Li Bao's surprise attack route was only 244 miles in a straight line.

However, the river valley is winding, and it is necessary to go over the mountains for a while, and the actual distance is probably 1,000 miles, which is a thousand miles in the real sense.

Fortunately, it is a hundred miles from Zigui to Xingshan County, and you can take a boat directly.

Even after Xingshan County, I took a boat and walked for a while.

In the last 200 miles or so, you can see a large number of people, and small towns appear in the mountain basin.

Li Bao took the letter of Yang Jie, the soldier, came to the city to persuade him to surrender, and Xingshan County, which had no soldiers in his hand, immediately opened the city gate.

Moreover, after Xingshan County ordered him to lie flat, the officials of Xingshan County, such as the charge division and the post division, also helped Li Bao recruit grain carriers.

Ziguicheng was Wang Yu's military grain transfer station, where a lot of grain was stored. Not only is it enough to support Li Baoqi's attack on Fangling, but it can even transport some to relieve the starving Badong County.

In the northern mountainous area of Xingshan County, Li Bao also recruited several mountain people to be guides along the way.

These guides, who lived on the edge of Shennongjia, played a huge role, and even avoided the annihilation of Li Bao's entire army.

In the most thrilling time, the guide said to Li Bao: "The weather is very stuffy, and the clouds are very low, so I can't rest on the river beach tonight." ”

Under the rush and march, camping is not so exquisite. If the normal process is strictly followed, one-third of the action energy will be wasted on camping every day. Since there were locals to provide experience, Li Bao followed the advice of the mountain guide and set up the military camp in the middle of the mountain.

It rained heavily for half the night, and when I woke up the next day, I saw that the river beach I had chosen to camp on yesterday had been flooded.

This is Shennongjia, if you are a little careless, you will die!

Li Bao was so shocked that his vest sweated and became more respectful to the guides, and began to ask for astronomy and geography knowledge in the mountains.

When you come to the confluence of Pink Water and Zhushui, this is already a large town in the mountains. When the people saw the rebels, they were so frightened that they fled one after another, thinking that the officers and soldiers were coming.

It's too late to hide, so naturally no one goes to the government to report the news.

Li Bao set up a pot outside the town to make rice, rested for half an hour, and swaggered towards Fangling. When it was nearly evening, he also went to the mountains beside the road to cut bamboo to make flying ladders, and immediately accelerated his march after nightfall.

One mile east of the city, there is a delivery shop by the river.

The soldiers who handed over the shop were awakened, and they also thought they were officers and soldiers, and hurriedly lit a fire to cook food, which was cooking for the generals leading the troops.

Faced with the warm invitation of the soldiers, Li Bao declined: "No need, I still have important things to go to the city." ”

The soldiers reminded: "The city gate is closed at night, and you can't enter until dawn." ”

"I can't wait." Li Bao said.

In the surprised eyes of the soldiers, the rebels trotted with torches and attacked the city without warning.

Governors, general judges, state officials, and county magistrates...... Everyone didn't know what was going on, and after waking up from the dream, they subconsciously ran away with their relatives or family, and they didn't even care about their belongings at all.

Lay down Fangzhou City and rest for three days.

During the attack, some soldiers also fell ill, and even more fell ill after successfully taking the city.

In other words, I carried any headaches and brain fever on the way, and when I arrived in the city, I was completely relaxed, and all kinds of diseases came out at once.

The number of patients reached 30% of the army, and Li Bao could only search for doctors in the whole city.

……

Chen Ziyi's cavalry unit of the Xiang Army was sent to Fangzhou to investigate the enemy's situation.

There were more than 800 riders in total, and there were only 100 people under Chen Ziyi.

"Brother, it's better to go to the rebels now." Geng Zhongnian pouted.

This product originally had the intention of being a thief, and when he learned of Xin Xingzong's defeat in Huanglongtan, he was even more determined to have this idea.

Chen Ziyi said: "You have to avoid other cavalry. ”

The sentinel cavalry was about to spread out to investigate, and Chen Ziyi took twenty or thirty horsemen to go around the northwestern hills of Fangzhou. These cavalrymen have all been screened, most of them are from Hebei, and they can be absolutely trusted.

Until dark, Chen Ziyi passed through the hilly area and led his troops to the north of Fangzhou City.

The leaders of the rebel squad at the head of the city have raised their bows and arrows.

