Chinese New Year

Chapter 659 Letter

Seven days later, Wang Xuan arrived at the west of Guanggu City under the escort of a part of the Dongping Prefecture Army, and then climbed up to the camp on the mountain to pay a visit to the commander-in-chief Yang Chen.

The name of this mountain is Yao Mountain. There is a Temple of King Yao on the mountain. It is said that King Yao once visited here during his inspection tour, hence the name - there are so many Yao Mountains all over the world, including Henan, Hebei, and Guanxi.

Yang Chen’s big tent was set up near the Temple of King Yao.

When Wang Xuan went up the mountain, he found many traces of battle that had not yet been cleared. According to Yang Quan, who brought him up the mountain, there were more than 2,000 evil bandits on the mountain, and they were very stubborn. The Grand Commander mobilized Yang's troops, Hebei County soldiers, and the Silver Spear Camp to repeatedly clear them out. It took ten days to kill all the bandits.

Wang Xuan looked left and right and sighed.

Fighting in the mountains is indeed not as smooth as fighting on flat ground. Just playing hide-and-seek can take several days.

After reporting to the emperor, Wang Xuan successfully entered the big tent, but saw that most of the generals and officers from various camps gathered there.

Those with higher status, such as Xi Jian, Jin Zheng, Zhang Shuo, Shao Xu, etc., had seats, while those with lower status, such as Yang Quan, Liu Xia, Gao Jiang, Liu Mi, Liu Ling, Duan Pidi, Duan Wenyang, etc., had to stand.

Yang Chen was directing the deployment, and he only heard him say: "The Qi troops should keep an eye on it. When attacking Chenghuang, many people were killed and wounded, and there may be resentment in their hearts. How to arrange it will be discussed in detail after the meeting. This matter——"

Yang Chen looked around and asked, "Where is Liu Ling, the foreign soldier?"

Liu Ling's status was too low, and half of his body was standing outside the door. Hearing this, he was overjoyed and roared like thunder: "Grand Commander, I am here."

After saying that, he squeezed Duan Wenyang next to him, glared at him, and then looked at Yang Chen.

"You should keep it in mind. After the military meeting is over, you stay for a while." Yang Chen nodded, and then said the next item: "There are more than 20,000 surrendered people now, and they will be taken to Jinan for custody in batches. This matter is under the charge of Bohai Gao Fujun, and it must be handled immediately without delay."

"Yes, sir." Gao Jiang stepped out and responded.

"Since the troops were dispatched, the troops have fought hard and finally conquered Qi." Yang Chen added, "However, the military supervisor reported that many of the camps were disturbing the people. Why is that?"

At this point, Yang Chen was a little annoyed, and his words became rude: "Can't you control that thing in your crotch? The Liang Palace is in need of eunuchs. If you do it again, just dismiss you and castrate you and bring him into the palace."

All the generals laughed.

In fact, they were all minor matters, and they did not let it go, and captured and killed many people. However, the army was large and varied in personnel, and the crimes they committed were not only rape, but also looting. Those who were caught and beheaded were just unlucky people, and there were many fish that slipped through the net.

Duan Pidi and Duan Wenyang blushed and were a little frightened when they heard this.

Among all the armies, the Xianbei soldiers had the worst military discipline. They were often reported by the military supervisors, and some officers even committed crimes, and were arrested by the military supervisors with hundreds of guards and executed on the spot.

This kind of thing is very damaging to their prestige.

For an ordinary soldier, I gave up my family's livelihood, took my own horse and equipment, and shed my blood to fight for you, without even any money, and you still keep enforcing military discipline. Isn't that too much?
But Duan Pidi and Duan Wenyang really had no way of expressing their suffering.

To put it bluntly, if Yuwen Xianbei and Murong Xianbei had fought for Duke Liang and suffered injustice and felt unhappy, they would have rebelled because they had plenty of room to maneuver, but the Duan tribe did not.

What would you do if the military supervisor came to arrest people? Would you resist? Or even kill the military supervisor? That would be the same as rebellion.

This rebellion will have serious consequences. There is no place to escape, no room for maneuver, unless you surrender to the Murong and Yuwen families. But since it has come to this, you might as well hold your nose and surrender to Shao the thief.

The leaders of the Duan clan were caught in the middle, being bullied from both sides and feeling very aggrieved.

Zhang Shuo, commander of the Silver Spear Camp, looked indifferent.

His army was recruited soldiers, and food and silk were distributed regularly on weekdays. His family was also allocated about 30 acres of land. He had enough confidence to strictly enforce military law and rarely did anything to disturb the people. After beheading a few people, the entire army became solemn.

"I know you are in trouble." Yang Chen promised after seeing the expressions of the crowd: "The nobles in Qi will collect some money and silk. After conquering Linzi, Linqu, Beihai, Donglai and other places, there will still be some wealth in the treasury. I will ask for a reward for my sons no matter what. Lord Liang is wise and will certainly follow the advice. Therefore, military discipline must be enforced and do not slack off."

"Yes, sir." The officers answered in unison.

"There are deep ravines in the east and south of the city, and Yao Mountain in the west. The only narrow river in the north is the Chenghuang River, which I have filled up." Yang Chen then proceeded to the next military proposal: "80,000 people are besieging the city. The food and money consumed every day are countless. We can't just sit there and watch, right? Where is Xi Daohui?"

"I'm here." Xi Jian stood up and saluted.

"From now on, we will intensify our offensive and support South City and East City."

"As ordered."

