The priest could not convince the believers verbally that this was nothing more than an engineering machine, not some wrath of the heavens, but he could convince everyone in action.

There is no doubt that believers are ignorant, but they are also very clear in their hearts and know right from wrong. Under the condition that the sacrificial grandson personally stayed in the city and ate and lived with all the soldiers to stabilize the hearts of the people, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban also came out of the initial panic.

They also found that the eight so-called stone generators were thundering loudly and raining little. The artillery also fired, but in fact there were no deaths. As a result, the morale of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban gradually recovered.

Well, that's actually it. As long as you don't kill it directly, you can do what you want to do later. No matter what the days are, they will continue to live as usual. That's why, whether it's extreme joy or extreme fear, it's just a moment, and after this period has passed, it will return to the original emotional level.

Later, in order to find confidence from the Han army, Saisun decided to go out of the city and attack the Han army fortress at night to boost the morale of the army.

October 13th, night.

In order to get rid of the eight stone machines outside the city, the priest Sun personally led a hundred people out of the city. These 100 people are all from the mountains near Mount Tai, trekking through mountains and rivers like walking on flat ground, not to mention the three trenches opposite.

They stepped on the erected planks, quietly climbed over the trench, and directly touched the Han army under the barrier.

At this time, the Han army fortress was brightly lit, and the Han army laughed and called friends.

The daytime battle made the Han army very relieved, coupled with the three trenches originally constructed, the Han army did not think that the Yellow Turban Army in the city could attack them at night, so they relaxed their guard, roasted fires in the various barriers, and chatted about interesting things in the army.

Some presumptuous people also privately took out the wine that was plundered from the neighborhood, and then took a sip of wine for a while, what they wanted was this kind of presumptuous before the war, which is the style of veterans. And some recruits can only watch with envy the old-timers boasting there, and they can only silently oil their armor there.

Many people have never touched blades or armor, and they always think that these things will not break. In fact, these things are very indiscriminate, for example, armor can easily rust, be sure to bury the armor in the sand, and regularly polish and oil for maintenance.

But even so, armor is prone to rust. Because after the vigorous activity of the armor, sweat stains will remain on the armor and will corrode the armor. Therefore, after the army is repaired, these armorers will continue to maintain their armor. Of course, there are some rich and noble, just throw these jobs to the disciples.

In the same way, there are bows and arrows, bowstrings, and arrows. These things must first be kept dry, and then when not in use, the strings must be put down, and they must not be stretched out, which will damage the toughness of the bowstring.

This is the daily life of samurai, from the moment they pick up their armor, they are taught to take care of your armor as if it were your life, because they can really save your life at a critical moment.

The Han army in the outer camp was having fun and maintaining their weapons, and the Chinese army tent in the inner camp was holding an emergency military meeting.

Several butter candles lit up the tent, and high-ranking officials hurried to arrive. They exchanged heads, apparently not knowing why Lu Zhi had suddenly summoned them.

Everyone sat down, and Lu Zhi, who was at the top, was as motionless as a sculpture before. When everyone was settled, Lu Zhi coughed, so the deputy military deputy next to him took the lead in speaking.

Chong Fu is not young, and he should have fallen asleep a long time ago, but since the war has been going on since the expedition, he has not slept well, and what is even more terrifying is that as soon as he closes his eyes, his mind is full of the face of his son who died in battle, worrying. Therefore, at this moment, his eyes were blood-red, and he slowly told a military report to the people present.

It turned out that when the Han army collected its troops and returned to the camp today, an urgent letter came from the rear of Handan. The text said that Wang Fen, the prime minister of Zhao, led people to rebel in Xiangguo.

This Wang Fen is a famous scholar in Yanzhou, and he has also sent troops to help Hu Muban to defeat Zhang Chong, he has been living in Kyoto before, and was recently replaced by Liu Hongqi to Zhao State, the former Zhao State Xiang Xu, as the new Zhao State Minister.

Zhao Guoxiang Xiangxu was not taken away by the court, he couldn't bear the pressure of the war and abandoned the seal and ribbon alone, and returned to his hometown in Hanoi by bicycle. Although Xiang Xu is not a qualified land guard, for Han Ting at this time, regardless of whether he is capable or not, if you can guard the territory, you are already a good official. But that's all

Xiang Xu couldn't meet the low requirements, and he became a fugitive on the grounds that his mother was old and sick and went back to be raised.

