Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 82: Capture Chu Bo, Jinyang is in danger

"Please, Captain, let us out! I am the son of the Cang Governor..."

"Get out of my way! I am the son of the chief clerk of Jinyang..."

"Let me go to West City quickly, my grandfather is the mayor of East City..."

The morning sun rises slowly over the mountains in the east.

On the top of the city wall, a soldier holding a bow and crossbow was looking at the people gathered in the city. The order they received was not to let anyone leave.

"Colonel Captain!"

Lai Bo came to Fu Zihou and bowed.

Fu Zihou nodded, then looked down at the city wall, sizing up the group of people who were clamoring to leave the city. He paid more attention to the men than the women.

"Bring someone with me!"

Fu Zihou said to Lai Bo, and then walked down the city wall.

"Colonel Captain!"

"Captain!!"

In front of the city gate, a soldier holding a long spear saw Fu Zihou coming and hurriedly raised the spear.

"Open the door quickly, we want to leave the city!"

"Let us out now!!"

The men, women and girls who had been clamoring to leave the city, when they saw Fu Zihou coming, suddenly started shouting excitedly, asking Fu Zihou to give the order quickly and let them leave the city.

These people were not fools. They had heard that there was a large rebel army stationed outside the city and that they would soon attack East City. They all understood that if they wanted to save their lives, they had to go to West City as soon as possible.

"Your grandfather is the mayor of East City, why is he not in the city?"

Fu Zihou, along with Lai Bo and other soldiers, came forward and stood in front of a man. The man was stunned and was about to explain, but Fu Zihou didn't listen and looked at another man who was shouting.

"You are the son of the Chief Clerk of Jinyang. What rank is the Chief Clerk of Jinyang? How does he compare to me?"

Fu Zihou looked directly at the man and asked.

The man named Wang Shu, who had been arrogant in front of the East City soldiers, suddenly became evasive when he heard Fu Zihou's words.

"Fenwu Wei is from the sixth rank!"

Wang Shu said helplessly that counties were divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. Even the chief clerk of an upper-level county was only of the eighth rank, naturally not as good as a colonel.

But he looked at the eyes of his friends around him, and the beautiful concubines and maids beside him.

"Captain! I just want to leave East City and go to West City! Captain, don't you want to deny that?"

Wang Shu looked dissatisfied and asked Fu Zihou.

"That's right! We just want to get out of town!"

"Captain, please let us out of the city!"

After hearing Wang Shu's words, the people around the man, both men and women, looked at Fu Zihou.

"There are traitors among you! I have already issued an order that no one can leave the city!"

Fu Zihou faced everyone's gazes and explained quietly. Just as he was about to lead his men past Wang Shu, he suddenly heard a shouting voice.

"If the captain doesn't agree, just say so. Why do you have to use the excuse that there are traitors inside? What do you think?"

Wang Shu saw that Fu Zihou's tone was not harsh, and he immediately gained confidence and spoke to the people around him.

Considering that although the rank of the chief clerk was not high, his power and position were very great, it was no exaggeration to say that everyone in Jinyang, whether the dignitaries, heroes or common people, had to give him some face.

What's more, he is surrounded by his good friends. This young Fenwu Wei, who has just arrived in Jinyang, does not have much courage to begin with. Wang Shu does not believe that this young man can be indifferent to the public opinion now.

"That's right!"

"We just want to go to West City, why is the captain making things difficult for us?"

"We don't want to stay in East City and wait to die..."

Seeing this, the men and women around also echoed the words. However, before they could say a few words, they saw that the young captain directly ordered people to arrest Wang Shu.

"Inciting riots, take him to jail!"

Fu Zihou didn't waste any time and gave the order directly.

"How dare you! Just wait, I will ..."

Seeing Wang Shu struggling and cursing, as if he was going to threaten the soldiers, Fu Zihou saw another man pointing at him and looking at other people around him, preparing to incite others.

Fu Zihou raised his hand, placed it on the hilt of the sword, and drew the sword in an instant. In the horrified eyes of everyone around him, he took a step forward and stabbed the sword into his abdomen with all his might.

“Ah~! You…”

The man turned around in pain and looked at Fu Zihou in disbelief.

