…
"What can we do? How can we do this?"
Guo Hou rubbed his hands anxiously and walked back and forth in the hall.
His behavior quickly infected the servants who delivered the message, and they also trembled and retreated, passing the bad news to the entire prefect's mansion.
According to Guo Hou's original expectation, Hukou Pass could survive for more than ten days due to its geographical advantages. Even if it didn't last for more than ten days, three to five days should be enough, right?
As long as he has this time, he can calmly call on the people of Yongzhou to jointly defend against the enemy, and he can also go to Yuzhou to report to Yu Jie and ask him to send troops for reinforcements.
But the result was that Hukou Pass was even worse than the worst outcome he expected. It fell in less than a day, leaving him no chance to react.
Guo Hou also heard about the behavior of Fa Yangling in Chu State. He was an extremely terrifying enemy. He was no match for him at all, no! It can even be said that he is not even an opponent.
"Calm down, I need to calm down!"
Guo Hou returned to his seat, picked up the tea cup and took a shaky sip of tea. He tried to calm down his nervousness and began to think of countermeasures.
"With the convenient location of our Yongzhou City, even if Hukou Pass falls, we will not be without the strength to fight. Moreover, there is sufficient food and grass in the city, which is enough for hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians for more than half a year. It should be able to last until Yu Governor sends troops to help."
After Guo Hou analyzed the geographical advantages of Xiayongzhou City, his uneasiness slightly subsided, and then he continued to consider the strength of the troops in the city.
"Twenty thousand defenders are enough to garrison the city, but these are new soldiers and have never seen blood. Can they really stop the wolf-like tiger army of Chu?"
Thinking of this, Guo Hou became worried again. In fact, it was no wonder that Guo Hou had transferred the elite troops from Shu to the border fortress at the foot of the plateau mountain to resist the Bohe people.
Yu Jie believes that the Bohe people pose a far greater threat to Shu than the Chu army. After all, the huge losses suffered by Shu in the past few decades have all come from the Bohe people. Yu Jie has to let Yu Jie move the center of Shu's defense strategy to Bohe. The plateau area where He is located is close to each other, and the internal precautions of Shu are relatively ignored.
In fact, 20,000 people, even new soldiers, should be more than enough to withstand 100,000 Chu troops by virtue of Yongzhou's unique geographical advantages.
It is a pity that the Shu army is still based on the old system of the previous dynasty, lacks literacy education, does not have the fighting mentality of the Central Han army, and has no sense of honor at all. Being a soldier and eating food is just a matter of dawdling.
"Master, I heard that Hukou Pass was captured. Is this the case?"
At this moment, Guo Hou's wife, Mrs. Wu, walked into the hall with her two children, looking anxious.
Guo Hou frowned: "What are you doing here? What do women know? Go back quickly!"
Wu said: "I don't understand, but I know that there are intact eggs under the overturned nest. Hundreds of thousands of Chu troops are gathering at Hukou Pass and will attack Yongzhou soon.
As a concubine, I have to take care of this family and my daughter and son. I must ask you, master, if this Yongzhou can be safe? "
Guo Hou just wanted to get angry, but when he saw his eighteen-year-old son Guo Kai and his sixteen-year-old daughter Guo Yan looking at him with horror on their faces, he couldn't help but sigh.
"The rebel army is so powerful that Yongzhou may not be able to support the reinforcements from Governor Yu..."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Wu hurriedly advised: "Master, why are you still hesitating? Before the Chu army arrives, immediately leave the city and join my father."
"You asked me to abandon the city and ignore it?" Guo Hou stood up and said in shock, "I am the governor of Yongzhou. Once I leave my post without permission, how can I be lenient if the governor investigates me afterwards?"
Wu said: "Then just watch the Chu army attack the city and demote our whole family to pariahs?"
She paused, stroked her Guo Kai and Guo Yan's heads, and said with a worried look on her face: "I am already over forty years old, so death would not be a pity, but our children are still young.
I have already heard about the treatment of nobles and scholars in Chu State. Are you willing to watch our sons be reduced to slaves and our daughters be ruined by the Chu army? "
As she said this, Wu couldn't help but shed tears.
"Mother~~"
Guo Kai and Guo Yan were also frightened and nestled tightly in Wu's arms and began to cry loudly. In an instant, the mother and son hugged each other and cried bitterly.
Distraught, Guo Hou threw the tea cup in his hand heavily on the table and shouted: "Okay, can you please let me worry less! What real problems can be solved by crying?"
Hearing this, Mrs. Wu wiped away her tears and said, "Master, for the sake of our family's safety, we'd better pack up our belongings quickly and leave the city overnight."
Guo Houdao: "If I leave and don't say anything else, if the governor knows about it, it will be a death penalty. The law of the Han Dynasty clearly stipulates that any guard official who defeats the enemy without fighting will be executed without mercy! Can you please replace him? For the sake of the head on the master’s neck?”
Wu retorted: "Then the master will not die if he stays in the city? If the Chu army kills him, he will die as well. What's more, there is a reason for everything. Doesn't he, the governor Yu, have no responsibility at all?"
If he hadn't transferred elite soldiers from various counties in Shu, how could we be afraid of the Chu army? Sir, there are exceptions to everything. This situation is an accident.
We are not willing to defend the city and fight fiercely with the enemy. We are really outnumbered. How can I, the governor, offend you so casually? "
After hearing this, Guo Hou fell into deep thought. He was obviously tempted, but he had not yet made up his mind.
Seeing this, Wu continued to confuse: "What's more, my father has contacts with officials from all over Shuzhong. He will definitely go around for you.
At worst, you'll be demoted one level, at worst, you won't be in this position at all, but your life will definitely be saved. What are you still hesitating about, sir? "
Guo Hou was finally persuaded. He sighed helplessly and said to Wu: "I can leave, but what should the people in this city do?"
Wu: "It's all fate. How can there be no one left alive in a war? If I am ambitious, I can send troops to recapture the city in the future and save the people and the fire and water."
"That's all, just as Madam said, pack up your belongings immediately and prepare to leave the city overnight." Guo Hou finally chose to run away. Even if his conscience did not allow him to do so, he was "unable to help himself". After all, he was also afraid of death.
…
That night, Guo Hou took hundreds of servants and five hundred soldiers, loaded four carts of belongings, and left from the west gate of Yongzhou toward Wu's hometown of Wudu.
It was not until the next morning, when the Chu army appeared at the gate of Yongzhou City, that the officers and soldiers guarding the city discovered that the prefect's mansion was already empty.
The Shu army, which had lost its command, immediately became a mess. Before the war started, they were in disarray. This fear soon spread to the city, and the people in the city immediately became a mess, crowding on the streets, trying to escape from this place. a city.
"well!"
Ning Sui glanced at the slowly approaching Chu army outside the city. After sighing, she tightened her clothes and walked down the city, joining the fleeing army.
Ning Sui's escape made the Yongzhou garrison, which already had no fighting spirit, even more overwhelmed. Seeing that the situation was over, the garrison generals gathered together for a moment and finally chose to surrender to the enemy.
In just one day, Yongzhou City, the southern gateway to Shu, fell without losing a single soldier...
