Lord: Start with a copy of Water Margin

During these five days, in addition to bombarding the city walls of Yidu every day, Zhao Zhen also sent Dai Zong to Bian Jing to deliver official documents to request merit.

Le He had even sneaked into Bian Jing to gather information as early as when Zhao Zhen invaded Kouzhou.

After Dai Zong delivered the official document, he went to have fun and meet someone outside Suanzao Gate as agreed.

Outside the Suanzao Gate, [Street Rat] Zhang San and [Green Grass Snake] Li Si were very familiar with each other. Under their guidance, Lehe rented a house as a place to stay.

After Dai Zong secretly met with Le He, he did not go to visit Gao Qiu, but rushed back to the city of Yidu at night.

"Brother Dai Zong, what is the situation in Bianjing?"

"Sir, Brother Lehe said that the four great bandits are the most talked about in the streets of Bianjing. In addition to Song Jiang and Tian Hu, Wang Qing of Huaixi and Fang La of Jiangnan are now more powerful." Dai Zong replied.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen asked, "What news does Secretary Tong have?"

"The news has spread all over Bianjing. After the Privy Councilor conquered Lingchuan and Gaoping, the army went to Gaizhou. Now they are splitting their troops into two groups, going east to Huguan and west to Jinning. I heard that the situation is very good."

"What details can be found out?"

"Brother Lehe has a letter here, and inside it are soldiers from two groups." Dai Zong said as he took out the letter and handed it to Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen took the letter and started reading.

The records of both Tong Guan and Tian Hu are very detailed.

Under the city of Gaizhou, Niu Wenzhong, a subordinate of Tian Hu, led his men to guard. This man was also a well-known figure in the green forest, and he gathered a large area. Later, he surrendered all the gold and silver he had robbed in the rivers and lakes to Tian Hu, who appointed him as the Privy Councilor. This man had four powerful generals under him, Fang Qiong, An Shirong, Chu Heng, and Yu Yulin.

There were also four lieutenant generals, a total of sixteen lieutenant generals. They were:

Yang Duan, Guo Xin, Su Ji, Zhang Xiang, Fang Shun, Shen An, Lu Yuan, Wang Ji, Shi Jing, Qin Sheng, Mo Zhen, Sheng Ben, He Ren, Cao Hong, Shi Xun, Sang Ying.

He had 30,000 soldiers and occupied the city of Gaizhou.

Tong Guan also found out about the troops. The imperial guards of Bianjing dispatched 60,000 troops, led by the imperial general Feng Mei and the imperial general Bi Sheng, who were the vanguards. He also recruited Duan Pengju, the military supervisor of Suizhou, and Chen Zhu, the military supervisor of Zhengzhou, to lead 10,000 troops to form a rear guard and escort grain and grass.

There was also a 20,000-man Shengjie Army led by Liu Guangshi, deputy general manager of the Fuyan Road cavalry and infantry, and the Wuzhou governor and infantry commander Wang Bing, Wang Huan, Wang Weizhong, and Xin Xingzhong, all of whom were capable and skilled generals of the Western Army. When Tong Guan followed Wang Hou to open up Xihe Road, these people joined his army.

When Tong Guan was fighting against Tian Hu, he asked for permission to transfer these people to assist him.

It was these generals who were accustomed to fighting that made it possible for the heavily guarded Gaizhou to be captured in less than half a month. Out of the 30,000 people in the city, less than a thousand people broke through. From Niu Wenzhong and other generals, only Yu Yulin and Sheng Ben escaped.

Now Duan Pengju and Chen Zhu are stationed in Gaizhou. Tong Guan divides the troops into two routes. The eastern route is commanded by Liu Guangshi, with Wang Huan and Wang Weizhong as generals. They lead 30,000 troops to cross Huguan in the east, take Zhaode, and go straight to the bandit's nest from Lucheng and Yushe. Then they go from Dagu to Linxian to join forces to suppress the bandits.

Tong Guan led the army to the west, took Jinning, and went out of Huoshan. He took Fenyang, and went straight to the northwest of Weisheng via Jiexiu, Pingyao, and Qixian. The two armies joined forces in Linxian, took Weisheng, and captured Tian Hu.

Now there is fierce fighting going on day and night in Huguan and Jinning.

At the foot of Huguan Mountain, Wang Huan showed his might and killed two guards of Huguan, Wu Su and Wu Cheng, in one day. Shan Shiqi saw that two generals were killed and closed himself off. They have been at war for five or six days.

