I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 851: The situation is over, and those who know the times are heroes (Combined Chapter)
Gaoyi City, Cui’s house.

All the Jizhou officials, children of wealthy families, landlords and wealthy businessmen gathered together, looking panic-stricken.

"No way."

"Envoy Han is finished."

"We must make plans early."

The first person to speak was a thin middle-aged man. He was a famous wealthy businessman in Jizhou. His surname was He and his name was Tong. He had a close relationship with Han Fu on weekdays, but now the situation was critical, and he had to consider himself and his family.

"Good fellow! I was wondering what you guys were doing gathering so many people here, are you planning to betray Envoy Han?!"

Li Li, the governor, widened his eyes and shouted angrily:

"Do you know how many loyal and brave men there are in Gaoyi City? Do you believe that I can make you lose your head with just one shout?"

He Tong's expression suddenly changed, but he pretended to be calm and snorted coldly:
"Li Zhizhong, it's already this late, why are you still saying these useless words?"

"The loyal and brave men in your Gaoyi City, who else can they defeat except bullying the common people like us?"

"Envoy Han is doomed, Su Yao's army is approaching. If he doesn't find a way to protect himself quickly, does he want everyone to die with him?!"

To die, that's right.

Now the situation is very clear.

In the south, General Su Yao defeated their 200,000-strong army with great ease, and Yecheng and Julu surrendered without a fight.

In the north, tens of thousands of Hu coalition forces from You, Bing, Qingzhou and Liaodong marched south after reorganizing.

The cities in the north of Jizhou were either surrounded or captured in a single blow.

Although there are still more than 10,000 troops in Gaoyi City, with such a huge gap, even the children on the street know that Gaoyi City cannot be defended.

After hearing what He Tong said, Li Li's face turned pale and blue. He clenched his fists, opened his mouth, and just as he said the word "you", he swallowed it back. He really didn't know how to refute.

Originally, he instinctively wanted to refute it with the argument of loyalty and righteousness.

But the moment he opened his mouth, he thought that what he and his people were doing was raising the flag of rebellion.

Even though Su Yao was wrong in many ways, he represented the orthodoxy of the imperial court. As long as he did not usurp the throne, people like them were traitors. How could they have the right to talk about loyalty and righteousness?
However, the flame of unwillingness in his heart was burning fiercely. Suddenly, Li Li had an idea and turned his gaze to an elder in the first seat:
"Mr. Cui, you are highly respected, don't you think so?"

Mr. Cui, also known as Cui Lie, is the head of the famous Boling Cui family.

However, what makes him more famous today is that he came from a noble family and lived a clean life, but he could not resist the temptation and spent money to buy an official position, and ended up as a third-party apprentice.

You have to know that when Emperor Lingdi sold official positions, the price set by the three officials was 10 million coins.

However, Cui Lie managed to get a 50% discount through Madam Cheng, the mother of Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, and only spent 5 million yuan to get the deal.

This deal made Emperor Liu Hong secretly regretful for a time, and also made Madam Cheng famous. She boasted about herself to everyone she met, and even made the famous people in Jizhou bow down to her.

This incident ruined Cui Lie's reputation among the elite. Even his son disliked his father for being greedy for money. The two of them had an argument over this matter and even played a game of chase in front of the palace gate.

"Stinky boy!"

"You dare to run away when your father hits you. Have you read so much? Do you know how to write the word filial piety?!"

Cui Lie was chasing and cursing at the time, and was extremely angry.

Cui Jun, the Liezi who was the Liezi General of the Tiger Guards at the time, was wearing a military officer's robe and ran while retorting confidently:

"Shun treated his father by taking small blows and running away when he was hit hard. This was the only way he could avoid putting his father in an unjust position."

Only after hearing this did Cui Lie stop in shame.

However, despite this anecdote and despite being despised by the literati, Cui Lie was still once one of the Three Dukes of the government and held a high position of power.

