Chapter 259 Xiangnan! Xiangnan! (Here he comes!)

Author: The Cat on the Wall 1

Chapter 259 Xiangnan! Xiangnan! (Here he comes!)

Bao Zheng probably felt that Zhang Heng's behavior was a bit unreasonable, but he actually approved of Zhang Heng's approach, especially when the battle reports from Di Qing's front kept coming.

Ten days later, Di Qing's battle report arrived.

Di Qing's vanguard general Yang Wenguang led his troops to meet the rebel army head-on near Guizhou. The battle was fierce. As a result, the Song army was injured and Yang Wenguang was trapped and escaped.

Although the battle was unfavorable, Nong Zhigao had already planned to evacuate Yongzhou. Di Qing believed in the letter that the Nong thieves had clearly realized that there was no room for compromise with the Song Dynasty, but their own strength was currently insufficient, so they were preparing to return to Guangzhou.

They gathered the thirty-sixdong Zhuang and other ethnic minority native chiefs to consolidate the rear area, and then marched northward.

After Bao Zheng heard the news, he thought that Di Qing was just covering up for his failure, but Zhang Heng remained calm as before. Not only did he have no intention of getting up and going to Guangnan West Road, he even did a big thing - he gave Ding Du to

Impeached!

Zhang Heng wrote a letter to Zhao Zhen to impeach Ding Du, who had no political achievements at all on Guangnan West Road. In the end, he did not even fulfill his responsibility to defend the territory. When the peasant bandits were raging in Guangxi, Ding Du, as the transshipment envoy, failed to fulfill his responsibility at all.

In sharp contrast to Bao Zheng of Guangnan East Road, I suggest that Your Majesty masturbate Ding Du. For such a person, being a magistrate is also irresponsible for a state. It is better to let him become a county magistrate.

After Zhang Heng finished writing the impeachment memorial, he showed it to Bao Zheng. After reading it, Bao Zheng complained: "I have no objection to your impeachment of Ding Du, but why are you comparing it to me?"

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "I'm asking for credit for you. You defended the city of Guangzhou. This is a great achievement!"

Bao Zheng smiled helplessly. In fact, he knew in his heart that he was the one who defended the city of Guangzhou. In fact, it was Zhang Heng who had taken office. If Zhang Heng had not built the city of Guangzhou high and strong, he would not have been able to defend it.

living.

Moreover, the army defending the city was also the berm team trained by Zhang Heng when he was in office. After Bao Zheng heard that the thieves entered Guangnan East Road, he immediately recalled the berm team from various places to Guangzhou City. Sure enough, the berm team was defending Guangzhou City.

Played a mainstay role during the war!

During the two months when Nong Zhigao besieged Guangzhou City, the officials, people, and even the army in Guangzhou City were all close to collapse. Only the berm team remained high-spirited from beginning to end.

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If it weren't for the nearly 2,000-strong embankment team, Bao Zheng believed that even the solid city defense of Guangzhou City might not be able to sustain it for so long.

On the one hand, the embankment team organized troops to go up to the city wall to defend the city, and on the other hand, they organized the people to carry out propaganda and constantly stabilize the people's military morale, which prevented the city of Guangzhou from collapsing from within.

Bao Zheng sighed with emotion: "The berm team you left behind are all good. I even think they are more powerful than the Forbidden Army, especially the young men who led the team. They are very smart and quick to do things.

It’s flexible and has high morale, which is refreshing.”

Zhang Heng laughed when he heard this and said: "To protect the countryside, we must take the lead. Most of them are local warriors recruited locally. Their fellow villagers are also in Guangzhou City. Naturally, they must go all out to protect Guangzhou City. This is understandable."

Bao Zheng nodded, then brought the topic back and said, "Di Qing also suffered a defeat, aren't you worried?"

Zhang Heng shook his head and said: "If Di Qing can't solve it, it will be useless for me to go. I just have to wait patiently."

In ten days, Di Qing will come back with the battle report.

Di Qingdao said that in order to take advantage of the power of other barbarians, Nong Zhigao personally wrote to Huang Shouling, the chief of Jiedong who was powerful and had superior geographical conditions, proposing that if he could defeat the Song army, he would "drive long to capture Jinghu and Jiangnan."

strategic plan, and granted Yongzhou land in exchange for Huang's support.

Huang Shouling admired this very much and said, "I transport glutinous rice to pay for my wisdom."

