Chapter 1160 Ending
Chapter 1160 Ending (Part )
Just as Si Li Xiaowei Jing Qian said, a large pile of guards' military uniforms were abandoned outside the palace.
Because of its good quality, people would come to pick it up from time to time, not caring whether they would be implicated if the city was broken.
When the thousand-strong army arrived, some guards even lowered themselves down from the top of the city wall, quickly took off their military uniforms, and fled into the darkness.
The Fan family's troops captured him, and everyone cried out in unison that they were innocent.
"Where is Lord Fan? I entered the East Palace on his orders. Don't arrest the wrong person."
"My home is in the city, let me go."
"I don't care what you do, just let me go."
……
There was a lot of noise and clamor everywhere, and there were a lot of people crying and making a scene, which made people wonder what kind of people the prince had recruited.
The guards of the Eastern Palace are so important. Even if we can't recruit brave warriors, we must at least get some loyal watchdogs. But you are all pigs who are just eating for free.
Li Ban is a kind person, but he lacks the shrewdness and ruthlessness to accomplish great things.
This kind of temperament and work style resulted in him having no capable people around him. Even if Shao Liang had not invaded, it would have been a question whether he could succeed to the throne smoothly after the death of Emperor Li Xiong. He might have been killed for no apparent reason.
After the Fan family's troops captured all the guards who had descended from the city wall, they began shouting at the palace gate.
A moment later, a man appeared on the tower of the Changhe Gate. It was Li You, the left guard of the crown prince. Upon seeing the Fan family's followers, he shouted angrily, "Who dares to invade the palace?"
There was no answer, only the sound of shouting for the ladder.
Li You became even more angry when he saw this and yelled, "Where is the Prime Minister?"
Still no one answered, and the rustling footsteps became more and more frequent in the night.
Li You probably understood who it was, and scolded: "How has the prince wronged you? In the past, when you were seeking official positions, you were all passionate and enthusiastic, as if you were a peerless national talent. Today, when the situation is critical, you are all selfish and have done all kinds of ugly things."
At this point, Li You laughed out loud: "How can you expect a good end for rebelling against your superiors? Who is Shao Xun? He will not be fooled by a few words. Don't regret it when you move your whole family west to Yumen and eat sand."
"Swoosh!" An arrow was shot from under the city, flew past Li You's ear and hit the window of the city wall behind him.
Li You pulled out the arrow and saw that it was a poisoned crossbow. He was furious: "You are the remnants of the Fan family. You should not have been forgiven during the reign of Yan Xi. Deng Zhi was too soft-hearted. The right thing to do is to kill you all."
A long ladder was leaning against the city wall, and several people holding swords and shields were climbing up quickly.
Li You called the soldiers and prepared to fight to the death.
At this moment, a teeth-grinding capstan creaking sound came from the doorway below. A moment later, the city gate was opened from the inside. Countless people holding torches entered from the Changhe Gate and rushed into the East Palace.
It's over! In an instant, Li You's mind went blank, and he felt hopeless and powerless.
The sound of swords clashing rang out on the city walls.
When the guards around Li You saw that the Qiang Hu Gate had been broken, they completely lost their fighting spirit and fled on the spot.
Fan's followers rushed forward, captured Li You and tied him up.
The Eastern Palace is not far from the Changhe Gate.
Fan's troops marched quickly all the way to Chongde Hall.
When Li Ban got the news, he was struck by lightning.
At that time, the people in the palace were in panic, the palace maids and eunuchs fled in all directions, and the originally loyal guards also disappeared into the darkness, leaving their military uniforms on the ground. In the end, only a dozen people were left outside Chongde Hall.
Li Ban laughed bitterly and swept the memorial on the desk to the ground.
Until that moment just now, he was still planning how to persuade the great families in Shu to donate money, food, and troops, and endure each other for the sake of the country, so as to stabilize the situation in Chengdu first, and then see if he could organize a second batch of reinforcements and make another effort for the Great Cheng Kingdom.
Now I wake up from the dream.
There was no way the big families in Shu would destroy their families to help the country. They did gather their troops, but they came towards him.
The regrets in Jinjiang River are endless! Hate! Hate! Hate!
Li Ban listened to the chaotic footsteps outside the hall and the sound of weapons clashing after the guards' scolding failed, and suddenly there was a mocking look in his eyes.
Today I will make you bear eternal infamy.
He was a man in his forties, and suddenly he burst into laughter.
Li Ban took a sword from the wall and pulled it out with a swish.
"Your Highness." Several guards stumbled in and said anxiously, "The thieves are so cruel and ruthless, Your Highness, please take shelter for a while."
"I have been kind and pure all my life, always thinking of others and not making things difficult for others, but in the end...haha." Li Ban laughed so hard that tears were about to come out. He pushed the guards away and rushed out of the hall.
When Fan's soldiers outside the palace saw someone rushing out with a sword, they hurriedly shot arrows.
The sound of arrows breaking through the air was heard one after another. In an instant, Li Ban was hit by several arrows and fell to the ground.
The sky was filled with a thick, indissoluble night. Blood flowed from the corners of Li Ban's mouth, and he murmured, "How wonderful! How wonderful!"
When the guards saw this, they all burst into tears.
After seeing clearly who was killed, Fan's followers' faces turned pale.
The prime minister only ordered that the prince be placed under house arrest and not be humiliated, but they killed him. What should we do? The prince used to be very respectful to the prime minister and very generous to the nobles in Shu. His gentleness was praised by everyone, but today he died on the spot.
Do they still have a chance to survive?
Fan's followers swallowed their saliva, not knowing what to do for a moment.
……
Soon after Fan's troops entered the city, more than a thousand more people came in.
