I

The two sides confront each other.

Zhao Han ordered the trumpeter to prepare and said to Tian Younian again: "Prefect Tian, ​​in such a situation, are you still planning to surrender?"

There is really no need to fight. Tian Younian's advantage is that he has more archers, but his disadvantage is also that he has more archers.

Its military strength was only half of Zhao Han's at the moment, and it was surrounded on three sides. If Zhao Han attacks regardless of casualties, the archers can only fire one round. Those with quick hands can shoot the second arrow, and then they will have to face a close combat strangulation.

"well!"

Tian Younian took off his bow and arrows, threw them away together with his sword, walked out of the military formation alone and said, "Come here with two people and tie me up."

Zhao Hanzhen sent people to tie up this guy and brought him to the front.

"I'm sorry," Zhao Han explained with a smile, "Prefect Tian has trained his troops well, so I have to be more careful. Besides, your surrender was so sudden that I can't believe it."

Tian Younian's hands and feet were tied, he turned around and shouted: "Put down your weapons, this man will not kill indiscriminately!"

Just when Huang Yao and Huang Shun were receiving the surrender, Zhao Han asked curiously: "Prefect Tian seems to know me very well?"

"I have scholars from Luling under my command," Tian Younian explained. "Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win a hundred battles. To fight, you must first know the enemy's situation. After the autumn harvest last year, I had already sent out spies. I have already known what you are doing." Clear."

"What a trick!"

Zhao Han was not surprised by this. I am afraid that not only Tian Younian's spies, but also Li Maofang and Wang Siren should have sent spies.

Tian Younian continued: "For rebels like you, we must either destroy them quickly or defect as soon as possible. At the beginning, I made an appointment with Governor Li and Wang Qianshi to send troops together after the Lantern Festival. And we cannot divide our troops to avoid being attacked by you. Defeat them one by one. Later, when you entered Fenyi County, I ordered all my troops and horses to besiege you in Fenyi County, and asked them to quickly bring their troops over and join forces to siege you."

"Do you think I can succeed?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian smiled bitterly and said: "Whether you can succeed or not is hard to say for the time being. It will definitely be over tomorrow."

Tian Younian's hometown is in Shaanxi, and he comes from a family of military attachés. No one is more familiar with the extent of the Ming Dynasty's decline than him. His whole family was killed by the bandits. In addition to his parents, he also had three sons and two nephews. My father and brother also died in battle some time ago, so what else can I hope for?

The only hope is to rely on military exploits to find a wife and a son.

But Tian had been in Yuanzhou for more than four years. He first eliminated the bandits and then the rebels, and also donated bows and arrows to the emperor every year.

For such various achievements, the emperor only praised him once in the fourth year of Chongzhen. He was given two taels of silver as a reward, and his monthly salary was increased by six stones. Then there was no response, no promotion, no reward. Even the bow-making subsidy specially approved by the emperor was deducted by some bastard. Anyway, the money never left the capital.

Tian Younian's promotion path has been blocked by the court. If he wants to continue to be promoted, he must send money to the staff.

Or, he made great achievements in the encirclement and suppression of Zhao Han!

Therefore, Tian Younian was very active in military training. He could only achieve meritorious service by conquering Zhao Han, because all the money he exploited was spent on military training, and he had no money to give gifts to the idiots in the official department.

At this moment, he was besieged by Zhao Han's surprise attack, and his last hope was shattered. He also wanted to keep his concubine and son in the city, and keep the last incense of his Tian family. What else could he do besides surrender?

Not only surrender, but also sell out your teammates.

Tian Younian suddenly said: "Governor Li Maofang and Minister Wang Siren should have received my secret report and may be gathering troops to rush to Fenyi County."

"The Duchang Rebel Army is gone?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian replied: "It disappeared a month ago. The officers and soldiers besieged the city for many days. The rebels began to fight among themselves. After fighting each other, they surrendered."

Neither Zhao Han nor Tian Younian knew that something big happened suddenly in the north and Li Maofang and Wang Siren would not come to Fenyi County.

Last winter, rogue bandits roamed Henan, and the imperial court urgently mobilized troops from six provinces to encircle and suppress them.

