The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates was scared to death. Suddenly, an unknown number of soldiers appeared outside of Xinye City. The soldiers were charging towards Xinye City. The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates was unable to close the gates in time.
Initially, he thought that he would be finished just like that. Allowing an unknown army to charge into Xinye City could be considered a dereliction of duty. If things went wrong, he might even be sent to the guillotine.
"It's over, it's over, it's over!" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates was completely disheartened. Xinye City was located at the border of Jingzhou. Strictly speaking, it was part of Jingzhou's territory. However, the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, had obtained it by exchanging Nanyang County for Xinye City. Xinye City's defenses were fine initially. However, due to the Yangzhou Navy's victory on the Yangtze River, it became like this. Could it be Jingzhou's soldiers?
"Commandant, don't panic, don't panic!" Someone reminded him. "It's not the enemy, it's not the enemy!"
"Not the enemy?"
"Yes, look at those soldiers. They are carrying our flag and wearing our black uniforms." A soldier said to the Commander-in-Chief of City Gates.
"Our soldiers?" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates saw the Yangzhou flag and the black uniforms. They were indeed Yangzhou's soldiers. The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates could even tell that they were Xinye's soldiers. The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates was about to let out a sigh of relief. However, he became nervous again.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" All of a sudden, a group of soldiers rushed into Xinye City, shouting loudly. When this group of soldiers rushed into the city, it immediately caused an uproar, because their voices and attire were the original defenders of Xinye City.
What had happened? Why were there so many soldiers in Xinye City?
"Refugees, those refugees are rioting, rioting!" The Commander-in-Chief Of City Gates immediately caught one of the fleeing soldiers and learned the incoherent question from him.
"Refugee uprising?" The Commander-in-Chief Of City Gates was stunned for a moment before he broke out in a cold sweat. Xinye had taken in a lot of refugees over the years. Because of Yangzhou's policy of farming, as well as the annual war, many refugees from other places had come here. Many of the refugees who attacked Yuzhou and Liu Bei had also settled down in Xinye. The number of refugees in Xinye could be said to be around 100,000. If the refugees were to riot, it would be a disaster.
"Quick, quick, quick! Go to the camp and tell General Guo about this!" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates ordered his subordinates. Guo Yi was the City Gate Commandant of Xinye, so the Commander-in-Chief of City Gates immediately went to look for Guo Yi.
"Yes!" The soldier nodded and left. However, he quickly returned.
"What did General Guo Yi say?" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates asked. He desperately needed someone to tell him what to do next. He was just a low-level official and was only in charge of the city walls.
"General, General Guo Yi is not in the camp." The soldier panted as he spoke.
"Not in the camp? Should we go to the Guo Residence to ask? "The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates asked. It was possible that General Guo Yi was in the Guo Residence.
"No, there's no need to go. These soldiers were brought out by General Guo Yi." The soldier told the Commander-in-Chief of City Gates.
"What? These soldiers are General Guo Yi's soldiers? Then where is General Guo Yi's soldiers? "
"Maybe, maybe they are not in the army anymore!"
"Quickly go to the Governor's Residence and look for the Governor." Since his immediate superior, the Gate Captain, was no longer around, he could only look for someone higher up. He did not look for the Governor directly because it was a taboo to look for someone higher up than him. Who would like a subordinate who reported to his superior through him?
Soon, a guard came to report, "Reporting to the Commandant, Governor, the Governor is not in the Governor's Residence!"
"Where is he?" The City Gate Commandant was a little stunned. The City Gate Commandant was a little dumbfounded. When he was looking for his superior, the City Gate Commandant Guo Yi, he might not be in the army. Now, when he was looking for his superior's superior, Xinye Prefecture Chief Liu Qi, he was also not in.
"Do you know where the Governor went?!" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates panicked.
"The housekeeper of the Governor's Residence said that the Governor went to live in the countryside a few months ago. He said it was to avoid suspicion. "The soldier replied to the Commander-in-Chief of City Gates.
"Avoid suspicion?" The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates raised his eyebrows.
"Commandant, our Governor used to be the eldest son of the Governor there." The soldier pointed to the south. The Commandant then understood that Xinye Governor Liu Qi was an official of Yangzhou. He was a subordinate of the King Of Shu, Liu Mang. He was also the eldest son of the Governor of Jingzhou, Liu Biao.
