Chapter 13: Say the surrender

After hearing Cao Chong's talk, Deng Zhan nodded and smiled, "Young Master, this is okay. Fifty people have been selected and can form a team in one team. If you don't worry, I will take it to your husband. Their martial arts foundation is very good, and they fight and practice, and they will make faster progress. They will have a small success in a month. They can't find such opportunities. As for the other masters, they will also follow the army together and hurry up and train. I think it's fast."

When Cao Chong heard this, he smiled, but said, "Master, you are a general and a marquis. How can you be the leader of a guard for me? It's too noble." Deng Zhan laughed loudly and bowed and bowed, "Young Master's words are beyond my mind. Deng Zhan feels honored to be a guard for the young master, let alone a guard leader."

Several people joking for a while, Cao Chong asked someone to inform Le Jin. When Le Jin heard that he didn't want him to send troops to help, he felt a little uneasy and came over to ask for instructions in person. Cao Chong smiled and said, "You have suffered a lot in Wulin this time. The newly added troops are not as familiar as before, let alone mountain battles. Although my number of tiger soldiers is not large, with the help of the Kuai family, I believe that there is no problem to solve the problem of hundreds of mountain citizens. Of course, if you don't ask General Zhe Chong to take action, it is not to let the general be idle. The general will train troops in Xiangyang. As soon as I come back, you will have something to do."

Cao Chong said the arrangement he had discussed with Pang Tong and others. When Le Jin heard it, he understood it. He stopped talking and bowed: "As the young master's instructions, I will speed up the training of troops now. Then I will take Linju and go straight to Yiling." He paused and said: "The sect, Le Chi, admires the young master, and wants to make contributions with the young master, but I don't know the young master..."

Cao Chong laughed when he heard this. This music was brave and brave, quite happy, and had a family style, and was both literary and martial. He was indeed a talent. He smiled and joked: "Xuanyu is both civil and military, and is better than blue than blue. General Le didn't bring him by his side, but let him follow me. How could he bear to?"

Le Jin laughed: "This prince's eyes are higher than the top, but he is convinced by the young master. The young master jumped into the stream and fought in the stream, and fought for nearly a hundred miles overnight. The battle between Liu Bei and Sun Ben made 6,000 troops unsteadily. To be honest, not only the younger generation admired him, but also those of us who have been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years and have some experience are convinced."

Cao Chong was blushed by his praise and shook his hands repeatedly. Le Jin said a few more words and walked away. In less than half an hour, Le Jin brought two personal soldiers to report excitedly. He was familiar with Xu Yi, Dianman and others, and now he is working under Cao Chong together, so he naturally gets closer. That afternoon, Kuai Jing brought more than 100 soldiers to Cao Chong, and Cao Chong had 200 tiger soldiers. In addition, Deng Zhan's nearly 400 personal soldiers, more than 400 people took a large ship led by Wen Pin to the west along the Han River, Zhuyang in Nanyang County, and rushed to Fangling.

In the middle of the night, Cao Chong received an urgent letter from someone sent by Huang Zhong. They had finished training and were about to return to the city. When they received news from Cao Chong who sent someone to send him to Fangling, they had turned to force him to Fangling from the mountain road, and they were probably going to enter Fangling County in two days. Cao Chong was overjoyed. With the help of these thousand iron troops, he had no worries about this matter. But he was a little surprised. Didn’t he say that the food was used up and was about to return to the city to replenish supplies, but suddenly he didn’t go back to the city. How to solve the problem?

The soldier who sent the letter smiled and said, "Young Master Mo You, when General Huang and General Wei were training us in the mountains, we would have to be hungry for one or two days apart ten days. Each of them only gave me a cake and had to rush in the mountains with full arms. There were up to two days from the base to Fangling. There were three days left for the food a few days ago. It was enough to be more far. We could all arrive and we could start fighting immediately."

Cao Chong looked at the soldier who was dark and thin, but full of confidence, full of energy, and a smile on his face, and couldn't help but be surprised. He turned around and smiled at Pang Tong, "Look, Han Sheng and Wen Chang do have the same trick. This soldier is not even afraid of being hungry. Haha, good, go back and tell Han Sheng and the others that this time, the young master will treat you to a meal."

