Chapter 135: The Fall of Qiantang

Outside the commandery city of Qiantang Commandery.

Well over ten thousand troops surrounded the city tightly.

By this time, the siege had already dragged on for nearly two months.

Inside the commander's tent of the encampment outside the city, General Zhao Cheng, clad in armor and looking not yet thirty years of age, sat in the primary seat. Below him, a lieutenant was earnestly and bitterly advising him.

"General, it has been nearly two months. We are a newly established army, and we do not possess the deep foundations of the imperial court. Right now, right now..."

Lowering his voice, he spoke, "Right now, within the ranks, the soldiers' minds are turning, and morale is at a low ebb!"

Zhao Cheng possessed handsome features. At that moment, he was flipping through a tactical manual. Hearing this, he raised his eyes to look at his lieutenant and said, "What are you implying?"

The lieutenant lowered his head, drew a deep breath, and gritted his teeth. "Temporarily withdraw to Yuezhou! After regrouping and resting, we can make further plans!"

"How long do you intend to rest? A month? Two months? Or half a year?"

Zhao Cheng narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Do you know that the imperial court has dispatched Su Jing, who is already recruiting tens of thousands of troops in Ningguo and is currently training them?"

"In two or three months at most, they will form a complete army."

Zhao Cheng barked in a low voice, "Will they give you the time to rest?!"

"Continue the attack!"

The lieutenant gritted his teeth and whispered, "The casualties are too heavy, General! If we keep fighting like this, I'm afraid the camp will mutiny!"

Zhao Cheng stood up directly, picked up the long spear from inside the tent, and strode out: "I will lead the assault on the city myself! Let's see who dares to mutiny!"

On this day, General Zhao Cheng personally led his troops to attack Qiantang City. After a bitter battle lasting a full day and night, Qiantang City, which had held out for two months, was finally breached.

Seeing that Qiantang City had fallen, Commander Liu Xiang, a scholar by origin, stood upon the ramparts and cursed vehemently in the direction of Xuanzhou.

"Su Jing, I fuck your mother!"

Su Jing's massive army had arrived in Ningguo for over a month now, a fact Commander Liu was naturally aware of. Yet Su Jing kept delaying any action, causing Qiantang to be unable to hold on any longer. Naturally, he had to curse.

After hurling a few curses, Commander Liu gritted his teeth, leaped down from the lofty city wall, and martyred himself for the city.

An hour later, the entire Qiantang Commandery was essentially occupied by the rebel forces. A blood-stained Zhao Cheng stood atop the city wall as well, gazing at the corpses strewn everywhere below, remaining silent for a long while.

After quite some time, he slumped heavily into the primary seat, panting continuously.

"Clea... Clear the battlefield and tally the casualties."

The soldiers beside him immediately nodded in assent and went down to tally the casualties.

After a long while, someone came to report.

"General, according to a rough count, our casualties over this past day and night have exceeded a thousand men."

A pang of grief pierced Zhao Cheng's heart, but no expression showed on his face. He remained silent for a moment before saying, "Understood."

"Go and handle it."

"Yes!"

As his subordinates departed, General Zhao sat upon the gate tower, looked toward the direction of Yuezhou, and fiercely cursed as well.

"Damn it!"

"Zhu Min, sooner or later, I will take your life!"

Zhu Min was a strategist in the retinue of the Prince of Yue, Qiu Dian. It was he who had originally suggested that Qiu Dian elevate himself to the title of Prince of Yue, instantly escalating the incident of killing officials and rebelling in Yuezhou to the level of an outright insurrection.

This had severely disrupted the development pace of the Yuezhou army. Originally, Zhao Cheng could have slowly worn down the prefectures and commanderies near Yuezhou bit by bit. For instance, with a commandery city like Qiantang, he could have dispatched only a portion of his men to besiege it while sending the rest to capture other prefectures and commanderies, thus achieving the dual purpose of actual combat and training.

But now, Su Jing was right before his eyes, exerting immense pressure upon Zhao Cheng.

So much so that he had been forced to pay a heavy price to forcibly capture Qiantang before Su Jing's arrival.

All of this had to be blamed on Zhu Min!

This also caused Zhao Cheng to harbor a thorough and bitter hatred for the dog-headed strategist surnamed Zhu.

Having besieged the city for two months, he had suffered at least four to five thousand casualties among his men. Had his authority not been formidable, coupled with the replacement of some personnel transferred from elsewhere, he would long ago have been unable to suppress the men beneath him!

Resting for who knows how long, Zhao Cheng stood up and looked toward the other side of the city wall.

Namely, the situation inside Qiantang Commandery city.

Qiantang Commandery had been a prosperous place since ancient times, and it was no exception now. However, after the rebel army entered the city, chaos had already erupted. The shops along both sides of the streets were forcibly broken into by the rebels, ransacked and left in utter devastation.

