Wu Gen sat on his horse and looked at the small town not far away. According to Yang Zheng's suggestion, the notice of one draw per hundred has been issued, but the city still turned a deaf ear.
If this is the case in every city of the Cang family along the way, then the speed of the Fearless Army's advance will be greatly reduced, which Wu Gen cannot tolerate. One more day of delay, and the cost of food and grass for hundreds of thousands of people alone would give Sun Hong a headache. Although Meng Shuo, Lu Qing, Lu Yuan and others had been asked to assist, they were still extremely busy.
Therefore, Wu Gen decided to destroy the city and let the cities behind see what would happen if they did not follow the rules. The more people die in this city, the less people will die later.
These days the Fearless Army is standing still just to build siege equipment. Hundreds of thousands of people were here, and soon 500 flying stone carts took shape under the supervision of the bridge team.
The fearless army surrounded the small town, and every side was densely packed with flying stone carts. There were figures on the top of the city, looking at the army outside the city in panic.
"Smash it to me." Wu Gen ordered fiercely.
The rapid sound of gongs sounded, and dense black spots appeared in the sky, like migrating birds, whistling and flying towards the small town.
There were muffled sounds one after another from the top of the city, clouds of dust flew up, gravel flew in all directions, and bursts of fire broke out. The tower above was soon gone.
Wu Gen stared at the city opposite with an expressionless face, showing no intention of stopping the bombardment.
The flying stone carts bombarded for half an hour, and there was no complete city wall in the entire town. Some were so badly damaged that the walls collapsed, making it possible to climb into the city without using ladders.
Soon, the Rebel Army began to move out, hovering at the top of the city, constantly shooting at the remaining defenders on the city wall.
Such a large-scale bombardment has made the people in the city feel frightened. They know that they cannot defeat the Fearless Army. However, according to the Cang family's instructions, the city cannot be abandoned at will. The advance of the fearless army must be delayed step by step to give the main city, Jietao City, an opportunity to strengthen its defenses.
Moreover, according to the military order of the Fearless Army, who should be killed and who should not be killed, there had been constant quarrels in the city, and after such a delay, they were violently bombarded by the Fearless Army.
Now that the city wall has been destroyed, looking at the dense crowd of people outside the city, how can these people still have the will to fight?
Taking advantage of the lull in the flying stone carts, several people ran out of the city with arrows in their hands and ran towards Wu Gen.
When the Fearless Army was approaching, Zhang Wuyang led people to greet them. None of these people were carrying weapons, and they obviously weren't planning on taking Wu Gen's head in the midst of thousands of troops.
"Zhenfu, we are the special envoys of the city lord. The city lord has said that he is willing to surrender the entire city and please stop attacking." These soldiers, who were obviously messengers, knelt down awkwardly on the ground. The leader was a middle-aged man wearing heavy armor, probably because he was afraid of being hurt by stray arrows.
Wu Gen lowered his head and glanced coldly at the middle-aged man lying on the ground. He had fair skin and a layer of calluses on his thumb and middle finger. "Go back and tell your city lord that you are not allowed to surrender and prepare to fight."
"The governor is kind. There are only a few thousand old and weak defenders in the city. How can they withstand the power of the army? Please forgive us for our sin of neglect." The middle-aged man kowtowed repeatedly, looking very miserable.
"Have you received the military order of one draw per hundred?" Wu Gen said slowly on his horse: "Why did you disobey the military order? Why did the city gates be closed when the army came here?"
The middle-aged man was speechless for a moment, and after a moment he said with difficulty: "Your Majesty, this order is too harsh. How many people will die if you draw one hundred strokes? Who will die and who will live? How to judge to convince everyone. It's difficult."
"It seems that it is indeed my fault for making things so difficult for you. In this case, I will not embarrass you. I will personally lead the people to kill you. Go back and organize people to defend the city. Our army is about to attack the city. Come on." Wu Gen waved his hand impatiently, signaling Zhang Wuyang to drive them away.
"Sir, please be merciful. We are ready to surrender. We cannot raise any more weapons in the city." The middle-aged man quickly took a few steps on his knees and begged loudly.
"Shut up." Wu Gen was furious, pointing at the middle-aged man on the ground and yelling: "I have given you a chance, but you don't cherish it. Isn't it more than a hundred draws? According to the rules of the lord, even if you massacre the city, you won't do it. Pass. Go back and defend the city until our army comes to attack."
Zhang Wuyang was not polite and asked two soldiers to grab the middle-aged man's legs and drag him back. Seeing that Wu Gen had no intention of being accommodating, the middle-aged
The man had no choice but to mount his horse and run back to the city.
As his figure disappeared from the broken city gate, Wu Gen pulled out the broken knife from his waist and said, "Kill, attack the city."
"Kill." The deafening shouts of killing rang out, and the fearless army rushed towards the ruined city like a tide. Even though there were many more prisoners in the army, and even though they didn't have enough tacit understanding to get along with each other, after all, they had been fighting for such a long time, and the momentum was amazing, because all those who didn't know how to fight were dead.
This army, which had just crawled out from the flames of war, faced such a small town as if they were searching for something. The battle was uneventful, and the small town was soon captured, and most of the defenders abandoned their weapons and surrendered.
Wu Gen rode his horse into the small town. He looked at the middle-aged man who had just asked for surrender and was tied to the ground unable to move. He smiled slightly and said, "City Lord, we meet again."
The middle-aged man opened his mouth slightly and lowered his head with a sad expression, "Calm down the wise eyes."
"What's your name?" Wu Gen got off his horse, lightly tapped his palms with his riding crop, and walked around the other party with a relaxed expression.
