Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 572 566. Riot
Hefei city.

Today's Hefei city is like purgatory, because the food has been completely eaten up. The people in the city have eaten tree bark and soil, and the situation of exchanging children for food has appeared.

The Han army's original attitude was quite open. That is, no matter whether it was the civilians or soldiers in the city, as long as they left the city and surrendered to the Han army, they would have food and drink. In the beginning, many people secretly left the city, and the Han army also fulfilled its promise.

However, after Cao Xiu discovered that more than 2,000 soldiers had escaped from the city, he immediately issued a ban, requiring anyone seen escaping from the city to be killed without mercy. As a result, no ordinary citizen dared to escape and they could only struggle to stay in the city.

"Grand Marshal, the Han army has shot letters into the city again."

Cao Tai was now a bit skinny, and his cheeks were obviously thinner. He walked into the hall and spoke to Cao Xiu, who also had sunken eyes.

"The Han army is trying to persuade people to surrender again?"

Cao Xiu ignored him, because as the Grand Marshal of Wei and a member of the Cao family who was trained by Cao Cao, it was impossible for him to surrender. Anyone in Hefei could surrender, but he and Cao Tai were unlikely to surrender, so it was Cao Tai who came to report these things to him.

"No, it was a letter to the people, and the Han army kept shouting outside the city with their loud speakers."

"Ignore it."

Cao Xiu had long lost the energy to deal with those insignificant issues. Now that the food in the city had run out, the Han army tried to persuade him to surrender almost every day, always asking Cao Xiu to consider the virtue of heaven, but Cao Xiu never took it seriously.

"Grand Marshal, this time the Han army is inciting the soldiers and civilians in the city to revolt. They say that if we take up arms now, kill you, and surrender, we will have food immediately."

Cao Tai thought about it for a while, and finally repeated the Han army's words exactly as they were said.

"Have Zhang Hu and Le Chen step up patrols, and have Chang Diao and Zhuge Qian guard each camp. If there is any unusual movement, kill them immediately."

Cao Xiu waved his hand and let Cao Tai go. Although Cao Xiu knew that Wei was doomed and Luoyang might have fallen, he was still unwilling to surrender.

But if you really ask Cao Xiu what he was going to do, he probably wouldn't be able to give a clear answer. He just held his breath and decided to fight the Han army to the end.

In fact, Cao Xiu knew he was going to die, but he still insisted on fighting the Han army to the end and just struggled.

Deng Ai had already reached Yanzhou, and Xu Shu was in charge of Huainan. In fact, the Wei army was starving and had no fighting power. They were just holding on because of Cao Xiu's orders.

Therefore, Xu Shu also kept asking the Han army soldiers to persuade the soldiers and people in the city to surrender. At this moment, Cao Xiu was the one who went against everyone else, and there were many people who were unwilling to die for the Wei Dynasty with him.

"Mom! Mom!"

Although most of the troops in Hefei were transferred from Shouchun, there were still some local Wei soldiers. Even the generals in the city were starving, let alone the civilians. Many people died of starvation, and there were cries like this all the time.

"Damn it, Cao Xiu doesn't want to surrender, he can just die on his own, why did he drag us to die with him!"

Finally, someone couldn't stand it anymore. In this desperate moment, emotions are contagious. Riots are sometimes so simple. As long as the atmosphere is right and there is a young man who dares to fire the first shot, the rest will fall into place. "What are you doing! Are you going to rebel?"

The furious soldiers and common people spontaneously formed a team and rushed directly to the governor's mansion where Cao Xiu was. They could not bear it any longer. Some loyal or timid Wei soldiers who had not reacted blocked them.

"Get out of the way! Without Cao Xiu, the Han army would have come in long ago. Why do we have to starve for so long? The Han army has said that Luoyang is in danger now. Cao Pi usurped the Han Dynasty and aroused the wrath of heaven and people. Why should we starve?"

There were already some indignant people in the Wei army who began to incite other Wei soldiers and the common people who came to watch the fun. After all, most people just wanted to have enough to eat, but now they were almost starving to death, who would care about the Wei State, the Grand Marshal, and the like?
"You are rebelling! Get out of here immediately. I won't bother with you today!"

Cao Xiu had been alerted by the noise outside and had come outside the palace. Both parties were still restrained and had not taken action, but Cao Xiu was afraid of exacerbating the conflict, so he was still relatively restrained in his words.

"It's too late! If you, Cao Xiu, want to be a loyal minister, then go and die! Why do you want to drag us along with you! Since we dare to come here, we must have something to rely on."

Someone below sneered and stopped talking. Cao Xiu held his breath and concentrated, and heard the noisy sound in the distance.

"You dare to open the city!"

Cao Xiu was shocked. This noise could only be the sound of the Han army entering the city.

"Haha, Cao Xiu, you want to drag us, the whole of Hefei, you and the Wei Dynasty to be buried together, but we won't do that. We captured the west gate before we came. Now I will lend you my head as a token of my loyalty to the Han army!"

A general among the rebels stood among them, shouting loudly. He was the one who had just instigated the troops.

"Shen De! You are such a fickle villain. I knew you were untrustworthy!"

Cao Xiu immediately started cursing at the leader. Shen De was a general of the Eastern Wu. After Feng Xi marched eastward to destroy Wu, Cao Xiu led his troops to take over the Eastern Wu territory north of the Yangtze River. Shen De was the garrison commander of Wan County at the time. Because the Yangtze River was blocked by the Han army, they had nowhere to go, so they simply surrendered to Cao Wei.

In some sense, their situation at that time was somewhat similar to Huang Quan in the original timeline, so their choices were also very similar.

Shen De, Han Zong, Zhai Dan and other Wu generals surrendered and were naturally taken in by Cao Xiu under the command of the Huainan Army. Now that the Han army was besieging Hefei, they had no loyalty to the Wei Dynasty in the first place. Now that they saw the former generals of the Eastern Wu living a colorful life in the Han army, they were almost starving to death after surrendering to the Wei Kingdom. How could they bear it?
So the three surrendered generals of Wu State made a plan and, together with many Wei soldiers who had other ideas, they simply seized the west gate of Hefei. Han Zong and Zhai Dan led the Han army into the city, while Shen De went directly to the prefectural government to capture Cao Xiu as a token of his surrender.

"Brothers, we have no way out now. But Huainan has already been taken over by the Han Dynasty. We might as well rebel against the Wei Kingdom, kill Cao Xiu, and win the favor of the Han army!"

After Shen De's few words, the soldiers and civilians who had been suppressed on the verge of explosion responded one after another and began to attack the prefect's mansion, frightening Cao Xiu so much that he hid back in the mansion.

"You rebels, retreat immediately and you will be spared death!"

With a loud shout, hundreds of cavalrymen came from nowhere and pierced the rebels' heart like a sharp sword.

(End of this chapter)