Zhang He and Xin Ping still stood on the city with the greatest hope, looking at the dense crowd from a distance.
In their field of vision, from the vast plain on the south bank of Dongfang Huan River, starting from the visible horizon, countless ant-like black dots seemed to occupy the entire world and began to move slowly towards this side.
The plain is not smooth, nor is it endless. There are also some jungles, river tributaries, hills and some low and high slopes, which occasionally obscure their view.
But it is precisely this that makes people frightened, because no one knows how many people are hidden behind those hills and jungles. They don’t know whether these people are Yan Liang Wen Chou’s army. All the unknowns are frightening. .
It took almost six quarters of an hour, from four quarters of twilight to three quarters of sunrise, that is, from four to five thirty, that the clouds that seemed to cover the sky finally arrived at Anyang City. outside.
At the same time, in Zhu Jun's camp, horns rang across half the sky. Countless Luoyang troops began to move outside the camp. They pushed the equipment they were preparing to use to attack the city and carried the ladders in their hands. The trench bridges and high oars were pushed out, along with countless wells.
When those people finally arrived about a stone's throw outside the city, Zhang He and Xin Ping on the top of the city were already in despair. In fact, they had been in despair a quarter of an hour ago, because more and more evidence showed that the newcomers It’s not Yan Liangwen’s ugly army at all.
First there is the issue of steel armor, and then there is the attitude of Zhu Jun’s camp. If Yan Liang and Wen Chou came, how could Zhu Jun’s camp assume a posture of attacking the city? There are 20,000 to 30,000 people in the city and 40,000 outside the city. Man, how dare he?
Faced with a series of evidence, Zhang He and Xin Ping no longer had any hope. However, they still stood on the top of the city with their eyes as big as bells, looking forward to a miracle that would ignite their hope.
It's a pity that the miracle never came.
The big flag with the word "Guan" stood like this under the city head, and countless bright black armors crowded in front of the formation. What was even more frightening was that it was not until they got closer that they could clearly see that they were surrounded by a large number of Luoyang troops. Where are the crowds and the troops marching in formation.
They were clearly groups of captives who were being tied up and driven away. They were crying, begging for mercy, screaming, numb, and in pain. No one knew what kind of fate they would face. They were just like groups of animals, being tied up and abandoned. Outside the city.
Zhang He and Xin Ping looked out of the city with expressionless faces. It is precisely because their expressionless faces are the most wonderful expressions. Because they don't know what expression to use to face such a situation, whether they should be painful or sad. ?
They also didn't know why Yan Liang Wen Chou failed, but they knew what would happen next - nothing more than killing all the surrendered soldiers one by one in front of them.
There are countless such things, let alone the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, even the Pre-Qin and Pre-Han Dynasties. Human beings are praying for a bloody peace in the most barbaric way.
"Are they trying to kill prisoners?"
Zhang He asked with a hoarse voice and an uncertain tone: "They don't really want to do this, do they?"
He hoped that Xin Ping could give him a negative answer, but Xin Ping's words made him even more desperate. He said: "Throughout the ages, have there been few cases of killing prisoners in front of the formation and under the city to frighten the enemy?"
So Zhang He fell silent, and after a while he said with red eyes: "What should we do? Just watch them kill them? These are our good men in Jizhou, and there are many children of various wealthy families in the army. Do you want to watch them die?"
"Then what else can we do? Do you want to open the city gate and go out to rescue them? Stop dreaming, haven't you seen that Zhu Jun's army has pushed out all the siege equipment?"
"No matter what, I have to give it a try."
"Junyi, calm down! If you go out now, you will be dead. Guan Yu's army plus Zhu Jun's army have a strength of no less than 60,000. With just the few people in our city, if we go out, we will only die."
Xin Ping tried his best to persuade them. They didn't have enough manpower to begin with, and they could barely hold on to the city, let alone go out and fight the Luoyang army to the death.
However, Zhang He became even more furious when he heard what he said. He stared at him with scarlet eyes: "How can I be calm? You are from Yingchuan and have not a close relationship with Jizhou, but my whole family is in Hejian. If all the major families Knowing that I will not save you, how do you think I will die? How will the family survive?"
Xin Ping said nothing.
He is from Yingchuan and does not have a close relationship with the Jizhou family.
But Zhang He himself was a descendant of a noble family and a native of Jizhou, and had interactions with all major noble families.
