Chapter 1236: Go straight to Yedu

Chapter 1236: Go straight to Yedu

"Listen carefully, everyone in the city. The King of Tang of Wei is destined to lead his army to fight against the rebels, kill the unrighteous, and save the people! I have now changed my ways and have joined the King of Tang. The King of Tang is unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness. He did not refuse to accept the surrendered people because of his previous ugly behavior. He is still willing to take him in and even promise him an official title. You should also be moved by this kindness and quickly throw down your weapons and go out to meet the King of Tang!"

In order to gain performance, Gao Guiyan did not have any psychological burden because of his previous identity. He returned to the city again and raised his head to persuade him to surrender.

The defenders of Fukou were also terrified by Gao Guiyan's surrender to the enemy and the arrival of the Wei army, but when they saw that Gao Guiyan's attitude changed so quickly, they were particularly ashamed of him, which aroused the indignation of the defenders in the city, and they all cursed Gao Guiyan for being shameless.

Anyone who is humiliated and scolded by so many people in such a public place will definitely feel bad.

Although Gao Guiyan was embarrassed, he was secretly glad in his heart. The more viciously these people cursed, the faster he could draw a line with Northern Qi and the safer he would be in the Western Wei camp. Although it was embarrassing and embarrassing for a while, it was also a way to get a safer situation by defaming himself.

Moreover, Gao Guiyan also noticed that although most of the soldiers on the city wall were cursing at him, there were also a small number of soldiers with flashing eyes. Although they were not very noticeable among the angry soldiers defending the city, these people were likely to become the key figures that would affect the situation in the future.

So he continued to shout loudly to persuade them to surrender despite the insults from these people. If he could persuade the King of Tang to surrender without bloodshed, then he would be stable. Moreover, in the next battle to attack Yedu, the King of Tang would definitely value him more. If he could win some outstanding performance, he might even get a higher official title!

Thinking of this, Gao Guiyan became more and more excited, and his voice of persuading surrender became louder and louder, and he kept giving encouraging eyes to the hesitant and silent soldiers on the top of the city.

Gao Guiyan did not return to the camp until the garrison commander She Di Fulian ordered the strong bows to shoot. When he returned to the camp and saw the encouraging eyes of the King of Tang, his heart became hot again. He was no longer uneasy about surrendering to the enemy country, but became full of expectations.

Not to mention the enthusiasm of the convert in Gao Guiyan's heart, the atmosphere in Fukou Pass was also extremely solemn. The only thing to be thankful for now is that after the last battle, the city defense here in Fukou has also been strengthened. If the defenders can stay firmly, it will not be easy for the Wei army to break through Fukou.

However, Gao Guiyan's surrender to the enemy under the city and his persuasion to surrender were too severe a blow to the morale of the defenders. Although the soldiers were indignant about his behavior, they were all confused. Even Gao Guiyan, an elder of the royal family and a famous general, surrendered directly to the Wei army. What was the point of them fighting to the death?

At present, these thoughts were just distractions in their minds, and the soldiers did not dare to speak out, but their spirits were a little depressed, and they did not have the kind of generous spirit of sacrificing their lives for the country.

She Di Fulian saw the scenes of the soldiers' low morale, and he was also worried. He knew that if he continued like this, the situation would only get worse, and he must find a way to boost morale.

So he hurriedly appealed to Yedu, hoping that King Changguang could send a reinforcement as soon as possible, and allocate a batch of supplies here to reward the soldiers to boost morale.

However, after he reported this, he did not see any response from Yedu, and even the messenger sent back to the city could not see the face of Prince Changguang, which made Shedi Fulian secretly feel uneasy. However, until now, he still did not realize that he and his people, and even Yedu, had been abandoned by Prince Changguang.

It was not until the second day after Gao Zhan escaped that the officials left in the city gradually realized that something was wrong. What aroused their suspicion was that the money and materials collected by the army in the city from various temples were not taken away by the servants of Prince Changguang's mansion at the first time, but were sent to the Ministry of Shangshu.

Although Gao Zhan's practice of taking advantage of the fire was a bit unkind, the monks inside and outside Yedu could only grit their teeth and bear it. After all, the Northern Qi could at least provide them with a certain degree of protection. If they were really killed by the Wei army out of the city, then they might not just lose money to avoid disaster.

Under the propaganda of the Northern Qi officials and the monks who fled to the east, the monks in Hebei had a somewhat demonized perception of the Western Wei Tang Wang, and they were extremely afraid. As long as they could stop the Wei army from coming, they were willing to bear these costs.

But sometimes, even if you are willing to pay the price, you may not be able to get a satisfactory result. The money donated by the monks gathered more and more in the Shangshu Province, but no one came to Changguang Palace to sort it out and transport it away, which was really inconsistent with the perception of Changguang Wang by the current people.

