Chapter 648: Setting the Tripod

Just like in the past, Bai Lang forcibly climbed up the city wall. His speed and movements were like a giant spider. With Bai Lang's martial arts at this time, climbing the city wall was a small matter. After reaching the top of the wall, he killed and scattered the enemy troops in a few strokes—after seeing him climb up, the defenders on the wall scattered in a rush, so Bai Lang didn't even have time to kill a few people.

Walking down the stairs, there was a volley of firelocks in front of him, which was painless and itchy for Bai Lang. He just reached out to block his face and endured this volley. The firelock soldiers abandoned their firelocks and fled. Bai Lang opened the city gates in such a swaggering manner and led his army into the city.

Originally, the wealthy families and retired officials and gentry in the city also organized a large wave of "rural soldiers" and "brave men" to defend the city, but after seeing Bai Lang lead the main army in, these soldiers recruited with money fell apart directly on the road. The consequence was that these wealthy families and gentry who spent money to recruit soldiers were finished—Bai Lang treated the gentry harshly. Originally, they wanted to surrender.

But Bai Lang issued an edict that officials and gentry should serve and pay taxes together, and commercial taxes were not exempted at all. There was also a ban on the sea, and anyone who paid ship tax and cargo tax could sell goods overseas. The way for the gentry to evade taxes was completely blocked. This new Emperor treated scholars like a mob, very much like the style of Emperor Gaozu of Han—scholars were just urinals.

It's no wonder Bai Lang looked down on the current scholars. You know, the Han scholars he knew back then were all able to get on a horse and carry a knife to kill people, and get off a horse to govern politics, and they were generals and ministers, and scholars killed people more fiercely than martial artists. Even the scholars in the Tang Dynasty often rode eagles and horses, and took fame and merit outside the pass on horseback.

And the current scholars? They were dog scholars, fly-like and stinking, without the spirit of a great man at all. Did such gentry still want Bai Lang to give them a good face? Hahahaha. Bai Lang felt that he had to meet these guys while washing his feet, and that was already giving them great face.

Most of them were raided without even looking—there was not a single poor person among the scholars and jinshi in this city.

Then these people were tied with ropes on their right hands and strung together, ready to be registered and used as small officials—so these people shouted "holy and wise" again, and took the initiative to tie themselves up to register. "As long as you give these scholars an official position, they are willing to do anything..." Bai Lang said disdainfully to his subordinates.

After capturing Xuzhou, Bai Lang led his army to charge at the Prince of Nan'an's army that had crossed the river, and decided the outcome in a field battle. In front, the Prince of Nan'an's army had fifty thousand troops, set up hundreds of camps, and the camp ten miles in radius echoed each other and supported each other. After all, the Prince of Nan'an didn't grow up eating shit. He was also an old veteran who had fought against the southern barbarians for many years.

"Fighting against such stinky chess players as the southern barbarians can only make you stinkier, buddy!" Bai Lang laughed loudly after observing the opponent's military camp. He was high-spirited and energetic, galloping in front of his thousand cavalry, shouting his own name, and holding his horse spear and long saber high.

Seeing the military aura turn into a fierce tiger, Bai Lang turned his horse's head, "Follow me to break the formation! Today I will drive straight in and trample thousands of troops!" After saying that, Bai Lang took the lead and started to charge toward the Prince of Nan'an's camp. The Prince of Nan'an and the generals under his command all stood on the observation tower to watch Bai Lang charge out. The high-spirited and majestic general in the distance actually charged toward his military camp regardless of anything. "Does this treacherous thief think we are dead?!" The Prince of Nan'an was also furious.

Bai Lang shouted dumbly, and the enemy troops on the camp wall fell off the wall directly, unable to withstand Bai Lang's power. A clapper sounded, and arrows shot like a rainstorm, but Bai Lang didn't stop his horse, only seeing the long spear and big saber knocking them away, and no arrow could hit his body. And Bai Lang crashed into the camp wall, and the energy on the long spear burst out, actually smashing the camp wall made of thick wood to pieces.

Then it was the slaughter of breaking the camp. Bai Lang rode through the camp, leaving a corridor of flesh and blood. Behind him, his subordinates swarmed in and slashed and killed. Bai Lang's long spear flashed with cold light, and the flagpole of the camp was cut off directly. He broke the back door and charged toward the second camp...

In front were defeated soldiers, behind were subordinates who were killing with excitement. Bai Lang charged in the first place, and no camp in front could withstand Bai Lang's blow. He broke what he hit, and won what he fought. Several generals under the Prince of Nan'an had already died in front of his horse. The entire Prince of Nan'an's camp had also shaken, and defeat was just in front of him.

Sure enough, it was a straight drive, as if entering a land without people. The Prince of Nan'an had already lost his nerve and directly let his personal guards protect him to cross the river. At this moment, the camp collapsed, and countless reinforcement troops fled for their lives, fleeing to the river but having nowhere to go, and were squeezed into the river and drowned countless. Some climbed onto the boat, but there were too many people on the boat and the boat capsized. Other boats could only cut the fingers of the soldiers climbing onto the boat.

This scene was like the Avici Hell. The Prince of Nan'an cried bitterly on the boat in the middle of the river. The army he used to suppress the southern barbarians was finished today. Although there were still more than fifty thousand people in the rear, this defeat today meant the morale was finished. No matter how many people faced Bai Lang's army, it was just a mob.

"The bravery of the Overlord! The bravery of the Overlord..." The generals on the boat also beat their chests and feet in regret. The capital they had in their hands was also lost. In this big defeat, less than one in ten could escape across the river. The river water was almost cut off—blocked by corpses. Bai Lang suffered slight losses, killing over twenty thousand reinforcement troops and capturing ten thousand.

Up to this point, Bai Lang's prestige shook the world, and people with clear eyes believed that Bai Lang's imperial court was stable. The south could only retreat to the Yangtze River and rely on the navy to try to see if they could rule across the river. It was impossible for any force in the north to withstand Bai Lang. He would likely pass the edict and settle it. Things were exactly like this. Bai Lang ordered Bai Biao to continue to push south for him until he reached the Yangtze River, while he himself took the cavalry north, rested in Shandong for a while, and then passed the Capital to go out of the pass to Liaodong.

He also took Daiyu along the way. As for Baoyu? This kind of person should just guard the Rongguo Mansion and live his life—Bai Lang did not deprive the Four Kings and Eight Dukes of their titles, but just took away their merit fields. If they wanted to revitalize their family reputation, they should honestly come out to work—at least Bai Lang's new dynasty had elegant politics, that is, the wages were paid in time and much more than the previous dynasty.

However, what could Baoyu and all the old and young men of the Rong and Ning mansions do? Even if the new dynasty opened the system that women could also be officials for the first time, the women in these two mansions couldn't be officials—Feng Lazi belonged to the short-sighted one. If she really went to the imperial court, she could only be a small official.

Outside the pass, the Jurchen were not good at defending the city and not good at attacking the city, only good at field battles—in the past, there were Jurchen who were not full of ten thousand, and they were invincible when they were full of ten thousand. And Bai Lang sneered at this, directly leading a thousand cavalry to fight a field battle with the twenty thousand elites of the Jurchen Jueluo tribe. After breaking the enemy in front, he turned around and broke the ambush army that was raiding the rear, pursuing the defeated and fleeing. He pursued and killed for thousands of miles, fought seven battles in one day and won all of them, killed over seventeen thousand people including the Khan of the Jueluo tribe, rushed into the Jueluo headquarters and wantonly slaughtered, killing and plundering over two hundred thousand Jurchen men, women, old and young... ===== CHAPTER 649 =====