Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1065: Pillar State Official
On the second day, the gate opened again, and a large group of people with white flesh and carrying thorns on their backs walked out of the city gate.

"What tricks are these Annan people playing?"

"Hmm, is this an attempt to apologize? I heard the storyteller say..."

"Apologize? Apologize for what? These Annan people still know the stories of our Central Plains..."

In the Ming army camp, a group of soldiers on duty were whispering and watching with interest, as if they were watching a monkey show.

"Officials of Xinxing Prefecture have come to Nacheng to surrender. We dare not resist the heavenly soldiers. If the Ming soldiers are angry that we were not sincere enough yesterday, please beat them with thorns." The provincial official shouted first.

It turned out that he was here to surrender again! He surrendered without even putting on clothes. This was the first time in history. The Ming soldiers pointed outside the camp. Someone saw this and immediately went to the commander's tent to report to Li Wenzhong and Lan Yu.

"No." Li Wenzhong waved his hand without looking up. "Inform all the soldiers that the enemy is pretending to surrender."

"Don't fall for his evil scheme."

"This..." The messenger hesitated. "Marshal, this shouldn't be a false surrender."

"Those Annan officials are only wearing their underpants. Even if they pretend to surrender to us, they can't harm us."

"Even if you don't accept the surrender, why not capture all these officials?"

"Go down and tell them." Li Wenzhong still didn't look up. "Why capture them? It's a waste of food."

"...That makes sense." The messenger muttered, and then left as he was told. Lan Yu watched him leave, somewhat unwillingly, and said, "Duke Cao, are we really not going to take over Xinxing Prefecture?"

"This, this is a military achievement that has already been delivered to me..."

"If we take over Xinxing Prefecture, Thang Long City will surely be afraid. Hu Jinyi might retreat to the city, clear the countryside and fight a defensive battle with us." Li Wenzhong said.

"According to the plan of His Royal Highness Prince Zhou, we must not only mobilize Hu Jin's army, but also find ways to eat up some of them. Hu Jin just won a great victory over the Ruan faction. If we don't let him lose a few, the balance between the Hu and Ruan factions will be lost."

"Sin Hsin Prefecture is already a gateway to protect Thang Long Prefecture. Hu Jiyi must defend this place. Only by keeping Sin Hsin Prefecture can Hu Jiyi raise troops to rescue us. Only then will we have a chance to weaken his strength."

"I know this as well..." Lan Yu said. "Well, forget it. I'll just follow your instructions, Duke Cao."

Li Wenzhong glanced at Lan Yu and knew that he felt that the battle was really frustrating, so he said, "Actually, I have another important matter for you to do."

"What's the matter?" Lan Yu suddenly became alert. "Duke Cao, please tell me!"

"In a few days, if Hu Jilin comes to help, I want to pretend to be defeated by him." Li Wenzhong said.

"First, Kuan Huji's confidence will make him bold enough to pursue us. This way, we will have a chance to consume his troops."

"Secondly, I think we can use the excuse of feigning defeat to secretly divide our forces."

"Le Loi in the south is still too slow. Your Highness the Fifth Prince is trying to add fuel to the fire."

"After the troops are divided, you will lead two thousand elite cavalrymen southward to attack the Annan stronghold."

"Every time they captured a city, they killed the city officials and paralyzed its defenses, so that Le Loi could take the city without bloodshed and slaughter the city's nobles."

"When Le Loi is powerful and the power of the Annan nobles is greatly weakened, it is time for the Ming Dynasty to follow the will of heaven and take over Annan in a just and fair manner."

Lan Yu was overjoyed. Leading an army deep into enemy territory alone and moving back and forth in the enemy's territory was exactly what he was good at.

In short, no matter what, it will be much more enjoyable than fighting a trivial war like today.

This guy doesn't look like a great general at all, he looks more like an actor performing a play with children...

"No need for two thousand. Two thousand people are too many. I only need one thousand people to turn the southern part of Annan upside down!" Lan Yu said.

"Ahem, ahem, don't be careless." Li Wenzhong said. "Annan has many forests and mountains, unlike the northern desert, where cavalry can hardly gallop."

"With only a thousand people, we may not be able to get anything done."

"No problem." Lan Yu's eyes sparkled, and he said, "I have a plan. We just need to contact the Fifth Prince and have him secretly prepare boats for us. Then, we can take advantage of the river and travel back and forth."

Lan Yu's military ability was actually not inferior to that of Li Wenzhong. Li Wenzhong thought about it, nodded, and approved of Lan Yu's proposal.

