The Zhou army besieged the city, and the soldiers and civilians in Jiangzhou City did not react much to this expected situation. Although the ambush and sneak attacks and harassment along the way did not slow down the advance of the Zhou army much, for the results of the previous series of operations, especially the ambushes at Yaji Mountain and Guniu Mountain, Hu Ze was still very satisfied with the assassin history and commander of the new state -- after receiving the recital sent by Hu Ze, the Jiangnan imperial court had officially appointed him as the assassin and commander of Jiangzhou while greatly appreciating it.

In a battle, more than 300 casualties of the most elite "Flying Dragon Army" in the invincible and invincible Beiping Army were killed, and such a record was already a miracle in a sense. After all, as far as Hu Ze knew, although the total casualties of the Beiping Army were nearly 5,000 in the large-scale Battle of Youyun, the casualties of the "Flying Dragon Army" were only more than 600, and the casualties were only more than 160. You must know that such casualties are the result of more than two months of fighting between the Beiping Army and the 300,000 Khitan Army, and hundreds of battles before and after. Now, with only 5,000 ambush troops, but at the cost of 3,000 casualties, he killed more than 100 people of the "Flying Dragon Army" and injured more than 200 people, causing more than half of its losses in the Battle of Youyun. Even if this Jiangzhou City was immediately broken by the Zhou army, such a record would have made him have no regrets. What we have to do now is to defend the city when the Zhou army is attacking the city, or die on the battlefield, or draw a sword to kill ourselves when something is not done, repay the court and the lord with death, and leave a strong mark in the annals of history - the surrender of Kaicheng is not in Hu Ze's consideration at all, otherwise he will not kill Xie Yanbao, and he will not take the initiative to attack the Zhou army, and it is completely unacceptable for him to be captured and humiliated. It can be said that from the moment he decided to kill Xie Yanbao and send troops to attack the Zhou army that was advancing lightly, Hu Ze had put life and death aside, and no longer thought that he would live in this world after Jiangzhou City was breached.

Hu Ze was ready to repay the Jiangnan court and the lord with death in the city, but Xu Shaoan had to temporarily suppress the hatred of the Jiangzhou guards outside the city, and reluctantly agreed with Zeng Zhilin's first persuasion to surrender and then attack the city, and the construction of the army before the soldiers, and sent people to the city ** into the persuasion letter and leaflet to give the Jiangzhou defenders and the soldiers and civilians in the city the last chance.

In fact, according to Xu Shao'an's original intention, for this kind of opponent who is determined to work hard for the Jiangnan court and Li Yu, and at the same time brings such heavy losses to the Zhou army, especially the "Flying Dragon Army", there is no need to do such a thing as persuading to surrender, which is a waste of time and will not have any effect. If the Jiangzhou garrison really had the intention of surrendering, how could he take the initiative to send troops dozens of miles away to attack the Zhou army, and constantly harass the Zhou army along the way. Although the losses of the "Flying Dragon Army" in the First Battle of the Mountain Road were not small, the casualties of the Jiangzhou Army were still several times that of the "Flying Dragon Army" under the condition of occupying the advantageous geographical position. Coupled with the strong siege ability shown by the Western Route Army under Wuchang City before, if this Jiangzhou defender is really a practical person, he is afraid that as soon as the city is besieged here, he will already take the initiative to surrender the city, so how can he wait until now The city gate is still closed and heavily guarded.

It's just that it was a decision made by the committee before the Southern Expedition to throw a letter of persuasion and a leaflet of persuasion into the city before the siege, and Zeng Zhilin did the same in Wuchang City. Xu Shao'an, who had just caused heavy losses to the "Flying Dragon Army" because of his violation of the combat regulations and team rules and regulations, was no longer willing and could only accept the 26th brother's proposal, and shot the surrender letter and the surrender leaflet into the city with a bow and crossbow, and patiently waited for the moment stipulated in the ultimatum.

At the end of noon on March 25 of the lunar calendar of the second year of Jianlong, as the time for the surrender of the Jiangzhou garrison stipulated in the ultimatum was gradually approaching, the headquarters of the West Route Army and the Middle Route Army stationed on the east and west sides of Jiangzhou City went out to camp and lined up under the orders of Zeng Zhilin and Xu Shao'an, and more than 300 artillery pieces used by the two armies for attacking the city were also laid in place, and the muzzles of the black hole pointed directly at the east and west gates of Jiangzhou City.

