: The city breaks

Listening to the rumbling cannons coming from outside and the miserable screams, everyone had to accept the list given by Liang Zhen helplessly. After all, if the peace agreement was not reached and the Wu army would be a fortune in the city, even if it was a million yuan of wealth, it would be something in someone else's pocket. Seeing that everyone accepted his request, Liang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: "The money has been raised, and the rest is all that is left to look at God?"

Outside Jiangling City, thousands of Wu army infantry formed dozens of square formations, one by one, one by one, passing by the city. Each square formation constitutes a combat state. In front and on both sides of the square formation are messoites holding brackets and muskets. Are spearmen located behind them? The sixteen-foot-long spear is like a dense forest. The sharp gun blade reflects dazzling light in the sunlight. Below the spears are furs. The helmets of the messoites and spearmen are decorated with these feathers. When the square formation approaches the city wall, all the soldiers in the square stopped and in unison.

Screaming. On the city tower, Gao Jichang stared at the Wu army formation below, as if it was an invisible magnet. Although he tried his best to control his emotions, his eyes still showed fear unconsciously. He knew very well that even his most elite personal soldiers could not compete with these Wu army. The following square formations were like giant beasts that could chew Jiangling City and himself to pieces. Fortunately, it seemed that the purpose of these enemy troops was to show off their strength and force him to accept the conditions for peace. Thinking of this, Gao Jichang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At this time, an officer panted and reported to Gao Jichang: "My grandpa, Wu thieves bombarded the city with cannons. Renshanfang and Xinyifang were all shot, and most of the people were killed or injured!"

Gao Jichang frowned slightly, climbed up to the tower to see the situation of the cannons in the city: Wu's shelling was very irregular, and it was not a key area such as the city gate. Obviously, this was just part of this series of armed parades.

Gao Jichang looked at the movements of the Wu army outside the city and confirmed that the other party had not prepared all the necessary equipment for a large-scale siege, and then ordered: "Order the defenders of each gate. Without my order, no one is allowed to leave the city. Those who violate the order will be killed!"

When Gao Jichang returned to the mansion, he received news that Liang Zhen had successfully raised money. He couldn't help but be overjoyed. The string that had been tense in his heart was a little loosened, and he felt an unstoppable fatigue surged into his heart. He almost couldn't stand firmly, so he had to go back and rest. Gao Jichang has been worried about Wu Jun's imprisonment these days, and his nerves have been tense. Now that he has some eyes and can't stand still. He just lay on the couch and fell asleep.

The night covers Jiangling City. In addition to the dim starlight, the lights on the city tower are the only light sources. However, these lights are so weak that they do not play a illumination role, but instead make people feel that the night is even darker. After the daylight, the Wu army outside the city has already retreated. The guards ordered their soldiers to block the city gate and should also step up their defense at night. However, once the guards who had been tense for a day relaxed, they would find a place to rest regardless of the orders of their superiors.

There was a different scene in a mixed forest outside the North Gate. Hundreds of Wu soldiers who had been resting for a day were waiting for orders. Behind them, there was an army ten times more than that, and everyone was waiting for an upcoming event.

Lu Hongkai stood on the edge of the woods. Although the night covered his face, from his rapid pace, the young general was not relaxed at this time, and obviously he was waiting. Finally, a burst of rapid footsteps came from afar. Lu Hongkai stopped and tried his best to look at the sound through the night. Finally, two blurry figures moved quickly towards this side. Lu Hongkai rushed forward, grabbed the one in front, and shouted in a low voice: "How, is it done?"

"It's done, prepare double portions, and it's foolproof!" The man was almost exhausted. He was able to maintain a standing state with almost Lu Hongkai's support. Lu Hongkai, who got the expected answer, was extremely excited. The young general walked back to the forest quickly and ordered in a low voice: "Send the order down, everyone put on armor, check their weapons, and put their own firewood bundles and earth bags on their backs, and divided them into four teams. Each team was stringed with ropes and went to the trench to stand by."

