Since ancient times, we have only seen victorious armies persuade defeated armies to surrender, and the side with more soldiers persuaded the side with fewer troops to surrender. But it has never happened that an army with 500,000 troops was persuaded to surrender. No wonder even Xiang Mo, the famous general of Chu State, tried to persuade him to surrender.
He showed a shocked expression.
After being shocked, Xiang Mo took a deep look at the young master of the Wei Kingdom at the gate tower of Zhi County, and his eyes became particularly strange.
After all, Zhao Hongrun had just admitted personally that a large part of the food and grass in his Zhi County was shipped from Suxian County. In other words, it was originally military food belonging to the Fulisai Chu Army.
Zhao Hongrun captured Suxian and took possession of the grain supplies of the Fu Li Sai Chu army. Now he used these grains to lure the Fu Li Sai Chu army to surrender. Xiang Mo couldn't bear to look at this wisdom that he didn't know whether to call shameless or wise.
If it weren't for the fact that Zhao Hongrun was from the royal court of the Wei State and was the son of the King of Wei, Xiang Mo would have had some doubts as to whether the person opposite him was actually a black-hearted businessman who specialized in making money from ulterior motives.
This is too cruel!
"..." Xiang Mo said nothing with a sullen face.
As for the tens of thousands of soldiers and generals behind him, their eyes at this moment were no longer on Zhi County, but on the hundreds of bamboo baskets hanging from the city walls.
Those bamboo baskets were filled with fragrant steamed buns - even though they were upwind at the moment, they couldn't actually smell the sweet smell of those steamed buns.
Tens of thousands of Chu soldiers, you look at me, I look at you, swallowing secretly.
You know, not two days after Xiang Mo led his 500,000-strong army to station in Fangzhong, Xiang Mo ordered the rations of his soldiers to be halved due to the food shortage in Fangzhong County.
If calculated in terms of steamed buns, a soldier could originally receive four steamed buns a day. After the ration is halved, there will be only two steamed buns. "Note: In ancient times, civilians basically ate two meals a day. This actually depends on the household.
It depends on the wealth of the family. If it is a wealthy family, such as a noble family, it is still three meals a day.』
What's even more terrible is that a few days ago, a news spread among the Japanese army, I don't know if it is a rumor, saying that in a few days, the general will again order to halve the daily rations.
If it is halved again, there will be only one steamed bun. Now two steamed buns a day make the Chu soldiers semi-starved, let alone one steamed bun a day?
"what to do?"
Tens of thousands of soldiers were in chaos.
I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly a Chu soldier dropped his weapon and rushed towards the gate of Qi County.
Seeing someone taking the lead, hundreds of Chu soldiers rushed out. They threw away their weapons and rushed to the gate of Zhi County. They grabbed steamed buns from the bamboo baskets and wolfed them down as if they had never seen food in their previous lives.
"These bastards!"
Beside Xiang Mo, Yu Ji, the attendant, was furious when he saw this. He drew out his sword from his waist and prepared to rush over and kill the soldiers on the spot.
But as soon as he took a step forward, an old soldier of Xiang Mo grabbed his arm.
The old soldier said seriously: "Don't be impulsive! ... If you hurt one person, the general's prestige will be ruined!"
Yu Ji was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he understood immediately.
Isn't that right? Xiang Mo just said that he would not decide the life and death of the 500,000 soldiers under his command. But at this moment, as Xiang Mo's general, Yu Ji killed those deserters who intended to defect to the Wei army. Wouldn't this mean that
Now, what Xiang Mo said just now were all lies?
"General..." Yu Ji looked back at Xiang Mo in confusion.
At this time, Xiang Mo was looking at Zhao Hongrun at the Zhi County Gate Tower with a complicated expression. He could vaguely see that the face of Mr. Wei was filled with a deep smile.
He immediately understood: No wonder this son had repeatedly praised him and praised him for loving soldiers as a son. It turned out to be to block his retreat.
Those hundreds of Chu soldiers had no choice but to defect to the Wei army due to hunger. If Xiang Mo still coldly ordered their execution, how could he love his soldiers like his own sons?
"It turns out the trap is here..."
A wry smile appeared on Xiang Mo's face. He shook his head calmly and said, "If anyone wants to go, let them... go."
Having said this, he sighed secretly.
Because in the contest between him and Wei Gongzi Ji Run, he lost, completely lost.
Although the reason for losing was because he had no food in his hands and his military morale was unstable, which was a non-war crime, he still lost anyway.
"Had I known this, I should have evacuated decisively."
Xiang Mo laughed to himself mockingly.
"General..."
Seeing that Xiang Mo actually wanted to let those Chu soldiers go, Yu Ji had a look of horror on his face.
He knew very well that it was not just the hundreds of people here who were tempted by the food, more people were still watching, observing General Xiang Mo's attitude towards this matter. If Xiang Mo ignored it...
Just when Yu Ji was worried, tens of thousands of soldiers behind him saw that Xiang Mo was turning a blind eye to the scene in front of him, and they became bolder. Many of them simply gritted their teeth, dropped their weapons and ran out of the array, ignoring them.
Behind him were a thousand generals, two thousand generals, three thousand generals and other officers and generals scolding and scolding him.
In just the blink of an eye, thousands of Chu soldiers gathered under Zhi County.
