Chapter 257 Others are good at generals, but I, Zhang Heng, are good at generals! (Here we come!)

Author: The Cat on the Wall 1

Chapter 257 Others are good at generals, but I, Zhang Heng, are good at generals! (Here we come!)

After seeing off Qi Bin, Ding Du waited for a few days and received news from Yongzhou that Nong Zhigao was willing to meet him in Guizhou.

Ding Du couldn't help but smile with satisfaction, and then hurriedly deployed his military force. He wanted to coax Nong Zhigao to go north, and then capture him, making great achievements one at a time!

But he plotted against Nong Zhigao, but Nong Zhigao followed his plan.

That night, Nong Zhigao gathered 7,000 Nong family members, opened the gate of Yongzhou, leaving only a partial army to guard, and headed east along the Youjiang River, one of the sources of the Yujiang River.

First, they captured Lushan Village in the upper reaches of Youjiang River. There were thousands of people in Lushan Village. Nong Zhigao selected thousands of warriors who were worthy of fighting and incorporated them into the team, and he also replenished enough food.

Lushan Village was regarded as the barrier of Wuzhou. Chen Gong, the magistrate of Wuzhou, was afraid that reporting this matter would lead to his loss of office, so he suppressed the matter and did not report it to the superiors. He also believed that the Nong army was just to plunder some food and would not

Attack Wuzhou.

This created favorable conditions for the Nong army to advance smoothly.

However, in just a few days, Nong Zhigao arrived at the gate of Wuzhou City.

Chen Gong saw that something was not going well, so he hurriedly deployed his defense troops, and ordered Wang Qianyou, the general judge, to guard Laiyuan Gate, Li Su, the acting governor, to guard Da'an Gate, and Wu Ji to guard Chaotian Gate.

In addition, Zhang Li, the governor of Guangxi, also led troops from Hezhou for reinforcements.

As soon as the reinforcements arrived, Chen Gong rewarded the soldiers on the city. While they were drinking happily, the Nong army broke into the city with lightning speed.

In a fierce battle, more than a thousand Song Dynasty officers and soldiers were killed, and a group of important officials such as Chen Gong were captured.

When the news reached Guizhou, Ding Du, who was eating, heard the news. His bowls and chopsticks fell to the ground without realizing it. He summoned the generals with a grave look on his face: "Has Nong Zhigao come to Guizhou?"

"He is still in Wuzhou and doesn't know where to go next," the general replied.

"The army is guarding Guizhou. We must keep Guizhou and wait for the arrival of the imperial army!"

Ding Du said decisively.

Soon he knew where Nong Zhigao had gone.

Wuzhou City was captured, Nong Zhigao granted amnesty to the territory, and recruited troops locally. The army developed greatly and the number of soldiers increased to more than 10,000.

After Nong Zhigao captured Wuzhou, he immediately rushed to Guangzhou after a little reorganization.

When he heard that Nong Zhigao was going to Guangzhou, Ding Du was relieved at first, but then he lamented again and again.

This matter can no longer be concealed for him. The Guangnan West Road he was guarding has been penetrated from west to east, leaving only the Guizhou area, and the rest of the area has fallen into Nong Zhigao's hands.

.

Obviously he failed to fulfill his duty to protect the land, and the officials would definitely be very disappointed with him. To a certain extent, although he clung to his life, his future was gone!

As for Nong Zhigao, he did not go to Guizhou because Guizhou is not important.

Although Qi Bin always encouraged him to go north to Guizhou to capture Dingdu, Nong Zhigao remained unmoved.

He has no grudge against Ding Du. The only important thing in his mind is to become the king of the southwest, and winning Guangzhou is a crucial event for the Nong army!

Wuzhou was already on the border of Guangnan East Road. Wuzhou was captured by Nong Zhigao, which immediately shocked the entire Guangnan East Road.

Nong Zhigao's troops advanced rapidly and quickly captured Hengzhou, Guizhou, Tengzhou, Wuzhou, Fengzhou, Kangzhou, Duanzhou, and approached Nanhai County!

