Although losing a war is a sad thing, winning a war also comes with a lot of troubles.
Regarding the disposal of reduced pawns, it has always been a troublesome issue.
Historically, after Cao Cao's victory at Guandu, Yuan Shao's army surrendered nearly 100,000 soldiers, but they were all killed by Cao Cao in the end. The official explanation given by Cao Cao was a false surrender.
But if you think about it with your buttocks, you know this is impossible.
After the defeat of Guandu, Yuan Shao fled in panic with only a few hundred cavalry, abandoning all his troops. How could these abandoned ordinary soldiers pretend to surrender?
Besides, doesn't Cao Cao want to recruit these Yuan troops to enrich his troops?
The reason for the large-scale killings was simply that there was not enough food to feed them.
From a cost perspective, this is indeed a good approach. The nearly 100,000 surrendered soldiers are all living people. If you let them starve, they will definitely rebel after a long time. It is most appropriate to simply define it as a fake surrender and kill them.
But now Liu Bei is backed by the jujube coalition. As long as he can win, there is no need to worry about food.
But there is another problem, and that is quantity.
Liu Bei had only 500 men under his command. After a hard battle just now, there were now less than 300 men left. But the two groups of enemy troops who surrendered totaled 2,000 people. How are you going to integrate them?
Furthermore, not all of these surrendered soldiers were defeated by you in an upright manner, but nearly half were ordered to surrender by the general, which makes it even harder to collect.
Moreover, there are nearly 10,000 people nearby, how should you deal with them?
So after hearing Liu Bei's question, Zhang Heng fell into deep thought. After a while, he came up with a specific idea.
"What did Duke Xuande just say?"
Liu Bei thought Zhang Heng didn't hear clearly, so he repeated the words again.
"Ziyi, I just asked you, how to deal with these surrendered soldiers of Dong Zhuo's army?"
"Xuan Degong was wrong, these are not Dong Zhuo's troops." Zhang Heng said with a smile.
"What do you mean by this?"
Liu Bei frowned, a little confused.
"Dong Xuande thinks, who is Dong Zhuo?"
Liu Bei said without hesitation: "Of course he is a national traitor."
"Although Dong Zhuo is a traitor to the country, not all the soldiers under his command are traitors. In the past, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Liangzhou Rebellion, and the Wuhuan invasion, these soldiers were fighting for our great Han Dynasty. So I think that these surrendered soldiers They are not the soldiers of Dong’s thieves, but my warriors of the Han Dynasty.”
After hearing this, Liu Bei also came to his senses.
"What Ziyi means is to recruit these surrendered soldiers?" Liu Bei asked in a low voice.
Zhang Heng said sternly, "This is natural. We currently have a small number of soldiers under our command, so we can use this opportunity to increase our military strength."
If these two thousand surrendered soldiers are released, they will still be enemies when they meet in the future, which is tantamount to making enemies.
But let's kill them all. Zhang Heng and Liu Bei can't do such unscrupulous things, so it is most appropriate to recruit them.
Liu Bei's expression changed upon hearing this, "Ziyi, we only have a few hundred people, how can we collect so many surrendered soldiers?"
"Just kill the culprits, break them up and regroup, and slowly bring them home." Zhang Heng replied, "Where is the thief general who was captured alive by Yide just now? Why doesn't Mr. Xuande use him to establish his authority?"
Seeing Zhang Heng preparing to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, Liu Bei's eyes flashed with reluctance. After all, Zhang Liao was not only brave, but he was also a good commander in commanding the troops. This had been confirmed in the battle just now, which made Liu Bei develop a love for talents.
But he had to admit that Zhang Heng's approach was the right one. After hesitating for a moment, Liu Bei finally nodded.
"Okay, since Ziyi thinks it's feasible, let's give it a try."
Liu Bei waved his sleeves, and soldiers immediately brought Zhang Liao over.
Zhang Heng looked Zhang Liao up and down, a trace of regret flashed in his eyes.
