Chapter 691 Surrender
Zheng Tai is now in charge of the city's defense.
These few times he stood on the top of the city and watched countless Guizhou civilians pouring into the Taishan Army's camp like a trickle, and he realized that something was wrong.
The sons of Gongqing are still arrogant, but in fact it is still very clear that if the people of the Han Dynasty gradually lose their support, the fate of the Han Dynasty will really be over.
Even outside the city, they began to shout to the Han troops on top of the city, saying that this battle was only for stubbornness, so that everyone would not suffer unreasonable disasters for the sake of the decaying Han Dynasty.
In order to prevent the Taishan Army's influence from expanding in the army, Zheng Tai resolutely suppressed it. Several "spies" were caught every day and their heads were hung on the city walls.
In the midst of this bloodshed, the morale at the top of the city was finally stable.
After all, in the final analysis, the Taishan Army below you has been quarreling with each other until now, and the continuous harassment is just a scratch, and even more exposed that your Taishan Army does not dare to attack by force.
Without going through a bloody battle, do you expect these people to abandon their weapons and surrender? That's not that beautiful.
And do the Taishan troops outside the city dare to fight bloody battles? Judging from the current situation, I'm afraid I don't have the guts.
Therefore, although many Han troops on the city thought what Taishan Army said was quite good, they just listened to it.
But the city of Kyoto is fine, but the same cannot be said for Jin Yong in the northeast.
……
At this time, Zhu Zhi felt that he had no way to recover.
On the fourth day of the siege, Jin Yong had become a dead city.
Two days ago, he saw that part of the Taishan Army on the periphery had withdrawn. He thought there was an opportunity, so he led the entire army of 2,000 officers and men to break through.
But after half a day of fierce fighting, Zhu Zhi and others were beaten back to Jin Yong. Obviously, in the field battle, the Taishan Army still dominates.
The breakout failed, internal and external communication was interrupted, and even the water in the city was not enough.
Defending the city is a matter of heavy physical exertion. It is tiring to have enough water and rice, not to mention that you can't even bear to vomit.
And to make matters worse, the Jianghuai soldiers originally had three pools of clear water in Jinyong, one in each of the three cities. But now that Beicheng was captured, that pool of water was naturally gone, but a large number of Beicheng officials evacuated to the middle city.
There are more people but less water, so the per capita water consumption becomes even more tense.
At the beginning, many thirsty soldiers went directly to the pool to drink, which caused everyone to fight for it and wasted a lot.
So Zhu Zhi began to strictly control water use, stipulating that everyone could only have half a gourd of clean water a day, and no more.
This barely made Qing Shui less nervous.
This method is very good. The more critical the situation, the more important it is to control key supplies. Otherwise, never underestimate people's madness and stupidity.
No one starts grabbing water when they are about to die of thirst. But if there are one hundred mortals and ninety-nine parts of water, then human beings will have bloody fights among themselves in order not to be the one who dies of thirst.
So the result is that a small number of people may get more water, but the majority of people may even have nothing.
Therefore, at this critical moment, rationing and equalization are the least bad methods.
But this method still cannot solve the essential problem of water shortage, because people's hearts are never suffering from enough.
After Jianghuai soldiers were surrounded, they were actually still divided into two parts, Nancheng and Zhongcheng. But what about the equal division? In fact, they are also divided according to their respective city walls.
But there is a situation. There are fewer people in the south city, so everyone has more abundant resources, while there are more people in the north city, so people are tight.
As a result, many people from the North City, especially Rui Zhi's Danyang soldiers, often sneaked to the Nancheng to meet the water. They were successful at first, but after being discovered by the patrolling Nancheng soldiers later, they were quickly captured.
As soon as they heard that someone had taken away their robes, other Danyang soldiers gathered around them one after another, and while they were pushing and shoving, the two groups of soldiers started punching and kicking.
Although Zhu Zhi stopped them in the end and ordered that the water in Nancheng be taken over for unified distribution.
But how could the Nancheng soldiers do so? Nowadays, water is a life-saving thing. Who would give water to others?
Moreover, Jianghuai soldiers generally implement a regional division system. Ruizhi's Danyang soldiers are Ruizhi's people, and Lingcao's Wujun soldiers are Lingcao's people. The two sides are called one army, but they are actually two troops. There is no unified military discipline at all. .
Not to mention, the two sides even fought over water, which would be even more unacceptable.
But in the end, Ling Cao agreed to Zhu Zhi's suggestion and actually handed over the city's water to Zhongcheng.
Seeing buckets of clean water being transported to the central city, all the officials under Ling Cao were filled with indignation, especially when they saw those Rui Zhi's people looking so proud, they were even more bleeding.
However, the uncooked rice had been cooked into cooked rice, and not a drop of the water was left behind.
