Invincible Iron Army 30, Re-selling Jiedushi once again Book Flag
Here is the translation:
After Wang An came out, he said to Du Lin: "How's that? Do you believe me now?" Du Lin immediately nodded and said: "I believe it. This is too crazy! The swan actually likes the toad. Why didn't the governor take a liking to me? Such an excellent handsome guy!" Wang An rolled his eyes and thought, "You're over 50 years old, still thinking of eating young grass."
Wang An continued: "Look at my wife, she's beautiful, has a good figure, and can be sold to any brothel for at least 100,000 taels. You have to know that having a good facade is important in business. Who wouldn't want to spend the night with the governor?" Du Lin said: "I dare not, I dare not. The governor's wealth is enough to pay off the debt. But I'm curious, why didn't you borrow money from the governor?" Wang An said: "My wife hasn't even entered my household yet, how can I ask her for money?"
Du Lin felt a wave of disdain and thought, "You're willing to sell your wife, but you're concerned about borrowing money. You're tough on the outside, but at home, you're under the control of your wife. Good! You're truly one of us! I don't know what punishment the governor will give you when he finds out that you used his daughter as collateral. But with the governor as collateral, I'm not afraid that Wang An will default on the loan. Let's lend him 100,000 taels of silver."
Liu Jiao was constantly sneezing, wondering who was secretly thinking of her. At this time, Wang An and Qian Xuegui were discussing business, with Wang An still wanting to borrow 100,000 taels of silver to buy military rations. Qian Xuegui asked, "What is your collateral?" Wang An hesitated for a moment before once again using the Jiedushi as collateral. In his logic, since the Jiedushi had already been used as collateral once, it wouldn't mind being used again. At least, Wang An himself didn't mind, and if he didn't mind, then the Jiedushi shouldn't mind either. Qian Xuegui immediately opposed this, saying, "The Jiedushi is your what? You dare to use the Jiedushi as collateral?" Wang An replied, "The Jiedushi is my wife." Qian Xuegui said, "This world is too crazy, a swan actually likes a toad. If I had known the Jiedushi's taste was so heavy, I wouldn't have minded dedicating myself to him." Wang An thought to himself, still an old shameless man, and when he saw Qian Xuegui, he mostly just wanted to show off. Qian Xuegui thought to himself, you are just a hundred-man commander, with a position far inferior to the Jiedushi's. How could the Jiedushi possibly look up to you? His face immediately revealed an expression of disbelief.
Wang An said, "I think you don't quite believe me." Qian Xuegui said, "You're wrong, I'm not just a little skeptical, but completely unbelieving." Wang An said, "Since you don't believe me, I'll take you to see Du Lin, he can vouch for me."
Du Lin said to Qian Xuegui after learning about the situation: "This is absolutely true, and I saw it with my own eyes. The wife of the Jiedushi is indeed Wang An's wife. However, you have already pawned Liu Jiao Jiao to me, how can you also pawn her to Qian Xuegui?" Wang An said: "My wife comes from a wealthy family, how could she be worth only 100,000 taels? If you think she is only worth 100,000 taels, I will take you to see her right now and clarify this in person." Qian Xuegui did not dare ask, so he had no choice but to lend out 100,000 taels of silver, which Wang An used to buy military rations.
Wang An arrived at Wang Xueli's place and said to him, "Defence Commissioner, I'd like to borrow 100,000 taels of silver from you to buy your military rations. What do you think?" Wang Xueli asked, "What will you use to repay me? What will you use as collateral?" Wang An replied, "Of course it's my wife, the Jiedushi Liu Jiao Jiao." Wang Xueli laughed and said, "You think I'll believe you just because you say so?" Wang An said, "I'll take you to see Du Lin and Qian Xuegui, let them vouch for me."
Du Lin proved to Wang An, saying: "What Wang An said is absolutely true." Wang An let out a sigh of relief and thought it was all right, after all, he had fooled him. But Wang Xueli said: "This matter is too strange, could it be that the governor's brain has been kicked by a donkey and then drowned in water, his brain has already been flooded, or is there something wrong with the governor's eyes, how can he take a liking to Wang An? I have to ask clearly."
Wang An's heart was tense, thinking that if Liu Jiao knew he had sold her out, she would never let him off. His heart was uneasy, but his face pretended to be nonchalant.
Liu Jiao saw Wang An and several defense envoys arrive, so she asked: "What brings you here?" Wang An said: "Commander, our matter has been exposed, they are here to confirm it." Liu Jiao said: "Didn't I tell you to keep it a secret? Why did you go around talking about it?" She thought to herself: If they all find out that I lent money to Wang An, they will definitely come to borrow money from me. My poor purse is going to be empty soon! This isn't the country's money, it's my personal savings!
Wang Xueli saw this situation and couldn't help but think that the world was indeed full of wonders, and love was a strange thing. Let's not stay here and be in the way, let's take our leave immediately. Wang An reminded him, saying: "Don't forget to send the military rations to my camp, Defense Commanders." Wang Xueli replied, "Don't worry, we won't forget." After they all left, Liu Jiaojiao said: "How can you go around talking about it? What if they want to borrow money from me?" Wang An said: "Don't worry, they are all wealthy people, they won't do such a thing. From now on, don't mention this matter again, and pretend it never happened. They won't bring it up either." Liu Jiaojiao nodded, thinking that indeed, this matter couldn't be mentioned again.
When Wang An returned to the military camp, the military rations had already been sent by several Jiedushi. Jiang Cai said: "Wang An, you bought their grain, won't they be short of grain in the future? This will be a big mistake." Wang An said: "It won't, these are not their military rations. If I'm not mistaken, they must have gone to Tongzhou to get the grain and then sent it here. The grain they sent, plus the grain we brought back, is enough for the soldiers and civilians in the south city to eat for a year."
