Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 412 People

The other side is still hesitating.

Gongsun Biao's entire clan was in Youzhou. Surrendering to the Jin dynasty would have been extremely risky.

However, such people are usually not loyal to the Wei Kingdom. Liu Daogui had no expectations of him and led his armored soldiers and banners forward, shouting loudly, "I am Liu Daogui, the Grand General of Jin!"

The guard repeated it loudly, and almost everyone fell silent.

Thousands of eyes were focused on Liu Daogui alone.

The hostility in those eyes was negligible; instead, they carried a certain expectation.

It goes without saying what kind of life the Jin people lived under the swords of the Hu people.

Neither the Former Yan, Later Yan, nor the Northern Wei could truly treat them as subjects, or even as human beings...

"Today I will ask you only one question: are you willing to continue being the dogs of the Xianbei, or return to China and join me in avenging our humiliation!"

The guards roared out each word hysterically, and these words pierced the hearts of everyone like sharp arrows.

The battlefield remained calm.

Only the wind was howling, but the breathing of the soldiers on the other side gradually became heavier.

With a clang, one of the armored soldiers at the front threw down his weapon and walked step by step toward Liu Daogui's banner.

He walked slowly, but with great determination.

Since ancient times, the Yan and Zhao regions have been home to many generous and tragic heroes. Since the Yongjia Rebellion, the resistance against the Hu people has never ceased. Ran Min's order to kill the Hu people resulted in the slaughter of 200,000 Jie Hu people in Ye City alone within three days. On both sides of the Yellow River, there was no day without killing and no month without fighting, and a million Hu people died tragically under the swords of the Jin people.

It's only been forty or fifty years since then.

"Fire arrows! Fire arrows!" A furious roar echoed from the Wei army's ranks.

call out--

A dense barrage of arrows shot into the sky, but landed about ten paces behind the armored soldier.

At such close range, it's certainly not that they couldn't aim.

The armored soldier walked step by step to Liu Daogui, knelt on one knee, and said, "Gao Ziye is willing to return to China and follow the General to kill the Hu!"

"Granted!" Liu Daogui personally dismounted and helped him up.

The Wei army on the other side could no longer control themselves and collapsed instantly. They dropped their swords and came over in groups.

Even the cavalry followed.

"I am willing to follow the Great General!"

"Approved!" Liu Daogui accepted all offers.

Of the 20,000 Wei infantry and cavalry, only Gongsun Biao's 3,000 to 4,000 troops remained, forming a circular formation, which was surrounded by the Tiger Guard Army and the surrendered troops.

"I am willing to surrender to the Great General." Gongsun Biao panicked.

Liu Daogui said, "Come out first, and we'll talk in detail."

"I wonder how the General will reward me?"

Even at this point, he was still haggling, unaware that his bargaining chips had already disappeared.

Liu Daogui said without any politeness, "With your talent, you can be a drummer in my army!"

"What?" The person on the other end was astonished.

"You have half an incense stick's time. Whether you live or die is up to you."

Liu Daogui looked up at the sky, too lazy to waste any more words with him. He had dealt with him a few years ago and found him to be neither a military talent nor a man of principle, and therefore not worth trying to win over.

We must also guard against him turning against us again.

"General, you have broken your promise to me today. How will you recover the Central Plains in the future?"

The person on the other end was still talking incessantly.

Liu Daogui didn't even want to give it half an incense stick's worth of time. "Tiger Guards, listen to my command! Leave no one alive!"

With a "whoosh," the cavalrymen raised their powerful crossbows, loaded them with bolts, and aimed at Gongsun Biao's circular formation.

"I surrender, and I wish to return to my parents' homeland..."

The opposing side immediately backed down, and a dozen armored soldiers escorted a skinny general out. While others looked imposing in armor, he looked like a long, thin monkey.

It has one big eye and one small eye, making it look quite comical.

He walked up to Liu Daogui, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "I am Gongsun Biao, paying my respects to the Great General."

Liu Daogui nodded and let Liu Huaijing take him away. He didn't have time to argue with him and took his men to appease the surrendered soldiers.

The Jin people of the north were taller and stronger than the Hu people. Having experienced many years of war, especially in Youzhou, where they lived among the Hu people, every household had the habit of practicing martial arts.

Among these people were elderly people with gray hair, as well as children as young as thirteen or fourteen.

Dressed in tattered clothes and carrying broken weapons, many didn't even have a pair of straw sandals, even though winter was approaching. Only Gongsun Biao's three or four thousand troops had bright armor and were well-equipped.

But these people were extremely loyal to Gongsun Biao.

