Delong

Chapter 577 Crossing the Sea (1)

Li Ding, as the commander-in-chief, devised a strategy: to surround Chang'an on three sides and then persuade it to surrender.

Before the entire army could be mobilized and surround Chang'an, Zhang Xing signed the document drafted by Li Longtou without hesitation, officially issuing his first imperial edict after ascending the throne. This edict declared that time had passed and all previous surrender notices and private letters were null and void.

The count begins anew from the moment the imperial edict is proclaimed and shot into the city. Those who surrender within three days will have their officials selected and appointed by the new dynasty, their soldiers and able-bodied men will be exempted from punishment, their officers will be retained, and their rank-and-file soldiers will receive rations and return home. After another three days, all officials will be demoted to commoners, and officers, soldiers, and able-bodied men will be allowed to return home without question. After yet another three days, all those who defend the city for the enemy, regardless of rank or military strength, will be executed by 110% of their original rank. Finally, those who do not leave the city will be executed by the enemy and, in addition to the 110% execution, will be taken prisoner. After serving a five-year term of service, they will be granted land and returned to civilian life.

This is what is known as the strategy of inducing surrender.

It is said that the imperial decree was issued on the 16th of March. The siege of the city on three sides was completed on the 18th. However, the proclamation had been sent in for two days. Before that, there were some who surrendered, but they were all scattered. However, after the siege was completed, many surrendered. By that night, countless officials, military officers, soldiers, and able-bodied men had escaped.

The next day was relatively peaceful, but by the 20th, organized and systematic surrenders began.

It could be an entire family fleeing, friends forming groups, or various types of soldiers in formation, or even the entire staff of a certain department of the Ministry of War bringing their families along.

The city walls were powerless to stop it.

There was no way around it; this was Chang'an, the western capital, just like the eastern capital. Both were man-made mega-cities—palaces, government offices, defenses, and corresponding nobles and officials, including the merchants and servants who served them, as well as the next level of consumers and service providers. The city was laid out horizontally and vertically, and although it couldn't compare to the more than one hundred wards of the eastern capital, it still had seventy or eighty wards and a population of one million.

In this situation, such massive, complex cities that combine palace, administration, culture, and consumption are simply impossible to defend and control effectively.

This is why Bai Hengqiu stopped at the Lantian camp instead of returning to Chang'an, and also why he had to say goodbye to Chonghe when he was forced to return to Chang'an. He knew perfectly well that if he returned, he would be unable to hold on, and it would all be over.

This is also one of the reasons why the Chulong Gang wanted Zhang Xing to ascend the throne in Bailu Plain. They also knew that the White Emperor was at his wit's end.

Zhang Xing did not participate in the siege, but stayed in Ba Shang, where he handled some personnel issues and supervised the supply of provisions.

That being said, there's really not much to do. Those who surrendered later will not be employed for the time being. There will definitely be a large-scale assessment in the future. A small number of those who surrendered in the first three days can be selected for employment, but there won't be many. Besides, Emperor Zhang has delegated these matters to Zhang Shizhao, known as "Old Zhang San," and Xiong Bo Nanlai, the "Chief of the Rear." As for grain... Yongfeng Granary is similar to Luokou Granary. Don't worry. As long as you can endure eating old grain, you'll be full of gruel... The level of stockpiling certified by the late Emperor Cao Gu of the Great Wei Dynasty is something you'll know once you've eaten it!
You can even add a spoonful of coarse salt from the Hedong Salt Lake!
Indeed, everyone knows perfectly well that Emperor Zhang has only one task: to deal with Emperor Bai—if he wants to be treated with dignity, then treat him with dignity; if he doesn't want to be treated with dignity, then help him to be treated with dignity.

This day came sooner than expected. On the night of the 21st, a general of the rank of Lieutenant General sent someone out of the city, saying that the city gates could be surrendered, but Li Ding immediately sent him back. The reason was simple: the conditions were public, and no extra arrangements would be made for anyone.

