The third year of Zhonghe, early April.
Han Zhi defeated Li Dan on the bank of the Yellow River, captured more than 10,000 surrendered soldiers of the Cao army, seized more than 3,000 war horses, and countless baggage and food. Poor Li Dan, leading less than 2,000 remnants of the army, fled westward and finally surrendered to Zhu Wen.
By the time Liu Zhijun got the news and wanted to get a piece of the pie, the war was already over. Xu Weijun had more than 25,000 troops guarding the surrendered soldiers, and after counting the results of the battle, he got nothing.
In Han Zhi's camp, Yang Shihou, who was guarding the base camp, was very alert. After learning a lesson, he divided his soldiers into two groups, one to rest and the other to patrol the camp without any slackness, leaving Liu Zhijun no chance to take advantage.
The army returned to the camp and continued to station on the banks of the Yellow River. Now, only Han Zhi and Liu Zhijun were left confronting each other along the river.
Han Zhi was not in a hurry at all. He continued to reorganize his troops and train them day and night, while at the same time keeping a close eye on Liu Zhijun's troops upstream.
Faced with Han Zhi's army, which had nearly 50,000 men, Liu Zhijun felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He dared not attack or retreat. It seemed that his fate was already sealed.
On the sixth day of April, Liu Zhijun had no choice but to surrender. He thought that instead of waiting for Zhu Wen to defeat Huang Chao and then recruit him, it would be better to take the present into consideration and directly surrender to Han Zhi.
In Xu Weijun’s tent.
After defeating Li Dan and subduing Liu Zhijun, Zhu Li and others immediately began to discuss strategies to deal with Shang Rang and Shi Pu.
"Shang Rang originally had more than 30,000 troops. In addition, Han Zhi and Li Dan were defeated in recent times, and most of the escaped Cao troops have joined his army. It is roughly estimated that his current military strength has reached more than 40,000." Zhu Li analyzed directly.
"Shang Rang is a veteran of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, and he controls the most elite guards of the Cao Army. With his prestige, no one in the Cao Army can shake him except Huang Chao himself. His fighting power is unmatched and invincible."
"Let's look at Shi Pu. Shi Pu originally had nearly 20,000 troops. These people were all his old subordinates and the most elite guards in Xuzhou. According to the report from the scouts, he also brought in a group of strong men from Pengcheng and temporarily supplemented the guards by 5,000. Now he has 25,000 troops to defend the city. With the advantage of the terrain, it is also not easy to capture."
At this point, Zhu Li looked around at everyone and continued, "Whether it's Shang Rang or Shi Pu, neither of them is something we can swallow in one gulp. No matter which side we attack, the other side will not sit idly by. Instead of taking advantage of others, we might as well wait and see what happens."
Hearing this, everyone nodded.
Li Hanzhi was an impatient man, and addicted to war. Having just experienced a great battle, he was very excited. However, Li Dan was too disappointing. As soon as he saw the false momentum created by Han Zhi and others, he slipped away, leaving him without even having enough fun. The war was over.
Liu Zhijun was even more of a wimp. He surrendered directly, leaving him no chance to fight. Feeling itchy, he reluctantly asked, "Are we just going to sit there and watch?"
"No." Han Zhi said, "The general wants us to wait for news from Shangcai. Regardless of Huang Chao's victory or defeat, Shang Rang and Shi Pu must fight."
"If Huang Chao wins, Shang Rang will follow Huang Chao's orders and have to fight; if Huang Chao loses, Shang Rang will also attack Shi Pu in order to gain capital to protect himself. When to fight depends on everyone's grasp of the timing."
"That is to say, after the result of the battle between Shang Rang and Shi Pu comes out in Chenzhou, one of them will take the lead in launching an attack. That will be our chance."
The next day.
Yang Zaixing and Li Hanzhi stood at the door of the big tent, looking at each other with wide eyes.
, staring at each other, showing signs of wanting to fight.
At this moment, a palace guard, Jing Ming, who was dressed in tight clothes, hurried over. Yang Zaixing glanced at Jing Ming and asked curiously, "Jing Ming, what important news do you have?"
Jing Ming looked solemn. When he heard Yang Zaixing's voice, he raised his head, looked at him with a wry smile, and said apologetically, "Brother Yang, I have something urgent to report to the general, so I won't be polite with you."
Before Yang Zaixing could say anything, he saw Jing Ming hurried into the big tent, in a hurry and eagerly, leaving him with only a somewhat desolate back.
This made Yang Zaixing look confused. Somehow, he suddenly had a bad feeling. At this time, Li Hanzhi was still looking at him with a smile, but Yang Zaixing no longer paid attention to him. Instead, he pricked up his ears, leaned against the big tent, and listened to the movements inside.
Seeing Yang Zaixing behaving so strangely, Li Hanzhi couldn't help but follow suit and secretly listened to the movements in the big tent.
"Is there something wrong?" Zhu Li asked puzzledly when he saw Jing Ming with a serious face.
Jing Ming looked at Zhu Li deeply, and suddenly he fell to his knees with a "thump", his head buried deeply between his arms, as if he had committed a great sin, and cried out sadly: "General, I deserve to die, please sentence me to death."
Zhu Li didn't take it seriously at first. Jing Ming was his intelligence chief, and it was common for him to meet with him to report on the situation. He never expected that he would suddenly do such a thing.
You know, since the Tang Dynasty, it can be said to be the most enlightened dynasty in ancient times. Except when meeting a saint, even common people never kneel on their knees when meeting their superiors.