Before the officers and soldiers completed the encirclement, the bandits broke out of the encirclement and went straight to Fengyang, the ancestral grave of Lao Zhu's family.

At this moment, Li Maofang and Wang Siren had already sent troops, leading thousands of land and water armies to support Fengyang, the central capital. Compared with the ancestral tombs of Lao Zhu's family, the Luling Zhao thieves are nothing and can be left alone to slowly encircle and suppress them.

Even if Zhao Han did not attack at night and was besieged by Tian Younian in Fenyi County, the final outcome would be similar because Tian Younian could not wait for reinforcements.

As for Emperor Chongzhen, he used to hold back his private money and refused to give it to him.

But since it was used once to provide disaster relief, there must be a second time. His ancestral graves were in danger, tens of thousands of troops and insufficient military pay. Chongzhen finally used internal funds for the second time, this time to pay the soldiers on the front line.

Well, the emperor's ancestral tomb was in danger, and the soldiers took the opportunity to make a fuss about pay.

We can't blame the soldiers. During the Chinese New Year, they were still chasing the bandits in the snow, but they couldn't get the money they could pay.

What if I don’t get overtime pay during the Chinese New Year?

…

Seeing that Zhao Han had received the surrendered troops, Tian Younian suddenly said: "Give me a thousand soldiers, and I will take them to falsely open the city."

"good!"

Zhao Han immediately asked the soldiers to change their clothes, put on the officers and soldiers' clothes, took the officers and soldiers' weapons, and surrounded Tian Younian to deceive the city.

Tonight's battle was very bizarre. Zhao Han thought there was a bloody battle, but Tian Younian surrendered so neatly.

The next step was acting. There were shouts of killing everywhere in the military camp. They ran and shouted all the way to the bottom of Yuegong Ridge.

Tian Younian wore his hair disheveled and smeared blood on his face, and went to cheat the city accompanied by Zhao Han himself. He was even more anxious than Zhao Han, because his concubine and son were in the city, and they were his only relatives in the world.

There was a turmoil in Fucheng. The soldiers who fled back from the military camp, as well as the soldiers who were responsible for guarding food and grass by the river, all fled outside several city gates. They wanted to escape into the city, but the defenders in the city did not open the door, fearing that there was some fraud and the city would be lost.

"Step aside!"

Tian Younian shouted loudly.

"The Master is here!"

"The master of the palace has killed the rebels!"

"..."

The deserters were so happy that they all made way for Tian Younian.

Tian Younian angrily scolded: "If you run away from the battle, I will punish you tomorrow!" Then he came to the bottom of the city and roared towards the city tower, "I am Tian Younian, the bandits have been killed and retreated, open the city quickly and let me in. Also, send people to find the doctor, but all the doctors and soldiers in the army have fled. I have wounded soldiers who need to be treated immediately!"

This man was so prestigious in the city. With just a few orders, the defenders did not dare to say anything and hurriedly ran to open the city gate.

Zuo Xiaocheng was also among the deserters. He tried his best to push forward, but was blocked by Zhao Han's soldiers and could not squeeze through at all. He could only shout: "Master, I am Luling scholar Zuo Xiaocheng!"

No one paid any attention to him.

Suddenly, the city gate opened wide, and Zhao Han led his troops and surrounded Tian Younian and entered.

"kill!"

After entering the city, Zhao Han stabbed the gatekeeper to death with one shot, and thousands of soldiers rushed towards the tower.

Tian Younian shouted: "I have surrendered, you should surrender quickly!"

Unfortunately, the shouts of killing were so loud that countless officers and soldiers were caught off guard and were killed. They fled one after another, and no one listened to him at all.

Is Magistrate Tian also a thief?

Hearing the shouts of killing inside the city gate, Zuo Xiaocheng turned pale with fright and immediately took the road and ran away to the river.

His mind went blank and he couldn't figure out what was going on.

He took refuge in Jie Xuelong, but Jie Xuelong was defeated and died. He came to seek refuge with Tian Younian again, but this one turned out to be more powerful and actually surrendered the rebels directly.

There was complete chaos in the city, and some people even started setting fires, hoping to take the opportunity to rob money.

Tian Younian saw the flames soaring into the sky and said anxiously: "Quickly separate a group of soldiers and follow me to capture the government office. My son is still inside!"

