Chapter Fourteen First Encounter

  "Brothers on the city wall, brothers of the Right Imperial Guard! Look clearly at me, I am the Eagle General of the Right Imperial Guard, Yuan Jinwei! Three days ago, at Baishi Ma Slope, I led three battalions to surrender to Yang Xuan Gan, Duke of Chu, and was appointed as the General of the Right Imperial Guard, Governor of Xinyang, and holder of the title of Marquis of Yangcheng! Reward me with 100 taels each of gold and silver!"

  "Brothers, don't sacrifice your lives for the tyrant Yang Guang anymore! That cruel and incompetent ruler favors treacherous officials, views human life as worthless, and doesn't consider us as humans. Our 16 brothers from the Imperial Guard have died in Liaodong by the tens of thousands, and the number of innocent civilians killed is in the hundreds of millions. He has brought chaos to the world, and bandits are rising everywhere! Following this tyrant will only lead to death. Quickly open the city gates and surrender, abandon the darkness and follow Yang Zhuo to conquer the world - that's the right path! You're no match for Yang Zhuo, not a single person in the Eastern Capital is his match! With just one wave of his hand, Yang Zhuo can easily capture the Eastern Capital!"

  "Brothers, Yang Zhu has spoken! Whoever opens the city gate first will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold and the title of Marquis of Yiyang, with a promotion of three ranks! Whoever can cut off Fan Zhen's head will also be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold, the title of marquis, and a promotion of three ranks! Brothers, don't hesitate any longer, the opportunity to rise through the ranks and get rich has arrived! Open the city gate quickly! Kill Fan Zhen quickly!"

  As Chen Yingliang had guessed, they formed a battle array outside the Chunmen Gate. The surrendered Sui army troops who had defected earlier launched a psychological attack, with the first to lead the Sui army to surrender, Eagle General Yuan Jinhao, shouting loudly outside the range of the city wall's archers, calling for surrender. Other Sui soldiers who had surrendered also joined in, directly naming and calling out to their comrades on the city walls, enticing and intimidating them, shouting non-stop.

  The rebels' actions, of course, had some effect. The soldiers defending the eastern capital, who were already disheartened and demoralized, heard their former comrades' calls to surrender and were shaken in their hearts, at least considering the possibility of surrendering to the rebels once the city fell. With morale low, not even a few Sui soldiers at the Spring Gate dared to shout insults at the treacherous rebels, revealing signs of wavering military spirit - which was not surprising, given that Pei Hongce and Daxia Shan's armies had been completely annihilated earlier, dealing a severe blow to the morale of the eastern capital's defenders.

  Upon seeing this situation, Yang Xuangan and Li Mi, the leaders of the rebel army who were arrayed behind, couldn't help but feel delighted. Li Mi even said to Yang Xuangan: "Duke Chu, the enemy's morale is clearly collapsing, if we can win another battle, the defending troops in Luoyang will surely collapse completely, taking down Luoyang will be very promising!"

  "What's the big deal? It's just a nail on the board!" Yang Xuangan laughed heartily and instructed, "Go and pass on the order to Yuan Jinhui and the others, telling them to continue shouting, shout louder, wait for Fan Ziga to receive the news and come over to investigate, perhaps he will be so angry that he will lead his troops out of the city to fight a decisive battle, and we can deal with these rebel Right Guards!"

  The orderly shouted an acknowledgement and was about to rush forward to deliver the order to Yuan Jinhui and other newly surrendered generals, when a tall, white-haired old man appeared on the city wall of Shangchun Gate not far away. He stood upright in his armor, looking down at the rebel soldiers below with a stern expression, exuding an aura of majesty. Upon seeing this old man, Yuan Jinhui and other surrendered troops suddenly burst into loud chatter, and Yang Xuangan was also shocked, blurting out: "Fan Zigai?! This old thing is actually on Shangchun Gate?!"

  "Chu Gong, this is a rare opportunity, hurry up and go forward to answer that Fan Zigai!" Li Mi said with great joy: "I will help you scold this old rascal, I'm sure we can provoke Fan Zigai's stubbornness and lure him out of the city for a decisive battle!" Yang Xuangan was also overjoyed when he heard this, and he promised to hurry up and gallop forward. Li Mi and other rebel leaders such as Wang Zhongbo also followed closely behind.

  Yang Xuangting led Li Mi and others to rush to a distance of only one hundred steps from the city wall of Dongdu, before reining in his war horse. He also ordered the mutinous soldiers to stop their clamor. After the rebel army had quieted down, Yang Xuangting raised his head, smiled, and shouted loudly at Fan Zigai: "Fan Zhou, Mr. Fan, it's been a long time!"

