The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 317: Destroying a Country in Ten Days (Part )
February 2th, early morning, 25:.

Ruan Cheng and his 12-year-old second son rowed the small wooden boat vigorously, heading towards the river bend. His wife was in the cabin, swiftly cleaning the five baskets of vegetables and fruits that she had just bought at a low price, removing the weeds that attached to them, shaking off the dirt that stained them, and then stacking them neatly, making them look quite marketable.

The nine-year-old third son may have gotten up too early. He yawned loudly while changing the water for the fish he caught last night so that the fish would look lively and fresh.

The other younger daughter was curled up in the corner of the cabin, wrapped in a thin blanket, still sleeping soundly.

As the sky gradually brightened, more and more small boats appeared on the river, and most of them, like Ruan Cheng, were sailing their boats towards the river bend over there.

Yesterday evening, a large fleet sailed from the lower reaches of the Bach Dang River and then entered the Taiping River upstream. Seeing that it was getting dark, the fleet dropped anchor after entering a river bend with relatively gentle currents.

Soon, thousands of people from the fleet landed on the river bank and set up camps along the river. They dug trenches, set up chevaux de frise, and stretched two wire fences around the camps, forming a pincer defense with the fleet docked on the river bank.

Then, a bright red yellow dragon flag was hung high on the flagpole, fluttering in the breeze.

This fleet is actually the Qi army that invaded the territory of our Dali Dynasty!
When the Qi people were setting up their camp, they sent out several small troops to conduct armed reconnaissance within a few kilometers of the periphery. When they passed through several villages, they did not rob them, but instead gave some money to the villagers when they asked about the surrounding situation.

When they returned, they spent a lot of money to buy a large amount of vegetables, fruits, chicken, duck, pork and other side dishes from the village. This surprised and delighted all the villagers, and they happily helped the Qi people deliver the food to their doorsteps.

In the river bend, some fishermen who made a living by fishing also boldly started a lively trade with the people of Qi. They offered big, fat fish, basins of delicate and slippery loaches, buckets of smooth-shelled clams... The people of Qi accepted all offers and paid 20 to 30 percent higher than the market price, which really made the fishermen excited.

The people of Qi are outsiders, and they came to attack their court, so what?

They are fair in their business dealings and pay real money. They are definitely much more lovable and approachable than those imperial officials and soldiers who only harm the people!
As night fell, the people of Qi stopped trading and sent out several armed speedboats to patrol the periphery of the fleet, blocking those fishermen who were still eager to stay and persuading them all to leave.

If you want to trade again, please come early tomorrow!

After hearing about this last night, Ruan Cheng's eyes immediately lit up and he started to get busy.

He asked his wife to buy a lot of vegetables and fruits from the villages that had not heard the news before dawn. He also followed a few friends, lit torches, cast nets and fished for most of the night. Then, when it was almost dawn, they hurriedly rowed their boats to trade with the Qi people.

Although he had never come into contact with people from Qi, he could still hear the masters and officials talking about them in the market town from time to time.

The State of Qi was located in the far southern Hanzhou continent. It was a very powerful country with thousands of warships, millions of soldiers, and occupied territories all over the world - as for how big the world was, no one knew.

The State of Qi was very wealthy. Gold and silver were flowing throughout the country. All the people wore gold and silver, lived in luxurious houses, wore silk clothes, and enjoyed delicious food.

Some people also mentioned that in a certain place, an Annan immigrant who immigrated to Qi State made a fortune and returned home in glory. He not only brought all kinds of valuable and rare things, but also spent lavishly, held a banquet, and invited the entire village to eat together. In the end, he would return to Qi State with his relatives and enjoy a life of wealth and carefreeness.

To be honest, every time he heard this, Ruan Cheng felt extremely envious and had infinite yearning in his heart.

In fact, his inner expectations were not high. He did not desire to be as wealthy and enjoyable as the people of Qi, but as long as he and his family could have enough food to eat, he would be satisfied.

If this can really be realized, who cares who sits on the throne!
There is nothing in the Dali court that is worthy of our people's nostalgia. It makes everyone feel suffocated all year round. The taxes and levies to be paid are increasing, and the corvée labor is endless.

Farmers work hard all year and have little food to fill their stomachs. Even in good years, the rice jars are empty, and they have to eat wild vegetables and grass roots.

The fishermen who made a living by fishing on the river were extremely poor, with no roof over their heads and could only live on their boats. Moreover, if they wanted to exchange their catch for food and cloth, the tax collectors would forcibly collect more than half of the tax or in kind.

