The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

after dinner.

Before dark.

As usual, five sentry-level military and political officers of the Kuomintang army came to the prisoner-of-war camp - there were 500 people in a camp, and each military and political officer was responsible for the ideological transformation work of a battalion.

The military and political officer in charge of Zhang Dingbian's brigade was named Lin Xiao, who looked to be in his twenties. Although he was also wearing a military robe and armor, he could not hide his gentle and refined temperament.

Zhang Dingbian had already led his team of 100 people to sit in a row in the open space between the ten tents, waiting patiently.

Although the prisoners had worked for a whole day, it was still dark and they were all young and strong men, so it was impossible for them to lie down and sleep as soon as they returned to the camp.

In addition to the contact and understanding with the military and political officers of the Kuomintang army over the past period of time, the lectures given by the military and political officers before dark every day became the best "entertainment" for the prisoners before going to bed.

After the military and political officer Lin Xiao came over, he asked Zhang Dingbian to call out the names as usual, and only started to give a lecture after confirming that all the prisoners in the group were present.

He said: "Today, as usual, I will teach you how to read first, and then tell you stories. The ten words I will teach you today are still..."

As Lin Xiao spoke, he took out a piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard he brought.

The blackboard is not too big, but not too small either. When it is hung up, it is large enough for everyone in the team to see it.

But because the sun was about to set and the sky was gradually darkening, there was not much time to teach the prisoners to read, and they could only teach ten words.

When it gets dark, all we can do is tell stories.

Today, the military and political propaganda work of the Hui army has become very mature. For example, the stories told to the Chu army prisoners are short stories specially compiled by the army's propaganda team based on various materials collected by Xunfengwei.

It mainly highlights the corruption and incompetence of the Chu court, the harm done to the people by corrupt officials and evil gentry, and the selfishness and stupidity of the Chu emperor.

Through these short stories, the Chu prisoners understood that the Hui army attacked the Chu in order to save the common people who were in dire straits, and that they were an army of justice.

As a corrupt dynasty that harbors filth and corruption, Da Chu is bound to perish.

Only when the Great Chu is destroyed can the world be reborn and the people can live a good life again.

These captives were almost all from the lower ranks of the Chu army. They were oppressed people in the Chu Dynasty and already had resentment towards the Chu court.

After several days of preaching by the military and political members of the Hui Army, many people's ideas changed. They believed that the Great Chu was corrupt, hopeless and deserved to perish.

Therefore, after Lin Xiao finished telling the two short stories today, he began the next step of the ideological transformation of the prisoners as planned.

"In the past few days, I have been telling you about the tragic stories that happened to the people in various parts of Da Chu. You have also expressed that you have similar experiences. So, who can come out and tell us about your own experience today?"

When people hear about similar experiences, they naturally want to talk about them, especially tragic experiences.

Because some tragic experiences will make people feel very uncomfortable if they are kept in their hearts, speaking them out can vent some of the emotions and alleviate the pain.

Therefore, after hearing Lin Xiao's words, many of the captives were immediately moved.

Soon, a man who looked very cynical raised his hand according to Lin Xiao's rules and said, "Lin Junzheng, let me speak!"

Lin Xiao nodded, "Okay, Li Tieniu, come to the front and explain it to everyone."

Li Tieniu immediately stood up, stood next to Lin Xiao, and began to tell his story.

"I was born in Yan'an Prefecture, and my family had more than ten acres of land. Although life was a little hard, we could still get by a few years ago."

"But in recent years, Yan'an Prefecture has suffered from drought and locust plagues several times. Not only did the government not provide disaster relief, but it also increased taxes."

"It just so happened that my second brother was sick, and my father mortgaged his land to borrow money at high interest in order to pay for his treatment. In the end, my second brother's illness was not cured, and he died, and his land was also gone."

"It's a pity that I'm a soldier in the frontier army. I should have more than a ton of salary every month, but the army either owes me two or three months of salary, or even if I get it, after being deducted by the higher-ups, I only get two or three hundred coins."

"When I saved enough money to send it back, not only did my second brother die, but my family's land was also lost, and I still have nowhere to seek justice!"

"Now I have been transferred by the court to Henan to fight and have become a prisoner. I wonder what my father will think when he hears the news..."

Speaking of this, Li Tieniu's eyes turned red and he couldn't help but shed tears.

Many of the captives had experienced similar things before, and they felt the same way and their eyes were red.

Lin Xiao patted Li Tieniu on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, my good man. Our army will reach Shaanxi sooner or later. As long as you work hard in the prisoner camp, you will see your father again one day."

Hearing this, Li Tieniu couldn't help but ask hopefully, "Lin Junzheng, is what you said true? Can I see my father again?"

Lin Xiao did not directly answer Li Tieniu's question, but turned to the prisoners.

