Chengtian Village, located in the west of Niangzi Pass, Chengtian Mountain.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the full name was Chengtian Military City, which had a county-level administrative body and was subordinate to Zhending Mansion in Hebei. The seat of governance is in the town of Niangziguan in later generations, but the military fortress is still on Chengtian Mountain.

Later, the county-level establishment was abolished, and it was reduced to Chengtian Military Village, and it was changed to Hedong (Shanxi) Pingding Army.

The mountain city is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Zhang Guangdao led the army to attack for more than half a month, but Chengtianzhai still did not move. In fact, there are only 300 gold soldiers in it, and the rest are all old Liao and Han soldiers, and the total number is barely over 1,000.

The terrain was too difficult for the attackers, and it was already snowing, making it even more difficult.

This goes to Jingcheng, there are twenty or thirty checkpoints in the past dynasties, and almost all of them are abandoned in the Song Dynasty, and even Chengtianzhai was once deserted.

However, from Yuxian County to the east, in the northern passage of Jingcheng, there are Wangjia Valley Village, Xiaozuokou Village, etc., and Wanyan Zonghan was all handed over to the Han soldiers to garrison.

Zhang Guangdao left 5,000 people to besiege Chengtianzhai, and then divided into two routes: north and south. Along the way, the Han army surrendered one after another, and finally met outside the city of Jingcheng County. Guan Sheng and Yue Fei have also captured Pingshan County, and Li Qiong has been the pioneer and has arrived in the northern suburbs of Jingcheng County.

The two Ming armies of Shanxi and Hebei surrounded the county town of Jingcheng.

"Meet Zhang Hou!"

Li Qiong stepped on the snow and came to Zhang Guangdao's camp.

Zhang Guangdao was quite pleased, and hurriedly asked: "Has the Hebei battlefield been won?" ”

Li Qiong replied: "The prince led the army to break the gold thief, and Wanyan Zongwang fled back to Yanshan in embarrassment. ”

"It's gratifying," Zhang Guangdao said with some pretense, "here in Shanxi, it only ate tens of thousands of gold soldiers and took down one army, one county and two cities." Since the north of Xinzhou, it is still occupied by gold thieves, and it can only be attacked again next year. ”

Li Qiong exclaimed: "Zhang Hou is majestic, and he actually killed tens of thousands of golden soldiers!" ”

While the two were chatting, the soldiers were already building siege equipment, and when the moat was frozen stronger, they would cross the river on ice and take the county seat of Jingcheng.

At the same time, Li Qiong sent a messenger back to Pingshan, claiming that the troops to attack Jingcheng were sufficient, so that Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu did not have to come again, and they could go northwest to attack the Jinbing cottage along the way.

Two days later, some people left the city by hanging baskets at night, stepped on the ice and crossed the river and quietly came to the Ming army camp.

As soon as he approached the camp, he was arrested and escorted straight to Zhang Guangdao's tent.

"You're here to contact Xiancheng?" Zhang Guangdao asked with a smile.

The man knelt down and replied: "My father-in-law's name is Zhou Qin, who was a student of the Xuanhe period, and was given the Jinshi background after the house test, and was forced to make this Jingcheng County Order. But my father-in-law did not help the abuse, and the county was dominated by Jin people. The golden general who defends the city is called Lou Su, and there are 300 gold soldiers under his command, who are tyrannical and cruel! ”

Zhang Guangdao asked: "In addition to the three hundred golden soldiers, what other defenders are there?" ”

The man replied: "Jing Cheng is very important, in addition to the three hundred gold soldiers, there are also two thousand Han soldiers, all of whom are recruiting thieves in the vicinity. My father-in-law has convinced the leaders of the thieves that they are willing to sacrifice the city. However, due to the obscenity of the Jin people, they did not dare to do it easily, and the general had to send troops to attack the city, so that the Han troops in the city dared to defect. When the time comes, the Han army that is willing to return to the right will plant five flags at the head of the city, and the general can send troops to attack the flag-planting place. ”

"Don't you dare to fight two thousand or three hundred?" Zhang Guangdao was extremely contemptuous.

