In the evening, by the Dongjiang River in Anqing City, Li Yan stood alone with his hands behind his back and looked at Cheng Niandong, who was slowly walking in the distance. He was young, burly but looked very haggard.
Cheng Niandong is also carefully observing this legendary figure who once assisted King Chuang to conquer the world but now works for the imperial court. In two words, he is elegant.
"Anqing is a city with tens of thousands of people. I have thousands of soldiers and a lot of money and food. Why did General Li offer such a low price?" Cheng Niandong went straight to the point. Li Yan smiled calmly: "Today is different from the past. The price has changed. It’s the highest.”
"General, can you elaborate on how high the price is?" Cheng Niandong frowned.
"That's why we're here for this meeting." Li Yan took a long breath and looked at the river: "In the past, the bandit army was strong and the court was weak in suppressing the bandits, so they could only accept it as soon as possible, but those who come to surrender will be treated favorably." , using this to attract people's hearts can be regarded as buying horse bones for a lot of money to earn a shout. However, at this time, the national power of the imperial court was still weak, but there was a man who was good at using soldiers. This man was so good at using soldiers that he was invincible and invincible. You must have heard of his name. In addition to knowing how to fight, his attitude towards the bandits is also very different from the lenient policy of previous years. He often uses thunderous means to kill chickens to scare monkeys. Ordinary prisoners are not merciful, let alone those famous bandit leaders, whether they are captured or surrendered. No way to survive!”
Cheng Niandong thought: "Is General Li talking about the eunuch of Dongchang? Is he really that powerful?"
Li Yan nodded: "It's very powerful. I fought with him side by side to defeat Li Zicheng and chased the Tatars. His combat power and resourcefulness are far beyond comparison with others. If he had been defeated here in Anqing City, I would have defeated him." It’s because of the memories of the past that I didn’t give you some time to make a choice.”
Cheng Niandong was silent for a while and then said: "Since he will kill all prisoners regardless of surrender, how can General Li ensure that I can survive after surrendering?"
Li Yan laughed: "You are unknown, and you are not the person who must be killed. However, I still have some face in front of him. He will give this face to an unknown person."
"Was he the guarantee for General Li's surrender in the first place?" Cheng Niandong asked curiously, and Li Yan nodded: "You don't have to make a choice in a hurry, as long as it gets dark tomorrow."
"If I don't surrender before dark tomorrow, will General Li really attack the city?" Cheng Niandong said, turning his head and looking at Anqing City behind him, his expression a little lonely.
"This general can tell you for sure that if you don't surrender, Anqing City will be destroyed overnight. Maybe we don't even need to attack. We will break it from the inside." Cheng Niandong was stunned after hearing this: "Do you know what's inside the city?" Things?".
Li Yan smiled: "This kind of thing is not difficult to guess."
Cheng Niandong sighed and looked up at the head on the tall pole not far away: "General Li, can you tell me the truth? Is that Marshal Bai?"
Li Yan also looked up, then smiled: "Is it important?"
Cheng Niandong nodded slightly: "It's important, but it doesn't seem to be that important anymore." He sighed; "If I surrender, what kind of official position can I give besides saving my life? How will I arrange for the thousands of brothers under my command?"
"Have you heard of Liu Tichun?" Li Yan asked.
"Of course you have heard of General Feihu." Cheng Niandong said, and was startled: "Could it be..." Li Yan nodded: "He is also in the army at this time. If your troops surrender, you can recruit them all under his command. As for you, you can always join in. Guerrilla Dangdang”
"What official position does he hold at this time?" Cheng Niandong asked quickly.
"General, he's the same as Hao Yaoqi, but Jiu Guan now has his own army under the East Factory Guards..." Li Yan said casually, but Cheng Niandong's face was full of horror. He only heard that Li Yan had surrendered, but he didn't know that Li Yan had surrendered. Many of the king's big men had surrendered, so he said to Li Yan without any worries: "I will send a reply to the general before noon tomorrow." He cupped his hands and turned to leave.
"The sooner, the better. If you get rid of it early, you can eat well and sleep well." Li Yan looked at his back and said with a smile. Cheng Niandong raised his hand and waved without looking back, got on his horse and returned to the city.
