Chapter 103 Sheng Xian surrenders?

South of Wucheng County.

An army of three thousand men marched in a V-formation, with the leading thousand as the vanguard.

The vanguard consisted of 400 sword and shield soldiers, 400 spearmen, 100 archers and 100 crossbowmen.

All members were wearing full armor, and there were many donkey carts in the team, all loaded with shields and weapons. Even if every soldier was sweating profusely, he would not take off his armor.

This army is the infantry team led by Jin Mao.

This method of marching is the best that Jin Mao could think of. Wearing armor is the slowest and most time-consuming thing, but holding weapons is not.

As long as they avoid passing through canyons and forests where ambushes are likely to occur, they can respond as quickly as possible even if they encounter a cavalry charge.

Of course, when passing by a place where an ambush is likely, Jin Mao would order everyone to take up their weapons.

The only drawback is that the march is too slow.

Five days had passed since Yang Lin brought back the message and Jin Mao led his troops to the vicinity of Wucheng County.

At this time, he couldn't help but feel a little worried: "What is Dong Xi doing? Will his entire army be wiped out?"

Jin Mao remembered that before setting out, he had clearly asked Dong Xi to return quickly after robbing the food. He would feel sad for a long time if a precious war horse was lost.

In the South, this is a strategic resource that is more scarce than gold!

There's no point worrying any more.

Yang Lin would not spread false information, the food shortage in Wucheng County is a fact!

Next, Jinmao just needs to see if there is a chance to seize Wucheng County.

In this case, Xu Gong can no longer be a coward and must fight a decisive battle with Jin Mao.

After many battles, Jin Mao was confident that he could easily defeat Xu Gong if their forces were equal.

However, the development of things was beyond Jinmao's imagination.

He had just led his men to the south of Wucheng County and was preparing to set up camp when he discovered that the gate of Wucheng County was wide open and a small group of people were leaving the city.

Jin Mao led the central army in the rear and could not see the situation clearly, but he could see that the enemy did not have many people and did not seem to be going out of the city to fight.

After a while, the forwards were seen detaining the team, but the other side did not resist.

Jin Mao was even more curious: "What does this mean?"

Soon, the group of people were tied up and brought in front of Jinmao.

The leader immediately shouted, "You are the governor of Yuzhang, right? I am Gao Dai, the Gongcao of Wujun, and I am here to ask for surrender on behalf of the governor of Wujun, Sheng Xian."

surrender!

Jin Mao was completely confused, and felt that he didn't have the charm to force the other party to surrender, so he asked, "You said Sheng Xian surrendered to me?"

"It's absolutely true!" Gao Dai struggled and said, "I have the document in my arms."

Without Jin Mao's signal, Bai Shi led people to search him, and they really did find a scroll of bamboo slips.

Jin Mao opened it and saw that the letter of surrender had the seal of the prefect of Wujun on it, so it could not be fake.

So he asked more curiously: "What happened? Why did Sheng Xian surrender?"

"Where is Xu Gong, the commander of Wujun?"

Although Gao Dai was kneeling on the ground with a whip mark on his face, he stood straight and said, "Your army is too powerful!"

"Three days ago, Commander Xu led 3,000 soldiers out of the city and encountered 300 cavalrymen..."

After Gao Dai's description, Jin Mao suddenly understood, but was even more surprised: "Do I have a set of skills to train cavalry? In just a few days, 300 against 3,000, a great victory?!"

No matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem real. Cavalrymen, like archers, need years of practice to become combat-ready.

Even if Jin Mao learned the tactics of the Luo family's elite cavalry, infantry who only know how to ride horses are not cavalry!
Can't figure it out!
"Where are my soldiers?"

It doesn’t matter if you can’t figure it out, just call it back and ask yourself.

Gao Dai replied: "Your troops have occupied the northern wall of Wucheng County and are taking prisoners."

Jinmao was even more confused.

Is this guy a heavenly soldier or general?

Not only can they defeat ten enemies with one, but they can also capture cities and seize territories. If the Huns had this kind of strength, how could the Han Dynasty have lasted for four hundred years?

No! We must understand this clearly.

With his usual caution, Jin Mao first ordered the vanguard to enter the city and occupy the southern city wall, and then ordered the right wing to occupy the eastern city wall.

Everything went smoothly and there was no resistance.

Only then did Jinmao walk into Wucheng County from the south city wall.

Wucheng County is similar to Yuhang County, with more than 14 households, making it one of the few large counties among the counties of Wujun.

Jinmao had seen a "big city" with a population of 200,000, and did not have much feeling about the urban planning of Wucheng County, which was not much different from the big county in Kuaiji County.

