Three Kingdoms: I choose Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao, why are you crying, Diao Chan?

Chapter 39 Persuading Surrender (Thanks to XJJ for the votes and support~)

Anlu City.

Lu Bu looked at Zhang Liao and Wei Yan, who were covered in blood, and patted their shoulders with a smile:

"You are worthy of being my brave generals. I am very satisfied with your performance!"

Zhang Liao looked ashamed:

"If the lord had not arrived in time, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to defend Anlu."

Lu Bu smiled and comforted:

"People always need to grow! You can achieve this level in your first time defending a city, which shows that you have talent in this area.

"I believe that you will do better than today when defending the city next time!"

At this time, Cao Xinghui reported:

"My lord, in this battle, the Bingzhou cavalry you brought with you lost dozens of men, and captured 2,000 enemy soldiers.

"There were 3,000 soldiers defending the city, and 1,000 of them were killed, including more than 200 of our elite cavalrymen."

Hearing this, Lu Bu felt quite distressed.

Although his Bingzhou cavalry was not as fierce as the soldiers in the Xianzhen Camp, they were also strong soldiers selected from a hundred miles away.

It’s a pity that they are not good at defending cities. If they charged on horseback on the battlefield, the losses would be much smaller.

But overall, he still gained two thousand soldiers after this battle.

Together with the one thousand surrendered soldiers in Anlu City, he had a total of three thousand soldiers, and the total force reached thirty-three thousand.

In addition, the capture of the strategic city of Anlu was already a complete victory.

Lu Bu asked Zhang Liao and Wei Yan to go down and rest, and asked Cao Xing to deal with the bodies outside the city, while he brought Zhang Yun to the prison.

On the way, Lu Bu praised Zhang Yun:
"General Zhang has made a great contribution this time. I will reward you handsomely once the affairs in the city are settled!"

Zhang Yun clasped his fists in surprise:

"Thank you, my lord!"

The two came to the prison.

There were four people imprisoned in the prison, namely Cai Mao, Huang Zu, Liu Xian and Han Song.

Although Liu Xian and Han Song had some talents, Lu Bu was not very interested in them.

He only knew that Liu Xian was the uncle of Zhou Buzhi, who "saved the Han Dynasty from danger and continued the revival of Emperor Guangwu."

Zhou Buzhi was born in 192.

He was somewhat interested in Zhou Buzhi. After all, he was a good friend of Cao Chong and a rare talent.

It’s a pity that he has just been born. If we want to wait for him to grow up and be put to good use, it will probably take more than ten years.

However, it is not impossible to establish a good relationship with the other party's uncle now.

So Lü Bu asked Liu Xian:
"Liu Beijia, are you willing to surrender?"

Liu Xian had now recovered from the panic he felt when he was first imprisoned.

He stared at Lu Bu coldly and said "Pooh":
"You traitor! You used evil tricks to seize my city, and you still want me to work for you? Dream on!"

Lu Bu was not angry when he heard the other party scolding him.

After all, the other party had the same surname as Liu Biao and was more or less related to him, so he expected that he would not surrender easily.

Lu Bu did not continue to persuade him to surrender. He believed that once he captured Liu Biao, the other party would surrender on his own.

Lu Bu then turned his head and looked at Han Song.

Before he could speak, Han Song said directly:

"I am willing to surrender!"

Lu Bu was stunned for a moment.

This guy is worthy of being the one who persuaded Liu Cong to surrender to Cao in history. Once he encountered trouble, he directly turned into a surrenderist.

However, Lu Bu also knew that most civil servants would surrender when they were captured.

Only most military generals would rather die than surrender.

When comparing the so-called character of a scholar and the integrity of a warrior, the difference is obvious!
However, Lu Bu still accepted Han Song's surrender.

Regardless, he is a capable person.

Although it is impossible to serve as a county magistrate for the other party again, it is still possible to do some clerical work.

Moreover, since the other party had offered to surrender, there was no need for him to refuse. Lu Bu then came to Huang Zu's cell.