"Thank you, young master." The soldier turned over and bowed.

"Oh, what are you thanks? You haven't fought yet." Cao Chong laughed.

"Young Master, please rest assured. This thousand of us are working hard for a month and are waiting for the opportunity to make contributions. If we don't need us to wait for this battle, we will win. "The soldier said loudly: "Young Master, please rest. The villain will rush back to the army to promote the young master's good intentions."

Cao Chong looked at the dark river outside and said worriedly: "You must be careful when rushing the mountain road at this night."

"Thank you for your concern, the little man is here." The soldier gave a salute again, turned over and out of the cabin, and disappeared in a flash. After a while, Dian Man walked in and smacked his lips and said, "I don't know how Han Sheng and Wen Chang practiced, but they could actually practice this group of northerners to adapt to the mountain roads than southerners. The soldier was walking fast on the mountain road, and even the capable man invited by the young master nodded repeatedly."

Cao Chong and Pang Tong looked at each other and laughed, and felt relieved, and fell back to sleep.

At the time of Chen, the boat arrived five miles outside Fangling City. Wenpin personally entered the cabin to wake up Cao Chong, pointing to the mountains outside with yellow ridges exposed in the morning light and said, "Young Master, you can go ashore from here and walk five miles to Fangling County. This boat can only reach here, and you will be exposed when you go further."

"It's time to do it." Cao Chong got up, finished washing up quickly, and got off the boat with his men. While the team was being on the shore, Wen Pin rushed to Cao Chong with a young man in a helmet and armor and said, "Young Master, this is Wenhou, my junior of my clan, who has been in Fangling for many years. He is quite familiar with this place. He also has a relationship with the Shen brothers. He is willing to return to his post and listen to his post."

Cao Chong looked at Wen Hou and saw that he had thick lips and a simple and upright look on his face. He nodded: "It's better."

Wen Pin was overjoyed and quickly pushed Wen Hou to Cao Chong: "Zi Chun, I haven't thanked you yet." Wen Hou heard this, smiled silly and bowed to show his respects. Cao Chong quickly helped him up and made an appointment with Wen Pin to meet again, so he hurriedly took the people on the road. Wen Hou led the way in front, and after entering the mountain for a short time, he bypassed several mountain roads and climbed a small hill, Fangling City was revealed in front of Cao Chong.

The scene in front of him made Cao Chong frown and also made Kuai Jing take a breath.

Outside Fangling County, there are hundreds of tents, and there are not many hundreds of people. At this glance, there are at least two thousand people. This is just the North City Gate. I think there are these in other city gates. Finally, there are at least five thousand people here siege. The entire Fangling family is only more than one thousand, with a population of only five thousand. Could it be that everyone does nothing and comes to besiege the city?

Cao Chong looked at Kuai Jing with dissatisfaction, and Kuai Jing swallowed nervously. He pointed to the tent below and couldn't say a word. Cao Chong shook his head secretly. The Kuai family was over, and his intelligence was used up by the older generation. The younger generation was all busy. Kuai Qi couldn't even be a small county magistrate, but Kuai Jing was even worse and could not even say anything. He took out his telescope and looked into the city. Although the soldiers at the top of the city looked haggard, they could still look outside the city vigilantly. Although there were traces of fire on the city gate, they were not damaged yet, and there were many arrows and blood on the city walls. It seemed that the siege had already happened. The city did not break, so these people had no choice but to take the siege method.

Cao Chong looked at the camp again. The barefoot mountain people came and went in the camp. Occasionally, some soldiers wearing leather armor, long swords and halberds. However, most of them were holding simple long bows and short crossbows for hunting in the mountains. They seemed to be very simple and their attack power was limited. He was watching, and saw a man outside the camp who looked like a literati climbing up the gate tower under the escort of several fully armed soldiers, and looked at it with a curtain tent. Cao Chong pulled Wenhou and handed him the lens barrel: "Look, do you know that literati?"

Wenhou looked at the carved lens tube in his hand and grinned. He carefully raised the lens tube and leaned in front of him. He was confused by the scene inverted in the mirror. When he would come to his senses, he couldn't help but be shocked by the faces that suddenly pulled many people closer, and quickly put down the lens tube.

