The Record of Righteousness

After the main force of the Ming army rested in Zhangqiu for three or five days, the army set out again.

At this time, the remnants of the pseudo-Zhou remnants were only in two places.

One was the two prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou where the pseudo-Zhou court fled to.

The other was the two prefectures of Yanzhou and Xuzhou that were separated by the Ming army.

The Zhangqiu occupied by 100,000 Ming troops just separated the two territories of the pseudo-Zhou, making it impossible for the head and tail to take care of each other.

In the past few days, Zhai Zongyao left 30,000 troops in the two prefectures of Jinan and Qingzhou that were recovered to guard various important passes.

So, the Ming army was divided into two routes, and Zhai Zongyao commanded his 50,000 troops to march towards Yanzhou and Xuzhou.

Fang Daqing personally led 15,700 troops to attack Dengzhou and Laizhou.

In early October, Zhai Zongyao personally led the army to attack Yanzhou.

There were many brave generals in the Liaodong army. Zhai Zongyao's 50,000 troops were divided into five groups again and marched in different directions to recover the prefectures and counties.

The pseudo-Zhou army deployed only more than 10,000 troops in Yanzhou. In addition, the main force of the pseudo-Zhou army was completely defeated in the battle of Zhangqiu. Their pseudo-Zhou small court retreated to Dengzhou, and the army was demoralized and the people were panicked.

Along the way, the Liaodong Ming army was in high spirits and unstoppable. They successively recovered Yanggu, Liangshan, Wenshang, Ningyang, Quhu, Zouxian, Sishui and other counties.

By mid-October, the generals of the Ming army had successively killed Chen Hu, the pious and sincere earl of the pseudo-Zhou, Tian Guangyuan, the loyal earl, Cao Liguo, the Anle earl, Zhao Qixiong, the Huaizhou earl, Li Junyi and other pseudo-nobles. They fought more than 20 battles of various sizes and annihilated more than 5,000 pseudo-Zhou soldiers.

At the same time, hundreds of pseudo-county magistrates and pseudo-county magistrates appointed by the pseudo-Zhou were captured, and countless clerks were also captured.

All the officials of the Pseudo-Zhou were executed by the Ming army, and the local people were not harmed at all. The people were all grateful and offered food and drink to welcome the king's army. The rest of the people who lost their land all begged for mercy and waited for the king's army.

The important passes around Yanzhou were captured by the Ming army. The Ming army was at the gates of the city, and the Pseudo-Zhou was left with only Yanzhou as an isolated city.

At the hour of Mao on October 16, the sun rose slightly, and the morning cocks had not yet crowed.

The central army where General Zhai Zongyao was located ordered the whole army to launch a general attack. After three days of bloody battles, the 5,000 Pseudo-Zhou troops in Yanzhou were completely wiped out.

The Pseudo-Zhou was doomed. Wuyuan Hou Song Yao committed suicide after his defeat, and the pseudo-prefect Zhu Guozhi killed his entire family with his own hands and burned himself to death. The entire prefecture and county of Yanzhou fell into the hands of the Ming army.

After recovering Yanzhou, Zhai Zongyao left three generals and 20,000 troops to guard Yanzhou to suppress the remnants of the pseudo-Zhou who had not been eliminated secretly.

Zhai Zongyao also transferred more than 5,000 troops guarding Jinan to fill the military strength, and then led 30,000 troops to attack Xuzhou Prefecture in the south.

The war between the two sides was in full swing.

Speaking of Fang Daqing, his Huai'an Ming army went to Laizhou Prefecture.

The pseudo-Zhou empress fled to Dengzhou Prefecture in the east.

Even if the territory of their Great Zhou was only Laizhou, Dengzhou and Xuzhou, which was being attacked, the pseudo-emperor still wanted to change Dengzhou to the capital of the Great Zhou, and the standards and style of being an emperor were indispensable.

As Laizhou was the last line of defense of the pseudo-Zhou capital, they naturally gathered heavy troops in Laizhou Prefecture, robbed the people's food to serve as military rations to solve the urgent needs, and just waited for the Ming army to attack.

Therefore, after half a month of attack, the Ming army under Fang Daqing only conquered three county towns in Laizhou Prefecture.

The pseudo-Zhou army fought back desperately and recaptured another county town.

In half a month, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, with a loss of about 3,000 people.

. . .

Let’s talk about another side. At this time, it was in an unknown village in Chongming County, Laizhou Prefecture.

There was a dilapidated temple at the east entrance of the village.

The north wind gradually rose, the cold penetrated into people’s hearts, the autumn leaves were bleak, and the mountains were lonely.

The two wooden doors of the dilapidated temple creaked in the wind, raising a cloud of dust.

There were several Buddha statues covered with spider webs and dust in the temple, with two broken cushions placed below and a pile of hay next to them.

I saw a skinny old man with gray hair lying on the hay.

In front of the Buddha statue covered with spider webs stood a sturdy man in ragged clothes and an old man with silver hair and a sigh of pity.

The old man lying there had his skin tightly bound to his bones, his eyes sunken, and his purple lips cracked.

The veins and acupuncture points on his body were all black, showing a strange texture. There was not a trace of blood on his body, and he looked like he would die at any time.

But he saw that his eyebrows were like swords, his eyes were like stars, and his vicissitudes of life were carved with wrinkles, counting the glory of the past, but now there was only endless desolation.

He turned his head with difficulty, and his once clear and sharp eyes became yellow and turbid.

The old voice came out, and a large mouthful of blood came out, and the old man standing beside him hurriedly went up to wipe it for him.

He said to the sturdy man:

"I guess your uncle has already escaped with Shi Xiang and Jiancheng"

"I asked you to go with them but you refused. How could I not know what you want?"

The sturdy man laughed, his voice was as loud and rough as thunder.

"Don't worry, godfather. With Uncle Ouyang and his two disciples, Jiancheng and Shixiang don't have to worry about their safety. They must be leaving Laizhou Prefecture soon."

"But godfather, you worry too much. It is my duty to wait here. How could he have any intentions?"

The skinny old man on the haystack laughed at himself, and then ordered the gray-haired old man standing by him.

"I know your thoughts best..."

"Old Ma, give those things to him. My Taishan Sect has successors."

Old Ma's hand, which was wiping the blood on the old man's face, paused obviously, frowned and hesitated:

"Master, this is the treasure of our Taishan Sect"

My dear, there is more to come after this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!