Chapter 159 Chen Ce surrenders, villain is eager Liu Xun was aroused by Qin Zhen's letter, and seeing that the opportunity was good, he wanted to take advantage of Liu Bei. Following his dispatch of the envoy, Kou Cai and others hurried north to Huoshan to meet Mei Cheng. During this time, Qin Zhen also made progress in his campaign against Chen Ce in Huoshan. Because Chen Ce had been defeated twice in a row before, he wanted to surrender, but when Qin Zhen asked him to take off his armor and surrender, he was hesitant. But Chen Ce was hesitant, and Qin Zhen would not give him too much time to consider. Because now he has used the strategy of self-torture, he only needs to wait for Liu Xun's response, and then he will turn back to attack Liu Xun. Under such circumstances, forcing Chen Ce to surrender as soon as possible would be beneficial to the implementation of his next plan. So after Chen Ce sent an envoy to surrender, Qin Zhen ordered Zhao Yun to stay in Qingshan Road and set up camp on the road. At the same time, he asked Qiao Rui to lead the troops to find the entrance to the mountain and prepare for a strong attack. Qiao Rui was naturally a little confused about this, so he went to Qin Zhen and asked;

"Chen Ce sent an envoy to surrender before, which shows his intention to surrender." "Although they have not responded yet, they will withdraw their troops and surrender after a few days of consideration." "Since our army still has to fight Liu Xun again, why is it wasting our energy?" Qin Zhen saw this and smiled at Qiao Rui: "The reason why Chen Ce surrendered is that he was afraid of the power of our army!" “But after the messenger returned, he did not send any messengers here, which shows that this person still has a way to go back and is still hesitating!” "If you think about it for a few days, he will surrender, but there is no guarantee that all his subordinates will surrender." "Therefore, our military must block their way back and let them know that now they have no other choice but to surrender to our army!" "Acting this way can force him to make a decision, and it can also show the power of our army and make him dare not rebel again!" "Just as sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood, if we calm down like this, we can return to the army and fight Liu Xun with peace of mind!" When Qiao Rui heard this, he also knew that Qin Zhen had always been cautious. Acting in this way can indeed ensure that the bandits are completely convinced. Then he no longer had any doubts and led his men to search for a way into the mountains. After a few days of this, they indeed found several ways into the mountains. There are countless small paths, but there are two main paths. One is the Bi River, which flows through Huoshan and reaches Heishi Ferry behind Huoshan Dazhai. There is one road between the mountains. Although it is not as convenient as the Qingshan Road, it can bypass the mountains and go straight into the Huoshan Basin! After learning about this, Qiao Rui reported to Qin Zhen: "There are only three main roads leading into the mountains now. The Qingshan Road has been occupied by our army. We can perhaps feint an attack here and take a detour to reach the enemy's main camp!" When Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled and said: "We only want to force him to surrender, and we don't want to fight him to death, so why should we kill Dazhai directly?" "I see that Huoshan is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and it is difficult to escape!"

"In order to prevent them from escaping into the Dabie Mountains by water, we should first take the Black Stone Ferry and block their way!" He then ordered Qiao Rui to divide his troops and he and Zhao Yun to feint an attack on the Huoshan stronghold, while at the same time they went upstream to occupy Heishifa. Their movement scared Chen Ce and other thieves to death! You have to know that after two major wars, they already had a basic understanding of the strength of Liu Bei's army. They cannot be defeated, and the only options now are surrender or escape. It was just that Chen Ce was still hesitating whether or not to take off his armor, so he didn't react. After just a few days, he heard another report from his sentry: "Qin Zhen has sent his army into the mountains in two directions!" After hearing this letter, Chen Ce gathered all the leaders together and said hurriedly: "The other day I heard Qin Zhen intend to mention my head as a reward, and I thought it was just a threat." "Unexpectedly, within a few days, he sent his troops into the mountains. This shows that this man is not someone you can easily deal with." "Now they must be angry that we won't surrender, and they want to storm the camp. What should we do?" After hearing this, all the leaders secretly sighed that Chen Ce was not capable of handling important matters! If they had surrendered directly at the beginning, they would have avoided the casualties of their brothers. He was defeated and surrendered afterwards. Although he did not gain any merit, he was able to avoid Qin Zhen's anger. As a result, both opportunities were missed because of the desire to cherish life and to waste time. Now that they have invaded, you are afraid again. What's the logic? At that moment, someone stood up and said to Chen Ce: "Although Qin Zhen is angry, he has not yet fought with us!" "It's not too late to surrender now!" "We should send an envoy to surrender to them before their army arrives. Then we can disarm and surrender according to their instructions. Perhaps we can avoid danger!" Seeing this, Chen Ce hesitated again. He was afraid of Qin Zhen's power and was also afraid of being liquidated by Qin Zhen if he surrendered, so he remained silent for a while. But after hesitating for a while, a leader stood up and said: "If the Marshal doesn't surrender, I will surrender first!" As he stood up, everyone stood up and followed him: "We also want to surrender, I wonder what the commander-in-chief will decide?" Seeing everyone forcing the emperor to abdicate, Chen Ce was naturally angry, but he couldn't suppress them because they were numerous and powerful. After thinking about it, I could only shake my head and sigh: "Just follow your words, and I will lead you to surrender!" He thought about the current situation. He knew that he would be killed if he showed his head or shrank. He was the leader after all, so he naturally could not act on his own. After making this decision, Chen Ce sent an envoy out of the mountains to prepare for complete surrender.

