Chinese New Year

Chapter 658: Generosity (Added for Alliance Leader Slyshen)

Guanggu City has been surrounded.

Perhaps because they were worried that the defenders would break out, the first thing the army besieging the city did was to build an earthen wall outside the city, and they built three layers of it.

What's the point of surrounding three sides and missing one side? I won't do it anymore!

This posture clearly shows that they will not give the defenders in the city any chance to survive and will capture them all in one fell swoop.

Cao Yi also saw the intention of the army besieging the city and his face turned pale.

To be honest, he is still confused.

Shao Xun's tactics were somewhat similar to the Huns' invasion of Henan. A large number of cavalry moved around, driving out Cao's cavalry and scouts, intercepting and killing messengers, and turning them deaf and blind.

Cao's army also responded.

The messengers tried to take the mountain roads as much as possible to escape the pursuit of Shao's cavalry, but this greatly reduced the efficiency of delivering orders. Later, as the situation developed, the nobles of Qingzhou abandoned Cao Yi one after another, and the messengers could not even take the mountain roads because it was too dangerous.

So at this point, Cao Yi was not very clear about the news from the outside world. He didn't even know that the four counties of Jinan, Changguang, Donglai, and Chengyang surrendered almost without a fight - perhaps he knew some fragments, but it was difficult to get a glimpse of the whole picture.

At this moment, Cao, who was standing on the top of the city wall, even had a glimmer of hope in his heart: Are the county officials still fighting for him?
After all, he had always treated scholars with courtesy and leniency. People have consciences. I gave you the huge power that even the Jin Dynasty was unwilling to give. How could you bear to turn your back on me at the critical moment!

But anyway, Feiyangyang is useless.

In the past, the Qingzhou gentry had no choice but to keep you in suspense, pretending to be nice to you, and enjoying the power you gave them with peace of mind, but that did not prevent them from looking for other options while they were still with you.

When the powerful Shao army comes to attack, people are unwilling to even give you a good guy card. This is the reality.

In this world, only a few people can truly come to the fore. It was not easy for Liang Gong to be a wolf warrior, but fortunately he came to the fore, and now it is others' turn to lick him.

"Is there still no news about Xu Miao and Gao Liang?" Cao Yi looked around and asked.

All the officers and officials around him avoided his gaze and dared not respond.

After a long while, the shogunate's East Pavilion Priest, Beihai Fengbi, answered with a stiff upper lip: "Mingsong, please look at the south of the city."

Cao Yi was stunned, collected his thoughts and looked towards the south.

To the south of Shenjian, Shao army soldiers arrived with a large group of captives.

The captives cried and screamed, their cries of grief shook the heavens.

There were knights on both sides carrying captured flags. The words "Xu" and "Gao" almost hurt Cao Qi's eyes.

Flags and prisoners, aren’t those enough to illustrate the point?
Cao Yi supported himself on the parapet with both hands, trying to steady his body, because he found his legs a little weak.

We are all experienced in fighting, why should we deceive ourselves?
Feng Pi sighed and looked at the endless Shao army camps outside the city, feeling worried.

Feng Shi had actually rebelled and offered Beihai County to Duke Liang, but he did not rebel. It was not that he did not want to rebel, but his family was in Guanggu City and could not rebel.

Fortunately, Cao Yi was not a cruel person. He did not do anything to him and did not even take away his official position.

Perhaps, he also knew that killing him would not help, but on the contrary would make people more divided and out of control.

It was precisely because of this good thought that Feng Pi wanted to do something for him and did not want Cao Yi to end up in a miserable situation. To be fair, Cao Yi had been in Qingzhou for several years and had not done many bad things. On the contrary, he knew how to cherish the people's strength, which was much better than his predecessors, the brothers Gou Xi and Gou Chun.

"Mingsir." Feng Pi cleared his throat, pointed at the Shao army in the distance, and said, "The world has been in turmoil for more than 20 years. The governors have invaded, the barbarians have plundered, the people are in poverty, and only one in ten survives. Mingsir has been in charge of Qingzhou for many years, and he has treated the elders with courtesy and cherished the people's strength. Can you bear to watch the people of Qingzhou suffer and die?"

