Chapter 148 I am more afraid of death than shame

Guanzhong, Jingzhao Prefecture, outside Chang'an City.

More than 100,000 troops successively took out the cities outside Chang'an, and finally completed the siege of Chang'an from the east, south and west. Because the Wei River is to the north of Chang'an, it is impossible to besiege it from all sides. And because the forbidden garden in the north also has a wall, plus the city defense deployment in the north, it is actually very difficult to break the city from the north.

Gaoyang King Murong He, who was in charge of the city, entrusted the construction of the four city walls and more than a dozen city gates to a group of generals who were personally responsible for them.

General Pang Lingxun was in charge of guarding Chunming Gate, General Gao Huizong was in charge of guarding Tonghua Gate, and Prince of Jiangling Murong Jian was in charge of guarding Yanxing Gate.
Many militiamen were also recruited to help defend the city.

After the siege, Murong Zan continued to advance according to the traditional siege procedures and ordered archers to shoot hundreds of letters of persuasion into the city.

They were all trying to persuade the defenders in the city to stop resisting and open the gates and surrender as soon as possible.

And he promised him a high position and generous salary.

Murong He was an ordinary member of the royal family without any lofty ambitions or extraordinary talents. Although he was somewhat resentful of Murong Zan's rebellion, he was actually unwilling to participate in such a battle for the throne.

This is also the mentality of quite a number of officials and defenders in Chang'an City.

However, Murong He was still loyal to the late emperor Murong Ying, even after he passed away.

He immediately wrote a letter back to Murong Zan, stating his position.

The general meaning is to persuade Murong Zhan not to bother. I have received great favors from the late emperor, but Shibi Khan was disrespectful to the late emperor and led his army to besiege Guangwu. He is a traitor to the country. You are the son of the late emperor but you regard the traitor as your father. Therefore, I will never surrender to you. Don't waste your efforts.

Besides, my family has all gone to Shuzhong. Don't even think about using the destruction of the city and extermination of the clan to threaten me.
In the big tent, Murong Zhan finished reading Murong He's letter, shook his head and sighed, "In the past, I thought that King Gaoyang was a flatterer, so he was trusted by the late emperor and guarded Guanzhong. When I led the army to come, this man would probably panic and surrender. Now it seems that I underestimated him. Before the army came, he let all the officials and their families in the city go, so that the generals who stayed in the city would have no worries, and there was no need to worry about the loss of Chang'an. The officials in Luoyang were afraid to act rashly. You really can't underestimate these people."

Yuwen She sneered, "Prince Gaoyang and I were both companions of the late emperor in the Eastern Palace. He is very good at scheming, but he is only loyal to the late emperor and is good at judging people. He recommended General Pingnan Li Yuanhui, General of the Xiaoguo Army Wei Xiaoju, Chen Ling, and Right Prime Minister Pei Hongde to the late emperor. However, he is not good at fighting. He underestimated the enemy in the Battle of Mangshan, and was almost annihilated by Yang Xun."

Murong Zan said, "Looking at his attitude, he will never open the gate and surrender. It seems that we should give these people in the city a heads-up. Is the catapult ready?"

Yuwen She nodded and said, "Sixty of them have been built and can be put into service tomorrow."

"it is good."

The stone bullets were wrapped with oiled hemp ropes and ignited before being thrown, leaving streaks of smoke in the air. Dozens of catapults simultaneously threw stones at the top of Chang'an City Wall, which did not cause any damage to the wall, but many unlucky people were broken and had their bones and brains shattered.

A large number of arrows fell on the top of the city wall like locusts, forcing the defenders on the city wall to either hold up their shields to resist or flee in panic.

More than half a month was enough time for the rebels to build a large number of siege equipment.

During this period, the Chang'an defenders' city defense equipment was consumed in large quantities, and most of it had been used.

During the first ten days of siege, the rebels did not send out their elite troops, but instead drove a large number of lower-level auxiliary soldiers and able-bodied men to climb the city walls in order to consume the arrows and battering rams and stones of the defenders.

Although Chang'an was well-equipped with armor, weapons, arrows, bows and crossbows, etc., enough to arm an army of 100,000, the Yaksha pestles and rolling stones used to defend the city were not sufficient.

