I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 382 White Emperor City Falls!

Fa Zheng, holding the military tally and seal, arrived openly at the South Gate.

"military adviser?"

When the guard at the south gate saw Fa Zheng, he was fully armored and walked with a powerful stride, hardly resembling someone with a foot injury.

"The general has given orders! Liu Miao is very likely using the same feint attack as last time! He has specifically ordered me to be on guard!"

Fa Zheng displays the military tally.

"Furthermore, the East Gate and the Small East Gate are both vulnerable to Liu Miao's attack! Go and provide support immediately; we cannot allow the city to fall!"

"..."

"What? Didn't you hear me?"

"Here!"

Although the garrison commander had reservations, Fa Zheng not only had a proper military tally, but he was also his superior. What could the commander do?
With the garrison commander leading his troops away, the city gate closest to Liu Miao's army in Baidi City was now under Fa Zheng's control.

"Open the city gates! Welcome His Majesty to Shu!"

……

outside the city.

The one in charge of commanding the navy on Liu Miao's side was still Gan Ning, who, despite being a general, still had the air of a bandit.

Standing atop the highest point of a warship, Gan Ning watched as Shu army ships appeared both in front of and behind him, seemingly surrounding him. Far from being nervous, he grew increasingly excited.

"They actually made it up!"

At this moment, Zhang Ren led the Baidi City navy toward Gan Ning's navy.

Now, with Yan Yan upstream and Zhang Ren downstream, Gan Ning will be blocked, and the turbulent Yangtze River will not give Gan Ning any time or opportunity to change course.

In other words, Gan Ning is now facing certain death!
A strong river breeze blew by, and Zhang Ren closed his eyes, only to have his eyelid sting from a piece of eye discharge hidden on his eyelashes. But it also gradually brought Zhang Ren back to his senses.

This clarity gradually amplified Zhang Ren's rationality and clarified his logic.

“Gan Ning was already famous when he was a pirate in Shu. When it comes to his knowledge of the waterways east of Ba County, not to mention me, no one else can compare to him. He should know that if he is intercepted by our army, he will be swallowed by the sea.”

"Even if Gan Ning was greedy for merit and reckless, he couldn't have led the entire navy into Shu without Liu Miao's orders... Could it be that Liu Miao was also greedy for merit and reckless?"

Know thyself, ever-victorious.

Liu Miao may not know Zhang Ren, but Zhang Ren certainly knows Liu Miao!
But judging from any battle, Liu Miao did not seem to be the kind of person who was greedy for merit and reckless.

Even in some battles, Liu Miao's performance could be described as "cautious".

How could someone like that be so greedy for credit and so reckless?

The further away Zhang Ren was from Baidi City, the stronger this sense of unease became.

However, at this point, there was clearly no time to worry about those things anymore.

Zhang Ren's vanguard ships have already caught up with Gan Ning's fleet!

"Gan Ning!"

Zhang Ren saw Gan Ning's figure at the highest point.

"You are originally from Shu! How dare you help traitors attack your homeland! Your crime deserves death!"

Upon hearing the familiar local accent, Gan Ning felt not anger as expected, but rather a sense of warmth and familiarity, and immediately shouted at Zhang Ren—

"What Shu people and Jing people? I'm a Han Chinese! I'm now the General of Annan under the Emperor of the Great Han! A proper and legitimate general with an important imperial title! Who do you think you are?"

Zhang Ren spat on the deck!
"The Emperor of Han has already abdicated the throne to the Yuan family! Today, the Mandate of Heaven belongs to the Zhao! What is the Han Dynasty anymore?"

Gan Ning laughed heartily and gestured for Zhang Ren to look around.

"You should explain to them properly what you mean by 'there are no more big men left to talk about!'"

Zhang Ren was puzzled.

Turning his head, he found that the Shu soldiers around him were all looking at him with puzzled expressions.

The Han Dynasty lasted for four hundred years.

Some things have become deeply ingrained in people's minds.

especially.

Although Liu Bang himself never visited Shu (Sichuan), in a sense, Shu was indeed the place where Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang) rose to power. Even the name of the Han dynasty originated from the Han River, which flows through Hanzhong.

These soldiers couldn't distinguish between the fact that "Northern Zhao was actually the regime that inherited the system of the Later Han" and that "Liu Miao's Han Dynasty is completely different from the original Han Dynasty"...

They only recognize the name of the Han dynasty! They only recognize Liu as their emperor!
Now you're telling them that the Han Dynasty no longer exists?
When Zhang Ren saw the looks in the eyes of the soldiers around him, his heart skipped a beat.

Obviously.

For ordinary soldiers, it wasn't so easy to accept the change in the country's name and their own status.

Zhang Ren felt somewhat helpless.

This is the suppression of rank.

Now Yuan Shao can represent the orthodox line, Liu Miao can represent the orthodox line, but what qualifications does Liu Zhang have to represent the orthodox line?
If they continue to fall into such a trap, the morale of the Shu army will likely be seriously affected!
Zhang Ren simply gave up arguing with Gan Ning and waved his hand, pointing westward: "Gan Ning! Look behind you! Aren't you going to surrender?"

Gan Ning turned his head lazily.

A large number of ships sailed in from the front, and the huge character "严" clearly indicated the identity of the newcomers.

But Gan Ning remained calm and instead shouted loudly at Zhang Ren, "Zhang Ren! Look behind you!"

Behind me?
What could be behind me? A fleet of ships?
No, the Han army's fleet should all be in Gan Ning's hands. Even if there are still a batch of ships hidden at this time, what use would they be?
Zhang Ren didn't want to turn back, thinking that Gan Ning was just bluffing him.