It can be said that Cui Lie’s qualifications are not only incomparable to Xun Yu and others, but even Lu Zhi, Huang Wan, Yang Biao and others are his juniors.

Moreover, when Dong Zhuo was in power, Cui Lie was a staunch opponent of Dong Zhuo and was thrown into prison for a time. He was only rescued after he defeated Dong Zhuo in the end.

Logically, he should have held a high position in the court, so why did he run back to his hometown in Jizhou?
That's because he ended up on the wrong side.
Cui Lie not only had an old relationship with Zhao Qian, but he also didn't know whether it was because he couldn't change his bad temper or because he was ashamed of the bad things he had done before.

In short, Cui Lie opposed Dong Zhuo when Dong Zhuo came to power, and he also opposed Su Yao when Su Yao came to power. He clearly stood on the side of the clean and honest family and stood with their role model Yang Biao.

The result is predictable.

The Hongnong Yang family, which had been upright for generations, ended up in disgrace. Although Cui Lie was not implicated or punished because he had not actually done any harm, he was so angry that he resigned from his official position and ran back to his hometown in Jizhou, where he continued to oppose the Soviet Union.

Although he did not directly join Han Fu's team, Cui Lie helped him mobilize and organize a wave of manpower and resources by relying on the huge influence of the Boling Cui family in the local area.

In his prediction, Youji will become the center of the world's anti-Su movement. Under their call, various princes will rise up, and the traitor Su Yao will be surrounded and in a desperate situation.

However, the development of the situation far exceeded Cui Lie's expectations.

Su Yao's army swept through Youji with great force and pacified most of the areas in a short period of time. After they came to their senses, they found that they were the ones who were trapped!

"Mr. Cui, please say something!"

Li Li said hurriedly:

"The thief Su is cruel and ruthless. If we surrender to him, we will be murdered by him and our family business and honor will be destroyed. You have always said this. You can't be unable to see the situation clearly now, right?"

"It's you who can't see the situation clearly, Li Zhizhong."

Cui Lie sat at the top with his eyes closed in silence, but voices were coming from behind.

Li Li looked back and was stunned.

The person who came was Ju Shou Ju Gongyu who was supposed to rot in the death row.

"You, why are you here?!" Li Li asked in shock, "Could it be that you really voted for Su Yao?!"

Of course not.

Su Yao didn't even notice Ju Su's existence.

During the great battle that day, Su Yao killed Geng Wu, and the army broke through the enemy's formation. Ju Su and a group of senior generals of the Jizhou army were involved in it.

However, compared to other colleagues who died in battle, Ju Shou was a little luckier. He was hit by the warhorse and fainted. Then he was closely protected by his personal soldiers and finally became prisoners of war together.

"what?"

"A group of Confucian scholars are seeking death?"

After the war, when counting prisoners of war and spoils of war, Su Yao received such a report.

Geng Wu led an army of 200,000, and his "command center" was also very large, with a large number of civilian officials.

Compared with the soldiers who obediently accepted the reorganization, most of the scholars were dissatisfied.

Those who were able to follow Geng Wu into battle could be said to be the most die-hard opposition group in Jizhou.

After being defeated and captured this time, few of them surrendered obediently. Instead, most of them shouted that they were fed by the emperor and were loyal to the emperor, and were willing to die for Han Shijun and Geng Changshi. They also stiffened their necks and demanded that Su Yao's army behead them in order to preserve their reputations.

Some even went worse and simply started cursing, denouncing Zhang He, Qu Yi and others for aiding and abetting Zhou, and Su Yao for going against the will of heaven, trampling on justice with power, and saying that those who do evil will surely perish.

The sharp words of these people made the soldiers under Su Yao's command shocked, and the noise was very troublesome.

After all, these were all scholars, and most of them came from local aristocratic families, including some with great reputation and influence. Zhang He and others did not dare to take charge on their own, so they had to separate these people and take good care of them, and then report to Su Yao urgently.

