Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 345 Siege
In the lobby of Chaozhou County Government Office, nearly a hundred gentry, some wearing long shirts and some wearing blue round-collared robes, were sitting in the hall.
Chaozhou was originally an important place for the imperial examinations in Guangdong Province. Chaozhou was also the capital city, so there were many old officials and gentry with achievements in the city.

At this time, there was no one in the hall. The county magistrate had not arrived yet, and the gentry in the hall were gathered in their own places, talking in low voices.
Although Li Shichang was only a juren, his family had been in the imperial examinations for six generations and was very powerful in Chaozhou City, so his seat was very close to the front.
Weng Rulin looked at Li Shichang beside him and said in a low voice

"Brother Li, do you know why the county government suddenly summoned us here today?"

Li Shichang shook his head and said

"I just received the news this morning, but the county government is making such a big fuss today. It is most likely to announce the court's evil land distribution policy."

Weng Rulin looked around with a nervous expression, and whispered again
"Could it be that the county government discovered that we were exposing..."

When Li Shichang heard this, his expression changed immediately. Before Weng Rulin finished speaking, he interrupted him in a low voice.

"Brother Weng, be careful with your words!"

Weng Rulin was also awakened from his dream when he saw the stern look on Li Shichang's face. Of course, there were more than two or three gentry involved in the Jieyang incident, but this was in public, so how could he speak out easily?
Weng Rulin wiped the sweat from his forehead and immediately reacted, saying in a low voice

"Yes Yes"

Li Shichang looked at the uneasy Weng Rulin and was about to say a few words to comfort him, but at this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the hall, and then Qu Dajun, wearing a blue official robe, walked into the hall.
When the gentry in the hall saw Qu Dajun walk in, they quickly quieted down.

The official at the side came forward and reported quietly.

"Your Excellency, all eighty-six families of gentry in the city are here."

Qu Dajun nodded slightly, glanced at the serious-looking Chaozhou gentry below, and spoke directly

"You are all well-known figures in Chaozhou and have many connections with the court. I believe you are already aware of the recent controversy in the court."

"When the Qing invaded two years ago, Chaozhou opened its gates and surrendered to the enemy. This incident angered the court, so the court is preparing to confiscate half of the land of the rich families in Chaozhou as punishment."

The Chaozhou gentry below heard this and their faces darkened. In the eyes of the Chaozhou gentry, they were really wronged.
It was Gu Chaojian who opened the gate to meet the enemy. They were just forced to shave their heads. Besides, didn't they change their hair back immediately afterwards?

If the imperial court really wanted to punish them, they should have gone after Gu Chaojian, the one who opened the city and surrendered to the thieves. How could they be punished?

The Chaozhou gentry below were about to speak up to defend themselves, but before they could open their mouths, Qu Dajun above them had already waved his hand to stop them and continued
"The court has not yet reached a conclusion on this matter, but in my Chaozhou Prefecture, there are rebels who have colluded with bandits and are plotting to rebel against the court. This is truly a heinous crime."

"These traitors are here right now. I summoned you all here today to catch these traitors in Chaozhou City!"

The gentry in the field originally thought that Qu Dajun had summoned everyone here today to formally inform the court of the order to divide the land, but when they heard what Qu Dajun said, everyone below was in an uproar.

Among the gentry below, more than ten people's expressions changed immediately.

Everyone in the hall was shocked, but before they could react, dozens of soldiers in armor came out from both sides of the hall and surrounded the hall.
Dozens of imperial guardsmen were holding long swords. The gentry looked at the dozens of shining white blades. Everyone had a look of fear on their faces. The hall suddenly became quiet.

Qu Dajun had a cold expression on his face. He looked directly at Li Shichang below and said

"Li Shichang, you colluded with bandits and attempted to cause chaos in Chaozhou. Your crimes have been exposed, why don't you quickly bow your head and confess your guilt?"

Everyone in the room was horrified when they heard this. Some of the gentry who sat near Li Shichang even stood up in shock.
A trace of panic flashed across Li Shichang's face, but he quickly calmed down.

