Shaanxi General Soldier Zhang Guoxing was not an outstanding person of intelligence, after listening to Jiao Shengchang's words, he didn't have a seizure, he didn't have a seizure, and he was attracted by the last sentence that Jiao Shengchang said, and he no longer cared about those who had it with the useful Zhizhou in front of him, and said at the moment: "Since there is an officer in the army who understands the situation, don't you come and ask soon!" ”

When Jiao Shengchang saw that Zhang Guoxing, the chief soldier of Shaanxi, said this, he immediately sent someone to meet Zhong Dewu, the general in the prison in Suizhou. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhong Dewu is the nephew of Zhong Wanli, the governor of Yongning Prefecture, Zhong Wanli refused to surrender after the city of Yongning Prefecture was captured, so the whole family was killed, only this nephew was able to fight and escape, collected more than 200 defeated soldiers in the city, followed the fleeing people, and came all the way to Mengzhou.

After arriving in Suizhou, he reported his name and explained the reason, although Jiao Shengchang let them follow the fleeing refugees into the city, but after entering the city, he immediately arrested all of them and imprisoned them.

At that time, the situation was rumored, Shanxi along the Yellow Line was full of soldiers, Jiao Shengchang did not know the situation in Yongning Prefecture, and he could not say whether these people were deserters or defeated troops who were scattered.

If these people were deserters, or if they had surrendered to the thieves who had come to deceive the city, wouldn't it be more dangerous to let them stay in the city freely?

Therefore, after Zhong Dewu led the defeated soldiers into the city of Suizhou, no matter how he defended and shouted grievances, Jiao Shengchang still resolutely arrested them all and locked them in the state prison.

Such a pass is two months, during which they were interrogated separately, and they basically figured out the situation in Yongning Prefecture City, and also figured out Zhong Dewu's identity.

However, Jiao Shengchang was still reluctant to take risks, in addition to reporting the situation to Zhang Zongheng, the inspector, he still chose to lock Zhong Dewu and the others up, but there were still two meals a day, but they were always closed.

This time, a large number of officers and soldiers came to the city of Suizhou, and Jiao Shengchang was no longer worried about the safety of the city, so he simply took the opportunity to hand over these people to Zhang Guoxing.

Although Zhang Guoxing needs sufficient grain and grass at present, what he needs more is to quickly understand the situation ahead.

After coming out of Pingyang, along the way, there were the township soldiers led by Zhang Zongheng, the inspector, as guides, and they crossed the mountains and mountains, and crossed the prefecture and the government, and there was no problem.

However, since Zhang Zongheng went to Jizhou with the township soldiers, Zhang Guoxing and his Shaanxi generals did not understand the topography and geography of Shanxi, and they also felt quite inconvenient on the way north.

At this time, I heard that there was a former city guard of Yongning Prefecture City here, and he was also anxious to see it at the moment.

After a short while, several squad military officials of the state government came to the outside of the second hall with a black-faced man in his twenties and thirties.

Jiao Shengchang saw that Zhong Dewu was brought over with his hands tied, so he got up and left his seat, came to the door, took a knife from the hand of the official in front of the door, cut the rope with his own hands, and then said with a smile: "Brother Zhong, bear with me!" As the parents of the city, after all, he has to consider the lives of the people in this city, and in the past two months, he has not been well entertained, and he also asks Brother Zhong to be more considerate and forgiving! ”

The man Zhong Dewu was quite angry at first, but at this time, when he saw Lord Zhizhou behaving like this, he was a little at a loss, and hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "My lord's words are serious!" The little one only lost the little boss of the city, the adults didn't kill the little one on the spot, the little one is already lucky, how dare you complain about the poor hospitality! ”

Jiao Shengchang saw that the two had already spoken, so he smiled immediately, grabbed Zhong Dewu's arm, and entered the second hall.

After taking a few steps inside, Jiao Shengchang said to Zhong Dewu: "This person in front of you is Zhang Zongzhen, the chief military officer of Shaanxi, you have seen it first!" ”

After Jiao Shengchang finished speaking, he let go of the hand holding Zhong Dewu, took a few steps forward, and sat back on the official hat chair.

