Chapter 274

Cai Jing ignored the generals and officials with their various thoughts and continued to say loudly:

"The Emperor has an imperial decree for Top Scholar Zhang; I hope Top Scholar Zhang will appear for an audience!"

"Interesting."

Zhang Jie, who was holding his blade and standing on his horse under the great banner, became a bit interested.

Could this Prince Duan still have a few tricks up his sleeve in such a situation?

"My Lord, this is likely a trap!"

Seeing that Zhang Jie was somewhat moved, Wu Yong, who was also riding a horse

and standing by his side, hurriedly advised him.

"The trap that can hurt me has not been invented yet!"

Zhang Jie's words were full of confidence.

Having the Martial Path Dharma Image provided by the Consumption Zhang Jie, with a movement speed reaching the speed of sound,

he could completely leave in time before any trap in this ancient world of the Great Song could take effect.

Not to mention that with the defensive power of the Martial Path Dharma Image, which was sufficient to withstand the bombardment of modern artillery,

even if the Imperial Guards had hidden cannons, they could not break his defense.

Besides, with the efficiency of the Great Song, he did not believe the Great Song military could replicate cannons in such a short time.

"My Lord, be extremely careful!"

Knowing that Zhang Jie was no ordinary person, Wang Lun gave a word of advice and stopped trying to persuade him.

Zhang Jie, whose high skill gave him great courage, was not afraid of an ambush and rode his horse to within an arrow's distance:

"Zhang is here; I wonder what advice Prince Duan has?"

"Haha!"

"Haha!"

Hearing Zhang Jie address the Song Huizong directly as Prince Duan, the soldiers under his command all burst into laughter.

The Great Song Emperor no longer commanded a shred of respect from them.

"Rebellious subject, rebellious subject!

To dare to address the Emperor so contemptuously as Prince Duan; he deserves to have his nine clans executed!"

Cai Jing was so angry that his hands, covered by his large sleeves, were trembling.

Prince Duan was the title the Emperor held before ascending the throne, and it was no longer used after he became Emperor;

for Zhang Jie to address the Emperor as Prince Duan at this moment was truly a crime of great disrespect!

This rebellious subject and his subordinates had no awe for the Great Song or the Emperor; they all deserved to have their nine clans executed!

"There are still important matters to attend to; the Emperor's instructions and the survival of the Great Song are what matter."

Thinking of the purpose of this trip, Cai Jing suppressed the anger rising in his heart.

He no longer wanted to talk to this rebellious subject Zhang Jie,

and directly unfolded the imperial decree in his hand, proclaiming: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees:

Now, Zhang Renjie from Qingzhou is possessed of both virtue and talent, with excellent strategies in his belly,

and is a capable minister of the state; he is hereby specially enfeoffed as the Prince of Liang, with Qingzhou as his fief.

Little Top Scholar Zhang, receive the decree and give thanks.

As long as you lead your army back to Qingzhou, you will be the Prince of Liang of our Great Song!"

"Enfeoffment with land and title!"

The Great Song generals on the city gate tower turned bright red, looking at Zhang Jie in his white robe and golden armor beneath the wall,

their eyes almost spitting fire; they wished they could take his place.

Being enfeoffed with land and title was almost the highest achievement a general could imagine.

Other achievements like the Marquis of Champion's victory at Langjuxu or Dou Xian's inscription at Yanran were just achievements;

in terms of personal and family interests for a military general, they were far inferior to the enfeoffment with land and title, which was akin to establishing a state within a state.

As the leading eunuch of the Great Song inner court, who could sit on equal footing with Grand Chancellor Cai Jing,

and was called the Inner Chancellor by civil and military officials, why had Tongguan, Eunuch Tong,

been leading troops to fight abroad all these years and repeatedly clashing with the Great Liao?

Wasn't it for that ancestral instruction left by Emperor Taizong:

Whoever recovers the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun may be enfeoffed as a prince of a different surname!

Moreover, the enfeoffment that Eunuch Tong pursued was likely not as valuable as this Prince of Liang title given to Zhang Jie.

