Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Commander, these are civilians from the outskirts of Jiankang. They have important intelligence to report to you."

Ten miles outside Jiankang City, in the Chu army camp, in front of Shen Lang's main tent, Pei Ju led a dozen or so ragged, emaciated villagers to report.

Shen Lang glanced around at the group, then stood in front of an elderly man and asked, "Sir, is there anything you want to tell me?"

The old man replied, "May I ask, sir, are you planning to attack Jiankang City?"

Shen Lang smiled and said, "Yes, sir, is there anything you'd like to say? Come, sit down and let's talk."

He took the old man's hand and helped him to sit down at the table.

This was the first time in the old man's life that he had been treated so politely, and he felt a warm glow in his heart.

"Sir, if you're going to attack Jiankang, I can give you some intelligence, but could I exchange it for some rations?"

"Haha."

Shen Lang smiled faintly.

"Sir, please don't be nervous. Just say what you want to say, and I will definitely fulfill any request you may have."

The old man thought for a moment, then said directly, "Sir, I don't know what information to give you, I only know that there are two cities in Jiankang, an outer city and an inner city. The outer city has more than four thousand garrison soldiers."

There are two thousand garrison troops in the inner city. Don't be fooled by the larger number of soldiers in the outer city; in reality, these troops are poorly equipped, aside from their sheer numbers. The real concern is the two thousand soldiers in the inner city.

Shen Lang considered the matter in his mind and frowned slightly.

Jiankang was the southern central city of Wuzhao, yet it was only guarded by six thousand men?

Apart from the four thousand troops stationed on the mainland, the only real fighting force was the two thousand military officers and soldiers in the inner city.

Just how strong is Li Hong's mind? Does he believe that Wu Zhao Kingdom is currently in a golden age and does not need to heavily guard the enemy's territory?

But upon further reflection, I felt relieved.

From Haizhou to Jiankang, the number of Wu Zhao troops encountered along the way was incredibly small.

The local garrisons only dispatched a few hundred or a thousand troops to deal with the war. The dispersed forces could not be concentrated, giving Shen Lang ample time to make tactical adjustments and making it easy for him to move north without any obstacles.

"Thank you for your hard work, sir, Pei Ju..."

"Yes."

Pei Ju nodded, understanding Shen Lang's meaning, and then said to the old man and the others, "Old sir, please come with me."

Upon hearing that there was indeed food to receive, the old man and his companions were moved to tears.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."

The group repeatedly bowed and thanked Shen Lang.

Shen Lang smiled at the group, and after Pei Ju saw them out, his smile vanished instantly.

"Lu Meng!"

"What are your orders, Commander?"

"We're not waiting any longer. We're launching a full-scale attack on Jiankang right now. You'll have two hours."

"Yes!"

After loudly accepting the order, Lü Meng immediately went to prepare the battle plan.

At this time, in Jiankang City, the defending general Qi Delong learned of the arrival of the Chu army and immediately organized his troops to prepare for a life-or-death battle with the Chu army.

In fact, Qi Delong only glanced at the Chu army camp outside the city and already knew that this battle was impossible to continue.

Qi Delong originally thought that the Chu army would launch an attack from the sea, so he concentrated all his forces on the coastal defense fortress and set up thirteen iron chains at sea to prevent warships from entering the port and landing.

However, he did not expect that after conquering Songzhou, the Chu army would begin to advance by both land and water, and besiege the entire city of Jiankang.

When they came to their senses and rearranged the defenses, they received a letter from the Chu army envoy, a letter to be delivered to the capital.

Qi Delong would never dare to submit the letter from the State of Chu.

This could cost me my head! Even if I die in this city of Jiankang, I absolutely cannot accept the Chu army's letter of state.

Shen Lang gave him a day to consider, while Qi Delong immediately used this day to speed up the transfer of the defense line, first to properly settle all the soldiers in the inner city, and then to do his best to mobilize the people in the outer city to repair the fortifications.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of Qi Delong and the local government to persuade the 1.5 million permanent residents of Jiankang City, only 700 people followed Qi Delong to repair the city's defenses.

The rest of the residents in the outer city were just watching the show, not caring at all whether the city would fall.

Standing atop the city wall, gazing in the direction of the Chu army's encampment, Qi Delong felt a complex mix of emotions.

He simply couldn't understand why the mighty Wuzhao Kingdom was now so vulnerable, being driven all the way from Haizhou to the gates of Jiankang.

In less than a month, the Chu army fleet routed the various defending forces, leaving them in disarray.

Is this still the Wu Zhao Kingdom that I know?

Why were they so easily defeated?

boom--

Suddenly, a cannon shot interrupted Qi Delong's thoughts.

Upon regaining their composure, they saw a grenade explode on the city wall a few hundred paces away.

The five soldiers guarding the crenellations, along with the crossbow cart on one side, were thrown down to the ground by the shockwave and shrapnel.

"Prepare to defend against the enemy!"

Qi Delong shouted and raised his long sword.

The next moment, ballistae and catapults on the city wall burst forth.

The arrows and stones were thrown directly outside the city, but landed on an open ground several hundred paces away, without even reaching the edge of the Chu army.

In front of the Chu army's artillery position, after the first round of test firing, Lü Meng immediately ordered the cannons to adjust their angles and then coldly issued instructions.

"Firepower across the entire front, hold nothing back."

The next moment, the thirteen 75mm standard field guns roared with deafening force.

The scorching shells streaked through the air, leaving trails of black before crashing down on the walls of Jiankang.

In an instant, the defending officers and soldiers were bombed and their blood flowed like a river.

As soon as a soldier stood up, a shell landed at his feet and blew him in two.

Another shell landed on the boiling molten gold, which then spilled from the sky, scalding the surrounding soldiers who screamed in agony.

In an instant, the city walls were filled with cries of anguish and piles of corpses.

Qi Delong finally experienced firsthand the terrifying power of these firearms, and he was so shocked that he trembled with fear.

"That's terrifying, absolutely terrifying."

"This is impossible to fight!"

At that moment, fear instantly filled every corner of Zidron's heart.

When another volley of cannon fire hit the city wall and crashed down, Zidron completely broke down.

"Withdraw! Withdraw the troops immediately!"

With his command, the entire outer city defense line collapsed instantly.

Upon hearing the order to retreat, many of the defending officers and soldiers immediately scattered and fled.

Some people even jumped off the city wall, which was several meters high, and died or were maimed on the ground.

Shen Lang carefully observed the changes on the Jiankang city wall through his binoculars.

When he saw the soldiers defending the city retreating one by one, he couldn't help but shake his head: "A rabble."

After firing a basic load of shells, Lü Meng decisively gave the order to attack.

Immediately, the Chu army, with two infantry regiments as its core units, launched a full-scale attack towards the Jiankang city wall.

An hour later, the undefended outer city of Jiankang was successfully breached.

Qi Delong led his remaining thousand-plus garrison troops into the inner city to continue their defense, awaiting reinforcements from the imperial army.

At this time, Zhang Gui and Fu Chang'an's army was still about five days' journey from Jiankang.