Chapter 647 644 [The country can perish, but the family cannot be destroyed]

  The Datong Army did not bring many soldiers and civilians, and they did not have the time to fill the moat.

   Fortunately, the moat is not wide, so the boats used to transport grain can be used as bridge foundations, and then trees can be cut down to build floating bridges.

  Fan Shouli, Ngee Ann Taoist Secretary, opened the treasury to recruit soldiers, and then publicized the brutal killings of the Datong Army. He actually recruited more than 2,000 soldiers to defend the city. When the Datong army built the pontoon bridge, the defenders also boarded the tower, trembling with crude weapons.

  Wu Anguo and Chen Fan ran to the tower and ordered Fan Shouli to disband the army.

Fan Shouli was very stubborn, and said to the newly recruited militiamen: "These two people are afraid of death, but they don't know that the Han soldiers will kill and kill. After the city is broken, they will burn, kill and loot. If you want to protect your family's property, you can stick to the city with me. Someone here, tie them up!"

   "You are confused... Ah, don't do it... Let go, I am the chief officer of Yi'an Road, I said it here... Uhhhhhh..."

  The two Chengzhengs were **** and their mouths were gagged.

  Han soldiers really like to loot cities, even domestic cities, let alone come to Annan to fight?

   But that is the Ming army!

  At the beginning, the chief secretary of Cochin, because of the abuse of the people by the Han officials, regarded being an official in Annan as exile, and frantically made money and wanted to go back as soon as he took office. The local people were forced to do nothing by the Han officials, so the gentry led the peasants to revolt.

   It just so happened that Zhu Di had been fighting all the time, and the treasury was empty. After Zhu Di's death, Daming gradually shrunk the line of defense, even to the north of Yanshan, not to mention Jiaozhi, where uprisings continued?

  Annan became independent from Daming in this way.

   Not only Annan is like this, Han officials also treat the ethnic minorities in the southern provinces like crazy to exploit and make money. Li nationality, Yao nationality, Miao nationality, Yi nationality... were constantly revolted by the Han officials, and most of the time the officials forced the people to rebel.

  Fan Shouli stood on the tower and watched the Datong army cross the moat along the pontoon bridge. He turned around and shouted: "Is the hot oil ready? Fall down when the enemy comes!"

   "My lord... so many cannons!" An official pointed to the outside of the moat.

   There are not many artillery pieces, 25 pieces per division. Among them, 8 were taken by Li Dingguo to fight Tsinghua, where there were naval artillery to help. On Yuan Shizhong's side, he only brought the remaining 17 cannons.

  Seventeen cannons were enough to scare Fan Shouli into fear.

   "Everyone hides behind the parapet!" Fan Shouli shouted.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  The two chief officials, Wu Anguo and Chen Fan, were also thrown behind the parapet. Listening to the rumble of cannons outside the city, and the occasional shells hitting the city wall, there was a violent vibration from the wall, and the bodies of these two guys also trembled.

   Before he knew it, Wu Anguo looked down at his crotch, and he was so scared that he wet his pants.

   "Run!"

  The militia guarding the city are all the people in the city. Without armor, without regular weapons, morale will drop to zero after being bombarded by artillery.

  More than a dozen shells fell one after another, and some guarding militiamen had a mental breakdown, leaving the female wall and fleeing, thinking that it would be safe to flee back to the city.

   When one person escapes, a large group is instantly driven.

   Before the Datong soldiers who attacked the city rushed to the city, nearly half of the more than 2,000 defenders had fled.

  Fan Shouli was also a civil servant and had never fought a war. At this moment, he insisted on courage, and shouted to the deserters: "Don't run away, stick to the city, defend your home and country... Don't run, come back quickly!"

   Ngee Ann is the hinterland of Annan, where nobles gather. It has not fought a war for decades.

  City residents in a prosperous place with long-term peace, how can they look like they can defend the city?

  Fan Shouli's shouts didn't work at all. Not only the guarding militiamen fled, but even the officials who fought with him began to leave the city wall one by one.

  Seeing the officials running away, the guarding militiamen had even more excuses to escape, and there were only a few hundred militiamen still holding on for a moment.

  Fan Shouli had the courage to poke his head out of the city wall, and found that the Datong army had already rushed to the city wall. He quickly ordered: "Hot oil, roll a log!"