Not a few individuals broke into civilian residences to forcibly seize the daughters of wealthy families, and the sounds of tragic screams echoed endlessly.

Zhao Cheng frowned deeply and clenched his fists tightly.

He knew very well that if one wished to accomplish great things, such despicable acts must never be committed; otherwise, the hearts of the people would be utterly lost.

Yet at this moment, he found himself unable to stop them.

Because over the past two months, the massive casualties had caused an unbearable repression among the men beneath him. If they were not allowed to commit atrocities at this moment, not allowed to vent the suppression within their hearts, there really might have been an outbreak of mutiny and camp revolt!

General Zhao remained silent for a long time, closed his eyes, summoned his lieutenant, and instructed in a deep voice, "Pass down my military order."

"A three-day holiday for the troops to rest." After a long silence, he continued, "No... try as much as possible not to kill or injure the common people."

The lieutenant bowed respectfully: "This subordinate obeys!"

After pausing for a moment, the lieutenant bowed his head once more and said, "General, earlier the Linshui garrison sent a panicked report stating that the imperial army has captured Linshui County city, and it is now in their possession."

Zhao Cheng's brows erected as he scolded, "A thousand men defending Linshui, how did it fall into their hands without a sound? How many men do they have? What on earth has He Mazi been doing?!"

"General, the specific details are not yet known, but..."

He smiled bitterly, "But it has indeed been captured by the imperial forces."

A profound sense of powerlessness welled up in Zhao Cheng's heart. After letting out a long sigh, he spoke, "Never mind. We shall wait until three days have passed before discussing anything else. Send men to Yuezhou to report the fall of Qiantang to the Prince as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

The lieutenant bowed his head and prepared to leave, but suddenly stopped, lowering his head to say, "General, earlier this subordinate was short-sighted and failed to see that the Qiantang defenders were already at the end of their rope. This subordinate... should not have tried to dissuade the General from attacking the city."

Zhao Cheng stood upon the gate tower, his gaze filled with the chaos within Qiantang City. After a long silence, he spoke, "Perhaps... perhaps your advice was right."

The lieutenant was startled and was about to speak when Zhao Cheng waved his hand: "Go attend to your duties. I need to calm my mind alone."

The lieutenant silently lowered his head.

"Yes!"

As he stepped back and retreated, Zhao Cheng cast his gaze toward the distant direction of Ningguo, his fists clenched tight.

His father had originally served under the great General Su.

"Su Jing, Su Jing..."

Zhao Cheng exhaled a long breath.

"I am waiting for you..."

............

Linshui County city.

Li Yun was accompanying Su Sheng to deploy defenses inside the county city. Li Zheng, whom he had sent out as a scout, hurried back to Linshui County city. Arriving before Li Yun, he first glanced at Su Sheng, then cupped his fists and said, "Captain!"

"Qiantang has been breached by the rebel army!"

Su Sheng cried out in alarm, asking, "When did this happen?"

"Just yesterday."

Li Yun furrowed his brow and asked, "Did you go to Qiantang? How do you know?"

"No, your subordinate merely patrolled around Linshui to investigate the situation and did not go to Qiantang."

Su Sheng opened his mouth to ask a question, only to hear Li Yun continue, "Is it... is it because people from Qiantang fled westward?"

"Yes."

Li Zheng paused for a moment and continued, "A great many!"

"Just heading toward Linshui alone, I saw several hundred people along the road, all fleeing with their families, and some even carrying a large amount of wealth."

"This subordinate stepped forward to ask and only then learned that Qiantang City had fallen. After the rebel army broke into the commandery city, they engaged in arson, murder, and pillaging. These people barely managed to escape Qiantang Commandery and fled westward all the way."

Our friend Li rubbed his chin and asked, "Are there any pursuing troops behind them?"

"None seen."

Li Zheng replied, "Even if there are, there won't be very many."

Su Sheng, standing to one side, finally found an opportunity to interject and spoke, "Qiantang is a wealthy place, and the majority of the people couldn't escape. That's more than enough to satisfy the appetite of those rebels; they won't waste their energy pursuing them out."

Li Yun nodded, looked at Su Sheng, and said, "Young General, please dispatch cavalry out of the city immediately to report this to Great General Su."

Su Sheng patted his chest.

"I'll go handle it right now."

Li Yun then looked at Li Zheng, sighed, and said, "Gather two hundred men and come out of the city with me to help those refugees and guide them all to head west."

Before Su Sheng could leave, hearing this, he shook his head and said, "Where can they go?"

"Send them to Qingyang."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and softly said, "Prefect Xue is a fairly decent official and should have the ability to look after them."

With that, Li Yun strode toward the outside of the city and said in a loud voice, "Get moving, everyone!"

"Attend to your respective duties!"

(End of this chapter)