Therefore, he sent Shi Jian, a native of Yongzhou, to lobby Huang Shouling. In addition, he also recruited various Dongnons in Yongzhou and chiefs named Huang, all of whom promised official positions in the Song Dynasty. The condition was that they would no longer provide food and salary to Nong Zhigao.

Recent news has come that the connection between Xidong and Nong Zhigao has been severed, and he is already planning to launch further attacks.

When this news came, Bao Zheng was finally convinced: "Cut his wings and cut off his origin. This is the best strategy. Di Qing is indeed a famous general. There is no need to trust Zhang Xianggong to trust others. He also has the legacy of ancient names and prime ministers."

"

After hearing this, Zhang Heng couldn't laugh or cry: "What a fart, this is nothing. This is just a very simple truth. Di Qing can't do economic development, and I can't do war.

If Di Qing is my leader and doesn't know how to pretend to know how to give orders, but insists on restricting me to run the economy, then the economy will not be good.

And I don’t know much about fighting. If I still go to the military camp to take charge, whether the general will listen to me or Di Qing, I will end up destroying myself."

Bao Zheng knew Zhang Heng's temper and didn't care about Zhang Heng's swear words. He just sighed: "The truth is very simple, but people always fail to do it."

Ten days later, Di Qing asked Zhang Heng to go to Yongzhou to review the army, because Di Qing had defeated Nong Zhigao, retaken Yongzhou, and captured all of Nong's tribe, except Nong Zhigao.

After hearing this, Zhang Heng bid farewell to Bao Zheng and led his people to Yongzhou.

Zhang Heng arrived in Yongzhou a few days later. The battle was indeed over, but there was still the smell of blood in the air.

Di Qing led the generals to kneel down to greet Zhang Heng at the gate of Yongzhou City. Zhang Heng jumped off the carriage and personally helped Di Qing and others up, and then entered the city with everyone.

Yu Jing and others were also there, and Zhang Heng also met Yang Wenguang.

Zhang Heng had a lot to deal with when he came this time. As the envoy of the Xuanfu envoy, he not only had to appease the people, but also had to deal with the issue of the prisoners of the Nong tribe. The key was the next plan.

Whether we should stop here or continue to fight against bandits, Zhang Heng would have to take charge.

Zhang Heng was not in a hurry, and asked about the battle with a smile. Di Qing was in charge of this matter, so Di Qing would naturally report it.

Di Qing said: "I have already reported the previous events to Xianggong Zhang. Let's mainly talk about this battle.

At the end of the day, the general led his army south, merged with the troops of Sun Mian and Yu Jing, and marched from Guizhou to Pennsylvania to garrison there. There were more than 31,000 officers, soldiers and natives in total.

In order to unify the military discipline, the final general killed Chen Shu and other thirty-two people who had attacked Nong Zhigao without permission. Then he implemented a strategy of doubting the troops, held his troops still, and ordered the mobilization of military rations for ten days, which was called "the army was suspended."

This move is to paralyze the enemy and make them believe it is true, so that they will be slack and unprepared, so that we can take the opportunity to march.

The next day, the three armies marched rapidly and arrived at the Kunlun Pass, a natural barrier. That night there was a heavy storm. Our army braved the storm and spent the night in the natural barrier. We sent a military commander to send a message to the officials: Please go through the pass and eat.

Our troops were arrayed side by side in Quy Nhon Pu. The bandits had no choice but to fight with our troops.

The Nong thief personally supervised the entire army to line up in three sharp formations. They held large shields and javelins, wore crimson clothes, and looked like fire.

The morale of Nong's troops was very high, but Nong Zhigao's paralysis and underestimation of the enemy had already led to the defeat of Quy Nhon Pu. After a fierce battle, our army finally gained the upper hand.

Our army killed 2,200 of Nong's troops, killed 57 officials and captured more than 500 people, and Nong's thieves had to retreat.

At dawn the next day, General Mo led his army to capture Yongzhou, captured Huang Shimi and other Nong army leaders, killed 5,341 corpses of the enemy, and built a jingguan in the north corner of Yong City to guard and photograph the caves.

Someone found a corpse wearing a golden dragon robe among the corpses and thought it was Nong Zhigao. However, Mo Jiang believed that the corpse might not be the Nong thief, and the Nong thief might have absconded."

Zhang Heng listened carefully. These words sounded simple, but Zhang Heng could imagine how difficult it was, especially the night march. Marching at night in the mountains and fields was a very dangerous thing, and it was

On a stormy night, it becomes ten times more difficult!

