The cavalrymen lined up in formation, with strict discipline. The entire army was silent. Pei Zi Yun watched from the back of his horse, with several officers protecting him.
"It's been a long time since I've fought, and my hands are itching for a fight. I've heard that King Lu's army is full of good men. Who would've thought that I've met a bunch of cowards. The moment I say the word, the pigs and rations are all obedient." The middle-aged officer looked at the soldiers on the wall and laughed mockingly. In a county like this, there were at most seven to eight hundred soldiers, and most of them couldn't fight. His army of three thousand would be able to take them down in one go.
The Deputy General was a middle aged man of about 45 or 46 years of age. He had been a general for a long time, and had a cold and stern look about him. At this point, his eyes were staring into the distance, and his hands were on the hilt of his sword. He seemed to be deep in thought. He then walked up to Pei Zi Yun and whispered, "True Sovereign, there hasn't been any movement from the city for a long time. I'm sure they want to fight us."
Pei Zi Yun looked at the city and was about to speak when someone in the city raised his bow and took an arrow. The arrow was tied with a piece of cloth. He looked in the direction of the city and saw the commander. He then raised his bow and shot the arrow.
"Pu!" The arrow was shot very quickly, and fell to the ground when it was still a hundred meters away from Pei Zi Yun. Immediately, a cavalryman rushed forward and picked up the arrow.
Pei Zi Yun picked it up and looked at it. Without saying a word, he handed it over to the Deputy General. The Deputy General took a look at it, and his face twitched.
The content of the letter was not to give them food and pigs. There were also many insults in the letter, and it seemed that the city would live and die with it.
"How dare these thieves?" The deputy general was furious. He knew what the True Sovereign meant. Although the hundred dans of grain was not eye-catching and could be taken out by a slightly larger clan, it could solve the problem of the cavalry's provisions. There was no need to mobilize troops to transport it in the enemy's territory. More importantly, it would affect the morale of the county.
Who would still have the heart to fight for King Lu or die for King Lu?
The middle-aged officer who had just spoken took a look as well. His face was filled with hatred, "True Sovereign, I am willing to ask for your permission. Please let me go up and destroy the city. I shall let them know how powerful we are."
"True Sovereign, I'm willing to ask for your permission to destroy the City of Thieves."
"True Monarch, give the order. Let us conquer the county."
The captains were all clamoring. There were only a few hundred soldiers in this county town, and they could easily take down the headquarters with a single charge. Of course they wanted to get the first merit.
Hearing the voices of these officers, Pei Zi Yun's eyes swept across them. These cavalry soldiers had all been mobilized, and hadn't gone through King Lu's demonic army. Previously, several cities had given him rations and pigs to feed him.
The eunuch looked at the Daoist official and tugged on the reins of his horse. He then took small steps towards Pei Zi Yun and whispered, "True Sovereign, what do we do now? If you don't give us the county, should we fight or not? "
Pei Zi Yun looked at his soldiers and laughed, "Fight, why wouldn't we fight? King Lu's forces are strong, and the imperial court can't do anything to protect them. I took pity on the county and had no choice but to surrender. Hence, I only asked for rations, and didn't attack the city. This was a show of my concern for the county. Who would've thought that this county would go crazy and rebel against the imperial court and the heavenly troops. This is a crime punishable by death. "
Pei Zi Yun looked at the county and revealed a cold smile. Seeing that the eunuch had a blank look on his face, he knew that he didn't understand. He then explained in a low voice, "Although King Lu has declared himself the Emperor and declared his independence, he still needs a peaceful environment and time to consolidate his power. My cavalry can travel between the counties like the wind, cutting off all communication between the counties."
"We've asked for a hundred stones of rations and ten pigs. It's not a lot, and even the commoners would have it. But not only would it be enough to feed the cavalry for three days, it would also affect the morale and morale of the county."
"We've already conquered the three counties, and caused the other counties to tremble in fear. This is disadvantageous to the imperial court. Now that King Lu has reacted, he wants to stop us from plundering, and deal with us."
