Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 272: I am willing to lead the general to the capital, Thang Long!

Wang Yue's large army, with the attitude of swallowing everything, crushed their way forward and rushed straight towards the Xuanhua Prefecture City of Annan.

Along the way, they slaughtered every village they came across, captured every village they encountered, and swept away all obstacles.

The closer he got to the densely populated city, the smaller the counterattacks Wang Yue encountered.

When Wang Yue first entered Annan, he found that the villages he encountered on the border between Daming and Annan were populated by soldiers.

Those villages, knowing full well that they were no match for the Ming army, still launched suicidal attacks, forcing Wang Yue to massacre every Annan person he met.

This bizarre situation left Wang Yue puzzled.

He really didn't understand why these Annan militiamen seemed to have no ability to think, no fear, no terror, only endless hatred.

However, as they got closer to the capital of Xuanhua, the living conditions of the Annan people improved visibly.

However, after seeing the Ming army, the reactions of these wealthy people of Annan became normal.

They were terrified and afraid. They did not dare to resist, but fled with their families early.

The lower the level and the poorer the Annanites were, the more they hated the Ming army, and the more desperately they attacked them in order to buy time for the rich people to escape.

The higher up the social ladder and the wealthier the Annanites were, the more they feared the Ming army and the more desperately they fled from them, not daring to even think of resisting.

This is the strange phenomenon that Wang Yue felt along the way.

Wang Yue said nothing, but just slaughtered all the Annan people who dared to resist the Ming army.

The Ming army was getting closer and closer to the Ming Xuanhua City, and the Xuanhua City was completely exposed to the sword of the Ming army.

……

Xuanhua Prefecture City.

The overall official positions in Annan began to imitate the Song system starting from the Ding Dynasty.

During the Le Dynasty, the official system changed, but the overall idea still followed that of the Song Dynasty.

The highest local official is called the prefect, the highest military commander, or the commander-in-chief.

The news that the Ming army was approaching and was about to reach Xuanhua Prefecture finally reached Xuanhua Prefecture.

In an instant, the people of Xuanhua Prefecture were in panic, and the wealthy people who had some connections had already fled Xuanhua Prefecture with their families.

The Le Dynasty officials who could not escape gathered together and held an emergency meeting.

"Prefect Ruan, what should we do? Why did the Ming Dynasty suddenly attack us?!"

"Prefect Ruan, the Ming Dynasty has sent hundreds of thousands of people this time. If they attack Xuanhua, we will definitely not be able to withstand it!"

"I've said it before, Your Majesty the King shouldn't have sent troops to harass the border of the Ming Dynasty. Now the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is angry, and Annan is doomed!"

"..."

Inside the room, officials from Xuanhua Prefecture were arguing with each other. Some were afraid, some were regretful, but no one was in favor of war.

Xuanhua prefect Ruan Yining had a gloomy expression.

He knew very well that this was Ming's revenge for Annan's previous military harassment of the Ming border.

But it has already happened, what's the use of regretting now?
"Okay, stop arguing!"

Ruan Yining looked at a certain general next to him and said, "Commander Chen, what do you think about this matter?"

Chen Xingrui, the commander of Xuanhua Prefecture, smiled bitterly and said, "Sir Ruan, Xuanhua Prefecture can only muster 50,000 troops at most. We can't stop the Ming army."

"We have to stop it even if we can't!"

Ruan Yining shouted loudly, venting the anger in his heart that was transformed from fear.

Suddenly, the room fell silent. Everyone looked at each other, angry but not daring to speak.

Ruan Yining also knew that it was a pipe dream for Xuanhua Prefecture to stop the Ming army.

Then, Ruan Yining said calmly: "Commander Chen, send someone to Thang Long as soon as possible to report this matter to His Majesty the King."

"As for defending the city, we will hold out as long as we can."

"If it is really impossible, just surrender..."

After hearing this, the officials present finally smiled.

"Yes, Master Ruan!"

Upon hearing the order, Chen Xingrui immediately sent a fast horse to deliver the news to Thang Long.

At the same time, Chen Xingrui immediately organized all the troops that could be mobilized in Xuanhua Prefecture and prepared to defend the city.

The goal was not to stop the Ming army's offensive, but to hold it off for a few more days, slow down the Ming army's offensive, and buy some time for Thang Long.

……

Two days later, one hundred thousand Ming troops arrived at the city.

On the side of Xuanhua Prefecture City, Ruan Yining and Chen Xingrui stood on the city wall.