After that, he pointed to the soldiers outside the city who were building a bridge to cross the deep ravine, and said: "The army that is crossing the river to attack is called 'Shao soldiers', but they are actually Qingzhou people. The more fierce the fight, the faster Qingzhou's vitality will dissipate. My lord is also a Qingzhou person, can you really bear it?"

"Feng Pi!" Someone couldn't stand it any longer and shouted, "War is a war without casualties. Now the city has plenty of food and weapons, and there are no less than 10,000 soldiers. We are not at the end of our rope yet. What do you mean by that? Are you going to surrender?"

"I'll kill you first, you heartless bastard!"

"Shao the thief has killed so many of my followers, and you still want to surrender?"

"kill him!"

The officers and soldiers gathered behind Cao Yi were clamoring and their eyes were red with anger.

Feng Pi pretended not to hear and continued, "Mingsir, I have heard that Shao Xun is kind and benevolent, and he always keeps his word and never breaks his promise. If he can promise to be a rich man, it is not a bad idea to surrender to him. It is better than being trapped in the city now."

Feng Pi's words made the officers and heavenly masters even more angry. They clamored and wanted to kill him.

Cao Yi was silent for a long time, then waved his hand and said, "Shut up! Shao's troops haven't attacked yet, and you guys are already making a scene. How can this be tolerated?"

After saying that, he turned around and walked down the city wall, saying: "Guanggu is the strong city that I painstakingly built. You must guard it well and don't slack off."

Looking at Cao Qi's receding back, Feng Pi sighed.

He knew that Cao Wei had not completely given up and had not yet changed his mind. Even at this moment, he still pinned his hopes on Jiangdong, hoping that Sima Rui would send troops north to lift the siege of Guanggu.

It’s hard to give up until the last moment!
******
After receiving the news that Guanggu City was under siege, Shao Xun moved his position, headed north from Pei County, and arrived in Lu State, still keeping one eye on the Huai River.

Many staff members from the General's Mansion arrived one after another and requisitioned a manor outside Lu County to work on the spot. It was already the tenth day of May.

The largest noble family in Lu was the Jia family. Yes, they were the descendants of Jia Chong.

There are still some dukes of different surnames in the country.

For example, Wang Shen was granted the title of Duke of Boling County, Shi Bao was granted the title of Duke of Leling County, Chen Qian was granted the title of Duke of Gaoping County, Xun Xu was granted the title of Marquis of Jibei County, Jia Chong was granted the title of Duke of Lu County, Pei Xiu was granted the title of Duke of Julu County, and so on.

By this time, most of the princes who ruled the counties as their kingdoms were in name only, and the county dukes were certainly even worse off.

After the death of the last Duke of Lu, Jia Zhan, the country was abolished. Now the State of Lu should be called Lu County.

Of course, Jia still had some clansmen, but no one spoke for them, and Shao Xun could not give them a fiefdom, so Yang Liang and Yang Changxuan (the son of Yang Yao, the former chariot official, who once served as the Grand Herald and later retired to his hometown) became the governor of Lu County. Shao Xun now lives in Jia's manor.

It’s a pity that Wang Jingfeng is not here. She used to be the mistress of this manor and should have lived here for a while.

Shao Xun felt a little bit like he was about to fall apart.

After shaking his head to dispel the yellow garbage in his mind, Shao Xun stood in front of the map and looked at it for a long time.

The staff walked in and out lightly, for fear of disturbing him.

Zhang Bin, who had just been given the title of military strategist in the General's Office, sat behind his desk, carefully reading the military newspaper.

Because of his highest position, Yang Chen has been appointed as the commander-in-chief of all the troops in Qingzhou, in charge of all the troops.

Zhang Bin had no objection to this, but after looking at it for a long time, he still found some interesting things.

Mr. Liang is also very contradictory!
Footsteps were heard outside the door, and after some negotiations, Wang Xuan was let in.

"Mingsir." Wang Xuan bowed.

Shao Xun turned around, took his hand and sat down, and said, "Meizi, how was your trip to Runan?"

"Although Lord Fei is old, he still has great ambitions." Wang Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "Some people in Runan call him 'Fei Pojia'."

After hearing this, Shao Xun chuckled.