"Are this Prince Duan and Cai Jing out of their minds?"

Listening to Cai Jing's high-and-mighty tone, as if he were bestowing a favor,

and the implication that he should immediately dismount and kneel to receive the decree and give thanks, Zhang Jie was speechless to the extreme.

He had already fought to the gates of Bianliang and was about to capture the capital of the Great Song,

and yet they came to him with this, a promise of a hollow title of prince to make him retreat.

After he replaced the Great Song, what title of prince could he not have? Why would he need the Great Song's enfeoffment?

The entire Great Song world was already in his pocket;

to take his own things to reward him and ask him to give up the rest of it—was this reasonable?

However, thinking of Prince Duan's various absurd actions in history, he felt relieved.

A foolish emperor who could believe in Guo Jing's so-called "Six Jia" divine soldiers, and for this, did not hesitate to transfer the city-defending soldiers away,

leading to the capture of Bianliang by the Jin soldiers and triggering the Jingkang Incident,

it was normal for him to do such things that were obviously abnormal to any discerning person.

"Attack the city!"

Zhang Jie, not wanting to waste any more time with Cai Jing, rode his horse back to the army and gave the order to attack the city directly.

"Artillery regiment, fire!"

Having received the order, Du Qian waved the command flag in his hand with a fanatical expression.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The hundreds of cannons in the artillery position, which had long been prepared and adjusted with various parameters, roared instantly.

In the mind of Zhang Jie, who knew of the simultaneous firing of thousands of cannons in World War I and World War II,

the mere hundreds of cannons before him, whose manufacturing process was inferior to those of World War II, were not worth mentioning.

But as ancient people, where had the Imperial Guards and Liang Shan soldiers ever seen such an offensive?

"The Heavens are angry!"

"Run!"

"Heavenly punishment has descended, heavenly punishment has descended!"

Listening to the sound, which was louder than thunder, the Imperial Guards on the city wall could no longer maintain their formation,

and either collapsed to the ground or scrambled to flee.

"The city wall, it's collapsed!"

Even though some generals wanted to suppress the soldiers, the next second,

the reality of a section of the city wall over tens of meters long collapsing with a roar crushed their hearts.

The reason they had confidence in holding out under the siege of Liang Shan was

the great support given to them by the city wall of Bianliang, which had been repaired year after year since the founding of the Great Song.

They were confident that even under the siege of Liang Shan soldiers, who were known as "The Liang Army is not full of ten thousand, but once full, they are invincible,"

they could hold out for at least half a month and wait for reinforcements from various places.

But now, this support had collapsed under the cannons of Liang Shan.

"Using an ancient city wall to block my World War I-level cannons; is this possible?"

Zhang Jie smiled with disdain.

With the addition of yellow gunpowder and cannon barrels made of alloy steel,

a city wall of ancient technology like that of Bianliang was vulnerable.

To withstand such shelling, even the star forts that the British and French once relied on to roam the world

and suppress countless colonial uprisings would not suffice; it would require reinforced concrete fortresses.

"Continue the shelling!"

Zhang Jie did not want to give the Imperial Guards a chance to catch their breath and ordered them to pursue the victory.

Boom, boom, boom!

Under the hard work of hundreds of artillerymen sweating profusely,

thousands of shells fell toward the Bianliang city wall like raindrops.

Every shell that landed could blast a large crater, and sections of the city wall became shaky and crumbling.

It was only because Zhang Jie was kind-hearted after mastering absolute power

that he ordered the main attack to be on the face of the city wall rather than the walkways above it,

and in addition, although the Imperial Guard soldiers were not strong in combat, they were all slippery and ran very fast.

Otherwise, the Bianliang city wall would likely be flowing with blood by now.

"We surrender, we surrender!"

After ten rounds of shelling, the Imperial Guard generals hiding in the city gate tower helplessly raised the white flag.

Well, the knowledge that raising a white flag meant surrender was something they had learned from the deserters who had fled back to Bianliang.