When the messenger arrived outside a mountain, he saw Zhao Yun’s troops stationed there. He was frightened and shouted: "General, please do not advance any further. We are willing to surrender to your army!" After hearing this, Zhao Yun thought that Chen Ce surrendered once and now surrendered again, it might be true. But those bandits are untrustworthy and have no news since their surrender. If we report this to Qin Zhen first, it will inevitably cause Qin Zhen to run around. He might as well accept the surrender here first. If Chen Ce really surrenders, it won’t be too late to report to Qin Zhen later! Then he was silent for a while, and then he said loudly: "Go back and tell Chen Ce that if you want to surrender, you must first hand over your weapons and bow down in obeisance!" "I won't accept such empty words!" He then continued to order his soldiers to advance. The bandit was horrified when he saw this, and hurried back to the camp to report: "The enemy general Zhao Yun asked the commander to surrender first and bow his head in obedience, otherwise he would not accept our surrender." "They are still advancing and have already reached the outside of our stronghold!" When Chen Ce heard this, he thought that he had met Zhao Yun that day and was indeed no match for him. If he bowed his head and Zhao Yun had bad intentions, wouldn't that cause trouble? But he saw that many leaders were looking at him, and thought that he only had one life, how could he compare with his brothers? The reason why he was able to gather more than a dozen gangs of bandits was because of loyalty! Now that everyone is counting on him, how can he just care about his own life and death? While thinking, he could only turn around and say: "Well, everyone, come with me and pay respects to General Zhao!" After saying this, he led the leaders of the village and dozens of riders out of the village to surrender. When Zhao Yun saw Chen Ce coming out in person and the camp gate was wide open, he was overjoyed. He did not dare to neglect him and treated him as a guest and prepared wine for them to drink. Chen Ce was delighted to receive such courtesy. Knowing that his life was saved, he simply ordered his men to hand over their weapons and let Zhao Yun deal with him, showing an attitude of submission. Unexpectedly, he had just surrendered outside the village when he heard someone report: "General, something terrible has happened. Lu San is angry that you have surrendered, so he has brought several hundred of his brothers to rob the treasury and head to Black Rock Crossing!" Upon hearing this, Chen Ce became furious and said: "How dare you, Shuzi!" After a loud curse, he turned around and shouted: "We have gathered here, calling each other brothers, and all of us have surrendered. Only he wants to leave. How can we allow him to leave?" When the leaders heard this, they were filled with indignation. Although they are bandits, they also put righteousness first. Now that someone is leaving, I am naturally very angry. When they heard that Chen Ce wanted to eliminate the chaos, they all shouted to follow him. But as soon as they spoke, Zhao Yun laughed; "Where are you going, Marshal?" Upon hearing this, Chen Ce turned around and said: "General, you may not know that although there is not much food and supplies in my camp, there is a lot of gold and silver savings!"

