Chapter 546: Sharper than a Blade
The piece of letter that King Fanyang unfolded was very long, and it had to be folded repeatedly before it could be stuffed into the envelope. After unfolding it, one could see that the handwriting on it was densely packed -
Most importantly, the handwriting and content are very familiar...
King Fanyang was so familiar with the letter that he quickly realized that it was none other than the one he had written to Chang Suining...but now she had sent it back to him intact!
No, it can’t be said to be intact…
King Fan Yang raised his hand to the end of the letter paper and soon discovered that there were a few more lines of handwriting.
The handwriting on those lines was thin and powerful, and the strokes were sharp. Although there were not many words, they seemed to have a sense of coercion. Even before one could read the content clearly, it gave people the feeling of instructions from top to bottom.
King Fanyang looked carefully and saw the words: [If you sincerely surrender, there is no need to waste so much time and effort. Just present Duan Shiang's head to me and I will forgive you for what happened -]
King Fanyang was so incredulous that he even read it over and over again. Finally, he was sure that he had not misunderstood her, and then he said with trembling lips: "...This little girl is really arrogant!"
He wrote to persuade the other party to surrender, but the other party actually asked him to surrender! He also wanted him to kill Shiang! This request was simply outrageous and unbelievable, and it was against Tian Gang!
King Fan Yang thought he had a good temper, but at this moment he felt very humiliated. He was about to crumple the letter into a ball and throw it into the brazier, but then he realized that he had missed two lines. After he finished reading one line with anger, he became even angrier.
[This promise is valid for half a month, and will not be accepted after the time is up.]
At the end, he said: [This is a sincere statement, I will present my sincerity later.]
"...What does she mean?" King Fan Yang stared at the last word closely. Before he could get angry, he felt uneasy again.
King Fan Yang handed the letter to his staff. As they were passing it around with different expressions, they suddenly heard an urgent report coming in from outside.
"Your Majesty... Xingyang and Zhengzhou have fallen into Chang Suining's hands!"
King Fanyang's small eyes suddenly glared: "... Chang Suining mobilized troops? When did it happen? Why didn't we find out any news at all!"
The soldier who came to report the news looked panicked, but also had a different kind of complex expression: "Your Majesty, Chang Suining never mobilized the army!"
The staff was immediately shocked. How did they take Xingyang and Zhengzhou without mobilizing troops? The soldiers quickly explained the process in general.
The incident started in the Xingyang military camp.
Today, Xingyang is under the jurisdiction of Zhengzhou, and the Zhengzhou military camp is stationed not far from Xingyang. Recently, under the instructions of Duan Shiang, the army has been conducting exercises every day.
Yesterday afternoon, a soldier from Zhengzhou was personally training soldiers. When he was sparring with a young captain with spears, he was shot through the throat by the captain, who was only 20 years old.
No one had expected this. A captain in the army actually killed a military officer who commanded a state's troops in public during a training exercise!
When Duan Shiang approached Luoyang, the court ordered Bianzhou, Zhengzhou and Xuzhou to lead troops to support him. Later, except for Bianzhou, Zhengzhou and Xuzhou successively defected to King Fan Yang. This Zhengzhou military officer and Zhengzhou governor were the first to rebel.
Even so, Duan Shiang still added his own manpower to the Zhengzhou Army in order to better control the Zhengzhou Army. So now among the 20,000 Zhengzhou Army, there are thousands of Fanyang Army in charge, and most of them hold actual positions.
Therefore, when King Fanyang heard this, he still couldn't understand it. Even if the Zhengzhou army was killed, what would happen? Aren't there still Shiang's people in control of the situation? Are they afraid that they can't kill the captain to set an example and stabilize people's hearts? "...After the captain raised his arm and called for action, almost all the soldiers in Zhengzhou rebelled!" The soldier who reported the news said: "Not only that, even the people of Xingyang followed suit!"
Under such a large-scale reaction, their more than a thousand Fanyang troops were simply no match for them. Some were killed, some were captured, and they were not even able to deliver the news to Xingyang immediately.
"I'm afraid this was premeditated..." King Fanyang was shocked: "What is the origin of that captain? Why can he incite people to this extent!"
The captain had no background, and although he had some prestige in the army, he was definitely not able to command the entire army.
However, when he killed the military officer from Zhengzhou and raised his arms to shout, he meant that he was joining the army of Chang Jieshi.
As soon as these words were spoken, people immediately echoed and followed them, both in the army and among the people.
After hearing this, when the King of Fanyang still found it incredible, an aide suddenly said, "...Your Highness may not know that last spring, Chang Suining prayed for the people when the Heluo area was hit by a flood. It is said that he was even given an umbrella by the people of Xingyang!"
The news of that prayer was widely spread, and the people in the area almost regarded Chang Suining as a goddess who had been born.
