Chapter 102: Surrender without a fight (Part 2)
At Liu Ziyan's command, the soldiers surrounding the garrison immediately responded, lined up and prepared themselves. Under the command of the general, they went out of the garrison to capture Liu Ziye.
However, the deputy general of Qin, who should have been the first to execute Liu Ziyan's order and lead his soldiers to form a battle array outside the garrison, did not respond for a long time.
Liu Ziyan looked at him in confusion and asked, "What are you doing!?"
Failure to deliver at such a critical moment, isn't this obviously embarrassing yourself in front of Liu Ziye?
Not only him, but all the soldiers looked at their actual general with some confusion.
Deputy General Qin gave a wry smile and asked Liu Ziyan, "Second Prince, have you noticed anything unusual about my return from my trip to Yucheng?"
Liu Ziyan asked impatiently, "What's wrong? Isn't it just that you came back too quickly? But, do we have to talk about these things now?!"
"Second Prince, if you want something, you must say it now. Otherwise, if we, the soldiers, accept your orders and go into battle without authorization, it would be a mistake we would regret even more!"
"Do you, do you know what you're talking about? Are you saying that my army of over 200,000 men can't deal with this fake young Marquis of Xiguan?!"
Deputy General Qin walked over to the row of vehicles outside the garrison gate and said, "Second Prince, this trip back from Yucheng was several times faster than we expected, all thanks to those 'cars' that are much faster than horses! Don't you realize that I led a 10,000-man army to Yucheng, but now I'm the only one standing before you?"
Liu Ziyan had just turned his gaze to the row of metal so-called "cars" behind him when he suddenly heard Deputy General Qin's next sentence.
A chill suddenly ran down his back. "Could it be that they haven't stayed in Yucheng and have already taken control of Yucheng?"
Deputy General Qin gave a bitter laugh: "It is true that we are staying in Yucheng, but we are not controlling Yucheng at all. We are being controlled by Yucheng."
"What!?"
Liu Ziyan took a step back.
When the other generals heard this, they couldn't help but be shocked.
It has been only half a day since Deputy General Qin led his men from the garrison point, and it took at least an hour for these 10,000 people to reach Yucheng. Now Deputy General Qin himself has returned to the garrison point with the young Marquis of Xiguan.
In other words, Deputy General Qin brought more than 10,000 elite soldiers, but they were completely controlled in a moment of confrontation without even sending a signal requesting support!
Even if there is a huge disparity in military strength between ten thousand and tens of thousands, they will never be so powerless to resist!
Liu Ziyan glared at Deputy General Qin.
"This prince doesn't believe it! Don't spread such lies to confuse the people! Deputy General Qin, you have shaken the morale of the troops on the battlefield. Go back and wait for your punishment! Come, take him away!"
After all, Liu Ziyan was still the nominal supreme commander. Everyone had strong doubts in their hearts, but they still followed Liu Ziyan's orders and temporarily took control of Deputy General Qin.
Liu Ziyan temporarily cleared the obstacle in front of him and gathered his energy again: "Generals, listen to my orders..."
Liu Ziye leisurely watched the Tianxi Opera. At this point, seeing that Liu Ziyan was still stubborn and ready to start a war, she said to Du Hui, "Mr. Du, send a signal to Jin Jie."
"Yes, young marquis."
Therefore, before Liu Ziyan could finish his next round of orders, everyone stopped when they heard shouts from soldiers coming from all directions.
There was also a rumbling sound, which was hard to tell what it was, like the huge roar of a legendary beast.
Liu Ziyan was greatly shocked and looked around in panic.
At some point, their garrison point was completely surrounded.
Although it was sunset, one could still clearly see the clusters of armor gleaming in the afterglow, as well as countless giant metal monsters spewing out white mist.
Next to each huge monster, there were heavily armored cavalrymen lined up in tight formation, which he had never seen before.
Suddenly, there was a huge roar.
Just at an open space in Liu Ziyan’s garrison camp, smoke rose and mud and sand flew everywhere.