Small merchants and workshop owners without any background also had a hard time. Endless taxes and levies, as well as the omnipresent extortion by clerks and local thugs, caused many of them to go bankrupt.

Two years ago, a flood broke out in Hebei Province, leaving countless people starving. However, the imperial court did not think about providing relief to the victims, but continued to levy taxes, causing the local people to live in misery. Selling their children was common, and there were even several civil riots that broke out.

The poor victims who could not survive were brutally suppressed by the officers and soldiers, and thousands of them were killed, making the Honghe River a veritable "Red River".

More than a month ago, in order to deal with the frequent military threats posed by the Liang State in the north, the imperial court forcibly conscripted militiamen from the public. His fifteen-year-old eldest son was forcibly conscripted by the officials and taken to the Hebei camp. He didn't know how much suffering he would have to endure.

Oh, this damn world!
If the world was taken over by the Qi people, would life be better?
February 2, 25 noon, Tokyo.

"Crash..." King Zheng Gang of Weinan kicked over the small table in front of him, and the bowls, dishes and food on it were scattered all over the floor, making the place a mess.

“…Summon all the ministers to discuss the matter!”

The eunuchs and maids nearby were so frightened that they immediately knelt down and kowtowed, crawling on the ground, not daring to make any sound.

King Weinan has been extremely irritable in the past two days. Not only has he severely reprimanded his officials and military officers, he has also punished his servants at will, and even personally chopped off two eunuchs, making everyone in the palace silent for fear of getting into trouble.

In the early morning, an officer of the palace guard came to report that the Qi people had invaded the Bach Dang River, destroyed several water forts in succession, sank or damaged more than 80 large and small naval ships, and lost more than 4,000 officers and soldiers. The garrisons at the cities and passes along the way could not stop them at all. The Qi army marched towards Tokyo City along the Bach Dang River in a mighty manner.

According to reports from Xing'an Wei, another fleet from Qi State broke into the mouth of the Red River, destroyed five water forts, and then went upstream. By dusk, they had reached Xing'an and launched a fierce attack on the city.

The commander of Xing'an Guard said that in order to repay King Weinan for his support, he would be loyal to the king, fight to the death, and live and die with the city.

Afterwards, reports of defeat came from Taiyuan Town and Hebei Town one after another. The Liangguo army launched an offensive like a tide, completely disregarding the heavy casualties of its own soldiers. With a very determined offensive posture, they broke through several passes and castles in succession and advanced more than 30 miles to the south.

Faced with the fierce attack of Liang State, the two towns of Taiyuan and Hebei were unable to fight back and requested King Weinan to urgently dispatch reinforcements for the rescue.

What was even more unacceptable was that Qi had captured Thanh Hoa and occupied this symbolic eastern capital, and the tombs of several generations of Le Dynasty emperors fell under the sword of Qi. Just now, Hengshan Camp rushed 500 miles to bring a huge bad news to King Weinan. In the situation of continuous frontal attack, Nguyen Ni cooperated with Qi’s navy to break into the Lan River and successfully landed on the north bank, cutting off the retreat of Hengshan Camp in one fell swoop. The 30,000-man army had become an isolated army without contact with the rear.

After receiving the urgent report, King Weinan became furious and kicked over the small table in anger, spilling the lunch that had just been prepared for him to the ground.

Judging from the current situation, the Le Dynasty seems to have been caught in a situation where it is surrounded by enemies on all sides.

The Liang State attacked fiercely from north to south, determined to break through the northern mountain defense line, advance into Hebei, and then threaten Tokyo; in the south, Nguyen rebels gathered heavy troops to approach the Hengshan camp, and with the help of the Qi navy, successfully cut off the Lanjiang River, blocking the north-south traffic, and besieged the most elite heavy troops of the Zheng army in the Hengshan area.

The State of Qi, with more than one hundred ships and more than twenty thousand strong soldiers, attacked from the Bai Teng River and the Hong River. They were invincible along the way and encountered almost no obstacles. They had already marched to within a hundred miles of Tokyo City.

If it were not for the dry season, which resulted in a lack of water in the Baiteng River and the Red River, Qi would have been worried about its ships being stranded and would not have dared to sail at night. By this time, the Qi army might have already appeared outside the city of Tokyo.

"Your Majesty, with Qi's superior ships, they will surely reach Dongjing by tonight and deploy their troops outside the royal city." Zheng Guangyan, the commander of the palace guards, bowed and said, "For now, I ask Your Majesty to immediately order the entire city to mobilize and recruit a large number of militiamen to respond to the Qi army's attack. The entire city's military and civilians will unite and fight to the death. The Qi army will not be able to break through our Dongjing city. As long as we hold out for more than half a year, when the rainy season arrives in July and August, the Qi army will not be able to last and will retreat."

