Chapter 371: Letter to the soldiers and civilians of Ye City! Kill, kill, kill, all those who abandon me will be killed! If you want to be loyal, don't drag me into it!
Zhang Yan expressed her willingness to go through fire and water for Lao Liu!

Liu Bei was pleased, so he stood up, helped Zhang Yan up, and personally poured a glass of wine into his hand.

"I won't say any more passionate words. Come, let's drink this glass of wine!"

After saying that, Old Liu raised his head and drank it all in one gulp.

Zhang Yan was filled with passion and raised his glass high, drinking it all in one gulp.

The king and his minister looked at each other with empty wine glasses and both laughed heartily.

All the generals also laughed and raised their glasses to congratulate Lao Liu for gaining such a great general and adding 40,000 elite soldiers.

The banquet atmosphere became more intense.

"Your Majesty, Yuan Shao and his small garrison must have been frightened by Zhang Ziyu."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's attack from all sides tomorrow and break through Yecheng!"

Zhang Fei jumped up, raised his wine glass and shouted at Liu Bei excitedly.

The fighting spirit of the generals was ignited once again. They stood up in a large number and challenged each other enthusiastically.

Liu Bei also intended to attack the city immediately, so he looked at Xiao Fang to ask for his opinion.

Xiao Fang put down the wine in his glass and said with a cheerful smile:

"Zi Yu has surrendered to the king, and the two Yuans have not come to rescue us. Our army has nothing to worry about, so we should attack the city with all our strength."

"However, I think that before attacking the city, Your Majesty should do one more thing, which may completely break the will of the Wei army, so that I can attack the city with half the effort."

Liu Bei was cheered up and asked Xiao Fang what he should do.

"Your Majesty should write a letter to the soldiers and civilians of Ye City, enumerating the crimes of Yuan Shao and his family, and declaring that Your Majesty's attack on Ye is only to punish the traitors of the Yuan family, not to punish the people of Hebei."

"Your Majesty, please promise the soldiers and civilians in the city that as long as they are willing to turn their backs on Wei and surrender to Chu, Your Majesty will forgive them all their past mistakes and your army will not harm a single person when it enters the city."

"If they continue to help Zhou to commit evil and continue to follow Yuan Shao to resist to the end, after the city is captured, they will be punished with the same crime as Yuan Shao and will be executed without mercy!"

"This proclamation was shot into Ye City. I predict that within five days, Yuan Shao will be deserted by his friends and relatives!"

"Then my army will seize the opportunity to attack from all sides and give Yuan Shao the final fatal blow. Are you still worried that we won't be able to easily pacify Yecheng?"

Xiao Fang offered a plan.

A psychological strategy that would destroy the morale of the people in Yecheng and cause them to collapse without a fight.

"it is good!"

"As the Art of War says, attacking the heart is better than attacking the city. Jing Lue has mastered the art of war with this plan!"

"According to Jinglue's plan, Shiyuan, you will write a letter to the soldiers and civilians of Yecheng immediately. Make thousands of copies and shoot them into Yecheng to break the enemy's heart!"

Liu Bei praised Xiao Fang's suggestion highly and adopted it.

Pang Tong gladly accepted the order and immediately took out his writing brush to write a manifesto.

Liu Bei summoned the civil officials in the army and had them copy thousands of copies overnight. He then ordered the archers to shoot them into Ye City with strong bows and crossbows.

Overnight, manifestos like snowflakes were scattered all over Yecheng.

No matter they were wealthy and powerful, common people, or peddlers, soon everyone had one.

This manifesto immediately dealt a fatal blow to the already unstable and confused morale of the army and the people in Yecheng.

The defection begins.

The Wei army soldiers were the first to flee across the city.

They started with a few people, then grew to more than a dozen, dozens, and finally to hundreds of people who fled across the city in an organized manner and surrendered to the Chu army outside the city.

In less than two days, nearly 800 Wei soldiers dropped from the city wall of Ye with ropes and risked their lives to surrender to the Chu army.

Next came the wealthy and powerful families. Some of them bribed the officers guarding the city and fled the city with their families to the Chu camp, while others simply spent a large amount of money to blend in with the fleeing soldiers and escaped from Yecheng together.

For a time, the people in the city were divided, the army had lost its morale, and the momentum of collapse was intensifying under the catalysis of the manifesto.

Truth cannot be hidden. Zhang He, who was in charge of defending the city, had no choice but to report the truth to Yuan Shao when he could not suppress the people from fleeing.

"What did you say? They actually fled across the city to seek refuge with that big-eared thief?"

"My people and my soldiers are betraying and abandoning me?"

Yuan Shao, who had just woken up from a coma on the sickbed, was hit hard again and struggled to sit up straight.

Zhang He sighed helplessly and said silently:
"Liu Bei's manifesto was a powerful weapon that attacked the hearts and minds of the people, inciting the soldiers and civilians in the city to rebel."

"I have severely stopped them, but I still cannot stop them from escaping from the city."

"I really...I really can't do anything."

When Yuan Shao heard the word "manifesto", he roughly understood what it meant, and ordered his attendants to bring him the manifesto.

After hesitating for a moment, he did not dare to disobey and could only hand over the document.

Yuan Shao snatched it away and examined it with anger on his face.

His eyes gradually became bloodshot, veins on his forehead began to bulge, his fingers were clenched until they crackled, and the corners of his mouth kept twitching.

"Big-eared thief!"

"Who do you think you are? You are just a mat weaver and shoe seller. How dare you slander me like this?"

