Chapter 245: Leveling Yingchuan
He Luan finally surrendered, although before surrendering, he also asked for a fair fight with Xu Huang. If he lost, he would surrender, and if he won, he would not surrender.
In Liu Feng's eyes, this was simply a bid to sell out.
However, He Luan's bravery exceeded Liu Feng's expectations.
He actually supported Xu Huang for twelve or three rounds, and was finally knocked down by Xu Huang head-on.
It was a true knockdown. Xu Huang knocked He Luan down with just one punch, making him unable to get up.
He Luan surrendered and expressed his willingness to go to Yingyin to persuade He Yi to surrender.
Liu Feng showed considerable trust and released He Luan early the next morning. He also released He Luan's remaining dozen soldiers and equipped them with horses.
He Luan led his soldiers straight to Yingyin and arrived at Yingyin City in the evening.
The yellow scarf official guarding the gate opened the gate directly and let He Luan into the city.
He Yi was overjoyed when he heard that He Luan was back and went straight to the gate of the county house to wait.
After seeing He Luan, He Yi rushed over, pinched the other person's shoulders with both hands, and looked up and down: "Is there any injury?"
"Uncle!"
Faced with his uncle's care, He Luan's eyes turned red and he immediately fell to his knees: "Uncle, my nephew is incompetent. The five thousand fellow Taoists you gave me... are all trapped in Yingyang."< br>
“Hey...”
He Yi sighed. He didn't want to rescue Yingyang at all. As soon as he got the news, he wrote to Yingyang and Yangzhai, hoping that Huang Shao and Bo Xing could bring people to Yingyin for a reunion.
Yingyin City has accumulated two or three years of food. The city is tall and it is the only repaired city among the nearby cities.
He Yi didn't believe that the Xuzhou army could surround them for two or three years.
They will have to retreat when the time comes. Once the Xuzhou Army leaves, they will not have the final say in Yingchuan.
But why are Bo Xing, Huang Shao, and even his nephews so strong?
If Marshal Bo hadn't wanted to eat Huangfu Song in one go, he wouldn't have been defeated and died.
"It will be good to come back, it will be good to come back."
Although He Yi felt sorry for his five thousand elites, he obviously still valued his nephew more than his nephew's life.
Although the Yellow Turban Army was a peasant uprising, it was a little different from the peasant uprisings of later generations.
Since the preparatory stage of the uprising, the Yellow Turbans have been led by powerful and poor families. Almost all of the thirty-six square ditch capitals in the preparatory stage were local powerful people, and none of them were truly civilians, let alone farmers.
If we really want to break it down, there is a question mark as to whether the Yellow Turban Uprising is considered a peasant uprising.
It is for this reason that the Yellow Turban Uprising was actually much better prepared than any subsequent peasant uprising, so their ambitions were also much greater. At the beginning of the rebellion, they were playing head-on with the regular army of the dynasty. A strategic battle on the battlefield.
Which of the peasant uprisings in the last years of the dynasty didn't last for more than ten years or even decades before they could save enough capital to fight a decisive battle with the dynasty.
This is certainly a manifestation of the strength of the Yellow Turban Army, but it also proves the powerful status of the Yellow Turban Army.
It can be said that before the uprising, the Yellow Turban Army had already degenerated and had long become the people they once hated most.
It was precisely because of this that He Luan gave away five thousand Yellow Turban elites, but He Yi did not hold him responsible at all, just because he was He Yi's nephew.
None of the other Yellow Turban generals had any objections to this. They were worse than even the officers and soldiers.
"It's okay. You've suffered a lot this time, haven't you?"
He Yi took He Luan's hand and was about to walk in: "You can come back safely this time. , it’s Huang Tian’s blessing for you. Don’t be so reckless next time.”
He Luan suddenly took He Yi’s hand and said, “Uncle, please report something to your nephew alone.”
He Yi glanced at He Luan, then nodded: "Follow me."
With that said, He Yi walked aside, and He Luan followed, leaving the generals to stay where they were.
“What do you want to say?”
Arriving at an open space nearby, He Yi turned around and asked, “You didn’t escape this time, right?”
< br>He Luan's body trembled, his face instantly turned red, and he knelt down with a thud: "My nephew is incompetent, and he was indeed captured by the Xuzhou Army."
"Hey..."
He Yi sighed, and then said: "They let you back, do they want me to surrender?"
