The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 644 You are the thief

General Hu has been feeling a little anxious these days.

He was quite worried.

Although Hu Zun was superior to Guanqiu Jian in terms of seniority and rank, he knew in his heart that their status was still not equal in the eyes of the emperor.

Guanqiu Jian was a general who was firmly loyal to the royal family from the very beginning, while Hu Zun was a close confidant of Duke Xuanwen and a former fierce general of Sima Yi.

Of course, with the death of Sima Zhao, the court has come to an end of the history of the Sima family and Cao Shuang.

As a minister, Cao Shuang despised the emperor, promoted his cronies, was rude to the emperor and the empress dowager, and was actually a powerful minister. However, considering that he had made contributions to the court and had died, his crimes were pardoned and he was no longer treated as a criminal. His direct descendants were also qualified to serve as officials again and would no longer be treated as traitors.

Sima Yi conquered the frontier, resisted the invasion of enemies, put down internal coups, and eliminated powerful officials, which were meritorious deeds. However, he was disrespectful to the emperor, persecuted his colleagues, promoted his confidants, and especially persecuted the royal family and loyal officials too severely. He had both merits and faults, so his posthumous title and rewards were revoked, and he was reburied with the rites of a commoner. However, because of his many previous merits, his crimes could be pardoned, his official rank and title could be restored, and he was no longer treated as a criminal.

In fact, it is quite important whether or not to be treated as a thief.

For example, if the court does not pardon his crimes during his lifetime, then when people talk about him, they should call him by his name, as if he were a criminal, and they cannot mention him in poems or essays. However, if his crimes are pardoned, then when people talk about him, they can call him Sima Gong, or call him by his official title during his lifetime.

You can also mention him in articles or memorials, saying what happened when Sima Gong conquered Liao.

As for those who had followed Cao Shuang and Sima Yi, Cao Mao chose to forgive them.
Now that power has been taken back, there is no need to settle accounts with their confidants one by one. If they do, the Wei Dynasty will probably become unstable again.

Hu Zun was of course also on the pardoned list, but because of this experience, even if he had not participated in things like submitting memorials to persecute members of the royal family, his status in the emperor's heart was different from that of Guanqiu Jian.

As two of the three generals, they are both qualified to run for the position of general.

But at this moment, Guanqiu Jian made such a great contribution.

He almost single-handedly destroyed the State of Wu, captured Sun Hao alive, and took Jianye.

This contribution is truly great!

How can we fight for this?
Just as Hu Zun was thinking about this, good news came that Shi Ji had committed suicide and his army had surrendered to Wen Qin, thus opening the door to the heartland of Wu.

Hu Zun became even angrier, and he sent people again to urge Ding Feng to surrender.

Just as he was waiting for Ding Feng to surrender, a scout hurried over and angrily told him that Ding Feng had killed the messenger he sent and was unwilling to surrender.

Hu Zun, who was sitting on the bed, suddenly jumped up.

"Even this old dog dares to humiliate me like this?!"

Hu Zun was already angry, and when he heard that Ding Feng had killed his envoy, he became even more furious.

Several deputy generals stood in front of him and at this moment they were completely unable to understand Ding Feng.

Their emperor had already surrendered and officially issued an edict. Why did this man dare to kill the envoy from Wei?

Isn’t he afraid of bringing disaster to his emperor?

Everyone looked at each other.

Hu Zun took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I'll surround him here. I think this guy thinks I'm a coward and dares to defend but not attack!"

"Is Guanqiu Jian the only brave general in the Wei Dynasty?"

"Back then, I defeated Hu Bo in Anding and forced him to surrender! I fought Zhuge Liang in Jishi and forced him to retreat! I killed Bei Yan in Liao, subdued Yang Zuo, and pacified Gongsun Yuan!"

"How dare a mere Ding Feng be so arrogant?!"

Hu Zun looked at everyone and said, "Since he is unwilling to surrender, then take off his head as a military merit!"

"Tell all the troops, no need to besiege anymore, attack fiercely! Let this guy see if I only know how to besiege and not attack!!"

Seeing Hu Zun's flushed face and spitting saliva, the generals knew in their hearts that the general was really angry.

They immediately obeyed the order and left in a hurry.

Hu Zun also ordered his subordinates to put on armor for him, and then led his own troops to attack Ding Feng.

Ding Feng didn't wait for the situation to change, but instead waited for Hu Zun's crazy attack.

It was not just Hu Zun who was holding his breath, the generals under his command were the same.

The number of wars to annihilate a country is small.

It's not just Hu Zun who needs military merits; the generals under him also need military merits to get promoted.

Originally, they had finally captured many cities, but had to withdraw voluntarily due to strategic needs. In fact, the subordinates of Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian had made great military achievements, but they had nothing.

They were already holding back their anger, and with Ding Feng making such a fuss, they naturally wanted to vent it.

