Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 488 Entering Jinling

In the palace garden of the Imperial City, the wind and the rain, the cold rain fell on the blue bricks in front of the door, the rockery flowers and plants in the courtyard are still exquisite, the patio is open, the raindrops fall crystal clear, converge and diverge, and slide from the tip of the leaves, the sound of ticking can be heard endlessly In the past, Li Yu thought it was the sound of nature and the way of nature, but now he finds it noisy and annoying, and he has no intention of watching it.

Two days ago, he went to the top of Jinling City to look around. Since then, he has been sleepless day and night, feeling uneasy. He still remembers the scene he saw at the top of the city. Outside the city, there are their people everywhere. He is like a sheep surrounded by wolves in the Jinling sheepfold. If he is not careful, he will be smashed to pieces.

Since then, his heart has been empty, and he is often awakened by nightmares at night, and then he can't fall asleep again.

When he was absent-minded, the eunuch came in and told him the news of Xu Xuan's return. Li Yu immediately got up in person, and before he had time to change into his robe, he passed through the screen and entered the front hall to meet Xu Xuan who had just returned from Daliang.

But what came immediately was not a surprise, Xu Xuan just shook his head helplessly.

The joy on Li Yu's face completely dissipated, leaving only loneliness.

Xu Xuan cupped his hands and said guiltily: "The old minister is incompetent. He has received the favor of the emperor, but he does nothing at this time of life and death. It is useless to the country and His Majesty."

Li Yu shook his head, "Forget it, it's not your fault."

Xu Xuan then completely told what happened to him in Daliang, and truthfully told Shi Congyun's proposal that if he was willing to surrender, he could still keep Wang Jue.

Li Yu just nodded after listening, but his heart was miserable. He is a scholar. He has read more books and five classics, and knows more about history. He is more and more afraid of bearing the infamy of the king of subjugation.

In fact, he vaguely understood in his heart that as Nanping, Wuping, Shu Kingdom, Southern Han Dynasty, and Northern Han Dynasty were wiped out one by one, their Tang Kingdom would also be doomed. He devoted himself to serving Shi Congyun, and even offered to abdicate himself In exchange for the Qin army's strike, the reason is that the country will not die in his own hands, and he will not be remembered as the king of subjugation by future generations.

And what Shi Congyun did to him is still fresh in his memory. Ten years ago, he took away his concubine, and now he wants to take away his country, his home country.

Thinking about what Shi Congyun did to Zhou Xian, his face flushed red, and he couldn't help himself. If he surrendered to Shi Congyun, how would people in the world think of him?
But thinking of the army outside the city and thinking of Liu Yan's end, he was a little shaken again, unable to make up his mind for a long time.

At the beginning, Chen Qiao promised him that he could resist the Qin army, but when the Qin army approached the city, Liu Cheng swore that he would defend Runzhou, but he defected and surrendered.

He originally thought that he had a good eye for talent, but in the end he found that it was all wishful thinking. He saw everything wrong. After all, he is not a wise man like Shi Congyun.

Chen Qiao said that he would kill Liu Cheng's entire army to enforce military discipline and frighten everyone. After thinking about it, he still refused. Liu Cheng had a daughter who had just been married at a young age and was not yet married. Both of his parents were over five years old. ten old man.

Chen Qiao asked again and again, but in the end he still didn't agree, because even he himself doubted how long Jinling could hold on, and if he couldn't hold on, then why add more killings.

When Li Yu was hesitating, the craftsmen of the Qin State Secret Division outside the city began their plan to build cannons, but their plan soon encountered various resistances.

As they continued to try, they found that the bigger the artillery, the better, and because of the limitations of metallurgical technology, there was an explosion and three craftsmen were injured.

In the end, the cannon they built after a month of hard work only fired one round, and immediately couldn't fire it because of overheating.

It did cause some damage to the Jinling City Gate, but it was far from being destroyed.

However, after this extremely tiring toss, the craftsmen of the Confidentiality Department have a deeper understanding of artillery and have recorded a lot of data.

By the beginning of May, Cao Bin was completely impatient. With the arrival of summer, the weather was getting hotter and hotter. Many northern soldiers in the army couldn't bear it, and some people began to get sick.

