Chapter 1922: Wei Zhou surrendered

Chapter 1922 Wei Zhou surrenders

Chapter 1920: Wei Zhou surrenders

Xue Rengui was extremely troubled by the candidates for reorganizing the puppet Han prisoners.

The Qin army had 83,000 Northern Han prisoners of war in the five counties of Guangyang, Yuyang, Daijun, Zhuojun, and Shanggu.

 There are also 17,000 Northern Han prisoners of war in Youbeiping.

In other words, there were a total of 100,000 Northern Han prisoners of war scattered among the six counties of Youzhou, and there were still 30,000 Northern Han surrender troops.

Before the war began, the Northern Han Dynasty had a total of 180,000 troops. However, under the lightning attack of the Qin Army's five armies, the entire territory fell in less than a month.

Out of the 180,000-strong army, 100,000 were taken prisoner, and 30,000 were either defeated and surrendered, or surrendered in compliance with Liu Che's order.

 In other words, only 50,000 Northern Han soldiers actually died in the battle.

In addition, 60,000 to 70,000 people in Yanjing died in the attack and defense of Yanjing.

 This shows that the war between the Qin army and the Northern Han Dynasty did not cause much damage to Youzhou.

If we really want to say that the damage was limited to Yanjing, after all, the attack and defense of Yanjing was indeed the most brutal battle fought by the Qin army in their attack on Youzhou.

Now that the Northern Han Dynasty has been destroyed, it is natural to reorganize prisoners of war and surrendered troops.

 Only the surrender of generals in the Northern Han Dynasty can make the prisoners of war return home as soon as possible and restore their fighting strength. However, there is no suitable candidate among the generals who were demoted.

At present, the only generals who have surrendered to the Qin army in the Northern Han Dynasty are Li Ling, Tian Yu, Han Zeng, Zhao Chongguo and others.

Tian Yu, Li Ling and others are still too young and do not have enough prestige to take on this important task, and Han Zeng and Zhao Chongguo are suspected of faking surrender.

Xue Rengui thought about it but couldn't find a suitable candidate, so he thought of Li Guang and Li Gan and his son who were imprisoned in Yuyang, and immediately had people trying to persuade them to surrender, but the effect was not good.

After Li Guang learned that Liu Che was dead, he always wanted to commit suicide to be loyal to Liu Che. If Li Gan hadn't stopped him, he might have died long ago.

As for Li Gan, although he wanted to surrender, with such a father on his side, he would not dare to surrender even if he wanted to.

Xue Rengui saw that Li Guang was unwilling to surrender, so he thought of Zhou Yafu who was imprisoned in Qingzhou.

Zhou Yafu and Wei Qing were once known as the Two Heroes of Youzhou, and their status in the Northern Han Army was second only to Wei Qing. If he was willing to surrender, his accumulated prestige in the Han Army would naturally be enough to take on this important task. .

Xue Rengui didn't care whether Zhou Yafu wanted to surrender or not, so he took him away from Jizhou first. Oh no, he invited him to come over and talk about it later. However, he didn't expect that Zhang Liang had already told Wei Qing to surrender before Zhou Yafu arrived.

“Military advisor, how did you do it?”

Xue Rengui asked in confusion. He personally went to lobby Wei Qing and said everything he needed to say, but Wei Qing didn't respond at all. How could the military advisor succeed as soon as he took action?

Zhang Liangze explained: "General Xue, don't you know? Wei Zifu is Wei Qing's sister. The relationship between siblings is extremely deep, and Wei Yang is Wei Qing's cousin..."

“Wait a minute, Mr. Wei Yang is Wei Qing’s cousin? Isn’t he from the Gongsun family, and is he a cousin to Gongsun Xuanyuan? Why is he now Wei Qing’s cousin?”

Hearing Xue Rengui's question, Zhang Liang suddenly laughed and said: "It seems that you really don't know. Wei Yang's father was born in the Gongsun family in western Liaoning, and his mother was born in the Wei family in Hedong. After his father died of illness, he was ostracized by the Gongsun family. Changed to his mother's surname.

