Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 98 Everyone is shocked to learn what happened in Dongcheng

Inside the west city of Jinyang.

In the Guo family's mansion in Taiyuan, Old Guo was kneeling in the main hall, and on both sides below him, Jiang Baoyi, Wen Dayou, Zhang Pinggao, Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Wu Shigui and others were all kneeling behind the wooden table.

The Wang family, the Tang family, the Di family, the Sun family, the Zhang family... every Taiyuan clan sent their representatives here and knelt in the main hall.

At the end of the list are the descendants of the Taiyuan Guo family: Guo Qiyan, Guo Qijing, Guo Shaozong, Guo Qizong, Guo Yizong, Guo Jingzong...

"Today, the bandit army has attacked the East City of Jinyang. I don't know how long Jinyang East City can hold out!"

"What I am most worried about is that if the captain surnamed Fu from East City surrenders the city to the enemy..."

"Yes! Previously, many officials, generals, and clans in the east and west cities had ridiculed him. In the past, he was a lieutenant, so he didn't dare to get angry. Now that the bandits have come, they can't help but want revenge..."

Inside the main hall, all the prominent clan members were waiting for news while whispering to each other.

Wen Dayou, a cavalry captain, knelt behind a wooden table in the light of many main lamps, looking at Mr. Guo sitting above, and then at the clan members in the main hall below, listening to the discussions around him with a helpless look on his face.

Among the Taiyuan clans who laughed at Fu Zihou at the beginning, apart from the young men, the older clan men also talked a lot about him. In fact, compared with those officials, generals, and clan men, these older clan men were the ones who looked down on Fu Zihou the most.

The other young men, like the Jinyang officials and generals, were basically all laughed at for Fu Zihou's actions.

On the other hand, the middle-aged men from the Taiyuan clan who were kneeling in the main hall now looked down on Fu Zihou from the bottom of their hearts after they learned that Fu Zihou came from a humble background.

In the past, as a member of the Wen family in Taiyuan, Wen Dayou had met these clan men in private and wanted to introduce Fu Zihou to him. However, due to Fu Zihou's background, these clan men, without exception, all found excuses to decline and did not take Fu Zihou seriously at all.

This is also why Fu Zihou has been in Jinyang for quite some time but has never met anyone from Jinyang’s clan.

Now seeing that the enemy had led an army of more than 100,000 to surround Jinyang, these people were all afraid that Fu Zihou would surrender the city to the enemy and thus help the bandits, so they wanted to take revenge on them.

Wen Dayou finally understood what his brother had said. Each and every famous family, even the noble families of a county, all boasted of centuries of accumulation and had clansmen all over the world. But if you really counted them carefully, you would find that you could only see arrogance among these people, and you couldn't find many people with real ability.

By candlelight.

Listening to the concerns of the clan members around him, Wen Dayou remained silent.

At this time, Wen Dayou was also asking himself this question in his heart.

Will Fu Zihou surrender?
Wen Dayou was unable to predict the final result. After all, he had only been in contact with Fu Zihou for a short time, and Fu Zihou was still so young. In the face of death, who could predict for sure?

In Wen Dayou's heart, he did not want Fu Zihou to surrender at the beginning. Not to mention that he was once mocked as a rat lieutenant by Jinyang officials, generals, and clans. If he surrendered, it would undoubtedly confirm the ridicule of the past. Even from the perspective of Li Lao's son-in-law, Wen Dayou did not want Fu Zihou to surrender. After all, Fu Zihou surrendered to the enemy as a Fenwu lieutenant, which would surely make the Sui Dynasty lose all its reputation. Li Lao's former political enemies would not let go of this point and would certainly humiliate Li Lao in front of Emperor Yang Guang.

But today, when Wen Dayou stood on the city road, looking at the East City of Jinyang on the other side of the Fen River, he listened to the clear sound of siege drums from the bandit army.

Wen Dayou suddenly changed his mind and hoped that Fu Zihou would choose to abandon the city and surrender.

Wen Dayou knew clearly that compared with the terrain of the West City, the East City would be completely defenseless without a moat. There were more than 100,000 bandits and soldiers outside the city. They were well-equipped and had many siege weapons. Defending the city was undoubtedly a dead end.

Fu Zihou is still so young, and choosing to surrender to save his life is not a bad thing.

What made Wen Dayou feel even more complicated was that he knew better than anyone that he had just been mocked by Jinyang officials, generals, and clan members. Even if Fu Zihou chose to die in battle, it would not change anything. There would still be people who mocked Fu Zihou for being incompetent, and there were even more people who complained that Fu Zihou could not hold the city longer.

Under such circumstances, it would have been a bit unfair for Fu Zihou to choose to defend the East City of Jinyang to the death when facing an army of more than 100,000 led by bandits to attack the city, and eventually lose his life.

