C115

The one in front was the cavalry unit that Zhang He had sent to report to the Qinghe County. There were around a hundred of them, and the one behind was the two hundred odd people led by the Gongsun Jia brothers. Each of them had two horses, and the distance between them was getting closer and closer. Just now, when they had received Gongsun Xu's order, the Gongsun Jia brothers had led their people to quickly chase up. One of them had two horses that were extremely fast, and after running for twenty to thirty kilometers, they had already caught up to the other party.

The leader of the guards heard the horse hooves getting closer and closer. He turned his head and shouted, "The enemy has caught up to us. They have two horses and many people. Zhang Zhang, General Zhang's letter is on you. Bring the thirty people with you first, you must deliver it to Qinghe County no matter what! "

Two hundred people against seventy people, and the difference in equipment between the two sides was extremely huge. The Gongsun Jia brothers led Gongsun Xu's personal army, and everyone was equipped with ring head knife s made of fine steel, armors and extremely powerful crossbow. When the two sides reached a distance of about 20 steps, Gongsun Jia ordered the people in the front row to release their crossbows, causing them to instantly shoot over 20 to 30 enemies, after which the two sides started to fight.

After just one exchange, Zhang Jian only had a dozen or so people left, and all of them were injured. On the other hand, there were only a dozen or so people who had fallen from their horses. With such a massive gap, they no longer had the courage to fight their opponent. When Gongsun Jia led his men and surrounded them, raising his crossbow arrows and ordering them to surrender, Zhang Jian sighed deeply and ordered them to surrender. The people he was leading were basically all his friends in the village, many of them were his friends and relatives.

Gongsun Yi spurred his horse to walk in front of Zhang Jian, and asked: What's your name? What was his identity? "Don't think about lying to me. Even if you don't tell them, others will tell you. At that time, everyone will die miserably!"

Gongsun Yi's words completely caused Zhang Jian to lose his interest in lying. He lowered his head and whispered, "I am Zhang Jian, the personal Junior head of General Zhang He."

"Zhang He's personal Junior head!" Gongsun Yi's eyes lit up. This identity was enough to ask him a lot of things.

Following that, Gongsun Yi carefully asked about the situation in the city and he answered truthfully.

Gongsun Jia had already retracted his dead body, and walked over and said: "Xiao Yi, you guys have finished asking, bring them back for Young Master to personally ask."

"Alright, I'll bring them back now." Gongsun Yi nodded his head and was prepared to send Zhang Jian and the rest back to Galleon.

"Please wait!" Zhang Jian suddenly called out to Gongsun Yi, looking at the corpses of his comrades around him, he said sorrowfully: "Can we also keep the corpses here?"

Gongsun Yi thought for a while and said: "Alright! However, there are no tools to excavate this place. I allow you all to bring the corpses back to the Galleon to be buried. "Men, collect the scattered war horses and carry the bodies back to the grave."

Two hours later, the Gongsun Jia brothers brought the captives and corpses back to the Galleon. At this time, Gongsun Zanfuzi had already returned from the valley where he hid the troops. Gongsun Xu who was stationed at the south side of the city heard that they had captured more than ten prisoners, and immediately had the Gongsun Jia brothers bring them into the big tent.

"Young master, these people are all Zhang He's personal soldiers. This person called Zhang Jian is the leader.

Gongsun Xu sized Zhang Jian up, discovering that he was skinny and lean, as though he was not someone who would surrender easily, he asked curiously.

Zhang Jian bowed and replied: "Reporting to the general, the young people are all friends of the village, and it sounds like they are close friends. Furthermore, the messenger has already escaped, so it can be considered as not delaying General Zhang He, thus I gave the order to surrender."

"Friend in the village?" Gongsun Xu's heart skipped a beat and he asked, "Are you all from the same village as General Zhang He?"

Zhang Jian nodded his head: "That's right, after General Zhang He gained something, he returned to the countryside to recruit new soldiers, and we all went under his command to become his personal guards."

Gongsun Xu laughed: "Since they are all General Zhang He's personal soldiers, this general will not make things difficult for you. After asking a few questions, this general will let you all return to the city."

"Is what the general said true?" Zhang Jian was both surprised and happy, but he still couldn't believe what Gongsun Xu had said.

Gongsun Xu laughed coldly: "With this general's status, how could I deceive you, a mere janissary?"

Zhang Jian's eyes flashed with a trace of happiness, and he respectfully replied: "General, as long as I know, I will answer your question truthfully."

"Other than General Zhang He, who else is in charge of this city?"

Zhang Jian felt that this was not a secret, so he replied: "There's also Mr. Tian Feng, he will assist General Zhang He in defending the city."

"Tian Feng?" Gongsun Xu was slightly shocked, this person had a scheming mind, and was even upright, he was a pretty good talent, but unfortunately, he actually died in the hands of Yuan Shao, who was wholeheartedly loyal to him, which could be considered a tragic figure.

"It's Mr. Tian Feng!" Zhang Jian thought that Gongsun Xu did not believe him and anxiously explained: "He and General Zhang are old acquaintances, so Yuan Shijun sent him to General Zhang's side to advise him."

With the Mo Sect infiltrating and asking about news from all over, Gongsun Xu knew very well about many things in the Hebei region. He knew that Zhang He and Tian Feng were previously Han Fu's clansmen, and only after Yuan Shao took over his nest did the two choose to join him. Furthermore, the news that came from the Qinghe County showed that Yuan Shao did not trust Han Fu's old army very much, or it could be said that he did not dare to trust Han Fu's old tribe, because there were a lot of people here, and they all had some skills. Although Qu Yi's death was mainly because she was arrogant and despotic, and did not put Yuan Shao in his eyes, it was not because she did not want Yuan Shao to borrow the blade to kill people, and suppress Han Fu's old tribe.