There are probably many children of aristocratic families in the outside army. Because Yuan Shao valued aristocratic families, many main members of the aristocratic families held important positions under him, and many of the other branches served as the backbone of the army.
If those aristocratic families knew that Zhang He refused to save him, they would probably chop him alive. The Zhang family in Hejian would probably be expelled from the Jizhou aristocratic family!
"Let's take a look first and then talk."
Xin Ping let out a long sigh. He knew Zhang He's difficulties, but he must not open the city gate to go out now.
The two were arguing when a cavalryman from the Luoyang Army rushed over and shouted at the foot of the city: "People in the city, listen, Yan Liang and Wenchou have been killed by our general. If you don't want to end up with them, just Come out quickly and surrender, at least there is a way to survive."
"call out!"
Xin Ping quickly snatched the bow and arrow from the archer beside him and shot an arrow at the cavalryman.
The literati of the late Han Dynasty were not easy-going people. It was a common thing to mount a horse and fight. Even though Xin Ping was a counselor under Yuan Shao's tent, he could still fire a crossbow with a single stone.
The arrow shot towards the knight like a meteor. Unexpectedly, the knight was pretty good and raised his sword to chop down the arrow.
The short-range speed of arrows is no different from that of bullets fired from the barrel. Although the two sides are more than twenty feet away and the arrow's lack of stamina causes the speed to slow down, it is already remarkable to be able to chop an arrow with a knife.
This wonderful operation attracted applause from the Luoyang army in the distance.
The knight at the bottom of the city was Guan Ping. Seeing that the people in the city did not surrender, but responded with bows and arrows, he immediately laughed loudly and said: "The two armies are fighting and they don't kill the envoys. Is this how your Jizhou army acts like a surprise attack on the envoys?" ?”
Xin Ping sneered and said: "Don't you also claim that the imperial court is orthodox, but you want to kill prisoners in the city, and you still have the nerve to speak up to me?"
"Who told you we were going to kill prisoners?"
Guan Ping was puzzled, then turned his horse and left without looking back.
"Not beheading the prisoners?"
Zhang He and Xin Ping were shocked by the news. If they didn't kill the prisoners, why did they take all the prisoners to the city?
Is it possible...
Do they want to put all these people back?
For a moment, neither of them knew what to say and stared blankly outside the city, wondering what the Luoyang army was going to do.
After Guan Ping came back, he said to Chen Mu: "Fourth uncle, they refuse to surrender."
"Not expected."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Although Zhang He's courage was broken by me, the Zhang family is also from a wealthy family in Jizhou. He has fundamental concerns and will never surrender unless it is absolutely necessary."
Guan Ping glanced at Zhu Jun's army, which was slowly approaching in the distance, and said: "Fourth uncle, my father is leading the army over and will be at the city gate soon. Shall we release the prisoners now and prepare for a decisive battle with the Jizhou army?"
Guan Yu has now returned to Zhu Jun's camp to command the troops there. He has lost Zhu Jun as his backbone. Although it is still peaceful there, the generals are not under each other's control, so they cannot act like an arm and a leg. Naturally, he needs a person with sufficient prestige. People used to command the overall situation and lead the army in battle.
Chen Mu raised his head and glanced at the sky, nodded and said: "Ask the soldiers to mobilize all the prisoners and tell them that the Qingzhou Army is a benevolent and righteous army and will never kill prisoners. So let them go back to the city today. They can run fast." Live fast.”
"good."
Guan Ping reined in his horse and walked back.
soon.
The sound of "dong dong dong dong" war drums sounded.
Officers at all levels of the Luoyang Army raised their knives and walked towards the queue of prisoners. The prisoners were so frightened that they cried for their fathers and mothers and huddled together. If their hands and feet were not trapped together by ropes, they would have wanted to rush and escape.
"Don't make any noise!"
Guan Hai banged the gongs and drums fiercely, looked at them fiercely and shouted: "We, Duke Liu of Qingzhou, are benevolent and righteous kings. We never kill prisoners, but if you continue to disobey, I will kill them all."
Although his voice was not as loud as Zhang Fei's, it was not loud either. It radiated dozens of meters around him, causing the prisoners around him to at least slowly quiet down.
"Be honest, I'm not going to kill you. What are your names?"
"You, and you, try calling me again?"
