Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 649 Fighting General
Thinking of this, Tong Guan said, "The Grand Commandant and I have always supported each other. If the Grand Commandant is in trouble, I naturally cannot stand idly by."

"I just wonder what the general will say when he returns to the court?"

Sun Jing replied, "Don't worry, Prime Minister. In a month or so, it will be too cold to advance. Several military governors are old and weak, and some may die of illness in the army. The Grand Commandant will withdraw his troops and return to the court. At most, he will be reprimanded. Next year, when Prime Minister takes over the Yanyun area, the court will naturally consider the overall situation and will not send troops to the Jingdong area again."

Tong Guan listened and nodded. In his heart, he did not want Zhao Zhen to rebel. Now he was promoted to Grand Tutor for his merits and was renamed Duke of Chu. If anyone could recover the land of Youyan and follow the instructions of Emperor Shenzong to recover the land of Yan, he would be rewarded with fiefdom and given the title of king. He would be the first eunuch to be crowned king for his military merits and would definitely be remembered in history.

At that moment, Tong Guan said: "I have never seen my son-in-law. I heard from my daughter that he is not an ambitious person. Now that he has occupied Shan and Xu states, it is difficult to ask him to give them up. However, it is easy to ask him to be content with the status quo. Just ask him to govern himself in Jingdong Road."

"Well, I'll write a letter and you take it back. After the general reads it, I'll send it to Liangshan. If the general really wants to give him Zibo and Qizhou, he will definitely not make things difficult for the general. There's just one thing you have to tell the general. If it happens again, I won't be responsible."

Sun Jing said quickly, "Prime Minister, rest assured. The Grand Commandant had no intention of sending troops. He delayed in the capital for many days. The emperor issued an order to urge him to send troops. This was originally a test by the emperor. In the future, the court will march north to Youyan, so it is best to keep the Jingdong Road as it is."

At that moment, Tong Guan thought for a while, picked up his pen and wrote a letter home, without sealing it, and asked Sun Jing to take it away.

It took Sun Jing six days to return to Chuqiu City. During this period, Chuqiu City was naturally not at peace.

Except for the first two days when Zhao Zhen was busy setting up a new camp and did not attack the city, on the third day, he sent Ling Zhen and Gao Gao to lead the artillery battalions separately. They set up [Flying Divine Thunder], [Invincible General Cannon], [Portuguese Cannon], and [Sky-blasting Cannon] at the north gate and the east gate, and fired at the city wall under the protection of the cavalry.

For a moment, the sound of cannons was deafening. Although the city walls were fully equipped with battering rams, cannonballs, ash bottles, and gold juice, the Liangshan army did not come to climb up, so they were useless. Instead, the boiling gold juice and boiling oil were hit by the cannonballs, splashing everywhere, injuring many soldiers guarding the city walls.

Wang Huan and Zhang Kai, who were guarding the city wall, had heard Gao Qiu talk about the power of Liangshan's artillery, but after seeing it today, they realized that what Gao Qiu said was not only not exaggerated, but also somewhat conservative.

Especially the three cannons outside the north gate, seven hundred steps away from the city wall, hit the city wall, leaving a hole as big as a wheel, which made Wang Huan terrified.

After hearing this, Gao Qiu said, "If the governor keeps defending the city, we can lift the siege in three to five days."

Wang Huan said: "If the cannon fire outside the city continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out for three to five days."

Gao Qiu heard this and asked quickly, "What should we do?"

"Unless we send out troops, we can fight him outside the city with our generals and soldiers," said Wang Huan.

"Then go out of the city and fight him. As long as you delay him for three to five days, I can naturally order the troops outside to withdraw."

Wang Huan thought that General Gao had some plan, perhaps to attack Liangshan from somewhere else, so that he could not take care of this place. So he said, "General, if you want to fight, please go up to the city."

"this···"

Seeing that General Gao was hesitant, Wang Huan said, "If you retreat, your morale will be low, and I am afraid you will not be able to hold out until the rebels outside retreat. Please issue a challenge to the general and ask the outsiders to fight outside the city tomorrow."

