Chapter 397 Marshal, please don't die!
In this attack on Dingzhou, Wanyan Zonglie mobilized all his elite troops, determined to take Dingzhou in one fell swoop.
The soldiers of the Great Zhou were surrounded from both sides and forced into the middle of the alley.
Du Chong looked at Ye Chuanzhong and said, "Marshal Ye, if you surrender now, the Fourth Prince will not kill you and your men, and will even promise you a bright future."
Wanyan Zonglie also said, "General Du is right. Our Great Jing welcomes talented people. I, the Crown Prince, greatly admire Marshal Ye. If you can join our ranks, I will certainly treat you with the rank of Marshal."
Ye Chuanzhong refused decisively, “I don’t care about the rewards from your Great Jing. What do I have to fear in death? My Ye family is full of loyal and brave people. How could I become a traitor? If I surrender to the enemy, my ancestors will be disgraced because of me. I will have no face to meet my ancestors after I die. Kill me if you want, why bother with this pretense! I would rather die in battle than surrender to the enemy.”
Du Chong felt that he was being indirectly insulted, that he was cursing him for betraying the enemy and bringing shame to his ancestors, as if he had been slapped in the face several times, making him blush with embarrassment.
He pointed at Ye Chuanzhong and said, "Ye Chuanzhong, don't push your luck. It's your good fortune that the Fourth Prince values you. Once Dingzhou falls, he can take Zhen Ding and Hejian from the left and right respectively. Who in the Great Zhou can withstand the army of the Great Jing? I advise you to be sensible and surrender as soon as possible. You can suffer less. You're old and not afraid of death, but aren't those soldiers afraid of death?"
Seeing that he couldn't persuade Ye Chuanzhong, he said to the soldiers, "Soldiers of the Great Zhou, you are surrounded. You can't fight your way out. If you don't want to die, put down your weapons and step forward. The Fourth Prince is merciful and will not kill prisoners."
A general from the Great Zhou Dynasty rebuked him, "Bullshit! You surnamed Du, we are not like you. We look down on you. We would never stoop to being a traitor who colludes with the enemy and betrays the country. The court has appointed you as a general and put you in charge of troops to guard a region."
You actually led your troops to surrender to the enemy! How could you face the court's trust, the people who supported you, and your ancestors? No matter how well you fared in Dajing, in their eyes you were nothing but a dog, hated by everyone! We swear we will never surrender!
The soldiers of the Great Zhou brandished their weapons and shouted in unison, "We swear to die rather than surrender! We swear to die rather than surrender!..."
"A bunch of ungrateful bastards, kill them!"
The enemy troops on the left and right sides charged towards the center.
Du Chong rode up to Ye Chuanzhong's side.
The spear in his hand was aimed at his head and thrust forward.
Ye Chuanzhong dodged to the side, grabbed his spear, and pulled and pushed hard.
Du Chong thought he was going to take his gun away, and was about to pull back forcefully when he was pushed hard and fell to the other side with a cry of "Ah!"
He used the gun barrel to brace himself against the ground and spun around to steady himself.
Wanyan Zonglie's target was also Ye Chuanzhong.
He rode past him on horseback, his long axe slashing down at him.
Ye Chuanzhong quickly turned around, holding his spear horizontally to block, "Clang!"
Behind him, Du Chong's spear pierced his abdomen with a "thud!"
"Marshal, be careful..."
Zhang Jun was fighting with a deputy general of Da Jing when he saw Ye Chuanzhong being killed. He was stunned for a moment and was injured in the arm by the other party.
"Never mind me, kill the enemy!"
Du Chong gritted his teeth, swirled the spear, and stirred it inside his body.
Blood gushed from Ye Chuanzhong's wounds.
Go to hell.
Those who are ungrateful will surely die, and die a horrible death.
The Great Zhou court was rotten from top to bottom. The civil officials considered themselves superior and any civil official could ride roughshod over them. They looked down on the military generals and were always in arrears with food or military pay.
Did Ye Chuanzhong think that if he died in battle, the imperial court would reward him with posthumous honors or bestow gifts upon the Ye family?
No, those civil officials will only impeach him for incompetence because he lost the battle and lost Dingzhou.
His choice was correct. History is written by the victors. He followed the wise ruler to conquer the world and will surely be remembered for all time.
The Great Zhou was already at a disadvantage, and when they saw the marshal being killed, they felt a moment of panic.
