My father, King Chu, was besieged at Gaixia

Chapter 161 Public Execution
As the South Gate was completely breached, the stubborn Yan infantry were crushed and scattered, and the Chu cavalry and infantry outside the city continued to pour into the city.

Xiang Chang ordered the generals who were entering the city to split into three groups, with the infantry and cavalry cooperating with each other to rush and seize the remaining three city gates: "We must take them down as soon as possible, forming a situation of closing the gates and beating the dogs, and surrounding the Great Yan army in the city. Remember, if you encounter the Great Yan army on the way, you must not fight to the death, as long as you block the exit, the meat will rot in the pot!"

Yan State is located in a cold place, and the soldiers are very resistant to hard fighting. This battle in particular made Xiang Chang see their strength. If the noble generals of the kingdom escape, they will definitely recruit troops and resist continuously. If they are not careful, the Chu army will be pinned down here and unable to escape. However, the Chu army is in a tight time and cannot let them succeed.

The generals received the order and rushed towards the other three city gates with great speed and high morale.

The defense of the city gates is outward-looking, not inward-looking. If you attack from the outside, it would be extremely difficult to take it down in a short period of time without an absolute advantage in military strength, a super-strong army, and complete siege equipment.

However, attacking from the inside is much easier and as simple as picking up something, it only requires a little effort of bending down.

As the three routes of the Chu army rushed straight to the other three city gates, the remaining Chu army wielded spears and swords, entered the streets and alleys like mercury, and cleared out the Yan defenders who were strangling the city.

The Chu army showed no mercy to the Yan army who were resisting stubbornly in the streets and alleys and refused to surrender. They directly used crossbows to attack them, killing most of them, and then sent spearmen to stab them to death.

At this point, even if you surrender, no one will be left alive.

Under the escort of a group of personal cavalry guards, Xiang Chang climbed up the south city wall and overlooked the Ji County City, which was now filled with smoke and the sounds of fierce fighting.

As the capital of the Great Yan State, Ji County was no different from other cities except that its walls were taller and thicker and its city walls were larger. It had absolutely no resemblance to the magnificent and huge international metropolis in Xiang Chang's mind.

Xiang Chang shook his head, laughed at himself, and completely discarded the dreamlike thoughts that emerged in his mind.

After being in this world for such a long time, as he integrated more and more deeply into it and gradually felt like a fish in water, he began to feel that his previous life was more like a dream and the world before him was the real one.

He looked up at the setting sun in the west, the endless barren wasteland, the howling of ghosts and wolves in the north wind, the dark sky with heavy clouds, the waving flags beside him, the majestic appearance of the guards, and the occasional sounds of fighting in the city. He suddenly felt a strong emotion and paced the top of the city with his hands behind his back, chanting in a slow voice:

"The king was frightened when he saw the Yantai Tower, and the sound of horns and drums was heard in the Chu generals' camp.

Thousands of miles of cold light gave rise to snow, and the lights on the three sides moved in danger.

The flames of war on the battlefield invade the Hu moon, and the clouds and mountains by the sea surround Jicheng.

Although I have never been a clerk, I would like to ask for a long-term position based on my merits."

Just when the eldest son of the Great Chu State was feeling romantic and standing on the top of the Yan City wall reciting poems to show off, Qu Fu, covered in blood, hurriedly ran up to the top of the city wall to tell him the good news.

The three city gates of Ji County have all been captured, and the battle in the city is nearing its end. At this time, only the royal palace has not been captured yet, where Zang Tu led some nobles and generals in the city to retreat.

In addition, the eldest son of Dayan, Zang Yan, and the general Gao Mao, with 10,000 cavalry, escaped from the north gate first, which made Xiang Chang's strategy of catching the turtle in the jar fail.

As for the private treasury of King Zangtu of Yan, the national treasury of the kingdom, and the military treasury of the Yan army, they all fell into the hands of the Great Chu Army.

Qu Fu came here to ask Xiang Chang to go and check the spoils.

Xiang Chang also became interested when he heard this, and followed Qu Fu down the city wall and rode forward.

Arriving outside the Yan Kingdom Palace, Xiang Chang shook his head and sneered when he saw that the palace was built in a grand and luxurious manner, towering and majestic.

Under the command of their respective generals, the soldiers of the Great Chu Army continued to attack deep into the palace. When they saw Xiang Chang and his party, they all looked excited, raised their weapons, cheered and saluted.

Xiang Chang nodded, waved, and smiled, and followed Qu Fu's lead to the private treasury of Yan Wang Zang Tu, which was located next to the royal palace.

Qu Fu ordered the soldiers to push open the heavy stone door of the warehouse and said excitedly: "The grain warehouse and armory of Yan State are just so-so, nothing special to see. Zang Tu's private warehouse, and even the kingdom's warehouse, are very impressive."

