Volume 1, Chapter 22: Jianye Falls (1/2)

Volume 1, Chapter 22: Jianye Falls

While I was in the secret cha a confession, Jianye had already prepared its defenses under orders froh the news that the Southern Chu E the i Weijun had executed a hundred ruh to stabilize thetiovernuards to listen to his orders However, a mere fifty thousand soldiers were not sufficient to defend the city, creating tre Weijun Afterwards, he could only urge all the young men within the city to ’s advance scouts arrived, Jianye was ready for battle

The next day, as the eastern h the clouds—as dawn broke—several thousand valiant horsean to approach frouided his horse to the top of a s upon the city of Jianye All the other horsemen spread out Shortly, they all seeeneral and a dozen or so personal guards After a short period of ti, echoing throughout The black-aruards and put it to his lips, blowing loudly The sound was impassioned and mournful The soldiers on the city battle out with fear Although the defending commanders repeatedly berated their subordinates, one could still hear frightened shouts frequently

The distant Yong horse forest of tall trees,no sounds After a while, one could hear the sounds of the earth tre, which could be heard fro of several tens of thousands of horseshoes tra the earth The vibrations were extre before everyone saw on the horizon thousands upon thousands¹ of black-are forth At the start, it seeroups of three to five horseroupings formed into orderly military columns, the process natural and unforced² The cavalry came to a sudden stop a thousand paces away from Jianye’s city walls

Froolden ar a black cloak slowly spurred his horse out Following behind hie banner On the banner stitched in blood red were the words, “Grand General of Heavenly Strategies Li” At the sales began to flood in every direction The soaring killing aura and the ihten the Jianye defenders

A literate iazed upon the banner Sighing, he said, “Grand General of Heavenly Strategies Li … the Prince of Yong has co prince Can we really defend Jianye?”

Standing next to him was a newly conscripted soldier Apprehensive, he asked, “Wasn’t it said that it was the Prince of Yong co aries Li?”

The ireenhorn “What do you know? The Grand General of Heavenly Strategies is the Prince of Yong’s official position; the Prince of Yong is his title The banner the Prince of Yong always displays is that of a grand general So feels that his Grand General official position was the product of his oeat and labor As a result, he attaches great iolden dragon banner that he only uses when encamped or when he has won a victory”

Envious, the new soldier replied, “Big brother surely knows a lot”

Please with hiuard stated, “That’s only natural I, your elder, saw the Prince of Yong’s ar Shu back in the day At that time, they were allied troops”

uard screaround When everyone looked over, they saw an officer of the disciplinary group staring at the its prey³ In a stern voice, the officer reprimanded, “You dare disturb the arht now,⁴ this official would take your worthless life first”

The iuard hurriedly scampered to his feet, humbled “This little one does not dare, this little one does not dare” Watching the officer walk away, the i the officer under his breath before turning his attention back to the scene below the city walls

Shang Weijun stood on the battle army that was before the city He calculated in his head Although the ene, they only numbered twenty thousand If they could sally forth and capture the Prince of Yong, then the current perilous situation would be alleviated Thinking of this, he turned to the Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard and asked, “The enemy only has twenty thousand troops Can we sally forth to battle?”

“We don’t have any cavalry,” answered the Vice Co the city”

Shang Weijun’s brow furrowed Just then, the ene to incite battle Shang Weijun quickly issued the order to prevent any soldier fros and rocks prepared to defend the city They all waited for the ene at Jianye from a distance, Li Zhi smiled faintly and said, “I knew that they wouldn’t dare to come out fro, the cohness, we only brought cavalry How are we going to attack the city?”

Li Zhi s cavalry to attack the city Although Jianye’s defenses are formidable, unfortunately the anized I have already prepared agents inside the city Today, we only need to stay here and take a look That’s right, have the troops we dispatched reaped any benefits?

“They have,” responded Sihness has said that the sovereign of Southern Chu may try to flee before we arrive, and thus dispatched General Chen to block their escape Our scouts have reported that Zhao Jia has indeed fled If we are able to bring their captured monarch before the city walls, I wonder if they will obediently surrender?”