"Since we are talking about this, I have a piece of news to tell you all now. His Majesty knows that you were all ordered to fight against our army, and you were captured on the battlefield, you had no choice."

"Our army attacked Chu to save the people of the world, not to kill them. Therefore, after you were captured by our army, His Majesty not only ordered you to stay alive, but also gave you a chance to reform and make meritorious contributions."

"As long as you work diligently in the prisoner camp for a month, don't make any serious mistakes, and perform well, you can choose to surrender to our army!"

Hearing this, Zhang Dingbian, Li Tieniu and other captives' eyes suddenly lit up, and they couldn't help but ask directly.

"Lin Junzheng, is what you said true?"

"Are you really allowing us to surrender to the Lai Army?"

"Lin Junzheng, I surrender!"

"···"

At that moment, many captives stood up, wishing they could surrender right now and become part of the revolutionary army.

Lin Xiao pressed his hands down and shouted "Silence", which made the prisoners quiet down.

He continued, "I have already said that as long as you can work hard in the prisoner camp for a month, you can surrender to our army."

"In addition, even if they are unwilling to surrender, we will let them go home after three months of hard labor!"

Hearing this, the captives felt even more incredible, and then they all praised the benevolence of the Hui army and the benevolence of the Dahui emperor!

However, as the general flag bearer, Zhang Dingbian has more experience and thinks more.

He thought that the reason why the Hui army dared to make such a promise was probably because they were confident that they could capture Ruyang within three months and win the battle between Hui and Chu.

If the Chu army was defeated in this battle, the Chu court would probably find it difficult to mobilize so many border troops to fight a decisive battle with the Hui army, and its demise would be a matter of time.

With this speculation, Zhang Dingbian felt that he should surrender.

So after that night, Zhang Dingbian worked even harder as the leader of the prisoner camp. Not only did he work hard, but he also tried his best to discipline the 99 prisoners under him, so that they would not make mistakes and implicate him.

···
Inside Yingchuan City, in the temporary palace.

Liu Sheng was staring at a map with Runing Prefecture as its center.

Liu Yu was also nearby, and seeing this he could not help but ask, "Father, after taking Yangfu, how should we fight the battle of Ruyang?"

Liu Sheng shook his head. "Now that Yangfu has been taken, it is only a matter of time for us to take Ruyang. Besides, every day of delay will cause more discomfort to the Chu army. Therefore, they should be the ones who are anxious right now, not us." Liu Yu was very curious. He thought to himself that Liu Sheng was not thinking about the war when he stared at the map, but what he was thinking about. However, he did not dare to ask.

The two are both father and son, as well as monarch and subject.

It is always not a good idea for a minister to try too hard to spy on his master's thoughts.

But Liu Sheng seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled at him, "I was just looking at Tianmu Mountain on the map - unfortunately, Tianmu Mountain is too small, and there is only a name marked on this map."

After hearing Liu Sheng mention Tianmu Mountain, Liu Yu finally understood why Liu Sheng seemed to be distracted.

To be honest, he was also quite curious about the secrets in Tianmu Mountain.

So he asked: "Father, is there really a gate of time and space in Tianmu Mountain of the Great Chu?"

Liu Sheng said: "Xiong Mingyuan rose to prominence suddenly, his origins are mysterious, and the Xiong Chu royal family has been sending imperial guards to guard Tianmu Mountain. There must be a big secret."

Liu Yu also looked at the map and said, "The main force of the Chu army is probably hiding in Ruyang City and dare not come out to fight our army in the field. In this case, why doesn't the emperor first send troops to attack Zhenyang and Queshan counties, and then go straight to Tianmu Mountain?"

Liu Sheng, "What you said is fine, but it is still a bit risky. As the saying goes, a journey of a hundred steps begins with a single step. I have waited for so long before. Now I know that if I wait patiently for a while, I can capture Ruyang and then occupy the entire Runing Prefecture. Why take the risk?"

Liu Yu didn't ask any more questions, and Liu Sheng looked at the map again.

Next, he planned to send troops to seize Zhenyang, so that he could approach Ruyang from the east and south, and cut off the communication between Ruyang and several counties in the southern part of Runing...

In order to prevent the war from dragging on into the cold winter, Liu Sheng did not rest for too long after taking Yangfu.

A few days later, he sent troops to capture Zhenyang County.

A few days later, it was November 2nd.

Liu Sheng personally led an army of hundreds of thousands to attack Ruyang.

Outside Ruyang City.

In order to counter the artillery advantage of the Hui army, Chen Wan dug more than a dozen trenches outside the moat, set up more than a dozen military camps of various sizes, and constructed a rather large three-dimensional city defense system.

In addition, the city stored enough food and fodder for an army of 100,000 for half a year. Logically speaking, the Chu army should have no problem holding out for three to five months.