The man laughed embarrassedly: "They are all thieves who recruit An, how can they be compared with the elite of the general?" ”

Zhang Guangdao said: "You go back to the city, let's just say that in two or three days, the ice of the moat will be stronger, and I will attack Jingcheng City with all my might." ”

"The little people are retired!" After the man had done so, he was taken away by the soldiers.

Three days later, Zhang Guangdao and Li Qiong began to attack the city.

One of the walls guarded by the Jin soldiers was just a feint. The Ming army found five banners, and under the response of the Han soldiers in the city, they quickly ascended the city and killed the Jin soldiers.

Jingcheng County, take it.

Guan Sheng, Yue Fei, and Li Shifu attacked the cottage in the west, Bailing Village, and the cottage in the east.

They are all small villages, and there are no Jin soldiers, and the Han soldiers inside have surrendered one after another.

On the third day of Yue Fei's defeat of Bailing Village, a soldier came to report: "General, there are more than 1,000 righteous people who have come to vote, and some people claim to be the abbot of Taiping Xingguo Temple in Wutai Mountain. ”

"Hurry up, please!" Yue Fei has always respected these anti-gold righteous people.

After a short time, more than a thousand rebels named Hanako were brought, all of them shivering from the cold, and many of them were wounded, and even some unconscious people were carried over.

Yue Fei hurriedly ordered: "Hurry up and boil hot water, cook food, and bring some warm clothes, so that the military doctor can treat the wounded." ”

The Zhenbao monk, who presided over the Taiping Xingguo Temple in Wutai Mountain, led everyone to meet them as a representative and introduced the basic situation of their righteous army.

However, it was Wuhan Ying, a civil official of the Song Dynasty who was the first to surrender to the Jin State, who took the initiative to shave his hair and change clothes to gain the trust of Wan Yan Zongwang, and then fooled Wan Yan Zongwang to let him go back to Tokyo to persuade him to surrender. After Wuhan Ying returned to Tokyo, he immediately told Zhao Huan in detail about the information of the Jin army.

Subsequently, Wuhan Ying was sent to save Taiyuan.

But Wuhan Ying didn't have any soldiers in his hands at all, and the prefectures and counties along the way didn't lend him troops, so Wuhan Ying ran to Wutai Mountain, and actually wanted to build a monk army to save the country.

This monk army was formed by the order of the True Treasure Monk.

Before they left Wutai County, they encountered Yan Zonghan's division of troops to attack, and they were defeated and fled.

Under the leadership of Wuhan Ying and Zhenbao, the monks fled south in embarrassment, which was the valley road where the Jin soldiers were defeated by Zhang Guangdao and fled.

But as soon as he got out of the valley, he heard that the south was also occupied by Jin soldiers, so he had no choice but to lurk back to the southern mountains of Wutai County to fight guerrillas.

Due to the brutal rule of the Jin people in Wutai County, the Yanshan Temple at the northern foot of Wutai Mountain also rebelled. A monk with the common name Lu Shannuo used Yanshan Temple as a base to fight against Jin. The deputy monk Zheng Zhenxi of Wutai County, and a righteous man nicknamed Du Taishi, each came to unite with their troops, and they had more than 20,000 anti-gold troops in their hands at that time.

When the Jin soldiers came, the rebels suffered several defeats, and could only move to the mountainous areas in the north of Yuxian County, and the Yanshan Temple and Taiping Xingguo Temple on Wutai Mountain were burned by the Jin soldiers.

Later, Wuhan Ying and Zhenbao monks led the remnants to join Lu Shannuo, Zhenxi monks, and Du Taishi, and have been fighting against Jin in the border mountains of Wutai County and Yu County.

Among the five leaders of the rebel army, Monk Zhenxi and Du Taishi have been killed in battle, and only Wuhan Ying, Monk Zhenbao and Lu Shannuo remain.

Moreover, Wuhan Ying was unconscious at this time, and Lu Shannuo was also seriously injured and carried away.

