Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 589 A Poisonous Scheme and the Firing of the Cannon (11,000 words)

The north wind, sharp as a knife, whipped up snowflakes as it swept across the frozen moat. The surface gleamed with a deathly bluish-black light, and hundreds upon hundreds of the attackers' corpses lay frozen in the ice, still poised to strike the walls. Torches on the city walls flickered in the wind, reflecting the white breath exhaled by the defenders behind the crenellations, which instantly froze into frost, clinging to their brows.

"boom!"

The battering ram, covered in iron, crashed into the steel-clad wooden door once more.

The wet cowhide covering the mallet had long since frozen solid, and ice shards flew out with each strike.

Just then, scalding hot tung oil suddenly poured down from the top of the wall, drenching the heads of the soldiers pushing the hammer. As soon as screams of agony began, rockets followed one after another, instantly turning more than twenty men into writhing balls of fire. The stench of burning flesh mixed with the crackling sound of burning flesh filled the air, and was quickly torn apart by the cold wind.

A ladder was erected on the six-zhang-high city wall, and logs and boulders poured down. A young soldier was struck in the shoulder by a boulder, and the crisp sound of his spine breaking could be clearly heard. As he tumbled down, his fingers dug into the ice wall, leaving five scarlet streaks on the blue bricks. The moment he fell into the moat, the ice cracked open with a "crack," and then there was no more sound.

Arrows rained down from the loopholes on the city wall, and the densely packed peasant army charging forward was immediately struck by the arrows. Blood gushed from their abdomens, chests, and shoulders, splashing onto the pure white snow and blooming into dazzling mandalas.

Jincheng Prefecture!
The fierce fighting continues.

With almost every breath, countless people perished in pools of blood.

This is the closest prefectural city to Dongshan and Tong'an, and it is also the next target of the Yang family's attack. The fierce siege and defense has lasted for three days. During these three days, the Yang family launched more than a dozen attacks, each of which ended in failure. On the closest they came to victory, hundreds of soldiers even climbed onto the city wall, but they were eventually driven down.

The resistance from Jincheng Prefecture was more tenacious than anyone could have imagined.

Behind the army, Yang Hexing, Nagano Masakazu, and Wanyan Guangzhi were watching the battle.

The mass deaths made Yang Hexing frown. This was clearly not a situation he wanted to see. On the other hand, Nagano Masakazu and Wanyan Guangzhi looked relaxed and did not feel the slightest heartache for the increasing casualties at the front... Anyway, the dead were not their own people, but Han people. What was there to feel sorry for?
Yang Hexing's goal is to become the emperor of Ningguo. He would never stay in Dongshan Prefecture and Tongan Prefecture. Last year, he had just captured Tongan and the Yang family needed to make preparations. In addition, the New Year was approaching, so Yang Hexing was not in a hurry to continue the attack.

However, with the New Year celebrations over, it was time for the Yang family to expand their territory.

Originally, Yang Hexing planned to use the Japanese pirates and Jurchen soldiers under Nagano Masaichi and Wanyan Guangzhi. However, when he expressed his thoughts, he was rejected by the two men, who gave a valid reason: neither the Japanese pirates nor the Jurchens were good at attacking cities.

Sending them to attack the city would be a complete waste of the Yang family's only remaining elite force.

Yang Hexing was furious. These two damned bastards had just taken 2.5 million from him, even provided them with thousands of young girls, and allowed them to plunder in Tongan Prefecture. Thousands of women had been kidnapped by them, and the wealth they had stolen was no less than a million. But when it came time for them to do their work, they made excuses and refused.

Although Yang Hexing was angry, he was ultimately helpless.

He couldn't afford to completely break ties with Nagano Masakazu and Wanyan Guangzhi right now. If they did, the 30,000 Japanese pirates and 3,000 Jurchen cavalry would be a force he couldn't withstand. The forces he was secretly cultivating were only just beginning and hadn't yet developed into a sufficiently powerful fighting force. Moreover, Nagano Masakazu and Wanyan Guangzhi were right; the Japanese pirates and Jurchens were indeed not skilled in siege warfare. He still needed to rely on these elite Japanese and Jurchen soldiers to conquer a large territory. If he suffered too many losses here, it would be a net loss.

Therefore, Yang Hexing directly issued an order requiring the peasant army recruited by Dongshan Prefecture to launch repeated attacks on Jincheng Prefecture. However, Yang Hexing did not expect that the small Jincheng Prefecture would become a major obstacle on his path to becoming emperor. Three days had passed, and tens of thousands of corpses had been thrown down the city walls, but there was still no sign of the gates of Jincheng Prefecture being breached.