"General Zheng is wrong!" Ruan Yingshun, the right historian of the palace, looked solemn and shook his head and said, "In the current situation, our dynasty has to deal with more than just the massive attack from Qi. The fake Hao family and the Nguyen rebels in the south, one in the south and one in the north, have gathered heavy troops to attack us. It has made it difficult for our army to take care of both ends and the front and back cannot respond. The situation is so critical that it has never been seen in hundreds of years. In this situation, I think we should send envoys to discuss peace talks with Qi to avoid war."

"You Shi, do you think Qi will negotiate with us now?" Zheng Guangyan stared at Ruan Yingshun and shouted, "From the current situation, whether it is the fake Hao family or the southern traitor Ruan, they must follow Qi's lead and act according to Qi's orders. Let me ask you, Qi has mobilized so many troops and invaded on a large scale, how can it stop fighting for the sake of peace talks? This move is nothing but humiliation! ... The most important thing now is to gather troops and prepare for war, and call on soldiers from all over the world to fight to the death, only then will there be a glimmer of hope!"

"General Zheng is right." Li Hongsong, a military officer in the royal palace, echoed him, "Over the past thousand years, the great northern powers have invaded Annan several times, but were defeated by us and returned in defeat. How can Qi be the only country to escape?"

"Li Bingcao, the Northern Dynasty attacked Annan in the past, but it was ultimately unsuccessful because they were not used to the climate and soil, and could not bear the repeated battles, which wasted the country's strength, so they had to withdraw their troops and return." Du Yufu, the commander of the Elephant Guard, retorted, "What is the situation today? Don't you know? Not to mention that the Nguyen rebels in the south will not suffer from acclimatization, even the Hao family has been operating in the north for decades and is familiar with the climate and geography here. How could they not be defeated and flee? Even the Qi State has a large territory in the south and a million local people. It can last longer than the Northern Dynasty. Now, our army, weapons, and morale are all inferior. How can we resist them?"

"Commander Du, are you suggesting that we surrender without a fight?"

"I dare not. I will only tell His Majesty about the situation here. I will not let you guys act on impulse and ruin the overall situation, causing the situation to develop to an irreversible point."

"Your overall situation is probably to surrender to Qi. Everyone knows that before the war, your Du family had close ties with Qi merchants, and made huge profits every year from selling Qi goods. Naturally, you don't want to fight to the death with Qi people."

"You thief, how dare you openly frame me, Du, in front of the king? ... Today, in front of all the ministers, you must make this clear. Otherwise, I, Du, and you cannot coexist in this world!"

"Please stop arguing, and discuss the most urgent matter here."

"…I tolerated the thief who tarnished my good name."

"Alright, alright, in this time of national crisis, you two need to be tolerant of each other and put national affairs first."

"..."

"In my opinion, Qi's superior weapons and weapons are so powerful that our dynasty cannot resist them, and peace talks are our priority. What if the Qi people don't want to suffer too much loss and agree to our request for peace talks?"

"What a naive argument! I think we should start with fighting, and then use war to promote peace, so that Qi will know that Dali is not a weak country."

"...We may turn west and retreat to the Ailao area to temporarily avoid the Qi army's attack."

"It's ridiculous! There is not enough supply in the western mountainous areas and Ailao. How can we sustain this for long? I'm afraid that everyone will leave in a few months."

"..."

When Zheng Gang heard the opinions of his ministers, each with its own conclusion, he felt overwhelmed and his mind was extremely confused. He could not help but stroke his forehead in pain. It was really difficult for him to make a decision.

Is it a war?

Or is it and?

"Kings……"

Just as the quarrel was going on, Zheng Anliang, the commander of the imperial guards, hurried over with a panic-stricken look on his face.

"What's the matter?... Tell me directly!" Zheng Gang looked at him as if he wanted to say something but didn't dare to, and he was very impatient, so he shouted sternly.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..., Your Majesty is gone..."

"Huh?" Zheng Gang looked at Zheng Anliang in confusion, not quite understanding what he meant by "His Majesty is gone."

Could it be that the emperor who was imprisoned in the palace was dead?

"Your Majesty, His Majesty... He has left the palace and is nowhere to be found..."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Gang stood up in shock, his eyes widened, and he looked at the other person in disbelief.

"Your Majesty has escaped?..."

(End of this chapter)