Zhenzhou, Zhending City (now Zhengding, Hebei).

In front of Zhang Bangchang, who once again tasted the taste of sitting in the troubled city, the lobbyist from Liaozhou, Hedong (now Yangquan City, Shanxi Province) had just left.

Since the fall of the Yun, Heng, and Ying states behind the adjacent mountains in the north, he has been completely cut off from the possibility of running out of the Saiwai.

Could it really be that by paying homage to the newly emerging Western Army, he would be able to keep what he had left? If he still controlled the overall situation before this, he would definitely grasp this life-saving straw at any cost, but now in this trapped beast situation, he is even more hesitant and hesitant.

It's a pity that no matter what the other party says, the Western Army is still trekking east of the river and the Huai Army, which has no danger, is already close to the elbow; Could it be that by condescending to play the banner of the Western Army, the Huai Army can retreat in the face of difficulties, or slow down the offensive a little, this is obviously a completely unrealistic thing.

Do you want him to grovel and lead his troops through the natural danger of the adjacent Hedong-Jingcheng, and escape to the territory of the sworn enemy Zhang Dekun to survive; As the so-called heretics and traitors are more hated than the enemy, he and the other party are fighting to the death and living with a lot of blood debts;

To be honest, he is really not sure that after retreating to the opponent's territory, he still has enough enemy cavalry and confidence to maintain his power and independence, so as not to become a long-cherished opponent with a grudge, a soft knife cutting meat target.

And these other garrisons in Zhenzhou were originally gathered and stationed for a long time to guard against attacks from the east of the river, and the continuous fighting between the two sides was not small, and once they reached the opponent's land, they didn't know what would happen.

If this is the result, why did he bother to resist the Huai army to the end when he had an advantage, instead of throwing more chips over to ask for a place to stay. At least in the hands of the other party, there is no blood feud and old grudges, but just a pure struggle for the growth and decline of power, and most of them will not hesitate to give those who take the initiative to quit with knowledge of current affairs a decent opportunity to step down and exit.

However, after thinking about it, he couldn't help but think about it a little luckily; Seeing that the western army is about to advance eastward, as long as it continues to hold on here for a while, perhaps soon the Huai army will have no time to take care of its own side. Perhaps, I can also use this situation to negotiate better terms from the other party.

Otherwise, even if he is in danger at a critical moment, he can open up the danger of Jingcheng and take the initiative to lead Hedong County and the Western Army, and take advantage of this to enter the north of Kou River and do the thing of burning the jade.

But the premise of all this is that he can still rely on his past favors and prestige to continue to capture a few key people under his command, and let them continue to fight for themselves for a period of time by relying on the city defense, so as to usher in more turnarounds and changes.

As for the vacillation and overflow of the minds of others, he could not care for the time being;

For example, those envoys, judges, Simas, military officers and secretaries who were "separated" and disappeared on the way to Zhenzhou, as well as all kinds of direct officials, relatives, and important people, were also only half of the people left in the middle of the road.

For example, the envoys of strategy, observation, defense, capture, and regimental training who were appointed by him but departed on the way; Some of the more polite ones were to send someone over to inform them, saying that they were taking their relatives and children back to their hometowns to raise troops to fight against thieves, so as to buy time and delay the enemy's momentum for the transfer of the platform;

But in fact, their intentions and attitudes are already visible. In other words, even if they succeed in returning to their hometowns and raising a group of men, it will only be more of a bargain for conditions and treatment for more Huai troops who are pressing the border.

But in any case, the result of what they did was, in fact, more or less a practical effect of resisting to continue for the rectification and preparation of his business, and gaining time and delaying it in disguise, even in the current situation, it is very much the nature and meaning of drinking to quench thirst.

In this last moment of peril, his mind, which had been bewitched and lost in his self-esteem by all kinds of flattery and hard work, became clear and introspective again; At least let him see clearly the loyalists among his subordinates, and also understand who around him is the mainstay that can be relied on and reused.

It's just that the price is a bit too heavy, and the pain makes him almost unwilling to face it.

Therefore, he has made a large fortune in the treasury to reward the troops near the left, and generously promised a good land and a beautiful house for everyone; In the name of priority protection, he concentrated many military dependents under his own eyelids, and monitored and confronted them nearby;

He also sent people to distribute military armor everywhere, and even appeared everywhere to preach the words and vigorously preach the places where Huaizhen passed, whether it was a large gentry or a wealthy family, they could not help but compete with each other to break their families and their wives and be separated and driven into slavery. Only then did it stabilize the hearts of the people under its rule, and create a certain superficial atmosphere of hatred and hatred.

Then, among the wealthy families and their relatives who had fled from all over the country, they recruited 5,000 able-bodied men, trained and armed them, and called them "daring sons", and together with their own guards in the city, they made expedient efforts to deal with pessimistic and disappointed statements and deeds with a tendency to surrender in the city.

Only then did the momentum and frustration of the river be forcibly suppressed; Although I don't know how long this contingency method can last, for him, being able to hold on to it for a day is a day of victory.

