Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 437: The End of the Hero (Special thanks to book friend Cong★Zai for his six monthly tickets!)
Hosted by Chai Zongxun, the banquet lasted until the hour of You and ended in great joy.

After more than two months of arrangements by the Cabinet and the six ministries, most of these more than 7,000 new scholars were arranged to serve as officials in various prefectures and counties, starting their official careers as eighth or ninth grade officials.

Chai Zongxun was promoted to the Ministry of Revenue as a walking official because of Ding Wei's talent in finance and accounting, and his official career started as a sixth-rank official.

Yang Yi was promoted to the positions of Zuo Zuo Lang and Zhi Zhi Gao because of his outstanding literary talent.

On July 7, the 32nd year of Kaixi, news came back from the Khitans that after nearly two years of war, the war between Zhang Yong, the commander of the Longxiang Guard, and Cao Can, the commander of the 60,000 Longxiang Army in Zubu Prefecture, and the faction of Prince Moao supported by Li Jiqian in the Khitan Kingdom had finally come to an end.

Cao Can was the eldest son of Cao Bin, born in the third year of Qianyou in the Later Han Dynasty (950).

He had a strong and steadfast character. He loved reading Zuo Zhuan since he was young, was familiar with military strategies, and practiced martial arts and military tactics diligently at home.

In the 13th year of Kaixi (972), he passed the military imperial examination and joined the 8th Corps of the Longxiang Army under Yang Ye. Later, he was promoted to army commander for his meritorious service. In the 28th year of Kaixi, he was appointed commander of the Longxiang garrison in Zubuzhou.

Because Li Jiqian was familiar with the combat methods of the Longxiang Army of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the advantages of the Shenbi bow, he often relied on strong cities and terrain to fight a protracted war of attrition with the Great Zhou Army.

Because the Longxiang Army of Zhubuzhou only had a hundred "Yansu Cannons", the siege was not very fast.

After more than a year of strife and war, the Great Zhou Dynasty finally forced Li Jiqian and Crown Prince Mo'ao, with a force of more than 300,000, into the twelve states near Wang Tingya Qingshan.

At the beginning of the 32nd year of Kaixi, after the strategic blockade was completed, the Great Zhou and Western King Reina's army totaled 260,000 troops, with the Great Zhou's six-million-strong Longxiang army as the main attack. They captured cities one by one, annihilated 120,000 enemies, and finally surrounded the enemy's only remaining Wang Tingya Qingshan City on May 22nd.

Under the fierce artillery attack of the Great Zhou, Li Jiqian forced 300,000 young and strong people in the city to help defend the city and repair the damaged city walls day and night.

Zhang Yong and Cao Can saw that it was difficult to capture Yaqingshan City for the time being, so after several days of discussion, they decided to launch a test march. Zhang Yong led a thousand Longxiang Guards, and under the dark night and strong wind, they used flying ropes to climb up the city wall and broke through the south gate of Yaqingshan.

In the early morning of June 3, the 32nd year of Kaixi, it rained heavily. At the hour of Yin, when the enemy's vision and defense were the weakest, Zhang Yong, wearing plate armor, was the first to climb the Shangyaqingshan city wall with a flying rope. His sword flashed like lightning and he killed dozens of enemy soldiers instantly.

The remaining dozens of Wanhu and Qianhu followed Zhang Yong, and together with the thousand Longxiang Guards, they all climbed onto the city wall.

Under the command of Zhang Yong, a thousand Longxiong Guards rushed to the South Gate. While the enemy had no time to mobilize heavy troops to react, they used the Divine Arm Bow to quickly kill more than 10,000 enemy soldiers guarding the city gate, opened the city gate, and let the Longxiong Army waiting outside enter the city.

After receiving the report, Li Jiqian, who was guarding the east gate, knew that the situation was hopeless, so he immediately led dozens of his trusted aides to unify the tens of thousands of imperial guards and took the crown prince Mo'ao with him to break out through the north gate.

After losing 7,000 soldiers, they broke the siege and escaped, intending to head northwest to Khwarezm.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Yong immediately led the remaining 700 Longxiang Guards and 10,000 Longxiang Army out of the city to hunt down Li Jiqian.

After five days of non-stop pursuit in the wilderness, they killed more than 2,000 people including Li Jiqian and finally besieged Li Jiqian in Yeangara, a city on the northwestern border of Kyrgyz.

