Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"What should we do? What should we do? The Chu army is about to attack Shengjing! What should we do? What should we do?"

On the way back to Shengjing, Guan Mao and Wang Shanshui were extremely anxious.

He paid countless prices, even going so far as to claim a different ancestor, to achieve his current status.

But little did they expect that their dream would be shattered by the arrival of the Chu army after only a few days of enjoying their newfound happiness.

At this moment, they both feared and hated the Chu army. They hated that the Chu army had ruined their chance to become superior people, but they were also afraid that if the Chu army broke through the capital, they would also be forced to die for their country.

Ultimately, they are nothing but a bunch of cowardly, spineless lackeys.

They gained their wealth and status by betraying their ancestors and vilifying their own clan.

In contrast, Ji Yun was much more loyal.

His current thought is how to die for his country in order to preserve his honor.

"Lord Zhang, is it really true that my Wu Zhao Kingdom has no strength to fight against the Chu Kingdom?"

Ji Yun still couldn't accept that such a powerful dynasty could be ruined by a small state like Chu.

Zhang Gui shook his head: "Our dynasty is too complacent about the prosperity of the times, which has led to today's disaster. Rather than blaming the Chu Kingdom, it is more accurate to say that we are too arrogant and have no idea what the world outside of Wu Zhao Kingdom is like."

In fact, Zhang Gui had proposed to Li Hong more than once to make certain large-scale changes to the dynastic structure, especially the problem of local official corruption and the large-scale slave-hunting campaigns carried out by the cavalry and military troops outside the pass.

But as a result, Li Hong completely ignored Zhang Gui's earnest advice.

In order to address local official corruption, Li Hongcai established the "penalty silver" system. Every year, local officials had to report their crimes in writing to the court and then use real money to redeem themselves.

The amount depends on the severity of your crime; it can range from a few hundred taels to hundreds of thousands of taels.

The implementation of the "punishment silver" policy improved the imperial treasury, but local officials became increasingly ruthless and began to exploit and oppress the local people even more cruelly.

Li Hong was fully aware of the consequences, but he did not stop it. Compared with the people's demands, he cared more about the emperor's great achievements.

Li Hong tacitly approved of the actions of the cavalry and military officers outside the pass who sold civilians inside the pass into slavery.

In his mind, he was a conqueror, and he once openly declared in the court, "My Di Prefecture has never had any dealings with the Guannei region. I am merely a foreign ruler governing the Guannei region."

Therefore, compared to the millions of people within the pass, Li Hong was much closer to the military officers and soldiers of the military camps and the nomadic cavalry that came to him from outside the pass.

Because those were the foundation of their rule over the dynasty, and only they could bring the emperor the great achievements he desired.

However, Zhang Gui was very clear-headed. In his battles with other countries, he discovered that the people of those small countries would spare no effort to help their defenders resist the invasion of the iron cavalry warriors under the offensive of the Wu Zhao army.

Such a scenario was something that people in the Wu Zhao Kingdom would never even dare to imagine.

Perhaps Zhang Gui doesn't understand what social operation is, nor does he understand the material changes in which military structure influences social structure.

But he still knew that the hearts of the people of Wu Zhao Kingdom were no longer with him.

The arrival of the Chu army and the people's choice precisely validated Zhang Gui's prediction.

"Alright, Lord Ji, you needn't say any more. The most urgent matter is to see the Emperor as soon as possible and order all officers and soldiers of the Beijing Garrison to immediately go to the defense and be ready for battle at any time."

As a civil servant, you should stop meddling in this matter. It's not something you can touch, nor is it something you have the ability to resolve.

After saying this, Zhang Gui spurred his horse and quickly rode towards the capital.

Meanwhile, inside the Forbidden City, Li Hong received a report of victory from Southern Zhili.

This was Lu Wenwu's report.

"The garrison troops actually managed to repel the Chu army and defend Yongning County by virtue of their firearms?"

Upon seeing the report, Li Hong immediately perked up and carefully reviewed the process.

After reading about how the Chu army was defeated, the gloom on Li Hong's face vanished instantly.

"it is good!"

The single word "good" released the frustration that had been building up in Li Hong's heart these past few days.

Although reports of victories were frequent from various places, Li Hong could tell at a glance that they were all exaggerations by the local garrison troops.

But this victory report was different, because it accurately recorded the casualties of the defending troops.

Although the defending troops suffered heavy casualties, numbering as many as 730, this gave Li Hong a long-lost sense of reality.

The number of casualties is not important, nor is the battle casualty ratio.

The important thing is that the Wu Zhao garrison actually had the strength to fight, which was really beyond his expectations.

As for the memorial mentioning "killing countless enemies," Li Hong felt it was harmless.

"By imperial decree, Lu Wenwu is hereby granted the title of Second-Class Duke, and is permitted to register as a Di citizen. His officers and soldiers shall be commended."

"Order that Lu Wenwu's troops should not rely solely on the city walls for defense, but should take the initiative to attack and join forces with Fu Heng and Lou Shide's troops in Qingcheng to encircle the Chu army."

He drafted the reply slip, ordered someone to make a copy, and immediately sent it to Yong'an County.

After finishing all this, Li Hong was in a rare good mood and immediately instructed Feng Chun: "Go, have the imperial kitchen prepare some snacks. I am happy today."

"Yes, I will do it right away."

Seeing that Li Hong was in a great mood, Feng Chun was happy for him and immediately went to make preparations.

Li Hong clapped his hands and paced back and forth in the imperial study, occasionally picking up the memorial to read again.

"If the garrison troops are truly capable, I might as well give them due consideration."

However, Li Hong probably never imagined that, due to a lack of information, Yong'an County had already been captured by the Chu army in one fell swoop.

Tens of thousands of defenders scattered and fled. Lu Wenwu was even injured in the right eye by a stray bullet. He abandoned the defenders and fled immediately.

The garrison troops, now free from restraint, have instead turned to harassing the families of the inner city's military camp.

While Li Hong was still in the imperial study considering whether to raise the status of the stationed officers and soldiers, Lü Meng had already taken full control of Yong'an City and began to admonish the surrendered soldiers.

At the same time, as Yong'an County was captured, Jiang Qin's troops also began to besiege Qingcheng, where Fu Heng was located.

Having experienced the barbecue feast at Zijin Mountain, the elite troops of Wuzhao no longer had the courage to resist when facing the Chu army again.

In their initial encounter, they performed even worse than the garrison troops, collapsing completely and daring not to engage the Chu army in open battle.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jiang Qin mobilized 3,000 auxiliary troops to begin a rhythmic siege of Qingcheng, cutting off all of Qingcheng's external communications and even its water supply.

Fuheng made several requests for peace, but Jiang Qin refused them all, stating that the Chu army would only accept surrender, not peace negotiations.

For several days in a row, Qingcheng was without water and food. Fuheng finally could not endure it any longer and handed over a letter of surrender to the Chu army.

With this, the war in Southern Zhili came to a complete end. Including the 4,200 elite surrendered soldiers received by the Chu army, the mobile elite forces that had dominated Li Hong's reign were completely wiped out.

Meanwhile, an even more serious situation was on the west coast of Haizhou, where Chen Mo, with the support of the Empress, arrived at a region called Jintian.

In recent days, Chen Mo has been immersed in the culture of Chu, and he deeply abhors Wu Zhao's caste-based discriminatory rule.

Upon arriving in the Jintian area, he immediately began to publicize the policies of the Chu state to the people and strongly criticized the corrupt and oppressive nature of the Wu Zhao state.

From then on, the Communist Party organization officially took root and sprouted in the Haixi region.