From beggar to emperor: I am not Zhu Yuanzhang

After the two sent troops, Zhao Huang indeed sent troops to fight. After a battle, Sun Duan and Zhang Xiong were defeated. This was an overestimation of his own strength. Zhao Huang's generals Sutang and Qilang led troops to Huoshan (now Brown Mountain in Wuhu, Anhui). Yuan Xi suggested that Yang Xingmi immediately send troops to Huoshan to surround him without attacking and holding on, causing a sense of cowardice in the Xuanzhou army. The illusion of war.

Su Tang, Qi Lang and others fell into the trap and relaxed their vigilance. Yang Xingmi saw the right opportunity and took action suddenly, defeating the Xuanzhou army in one fell swoop.

Zhao Huang's brother Zhao Ganzhi was guarding Chizhou (now Chizhou, Anhui) at the time. Hearing the news, he hurriedly came to rescue him, but he returned defeated. Xuanzhou was not saved, and his Chizhou fell into the hands of Yang Xingmi.

When news of the defeat came, Xuanzhou was under martial law overnight and entered a wartime state.

Yang Xingmi's army quickly surrounded Xuanzhou due to the swiftness of his troops. However, because Zhao Huang was prepared for it, Xuanzhou was unable to be breached. The two sides were in a stalemate for a full year.

In June, the land of southern Anhui has already become a lush southern country. It is humid, muggy and breathless.

The city of Xuanzhou is lifeless, without a trace of life, and has been without food for several months. The city was running out of ammunition and food, the plague was rampant, and the dead were buried in the city, even to the point of cannibalism.

The tragedy in Yangzhou happened again in Xuanzhou. In this desperate situation, many people's spirits collapsed. After all, after struggling for a year, there is still no hope, and some people who are not determined are wavering.

Xuanzhou

It was dark in the dead of night, the breeze blew across the city, and the red lantern hanging on the flagpole swayed slightly.

The whole city fell into deathly silence, a scene of doomsday.

In the darkness, several figures appeared on the street, followed by more and more black figures, looking like a team of people. Soon they arrived at the door of Zhao Huang's house. They saw the leading figure lighting a torch, and the blazing flames illuminated everyone's faces. These figures were all soldiers guarding the city.

The leader is the commander Zhou Jinsi. He can't stand it anymore. If he continues to fight, he will only die. In order to survive, he secretly contacted a group of soldiers to plan a mutiny, arrest Zhao Huang, and surrender.

Zhou Jinsi raised the torch and gave the order: "Do it——"

A group of people behind shouted and rushed to the gate. Someone had already climbed over the wall, jumped into the courtyard, opened the gate, and guided everyone to rush in. The noise outside woke up Zhao Huang from his sleep. He rolled out of bed and hurriedly got dressed. As soon as he ran out of the door, he was blocked by Zhou Jinsi.

Zhao Huang was surprised when he saw that it was Zhou Jinsi: "Zhou Jinsi, you actually dare to rebel!"

Zhou Jinsi didn't talk nonsense to him and waved his hand: "Take it."

Zhao Huang was captured, Xuanzhou changed hands, and Zhou Jinsi became the new master.

Zhou Jin missed Zhao Huang's kindness to him in the past and couldn't bear to kill him, so he locked him up. Zhao Huang found an opportunity to escape from prison and escape from the city, planning to run to Yangzhou to join Sun Ru. As a result, he was unlucky and was captured by the fortified general Tian Kai1 ​​of Yang Xingmi.

However, Zhou Jinsi was not capable of controlling the whole city, and Zhao Huang's subordinates were dissatisfied with him, which led to widespread rumors and panic in the city. Some of Zhao Huang's cronies got together and discussed another mutiny to unseat Zhou Jinsi.

A few days later, another round of mutiny broke out. The rebels arrested Zhou Jinsi, opened the city gate and surrendered to Yang Xingmi outside the city. They also surrendered with the imprisoned Zhao Huang, and Xuanzhou was declared lost.

