Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 209 Certificate of Surrender

"Rebel! Traitor! You know that you are receiving a salary from the imperial court, yet you dare to surrender to the enemy?!" Han Jian was kneeling beside him, and upon hearing this, he angrily cursed at Yang Heng.

But Yang Heng ignored him and just stared at Lu Jin.

Hearing this, Lu Jin asked curiously, "Does he have any family members here? Were they captured together?"

Mr. Miao nodded and said, "We caught him. It was just as he said."

Lu Jin then looked at Yang Heng and said, "You said you wanted to serve me, but I don't accept just any trash. If you are really capable, why are you now my prisoner?"

"Hahahaha, you traitor, you see it, I am the fish on the chopping board. Even if you surrender to the enemy now, they will look down on you. Hahahaha." Han Jian laughed out loud upon hearing this, which made Lu Jin frown.

"Noisy!"

Without saying a word, Lu Jin took out a flintlock rifle from his waist, pressed down the hammer, and with a bang, it hit Han Jian right in the chest. The guy finally fell to the ground without saying a word.

A burst of white smoke drifted by, and the field suddenly became silent. Lu Jin took out ammunition and reloaded it while giving instructions to his soldiers.

"Cut off his head, but don't disfigure it."

"Yes."

Gollum—

Yang Heng swallowed his saliva and stared closely at Lu Jin's loading movements, fearing that he would be the next one, so he hurriedly spoke.

"As long as the Marshal spares my life, I am willing to be an envoy and persuade Su Song to surrender for the Marshal."

Hearing this, Lu Jin paused while reloading his ammunition, and asked with a smile, "What do I want to do with Susong? I have already achieved my goal of taking Huaining, Qianshan, and Tongcheng in this battle. Why should I go to Susong to cause trouble? That place is threatening Jiangzhou and eyeing Xu and Song. I don't want to cause trouble for myself."

Yang Heng looked at Lu Jin in surprise, with some doubts in his heart, but when he saw the surrendered generals beside Lu Jin, he still stood firm in his thoughts and spoke.

"The Marshal cannot deceive me. With your strategic intelligence, how can you be short-sighted? You will definitely see the benefits of occupying Anqing. How can you be afraid of Xu Song and the Yuan soldiers from Jiangxi?

"Anqing controls Dongting and Pengli in the upper reaches, and Shicheng and Jingkou in the lower reaches. It controls the north and south, and it controls the east and west. The commander-in-chief did not cross the river to attack Jiankang this year, nor did he go north to join Liu Futong and Xuzhou. He chose to attack Anqing at this time. He must know how important Anqing is."

Lu Jin had already loaded the ammunition at this time. He was holding the flintlock in his hand and showing it to the remaining three people, while asking.

"Of course I know Anqing is important, but I have already taken the most critical Huaining City. As long as we repair the city walls and train the navy here, we can cut off the Yangtze River. Why should we go to the trouble of attacking Susong? Do you think I will plot against Jiangxi at this time?"

Yang Heng's mood suddenly relaxed when he heard this. He also roughly understood what Lu Jin meant. This was not a question but a test. If he answered correctly, he might be able to save his life. So he analyzed it immediately.

"At this time, the Marshal controls the entire Luzhou Road, part of Anfeng Road, part of Yangzhou Road, the area north of Dabie Mountain, west of the Yangtze River, and south of the Huai River. If we attack the northwest at this time, we will clash with Liu Futong's troops. Liu's troops and the Marshal are both righteous armies. If the righteous armies attack each other, it will be bad for the Marshal's reputation. If we go north, we will clash with Zhima Li's troops. Like Liu's troops, the Marshal is unlikely to do so.

"At this time, the Marshal has occupied part of Anqing. If he continues to move south to Jiangxi, the territory will be too narrow. Once Anqing is lost, the north and south will be separated, and changes will inevitably occur over time. With the Marshal's strategy, he will never plan to attack Jiangxi at this time.