“Whether ill be able to capture their sovereign will be based on luck,” observed Li Zhi “We cannot rely on it It’s best we think of so coents would have been unable to prepare plants inside to help us Each and every Southern Chu general and soldier valiant and skilled in war has found it difficult to stand on solid footing in Jianye This is a ridiculous fact for the ages In co’s Imperial Guard were selected froh the Ireehness’s personal guards Although this is because the Crown Prince deliberately excludes ourthe Imperial Guard, who doesn’t know that only one warrior in a thousand is able to join Your Iuards”

Li Zhi suard consisted of three thousand elite cavalry All of them were a unit of to die This tiarded as the basis for the expansion of his personal guard Their elite training far surpassed that of the Yong I army

This day, Li Zhi only ordered his ar Weijun did not dare sally forth fro the ly depressed As dusk arrived, Li Zhi gave the order for his army to retreat ten Li Zhi withdraw, Shang Weijun could finally relax He returned to his residence He tried to figure out if he was too cowardly by sending away Consort Shang and the Crown Prince to hide, and considered bringing them back tomorrow He absentmindedly ate some food and went to sleep with his clothes on in his study But his sleep was restless, repeatedly woken by nighthtmares, his forehead covered with sweat Afterwards, he heard the distant sounds of shouts and cursing He sat up Just then, the door to the study was pushed open and a servant rushed in Seeing that the Prime Minister ake, the servant called out in an appalled voice, “ has happened! The I Weijun jumped to his feet and opened theHe could clearly hear the screa “the enen has already fled, why are we sacrificing ourselves for him?” The majority of the screa, while others were instigating theWeijun felt as cold as ice Suddenly, he saw fla to the Heavens Shang Weijun looked at the fires stupidly, not knohat to say

In thearate had been opened and the elite Yong cavalry charged into the city, filling the entire city⁷ with horsemen in black clothes and armor Illuhtening as demonic monsters On every street one could hear the tu, Southern Chu soldiers had rushed to the western gate in the hopes of driving the Yong arhter perpetrated by the Yong army, the Southern Chu soldiers quickly broke, and the streets filled with the scattered re for their lives The chaos was so an to break into residences to slaughter and roaned

After daybreak, the Yong aran to reestablish order in the city All of the surrendered Southern Chu soldiers were expelled from and forced into camps outside the city where they were ie of the chaos were executed, their heads hung publicly All of the common people of the city were ordered to reht under control and extinguished by the Yong arates and the key points of the city, the Yong arate the residents of the city Each and every le individual holding a position rated at sanpin¹⁰ were all arrested and ieons Everyone else was ordered to remain in their homes The entire city was deathly silent Anyone who dared to leave their homes without permission was punished Any Southern Chu soldier who dared resist was executed Shang Weijun had originally intended to take advantage of the chaos to flee, but ended up being captured by the Yong areons

When noon approached, Li Zhi entered the city Looking at the bloodstained streets, Li Zhi smiled faintly and said, “If it weren’t for the incon and officials, it would not have been so easy for us to capture Jianye”

Cautiously surveying their surroundings, Sihness, this subject has already received a report: there are only court ladies and eunuchs left in the Palace All of the ladies sent fro are there, but all of the children they produced have been taken away Consort Shang and the Crown Prince were not in the Palace After investigation, it is likely that they were sent away by Shang Weijun”

Thinking it over, Li Zhi replied, “As for the Yong ladies, send so to return back to their home country and have them prepare to leave If we capture Zhao Jia, have them continue to attend to him If he is not captured, then allow the Weijun is the father of Consort Shang, and is of extreme iood care of hio back As for the other officials, don’t worry about them Release the their way through the city, a horseman rushed forward When he was close to the two, he reported, “General Chen’s scouts have reported in They have captured Zhao Jia”

“They’ve captured him?” asked Li Zhi, pleasantly surprised “Where is he?”