vrcanaries Chapter 189: Siege of Northwest Prefecture
Chapter 189: Siege of Northwest Prefecture
Southwest Governor Hu Wentao finally did not make up his mind to send troops to encircle and suppress Lin Kunlun and his men. Lin Kunlun and his men further expanded their scope. They confiscated all the food in the surrounding counties. They organized the villagers to go up the mountain to dig up some edible things. They bought time to train the army. At this time, their army had expanded to more than 30,000. This was the result of Lin Kunlun's insistence on having stronger people!
The imagined revenge of the government army did not come. The governor of the southwest sent officers and soldiers to record the situation and report it to the court. At the same time, he also asked for support from several surrounding counties.
In fact, the situation in several surrounding counties was similar to theirs. Although their drought was not so severe, their army had no combat effectiveness at all due to the lack of training and empty salaries. It was difficult for them to even defend their capital city, let alone send troops to support them! This matter was delayed. Hu Wentao could only anxiously wait for the response from the court in Kyoto.
While Lin Kunlun and his team were taking action, Yuan Quan and his team did something big in Northwest County. Yuan Quan first eliminated the troops in all the counties in Northwest County. Now he has more than 100,000 troops under his command. Fortunately, the food looted from the counties can still support them for a while. So he now led his troops to besiege the capital city in the northwest.
Now there is no army capable of fighting in the entire prefecture. Wu Bin, the governor of Northwest County, stood on the city wall at this time, looking at the old and weak soldiers on the city wall! He couldn't help but feel deeply sad for those generals who only knew how to eat military pay and didn't know how to train. He had no choice. After all, this was the emperor's order. Who made him the governor!
"You good-for-nothings! What are you still standing there for? Kill them all! Charge forward! Defeat these rebels outside the city in one fell swoop! These rioters are able to besiege our city!" Governor Wu Bin roared at this time. Wu Bin no longer cared about his face. If he didn't vent his anger, he would probably die! He was very anxious these days.
According to the court's regulations, there are 5 troops in Northwest County, but no more than 5000 can fight. Of those , they were completely defeated by Zhou Kai! The rest are old, weak and disabled soldiers who are usually used to make up the numbers.
The situation in Northwest County is not very optimistic now.
"Governor! Now is not the time to hold these generals accountable! The people we sent out for help have already rushed 800 miles to Kyoto! I believe the court has received our intelligence by now! A large army will be sent to rescue us soon! We just need to hold on for a few days!" At this time, officials from the Northwest County came forward to persuade.
"How could the situation in the northwest be like this! Those refugees actually have such fighting power! Have you found out who the enemy general leading the army is? I think his command is very methodical, I'm afraid he is not an ordinary refugee!" At this time, Governor Wu Bin's face was solemn. He was not stupid, he knew that ordinary refugees could not easily defeat these government troops! I'm afraid there is some master guiding them.
"Governor! The enemy seems to call their leader Young Marshal! Their leader seems to have the surname Yuan?" A general who had fought with Yuan Quan and his men answered.
"What? The surname is Yuan! If he is really a descendant of the Yuan family, we will be in trouble!" Governor Wu Bin widened his eyes in surprise.
Wu Bin couldn't help but think of Yuan Chong, who was full of vigor and vitality in the past and led hundreds of thousands of troops in the Northeast to fight against those barbarians!
"If it's the descendants of that man, and his men, this matter will be troublesome!" Wu Bin thought at this time, and he guessed that this possibility was very high. After all, the only people who could make a group of refugees so fast and have such strong fighting power were the descendants of the Yuan family and his men.
At this moment, the soldiers on the city wall looked down at the wall excitedly.
"What's going on? Did the rebels attack the city?" Wu Bin asked nervously. He guessed that the people outside might be descendants of the Yuan family. That made him believe it even more. It was hard to believe that they could only defend this place with these old and weak soldiers.
It was not the rebels attacking the city under the city wall, but a man without any armor. When the governor Wu Bin and the soldiers on the city wall saw this scene, they felt nervous and uneasy! It seemed that this man was sent by the rebels to negotiate.