After the Luzhou army entered the city, they looted for three days according to the old rules. All the generals were busy robbing the gold and silver treasures. Only the thirteenth old man, Xu Wen, turned a blind eye to the gold and silver. As soon as he entered the city, he was busy collecting the treasures from Zhao Huang and others' houses. Grain, porridge sheds were set up to help hungry people.

Yang Xingmi was greatly surprised by Xu Wen's unusual performance. In his impression, Xu Wen had always been low-key, taciturn and unsmiling. Among the thirteen brothers, his sense of existence is the weakest, and many brothers cannot even remember him. Of course, he also has the least military exploits, and has almost no meritorious achievements. This is very disadvantageous in the troubled times where seniority is used.

However, what Xu Wen did after entering the city left a deep impression on Yang Xingmi. Everyone was scrambling for gold and silver, and only Xu Wen was collecting food to help the hungry people. What is this called?

This is called winning people's hearts. Of course, you can also say it is buying people's hearts. On the surface, it seems to be to win the hearts and minds of Yang Xingmi, but in reality? Doesn't Xu Wen have his own little Jiujiu?

While Yang Xingmi was moved, he also felt a trace of fear in his heart.

In the battle of Xuanzhou, Yang Xingmi not only opened up new territory, but also gained a lot of talents. For example, Zhou Ben, Li Decheng and others under Zhao Huang all surrendered to him, and these people later became important subordinates of Yang Xingmi. Some people even served the Yang family for decades, and were still assisting his sons until Yang Xingmi's death. They were really dedicated until their death.

After annihilating his colleague Zhao Huang and annexing Xuanzhou, Yang Xingmi went to the court to ask for merit and received a letter of appointment as the Xuanshe Observer. This kind of open "black and white" had become the norm in the late Tang Dynasty, and the court had no choice but to admit the facts. You can't help it even if you don't admit it. These princes have soldiers, money and territory. They can grant any official they want without the approval of the court.

The court was helpless with them.

Hearing that Zhao Huang had been captured, Zhu Wen, who was far away in Kaifeng, became anxious. This Zhao Huang was his buddy and they had a good relationship. Is it appropriate for you, Yang Xingmi, to do this?

So Zhu Wen wrote a letter to Yang Xingmi, hoping that he would let Zhao Huang go for Lao Zhu's sake. We were all officials in the same dynasty, so we shouldn't make it difficult for him to come to power.

Yang Xingmi read the letter, threw it on the table, and said to Yuan Xi, "This guy named Zhu wants me to let Zhao Huang go. What do you think, sir?"

Yuan Xi pondered for a moment and said: "How can Zhao Huang give up after losing Xuanzhou? If he lets him go, it will be like letting the tiger return to the mountain. If he comes back, what will the general do? In Yuan's humble opinion, it is better to kill him This will prevent future troubles.”

Yang Xingmi thought about it and felt that this was the case. If Zhao Huang was released, this guy would definitely ask Zhu Wen to borrow troops and fight with him again.

It took a lot of effort to kill him, and we can't let him come back to life again.

After making up his mind, Yang Xingmi agreed to Zhu Wen's request and sent Zhao Huang to Kaifeng on a certain day. However, at a [-]% discount——

Only Zhao Huang’s head.

When Zhu Wen saw the black box on the table, he felt an ominous feeling in his heart.

When he opened it, Zhu Wen was petrified and couldn't say a word for a long time.

Zhu Wen felt humiliated, thinking that you, surnamed Yang, have stiff wings and dare to do this to me, Old Zhu. Just wait and let me, Old Zhu, teach you how to behave.

Yang Xingmi won the first battle and won the victory. He captured Xuan and Chi Prefectures in one fell swoop and found a place to stay on the south bank of the Yangtze River. The news soon reached the ears of Sun Ru from Yangzhou. Sun Ru slapped his thigh and said, "It's finally time for me, Old Sun, to show up. My surname is Yang, I'll make you look good."

Sun Ru was a sinister person who liked to catch his opponents off guard. He saw that Yang Xingmi's main force was in Xuanzhou and Luzhou's lair was empty, so he immediately hatched a plan.