Wei Yang’s mother is Wei Qing’s aunt, and they are cousins. "

"I see, the relationship between these aristocratic families is really complicated." Xue Rengui smiled bitterly. Now he seemed to understand the purpose of his lord appointing Wei Yang as the governor of Guangyang.

Although Wei Yang has changed his surname, the blood of the Gongsun family flows in his body. This is an indisputable fact. In addition, he is Wei Qing's cousin.

With these two identities, Wei Yang naturally has extremely high political capital in both the military and political circles of Youzhou. Coupled with his great contribution to defeating Xue Gang with his advice, Wei Yang is simply the best candidate to govern Youzhou. His appointment as the governor of Youzhou will definitely receive unanimous support from local forces.

Although Wei Yang is just a prefect now, if he can create a stable rear for the Qin army during the Qin-Qing war and ensure that the rear is not chaotic, this will be a great achievement, and he may not be able to serve as the governor of Youzhou in the future.

"It seems that I have to be more polite to Mr. Wei Yang in the future. Maybe he will become a frontier official at some time." Xue Rengui thought to himself.

"Liang was moved by Wei Qingxiao's affection and reason, and Wei Zifu and Wei Yang were there to persuade him. Only then did he convince Wei Qing to surrender to our army." Zhang Liang said with a smile.

"Wei Zifu is Liu Che's queen, how could she be willing to surrender to Wei Qing?" Xue Rengui asked in confusion.

 Zhang Liang smiled and explained: "Wei Zifu is a smart woman, Liu Che is dead, and now the most important thing to her is her son Liu Zhi.

Liu Zheng is the son of Liu Che. Even if his lord treats his mother and son well, there will definitely be a lot of criticism in the future. If he wants not to be bullied in the future, he must find a backer.

 For Wei Zifu, is there any better supporter than her brother? "

“I see, if you can persuade Wei Qing to surrender like this, will he really help our army?”

"Don't worry, Wei Qing is a loyal minister. Now that he has surrendered, he will not be half-hearted. What's more, the Wei family in Hedong, as well as Wei's husband, mother and son, are Wei Qing's weaknesses."

 “That puts me at ease.”

The benefits brought by Wei Qing's surrender to the Qin army were undoubtedly huge.

Originally, many of the surrendered troops and prisoners of war were dissatisfied. Coupled with the frequent instigation and agitation by the Manchus, many prisoners of war in the prisoner-of-war camps were anxious and wanted to find opportunities to launch riots to restore the glory of the Han Dynasty.

After all, the Qin army's garrison in Youzhou only had 42,000 soldiers, while the Northern Han surrendered troops had 30,000, and the number of Northern Han prisoners of war was even more than 100,000. If the Manchus succeeded in instigating the prisoners of war to start a riot, what would be the consequences? It's simply unimaginable.

However, as the news of Wei Qing's surrender spread, the voices of surrendering soldiers and prisoners of war became much smaller.

Wei Qing's prestige in the Northern Han Dynasty was second only to that of Emperor Liu Che. With his prestige alone, he could intimidate all the prisoners of war and prevent them from causing rebellion.

 Subsequently, Zhang Liang transferred Li Ling and Tian Yu to Wei Qing's command, and asked the two generals to assist Wei Qing in training the surrendered troops and prisoners of war.

 With the joint efforts of these three generals, the training of the Northern Han Dynasty's surrender army was carried out very quickly. It was estimated that it would be reorganized into an army in less than a month, and the arrival of Zhou Yafu was shortened to this time.

Zhou Yafu has been in Beiguan for several months. Although he is still loyal to Liu Che in his heart, when he learned that Liu Che had committed suicide and the Northern Han Dynasty had been destroyed, all his persistence was meaningless and he became very confused. , completely unaware of where to go in the future.

Later, under the persuasion of Wei Yang, Wei Qing and Wei Zifu, Zhou Yafu decided to surrender to the Qin army and worked with Wei Qing to help the Qin army reorganize prisoners of war.

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 (End of this chapter)