From then on, if you wanted to drink water in Nancheng, you had to go to Zhongcheng to get it rationed.
Gradually, this resentment began to turn into this question:
"I, a native of Jianghuai, have never had any grudges with the Taishan Army. Why do I fight with them here without even being able to get a sip of water?"
At first, this may only be the sigh of a few people after the meal, but soon this question was so close to the aspirations of the officers that it spread throughout the army in a short period of time.
Finally, one night, a group of people slid down the city on ropes and surrendered to the Taishan Army outside the city.
When these people appeared outside the city refreshed in the early morning of the next day, and under the protection of the Taishan Army, began to persuade Paoze to surrender on the top of the city, it was obvious how low the military morale in the city had dropped.
It was later verified that this group of soldiers was under Ling Cao's command in Nancheng, so Rui Zhi suggested that Zhu Zhi punish Ling Cao's department, otherwise the morale would collapse if this situation continued.
Zhu Zhi had no choice but to reprimand Ling Cao and said harshly:
"Everyone in your group will sit down together. If one person dares to escape, we will kill one of them. If anyone dares to escape, we will kill everyone."
Ling Cao was ashamed and annoyed. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't explain it, so he could only retreat in frustration.
When the killing order was issued to all the subordinates under Ling Cao, everyone was in an uproar.
Afterwards, in front of all the Wu people, those Danyang soldiers arrested the Wu Jun soldiers who were on duty last night and slaughtered them. The last ten unlucky ones were selected and beaten to death with sticks.
Everyone was silent as they watched Pao Ze, who was still alive and well just now, die violently in front of them.
That night, the Wujun people guarding the city defected again.
A whole team of 50 people collectively lowered the city and fled. Even when the Jianghuai soldiers in other cities saw their team forming an organized lowering city, they decided to lower the city and surrender because they were worried about being beaten to death from behind.
On the next day, when Zhu Zhi learned that a centurion team had all defected out of the city, he knew that the situation was serious.
A hundred-man team already accounts for one-thirtieth of the total force in the city. If it is not stopped, a larger-scale defection will inevitably occur.
He immediately ordered Zhu Mei to send troops to Nancheng to take over the city defense, and then placed all Ling Cao's troops inside the city to strictly defend it.
The entire Jinyong City is becoming increasingly tense in this mutually hostile atmosphere.
At this point, it was only a matter of time before Jin Yongcheng fell into trouble.
……
The atmosphere in Jinyong City was strange. Although Wu Bing was not disarmed, he was restricted from going to the top of the city. In this atmosphere, the Danyang soldiers at the bottom were even more harsh on Wu Bing.
Not only was the water supply reduced by half compared to before, but even the daily rations were withheld. Is this okay? Do you really think that Wu Bing is made of clay?
These Wujun soldiers in Nancheng are all descendants of Fuchun. The earliest batch can be traced back to following Zhu Jun when he went south to Jiaozhou to quell the rebellion. The later ones also experienced wars and were originally direct descendants of Zhu Jun. Chang Li fought under Sun Jian. Known as the "Tiger Army".
But later, Sun Jian fought across the river, so Zhu Jun retained this army and temporarily returned it to Zhu Zhi's command. After that, Sun Jian made a surprise attack on Yecheng and was defeated. He was forced to stay in Hebei to fight, and later broke off relations with the imperial court.
Therefore, this soldier was included in the order by Zhu Zhi.
But the problem is that this soldier is purely a descendant of Fuchun and has no dependence on the Danyang people at all. There is a gap between the two sides. And originally they were an elite force and Zhu Jun's direct descendants. But now that he is assigned to Danyang, he is being used as a miscellaneous brand.
You can see how much energy there is inside.
Now in this critical moment, those Danyang people have begun to unite to bully them again.
As a result, some of Wu Bing’s mid-level and senior military officials began to think:
"Since you Danyang people treat us like this, then we should simply go against it and join the Taishan Army. Maybe it's a better way out."
But they always knew that the general Ling Cao was the kind of person who would never do such a thing no matter how much he suffered.
So, they started just to test Ling Cao's tone and asked everyone what should they do now?
But he didn’t expect Ling Cao to curse angrily in front of everyone:
"It was all that little Ruizhi, not him. How could our army be treated so harshly? I wish I could kill this man."
Hearing this, all the Wujun military officials looked at each other and smiled, and one of them was smart and said angrily:
"I think Rui Zhi just wants us Wu people to die so that they can survive."
As soon as these words came out, the whole place fell into silence.
Even the military officer himself was shocked by these words. Originally, he just had an idea and complained casually, but he didn't expect that the more everyone thought about this aspect, the more reasonable they felt.
you do not say?
At the beginning, Rui Zhi encouraged Zhu Zhi to collect their water, then started to deduct their supplies, then killed them, and now he started to monitor them. None of the above was forcing them to die.