Jiang Cai said, "Why are you buying so much grain?" Wang An said, "Of course it's for eating. Here's 100,000 taels of silver, take it and buy oil immediately. I have meat, and also buy all the edible things." Wang An suddenly remembered and said, "And also buy some salt." Jiang Cai felt amused and thought to himself, "Are you going to live here permanently? Shouldn't we prepare everything like firewood, rice, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea?" So he jokingly asked, "Should we buy firewood too?" Wang An said, "Thanks for reminding me. Buy wood immediately, the more the better. And also go to the mountain to transport some stone materials over." Jiang Cai was shocked and thought to himself, "Are you really going to live here? Are you even going to build a house? Do you want to get married too?"
What Wang An requested was carried out by Jiang Cai and others, and the military and civilians in Nancheng were racing against time. After half a day, most of them were fully prepared. At this point, the Xiongnu cavalry arrived at Yuyang City on the second day after Wang An returned to Yuyang City. The Xiongnu soldiers had been holding back their anger for a long time, thinking that they had been delayed too much by the clever tricks and plots of the Jin Dynasty soldiers along the way, and they couldn't continue to delay like this. They must launch an immediate attack on Yuyang City and try to capture the city in the shortest possible time.
The Xiongnu army began to surround the city and finally completed the encirclement at dusk.
The Xiongnu, after careful observation, believed that the southern city was easier to conquer, so they set this as the main direction of attack, leaving 200,000 troops led by the Right Virtuous King as the main attacking force, while making feints in the east, west and north directions to tie down the Jin army's main forces.
Wang An saw the deployment of the Xiongnu and knew he would face a severe situation. He turned around to look at his soldiers, only to see that they all had fearful expressions on their faces. After all, most of them were civilians who had never been to battle, let alone trained for it. Some didn't even know how to shoot a bow and arrow. They didn't have armor, and some didn't even have swords because the governor of You Prefecture was not responsible for supplying them with military equipment. Some soldiers held wooden clubs, while others carried hoes, axes, kitchen knives, and even a brick into battle.
Liu Jiao also knew that the situation in Nancheng was precarious, and immediately prepared to dispatch 2,000 regular troops from Beicheng, Xicheng, and Dongcheng to reinforce the defenses of Nancheng. Qian Xuegui, Wang Xueli, and Du Lin rushed to Liu Jiao's place, crying and saying: "Sir, our situation is also extremely severe, you can't favor one over the other." This made Liu Jiao angry, saying: "If Nancheng falls, what's the point of your good defense? When the time comes, we'll be fighting the Xiongnu army in a narrow alley, and we'll all be in danger of being annihilated. I've decided, immediately dispatch 2,000 troops to reinforce the defenses of Nancheng. If it's not enough, continue to dispatch regular troops to increase the defensive strength of Nancheng." The several defense commanders saw that the commander was angry and immediately fell silent, and had no choice but to send out troops to help Nancheng strengthen its defenses.
Wang An, however, withdrew the troops and said, "Our army is sufficient, no need to send additional troops." The several Jiedushi immediately showed joy on their faces. Liu Jiao was angry in her heart, thinking, "A dog bites Lü Dongbin, not knowing a good person's heart." The several Fangyu Shi thought that they really did not know the height of heaven and the thickness of earth. Although the Xiongnu were not good at attacking cities, now they had a large number after all, and the defensive pressure on the city was great. However, Wang An had never fought in defense of a city before, so it was inevitable that he would make such a mistake. But they absolutely would not remind him, letting him make mistakes instead.
At night, the Xiongnu lit bonfires outside, illuminating the surroundings as if it were daytime. Liu Jiao, Sun Zhicheng, and Zhao Xiangqian climbed up to the city wall to observe, their faces filled with worry. Sun Zhicheng said, "I've been stationed at the border for over 30 years, but I've never seen so many Xiongnu troops. It seems they're really going all out this time." Zhao Xiangqian said, "The south city is the most vulnerable. Most of the soldiers have no battle experience and haven't even received training. They don't even know how to shoot arrows. How can they defend the south city? And yet, the general in charge of the south city doesn't know his place and refused the reinforcements sent by the governor." Liu Jiao shook her head and sighed, unsure what to do. Sun Zhicheng comforted her, "Don't worry, milord. Wang Xueli, Qian Xuegui, and Du Lin are all at the border, and they've fought many battles against the Xiongnu. They know how to defend Youyang City and won't let the Xiongnu's Khan get his way easily." Liu Jiao nodded and said, "The defense of Youyang is in their hands."
When the dawn broke, the Xiongnu army attacked Yuyang City. The Xiongnu were well-prepared for this invasion, bringing large quantities of cloud ladders and other equipment, especially in the south city, where the number of cloud ladders was even more numerous, reaching several thousand units, almost three times the total number of the west, east, and north cities. The Xiongnu's intention was also very clear: to fight with all their might and capture Yuyang City as quickly as possible.
The Xiongnu soldiers dismounted from their war horses and formed a human wave, rushing towards Yuyang like a tide. The arrows shot by the Xiongnu were like raindrops flying towards Yuyang City. The residents inside the city also suffered casualties, with people being accidentally injured by stray arrows every now and then. The wells of the residents in the city were all outside, so if they went out to fetch water, they had to carry a door panel on their backs to prevent being shot by arrows.
Not long after the Xiongnu began their attack, Dou Lin from the east city asked Liu Jiao for reinforcements. Liu Jiao planned to send troops, but then people came from the north and west cities asking for reinforcements as well.
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