Yanling Town is only more than fifty miles away from Danyang City. It is an important town on the only way to connect Changzhou and other prefectures. Because of its geographical advantage, the town is quite prosperous on weekdays, with a population of more than 10,000. If it were not surrounded by a city wall, it would be larger than a small county town.
But all this is what happened in the past. Since the Fangla Rebellion, the government and the army have suffered repeated defeats. Even important state capitals such as Changzhou and Zhenjiang were in danger of losing their territory at any time. This town quickly became deserted and remained behind. Most of the people here were old, weak, women and children who could not move, so the local government quickly abandoned the town and its people, and it was impossible to know that something had happened in the town.
While everyone focused their attention on important places such as Jinling and Changzhou, an elite force of thousands of people had attacked the small town of Yanling a few days ago. After wiping out all the remaining people in the town, they had become The lord of this town. After a few days, no one noticed anything strange.
However, the rebel army stationed in Yanling Town did not rush into action, but just lurked in the dark. It wasn't until the evening of October 27th that a guy dressed as a woodcutter came from the south. He successfully passed the secret post and saw the strong and powerful military commander. After handing over a military report and a warrant, The general's eyes flashed, and he laughed: "Brother Pang really has a clever plan. After he made such a fuss, the Song army has turned all its attention elsewhere, so I won't be able to capture Danyang this time. "
"What General Fang said is true. Pang Shuai also said that once Danyang is captured, the Song army will be in chaos. At that time, you can lead the army to the north. He will lead his own army and cooperate with you to attack Jinling. The whole territory of Jiangnan has been captured. It happened overnight.”
"Haha, well said. I have been hiding in this small town for several days and have been waiting for today. Let those Song Army eagles and dogs know how powerful our Ten Buddhas are!" This man was very excited and laughed heartily. After that, he quickly ordered and summoned all the generals under his command.
Fang La suddenly rose up two years ago. In a short period of time, his army has swept through half of the south of the Yangtze River, which also greatly improved his power. However, such excessive development and expansion also caused his emerging regime to face a big problem, that is, a lack of talent.
Because Fang La was able to start things smoothly, he only relied on the specious teachings to fool the people. As a result, most of the people who followed him from the beginning were ordinary people with little ability and ability, or some people who had a deep friendship with him. Relatives and friends, etc. Although the Song Dynasty was very unpopular with the people in Jiangnan due to the perverse behavior of Zhu Meng and others, the imperial court was upright after all. Those who were talented, learned and ambitious were naturally more willing to join the army to kill the enemy and serve the country, so there was an increase in the ratio of talents between the two sides. serious deviation.
Even though Fang La has now established a country and proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhu Meng has done many wrong things, the situation has only improved slightly. There are still only a few people who can really be used by Fang La. Among the generals, one of the most useful is Pang Wanchun who guards Suzhou, and the other is Fang Shifo, Fang La's brother in the clan.
Although this Fang Shi Buddha has the word "Buddha" in his name, he doesn't have the slightest bit of compassion that a Buddhist should have. In order to block the news, he actually killed hundreds of old and weak people in Yanling Town.
They were all slaughtered. However, in addition to being cruel and easy to kill, he is also a rare general in the rebel army. Not only is he brave in battle, but he is also knowledgeable in the art of using troops. That's why he quickly emerged from hundreds of thousands of people and became Fang La's two most trusted people. One of the generals.
After more than ten generals under his command all arrived, he first explained the situation of the battle at hand. After everyone burst into joy, he solemnly asked: "What is the situation in Danyang City now?"
"It is reported that there are about 12,000 Song troops in the city, all of whom are elites who followed Zhu Meng Duobian. However, less than 30% of the people in the city remained, and the others were either killed or driven out of the county." Just listen. This clear answer showed that they had actually sent Xizuo into the city and knew everything there well.
Fang Shifo chuckled: "What kind of virtue is Zhu Meng? His soldiers and horses are naturally the same. Then follow the plan, Qu Feng, you will bring three hundred dead soldiers into the city first, and they must sneak in within three days." Danyang City, cooperate with me inside and outside when the time comes!"
In front of him, a young man with a swarthy complexion and a look of bitterness and hatred immediately clasped his fists in response, and then hurried away. Following Fang Shifo's orders, his generals followed the orders and left. Yanling Town, which was originally peaceful, immediately became lively. In a short time, a team of 300 people left the town.
