Capturing Jinling at almost no cost is certainly something worth celebrating. Facing the cheering people all over the city and the Chu troops and horses with high morale, although Li Yuan smiled broadly, he had great worries in his heart.
The generals also felt incredible about this easy victory. Why was the Jin army so weak?
Because as we all know, Li Jingsui relied on the soldiers and horses from three towns in Jiangxi to fight all the way to Jinling. His military strength was definitely not weak, and Jinling City was the foundation of his rule.
According to common sense, when the Chu army is overwhelming the river, Jinling must deploy at least half of its troops and horses for defense. However, the number of Jin soldiers who defended the city during the siege seemed to be less than 10,000, and most of them were defeated. It is really strange to force people to drive into the city.
In the Jinling Palace in the afternoon, Li Yuan personally interrogated several captured Jin army garrison generals. When the city was broken, these generals tried to escape on horseback from the east gate of Jinling. Wang Jingguo led the Xiaoqi battalion to chase them all the way to the foot of Zhongshan Mountain before they were captured and returned.
Although they all wore the armor of ordinary soldiers, the weapons and war horses they wore revealed their identities. They all had blue steel swords at their waists, and the war horses were all tall horses, obviously belonging to extraordinary cavalry.
The fugitive generals whose identities were revealed were pushed in with their hands tied. These guys were still very tough. When Zouping scolded them to kneel down, they all refused to kneel and looked up to the sky. Zouping became angry and kicked the knee of one of the most arrogant Jin generals, knocking him to the ground.
"You can't be killed, but you can't be humiliated! If you lose, you will lose, and I will admit defeat! But I kneel to the sky and kneel to my parents, and no one else will!" The fat general of the Jin army twisted his body and struggled to get up. He yelled.
"Haha, you're talking back? I'll break your leg bones right now to make you talk back." Zouping cursed.
Li Yuan waved his hand to stop him and said with a joking smile: "General, just now you said that you kneel to the sky and the ground to kneel to your parents, and no one else will kneel. What you said is a bit wrong. If your master Jin Wang Li Jingsui asked you to kneel down, , do you kneel? Further up there is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Congjia. He asked you to kneel, do you still dare not to kneel? "
"The King of Jin is not the emperor, why should I kneel down? As for Li Congjia, a murderous usurper, bah! I can't imagine that I, the general, will kneel before him!" the Jin general cursed.
Li Yuan smiled and said: "That's strange. You are a general under Li Jingsui, and Li Jingsui accepted Li Congjia's title of King of Jin. How could you say such rebellious words?"
"What kind of rebellion? I am a man of the Tang Dynasty. When we followed the King of Jin and raised the army, it was to clear the emperor's side! It was to be loyal to the late emperor! The King of Jin was originally the emperor's younger brother, so what difference did it make whether he accepted the title or not? And that How can a scum who usurps the throne stand to be worshiped by me?"
Li Yuan chuckled and said, "What you said is quite interesting. May I ask your surname? What is your official position in the Tang Dynasty?"
"I never change my name or surname, and so does Chen Decheng. I am the Marquis of Yu, the capital of the Xuanwei Army, appointed by Emperor Yuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Although after Li Congjia usurped the throne, I was granted the official position of Jinling Yin by him, but I only recognize Appointed by the late emperor." The general said solemnly.
Li Yuan found it very interesting that this general named Chen Decheng was also a man of temperament. He was dissatisfied with Li Congjia's usurpation of the throne and even refused to accept the official position of Jinling Yin.
"I remember, Chen Decheng and Chen Yuhou." Li Yuan said with a smile.
"You, are you Li Yuan?" Chen Decheng and the generals next to him looked at Li Yuan in surprise.
"Bold! How dare you call the emperor's name in vain? Are you looking for death?"
Seeing Zouping coming forward in anger, Li Yuan waved his hand to stop him disapprovingly, and said with a calm smile: "What? Isn't it different?"
Chen Decheng swallowed, smacked his tongue and shook his head: "Don't lie to us. I heard that the Emperor of Chu, Li Yuan, was about five tall, three thick and eight feet tall. His mouth was like a basin of blood, his eyes were like copper bells, and he spoke like thunder. You look like a frail scholar, how could you be that Li Yuan. Don't make fun of me."
As soon as these words came out, all the generals of the Chu army in the palace burst into laughter. It turned out that in the eyes of the enemy, His Majesty looked like a devil Yaksha. It should be noted that His Majesty is most concerned about his appearance, so he is going to be very depressed now.
"Shut up, you are in front of me, His Majesty the Emperor of Chu. It's just that you don't know Taishan. You are still talking nonsense here." Zouping cursed.
Li Yuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Chen Decheng, I don't know that you actually think that I look like that. Logically speaking, I shouldn't. When I was an official in the Tang Dynasty and served as the capital of Yuhou in Jinling, I shared the same table with many Forbidden Army generals in Jinling. After drinking, you are from the Forbidden Army. Even if you have never seen me, how could you not have heard of me?"
Chen Decheng scratched his head and said: "I used to lead my army to garrison in Changzhou, but rarely returned to Jinling. It was the King of Jin who told us that Li Yuan looked like that!
