Chapter 302
Tang Yin did not directly answer Yu Jun's words, but asked directly: "Mr. Yu Jun, do you think Xibaicheng can withstand the attack of our Tianyuan Army?"
Yu Jun's mind raced, thinking about what he meant by his words, and said ambiguously: "The battle situation is changing rapidly, and no one dares to make accurate guesses!"
Tang Yin nodded, put his hands behind his back, and said with a smile: "Mr. Yu Jun is right, but based on the difference in strength between the two sides, it can still be judged that the two sides are inseparable. Now, there are less than 50,000 defenders in Xibai City. You can't defend the city by relying on your own strength alone. Indiscriminately recruiting the people into the army is not a solution. It will only increase the casualties of the people. Xibaicheng will eventually be lost, but by then I'm afraid there won't be many people left in the city. How many people are there?”
When Yu Jun heard this, his face changed slightly, his head hung down, and he was silent. Tang Yin's words were the same as what he was thinking. He had advocated surrender at the beginning, but Geng Qiang did not accept his opinion. Instead, he forced the people to join the army. This seemed to him to be suicidal, but Tang Yin could actually deal with it. He was surprised that his own troops knew so well.
In fact, Tang Yin didn't know the exact number of defenders in Xibai City, but he could estimate it through the memories of the soldiers he had absorbed.
Seeing Yu Jun's reaction, Tang Yin secretly nodded. Although this Yu Jun was Geng Qiang's subordinate, he and Geng Qiang did not wear the same pants. He should make good use of this person.
Thinking about it, he smiled calmly and said: "You and I are both wind people. The reason why we are fighting is that we have different political ideas and each has his own master. If we force the people to be involved, no matter who wins in the end, it will be damaged." It will be the national strength of the whole country. I don’t think Mr. Yu Jun wants to see this huge Xibaicheng become a ruin after the war, right? Geng Qiang is ignorant and ignorant, and he can’t listen to Mr. Yu Jun’s advice. If you go in and dismiss your husband from office, what else can you do to help such a person?"
His words touched Yu Jun's heart. Naturally, he couldn't understand what kind of person Geng Qiang was. He was short-sighted and overjoyed at success, narrow-minded and self-righteous. If Geng Qiang was successful in resisting the Tianyuan Army, if Geng Qiang was happy, he might not only not be punished for his crimes, but he could also be reinstated. But if the resistance is not smooth, then his life is really difficult to protect.
Now that Tang Yin appeared in the city, he knew his own side's situation very well, and even knew about his dismissal from office. How could the Tianyuan Army be invincible when he was so familiar with his own side? Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh.
Tang Yin's intuition was as sharp as a beast, and no slight change on Yu Jun's face could escape his eyes. Seeing that his words had shaken his mind, Tang Yin emphasized his tone and said seriously: "If Mr. Yu Jun is willing to surrender to me and help me capture Xibai City, I will use him more than Geng Qiang, and in this way." Come and save hundreds of thousands of people in Xibai City from the disaster of war, sir, your merits are immeasurable!"
Yu Jun looked at Tang Yin who was talking eloquently, and secretly admired him in his heart. He was also the head of the county, but Tang Yin was much better than Geng Qiang. Just because he was willing to think about the people, he could never compare to Geng Qiang. He shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "Master Tang values me too much, and I am very grateful. However, I have been dismissed from office now and have no power. Even if I want to help Master Tang, I am unable to do so."
"Haha!" Tang Yin laughed and said, "Sir, you are being too modest! Although you have been dismissed from office, your reputation is still there. If you raise your arms, many soldiers will surely respond!" His words were only tentative. , Yu Jun was not sure whether he could win over the senior generals around Geng Qiang.
"This..." Yu Jun frowned when he heard this, looking thoughtful. After a long time, Fang Youyou said: "I have a close friendship with General Du Qing, the guard of Xicheng. As for the others, I'm really not sure."
The general guarding West City? Tang Yin's eyes suddenly lit up, his mind raced, and after thinking for a moment, he asked: "Can Mr. Yu Jun win over General Du?"
Yu Jun smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know whether it will be successful or not, but I can give it a try!"
"Okay!" Tang Yin nodded and said, "If this matter can be successful, Mr. Yu Jun will have made a great contribution!"
"Master Tang, you are serious." Yu Jun's frown did not relax, but became deeper. He said: "I am willing to help Mr. Tang, not because I, Yu Jun, am greedy for life and afraid of death, but because I don't want to see the hundreds of thousands of people in the city suffer from military disasters and die miserably. I hope that Mr. Tang can help him after he acquires the Western Hundred Cities. Be kind to the people, and I have another condition!”
Tang Yin nodded and responded: "Mr. Yu Jun, please tell me if you have anything to say!"
Yu Jun lowered his head, thought for a while, and then said softly: "I hope Master Tang can leave a way for Master Geng to survive when the work is completed. This is also my only condition."
oh? Tang Yin took a breath and looked directly at Yu Jun, speechless for a long time. It can be heard that although Yu Jun was dismissed from office by Geng Qiang, he still has great feelings for him. This person can be said to be affectionate and righteous, but it is a pity that his affection is used in the wrong place. Tang Yin thought for a while, looked up and smiled, and said, "Okay, I can promise you that I will never kill Geng Qiang after the war!"
