L.F-Hist.Novelist Chapter 29 Sleepless Night
Chapter 29 Sleepless Night
That night, no one in Linzi City slept.
Taishi Ci's words during the day made these people feel particularly uncomfortable.
Hiding inside the governor's mansion, Tian Kai listened to the growing commotion outside and knew in his heart that their cause was doomed.
……
Night falls.
The spring night wind carried a chill, making it very difficult for the soldiers guarding the city.
But what made it even harder for these people to endure was the aroma of pots of meat porridge outside the city.
That's meat.
These soldiers hadn't tasted meat in a long time.
Taishi Ci's men did not withdraw; they lit bonfires outside the city and took turns guarding the dozens of large pots.
The meat in the big pot was still bubbling away.
"Gurgle..."
At the corner of the city wall, an old soldier, well past fifty, huddled in a sheltered spot, his hands tightly clutching his emaciated belly. His name was Old Li, and he had served in Linzi for twenty years, risking his life for Gongsun Zan, and now he was risking his life for Tian Kai.
Even after working themselves to the bone, they couldn't even afford a decent meal.
"Uncle Li, do you think what Taishi Ci said is true?"
A young recruit leaned closer, his eyes gleaming eerily in the darkness. "Did the lord really sell our grain to the Yellow Turban rebels?"
Old Li sighed, took out a piece of black bread from his pocket that was hard enough to crack walnuts; it was his dinner for the day.
"Does it matter whether it's true or not? What matters is that the Pingyuan Army eats meat, while we eat chaff."
Old Li smiled bitterly, "I heard from the merchants that things are great in the plains now. As long as you're willing to work, you can eat white rice every day. That Magistrate Li really treats the people like human beings."
The young soldier swallowed hard, his gaze drifting towards the alluring flickering firelight outside the city.
"Uncle Li, I don't want to stay here anymore. My mother is still waiting at home for me to send food rations back. If this continues, we'll all starve to death."
Old Li remained silent for a moment, a resolute glint in his eyes.
"Let's go have some porridge."
"But...catching them means execution."
"Starving to death is death anyway, so it's better to die well than to starve!"
That night, many people shared the same thoughts as Old Li and the young soldiers.
At first, they would slide down the city wall in twos and threes under the cover of night using ropes from secluded spots. Later, the patrol leaders turned a blind eye and even joined the group leaving the city themselves.
In the latter half of the night, a small-scale conflict even broke out at the city gate. Soldiers who wanted to surrender clashed with the supervisory team loyal to Tian Kai.
"They've rebelled! They've all rebelled!"
Tian Kai felt like he was sitting on pins and needles inside the governor's mansion. Hearing the shouts of battle outside, he knew he was doomed. He tried to mobilize his personal guards to suppress the fighting, but he found that even his most trusted captain of the guards looked at him with evasiveness and resentment.
"My lord, brothers... we're hungry." The captain of the personal guard lowered his head and spoke the words that echoed the sentiments of everyone present.
Tian Kai slumped into his chair, his face ashen. He knew that morale had collapsed and the team was beyond saving.
The following morning, as the first rays of sunlight shone on the walls of Linzi, the situation inside and outside the city became completely clear.
Li Zhao led his main force of 20,000 troops to the city walls in a grand procession. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Taishi Ci, four valiant generals, stood in a row, behind them the plains troops, their armor gleaming and their morale high.
In stark contrast were the emaciated and listless soldiers on the city walls.
Overnight, two thousand soldiers ran outside the city to drink porridge and surrender!
Tian Kai was escorted by his guards to the city wall. Looking at the massive, dark army outside the city and the dozens of empty cauldrons, his eyes were filled with despair and resentment.
"Li Zhao! You despicable scoundrel! You won by such underhanded means!" Tian Kai roared hoarsely.
Li Zhao rode a pure white warhorse, clad in silver armor, looking like a god in the morning sun.
He raised his head slightly, his eyes coldly fixed on Tian Kai, who looked like a stray dog on the city wall.
In his eyes, Tian Kai was no longer a rival, but merely a footnote about to be eliminated by history.
"Lord Tian, you are mistaken." Li Zhao's voice was not loud, but with the support of his powerful internal energy, it clearly resonated throughout the entire area.
"Warfare is based on deception. But the true path is benevolence. As the governor of a prefecture, instead of comforting the people, you colluded with bandits, aided the enemy, and oppressed the local people. Now you are deserted by all, which is your own fault. What does it have to do with me?"
"You're talking nonsense! I am the governor of Qingzhou appointed by General Gongsun! You are nothing but a traitor who has usurped a high position!" Tian Kai was still making a last-ditch effort.
Li Zhao sneered and took out a stack of silk from his bosom.
"Gongsun Zan? You still have the nerve to mention him?"
Li Zhao held the silk cloth high in his hand, showing it to everyone on and below the city walls.
"This is the secret order for the massacre of the city that Gongsun Zan issued in Youzhou! It's stained with blood, the blood of innocent civilians! You, Tian Kai, are serving nothing more than a cruel and heartless butcher!"
"And I, Li Zhao, am acting on the Emperor's decree, leading a righteous army! Every grain of rice I eat is for the sake of saving the people of Qingzhou!"
He threw the silk cloth to the ground, drew his long sword from his waist, and pointed it straight at the city wall of Linzi.
"I'm giving you one last chance! Open the city gates, those who surrender will be spared and given food! If you remain obstinate, the day the city falls will be the day we all perish!"
"There's food! There's food! There's food!"
The 20,000 soldiers from the plains below the city shouted in unison, their voices like a surging tide.
These sounds constantly assaulted the soldiers holding weapons atop the city wall.
On the city wall, Old Li had drunk two large bowls of meat porridge last night, and now he was full of energy.
Looking at the imposing Governor Li below the city, and then at his hesitant comrades beside him, he no longer had any reservations.
With a heavy heart, he gritted his teeth, threw down the spear, and shouted, "I quit! I need to eat!"
This shout triggered a chain reaction.
"I want to eat too!"
"Open the city gates! Surrender!"
"Capture that scoundrel Tian Kai and present him to Magistrate Li!"
The city walls instantly descended into chaos.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the garrison commander could only sigh and personally lead his men to cut the ropes of the drawbridge and open the city gate.
Looking at the wide-open city gates and the Pingyuan army swarming into the city, Tian Kai knew that it was all over.
He stood there, his eyes vacant, muttering to himself.
"It's over..."
Under the desperate protection of several loyal guards, Tian Kai changed into the clothes of an ordinary soldier and took advantage of the chaos to escape through the south gate, fleeing in a sorry state towards Xuzhou.
Li Zhao rode his horse slowly into Linzi City.
The streets were lined with kneeling civilians and soldiers in tattered clothes.
They looked at Li Zhao with awe, as if he were a savior.
Perhaps with this person, they will no longer have to go hungry.
……
In the summer of the fourth year of the Chuping era, in Juancheng, Yanzhou.
The atmosphere inside Cao Cao's residence was somewhat somber.
Yanzhou had just endured a fierce and protracted battle with the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Although it had barely won, it was severely weakened. To make matters worse, the Guandong region was suffering from a severe drought this year, with vast stretches of land parched and locusts swarming through.
The treasury was so empty that mice could run through it, and the army's rations had been halved. Cao Cao even had to order that civilians be allowed to brew wine in order to conserve grain. Rumors even circulated that in the most remote villages, the tragedy of cannibalism had occurred.