Chapter 1069 I can afford the bet!

Chapter 1069 I can afford the bet!

Chapter 1069 I can afford the bet!
Upon learning that two people had run to their camp and returned to the right path, even Chang Can became interested and interrogated them personally - of course, he had to bring an interpreter with him, as he really couldn't understand what the people from Jiangling said.

The translators were three young men, namely Xi Zaochi from the Xi family of Xiangyang and his two uncles Luo Chong and Luo You.

Well, although there is a generation difference, the three of them are really about the same age, and even the two uncles are very convinced of their nephews.

Chang Can asked a question and Xi Zaochi translated it. He still understood some of the Jingzhou dialect, especially since he had lived in Jiangling with his ancestor Xi Gu when he was a child.

After some questioning, they found out that they were servants of the Fei family in Xi County, Jiangxia - this family had produced Fei Yi.

This county now belongs to Yiyang and is under the jurisdiction of Liang State. However, the Fei family has been in decline for a long time, and a branch of the clan migrated to Jiangling. They did not have much strength, with only a hundred servants, and were forcibly conscripted by the prefect Tao Zhen this time.

In the fierce battle, the Fei family suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining dozens of servants were incorporated into the county soldiers. Seeing that they had lost their master, the two were unwilling to work for Tao Zhen anymore, so they secretly hid a rope, used their comrades' relationship to lower themselves down the city wall, and fled to the camp of Zuo Jinwu Guard.

In addition, Ji Nan had been under siege for a long time and had fought several battles, resulting in heavy casualties. Especially the soldiers who were good at fighting, hundreds of them were killed or injured. In the end, they had to let the county soldiers and even the forced servants of the wealthy families take over, but this greatly increased the casualties. At this point, they were already unable to hold on.

When Chang Can heard this, he could no longer sit still. He asked people to prepare horses on the spot, and he wanted to go to the central army camp to report in person.

Before leaving, he called his personal generals and instructed them, "Give each of the two generals ten pieces of silk, and ask them to come forward and persuade them to surrender. Use the local dialect to persuade them to surrender."

"Yes, sir." The general replied.

Chang Can laughed loudly, left the camp, mounted his horse, and rode away in a flash.

"Two soldiers, follow me and persuade them to surrender. The rewards will be given out later." The general stretched out his hand and said.

"It's my pleasure." The two nodded repeatedly, not daring to refuse.

Xi Zaochi and the other two followed. The general took a look but did not stop them.

The venue was changed back to the east of Jinan City.

Xi Zaochi watched from afar, and his two uncles followed behind him like nephews, also with their eyes wide open.

Fine snowflakes began to float in the sky, seemingly the first time since the beginning of winter.

The drummers stood on a high place, shirtless, and had just finished beating the drums, and the battle had just ended.

Amid the clear sound of gongs, the young men from Luonan ended their third siege since the start of the expedition.

They stayed on the city wall for a long time until they were repelled by Tao Zhen who led his personal soldiers.

The young men no longer had the high spirits they had when they went to war. At that time, they were used to hearing their fathers and grandfathers boasting about their bravery, and they had unrealistic fantasies about war and found it difficult to understand their fathers and grandfathers' earnest admonitions.

After experiencing the brutal war, witnessing many of their comrades dying at the hands of the enemy, seeing the horrific scenes of many of their relatives rotting in the mud, and experiencing the pain of bleeding firsthand, they seemed to have shed a layer of their outer shell.

Some people will retreat, go home and farm honestly, and never mention going to the battlefield again.

Some people will consider the overall situation and carefully decide on their next move.

Others will rise to the challenge, following in the footsteps of their forefathers and seeking fortune on the battlefield.

There are hundreds of people, all kinds of people.

War is a very serious matter and should be taken seriously.

As soon as the battle was over, hundreds of cavalrymen rushed forward, made a circle and then came back.

Their purpose was to prevent the enemy from leaving the city to pursue them, but before they could do so, the defenders had already adopted a completely passive posture ready to take a beating.

The surrender seekers rushed forward again, still focusing on the county soldiers.

"County soldiers, surrender now! Wu's family members and property are not here. You can only lose your life and try to gain wealth. What are you trying to gain?"

"I surrendered yesterday and was granted 50 mu of land and 10 pieces of silk. If you surrender, you can also be granted land."

"These are all good fields. There is no need for two generations of your family to open them up and risk their lives."

"If you are brave enough, you can surrender with the heads of the officers and become rich and powerful."

"Don't work for the Wu people anymore. Think about it carefully. If you can't get out, how can you survive?"

Throughout the entire afternoon, various words of persuasion for surrender were repeated over and over again. The atmosphere in Ji Nan City gradually underwent subtle changes.

In the evening, Tao Zhen had just returned to the prefect's mansion and was about to take some medicine to boost his spirits. When he heard the report from his subordinates, he frowned.

Tao Zhen felt irritated and ordered all the generals to keep an eye on their soldiers and send out reliable troops to patrol the city. Anyone who made a loud noise would be killed immediately.

But that night, more than thirty county soldiers climbed down the city wall and rushed into the Liang army camp.

At this time, anyone with a little common sense should know that there was a big problem with the county soldiers! At least, many county soldiers tacitly allowed their comrades who wanted to survive to leave the city.

What's worse is that a team leader from Xiakou was found dead in a house with his head missing.

On the 13th, Tao Zhen personally climbed to the top of the city wall and was speechless for a moment as he looked at the growing number of people trying to persuade them to surrender.

The general came over and whispered, "The head of Lord Shi of Jingling is on the spear outside the city. It is unknown whether it is real or not."