"The people are back!"

"came back!"

While he was thinking, the sounds around him brought Wen Dayou back to his senses. When he learned that the person who went outside the city to exchange information had returned, Wen Dayou's face immediately became nervous.

Because there were Jiang Baoyi, Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, Zhang Pinggao and others in the West City of Jinyang, Wen Dayou's plan to send troops to rescue Fu Zihou and return to the West City was always blocked, which made Wen Dayou feel guilty.

Now Wen Dayou is very concerned about the situation in East City.

Afraid of hearing the news that Fu Zihou died in battle!
"how?"

When Mr. Guo, who was sitting in the main hall, saw Guo Qiuhan from the Yangqu branch of the Guo family coming back, he hurriedly asked.

Jiang Baoyi, Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, as well as Wang, Tang, Di, Sun, Zhang and others, saw the Guo clan members coming back, and they all looked at the man in silk clothes quietly.

“This is the roster!”

Under the gaze of everyone, Guo Qiuhan nodded quickly, then took out the list from his arms and handed it to his grandfather.

Everyone kneeling behind the wooden table in the main hall breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Guo Qiuhan bring back the list. As long as they had the list, things would be much easier; at least they would know where to start.

"There's one more thing this time!"

Guo Qiuhan said to his grandfather, panting.

Seeing that everyone around was looking at him, and seeing the looks his grandfather gave him after he handed the list to Jiang Baoyi, Guo Qiuhan's face was still filled with lingering fear.

"First, what is the situation in East City?"

Wen Dayou stood up without bothering to interrupt Guo Qiuhan. At the moment, Wen Dayou just wanted to know what the current situation was like in Jinyang East City and what situation it was facing.

"The thief general Zhen Zhai'er issued an order two days ago that after conquering East City, he would massacre the entire city for five days!"

In front of everyone, Guo Qiuhan looked at Wen Dayou and whispered the news.

"What? Massacre the city!!"

"Slaughter the city!"

After hearing Guo Qiuhan's words, the faces of everyone kneeling in the main hall changed drastically.

Not only officials and generals like Jiang Baoyi, Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing, and Zhang Pinggao, but also people from other clans, had not expected that these bandits would be so brutal.

Wen Dayou's eyes widened in a trance. When he heard the word "massacre", he knelt down behind the wooden table exhausted.

The thought of the young man I met in the past came to my mind.

As the bandits ordered a massacre in the city, Wen Dayou almost saw the fate of the young man.

This made Wen Dayou feel extremely ashamed. In the early years, it was Mr. Li who recommended him, so that he, Wen Dayou, could become a cavalry captain of the Yulin Army. But this time, when Mr. Li's grandson-in-law found him with Mr. Li's letter, he could only watch Mr. Li's grandson-in-law being killed by the rebels.

Wen Dayou asked himself in his heart, how would he have the face to see Mr. Li in the future?

"Why did the bandits order a massacre of the city just after arriving in Jinyang?"

Guo Qiuhan watched as everyone in the main hall heard the news that the bandits were going to massacre the city, and they all talked to each other in panic. Then he heard the puzzled voice of one of the officials, and finally he reacted and looked at his grandfather, ignoring what others were saying.

"The bandits ordered the massacre because they were forced into a corner by the East City!"

Guo Qiuhan spoke in front of everyone and his grandfather.

The officials, generals, and clan members who were already terrified by the news of the bandits' massacre in the city, were suddenly stunned when they heard Guo Qiuhan's words and looked at him with confusion.

At this moment, everyone doubted their own ears.

What does the bandit massacre have to do with Dongcheng? What does it mean to be cornered by Dongcheng? Now Jinyang Dongcheng is surrounded by a bandit army of 100,000. With such a huge disparity in manpower, how can it be said that Dongcheng is cornering the bandits?
"what is going on?"

"I do not know!"

Inside the main hall, people from all clans were discussing the matter, even the Guo clan members were whispering to each other.

Wen Dayou couldn't help but frown and look at Guo Qiuhan with a look of loss on his face.

"Qi Han, tell me what's going on!"

Mr. Guo and Jiang Baoyi looked at each other, then quickly looked at Guo Qiuhan, and asked anxiously with his old face.

"Do you remember that some time ago, in the East City on the other side of the river, there was a cloud of smoke..."

Guo Qihan spoke up.

When Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing heard Guo Qihan's words, they looked at each other like everyone else. They all remembered this incident. At that time, they were all confused about what happened in Dongcheng. Everyone was speculating whether Dongcheng had already fought with the bandit army. Now that they saw Guo Qihan mention this incident, they both felt that Guo Qihan must have known what happened in Dongcheng that day.