What Yang Hexing found even more unacceptable was that the peasant army, which had once been extremely poor in military skills but fearless in the face of the government troops when defending the city walls of Dongshan Prefecture, and who would even grab onto the government troops who had climbed the walls and leap to their deaths, seemed to have suddenly lost all their vigor. They were all dull-looking and numb, and when attacking Jincheng Prefecture, they were even more hesitant and timid.

This unexpected turn of events enraged Yang Hexing, yet he was powerless to do anything about it.

Right behind Yang Hexing, Yang Guoxuan looked at the battlefield with a bleak expression, as if he had already anticipated this situation and was not at all surprised by the battle.

Previously, the reason why the people of Dongshan Prefecture were willing to follow the Yang family and defend the prefecture to the death was because the good reputation accumulated by the Yang family over the past hundred years had already deeply penetrated the hearts of the people. It was the Yang family that led people to hunt down and kill hundreds of officials and gentry in Dongshan Prefecture. It was the Yang family that gave these people land and promised to give them a large amount of compensation after they died in battle, so that they would not have to worry about the livelihood of their parents, wives and children in the future.

When the Japanese pirates and Jurchens wantonly slaughtered the soldiers defending Dongshan Prefecture, wantonly slaughtered the parents and children of the fallen soldiers, and wantonly raped and abused the widows of the fallen soldiers, while the Yang family could only watch helplessly...

When the Yang family turned around and gave the money originally intended to compensate the soldiers who died in battle to the Japanese pirates and the Jurchens...

When the Yang family abducted thousands of women in Dongshan Prefecture and handed them over to Japanese pirates and Jurchen barbarians for rape and abuse...

The Yang family is finished.

The public support that had been so hard-won has already been lost.

Reputation takes ten or even a hundred years to build, but can be destroyed in a single night.

It's too much to carry.

The Yang family has lost its last chance to dominate the world... and not just the world, but the entire family, which has been passed down for hundreds of years, may be wiped out. Although the Yang family's territory seems to be growing and its people are increasing, in Yang Guoxuan's eyes, the Yang family is now running desperately down the road to death.

Father only saw that the Yang family had occupied two prefectures, but he didn't know how many people had fled from those two prefectures. The fleeing people took away not only manpower, but also the Yang family's infamous reputation. They would collude with foreign tribes and slaughter Han people. At that time, the Yang family would surely have enemies everywhere.

When his father first rebelled, Yang Guoxuan was indeed very passionate. He knew that even if the Yang family succeeded, even if his father truly ascended the throne and became the crown prince, the throne would not fall into his hands. However, at the very least, he could become a prince. Therefore, Yang Guoxuan was very motivated at the beginning. In addition, his opinions were valued in the family, which made him even more enthusiastic. Although the Yang family was already in a very bad situation at that time because of the reputation of murdering the emperor in the street, Yang Guoxuan still wanted to do everything he could to fight for the Yang family to break through the dead end.

However, now his father only sees the ferocity of the Japanese pirates and the Huns and no longer values ​​his opinions. Yang Guoxuan has long lost that spirit. He just stays silently in the back, watching everything like a spectator, wanting to see how the Yang family will perish in the future.

Why were the officials and civilians of Jincheng Prefecture so determined to defend the city to the death? You should know that Jincheng Prefecture had previously mobilized a large number of soldiers, leaving only two or three thousand people to guard the city. The vast majority of those responsible for guarding the city walls were ordinary people from Jincheng Prefecture.

Yang Guoxuan could see the reason for this at a glance. Wasn't it because the Yang family had allowed the Xiongnu and Japanese pirates to run rampant, and the news of the three-day massacre of the city had already spread? Not only the common people, but also all the gentry and officials of Tong'an Prefecture were massacred in large numbers, especially the wives and daughters of these wealthy families, who were subjected to rape and abuse.

Tongan Prefecture surrendered voluntarily, yet it still ended up like this. So, in order to survive, shouldn't everyone in Jincheng Prefecture, from the gentry to the common people, work together with one heart?
Yang Guoxuan was certain that in the future, if the Yang family wanted to take over any city, they would have to pay several times, even ten times, the price.

"Let's call it a day."

With casualties continuing to mount, yet the Jincheng government remained firmly in the lead, Yang Guoxuan had no choice but to order a retreat.

The remnants of the army retreated.

Painful groans and screams, mixed with the sound of chaotic footsteps, entered Yang Hexing's ears, only making him more irritable.