Nanhai County is the essence of Guangzhou. When Nong Zhigao entered this place, it was an eye-opening experience.

There were lush mulberry fish ponds, large plump fish floating in the fish ponds, mulberry trees shading the banks, and rice fields that had already formed ears and were about to be harvested. Especially the endless embankments made him a little stunned.

He quickly consulted Brother Huang Wei, but Brother Huang Wei was also very surprised, because when they went to seek refuge with Nong Zhigao, Zhang Heng had not yet arrived at Guangnan East Road.

Nong Zhigao asked local people to come and interrogate them, and they found out that the embankment was built by Zhang Heng, adding tens of thousands of hectares of farmland to Guangnan East Road, thus solving the shortage of food on Guangnan East Road.

It is said that Panyu, Guangzhou, Xiangshan, Dongguan, Shunde and other places are also very prosperous, especially today's Guangzhou city is not only one of the top commercial ports in the Song Dynasty, but also an industrial state in the Song Dynasty.

This made Nong Zhigao very excited. This was a real land of plenty. If he really captured Guangzhou and held it, he might really be able to rely on Guangzhou to fight against the Song Dynasty's army!

When Nong Zhigao's troops arrived at the gates of Guangzhou, the news finally reached the capital.

"...In the ninth month of Guichou, Nong's army entered Hengzhou (now the magistrate of Hengxian County, Guangxi) in the lower reaches of Yongzhou. Zhang Zhong, the prime minister in the palace, returned and was imprisoned. At the east end, he was serving as an official and king, and he abandoned the city and left..."

"...In October Bingchen, the Nong army invaded Guizhou and Zhizhou, and Secretary Cheng Li Ju fled without a fight..."

"In October of Gengshen, Nong Zhigao led his army into Gongzhou, Zhizhou, and Zhang Xu, the prime minister in the palace, abandoned the city and fled. The next day, Nong's army entered Tengzhou, Zhizhou, and Prince Li Zhi fled away.

Subsequently, the Nong army easily occupied Wuzhou and Zhizhou. Secretary Cheng Jiangbo refused to resist and abandoned the city to escape.

In Guihai, Nong's army marched into Duanzhou, and Ding Baochen, the prefect of the state, was so frightened that he fled for his life in panic, regardless of the state city..."

"In Bingyinguang and Duanzhou, the inspector Gao Shiyao fought against the Nong bandits at Chuanting, but was defeated by Nong Zhigao.

Therefore, the Nong bandits arrived at the gate of Guangzhou City and besieged the city. However, due to the tight defense of Guangzhou City, under the command of Bao Zheng, the transfer envoy of Guangnan East Road, the Nong Zhigao bandits besieged Guangzhou for more than fifty days and still could not capture it.

As a last resort, the Nong army withdrew from Guangzhou. Su Yan, the magistrate of Yingzhou, laid out oak trees along a 40-mile road. The huge rocks were in the way. The Nong army was forced to take a detour to cross the river from Shatou, go north to Qingyuan County, and march towards Lianzhou and Hezhou.

After failing to attack Hezhou, they fought in this area for more than a month. The Nong army attacked Zhaozhou from the west, and Liu Yingchen, the governor of the state, abandoned the city and fled..."

"...During the Anti-Japanese War, two senior generals, Zhang Zhong, the commander of Guangnan East Road, and Jiang Kai, the commander of Guangnan East and West Road, died for their country..."

Battle reports arrive one after another.

In Chongzheng Hall.

Zhao Zhen's face was livid, and Chen Zhizhong, Han Qi and other prime ministers looked at each other.

Zhang Heng stood steadily with his sleeves wrapped up, his eyes lowered, as if he closed his eyes to rest.

Zhao Zhen's face turned pale as he said, "Let's all discuss it, what should we do?"

The huge Guangnan Road was stabbed all over by Nanong Zhigao!

The troops and magistrates deployed by the imperial court on Guangnan East Road were all in vain.

Not only was the army defeated, many of the governors and magistrates abandoned the city and fled. This was a slap in Zhao Zhen’s face!

Of course, face is not particularly important to Zhao Zhen.

