern Route Army also broke through Zaoyang, one east and one north, and the two armies were like two sharp knives, pointing directly at Xiangyang, a hundred miles away.

Xinye and Zaoyang were lost, the door of Xiangyang was wide open, Wang Ang was frightened, on the one hand, he asked for help from the imperial court, and on the other hand, he urgently transferred the defenders of Fangling, Jingzhou and other places to gather in Xiangyang, but unexpectedly, Zhu Qin led an army of 50,000 to kill from Shangyong, and occupied Fangling County in only three days.

The situation has been extremely unfavorable to the Wang family, Wang Ang began to transfer his family to the direction of Jingzhou, Zaoyang City was broken, Cui Qinggong's general Yang Hao plundered, closed the city gate and burned for three days and three nights, tens of thousands of people escaped from the city less than 1,000 people, the news they brought made Xiangyang City fall into extreme panic, the streets and alleys were full of people who fled south with their families, the city gate was full of people, crying, shouting, hoarseness, the price of the carriage also skyrocketed, renting a carriage actually cost 100 yuan, despite this, it is still priceless.

Misfortune is not a single line, when the news of Zhu's occupation of Luling came, all the people no longer have any illusions, that is a demon who uses human dried flesh as military food, even Wang Ang is desperate, he ordered the four doors to be opened, let the people flee, from Xiangyang to the south of the official road are fleeing people, there is no end in sight, they use baskets to carry their children, carrying their elderly parents, crying all the way, to the south, to the south with no end to escape with difficulty, they don't know, their two feet can walk through the iron hooves of the murderers.

But just when the people of Shannan were about to be wiped out, when the sky of the Tang Dynasty was cloudy, and when the people of Chang'an were also crying for Shannan, a turning point suddenly appeared in Hanzhong.

Thousands of miles to the plane, Guanshan crosses Ruofei. Shuoqi spreads the golden watch, and the cold light shines on the iron coat. A cavalry of 5,000 men galloped from mountain path to mountain pass, and the reckless mountains flew past them, and the wind blew the tassels on his helmet. Between the mountains and mountains, the sunset is like a red fire gradually disappearing into the mountains and forests, and it is far as the eye can see. The deep valley shone red, and when the sun set in the sky, it seemed as if the valley was also burning.

Captain Li Guozhen tightened the reins. Slowly slowed down the speed of the horse, carefully looked at the terrain in this area, his eyes were calm and calm, and he did not let go of every suspicious place, he was the captain of the first scout battalion of the Xiliang Army, and he knew the terrain in this area well, he knew that after a valley mouth about five miles ahead, Baocheng County was in front of him.

A leading scout came galloping and reported on his horse: "Governor Qiyu, the garrison of Taniguchi is about fifty people. There are no ambushes on the hills on either side! ”

After making sure that there was no abnormality, Li Guozhen waved his hand lightly and said, "Stop walking for three miles, and tell the brothers to prepare for battle!"

The cavalry dismounted. The horses were led slowly, silently through the hazy night mist, and the horses' hooves turned into a rustling of marches.

They were the vanguard of the Western Liang Army's attack on Hanzhong, consisting of 5,000 elite cavalry. Led by Li Guozhen, the general of the first scout battalion, they marched south from Baogu three days ago, and after three days of marching, they arrived at the eastern foot of Niutou Mountain, and they were about to arrive at Nanzheng, the center of the earth in Hanzhong; At the same time, another 5,000 light cavalry of the East Road Vanguard Army, under the leadership of Commander Liu Shuai, marched south from the Meridian Valley to Ankang County.

Coincidentally. Li Guozhen and Liu Shuai are both scouts. In the Battle of Hehuangdi that year, the two of them were in the same scout team. Li Guozhen is the leader of the team, and was once captured by the Tibetan general Ma Chongying.

Now the two of them are the vanguard generals of the east and the west, as if it is a kind of competition, to see who can make miraculous achievements in this battle of the southern expedition to Hanzhong.

After about a quarter of an hour's journey, the night became thicker, and the gray mountain mist rose from the canyon and permeated the valley, and the mountain road was more difficult, and no human figure could be seen ten paces away.

"Beware! The road narrows. ”

"Keep up!"

The cavalry kept passing the message, walking cautiously forward, the valley mouth was less than two miles, the fog began to be blown away by the valley mouth wind, the deep valley gradually disappeared, the road became wide and flat, there was a small guard post in front of the valley mouth, there were originally three hundred guards, but with Zhu Dongzheng, there were less than fifty people left at this time.

After walking for a while, the brigade of military horses stopped, the twilight was heavy and dark ahead, Li Guozhen listened with his ears, and in the silent night, he seemed to hear a faint cough in the distance. "General, I'll go!" His lieutenant Guo Yidu, Lieutenant Ye Ming, whispered an order.

Li Guozhen nodded, "Be quick and decisive, it's better to catch the mouth, it doesn't matter if you can't catch it, the key is that you can't escape." ”

"Obey!" Lin Ming beckoned, "Follow me." ”

Hundreds of soldiers drew their swords and followed Lin Ming quickly, and their figures quickly disappeared into the night, and for a moment, there was a slight sound of fighting in front of them, and from time to time there were screams that pierced the night sky, but it was quiet again.