Yang Chen lowered his head, flipped through the various materials on the table, and suddenly said: "Today, the scouts reported that they smelled the aroma of meat in the city. I think this is Cao Yi's move to boost the morale of the army. He may go out of the city tonight to rob the camp. You must be prepared. If anyone's defense zone is in trouble, I will not show mercy. Do you understand?"

"Understood." The generals responded in unison again.

Yang Chen continued to discuss one point after another until lunch time when he stopped.

After the generals paid their respects and left, Liu Ling and others stayed.

Yang Chen signaled them to wait outside the tent and asked someone to invite Wang Xuan in.

"Mr. Yang." Wang Xuan bowed and saluted.

Yang Chen stood up and returned the greeting, then sat back down and said, "Meizi, you have come all the way here, is there something urgent?"

"Mr. Liang has already formulated a strategy of appeasement." After saying that, Wang Xuan briefly explained Shao Xun's intentions.

Yang Chen listened and nodded, and in an instant, a letter of persuasion for surrender was completed.

Wang Xuan took a glance and praised, "Mr. Yang's calligraphy is truly unique." "Your father's running and cursive scripts are also not bad," Yang Chen said with a smile.

After laughing, he called an aide and asked him to find someone to copy several letters of persuasion for surrender, and sent knights to shoot them into the city after nightfall.

"Is Lord Liang still in Lu County?" Yang Chen asked after the staff left.

"That's right." Wang Xuan didn't know what he meant, so he answered cautiously.

"Do you have anything else to do?" Yang Chen asked again.

"I will inspect the counties, meet with the elders, and appease the people." Wang Xuan replied, "This is what Liang Gong is responsible for, and I dare not slack off."

Yang Chen hummed and waved his hand to let him leave.

Wang Xuan bowed and took his leave.

Yang Chen was silent for a moment, then he sighed and asked his personal soldiers to call in Liu Ling and others.

******
The night raid did take place as planned.

Cao Yi selected 3,000 men, marched out of the north gate, followed the trench filled by Shao's army, smashed the earth wall, and headed straight for the camp.

But somehow, the other side seemed to be on guard, and the night attack soldiers fought fiercely for half the night, but ultimately returned in defeat.

Cao Yi personally counted the troops at the city gate, and when he saw that less than a thousand men had returned, he almost shed tears.

They were all old people who had followed him for many years! It was a great pain to lose them all in one battle.

When the generals saw this, they also shed tears.

A group of grown men cried all night long. Finally, Lao Cao returned home sadly, slept for an hour with his clothes on, then got up silently. Without even the appetite for breakfast, he dressed neatly and began to patrol the city.

Guanggu is his hard work.

They monitored the construction from the very beginning and did not allow any cutting of corners. A large number of people were conscripted and a lot of materials and money were consumed before it was finally completed.

Someone once suggested expanding the city further to include Guangxian County in the southwest, but he ultimately rejected the idea.

Today's Guanggu is of moderate size. It can station a considerable number of soldiers and store food supplies for more than half a year - if there were fewer civilians, it could even last longer.

If we include the old city of Guangxian, it would be a little too big and would add to the trouble.

Therefore, he was very satisfied with the current Guanggu City. If he insisted on defending it, theoretically he could hold out for a long time and kill a large number of people attacking the city. Up to now, Shao's army had only cleared the outer forts, filled up part of the city wall, and barely reached the bottom of the city wall, but had not launched a large-scale attack.

But he had confidence in the city itself, but not so much in the people defending it.

He trusted the soldiers who were scorned as "evil thieves" by the Jin court, but what about the soldiers of the noble families? Their loyalty was very questionable.

In addition, there are also servants from wealthy families and young men from the city who are temporarily conscripted. Even if these people are loyal, they cannot be beaten. In many cases, they will even cause trouble and cause a lot of headaches.

Therefore, he would patrol the city every morning and evening with his trusted officers and staff, checking for omissions and filling gaps, and he was very diligent. After the failure of the raid last night, he dared not slack off, for fear that someone would sneak open the city gate one day and his head would be chopped off.

After patrolling the entire city for half an hour, Cao Yi led his men down the tower. At this moment, an aide came over hesitantly with a letter of persuasion to surrender, not knowing what to say.

Cao Yi was a little suspicious when he saw it, so he reached out and took it, took a quick look, and then kept doing this for a long time.

"Ming sir." Feng Pi, the chief priest of the East Pavilion, came over and called softly.

Cao Yi woke up as if from a dream, and subconsciously put away the letter of persuasion to surrender, but then he thought of something and asked: "Last night, there was a lot of fighting in the north of the city, and we neglected other directions. Come on, someone——"

The general stepped forward and bowed.

Cao Wei ordered: "You must immediately take people to visit all the camps and collect this letter. There must be no mistakes."

"Yes." The general led his men away.

Cao Yi was not a fool. He knew very well that there would not be only one letter persuading surrender.

Since the aide could pick up a copy from somewhere unknown, God knows how many more letters were picked up by officials, generals, nobles and even soldiers.

Thinking of this, he hesitated for a moment and handed the letter of surrender to Feng Pi.

Feng Pi read it with a serious expression and then passed it to others.

Everyone passed it around one by one, and finally fell silent.

Cao Yi frowned and walked towards the shogunate without stopping on the street. Everyone followed him quickly.

As soon as he entered the mansion, Cao Yi paused, turned around and looked at Feng Pi, who was closest to him, and seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

Feng Pi bowed deeply, as if he had risked everything, and said with emotion: "Lord Cao, things have come to this point, surrender without hesitation. In this way, the people of Guanggu will be spared a great disaster, and Lord Cao can also save his family."

Cao Yi remained silent for a long time.

(End of this chapter)