At this time, the city of Yeangara had been almost destroyed by the war in the previous attacks between the two sides, and the people had all fled.

As soon as Li Jiqian fled into the city, Zhang Yong led his pursuing troops into the city from another gate. The two sides then engaged in street fighting in the city's residential areas.

By noon of the next day, June 9, Li Jiqian, who had been left with only about 200 men after a bloody battle, was bleeding from multiple wounds all over his body. He was tired and hungry, and knew that he could not resist the Zhou army for much longer. He immediately shouted to the Zhou army across the courtyard, demanding to talk to Zhang Yong.

After a moment's consideration, Zhang Yong immediately replied in agreement. A moment later, Zhang Yong and Li Jiqian, both wearing plate armor, stood on the roofs of two large houses about a mile apart, inviting each other to watch.

Li Jiqian bowed and said:

"Commander Zhang, since I am a relative of your Majesty's Concubine Li, could you please ask your Majesty to forgive my crime?
Commander Zhang is your majesty's trusted and beloved general. If Commander Zhang is willing to give me advice, I will give him ten thousand taels of gold!"

Zhang Yong laughed and said:
"Li Jiqian! All this is your fault because of your ambition and lack of talent! You could have been a prosperous businessman in our Great Zhou Empire, but you wanted to rebel against our Great Zhou and restore the Dingnan Army.

Because of your ambition to become emperor, how many people have been killed by you, from the Dangxiang people to the Khitans?

You still have the nerve to mention Concubine Li?!
When you rebelled in Dijinze, you almost killed more than a thousand people from Concubine Li's family and your cousin Li Jiyun's family, and executed the entire family!
If it weren't for Your Majesty's wisdom and love for Concubine Li, and if you hadn't specially revised my "Great Zhou Criminal Code" for her, no longer punishing all nine generations of a clan, but only considering whether the nine generations actually participated in the rebellion, otherwise Li Jiyun's family would have been killed by you, a traitor!

When your majesty ordered me to go to war, you vowed to kill you this time. You have committed a grave sin. Do you still dare to beg for your majesty's forgiveness?"

Li Jiqian sighed, and a strong sense of regret suddenly surged in his heart:
When he followed the clan leader Li Jiyun's family to Bian Jing, he lived a comfortable life. The social atmosphere in the Great Zhou was fair and relaxed, and there were many business opportunities.

With his intelligence and talent, Ben had earned one million taels of silver in just a few years of business.

However, he still had ambitions and wanted to restore the Dingnan army and claim the throne as the king. Not only did he bring disaster to millions of Dangxiang and Khitan people, he also lost his own life!

He only wanted to restore his country and dominate the world, and all nations would come to pay tribute to him, but in the end he died and his party was destroyed! What a waste of time!

Li Jiqian smiled bitterly and said:
"I have indeed been blinded by greed, and even dreamed of competing with Your Majesty, who is so talented and ambitious!
Commander Zhang, we are doomed! However, many of our children are still young. Commander Zhang, can you please ask Your Majesty to spare their lives?
If Commander Zhang can accomplish this, I am willing to offer the million taels of treasure buried in the wilderness!"

Zhang Yong pondered for a moment and said:

"If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place!

Your Majesty trusts me, so why would I want your millions of treasures? It's just that the people in the Khitan region have suffered greatly since the two years of war. Your millions of treasures can help the people rebuild their homes as soon as possible.

Li Jiqian, you have committed serious crimes, and this commander has no confidence in asking His Majesty to agree to pardon your young descendants!

Today, you can no longer escape, and this is the end of your sins!"

Li Qianji raised his head and laughed wildly for a while, saying:
"well!

I have heard that Commander Zhang is a man of his word. If Commander Zhang can ask Your Majesty for help, it will give our descendants a chance to survive!"

Li Jiqian reached out from his inner pocket and took out a piece of cloth, raised his hand and said:
"I have harmed countless people, and I am too embarrassed to go to the capital with Commander Zhang to meet His Majesty!
This is the map where I buried my treasure. I only ask Commander Zhang to ask for your majesty’s help once. Whether it succeeds or not, I will all be grateful to Commander Zhang for his kindness!”

Seeing Li Jiqian looking at him expectantly, Zhang Yong thought of the other party's young children and the people of Khitan who were devastated by the war. The chivalrous heart surged in his heart and he nodded.

(End of this chapter)