At night, dozens of large fire kites flew towards Linfen City from all directions at the same time. The fire kites did not even ignite. They were propelled by catapults and gunpowder. After flying over the city wall, they suddenly exploded. Thousands of flying pieces of paper fell from the sky. There were tens of thousands of them.
There are so many that when the wind blows, they cover the whole city.
Many soldiers on duty received one. When they looked closely under the firelight, they found that it was a "Lingwu County King Chen Qing's Letter to the Linfen Soldiers."
'The fertile soil of the Three Jin Dynasties gave birth to my ancestors and parents, and the Fen water nourished it, raising my children and grandchildren, passing it on from generation to generation, and the blood line is continuous. However, the barbarians were cruel and devastated the Central Plains. They killed my parents, raped my wife and daughter, and cut off my descendants. The fertile soil turned into coke.
, the ancestral house was burnt to ashes, the hair was pale, died of hunger in the fields, the weak children were trampled in the ravines, the hot-blooded men of the Three Jin Dynasties should protect the family and the country, expel the Tatars, and restore the Han family."
Groups of soldiers gathered together to read the above words, and all shed tears. Many soldiers could not help but lay on the battlements and cried bitterly.
There were also Jurchen generals on duty at night. They took the note and ran to find Han Chang.
Han Chang woke up from his sleep and read Chen Qing's letter to the generals. He was immediately shocked and stood up in a hurry and said: "Collect them all, and no one is allowed to leak out!"
He knew in his heart that if this thing spread, the morale of the military would be ruined.
He quickly organized the army to collect notices against soldiers everywhere, but by dawn, only more than 3,000 leaflets had been collected. You must know that the wind was very strong yesterday, and tens of thousands of leaflets were blown all over the city.
Controller Miao Xiu whispered: "Captain Ten Thousand, perhaps many orders did not enter the city and were blown directly outside the city."
Han Chang's single eye glared at him fiercely, "Do you think I'm an idiot? Will you believe what you say?"
Miao Xiu didn't dare to say a word when she saw his fierce appearance. Han Chang said to several of his trusted generals: "Go quickly and search the whole city. If you hand them over, there will be nothing wrong. Anyone who hides the leaflets will have his whole family copied and executed."
Thousands of soldiers began to search the whole city, causing a great uproar.
In fact, there was a leaflet hidden in Miao Xiu's arms. He returned to the main tent, took out the leaflet and looked at it carefully. There was a sentence in the back that made his heart beat. Those who surrender will be demoted to a lower level, and those who surrender and perform meritorious service will be hired according to their original positions.
He is the commander now. If he returns to the Song Army and can become the commander, who would want to be a traitor whose spine is stabbed?
Miao Xiunian was about forty years old. He was a native of Suizhou, Shaanxi Province. He was originally the commander of the Western Army and a general in the Zhong Division. He surrendered to Wanyan Yinshuke in the Battle of Taiyuan. He was highly used and promoted along the way.
Currently, he is one of the Four Great Vajras under Han Chang, one of the four commanders, commanding an army of 10,000 people.
In last year's battle in northern Shaanxi, Wanyan Yinshu suffered heavy losses and returned defeated, losing most of his 80,000 gold soldiers. Miao Xiu also gained a new understanding of Chen Qing's Western Army. He slowly realized that Chen Qing
The Western Army under his command is no longer the Western Army it once was.
In the past, the Western Army suffered from the cowardice of the imperial court and was haphazardly commanded by civilian officials who did not understand military affairs. He would not return to such a Western Army, and the imperial court would not tolerate rebels like them.
Chen Qing's Western Army is not the same thing. It is actually a separatist army, an army that can compete for the world. Chen Qing will never discriminate against surrenderers. Many of his senior officials are returnees of the puppet Qi Kingdom.
Even after Guan Shigu returned, he was still able to serve as a counselor in the military department.
Miao Xiu had always been tempted, but he was a little worried. Could Chen Qing be saying one thing and doing another?
However, today's 'Letter to the Linfen Generals' gave him a glimmer of hope again.
At this time, more than a dozen generals came in from outside the big tent, and they all clasped their fists and said: "General, the soldiers are making a big fuss and don't want to do anything anymore. What should I do?"
Miao Xiu frowned, "Is it all caused by Chen Qing's list?"
"Exactly, that list is so powerful that it directly undermines the morale of the army. No one wants to be a slave to Jin Bing anymore."
"General, tell us what we should do!"
Looking at pairs of expectant eyes, Miao Xiu suddenly understood that these generals also had the same appeal. They no longer wanted to sacrifice their lives for the Jin soldiers. The situation was stronger than the people. Now everyone knew that Hedong Road could not be defended. If they did not surrender, they would find a way out.