After that, Wang Fen was dumped by Liu Hong to Zhao Guo, and became this hot Zhao Guoxiang. Because Handan had become the garrison of the Han army in Hebei, Wang Fen, as the local governor, was unwilling to stay in Handan to be a small one, so he moved the state to Xiangguo.

Xiangguo, which was built by Zhao Shi, was also called Xindu at that time, and it was also the other capital of Zhao State. Generally speaking, if Handan is lost, Zhao will also run to the north of Xiangguo to continue fighting, which has been an important city in Zhao since ancient times.

After Wang Fen moved the county to Xiangguo, he recruited displaced people and trained national soldiers on the platform of the letter palace of the old Zhao State, and did a very good job.

But Wang Fen was wrong, and he made a mistake after drinking. A few days ago, at a banquet, he talked with the lieutenant of the country at that time about the current political affairs.

At that time, Wang Fen blurted out a sentence:

"Now that we are running rampant, why can't we fight these people? It's not because they have someone behind them. So I see, if you want to solve the eunuchs, you must first solve the people behind them. Hefei Hou and I, hey, hey, don't say, don't say."

After Wang Fen woke up the next day, he remembered what he said last night, and immediately asked people to call Zhao Guowei, but Zhao Guowei disappeared directly at that time.

After a few days of worrying alone, Wang Fen gritted his teeth and decided to raise the flag in Xiangguo, in the name of "Qing Jun's side, Fenghefei", and sent down the northern counties of Zhao with the seal of Zhao Xiangyin, and directly threatened the most important granary of the Hebei Han army, Juqiao Cang.

After the defenders of Handan learned the news, Feishu passed it on to Lu Zhi, who was on the front line of the people, and asked him to decide.

Lu Zhi was dizzy and puzzled at the time, he had already figured out how to break the city, and there was such a big omission in the rear. What worries him even more is that Wang Fen and the Marquis of Hefei are the upper echelons of the Han family, and they are still in the name of the Qing monarch at this critical moment, which will inevitably deal a huge blow to the politics of the Han family.

And not only that, after Ao Cangsu was broken, the accumulation of Juqiao Cang had become the most important supply for the Han army in Hebei, so not only from political but also military considerations, Lu Zhi could not let Wang Fen go.

But at this time, the siege of the city was at a critical point, and Lu Zhi needed to preside over the overall situation here, so he could only let Dong Zhuo lead his troops to evaluate the rebellion.

After Dong Zhuo heard this, he did not hesitate and directly received the order. But he had one condition, that is, he only had 4,000 people in his headquarters now, and it was really difficult to quell the rebellion in the northern part of Zhao State, so he asked Lu Zhi to transfer 5,000 northern troops to him.

Lu Zhi thought about it and agreed.

At this time, the Han military camp suddenly boiled, and the senior officials of the Han army, who were still discussing the details, hurriedly went out of the tent to watch. I saw the front of the fire soaring into the sky, especially the eight towering stone generators, which would be like a large torch attracting countless moths to dance together in the night.

The soldiers who hurriedly ran to tell the generals that a Yellow Turban squad took advantage of the night to burn the eight stone generators with fire oil, but the soldiers of the front battalion said that they had defeated the thief army, and they would organize firefighting.

It's okay not to say this, but when Lu Zhi's face is even more ugly.

Gongsun Zhan, his student on the side, snorted coldly and scolded the soldier:

"Let people run away, just say they ran away, and they were defeated? And it's all burned like this, fire and fart. Let all the brethren withdraw and rest, and tomorrow they will attack the city, and toss these things tonight, and go to war tomorrow to die?"

The soldier was also an honest man, and when he heard this, he was quite surprised. He glanced at Lu Zhi, saw him nodding, and then hurriedly ran to the front camp to give the order.

Half a day later, the hustle and bustle of the front camp ended, leaving only the eight giant "torches" crackling.

Lu Zhi, who was looking at all this, muttered:

"What an eventful time."

……

On the second day, Dong Zhuo left with two armies and 9,000 soldiers and horses.

Lu Zhi did allocate 5,000 people to Dong Zhuo, but only 1,000 people belonged to the five schools of the Northern Army, and the rest were county officials from Hanoi and Zhao.

It's not Lu Zhixuan, but the core armament in his hand is the five schools with about 10,000 people, if they are all given to Dong Zhuo, what will he do?

In fact, this kind of mentality of treating soldiers as one's own is something that anyone in charge of a soldier has. Because the logic is simple,

The more elite the soldiers, the easier it is to make meritorious contributions, and the easier it is for the main generals to be promoted. And those who have become warlords are even more so, and the soldiers in their hands are their very existence.

