When Meng Juehai saw this situation, he knew that he had been fooled in the end despite all his precautions.
This Zhu Li had no intention of competing with me seriously from the beginning. He should have been thinking about how to get me to Qiaobei. Poor me, I was so stupid that I actually competed with him seriously. Thinking of this, Meng Juehai wanted to cry but had no tears. This was all because of his false reputation.
Now, look what happened. They have come, which was really beyond his expectation, but the price is heavy. As soon as he saw the momentum of the three people opposite, Meng Juehai knew that these three were not easy to mess with.
Meng Juehai also used a spear. His spear was very famous, named Li Guan Spear. All he had learned in his life was a tattoo technique, but the problem was that he couldn't stab anymore because of the torrential attack, forcing him to block.
Although his horse was injured, it was not dead after all. In desperation, facing the attack of the three people, he grabbed the horse and pushed it away, and easily deflected Shi Yan's stab from the side.
Although he easily defused the move, he couldn't be happy because the steel spear of Zhu Li on the opposite side was chopping down straight, and he was so frightened that he had to continue blocking it. He held the spear horizontally and above his head, and resisted Zhu Li's powerful spear. There was a loud "clang" sound.
Meng Juehai's arms trembled and he cried out that he had been fooled. Even if he was given another brain, he could not have imagined that such a handsome and young player could have such great strength. So far, he had never met such a strong opponent.
After the next spear strike, he felt a burning pain in his shoulder socket, as if it was broken. However, he could not stop at this time because there was another powerful general, Zhou Dewei, whose sledgehammer was already smashing towards Meng Juehai's head.
Helplessly, Meng Juehai had to continue to block. With a "bang", the old injury had not healed yet, and the new injury came again. However, his nightmare was still behind him. Zhu Li and the other two immediately surrounded Meng Juehai like a spinning windmill and beat him up.
There was a continuous sound of "ding, dang, bang, ding, dang, bang...". Meng Juehai's dark, furry face turned a little pale. He bit his gums tightly and held on. He didn't even have the chance to open his mouth and loudly scold Zhu Li for cheating.
This scene happened very suddenly, from the moment the reins of Meng Juehai's horse broke, to the moment the horse ran madly towards the north bank of the Wei River, to the moment Zhu Li and others surrounded Meng Juehai and hacked and smashed him like iron, the guards from both sides who were watching the fight had not yet reacted.
Even from the grass army on the south bank of the Wei River, one could hear the shouts of “Mighty, mighty, mighty...” coming one after another.
Meng Juehai felt comfortable listening to this voice before, but now he wanted to vomit blood. These bastards, they are so powerful even in such a state, so powerful!
By the time the Cao army's soldiers finally stopped cheering and realized something was wrong, Meng Juehai was not only exhausted, but the warhorse under him was foaming at the mouth and twitching on the ground.
Finally, Zhu Li knocked his spear away with his spear. Zhou Dewei and Shi Yan immediately jumped off their horses and pinned the burly man down. Zhu Li sat on the horse, with his spear pointed diagonally at Meng Juehai's throat.
"Meng Juehai, are you willing to surrender?" Zhu Li glanced at him coldly and asked indifferently.
"Surrender, I surrender to your mother, Zhu Li. You are cheating, I don't accept it." Meng Juehai was tough. He stiffened his neck, glared at Zhu Li and shouted.
Zhu Li stared at him expressionlessly and said calmly, "Meng Juehai, are you a three-year-old child? Military and national affairs are not to be trifled with. With your intelligence, Huang Chao must have been very bold to let you lead the army."
When he said that, Meng Juehai's devilish face suddenly flushed, and his teeth clenched and clenched. He glanced at him calmly, and Zhu Li continued to speak slowly, "If you surrender, not only can you live, but the grass army guards on the opposite side can also live. If you don't surrender, have you ever thought about the consequences for them?"
Zhu Li looked at Meng Juehai indifferently. Meng Juehai originally looked like he wanted to swallow Zhu Li, but after hearing these words, he slowly became serious.
"Now that you, the general, are gone, facing a group of scattered soldiers like headless flies, do you think they still have a chance to survive? Of course, you can regard this as a threat from Zhu."
Meng Juehai looked thoughtful for the rare time when he heard this. He was born in a poor family and followed Huang Chao in battles all over the world. Now those who were with him were all his close ones. If he died, and if Zhu Li really killed those people in anger because of him, he would definitely not be able to bear it.
After a long silence, he lowered his neck and nodded helplessly, "Okay, I surrender. I hope you can treat them well."
"Don't worry, I'm not that cruel." He didn't even kill the Khitan soldiers who surrendered, let alone the Han soldiers who surrendered, Zhu Li replied calmly.
It would be easy to deal with if Meng Juehai surrendered. He asked Zhou Dewei and Shi Yan to tie Meng Juehai up first, and then take him to persuade him to surrender. When the Cao army on the opposite side saw that the general they revered as a god had become a prisoner of the other side, their faith collapsed instantly. At Meng Juehai's request, they surrendered obediently. Of course, some of them escaped quietly.
Among the tens of thousands of grass soldiers stationed with Meng Juehai at the East Bridge of Weishui, more than 8,000 surrendered. Zhu Li quickly divided them into two groups, letting Zhou Dewei and Shi Yan lead an army respectively, and instructed them to reorganize these grass soldiers into an army as soon as possible and rally their morale. As for those who fled, he did not pursue them.