At the beginning of the day, when the hands of the pocket watch modified with a watch in his hand pointed to three o'clock in the afternoon, Xu Shaoan looked at the east gate of Jiangzhou City, where there was still no movement, and coldly ordered the herald beside him: "Open the cannon." ”

As the command flag in the herald's hand waved, one hundred and sixty cannons of various calibers roared almost simultaneously, sending one hundred and sixty shells above the city head and within the city walls. Almost at the same time, Zeng Zhilin in the west of the city also gave the order to shoot, and the same number of artillery fired the same number of shells. The only difference was that the shells of the Western Route Army were concentrated on the city wall and the surrounding area, while the shells of the Central Route Army were widely dispersed. While bombarding the city walls, he did not let go of the targets in the city. In particular, the place where the Jiangzhou Assassin History Office is located has become the preferred target of some artillery. For a time, the smoke of gunpowder was filled with gunpowder and fire in the upper and lower parts of Jiangzhou City, and the defenders of the city were killed and wounded, and Queen Cang withdrew. The inhabitants of the city wailed and screamed, running around like headless flies, trying to avoid the "deadly thunder" that would fall from nowhere.

Seeing the Central Route Army's all-out bombardment of Jiangzhou City regardless of soldiers and civilians, Zeng Zhilin, who stood on top of the tall temporary watchtower and observed the movement in the city with a telescope in his hand, couldn't help but shake his head gently. He understood that this was a kind of revenge from the Middle Route Army for the previous attack on the mountain road and the heavy losses, and it was a vent for the starling brother to be depressed and unhappy for a period of time before. But this kind of counting the losses caused by his mistakes on the opponent and taking those unarmed ordinary people out of anger is really not a move that Zeng Zhilin can agree with. What's more, after the end of the war, this place will become under the rule of the Later Zhou court, and the people here will also become the subjects of the Later Zhou court. So, only ten minutes after the shelling began, Zeng Zhilin ordered the shooting to stop, the infantry to attack the city, and sent a signal to the central army in the east of the city that the siege had begun.

The Western Route Army began to launch an infantry attack, in order to avoid accidental damage from artillery fire, even if the grievances of the Central Route Army and Xu Shao'an had not yet been vented, no matter how unwilling they were to stop, they could only stop the shelling, and instead began to send infantry to attack the city and cooperate with the actions of the Western Route Army.

It is said that it is a siege, but in fact, after experiencing the baptism of fierce artillery fire, and Hu Ze and Song Deming, the two generals who have the most resolute will to resist in Jiangzhou, were shot one after another in the preparation of fierce artillery fire, one was killed and one was seriously injured, and they could no longer continue to exercise their command, the military spirit of the Jiangzhou defenders in the city has gradually weakened, and the fighting spirit has gradually lost. And the cronies and generals of Xie Yanbao, the assassin in the city, stood up again at this time, convincing these soldiers and generals who had been crushed by artillery fire to understand the practice, and there was no need to risk their lives for a war that was doomed to failure. As a result, when the infantry of the Central and Western armies began to attack the city, the vast majority of the defenders in the city had already given up resistance and surrendered to the Zhou army in a formation under the leadership of the official generals who advocated surrender. The only thing that caused some minor trouble to the infantry of the Zhou army who entered the city was the guards of Hu Ze's body and the unconscious Song Deming who retreated to the Assassin's Mansion Office, which had been blown into ruins, and the only ones who would rather die than surrender were the personal soldiers of the two generals Hu and Song who would rather die than surrender.

Originally, according to Xu Shao'an's meaning, since the remnants of the defenders in the Assassin History Office would rather die than surrender, then they would be fulfilled and smashed through the matter with a cannon fire. But firstly, Zeng Zhilin was dissatisfied with the indiscriminate shelling of Jiangzhou City by this starling brother before, and secondly, he also respected the loyalty and character of Hu and Song and their personal soldiers, and was unwilling to add more casualties to a battle that had already had a result. Therefore, on the issue of how to deal with the more than 200 soldiers of the two generals Hu and Song, Zeng Zhilin insisted that he should salute first and then the soldiers, and only when all peaceful means did not work, then solve the problem by force.

In the face of the 26th brother's arguments, Xu Shaoan gradually calmed down from the hot-headed state at the beginning of the siege, realized that what he had done before was inappropriate and contrary to the policy principle of "winning the hearts of the people in Jiangnan and facilitating future management", and finally accepted Zeng Zhilin's proposal and suspended the attack on the Assassin History Office.

