***
At the foot of Dajiang Pass, water dragons were dancing and strange noises were heard. At first glance, you might have thought that it was a minority ethnic group celebrating the Water-Splashing Festival.
If you look more closely, you will find that things are far from being so happy, at least for Wu Sanyue, the guerrilla general guarding the pass, it is extremely miserable;
The Qin army was spraying not only water dragons at the city gate, but also arrows flying all over the sky and troops rushing up along the ladders.
Wu Sanyue originally had 800 men guarding the pass, but after four days of fighting, he suffered 273 casualties, and now only had about 500 soldiers available. Ma Liuliang, together with Chen Guimin, the deputy commander of Guizhou who surrendered, had a total of 4,000 men.
The Qin army was naturally soaked while attacking the pass under the water, but they could immediately replace them with a new group of people, and those who were soaked went back to the camp to change clothes and drink ginger soup.
The defenders, who were also soaked like drowned rats, had a different answer. They were too few in number, and even if they sent all of them forward, it would still not be enough. There was no one to replace them.
The water dragon stopped, but the Qin army's siege became more intense. War drums rumbled, a hail of arrows and whistling bullets covered the top of the city, and groups of soldiers holding iron shields rushed up along the ladders.
The guards at the gate were soaking wet, their lips were black from the cold, their teeth were chattering, and they were trembling all over. How long could they hold out in this situation? After the Qin army attacked fiercely for an incense stick, the guards, who were almost frozen stiff, collapsed.
No one expected that Ma Liuliang, who had been attacking fiercely for four days but had failed to capture Dajiang Pass, could not hold out for even a stick of incense under the water dragon.
Thousands of "bandits" wielding swords and guns and howling, quickly occupied the city. Including Wu Sanyue, more than 400 people were captured.
Tang Yue was overjoyed when he heard the news. He drank the freshly boiled medicine in big gulps, not caring about the soup. After drinking the medicine, he immediately put on his cloak and rushed to persuade Wu Sanyue to surrender. The situation in Guizhou was precarious. The morale of the army was unstable. At this time, Wu Sanyue could still hold on for four days. If it weren't for Ma Liuliang's trick, he could have held on for even longer. From this point of view, Wu Sanyue was really a rare general.
When Ma Liuliang saw him coming out, he didn't care about him spraying snot all over his face. He laughed and said, "Sour scholar, it's good that you're not dead. I've locked Dajiang up. The rest is up to you. By the way, sour scholar, you're not done spraying snot all over my face!"
"Oh, General Ma. As the saying goes, those who achieve great things do not pay attention to trivial matters. It was an unintentional mistake on my part..."
"Stop your bullshit. Every time you spray my nose with snot, you owe me a bottle of good wine. It's a bargain for you."
Tang Yue really wanted to ask how much snot I sprayed on you, so that this guy wouldn't keep blackmailing him with this matter in the future.
If they continued talking like this, Wu Sanyue would probably freeze to death. "Okay, okay, I owe you ten jars of wine." After saying that, Tang Yue was about to go and persuade them to surrender.
Ma Liuliang grabbed him and said, "Sour scholar, stop working and go persuade those soldiers to surrender. Wu Sanyue, stop working."
"what happened?"
"What's going on? You ask me what's going on? I lost two hundred men at Dajiang Pass, all because of that son of a bitch who refused to surrender. Now that I've finally broken through the pass, how could I spare his life?"
"General Ma, did you kill him?"
"That's right, I chopped off the head with my own hands, what can you do to me, you sour scholar?"
The head has been chopped off, what else can I do
Tang Yue smiled bitterly and gave up. Thinking about it carefully, it was not a bad thing for Ma Liuliang to kill the man. Wu Sanyue refused to surrender until his death. If he just adopted a soft strategy, it would not work without some bloody deterrence.
Dajiang Pass is the eastern gate of Guiyang Prefecture, only a few dozen miles away from Guiyang City. Once Dajiang Pass was lost, there was no more obstacle to the east of Guiyang. Ma Liuliang and several thousand troops arrived at the city of Guiyang early the next morning.
A large river from the west flows from the south of the city, bypasses the South Gate, and then goes north from the east of the city; another river flows from north to south along the city wall from the west of the city; another river passes through the city... Surrounded by water on three sides and surrounded by high mountains, there are teaching grounds and government schools outside the north gate of the city, and inside the north gate are the City God Temple, Xuanwei Office, and Drum Tower. The Governor's Office, Vanguard, Military Gate, Chayuan, Gongyuan, Anchasi, Dusi and other government offices are distributed in the city. This is Guiyang City!
The inner city of Guiyang was built in the 15th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It has a circumference of 9.7 li and 5 city gates: Wusheng Gate in the east, Chaojing Gate in the south, Shengquan Gate in the west, Rouyuan Gate in the north, and Dehua Gate in the south.
In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign (1626), Zhang Heming, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, built an outer city of more than 600 feet outside the north gate, and set up four gates: Weiqing Gate, Liuguang Gate, Hongbian Gate, and Xiaodong Gate.
After the expansion, the circumference of Guiyang’s city wall was nearly seventeen miles, and it was so tall and majestic that it was difficult to break into the city by brute force with only sixty to thirty to four thousand horses. In one word: difficult!
