Liu Ye's persuasion made Li Feng very depressed.
Yuan Shu did not give him much money, nor did he give him any favors. He asked him to bring 3,000 people here to stop the attack of Liu Bei's 40,000 to 50,000 troops. He himself felt that it was ridiculous, and he felt that Yuan Shu just saw him living too comfortably. Yes, let him die.
Not long after he joined Yuan Shu, he was promoted to the rank of captain because of his bravery. This time, in order to let him come to Xihua County to be the first line of defense, he was promoted to the rank of Zhonglang General, but he was not happy at all.
This lieutenant general may die within a few days of his service. Is that interesting?
You, Yuan Gulu, treat me like this, don't you take me too seriously?
After Li Feng came to Xihua County to set up defenses, he spent every day in panic. When Liu Bei approached with his army, he couldn't sleep well for three consecutive days. When Liu Ye came to persuade him, he felt that he was a little nervous. Weakened.
I don't even have the confidence to speak.
"What you said is not unreasonable, but after all, Yuan Shu was kind enough to promote me..."
"The emperor of the Han Dynasty was still kind to Yuan Shu for his promotion, but he plotted to murder the prince and openly rebelled against such a disloyal and unjust person. Why do you still care about his favor for promoting him?"
Liu Ye sneered: "Yuan Shu did something scandalous, but he expected all his subordinates to be loyal ministers and righteous men. How can such a thing exist in the world? How shameless does this person have to be to ask for such a thing? For such a shameless person, I can't imagine what else he could do."
Li Feng was told by Liu Ye that he had no confidence and didn't know how to refute.
"If I surrender, will the general think that I am a disloyal and unjust person and punish me?"
Liu Ye smiled and shook his head.
"It is obviously a wise choice to abandon the dark and turn to the light. You chose to be loyal to the Han instead of the Yuan family. This is an act worthy of encouragement. How can the general punish you?"
Li Feng listened to Liu Ye's advice, and after much thought, he still felt that it was not worth it to sacrifice his life for Yuan Shu. However, thinking about his family members who were still left by Yuan Shu, he sighed repeatedly.
But in the end he made a choice, nodded, agreed to Liu Ye, and decided to surrender.
As for whether his wife and children can survive, it depends on destiny. If it doesn't work out, it's still too late to marry and have another child, so it's not like he's sorry for his ancestors.
On this point, Li Feng was as open-minded as Yuan Shu.
On September 20, Li Feng, the defender of Xihua County, surrendered to the city. The magistrate of Xihua County surrendered with him without any resistance. All the ordnance and supplies in the city belonged to Liu Bei. Liu Bei's army once again captured a county town without a single blow.
Liu Bei did not station troops here, nor did his army enter the city. The magistrate of Xihua County was asked to stay and help with logistics and transportation.
Li Feng was not punished, but was appointed by Liu Bei as Sima of another department, and temporarily led his army to follow the army.
Don't do it, General Zhonglang, he really isn't up to that point.
Li Feng didn't argue. He thought it was appropriate. As long as he wasn't punished, he felt it was almost enough. As for the position... let's talk about it later. Let's solve the problem of survival first.
After Li Feng surrendered, Ruyang County was wide open, and nothing could stop Liu Bei from marching into Ruyang County.
As the hometown of the Yuan family in Runan, as well as the hometown of some other Fanyue families, this county town is quite large, and there are relatively many troops stationed here.
It's just a pity that no one in the Yuan clan dared to stay and live with their hometown, so they all ran away with Yuan Shu. They were like insects to the entire clan.
Liu Bei had no tenderness for Chongzhi and strictly ordered Ruyang guard Chang Nu to surrender to the city. He did not have much patience and gave him half a day to think about it.
After half a day, the army will attack the city and there will no longer be any room left.
After a fierce ideological struggle, Chang Nu thought of her family who were still in Yuan Shu's hands, and reluctantly rejected Liu Bei's request.
He could die, but he really couldn't ignore his parents, wives, concubines, and children. He was not as open-minded as Yuan Shu and Li Feng thought, but he still cared about their safety.
So Liu Bei said nothing more. Those who were unwilling to surrender would be resolutely eliminated. One more day of delay would put great pressure on logistics. He led troops to surround Ruyang County and ordered an attack.
In order to siege the city, he made a lot of preparations, including various large-scale siege equipment. He prepared a lot of them, brought them here in the form of parts, and assembled them on site.
He had prepared everything from ram-chariots, ladder-cars, wells, trebuchets, and the like.
Especially the trebuchet.
Liu Bei has always regretted the loss of this most deterrent siege equipment in the pre-artillery era.
During the Warring States Period, early trebuchets appeared, but in the following years, the manufacturing skills of trebuchets were lost again, and it was not until the Three Kingdoms War that they reappeared on the battlefield.
No one knows how it was lost, or how it reappeared.
When Liu Bei was in Liangzhou, he sent people to study the trebuchet. This thing is neither simple nor difficult. A group of craftsmen fiddled with it and actually built it. After one or two years of continuous modification, it was finally formed. A man-made trebuchet with combat effectiveness.