Fifty thousand soldiers from Xuanhua Prefecture huddled in the city, defending it, and looked at the army outside the city in fear.

Defending the city is the normal strategy of the defender in a siege.

Like Yu Qian and Yu Shen before, when they fought in the battle to defend the capital, they ordered all the soldiers in the city to stand outside the city, leaving no one in the city, wasting the city walls that had been built at great cost of manpower and material resources.

This is obviously a strange operation with someone guilty of something.

Wang Yue stared coldly at Xuanhua Mansion and asked Ma Yongcheng beside him, "Are all the things ready?"

Ma Yongcheng was the eunuch in charge of grain supply, and was also in charge of the army's logistics.

Hearing Wang Yue's question, Ma Yongcheng quickly replied: "General, all the soldiers' weapons are already covered with poison."

"A total of 16,700 arrows, all of which were also dipped in venom."

During this period, Wang Yue actually ordered that all the seized venom be tempered on the blades of the Ming army.

For Annan, this kind of venom is often only available to the militiamen living in the deep mountains and forests.

It is not common for the Annan people who live in the wealthy areas of the plains.

In this way, the Ming army took advantage of the venom.

"Okay, all troops, get ready, shoot arrows first, then attack the city!"

"Yes, General!"

As Wang Yue gave the order to start the war, 100,000 Ming soldiers drew their bows and arrows, and first fired a volley of thousands of arrows!
"Boo! Hah! Hah!"

The sound of arrows piercing the sky could be heard all around. The poisonous arrows that covered the sky and the sun were like a dark cloud, attacking from the front and falling into the city of Xuanhua Prefecture.

Suddenly, a series of screams and cries were heard in Xuanhua City.

“Wow!!!!”

"Arrow! The arrow is poisonous!!!"

"Ahhh! I'm hit by an arrow, help me, help me quickly!"

"..."

In the first round of thousands of arrows, countless Annan soldiers were poisoned and died.

The people who could not leave Xuanhua City hid in their houses early, trembling with fear, crying for their parents, and weeping bitterly.

In just a moment, the city was filled with wailing and a scene of devastation.

But what followed were two more rounds of massive arrow attacks.

After three rounds of arrows were fired, the battle officially began! "The one who is the first to break through the enemy lines, kill the general and seize the flag will be rewarded with a hundred gold coins and a thousand households!"

"charge!"

Following an order, 20,000 heavily armored soldiers led the way, escorting the soldiers of the Five Army Camps, holding ladders, battering rams and other siege equipment, and approaching Xuanhua Prefecture.

Seeing this scene of thousands of troops marching together, the defenders of Xuanhua Prefecture felt their souls trembling.

Even Ruan Yining and Chen Xingrui, who were on the city wall, felt their legs trembling and their hearts beating fast.

When the Ming army arrived at the city wall of Xuanhua Prefecture, they immediately engaged in a dangerous close combat.

As soon as the battle began, it entered a white-hot stage.

If the poisoned blade scratched the Annan soldiers even a little, they would surely die.

With every breath, a large number of soldiers died.

The construction of Xuanhua Prefecture City was far from as solid as the military strongholds built by the Ming Dynasty in the north.

It didn't take too long for the gate of Xuanhua Prefecture to be breached. The Xianzhen Camp and the Three Thousand Camps poured into Xuanhua Prefecture and began a bloody massacre of the Annan soldiers in the city.

In Xuanhua Prefecture, the sound of horse hooves shook the city walls, and miserable wails echoed through the sky.

What caught my eye were the fleeing Annan soldiers and the Ming army that were chasing them.

Ruan Yining and Chen Xingrui on the city wall looked pale as they looked at the defeated Annan soldiers in disbelief.

In this battle, the Ming army demonstrated its unrivaled crushing power.

With such a huge gap and such powerful absolute strength, any tactics or commands will be of no use at all.

Before this, they still had the delusion that they could pass through Xuanhua City and resist for two or three days.

But now it seems that they can't do it for two or three days, let alone two or three hours.

Chen Xingrui's lips trembled, his face pale, and he stammered, "Master Ruan, we...we lost..."

Ruan Yining looked at the scene of blood flowing like a river in the city, and his expression was no different from Chen Xingrui's.

"I see...surrender..."

Ruan Yining sighed and seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

Chen Xingrui was as if he had been pardoned, and he immediately shouted at the top of his lungs: "Surrender, surrender to the Ming army immediately!"

Chen Xingrui first shouted in Annan, and then shouted again: "General Daming, we surrender! Surrender!"

