webnovelfull Chapter 465 Yu Jin is a lunatic.
Chapter 465 Yu Jin is a lunatic.
The Han army camp outside the city.
The night raid on the northern gate barbican and the burning of the Wei army's stored grain was the most difficult and dangerous mission Guan Xing had ever carried out since the raid on Jianye, bar none.
Burning down a grain depot heavily guarded by the Wei army right under the noses of 30,000 Wei soldiers was no different from raiding a heavily fortified Japanese airfield during the War of Resistance against Japan; a moment's carelessness could mean certain death.
Therefore, Guan Xing did not sleep all night. After seeing Wang Hong off, he waited anxiously in front of the desk, feeling as nervous as when he was waiting to check his college entrance examination results. Every minute and every second was torture.
Guan Xing sat at his desk until dawn, and only when the first rays of sunlight shone into the tent did he hear a commotion outside.
Any commotion at that moment was like a thunderclap to Guan Xing. Hearing the noise, Guan Xing didn't have time to think and immediately got up, stepped on the table and jumped over it, rushing out of the tent at the speed of a hundred meters sprint.
As soon as he rushed out of the tent and looked up, he saw Wang Hong, Zhu Chao, and the others, their bodies stained with blood, struggling to walk towards him, their unsteady steps heartbreaking to see.
What worried Guan Xing even more was that there were only a few people behind the two of them. At a glance, there were less than fifty people left. There were three hundred people when they went, and only so few came back.
Casualties were inevitable, and Guan Xing was mentally prepared for it. He was more concerned about the success or failure of the mission than the casualties. If the mission was accomplished, the casualties would be absolutely worthwhile.
Guan Xing was about to ask about the mission results, but seeing the dejected looks on Wang Hong, Zhu Chao, and the others, he swallowed his question and silently turned and went into the tent.
Wang Hong and the others went there with the mindset of certain death; if the mission had been completed, they would never be in this mental state now.
As expected, before Guan Xing could even sit down in the tent, Wang Hong and Zhu Chao came in and bowed, saying, "General, we are incompetent. The mission has failed. Yu Jin has already transported the grain away, and there is no grain left in the barracks."
"Yu Jin not only moved the grain and fodder ahead of time, but also set up an ambush in Wengcheng. I had no choice but to break through. I finally managed to fight my way to the tailor shop and crawled into the tunnel. When I came out, I was surrounded by Wei troops. Of the three hundred elite soldiers, only a few are left, and they are all wounded."
Guan Xing stepped forward and patted Wang Hong and Zhu Chao on the shoulder, sighing, "This was my oversight, I don't blame you. Besides, this operation wasn't without its gains. At least we know that the supplies aren't in Wengcheng. Go and rest. We'll fight again once our injuries have healed."
He then personally went out of the tent and called over the stretcher team that had been waiting for a long time to carry away the wounded, including Wang Hong and Zhu Chao.
Unexpectedly, Fei Yi arrived as soon as they left. He ran up to Guan Xing, hesitated for a long time, and finally handed him half a handkerchief, sighing, "General, you should see for yourself. I can't bring myself to say it."
Guan Xing unfolded the handkerchief and immediately flew into a rage. There was only one sentence written on it: "You little brat from Anguo, I am very angry about your night raid on the city wall. So I have specially killed a thousand civilians as a return gift. I hope you will accept it. Yu Jin and Yu Wenze."
Upon seeing the letter, Guan Xing felt an unnamed fire surge from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, threatening to burn him completely.
But the rage did not destroy Guan Xing's reason; instead, it made him exceptionally calm. Guan Xing stared at Fei Yi and asked in a chilling tone, "Has the person already been killed?"
Fei Yi was startled by the murderous intent in his eyes and said with an equally unfriendly expression, "Yes, they were taken to the city and killed in front of Elder Zhang (Zhang Zhao). Among them were elderly people in their fifties and sixties as well as children under ten years old. The Wei army showed no mercy. Not only that, after killing them, they used catapults to shoot their heads onto the city wall, along with this letter."
"General, we must find a way to stop him. Yu Jin has gone completely mad. If we don't stop him, more than a thousand people will die. I'm worried that Yu Jin will massacre the city. Yu Jin is a lunatic now and he's capable of anything."