Xiang Chang walked in and saw that the room was filled with gold, silver, jewels, rhinoceros shells, silks and satins, countless in number, and glittering jewels everywhere. He shook his head, obviously lacking interest, and after a quick look, he casually said, "The rewards for the soldiers should be taken from now on," and walked out with his hands behind his back.

The kingdom's treasury was not far away, and it was also extremely full, filled with gold, silver, coins, cloth, and land deeds.

Xiang Chang nodded indifferently and said mockingly, "Yan is located in a very cold place, but its wealth is more abundant than that of Linjiang, Hengshan and other kingdoms. Zang Tu, the King of Yan, is good at making money. He must have been afraid of poverty since he was a child. Humph, so many riches are piled up in the warehouse to gather dust instead of being fully utilized. How stupid!"

Seeing that Xiang Chang was not very interested in these gold and silver items, Qu Fu peered at his expression, thought for a while, and led him out of the palace to two other warehouses not far away.

Xiang Chang followed Qu Fu into a warehouse that was obviously dirty. Before he even walked in, a strong smell of mutton hit his nose.

Xiang Chang didn't take it seriously. Instead, his eyes lit up and his pace suddenly quickened.

Sure enough, the warehouse was filled with cow, sheep, wolf, dog and other skins. A quick look showed that there were probably tens of thousands of them, with cow and sheep skins being the most numerous.

As for the smaller storehouse next to it, it was filled with high-quality furs of deer, tigers, leopards, foxes, etc.

When Xiang Chang saw it, he clapped his hands and shouted "good" repeatedly. At the end, he asked in confusion: "Yan State doesn't produce cattle or sheep, so how can there be so many furs?"

The lack of cotton was not a big deal in the old Chu land, as the winter was not too cold. In places like Yan, Han, Zhao, and Qi, the cold was unbearable, and the soldiers of the Great Chu relied on robes to keep warm, especially at night, when they were shivering with cold. Many of the soldiers of the Great Chu who attacked Yan were frostbitten. Now with such a large number of furs, it can be regarded as a great relief to the urgent need.

Qu Fu curled his lips in disdain and said, "I asked the captured officials of Great Yan. Zang Tu is not very good at governing a country, but he is good at doing business. The land of Great Yan borders the Xiongnu. He bought grain, cloth, pottery, military weapons, etc. from the Central Plains and then traded with the Xiongnu." Xiang Chang suddenly realized and his face darkened: "So, this guy also traded spears, halberds, arrows, swords and other military weapons and iron tools from the Central Plains with the Xiongnu?"

Qu Fu nodded.

Xiang Chang took a deep breath, his eyes flashed with cold light, and he said slowly: "This fellow deserves to die!"

Qu Fu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Zang Tu is not completely useless. In addition to these furs, he has several large ranches in the northeast and northwest of the city, raising more than 25,000 first-class war horses. He also traded all these horses from the Xiongnu."

Xiang Chang took a deep breath when he heard this, and asked impatiently, "Didn't Zang Yan take away 10,000 cavalrymen when he escaped? The remaining cavalrymen are still 25,000 horses?"

Qu Fu nodded heavily.

Xiang Chang was inexplicably surprised.

These 25,000 war horses are extremely valuable to the Chu army. They are enough for the Chu army to form a powerful cavalry.

He secretly realized: the Huns were not fools. If Zang Tu did not take out the hard currency that the Huns coveted, such as halberds, spears, swords, arrows, etc., there was no way they would be willing to trade him so many war horses!

The Chu army defeated Han Wangxin in Jixian city in a decisive battle, which frightened the Yan army. Even though they had a large number of horses, they did not dare to go out of the city to fight. They all chose to rely on the city walls to hold their ground, which led Xiang Chang to misunderstand that "Dayan did not have many cavalry".

At this time, General Li Yi, who was in charge of the attack on the Yan Palace, led a team of Chu soldiers and roughly escorted a group of Yan generals and officials who were dressed in luxurious robes but looked frightened and unkempt, to come and present prisoners to Xiang Chang.

The leader was as fat as a pig, panting like a bellows and walking with difficulty. He was King Zang Tu of Yan.

Just now, the palace of Dayan was forcibly breached, and all the remaining high-ranking officials of Dayan, including Zang Tu, were captured.

——This means that the entire Ji County, and even the entire Yan Kingdom, fell into the hands of the Chu.

Xiang Chang nodded to Li Yi with a smile, then stepped forward to encourage the escorting soldiers. He didn't even bother to look at Zang Tu and other members of the Dayan royal family and dignitaries. He waved his hand like flicking a fly, indicating that they should be dragged away and killed.

Faced with this outcome, the reaction of the high-ranking officials of the Great Yan Kingdom was beyond the expectations of the generals of the Great Chu. They did not curse Xiang Chang, but turned around and shouted at their king Zangtu, cursing: "Old thief, we have wanted to surrender for a long time, but we have been forced by you to resist until now, and now it's all over. You damned fat pig, why didn't you die earlier!"