, it’s too late.
"Do you also want to return to the Song Army?"
A general said: "It is not a return to the Song Army, but a return to conscience. I know how my grandfather died. It has been tormenting my conscience for so many years. If the ruler is not willing, please don't stop us."
"Tongzhi, surrender to Kaicheng! We are Han people and want to defend our homeland. How can we be slaves to the enemy?"
"Control, give the order!"
"Everyone, please be quiet!"
Miao Xiu raised her hand and said loudly: "I completely understand everyone's mood. In fact, the situation in Linfen is over now. A single thought can determine the fate of many people. I don't want my men to die in the end or be taken away."
Mine, I hope everyone can live well, give themselves some dignity, and give their families a decent life. I have been thinking about what should we do? Now Chen Qing has given us an opportunity. If we don’t seize this opportunity
, I will definitely be ashamed of everyone in the future, so I decided to lead everyone to abandon the darkness and turn to the light."
More than a dozen generals cheered suddenly. At this moment, war drums could be heard faintly in the distance, probably coming from outside the city.
Miao Xiu nodded and said: "It seems that our opportunity has come, the whole army will go to Dongcheng!"
The east city was defended by Miao Xiu's army. At this time, 100,000 Song troops gathered outside the city at the four city gates. Outside the east city was Niu Gao's army. He led 30,000 troops to line up hundreds of steps outside the city. This was the first stage of the psychological battle.
The second step is to harvest surrendered soldiers.
Miao Xiu led a large group of generals to the city, and all ten thousand troops also went to the city. Miao Xiu looked at the Song army in the distance and felt a little hesitant.
At this time, soldiers rushed to report, "The king of Nancheng led his troops out of the city and surrendered!"
Miao Xiu was shocked that Wang Lifeng had taken the lead. He regretted it and quickly ordered: "Open the city gate, leave the city and surrender!"
A white flag was hung on the east city tower, the city gate was opened wide, and a large group of soldiers came out carrying white flags and surrendered.
"General, could this be a trick by the enemy?" a general whispered to Niu Gao.
"It doesn't look like it!"
Niu Gao knew it well, and no matter how he tried to trick him, he did not dare to risk it by opening the city gate.
Carrying a spear and a large shield, he led his men to meet him. At this time, Miao Xiu and the generals urged their horses to come out, took off their helmets and said, "Commander Miao Xiu and his ten thousand men will return to the Song Dynasty and beg the general to accept him."
Niu Gao was overjoyed, nodded and said: "Welcome General Miao to return, please order the soldiers to leave the city quickly, put down their weapons, and assemble in a distant place. We will treat our brothers preferentially!"
Miao Xiu turned around and shouted: "Run out of the city, put down your weapons, and gather in the distance!"
The surrendered soldiers ran, dropped their weapons after leaving the city, and ran into the distance. Niu Gao ordered General Gu Kai to lead an army of three thousand to receive the surrendered soldiers.
Niu Gao personally led 20,000 soldiers to fight into the city. His top priority now was to seize the east city gate.
The city was already in chaos. Han Chang was still leading his soldiers to collect leaflets, but he heard two pieces of news in succession that shocked him. Wang Lifeng, the commander in charge of the south city, led his troops out of the city to surrender to the Song army, and Miao Xiu of the east city also led his troops to surrender.
.
Han Chang was simply stunned by these two pieces of news. He stood there for a long time without saying a word.
A soldier nearby pointed to a large house and said: "Captain, this house must have a list, let me go and search for it!"
"What a nonsense search! Run for your life!"
He turned the carriage and ran towards the north gate, "Follow me quickly!"
Hundreds of soldiers also turned their horses and fled with him. The reason why he rushed to the north gate was because he had just received news that there were large numbers of Song troops at the three gates of the east, west and south, but there were no Song soldiers outside the north city.
At this time, sporadic fighting broke out in the city, mainly in the military camps. Yang Zaixing's army entered the city from the south gate and surrounded more than a thousand Jurchen soldiers. The two sides fought fiercely.
Niu Gao's army also encountered two thousand soldiers who refused to surrender on the east street, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.
Han Chang ignored all these and ran to the north gate and ordered the gate to be opened. The commander of the city guard was not at the gate. The commander of the city guard did not dare to stop him. He opened the city gate and lowered the drawbridge.
Han Chang led hundreds of soldiers to rush out of the city gate. He did not dare to stop and ran quickly to the northeast.
At this time, he could no longer go to Taiyuan, so he could only flee eastward and cross the Taihang Mountains to Hebei.