Astral Apostle

   Chapter 259 Changes

   passed a message on behalf of the imperial court, Cao Sheng waited for several days before he was finally summoned privately by Fan Zong again.

   Fan Zong's attitude was a lot warmer this time, and Cao Sheng was invited to take a seat.

   He gave a few words of greeting, and then went to the topic, solemnly said:

   "That Chen thief gathered a crowd to rebel, and I was just coerced. In fact, I didn't have the intention of rebelling. I wanted to abandon the dark and surrender to the light early on. Now that the court looks up to me, I am willing to be recruited and be an internal response for the official army."

   Cao Sheng was overjoyed when he heard the words: "Then the thief Chen raised the flag of rebellion and acted backward, and sooner or later failed. Brother Fan, this is a wise choice!"

   Fan Zong waved his hand to interrupt and continued:

"However, now that thief Chen is so powerful after all, it is not easy for me to fight against him. It is not easy to do this. If the rumors leak, he will surely die without a place to be buried. I can only open the gate here for the convenience of the officers and soldiers. When the imperial court takes this place and drives straight in, I will not be able to return to the Dragon King Village, I must retreat to the rear and not fight on the front line.”

   "I can't decide this matter, I have to report back to the court."

   Cao Sheng hurriedly replied, he was not afraid of bargaining, anyway, it was not him who made the final decision.

   Fan Zong nodded and said solemnly:

"Although there is an old saying that the person who knows the current affairs is a handsome man, the thief Chen is fierce and powerful, if I turn my back on him, I will definitely incur revenge. But although I am a green forest and grass robber, I have a heart to serve the country with fists and fists, and I want to be loyal to the emperor. Helping the community and crops, the blood is hard to cool... I can't share the sky with the rebels!"

   "Okay! Big brother is loyal to the country, distinguishes right from wrong, and is really a first-class husband!"

  Cao Sheng echoed the praise and gave him a flattery.

   The two chatted for a while before Cao Sheng left excitedly.

  …

   After a few days, Fan Zong received a letter from the officers and soldiers, expressing his acceptance of his conditions, and the signature was Cheng Liqing, the commander of the imperial troops and horses.

   Next, Fan Zong and Cheng Liqing, through Cao Sheng, the intermediary, kept sending and receiving letters, conspiring to cooperate with each other and conquer this pass.

   In order to avoid being seen by others, the imperial troops and horses feinted to attack the pass from time to time, forming a stalemate.

  The days went by, and finally the day of the conspiracy agreement came.

  According to the agreement, Fan Zong needed to send his subordinates to open the gate, control the portal, welcome officers and soldiers to enter, and occupy this pass.

  Things were going well. The officers and soldiers approached quietly while taking advantage of the darkness. Fan Zong got the signal and attacked from within.

   When Cheng Liqing led his troops into the pass, he saw that the battle was over, and the officers and soldiers completely controlled the pass.

   He was quite satisfied, and he was very proud of his own strategy.

"This will be a little tricky, and I will take this place without any blood. Hehe, the bandits in this Dragon King Village, in my opinion, only Chen Thief is a character, and the rest of the bunch of muddy legs are unusable turkeys. Waggle, mentally retarded, rude and stupid."

  Cheng Liqing smiled at the adjutant.

   As a pacifist envoy dispatched by the imperial court, he despises these reckless people in his heart. He is consciously proficient in the art of war, brave and good at fighting, and has a good education. How can he be compared with a group of ignorant and incompetent pirates.

   At this time, Fan Zong came in a hurry and reported his urgency:

   "General Cheng, there was a small accident. Fang Zhen, the commander of this pass, saw that the situation was not good. He had already abandoned the pass with a group of leaders and personal soldiers. We were unable to capture this person."

  Cheng Liqing frowned: "This person reacts quickly."

   Fan Zong said: "General, this party is really the sixth master of the cottage. He has good skills, and he is also the sworn brother of the thief Chen. If he catches this person, he will definitely threaten the thief Chen, and he cannot be allowed to escape like this."

   "Well, it makes sense. I understand that this bandit can't run very far. It's better to chase after the victory... Quickly gather your troops and leave the big army here to guard the gate, and the rest will follow me to chase the bandit leader!"

   Cheng Liqing agreed and ordered immediately.

   Soon, he led thousands of troops out of the pass, followed the scattered footprints on the road, and chased the enemy troops who had abandoned the pass and fled.

  The group, clothed in moonlight, chased all the way, followed the footprints to the rugged trail, and finally found a group of defeated thieves in front of a forest.

   "Ha, thieves go away!"

   Cheng Liqing was overjoyed and ordered the soldiers and horses to kill the generals.

   This group of thieves’ faces changed drastically, they headed into the woods and ran away in a panic.