He Luan blushed, gritted his teeth, and lowered his head. First, a sentence popped out from the gap between his teeth: "Yes."
He Yi sighed again, and said calmly: "Then surrender."
< br>"Uncle!?"
He Yizhen agreed, but He Luan raised his head in shock, his eyes full of disbelief.
He Yi sighed for the third time and explained: "Yesterday, a scout reported your situation back to Yingyin. Not only were the captured brothers not killed, but even the injured They have all been treated, right?"
"Yes!"
He Luan replied loudly: "My nephew has seen with his own eyes that the Xuzhou Army is indeed different from other officers and soldiers. Even the injured members were given medical treatment and medicine, and only those who were really hopeless were given relief. "
"In this case, what else do we have to resist?"
He Yi laughed and reached out to pull up his nephew who was kneeling on the ground: "It doesn't matter if it falls like this. Although the sky is dead, Huang Tian has never stood up."
He Luan opened his mouth Mouth, but don't know what to say.
He Yi patted him directly: "Let's go, this matter is always a big deal, and we have to listen to the opinions of the generals."
He Luan saw that his uncle had turned around and hurriedly chased after him. The first two steps: "Uncle, won't you listen to the conditions given by the army?"
"We are going to surrender, what conditions do we need."
He Yi laughed: "We are thieves and he is an official. If you are really willing to give something, you will give it to me if you surrender. If you are not willing to give it, it will be a disaster if you ask for it."
He Luan Some people came to understand, thought for a moment and said: "Although the general of the army is young, he is quite heroic, and all the fierce generals under his command are brave enough. I don't think he will lie to us."
" Wouldn’t that be better?”
He Yi took He Luan back to the team and directly summoned the generals to discuss.
The main label of He Yi's faction is the Dove Faction. They have the highest level of farming and harvest the most food, so their number is much larger than that of the other Yellow Turbans.
He Luan was already the leader of the hawks in He Yi's faction. He had surrendered, and there was almost no objection from He Yi's subordinates.
Occasionally, they are just worried that the officers and soldiers will go back on their word.
He Luan acted as guarantee, and He Yi's troops almost unanimously agreed to surrender.
In fact, the situation in Yingyin was already very ugly at this time.
The fall of Yangzhai, Yingyang, and Xu County led to the collapse of all the shields around Yingyin, and there was no longer any cover.
Guan Yu's troops to the east have begun to press in from the east, and the main force has gathered in Xu County, which is only two days away from Yingyin.
Linying in the south has been identified, and there are at least six to seven thousand people. Coupled with Liu Feng's troops in the west, Yingyin has become a dead place.
Moreover, the farthest of these cities from Yingyin is only three or four days away, and the closest is less than two days away, so troops could be approaching the city at any time.
In addition, He Yi found out that the Yellow Turban prisoners of the Xuzhou Army were treated very favorably. Not only were they not massacred or tortured, they were even treated.
He Yi did not know that this was a decree issued by Liu Feng, which strictly prohibited the killing of prisoners, but these scenes undoubtedly greatly weakened He Yi's idea of resisting to the end.
Early the next morning, He Luan rushed directly to Yingyang and delivered the news of He Yi's surrender.
After receiving the news, Liu Feng was overjoyed, but he did not rush to Yingyin to accept the surrender. Instead, he ordered Pan Zhang to station in Yingyang, and then led Taishi Ci, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang's troops out At the south gate, after meeting the 6,000 people from Xiahou Bo's army at Fenqiu, they turned to Yingyin in the north.
When Liu Feng arrived at Yingyin City, Guan Yu's vanguard Gao Shun had also arrived at the east of the city.
Liu Feng crossed the Gishui River and joined Gao Shun's troops.
At this time, Yingyin had opened the city gate, and He Yi personally led his Yellow Turban generals out of the city to surrender. He Yi and other generals all took off their armor, but the leader He Yi was still carrying a thorn stick, which made Liu Fenggao look at him.
Don’t underestimate this idiom. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the circulation of most knowledge was quite slow. Poor traffic conditions and not-so-excellent carriers make the dissemination of knowledge very costly, extremely slow, and prone to errors.
To be able to understand the allusion of shouldering a thorn to plead guilty, He Yi must at least be a powerful person.
Liu Feng got off his horse, personally stepped forward to help He Yi up, and then helped him remove the thorns. Finally, he took off his cloak and wrapped it around He Yi.