Tong Guan spent several days filling the city with earth bags. Taking advantage of the slackness of the defense in the northeast of the city, he sneaked onto the earth bags at night, climbed up the city walls, and killed the nine generals guarding the city, Zuo Bosen, Yu Cheng, E Quanzhong, An Renmei, Ru Tingqi, Yuan Jingda, Shan Jinglong, Zan Tongmei, and Tuo Zhao.

The third king, Tian Biao, opened the north gate and clashed, then fled for his life, and the rest of the generals surrendered.

Tong Guan sent someone to announce the victory, and the date was only two days ago. It took five or six days for the message to reach Zhao Zhen. After reading it, Zhao Zhen sighed: "It seems that Tian Hu is useless. It has only been a short time, but he has already shown signs of decline."

Dai Zong said: "Now in Bianjing City, Tong Guan's reputation is being spread everywhere, but few people mention him here, sir."

Zhao Zhen said: "We really can't underestimate the heroes of the world. Now it seems that the elite imperial guards and the Western Army guarding the border are experienced in fighting. The Qingzhou bandits can't delay any longer."

As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Hui Niang said, "Sir, I think we should slow down our offensive now."

"Oh? What does Hui Niang mean?"

Liu Hui Niang said, "Sir, Wang Qing of Huaixi and Fang La of Jiangnan are very powerful, so the court must be anxious to eliminate them. With Song Jiang in Qingzhou, the court will definitely not dare to transfer you. The task of sending troops to suppress the bandits will naturally fall on Tong Guan, who is going to eliminate Tian Hu."

Zhao Zhen said, "My lady, even if we kill Song Jiang, the court won't dare to touch me for a while. If the court wants to reduce the power of the vassal states, I will have left long ago. If we don't kill Song Jiang now, it will be difficult to do anything when he gets in touch with the court. At that time, it will be very troublesome to have him in Qingzhou to hold us back."

"Sir, although we have slowed down our offensive, it does not mean we will not do anything."

As she spoke, Liu Huiniang walked to the sand table and pointed at Qingzhou, saying, "Look, sir. In addition to Linqu, which has been captured, and Yidu, which is being attacked, Qingzhou also has Shouguang, Boxing, Qiancheng, and Linzi. Qiancheng and Linzi were attacked by the Hui people of Zhengyi Village, and the remaining Shouguang is close to Weizhou. Why don't you dispatch Guan Sheng to attack Shouguang and then attack Boxing. There are no Qingzhou bandit leaders stationed in these two places, and there are few soldiers and generals. One battle can win."

"Then they went south to join forces with Zhengyi Village to sweep Qiancheng and Linzi, and finally joined forces to go south to hunt in Yidu. After that, it didn't matter whether Song Jiang died or surrendered."

Zhao Zhen's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said, "Hui Niang is right. If it's just Yidu, even if the court recruits Song Jiang, Qingzhou will never be given to him. When the time comes, send him out of the country with courtesy and send him to the court to fight Wang Qing and Fang La. Jingdong Road will be in my pocket."

After saying that, Zhao Zhen turned to Dai Zong and said, "Brother, I'm sorry to trouble you. Go to Dengzhou to get Guan Sheng's troops and ask him to do as ordered."

Dai Zong took Zhao Zhen's handwritten order, performed a ritual, and rode quickly to mobilize troops.

After Dai Zong left, Zhao Zhen pointed to a place and said, "Hui Niang, it's time to wipe out the troops here, right?"

Liu Hui Niang looked at the place Zhao Zhen pointed at and said, "Sir, Li Jun's navy now has 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers and 200 to 300 large and small ships. The Zi River is not as wide as the Liangshan Marsh. If a fight breaks out, the navy will have to come out in full force. Generals Zhang Heng and Zhang Shun are familiar with him, so why not persuade him to surrender?"

Zhao Zhen said, "At first I also sent people to recruit this [Hunjiang Dragon] Li Jun, but unfortunately he declined and joined Song Jiang instead. I'm afraid he's unwilling to do so."

"It's a different time now. The Qingzhou bandits are at their wit's end and will soon be destroyed. It's possible that he will change his mind now."

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "I will write a letter and ask Zhang Heng and Zhang Shun to persuade him and see what he says. If he surrenders, let him be the commander of an army. If he does not surrender, we must destroy him as soon as possible. This will prevent Song Jiang from having the intention of crossing to Goryeo in the north."

"Also, Song Jiang looted four states, and most of the wealth is in Yidu City. We must make him spit it out as well."

Liu Hui Niang said: "Except for conquering the city and taking it ourselves, we can only exchange it with the captured Qingzhou bandit leader."