Yu Jin did indeed go mad. After surrendering to Guan Yu, he was captured by Sun Quan, suffering the greatest humiliation of his life. He also lost Cao Cao's trust because of his surrender, ruining his career and leaving him homeless. This caused his psychology to become extremely distorted, or as later generations would say, he became "darkened".
While turning to the dark side doesn't increase intelligence, it lowers one's moral standards, allowing one to completely abandon moral constraints and do things without restraint that one wouldn't normally dare to do. That's what's truly terrifying.
Even an ordinary person turning evil can cause astonishing destruction, let alone a renowned general with exceptional intelligence and experience like Yu Jin. If Yu Jin were to truly slaughter Jiangling in a fit of rage, it would be meaningless for Guan Xing to retake Jiangling.
Not only was it pointless, but they also had to clean up the mess left by Yu Jin, reluctantly dealing with a series of problems following the massacre of the city.
It's important to understand that Jiangling is not like the small cities Cao Cao massacred in Xuzhou. It's a super city with a permanent population of over 300,000, ranking among the top five in the world. If it were truly wiped out, who knows how many years it would take to recover to 300,000 people?
The massacre would not only affect the stability of Jiangnan, but also delay Liu Bei's northern expedition. Liu Bei was already sixty years old, how many more northern expeditions could he launch?
If Yu Jin really massacres Jiangling, Liu Bei may never be able to launch another northern expedition in his lifetime, and his dream of restoring the Han Dynasty will probably be shattered. Therefore, we must not let Yu Jin massacre the city; we must get rid of this old bastard before he goes crazy.
Guan Xing gritted his teeth and said, "Go and contact Pan Zhu and Huang Zhe. Tell them that if they are willing to return to the Han Dynasty, restore order, and help me get rid of Yu Jin, I will not only pardon all their crimes on behalf of the King, but also give them the first merit for recapturing Jiangling."
“They are locals from Jingzhou. The people living in the city are all relatives of the Jingzhou gentry. If you trace their lineage back five hundred years, everyone is related by blood. I don’t believe they can just stand by and watch Yu Jin run rampant in the city.”
The main reason why the gentry of Jingzhou actively embraced Cao Wei was their fear that Liu Bei and Guan Yu would hold them accountable for their surrender to Eastern Wu. Now that Guan Xing had pardoned them on behalf of Liu Bei, their worries were naturally gone.
As for whether Guan Xing's actions constituted overstepping his bounds, and whether Liu Bei would punish him for it, that was a matter between Liu Bei and Guan Xing, and had nothing to do with the gentry of Jingzhou.
"I'll go right away." Fei Yi clasped his hands in acceptance and prepared to leave, but as soon as he turned around, he saw the garrison leading a young man dressed as a refugee walking towards him.
Out of curiosity, Fei Yi stopped and waited for the young man to arrive. The young man was brought before him and knelt down with a thud. He held a scroll of bamboo slips in his hands and handed it to Guan Xing, saying, "Young General, I am a servant of Young Master Pan Zhu and have been sent to deliver a message to you on Young Master Pan Zhu's orders."
Pan Zhu's letter?
A hint of surprise flashed in Guan Xing's eyes as he looked at Fei Yi. Fei Yi immediately took the letter and handed it to Guan Xing, then stood behind Guan Xing to examine it together. After reading it, the two of them were stunned. After a moment of astonishment, Guan Xing stared at the young man and asked, "Pan Zhu wants to surrender?"
The young man said, “Young General, you may not know this, but my young master has never intended to surrender to Wei. He was merely obeying the orders of his patriarch (Pan Jun). However, Yu Jin’s act of arbitrarily driving the people to attack the city has gone too far. My young master no longer wishes to associate with him. My young master is willing to swear in the name of the ancestors of the Pan family that if there is even a single falsehood in the contents of this letter, may he be struck by lightning and die without a burial place.”
Guan Xing said, “Go back and tell your young master that if he truly surrenders, I will pardon all his crimes on behalf of the king. But I need to see his sincerity first. Three hours later, he will launch an attack in the city. Once I see any movement, I will immediately lead my troops into the city and fight Yu Jin to the death.”
"The pardon also applies to the four great families of Kuai, Cai, Pang, and Huang. As long as they help me destroy Yu Jin, I will pardon all their crimes and record their merits."
The young man was overjoyed and quickly bowed, saying, "Thank you, Young General. I will go back and report to my young master immediately."