Without uttering a single wasted word, Liu Daogui dragged the horse meat up, lit a campfire, set up a large cauldron, and soon the aroma of the meat filled the air.

The surrendered soldiers opened their eyes wide, and many began to drool.

"Eat!" Liu Daogui ordered, and the surrendered soldiers rushed forward, not caring whether the horse meat was cooked or not, and began to chew it heartily.

After they had eaten their fill, Liu Daogui ordered the Tiger Guards to bring up wooden carts filled with fur coats and leather shoes seized from Daxi Jin's troops.

Da Xi Jin's 10,000 cavalry were the elite of Wei, and their treatment was naturally incomparable to that of Gongsun Biao's troops.

"The General has ordered that each person be given a sheepskin coat and a pair of leather shoes."

The guards shouted in the crowd.

The north wind at dusk carried a chill, and it felt like a knife against one's face.

After receiving their sheepskin coats and leather shoes, the surrendered soldiers' eyes all shone brightly.

When it comes to winning people's hearts, Liu Daogui can be considered the master. He also suffered from hunger and cold in his early years, so he knows best what the soldiers want.

Although not a single word was spoken, these things speak louder than a thousand words.

After the surrendered soldiers were well-fed and clothed, their expressions were different from before.

Before dawn the next day, Liu Daogui was awakened by the sound of rapid hoofbeats. "Reporting to the General, Lord Song has been surrounded by Changsun Song, Changsun Fei, Shusun Jian, and An Tong!"

Liu Daogui was surprised. "Aren't there still Cao Ji's and Li Damu's naval forces?"

The scout reported, "Changsun Song built bamboo rafts and wooden boats, which went down the Qi River to launch a fire attack that scattered our warships."

In this battle, Wei had a large number of famous generals and mobilized nearly 100,000 troops. It was impossible for them not to see Liu Yu's weaknesses. Cao Ji and Li Damu were not the main force of the navy.

Previously, Da Xijin's group was sent to cut off the connection between Liyang and Fangtou.

Now that the navy has been defeated, Liu Yu is in dire straits.

Of course, the most important thing is that Liu Yu never even considered retreating...

"Summon the entire army to support Fangtou!"

They originally planned to cut all the way into the heart of Wei and turn Hebei upside down, but they didn't expect Wei to react so quickly.

Judging from their momentum, they clearly intend to eliminate Liu Yu at all costs and crush the morale of the Northern Army.

It must be said that the rulers and ministers of Wei had a keen eye for talent.

For them, this was the most correct course of action. If Liu Yu died at their hands, the Northern Expedition would end in failure and would also profoundly affect the power structure of the Jin Dynasty.

"The General treats us so well, we are willing to die for him!" The surrendered soldiers rushed over upon hearing the news.

They were a dark mass, but their eyes were incredibly resolute.

"You guys?" Liu Daogui was moved. The so-called winning people's hearts was actually treating the soldiers as human beings.

Emperor Zhang of Han dispatched 7,000 troops from the three commanderies of Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang, as well as more than 7,000 troops stationed in Shanshan, to the Western Regions, solely to rescue Geng Gong and his thirteen companions. Even after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Han army was still able to defeat the surrounding foreign tribes.

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, a system of gentry was established, turning soldiers into military slaves. Faced with the pursuit of Shi Le's eight thousand cavalry, the army of two hundred thousand men collapsed like a house of cards, with corpses piling up like mountains...

It took Liu Daogui nearly ten years to raise the status of his soldiers.

"Please give the order, General." Gao Ziye took the lead and knelt on the ground.

The surrendered soldiers knelt down in a dark mass.

"Get up! Don't kneel!" Liu Daogui shouted.

The surrendered soldiers all stood up.

"If both father and son are in the army, the father will return home; if both brothers are in the army, the elder brother will return home; if an only son has no brothers, he will return home to care for them. All soldiers who return home will receive half a shi of grain."

Liu Daogui's cavalry raided the enemy without carrying much food, but Gongsun Biao brought a considerable amount, along with several thousand shi of grain previously seized from Daxi Jin.

After a selection process, only a little over six thousand men remained, but these six thousand soldiers were all filled with murderous intent.

Although there were fewer people, their equipment was better and their morale was higher.

Or perhaps, this isn't morale, but a death wish.

The Wei army besieging Fangtou numbered no less than 100,000, but without the will to fight to the death, they could not succeed no matter what.

"General..."

Those who weren't chosen had tears in their eyes, reluctant to leave.

Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings? Feeling sorry for their own kind, Liu Daogui was also moved by this scene. "Go back to your hometown, live a good life. One day, I will definitely recover Hebei and make sure you are no longer bullied by the Hu people!"

(End of this chapter)