Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 370 Xuzhou Division
In fact, Zhao Junyong's desire to become king was not just a sudden idea. There were signs of this in the original history.

According to the original history, since Zhima Li led them to revolt in Xuzhou, he never proclaimed himself king. Instead, after Xuzhou was captured by Tuotuo and Zhima Li himself disappeared, Zhao Junyong and Peng Da led the remnants to flee to Haozhou, where they huddled together with Sun Deya, Guo Zixing and others for warmth, and then immediately proclaimed themselves kings one after another.

Zhao Junyong called himself "King of Yongyi" and Peng Da called himself "King of Luhuai". Sun Deya and Guo Zixing regarded them as their predecessors who were the first to revolt, and each chose one of them to join. Sun Deya joined Zhao Junyong, and Guo Zixing joined Peng Da.

Afterwards, Zhao Junyong's true nature was exposed and he began to fight for power internally. He condoned Sun Deya to arrest Guo Zixing and resorted to lynching, almost beating Guo Zixing to death. If Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da had not immediately gone to rescue him and asked Peng Da to deal with Zhao Junyong, Guo Zixing would have definitely been murdered by the conspiracy between Zhao and Sun.

After this incident, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to watch them fighting each other every day. With Zheng Yong's advice, Zhu Yuanzhang made up his mind to leave Haozhou, this place of trouble, and go to Chuzhou to set up his own business.

However, Zhao Junyong still did not give up the idea of ​​annexing Guo Zixing. Not long after, he squeezed Guo Zixing out of Haozhou. Guo Zixing had no choice but to run to Chuzhou in disgrace to seek refuge with his son-in-law Zhu Yuanzhang.

It was not enough for Zhao Junyong to usurp the throne and drive away Guo Zixing. Later on, Zhao Junyong and Peng Da were always at odds. Peng Da died of illness within two years. Peng Da's troops were inherited by his son Peng Zaozhu. So Zhao Junyong fought with Peng Zaozhu, killed Peng Da's son, and annexed his troops.

This is not the end. After annexing Peng Da's troops, Zhao Junyong was still obsessed with Guo Zixing's troops, so he sent Sun Deya to attack Guo Zixing in Chuzhou. As a result, Sun Deya was killed on the spot by Hu Dahai.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang and Guo Zixing had powerful armies and he could not annex them, Zhao Junyong gave up on them completely and turned around to attack Huai'an. After taking Huai'an, he nominally surrendered to Han Lin'er's Han Song and was named Pingzhang of the Secretariat by Han Song.

But not long after, Huai'an was recaptured by the Yuan army's counterattack. Zhao Junyong, unwilling to lose the territory, had no ability to deal with the Yuan army, so he fled to Shandong to fight with Mao Gui and killed Mao Gui, causing the complete failure of Han Song's Longfeng Northern Expedition.

Looking back at Zhao Junyong's life, after Sesame Li was killed, he was either fighting other rebel forces or on the way to fight other rebel forces. He didn't dare to fight the Yuan army, nor could he defeat it. He could only rely on fighting the rebel forces to barely make a living.
It's just such a bastard. If you want him to share power with others, it's too difficult. If you don't kill him quickly while Peng Da is weak, he is simply not Zhao Junyong. If Lu Jin knew about it, he would also suspect that this guy might have traveled through time. Otherwise, how could he resist not shooting at his friendly forces?
As expected, when he saw Peng Da was about to return to Xuzhou, Zhao Junyong immediately ordered his adopted son Zhao Qi to capture him.

Peng Dadu had already arrived at the north gate, and more than a thousand remaining troops under his command were leaving the city. Peng Da himself was greeting Cheng Liangbi, who was previously stationed in Wuhe County, not far to the northeast of Haozhou, and was transferred here this time to deal with the invasion of the Yuan army.

However, Cheng Liangbi was not originally a subordinate of Zhao Junyong, but a subordinate of Zhou Pengfei in the eight-man group that captured Xuzhou at night. He was recruited by Zhao Junyong after Zhou Pengfei died in the subsequent expansion. However, Cheng Liangbi did not have any good feelings towards Zhao Junyong, and his loyalty was even less of a concern.

Seeing that Peng Da was about to leave when he first arrived, he immediately ran over to ask about his well-being, "Peng Shuai, why are you leaving in such a hurry? You are still injured. Even if you want to go back to Xuzhou, you should recover first."

Peng Da glanced at him, then looked in the direction of the government office in the city, and then said, "That Zhao Jun has gone crazy and wants to be the king. I don't know where he got the confidence from. General Lu of Luzhou has hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of miles of territory, but he hasn't become the king yet, but this guy can't wait.

"What's even more infuriating is that this guy, in order to claim the throne, doesn't even acknowledge me as his brother. If that's the case, why should I stay here to bother him? It's better to go back to Xuzhou. From now on, I'll go my way and he'll go his way, and we'll never have anything to do with each other again."

Cheng Liangbi hesitated for a long time, and was about to say something. After a long while, he pulled Peng Da aside and whispered, "Since Peng Shuai is going to Xuzhou, can you take me with you? Zhao Junyong doesn't trust me and has always wanted to replace me. His adopted son Zhao Qi is always looking for trouble with me. Since he doesn't like me, I might as well go with Peng Shuai."

