Chapter 1372 Zhang and Cao Both Surrender
"Three Kingdoms Online Game: The Battle of Princes ()"
Huangfu Jianshou's report made Huangfu Chaobo and others more certain that Chen Gong and others escaped from a secret passage in the palace, but they have not found the entrance to the secret passage yet.
Just here, Gao Shun asked for an audience outside the palace.
"Your Majesty, I found more than a thousand people imprisoned in a side hall of the palace. It is said that all these people are officials of Zhao and their families."
"Oh, have you figured out the reason?" Huangfu Chaobo was surprised and asked hurriedly;
"According to my inquiry, they are all some middle and lower-level officials of Zhao in Jinyang City. Because they are unwilling to leave with Chen Gong and others, they are all imprisoned in the side hall. It is said that Wei Xu once wanted to kill them all, but was finally stopped by Lu Lingqi."
"And according to them, the rest of the people who fled with them have all worshipped Lu Lingqi as their lord. In addition to the officials and their families, the people who left with them are also senior talents and their families in the workshops of Zhao in Jinyang City."
Hearing this, Guo Jia hurriedly said: "General, have you asked clearly where the remnants of Zhao fled to? Where is the entrance to the secret passage?"
Gao Shun shook his head. Since they were unwilling to escape with Lu Lingqi and others, Lu Lingqi would definitely not reveal this information to these people.
"Fengxiao, have you ever thought about where Lv Lingqi would flee to?" Huangfu Chaobo turned to look at Guo Jia.
Guo Jia looked at the map of Bingzhou on the wall, shook his head and said nothing. After a long time, he sighed and said, "It's not easy to find tens of thousands of people hiding in the vast mountains."
Huangfu Chaobo also knew that the terrain in Luliang Mountain was complicated. Even in reality, people who were not familiar with it were unwilling to wander around in the mountains, let alone in today's game. What's more, what he needed to do now was not to find these tens of thousands of escaped fish, but to take control of the entire Bingzhou as soon as possible.
After thinking for a while, Huangfu Chaobo ordered: "The Xianzhen Camp, Tiebi Camp and Tieying Ruishi will stay in Jinyang, and the rest of the army will be divided into two groups to recover the remaining cities in Bingzhou as soon as possible."
"Zhao Yun listens to the order!"
"No general is here!"
"You will lead the Baima Yicong and Heishan Camps, plus a school of Yuanrong crossbowmen and a school of cavalry, to the north of Yanmen, and join the armies of Huang Xu and Tian Yu to recover all the cities in the north of Bingzhou."
"No general obeys the order!"
"Huangfu Jianshou listens to the order!"
"No general is here!"
"You will lead the Hujie Camp, a school of Yuanrong crossbowmen and a school of cavalry, to the south to recover the remaining cities in Taiyuan and open up the connection between Bingzhou and Hedong!"
"Yes!"
...
Just as the Tang army continued to divide its troops into two groups and sent troops to recover the remaining cities in Bingzhou, more and more Zhao soldiers and horses gathered in Lishi City west of Jinyang. In addition to the 4,000 elite troops initially brought out from Jinyang City, there were nearly 10,000 troops from Lishi City and two ferry crossings, as well as more than 3,000 elite troops brought by Zhang Quan from Lengquan Pass, plus nearly 2,000 troops gathered by Xu Gai from other cities. In this way, Lv Lingqi actually gathered nearly 20,000 troops.
If officials, craftsmen and their families are added, the number of troops gathered in Lishi City now exceeds 40,000. It has been four days since leaving Jinyang. Chen Gong knew that they didn't have much time to wait. Under his repeated persuasion, Lv Lingqi decided to lead the army across the river.
At her command, 40,000 troops, carrying a large amount of money and enough food and grass for tens of thousands of people for half a month, began their journey to the west.
In the palace of Jinyang City, Huangfu Chaobo and Guo Jia were very busy. New battle reports were sent back from the two armies every day. As expected, Bingzhou had been ruined by Lv Bu. Not only were the young and strong men in the city's pools drawn out, but so were the players' territories.
