Sometimes, it was face that killed people. This time, it was true. If Zhu Kun turned around and ran now, his life would be saved. Even if Ding Huai broke through the south valley entrance, he would not kill the two brothers. However, this mistake caused Zhu Kun to hate the South Valley Entrance and even implicated his brother Zhu Ning.
When Pang De and Zhu Kun lost their horses for the second time, Pang De hid his strength again. This time, the two of them were equal in strength, but Zhu Kun had the upper hand. This made Zhu Kun feel relieved. Haha, he didn't expect this yellow-faced man to be so good-looking but useless. He was only a little fierce at the first attack and couldn't last long. Therefore, he used all his skills to fight Pang De.
In the blink of an eye, thirty rounds had passed, and the two of them were evenly matched. Pang De had been prepared to pretend to be defeated, but something happened at this moment, causing him to change his mind.
When Zhu Ning saw that his elder brother was unable to defeat this yellow-faced man, he secretly had the intention to shoot a sneak attack. Pang De had only used half of his strength to fight Zhu Kun. Zhu Ning's cold arrow naturally could not hit Pang De. However, it was this arrow that angered Pang De. He immediately forgot about his lord's warning. When the two horses crossed again, he cut Zhu Kun in half with his saber. Zhu Kun did not understand why the enemy's martial arts and strength had suddenly increased. He really died with regrets.
The two brothers deserved to be companions on the road to the netherworld. When Zhu Kun was struck down by Pang De's blade, Zhu Ning was preparing to shoot a second arrow. As soon as he nocked the arrow, he found his brother lying dead in the middle of the battle. In his grief and indignation, Zhu Ning threw his bow and arrow on the ground and aimed his spear at Pang De to avenge his brother. It was also because Zhu Ning did not see how Pang De killed Zhu Kun. Otherwise, Zhu Ning would have chosen to retreat to the camp and not come out. However, he did not see it for a moment, and Zhu Ning lost his life in vain.
Just as Pang De was about to kill Zhu Ning with a single slash, Ding Huai rode his horse into the formation and shouted at the panicking bandits,""The leader of the bandits is dead. As long as the rest surrender, I won't punish them.”It turned out that when Pang De killed Zhu Kun, Ding Huai knew that something bad was going to happen. Zhu Ning would definitely retreat to the south valley entrance, and it would be even more difficult to lure the snake out of its hole. Therefore, he quickly went into battle and prepared to command the crowd to take the opportunity to chase after him. He wanted to see if he could directly chase into the stronghold. After all, the horses of his generals were all good horses of Western Liang. He did not expect that things would take a dramatic turn. Zhu Ning was also dead, so Ding Huai took the opportunity to shout such a slogan.
The bandits were forced to go up the mountain to become bandits because of their livelihood. Now that their leader was dead and the government troops had the slogan of surrender, they all knelt down and asked to surrender. This made Pang De, who was originally filled with regret for killing Zhu Kun and Zhu Ning, feel energized. Although he had disobeyed his lord's orders, he had also taken down the stronghold by accident. He could atone for his sins.
Although they had taken down the southern valley entrance without shedding a single drop of blood, Ding Huai was still furious. He was angry because Pang De had disobeyed his orders.
In the tent, Pang De was kneeling on the ground with a dispirited expression. Ding Huai was angrily asking,"Pang De, you disobeyed military orders for no reason and should be beheaded according to the law. What do you have to say?”Of course, Ding Huai would not behead Pang De, but after all, he had disobeyed military orders. If he did not do so, he was afraid that military discipline would be abandoned sooner or later.
Pang De understood that it was his fault for disobeying military discipline, but he did not expect his lord to really want to kill him. Although he was afraid, he had no choice but to answer,"I…I have nothing to say."
" Alright." Ding Huai's face was still dark." Since you've already confessed, then come, push Pang De out…" As Ding Huai spoke, he had already picked up a token in his hand and was about to throw it on the ground.
Before Ding Huai could say the word " behead ", Gao Shun, Cheng Lian, and Zhang Ren had already knelt down. Ding Huai was overjoyed. It seemed that Pang De was quite popular. He had been afraid that no one would plead for him at the beginning. Otherwise, the act would really come true and he would have killed a general for nothing. It seemed that his goal would be achieved.
Gao Shun said," My lord, General Pang did disobey my lord's orders and killed the enemy leader. However, it was also because Zhu Ning had fired a hidden arrow that angered General Pang first. Furthermore, it was because General Pang killed Zhu Kun and Zhu Ning, and my lord had summoned them to surrender in time that our army was able to capture the South Valley Entrance without bloodshed. My lord, please balance General Pang's merits and faults and spare his life."”Gao Shun was Ding Huai's first general, and also Ding Huai's most trusted general. Gao Shun was naturally the one to plead for mercy. Just as Gao Shun finished speaking, Cheng Lian and Zhang Ren also said in unison,""My lord, please spare General Pang's life.”
Ding Huai deliberately put on a show and pretended to be angry."There's no need for you to plead for mercy. If our army disobeys orders like Pang De in the future and acts as they please, wouldn't it be a mess?”