The man never imagined that Fu Zihou would dare to kill someone in public. He covered the sharp sword with both hands and knelt on the ground trembling.

"Anyone who incites unrest will be killed without mercy!"

Fu Zihou drew out his bloody sword and gave the order in a cold voice.

The moment Fu Zihou finished speaking, the soldiers behind him pointed their spears at the men, and the soldiers on the top of the city also held longbows and shot arrows at the men.

At this moment, the descendants, clansmen, women and girls of the West City officials finally became afraid and shut their mouths and stepped back.

Looking at the way the East City soldiers were looking at them now, who had always been humble and submissive to them in the past, these people realized that if the Fenwu Wei spoke, the soldiers guarding the city would really take action.

Wang Shu knelt on the ground, looking at his friend lying in a pool of blood with shock. His eyes were expressionless and his body was shaking slightly.

Really killed someone!

However, before Wang Shu, the son of a powerful family, could think about it, he saw with his own eyes, in horror, his friend being lifted up to the barricade by the young captain and held his head up. Then the young captain raised the sword with both hands and slashed down with all his might.

"what!!"

"Ah~"

In an instant, the city gate was filled with the screams of fear from men and women.

Everyone watched the bloody head rolling to the ground, their hands and feet became weak, and they looked at the young man with fear in their eyes. They saw the young captain holding a bloody sword and having blood splattered on his body but he remained calm.

Muran recalled that during this period of time, everyone had been talking about this young man behind his back, calling him a rat.

Looking at the appearance of this young man, everyone finally realized how absurd his previous remarks were.

What kind of rat lieutenant is this? They have never seen a man so young who can kill and behead people so quickly and efficiently and still look so calm afterwards.

Under the city gate.

In fact, it was not just the men and women who didn't expect this, even the soldiers guarding the city didn't expect that Fu Zihou would be so decisive in drawing his sword and killing people. This also made the soldiers think of the rebels outside the city, and inexplicably added some courage to their hearts.

"You are afraid! You can write a letter to West City for help. I will find a way to help you get it there. But if anyone dares to incite speech and cause unrest in the city, no matter who it is, they will be charged with treason!"

Fu Zihou looked at the people around him and shouted sternly.

Seeing everyone looking at him in fear, Fu Zihou led his soldiers forward step by step from the crowd, and then came to the two men in the crowd.

"Where are you from?"

Fu Zihou directly raised the bloody sword and placed it on a man's neck.

"Captain, I am Chu Bo, a businessman traveling between Luoyang and Taiyuan! Captain, rest assured, Chu Bo will never think of leaving! I will live and die with Dongcheng!"

Chu Bo explained to Fu Zihou in a panic, his tone full of humility, and then respectfully took out his ID card from his sleeve pocket, motioning Fu Zihou to take a look.

Chu Bo was not worried that his identity as a Shanggu person would be discovered, not only because of the identity card, but more importantly, there were shops arranged in the East City and West City of Jinyang that could testify for him, and Fu Zihou could find out all of this.

"Who among these people around you is related to you and can testify?"

Fu Zihou did not put down his sword, but looked at Chu Bo and asked.

After seeing Chu Bo pointing at three men nearby, Fu Zihou directly ordered Lai Bo to take people to arrest all four men in front of everyone.

"Captain! What do you mean? Please let us go. We just came here to take a look. Now that you won't let us leave the city, we will go back!" Chu Bo looked at the soldiers who were holding him with a puzzled look on his face, and then looked at Fu Zihou in confusion.

"On the top of the city wall, I noticed that the way you and the others looked at me was wrong. They were all very anxious, even the people around you were very anxious, but only when you looked at me, it was as if you were sizing me up."

Fu Zihou put down the bloody sword, looked at Chu Bo who was trying to argue, and suddenly laughed.

"It wasn't until you said you were a businessman that I was sure you were the thief's spy! I know better than you what a businessman who travels around is like!"

After Fu Zihou finished speaking, he asked Lai Bo to take the man to the jail.

After a while.

On the wall of East City, a soldier was guarding the city road. Suddenly, when he saw the army attacking again on the plain far outside the city and found that their number was several times more than last night, the faces of all the soldiers changed instantly.

Captain Zhou Xingyao was not in a much better situation. Looking at the number of bandits, he realized how serious the situation was this time and quickly sent someone to report to Fu Zihou.

