Chapter 7: The Great Battle of Fu City

  The soldiers rushed forward and Yu An, Zhang Mo, Hong Bai and others had not reacted yet, they were pressed by the soldiers. Yu An shouted: "Your Excellency, what crime have we committed?"

  Liu Zhang did not speak, and from his bosom he flung out a roll of sheepskin paper, which fell to the ground. Yu An saw the sheepskin paper and immediately turned pale. It was an impression of the letters exchanged between Yu An and Zhao Wei. Since Yu An had helped Zhao Wei with his words, Liu Zhang had sent someone to keep watch on Yu An's movements. But Yu An still thought that Liu Zhang was a weak and incompetent ruler as before, and he did not add any precautions at all.

  At this time, Yu An only knew that Liu Zhang had long been aware of his connection with Zhao Wei. Zhang Mo and Hong Bo were shocked and confused, but Liu Zhang ignored them, indicating to Yang Huai to prepare for battle. Yang Huai waved his hand, and all the soldiers strung their bows and crossbows. Over a hundred carriages opened, revealing strong bows and hard crossbows inside, with countless arrows and bolts. Yu An and the others took a cold breath.

  Yang Huai shouted loudly at Zhao Wei: "Zhao Wei, you disobeyed orders and did not return, plotted evil, today if you do not withdraw your troops and enter the city to confess your crimes, you will be treated as a rebel." As Yang Huai spoke, Zhang Ren took over a bow and arrow, slowly aiming at Zhao Wei.

  Soldiers were drawing their bows and nocking arrows on the city walls, casting a chilling atmosphere. As soon as Zhao Wei saw this scene, he knew his actions had been detected. However, with only 5,000 troops defending the city and his own army of 50,000, he wasn't afraid. Now that things had come to this point, he decided to take drastic action, using force to enter Chengdu and seize control of the provincial governor's power.

  "Zhang Wei shouted loudly: "Liu Zhang, you have forgotten the kindness and righteousness. Don't you remember who resigned from office to follow your father Liu Yan into Shu? Who was it that strongly advocated for you to become the governor of Yi Province? Who has been fighting battles east and west in recent years to consolidate your power? Does what you are doing today justify the bloody sacrifices of our frontline soldiers? I, Zhao Wei, have devoted my life to serving the Liu family father and son with utmost loyalty. If this is how you treat me, then it's not my fault if I were to rebel against you."

  Liu Zhang's eyes snapped open, and he stood up from his chair, shouting coldly at the city below: "Zhao Wei, don't try to make things sound better than they are! When my father entered Shu, you resigned your post to follow him. It was just a political investment for your own career advancement. You supported me as the Governor of Yi Province only because you saw how weak I was. With me in power, you could easily seize control of Yi Province."

  What you call "eastern campaigns and western battles" is nothing but bloody fighting, which is somewhat an exaggeration. On the contrary, in recent years, you have monopolized military power, excluded dissenting voices, and demoted Shen Yi, Liao Fu, Gan Ning and others who disagreed with you from their positions in the army. You have appointed your trusted followers, deceived your superiors, and abused your power to form cliques for personal gain, which is unforgivable.

  "I invited you to enter Chengdu, but you excused yourself due to illness. I came to Fucheng, and you brought a large army with you. You said you were loyal and dedicated, so why didn't you dare to meet me in person? If you are truly loyal and dedicated, then why did you hide tens of thousands of soldiers five miles away? What else do you plan to do? Zhao Wei, you're relying on your military power to intimidate others, plotting something treacherous. Do you still want to try to talk your way out of this?"

  Liu Zhang's words came out, and the civil and military officials looked at each other in surprise, completely disbelieving that this was said by the usually timid Liu Zhang. Fa Zheng and Zhang Song were also shocked, and Liu Zhang's image began to thoroughly change in their minds.

  Zhao Wei did not expect Liu Zhang to say such a thing, and he was stunned for half a moment before saying: "Governor, sir, you have been deceived by treacherous people. Zhao Wei will eliminate the treacherous people around you today."

  Liu Zhang sneered: "Indeed, there are traitors by my side." As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers immediately pushed Yu An and others against the wall, and Liu Zhang coldly said: "Kill."

  The soldiers raised their big knives, swung them down, and more than a dozen heads rolled down the city wall at the same time. The blood was all over the ground. Zhao Wei, Li Yi, and the cavalry behind him were all shocked. Gong Zhi was so scared that his whole body was trembling with fear, secretly thanking himself for not agreeing with Zhao Wei to enter the city earlier, otherwise his own head would have rolled down the city wall too.

