The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 277 276 Surrender without a fight
The situation of the war far exceeded Zhang Yan's expectations. Although Zhang Yan could speculate that Yuan Shao's army would make a big move in the near future, he never expected that the war would come as soon as it was said, without any sign.

Cao Cao led his army to break through the Tianjing Pass, and in front of Cao Jun was a flat plain without any obstacles from mountains or dangerous passes. The [-] troops rushed directly towards the defenseless Hanoi County like a fierce flood.

As soon as he entered Hanoi County, Cao Cao sent Cao Xiu with [-] troops to capture Jiguan and block the road from Hedong to Hanoi.Then, Cao Cao sent Cao Hong to lead [-] soldiers and horses to go straight to Heyang, seize the ferry of the Yellow River, take advantage of the momentum to cross the Yellow River, and the troops went straight to Henan City on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Later, Xia Houyuan was sent to lead [-] soldiers and horses as the vanguard to attack Pinggao, occupy the ferry of the Yellow River, take boats down the river, and attack Zhang Yan's grain storage base in Aocang.

And Cao Cao personally led an army of [-] troops, closely following Xiahou Yuan's army, and left [-] soldiers and horses to be handed over to Xiahou Dun, who let Xiahou Dun sweep the counties in Hanoi and capture Huai County, the county seat of Hanoi.

Cao Cao led his army to the south, and [-] troops entered Hanoi County, and the army quickly swept Hanoi County, and all places surrendered without a fight.When the news reached the ears of Hanoi prefect Wei Ke in Huai County, Wei Jiao was taken aback. Tai Shici had just led his army to help Hedong, and here Cao Cao led his army into Hanoi. How could there be such a coincidence in the world? thing?

Wei Qi hadn't figured out a countermeasure yet, another news came from over there that Xiahou Dun led the army straight to Huaicheng, which was less than ten miles away.

In addition, the news that Cao Xiu occupied Jiguan, Cao Hong occupied Heyang, and Xiahouyuan occupied Pinggao came one after another, and the entire Hanoi county was full of Cao soldiers.However, the Heishan Army, which has been attached to Zhang Yan and stationed in Chaoge and Dangyin in the eastern part of Hanoi County, has not made any moves in the past few days.

Wei Ji is a smart person, so he immediately thought of something. He felt that the inaction of the Black Mountain Army had already proved their betrayal and defection?

Although the scouts heard the news that Cao Cao spent a lot of money to buy the leader who was in charge of guarding Tianjing Pass, so he made a profit and led the army to drive straight in.But Wei Ji still didn't believe it, because the leader in charge of guarding Tianjing Pass was Sun Qing, the confidant of Zhang Yan, the leader of the Black Mountain Army.

In the past few years, Wei Ke served as the prefect of Hanoi, and he has dealt with the Black Mountain Army a lot, so he knows the leaders of the Black Mountain Army very well. They are all loyal to Zhang Yan, and they will never betray because of some golden stones, otherwise Otherwise, Zhang Yan would have died a long time ago.

Not only was Cao Cao able to pass through the Tianjing Pass smoothly, but he could also accurately know the emptiness of Hanoi County. Coupled with the inaction of the Black Mountain Army this time, all signs have shown that the Black Mountain Army has betrayed Zhang Yan and secretly joined Yuan Shao.

Apart from this reasonable explanation, Wei Ke couldn't think of any other reason that could connect these coincidences closely.

It’s too late to say anything now, it’s just a blame, they have too much trust in the Black Mountain Army, and they are too indulgent, if the entire Black Mountain Army could be reorganized at that time, let them be registered as a military, and accept the strict management of the court, perhaps There will be no more current fate.

But then again, Zhang Yan's strength at that time was only slightly stronger than the Black Mountain Army. The reason why the Black Mountain Army chose to attach was out of political considerations. The mighty Zhang Yan.