Kneeling on one knee was already the extreme. Even in the army, except for trusted subordinates, few people would kneel down to pay homage. Most people would bow with their hands clasped. But Jing Ming suddenly knelt on both knees and paid homage with great ceremony. It was obvious that he must have felt extremely guilty, or he had indeed committed an unforgivable crime.
Zhu Li was startled, staring at Jing Ming with a scrutinizing look, and said cautiously: "Get up first, and talk about what you want to say."
Upon hearing this, Jing Ming did not stand up, but said in a hoarse voice, "General, I, your subordinate, am sorry for you."
I'm sorry. Zhu Li was confused when he heard it. He suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart, but he still tried to be calm and said, "What's the matter? By the way, if it's about me, then you can stand up and talk."
"No, General, I will never redeem myself even if I die." Jing Ming said miserably, "Madam Yuchi, Madam Yuchi..."
"What?" Upon hearing that it was about Yuchi Jin, Zhu Li stood up suddenly and looked at Jing Ming in disbelief, her eyes full of fear, and asked anxiously: "What happened to Jin'er? Tell me quickly, what happened to Jin'er?"
"Madam Yuchi, she, she is missing." Jing Ming cried out in a hoarse voice.
"Gudong" Zhu Li suddenly felt dizzy, and his whole brain went blank in an instant. He fell into his seat woodenly and weakly, "Jin'er is missing, Jin'er is missing?"
All that came out of his mouth was an unconscious murmur, which was not only unbelievable but also difficult to accept.
"How can a living person just disappear?" Zhu Li didn't dare to believe his ears. He seemed to realize something. He stood up again and looked down at Jing Ming, who was lying on the ground, with grief and anger. He shouted, "What happened? Why did Jing'er disappear?"
Zhu Li was really angry. That cheerful and generous girl who had a clear distinction between love and hate, that girl who was as proud as a winter plum and as delicate as a fire lotus, suddenly disappeared. She disappeared inexplicably under the protection of Jing Ming, Liang Zun, Xie Tian, Xie Di and others. How could he believe it
The most important thing is, that was the wife he had personally reserved, and now she was gone just like that. How could he accept that
Although he is not good at expressing his feelings, once he is committed, he loves deeply, and once he makes a decision, it is forever.
Yuchi Jin's sudden disappearance was like cutting out a piece of flesh from his heart once again, causing him so much pain that he could not breathe and causing him to spasm uncontrollably.
The anxious and angry roars, even the two people hiding outside the battle and eavesdropping could feel the rage that seemed to collapse the heavens and flatten the four seas.
With two "thumps", Yang Zaixing and Li Hanzhi, almost at the same time, fell to the ground with one plop. A look of lingering fear suddenly appeared on their faces.
Not to mention Li Hanzhi, Yang Zaixing had followed Zhu Li for so long and had never seen him get angry. This was the first time he was so angry. He was obviously so angry that he seemed to have lost his mind. Even though they were brave, they were frightened.
Although Zhu Li adheres to the principle of equality and treats everyone around him, in the eyes of his subordinates, he is the lord after all. As the saying goes, serving the lord is like serving a tiger. When the lord gets angry, no one dares to take it lightly.
What's more, this is a lord who never speaks in a hurry, and his sudden outburst of anger makes people frightened and at a loss.
Jing Ming, who was at the center of the outbreak, was more like a daisy in a storm. It seemed as if he could be destroyed to pieces and ravaged to wither and decay at any time.
But facing Zhu Li's questioning, Jing Ming had to grit his teeth and reply: "General, forgive me. Last time you broke through Li Hanzhi's camp, I sent the news back and was about to report it to Mr. Yan, but it was intercepted by Madam Yuchi. She said she would pass it on to you on my behalf. Naturally, I didn't doubt it and continued to get the news."
"But a few days later, when I went back to deliver the message, I heard from Mr. Yan that my wife had left a letter and ran away, and she didn't even say where she went." Jing Ming felt a little aggrieved and even at a loss.
"She left a letter and ran away. What did she say in the letter?" Zhu Li's expression relaxed a little and he immediately asked.
"In the letter, my wife was only conveying the report to you on behalf of her subordinates. She said that she was just going out for a walk and asked everyone not to worry. She did not say where she was going." Jing Ming replied hurriedly.
Zhu Li had a complicated expression when he heard this. He was also clueless. Suddenly he asked, "What about thanking heaven and earth?"
Jing Ming was stunned when he heard this, and then immediately said: "These two are my wife's followers, and they disappeared with my wife."
After thinking for a while, he continued, "We tracked them down to Pengcheng and confirmed that they had entered the military camp, but we have lost any clues since then."
"Pengcheng military camp?"
"Yes. By the way, Pengcheng was recruiting soldiers at that time, and the person in charge was a captain named Huang Hao." Jing Ming thought about it and replied again with every detail.
Zhu Li was puzzled as to what Yuchi Jin was doing in the military camp. With his emotional intelligence, he probably couldn't understand it either, so he continued, "What about Huang Haoren?"
"Huang Hao led the new army to Xiaocheng about seven or eight days ago. He should still be in Xiaocheng now. I have sent ghost warriors to infiltrate there and let them wait for an opportunity to get close to Huang Hao and inquire about the news." Jing Ming said hurriedly.
“Okay, in addition to Huang Hao, don’t let go of the guards who entered Xiaocheng with him. If Jin’er sneaked into the military camp, she probably wouldn’t use her real name, but thank God and Earth she is very easy to recognize. Notify me immediately if you have any news.” Zhu Li stretched out his hand and pinched his eyebrows. He suddenly felt very tired, as if his whole body was hollowed out.