Seeing that the starling had calmed down, Zeng Zhilin secretly rejoiced, and at the same time immediately sent people to find the officials and generals of Jiangzhou, as well as the families of Hu and Song, and took turns to persuade the two generals Hu and Song in the government office to lay down their weapons -- Hu Ze took over the Jiangzhou assassin history for only a few days, and the preparation work was very busy, so that he had not had time to integrate his family members into the assassin's mansion, but his family members escaped the bombardment of the assassin's office by the middle route army. At the same time, in order to show respect for Hu and Song, Zeng Zhilin also promised to bury Hu Ze, try his best to rescue Song Deming, and ensure the lives of the defenders in the government office.

The persuasion was carried out for more than a month and nearly two hours, and finally under the successive persuasion of a cadre of former Jiangzhou officials and generals, under the persuasion of the family members of Hu and Song, especially under the sincere expression of Zeng Zhilin's oath to abide by the conditions promised by him before, the second general Hu and Song who retreated to the assassination bureau were personally soldiered and killed, except for the five Hu Ze's family members who killed themselves because they did not protect the head of the family and had no face to see the master's mother, the rest of the people finally laid down their weapons and walked out with their command deputy Song Deming.

Seeing that his persuasion had an effect, Zeng Zhilin breathed a sigh of relief while not forgetting his promise. On the one hand, he immediately called in the military doctor to try his best to rescue Song Deming, who was seriously injured, and on the other hand, he personally went out to help the Hu family's relatives take care of Hu Ze's funeral, and instructed those Hou Zhou officials who would stay in Jiangzhou to temporarily take care of the local military, government and civil affairs, and after the time of the moratorium, they must hold a grand funeral for Hu Ze and take care of his family as much as possible.

Thanks to the superb medical skills of the military doctor and his own good physical qualities, Song Deming finally woke up after three days in a coma. Although he felt guilty for not being able to kill for the country like the assassin, and had thoughts of suicide. However, after learning about the persuasion of the Assassin History Bureau, Zeng Zhilin's respect for Hu Ze and his family's care, and learning that the pro-soldiers and family members who had retired to the government office had been pardoned and given preferential treatment, Song Deming was still moved by Zeng Zhilin's sincerity. He not only gave up the idea of suicide, but also expressed his willingness to make meritorious contributions to the Great Zhou court.

On the morning of March 29 of the lunar calendar of the second year of Jianlong, shortly after receiving a joint report on the battle situation from Xu Shaoan and Zeng Zhilin, Wang Kunjun sent a reply in the name of the committee. In the telegram, while accepting Xu Shao'an's review again and strictly asking him not to commit another crime, Zeng Zhilin was also praised. In addition, according to Zeng Zhilin's Jianyì, the Later Zhou court also gave Song Deming a large number of rewards and retained his official position as the deputy commander of Jiangzhou.

Although he could not accompany the army eastward because of his injuries, Song Deming, who had already decided to serve the Great Zhou and make meritorious contributions, did not give up the opportunity to show his loyalty. After obtaining the consent of Xu Shaoan and Zeng Zhilin, he took advantage of the favorable condition that he had always made friends with Ge Yan, the commander of the Chizhou guard, and first sent his own cronies to meet Ge Yan with his own handwritten letter, and told the other party about the benefits and disadvantages, and persuaded him to take the initiative to surrender to the Zhou army, so as to avoid the baptism of war and the destruction of life in Chizhou City. In addition, Song Deming also provided Xu and Zeng with the detailed information he knew about the garrison of Chizhou, the deployment of troops, and the entrance of the main outer fortress, Qixiakou, so that they could forcibly attack the city when persuasion failed.

Zeng Zhilin, who had already admired Song Deming's positive expression, was naturally very satisfied, and Xu Shao'an, who was still a little resentful of him because of the ambush on the mountain road, gradually changed his perception of one of the main planners of the mountain ambush war, and was no longer as blunt and cold as before.

On the first day of the fourth lunar month of the second year of Jianlong, after leaving a number of civil and military officials, a battalion of the "Flying Dragon Army", two regiments of the "Security Army", and 20 ships of the First Fleet of Jiangfang to defend Jiangzhou City, Xu Shaoan and Zeng Zhilin led the main forces of the Western Route Army and the Middle Route Army to continue to go down the river and go in the direction of Chizhou.