The distance from Lieren to Xiangguo is about 120 miles. After Dong Zhuo brought a supply, he first led his army north to Quliang and spent the night there. Then they crossed the water and the water, and then set up camp on the south bank of the water.

At this time, after the water, it is Xiangguo. Dong Zhuo did not immediately choose to cross the river, fearing that he would be attacked by Bandu. On the contrary, after he was stationed on the south bank of the water, in the name of General Beizhonglang, he transferred 1,000 Julu soldiers from the east of Xiangguo, 500 soldiers from Pingxiang, and 500 soldiers from Renxian County to join him. He also specially asked for them to levy 4,000 people from their territories and bring corresponding grain and grass.

Generally speaking, Dong Zhuo felt that there was no big problem with this counterinsurgency. Because Xiangguo was the vice capital of Zhao back then, even though the city was built very strongly, there were loopholes in the overall defense.

In a series of acropolises surrounding Xiangguo, such as Zhongqiu, Neiqiu, Bairen, Lincheng, etc., they are all concentrated in the north of Xiangguo. Between the south of Xiangguo and Handan, there are only two fortresses, Tantai and Surenting. Why is that?

It turned out that the purpose of the Xiang Kingdom was established during the Zhao State was to serve as a stronghold against the Zhongshan Kingdom. The Zhongshan Kingdom was a state established by the Rong people in northern Hebei during the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, the Zhao people opened up to Hebei, and the main enemy was Zhongshan in the north.

There is a special place to point out, that is, in the middle of Hebei, there is a huge lake next to Julu, Continentalze. The so-called continent means Hanhai, which shows how huge this lake was in the eyes of people at that time.

Because of the existence of the continent, the land of Hebei is directly divided into two regions, the northern and the central. And the narrow area between Taihang Mountain and the mainland Ze is the most convenient way for Zhongshan to invade Zhao. Therefore, the Zhao people also established several military fortresses on this line, and Xiangguo was set up behind these military fortresses to facilitate the command of the front line against Zhongshan State.

Now, hundreds of years later, the ancient country of Zhongshan has long ceased to exist, and has become the current two counties of Changshan and Zhongshan, but the geographical advantages of the predecessors still affect the present.

This is the charm of history, everything has a reason, everything is connected.

Dong Zhuo set up camp, so he tentatively let people cross the river, but found that the rebels did not guard the river, so Dong Zhuo was relieved, knowing that Wang Fen was a straw bag.

So, with the army and the soldiers of Julu, Pingxiang and Ren County, Dong Zhuo moved his army to wade through the water.

On October 18, Dong Zhuo built fortifications outside the city of Xiangguo, preparing to attack the rebels.

According to Lu Zhi's order, Dong Zhuo built three beacons outside the city of Xiangguo.

Lu Zhi meant that if he conquered the outer city of Xiang, he would light one beacon, if he captured the inner city, he would set fire two, and if he captured Wang Fen, he would light three.

From the county town between Xiangguo and the camp of the people, as long as you see the beacon fire, you will light the corresponding number, and you must pass the beacon fire to Lu Zhi in time. Obviously, for Lu Zhi, it is very important to accurately grasp the situation on the battlefield in Xiangguo.

I have to say that Xiangguo, as an important town in Hebei, has a very good city garrison. But it's a pity that the commander of the rebels is Wang Fen, who also knows no soldiers. Therefore, in just one day, Dong Zhuo filled in the ravines outside the city of Xiangwai one after another, and also opened up a siege road.

Of course, this is thanks to the courage of the people in Julu and other places, who braved arrows to fill the ravines under the blade of Dong Zhuobing, and their lives were like mustard.

In order to suppress the rebel archers at the head of the city, Dong Zhuo piled up three earthen mountains according to the law as the people in the city, and then Lu Zhipao's Hanoi soldiers were driven to the earthen mountains by Dong Zhuo and shot at the city with bows and arrows.

Just when everything was going well, the unexpected happened.

On October 19, there was a sudden rainstorm under the city of Xiangguo. The heavy rain fell majestically, directly turning the hastily built dirt mountain into a sparse rot. At that time, the 300 Heoi archers who were camping on the dirt mountain were directly submerged by the earth mountain, and no one was spared.

As soon as this incident came out, the Hanoi soldiers were in an uproar, and they all sat in the barrier, saying that they would not go to the battlefield again no matter what.