Huangfu Jianshou in the south had already pushed his army into the territory of Xihe State, and all the cities in Taiyuan had been occupied, but what they found strange was that there were only a few hundred soldiers guarding almost every county town, and the chief officers of the cities were almost all gone.
The news from the defenders was that a few days ago, their chief officers had led some soldiers to Xihe State. It was said that at the Yongheguan ferry on the east bank of the river, there were signs that the Tang army wanted to cross the river, so troops were drawn from various cities to support.
This news did not attract Huangfu Jianshou's attention at first, but as more cities were occupied, Huangfu Jianshou felt more and more strange. So, while he sent people to speed up the capture of the remaining cities, he also sent people to report the news to Jinyang.
Zhao Yun's army in the north was different from Huangfu Jianshou. He left the cavalry and the rest of the infantry to slowly move north, while he led the White Horse Volunteers to attack quickly. It took only a few days to reach Yanmen Pass. With Lu Bu's Fang Tian Hua Ji and the King of Zhao's jade seal, Zhao Yun easily persuaded Cao Xing, the defender of Yanmen Pass, to surrender.
At this time, Zhao Yun knew why Lu Bu only led less than 2,000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to Jinyang in the south. Afterwards, Zhao Yun left 2,000 White Horse Volunteers to defend Yanmen Pass, while he continued to move north with Cao Xing and other generals and entered Yunzhong.
After joining the army of Huang Xu, the two cavalry immediately merged into one and continued to move westward, reaching the city of Fuyang. Facing Zhao Yun's persuasion to surrender, and Cao Xing's appearance to persuade him, the defender of Fuyang, Song Xian, also opened the city and surrendered.
Afterwards, the army marched west again and joined Tian Yu's army. Tens of thousands of troops gathered at the foot of Guangmu City. With the precedent of Cao Xing and his men, and the second son Zhang Wei's persuasion, although Zhang Liao knew that Lü Lingqi had escaped successfully, he was unable to save the situation by himself in the isolated city, so after consideration, he also opened the city and surrendered.
Zhao Yun treated several generals of Zhao State with courtesy, especially famous generals like Zhang Liao. Zhao Yun did not make things difficult for them. After handing over all the Zhao army prisoners to Tian Yu's Yingyang Army for management, Zhao Yun assembled all the cavalry of the three armies and left Guangmu with Zhang Liao and other generals, heading for Dai County, the last territory of Zhao State.
After Zhang Liao and his generals surrendered, Zhao Yun already knew that Qin Yi was going to Wei to ask for help, so Zhao Yun handed over the new battle cities and captives in Jiuyuan and Shuofang counties to Tian Yu and Fa Zheng, and led three divisions of nearly 40,000 cavalrymen to Dai County without stopping. What he didn't know was that there were tens of thousands of Wei troops stationed in Dai County.
Tens of thousands of cavalrymen rushed all the way, passing through Yuyang, Yunzhong, Qiangyin, and arrived at Yanmen Pingcheng. Coincidentally, most of the northern army had also arrived in Pingcheng. What disappointed him was that the news from the scouts was that the Wei army had arrived in Dai County, one of which had already stationed in Gaoliu City, and the other army had set up camp outside Gaoliu City.
According to the news from the scouts, the Wei army had at least 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers and horses, plus the more than 10,000 troops in the hands of Zhang Yang, the prefect of Dai County, so there were 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers and horses, and Gaoliu City was in a dangerous position. If you want to capture it, it will not be done in a short time.
Another point is that the Tang army had been fighting against the State of Zhao for more than half a year, and had mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to finally conquer the State of Zhao. If they went to war with the State of Wei again, it would inevitably lead to another war, which Zhao Yun could not decide. Therefore, Zhao Yun had to order the army to enter Pingcheng for rest and closely monitor the movements of the Dai army and the Wei army, while he led two thousand white horse volunteers to personally escort Zhang Liao and other generals to Jinyang to meet the emperor.