Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 62 Persuading Surrender
Although Wan Bing's defection at the last minute was unexpected, it did not surprise Yan Yi too much.

This man had already betrayed his master ten years earlier. Holding a personal grudge, and seeing the Yellow Turbans' overwhelming strength, he defected to them shortly after the enemy approached the city, opening the gates. In his eyes, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and honor were worthless, like a blade of grass.

As an official of the empire, he betrayed his master and defected to the enemy. Now the person he serves is just a bandit. It is not surprising that he does such a treacherous thing again.

This is a person who only cares about interests and not reputation. However, in troubled times, it is precisely people like this who can often live a more comfortable life.

But no matter what, it is a good thing that Wan Bing comes to surrender at this time. It not only reduces the casualties of his own soldiers during the siege, but also greatly improves the chances of conquering Yuncheng.

Yan Yi's determination to attack Yuncheng was unprecedentedly firm.

No matter the cost, we must conquer this city and occupy a piece of foundation!
At noon in the morning, Yan Yi's army, after a brief rest overnight, was ready to go on the plain on the south bank of the suspension bridge.

This time the attack was not a sneak attack, but a fair and open campaign to suppress the enemy.

There were about a thousand troops participating in this attack, including 330 elite soldiers of the Yan family, 260 sons of wealthy and powerful people, 300 soldiers from Danyang, and 200 miscellaneous soldiers temporarily recruited from the people and refugees.

The troops are divided into 300 cavalrymen, 300 archers, two full groups of sword and shield soldiers and a group of spearmen.

The military equipment of this unit was already excellent. After receiving the military equipment from Qian Gonglei, the military equipment of the entire army was upgraded to a higher level. Almost everyone wore armor, the cavalry wore iron armor, and the infantry wore leather armor.

In addition, the number of ladders increased to seventeen, and the siege equipment also included two battering rams, a tower car and a flying tower.

A tower car, also known as a nest car or cloud car, stood four feet tall. It featured two long pillars, each topped with a windlass shaft. A small wooden hut was suspended by ropes. The hut was about nine feet high and four feet wide, with observation holes cut into each side. Soldiers aboard the tower car could observe the deployment and movements of the city's defenders through the holes.

A flying tower is a large siege weapon, also known as Linchong Lu Gongche or Duilou Tianqiao. It is a large thing about three meters high and equipped with more than ten huge wheels. The tower has several floors, each of which can accommodate dozens of soldiers. There are stairs connecting the floors to ensure that soldiers can continuously climb to the top floor from the ground. On the top floor there is a thick wooden board similar to a suspension bridge. When attacking a city, soldiers can directly climb onto the city wall through the bridge deck.

However, Qian Gonglei's flying tower is rather crude and cannot be compared with a real flying tower. It can only be regarded as a preliminary form.

Before setting off, Yan Yi looked back at Qian Gonglei behind him.

Almost all the soldiers in the city who were able to fight had left, and the task of guarding the city fell on more than 200 seriously injured soldiers and 200 new soldiers recruited from the refugees. The surrendered soldiers in the city were useless and were all tied up and imprisoned in batches.

Within a radius of 100 miles, the only forces that could pose a threat to Qian Gong Lei were Xu Gong, Xu Zhao and Qian Tong. Xu Gong and Xu Zhao had always been on good terms with Yan Baihu, and they would surely not become enemies with the Yan family just because of a bandit's stronghold.

As for money and copper, they are even less threatening.

Yan Yi felt relieved and rode to the front of the neatly arranged army. He shouted, "Glory and wealth will come today. Anyone who has made a contribution will be treated generously by the Yan family. Let's go!"

"I swear to serve you till death!"

Xu Sheng, Chen Gan, Zhao Cuo, and others were the first to raise their arms and shout. Immediately afterwards, a thousand soldiers responded in unison, their roars shaking the earth, converging into a wave of sound that rolled out across the vast plain. Under the command of the various military marquises, garrison commanders, and team leaders, the entire army formed into five square formations and marched towards Yuncheng in a mighty force!
An hour later, a thousand soldiers arrived at the northern plain of Yuncheng and lined up five hundred steps away from the city.

The north gate wall of Yuncheng was already filled with defenders. Even core figures like Qian Tong and Wan Bin, who rarely saw combat, put on armor and went to the wall to supervise the battle.

On the city wall, the defenders were on high alert, ready for battle as if facing a formidable enemy; below the wall, the attacking troops lined up in battle array, filled with murderous intent.

The two armies stared at each other across the moat.

Whether out of cowardice or deliberate deployment, the defenders actually abandoned the moat and drawbridge and only defended the city.

"Set up the building car!"

Following Fan Yan's order, more than ten soldiers slowly pushed the twelve-meter-high tower car to a distance of three hundred and fifty steps from the city wall.

Qian Tong looked at the huge tower car and flying tower, and his face turned green with anger.

He spent months and hours to make these siege weapons, intending to use them to attack Wucheng. He never imagined that they would be used by the enemy against him.

Yan Yi personally climbed onto the tower car to observe the enemy situation.

Looking up, you can see the whole city at a glance.

I saw seven or eight hundred enemy soldiers standing in a row on the north gate city wall, with at least twenty or thirty people behind each battlement. At the intersection of the horse path below the gate tower, four or five hundred people were lined up in an orderly manner, which seemed to be Qian Tong's reserve army.

Compared with the North Gate, the defenders at the East, West and South Gates were extremely sparse, with only a few dozen people on each city wall.

Yan Yi already had an idea in mind. He got off the car and ordered someone to bring Zhou Yu and Fan Yi over. He said coldly, "I don't need to tell you what to do."

Zhou Yu looked haggard and miserable. His elder sister was still in the city. Yan Yi asked him to do such a thing. If Qian Tong was angry and killed his elder sister without considering their relationship, wouldn't he be branded as a sister-killer?
Fan Yi's expression was much more relaxed. He was a straightforward person. Since he had already joined Yan Yi, he didn't think too much about other things.

The two men arrived in front of the tower carriage. Fan Yi roared at the top of his voice, his voice reaching the ears of the defenders on the city wall: "Brothers in the city, I am the vanguard captain Fan Yi. I am grateful for the kindness of the young master of the Yan family and have now joined him. I have a few words to teach you brothers: the young master is benevolent and loves the people, sympathetic to the soldiers, and he uses justice to defeat the unjust, and he personally leads the army to conquer. Five thousand elite soldiers of the Yan family have also set out from Wucheng and will be at the gates of the city today. Yuncheng is about to fall. Brothers, do not work for Qian Tong, a stingy and treacherous bandit. Even if you don't think about yourselves, you should think about your families. Preserving this useful body is the right path!"

Zhou Yu's ears were ringing from Fan Yi's loud voice, and he could only shout, "Everyone in the city, I am Captain Zhou Yu of Changshui. General Fan is absolutely right. Everyone should think more about yourselves!"

In an instant, the defenders on the city wall were stunned and in an uproar!
Qian Tong pointed at Fan Yi and Zhou Yu, and was so angry that his whole body was shaking and his breathing was rapid. Suddenly, his vision went black and he fell backwards, fainting from anger.

(End of this chapter)