But soon, Zhang Ren heard a trembling voice: "General, General~"

"Bai, Baidi City!!!"

Zhang Ren immediately turned around, only to see a scene that almost broke his heart!
Thick smoke is already rising from Baidi City!
The most deadly thing is that the bright red flag of the Han army has been planted in that conspicuous place!
Baidi City...has fallen?

Zhang Ren stared blankly at Baidi City, and the soldiers around him also paid their respects to Baidi City.

Immediately afterwards, feelings of fear, despair, and collapse spread across all the ships!
Baidi City was not only their escape route, but also the home of many of their families!
If Baidi City is gone, what's the point of their fighting?!
Zhang Ren gazed at Baidi City for a long time when a mountain peak suddenly appeared, shattering the fog in his mind and revealing Fa Zheng's seemingly indifferent face.

"Fa Xiaozhi!! You bastard!!!" ————————

"Filial piety and uprightness, no courtesy."

After the first batch of soldiers took control of the city gates, Liu Miao followed the second batch of soldiers ashore and arrived in Baidi City.

"Those who guard the land may be kin, or they may turn into wolves and jackals."

Liu Miao looked at Fa Zheng, who was kneeling on the ground with his head in front of him, and personally went forward to help him up.

"Seeing Xiaozhi's loyalty and integrity, I am greatly pleased!"

Fa Zheng, standing beside Liu Miao, did not weep excessively.

"Your Majesty, there are still several inner city sections in Baidi City that we cannot capture."

The layout of Baidi City was not like that of ordinary cities; it only had a single wall around it, which sheltered the soldiers.

in contrast.

Its layout is layered, with one layer upon another within the city, creating a city within a city and walls within walls.

Liu Miao certainly knew what Fa Zheng meant by saying these things to him.

It wasn't that Liu Miao really needed to lead his troops immediately, but rather—

"Baidi City is truly treacherous!"

"Without Xiaozhi, even if I besieged Baidi City for ten years, I probably wouldn't have been able to capture it, let alone talk about entering Shu."

Liu Miao highly praised Fa Zheng's act of surrendering the city!
"In this campaign against Shu, Xiaozhi deserves the greatest credit!"

Seeing Liu Miao admit to the matter in front of everyone, Fa Zheng finally showed a smile.

My future in the Han Dynasty is secure!

As Han soldiers poured into Baidi City, the city was quickly captured. The number of troops lost was even less than the number lost in the previous days when the city was attacked.

After Lü Meng and Lu Yi led their troops to control the city gates, they turned around and focused on persuading the defenders in Baidi City to surrender.

Especially under Fa Zheng's command, the families of the soldiers were quickly located. With these families in hand, the resistance in Baidi City decreased, and the city soon fell completely into the hands of the Han army.

When Zhang Ren's troops outside the city saw that Baidi City had been occupied, it felt like half the sky had collapsed!
"My wife! My wife!"

"My mother! My mother!"

"My daughter! My daughter!"

These Shu soldiers cried out to heaven and earth, disregarding military orders and obstruction, and abandoned their ships to flee.

When the Han army on the shore saw these soldiers from Shu, instead of attacking them, they asked for their names, then found their families by name and sent them to persuade them to surrender.

This lenient approach encouraged the Shu soldiers to abandon their ships and go ashore, finding alternative routes. Soon, only a few high-ranking officers whose families were in Chengdu remained on the ships, struggling to stay afloat.

"Liu Miao! You are shameless!"

Zhang Ren's soldiers huddled on a few ships, while Gan Ning quickly sent men to take control of the ships, surrounding Zhang Ren.

"Zhang Ren, for the sake of being fellow Shu people! Just surrender already! Don't make things difficult for me!"

Zhang Ren's face was pale and his lips were bloodless, but he still drew his long sword and slammed it heavily against the railing of the ship, sending wood chips flying!

"Good! That's a real man!"

Gan Ning verbally told Zhang Ren to surrender, but he actually hated spineless cowards the most!
Excitedly twirling his short blade, Gan Ning stared intently at Zhang Ren.

"If it were back then, I would have definitely put you on my ship as a leader! But for now, I'll just wish you good luck!"

Zhang Ren stared at the trembling tip of his knife: "The outcome is still uncertain!"

An hour later.

Gan Ning brought Zhang Ren, who was covered in blood, to Liu Miao.

Pang Tong curiously approached and checked Zhang Ren's breath.

"Still alive?"

"Alive! This guy is incredibly fierce! It took us ages to subdue him!"

Upon seeing Zhang Ren, Liu Miao immediately signaled to Pang Tong, "Shiyuan! Stay away from him!"

"Oh? Why?"

"He's your nemesis!"

Pang Tong didn't believe it and instead turned around with a grin. However, he was caught off guard, tripped, and fell to the ground.

"I told you he'd bring you bad luck! Why won't you believe me?"

If this weren't Luofeng Slope, Pang Tong wouldn't have just slipped and fallen!

Liu Miao leaned closer and saw the numerous wounds on Zhang Ren's body, and exclaimed, "He truly is a man!"

"Do everything you can to treat him and save him."

"Here!"

"As for the rest..."

After expressing his respect to Zhang Ren briefly, Liu Miao quickly got down to business.

"Before the high-ranking officials in Sichuan can react, enter Sichuan immediately!"

"Strike while the iron is hot! This battle absolutely cannot be delayed or dragged out!"

Fa Zheng must maximize the advantages he has created for his side!
"Xingba, Ziming, Boyan!"

Liu Miao summoned the three men.

"Go after Yan Yan immediately! If he is willing to surrender, take him in; if he is not willing to surrender, annihilate all his troops. In any case, we cannot let him return to Jiangzhou alive!"

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)