Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 334 Appearances are in harmony but minds are separate
"Capture the counties of Xuzhou and Suzhou, cut off the grain transport, and catch the government troops off guard!"

The atmosphere in the tent was heavy and tense. Pang Xun's words were like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, stirring up waves.

When the generals of the Silver Knife Army heard that they would capture the two states of Xu and Su and cut off the grain transport, they became excited, with fighting spirit and ambition flashing in their eyes.

Compared with them, the generals of the Tianping Army seemed a little uneasy, and their eyes turned to Wang Xianzhi, waiting for his decision.

Wang Xianzhi's palms were slightly sweaty, and his mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

He originally just wanted to use the situation to force the court to surrender, and never thought about actually conquering the city.

But now the imperial court has deployed its forces to encircle and suppress the enemy, and the situation does not allow him to hesitate any longer.

What Pang Xun said was indeed a solution, so he was weighing the pros and cons in his mind at the moment.

Seeing Wang Xianzhi remained silent, Pang Xun thought that he had not yet convinced him, so he continued:
"We should first take Suzhou and Xuzhou, cut off the canal transportation, and rely on the iron mines and craftsmen in the cities and the Xuzhou area to build armor and weapons."

"If we can defeat the government troops, we can also seize Haozhou and Sizhou, and even go north to take Caozhou, Puzhou, Yunzhou, and Yanzhou."

"Then the imperial court will have no choice but to recruit us. We can also make a request to appoint me as the military governor of Wuning Army and General Wang as the military governor of Tianping Army."

His plan is bold and dangerous, but if it succeeds, the interests of both parties will be maximized.

After hearing this, Wang Xianzhi was somewhat shaken, but he still questioned: "General Pang Jie, this plan is good, but we must first take over the Wuning Army's territory in Xu Si. What if you abandon us first and accept the amnesty?"

Seeing Wang Xianzhi speak, Pang Xun felt relieved.

He was not afraid that Wang Xianzhi would bargain with him, but he was afraid that Wang Xianzhi would not dare to take action.

Now that Wang Xianzhi had begun to question, he must have made up his mind.

Thinking of this, Pang Xun said in a steady tone: "If Marshal Wang Jie feels that it is safer to go north, we can also go north first and then south to force the court to recruit us."

"No matter what, we must take action first and catch the government troops off guard!"

As soon as he finished speaking, before Wang Xianzhi could speak, generals such as Shang Junchang, Shang Rang, and Bi Shiduo had already been moved.

"General Jie, the imperial court is now ready to encircle and suppress us. If we don't take the initiative to attack, we will be pressed step by step."

"Yes, General Jie, although General Pang's plan is risky, it is our only way out."

"General Jie, if we can take over Xuzhou and Suzhou, we will have a foothold and can attack or defend. The imperial court will not dare to look down on us."

"General Jie, this opportunity is rare and will never come again!"

The generals were talking at once, and Wang Xianzhi finally made up his mind after seeing the generals express their opinions.

He looked at Pang Xun and said in a deep voice: "In that case, then we will follow General Pang Jie's plan and let you and I join forces to attack Xuzhou and Suzhou!"

Seeing Wang Xianzhi's agreement, Pang Xun smiled and proposed a specific plan:

"The Changshan who is stationed in Pengcheng is my master's enemy. I am willing to lead the Silver Sword Army north to attack Pengcheng, Peixian, Xiaoxian, Xiapi and other cities."

"However, we don't have enough troops, so we need to borrow 10,000 bandits from General Wang Jie."

"Yes!" Wang Xianzhi readily agreed, but also put forward his own conditions:
"I can borrow 10,000 bandits, but since we want to catch the government troops off guard, it would be better to advance from multiple directions."

"Please ask General Pang Jie to leave 500 Silver Sword Soldiers to follow me to attack Fuli County. I can send Du Yu Hou Chai Cun to lead 10,000 bandits to follow General Pang Jie to the north to attack Xuzhou."

Pang Xun thought about it for a moment. It seemed not worth it to exchange 500 silver-knife soldiers for 10,000 bandits, but if he could capture a few cities and seize local arsenals and weapons, he could quickly expand the 5,000 bandits under his command into armored troops, which would not be a loss.

Thinking of this, Pang Xun immediately nodded and agreed: "Let's follow what Commander Wang Jie said."

After the plan was finalized, Wang Xianzhi immediately gave the order for deployment and looked at the generals of the two armies.

"Xuzhou will be handed over to General Pang Jie and Chai Cun, and our army will be divided into three armies."

"The left army appointed Shang Junchang as the commander of the left army, and led Du Yuhou Bi Shiduo, Cao Shixiong, Liu Yanzhang and 20,000 troops to attack Linhuan County and Hong County."

