As mentioned earlier, the waters in Zhangzhou were developed and pirates ran amok.
These pirates, who had been operating for many years, seemed to be of humble origins, but in fact, they were inextricably linked to the officials of various counties.
If not for that, it would not have been so difficult for Yang Jian to clear out the pirates back then.
Of course, these relationships could not be exposed to the public, so they could only interact in secret.
In order to protect their family business from being affected, some aristocratic families also had interests entangled with the pirates. They even had spies planted in these water bandits. Yang Si and the others used fishing to enforce the law, destroying many water bandits and recruiting many young and strong pirates. Among them were spies.
Through these spies, the aristocratic families sent friendly messages to Fu Wang and the others, hoping to form a good relationship.
Fu Wang and the others thought about it and knew that it was unreliable. They did not know if it was their own behavior or Yang Tao's instructions.
Feng Zhen was from Zhangzhou's Anshan County and was a descendant of an aristocratic family. He was quite familiar with the tricks of this circle.
He said, "I'm just testing them. Whether or not my lord can conquer Zhangzhou, it will be good for them. "
If Jiang Pengji conquered Zhangzhou, they would have a natural advantage by choosing sides in advance. Even if it was only a little, it would be good.
If Jiang Pengji failed, and they did not show any obvious behavior of choosing sides, Yang Tao could not settle the score with them.
Over the next few days, he received several letters from several families. Yang Si could not help but sneer and ridicule.
"Yang Tao hasn't fallen yet, but they can't sit still. They have no loyalty at all."
Feng Zhen shook his head and said, "This is just their instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm."
Fu Wang also said, "Such despicable people cannot be trusted."
After all, Zhangzhou was Yang Tao's territory. Who knew if there were spies planted by him among these people who seemed to be surrendering?
Although they were suspicious, they still had to accept the letter. Otherwise, it would be a loss to completely push them into Yang Tao's arms. It was better to hang around with an ambiguous attitude.
When some aristocratic families saw that their goodwill did not receive a positive response, they were a little flustered.
At this time, Fu Wang led the troops to attack Dafang, which was south of Zhangzhou. Qi Kuang was in charge of the navy. The troops were divided into two routes and advanced by water.
Dafang was a small place. Due to its geographical advantage and convenient water route from south to north, it was relatively prosperous and had a large floating population.
As one of Zhangzhou's gateways, Dafang had a certain military weight due to its smooth waterway and the advantage of connecting the north and the south.
The county magistrate's surname was Xia, and he was born into a local aristocratic family. Seeing Fu Wang's army approaching menacingly, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
Feng Zhen thought about it carefully, then smiled and said, "This person likes to sail with the wind and has a timid temperament. General, why don't you give him a scare?"
Fu Wang looked at Feng Zhen. "How?"
Feng Zhen said, "Secretly send a letter to them, ordering them to open the city gates and surrender in three days. Otherwise, we will slaughter all the commoners."
Yang Si rolled his eyes at Feng Zhen. Was this kid for real?
No matter which era it was in, massacres would always be criticized, and no one dared to speak of it lightly.
Fu Wang shook his head and said, "No, if word of this gets out, it will inevitably damage the Lord's reputation."
Feng Zhen said, "It's just to scare people. It's not like we're really mobilizing troops to massacre the city. General, please don't worry."
Yang Si's eyes almost rolled to the top of his head as he sneered, "Feng Langzi, can't you come up with some reliable ideas?"
Feng Zhen said, "You don't know that Yang Jian's former subordinates aren't in Daifang. On the contrary, many of the local rich families have some minor conflicts with Yang Jian. Years ago, Yang Jian led troops to clear out the pirates and found out that a few of the rich families in Daifang were in cahoots with the pirates. If it weren't for the fact that someone was adamantly stopping him, Yang Jian would probably have killed them all. Knowing that defending the city was hopeless, they wouldn't sacrifice their lives to defend Daifang for Yang Tao. If we can take this place without bloodshed, it will more or less serve as a deterrent. This will also be a great boost to the morale of our army. "
Yang Si said, "There's always a chance."
Feng Zhen said, "If they refuse to surrender, then we'll use troops to knock down the city gates of Daifang. After that, we'll frame the massacre on the county magistrate guarding the city. We'll say that he's afraid of the might of our army and worried that the commoners will flee, so he purposely spread rumors to discredit the Lord. It's just a matter of a few words. "
History books were written by the victors, and the losers had no right to speak.
After hearing this, Yang Si revealed an indescribable expression.
He cupped his hands at Yang Si and said in a strange tone, "This humble one is convinced."
When Feng Langzi was shameless, he was almost comparable to the Lord. He had lost.
Fu Wang adopted Feng Zhen's opinion and issued a letter of challenge.
When County Magistrate Xia saw Fu Wang's threat, his legs suddenly turned to jelly.
According to the letter of challenge, Fu Wang would lead the 80,000 troops to attack Daifang. If they didn't know what was good for them, the 80,000 troops could trample Daifang to the ground with one foot. If he resisted stubbornly, the result would be the lives of his family and the lives of all the commoners in the city.
"What … What should we do? There are only 8,000 troops in the city. How can we fight against 80,000? "
County Magistrate Xia was indeed as Feng Zhen had said. He had a timid personality and didn't have his own opinions at critical moments.
People didn't know how good Jiang Pengji's troops were in water battles, but they were good at sieging cities.
The advisor asked, "Did the Duke of Zhengze not send reinforcements?"
County Magistrate Xia was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He couldn't help but complain, "Yang Tao's troops are short on horses and there are gaps everywhere. How can he care about Daifang? The letter has already been sent out. The earliest reinforcements will arrive is seven or eight days. How can we withstand the ravages of those animals? "
Yang Tao also had his own difficulties, but County Magistrate Xia wouldn't understand. Instead, he was full of complaints.
"Do you think … Fu Wang and the others will really massacre the city?"
Mu Xuan said, "It's hard to say. Liu Xi is restrained by the Nie family, and most of his troops are trapped in the north. Fu Wang has led troops to attack Zhangzhou for a long time, but he hasn't achieved anything yet. If we use the massacre to intimidate everyone, Fu Wang will encounter fewer obstacles when he attacks Zhangzhou from the south. "
The people in Zhangzhou weren't of one mind. The gentry all had their own plans. If they saw that things weren't going well, they would easily jump ship.
If they used the massacre to show their strength, they might really be able to scare the counties along the way into surrendering.
County Magistrate Xia became even more flustered when he heard this.
The advisor continued, "We can roughly tell whether the situation is favorable or not. This is especially true for the strength of the two feudal lords. Liu Xi's troops are strong, and the navy's combat power is also extraordinary. On the other hand, Yang Tao has spent too much of his troops in the alliance with Nansheng. How can he have the strength to deal with Liu Xi now? In my opinion, even if County Magistrate is doing this for the safety of the people in the city, you have to consider this letter of challenge carefully. "
No matter how sturdy the Daifang was, could it compare to the passes and cities that Jiang Pengji had previously pried open as easily as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood?
In terms of military strength, they only had 10% of the enemy's. Not even the shadow of the reinforcements could be seen. They couldn't defend even if they wanted to.
Instead of defending to the death and sacrificing the lives of all the people in the city, it was better to take the initiative to surrender to the enemy.
Furthermore …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