"Oh, dear Yang, you don't need to be so troubled." Nagano Masakazu and Wanyan Guangzhi had somehow appeared beside Yang Hexing. Nagano Masakazu, like an old friend, gently patted Yang Hexing's shoulder and comforted him, "It's just a setback, why take it to heart?"

"You Han people have an old saying: Victory and defeat are common occurrences for soldiers."

“The officials and people of Jincheng Prefecture are very determined to resist. In that case, why don’t we think of some other ways?” Wanyan Guangzhi comforted him with a smile.

A forced smile appeared on Yang Hexing's wrinkled old face: "Do you two have any other insightful opinions?"

There's no way around it. Yang Hexing is very good at running a family business. Even if you put him in the imperial court, he can still stir up trouble and make a name for himself. But when it comes to things like leading troops into battle, he's really not good at it.

Not to mention him, the entire Yang family couldn't find anyone capable of leading troops into battle!
Of course, there might be some, but he hasn't realized it yet, since most of the Yang family's descendants haven't personally gone to the battlefield.

A sinister smile appeared on Wanyan Guangzhi's face: "There are still many ways."

"Although your soldiers aren't very strong, we can't keep losing them like this. Aren't there many villages and towns around Jincheng Prefecture? Why don't we lead our troops to wipe them out?"

Yang Hexing frowned: "What's the use of taking over these villages and towns? What's blocking our way is Jincheng Prefecture..."

“Oh, no, no, it seems that Patriarch Yang is ignorant of military affairs. These villages and towns are also very useful.” Wanyan Guangzhi said with a smile, but his words made Yang Guoxuan shudder: “There are many people in these villages and towns. Among the officials and civilians guarding Jincheng Prefecture, are there parents, wives and children, relatives and friends living in these villages and towns?”

"If we capture all these people alive and use them as shields in front of us, or use crossbows to force them to attack the city, do you think the officials and civilians on the city walls would still be able to bring themselves to do it?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Guoxuan's face turned ashen.

But Yang Hexing's eyes suddenly lit up.

At this moment, Yang Hexing was only thinking about how to take over Jincheng Prefecture; he had no time to consider anything else.

He is old.

He is over seventy years old.

He didn't know how much longer he had to live. All he wanted now was to be emperor and sit on that dragon throne.

It's fine when you don't have this thought, but once you have such a thought in your mind, the allure of the dragon throne becomes irresistible.

Yes, if all the people around Jincheng Prefecture were captured, would the soldiers on the city gates still be able to smash down those stones and logs when they saw that the attackers were their own parents, wives, children, relatives, and friends? Would they still be able to draw their bows?

This Wanyan Guangzhi, worthy of being the Great Khan of the Jurchens, is indeed intelligent.

"Furthermore, Patriarch Yang, these peasant soldiers under your command eat your Yang family's grain and receive your Yang family's military pay, but their fighting spirit is really too poor. They treat battlefield combat like child's play. Therefore, I suggest that you set up another supervisory team." After blinking, Nagano Yaichi continued, "The so-called supervisory team is to guard the rear of the troops and supervise the soldiers at the front. If anyone dares to try to escape, they can be killed on the spot. In this way, these peasant soldiers will have no way to retreat, and they will have no choice but to fight to the death."

Yang Hexing was overjoyed.

That's another good idea.

If this supervisory team had been established earlier, we might have been able to take over Jincheng Prefecture today.

"Furthermore, I have heard that there is a family called the Kong family in Jincheng Prefecture, which enjoys extremely high prestige among you Han Chinese from the Central Plains."

Yang Hexing nodded: "That's right. The Kong family is the lineage of the Duke Yansheng. Through the changes of dynasties, the Kong family has survived. They have more heritage than my Yang family."

“In that case, Patriarch Yang can send someone to infiltrate Jincheng Prefecture and contact the Kong family. As long as the Kong family is willing to open the city gates and surrender, they can be granted a pardon. No matter if they are Japanese pirates, Jurchens, or members of the Yang family, no one will harm the Kong family. Otherwise, on the day the city falls, we will not sheath our swords for ten days and guarantee that no one in the entire Jincheng Prefecture will be spared.” Wanyan Guangzhi said with a sneer.

"Moreover, given the Kong family's extraordinary status, if Patriarch Yang could gain their support, wouldn't he also have a legitimate claim to the throne?"

Upon hearing these words, Yang Hexing, who had been feeling somewhat gloomy, burst into laughter, as if he could already see the scene of Jincheng Prefecture falling apart.