Gongsun Xu nodded, then asked: "How many troops does General Zhang He have?"

"About that," Zhang Jian hesitated for a moment, but eventually answered honestly: "The city originally had five thousand county soldier s, and over ten thousand of them, a total of fifteen thousand people.

"You're not lying!" Gongsun Xu laughed in satisfaction, then suddenly asked: "There are already more than 40,000 citizens in the city, right?"

"It's true," Zhang Jian answered without thinking, and then asked in shock, "How does the general know?"

"Haha" Gongsun Xu laughed confidently: "Don't even mention the situation in Gao Yi County, even if it was something on Yuan Shao's side, as long as this general wants to know, I would be able to find out!"

Zhang Jian was greatly shocked. He had already believed about seventy to eighty percent of Gongsun Xu's words, and was complaining incessantly in his heart. Now that the other party knew of the situation, how could General Zhang He win?

Gongsun Xu saw Zhang Jian's shocked expression and laughed to himself, then waved his hand: "Alright, I just wanted to see if you are sincere. Looks like it's not too bad now, since I already know what is happening in the city, I won't bother to ask you anymore, but I will bury the corpses of your comrades. Gongsun Yi, send them to the city gates and let Zhang He connect them with the hanging basket. "

"Thank you, General!" Zhang Jian did not expect Gongsun Xu to not only keep his words, but also not ask him about any more confidential matters, and immediately bowed and expressed his gratitude along with his ten or so subordinates.

When Zhang Jian and the others were about to pay the bill, Gongsun Xu said loudly: "Go back and tell General Zhang He that he is magnanimous on the outside but taboo on the inside. He is constantly on guard against Han Fu's old tribe.

Zhang Jian's footsteps became a little messy, and after agreeing, he walked out.

The moment Gongsun Xu sat down, Zhao Yun opened the tent and walked in. He laughed softly: "Master, if you let those people go back, I'm afraid you don't have any ulterior motives, right?"

"It was just a whim. Sit down! " Gongsun Xu smiled and extended his hand to invite Zhao Yun to sit down, and continued to speak: "They are all Zhang He's friends, so they should have some status in Zhang He's heart, so putting them back would be more useful than imprisoning them."

At this time, Guo Jia's voice came from outside the tent: "Master, do you want to subdue Zhang He?!"

Following the voice, Guo Jia walked in with large strides and sat on the left side of Gongsun Xu.

After Zhao Yun heard this, he immediately understood. "I originally thought this lord wanted to separate Zhang He from Yuan Shao, but now I know that this lord actually wants to subdue Zhang He!"

"Indeed!" Gongsun Xu nodded. "Zhang He is not bad, even if he can't compare to Zi Long, he's at least around the same level as Zi Hu! But the most important thing is that he is Han Fu's old tribe, and there are many people under Yuan Shao's command that are Han Fu's old tribe, if he can get Zhang He and to join our army, he will definitely cause Yuan Shao to distrust others even more. "

Guo Jia laughed: "My lord, after Yuan Shao occupied the Jizhou, he used his trusted aides without restraint. He had even used them defensively against Han Fu's old tribe, so I am afraid Zhang He and Tian Feng are already very unhappy with Yuan Shao. Therefore, I reckon that Zhang He has at least a sixty to seventy percent chance of defecting to Master's side. "

"I hope so! I wonder what kind of expression Zhang He would have when he sees Zhang Jian? " Gongsun Xu laughed, he walked to the side of the tent and lifted up the cloth to look at the city.

When Zhang He heard about Zhang Jian bringing over a dozen people back alive, he immediately rushed over to the city wall from the city and personally ordered a few large baskets to be hung down, which he carried Zhang Jian and the others over to the city walls one after another.

"How did you come back?" When Zhang He saw Zhang Jian, he frowned and asked.

Zhang Jian knelt on the ground and replied softly: "General, we were just able to leave the city when the enemy caught up with us. I let Zhang Da carry the letter and ran off with the rest of us, but who would have thought that in just one move, we would be left with only this little amount of people! After that, Gongsun Xu asked some insignificant questions and brought us back! "

"What?" In a single move, so many people died! " Zhang He was startled, and anxiously asked: "How many people are there?"

"Over two hundred people!" Zhang Jian thought about what happened just now and said with a trembling voice, "The armors and weapons they are equipped with are excellent. It would be hard for us to cut through the armor with a single slash.

Zhang He remained silent, but when he thought of the scene that Zhang Jian had described, he was extremely shocked.

"What did Gongsun Xu ask you?" After Zhang He calmed his emotions, he asked Zhang Jian in a serious tone, if this fella dared to divulge any military secrets, even his friends in the village would not forgive him.

"General, Gongsun Xu only asked the people in the city, he already knows about all these, and he also knows everything that happened beside Yuan Shijun like the back of his hand! Oh right, he also asked who would be guarding the city with the general, and also had me bring back a few words. "

"What is it?" Zhang He restrained his shock and asked softly as he stared at Zhang Jian.

"Gongsun Xu said that Yuan Shao is magnanimous on the outside, but is cautious of the inside. He is always on guard against Han Fu's old side, let the general think about it!"

Zhang He remained silent after hearing this. He looked at the many tents outside the city, and remained motionless for a long time.