"The Right Army appointed Shang Rang as the commander of the Right Army, and led Du Yuhou Li Chongba, Wang Chongyin and 20,000 troops to attack Qi County."

"I will personally command the central army and lead a thousand Tianping troops, five hundred Yindao troops, and ten thousand bandits to attack Fuli County."

"Since we want to catch the government troops off guard, we should not care about casualties. We should seize Xuzhou and Suzhou first and cut off the grain transport so that the imperial court will know that people like you and me are not easily bullied!"

"The last general takes orders!!"

The generals obeyed the order, and Pang Xun was the first to lead his men out of the tent.

After they left, Wang Xianzhi's eyes flashed with a strange look, and then he looked at Chai Cun, who was in his early thirties: "Da Lang, be careful when you go north."

"General Jie, should I just work without putting in any effort?" Chai Cun misunderstood and thought that Wang Xianzhi wanted him to work without putting in any effort.

Wang Xianzhi shook his head and said, "There are many bandits in the Hehuai area. If they die, they die."

"I told you to be careful because when you join them in raiding various states and counties, remember to ask them for the weapons and armor in their arsenals."

"You can select trustworthy brothers from the army, choose strong and honest soldiers, equip them with armor and weapons, and they will become our brothers in the Tianping Army."

"When attacking a city or stronghold, you can just use the bandits. You need to take good care of this group of elite troops."

"As long as we have these elite troops in hand, we can recruit as many bandits as there are in the Hehuai area."

After the experience of guarding the border in Yongzhou, Wang Xianzhi became more cautious and was very aware of the importance of armor and soldiers.

In his opinion, even if Xuzhou and Suzhou were lost, it would not matter. As long as they had enough armor and soldiers, they could make a comeback at any time.

"Marshal Jie, I understand!"

Chai Cun bowed hastily, and Shang Junchang also glanced outside the tent. After making sure that Pang Xun and the others had gone far away, he spoke up, "General Jie, can these people be trusted?"

"Only ourselves can be trusted." Wang Xianzhi responded calmly, and then said to Shang Junchang and the others:

"Everyone, go down and gather your troops. We will march south tomorrow and first capture Qi County, which is thirty miles away!"

"Yes!"

Everyone bowed in response, then each held a military disk and gave orders to their own troops.

While they were dispatching troops, Pang Xun and others who had returned to their headquarters' tent also took their seats one after another.

Xu Ji, Zhao Keli, Yao Zhou, Zhang Xingshi, Zhang Guan and others looked at each other, and finally Xu Ji spoke first:

"This Wang Xianzhi is not a simple person. We need to be careful when joining forces with them."

"Of course!" Pang Xun echoed, and then continued:

"As long as we can capture the counties of Xuzhou, the armor and weapons in these counties will be enough for us to train the 5,000 bandits under our command into an army."

"If we take the opportunity to defeat the two attacks by the imperial army, the imperial court will inevitably be forced to recruit us because the grain transport will be cut off."

Pang Xun has his own ambitions. He wants to lead everyone to restore the organization of the Wuning Army. Only then can he be the Jiedushi of the Wuning Army legitimately.

Xu Ji naturally knew what he was thinking, but he was also happy to see it happen.

The more famous Pang Xun became, the less the imperial court would pay attention to this group of people, making it easier to recruit them later.

As for defeating the government army, Xu Ji had never thought about it at all.

In his opinion, the imperial court was still powerful and the government troops in various towns were difficult to defeat.

What he just said to Wang Xianzhi was nothing more than an attempt to trick Wang Xianzhi into helping them capture Xuzhou.

As long as we take Xuzhou, the issue of recruiting will be easy.

While he was thinking this, Pang Xun had already arranged how to attack the counties of Xuzhou.

"Pengcheng has Changshandu stationed there, so it's not easy to attack it."

"Let's take over the other counties first. After we get the armor and weapons, it won't be too late to attack Changshan."

"Each of you leads 500 armored soldiers and 3,000 bandits. The other counties only have a few hundred state soldiers. You can't stop us at all."

"This battle must be fought quickly. We must capture Xuzhou before the imperial court sends out troops!"

"Yes!" All the generals bowed and began to dispatch troops like Wang Xianzhi's troops.

The next day, nearly 70,000 troops were divided into groups to attack various counties, while Wang Xianzhi also led more than 1,500 armored soldiers and nearly 10,000 bandits to attack Fuli County, which had only more than 500 soldiers stationed there.

Drums are beating, flags are fluttering...

Amid the shouting and killing, the Fuli County soldiers did not even put up a decent resistance and in less than two hours they lost Fuli County, which had a population of over 20,000.

Wang Xianzhi equipped his sturdy bandits with more than 500 sets of provincial soldier armor, and promoted all the veteran soldiers to be team leaders, letting them lead the new soldiers.