"How dare the Jizhou Army have so much courage? They were so scared that they peed their pants. Look at your virtue. If you are a man, just stand up."
The officers around him followed suit and began to threaten and scold him.
The 20,000 Jizhou troops outside the city were like a huge open-air market. They were frightened half to death by the actions of the Luoyang army officers before. They were jostling one after another, and some of them were even scared to the point of making feces and urine. A foul smell permeated the surrounding area.
This kind of commotion lasted for almost half an hour. It was not until the evening, when the sun began to set, that the Jizhou Army calmed down with the comfort of officers at all levels.
Guan Hai looked around and saw that the entire plain outside the city was completely silent, with countless densely packed figures basically crouching on the ground, waiting for their fateful decision.
He glanced at Chen Mu, who looked back at him. Guan Hai nodded, raised the knife in his hand, and aimed at one person to chop.
Whoosh!
The machete quickly slashed through the ropes that bound the man, cutting off the ropes that bound him.
Guan Hai shouted to him: "You are free, come into the city quickly."
"ah?"
The first prisoner who was let go still stood there, in disbelief.
But Guan Hai was too lazy to pay attention to him. In fact, what was cut off was the leg ropes holding each other, not the hand ropes binding his hands.
So in fact, even if they were let go, their hands would still be tied together, and there would be no chance that Jizhou soldiers would suddenly snatch the sword from the Luoyang army and cause casualties to the Luoyang army.
However, no one expected that the butcher's knife they thought would come at all. Although the Jizhou military officers had just said they would let them go back, how many people could have naively believed it?
For a moment, the released prisoners looked at each other in confusion.
These people were not all bundled together and divided into several arrays. Each array had about two to three thousand people. When they were released, they were also released in batches.
It is impossible to release all 20,000 people at once. Not only that the Luoyang Army will have to send more manpower, but once they start running, it will easily cause collisions and cause casualties to the Luoyang Army.
The more than 3,000 people who were released first stood there and did not dare to move, for fear that the Luoyang army was just playing tricks on them.
Guan Haicai didn't bother to play riddles with these people, so he kicked the person at the front: "Get out!"
The man somersaulted, rolled and crawled up from the ground, then staggered and started running.
People have a herd mentality. People in the front don't dare to run, and even those in the back who are brave don't dare to be the first. Because when you are crowded in a crowd, even if you have the courage to run, you have to consider those around you.
The butcher knife in the hands of the Luoyang army.
But as the people at the front began to rush forward, the people behind naturally began to follow them. Soon, more than 3,000 people were like a rolling torrent, and Sayazi began to head towards Anyang.
After the release of the first group of people, there were immediately the second and third groups. With the previous people as examples, all the Jizhou prisoners believed that the Luoyang army really wanted to release them.
A sea of more than 20,000 people crowded forward, like a terrifying wave crashing towards Anyang City.
Zhang He on the top of the city was overjoyed and screamed: "Open the city gate, open the city gate quickly!"
"Don't drive!"
Xin Ping shouted fiercely and stopped the soldiers who were about to open the city gate.
"Xin Ping!"
Zhang He turned his head, called him by his name, and said angrily: "Are you sick? These are my sons from Jizhou. Do you want them to die?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Xin Ping didn’t want to quarrel with him, so he pointed to the west and said, “See for yourself!”
Zhang He looked over and suddenly broke into a cold sweat.
At some point, Zhu Jun's army had approached the west gate of Anyang. Countless siege equipment were moving towards the city. The soldiers who came to report the news were still shouting loudly to remind him.
"Look here again!"
Xin Ping pointed to the east again.
Zhang He turned around and looked back, and saw that behind the defeated troops in Jizhou, Guan Yu's army was quietly following behind. Once he opened the city gate and let the soldiers in, I'm afraid Guan Yu's army would never miss this opportunity... ..
"this......"
For a moment, Zhang He was stunned, what should he do now?
The prisoners outside the city quickly rushed to the city. Seeing that the city was not open, they immediately shouted loudly outside the city, asking them to open the city gate and let them in.
Twenty thousand people shouted in unison, and began to yell and curse impatiently. All kinds of vulgar words were heard constantly.
"You should all run for your lives, I won't let you in."
Xin Ping shouted coldly.
An officer who was closest to the city recognized him with sharp eyes, and immediately screamed: "Xin Ping, we have been hungry all day, where do you want us to escape? Is it okay to cross the river? Going south, do you want us to starve to death?" If I die, our Bohai Gao family will never let you go!"
