"The absolute column lingers, and the danger is endless."

"A thousand cliffs are haunting, and what is the path...... The deep forest is dazed, and the plank road is empty. ”

These sentences are all used to describe Fu Luodao.

Before the destroyed plank road was completely repaired, Han Shizhong ran away with his troops, and such an obvious morale collapse made Yang Zhi no longer so cautious.

Yang Zhi led a thousand paper armor soldiers to pursue at full speed, because the paper armor was the lightest, and the rest of the troops also accelerated forward.

In the process of escaping, Han Shizhong tried to turn back several times, but his soldiers were killed.

There are still several plank roads ahead, and Han Shizhong can only simply remove some planks. Because the tighter Yang Zhi chased, the more quickly the Western soldiers fled, and Han Shizhong was not given a chance to arrange calmly.

The chase stopped, and when the food brought by the Western Army was almost eaten, those soldiers no longer cared about any military orders. It's just that he frantically flees north every day, digging up some plant roots and cooking them with the little food left.

Yang Zhi also had to stop, waiting for the large army in the rear to transport grain.

Han Shizhong was coerced by the soldiers and fled quickly, and it was impossible for him to be caught by Yang Zhi.

However, the morale of Han Shizhong's troops had fallen to the bottom during the escape, and they would collapse whenever they encountered wind and grass.

When crossing the Eighteen Pan Mountains, a group of thieves in the mountains suddenly shot arrows in the dense forest.

These thieves are few in number and can be easily defeated. But the soldiers of the Western Army are already a cup bow and snake shadow, no matter how Han Shizhong restrains him, he is unwilling to stay and resist, he only knows that he is running wildly with his head in his head.

Only after passing the eighteen panling, because of excessive panic, one foot stepped on the air or pushed each other, and hundreds of people were killed and injured.

The reason why it hasn't broken down is purely to escape for your life.

Finally came to the bank of the Heishui River and under the Laojun Ridge, and the soldiers were in a slightly stable mood. The terrain here is no longer so complicated, and you can even take a boat in the Heishui River and go north to Shaanxi after passing Luogu Pass.

Han Shizhong had the opportunity to count the number of soldiers, leaving him with more than 600 soldiers left.

Han Shizhong boosted morale and said: "In front of you is Luogu Pass, and if you go there, you will have food." Work harder, stand up, and you'll be able to go home soon! ”

The soldiers cheered up, followed Han Shizhong and gritted their teeth to advance, and finally saw their own troops after walking for a long time.

"It's here, it's here!"

The soldiers cheered, and Liu Yanqing's banner was standing on the top of the mountain.

Han Shizhong was like falling into an ice cave, standing in place for a long time.

Liu Yanqing shouldn't be here, if everything went well, he would have gone to Fengxiang to rescue Gao Yu a long time ago.

There is only one possibility, Liu Yanqing's army was blocked by thieves and killed in Fu Luo Road!

Han Shizhong rushed to join the main force and found that all the troops were listless, and the soldiers were afraid and desperate one by one.

Asked Ming Wangyuan where the camp was, Han Shizhong hurriedly ran to ask: "But the thieves occupy Luogu Pass?" ”

Wang Yuan nodded wordlessly.

"What the hell is going on?" Han Shizhong asked.

Wang Yuan said dryly: "The thieves in Hanzhong chased and killed the remnants of the Seed Master Dao, and after chasing out of the Bao Chuan Road, they did not kill Fengxiang, where Gao Taiwei was, but turned to the east to attack Luogu Pass. The defenders of Luogu Pass were defenseless and collapsed in a battle, and the main force of our army was all blocked in Luogu. ”

Han Shizhong asked: "The thieves are so dangerous, aren't they afraid of being blocked in Luogu Pass and being attacked from the north and south?" ”

Wang Yuan said: "Of course the thieves are not afraid, because Captain Gao didn't send troops to rescue them, let alone attack the thieves from the north and south!" At this moment, Gao Taiwei is estimated to be still guarding Fengxiang Mansion, and he does not dare to leave those fortified cities at all. ”

Han Shizhong was stunned and sat on the ground.

