Chapter 74: Qingji is the King, Wuyue is in the Air
As Sun Wu attacked the city step by step day by day, the soldiers in Wudu were almost numb from the torture.
In the military camp, drums began to beat again to cheer, and rows of soldiers formed a square formation, holding large shields and slowly moved towards the city wall.
The soldiers protected the siege weapons, ladders, battering rams, and began to move towards the city walls and gates. Their figures were like a tide.
Thanks to Sun Wu's command and cautious tactics, although Qingji's army failed to capture Wudu in one go, the casualties were not heavy, so the morale of the soldiers was very high.
With all the siege equipment in place, Helu felt that the momentum of Qingji's army seemed particularly different today, as if they had come out in full force, wanting to win in one battle.
Under the command of Sun Wu, the Qingji army charged towards the city wall in waves according to the formation they had rehearsed.
The previously built earthen slope was filled with archers, who were shooting at the archers on the Wudu city wall. In fact, because the earthen slope was extremely high, the archers of the Qingji army had the advantage and caused considerable casualties to the archers on the Wudu city wall.
The strategy that Sun Wu had previously formulated to force Helu to rebel had achieved great success. During these days, Helu carried out a large-scale killing of chickens to scare monkeys on the rich and nobles in the city, and a large family was destroyed almost every day.
Finally, after the offensive of Qingji's army intensified, those in the city who could no longer tolerate it launched a rebellion, and the entire Wudu temporarily lost order under the leadership of these people.
Hearing the chaos in the city, Sun Wu laughed loudly and said, "Prince, we succeeded. With the help of both inside and outside forces, we can capture Wudu today!"
If we can capture Wudu with minimal casualties, we can then focus on dealing with Yue and Chu.
After a while, the chaos in the city had gradually spread to the city walls, and Sun Wu ordered all the soldiers to shout to the city at the same time, "Wu people, Helu is a traitor who murdered the king.
I swear in the name of Heaven, Crown Prince Qingji is willing to forgive your mistakes, as long as you lay down your weapons and surrender, all your past will be forgiven."
These words were repeated loudly and repeatedly. At the same time, Sun Wu completely let go of his soldiers and ordered them to attack. This was the first time that the Qingji army sent almost all of its elite troops.
The appearance of the elite troops made it difficult for the soldiers in Wudu City to resist. Under such circumstances, some soldiers, who were originally ordinary farmers, even dropped their weapons and tried to escape.
“Dang!”
As the first person threw down his weapon, it seemed to unlock the fear in people's hearts, and instantly the only sound that could be heard was the sound of discarded swords, shields and arrows.
Helü felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. The sun shone on him but he felt the cold piercing his bones. He brandished his sword with a frantic look on his face, and shouted loudly, "Who threw down your weapon? I will kill you and exterminate your entire clan."
Most of the defenders were people who were forcibly recruited by Helu. After two months of high-pressure rule, these people had no desire to fight anymore.
Now Helu was waving his sword like a madman, and he roared: "Gou Jian, this lowly villain, he deceived me!"
Then he turned around and saw Dr. Bidan beside him, his eyes flashing red.
Doctor Bi Dan felt something was wrong when he heard Helu cursing Gou Jian, and when he saw Helu staring at him, he was scared to death. But it was too late. Helu slashed at him with a sword, and blood gushed out. He sent him to the underworld with a look of unwillingness on his face.
Seeing Helu go crazy and kill Doctor Bidan, the other soldiers and ordinary people immediately fled in all directions. Even the supervisory team killed several people but failed to stop this trend.
People's hearts are the key to determining the outcome of any war. Now the people in Wudu are demoralized. The wealthy merchants who had previously caused the mutiny immediately ordered their servants to open the city gates and welcome Qingji into the city.
When Helu's confidants saw that the situation was not good, they had no chance to escape from the city, so they could only take Helu to the palace. This was also what Helu wanted. He wanted to fight to the death in the palace, and was even prepared to burn down the entire palace and leave nothing for Qingji.
As the shaky city gate that had experienced countless collisions since the beginning of the war was completely pushed open, Qingji laughed loudly, holding Sun Wu's arm with one hand and said, "Changqing, Wu is ours!
Our ambitions finally have a place to be realized."
Sun Wu was also very excited. Wu was a powerful country in the southeast with elite soldiers. For a hundred years, it had been able to hold its own against a big country like Chu.
