Outside Pengcheng City, Xuzhou, Zhu Laosan and Zhu Cun, who had already met, had mixed feelings, patted their arms and hugged each other heavily when they met, and made various incoherent shouts. After all, although they had been communicating and never stopped contacting each other over the years, they were busy fighting in the army and under the military's affairs, but they met again for the first time after many years.

Of course, Zhu Cun, who is now one of the few senior leaders of the Taiping Army, is no longer the ordinary rebel general who was frivolous and greedy for money and profit; and Zhu Laosan, who had suffered from troubles and once had the foundation of the hinterland of the Central Plains, was no longer the generous and firm leader who was the first to be righteous; but under similar positions and camps, their brotherly feelings in their blood have become more and more stable.

However, it was not so pleasant for King Shipu, the governor of the Wuning Army (Xu Si Town) who was besieged in Pengcheng by two armies from afar and suffered a great loss in the counterattack of several times. In particular, he and his subordinates also saw the full set of flags and flags of the captured Taining Army, and after abandoning the city, the army became even more shaken and morale was depressed.

Not to mention that the buffering period was enough for him to obtain some of the whole story of the surviving soldiers who escaped from Xiaqiu City. Therefore, the first thing he did after being surrounded by Pengcheng was to launch a counterattack against the weak areas of the Taiping Army and the Dongdu Army who had come from afar, and sent many envoys to rush out.

Then he made a lot of effort to rectify the troops in the city, especially the thousands of old subordinates of the Caizhou army who had newly joined the subsidiaries, were disarmed and reorganized on the spot, and then reorganized and supplemented them to the local army. The former generals of the Caizhou army, led by Liu Jianfeng, were also summoned to the inner court for a banquet.

Therefore, although it seems that at least tens of thousands of strong enemy soldiers were surrounded by the city and surrounded them all, Shi Pu was not so worried and anxious in the open. At least he also had Pengcheng, a famous city that is famous all over the world. Compared with the years of war, the Taining Army, which has become exhausted and weak. The predecessor of the Wuning Army, the Warring Army, was once one of the famous strong soldiers in the Central Plains.

Because of its early years, bordering Huaixi Town and Ziqing Town, the unruly separatist forces, and it was also the hub connecting the Jianghuai River and Huai River and the four battles, the Wuning Army has long been the most active and stable area that supports the Tang central government, and has received great resources and support, and has also trained a well-known Huai Shang strong army.

However, after the second year of Changqing in Emperor Muzong of Tang Dynasty (822), the general Wang Zhixing seized the Wuning Army's flag with force. Xu Si Town has since escaped from the full control of the court and changed his command several times in thirty years. Until Wang Shi, the governor appointed by Emperor Xiantong in the third year of Emperor Yizong (862), took office, almost all the rebellious soldiers in Wuning. However, Xu Si Town was abolished and only 3,000 people were retained to guard Xuzhou, and the rest were divided into Haizhou and Suzhou.

The result was that the soldiers who lost their belongings became bandits and combined with the Jianghuai private salt thieves, causing one of the four major harms in Henan. Due to the problems of the southwest border at that time, the Xuzhou soldiers who were garrisoning in the southwest in the ninth year of Xiantong, broke through half of the south of the Yangtze River from Guilin and attacked Xuzhou and joined the bandits to join their own side. It was known in history as the "Pang Xun Rebellion".

Although it was suppressed and pacified after only one year of persistence, the court mobilized a large number of military forces, and even used Shatuo and Tuyuhun cavalry to win. This also allowed these vassal tribes, which were originally hawks in the Tang Dynasty, to see the weak side of the heart of the Tang Dynasty, and gradually broke the awe of these vassals for the power of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, after the Pang Xun Rebellion was quenched, the current Wuning Army was in view of the balance of power balance between the towns and the lack of local troops to prepare for the enemy. In the 11th year of Xiantong (870), the imperial court renamed the "Resistance Army" in Xuzhou Lijie. During the period when the soldiers were selected from the towns in the Central Plains and immigrated to fill in households, it was obvious that it was hoped that this place could be influenced by the court and become a support for the support and support of the Tang Dynasty again;

Of course, the initial Jingyan was good, but the reality was cruel. When the five Central Plains army jointly blocked the Battle of Sishui from the north and south of Huai, the Wuning Army, which was the first to leave without fighting, became the beginning of the collapse of the Sishui defense line. As the people from all walks of life were all defeated, the collapse of the Tang Dynasty's final rule in the Central Plains was kicked off.

