As Gongsun Zan spoke, he glanced at the young men behind him out of the corner of his eye.
All the able-bodied men were rubbing their hands together, looking at the city before them with anticipation.
These people, who have suffered so much, yearn more than anyone else to personally cut off the heads of their oppressors.
Of course, from Gongsun Zan's perspective, he also needed a victory to boost the morale of these young men and prevent them from collapsing at the first sign of trouble on the battlefield.
The deputy general standing nearby suddenly realized what was happening. He immediately spurred his horse forward and ordered the White Horse Cavalry to give up their position for attacking the city, while threatening the defenders on the city walls with arrows.
Then, five thousand able-bodied men slowly stepped forward and arrived at a place three hundred paces away from the city.
"Attack the city!"
"Kill them!!"
At Gongsun Zan's command, the five thousand able-bodied men behind him roared excitedly and surged toward the city wall like a tidal wave.
Although these able-bodied men were all peasant soldiers, and their weapons were extremely rudimentary, the nearly fifty-fold numerical advantage and their high morale still terrified the more than one hundred guards on the city wall.
Just as a soldier peeked out from behind the barricade to check on the enemy, he was struck squarely in the face by a whistling arrow.
"Run!!"
The influx of able-bodied men and the constant threat of arrows from the Han army caused the defending soldiers to lose all courage and flee in panic towards the city walls.
By the time the first able-bodied man climbed the long ladder to the top of the city wall, all the guards on the wall had already fled...
With the city gates open, Gongsun Zan ordered his White Horse Cavalry to guard all the passages while he led his army into the city to begin a purge of the city lord's mansion and the nobles and officials within the city.
Knowing they could not survive, the city lord's mansion and a group of noble officials organized their servants and slaves to put up a desperate resistance.
Despite their resistance causing some casualties among the able-bodied men, the young men showed no sign of retreat or fear, but instead charged forward even more recklessly.
When one of their companions falls, two or more able-bodied men immediately take his place. Years of resentment and hatred have made these young men disregard life and death.
The mopping-up operation in the city ended after about an hour.
The city lord and all the noble officials died in the chaos of battle.
"We won...!!"
Seeing the city lord and a group of noble officials being arrested, the young men cheered in unison.
Hearing the cheers of the young men, the noble officials turned pale and trembled uncontrollably, as if they had already imagined their miserable end.
Immediately afterwards, Gongsun Zan sent men to gather the people of the city in the square, and then, just like in Moro City, he had the people of the city identify the crimes of the city lord and the nobles, and execute them in public.
It must be said that this approach not only won the hearts of the people, but also deeply imprinted the glorious and majestic image of the Han Dynasty in the minds of the people.
Gongsun Zan used the same method and recruited more than 5,000 young men again.
After two days of reorganization, the three thousand White Horse Cavalry and ten thousand able-bodied men marched in a mighty procession toward the next city.
As before, the White Horse Cavalry were only responsible for reconnaissance, raids, and blockades, while the able-bodied men became the main force for attacking the city and killing the enemy.
After the city fell, there were public executions and the distribution of money and food.
The people gave it a resounding slogan: the Anti-Guizhou Movement, and the team composed of young and strong men was named the Liberation Army, meaning to rescue their suffering compatriots.
With a unified slogan and name, the young and strong who followed them became more and more courageous and invincible, and the people along the way also came to join them upon hearing the news.
In just one month, the anti-noble movement led by Gongsun Zan had successively captured more than ten cities, and the relief army had grown like a snowball, from the initial five thousand to about sixty thousand.
When the news spread, the entire Parthian noble and lordly class was greatly shaken.
These self-defense armies, wherever they went, would slaughter all the local nobles and lords, leaving no room for maneuver.
The actions of the relief army caused all the noble lords to begin to feel insecure.
In a short time, the city lords and noble lords of various cities sent letters of appeal to the newly enthroned Parthian king and a group of ministers in the court.
Faced with a flood of plea for help, King Parthia and his ministers were at their wits' end.
They naturally wanted to send troops to wipe out these so-called relief forces, but with the Persian rebellion in the northeast, they simply had no time to spare.
The rescue army was determined to fight them to the death, but the Persians were equally sworn enemies.
At present, the Persians have 70,000 troops, occupy several cities, and possess the equipment of the Han army. The Parthian court has mobilized nearly 150,000 troops to barely hold them off, and there are no extra troops to suppress the relief army. However, the relief army has no choice but to be suppressed.
After all, these ministers, like the noble lords, were targets of the relief army's campaign. If the relief army really attacked, they wouldn't survive either.
Inside the Parthian palace, a group of ministers gathered in the main hall, racking their brains to come up with a feasible solution.
A minister stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I believe that we should immediately mobilize the border troops from the northwest to quell those so-called relief forces!"
"The border guards have been transferred, so what will happen to the Bedouins? Who will stop them?"
The newly enthroned Parthian king frowned and asked. Having only recently ascended the throne, he felt a pang of sorrow seeing Parthia beset by internal and external troubles and teetering on the brink of collapse.
The minister replied, “Your Majesty, there is a saying among the Han people: when faced with two evils, choose the lesser. The Bedouins are nothing more than a band of bandits; all they want is money, food, and women. But those relief troops want our lives…”
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Northwest is already impoverished. Not only can we not collect much tax, but we also have to spend a lot of money and grain to defend against the Bedouin invasion. Rather than guarding a useless piece of land, it would be better to recall the army to relieve the current crisis!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, the northwest region is of no use to us!"
"Let's just give up!"
As everyone echoed his sentiments, they even suggested abandoning the land.
"Nonsense! How can we abandon our ancestral lands so easily? The loss of the southern border has already broken Parthia's backbone. If we abandon the northwest as well, how will we face our ancestors after we die?"
Upon hearing the ministers' words about abandoning the land, the newly enthroned Parthian king trembled with rage, veins bulging on his forehead, his youthful face filled with fury.
The ministers were startled by the Parthian king's roar.
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