"However, the soldiers are not merciful, and the merciful are not the generals. Now that the county doesn't dare to provide us with rations, we shall destroy it. After that, we shall kill all the traitorous officials, and confiscate the properties of the wealthy families. None shall be spared, and their heads shall be hung on the walls. We shall let them know pain, and know fear. Only then will they come to their senses."
The eunuch had never experienced such a thing before. When he heard Pei Zi Yun's words, his entire body trembled. His face revealed a look of pity as he spoke, "Killing these traitorous officials is one thing, but killing all the wealthy families in the city. These are all commoners, isn't that a little too cruel?"
Pei Zi Yun heard his eunuch's words and laughed, "What's so great about this little massacre?"
"This is a necessary massacre. Only then will they fear us. This way, even if King Lu gives us strict orders, who would reject us for this small amount of rations? This would greatly damage the reputation of King Lu and the imperial court. "
"Besides, even if the magistrate dares to reject us, what about the wealthy families?"
"If we demand too much, we might have to fight to the death. But it's just a mere hundred stones. Who would risk the lives of their entire families? If they can't even resist us, then we shall send their entire families to their deaths. "
The eunuch wanted to say something, but when the words came to his mouth, he didn't say anything. Now that the two armies were at war, they could only choose the most effective and direct method. Besides, his status was only that of a record officer, and he had no right to interfere with Pei Zi Yun's commands.
The eunuch looked towards the direction of the city, where the officials could be seen overseeing the battle. When he saw this, he sighed, "That's right. This is all for the imperial court, and for peace."
Pei Zi Yun looked up at the darkening skies and sighed, "Sha Bing Lie."
"Here!" The deputy general stepped forward.
"You shall command the troops to attack the city. Kill all the officials and wealthy families, and take all the gold and silver."
"Yes." Sha Bing Lie led the other officers and obeyed. After some time, the sound of the drums beating could be heard as they got into formation. They formed into a square formation and charged towards the city.
"Attack the city, and kill all the rebels!"
Although they were cavalry, they could still scale the city walls and fight. Sha Bing Lie galloped forward on his horse and ordered, "Prepare the bows and arrows, and suppress the soldiers on the city walls."
The cavalrymen immediately understood his intentions. They took out their crossbows and arrows from their quiver. Sha Binglie roared, "Shoot!"
Following the order, a series of 'pu pu' sounds could be heard as a dense number of arrows were shot out, forming a rain of arrows.
The soldiers on the city walls had a change in expression.
"Shield soldiers, shield soldiers." One of them ordered as the rain of arrows rained down. The County Magistrate was already prepared, and someone raised his shield to protect the County Magistrate and the special envoy.
One of the sergeants shouted, "Quick, quick, hide!"
Several of the soldiers were unable to hide in time, and did not have any shields. As the rain of arrows rained down on them, a series of tragic screams could be heard. More than ten of them fell to the ground, their bodies were a mess of flesh and blood, as they rolled on the ground screaming in pain. There were even some who had their hearts pierced through, and did not even have time to scream.
"Marksmen, patrol and shoot." Sha Bing Lie ordered. These people's bows and arrows were vicious and accurate. Although there weren't many of them, the moment they hit their targets, they would either hit their faces or their necks. In the blink of an eye, there were more than twenty casualties on the city walls. The rest of the soldiers were so frightened that they tried to hide.
"Attack the city." Sha Bing Lie saw that the situation was under control, and ordered a group of soldiers to jump down from the city walls. Some of them even took the ladders and rushed over.
"Quick, what are you all doing? Return fire, quickly return fire, shoot them to death."
The special envoy's eyes were bloodshot as he watched the siege. How could these cavalrymen be so powerful, to be able to shoot at the city walls and suppress them?
One of the soldiers heard the order and drew his bow. Just as he was about to shoot at the city walls, an arrow flew up and pierced through his left eye and through the back of his head. Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.
"How is this possible?" The County Magistrate had placed his hopes on the city walls, and did not expect them to be suppressed so quickly. His face turned pale, and was filled with fear.
However, there were still some soldiers who knew what was going on. They hurriedly ordered the soldiers to carry the people hanging from the city walls to the entrance. They then shouted for the soldiers to cover the people with wet blankets, and finally managed to suppress the marksmen. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when they heard the drums beating even louder. There were already people climbing up the ladders.