With the low command, the soldiers in the forest started to move, and soon more than a hundred people arrived at the trench outside Jiangling City. Lu Hongkai looked up at the head of the city. The two lanterns emitted dim lights. The city gate hole not far away was like a huge mouth, which could swallow everything at any time. He took a deep breath, threw the earth bag on his shoulder into the trench, pulled the rope on his waist, and cut the rope and let it go to the side. Wu Bing, who was following behind, stepped forward in turn, threw the earth bag or firewood bundle on his shoulder into the moat. Everything was going silently and quickly. Soon, a narrow earth embankment rose from the moat, leading to the opposite shore.

During the whole process, Lu Hongkai was staring at the city wall nervously. Even if a curious guard poked his head out and saw what was happening below, that night, the God of Luck stood on the side of Wu Jun, until the last earth bag was thrown into the moat, there was no movement at the city wall. Lu Hongkai took out a whistle from his arms and blew a three-long and two-short whistle.

In the quiet night sky, the sharp whistle sounded particularly harsh. The captain of Jiangling North Gate alert got up alertly and looked out through the perforation hole of the female wall: the wilderness outside the city was dark and nothing unusual. The captain shook his head in confusion and was about to lie down and rest again, when a change occurred.

A violent vibration came from the foot of the North Gate Captain, overturning him to the ground. Almost at the same time, the city gate hole under his feet made a dull noise. The Captain was about to get up and saw what was going on. He had already suffered a heavy blow on his head and fainted.

It was unknown how many time it took, but the captain gradually woke up. He felt a split headache, his mouth and nose were full of pungent scent, his ears rumbling, and he couldn't hear anything clearly. After a while, he felt better. He reached out and touched the four sides, and there were rubble and broken wood everywhere. He thought that he had just been knocked out by the falling bricks and stones. The captain had just gotten up with difficulty, and heard a few screams and quick footsteps from the city. He hurriedly drew the sword but the scabbard was empty, probably because he was lost when he was put on the ground. At this time, six or seven soldiers had already rushed to the top of the city, and the light of the torches shone on them. Judging from the style of the armor, it was Wu Bing.

"Wu Gou!" The captain could instinctively throw the scabbard in his hand towards the enemy. Wu Bing easily avoided the scabbard and rushed forward. The sharp gun blade penetrated the captain's body and nailed it hard to the female wall behind him.

Lu Hongkai walked up to the city tower, and there was already a mess, scattered with the bodies of guard soldiers and the buildings that had been shattered. Although the huge power generated by the more than 500 kilograms of gunpowder sent into the city gate did not shake the entire Jiangling North Gate, the huge power generated was enough to open the city gate and make most of the guards at the north gate temporarily lose their combat effectiveness. So Wu soldiers outside the trench quickly crossed the city moat along the earth embankment, rushed into the city, and seized the north gate of Jiangling City.

"Return all the artillery guns and aim them in the direction of the city, replace them with shotguns, and light fires on the city wall connected to the North Gate Tower to avoid being raided by the enemy!" Lu Hongkai issued a quick order. Although the Jingnan Army was far from comparable to the Wu Army in terms of the equipment ratio and power of the firearms, Gao Jichang, who had already seen its huge power, still formed an artillery as much as possible, especially on the four gate towers of Jiangling City, which were equipped with five to six bronze cannons. In addition, the excellent location on the city towers, even by the Wu Army's standards, it was an extremely difficult fortress to conquer. However, the artillery at the North Gate had already fallen into the hands of the Wu Army.

Lu Hongkai's order was quickly executed, and all the copper cannons turned to the gun mouth, pointing in the direction where the defenders might launch a counterattack. They were extremely deadly weapons in the narrow city using shotguns. The debris of the collapsed building on the city tower became ready-made materials: stones and corpses were piled on both ends of the city tower to serve as barriers to defenders attacking along the city walls, while wood was ignited: on the one hand, it could illuminate and prevent the defenders from sneaking and raiding; on the other hand, it could be used as a signal to inform the subsequent Wu army to launch an attack.

The defenders' reaction was much slower than Lu Hongkai expected in advance. It may be that the tense defense during the day consumed their energy, or the soon-to-be-reached peace talks paralyzed their vigilance. Two quarters of an hour after the Wu army vanguard captured the North Gate, the defenders' first counterattack appeared. The route of this counterattack was along the top of the city wall. It may be that due to the urgent military situation, the commander of the Jingnan Army made a fatal mistake. He neither sent a small number of soldiers as the vanguard to test the strength of the enemy, nor divided the troops in his hands into several detachments, from several routes at the same time.

