Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 918 Soldiers' Protest
"The Tang people can do this, can we Linyi do it too?" Shaya was furious. Jayaharavarman laughed dryly twice and said nothing. Just as his niece said, even if the Tang people played too much, at most they would dismiss the incumbent governor of Jiaozhou and punish him. But if Linyi played like this, it would bring disaster upon the country.

Sha Ya sighed, opened the letter and read it. It might be because of the translator's level, the words in the letter were quite straightforward, even simple. The beginning of the letter was a harsh rebuke to the King of Linyi for not helping the Tang Dynasty to suppress the rebellion when Jiaozhou rebelled, but secretly colluding with the rebels, which was really a sinister plot. Fortunately, God still favored the Tang Dynasty, and was disgusted with the King of Linyi's rebellious behavior, and sent thunder and fire to punish him. Now the King of Linyi has been executed, and the capital of Linyi has been breached, and the destruction of Linyi is just a matter of a blink of an eye. But the generals of the Tang army understood that God has the virtue of loving life and does not want too much killing. As long as the Linyi people are willing to lay down their weapons before dawn the next day, they are willing to guarantee their lives.

"Uncle!" Shaya put down the letter: "I am a woman, I don't know how to fight, is there really no hope for us?"

"The Tang people have the power of thunder and fire, no one can resist them!" Jayaharavarman sighed, "and there are mobs everywhere in the city. They set fires, robbed, and killed people. If this continues, I'm afraid we will be finished before the Tang people take action!"

"If we hand over our weapons, won't we be at the mercy of the Tang people?" Shaya asked.

"This is just a condition proposed by the Tang people. Since it is a condition, it can be bargained!" Jayaharavarman replied: "And it is more beneficial for us to drag it out. Don't forget that the heir has been sent out, and our main force is not in the capital. The longer it drags on, the better it is for us!"

"I understand!" Shaya heard the meaning behind her uncle's words: "Where is the Tang messenger? I want to see him!"

————————————————————————

Rama Gate Tower.

Heba Yun looked at the returning messenger with great interest: "Tell me! What do the Linyi people say?"

"General!" the messenger replied, "The one who came to see me was a young woman, said to be the princess of Linyi. She said that the people of Linyi have known the might of the Tang Dynasty and are willing to surrender. But it is impossible to hand over their weapons, because the streets of the city are full of robbers and drunken thugs. If they hand over their weapons, even if the Tang Dynasty lets them go, they will be killed by those robbers and thugs! The woman also said that although her father has died in the battle, the prince has been sent out of the city. Even if you can capture the capital, Linyi will have successors."

"This woman is really tough. She actually uses her brother to bargain with me!" Heba Yun laughed.

"The thieves are just trying to delay the situation!" Wang Bo sneered, "If that's the case, then let's attack the palace overnight!"

"Don't worry!" Heba Yun smiled and said, "Didn't the Linyi princess say anything else?"

"Yes, the woman said that she could offer a mountain of treasure to express the Linyi people's obedience!"

"Okay!" Heba Yun thought for a moment and nodded, "I want to see how high the 'mountains' she mentioned are! Go again and tell the princess that if she can fill my eight boats with treasures before dark tomorrow, I will accept the Linyi people's submission!"

The messenger sent by Heba Yun returned soon, along with twenty carts full of ivory. Heba Yun roughly estimated that there were at least two thousand ivory tusks. This heavy sincerity immediately made the soldiers more agitated, and many soldiers shouted dissatisfaction to Heba Yun. For these soldiers, it was a very unprofitable thing to negotiate peace. After all, according to convention, the spoils seized by soldiers in war belonged to themselves, while those sent by the Linyi people would mostly be taken into the general's pocket. They tied their heads to their belts, and finally captured the city gate. When the entire Sanghapura City was in their pockets, Heba Yun wanted to accept the peace proposal of the Linyi people. How could they accept it?

"These lawless guys!" Heba Yun looked at the soldiers around him angrily, but he had no choice at this time. After all, it was hard to offend the public. He gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "Everyone, don't be angry. How about this! After this battle, everyone can get 100 silver coins, and everyone here can testify for me! How about it?"

The soldiers around were quiet for a while, but soon they started to explode. Someone shouted, "One hundred silver coins per person? General, are you sending away beggars? The ivory we brought here alone is worth this much! We came here in the scorching sun, drinking salt water and eating dry biscuits, just for this little money? Absolutely not!"

"Yes, this amount of money is absolutely not acceptable!"

"Refuse the peace talks and continue the fight!"

"Reject the peace talks!"

"General, if you dare to negotiate peace with these barbarians, we will board the ship and return, leaving you here!"

The soldiers' angry shouts even drowned out the sounds of rioting in the city. Someone threw his helmet to the ground, which attracted many imitators. In a blink of an eye, the ground was covered with helmets, which was a spectacular sight and attracted curious glances from the merchants, mercenaries and Linyi beggars nearby.

Facing the pressure from the soldiers, Heba Yun knew that he had to make concessions immediately. Otherwise, not to mention taking down Sanghapura City, it was not impossible that the whole army would be annihilated. He raised his arms and shouted at the top of his voice: "Okay, we will continue to fight as you requested until the city becomes a ruin. But now pick up your helmets and return to your positions. No one can defeat an undisciplined army!" Seeing that Heba Yun had made concessions, the soldiers cheered. In order to ensure that Heba Yun fulfilled his promise and no longer negotiated peace with the Linyi people behind their backs, they arrested all the Linyi people who were escorting the ivory, and then killed them all, leaving only one person to go back and tell the Linyi people. This war was a fight to the death for both sides, and it was impossible to negotiate peace.