"But Susong is different. If we occupy Susong, we can look southwards at Jiangzhou and use it as a springboard to advance into the entire province of Jiangxi at any time. We can also stop Xu and Song in the west and prevent them from going east. The lands of Jiangsu and Zhejiang will all be part of the Marshal's territory. Once this trend is established, even a change of dynasty is possible.

"If Xu Song takes the initiative to attack the Marshal, his reputation will be ruined and he will certainly be despised by the righteous army in the world. Then even if the Marshal fights back, it will be fine."

After Yang Heng finished speaking, everyone present looked at him in surprise. Feng Guoyong looked at this man and felt that his analysis was quite good. At least he had a clear understanding of the current situation in the world.

Liao Yongan looked at Yang Heng, then at Lu Jin, and was also very surprised, because they should not take action against Jiangxi for the time being to prevent the battle line from being too long. This was what Lu Jin had told him yesterday. He did not expect that the little Zhaomo in front of him would say it out loud today.

Yang Heng continued speaking regardless.

“At present, of the six cities in Anqing, the Marshal has already occupied three cities in the north, but the two counties of Taihu and Wangjiang are short of troops. The Marshal has also recruited the former subordinates of Wanhu Mansion, so he has no shortage of troops. The two cities have no defenders. How could the Marshal not want the cities that he picked up for free?
“We have captured Wangjiang and Taihu counties. The two cities are too far apart, and there is a minefield to the south. If we don’t capture Susong, the two cities will be lost. The commander-in-chief will see this.

"The commander-in-chief brought his generals here today, clearly preparing to march. The two cities can be taken by sending a small army, so why bother the commander-in-chief to lead the battle in person? He also killed us here, saying that he would cut off our heads but not our faces, clearly intending to use the heads to intimidate others.

"Now the two cities must be in the hands of the Marshal. Only Susong remains in Anqing. If the Marshal cuts off our heads, I really can't think of anyone else he can use to intimidate us except Susong?
"If you want to take Susong, why not leave me your head and let me persuade them to surrender? This will save the army some effort, save the soldiers some blood, and let the six thousand defenders of Susong surrender to you. What do you think?"

Lu Jin raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, and finally became serious, looking Yang Heng up and down. He was about thirty years old, probably older than Liao Yongan, with a two-inch long goatee, a pair of bright eyes, and a fairly honest face. He stared at Lu Jin expectantly.

Lu Jin looked at him for a while, and finally spoke, "Although what you said is not entirely right, it is also quite clever. Since you are begging for mercy for my mother, wife and children, it is still a bit filial. I will give you a chance. Come on, untie him."

"Yes."

Immediately, a personal soldier untied the rope for Yang Heng, who immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Thank you, Marshal, for saving my life. From now on, Yang Heng will die for you, my lord."

"Hey, wait, I haven't said I'm going to take you in yet."

"Huh?" Yang Heng raised his head in confusion.

There was a clang.

Lu Jin took out a knife from the guard next to him, threw it in front of him and said, "Kill them both, take these heads to Susong to persuade them to surrender. If you can persuade Susong to surrender, I will consider you a meritorious service, and the Marshal's Office will be vacant for you. If you lie to me and lead the Susong garrison to defend to the death, then you don't have to come back, just wait for me to collect the bodies of your family members."

"." Yang Heng was speechless for a while, thinking that Lu Jin was a little too cautious. He had already agreed to help him recruit Su Song, but he wanted to take his family as hostages. Not only that, he also wanted him to give proof of his allegiance first.

Once he killed Hao Rui and Yesen Timur with his own hands, Lu Jin would definitely spread the matter. Then even if he wanted to rebel back to the Yuan court, it would probably be impossible.

But when you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Lu Jin is still holding that strange musket in his hand. Can he still say no?
Without saying anything, Yang Heng got up from the ground, stretched his limbs, picked up the knife, and walked towards Hao Rui step by step. Hao Rui was so scared that he almost peed himself, and hurriedly shouted, "Marshal, I am willing to surrender, I am willing to surrender, I have a mother, a wife and children at home."

Yang Heng had already come to Hao Rui with a knife in hand, and bowed, saying, "Brother Hao, I had no choice but to do this. I'm sorry."