After entering the city gate, the first thing he saw was Sheng Xian and a group of Wujun officials kneeling on the ground. "Wujun Governor Sheng Xian, your virtue is not worthy of your position. I hereby ask for surrender to Yuzhang Governor. Please accept it!"

As Sheng Xian spoke, he held up the seal of the county governor.

Now, Jin Mao is no longer a rookie in the officialdom, so he quickly stepped down and ordered people to help Sheng Xian take over.

"What did County Magistrate Sheng say?"

"Aren't you trying to make me unfaithful and unjust?"

Jin Mao said righteously, "I am only here to clean up the pests in Wu County on behalf of the country."

Sheng Xian broke free from the others and knelt again. This time he took off his hat and kowtowed, weeping: "I have failed the country!"

Jin Mao treated him coldly. He had disliked this sad man from the beginning, and now he felt even more disgusted.

However, Jinmao’s lack of response does not mean that others have no response.

Wu Jun Gongcao struggled desperately and shouted: "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated!"

"Why does the Yuzhang governor want to humiliate the prefecture? If you want to kill him, just do it!"

"If you still don't feel satisfied, just take my head!"

Jin Mao frowned. He hated moral blackmail the most and was too lazy to explain.

"Call Dong Xi over!"

Jin Mao decided to leave these scholars alone and figure out what was going on first.

Half an hour later, Dong Xi galloped on his horse, and when he was a hundred steps away from Jinmao, he fell off his horse and hurried over.

"Cavalry Battalion Commander Dong Xi, greetings to the lord!"

Jin Mao nodded and asked what happened and why it became like this.

Dong Xian told the whole story from the beginning.

On that day, after Ling Cao, Dong Xi and others defeated Xu Gong, they did not pursue him, but gathered their soldiers and counted the casualties.

In the end, they were surprised to find that the casualties were not great. Among the more than 50 casualties, most of them fell off their horses and broke bones, and only five were killed by arrows.

Originally, the three of them were discussing whether to wait here for Jinmao to take over, but Pan Lin suddenly came back with a surprise attack.

After the three men repelled Pan Lin, they started to fight with real fire. Half of them were led by Ling Cao to continue the pursuit, while Dong Xi guarded the food and grass.

Ling Cao chased after his attackers for a day and a night before returning. When he passed the north gate of Wucheng County, the city gate was wide open.

Sheng Xian asked Ling Cao to occupy the city and provide some food to the people in the city on the grounds that the people in the city had no food.

Ling Cao didn't know whether it was true or not, so he joined forces with Dong Xi and others to occupy the north gate first and continued to wait for Jin Mao's order.

Jin Mao was terrified when he heard this.

These reckless men could not see the danger, but Jin Mao could see it clearly.

"Alas, it seems that next time we have to send someone with brains to follow these reckless men!"

Jin Mao thought to himself: "Gong Lei is pretty good."

On the surface, Jin Mao was very happy and praised: "Well done! I will give each of you credit for your great achievements!"

"Thank you, lord!" Dong Xi was overjoyed and said another thing: "My lord, Sheng Taishou also captured a lot of prisoners. What should we do with these people?"

"Prisoners? Where did the prisoners come from?"

At this time, Sheng Xian asked for credit and said, "To answer the governor, Xu Gong's army was defeated and entered the city to plunder. I led people to stop them. The captives were all defeated soldiers of Xu Gong's army."

"Oh?" Jin Mao knew how luxurious the equipment of Xu Gong's men was. "How many people are there? Where are they imprisoned?"

Sheng Xian answered truthfully: "They are all being held in the parade ground inside the city."

"Let's go!" Jin Mao waved his hand, "Let's see the prisoners first!"

Wucheng County, temporary parade ground.

When Jin Mao looked at the densely packed heads, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. He sent someone to count them and was even more surprised.

There were more than 700 people in total, including more than 500 archers! They didn't have many weapons, but they had a lot of iron armor!

More than 700 sets of full armor!

Wu County is indeed a place that produces iron, it is very arrogant.

Since Sheng Xian presented a great gift, Jin Mao did not care about its purpose. He held a small-scale celebration banquet that night. All the officials of Wu County attended the banquet. In addition to himself, Jin Mao brought Dong Xi and Bai Shi as guards.

The battle isn't over yet and Xu Gong is still on the run, so the real celebration banquet will be held when they get back. So, no matter how much Dong Xi craves wine, he can't drink a drop!
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the atmosphere at the table became extremely strange.

Jin Mao used tea instead of wine. People in Wujun had different thoughts, but Sheng Xian was very enthusiastic.

The more enthusiastic the other party was, the more vigilant Jin Mao became. He never believed that the enemy's sudden show of goodwill would be a good thing.

Finally, Sheng Xian couldn't bear it anymore and cried out under the influence of alcohol: "Jin Mao, you must avenge my son Sheng Kuang!"

(End of this chapter)