Chapter 245 The Rebel's Will

Wuchang, Jingnan Hou Mansion.

Zuo Menggeng entered the warm pavilion in a furious manner and reported to Zuo Liangyu: "Dad, that guy Cheng Wenfan ran away."

"Running?" Zuo Liangyu said in surprise, "Where have you gone?"

Zuo Menggeng said: "I don't know."

"Damn it, this bastard Cheng Wenfan." Zuo Liangyu said angrily, "I saw that I was in a downfall and wanted to run away. There was no door, so someone came!"

A personal soldier had already come in and responded loudly: "Here."

Zuo Liangyu said: "Tell She Yaoqi and immediately block the four gates of Wuchang. No one is allowed to enter and exit without my order. Whoever dares to disobey orders will be killed without permission."

"yes."

The personal soldiers responded with a loud promise and took the order and left.

After the personal soldiers left, Zuo Liangyu asked Zuo Menggeng again: "Son, is there any news from Anqing?"

Zuo Menggeng said: "There is no definite news yet, but the child heard some rumors."

Zuo Liangyu said: "What rumor? Tell me quickly."

Zuo Menggeng said: "I heard that Lord Huang Shu and Master Liu have been killed by Wang Pu. Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong, Li Yong and others have also rebelled and surrendered to the enemy."

"What did you say?" Zuo Liangyu was shocked when he heard this, "Jin Shengtan and the others have all rebelled and surrendered to the enemy?"

Zuo Menggeng said: "Dad, this is just a rumor..."

"Oh, his grandmother, these four bastards have probably been rebellious." Zuo Liangyu said angrily, "Otherwise, there would be no news yet! I usually treat them like brothers, but in the end I will stab you in the back."

Zuo Liangyu's intestines would be regretful. If he had known this, he would not have left 80,000 elite troops in Jiujiang.

Zuo Liangyu also pointed at the generals of Jinshengtan's four towns and 80,000 elite troops who could withstand it for a while. Unexpectedly, they surrendered to the court without fighting. Now Zuo Liangyu's men are only hundreds of thousands of mobs left. How can he compete with Wang Pu?

Zuo Menggeng said: "Dad, our army's elite are all under Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong and Li Yong. If they really rebel, Wuchang City will probably not be able to defend it."

"You are right, Wuchang is afraid it won't be able to defend it anymore." Zuo Liangyu said in a narrow voice, "We have to think about a way out quickly, otherwise when the Central Army attacks Wuchang, it will be all over."

Zuo Menggeng said: "Dad, why don't you go to Guanzhong to join Li Zicheng?"

"Nonsense." Zuo Liangyu said, "Li Zicheng has no tolerance. Going to Guanzhong to vote for him is seeking death."

Zuo Menggeng said: "Then go to Sichuan and join Zhang Xianzhong."

Zuo Liangyu said: "Zhang Xianzhong is my defeated general. Go and join him where do you let me put my face?"

"Then..." Zuo Menggeng said, "then you can only go to Henan to join the Hongniang."

"Fart." Zuo Liangyu said furiously, "I am also a seven-foot man, how can I bend my knees under a woman's crotch?"

Zuo Menggeng said: "Dad, you want to join Jiannu, right?"

"Jiannu is too far away and can't join him even if he wants to join him." Zuo Liangyu said, "Let's go to Shanxi to join Wu Sangui."

"Wu Sangui?" Zuo Menggeng said, "Can he take us in?"

"I don't know." Zuo Liangyu said, "Son, thank you for your hard work this time. You can go to Taiyuan in person and tell Wu Sangui what I mean."

"Dad." Zuo Menggeng was shocked and said anxiously, "I am your only son. If I have a good family, the Zuo family will be defeated."

"Useless thing." Zuo Liangyu got angry and slapped Zuo Menggeng in the face, roaring, "Are you going? If you don't go, I'll chop you up now!"

At the north gate of Hukou, Wang Pu stood on the city tower with his hands in his hand.

Beside Wang Pu, Liu Qingyan and Liu Rushi were standing, and behind him were Zhao Xin, Tang Sheng, Huang Degong, Shi Lang and other generals of the four towns!

Wang Pu turned around and glanced at Zhao Xin like a knife. Tang Sheng said in a deep voice: "Are you ready?"

Zhao Xin, Tang Sheng responded loudly: "It's ready!"

Wang Pu said: "Go."

"yes!"

The general of the ten towns responded to the promise and took the order and left.

After Zhao Xin and others got off the city tower, Liu Rushi whispered: "Marty, should you think about it again?"

"Consider?" Wang Pu said coldly, "What are you considering?"

Liu Rushi said: "The little woman thought that since the generals of the four towns, including Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong, Xu Yong, etc. have decided to surrender and the marquis has accepted their surrender, they should not be pursued for their murder. As the saying goes, Taoists are not sages, so who can do nothing, as long as they restrain their subordinates in the future and no longer harm the people."

"You are too naive." Wang Pu shook his head and said, "Do you think Jin Shengtan, Li Guoyong, Xu Yong, Lu Guangzu and others can restrain their subordinates and no longer harm the people?"

Liu Rushi said: "Why can the Marquis give Li Chengdong and the others a chance, why can't he give Jin Shengtan and the others a chance?"