Pei Ji and Liu Wenjing looked at each other for only a moment, and after Guo Qiuhan finished speaking, he continued.

"Everyone's previous guesses were correct. The East City defenders had indeed engaged in battle with the rebels, but the process and results were beyond any of our expectations!"

Guo Qiuhan thought about what the thief had just said, and he couldn't help feeling a little dazed. He shook his head and paused, then looked to the left and right. Those confused clan members were looking at the Jinyang officials and generals.

"That day, it wasn't the bandits who attacked East City, but the Fenwu Commander of East City who took the initiative to lead 200 cavalrymen out of the city to fight against the bandits!"

Guo Qiuhan said.

"What! You took the initiative to leave the city?"

"Why did he take the initiative to leave the city?"

The moment Guo Qiuhan landed, voices of disbelief rang out all around. Not to mention those clan members who had never led troops before, even generals and officials like Zhang Pinggao, Jiang Baoyi, and Liu Wenjing looked at each other in bewilderment, not understanding how Fu Zihou could dare to lead his troops out of the city to fight when the enemy was so numerous and we were so few, with such a huge disparity in strength.

Amid everyone's puzzled gazes, Guo Qiuhan explained the reason.

When everyone learned that it was because the rebel general Zhen Zhai'er had sent people to capture the villagers around Jinyang and rushed them to the outside of the east city, and that Fu Zihou was leading his troops out of the city to rescue them, only then did everyone realize what was going on.

No wonder they saw smoke rising across the river.

It turns out he wanted to save people!

After Jiang Baoyi, Zhang Pinggao, Xu Shixu, Pei Ji, Liu Wenjing and others understood what was going on, their faces brightened. They did not expect that Fu Zihou would use the smoke to cover himself and get out of the city to rescue people.

Wu Shigui had never expected that the young man he had met in the past was so brave and courageous, and he couldn't help feeling a little emotional. Listening to the discussions around him, Wu Shigui, like the people from the clan, felt that facing the siege of an army of more than 100,000, with the enemy outnumbering us, it was irrational to go out of the city to rescue people. There was nothing wrong with being kind-hearted, but in that situation, there was no need to go out of the city to rescue people. Defending the city was the best thing to do.

"How is the result?"

When Wu Shigui heard Wen Dayou's question and looked at Wen Dayou's appearance, he felt a little emotional. Compared with other clans, the Wen clan of Taiyuan could really be considered to be loyal and righteous. Wen Dayou had been worried about the young man from the beginning to the end. In these days, he had many disagreements because of wanting to send troops, and was opposed by Zhang Pinggao and other generals of Yingyang Mansion, as well as officials such as Jiang Baoyi and Liu Wenjing.

Wu Shigui asked himself if he could do what Wen Dayou did. He could add icing on the cake, but if he were to provide timely assistance to a young man whom he had only met once and whom he had a good impression of, Wu Shigui asked himself if he could do it. This was why, since he came to Jinyang, even though there was only a river between West City and East City, Wu Shigui had never seen that young man again.

People must understand the general trend and know how to advance and retreat!

But now, Wu Shigui was also very curious about the outcome of that day.

"Just now outside the city, I heard from the thief that it seemed that the people could not be saved. The thief saw the smoke and ignored the thieves who were guarding the people. He directly ordered to shoot them all with arrows!"

Guo Qiuhan told Wen Dayou the news he heard.

In the main hall.

After hearing what Guo Qiuhan said, everyone took a deep breath, shook their heads and lamented the thief's cruel heart. Then they looked at each other and sighed at Fu Zihou's arrogance.

"Even if you have strategies, you can't beat the thugs' ferocity! It's so difficult to save people among a hundred thousand enemy troops!"

"Yes! That captain of East City underestimated the bandits' strategy! He was able to lead more than 100,000 bandits to raid Taiyuan and Jinyang, and was able to ambush and kill Pan Jianjun with twice the number of troops. How could that bandit general, that bandit general, be so foolish and incompetent!"

"I shouldn't have left the city..."

Under the candlelight, people kneeling behind wooden tables were talking about what was going on, and they all thought that Fu Zihou should not leave the city.

In the eyes of everyone, Fu Zihou had some talent, but he was still young after all. He underestimated the generals in the bandit army. It was already very good that Fu Zihou did not fear the enemy and surrendered the city when facing an army of 100,000 in Dongcheng. It was too unrealistic to want to save people.

"..."

Guo Qiuhan heard the discussions around him and looked a little strange. Why couldn't they just listen to him finish what he was saying?

Seeing that Old Man Sun, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Di and others were already commenting on the young captain from East City, Guo Qiuhan didn't know whether he should tell them what happened next.