"Why is the old general like this?"
Liu Feng comforted him and said: "The old general understands the righteousness well and can control the people in the fields and stabilize the people. This is a great contribution to the country. Zhang Jiao is dead, and there is no need to mention the past events."
He Yi was grateful. He said: "Thank you, General, for your kindness. We all respect you."
Afterwards, Gao Shun entered the city first. In fact, He Yi took the main generals out of the city together, which made it clear that there would be no conspiracy.
Not only is the procedure like this, Liu Feng himself doesn’t want to take risks. What if anyone can’t think of it?
He Yi is already frank enough. Liu Feng doesn't need to add drama to himself. It's enough to comfort He Yi.
Sure enough, He Yi did not resort to any tricks, everything in the city remained as before, and the Yellow Turban soldiers from all over the place obediently accepted the Xuzhou Army's request for a defense change, and then returned to the military camp.
The ordnance was uniformly collected and sealed into the arsenal, waiting for acceptance by the Xuzhou Army.
He Yi's surrender marked the complete pacification of the entire Yingchuan Yellow Turban. This not only brought a large population to Xuzhou, but also had enough food to feed this population, as well as various types of ordnance, cloth and silk. , property and various materials.
In addition, Liu Bei also received an unexpected blessing, which was the strong favor from the Yuzhou gentry, especially the Yingchuan gentry.
Historically, this favor and the benefits that came with it were all obtained by Cao Cao, but now, they all belong to Liu Bei.
Of course, because Liu Bei divided Yingchuan to Cao Cao, Cao Cao could always get some in the end. At least the large amounts of mature fields outside Yangzhai, Yingyin, Yingyang, and Xu counties were enough for Cao Cao to make a fortune.
As long as he still has food and a wealthy population, he can easily complete farming in Yingchuan.
The fields and houses are all ready-made. Liu Feng cannot move these things away, nor will he deliberately damage them.
The people were suffering too much, and Liu Feng couldn't bear to be so cruel.
According to statistics, the food in Yingyin City exceeds that of Yangzhai and Yingyang combined. As the base camp of the Yellow Turban Army and the last stronghold held during the siege, a huge amount of food is stored here, enough to More than 2.2 million stones.
Many of these grains were transported from Yangdi, Yingyang and Xu counties.
At the same time, there are nearly 100,000 people in Yingyin City, of which more than 70,000 are the Yellow Turban Army and their women and children, and the other 20,000 or so are ordinary civilians.
This population alone requires at least one million stones of food a year.
If you include the grain stocks in Yangzhai and Yingyangli, it is no wonder that He Yi dared to have the confidence to hold on for three years.
Liu Feng was immediately overjoyed, and then became distressed.
If so much food needs to be transported back to Xuzhou by land, it will consume too much and waste money and people. It is absolutely not advisable.
Only taking the water route is the most cost-effective.
As mentioned before, the waterway in Yingchuan is closer to the Jingzhou water system and is not connected to the Central Plains water system. This should be patched, that is, it is not convenient to connect.
The Yingchuan water system is actually connected to the Central Plains water system, but the distance is too far.
There are two main waterways connected to it.
The first waterway is to go down the Ying River. After thousands of miles of waterway, it finally merges into the Huai River in Yangzhou. Then it takes the Huai River to enter Xuzhou, goes upstream, and finally reaches Tancheng. The whole journey is three thousand miles.
The second waterway is slightly better. It also goes south along the Ying River to Xiang County on the border between Runan and Chen counties in Yuzhou. It turns into the Langtang Canal and turns into the Suishui River. This is considered a formal entry. The Central Plains water system is also the main water supply line for the Xuzhou Army to move north.
This waterway is not long, only about two thousand miles.
The average loss of water transport is two to five cents (2% to 5%) per one hundred miles. The maximum loss of two thousand miles of water transport is almost double. That is, transporting one hundred stones of grain by water, Exactly one hundred stones of food will be consumed when arriving at the destination.
If you want to transport this food, even if you take the waterway, more than half of it will be lost in the end. What's more troublesome is that there are still a large number of people who need to be transported.
Liu Feng just made a simple calculation. If he wanted to send the 200,000 to 300,000 Yellow Turbans and civilians to Xuzhou, he would probably spend more than half of the food in stock. It would be quite good to have 700,000 to 800,000 shi left. .
