My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 528 The Siege Begins!

Night is the best camouflage.

Gao Yu dispatched many knights who rode to the city wall, tied surrender letters to arrows, and kept hurling them into the air.

On the city wall, crowds thronged. The soldiers, like startled birds, thought it was an enemy attack and a commotion ensued.

They didn't realize what had happened until the knights below the city had left.

Not all the arrows landed on the city walls; some also hit houses inside the city.

Soon a letter was delivered to Chilie Yanqing.

With a complicated expression, he opened the letter, which was a letter urging surrender written in Gao Yu's voice.

"The law of the land is the law of the state. Erzhu Rong has acted perversely, disregarding the duties of a subject and defying the natural order. He has incited the people of the region, coerced the army, plundered prefectures and counties, and harmed officials and civilians. This is intolerable to Heaven and Earth, and is abhorrent to both gods and men..."

Chi Lieyanqing wasn't one of those illiterate soldiers, even though the content of his letter was written in a very literary style.

He and the officers around him looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

It's impossible and unnecessary to hide a letter of surrender. The attacking side will try to persuade the defending side to surrender in an attempt to take the city without bloodshed. This is a common practice and has been the case since ancient times.

It would be better to openly show it to your officers and soldiers, although not everyone can understand it.

Unlike Gao Yu, Erzhu Rong did not establish military academies or schools to eradicate illiteracy.

The earliest soldiers in Shandong were mostly literate, and the literacy requirements were even higher for the captains and brigade commanders.

How can you read military texts if you can't read?
To get promoted, you must be literate.

Gao Yu's letter of persuasion was quite sincere. The overall message was that all the mistakes were the fault of the traitor Erzhu Rong, and that they had been coerced. Now, they were given a chance to abandon their evil ways and join the good, and Gao Yu would certainly forgive them for their past transgressions.

They also agreed to three rules.

After entering the city, do not burn, kill, loot, or plunder; do not kill innocent people to claim credit; and do not open coffins or mutilate corpses.

The mistakes made by Erzhu Rong alone do not need to be paid for by his subordinates. Even the city's commander, Chilie Yanqing, and Gao Yu generously stated that as long as he opened the city gates and surrendered the city, he would be forgiven and even promoted.

Gao Yu explained his policies very clearly in the letter.

Chi Lieyanqing put down the letter, remaining outwardly calm, but secretly observing the officers and soldiers in front of him.

He would never surrender to Gao Yu.

It's not that he doesn't trust Gao Yu.

Gao Yu said he would never burn, kill, or plunder, nor kill innocent people to claim credit, and he would never do that. He was very strict about military discipline.

In terms of military discipline, Gao Yu and his soldiers are renowned for their integrity.

of course……

How could soldiers who risk their lives for a living possibly receive no rewards at all?
Even someone as prestigious as Erfeng, who excessively restricted her subordinates, almost caused a major disaster, and in the end, she had to pay out of her own pocket to quell it.

Gao Yu opted for a compromise.

After entering the city.

Gao Yu would send people to find wealthy households in the city and ask them to 'donate' money to reward the army.

Wealthy households are always prime targets for robbery, so Gao Yu was essentially protecting ordinary people, since... how much money could you possibly find in an ordinary person's home?

One of the main reasons why Chilie Yanqing was unwilling to surrender was that his family members were currently in Luoyang.

He wasn't a ruthless person like Dugu Xin, who could abandon his wife and children to surrender to Gao Yu.

"Hmph, you scoundrel, you think you can trick us into opening the city gates with such sweet talk?"

Immediately, someone spoke up and rebuked!
Chi Lie Yanqing took a look.

Ok.

He was also a man whose wife, children, and elderly parents were all in Luoyang.

When someone exploits your weaknesses, most people simply can't bring themselves to be ruthless.

"Yewang City is well-fortified; how could it be easily captured?"

"That's right, Yewang is not an isolated city. If the Gao thief forces an attack on the city, reinforcements from the outside will surely arrive and shatter its myth of invincibility!"

"We will never grovel before this treacherous bandit!"

"........."

Someone took the lead in pledging loyalty, and the others followed suit.

Not stupid.

Chi Lie Yanqing remained silent and kept watching them, wasn't he just waiting for them to make a statement?

Even if you have other thoughts in your mind, you must appear absolutely certain at this time...

Loyalty! Upon seeing this, Chilie Yanqing couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Very well! I am willing to overcome these difficult times together with you all. The Prime Minister is already mobilizing a large army, and will soon send it to relieve the siege of Yewang. At that time, we will have rendered a great service! The Prime Minister will surely reward us!"

"We are willing to follow the general to the death!"

Chi Lieyanqing suddenly stood up and began to make arrangements, "From today onwards, the number of people patrolling the city and the frequency of patrols will be increased to guard against petty people in the city who spread rumors and mislead the people."

Are there any informants for Gao Yu in the city?

Chi Lieyanqing was unaware of the details, even though he had already conducted repeated investigations beforehand.

There would be no outsiders in the city, and they would point each other out. No strangers could be in the city.

But who can say for sure about this?

Perhaps Gao Yu had already bribed the locals?
Although Gao Yu only led his troops out in October, he had been planning for this siege battle for half a year.

The visible battlefield is right before our eyes, but the invisible battlefield is already shrouded in smoke.

The next day.

Chilie Yanqing summoned all the soldiers and civilians in the city.

"A formidable enemy is at hand! The bandit Gao has led his troops here, destroying your houses and your fields. Once the city falls, no one can escape the consequences..."

It's just like trying to persuade someone to surrender.

The city's garrison naturally had to use similar methods to appease the people.

The rhetoric was basically the same, which was nothing more than saying that after the city fell, the enemy army would burn, kill, loot, and commit all kinds of atrocities, in order to inspire the soldiers and civilians to fight bravely.

Works great.

The people will believe it too.

After all, in the eyes of the common people, no matter whose soldiers they were under, they were all a group of officially licensed bandits who would not do anything good.

The concept of a nation did not exist in ancient times.

Let alone Henan and Hebei.

Even if we're both from Hebei, if you're from this village and I'm from that village, we'll still treat each other as outsiders.

Even when fighting over water, they might have been stained with the blood of people from each other's villages.

In the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty", there is a classic scene when Yongzheng goes to Jiangsu to see Li Wei.

The Northwest is short of money for fighting, what does that have to do with Jiangsu?

This is just a microcosm.

Ordinary people cannot view issues from a perspective detached from their own class.

Gao Yu's soldiers.

They came from Hebei, Shandong, and even further afield from Yan and You.

For the people around Yewang, these people would never treat them kindly. Once the city falls, their families will surely be destroyed and their lives will be lost!

They had no choice but to fight desperately to defend the city.

While mobilizing Yanqing.

Gao Yu was actually doing similar work, trying his best to boost the morale of his soldiers.

When morale is high, combat power far exceeds that of ordinary people.

After five days.

The camp has been fully constructed.

Gao Yu stepped onto the command vehicle that had been specially built for him, looking down at his soldiers.

He gave his final speech!

After all, the camp was completed.

Even if the siege fails, they can retreat back to their camp without worrying about being followed and pursued.

Secondly...

There is an even more important point.

The reports from the scouts indicated that there were no signs of large-scale enemy movements in any direction.

The further drop in temperature ultimately led to a situation that Gao Yule had anticipated.

The river is frozen over!
The wide moat outside Yewang City.

It's frozen!
(End of this chapter)