In the past, when Yangzhou and Jingzhou were allies, Liu Qi could govern Xinye without any qualms. He was good at governing the people. However, after Jingzhou and Yangzhou fell out, Liu Qi's identity became awkward. He was a subordinate of the King Of Shu, Liu Mang. Jingzhou was his father's territory. He was in an awkward position. It was not good for him to help Yangzhou. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either. It was not good for him to help Yangzhou either. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either. It was not good for him to help Jingzhou either.
"Hurry up and inform the other Commander-in-Chief of City Gates to have a discussion." The Commander-in-Chief of City Gates wanted the other Commander-in-Chief of City Gates to have a discussion. A group of dragons could not be without a leader. They had to come up with a countermeasure. At the very least, they could give each other ideas.
"Commandant, there's no need to go! The other Commandants, Commandant Hao, Commandant Cheng, and Commandant Han, all went out with General Guo Yi. " He wasn't called over by Guo Yi because this Yang Chao was not on the same side as Guo Yi. To put it nicely, this Yang Chao was made of steel, but to put it bluntly, he was unsociable. Yang Chao didn't want to wallow in the mire with Guo Yi and the others, so he was kicked out by Guo Yi and the others. The other Captains of the North Gate were all filthy rich, but Yang Chao had to rely on the little bit of salary he had to make a living. Yang Chao didn't want to wallow in the mire with Guo Yi and the others, so he was kicked out by Guo Yi and the others. The other Captains of the North Gate were all filthy rich, but he, Yang Chao, had to rely on his meager salary to survive. This time, Guo Yi did not call Yang Chao along. That was why the three Commander-in-Chief of City Gates and Guo Yi disappeared into the army. Only Yang Chao remained in Xinye City.
"General, the person with the highest rank in Xinye City right now is probably you!" a soldier added.
"What, what is this!" Yang Chao smiled bitterly. Xinye was a county city, so there were a lot of people with higher ranks than Yang Chao. However, they were all civil servants or merchants that belonged to Yangzhou's commerce department. They could not manage the military, so it was pointless for them to come. That was why the highest rank in Xinye City was reduced to a mere Commandant.
"Commandant, we can only do this now! If we lose Xinye City, even if you have ten heads, you won't be able to kill them all! " If Xinye City was lost, no one in Xinye would be able to escape. Governor Liu Qi would be in trouble. Guo Yi had already disappeared in the chaos, and the other captains were also not around. Thus, he would be the next unlucky one.
"That's the only way!" Yang Chao smiled bitterly and allowed him to make the arrangements. He first needed to know how many soldiers there were in Xinye City. He also needed to know how many weapons there were in Xinye City. Only then would he be able to do more.
"General, there are less than two thousand soldiers defending the city." Based on the information from the other gates, there were less than two thousand soldiers at the four gates.
"Two thousand?" Yang Chao opened his eyes wide, "Are you sure you didn't count wrongly?" Yang Chao still had 1,500 men under him. This was only one gate. The other gates only had two thousand? Are you kidding me? Could it be that the other gates only had five hundred soldiers?
"Commandant, the south gate has 152, the west gate has 100, and the east gate has 98! There are a total of 350 soldiers. "
Alright, even five hundred soldiers at the three gates was overestimating them.
"Where are the soldiers? Where did they go? " Yang Chao was about to roar. Suddenly, there was chaos and the refugees were rioting. Yang Chao did not have much of a reaction. Now, there were not even enough soldiers to defend the city.
"Commandant, this might have something to do with General Guo Yi!" A soldier reminded him.
"Guo Yi?" Yang Chao only reacted when he heard the soldier's reminder. He also knew that Guo Yi was a freeloader.
The four gates of Xinye City were guarded by two thousand soldiers. This meant that there should be a total of eight thousand soldiers defending Xinye City.
Originally, the north gate was the entrance to Xinye City. Therefore, there were five thousand soldiers stationed there. Now that Xinye City had changed owners, it changed from being a barrier to the north of Jingzhou City to being a barrier to the south of Jingzhou City. Therefore, a large number of soldiers were transferred from the north gate to the south gate.