Su Yao's solution to this problem is simple - out of sight, out of mind:

"Drive them away! Drive them all away!"

"I don't keep idle people in my army. If they want to die, go out and kill themselves. If they don't want to die, go back to Gaoyi and accompany their Han envoy. Let's see who is the master of the world."

So, Su Yao gave an order, and regardless of whether there were any major characters or important people among the captured Confucian scholars, he drove them all out of the military camp and asked them to bring a message to Han Fu.

Those who betray the court and resist stubbornly will pay the price in blood.

In this way, Ju Shou and others supported each other in the cold wind and set out on their journey home. Along the way, they were hungry and cold, but the flame of loyalty in their hearts burned even more vigorously.

However, what they didn't expect was that after they went through so much hardship and returned to Gaoyi with the bad news, what awaited them was not the treatment like heroes, but harsh interrogation and cold iron bars. "Would Su Yao be so kind? Let you all go back?"

"Who doesn't know that he is a human butcher?"

"You spread the news of the tragic defeat along the way, shaking the morale of our army and the people. What crime should you be punished for?"

Such a series of accusations and rebukes made everyone exhausted.

Does Han Fu really think that everyone has rebelled and are Su Yao's spies?

Not necessarily.

However, facing this tragic failure, Han Fu's eyes were red with anger. Faced with the panic in the whole city, someone must be held responsible.

As an envoy and a commander-in-chief, he could certainly not be wrong.

So all the problems were naturally the fault of Ju Shou, who instigated him.

At that time, I trusted him so much and followed his strategies completely, and I was willing to mobilize the entire state to fight a decisive battle with Su Yao.

However, the current war situation is a complete defeat, most of Jizhou's territory has fallen, and 200,000 troops have been wiped out.

If it weren't for Ju Su's "bad ideas", I wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

So he mercilessly threw Ju Shou and others into jail, and turned a deaf ear to how they explained.

In fact, the people in Gaoyi City didn't have much objection to this.

However, Han Fu should never have arrested the man and yet not come up with any solution.

Faced with the overwhelming offensive of Su Yao's army and the shackles that were tightening around his neck, Han Fu had no idea what to do. After handing over the city defense to his deputy Min Chun, he simply locked himself up in his mansion, living a life of drunkenness and debauchery every day.

The envoy did not show up, and the panic in the city became even worse.

In the chaos, countless ordinary people and wealthy families began to frantically hoard food, and prices soared. Not only was the atmosphere of despair pervasive in the streets, but the morale of the officers and soldiers defending the city was also low. Those on guard and patrolling were listless and had no confidence in the upcoming battle.

At this point, although Han Fu still had a few loyal people such as Beijia Min Chun and Zhizhong Li Li, the others had long since turned away from him.

However, since Han Fu still firmly controlled the city defense and military power of Gaoyi through his deputy Min Chun, no one dared to be too presumptuous. The biggest thing he had done so far was to bribe the jailer and release the imprisoned Ju Su and others while the local county magistrate turned a blind eye.

"Li Zhizhong, at this point, can't you see the situation clearly?"

Ju Su, with a haggard face, looked at Li Li sternly and said:

"Envoy Han is stubborn and self-willed, and good words are hard to persuade. Gaoyi is an isolated city with no reinforcements outside and no food inside. How do you expect to hold on?"

Upon hearing this, Li Li turned pale and trembled all over.

How could he not know what Ju Su said?

But how could he give up Han Fu's kindness so easily?
Just as he was about to argue, He Tong immediately interrupted and said, "Li Zhizhong, the situation is over, stop deceiving yourself."

"For your pointless persistence, are you going to sacrifice the lives of the people in this city?"

"The only solution now is to surrender to the imperial court. This is the only way to keep the people safe!"

“This is the true benevolence and righteousness!”

hiss--

Li Li took a breath of cold air.

