The most arrogant in history

Chapter 224 I’ll use money to kill you!

That night, Xia Ling withdrew his troops from Moxia.

At noon the next day, Ye Kun led the army through Moxia and arrived outside Deyang City.

Xia Ling went out of the city to meet him, bringing with him officials of all levels, and presented the county governor's seal, population and land registers, and prepared three thousand shi of grain and fodder, as well as civilian laborers to transport the grain and fodder, as a token of his submission.

Ye Kun took the initiative to step forward and bowed: "Xia Taishou, everyone, it was Ye Kun who offended me, please forgive me."

Xia Ling sighed: "I offended General Ye's majesty, I deserve to die."

"Don't worry, Governor Xia. I'm only here for the people."

Ye Kun prepared a banquet and asked Xia Ling and others to sit down, drink and chat to calm people's hearts.

As for Xia Ling's county magistrate's seal and population and land register, Ye Kun just glanced at them and returned them to Xia Ling.

Xia Ling and others were secretly shocked when they saw that Ye Kun had a strong army and strict discipline, and did not dare to have any other thoughts.

Ye Kun tried to comfort them with kind words, talked about his ideals with them, painted big pictures with them, and treated them as brothers.

Ye Kun rewarded Xia Ling and others with some porcelain and tea brought with the army as a gift, which was considered a gift from the emperor.

Xia Ling was very polite and even transferred ten beautiful singing girls from the city to serve Ye Kun at night.

Ye Kun waved his hand and declined: "I am too busy with military affairs to enjoy..."

I finally took the opportunity of the war to recuperate, but you, Xia Ling, sent me ten beauties. Isn't this harming me?

The next morning, food and fodder were ready.

Xia Ling led officials at all levels to see Ye Kun off from Deyang.

Ye Kun did not enter Deyang City, but Xia Ling needed to send soldiers and civilians to deliver the food and fodder, which was equivalent to withdrawing half of the military forces in Deyang City.

The army then abandoned their ships and went ashore, heading west, with their target set on Chengdu.

At the same time, news came from Wang Dagui's troops in the south that they had surrendered the governor of Jiangyang two days ago. They would pass through Luzhou City and continue to go up the Minjiang River to Wuyang.

In fact, Wang Da Kui also implemented Ye Kun's policy of appeasement along the way. He did not seek to kill many people along the way, as long as you submitted in name.

Ye Kun wrote a personal letter to persuade Zhang Yi, the governor of Wuyang, to surrender, and sent someone to deliver it to Wang Dagui's troops.

Shangguan Jifu's troops were progressing a little slower and were currently confronting the enemy in Langzhong.

Ye Kun was worried, so he led a group of elite soldiers to Langzhong to help in the battle.

The ancient city of Langzhong is also easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Shangguan Jifu used up most of his thunder bombs and grenades, and then launched a fierce attack with cannons. He suffered five to six hundred casualties, but still failed to take the city.

However, Langzhong was also badly beaten, with countless houses in the west of the city collapsed, most of them destroyed by fire.

The defenders in the city suffered even more casualties, and there was wailing and crying throughout the city.

Seeing Ye Kun, Shangguan Jifu sighed: "Brother Dalang, how come the Langzhong soldiers are so strong? Even with such powerful cannons, they can't be defeated!"

Ye Kun asked: "Who is leading the troops in Langzhong? How many soldiers are there?"

"Yizhou's chief priest, Cai Wu, is a Confucian general who leads 7,000 soldiers, half of whom are newly recruited."

"How many soldiers and civilians are there in the city?"

"About thirty thousand."

"Fight again. If you can't defeat them, just give up and go around!"

Ye Kun acted decisively and ordered his subordinates to raise their own flags and deploy more banners. Together with Shangguan Jifu, they besieged Langzhong City.

In Langzhong City, people became even more panicked when they saw Ye Kun's reinforcements.

Ye Kun didn't want to cause widespread casualties, but there was nothing he could do.

To build a new order, we can only destroy it first and then build it.

In this process of destruction and construction, casualties are inevitable.

Outside the west gate, Ye Kun ordered the catapults to be set up and said with a smile, "Use the latest weapons and let them see our power!"

"Brother Dalang, so you have the latest weapon? What weapon is it? Show it to me quickly!" Shangguan Jifu was overjoyed.

"It's money. I'm going to use the money to smash them to death!"

Ye Kun chuckled and brought a small jar of copper coins.