In addition, they were worried that if the money and property were piled up here for too long and lost, Changguang Wang might be angry and blame them, so they hurriedly sent people to Changguang Wang Palace to inform them of the matter. After these people arrived, they naturally could not see Changguang Wang, or even the confidants of Gao Zhan. Only the servants who stayed in the palace told them that the prince went out of the city for inspection yesterday and had not returned yet.

After learning about this, the officials who stayed behind in the Shangshu Province became nervous. They did not suspect that Gao Zhan had escaped. Instead, they were worried that there might be some evil people around the city who wanted to respond to the attack of the Western Wei Dynasty and harm Prince Changguang, so they hurriedly investigated. As more and more signs were found, their mood became more and more depressed, and then they gradually realized such a cruel fact: Prince Changguang had escaped!

Since the situation was gradually discovered, all kinds of signs needed to be judged comprehensively, and there was no one in charge in Ye City at present, so when these officials who stayed behind confirmed this, the relevant news also spread in the city. So in an instant, the entire capital was in chaos!

Even Prince Changguang led the people to flee, which shows that the current situation is already extremely dangerous. Although it was rumored that the King of Tang in the Western Wei Dynasty was not cruel and murderous except that he was a little harsh on the monks, the people in Ye City were still extremely worried and frightened. The people began to flee in groups and dared not stay in the city any longer.

As for the monks who were ready to help defend the city, they were all frightened at this moment. They led their monks and believers to retreat to their respective temples and defend themselves behind closed doors, and no longer dared to clamor to resist the Wei army.

Although the importance of Ye City in the entire Northern Qi regime has weakened, it is still the well-deserved center of the entire Hebei Province. There are many people who have lived in the city for a long time. Now they are running away like exploding fireworks, which naturally stirs up the whole Hebei Province.

In addition to avoiding the war, there are also people in the city who are loyal to the Western Wei Dynasty or who are speculative. Taking advantage of the collapse of order in the city, they called on and organized a group of like-minded people to rush to Fukou to welcome the king's army.

The Fukou garrison commander, She Di Fulian, was still concentrating on dealing with the Wei army in the west. He finally waited for the influx of people from Ye City, but he didn't expect that these people were not coming to assist in the defense, but to surrender to the Wei army. Especially after learning that Gao Zhan had abandoned the city and fled, She Di Fulian was shocked to the extreme.

Once people's hearts and the situation collapsed, they would become faster and harder to control like a wild horse. She Di Fulian had just learned about the drastic changes in the rear, and had not made any response decisions, and the Guancheng had become chaotic.

Some people jumped off the city wall and surrendered to the Wei army, and some even organized a group of soldiers in the city to rush to the city lord's mansion, wanting to capture She Di Fulian to win credit from the Wei army. The situation in the city had become extremely chaotic, and She Di Fulian had no courage and ability to stay and clean up the situation, so he simply led a team of his own confidants out of the city and fled north.

"Prince Changguang escaped? How could he, how dare he?"

In the Wei army camp, when Gao Guiyan heard the report from the surrendered soldiers in Guancheng, he couldn't help but widen his eyes for a moment, with a look of disbelief on his face, but soon became angry again. Gao Zhan's carelessness caused chaos in Yedu, which would undoubtedly greatly reduce his credit as a guide.

Therefore, after a moment of hesitation, he hurriedly bowed to the King of Tang and said, "The leader of the bandits, Prince Guang, Gao Zhan, is a close relative of the Lord of Qi and a fierce and stubborn bandit. If he escapes, he will definitely leave behind troubles. I ask you to go east to search and kill him for the king. I will definitely capture and kill this beast and present him to the king!"

Li Tai was also a little overwhelmed by this sudden change. Yecheng was not the target he wanted to capture at this stage. In the past two days, he had even been planning to arrange Liang Shiyan to stay here to continue to confront the Fukou garrison and maintain pressure on Hebei, while he went north to Wuxiang to prepare to join forces with Li Mu and other divisions, and then cross the Bafu Ridge and march to Jinyang.

He had a lot of plans here, but he never thought that Gao Zhan would be so unbearable that he directly abandoned the city and fled, and took the initiative to give him such a big gift package. Since things have come to this, he will certainly not be stubborn. He will accept Yecheng directly and consider the next plan after occupying Yecheng first.

Gao Guiyan's request to hunt down Gao Zhan was ignored by Li Tai. Although the damage Gao Zhan caused to Northern Qi this time even exceeded the previous wars between the two countries, it still did not change the nature of this clown. He was not in a hurry to deal with this guy. The most important thing at the moment was to control and stabilize the situation in Yecheng and the entire Hebei Province.

He first arranged for Gao Le to lead a group of people, take Gao Guiyan and other Northern Qi generals who were captured and surrendered in previous battles, and rush to Yecheng to control the city. At the same time, he sent a message to Wei Xiaokuan to lead his troops to Shangdang first, and he also led other people to go out of Fukou and go straight to Yecheng.