Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 39: The Three Armies, Heed My Command, Fight to the Last Moment

Sun Ce's army is at the city gates!

What should I do?

In Wancheng, at the Grand Commander's Mansion, Yuan Yao quickly summoned everyone to a meeting to discuss how to deal with the Jiangdong army.

Zhang Xun said with a bitter face, "What other options are there now? We can only hold on to our positions."

Yan Xiang also said, "Your Highness, we are outmaneuvered. For now, we can only hold our ground and wait for the outcome of the northern route."

Yuan Yao looked up at the sky and sighed, his face tense.

If he had a choice, he would very much rather not fight this head-on battle to defend the city.

According to the original plan, even if the Jiangdong army broke through the Zhong clan's defenses and reached Wancheng, they would be exhausted and pose little threat.

Now, with Zhang Duo and Xu Qian helping Sun Ce guard the rear, and having previously fought small-scale battles of low intensity, the Jiangdong army has preserved its fighting strength to the greatest extent, enabling it to launch a strong attack on Wancheng in near-maximum strength.

This is very troublesome.

Wancheng is the center of Yuan Yao's rule. If it is destroyed, much of his hard work will be in vain.

Moreover, given the current stalemate between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and being situated in Huainan, a strategically vital area, this might be Yuan Yao's only chance to rise to power. Once he misses this opportunity, it will be difficult for him to achieve great things again.

However, it's pointless to say any more about this now.

The most pressing issue is how to withstand the imminent arrival of 20,000 Jiangdong troops.

Zhang Xun: "There are still nearly 20,000 troops in the city. If we temporarily conscript civilians to serve in the army, we can do a great job in defending the city."

Yan Xiang: "As for provisions and arrows, since the losses in the early stages were not significant, they are still sufficient for the time being, so there is no need to worry."

This means that Wancheng still has sufficient material resources, and as long as it is willing to defend, it can hold out for a month or two without any problem.

The prerequisite is—a willingness to uphold it.

Zhang Kai, who was in charge of maintaining order in Wancheng, reported a very bad piece of news to Yuan Yao: "Your Highness, I have received news that the people in the city are in a state of panic, rumors are spreading, and many people are fleeing."

This is the biggest problem.

Yuan Yao thought he had outmaneuvered the enemy by taking a small loss, which seemed to have achieved the political effect of delaying the enemy. However, in reality, it created an extremely bad stereotype in Wancheng. They didn't care about any political battles. All they knew was that the Zhong clan's army would go out to fight arrogantly every morning, only to return defeated and humiliated every night.

After several repetitions, everyone knew that Zhong's army was no match for Jiangdong's army.

Now that Jiangdong has received 10,000 reinforcements, it's like adding wings to a tiger, pushing the battle line to the outskirts of Wancheng. What should everyone think now?

Therefore, Yuan Yao had to boost everyone's morale and strengthen their resolve to resist to the end; otherwise, if a fire broke out in the rear and Sun Ce colluded with them from within, they would all be doomed.

Having thought of this, Yuan Yao knew what to do. He entrusted all the city defense work to Zhang Xun—although Zhang Xun was incompetent, there was no one else available at the moment—and then he went to find a way to boost morale.

As soon as he appeared, he was surrounded by the Zhong clan's ministers.

The crowd wept and begged Yuan Yao to lead them away under the pretense of returning to the old capital, abandoning Lujiang and returning to Shouchun, so that they might be able to survive for another year or two.

This infuriating scene left Yuan Yao feeling both worried and pleased.

The worrying thing is that the Zhong family is still the same Zhong family full of worms. When these ministers heard that Sun Ce was outside, they were all afraid of the enemy like tigers, revealing their ugly side, and completely forgetting how they used to mock the Sun family father and son.

The good news was that, although the officials were afraid, not many actually wanted to surrender. Upon closer inquiry, they learned that Sun Ce was quite bloodthirsty and had committed numerous atrocities during his conquest of Jiangdong. They felt that surrendering might mean certain death.

Yuan Yao thought for a moment, then told them not to worry and invited everyone to the Grand Commander's Mansion that evening, as he had something to say to them.

Next, Yuan Yao tirelessly visited various parts of the city, both to check on everyone's situation and to tell everyone in the simplest and most direct way that he, Yuan Yao, had not run away and was going to stay in the city and resist to the end.

This method was somewhat effective. Some people, seeing Yuan Yao's confident demeanor and smiling face, felt that the battle might be a close call and were able to relax.

But many more people, especially those from wealthy and influential families who had a general understanding of the war situation, remained deeply worried.

As the saying goes, when you stand on the bridge and admire the scenery, those admiring the scenery are also admiring you on the bridge. Yuan Yao was worried that the people of Wancheng lacked the will to fight, and the people of Wancheng were equally worried that Yuan Yao lacked the will to fight.

For the local soldiers and civilians, they naturally had the motivation to defend their homeland. However, the disgraceful appearance of the Zhong clan's officials made it hard not to suspect that Yuan Yao might run away with them. Even if he visited various places today, so what? He might just be putting on an act and then suddenly fall in love with someone else, leaving Wancheng as a scapegoat.

