Chapter 519: Being timid before fighting

shhhhhh!
Suddenly, a dense rain of arrows fell from the sky.

However, the Yellow Turban cavalry was not in a hurry. The armor on their bodies provided them with sufficient protection, and the power of the bows and arrows was very limited at a distance of a hundred meters.

As a veteran of the battlefield, he simply pulled the reins and drove the horse to easily avoid the rain of arrows.

He knew that this was also a signal of intimidation from the Wu army. It seemed that they did not like what he said.

In this case, the cavalry had no choice but to retreat, but before leaving, he still had to finish what he had not said.

"To tell you the truth, the Yellow Turbans that led your Wu and Shu armies away were disguised as civilians. My real Yellow Turban main force of more than 100,000 people has never left here. Soon, these 100,000-strong army will flatten your Wu Kingdom!"

The cavalrymen laughed and shouted, "Don't even mention Jianye. You can't even hold the huge Yangzhou. Your only way out now is to surrender. If you resist stubbornly, you will only die!"

After saying this, he squeezed his horse's belly hard, sped up again, and moved horizontally a hundred meters away from the city wall at full speed, leaving behind a final sentence.

"Surrender is my advice to you. I believe you have heard that I, the Yellow Turbans, treat prisoners kindly. No matter who you were before, as long as you are willing to lay down your weapons on the battlefield, you will have the opportunity to start a new life!"

The only response from the cavalry on the city wall was the rain of arrows following closely behind him. Thanks to his superb riding skills, the rain of arrows did not hurt him at all, but it could temporarily avoid being hit. However, if he continued to be so arrogant, the result might be different.

Fortunately, the cavalry had said everything they needed to say, and they turned their horses' heads while galloping, leaving the danger zone and rushing back to the Yellow Turban position in one fell swoop.

On the top of the city wall, Zhang Zhao and Cheng Pu were so angry that their teeth were itching, but there was nothing they could do.

They looked left and right, and saw that the soldiers on the city wall were all silent. The atmosphere was a little weird, which made them feel depressed.

"Is there still hope for Jianye City to hold on?" Zhang Zhao looked at Cheng Pu worriedly. At this time, he hoped that Cheng Pu could give him an optimistic answer.

Cheng Pu looked at the Yellow Turban position in the distance for a long time, and finally just shook his head with a serious expression.

Zhang Zhao suddenly felt hopeless, thinking that the whole thing was over. He even had the thought of surrendering.

I have to say that the Yellow Turban Cavalry's words of persuasion were indeed very effective. The more desperate the reality was, the more effective such words were.

"If the Yellow Turbans really ambush hundreds of thousands of main forces and cross the river to attack, then our Great Wu may be in danger of being overthrown. You and I must be prepared to sacrifice our lives for our country..."

After Cheng Pu finished speaking, Zhang Zhao felt even more disheartened. Fortunately, Cheng Pu's second half of the sentence still gave Zhang Zhao some hope.

"Of course, it's also possible that the Yellow Turban Cavalry was just deceiving us. Although I think that's unlikely, I can only pray like this now..."

Putting hope on illusory prayers is more of a helplessness.

In fact, Cheng Pu himself was well aware that the fact that the Yellow Turbans could come here was enough to explain the problem.

Moreover, after the cavalry returned to the battle formation, the actions of the Yellow Turbans further confirmed Cheng Pu's pessimistic judgment. When the Yellow Turbans arrived at the city, they did not choose to attack the city, but quickly divided their troops and spread out to block the city gates in all directions.

"It seems that we don't need to pray. Judging from their posture, it seems that they are waiting for the army in the rear."

Now, let alone Cheng Pu, even Zhang Zhao, the Minister of Internal Affairs, could see that there really was a large army behind the Yellow Turbans. This was enough to prove that what the cavalryman said just now was not a lie!
"Be prepared to fight to the death. Jianye has 50,000 troops left. If we recruit the civilians in the city and rely on the city's strong defense, we may be able to hold out until the army returns for reinforcements. However, this requires the entire city to be prepared to live and die with the country."

Cheng Pu said this in a deep tone and looked at Zhang Zhao: "I will handle the matters on the top of the city, and you handle the matters inside the city."

After saying that, Cheng Pu turned and left, leaving Zhang Zhao alone with a complicated expression.

Cheng Pu's words that the whole city will live and die with the country sounded light and easy, but Zhang Zhao was well aware of the cruelty behind it. There was no personal will involved. Regardless of whether the people were willing to live and die with the State of Wu or not, the State of Wu would kidnap the people and hold on together.

Soon, I will become the bad guy. By then, countless husbands and sons will be forcibly sent to the battlefield to block the knife, and the last grain of rice in countless families will be taken away.

Under the will of the government, countless people in the entire city were tied to the chariots of the Wu Kingdom against their will.

But even if he did so to the extreme, it would be hard for Zhang Zhao to say how confident he was that he could defend Jianye as Cheng Pu said. And to be more realistic, even if he really did defend Jianye, it would be meaningless.

These last tens of thousands of troops could only guard the city and could not move. Even if they could resist the attack of the Yellow Turbans, the huge Yangzhou outside the imperial capital would also be destroyed by the Yellow Turbans. In this case, there would not be much point in holding on to this isolated city.

But now Cheng Pu and Zhang Zhao have no choice, this is the only thing they can do.

The words of the Yellow Turban Cavalry just now echoed in Zhang Zhao's mind again. It must be said that given the current situation, the words of the Yellow Turbans were arrogant but realistic enough. Deep down in his heart, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but start to make the worst-case scenario plans.

If things don't work out, do I really have to surrender?
Zhang Zhao was struggling internally. If the Wu country was stable, he wouldn't mind being a loyal minister of the Wu country. But now that things were impossible, he had to consider the Zhang family behind him.

Although surrendering to the Yellow Turbans would not lead to any good outcome, as the Yellow Turban soldier said, the Yellow Turbans would at least leave a way for the captives to survive.

Zhang Zhao could tie up all the citizens in the city and send them to the battlefield of Wu, but he did not want the Zhang family to die with Wu.

While hesitating secretly in his heart, Zhang Zhao looked to both sides of the city wall. In the slightly depressing atmosphere, he seemed to sense the strange emotions flowing among the soldiers.

Perhaps, at this moment, there are far more people thinking about surrendering than one imagines.

Loyalty to the emperor and country, in the end, all will bow to reality. The soldiers are not fools. The fact that the Yellow Turbans treated the prisoners well is enough to make them secretly moved.

They are just conscripted soldiers by the State of Wu. They can't even see a few coins in a month. What's the point of fighting for their lives?

Not to mention, if the Yellow Turbans really had an army of over 100,000, then the subsequent battle to defend the city would not be a matter of fighting hard or not. Even a fool would know that it would be impossible to defend the city, and the soldiers' willingness to fight would be even lower.

I don’t know how many people are now thinking that once they get to the battlefield, they must be prepared to surrender on the spot as long as the situation becomes slightly unfavorable.

(End of this chapter)