Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 101: Encirclement of the Jin Bandits

On the other hand, after the Jin bandits bypassed Zhending, Chen Zheng in the city got a chance to catch his breath.

After a brief period of recovery, Chen Zhengdu hurriedly sent people to investigate the movements of the Jin bandits.

Then he soon learned that the Jin bandits had bypassed Zhending and attacked Baocheng but failed, and then took a detour to Hejian to fight with Wang Ziteng.

Chen Zheng was shocked by the arrogance of the Jin thieves.

The enemy actually dared to advance deep into the enemy's territory alone, circumventing two cities in a row, and launching siege operations with only a group of rabble-rousing troops without any protection from their own foundation.

You know, at this time the Jin bandits were stopped in Hejian, with Baocheng to the west and Zhending to the south. The three cities just surrounded the Jin bandits in the center, and they were attacked on three sides with almost no chance to breathe.

Moreover, the Jin bandits don't even have a stable supply of food and fodder, and they rely entirely on looting for food and fodder. In this case, once they are surrounded, the Jin bandits without food and fodder will immediately die without a burial place!

Chen Zhengdu quickly realized that this was an enormous fortune!

If he could successfully quell the Jin bandits, this huge achievement would be enough for him, Wang Ziteng and the Governor-General of Zhili to share equally, and they would also be promoted to the rank of marquis. Wang Ziteng would even have the opportunity to be granted the title of duke.

Faced with such a huge temptation, Chen Zhengdu chose to put aside his past grudges and forgave the Governor-General of Zhili and Wang Ziteng for their previous practice of sitting back and watching the outcome. He began to contact the two and prepare to formulate a encirclement plan.

The Governor-General of Zhili and Wang Ziteng were not outstanding in military strategy, but anyone who had read military books could notice such an obvious loophole in the enemy, and they naturally realized this opportunity.

However, the two of them had not received any news from Chen Zhengdu before, so they were unable to form a siege.

Now that Chen Zhengdu took the initiative to contact them and put aside their past grudges, the other two naturally had no reason to let go of the fat meat, so under the leadership of Chen Zhengdu, the three parties quickly reached a consensus.

Let’s put aside the past grudges, work together, and jointly encircle and suppress the Jin bandits!
……

The Jin bandits have been attacking Hejian city for four or five days.

It was naturally impossible to capture the city. The ancient city of Hejian, defended by an army of over 100,000, was impregnable. The Jin bandits' insignificant attack did not even scratch a few pieces of the city wall.

However, during these days, the Jin bandits had calmed down and their anger had subsided. Wu Sheng's goal had been achieved, and it was time to take a detour.

Before leaving, Wu Sheng specially sent people to stand on a high platform to insult Wang Ziteng, calling him a cowardly king who could only defend the city and was better off hiding in a woman's arms.

Wang Ziteng naturally ignored it and secretly sent an army of 20,000 to take a detour behind the city and set up an ambush in Baiyangdian in the north.

Seeing that Wang Ziteng ignored him, Wu Sheng cursed even harder.

After venting his anger, Wu Sheng announced to the entire army that it was not that he was unwilling to avenge his dead brothers, but that the government troops only knew how to defend and did not dare to fight. A strong attack was not the best strategy. Now they could only wait until they captured the capital before dealing with this group of people.

After hearing this, all the Jin bandits thought it made sense.

What's more important is that it's been quite difficult for the bandits to attack the city these days. Hejian City is tall and thick, and the government troops defending it have a large number of people, just like a hedgehog, making it really difficult to attack.

The bandits had actually been thinking of retreating for a long time, but now that Wu Sheng said this, they just went along with it and agreed to take a detour to the capital.

However, at this time, the Jin bandits were camping outside the city of Hejian, and they had not yet discussed which route to take to reach the capital.

However, the Zhili Governor who was protecting the city had already dispatched 15,000 troops to station in Jinyang County, 80 miles west of the Jin bandits.

On the other side, Chen Zhengdu led 20,000 elite soldiers and marched day and night to the Hutuo River area south of the Jin bandits.