If they were to tell these elders from other tribes that Fu Zihou not only saw through the bandit general's plan in the smoke, but also led his troops to surround the bandit general beside the moat at the critical moment, would these elders and uncles from other tribes be slapped in the face by their current evaluation, and feel ashamed or even embarrassed?

"Brother Guo! What does this have to do with the bandits' massacre of the city? Could it be that Zhen Zhai'er wanted to use the massacre of the city to stabilize the bandit army under his command?"

Xu Shixu listened to the discussions around him, thought about it, looked at Guo Qiuhan and asked.

Zhang Pinggao, Jiang Baoyi, Liu Wenjing and others nodded secretly in their hearts when they heard Xu Shixu's words. They all knew that although the other party was a bandit, they would still be cautious about actions like shooting their own people.

It is understandable that the bandit general Zhen Zhai'er used the massacre in the city to quell the panic of the bandit army.

"Qi Han! Is that true? Tell me now!"

Seeing Guo Qiuhan's hesitant look, as if he didn't want to say anything, not only were Jiang Baoyi, Liu Wenjing and others puzzled, even Mr. Guo asked anxiously.

"Yes Yes……"

After hearing his grandfather's urging, Guo Qiuhan turned around to look at the other clan elders who were kneeling on both sides, and then he gritted his teeth and told them what was going to happen next.

"It was Fu Zihou who chased down the bandit general Tu Ye on his own. Under the gaze of a bandit army of 100,000, he personally cut off the head of the bandit general Tu Ye!"

Guo Qihan spoke up.

In the main hall.

Hearing Guo Qiuhan's voice, the people kneeling behind the wooden tables under the candlelight all quieted down. The entire main hall was so quiet that even the rustling of trees in the wind outside the gate could be heard.

No one spoke, no one made a sound. Every one of them, including Wen Dayou with a stunned look on his face, Jiang Baoyi, Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji, Zhang Pinggao, Xu Shixu, and the people from each clan, all looked at Guo Qiuhan quietly.

"That day, Zhen Zhai'er sent General Tu Ye to lead a thousand cavalrymen to fight. Tu Ye ordered 500 cavalrymen to shoot arrows into the thick fog, and then he personally led 500 cavalrymen to bypass the north, preparing to attack the East City defenders from behind. Unexpectedly..."

Guo Qiuhan told everything that happened in full and accurately.

After saying that, looking at the elders from other clans who were still talking endlessly just now, as well as those officials and generals, all of whom now had expressions of surprise and disbelief on their faces, Guo Qiuhan felt it deeply, as he had just heard the same thing outside the city.

In the East City of Jinyang, which had no strategic location at all, a Fenwu Wei who served as the defender of the East City personally killed the bandit general Tu Ye under the noses of an army of more than 100,000 well-equipped bandits.

Anyone who hears this will be in a daze.

"So the bandits lost all face, got angry and ordered a massacre in the city!"

Di Dao whispered to himself.

Di Dao's voice was very low, but the main hall was extremely quiet at the moment, so everyone could hear Di Dao's voice.

Zhang Pinggao and Xu Shixu came back to their senses and looked at each other. It's not like they haven't been to the East City of Jinyang before. They are very familiar with the city walls and the plains outside the city. They thought, if it were them, in the thick smoke that day, could they achieve a surprise victory? Could they chase and kill the bandit general alone in front of the bandit army of 100,000?

"No! That happened a few days ago!"

When Guo Qiuhan heard what Uncle Di said, he was experienced and was afraid that the elders from other clans would not wait for him to finish speaking, so he quickly shook his head before anyone else said anything.

Under the gazes of Zhang Pinggao, Xu Shixu and others, Guo Qiuhan looked at his grandfather in front of everyone.

"I heard from the bandits outside the city that the real reason why Zhen Zhaier was so angry and ordered the massacre was that two days ago, the East City garrison commander Fu Zihou led his troops to attack the city at night, captured a bandit general, and caused the bandit army to lose a general!"

Guo Qiuhan told his grandfather in simple and horrified words.

After saying that, Guo Qiuhan saw his grandfather's old face tremble. Under the candlelight in the main hall, all the people around him were kneeling behind wooden tables, with their mouths slightly open, looking at him in shock and disbelief.

"Zi...Zihou!"

Wen Dayou looked dazed. He couldn't believe what he heard from Guo Qiuhan, nor could he believe what was happening on the other side of the river.

I think of the figure of the young man in the past! I think of the handwritten letter of Mr. Li in the past!

Thinking about the time when we were surrounded by an army of more than 100,000 bandits, we captured two bandit generals in a row!
For some reason, an idea popped up in Wen Dayou's mind.

This is... Mr. Li’s grandson-in-law!

(End of this chapter)