Chapter 1001: Hypocrisy, excessive joy leads to sorrow!
Jingchu Tanzhou
"Kill! It's time to serve Lord Xu!"

"The Marquis said that the first person to enter the city will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver and promoted three ranks!"

"You bunch of bastards, charge forward! Whoever dares to retreat will die!"

･･･････
･･･････
Under the temptation of promotion and wealth and the threat of the cold swords of the supervisory team, tens of thousands of soldiers from the Zhennan Army and the Sichuan Army raised their weapons and charged towards Tanzhou City.

Among these tens of thousands of soldiers, there are more than 10,000 people who belonged to the Fifth Army of the Fengwu Army a few days ago and were subordinates of the Fifth Army Commander Duan Zhibao!

However, as the Fifth Army suffered heavy casualties from an ambush by the Zhennan Army at Xiaowu Mountain a few days ago, the soldiers of the Fifth Army, whose fighting will was originally weak, surrendered one after another.

Although Xu Zhaojie looked down on these small soldiers who originally belonged to the Jingchu Army, the Zhennan Army was short of manpower, so Xu Zhaojie dispersed these surrendered soldiers and added them to the various units of his Zhennan Army.

And now, these surrendered soldiers of the Fifth Army, driven by the soldiers of the Zhennan Army, rushed to the front of the attack on Tanzhou City, acting as human shields for the soldiers of the Zhennan Army, and consuming the arrows and bullets of the defenders in Tanzhou City for them!

At this time, behind the Zhennan Army’s formation, Xu Zhaojie was holding up a telescope, observing the progress of the Zhennan Army’s attack on Tanzhou...

Seeing his soldiers attacking the city wall again and again, and the resistance of the defenders in the city becoming weaker and weaker, Xu Zhaojie knew that the defenders of Tanzhou City were already at the end of their strength. If nothing unexpected happened, he, Xu, could hold a celebration banquet in Tanzhou City tonight!

Thinking of this, Xu Zhaojie was not too happy. On the contrary, he felt a little regretful. Through the intelligence system of Qianhuwei, he learned that the Fifth Army was not valued within the Fengwu Army, and there were some rifts and contradictions between the two sides!

Xu Zhaojie believed that these grudges and contradictions were the key to his capture of Jingchu!
Therefore, after knowing that Duan Zhibao would personally go into battle this time, Xu Zhaojie issued a death order to all his subordinates, requiring them not to kill Duan Zhibao!
Xu Zhaojie believed that he could make full use of the contradictions within the Fifth Army and the Fengwu Army, so he wanted to capture Duan Zhibao, the de facto commander of the Fifth Army, alive, and then persuade Duan Zhibao to surrender and join the Zhennan Army!

In Xu Zhaojie's opinion, this is very likely to happen. After all, Duan Zhibao can betray Sun Chenggong, who single-handedly supported him, so he can naturally betray Ye Mingsheng as well!
As long as Duan Zhibao joins, he can easily take Tanzhou and then head straight to Hanyang!
There were not many troops in Hanyang at that time, so Xu Zhaojie was very confident that he could capture Hanyang. Once he captured Hanyang, the whole world would be shocked, and he would have the capital to compete with the Fengwu Army...

Song Weijie of Sichuan and Lu Jianchao of Jiangnan will surely be greatly encouraged upon seeing this, and will no longer be subservient to the Fengwu Army and Ye Mingsheng. By then, it will be unknown who will win the world!

It has to be said that Xu Zhaojie had a good idea. If he really caught Duan Zhibao, then given Duan Zhibao's character, he would most likely not remain loyal to the Fengwu Army. It is very likely that he would surrender as Xu Zhaojie thought and become a slave of three surnames!
If this is true, then Xu Zhaojie's idea might really come true!

Unfortunately, man's plans are no match for God's plans!
Although Xu Zhaojie ordered strictly prohibiting the execution of Duan Zhibao, what Xu Zhaojie did not expect was that Duan Zhibao did not know that Xu Zhaojie would not kill him.

So when he encountered an ambush by the Zhennan Army at Xiaowu Mountain, Duan Zhibao, seeing that the situation was hopeless, began to panic in order to save his own life. He changed into the clothes of an ordinary soldier, took only a few trusted men with him, and wanted to escape through a country road!

However, Duan Zhibao finally escaped the pursuit of the Zhennan Army and was killed by the Zhennan Army soldiers who were unaware of his identity. By the time Xu Zhaojie found out, Duan Zhibao had turned into a cold corpse!
Duan Zhibao’s death made Xu Zhaojie’s idea of ​​conquering the enemy without fighting and taking Tanzhou on the verge of bankruptcy. However, Xu Zhaojie still did not give up and sent a personal letter to the Tanzhou defenders...
The content of the letter is roughly that Ye Mingsheng is an unforgivable traitor. Even though he is so successful now, sooner or later, there will be no good ending for those who follow him!