When Gao Shun and the others heard that Ding Huai was a little relenting, they hurriedly advised,"This general will definitely obey military orders in the future and will not dare to disobey.”
Only then did Ding Huai pretend that his anger had subsided and asked Pang De,""Pound, what about you?"
Pang De listened to the conversation between his lord and Gao Shun and knew that his life had been saved. He could not help but secretly heave a sigh of relief. When he heard his lord ask him, how could he dare to say no? He hurriedly said,"This general will not dare to disobey military orders in the future. Otherwise, I will let my lord deal with me.”
Ding Huai, who had put on a good show, let Pang De get up and then discussed the next step of the plan to attack Mount Dingjun with the others.
Cheng Lian said," My lord, Mount Dingjun has 3,000 soldiers. Our army now has more than 6,000 people, which is twice the number of the enemy. No matter how dangerous Mount Dingjun is, I think we can take it down. It's just that the casualties will be too high."”Cheng Lian quickly explained his analysis, implying that they could not fight head-on.
Ding Huai nodded and said," Xiaoxing's words make sense. However, according to our scouts, Leng Bao of Mount Dingjun is not like Zhu Kun and Zhu Ning. She is a brave and resourceful person. I'm afraid it won't be easy for her to be fooled.”
"I have a plan to take down Mount Dingjun," said Zhang Ren.”
Ding Huai was overjoyed and quickly asked,"Since Bo Dang has a brilliant plan, tell me quickly."”Ding Huai thought that Zhang Ren was the number one general of Yizhou in history, so his plan must be extraordinary.
As expected, Zhang Ren said,"" In the battle at the south valley entrance, our army has won completely. Not a single bandit escaped from the south valley entrance. My lord, you can order hundreds of our soldiers to disguise as defeated bandits. Then, you can choose a small leader among the surrendered soldiers and reward him handsomely. Then, you can order him to lead them to escape to Mount Dingjun. We will agree to respond internally. Leng Bao will not be on guard and will take everyone in. In this way, our army should cooperate from the inside and outside, so it is not difficult to break Dingjun Mountain.”
Ding Huai was overjoyed. Zhang Ren was indeed Zhang Ren. It was indeed a good plan. Thus, they acted according to Zhang Ren's plan and ordered Cheng Lian to mix in as the leader of the group.
As expected, although Leng Bao was very careful and had questioned the leader strictly, the leader's eloquence was not bad. According to what Ding Huai had taught her, she described the battle situation in detail. Leng Bao did not find any flaws, so she comforted everyone and ordered them to rest.
However, Leng Bao could not help but feel a sense of fear towards Ding Huai. She did not expect Ding Huai to be able to take down the mountain stronghold at the South Valley Entrance in three days and kill the two brothers, Zhu Kun and Zhu Ning. It seemed that this Ding Huai was indeed quite capable. However, when Leng Bao had understood the situation earlier, she had also discovered that it was Zhu Kun and Zhu Ning who had been careless and had given Ding Huai an opportunity to take advantage of. Thinking about how tightly guarded her camp was, she was afraid that Ding Huai would not have such an opportunity. Thinking about this, Leng Bao felt relieved.
Three days had passed, and Leng Bao still did not see a single person from Ding Huai's army. She could not help but feel strange. None of the scouts she had sent out had returned. Leng Bao had a question in her heart as to what had happened outside. But this made Leng Bao even more careful. She would personally patrol every night before resting. Leng Bao could only think that Ding Huai was deliberately using time to let her down her guard, but Leng Bao would not fall for it.
On the fourth night, as usual, Leng Bao toured the entire village and went back to rest.
Unexpectedly, just as Leng Bao was about to fall asleep, there was suddenly a loud shout. Leng Bao had just stood up and put on her armor when the guards came to report that the government troops had already charged into the camp. Leng Bao turned pale with fright. How could the government troops charge in? She had no time to think. She could only hold her guns and mount her horse. She had to escape first.
Since Mt. Dingjun was a mountain, there was more than one way down. Leng Bao had lived here for many years, so she knew everything about Mt. Dingjun. So, Leng Bao quickly took a hundred soldiers and escaped down the mountain through another path. Leng Bao did not dare to stay in Hanzhong. She fled to Yinping County and then to Shu County. Later on, when Liu Yan was in charge of Yizhou, Leng Bao joined Liu Yan and was entrusted with an important task.
In less than a month, Ding Huai had wiped out all the bandits in Hanzhong, causing the provincial governor Zhang Qiao to look at Ding Huai in a new light.
From then on, there were no more thieves in Hanzhong. Of course, the main reason was that Hanzhong's economy had a relatively large leap under the drive of Ding Huai's beer, paper making, and iron smelting. The people no longer had to worry about their livelihood. Instead, every household had surplus grain. While Ding Huai was constantly accumulating money, he also stepped up the training of his 16,000 soldiers.(After breaking through Dingjun Mountain, Ding Huai selected 2,000 of the captives from the two places to be incorporated into the Hanzhong Army, and the rest were sent home to farm.) What Ding Huai was looking forward to now was the outbreak of the Yellow Turban uprising in February next year.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。