Chapter 824

"If we don't hand it over right now, the entire clan will be destroyed."

"Jiang'er..."

Zhen Jiang, who had been looking down, raised her head: "Mother, do you not believe your daughter either?"

Tears slid from her eyes and flowed down her cheeks.

Facing the pressure from Uncle Zhen Jian, Third Uncle Zhen Ren, and Fourth Uncle Zhen You, she felt wronged but remained strong.

But facing the questioning of her own family, Zhen Jiang could no longer endure the grievance in her heart.

Looking at her mother before her, Zhen Jiang slowly knelt on the ground.

"Mother, Father taught Jiang'er from a young age that sincerity is the way of Heaven; to think of sincerity is the way of man," Zhen Jiang said while crying: "To be a merchant with sincerity can earn a thousand gold; to be a person with sincerity can earn the respect of the world."

"Jiang'er once promised someone else that without their permission, I would absolutely not reveal the source of the snow salt and white paper."

"If Mother does not believe me, then Jiang'er has nothing more to say."

"If Uncle really wants to implicate Mother and my two brothers and sister, then Jiang'er is willing to bear it all."

"Jiang'er voluntarily removes my name from the clan, and from now on, I will no longer be a member of the Zhen family, so as not to implicate Mother and my brothers."

"I ask Mother to forgive my unfilial sin."

Saying this, Zhen Jiang bowed her head to the ground three times before Lady Zhang.

Zhen Jiang, her forehead slightly red, stood up after bowing and turned to walk toward the outside of the hall.

Zhao Yun immediately followed Zhen Jiang's footsteps.

"Eldest Miss, Zilong was entrusted by the Proprietor and the General to protect Eldest Miss; although there are Huang Jin thieves outside the city, with the spear in my hand and the horse beneath me, I can definitely lead Eldest Miss to fight our way out of the city."

"Since the General and the Proprietor are not far from here, why not find the General and explain everything to him?"

Just now in the hall, it was a matter for the Zhen family themselves, and Zhao Yun had no way to intervene.

Otherwise, it would easily cause unnecessary trouble for Zhen Jiang, but now there were no Zhen clansmen present.

Zhao Yun had words in his heart that he felt he had to say.

"Eldest Miss, your uncle bullies your family like this; if you ask me, such clansmen are not worth keeping."

Zhao Yun frowned.

Although he did not come from a great clan like the Zhen clan.

But back in his hometown, his family was very united.

When facing a crisis, everyone would sit together to find a way to resolve it.

How could it be like this, where the affairs of an entire clan were left entirely to orphans and widows.

If the thieves come, just fight them off.

To rely on bullying orphans and widows just to survive—Zhao Yun had nothing but contempt for such behavior.

Zhen Jiang walked toward her side courtyard in a very low mood.

Zhao Yun was right about one thing.

Since this family could no longer accommodate her, then she would just leave.

Only in this way would she not implicate her brothers, sister, and mother.

After returning to the side courtyard, Zhen Jiang had her maids start packing.

Outside the north of Wuji County.

A Huang Jin force of about a thousand men had already arrived at the foot of Wuji County, only one or two hundred paces from the city wall.

The vast majority of the thousand-plus men were infantry.

There were only about a hundred cavalrymen.

At the front of the formation were dozens of yellow banners.

The leading general was about thirty years old, wearing a long yellow robe with armor over it, holding a large saber, and riding a black horse.

"I am Deng Mao, the Vanguard General under the command of Youzhou Channel Commander Cheng!"

"Is the County Magistrate of this place on the city wall!"

Deng Mao, holding a large saber and riding a white horse, lifted his chin and shouted loudly toward the city wall: "I have come here to inform you."

"The main army under Channel Commander Cheng will arrive in an instant; if you open the city gates and surrender, you can be spared death."

"If you resist stubbornly, after the city is broken, I will surely exterminate your nine generations."

"Did you hear me? If you heard me, give me an answer."

On the city wall.

Zhen Jian, Zhen Ren, and Zhen You, the three brothers who had come out of the Zhen clan's manor, were now on the city wall with over a hundred private soldiers and servants.

The Wuji County Magistrate was right beside the three brothers.

On the city wall also stood scattered soldiers holding weapons and bows.

It was just that at this moment, the towering city wall and the weapons in their hands could not bring the slightest sense of security to the soldiers or the officials on the city wall.

There were hundreds of thousands of Huang Jin thieves in Xiaquyang.

They never expected that this force would be the Huang Jin thieves moving south from Youzhou.

This meant that Wuji County was now surrounded from both the north and the south.

Even if they opened the city gates to flee, they could only go in the east and west directions now.

But there was the Zi River to the east; if they wanted to flee from the east, they would have to cross the Zi River.

In other words, if they wanted to flee from Wuji County now, they could only go west.

The County Magistrate was already terrified, his face pale.

This was how the Huang Jin Army attacked cities: first intimidate, then launch a fierce attack.

Of course, most county magistrates and officials in cities would be terrified into opening the gates when they saw tens of thousands or even more Huang Jin soldiers.

Otherwise, if the city was broken, death was certain.

The Huang Jin Army had never been soft-hearted when killing officials.

The Zhen clan also had a general understanding of the situation of the Huang Jin Army in Youzhou.

The Huang Jin Army in Youzhou had already beheaded the Youzhou Inspector Guo Xun.

Their numbers were over a hundred thousand.

This was more than the population of Wuji County.

They definitely could not win a fight.

As long as that Huang Jin Channel Commander led a large number of Huang Jin soldiers to Wuji County, Wuji County would definitely fall.

The only way to preserve their lives and their family property was to flee.

But if they fled outside the city and were caught by the Huang Jin Army.

That would also be a dead end.

Back when Zhang Bao occupied Xiaquyang, Zhen Jian had already had the idea of fleeing.

He was just worried about encountering Huang Jin thieves on the way.

So he sent people to request the Jizhou Inspector Li Zhao to send troops for protection.

Li Zhao's reply at the time was that he lacked sufficient troops, but secretly, there was another condition.

It meant that they should hand over the production methods for white paper and snow salt, and then he would send troops to escort them to Gaoyi.

Gaoyi was the commandery seat, with high walls and thick ramparts, and had sufficient troops, enough to hold out.

Once the thieves were suppressed, they could return to Wuji County from Gaoyi.

"Brother, this..."

Zhen Ren of the third branch pointed at the Huang Jin soldiers outside the city and said: "The vanguard of these Huang Jin thieves has already arrived; I'm afraid the main force of the thieves will arrive in an instant, and by then, even if we want to leave, it will be too late."

"What should we do, Brother."

Zhen Ren and Zhen You both had anxious expressions on their faces.

Their lives and property were in Wuji County.

Zhen Jian frowned and said: "There's nothing else we can do; before, I was still concerned about the second branch."

"But now, it's not that we are being ruthless; if we don't provide Li Zhao with a satisfactory answer, he won't care about us."

"Like this, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, you go immediately and take people to control that second branch; I don't believe that we can't handle a little girl."

"She has to hand it over today, whether she wants to or not; also, send someone to tell Li Zhao immediately that we are willing to hand it over, and ask him to send troops to help immediately."

Zhen Ren and Zhen You nodded immediately after hearing Zhen Jian's words.

However, just as the two turned around and were about to descend from the city wall.