Water Margin begins as a captain in Yanggu County

Chapter 301 Daming Prefecture is likely to fall...

Inside Yanggu City, Zong Ze was already holding a pre-war meeting...

Yang Zhi was in charge of all the city's defenses, and he was meticulous in everything he did. The city had more than 8,000 soldiers.

Many people were also moved in from outside the city. Lin Mao was in charge of organizing the able-bodied men among them to help guard the city.

Dong Jian was responsible for organizing all the able-bodied men and women in the city.

Everyone in the city obeyed the arrangements and took their posts; this was truly a unity of purpose from top to bottom.

All shift work, resource allocation, and even meal arrangements were carried out in an orderly manner.

Zong Ze, clad in full armor, sat calmly inside the city tower.

Before the Jurchen army arrived, Li Gang, who was on horseback, arrived first. After shouting several times from below the city, he was indeed hoisted onto the city wall.

Inside the city gate tower, Li Gang paid his respects to Zong Ze.

Li Gang recounted everything that had happened in Daming Prefecture...

Zong Ze frowned, a strange and frightening thought forming in his mind. He was startled and asked, "According to Minister Li's opinion, can Daming Prefecture be defended?"

When Zong Ze asked this question, he clearly had a certain expectation in mind.

Upon hearing this, Li Gang was taken aback and did not answer for a moment.

Zong Ze sighed, "Alas... Daming Prefecture, I'm afraid it's more likely to be in grave danger..."

It wasn't certainty, but rather a kind of worry.

Li Gang then added, "I tried my best to boost morale, but that eunuch drove me out of the city, saying he wanted all the soldiers to see... I had just said I would live and die with the city, and then I turned around and ran away. He thinks he's making a fool of me, letting everyone in Daming Prefecture laugh at me. Little does he know, this will only further damage morale. That eunuch would rather the morale of the army suffer than let people laugh at me..."

Isn't that the truth?

Tan Zhen didn't take Li Gang seriously, nor did he consider him a threat. But no matter what, Li Gang was still the prefect of Daming Prefecture. If he had to put on such a ridiculous show, wouldn't the morale of the troops in the city have been severely damaged?

If Li Gang were truly armed and stood atop the city wall, raising his arms and shouting orders during a major battle, just like Zong Ze was standing there now, it wouldn't be guaranteed that Daming Prefecture could be defended, but at least there would be fewer cowards who would retreat...

Upon hearing this, Zong Ze shook his head as well: "Perhaps he didn't think of these things..."

Zong Ze knew that having a role model was sometimes very important. He didn't have to be an expert in military affairs; as long as he held a high position and still had the will to die for his country, that was enough.

"Eunuchs are ruining the country!" Li Gang continued to curse.

Zong Ze then uttered a single sentence: "Daming Prefecture is likely to fall..."

Li Gang suddenly fell silent.

Zong Ze, however, was pondering a countermeasure. He continued, "If Daming Prefecture is truly to fall, then Puyang and Juancheng in the south of Beijing will have no choice but to be defended... We should send troops to Puyang in advance to gather the people and implement a scorched-earth policy..."

"If Daming Prefecture falls, wouldn't the capital region be in grave danger? How can Tokyo be defended?" This was the first question that came to Li Gang's mind.

Then Li Gang added, "I cannot stay here. I must return to the capital to remind everyone and His Majesty that Tokyo should also make preparations as soon as possible!"

Zong Ze looked at Li Gang and nodded in agreement: "Yes, that's for the best. Go quickly and, once you're in the capital, immediately go to find Chancellor Tong and inform him of the matter. Tell him to inform all the officials and submit a memorial to His Majesty. We must not be negligent in the defense of Tokyo and must make preparations in advance!"

Li Gang bowed respectfully and said, "Old sir, quickly order someone to lower me down again and get me a few more good horses!"

As Li Gang spoke, he headed out of the city gate, truly unable to wait even a moment longer, as if the Jurchen army had already besieged Tokyo.

Xu Ligang may have some faults, but his dedication to the world is as clear as the sun and moon.

How can any person in this world be perfect?

The soldiers then lowered Li Gang down, and several more soldiers went down to help him, bringing up the horse in front of him, replacing it with a few more horses, and preparing some food and other necessities.

Li Gang had already set off on horseback.

Not long after Li Gang left, the Jurchens arrived with over ten thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantry.

As soon as he entered Dongping Prefecture, Wanyan Zonghan frowned. He hadn't seen a single civilian along the way, and the villages he passed were all empty.

Wanyan Zonghan had a bad feeling. This was a situation he had never seen before on the 600-mile journey from Xiongzhou to Damingfu.

As for what this situation meant, Wanyan Zonghan couldn't figure it out for a moment, but it at least meant that the government here had a stronger sense of responsibility than other places and was also very proactive.

