Chu Bai spent all his thoughts on city defense, and he was extremely relieved about this.

In his opinion, even if Ning Ze attacked the city, it would be difficult to break in.

Coupled with the severe cold winter, the weather is cold, and Ning Zejun is just beating gongs and drums at night to harass him, but in fact, he hides in the igloo and does not want to come out. In such extreme weather, how could the other side risk the soldiers freezing to death and recklessly attack and seize the city at night?

With Dewey, Ding Mu, and General Ghostface rushing to reinforce the road, the other party does not have to take risks.

So I didn't think that Ning Zejun would come over at all.

Even if it is really a sneak attack at night, the defenders in the city can rush over to defend as quickly as possible and push the opponent back.

It's just that he ignored one thing, and the defenders in the city also thought the same as himself, and under the harassment of Ning Zejun for several days, they all felt that this was the other party's strategy to exhaust the troops, in order to make his own soldiers sleep well and have no spirit to fight. In that case, you can't let the other party get your wish. Anyway, the other party is just knocking and beating in the camp, and does not send troops.

It was this kind of thinking that made the defenders slack, and the speed of reaction could not keep up.

With just a few patrols guarding the city wall, how could they stop the strong attack of Ning Ze's army?

By the time the defenders find out that something is wrong, it's too late!

Between the virtual and the real, inertial thinking makes people suffer a big loss.

Chu Bai was sleeping soundly, when someone suddenly came in in a panic and reported: "Envoy, something is wrong!"

Being woken up in his sleep, Chu Bai was in a bad mood, sat up and asked unhappily, "What's the matter?"

"Tell the envoy! Ning Ze's army attacked at night and stormed the city gate!"

"How is it possible?" Chu Bai said, "It must be Ning Ze's plan to attack and disturb." ”

"Ning Ze's soldiers are coming to the city and are fighting with our army!"

"What?!" Chu Bai suddenly came to his senses when he heard this, "The defenders in the city can resist, don't panic!"

"The defenders everywhere thought that Ning Ze was harassing and lost the opportunity. Now the enemy has invaded the city!"

Chu Bai's face changed drastically: "Quick, quickly put on armor for this official, and summon all the generals to defend the city!"

After all, there is no way to retreat, and Ning Ze must not be allowed to attack the city.

After dressing in a panic, he summoned all the generals to rush to help.

When I rushed over, I saw that the outer city was lost, and Ning Ze's army had already entered and was storming the inner city gate.

Your army holds the inner city and fights to the death.

The situation was extremely bad, and Chu Bai led the army to reinforce and went into battle in person.

The city was full of wars and battles everywhere.

The battle lasted all night, even until noon on the next day.

Finally, the inner city was breached, and Ning Ze's army poured in from all directions, and Chu Bai led the soldiers to retreat to Taishou Mansion, where they were surrounded by regiments after fierce resistance.

The Ning Ze army quickly took control of the city and eliminated the resistance forces everywhere.

In the Taishou Mansion, Chu Bai was quite remorseful.

A moment of negligence turned out to be a big mistake.

should have paid attention to it and could not afford to make mistakes, but he didn't expect the other party's harassment tactics to paralyze himself. One misstep will become a thousand years of hatred, but if you pay attention to it and don't be confused by the other party, it won't be like this! As long as the defenders can defend it, they can block Ning Ze and make it impossible for him to attack the city smoothly.

The construction of urban defense has tended to perfection, who would have expected today's failure?

If it weren't for this mistake, even if Ning Zejun attacked, he wouldn't have thought of breaking through the city gate!

It's just that it's too late to say anything now, there is no regret medicine in the world.

If you can pay attention to it and mobilize the defenders in time, Ning Zejun will not be able to take advantage of the situation at all.

This made Chu Bai regret a little, why didn't he dig the secret passage in Longshou County in advance.

Surrounded by civil and military officials, everyone was panicked and at a loss.

Ning Zejun was just outside the house, surrounded by water from front to back, left and right, and flies couldn't fly out.

With the only remaining troops in the prefecture, it will not last long at all.

Chu Bai and his officials were trapped here, and Ning Ze came to the courtyard and shouted to persuade him to surrender: "Chu envoy, the overall situation has been decided! ”

Hearing Ning Ze's voice, Chu Bai's face became even more ugly.

He really couldn't accept it, and thought that he could hold on to it with the help of the city wall, and delay the past. In fact, there is indeed hope for not making mistakes, who would have thought that the other party would use harassment tactics to confuse judgment and lead to the loss of the city.

His pride did not allow him to surrender to Ning Ze, after all, surrendering to him was used to bow down to Princess Yuanxi.

bowed down to a woman, Chu Bai couldn't do it.

The civil and military officials around him saw that the general trend had gone, but they lost the will to resist.

A few turned around to persuade Chu Bai, but now they have no choice but to simply surrender and save their lives.

Chu Bai sighed and said to everyone: "This official wants to think quietly, you guys wait for a while!"

After speaking, he entered the inner courtyard of the Taishou Mansion alone, sent off the subordinates, and left him alone in the room.

Chu Bai went in for a while without movement, and Ning Ze was about to lead troops to attack outside, and the civil and military officials immediately entered inside, wanting to ask for instructions in person.

It turned out that Chu Bai committed suicide by hanging a beam in the house, and he was out of breath.

He was unwilling to surrender to Ning Ze, let alone be captured.

Finding that Chu Bai had committed suicide, his subordinates wept bitterly, so they carried his body out.

Ning Zejun broke into the door and happened to see this scene.

Chu Bai's men gave up resistance and were willing to surrender, provided that Ning Ze had to bury him thickly.

Ning Zeyue was surprised by Chu Bai's suicide, and at the same time felt helpless.