"Then, we need to speed up our contact with the Fifth Prince. The secret agent of the Jinyiwei reported today that Hu Jinlei has returned here..." As he said this, he pointed on the map. Lan Yu came over and leaned over to look at the map.

The two of them looked at the map and began to discuss.

"…The biggest problem now is the governor of Xinxing City." Li Wenzhong said with a wry smile. "These people are coming to surrender again, but we refuse to accept them. Once or twice is fine."

"If it happens a few more times, morale might be damaged."

If the enemy keeps surrendering and we don't accept it and attack the city, it is hard to guarantee that there won't be soldiers who become suspicious and their morale will be affected.

According to the original plan, Li Wenzhong wanted to put on some show in this Xinxing Prefecture.

But looking at the current situation, the officials of Xinxing Prefecture are eager to surrender, not to mention pretending to surrender. I am afraid that once the Ming army shows signs of attacking the city, the Annan army in Xinxing Prefecture will all cheer and welcome the Ming army into the city.

The girls in the brothel didn't have it so easy. These Annan officials didn't even have to push, they all lay down on their own.

"...Indeed." Lan Yu also scratched his head in distress. Hu Jinyi came here at a high speed just to rescue Xinxingfu, the gateway to Shenglong City. If he found no signs of siege after he arrived, and the Ming army was still entangled with the officials of Xinxingfu, it was hard to guarantee that he would not become suspicious and station troops to wait and see.

If he waited and watched, the Ming army would not be able to feign defeat and would not be able to divide its troops.

"Those Annan officials want to surrender for real. Why don't we turn their real surrender into a false surrender, and then take advantage of their trick..." Lan Yu, who had given up on attacking Xinxing Prefecture, suddenly became clear-headed and immediately thought of a plan. He whispered to Li Wenzhong.

"Hmm... this is a brilliant plan." Li Wenzhong's eyes lit up. "Although the details are questionable, we can give it a try!"

"The Hu family still has six days to reach Xinxing, so on that day, we will 'accept' their surrender..."

……

Outside Xinxing City.

On that day, the governor of Xinxing Prefecture and a group of Annan officials were desperate and put their reputation on the line. However, they did not expect that even if they followed the example of the ancient Chinese and showed their sincerity, the Ming Dynasty was still unwilling to accept them.

In the Ming army camp, they continued to proceed according to the routine, slowly besieging the city, slowly cutting off the water supply, and slowly setting up siege equipment... The officials of Annan in the city were in a panic. It seemed that the Ming Dynasty was determined to break through the city... The Ming soldiers were so elite, if the city was broken, how could the eggs in the nest remain intact?
The governor's surname was Bai, and his hair had almost turned white with worry. He didn't know how to make the Ming army believe that he was truly surrendering.

On the third and fourth days, Bai Zhouguan personally led a group of Annan civil and military officials out of the city. He even plucked up the courage to come to the Ming army camp and shouted to the Ming soldiers guarding the camp gate that he was willing to surrender the whole city. If they did not believe him, they could take him into the camp. As a state official, he was willing to guarantee with his life that this was not a false surrender.

The news reached the military tents of Li Wenzhong and Lan Yu. Li Wenzhong was silent for a long time, and then he sighed: "Who said that Annan has no people? Baizhou official is willing to use himself as bait to lure our Ming army soldiers into the city to kill him. He is really a first-class loyal and righteous man in Annan."

When these words were heard, the Ming soldiers immediately understood the Annan people's treacherous plot. The soldiers guarding the camp gate looked at Officer Bai with a little more admiration and fear: admiration was because the men in the army admired righteous men the most. Officer Bai came to beg for surrender every day just to lure the Ming army into the city to ambush and kill him. He was truly a great righteous man who was willing to sacrifice his life for justice.

Although everyone was living in an enemy country, they still admired such chivalrous men in their hearts.

The fear was: I didn't expect that this Baizhou official, who looked mediocre and had a big belly, could have such a scheming mind. If it weren't for Duke Cao's sharp eyes, they might have fallen into this man's evil plan.

It is true that you cannot judge a person by his appearance. Who said that Annan has no people? There is actually such a wise and resourceful strategist.

The gazes of the Ming army soldiers made Baizhouguan look confused, not knowing why they looked at him with such complicated eyes. However, seeing that the Ming army was making orderly preparations for the siege, Baizhouguan became more and more anxious and worried.

fifth day.

"Sir, the Ming army has already built three siege vehicles and three catapults. I'm afraid they will launch a large-scale attack on the city in a few days."

In Xinxing government office, an official said to the governor Baizhou with great concern.

"Sir, what should we do? Please give me some advice!"

