From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 369

At noon on the second day, Zhou Yuan led Li Yu'an, Li He, Xiang Yong and other generals, as well as 40,000 troops, to Luoyang.

The Fifth Army Camp left behind 10,000 troops to suppress Kaifeng. After all, the six major families had just been destroyed not long ago, and there might be more changes.

So Zhou Yuan kept Liu Fang. He was cautious and measured in his work and was able to handle complex situations.

Kaifeng was not far from Luoyang. It went along the official road to Zhengzhou, to Hulao Pass, entered Luoyang Prefecture, and finally arrived at Yanshi for garrison.

Forty thousand troops were going to attack an ancient city guarded by 130,000 troops, and the city walls were extremely high and the fortifications were complete. This was almost a fantasy.

But no one raised any doubts, because the commander was Zhou Yuan, who had accomplished too many incredible miracles, so that his prestige had reached the extreme.

The soldiers of the Fifth Army Camp obeyed him unconditionally.

Only Li Yu'an said: "How to fight this battle? Zhang Bailong's side are all newly recruited farmers, and their combat effectiveness is very average. But after all, it is a battle to defend the city, and the difference in numbers between the two sides is too big."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said softly: "So I need your help."

Li Yu'an said: "Me? What can I do?"

Zhou Yuan said: "Help me pass a letter to Zhang Bailong, I want to talk to him."

Li Yu'an looked strange and asked doubtfully: "You don't want to persuade him to surrender? He is not someone who is easily shaken."

Zhou Yuan smiled and said: "No matter what, we have to meet and talk. Talking about the situation in the world, you helped me make an appointment in the middle. "Li Yuzheng nodded and randomly:" I don't know if he will agree, but you can try it. " Out of it, "" "" "Facing the thief, you don't have to talk about any morals, just do it." Our Deputy Director Li He was smart enough. Zhou Yuan nodded: "I know, go and play," Li He was depleted tonight. "Zhou Yuan said," "Xiang Yongzhang:" The last will follow, please rest assured. "He ordered everything, Zhou Yuancai and Li Yuzheng went to the place where he met. This is a riverside, with water plants growing on both sides. There happened to be a long-abandoned pavilion for pedestrians to take shelter from the rain.

Zhang Bailong brought only a few followers, had already cleaned up the pavilion, and sat there drinking tea.

The wind was howling, the sun was dazzling, it was summer, and the place was lush and green, full of vitality.

Zhou Yuan strode over, and Zhang Bailong also waved his hand to let his followers step back.

So in this wilderness, the two sat at the same table and began a long-lost conversation.

"I still remember the first time we met, it was outside Kaifeng."

Zhang Bailong's tone was full of emotion, and he sighed: "At that time, I was almost about to achieve the goal of unifying the Central Plains and was about to move towards the whole country. Now, in just three months, there is only one city left, Luoyang."

Zhou Yuan said: "Your foundation is too shallow. You only have soldiers but no mature configuration. Failure is inevitable."

Zhang Bailong shook his head and said: "That's not right. The only one who can defeat me with 60,000 troops in the Jin Dynasty is Song Shanao. No one else can do it."

"It's you, Zhou Yuan. Your tactics are too outstanding and too unexpected. I didn't lose unfairly."

Zhou Yuan looked at him and said slowly: "In three months, you and I have lost more than 300,000 people, all of whom are young and strong laborers. I don't know how many people will die in the Battle of Luoyang. It's better not to fight."

Zhang Bailong was silent for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "Then the people before died in vain, "Zhou Yuan said:" That's nothing. "Zhang Bailong said:" I heard that you are killing people in Kaifeng and the blood flows into the river? " Will it be better than me? "" Will. "Zhou Yuan said faintly:" If I am you, I will do better than you. , Only send food to make people solidly, food will only make people want to be infinitely desired. "In this way, they kept fighting for food. "

"You can't call each other brothers, the hierarchy must be strict, and a military merit reward system must be set up. First, conquer the Central Plains."

"Then send out spies and cooperate with treacherous officials, give them a chance to recruit them, and give yourself three to five years of precipitation."

"After three to five years, the army will be well-organized, the military spirit will be cohesive, the military discipline will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the manufacture of weapons will be on a large scale, and the logistics, espionage and intelligence will be fully mature in all aspects."

"At that time, go south to Huguang, west to Sichuan, gradually occupy the southwest, and compete with the Jin Dynasty."

"In this case, the northern Mongolians and the eastern barbarians will inevitably take advantage of the situation, and the Jin Dynasty will be forced to move its capital to Jinling. You can also take advantage of the situation to attack, take Hunan and Guangxi, and force the Jin Dynasty to the Jiangnan region to survive."

"After conquering the world, it will be time to distribute the land."

"If this matter is brought forward, the people will only listen to the heaven and earth, not you. "

Zhang Bailong was silent for a long time, and finally smiled bitterly and sighed, muttering: "I am not as clear as you. Maybe I am not the material to be an emperor. I just can't stand the suffering of the people, and I want to make decisions for them."

Zhou Yuan said: "Surrender, leave the Central Plains to me, I will let them live and work in peace."

Zhang Bailong shook his head and said: "Impossible, I am determined and will not give up halfway. Liu Bei can persist in the face of Cao Cao and remain committed. How can I, Zhang Bailong, give up easily?"

"Besides, with 130,000 troops in Kaifeng, it is no problem to defend Luoyang."

At this point, he smiled and said: "I have to thank you for bringing me 50,000 troops. I won the first wave of competition between the two of us, but it's a pity that I didn't continue to win."

Zhou Yuan shook his head and said: "No, in fact, you have been losing."

"Among the 50,000 refugees, I hid 2,000 people in, and they have controlled most of the refugees. ”

“Among the 20,000 new soldiers you recruited, are there any from Song County? I hid 4,000 of them.”

“Now there are 130,000 defenders in Luoyang, at least 30,000 to 40,000 of them are my people. I will give the order and the city gate will open directly.”

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan looked at him and said solemnly: “I came to you today to give your soldiers a chance to survive. I have killed enough people and I don’t want to kill anymore.”

“If you are willing to surrender, I am willing to let them go home. After all, it’s time for the autumn harvest.”

Zhang Bailong looked at Zhou Yuan and suddenly laughed out loud: “Hahahaha! Good! Good! What a modern little Zhuge!”

“I finally understand the sentence in your book. Since Yu was born, why was Liang born!”