They lined up in neat rows, clearing out the evil teenagers who took advantage of the chaos to loot along the streets, and put out the fires - yes, after looting, the evil teenagers often set fires. No one knew where this bad habit came from, perhaps they wanted to hide their evil deeds.
The cleanup didn't take long to complete.
They controlled the palace, the granary, the arsenal, and various government offices, and either closed the doors and put up seals or posted people on duty and strictly prohibited entry and exit, as if they wanted to hand over Chengdu intact.
In the second half of the night, sporadic cries of killing were heard in the city. Most of them were nobles and royal family members loyal to Li Cheng who rushed out with their servants and retainers, trying to save the situation.
Of course, they all ended in failure.
One of them was Li Yan, the son of Li Han who died in Hanzhong and was eventually killed in battle on Tianjie.
Li Yue, the former General who conquered the East, had been living in seclusion in his mansion due to the defeat in Badong. When he heard that there was a riot in the city, he immediately led his men to the palace. However, he was blocked halfway and had to retreat while fighting. He fled back to his own house, but was surrounded.
In the second half of the night, Li Yue killed all his wives and drank poison to death.
Shangguan of Tianshui was one of Li Cheng's most distinguished nobles. Knowing they could not escape, they and their entire family committed suicide by burning themselves to death.
Apart from these few families, there was no other movement. After all, only a few people had the courage to commit suicide. Even ants try to survive, and there is always a fluke mentality, hoping that the new dynasty will not take their lives. After all, Shao Xun did not kill all the officials of the Liu Han Dynasty, right?
Fan Ben did not sleep all night in his mansion.
After hearing the news of Li Ban's murder in the second half of the night, he lost his composure and paced back and forth in the room like an anxious beast.
The faces of the Shuzhong scholars who were waiting for news in the Prime Minister's Mansion were also very ugly. They didn't understand why such a small matter couldn't be handled properly? They couldn't help but feel a little resentful towards Fan Ben in their hearts. You have caused us so much trouble!
However, now that things have come to this, there is no point in complaining, and the right thing to do is to deal with the consequences.
After dawn, Fan Ben, whose temples were grayer, sighed and said, "Send someone to Hanzhong to persuade them with reason and emotion, and ask General Zhenbei (Ren Diao) to lead his troops to surrender to Daliang for the sake of the people's livelihood."
When everyone heard this, they were all interested.
Indeed, at this point, we can only think of ways to improve our achievements.
Persuading Hanzhong Rentiao's 20,000 troops to surrender was a great achievement, and Emperor Liang couldn't just turn a blind eye to it, right? As long as he acknowledged this achievement, there was still room for recovery.
As for reputation, there is nothing we can do but let time heal everything.
Does Jia Chong have a good reputation? But during the Jin Dynasty, his power and fame were so great that no one mentioned what he had done before.
Just try your best, there is no other way.
******
At the same time as the turmoil in Chengdu, after a period of brewing and fermentation, the situation in Jiangzhou finally collapsed uncontrollably.
On the 23rd, when Li Shou left Yangguan and returned to Jiangzhou to demand equipment and food, there was an immediate commotion in the city.
The governor Shangguan Dan was unable to control the situation and fled on the spot.
In the afternoon, hundreds of people rushed out of the door, knelt on the ground a hundred steps outside the Liang army camp, and shouted loudly.
After hearing the news, Shao Shen ordered a pause in the offensive and then rode to the front of the battle.
"We were all coerced into following the king, and we had no intention of resisting the king's teacher."
"The king's army has arrived, and the military is majestic. I really don't want to fight in vain any longer. I would like to lay down my arms and return to the countryside."
"The teachings of the saints are to stop killing. I bow my head and beg for my life."
"Spare my life..."
Shao Shen waved his hand and ordered these people to be taken off their weapons and escorted to the roadside, where they were given food and water. If they were injured, doctors were sent to treat them.
When the defenders on the Yangguan city wall saw this, the noise started again.
A moment later, thousands of people came out of the city, knelt down and asked for surrender, and the city gates were never closed again.
Shao Shenli sent part of the Right Jinwu Guard of the imperial army into the city to take over Yangguan.
It didn't take long before the 2,700 defenders in the city all left the city, lined up in the mountains, handed over their weapons, and looked relieved.
The big flag with the word "Cheng" on the top of the city wall fell down, and the big flag with the word "Liang" slowly rose up, marking the change of hands of this long-contested fortress.
When Li Shou was halfway through his journey, he heard the bad news and immediately turned back to Yangguan to try to save the situation. However, he encountered thousands of soldiers who were fleeing in chaos. Upon asking, he learned that after the Liang army captured Yangguan, they rushed to the back of the pass without stopping. More than 10,000 soldiers who were resting and waiting for rotation there had no fighting spirit. Half of them surrendered, and half of them fled back. Sima Cai Xing died in the chaos, and the Liang army was now chasing them.
Li Shou was horrified and turned around on the spot, fleeing to Jiangzhou, more than ten miles away.
As a result, after arriving in Jiangzhou, before they could catch their breath, the Liang army's soldiers came chasing them. The defenders were terrified and thousands of them fled on the spot.
Li Shou had no choice but to continue fleeing, and Jiangzhou fell easily.
At this point, the Jiangzhou camp of the Cheng State, which once had tens of thousands of naval and land troops, was completely destroyed, and 14,000 people were captured.
On the 24th, Shao Shen divided his troops into four groups and captured Jiangyang and other places without bloodshed. The main force, with the assistance of the navy, went upstream and headed straight for Chengdu.
Along the way, we almost reached an uninhabited area.
(End of this chapter)