Because there had not been a war in the Guanzhong area for decades, several civil uprisings had never spread to the Jingzhao area.

So on the one hand, the Chang'an defenders were not able to fight, and on the other hand, they were not well prepared for the Chang'an defense war. After all, few people would have thought of the current situation.

Under the heavy reward, the elite rebels who officially participated in the siege burst out with great fighting power. They fearlessly rushed to the city wall through the ladders and wells.

The defenders on the city wall also fought back, and the two sides fought hard on the wall.

The city of Chang'an was on the verge of collapse under the fierce attack of the rebels, and the defenders were barely holding on.

As a result, those who knew the current situation had already started to think. On the first day of June, Jiangling Prince Murong Jian, who was guarding Yanxing Gate, suddenly opened the city gate and surrendered, letting the rebels enter the city. Chang'an City, which had barely held out for almost a month, fell.

After the city was broken, some people rejoiced, while others died for their loyalty.

On the Vermillion Bird Gate, Murong Zan looked at the captured Murong He with a smile on his face, his face full of the victor's high spirits and condescending attitude.

"King Gaoyang, are you willing to surrender now?"

"I have received great favor from the late emperor, and I cannot surrender to you."

Murong He was dressed in gorgeous clothes, and even after being captured he still maintained his dignified manner and demeanor. If one only looked at his appearance, he was definitely better than 95 percent of the court ministers.

Murong Zhan smiled contemptuously, "If my third brother was the emperor, King Gaoyang would be loyal to his subjects, and I would understand that. But now that the useless Murong Chao is the emperor, why are you doing this?"

Murong He shook his head, then walked to the battlements of the Suzaku Gate city wall and looked at the endless Imperial Street.

Looking around, we saw rebel soldiers and Huns acting recklessly in the four cities. The once bustling Chang'an City had become a hell on earth.

"It has nothing to do with others. Just because you acknowledged a Turk as your father, you are not worthy of being the Emperor of Yan. The Murong family is not so soft-hearted."

When Murong Zan heard this, his face immediately turned very ugly.

"Do you want to die?"

Murong He laughed and said, "Who wants to die? I am very afraid of death. I just want to live in luxury, enjoy fine wine and delicious food, and watch beautiful women singing and dancing. But I am more afraid that I will not be able to face Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen after I die, as well as the ancestors of the Murong family. Not to mention the late emperor. If you just wanted to borrow troops from the Turks, it would be fine, but you actually acknowledged the enemy as your father? Hahahaha, how many people in the Murong family would obey you?"

Murongzhan's face was so gloomy that it seemed like water could drip from it, but he still decided to give him some respect: "Okay, since you want to die so much, then I will grant your wish. Tell me, how do you want to die?"

Murong He thought about it seriously and said, "Give me a glass of poisoned wine."

"Okay, come, take him away and give him poisoned wine."

"Thank you."

After being captured, Murong He, the Governor of Xijing, General of the Cavalry, Commander-in-Chief of the Yongzhou Military, Grand Minister of the Imperial Court, Senior Pillar of the State, Envoy with Special Powers, and King of Gaoyang, refused to surrender and was given the death penalty.

In addition, more than ten people including General Zhenxi Pang Lingxun, General Yingyang Lang Gao Huizong, Duke of Nanjun Qu Tuyi, and Duke of Wuling County Feng Qiong were either killed for refusing to surrender or died in battle.

Fortunately, these loyal martyrs were secretly collected and buried by the people of Chang'an.

Just a few days later, dozens of court ministers including You Pushe Pei Hongde, Minister of Works Yu Mai, and Minister of Punishments Chen You directly submitted a "petition to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne."

After paying homage to the tombs of Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen, Murong Zan quickly completed three resignations within a few days.

It was probably that the letter of persuasion was given to Murong Zan in the morning and rejected in the afternoon.

We continued the next day. The process was extremely rough.

On June 6, Murong Zan officially announced to the world in the Chang'an Palace that he had ascended the throne as emperor.

The era name was changed to "Wuxing".

(End of this chapter)