After returning, I don't know how they discussed it, but the next morning, on the last day of the second period, the garrison commander opened Yanxing Gate and led his entire army of 3,000 men out of the city to surrender. He was allowed to go home on the spot.

This action was like removing the final gate; the city gates of Chang'an were wide open, and countless generals, either voluntarily or by being held hostage by the soldiers, opened the gates and fled recklessly.

Not only that, but the people and officials in the city also brought their families and left through the city gates.

Sun Shunde tried to close the several city gates that had been opened, but as soon as he closed Yanxing Gate, it was opened again. Not only that, when he tried to close Anhua Gate, he was ambushed by at least two grandmasters of the Chulong Gang and died on the spot.

By this point, the defenses of Chang'an had completely collapsed, and the people and officials fled in droves. Looting, rape, murder, and other heinous crimes began to occur within the city, and renowned generals, veteran lords, and other powerful figures surrendered one after another.

Li Ding no longer hesitated, demarcated areas, and ordered each battalion to send troops to occupy various parts of Chang'an.

Zhang Xing also personally led five grandmasters—Xiong Bonan, Niu He, Wei Wenda, Xu Shiying, and Wu Jingfeng—along with the White Riders and the Thirteen Vajras, straight to the silent Chang'an Palace area.

The palace area was divided into two parts: the Imperial City in front and the Palace City behind. Upon entering the Imperial City and walking on Zhaoyang Street, Liu Yangji and Zhang Shijing each led more than a hundred men to attack from the left and right, and were all killed on the spot... At this point, everyone knew that Bai Hengqiu was doomed.

I just don't know how powerful a Grandmaster's fighting spirit will be in his final moments.

Upon entering the palace through Zhaoyang Gate, Zhang Xing found that the palace servants had already fled. Slightly surprised, he continued forward, but unexpectedly bypassed the palace and arrived directly at the northernmost gate of the palace, Xuanwu Gate.

Unlike Dongdu, which has a Xuanwu City directly to the north, this place only has a Xuanwu Gate. Once you go out through it, you enter the inner garden, which is the imperial back garden.

As the Xuanwu Gate was slowly pushed open by eight white-clad riders, Bai Hengqiu was waiting behind the gate.

The British emperor, alone with his hair tied up and sword in hand, remained unmoved when the door opened. Only after the entire door was fully open did he swing his sword, and a golden sword aura several meters wide swept out.

Zhang Xing didn't even need to make a move; Wei Wenda brandished his black blade and met the attack first. The two clashed outside the door, their movements as sharp as metal.

Immediately, the White Emperor, sword in one hand and with the other, swept the air, tearing down a chessboard like a fishing net, which then descended upon the crowd. Niu He dared not be negligent, unleashing his true energy. What appeared to be ordinary longevity true energy was actually incredibly fine, or rather, a finer strand of true energy woven into a ribbon. The ribbon flew swiftly, passing through many holes in the "fishing net," before being pulled back. By the time the "fishing net" reached the gate, it had already been torn and deformed.

Bai Hengqiu sneered, said nothing, and pulled Niu He so hard that he stumbled.

At this moment, Xiong Bonan and Wu Jingfeng no longer hesitated. The former conjured a large banner out of thin air and covered it down, while the latter used the same fighting style as when he was in his prime, rushing over and arriving in front of the White Emperor in an instant, then slashing down with his sword.

The White Emperor raised his sword to block, but the Black Blade was already upon him.

As the swords clashed, the black blade did not retreat easily this time, but instead pressed down firmly... Not only that, seeing this, Xu Shiying finally made his move, and a giant python suddenly appeared from the ground, opening its mouth to swallow the opponent's body from its feet.

At this moment, the large flag fell, completely covering the open space north of Xuanwu Gate.

Five grandmasters, with all their might, managed to restrain the British emperor.

However, the emperor, shrouded in purple banners, seemed to have a heart that was still beating, and it was beating faster and faster.