"Don't be nervous, can you know that person?" Cao Chong smiled gently.

Wenhou's nervous mood calmed a little by Cao Chong's voice. He smiled at Cao Chong gratefully, and raised the lens tube again. After a while, he said, "Young Master, this person is the master of the Shen family. His name is Yu Jing and his courtesy name is Anping. He turned out to be a scholar in Xiangyang City. He is a little famous, but no one has recommended him to be an official. Somehow, he was attracted by the Shen family and invited him to be a counselor. I have seen him several times in the Shen family's village. I heard that Shen Yijiu (Shen Dan) married a sister to him and trusted him very much. He participated in any major issues. He was a think tank. The Shen family's power has increased significantly in recent years, which has a lot to do with him."

"Is that true?" Cao Chong responded without comment, "Do you know the people next to you?"

Wenhou looked carefully for a while and said, "I know one or two people who seem to be the heads of the nearby mountains, but I don't know the others. Judging from their clothes, they are probably the leaders of the barbarians from various small tribes."

"Barbarian?"

"Yeah." Wenhou carefully handed the lens tube in his hand to Cao Chong, and then explained: "There are many barbarians in the mountains. The government has never been concerned about their affairs, and rarely asked them to pay taxes. Most of them are just symbolic collection of specialties from the mountains. Generally, they will not make things difficult for the government." Wenhou said, paused, glanced at Kuai Jing, and swallowed the words behind. "They have a good relationship with the big families in the mountains. They often exchange some salt and iron tools, and occasionally some weapons and things that are scarce in the mountains. The Shen family has a good relationship with them, and they often buy some mountain goods, or the fur of rare birds and animals in the mountains, and then go to Xiangyang or Wancheng for sale."

Cao Chong nodded, and he frowned a little. With more than 400 people in his hand, he could of course easily defeat these mobs, but what can he do after defeating? Apart from killing some people to make them safe for the time being, he could only accumulate grudges and useless. After resolving the siege of Fangling, he could not solve the problems in the mountains. It would be better if he had a better county magistrate, and the near county magistrate would repeat the same mistake. The pursuit of these barbarians in the mountains seemed to be not possible. Could it be that they would be killed? This mountain is so big, it is hundreds of miles long, and I am afraid that it will not be able to be suppressed in a few years.

"Shi Yuan, what do you think should be done?" Cao Chong turned his head and looked at Pang Tong.

Pang Tong smiled and said, "These barbarians come and go without a trace in the mountains. It is easy to defeat them for a while. If they want to achieve long-term results, they are not feasible." He patted Kuai Jing's shoulder with a pale face: "Tong thinks that the most important thing for the young master to do now is to kill into the city first and see the situation in the city. No matter what, Kuai Yuanji is the court official. Even if these barbarians have any grievances, they should be besieged by the county town at any time. If Kuai Yuanji is safe and sound, this matter can be turned into small things and small things. If there is anything wrong, I am afraid that the young master will still use some means to warn these bold barbarians."

Cao Chong nodded, but did not enter the city immediately. He said to Jiang Gan: "Ziyi, if you and Zichun go to these barbarian camps, you will say that the officers and soldiers from Xiangyang are coming. They want to talk to them and let them send someone who can speak."

Jiang Gan responded, took Wenhou down the hillside and slowly approached the camp. The two walked to the front of the camp. Yu Jing, who was checking the situation, did not know Jiang Gan, but knew Wenhou, and couldn't help laughing: "Wen Zichun, it turned out that you came with the officers and soldiers. Why? Have you been promoted?"

Wenhou smiled and bowed: "Mr. Yu has always been good. How many leaders have always been good?"

The heads who were familiar with him all responded and greeted him verbally. Yu Jing did not stop him. After everyone stopped talking, he smiled and said, "Is Zichun here to be a lobbyist and persuade us to surrender?"

Wenhou laughed and said, "How dare you? Wenhou is now a small pawn under Mr. Cao's tent. The young master received an urgent report from Fang Ling. He brought people to check the situation. He heard that you besieged Fang Ling. For some reason, in order to avoid war, he wanted to ask you to go to the camp to talk about the whole story, so as to solve the predicament here, so as not to keep you around here. This year's spring plowing. If you don't have to farm in spring, you won't be harvested in autumn."