This is an abrupt voice that reminds me of the outside world again.

"Repay the Governor, things are not good"

"What's wrong with it..."

Zhang Bangchang waved his hand helplessly, and he didn't even have the mood and spirit to reprimand these close subordinates who brought news; After all, the bad news and bad news he had heard during this time had been numbing.

At least these subordinates who continue to bring news from all sides, in the face of the current general situation, can be regarded as loyal people who are still willing to continue to stick to their posts.

"There are many people in front of the battle, and they see that Qin (Ming) is standing in front of the Huai thief army, and they are recruiting rebels everywhere."

"And the reorganized Thunderbolt Army has not had any news since it went to aid Hengzhou"

Zhang Bangchang sighed heavily, but he didn't say anything more. Under his command, he relied on the seven generals of the "Three Biao and Four Elephants" who were his henchmen and Gancheng, and the brave generals known as the eleven eagle dogs were the wings; But now the dead are dead, the captured are captive, and only a few people are left in front of them.

It looks like another one is going to be removed again. At this moment, there was no anger in his heart, only a faint regret and loss. Earlier, he should have noticed the clue in Qin Ming's decision to invite himself to go to the enemy's position to surrender alone to delay time.

The Huai army is really not so good and credulous, even if Qin Ming still cherishes the old master and is unwilling to act, as long as the other party swings him forward, everything is already clear and irretrievable; And I'm still too lucky, and I still want to play any tricks and tricks to delay the army? .

"Someone,"

It seemed like it had been a long time before he spoke again,

"Go and call the messenger from Hedong."

"Report, Jing Cheng is in an emergency."

However, the next news made him jump.

"From Xiguancheng and the north and south entrances are all to trap the enemy."

"Deputy Envoy Zhang has retreated to Baoping Village, and asked the governor to send reinforcements and recapture it."

What, this waste, he couldn't help but look dark, and sat down on his couch softly.

That Jingcheng City is one of the nine stops in the world that bears the Taihang Yao to the Hebei Plain, chokes the throat of Hedong traffic, and is known as the Taihang Path, the hub of Wuzhou Prefecture, and the place where soldiers must fight for victory, and it is also where his last retreat is;

For this reason, he specially handed over to his nephew, Zhang Shunshui, the training envoy of the Hebei Metropolitan Regiment, who he regarded as his adopted son, and assisted by Zhao Jiuling, a veteran of a hundred battles, to lead a specially selected elite cadre army to garrison the army during the garrison, which was enough to reserve the assets for half a year, in case the Hedong side came to pick up the bargain uninvited.

As a result, it was easily snatched away by a strange soldier of the Huai Army who suddenly appeared.

。。。。。。。。

And at the west entrance of Jingcheng, it is also called Tumen Pass; Because in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Zhao Kingdom piled up soil in the mountains, and it was named after the folded holes of the Saitaihang Mountains.

On the earthen wall and wooden sentry tower filled with a rain of arrows, the straggler Chen Baoshan swung his gun butt and smashed it on an outcropping face, only to see the blood flowers blooming and sinking into the face of the other party's skin and flesh, and fell to the ground and died.

He didn't even have time to reload, and the spikes were already too bent to use, so he could only continue to hold the hook swung by an enemy soldier in front of him, pushing him through the rammed earth wall, and falling down with a terrible cry like a severed-winged harrier.

After half a ring, looking at the enemy that had receded again with the roar of the cannons, he only felt that all the strength in his body had been drained, and the lobes of his panting lungs were spit out; The hand was so stiff that he couldn't even let go of the slightly deformed firebolt, but he could only just sit on the uneven ground with his straight ass.

The surprising situation still appeared, just after the capture of this Jingcheng City, the defeat and dispersal of the local defenders, but immediately attracted the Hedong army on the other side of the valley road to attack for a long time.

However, these stragglers were lightly armed and raided, and they did not carry much medicine, thanks to the four mountain cannons that came with them but did not come in handy, they repeatedly disrupted the opponent's position, but unfortunately dozens of scattered bullets were quickly beaten and there was not much left.

As a result, they had to release some of the local captives they were holding to assist the guards.

Fortunately, after the sub-medicine gradually became scarce, the locally produced coal and stone were burned red and thrown out, whether it was arson or hitting the enemy, it was also a rather sharp means of defending the city. Combined with their limited number of firearms and ammunition, the Hedong soldiers who were able to kill under the city wall were like mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.

Fortunately, there are a large number of people on the other side, but it is difficult to win in a relatively narrow natural danger - in front of the west mouth of Jingcheng, the narrowest part of the mountain gorge in the mouth, the stone walls on both sides are steep and narrow, the car can not be square, and the riding can not be parallel, which can be described as dangerous and difficult to walk;

Therefore, in the short term, the Hedong Army was unable to transport the offensive equipment outside the large platoon and the long ladder, so it could only rely on the strength of the troops to advance and gnaw down little by little, and there has not been much progress so far.

(End of chapter)