Under the city of Yangzhou.

The imperial army had a large and tight camp, surrounded the gates on all sides, and set up a blockade of multiple rangers and secret posts around it, leaving anyone who tried to get out of the city and get through the gates.

On the city wall, Wu Zhence, who looked haggard, held the battlement in his hand, and his bloodshot eyes were full of confusion and confusion.

Once upon a time, he was still high-spirited, pointing out the country, discussing the past and the present, looking forward to his defeat of the imperial army and the smooth unification of the south, and then called Wang Jianguo, reorganized the armament and launched a large-scale northern expedition, and unified the world to open up a brilliant future for the new dynasty.

This is not Wu Zhence's own daydream, but he has enough strength in his hands and the necessary luck to support himself to complete this feat that is enough to leave a name for eternity. Even the Hidden Dao Sect Ling Cangshan believed that he was a hidden dragon with a mandate of heaven, and he was expected to reign over the world in the future, so when he just occupied a county, he sent his disciples out of the mountain to assist.

Later, he, the king of Han, successively won the land of nine counties, and his influence became more and more great, so that many wealthy families rushed to come, and the head of the Hong family, the first family in the south, even intended to marry his daughter to himself as a princess.

Only three months ago, the situation could be described as very good, in order to help himself win this battle, even the incarnation of Ling Cangshan's human immortal ancestor personally went down to kill the commander of the imperial army. At that time, there was no one at all

However, without warning, this hermit sect left quietly, withdrawing all support for Wu Zhence, without even saying a word. This triggered a series of chain reactions, and the number of people who were not optimistic and suspicious of the Han king became more and more overnight.

Since then, he has been on a bad luck and has been living a bad day. The territory that had been fought hard continued to fall under the fierce offensive of the imperial army, and the army was lost one after another, and the power continued to shrink.

Until a few days ago, Wu Zhence, who was strained everywhere, had to shrink the remnants and retreat to Yangzhou City, and there were only more than 10,000 troops left around him, and there was not much food, grass and ordnance left, and people's hearts were fluctuating. Everything is not much different from Zhao Yuanjin, who was trapped in Jingnan County half a year ago.

"Could it be...... Is this the heavens going to kill me? ”

An incomparably bitter smile appeared on the corner of Wu Zhence's mouth, since he asked about the incident, he has been conscientious, diligent and loving the people, courteous and virtuous corporal, sympathetic to the soldiers, every time he fights, he must go to the front line in person, and what he does is worthy of the standards of the wise man, and there is nothing immoral, why did he suddenly fall into such an embarrassing situation?

"Lord ......"

The voice of the advisor Lin Shiqian sounded in his ears.

Wu Zhence turned his head with a blank expression, glanced at his henchman, and asked with a hollow look: "What's the bad news again?" ”

Lin Shiqian sighed, leaned over and lowered his voice and said: "Zhao Yuanjin, the prince of Jingzhou, has sent troops, known as an army of 300,000, and has now left the territory of Jingzhou, and went down the river to Jinling. ”

"Three hundred thousand?"

Wu Zhence frowned and sneered: "Can the land of Jingchu afford to raise 300,000 troops?" It's almost the same as scaring a child. ”

Lin Shiqian shook his head and said: "According to the summary of the news collected by the spies in the past few months, this Duke of Chu has indeed formed an army of 300,000, and this expedition will leave 100,000 people to be stationed in various counties of Jingzhou, so there must be an army of 200,000. As for where he got the financial and material resources to support such a large army, no one can know the reason. ”

Wu Zhence was silent, about the news of Zhao Yuanjin's opponent, he had paid much attention to it in the past few months, and naturally knew all kinds of things wrong with the other party. From a small prince who could be defeated at any time, he turned the tables in an instant, and then quickly rose to become the lord of Jingchu, and it was only a few months before and after.

Maybe...... Zhao Yuanjin is the real hidden dragon and the future son of destiny? Otherwise, there is no suitable reason to explain the many miracles that happened to the other party.

"The ambition of this Duke of Chu is really not small, 200,000 troops are going down the river, he plans to eat us and the imperial army together, and then take Jinling City." Wu Zhence said quietly.

"It's entirely possible." Lin Shiqian smiled helplessly.

Although the imperial army had forced Wu Zhence to the point of near exhaustion, its own losses were also not few, and now the army was less than 140,000 people, and was exhausted by long-term battles. Chu Guogong's army has been recuperating, and the gap between the two sides is clear at a glance.

If the two sides formally face each other, perhaps only one major battle will be needed to determine the victory or defeat, and even if the imperial army is not defeated or lost, the best result will be to be forced to evacuate and give up the rich land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River to Zhao Yuanjin.

"We're ...... now What should I do? Wu Zhence asked slowly.

"There are two paths."

Lin Shiqian said: "One is to defend the city and sit back and watch the battle between the Duke of Chu and the imperial army, if they can lose both, maybe our chance to make a comeback has come." ”

"The second is to send someone to secretly contact Zhao Yuanjin now, express his willingness to surrender, and ask the other party to come to help as soon as possible, and wait until the imperial army is defeated and retreated, and then the lord decides to stay."

Wu Zhence was moved and thought about it seriously.

With his heart, of course, he is willing to live and die with Yangzhou City, but it is difficult to say how many people are willing to accompany him to death.

Sitting and watching the army of the Duke of Chu fight with the imperial army, his own side shrinking behind and waiting for an opportunity to pick up the bargain sounds good, but in fact it may not be feasible. The commanders on both sides were not fools, and it was impossible for him to have such an easy time.

Then the only feasible option left is to surrender to Zhao Yuanjin, give up the identity of the hidden dragon and the ambition to dominate the world, and be a courtier in the future, in order to save the lives of his wife and children.

"That's it, you go and arrange it, let people go out of the city at night to ask for help from the Duke of Chu, as long as he is willing to raise troops to help, Wu is willing to give this Yangzhou City with both hands."

After a long silence, Wu Zhence finally made a decision.

As for the surrender of the imperial army, it is absolutely impossible, for a rebel and rebellious minister like him, the imperial court has always only raided the family and exterminated the clan, and there will never be a special amnesty and death.

……

The army of the Duke of Chu was surging, and the imperial army naturally maintained a high degree of attention.

After weighing the pros and cons, Luo Yanxiong decided to leave a small number of troops to continue to keep an eye on Yangzhou City, and personally led 100,000 troops to meet Zhao Yuanjin, so as to defeat this fierce enemy in one fell swoop.

“…… Wu Zhence actually sent an envoy to demand surrender, which was a bit surprising. ”

In the tent of the Chinese military camp, Zhao Yuanjin frowned and said.

Song Wu said disappreciably: "Lord, Wu Zhence is now at the end of his life, and he will naturally do everything in order to save his life." ”

"So do you think you need to accept his refuge?" Zhao Yuanjin asked again.

The other party is not an ordinary small prince, but the Huaiyang Qianlong who was once expected to annex the entire Jiangnan region, although it is now downcast and has lost its time, it still can't be ignored. Accepting the other party's surrender requires more than just open-mindedness.

The ministers had different opinions, some for and some against, or advocated ignoring them and leaving them to their own devices.

"What does the gentleman think of this?" Finally, Zhao Yuan asked Qin Fengdao.