The monarch treats him as a brother and trusts him in every way, which is quite similar to the way Duke Huan of Qi treated Guan Zhong in the past. This is a paradise for him to achieve great things.
"Your Majesty! Let's go into the city!"
Qingji and Sun Wu were sitting on the same chariot. Qingji was holding a long spear in his hand and wearing three layers of heavy armor. Sun Wu was sitting in the shooting position. The chariot kicked up a cloud of dust, and countless Qingji's personal soldiers followed him into the city.
After two months of war, Wudu was no longer the prosperous place that Qingji had once imagined. Instead, it was somewhat dilapidated, especially near the city walls. The roads were full of potholes caused by countless catapults.
Many corpses fell directly from the city wall, their faces unrecognizable, chaotic weapons were thrown away at random, and there were soldiers directly killed by the supervisory team. What made Qingji most angry was that in a thatched hut in the corner not far from the city wall, there were many dazed women.
During these days, the entire Wu capital's only priority was to defend against Qingji's attacks. In order to ensure the loyalty of his personal guards, Helu would often break into the homes of some wealthy families and exterminate their entire clans. Countless people in the country were always worried about being dragged to the top of the city walls to die. Although their clothes were intact, they all had dazed expressions and their eyes were full of fear.
Qingji, especially when he was in Luo State, was deeply influenced by how Luo Yan treated the people of Luo well.
Facing the hell on earth in Wudu, he growled angrily: "Helü is truly a tyrant like Jie and Zhou!
He was a member of the royal family of the State of Wu. Where did the luxurious life he was born into come from?
Isn’t it these countrymen who offered it to him?
Even if these people do not want to be ruled by him, they should not be treated so cruelly.
Now he perishes in my hands, and this is God's punishment on him."
Sun Wu was a master of war and understood the cruelty of war. He was not a Wu person who did not understand Qingji's grief. He could only comfort him dryly, saying, "Prince, you have the virtue of benevolence and righteousness, so God let you rule Wu. This is the luck of the Wu people.
Now we should ascend the throne as soon as possible, appease the people in Wudu, and restore the national strength lost in the war."
As Qingji's army entered the city, the soldiers shouted, "Prince Qingji has arrived! Prince Qingji has arrived!"
Qingji's reputation was still very useful. With the loud shouts of the soldiers, the city gradually regained some vitality. Everyone ran directly to the palace. In front of the palace gate, there were many corpses. The soldiers who entered the city before Qingji fought with Helu's personal guards guarding the palace gate.
These guards were all die-hard Helu loyalists who knew that they would not be forgiven by Qingji even if they surrendered, so the fight was brutal, and the ground from the palace gate all the way inside was littered with corpses.
However, Qingji's army entered the city too quickly. After Helu fled into the palace, they did not have time to lock the palace gate. As a result, it was smashed open by the battering ram and the army rushed in directly.
After Qingji appeared here, the soldiers of Qingji's army held large shields and bows and arrows in their hands to finish off the corpses on the ground.
The once prosperous and glorious palace was now filled with blood and corpses. Palace maids and eunuchs were fleeing everywhere, many of whom were old people that Qingji could remember. It seemed that after Helu ascended the throne, he did not carry out a large-scale cleanup of the palace.
There are many female relatives in the palace. If this was not an internal fight in the palace, these female relatives would most likely have suffered.
Qingji had no time to take care of these people. He now had to preserve all the important books, treasures, and geographical maps of mountains and rivers in the palace.
As the army rushed into the palace, they chased and killed the personal guards who were protecting Helu, and finally forced Helu into a palace.
Because Qingji had not yet given him a life-or-death order, they surrounded him temporarily. Helu could not escape anyway.
When Qingji and Sun Wu arrived at the army, they saw Helu's stubborn resistance. Then they looked at the surrounding palaces, which turned out to be the storage room and warehouse of Wu. They immediately understood what Helu wanted to do and shouted loudly: "Charge into the palace immediately, and kill Helu regardless of life or death!"
…
When Helu ruled Wu, his ministers could not bear the thought of rebellion, his soldiers could not bear the thought of change, and the people resented their ruler and wanted to expel him. This was the rule of a ruined country.
Qingji was the ruler, he was lenient to his ministers, gave justice and benefits to his soldiers, and treated his people with benevolence and forgiveness. He was the ruler of a prosperous country. - "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Wu Hou Qingji"
The period of Wu, Yue and Chu was quite interesting, and I could start writing fables and historical stories again.
(End of this chapter)
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