Chen Ziyi rode to the city alone, and said loudly: "The old man is visiting, and let me in." ”

A basket was lowered, and Chen Ziyi was hoisted to the head of the city, and was soon tied up by five flowers.

Li Bao asked, "Which old man are you?" ”

Chen Ziyi looked left and right: "You don't need too many people to know. ”

Li Baoping retreated left and right, and did not loosen Chen Ziyi's bonds.

Chen Ziyi said: "When we attacked Heifeng Village, there were three archers. One is Brother Zhu (Zhu Ming), one is Brother Zhang (Zhang Guangdao), and the other is me. ”

Li Bao had also heard of such deeds and was amazed.

If Chen Ziyi stayed in Hanzhong and followed Zhu Ming to raise troops from the beginning, I am afraid that he would be able to sit on an equal footing with Zhang Guangdao.

Li Bao hurriedly untied Chen Ziyi: "Your Excellency's surname?" What is your current job? ”

"The surname is Chen, the name is Ziyi," Chen Ziyi quickly provided information, "Xin Qizong has about twenty or thirty thousand people, and Chen Bing is fighting and confronting Guan Sheng in the western mountainous area of Zhushan County. The guard of Zhushan County is Xin Yongzong, who is responsible for dispatching grain, grass and people, and the county originally had 1,000 township soldiers. Recently, another 1,000 cavalry and more than 800 cavalry soldiers arrived, and I only had 100 horsemen under my command. ”

Li Bao immediately had a clear understanding of the nearby enemy situation, and asked: "Where is the main force of officers and soldiers?" ”

Chen Ziyi was free, squatted down to draw a map and said, "This is the Han River, this is the Wuling River." Tong Guan and Xin Qizong were stationed at the mouth of the Wuling River at the confluence of the two rivers, with about 20,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 people, and only more than 6,000 victorious troops could really fight. The commander of the righteous army heard that his surname was Zhang, and he was stationed twenty or thirty miles upstream of the Wuling River estuary, and he did not know how many troops there were. ”

This is equivalent to opening the whole picture for Li Bao, and the entire battlefield has become clear and clear.

Chen Ziyi also said: "Xin Qizong's troops are confronting Guan Sheng, and they dare not withdraw the whole army to defend Zhushan, and it is easy to be defeated by Guan Sheng's pursuit. Therefore, when Your Excellency captured Fangzhou, Xin Qizong sent two or three thousand people back at most. The strength of Zhushan County will probably have three or four thousand infantry troops, nearly 1,000 cavalry of the Shengjie army, and more than 800 cavalry soldiers of the Xiang army. One hundred of them were under my command and could defect at any time. ”

Li Bao said: "Brother Chen, go back first, and I will send troops in ten days." When the time comes, Brother Chen will be the best in Zhushan City, and I will take the opportunity to attack the city by setting fire to it at night. ”

"Good!" Chen Ziyi gave up.

Li Baojun now has a bunch of sick numbers, and there are less than 2,000 people who can still fight, and he may be able to recover some in another ten days.

Taking advantage of the time for the soldiers to recuperate, Li Bao requisitioned the cloth shops in the city.

This is a state city, and the materials are still quite abundant, and a large amount of cloth is used to make flags.

And he gathered many women from the city, and sewed garments out of pure black cloth, and drew page after page. If you get closer, you can definitely see that it looks like a product, but if you are far away, you will mistake it for armor.

The next step was to recruit the people, because after Li Bao entered the city, he did not loot on a large scale, and did not encounter any resistance when recruiting the people.

Counting the people brought by Xingshan County, he directly pulled nearly 10,000 people to set off. Wearing false armor and carrying countless flags, they followed Li Bao in a mess.

At this time, the elite under Li Bao's command had recovered to about 2,400 people, and the wounded and sick who could not fight remained in Fangzhou to defend the city.

Li Bao led his army out of the city not far away, and was discovered by the horse army sent by Xin Yongzong.

These Ma troops immediately retreated, some returned to Zhushan to report the news, and some stayed to observe from afar.

Hearing that there were tens of thousands of thieves, Xin Yongzong was shocked, not only temporarily recruited young and strong, but also pulled all the cavalry to the city to defend, and sent someone to inform his eldest brother Xin Qizong to hurry back to help.

