Chapter 697 A Dream of Youth 229
The strategist standing to the side looked intently at Xie Ning. "Yes, we can turn them against us! Decades ago, Lingzhou City still belonged to the Great Zhou Dynasty. We are here to reclaim our lost territory!"
Liu Yuanchang hesitated and said, "But they hate us. Decades ago, Lingzhou was indeed part of the Great Zhou. But so many years have passed, how many people still remember their origins?"
They only hate that the iron hooves of the Great Zhou trampled their homeland.
Even if it's just for survival, how could they trust us? And why would they help us?
The chief steward, sitting at the head of the table, sighed, “It’s easier said than done. If no one stirs up emotions or takes the lead, it will be of no use even if they know that Xili plans to breach the Seventh Canal.”
Because the army will use violence to suppress, this will actually speed up the process of Xili digging the Seven-Level Canal. It is likely that he will not wait for Li Yu to bring his troops to join him before taking action.
Even if they wanted to send someone in to lead the way, they couldn't.
Xie Ning shook his head and said to Liu Yuanchang, "Along the way, I have seen a lot of hateful eyes, but what they really hate is not us, but the war that made them lose their homes and their lives."
Lingzhou has been under siege for a long time without success, why not give it a try?
And I received a secret letter.
It was a message sent by carrier pigeon. At that time, she had just rushed back to the main tent from Key City to get medicine, and then she saw a gray pigeon flying towards the place where the corpse was placed, so she followed it.
The gray pigeon landed precisely on the body of the man who had desperately run out to deliver the message.
Seeing Xie Ning approach, the pigeons were not afraid and even flew to her shoulder, appearing very affectionate.
That's how Xie Ning got his hands on that secret letter, which contained only a simple greeting: "Is Father well?"
Xie Ning glanced at the man's body, then took out a piece of paper and wrote back, telling the people there that his father had passed away, but his body had been properly prepared.
If the war ends, he can come and claim his father's body.
This was actually a test; Xie Ning wanted to know the other party's attitude.
Since that person was able to send a message to inquire, it proves that he must know why the man came out. If that person could act as an inside man...
The group exchanged glances and asked, "So what did he say?"
"He is willing."
Xie Ning's lips curled into a smile.
"If we succeed, we will be able to capture the city and save the people from suffering. Even if we fail, it will only be a bluff to alert the enemy. We just need to prepare for our retreat."
Knowing the enemy's purpose, they could preserve most of their forces by retreating with some preparation.
But the others...
Xie Ning clenched her fingers, looked up to meet Fu Yao's gaze, and asked, "Grand Steward, could you send a team to move the people along the river to a place far away from the river?"
Simply notifying them is useless; it's slow and hard to convince them. Only by using force to drive them away will they flee in terror, thus saving more lives.
By staying away from the river, they could temporarily save their lives.
The real disaster is that vast swathes of farmland are flooded, resulting in a complete crop failure, and many more people will die from hunger and cold.
"Can."
Hearing this reassuring answer, Xie Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In truth, she knew that if they couldn't stop the Yellow River from flooding down before it breached the Seventh Canal at Xili, all their efforts would be in vain.
But what if even one person could survive?
The chief steward immediately listened to Xie Ning's opinion, but he did not intend to secretly try to turn the enemy against him. Instead, he wanted to make the matter of Xili breaching the Seven-Level Canal public.
Firstly, it throws Xili into disarray.
Secondly, any civilian in the city who didn't want to die would be watching the movements in the south of the city, making it easier for them to turn against the city.
As for how to win them over... the group discussed it and decided to split into two groups: one group would send people to scatter papers to disturb the people's peace, and the other group would send people to move the thunderbolts to the south gate.
While the range of crossbows was indeed insufficient, the trebuchets could be used to slow down the Westerners' expedition to breach the canal.
However, the number of thunderbolts was limited, which could only hold them off for a while. The rest depended on whether an uprising would break out in the city as they had anticipated.
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