   There were not many officials and militiamen around him, and some of them didn't want to run, but were so frightened that their legs became weak and they couldn't stand up.

   At least a few of them crawled on the ground towards the oil pan, but the speed was about the same as that of a turtle.

  Fan Shouli stood up suddenly, and shouted: "The enemy is about to attack the city, and it is impossible to fire any more artillery. Stand up and defend against the enemy!"

  When some militiamen heard the news, they suddenly became courageous and hurried to carry the oil pan.

  Some militiamen heard the news, but they were even more frightened. The enemy is about to attack the city? These are the only ones left for my own people to escape, and I can still hold on to the fart, and I must not stay to die!

  So, the militiamen, who were too scared to move before, scrambled and fled from the city wall at this moment.

  The militiamen beside Fan Shouli, who were carrying the oil pan, saw that their own people were still running, and there were few people left on the entire section of the city wall, so they also put down the oil pan and ran away.

  Fan Shouli was so angry that he walked quickly to the frying pan, and greeted those who hadn't left yet: "I will defend the city myself, help me quickly!"

  Those people hesitated, but most of them were obedient, and came to help Fan Shouli carry the frying pan.

  One of them went back and climbed on the female wall, and saw that the Datong soldiers outside had already climbed up the simple wooden ladder. He panicked and shouted: "Han soldiers are climbing up!"

   "Kang Dang!"

  The militiaman who was carrying the frying pan heard the words and dropped the frying pan and ran away.

"what!"

  Fan Shouli didn't react, the hot oil was overturned and splashed on his feet, and he cried out in pain.

   "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

  The city wall was empty, only the three of them were officials.

   Well, there are still a few corpses, all unlucky ghosts who were bombarded to death by artillery.

  The first batch of Datong army has already ascended the city.

  Fan Shouli thought to himself that if he was scalded by hot oil, he would be crippled even if he survived, so it would be better to obey his will and die a heroic death. He actually knelt down on both knees, drew his sword out of its sheath, crawled and killed the Datong army, and shouted as he crawled: "Loyalty to the king and serve the country, this is the time!"

   Datong soldiers were stunned. One raised his shield and knocked the scribe's sword away, and the other two rushed forward to subdue him.

   "There are two officials here!"

  Wu Anguo’s mouth gag was pulled out, and he quickly shouted in Chinese: “I didn’t recruit soldiers to defend the city, and it has nothing to do with me. They are all mantises named Fan!”

Yuan Shizhong and Xu Xuechang quickly led troops into the city, and when they learned that Fan Shouli was scalded by hot oil and was still guarding the city alone, Xu Xuechang praised: "Unexpectedly, there is a loyal man in the small country of Annan, so let the military doctor treat him quickly. Even if you can't keep your feet, amputation Save it too!"

However, Yuan Shizhong glanced at Wu Anguo and Chen Fan who were kneeling in front of him, and said with disdain: "I heard that you two are the chief envoys of Nghe An Province? Everyone's judges know about guarding the city, but you two chief officials are corrupt. If you are afraid of death, you must be corrupt officials at ordinary times!"

  Wu Anguo and Chen Fan were a little dumbfounded, why were they scolded for not defending the city, while those who defended the city were praised?

Chen Fan was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly, knelt down and explained: "General Rongzhi, we don't guard the city because we know that Master Wang is benevolent and will not hurt the people at all. This fan surnamed deceives the people and threatens the people that the heavenly soldiers will slaughter the city!" "

  Yuan Shizhong grinned and said, "He's right."

   "Huh? Really...really going to massacre the city?" Wu Anguo trembled all over.

  Chen Fan kowtowed even more neatly: "If the general slaughters the city, just slaughter the small people, please spare the life of the villain. The villain is from the Chen family of Qinghua. If the heavenly soldiers attack Qinghua, the villain is willing to lead the way and persuade him to surrender."

  Yuan Shizhong gritted his teeth and said, "Sure enough, he is a dog official. He sold the whole city with a single lie!"

   "Liar?"

  Wu Anguo was stunned, he was doing the roller coaster repeatedly, just now his heart sank into the valley, and now he was so happy that he flew to the sky.

  He broke out in a cold sweat, and kowtowed in tears: "The general is benevolent and righteous, and the people of the city depend on them for their lives. The villain thanks the general for not killing him!"

