All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 257: Zhong Shidao and Zhong Shizhong

"Such a major matter is not something we can decide." Zhe Yanzhi suppressed his anger and bowed, "It needs to be discussed by the family before a decision can be made."

"Whatever you want."

The Zhe family, who was like a local tyrant in the three states outside the Yellow River, was an insignificant character in Chen Ran's eyes. "After pacifying Guanzhong, I will lead all my troops north. If they don't surrender by then, then there is no need to surrender."

A group of Zhe family members, etc., suppressed their anger and left the city.

While riding his horse back to the army, Zhe Yanzhi suddenly reined in his horse and shouted.

Everyone was shocked and stopped to ask what had happened.
"Take Chen Ran's previous words. After pacifying Guanzhong, the entire army will march north."

Zhe Yanzhi's words left everyone confused. "What's going on?"

"What's wrong?" Zhe Yanzhi said sternly, "Do you think our Zhe family is worth an attack by hundreds of thousands of troops?"

Finally, a smart person came up with the idea, "Uncle, what you mean is that Chen Ran is going to fight the Dangxiang dogs?!"

The Zhe family had been fighting with the Western Xia for hundreds of years, and the hatred between the two sides had accumulated to a very deep level.

When it comes to Western Xia, naturally there is nothing good to say.

Someone immediately shouted, "How is it possible? The Song Dynasty spent hundreds of years, lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and spent countless money and military supplies, but still failed to conquer Xixia. How could he do that?"

"He destroyed the Song Dynasty!"

Zhe Yanzhi's throat was dry and his voice was hoarse. "They say this man stole Tokyo City by chance. It was pure luck."

"But you all know about the Huaixi Campaign. Tong Guan led hundreds of thousands of elite Western Army troops, and they were all wiped out in one battle. Who dares to say that he can't fight?"

"Also, during this time when we entered Guanzhong, we rode as fast as we could, but we still couldn't make it to Pujin Ferry in time. Yao Gu and his son had tens of thousands of elite Xihe troops who were stationed in Hehuang. How many of them managed to escape?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment after hearing this. Someone couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, what do you mean? Are you going to use this information to betray the Tanguts?"

In history, the Zhe family looked down upon Western Xia.

They would rather surrender to the Jin people than join the Western Xia, which made Li Qianshun very angry.

"How is that possible?" Zhe Yanzhi saw clearly, "What I meant by saying that the Dangxiang people have no future is that we have to wait and see if this person can quickly pacify Guanzhong."

"If this man really has the potential to found a country, it's not impossible for the whole clan to join him. If we are trapped in Guanzhong, we can wait and see before making any plans."

At this point, he could hardly hide his fatigue on his face. "The Zhe family, the Zhe family, has been here for two hundred years! We have always been trapped in Fuzhou. We might as well risk our lives and survive. The whole family will surrender and try our best to become the dragon's successor!"

The Zhe family said that they were the local tyrants of the three states outside the Yellow River, and they were indeed the local tyrants of this area.

But the problem is that their family is completely trapped here.

They couldn't penetrate into Western Xia, and the Song Dynasty didn't allow them to expand their power.

A family that has existed for hundreds of years may seem to be flourishing, but in fact it is in a state of chaos.

If there really is a chance, it might be a good idea to just go for it.

"Let's go!" Zhe Yanzhi rode forward, "Let's go back and hold a clan meeting to discuss it carefully."

In Tongguan, it was several days later that Zhong Shizhong learned about the fall of Puzhindu.

The messenger who was in regular contact between the two places failed to arrive on time. Feeling uneasy, Zhong Shizhong sent people to check, only to find out that Puzhundu had been lost!

"Yao Gu is ruining the country!!!"

Upon hearing the news, Zhong Shizhong was filled with grief and cursed, "Tens of thousands of Xihe troops can't even defend Pujin Ferry, and yet you brag about being a famous general of the Western Army all day long, and you call yourself a little general, idiot! idiot!!"

The gateway to Guanzhong is Tongguan and Pujindu.

Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the armies of Guanzhong and Guandong have been traveling back and forth, either Wu Qi took over Hexi and went to Pujin Ferry, or the King of Qin swept through Liuhe and went out of Hangu Pass.

These two places are like the two door panels of a house's front door.

When it was tightly closed, no one could get in, but if one side of the door panel was removed, the remaining half would become useless.

