Chapter 692: Expanding the Territory
Jizhou, Anping County
At night, with bursts of rumbling sounds, people all over the city were awakened.
Chang Zhilan quickly brought his troops to check, and was stunned to see Sun Congyi leading a large number of troops coming in from the exploded cave.
But his long years of military experience brought him back to his senses in an instant, and he immediately gave orders to surround the group.
Sun Congyi naturally also set up a defensive formation.
"Old Chang, surrender."
Chang Zhilan's mouth twitched. This guy was so shameless. He used to respectfully call him General Chang, but now he calls him Old Chang.
"We've blown up all four directions. You can stop us, but you can't stop Makino and the others."
What? Pingzhou soldiers have entered the city from three directions?
The captains, captains, centurions and others under Chang Zhilan looked at each other in bewilderment. Pingzhou was going to cooperate with the outside forces, so what else could they do?
"Sun Congyi, when did you dig out such a secret passage?"
Sun Congyi laughed and said, "Do you think we only challenge each other when we challenge each other?" They are working overtime to dig secret passages at night, okay?
"And we are digging four secret passages at the same time," he added.
Chang Zhilan's mouth twitched. He knew that the foundation of Anping County's city wall was made of thick stone, making it difficult to dig through it from the ground, so they didn't take precautions. He didn't expect that such a thick wall from top to bottom would be collapsed by Pingzhou with some unknown means.
Just as he was observing the ruins, Sun Congyi glanced around and quickly pounced towards Chang Zhilan.
The two young men beside him moved almost as fast as he did. The three of them suddenly attacked and cooperated with each other to subdue the man in one go.
Chang Zhilan's subordinates wanted to go forward to rescue him.
Sun Congyi sat on Chang Zhilan, and locked his neck with his right hand, "Don't move! Don't move!"
Chang Zhilan's subordinates did not dare to act rashly.
"Old Chang, surrender. There is no future in being a soldier in Dali." Sun Congyi advised him.
Chang Zhilan smiled bitterly, "You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you."
It's impossible to think that catching him will make them all surrender.
Sun Congyi certainly knew how much responsibility Chang Zhilan would have to bear if he ordered his soldiers to surrender because of his capture.
"Don't believe it? Look."
What are you looking at? Chang Zhilan and his soldiers were confused.
At Sun Congyi's signal, five people came out of the team, one of them holding a square paper bag.
The five men came to the rubble they had blown up and found a naturally formed deep hole. The other four men pressed large rocks from the side onto it.
When they were done, four of them walked back and gestured for them to stay back.
Sun Congyi grabbed Chang Zhilan and ordered his soldiers, "Retreat!"
His soldiers hesitated for a moment, then obeyed.
"Retreat again."
Sun Congyi called a halt only after they retreated to a safe distance.
The leader lit the fuse, and as soon as it was lit, he jumped to the side like a leopard.
Why is he running so fast?
The soldiers on the Dali side were confused when they heard a loud bang, their ears buzzing, and sand and rocks exploded before their eyes.
The scene was dusty.
After everything calmed down, a large deep pit was revealed at the location just now, and the several large rocks on it disappeared.
The soldiers on the Dali side were first speechless, and then...
“This this this—”
"What kind of weapon is this? What is that package?"
"These rocks weigh over a thousand pounds, right? Are they gone?"
A show of force, a definite show of force!
But it is undeniable that this show of force is too scary.
"Old Chang, did you see that? We have explosives, and you can't beat us." Sun Congyi continued to persuade Chang Zhilan.
"As fellow Han Chinese, we couldn't bear to use this on you. But we used it on the Xianbei people."
"Yanmen has been recaptured by our Pingzhou. I think Xinxing will be recaptured soon. It's only a matter of time before we take back other places."
Chang Zhilan was shocked by the information revealed by Sun Congyi. Yanmen was easy to defend but difficult to attack, but it was actually taken by Pingzhou?
But thinking about what I just saw, it didn't seem strange anymore. With weapons like that in Pingzhou, shouldn't it be natural for them to capture Yanmen?
"Now, I'm going to ask you one last time." Sun Congyi looked at the former members of the Southern Expedition Army. "Surrender or die. Choose one."
The former soldiers of the Southern Expedition Army looked at each other, while Chang Zhilan simply closed his eyes.
The first to drop his weapon was Chang Zhilan's deputy general.
After the first one, there was the second one. Soon, all the former soldiers of the Southern Expedition Army threw down their weapons and surrendered.
Sun Congyi asked someone to bring ropes and tie them up one by one, "The battle is not over yet, everyone, I'm sorry to have to bear with you for now."
Chang Zhilan and others surrendered, so naturally there was no objection.
After tying them up, Sun Congyi left one-third of his men to guard them and provide protection, while he took two-thirds of the troops to provide support elsewhere.
Half a day later, Anping County became Pingzhou.
At dinner time in the evening, these surrendered soldiers and generals also ate the same food, but they were not yet equipped with weapons.
It was also at this time that Chang Zhilan learned from Sun Congyi that General Liu Mao, seeing that he could no longer defend Anping County, led his subordinates to break out of the siege and head southwest.
Chang Zhilan was hungry, so he picked up the bowl in front of him and started eating.
Sun Congyi laughed at him, "I advised you long ago to surrender, but you refused to listen. Now you feel better, don't you? You've suffered a lot, haven't you?"
They had repeatedly stated that they were serious about this.
Chang Zhilan sat on the ground, eating a bowl of rice noisily, but that didn't stop him from rolling his eyes.
"You should have told me earlier that you in Pingzhou have such powerful weapons..." He didn't say how many of his soldiers had deserted during this period.
Anping County uses a relatively gentle way of recovery. In addition, when facing those who are stubborn and unyielding, the Pingzhou army will also take radical methods to recover. In short, Jizhou and Pingzhou are determined to win.
Julu
Qin Heng's troops were at the gates of the city.
Yang Yingqin's persuasion was futile, and Qin Heng was unwilling to withdraw his troops.
They have retreated to Julu and it is impossible for them to retreat further.
If Pingzhou wants to fight, then let’s fight!
Even if the battle started, Yang Yingqin didn't think Pingzhou could win.
As for Qin Heng's declaration that Pingzhou was determined to capture Julu, Anping, Qinghe and Pingyuan, he didn't take it to heart.
After hearing this, I felt that Pingzhou was arrogant and dared to take on two major forces on its own and be enemies of Dali and Xianbei at the same time.
In Yang Yingqin's view, if Pingzhou launched a war on multiple fronts, it would just be waiting to be dragged down by logistics.
As long as they hold on, they can exhaust Pingzhou and achieve final victory.
But his idea was shattered the next day.
At that time, it was just after nightfall and the Qin family army was still attacking the city. He had no appetite and was waiting for the Qin family army to call back.
At this moment, his deputy general rushed in, covered in dust and terrified, "General Yang, this is bad! The Qin army has broken into the city!"
Yang Yingqin jumped up in shock, "What?"
Julu has always been a battleground for military strategists. Before he withdrew from Zhongshan, he had sent people to reinforce the city. How could it be captured so quickly?
"The Qin army possessed a very lethal weapon, and they used it to break open the city gate."
"It turns out that what he said was actually true." Yang Yingqin said absentmindedly. Only then did he realize that what Qin Heng said when his troops were at the gates of the city was true.
The deputy general urged, "General Yang, the Pingzhou army is approaching. Let's go quickly!" Now is not the time to find out the reasons.
They were stationed in Julu and relied on the strategic location of the city to keep the Pingzhou army out. Now that even the city has been breached, they certainly can't hold it.
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