In the south, Lu Jiang was also captured by the troops led by Dangjin. Lu Jiang refused to surrender no matter what, was tied up by five flowers, and was about to be escorted to Beijing.

However, he was very strong, and he went on hunger strike all the way, and by the time he reached Jinling, he was already very angry.

After Cao Bin saw it, he was not going to be escorted to Daliang, but stayed in the camp. Two days later, Lu Jiang died of a hunger strike, refusing to surrender. Everyone felt his integrity and toughness, and then contacted his family to collect the body, and gave some Burial expenses did not embarrass his family.

On the fifth day of May, Cao Bin played, requesting the use of artillery, and began to attack the city.

After Emperor Shi received the letter, he thought about it for a while, and he really felt that there was no longer any delay. If it was really impossible, he would attack even if Jinling was smashed. The weather was a big problem.

Deciding to make a final effort, he asked Zhou Xian to write for him, dictated it himself, and wrote a letter to Li Yu himself, urging him to surrender.

In the letter, Emperor Shi directly stated that for Li Yu, as long as he surrendered, his prosperity and wealth could be preserved.

In Emperor Shi's view, Li Yu was a failed emperor, ignoring government affairs, indulging in sex and literature, Buddhist scriptures, Taoist scriptures, etc., making the people miserable and the country vulnerable, but he also had a distinctive feature, that is, he was a good man.

He is not as cruel as Liu Yu and kills innocent people indiscriminately. Even if the ministers in the south of the Yangtze River scold him, he will not kill people easily.

Lu Duoxun told him an interesting story, because Li Yu was obsessed with beautiful poetry, did not think about progress, and ignored political affairs. Once when he was playing chess with a good friend Taoist priest, Xiao Yan, the minister of the court, couldn't bear it and rushed in directly. overturned.

Li Yu just asked him "Do you want to be Wei Zheng?"

Xiao Yan replied, "I want to be Wei Zheng, but you can't be Tang Taizong!"

Since then, Li Yu has not retaliated against Xiao Yan, but just went his own way and still ignored the government.

People like Li Yu are not like Liu Yu. He is not a good ruler, but he is considered a good person. Therefore, Emperor Shi never thought of taking his life when dealing with him.

If this happened in Liu Yu's Southern Han Dynasty, then Xiao Yan might have to suffer some kind of cruel torture, and the nine clans might not be safe.

So in the letter, he told Li Yu bluntly that you are not a qualified lord, but you are a kind-hearted person. If you surrender at this time, I promise to save your life and let your family enjoy the glory and wealth.

If you wait until the city is broken before surrendering, life and death among the chaotic army will be another matter.

Naturally, this personal letter from Emperor Shi was given special attention, and it was delivered to Li Yu a few days later.

It is said that Li Yu burst into tears after watching it
Three days later, when Cao Bin's army was preparing to attack the city in an all-round way, several artillery battalions had assembled under the city, and when they were about to start fire preparations, Li Yu surrendered.

At noon that day, Li Yu first sent an envoy to communicate, and then he wore plain clothes, sat in a white horse-drawn car, and led all civil and military officials out of the city to surrender in front of Cao Bin's tent.

Cao Bin took the seal and surrender form from Li Yu, and then sent someone to the capital immediately.

After dealing with these, he turned back and said to Li Yu: "You have two days to pack up the soft things, and bring all the things you should bring. After two days, our army will seal the treasury, and everything will be public by then."

Li Yu nodded and thanked Cao Bin with a sad face.

Then the forward of the Qin army entered the city, took over the main roads and the top of the city, and controlled the city defense.

When the sun was setting in the afternoon, the whole city was full of Qin troops, and the people watched from a distance in fear, many of them hid at home.

In the evening, news came that Chen Qiao, the former Privy Councilor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, had hanged himself at home.

The next day, Cao Bin personally led his troops to destroy the land in the south of the Yangtze River. So far, the Southern Tang Dynasty was completely destroyed. All 21 prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River belonged to the Qin State, and the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River was completely merged into the territory of the Qin State.

So far, in the south of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains, only Wuyue is no longer under the direct control of the Qin State, and has completed the integration of the south. For this purpose, it has been fighting for nearly 20 years since the Later Zhou Dynasty, causing countless casualties.

(End of this chapter)