In the final analysis, it is still Liu Yuanxiang's sorrow as a woman, if she is a prince, I am afraid that Chu Bai will not choose to commit suicide, but surrender decisively.

In this era, many literati or generals could not accept women as respect, let alone submit to women.

The death of a person is great, and Ning Ze ordered Chu Bai to be buried thickly.

So all of Chu Bai's subordinates surrendered.

Longshou County was included in the territory, and the Chubai forces perished.

Ning Ze ordered to appease the local people and stabilize the hearts of the people.

Chu Bai was destroyed, and Cheng Wan was under even more pressure.

In order to delay Ning Ze's footsteps to the south, he was ready to break the fortune and avoid disasters.

He negotiated with Qian Chun and Qian Shi brothers for a long time, and finally reached an agreement that he was willing to compensate 180,000 gold and 240,000 stone of military rations. The envoy went back to tell Ning Ze that there was still money and grain delivery between the two sides, at least it could be delayed for a while.

After that, in the name of investigating the murderer of Lou Qu, it can be delayed for some time. If you handle it properly, you will have no problem surviving until next spring.

The two brothers Qian Chun and Qian Shi brought the results of the negotiation to Ning Ze's side, of course Ning Ze knew that Cheng Wan was delaying time, but 180,000 gold and 240,000 stone military rations were not small amounts, so he didn't dare not take them.

Therefore, Ding Mu was instructed to cooperate with the Qian brothers and go to Jiangzhou to collect money and grain.

If Cheng Wan finds all kinds of excuses and is unwilling to give, he just sends troops to attack, which is justified.

He and generals such as Dewey, Wang Wei, and Mi Yan tried their best to recruit the captured soldiers and horses under Chu Bai to further expand their strength.

Ding Mu accompanied the Qian brothers to Jiangzhou, but Cheng Wan didn't dare not give it.

Although this batch of money and food made him feel pain, it was better than angering Ning Ze and making him wave his troops south.

That is, when the money and grain are delivered, in the name of liquidation, they want to delay as much as possible, and they can be as slow as they can.

However, Ding Mu didn't eat this set, and got the money and grain first, and counted it by himself.

Cheng Wan was helpless, his good abacus was destroyed by the other party.

He didn't dare to lack two catties, 180,000 gold, and 240,000 military rations to Ding Mu.

After making sure that the money and food were sufficient, Ding Mu reported to Ning Ze and asked for instructions on the next step.

Ning Ze ordered pressure to let Cheng Wan investigate the murderer and hand him over within three days.

When Cheng Wan learned about it, he hurriedly sent someone to Ding Mu's side to negotiate.

It is very clear who the murderer is, but it is impossible for him to solve the case in three days.

I didn't plan to find out the truth of the case, just to delay.

He asked a well-spoken strategist to persuade Ding Mu. However, Ding Mu admitted to death, only knew the order given by Ning Ze, and there was no room to discuss with Cheng Wan.

So Cheng Wan asked the strategists to find Qian Chun and Qian Shi brothers, hoping to persuade the two of them to do the work of Ding Mu or Ning Ze, and try to win as much time as possible.

Ning Ze calculated, and after dealing with the mess left by Chu Bai, it would take about half a month. There is still a period of time in winter, so you can let the intelligence officers collect information about Jiangzhou first, and at the same time dispatch troops to prepare for taking down Cheng Wan.

Let the following respond to Cheng Wan, give him half a month at most, and the murderer must be handed over, otherwise he will bear the consequences.

Half a month did not meet Cheng Wan's expectations, he originally calculated accurately, and the delivery of military rations and the investigation of the case dragged on at least through the winter.

As a result, there was a problem with the delivery of military rations, and Ding Mu directly messed up his plan.

The only way at the moment is to delay by investigating the case.

So he sent someone to persuade the Qian brothers again, hoping to extend this time limit to more than a month.

The reply he got this time was indeed negative, and the time given by Ning Ze was only half a month.

Half a month is better than three days, and seeing that it can't be extended, Cheng Wan had to agree.

He didn't know that half a month was the preparation time for Ning Ze to attack Jiangzhou.

Thinking that it will drag on for half a month, I really can't just find someone to fool around first to see if I can continue to delay. If you really can't fool it, it's a big deal to defend with all your might, as long as you fight steadily, there should be no problem in surviving the winter.

Winter is inherently unfavorable for the besieging side, and the defending side is slightly better.

Although Ning Ze was cunning, no matter what kind of strategy he used, as long as he stuck to the city, he might not lose.

If you plan in mind, you also need to prepare in advance.

Cheng Wan couldn't catch the real murderer on Lu Cong's side, and it was impossible for him to be guilty. Come to think of it, it's best to find someone who is unrelated to both parties and insignificant.

His subordinates suggested that he go to the prison to find a death row inmate, promise to take care of his children and family, and when the time comes, if Ning Ze asks about it, let the death row inmate be guilty. It is best to fool the past, you can buy a considerable amount of time, and even if you can't fool it, at least prove that you have worked hard to investigate and are not not not doing nothing.

After listening to it, Cheng Wan felt that this suggestion was very good.

So he ordered his men to do it immediately.

His men go to the prison and find a death row inmate who is willing to take the guilt.

Death row inmates are all guilty of serious crimes, and they will not survive in the first place. There is no way to be alone, who has a family and does not worry about no one to take care of them at home after death. If the family is protected, what is the wrong thing to do if the crime is changed?

Therefore, his subordinates confessed to the death row prisoner and taught him the "motive and process of committing the crime" over and over again, just to fool the other party when the time came.

Both sides have to fool their opponents, and while preparing for the war to take Jiangzhou, they are trying their best to delay.