Sui Gu committed suicide and surrendered on May 13th. On the second day, Xiahou Dun entered the inner city and the counties of Yanzhou were stationed in outer Guo. Cao Jun opened the grain depot in the city and found that the rice stored in it was less than 10,000 dendrobium, which could support the whole city for two days at most.
The armor and weapons in the treasury have been exhausted, and only the arrow clusters are left to be replaced with new arrow shafts. It seems that we are only besieging but not attacking. I am afraid that in just more than a month, the city will be exhausted.<
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On the third day, which was May 15th, all armies began to plunder freely. Cao's army's approach was to separate countless small teams within their respective jurisdictions to collect people and gather them in places where they could be easily detained, such as the Taoist temple where they worshiped.
.Licheng is one of the cities operated by the Yellow Turbans for the longest time, and the whole city is full of Zhonghuang Taiyi temples. When Yanzhou sergeants were searching the population, they entered the houses of wealthy households and snatched toiletries and the gold and silver silk and satin they carried. In order to obtain property,
You can see the master being tortured until he died tragically everywhere.
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 Qi and Hanzhong, but now they cannot escape the fate of crazy robberies. Yanzhou soldiers with three liang of long swords, wearing
Wearing silk and satin, entering and exiting rich houses, leading wives and daughters into houses and committing adultery. People's weeping and wailing are nothing but ruthless whippings.
After the population was almost collected, the bustling streets and alleys that were usually bustling with people were now deserted. Dead people who had died of cold and starvation could be seen everywhere on the roadside corners. The Yanzhou knights galloped through the streets and alleys, and not only the dead bodies were trampled
The situation was beyond recognition, and many living people who fell on the road unable to walk were trampled to death by flying horse hooves.
The empty streets and alleys became haunted by wild dogs. It was common to see dozens of dogs biting and robbing bloody and black internal organs. In addition, it was already summer and mosquitoes were breeding. Soon, the whole city was
You can 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 roof and flew through the alleys.
Next, step on the face of the dead and peck out the eyes.
The captured soldiers in the city were mainly concentrated in the buildings in the north of the city. Regardless of the reason, the Yanzhou soldiers took out one group and massacred them first. The soldiers' wailing lasted all afternoon, thousands of people died, and the smell of blood could be heard ten miles away.
When they arrived, they felt that it was too laborious to directly kill people, so they slowly stopped. At night, some prisoners asked sadly: "Didn't we agree to be slaves? Why do we do this?" But before Cao Jun could answer, some prisoners reprimanded him.
: "Men are born between heaven and earth, and they are upright. If they break the contract, it is a villain's behavior. We will die if we wait, so why do we act 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 rush out of the north of the city and report 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 Cao's camp, he brought Liu Bei's instructions before leaving, asking him to take care of Cao's army and never do anything to show respect to others. Although this matter was related to
Cao Cao's spies were known to all the generals, so there was no plan to massacre the city in this battle. Unexpectedly, after Cao Cao surrendered in Licheng, he suddenly regretted it. Not only did he want to kill the people in the city, but he also didn't spare the people in the city.
This naturally caused an uproar among the staff.
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 Zhongming 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 massacring cities, so naturally they couldn't listen. Fortunately, there were also officials in the state capital such as Chen Gong, Wei Zhong, Zang Hong, etc.
, they were more loyal to the imperial court and dissatisfied with Cao Cao's cruel behavior. They agreed to Zhu Hao's request and made suggestions to Cao Cao. However, Cao Cao still refused to comply and only said: "The sergeants have already entered the city, how can they be allowed to do it again?"
What’s the reason? 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 captives to a ditch outside the city for burial. The next morning, a large group of wild dogs came to dig holes, and they could not be shot away with random arrows. Zhu Hao saw this tragic scene,
Speechless, he lamented privately to Chen Gong, Zang Hong and others: "Cao Cao was greedy and cruel, killing and plundering our Qingzhou people, causing Jinan to be devastated and thousands of people to die. When the general learns about it, he will say that I did something bad.
This has 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 governor of the state. 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 the general is not obeying 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 Zhengcheng want me to do?"
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 is 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 will secretly contact Zhongzhi in the state.
If you have accomplished something, 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 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 all looked solemn, and he felt confident in his heart. He turned back
He asked Chen Gongdao in a low voice: "What Gongtai said is wonderful, but how much time will it take and how many people can be won over? You need to tell me everything so that I can talk to the general."
Chen Gong lowered his head and thought for a while, 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 in as little as two months and as slowly as four months. The only thing that is difficult to defeat is 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 border envoys 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 Cao Cao notice this if you act like this?"
Chen Gong replied: "We work for the court, and 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 do not follow, Meng De is nothing more than
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 has been decided, but when they came out of the tent and saw the desolation of 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. The generals understood Cao Cao's thoughts on this trip, so they offered 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. Sometimes they performed obscenities during the day, and the sound could be heard even a hundred steps away. Cao Cao deliberately spared the life of Sui Gu's son Sui'an and asked him to wait outside the door and obey 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 soldiers 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 was even hotter, and the sun was blazing for days. Due to lack of food and clothing, many people died of starvation. Naked women could be seen dying on the roadside in the east and west of the city. Because no one collected the bodies, the rotting corpses filled the streets and
Ditch.
This scene lasted until May 23rd. Cao Cao's army plundered Licheng from top to bottom. 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 Licheng be destroyed.
Burn it down in one fell swoop so that this place will no longer become a roadblock for Yanzhou to march towards 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,
I can only keep company with the corpse 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 eclipsed by the light of the fire. Perhaps it was because of the burning of dead souls that there was such a fierce light. Licheng burned.
After a whole night and the next day, this thousand-year-old ancient city in Jinan was reduced to a ruins, and the world could only recall its past glory from the dark burn marks.