Chapter 1017: First Volume_Chapter 1017: Surrender or Fight to the Death

First Volume_Chapter 1017: Surrender or Fight to the Death

Although the Wang Du's city walls were sturdy and could not be breached by brute force, and the gates on all sides could be sealed shut at any moment, if Qin Feng's army wanted to take the city, they would have to scale the walls and engage in Hundred-Man Kill battles atop them.

The Commander-in-Chief firmly believed that as long as he resolved to defend the Wang Du to the death, no matter how elite Qin Feng's army was or how strong their combat effectiveness, they would inevitably pay a terrible price.

But the problem was that once they turtled up inside the city, they could no longer communicate with the outside world, much less dispatch large-scale forces for guerrilla stealth attacks.

Purely defending the city could only delay the time of collapse; it could not reverse the course of the battle at all.

Since ancient times, there had been no more than three ways to achieve a military victory through city defense: either stockpile massive amounts of materials and supplies, hold out for half a year or even several years, and force the enemy army to retreat on its own—but reality was cruel, because Qin Feng simply would not retreat, since the entire Great Di had only the Wang Du left, and Qin Feng could completely surround and starve out the Wang Du, then take all of Great Di's territory for himself.

Even if the Wang Du were besieged for a year, or even five or six years, Qin Feng would absolutely not grow weary of it.

Another method was to lure the enemy army into the city, rely on the advantage of the city walls to annihilate their effective forces, and as long as the enemy army lost the ability to attack and besiege, they would naturally retreat.

But that bastard Qin Feng was sharper than a monkey—how could he possibly enter the city?

That left only the last method, also the one most commonly used in defensive sieges: rely on basic troop strength to defend the city, then dispatch large-scale forces outside the city to conduct open field battles and ambushes.

Once the enemy army mounted a counterattack, immediately withdraw back inside the city.

As the saying goes, strike when the enemy is weary, retreat when the enemy advances—repeat this over and over, slowly consuming the enemy army's strength.

Yet this method was also extremely unrealistic, after all, there was not a single tuntian soldier among Qin Feng's army—they were all elite troops among elite troops. How many soldiers and horses would have to be sent out to disrupt Qin Feng's military deployment?

Sending out a few thousand men, before they could even react, would likely be swallowed whole by Qin Feng's army turning back on them.

Therefore, the situation facing the Commander-in-Chief was already very clear: defending the city was a slow suicide, not defending meant they couldn't win, choosing to submit to Qin Feng would make him a traitor despised by all, and continuing to serve the King of Northern Di was a dead end.

For a moment, the Commander-in-Chief was somewhat indecisive.

Just then, a messenger rushed in and loudly reported: "Commander, the main force led by Li Zhang is less than thirty li from the Wang Du."

Hearing this, the Commander-in-Chief's eyelids twitched; clearly, the time left for him to choose was running short.

Either surrender, or fight to the death—there was absolutely no third path.

The Commander-in-Chief took a deep breath and asked in a deep voice: "Has the enemy army already taken an offensive posture?"

Facing the Commander-in-Chief's question, the messenger shook his head repeatedly: "Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the enemy army has not only not attacked, but has begun to set up a military garrison on the spot."

Hearing this, the Commander-in-Chief's heart sank again.

Although the Expeditionary Brigade had already merged with Qin Feng, and all intelligence networks had been connected, in such a short time Qin Feng certainly had not yet had the chance to issue military orders to Li Zhang.

So it could basically be judged that the movements of the main force were currently under Li Zhang's full authority.

The main force was already within striking distance, yet instead of hurrying to attack the city, they set up a military garrison on the spot—wasn't this actively giving the enemy army time to catch their breath? This was a major taboo in the art of war.

Yet this Li Zhang was by no means a mediocre talent; he would not commit such a低级 mistake.

The Commander-in-Chief could not help but sigh inwardly—not only was Qin Feng unfathomable, even those under Qin Feng's command were unfathomably profound...

His army was strong, his soldiers and horses robust, his staff filled with brilliant ministers and fierce generals, and on top of that came this once-in-a-century great snow.

It could be said that heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony had all gathered together!

Even Old Heaven was hoping for Qin Feng to win.

After a brief moment of bewilderment, the Commander-in-Chief let out a long sigh and said helplessly: "I understand now—Li Zhang is deliberately giving us time to catch our breath, letting us think clearly about whether to fight or surrender."

The reason the Commander-in-Chief said this was that Li Zhang's attack speed was too fast; the Wang Du Garrison had no time to react, and being so close to the Wang Du, they would instinctively shrink back into the city.

By then, whether or not the Commander-in-Chief had any intention of surrendering, he could only be forced to defend the city to the death.

Therefore, Li Zhang gave the Commander-in-Chief ample time to consider, to weigh the pros and cons, and then make a decision. After all, the Wang Du was already within reach, and the King of Northern Di had not fled north, so even if they wanted to flee now it was already too late—hence Li Zhang was in no hurry at all.

"Sigh!"

"Even without Qin Feng's orders, his main general can still make such a correct judgment. It seems that making enemies with Qin Feng was the most foolish decision our Great Di has made in several hundred years."

"What do the generals under my command think?"

The Commander-in-Chief knew Li Zhang would not attack for a while, so he simply was not in a hurry, and asked in a deep voice.

In fact, before opening his mouth, the Commander-in-Chief already had the answer in his heart—after all, the news of Chen Lang's defection was no secret; the officer class in the army had long known.

But until now, not a single general had come to request orders from the Commander-in-Chief to go suppress Chen Lang.

From this, it could be seen that Chen Lang's defection was tacitly approved by all the generals.

Now, by handing the decision-making power to the generals under his command, the Commander-in-Chief was actually playing a little trick—if investigated afterward, he could use this as an excuse: it wasn't that this general insisted on surrendering, but that the generals collectively pressured him, and he had no choice.

When the Commander-in-Chief gathered all the generals and questioned them one by one, as expected, everyone leaned toward surrender.

Among them, a Deputy General of the same rank as Chen Lang, in order to help the Commander-in-Chief make up his mind sooner, took the initiative to advise.

"Commander-in-Chief, ever since Qin Feng's army crossed E Bei and entered Jingji, our scouts have conducted reconnaissance countless times—the elite nature of the enemy army and the completeness of their logistics have already exceeded our understanding."

"If we continue fighting, apart from total annihilation, there absolutely cannot be any other outcome."

"Therefore, we might as well make a decision early—perhaps we can still earn Qin Feng's appreciation."

The generals present echoed in agreement one after another.

"That's right, Commander-in-Chief, you know very well Qin Feng's style of doing things—he always returns a grievance for a grievance. If we defend the city to the death and cause them losses, afterward Qin Feng will definitely retaliate madly; any general will likely find it hard to escape death."

"It's not that we're afraid to die, but that dying would be utterly meaningless."

"Exactly! Our army's numbers are who knows how many times more than Qin Feng's, and what happened? Weren't we still chased and beaten by them? All of this is because of the chaotic command from above."

"If from the very beginning we had firmly attacked Changshui County, perhaps we would have taken down Qin Feng long ago—how could we have fallen into our current predicament?"