Chapter 244: The fake master slanders the real general

"Kill them?"

"Without them, the reinforcements will be like headless flies. Even if they follow the Crown Prince of Southern Tang to Feicheng, they will only witness the defeat of Feicheng and the annihilation of their army. But if we keep them alive, things will go more smoothly for Ayao and Amiao."

Pei Zisu knew the abilities of his younger brother and sister. As long as the news of the death of the Lu father and son spread, Feicheng might fall by itself. By then, they would attack from both sides, and it would be as easy as taking something out of a bag for them to capture the cities between Feicheng and Wengcheng.

Only then did Ge Huzi understand the major general's intention, and he nodded and spoke.

"I understand. Then we can sneak into Wengcheng, kill the father and son of the Lu family, and pave the way for Dasui!"

Not long after the bold words were spoken, the Battle of Wengcheng began quietly.

That night, Fang Jie, the lord of Wengcheng, hosted a banquet for the Crown Prince of Southern Tang and more than a dozen generals who had led their troops to the city. When they all arrived at the lord's mansion, they found that there were no singers and no music, only a few square tables with some strong liquor and simple meals on them.

Seeing this scene, the face of the Crown Prince of Southern Tang was not good, but the generals led by the Lu father and son relaxed a little and were less hostile towards the city lord Fang Jie.

After all, the fighting situation at the front was tense, and if they were still here enjoying the peace and prosperity, wouldn't they be letting their comrades down? However, they had to come because of the prince's favor, so their faces were very gloomy, and it was only now that they calmed down a little.

General Lu is almost sixty years old, but he is still in good health. When he looks at Fang Jie, his eyes are full of shrewdness.

"City Lord Fang, what do you mean? Is this the way you are going to host this prince?"

The Crown Prince of Southern Tang started to attack, but Fang Jie remained calm. He took a step forward and spoke respectfully.

"Your Highness, please don't be angry. I made this arrangement for your reputation. The war on the front line is tense. You are passing through Weng City to bring reinforcements to Fei City. If you gather here to sing and party, I am afraid that someone outside will gossip about it. So I prepared a little wine, firstly to welcome Your Highness, and secondly to wish Your Highness a great victory in this aid to Fei City. When the time comes, I will prepare good wine and food, singing girls and music, and make you drunk for three days and three nights!"

Fang Jie's words calmed the impatience of the Crown Prince of Southern Tang.

What he said made sense, so he looked at the table of wine and food with a better eye than before. After hearing this, General Lu and others followed the prince and sat down.

Looking at the wine in my hand, there was nothing special.

"Please forgive me, Your Highness. I and my son will lead reinforcements ahead tomorrow. Let's replace the wine with tea today. I toast to Your Highness and City Lord Fang."

"I dare not. I dare not."

Then General Lu waved his hand and poured some tea into the wine bowl in front of him, and General Lu followed his father's action, and then the two of them picked up the wine bowl and drank it all. The prince didn't know what to say about the two's behavior. After all, it was the father and son of the Lu family who had to take the lead on the battlefield, so before the end of the war, he could tolerate these "disrespectful" actions.

After offering tea, the father and son did not touch any more food or wine.

They sat with the prince for a while and then left. When they left, the prince was drunk. Although there were no singing girls or music to accompany him, the wine and meat were still very well prepared. Therefore, the rest of the people relaxed a lot after drinking a few bowls of wine.

As they clinked glasses, someone naturally took the lead.

The person who spoke was the prince's confidant and also one of the deputy generals in this expedition. The deputy general was not very good at fighting, but he was very good at finding excuses to flatter others. Therefore, the prince brought him out this time in order to reward him according to his merits in the future.

In short, it was the Lu father and son who fought in the war, but it was not just the two of them who shared the rewards.

"General Lu is really arrogant. I have heard him muttering about the Crown Prince being too ostentatious. But the Crown Prince is going to the battle for His Majesty this time. If he doesn't show off his power, how can he show the power of the emperor? I think the Crown Prince is magnanimous. If it were someone else, I'm afraid he would have reprimanded the father and son long ago."

"That's right. He didn't drink any wine today, and he said he wanted to rush over tomorrow. What does that mean? Do you think we're too slow?"

The two of them talked back and forth and angered the Crown Prince of Southern Tang, who was originally in a drunken mood. His cheeks were red and he looked a little drunk. He smashed the jar of wine in front of him with a bang. The strong aroma accompanied by the sound of broken porcelain soon drifted out. The people present also followed suit and started cursing one by one, as if to add to the fun.

"Humph, if the Lu family father and son were not appointed by the emperor, I would not want to bring them with me on this expedition. They have never given me a good look, as if I owed them something. It's simply abominable."

As soon as these words were spoken, the prince's cronies also started shouting and cursing. In the end, someone suggested that the Lu father and son should come to apologize to the prince. Then, one by one, they started to make a fuss and insisted on going in groups to call the two people who had already left.

At that time, City Lord Fang, who had already passed out due to drunkenness, naturally did not participate in it. When the group returned drunkenly to the military camp, no one knew what kind of big event would happen that day!
General Lu was holding an urgent report that had just been delivered, saying that the Pei family army had launched a more fierce attack, so Feicheng was about to collapse at the moment. If no reinforcements arrived within five days, there would be no need for reinforcements.

Seeing this, General Lu's face became very ugly.

Once Feicheng is lost, Mingcheng behind it will be of no use. Even if I bring reinforcements there, it will probably be of no avail. After careful consideration, I think it would be more likely to stay in Wengcheng for resistance.

But this also meant that they had given up three more cities. So, six of the nine border cities had been captured by Pei's army. This was a huge shame!
General Lu disagreed and would not let this happen, so he told his son.

"There is no need to wait until tomorrow. You must immediately select 30,000 soldiers as the vanguard and rush to Feicheng for support within three days. As for the others, I will bring them myself. You must defend it. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, father. I know the seriousness of this matter. However, the news from the front says that it was Pei Ziyao who commanded the Pei family army to attack Feicheng. What about Pei Zisu? Was he really seriously injured by the Third Prince?"

"This news is 80% false. Don't you know what the Third Prince and Pei Zisu are capable of? They are probably hiding in the dark to stop us from coming to support them. But no matter how capable he is, he can only transfer 50,000 troops at most. We have 200,000 here, so it's easy to kill his 50,000 men."