Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1354: No Cruelty to the People
"My lord, Qiantang City has been captured by the Tang army..."

A speedboat was speeding towards the south bank. The soldier on the boat said with a dejected look to Hou Andu who was standing on the shore.

Without the need for these soldiers to report, Hou Andu had already seen the chaos in Qiantang City. He just nodded slightly after hearing this, and then said in a deep voice: "Order the ships to retreat quickly, do not fight the enemy, block the river, and prevent the enemy from crossing south!"

The fall of Qiantang City was a heavy blow to the river defense, but there was still the natural barrier of Qiantang River. Chen's army still had an absolute advantage in navy and water forces. The top priority was to strictly guard the Qiantang River defense line and prevent it from being breached by the enemy again.

"But there are still many soldiers waiting for rescue at Qiantang Water Gate..."

After hearing this, the soldier quickly spoke again.

In order to reverse the situation and defend the city, a large number of soldiers from the south bank were transported north by warships to participate in the battle, with more than 10,000 soldiers deployed. Now that the city has been breached by the Tang army, tens of thousands of defeated soldiers have gathered at the Qiantang Water Gate Wharf, and they need enough boats to return.

Hou Andu frowned again after hearing this. He looked across the river to the north and saw that the Watergate Wharf was crowded with people. It seemed that the Tang army was already trying to attack the Watergate. After hesitating for a while, he said in a deep voice: "They are guilty of not being able to fight the enemy. If we let the Tang army seize the boats in order to rescue them, causing the river defense to be breached again, then these people deserve to die!"

In order to ensure that the Tang army would not seize the ships and obtain the means to cross the river, Hou Andu decided to abandon the defeated troops on the north bank.

Those people have already lost their courage and their morale is low after the city was breached. Even if they are assisted back, they may not have the courage to continue fighting. Instead, it may affect the morale of the divisions and brigades in the south.

If they were left on the other side of the river, and if they were tortured and killed by the Tang army, it would be a good opportunity for the defenders on the south bank to witness the enemy's brutality and tyranny, thus strengthening their determination to resist.

If the Tang army wanted to recruit these soldiers, it would take some time to recruit them. He also planned to try to recapture the city while the Tang army was still unstable in the city. These soldiers staying there could serve as internal support. Even if they did not have such a subjective intention, once the south bank launched a counterattack, the Tang army would inevitably have to be distracted to prevent these soldiers from taking the opportunity to cause chaos.

No matter how you think about it, risking the ships being intercepted and robbed by the Tang army to rescue the defeated people is not as effective as leaving them on the other side.

Following Hou Andu's order, the ships that were originally patrolling the river near Qiantang City retreated to the rear of the river. When the defeated soldiers who were waiting for boats to pick them up at the Shuimen Wharf saw this scene, they immediately let out desperate and sad cries of begging: "Don't go, don't go... Help, help! The Tang army is coming, come and rescue us..."

However, no matter how they cried and wailed, the ships on the river continued to move farther and farther away. Seeing this, some of the defending soldiers jumped directly into the river and swam quickly in the direction where the ships were leaving.

However, it is still the cold season of late winter and early spring, and it is evening when the temperature drops sharply. The defeated soldiers have lost their courage and their blood is exhausted. Even if they are good swimmers, they will quickly lose temperature once they jump into the cold river. Soon their hands and feet are twitching due to the cold, and then they sink uncontrollably into the river.

As for those ships, they had received orders to quickly move away from the riverside and not be bullied by the Tang army and have their ships seized. Driven by military orders and also worried about their own safety, they naturally would not stop to wait for the soldiers who were desperately trying to swim aboard, and still headed towards the river with a determined attitude.

At the same time, the Tang army that entered the city had also completed the cleanup of the city, and a group of troops were sent to the south water gate. Tens of thousands of soldiers were crowded in the narrow space in the south of the city, and even the bamboo and wood piers that protruded out of the water were creaking from the trampling, and it seemed that they might soon break into the river.

The soldiers of the Tang army were eager for military merit and charged all the way here. The defeated soldiers gathered here initially waved their weapons to resist a little, but when they saw more and more Tang troops rushing towards them, they suddenly became frightened. The boats on the river that were supposed to come to pick them up also evacuated one after another, putting them in an even more desperate dilemma.

"We are willing to surrender. We are willing to surrender. Please spare our lives, General. Please spare our lives..."

Seeing that there was no hope of escape, in order to save their lives, soldiers dropped their weapons one after another, prostrated themselves on the ground and begged for surrender from the Tang army. However, the crowd at the rear was too dense and crowded, so they could not even prostrate themselves on the ground and beg for mercy. They could only shout and beg for mercy at the top of their lungs.

At this time, the main general of the Tang army, Shi Ning, also entered Qiantang City under the protection of his personal soldiers. Xiao Mohe, the surrendered general, was allowed to follow the main general into the city because of his heroic performance on the battlefield and the fact that he was once the lord of the city.

The battle in the city had ended, and the riots had subsided. The wailing and begging sounds coming from the south of the city became particularly harsh. Xiao Mohe was still immersed in great grief after the separation and death of his family, but after hearing the wailing of the soldiers, he couldn't help but feel sympathy.

