Chapter 33 Park Kyung-won

After Jin Yingquan left, Xu Zhaojie, who had already decided to gain some benefits, did not delay and went straight back to his military camp from Jiangyuan Palace to hold an emergency meeting. Then Xu Zhaojie took only two hours to disarm the tens of thousands of palace troops in Wanfeng City overnight.

At three quarters past the hour of Yin, Xu Zhaojie, who had already taken full control of Wanfeng Prefecture in the military camp, listened to the report from his lieutenant general with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Reporting to the general, all the weapons of the palace army have been confiscated. However, although the group of diehards led by Zheng Zansheng have been arrested, they have been clamoring to see you and have never yielded!"

Quietly observing Xu Zhaojie's expression, the armored lieutenant general bowed and said with some embarrassment:

Hearing this, Xu Zhaojie pondered for a moment, then sighed and said, "What a pity for losing such a powerful general!"

Although Xu Zhaojie did not say it directly, the lieutenant general who had followed him for many years immediately understood what he meant and was about to go down to do the job. However, just after he took two steps, Xu Zhaojie called him again.

"Wang Kangxin, Li Wanshun, and Ye Mingsheng are the three people assigned to the rear to guard the grain route, right?"

In response to Xu Zhaojie's question, the lieutenant general thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's right, General, it's the three of them!"

Xu Zhaojie nodded calmly. Not noticing anything unusual, the lieutenant general bowed and retreated. Xu Zhaojie was the only one left in the military tent.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Zhaojie, with an expressionless face, slowly pulled the knife out of the scabbard.

Looking at the sword in his hand, with its blade shining with cold light, Xu Zhaojie's calm expression became complicated.

The name of this sword is Po Lu. It was forged by Li Jin, the master of the ordnance department, using tempered steel and took several months to carefully forge. Although it is not a peerless famous sword, it is also very sharp and tough.

Po Lu was originally the sword that was carried by Shangguan Hongyuan, the Prime Minister of the current dynasty, when he gave up literature and turned to military affairs. It has accompanied this powerful Prime Minister who now holds sway over the Zhou Dynasty for more than ten years.

In the third year of Anhe, the Golden Horde invaded the border. Xu Zhaojie personally led the Xuanwu Imperial Army and blocked an army of 80,000, including a tiger division of the Golden Horde, in Chanangou for seven whole days, making the first contribution to the great victory of Ningshuo.

Shangguan Hongyuan was overjoyed and gave him the knife. Because the knife was very meaningful, Xu Zhaojie always took good care of the knife and wiped and maintained it himself, never asking others to do it for him.
After gently wiping the blade of Po Lu, Xu Zhaojie, who had originally looked normal, suddenly picked up Po Lu and swung the knife continuously in front of him as if to vent his anger.

With a few crisp sounds, the desk in front of Xu Zhaojie and the military documents on the desk were all chopped into pieces and mixed together.

After venting, Xu Zhaojie, who had been drained of his body by alcohol and sex, staggered back to his original position. With a grim face, he gasped and gritted his teeth as he said angrily:
"How dare you, you thief!"

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In the royal city of Liujing, General Park Jingyuan of the Red Tiger Army stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance with a serious expression. From here he could clearly see that the Zhou army outside the royal city was heavily guarded, but they had no intention of attacking the city. Seeing this, Park Jingyuan's face undoubtedly became three points gloomier.

After last night's battle, he had basically figured out that the Zhou army that attacked Liujing had only about 3,000 soldiers. If it weren't for that bastard Park Yongzhe's defection and opening the South Gate, the Zhou army would never have been able to break in. However, it was useless to say these things now, and there was no regret medicine in the world...

As the main general in charge of defending the city, Park Kyung-won's mind is constantly working to think about how to solve the current dilemma.

In the battle last night, although the Liujing Palace army lost most of its troops in the Zhou army's sneak attack, Park Jingyuan judged the intelligence he obtained from the defeated soldiers.

The Zhou army also suffered heavy casualties, at least around 800 soldiers. Therefore, Park Jingyuan estimated that the Zhou army currently surrounding the royal city had only around 2,000 soldiers.

And last night, after gathering the remnants of the army in Xinshuifang, the total number of troops in the royal city, including the Red Tiger Army, was about 1,200.

Park Jingyuan originally thought that the Zhou army would not be able to resist attacking the royal city during the day, so he could use the solid royal city to severely damage the morale of the Zhou army and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack and recapture Liujing City.

But now it seems that the commander of the Zhou army that launched a surprise attack on Liujing was not as simple as he thought, and not only did he not force the siege.

On the contrary, they actually thought of surrounding him without attacking, deliberately surrounding three gates and leaving one gate open, leaving only the east gate unguarded, in order to lure him out and take the bait...

This made Park Jingyuan very uncomfortable. Most of his 1,200 men had been frightened by the Zhou army in last night's battle. With the Red Tiger Army as the backbone, it was not a big problem for them to defend the city.

But if they fought outside the city, they would definitely not be a match for the Zhou army. They would completely collapse with just one charge from the Zhou army.

However, if he did not leave the city, the consumption of supplies in the royal city would become a big problem. After all, in addition to the 1,200 men under his command, there were also hundreds of palace maids and eunuchs in the royal city.

Other things were easy to deal with, but the food in the royal city was extremely scarce, and at most it was only enough for these people to support them for two or three days.

Thinking of this, Park Jingyuan's eyes couldn't help but look towards the direction of the east gate. Seeing that the place was empty and there was no Zhou army, Park Jingyuan felt really complicated.

As a warrior who had been in the military for more than ten years, his intuition told him that there must be something wrong with the East Gate. The Zhou army would not expose such a big flaw for nothing and leave such a big flaw to himself.

But the danger at the East Gate also represents an opportunity. If used properly, his 1,200 men may be able to protect the king and the prince and let them break out.

Just as Park Jingyuan was thinking silently, a soldier from the Red Tiger Army wearing red armor came to his side and respectfully reported: "General, the King and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince invite you to discuss matters in Deokseon Palace!"

The soldier's words woke Park Jingyuan from his thoughts. He adjusted his armor and turned to walk towards Deokseon Hall.

(End of this chapter)