"Gold juice, pour!"
Immediately, two of the soldiers lifted up the cauldron and poured the boiling fecal juice over. Miserable screams rang out, and in the blink of an eye, six or seven cavalrymen fell to the ground with serious injuries. There were also boulders smashing down, and they all fell to the ground.
The eunuchs below could not help but clench their fists as they looked at Pei Zi Yun. Pei Zi Yun looked on expressionlessly, without any expression on his face. At this point, an officer spoke out, "Eunuch, do not worry. This is a common occurrence when sieging a city. Besides, there aren't many of these in the city."
As he spoke, four pots of gold juice were poured, and there were no more. Even the meteorite rocks had been greatly reduced. The morale of the soldiers who were sieging the city was greatly boosted. Soon after, another thirty over cavalrymen climbed up the ladders.
At this point, a long spear pierced through the air. Even though the cavalrymen were fully armored, they still cried out in pain as they fell from the ladders.
"The number of casualties is not small." Sha Bing Lie looked at the city, his face dark. He continued to urge his troops to charge up the city walls. Time passed slowly, and rain started to fall from the sky. As the battle continued, blood flowed down from the city walls, dying the moat red.
"Kill, kill, kill!" However, the walls of the city were short, and there were less than a thousand soldiers. This was a matter of fact. Now that there were more than two hundred casualties, it was obvious that the city was on its last legs.
"True Sovereign, it's noon now. Based on the situation, we should be able to have lunch in the city." Even the eunuchs could see the state of the battle, and couldn't help but smile.
Pei Zi Yun glanced at the eunuchs and smiled, "Looks like it's possible."
"True Sovereign has arranged everything well." The eunuch complimented. Since they had won the battle, the eunuchs who had followed the army would be able to get some credit.
All of a sudden, a squad leader charged up to the top of the city walls and cut down the surrounding soldiers, creating a gap in the defense line.
"Kill, kill them all, kill them all." An officer looked at the situation and leaped off his horse, charging up to the city walls.
"Pu!" The squad leader chopped down a soldier who was charging up to him. The soldier's neck was sliced open, and fresh blood flowed out. Even more cavalrymen climbed up the ladders and broke through the defense line.
"The city has been breached." Pei Zi Yun said as he watched. Indeed, not long after, the city gates opened and the cavalrymen charged in. The sounds of battle shook the heavens.
Pei Zi Yun and the rest remained motionless. After about half an hour, the sounds of battle died down. An officer then reported, "True Sovereign, the city has been cleared. The Magistrate has surrendered."
"Let's go take a look." Pei Zi Yun pointed his whip at the city walls. When the eunuch heard this, he smiled, "True Sovereign, the city has been cleared. The Magistrate has surrendered."
"Go!" Pei Zi Yun galloped forward on his horse. The city wasn't very big. When he reached the entrance of the government office, he saw the Magistrate and a group of officials kneeling on the ground, "I surrender, please spare my life your excellency."
The Magistrate was kneeling on the ground, his body trembling.
"Where's your envoy? He wrote me a letter just now. His handwriting is pretty good. I'd like to meet him. "Pei Zi Yun looked down and smiled.
Hearing this, the Magistrate's body trembled as he tried to explain, "Just, just now, he disappeared."
"Oh, he escaped." Pei Zi Yun laughed coldly, "So that's how it is. But not only are you a traitor, you've even resisted the heavenly troops. It's too late to surrender now. Men, execute him."
As soon as these words were spoken, the Magistrate who was kneeling on the ground turned pale. He was so scared that he peed his pants, "True Sovereign, please spare my life. True Sovereign, please spare my life."
The Magistrate wanted to beg for mercy as he crawled forward. A cavalry soldier slashed down with his blade, and a scream was heard as the Magistrate's head flew off his body. It landed on the ground and rolled on the ground, never to be seen again.
"Kill!" More than ten cavalrymen rushed forward and slashed at the remaining officials. More than ten heads fell to the ground. Pei Zi Yun then cleared his throat, "Is this what you think you're capable of against me? Men, don't hold back your blades. Kill. Kill all these officials and wealthy families. "
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