He also said that Li Yuan was lustful and lustful. As long as he liked a woman, young or old, he would take them all into Luo Mansion for his pleasure, even the green-faced and fanged Dongxi barbarian girl! It is also said that Li Yuan liked to eat people's hearts. He once gouged out babies under the age of three dynasties and ate their hearts to increase his strength. And he said——"
"Stop talking, stop talking." Li Yuan hurriedly waved his hand to interrupt his nonsense, feeling very angry in his heart. It turns out that I was deliberately propagandized by the enemy to be in such a bad state. It seems that the enemy these days is well versed in the way of leading public opinion. This reactionary propaganda turned me into a cruel and lustless food in the eyes of the enemy. The man is a demon.
All the generals around covered their mouths and coughed. They wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. They didn't dare to laugh but couldn't hold it back. It's rare to see His Majesty in such embarrassment. Today is a feast for the eyes.
"Whether you believe it or not, I am Li Yuan. Everyone here is my general of Da Chu. They can all prove to me that I am not the kind of person you say."
"Did King Jin lie to me? This is impossible." Chen Decheng scratched his head and said.
Li Yuan didn't want to quarrel with him anymore, and said in a deep voice: "Chen Decheng, I'm asking you a few things. If you answer truthfully, I may give you a lighter sentence. I hope you can answer honestly and give yourself a chance to survive." "
Chen Decheng frowned and said: "I'm not afraid of death, but I can answer your question. Now that the matter is over, the Tang Dynasty is over, what else can I hope for. You can spare me, or you can spare me. It doesn't matter."
Li Yuan couldn't help but smile. Although Chen Decheng is a bit stupid, he is still a straight-tempered person. No wonder Li Jingsui left him to die in Jinling. Such a single-minded person was only lucky in troubled times. In peaceful times, it would be a miracle that he could survive in the officialdom until today. If possible, recruiting this person here would be of some use, but I don't know what his martial arts skills and abilities are.
"Okay, Chen Yuhou, hurry up and speak quickly. Come and untie them." Li Yuan ordered.
The guards came forward to untie Chen Decheng and others, but Chen Decheng twisted his body and refused, saying: "You ask first, if I can't answer your question, then you will order me to be tied up and beheaded, which will be troublesome." .”
Li Yuan couldn't help but nodded and said: "That's all, it's up to you. The first question I want to ask is, why are there only more than ten thousand soldiers and horses stationed in Jinling City? Shouldn't the city be heavily guarded? How could it be like this? situation?"
When Chen Decheng heard this question, his face immediately turned red and he cursed loudly: "The king of Jin has a bunch of prodigal sons. We, the Tang Dynasty, will throw away these prodigal sons as soon as they can. Yangzhou was attacked, and they were unwilling to send troops." Rescue. The three towns in Jiangxi were in danger, and they did not want to hold on. Instead, they gathered troops from the two towns of Fenghua and Anhua to the front line of Xuanhe.
Now that you have reached Jinling, they don't even dare to defend, so they patted their butts and ran away. The late emperor has a spirit, and he may not be able to rest in peace even under the spring. If we had at least 100,000 soldiers and horses guarding the city, how could you go to Jinling in half a day? "
Luo Erhu couldn't help but cursed angrily: "Damn it, you idiot grandson still dares to mention the late emperor? You are the ones who rebelled, and you are the loyal ones. How shameless! Also, even if you all come to defend the city, I, the Chu Army, will still beat you to a pulp, and we are still bragging about you here."
Chen Decheng glared angrily and was about to retort, but Li Yuan frowned and interrupted: "Chen Yuhou, you just said they just slapped their butts and ran away. Did all the soldiers and horses in Jinling City evacuate on their own initiative?"
"Xu Ruchang and King Jin ran away a few days ago. Seeing that I was determined not to leave, they only gave me some old and weak soldiers to defend the city. I had no choice but to drive some people to the city to defend and gave them some worn-out armor. I also know that the weapon is completely useless, but I finally did my best, and I have a clear conscience."
Li Yuan had no intention of listening to him boasting about himself, and frowned and asked: "They evacuated Jinling a few days ago? So the 60,000 soldiers and horses who attacked Wuyue Kingdom turned out to be the defenders of Jinling?"
"Yes, they had already boarded the boat at Runzhou North Pier and left. I asked Xu Ruchang, but the old boy refused to tell me where they were going. I originally estimated that they wanted to go east along the river and then return to the north bank Withdrew the attack on Yangzhou, but unexpectedly ended up occupying the territory of Wuyue Kingdom?!
So what if these cowards, who bully the weak and fear the strong, captured a few Wuyue prefectures? He doesn’t even want the great country of his ancestors! What's more, your Chu army will come sooner or later. Even if they hide in Wuyue Kingdom, they will eventually have to fight you to the death. In that case, why not have a happy battle in Jinling? Even if you die in battle, you will lose my reputation in the Tang Dynasty! "Chen Decheng cursed angrily.
Li Yuan asked again: "Li Jingsui and Xu Ruchang took the troops and horses from Jinling City on board the boat and went along the river. Where are the other troops and horses transferred to the Xuanhe line?"
"Of course I'll use it as a bait to contain you, lest you chase you to Wu Yue Kingdom! These cowards and prodigal sons have been building ships a few months ago and have already been prepared to escape. Damn it!" Chen Decheng turned over. He said with a roll of his eyes.
Li Yuan felt clear in his heart. A hidden worry that had been in his mind before attacking the city suddenly became clear, and his heart suddenly tightened.
"Come here, take them down." Li Yuan waved his hand.
The personal guards stepped forward and escorted Chen Decheng and others down. Chen Decheng shouted: "Li, Li Yuan, what are you going to do to us? You can kill or behead us, but you want to give us our whole bodies."
Li Yuan sneered: "You will get your wish."