Li Bao did not go to attack the city, but camped in the mountains in the eastern part of Zhushan County, across the river from the officers and soldiers of Zhushan County.

In the camp of the rebels, countless flags were waved in the wind, and people wearing fake armor walked around every day.

These people were very frightened, and some people fled along the way, but after setting up camp, not many people escaped. Because the passage down the mountain from the camp was blocked by the elite of the righteous army.

Xin Yongzong watched from the Wuling River, and the dense banners made him frightened.

The news brought back by the sentinels was also varied, and some said that the bandits were chaotic and full of rabble. Some also said that the thieves and soldiers were in complete armor, which should not be underestimated, and it was normal for the thieves to march chaotically.

But it was said that Xin Qizong's side was stuck in the mountains at the moment, and it was difficult to make progress.

After more than two months of repeated testing, Xin Qizong determined that Guan Sheng did not have many soldiers. But the two cottages stood there, and he just couldn't beat them, and the four artillery pieces and a large number of catapults made the morale of the officers and soldiers drop day by day.

"Tens of thousands of thieves attacking Zhushan City?"

Xin Qizong felt outrageous: "Where are the tens of thousands of thieves?" Can they fly over with wings? Let my brother stick to the city, the thief must be a bluff! ”

Xin Qizong was not afraid, but Xin Yongzong was extremely afraid.

It's not that I'm afraid of the many thieves, but I'm afraid that the soldiers under my command won't dare to fight!

No matter how Xin Yongzong explained, the guards of the city were also frightened by the countless flags on the opposite bank.

What kind of elite soldiers can be thrown back to defend the city?

The troops who can fight are all confronting Guan Sheng on the front line.

A group of village soldiers were so frightened that they kept looking at the other side of the city when they were guarding the city, for fear that the rebels would suddenly come and kill them.

More than 900 cavalry of the Shengjie Army are all young master soldiers, who are used to enjoying happiness with Tong Guan, even if the soldiers are in the city, they still do not do things in person. Maintaining law and order and patrolling the streets were all left to the cavalry soldiers of the Xiang Army, and the young masters and soldiers themselves ate and drank well.

Even after entering the city, he began to enjoy women.

First, the officers recruited prostitutes into the camp, and gradually the soldiers began to recruit prostitutes, and finally it developed into demanding women from good families, and then extorting money from the rich families in the city.

On the fourth day of Li Bao's camping across the river, it was finally Chen Ziyi's turn to lead his troops to patrol the streets.

In the middle of the night, fires suddenly broke out in many places in the city.

Chen Ziyi led his troops to shout along the way: "The thieves have entered the city, the thieves have entered the city!" ”

Some people panicked and feared their houses would be set on fire. Some people fled with their families and mouths, blocking the gates of various places to get out.

Li Bao saw a fire in the city and immediately led his troops across the river.

At the same time, let the people beat torches and shout drums across the river.

The guards of the city, hearing the sound of drums and shouts, saw countless torches on the other side, and the city was on fire and fell into chaos, so frightened that they left the city wall and fled.

The first reaction of the cavalry of the more than 900 victorious cavalry was not to fight, but to leave the city to preserve their strength.

There are even some guys who are still sleeping with women in their arms. They were in a panic and dressed up, and their armor was not bothered, so they took up their weapons and went to find the horses.

"General Bu, go this way, the city gate over there is blocked!"

Chen Ziyi had already gathered his horsemen, and even persuaded the other two horsemen to rebel. They all hated Bu Chang and waited early in the place where they had to pass.

Bu Chang did not doubt that he had him, and fled with Chen Ziyi, and praised loudly: "If you can escape, we will repay you!" ”

"Thank you, General Bu, I still have important military information...... Chen Ziyi rode closer and closer.

Bu Chang just wanted to inquire about the military situation, but Chen Ziyi suddenly accelerated his horse and stabbed Bu Chang's horse in the neck with a shot.

The war horse was mad in pain, and Bu Chang, who was wearing armor, hurriedly stabilized his body and comforted the horse.

Before he could stabilize the war horse, Chen Ziyi had already mistaken his horse and killed the cavalry behind Bu Chang.

And Chen Ziyi's horse army was also surrounded from two directions, Bu Chang was instantly besieged by three horsemen, and his war horse ate two shots again.

The horse went completely berserk, threw Bu Chang off, and was trampled to death by several horsemen.

(End of chapter)