Chapter 456

Although Gu Wenjie firmly believed that Hezhou City would definitely not be taken by Chen Wuji, when his subordinates asked besides Chen Wuji who else could attack Hezhou City, he didn't know what to say.

Who else could attack Hezhou?

He couldn't think of anyone.

Various figures flashed through his mind one after another, and in the end the name Chen Wuji seemed the most suspicious, yet Gu Wenjie still couldn't believe it was Chen Wuji who did it.

He simply doesn't have that kind of strength.

"General, hide quickly, cavalry is coming!" a subordinate shouted urgently.

Gu Wenjie's soul almost fled his body; he looked around, then hurriedly led everyone up the mountain.

He now hates climbing the mountain intensely.

But facing cavalry, the only option is to flee into the mountains and forests.

Just as this group of people had barely hidden in the mountains, a cavalry of two or three hundred came roaring past, passing them by a hair's breadth.

If it had been a little later, they would likely have collided.

"General, it seems Chen Wuji's forces happen to have a cavalry unit!" a subordinate whispered.

Gu Wenjie lay on the damp grass, observing the movements below, and snorted coldly, "I know he has cavalry, but his cavalry has only been trained for a few days—how could they have such formation?"

"This must be the work of those bastards from Yushan Prefecture; earlier there were rumors that the Governor of Yushan Prefecture secretly allied with the Qiang people, acquiring many warhorses from them—typical traitors!"

The subordinate silently turned his head.

Gu Wenjie got up, brushed off the leaves and weeds on his body, and said, "Let's go, we'll exit the mountains. Once we return to Guangyuan Prefecture, we'll regroup our troops and attack again. You are all future great generals—how can a single defeat drain your morale?"

"On the battlefield, victory and defeat are commonplace; you must adapt to this—don't be complacent when you win, don't be listless when you lose as if you've lost half your life; if you do, how can you become great generals?"

The crowd was successfully roused by Gu Wenjie's few words, and their attitude toward him instantly became more respectful.

They voluntarily took on scouting ahead and reconnaissance behind, while a group in the middle supported Gu Wenjie on both sides, treating him even more as their commander than before.

"Don't support me, it's hard to walk—go find me a cane!" Gu Wenjie said, shaking off the subordinate's hand.

"Yes, general, please wait."

……

Chen Wuji finally succeeded in taking control of Hezhou.

But looking at the desolate, ruined Hezhou City, he was dazed for a long moment.

He even began to doubt whether this was really Hezhou.

Logically, as the seat of a prefecture, it should be better than a county seat like Yunan City wherever it is, but the reality is, it's truly not as good as Yunan City.

The present Hezhou resembles a gravely ill patient—its streets are desolate, pedestrians are almost nonexistent, and those who appear have sallow faces and fearful expressions.

"Gu Wenjie has held Hezhou for less than three months; it shouldn't have devastated Hezhou this badly, right? Or was the former Hezhou never good to begin with?" Chen Wuji asked the blacksmith Yang beside him.

He is a country bumpkin who has never entered Hezhou City, but Old Yang occasionally comes here.

"Former Hezhou was much more prosperous than now, Commander—there's no doubt this is Gu Wenjie's doing." Old Yang said, "Making a city prosperous is not easy, but ruining it? Even three months, even three days might be enough."

Chen Wuji rubbed his aching forehead, "This damned wretch really infuriates me. Chen Wuyi!"

"Your subordinate is here!"

Chen Wuji firmly pinched his brow, "Take people to search; the Gu clan should still be in the city. Find them, and sacrifice all the able-bodied youths of the clan to Heaven. A bunch of scoundrels raising such a scoundrel, making us Laborers constantly wipe his ass—first take their blood to wash the ground!"

"Yes sir!"

He is truly angry.

Angry to the point his lungs hurt.

For Yunan, he and Qin Feng struggled for several days before finally managing to devise a plan for rest and recuperation.

Although the city temporarily regained vitality, the people of Yunan County absolutely cannot recover within three to five years. As for population, it's needless to discuss—if we don't consider migrant influx, even twenty years later the population may not return to what it was before Gu Wenjie's massacre.

Chen Wuji hadn't even caught his breath from that anger when Hezhou came up again.

The degree of destruction is, compared to Yunan, only higher, not lower.

Chen Wuji just couldn't understand—Gu Wenjie seized the city for power, yet by repeatedly killing the hen for its eggs, what kind of power could he possibly cultivate?

This bastard and the Snake Staff Old Man are nothing less than locusts and plague.

"Fortunately the city's treasury is still intact, and its reserves are fairly large," Old Yang said.

"Our troops attacked swiftly, the artillery wagons bombarded Shocking Heaven Thunder for a day and a half, dazing the defenders on the walls; they seemingly never thought to destroy the treasury, causing us no trouble in this matter."

"The treasury holds large stores of grain, cloth, iron ingots, ox sinew, and the like. I glanced briefly and reckon the grain alone could feed our entire army for three to four years."

Chen Wuji was startled, "That much?"

"I asked the prisoners; most of it was recently seized," Old Yang said.

Chen Wuji: ……

"As expected, he looted; it looks like I'll have to open the granaries and distribute grain."

Old Yang nodded, "The city's folk have long had no rice to cook; even their cooking utensils were seized by Gu Wenjie's men, melted into iron and copper ingots, intending to forge weapons."

Chen Wuji's desire to kill Gu Wenjie reached its peak at this moment.

He planted his feet, pondered for a while, then said in a low voice, "Let Qin Feng and Li Run come; let's set aside other matters for now and first focus on restoring order in Hezhou City."

"Hmm."

At that moment, a soldier hurried over.

"Commander, the populace suddenly surrounded the government office, demanding the return of the grain and equipment that were seized."

Chen Wuji glanced at Old Yang, then suddenly smiled wryly, "Look, look, the troublesome matter is coming right up. These folks probably aren't ordinary commoners; we need to devise a countermeasure."

"Why, Commander, are you so certain?"

Chen Wuji turned his head, "Old Yang, you're being boring like this? I don't believe you couldn't think of this. The city's folk have been bullied by Gu Wenjie into this miserable state; how could they dare gather at the government office to demand grain now? They should be hiding, not coming out."

"Our troops have only held Hezhou for two days; ordinary commoners likely still don't know who we are. At this point, running to us demanding grain, and directly reaching out to take back the grain Gu Wenjie seized, rather than asking us to open the granaries—aside from the Hezhou aristocracy, I truly can't think of any other possibility."

Old Yang solemnly shook his head, "I really didn't think of it; I'm not particularly bright—I'm good at fighting, but asking me about this is like playing the lute to a cow."