Chapter 700: Huang Family Surrenders the City
Chapter 700: Huang Family Surrenders the City
Li Xiaogong's army quickly retreated westward, all the way to Panshi County, Ziyang County.
At this time Zhou Faming also discovered the weakness of King Tang's army. As long as their supplies were cut off, the enemy would have to retreat.
He immediately sent a pigeon letter to Nanjun, and then from Nanjun to Jiangdu.
In addition to entering Shu to fight, the Sui army in the south of the Yangtze River also launched a war of expansion to the north in Jingxiang. The Sui army first captured Fangling County without bloodshed, and then marched north, with 30,000 troops pointing to the four counties of Nanyang.
The Four Nanyang Counties refer to the four counties under the jurisdiction of the Dengzhou General Administration Office, including Nanyang County, Xiyang County, Yuyang County and Huai'an County. Although they are under the jurisdiction of the Sui Dynasty in Luoyang, they are not actually controlled by Wang Shichong at present, that is, no troops are stationed there.
Wang Shichong was currently still busy dealing with Dou Jiande's army moving southward and the Wagang Army expanding westward. In addition, Luoyang had sufficient food and material storage, and Wang Shichong had no urgent need to collect taxes from the local areas. He had no time to take care of the Nanyang counties, so that the four counties of Dengzhou were in a blank area.
But a blank area does not mean that there is no force occupying it. Currently, Zhu Can occupies Xiyang County, the Wu brothers occupy Nanyang County and Yuyang County, and Lu Zushang controls Huai'an County.
Sun Lei, governor of Xiangzhou, led an army of 30,000 to the north. The first battle was in Nanyang County. Nanyang County was occupied by the Wu brothers, which was their place of origin. After being defeated by Shi Wansui in the first year of Daye, the Wu brothers ran to seek refuge with Li Zitong. Unexpectedly, twelve years later, they came back again.
Li Zi Tong's army was wiped out by Zhang Xutuo, and Li Zi Tong fled with only 8,000 remnants of the army. Li Zi Tong died of illness on the way, and the 8,000 remnants of the army were divided up by several generals. Zhu Can got 3,000 troops, and the Wu brothers got 5,000 troops. With these remnants of the army, they seized the opportunity and occupied the four counties of Dengzhou which were short of troops. But soon, Lu Zushang, the governor of Huai'an County, could not bear the harassment from the soldiers, so he raised an army in anger and drove away the 1,000 troops sent by the Wu brothers to occupy Huai'an County.
The Wu brothers were also unable to conquer the enemy and had to give up Huai'an County.
Currently, the Wu brothers have only 10,000 troops under their command. They are a typical "three-no" army: no training, no weapons, and no combat morale. This kind of army is also called a mob. It looks like a large group, but it will be defeated at the sight of blood and run faster than anyone else.
The Wu brothers also knew about the situation, but they had no ability to change it. They had no resources of any kind, and only a few thousand soldiers with extremely low morale. He allowed them to plunder several counties before they reluctantly followed him to Nanyang.
More importantly, the Wu brothers no longer had any desire to compete for supremacy. After arriving in Nanyang, they neither trained the army nor forged weapons. Instead, they indulged in debauchery all day long, living happily from day to day.
The most powerful family in Nanyang County is the Huang family. From the Han Dynasty to the present day, there have been strong men in every era. The current head of the Huang family is Huang Shaosi, who is nearly seventy years old and already old, but he has a nephew named Huang Junhan, who is a powerful man.
Back then, Zhai Rang was about to be killed, but Huang Junhan, who was in charge of the prison, saw that Zhai Rang was a talented person and released him without authorization.
Later, Huang Junhan also joined the Wagang Army, but after Zhai Rang died, Huang Junhan left the Wagang Army and returned to Nanyang County, where he served as the Nanyang County Lieutenant.
The Wu brothers led an army of 5,000 to Nanyang. Huang Junhan knew that he could not resist, so in order to protect the people, he surrendered and offered Nanyang County. The Wu brothers appointed him as General Wuyi and commanded 2,000 local troops.
Huang Junhan would never submit to a mob of warlords like the Wu brothers. On the one hand, he endured and on the other hand, he waited for an opportunity.
The Huang family also had a branch in Xiangyang. When 30,000 Sui troops from the south of the Yangtze River marched north, Huang Junhan immediately got the news.
He immediately found the head of the family, Huang Shaosi.
"Uncle San, I just got the news that tens of thousands of Jin Wang's troops have crossed the Han River and started the Northern Expedition!"
Huang Shaosi sighed with joy, "God has a good eye! The Jin King's army has finally headed north, and the good days of the Wu brothers are about to come to an end!"
Huang Junhan said: "Uncle San, this is our Huang family's opportunity. My nephew wants to contact the Jin Wang army and offer Nanyang City."
Huang Junhan has five hundred servants under his command, whom he brought back from the Wagang Army. Whenever the time comes, they can transform into five hundred elite soldiers, but they took off their armor when they left Wagang. If they want to accomplish anything, they must have armor.