These men were anxious about this matter. They thought that the siege would take only a few days, but they broke the plunder of Fangling City, and avenged the government's exploitation and then scattered. Unexpectedly, the siege lasted for half a month. Many people died, but the city could not be captured. They couldn't help but feel anxious. Spring has arrived. All villages have to prepare for spring plowing, as Wenhou said. If they don't farm in spring, what will they harvest in autumn? Seeing that the morale of the army was unstable, Yu Jing persuaded them with kind words and promised them some food, which was only to be considered as being reluctant to appease them. Now that Wenhou said this, these people became restless again.

Seeing that the faces of several men were shaken again, Yu Jing laughed loudly and said, "Zichun, this Mr. Cao is not aware of it. Fangling is the territory of Hanzhong County. He crossed the border and sent troops. Aren't he afraid that the prefect Zhang from Hanzhong will be unhappy? Besides, the defeat of Chibi, and the army in the court has been supplemented with new recruits recently. If you don't learn about the terrain, it may not be useful if you come. Do I have tens of thousands of people here, and there are thousands of people in Xiangyang?"

Wenhou said for a moment, but Jiang Gan laughed: "I heard Zichun said that this is an insightful man in Anping, but he was a frog in the well when he saw it. Do you only know that Fangling belongs to Hanzhong County, but you don't know that Hanzhong is also the boundary of the Han Dynasty? My son was ordered to guard Xiangyang, but he didn't just care about Xiangyang, and Hanzhong could do so naturally. Besides, Zhang Fujun (Zhang Lu) was kind and loving the people, but he never said that he was too far away from here. If he was close, I heard that there were people besieging officers and soldiers here, I was afraid that they would send troops in front of my son."

When Yu Jing heard this, he was furious and shouted loudly: "Who are you? You dare to come here with a clever tongue? Are you afraid that I will shoot you to death with a burst of arrows?"

Jiang Gan laughed loudly, and he was breathless, pointing at Yu Jingzhile: "Does people in the mountains and fields scare me? I can go to Jiang Gan, Jiujiang, and the camp in Sun Quan is also free to come and go. Are you afraid of these thousands of people?"

Yu Jing's face turned pale, and after thinking about it, he smiled and said, "It turns out it's Jiang Ziyi from Jiujiang. No wonder he is so stupid. I heard that you are serious about the Warring States policy. Why? I think of being a lobbyist here today?"

Jiang Gan waved his hand: "Jiang Gan is not interested in telling you this. I'll tell you clearly. The young master brought 400 people. He could have killed all of you, the mobs, in one fell swoop. However, the young master is kind to the people and does not want to commit innocent killings, so that you can't go home or see your relatives. So he sent me and Zichun to tell you that the young master is willing to give you a chance to repent. If you can have the reason to put it on the stage, the young master can pardon your crimes and preside over justice for you." He waved his hand a little boredly and said, "I'm also ordered by the young master to come and pass on your mission. If you have the courage, please send someone to the camp of the young master in front to discuss with the young master. If you don't have the courage, please prepare. The young master will attack in an hour."

Wenhou was stunned when he heard this. Why is Jiang doing a lobbyist? He said so clearly? He told him his true feelings, four hundred people? You are too honest, it’s okay to be a praising one, but he actually removed the fraction. If you say that, who is still afraid of you? If you have an hour to attack, will you be ready? Besides, when will the young master say that the attack will attack in an hour?

Sure enough, Yu Jing couldn't hold back his laughter when he heard Jiang Gan's words. He turned around and looked at the head men, as if he had heard some big jokes and said, "Listen, listen, this man is so arrogant. Four hundred people want to defeat us and save that corrupt official. He is really ignorant. Not to mention other city gates, just say that our people from the North Gate lined up to let them cut, but they were afraid they wouldn't dare to come." Those head men also found it a little funny. Four hundred people were so arrogant that they didn't take the two thousand people seriously. This man was either a madman or a fool. The more they thought about it, the more they became, the more they were laughing, and someone said with a smile: "Mr. Wen, you should go back early. With such a master, there is no future. This is not a war, it is obviously a death. Go back quickly. You are young, don't lose your life in vain."
Chapter completed!