Tao Zhen was shocked when he heard this. Shicheng was gone? If this was true, then the Liang people should have already marched south in large numbers and tried to attack Yangkou. It was unknown whether the Jiangzhou soldiers could hold out.

"Is there any movement in the south?" Tao Zhen asked again.

"I don't know." The general shook his head and said, "The Liang soldiers are guarding very strictly and have killed two groups of messengers." Trapped in the city, knowing nothing about the outside world. After a long time, it is easy to scare yourself, and then morale will be low, making it difficult to fight.

To put it bluntly, even if the reinforcements cannot enter the city in the end, as long as they approach Jinan and let the defenders know that you are still there, they will not lose confidence. And now——

There was a sudden noise in the streets below the city.

Tao Zhen's expression changed, and he immediately went down from the city wall. His personal soldiers followed closely behind him, also looking nervous.

"What's the matter?" Tao Zhen asked, strode forward, and stroked the hilt of the knife.

"Lord." When everyone saw him, they all bowed.

A moment later, a military officer spoke with a Wuchang accent, pointing at a group of people squatting on the street, and said, "Sir, these ten or so people accepted bribes and secretly let the fugitives out of the city. We have captured them red-handed. Unexpectedly, they made all kinds of excuses and refused to confess. I wanted to punish them according to military law, and they also made a lot of noise and instigated the county soldiers to rescue them..."

Tao Zhen stretched out a hand to stop the military student from speaking.

He looked coldly at the dozen or so people squatting on the ground crying, then looked at the hundreds of county soldiers who were looking in the distance. He felt hesitant and extremely irritated.

If they were punished, it would easily lead to mutiny. Even if there was no mutiny, the morale of the county soldiers would be even lower.

If we don't punish the crime, won't that encourage others to follow suit?
Tao Zhen thought about it for a while, and was furious, wishing to kill them all. But then he suppressed his anger and thought to himself, forget it, he still had to rely on the county soldiers to defend the city.

As he was in a state of great distress, his expression kept changing.

Suddenly, perhaps because he had not taken medicine for several days, a feeling of violence, depression, and madness surged up in his heart. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Kill them all and hang their heads in various places to serve as a warning to others."

The military academy immediately took the order and rushed forward with his men like wolves and tigers.

Tao Zhen's personal soldiers as well as those from Wuchang and Xiakou were also facing a powerful enemy, ready for battle and staring at the person looking in the distance.

Fortunately, nothing happened in the end.

Perhaps those people thought they were not strong enough, or perhaps they were intimidated by the accumulated power, and in the end they only made a small commotion and then fell silent.

The only sounds left on the street were the cries of the dozen or so people.

Their hands were tied and they begged for mercy.

The military school was unmoved, and directly raised his sword and killed more than ten people one by one. After finishing, they picked up the heads one by one, held them in both hands, knelt on one knee in front of Tao Zhen, and asked him to check them.

"You can deal with it yourselves." Tao Zhen waved his hands impatiently, then strode away surrounded by his personal soldiers.

Now he just wanted to go back to the prefect's mansion, take some medicine, drink some cold wine, and then hug his concubine to vent his worries, which might make his troubles disappear.

Tao Zhen's figure quickly disappeared, leaving behind only a headless corpse and blood everywhere.

More than a hundred county soldiers on the street watched all this in silence.

There was no noise or clamor, but everyone present could feel the extremely subtle atmosphere.

Some things are different.

This difference can be ignored and suppressed at other times, but when the city is on the verge of collapse, it may be fatal.

That night, dozens of people climbed down the city wall and fled to the Liang army camp.

This time, not only did they bring the latest situation of the defenders in the city, many of them also encouraged the Daliang royal army to attack at night, and pointed out that the northwest corner of Ji'nan City had the least defenders, and the defensive equipment was almost used up and had not been replenished in time.

Faced with this kind of critical intelligence, no one dares to make a decision because it might be false and intended to deceive you into losing your life. As the saying goes, all is fair in war.

But after hearing this, Jiang Ke smiled indifferently.

Even if he was cheated, so what? He could afford the gamble.

Needless to say, in the second half of the night that day, he went to the Yinqiang Zuoying in person and selected more than a hundred veteran soldiers with outstanding skills, courage and carefulness. Then he spent a large sum of money to recruit five hundred death-defying warriors from the Helong miscellaneous Hu people and the various counties, and launched a fierce attack from the northwest corner of Ji'nan.

Two thousand cavalrymen of the Yicong Army were stationed outside the gates, ready to intercept and kill the fleeing soldiers at any time and to ensure that no one would be let escape.

The battle went very smoothly.

When more than a hundred veterans from the Silver Spear Left Camp climbed to the top of Ji'nan City with only simple ladders, they encountered almost no resistance. It was not until they attacked down the city wall that a fierce battle broke out.

For a moment, there were cries of killing in the city, and someone on the top of the city wall set fire to signal others.

In the darkness, the orderly footsteps seemed to strike at one's heart. The soldiers of the Zuo Jinwu Guard, who had been on high alert, rushed forward, took the long ladder left by the people in front, and climbed up bravely.

The sound of drums was no longer concealed, and it continued to ring in the darkness without stopping.

From night to dawn, the sounds of killing never stopped until the big "Jin" flag on the top of Ji'nan City was completely taken down and the Ji'nan and North gates were completely opened.

In this battle, the remaining thousand or so Wu soldiers in the city were almost all killed, and in the end only four or five hundred Nanjun soldiers survived.

As for Tao Zhen, he was pulled down from the couch and tied up tightly.

The Jiangling City, which Guan Yu had once renovated, changed hands.

(End of this chapter)