Chapter 1336 Separation
Chapter 1336 Separation
On June 12, after dinner, Murong Huang took hundreds of personal soldiers out of the palace for inspection - no, it should probably be called the Palace of Prince Yan now, although it is still the old house.
Today is the third day of the Liang army's siege on the city. The doors on both sides of the street are closed and the scene is completely dark.
Occasionally, a group of young men would come over, knock on someone's door, send in a wounded soldier on a stretcher, and instruct them to take good care of him.
Generally speaking, these were relatively seriously injured and unable to walk. It was better to leave them in the care of civilians than to leave them in a dirty and smelly barracks for the wounded.
Compared with the houses, the streets were brighter, with torches and braziers everywhere and people coming and going constantly.
The city had only been defended for three days and the casualties were not heavy, so everyone's morale was still maintained. When they saw Murong Huang, they stopped and saluted with a respectful attitude.
On the horse path, many soldiers were either sitting on the ground, leaning against the city wall to take a nap, or whispering, but no one knew what they were talking about.
In the camp diagonally opposite, there was deafening snoring. Those were the soldiers who had just been rotated out and were resting.
Occasionally, a creepy cry of pain could be heard in the evening breeze, but it quickly disappeared.
Murong Huang stood there for a long time, quietly looking at the heavily guarded city wall.
A moment later, Sima Hanshou walked down from the top of the city wall, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the enemy soldiers have been attacking for three consecutive days and have suffered heavy casualties. They will not come again tonight."
Murong Huang nodded and asked, "How many casualties did our army suffer?"
"Less than two thousand." Han Shou said.
It was still a bit too big. Murong Huang was secretly shocked. He didn't understand why there could be such a huge loss just defending a city.
The people following behind him heard this and started to buzz about it.
Han Shou glanced in the light of the fire and saw that many tribal nobles were following the King of Yan, who were whispering to each other.
There are no rules at all! This is the fundamental reason why Lord Murong and the father and son of the King of Yan looked down on you.
However, Han Shou was also somewhat alert. What if the King of Yan was persuaded by these people and abandoned the city?
The Liang army surrounded the city on three sides, leaving only the eastern part of the city. Except for a few cavalry, there was no camp at all. It was obvious that they were encouraging them to escape and letting them flee.
The longer the city is defended and the greater the casualties, the more attractive the open space in the east of the city becomes.
"Be careful of the Liang bandits' night attack." Murong Huang only gave this instruction and left quickly.
Some officials from Prince Yan's Palace and tribal nobles followed behind him, and their voices gradually became louder.
"Two thousand people were killed or injured in just three days. Wouldn't it be ten thousand in half a month? How can we continue the war? We can't hold on."
"We shouldn't have defended it from the beginning. In the past, Mohuba was nomadic in Zuoleshui, so couldn't we go back? Even though that place was occupied by the Yuwen clan, we just had to fight. Why should we be afraid of them?"
"Even if we can't take down Zuoleshui, we can just retreat to the east or north. Why should we fight the Liang people head-on? If they come, we will leave, and if they leave, we will come back."
Internal historian Gao Xu could not bear to listen any longer and scolded: "If you leave, won't the Liang people chase you? Even if you manage to escape, the Liang people don't know where you are, but won't the Yuwen family know? Even Goguryeo may know something about it."
After these words were spoken, the tribal nobles fell silent, but they were obviously not convinced. It was just that Gao Xu had a higher status, so they habitually did not dare to refute him.
But there are always exceptions. Lan Rong, Lan Bo's brother and leader of the Wuluolan tribe, snorted coldly and said, "So what if the Yuwen clan tipped us off? Are we afraid of them? If all else fails, we can retreat into the territory of Fuyu, rob some first, and then occupy the wasteland for grazing. Do they still have the ability to drive us away? It's such a long journey, I don't believe the Liang people will catch up with us."
Gao Xu frowned.
There had been arguments in the court before, but after a few words of debate, these Xianbei nobles would usually give in. It was rare to see them arguing with their necks stiffened like today.
Everything happens for a reason.
