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Volume 3: Blue Tile and Red Wall (Part 2) Volume 4: Stormy Jiangnan Chapter 82: Catching Fire

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    Volume 4 Stormy Jiangnan Chapter 82 Catching Fire

    Only one hole card was played, and the situation immediately took another turn.

    Although the two armies remained unchanged on the battlefield and were still in a confrontation for the time being, in terms of political situation and public sentiment, King Wu Zhang Xiu had been completely defeated.  All the advantages suddenly went to the court.  All the heroes, nobles, relatives of the royal family, civil servants and generals were mixed into one force at this time, and this force had only one target, and that was King Wu Zhang Xiu.

    No one can resist this force.  Because this is not the power of one person, not a force, or the power of one corner or one place. When everyone is combined, it forms the power of a country!  The original advantages of Wu Wang Zhang Xiu were of no use in the face of such power, and seemed extremely small and pitiful.

    However, Zhang Xiu still resisted.

    Leishan Guard and Jiangyang Guard located in the north and west of Jiangyang, and Dongyang Guard placed on the front line of Lianghe, the three guards are still guarding the defense line firmly without any loosening.  Regarding the advice of the Eighth Prince Zhang Dengchan, Zhang Xiu did not make any sound, as if he had turned into a coward for a moment, neither responding nor objecting.

    At present, the three Dongjiang guards under the command of King Wu have a total of nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses. The total number of naval troops of the imperial guards and the north and south navy camps is less than 50,000, which is more than double the number of the rebels.  In purely quantitative terms, the balance of forces between the two sides is very unbalanced.  But the advantage of Dongjiang's three guards is that the opponent has been trained for a long time. Even the weakest Jiangyang guard among the three guards has considerable combat power.  As for the elite among the elite, the Dongyang Guards, although there were only more than a thousand remnants left in the battle at Sanchakou, they still had strong combat power after a slight replenishment.  Moreover, Sanwei has been in the southeast for a long time and is extremely familiar with the geography of mountains and rivers in the Dongjiang area, giving him a geographical advantage.  The cooperation and tacit understanding between the three guards is far better than that of the imperial army.

    In contrast, although the number of the imperial army far exceeds that of the Three Dongjiang Guards, the coordination between the guards is almost zero, and the command and dispatch cannot reach the level of an arm and a finger.  In addition, the geography and situation in the Dongjiang area are far less familiar and understood than the other party.  After many years of peaceful life, apart from the guards at the frontier, the soldiers at the inland guards were even more sparse in their training, far less frequent than the three Dongjiang guards.  In terms of equipment, due to the sufficient financial backing, the rebels' armor and weapons are more sophisticated. However, the imperial army's finances have been stretched in recent years and they are almost everywhere. The armor and weapons are far inferior to those of the rebels.  Therefore, after a comprehensive inspection, it is difficult to say which of the actual combat capabilities of the two parties is higher and which is lower. If there is a fight, no one dares to make a conclusion on the outcome.

    If it is a protracted battle, and when all parties fall to the side of the imperial court, relying on strong logistics and support, as well as the addition of subsequent reinforcements, it will be easy to defeat King Wu's rebels.  But now Emperor Qiyuan doesn't want to fight. He wants to leave some seeds for the southeast and leave as much soil for the people of the southeast as possible to survive.  However, Wu Wang Zhang Xiu's stiff-necked and arrogant attitude angered everyone.

    Putting aside the thoughts of the Eighth Prince Zhang Dengchan, Emperor Qiyuan was naturally a little unhappy, but the one who was more angry was not him, but the kings of the Zhang clan.  In particular, the King of Shu, Zhang Heng, issued a harsh statement, thoroughly criticizing Zhang Xiu's obsessive and stubborn resistance to the end.  The king of Shu understood the righteousness so well that he naturally won a lot of praise among the people.  However, in the eyes of thoughtful people, they know that the King of Shu is just accumulating political capital for himself, and also to pave the way for himself in the future.

    When the situation was unclear before, although the small actions carried out by King Shu Zhang Heng behind his back were hidden, the court was not unaware of them.  Later, Zhang Heng first temporarily transferred 200,000 shi of grain to disaster relief, and then contributed 300,000 shi of grain and 50,000 taels of gold. However, both Emperor Qiyuan and Zhang Heng knew very well that this was Zhang Heng's  To mend the relationship afterwards, at best it means sincere repentance, at worst it means spending money to ward off misfortune.  Think about it, if Wu King Zhang Xiu surrendered at this time, everyone would remember the virtue of Shu King Zhang Heng's donation and the merits of Shu King's response to the court.

    However, now Wu King Zhang Xiu has not surrendered as everyone expected!  Now Zhang Heng has paid such a high price but has not received corresponding results. How can he endure this?  Furthermore, if Zhang Xiu made up his mind to procrastinate like this and the war in the imperial court really expanded, would the King of Shu have to continue to bleed heavily and acquire hundreds of thousands of grains and tens of thousands of taels of silver?  At that time, it¡¯s hard to say whether Zhang Heng can afford it. Even if he has hoarded a lot over the years, he can¡¯t afford to go through such trouble!