The monk Zhenbao said: "The previous Jin people were defeated by Zhang Hou, and we took the opportunity to attack Wutai County, but we were told by the traitor, ambushed by the defenders of Wutai, and fled back to the mountains in defeat. When the main force of the Jin soldiers went to Xinzhou, we went out of the mountains to attack Wutai County, and at that time we had already defeated the county seat. ”

"Yes...... But after Yan Zonghan personally led the soldiers and horses back, I couldn't wait for the gold thieves, so I had to abandon the city and flee into the mountains. After several battles, there were only more than 2,000 of the more than 30,000 rebels left. and lack of food and clothing, and many of them died of freezing and starvation, and now there are only more than 1,000. Hearing that the heavenly soldiers had recovered Bailing Village, we hurried over to take refuge. ”

Yue Fei was moved after hearing this, and said in a hurry: "The heart of the mage Bodhisattva and the vajra method are admired so much. ”

Lu Shannuo, a monk of Yanshan Temple, who had already returned to the world, was lying on a stretcher at this time and said: "I still have brothers in the mountains of Wutai County, if the heavenly soldiers attack Wutai County next year, I can go back to gather the righteous army while lying down." The people of Wutai were mostly involved and killed by the Jin people because of our resistance to gold, and every household is willing to resist gold to help fight! ”

Yue Fei said: "When the snow melts in spring next year, the heavenly soldiers will definitely recover Wutai County!" ”

Monk Zhenbao said: "Please give the general some food, and the poor monk can take people back to Wutai to help the other rebels who are still hiding in the mountains, otherwise they may not survive this year's cold winter." ”

"This is as it should be, I will immediately adjust the food and clothes." Yue Fei said.

……

Zhu Ming left part of his army on the border to garrison the city, and he led the army back to Zhendingfu City.

After receiving the news from Yue Fei, Zhu Ming sighed: "This is the real virtuous monk, I destroyed the temple in other places, but the monks of Wutai Mountain want to be rewarded." After recovering Wutai County, a Huguo Temple was built on Wutai Mountain, and the sacrificed anti-Jin righteous soldiers were engraved on the stone tablet for worship. ”

Fu Zhirou said: "The people are looking forward to the king, and next year will definitely be able to recover the entire territory of Shanxi." ”

Zhu Ming was chatting about the anti-gold monks of Wutai Mountain, when Bai Sheng suddenly came over and said: "Your Highness, the Dong family, the Lu family, and the Li family of the manuscript city ask to see them, and they ask for severe punishment of Zhang Di and Kong Yanzhou. ”

"What's going on?" Zhu Ming asked.

Bai Sheng said: "These drafts of the city clan said that Zhang Di and Kong Yanzhou often set troops to rob the people. During the siege of the city, he ransacked the shops of Dong, Lu, and Li in the city, killed all the men in the store, and occupied the women of the three tribes in the store. ”

Zhang Di raided Yan Zongwang and helped the Ming army capture the city, and he was injured in many places, which was appreciated by Zhu Ming and the generals.

The Ming army went north to pursue the Jin soldiers, so they handed over the manuscript city to Zhang Di and ordered him to lead the remnants to defend the city.

Kong Yanzhou was captured in battle and is still held in a prisoner of war camp.

Bai Sheng took out another letter: "This is sent by Zhang Di, it is estimated that the three clans are coming to complain." ”

Zhu Ming opened the letter and read it, and there are about three contents:

First, Zhang Di admitted that he was blackmailed because the puppet court could not pay food. And the people are all poor ghosts, and all he extorts are the rich families of the big clans. Therefore, looting is not counted, it is just "borrowing" some money and grain. In the face of soldiers, the wealthy families of the big clans "honestly" gave money and food. He did not kill people and plunder, nor did he dare to raise the butcher's knife casually to the big clan.

Second, robbed Dong's gold shop, killed the men in the shop, and occupied the women in the shop, which the Jin people forced him to do. It was the Jin people who forced him to submit a vote. He didn't bully the woman, he was acting for the golden man at that time.

Third, Zhang Di asked the prince to marry Li to himself.

This Li is the daughter of the Li family in Manuscript City, and now it is rumored that she was slept with by Zhang Di. Even if Zhang Di released the person safely, the Dong family insisted on divorcing his wife and expelling him, and the Li family forced his daughter to become a nun.

After reading the letter, Zhu Ming said to Bai Sheng: "Bring the people of the three clans in." You send a few more people to the manuscript city to inquire and see what the truth is. ”

"Yes!" Bai Sheng was ordered to leave.

(End of chapter)