However, the facts have proved that Zhang Yan is a fool, attached to Zhang Yan in name, but also in constant contact with Yuan Shao in secret, his Black Mountain Army is caught between the two major forces, offending either party will suffer disaster , seemed to be his only option.

Besides, Zhang Yan didn't have any acquaintances with Zhang Yan, so why should he work so hard for him? They were thieves in the first place, and there was a trait of thieves in their bones.

Wei Ke was pacing in the hall. In just a short while, he had many thoughts in his mind. What was before him was the issue of life and death.

Or, he led the army and people in the city to resist Xiahou Dun's army.However, what else can one do besides die?It can't stop Cao Jun from occupying Huaicheng at all, it's nothing more than adding more souls of the dead under the sword.

Or, he took the whole family and fled here quickly. As long as he crossed the Yellow River, he would be safe.However, the fact is that Cao Jun is everywhere, even if he wants to escape, if he meets Cao Jun again along the way, he cuts them down without saying a word, and his family's lives will be over.

Or, he will be a hero who understands current affairs, open the gate of the city on his own initiative, and surrender without a fight. He can not only save the people in the city, but also save the lives of the whole family...

After much deliberation, Wei Ke still felt that the last path was the safest. Surrender might be his best choice at present.

However, before he surrendered, he still had one more thing to do, which was to write a letter about Cao Jun's invasion of Hanoi and his speculation that the Black Mountain Army had defected to Yuan Shao, and hand it over to the scouts. Before, they tried to cross the Yellow River and sent the letter to the south bank of the Yellow River, so that Zhang Yan, who was in Pengcheng, would know this important news.

Therefore, Wei Ke immediately wrote a letter eloquently. In addition to informing Hanoi of the situation, he also wrote in the letter that he had no choice but to surrender, hoping that the general would not blame him for his infidelity.

After writing the letter, Wei Ji handed it over to the scout, and told him to try his best to cross the Yellow River and send the letter to the south bank of the Yellow River.

The scout took the letter and quickly left Huaicheng, mounted a fast horse, and galloped away.

Wei Ke gathered his officials, explained the current situation to them, and planned to surrender. If anyone is willing to surrender, he should surrender with him. If he is not willing to surrender, he can leave Huaicheng quickly now. Let Xiahou Dun send troops to pursue.

The officials were all single-handedly picked up by Wei Ji. Most of them are locals, and some are foreigners. But after five years as an official here, they have already regarded Huaicheng as their home, and their families are all here. If he wanted to escape, he would drag his family with him. If Xia Houdun didn't listen to Wei Ke's advice and sent troops to pursue him, the whole family would be ruined.

After whispering to each other, the officials finally decided unanimously to stay in Huaicheng and surrender to Xiahoudun together with Wei Qi.

There is another important reason why Wei Ke chose to surrender. He used to hold an official position in Pengcheng and met Zhang Yan often. It is critical, but he firmly believes that one day, Zhang Yan will personally lead the army to regain the lost ground.He wants to wait here, waiting for the day when Zhang Yan defeats Cao Cao and regains the lost ground.

A quarter of an hour later, the gate of Huaicheng was wide open, and the prefect of Hanoi led the county officials to the gate of the city, quietly waiting for Xiahou Dun's army to arrive.

After about one stick of incense, there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes on the official road. Xiahou Dun put on his armor and held an iron spear, leading a team of cavalry to charge forward. Behind him was a black torrent like a long dragon. Drive to Huaicheng.

Xiahou Dun rode on his horse and saw the gate of Huaicheng from a distance. It was not the first time he had seen this situation. The army swept across the counties in Hanoi, but wherever they passed, the counties surrendered without a fight. , The situation of the county magistrate leaving the city to surrender is similar to this time.The only difference is that the prefect guards coveted more subordinate officials than the county magistrate.

Soon, Xiahou Dun rode his horse to the bottom of Huaicheng. He reined in his horse and parked outside the city. There was still a distance from the city wall. This distance was just beyond the range of bows and arrows. Since he lost one eye, He became a lot more cautious, always considering many aspects, and taking precautions in every possible way.