Li Shichang looked at Qu Dajun above him, a look of astonishment flashed across his face, and he said

"Mr. Qu, what do you mean by this?"

"My Li family has been a family of scholars for generations, and has been blessed by the emperor. How could we be in collusion with bandits? The county lord should stop joking."

Qu Dajun looked at Li Shichang below, shook his head slightly, and said directly

"come in"

As Qu Dajun finished speaking, a tall man in black walked into the hall. Wu Liuqi bowed to Qu Dajun and said:

"I am Wu Liuqi, a militia commander from Raoping. Nice to meet you all."

"I came here today to accuse Li Shichang of plotting treason and opposing the imperial court."

Wu Liuqi glanced at everyone in the field, then looked at Li Shichang on the left, a smile flashed across his face, and he spoke

"Mr. Li, do you still recognize me?"

Li Shichang was flustered when he saw Wu Liuqi, but he still tried to remain calm and shouted:

"Who knows you, this thief? Who are you? Who ordered you to slander my Li family?"

Wu Liuqi heard this, but shook his head, chuckled, and said

"Not long ago, Mr. Li personally came to Sanhe Village to ask Wu to send troops. Why is he pretending not to know him now?"

Wu Liuqi then told the story of how Li Shichang had repeatedly provided him with silver and rice, asking him to send troops to attack Raoping, and how he had agreed to help him seize the gate.
When the gentry heard this, they all looked horrified. If it was true as Wu Liuqi said, then Li Shichang was definitely plotting treason.

Wu Liuqi was talking about the Li family's previous delivery of silver and rice, but at this time Li Shichang shouted and interrupted Wu Liuqi. Li Shichang looked up at Qu Dajun and said loudly
"Your Excellency, this thief Wu Liuqi claims to be a militia leader, but everyone in Chaozhou knows that he is a real bandit."

"Several years ago, this man took advantage of the unrest in Chaozhou and secretly recruited refugees to form a bandit army. After gaining power, he occupied the Sanheba area in Raoping and killed passing merchants and travelers."

"After the Qing invaders invaded Chaozhou two years ago, this traitor went to Chaozhou to surrender to the invaders and was accepted as a fake official by the Qing invaders. All the gentry in Chaozhou can testify to this."

"After the Qing invaders were defeated, Wu Liuqi still lurked in Sanheba Village, recruiting refugees and plotting something sinister."

"This Wu Liuqi is a spy planted by the Qing invaders in our Ming Dynasty. Now this villain has fallen into the trap and falsely accused me. Please arrest him immediately and execute him on the spot. Do not be deceived by him."

A glimmer of hope flashed in the eyes of the dozen Chaozhou gentry below, and they were about to point out Wu Liuqi, but at this time Wu Liuqi sighed again

"Now that I am here, your conspiracy has been exposed. Li Shichang, what's the point of you denying it now?"

As soon as Wu Liuqi finished speaking, the soldiers outside the door escorted a wounded man into the hall.
Li Shichang looked at Li, whose skin was torn and flesh was torn apart, and his face finally became completely panicked. Li Shichang felt a blank in front of his eyes, and suddenly he fell to the ground.

The four gates of Jieyang City were closed, and thousands of rebels surrounded the North Gate of Jieyang.
Outside the north gate, in the front were more than 600 cavalrymen riding mules, and in the back were 5,000 to 6,000 infantrymen in linen clothes.

Some of the soldiers held axes, some held hoes and pitchforks, and some simply held sticks.

Thousands of chaotic soldiers were crowded together in a mess, but the hundreds of cavalrymen in the front ignored them and let the chaotic soldiers behind them shout and fight.
The infantry in the rear were in chaos, but suddenly more than ten cavalrymen rushed out from the cavalry formation in front.

Ma Lin led the cavalry to the city and soon found a familiar figure on the city wall.
Ma Lin pulled the reins and shouted

"Chen Yanyu, our nine armies have arrived at the city as promised. What are you waiting for? Open the city gates as soon as possible."

"Once we enter the city, we will immediately help you kill that bastard county magistrate."

On the top of the city wall, all the gentry who were helping to defend the city were shocked when they heard this. They looked at Chen Yanyu on the city wall.