That evening, after repelling the first probing attack by the Jiangdong army, the Grand Commander's Office suddenly sent out invitations to the city, inviting most of the prominent figures to a banquet.

banquet?

Everyone was stunned, wondering why Yuan Yao was holding a banquet at this time.

But since they've invited me, I might as well go and see what's going on.

When everyone arrived at the Grand Commander's Mansion, they discovered that Yuan Yao had invited quite a lot of people. Not only was the main hall full, but the courtyard was also packed with people. The gates were even left wide open, welcoming any onlookers from the surrounding area.

Seeing that the Grand Commander's Mansion was filled with dark figures inside and out, Yuan Yao finally appeared, with an old man with a very stiff face standing behind him.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yuan Yao calmly announced a rather inexplicable piece of news.

"I would like to inform you all that I have just presented betrothal gifts to Mr. Qiao and intend to take his two daughters as concubines. The date is set for ten days from now. I hope you will all do me the honor of attending and have a drink at the wedding."

The crowd was in uproar.

So, you called everyone out just to talk about this kind of thing?

How lecherous must one be to take two concubines at this critical juncture?

wrong!

Someone suddenly realized what was happening.

If Yuan Yao is going to take a concubine in ten days, doesn't that mean he will stay in Wancheng for those ten days?

When they heard that Yuan Yao even planned to send an invitation to Sun Ce outside the city, everyone had no more doubts.

It turns out that Yuan Yao was using the pretext of taking a concubine to express his determination to everyone. If he were to run away again, he would be disgraced, become a laughing stock, and suffer social death.

Sure enough, after mentioning the matter of taking a concubine, Yuan Yao changed the subject and returned to the current war.

Yuan Yao stood in the middle of everyone, speaking slowly but firmly: "We know that Sun Ce has plans to invade Huainan, and others have tried to do so before. Back then, Cao Cao sent Liu Bei with 50,000 troops to stay in Shouchun for more than ten days. I told them that there was bitter grass in Huainan. After Liu Xun's rebellion, there must have been many more people like that."

"I am confident that if everyone does their job, big or small, if the best arrangements are made, and if this is done, we will once again prove that we can keep our homeland safe from the storms of war and the covetousness of the enemy, even if it comes at a great cost, even if we must fight a hard battle. In any case, this is what we must do, this is my determination—and everyone's determination."

"This is the will of Huainan from top to bottom. Lujiang and Jiujiang need to unite in this war. We will defend every inch of our land and every person to the death, helping each other and doing our utmost. We will fight to the end. We will fight in Wancheng, we will fight on the Huai River, we will fight with full confidence in Jiujiang, we will protect ourselves at any cost, we will fight on the plains, on the walls the enemy has climbed, in the fields and alleys, and in the cities. We will never surrender, even if most of our land is occupied by the enemy and we are in crisis, the troops led by our survivors will continue to fight until a miracle occurs—the new world, with its resounding power, advances towards the liberation of the old world!"

Yuan Yao's voice went from low and sorrowful to gradually becoming passionate and powerful. Under his speech, everyone listened quietly and attentively at first, and then they were deeply moved by his firm will and immersed in it.

At this moment, everyone believed that as long as Yuan Yao led them, they would surely be able to unite as one and defeat the evil invaders!

The impromptu banquet lasted for more than an hour. Yuan Yao maintained his high-spirited demeanor throughout, until everyone left, at which point he went limp and collapsed into his seat.

I hope that this elaborate show I put so much effort into will have some positive effect...

Just then—

"Grand Commander! Grand Commander!"

A guard stumbled in, his face filled with barely suppressed ecstasy.

Yuan Yao, still lounging like Ge You, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Battle report from Jiujiang: Our army has decisively defeated the Jiangdong army at Hefei, killing and capturing thousands!"

"What?"

"We won! We won!"

Yuan Yao stood up abruptly.

At that moment, he subconsciously wanted to show off and say, "The junior has defeated the enemy."

In reality, he suppressed his excitement and almost lost his composure as he snatched the intelligence report from the guard, wishing he could carve the words on it into his eyes.

It took him quite a while to recover, and he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

We really won.

Guan Yu, Cao Xing, and Liu Ye did not disappoint him, and the time he delayed in Wancheng was also useful. In this Tian Ji horse race, his side ultimately won the victory ahead of time.

Before Yuan Yao could fully recover, Qiao Gong, who had been huddled in the corner for a long time, finally couldn't help but ask cautiously, "Grand Commander, I heard that the war seems to have ended, so what about this marriage..."

marriage?

Yuan Yao slapped his forehead. Oh right, he had just finalized his marriage!

Since Sun Ce is no longer a threat, does he still need to publicly take a concubine to strengthen the fighting spirit of the people in Wancheng?

With a quick glance, Yuan Yao made a decision.

All I can say is that when it comes to this kind of thing, you have to go for it.

And not only do we have to charge, we have to charge fiercely.