However, there are a large number of armors and weapons hidden in the basement of the Huang family mansion. Huang Junhan found the head of the family today because he wanted these armors.
Huang Shaosi nodded, "You can take the weapons and armor away. You have full authority over this matter!"
Huang Junhan was not in a hurry to take out weapons and armor. Everyone was a motley crowd, but his army suddenly put on armor. The Wu brothers would be the first to cause trouble.
Huang Junhan sent his brother Huang Junxuan to Xinye County to contact the Jin Wang army.
As soon as Sun Lei's army arrived in Xinye County, they received a report that someone from the Huang family wanted to see them.
Sun Lei certainly knew that the Huang family was the richest family in Nanyang, so he immediately met with Huang Junxuan. After reading Huang Junhan's letter, Sun Lei turned around and asked the Chief Clerk Fang Xuanling, "Does the Chief Clerk find it credible?" Fang Xuanling was appointed as the Surveillance Envoy of Jinghu Road. During this northern expedition, he also temporarily served as the Chief Clerk of Xiangzhou Army.
Fang Xuanling nodded and smiled after reading the letter, "It should be credible. After all, they are a wealthy family with hundreds of years of history. They actually pledged allegiance to the rebels. If it gets out, it will not only make people laugh, but also humiliate their ancestors. The Huang family is more anxious to get rid of the Wu brothers than we are."
Sun Lei nodded, "I'm just worried that if the secret is leaked, it will backfire."
Fang Xuanling pointed at Rang County on the sand table and said, "The Wu brothers have stationed 2,000 troops in Rang County. I suggest that you ignore Rang County for the time being and send 20,000 troops to bypass Rang County and cooperate with the Huang family's internal support to capture Nanyang. Once the main force of the enemy is destroyed, the 2,000 troops in Rang County will be like ants and can be crushed to death with one foot."
Sun Lei was overjoyed, thinking this was a good idea. He immediately asked Fang Xuanling to lead 10,000 troops to guard Xinye to prevent the Rang County army from attacking the logistics. He then led 20,000 troops with five days of dry food, bypassed Rang County from the east, and in two days, he arrived directly at Nanyang County, 150 miles away.
It was already dark at this time. Sun Lei led an army of 20,000 to ambush ten miles south of Nanyang County. According to the agreement, they set fire to a straw pile in the southwest direction. From the top of Nanyang City, it was just a small fire, but this small fire told Huang Junhan that the main force of the Sui army had arrived.
Huang Junhan was standing on the south city wall at this time, silently watching the fire in the distance.
At this time, General Liu Sheng came over and said with a smile: "It seems there is a fire over there!"
Huang Junhan smiled and said, "It wasn't a fire. Someone was burning ashes in the field to make fertilizer."
"I see!"
Huang Junhan didn't want to chat with him, so he found an excuse and went downstairs.
Although the Wu brothers lived a life of debauchery, they were decisive when it came to defending the city. Their troops were stationed at the north and south gates, and local troops were not allowed to guard the gates to prevent them from rebelling and surrendering the city. Liu Sheng was a trusted general of the Wu brothers.
Huang Junhan rushed back to the mansion and immediately took out hundreds of sets of armor and weapons hidden in the basement with his men. He had five hundred personal soldiers put them on and waited patiently for the agreed time.
Time passed little by little, and gradually it was three o'clock in the morning. The whole Nanyang County was silent.
Huang Junhan led five hundred soldiers out of the mansion and rushed towards the South Gate. Both sides of the gate were filled with soldiers sleeping against the wall. Although there were a thousand people guarding the South Gate, in fact, most of them were sleeping soundly on the top of the city wall.
Huang Junhan's men controlled dozens of soldiers, tied their hands and feet, gagged them, threw them into a yard not far away, and assigned a dozen people to guard them.
Leaving fifty men to open the city gate, Huang Junhan led the rest of his men to quickly go up to the city. The hundred or so soldiers in front of the city tower were caught off guard and were immediately captured.
At this time, Liu Sheng came out from the tower and shouted, "General Huang, what happened?"
He didn't react, Huang Junhan came forward with a spear and said with a smile: "The two General Wu asked me to guard the South City!"
“No way, I didn’t get it.”
Liu Sheng suddenly realized something was wrong. Why were Huang Junhan's soldiers all wearing armor?
He realized that something was wrong and turned around to escape, but it was too late. Huang Junhan swung his spear and "puff!" pierced Liu Sheng's back.
Huang Junhan ordered sternly: "Light the fire, open the city!"
Three fires were lit on the top of the city, the city gates were opened, and the drawbridge was lowered.
At this time, Sun Lei led 20,000 troops and moved north to within two miles of the city gate.
Sun Lei saw the fire and shouted, "Go into the city!"
Twenty thousand soldiers shouted and rushed towards Nanyang City like a tide.
(End of this chapter)