At dusk that day, a large number of crows flew over Licheng from the north, making a croaking noise that shook the whole city, causing all the birds in the city to sing and fly in unison. The news that Zhu'a had been breached came immediately, and the sergeants on the city wall,
The people in the city and the generals in the military tents all raised their heads in fear, looking enviously at the group of black cloud-like crows, watching them fly across Jishui as if they were fleeing, and fly to the far north. p>
At this time, Cao Jun's vanguard cavalry has already arrived at the gate of Licheng.
Before arriving at the city, Cao Cao ordered Yue Jin to lead more than a thousand light cavalry to seize the Yangtze River ferry. That night, Le Jin's cavalry arrived at the shore of Jishui at Jiuli Ferry downstream of Licheng. In the dark, the other bank could be vaguely seen hundreds of feet away.
The surging river flows eastward silently, and the north wind blows from the river, which makes people feel refreshed. Looking back at the Daishan Mountain in the south that goes straight into the sky, people feel a sense of awe in their hearts.
People found that the boats were in disorder at the ferry, but no one was guarding them. When the Qi people who were guarding heard the news, they all abandoned their boats and fled into the city. The remaining boats, which were originally intended to be used to cross the river when escaping, were all given up.
enemy.
Yue Jin's troops crossed the Jishui River at night. In order to bluff, everyone lit several torches; those crossing the river also lit countless bonfires on the north bank. After Cao Jun crossed the river, all the boats along the Jishui River were driven away
Heading to the north bank, Cao Jun sent boats to patrol along the Jishui River and arrest pedestrians. The traffic between Licheng and the north bank was cut off.
That night, I don’t know whether Cao’s army looted and burned, or whether it was the fleeing Qi people or the fleeing people who lit fires. Anyway, hundreds of houses in several villages on the south bank were on fire. The raging fire swept over the wooden archery towers, and there were thirteen outer camps in the north of the city.
And burned down. The fire reflected the night sky, and the sound of mourning was heard all over the city. This was destined to be a sleepless night, and it was just the beginning of the heavy suffering that Licheng was about to suffer.
Sui Gu, the guard general of Licheng, led his men to visit the arrow tower at the south gate of Licheng. From here, one can see a scene of intense purgatory in the north. Farther north, one can see the dots of torches at Jiuli Ferry, extending to the south bank of Jishui River.
It's the ant-like Cao Jun who is crossing the river. In the distance, on the north bank of Jishui, countless bonfires are burning in the dark night. The appearance is terrifying and despairing.
Suigu asked one of his subordinates: "Has the letter for help been sent to Hebei?" The man replied: "It has been sent several times, but the situation in Linzi is more urgent, so I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of it." Everyone heard this.
Everyone was silent. After years of fighting, the last thing they wanted to encounter was this situation: unable to protect themselves, they could only place their hopes on others, as if the years of fighting and fighting were just a futile struggle! And that year
They still have the courage and hope to fight to the death. Now, if there is no reinforcements to help them, they may indeed have only one dead end.
Early the next morning, when Suigu observed the situation below the city, he found that the city was surrounded by Cao's army. Cao's soldiers below the city had been divided into two teams, one team was digging trenches, and the other team was warning the people in the city to attack, while Cao's soldiers on the outside were
They were cleaning up the houses and ruins that were burned down last night, and black smoke was still rising from many places. Suigu noticed that one of the cavalrymen held a flag high and walked around the city through the fort. When the soldiers around him saw it, they all took the initiative
The give-and-take seemed extremely special. He guessed that it was Cao Cao's army, and he was observing his city defense layout, looking for flaws. Thinking of this, Sui Gu couldn't help but think of Cao Cao's invincibility in the past few years, and the pressure in his heart increased sharply.
In the afternoon, the sky became increasingly gloomy, and light rain began to fall at 3:00 noon. The soldiers above and below the city were working in the rain. Cao Jun repeated his old trick and sent dozens of arrow letters into the city, all of which were letters urging surrender.
, but divided into two types, one is written to Sui Gu, and the other is written to the soldiers guarding the city.
The first one is to say to Sui Gu that the overthrow of the puppet dynasty is only a matter of seconds, and it is really shameless for Sui Gu to still work for him. If Sui Gu immediately tied himself up and opened the door when the imperial master arrived,
He begged for mercy in front of the former general, and the former general might not be able to give him a way to survive, but the king's army had been here for more than a day, and he still didn't want to surrender. It was really an unforgivable crime.
However, the former general cares about the common people. As long as Sui Gu imitates General Zhu'a and sacrifices his head, the former general will not pursue the case again. Instead, he will follow Zhu'a's story and disperse the people and let them survive. Ruo Suigu is still stubborn.
If it doesn't work, the king's army will kill all the women, children, chickens and dogs in the city. Cao's army will gather the mountains of earth tomorrow. Once the mountains of earth are completed, they will be regarded as solid and rejected. At that time, Cao's army will launch a general attack.
The second part was to the soldiers who were guarding the city: You people are so ignorant that you have forgotten the kindness of the imperial court and carried out such a treasonous act. This crime and this crime cannot be washed away even if you pour all the water from all over the world. You can only be beheaded.
It was just right. But the former general cared about the suffering of the people and knew that the people were stupid and had been bewitched by traitors, and they had come to this day. So he was willing to give them a way to survive, which was to immediately throw down their swords and armor and come naked to Cao Jun.
Surrender, and then the former general will place them all in the Yanzhou camp.