Peng Da looked at him in surprise, "You? I can take you with me, but can Zhao let you go?"

Cheng Liangbi gritted his teeth and said, "As long as General Peng is willing to take me in, then I won't have to give up the soldiers and just take a few trusted people with General Peng. He just wants my soldiers, so I'll give them to him. Can General Peng live without me in the future?"

Peng Da looked him up and down again, then said, "Okay, can you gather your confidants to go with me now?"

"Yes, I'll send someone to tell him right away." Cheng Liangbi nodded in agreement.

However, at this moment, Zhao Qi suddenly led his troops to chase after them, and while rushing towards this side, he shouted, "Peng Da betrayed his master for fame and fortune, causing our army to be defeated. He also sold General Li to the Yuan army and lived in shame. Now he wants to deceive General Zhao. Come on, catch him and don't let him run away! No matter if he lives or dies! Kill him to avenge General Li!"

When these words were spoken, the soldiers around were stunned. When they saw that the person who spoke was Zhao Junyong's adopted son Zhao Qi, they immediately began to gather and rush towards Peng Da and his group at the north gate. Some officers under Zhao Qi's command shouted slogans such as "Revenge for Marshal Li" while running, which immediately made the soldiers who did not know what was going on angry.

Cheng Liangbi and Peng Da immediately cried out inwardly that something was wrong when they heard this. Cheng Liangbi immediately took two horses from his subordinates nearby, handed one of them to Peng Da, and urged him anxiously.

"Peng Shuai, hurry up and leave. Zhao Junyong is framing you. He wants to kill you. Run away and make sure you return to Xuzhou."

Regardless of the injury on his arm, Peng Da immediately jumped on the horse, turned around and asked Cheng Liangbi, "Aren't you going with me? If I leave, what about you?"

"General Peng, don't worry about me. You go first. I'm familiar with this place. I'll block the way for you first and come after you later." After Cheng Liangbi finished speaking, he waved his whip and hit Peng Da's mount, driving him away.

Peng Da turned around and shouted, "Don't get entangled with him, catch up with him quickly, as long as you have the green mountains, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood!"

Cheng Liangbi did not look back, and immediately led his soldiers to fight back into the city gate. He did not have many people around him, and he would definitely not be able to defeat Zhao Qi in other places, but in the narrow city gate, Zhao Qi's advantage of having more people could not be brought into play, so he could still hold out for a while.

When Zhao Qi caught up with him, he was overjoyed to see Cheng Liangbi blocking the city gate. This was a good opportunity to get rid of Cheng Liangbi as well, so he immediately turned the tables and asked, "Cheng Liangbi, you are so good. I said that you usually disobeyed Zhao Shuai's orders. It turns out that you have secretly joined Peng Da and wanted to be his spy in the army? Today, you are eager to save your master, and finally your fox tail is exposed. Tell me, have you also joined the Yuan army a long time ago, wanting to open the gate and surrender the city when the Yuan army attacks?" Cheng Liangbi stood in front of the city gate with a spear in his hand, and immediately said disdainfully, "Zhao Qi, you are a traitor! In order to fight for power, you changed your name and surname to make Zhao Junyong your son. It's true that if you are not from the same family, you will not enter the same door. Now, in order to annex Peng Shuai's troops and Xuzhou, you have framed Peng Shuai, and you even want to frame me. Ask your soldiers whether they believe your lies?"

Cheng Liangbi scanned the soldiers present and asked them, "Zhao Qi said that Peng Shuai secretly surrendered to the Yuan army, betrayed his master for fame, and also betrayed Li Shuai. May I ask if they have any evidence? If Peng Shuai betrayed Li Shuai, why was he seriously injured and only had a thousand remnants left? Can't you use your brains?"

The soldiers around looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. Zhao Qi saw that something bad was going to happen, so he shouted, "Don't listen to this guy's nonsense. Don't forget whose food you are eating. Come on, kill him. Whoever kills Cheng Liangbi will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and promoted two levels!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qi's trusted generals immediately took the lead and charged towards the gate. The soldiers now had no time to hesitate and followed the officers from various departments to charge forward.

It's a pity that the city gate was too small, and many soldiers found it difficult to rush in at once. Cheng Liangbi was well prepared, and had already formed a spear array in the gate. For a moment, he actually blocked Zhao Qi's soldiers inside the city gate, unable to get out. Peng Da and others had already run so fast that they could no longer be seen.

Zhao Qi became extremely anxious, and quickly signaled to an officer next to him, asking him to take the cavalry out of the city through the east and west gates to chase after them, and then send another team to go around the north gate to attack from both inside and outside, to see how Cheng Liangbi could resist.

Zhao Qi was inside the north gate himself. Seeing that Cheng Liangbi's spear formation was impenetrable and the soldiers could not get in, he immediately ordered his men to call in a team of archers and crossbowmen, and asked the attacking soldiers to move aside. He wanted to shoot arrows into the city gate and kill Cheng Liangbi and his men.