  Liu Zhang said loudly: "The treacherous and rebellious little people, everyone can kill them. Zhao Wei, if you surrender, the official will spare your life."

  Zhao Wei saw the situation and knew that there was no way to retreat. The cavalry could not attack the city, so he immediately ordered a withdrawal. Just as Zhao Wei raised his knife, an arrow shot over and hit him right in the chest. However, the arrowhead only entered halfway. Zhang Ren on the city wall shook his hand reluctantly and said to Liu Zhang, "This Zhao Wei is wearing chain armor, please forgive me, my lord."

  Liu Zhang shook his head and sat back in his chair: "This is not your fault, the way of war is to kill enemies on the battlefield, what's coming next is a big battle, the strength of both sides is vastly different, the situation is perilous, I entrust everything to General Zhang."

  "Rest assured, milord," Zhang Ren said with a determined expression. "I will fight to the death." Five thousand against fifty thousand, Zhang Ren did not dare guarantee that he could hold steady at Fu City.

  Zhaoyi was shot by an arrow under the city, although he wore a suit of armor, but the force of the arrowhead was too great, and he felt a severe pain, extremely angry, led the cavalry to return, and immediately ordered Pang Hua to lead 50,000 troops to attack the city in turn.

  "Attack and punish the rebels!" Pang Yue drew his battle sword, let out a loud cry, and the 5,000 soldiers immediately swarmed forward, carrying ladders to launch a fierce attack on Fu City.

  "Kill the rebels." Yang Huai, the head of the city, personally took up his sword and went into battle, urging the soldiers on each wall to shoot arrows. Zhang Ren quietly watched the fierce siege of the rebel army below the city.

  Liu Zhang and Gong Zhi, along with other officials, walked down from the city tower. Liu Zhang said to Gong Zhi: "Gong sir, now I am going to hand over all administrative affairs of Fu City to Wang Chong, do you have any opinions?"

  "No, no, absolutely not." Gong Zhi hastily said, recalling Liu Zhang's wave of his hand earlier, which had led to the beheading of over a dozen officials. He still felt a chill down his spine; how could he possibly remain uninvolved? If Zhao Wei breached the city, his own path for retreat would be widened somewhat.

  "That's good, you assist Wang Shu with all your heart in handling matters. After the rebellion is put down, this official will naturally have a promotion and reward."

  "Ah..." Gong Zhi was now very sensitive to the "promotion and reward" that came out of Liu Zhang's mouth. As soon as he heard Liu Zhang say that he wanted to promote and reward himself, he started sweating. Liu Zhang didn't care about him and led his personal soldiers to inspect the city defenses.

  The battle was fierce, with arrows raining down like locusts and strong crossbows firing in unison. The rebel soldiers were nailed to the ground one after another. Zhao Wei's rebel army took turns attacking the city but made no progress. As the days passed without breaching the city walls, Zhao Wei grew increasingly anxious and frustrated. Li Yi stepped forward and advised: "My lord, military strategists say that when besieging a city, you should surround it with ten times its strength, attack it with five times its strength, and divide your forces to attack from multiple sides. Now our army is ten times stronger than Liu Zhang's, so we should surround the city of Fu on all four sides, launch fake attacks on three sides, and concentrate our main force on one side. We will surely take the city in one battle."

  "Good idea, let's do it as you said." Zhao Wei gave the order and several generals led their troops to the other three cities. Pang Le continued to command the siege of the eastern city.

  "A report." A soldier rushed into the government office and bowed to Liu Zhang, saying: "Your Excellency, General Gao Pei in the southern city is sending an urgent message. General Zhang Ren has personally gone to direct the battle, but the rebel army's forces are too numerous, and it's feared that they won't be able to hold on."

  Liu Zhang said in a cold voice: "Let Zhang Ren hold on for at least two more hours, within these two hours, the South City must not fall."

  "Yes."

  The soldiers left, and in less than half an hour, another soldier came to report: "My lord, the rebel army's attack on the north city is fierce, General Leng Piao is sending out a distress signal."

  Liu Zhang frowned and said: "Quickly let Liu Fu dispatch the inner city guards to provide reinforcements."

  "Yes."

  Not long after the soldiers left, Dongcheng and Xicheng successively sent emergency messages. Liu Zhang knew that Zhao Wei was changing the direction of the main attack. If they continued to fight like this, the weakly defended Fu City would eventually fall, and he couldn't help but frown slightly.

  "Is the Lord worried about the war?" A voice came from behind, Liu Zhang turned around and saw Fa Zheng standing behind him with a smile on his face.

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