"Sir!" All the generals who heard the news persuaded him, "Now is not the time to scold Yao Gu and his son. Let's go quickly."

Zhong Shizhong slapped his forehead vigorously and said, "Yes, withdraw your troops immediately."

Here in Tongguan, there are the Yellow River to the north and mountains to the south, and narrow and broken valleys on the east and west.

Tongguan is a title, which itself consists of a series of passes, camps and various military facilities set up in dangerous places.

When the Eastern Army comes, this terrain can effectively block them.

But when the Eastern Army went around to various places in Huayin in the rear, it was the turn of the Tongguan defenders to have their retreat cut off.

With their retreat route cut off, firstly the morale of the army will be unstable, and secondly, without the food and grass support from Jingzhao Prefecture, the defenders will be in a crisis of food shortage.

Zhong Shizhong saw clearly that after Puzhundu was breached, Tongguan lost its barrier significance.

The important thing at this time is to bring tens of thousands of defenders back to Jingzhao Prefecture, rather than being blocked in this narrow and chaotic area between the mountains and rivers.

He was experienced and quickly made up his mind to abandon Tongguan and bring back the remaining forces.

But Chen Ran is also experienced, and he can naturally see what Master Zhong can see.

As early as when he sent troops to Puzhindu, Chen Ran had already sent people to notify Hu Yanzhuo outside Tongguan and agreed on a time to launch the offensive.

We don't need to break through Tongguan, but at least we can delay the defenders.

Faced with the sudden attack, the defenders of Tongguan could only fight first.

By the time they had repelled one attack after another, news came from Huazhou that the enemy army had marched south from Tongzhou and had broken through Huayin's blockade of Guanxi Town, thus blocking all routes for the Tongguan defenders to the west.

Upon hearing the news, Zhong Shizhong almost fainted. He hurriedly ordered Zhang Xiaochun and Zhang Hao, father and son, to lead tens of thousands of troops to quickly march west and make sure to break the blockade of the passage.

Two days later, the news came.

Zhang Xiaochun and his son Zhang Hao encountered the main force of the bandit army at Guanxi Town, the exit of the narrow passage, and a fierce battle broke out. Their troops were defeated and fled. Seeing that they could not escape, the father and son simply surrendered.

Upon hearing the news, Master Zhong sat down heavily in his chair, his eyes dull and he didn't say a word the whole day.

Guanxi Town, Chen Ran’s tent.

"No need to come to see me." Upon learning that Zhang Xiaochun and Zhang Hao, the father and son who surrendered, were clamoring to come to see him, Chen Ran simply told them to "deal with them according to Fan Qiong's example."

In the case of Fan Qiong, that means skinning and stuffing with straw.

Hu Cheng, who was always careful, whispered, "Your Majesty, they surrendered. If you deal with them, it might affect those who intend to surrender."

"Yes, I know." Chen Ran lowered his eyelids and tapped his fingers. "People who are used to surrendering will not care about continuing to surrender others. Moreover, they surrendered when they were defeated and surrounded, with no way to escape. Strictly speaking... Forget it, I can't make it up anymore. I just want them to die!"

Hu Cheng was horrified and bowed his head immediately without saying a word.

"It has nothing to do with you." Chen Ran took a deep breath and then laughed, "It's strange. After going through so much, sometimes I still can't control my emotions."

Zhang Xiaochun was the governor of Hedong Road and the prefect of Taiyuan in history.

When Taiyuan City was broken, the defending general Wang Bing died in the city, but Zhang Xiaochun surrendered to Jin.

He later went to serve as prime minister to Liu Yu, the puppet emperor of the Great Qi Dynasty, who was established by the Jin people.

After Liu Yu was deposed, Zhang Xiaochun went to the Jin people and continued to serve as prime minister.

This is a typical case of a traitor.

A hero like Wang Bing died on the battlefield, but Zhang Xiaochun, who surrendered, had a good end and the Jin people even gave him a posthumous title.

As for his son Zhang Hao, during the battle to relieve Taiyuan, he and Yao Gu betrayed Zhong Shizhong, resulting in Taiyuan losing reinforcements and eventually the city was broken.

This man was also a famous grass-flyer in the Western Army. He abandoned soldiers and civilians as bait many times and escaped the pursuit of the Jin people.