Zhong Dewu was shocked when he heard this, and immediately took two steps forward, knelt on the ground, and said with a fist: "Humble Zhong Dewu, I have seen Lord Zongzhen!" ”

Zhang Guoxing saw the black-faced man in front of him, who was born with a strong appearance with broad shoulders and a round waist, knowing that he was a soldier in the army, and he also liked it in his heart, so he said: "Your situation, this town knows how much, your uncle Zhong Wanli Zhong died unyielding in the city of Yongning Prefecture, and the will of the imperial court to commend the martyrs has long been announced to the world." Besides, Yongning Prefecture City was captured by a group of thieves, and the guerrilla Gao Conglong who defended the city died in battle, what can you do with a small handful? It is also a skill to be able to gather defeated troops and fight freely! You get up and speak first! ”

After saying these words, waiting for Zhong Dewu to get up, Zhang Guoxing continued: "This town was ordered to personally lead the army to suppress the thieves, which can be regarded as avenging your uncle's family and Shangguan, you have served in Yongning Prefecture City for a long time, and you are familiar with the terrain and roads in the north, this town wants you to serve as a guide for the advance of the army, and then go to the north, are you willing?" ”

After hearing Zhang Guoxing's words, Zhong Dewu immediately knelt down again, clenched his fists excitedly and said: "I am willing to do my best for adults!" ”

That night, Zhong Dewu was in the second hall of the state government, and talked about the terrain and roads near Yongning Prefecture City with Zhang Guoxing and his generals one by one.

On the second day, Jiao Shengchang released all the Yongxing Prefecture soldiers who had been imprisoned before, temporarily organized into a team, and led by Zhong Dewutong to serve as a vanguard guide for the Shaanxi army to go north.

And Zhang Guoxing's department also rested in the city of Suizhou for a day, and also looted and extorted a batch of money, food and materials, and in the early morning of the third day, under the expectation of Jiao Shengchang and other officials in Suizhou, they finally set off and continued to go north.

With Zhong Dewu's guide and the grain and grass scavenged from the city of Suizhou, the speed of the 3,000 people under his command marching north was naturally much faster than before.

In the evening of the same day, Zhang Guoxing took the Shaanxi army to the south gate of Shilou County.

At this time, the county seat of Shilou was dilapidated, and it looked like it was raging and burned by the thief army.

But even so, there are still people on duty above the dilapidated South Gate Tower.

When they saw a large army coming from the south, they quickly disappeared from the city.

At this time, it was already evening, Zhang Guoxing and his Shaanxi army wanted to enter the city to rest, seeing that the south gate was broken, and the thief army at the head of the city fled from a distance.

The city of Shilou County is not big, there are not many streets in the city, and there is no living person except for some stinking human and animal corpses in the corners.

Shilou County belongs to the small county under the jurisdiction of Yongning Prefecture, Zhong Dewu has been here many times before, so he is familiar with the road, and took the Shaanxi army into the city along the main road in the city, all the way to the north gate, until he boarded the north gate tower, only to vaguely see hundreds of thieves going north.

After the Shaanxi army led the forward generals back to the south gate to report to Zhang Guoxing, Zhang Guoxing waved his army into the city.

encountered the peripheral men of the thief army here, Zhang Guoxing did not dare to be careless, and arranged patrols and assigned guards that night, lest the thieves go and return and attack the city.

However, after a night, not only did there be no trace of the thieves, but Zhong Dewu and the others, who were sent out of the city early in the morning to patrol the mountains north of the city, did not find the shadow of the thieves.

At this time, Zhang Guoxing put his mind at ease, and while sending people to deliver the news back, he sent people to continue to look for the thieves in the north and east.

As soon as the men and horses were sent out, they heard that the general of the Shaanxi army guarding the south gate sent someone to report that they were coming from the south and were sent by the Shanxi envoy Zhang Zongheng and Master Zhang.

It turned out that after Zhang Zongheng took his 2,000 township soldiers to Jizhou, he not only quickly recovered Jizhou, but also went north along the route once walked by thieves, and also regained Daning, Yonghe and various passes along the Yellow River in just ten days.

Zhang Guoxing and his generals learned that Zhang Zongheng had recovered so many state and county passes with 2,000 township soldiers, and picked up a lot of cheap, and they were all unconvinced.

And Yonghe is in the southwest of the stone building, the two county towns are only fifty miles apart, the generals learned that Zhang Zongheng's department is behind them, so they have advocated that while the thief army is shrinking into the mountains, it is better to continue to go north or east to make contributions, if you can take the lead in recovering Yongning Zhou City, a merit to cover a hundred ugliness, and you will not be held accountable for your previous actions.