Chapter 246 Raid on the Capital (Part 1)

It turned out that Zhang Shenyan was knowledgeable and had been an official for many years, so he was quite familiar with the military defense of the capital. Sometimes when chatting with Zhang Shun, he accidentally revealed secrets such as border towns and checkpoints near the capital.

Limited by the times, although Zhang Shenyan was somewhat cautious when talking to Zhang Shun, he was still willing to share some unimportant information with Zhang Shun.

It's just that Zhang Shun dared to "raid on the capital" despite his careful words. From Zhang Shenyan's point of view, the officers and soldiers were strong and the rebels were weak. Zhang Shun had no time to escape from the officers and soldiers, so how could he dare to go to the tiger's mouth to stroke his beard? This was also one of the reasons Zhang Shenyan revealed to Zhang Shun, but no one expected that Zhang Shun would do the opposite.

Zhang Shun's previous life was in an era of advanced information. No matter how covert his actions were, they could easily be photographed, filmed and posted online by ordinary people who saw him. There was no secret at all.

But in this era where transportation relies on walking and communication relies on roaring, if officers and soldiers want to catch themselves and others, it is no different from finding a needle in a haystack.

As long as you are not unlucky enough to fall into a trap, the soldiers will be able to attack as far as the boldness of the person.

"King Zuojin" and "General Chuang" deliberately objected, but their knowledge was limited and they did not have a staff like Zhang Shenyan under their command who could provide information on the rules of the imperial court in the capital, as well as the military system and military defense settings around the capital. They objected a few words dryly, but could not explain the reason. In the end, they had no choice but to obey Zhang Shun's opinion honestly.

Now that the three of them have confirmed their crazy plan to raid the capital, the next step is to arrange personnel for action.

First of all, none of the men under the command of "King Lu Yan" gathered by Zhang Shun and "Chuang Jiang" could lead them. These people had low combat effectiveness and were unorganized. It is impossible to say that they got separated on the march, which would not form a fighting force, and it would be easy to leak information.

"Chuang Jiang" had few generals under his command, so he was reluctant to let "One Tiger" and "Jixuan" stay, so he suggested that Zhang Shun should leave a general to look after the Xishan camp.

Zhang Shun thought for a moment and agreed. He ordered his sworn brothers Chen Changzhen, Li You, Ji Dan and Xu Ziyuan to stay. With Chen Changzhen as the leader and Xu Ziyuan as the deputy, they were in charge of the Xishan camp. "Chang Jiang" and the others had no objections, so the matter was settled.

Secondly, it is the matter of the troops carrying supplies. The three of them negotiated for a long time and decided to carry one month's worth of food. It is enough for the team to go back and forth. If something unexpected happens in the middle, just plunder some food and grass to replenish it.

The last is the military target. We initially decided to try our best to enter Shuntian Mansion in the capital and harass them for a while before returning. If the march is difficult, you can seize the opportunity to besiege and attack Baoding Prefecture to shock the capital. After the three people had reached a consensus, they returned to camp to prepare for the army's departure early tomorrow morning.

At this time, Zhang Shun had the opportunity to call Chen Changzhen, Xu Ziyuan, Li You, and Ji Dan to him, and said: "I am waiting to go north this time. The march will only be six to seven hundred miles, but it will be extremely dangerous. Regardless of whether we can march to the capital as planned. , we all need to return to our Xishan camp to repair."

"I am leaving this time. The Xishan camp seems to have a large number of people, but in fact it is very empty. You have only five hundred elite cavalry available to you. Lu Xiangsheng suffered a big loss in the previous trip, and he will inevitably come back to take revenge one day. I don't know justice. Brother, what plan do you have in mind? Is it possible to achieve it?"

Chen Changzhen laughed when he heard this and said: "My lord has such a great reputation that Lu Xiangsheng is too frightened to attack. If he comes to attack, I will use my strength to scare him away!"

