When Liu Xiu and his party entered the city, Zong Ren quickly ran down the city wall.
When he came to Liu Xiu, he asked urgently: "General Liu, how is the situation outside now? I am in Yancheng and have no information. I know nothing about the situation outside."
Liu Xiu bowed his hands to Zong and said: "More than 400,000 Mang troops have entered Yingchuan. Wang Yi has led more than 100,000 front troops and has passed Xiangcheng and is approaching Kunyang!"
Zongqi took a breath and murmured: "Our army does not have many troops in Kunyang!"
Liu Xiu said: "There are less than fifteen thousand people."
Zong Yan swallowed his saliva. With less than 15,000 people, he had to face more than 100,000 reckless troops. Can this battle be fought? He asked: "Then... what does Cheng Guogong mean? Should we fight or withdraw?"
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Liu Xiu said decisively: "Fight!"
Zong's eyes widened suddenly. He didn't expect that at such a time of near death, Wang Feng's choice was not to withdraw his troops, but to stay in Kunyang and fight to the death with the Mang army. "Then... why did General Liu come to Yancheng?
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"On the order of Duke Cheng, I went to Yancheng and Dingling to recruit troops, and then cooperated with Kunyang from both inside and outside to attack Wang Yi's troops from a flank!" Liu Xiu said sternly.
After a pause, he asked: "General Zong, how many troops and horses are there in Yancheng now?"
Zong Ren smiled bitterly when he heard this, stretched out three fingers and said: "When General Wang returns to Kunyang, he will only leave me three hundred brothers."
There were only three hundred people. Liu Xiu frowned secretly and said, "General Zong, we have to put up a notice overnight to recruit strong men in the city."
Zongji shook his head feebly and said: "During this period, there have been notices recruiting soldiers, but there are very few people who are willing to join the army."
Liu Xiu pondered for a moment and said: "We don't have much time left. Tomorrow, you and I will go to the city in person to mobilize."
Zongji didn't have much hope. If the people of Yancheng were willing to join the Han army, they would have done so long ago. Why did they wait until now?
He sighed and said, "Let's give it a try for now! In the current situation, you and I can only do our best and listen to fate."
Zongji is a person with good martial arts and decent abilities, but he has a weak temperament and is a person who can't make up his mind. He never takes the initiative when encountering problems, but is a grassroots person. He will go to whichever direction he sees the wind is strong.
fall.
His weak temper endeared him to Liu Xuan very much. Among the Green Forest Department, Zong Shi, who was not an outstanding person, was made a hussar general by Liu Xuan.
That night, Liu Xiu and others stayed in the military camp in the city. Early the next morning, Liu Xiu asked Zong Ren to invite all the heads of the noble clans in the city.
The fastest way to recruit people is to ask the local gentry to contribute. First of all, the gentry themselves control a large amount of human resources. Secondly, the gentry has a high prestige among the people, and the attitude of the gentry can also directly influence the attitude of the people.
After receiving the invitation from someone sent by Zongji, the nobles of Yancheng still showed respect, and everyone who was invited came accordingly.
Regardless of whether the Lincheng nobles have a good or bad impression of Zongji, after all, Lincheng is now under the control of the Han army, and they have to give some face to Zongji.
What the nobles in Yancheng didn't expect was that in the Han army camp, they not only saw Zong Ji, but also Liu Xiu.
In fact, the nobles generally had a wrong impression of the generals of the Green Forest Department, but on the contrary, they had a very good impression of the Liu clan.
In fact, this is easy to understand. The Green Forest Army was born in the grasslands and was at the bottom of society. After their uprising, nobles from all over the country became their key targets. Naturally, the nobles did not treat people who were from the Green Forest Army too favorably.
The internal structure of the Zhutian Army is much more complicated. There are people from low-level backgrounds like Liu Yan and Liu Xiu, as well as nobles like Liu Zhi who came from the marquis mansion.
Generally speaking, most of the Liu clan members are from the gentry clan, and their attitude toward the gentry clan is naturally soft, win-win, and united. Therefore, the gentry clans in various places have a natural affinity for the Liu clan clan, and are even very supportive.
Knowing that the young man in front of them was Liu Xiu, the clan leaders were all surprised and happy. They all bowed their hands and saluted, saying: "It turns out to be General Uncle Wen. How disrespectful! How disrespectful!"
Liu Xiu returned the courtesy to the heads of the clans and said seriously: "Xiu came to Yancheng this time because of an emergency and time constraints, so he was unable to visit you in person. Please forgive me, gentlemen."
As soon as he opened his mouth, he won the great favor of the clan leaders present and greatly benefited everyone present.
People secretly nodded. Although the Liu family members of Liu Xiu's lineage were so poor that they had to rely on farmland to make a living, they were of the bloodline of Emperor Gaozu after all. As the saying goes, a dragon begets a dragon and a phoenix begets a phoenix. The children of mice are born to dig holes. As the old saying goes, Not fake.
"Oh, General Uncle Wen is too polite. What you say is really embarrassing to us!" The noble clan leaders bowed one after another.
Liu Xiu waved her hands with a smile and said, "Gentlemen, please take a seat."
After some pleasantries, Liu Xiu recognized two relatives of the Liu family among the clan leaders, and everyone had a great time chatting with each other.