Yanggu City is not large, and its city walls are not particularly high. Looking up, one sees only a small city, yet the walls are covered with numerous suits of armor...

They rode around the city to observe the enemy. The armored soldiers on the city walls showed no sign of panic. The soldiers who stood still didn't even whisper to each other. Many of them were gathered together, looking out. They were obviously generals or similar figures...

Wanyan Zonghan's premonition grew stronger, and he continued to ride his horse around the city to investigate.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound rang out in the air. Wanyan Zonghan instinctively leaned over the horse and, out of the corner of his eye, saw an arrow whizz past his head with perfect accuracy!
Looking around, there were indeed knights with arrows stuck in their armor, yet they hadn't fallen. It wasn't that the arrows were weak, but rather that the knights wore two layers of armor, and even so, the arrows still pierced through their armor and penetrated their flesh!

Wanyan Zonghan naturally reined in his horse and turned around, showing no panic. He had fought in all sorts of fierce battles, and this little incident was nothing to him...

After getting a little further away, Wanyan Zonghan reined in his horse and looked back, his brows furrowing even more.

There was a thought in my mind: Zong Bi had said that Su Wu in the eastern suburbs had a strong army. He had said this many times. At first, I believed it, but now I didn't quite believe it. But this time, it was clear that Zong Bi was right. The eastern suburbs really did have a strong army. These hundred or so arrows that were shot at us were proof of that.

Only then did we see that of the hundred or so riders who had come running, seven or eight had been hit by arrows, each one piercing their armor.

The power of this crossbow was also beyond expectations, and its range exceeded imagination...

"Treat the wounded, and have all units set up camp!" Wanyan Zonghan said this as he walked away, glancing back at the small town.

This city wasn't large in the Central Plains, but compared to those outside the Great Wall, it was quite substantial. On the city wall, Lin Mao repeatedly exclaimed, "What a pity! I watched for a long time and concluded that the man was a military general. I finally got close enough to him that I thought I had the upper hand, but I never expected that general to be so astute!"

Lin Mao was the hunter leader who initially went with Su Wu to hunt tigers. He wasn't very skilled in martial arts, or even had any martial arts skills at all, but he was an excellent archer. With the divine crossbow that Su Wu had obtained, he was confident that his arrow would hit the target...

Nowadays, there are more and more crossbows in JD.com. One reason is that Su Wu obtained them from the armory in Tokyo. He acquired them several times, and after Su Wu actually became an official in the Privy Council, he acquired even more.

Secondly, now that JD.com has also started producing crossbows, it is thanks to the convenience of Su Wu's past position as an official in the Privy Council that he was able to bring many old craftsmen in the capital who could make crossbows. He also spent money to purchase various materials that JD.com did not have.

Now they are building more and more.

Under Su Wu's command, there were several groups of skilled archers. One group consisted of the earliest hunters, and those hunters had now become mid-level officers. Naturally, they practiced archery extensively in their army, with Li Cheng as a representative. Lin Mao did not join the army, but he could also be considered one of them.

The second group was led by Hua Rong. In the past, Hua Rong had trained on his own, and his accurate archery skills were simply due to his personal skill. Later, he joined the army, where archery was a basic skill among Su Wu's cavalry. Hua Rong put a lot of effort into it, and many cavalrymen became more and more accurate in their archery.

The third group, currently in Dongping Prefecture, consisted of Pang Wanchun from Jiangnan. He had already trained a battalion of skilled archers under his command, and they were the most dedicated to their training. Now, they were the best archers among the infantry.

When Pang Wanchun surrendered, Su Wu did not disband this battalion; it remains under Pang Wanchun's command.

In fact, the only thing that can be praised about the Song Dynasty is the advanced technology of its crossbows, which made them very popular in society.

There were also many folk archery societies in society. In the northwest, if someone committed a minor crime, hitting the bullseye in archery practice at the drill ground could absolve them of punishment.

Even the most commendable achievement of the Song Dynasty against the Liao Dynasty was achieved with crossbows, with one arrow killing the Liao commander-in-chief, Xiao Talin.

Therefore, there were quite a few skilled archers within the Song Dynasty.

On the contrary, the imperial court no longer takes it so seriously. The divine crossbows that only the imperial court can make have long been gathering dust in the warehouse. After a hundred years of peace, there are fewer and fewer people who know how to make this craft, and most of them are old people with white hair.

Fortunately, many of these elderly men with white hair now work for JD.com and have even taken on many apprentices.

On the city wall, a hundred or so arrows were fired just now, hitting several people, but no one fell from their horse.

Zong Ze also frowned. He knew the power of the Divine Arm Crossbow well. It was unbeatable. He simply said, "The Jurchens are heavily armored!"

