Chapter 276 Life and Death Decision
Tianji Year 15, April 18th, Yuanzhou City.
Half of the city is covered in smoke and sand, with broken walls and ruins.
Thick smoke and broken tiles filled every alley and street in the city, and wailing and sobbing stirred up the sadness of war.
With 70,000 demoralized "abandoned soldiers", they held out for four days against 500,000 elite troops of Dafeng.
The performance of the Shuzhou Army and the Liangzhou Army was already tenacious enough.
But that's basically it.
"Mr. Liang"
The atmosphere in Yuanzhou Yamen, which had been requisitioned as a "wartime headquarters," was depressing. A middle-aged man in white armor looked at Liang Zhen and sighed softly.
He was Wen Wen, the general of Liangzhou who was also "abandoned" in Yuanzhou City.
His eyebrows flew into his temples, his eyes were like swords, he wore a sword at his waist, and his white armor was spotless.
Such a gentle name and image do not seem to be like that of a general leading troops into battle.
But Wenwen did come from Liangzhou, where the people were the most fierce in Daning.
"Lord Liang, there are less than 20,000 soldiers in the city who are still capable of fighting. They are not even enough to stand on the city walls, let alone defend the city."
"At this point, Wu Ding will never come back to help, and there is no hope of breaking out. It's time for you and me to make a decision on where to go."
“.”
The bright sunlight slanted in from the window, it was already dusk.
There were several guards in the courtyard standing in the afterglow of the setting sun, and it was unclear whether the red color on their bodies was blood or sunset glow.
With one hand tightly gripping the hilt of the knife and Wen Wen's words echoing in his ears, Liang Zhen remained speechless for a long time.
He didn't know when Dafeng would attack next time, but he knew that the next time would definitely be the last.
Wen Wen was right. There were less than 20,000 soldiers left in the city. They couldn't even fill the city walls, let alone defend the city. "Brother Wen, I'm a little older than you, so I'll call you brother."
"I don't know, what do you think we should do?"
Liang Zhen's tone was a little difficult, while Wen Wen was much calmer in comparison.
He also looked out the window, but not to admire the evening view. Instead, he reached out and gently closed the wooden window.
"Brother Liang, since you asked, I will speak frankly."
"We can't defend Yuanzhou City now, so we only have three options."
"First, we must fight to the death. We must use the lives of tens of thousands of our brothers to save our reputation after death."
"Second, gather all the brothers above the third rank to protect you and me as we break out. I have calculated that if we break out from the south of the city and rush into Meishan, there is a 30% chance that we can escape."
“And this third way is”
He glanced at Liang Zhen and uttered two words calmly and gently.
"Defection to the enemy."
“.”
As if the light reflected by Wen Wen's white armor irritated his eyes, Liang Zhen's pupils suddenly contracted.
As time went by, the hand that was tightly gripping the handle of the knife slowly relaxed.
Wen Wen was right. Now there were only these three options before them.
If you choose the first one, you will die.
Choose the second one, maybe you can survive.
Choose the third option and you will definitely survive.
What’s more important is that not only will he not die, but nearly 10,000 of his brothers will also survive.
Thinking of this, a deep feeling of powerlessness and anger surged into his heart, making Liang Zhen's expression particularly complicated at this moment.
More than half a month ago, he brought 30,000 people from Shuzhou to support Yuanzhou. Even though he knew the journey was full of dangers, he still did not hesitate.
But who would have thought that now there are less than 10,000 soldiers left out of the 30,000 soldiers.
There will always be casualties in war, and Liang Zhen naturally understands this.
But it has to be worth dying for.
If we look at it from the perspective of the overall situation, these people bought time for the army to redeploy in Feng County, so it seems that their deaths were well deserved.
But being abandoned is being abandoned.
There's nothing much to say about this.
"Brother Wen."
Taking a deep breath, Liang Zhen looked up at Wen Wen: "It seems that you have made a decision."
"yes."
Wen Wen did not hide it, nodded and said seriously: "Brother Liang, I will lead the Liangzhou Army to take off their armor and leave the city tonight. I hope you can come with me."
“.”
Take off your armor and leave the city.
Liang Zhen was not surprised to hear this expected answer, but just stared at Wen Wen.
"Brother Wen, this is a crime of treason."
"Of course I understand that this is treason, and I also understand that I will be scolded by the people of Daning for the rest of my life."
Wenwen's expression remained calm.
"Brother Liang, I am not a person who fears death, and the men of Liangzhou are certainly not the kind of people who are afraid of death."
"But since Wu Ding and the Emperor abandoned us first, why should I work for them?"
"I only know how to repay kindness with kindness, but I don't know how to repay evil with kindness."
Shaking his head, Wenwen sighed again, which seemed to be mixed with infinite loss.
But Liang Zhen had different ideas at this time.
"Brother Wen, this is wrong."
"The court has failed us this time, but you must know that no matter what, you and I are both citizens of Daning."
"If there was no Daning, where would you and I have a place to stay, and how could we sit on the position of general?"
"Why do you only see the 'grudge' in front of you, but not the 'virtue' before it?"
It is obvious that Liang Zhen does not want to choose the third way, and he also feels that Wen Wen’s statement is just an excuse for self-comfort.
However, the latter's next few words made him suddenly at a loss for how to respond.
"Brother Liang, you are right."
"Whether it's the imperial court or the people of Daning, they have indeed been kind to me before."
“So, no matter how disappointed and angry I was, I still defended Yuanzhou City for four days.”
"These four days are to repay these favors."
"Now that the favor has been repaid, Daning and I no longer owe each other anything, and it's time to go our separate ways."
“.”
The favor has been repaid, and now we will go our separate ways.
Liang Zhen, who finally understood what Wen Wen was thinking, remained silent for a long time, and was unable to say anything until the former had already walked to the door.
"Brother Liang, won't you stop me?"
Turning back, Wen Wen smiled and asked, "If I walk out of this door, you will never have another chance."
"Let's go."
With a wry smile, Liang Zhen waved his hand weakly.
"What's the point of stopping you?"
"good."
Wen Wen looked at Liang Zhen deeply, and finally left a word.
"Brother Liang, if you have figured it out, then take your men to the west gate at midnight. Before that, Dafeng will not attack the city again."
"Squeak"
The door opened and closed again, and with a few calls of "General Wen" from outside the room, Liang Zhen was the only one left in the room.
Dafeng will not attack the city before midnight.
This sentence means that Wenwen may have already expressed his intention to "surrender" to Dafeng.
It also means that if they do not surrender together, then after midnight, Dafeng will launch a final attack.
“Crash!”
The heavy general's armor was casually thrown onto the table, crushing the already dilapidated Yuanzhou City on the sand table.
Liang Zhen was only wearing the lining armor that Wei Changtian had lent him before he left, and he walked slowly back and forth in the room for an indefinite number of times.
How should I choose? (End of this chapter)
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