Chen Jiu and Deng Long shouted in unison: "What an injustice! Sir, what we have written is definitely not false. Please see clearly!"
Liu Xin stood up and said: "Well, I will trust you once. You two will be exempted from death, but you will not escape the crime of living. You will go to participate in forced labor with those soldiers. As for your family, I will first
Let them go for now, but half of the family property needs to be confiscated."
When Chen Jiu arrived, Deng Long was dragged out in despair. Liu Xin then handed over the report written by the two of them to Ju Shou and said: "The Duke and I will screen the big and small officials in Jiangxia City according to what they wrote. Once upon a time,
Those who advised Huang Zu to leave the city and surrender and those who held a wait-and-see attitude were still entrusted with their original posts. Those who advised Huang Zu to flee and those who went to fight were all sent to forced labor."
Liu Xin understands that it is easy to conquer a city, but it is much more difficult to run a city well, and the key to running a city lies in people. It turns out that the officials in the city should still have some ability, and they should be more familiar with things than others.
, he couldn't beat them all to death with a stick. So he took advantage of Chen Jiu and Deng Long's eagerness to make meritorious deeds to find out the details of Jiangxia officials. Of course, doing so could not guarantee that they would not make mistakes and be sent to forced labor.
Among those people, there will definitely be a few who are wrongly accused, but Liu Xin can no longer take care of many of them because of the urgency of the matter.
When he attacked Jiangxia this time, he also brought some officials with the army, who were transferred from Xiangyang and other counties. Some of these people will stay in Jiangxia and serve as officials at all levels, carrying out the various policies implemented by Liu Xin.
.Since Jiangxia City had just been controlled by him and there were still many uncertain factors, Liu Xin deliberately left Han Xi behind and temporarily acted as the prefect of Jiangxia.
Liu Xin's attack on Jiangxia was too fast. Cao Yu, the governor of Wuling, did not hear any news at all and made no preparations. Xu Huang and other four armies attacked at the same time, and the battle went extremely smoothly. Wuling County is under the jurisdiction of
If it were not for the difficult roads, all eleven counties might have been captured in just one day. Even so, on the early morning of the eighth day of February, four armies still surrounded Wuling City.
However, Cao Yu's situation was a little better than Huang Zulai's. Cao Yu had waited for the news of Liu Xin's army two days earlier. While he ordered the counties to defend to the death to buy time for Wuling City, he recruited civilians and deployed the city defense. However,
, To his surprise, Liu Xin's 40,000 troops came to Wuling City and did not rush to attack the city. Instead, they set up camps at various city gates and important crossings, completely blocking Wuling's connection with the outside world. Cao Yu several times
They sent people to negotiate, but Xu Huang and others just ignored them, neither fighting nor talking.
This stalemate lasted for four or five days. After finishing all the affairs in Jiangxia, Liu Xin brought Ju Shou, Dian Wei, and Gan Ning to Wuling City.
Cao Yu spent several sleepless nights in anxiety, and finally waited for the rightful owner. These days, he neither understood why Liu Xin's army came here, nor what Liu Xin's ultimate goal was.
This time he sent a messenger, and the answer he received was that everything would be done after Master Zhou Mu came. But he knew that Liu Xin was not going to such a big fight just to have fun. Liu Xin came here with bad intentions this time!
Now, the Zhou Mu Master came out after being called for a long time. Cao Yu suddenly felt that his ugly daughter-in-law was finally going to meet her parents-in-law. Liu Xin had sent an envoy to ask him to leave the city tomorrow.
After sending away the messenger, Cao Yu felt very conflicted. Liu Xin captured Jiangxia and he already knew that all Huang Zu's family died. Now, Liu Xin's army came outside Wuling City again and asked him to come out of the city to meet him. If he
If he leaves the city, will Liu Xin take the opportunity to harm him? If he doesn't leave the city, will Liu Xin take the opportunity to add a crime to him?
Upon seeing this, the school captain Jin Xuan advised: "Sir, I wonder who you think is stronger between Jiangxia and Wuling?"
Cao Yu's heart tightened and he said: "Wuling's military strength, population, money and food are not as large as Jiangxia's."
Jin Xuan then said: "Then you think that since Huang Zu has already been crowned, what chance do you have of winning against Liu Xin?"
"This..." Cao Yu hesitated for a moment and said: "When Zhang Ji wanted to use the road to mobilize troops to Xiangyang, everyone advised me to block the road and prevent them from passing through. But now..."
Jin Xuan continued: "My lord, this moment is the same as the other moment. When Liu Xin first arrived in Jingzhou, his foundation was not stable. Why should you, sir, act based on his face? However, it is different now. He has occupied most of Jingzhou and has strong troops and horses. He is now facing
Wuling City was besieged but not attacked, and now I invite you to meet me, just because I don’t want to completely break up with you, leaving you with a glimmer of hope. Where to go, please think twice."
Cao Yu pondered for a long time, then his face suddenly darkened and he said: "You want me to surrender to Liu Xin? Huh, it's in vain that I treat you as a confidant. The enemy is in front of you, but you dare to talk nonsense and confuse the public. How much benefits have you received from Liu Xin?
!”
Jin Xuan hurriedly knelt down on the ground, bowed his head and said: "Everything the general said was from the bottom of his heart, it was all for the sake of your Excellency, please understand carefully."