Runan has always been a place of unrest. However, after a large number of refugees from Guanxi were relocated, the situation gradually improved. If Gan Zhuo had not gone north from time to time to plunder, attack counties and towns, and plunder people, it would have been easy to deal with the local nobles.

"How is the land survey going?" Shao Xun asked.

"It's difficult, too difficult." Wang Xuan sighed, "The accountants recruited locally pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed and refused to cooperate. If it weren't for you transferring more than a hundred martial arts students from Liang County, I wouldn't even have enough people to do the accounting and writing."

Shao Xun nodded and said, "Perseverance is the key. Xiangcheng County was like this back then, and it will get better slowly."

Among the military students who graduated at the beginning of this year, except for a few who were assigned to the Silver Spear, Black Shadow and Mule Army to fill the vacancies of officers, the vast majority were transferred to civilian positions to fill the vacancies of lower-level officials in the Liang State.

After finishing their work in Runan, the hundred or so military students will be assigned to various counties in Liang State to familiarize themselves with government affairs and lay a solid foundation for the future.

For this reason, he did not recruit new soldiers last year, mainly because of financial reasons, and the secondary reason was that there were not enough officers.

By next year, the first batch of students from Xuchang Martial Arts School will be put to use. By then, we will have more manpower and the finances should be much more abundant, so we can recruit another batch of new soldiers.

In addition, this year a group of martial arts students from Liang County were transferred to Bianliang to serve as teachers and organize the Bianliang Martial Arts School, which will officially start recruiting students at the beginning of next year.

Without these people, Shao Xun really would not be able to gain the upper hand in bargaining with the aristocratic families because of the lack of officials.

"The reason why Mei Zi was summoned here is because of the matter in Qingzhou." Shao Xun changed the subject and said.

Wang Xuan listened quietly. In fact, he had guessed it before he came.

A large number of officials from the noble families of Qingzhou surrendered, and it was necessary to appease the people at this time. The people from the Wang family of Langya came forward, and the effect was much better than Shao Xun himself.

"You can go to Guanggu City on my behalf." Shao Xun continued, "If Cao Yi is willing to surrender with dignity, I will guarantee that his family will be safe and I will not take any of his property or women. I also have a house in Bianliang City that you can give to Cao Yi as a residence."

Wang Xuan understood.

This meant giving Cao Yi the status of a wealthy man, but the price was moving to Bianliang to be monitored closely.

To be honest, this condition is very good. If Cao Yi doesn't want to die, he will definitely agree to it.

"If Cao Yi is unwilling to surrender, then we will announce that only the main culprit will be executed, and those who were forced to follow him will not be questioned." Shao Xun added: "Whoever kills Cao Yi will be rewarded with merit and not guilty. He will be promoted to the eighth rank without any official title, and those who are officials will be promoted three levels higher. I will keep my word and will never break it."

Shao Xun has always been careful to maintain his political credibility.

So far, he has always been a man of his words.

The more lasting and solid this character is, the greater its role will be in the future.

Who doesn't like people who keep their word? It is much more difficult for politicians to keep their promises than ordinary people, because it involves complex interests.

If I promise not to touch you, I really won't touch you. There will be no such thing as settling scores later.

Now the conditions are put forward, believe it or not, it’s up to you to decide for yourself.

"You are truly magnanimous." Wang Xuan sighed, "If Cao Yi still doesn't know what's good for him, I don't know what to say."

"Go quickly." Shao Xun nodded and said.

Zhang Bin put down the military newspaper in his hand.

The "leniency" Wang Xuan mentioned may refer to Duke Liang's leniency towards Cao Qi.

But he felt that Lord Liang was truly kind to the people of Qingzhou.

If he was unwilling to surrender Cao Yi, what do you think would have happened to the people in Qingzhou? The old and the young worked the land, the strong women transported goods, and the young and strong were all conscripted to fill the ditches and attack the city.

This move may lead to a rebellion in Qingzhou, but doesn't Lord Liang know? Of course he knows, maybe he is waiting here.

This is a warrior who has a devil inside, but tries his best to suppress it.

He is not a good guy, but he is not a bad guy either.

Cao Yi's single thought may have determined the fate of many people.

(End of this chapter)