CH 119

TN: bonus chapter!

Chen Baisong no longer knew how many heads he had cut off. He had fought many battles, but not once was it like now, his body and face completely covered by the blood of the enemy and his own.

Like a sharp knife, he led a vanguard team towards Zhao Pusheng and his army as they retreated.

There were the sounds of soldiers’ wailing in the ears, from the enemies and also their own.

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And the army led by Zhu Yuanzhang also charged over at this time.

Zhao Pusheng had obviously lost his composure. Half of their people had entered the city and at the moment the city gates had yet to be closed. Zhao Pusheng’s soldiers were still rushing in. They didn’t know how many people were behind them, they could only hear the shouts and wails from their comrades.

“Close the city gates.” Zhao Pusheng gritted his teeth, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He was currently standing on the city wall, and he also knew what choice he was facing. When the city gates closed, the enemy would not be able to charge inside, but the soldiers that numbered close to 50,000 would no longer be a combat power he could use.

But if he did not close the city gates, he was not confident that he could defeat them in Hanyang City. What was more, he could imagine the consequences of the enemy entering Hanyang City. Hanyang City was not an empty city. It consisted of numerous common people and their imperial court.

His advisor said to him: “General, you can’t close the city gates! Once the city gates are closed, we will lose nearly 50,000 people. Without these 50,000 people, we might still hold on for a while, but what would we do later?”

Zhao Pusheng asked him: “Then what else do you say we can do? Go out of the city to fight now? They and our 50,000 people are blocking the gates. If we now charge out then we’ll be practically sheep entering the tiger’s mouth.”

The advisor shut up.

At least for now, closing the city gates could keep Hanyang City, and at that time, more troops could be transferred from other places.

The advisor closed their eyes, feeling a little hopeless.

Almost half of the soldiers in Hanyang were taken away because of Ni Wenjun’s rebellion, and now another 50,000 people have been lost.

How would they fight next? He didn’t have a clue.

Chen Baisong looked at the city gates that were slowly closing, and took the reins.

Only the cavalry could rush in at this time, but the gates of Hanyang City could only be opened or closed on the wall. Even if they charged over they would still be unable to stop the gates from closing. And once the gates closed and if they were still inside, they definitely would not be able to escape death.

So the only way now was to just watch the city gates close in front of them.

In the end, they had made a misstep, and Zhao Pusheng was really willing to sacrifice 50,000 men.

Chen Baisong was standing on the hillside, and Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on a rock not far from him. Both of them could be described as being in a sorry state, with sweat and blood all over, and even flies flying around them. As could be imagined, the smell was not pleasant at all. In contrast, Luo Ben’s situation was much better. He didn’t need to charge forward with Chen Baisong and the others, so he was clean at the moment, and the hat he had on wasn’t even crooked.

“No need to worry, when Zhao Pusheng goes back, he will inevitably be denounced. He lost 50,000 people without a fight. Nowadays, those in Hanyang who can command soldiers are few, and they have to also take care of Ni Wenjun.” Luo Ben was very relaxed. “Ding Pulang and Fu Youde are not as good as Zhao Pusheng.”

In the rear, Lin Yuan and Li Congrong were both lying on the grass, and the two were also talking about Hanyang.

“I had thought that when Ni Wenjun rebelled Hanyang would be up in chaos, but I didn’t expect that they would all still be loyal to Xu Shouhui.” Li Congrong did not understand. Xu Shouhui had no real power in his hands. What was the point of following Xu Shouhui? Why not be the master themselves?

Lin Yuan asked: “How do you think Ni Wenjun will treat them if they don’t follow Xu Shouhui and surrender to him instead? Will they still be high-ranking officials? Ni Wenjun can be regarded as benevolent if he does not kill them.”

Li Congrong did not understand.

Lin Yuan smiled and said: “It’s like if someone under me rebelled against me at this time, will you follow him or follow me?”

Li Congrong didn’t even think about it: “I will kill him.”

Lin Yuan smiled and said: “That’s because the two of us met early and the friendship is naturally different. Xu Shouhui’s hands naturally have people like this as well, but these people have no real power, and those with real power can’t go to Ni Wenjun. And this is why Ni Wenjun is now in a dilemma.”

There was no one in Hanyang City to coordinate outside and inside offensives with Ni Wenjun.

There was also no other army from other places willing to support Ni Wenjun.

If they hadn’t come, Ni Wenjun would have been defeated by now.

In Lin Yuan’s memory, Ni Wenjun’s uprising and downfall were very miserable. After his failure, he went to Chen Youliang for support, but Chen Youliang killed him, incorporated his army, and replaced Ni Wenjun, becoming Xu Shouhui’s important official. As well as replacing Ni Wenjun in holding power.

From then on, Chen Youliang stood on the world stage during these troubled times. He would become more and more powerful, and eventually become a behemoth.

Lin Yuan wanted to cut off Chen Youliang’s path to the top from the very root. He would not be able to take Ni Wenjun’s army for his own and nor would he see Ni Wenjun again.

In Gaoyou City, Jiang Gui was dining with his family. Since he became the senior provincial official of Taizhou, his quality of life had risen, and the power in his hands had also increased. But none of this blinded him and made him take his position lightly. Jiang Gui was well aware of his own skills. If it wasn’t for Lin Yuan not having the right person at the time, he wouldn’t be the senior provincial official at all.