   Seeing this scene, Cheng Liqing didn't care that Lin Mo entered, and called for troops to chase after him, all he wanted to do was capture the leader of the bandit army.

   However, after chasing in the woods for a while, the officers and soldiers were always hung behind, and gradually got separated. Cheng Liqing realized that something was wrong.

   "No, I'm afraid there is a fraud!"

   Cheng Liqing's eyelids jumped, and he woke up suddenly, and he was about to order the entire army to assemble and withdraw.

   But at this moment, the sound of shouting and killing suddenly broke out one after another in the forest.

   "Go on!"

   A large number of thieves and soldiers emerged from the soil, surrounded and killed in all directions, and immediately caught the officers and soldiers by surprise.

   "Hahaha, the officials and thieves are subdued, sons, kill with me!"

  Fang Zhen broke out of the ground, laughing non-stop, holding a copper-headed stick and rushed into the army of officers and soldiers.

  After two years of practicing advanced martial arts, his martial arts have also made great progress. According to the percentage system, it has risen from 88 to about 93, and he has initially entered the ranks of top masters.

   "No, it's a trick!"

  Cheng Liqing was horrified, and quickly turned back with his personal soldiers. After a **** battle, he finally broke out of the siege and fled.

   He managed to get out of the woods with great difficulty. There were only two or three hundred of the thousands of people around him, and the rest were all caught in an ambush.

  Cheng Liqing didn't care about anything else, ran wild with the remnants, and returned to the pass on the same way, to return to the main force.

   However, when they approached the pass, they were stunned to find that the fire was blazing into the sky, screaming again and again, and there were bursts of burnt smell.

   And the officers and soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the pass disappeared.

   "Oops, things have changed in Guan, and the way back is broken!"

  Cheng Liqing paled in shock.

   Before he could react, shouts of killing suddenly exploded on both sides of the road.

"kill!"

   It turned out that there had long been shanzhai minions ambushing here, and the number was far greater than this remnant, and they swarmed directly.

  Cheng Liqing was frightened and angry, carrying an iron-backed spear, and tried his best to kill several minions. In the end, he was outnumbered and tied to the ground.

  …

  The fire in the pass burned for a full night and almost completely destroyed the place.

  The corpses of officers and soldiers were stacked and glued together, most of which were burned to death and choked to death. The large army of officers and soldiers who occupied the pass was almost completely destroyed by a fire.

   However, this is a military fortress, and there are no residential buildings around, but it has never affected the villagers.

   Until this time, the cottage soldiers and horses hidden in all directions returned to the pass and cleaned the battlefield.

   On the other side, the minions led the disheveled Cheng Liqing into the temporary tent.

   Entering the military tent, Cheng Liqing raised his eyes and saw that Fang Zhen, Fan Zong and others who were guarding the pass were all present. His eyes were red, and he didn't know where he was tricked.

   "Fan Zong! You son of a bitch, it turned out to be a fraudulent surrender!"

  Cheng Liqing roared furiously and struggled hard. If he hadn't been tied tightly, he would have rushed up and tried his best.

   Fan Zong heard the words and sneered:

"The soldiers are always deceitful, your skills are not as good as people's, what's there to say? I have been in the green forest for decades, how can I go to the court with just a few words from you, this is also a trick, who can blame? If you lose your mind and go crazy, you will turn to the court!"

   At that time, when he received a letter from the imperial court persuading him to surrender and recruit An, Fan Zong had a scruple, that is, he will count.

   In fact, under normal circumstances, Fan Zong does not reject recruiting.

   However, in the current war situation, the imperial court was clearly at a disadvantage, and was beaten by the master of his own village. Moreover, Chen Feng's bravery shocked the world. Wei Jia Hai is truly a hero of the world. If he turns his back on this person, there is no way to go to heaven.

  There are these two factors, and I still "give up the darkness and turn to the light", isn't that the birthday star who eats arsenic?

  Although Fan Zong was not very successful in the Dragon King Village, he didn't intend to seek death, so he might as well take this opportunity to do meritorious deeds and show his loyalty.

   So how to choose, he already knew.

   However, Fan Zong just reported the situation, and the specific strategy was not formulated by him, nor was it conceived by the reckless Fang Zhen.

   After the incident was reported, the third master, Duan Yunfeng, came to secretly support him.

   Duan Yunfeng roughly judged the enemy general's temperament based on the correspondence presented by Fan Zong, and formulated a special strategy.

  Introduce you to the urn and take fire attack!

   Defrauded Kaesong and used this place as a bait to lead the court troops and horses to enter, while the thieves lurked in the tunnels, waiting for the door to set fire to the camp, annihilating the enemy army, and trying not to leave a living hole.

   With this poisonous plan to burn tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, Duan Yunfeng didn't even blink an eyelid.