Zhang Heng said with emotion: "Shuai Di is indeed a famous general. It's obviously just a makeshift army, but you managed to make it into this iron army. It's really amazing."

But Di Qing was even more grateful: "If it weren't for Mr. Zhang's support, how could the general dare to do this..."

Zhang Heng smiled and waved his hands, and then said to everyone: "The matter is not over yet. The officials appointed me as the propaganda envoy of Guangdong and Guangxi. Although the main purpose is because of Nong Zhigao's rebellion, the essence is to propagate

Fu Guangdong and Guangdong.

The problem in Guangxi is not just Nong Zhigao's problem. The key is also the many problems at the border. Since I am here, I must do something for the people of Guangxi and complete this matter before returning.

I heard that there are many Dongmans living on Guangnan West Road, among whom the majority are people with the four surnames Nong, Huang, Wei and Zhou. Nong Zhigao is one of them.

The barbarian forces in Xiwonju are the most powerful.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, it continued to govern according to the Tang Dynasty method, allowing local leaders to manage themselves for the superiors. This originally had no problem. As long as the people could live and work in peace and contentment, the court was happy to see the results.

But things are not that simple.

Guangyuan Prefecture is in the southwest of Yongzhou, between the Song Dynasty and Jiaozhi. It was originally under the jurisdiction of Yongzhou. However, due to the long distance from Yongzhou, the imperial court was beyond the reach of its management, so there was not much management.

And because Guangyuan Prefecture is rich in gold and cinnabar, Jiaozhi keeps encroaching northward and wants to occupy Guangyuan Prefecture.

After Jiaozhi sent troops to attack Guangyuan, they captured the leader Nong Quanfu and plundered a large amount of gold goods from Guangyuan Prefecture every year. The wealth was collected endlessly and the people of the prefecture were miserable.

After Nong Quanfu was captured, his wife remarried and gave birth to a son named Nong Zhigao. After Nong Zhigao grew up, he was still elected as the leader of the tribe, so Nong Zhigao led his tribe to resist the invasion and enslavement of Jiaozhi.

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How could Jiaozhi make Nong Zhigao powerful? Otherwise, it would hinder their continued plunder in Guangyuan Prefecture. Therefore, Jiaozhi sent troops to capture Tangyou Prefecture and captured Nong Zhigao.

Although Jiaozhi captured Nong Zhigao, they understood that Nong's tribe could not obey them, so Jiaozhi decided to bribe Nong Zhigao and continue to let him go north to expand his power, but he must obey Jiaozhi.

After Nong Zhigao was released, he was not moved by Jiaozhi. After all, Jiaozhi had a feud with him, so Nong Zhigao continued to resist Jiaozhi.

If the imperial court intervenes at this time to assist Nong Zhigao, perhaps there will be no subsequent war..."

Zhang Heng shook his head regretfully, and then continued: "...Nong Zhigao has caused great harm to Guangdong and Guangxi, which is certainly hateful.

But in the final analysis, it was because our court failed to protect our people that people like Nong Zhigao had to rise up against Jiaozhi on their own. Under desperation, they had to march to Guangdong and Guangxi to avoid Jiaozhi.

Therefore, the root of the problem lies in Jiaozhi. If the root of the problem in Jiaozhi cannot be solved, someone like Nong Zhigao will appear next time."

As soon as Zhang Heng said this, Yu Jing and others' expressions became dazzling.

Although Yu Jing's official position was not as good as Zhang Heng's, his qualifications were much higher than Zhang Heng's. Relying on his qualifications, Yu Jing immediately objected: "By defeating Nong Zhigao this time, the crisis between Guangdong and Guangxi has been resolved. It is not appropriate to start another border quarrel.

The enemies of the Song Dynasty were in the northwest, not the south.

Zhang Xianggong, although you are the propaganda envoy of Guangdong and Guangxi, you cannot provoke border conflicts, especially disputes with the Li Dynasty. The Song Dynasty and the Li Dynasty are countries with diplomatic relations and have always been friendly. If you arbitrarily undermine the diplomatic relations between the two countries, when the time comes,

It’s not easy to do business with an official!”

After hearing Yu Jing's words, Zhang Heng looked a little solemn and said: "Shilang Yu, I just want to ask, which country does Guangyuan Prefecture belong to?"

Yu Jing frowned and said: "Guangyuan Prefecture is the land of the Song Dynasty, but Guangyuan Prefecture is a miasma. Except for the local natives, if foreign soldiers enter, they will inevitably suffer great losses. Therefore, we should continue to seal it."
To be continued...