"Xin Ping, if you let us in, I, the Zhang family of Qinghe, will definitely remember your kindness!"
"Yes, let us in quickly."
There were several middle-level officers from well-known families in the city. They were all shouting. Some were saying good things, while others were saying bad things. They had all kinds of good things to say, and they just wanted him to open the door.
However, Xin Ping was determined to ignore them, and even said with an indifferent expression: "Archers, prepare!"
"Xin Ping, you are crazy!"
Zhang He stopped calling his cousin, pushed him hard and scolded him: "You actually want to shoot our soldiers to death? Do you know what Duke Ming will do to us if he finds out?"
Xin Ping smiled sadly: "It's nothing more than a dead ear!"
There are many sons of aristocratic families serving as mid-level officers in the Jizhou Army here. Although most of them are from side branches, the accumulated strength is such that even Yuan Shao may not be able to withstand it.
If we look for scapegoats at that time, Xin Ping and Zhang He are undoubtedly the best choices.
However, the problem is that Xin Ping is not from Jizhou, his family is not in Jizhou, and he also has a younger brother Xinpi. He died on his own and would not affect his family.
Zhang He is different. He is a native of Jizhou and his family is in Hejian. Once he is hated by the major families in Jizhou, it will not only be him but also his entire family who will suffer.
Therefore, Zhang He immediately sneered and said: "You Xin Ping is dead, and it won't harm your family anyway. Then have you ever thought about my family?"
Xin Ping pointed to the outside of the city and said, "See for yourself, if you don't shoot, more people will die when the city is destroyed."
Zhang He looked outside.
I saw that behind the Jizhou prisoners, countless Luoyang troops were slowly approaching.
They did not have many siege equipment, only ladders.
But this is enough.
The best way to deal with the ladder is rolling stones, wood, and bows and arrows. But with so many Jizhou soldiers outside the city, who dares to shoot arrows?
The enemy is clearly coercing these Jizhou soldiers and using them as shields to attack the city!
"Even so, you can't shoot arrows..."
Zhang He's attitude suddenly softened, and he was faced with a dilemma, leaving him unsure of what to do.
But at this time, Xin Ping's eyes were already red, and he shouted: "Don't forget, I am the supervisor. If you don't obey the order, do you believe I will kill you on the spot?"
"you!"
Zhang He was furious.
Xin Ping said: "Fire the arrow!"
"Don't let it go!"
"Come here, arrest Zhang He!"
"Xin Zhongzhi, how dare you!"
"Catch him!"
Xin Ping roared angrily, and the guards around him had no choice but to go up and detain Zhang He.
During the Battle of Guandu, Guo Tu served as the supervisor of Zhang He and Gao Lan, forcing them to storm Cao's camp. After the attack failed, he immediately passed the blame to the two, forcing them to surrender to Cao.
Except for Yan Liang and Wen Chou, Yuan Shao did not trust the other generals and often asked his own advisers to serve as supervisors to monitor them.
Now Zhang He was captured by Xin Ping.
"Damn it, Xin Zhongzhi, you will regret it, you will definitely regret it!"
Zhang He was still screaming when he was taken down.
Xin Ping looked at the archers around him coldly and said fiercely: "Fire the arrows, do you hear me? Do you want to be killed by the Luoyang army after the city is broken?"
"Fire the arrow!"
The archers at the top of the city had no choice but to shoot arrows.
"Xin Ping, you are dead!"
"Xin Ping, I'm going to fuck you, my father will not let you go!"
"There is also Zhang He. If you don't save Zhang He, you are just a dog. It is in vain that our two clans are still aristocratic!"
The arrowheads fell like raindrops and shot into the crowd of prisoners in Jizhou. There were countless screams and the prisoners ran away with their heads in their hands, shouting and cursing themselves.
At this time, Zhang He had not been dragged far away. When he saw the arrows flying out from the top of the city, he suddenly felt that the sky was dark and the earth was dark, and he almost fainted.
At this moment, both Xin Ping and Zhang He had offended countless Jizhou aristocratic families and wealthy families.
If Yuan Shao does not want his foundation to collapse and continues to gain the support of these people, I am afraid that the only way to extinguish public anger is to kill them!
This.
This is also the most desperate point about Zhang He!