Moreover, your Fifth Army is a stepmother in the Fengwu Army and has no status at all. Anyone can bully you!
I, Xu Zhaojie, am the Marquis of Zhenyuan of the Great Zhou. My family has been blessed by the emperor for generations. Therefore, at this time of crisis for the Great Zhou, I, Xu Zhaojie, cannot bear to see the people of the world being ravaged by Ye Mingsheng, so I must stand up to support the Zhou Dynasty and save the people from the dire straits!

This is in accordance with the will of heaven and will surely be blessed by God, so don't be stubborn and follow Ye Mingsheng to the end. Hand over Tanzhou City and follow me, Xu Zhaojie, to have meat to eat!
As long as you hand over Tanzhou City, I, Xu Zhaojie, will not only forgive the past, but will also promote you and make you rich, and will never treat you unfairly!

But if you don't cherish the opportunity and insist on being an enemy of me, Xu Zhaojie, then I will kill all of you after I take over Tanzhou City!
Although Xu Zhaojie said nice things in the letter, promising various things like promotion and wealth, and making the pancakes smell delicious and sweet!
However, the situation was stronger than the people. Although Xu Zhaojie had just won a great victory, the Fifth Army left behind in Tanzhou finally chose to resist.

Faced with the stubborn resistance of the Tanzhou defenders, Xu Zhaojie was also very angry. He immediately led his troops to attack the city in anger!
For Xu Zhaojie now, time means victory, even though he had just won a great victory and annihilated tens of thousands of Fengwu troops, gaining a huge advantage and initiative on the Jingchu battlefield!

However, the strength of the Fengwu Army is still very strong. There are still elite troops in Anqing and Kangyin. In particular, the most elite and powerful First Division of the Fengwu Army is stationed in Kangyin.

Therefore, Xu Zhaojie had to capture Hanyang before the Fengwu Army could react. If he waited until the Fengwu Army reinforcements from Anqing Kangyin arrived, his chances of capturing Hanyang would be slim!
This is also the reason why Xu Zhaojie wants to take over Tanzhou without fighting. He is now racing against time!
But unfortunately, the defenders of Tanzhou finally chose to resist, which forced Xu Zhaojie to waste time in Tanzhou and prevent him from marching straight to the city of Hanyang!
However, although the defenders of Tanzhou chose to resist, their combat effectiveness was not very high and their fighting will was not very strong.

In addition, the incident happened suddenly, they had not made any preparations for defending the city, and the morale of the troops was very low.

Therefore, under the fierce attack of the Zhennan Army, they showed signs of decline in just two days, allowing Xu Zhaojie to see the dawn of conquering Tanzhou...
At noon the sun was hanging high in the sky, and the sunlight was extremely scorching, but Xu Zhaojie had not asked his men to stop attacking the city!

Xu Zhaojie believed that as long as he did not rest, the Fifth Army in the city would not be able to rest either. Now was the time to test willpower and endurance!
The Zhennan Army under his command has won a great victory, and their will and endurance are definitely stronger than the mob in Tanzhou City, so he must spend the night in the city!
Xu Zhaojie's judgment was very correct. Sure enough, in less than an incense stick of time, the gate of Tanzhou City was suddenly opened from the inside.

Seeing the city gates open, tens of thousands of soldiers from the Zhennan Army and the Sichuan Army were all shocked and overjoyed, and they rushed into the city excitedly.

At the same time, a messenger came to Xu Zhaojie and reported:

"Your Majesty, the commander of the Fifth Army in the city, Marco, has opened the city gate and led his troops to surrender!"

After hearing this, Xu Zhaojie burst into laughter. He said that this group of people could not hold on for too long, and he was right about them!
Xu Zhaojie, who was very happy, also ordered directly: "Send an order to reward Marco with 10,000 taels of silver and promote him to the general of Tanzhou. I want to meet him in person!"

"Yes!"

Seeing Xu Zhaojie so happy, the Sichuan Army general Yang Zhen also smiled and said:

“Lord Xu is truly generous and magnanimous. He is worthy of being the number one hero in the world…”

Xu Zhaojie was also very pleased with Yang Zhen's flattery. He stroked his beard and said with a smile:

"General Yang, this is how you spend a fortune on horse bones!"