————————————————————

"How could this happen!" Jayaharavarman shouted in despair, "Didn't the Tang people just agree? Could it be that they just wanted to cheat us out of the ivory?"

Shaya sat on her father's throne, her face pale, her teeth biting her lower lip tightly. The unpredictable situation had exceeded the limit that a young girl could bear. She only felt her head buzzing, and the sobbing, roaring, and cursing of the people around her came into her ears, but she felt nothing, as if these things had nothing to do with her and were happening in another parallel world.

boom! boom! boom!
The sound of cannons brought Shaya back to reality. She opened her eyes and saw the hall in front of her had turned into a madhouse. Some people were drinking, some were giggling, and some were hugging beautiful maids, kissing them crazily and shouting something. Yes, those who dared to fight and escape were no longer here. Only those who had neither the courage to fight nor the ability to escape remained here. All they could do was close their eyes tightly before the Tang people cut their necks. I was the same as them, so my father kept me here.

On the street, the Tang army soldiers were marching quickly, forming three densely packed horizontal columns, accompanied by two artillery pieces towed by manpower. Zhan Bo limped along with six or seven of his "sons" as guides for the soldiers. In such narrow streets and extremely limited battle lines, shotguns, volleys, and bayonets were almost invincible. The Tang army soldiers could often easily defeat enemies that outnumbered them by several times, and chased them two or three hundred meters away until they encountered the next barrier or enemy.

Just like that, in less than an hour, the Tang army had already attacked the gate of the palace. When they saw the towering stone walls and the gorgeously decorated bronze gates, all the soldiers cheered. For those who were still awake in the palace, this majestic cheer was much more terrifying than the devil's breathing.

After a short rest, the Tang soldiers outside the palace first fired two rounds of cannon and flintlock rifles at the top of the city wall, clearing out the few remaining crossbowmen on it, and then they used long ladders to cross the moat outside the city, erected long ladders, and climbed up. In less than ten minutes, the palace gate was opened from the inside, and soldiers wielding weapons rushed in. These ecstatic men killed every man they met, looted property from corpses, broke open rooms, crushed gold and silver utensils, and pried off jewels from statues. The property in the palace was so rich that every time their marching backpacks were full, they returned to the square in front of the palace gate and poured the property in the backpacks into the boxes specially collected. Many people did this four or five times. Until dawn the next day, nearly one-third of the rooms in the palace had not been searched.

"These guys should be satisfied now!" Heba Yun looked at the already tired soldiers in the square with a snort. The recent act of disobeying orders made him very annoyed, but he didn't dare to do anything.

"Don't worry!" Gugar smiled, "There are much more treasures in the temple than in the palace! The best part is yours!"

"Really?" Heba Yun was a little unconvinced.

"I can assure you!" Gugar laughed, "Although the king is rich, he has to support soldiers, craftsmen and palace maids. Last time, when there was a famine, the king had to take out food from his own treasury to help the farmers. The temple only needs to offer sacrifices to the gods. When have you ever seen a god who can eat meat and drink wine? The temple will always only ask for things but never give them!"

"That's right! I heard from Brother Sutuo! The Prince of Hejian also got a lot of gold from the Sogdian temple! He used the gold to pay salaries to tens of thousands of soldiers, forge weapons and warships, and formed a large army to conquer a country!" Heba Yun said excitedly.
"Believe me, you can do it too!" Gugar's voice was as sweet as honey: "South of here, there are many small countries, just like the stars in the sky. These countries are rich but weak, and their warehouses are filled with spices, pearls, gems and all kinds of good things given by God. With the power you have, you can easily conquer them. You can sit on the throne, erect stone pillars, and engrave your achievements on them. Thousands of years later, people will still praise your achievements!"

"Really?" Heba Yun laughed, his eyes burning with ambition. He looked at the soldiers around him and suddenly laughed loudly, "How is it? Are you satisfied now? Whose backpack is not full? Who else?"

The soldiers smiled with satisfaction. Many of them took off their helmets and saluted Heba Yun. Some raised their muskets, dangling their bayonets above their heads, and shouted Heba Yun's name. The original dissatisfaction had long disappeared in front of the boxes of property. These men were like lions that had eaten their fill, lazy and comfortable.

"General, look..." Several soldiers came out of a small door. They half dragged and half pulled a ragged girl and pushed her down in front of Heba Yun. A soldier laughed loudly and said, "Did you see that? This is the princess of this country. She put on slave clothes and hid in the cellar. She wanted to get away, but was reported by a slave."

"Princess?" Heba Yun frowned. He called the messenger and confirmed that the woman in front of him was the princess. He smiled and said, "Very good. You should not have done anything rude to her, right?"

The soldiers laughed, and the leader waved his hand: "If it was when we first attacked the palace, it would have been possible. You know, everyone's blood is boiling on the battlefield, and no one knows what they will do. But when we found her, it was almost dawn, and everyone's blood had cooled down. No one would do such a stupid thing. We are all rich now, and there will be no shortage of other beautiful women in this city!"

"You guys are smart!" Heba Yun smiled and called Zhanbo to ask him to find a few "daughters" to help the noble girl bathe and change clothes. When Shaya was taken away, she suddenly turned around and shouted something to Heba Yun, and then she was taken away.

"What did this woman just shout?" Heba Yun asked.

"General!" Gujar replied somewhat awkwardly, "This is a poem from the Mahabharata: Today God destroyed us through your hands, and one day, the same thing will happen to you!"

"Gods?" Heba Yun smiled and said, "It's really ridiculous. These Linyi people built such a magnificent temple to worship the gods, but the gods did not protect them. I am going to attack the temple next. If a god can't even protect his own temple, who can he bring disaster to?"

Today's update is a bit late, please forgive me!