I, who plundered the heavens, had a hundred thousand dead men

…

Soon, as the advance army continued to retreat, the nearly 8,000-strong advance army finally retreated back to the Wu Dynasty army camp, with more than half of them suffering casualties.

In other words, during this siege by the Wu Dynasty army, more than 4,000 people were killed by crossbow arrows before they even climbed onto the city wall.

Faced with such a result, Dong Daofu, as the commander-in-chief, looked extremely gloomy.

"General, the bandits in Jiangning City now have so many heavy crossbows, which is very detrimental to our siege. At present, we can only report to the court to recruit a batch of siege armor to reduce the casualties during the siege.

."

"Find a way to contact the Secret Investigation Department in Jiangning City and ask them to find out the source of the heavy crossbows in Jiangning City. Not only did these bandits quietly capture Jiangning City, but they also have so many heavy crossbows. There must be someone behind them, and

This person’s status in our Wu Dynasty is not low.”

Since there were a large number of large crossbows deployed in Jiangning City, Dong Daofu knew that it would be difficult for him to forcibly break through Jiangning City, which was already comparable to an iron wall, without preparing sufficient protective equipment.

After all, in the siege battle just now, more than half of the advance army he sent had been damaged before they even got close to Jiangning City.

If he wanted to attack the city by force, even if his tens of thousands of troops could eventually break through Jiangning City, I'm afraid the final casualties would be a very unacceptable number.

And in Jiangning City, the news that the Death Soldier Corps successfully repelled the Wu Dynasty army and annihilated thousands of Wu Dynasty troops spread quickly to every corner of Jiangning.

This news was deliberately spread by Li Yang. His purpose was to let the people and literati clan in Jiangning City know that the Wu Dynasty army they were expecting was completely vulnerable to his army of dead soldiers.

This will pave the way for him to smoothly control Jiangning City in the future.

That night, a homing pigeon flew silently into the Kang Mansion in Jiangning City.

"Sir, the imperial army that came to attack Ningcheng's bandits was defeated by the bandits. I heard that the imperial army did not even approach the city gate, but lost thousands of soldiers and horses, so that the leader of the army, General Dong, could not

Dare to attack the city easily."

"In addition, General Dong outside the city asked us to investigate the origin of the large bed crossbows of the city lord's rebel army."

When Kang Xian heard this, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Each of these large bed crossbows is very huge. These bandits are extremely capable, and it is impossible to transport these crossbows to Jiangning City before they capture it."

"And now, the bandit army has only occupied the urban area of ​​Jiangning for a few days, and they are actually able to deploy so many heavy crossbows. The power behind this is definitely not simple."

"How many people do we have available in the city right now?"

"Sir, the bandits in the city have been very strict in checking every place in the city in the past few days. They can't even get close to ordinary people near the major city gates. Our personnel lurking in the city dare not act easily."

"In addition, our house is always being watched by the bandits, so the only way to deliver the news is through flying pigeons."

"So if we want to use the power of the Secret Investigation Department in the city to investigate this matter, we can only find an opportunity."

…

Wudu, Imperial Palace Study Room.

News about Dong Daofu's defeat in the first battle also reached the ears of Emperor Zhou Zhe that night.

After getting the news, Zhou Zhe immediately sent for Grand Master He.

"Grand Master, the latest news from Jiangning is that Dong Daofu has lost the first battle. We can start preparations for the peace negotiation you proposed before."

"Your Majesty, I know what to do."

Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will contact Jingguo and occupy Jiangning as soon as possible, and negotiate peace with the bandits in Lin'an."

"Well, Grand Master, this major matter related to the peace of our Wu Dynasty depends entirely on Grand Master."

After leaving the palace, Master He immediately found his cronies and gave them instructions.

"Immediately order someone to send this secret letter to Lin'an and give it to Fang Tianlei. In addition, let Fang Tianlei confirm whether the people who occupied Jiangning City are Lin'an Qin Zhan's men."

"Yes, sir!"

On the afternoon of the next day, Taishi He's secret letter from Wudu was delivered overnight by fast horse to Fang Tianlei's lair deep in the mountains outside Lin'an City.

After reading Grand Master He's secret letter, Fang Tianlei asked his cronies.

"Is there any latest news about Chen Fan and Xigua?"

"Reporting to Duke Sheng, there has been no news from Commander Chen and Commander Liu in recent days."