  "Rebel! You still have the face to come and answer me!" Although Fan Zigei is almost 70 years old next year, he is still vigorous in his old age, and his voice is still very loud, it can be said that it is like a bell, even if it is a hundred steps away, Yang Xuangan and others can still hear clearly.

  "Fan Liugong misunderstood, I am not a rebel, but to overthrow the tyrant Yang Guang and save the people from water and fire!" Yang Xuangan laughed and said: "The fact is that the decision of this pillar country is very correct. Since the start of the army, there have been thousands of heroes coming to surrender every day. The generals under your command are also eager to surrender to me and work for me willingly? Why don't you learn from them, open the city gate and surrender to this pillar country, assist this pillar country in killing the tyrant, and achieve great things?"

  "Are you all surrendering to me and willing to serve me?" Fan Zhenxi didn't get as angry as Yang Xuangan had expected, but instead burst out laughing. He suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "All troops listen up!"

  "Yes!" The reply came back from the city wall, somewhat out of sync. Yang Xuangan and Li Mi, leaders of the rebel army, were instantly filled with anticipation, thinking that Fan Zigai had ordered them to engage in battle outside the city. But instead, Fan Zigai bellowed: "This official, as the guardian of the Eastern Capital, hereby issues a command! First order: to the right Wuwei rebel soldiers below the city wall, if you surrender and return to allegiance, we will not pursue or investigate, and allow you to rejoin your units!"

  "The second order: the rebel soldiers of the Right Wuwei who have escaped from Yang's troops and no longer follow the bandits are allowed to choose their own route, and will not be arrested or pursued by the authorities!"

  "The third order, the rebels of the right Wuwei army under the city, those who are obstinately ignorant and refuse to surrender, will be killed in the attack on the city. Their corpses will be used to identify their identities, and all male members of their families will be executed, while their wives and daughters will be reduced to lowly slave status! Those who kill the rebel soldiers can obtain the entire property of the person they killed, including houses and land, as well as take the wife and daughter of the person they killed as slaves. Do you understand?"

  "Understood!" This time, the defenders on the city wall responded much more neatly, and many of the defending soldiers even showed excited expressions. The rebels led by Yuan Jinhui at the foot of the city suddenly changed color, while Yang Xuangan and Li Mi, the leaders of the rebel army, were speechless, never having imagined that Fan Zigai still had such a move, which would severely damage the morale of the rebel soldiers.

  "Yuan Jinwei, General Yuan!" Under Chen Yingliang's direction and Pei Hongce's command, a defending soldier jumped out and shouted: "General Yuan, come quickly to attack the city! Your daughter is quite good-looking. If I cut off your head, I can be your son-in-law! Come on, help me out, brother. Whether or not I can get with your daughter depends on you, old father-in-law!"

  As soon as this statement came out, the soldiers on the city wall burst into laughter, and even the old conservative Fan Zigai couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face. He muttered a curse under his breath, calling it absurd. Yuan Jinhui, the leader of the Right Guard rebels below the city, was pale-faced, wanting to scold but not daring to do so. The other rebel soldiers also looked at Yuan with strange expressions, and their previous excitement dissipated in an instant.

  "This old thing, it actually has such a hand!" Li Mi secretly scolded in his heart, and at the same time couldn't help but secretly admire Fan Zhen's divisive poisonous plan. It didn't completely block the door of rebellion for the right Wuwei mutineers, nor did it give hope to the right Wuwei mutineers who were unwilling to continue being soldiers, while also intimidating them from daring to fight to the death with Yang Xuangan. This mind-game tactic was played to such an extent that it could be considered pure and perfect.

  "Old matchmaker, bring this set here!" Yang Xuangan was not too stupid either, and immediately understood the true purpose of Fan Zigai's three consecutive orders. In a fit of rage, Yang Xuangan also shouted loudly: "Good! Now Ben Zhuguo will issue an order as well. Any Luoyang soldier who dares to follow Fan Zigai in resisting Ben Zhuguo's righteous army will have their entire family property confiscated after death, all male members of the household executed, female relatives demoted to a lower social status and sent to the military camp for punishment!"

  "Are you mad, Duke Chu?" Li Mi cried out in anguish, "What will become of our righteous cause?"

  As expected, upon hearing Yang Xuangan's order, the city wall of Luoyang immediately erupted in a chorus of hisses. The soldiers and officers of the Eastern Capital garrison, who had previously held a somewhat good impression of Yang Xuangan, suddenly had their impression of him turn extremely bad. Fan Zigai burst out laughing and said: "Rebel, your fox tail has finally been exposed! How dare you still call yourself a righteous army? You can say such things, and this is what you call a righteous army?"

  "You old scoundrel! Spare the nonsense!" Yang Xuangan was thoroughly enraged, pointing at Fan Zhenxi with his long spear and bellowing: "If you have the guts, open the city gate and come out to fight me!"

