Chapter 219: You Seemed Not to Have Challenged

So when the Prefect took ten thousand troops to suppress the bandits, but was instead taken down by Yangguangzhai, the thoughts in these people's hearts changed.

The commoners were looking forward to the arrival of Yangguangzhai, while the officials and soldiers were terrified.

The young soldier stopped talking. He actually hoped that Yangguangzhai would come, so that his family could also buy some cheap grain to eat, but he was also worried that his status as a soldier would lead to him being killed by Yangguangzhai.

However, it was said that they did not abuse the captured Jun soldiers either; they treated the wounded, and those willing to stay had the opportunity to join Yangguangzhai as bandits, which was more generous than how the Imperial Court treated deserters.

This news was unknown whether it was true or false, but it blew through every corner like the wind, shaking the already not-so-solid military morale.

What made the garrison soldiers even more restless was that during this period, grain prices in all cities were soaring, and there were even cases of grain shops closing, causing panic for a time.

Which family didn't have parents, wives, and children?

Being a soldier without military pay, and one's family not having enough to eat—how could this war still be fought?

"Watch out!"

The old soldier sighed again and shrank his body into the battlements, "Be smart later! If the bandits of Yangguangzhai really come, don't talk nonsense. The first sentence after they come must be to open the city gate and surrender! If you say it late, I'm afraid there will be no chance."

The young soldier firmly kept these words in his heart. As long as he surrendered quickly, he would definitely be fine.

Finally, in the anticipation of everyone, a team slowly approached and stopped at the distance of an arrow shot from the city wall.

The team was very quiet, without noise, without cursing.

Jiang Ze was in high spirits and ordered his brothers: "Get ready, everyone, line up!"

The bandits in the front row raised their shields, behind them was a row of bandits holding spears, and further back were the archers.

The whole team was five hundred people, not many in number, but they were in decent shape and had quite a bit of momentum.

"Eh! That's not right!" The young soldier scratched his head in confusion.

"What's wrong?" The sleepy old soldier next to him asked.

"The bandits of Yangguangzhai are here! But there is no movement! They aren't coming forward either!" The young soldier certainly remembered the old soldier's words: wait for the other party to come over and then surrender, but the other party didn't come over!

The old soldier opened his eyes wide, stood up to look down at the city wall, and scolded the young soldier angrily: "Are you stupid? This is clearly about to charge the city!"

After saying this, regardless of what the other party thought, the old soldier waved his arms and shouted.

"Are you the heroes of Yangguangzhai? We surrender, we will open the gates and surrender immediately!"

Jiang Ze, who had just prepared to launch an attack, was abruptly interrupted by this sentence and muttered with some dissatisfaction: "What were you doing earlier?"

A younger brother beside him stepped forward and said: "Captain Jiang, you didn't seem to have challenged just now!"

"Uh..."

Seeing that the people of Yangguangzhai stopped their actions, the old soldier hurriedly kicked the young soldier beside him.

"What are you stunned for? Open the city gate!"

"Oh, oh! Okay!"

On the city wall, the old soldier slowly leaned the spear in his hand against the battlements, and other garrison soldiers, seeing this, also put down their weapons one after another.

Since they wanted to surrender, they had to be sincere. On the battlefield, as long as you still had weapons in your hands, the surrender you shouted with your mouth would not work.

Jiang Ze waved his hand, and twenty people walked out of the bandit team, walking quickly toward the city gate.

He wasn't stupid either. What if there was an ambush inside, and he was caught in a trap?

The heavy city gate was slowly pulled open from the inside, making a harsh "creaking" sound.

There was no resistance or ambush; the garrison soldiers even thoughtfully tied themselves up, waiting quietly for Yangguangzhai to deal with them.

The bandits entered the city in an orderly manner. Jiang Ze left fifty people to guard the city gate and the main roads of the city wall, ordering them not to harass the residential areas.

He himself took the main force and headed straight for the County Government and the official granary. The first thing to do after entering the city was to take over these things and count and record them, and then handle the household registration for the commoners.

The doors and windows of the houses on both sides of the street were tightly closed. The commoners didn't know what was happening and could only peek out secretly through the cracks in the doors and windows.

The County Government was already empty, and the County Magistrate and main officials had already fled upon hearing the news.

It was even more impossible for there to be grain and grass in the official granary; it was in such a state that even a mouse would cry upon entering.

After Jiang Ze checked everything, he ordered: "The old rules, register the household contracts and make a roster. Affordable grain will have to wait two days. After I send back the news of taking Huangni City, people from the Xinyue Chamber of Commerce will come to sell grain!"

This news immediately flew across the city as if it had wings. Only then did everyone know that it was the bandits of Yangguangzhai who had come.

Gradually, a long line formed at the entrance of the County Government. Everyone was handling new household contracts and inquiring about more news about Yangguangzhai.

Whispers began to appear in the crowd: "Look, I said it, Old Ghost Yangguang is a good person..."

"Much better than that dog official!"

"Old Ghost Yangguang is what you call him? You should respectfully call me my dear City Lord!"

When they learned that they could buy affordable grain in two days, the commoners of Huangni City burst into thunderous cheers.

No one questioned the truth of this news; they all deeply trusted Yangguangzhai.

In the next few days, similar scenes were almost staged in the same way in other cities.

Even more interesting was Yishan City, which simply didn't even close its city gates.

The County Magistrate, with a group of yamen runners, stood at the city gate holding the official seal and "requested surrender."

The County Magistrate was a withered old man who said with a mournful face: "Heroes! This official... no, this old man hasn't received his salary for four months either! Come and save me!"

Xiexiezi did not make things difficult for him, only sending people to receive the documents and files of the County Government.

If this person could be used after subsequent observation, perhaps he could be recommended to Big Brother. After all, as there were more and more cities, people were needed to manage them.

It could be said that the people of Yangguangzhai did not encounter any effective resistance at all, and the whole process was surprisingly fast.

However, in just five or six days, except for the Prefectural City where General Yan was located, all the rest under Guangwu Jun had fallen into the hands of Yangguangzhai, and almost without bloodshed.

Its speed was simply surprising, and this matter gradually spread throughout Beijiang.

How the commoners in other Juns viewed Yangguangzhai was unknown, but General Yan in Guangwu City was gnashing his teeth with hatred at this moment.

He didn't expect that the waste Liu Xuecheng, who took ten thousand troops to suppress bandits, would be completely wiped out.

Now he only had ten thousand troops in his hands; what could he use to fight the other party?

However, although there was no chance of a head-on fight, defending the city was still possible.

General Yan waited fully prepared for Yangguangzhai's attack, but found that the other party had no intention of paying attention to him at all.

The scouts sent out reported that all the surrounding cities had been occupied by Yangguangzhai, and now only the Prefectural City, Guangwu City, was left struggling to support itself.

Now there was a very important problem in front of General Yan: if the other party didn't attack, what would he do when the grain and grass were eaten up?

If he led troops out of the city and fell into the other party's treacherous scheme, what then? ===== CHAPTER 220 =====