No, Dong Zhuo reported all the situation under Xiangguo City to Lu Zhi.

After Lu Zhi got the book, the deputy military on the side offered Lu Zhi a plan, saying that he could write a deposed Dong Zhuo

folded it to the country, and then let Lu Zhi detain it and send it to Dong Zhuo. This can not only put pressure on Dong Zhuo, but also stimulate him to work hard in Xiangguo.

From here, it can also be seen that this person is indeed dedicated to the public, you must know that Dong Zhuo is now the most famous general in the Han family, and it is really not a joke to make this person jealous.

Especially a warrior like Dong Zhuo in the border areas of Xizhou, who has no dead soldiers. Don't even need Dong Zhuo to use his own people, there are not too many outlaws and poor people in Liangzhou, and it is not surprising to let a kind of Fu have an accident later.

Therefore, Lu Zhi also advised why use this risky strategy.

But the kind of generosity said:

"If you can benefit the country, how dare you think about it."

In the end, Lu Zhi still sent the impeachment sheet written by Chong Fu to Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo was so angry that he directly cut off the corner of the table and scolded:

"What an old dog, we are all Kansai people. I also respect him, who would think that this will harm my old Dong."

Dong Zhuo was crazy here, and his son-in-law Niu Fu on the side said sullenly:

"My lord, that surname is from Kyoto, not from Kansai. We don't have this kind of two or five in Kansai."

Niu Fu didn't see that when he said this, generals like Fan Chou, Li Yu, Wang Fang, Li Meng and other relatives silently retreated to the side, just wanting to distance themselves from Niu Fu.

Sure enough, as soon as Niu Fu's voice fell, a corner of the case smashed at Niu Fu.

Then I heard Dong Zhuo roaring:

"Okay, since you are so arrogant, you will personally lead the team for me to climb first, don't embarrass us Kansai people."

Niu Fu, who knew that he had said the wrong thing, did not dare to come out, hurriedly clenched his fists, and hurriedly led two hundred armor soldiers to ascend first.

Not to mention that this Niu Fu is really brave, others will be the first to let the soldiers under his command go first, and he is really the first soldier, risking the arrows and stones, biting the ring head knife and killing the city.

With this fierce general as an example, the morale of the elite soldiers of Liangzhou rose greatly, and they did not spin their heels, and followed Niu Fu closely on the head of the city.

Wang Fenben, who was originally watching the battle at the head of the city, was still happily watching the Han soldiers under the city howling, but suddenly saw a barbarian with a group of armored soldiers killing the city.

Wang Fen didn't think much about it at all, and immediately went down to the city to avoid it.

In fact, Renniufu is an authentic Han Chinese, and the reason why he wears his hair is because of the Liangzhou atmosphere. There are only 500,000 Han people in Liangzhou, and there are more than one million Qiang people living here, so the Han people in Liangzhou are inevitably contaminated with Hu Feng, which is also a reason why they are not tolerated by the Central Plains scholars.

Wang Fen subconsciously avoided the villain, not wanting to see the blood in the city.

But who knew that there was a young general in the pile of armor soldiers in the Niu Auxiliary Army, named Zhang Xiu, who was quite anxious and wise, and when he saw that the scribes under the canopy were retreating, he shouted loudly:

"The traitor Wang Fen was beheaded."

The sound was like a bell, and the soldiers of Xiangguo in the city were all turned to the north, and sure enough, they saw that the canopy representing Zhao Guoxiang was hurriedly going down the city.

As a result, the morale was in an uproar, and there was no longer a fighting spirit, and the outer city of Xiangguo was lost.

Dong Zhuo, who was outside the city, didn't think that his son-in-law really captured the outer city of Xiangguo. He originally wanted to light a beacon fire, but after thinking about it, why did my old Dong bow down to Lu Zhi? The Northlanders are not good people either.

So, Dong Zhuo led a large army into the city and surrounded the inner city of Xiangguo.

At this time, Wang Fen in the inner city shouted desperately to Dong Zhuo under the city:

"General Dong, you're tired from coming from afar. I have a special product of Zhao here, and I will give it to General Dong to taste."

Then I saw that in the inner city, nearly 100 beautiful palace concubines were taken down to the city, obviously this is the specialty of Zhao State.

Dong Zhuo wanted to scold Wang Fen, but as soon as he saw these hundred people, Meiji's eyes straightened. Not only Dong Zhuo, but one of the generals under his command was stunned, not because of Dong Zhuo's majesty, he came to rob it in the morning.

