Chapter 809 Sengbian withdraws his troops
"The criminals pay their respects to the general! We were threatened by the bandits a few days ago and were unable to meet the general in time. Fortunately, the general's deterrence has eliminated the bandits' power. The criminals have killed the bandits in the city and surrendered the city. We beg the general to forgive our previous crimes and give the people of this city a chance to live!"
In front of the north gate of Hefei City, the officials and powerful people in the city all took off their armor and weapons and surrendered with their hair loose. Walking in the front was an old man with white hair, staggering and trembling.
Following behind were two young men in white clothes, one holding the head of the former governor Hu Sizhao, and the other holding a series of seals and tokens, including the official seal of the prefecture, including the territorial maps and books previously demarcated by the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Li Tai stood in the middle of the generals and soldiers in full military uniform. Seeing the old man leading everyone to bow slowly, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that this era really has a tradition of respecting the elderly.
He had experienced many similar surrender scenes. Basically, besides the military and political leaders leading the surrender, there would always be one or several elderly people following behind.
He had not handled such things much before. According to his own guess, the reason for such arrangement was that the elderly generally had certain qualifications and prestige in society, and it was also intentional to let the hostile forces that accepted the surrender see that this old man was so old that he would not live for many years if he was not killed. Killing him would only add a few more killing karmas to yourself.
But no matter what these people thought, as long as they were willing to surrender the city, they were good.
So Li Tai stepped forward and ordered his personal soldiers to invite the old man to come forward. He then took the old man's wrist and said with a smile: "Today, my royal army is marching here only to conquer the stubborn and disrespectful bandits. As long as the people in the city keep themselves clean and do not go along with the bandits, they will be saved from now on and do not have to worry about being harmed. Since the village elder was recommended by the city people to come to see me, he must be a righteous man with good morals. Forgive my poor eyesight, may I ask your name?"
"No, no, I am a criminal, how dare I boast of my virtue! The criminal's surname is Xiahou, and my humble name is Wanlong. I am a distant relative of the late Fengcheng Xianggong. I dare not claim to be a virtuous villager, but I know a little bit of etiquette to respect the Lord, so I am here to beg for mercy from the general!"
After hearing this, the old man bowed to one side and said humbly.
Li Tai nodded slightly after hearing this. The Fengcheng Duke the old man mentioned was Xiahou Dan of the Southern Liang Dynasty. He and his brother Xiahou Kui had been stationed in Shouyang for more than ten years, so the Xiahou family of Qiao County became a big family in Huainan. During the Hou Jing Rebellion, Xiahou Kui's son followed Hou Jing in the rebellion and was eventually killed in the rebellion, while Xiahou Dan's sons died in the rebellion.
Li Tai also signaled other people who surrendered to not be polite, and met with them one by one and comforted them a little. Many of these people were not native to Hefei, but migrated here for refuge, or were gathered by the Northern Qi Dynasty, but they were all well-known powerful figures in the village without exception.
Li Tai was not surprised by this, because the last time Li Bomu took the initiative to give in, he entered Hefei City to plunder and took away many local people in Hefei.
During wartime, cities with great strategic value are often hit hard. In the eyes of many people in later generations, it seems safer to escape to the mountains and open up a paradise to live in rather than gather in those great cities.
But thinking this way is often an illusion. History books will record when cities like Hefei have been attacked, but they will not record how many times a certain mountain village has been looted by bandits. Moreover, the more desolate the mountains and the more desolate the place is, the less social order there is, and the less life safety there is.
For a city like Hefei, even if Li Tai has conquered it for the second time, it is only to strike those forces that resist, and as for the people in the city, there is no reason or need to harm them at all. The so-called massacre is just an extreme phenomenon in a few cases. Therefore, it is safer to be in the city during the war than to wander in the wilderness.
This is also one of the reasons why Hefei City has been looted by Li Tai before and is now full of people.
Li Tai did not rush into the city, but talked with the local elders who surrendered outside the city. While comforting everyone, he learned about the current personnel situation in Hefei and formally introduced Quan Jingxuan, who would be stationed in Hefei next.
When they heard that Li Tai planned to send troops to garrison Hefei for a long time, the expressions of these powerful local people could not help but stagnate slightly.
In their hearts, they certainly did not want such a powerful dragon to lie on their heads. For them, the most ideal way was that Li Tai only nominally controlled this side, and they governed the city under this tiger skin. Li Tai went back and forth to Huainan several times before, and basically evacuated quickly. Even if he captured the city, he did not stay for a long time. This was one of the reasons why they were willing to surrender the city.
Now it seems that the situation seems to be a little different from what they imagined. Could it be that the Western Wei also intends to formally join the division of Huainan?
In this matter, no matter how they feel, they have no say. Not to mention that they have already surrendered, even if they still defend the city, without strong external support, it will only take Li Tai a little longer.
When Li Tai was communicating with these local gentry, the rest of the army had already entered Hefei and completely controlled the city.
During the communication, Li Tai also noticed that the old man Xiahou Wanlong and another middle-aged man named Zhou Zhengfang were quite respected by these gentry, and seemed to be the leaders of the group.