Among these people, those who came early were currently holding several steamed buns and devouring them, while those who came late could only look at the former eagerly.
Some Chu soldiers even raised their heads to ask for help from the Wei soldiers on the city wall, which made the latter curse in their hearts.
Why? Because the steamed buns in the bamboo baskets were originally rations given to the soldiers who defended the city. It was only because of Zhao Hongrun's idea that they became a prop to lure the Chu soldiers to surrender.
In this case, it's no wonder that many Wei soldiers secretly cursed in their hearts: More? Damn, I'm still hungry!
At this time, Zhao Hongrunzi shouted on the city wall: "Those who are willing to surrender to our army will have enough food every day! ... Those who are willing to surrender to our army should sit down and wait for a while. Those who are not willing to surrender to our army will have
Anyone, please leave on your own."
After hearing this, the Chu soldiers under the city all sat down.
Come to think of it, in front of tens of thousands of fellow soldiers, they left the team without authorization and ate the Wei army's food. How could they have the dignity to go back?
However, there was a group of people still standing.
It was not because they were unwilling to surrender, but because Zhao Hongrun on the city said again: "Today our army only recruits five thousand people, the team over there, please go back for now... It doesn't matter, you can come again tomorrow.
Join our army."
Those "extra" Chu soldiers looked at each other in disbelief, gritted their teeth, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and return to Xiang Mo's army with drooped heads.
"These bastards still have the nerve to come back!"
Seeing this, Xiang Mo's general Yu Ji was furious and couldn't help but curse.
But this time, he was not impulsive, because he had already figured out the key: although these soldiers had deserted for a time, they were forced to do so because of food. Therefore, General Xiang Mo was hindered by his previous experience.
You cannot harm these people, otherwise, you will go back on your word.
However, even though he understood the matter, Yu Ji was still a little confused and couldn't help but ask Xiang Mo: "General, I see these soldiers, they will definitely come to Qi County tomorrow and defect to the Wei army. Why did Ji Run want to do this?"
Is it unnecessary?"
"Because he wants these soldiers to spread the news that 'Wei Army has taken care of surrendered soldiers' and 'Zhi County has sufficient food' to Fangzhong's nearly half a million troops..." Xiang Mo sighed and said with a complicated expression.
.
Hearing this, Yu Ji gasped in shock and exclaimed: "This kid actually has such a big appetite!...General, since you have seen through Ji Run's trick, you must stop it as soon as possible!"
"Stop it? How to stop it? Kill these people? Or expel the army?" Xiang Mo asked with a wry smile.
Yu Ji was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that the general in front of him could do nothing in this matter.
Possibly guessing what Yu Ji was thinking, Xiang Mo sighed and said rather bitterly: "Forget it, let those who want to defect to the Wei army just let them go. It can just reduce the pressure on our army's food and fodder, and it can also remove them."
Some soldiers who are not determined to begin with..."
Listening to these words that were full of insincere meaning, Yu Ji wisely stopped talking.
He just turned around and firmly remembered the young and frail figure on the gate tower of Zhi County.
This enemy, who together with Tian Dan of Qi State conquered Qi County and forced Wu Yuan to death, was so powerful that even General Xiang Mo could not gain the slightest advantage in front of his opponent, but instead suffered a huge loss.
"One day, I will kill you and Tian Dan to avenge Wu Yuan!"
Yu Ji clenched his fists and said secretly.
At this time, Xiang Mo also took a deep look at Zhi County, turned around without any hesitation, and gave the order to retreat with some frustration.
"The whole army...retreat!"
Tens of thousands of Chu soldiers retreated silently.
It was not because they came with high morale today that they suffered a defeat. After all, during the siege, their casualties were not serious.
The problem is that after the war, the more than 5,000 Tongze soldiers actually surrendered to the enemy because of food. This was like a heavy blow to the tens of thousands of Chu soldiers.
They couldn't help but look at their neighbors to the left and right, with a trace of distrust flashing in their eyes: Will today's comrades become enemies tomorrow?
On the same day, Xiang Mo led tens of thousands of soldiers back to Fangzhong.
During this period, he deliberately bypassed the Fenxing Army's garrison position, made a large circle, and walked an extra day or two before returning to Fangzhong.
After he left the Qi County area, Zhao Hongrun kept his promise and put more than 5,000 Chu soldiers outside the city into the city, dispersed them and placed them among the defenders inside the city.
He was not worried that these soldiers would cause any trouble. After all, these people openly defected to his Wei army in front of Chu State General Xiang Mo and tens of thousands of soldiers, and could no longer go back.
The same goes for the more than a thousand Chu soldiers who were sent back to Xiang Mo's army because they exceeded the number of five thousand: although Xiang Mo would not harm the lives of these soldiers because of what he said, Xiang Mo would not trust them anymore.
.
In the next few days, Chu soldiers sneaked out from the house clock almost every day and came to Zhi County to defect to the Wei army. The Wei army accepted them all.
In just a few days, Zhao Hongrun took in tens of thousands of Chu soldiers.
Considering security issues, Zhao Hongrun appointed Nanmenyang to take charge of this army and crossed the Hui River to support the Yanling Army and Shangshui Army.
This battle was the first confrontation between Zhao Hongrun and Chu State General Xiang Mo, and finally ended with Zhao Hongrun's overall victory.
During this period, they also caught up with Xiong Wu, Lord Guling, and his 80,000 troops.