I

Hanyang, city tower.

Xu Yixian looked at the enemy army going up the river, and at Zhang Dai who was hanging up by baskets, his face was cold and numb.

He is very ambitious and compares himself to Zhuge Liang.

It's a pity that Zhang Xianzhong is not Liu Bei. He often doesn't listen to advice, and even if he listens, he only listens to half of it.

Zhang Xianzhong is a very contradictory person. When he is cruel, he kills in cold blood, but when he is gentle, he loves the people like a son.

Historically, Zhang Xianzhong once restrained the troops in Sichuan, forbidding soldiers to bully the common people, and violators would be beheaded. The prime minister of the right, Yan Ximing, was cut off by Zhang Xianzhong because he lived in a mansion. He asked the ministers of civil and military affairs to be honest and simple, and he was not allowed to marry local women.

But when Zhang Xianzhong was angered by the Sichuan gentry, he took the lead in killing, and many innocent people were also implicated.

At this time and space, Zhang Xianzhong was similar in Hubei, and he was also very kind to the people at the beginning. Gradually, the taste changed, and government orders were often changed inexplicably, and they all had their own set of reasons.

Xu Yixian, Zhuge Liang, couldn't keep up with Zhang Xianzhong's train of thought.

"Mr. Xu!"

Zhang Dai came to the tower, smiled and bowed.

Xu Yixian stood up politely, cupped his hands in return, and said, "If your Excellency persuades you to surrender, you don't need to waste your words. The lord is still fighting outside, how can I surrender to the enemy inside?"

Zhang Dai found a place to sit down by himself, with a casual tone, and said with a smile: "I'm not lying to Mr. Xu, and I'm not talking about Zhang Xianzhong's death. But Zhang Xianzhong was indeed defeated. blocked. Does Mr. Xu know about this?"

Xu Yixian was expressionless, but his fingers trembled involuntarily. He said with a sneer, "It's a slander. Eight hundred thousand horses and infantry of our army went out to fight, how could only the cavalry escape? Your Excellency, please go back."

"Please look outside the city." Zhang Dai pointed to the outside.

Xu Yixian got up and walked, holding on to the parapet wall with both hands to visit, but saw He Jiuyi escorting the two of them across the moat.

He Jiuyi shouted to the city: "Military commander, surrender, the king has already wiped out the entire army, and Wang Fuchen and Zhang Mingzhi are here!"

As soon as this remark came out, the guards were in an uproar, and panic quickly spread.

Wang Fuchen and Zhang Mingzhi were both Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, and they were old thieves who had fought in the South and North for more than ten years. And He Jiuyi, although a native of Hubei, is also a rising star under Zhang Xianzhong's command.

Of the three generals, one defected to the enemy and two were captured. Zhang Xianzhong must have suffered a defeat!

Zhang Dai walked to Xu Yixian's side: "Mr. Xu, if our army continues to attack the city, and the morale of the army in Hanyang City is fluctuating, how long can you hold on?"

Xu Yixian was silent.

"If you surrender now, all the soldiers in the city will be saved from death, and you won't even have to dig mines and serve prison sentences," Zhang Dai said. "Take their wives and children and go to the north to share the land. The past sins will never be blamed."

At this moment, the news of the Great Northern Plague had already reached Zhao Han's ears.

He really didn't want to kill any more, and he didn't want to delay the siege, because it would consume a lot of food and grass.

After repeated thinking, Zhao Han re-determined the policy: All the property of the soldiers under Zhang Xianzhong's command would be confiscated, and they would immigrate to Henan with their families, and they would be treated as ordinary people to share the land. Even if you hide floating wealth, as long as you don't hide much, you will not be held accountable.

Of course, when immigrating, they have to be dispersed and assigned to different states and counties.

Henan is already empty, and Shandong is also plagued by plague. It is necessary to enrich the population as much as possible.

As for the old thieves and generals under Zhang Xianzhong, carefully screen them out, and emigrate to Dongfan (Taiwan) and Qiongzhou (Hainan) to reclaim wasteland!

Xu Yixian still didn't speak.

Zhang Dai continued: "As for your Excellency, you can serve as an official and go to Henan to assist immigrants. In the future, you will be promoted equally and will not be treated differently. Your Excellency boasts that Zhuge Liang must be full of talents, and you can quickly get promoted as an official."

Xu Yixian felt very aggrieved. He was Zhang Xianzhong's military adviser, and he had the merit of surrendering the city, so he could only be an official?

So what if you don't surrender, Hanyang will be captured sooner or later.

Xu Yixian sighed and said, "I don't care about the army in the city."

Zhang Dai returned to his original seat, smiled and said, "I'm here waiting for your good news."

Xu Yixian had no choice but to go to the general who guarded the city, and after a few words, it was quickly settled.

Zhang Xianzhong was defeated, and the Datong army approached the city. No one was willing to stick to it and die.

In order to show his prestige and frighten these surrendered generals, Zhao Han rode a horse Wari horse, wearing a full set of armor, and led the soldiers striding forward.

Xu Yixian knelt on the ground and looked up at Zhao Han.

The armor reflected the sun, and the horse on his crotch was an extraordinary horse, which made Xu Yixian feel that he couldn't look directly at it.

The same was true for the other soldiers, kneeling on the ground and shivering.

After taking Hanyang, the city immediately became a material transfer station, freeing up a large number of troops to go north to occupy the territory.

More than 100,000 regular soldiers, peasant soldiers, and more than 200,000 civilian husbands marched along several rivers in a mighty manner.

The rivers in Hubei basically run north-south, and the main cities are also by the river, which happens to be the passageway for troops.