Therefore, it is only time for the Wuning Army to accept the price and consequences of delay for the reasons caused by short-sightedness and selfishness. But no matter what, the Wuning Army still has a military force of 70,000 infantry and cavalry on the books; and in Pengcheng, there were at least 30,000 armored men who defended King Han Shipu, and they recruited more than 20,000 people and united soldiers again; there were even nearly 10,000 people gathered by nearly 10,000 people.

Although the Taiping thieves had repeatedly fought against each other in the countryside and lost thousands of people; but when they retreated and retreated to the city walls filled with ice, the power of the Taiping thieves was greatly curbed and weakened, and they could rely on old-fashioned equipment such as bows and arrows, bed crossbows, stone cannons, and have back and forth to deal with each other and fight against attack and defense.

In addition, through the messenger who broke out, he had already told the guards and generals in the town to defend the local area and not to rush to rescue and attack the enemy's besieged. Instead, he should use the convenient locations of the local people and people who are familiar with the local area to raid and restrain the enemy's rear food routes, so that they could not overcome their disturbances and support and maintain difficulties. Even if it was unsustainable, retreated and lifted the siege. Even if the Pinglu army arrived in time, it would be the ideal result.

Of course, at that time, it was the main force of the Wuning Army who had the best of their strength to wait for the city to stand in a closed city. It could wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack and attack them in the wind and snow. Therefore, compared to the intermittent small and medium-sized confrontation and battles on the city wall, he cared more about controlling the situation in the city without giving the enemy outside one to take advantage of the opportunity.

Therefore, in this high-pressure situation that is stacked from top to bottom, the more than 200 million people in Pengcheng started to have a difficult life. Almost every day, people who "internal and external thieves" and "international thieves" were arrested and left by soldiers and officials who broke into the door, and so-called "rebellion" groups were constantly being confiscated; even like some wealthy people, the families of officials were not spared.

Even later, Shi Pu, who had become more suspicious under the agitation and shuttle from the left and right, had not seen the list of arrests and pending decisions every day, he was unable to sleep or eat and doubted whether someone was neglected and carried, and severely criticized him. Therefore, in a short time, this movement to investigate internal troubles and spies turned into a disguised carnival feast where officials and soldiers in the city took advantage of the people's families.

In this state, the already merged Dongdu Army and the Huainan Counterattack Army did not mean to mobilize many powerful troops to attack. Instead, they mobilized civilians and auxiliary soldiers to continue to build and pour camps and fortifications in the snow, completing the blockade of the seven gates of Pengcheng, Xuzhou; they successively divided their troops to defeat many peripheral strongholds and cities in Xiaoxian, Fengxian, Peixian, Luliangcheng and other places in Xuzhou.

As the surrounding areas were gradually cleaned up, on the frozen Huai River, the civilians and materials organized by the aftermath ambassadors from Huainan Road and the east and west routes were also transported along the Caohe occupied area/safety zone opened by the raiders, and were continuously transported from Hao, Shou, Guangzhou and other places to the vicinity of Pengcheng. However, in the midst of a bustling scene, the defenders in the city hoped that the weakening of the wind, snow and cold were weakened, and there was no chance of becoming a reality.

Therefore, when the siege of Xuzhou reached the eleventh day, the Pinglu reinforcements, who were highly anticipated, had not yet arrived; the mule and horse team formed by the Dongdu Army and the Huainan Counterattack Army, attacked Hongxian in Sizhou under the leadership of General Zhu Zhen; and then on the next day, with the cooperation of the Taipingzhou Army, which was moving on the ice, lined up between Fuling Lake and Pofutang, and defeated the 4,000 other troops of the Wuning Army that were facing the attack from Linhuai, the city of Zhoucheng.
Chapter completed!