After the smoke cleared, a deep pit several meters in depth and width was left on the ground.
This incredible scene nearly shattered everyone's consciousness! They couldn't imagine how tragically the soldiers would die instantly if the explosion had occurred in the middle of a military formation!
Du Hui looked at Liu Ziyan with a determined expression. "Second Prince, it's true that you have an army of 200,000. But you've also seen that if a war breaks out, first there will be hundreds of rounds of bombardment from the 'cannons,' then there will be the charging of my 'Iron Armor Thunder' heavy cavalry and the hundreds of huge iron armored steam chariots you can see, and finally my 100,000 armored phalanx of the West Gate. Can you guess how many hours this so-called 200,000-man army you lead will hold out?"
Liu Ziyan was shocked too much at this moment.
Du Hui's sudden words startled him even more. He stepped back repeatedly and was only helped by the guards who surrounded him to prevent him from falling to the ground in dismay.
He looked at Du Hui who was speaking, then turned his gaze to Liu Ziye who was still standing calmly in the distance.
"You, you are not human, you are a monster, you must be a monster! You soldiers, these people, are also monsters! This is impossible... impossible..."
Du Hui turned around and looked at Liu Ziye.
They expected Liu Ziyan to react like this.
Du Hui looked at him again: "Now, Second Prince, do you still want to insist on fighting with me at Xiguan?"
The other generals on Liu Ziyan's side had already been influenced by Qin's deputy general, and their fighting spirit had been greatly reduced after the successive attacks.
Someone said, "Second Prince... I'm afraid what Deputy General Qin said is true. Facing this young Marquis of Xiguan, our army has no chance of victory!"
"Yes, even if a war breaks out, it will only be the people on the other side who will be slaughtered..."
"Second Prince, the lives of the soldiers are also lives. Since this battle is bound to fail, there is no need to start a war. Moreover, if you insist on going to war and are defeated, I am afraid that you, the Second Prince, will be in a bad situation..."
At this point, Liu Ziyan finally felt a chill all over his body.
He imagined in his mind the miserable appearance of himself being blown to pieces, and just thinking about it made him shiver involuntarily.
When several soldiers saw his condition, they urged him on a few more times.
They had never experienced such a huge disparity in power since the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Their experience of surviving on the battlefield told them that if they chose to resist at this time, they would only die.
They didn't want to die in vain.
After a moment, Liu Ziyan, who was drenched in cold sweat and limp all over, finally waved his hand and said, "No more fighting, surrender. But, but I want Liu Ziye to promise, promise, that she won't harm my life. I'm his blood cousin!"
Several generals looked at each other as if they had been pardoned, and said quickly: "Good! Good!"
Of course, they didn't need to discuss it at all, they just added one more thing to Liu Ziyan's words.
Nor could they harm the lives of their generals and soldiers. Since the young Marquis of Xiguan was able to intimidate them into surrendering first, rather than directly sending her godlike troops to slaughter them, perhaps she was intentionally trying to spare their lives.
Those rumors I heard about the young marquis of Xiguan in the past, in her Xiguan territory, the development, life, education and life of the people are the most respected and valued.
At that time, I just thought it was a fairy tale, a fairy tale imagined by the people who spread rumors.
Now, after meeting for the first time, they all believed it.
This is also why, as soon as the military threat from the young Marquis of Xiguan was revealed, they were willing to show weakness to the strong and surrender without hesitation, instead of fighting to the death together.
Soon, several generals went to negotiate with Du Hui.
Liu Ziyan was supported by a group of people. He tried his best to maintain his demeanor as a prince of a country. He walked solemnly to a distance of five feet in front of Liu Ziye, bowed and said: "I am a general of the Great Zhou army. I am willing to surrender at Xiguan."
Liu Ziye smiled slightly and said to him, "This is my good brother!"
She said to Du Hui beside her, "Mr. Du, I'll have to trouble you to arrange the reception for my brother. Inform Jin Jie to receive and reorganize these 250,000 soldiers and generals according to the plan."
