Chapter 750 Recovering Hebei
Chapter 750 Recovering Hebei
Dou Jiande continued to lead the army south. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the 80,000-strong army finally arrived at Liaocheng County, Wudu County. It was the fifteenth day after they had been cut off from salt. The army's combat effectiveness had been extremely weak. Most of the soldiers had severe edema and felt weak all over. Many soldiers could not even carry their spears.
Dou Jiande also knew that the root of the problem was the lack of salt. They had to cross the Yellow River in one breath, seize a county town, and get salt to replenish their energy so that the soldiers could quickly recover their strength.
If they don't get salt, all 80,000 soldiers will die.
Liaocheng County is only 40 miles away from the Yellow River, and Lu County is on the other side of the Yellow River. Unfortunately, Dou Jiande forgot an important link: why did they cut off the salt supply? Cutting off the salt supply was a war. When the war of cutting off the salt supply had been won, how could the Sui army give them a chance to recover?
As soon as the army arrived in Liaocheng, Zhang Xutuo, Lai Huer and Pei Xingyan each led an army of 50,000 and surrounded Dou Jiande's army in Liaocheng County from three directions.
Three giant catapults slowly approached the city wall and fired at the same time from 300 steps away. Three large wooden balls flew into the city. "Bang!" The wooden bridge exploded in the sky, and the wooden balls opened. The 20,000 leaflets in the three large balls fell from the sky.
The whole city was filled with them. Many soldiers grabbed one and put it in their arms. Dozens of soldiers surrounded one soldier, who read aloud: "The Emperor of the Great Sui Dynasty has issued an oral order. All soldiers and generals of Dou Jiande's army who surrender will be forgiven and sent back home. If you don't cherish this opportunity, you will not have another chance to survive. 150,000 troops will fire rockets at the same time and burn the whole city. You have three days to surrender."
Dou Jiande was sitting in his mansion staring at the leaflet in a daze when suddenly a soldier came running over and shouted, "My lord, Zuo Xiaoyou has led his troops out of the city to surrender!"
Dou Jiande was stunned. It had only been a stick of incense since the leaflets were dropped! Was Zuo Xiaoyou so impatient to surrender?
I just promoted him to the rank of general, and this bastard is repaying me like this? Dou Jiande was so angry that he started to curse.
In fact, Dou Jiande wrongly accused Zuo Xiaoyou. The first person to open the city and surrender was Li Wan, a general under Zuo Xiaoyou. He opened the city and led two thousand troops to surrender. Soon after, Zuo Xiaoyou's other two generals, Wang Liang and Zheng Dabiao, surrendered. Zuo Xiaoyou had no choice but to surrender with the rest of his troops as he could no longer control his men.
These surrendered generals were all like Zuo Xiaoyou, powerful people from various counties in Shandong Peninsula. They all rose up in rebellion, but were finally defeated one by one by Zhang Xutuo. They fled to Hebei with their remaining troops. These rebellious powerful people were actually the same as Zuo Xiaoyou, but in the end Zuo Xiaoyou became a general, which made everyone extremely dissatisfied. Many of them made up their minds to escape immediately once they went to the battlefield.
These Shandong rebel generals missed their hometown very much, but because they were afraid of being liquidated, they had to follow Dou Jiande obediently. However, the leaflets clearly stated that as long as they surrendered, their past deeds would be forgiven. These rebel generals were so excited that they opened the city and surrendered without hesitation, and each one ran faster than the other.
In just a moment, all 20,000 troops in Xicheng left the city and surrendered. What's interesting is that the general who received them was Zhang Xutuo. They had gone a circle and returned to the starting point.
Just as Dou Jiande rushed out of the palace gate, another army came to report, "My lord, Huo Xiaohan led his troops out of the city to surrender to the Sui army."
Dou Jiande's eyes went dark and he almost fainted. Huo Xiaohan's 20,000 troops guarding East City also surrendered. In less than half an hour, half of his troops surrendered.
Dou Jiande turned around and saw Song Zhengben behind him, and couldn't help bursting into tears.
Song Zhengben was clear-minded. The Emperor of the Sui Dynasty's promise of forgiveness of past mistakes touched the hearts of these rebellious generals. They followed Dou Jiande only because they were afraid of being held accountable. Now that they could be forgiven, who would still be willing to rebel?