The south gate had five thousand soldiers while the other three gates had one thousand five hundred soldiers each. Although Guo Yi had brought a lot of soldiers, he should not have only five hundred soldiers at the three gates. After all, this was Xinye City. Opposite the Yangtze River was Jingzhou City. Even if General Hao Shao's soldiers were stationed at the Yangtze River, he should not be playing around like this.
Yang Chao didn't know what to say about Guo Yi. Out of the eight thousand soldiers, there were at least three to four thousand. Yang Chao didn't know what to say about Guo Yi.
"What about the rations and other weapons?" Yang Chao continued to ask.
"Commandant, Xinye City does not lack these things." As long as they were defending the city, they would naturally be allocated rations and weapons. Furthermore, two thousand soldiers would not be able to eat much.
"R-reporting to the Commandant, the refugees, the refugees are heading towards Xinye City! Someone reported to Yang Chao over there.
"How many refugees are there? How far are they from Xinye City?" “
"At most ten li! I can't tell the exact number, but there are a lot of them! "
"Pass down my orders. Close the gates and prepare for battle!" Yang Chao gave out the order in an orderly manner.
"Commandant, can we win?" A marquis asked.
Yang Chao did not answer the marquis' question directly. Instead, he asked, "Do we have any other choice?" The marquis fell silent. His entire family was in Xinye City. If Xinye City was breached by the refugees, he knew what would happen to the city. The pain of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was still engraved in many people's hearts.
"Send someone to the navy camp immediately. Ask General Hao Shao to send reinforcements." Yang Chao had two plans. The first was to ask for reinforcements. The second was to defend the city.
"Yes!"
"Wait!" Yang Chao waved his hand. "Let's go on my warhorse." Yang Chao said to the scout. Although Yang Chao's warhorse was a good horse, it was still an old horse. Even so, Yang Chao spent most of his savings on it. Normally, Yang Chao would be reluctant to ride it. He would rather have the horse ride him. But now, he actually took it out for his men to ride. This showed that the situation was very serious.
…
"There's actually a refugee riot?" Hao Shao rebuilt a large camp dozens of li away from Xinye City. This camp was backed by the Yangtze River. After King Of Shu and Liu Mang taught Hao Shao about Xinye City, Hao Shao made full use of the terrain.
Xinye City's terrain was flat. Once the enemy disembarked from the Yangtze River, Xinye City would be defenseless.
Xinye City was used to defend against the north. Therefore, it was easy to attack and hard to defend against the south.
That was why Hao Shao had set up a camp beside the Yangtze River. First, he could patrol the Yangtze River and send out scouts to prevent the Jingzhou Navy from suddenly coming ashore. Second, if the Jingzhou Navy really wanted to attack Xinye, Hao Shao could attack halfway across the river. To Jingzhou, the Yangtze River was a natural moat against the North's invasion of Jiangnan. Similarly, to the North, the Yangtze River was a barrier for the South to invade the Central Plains.
With such a good resource, why not make use of it? Hao Shao did as he said. After transferring countless provisions and lime wood from Shouchun, a large scale building was built beside the Yangtze River.
There were less than ten thousand soldiers in the entire camp. However, Hao Shao was confident that he could stop a hundred thousand soldiers from Jingzhou.
Hao Shao was studying military affairs in the army. Suddenly, a scout came to him and asked for help. This was not right. Hao Shao was the frontline soldier in Yangzhou and Jingzhou. He should be the one asking for help because he could not withstand the attack in Jingzhou. He should ask for help from Xinye, Zaoyang, and Yiyang. But now, the situation had changed.
After the scout's explanation, Hao Shao knew that the refugees were rioting. It started from the inside of Xinye City.
"Don't we have eight thousand soldiers in Xinye City? Even if there are a hundred thousand of them, they can still rely on the city walls to repel the enemy. " Although the rioting of the refugees was a headache, it was not impossible. The refugees were most afraid of sieges. They did not have any weapons, weapons, armor, or shields. They were afraid of sieges. As long as they could defend the four gates of the city, there would be no problems. The Yellow Turban Army also grew from a few thousand soldiers to a few hundred thousand soldiers. That was how they were able to take down several cities of the Great Han Dynasty. However, that was the end of it. The eight thousand soldiers in Xinye City were enough to hold on for a while. Why would they send someone to ask for help?
"Why is it a Senior Military Officer? Where is the Governor of Xinye? "The Deputy General asked. This was a trap.
"General, our Governor has been missing for several months." The scout replied.
