Chapter 657 Attacking Zhuozhou

Both sides knew that the Pingzhou army was just looking for an excuse to attack Zhuozhou, and it didn't matter whether they agreed or not.

However, they had to refuse. If they asked for permission, Zhuozhou would be attacked from both inside and outside. Unless Wei Kuang surrendered to Pingzhou, his reputation as a fool would spread along with his agreement to ask for permission.

So, Wei Kuang said, "General Dong, it's not convenient for us to ask for permission in Zhuozhou."

Then, he changed the subject, "But we understand your feelings. General Dong, if you trust me, Wei Kuang, just wait a moment. We will send people to search and rescue immediately. When we find the people, we will return them to you as soon as possible, okay?"

Using his own spear to attack his own shield, Wei Kuang was good at speaking, and Dong Jichuan sighed in his heart.

He had a look of regret on his face, and said, "I, Dong Jichuan, naturally believe in you, General Wei, but human lives are at stake, so we are offended."

After Dong Jichuan said this, he retreated back to the team.

Qin Zhao raised the spear in his hand, without any nonsense, and directly ordered, "Come on, prepare to attack the city!"

There are big fish in Zhuozhou City! Qin Zhao knew that Xie Zhan was in Zhuozhou. According to the news from their people in the city, he was still inside.

Qin Zhao didn't know that as soon as Pingzhou issued the announcement, Xie Zhan had already quietly left Zhuozhou from the southwest with his men.

Wei Kuang knew at a glance that the Pingzhou army was planning to force the passage.

"The Pingzhou army is going to attack the city, everyone prepare for defense!" After saying that, Wei Kuang whispered to the deputy general, "According to the plan."

The deputy general nodded and went to execute it.

Outside Zhuozhou City, Xie Zhan not only dealt with the problems of Zhuozhou in the past few days since he came to Zhuozhou, but also arranged people to build some simple fortifications outside Zhuozhou City at night, such as setting up roadblocks, chevaux de frise, and building trenches.

The engineers in Pingzhou are cleaning up these fortifications under the protection of their comrades.

In Zhuozhou City, the sound of gongs and drums rang out on all the main roads and streets.

"The Pingzhou army is coming!"

"The Pingzhou army is going to massacre the city!"

"Everyone, hurry up if you want to leave the city!"

Under the strong propaganda of the Dali soldiers, the already panicked people heard the footsteps of various carriages outside, and hurriedly packed up a simple bag and went out. As soon as they came out, they saw people walking hurriedly towards the city gate.

The Pingzhou personnel who stayed in Zhuozhou as an insider saw that the situation was not right, and after a brief discussion, they immediately picked up the gongs and drums and went out.

"Don't panic, Pingzhou will not massacre the city! Stay at home, it's dangerous outside!"

"The Pingzhou army punishes evil and promotes good, and it has nothing to do with ordinary people!"

Panic has already formed. No matter how the Pingzhou insiders persuade, the people will go to the city gate spontaneously or be forced.

Zhuozhou City is in chaos.

Wei Kuang looked at the endless crowd of people under the city gate and prepared to implement the plan given by the Grand Commander.

Before Xie Zhan left, he knew very well that Zhuozhou was doomed to fail. The entire economy collapsed and the people wanted to leave.

Pingzhou had been plotting against Zhuozhou. It was both reasonable and unexpected to launch an attack on Zhuozhou. It was just that Pingzhou made a feint to the east and attacked the west, which was too sudden.

There were too many people who wanted to leave the city. If their city gates were not opened, these people who wanted to leave would be a very unstable factor in the rear. It would be better to make good use of them and consume some of Pingzhou's strength.

The chaos in Zhuozhou City was vaguely heard outside.

Qin Zhao, Dong Jichuan and others looked solemn.

"There is a situation!"

"Let the soldiers attacking the city in front be careful!"

Yes, the engineers have cleared the fortifications along the way, and the vanguard team has begun to attack the city wall.

"Open the city gate!" Wei Kuang ordered.

Near the gate, more than 20 steam-wheeled vehicles were ready to go, followed by countless civilians.

As soon as the gate was opened, these 20 steam-wheeled vehicles rushed out, and once out, they spread out in an umbrella shape, rushing around, and some Pingzhou soldiers who couldn't dodge in time were knocked down.

These 20 steam-wheeled vehicles were transported by the Dali soldiers to a place 30 or 40 feet away from the gate and lined up in a row.