Hao Rui's hair stood on end, and he shouted quickly, "Yang Heng, you can't kill me. You have to beg for mercy on my behalf. I have never made things difficult for you in the past."

The corner of Yang Heng's mouth twitched, and he thought to himself, you have never made things difficult for me, but you have also been the most respectful to the Mongolian Tartars. Lu Jin can see at a glance that he hates the Tartars with a hatred of their evil. How can I live if I don't kill you?
He did not hesitate any longer and stabbed Hao Rui in the chest with his knife. Hao Rui's whole body stiffened immediately and he fell down slowly. Blood splattered all over Yang Heng, the scholar.

Yang Heng's arms were shaking, and he continued to stab Yesen Timur to death with one more blow. Then he stood there in a daze.

Lu Jin asked curiously, "Why don't you chop off their heads?"

"I, I don't know how," Yang Heng said after hesitating.

"."

Everyone present was speechless. It was really difficult for this scholar to kill two people with his own hands.

Lu Jin no longer deliberately made things difficult for him. He waved his hand, and his personal guards came forward to cut off the two men's heads and put them in a box.

Lu Jin then said, "Go change your clothes and set off now. My army will follow behind you. If we cannot persuade Su Song to surrender, you will stay in the city and help them defend it."

"Yes." Yang Heng finally came back to his senses after hearing this.

At noon that day, Liao Yongan stayed in Anqing with three regiments, while Lu Jin led the artillery and cavalry, as well as the two main regiments of Miao Daheng and Zhao Yong, and marched towards Susong.

Yang Heng rode his horse in front to lead the way, followed by a squad of cavalry as guards, and he also carried the heads.

It is 210 miles from Anqing to Susong. Lu Jin marched at a speed of miles a day, but Yang Heng did not dare to walk so slowly. This guy ran hundreds of miles a day and reached Susong in two days.

Susong had a total of 6,000 defenders, and the composition of their generals was similar to that of Tongcheng, consisting of local volunteer marshals and government army generals. The leader of the volunteer army was the local powerful family, the Xia family, with a total of 3,000 troops, led by the two brothers Xia Xinghou and Xia Xingzu. The government army also had 3,000 people, led by Chen Shida, Zhang Hongchao, and Zhou Wen respectively.

At this time, the five people saw the pile of heads placed in front of them, and their faces looked unhappy.

Among them were Han Jian, the governor of Anqing, Hao Rui, the manager of Wanhu Mansion, Zhao Boyan, the captain of Qianhu Mansion, Yesen Timur, Ning Chun, the county magistrate of Tongcheng, Darughachi Belieqiebuhua, Ji Zeyang, the county magistrate of Huaining, and Yang Heng, the road manager of Anqing who was standing in front of him. All of them proved the fact that several cities in the north had fallen.

Now, Susong is the only city left in the entire Anqing Road, and the enemy is about to attack. How can they not worry?

"So Yang Zhaomo is here to ask for surrender on behalf of Marshal Lu of Luzhou?" Zhang Hongchao, who was the most senior among the group, asked first.

"That's right. My family members are also detained in Huaining. I have no choice. Marshal Lu is leading the army behind us. They are less than a hundred miles away from here and will arrive in two days at most. Please make a decision quickly whether you want to surrender or not." Yang Heng said immediately.

"There are more than 20,000 defenders in the five cities in the north. How many troops did the enemy send out? They all fell so quickly? Does Yang Zhaomo know how he was defeated?" Chen Shida still couldn't figure it out and asked immediately.

Yang Heng did not hide anything and gave a brief account of the process of how Lu Jin surrounded the point and attacked the reinforcements, attacked them halfway across the river, and annihilated the main mobile force of Anqing Road in one fell swoop. Once the main force was annihilated, the subsequent matters became simple, and they swept all the way to here.

Zhou Wen asked in return, "He only used eight or nine thousand men to defeat Anqing's fifteen thousand reinforcements?"

