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Chapter 733 Great Trouble (Part )

The soldiers standing on the city wall were tall and strong, with fierce faces. They cracked their whips expressionlessly and shouted at the slow-moving people.

A tall, dark-skinned general walked up to the city wall and glanced around coldly.

"General Lu," a personal soldier came over and reported in a low voice, "I went to ask, and three people died today."

Most of the civilians who were captured to build the city wall were middle-aged men. They were only given a steamed bun with mixed flour and a bowl of cold water every day. It was the coldest time of the year, and they had to do the heaviest and most tiring work. It was hard to tell whether more people died of starvation, exhaustion, or being crushed to death. In short, several bodies were carried out every day.

The General Lu mentioned by the personal soldiers was the commander of the Yuzhou Army. However, since Zheng Chen arrived, General Lu voluntarily retreated to the second position.

As for Zhao Wu, he is actually very good at defending the city. Otherwise, he would not have been the general of Pengcheng. The current construction of the city wall was all Zhao Wu's idea. General Lu also came to visit from time to time.

"If they are dead, carry them out and throw them into a mass grave." General Lu said impatiently.

From the moment Zheng Chen joined the Yuzhou Army a few months ago, no, it should be said that from the moment he hid the rebel general Zhao Wu in the Yuzhou military camp a few years ago, he embarked on a path of no return.

If he succeeds, he will be made a king and appointed as prime minister, and his name will be passed down through the ages.

If you lose, your family will be exterminated and your body will be buried without a burial place.

Six years earlier, when he was promoted and valued by Minister Zheng and went to visit the Duke of Anguo's Mansion in the capital, he met the young Master Zheng.

That year, Zheng Chen was only a boy of twelve or thirteen years old, with a young appearance, but extremely sophisticated in words and deeds. He secretly kept in touch with Zheng Chen, and after the border army defeated General Zuo and was questioned, he followed Zheng Chen wholeheartedly.

How can a man be depressed and frustrated, always being inferior to others?
A teenage girl actually sat on the throne and became the emperor of Daliang. Isn't this ridiculous?

The officials in the court were all weak and incompetent. They were bewitched by Princess Nanyang and willingly supported her. Lu Cheng was unwilling to bow down to a woman.

The reputation of the Princess of Nanyang was so great that she was well-known in the north and feared by everyone in the capital. However, the garrisons in various places were far away and had never had any dealings with her, so they were not afraid of her. General Lu was not afraid at all and directly raised the flag of rebellion.

In the past few months, the Yuzhou army has been conscripting able-bodied men everywhere to strengthen its military. Ordinary people have been forced to build the city walls. Mass graves are filled with bones.

Therefore, every ten days or half a month, we have to capture another wave of people.

When the personal guard received the order, his eyes lit up. He excitedly called a group of people and went into the city to capture people.

They would capture adult men, and plunder the money from the people's homes. If they saw pretty women, they would rape them. Such a life was much more carefree than being a poor soldier.

Because of all these immediate pleasures, the soldiers of the Yuzhou Army followed suit and raised their flags to rebel. Occasionally, there were a few who were reluctant and full of complaints in private, and they were beheaded and their heads were hung outside the military camp to deter the people.

This team of over a hundred soldiers rushed into the city, and soon screams and pleas for mercy were heard in the city.

"Sir, I'm already fifty years old and I really don't have the strength..."

"General, I will go with you. Please let my granddaughter go. She is only thirteen years old, not yet an adult..."

The soldiers' eyes were shining and their faces were full of excitement. They ignored the 50-year-old man's desperate pleas. They tied the old man's hands and feet, and approached the pretty girl with a twisted smile. Half an hour later, the old man was dragged away, and the little girl lay on the ground dying. There was a bloody corpse next to her. It was the little girl's grandmother. When she rushed forward to protect her granddaughter, she was hacked to death by the soldiers.

Such tragic scenes happened every few days. When the people in the city heard the sound of horse hooves and shouting, their faces turned pale and their first reaction was to close and lock the door. However, no matter how thick the door lock was, it could not stop the raging army.

With one strike of the knife, the lock was split open, and with a bang, the door was kicked open. Then, the family was destroyed.

In less than half a day, the guards had captured dozens of civilians and sent them to the city wall. They were all beaming with joy and looked very satisfied. Their money bags were stuffed full. It was unknown how much money they had robbed.

A military officer in his forties whispered to the young man standing beside him who was watching coldly, "These soldiers, without any real benefits, will never risk their lives for you. I know that you don't like them and look down on them, so I can only turn a blind eye to them for now."

This general had a handsome appearance, but his eyes were small and his gaze was gloomy.

The young man was not very old, almost twenty years old. He had a handsome face and a noble air. He stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes indifferent, as if he didn't care about anything in the world.

This military commander was Zhao Wu, who had abandoned the city and fled that day. The young man was Zheng Chen.

Zheng Chen fled the palace in a hurry that day, with only a few trusted soldiers around him. Because of his small number and inconspicuous appearance, he managed to disguise himself and escape to the Yuzhou military camp smoothly.

When he was fleeing on the road that day, his confidant Peng Sihai asked him in a low voice why he didn't go to the border army to join General Fan.

He had no explanation.

Facts have proved that his vision was very accurate. General Fan would not go through fire and water for his grandson-in-law. Even Fan Jianing in the inner house was forced to commit suicide by a letter from General Fan. If he fled to the border army, the most likely possibility was that he would be tied up by General Fan himself and sent back to the capital to be executed.

The Yuzhou Army is his real trump card.

He spent several years to completely win over Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng. If the troops were insufficient, he would constantly recruit soldiers. If the city walls were not high enough, he would let the people build the walls. As long as he could keep the army sent by the court out of the city gate, he could gain a foothold in Yuzhou. With the land of one state, he would slowly plot to conquer the world.

He, Zheng Chen, wanted to live a life of splendour. Even if it was difficult for him to accomplish his great cause, he would make some earth-shaking noise before his death.

"Those who accomplish great things do not pay attention to small details." Zheng Chen did not care about the chaos of the soldiers at all: "Now that the great cause has just been established, it is a critical moment, it is okay to relax military discipline. When we have a firm foothold in the future, we can standardize military discipline."

Zhao Wu nodded, quickly put the topic aside and talked about the movements of the imperial army.

"The Yingwei Camp reached the border of Yuzhou three days ago, and is still eighty miles away from Yuzhou. They didn't attack the city immediately, but set up camp eighty miles away."

Zhao Wu had been in the frontier army for more than ten years and was very familiar with General Zuo's fighting style. He was very afraid of General Zuo: "If the Yingwei Battalion does not take action, it will be a thunderous strike. We must repair the city wall as soon as possible."

Zheng Chen nodded slightly: "I don't know much about war. I'll have to trouble you and General Lu."

Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng are relatives by marriage, and now they are on the same ship, so they can work together.

Peng Sihai suddenly came over in a hurry and said, "Sir, the latest imperial report has arrived."