Chapter 646: Don’t fear strong enemies, don’t hurt the weak

After Xu Yu finished speaking, he left You Hai, who had fainted from the pain, and looked at the red eyes of Liang Ren and others. He lowered his eyes and said, "Spread the news to the public. You Hai and I have been in contact for a long time."

"I've specially arranged a welcoming dinner in Huizhou City. I'd like to thank General You for providing the marching route and coordinating my ambush. We had a very pleasant conversation."

As long as You Hai’s life is not enough.

This kind of revenge where one person takes the blame for his own actions is not what Xu Yu wants.

You Hai's entire family is in Kyoto.

The You family is definitely not the Xu family that was able to preserve its family in the face of great disaster.

With this news coming out, it is impossible to say that he would protect the whole family because of someone's death, as You Hai imagined.

On the contrary, none of You Hai's nine clansmen survived.

Liang Ren nodded without thinking.

The 20,000 soldiers surrounded inside watched You Hai's family being sent to the guillotine, and then looked at Xu Yu in fear. There was a deathly silence all around.

Xu Yu took a deep breath calmly and said calmly, "Half a minute."

"Those who surrender within half a quarter of an hour will not be killed."

"If you exceed the time limit, you will be strangled on the spot."

Xu Yu didn't mind his notoriety, nor did he care that too much blood would cause rumors.

All he wants is results.

With Liang Ren's prior arrangements, more than 70,000 of the 100,000 troops brought by Qiu Zheng spontaneously tied red silk ribbons on their arms to express their surrender to the enemy.

The rest who were in a stalemate and hesitant chose to kneel down and surrender after seeing the densely packed blades flying towards them a moment later.

Being loyal to the emperor also requires cherishing one's life.

Dying on the battlefield at least gives you a decent reputation, but dying in such an unclear manner would make you feel wronged even as a ghost!

Rongchang and the others who followed to set up the ambush were confused from beginning to end.

From the initial setting of the ambush to the enemy actually falling into the trap.

Now, a large number of enemy troops have turned against us on the spot and captured General Dingnan alive. The process was so fast that it was almost impossible for people to react.

The imagined difficult and fierce battle to defend the city had not yet officially begun, but it had already come to an end in a daze.

And Xu Yu...

Liang Ren quickly ordered a good man to spread the news that You Hai had surrendered to the enemy, and in front of tens of thousands of people, he personally went to bring Xu Yu's horse over.

Rongchang took a deep breath.

Liang Ren looked respectful, knelt on one knee and said loudly: "This humble general pays homage to the young master!"

Liang Ren did not call Xu Yu by his military position in Lingnan, but called him Young Master.

When the others heard this, they immediately knelt down without thinking: "Greetings, Young Master!"

"The Xu family army welcomes the return of the young master!"

Xu Jiajun...

When Marquis Jiaxing was leading his troops outside, the Xu family army's large flag with the word "Xu" on it could terrify the enemy without moving.

But since the battle of Hongbei that year, no one has mentioned the words Xu Jiajun anymore.

Along with the Xu family, which once enjoyed a hundred years of glory, it also became a taboo that no one dared to mention.

A dark glint silently crossed Xu Yu's eyes. Before Liang Ren could kowtow, he held him back with both hands: "I am already in Lingnan. There is no need to talk about the past."

"Since you all trust me, I will not lie. From now on, wherever I, Xu Yu, have a foothold, I will not let your loyalty go undeserved."

"My father was able to protect you from the storm back then. I will repay him with my life in the future and will not let you down in the slightest."

I don't know who was the first to shout that he would follow me till death and repay me with his life.

As the first sound was heard, the endless army raised their right hands tied with red silk and echoed loudly amid the whistling wind.

At the front of the crowd, a large banner with the word "Xu" written on it, engraved with silver hooks and iron strokes, was fluttering in the wind.

From today on, the Xu family army, which had been intentionally dispersed in various places by Marquis Jiaxing, gathered in an unfamiliar land.

When the trickles gather again, murderous intent can rise like a torrent.

No matter whether it is the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who died in vain in Hongbei, or their loyal blood that has been forced to gradually cool down due to countless persecutions in recent years, after today, they will once again burst out with a shocking edge in this vast Central Plains.

From now on, no one will dare to look down on me.