He is a typical example of an incompetent general causing the death of the entire army.

Chen Ran would of course deal with such people.

Yang Zhi stepped forward to rescue Hu Cheng and said, "My lord, are we going to attack Tongguan or Jingzhao Prefecture?"

Chen Ran saw through his thoughts and said calmly, "If you want to go into the mountains and eat the fortress, go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

"Without the king's military order, would I dare to lead the troops to fight privately?" Yang Zhi smiled awkwardly and stepped aside without saying anything.

Chen Ran criticized Hu Cheng not because he said something wrong, but because the Hu family was jumping around in the city of Bianliang, and even contacted a group of literati and poets to stir up trouble and encourage Chen Ran to take the position.

In theory, this is a good thing, but Chen Ran knows what they are thinking.

The source of this was still for Hu Sanniang, who wanted to push her to the position of the most noble woman in the world.

Chen Ran was disgusted by others interfering in his family affairs, so he took the opportunity to knock Hu Cheng.

It wasn't a big deal and passed by in a flash.

"Hu Cheng will lead the troops to stay and seal off all exits, and not allow the Tongguan defenders to break out."

"The rest of the troops should reorganize their forces and follow me to Jingzhao Prefecture."

The so-called Jingzhao Prefecture is actually Yongzhou in the early Tang Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, Yongzhou was changed to Jingzhao Prefecture.

It has a total of 22 counties under its jurisdiction, headed by Chang'an County and Wannian County, and is a fertile land in the entire Guanzhong region.

During the Song Dynasty, Jingzhao Prefecture was still Jingzhao Prefecture, but the counties under its jurisdiction were redivided into thirteen counties.

This is the core area of ​​the entire Guanzhong region.

The person in charge of the military and political power of Jingzhao Prefecture at this time was the famous general of the Western Army, Zhong Shidao.

Unlike Yao Gu, the so-called famous general, Zhong Shidao's title of famous general is well-deserved.

His family was a military family, but Zhong Shidao was famous for his studies and became a civil servant.

Being a civil servant in the Song Dynasty is simply the most enjoyable thing in the world.

After serving as a civil servant for many years, Zhong Shidao returned to being a military general and fought against the Tanguts of Western Xia for many years.

Because he had a feud with Tong Guan, the eunuch deliberately left the two brothers behind when he went to the southeast to fight Fang La, and they escaped.

Zhong Shidao is very capable in commanding troops, but the biggest problem he faces now is that he has no soldiers to use.

The elite troops of the Western Army were all taken to Jiangnan by the arrogant Tong Guan, and never returned.

Without these more than 100,000 elite troops, the Western Army still has some people left, but they may not be able to fight much.

He did his best to send troops to the front line, and was busy raising food, wages and military supplies.

In Zhong Shidao's opinion, it would take at least one or two years for Chen Ran to attack Guanzhong.

He originally planned to go to Sichuan to ask for money, food and military supplies, but before he set off, bad news kept coming.

First, Yao Gu and his son lost the crucial key node Puzhou Ferry, and tens of thousands of Xihe troops were wasted.

Then the remnants of Fan Qiong's troops came to report that Fan Qiong's more than 10,000 reinforcements from Jingyuan Road were defeated.

Before he could recover from the shock, a letter from Zhe Yanzhi arrived, saying that more than 20,000 Zhe family troops had returned to Fuzhou.

Just when I took a breath, bad news came again.

The enemy army broke into Guanzhong and cut off the road from Tongguan to Chang'an City!
Nearly 50,000 troops from the Qinfeng Road led by my younger brother Zhong Shizhong were blocked in Tongguan and could not move!
The elite troops of Fuyan Road and Huanqing Road had been taken to the southeast by Liu Yanqing and others. The remaining troops from various routes had to guard against Western Xia. They were the city wall soldiers on the border, similar to the defenders of the bunkers, and they were absolutely not allowed to move.

If these defenders were to move, the Dangxiang people, the arch-enemy of the Western Army who had killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of them, would cross the Hengshan Mountains and march south, causing great suffering to the people.

Upon learning that the enemy army was heading straight for Jingzhao Prefecture, Zhong Shidao was shocked to find that the Western Army, which was said to have hundreds of thousands of troops, did not even have enough soldiers to defend the city of Chang'an!
(End of this chapter)