"Even if all these plans fail, Patriarch Yang, do not worry. Judging by the time, our Jurchen elite troops should have already set sail and will reach Langya in no more than five days. In another two or three days, they will appear at the foot of Jincheng Prefecture."

"This time we have 50,000 elite troops, and even my most elite Death Knights have been brought along, numbering 3,000." Wanyan Guangzhi said with a smug look on his face, "With my full support, the fall of Jincheng is just around the corner."

"Good, good, good!" Yang Hexing said three times in a row, "With the help of the Jurchen army, the great cause can be accomplished!"

……

The Jurchen elites have indeed set off.

However, their mental state was not good; they were all pale, and some were even vomiting incessantly while leaning on the railing.

There was no way around it; the Jurchens had always loved riding horses, galloping across the grasslands, and drifting on the sea—such things were truly unfamiliar to them.

Fortunately, it's only a few days' journey.

Once they reach land, it will be their domain again.

Damn it, I must find more Han women and torture them thoroughly. Only in this way can I make up for the pain I have suffered these past few days.

On the lead merchant ship, Wanyan Agudan stood at the bow, gazing at the distant sea. Unlike Wanyan Guanghan, who was Wanyan Guangzhi's biological brother, he was merely Wanyan Guangzhi's cousin, and their bloodline was already very diluted. If Wanyan Guangzhi hadn't lacked trustworthy people to use, he probably wouldn't have been granted a high position.

This time, he was the leader of 50,000 soldiers.

The ocean, swaying and rocking, really makes one feel uneasy.

I wonder how things are going with Wanyan Guangzhi. I suppose those Han people couldn't stop the Jurchen cavalry. Right now, Wanyan Guangzhi is probably in his warm room, embracing a beautiful woman and indulging in unrestrained pleasure.

Thinking of the soft, white bodies of Han women from the Central Plains, Wanyan Agudan felt a sudden surge of heat in his heart.

"Report..."

Just then, a shout came from behind.

Wanyan Agudan turned around and was surprised to find that it was a Han Chinese sailor.

"What's the matter?"

"Reporting to the general, a fleet has been spotted several miles ahead at sea, consisting of twenty-three large ships and over a hundred smaller ones," the sailor quickly replied.

Wanyan Agudan frowned: "Do you know what kind of ship it is? A merchant ship?"

“It shouldn’t be a merchant ship, merchant ships rarely have such a large fleet, and it doesn’t seem like pirates either, since there are no pirate flags on board.” The sailor also looked somewhat suspicious. In such cold weather, it’s rare to see such a large fleet at sea. “The origins of the other party are unknown. For safety’s sake, I suggest we take a detour, but it will only take an extra half day.”

"Detour?"

Before Wanyan Agudan could speak, a short man beside him spoke up. He was Nagano Masaichi's subordinate and the captain of hundreds of Japanese pirate ships, Nishiyama Castle Master.

Nishiyama Joji sneered, "Don't forget what we do. We are pirates, and we are the kings of the sea."

"Even if they are competitors, they only have a hundred or so ships, while we have over a thousand ships and seventy thousand soldiers!"

"Even if a detour is required, shouldn't it be the other party taking the detour?"

The commander of Xishan City did not take the Han Chinese navy seriously at all. After all, they had been plundering Han Chinese waters for so many years and had mostly encountered fishing boats and merchant ships. As for the Zhao navy, well... tsk tsk, they were far inferior to the guards of merchant ships. They were so easily defeated that there was nothing to be concerned about.

Upon hearing this, Wanyan Agudan glanced back at the densely packed ships behind him, his gaping maw revealing a ferocious, maniacal laugh on his bearded face.

Yes.

More than a thousand ships versus more than a hundred ships?

Even if you just crash into it directly, you'd probably smash it to pieces, right?
"Keep course, full speed ahead."

With a roar, Wanyan Agudan issued the order.

……

At the same time, watching the vast, densely packed fleet rapidly approaching from the opposite side, Song Yan's smile grew wider and wider as the enemy drew closer and closer.

Song Yan's chest seemed to be burning with anger.

His right hand had been raised without him noticing.

"Everyone... get ready..."

The sound, infused with internal energy, drifted across the sea.

In an instant, hundreds and thousands of soldiers quickly took up positions behind the Hongyi cannons.

The shell had been loaded into the breech, with only the fuse sticking out.

Another group of people raised their torches.

Seeing that the opponent had finally entered within a kilometer, Song Yan's right hand suddenly fell:

"fire!!!"

(End of this chapter)