"General, it's alright." A soldier came running to report it.

With a wave of his hand, Li Guozhen set off again, and arrived at the valley in a moment, the battle was over, forty-eight defenders, thirty-five killed, and thirteen surrendered.

"This is the defender, the general can ask him about the situation." Lin Ming escorted an enemy officer to Li Guozhen.

Li Guozhen saw that he was frightened, so he smiled and asked gently, "Don't worry!" You are not from Tibet, you are all Tang Army, and you are all soldiers for food, since you have surrendered, then you are our brothers, please tell me what you know. ”

Under Li Guozhen's sentence: Everyone is inspired by the Tang Army, the team sighed in a low voice and said: "Seven days ago, Zhu Qin led a large army to the east, and there were not many left-behind troops in Hanzhong, we were all defenders of Baocheng County, and I only knew that there were only 1,000 defenders in Baocheng County, led by Han Cungu, the general of Tianling. ”

"General, it's ridiculous, it's still called the Heavenly Spirit General!" Lin Ming snorted coldly and said disdainfully.

Li Guozhen waved his hand, he knew that many of the old soldiers brought by Zhu from Shandong were named generals with various titles, and this Han Cungu was estimated to be one of them.

"Let me ask you again, are these thousand defenders the elite of the Hanzhong army? And how about the grain and grass in the city? ”

The team suddenly showed a look of shame, he bowed his head deeply and said: "The elite army has been taken away by Zhu, and there is no food and grass in the city, he stipulates that each family will raise a soldier, and the sergeant will eat and live in the house." ”

Li Guozhen understood what he meant. He stood up, stared at the swarthy Baocheng County in the distance, and said after a moment's silence: "You go and open the city gate." If you succeed, I will credit you for your first credit! ”

Baocheng County was built on a gentle hill, and Baoshui ran around the city from three miles to the west. The city is surrounded by farmland, the west is the continuous Niutou Mountain, Baocheng is the north gate of Nanzhengdi, so the city is high and thick, with condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are about 1,000 households in the city, due to the large number of people in Hanzhong fled, Zhu Sui also moved the people living outside the city into the city to strictly control, at this time the main force of Hanzhong was taken away by Zhu to the east, and the remaining soldiers were stationed in the counties sporadically. There are 1,000 garrisons in Xiangbaocheng, which is already a lot of land.

In the darkness of the night, more than two dozen soldiers accompanied the two captives and approached the city gates. There was no reaction from the city, and there was not a single patrolling figure in sight.

"It's all fun, as soon as the prince leaves, who still has the heart to defend the city?"

The team smiled bitterly. "It's one thing if anyone will come and open the city gates!"

The city gate was wrapped with iron sheets, there was no moat, only a deep trench was dug, about three zhang wide, which was covered with antlers and sharp piles, Lin Ming looked at the trench, and said: "You shout a few times and try it!" ”

"Hey--! Is there still a pant in the city? Give Lao Tzu two out. ”

Shouted for a long time. My voice is almost hoarse. I saw a person lazily walking up to the city, leaning over to look at it and scolding: "He ***." You're howling to death! ”

"I'm Sun Renxi, I caught two scouts, and I have something important to report to the general."

"Go to Simon! I'm the only one here, and I can't shake the gates. The castle muttered impatiently, yawned, and was about to leave.

"Do you want to die? Zhang Huan's army is about to arrive, and Lao Tzu wants to go to the general to sue you! The city squad was yelling and scolding.

Perhaps it was because he heard that Zhang Huan's army was coming, and the defenders in the city were suddenly frightened, "You wait, I'll find someone to help." ”

About two miles away, five thousand cavalry were hiding in a forest, and Li Guozhen was standing on a large rock, staring at the city gate with all his body, when suddenly, he saw the drawbridge slowly begin to be lowered.

"The whole army is ready!" Li Guozhen gave a short order, and the five thousand cavalry immediately formed a team, and the swords began to be unsheathed, and the murderous spirit rose in the woods.

Li Guozhen stared nervously at the city gate, only to see the city gate slowly open, and suddenly, several screams in the distance shattered the silent night.

"Troops!"

He roared, "Occupy the county seat within an hour, and the enemy troops in the resistance will be killed!" ”

Five thousand cavalry rode out, and they were like a black wave, arousing a murderous aura in the sky, surging towards the county town two miles away.

The black torrent rushed into the county seat, and Baocheng County was boiling, and the sounds of killing, crying, and begging for mercy resounded in the sky

At noon on the third day, Zhang Huan personally led 80,000 troops through Baogu Road to Baocheng County, and the next day, 30,000 Xiliang troops stationed in Yangping Pass also rushed to Baocheng to meet the commander.

From Baocheng County along the Baoshui and then go south for about 20 miles, it is the first big city in Hanzhong, Nanzheng, the Han water flows through the south of the city, Baoshui is here to inject the Han water, the two rivers meet, alluvial out of a large plain, rich in products, many fertile fields, so that Nanzheng is the richest place in Han since ancient times.

