Chinese New Year

Chapter 660: Leading the Sheep Out
Cao Yi brought Feng Pi to his study, dismissed everyone, and after a moment of silence, asked: "Feng Jijiu was born in a famous family in the late Han Dynasty. Maybe he has any insights into the situation?"

"If Lord Cao surrenders to Shao, there will be three benefits. If he does not surrender, there will be three disadvantages." Feng Pi did not hide anything and said directly.

"Please try to explain it to me." Cao Yi said.

"If Cao Gong surrenders, then thousands of defenders will not have to die. These are all old men who have followed Cao Gong for many years and are as close as brothers. How can we bear to see their families destroyed? This is a benefit."

"Duke Liang has bandits in the north and Wu He in the south. They have been attacking and killing each other, and there has been no peace. If he wants to unify the world, he must treat Duke Cao well and set an example. Maybe after living in Bianliang for a while, Duke Cao can get a position. These are the two benefits."

"Cao Gong is also a native of Qingzhou. The war has been going on for nearly two months. Countless people have died in battle, transportation, and epidemics. The situation is truly pitiful. If you surrender, the people of Qingzhou will surely be grateful to Cao Gong, and his descendants will also be able to benefit from this legacy. This is the third benefit."

After saying that, Feng Pi paused slightly, looked at Cao Yi, and waited for him to digest it.

Cao Yi thought silently.

The three things Feng Pi said actually make a lot of sense.

There were not many old brothers who followed him, especially those who had fought all the way from Qingzhou to Luoyang and then moved to Hebei. After occupying Qingzhou for several years, most of them had already started families and established careers. If their entire families were destroyed, he would not feel good.

He is from Qingzhou, and he is not a madman. If possible, he really does not want to see the local people suffer.

Finally, Feng Pi said that even if Shao Xun was just pretending, he would still treat him well and even give him an official position. After all, the south and the north were watching. If Cao Yi had a bad ending, wouldn't everyone fight to the death in the future?

These are all true, Cao Yi deeply agrees with them.

Feng Pi quietly observed Lao Cao's expression and continued to persuade him -

"Duke Liang led the Northern Expedition and defeated the barbarians repeatedly. He is the hope of the whole world. If we fight with them, the generals and soldiers will hesitate and the elders will be terrified. This is not a good thing."

"Although Guanggu is strong, it is an isolated city. If we delay for a long time, the supplies will gradually decrease, and people's hearts will change and morale will be low. It will be difficult to preserve it in the end. These are two disadvantages."

"Your family is all in the city. Your clan members and children are still living in Donglai. If the city is breached, their fate will be worrying. You are a great hero of the time. It would be heartbreaking if you were to end up without a family temple to worship you. This is not good for you."

After saying these three sentences, Cao Yi sighed deeply and looked sad.

This is the truth again!

How big is Shao Xun's territory, and how big is Qingzhou's territory? Shao Xun also has the popularity brought by conquering the Xiongnu and recovering lost territory. Fighting him is like hitting a rock with an egg. The morale of the people is low before the war begins, and they are worried that they can't win. In fact, the elders of Qingzhou have already made their choice.

The Art of War says "an isolated city cannot be defended". Guanggu has been surrounded. At this point, he should not deceive himself. No one will come to rescue him. Then in the end, there is only one possibility of defeat. The most terrifying thing is that in the later stage, someone will rebel and offer his head as a tribute in order to save his family.

Third, after death, it would be lonely in the underground without incense and sacrifices. Wouldn't it be miserable? If Shao Xun was a little more ruthless, he would have slaughtered all the Cao clan members. This is not impossible.

After thinking about it, there is actually no choice.

Cao Yi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Does Shao Taibai really keep his word?"

Feng Pi nodded and said, "So far, there has been no case of breaking one's promise to enrich oneself."

Cao Yi stood up and walked around a few times like an anxious trapped beast, then stopped in front of Feng Pi.

He subconsciously looked outside and said in a low voice: "Now is not the time to surrender. I have to send people to fight a few more times."

Feng Pi understood it clearly.

When Cao Gong returned to Qingzhou, Wang Mi only gave him 5,000 soldiers. The current situation is entirely due to the help of the Taoist priests, which is an unavoidable fact...

******
Starting from May 21st, the fighting outside Guanggu City suddenly became fierce.

The two sides fought repeatedly on both sides of Jianshui and Chenghuang River, fighting to the death until one side could no longer hold on.

During the fierce battle, the Silver Spear Right Camp and the Center Camp also took turns to go into battle, opening up an attack channel for the siege army.

On May 25, Yang Chen personally went to the front line to watch the battle. As he watched, he seemed to have figured out some meaning.

"Those who drank the magic water before the battle and rushed forward fiercely should be Cao Wei's elite troops, right?" Yang Chen asked, pointing at the soldiers who rushed out of the city with large shields and spears raised high.

"That's right." The aide replied, "Their troops are few in number, and they will be gone after the battle."

Yang Chen continued to observe.

In addition to these die-hard demon bandits, there are also a considerable number of Gou Xi's surrendered soldiers in the city, who are also quite capable of fighting.

The previous night attack resulted in a loss of over a thousand men.

In the past few days, there were about two thousand casualties in the battle for the stronghold outside the city.

If we count those who were stationed in other places or defeated on the road, there are actually not many left.

To put it bluntly, Cao Yi is now using all his strength to fight. So the question is, what is the purpose of such a thrilling fight?

Yang Chen had some guesses in his mind, but there was no way to confirm it now.

The enemy's attack was quickly repelled.

