Sui Gu committed suicide and surrendered on May 13th. On the second day, Xiahou Dun entered and occupied the inner city, and the counties of Yanzhou were stationed in outer Guo. Cao Jun opened the city's grain depot and found that the rice stored in it was less than 10,000 hu of rice, which could support the entire city's needs for two months at most. The armor and weapons in the treasury have also been exhausted, leaving only the removed arrow clusters waiting to be replaced with arrow shafts. It seems that if we just besiege but not attack, the city will be completely exhausted in just over a month.
On the third day, May 15th, all armies began to plunder freely. What Cao Jun did was to separate countless small teams within their respective jurisdictions to collect the population and gather them in places where they could be easily detained, such as the Taoist temple where they worshiped. As one of the longest-operated cities of the Yellow Turbans, Licheng is full of Zhonghuang Taiyi Temples. When Yanzhou sergeants were searching the population, they entered the houses of wealthy households and snatched away the toiletries and the gold, silver and silk they carried. In order to obtain property, you can see them robbing their owners until they died tragically.
Licheng is a thoroughfare city. For more than ten years, businessmen and travelers have gathered together, and wealthy families have lived next to each other. It is one of the top five important towns in Qihanzhong, but now no one can escape the fate of crazy robbery. Three or two Yanzhou soldiers with long swords, wearing silk and satin, went in and out of wealthy houses, leading wives and daughters into houses and committing adultery. People's weeping and wailing only resulted in ruthless whipping.
After the population was almost collected, the streets and alleys, which were usually bustling with people and noisy people, were completely deserted. Dead people dying of cold and starvation can be seen everywhere on the roadside and corner. The Yanzhou knights galloped through the streets and alleys. Not only were the dead bodies trampled beyond recognition, but many living people who fell on the road and could not walk were also trampled to death by flying horse hooves.
The empty streets and alleys have become haunted by wild dogs. It is common to see dozens of dogs biting and snatching bloody and black internal organs. In addition, it was already summer and mosquitoes were breeding. Soon, the whole city could smell the stench of rotting corpses. The crows that were originally envied by the people of Licheng and flew to the north bank of Jishui now flew back in groups. They settled on the tree branches on the rooftops, flew down through the alleys, stepped on the faces of the dead and pecked at the eyeballs.
The captured soldiers in the city were mainly concentrated in the buildings in the north of the city. Regardless of the reason, Yanzhou soldiers first pulled out one group and massacred them. The soldiers' wails lasted all afternoon. Thousands of people died, and the smell of blood could be smelled ten miles away. I felt that killing people directly was too strenuous, so I slowly stopped. At night, some prisoners cried out and asked: "Didn't we agree to be slaves? Why is it like this?" But before Cao Jun could answer, some prisoners reprimanded him in turn: "A man is born upright between heaven and earth, and he is waiting for a breach of contract." It’s just a villain’s behavior, and we’ll die as soon as possible, so why are you acting like a child?”
Someone among them recognized Liu Shi, the commander of the Zuo Army, and knew that he surrendered to Cao Cao in the Battle of Hekou. He immediately cursed: "You blind dog, how dare you come here to slaughter old friends?" Liu Shi was too embarrassed to hear this. Looking up, he had no choice but to hurried out of the north of the city and reported the matter to Cao Cao.
At this moment, Cao Cao's camp was also in the middle of a dispute. When Zhu Hao came to Cao's camp, he took Liu Bei's instructions before leaving, asking him to take care of Cao's army and not to do anything high. Although this matter was a secret spy with Cao Cao, all the generals knew about it, so there was no plan to massacre the city in this battle. Unexpectedly, after Cao Cao surrendered in Licheng, he suddenly went back on his word. Not only did he want to kill and surrender, but he also didn't spare the people in the city. This naturally caused an uproar among his officials.
Zhu Hao took the initiative to complain to Cao Cao: "Cao Cao has agreed to amnesty, so let the soldiers restrain themselves!" Cao Cao sneered: "These thieves killed the three princes of the country, which is a capital crime that cannot be forgiven. Has Zhong Ming ever heard of it? Is there any precedent for this?"
Zhu Hao was stunned and speechless. From this moment on, all his respect for Cao Cao disappeared, leaving only resentment. He turned to Cao Cao's subordinates, hoping that they would be loyal to the court and help him save some people.
But most of the generals in the army sneered at Zhu Hao's words. They were making a fortune from looting and massacre, so naturally they couldn't listen. But fortunately, there are also officials in the state capital such as Chen Gong, Wei Zhong, Zang Hong, etc., who are more loyal to the court and are also dissatisfied with Cao Cao's cruel behavior. They also agreed to Zhu Hao's request and made suggestions to Cao Cao. However, Cao Cao still refused to comply and only said: "The soldiers have already entered the city, how can there be any reason to let them come out again? How can the traitor's heart be compared with our military spirit?"
At this time, Liu Shi came in and asked how to kill the prisoners faster. Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "What's so difficult about this? The easiest way to kill people is to dig holes and fill them in. It takes no effort and doesn't smell bloody. If it's still too slow, Then throw it into Jishui." Chen Gong and others listened in shock.
That night, Yanzhou soldiers led thousands of Qi prisoners to a ditch outside the city to fill them up. The next morning, a large group of wild dogs came to dig the hole, and they couldn't get rid of it with random arrows. Seeing this tragic scene, Zhu Hao was speechless. He lamented privately with Chen Gong, Zang Hong and others: "Cao Cao was greedy and cruel. He killed and plundered our Qingzhou people, causing Jinan to be devastated and thousands of people to die. The general learned that, They will say that it was my failure in doing things that led to such a tragic situation. Even if Qingzhou is captured in the future, people will be resentful and unable to govern, and the fault will all be on my head!"