Zhang Xing dared not be negligent. He simply squinted and remained motionless on his yellow horse. The next moment, the icy true energy spread out, and the real and fake white mist mixed together, instantly covering the entire Xuanwu Gate. The true energy swept over several grandmasters, and Bai Hengqiu could no longer move. After the hundreds of white riders around him, the area became even more deathly silent.

Zhang Xing wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the other party's strength level after returning to Chang'an was no different from the level he had shown outside Wuguan.

Of course, this was not the time to overthink. Zhang San dismounted, walked forward, passed through Xuanwu Gate, and, holding a golden cone, came to the spot that had almost become a "cocoon" of true energy. However, he did not attack immediately, but instead asked, "Father-in-law, did Cao Lin leave any last words before he died?"

Upon hearing this, the still slightly trembling "cocoon" suddenly froze, followed by a cold laugh that seemed to come from the outer purple curtain: "You are quite filial."

"I wouldn't call it filial piety, I was just curious." Zhang Xing seemed not to understand the other person's sarcasm.

“Cao Lin said he was somewhat disappointed that he died at my hands…” Bai Hengqiu continued to laugh, then suddenly stopped, because he had realized something.

“I see.” Zhang Xing nodded. “Cao Lin came to attack me, and he looked down on both Father-in-law and Daoist Chonghe, so it couldn’t be about cultivation. He probably thought he would die at my hands sooner or later, right? In that case, Father-in-law should die without regrets.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the man thrust an awl into the "cocoon".

Bai Hengqiu first let out a muffled groan, but that was all. The awl had only pierced halfway, and even with such a hard awl, it could not easily go any deeper.

Zhang Xing did not use his true energy to continue the attack; he simply waited quietly.

Bai Hengqiu held out for a while, and it was obvious, just as Zhang Xing had guessed, that after a short while, this deposed king himself got bored and then took the initiative to ask: "Zhang Sanlang, tell me, if the Great Wei Dynasty fell after two generations, it would be a laughing stock. But what if it fell after only one generation?"

“Not at all,” Zhang Xing replied sincerely. “No one will see my father-in-law as someone who died in one generation; they will only see you as the second greatest hero among all the heroes of the late Wei dynasty…”

"I see." Bai Hengqiu breathed a sigh of relief.

The golden cone in Zhang Xing's hand then pierced completely.

Just as he was about to pull out the golden cone, the dying grandmaster asked again, "Will it rain when I die?"

Zhang Xing remained serious: "At this moment, a rain cloud has appeared in the south, which wasn't there just now... It's clear that Father-in-law is capable of influencing celestial phenomena... But since you haven't died, the primordial energy of heaven and earth hasn't regrouped and shifted, so we can't draw any conclusions."

Bai Hengqiu nodded and stopped resisting.

Zhang Xing pulled out the golden cone, and blood gushed out... but he didn't move any further. Instead, he took a few steps back and stopped. The other grandmasters continued to suppress the grandmaster and keep him still... This scene was like a static picture.

No one knows how much time passed, but gradually the late spring winds rose, bringing the rain clouds. Then came a faint flash of lightning, followed by a rumble of thunder. The entire city of Chang'an seemed to be shrouded in darkness, and countless people inside and outside the city looked up at the sky, their faces pale.

However, the vast majority of Chang'an residents, who made up the city, rushed to collect their clothes immediately.

And so, amidst rolling thunder and lightning, dark clouds and slanting sunlight, suddenly, rain began to fall from north to south... On Mount Taibai, southwest of Chang'an, Chonghe, sitting in a stone pavilion mending clothes, calmly watched this scene, then lowered his head again to mend the sleeve of his Taoist robe that had been torn earlier.

