Chapter 358: Recovering Yangzhou

"Kill!"

……

"What happened outside?"

Awakened from his sleep by the shouts of killing, Liu Laoxu asked in panic.

The enemy troops were pressing on the city walls, and at this time, shouts of killing came from the city; that was 100% not a good thing.

"General, the noble families in the city have launched a rebellion and are attacking the Garrison Office."

The personal guard captain replied in a panic.

The enemy came too suddenly; there was not a single sign beforehand.

If it weren't for the guards in the office all being old brothers who had followed Liu Laoxu through the south and north, they might have been successfully ambushed by the enemy.

Temporarily blocking the enemy's military edge does not mean everything is fine.

The flames of war had burned to the Garrison Office; what this meant was truly too obvious.

"This is impossible!"

"The time for the Jin family head to report was two days later, and I even specially ordered internal tightness and external looseness to lure the enemy into the trap.

There are still two full days until the agreed time; how dare they launch it early?"

Liu Laoxu said in disbelief.

In fact, he did not believe that the noble families in the city would rebel.

The Wu State could accept them because everyone had submitted a letter of surrender.

The noble families, large and small, in the city all had the blood of the Great Dayu royal clan or officials on their hands.

In the process of Pingnan Fu Haoxuan's ascension to the throne, these people also contributed a lot.

The memorials cursing Yongning were written in piles.

If any one of them were released, by the time it reached the Great Dayu side, it would be the fate of extermination of the whole family.

In order to stabilize people's hearts, the Wu State high command also intermarried with these scholar-official families.

The slightly higher-class noble families in the city all had women in their clans married to the Wu State high command, and many even became imperial relatives.

According to the Great Dayu law, the principal offender of treason is punished to the nine generations; these people were all on the list.

He thought the Jin family's report was just internal fighting among the noble families in the city.

After all, each family had a pile of political stains; even if they returned to the Great Dayu side, they would inevitably be liquidated.

Even if he suspected, he was only guarding against the yamen runners, constables, and garrison soldiers left behind in the city.

These people had too low a status and were not qualified to submit a letter of surrender, so there was a possibility of turning back.

He never imagined that the noble families in the city, who seemed to stand with them, would actually jump out to rebel at the first opportunity.

"General, it is possible that the Jin family's report was just to paralyze you.

If they were really informing, they should have provided a few accomplices; how could they just give a time for rebellion?

If the puppet court dared to contact them, they must have had full confidence!

If there are no accidents, the city gates have already fallen, and the enemy troops outside the city have already killed their way into the city."

The personal guard captain said with certainty.

Launching a city-seizing plan together without even knowing who the teammates are—this is too ridiculous.

"Damn traitors, how dare they pit me!"

"If they don't let me have a good time, they shouldn't think about getting any good either."

"Pass the order down: let the troops in the city act immediately to annihilate the noble families in the city.

Especially the Jin family; not even a chicken or dog should be left!"

Liu Laoxu ordered viciously.

The error in cognition made him trust the law too much.

Treason punishing nine generations is aimed at ordinary people.

When dealing with noble families, the court adopts another set of standards.

As long as one is not the mastermind, one can rely on meritorious service to avoid being liquidated.

The noble families in the city chose to defect, essentially because everyone realized that the Wu State was not going to make it.

For the sake of family inheritance, they must jump ship at any cost.

They can abandon the descendants serving in the Wu State, and the women married out are also abandoned.

Don't look at how often the crime of punishing nine generations appears; in history, there are actually not many who were truly punished to nine generations.

The main reason is that the number of people involved is too large.

Among the distant branches and collateral lines, there will always be a few prominent relatives who can escape the sanctions of the law.

Able to climb up from the bottom, Liu Laoxu never lacked ruthlessness.

The deviation in cognition made him mistakenly think he had been deceived by the Jin family.

In his anger, regardless of whether he could escape, he just wanted the noble families in the city to die.

"Obey!"

After speaking, the personal guard captain immediately sent people to pass the order.

Traitors attract more hatred than enemies.

Thinking they had insight into the truth, they couldn't wait to kill all the traitors.

With the order issued, all the Wu troops in the city acted.

Unable to figure out who the traitors were, they launched an indiscriminate attack on the high-gate households in the city.

……

The chaos in the city created favorable conditions for the imperial army to seize the city.

After seizing the city gates, the bloody battle that was expected did not break out, and the imperial army successfully entered Yangzhou City.

Standing on the city gate tower, looking at the raging fire in the city, Qin Tianrui was startled.

He asked the Yangzhou noble families to create chaos in the city to cover the main army's seizure of the city gates, but this movement was too big.

He thought that in the Great Dayu dynasty, the strongest in military value were these noble families; now it seems the military power in the hands of scholar-official families is not weak either.