Xiahou Dun raised his hand, signaling for all the cavalry behind him to stop, and he sent a cavalry forward to ask questions.

When he learned that Wei Ji had led the county officials to surrender here, Xiahou Dun asked Wei Ji to come over alone and present the letter of surrender.

Wei Ji was not worried about anything, he took the letter of surrender and the prefect's seal in his hand, and walked towards Xiahou Dun.

After a while, Wei Ke came to Xiahou Dun, and said respectfully: "The prefect of Hanoi, Wei Ke, led a total of 230 officials, large and small, to present the letter of surrender, and I invite General Xiahou to have a look!"

Xiahou Dun took the letter of surrender, but didn't open it. Seeing that Wei Ji really wanted to surrender, he turned over and jumped off his horse, and said happily, "I've heard about the name of prefect Wei, but I saw it today. It's really different." Fan Xiang. I accepted the letter of surrender, but I asked the prefect of Hanoi to keep the seal and ribbon of the prefect of Hanoi. My lord has already ordered that if the prefect of Wei is willing to surrender, he will still be the prefect of Hanoi. The officials in the county will also remain in their original positions. .”

The lord that Xiahou Dun mentioned was Cao Cao, not Yuan Shao.

This time Cao Cao led his army to the south, learned the lesson of attacking Xuzhou that year, changed his bad habit of massacring the city in the past, and instead adopted the technique of gentleness and appeasement.Therefore, before Cao Cao set off on the expedition, he gathered all the generals and explained that all officials who surrendered will have their official positions unchanged, and the army and the people will not commit any crimes, and they are not allowed to harass the people at will.

All these practices have only one purpose, which is to buy people's hearts.

Therefore, when Cao Jun invaded Hanoi, since he did not encounter any resistance, he did not kill a single person. Cao Jun came like a gust of wind, and it seemed that he was not fighting, but passing by here. Except for a few important cities and passes, Cao Jun never entered the city, nor did he leave troops to garrison.

In this way, the people of Hanoi did not suffer from war at all. As for who is in charge, they don’t care much. As long as they can live a life of peace and contentment, no matter who rules here, for them, they all look the same, eat and drink Lazarus sleeps and lives as before.

The matter of occupying the counties in Hanoi County, Xiahou Dun progressed very smoothly, without a single soldier, and all the places fell upon hearing the news.

However, Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan, who had already crossed the Yellow River, did not go so smoothly.

Cao Hong crossed the river from Heyang, occupied Mengjindu with lightning speed, and then drove his troops straight to Henan City.

Although Yin Zhanghong of Henan has more than a thousand troops, it is difficult to deal with Cao Hong.So, Zhang Hong abandoned the city and fled. He led the only thousand troops and fled all the way to Hangu Pass, because there were still [-] soldiers at Hangu Pass, and the guard Wei Xu was also a good general. Temporarily avoiding Cao Hong's edge, maybe he can still find an opportunity to fight Cao Hong.

The most unsatisfactory one was Xia Houyuan. His army has always been known as the "God Marching Army". All lieutenant officers and soldiers are famous for running fast. Good at running long distances.

Xiahouyuan occupied Pinggao early in the morning, but unfortunately, the soldiers guarding the river bank set fire to dozens of ferry boats docked on the bank. There was no boat to be found.

Although Xia Houyuan was angry, he couldn't find anyone. The soldiers ran away by boat before Xia Houyuan led his army to the south bank.

Now it is the time when the sky is freezing again, the water in the Yellow River is not rushing, and it is also frozen.But this layer of ice is not so thick that a man cannot walk on it, so he cannot cross the river.

Therefore, Xia Houyuan ordered people to cut down trees and made rafts by himself, hoping to cross the Yellow River as soon as possible, take Aocang directly, and complete Cao Cao's deployment.

(End of this chapter)