Launched an attack to force the Wu army to disperse its weak forces. He just rushed to the front and led more than 200 subordinates to rush towards the north gate along the narrow city wall, hoping to take advantage of the cover of night to regain the north gate with his bravery. Under the strafing of the shotgun, the Jingnan Army's offensive quickly collapsed. The Wu army took advantage of the situation to counterattack and forced dozens of enemy soldiers to go down the city. Then, the Wu army's successors came up and even brought several long cannons. By dawn, not only was the North Gate firmly in the hands of the Wu army, but even the East Gate had been captured by the Wu army.

Jingnan Jiedu Mansion, Baihu Festival Hall. This Jingnan power center is no longer as solemn as before. The places where orders were issued in the past are already filled with large and small boxes and cages. The servants are busy running around, packing all kinds of soft and soft boxes into the cages. The sound of cannons came into the hall, which was a scene of a wealthy family fleeing.

Gao Jichang sat in his seat as before, facing the sky, as if everything in front of him had nothing to do with him. Suddenly, a sharp roar passed through the air, and a big hole suddenly appeared on the roof of the hall, but it was hit by the shells fired by Wu Jun on the north gate tower. A scream suddenly sounded in the hall, and the servants instinctively lay on the ground and cried. However, Gao Jichang was still sitting on the head, just stretched out his hand to touch his face, brushing away the dust that was shaken away.

At this time, a middle-aged man in iron armor rushed to the hall. Seeing Gao Jichang still sitting on the table, he was furious and came forward and shouted, "Lord, why are you still here? The Wu army has occupied the East and North Second Gate and is attacking the South Gate. If you don't leave, you won't be able to leave."

Gao Jichang lowered his head, looked at the middle-aged man who came in, and suddenly smiled and said, "Kefu, go? Where are we going?"

The middle-aged man was the general of Jingnan, Ni Kefu. He was slightly stunned and replied, "Where? You can do whatever you want. You can't stay in Jiangling City as a prisoner. Lord, Wu's arms are sharp. If they occupy four gates and condescend to the top, our army will not be his opponent even if there are ten times more people."

Gao Jichang did not speak, but gently stroked Pingji and Hu Shui under him, looking reluctant. After a long time, he suddenly looked up and said, "I won't leave anymore, there is no such comfortable seat. Even if I die, I will die on this seat! Good luck, you immediately send an envoy to the Wu army and say that I, Gao Jichang, are willing to surrender."

On the north gate of Jiangling city tower, Lu Runxing, who was sitting in the upper head, was quietly watching the silk book in his hand? The messenger of Jingnan Army knelt on the ground more than ten steps away, his face close to the ground. Except for a few cannons coming from time to time, the field was silent.

"So, Mr. Gao is surrendered?" Lu Runxing casually handed the letter in his hand to Han Jiajin who was serving beside him. His actions at this time seemed reserved and elegant, which was a sharp contrast to the itinerary of the guards who were covered in blood and dust on both sides.

"That is, my lord asked the villain to spread the message. The town was overestimated and arrogant, and offended the superior country. Therefore, the heavens pretended to be the army to surrender goods to the customs. Please ask the supervisor to see if the people in the area and stop the anger of thunder. I would like to surrender with my flesh and bare body. I will only give it to one person and do not hurt the people!"

Lu Runxing raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Oh? Mr. Gao is very humble this time, and he is completely different from a few days ago. I wonder if it was because a certain family heard the wrong person at that time, or the messenger passed the wrong words?"

The envoy kowtowed and said respectfully: "The Chief Manager Yingming Tianzong is naturally not wrong. However, the envoy acted without authorization last time and offended the superior country. After the lord found out, he regretted it and had already punished him. Please forgive me!" At this point, the envoy shouted to the city. After a while, a man came to the city and presented a wooden box with his hands. A personal guard had already taken it and turned it over to Lu Runxing. When he opened it, Lu Runxing's face changed suddenly. It turned out that Liang Zhen's head was actually in the wooden box.