Speaking of which, this man was quite a talent. Not only could he fight Zhang Fei for dozens of rounds, he was also a rare general who could command on the battlefield. It would be a pity to kill him.
But with this person here, the subordinates have a backbone. If one day this person raises his arms, these subordinates may rebel at any time, so they must not stay.
But before killing him, Zhang Heng wanted to continue to take advantage of him.
After all, he was a senior general, so it would be good to get some information about Dong Zhuojun.
"The defeated general has not yet reported his name."
Zhang Heng stood with his hands behind his hands, staring at Zhang Liao, planning to interrogate him.
Upon hearing the question, Zhang Liao subconsciously wanted to answer, but was restrained, so he could only sigh and reply: "Zhang Wenyuan of Yanmen."
"What, what did you say your name was?"
Zhang Heng's eyes were filled with shock, so much so that his voice trembled.
"If you work in a certain industry and don't change your name, and if you sit down, you don't change your surname. The same goes for Zhang Wenyuan of Yanmen!" Zhang Liao repeated it again, while emphasizing his tone.
Good guy, I thought it was just any general like a captain, lieutenant general, etc. under Dong Zhuo’s command, but who would have thought that he caught a real big fish!
Without saying anything, Zhang Heng quickly took Liu Bei and walked to a deserted place.
"Ziyi, what are you doing? Don't pull, don't pull. The soldiers are watching. How can you pull and pull like this..."
Liu Bei looked confused. This was the first time he had seen Zhang Heng lose his temper like this, but he couldn't forcefully break away, so he could only let it go.
"Mr. Xuande, this person cannot be killed."
Arriving at a place where no one was around, Zhang Heng expressed his thoughts straightforwardly.
"Why is this?" Liu Bei was a little confused.
Because this guy is Zhang Liao, you idiot!
"Mr. Only then did he succumb to the thief.
The most important thing is that this man is both civil and military and is a rare general. I hope Xuande will take advantage of him! "
Liu Bei's eyes widened, "How does Ziyi know that this person is a rare general?"
Zhang Heng's face was full of solemnity, "This is what my uncle said. My uncle once said that if this person can be reused, he will be no less than Jiangdong Tiger Sun Wentai!"
"Lieutenant Zhang really said that?"
Liu Bei was completely shocked. After all, the famous generals from the Three Kingdoms period have not yet emerged. The well-known benchmark for bravery is Sun Jian, known as the Tiger of Jiangdong.
"I dare not speak nonsense, so I ask Xuande Gong to subdue this person." Zhang Heng cupped his hands and said.
"this……"
Liu Bei smiled bitterly, feeling a bit toothache.
He was naturally attracted by the fact that Zhang Liao was, after all, a Yulin lieutenant general with a rank of two thousand shi, but he was only a Gaotang order with a rank of 1,000 shi. How could he conquer this?
Furthermore, it's still the same problem as before. With this person around, Liu Bei doesn't dare to use these two thousand soldiers at ease.
Seeing Liu Bei's hesitation, Zhang Heng continued to persuade: "Since ancient times, those who have achieved great things must put people first. Duke Xuande is determined to help the Han Dynasty. Are you prepared to abandon such a good general?"
After hearing these righteous words, Liu Bei not only was not moved, but could not help but rolled his eyes.
You were the one who just said that I wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, and now you are the one who advises me to put people first. It’s really hard for you to finish all your good words.
Liu Bei suddenly discovered that Zhang Heng's moral bottom line was flexible.
"Ziyi, didn't you just say..."
After listening to Liu Bei's concerns, Zhang Heng smiled happily.
"What kind of trouble do I think it is? It turns out to be a trivial matter like this. Duke Xuande will wait a moment and come up with some small plans to eliminate this trouble."
The reason why I was preparing to kill him was because I didn't know that this person was Zhang Liao.
Moreover, killing chickens to scare monkeys is only the cheapest, shortest and most effective method, but it is not the only method.
With people in his own hands, Zhang Heng has ten thousand ways to conquer Zhang Liao and the two thousand men under his command.