Thinking about the good irrigated lands outside the city, Liu Feng really wanted to hang on to them.
But this is just a thought. If Yingchuan County is really occupied, Cao Cao will really go crazy.
Cao Cao was a very impulsive person. Historically, he relied on Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Guo Jia and Xun You to persuade him. Otherwise, with his temper, he would not have played too high and started low. Yuan Benchu.
Liu Feng dared to bet on Xuzhou. As long as he dared to occupy Yingchuan and not return it, Cao Cao would dare to go to war with him.
No matter how good Yingchuan is, it is still not as good as Runan, let alone compared with the entire Yangzhou.
So forget it.
After Liu Feng entered the city, he immediately found Xiahou Bo after comforting He Yi.
As soon as Xiahou Bo sat down, Liu Feng said politely: "General Xiahou, I have summoned you urgently. I really want to ask you something."
Xiahou Bo cupped his fists and replied : "Young Master, please feel free to ask questions, but if you know something, you must not hide anything."
"Good!"
Liu Feng praised, and then asked impatiently, "You set out from Runan and went north to Linying. I would like to ask you what the scene was like when you passed through Runan. ?”
Xiahou Bo was slightly surprised, but he didn’t expect Liu Feng to ask about the scene in Runan.
In fact, he just crossed the border from Chen State and entered a small raised corner in the northwest of Runan.
This is another characteristic of the Eastern Han Dynasty. On the border between Yingchuan and Chen, Runan seemed to have grown a horn, penetrating deep into the middle of the two counties and protruding a piece of territory.
Don't underestimate this land that looks like the corner of Runan. There are five counties in Runan on this corner.
Xiahou Bo recalled the journey, and then honestly expressed his feelings.
"The road is relatively deserted. Only around the city and Wubao, there are fields for farming, and the area is not large."
Xiahou Bo recalled carefully: "We are waiting to set off from Yinqiang County. , the county has been abandoned, with only a few hundred households of old, weak, women and children. But I heard that the farther south you go, the stronger the power of the government becomes. However, when you get to Gepi, there is another large group of Yellow Turban troops occupying several nearby villages. In the county, the government can't do anything to them."
Liu Feng was a little surprised, and then he became excited.
He had an idea before, but he didn't know if it was feasible.
That is to relocate the Yellow Turban Army from Yingchuan to Runan.
The total number of surrendered troops of the Yellow Turban Army, including women and children, is about 150,000. Yingyin, Yangzhai, Yingyang and Xu counties have the largest population, with about 60,000 to 70,000 civilians, and the total number is about 20,000. About 130,000 people.
Judging from the topography of the two large Central Plains states of Henan and Yan, each county can accommodate at least 60,000 to 80,000 people, and even 100,000 people can be accommodated if squeezed.
There are four counties in the corner of Runan. If they are all white, it will be too easy to place the Yellow Turban Army.
Moreover, there are waterways connecting both sides. There are three to four thousand sailors in the Yellow Turban Army, so it is extremely simple to transport supplies.
After listening to Xiahou Bo's words, Liu Feng felt that this plan should be feasible. As long as Yingchuan is not occupied and not returned, Cao Cao will not fall out with Xuzhou even if it takes another year and a half.
Besides, Yingchuan is so big, we can return more than a dozen other counties first, and things will be easier.
So Liu Feng invited Tai Shici again and asked him to arrange a large number of reconnaissance cavalry to conduct reconnaissance at the corner of Runan.
Then, he suddenly remembered He Yi and He Luan's uncle and nephew. They were in Yingyin, and they obviously knew something about the Runan Corner, which was just around the corner.
And if they really want to move to the Runan Corner in the future, then the attitudes of He Yi and He Luan's uncle and nephew will be extremely important.
Huang Shao still refused to surrender at this time. Bo Xing and Ma Zhong had already died in the battle. The only remaining leaders of the Yellow Turban Army were He Yi and He Luan's uncle and nephew.
So Liu Feng got up again and prepared to go out to visit He Yi.
Coincidentally, when he just wanted to visit He Yi, He Yi took the initiative to visit him.
He Yi took the initiative to come to visit this time and brought an important gift to Liu Feng.
"Sir, I have something that I don't know how to deal with."
He Yi's expression was a little complicated, mixed with a little helplessness and shame, but his attitude was very determined.
(End of this chapter)