"How? Are the thieves surrendering?" Li Yan was surrounded by the generals as soon as he returned to the camp.
"I guess we will celebrate in the city tomorrow night!" Li Yan chuckled, and everyone cheered. Even Liu Zeqing, who suffered heavy casualties due to the previous two sieges, accepted this reality. After all, it is a good thing to defeat others without fighting. , and he firmly believed that the reason why the rebel army couldn't help but surrender was not due to his fierce attack and pressure. Anyway, in the final analysis of merit, he was definitely the first one!
It's getting dark, and the rain is still pouring down in Zhide County. The rain has been heavy and light since last night, but it hasn't stopped.
But Chang Yu was enjoying the weather at this time. After a fierce battle, it was very enjoyable to fall asleep listening to the sound of rain or do something else.
Most of the guards had woken up, some were drying clothes, others were washing themselves, and some went to the kitchen to help light the fire and make meals. After all, the food for nearly a hundred people was not something that the female family members could handle.
Chang Yu was very energetic and slept for a while after entertaining the squires in the city at noon. However, he woke up again when it got dark. He first went to visit Chen Wangting and the wounded, and saw that everyone was grinning in pain. He can relate to this feeling. When you are first injured, you usually don't feel the pain, but after bandaging, especially after sleeping, the feeling...don't mention it.
And this pain will last for at least several days, until the wound begins to scar.
But Chang Yu didn't have this problem. His injuries were neither less nor lighter than anyone else's. However, he was gifted with the ability to heal quickly. He didn't feel any pain when he woke up and the minor injuries had already begun to heal.
"Wine, wine, you said you wanted me to drink it to my heart's content!" Wuzhong was lying on the bed in pain but still thinking about drinking. Chang Yu sighed: "Are you seriously injured or..."
"No, how can you, the dignified governor of the East Factory, keep your word? Wine, I want to drink. If I don't drink, it will hurt to death. If I drink, it won't hurt..." Chang Yu had no choice but to let others do it... Several jars of wine came over, and when everyone saw this, the wine bugs moved, and they all clamored to drink. Chang Yu agreed.
You can't have food without wine, but these wounded people have to be served not only to eat but also to drink. Chang Yu called a few personal guards to serve the heroes who captured the city.
After talking to everyone, as soon as Chang Yu walked out of the room, Kuang Ren came over and whispered: "I just heard that the thief's wife hanged herself in the backyard, killing one and two people."
Chang Yu was startled and sighed: "Just die. At least the governor didn't break his promise, so he sent someone to find a coffin shop in the city to buy one and bury the thief wife."
I don’t know whether the wife died because of the deep love between husband and wife, or whether she was full of fear for the future and had no way out, so she chose short-sightedness. Chang Yu couldn’t guess, but he felt that he was panicking, so he called Chen Suole and left the yamen together. Went to the east next door.
Next door is a big house. The owner is a wealthy gentleman named Wang. However, after Jiang Yitao killed him, the house became his warehouse, where Wang Yien's wealth accumulated over the years was stored.
Of course, they all belong to Chang Yu now.
Chang Yu is not short of money, at least not to him personally, but he has invested too much and does not have much cash on hand. At this time, looking at the rows of neatly arranged silver in the cellar, he feels particularly kind. Satisfied, he grabbed a few large ingots and stuffed them into his arms, and asked Chen Suole, "Does he look like a rich man?"
"The governor must wear a round hat like a rich man." Chen Suole and several guards laughed together. Chang Yu found several jars of good wine in the cellar. He asked him to put the wine away without drinking. Bring it to Wuzhong to drink.
"Duke Gong, don't you think this money is a little short?" Chen Suole asked suddenly: "Jiang Yitao tortured all the rich gentry in the city. In addition, Wang Yi'en's total wealth is only 110,000 taels. This means that It’s too shabby. The big players we copied before didn’t just grab hundreds of thousands or even millions.”
Chang Yu chuckled and said, "You think these are the big families in Beijing and Shanxi. It's very impressive for an ordinary wealthy household in this remote mountain town to have thousands or even ten thousand taels in their home."
Yes, Chen Suole scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: "But there is a lot of food. The houses in the front yard of the Wang family are all full."
Chang Yu hummed. No matter what year it is, food storage is a must. If you store more food, you won’t have any worries.