"That's different!" Wang Pu said coldly, "Although the Jiangbei Army's military discipline was corrupt, it was not as bad as the Left Army! Liu Zeqing was bad, and he did not forget to plunder the people before he guarded Shandong, but he just plundered. At least he did not kill people casually, at least he did not use people to boil oil and light the lamp!"

"But……"

"But look at Zuo Liangyu's army, burning, killing, rape and doing everything evil. Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong, Xu Yong, and She Shaqi and called Zuo Liangyu's five tiger generals. Will there be few innocent people who die at their hands? Such scumbags and scums, not killing them is not enough to calm the anger of the public, and not killing them is not enough to thank the world!"

“…”

"There are also these four town bandits who are more cruel than thieves and more vicious than Jiannu. If I spare them, what would the soldiers of the Central Army think? What would the people in the world think? Could it be that the people in the world point at my backbone and scold me: Wang Pu, who was killed in heaven, actually colluded with these beasts who were worse than those beasts..."

"Marty." Liu Rushi sighed, "Since you want to kill, you shouldn't be killed now."

Wang Pu said coldly: "What's the reason?"

Liu Rushi said: "If we kill Jin Shengtan and others now, and send the surrendered troops under the four men to Nanjing as eunuchs, the result will only make hundreds of thousands of rebels in Wuchang City sad and resolutely resist. Although the Central Army is invincible, if we really want to fight, the only one who will be the people of Wuchang will be the one who will suffer."

"No, you were wrong." Wang Pu shook his head, "You have no idea what the rebels are thinking."

Liu Rushi showed a trace of dissatisfaction on his face and said in a sweet voice: "I would like to ask the marquis for advice."

Wang Pu said: "If I forgive Jin Shengtan and the four men and the bandits under the four men, then the sufferings suffered by the Wuchang people would probably be severe, and even the people from the surrounding prefectures would not be spared, because these scumbags are used to robbing, and they will definitely seize the time to harm the people, because after being incorporated by the Central Army, they will not have such a good opportunity again!"

Liu Rushi couldn't help but nodded, Wang Pu's words did make sense.

Wang Pu said: "If I kill Jin Shengtan and castrate all the surrendered rebels and send them to Nanjing to be eunuchs, this will cause a great shock to the rebels in Wuchang. Under heavy psychological pressure, the rebels will most likely collapse without fighting. In this way, our army will be able to occupy Wuchang without bloodshed, and at the same time, it will also reduce the losses of the people to the minimum."

"Fail without fighting?" Liu Rushi said in disbelief, "With his lips and teeth cold, won't the rebels resist stubbornly?"

"You overestimate the will of the rebels." Wang Pu said coldly, "This group of rebels will bully the common people, or rely on the large number of people to bully opponents who are weaker than them. Once they meet a truly powerful opponent, whether they are thieves, Jiannu or the Central Army, they will be defeated without fighting."

Liu Rushi said skeptically: "I can't believe it."

A cold murderous intent flashed across Wang Pu's face and said to Liu Rushi: "As long as the Central Army demonstrates its strength and fighting spirit far superior to the rebels, the rebels will completely collapse! Look, after the rebels gather outside the East Gate, only 5,000 Central Army will make them lose their will to resist, even if they still have weapons in their hands!"

"Can 5,000 Central Army lose the will to resist for 80,000 rebels?" Liu Rushi said in a narrow voice, "The little woman can't believe it."

Wang Pu said: "Then you just watch it."

Liu Rushi said: "The little girl will wait and see."

Half an hour later, rebels began to appear outside the north gate of Hukou, like a group of black ants, slowly rolling towards Hukou from the end of the wilderness.

When the rebels were four or five hundred steps away from the city gate, a fast horse suddenly galloped out of the north gate. The Central Army officer on the horse pulled his sword and raised it to the sky, and said with a loud voice: "Stop moving forward..."

Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong and Xu Yong, who were walking in the front of the rebels, raised their right arms high, and the rebels who were slowly following behind them stopped and crowded into a group in the wilderness outside the north gate. At the same time, teams of fully armed Central Army soldiers had already rushing out of the north gate.

Wang Pu and Liu Rushi stood on the city tower and saw tangentially. Five thousand Central Army troops were divided into two groups, bypassing the two wings of the rebels, and finally surrounded the 80,000 rebels in a very sparse square formation. At the command of Zhao Xin, the leader, the five thousand muskets of the Central Army had been raised, and the black muzzles were aimed at the rebels in the encirclement.

A small riot broke out in the rebel formation. Before Zhao Xin could make any statement, all the rebel soldiers had already squatted down consciously with their heads in their hands.

Zhao Xin waved his hand, and a team of soldiers of the Central Army rushed up like a ferocious spirit. Without saying a word, they pressed Jin Shengtan, Lu Guangzu, Li Guoyong and Xu Yong to the ground. A dazzling cold light flashed by. Before Jin Shengtan could figure out what was going on, the big head had already rolled to the ground.

There was another riot in the rebel formation, but the riot soon calmed down again.

Liu Rushi opened her beautiful eyes in shock, her face full of disbelief. She really couldn't understand why the 80,000 rebels, who were still holding weapons, were so afraid of the 5,000 Central Army soldiers? She was indifferent to watching their former chief general being killed!
Chapter completed!