The Xingyang riot was indeed fanned by people arranged in advance by Chang Suining, but the people's will was not fake.
While the news had not yet spread, the captain rode quickly to Zhengzhou city on the pretext of reporting military information. When he met the governor of Zhengzhou, he took the governor's life when he was caught off guard.
The soldiers in the rear rushed into the city and quickly took control of Zhengzhou.
The captain held the head of the governor of Zhengzhou in his hand and stood on the city wall of Zhengzhou. He ordered someone to send a fast horse to Bianzhou to welcome the envoy Chang Jie into the city.
Chang Suining received the news and just led his troops to Zhengzhou.
On the way, Luo Guanlin asked someone to pass the prepared manifesto to Xuzhou, south of Zhengzhou.
The governor of Xuzhou had just heard about the changes in Zhengzhou and had not yet had time to fully understand the causes and consequences when he suddenly saw this manifesto at his door. As he opened it and read it, his fingers were shaking.
The manifesto was even very short, but every word was like a knife pointing at his throat.
He said that if he took the initiative to return to Xuzhou, he would still have a chance of survival.
If he ever asks Duan Shiang for help, he will be killed without mercy.
The governor of Xuzhou was sweating profusely. He gritted his teeth for a moment and raised his hand to his close attendant beside him.
The general understood what was meant, drew his sword and stepped forward, leading his men to surround and kill those Fanyang soldiers who were about to send a message to Duan Shiang.
Then, the governor of Xuzhou sent someone to the army to convey a secret order: "Quickly control Duan Shiang's people... Kill all those who resist!"
He also gave the order: "Close the city gates tightly! No one is allowed to open them without my order!"
"yes!"
As the orders were passed down one after another, the governor of Xuzhou was covered in cold sweat and sat back in his chair holding the letter.
You can say that he was wavering and spineless... In this world today, how many people are not forced to move forward by the knife of the situation? Xuzhou is adjacent to the south of Luoyang. At that time, the Fanyang army was coming fiercely. Seeing that Zhengzhou had surrendered, if he insisted on resisting, Xuzhou would have no choice but to surrender to King Fanyang...
During these days, Duan Shiang forcibly conscripted soldiers and provided them with food and wages in Xuzhou, and even forcibly took away decent women and sent them to the army in Fanyang. The people of Xuzhou had already suffered terribly.
The Fanyang Army's behavior was such that it was difficult to win the support of the people. Although he was angry but dared not speak out, he could not truly convince the King of Fanyang and could only live in disgrace.
Under such circumstances, seeing the situation in Xuzhou change... As the governor of Xuzhou, does he need to hesitate too much? If he doesn't give way to Chang Suining, does he have to defend Xuzhou to the death for King Fanyang? Anyway, his dignity is gone, so he has to save his life! The governor of Xuzhou closed his eyes with despair, without any intention of resistance, just waiting for Chang Suining to lead his troops to take back Xuzhou.
Chang Suining never went to Xuzhou in person, but only asked Bai Hong and She Cai to lead 20,000 troops to come.
As the governor of Xuzhou tried his best to delay the news, by the time Duan Shiang learned of the situation and led his troops to the city, Xuzhou had already changed its owner.
When Chang Suining led his troops into Zhengzhou, countless Xingyang people lined the streets to welcome them.
The gate of Zhengzhou city slowly opened, and Chang Suining entered with his cavalry.
"Greetings, Envoy Chang Jie!"
The young captain, whose body was stained with blood, saluted in front of Chang Suining's horse with his fists clasped.
Chang Suining already knew that it was this man who killed the Zhengzhou military officer and the Zhengzhou governor, but he never thought that he was so young.
Chang Suining held the reins and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"
The young captain then raised his head, his dark face shining with eyes, "To reply to Envoy Chang, my surname is Zhu, and my name is Chengzhou! Last year when Envoy Chang prayed in Xingyang, the umbrella for the people was made with the needlework of my mother!"
Wish you a successful Zhou Dynasty.
Chang Suining smiled and nodded, wrote down the name, and said to him, "Lead the way."
"Yes!" Zhu Chengzhou took his horse and climbed onto its back with an excited look on his face.
In the back, Luo Guanlin, wearing a long gown and with his face half covered by a mask, sat in a carriage. The bamboo curtain of the carriage was rolled up, and the scene in front was clearly visible, including the excited people's hearts all around.
Luo Guanlin sighed silently.
Recapturing two cities in two days without losing a single soldier is undoubtedly a record worthy of praise.
Before entering the city, Chang Suining told him that the success of this trip depended on his strategy.
But Luo Guanlin could not take credit for this achievement.
This time, he took advantage of the internal mutiny in the Xingyang army to determine the overall situation in Zhengzhou when the Fanyang army was unprepared, and then used the situation in Zhengzhou to intimidate Xuzhou. This sounds very strange, but in Luo Guanlin's view, what is strange is not his strategy, but the people's hearts here.