"Now that the envoy has surrendered, I was just about to present him to you as a gift, but I didn't expect such a rebellion to emerge from my subordinates!" "There is a river behind my village, which leads to a ferry and connects to the mountains!" "Now he has robbed the money and food and left. He must be trying to enter by water and escape into the mountains." "If we don't chase him now, it may be difficult to get him back!" But as soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Yun sneered and said: "If he goes somewhere else, you can pursue him, but if he goes to Black Rock Crossing, he will be stopped by our army." "The commander-in-chief probably doesn't know that the Black Rock Ferry has been occupied by our army. He wants to take the water route, but it will be difficult to escape!" After saying this, he reassured everyone not to panic. When Chen Ce and the others heard this, they looked at each other and felt a chill down their spines. Fortunately, they still thought that besides surrendering, they still had a chance to escape into the mountains. Unexpectedly, while Qin Zhen was advancing, he also blocked their retreat! If they had any second thoughts, there would be no way out! Thinking of this, Chen Ce sighed to Zhao Yun: "I've heard that the military advisor is good at commanding troops. Now that I see it, it really is divine help!" "We don't know what's good for us, and we actually want to fight against your army. This is really foolish." As he said this, all the leaders nodded. Seeing this, Zhao Yun just smiled and said nothing. He simply asked someone to tell Qin Zhen about this. Qin Zhen was outside the mountain. When he heard Zhao Yun's news, he was delighted and led his troops into the mountain. When we got outside the village, we saw that the bandits inside had already taken off their weapons and were no longer a threat. After entering the camp, he saw Chen Ce apologize and appeased him for a while, then he directly stated: "I have said before that if you lay down your arms and surrender, not only will you not be guilty, but you will also receive a reward for surrendering." "Now that you are sincere in your surrender, I will not blame you." "I have already written to you, my lord, to recommend you as the military commander of another department. All the people under your command will be rewarded!" "But our military rules are very strict. You must reflect on yourselves from time to time and don't break the rules." "Although you have many troops under your command, many of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. You must streamline them, select the best and form a new army for you to lead!" After he finished beating them with a big stick, he gave them a handful of sweet dates, which immediately made Chen Ce and others overjoyed. They thought that even if Qin Zhen didn't settle accounts with them, he should at least scold them. I didn't expect Qin Zhen to be so kind. Not only did he not beat or scold them, he also gave them rewards! Who would want to be a thief in the mountains when they can be an official in the imperial court? Therefore, after hearing this, everyone no longer had any rebellious thoughts and just focused on their work.

At night, they saw Qiao Rui leading his troops returning with the heads of the defectors. They were naturally respectful and fearful of Qin Zhen and did not dare to overstep the line in the slightest. When Qin Zhen saw this, he ordered his men to slaughter animals and hold a grand banquet. The next day, he led his troops out and ordered Chen Ce to defend the mountain stronghold and pretend to be resisting. Chen Ce was puzzled and asked the reason. Qin Zhen said: "Because I came here not only to serve you, but also to pacify Lujiang!" "Although you have surrendered, Liu Xun is still in Wan County. We should show a confrontation to make him look down upon us." After hearing the reason, Chen Ce was impressed again, thinking that he was no match for Qin Zhen if he tried to do two things at once. If we attack the stronghold with all our strength, will he still have a chance to resist? With this mentality, he had no other thoughts and stayed in the village with his troops. Not only that, he would also personally report on duty every day and report all the situations in the village to Qin Zhen. By doing this, he naturally saved Qin Zhen a lot of trouble. Seeing that he was quite sensible, Qin Zhen nodded secretly, thinking that Chen Ce was a brave man, and although he did not have much strategy, he could be useful if he was trained. He is also loyal and righteous, and has a better future than people like Mei Cheng. Thinking of this, he no longer interfered too much in the affairs of the village, and would only wait until Lujiang was settled in the future before making arrangements. On the other side, Mei Cheng lay on the couch for several days after being beaten with a stick. Also, because he had informed on Mei Gan, but Mei Gan had not been punished yet, he thought that the plot might fail, so he was worried and asked a soldier to ask Qiao Rui about Mei Gan's matter. Seeing Mei Cheng like this, Qiao Rui felt even more contemptuous in his heart, but because Qin Zhen's matter had not yet been settled, he had to suppress his displeasure and sent someone to reply: "I have reported this to the military advisor, but his words have no solid evidence, so we must not act rashly." "We should wait until Lujiang is stabilized before we can find an opportunity to punish him!" After hearing this, Mei Cheng finally felt relieved. But when he heard that Qin Zhen had repeatedly deployed troops and had defeated Chen Ce, he became anxious. I thought that I had already done what Qin Zhen said, so why is there no sound now? Now is the time for him to make achievements. If he is not used again, how can he have the chance to make achievements in the future? He wanted to quietly go downstairs and ask Qin Zhen, but he was afraid that Qin Zhen would be annoyed by him and bother him. For a moment, he was full of worries and could not feel at ease. He finally had the chance to walk around that day, and after much deliberation, he decided to go and see Qin Zhen again. Unexpectedly, just as he got up, he heard an old friend coming to see him outside the camp. When Mei Cheng heard the news, he was overjoyed and thought to himself: "It must be Liu Xun who sent someone here. Once I can coax him back, I'll have accomplished my goal!" Thinking of this, he suppressed his excitement and sent someone to call his old friend outside the camp to see him. (End of this chapter)