Seven days later, Liu Ling's army arrived outside the south gate of Huaizhou in a mighty manner. The highest commander of the Huaizhou garrison was Ouyang Hui, the governor of Huaizhou County. He was a civil servant and was not good at military affairs. The important task of commanding the defense was actually to fight against the enemy.
On the shoulders of the commander-in-chief Ji Fei. But this Ji Fei had never been in a war before, and he was helpless in the face of the Han army pouring into the city like a surging tide.
After Liu Ling's army arrived outside Huaizhou City, they were not in a hurry to attack the city. He ordered the soldiers to set up camp, and then sent someone to shoot a letter of persuasion to surrender. He agreed to give Ouyang Hui two days to consider it. After two days, if Ouyang did not get
Hui's message was regarded as a refusal to surrender. After the Han army broke through the city, all government officials were killed without mercy. This threatening letter made Ouyang Hui and Ji Fei feel on pins and needles and almost contemplated suicide.
In the mansion of Huaizhou County Magistrate, Ouyang Hui couldn't control the anxiety in his heart and walked back and forth in the living room in a hurry.
"Yongxian, you have an idea, you will just sit there and sigh!"
Ouyang Hui suddenly stopped and looked at Ji Fei, who was sitting on the chair absentmindedly.
Ji Fei, whose courtesy name is Yongxian, is from Tangzhou. He is thirty-seven years old this year and has been an official in Huaizhou for more than seven years. He was promoted to the position of county magistrate just before Pei Zhan went north. Although he was appointed
Although he was a military official, he was actually a scholar. When Ouyang Hui asked him to come up with ideas, he was actually more confused than Ouyang Hui.
"Sir... I can't think of any way."
Ji Fei said with a bitter face: "Now the Han army is besieging the city with a hundred thousand troops. We are surrounded by Huaizhou like an iron barrel. Not even a fly can fly out. Even if we send people out to ask for help, we can't get out."
Ouyang Hui glared at Ji Fei fiercely and said: "Asking for help? Who are you asking for help from? The king of Zhou is far away in Jizhou to quell the chaos. They are thousands of miles away. Even if the king of Zhou wanted to save him, it would be too late! Besides, that guy Wu Zi from Zhengzhou, he is eager for the Han army to attack us.
As for Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou will be as safe as Mount Tai!"
Ji Fei tentatively asked, "How about I send more people to the east to ask for help?"
Ouyang Hui said angrily: "Counting on Li Tianfang? It's better to count on ourselves! Ever since Jizi Camp was destroyed by Liu Ling, King of Han Dynasty, Li Tianfang has become a turtle! He has now made up his mind to only hold on to Dongdu.
But, I don’t care about your life or mine. Besides, you and I are not close confidants of the King of Zhou, so why does Li Tianfang send troops to save you and me?"
Ji Fei said with a sad face: "What should we do? There are only five thousand county soldiers in Huaizhou City now, and they are all old and weak soldiers. They say that Liu Ling, the king of Han Dynasty, was victorious in every battle and was invincible. With these five thousand old and weak soldiers, he could
How can we defend it? Sir...how about you?"
Ji Fei glanced at Ouyang Hui: "How about we surrender?"
Ouyang Hui sat weakly on the chair and sighed: "Surrendering is not an option. We don't have the strength in our hands, and even if we are surrendered, we will not be reused by the King of Han. Moreover, we are newly surrendered, and we will not be assigned any official positions."
Come and do it. When the time comes, we will send you and I back to our hometown. It will be a waste of time. If we open the city and surrender when the Han army first comes, maybe the King of Han will take it more seriously. If we surrender now, we will be forced to do so.
If we surrender, I'm afraid that the King of Han will not tolerate us. It's all your fault! Talk about waiting and waiting. If we had opened the city gate early, why would we have this trouble today!"
Ji Fei scolded Ouyang Hui a few times in his heart, thinking that it was you who said wait and see, but today you blame me instead. It's just that this official level is overwhelming, and Ji Fei is promoted again.
The county magistrate does not have the strength to contradict Ouyang Hui, so he deserves to be obedient and only say nice things.
"It's up to you, your lord, to make the decision. I will obey your lord's instructions in everything I do."
Ji Fei had no choice but to kick the ball back. Ouyang Hui picked up the tea cup and put it down, stood up and continued walking back and forth on the ground. He repeatedly calculated in his mind whether to surrender or to hold on. If he surrendered, he could change
What kind of future is there? If he insists on defending, can he hold on and hold on until reinforcements come to save him? But as he just analyzed, after much deliberation, he can't think of anyone else who is willing to save him now. Zuo Wuwei
General Han Yizhi is not far from Huaizhou, but Han Yizhi has been frightened by the Han army. He immediately hid wherever the Han army went, fearing that he would come into contact with the Han army again. It would be better to expect him to come to rescue Huaizhou
He hoped that Thunder God would show his power and use thunder and lightning to kill all the Han troops outside the city.
"You said, the Han army clearly has the strength to conquer Huaizhou, why do they give you and me two days to think about it?"
Ouyang Hui asked.
Ji Fei thought for a while and replied: "Liu Ling, the king of Han, probably didn't want to waste his fighting power. After all, as long as he attacked the city, there would be damage. The goal of the king of Han should be north of the Yellow River to seek bad luck for King Pei of Zhou. We in Huaizhou are just
I was unlucky to be in the way of someone else's army, so I just took advantage of it."