I can no longer care about my future or anything else.

That son, who was only over one year old, was Tian Younian's heart and soul, the only bloodline and incense left in the Tian family.

After Zhao Han occupied the southern tower, he immediately said to Huang Yao: "Lead the troops and follow Mr. Tian to Zhanfu Yamen!"

Tian Younian was surrounded by people running and soon arrived outside the government office. He immediately shouted: "Open the door, I am Tian Younian."

The gate of the government office soon opened, and Huang Yao led his people to occupy the place. Tian Younian didn't care about anything and trotted straight to the backyard, where his concubine was holding his son and shivering.

"Don't be afraid Xi'er, I'm back." Tian Younian comforted her softly.

He was nearly fifty years old, and all three sons had died. This youngest son was hard-won.

Even this concubine is nothing more than a maid, and the mother is doted on because of her noble son. After giving birth to the child, she immediately took her as a concubine and planned to straighten her up and make a sequel in the future.

Until dawn, Tian Younian patrolled the city to collect the remaining soldiers. His concubine and son were taken as hostages, and Huang Yao sent people to guard them.

Everyone had been working hard all night, and it was already midnight, and they were not in the mood to talk. They only sent troops to take turns guarding the city and maintaining law and order.

After sleeping soundly until evening, Zhao Han finally got up to eat and called Tian Younian over to have a drink with him.

"Mr. Li Hao (Tian Younian)," Zhao Han raised his glass, "Thank you for your help, sir!"

Tian Younian was actually depressed. He took a sip of wine and said, "I know your plan. I will release the slaves in two days and give them labor contracts. If you believe me, I will help you capture the entire Yuanzhou Mansion. If If you don’t believe me, I’ll just go back to Ji’an with you.”

Zhao Han smiled and said: "It's not that I don't trust you, sir, but I have no intention of capturing Yuanzhou. I will return to the army immediately after one more day's rest. By the way, I want to take away all the craftsmen of the Yuanzhou Ordnance Factory!"

"Okay, I'll help you summon the craftsmen." Tian Younian said.

Zhao Han couldn't help but laugh: "Sir, he fell so quickly and cooperated so well. I still can't believe it."

"I bought this official position," Tian Younian asked, "Do you know what kind of official position I bought?"

"Sir, please speak." Zhao Han said.

Tian Younian sneered: "The magistrate of Jiangning County spent tens of thousands of taels of silver!"

Awesome, even though Jiang Ning is affiliated with Guo Nanjing, the salary is definitely very rich. It is really awesome to be able to buy this official.

Tian Younian continued: "Most of the money I made in Jiangning was used to feed the Donglin Party. At that time, Wei Zhongxian came to power and the Donglin Party was in dire straits. It was extremely rare for me to provide help in times of need. After Wei Zhongxian's fall, guess what?"

"Has the Donglin Party turned their backs and disowned them?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian sighed and said: "I continued to work in Jiangning for one year and eliminated the Jiangning bandits. I actually had to give money to get a head of the household department. The fat job only worked for one year and was sent to Yuanzhou. When I came to be the prefect, I didn’t even think about my old relationship!”

From the county magistrate of Jiangning to the head of the household department, being promoted two levels in a row is definitely a high promotion.

From the head of the household department to the prefect of Yuanzhou, he was promoted four levels in a row. This is hard to say. A man who has a shortage of imperial officials and is appointed as a magistrate in a poor place needs to look at the future development.

"When I arrived in Yuanzhou," Tian Younian said with a chuckle, "I was forgotten by the Donglin Party, and my previous friendship was gone. After all, I am from Shaanxi, and I was born in Juren, so I am not the same as them. These bastards, I’m used to burning bridges across rivers!”

Being a prefect is a hurdle, and it is very difficult to get promoted.

Some unlucky people, from one place to another, can serve as magistrates for more than twelve years, and then slowly waste their time participating in political meetings and politics, and keep wandering around in different places all their lives.

Tian Younian is the kind of person who can't get promoted. In his official career, he can only participate in politics at the third level. Without money, he can't even participate in politics.

With no hope of promotion, no family to hold him back, and having to keep his job, what burden does being a thief have?

As long as he is promoted according to his political performance, Tian Younian will not choose to be a thief.