Wang Yuan asked his soldiers to bring some food, and said to Han Shizhong, "Let's eat some first." How far is the bandit's pursuers? ”

Han Shizhong said: "If it is slow, it will take a day, and if it is fast, it will be there in half a day." The number of pursuers is small, and it may take two days for the main force of the thieves to come. The top priority at the moment is to return to the division to defeat the thieves and send troops to occupy the Eighteen Panling. Why don't you send troops to garrison such a dangerous place? ”

Wang Yuan explained: "The army is discouraged and does not dare to divide the troops. Even if the troops are divided and stationed in the Eighteen Panling, they will definitely collapse at the first touch. ”

The more than 20,000 Western troops have actually collapsed, and they can continue to gather together purely because there is nowhere to escape.

On the left and right sides are lofty mountains and mountains, in front of which there is Luogu Pass, and behind is the difficult and dangerous Eighteen Pan Ridge and the chasing soldiers.

Where can you go?

With Liu Yanqing's ability to escape, he really couldn't grow wings and fly away.

Half a day later, the pursuers of the righteous army came, and they saw countless flags of the Western Army from a distance and immediately retreated to Shibapanling and other large troops.

There were thieves before and after, and Liu Yanqing called a meeting of the generals: "Come down." ”

Yang Weizhong was silent, neither objecting nor agreeing.

Yang Weizhong claimed that his father was Han, but many people speculated that his father was a fan of the Song-Xia border, and at most belonged to the Han nationality during the Tang Dynasty.

His father once surrendered to the Liao State and married the Xiao daughter of the Liao State.

In any case, Yang Weizhong joined the army as a soldier. not only changed his surname, but also changed his name to "Wei Zhong" to show his loyalty to the Great Song Dynasty.

He has always been more loyal than many Han generals!

"They're all talking." Liu Yanqing didn't have a good airway.

This guy has already exploded, and a few days ago, he cut down more than 20 generals to vent his anger, all of whom were officers who escaped from Luogu Pass.

In order to prevent the thieves from going north, the Shaanxi transit envoy recruited township soldiers last year and stationed them at various checkpoints.

Here in Luoguguan, there are 3,500 people stationed.

When Liu Yanqing passed by, another 800 people were left behind.

Liu Yanqing felt that there was nothing wrong with the danger of 4,300 soldiers before and after, so he decided to withdraw the troops slowly and spend time bringing back all the grain and grass.

However, the thieves only had 2,000 elite surprise attacks, spliced together the most rudimentary flying ladders, and even took Luogu Pass at night. The beacon tower on the north side of the city was all furnished, and no enemy was found to kill it.

In a word, the guards didn't take it seriously!

Because Luogu Pass belongs to the rear, and there are Liu Yanqing's 30,000 troops in front of it, who would have expected the thieves to kill from behind the buttocks?

"After a strategy, Guancheng put on the 'Zhu' flag, and shot a book to persuade him to surrender."

A pro-soldier came in with a letter of persuasion.

"Zhu Ziqi? It seems that the Zhu thief is in person, and I don't know if it is Lao Zhu or Xiao Zhu. Yang Weizhong guessed.

Liu Yanqing opened the letter and read it, his eyes lit up instantly, and he said to the generals: "This time the letter of persuasion is different, as long as we surrender and leave all the baggage, no matter the generals and soldiers, we can all be released, and each of us will send a bucket of rice back to my hometown." ”

As soon as these words came out, the generals looked at each other.

Wang Yuan sneered: "This Zhu thief is a good method." If he does not reorganize and demote his troops to a new army, he must not have enough food and grass to support so many troops. Killing prisoners is ominous and has a bad reputation, so they are all sent home. The released soldiers have no armor, they are no different from ordinary people, and after returning to their hometowns, they will spread the benevolence of thieves. In the future, when the thieves attack Shaanxi, the officers and men know that they will not die if they surrender, and they will definitely surrender one by one. ”

"In other words, Zhu Thief is really willing to let us go?" Liu Guangshi's focus is different.

All the generals are full of desire to survive.

Liu Yanqing said: "Only two people can't leave, and they must stay and be thieves." ”

"Who?" All the generals looked at Yang Weizhong.

Liu Yanqing is a famous runaway general, and Zhu Thief definitely can't look down on it, so it's probably asking for Yang Weizhong.

