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Chapter 738 Madness (Part )

That night, Zheng Chen was thinking hard and writing a plan. Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng tossed and turned in bed and also did not sleep all night.

Just as the sky was getting light, Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng came together again.

Peng Sihai could no longer stop them, so he gritted his teeth and passed on the message again: "My lord, General Zhao and General Lu are here again. The imperial army attacked the city fiercely yesterday, and they are very anxious. My lord, please go and meet them!"

Zheng Chen nodded: "I'll go out and meet them now."

Peng Sihai followed his master in fear and trepidation, silently praying to God not to reveal any clues in front of Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng.

Perhaps Peng Sihai was too pious and moved the heavens. Or perhaps it was because during the day, the dark cloud that enveloped Zheng Chen dissipated a lot, and Zheng Chen's words and actions were no different from usual.

"The imperial army failed to capture the city yesterday, so they will continue to attack fiercely today." Zheng Chen said solemnly, "General Zuo has been guarding the border for twenty years. He is good at defending the city, and naturally he is also good at attacking the city. He will continue to attack fiercely, hoping to defeat us in the shortest time possible, capture Yuzhou, and return to the imperial court to claim credit. The next few days will definitely be very difficult."

"Don't hold back the newly recruited soldiers. Let them take turns to go up to the city wall. First, this will deplete the enemy's strength. Second, it will also allow the new recruits to see blood."

Lu Cheng, who was in a state of panic, felt relieved when he saw Zheng Chen speaking in an orderly manner, and he bowed in response.

Zhao Wu asked in a low voice: "Do we still want to push the civilians, women and children in the city onto the wall?"

"Not for now." Zheng Chen's eyes were cold. "Zuo Feng is a man with a heart as cold as iron. So many people died yesterday, but he refused to withdraw his troops. Lock up the captured women, children, and the elderly in one place. They may be useful in the future."

In fact, the presence of a bunch of old, weak, women and children on the city wall who could only scream and wail in fear had little effect on the powerful imperial army, but it did have a significant impact on the Yuzhou rebels defending the city. The soldiers were shaken and lost their way.

Zhao Wu and Lu Cheng looked at each other and agreed together.

"Sir, are you going to the city gate today?"

"Go!" Zheng Chen answered without hesitation: "Go now!"

……

On this day, there were no women, children, or the elderly at the city gate, but there were many new soldiers.

The new recruits had been locked up in the military camp for several months and were suddenly put on the real battlefield. Some of them were too timid to move forward, some were ignorant and eager to make moves, and most of them were at a loss.

However, the veterans who had experienced yesterday's battle all knew how powerful the imperial army was, so they deliberately pushed the new recruits forward and hid behind intentionally or unintentionally.

Bang!
A huge rock hit the city wall heavily, and the wall made a dull sound and shook slightly.

Bang! There was another loud noise, and the stone flew very high, passed the city gate, and smashed into the city. I don't know which unlucky person was hit, but he was smashed into a pulp at that time.

Such a bloody scene would scare anyone who saw it. Several new soldiers shouted in fear and subconsciously wanted to run towards the city gate.

Lu Cheng laughed grimly, swung his sword and killed a new soldier, whose head fell in front of the other soldiers with blood splattering. The soldiers followed suit and killed several new soldiers who tried to escape.

"Whoever dares to run away will end up like this. Listen up, raise your bows and arrows, aim and shoot downwards."

The new recruits had sad faces and tremblingly raised the bows and arrows they had just learned to use, and shot them out crookedly.

However, with so many people, the arrows shot out were dense and fell like raindrops. They always hit some unlucky people. Several imperial soldiers on the ladder were shot to death by a wave of arrows and fell from the ladder to the ground, and blood splattered immediately.

The defenders of the city had the advantage of being in a high position. As long as they could keep their footing and were willing to sacrifice lives, there would always be results. At the end of the day, when they counted the casualties, they were actually better than yesterday.

"We really shouldn't have allowed the elderly, the weak, women and children to go up to the city wall yesterday." Zhao Wu breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to Lu Cheng, "They could only cry and shout, which greatly disrupted the morale of the army and also demoralized the soldiers defending the city. It's much better today."

Lu Cheng was not as optimistic as Zhao Wu. He sighed and said, "It's not much better. Hundreds of people died today. If it continues like this, how can we hold on?"

Zhao Wu said: "The casualties on the other side are no less than ours. It depends on who can hold on the longest!"

The casualties of the attackers are definitely greater than those of the defenders. If the siege continues for a long time, the casualties will be too great for the soldiers to bear, and their morale will be low, and the war will become a stalemate. This is the real way out for the Yuzhou Army.

Lu Cheng knew what was going on, nodded heavily, turned around and looked, and couldn't help but muttered in a low voice: "Young Master said he would stay at the city wall for a day, how come he disappeared so early?"

Zhao Wu sighed, "Your Highness is of noble birth. You have been in and out of the palace since you were young, living a life of luxury. How could you have personally seen a battlefield? It's already pretty good that you can hold out on the city wall for half a day."

"Leave some people to patrol the city at night, and we will go back and rest."

……

"Si Hai, I have made up my mind. The new dynasty will be named Chen."

"After I ascend the throne, I will no longer have the surname Zheng. I will change my surname. Everything will be renewed and a new year will begin. My surname will be Yuan, and my name will be Yuanchen."

"All members of the Zheng family must be killed. The first person I want to kill is the Empress Dowager, and the second is the Duke of Anguo. Wang Jin and Cui Du must both die. The important officials in the court who are willing to bow their heads and obey my orders can be given a chance to live. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed."

"After thinking it over, I still can't bear to kill Jiang Shaohua. But, she has been married and now has a child. I can't make her the queen, so let her be the imperial concubine."

Under the bright candlelight, Zheng Chen's eyes were surprisingly bright. Sometimes he lowered his head to write something, sometimes he looked up and talked to Peng Sihai, sometimes he was angry, sometimes he laughed wildly.

It's late at night, and the mad master is here.

Peng Sihai was filled with sorrow and sadness, but he could not show it, so he had to agree in a gentle voice: "Young Master is right."

"Those who don't obey should be killed."

"The young master wants to keep the princess as his concubine, which is a gift to the princess."

Zheng Chen burst into laughter.

This continued for several days afterwards.

During the day, he went to the city gate to boost morale and command. In the afternoon, he began to be distracted and erratic. Suddenly, he returned to his residence without saying a word. After entering the study, he kept writing plans and reforms, and even compiled the name and era of the new dynasty. He stayed up until midnight, and only slept for an hour or two because he was extremely sleepy.

Even the strongest man can't endure this.

Even Peng Sihai's eyes turned red from staying up all night.

On the eighth day of the imperial army's siege, the soldiers of the Yingwei Camp finally rushed to the city wall. The Yuzhou army tried their best to barely hold them off.

The ground was covered with corpses, and morale was low. New soldiers kept running away, and it was impossible to kill them all. Even the veterans of the Yuzhou Army began to run away.