“Thank you, General!”
“Thank you, General!”
Liu Pinggao maintained a stern expression as he spoke: “We had agreed beforehand that once you left the city, you couldn’t return. But this general, considering that you are, after all, Great Zhou civilians, took it upon himself to still allow you to enter the city. You must understand that such good fortune will never happen a second time!”
“Now you also understand… to the Western Liang army, you are already Great Zhou civilians. You should know Western Liang army’s nature—after taking a city comes the massacre!” Liu Pinggao’s gaze swept over these civilians as he declared loudly, “Therefore, if you all want to survive, you must work together with our soldiers to defend Jiangzi City!”
“And you!” Liu Pinggao looked again at those civilians kneeling on the ground who had just returned from outside the city. “This incident of yours will be noted for now! If you can earn merit in resisting the enemy this time, then so be it. But if you cannot earn merit…”
Liu Pinggao paused: “If you cannot earn merit and Western Liang breaks through, then you’ll truly have to die!”
Having said this, Liu Pinggao turned and left…
By this point, the civilians in the city firmly believed that if Jiangzi City was breached, they would certainly die.
Any person has the desire to survive—who doesn’t want to live?
So the civilians worked even harder, desperately transporting materials that could resist enemy forces up to the city walls.
Liu Pinggao returned to report to Bai Qingyan with great enthusiasm, naturally recounting in detail how he had angered those Western Liang generals, how he had led the Western Liang general to become suspicious, and how the civilians had lost all hope in the Western Liang army.
“You handled this matter very well!” Bai Qingyan’s eyebrows carried a faint smile. “Looking at how the city’s civilians are now working together as one, even if Western Liang truly attacks the city, I’m afraid they won’t be able to take Jiangzi City in a short time.”
“Your Majesty speaks truly!”
“Also, tonight, organize a small squad to quietly go out, randomly set a few fires in the Western Liang military camp, then return after disrupting them!” Bai Qingyan’s purpose was to prevent Western Liang’s soldiers from resting well.
“Yes!” Liu Pinggao received the order.
·
News of Western Liang’s army besieging the city reached Yecheng Pass. Upon hearing this, Yang Wuce quickly sent people to investigate. Those who returned from reconnaissance reported that Western Liang had indeed surrounded Jiangzi City, but when they inquired at cities along the route, no one had seen His Majesty light beacon fires.
Although Yang Wuce had not followed Bai Qingyan for long, he understood in his heart that Bai Qingyan always acted with proper judgment.
Since Bai Qingyan hadn’t ordered beacon fires to be lit, it meant she didn’t want them to come to the rescue—she had her plans.
After thinking for a long while, Yang Wuce sent people to constantly monitor the situation at Jiangzi City, with orders to report immediately if there was any unusual movement within Jiangzi City.
Even so, Yang Wuce was still worried and ordered men to take a small contingent there, sending back reports every half day.
Old General Cui Shanzhong was greatly heartened to learn that Yecheng Pass had finally sent people to investigate the situation—he had been afraid there would be no movement from Yecheng Pass.
However, although Yang Wuce sent people to investigate, he delayed bringing troops for reinforcement. Old General Cui Shanzhong had to reassure the officers in his army to remain calm and not act rashly.
Later, a small contingent of only fifty men came from Yecheng Pass—not nearly enough to fill the teeth of Western Liang’s army. If they fought, it would instead alert Yecheng Pass’s defending general.
Today, another hundred-man contingent came from the direction of Yecheng Pass, frequently sending messages back to Yecheng Pass.
Western Liang spies at Yecheng Pass also sent word that Yang Wuce had already assembled his army and looked ready to come to the rescue at any moment.
“Send people to keep close watch on Yecheng Pass. Don’t obstruct their scouts’ comings and goings to report back. General, let us attack the city tomorrow—let Yecheng Pass’s scouts return to report to Yecheng Pass’s defending general. I don’t believe they won’t come to the rescue!” an officer under Old General Cui Shanzhong requested loudly. “As long as they come… we can set ambushes and eliminate Yecheng Pass’s forces at minimal cost! Then seize Yecheng Pass… Great Zhou’s main forces heading to our capital, Yun Capital, will be cut off from supplies!”
Old General Cui remained silent. But… their Western Liang army didn’t have much grain left either.
Originally, he had planned to hold out in confrontation for a while longer for the sake of grain supplies, first seizing Great Zhou’s grain, then using the Great Zhou emperor trapped in Jiangzi City to lure Yecheng Pass’s garrison to rescue, allowing Western Liang’s army to set ambushes and annihilate them in one stroke.
But during these past days, they had truly been made quite miserable by Great Zhou’s army within those high walls.
Great Zhou’s army would periodically open and close city gates, either change meal preparation times, or send out cavalry to circle around and set fires, then return when Western Liang forces charged out.
Separated by high walls, Western Liang’s army could do nothing about Great Zhou’s forces coming to cause trouble, making people very angry. This prevented Western Liang soldiers from resting well, though they could only helplessly curse Great Zhou’s army as cowardly good-for-nothings.
If this continued, poor rest aside, he feared Western Liang soldiers would think Great Zhou could only engage in such minor harassment and would underestimate Great Zhou instead. Once the Great Zhou truly attacked their camp, it would be a catastrophe.
Old General Cui Shanzhong calculated the days—it was about time for the Great Zhou to send grain supplies to the front lines…
Thinking of this, Old General Cui turned to ask his deputy: “When I had you send people to cities not yet captured by the Great Zhou to request troops, was there any reply?”
“Reporting to the Old General, upon hearing that the Old General had emerged from retirement, they are all willing to follow the Old General and have already set out. Plus, I guaranteed them that they only needed to bring enough military provisions for the journey—after reaching the front lines, provisions would be our responsibility through conquest. So… before we reached Jiangzi City, they were already traveling day and night. Although they haven’t arrived yet, they send daily reports. I estimate they’ll arrive by noon tomorrow at the latest!” the deputy replied.
Hearing this, Old General Cui felt confident and said: “Send General Liu to depart immediately to meet with the reinforcements, directly leading them to bypass Jiangzi City and set ambushes on Great Zhou’s grain route! Have the soldiers besieging the city eat their fill tonight and rest well. Tomorrow… we attack the city! Force Yecheng Pass’s defending general to come to Jiangzi City.”
Remembering that Western Liang had only lit cooking fires once daily these past few days, Old General Cui added: “When preparing the midday meal today, have the mess cooks prepare this afternoon’s dry rations as well. Tonight, the soldiers will just eat some dry rations—don’t cook anymore. Otherwise, if the Great Zhou’s army notices, they might be prepared. We must appear the same as usual!”
“Yes!”
Hearing they would finally attack the city, Western Liang’s generals were greatly excited.
·
These past few days, Bai Qingyan had sent out all the Bai family’s shadow guards who were skilled at observing enemy movements to monitor the opposing Western Liang army.
The Bai family army first observed that the Western Liang army, which had been quiet for several days, first had messenger cavalry depart from Old General Cui Shanzhong’s camp outside Jiangzi City’s south gate. Then they saw the Western Liang camps outside the east, north, and west gates all spring into action after receiving the messengers’ orders, clearly indicating some planned action.