I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 804 Cao Cao Surrenders
Sun Qian had never left Jianye. When he learned that Cao Cao had decided to surrender to Liu Jian, Sun Qian's heart finally settled down.

He immediately bid farewell to Cao Cao and headed towards Jingzhou overnight.

At this time, Liu Jian's main force had arrived in Jiangxia County. On the second day after arriving in Jiangxia County, Liu Jian received battle reports from Jingzhou.

Zhang Liao had already led his troops to attack Changsha. The troops organized by Yuan Shang in Changsha fought against Zhang Liao's troops, but they could not even last three days before the soldiers fled in all directions.

After all, the hearts and minds of the people in southern Jing are now inclined to surrender to Liu Jian. How could they possibly accompany the doomed Yuan family to their grave?
The generals have no will to fight, the soldiers have no morale, the pawns want to surrender, and the officers want to serve their country. How can a mere Yuan family, who is trying to stop a chariot with his bare hands, last long?

Zhang Liao conquered Changsha at an extremely fast speed, like a gust of wind sweeping away autumn leaves.

Seeing that Changsha was undefendable, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi wanted to continue fleeing to the south, but unfortunately, Zhang Liao would not give them a chance, or in other words, Pang Ji and Guo Tu would not give them a chance.

They would never do such a stupid thing as just tying up Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and handing them over to Zhang Liao!
Betraying their Lord and sacrificing their life to Him was a great loss of reputation for these two men who came from famous families.

Therefore, this matter can only be done by others.

Sure enough, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were blocked in the chaos by Zhang Xian, the former governor of Changsha who led his troops to the scene and had expressed to Liu Jian his willingness to surrender.

Logically speaking, Zhang Xian had already withdrawn from Changsha before Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and others arrived in Changsha. Now he is able to make a surprise attack during this period of time. It is hard to imagine that there would be no insiders in Changsha City.

But at this point, no one will really delve into this matter.

In the eyes of everyone in Changsha, as long as the heads of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were presented to the court, it would be the greatest blessing for Jingzhou.

Who cares whether he is a traitor or not?

In fact, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi did die in the chaos of the confrontation with Zhang Xian.

After Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi died, Zhang Xian personally came to their bodies, shed two crocodile tears, and publicly stated that he just couldn't bear to see the people of Changsha suffer, so he led his troops back to persuade Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, but he never expected to encounter a chaotic army. The two sides did not distinguish between friend and foe, and suddenly fought without clarifying the situation, resulting in the death of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi in the chaos...

How painful!

No one knew whether Zhang Xian was hurt or not, but many people stood up to give him a way out, saying that it was not his fault and that he had good intentions, and it was just God's will.

It was fate that was going to destroy the Yuan family, it had nothing to do with God's will.

In the end, Zhang Xian returned to Changsha with the bodies of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi.

The moment Guo Tu and Pang Ji saw the bodies of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, they rushed over and burst into tears, their cries were so heart-wrenching that they shocked the heavens and the earth and made the gods and ghosts weep.

Guo Tu even drew the sword at his waist and tried to commit suicide, but fortunately he was stopped by his men.

Finally, after a lot of trouble, Zhang Xiansui led Guo Tu and Pang Ji to surrender to the Northern Army outside the city.

The remnants of the Yuan family in Changsha City surrendered, and Liu Ji and Zhang Liao also sent envoys to accept the surrender. However, the envoy who accepted the surrender was exactly the person Pang Ji and Guo Tu least wanted to see.

Xu You!

Seeing Pang Ji, Guo Tu and others slowly walking towards him holding white silk and household registration forms, Xu You's face showed a look of pride and relief.

"You two, long time no see! Hahaha~"

Xu You stood on the chariot, bowed to Pang Ji and Guo Tu who were walking down below, his brows beaming with joy, looking very arrogant and boastful.

Pang Ji and Guo Tu looked at each other in surprise.

Is it him?

However, the two men reacted quickly, smiled flatteringly, raised the white silk and household registration forms in their hands, and loudly told Xu You that the remnants in Changsha City were willing to surrender.

Xu You was not in a hurry to take those things back. In his opinion, these things could be taken back sooner or later. Jingzhou was already in his hands!
Guo Tu and Pang Ji had some personal grudges against him. When he and Kuai Yue were enemies, these two people did not help him and even secretly took advantage of his misfortune.

If it weren't for them, how could Kuai Yue have so much evidence of his own corruption?
When he thought of this, Xu You felt so angry that his teeth were itching.

"Yuan Tu, Gong Ze, is this not a false surrender?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of Guo Tu and Pang Ji changed drastically.

"Ziyuan, please don't talk nonsense. We represent the former officials of the Yuan family in Changsha, and we are now sincerely submitting to the Prime Minister!"

Xu You stroked his goatee and said slowly, "Be careful, you two need to prove yourselves."