After forcing Meng Juehai to surrender, Zhu Li captured the Dongqiao Cao Army without bloodshed. Chang'an City was already within reach, but he did not dare to launch an attack rashly.
First of all, the Cao army had just surrendered and their morale was unstable. Secondly, if he was the only one who attacked Chang'an, ten Zhu Li would not be enough to kill them. Now, this ancient and famous city, which was so close and carried countless glories, was inhabited by the biggest rebel leader of this era and incalculable Cao army troops.
He also did not dare to station troops on the south bank of Wei Bridge. It would be okay to station 10,000 troops just in case. If the situation changed, the enemy could block the north exit of the bridge and attack him from both sides. Even if Zhu Li was very brave and killed them all, how many of the soldiers who followed him to defend the king would be left? Therefore, if he had the courage, he would not camp on the south bank.
Zhu Li sent scouts to travel back and forth on the north bank of the Weishui River, closely watching the progress of the attacks of Li Xiaochang, the Jiedushi of Yan, and Tuoba Sigong, the Jiedushi of Xiasuiyin. At the same time, he rested on the spot and asked Zhou Dewei and Shi Yan to train the grass army soldiers day and night. This time, because they were serving the king, they could obtain food and fodder on the spot, and there was enough food and fodder, so he was not in a hurry.
-----Dividing Line------
On the west bank of the Yellow River in Shuozhou, Gao Su had already taken over the entire Shengzhou.
He is now preparing his troops to seize the entire Hetao region in one fell swoop. Shengzhou is a place where Han and Hu people live together as a mixed group, and Tuoba Sigong's control is relatively weak. Gao Su occupied Zhongshoujiang City with almost no effort and then annexed Shengzhou.
In addition, Gao Su copied the policy of Shuozhou and implemented it in Shengzhou, which soon won the support of the local people. The people knew that Shengzhou had a good governor named Zhu Li, but they didn't know Zhu Li's
He is not in Shengzhou at all. The supreme controller of the entire Shengzhou is Gao Su.
After taking Shengzhou, he did not have enough manpower, so he had to ask for help from Fanyang.
Guo Qizuo sent Zhang Shen to serve as his deputy general, and Zhang Shen also brought his son, a bold and resolute young man named Zhang Jingda, also known by his nickname Shengtie. He was a young man worthy of cultivation and was very much loved by Gao Su.
While Tuoba Sigong was going north to support the king, Gao Su did not dare to risk the wrath of the world and directly attack Youzhou, because Tuoba Sigong was the governor of Youzhou, and others were saving the Tang Dynasty, but you were attacking their lair from behind. If you did this, he would have no chance of survival in the future and his reputation would be completely ruined. So he took the opportunity to attack several other states. Although this might be criticized, no one said anything.
But he didn't know that Tuoba Sigong had been promoted to the governor of Xia Suiyin. If he knew, he would definitely not act so decisively.
However, he didn't know it now. He sent Zhang Shen to Shengzhou and Zhang Jingda as the vanguard to send troops to Yinzhou, intending to take over Yinzhou and Suizhou in one go and completely occupy the area east of Hetao.
The army was stationed in Yinzhou. In the military tent, the person sitting with Gao Su was not Zhang Jingda, but another person. This was a monk, known as Budai Monk. (Budai Monk died in March 917, and his birth year is unknown.)
"Master, what's the matter that brings you here in such a hurry?" Gao Su frowned. Ever since he accidentally saved this monk a few years ago, this monk would come to bother him every now and then, saying that there was some unresolved karma. However, in Gao Su's eyes, this guy just came to eat for free.
When he saw Gao Su asking, Budai Monk immediately looked solemn, raised his hands to his chest, and said solemnly: "Donor, I have an unresolved karma with you. This time I came here to see if there is any way I can help you, and by the way, settle the karma between us."
Gao Su glanced at him with contempt and said unhappily, "Before, you always said that I was a bandit and would die sooner or later. You said you were afraid that I would die and there would be no one to repay you, so you often came to see me. Now that I'm a general, you come again and say you hope to help me. But monks can't kill people. Are you going to help me fight?"
"Monks are compassionate. I dare not do anything that involves fighting and killing." The monk looked dignified, but what he said was nonsense. Since you can't help, why are you here
Gao Su seemed to have known that the other party would respond in this way, so he was not surprised. He suddenly thought of something and immediately looked at the monk with ill intentions and asked seriously: "Master, do you really want to repay Gao from the bottom of your heart?"
The monk Budai felt his scalp tingle when he was looked at by him. He seemed to feel that something bad was going to happen to him. However, since he had already said it, it was difficult to change it. He gritted his teeth and said, "Monks do not tell lies. I will naturally help you understand the cause and effect."
Gao Su slammed his big hand on the table, stood up, and shouted, "Okay, Master, since you really want to help me, I just have something on my mind and need your help."
When Budai Monk saw Gao Su's serious expression, he cursed in his heart, "Master, I am just here to get some money. Do you really need me for something?" However, he still insisted, "Please speak, benefactor."
Gao Su heard this and said bluntly, "I am now a general in Shuozhou. As the saying goes, you should worry about your ruler's worries if you eat his salary. My envoy has gone south to defend the king, and he is fighting against the famous General Huang Chao. I am worried that he will be in trouble, but I cannot leave. Master, you are a master, so why not go on the trip for me? If the envoy really has an accident, please help me."