If someone is unwilling to be a slave and wants to commit a crime and perform meritorious service, the former general will naturally receive a reward. Those who can get the first rank in the city can be freed from the crime and be rewarded with a thousand coins. Those who can get the head of a noble official in the city can be given a title with a reward of 100,000 coins. Those who can get the head of Sui Gu.
Those who are above the rank can be made captains and rewarded with millions of coins. If the former general is so kind, if everyone still persists in his stubbornness, the former general will kill them all, regardless of age.
Sui Gu finished reading both copies, sighed deeply, and threw them both on the table. Looking at the wet marks on the white silk, he didn't know how much of it was rain from the sky and how much was Sui Gu's.
Cold sweat on the palms of my hands.
In the evening, Cao Jun pulled the stone chariot to the city and began to throw the heads into the city. They continued to throw the heads for two hours, as if they had been raining heads for two hours in Licheng. The scene was so gloomy.
It was more than ten times more terrifying than when it was held high. As a result, the lights in Licheng were brightly lit, and the children in the city couldn't stop crying. No one could fall asleep in this situation. Some people who believed in Buddhism said: The man outside the city
Could it be that Asura is reincarnated?
But even so, the people in the city were not willing to surrender. After years of hard fighting, how many relatives died at the hands of the Han army. I have long lost count of them. I only know that every family is poor and everyone is angry. Even if they survive, they can still
How about it? Since ancient times, everyone has to die. There are so many generous and unyielding people, so death is not a terrible thing.
But Sui Gu couldn't think like this. As a defender, he led the people to survive, not to lead them to death. Under Cao Cao's successive attacks, he had completely lost confidence in defending the city. The only thing he could do was to lead the people to survive.
What we can hope for is reinforcements from the North Bank who don't know when they will come. If they don't come, their persistence will only bring disaster to the rule.
He hesitated all night, but he was still confused and undecided. Even after washing with well water several times, he could not calm down. Fortunately, Cao Jun sounded the drum sound, which finally dispersed his hesitation. Le Jin encountered some Yuan troops on the north bank of Jishui. The two sides faced off for a while, but eventually a field battle broke out. Yuan Jun only had a few hundred men, and they were backed by a swamp, making it difficult to escape. They were quickly captured by Le Jin, who had the advantage in military strength.
After interrogation, it was discovered that Yuan Jun had just received news that Licheng was under siege, so he sent these people to spy on the situation, but had no plans to rescue him.
After learning that the Licheng defenders had asked Yuan Jun for help many times, Cao Cao had an idea. He beat the drums that morning and ordered people to tie up these Yuan Jun soldiers and bring them to the city gate. He shouted into the city: "Yuan Shao is here."
We have stormed Yijing and sent people to rescue Linzi, but there is no one left. The general has even defeated Jimo, what hope do you have? And we still have 40,000 reinforcements behind us. Think about it carefully.
, If you don’t surrender, you will be the companion of the heads that entered the city last night!”
The defenders on the city were silent. In the afternoon, the city gate of Licheng slowly opened, and three knights filed out of the city gate, then dismounted. Each of them held a box of letters in his hand, bowed his head and knelt down in the mud.
Heading to the camp of Cao's army. When the officers and soldiers of Cao's army saw this, they all knew that the enemy had surrendered in Kaicheng. They immediately raised their swords and shouted "Long live the mountains". The shouts were like waves, sweeping back and forth, surrounding the silent city of Licheng, which made it even more deserted.
.
The three of them knelt for an hour, wearing out their trousers and knees, and bleeding all the way, before they finally knelt down outside Cao Cao's tent. Cao Cao was drinking with his subordinates at this time. When he learned of their arrival, he smiled at everyone and said, "My family is mourning."
The dog has arrived." So they were asked to wait outside while Dian Wei brought in three boxes of mail.
After Dian Wei moved in, he placed the three boxes in the center of the tent and opened them one by one for everyone to examine. The first box contained the head of Sui Gu with his eyes closed tightly, and the second box contained the seal of the Jinan Prefect engraved by the puppet dynasty.
The third box contained the folded Yellow Turban flag. After everyone looked at it, they congratulated Cao Cao.
Cao Cao smiled indifferently and nodded slightly to everyone. After it was quiet for a while, he gave the order to let the three people outside the door come in, intending to see who they were. But to everyone's surprise, as soon as the first person came in, Cao Cao
Suddenly his expression changed drastically and he said loudly: "No need to look, just let him come in alone."
Everyone was startled and turned their gazes over. They saw the man raising his head and saying, "Cao Ah Man, there is no need to say anything more. I will commit suicide myself. I hope you will keep your promise and not involve other people." He said.
Then, he took out a short knife from his chest and inserted it straight into his heart. All this was like lightning and flint, and no one knew why. But as soon as Cao Cao stood up, the man fell down.
Cao Cao quickly ran forward, knelt down on the dirt in front of the man, then tugged on the man's collar and hissed: "Old slave Zhang Qi! Since you dare to come, how can you die!", but that
The man closed his eyes and moved the corners of his mouth. Blood continuously overflowed from his chest and dripped on the ground. His breath quickly dissipated.
It turns out that this person is Zhang Qi, a domestic slave who betrayed the Cao family. He originally defected to Guan Hai's family. It is said that he was promoted to a military rank due to his meritorious service, but he did not know why he appeared here.
Cao Cao pulled out the short sword from Zhang Qi's chest and wanted to stab Zhang Qi again, but he failed in the end. He stood up and issued a terrifying military order to his subordinates: "How can you kill your father with revenge?"
If you don’t retaliate? How can all the evildoers in the city survive? They all deserve to die!”