Amid the rumbling of drums, soldiers from various camps pushed heavy siege equipment and launched a large-scale attack on Guanggu City.

After looking for a while, Yang Chen lost interest and left.

Guanggu was a strong city, and it was not easy to attack it head-on. If Cao Yi insisted on holding on, it would be difficult to capture it without half a year to a year, and tens of thousands of people would be killed or injured.

After returning to the Yaoshan camp, Yang Chen continued to handle military affairs until night.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of the front army, Yang Quan, came with a group of people to see him.

"Feng Pi from Beihai pays his respects to Lord Yang." Under the dim candlelight, Feng Pi bowed and saluted.

Yang Chen did not reply immediately. He stared at him for a long time, then smiled and said, "Who ordered you to come here at midnight?"

"I am following the command of God and the wishes of the people to meet Yang Gong." Feng Pi said.

Yang Chen laughed loudly and said, "Feng Jun is good at talking. With such an eloquent tongue, it won't take long for you to convince Cao Yi, right?"

Feng Pi said solemnly, "I came here because of the order of my benefactor Cao Gong. When Cao Gong saw the two armies fighting and many people were killed and wounded, he sighed and said, 'Today, the world should be ruled by people with virtue. Liang Gong has outstanding military achievements, is good at governing, and is known for his generosity and benevolence. He should be a democrat. I am not talented enough, so how dare I fight with him and cause the people of Qingzhou to suffer? All the mistakes are my own fault. If I tie myself up and surrender, the disaster will stop.'"

The candlelight flickered, and Yang Chen looked at Feng Pi meaningfully.

Feng Pi raised his head and looked at Yang Chen calmly.

"Cao Yi has chosen the right person by hiring you." Yang Chen sighed and asked, "Have all the evil bandits who refused to surrender been killed?"

Feng Pi's eyelids jumped, and he said, "There are still some, but it's nothing serious."

This sentence means that most of the rebel fanatics such as the demon bandits were killed or wounded, and the defenders in the city were either Gou Xi's surrendered people who were recruited by Cao Wei, or the soldiers of the nobles. Even if the demon bandits did not surrender, they could not resist the general trend.

This is Cao Wei’s difficulty.

After all, he is a historian and not a military man. He can only rely on inertia, power and even money to drive others to work for him. His prestige in the army is not that great, completely different from Shao Xun, the "Father of the Silver Spear Army".

Normally, the Japanese army would be fine with minor issues, but when it comes to major issues like surrender or not, more people would raise opinions. Therefore, he needed to use the greater good to kill off some of the diehards. When most of them were dead, the remaining less diehards would also waver - someone must have seen the signs now.

Most of Gou Xi's surrendered people and the soldiers of the nobles were unwilling to die together. At this point, it was the right time to send people to negotiate surrender, and the timing was very good.

"Mr. Liang has said before that if Cao Yi surrenders, none of his wealth or women will be taken. This is still valid now." Yang Chen said, "Whether to surrender or not, and how to surrender, all depends on Cao Yi's decision. You can go back, I will wait here, and I hope to see Mr. Cao in a few days."

Feng Pi stood up and bowed, and was about to leave when he heard Yang Chen say, "If you are not sure, you can open the city gate at night and I will help him deal with it."

Feng Pi bowed again and disappeared into the night.

******
The news of Cao Wei's surrender was top secret, but it was not concealed from senior generals such as Xi Jian, Shao Xu, Jin Zheng, and Zhang Shuo.

The others were fine, but Jin Zheng was very annoyed after hearing this.

Attacking Guanggu would definitely cost huge casualties, and his Silver Spear Right Camp could not always supervise the battle without fighting a siege. As long as they went into battle, there would inevitably be casualties, and they might not be small. Although he didn't care much about the casualties of his soldiers, he didn't want to see too many elite soldiers killed or injured.

On the other hand, once Cao Yi surrendered, he would certainly bring Guanggu officials, nobles, and soldiers with him, which would allow too many people to escape responsibility - there would be no excuse to take action against them.

After much thought, Jin Zheng decided to write a letter to Master Shao to see what he thought.

Liu Ling was the second person who was not very satisfied. By recruiting surrenders and rebellions, he had expanded his army to about 15,000 people and promoted a large number of officers, but - was this the end?

Fortunately, a new Qingzhou staff member who had recently defected advised him to take it easy, dismiss some of the old and weak, and control the number of troops, otherwise he would suffer a lot. Liu Ling was not afraid of anything except Lord Liang. More precisely, he was afraid of the 20,000 or 30,000 elite soldiers in Lord Liang's hands, so he followed his advice and dismissed several thousand people who were not fit for battle, reducing the number to just over 10,000 - the number of people did not change much, but the troops were more numerous and strong, and the combat effectiveness increased.

Others were indifferent. Especially the miscellaneous soldiers, who were now waiting to receive rewards to make up for the deficits in their families after the expedition. For this reason, the officers were as if they were facing a great enemy, worried that they would not be able to control the soldiers and let them become wild horses, burning, killing and looting everywhere - this was the nature of the unpaid conscripts.

On May 28th, fierce shouting and killing suddenly broke out in Guanggu City.

That afternoon, all the gates of Guanggu were opened.

Cao Yi led the sheep out, accompanied by a group of generals and officials, and presented the books and official seals.

It took only two months from the outbreak of the first battle to the surrender of Kaesong.

At that time, the golden crows were setting in the west, and the setting sun was as red as blood, shining on Guanggu and his generals, which was full of meaning.

(End of this chapter)