Zhang Shun couldn't help but applaud when he heard this, and praised: "Brother, what a trick! I'll wait until we go, and don't stop the construction of the Xishan camp and the training of the soldiers. Although these nearly 5,000 troops have crude weapons, if they are used well, they may not be able to defeat the officers and soldiers."

After saying this, Zhang Shun deliberately took Xu Ziyuan's hand and said: "Brother Xu is a great talent, but now I am in trouble, so I have to use the talent and use it sparingly. It's just that we are short of manpower today, so I have to trouble Brother Xu once. I hope Brother Xu doesn't mind." .”

Xu Ziyuan had been following Zhang Shun for several months. He had no other thoughts and quickly assured him: "My lord, you are ridiculous. Xu is just a corrupt scholar. Now that I have to meet the Ming Lord, I wish I could repay him with death. It's just that my knowledge is shallow. He just reluctantly did some small things within his power. Xu knows that his talents and learning are limited. Although he cannot plan the "Longzhong Dual" for his lord to conquer the world, he can only devote himself to death and die!"

The four or five monarchs and ministers complimented each other for a long time before reluctantly going back to rest. On the second day, Zhang Shun, "Chuang Jiang" and "Zuo Jinwang" left Xishan and headed north.

This Lincheng County belongs to Zhending Prefecture and is located at the southernmost end of Zhending Prefecture. If the rebels want to reach the capital, they must go west of the Taihang Mountains and pass through Zanhuang, Yuanshi, Huolu, Pingshan, Lingshou, Xingtang, Quyang and other counties before they can enter Baoding Prefecture.

This Baoding Prefecture is the last gateway to the Shuntian Prefecture of the capital. Regardless of whether Zhang Shun and others can reach Shuntian through Baoding Prefecture, it will cause a shock in the capital and induce Zhang Zongheng and Xu Dingchen to march eastward to achieve this strategic goal.

The march of the rebel army, unlike the officers and soldiers, does not need to take the official road and pass through the prefectures, counties and capitals. Although there are many plains in the Zhili area, the counties east of the Taihang Mountains are still very mountainous. According to Zhang Shun's impression of Hebei in later generations, if others had not told him, he would have thought that he was still marching in Shanxi.

Zhang Shun and his two men marched along the east side of Taihang Mountain for two or three days, then passed through Zanhuang and Yuanshi counties and arrived at Huolu county. Huolu County got its name because Han Xin shot a deer here and got the spring. Because it borders Jingxingguan to the west and connects to Shanxi; it borders Yuanshi County to the south and connects to Henan; it borders Zhending Prefecture to the north and the capital. A first-class transportation hub.

Since the Tang Dynasty, Huolu County has been a "land dry dock" and has always been known as "one capital, two satellites and three Tongzhou, but not as good as Huolu dry dock". This "One Beijing, Two Guards and Three Tongzhou" refers to the three important transportation areas of Jingshi, Tianjin Wei and Tongzhou. None of these three are as good as Huolu County, which shows the importance of its status.

Huolu County is not only an important transportation place, of course it is prosperous in trade and rich in the world, but it also means that the terrain of the county is unfavorable for defense.

Now that Zhang Shun and the others arrived here, based on the principle of "the thief never escapes", they took the opportunity to attack the county seat of Huolu County.

It's a pity that a prosperous trading county suffered an innocent disaster, and was beaten down by a team led by three people. The Huolu County Magistrate ran away very quickly, and he didn't know where he went.

The three of them had no intention of searching, nor did they bother to search for copper, iron, silk and other items from Shanxi, and various handicrafts from Henan and Shandong. They just collected some gold and silver and left.

Poor Zhending Mansion is right in front of Huolu County. I heard that a large number of thieves are attacking. How can I dare to send troops to rescue? The magistrate of Zhending Prefecture had no soldiers or generals, only a thousand strong men, so he had to drive them all against the city wall to prevent the thieves from taking the opportunity to attack the city.

Zhang Shun and others had no intention of attacking the city, so they took the opportunity to bypass Zhending Mansion and enter Pingshan County.