"That's right! It's all Zhang Chengyan's fault. They framed us and made us sinners for all time!"
Such remarks spread throughout the Red Turban Army ranks in an instant, impacting the fragile nerves of all the soldiers. Their originally conflicted hearts were now united, all turning into hatred for Zhang Chengyan!
With just a few words, he shifted all the conflicts within the Red Turban Army onto Zhang Chengyan, effectively uniting them together.
At this moment, Nie Yun, Tuoba Yue, and the others finally realized Lü Tu's brilliance. Even the usually mature and prudent Zhu Zhaozhou couldn't help but admire him in his heart: "Lü Tu is a man who deeply understands people's hearts and is insightful about the ways of the world. His future achievements are absolutely limitless. It seems that Wuchuan cannot contain this hidden dragon!"
Looking at the Red Turban soldiers before him, Lü Tu was very confident. It seemed that his plan had succeeded. Whether the Red Turban soldiers would help him or not was not important at the moment.
The important thing is that they all hate Zhang Chengyan, but if they want to take revenge on Zhang Chengyan, what method should they use? Without a doubt, it's Lu Tu in front of them. If they don't surrender and join Lu Tu's forces, it will prove that everything they just said was a lie.
This would force them to admit that they had committed a grave mistake, thus causing them to suffer from a guilty conscience forever.
They themselves couldn't solve this problem; they even had to start convincing themselves, doing a lot of mental preparation, and persuading themselves of the legitimacy of surrendering and joining Lü Tu's cause.
Only a few people, including Xiang Ze and Zhu Zhaozhou, understood this move, and they couldn't help but regard Lü Tu as a god in their hearts.
The two were deeply impressed: "To have such a talent for controlling people's hearts at such a young age, and to have calculated every step of the way, without even lifting a finger or continuing to persuade people to surrender, he solved the problem of 80,000 people surrendering simply by shifting the focus of the conflict. Lu Tu is indeed a dragon among men and a peerless genius."
Sure enough, after observing the reaction of their subordinates, the captains of the Red Turban Army on the other side secretly discussed the matter, gritted their teeth, slapped their thighs, and said, "Surrender!"
They then silenced all the noisy Red Turban soldiers. Several captains stepped forward to the front of the crowd, knelt down on one knee before Lü Tu with clasped hands, and said, "This humble general is willing to lead the troops to surrender and go together to wipe out the Red Turban rebels!"
These words shocked Nie Yun and the others behind him! Not to mention their own Wuchuan border troops, everyone regarded Lü Tu as a true god of war!
Keep in mind that our side only had a little over 20,000 men, while the enemy had a real force of 80,000. With just a few words from Lü Tu, he successfully persuaded the Red Turban rebels, who were originally unwilling to surrender and had committed all sorts of atrocities along the way, to surrender!
Then all 80,000 Red Turban soldiers knelt down on one knee: "We are willing to submit to General Lü and swear to serve General Lü to the death!"
The shouts of 80,000 people echoed throughout the entire Luanshigang Pass.
Lu Tu dismissed their vows of loyalty as utter nonsense. How could someone who had just surrendered be considered loyal? If someone believed such words, then they would truly have a life of loyalty.
However, he still had to put on an act. Lü Tu also pretended to be deeply moved, with his eyes slightly red. He did not immediately tell everyone to stand up, but instead used his compassionate and appreciative gaze to sweep over the 80,000 Red Turban Army soldiers present.
All the soldiers whose gaze swept over him shuddered, and then looked over with excited and fervent eyes. Of course, there were also many who dared not meet Lu Tu's eyes. These were people who had not yet made up their minds, but since everyone else had already made their decisions, he could only follow suit.
Lu Tu was not worried about this group of people, since they could choose to surrender by popular choice and then follow Lu Tu to resist the Red Turban Army.
Where you serve in the army doesn't matter. Even Lü Tu doesn't dare say he joined the army to protect the Great Yu, so why can't others have some selfish motives?
At this moment, Lü Tu dismounted, and Nie Yun, Tuoba Yue, Sun Kuang, Sun Meng, Xiang Ze, and others behind him quickly followed.
Lu Tu approached the captains and personally helped them up, saying, "Get up. What happened before was not your fault. As long as we work together, we can still restore peace and order to the world!"
"Soldiers, rise! I, Lü Tu, have always treated everyone equally. As long as they are my soldiers, there is no distinction between early and late!"
Then Lü Tu turned to look at the several thin, sallow-skinned soldiers in front of him, frowned and asked, "Have you not eaten?"
The soldier shook his head angrily: "Before we set off, Zhang Chengyan said that we had to fight a quick battle and that we would only be given food and pay if we won the battle."
"Not only that, he not only gave us a meal of military rations, but also sent tens of thousands of troops to supervise us in battle. As soon as we retreated, they would shoot arrows at us and kill us. Many of our brothers died at their hands. General Lü, you must avenge us!"
Upon hearing this, the other soldiers' eyes turned red, and in the end, they could only shake their heads helplessly.
Lu Tu turned to Sun Kuang and said, "Have someone bring some food for these brothers!"
"What!?"
"No way?"
"Did I hear that right?"
These words left the Red Turban Army soldiers completely dumbfounded.
Lu Tu turned to the soldiers and said, "Why aren't you cooking? What are you all standing around for?"
Tears welled up in the eyes of all the Red Turban soldiers: "Zhang Chengyan, as one of our own, treated us like that, and General Lü... we just finished a battle, and you still want to give us food?"
Having fought for most of the day on empty stomachs, and suffering repeated defeats, the soldiers were already in dire straits. When they heard that joining the army would not only be free from punishment but would also provide them with a full meal, all the soldiers couldn't help but burst into tears.
What had they come all this way for? It was all for that bowl of rice porridge. But now, Lu Tu's men were actually pushing carts full of millet over, and even smiling as they handed it to them: "Brothers, eat up. Once you're full, we can go beat those bastards!"
"This is..." Even He Yong choked up a little. As the leader caught between the soldiers and Zhang Chengyan, he was the one in the most difficult position. Now, Lu Tu not only resolved his crime of surrendering in a few words, but also won over these soldiers without bloodshed. This was already a great comfort to him, a defeated general.
Lu Tu waved his hand and said, "I just said that we are all sons of farmers. Our enemies are those bastards who don't treat us like human beings and bully us. Eat your fill, and we'll go out and fight them to the death!"
"Kill!" 80,000 Red Turban Army soldiers shouted in unison, their battle cries soaring into the sky!
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