As if the autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves, the road was very smooth, and all along the way they watched the wind fall, and quickly won Huangpi, Xiaogan, Hanchuan, Yunmeng, Yingcheng, Anlu and other places.

After the Datong Army occupied Yingshan, Bai Wenxuan of the Central Route Army surrendered directly, and Liu Wenxiu fled into Dabie Mountain with thousands of people.

Although generals like Bai Wenxuan committed countless crimes, Zhao Han would not back down.

Now that he has surrendered, send him to Taiwan to open up wasteland, and throw him dozens of old thieves, let him slowly compete with the headhunters, maybe it can speed up the development of Taiwan.

...

Northern Route Army.

Zhao Han's small territory in Henan has all suffered severe drought this year.

Then simply don't farm the land, all the walls are cleared, and the people retreat to the prefectures and counties.

Xixian, Luoshan, Xinyang, Guangzhou, Guangshan, Gushi, and Shangcheng, there are six counties in one prefecture. The seven cities were left to Li Dingguo to slowly attack the city, and there was no one to see in the wild, and there was no way to grab a grain of food.

If the city can't hold so many people, there are more than a dozen checkpoints and camps at the entrances of the Dabie Mountains, and the people just move to guard the checkpoints.

Liu Wenxiu and Bai Wenxuan of the Central Route Army are crazy. There are more and more enemy troops guarding the pass. They try to attack other checkpoints, and they also find more and more enemies. Therefore, the South Road was finished, and they were still tackling key problems, and in the end they surrendered and fled.

Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi on the North Road are similar, the seven cities are hardened and cleared, which is more ruthless than that of Guangji.

If they ignored these seven cities and went directly to Lu'an, which had no strong walls and clear fields, then they would have to cross five big rivers in a row.

As for the regular army of Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong, they have already moved to Huoqiu along the Huaihe River.

Huoqiu is a place full of water, and there are many farmlands. The cavalry can't run at all, and it is very difficult for the army to transport food.

Huo Qiu must guard!

The drought here is not serious, and the irrigation water source is sufficient. This year is expected to have a bumper harvest.

In order to keep food, Huo Qiu assembled three regular divisions, and Zhao Han only had six regular divisions in total.

Li Dingguo and Ainengqi didn't want to attack a city with strong walls and clear fields, nor did they want to attack Lu'an, which had to cross five rivers. They could only choose to attack Huoqiu along the Huai River.

One side must attack, the other side must save, and a big battle is destined.

Fei Ruhe led troops to garrison at the junction of Huai River and Shi River, Zhang Tieniu garrisoned at the junction of Huai River and Pi River, and Huang Shun garrisoned at Huoqiu County between the two.

This blocked the passage to the south. At most, Li Dingguo sent a small force to make a surprise attack to the south. The large army had to fight head-on in Huoqiu.

If you dare to go south or east without fighting, then wait for the grain road to be cut off!

In desperation, Li Dingguo and Ainengqi had no choice but to camp across the river from Fei Ruhe.

When the former was unloading grain and grass from the ship, Zhang Tieniu and Huang Shun immediately led troops to join them.

The two sides were separated by a river of history, and they got up all day long staring blankly, neither of them dared to take the initiative to cross the river to attack. And eighty miles upstream of the Shihe River, there is Gushi County with solid walls and clear fields.

This confrontation lasted for more than half a month.

"We can only cross the river in Linshui Town," Li Dingguo sighed. "We have been here several times before, and the guards have repeatedly inquired. The only place to cross the river is there."

Ai Nengqi said: "We know it, and the enemy army knows it too. I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight."

The place where Li Dingguo can cross the river is only ten miles away.

If you go further south, the Shihe River will fork into several branches, and after crossing one branch, another branch will follow, which can make people crazy.

The attacking side is such a headache, they have to think about how to cross the river, while the Datong army only needs to think about how to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.

"Build a floating bridge." Li Dingguo made up his mind.

They spent another few days making many bamboo and wooden rafts.

The river in Linshui Town is only 40 meters wide, and because of the drought, the water level has dropped, and the river with water is only 30 meters wide.

Bamboo rafts and rafts were tied up and carried into the river to build pontoon bridges.

Huang Shun's troops were further downstream, Fei Ruhe was in charge of defending this place, and Zhang Tieniu was in the middle to support the two friendly troops.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery, which had already tried the ammunition drop point, was fired accurately and landed in the middle of the river.

After a round of salvo, two pontoon bridges were destroyed.

"Build a pontoon bridge, and everyone will be rewarded with twelve taels!" Li Dingguo shouted the order.

Those in charge of building the pontoon bridge were all death squads. Although many bamboo rafts and wooden rafts were damaged, few of these death squads really died.

It went on like this for several days, constantly shelling and building bridges.

Once the bridge is built to the center of the river, the firecrackers will shoot salvo at the enemy, and when the pontoon bridge is built, the Year of the Monkey will be gone.

On the eighth day after the bridge was built, a sentry cavalry from the south suddenly came back and reported: "Captain, the enemy cavalry wants to cross the river in the south!"

It was Li Dingguo who sent cavalry to go around for sixty miles, trying to swim quietly at night.

It's a pity that there were many landlubbers in the cavalry, and they didn't dare to swim directly. They had to make bamboo rafts first, and they were discovered by sentry cavalry of the Datong Army.

When the cavalry smuggling was discovered, Li Dingguo finally became ruthless: "The peasants carry the soil and fill up the river!"

Of course, it is impossible to fill up the river of history, just fill in this section.

Due to the dry weather, the 40-meter-wide river channel is not only only 30 meters wide, but also the water flow is extremely slow. It is relatively easy to fill in a road.

Just a little time consuming.