After saying this, Xu Zhaojie paused for a moment and said to Yang Zhen with a complacent and mysterious tone:
"And I'm doing this for Li Zhengyong to see!"

Hearing Xu Zhaojie say this, Yang Zhen also became interested and asked back:

"Li Zhengyong, the general of Hanyang?"

Xu Zhaojie nodded and spoke confidently:

"Yes, it's him! He is very dissatisfied with the Fengwu Army. My people have contacted him. I believe he will definitely give up his evil ways and hand over Hanyang City to us!"

Yang Zhen was extremely surprised when he heard this. He had originally been skeptical about Xu Zhaojie's grand blueprint for capturing Hanyang!
But he never expected that Xu Zhaojie had already contacted Li Zhengyong. Li Zhengyong was the general of Hanyang. As long as he switched sides, Hanyang would become the Zhennan Army!
And Xu Zhaojie had promised before that this time, not only would he give Yongzhou and Hengzhou to their Sichuan-Shu Army, he also promised to give half of the land captured this time to their Sichuan-Shu Army. So doesn't this mean that half of Hanyang belongs to their Sichuan-Shu Army?
Thinking of the prosperity of Hanyang, Yang Zhen couldn't help but get excited, and immediately bowed to Xu Zhaojie and said:
“Lord Xu, you are able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away. Even if Zhuge Liang were reborn, he would have to admit defeat…”

Facing Yang Zhen's flattery, Xu Zhaojie first waved his hand and said:
"General Yang, you are too kind, too kind. How dare I compare myself with Zhuge Wuhou!"

After saying this, Xu Zhaojie took Yang Zhen's arm and said sincerely:
"General Yang, I, Xu Zhaojie, am extremely grateful that your Sichuan Army can come to help us this time!"

"Once we take over Hanyang City, we'll each take half!"

Seeing Xu Zhaojie reiterated his promise, Yang Zhen was very happy in his heart, but on the surface he still said:

"Lord Xu, your army has so many soldiers and horses, while we only have more than 20,000 soldiers and horses. We really don't deserve it!"

Hearing Yang Zhen say this, Xu Zhaojie knew that he was actually thinking of splitting Hanyang with him. He couldn't help but sneer in his heart, but on the surface he pretended to be happy and generous and said:
"General Yang, you are wrong! The ancients said that the quality of the army is more important than its quantity. Therefore, although your army has only more than 20,000 people, it is very crucial. Without your help, our Zhennan Army would not be able to achieve such a great victory!"

"So it's only natural that your department takes away half of Hanyang City!"

Xu Zhaojie said this with absolute certainty, which made Yang Zhen's eyes brimming with tears. He never expected Xu Zhaojie to be so faithful to his promise. He immediately spoke from the bottom of his heart:

"When Lord Xu left Shu, many people told me to be careful of you, but I never thought you were such a trustworthy person!"

"In ancient times, Ji Bu kept his promise and it was worth a thousand pieces of gold. Today, Lord Xu, your promise is worth half a city..."

Seeing Yang Zhen being moved to the point of being confused, Xu Zhaojie sneered in his heart.

I'll take Hanyang City and give you half of it. Then you can go and dream about it!
How old are you and still so naive?
If I didn't say so, would you be able to contribute in the battle of Hanyang?
Once we capture Hanyang, you will be of no use to me anymore. Not only will you have to spit out everything you took from me, but your more than 20,000 soldiers will also belong to my Zhennan Army!
Although he was thinking this in his mind, Xu Zhaojie still comforted Yang Zhen. Just when the two of them were getting along well and were even discussing how to divide the spoils.

Suddenly, Zhao Xian, a lieutenant general beside Xu Zhaojie, came over and looked at Xu Zhaojie with a changed expression, and seemed to be hesitant to speak. It was obvious that he wanted to say something to Xu Zhaojie.

Xu Zhaojie also noticed this, but in order to win over Yang Zhen, he did not think much about it and spoke to Zhao Xian:
"You can say whatever you want, kid! Our Zhennan Army has no secrets from General Yang!"

Although Xu Zhaojie said so, Zhao Xian still hesitated and refused to speak. Seeing this, Xu Zhaojie was a little angry and directly whipped him with a horse whip and scolded:
"Just say what I'm told to say. Why waste your words?"

Seeing this, Zhao Xian, who was whipped, could only preach helplessly:
“My Lord, news has come from Hanyang that Li Zhengyong’s contact with our army was discovered by the Fengwu Army, and he has been killed by the Fengwu Army. His head is hung on the city wall of Hanyang. The enemy in Hanyang has asked for help from the First Division of the Fengwu Army in Kangyin…”

(End of this chapter)