Jia Ke led his men and horses to the city of Shenglong Mansion and set up camp ten miles away from Shenglong Mansion.
Early the next morning, Jia Ke beat drums to gather the generals as usual, and then led the generals to order the troops out of the camp and came to the city wall of Shenglong Mansion.
Jia Ke sat on his horse and looked up to the city tower. He saw that the city tower was densely packed with soldiers. It seemed that Ruan Zhengyu had made preparations while taking advantage of his own time to gather the forces in the north of Annan.
Jia Ke immediately ordered his soldiers to shout to the top of the city tower, asking the opponent to come out of the city to fight.
Ruan Zhengyu also arrived at the top of the city early. Now that he saw the other party attacking the enemy, he couldn't help showing a contemptuous smile. Now, if I go out to fight with you in a positional battle, wouldn't I be stupid?
Since Ruan Zhengyu saw through Jia Ke's plan, he immediately ordered the generals around him: "No one can fight without my order. Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy."
In fact, without Ruan Zhengyu's orders, the generals under him were already frightened. Now that they heard his order, they naturally fell asleep and gave them a pillow, so they all said "yes".
Jia Ke yelled and cursed under the city for a whole day, but did not see Ruan Zhengyu coming out of the city, so he knew that he would never leave the city for a decisive battle with him. It seemed that this siege was inevitable.
Jia Ke returned to the big tent and summoned all the civil and military officials to discuss the plan for attacking the city tomorrow, allowing them to express their opinions.
Sun Yan followed Jia Ke south this time to make suggestions for Jia Ke. In fact, he knew in his heart that Jia Ke did not trust him, so he worked very hard during this period. Now after hearing Jia Ke's inquiry, Sun Yan came out immediately.
"My lord, although the Annan people refuse to go to war, it will be easy to defeat them."
Jia Ke became interested after hearing this. He had just watched the defense of Dragon City. The walls here are high and thick, so it is not that easy to attack the city.
"Master Sun, if you have any clever plans, please tell me immediately."
Sun Yan touched his beard reservedly, and then said: "I have just seen the terrain near Shenglong Mansion. It is undeniable that Shenglong Mansion is indeed the capital run by generations of Annan. It is indeed behind the high wall of the city. If we attack by force,
I’m afraid we will suffer heavy losses.”
Jia Ke nodded after hearing this. This was what troubled him. Annan Kingdom has been learning from the Central Plains, so the construction methods of Annan Kingdom's cities are generally the same as those of the Central Plains. Especially the capital of Annan Kingdom, it was natural that all Annan Kingdom was built.
The southern country's national strength and scale are no different from those of the provincial cities in the Central Plains.
When Sun Yan saw Jia Ke meditating, a smile appeared on his face, "You, my lord, still can't live without me."
"My lord, don't worry. Although the capital of Annan is huge, it has a fatal flaw."
Jia Ke's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"My lord, have you noticed that there is a yard of plains near Thang Long City, and the rivers are not densely covered. As long as our army surrounds Thang Long Mansion, Ruan Zhengyu will have stored grain for several years in Thang Long Mansion. There will be no
The source of water is also a tree without roots."
Jia Ke shook his head when he heard this and said: "Master Sun, this is too bad. There are always wells in Shenglong Mansion. I'm afraid there will be no shortage of water."
Sun Yan retorted confidently: "My lord, although there are wells in Shenglong Mansion, the population in Shenglong Mansion is densely populated, and hundreds of thousands of troops are now gathered there. It is assumed that the water source is not enough, and they have no fire starter. Could it be that
Want to eat raw?"
As soon as Jia Ke heard this, the terrain near Shenglong Mansion flashed through his mind. Shenglong Mansion is located on a plain, and the surrounding land is very fertile. It can be said to be the main food-producing area of Annan Kingdom.
But one drawback is that the Annan State Council has almost cut down the nearby forests in order to cultivate land and increase income.
Nowadays, if Annan country wants to get wood, they have to go to distant mountainous areas. This has also given rise to a profession in Annan, which is to go to distant mountainous areas to cut wood and then deliver it to Thang Long Province at a high price.
Jia Ke now understands Sun Yan's plan, which is to defeat the Ten Clubs at once. I don't care what you do, I will surround the city first. Even if you have food and water, cooking without firewood will be in vain. If
If you can't hold on and surrender, it would be better. If you are well prepared, it won't be too late for me to attack the city.
Jia Ke thought about it and had no choice but to do this, so he ordered his troops to surround Shenglong Mansion.
Ruan Zhengyu received a report the next day, saying that the communication between Thang Long Palace and the outside world had been completely cut off.
Ruan Zhengyu hurriedly went to the top of the city to take a look. He saw that Shenglong Mansion was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people, and there was no way to communicate with the outside world.
Ruan Zhengyu only now feels a little regretful. If he had known that Sheng Long Mansion could not be defended, he might as well have taken his troops to the south, but now it is too late to say this. The only way now is to see who can hold on.