All strategies and calculations must be based on human nature and human hearts, and the human hearts here have destined Xingyang and Zhengzhou to be lost territories of the court, but not her Chang Suining's lost territories... The human hearts here have long been in her hands, and if she wants to take it, it will be effortless.
Luo Guanlin sat cross-legged in the carriage, looking at the green figure on the horse in front of him, a smile slowly emerged in his eyes. In that smile, there was a sense of pride that had never appeared on him before.
When Chang Suining dismounted in front of the Zhengzhou governor's mansion, Zhu Chengzhou stepped forward quickly, squeezed past the soldier who was leading the horse, and took the reins of Chang Suining's horse with both hands.
The moment he held the reins, Zhu Chengzhou was so excited that he was more excited than when he killed the military officer and the governor of Zhengzhou combined.
You know, when he gets home, if he tells his mother that he killed the military officer and the governor of Zhengzhou, his mother will certainly exclaim, "My dear son, come here" -
But if he told his mother that he had led the horse for the envoy Chang Jie, his mother would hold his shoulders with tears in her eyes, and would take him to kowtow and burn incense to the ancestors, tell them about his glorious act, and then cook a table of delicious food for him! When he was eating, his mother would definitely go around with a bowl in her hand, tell all the neighbors about it, and accept the baptism of envious and jealous eyes.
When Zhu Chengzhou thought of this, he became more and more excited. He looked at Guiqi with particularly eager eyes. He rubbed Guiqi's neck hard and wished he could lean over and kiss him again.
Guiqi shook his head in disgust and sniffed out a lot of water vapor.
Chang Suining stepped into the gate of Zhengzhou Governor's Mansion, and the soldiers and servants on both sides saluted.
Kang Zhi followed behind Chang Suining, watching the figures kneeling and bowing all around. The slight regret in her heart for not being able to draw her sword was strangely diluted a lot.
She has always been warlike and has always been committed to making achievements on the battlefield. She feels like she has missed a lot every time she misses a battle.
But at this moment, looking at those people who greeted her with sincere submission, Kang Zhi realized for the first time that there are weapons in this world that are sharper than blades. They don't have to kill people, but wherever they go, they can also make tens of thousands of people prostrate themselves.
Kang Zhi clenched the knife in her hand and stared at the green figure in front of her. She felt her heartbeat in her chest become more agitated and her eyes became hot. Her steps became bigger and her spine became straighter.
Compared with Zhengzhou, the atmosphere in Luoyang city is completely different.
Losing Zhengzhou and Xuzhou in this way was a great humiliation for Duan Shiang.
Soon, he heard the news that Chang Suining had deployed troops in Zhengzhou and Xuzhou.
Bianzhou and Zhengzhou are to the east of Luoyang, Xuzhou is adjacent to the south of Luoyang, and there are also troops from Huainan Road stationed a hundred miles west of Luoyang... If Chang Suining's troop deployment was previously just to attack Luoyang from both sides, now it has become a siege of Luoyang!
This was the situation that Duan Shiang was most reluctant to see. The reduction in strategic scope undoubtedly meant that the situation of the Fanyang Army became increasingly passive.
Duan Shiang tried to break this passive situation. He intended to unite the troops from various states in Henan Province that had previously expressed their intention to follow the Fanyang Army, and let them launch a surprise attack from the rear of Bianzhou to disrupt Chang Suining's deployment... But the message channels were all cut off by Chang Suining, and every time Duan Shiang sent out to deliver messages, none of them survived.
Little did they know that even if Chang Suining had not taken action to cut off Duan Shiang's communication with the various states in Henan Province in the rear, those people no longer had the courage to follow Duan Shiang's arrangements.
The governor of Xuzhou still stayed indoors and dared not go out. Previously, Chang Suining had spread the news that he had been executed. He was very angry about this rumor, but he did not dare to come out to refute it, for fear that the day he refuted the rumor would be the day it came true.
In addition to Xuzhou, Chang Suining has sent advisers to "visit" the governors of various states in Henan Province.
Now, those counselors have traveled across most of Henan Province one after another, and have not yet encountered any stubborn characters. In the words they reported back: wherever they went, the governors of all states were courteous and warm in their treatment, which warmed people's hearts.
While their words were heartwarming, they also completely cut off Duan Shiang's possibility of using the troops in the rear of Henan Road to act.
Duan Shiang, regardless of his injuries, personally led his troops to attack Zhengzhou. However, Chang Suining simply closed the city and defended it, never coming out to fight, and seemed to have no plans to take the initiative to attack Luoyang.
Duan Shiang's two unsuccessful attacks on Zhengzhou only consumed his troops and dampened the morale of the army.
Under such pressure, unprecedented differences gradually emerged between Duan Shiang and King Fan Yang.
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