Shangguan Jifu was stunned: "Brother Dalang, are you stupid? You are using copper coins to attack the city?"

The other generals were also stunned.

I've never heard of such a wasteful person who wants to kill the enemy with money!

"The Art of War says that attacking the heart is the best, and attacking the city is the second best. I am not attacking the city, I am attacking the heart."

Ye Kun poured out the copper coins from the small jar and let everyone take a look.

This is a batch of specially made copper coins, with words printed on both sides:

Protect the country and the people, and do not kill those who surrender.

This is a talisman that can protect the whole family!

Shangguan Jifu was still puzzled, frowned and asked: "Will this work?"

"It will definitely work if it breaks the enemy's morale."

Ye Kun waved his hand and ordered the catapult to send ten small jars of copper coins towards different directions in the city.

One hundred copper coins per jar is not a lot.

The small jar fell into the city and exploded immediately, with copper coins scattered all over the ground.

The soldiers and civilians in the city were all stunned and picked up the copper coins to look at them.

Those who cannot read ask each other.

After seeing the copper coin, Cai Wu, the garrison commander of Langzhong, was greatly surprised and issued an order:

"Anyone who finds a copper coin must hand it in; anyone who hides the enemy's copper coins will be killed without mercy!"

Ye Kun's propaganda and psychological warfare is very powerful.

Once the morale of the army collapses, there's no need to fight.

The soldiers and civilians in the city were reluctant to hand over the copper coins, but they had already memorized the words on the coins. Some bold soldiers and civilians even kept the coins as amulets.

In case Langzhong City is broken, it would be great to have a talisman in hand to protect the whole family.

Ye Kun had expected that the city would confiscate the copper coins, so he said with a smile, "Continue to issue copper coins, mixed with silver coins."

The minting of the heart-conquering coins started half a month ago. In addition to bronze, there are also silver and gold coins.

Of course, the number of silver coins is much less than that of copper coins, and the number of gold coins is much less than that of silver coins.

The second batch of coins for conquering hearts and minds was projected into one hundred small jars.

Ten silver coins were mixed into each jar.

They are called silver coins, but they are actually silver rounds with words printed on them.

Each silver coin is very thin, weighing only about ten grams.

After the second wave of money was spent, the city became even more chaotic.

The soldiers and civilians had no intention of defending the city and were busy picking up money.

The defending general Cai Wu tried to stop them again and again, but he could not stop everyone's desire to get rich.

Especially those who picked up silver coins, most of them kept them privately.

When the two armies were fighting, Cai Wu couldn't search each of his subordinates one by one, right?

Ye Kun was not satisfied yet, so he waved his hand and ordered: "Release the third batch of silver money bombs, mixed with gold coins!"

Therefore, the third batch of coins for conquering hearts and minds were thrown into Langzhong City from all directions.

The glittering gold coins caused a scramble among the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Cai Wu, the defender of Langzhong, was so angry that he shouted at the top of the city wall: "Ye Kun, you traitor, if you have the guts, attack the city instead of playing tricks!"

There were more than a dozen powerful crossbows around Ye Kun, all of which had the best range and accuracy. Seeing this opportunity, they fired arrows at once.

Unfortunately, Cai Wu failed in his attempt to catch the arrow with his face and fell down with a scream.

Ye Kun waved the battle flag: "Catapults, fire attack; push the cannons forward and blast open the city gates!"

The catapults fired together, and alcohol incendiary bombs and kerosene incendiary bombs flew into the sky.

Soon, the top of the west gate city wall was engulfed in flames.

After the death of General Cai Wu, the defenders on the city wall had no intention of fighting anymore. They threw down their weapons and shouted loudly: "Stop fighting, we surrender..."

The cannon had not yet been fired, but the city gate had already been opened from the inside.

Shangguan Jifu laughed and ordered the army to enter the city.

Ye Kun hurriedly said, "Fourth brother, pass the order down. Do not kill anyone without permission and do not harass the people. Otherwise, you will be punished by military law!"

You know, Shangguan Jifu's troops suffered heavy losses when attacking Langzhong.

Now that the city has been breached, it's inevitable that the soldiers will vent their anger and let out their emotions.

In ancient times, this was very normal.

Rape and looting are child's play. As long as they don't massacre the city, they are a benevolent and righteous army!

Shangguan Jifu was very embarrassed and whispered:

"Brother Dalang, aren't the reasons why brothers fight in the hope of conquering the city and making a fortune? Besides, Cai Wu resolutely resisted, and many of our brothers died..."