Ouyang Hui's eyes lit up: "Yes!"
He slapped his thigh and said, "The King of Han, Liu Ling, must have been afraid of losses in attacking the city, so he sent a letter to the city asking you and me to surrender. If we surrender, Liu Ling will not let us go even if he doesn't. But.
If we insist on defending, if the casualties of the Han army are too great, Liu Ling will not be able to bear it, maybe he will bypass our Huaizhou?"
Ji Fei praised: "Sir, you are indeed wise! Liu Ling wants to go north to fight the king of Zhou, and he will definitely not want to waste too many troops in our small Huaizhou. So as long as we defend, the Han army will lose too much, and the gain will not be worth it.
, I don’t think Liu Ling will really abandon the city and leave!”
Ouyang Hui said proudly, stroking his beard, "There's one more thing you didn't think of."
Ji Fei said: "Please make it clear, sir."
Ouyang Hui stroked his beard and smiled and said: "If we surrender without a fight, the King of Han will look down on us. If we defend the city for a few days and we surrender again, then Liu Ling, the King of Han, will think highly of us when he sees our abilities.
point!"
Ji Fei sincerely praised: "You are still thoughtful, sir. It's true."
"only……."
Ji Fei opened his mouth but stopped talking.
Ouyang Hui asked: "Just what?"
Ji Fei sighed: "It's just that the scale is hard to measure! If we fight too hard and the Han army suffers too much loss, it will arouse the anger of the Han king. If he really attacks the city regardless of it, once the city is broken
If so, my lord and your subordinates, I’m afraid they won’t even be able to leave a whole corpse in the end, right?”
Ouyang Hui was stunned for a moment, then sat down with a dejected expression.
"You can't fight but you can't fight, and you can't surrender easily. What should we do?"
After thinking for a while, Ouyang Hui stood up suddenly and said: "Fight! I heard that the King of Han loves talents most. If you and I can impress him by defending the city, I believe Liu Ling will not be willing to kill you and me! Since it is a dilemma
, let’s take a gamble! Which of the two evils is the lesser, if you lower it, you can at least save your life, and if you work hard, you can have a good future!”
Ji Fei was just waiting for Ouyang Hui to make up his mind. Hearing the governor's anger, he had no choice but to agree and said, "Then let's go and rectify the military equipment. Let the Han army suffer some hardships first!"
Ouyang Hui nodded and said: "You go quickly, I will go to boost the morale of the soldiers later!"
After Ji Fei left, Ouyang Hui thought for a moment and wrote a righteous reply to Liu Ling. The general content was that he was deeply favored by His Majesty the Emperor of Zhou and also won the trust of His Majesty the King of Zhou. As a minister,
We have the responsibility to protect our land, and we must not abandon our righteousness for the sake of selfish gains. Even if I die, I must repay His Majesty the Emperor of Zhou for his kindness! If His Highness the King of Han is willing to fulfill my loyalty, then there is no need to persuade me to surrender and let go.
Come and attack. Even if I fight to the last soldier, I will not live in vain!
After finishing writing, he sent his confidants to build a hanging basket from the top of the city and go to the Han army camp to reply to Liu Ling. At the same time, he also gave his confidants a task, which was to observe the behavior of Liu Ling, the king of Han Dynasty.
What happened? His confidant was a brave man. After receiving the reply, he got off the city and went straight to the Han army camp. When he arrived outside the camp, he was tied up by the patrolling Han army and sent to Liu Ling's house.
In the big tent, even though he was so bold, he smelled like urine.
Liu Ling laughed loudly after reading Ouyang Hui's reply, and said to Ouyang Hui's confidant: "Go back and tell your family that Gu Cheng has fulfilled his loyalty."
After the confidant left, Liu Ling handed Ouyang Hui's letter to his subordinates to read. Liu Ling Hualing said, "What do you think of this person?"
Hua Ling read the letter and said, "He is quite a courageous person."
Liu Ling was noncommittal and asked Zhao Erdao: "What are you willing to do?"
Zhao Er cupped his fists and said, "Looking at this person's words, he is indeed very courageous."
Liu Ling looked at Hua Ling again. Hua Ling thought for a while and said, "Just looking at this letter, this person does have some loyalty. Not many people can do this when they are trapped in an isolated city."
Liu Ling smiled and said: "If he was really a loyal person, would he still reply to the letter? Look at the words in the letter. They seem to be upright and awe-inspiring, but in fact they are groveling. He is gambling, and he is just trying to find ways to add a chip of loyalty to himself.
It’s just a chance to get a better future!”
Liu Ling thought to himself, loyalty? A truly loyal man is a man of iron bones like Shi Kefa! Yangzhou was besieged by the Manchu Tatars, and Dorgon's younger brother, King Duduo of Yu, wrote five times to persuade Shi Kefa to surrender, but Shi Kefa didn't even open the letter.
!The city of Yangzhou was destroyed, and Shi Kefa committed suicide but was captured. Duduo personally persuaded him to surrender, but Shi Kefa refused to surrender. Duduo said, "Young Master, Hong Chengchou?" It means that as long as you surrender, you will not be able to enjoy high-ranking officials like Hong Chengchou.
Seeking all the glory and wealth. Shi Kefa said: "I just want to die!"
This is true loyalty!
Liu Ling sneered in her heart, like a clown, she was also pretending in front of me. Since you want to pretend to be loyal, then I will help you and let you pretend until you die! (To be continued)