Especially when he thought that there might be many comrades among them who had fought side by side with him in the past and had deep friendship with him, he could not help but kneel down in front of Shi Ning and said in a deep voice: "The soldiers here have resisted the king's army before, which is indeed a big crime, but these people are just stray arrows, they are not independent and are controlled by others. They will go wherever Hou Andu and other powerful people want to shoot. Although they have committed crimes, they have no evil intentions. I beg the general to sympathize with them, show mercy and spare their lives!"

When Shi Ning heard Xiao Mohe pleading for the defeated soldiers, he hesitated for a moment before answering, "Before the king's army came south, a letter was issued to inform the people of the Three Wus that this trip was only to punish the evil and not to abuse the people. But you fools ignored the king's correct voice and listened to the evil talk of the traitors, thus causing this disaster. Even if you all die here, it is your own fault.

However, the heavens have the virtue of loving life, and my Lord, the Astronomical Observer, is also of this virtue. Now I will give these followers a glimmer of hope. Xiao has returned to justice and killed the enemy, and he has indeed made great contributions. Now that these followers are begging for mercy and life, you will go and persuade them to surrender. If these followers still do not surrender after one round of drums, kill them all! "

"Thank you, General. Thank you, General!"

After hearing this, Xiao Mohe kowtowed in a hurry to express his gratitude, and then took a few soldiers straight to the Water Gate Pier in the south of the city.

The dock was noisy and chaotic at this time. On the side close to the Tang army, soldiers kept throwing down their weapons and surrendering, while on the side close to the water, people kept jumping into the river. Although most of them were drowned by the cold river water, few people could remain calm at this critical moment of life and death.

After Xiao Mohe arrived, he immediately attracted the attention of these soldiers, and many people asked for help. Xiao Mohe raised his hands, signaling everyone to be silent, and then shouted loudly: "The fall of Qiantang City is not your fault. The followers of Chen Hou defied the will of heaven and should be punished by heaven. They are doomed to fail! We were bewitched and willing to become the minions of these treacherous thieves. We deserve to be abandoned now.

"The Emperor of Tang is so compassionate and kind to his people, and the great Tang army is so generous and magnanimous that they are willing to accept the defeated and spare your lives. If you want to live, you should repent, surrender and thank the king for saving your lives. Listen to my command, throw down your weapons and march into the city!"

At this time, the people on the dock had already lost their fighting spirit and only wanted to survive. After hearing what Xiao Mohe said, they immediately became smart. Therefore, they all dropped their weapons, and then lined up in a long single line and walked back to the city along the road vacated by the Tang army on the opposite side.

Some soldiers were hesitant and wanted more assurances, so they shouted to Xiao Mohe, "Are you serious, City Lord Xiao? Will the Tang army really not harm us?"

"The king's army has come here to punish the bandits of Marquis Chen. If you, the common people, give up your bandit nature, what else is worth the Tang Dynasty's long expedition to harm you? Stop talking nonsense, and hurry up!"

Xiao Moha stood at the side of the passage, holding a sword, and answered angrily.

Although his tone was a little unfriendly, the soldiers felt more relieved after hearing it and quickened their pace to go into the city. Some officers who had completely given up on Hou Andu kindly reminded them, "It's getting dark now. City Lord Xiao needs to remind the generals of the royal army to be on guard against Hou's bandits who may take advantage of the convenient water routes and send soldiers to attack Qiantang City again after nightfall! Since we have surrendered, we will never have the idea of ​​changing our minds again. We only pray that the royal army of the Tang Dynasty can defeat Hou's bandits as soon as possible so that we can return home as soon as possible!"

Xiao Mohe really didn't realize this for a while, but he suddenly came to his senses after being reminded. Seeing that the surrendered people were entering the city in an orderly manner, he hurriedly turned back to Shi Ning and, based on his understanding of the city's defense facilities, proposed several plans to change the city's defense facilities to prevent the counterattack of the southern navy.

Hou Andu abandoned the soldiers in Qiantang City without hesitation, and those soldiers would naturally abandon him without hesitation. While he was still arranging troops and preparing for the next counterattack to capture the city, the enemy had already made targeted modifications to the city defense facilities of Qiantang City to increase the difficulty of the boat division landing.

Hou Andu was completely focused on the war on the front line and paid less attention to Chen Qian.

Although Chen Qian was not the person in charge of the Qiantang River defense line, the fall of Qiantang City also made him worried, especially since his general Lu Zilong who stayed in the city was also destroyed, which immediately caused his remaining few forces to suffer another loss. Xiao Mohe, who went north to support the Wuxing people, was captured by the Tang army. No matter what the situation was at the time, it showed that the situation in Wuzhong was not optimistic.

While Chen Qian was still worrying with his confidants, a soldier came to report that a group of people outside the camp came to ask for a meeting, and the young man in the lead claimed to be his son-in-law.

"Could there be another incident in western Zhejiang?"

After hearing this, Chen Qian's heart suddenly trembled again, and he immediately ordered that the group of people be brought into the camp. After a moment's hesitation, he whispered that the matter must be kept secret. All the soldiers who saw the group of people coming were temporarily restrained and tried to avoid communication with the outside world.