Cao Yu sneered and shouted: "Come here, push him out and chop him!"
The generals hurriedly begged for mercy, and Cao Yu spared Jin Xuan, beat him with twenty sticks, dismissed his official position, and expelled him from the prefect's mansion.
In the past few days, although Liu Xin's four-pronged army did not attack the city, there were a lot of letters shot into the city every day. The different endings of Jiangxia officials were clearly written on them. Everyone standing in the Wuling Prefecture,
No matter where to go, I have my own wishful thinking in mind.
The Jiangxia officials who sided with Huang Zu were all sent to participate in forced labor for six years. Regardless of how much hardship they had to endure during these six years, it would be good if they could come back alive by then.
Most of them are the breadwinners of the family. After six years, even if they can come back alive and well, who can know what the family will be like? In such an era, a family without a male head will become a family without a male head.
Decline is not far away. Maybe by the time they come back, their women will have run away with someone else, and their children may have become slaves of someone else's family. What will happen in six years, and who will be there?
Can speak clearly.
Seeing Jin Xuan escape from death and being expelled by Cao Yu, no one in the civil and military circles dared to come out to persuade him to surrender. But everyone had their own thoughts, and they were unwilling to come forward to help him come up with any ideas. Cao Yu asked for a long time,
All the civil and military officials said nothing.
Cao Yu was furious when he saw this: "I have raised you for so long, and I can't even come up with an idea. You are a bunch of trash! Get out of here!"
All the officials had no choice but to leave the Prefect's Mansion angrily.
In fact, it was not that Cao Yu never thought about leaving the city and surrendering, but he was afraid of losing the power in his hands, so he had to lower his head. In the future, things in Wuling City would no longer be decided by him. People always have this and that
Desire, some people like money, some people like coloring. And Cao Yu is undoubtedly the kind of person who has unlimited desire for power. He has been used to the days of calling the wind and rain in Wuling and killing people. Now he wants to send someone to
Lei Xia was really more uncomfortable than killing him. He definitely couldn't beat him, and he was unwilling to surrender. Cao Yu hesitated again and again, but still couldn't make up his mind. He wanted to wait and see.
However, he could wait, but the officials under him could not wait any longer. After leaving the prefect's mansion, everyone gathered at Jin's mansion in the name of visiting Jin Xuan.
Although Jin Xuan received a beating with a stick, the execution soldiers were merciful and only injured some skin and flesh without touching his muscles and bones. Even so, his buttocks were still bruised and he could not sit down, so Jin Xuan had to lie down
On the bed, looking at everyone, with tears in his eyes, he said: "If it hadn't been for everyone's rescue today, Jin would have..."
Jun Cheng Linpu said: "General Jin, there is no need to be polite. We are all colleagues and we should be treated as such. Now that the army outside the city is pressing on the border, we should help each other and tide over the difficulties."
Jin Xuan sighed and said: "I have tried my best, but the prefect refused to listen to Jin's words. Wuling city will be destroyed in a matter of seconds, so everyone should take care of themselves."
Hu Xin, the chief historian, said angrily: "Liu Xin came here this time to take advantage of the great righteousness. He is the governor of the state, not the governor in the past. It is his duty to replace the prefect. Cao Yu himself did not understand the current affairs and sought his own death.
Do you still want us all to die with him?"
Lin Pu hurriedly said: "Hu Changshi, be silent, be careful, there are ears through the wall."
Hu Xin turned to look at the officials and said: "I believe that the people in General Jin's family will not go out and talk nonsense. If any of you are willing to die with Cao Yu, you can go and tell him now."
Everyone said in unison: "We all listen to the orders of the adults."
Hu Xin looked at Lin Pu and said: "Master Lin, do you have anything to hesitate? It is better to kill him than to kill all of us!"
The next morning, there was a sound of drums from the military camp outside the city, the camp gate opened, and a group of people and horses filed out. The group came to a position not far from the city, and a flying horse in the middle came out and headed towards the city head.
He shouted: "People in the city, listen, my lord, Lord Mu Liu of Jingzhou, has come to the city. Please ask Governor Cao to leave the city quickly."
Suddenly a white flag was raised on the top of the city. When the city gate opened, a group of defenders swarmed out. Liu Xin was surprised when she saw a man being escorted out from in front of the group of defenders and being forced to kneel on the ground.
Seeing a group of people dressed as officials coming out of the garrison, they came to Liu Xin, knelt down together, and said in unison: "Cao Yu, the prefect of Wuling, refused to surrender and has been captured by us. All the officials, soldiers and civilians in the city
Everyone welcomes Lord Zhou Mu to the city."
Liu Xin did not expect this result at all. He only thought that forcing Cao Yu to surrender would be the best idea. Unexpectedly, his subordinates could not bear the pressure and captured him and gave up the city. He couldn't help laughing and said:
"Everyone, please rise. Liu said that all those who can surrender will be forgiven and will never break their promises. You will still be reinstated, so there is no need to worry."
All the officials in Wuling expressed their gratitude and stood aside, with faces full of joy.
As soon as Liu Xin got off her horse, she was about to lead the team into the city. Jushou hurriedly stopped him and said, "My lord, wait a minute. Why don't you send someone to the city first to find out what's going on, so as not to be deceived?"