They are fishermen, and they have been in the army for a long time, although there are also intimate soldiers who send people's daughters, but how can those compare with these beauties?

Indeed, this batch of Meiji is not simple, they are the favorite concubines of King Zhao Huai.

Zhao Wang Yimai is the uncle of Emperor Guangwu Liu Liang, although he is called an uncle, but he actually personally raised the Guangwu brothers to grow up, almost like his father. Therefore, when the Zhao Dynasty was divided, he had the land of Zhao State.

And these beauties are in the palace of King Zhao of Xiangguo, Wang Fen is desperate, trying to use these beauties for a way out.

So at the head of the city, he was overjoyed when he saw the reaction of the generals in Liangzhou, and shouted:

"I have a share here, you give it to Beizhong Lang for me, and he will understand me."

Dong Zhuo listened, groaned, and asked a scribe next to him:

"To send it or not?"

"More is better than less."

"Okay."

So, Dong Zhuo responded solemnly to the head of the city:

"Wang Fen, you are no longer a Han official, the moment you put up the flag of rebellion, you are a thief. As a general of the Han family, I can't kill you, so how can I send you a letter. It's better for you to go out of the city and surrender bare-chested, maybe your letter can be delivered to General Beizhonglang."

Dong Zhuo's unkindness made Wang Fen lose his mind, and he scolded:

"What a barbarian dog, without faith."

Wang Fen, who felt that his death was approaching, no longer cared about decency, he pointed in the direction of Kyoto and scolded:

"The country is mediocre and barren. The villain blocks the road, and there is no way to be loyal. If a pig and dog like you can also accuse a famous man like me, if I was born in Guangwu, I will be able to leave a name in history and build a monument and a cloud platform, how can I be humiliated by the hands of Qiang Barbarians."

Before it was over, he pointed to the following Liangzhou generals:

"You fishy people also want to get contaminated with the beauty below? I'll tell you the truth, these are all people from the Zhao Palace, and now you are contaminated with them, and you have committed a great taboo, and you will die later. I'll go down below and see how you die."

After speaking, Wang Fen looked at a servant on the side, sighed, and then jumped down from the city.

But because of the wrong posture, Wang Fen didn't die for a while.

The Liangzhou general, who was already scolded in the city, was about to raise a knife to chop Wang Fen to death, who knew that Dong Zhuo said lightly:

"What's the hurry, isn't he going to see how we die? Ado?"

is called Aduo, another general of Dong Zhuo, Guo Yan.

Hearing Dong Zhuo call him, he immediately went out to listen to the order.

"You let him howl in a moment, and when his blood runs dry, gouge out his eyeballs for me and put them in a box, and take them with you later. And this Wang Fen looks at a lot of meat, a lot of good ointment, at night you will insert a wick to his navel, and then bring his wife and daughter, let's have a good time around his "human lamp". He didn't say that we are Qiangman, let him see how Qiangman does it."

When Guo Yan heard this, he smiled fiercely:

"Rest assured, my lord, I promise to keep this lamp on."

Then the Liangzhou generals laughed, and with Dong Zhuo's consent, they went up and hugged a Meiji on the horse, which was the source of happiness at night.

In the city of Xiangguo over there, with Wang Fen's jump, the entire army's heart was gone, and they made a mess everywhere trying to escape. Dong Zhuobing, who entered the city, immediately went to Suo Wang Fen's family, including his wife, daughter, concubine and maid, who were all imprisoned in the shack, but Wang Fen had a child who was not caught, and no one knew how he escaped.

But Dong Zhuo didn't care, and directly hugged ten Meiji to an open space.

His soldiers surrounded them on all sides with a curtain, and made a simple wild curtain, and then Dong Zhuo vented in this scene. The graceful and wild form combined in the veil, the sound of beauty.

The coach is like this, and the whole Xiangguo is in a wail.

At the same time, how did Lu Zhi, who was far away, know that Dong Zhuo had captured Xiangguo. He couldn't wait for the beacon fire of Xiangguo left and right, and was worried about whether the Han army on Xiangguo's side was not enough. So he sent a feather to Yecheng in Wei County, and ordered Wei County to send 3,000 troops north to support Dong Zhuo, and be sure to hold the important grain route of the Han army.

It was precisely because of these 3,000 Yecheng soldiers who went north that ignited a series of changes that followed, and the Hebei battlefield became even more confusing.