Although the Jin thieves had a million troops at this time, they were scattered and could not deploy their forces at all. To the west were the troops of the Zhili Governor, to the south were the troops of Chen Zhengdu, to the east were the troops of Wang Ziteng, and to the north were ambushed troops in Baiyangdian. It could be said that they were surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Soon, Chen Zhengdu took the lead in sending people to attack.

The Jin bandits set up camp outside the city of Hejian. Since there was no unified management, each camp was separate and the camps were loosely connected without any close connections.

Chen Zhengdu sent out an army of 3,000 men to launch a surprise attack on the Jin bandits in the direction of Yiyang County in the south, and quickly defeated one of the small bandits of about 1,000 men.

Afterwards, the government troops did not linger in the battle, but fought and retreated, not to kill the enemy, but only to engage the bandit army.

Wu Sheng was fooled when he found out and sent people to chase him. The man he sent was called Da Jin Ya, a mountain bandit leader among the millions of Jin bandits. He was once an honest farmer who was oppressed by the landlord and had two front teeth knocked out. Later, when he gained power, he had two gold teeth glued on and was called Da Jin Ya.

Da Jin Ya was ordered to lead 20,000 bandit troops in pursuit.

The government troops retreated all the way to the vicinity of Hutuo River and hid in a dry reed marsh. Da Jin Ya led his troops to chase them. At this time, Chen Zhengdu’s ambush troops were all out, with 5,000 people on each side. The shield soldiers held their shields in front, and the archers in the back shot arrows.

The soldiers under Chen Zhengdu fought to the death to defend the city. Having survived hundreds of battles, they were naturally brave in battle.

Da Jin Ya was panic-stricken by this scene and had no idea what to do. He just relied on his courage and shouted, "Follow me!" and rushed in one direction with a group of his men.

But how could a 20,000-man army be commanded by just one voice? Most of the men could not be commanded in an orderly manner, and gradually fell and surrendered under the encirclement of the government troops.

On the other side, Big Gold Tooth had a six-foot-wide waist and was extremely durable in battle. He led thousands of his men and actually fought his way out of the encirclement.

Chen Zhengdu stood far away on a high ground, observing the situation with a telescope. He waved his right hand, and the soldiers behind him waved their command flags. Two thousand sword and axe soldiers suddenly rushed out from the southeast and blocked the center of Da Jin Ya's team.

Da Jin Ya's troops were divided into two, and the remaining thousand people fought hard again, but it was difficult to achieve any results.

Several government troops worked together to set up a crossbow cart, and a hook crossbow was shot out, directly piercing the abdomen of Da Jin Ya who was fighting, dragging him on the ground, pulling him out of the bandit army, leaving bloodstains all over the ground.

"The boss!"

The men roared excitedly.

But they were stopped by more government troops.

"You dog official, my grandma!"

Big Gold Teeth roared with red eyes.

He swung his arms, grabbed the steel chain at the tail of the crossbow, stood up, and pulled the chain hard. The three soldiers on the opposite side tried their best, but they were no match for Big Gold Tooth alone.

Chen Zhengdu watched this scene from afar, unmoved.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Several arrows shot over and pierced Da Jin Ya's body.

Big Gold Tooth shook and his body became a little loose.

"Da da da!"

The sound of horse hooves rang out, and Big Gold Teeth turned his head to look.

Two cavalrymen rushed over quickly, and with the impact of the horses, they thrust their two spears through Big Gold Tooth in an instant, knocking him over.

The battle gradually subsided, and Chen Zhengdu walked silently to the body of Da Jin Ya.

There was blood all over the ground. Big Gold Teeth's eyes were wide open, staring angrily at the front until his death.

"Build him a tomb!"

Chen Zhengdu gave the order and ordered someone to ask the surrendered bandit soldier Da Jin Ya what his name was.

Most people can't pronounce it, they just say it's called Big Gold Teeth.

After a long while, someone said uncertainly:

"I think his name is Pang Shan..."

Not long after, Wu Sheng was furious when he learned of Da Jin Ya's death.

(End of this chapter)