Tiger Owl

Chapter 229 The oriole is behind
Three hundred guards were no match for the attack of three thousand men. Zhang Mao had already captured the governor's mansion. Zhang Huan's guards and followers were all killed, but Zhang Huan's whereabouts could not be found. Finally, they learned from a maid that Zhang Huan was hiding in the underground vault.

However, the iron gate to the underground vault was locked from the inside and could not be opened from the outside. Zhang Mao immediately ordered the vault to be dug up. Hundreds of soldiers worked together to start digging the vault. The entire governor's mansion was brightly lit, and more than two thousand soldiers held torches and surrounded the backyard, illuminating it as if it were daytime.

More than 500 soldiers dug with all their might, clearing away the soil and revealing large boulders. Just as the soldiers were about to use ropes to pull the boulders up, a soldier suddenly ran up with an urgent report, "Reporting to the young master, something terrible has happened! We are surrounded!"

Zhang Mao was stunned. He suddenly jumped up and shouted, "The entire army must retreat! Retreat to the camp!"

Zhang Mao realized that Zhang Huan's reinforcements must have arrived. He only had three thousand men under his command, and now he was surrounded.

As soon as Zhang Mao finished speaking, a strange noise suddenly came from the sky, a buzzing sound like a swarm of bees. When everyone looked up, they saw countless black dots appearing in the sky, rushing towards them.

"It's a rain of arrows!" someone shouted.

Everyone was terrified, and it was too late to dodge.

More than 10,000 arrows rained down on the crowd, and screams filled the backyard as countless soldiers fell from the arrows. More than half of the 3,000 soldiers were killed in an instant.

Three volleys of arrows were fired in quick succession, followed by thousands of oil bottles being thrown into the governor's mansion. The entire mansion was set ablaze, with flames spreading from all directions, growing ever stronger, billowing thick smoke, and towering flames.

Taishi Ci knew that most of the enemy troops should have been wiped out. He left 5,000 soldiers to continue besieging the governor's mansion, while he led 10,000 troops to the western camp. The 10,000 troops stationed in the western camp were Zhang Mao's army. Zhang Mao took 3,000 men to besiege the governor's mansion, leaving 7,000 men in the camp. They were quickly surrounded by Taishi Ci's army.

At this time, the East Camp on the other side was also surrounded by Zhao Yun's 15,000 troops. The camp's commander was Wei Xian, who was a man of the eldest son, Zhang Huan.

Wei Xian had known for some time that Zhang Huan was surrounded by his brother and needed his help, but he hesitated. As a local, he knew that leading his troops into this situation would inevitably cause bloodshed throughout the city. What would happen to his parents, wife, children, relatives, and friends in the city?
Just as Wei Xian was in a dilemma, he suddenly received news that an outside army of about 10,000 men had surrounded the governor's mansion.

This news greatly surprised Wei Xian. On the one hand, he sent soldiers to investigate the origin of this army, and on the other hand, he ordered the entire army to assemble and prepare for battle at any time.

Just then, Zhao Yun led 15,000 troops to surround the camp, and the two sides confronted each other inside and outside the camp.

"General Wei, Chief Clerk Li has arrived!"

Wei Xian ordered his men to bring Li Jin up and said coldly, "Is Chief Secretary Li here to persuade us to surrender?"

Li Jin shook his head. "I'm not here to surrender. I'm here to save the general's life, and also to save the lives of the general's wife, children, and elderly parents."

"Hmph! Go ahead and say it! I'm listening."

"General, the enemy is the Yuzhang Army, numbering thirty to forty thousand. They have all stormed into the city. You must have seen the fire at the governor's mansion. Zhang Huan and Zhang Mao are dead, and the entire western camp has surrendered. Now, only General Wei's ten thousand men remain."

The Marquis of Chu has a strict order: any soldier or general who slaughters civilians will be executed without mercy. If the general resists and harms innocent civilians, not a single soldier in the entire army will survive. Even if they surrender, they will be executed, and the general will naturally perish as well, along with his family. If the general feels that surrendering would be beneath him, he can disband the army, and the enemy will not make things difficult for him, allowing him to live a peaceful life. However, if the general chooses to surrender, he will be appointed as a commandant and continue to lead troops to maintain order in Cangwu County.