  "Rebel Yang Xuangan, if you have the guts, come and fight me for 300 rounds!"

  Another strange peak rose, a handsome young man wearing a official uniform, holding a horizontal knife suddenly jumped onto the arrow tower, standing higher than Dongdu Liushou Fan Zigai, pointing at Yang Xuangan with his horizontal knife and scolding loudly, "If you don't dare to come, you are a son of a bitch! Come on, I'll accompany you to the end!"

  "Who is this kid?" A rabbit suddenly jumped out of the flock, and Yang Xuan and Li Mi couldn't help but be stunned.

  "Chen Yingliang, come down! You don't have a place here to speak!" Fan Zigai shouted in a bad tone.

  "When the opportunity to show off in front of everyone is rare, Chen Yingliang naturally didn't have time to care about Fan Zigai's orders. With a horizontal knife pointing at Yang Xuangan, he only scolded and shouted loudly like thunder: "Yang Xuangan, you unfaithful, unfilial, unkind, and unjust, shameless and despicable rebel! If you have the guts, come over and fight me for three hundred rounds; if not, shout loudly three times. You are a cowardly rat who doesn't even have the courage to die, but today I will spare your dog life!"

  "You little thief, say one more word!" Yang Xuan was furious.

  "Go ahead and scold me!"

  Chen Yingliang, who had accumulated thousands of years of scolding essence on his body, was still afraid that he wouldn't have enough scolding words. Pointing at Yang Xuangan with flying spittle, he scolded loudly and quickly: "Yang Xuangan, you treacherous thief, listen up! You betrayed your lord and forgot his kindness, gathered a crowd to plot rebellion, which is disloyal! Your father's bones are still cold, the soil on his grave is still wet, but you've already betrayed the great Sui court that he was loyal to for a lifetime, which is unfilial! You killed people and set fires, poisoned the common folk, which is inhumane! You deceived your subordinates, coerced innocent civilians, boatmen, and craftsmen into rebelling and plotting against the government, causing countless innocent common folk to suffer from war disasters, which is unjust! A shameless rebel like you, who is inhumane, unjust, disloyal, and unfilial, what face do you have to live between heaven and earth? Hurry up and buy a block of tofu to smash your head against, that's the only way for you to die with honor! If you don't have money to buy tofu, I'll give it to you!"

  Roaring, Chen Yingliang really took out several five-cash coins from his bosom and scattered them under the city wall. He roared at Yang Xuangan: "Rebel thief, come and take it! Take it to buy tofu! If tofu can't kill you, take it to buy a brick to kill you! Just don't use your face to hit, you scoundrel's skin is thicker than the city wall! Using that ugly face of yours to hit the green bricks will only make the green bricks shatter!"

  The city wall of Dongdu once again echoed with loud laughter, and Fan Ziga also turned his anger into joy, shouting: "Scold well, continue to scold! The more severe the scolding, the better! Scold this rebellious thief to death!"

  "Lord Fan, rest assured that even without your order, I will scold this treacherous descendant of eighteen generations to death!" Chen Yingliang responded loudly, pointing at Yang Xuangan's face which had already turned iron-blue and continued to curse, "Yang Xuangan, you treacherous rebel! I'm speaking on behalf of your father Yang Su, who was loyal his whole life. How could he have given birth to a disloyal rebel like you?! If the old man knew what was happening in the underworld, he would definitely regret not drowning you in a chamber pot when you were born! Even if he had given birth to a pig, it would be better than giving birth to a treacherous rebel like you!"

  "Your grandfather Yang Fu would also regret because of you, this rebellious traitor! If Yang Fu knew that you, this rebellious traitor, would commit treason, before you were even born, he would have definitely killed your mother to avoid giving birth to you and losing face! His bones are now rolling in his grave, regretting why he didn't castrate himself and become a eunuch in the palace, why did he leave behind this evil spawn?!"

  "And also your great-grandfather, Uncle Yang, what was the name of Yang's great-grandfather? You mentioned it before but I forgot."

  In the midst of laughter, Fan Zigaole, an old stubborn man with a rare smile on his face, hastily answered for Pei Hongce: "Yang Jian's great-grandfather was Yang Xian, also from Huayin."

  "Yang Xuan Gan, your great-grandfather Yang Quan was also ruined by you! He is no longer just rolling in his grave, he must have crawled out of his tomb to avoid the people of Huayin County coming to his grave every day to defecate and urinate! Because of you, this traitor, the Yang family has become a shame to Huayin, and when the people of Huayin hear your name, they can't help but vomit up last night's dinner! Why? It's because your name is too stinky, it's stunk for thousands of years! Now throwing you into a latrine would make even the latrine spit you out!"

