freenovelworld Chapter 639: Fight without bloodshed
Chapter 639: Fight without bloodshed
At noon that day, Lu Cheng led his men to a small river and ordered them to stop marching and make a fire to cook.
Along the way, Lu Cheng borrowed a lot of food and supplies, and also obtained a lot of meat through hunting, so the food reserves were already quite sufficient. The young and strong soldiers selected by his command could also be given a bowl of meat soup every day to replenish their bodies.
Some sick and injured patients can also receive some care.
Lu Cheng was having a meal when a scout from the front sent back a message: "General, we are less than ten miles away from Tuhe."
Lu Cheng nodded, and after finishing his meal in a few mouthfuls, he stood up and asked someone to call Zhou Cang over: "Zhou Cang, you stay here for a while. Let everyone rest for a while after the meal. We must rush to the outside of Tuhe City before 3 p.m."
"Yes, General!"
Then, Lu Cheng looked at a centurion and said, "Xu Hu, select twenty men from your hundred-man team, take off their armor and weapons, select five carriages, load them with silk cloth, pretend to be merchants, and follow me to Tuhe."
"Yes, General."
Tuhe, which belonged to the vassal state of Liaodong, was located in the Jinzhou area of later generations and was also regarded as the western gate of the Liaodong area.
If Lu Cheng wants to occupy Liaodong, he must control Tuhe River in his own hands.
There are eleven county-level regions in Youzhou, and Liaodong is one of them, located between Liaoxi County and Liaodong County. To the east of Liaodong County is Lelang County in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
This Lelang County was established during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han and has continued to this day.
Unfortunately, Lelang County was later occupied by Goguryeo. Later, even Liaodong region fell into the hands of Goguryeo.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Cheng arrived at the gate of Tuhe City with thirty or so Yellow Turban soldiers disguised as merchants.
Looking at the city in the distance, Lu Cheng was also a little emotional. He started his career in the Song and Ming dynasties, both from here. Now he is back here again. Liaodong is really worthy of being the place where Lu started his career.
Since Liaodong was relatively peaceful at that time and there was no war, the defense of the city gates was lax.
When Lu Cheng and his party arrived at the city gate, the guards at the gate only symbolically asked about the reason for entering the city, checked the goods, collected some entry fees, and then let them go.
After entering the city, Lu Cheng first observed the defense situation on the city wall, then went into the city to check the layout of the entire Tuhe City, and then returned to the vicinity of the South Gate.
Soon, the troops who went to other city gates to inquire about the news returned one after another and reported the situation to Lu Cheng.
Tuhe City is not very big, with a population of less than 20,000 and a military force of only a thousand. There are not many rolling stones and battering rams on the city walls for defending the city.
Facing such a city, even if Lu Cheng relied on the Yellow Turban Army under his command to directly attack, he could still capture it. It was just that Lu Cheng did not want to cause too many casualties.
At that time, Liaodong was relatively sparsely populated, with a county having a population of 30,000 to 50,000 people, and some smaller counties had only a few thousand people.
Due to insufficient population, construction, development and military training will be restricted, which will greatly restrict the development speed in the early stage.
At about 5 p.m., the sound of warning gongs and drums suddenly rang out from the Tuhe city wall, followed by a shout: "The enemy is coming! Go and get the county magistrate!"
When Zhou Cang and his men approached the city, the guards on the city wall saw that the people coming from below all had yellow scarves on their heads, and they immediately shouted in surprise: "It's the Yellow Turban bandits!"
This place is far away from the Central Plains and has little information. The people in the city don't know the war situation in the Central Plains, let alone that the Yellow Turban Army has been defeated. When they saw the Yellow Turban Army appear outside the city, the city was suddenly in a panic.
The Tuhe County Magistrate hurriedly led his men to the South Gate, but just as the magistrate arrived near the South Gate, a man suddenly rushed out from the alley next to him, snatched the swords of the guards around the magistrate with his bare hands, and knocked the seven or eight guards to the ground in the blink of an eye.
Immediately afterwards, more than twenty strong men rushed out of the alley, picked up the weapons of the guards, and surrounded the county magistrate.
All this happened so fast that by the time the county magistrate reacted, Lu Cheng had already put a ring-handled knife on his neck and took off the sword from his waist: "County magistrate, do you want to live or die?"
"I want to live, of course I want to live."
"Very good, give the order to open the city gates."
"This……"
"Or, we use your head to open the city gate?"
"No, I'll have the gates opened right away."
At this time, the guards at the city gate had already discovered the situation here and rushed over, but it was too late.
The county magistrate looked at the situation around him helplessly and could only give the order: "Open the city gate."
The guard at the city gate hesitated for a moment, then obeyed the order and opened the city gate.
The first siege in Liaodong was won without bloodshed.
When Zhou Cang led his troops to the city gate, the gate was already wide open and Lu Cheng was supporting the county magistrate standing on the city wall.
Soon, Zhou Cang led 1,200 Yellow Turban soldiers into the city, quickly took over the four gates of the city, confiscated the weapons and armor of the guards in the city, and completely controlled the entire Tuhe City.
When the people in the city saw the Yellow Turban Army entering the city, they all closed their doors and hid in their homes, not daring to show their heads.
After taking control of the city, Lu Cheng summoned the Tuhe County Magistrate and asked, "Wu County Magistrate, how many households are there in this county? How many people are there? How much land is there? What families are there in the city?"
"General, there are 2156 households in this county, with more than people and land..."
After learning the details, Lu Cheng nodded, and then said, "I'll have to trouble Magistrate Wu to immediately post a notice to reassure the people. We are a righteous army, not here to plunder, and we will not harm the people at all..."
"Yes, I'll prepare it right away."
On the way to Liaodong, Lu Cheng set strict military discipline for his men, not to harass the people, not to molest women, not to force buying and selling, etc. Once discovered, they will be severely punished.
Along the way, Lu Cheng also dealt with many bad apples, killing those who deserved to be killed and never tolerant them.
By now, the entire team has formed strict discipline, and Lu Cheng does not need to emphasize it again. There is a special law enforcement team to supervise it.
Before long, the public security notice dictated by Lu Cheng was posted on the streets. Some literate people were responsible for reading it out, and patrol teams were patrolling the streets to inform the people not to panic and to go out at will.
By evening, some brave people had dared to go out, and soon more people came to the streets to read the notices posted everywhere to reassure the public.
To make them easier to understand, public notices are written in the most easily understandable language so that ordinary people can understand them.
When the people saw the disciplined and well-organized army in the city, they gradually felt at ease.
That night, Lu Cheng ordered most of his men to set up camp outside the city and did not enter the city to disturb the people.
The next morning, Lu Cheng asked Zhou Cang to lead 500 Yellow Turban soldiers and 500 city guards to defend the city, while he himself took 600 Yellow Turban soldiers and 500 Tuhe soldiers to Bintu County, north of Tuhe County.
Due to the tight defense yesterday, the news of Tuhe's fall did not spread. Lu Cheng rushed to Bintu County that afternoon and used the same method to easily capture another small town...