This is also Zhu's lair, at this moment Zhu has already marched eastward, and there are still more than 10,000 defenders in South Zhengcheng, led by his brother Zhu Ruoxi.

In the early morning of this day, when the first faint golden light shrouded the head of Nanzheng City, the defenders of Nanzheng on the head of the city seemed to have fallen into a cold ice cave.

I saw three miles away, I couldn't see the border army densely packed, the flags were overwhelming, covering the sky, the drums were beating, the high-pitched horns were constantly blowing, and in the distance, there were still large groups of cavalry rolling in, constantly merging into the black sea.

Zhang Huan immediately stood under a black banner, embroidered with a large white character on the banner, he looked at the city coldly, waiting for the opportunity to attack, and he was not prepared to pay much price to deal with the old and weak remnants left by Zhu.

"Governor! You're set! ”

Zhang Huan waved his hand lightly, "Let's start!" ”

Woo! The low and piercing sound of the horn suddenly sounded, and the flag seemed to see the sun through the clouds. In an instant, it closed to both sides, revealing three huge siege corpses, their faces hideous. It seems to be a demon from the underworld.

On both sides of the siege, nearly 100 huge rocks stood tall, and these siege weapons were installed with wooden wheels. Dragged by dozens of horses, it moves forward very slowly.

There was a deathly silence on the head of Nan Zhengcheng, and the eyes of the soldiers showed a look of horror, most of them were new recruits, who had never experienced war, in the face of the huge difference in strength, under the threat of death, many people trembled with their legs, and without waiting for Zhu Ruoxi to arrange defense, the boulder was suddenly launched without warning.

Boom! Boom! Millstones, boulders, and blazing fireballs roared. smashed on the city wall, rubble flew and dust flew, and the whole city wall shook; smashed on the top of the city, and countless people didn't even have time to wail. It was smashed into a meatloaf, and the fireballs fell, splitting into dozens of small fireballs that burst out in all directions, and miserable cries rang out. Many of them were lit on fire, and their arms fluttered and fell from the city.

"Boom!" Directly north, the tower was hit by several large rocks and collapsed in a crumbling state, and then a fire burst into flames.

There were also bed crossbows in the city that began to be fired downward, but the range was far less than that of the boulders of the Xiliang Army.

The boulder suddenly stopped firing, but only fell silent for a moment. The second round of attacks began. This time, it wasn't a boulder, but a row of swarthy tin cans. Green smoke rose frantically from above, and it was rushing towards the city in a dense manner.

"Thunderball!"

Three years ago, in the war against Tubo, the Xiliang Army used a secret weapon, which was extremely powerful, and afterwards whether it was the Pei family's Hebei Army or the Chujia Huainan Army, they all tried to uncover the secret of this weapon, but gunpowder weapons have always been the top secret of the Xiliang Army, never leaking the slightest bit, some people guessed that this might be gunpowder, and some people thought that the Western Regions were rich in fire oil, which could be fire oil weapons, and many people believed in the propaganda of the Western Liang Army, It is a natural substance buried in the Qilian Mountains, which is unique to the Qilian Mountains.

In all kinds of speculations, the armies have never been able to confirm the real mystery, and the improvement of gunpowder is impossible to talk about, it suddenly appeared at the head of Nanzheng City, and anyone who heard it was so frightened that their faces changed completely, and they threw themselves on the ground and trembled.

The powder jar exploded in an earth-shattering explosion, the crimson light changed color, the flames flew into the air, and the rumbling sound resounded through the sky, and when the black smoke cleared, there was no one standing in the whole city.

There is nothing special in the powder jar, and its lethality may not be as lethal as a fireball, but the shocking effect it shows is unmatched by any kind of weapon.

Slowly, people began to rise from the ground, their faces were earthy, their eyes were full of extreme fear, and some pieces of paper were fluttering and still floating in the sky.

"For those who surrender, their families can become military households, get ten acres of land, and be exempt from tax for three years; Those who do not surrender will be enslaved by their families in the Western Regions. ”

Some wavered, others quietly lowered their weapons, secretly unbuttoned their uniforms, and most of the defenders near the northern inner city were gone.

After a round of gunpowder attack, the boulder began to retreat backwards, a war horse galloped over, he opened his bow and arrow, and shot a letter at the head of the city, "Please hand it over to your commander, if it does not descend in half an hour, Nanzheng will become a white land!" ”

The city was still dead silent, about a quarter of an hour later, the north gate of Nanzheng City slowly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and the guard Zhu Ruoxi ** put on his upper body, led dozens of civil and military officials out of the city gate, knelt on the ground, and the official seal was raised high above his head

In January of the seventh year of Xuanren, Zhang Huan personally led an army of 100,000 troops into Hanzhong, and Nanzheng surrendered on January 22, which means that Hanzhong has fallen into the hands of Zhang Huandi, and Zhu's nest was uprooted.

So, will Zhang Huan stop at Hanzhong?