Lin Maolai replied, "It's too far. If they were even a few dozen steps closer, they would surely be killed on the spot, even if they were wearing heavy armor!"

Zong Ze nodded: "The Jurchens are indeed very elite!"

Lin Mao added, "No matter how elite they are, with both crossbows and crossbows firing simultaneously, they will die!"

The ballista has more power, but it lacks some accuracy in long-range shooting. At this moment, Lin Mao also regretted that he should have used the ballista to shoot. Even if it lacked some accuracy, if it had hit, there would have been no survivors.

Zong Ze smiled and said, "That makes perfect sense!"

Yang Zhi said from the side, "My lord, do not worry. Watch me kill the enemy. I am strong, and my family's treasured sword can cut through iron like mud. Let's see how many people I can kill! Those Jurchens are made of flesh and blood. One slash and they will all die. If they fall off the wall, their bones will be shattered!"

Yang Zhi was determined to make a name for himself and wanted to be a general, but he had not been able to achieve it for a long time. The title of general was only the first step. What he wanted even more was to restore the glory of his ancestors.

Zong Ze looked around and nodded slightly. The morale of the army was high. Zong Ze said, "Order your generals to boost the morale of the soldiers. The old soldiers are fine, but the new recruits must be taken good care of. Once they have fought a good battle, things will be much better in the future!"

"Yes, sir!" Yang Zhi bowed respectfully.

The army outside the city still needs to make preparations for the siege, which won't be quick; it will take at least three or four days, including felling trees and dismantling houses.

Daming Mansion!
Two days later, the Jurchens had almost finished preparing for the siege. They gathered supplies from all directions and demolished countless houses outside the city. In this place where there had been no war for a hundred years, there were large settlements and even countless villages outside the city. They even dismantled mansions from Enzhou and transported timber there.

The beams and pillars of the house, the ladders and other equipment, the door panels and wall plaster connected together, and the long bridge planks...

They were just waiting for the next morning when they launched their attack. For the Jurchens, war was as commonplace as eating a meal, an everyday occurrence, devoid of any sense of ceremony.

Unlike Su Wu, who mobilized troops and made promises before going to war, and even frequently went on inspection tours himself...

As soon as the east lit up, the infantry lined up in front, the cavalry patrolled left and right, the drums sounded, and the army began to advance.

Tan Zhen stood inside the city wall, looking out through the arrow slits. The attacking soldiers outside the city were approaching with heavy footsteps. Tan Zhen took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "Gods above, please protect us! With tens of thousands of troops defending the city, it will surely be impregnable!"

It's no wonder that Tan Zhen is seeking immortality at this time. The palace is fond of this practice, the emperor is fond of this practice, and he has served the emperor for so many years and managed to rise above others. How could he not be fond of this practice?

At this point, Tan Zhen felt he had done everything he could and it was time to leave the rest to fate; all he could do was pray for divine protection.

He was extremely devout, and like the emperor, he deeply believed in the existence of gods and immortals. He believed that if a god intervened, everything would be safe.

This is the strange thing about the Song Dynasty. How could Emperor Zhao Huan believe in the so-called magic of the Six Ding and Six Jia that could turn beans into soldiers and drive back the Jurchens during the second Jurchen attack on Tokyo?

The logic is this: if Tan Zhen had a so-called divine master by his side at this time, he would also believe that he had the ability to turn beans into soldiers and kill the enemy.

Unfortunately, Tan Zhen did not have any such extraordinary masters by his side.

Tan Zhen was always devout, and after praying to the gods, he felt inexplicably at peace. The gods were not entirely useless; at least at this moment, they were a good psychologist.

The Jurchen siege had begun; they charged forward, and arrows rained down from the city walls.

Outside the city walls, the Jurchen army also advanced in an orderly manner, rushing to the moat. They first used ropes to control the long bridge planks to stand up, and then tilted them forward, thus laying a temporary bridge and opening up a road.

The moat is indeed not wide. It may have been wide in the past, but now, due to years of disrepair, it has become narrower and narrower. There is a lot of garbage piled up in the moat, and some people have even jumped into it. The water is not deep either, and it has not been dredged for many years. In fact, it is just a stinking ditch.

The Jurchen soldiers who jumped into the water even went into the water to erect pillars to support the middle of the bridge planks, because they were about to cross a large machine and were worried that the temporary bridge was not sturdy enough.

Arrows rained down, and the iron armor clanged, but the effect was far from satisfactory.

The simple ladders were already hung on the city wall, and logs and stones were poured down, which was effective, causing the Jin army to fall and be thrown about.

The wall-climbing has already begun!
(There's more tonight, but I haven't finished writing it yet, so I'll stop here for now...)
(End of this chapter)