C153

After Yuan Chenzong left, Jiang Zhen gathered all the soldiers in Hangzhou and roughly counted the number of soldiers. Jiang Zhen nodded as he looked at the ten thousand soldiers in front of him, he really did not know what to do, the two hundred thousand soldiers of An Jieyu had already arrived like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain, in the end, Jiang Zhen decided to disperse everyone, because even if all the soldiers in Hangzhou were added together, they might not even be as large as An Jieyu's army, not to mention the fact that he had more than ten thousand soldiers in his hands, how could he resist them for seven days?

After Jiang Zhen made this decision, he gathered all the officers and soldiers in the military field and said loudly, "Brothers, it's me, Jiang Zhen. Today, I have something to tell my brothers, it's time for you to join the army. You can go home!"

After Jiang Zhen said this, the crowd went into an uproar. A general immediately asked, "General, weren't we ordered to guard Hangzhou? Why would the general suddenly dismiss us all? "

Jiang Zhen shouted, "Brothers, Commander Mu is defeated at the frontline, and now that Xu Yun is leading over 200,000 men, the entire city of Hangzhou is no match for him. I, Jiang Zhen, have been guarding Hangzhou for days, although not for the benefit of the people, but at the very least I will not push my brothers to their deaths. So, brothers, you should disperse and go back home. Before you leave, you can all collect five taels of silver."

They never would have thought that Murong Chengyu would lead a huge army of one hundred and fifty thousand troops out of Hangzhou City, but in just a month's time, they had been completely repelled. All the soldiers had been forced to surrender to the Ming army, and when they heard that Xu Yourong had led more than two hundred thousand soldiers into Hangzhou, their legs had already gone limp. When they heard Jiang Zhen say that he wanted to disperse the entire army, and that they could even pay five taels of silver apiece, the soldiers immediately cheered.

Seeing the soldiers' reactions, Jiang Zhenyi immediately felt that he had made the right decision. Not to mention the number of them, if he were to bring this group of people to the city and did not defend it, they would be able to tie him up and send him off to see Xu Yun-gong.

At this time, only Jiang Zhen and a dozen of his personal guards were left in the Hangzhou Prefecture. At this time, a young eunuch ran in from outside the hall and reported to Jiang Zhen, "Reporting to General, the Ming Army has arrived at the bottom of Hangzhou and is fighting outside the city."

Jiang Zhen immediately ordered his men to carry his three crossbows and mounted his horse to lead a dozen of his personal troops out of the city. Outside the city, the Ming army's vanguard, Lian Ben, Meng Jian, An, and a few other generals were leading an army of soldiers to battle outside Hangzhou when they saw the city gates open. Jiang Zhen, mounted on his horse and carrying his three crossbows, led a dozen personal troops out of the city.

When Lian Ben saw that there were only a dozen or so people behind Jiang Zhen, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. "General Jiang, don't tell me that you're the only ones left in this huge Hangzhou city?"

Jiang Zhen knew that Lian Ben was mocking him, but since Jiang Zhen was determined to die, he no longer cared about what Lian Ben said. He immediately replied indifferently, "Of the soldiers in Hangzhou, I am the only one."

Lian Ben didn't expect him to reply in such a straightforward manner. "Since General Jiang thinks so, then General Jiang should be able to surrender. Otherwise, do you really think that you can handle hundreds of thousands of soldiers with just a handful of you?"

Jiang Zhen did not answer his question. Instead, he calmly asked, "What is your surname, General?"

Lian Ben laughed, "I am the bandit vanguard, and so is Lian Ben."

Jiang Zhen continued, "So it's General Lian. Sorry about that."

Lian Ben smiled, "It's alright. What did General Jiang plan to do with what this vanguard leader just said?"

Jiang Zhen said, "Jiang Zhen is a peerless genius. Originally, the number of soldiers in the city numbered in the tens of thousands, but Yuan Chenzong's ascension to the throne was in defiance of the people's hearts. Jiang Zhen said," Jiang Zhen is a peerless genius, originally, the number of soldiers in the city was in the tens of thousands, but Yuan Chenzong's ascension to the throne was in defiance of the people's hearts.

Lian Ben laughed as he listened, "General Jiang is righteous. I am impressed. General Jiang, if you have anything to say, please do so."

Jiang Zhen said, "For one thing, most of the civilians and soldiers in the entire Zhejiang Province were forced to surrender to Yuan Chenghong. When you take back Zhejiang Province, do not kill any innocent people."

Lian Xin replied, "Of course. In this world, it's not like I'm not a bright citizen. I will never recklessly kill innocent people. General, don't worry. What's the second thing you need?"

Jiang Zhen nodded his head and said, "The second matter is that if you want to enter the city, you must first defeat the steel trident in my hands!"

After saying that, Jiang Zhen held up the trident in his hand and galloped towards Lian Ben. Judging from Jiang Zhen's previous posture, it seemed that he was going to surrender no matter what. Lian Ben did not expect Jiang Zhen to suddenly rush over; he was so shocked that Lian Ben let out a cry of "Ah!" and the two heads of the golden gourd in his hand hurriedly waved, breaking the trident in Jiang Zhen's hands.

As for why Jiang Zhen insisted on fighting to the death with Lian Ben, the reason was simple, it was because Jiang Zhen's entire family was imprisoned in Jinhua City by Yuan Zong. If Jiang Zhen were to surrender his family, then Jiang Zhen would definitely be implicated, but if Jiang Zhen insisted on defending, then Jiang Zhen would eventually make a difficult decision.

After the two fought for a few times, Jiang Zhen raised the steel fork in his hand and the door in front of him was immediately revealed. When he saw the hammer in Jiang Zhen's hand, he smashed towards Jiang Zhen, and there was a muffled "bang" sound as Jiang Zhen and his horse were pushed back a few steps. At this moment, Jiang Zhen felt the blood in his chest tumble and he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

But this time, he didn't even smash Ben down. Instead, he pulled the golden gourd back into the military camp. Jiang Zhen saw that Lian Ben had left and shouted, "Lian Ben, why aren't you fighting with me anymore?"

Lian Xin said: "Because you look down on me! "Since the general looks down on Lian Ben, then there's no need for him to fight anymore!" In reality, when Jiang Zhen purposely left the camp for the first time, Lian Ben had already noticed it. Although he felt it was a little strange, he still hammered on the door. When Jiang Zhen purposely left the camp for the second time, Lian Ben knew Jiang Zhen was giving way to him.