After all, most of the people in this world still have the surname Xiong. With three to five months, the Chu court will be able to squeeze out some reinforcements to rescue Ruyang.

And this is only the worst case scenario - it is very likely that the Hui army will fail to capture Ruyang City and will retreat after a few days.

If we look at it more optimistically, when the Hui army fails to capture the city and retreats with low morale, it is not impossible that the Chu army will take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack and win a great victory.

However, when they learned that hundreds of thousands of Wei troops were approaching the city, both the left and right commanders Chen Wan and Gao Sheng, as well as the soldiers at the grassroots level, were worried.

Because after the defeat at Zhenyang, no one in the Chu army believed that they could still defeat the Hui army - even if it was just a battle to defend the city, it would be difficult to win.

If the defeat at Yangfu was caused by Fan Ao leading his troops out of the camp to fight against the Hui army in the field.

Then in the battle of Zhenyang, Li Hualong, as the aid general, led his troops to hold the camp and form a corner with Zhenyang County.

In the end, it was captured by the enemy's army within half a day.

This undoubtedly shows the power of the Hui army's siege tactics.

Therefore, although Chen Wan deployed numerous defensive measures in Ruyang, the Chu army had little confidence in holding Ruyang.

Because of the shrinking battle line, Chen Wan no longer lived in the camp outside the city, but moved his tent to the camp of the former Ruyang Patrol Camp inside the city.

At this time, Chen Wan finished reading a letter sent by Xu Wei, and his face became even more worried.

Seeing this, the staff member beside him couldn't help but ask: "Commander-in-chief, what did Lord Xu say?"

Chen Wan handed the letter over and said, "Read it yourself."

After reading the letter, the staff member was filled with disappointment and couldn't help but ask, "Doesn't he know that if we lose this battle, the Chu State will no longer be able to stop the bandits?!"

However, Chen Wan had previously written a memorial to request the imperial guards from Xiangjing to assist.

As a result, Emperor Jiahua only sent 20,000 imperial guards, and they were all useless good-for-nothings!

Chen Wan was already familiar with the situation of the imperial guards, so when the reinforcements arrived, he went to inspect them and found out that among the 20,000 imperial guards, there were less than 3,000 capable of fighting.

At this time, because Zhenyang was lost, Chen Wan felt that Ruyang was even more difficult to defend, so he once again reported to Emperor Jiahua to explain the situation and request more imperial troops to come to the rescue.

As a result, Emperor Jiahua could no longer hold it in and sent eunuchs to scold him.

In desperation, Chen Wan could only write a letter and ask Xu Wei to help persuade Emperor Jiahua.

Xu Wei's letter said that he had advised, but Emperor Jiahua did not listen. He also hinted that Emperor Jiahua seemed to be planning to pass the throne to the crown prince and retire as the emperor.

This kind of thing happened in both the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. Chen Wan knew at a glance that Emperor Jiahua did not want to be a king who lost his country, and intended to pass the blame to the prince at the last moment.

Most importantly, this shows that Emperor Jiahua also sees no hope for them to hold on to Ruyang.

In this case, it is naturally impossible to send reinforcements.

Sighing again, Chen Wan said, "Now we can only defend Ruyang to the death. We only hope that we can hold out for a few more days until the bandits reveal their weakness or retreat on their own initiative."

As soon as Chen Wan finished speaking, drums sounded from the top of the city wall.

This is the warning drum sound of the enemy approaching, which means that the Hui army is preparing to attack the city!
"Let's go, follow me to the top of the city!"

Chen Wan shouted and immediately climbed up the city wall with a large group of followers.

The trench outside Ruyang City was dug three or four miles away, and it was impossible for the cannons of the Hui army to advance to the trench and directly bombard the Ruyang city wall. Therefore, as the commander, Chen Wan was not afraid of being injured by the Hui army's shells after climbing the city wall.

The main attack direction of the Hui army was the eastern city wall, because the moat on the Ruyang side was the narrowest, unlike the west and south sides which were both moated by natural rivers.

After climbing up the east city gate tower, Chen Wan looked into the distance and could vaguely see the army formation of the Hui army slowly approaching in the wilderness five miles away.

Smoke signals were transmitted from the military camps and trenches ahead.

Soon, the sound of artillery fire was heard, and it turned out that the Hui army began to bombard the Chu army camp within range.

'I wonder how long this arrangement can last.'

Chen Wan thought so in his heart.

The Great Chu had no experience in dealing with enemies with superior artillery, and he was the first.

He had been thinking hard for a few days and had gathered the strength of his staff before he came up with the defense system of trenches and military camps.

Although he was pessimistic about the war as a whole, Chen Wan still had some confidence in the defense system of the trench and military camp. (End of this chapter)