   In the end, this plan was successful, and the effect was remarkable, and there were no officers and soldiers.

   The threat of the imperial troops and horses along the way has been cleared in the first battle, and there is no need to worry about someone endangering the backyard of Longwangzhai.

   At this moment, Duan Yunfeng sat on the main seat of the military tent, stared coldly at Cheng Liqing, and said slowly:

   "The defeated general, who dares to be arrogant, comes here, pushes him out, beheads him, and hangs his head on the flag. This kind of thing doesn't need to leave him a whole body."

The voice of    fell, and the personal soldiers immediately pushed Cheng Liqing out.

   Soon, there was a short scream outside, and it stopped abruptly.

  Fang Zhen retracted his gaze and said with a smile, "Brother Duan is really both civil and military. If one succeeds, this battle should be the first."

   "A mere counter-calculation is nothing."

   Duan Yunfeng waved his hand, not taking credit.

   He paused, then narrowed his eyes and said:

   "The victory in this battle is a solution to the danger in the rear of the cottage. Now the owner of the village is wandering outside with his troops and horses, harassing the officers and soldiers, and causing the enemy to support the left and right sides, but we cannot rely on the owner alone to support the war...

  Brother Fang, you captured thousands of officers and soldiers alive last night. I have a plan to choose a group of elites from the cottage to change into officers and soldiers' clothes and deceive the nearby officers and soldiers fortresses. That surnamed Cheng ruined the main force in this direction, and it was time for us to expand the results. "

  Fang Zhen's eyes lit up: "I see it, just do it!"

   He is not an intelligent person who likes to use his brain, but Duan Yunfeng is a ruthless and clever person, he doesn't mind listening to the other party's instructions.

  …

  The imperial army attacked Longwangzhai in several directions. Under Duan Yunfeng's strategy, the strength of the army in one direction was severely damaged, and it was difficult to maintain a strategic role.

   The battle situation led to the whole body, and there was less siege all the way, the pressure on Longwangzhai was reduced, the situation was getting better and better, and the advantage was gained by snowballing.

   Ma Zhen received the battle report and was so angry that he drew his sword and cut the case.

   Although he is the commander-in-chief of the three armies, due to the limited efficiency of information transmission, most of the time he has to rely on the commanders of other troops and horses to play by himself, and he cannot micro-manage the front line at any time... although he really wants to do it.

   "Cheng Liqing! Incompetent people, so underestimating the enemy and rashly advancing, ruined my overall situation!"

   Ma Zhen was very annoyed.

   Yu Wenyan frowned: "Commander calm down, now that the boat is done, I can only think of remedy."

   At this time, there were only three top decision makers, Ma Zhen, Huang Ping, and Yu Wenyan, in a private meeting.

  Ma Zhen exhaled, calmed down, sat down again, and said solemnly:

"The situation is unfavorable to us. The Dragon King Fortress has been relieved and it is difficult to block it again. Then the thief Chen is constantly attacking and harassing. , and it doesn't work much anymore."

   "The commander means..." Yu Wenyan probed.

   Ma Zhen's eyes flashed coldly:

"Continuing a long battle will only increase casualties, and the chances of winning are quite slim. Although the delay will inevitably lead to private benefits, but the imperial court sent us to fight, if the casualties are too large, it is not easy to deal with... Since this battle is not successful, it is better to keep it for the imperial court. vitality."

   He and Pang Hong are still a little different. After becoming Duke Yi, if the country is unstable, the family will suffer even more, so it is inevitable to think more.

After    finished speaking, Ma Zhen turned to look at Huang Ping and said coldly:

"Since we are going to withdraw our troops, naturally we can't return empty-handed. We want to give Chen Thief a big gift. The plan to end the family will be implemented by your ministry. If it is successful, even if Chen Thief wins this battle, it will not be a few years. It can't be slowed down, it means that the steps of this group of giant bandits are slowed down in disguise, giving the court a few years of respite, and it will still be a great achievement after returning to Beijing!"

   Hearing this, Yu Wenyan couldn't bear it.

   It seems that the commander has made up his mind, and in the end, he has to use the plan of breaking the embankment and flooding to turn Huyang into a thousand miles of Zeguo.

   When this plan came out, it was equivalent to treating the whole of Huyang as an abandoned child, ignoring the common people, just to hurt Chen Feng and his group.

   But then again... The rebels want to overthrow my Daxia Jiangshan, but they are enemies of life and death.

   As long as the final result is valid, it is acceptable for the emperor and Manchu civil and military officials to pay such a price in order to maintain the stability of the country.

   After all... If there is no country, what is the use of the common people?

   Yu Wenyan secretly sighed.

  Although he still has some conscience left, as a noble class with vested interests, he will naturally not object to this decision, so he slowly nodded his head in acquiescence.

   (end of this chapter)