I am the villain in the book

#619 - Before the open struggle begins, the secret struggle begins

Five days later, Liangzhou City.

As mentioned before, all the border prefectures of Da Ning have their capitals located on the national border.

Liangzhou City is the same, located at the northernmost edge of Liangzhou.

And Liangzhou is at the northernmost part of Da Ning.

Thus, Liangzhou City, with a population of only 300,000 households, is the northernmost city in the entire Da Ning.

To the south is Dingshan County, and three hundred miles north is the Tianshan Mountains.

If the weather is good, one can see the continuous snow-capped mountains from the city wall.

This geographical location and climate conditions dictate that Liangzhou City, even as the capital of a prefecture, will not be very prosperous.

And that is indeed the case.

Aside from the population, Liangzhou's various "economic indicators" rank at the bottom of Da Ning. When people in other places hear the name, they can only think of warhorses and good knives.

That's right, Liangzhou's specialty is a type of brown-bodied, white-headed warhorse, and Liang knives with excellent cost performance.

This also reflects that the folk customs of Liangzhou are more valiant than those of other prefectures.

Brave and good at fighting, generous and righteous, drinking in large bowls and eating large pieces of meat... This is the general impression people have of Liangzhou people.

This impression may not fully apply to every Liangzhou person, but overall, it is correct.

In short, everyone's perception of Liangzhou was relatively good before.

Until a year ago, Wen Wen, the general of Liangzhou, led more than 10,000 Liangzhou soldiers to defect to Da Feng in Yuanzhou City.

Abandoning the city and surrendering was already a very shameful thing.

In addition, the Shu Prefecture army, led by Liang Zhen, fought to the last man, which further highlighted the不堪 (bukān - unbearable/shameful) of the Liangzhou army.

You should know that Shu Prefecture was already firmly controlled by the Wei family at that time.

Under such circumstances, Liang Zhen and the Shu army were willing to sacrifice themselves for righteousness and would rather die than surrender.

However, the Liangzhou army, known as "white armor on horseback, red armor off horseback," all surrendered to the enemy, which indeed made it difficult for people not to feel contempt.

In this way, Liangzhou's reputation in the hearts of Da Ning people plummeted, as if all Liangzhou people had turned from righteous heroes into cowards who were greedy for life and afraid of death overnight.

As for Wen Wen, who surrendered to Da Feng...

Although Da Feng accepted the surrender, it was naturally impossible to retain the organizational structure of the Liangzhou army. Soon, the more than 10,000 people were dispersed into various Da Feng camps.

Some of these people died in subsequent battles, and the rest were buried in Yuanzhou City along with the 500,000 Da Feng elites.

Wen Wen was in the Third Rank, so he did not die in the Dragon Locking Formation.

However, his life was not easy.

After the "Yuanzhou City Massacre," Da Feng and Da Ning switched from offense to defense. Wen Wen followed Wu Ding, fighting and retreating until they retreated to Fengyuan.

As a surrendered general, Da Feng would naturally not reuse him, and even repeatedly sent him to lead troops to charge into battle.

In short, since he led the Liangzhou army to surrender, Liangzhou's situation has become increasingly difficult.

According to the Da Ning Law, soldiers who desert or actively surrender to the enemy are to be punished for "treason," and their families will be implicated.

Due to this alone, nearly 50,000 people in Liangzhou were conscripted as coolies and sent to the front lines to transport food and build projects, and less than one in ten were able to return home.

And the number of people who left Liangzhou for other reasons is even more numerous.

In this way, the already remote Liangzhou became even more desolate.

Until recently, with the successive arrival of armies, it has become lively again.

Noon, south gate of Liangzhou City.

The golden sun is overhead, and the dazzling sunlight shines directly on the hunting "Liang" banner, but it cannot melt the cold of deep winter.

The soldiers on the city wall are all wearing thick cotton robes, holding long spears and patrolling back and forth in formation.

And at their feet, or rather, outside the entire Liangzhou City, as far as the eye can see, there are densely packed camps.

Roughly estimated, there are nearly 500,000 troops stationed around Liangzhou City at this time, and they can be roughly divided into three parts.

In the farthest distance, wearing black armor, is the most mysterious and terrifying Tiangou Army.

Slightly closer, wearing green armor, is the 100,000-strong Shu reinforcements brought by Liang Zhen.

Closest to the city wall, wearing yellow armor, is the 400,000-strong Da Ning army led by Han Zhao.

500,000 people are stationed outside Liangzhou City, and the visual effect is undoubtedly very shocking.

They are all the forces that Ning Wenjun and Wei Changtian can currently muster, and they are also the main force in the upcoming great battle.

As for the 3,000 white-armored Liangzhou army in the city, their task is only to maintain order in the city.

"Open the city gate!"

"Open the city gate quickly! !"

"Rumble!"

A rapid shout suddenly sounded, and then the iron cables were seen rolling, and the tall city gate slowly opened with a loud noise, and the raised drawbridge also crashed down on the opposite bank of the moat.

At the same time, two carriages drove straight from a distance, and the "Wei" character black flag hanging on the carriages was particularly clear in the sunlight.

"The Wei family is here."

"It should be Young Master Wei."

"Probably."

"Alas, it is strange how the world is. At the beginning of the year, the Wei family and the imperial court were fighting so fiercely, and in the blink of an eye..."

"Be careful! These things are not for you and me to discuss!"

"..."

Looking at the carriages speeding from far to near, the soldiers on the city wall could not help but whisper a few words to each other.

And just as they were talking, the two carriages had already passed through the city gate, and without slowing down, they went straight to the state yamen, which had been requisitioned as the "war command center."

"Make way! !"

"Make way! ! !"

The roar echoed in the city, and the people panicked and hid on both sides of the road wherever the carriage went.

This scene of chaos undoubtedly reflected the mood of the people in the car from the side.

Obviously, something unexpected must have happened.

"Hiss! ! !"

An incense stick later, the carriage stopped abruptly outside the state yamen.

Wei Changtian, with a serious expression, quickly got out of the car, and then strode towards the three people who had been waiting for a long time in front.

"Changtian."

"Young Master."

"Young Master Wei."

Liang Zhen, Du Chang, Han Zhao.

At this time, the leaders of the three major armies stationed outside the city were all here, and their faces were also very unsightly.

They greeted him a few steps forward, and each greeted Wei Changtian briefly.

The latter did not stop, but nodded slightly to the three of them.

"Let's go, let's go inside and talk."

"Okay."

The four of them walked quickly to the council hall, and the guards outside closed the door after they entered.

At this time, Wei Changtian finally stood still and looked back at Liang Zhen and the other two.

"What's going on?"