The battle did not start quickly. At the current stage of the Jiangxia Battle, there is no longer any conspiracy to speak of. What remains will be a battle song of iron and blood.
After nightfall, the Han army worked all night to make siege equipment, and the sound of felling trees in the forest to the north never stopped. Ji Shu did not send troops out of the city to harass, firstly because Zhuge Liang must have set up an ambush, and secondly, it also gave the Jiangdong Army soldiers who were running around for days more time to rest.
Early the next morning, the Han army finally built a dozen simple wells. One or two were arranged at each of the east, west, and south gates, while several groups of archers were arranged aggressively in parallel with the ten wells at the north gate, taking turns to shoot arrows into the city.
Taking advantage of the clear weather, looking far into the distance, one can still see the siege vehicles and ladders still being used in the woods to the north.
This seemed to be turning into a war of attrition, and Ji Shu understood clearly that Zhuge Liang planned to use his strength to harass Jiangdong's army in batches.
For example, do you think three people are tired from working in shifts, or are two people tired from working in shifts?
Zhuge Liang wanted to repeat this for several days to wear down Jiangdong Army's endurance, and wait until Jiangdong Army was exhausted before launching a powerful offensive to defeat Jiangxia in one go.
Ji Shu had long expected that the Han army would not be stupid enough to send troops to attack immediately. Not to mention the casualties of 2:1 between the attackers and defenders, considering the quality of the troops on both sides, the Han army would probably be the first to collapse under the attack. .
With Gan Ning and Tai Shici in charge, they were enough to handle any situation. Temporarily turning his attention away from the crazy shooting on top of the city, Ji Shu decided to deal with the hidden dangers in Jiangxia City first.
The attitude of the Jiangxia family can be said to have sounded the alarm to Ji Shu.
Jiangdong will not compromise on his reforms. Once Jiangdong's army has completely established a foothold in Jiangxia, it will inevitably implement the same reforms as Jiangdong. The Jiangdong family rebelled and almost killed Sun Ce, and Sun Ce almost wiped them all out. Now Jiangxia's aristocratic family has rebelled, but they have not caused serious consequences yet. How should we deal with this?
killed? There are so many wealthy families in the world, do we, Jiangdong Army, really want to kill them all?
Since ancient times, tyranny can only intimidate people for a short period of time, while people's submission is the only way to achieve long-term peace and stability.
Ji Shu decided to change Sun Ce's tough policy towards the aristocratic family, and adopted a gentle approach to make the aristocratic family accept the change in status, and help the aristocratic family find new profit channels, allowing them to transform from landlords to capitalists.
Although the capitalists' oppression of workers is also not small, it is better to be a worker than a slave, and it is better to be well-fed than to go hungry.
If people's eyes don't look at the good changes, but blindly focus on the shortcomings, I'm afraid they will never be satisfied.
This is the same for Jiang Dongjun and the family. Ji Shu feels that they can sit down and discuss it carefully.
Of course, it must be a long-term process to complete this step of transformation, and the reality is not as simple as imagined. But they had to take the first step, and Ji Shu felt that starting from Jiangxia City might be a good choice.
Asking people to prepare gifts, Ji Shu asked Shang Yueying to go with him to visit his father-in-law.
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In the living room of Huang Mansion.
"My son-in-law, Ji Shu, pays homage to my father-in-law and mother-in-law!"
Facing the two high officials, Ji Shu bowed to the end very solemnly.
"Zi Yuan, there is no need to be polite, please sit down quickly. Butler, serve tea!"
"Thank you, mother-in-law."
For such a long time, Huang Chengyan and his wife had heard a lot about Ji Shu, but today was the first time they saw their son-in-law. They didn't speak again immediately, and both of them looked at Ji Shu carefully.
The young man has a delicate appearance, but he cannot be said to be handsome. He has a bookish air about him that is very similar to Yueying's. At first glance, he gives the impression that he is a scholar. However, the scholar in front of him is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Ji Shu, the two people opposite him, is very calm, and his etiquette is a bit formal in his calmness, which shows that he attaches great importance to the two of them.