Outside Xuanwu Gate, everyone withdrew their techniques, but no one left. Just moments before, as the rain fell, they felt as if they had returned to the moment when they overthrew the Wind Lord. Countless streams of true energy surged into their bodies, their dantian surged, and their senses sharpened to a mesmerizing degree. Of course, unlike the prolonged intoxication experienced by the Wind Lord, this time it was only a matter of a few breaths. Many of the White Knights only felt a heat in their dantian. Of the more than seven hundred extraordinary meridians, only three managed to condense their cores, and about ten merely passed through their Du meridians.

Chief Zhang, on the other hand, stood there motionless, staring blankly at the sky, seemingly somewhat shocked, which made people hesitate.

But some people can't wait any longer.

Wu Jingfeng immediately stepped forward and whispered, "Chief... Your Majesty."

Zhang Xing snapped out of his daze and looked at the other person: "I already said that no one will forget the kindness of Master Chonghe in giving the Fulong Seal back then, and the doctrines of the Sanyi Zhengjiao are also in line with the principles of our Chulong Gang... But since he did this, there must be a price to pay... Go tell him that there will be no punishment for him, but we will not return his package and wooden stick to him. After he passes away, the succession of the Sanyi Zhengjiao will become one of the internal affairs of our gang!"

Wu Jingfeng nodded, neither relieved nor pressured... but it didn't matter, because he knew in his heart that there was no turning back.

The rain at the end of spring was just like summer rain, with thunder and lightning, and the wind and rain were dark and gloomy. Moreover, it lasted for more than one day, with three or four intermittent rain showers. Around the first day of April, Bai Yousi arrived in Chang'an in the rain.

When the couple met, they first discussed business.

“Tuwan Changlun has already surrendered. The Feng family from Lingnan are coming to see you. They will arrive in two days. I have asked Xie Minghe to lead the entire army on their behalf… But most of their soldiers are newly recruited, so we need to send a senior general over there.” Bai Yousi said, as if reciting a familiar story.

“Let Cheng Zhili go to Sichuan to handle the cleanup. He’s familiar with Wang Hou, and he’s very shrewd. Moreover, he was very effective in persuading people to surrender this time. We should find a reason to elevate him to the top position.” Zhang Xing immediately gave his choice. “As for Feng Fu, let him come.”

Bai Yousi nodded and continued, "Xie Minghe clearly has some concerns about the selection of people to conquer Jiangdong. He is worried that if people like Li Ding and Xu Shiying are sent, they will kill people indiscriminately."

“It’s too early to think about that. Right now, Dongdu is a thorn in our side, so we definitely need to deal with Dongdu first,” Zhang Xing said seriously. “Once Dongdu is taken, no matter how much trouble there is in Jiangnan, it won’t matter… Tell Xie Minghe not to worry.”

"Then there's no official business." Bai Yousi nodded again, then turned to ask about personal matters. "I heard my younger brother has gone missing?"

“It’s not missing. Xue Ren… that is, the one your father promoted, the Golden-Winged Roc, took it to his hometown in Hedong. I can’t send anyone to retrieve it. Once you’re done here, you can go there from there,” Zhang Xing explained briefly.

Bai Yousi nodded repeatedly, then finally fell silent.

"Then let's go." Seeing this, Zhang Xing didn't say anything more.

As the storm subsided, the couple left the already bustling palace, exiting through the Xuanwu Gate and then turning into the inner garden, heading straight for a place outside the city... Once they left, only Niuhe noticed, but he didn't make a sound.

In fact, it was only at this moment that Niuhe realized that Bai Yousi had actually arrived.

Leaving Chang'an, they braved the rain to pass through Acheng, then traveled west along the Wei River, passing Shiping and Huxian, arriving at Sizhuyuan. Turning south, they reached a small hill. The two then descended from the sky, climbed the hill on foot, rounded a bend in the hill, and came to a tomb.

The rain subsided slightly, and Bai Yousi didn't rush to see the new tomb. Instead, he looked at the other tombs around him and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "The rumors are actually true. After he raised his army, the loyal ministers of Wei in Chang'an actually dug up the graves of several generations of Bai family members, men, women, and children... Even if he could easily seize Chang'an and take revenge, when he came here, he could only erect a simple empty tomb for his ancestors."