So in the next month, although Jia Ke besieged Shenglong Mansion, he did not attack the city, but Jia Ke did not, so he just spent his time sending troops to sweep around Shenglong Mansion.
He occupied all the prefectures and counties near Thang Long, and then sent the Annan people who surrendered to take charge of local affairs.
In less than ten days, all the Annan towns near Shenglong Mansion were occupied by Jia Ke, and now Shenglong Mansion has become an isolated island.
Besides, in the city of Shenglong Palace, Shenglong Palace did not feel the pressure at the beginning.
Ruan Zhengyu and others saw that Jia Ke did not attack the city immediately, and they breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously, because they knew that their soldiers were really no match for the Central Plains people.
As a result, within a few days, something went wrong in Shenglong Mansion. It turned out that this time Ruan Zhengyu was very concerned about the defense of Shenglong Mansion. He had prepared enough water and food, just to fight Jia Ke for a long time.
war.
But Ruan Zhengyu thought about everything, but he didn't think about using firewood for cooking.
As a result, at the beginning, there was still some firewood that could be used for cooking in Thang Long Palace. By the time of the month, all the firewood in the city was burned up.
Now Thang Long Province is in a bit of an awkward situation. Food and water are available, but the rice is not cooked well. The people can't just eat uncooked rice.
So the people in Thang Long had to join forces to demolish their houses and take down the beams for living and cooking.
As a result, there were naturally a lot of complaints. Many people in Shenglong Mansion felt that they could no longer survive. However, the nobles in the city did not have the same worries as the common people. However, they were kept in the city for a long time and their lives were in danger at any time.
The nobles couldn't bear it anymore.
Ruan Zhengyu also felt the pressure from all directions, and what could he say now? So Ruan Zhengyu gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, directly demolished his palace, and then sent the wood to various places so that the people could make fire for cooking.
But in Thang Long Mansion, in addition to hundreds of thousands of civilians, there are also an army of three to four hundred thousand, and his little wood is simply a drop in the bucket.
In the end, Ruan Zhengyu had no choice but to lead his troops to demolish the houses of all the nobles in the imperial court, so that Thang Long Mansion could barely survive.
But as soon as Ruan Zhengyu did this, he immediately lost people's hearts, and the northern nobles who were originally loyal to him were also dissatisfied with him.
After all, no one wants to have a good home, so it was demolished directly. Moreover, after the demolition, the wood was not left behind, but was all sent to the military camps and people's homes. They, the nobles, were not as good as those people.
Among them, the southern faction headed by Du Lin naturally complained even more. They had reluctantly surrendered to Ruan Zhengyu, and now that something like this happened, they naturally became even more alienated from Ruan Zhengyu.
These southern factions have long had a grudge against the northern faction represented by Ruan Zhengyu. This time when Jia Ke invaded the south, these southern factions behaved even more unscrupulously.
Ruan Zhengyu has naturally noticed that these southern nobles are a bit evil, but he thinks that he has consumed hundreds of thousands of men and horses, and now there are only 20,000 to 30,000 southern soldiers in Shenglong Mansion, compared with his hundreds of thousands of northern soldiers.
It looks like a firefly compared to the bright moon.
Moreover, Ruan Zhengyu thought that these people from the south were just here to make trouble at his place, and he did not expect that they would cause any other troubles. However, contrary to expectations, those people from the south were thinking further than him.
Now Du Lin, the leader of the south, summoned all the leaders of the southern faction in the capital to his house for a secret meeting.
"I have something to say to you all here."
Wang Jie, a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy in Annan, raised his hands after hearing these words and said: "The boss is the leader of our south. If you have anything to say, just say it, and we will naturally respect him."
As soon as Wang Jie finished speaking, other people also said together, "What Mr. Wang said is exactly what I am thinking. If you have anything to say, please just give me your instructions."
Du Lin stroked his beard backwards, and then said: "Since everyone thinks so highly of me, I will be disrespectful."
After Du Lin said this, he stood up and walked a few steps in the lobby. He seemed a little undecided, but finally gritted his teeth, turned around and said to the people in the lobby: "Everyone, what are your thoughts on the current situation in Annan?"
What do you think?"
Several officials below looked at each other, and then looked at each other in confusion.
Du Lin didn't expect them to answer, "Ruan Zhengyu is unethical and has repeatedly offended the Celestial Empire, attracting the Celestial Army to conquer him. Now he has lost half of the country. If Sheng Long Mansion is destroyed again, the fate of the country may end here."
The other people nodded silently after hearing Du Lin's words. They also saw the danger of the current situation.
Seeing that others agreed with his opinion, Du Lin then struck while the iron was hot and said: "In my opinion, our king wants to fight to the death with the Central Plains Dynasty in Thang Long City. If he loses, he will retreat to our south and then entangle with the Central Plains."
After Du Lin said this, the people below immediately went crazy.
"How is this possible? We are farming in the south, and we are provoking whomever. Why would we lure these proud and powerful generals from the Central Plains to fight in our place?"
"Yes, the people in the north are in ruins now. Do you still want us in the south to be like them? I don't think the king regards us southerners as human beings at all."