Xu Yu led 20,000 troops out of the city to meet the enemy. When he returned to Huizhou half a month later, the 20,000 troops had become 90,000, and the rest were all prisoners.

The captured group also included Qiu Zheng, who had previously made a huge announcement and declared that he would personally kill Xu Yu on the spot.

Xu Yu had no evil intention of killing those who had surrendered, nor did he intend to inflict excessive harm on those who gave up resistance.

As for the more than 10,000 surrenderers who were unwilling to switch sides, Xu Yu simply asked them to confiscate their weapons and spent half a day organizing the prisoners into teams. Except that they could only move on foot, their food and drink were the same as those of the rest of the soldiers.

In order to prevent any problems, Xu Yu also issued a direct ban, forbidding anyone to beat, scold or insult the prisoners without reason, and everything should be dealt with after returning to the city.

So except for Qiu Zheng and You Hai, everyone else had their hands and feet broken and was stuffed into a makeshift prison van.

The rest of the captured enemy troops were a huge group, all unarmed and surrounded by cavalry. As they marched towards Huizhou, the faces of every prisoner were surprisingly calm.

Anyway, I won't die, and I can have enough food as a prisoner. Instead of taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble again, it is better to accept my fate.

It’s not shameful to be captured by Xu’s army!

This kind of calm attitude towards being captured is simply shocking.

Rongchang had been terrified all the way, and as he neared the city gate, he couldn't help but exclaim, "General, aren't these people too obedient?"

Are you really not going to resist at all?

Are you so frank?

Xu Yu said calmly, "Because they know that those who surrender will not die."

Rongchang said in disbelief, "Did they know from the beginning that the general was not going to kill them?"

"After he found out my name was Xu Yu."

Xu Yu had endured Rongchang's supposedly concealed shock and astonishment for many days, and now he simply laid it out: "My father was once conferred the title of Marquis of Jiaxing, and my grandfather was a Duke of Zhenguo, first class, personally conferred by the late Emperor. After he retired, he was addressed as Old Marquis."

In other words, Xu Yu came from the Xu family, a family full of loyal and brave people, and was a legitimate prince of the Xu family.

Even if Rongchang didn't know the family connections in Kyoto, he had heard of the outrageous reputation of the Xu family in Kyoto since he was very young.

The ancestor of the Xu family once defended the border for eighteen days until only less than a thousand people were left in the entire army. The corpses piled up to form an endless long wall, but they did not allow the Di people who wanted to invade the Central Plains to set foot inside the city wall.

When the old man of the Xu family was young, he led his troops to pursue the enemy for more than a thousand miles and almost broke through the enemy's imperial city.

Rongchang was no stranger to the name of Marquis Jiaxing.

It is no exaggeration to say that before Marquis Jiaxing was charged with treason, his reputation as a brave warrior at the border for half his life was known to everyone.

From the seventy-year-old elder to the three- or five-year-old child, everyone can tell of the Marquis of Jiaxing's heroic deeds in guarding the border and protecting the peace of the people in the Central Plains.

Xu Yu is actually the son of the late Marquis of Jiaxing...

Rongchang swallowed his saliva and whispered, "Then the reason why they became calm after knowing that the general was from the Xu family is..."

Meeting Rongchang's serious and curious eyes, Xu Yu was amused.

"Because since the first day our ancestors went to the battlefield, they established an ancestral precept that cannot be violated."

"All descendants of the Xu family on the battlefield must not slaughter prisoners without reason, and must not harass innocent local civilians during their march. Military prestige comes second, and military discipline comes first."

The reason why Xu's army was loved by the people wherever they went and had maintained its reputation in the army for many years was not only because of its iron-blooded ability to resist foreign enemies, but also its compassion to protect the weak.

Do not fear strong enemies and do not harm the weak.

The sharper the blade, the better you should know how to sheathe it.

When Xu Yu was young, his heart was filled with sharpness that hurt others and himself, and he did not understand the meaning of such compassion.

Until he stood by Sang Zhixia's side, thanks to Sang Zhixia, the villagers who had helped him specially sent him red dates and eggs as a token of gratitude, and even a handful of fresh wild vegetables still covered with dew.

It was not until then that Xu Yu realized how strong his seemingly petite and weak wife was inside, and he also suddenly understood the true meaning of the Xu family's ancestral precepts.

That is the true meaning of the Xu family's century of glory.