It happened that at that time, Liu Bei discovered oil in Liangzhou, so he sent people to collect it and transport it to Jixian County. After some research, people from the ordnance industry department put the oil into jars and made them into war weapons: fierce oil tanks.
After this, the tactic of using trebuchets to throw fiery oil cans to attack cities was developed.
After a period of training, Liu Bei cultivated a group of technical troops who were proficient in using trebuchets and fire oil tanks, called artillery. Their birth represented a transcendent development in the long-range strike methods in Liu Bei's army.
Before, they had no use, but now, they have.
The erection and operation of large trebuchets take a long time. Generally, field battles do not provide this time, but siege operations can provide them with this time, allowing them to set up trebuchets calmly.
According to the current model, a trebuchet unit is operated by sixty people. After the erection is completed, the aiming operation is performed, and then manpower is used as the main driving force to carry out powerful destruction of the city.
The things launched are mainly large rocks and fire oil tanks, which can destroy the city wall, damage and deter the soldiers on the wall. In short, although it cannot directly attack the city, it is better than sending troops to attack the city directly without using anything. many.
This is also true.
When the first batch of fire oil tanks exploded at the top of Ruyang City, the sparks that followed shocked the soldiers at the top of the city. They were dumbfounded, and then they ran away with their heads in their hands.
No one wants to be covered in flames that cannot be extinguished no matter how they operate, or to be completely covered in flames and burned alive. The psychological deterrent effect of such a situation on the soldiers in the city is too great. .
So the soldiers of the Yuan army at the top of the city collapsed immediately. No matter what Changnu tried to stop him, it was useless. Even several of his soldiers were burned by the explosive flames. He was also protected by the desperate protection of his soldiers. Only then did he get off the city wall.
Subsequently, Liu Bei gave an order and the army advanced. Conventional siege equipment and siege troops arrived one after another. More and more Han soldiers boarded the city and fought with the few Yuan soldiers at the city. Gradually, Established a firm foothold at the top of the city.
Chang Nu saw that things were not going well, and immediately asked the guards to step forward to recapture the city wall at all costs. The guards did step forward to fight at all costs, but failed.
The combat effectiveness of the Han army under Liu Bei far exceeded Chang Nu's imagination. Both in terms of fighting will and skills and tactics, they were overwhelming. Although they were scattered soldiers on the city wall, they were able to quickly form a small military formation of five people. All the way forward.
This kind of hand-to-hand combat skills made it impossible for the most combat-effective personal guards under Chang Nu to stop the Han army's assault. Soon, the city wall was captured by the Han army, and the city gate was breached and opened by the Han army.
The army poured into Ruyang County.
Liu Bei's army has always been very disciplined. The army poured into the county not for destruction and destruction, but for occupation. The army quickly seized various traffic arteries and important buildings in the city, and killed the armed personnel who were still resisting. Soon Controlled the whole city.
After desperate resistance, Changnu realized that there was no way out, so he cut himself with a knife.
Liu Bei entered the city under the protection of his subordinates, arrived at the Yuan family's ancestral residence complex in the city, and then ordered them to be destroyed.
"There is no need for the traitor's ancestral home to exist anymore. Search it aside to see if there is anything else that can be used. After searching, destroy it directly."
Liu Bei's order was quickly implemented. He led his army to rest outside the city for a night. He received accurate news early the next morning. All the important things and people in Yuan's mansion had been moved away, but the move was obviously in a hurry. , a lot of belongings were left behind and were not taken away.
As for people, only the servants were left, and all the people named Yuan ran away.
Running pretty fast, but so what?
The distance from Ruyang to Pingyu County is not long. If you want to arrive, you can send cavalry and it will take two days to arrive. Before that, Yuan Shu moved and escaped in less than half a month. It took half a month. , to what extent can he manage Pingyu County?
Liu Bei didn't think this guy had any ability to fight against him. It would be better to say that it was already a dead end for him.
The eight counties, plus an army from the imperial court, totaled more than 80,000 troops. Such a large-scale war just to suppress the rebellion in one county was actually a bit overkill.
But that's not important.
As the saying goes, a war is divided into three parts military and seven parts politics.
The military purpose is very direct and decisive, but the political purpose is more long-term and has a greater impact.
A crushing war is enough to establish one's prestige in the Central Plains of Kanto. With one order, the armies of eight counties march together to crusade against rebellion, which will make the people of the world feel very different.
Victory in this war was enough to expand his prestige from Kansai to Kanto, making his identity transformation from the King of Kansai to the King of Kanto faster.
He wants the guys in Kanto to see his abilities, his appeal, and his terrifying lethality against rebels.
Completely destroying a huge family with four generations and three princes, and breaking the myth that the famous family is unbreakable, will be of great benefit to what he wants to do in the future.
As before, he never cared about the famous family, or the thousands of years of family inheritance. This was meaningless. If it needed to be destroyed, then destroy it.
Regardless of whether the other party is the Yuan family in Ruyang, Runan, or the Liu family in Zhuo County, Zhuojun County, where he was born.
Therefore, the Kanto nobles need to see their strong appeal and their powerful force, and then make the right choice.