Seeing that Zhu Hao was extremely depressed, Chen Gong pondered for a moment, then suddenly lowered his voice and stepped forward and said to him: "How could this be Zhu Jun's fault? When Liu Yanzhou defeated Taishan, the whole state was in panic. I see Meng De is so wise. He was good at fighting, and he seemed to be thinking about the imperial court, so he gathered the crowd and elected him as the state pastor. It is difficult to know the heart of a person. I knew that Cao Mengde had military strategies, but I didn't know that he acted so cruelly, ten times more powerful than his father Yan! And he had many interactions with the border envoys before. If there is discord, and if you don't obey the general now, won't it be a big problem for the court in the future?"
When Zhu Hao heard this, he agreed a little and asked him, "What does Chen Zhizheng mean, what do you want me to do?"
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Chen Gong took the opportunity to suggest: "Cao Mengde has repeatedly committed unjust acts, but the general cannot punish him arbitrarily. Why? He is worried that once he is punished, Cao Mengde will support his troops and cause chaos! He is located in the Central Plains, adjacent to Tokyo. If he cannot deal with it, Shen, I'm afraid I'm worried about my husband. This is indeed a difficult problem for the general, but it's not a problem for us. Zhu Jun can go back and report to the general. Once this battle is over, we will return to Yanzhou and secretly contact Zhongzhi in the state. When you have achieved success, the general can order punishment, and we will surrender all the counties to the imperial court and capture Cao Cao! In this way, Yanzhou can truly return to the imperial court!"
Zhu Hao's eyes lit up, and he thought that if this was really the case, not only would the massacre of the city have nothing to do with him, but he would also have made a great contribution. He turned to look at Wei Zhong and Zang Hong, and saw that they also had solemn expressions. He also had confidence in his heart. He turned back and asked Chen Gong in a low voice: "Gongtai's words are wonderful. It just takes how much time and how many people can be won over. How many people can you win over?" Tell me everything so that I can talk to the general."
Chen Gong lowered his head and thought for a moment, then replied: "It's hard to say how many people I can win over, but Chen Gong can say that there are many of my friends in the four counties of Chenliu, Dongjun, Jiyin and Shanyang. As a liaison, I will be able to control the situation in each county as quickly as February and as late as April. The only ones who are difficult to defeat are Cao Cao's sergeants. They are mostly controlled by the Xiahou of Cao and it is difficult to instigate rebellion."
Wei Zhong heard the words and said: "We can ask the envoys from the border to come to the army to reward food and win over the soldiers. At that time, we only need to capture the generals and read the imperial edict to the troops. There will be no one in the army." If you are willing to die for Cao Cao, you won't be able to cause any trouble."
But Zang Hong sensed something was wrong and asked: "Wouldn't it take longer? As the saying goes, the secret is the secret and the speed of action should not be slowed down. Will doing this cause Cao Cao to detect it?"
Chen Gong replied: "When we work for the court, everything is upright and blameless. What will happen if Meng De notices it? Unless he is willing to openly rebel for the sake of the world's injustice. If the people's hearts are not attached, Meng De is nothing more than a traitor." It's just self-destruction. I did this for the good of Meng De. If I send him back to Xijing, I can be regarded as a Marquis of Qianhu."
Everyone's plan had been decided, but when they came out of the tent and saw the desolation all over the city, they still couldn't help but feel sad. People lamented that they were born at the wrong time. In the last days, they could only see Licheng and Hecheng continue to be ravaged by Cao's army.
As for Cao Cao, he didn't care about the secret meeting between Chen Gong and others. Instead, he personally asked the generals what they had gained from looting. All the generals understood Cao Cao's thoughts on this trip, so they presented many beautiful women. Among them were many daughters and daughters-in-law of wealthy families, and even Sui Gu's wives and daughters. They gathered in Cao Cao's tent and served in only obscene clothes all day long.
Cao Cao deliberately spared the life of Sui Gu's son Sui'an and asked him to wait outside the door and obey his orders. As soon as he called "Anu, come here", he had to go in to comfort his mother and sister who were crying. When the sergeants saw this, they all humiliated and laughed at him. I can only dare to be angry and dare not speak, pretending that I can't hear anything.
At this time, the weather is even hotter, with continuous sun exposure. Due to lack of food and clothing, many people starved to death. In the east and west of the city, naked women could be seen lying dead on the roadside. With no one to collect the bodies, rotting corpses filled the streets and ditches.
This scene lasted until May 23, when Cao Jun plundered Licheng. Except for a small number of men and women who had been taken as slaves, there was no one alive in the city. Cao Cao finally ordered that the entire city of Licheng be burned down in one fell swoop, so that it would no longer become a roadblock for Yanzhou's march to Qingzhou.
Cao Jun piled up a day's worth of firewood inside and outside the wall. In the evening, he threw the torch into it. The fire dragon immediately rose up, frightening the crows that were still pecking in the city and flew north again. And the wild dogs that gathered in groups could only keep company with the corpses in the firelight.
Under the dark sky, there was no sound, only the crackling sound of burning branches could be heard, and the stars in the sky were dimmed by the light of the fire. Perhaps it was the burning souls of the dead that gave them such intense light. Licheng burned for a whole night. After the second day, this thousand-year-old ancient city in Jinan was reduced to a ruins. The world can only recall its past glory from the dark burn marks.