"Your Highness!" Han Jiajin, who was standing aside, said in a low voice. Although Gao Jichang did this, he had the intention of venting his anger on Lu Runxing with Liang Zhen's head, there was a deeper reason. As his confidant adviser, Liang Zhen knew too many inside stories. If he was allowed to fall into the hands of Wu Jun alive, he was afraid that it would not be his own blessing. It would be better to kill him with one knife and kill two birds with one stone. He could not only shirke the responsibility and silence him. As Lu Runxing's adviser, Han Jiajin did not know the whole story, but just thought the other party was unreasonable.

"Put it!" Lu Runxing made a gesture, signaling his subordinates to put their heads away, and said in a deep voice: "Since Mr. Gao is so sincere, there is no need to surrender. You can pass on a message for me. As long as he is careful to keep his family loyal, I will protect his family from wealth and prosperity!"

The envoy quickly kowtowed and thanked him, and then stepped back in a small way. When he retreated, Han Jiajin whispered: "Gao Jichang is a fickle guy and is definitely not a person who surrenders sincerely. Your Highness must be careful!"

"Of course I know that this guy is not a good guy!" Lu Runxing nodded: "It's just that I want to go north as soon as possible, I can't delay it. I have to keep this guy's head to soothe the hearts of the people in Jingnan, otherwise I will kill that guy later. After I go north, you will stay in Jiangling, and the south of the river will return to Zhong Yangui, and the north of the river will belong to you. Never make any mistakes, otherwise I can't save you!" Facing his confidant, Lu Runxing was very serious at this time.

When Han Jiajin heard Lu Runxing's order, he was immediately excited and bowed and replied, "Yes! If I had any mistakes, I would have to make a decision and would definitely not dare to work on Your Highness!"

Outside the gate of Jingnan Jiedu Mansion, Gao Jichang was naked and knelt in the dust beside the road. Behind him were a group of generals and officials, who had also removed their armor and knelt on both sides of the road. There were already many soldiers of Wu soldiers wearing armor and carrying soldiers on both sides, and everyone was waiting for the arrival of the winner.

With a sound of drums and trumpets, Lu Runxing finally arrived in front of the mansion. He was smart and capable, and did not go to the Jiedu Mansion after receiving Gao Jichang's request for surrender. On the contrary, he first sent his generals to control the South Gate and the West Gate, as well as the remaining enemy ships at the port outside the South Gate. After confirming that everything was fine, he went to the Jiedu Mansion to pick the final fruit of victory.

When Gao Jichang saw the arrival of Lu Runxing, he did not dare to get up. He walked a few steps on his knees and said with hissing: "Ji Chang was deceived by a villain and offended the Shangguo. He deserves to die. Now he apologizes for the crime and lets the general manager deal with it!" At this point, Gao Jichang leaned on the ground again, his face close to the ground.

Lu Runxing jumped off his horse, leaned over to support Gao Jichang, took off his outer robe, put it on Gao Jichang, and smiled and said, "Everyone in the world is wrong. Gao Gong used his own army to manage Jingnan, build the city walls, and promote farming, and survived more than tens of thousands of people. This time, he adapted to the times and avoided the war disasters of the people in several states in Jingnan. This alone could overcome those small mistakes. The father has admired Gao Gong for a long time, and he just wanted to have no chance to see him. He has built a separate hall for you in Jianye. I dared to borrow Gao Gong to temporarily advise on military affairs in the army. Your family and family will go to Jianye first. After pacifying Jingxiang, you will be reunited in Jianye. Isn't that a beauty!"

When Lu Runxing's words were heard, Jichang was naturally the other party's intention, but the situation is stronger than others, so he had to pretend to be grateful and cry and smiled: "Master, the general manager is so kind. Ji Chang feels so ashamed to die of death when he has passed!"

Lu Runxing smiled and said, "Don't have to do this, there is another thing to bother Gao Gong! Although the envoys who came to our camp the day before yesterday were crazy, they were also Zhou and the dog barking Yao, and they were all their masters! Please hand over the body and bury them together! It is also considered to commend the loyalty and righteousness of the scholars!"

"This——, the manager is so magnanimous, it is also a blessing for that guy Liang Zhen!" Gao Jichang heard this, even though he was so scheming and slap in his muteness, he couldn't help but show a hint of bitterness on his face. Lu Runxing's move was obviously to make his own move public and to be a good person. People will only praise Lu Runxing for his broad mind, but Gao Jichang will betray his subordinates who have been through life and death. In the future, it will be even more difficult to find someone to work for him.
Chapter completed!