Chapter 243 Returning in vain
"General Wen, these powerful people in the city may not be Cai Mao's gang. Isn't it a bit too much to force them like this..." Tian Yu said hesitantly.
In order to ensure that everything went well, Wen Pin directly adopted the method of forced conscription, ordering the conscription of young and strong men according to the size of the powerful forces in the city. Those who dared to disrespect were all killed.
Although this action brought together tens of thousands of young and strong men, it also completely offended the powerful people in the city.
"If you don't make a decision, you will suffer the consequences. Cao Cao's army is coming and the force is fierce. Although the soldiers in Wancheng are now under our command, the soldiers don't know their commanders, and the commanders don't know their soldiers. There may be traitors among them, and the situation is worrying."
"Most of the powerful people in the city are connected with the Cai family, so we must be on guard. In this extraordinary time, we must use extraordinary measures." Wen Pin looked at the defenders on the city wall, tightly gripping the hilt of the sword in his hand, and said in a deep voice.
Although he was a military general, Wen Pin was both wise and brave, and had considerable insight.
He was very clear about the current situation and the status of the aristocratic families in Jingzhou.
When Cai Mao's letter came to him, he understood the choice of the Jingzhou family. Although they did not support it openly, they acquiesced to it.
Because in their eyes, Cao Cao is stronger than Liu Bei!
It is unclear whether Liu Bei, who had lost even Yuzhou, could make a comeback. Even if he was supported by them to become the lord of Jingzhou, he would probably not be a match for Cao Cao.
If that is the case, why bother to surrender to Liu Bei?
They were naturally happy to see that the Cai family was willing to be the first to take action.
It worked, everyone was happy, and they were still the ones in charge of Jingzhou.
If they lose, they will push the Cai family out to take the blame. Cai Mao acted on his own initiative and they knew nothing about it.
The main theme is not to express an opinion, not to resist, and not to support.
It was because Xi Zhicai had guessed these people's psychology that he dared to suggest to Cao Cao to march south to Jingzhou despite the risk of insufficient troops.
You know, as long as the war in Jingzhou is delayed for a month or two, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu will definitely get the news. If the army does not return to support in time, Yanzhou and Yuzhou will be in danger.
Wen Pin acted in this way precisely because he saw the reason behind this.
Because although these powerful people in the city have not expressed their opinions, they have already taken sides, and we can no longer have any hope in them.
If there were enough soldiers guarding the city, perhaps he would be more gentle and try to calm these people down.
But now, even if these people don't cause trouble, it's hard to defend this city. In this case, what are you still worried about? Just clean up the inside first.
"I am solely responsible for this matter. It has nothing to do with the lord. Afterwards, I will ask the lord for punishment."
Hearing Wen Pin's words, Du Xi looked deeply at this man who had just joined Liu Bei not long ago.
Perhaps the greatest luck for the lord when he went south to Jingzhou was that he accepted this person.
Wen Pin's move was tantamount to cutting off his own retreat, and he offended almost all the aristocratic families and powerful people in Jingzhou. He had no choice but to follow Liu Bei to the end.
As a new general, his decisiveness and loyalty are truly amazing.
Under the thundering power of Wen Pin, all the powerful families in Wancheng were deprived of most of their power and were also beaten.
This made them hate Wen Pin extremely, but also made them lose the ability to cause trouble.
Wancheng was temporarily under the control of Wen Pin.
Cao Cao, who was rushing over at a rapid speed, felt great hatred and sighed when he heard the news.
"I didn't expect that Jingzhou actually had such a famous general, and that he was recruited by Liu Bei."
The reasons and consequences of Wen Pin's surrender to Liu Bei had already been publicized by Chen Qun.
Chen Qun would naturally not hide such a thing that could not only bring good reputation to both parties but also influence the scholars in Jingzhou.
Xi Zhicai frowned.
He had contacted Cai Mao to inform him in advance in order to capture Nanyang as soon as possible to prevent Liu Bei from getting the news and attacking Nanjun. However, he had never expected that something went wrong with Wen Pin. Before they arrived at Wancheng, Wen Pin had suppressed the internal problems of Wancheng with his thunderous power.
Although there will be backlash over time, the key is that they are also racing against time.
Cao Cao's military force was limited, and it was already a stretch for him to hold on to the two states. He could only attack Jingzhou before Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu could react, otherwise he would have to withdraw to Yuzhou.
This time must not be long.
"My lord, the only option now is to attack by force!" Xi Zhicai said.
He had used this tactic of luring the enemy on Zhang Fei once before, and there was no way the other party would be fooled a second time.
After all, he was well aware of Du Xi's talent. He was only second-rate in military strategy, so he certainly wouldn't dare to use the opponent's tactics against him.
The other side will most likely defend Wancheng and wait for them to withdraw.
As long as Wancheng is not captured, they will not dare to march south to Xiangyang at will, and the aristocratic families in Xiangyang will not surrender directly.
"The siege equipment we brought is insufficient. The defense of Wancheng is quite strong. I'm afraid it will be difficult to conquer it by force." Mao Jie frowned.
"Everything depends on human efforts! Try fighting first, and then retreat if it doesn't work!" Cao Cao said in a deep voice.
He had been planning this for a long time, so it was impossible for him to be willing to withdraw just like that.
After arriving at the city of Wancheng, Cao Cao made some arrangements, built some siege equipment, and then began a fierce siege.
However, he was facing the iron-clad combination of Wen Pin and Tian Yu.
Even though Wen Pin broke up his troops and reorganized them temporarily to prevent the soldiers from rebelling, the strength of the defenders was greatly reduced.
But under the command of the two, relying on the towering walls of Wancheng, they were still able to easily block Cao Cao's attack.
Only then did Cao Cao truly realize how powerful Wen Pin was.
After ten days of continuous siege, seeing that there was no possibility of Wancheng being shaken, Cao Cao could only sigh deeply, look towards the direction of Xiangyang with regret, and choose to withdraw his troops.
Before leaving, Cao Cao sent troops to move all the people in Nanyang back to Yuzhou.
Although this aroused resistance from countless people, after many bodies fell under the butcher's knife, these people had no choice but to follow Cao Cao back again.
Wen Pin, who defended Wancheng, did not feel any joy at this time. He stood on the city wall, looking at the people who were being held hostage by Cao Cao. He could not help but clench his hands that were holding the wall, and felt very guilty.
Before leaving, Liu Bei instructed him to properly resettle these people, but he failed to do so.
Moreover, these people included not only those from Yuzhou, but also local people from Nanyang, and even some of them were his fellow villagers.
Although he wanted to rush out and fight Cao's army to the death, Wen Pin still held back.
He knew that this was probably part of Cao Cao's plan. If he couldn't hold back and led his troops out of the city, he would not be able to rescue anyone and Wancheng would be lost.
Xi Zhicai followed the army and slowly left Wancheng. He took a last look at Wancheng from afar and saw that Wen Pin still hadn't caught up, so he sighed deeply.
After all, he couldn't do such a thing as threatening Wen Pin to surrender by using the lives of the people of Nanyang.
And even if he did so, I'm afraid Wen Pin would not surrender, after all, there is still the difficult character Tian Yu in the city. Instead, he would lose the support of the people of Jingzhou, which would not be worth the loss.
"With these two generals, I'm afraid Jingzhou will be difficult to conquer!"
After leaving a sigh, Xi Zhicai turned and left.
The next war was about to begin, and they would not be able to take care of Jingzhou for a few years. If they failed to take it now, they would never have such a good opportunity again in the future.
(End of this chapter)