"Don't tease them," Xu Xuechang said, "get up, you are the chief officers, help our army take over the city. Recruit all the officials in the city, and maintain law and order. Let them tell them from door to door, and our Datong army can't rob them." Looting. Anyone who dares to take advantage of the fire to rob, will be executed on the spot if caught!"

   "Yes, yes, the villain will go right away!"

  The two chief officials rejoiced, they can be dog legs, Han soldiers are outsiders after all, and it depends on these officials to govern the place.

  Yuan Shizhong smiled and said: "Conquer the city without losing a single soldier. If you don't play tricks on them, it's really boring."

Xu Xuechang said: "Thanks to the careful investigation of the news, we can go straight to Yi'an City. If troops are sent from Guangxi, the enemy will definitely defend them. If they are unable to attack for a long time, many people will die of fever. This Yi'an and Tsinghua Like the Nanjing of the Ming Dynasty, the peace will last for a long time, and the world will be full of flowers, it is impossible to defend the city with one heart."

   "What you said makes sense. I don't know if troops have been sent from Guangxi." Yuan Shizhong looked north.

   Li Dingguo led troops to station in Hainan. He was the first to receive the news of Lord Zheng's defeat, and immediately sent his troops to attack. The two Datong divisions in Guangxi must have dispatched troops later.

  …

  But said that Zheng Yi, Zheng Zuo and his son returned to Shenglong Mansion with thousands of remnant soldiers, and immediately called the ministers for an emergency discussion.

Li Fanzhi Fan (Book of the Ministry of Rites) Zheng Rongfu, who is of the same clan as Zheng Bing, spoke more directly: "Your Highness, this time our army was defeated, and the Han army took the opportunity to invade. Both of these news have been sent back. The capital. Now, the people in the capital are in a state of panic, and they all say that His Highness deceived the emperor and brought heaven to punish him."

   "Nonsense!" Zheng Zuo asked, "Who is making rumors, find out immediately, and he will be cut into pieces!"

   Zheng Ting was not angry, he raised his hand to signal his son to shut up, and said to himself, "Both Thanh Hoa and Ngee An have enemy troops, is Lang Son still safe?"

  Bingfan Zhifan Li Gang said: "There is no movement, the lower officials have sent people to order Lang Son's general soldiers to defend themselves."

  Zheng Bing recruited 60,000 troops for the southern expedition, but did not draw troops from Lang Son. There were 1,500 soldiers stationed there, half farming and half fighting in the mountains, similar to the frontier military camps of the Ming Dynasty.

  Zheng Ting asked Wu Zongru, the governor of Hufan Zhifan: "How much money can we allocate to recruit soldiers?"

  Wu Anguo, the fear of death in Ngee Ann City, is Wu Zongru's relative.

   Wu Zongru said dryly: "Reporting to Your Highness, when we sent troops to conquer the Ruan family, there is not much money and food left in the treasury. If all of them are used to recruit soldiers, the officials' salaries will not be paid out."

   "I'm asking you, how much money do you have left for recruiting soldiers!" Zheng Yi emphasized his tone.

  Wu Zongru replied: "There are more than 40,000 taels of silver and more than 70,000 stones of rice."

  Zheng Yi said: "Leave it all to the soldiers, and recruit as many soldiers as you can! Also, order the officials from all walks of life to let the gentry recruit village braves, and quickly go to Shenglong Mansion to gather troops to serve the king!"

   Zheng Rongfu said: "Your Highness, you should also send an envoy to Qinghua to ask the general of the Han army why he invaded our country without declaring a war. Maybe there is still room for turning things around, and see if we can persuade the other party to retreat."

  Li Gang, who was arguing about going to war with China a few years ago, said at this moment: "What's the use of negotiating with the generals who lead the army? They are eager to fight and make meritorious deeds. They have to send envoys to Nanjing, bring money to bribe officials, and let the officials persuade the Chinese emperor to retreat!"

   These guys are panicking. They are not afraid of China sending troops from Vietnam, and they can just defend the pass with high mountains and dense forests.

  But the Datong Army did not play their cards according to common sense. They even crossed the sea and landed to fight, and went straight to the hometown of the Vietnamese nobles. Now everyone is frightened, not because they are afraid of losing the city and land, but because they are afraid that they will be wiped out by the Datong army and ransacked their homes.

  An Nanguo can perish, but his own family cannot.

  (end of this chapter)