Now that the Tianyuan Army has been unable to attack Xibaicheng for a long time, with the loss of troops and generals, and the shortage of food and grass, Tang Yin is anxious. No matter what the conditions are, he will agree at this time. Of course, it is not certain whether he will do so in the future.
After getting Tang Yin's personal consent, Yu Jun was relieved. He raised his hands and said, "Thank you in advance, Mr. Tang!"
"You're welcome, sir!" Tang Yin said with a smile.
If Yu Jun was standing behind Tang Yin at this time, he would definitely faint from shock. When Tang Yin was talking to him, he had his hands behind his back. Both palms had turned into thin and long hand knives, with a faint dark fire attached to them. As long as Yu Jun had any hesitation or rejection about his persuasion to surrender, he would immediately kill him and silence him.
Fortunately, things went smoothly, and Yu Jun was not an old stubborn man with a one-track mind.
In fact, Tang Yin came to find Yu Jun at the right time. It was just when Yu Jun was excluded and dismissed from office. It was a natural thing to win him over to his side.
Yu Jun and Du Qing, who guarded the West City, had a good relationship. Du Qing was a military general and a rough man. He was the kind of person with more developed limbs than brains. He admired Yu Jun's intelligence. Whenever he encountered important and undecided things, he would take the initiative to consult Yu Jun and let Yu Jun help him with ideas.
Like Yu Jun, Du Qing was also opposed to Geng Qiang's practice of getting the people to participate in the city defense, but Geng Qiang now simply refused to listen to other people's advice and insisted on doing it on his own, and there was nothing he could do.
On that day, the Tianyuan Army launched a fierce attack on Xibai City as usual, and the focus of the attack was still on the north side of the city.
Now Tang Yin's real body was in the north of the city, and he was one of the able-bodied men participating in the city defense. He stood at an opposing angle to his own army. At this time, he could feel the fierceness of his own army's attack and the difficulty of Xibai City's defense. The defenders on the city were shooting arrows down, and the Tianyuan Army's arrow formation under the city was even more fierce, one wave after another, almost without a break. From time to time, soldiers and civilians who were shot by arrows fell to the ground wailing.
The city gate was attacked the most intensely. Not only did it have to withstand the dense rain of arrows from the Tianyuan Army, but the Tianyuan Army's large-scale siege weapons were used here. Huge rocks flew overhead from time to time, and the wooden stakes fired by the city-breaking crossbows shot thousands of holes in the arrow stacks, and there was no way to hide behind them. What was even more terrible was that there were thunder chariots hitting the city gates below. With the violent crashes, the city walls were shaking back and forth. In order to prevent the thunder chariots from breaking the city gates, the defenders and civilians on the top of the city could only stand up and throw rolling logs and pounding stones down. However, when they threw rolling logs and pounding stones, they were also shot into hedgehogs.
The bodies of the Peng army and the civilians were piled up together, forming a small hill, which could be used as arrow rafts. It can be seen that the battle was fierce. Even on the top of the city, the Tianyuan army attacking outside the city suffered even greater losses. The corpses under the city wall had already covered the ground.
Tang Yin mixed in with the Peng army and the civilians. Of course, he would not kill his own soldiers who were attacking the city. He pretended to be timid and afraid of death, hiding in the stairs leading to the city from the top of the city, and secretly observing the strength of the Peng army.
There were many generals with high spiritual martial arts skills in the Peng army, and warriors wearing spiritual armor and holding spiritual weapons could be seen everywhere. Tang Yin felt that even if he rushed to the top of the city wall in his prime to fight with them, he would not be able to gain an advantage.
While he was silently evaluating, a Peng general rushed over quickly and shouted loudly: "What are you all hiding here for? Get back to the city!"
Tang Yin pretended to be timid and hid in the middle of the steps, while many people who were really timid and afraid of death also hid here on his left and right, trembling and hugging each other.
While the Peng general was shouting, he also raised the spiritual knife in his hand and said sternly: "Those who violate the military order will be killed! If you don't go up, I will chop off your heads!"
Wow - as the Peng general raised the spiritual knife, the people were so scared that their faces changed drastically. They no longer dared to shrink to the steps. They stood up and crawled to the top of the city wall.
Tang Yin had no choice but to follow the people back to the top of the city wall. As soon as he came up, a rain of arrows flew towards him. Tang Yin reacted very quickly, fell to the ground and rolled out, but the people around him were not as flexible as him, and were shot by the rain of arrows. In an instant, more than ten people were hit by several arrows in the chest and fell to the ground and died.
Looking at the corpses close at hand, Tang Yin also sweated secretly. Fortunately, he dodged in time, otherwise he would have died in a muddle under the arrows of his brothers. It seems that it is necessary to spread the news tonight, asking his soldiers not to attack the North City anymore. If this continues, even his life will be in danger.
After a whole day of fierce fighting, the defenders and the people on the city finally blocked the strong attack of the Tianyuan Army. After a battle, the total number of defenders was reduced by more than 30%. Of course, the majority of them were civilians who died in the battle.