1031 False Surrender and Killing the Head (2/2)

He did not dare to make the decision on his own, so he took the letter to find Bayan.

Within the middle troops tent.

When Bayan looked at the letter, his expression did not change as he raised his head and looked at Zhang Hongfan, ”What are your thoughts? Is there a plot?” Bayan did not trust the Chinese.

In the eyes of the Chinese, the Mongols were barbaric and rough, but in their eyes, the Chinese were cunning. The two sides had their cultural differences.

Zhang Hongfan was not a three-year-old kid, so he obviously would not fall for it. As a result, he carefully said, ”The letter is actually suspicious. We need to investigate the details before we can come to a conclusion.”

”That's right.” Bayan had such a thought too.

”Then what about the siege tomorrow?” Zhang Hongfan asked carefully.

”Let it continue as usual.”

Bayan had no intentions of showing mercy, ”Since they want to surrender, we have to give them a heavy beating and let them realize that surrendering is their only way out.”

”Understood!”

Zhang Hongfan nodded. Since it was late in the night, he immediately left.

Bayan did not immediately go to sleep.

Thinking about it, Bayan recorded in detail the matter of today. Along with the letter, he sent someone to send it back for the emperor to read. He would wait for instructions.

Even if South Song really wanted to surrender, their massacre of the city was not up to Bayan.

...

The next day, the defending troops did not get a reply from Zhang Hongfan. However, the Mongol attacks were even more intense, and they even sent out infantry for the first time.

The war became more and more intense with numerous casualties.

After a day, the Lin'an side had 20 thousand more people who died. If this carried on, their morale would probably break apart before they ran out of grain.

On the contrary, the Mongols did not send out most of their main force. They mostly used the surrendered troops.

The so-called million men army referred to the main Mongol force and did not include their surrendered troops and support troops. If not, Bayan would not have so much confidence.

At 7 PM, the Grand Council held a meeting.

Zhang Shijie was lacking in confidence, ”Did the Mongols see through our tricks?”

”The Mongol army performed as expected. There's no way they would believe it right away.”

To make the surrender more believable, Ouyang Shuo had made other arrangements.

First, Ouyang Shuo had the Divine Martial Guards take over as the palace guards.

Ouyang Shuo brought the Personal Guards and even boldly stormed into the palace.

Secondly, Wen Tianxiang would be removed from his position and appointed as the assistant minister of the military, which was like a useless appointment. Wen Tianxiang was famous for being a stubborn nut. Taking him down was the same as surrendering to the Mongols.

Thirdly, reducing the retaliation of the south city gate.

Zhang Shijie mentioned in the letter that they could not control the players, which was why they could only confirm that they would open the south city gate to allow the Mongols to enter.

After removing Wen Tianxiang from his position as south gate deputy general, Zhang Shijie used the 100 thousand troops to have a 'cleansing' internally. Numerous generals close to Wen Tianxiang were investigated.

All of these things were done openly so that the Mongols could see it.

Ouyang Shuo said confidently, ”Things will change for the better at the day after tomorrow at the latest.”

Lin'an was not weak. As such, even if the Mongol army wanted to forcefully take down Lin'an, the price they would pay would not be something they could handle.

If there was a shortcut, Bayan might take it.

”Just hold on for two more days.” Lu Xiufu reached this conclusion. As this was a scheduled meeting, after the meeting, everyone went their own ways.

...

Barracks, middle troop tent.

As night fell, the entire barracks was pitch black. Only scattered torches provided a little bit of light. The few stars in the sky also provided illumination as they blinked in the sky.

As the night breeze blew across, the flames flickered like they might be extinguished at any moment. It was like the endless darkness would soon swallow them.

The Mongol army was really disciplined, and into the night, the entire barracks was totally silent.

The middle tent was brightly lit, and Mongol soldiers fully equipped guarded outside. These Personal Guards of Bayan were all elites and were all really skilled.

The Mongols did not have skill in metallurgy, and their armor were mainly leather. Only the general would wear iron armor. These Personal Guards could use iron armor because Bayan had an exceptional position and the amount of riches they got when the Mongol army went down south.

In the center of the tent was a plate of burning coal. Sparks were splattering all over. Bayan was dressed in casual clothing, sitting behind the table and looking at intel from the spies.

Anything that happened in Lin'an would not be able to avoid Bayan's eyes.

”Should we believe them or not?”

Bayan was facing some problems for the first time.