But he couldn't say that, because it would be a heavy blow to Dou Jiande. Song Zhengben could only sigh and say, "The Emperor of the Sui Dynasty's policy of cutting off salt is too cruel, even crueler than cutting off food. It's like cutting meat with a blunt knife. In the end, you either die or surrender."
Dou Jiande lowered his head and said after a while: "I want to surrender too!"
Song Zhengben was startled, "My Lord, this is not the place to talk."
Dou Jiande returned to the back hall, and Song Zhengben said, "You have three days to think it over!"
"What else can I consider?" Dou Jiande opened his shirt, revealing his calves, which were swollen like elephant legs. This was Dou Jiande's kindness. He shared the hardships with the soldiers and did not prepare any special meals for himself. He had also been without salt for half a month.
Song Zhengben felt sad and could only sigh, "My lord, please write a letter! I will go to the Sui army camp to negotiate."
Dou Jiande wrote a letter to Song Zhengben saying, "I don't want to be an official. I will be satisfied as long as you let me go home and farm."
Song Zhengben took the letter and left the south city and came to Lai Huer's tent. Lai Huer had just returned from Lingnan. He was conferred the titles of Duke of Wu, General of the Cavalry, General of the Left Guard, and First-Class Huben General.
When Lai Huer heard that Dou Jiande's chief military advisor had arrived, he asked his personal soldiers to bring him in.
Lai Huer was a kind person and politely asked Song Zhengben to sit down.
Song Zhengben handed the letter to Lai Huer and sighed, "Dou Gong is a kind man who shared the hardships with the soldiers. He has also been without salt for fifteen days, and his calves are so swollen that he can't even walk. We have no choice but to surrender to the Sui army. I only hope that the emperor can forgive Dou Gong!"
Song Zhengben was very careful about his choice of words. He did not use the King of Xia because the emperor had already declared Dou Jiande's King of Xia a traitor. If he used the King of Xia again, the other party would not negotiate. If they negotiated with you, wouldn't that mean they acknowledged your legitimacy?
Lai Huer finished reading the letter, pondered for a moment and said, "Whether to accept your lord's surrender, I have no right to make the decision. I need to consult the emperor. I can send a pigeon letter to ask for instructions. There will be news the day after tomorrow at the latest. I can extend the deadline to five days later."
Lai Huer ordered his personal soldiers to bring two kilograms of salt and handed it to Song Zhengben, "This is for your master!"
Song Zhengben thanked him again and again and left. Lai Huer saw that it was still early, so he immediately sent a pigeon letter to Luoyang to ask the emperor how to deal with Dou Jiande.
Emperor Xiao Xia's reply arrived the next day, agreeing to accept Dou Jiande's surrender, pardon his crimes, and send him to Putian County, Jian'an Commandery to live out his retirement.
When Dou Jiande saw the emperor's pigeon letter, he could only sigh. He actually knew that the court would no longer let him stay in Hebei. He immediately ordered the city gates to be opened and the entire army surrendered to the Sui army.
On the seventeenth day after the salt shortage, Dou Jiande led the last 40,000 troops to surrender. The army of more than 200,000 was finally defeated by a tiny crystal.
Dou Jiande's family was sent to Putian County for resettlement. He bought a thousand acres of fertile land and became a landlord in the countryside. He changed his name to Dou Congshan and treated the tenants well. His rice fields were the first experimental fields for growing Cochin rice, and the high-quality double-season rice was a success. His grandson Dou Jin passed the imperial examination and became the chief clerk of Qingshui County, Liuqiu Prefecture.
Dou Jiande finally lived to be seventy-eight years old and died in his sleep.
Song Zhengben had a good ending. After surrendering, he was appointed as the Chief Clerk of Wei County and finally became the Minister of Rites.
Starting from the 14th day of the first lunar month, millions of refugees from Hebei began a massive wave of returning home. Salt shops were opened in various counties in Hebei Province, selling refined salt like other counties in the Sui Dynasty.
At this time, Pei Xingyan's 100,000-strong army marched north to Zhuo County and joined forces with Luo Shixin's 30,000-strong army. The two armies set up camp 20 miles away from Ji County.
Xiao Xia had already given Luo Yi the letter, so he would not accept any more negotiations. Either Luo Yi surrendered honestly and accepted the court's arrangements, or he would suffer the same fate as Dou Jiande, or he would resist to the end and be killed in the end.
(End of this chapter)