My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 586 Abandoning Wife and Children?

There were other people around, so Hou Mochen Yue quickly forced a smile and patted her eldest son on the shoulder.

"Excellent! With your help, my son and I will work together, and with the full support of everyone else, how can we worry about Beizhong City not holding out? Even if that bandit Gao comes with a thousand troops, we will surely find it difficult to overcome him!"

Hou Mochenrui also laughed and said, "Beizhong City is the last barrier of Luoyang. The Prime Minister has entrusted this heavy responsibility to my father and me. If we can defend it, my father and I will have accomplished a great feat! All the generals will also be promoted and ennobled!"

"Furthermore, reinforcements are gathering in Jinzhou and will arrive in a few days. We only need to hold firm in Beizhong City, conserve our strength, and wait for the reinforcements to arrive before launching a surprise attack to join them and utterly defeat the Gao traitor, leaving him routed and fleeing in disarray!"

The father and son worked together, painting a rosy picture for everyone, which garnered a lot of agreement from the crowd.

“I haven’t seen my son in a long time and I want to catch up with him and chat about family matters, but it’s not convenient for me to show up right now. I’ll have to trouble you all to help me settle the reinforcements who have just entered the city.”

Using a respectable excuse, Hou Mochen Yue sent away all the deputy generals and others around him.

He was left with only his second son.

"Father..."

"Come with me."

Hou Mochenrui was about to speak with great joy when he saw Hou Mochenyue turn around and walk forward with a livid face.

They walked all the way to the inner courtyard, where Hou Mochen Yue chased away everyone.

Only then did he turn around and look at Hou Mochenrui.

"Father? What's wrong...?"

Hou Mochenrui was somewhat puzzled. "The soldiers who came with me today are all elite warriors who have followed the Prime Minister in battle for many years. Father, you should go out and meet them."

Hou Mochen Yue sighed helplessly. How could her silly son still not see the situation clearly even at this point?
Erzhu Rong was willing to go to such lengths to conceal his true intentions, sending two thousand elite troops to the 'dead zone' of Beizhong City.

However, it's not like they're just throwing their lives away. With the help of the sturdy city walls, these elite troops will definitely pose a huge threat to Gao Yu's army before they die, and inflict as many effective casualties as possible on Gao Yu's army.

If it really is a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people sent as reinforcements.

Even a fool could see what Erzhu Rong was thinking.

"You really think this is a good thing?"

“I know perfectly well that defending the city is extremely dangerous, but if…”

How foolish!

Hou Mochenyue lowered his voice and said, "If reinforcements really came, that would be fine, but where are the reinforcements?"

"Before I left, the Prime Minister's Sima personally told me..."

"You believe everything people say? The Prime Minister previously said that he would quell the Gao bandits within three years, but what about now? On the contrary, the Gao bandits are advancing triumphantly, attacking cities and seizing territories one after another."

"cocoa……"

Hou Mochenrui stammered, unable to speak for a long time, "I am stupid, Father, please speak frankly."

Hou Mochen said, "You have neither the skill to fight bravely nor the seniority to do so. Why did the Prime Minister send you here with troops?"

"Because I am my father's son, and my father is a general highly regarded by the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister want to give me a chance to promote me and train me? I have also heard that the bandit Gao also promoted and cultivated his sons and nephews."

Hou Mochen and Yue were both appeased. "If what you say is true, the Prime Minister should promote your elder brother. Why should such a good thing fall to you?"

“I…I’m no worse than my brother.”

Hou Mochenrui muttered aggrievedly, "I was only born a few years later than my brother, why should all the good things be given to my brother first?"

Hou Mochen's blood pressure soared, and he barely suppressed the urge to slap this idiot. He was too lazy to beat around the bush. "Fool, the Prime Minister ordered you to come here, but detained your brother and others in Luoyang. This is clearly a warning to me to defend Beizhong City to the death."

"But if the Prime Minister doesn't do this, won't we still have to defend to the death?"

"Because there will be no reinforcements coming to our aid. Do I have to spell it out so clearly? The so-called defense of Beizhong City in anticipation of reinforcements is nothing but a deception. There will be no reinforcements coming at all!"

"The Prime Minister's move is treating all the soldiers in Beizhong City as 'discarded pawns'!"

"This this……"

Hou Mochenrui felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He did not understand military affairs, but he knew very well that the garrison in Beizhong City was so small that if no large army came to relieve the siege, the vast majority of people in the city would perish.

He's still young! He still wants to enjoy life!
He hasn't even had a chance to enjoy all those beautiful women in his household!
In an instant, Hou Mochenrui completely panicked!

"Father! Father... I don't want to die! Father..."

"Shut up! You lose your composure over the slightest thing..."

Hou Mochen Yue thought she was quite wise, so how could she have given birth to such a useless son?

"Father, you must find a way, Father..."

Hou Mochen Yue kicked Hou Mochen Rui to the ground with one kick, "I told you, shut up!"

Trembling with fear, Hou Mochenrui covered his mouth with his hand, but his eyes were full of panic, and he was still in a state of complete confusion.

Hou Mochenyue frowned in thought.

He was faced with only two paths.

He was willing to defend Beizhong City to the death, sacrificing his own life for the future wealth and honor of his family in Luoyang. This was the message that Erzhu Rong had sent Houmo Chenrui to convey to him in a veiled way.

Delay as long as possible, and keep it from the soldiers as much as possible to prevent morale from collapsing.

This would buy Erzhu Rong in Luoyang enough time to arrange the defenses around Luoyang.

after all……

Hou Mochenyue had also heard about it.

Months ago, Erzhu Rong had already begun the 'scorched earth' policy.

There is another way.

It means opening the city gates and surrendering, joining Gao Yu's forces.

Learn from Dugu Xin and his ilk, what about family, what about wives, children and the elderly?

Why should a man worry about not having a wife?
The most important thing is to live in this world; everything else can be given up!
and……

If you're going to surrender, you must do it quickly.

Because the attack and defense of a city usually follows a very fixed procedure, if Gao Yu leads a large army to besiege the city, he will definitely send envoys to persuade the city. If all else fails, he will not send people to throw surrender letters into the city from the outside.

No matter how great the advantage, attacking a city will cause huge losses. The best option is to persuade the enemy to open the city gates and surrender.

There is no such thing as holding out halfway before surrendering.

Because once the attacking side begins its formal assault, there will inevitably be huge casualties. Once many of the attacking side has died and accumulated resentment, even if Gao Yu is willing to surrender, he will have to consider the feelings of his soldiers.

Let’s put it another way.

Hou Mochen Yue's deputy generals, or even some of his mid-level officers, could open the city gates and let Gao Yu's army into the city halfway through the battle, and then blame Hou Mochen Yue, claiming that they were forced by him.

Therefore, Gao Yu only needs to kill Hou Mochen Yue, the ringleader, to quell the anger of his comrades who sacrificed themselves in the siege.

Think about it for a moment.

The news that there were no reinforcements could not be kept secret for long.

Hold on for a certain period of time.

Those below didn't care whether reinforcements were coming or not; self-preservation was the most important thing.

and……

There is also a harsh reality to be found here.

The families of the garrison commanders in Beizhong City were indeed all in Luoyang City.

Hou Mochen Yue had the idea of ​​sacrificing himself to bring wealth and honor to his family.

Can he guarantee that everyone under him thinks the same way, and that no one would be willing to abandon their wives and children?
What if there were just a few people who didn't think that way?

(End of this chapter)