  "Yang Xuangan is a rebel, you were born to be a cucumber, deserving of being slapped! Later generations will be walnuts, deserving of being beaten! The Great Sui has only twelve zodiac signs, but you insist on belonging to the thirteenth sign, belonging to a mangy donkey, deserving of being kicked and scolded!"

  "Yang Xuangan, I'll give you a couplet. The top one is: A tree without skin will surely die; the bottom one is: A person without face is invincible in the world! The horizontal inscription reads: The most respected of the lowly!"

  "Yang Xuangan, I still can't figure out how you have the guts to keep living? Why didn't your dad shoot you against a wall back then? Why didn't your mom strangle you to death back then? Why didn't your grandfather..."

  When Yang Xuan heard Chen Yingliang's torrent of abuse, his face first turned iron-blue, then black, and finally purple. Yang Xuan could no longer bear it, impulsively threw down his long spear, grabbed his bow and arrow, patted his horse, and charged directly at Chen Yingliang, who was spitting stars. As he drew his bow and set the arrow in place, he bellowed like thunder, "You little thief, I'm going to take your life!"

  Chen Yingliang would not be foolish enough to continue standing on the arrow tower as a target for Yang Xuangan, so he jumped down from the arrow tower before Yang Xuangan could shoot another arrow and shouted at the laughing guards, "What are you laughing at? Shoot quickly!"

  It wasn't until Chen Yingliang's loud reminder that the soldiers of Dongdu finally woke up from their dream, shocked to discover that a big pie had actually fallen from the sky - the leader of the rebels, Yang Xuangan, had actually charged into the range of the city wall's archery! Overjoyed, the Sui army soldiers hurriedly competed with each other to draw their bows and shoot arrows. Fan Zigai, who had come back to his senses, was shouting hysterically, "Shoot arrows! Shoot arrows! Quickly give old man some arrows!"

  "Release the arrow! Give me the arrow! Release it!" Pei Hongce also clenched his fists and roared, finally snatching a bow and arrow to personally shoot at Yang Xuangan.

  With a "whoosh", the feathered arrow shot out by Yang Xuangan flew over the arrow wall where Chen Yingliang had stood before, and landed on a Sui army soldier behind the arrow wall. The feathered arrow broke through his armor, pierced his chest, and still didn't lose its momentum, nailing itself into the bluestone steps of the city tower. The arrowhead sank deep into the stone, and the arrow shaft was also shattered to pieces by the remaining force!

  "Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss" sounds continuously, at the same time, countless defending soldiers' arrows were also shooting towards Yang Xuangan from all directions. However, these Sui army archers themselves had mediocre archery skills, and in their haste, they lost their aim even more, so the arrows shot out were either far off the mark or weak and powerless without any threat. Only one arrow hit Yang Xuangan's right ear, cutting off half of his ear, making Yang Xuangan cry out in pain, instantly covering his right face with blood.

  "Older brother!"

  "Lord Chu!"

  Countless rebel soldiers rushed up, using their shields to deflect arrows while pulling Yang Xuangan off his horse and carrying him away. Although Fan Ziga and Pei Hongce on the city wall shouted loudly, urging the soldiers to shoot quickly, it was still too late. The feathered arrows shot down from the city wall only killed two rebel soldiers, but none of them could hit Yang Xuangan, who was now tightly protected by shields.

  At this scene, Fan Ziga's angry roar also echoed on the city wall, "Trash! Trash! You trash! Such a good opportunity was missed by you trash! Chen Yingliang! Chen Yingliang you little rabbit! Continue to scold for Lao Fu! Continue to scold! If you can scold Yang Xuangan back, Lao Fu will give you credit!"

  "Come back to scold again? How is this possible?" Chen Yingliang bitterly smiled, but Fan Ziga had already pinched Chen Yingliang's neck, and in order not to be strangled to death, Chen Yingliang could only continue to loudly curse Yang Xuangan's ancestors for eighteen generations.

  "So this little thief is called Chen Yingliang, you little thief, I've remembered your name!" When Fan Zigan heard Li Mi's roar, he turned his head and gave Chen Yingliang a vicious look - this was also the outstanding leader of the Sui Dynasty rebel army Li Mi, the loyal dog and executioner of the tyrannical Emperor Yang of Sui, Chen Yingliang, who suppressed the rebel army.

  After being rescued to a safe area, Yang Xuangan touched his right ear which was already bloody and looked at the fresh blood on his hand. He also let out a loud roar, "Order the three armies to work day and night to build siege weapons, the more the better! Tomorrow morning, we will launch an attack on the city! This pillar of the country wants to flatten Luoyang and cut that little thief into pieces, torture him to death!"