But Cheng Liangbi was no fool. Seeing this, he quickly ordered the swordsmen to raise their shields for defense, and retreated out of the city while blocking the arrows. Then he led a few horses, and the cavalry and infantry took turns to cover them, and immediately fled to the north.

At this time, Cheng Liangbi's subordinates also rushed out of the city with their men. Seeing Zhao Qi attacking their own general, they immediately fought with Zhao Qi, and a big fire broke out in Suzhou City.

When Zhao Qi saw Cheng Liangbi escaping, he became extremely anxious. He sent someone to inform Zhao Junyong to lead troops to suppress the rebellion, and at the same time sent his own men to resist Cheng Liangbi's subordinates. Then he personally led the cavalry to chase Cheng Liangbi.

The two sides fought while chasing each other, but Zhao Qi had the advantage. He brought only cavalry, a total of seven or eight hundred cavalry, while Peng Da still had thousands of infantry remnants. It was impossible for Peng Da to abandon his infantry and escape to Xuzhou by himself, so he was soon caught up by Cheng Liangbi and Zhao Qi.

Seeing that the infantrymen were having difficulty escaping and Zhao Qi was chasing him relentlessly, Peng Da immediately shouted to Cheng Liangbi, who was already injured but was still desperately covering his retreat.

"Liang Bi, you lead the infantry to form a battle formation and slowly retreat northwards. Be sure to send my son to Xuzhou as soon as possible. Zhao Junyong wants me, so I will lead them away!"

"Dad, I'll go with you!" Peng Zaozhu shouted immediately after hearing this.

"You lead the infantry to retreat to Xuzhou. This is an order. Once I lead them away, I will go to Xuzhou to find you. Go quickly. This is an order, otherwise I will beat you to death!" Peng Da said angrily.

"Dad, I won't leave. I'll follow you!" Peng Zaozhu grabbed the reins of Peng Da's horse and refused to let Peng Da leave.

Peng Da swung his whip and hit Peng Zaozhu on the shoulder. The pain made him retract his hand. Peng Da took the opportunity to spur his horse to the east, shouting as he ran, "Xue Xian, protect Zaozhu to Xuzhou. If my son dies, I will hold you accountable!"

Then he rushed out of the protection of the infantry and galloped towards the east at top speed, shooting arrows at Zhao Qi's pursuers on his horse while running, and even taunted them with hatred, "Come and chase me, your Grandpa Peng is here. How can a person like you who has forgotten his ancestors be worthy of being a match for your Grandpa Peng? Hahahahahahaha."

Zhao Qi was furious when he heard this. He immediately turned his horse's head and waved his hand in the direction of Peng Da, "Go after him! Whoever kills him will be made a military commander!"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers under Zhao Qi immediately chased after Peng Da. Of course, they did not forget Peng Zaozhu, Xue Xian and Cheng Liangbi, and sent half of their cavalry to chase and kill Peng Zaozhu.

The two sides chased for half an hour. Cheng Liangbi and Xue Xian still had thousands of infantrymen. These soldiers formed a large formation, and Zhao Qi's hundreds of cavalrymen might not be able to break through. The two sides fought and chased until they ran to a village north of Suzhou, and the infantry could no longer run.

Cheng Liangbi and Xue Xian discussed it and decided that it would be better to form a defensive formation in this village and then send people to Xuzhou for help. If the reinforcements from Xuzhou arrived in time, maybe they could still save their lives.

Peng Zaozhu also agreed to this plan. He also hoped to call for reinforcements as soon as possible to rescue his father. Although he knew that Peng Da's hope of survival was very slim, as long as he did it, there would always be a glimmer of hope.
So Cheng Liangbi immediately sent out several scouts to break out and run towards Xuzhou.

It was a coincidence. Xia Yu had just paid tribute to Zhima Li, and Mao Gui and Fu Youde were discussing how to find Peng Da. They were also sending people to the south to look for him. The scouts of both sides happened to meet in the middle of the three original military camps, so Xuzhou immediately assembled four or five hundred cavalry to provide support, and also sent people to report the situation to Mao Gui in Xuzhou City.

Cheng Liangbi and his men held out in the village for a whole day. They had run out of arrows and were about to give up when the cavalry from Xuzhou finally arrived. They pretended to be an enemy and split into several groups and rushed from different directions. Zhao Qi's cavalry saw that something was wrong and thought that a large group of cavalry from Xuzhou had arrived, so they retreated immediately. They rescued Peng Zaozhu and his men, and then retreated to Xuzhou together with the infantry and cavalry covering each other.

But Peng Zaozhu was unwilling to give up, and begged the Xuzhou cavalry to send some people to the southeast to look for his father. The officer in charge also agreed and personally led dozens of cavalry to look for Peng Da, but it was hard to say whether he could find him.

The fighting in Suzhou City ended quickly. Most of Cheng Liangbi's former subordinates were strangled to death by Zhao Junyong, and the rest all surrendered and were taken under his command. After this battle, the original Xuzhou Group was completely split into two forces.

(End of this chapter)