The gentry looked suspicious, but Chen Yanyu remained calm and shouted directly at the city.
"Don't waste your efforts, you bandits. Jieyang City has already discovered your conspiracy. County Master Huang is now personally guarding the city walls. The people in the city are united. You bandits, don't even think about harming the people of Jieyang!"

"The imperial army is now heading for Jieyang. If you still want to survive, retreat quickly. Otherwise, once the imperial army arrives, you will be crushed to dust."

Chen Yanyu's shouts echoed from top to bottom of the city wall. Ma Lin looked at Chen Yanyu who was speaking righteously on the top of the city wall, and for a moment he was also shocked.
The nine armies had been besieging the city for several days. During this period, they had sent messages to the city several times according to the signals agreed upon in advance, but there was still no movement in the city.

Seeing that the strong city was difficult to break, Liu Gongxian had no choice but to let Ma Lin come to the front to speak.

Ma Lin tried to persuade Chen Yanyu several times, but was always driven away. Seeing that persuading Chen Yanyu to surrender was fruitless, Ma Lin had no choice but to pull his horse back to the battle formation.
In the cavalry formation, Ma Lin looked at Liu Gongxian in front of him with a puzzled look on his face and said

"Brother, do you think Chen Yanyu is crazy? He was eager to give us silver and food to ask us to send troops. Now that we are at the foot of the city, he is guarding the city. What tricks is Chen Yanyu playing?"

Liu Gongxian frowned, with a puzzled look on his face. He thought for a while, but still couldn't figure out what Chen Yanyu's intention was.
When Liu Gongxian first saw that the city gates were not open, he suspected that Chen Yanyu wanted to lure them out and kill them.
But after a thorough investigation, they did not find any ambushes outside the city. The Ninth Army had been besieging the city for five or six days. If the Ming court had any ambushes, they would have arrived long ago.

Liu Gongxian thought hard but to no avail, and his face was also irritable. He simply waved his hand and said

"Don't worry about him. Although we haven't been able to enter the city yet, we have already captured several large villages. It would be enough for us to go back to the mountains now."

Liu Gongxian glanced at the chaotic rebel army behind him and asked again

"Have you figured out why so many people came to join us this time?"

Liu Gongxian actually did not trust Chen Yanyu. The number of troops actually dispatched by the Ninth Army this time was only five or six hundred elite soldiers.
These people all rode on mules, so if there were ambushes in the city, they could evacuate at any time.
When Liu Gongxian and his men arrived at the city, there were only a few hundred of them, but after a few days of siege, their troops had swelled to five or six thousand.

When Liu Gongxian and his companions arrived at Jieyang City, they found that the area around Jieyang City was already in chaos, with people rising up in rebellion everywhere.

The Ninth Army captured Jieyang two years ago and killed and looted outside the city. Of course, they committed many crimes, but in other words, they were famous for their prestige.
After these rebel troops learned that the Ninth Army was attacking the city, they all came to surrender. It was precisely because of these local villagers leading the way that the Ninth Army was able to easily capture and plunder several large villages.

"After asking around, it was said that the Ming court wanted to forcibly seize the land in Chaozhou. The people felt that they had no way to survive, so they started a rebellion."

"These people killed the rich people in the village and felt that they had no way out. They also heard that we were attacking the city, so they came to surrender."

Liu Gongxian's face flashed with realization, and he sneered.

"It seems that the Huang in the city is indeed a dog official. But it's okay. If it weren't for this dog official who oppressed the people, how could we have looted so much property this time?"

Ma Lin heard this and agreed with it, and then he spoke

"So what should we do now? Chen has suddenly turned against us. Should we continue to besiege the city or just go back to the village?"

"No hurry. We have finally gathered so many people. It would be a shame to go back like this."

"Let's lead these rioters to attack the city and see if there is a chance to take advantage of the chaos."

Liu Gongxian glanced at the chaotic army behind him, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes.

They couldn't take these rioters away anyway, so they didn't care no matter how many were killed or injured. So they just drove them to attack the city.

(End of this chapter)