"The Ming army was so elite that they captured several cities in just a few days. If we wait until they launch a large-scale attack, we will all be killed without a burial place..."

"I can give you some ideas, but what ideas can I come up with?" Officer Bai slumped in his chair, looking distraught.

"I have already begged for surrender to the Ming army several times, and even almost tied myself up and sent myself directly to the gate of the Ming army camp, but the Ming army still refused to surrender... What else can I do?"

"If that doesn't work, you might as well kill me with a single blow. Send my head to the Ming army, and maybe they will accept our surrender."

The official looked at Baizhouguan's head with some interest, but eventually looked away. "Alas, it's strange to say that the Ming army is also strange."

"They neither accepted our surrender nor wanted to attack us. Every time they just drove us back to the city, as if they were afraid that something would happen to us and they would not be able to fight against the Ming army."

"Alas, now the Ming army is unwilling to surrender. What should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Officer Bai also let out a long sigh, and then his face was filled with worry.

The battle has been going on till now, with one side trying every possible way to surrender, while the other side is afraid that if the other side really surrenders, there will be no more battle to fight... This is truly a unique situation.

"Sir! Sir!" Suddenly, an official from the government office ran in happily, shouting with a look of surprise, "Sir, great news, great joy!"

"The Ming Dynasty is willing to surrender!"

"Really?" Upon hearing this, Baizhou Guan was like being injected with a shot of cardiotonic medicine, and his whole body was revived. "The Ming Dynasty is willing to surrender? When did it happen?"

"Just now, just now!" The official looked extremely excited. The Ming Dynasty was going to accept their surrender. He looked as if the Ming Dynasty had already suffered a great defeat.

"Ming army's Cao Guogong sent someone to deliver a letter, saying that he is willing to accept our surrender outside the city."

"But they want our army to provide them with cattle, sheep, and wine, and they also want all the defenders in the city to line up outside the city gates so that the Ming army can surrender..."

"Sir, can we agree to this request?"

"Yes! Yes! Good, good! All yes!" Baizhou official was overjoyed and responded repeatedly. "A little food, the Ming soldiers came from afar, and they should be rewarded!"

"As for deploying troops outside the city gates... the Ming Dynasty is still worried that we will set an ambush in the city. It's only natural, it's only natural! In order to reassure the Ming Dynasty, this is the right thing to do!"

The official of Baizhou was very happy. He was originally from a local noble family. At this moment, he gave an order and the city immediately began to make intensive preparations.

Jars of fine wine and carts of meat were sent to the Ming army camp in an endless stream.

At the urging of Baizhou officials, the Annan army also swarmed outside the city and formed a battle array. The morale of these people was not high to begin with, and they were all very happy to hear that they were going to be surrendered by the Ming army.

After all, who wouldn't want to do that if they didn't have to fight with those elite and terrifying Ming Dynasty soldiers?

If there were no slogans in this era, they might have hung a banner that read "Welcome the Ming Dynasty soldiers to retake Xinxing Prefecture."

"Come on! Come on, everyone!" Officer Baizhou was wearing a brand new official robe and looked as joyful as a groom about to enter the bridal chamber.

"Don't let the Duke of the upper country be upset."

In the Ming army camp, it was like the New Year. The soldiers feasted on the wine and meat sent from Xinxing Prefecture.

"Hu Jilin's army is already more than 20 miles away to the west." In the commander's tent, Li Wenzhong was discussing the situation with Lan Yu while eating the food brought by the soldiers.

"The Fifth Prince has sent a letter. They have decided to send Jiujiang with a navy to help me penetrate the south." Lan Yu said, his eyes flashing with ferocity, as if he couldn't wait to lead a thousand special forces to attack the city. "Although the narrow river cannot carry treasure ships, in terms of navy, Annan is still far from being a match for my Ming Dynasty."

"Jiujiang..." Hearing his son's name, Li Wenzhong paused, then quickly recovered. "Since Your Highness has made arrangements, then this matter must be safe."

"After the soldiers finish eating this meat, they can rest for a while. Hu Ji's army should be arriving soon," Li Wenzhong said. "Are the preparations for retreating complete?"

"It's perfect. Hu Jinyi will definitely not gain any advantage. It will make the Ming Dynasty look panicked." Lan Yu laughed with a very evil taste. "The soldiers are well fed and well drunk, so they can cheer up for the performance."

"Hehe, this Xinxing Prefecture governor is honest, and all the meat he sent us was good... However, since he sent us good meat, we are giving him a great credit for 'designing a way to defeat the enemy', so he doesn't lose out!"

(End of this chapter)