    The other kings An and Han, as well as many officials and relatives of the imperial court, also cursed and accused the king of Wu.A rebellious move.  Among all the people, only the King of Huai, the King of Yue, the King of Dian and others who were still in prison, and some people who had always been in secret communication with the King of Wu, held opinions contrary to the mainstream.

    The kings who once rebelled were inevitably unavoidable, but if King Wu resisted to the end at this time, his own sins would naturally increase. When all the spearheads were pointed at King Wu, this would in turn highlight the righteousness of the other three kings.  , Know how to advance and retreat.  If they use their weight to show their lightness, maybe their fate will be better.  As for those who secretly interacted with King Wu, they not only hoped that King Wu would resist, but some even hoped that King Wu would be ruined and die in Jiangdu.  Because if the King of Wu surrenders, the court will definitely investigate and interrogate them. Everyone was once a grasshopper on a rope. When the King of Wu reaches the end of his life, he may surrender these people in exchange for benefits for his own safety.

    It is precisely based on this idea, based on the self-interest thinking that exists in the dark corner, that when the mainstream people criticized King Wu Zhang Xiu for his rebelliousness, these people secretly cheered for King Wu in their hearts, just shouting "Wu  King, hold on".

    The confrontation lasted for two more days.  The battle finally begins again!

    However, this time the battle did not last long.

    Because this battle is actually considered a sneak attack.  The first to attack this time was the imperial army west of Lianghe.  When both sides thought that the confrontation would continue, without any warning, the Ninth Prince Ming Yong led his eight hundred soldiers to sneak across the Lianghe River on the night of the next day.  When three arrows shot into the sky, on the frontal battlefield, Huang Xin and several other commanders immediately led the remaining imperial troops and launched a fierce attack on the defenders on the front line of Lianghe River!  While the Dongyang Guards and a small number of Leishan Guards were busy dealing with the imperial troops in front of them, the Ninth Prince Ming Yong and the Eight Hundred Guards sneaked behind and suddenly stabbed them in the back!  The eight hundred strong soldiers were carefully selected from the Huchuan Guard, Nanling Guard, Xiangzhou Guard, Anling Left Guard, and Anling Right Guard. They were all elite and brave, and they were behind the scenes.  After launching a fierce attack that was not afraid of death, the rebel guards who had been fierce and fierce before were immediately stunned. Under the attack from the two armies, the rebel guards soon lost their spirit and scattered one after another.  Lianghe's defense line changed hands after only an hour.

    It is worth mentioning that the Dongyang Guard commander Li Xian, who was defeated in Xiangyang City and retreated, disappeared in the Yuerwa area, and finally fled back to his home base, was also hacked to death by the rebels during this battle.  This outcome was unexpected by both parties.

    The Ninth Prince, who had succeeded in the first battle, worked non-stop, divided his troops, and captured Jinzhou and Fangtai respectively. By dawn of the third day, the two cities had been captured separately.  And Jiangdu City, which had lost the last two barriers, was like a woman opening a door, completely exposed to the army.

    The war on the Western Front has reached this level, and it is meaningless for the Leishan Guards and Jiangyang Guards on the Northern Front to continue to confront each other.  If this continues, when the troops on the western front reach their backs, the rebels on the northern front will be attacked from both sides and end up with the same fate as the Dongyang Guards on the western front.  In a hurry, Shi Hu and Zheng Sanshan quickly led their troops to retreat, intending to return to the vicinity of Jiangdu and regroup for defense.  However, the imperial army did not give him another chance at this time. The sixth prince Mingzhong led the army to cover up the killing. Although the main force was not eliminated, it did cause the rebels to suffer heavy losses.

    Just when Shi Hu and Zheng Sanshan had just retreated to Jiangdu City and wanted to enter the city and rely on the city defense to start the final fight with the imperial army, they found that the city gate was tightly closed.  And through the few gaps in the city wall, we can see that a burst of billowing black smoke suddenly appeared in Jiangdu City, looking in the direction coming from Prince Wu's mansion!

    King Wu actually committed suicide by setting himself on fire at the last moment!

    And on the top of the city, Zhang Yue, the eldest son of King Wu, led his whole family, young and old, and knelt down on the ground with a letter of surrender in hand, finally surrendering to the imperial court

    The situation was changing rapidly, and seeing that the situation was over, Shi Hu, the commander of the Leishan Guard, and Zheng Sanshan, the commander of the Jiangyang Guard, looked at each other, and suddenly pulled out the long knife from their waists at the same time, and wiped their necks.

    King Wu committed suicide not only out of necessity but also to preserve his descendants.  Shi Hu and Zheng Sanshan obviously understood this. They followed King Wu to rebel against the court, and their final fate would definitely be more than that. It would be better to die cleanly, so that future generations could be spared from disaster.  Even if it's bad, you can still live well.

    The vigorous rebellion finally came to an end with Wu Wang Zhang Xiu committing suicide.  The imperial court won a great victory, and the plan to reduce the vassal status was carried out from then on without any resistance.

    After the great victory, each of the imperial troops received rewards, and the rebellious kings and the family members of the Prince of Wu were also escorted to the capital to await the fate of the Zongren Mansion and Emperor Qiyuan.

    *
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