Seeing that the arrow wound on the opponent's arm had been bandaged, Lu Bu asked with a smile:
"General Huang Zu, are you willing to surrender?"

Huang Zu snorted coldly:
"If you want to kill me, just kill me. Why bother saying more?"

Lu Bu sighed softly:
"The general is quite brave and this governor admires him very much.

"It's a pity that such a precious gem is thrown into the dark, which makes people sigh."

Huang Zu heard this and immediately cursed:

"My Lord is kind and generous, how can you, a mean person who only cares about profit and forgets righteousness, evaluate him?
"If you don't kill me today, I will take your dog's head someday!"

Seeing Huang Zu's firm attitude, Lu Bu knew that persuasion was hopeless, and immediately went to the cell where Cai Mao was.

Instead of persuading Cai Mao himself, Lu Bu turned to look at Zhang Yun, and left first with Han Song.

Zhang Yun understood what Lu Bu meant, so he entered the cell with a pot of wine and started chatting with Cai Mao.

Half an hour later, Lu Bu saw Zhang Yun and Cai Mao coming to him.

The smile on Zhang Yun's face said it all.

Lu Bu was overjoyed and immediately set up a banquet for the two men, rewarded them with official positions, and let them be responsible for the training of the navy.

……

Xiling City.

Upon hearing the news that Huang Zu's army was wiped out, Liu Biao looked as pale as death!

The two counselors, Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue, stood in front of them, not knowing what to say.

Logically speaking, Anlu County is so close to Xiling County, Huang Zu's army should be able to take it over in a short period of time.

But I didn't expect the enemy's reinforcements to arrive so quickly.

This shouldn't be the case...

Even for the fastest cavalry, it would take at least two days to reach Anlu County from E County.

Kuai Liang couldn't understand why the other party could come to support him in less than two days.

Otherwise, once Huang Zu takes over Anlu, the crisis in Xiling County will be resolved.

But now, the situation was completely beyond his expectations!
How did Lu Bu do this?
Had his cavalry been reinforced in some way?
Kuai Liang couldn’t understand it, he couldn’t understand it at all!
Liu Biao looked at the two counselors, whose faces were equally grim, and could not help but sigh:
"In this situation, what should we do?"

After being silent for a long time, Kuai Liang finally spoke:
“Now we still have 5,000 soldiers and horses in Xiling City, and sufficient food and grass.

"If we can hold out for a month, the enemy will run out of food and grass and will retreat..."

Before he finished speaking, Kuai Yue on the side sneered:

"Hold on for a month? You're dreaming. Don't forget, the enemy has powerful siege equipment like the Thunderbolt Chariot.

“And I heard that Lu Bu had the support of the Zhou and Qiao families in Lujiang, as well as powerful people from all over the country.

"Plus, the autumn harvest has just passed. Do you think they will not have enough food and fodder?"

Kuai Liang glanced at Kuai Yue indifferently:
"What do you think?"

Kuai Yue was silent for two seconds, then said seriously:
"In my opinion, the only way to minimize the losses is to abandon Jiangxia, cross the river and retreat to Xiangyang before the enemy attacks.

"Otherwise, once we are surrounded by the enemy, we will definitely not be able to escape.

"But the specific choice is entirely up to the lord."

Hearing that things had come to this point, Liu Biao's expression seemed to have aged by dozens of years.

After pondering for a long time, he sighed reluctantly:
"Order the entire army to evacuate with all the food and supplies, leaving not a single thread for the enemy!"

"Yes……"

Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue bowed at the same time.

……

When Lu Bu led his army to the city of Xiling, he saw that the city gate was wide open and there was no one guarding the city.

Only a group of frightened people watched them slowly enter the city.

Lu Bu smiled at Liu Ye beside him and said:
"As the military advisor expected, the enemy chose the safest way."

Liu Ye stroked his goat's beard and smiled happily:
"A mere Liu Biao is not even qualified to be my lord's opponent!

"Once Jiangxia is stabilized, you can cross the river and attack Xiangyang to completely wipe out Liu Biao's forces!"

(End of this chapter)