Chapter 64 Recapture
Li Jing said: "You don't have to go with me, it's too dangerous, just wait for me here, I am confident that I can take Pujin Pass."

Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "I don't really want to go, but if I don't go in person, I'm afraid that even if Master takes Pujin Pass, he will have to lose a lot of men and horses. How can he have the energy to recapture Puzhou City?"

Li Xiaogong walked in from outside and nodded, indicating that everyone had been contacted. Although the pontoon bridge was gone, it was only difficult for a large group of soldiers to cross the river. There was always a way for the rest to get across.

As the saying goes, food and fodder must be sent before troops move out. Before Li Jiancheng left the capital, he sent his servants to contact old friends day and night. Before Puzhou City was lost, he had already contacted a group of them.

These people had little friendship with Li Jiancheng, but they did not dare to join the rebel. After Puzhou City was captured by the King of Han, they became more proactive, fearing that if the King of Han was defeated in the future, they would be treated as traitors and liquidated by the court, and their wives, children and families would be implicated.

The only good thing about the Puzhou governor not organizing any resistance was that, except for those hard-core officials who would rather die than join the bandits, the rest of the original officials in the city were all alive, and many were even still in office.

After all, Pei Wen'an had just captured Puzhou City and had not had time to sort things out before he was forced to return to the rear due to the Han Dynasty's order being changed. Now the remaining generals were fighting for power with each other.

Such an opportunity will never come again. After discussion, the three of them went to rest. They might not have the chance to rest peacefully from tomorrow onwards.

On the second night, Li Jing and Li Jiancheng led 5,000 elite soldiers who were good at swimming and could barely see at night to cross the river. Needless to say, it was very difficult to cross the river, but fortunately they successfully climbed to the other side.

The troops who came to support were also holding more than a dozen heads in their hands. They were scouts sent out from Puzhou Pass to monitor the river.

There was no time to count how many people were washed away. After tidying up and wringing out their clothes, they headed straight for Puzhou Pass. There was no special strategy for the surprise attack, it was just to take the enemy by surprise.

They stopped when they were a few miles away from the pass, and then several people from Puzhou City went forward to search, and found the buried siege equipment in an agreed place. It was quite simple, but it was better to have it than not.

They continued to advance until they could vaguely see the outline of a pass in the darkness. Li Jing turned back and ordered the lieutenant to convey his words to the soldiers: "The reward for beheading the first one to reach the pass will be increased by three levels. Anyone who retreats will be killed immediately!"

The hundreds of Li family generals who were accompanying them walked to the end of the team, while Shen Guang quietly walked to the front. Who else but me could be the first to reach the top?

Following Li Jing's order, more than 4,000 brave soldiers carrying simple siege equipment rushed straight to Puzhou Pass. They did not deliberately hide. It was impossible to use people who could not see at night to guard the city, and the movements of thousands of people could be heard by anyone except the deaf.

Not only did they not try to hide their voices, Li Jing also ordered them to shout at the top of their lungs. For a moment, several thousand people made the noise of tens of thousands of people, and after a period of panic on the city, scattered arrows began to fall.

Li Jing and Li Jiancheng reined in their horses to watch the battle, seeing Shen Guang leaping onto the top of the city wall like a nimble monkey. Just when they were worried whether he could hold on, the gate of Puzhou Pass suddenly opened. There were flashes of fire inside, and when they looked in the direction they could see two groups of soldiers and horses fighting each other, it looked even more brutal than the situation on the top of the city wall.

The Sui army, which was still trying to climb up, was a little confused, but Li Jing immediately galloped over and led the Sui army out of the city gate, shouting loudly: "Yang Su, the Duke of Yue and the Left Prime Minister, has personally led a million-strong army of the imperial court in accordance with the emperor's edict to fight against the enemy. If you surrender, you can still escape death!"

Li Jiancheng knew that there was no problem here, so he called seven or eight family generals and gave them careful instructions. Then he took out a written letter from his bosom and asked them to follow the people from Puzhou City back.

It was much smoother than expected. As the saying goes, whoever wins the hearts of the people wins the world. Yang Guang had not yet become a tyrant who brought disaster to the country and the people, so the hearts of the people of the world gathered on him as the orthodox. Anyone who dared to rebel would inevitably face such a situation. There were frequent traitors under his command. Not to mention conquering cities and territories, even the foundation of the land could not be stabilized.

At daybreak, after discussion with Li Jiancheng and Li Jing, they summoned the captain who had led troops to open the city gate the night before, praised him highly and stated that they would report to the emperor to commend him for his achievement.

Then he ordered them to pretend to be defeated and flee back to Puzhou City. They wanted to emulate Pei Wen'an and recapture Puzhou City. He also ordered Li Xiaogong to cross the river and go back to inform Yang Su to build a pontoon bridge and take over Puzhou Pass.

They only left a few hundred people behind, and took the rest to Puzhou city. However, these people were not to be trusted. After confiscating their weapons, they ordered them to stay behind and pretend to be pursuers, creating dust and making it look like there were many pursuers.

Everyone didn't care about being tired, and as they had taken the important pass so smoothly, they were full of ambition. Li Jiancheng also kept swearing by his family name that as long as they succeeded, there would be no mistake in their rewards!

They had all heard of Li Jiancheng's reputation and knew that he was an extremely generous and extravagant person and there was no way he would embezzle their contributions and hard work.

Li Jing also went in person to appease the surrendered troops and told them that the imperial court had gathered a million troops, otherwise why would the King of Han, who had just occupied Puzhou City with great difficulty, be so frightened that he destroyed the pontoon bridge.

It is because he knows that it is difficult to resist the might of heaven. If you turn to the light at this time, you will avoid death and save your lives. Otherwise, you will be charged with treason. If you can retake Puzhou City now, then you have made great contributions and have no faults, and you will also be rewarded by the court.

When the morale was high, the two men ordered the two sides to exchange clothes, leaving the family generals on horseback and with bows at the end, and then headed eastward straight to Puzhou City.

Puzhou City was undoubtedly a powerful city, and martial law had already been imposed. When they fled to the city gate, it was already closed. The captain shouted to the city: "I am a captain under General Zhao Cheng of Puzhou Pass. Puzhou Pass has been breached, and Yang Su is leading a large army to pursue us. Hurry up and open the city gate to let us in."

The city gates did not open, and people on the city wall even started shooting arrows to drive them away. However, Li Jiancheng and his men did not give up. They obediently went around to another city gate and continued to exaggerate.

In the end, a million strong army of the imperial court crossed the river. The defenders in the city felt that a disaster was imminent, and the deliberately created dust flying in the distance made it difficult for the other side to judge how many people had come.

Li Jing and others had not yet entered the city, but the sounds of fighting and killing from within the city had already been heard. After a while, a city gate was opened, but they did not enter, but continued to shout in circles.

But Li Jiancheng was always paying attention to the flags on the city gate tower. Finally, when he saw a change, he immediately called everyone and ordered those who pretended to be chasing to come and join him.

Li Jiancheng said to Li Jing, "They are going to abandon the city and flee through the north gate."

Li Jing made a prompt decision: "We will enter from the south. There is no need to block them. The important thing is to recapture Puzhou City."

...............

(End of this chapter)