Chen Guimin, the former deputy commander of Guizhou, volunteered to enter the city to persuade people to surrender. Ma Liuliang didn't care, which was what Tang Yue wanted very much.
Chen Guimin entered Guiyang City in a hanging basket lowered from the top of the city wall. The reason why it was so smooth was that he and Chen Ruizheng, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, were relatives and they had even sworn brotherhood in private.
The Qin army was approaching the city, and the thousands of soldiers inside were in a state of panic. All the shops on the street were closed, and there were few pedestrians. The few pedestrians who were seen occasionally were in a hurry. The cold wind blew the fallen leaves, and the city was desolate.
Qian Zhan, the captain who took Chen Guimin to the Dusi, had a flickering look in his eyes. He asked Chen Guimin hesitantly, "General Chen, the Qin army... the Qin army..."
Chen Guimin smiled slightly: "Just ask whatever you want to ask?"
"General, if we surrender... I mean, if we open the city and surrender, how will the Qin army treat us?"
"Don't worry, as long as you sincerely submit, the Qin army will treat everyone well. The Qin army has strict military laws, never burns, kills, plunders, and will not harm innocent people. If you want to continue to join the army, the Qin will retain your organization. If you don't want to join the army, you will be given land and allowed to return to farming. In short, it is an inevitable trend for the Qin to unify the world. Anyone who tries to resist will only destroy himself."
"General Chen, I want to follow you..."
"... ... ... "
The two chatted quietly for a while, and Chen Guimin promised Qian Zhan some benefits, asking him to publicize the Qin army's policies. Qian Zhan repeatedly promised to do so.
With such high morale among the soldiers in the city, Chen Guimin felt more confident about this trip.
In the Dusi Yamen, there was a gloomy atmosphere at this time. Censor Zhang Yao and Commander-in-Chief Chen Rui sat opposite each other, each with half a pot of remaining wine on the small table, and both of them seemed to be drowning their sorrows in alcohol.
After receiving a call from the personal soldiers outside reporting that Chen Guimin had been brought in, the two men cleared away the wine and food, straightened their clothes, and had Chen Guimin brought in.
As soon as Chen Guimin entered the room, Chen Ruizheng immediately stood up and shouted, "Chen Guimin, I relied on you as my right-hand man and asked you to guard Pingxi Guard, but you turned against me and defected to the enemy. Now that things have come to this, you still have the nerve to come to see me!"
Chen Ruizheng's reaction was beyond Chen Guimin's expectations, but after looking closely at Chen Ruizheng's eyes, Chen Guimin knew that he was just bluffing.
He clasped his fists and replied, "General Chen, I have done my best to guard Pingxiwei. I did not defect in battle, but was captured because of exhaustion.
General, as the saying goes, he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. Now, the general trend of the world is clear. The King of Qin is appointed by heaven and the people support him. It is a foregone conclusion that he will unify the world. It is absolutely impossible to reverse it. Even the Lu Regent in eastern Zhejiang has sincerely submitted to the Qin.
Guizhou has few soldiers and generals, and the people are restless. Forcing a confrontation with the Qin Dynasty is like hitting a rock with an egg, which will lead to self-destruction. General Chen, Lord Zhang, and the troops of Cui Feng, the general of the Qin Dynasty's southern expedition, are about to arrive. Shuixi Xirupan has also gathered troops and attacked from all sides, breaking through Bijie, Qixingguan, Chishui and other guards. The army is less than a hundred miles away from Guiyang.
There are only a few thousand soldiers in Guiyang City, with low morale and no help. It is only a matter of time before it falls. A man who knows the times is a hero. General Chen, Lord Zhang, it is not too late to submit to the Qin Dynasty. The King of Qin is a benevolent and righteous ruler. After submitting, Lord Zhang's position as an inspector will remain the same, and General Chen will only be promoted and not demoted.
Lord Zhang, General Chen, you are both wise men. For the sake of your lives and your families, the only way out is to obey the will of heaven and submit to the Qin Dynasty."
In fact, it was the governor Zeng Yi who had been the one who insisted on resisting. Chen Ruizheng and Zhang Yao were not determined to resist. Now there was the Qin army in the east and the chieftain An Rupan in the west. Guiyang was sandwiched between tigers and wolves, and it was almost impossible to defend it. Even if they wanted to defend it, their soldiers might not be willing to do so.
Then the only question left is who to join. If one has to choose between Qin and An Rupan, unless one is crazy, one will not choose An Rupan.
Zhang Yao and Chen Ruizheng's faces changed constantly. Zhang Yao was a bit timid and couldn't help asking, "General Chen, you just said that after you surrender to Qin, you can keep your original position. Is that true?"
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ps: A new month has begun. First of all, I would like to thank my brothers for their support last month. Thank you.
Looking back, this book has been uploaded since October 15 last year, and it has been more than 200 days and nights. The clicks and subscriptions have always been very small, but I have managed to persist until now, and I will continue to write. This month, I hope my brothers can give me another push and see if I can squeeze into the monthly ticket list of the category, so that I have a chance to stand out and increase some clicks and subscriptions.
With a nervous mood, I ask brothers for the guaranteed monthly ticket again. Please support me, brothers. I kowtow! (To be continued..)
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