Gao Qiu then nodded, wrote a declaration of war, and sent someone out of the city through the west gate to deliver it to Zhao Zhen's camp outside the north gate.

Zhao Zhen looked at Wei Jing and Wang Yao who were being escorted by patrolling soldiers and asked, "You two want to issue a declaration of war?"

Wei Jing said, "When two armies are at war, envoys are not killed. We two are here on the orders of the Grand Commandant to issue a declaration of war."

Zhao Zhen looked at the declaration of war issued by Gao Qiu which had been handed to him by the soldiers a long time ago, and said to the two men, "You two go back and tell the commander that the real battle will be decided on the battlefield at noon tomorrow." After that, he sent someone to send the two men out of the camp.

He also sent orders to Ling Zhen and Gao Gao to withdraw their troops and return to the camp, waiting for the battle tomorrow.

In Chuqiu City, Gao Qiu heard the cannon fire outside the city stop in the government office. Wei Jing and Wang Yao returned to the city, listened to their conversation, and summoned all the generals.

After everyone heard what Wei Jing and the other two said, Han Cunbao said, "Captain, since we have issued a declaration of war today, there must be no defense outside the city. If we rob the camp tonight, we may succeed."

Wang Huan listened and nodded, saying, "If it succeeds, it will be fine. But if it fails, I'm afraid it will anger the rebels and they will intensify their siege."

Xu Jing said, "When I came here, I went to the north gate to check. The artillery and other items that the general mentioned are all stored in the front camp. There is no need to break through their central camp. As long as we destroy the rebels' artillery, we can naturally take over Chuqiu City. At most, we can wait for two months and the siege will be lifted."

After saying that, several people looked at General Gao.

General Gao frowned and said, "Since the rebels outside the city have already agreed to fight, why bother doing this again? If we delay for three or two days, the siege will be lifted."

Xu Jing said: "General, Shan and Xu states..."

"The court has its own plans. You just need to deal with it in the next two days. As for the future, we will take care of it later." said General Gao.

After hearing this, Wang Huan and the others didn't say anything more.

The next day, the horn sounded, the gate of Zhao Zhen's camp was opened, and five thousand cavalry and infantry marched out, taking up position two arrows' distance from the city wall.

The first general rushed out, riding a white mule and wielding a black iron brush. It was indeed [Sai Cunxiao] Wang Tianba.

Wang Tianba shouted loudly, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, "Wang Tianba, the commander of the Tiger Cavalry, is here. Who will fight me to the death?"

Gao Qiu was surprised to see the man on the tower. He had a face like the bottom of a pot, eyes like gold, a beard like iron wire, a voice like a bronze bell, and was nine feet tall. He looked around and said, "I've never heard of this guy, but he looks like a brave general. Who dares to go down and fight?"

Before the four military governors could speak, Dang Shiying, who was standing beside Gao Qiu, saw that although Wang Tianba was a hero, he was sitting on a mule, and thought that this guy must be a mediocre martial artist, so he spoke first: "General, my two brothers have never been in battle, so leave this first battle to me."

Gao Qiu heard this and promised: "If this battle is victorious, when I return to the capital, I will definitely recommend you to be a governor in the prefecture."

Dang Shiying was even more delighted when he heard this, and immediately led 500 cavalry out of the city.

Dang Shiying rode out on his horse and shouted at Wang Tianba who was showing off his power under the city: "Rebel, General Dang Shiying is here, don't be so arrogant!"

After saying that, Dang Shiying raised the big knife in his hand and rushed straight towards Wang Tianba.

Wang Tianba saw this and roared like a tiger, drove his white mule and raised his eighty-jin heavy brush to meet him. Wherever Wang Tianba's brush hit, Dang Shiying's sword broke.

Dang Shiying was panicking, he dropped the short knife in his hand and was about to flee on horseback, but Wang Tianba had already thrust out his writing brush, piercing through his chest, pinning Dang Shiying on the writing brush, and he was obviously dead.

(End of this chapter)