The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 127 The mighty city is broken!

Tangcang Town is an open area located between mountains. It is both a garrison for the Shu army and a small village where ordinary people live.

This place is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and a tributary of the Jialing River passes through the outskirts of the military town. There are many farmlands scattered here and there. It is the season when crops are ripe. From a distance, it looks like a golden field, swaying and rustling in the breeze in the valley.

When Li Yi led his troops into the town, the people were so scared that they closed their doors. Soldiers these days were like bandits. Even the garrisoned Shu troops did not have good military discipline, let alone these invaders from the Zhou Kingdom.

Even though the Zhou army had sent people to appease every household, saying that their commander, General Li, the chief military officer of the Western Expedition Camp, had strictly ordered his soldiers not to harass the people.

But everyone was still unsure and could only pray secretly that these killers would leave quickly.

Li Yi was somewhat helpless about the people's reaction, but it was not their fault. The reputation of the Five Dynasties soldiers was really too bad. As the commander-in-chief, he could order the soldiers to behave in a restrained manner, but he could not change the people's bad impression of the warriors.

This deep-rooted disease cannot be eliminated in a short period of time...

Southwest of Tangcang Town, with its back against the mountains and its face facing a tributary of the Jialing River, stood the Shu army's camp. It contained numerous houses and tents, and was protected on all sides by wooden palisades as thick as an arm. Watchtowers were erected every few hundred steps, and a trench surrounded the camp.

The Shu army's commander, Wang Luan, took away all the main forces of the army, leaving only a few hundred soldiers in the camp. At this time, the camp had been occupied by the Zhou army, and all the officers and soldiers of the Shu army surrendered.

Li Yi, along with several officers including Zhang Jianxiong and Lu Su, rode their horses across the simple wooden bridge built over the river and went straight into the Shu army's garrison camp in Tangcang.

After completely annihilating the Tangcang Shu army yesterday, Li Yi arranged for Li Hanchao to replace Zhang Jianxiong and lead the four commanders of the imperial guards to besiege Weiwu City.

At the same time, he ordered Zhang Jianxiong to lead a thousand Longzhou soldiers to Tangcang Town to receive the prisoners of the Shu army.

After entering the camp, Li Yi immediately asked someone to take him to check out the Shu army's granary. It was said that after the Zhou army retreated from the last attack on Shu, Shu was prepared to prevent the Zhou army from giving up and attacking again.

He specially dispatched heavy troops to garrison Tangcang Town and spent a huge amount of money to transport food and supplies, preparing for a protracted war.

Li Yi walked quickly into a grain warehouse and saw several huge grain bins made of bamboo strips standing inside. The cylindrical bins looked like upright cannon barrels at first glance.

He drew out the dagger he carried with him, raised his hand and stabbed a grain bin, then pulled it back with force, and immediately grains of wheat flowed out from the gap.

Li Yi put away his sword, reached out to catch a handful, picked up a few grains and put them in his mouth to chew. He turned around and looked at everyone and said, "They say that the food in Shu is nourishing. If this wheat really tastes sweeter than ours, it should be even more delicious if cooked into wheat rice."

As he said this, he actually started laughing. To say that the food in Shu Kingdom tasted better was naturally a joke. He couldn't taste any difference anyway.

However, with the food given away for free by Shu Kingdom, the logistical pressure on his own army was immediately greatly reduced. As the saying goes, you don't feel bad about eating other people's food, so Li Yi naturally felt comfortable.

This feeling is like when I was a kid and went to someone else's house for a meal, I always felt that the food tasted better than my own. Ultimately, it was just a psychological illusion at work.

Seeing Li Yi's good mood, a surrendered Shu official quickly bowed and said, "This grain is all this year's new grain. It was urgently transported from Xingzhou last month. There are over 20,000 hu, enough to sustain thousands of troops for several months."

Li Yi smiled even more broadly when he heard this. Twenty thousand hu is equivalent to several hundred tons in later measurement units. Even if the vanguard troops eat to their heart's content, it can guarantee supply for two or three months.

No matter how strong the army’s combat effectiveness is, it must be well fed. Otherwise, if everyone is hungry, who will be willing to work for you?

The Shu official added, "Yesterday, General Li defeated our army at the entrance of the valley... After the Shu army... some officers remaining in the camp proposed burning the food and fodder, vowing to live and die with the Tangcang army. Fortunately, I saw the situation was not good and used words to persuade those people to stop their reckless behavior. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste to burn all this food?"