He turned to He Tong with eyes wide open, angrily accusing him of being greedy for life and afraid of death, living a life of cowardice, and trying to sell out the loyal and brave men of Jizhou for his own selfish interests, and colluding with Su Yao's spies like Ju Su.

"Don't forget how Su Yao dealt with those noble families in the Central Plains!"

"Do you think he will let you go if you surrender now?"

"Dream on! Forget it!"

"Surrendering is only to bring humiliation upon oneself and to die a more miserable death!"

After saying that, Li Li flicked his sleeves and walked straight towards the gate.

People with different ideas cannot work together. He didn't want to stay in this damn place any longer.

However, at this moment, Cui Lie, who had been silent all this time, suddenly opened his eyes:
"Someone is coming!"

"Please ask Li Zhizhong to go to the guest room and let him calm down."

Suddenly, several burly servants who had been guarding the door rushed out and blocked Li Li's way.

Li Li was so angry when he saw this that he puffed his beard and glared. He suddenly stopped and turned to glare at Cui Lie:

"Mr. Cui! What do you mean?!"

"Are you also going to be a rebel and join Su Yao?"

Cui Lie slowly stood up, looked at Li Li sternly and said:
"Li Zhizhong, I admire your loyalty and righteousness."

"But the situation is critical now. We can't afford to waste time on internal issues any longer."

"That's just the way it is."

Cui Lie swept his eyes across the room and said slowly:
"For those who are willing to stand together with us and protect the people of Jizhou, I have a letter of surrender to the court. Please come forward and sign your names to show your sincerity."

"If you don't want to, for the sake of your life and property, you can stay in my house for a few days and wait until the situation is settled before you can do as you please."

As soon as Cui Lie finished speaking, there was an uproar in the hall. Everyone looked at each other, each with their own thoughts in mind.

He Tong and others were naturally overjoyed and quickly stepped forward to express their support. Some people who were originally hesitant, under Cui Lie's prestige and pressure, also expressed their willingness to sign.

Seeing that no one spoke up for him, Li Li was so angry that he was shaking all over. He pointed at Cui Lie's nose and angrily said:
"Lord Cui! You are an old minister of the court and a famous family in Jizhou! But now you want to take the lead in surrendering to the rebels. Are you worthy of the trust of the late emperor? Are you worthy of the people of Jizhou? Are you worthy of your previous oath to oppose the Su clan?!"

"Do you think I am willing to do this?!"

Cui Lie frowned and said coldly:

"But now the situation is hopeless, and Envoy Han can't come up with a plan to resist the enemy. I can't just watch the people of the city die with him!"

The people, the people. Li Li heard Cui Lie keep talking about the people, and he didn't believe it at all.

However, given the situation, he was powerless to do anything and could only sigh dejectedly as he was taken away by the servants of the Cui Mansion.

At this point, more than half of the influential people in Gaoyi City were either captured or signed a surrender letter.

Next, Cui Lie solemnly handed two copies of the surrender letter to Ju Su, asking him to give it to Su Yao as soon as possible.

"Gong Yu, the lives of the people in this city are now in your hands."

"I will send someone to notify the colonel guarding the gate to open the door for you secretly."

"Next, please convince the general to show mercy and not implicate the innocent people in the city!"

As soon as Cui Lie finished speaking, Ju Su solemnly took the surrender letter and bowed deeply: "Don't worry, Lord Cui, I will do my best to ensure the safety of the people of Jizhou."

That night, Ju Su took the surrender letter, left the city overnight and headed straight for Su Yao's army.

"Oh? So you are Ju Shou?"

Su Yao took the surrender letter, glanced at it, raised his head and looked at Ju Shou with a playful expression:
"Didn't you shout loudly last time, saying that you would be loyal to Han Fu, and then you kept scolding me?"

"Why, have you changed your mind after just a few days of not seeing each other? And I don't see your master's name on your surrender letter."

"Are you, Lord Ju, such a fickle person?"

"."

After hearing Su Yao's words, Ju Shou's face showed bitterness.

(End of this chapter)