In the next few days, cities such as Linhuan County and Qi County in Suzhou, Xiao County, Dangshan County, Feng County and Pei County in Xuzhou fell one after another.

The armor of more than 2,000 soldiers in the Xusu area was captured by the rebel army, and the armor in the armory was also seized.

Wang Xianzhi and Pang Xun each recruited more soldiers and pacified the bandits in Xuzhou and Suzhou.

In less than ten days, the troops of both armies grew.

In the two states of Xu and Su, except for Pengcheng and Hongxian who were still holding out, the rest all fell.

Linghu Tao, who had just completed the encirclement, learned about the loss of the counties in Xuzhou and Suzhou. He hurriedly ordered the towns to march and report to Chang'an.

The news of the cut-off of the grain transport was quickly spread from Songzhou to the Eastern Capital, and then to Chang'an. For a time, the people rushed to buy food desperately.

Many idle men just watched and took note of the common people who came to buy food, and then robbed the food afterwards.

The sudden rise in grain prices in the two capitals was a foregone conclusion, and the war in the Xuzhou and Sizhou regions was still raging...

"kill!!"

"Boom bang bang-"

On the 25th day of the first lunar month, the wind was cold and the shouting and killing sounds inside and outside Pengcheng were deafening, which represented the fall of the Xusu area.

Pengcheng, the seat of Xuzhou, has become the last line of defense. Taking Pengcheng means the loss of the entire Xuzhou.

"kill!!"

A thousand armored soldiers from Changshandu, led by the general Zhao Qian, and a small number of armored civilians, fought desperately to defend the city.

Outside the city, two thousand silver-sword soldiers and thousands of bandits under Pang Xun's command came like a tide and launched a fierce attack.

The city walls of Pengcheng are tall, but at this moment they seem precarious.

The moat had been filled up long ago, and siege equipment such as Lu Gongche, Chaoche and Yunche were slowly advancing, constantly approaching the city wall.

On the horse road, Zhao Qian had just led his men to use a crossbow cart to destroy a nest cart, but later a cloud cart was placed on the top of the city wall.

Zhao Qian tightly grasped his long sword, raised his arm and shouted: "Brothers, defend the city wall and never let the bandits set foot in Pengcheng!"

"Kill!" the soldiers responded in unison, constantly using bows and crossbows to attack the enemy troops under the city.

Arrows rained down like locusts, and the bandits under the city fell one after another, but the subsequent enemies kept coming in an endless stream, as if endless.

Pang Xun rode on his horse, looking at the wall of Pengcheng from afar, and said anxiously: "Silver Sword Army, get ready, we must take Pengcheng today!"

Following his orders, the Silver Sword Army, clad in heavy armor, also began to attack.

The defenders on the city wall fought hard, throwing logs and rocks down like raindrops in an attempt to stop the enemy from climbing.

But even so, the Silver Sword Army inevitably appeared on the road, attacking in formation.

"How dare you cause trouble, you bastard!"

"Kill these southern barbarians from Changshandu!"

Zhao Qian personally swung his hammer to hit the Silver Knife Army who were climbing up the horse path. After the Silver Knife Army and the Changshandu soldiers looked at each other, they were extremely jealous.

The two sides fought fiercely, but without Wang Shi's command, Zhao Qian's talents alone were obviously unable to resist the attack of the Silver Knife Army.

Pang Xun, who was outside the city, was secretly pleased to see that the siege was going smoothly, and could not help but say to Xu Ji beside him:

"Once Pengcheng is captured, the Xusu area will be in our hands."

"Then we can rely on the city to build armor and weapons and wait for the surrender."

"If the imperial court does not want to recruit us, then we will go south and capture Suzhou, Haozhou, Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Hezhou and Chuzhou."

Pang Xun tried to take over the Huaixi area north of the Yangtze River, and Xu Ji nodded in agreement:
"As long as we take Pengcheng, the imperial court will not dare to look down on us, and we will be recruited soon."

"But the soldiers from various towns have already marched in. Should we still care about Wang Xianzhi from Suzhou?"

"Of course we have to take care of it." Pang Xun looked at the front army and saw several generals riding on horseback, calmly directing the attack.

That was Chai Cun, a general under Wang Xianzhi, who had some siege tactics.

If they could be pacified, the remaining bandits sent by Wang Xianzhi would all belong to them.

Thinking of this, Zhao Keli, Yao Zhou and Zhang Xingshi rode over one after another.

"Damn it, there are so many bandits in Xuzhou. As soon as we took over several other counties, many bandits came down the mountain to follow us."

"General Jie, even if we don't rely on Wang Xianzhi's bandits, we still have thousands of bandits available!"

Several people laughed, but Pang Xun shook his head and said, "It's still too few. There shouldn't be so few bandits in the Hehuai area."