This official is quite good at taking credit for himself, and he expresses his loyalty to Li Yi in both words and deeds... But it is also human nature, and he who knows the times is a hero.

Li Yi nodded and praised him: "You have done a great job. This contribution will be remembered by this general."

The Shu official immediately smiled happily, but Li Yi's next words froze his expression on his face.

"Go find those who say they want to burn the food and perish with Tangcang. I will grant their wish and drag them out and chop them off on the spot."

Li Yi gave the order, and then ignored the Shu official who was sweating profusely, and led his men out of the warehouse.

Mercy has its limits. He can treat the surrendered Shu soldiers kindly, but only if they obey and behave properly. I've worked so hard leading my men into battle, isn't it for fame and fortune? It's understandable that the enemy and I have different positions, but you want to burn my spoils? Don't even think about it!
Li Yi wanted to use this move to tell the Shu army that if they wanted to live, they should surrender honestly and not make any trouble... If they really didn't want to live, then they could do as they pleased.

Next.

Li Yi inspected the Shu army camp and instructed Zhang Jianxiong to take people to guard it. By the way, he also arranged for people to escort the surrendered Shu soldiers and civilians back to the rear.

The grain stored in Tangcang Town was needed to feed the army on the Western Expedition. As for the captives and able-bodied civilians of the Shu army, they were naturally packed up and sent out of Dasan Pass to be resettled by the local vassal states.

……

Until evening.

Li Yi led his army back to the outskirts of Weiwu City.

Now that the main force of the Shu army in Tangcang Town has been destroyed, as long as more people are sent across Weiwu City to garrison Baijian in the southwest to block the Shu army troops coming to support from Fengzhou City, Weiwu City will be in their hands.

It didn't matter that the Shu army was hiding in the city. At most, there were only more than 2,000 people, and at least half of them were young men helping to defend the city. They were simply unable to go out of the city and fight against the Zhou army.

Li Yi thought about it for a while and felt that the greatest value of Weiwu City at the moment was the food in the city. An important military fortress like this would definitely stockpile food and grass for more than half a year to avoid being besieged and collapsed.

He immediately sent Li Hanchao to lead more than a thousand troops to cross Weiwu City and head towards Fengzhou City in the southwest.

Up to now, there has been no movement from Wang Huan, the mighty governor of Fengzhou City. It is unknown whether he has not received the message or is still hesitating.

In that case, I'll put pressure on him and see what choice he will make.

Li Yi also ordered people to use the divine arm crossbow to shoot the seal and fish symbol of Wang Luan, the dyeing house envoy of Shu State who died in the battle, onto the top of the mighty city.

It also included a sternly worded letter of surrender, informing the soldiers that the Shu army in Tangcang Town had been completely wiped out and ordering the defenders of Weiwu City to surrender within three days, otherwise no one would be left alive after the city was captured.

This is also a naked psychological warfare... I don't believe that the Shu army is really not afraid of death!

It's approaching dusk.

Li Yi led dozens of personal soldiers to climb a high slope a few hundred steps north of Weiwu City and carefully observed the movements around the city for a while.

The Shu army defending the city did not make any big moves, but they were obviously very alert. The soldiers on the city wall were all fully armed as if facing a powerful enemy.

One of the guards couldn't help but ask, "General, the Shu army doesn't look like they want to surrender. Should we prepare to attack the city tomorrow?"

Li Yi shook his head and said, "No rush, let's wait and see. A strong attack will definitely result in heavy casualties. Our Imperial Guards are all elite soldiers, and if they die in battle, they must die for a good cause. We cannot give our lives away so easily."

In his view, a strong attack is only a bad strategy, and defeating the enemy without fighting is the best way.

The elite Shu troops on the front line of Fengzhou were almost completely lost. Now they have sent people to Baijian to cut off the retreat of the defenders of Weiwu City. It remains to be seen how long the other side can hold out.

Anyway, there are still several days before we can capture Weiwu City in half a month. Let’s see how the situation develops first... If it doesn’t work, we can attack the city later!

However, what Li Yi did not expect was that Wang Huan in Fengzhou City had not made any move, but the Shu army in Weiwu City could not hold on first.

That night.

The gates of Weiwu City were wide open, and a group of Shu army officers carried the head of the city's chief commander and presented a letter of surrender to Li Yi.

(End of this chapter)