After a while, he felt that the atmosphere was good, so Liu Xiufang got to the point and said: "Wang Mang's tyranny and stupidity caused the people of the world to suffer deeply. They were displaced and starved to death everywhere. Now, the world is in chaos and all heroes have risen. Only the Han Dynasty is orthodox. , is the most popular among the people, can end the troubled times, and unify the world, but the centipede insect can't die. Now Wang Mang has sent a large army to Yingchuan, hoping to fight to the death with our Han army. At this critical moment, I hope you gentlemen can help me. I have helped the Han Dynasty and benefited the world. I am so grateful to show you here!" After speaking, Liu Xiu stood up and bowed to the ground to the heads of the clans present.
The clan leaders present looked at each other, all thoughtful.
If these words came from the mouth of the clan, they would not pay attention to them and would definitely find various excuses to make excuses. However, Liu Xiu, as a clan member of the Han Dynasty, said these words, which made people feel uncomfortable. They were deeply moved.
The chief of the Liu clan, who was acquainted with Liu Xiu, stood up and said, "General Uncle Wen has something to ask for, and we will be generous and help you!"
"Yes!" Another gentry clan leader stood up and said, "If General Secretary asks us to donate money and food, just ask!"
Liu Xiu smiled at the two of them and said: "Gentlemen, what our army is currently lacking is not money and food, but people. If you gentlemen are willing to donate your servants and slaves at home, you will be doing a great favor to our Han army." !”
After hearing this, the expressions of the clan leaders present softened a lot. For them, in troubled times, the most indispensable thing is people.
The world is homeless, and there are too many people willing to be slaves. As long as they are willing to give food to eat, will domestic slaves still worry about finding it?
The clan leaders laughed loudly and said, "What's so difficult about this? When will General Uncle Wen want someone?"
"The sooner the better!"
"I'll bring them over at noon!"
"Me too!"
"It won't take until noon. I'll bring you back as soon as I get home!"
Looking at the heads of the noble clans vying for the first place, and then looking at Liu Xiu standing with a smile on his face, the clan leader beside him felt quite uncomfortable.
Although these noble clan leaders were polite and courteous when they saw him, he could feel that they looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts.
But after they met Liu Xiu, their attitude became completely different. They were still polite and courteous, but in this politeness, there was a bit more sincerity. When they saw Liu Xiu, they felt as if they were seeing their relatives.
Such a huge difference in treatment made Zong Dian feel very unbalanced, but there was nothing he could do about it. Whether among the common people or among the nobles, the prestige of the Liu family was indeed high. In this regard, people from Green Forest were far more prestigious than those from Green Forest.
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After the heads of each noble clan said goodbye, they went back to their homes. When it was almost noon, the heads of each noble clan came to the Han army camp with their servants.
Some people brought twenty or thirty slaves, and some noble families brought six or seventy slaves.
Looking at it alone, it seems that the number of slaves brought by each person is limited, but when the few are gathered together, the number of slaves brought by all the clan leaders is more than 600.
You must know that the Han army stationed in Yancheng only had about 300 troops in total. Now with the addition of more than 600 strong slaves, the number of troops suddenly approached over a thousand.
Liu Xiu gathered these slaves at the school military field and inspected them carefully.
They all do menial work in the mansions of various noble families. Although their statures vary, they all have a certain amount of strength.
Liu Xiu casually patted a few people and felt that they were strong. He took a few steps back with satisfaction and asked loudly: "Do you know what you are here to do?"
"Submit to the army!" a brave person in the crowd replied.
"That's right! It's to surrender to the army! But not only to surrender to the army, but also to fight and fight with the Mang army!" Liu Xiu said: "Now, more than 100,000 Mang troops commanded by Da Sikong Wangyi are approaching Kunyang. I
Waiting for the Han army to fight to the death with the reckless thieves in Kunyang!"
"General Liu, do we know how many troops we have?" asked a young man of medium height and burly stature.
Liu Xiu glanced at him and said, "Including you, it's less than 20,000."
Hearing this, the slaves present whispered to each other and discussed one after another.
With less than 20,000 people, if they fight against the more than 100,000 reckless troops, isn't that asking them to die? Many people showed fear on their faces, their bodies were trembling, and their eyes kept peeking around, as if they were looking for an opportunity to escape.
Liu Xiu said slowly: "If there are some of you who are afraid of death and dare not go into battle to kill the enemy, you can stand up now, go back to your master's house, and continue to be your slaves!"
Upon hearing this, many people were overjoyed and started to walk out of the queue. The burly young man stood still and looked at Liu Xiu without blinking.
Liu Xiu continued: "Now, what is before you is an opportunity to change your destiny! Those who dare to join our Han Army will be our brothers in the Han Army from now on. The slave status on them can be written off in one stroke. In the future, in the army,
Establish your merits and honor your ancestors. Now you are afraid, greedy for life and afraid of death, so you can only go back and continue to be domestic slaves. As slaves, your children will not be able to escape from slavery. They will be slaves for generations to come. It is a risk to take a step forward.
, change your destiny, or live a humble life as a slave, greedy for life and afraid of death, you choose for yourself."
The people who had raised their feet and were about to get out of the queue changed their faces after hearing Liu Xiu's words, and slowly put their raised feet back down.
As long as there is still a way to survive, no one wants to be a slave. The reason why they were willing to be a slave in the first place was that they were so hungry that they couldn't bear it. There was really no way to survive, so they had to take this road of slavery.
Now that they have the opportunity to cancel their slave status, this is undoubtedly a great temptation for them.
The burly young man suddenly asked: "General Liu, I would like to ask, if I serve in the army, can I be promoted to a higher rank like other soldiers?"