He would never forget what Lin Yuan said to him.

Without him, Lin Yuan still had countless available people in his hands.

He was not unique nor irreplaceable.

But he had a friendship with Lin Yuan, so Lin Yuan gave him the opportunity. As long as he did his duty, even if he had greed, so long as he wasn’t too greedy and that his greed did not affect him from doing practical things, Lin Yuan would not make a move against him.

Jiang Gui’s wife looked at her husband’s expression and asked with concern: “Has something happened? Why is your complexion so bad?”

Jiang Gui smiled a rather reluctant smile: “I haven’t slept well these few days.”

During this period of time, he had been having nightmares. At first, he dreamt that he had died in Wu City. When the refugees broke in, he and his family had nowhere to escape. They could only hide at home, hoping for the refugees to leave by themselves, but this was obviously wishful thinking. They were discovered and the refugees killed his parents in front of him as well as insulted his wife.

As for him, his head was cut off by them in the end.

Later, his dreams slowly changed. He dreamt of Gaoyou up in flames, and he heard someone shouting ‘enemy attack’.

In his dream, a raging fire surrounded him. He sent people to Yang Zi’an for help and personally led Gaoyou’s soldiers to the city gates.

He hadn’t yet dreamt the end yet, and he didn’t know what happened in the end.

But this dream gave him a warning. Jiang Gui believed in the gods. He believed that the dream was a message from the gods.

But he was still hesitating. Did he need to write to Yang Zi’an in advance so that Yang Zi’an could bring people to Gaoyou?

Gaoyou had salt, and the robbers and bandits around were all covetous of Gaoyou. The imperial court also seemed to have not given up on Gaoyou.

Jiang Gui was ready to believe in himself this one time.

After he had eaten, he went to the study and wrote a letter to Yang Zi’an who was in Changzhou at this time.

In the Changzhou barracks, Yang Zi’an was reading a military book. Since he became a general, military books were no longer just a luxury he could only dream of. So long as he hinted at what he wanted, someone would send over it to him.

But he had no interest in anything other than military books.

He did not marry a wife, nor had any concubines, instead he stayed with the soldiers in the barracks all day long.

The soldiers were convinced by him since he was able to fight and also possessed eloquence. Though soldiers expressed “useless were scholars” and seemed to dislike scholars to the extreme, they were unable to utter such things in front of Yang Zi’an.

His personal guard was preparing Yang Zian’s bedding, and he whispered: “I wonder how the South Bodhisattva and the others are doing now.”

The personal guard sighed: “What reason is there for the South Bodhisattva to lead war campaigns himself? If something happened to the South Bodhisattva, they should all atone with their deaths.”

Yang Zi’an was taken aback for a moment. He smiled and said, “Relax, even if they all died in battle, nothing bad will happen to the South Bodhisattva.”

Yang Zi’an lowered his eyes. He didn’t know when he stopped calling Lin Yuan fourth brother. Unlike Li Congrong, who sometimes uttered both names, he clearly knew his position. He didn’t want to one day meet with a headless end.

But sometimes, Yang Zi’an couldn’t help but think.

How did Lin Yuan feel? When he found that no one around him dared to speak the truth, no one dared to look into his eyes, and everyone was looking to benefit from him, how would he feel?

Yang Zi’an smiled.

The distance between Lin Yuan and himself has become farther and farther. Between the emperor and his ministers, there was always one stronger and one weaker.

Lin Yuan was not a weak person. While still living, he would never allow anyone to climb on top of his head.

Yang Zi’an knew what he must do.

He would never make friends with other ministers throughout his life, nor would he touch things that he shouldn’t touch.

He would follow behind Lin Yuan closely, and whatever Lin Yuan wanted to do would be what he wanted to do.

In this way, he would be able to stay in this position for a long time, and when everything was settled, he would get married, and follow the example of Li Congrong by marrying the daughter of a small commoner family to continue his bloodline.

Just when Yang Zi’an was about to fall asleep, the messenger arrived.

He was sitting beside the bed in his inner robes, but after reading the letter handed over by his personal guard, he let out a startled chuckle.

“What the hell is this?” Yang Zi’an looked it over again and found that Jiang Gui was really not joking, he was really asking for help seriously.

Just because of a dream?

Yang Zi’an laughed. He looked at Jiang Gui’s proposed reason why the enemy would launch a sneak attack on Gaoyou.

“Forget it, he has always been timid.” Yang Zi’an said with a smile, “Have someone bring 10,000 people over to give him reassurance, but he will be responsible for food and lodgings.”

However, in Jiang Gui’s dream, the raid must be very serious. After all, Taizhou itself had 30,000 troops. Originally there were 100,000 troops but most of them were taken away by Lin Yuan. Now the most powerful force left was in Changzhou, which was guarded by Yang Zi’an.

Therefore, the pressure on Yang Zian’s shoulders was also great, and his capable subordinates have all been assigned to different counties and big cities.

Once a problem arose, he would lead reinforcement troops over. What Yang Zi’an didn’t expect was that even Jiang Gui would come and find work for him.

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And the reason was only because of a dream.

Yang Zi’an said to his personal guard: “Have Zhang Jiuliu come to see me tomorrow morning.”

The personal guard was taken aback: “His brother is already a captain of ten thousand, but General still wants to use him? Just what luck did this Zhang family of brothers stumble upon?”

How enviable!