"We attacked them halfway across the river. The reinforcements that crossed the river to fight were not much more numerous than the enemy troops. Moreover, the enemy was well prepared. Not only did they have more cavalry than ours, but they also had scouts everywhere.

"On the other hand, our army in Anqing underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly. Even the scouts did not conduct a thorough search, so we failed to discover in advance that the main force of the enemy was hiding on the other side of the river. We thought that the other side only had 200 cavalry. If we could have scouted the position of the main force of the enemy in advance, with the two sides confronting each other across the river, we might not have lost so quickly." Yang Heng explained.

"What's the point of saying all this now? The enemy is at most two days away. We have to make a decision whether to fight or surrender. We have 6,000 defenders. Susong city is not that big. If we really have to fight, we can defend it. If we want to surrender, we have to have a rule." Xia Xinghou, who was a local force, interrupted the confusion of several people and asked Yang Heng in return.

"Since Marshal Lu has sent you to persuade us to surrender, what conditions can he offer?"

Yang Heng immediately introduced the conditions offered by Lu Jin, "If you five are demoted, you will still be a thousand-household official, and the past will be forgiven. Future promotions will depend on military merit.

"The Shengwu Army under Marshal Lu has a squad of twelve people, four squads of fifty people form a platoon, four platoons of two hundred people form a company, and four companies of nine hundred people form a battalion. The battalion commander is the Qianhu, and above him is the regiment commander, who is in charge of four combat battalions and one auxiliary battalion, totaling 900 people. Above him is the superintendent, who is in charge of four or five regiments and more than soldiers. There are at least three regiments coming to attack Susong this time.

"If you surrender, you will have to accept the reorganization. You will all be reorganized according to the organization of the Shengwu Army, and the old and weak will be eliminated. Only 900 people will be retained in each battalion. Think about it for yourselves."

"He was only given a thousand households, and this thousand households don't even have a thousand people?" Chen Shida said with some dissatisfaction.

Yang Heng said, "What's the use of giving you a false title of Wan Hu? You don't have that many soldiers. Besides, even if you are given a Wan Hu, can you provide so many soldiers, weapons and armor?
“I don’t know whether you can afford it or not, but as long as you accept the reorganization, the weapons, armor and food will all be distributed by the Marshal’s Office. Since they dare to allow you to be a thousand households, you can provide these things.

"You guys don't know yet, right? Commander Lu has already opened a mine and smelted iron in Lujiang. He can now produce thousands of sets of armor every month, and he has no shortage of weapons and firearms. On the other hand, what do you have here?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingzu immediately said, "I don't care about them, but my two brothers have 3,000 soldiers each. I'm afraid it's not appropriate to only give me one thousand households each."

Yang Heng continued to refute, "General Xia, you should understand that it has only been a short time since you recruited the 3,000 soldiers under your command. How many of them are in armor? Can you gather all the weapons? If you really go up against General Lu's armored army, what chances do you have of winning?
"General Lu once said that if you feel that you have too many soldiers and a low rank, you can fight a battle first. We will see how many soldiers you have left and how high your rank will be. General Xia, do you think you can have as many soldiers as you want under General Lu?"

"This is too much. He doesn't even take us seriously at all?" Zhang Hongchao slammed the table and said angrily.

Yang Heng said, "Do you know how many soldiers General Lu has now? There are 16 infantry regiments, which add up to more than troops. This does not include the two cavalry regiments, which add up to nearly cavalry. There are also the Jiangfang Navy, Chaohu Navy, and Leichi Navy. The navy of the three regiments adds up to another or people. There are nearly troops under his command. South of the Huai River and west of the Yangtze River, several prefectures and cities belong to him, as well as dozens of cities and a vast territory of thousands of miles. Compared with your city and thousands of troops, what can you count for?"

Several people were shocked by Lu Jin's strength. They were at the southernmost part of Anqing Road and were not particularly sensitive to news from the north. In comparison, they were closer to Xu Song. But why did it sound like Lu Jin was stronger than Xu Song? !

Xu Song, a tiny country, was already an emperor, so why was Lu Jin still only a marshal?
(End of this chapter)