"You are a despicable and shameless traitor. Sooner or later, I will tear you into pieces—"

Yuan Shao, enraged and humiliated, cursed loudly and tore the silk book in his hand into pieces.

At this time, Yuan Shao seemed to be almost insane.

Even the upright Ju Su remained silent at this time and did not dare to comfort Yuan Shao.

"I have ordered that from today on, the law of collective responsibility will be implemented. If anyone in the army escapes, the entire squad will be executed."

"If one squad escapes, the entire group will be executed." "If one group escapes, the entire team will be executed, and so on!"

“The same is true for the common people, but if one family escapes, all the neighbors will be killed.”

"If one person escapes, all three clans will be killed!"

"I will kill all these disloyal and treacherous thieves who betrayed me!"

"Kill, kill, kill them all!"

Yuan Shao gritted his teeth, his eyes ferocious like a beast, and issued this iron-blooded and brutal killing order.

Ju Shou and Zhang He both started to move and turned pale with fear.

They originally thought that after Yuan Shao learned that his soldiers had fled, he would at most order a strict patrol and behead all the escaped soldiers and civilians captured as a warning to others.

But they never expected that Yuan Shao would resort to the method of collective punishment to kill ten in order to escape one!
Such bloody and violent means were completely beyond their expectations.

They are both from Hebei.

However, Yuan Shao's decree would force them to raise their bloody knives against their own soldiers and civilians in Hebei.

If this law of collective responsibility is implemented, won't Yecheng be filled with people being killed and rivers of blood flowing?
Weren't they the two of them becoming the butcher's knife in Yuan Shao's hands, despised and hated by their own fellow villagers, and sinners in the eyes of the people of Hebei?
Whether it is the Zhang family or the Ju family, how will they survive in Hebei in the future?
"Your Majesty, you must not—"

"shut up!"

Yuan Shao interrupted the two men's advice with a stern voice.

He grabbed the crutch beside the couch, pointed it fiercely at the two of them, and said hoarsely:

"I have made up my mind. Anyone who dares to dissuade me will be charged with treason!"

Ju Shou and Zhang He were shocked, and they swallowed back the words of advice that were about to come out of their throats.

Ju Su was not like Tian Feng. Even though he knew it would anger Yuan Shao and bring him death, he still gave his honest advice without hesitation.

Faced with Yuan Shao's threat of death, he ultimately did not have the courage and could only keep his mouth shut.

"What are you all standing here for? Hurry and do as you are ordered!"

Yuan Shao's face was full of disgust, and he waved his cane at the two of them in annoyance.

Ju Shou and Zhang He had no choice but to bow and say goodbye, then quietly leave the bedroom.

The two men both walked out of the hall, as if they had been pardoned, and simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief.

"Gong Yu, why didn't you stop the king just now?"

"People's hearts are like water. Your Majesty, instead of thinking about how to clear them, you blindly use such violent means to block them. This will only backfire and push people's hearts further away!"

"By then, the army and the people will lose all their morale. Who will fight to the death for the king? How can we resist the attack of the 200,000 Chu troops outside the city?"

When Zhang He saw that there was no one around, he couldn't wait to complain to Ju Shou.

Ju Su sighed bitterly and asked:
"General Zhang, do you think that even if people's hearts are still there, we can defend Yecheng?"

Zhang He was stunned.

Ju Su looked outside the city and sighed:
"This psychological attack must have been the work of Xiao Fang. Zhang Yan's attempt to persuade the city to surrender the other day was probably also his plan."

"In fact, his two strategies are nothing more than trying to make it easier to capture Yecheng and reduce unnecessary casualties of his Chu army."

"At this point, even if Liu Bei doesn't use any tricks, and only needs 200,000 troops to attack, we can hold out for ten days at most, and Yecheng will fall."

"My Great Wei still cannot escape the fate of destruction."

"My king, you, me, and all the soldiers in this city will die!"

Zhang He shuddered and suddenly woke up.

It turned out that Ju Shou knew everything and understood everything.

He knew clearly that no matter what they did, it would only be a desperate struggle and they would not be able to defend Yecheng.

"Since we can't defend it no matter what, what's the point of everything we do now?"

Zhang He's face darkened, and his tone was clearly questioning.

"significance?"

Ju Su looked back towards the bedroom and bowed in the direction of Yuan Shao:

"As subjects, we are loyal to our king and have no regrets even if we die. This is the meaning of everything we do now!"

Zhang He was speechless.

The meaning of Ju Su's words could not be clearer.

He knew that if Yecheng was lost, the State of Wei would be destroyed, and he knew that any struggle would be in vain.

All he did was to fulfill his duty as a subject and die for Yuan Shao.

Ju Su is ready to die!

"General Zhang, you should also be prepared to serve your country with loyalty."

"You and I will fight to the death for the king, and live and die with Yecheng. Even if we die here, we will be known as loyal ministers in the history books of future generations!"

Ju Su patted Zhang He on the shoulder, gave him some earnest advice, then turned and left.

Zhang He was in a trance and did not come to his senses until Ju Shou left.

Looking at Ju Shou's receding back, Zhang He quietly clenched his fists, and a hint of unprecedented determination seemed to flash across his brows.

"If Yuan Benchu ​​is a wise ruler, let me die for him, and I will die with honor."

"But now he has gone mad and turned into a true tyrant. How can I, Zhang He, a great man, die for such a crazy and violent ruler?"

"Ju Shou, if you want to be loyal, go ahead and be buried with Yuan Shao. Don't drag me, Zhang He, into this!"

(End of this chapter)