The fact that Prince Yan brought so many nobles with him may have indicated something.
The tribal nobles were not stupid either. They keenly sensed the improvement of their status and their arrogance increased.
The doctor Ling Yang Jing stood silently in the middle of the crowd. He also smelled something wrong.
Today, Jicheng is clearly divided into two major groups.
The main forces of the tribal nobles were outside the city, in Liaoze and in the mountains. They did not participate in defending the city. At most, they would charge and fight during the attack. Most of the brutal fights were fought by the private soldiers of the Han nobles.
They haven't been in touch with their children and nephews, or their tribe for a while. Are they worried? Do they have the urge to go back and take a look?
Yang Jing believes that yes, this is human nature.
These people don't want to defend Jicheng at all. They also want to rely on the grassland herdsmen's method of dealing with the Central Plains army, avoiding its sharp edge, lying dormant temporarily, and then looking for an opportunity.
If there is a chance to surrender and the tribe is in charge, they will not hesitate to surrender.
On the other hand, the Han scholars did not want to flee with the tribal nobles and live in the wild by following the water and grass. That would inevitably require a change in lifestyle, clothing, and even their descendants would not be able to speak Xia language.
Of course the main reason is that life is too hard and too poor and they can’t bear it.
In short, these two groups of people in the city really can't see eye to eye.
There were conflicts at ordinary times, but Murong Wei and his son Murong Huang both favored the scholars, and these scholars were indeed very capable and brave in leading troops to fight. Even if the tribal nobles didn't like it, they had nothing to say.
But when the country faces a life-and-death crisis, some things can no longer be concealed. Cracks have already appeared and are growing deeper.
Just when the atmosphere was becoming a little subtle, the noise of a large group of people leaving the city attracted everyone's attention.
That was the troop that came out of the west gate, responsible for destroying the Liang siege equipment. Those siege equipment were too annoying, and they had to find a way to destroy them. At the end of the team leaving the city were hundreds of men, each carrying firewood, and it was obvious that they were going to use a fire attack.
Needless to say, this kind of thing is also very risky. If a city is not well defended, not many people will die, but if an attack is carried out outside the city, the loss will be huge and the defeat will be great.
It’s really hard to weigh the pros and cons…
******
When Fengchang Pei Kai returned to the mansion, it was already midnight. His wife and children were still awake and waiting for him.
"Let's go to sleep. What time is it?" Pei Kai waved his hand and said.
Most of the people left, only his wife Wei and eldest son Pei Mao stayed.
"Husband..." Wei sat down beside him, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.
Pei Kai glanced at her and said, "Don't worry, the city won't be breached for a while. We just went out of the city to fight and burned some of the Liang people's siege equipment, but there were heavy casualties. The Ministry of Rites was busy for a long time before they were able to settle the wounded."
Pei Kai was Fengchang, corresponding to the Taichang Qing of Liang State, and medical care was one of his areas of responsibility.
Hearing the words "serious casualties", Pei Mao's face changed and he whispered, "Grandpa, the letter my uncle sent earlier was very sincere..."
Pei Kai stretched out his hand to stop the following words.
The "uncle" mentioned by his son is Pei Zhan, his younger brother. After entering the Central Plains, he has done quite well and is now the Minister of Civil Affairs. He has repeatedly sent letters to invite him, but he has not responded.
In fact, this group of people came to Liaodong not because they were exiled, but because they came here on their own initiative.
After Jia Nanfeng came to power, the Pei family suffered heavy losses and their influence declined greatly. They dared not to participate in the bloody court struggles anymore and began to bide their time, seeking local official positions and branching out in various places.
Let’s not talk about other places in the Central Plains, this branch of theirs came to Liaodong.
After his grandfather (Pei Chang, the Inspector of the Imperial Guards in Jin) passed away, his father (Pei Wu) sought the position of prefect of Xuantu, and then his uncle (Pei Yi) began to seek the position of prefect of Changli.
His father died while serving as the prefect of Xuantu, and his uncle and his two brothers returned home to escort the funeral. However, due to the chaos in the Central Plains and blocked roads, they ended up staying in Pingzhou and working for Murong Wei - which was actually very similar to the Feng family.