Without much preparation in advance, they could erupt with such combat power; if arrangements had been made in advance, I fear they could have easily seized Yangzhou City.

"General, the outer city has been controlled by us, and the inner city gates have also been taken; it is time to launch an attack on the city."

The Assistant Regional Commander on the side reminded.

The progress was too smooth; after taking the outer city, the rebel army actually didn't send troops to block them.

Taking the inner city gates in one go, everyone realized it was the noble families in the city who had actually contained the rebel army's main force.

With allies so capable, they couldn't let them down; they must definitely make persistent efforts to sweep away the rebels in the city as soon as possible.

"Wait a little longer!"

"They are not on the same path as us after all; these people's strength is too strong, which is not a good thing for the court."

Qin Tianrui said coldly.

The struggle between civil and military is the main line running through the Great Dayu court.

When the Yangzhou Camp and the Huai'an Camp first arrived in Guangdong, they were squeezed out, which was a microcosm of the struggle between the two sides.

In the process of suppressing the White Lotus Sect rebellion, the nobility faction was also quietly suppressing the civil official families.

It was not until the rebel army grew big that both sides found the situation was not good and turned from stabbing each other to cooperation.

With the improvement of the situation, the civil officials in the court began to stir again.

The local civil officials huddled with local gentry to seize power from the Viceroy's office in inconspicuous places.

If not for the previous great battle, which caused heavy losses to each family, the new taxes and transit taxes could not be collected at all.

As a general of the nobility faction, Qin Tianrui knew his positioning very well.

The White Lotus Sect rebellion, which affected half of the Great Dayu, seriously shook the court's ruling foundation.

The plot of the Yangzhou scholar-official families was much worse than that of the scholar-official families in the three provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang.

Others placed bets separately, which was a private act, and they did not openly betray the Great Dayu.

The Yangzhou noble families, in order to preserve themselves back then, not only sent the city to the rebel army but also submitted a letter of surrender.

Now they are abandoning darkness for light and returning to the embrace of the Great Dayu, merely for self-preservation.

One can betray once, and one can betray countless times.

Once the "loyalty" is gone, having strong strength is the biggest unstable factor.

For the sake of the Great Dayu's long-term peace and stability, Qin Tianrui chose to ignore the great battle that broke out in the city.

……

The bloody great battle continued, and as the protagonists, the local noble families were now all crying without tears.

Where were they strong enough to contain the rebel army's main force? It was purely that the other side was catching them and killing them.

The rebel army's strength is weak, which is relative to the imperial army's elite.

Scholar-official families are not military general families.

The retainers they raise are for guarding the house, not for fighting wars.

Daily training is also to cultivate personal martial arts.

Weapons are mainly wooden sticks, and armor is absolutely not allowed.

Whether in the Great Dayu dynasty or the newly born Wu State, privately hiding armor is a capital crime of extermination of the family.

Attacking the Garrison Office earlier to attract the rebel army's attention were the salt workers in the city.

Those retainers of theirs who grew up in nests of comfort, once they encounter organized enemy troops, are purely sending combat records to others.

Jin Mansion.

"Misunderstanding!"

"It's all a misunderstanding!"

"We are..."

Before the Jin family head finished speaking, his head flew out first.

Convinced they were traitors, their past status and position in the Wu State became a death warrant at this moment.

Seeing this scene, all the Jin family members were terrified, completely losing their former arrogance.

Some chose to kneel and beg for mercy, some chose to flee in all directions, none of which affected the pace of the Wu army soldiers' slaughter.

A similar scene kept playing out in the city.

Compared to the completely unprepared Jin family, other scholar-official families in the city had a much stronger will to resist.

Choosing to stand on the court's side, they naturally considered the danger that might be brought if the matter leaked.

The core descendants of the clan were either hidden in secret rooms in the house or temporarily avoiding in some corner of the city, waiting for the imperial army to enter the city.

The clansmen placed on the bright side were prepared for sacrifice from the beginning.

After all, having done so many broken things before, they always had to give the court an explanation.

Especially those members who had killed imperial officials or laid hands on royal clan descendants could not survive.

At the very least, they could not live on the bright side; otherwise, they would become a thorn in the emperor's heart.

Even if they are not liquidated now, they will be settled after the autumn in the future.

Using the rebel army's hand to fake death and changing to a new identity to live is the best choice.

In essence, this is also submitting a letter of surrender to the court.

Only by staining themselves with the blood of the Wu army can they regain the court's trust.

The more clansmen die, the heavier the letter of surrender delivered.

As time passed, the scale of the battle did not decrease but increased, and more and more people were forced to be involved in the battle.

The huge wealth brought by looting after the slaughter soon made the Wu army soldiers addicted to it, forgetting that there was still the threat of the imperial army outside.