Because Hu Zun was in charge of two states, he had a great advantage in the number of troops. Ding Feng had less than 30,000 troops, while Hu Zun had more than twice as many as him.

When Hu Zun launched a full-scale attack, Ding Feng's army collapsed at the first touch.

It was not because Ding Feng's army was too weak, but because of the emperor's edict. Shi Ji chose to commit suicide because he knew in his heart that it was useless to fight at this moment.

The entire army has lost the desire to fight. If they go to war in such a state, they will just be sending people to be killed.

Shi Ji felt hopeless, so he ordered his men to surrender. But Ding Feng, who had risen from a soldier to a general, could not accept the fact that Wu was destroyed. He still had illusions and always felt that things would turn around.

However, Hu Zun would obviously not give him the opportunity to wait.

After the two sides fought, Ding Feng's troops chose to surrender.

They didn't even put up much resistance, and the surrounding cities fell one after another.

Ding Feng cursed angrily, but it did not help.

Even among his direct generals, there were cases of defection.

Hu Zun's army was very fierce. They kept attacking and advancing. Ding Feng's defense line collapsed in a moment, and generals from all over the country surrendered one after another.

Just two days later, Ding Feng was besieged in Guangling County by Hu Zun and others.

The generals surrounded the city and demanded that Ding Feng surrender immediately.

They told everyone in the city that if they surrendered, they would be forgiven, but if they did not surrender, they would be slaughtered after the city was captured!
For a moment, everyone in the city was in a panic and tried to find ways to contact Cao's army outside.

When the people in the city wanted to surrender, even Ding Feng could not stop them.

The north gate was opened at night and Cao's army rushed in.

Ding Feng led his trusted men and retreated to the county government office, where he continued to fight against Cao's army.

Cao Zhen led his men into the county government office, and Ding Feng and others were trapped in the inner courtyard. There were only more than 30 people left, and there were enemies both inside and outside.

Densely packed crossbows were aimed at them.

Under the powerful crossbows, all beings are equal. Not to mention Ding Feng, even if Xiang Yu survived, at this distance, being pointed at by so many powerful crossbows, it would only take a moment to lose his life.

Ding Feng was also exhausted at this moment. He held a long sword and looked at the enemies around him with indescribable fatigue in his eyes.

He hasn't slept for many days.

When he was young, he fought with Gan Ning, broke through the enemy's formation and camp with Gan Ning, and was highly valued by Gan Ning.

Later, Gan Ning died of illness. He followed Lu Xun and burned the Shu people in Yiling, and followed Pan Zhang and fought against the Wei people in Shiting.

When these people were gone, he became a general and followed Zhuge Ke to fight against the Wei people.

The weather was cold and it was snowing heavily.

Ding Feng ordered his men to take off their armor, strip naked, and wield swords, and then they quickly attacked the front of the Wei army, killing them and routing them.

In total, he fought for the State of Wu for nearly fifty years.

From a young boy, he turned into a white-haired old man.

Cao Zhen stepped out from among the soldiers, but didn't dare to move too far. He just made a move and then loudly asked, "Ding Feng! Why don't you surrender?!"

Ding Feng looked at the young man in front of him and wanted to jump up and behead him with one blow.

But he had no strength left.

If I were forty years younger, maybe I could replace this person?

When I followed General Gan to charge into battle, General Cao was like this, he killed one by one, and killed two by two.
Ding Feng's eyes suddenly brightened, as if he remembered something.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Cao Zhen took a few steps back and said, "Shoot!!"

The powerful crossbow made a series of sounds of breaking through the air, but Ding Feng did not move. The crossbow arrows easily pierced his body, tearing his flesh and blood into pieces.

Ding Feng stared in the direction of Cao's army and fell heavily.

The eyes of Cao's generals also lit up, and they rushed forward quickly, ready to take credit for this great military achievement.

It took Hu Zun only a few days to easily defeat Ding Feng, kill the most powerful general of the late Wu Kingdom, recapture his army, and quickly send troops to join Wen Qin.

At this point, the Wu army's front-line forces completely collapsed.

The only one in Wu who is still resisting is Lu Kang.

At this moment, he led his army and stationed outside Jianye City. This magnificent city, which had been the support of Lu Kang and others in the past, now became a problem facing Lu Kang.

Guanqiu Jian stood on the city wall and looked at Lu Kang's army in the distance.

Those people were building siege weapons and wanted to attack Jianye.

Guanqiu Jian was not afraid of Lu Kang, because the people who wanted to defeat Lu Kang the most were not Guanqiu Jian, but the former Wu people.

Many ministers of the Wu State stood beside Guanqiu Jian, looking at Lu Kang in the distance, their faces pale and their teeth gritting.

They really want to curse now.

You bastard, if you want to defeat Guanqiu Jian, then defeat him halfway. He has already entered Jianye, what are you doing here now?

(End of this chapter)