My uncle was very talented and was highly trusted by Murong Wei. As a result, the Pei family began to gain power and gradually became a prominent family in Pingzhou.
But in this generation, Pei Kai is the only one who has reached a high position.
Speaking of his brother Pei Zhan, Pei Kai also felt a little sad. He was also very talented, and it might be better for him to go to the Central Plains, because he would be taken care of by Concubine Pei Gui-Pei Lingyan's grandfather Pei Hui and Pei Kai and Pei Zhan's great-grandfather Pei Ji were brothers, and although they were basically at the end of their relationship, they still had some affection after all.
"Alas, Murong Wei has taken good care of my family." Pei Kai thought for a long time, and finally sighed and said.
Pei Mao's idea moved, and instead of saying "Lord Murong", he called him Murong Wei directly, which explained a lot of things.
He struck while the iron was hot and said, "Grandpa, today I was distributing food in the government office. A nobleman from the tribe asked for more and his attitude was arrogant. I refused to give more, so he said something irresponsible, saying that we are all 'Liang people', not 'Yan people', and deliberately made things difficult for them. Some people also said that the Minister of Agriculture has already defected to Liang, and sooner or later I will also defect to Liang..."
"Huh?" Pei Kai looked at his son in surprise.
He followed Murong Huang and certainly felt the changes in the leaders of the various Xianbei tribes, but to be honest, they were in a higher status and those tribal leaders might not dare to act rashly. They just had a few verbal arguments, and the content of the arguments was often just about the facts.
But when you get down there, isn’t it different?
The son's position was not high-ranking; he was an official under the Minister of Agriculture, Wang Dan, in charge of distributing grain and fodder.
Wang Dan had been away for a long time and had not returned. He must have been detained by the Liang people. Jicheng discussed this matter for a while, but later stopped talking about it.
Some Xianbei people were brainless and believed everything they heard. Perhaps influenced by the rumors, they thought that Wang Dan had surrendered to Liang and began to hate him as well as his subordinates.
But - Alas! Pei Kai couldn't blame these people too much. Was the large-scale reduction of Liang in Liucheng fake? It's no wonder that they thought so.
"Don't bother with them." Pei Kai said, "The overall situation is at stake now. If our own people start to quarrel, everything will be over."
"Grandfather." Pei Mao summoned up his courage and said, "Grandfather, why don't you consider surrendering? My family is a famous family in Zhongxia. How can we serve Donghu for long? Many members of the Pei family served in the Liang Dynasty. I heard that Concubine Pei was also favored by Emperor Liang and was the first person after the Empress. If my family--"
"Shut up!" Pei Kai scolded.
Pei Mao was stunned.
Wei, who had been silent all the time, was immediately displeased when she saw her son being yelled at. She said, "Pei Jingshu, I married you when I was young and followed you all the way, from Hedong to Luoyang, from Luoyang to Xuantu, and then from Xuantu to Jicheng. Have I ever had any complaints? It's already this time, and you are still so loyal? Jicheng is so big, why are the Xianbei people so arrogant? Whose soldiers are the ones guarding the city? They are yours, the Feng family, and the private soldiers of the big Han families such as Gao, Shi, Wang, Liu, and Yang. They are only more than 3,000 cavalry. If they really set up a battle in the city, who knows who will win. If you are afraid, I will fight for you. Anyway, I can ride a horse and shoot arrows."
After being yelled at by Wei, it was Pei Kai's turn to be stunned.
But he had nothing to say.
His wife had been with him for half his life without a single complaint, and now she was just worried about her family, so she raised her objection.
Pei Kai was speechless for a long time.
Wei still didn't let him go and continued, "The King of Yan knows what is important and what is not. You are more or less honored by staying by his side. But do you know what is going on? The Xianbei people wanted to leave but couldn't, and they were angry and swore. These ugly words can't reach you, but my son has to bear it, you..."
The complaints lasted a long time.
Pei Kai listened silently, frowning.
(End of this chapter)