These powerful people knew that if they were killed, their families would be destroyed, and the wealth accumulated by their families for generations would be gone. Therefore, they hated Zang Tu, the instigator, to the core.

After conquering Zhuo County, Xiang Chang did not massacre the city like his brutal father had done. Instead, he used iron-blooded means to thoroughly plow the aristocratic families in the city. All direct relatives were killed, and all the side branches were banished to Chu as slaves. As for the property and land, they were looted.

In the past, when the Overlord massacred a city, most of the noble families in the city had fled in advance, and the vast majority of those slaughtered were ordinary people. Therefore, after the Great Chu withdrew its army, the powerful in the city returned, raised their arms and called on the people who had been hiding everywhere and luckily survived, with deep hatred for the Great Chu, immediately responded, causing the city that had just surrendered to rebel again.

Therefore, it can be said that the King's massacre in the city killed a lot of people, but apart from tarnishing his own name, it did not scare many people. Instead, it made the number of enemies increase and their attitude of resistance became more and more determined.

Xiang Chang's current disturbance can be said to have hit the aristocratic family right in the vital spot.

The powerful and aristocratic families who managed to escape returned later to find that not only had their families been destroyed, but their lifeblood, the land, had also been distributed to the untouchables. Not only did their calls for the untouchables to rebel again receive no response, but in order to get the land back, they had to fight with the untouchables until they were bleeding and their brains were spilling out.

The high-ranking officials of the Great Yan Kingdom were all smart people, so they were completely frightened by the previous incident in Zhuo County. When they heard that Xiang Chang's army was about to arrive at the city, in order to protect the long-term prosperity and wealth of their families, they tried their best to lobby King Zang Tu, hoping that he would surrender the country.

But Zang Tu scolded and rebuked them, beheaded the two ministers who had the most resolute attitude, and assured them that both Zhao and Han would send large armies to rescue, the situation was very good, and Ji County would never be breached. Only then did he barely suppress their restlessness.

Now, it's too late, and these powerful people have no right to harbor resentment towards it.

Zang Tu turned a deaf ear to the insults from the powerful and remained calm.

What a joke! If he didn't have this much thickness and couldn't handle such a small situation, he wouldn't have been able to build up such a huge foundation from being a lowly person.

"My Lord, I am more useful to your Chu if I am alive." Zang Tu stretched his short, fat neck and struggled to shout to Xiang Chang with a fiery look, as if he had seen a loved one he hadn't seen for many years. "As long as you let me go, I can call back my son Zang Yan who escaped, so that he will no longer be an enemy of Chu, and you can also get a powerful cavalry for free. In addition, I can also go as an envoy to the Xiongnu and continue my dealings with them, so that your Chu will not only become wealthy in the shortest time, but also will never have to worry about the shortage of war horses again."

When Li Yi, who was standing by, heard this, he was shocked: this guy let his son escape not out of good intentions, but had already used his son and the 10,000 cavalrymen he took away as bargaining chips in negotiations with the Chu State.

"As the saying goes, 'Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs.' With a father like this, it would be better to kill him with a knife as soon as possible!" Qu Fu, who was standing behind Xiang Chang, was also stunned. He shook his head repeatedly with a look of disdain on his face.

"Zang Tu, you really haven't changed your old ways! Last time, in order to become the king of a place, you rebelled against your old master; now, in order to survive, you've gone even further and even sold your own son! Tsk tsk, you have no bottom line and no shame. If I really let you go, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep well in the future." Xiang Chang said contemptuously.

When Zang Tu heard this, his confident fat face was shocked. He didn't expect that even though he was so valuable, he still couldn't impress Xiang Chang.

"I will issue a hunt down and kill your son. You'd better hope that he is smart enough to escape far away and hide his name, otherwise he will be killed by me sooner or later. As for the business collusion with the Huns and the trade of war horses you mentioned, hehe, you don't have to worry about it. From now on, the Huns will become a part of my Great Chu and specialize in raising horses for my people!" Xiang Chang said coldly.

Zang Tu knew that he was going to die today, and his face was filled with sadness. Hearing Xiang Chang's last words, he laughed crazily: "You want to deal with the Xiongnu the same way you dealt with Dayan, and turn them into horse breeders for your kingdom. Haha, I have to say, you really dare to think like that! You don't know how powerful the Xiongnu are! Maodun Chanyu will let you know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is."

Xiang Chang frowned upon hearing this, and Qu Fu glared at Meng Xia next to him.

Meng Xia immediately ordered the soldiers to drag Zang Tu and all the high-ranking officials of Dayan to the square in front of the palace and publicly executed them in front of the people of the city.

(End of this chapter)