Nodding secretly, Huang Chengyan spoke.
"Now that the two armies are fighting again, why do you have time to see me, old man?"
Seeing that the second elder at least did not express his dissatisfaction with him, Ji Shu breathed a sigh of relief and frankly stated his purpose.
"I want to reconcile with the Jiangxia family, so I came here specifically to ask my father-in-law for advice."
Narrowing his eyes slightly, as the head of the Huang family, Huang Chengyan immediately understood the meaning of Ji Shu's words.
What Ji Shu wants to do is not only reconcile with the Jiangxia family, he wants to reconcile with the world's families, and now he hopes to set an example with the Jiangxia family.
Huang Chengyan did not expect that while Jiang Xia was still at war, his son-in-law had set his sights further afield.
"Do you think you can defend Jiangxia City?"
Without answering questions related to the family, Huang Chengyan asked this sentence.
Ji Shu understood that his father-in-law was reminding him that this was the basis for negotiations with the Jiangxia family.
As soon as this topic was brought up, the trace of restraint just now disappeared without a trace. Ji Shu looked firmly into Huang Chengyan's eyes and said.
"Although Kong Ming's talent is high and the Han army has many soldiers, our Jiangdong Army is enough to resist the enemy. Not only Jiangxia, but also the entire Jingzhou will soon be in the possession of our Jiangdong Army!"
Yueying leaned in Cai's arms without saying a word, just smiling as her father and husband glared at each other.
In the eyes of mother and daughter, this is an interesting scene.
Huang Chengyan's expression became uncertain, and he spoke again.
"Do you know what your weaknesses are?"
Ji Shu was a little confused and was about to ask for advice. However, Huang Chengyan continued talking without waiting for him to speak.
"Too generous!"
"I heard about the great changes in Jianye a few months ago. It was you who saved Sun Quan and the remaining son of the family."
"too naive!"
"Sun Quan rebelled but did not kill him. How could he deter ambitious people?"
"The rebellion of an aristocratic family has extensive implications. There are heads on the ground and rivers of blood. How can you protect the surviving son of the aristocratic family with the kindness of a woman? If you don't eradicate the roots, you will surely lose your life!"
"Yesterday, you pardoned Su Fei who pretended to surrender. If you don't kill the cheater, how will you tell whether the surrendering general is loyal or traitorous?"
"Don't you know that kindness does not control soldiers?"
"I watched you use your troops to lead three thousand people across hundreds of miles of mountains to sneak attack Liu Yao's camp; send more than two thousand people deep behind enemy lines and divide them into hundreds to storm Wang Lang's granary; send one thousand people to seek help from Sun Ce who was surrounded by tens of thousands of people; Tens of thousands of troops suddenly attacked Jiangxia, advancing day and night as fast as lightning."
"The ferocity of your military use is evident. Why are you so hesitant when others ask for mercy?"
"You gave an order and thousands of people were bleeding. Why did you mess up the rules by saving these two people?"
"Zi Yuan, what you do is just a hypocrite."
Huang Chengyan's words were coherent and well-founded.
Ji Shu was stunned for a moment, from escaping for his life to facing life and death, from commanding hundreds of people to fight to thousands, and now he has unknowingly reached a situation where tens of thousands of lives and deaths can be affected by a single thought. He once thought that he had changed a lot. He thought that with the passing of each life, his heart had become hard enough.
It wasn't until his father-in-law said that he was a generous, naive, indecisive hypocrite that Ji Shu realized that some things about him had not changed!
People-oriented is the concept of modern society. In this era when human life is at stake, Ji Shu has never given up his respect for life.
A person may not be able to change as easily as he thinks.
Ji Shu didn't know whether his father-in-law was testing him or instructing him to use more forceful methods, but he had to give him an answer.
"My father-in-law is right, I am a hypocrite."
"In order to save a country, I will send thousands of soldiers to the battlefield. Each of them is the son of the mother, the husband of the woman, and the father of the child."