This time, what Chen Xingrui spoke was actually Chinese.

These countries surrounding the Ming Dynasty have been submitting to the Ming Dynasty for many years and have existed as vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the senior officials and aristocratic children of these countries had to start learning Chinese from an early age.

Only the lower class people can speak the local language.

This was the case in Annan, Goryeo, and Japan.

Language is a natural barrier. In these vassal states, if you don’t know Chinese, you will never be able to cross the class and enter the upper class in your life.

You can only spend your whole life as a member of the lower class, being exploited and oppressed by them at will.

After the Annan soldiers surrendered to the Ming army, the Ming army disarmed them and carefully arrested them.

Including the officials of Xuanhua City on the city wall, they were also detained together.

After Xuanhua Prefecture surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army in the city quickly took over all the defense of Xuanhua City, and then opened the city gates to welcome Wang Yue and others into the city.

A lieutenant hurried out from Xuanhua Prefecture and galloped all the way to where Wang Yue and others were.

"Report! General Wang Yue! The enemy has surrendered to our army. Please enter the city!"

"Hahaha, okay, let's enter the city!"

The smooth siege was within Wang Yue's expectations.

After all, whether it was the Annan militia or the regular army, their equipment was very simple and they were not as strong as the Ming army.

The only thing worthy of praise for them is their fearless spirit.

In this way, Wang Yue led everyone into the city of Xuanhua Prefecture.

At this moment, all the people in Xuanhua City had been controlled by the Ming army.

In addition to the surrendered Annan soldiers and Xuanhuafu officials, even the civilians in Xuanhuafu were pulled out of their houses by the Ming army.

"No, I surrender, I surrender, don't kill me, don't kill me..."

Those who begged for mercy in Chinese were high-ranking officials and nobles in Xuanhua City.

"A promotion across the factory..."

Those who speak in the meaningless Annan dialect are the lower-class people in Xuanhua City.

Originally, it was impossible for these noble families to stay with the lower class people whom they despised.

But in front of the butcher's knives of foreign races, no matter whether they were nobles or commoners, they were all just fish on the chopping board, to be slaughtered by the Ming army.

And what’s interesting is that the richer and more powerful the Annanese were, the better their attitude toward the Ming army, and the less they cared about the Annan army’s defeat.

Some people even took the initiative to express their willingness to cooperate with the Ming army and lead them to Thang Long, the capital of Annan.

The lower the level of the people, the worse their attitude towards the Ming army, and the more they were heartbroken by the defeat of the Annan army.

They glared at the Ming army, wishing they could bite the Ming army around them with their teeth.

After Wang Yue entered Xuanhua Prefecture, Ruan Yining, the highest official of Xuanhua Prefecture, was brought before Wang Yue.

"General Daming, we have all surrendered. We beg you to spare the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people in our city."

Ruan Yining bowed to Wang Yue and kept a humble attitude.

At the same time, those noble officials from the aristocratic families also cast fawning smiles at Wang Yue, nodding and bowing one by one, revealing their ugly behavior.

Wang Yue fought his way forward and finally met the Annan people in Xuanhua City who had normal reactions, rather than the Annan people with dull expressions who fought desperately against the Ming army.

Wang Yue himself did not want to wrongly accuse the Annan people who were receptive to advice.

Wang Yue said calmly: "As long as you sincerely submit to the Ming Dynasty, I will naturally not kill innocent people and commit murder."

"Submit, you must submit!"

Before Ruan Yining could say anything, an Annan official next to him couldn't wait to surrender to Wang Yue.

"Annan has been the territory of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times. It's just a pity that the unruly man Le Loi overestimated his own strength, started a rebellion, and claimed the land as his own."

"Now that the Heavenly Master has arrived, the Li Dynasty has reached its end. If the general does not mind, I am willing to lead the way for the general and take the capital, Thang Long."

The existence of guides is not uncommon in any dynasty or country.

With this person taking the lead, the remaining officials no longer hid their intentions and openly expressed their willingness to serve as guides for the Ming army.

Among them was even Chen Xingrui, the commander-in-chief of Xuanhua Prefecture.

Seeing this scene, Ruan Yining had no choice but to sigh.

Wang Yue smiled and was very satisfied with these surrendered Annan officials.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred!
A thin, ragged, dull-looking, and filthy Annan lower-class citizen suddenly jumped out from the ground and rushed towards Wang Yue quickly.

In his hand was a rusty, blood-stained, worn-out dagger!

(End of this chapter)