However, not long after, when looking at the rebel army outside the city, Zhou Xingyao saw something and his face was full of fear. Then he ran on the city road and hurriedly walked down the city ladder.

In a mansion closest to the east city gate, as the people from the noble families who originally lived there were taken to the barracks, the mansion was requisitioned by Fu Zihou.

"Captain, the number of bandits we see now is probably at least 70,000. Although we have a moat, those bandits are also equipped with armor, and from the looks of it, they seem to be well-trained..."

In the meeting room, Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong and others reported to Fu Zihou. At this moment, everyone's face was not very good. Although they did not dare to speak out loud at the emperor's scolding of Yang Guang, they could not help cursing Yang Guang countless times in their hearts.

There is only one possibility for there to be more than 70,000 pieces of armor and supplies, and that is the bandits from the border counties of Shanggu and Yuyang. Yang Guang launched three expeditions to Goguryeo, and each time he left countless pieces of armor and supplies in the north and Goguryeo.

"More than 70,000 bandits, all wearing armor and obeying orders, how can they be called bandits? They are no different from a regular army!"

"But I don't understand, if these bandits are from Shanggu and Yuyang counties, why don't they go south from Hebei Tu County and other places? As long as they can defeat General Yang Yichen in Tu County and other places, they can enter the wealthy Hebei counties!"

Wu Liuzi, Ma Huer, Cao Yong, Xia Jia, Xiong Ruixiang and others were also discussing it.

By now Cao Yong and the other two had also put on their armor. Before Fu Zihou incorporated them into Yingyang Mansion, he had already told them that Fu Zihou's original plan was that he had not expected the rebel army to arrive suddenly.

When Fu Zihou asked them whether they wanted to go to West City to avoid the riot, the three of them resolutely refused and chose to stay with Fu Zihou.

In the battle of Qinghe County, the three men admired Fu Zihou very much. The money Fu Zihou gave them afterwards was enough for them to settle their families. Now that they came to Jinyang, they all wanted to stay with Fu Zihou. Even if there was a large army of rebels outside the city, they would not regret it.

Back then, outside the city of Xin County, they chose to believe Fu Zihou, and here, they were also willing to follow Fu Zihou.

"They want to seize Jinyang, and then rely on the terrain of Taiyuan to plot against Chang'an and Luoyang!"

Fu Zihou looked at the map and explained to everyone.

"This group of bandits are here to seize the world!"

As soon as Fu Zihou finished speaking, while Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong and others looked solemn, they saw Zhou Xingyao hurriedly running into the meeting room.

"Captain, it's bad! Outside the city, outside the city, the bandits outside the city are already assembling ladders, battering rams, siege towers, earth-filling carts, and catapults..."

Zhou Xingyao said with a look of horror, pointing outside the city.

Hearing Zhou Xingyao's words, the expressions of Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong and others changed instantly. Everyone understood what these siege weapons represented.

At this moment, everyone couldn't help but look at Fu Zihou.

"If they want to push their large equipment over, they first need to fill up the many inclined pits we dug, and then use landfill trucks to continuously fill up the moat. This will take quite a while!"

Fu Zihou also did not expect that the bandits outside the city who were going to attack Taiyuan County had almost all the equipment of a normal army, even more than he expected.

"Immediately take people to the tower and build a high platform to prevent the wells from threatening the city after the battle. Take out all the iron hooks from the warehouse and hang them on the city gates to prevent rams from rushing in. Also, move all the city defense equipment and arrows to the city roads! I will go to the barracks to meet those East City families and ask them to mobilize the men in the city to defend the city together. Also, let the women in the city have a good rest. They have to repair the damage caused by the catapults to the city walls during the day at night. As for the bulldozers..."

When Fu Zihou thought of this, he realized that the well-prepared bandits would definitely smear wet mud on the wooden boards in front of the earth-filling cart to guard against burning arrows.

"I personally selected the troops and sent them out of the city in turns to harass!"

Fu Zihou ordered.

"Here!"

"Here!!"

After hearing Fu Zihou's methodical instructions, Hu Jingyuan, Yin Tianzong and the others, for some reason, felt at ease.