In reality, the general only has three paths, and the choice is entirely up to him. I'm only here to tell him the consequences of those three paths, but I won't offer any advice.

After a long pause, Wei Xian said, "Let me discuss this with my men!" "Very well, General, you have an hour to consider. I'll take my leave now."

Li Jin bowed, turned and left.

The moment Li Jin stepped out of the military camp, he knew that Wei Xian had wavered and would inevitably surrender in the end. The reason was simple: if Wei Xian was a die-hard, then he would have no chance of leaving the camp.

As expected, all the soldiers demanded to surrender. The enemy had 30,000 to 40,000 men, while they only had 10,000. They were doomed to die.

Half an hour later, the camp gates were opened wide, and Wei Xian led 10,000 troops to lay down their weapons and armor, raise a white flag, and surrender.

At the same time, the 7,000 troops of the Western Camp also surrendered to Taishi Ci. Their lord Zhang Jin died of illness. The two brothers were both mediocre and fought to the death for the right of succession, which chilled the hearts of all the soldiers and demoralized them.

The fire at the governor's mansion was finally extinguished by noon the next day. Everyone inside the mansion had died; there was no survivor. The bodies were carried out, placed on carts, and sent outside the city to be buried. Many of the bodies were burned to a crisp, making it impossible to identify them. Zhang Mao's body was also found. Although he was also burned to a crisp, he was the only one wearing iron armor and had a gold badge on his waist.

Soon, the soldiers of the Western Chu army found Zhang Huan's body in the underground stone chamber. He had suffocated to death because all the ventilation openings were blocked.

The soldiers of the Western Chu army also carried out a large amount of gold and silver from the underground stone vault. This was because Jiaozhou was rich in gold and silver, so much so that Zhang Jin had accumulated a lot of wealth. This included Jiaozhou's wealth as well as Zhang Jin's personal wealth. According to custom, Zhang Jin's personal wealth belonged to his lord, Gan Ning.

Bu Zhi then met with Li Jin. "According to our intelligence, Zhang Jin should have 30,000 troops, so how come Guangxin County only has 20,000 troops? Where is the remaining 10,000 troops?"

Li Jin clasped his hands and smiled, “There are also 10,000 troops deployed in Nanhai County and Hepu County, each with 5,000 men, under the control of the prefect. However, Wang Chuan, the prefect of Nanhai County, is my old subordinate. He is kind and loves the people like his own children. I will write him a letter and he should surrender. But Hepu County is a bit troublesome.”

"Why is Hepu County in trouble?" Bu Zhi asked, puzzled.

"Qian Yi, the prefect of Hepu County, is Shi Xie's son-in-law. This is the result of the alliance between Zhang Jin and Shi Xie two years ago. He also controls 5,000 troops. They have liaison offices in Guangxin County. Now that Zhang Jin is dead, I estimate that Shi Xie's army has already entered Hepu County."

After a moment of contemplation, Bu Zhi asked again, "Are they connected from Jiaozhi and Hepu?"

"It's not possible by land, as it's blocked by mountains, but we can go by sea. Shih-hsieh has several hundred warships, so we can definitely get there by sea."

Bu Zhi was taken aback. Shi Xie had hundreds of warships? He hadn't known this information beforehand, which was a bit troublesome.

However, the problem wasn't too serious. After thinking for a moment, Bu Zhi said, "I'd like to hear Chief Secretary Li's opinion: should we take Hepu County first, or attack Wu Ju in Yulin County first?"

Li Jin smiled slightly and said, "I suggest we take over Nanhai County first, and while waiting for news from Nanhai County, we should send troops directly to Yulin County, and only then should we deal with Shi Xie."

Bu Zhi nodded; the correct order was indeed as described.

Bu Zhi readily agreed, "Then I'll trouble Chief Secretary Li to write a message by pigeon to the Prefect of Nanhai Commandery."

(End of this chapter)