Du Hui respectfully accepted the order: "Yes, young marquis."
Liu Ziyan listened listlessly beside him.
Well, they had already made preparations and devoured his 250,000 soldiers.
He never took me seriously from the very beginning!
· ·
Yanjing.
Ever since Liu Ziling arranged for the Prince's Mansion to provide relief to those accused of corruption, the suppressed anger among the people seemed to have lessened a bit.
However, after experiencing so much, many people have a clear understanding of the current situation.
"Since the Crown Prince has been able to get most of the counties in the Great Zhou to obey his orders and provide us with relief and assistance, why can't he also revoke this order that harms and injures the people?"
Some people said, "The Crown Prince is still the Crown Prince after all. While the Holy Emperor is still alive, there are still many things he cannot do!"
"wrong."
Someone immediately expressed their disagreement: "What's so incapable of doing this? Most of the people in Yanjing who are assisting the government in sealing off the accused households on the streets are the Crown Prince's soldiers. If the Crown Prince really wants to revoke the order, all he needs to do is withdraw his soldiers, and Yanjing will no longer be harmed! Ultimately, the Crown Prince still doesn't want to revoke the order, but he can't ignore the people's feelings, so he's making a gesture to appease them."
"It's like slapping someone once and then rubbing them three times. And yet we still have to admire his kindness."
"Alas, the prince, he is the prince! How could the prince be like this..."
For many years, Crown Prince Liu Ziling has been far more popular among the people than Emperor Liu Jian.
This is why many people feel they can endure it for now, believing that there is still hope for the Great Zhou Dynasty, and that they can still wait for a bright future. But now, such a fact is before their eyes, making their already bleak lives suffer another heavy blow.
Looking across the Great Zhou, there is probably only one place left where the light of hope still shines!
On the main street outside the Crown Prince's Mansion, two groups of people were in a standoff. Crown Prince Liu Ziling finally decided to break the deadlock and fight to the death.
Originally, he and Liu Jian were each under the protection of their respective troops, and for the time being, neither could do anything to the other.
Liu Jian lived in the imperial palace, the prince lived in the city, and the outer city was in a stalemate between the outer court camp of the imperial guards and the guards of the central army.
At the beginning of the defeat with the Eight Tribes, Liu Ziling temporarily forced Liu Jian to order the removal of Liu Ziyan's power to command the army, but most of the hundreds of thousands of Great Zhou garrison troops were under the control of the Qin family and obeyed Liu Jian's orders.
Half of them gave Liu Jian the order, and ordered Liu Ziyan to take the imperial edict and go to Xiguan.
Unexpectedly, the 250,000-man army retreated to Xiguan overnight. Liu Jian's second best son would never return to Yanjing again. Let's put this matter aside for now.
Of the other 250,000, 100,000 were transferred by Liu Jian to the southeast to quell the rebellion of King Yiyang in response to repeated urgent requests from the southeastern counties.
There are still 150,000 left.
These 150,000 troops were nominally not allowed to leave their garrison, but Liu Ziling knew this.
Liu Jian in the palace must have found ways to issue an order to order this army to return to the capital to defend the king.
The Chi clan's troops had suffered heavy casualties, so for now, he and Liu Jian could maintain a stalemate. If these 150,000 troops rushed back to the capital and joined the battle, the outcome between Liu Ziye and Liu Jian would be hard to predict.
not to mention……
The folk song about the reincarnation of Queen Nuwa has been delivered to the desks of the Crown Prince and Liu Jian respectively.
Both of them knew that if the stalemate continued, the threat from the northwest would become overwhelming.
Since the death of his beloved son, Chi Zhan's already weathered face has been further covered with several more knife-like wrinkles.
After listening to the analysis of the situation by several officials from the Prince's Mansion, Chi Zhan stood up from his seat and knelt on the ground with determination and the force of thunder.
Chi Zhan: "Your Highness, the entire Chi family, from Chi Zhan to Chi Qing and all the other sons, nephews, and soldiers, will obey your orders!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