"Have you ever come here to pay your respects?" Zhang Xing asked curiously.

“I came twice, but I didn’t come up to participate in the sacrifice.” Bai Yousi answered with narrowed eyes. “The first time I was still young. The second time I came, I came down from Taibai Peak. He came to pick me up. When we passed by this place, he performed a simple sacrifice himself and didn’t let me come up. At the time, I thought it was because I was a girl and I was thinking of going to Dongdu to make a name for myself. Now that I think about it, he just felt embarrassed.”

"Then do you still recognize these people with the surname Bai?" Zhang Xing pressed.

“I still have to acknowledge him.” Bai Yousi was silent for a moment. “They definitely want to acknowledge me now, and I have no reason to push them away… But the most important thing is that I can’t disown this father.”

Bai Yousi paused for a moment, his words tinged with difficulty: "When I went to find you back then, he thought it was because I had guessed my origins. But actually, even if I had known at the time, I would still have acknowledged him as my father... I left that day simply because he acted so inhumanly in Jinbei, and I refused to acknowledge him as my ruler. Of course, in his eyes, father and ruler are one and the same, and I can't argue with that."

As he spoke, Bai Yousi stepped forward and respectfully kowtowed three times and bowed nine times to the newly erected grave. After finishing his prayers, he stood up. His clothes were covered in mud and water, and his hair and face were wet with rain, but he didn't care. After finishing his prayers, he turned and walked away.

"Is it similar?" Zhang Xing asked a seemingly random question as he looked at his wife walking towards him.

"How is it similar?" Bai Yousi stopped in front of him and shook his head slightly. "Although you were only mourning your comrade that day, there is only one comrade in the whole world... And although my father is indeed my father, life is only a few decades long. He is more than just a father. There are husbands, relatives, friends, careers, cultivation, and masters... I will go and see my master before I leave."

“When you came that day, I had actually thought of this day.” Zhang Xing wiped the rain from the other’s face, then looked up at the increasingly thin clouds, and sighed. “Either he killed me, or I killed him… Eight years?”

"It depends on where you start counting." Bai Yousi took the other's arm as it fell, and they walked out together. "It took me seven years to find you; eight years to float on the Gu River; ten years to meet you by the Great River... or eleven years?"

“Let’s say ten years, ten years sounds nice,” Zhang Xing said with a smile. “Li Si said something about ten years of war that day, but he actually started counting from when we met him.”

"We're getting old." Bai Yousi suddenly had a thought. "How about having a child?"

"Let it be," Zhang Xing said calmly. "Let's go to Dongdu first, then we'll talk about other things. If you still want children then, then we can have them."

"The idea suddenly came to me, but now it's gone. Let fate decide," Bai Yousi said, shaking his head. "Some people say... you can't succeed unless you kill Sima Zheng?"

“Not necessarily,” Zhang Xing shook his head. “The world is vast; what is lost in one place may be gained in another.”

"What do you mean?"

"In other words, given the magnanimity of Heaven and the vastness of the world, if we want to gather something, it's just a matter of going to the moon. We don't necessarily need Sima Zheng as fuel," Zhang Xing sneered. "Sima Zheng has underestimated the magnanimity of Heaven, belittled the heroes of the world, and overestimated himself."

"You're planning to surrender to Luoyang?" Li Ding frowned noticeably in the palace that evening. "How will you surrender?"

"It's not that we necessarily have to surrender; we still need to be prepared to fight, but we can try to do both at the same time," Zhang Xing corrected.