When the people of Zhuozhou saw the gate open, they rushed out, but the road was blocked by the steam-wheeled vehicles in front, so they had to disperse to both sides.

There were too many people, and the people knocked down the ladders.

Now it was impossible to attack the city.

The young generals of Pingzhou who rushed to the front immediately shouted loudly, "Stop attacking the city! Retreat!" He asked the soldiers attacking the city to follow the crowd.

At this time, the Dali soldiers on the tower, relying on the advantage of high altitude, began to shoot and kill the Pingzhou soldiers below. They watched the Pingzhou soldiers shoot randomly, and didn't care whether they hurt the people.

For a moment, under the city wall, there were cries of pain and wailing everywhere.

This scene was seen by Qin Zhao, Dong Jichuan and others, and they immediately sent people to deal with the steam-wheeled carts.

"They actually used the people of Zhuozhou as human shields, shameless!"

Dong Jichuan said slowly, "Wei Kuang and others are going to withdraw." The other party dared to do this, and they should have planned to abandon the city long ago.

Dong Jichuan's guess was correct. When Wei Kuang saw that they went to deal with the steam-wheeled carts as soon as possible, he knew that the situation was over, so he led his men to slowly retreat and left in the southwest direction.

Once the steam-wheeled carts were cleared, the people of Zhuozhou could be evacuated normally.

People were still coming out of the city gate.

As a young general of the vanguard team, Ma Jin immediately took people to the city wall with a ladder, and quickly dealt with the remaining soldiers on the city wall, and then took people to chase Wei Kuang.

Qin Zhao shouted behind him, "Don't chase the desperate enemy! When you find that things are hopeless, stop immediately, do you hear me?"

Zhuozhou City was already very empty. Ma Jin met Pingzhou's insider on the way to chase, and the insider told him, "I saw them going that way."

Ma Jin immediately led people to chase, and when they got closer, they did see a person in the shape of Xie Zhan. At another glance, he found that he was wearing a special mask on his face. From the appearance revealed, it was indeed Xie Zhan.

He was overjoyed, "Chase!"

Ma Jin was Qin Zhao's confidant, so he knew that the big fish in Zhuozhou City was none other than Xie Zhan, the commander-in-chief of the Dali Army.

Xie Wei led a team of people and ran to the planned path, and by the way, he was hiding from the pursuers behind him.

The burns on Xie Wei's face had recovered 70% to 80% after being treated by the famous doctor found by Xie Zhan. After he put on the special mask, his entire outline, eyebrows, and jawline, at first glance, looked very similar to Xie Zhan.

He was assigned a task, and when he saw that it was only the young general Ma Jin who was chasing him, he was disappointed.

Twenty or thirty miles away from Zhuozhou City, Xie Zhan stood on a high place, silently looking at the northeast, which was the direction of Zhuozhou. The sound of the two armies fighting seemed to come from afar.

Zhuozhou was ultimately not saved.

He tried to save it, and his methods were actually effective. If Zhuozhou was given a year or two, it might not be impossible to recover.

But the situation in Pingzhou made Zhuozhou's ability to bear risks very low, and it would collapse at the slightest disturbance.

Zhuozhou is located at the border of Pingzhou, so it is easy for Pingzhou to influence Zhuozhou.

In fact, it is not that there is no way to block Pingzhou's influence on Zhuozhou, as long as Pingzhou is in chaos or busy, and has no time to take care of Zhuozhou.

However, Pingzhou is all sea in the south, borders foreign tribes in the east and north, and only the southwest borders Dali.

If Pingzhou wants to be too busy to take care of other things, either Dali will use troops against Pingzhou, or Xianbei and other foreign tribes will attack Pingzhou in the north.

In the former case, Pingzhou has deployed heavy troops in Dai County, Shanggu County, and Yuyang County. For a time, even if Dali sent troops, it could not immediately achieve good results.

If you want Xianbei to send troops, Xianbei is not stupid, and it is impossible for them to take the initiative to attack without reason. Moreover, compared with Pingzhou, it seems that Xianbei is more willing to attack Dali.

Another way is to attack the coastal areas of Pingzhou, but Pingzhou's navy is not bad either, and Dali's navy may not be able to immediately achieve good results.

Xie Zhan thought that in just three years, Pingzhou has managed itself like an iron barrel, without any obvious shortcomings or flaws.