"They are probably all waiting to see if we can repel the government troops' encirclement and suppression. If we can, countless bandits will surely flock here."

Pang Xun's words won everyone's approval. After all, even they were not optimistic about the current situation.

Just when they were not optimistic, soldiers on draft horses came from the rear army.

"General, General Wang in the south has sent a military disc, saying that the Tianping Army and the Ziqing Army are heading south through Yanzhou and Yizhou, and are only 200 miles away from our army."

"General Wang Jie ordered our army to capture Pengcheng within five days and to defend Xuzhou!"

As soon as Tang Bing finished speaking, Pang Xun heard the crowd's curses.

"The dog government troops are coming pretty fast!"

"How many of them are there?"

"You bastard, you're not afraid of any of them!"

Zhao Keli and the other two cursed, while Pang Xun looked at Xu Ji: "The Tianping Army and Ziqing Army in the north won't have too many troops. Wang Xianzhi doesn't need our help?"

"It's really weird..." Xu Ji touched his short beard and felt it was very strange.

The towns of Zhongwu, Xuanwu, Yicheng in the west and Huainan in the south have a military strength of at least 40,000 to 50,000.

Could it be that Wang Xianzhi was confident that he could defeat the government troops with just a few thousand soldiers in armor and tens of thousands of bandits?

Xu Ji shook his head. He didn't think Wang Xianzhi had such ability.

Not only did they think so, but even Linghu Tao and Yang Fugong, who were commanding the advances of the various towns, thought so too.

"Screw rustle..."

Outside the city of Hong County, Suzhou, the post-war scene looked particularly tragic.

The bodies of the bandits lay scattered on the ground, broken weapons and broken flagpoles were scattered everywhere, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

The Huainan Army’s barracks were set up outside the city, with tents connected to one another and the wailing of wounded soldiers, which was heart-wrenching.

Although Yang Fugong was a eunuch, he was wearing armor at this time and leading more than a hundred armored soldiers through the camp. There was still a lot of blood on his face that had not been washed off.

He walked straight to the tent, opened the curtain without hesitation and walked in.

Inside the tent, Linghu Tao was standing in front of the sand table with a frown on his face, seemingly thinking about something.

Yang Fugong stepped forward, bowed and saluted, and said in a calm tone: "Prime Minister, our army has defeated the left army of the bandits and killed thousands of them, but we have not found any trace of armored soldiers among the bandits."

Linghu Tao raised his head upon hearing this, with a hint of surprise in his eyes: "How could Wang Xianzhi be so weak in attacking Hong County when he was able to capture the other three counties of Suzhou at such a fast speed?"

"Strange..." He whispered to himself, feeling vaguely that things were not simple.

Wang Xianzhi's behavior was too abnormal to be understood by him.

"A general who was a salt smuggler is so cunning..."

Linghu Tao murmured, not knowing whether it was a compliment to Wang Xianzhi.

He turned to look at the sand table, his fingers gently running over the terrain of Suzhou, and murmured in a low voice: "This man led his army north from Yongzhou. His progress was cunning and changeable, so we still have to be careful."

Seeing Linghu Tao's hesitation, Yang Fugong could not help but frown and said, "Prime Minister, the bandits are just a mob. Even if they have some tricks, they can't stand up to our army."

"As long as our army advances steadily and cautiously, we will be able to wipe them out."

"That's right..." Linghu Tao took a deep breath, suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, nodded and said: "Pass the order down, all troops continue to advance, and make sure to recover the lost land as soon as possible, dredge the canal transportation, and besiege the bandits in the Longshou Mountain area."

"I obey your orders!" Yang Fugong bowed and accepted the order, then turned and left the tent.

But at the same time he left, Pang Xun, who had been attacking Pengcheng for a whole day without success, ordered his troops to withdraw and prepare to rest before attacking Pengcheng again the next day.

As the army rushed back to the camp, Chai Cun also walked into his own tent tiredly.

But when he lifted the curtain, he saw someone sitting inside his tent.

"Who are you, and why are you here..."

"it's me."

Shang Rang raised his head, met Chai Cun's surprised gaze, and immediately said:

"How much armor did you get from Pang Xun when you attacked the cities in Xuzhou?"

"Four hundred sets, he wouldn't give me more."

Chai Cun answered the question first, then walked forward and asked in a low voice: "Erlang, why are you here?"

"The commander sent me here." Shang Rang nodded in response, and then asked again: "How many bandits are there under your command?"

"They are almost all dead, but Pang Xun handed over the bandits who joined the army in the past few days to me. There are still nearly ten thousand bandits here."

"Hmm..." Shang Rang nodded, and then slowly spoke under Chai Cun's shocked gaze:
"Take your four hundred armored soldiers and we will leave now..."

(End of this chapter)