What's important is that Guangnan East Road is now comparable to Fuyu Road in Jiangnan.

Zhao Zhen has very high expectations for Guangnan East Road, and he also expects Guangnan East Road to contribute extremely generous taxes to the court this year.

If this was looted by thieves, what would be left?

"Send troops, officials, there is nothing to say. The thieves dare to wreak havoc on the land of the Song Dynasty. They must be killed to serve as a warning to others."

Chen Zhizhong stood up and said.

Han Qi immediately followed: "Your Majesty, there is nothing to hesitate. There is no other good way to send troops to eliminate the thieves!"

Zhao Zhen nodded and said: "Then send troops."

There is actually nothing to discuss whether to send troops. The key lies in who to send.

This time Nong Zhigao was wreaking havoc in Guangdong and Guangxi, fighting against the generals of the Song Dynasty, and actually did not lose. He even killed two senior generals, Zhang Zhong, the commander of Guangnan East Road, and Jiang Qi, the commander of Guangnan East and West Road. This meant that Nong Zhigao The ability is quite powerful.

Zhang Zhong, the commander of Guangnan East Road, has a good resume. He was a member of the Longmeng Army in the Forbidden Army. He used his talent and military skills to supplement the Third Squadron and was appointed as the commander of the Shaanxi General Administration Department.

In the Song and Xia wars, he only used it to break through forts several times and kill the opera thieves Zhang Hai and Guo Miaoshan. From Ping'en Prefecture, he was the first in merit. He moved to Beijing envoy, Zizhou governor, Li Zhen Dingfu, Dingzhou, Gaoyang Guan, the east and west roads of Beijing are under the jurisdiction of soldiers and horses.

It can be said that this is a real veteran, but he failed on Guangnan East Road.

Although Jiang Kai was born as a scholar, his resume was extremely rich. During the Song-Xia war, he served as the military supervisor of Huanqing Road, and later as the commander of Jingyuan Road. The Qiang Mingzhu and other tribes invaded the Song Dynasty, and Jiang Kai led his troops. He also had considerable battlefield experience when he defeated him, but he was killed by Nong Zhigao.

It can be seen that Nong Zhigao is not an ordinary thief leader. If ordinary generals are sent there, the opportunity to fight will probably be delayed.

In this case, there are actually not many choices, and now only a few people in the Song Dynasty can choose.

And there is only one most suitable.

That is Di Qing.

In fact, no one has much objection to this choice, but the objection lies in who should be sent to keep an eye on Di Qing.

Pang Ji suggested: "I believe that Di Qing must go to appease Guangdong and Guangxi. In order to ensure the success of this trip, I also ask your majesty to order all the armies in Lingnan to accept Di Qing's control. In this way, the southwest can be settled."

As soon as Pang Ji said this, Han Qi immediately said: "It's okay to send Di Qing, but a military man shouldn't be a full-time person. He must be assisted by civil servants. Ding Du can do this."

Pang Ji objected: "Di Qing started his own army. If he uses civil servants to assist him, it will lead to inconsistent orders. It is better not to send him."

Han Qi sneered and said: "Using culture to control military force is an ancestral system. Going to Lingnan, there are about hundreds of thousands of troops under his control. With such a large army, if Di Qing has other intentions and colludes with the peasants, he may become a real King of the Southwest, if this happens, will you, Pang Shenzheng, bear the responsibility?"

Pang Ji's face suddenly turned red, but he had nothing to say.

Zhao Zhen frowned and looked at Chen Zhizhong and the others, but Chen Zhizhong was speechless.

Zhao Zhen looked at Zhang Heng and said, "Zhang Qing, what do you think?"

Zhang Heng opened his eyes when he heard this and said with a smile: "I agree with Privy Han's statement."

Pang Ji looked at Zhang Heng in surprise.

Zhao Zhen also frowned slightly: "Zhang Qing, who do you think is better to control Di Qing?"

Zhang Heng smiled, pointed at himself and said, "Of course it's best for me to go."

Pang Ji smiled when he heard this.
To be continued...