Their marshal, Marshal Ye, is dead.
What to do? What to do?
The generals of the Great Zhou Dynasty stepped forward to boost morale, shouting, "Brothers, grip your swords tightly and follow me to avenge our marshal!"
"Avenge the Marshal!" With this conviction, the soldiers of Great Zhou fought with ever greater ferocity.
"ah!"
The blade was chipped and worn down from all the cutting. He was injured in many places, exhausted, and couldn't cut anymore. He wanted to take someone down with him before he died.
He lunged at the enemy, crashing into their blade. Using the intense pain in his body, he unleashed a burst of power and swung his own blade at the enemy.
Even if I die, I'll take someone down with me.
Zhu Feng and Zhui Ying joined forces to attack Wanyan Zonglie.
Zhang Jun was in charge of dealing with Du Chong.
They had been fighting for almost two hours and were already exhausted.
Just when they thought there was no way to turn the tide.
Suddenly, screams rang out from behind the enemy troops on the left.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
The soldiers of the Great Zhou looked up at the banner held high by the cavalryman at the front, which bore the character 'Xiao'.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived..."
"The Fourth Prince is Xiao Xuance."
Xiao Xuance spurred his horse, brandishing his spear and carving a bloody path through the enemy ranks. His soldiers followed, throwing the enemy into disarray.
Xiao Xuance rode over and confronted Wanyan Zonglie.
With a flick of the spear tip, it pierced straight at his face.
The opponent parried with a horizontal blade, but the spear shaft pressed down in the same direction, the spear tip like a cunning venomous snake stabbing towards his heart.
Wanyan Zonglie did not have time to withdraw his axe blade to defend.
The spear tip ripped through the iron armor on his arm, drawing out a trail of blood.
Two horses were kicked at the wrong feet.
Wanyan Zonglie spun around and chopped at his back with the axe in his hand.
Xiao Xuance sensed the danger behind him and ducked to avoid it, the axe blade barely grazing the tassel on his helmet.
He quickly turned his horse around, aiming his spear tip directly at the vulnerable armpit exposed by Wanyan Zonglie's swing of his axe.
Wanyan Zonglie leaned back to avoid it.
After several dozen moves, the winner was quickly decided.
Xiao Xuance was even more skillful. With a sudden twist and pull of his wrist, the red tassel curled back and pierced Wanyan Zonglie's shoulder.
He grunted and pulled out the gun.
"Fourth Prince!" Several of his generals rushed over to his rescue.
Xiao Xuance brought 50,000 troops. Most of the soldiers of the Great Zhou were armed with spears, which were suitable for street fighting, and the morale of the Great Jing was low.
Wanyan Zonglie was wounded again, and the two sides continued to fight, but the Great Jing could not gain any advantage, so they had no choice but to order a retreat.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
After the enemy troops withdrew from Dingzhou.
Zhu Feng asked Xiao Xuance, "Young Master, now that you've arrived in Dingzhou, what about Zhen Ding Prefecture...?"
With Dingzhou under siege, the enemy forces on Zhending Prefecture will certainly attack the city at the same time.
Xiao Xuance was thinking that if the enemy army captured Dingzhou, they would attack Zhending Prefecture from both sides.
Zhen Ding Prefecture won't last long either.
He had no choice but to take the risk and let Xiao Xuanwu wear his armor and pretend to be him wandering around the city wall.
They were brothers and looked somewhat alike. When they wore armor, only their faces were visible, making it difficult for enemy scouts to tell them apart from a distance.
"There shouldn't be any problems over there for the time being."
Zhang Jun helped Ye Chuanzhong's body up.
Several people surrounded him, shouting, "Marshal, Marshal..."
Xiao Xuance also walked over and saw Ye Chuanzhong covered in blood. His heart skipped a beat. "Old Marshal Ye..."
Ye Chuanzhong's injuries were too severe; it's a miracle he's survived this long with just that small bottle of spiritual spring water.
"We've finally waited for you. It's good that you're here. Dingzhou is saved, right?"
"It's saved."
"Okay, that's good." His voice grew softer and softer, and his raised hand fell limply to his side.
He died with his eyes closed; Dingzhou City was saved, and he passed away peacefully.
Zhang Jun and the other soldiers under Ye Chuanzhong laid down their weapons, knelt before Ye Chuanzhong's body, and wept uncontrollably, "Marshal..."
"Marshal, you can't die..."
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