At this moment, in the lakeside hall of the palace, many surrendered people were seeing such a gathering for the first time and were clearly a little uncomfortable. However, the old members of the Expelled Dragon Gang were already in the zone. The chief and the leaders sat in the inner circle, the big leaders sat in the outer circle, and the leaders sat in the outer hall to watch. It was just like being in Ye City. Moreover, considering that the leaders and big leaders gathered here, apart from the recognition of leaders above the level of gang leader who still required a gang-wide meeting, most things could be decided directly.

The earlier events went smoothly. Cheng Zhili's entry into Shu, the release of the temporary chieftain and the list of chieftains, the holding of a temporary imperial examination, and the pacification of the people of Guanzhong were all done without incident.

But soon, even starting with stabilizing the situation in Guanzhong and making basic personnel appointments, everyone realized that they couldn't avoid Dongdu no matter what... Dongdu is not large in area, but it is in the center of the world. The current territory of the Chulong Gang has completely covered Dongdu, but that doesn't stop its existence from affecting everything.

Not to mention that this is the ideal capital city we had in mind. If we don't take it, we won't even be able to change the Grand Secretariat into the Southern Secretariat and the Ministry directly under the Imperial Court.

This is roughly the meaning of "like a fishbone stuck in the throat, like a thorn in the mouth".

So naturally, the meeting topic became how to take the next step to annex Tokyo!

At this time, Emperor Zhang, who was also the chief minister, suddenly proposed a peaceful solution to the problem of Luoyang.

"How should we try?" Shan Tonghai asked in a muffled voice. "The key is that Sima Zheng is both stubborn and unyielding..."

Do you have the right to say that others are both stinky and stubborn?

“Sima Zheng is just wishful thinking,” Zhang Xing said solemnly. “If we can separate him from the various forces in the Eastern Capital, leaving him all alone, he won’t be able to do whatever he wants… We might even be able to persuade him to surrender. Bai Hengqiu has a dream of joining the Great Ying, but Sima Zheng doesn’t.”

"So you're going to imitate Chang'an?" Li Ding continued to ask, frowning.

“We can’t simply imitate them.” Zhang Xing shook his head. “The Eastern Capital and the Western Capital are not the same thing… In the Western Capital, the Great Ying once encompassed Guanzhong, Longshang, Bashu, and Jin. When these places changed hands and the main forces in each place were besieged and annihilated, it greatly shook the morale of Chang’an. When they finally surrounded them, everyone knew that the Great Ying was going to be gone, so they naturally dispersed. As for the Eastern Capital, it was originally just the remnants of the Great Wei and disheartened people. Their morale couldn’t be more scattered… We have to grasp the hearts of specific people and divide and conquer them.”

“The outer commanders are easy to deal with. At this point, those who hold military power are all waiting for a bargaining chip. We can take down a few, then either intimidate them or recruit them, we can handle them.” Although Li Ding had been frowning, he still took the initiative to think of a solution. “The troublesome ones are those loyal ministers of Wei, Sima Zheng’s relatives, and Li Shu…”

"A loyal minister of the Great Wei..."

The group was immediately stumped, and some couldn't help but look at Zhang Shizhao.

"Why are you looking at me?" Zhang Shizhao, who had been extremely busy lately, was speechless. "How can I control those people? They're like that, they could die any minute now... Who can stop them? I certainly can't stop them. If I go, I'm afraid I'll die even faster."

“It would be difficult if they died.” Bai Yousi said thoughtfully. “If they died, we would be united against the enemy. If they died, Sima Zheng would feel that he had someone to rely on again, and that he would feel that his army was in a state of desperation. That would not be a peaceful resolution.”

“Then please have Cao Ming kneel down before them, kowtow to them, and beg them not to die, but to surrender to our Great Ming, or at least go home and live as obedient citizens,” Zhang Xing said, making a startling statement. “If that still doesn’t work, then please have Empress Dowager Xiao go and kowtow as well… that will give them a moral explanation.”

After a moment of silence, some people couldn't help but look at Zhang Shizhao again... Now that they heard this, they all felt that this "Old Zhang San" was implying something... And, could this really work? Anyway, at this time there was no need to worry about Cao Ming being enthroned as emperor in the Eastern Capital.