Just because of that little water? Is it worth being so cruel to our brother troops?
Everyone silently licked their dry lips and replied sincerely:
"Worth it."
Ling Cao also fell silent, he murmured:
"Then Rui Zhi wouldn't be so cruel."
At this time, some soldiers on the side were anxious. They grabbed Ling Cao and affirmed:
"Then Rui Zhi is so vicious. And the lives of our brothers are on our shoulders, so we must be careful."
Ling Cao felt a little confused at this moment. He asked the clever military officer just now:
"What do you think we should do?"
The military officer gritted his teeth, pointed to the east outside the city, and then said nothing.
Ling Cao stayed for a long time, and finally sighed, full of helplessness.
……
Ling Cao finally decided to take his brothers out of the city and surrender, but in order not to violate the faith in his heart, he did not intend to sacrifice Nancheng.
All the soldiers were dissatisfied, and some privately scolded Ling Cao:
"That Yuliang is really untimely. It's already this time. We haven't been able to contact the Taishan Army on the opposite side. We are still not sure whether they will accept us or what conditions they will accept us. Originally, we offered this Nancheng, but in our hearts I still have some confidence, but I didn’t expect Ling Cao to be like this. Without Nancheng, what do they want us to do?”
The dissatisfaction of the military officials is very realistic.
During this period, it was not easy to lead the army to surrender, because you were leaving your personal destiny in the hands of others. Whether someone wants to kill or behead him or her, it all depends on the person.
In addition, in this world, merit is generally calculated based on the number of heads, and productivity is limited. The military's treatment of prisoners is to kill them.
So if everyone is not really at the end of their rope, who would be willing to surrender? Originally, everyone wanted to add more chips to increase their own value, but now you, Ling Cao, would be better off just saying not to sell Nancheng.
Yes, you, Ling Cao, are noble and loyal.
Many people were disappointed with Ling Cao's behavior, but they understood that surrender still required a prominent figure, so they could only endure it.
But they no longer have that respect for Ling Cao.
Ling Cao was worrying about gains and losses, but suddenly Zhu Zhi called him over. At that time, only Zhu Zhi was there. Looking at the old Zhu Zhi, Ling Cao couldn't help but persuade:
"Lao Zhu, let's charge again. This time, either everyone will die outside the city, or we will break into Kyoto. It's better than dying of thirst here."
But Zhu Zhi shook his head and replied briefly:
"There is only a dead end when leaving the city."
Afterwards, Zhu Zhi chatted with Ling Cao about the situation of Wu Jun soldiers, and finally gave Ling Cao a jar of water.
After carrying the jar of water out, Ling Cao looked back at Zhu Zhi without any nostalgia in his heart.
……
Without any communication with the Taishan army outside the city, Ling Cao summoned the entire army of 637 people and gave a speech to the entire army:
"Brothers, bring your swords, I will help you survive."
After saying that, Ling Cao walked in front along the passage where the crowd separated. After killing several Danyang soldiers who intercepted on the road, he opened the south gate and walked towards the Taishan Army outside the city.
Originally, the officers and soldiers of the Taishan Army were sitting by the stove eating. When they heard the warning from the watchtower, they quickly gathered to prepare to give the invading enemy a severe blow.
But they didn't expect that after the Jianghuai soldiers left the city, they closed the door again, and finally walked to a place more than 200 steps away from them, discarded their armor and weapons, and walked towards them with bare hands.
The Taishan Army officer responsible for the defense of this section hesitated several times, fearing that these people were pretending to surrender, but in the end he agreed to send someone to receive them.
Just like that, a moment later, Wu Jun soldiers gathered around and had their first full meal with soup in several days.
……
It was not beyond Xu Huang's expectation that some Jianghuai soldiers surrendered.
The Jianghuai soldiers who were lowered in the city a few days ago said that Jinyong City has actually run out of water and rice and cannot hold on for long.
But this time, when he sat on the bed and listened to the military officials saying that the general who surrendered was only willing to surrender himself instead of surrendering the city, he suddenly found it interesting.
When the general reported the incident, he was still indignant:
"That thief general is too smart. Are you hungry and thirsty and running towards us? Are you not willing to ask them to dedicate the city? We don't want Jin Yong City, what do we need them for?"
Xu Huang had had a good rest these past few days and felt refreshed. He smiled with his men and said:
"You're doing the opposite now. What use do I need from that Tuchila Jin Yong? What I want is people like them."
Seeing that his men were confused, he stopped explaining and asked him to settle those people.
As for the surrendered general, he disappeared, and there was nothing to see.
And just when he was about to deal with other things, suddenly another military official came to report:
"Jin Yong City surrendered. A general killed the enemy general, opened the south gate, and presented the city to our army."
Xu Huang jumped off the bed and laughed:
"This Jianghuai soldier is a bit interesting."