Chapter 1,227 Black Mountain Zhang Yan

In Jizhou, Changshan State, in Zhending City, the leader of the Black Mountain Army, Pingnan Zhonglang General Zhang Yan, was receiving a mysterious visitor. It was Dong Zhao, the great craftsman of the Tang State, who was the envoy sent by the Tang State from Luoyang.

After receiving the royal order from Huangfu Chaobo, the three ministers and nine ministers in Luoyang City and everyone at Shangshutai immediately summoned all the important ministers. After secret deliberations for a long time, they finally reached a unanimous decision. Although it was not the best time to recruit the Black Mountain Army to surrender. period, but he was 80 to 90% sure, so he decided to send people to Changshan Kingdom to recruit and surrender.

After everyone discussed it, Dong Zhao, the great craftsman, finally volunteered to be sent as an envoy. After everyone discussed it, they agreed to his request, and then reported to Huangfu Chaobo that he agreed, and immediately sent someone to escort him to Jizhou.

Today's Black Mountain Army, with the support of Huangfu Chaobo, barely managed to avoid being driven into the Taihang Mountains, and still preserved a dozen cities in the Changshan Kingdom. Today, except for the two cities of Lingshou and Nanxingtang, the remaining eleven cities in Changshan Kingdom are all under the control of the Black Mountain Army. If you add Linquan City, which was newly upgraded to the county level in Huangjin Tianxia, ​​and Fengle City, which was newly upgraded to the county level in Xintianyou, the Black Mountain Army now has a total of thirteen cities.

However, the Montenegrin Army is not in the hands of Zhang Yan alone, but is in an alliance. In addition to the two forces of the two former Yellow Turban figures, there are also Gaoyi City controlled by Yu Du and Luo Shi, with about 40,000 troops and about 60,000 people; and Bai Rao and Wulu controlled by Gaoyi City. Fangfang City has about 30,000 soldiers and 50,000 people; plus the two cities of Pingji and Luancheng controlled by Zuo Zhuzhangba and Kuxi, there are a total of 60,000 soldiers and 120,000 people.

What remains are the seven cities of Zhending, Jiumen, Puwu, Jingxing, Shangai, Yuanshi, and Shiyi under the control of Zhang Yan and a group of cronies, with a total of 100,000 troops and nearly 1.1 million people. Of course, this also includes some small and medium-sized forces that have taken refuge under Zhang Yan. Even though Zhang Yan only had 100,000 soldiers and horses, Huangfu Chaobo reminded him that his 100,000 troops had 40,000 soldiers and 60,000 defenders, instead of the old, weak and miscellaneous like the rest of Yu Du's group. A mixed bag of good and bad. So on the surface, Zhang Yan's military strength is smaller than the total number of other companies, but his combat power is far stronger than that of the other combined forces.

Among Zhang Yan's 40,000 soldiers, 20,000 are directly under his command, plus 30,000 garrison troops stationed in Zhending City, and of the other 20,000 soldiers, 10,000 are stationed at Ai and Jingxing. and nine gates each have five thousand. The remaining 30,000 garrison soldiers were scattered among six cities.

It is precisely because Zhang Yan personally led an army of 50,000 to garrison Zhending to provide backup for the other cities, and sent his own Qingniujiao troops to guard the nine gates, attracting most of the attention of the Wei state, that he was able to maintain the current thirteen cities. This is why Zhang Yan was able to lead the Black Mountain Alliance Army with hundreds of thousands of troops and nearly 1.5 million people.

However, even though Zhang Yan is the most powerful, he does not dare to easily think of annexing the other Yellow Turban armies. If he really does this, the small Yellow Turban troops attached to him will disperse. go. By then, he would have at most 60,000 to 70,000 troops and 5 to 600,000 people left by his side.

After ordering people to serve the best tea and snacks, Zhang Yan dismissed a group of his cronies and guards, and only sent his son Zhang Fang to guard the door personally.

When only the two of them were left in the room, Zhang Yan slowly said: "I wonder what Mr. Dong is doing when he comes to our Black Mountain this time? Is there anything important that the Tang Dynasty wants to do?"

Dong Zhao slowly picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip. Then he put down the teacup calmly and looked at Zhang Yan and said: "Zhao came here this time because he did have something to discuss with General Zhongling. Because It is inconvenient to send letters, so I sent Dong here specially."

When Zhang Yan heard this, he suddenly became nervous. He knew Dong Zhao's status in the Tang Dynasty. He was a great craftsman and one of the ministers second only to Jiu Qing. For such an important minister to suddenly appear in his general's house under a new disguise would make anyone a little nervous.

"I wonder if the King of Tang has anything important to do? I would like to ask Mr. Dong to explain it clearly.

"

"I once heard from your Majesty that during our previous meeting with General Zhonglang, General Zhonglang promised my king that if the Tang army points to Hebei in the future, General Zhonglang will definitely lead the Black Mountain Army as a tail wing!" Dong Zhao looked at it! Zhang Yan looked at him as if he didn't care and said;

Zhang Yan's heart skipped a beat: "Is the King of Tang preparing to send troops to Hebei?"

Dong Zhao shook his head: "The northwest is not peaceful, how can we send troops to Hebei just like this?"

"Then why did Mr. Dong ask such a question? Zhang Yan did say so at the beginning. However, since the Tang army has not sent troops to Hebei, if rumors of Zhang Yan's surrender to the Tang King come out at this time, the Wei King will not give up. "

Dong Zhao did not say anything more about this matter, but instead changed the topic to another direction: "General Zhonglang knows that two days ago, our king had driven tens of thousands of King Zhao's troops out of Shangdang, and now our Tang army has completely controlled the troops. The entire Shangdang County?”

"Ah?!" Zhang Yan was stunned. Although he knew that Tang and Zhao were currently fighting at Shangdang, he had not yet received news that Lu Bu's army had withdrawn from Shangdang. When he heard it, he was shocked.

"Lu Bu is among men, and Red Rabbit is among horses!"

This is not just a rumor. Lu Bu's bravery is famous all over the world. What's more, a few months ago, Lu Bu personally led an army to the grassland and killed all the foreigners within two hundred miles north of Yinshan Mountain. net.

Well, regardless of whether Lu Bu's army quit Shangdang on his own or was driven out of Shangdang by the Tang army, it is an indisputable fact that he gave up Shangdang. This is a fact seen by the whole world. Therefore, it is indisputable that Lu Bu's Zhao army was defeated by the Tang army. In fact, not only Zhang Yan was shocked, but also Huangfu Chaobo was wondering when Lu Bu became so tolerant.

Zhang Yan also knew that since Shangdang had become a place controlled by the Tang State, there would be no other barriers between his Changshan State and the Tang State. Thinking of this, Zhang Yan said: "Don't worry, Mr. Dong, Zhang Yan is not a ungrateful person, but now the king is unwilling to start a large-scale war with Wei. If..."

"General, don't worry. The king did not ask the general to raise the flag immediately. I believe the king must know about the battle between Tang and Qi a few years ago." Dong Zhao said with a smile;

Zhang Yan's heart moved and she immediately understood what Dong Zhao meant: "Does the king mean to order us to be like Kong Yuzhou?"

"Yes, the king wishes that the general can follow Master Kong's approach and not publicize it now, but quietly make preparations." At this point, Dong Zhao paused again, looked at Zhang Yan and said, "If the general is willing , The king has three choices for the general, and the general can choose one of them."