"Immediately send someone to Lin'an, find Qin Zhan, and tell him that we can discuss his previous proposal in detail."

"Shenggong, if we follow Qin Zhan's previous proposal, then we will become vassals of Black Tiger Camp! Doesn't this mean that we will have to obey Qin Zhan's orders in the future?"

"The matter has come to this. Now we have only two options to choose from. The first is to rely on the imperial court."

"The second is to form an alliance with the Black Tiger Camp, thus completely overthrowing the rule of the Wu Dynasty."

"Compared to the first choice, I prefer the second choice."

"Because the prince and general Xiang Ning have the guts to rely on the imperial court, they can at most get recruitment. It is still unknown whether they can continue to live a stable life afterwards."

"As long as the alliance with Black Tiger Camp can completely overthrow the Wu Dynasty, we will all be the founding fathers of the country."

"Holy Duke, I understand. I will set off for Lin'an right now."

It turned out that not long ago, after Qin Zhan annihilated the Wu Dynasty army that besieged Lin'an, he sent someone to send a secret letter to Fang Tianlei.

The content of this secret letter is the specific matter of Qin Zhan's proposed alliance with Fang Tianlei.

Because the Black Tiger Battalion had achieved extremely brilliant results in Lin'an, Fang Tianlei did not directly reject the secret letter from Qin Zhan after receiving it.

Because the strength of Black Tiger Camp is enough for Fang Tianlei to take it seriously.

And now Jiangning City is facing the Wu Dynasty's 50,000-strong army. The army of dead soldiers in Ningcheng has also resisted tens of thousands of Wu Dynasty's troops.

This also made Fang Tianlei feel more and more that if he could join the Black Tiger Camp in rebellion, the chance of eventual success would be extremely high.

After all, the combat effectiveness of Black Tiger Camp is much stronger than that of the bandits and bandits under his banner.

…

Inside Lin'an City, inside the Black Tiger Army camp.

When Qin Zhan received the news brought by Fang Tianlei, he looked very calm.

Because at the moment, the bandits like Xia Tianlei only use a name to the Black Tiger Camp.

After all, Li Yang has no plans to officially surface yet, so Fang Tianlei apparently has to be the leader of the rebels.

As for Li Yang himself, he is planning his next plan.

A few days later, in Jiangning city.

Since the Wu Dynasty army surrounding Jiangning had not prepared enough protective equipment, Dong Daofu, as the commander-in-chief, did not take any action in the past few days.

However, just that morning, the Dead Soldier Corps in Jiangning City issued an order to various wealthy businessmen in the city.

Jiangning Wu family.

"Dad, these thieves have gone too far. They actually asked us to hand over all our property within 3 days. Otherwise, they will come to pick it up in person after 3 days. Doesn't this give us no way to survive?"

"Didn't they give us another option? If we leave Jiangning, we only need to leave 80% of our family property."

"But Dad, if we leave Jiangning, where should we go?"

"Where to go? Of course to Wudu, where else can we go?"

At the same time, the same scene occurred in the houses of other wealthy gentry and powerful people in Jiangning City.

And the day after the dead soldiers occupying Jiangning City issued this ultimatum, almost all the wealthy gentry and dignitaries in the city chose to hand over 80% of their family property and leave Jiangning City."

And among these wealthy gentry, there was naturally Li Yang himself.

Because Li Yang was already a big tycoon in Jiangning City.

Outside Jiangning City, Dong Daofu, who was besieging Jiangning City, also quickly learned the news.

"What on earth do the thieves in Jiangning City want to do? They actually used this method to drive away all the merchants and dignitaries in Jiangning City."

"The gates of General Jiangning City have opened. It should be that those wealthy people who chose to leave Jiangning City have begun to leave the city!"

"Carefully check the identity of all people leaving the city, and report any abnormalities to me in a timely manner."

"Yes, General!"

Outside a gate of Jiangning City, the carriage that Kang Xian, the consort of the Wu Dynasty, was riding in also safely left the gate of Jiangning City.

"Sir, we have already left the city. I didn't expect these thieves to actually let us leave like this."

Kang Xian's men said in disbelief.

"These bandits have now expelled all the merchants and dignitaries in the city. They must be trying to consolidate the entire Jiangning City's supplies and fight a protracted war with the imperial court."

"Now that we have left, it will not be as easy as before to obtain intelligence information about Jiangning City."