As older people, they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts that having a general who is confident in his plans can really stabilize people's hearts and morale, and even determine the victory or defeat of a war.

........................

Inside the west city of Jinyang.

In the meeting room of Yingyang Mansion, Wen Dayou, Zhang Pinggao, Xu Shixu, Jiang Baoyi, Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji and others all stood in front of the layout.

"Report! Scouts have reported that the size of the rebel army on the other side of the Fen River has exceeded 90,000!"

A soldier hurried into the mansion and reported to Wen Dayou and others.

"Ninety thousand!"

When Zhang Pinggao heard the soldiers' words, he looked at Wen Dayou. Both his expression and eyes were filled with worry and solemnity.

"The rebels on the other side are preparing to attack Taiyuan County!"

When Xu Shixu thought of the 90,000 armored thieves on the other side of the river, a scene emerged in his mind where the entire Taiyuan County, except for the West City, had fallen into the hands of the thieves.

By then, not only will the message not be delivered, I'm afraid that the west city of Jinyang will be constantly attacked by thieves.

"I don't know how long Dongcheng can hold on!"

Xu Shixu said.

After hearing Xu Shixu's words, everyone in the meeting room, not to mention Zhao Wenke, Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji and others, even Jiang Baoyi, didn't know what to say.

Before this, Jiang Baoyi had already made plans and was ready to report to Luoyang and advise the Fenwu Wei.

At this moment, the scale and number of the rebel army on the plains on the east bank of the Fen River not only slapped the faces of all the officials and generals in Jinyang, but even Jiang Baoyi was not much better off.

"We must find a way to rescue East City!"

Wen Dayou spoke up, and when he thought of Fu Zihou in the East City on the other side of the river, his heart was filled with worry.

Now thinking back to what Fu Zihou said some time ago, Wen Dayou regretted why he didn't help Fu Zihou before and transfer more food, clothing and armor from the West City warehouse to the East City for defense.

"There are too many rebels on the other side of the river! These rebels are not ordinary rebels. We suffered a loss yesterday. If we rashly send troops again and are used by the rebels, West City will be in danger!"

Zhao Wen Ke said that he did not recommend sending troops from Xicheng.

"But if we sit back and do nothing, once East City falls, West City will be next!"

Wen Dayou couldn't bear it any longer and glared at Zhao Wenke.

Zhao Wenke is timid and afraid of death by nature. In the past, when Pan Changwen was around, Wen Dayou could still give Zhao Wenke face. But now, if Zhao Wenke stops the rescue of Dongcheng because of fear, Wen Dayou doesn't mind breaking up with him.

"Captain Wen is confident that he can lift the siege of East City?"

There was also some anger on Zhao Wenke's face. Wen Dayou was the cavalry captain of Yingyang Prefecture, and he was also the Sima of Yingyang Prefecture. Although his rank was low and he could not stop Wen Dayou, it did not prevent him from questioning whether Wen Dayou was willing to take responsibility and how he could take responsibility.

"All right!"

Jiang Baoyi advised softly at this time, knowing that there must be no division in West City at the moment, otherwise there would be internal strife before the thieves attacked the city.

When Liu Wenjing and Pei Ji saw this scene, they frowned and then looked at each other helplessly.

Without Pan Changwen, the disadvantages began to appear, and everyone had their own opinions and their reasons.

Right now Wen Dayou wants to send troops to rescue Dongcheng, but he needs Zhang Pinggao's consent, after all, Zhang Pinggao is also a cavalry captain.

"Report, we found the rebel army on the other side of the river assembling ladders, battering rams, siege towers, earth-filling vehicles, and catapults..."

A soldier came into the meeting room with a panicked look and reported to everyone.

Hearing this, both Wen Dayou, who was furious, and Zhao Wenke, who was resentful, looked at the soldier in astonishment.

Jiang Baoyi, Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji, Zhang Pinggao and others were not much better off. They all realized how serious and dangerous the situation was that Jinyang and even the entire Taiyuan County were facing this time.

As officials and generals of the Sui Dynasty, they were well aware that most of the bandits hated the officials of the Sui Dynasty. Once Jinyang fell, if they fell into the hands of those bandits, they would definitely not have a good end.

Thinking of this, everyone felt heavy in their hearts.

(End of this chapter)