"Cang Renjing." The middle-aged man knelt down on the ground and suddenly kowtowed heavily to Wu Gen. His forehead was deeply buried in the blood in front of him. "Sir, Renjing is guilty, but the people in the city are not guilty. Please treat me Cut into pieces with a thousand swords in exchange for the life of a common man."
"What's your crime?"
"Be loyal but don't die, know but don't fight. You know that it's unwise to stick to the orders given by your family, but you can't argue with them. Since you won't surrender, you still want to live an ignoble life, you are capricious, and you deserve to die." Cang Ren. Jing's head was buried in the blood and she didn't dare to lift it up for a moment.
Wu Gen took a look at the small town. It was not big, but the roads were regular and there were many shops. Although there are old and new houses in the city, there is not a single shack, and there is no city lord's mansion that is common in other cities and is higher than the houses in the city.
Looking at Yang Zheng and Hu Jia, they both nodded. Wu Gen squatted in front of Cang Renjing and said sullenly, "Killing you is like killing a chicken. It only dirty my hands. Well, if you really want to save the people, you can take people to the city in front. Tell them that I, Wu Gen, am merciful, and the rule of drawing one from a hundred will be changed to one from a thousand. When the army arrives, I will offer the heads to you. There will be no massacre of the city.
But tell them, don't try to use some death row prisoners or common people to get through. The person who dies must be a nobleman in the city, or an official with more than 100 households, or a member of the Cang family. Once I find out about cheating, the first person to die will be the city lord. Get up. "
Cang Renjing raised her head, her face covered with blood, and said with a complex expression, "Sir, this is a heart-breaking plan. These people are usually aloof in all cities. In this case, how can the city lord make a decision about who to kill or not to kill?" , there will be chaos in the city."
"What, isn't it worth using their heads to exchange for the peaceful life of the people in the city? Should you go or not? If you don't go, I will start from this city and start a killing spree." Wu Gen squinted at the other party and flicked the scabbard of his sword. .
"I am willing. As long as you believe in me, I, Cang Renjing, am willing to ride alone to each city to persuade them to surrender." Cang Renjing nodded in agreement. .net
Wu Gen smiled slightly and waved casually. Someone quickly untied the rope from his body and said, "Give him a horse. The military situation is urgent. Don't delay. Let's go."
Cang Renjing moved his body, bowed deeply to Wu Gen, "Your Majesty, please be kind." After saying that, he got on his horse and headed straight out of the city.
"This person won't just run away. Do you want to send someone to follow him?" Hu Jia hesitated.
"He wouldn't do such a stupid thing. He still has some talent and courage, otherwise this city wouldn't be so orderly." Wu Gen glanced at Cang Renjing's back, got on his horse and walked out of the city, " Except for necessary guards in the city, no one else should enter the city to harass the people. Sun Hong led his people to quickly collect food, grass, money, soldiers and horses."
After resting in this city for two days, Wu Gen took his people out again. On the way, he met Cang Renjing, who had a dusty face on his face. However, he came back to report that he had persuaded the next city to surrender.
When we arrived in front of the city, sure enough, the city gate was wide open and there were a pile of corpses under the city wall. When they entered the city, there were still traces of fighting on the streets, and the blood stains had not yet been cleaned up. In this way, Wu Gen took the city without spending a single soldier.
As we walked further back, as the Fearless Army captured more and more cities, the city lords behind them took the initiative to offer the city, and some even abandoned the city and fled. No one obeyed the Cang family's order to defend the city. Occasionally there will be someone who has no eyes
The city lord tried to manipulate the source of the corpse, but Wu Gen beheaded him and hung him on the city gate.
After marching like a parade, the Fearless Army finally arrived at Jietao City, the main city of the Cang family. Looking at the closed city gates, Wu Gen waved his hand, and nearly a thousand flying stone carts rumbled forward, lining up around the fortified city, like a wooden city with long arms.
At the same time, the Rebel Army began to circle over the city, with large black birds and flying shuttles passing by, but not a single arrow was fired from the top of the city.
Cang Renjing observed carefully for a long time and came to Wu Gen's side, "Zhenfu, you might as well let me enter the city again to give it a try. When I entered the city last time, someone in the city offered to surrender, but Young Master Cang Yi Cang refused. Returned in vain. Judging from the current situation, the city no longer has the spirit to fight against the army. It is possible to do it with more fire, which will also save the army casualties."
Cang Renjing had already entered Jietao City once to persuade him to surrender, but he was kicked out. However, what is intriguing is that the Cang family did not capture him and allowed Cang Renjing to leave peacefully.
Wu Gen nodded, "Go ahead. If the Cang family dares to touch you, I will chop off the heads of a thousand members of the close branch of the Cang family to commemorate you."
Cang Renjing was a little bit dumbfounded. She was also a member of the Cang family, but just a distant branch. It was nothing to have her family members buried with her.
Seeing the serious look on Wu Gen's face, Cang Renjing had no choice but to run towards the city head. When they arrived at the city gate, Cang Renjing said hello. Someone in the city asked a few questions, then turned around and disappeared at the top of the city.
After a cup of tea, a basket was hung from the top of the city and Cang Renjing was lifted up.
"This Cang family is really unhappy. They fight when they want and surrender when they want. They are so coquettish and far less happy than other families." Baoxiang complained on his horse.
"Don't worry, the building will collapse and they won't be able to hold on anymore." Yang Zheng glanced contemptuously in the direction of the city.
After waiting for half a day, the city gate facing Wu Gen opened wide, and more than thirty people walked out from the city gate. The leader was Cang Yi. The clothes on his upper body were taken off and he was tied tightly. His face was still bruised and swollen. A huge jade was stuffed in his mouth. He also had a white sheep by his side.
Cang Renjing followed beside him, directing everyone to walk towards Wu Gen.
"What are you doing? It's so flashy." Wu Gen muttered as he looked at the strange scene in front of him.