After looting the noble families in the city, some merchants and great households also became objects of slaughter.

Many civilians living nearby also suffered innocent disasters.

……

"Pass the order down: the whole army attacks and seizes Yangzhou City!"

The first ray of sunlight in the morning appeared; seeing that the strategic goal was completed, Qin Tianrui decisively issued the attack order.

The imperial army soldiers who had been waiting for a long time immediately marched into the city and launched an attack on the rebel army busy with looting.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The sound of arrows mixed with the sound of muskets became a sharp weapon for attacking the city.

The sudden blow woke the rebel soldiers who had been tossing and turning all night from their excited state.

In the panic, they were surprised to find that they couldn't find their superiors.

The middle and high-level commanders in the army had quietly left Yangzhou City at some unknown time.

Realizing the situation was not good, the rebel soldiers turned and ran one after another.

Burning, killing, and looting all night buried their chance to surrender.

Anyone with a slightly normal brain knew that they had offended the gentry and commoners in the city miserably.

Even if they surrendered to the imperial army, they had to be careful that the imperial army commanders would take their heads to pacify the hearts of the people in the city.

The moment of life and death is the best at stimulating human potential.

Countless Wu army soldiers ran out of the city at the fastest speed.

They were preparing to cross the Yangtze River and retreat to Zhenjiang on the opposite bank.

It is a pity that when they arrived at the ferry, the ships at the pier had long since disappeared.

While looking for ships to cross the river, countless imperial troops had already chased and killed them from the rear.

With the Great River blocking the road in front and pursuers killing from behind, they were forced into a dead end in an instant.

A small number of soldiers who were good at swimming immediately hardened their hearts, took off their armor, threw away their weapons, and jumped into the Yangtze River.

More rebel soldiers were forced to the riverbank and were forced to pick up weapons to fight.

……

Nanjing City.

Looking at Liu Laoxu kneeling and pleading guilty, Pingnan Fu Haoxuan was full of fire.

Waking up from a dream, Yangzhou Prefecture, which he regarded as the rear, was lost just like that.

"Humph!"

"The enemy troops arrived in Yangzhou yesterday, and the city was lost that night; you are really capable!"

"If the generals of my Wu State were all as useless as you, then I fear this head of mine would not be able to be kept for many days.

A muddled official ruins the country!

Letting you, this waste, guard Yangzhou, I was simply blind..."

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan, in a rage, launched an indiscriminate attack, not even letting himself off.

Liu Laoxu, kneeling and pleading guilty, wished he could bury himself in the soil to reduce his sense of presence.

The pile of excuses he thought of on the road were of no use at this moment.

No matter how he explained it, losing Yangzhou City was an indisputable fact.

Poking such a big hole requires paying a price.

"Your Majesty, calm your anger!"

"Yangzhou City fell so quickly; there must be hidden reasons behind it.

Why not listen to General Liu's explanation first and clarify the ins and outs of the city's fall."

Left Chancellor Xie Ruiyu immediately spoke to persuade.

He was also very annoyed at Liu Laoxu's incompetence, but everyone was from the same hometown after all.

As a faction representative, at such a critical moment, it is necessary to pull the little brother.

He gave the opportunity; as for whether he can save his life, it depends on Liu Laoxu's good fortune.

"Great General Liu, it's your turn to perform.

Feel free to make it up; as long as you can fool me, I won't pursue your responsibility!"

Pingnan Fu Haoxuan said sarcastically.

He was also very distressed about his subordinates huddling together.

But there is no way; any country cannot avoid factional strife.

The newly born Wu State is relatively okay.

Now is the time to fight for the world; although there are differences between factions, the overall goal is—to seize the world.

"Your Majesty, the minister dare not deceive!"

"The fall of Yangzhou City was mainly due to the collective betrayal of the noble families in the city.

They not only opened the city gates and let the enemy troops in but also organized private armies to attack the Garrison Office.

The sudden chaos broke my military deployment, and I could only choose to quell the internal rebellion first.

How could I know these traitors were prepared early on? Each family hid a large number of private armies, disguised as commoners lurking in the city.

After the enemy launched the attack on the city, these people and the puppet court's main army outside the city worked together inside and out; the end general led the garrison troops to resist desperately, but was ultimately outnumbered.

After a night of fighting, the end general could only bring the remaining soldiers and retreat to report to you!"

Liu Laoxu said with tears and snot.

In order to save his life, while exaggerating the enemy's strength, he dragged everyone into the water.

After all, the noble families in Yangzhou City being able to preserve their strength is inseparable from everyone present.

If it weren't for political marriage and having a group of powerful relatives, the Yangzhou noble families would have been purged long ago.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 359 =====