Liu Yanqing said: "One is Wang Yuan, Zhu Thief praised him for his light wealth and righteousness, and his family has no lodging reserves, and he is a good general in the world. If you are a thief, you will be reused. ”

Wang Yuan couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this, should he be happy or distressed when he was praised by Zhu Thief like this?

The generals of the Western Army in the Northern Song Dynasty were very different from the military leaders in the late Ming Dynasty, because the imperial court could transfer them out of the army at will.

If you want to become a soldier leader who holds the power of the army, you must deeply cultivate the grassroots society in the countryside.

This is due to the fact that the number of regular troops in the Western Army is not large, and most of them belong to the township soldiers and fan soldiers.

At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was difficult for the government to recruit soldiers, and when recruiting township soldiers and soldiers, it had to adopt the reward contract system.

That is, the state and county governments issued a reward order, and the rural heroes were responsible for recruiting soldiers and rewarding them according to the amount of recruitment. If Hao Qiang, who is responsible for recruitment, also joins the army, he can directly serve as a township general.

Jiangmen, who have been operating a certain place for a long time, are inextricably linked with local heroes, and they can operate the recruitment process to a limited extent.

If these generals are transferred out of their nests for a long time, it will be very difficult for the government to recruit soldiers.

Zhu Ming promised to release all the surrendered troops, why was Liu Yanqing ecstatic? Because after these surrendered troops returned to their hometowns, the re-recruitment was still his soldiers, and his Liu family could still keep their military power!

And Wang Yuan is also a strong party, enlisted with many township soldiers, and became an officer when he first joined the army.

Wang Yuan belongs to the local heroes, and he is used to making friends with three religions and nine streams, and he is very respectful of him in all parts of the country. After becoming a general, he did not deduct much food and salary, so the troops under his command were willing to work hard, which was very rare in the late Northern Song Dynasty.

In Wang Yuan's original words: "The court's fortune is far better than farming at home, and I don't have to worry about food and clothing." Since he chose to be a soldier, he didn't do it for money, nor did he want to be a rich man. ”

Because of this, Han Shizhong and Wang Yuan hit it off at first sight.

Before Zhu Ming started his army, he often paid attention to the movements of the Western Army. Now, according to the location of the commander's troops, it can be inferred that Wang Yuan and Han Shizhong were under Liu Yanqing.

Liu Yanqing continued: "The other person is Han Shizhong, Zhu Thief knew that he had captured Fang La, and praised him as a great hero in the world. If it is a thief, let it be reused. ”

Fang La of this time and space died in the chaos of the army, but it is rumored that Han Shizhong captured and killed, after all, it was indeed Han Shizhong who led the troops to defeat him.

Liu Guangguo arched his hand at Wang Yuan: "Brother Dao, I have wronged you!" ”

The rest of the generals also surrendered their hands one after another and said goodbye to Wang Yuan, who was about to become a thief.

Wang Yuan said angrily: "I have always been loyal to the monarch and serve the country, how can I be a thief?" ”

Liu Yanqing said: "For the lives of more than 20,000 Western soldiers, I also ask General Wang not to refuse." ”

"Don't go!" Wang Yuan stood up angrily.

"Take it!"

Liu Yanqing shouted: "Take Han Shizhong down and send it to Luogu Pass!" General Wang was relieved, and Zhu Thief said that he was willing to negotiate peace with the imperial court. If the peace talks are successful, the government will send your family members to Hanzhong. ”

Wang Yuan struggled to be tied up, and soon Han Shizhong was also tied up.

Han Shizhong didn't even know what was going on, and he kept frantically outputting swearing.

After the two brothers met, Han Shizhong asked, "Why was my brother also tied up?" ”

Wang Yuan was already tired of scolding, and said angrily: "Zhu Thief heard that you captured and killed Fang La, and praised you as a great hero, so I want to reuse you." ”

"Didn't you catch me and cut off my head?" Han Shizhong was instantly relieved, and laughed bitterly, "That Zhu thief is a discerning person, and he actually knows that Han Wu is a big hero." ”

Han Shizhong, who escaped the pursuit many times, was tied up by his own people and given to Zhu Ming.

(End of chapter)