Zhang Shizhao was speechless and could only lie back in his chair to avoid being looked at.

“It’s not impossible!” Li Ding said earnestly. “As long as not everyone dies, and only a few are dragged out, this matter can be considered resolved… But what about Sima Jinda and Li Shu? What about these two? If they are killed, Sima Zheng will definitely not tolerate it… If they are spared, how can the people from Jiangdu and the original people from Jiyin Xingtai be expected to submit?”

“I’ll handle this,” Zhang Xing replied without looking up. “It might not work, but we can give it a try… Besides, so far it’s just a contingency plan to persuade them to surrender. We still need to be prepared for a full-scale attack if it doesn’t work out. But considering Sima Zheng’s cultivation level, the population and wealth of Dongdu, and Dongdu’s consistent stance, we can give it a try first.”

Strangely enough, upon hearing that preparations for a strong attack were underway, Li Ding should have volunteered, but for some reason, after hearing the emperor and chief minister say "I'll handle it," he was slightly moved and didn't try to take anything.

Wang Shuyong, however, couldn't contain himself and took the initiative to suggest, "If that's the case, could I be put in charge of the overall war in Luoyang?"

"Okay." Zhang Xing raised his hand without hesitation.

Immediately, the chief leaders and the dragon heads all raised their hands – all in favor.

By mid-April, the Chulong Gang had already completed its preparations and set out from the pass in three routes... Not to mention the other two routes, the central army, which was consuming the stored grain in Yongfeng Granary, worked tirelessly and quickly captured Taolin, Xiaoguan, and Mianchi, defeating Duan Wei and Qu Tuda to the point of "barely escaping with their lives"... Then, they stopped here in a state of smooth road ahead, still a full hundred miles away from the Eastern Capital.

It seems they are waiting for the convergence of the northern and southern armies, or even four armies.

However, it is also possible that they intend to emulate the Battle of Chang'an and induce or force the surrender of Luoyang. After all, given the current combat strength of the Chulong Gang, it is truly a favor that Duan Wei and Qu Tuda were able to "only escape with their lives".

Indeed, this was the case. Not long after returning to the Eastern Capital, Qu Tuda, who was ordered to guard the western garrison of the Eastern Capital, met an uninvited guest, who turned out to be Zheng Shanye, his old comrade-in-arms and old rival who had defected from the Eastern Capital. The latter earnestly persuaded Qu Tuda to surrender.

To be fair, this is nothing. Sima Zheng and many others in the Eastern Capital were mentally prepared... Those who wanted to survive, whether hesitant or resolute, would eventually surrender, just waiting for possible conditions; while those who did not want to surrender were naturally aware of the situation.

However, just as mid-April was drawing to a close, just as Shan Tonghai's troops had appeared forty miles outside Yique Pass and Xu Shiying's troops had appeared in Hanoi, and just as Xue Wanlun and his men had scaled the wall and fled more than a hundred miles to surrender, Cao Mingzhen, the former King of Qi of the Great Wei and now the glorious leader of the Chulong Gang, returned to the Eastern Capital to "visit relatives."

Moreover, he wasn't alone; there were over a hundred people among them, including many eunuchs, palace servants, and former officials of the Eastern Capital. Of course, there were bound to be spies, but no one cared. Sima Zheng wasn't the kind of person who was dishonest... And the first thing Cao Ming did after arriving in the Eastern Capital wasn't to see the young emperor and Sima Zheng and his wife, but to take a letter from the Empress Dowager of the Great Wei, who was in theory the Empress Dowager herself, to see Prime Minister Su Wei.

Believe it or not, he might have been sincere. He actually knelt down with a "thump," tears and snot streaming down his face. He was really crying!

Su Wei lost his grip and grabbed Cao Ming's head, bursting into a literal, heart-wrenching sob.

For a time, half the neighborhood was filled with people crying.