A great city still could not be held; it had fallen to the enemy in a single push.
The reason was that his rise had been too swift, and the local gentry had yet to accept him.
Though the local poor recognized him, the hearts of the gentry remained unsettled.
And as soon as the other side promised not to kill those who surrendered, the local great households were easily swayed.
That was the fundamental cause of failure.
The history books would only briefly say that he had failed to gain the landlords' support, but they would never explain what that truly meant.
In reality, the landlords and local gentry simply followed the wind. Once they saw Li Zicheng was finished, they immediately killed the officials Li Zicheng had appointed locally and surrendered to the stronger side.
Naturally, Fang La had never considered such things before.
Thus, he could only fail.
After hearing this, the others lowered their heads as well.
At that moment, the Experienced One stepped forward. "Hmph. You idiots had a complete strategy handed to you, yet you refused to use it."
"Now that death is upon you, what else do you have to say?"
"Now, I'm going to execute you!"
"I've said my piece. Who agrees? Who objects?"
Wenren Sheng merely stood there and smiled.
The other two newcomers joined in cursing.
"You fools, we advised you back then to first set ambushes in the mountains and avoid drawing the Song Dynasty into direct hostility."
"The Song Bandits are about to launch their northern campaign. They'll soon be in trouble."
"But you just couldn't endure it. All you wanted was to come down from the mountains, seize cities, and then eat, drink, and make merry."
The Newbie Male aimed at Fang Fei, who had been the