So when the army sent word that the city was under control, Li Tai asked the two men to go into the city with Quan Jingxuan to calm the people and restore order to the people's lives in the city as soon as possible. In the name of rewarding everyone for killing thieves and dedicating money to the city, Li Tai The other powerful men were left in the military camp tent to host a banquet.
After Quan Jingxuan entered the city, he inspected the city accompanied by two powerful representatives. At the same time, the accompanying soldiers posted notices along the way and publicized the regulations for the management of the city after the Jingzhou Army entered the city. As for the main content of the regulations, it was nothing more than protection. The personal and property safety of the people in the city.
But in addition to the relatively simple three chapters of the agreement, the article also stated another content, that is, during the occupation of the city by the Northern Qi Dynasty, if the residents in the city had any property disputes or were involved in murder cases and had objections to the previous judgment, they would be punished from now on. You can directly file a lawsuit with the state government, and the state government will change the sentence as appropriate according to the actual situation and the laws of the Western Wei Dynasty.
The two powerful men who accompanied Quan Jingxuan on the city tour did not have any feelings about this. They only said that they wanted to eliminate the remaining influence of the Northern Qi Dynasty and sort out the majesty of the Western Wei Dynasty's criminal laws.
But if they understand the behavior of the Jingzhou General Office, they will probably be able to see that this is a preparation for mobilizing public opinion and preparing to launch a public trial. Since the biggest target that should have been subject to a public trial has been cut down by them, then they will naturally be the ones to be put on trial next. .
However, Li Tai did not want to be impatient and kill the donkey. He just did not want these powerful people to continue to exist in Hefei City by relying on the prestige they had established under the rule of Northern Qi. Hefei City already had no stable authority. As for the social relations in the countryside, as long as these recently established authorities are demolished, a new management order can be established in accordance with the laws of the Jingzhou General Office.
As for these powerful people, they still contributed a lot to the city, so at the banquet for them, Li Tai also carefully described the current development situation of Mianbei.
If these people are willing, they can even take advantage of the current military deployment in Huainan to lead the clan members along the military passage of Jingzhou Military Palace to move to Mianbei to settle down in a safer manner and start a new life.
But if these people are stubborn and still have dreams of swaying around and ruling the roost, then there is no need to leave, and they can stay and show off for the young and old men in Hefei to appreciate. As for whether a virtuous person will be killed by mistake, Li Tai is not worried about this. In troubled times, the moral bottom line is not high. The only truth is to become bigger and stronger. If he cannot be the biggest, he himself will die. !
In addition to these powerful people in Hefei City, Li Tai also focused on communicating with the Lu brothers.
It has been a while since Lu Xida returned to Jingzhou, but before that he only sent his brother Lu Guangda to visit and contact Mianbei. As for Li Tai, this was the first time he met him.
Originally, in his imagination, Lu Xida should also be a cunning and short-sighted tycoon in troubled times who took advantage of the situation. His previous defection to Mianbei was only due to the gradual expansion of Northern Qi in Huainan.
But after talking to Lu Xida this time, he found out that he was a calm-minded, quick-thinking person who also had a good sense of the overall situation. This made Li Tai feel quite happy even though he was surprised.
Although there are many generals under his command, there are still not many who are familiar with the personnel of the Southern Dynasties. Since Lu Xida has such talents, he does not need to stick to local appointments, and can be placed on a larger stage.
After the situation in Hefei initially stabilized, Li Tai planned to send a group of troops to Liyang to assist Wang Sengbian. Although the relationship between them will inevitably become hostile in the future, for now, Northern Qi is the greater threat. If Liyang is still in the hands of Northern Qi, Hefei will not be safe.
However, reinforcements have not yet been dispatched here, and the latest news came from Liyang. Wang Sengbian, who originally sent troops to Liyang while Li Tai was attacking Hefei, withdrew his troops and returned to the south bank of the river, giving up the attack on Liyang directly.
Along with this news came the news that Duan Shao of the Northern Qi Dynasty defeated the troops of Nanliang Houyi and Zhang Biao in one fell swoop outside Xuyi City. In addition, Wang Sengbian also sent a message to Jiangling, telling him that Jiangling had urgently sent an envoy to order Wang Sengbian not to attack the Northern Qi city without permission, so he had no choice but to withdraw his troops.
After learning this situation, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh to himself. Wang Sengbian was indeed one of the few generals in the late Southern Dynasties who was good at fighting, but his weakness in character could not be concealed. This was why Li Tai could not help but sigh. One of the reasons why we are willing to deepen cooperation with it.
Now I just hope that Chen Baxian in Guangling can withstand the pressure of Duan Shao of the Northern Qi Dynasty. If Chen Baxian cannot bear it and evacuates, then he will have to meet Duan Shao's army here in Hefei.
He is not afraid of fighting Duan Shao, not to mention that now that Hefei has been won, he already has the advantage of home court. But Duan Shao's status in the Northern Qi was unusual after all. If this attracted more of the main forces of the Northern Qi, and there was no Chen Baxian to attract the firepower of the Qi people in Guangling, it would be a bit deviating from Li Tai's vision.
So he quickly sent people east to pay close attention to the situation in Guangling. If Chen Baxian also withdrew, then he would have to prepare to continue to lead his elite cavalry to set up ambush on the way, and could not allow the Northern Qi army to approach Hefei to besiege and fight.