"In order to prevent the survivors from being entangled in nightmares, I am willing to forgive some people who should be killed."
"When two people fall into the water, I will not say that I must save the two people, nor will I say that I will save the person who is closest to me and has the best chance of being rescued. I will only save the people closest to me."
"The art of war is based on strength, and humanity is based on softness. After all, I am just a mortal. What you said makes sense, but I don't want to change, I just want to be a hypocrite!"
Ji Shu suddenly felt a little lucky to be here today. He finally saw the path he was going to take while walking in a hazy state.
Ji Shu gratefully stood up, bowed to Huang Chengyan with his fists in his hands, and said.
"So I can forgive the family's rebellion at my own discretion."
"You have your reasons, and I have mine. If I beat you, then my reasons will naturally win."
"So, I would like to ask the Jiangxia family to follow our Jiangdong Army's principles. I wonder what my father-in-law thinks?"
Raising their heads, the old man and the young man looked at each other fiercely for a while.
Huang Chengyan laughed.
"Zi Yuan is right. Since Jiangxia will belong to Lord Sun Ce in the future, the Jiangxia family will naturally obey Lord Sun Ce's orders. Now that the enemy is attacking Jiangxia, I, the Huang family, have 500 private soldiers. I am willing to take the lead and contribute to the defense of the city. .”
"In this case, I would like to thank my father-in-law on behalf of my lord. I believe that other aristocratic families in Jiangxia will not be willing to follow others."
Two foxes, one old and one young, looked at each other and smiled.
Ji Shu then asked his father-in-law one by one about the family's interests, compromise points, bottom line and many other issues. Huang Chengyan also opened up the conversation, telling everything he knew.
After talking for a long time and staying for lunch, Ji Shu and Yue Ying took their leave and went back to learn more about the military situation.
"Master, my daughter is already married to someone else, and I just haven't brought a grandson back to you. Why is he taking the school exam so seriously?"
Ms. Cai teased Huang Chengyan with smiling eyes. She was still very satisfied with her son-in-law.
Huang Chengyan originally had a smiling face, but when he heard these words, he remembered something and was so angry that his beard trembled.
"Hmph, Yueying's reputation is spread far and wide. Why am I spreading rumors that Yueying is an ugly girl? Isn't it just to let my daughter marry a good husband with both talent and virtue?"
"Kong Ming, I made a lot of choices, and actually took the exams several times. But that stupid girl Yueying was lucky, and was abducted by some bastard boy who came out of nowhere! I just asked him a few words, what happened? ?”
Cai covered her mouth and snickered.
"You can't bear to take another exam now, can't you? Then why are you willing to take the initiative to take out your 500 precious lumps?"
Speaking of this, Huang Chengyan said seriously.
"Kong Ming failed to extinguish this east wind when it first rose. Now this east wind will sweep across the entire Jingzhou. What Ziyuan just said is right. Sooner or later, Jingzhou will be in the possession of Jiangdong Army."
"At this time, the best way for us aristocratic families is naturally not to express our position. But we Jiangxia aristocratic families have been on the wrong team before. If we don't express our opinions, people related to our Huang family, Sun Ce, will inevitably be suspicious of us in the future."
"What about your brother and sister?"
Cai sighed and said helplessly.
"Don't worry Degui, he is here. He will never die for Liu Biao. As for my sister, she just obeyed her family's orders and married an old Liu Biao. What feelings can she have for Liu Biao? She only cares about Liu Biao. As long as De Gui surrenders to her son Liu Zong, she will definitely surrender with Liu Zong as well."
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In one day, Ji Shu, Zhuge Jin, and Huang Yueying visited all Jiangxia families.
In the evening, the captured private soldiers of the Qianshi Family received orders and went to the battlefield again, but this time their mission was to help Jiangdong Army defend the city. Counting the Huang family's 500 private soldiers, Jiangdong's army had 1,500 more people.
Although this person could not affect the situation of the battle, it strengthened the confidence of the soldiers. Haven't you seen that even the Jiangxia people have given up on the Han army?