Hao Shao nodded. He knew that Liu Qi wanted to avoid arousing suspicion. Liu Qi had even informed Hao Shao, and Hao Shao had also written a letter to Shouchun. The military counselor of Shouchun had also given Liu Qi a reply that he would wait until the matter in Jingzhou was resolved before deciding whether to become an official or something else. The personnel of Xinye Prefecture had also been arranged, but there had been no suitable talent. That was why there was a vacancy in Xinye City.
"What about the Garrison Commandant?" Logically speaking, it was a matter for the Garrison Commandant. It was not something a Senior Military Officer could decide.
"Our General Guo Yi is also missing." Yang Chao did not say that Guo Yi was missing. He was afraid that it would affect the soldiers' morale. He only said that General Guo was missing.
The Garrison Commandant was also missing? What was Xinye playing at? Hao Shao frowned.
"You may leave first. I will submit a letter to Shouchun with the General and request for troops." Hao Shao's Deputy General said to the scout. Although Hao Shao had full authority to mobilize troops in Xinye, it was only to guard against Jingzhou. He did not transfer troops to Xinye to help. One must know that Hao Shao had less than ten thousand troops. If they were to go to Xinye, who would guard the Yangtze River? Xinye City had eight thousand troops.
"General, please send troops to Xinye. Our city doesn't have eight thousand troops. We only have two thousand. Less than two thousand!" The scout shouted at Hao Shao. It was easy to tell how many soldiers there were in Xinye City.
Two thousand troops were stationed at the four gates. Each gate had five hundred people. If it was a small county, it would definitely be enough. However, this was a prefecture. Five hundred people could not be seen clearly on the city walls.
"Two thousand? What's going on? "Hao Shao and the Deputy General were shocked. What was with two thousand troops? Xinye was supposed to have eight thousand troops. It could even be expanded to fifteen thousand. Back then, Liu Biao stationed more than ten thousand troops in Xinye.
Only then did the scout tell Hao Shao about the soldiers in Xinye City.
"Preposterous!" Hao Shao was so angry that he slammed the table and stood up. To actually eat empty pay and drink the blood of the soldiers, this was the most intolerable thing for a general, especially for a general like Hao Shao who had come from the grassroots. He knew the warmth and coldness of the soldiers. Eight thousand soldiers and horses had shrunk to three-quarters of their original size. Hao Shao was about to condemn the Xinye Garrison Commandant, Guo Yi, when he remembered that Guo Yi had disappeared a long time ago.
"Pass down my orders. We will send troops to quell the rebellion in Xinye immediately!" Hao Shao stood up. There was no time to lose. They had to make a decision as soon as possible. They had to go to Xinye to help quell the rebellion.
"General, if you go to Xinye, what will happen to the Yangtze River Barracks?" Hao Shao's Deputy General asked doubtfully. The Yangtze River Navy was guarding against the Jingzhou Army. If you mobilized them, what would happen if the Jingzhou Army made a move?
"I will only bring five thousand troops!" Hao Shao said to his Deputy General. "I will leave the remaining five thousand troops in the Yangtze River Barracks to defend against the Jingzhou Army!" “
"General, five thousand men are stretched thin! The Deputy General tried to persuade Hao Shao. Five thousand troops were not enough to quell the rebellion or defend against the Jingzhou Army. Originally, the ten thousand troops in the Yangtze River Navy could send out scouts to watch the Jingzhou Army cross the river and attack them halfway. Now, the five thousand troops could only stay in the Yangtze River Navy and wait for the enemy to attack.
"Send them down the Yangtze River to Lujiang and Shouchun. Ask the Military Advisor for reinforcements. I will bring five thousand troops to Xinye first." Hao Shao made a compromise. Five thousand troops would stay in the Yangtze River Barracks to defend against the Jingzhou Army. The other five thousand troops would go to Xinye first and ask for reinforcements from Shouchun and Lujiang to quell the rebellion. After that, Hao Shao would bring his troops back to the Yangtze River Navy.
"That is the only way!" Very quickly, the Yangtze River Barracks sent out the Yangtze River Barracks.
It only took them a day to travel down the Yangtze River and across Lujiang, but the whole of Yangzhou knew that the refugees in Xinye had rioted. Lü Bu immediately mobilized the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry to quell the rebellion. A bloody storm was inevitable.
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