But if you look closely at this team, you will find that their appearance is completely different from the imagined army that will attack the city. Not only are they dressed in ragged clothes, they don’t have any weapons in their hands, and there are even dozens of them mixed in. If someone who didn't know the inside story encountered the elderly, children, and women, they would just treat them as a team of fleeing people.
However, the speed of this team was much faster than that of ordinary fleeing teams. It took them only one day and night to cover the fifty miles. In the evening of the 28th, they could already faintly see Danyang County, which was not too high. The city wall.
At this moment, a team of 100 officers and soldiers blocked their way, and an officer shouted warily: "Where did you come from? Danyang County has a strict order not to let anyone get close! "
"Master Jun, we are members of the Yan clan who escaped from Changzhou. The rebels there were so ruined that they killed everyone on sight. We really had no place to hide, so we rushed for days to escape here. Come here." An old man stepped forward to speak tremblingly at this time. Just looking at his embarrassed look, it was really easy for people to believe his words.
But it was of no use. The officer just glared: "Even so, Danyang is not something you can enter, so turn elsewhere quickly. Otherwise, we will take you and others as spies!"
When the old man heard this, he immediately shouted anxiously: "Master, help me, we can't continue running all the way, so we have to think of coming to Danyang to find some food and drink and rest. We... Our Yan family is here Changzhou is also a well-known wealthy family, and there are still sons who are serving as officials in the court. By the way, my nephew Yan Yan is still a doctor in the household department in the capital. He can also be regarded as a colleague of the general. Please take care of us a little more out of this kindness. Come on. We are willing to pay for food, no matter how high the price is, we will never complain." After saying that, he turned back hurriedly and asked someone to bring money to prove it.
A young man quickly stepped forward and opened the package that he had been holding on his chest, revealing the pieces of gold ingots inside. Under the illumination of the torches from both sides, the gold ingots all reflected a dazzling light, which dazzled the eyes of many soldiers.
Originally, the officer wanted to sternly refuse the other party's request. Not to mention that he had never heard of Dr. Tobe. Even if he had some friendship in the past, it was not a reason for him to be accommodating at this time. But after the other party showed the bag of gold, his firm mind began to waver.
Not only him, but also the soldiers behind him all had their greedy eyes widened at this time, staring at the package of gold, as if they were about to pounce on it at any time. In fact, life for these people is not easy, and what they want as a soldier is nothing more than to get rich. Now with such a big bag of gold in front of them, who can resist the temptation
"General, they are really pitiful, and as they are officials in the imperial court, there will definitely be no problems. Why don't we just let them enter the city." One of his subordinates stepped forward and suggested in a low voice. As he spoke, his eyes changed. They couldn't move away from the bag of gold, and the meaning was already clear.
The officer was also moved, but he just said vaguely: "This is not a trivial matter after all. It's not easy to take care of the brothers at the city gate alone."
The old man understood immediately. He immediately took the package from the young man's hand and stuffed it into the officer's arms with a flattering smile: "General, these local products are just a meeting gift from our Yan family to you. As long as the general is willing to be accommodating, let me go." When you enter the city, you will receive a big thank you later.”
This time, the officer could no longer hold on. This package alone contained more than five hundred taels of gold. It was heavy for him to carry anyway. If there was another income, for them, even if a hundred brothers shared it together, it would be more than ten years of military service. salary.
"Mom, they all say that you will get rich if you become an official. I didn't believe it before, but now I have seen it. The family of a household doctor can come up with so much money at once, but he is much happier than the hard-working people like us. Now." As his mind turned, his attitude changed drastically: "Since you are all the family members of the officials of the DPRK, I can't really turn you away. Come with me into the city. Remember, when you enter the city, You are not allowed to walk around randomly, and you are not allowed to inquire about anything, otherwise be careful with your heads."
"Yes, yes, the little old man knows that he will also restrain these nephews." The old man was overjoyed after hearing this, and nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice. Then he turned around and gave a few instructions to the "nephews" before he followed. He watched the officer slowly walk towards the city gate.
With this group of officers and soldiers clearing the way in front of him, and after he spent a lot of money to clear the way, Danyang City, which should have been tightly guarded and no outsiders were allowed to approach, actually let more than 300 "Yan family members" Entering the city was easy.
As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam is crooked. When Zhu Meng, the official who calls the shots, is greedy, does not take national and French military discipline seriously, and only knows how to put money into his own pocket, how can he let the troops under him really do what they want? How can we not be taken advantage of by the enemy when we are prohibited from doing so
With this act of luring the wolf into the house, Danyang City is facing great danger, because an army is quickly approaching from dozens of miles away...