"Governor, these should be envoys sent by the rebels!" said a sharp-eyed soldier, pointing towards the distance.
Wu Bin looked hurriedly and saw that a middle-aged man dressed in scholar's clothes had walked to the front of their city gate.
"Listen up, people on the city wall! I'm here to negotiate with you! Please open the city gates and let me in to negotiate with your commander!" Tang Hai was in charge of the negotiations. He volunteered this time. After all, they were just ordinary villagers. It was too difficult to find someone who could serve as an envoy. Tang Hai had to take the initiative to step forward.
"Who is coming?" Wu Bin saw that there was no danger below, so he stood on the battlement of the city wall and looked down.
"I am the penman under the King of Rebellion! I am here to negotiate with you on behalf of our King of Rebellion!" Tang Hai, as the envoy of King of Rebellion Yuan Quan, stood under the city wall, facing the Northwest County Governor Wu Bin, showing enough confidence and composure. He knew very well that this negotiation was crucial for both sides, especially when the military strength of the two sides was very different and the Northwest County garrison was weak.
Soon a bamboo basket was lowered down. Tang Hai did not despise it and climbed up the city wall while sitting in the bamboo basket.
"King Chuang?" Wu Bin frowned when he heard the name. He had never heard of the title "King Chuang" before, but from Tang Hai's words, he could feel that the other party was no ordinary person. He realized that he might be facing an opponent that should not be underestimated.
"What is your intention, King Chuang? Why are you besieging my northwestern capital?" Wu Bin asked tentatively.
Tang Hai smiled and replied, "King Chuang is a righteous man who cares about the suffering of the people. He raised an army this time only to punish those corrupt and incompetent officials who oppress the people. As for besieging the city, it is a helpless move. If the city can open its warehouses to release food and help the people, King Chuang will lead his army away."
Wu Bin was silent after hearing this. He knew that what Tang Hai said was true. In recent years, droughts have occurred frequently in Northwest County, and the people are living in poverty. However, the government is only concerned with enriching itself and ignores the lives of the people. This is also the fundamental reason why refugees are everywhere and the people are living in poverty.
"What are your demands, King Chuang? You might as well speak frankly." Wu Bin decided to listen to the other party's conditions first before making any plans.
Seeing this, Tang Hai knew that Wu Bin had wavered, so he continued, "King Chuang has four demands. One is to open the granaries and release grain to help the people; two is to release the innocent people detained by the government; three is to severely punish those officials who are corrupt and oppress the people. Four, we will be named Yuan after we finish the battle! The male commander of the Northwest Army will leave Yuan's descendants! He hopes that the governor can write a letter. Let the current Chongming Emperor restore the reputation of Marshal Yuan? As long as these four points are achieved, we will withdraw our troops immediately!"
After hearing this, Wu Bin was dissatisfied, but he knew that these demands were not excessive. He knew that if he continued to be an enemy of King Chuang, the situation in Northwest County would only worsen. Moreover, he also knew that his troops were not enough to compete with King Chuang. Before the imperial army came, he had to stabilize them first.
"Okay, I agree to your request. However, you must ensure that you immediately evacuate the city after obtaining food and releasing the people." Wu Bin made a concession.
Tang Hai was delighted when he heard this, knowing that his negotiation was already half successful. He quickly replied, "King Chuang's words are as good as gold, and he will keep his promise. Please make arrangements as soon as possible, Governor."
"Other things are fine! I can't do this if you want His Majesty to restore the reputation of the Yuan family!" Wu Bin thought of the fourth point and couldn't help but feel a headache. You know, the current Emperor Chongming thinks he is a wise ruler who will revive the Kun Dynasty. How could he apologize for a minister? Overturn the order he had given before.
"You must first do the first three points! And immediately write to your Chongming Emperor to ask him to publicly apologize for our old marshal! And restore our old marshal's reputation! Otherwise, we will not just attack the Northwest Prefecture! We will lead our troops to fight to Kyoto!" Tang Hai said the most important point at this time. The reason why they wanted to besiege this prefecture city was nothing more than to use the prefecture city to threaten the Chongming Emperor.