Pang Ji and Guo Tu were so angry.

Even a fool could see that Xu You was deliberately making things difficult for them and embarrassing them, but they just stayed here, flattering him with a smile on their faces, and saying disgusting things to compliment Xu You.

Not far from the place of surrender, Liu Ji and Guo Jia stood side by side, watching the situation from afar.

Although they couldn't hear exactly what Xu You and the others said, they could still guess a little by observing the expressions on Guo Tu and Pang Ji's faces.

Liu Ji observed all this very calmly.

Guo Jia looked at Liu Ji in surprise.

"My Lord, why did you send Xu You to accept the surrender of these two?"

Liu Ji hesitated for a moment, then said, "Xu Ziyuan is from Nanyang, and he was a colleague of theirs in the past. It makes sense to let Xu Ziyuan accept the surrender of Yuan's former ministers."

Guo Jia smiled when he heard this, and thought to himself:

What a perfect and reasonable answer.

This eldest son is very young, and it seems that he has been brought up by the Prime Minister just like his father.

It is true that Xu You is from Nanyang, but Liu Ji could not fail to see his petty and vindictive personality.

It would not be a good thing if Yuan's old ministers surrendered to the imperial court and secretly formed a syndicate with him in the future.

In addition, after Xu You humiliated them, Liu Ji later went over to comfort them with kind words, which made Pang Ji and Guo Tu grateful.

He truly is worthy of being the Prime Minister's son.

But Guo Jia only thought about these things briefly at most.

He would definitely not say it in front of Liu Ji.

……

In Jingzhou, Guo Tu, Pang Ji, Zhang Xian and others brought Yuan’s old ministers!
On the Jiangdong side, Liu Jian's fleet sailed downstream along the Yangtze River and soon met up with Zhang Fei and Guan Yu.

When Guan Yu saw Liu Jian, he immediately bowed to the ground.

"I, Guan Yu, have brought shame upon the Prime Minister!"

Liu Jian hurried forward and held Guan Yu with his hand: "Yun Chang, why do you have to do this? Is it necessary for us brothers to be like this?"

Guan Yu sighed, "Prime Minister... I was unable to command the three armies on the battlefield and almost made a big mistake. Fortunately, Yide led his troops to help. If there had been a mistake, the great cause of unification would have been delayed."

Liu Jian shook his head and said, "Yun Chang, you have an old illness, why didn't you tell me earlier? If Ping'er didn't write to Ji'er this time, I would still be kept in the dark by you."

Guan Yu smiled bitterly and said, "It's an old problem. I didn't take it seriously at first, but I never thought it would develop to this extent..."

Liu Jian suddenly grabbed Guan Yu's hand and said, "My brother has reached middle age, which is the time for him to rise up, but he has developed this disease. I think it is because he has been expanding the territory for the Han Dynasty in the frontier for more than ten years, and has lived in a cold and windy land for a long time. Now the threat from the Han Dynasty in the north is almost gone, and the people in the north live a rich and prosperous life, but my brother has developed this disease..."

"Ugh!"

At this point, Liu Jian patted his chest in self-blame: "I feel uncomfortable." "Brother!" Guan Yu hurriedly said: "Brother, please don't think like that. It is because of your achievements that Guan Yu can have today's achievements. Not to mention a minor illness, even if I die, Guan I am willing!"

"No, you can't die, Yunchang. The rise of the Han Dynasty has just begun. You must stay by my side and watch the world together to see what the Han Dynasty will eventually become!"

Zhang Fei grinned and said, "That's right, he was already dead at such a young age, why don't we live another 50 years!"

"Look at how powerful the Han Dynasty has become under the rule of my brother!"

Liu Jian patted Zhang Fei's hand.

"Yide, Yunchang can no longer fight from now on. In the future, most of the foreign expeditions will depend on you. The burden on you is not easy."

Zhang Fei laughed and said, "I am destined to be a hard worker!"

……

Afterwards, Liu Jian and his brothers' warships continued down the river towards Jianye.

Before arriving, Sun Qian went to Jianye as an envoy to meet Cao Cao and agree on the time of surrender.

During this period, Liu Bei also reunited with his brother Liu Jian.

After receiving Cao Cao's reply, Liu Jian immediately said to Liu Bei: "Xuan De, you will come with me to accept Cao Cao's surrender tomorrow."

Liu Bei heard this and said, "De Ran, it seems inappropriate for me to surrender with you. After all, I am now a foreign vassal..."

"What's wrong with that? You are a foreign vassal, so what? Are you not my brother?"

After hearing Liu Jian's words, Liu Bei was deeply moved.

"De Ran, how many years have passed since we joined the army in Zhuo County?"

When Liu Jian heard what Liu Bei said this, he was suddenly stunned.

He didn't count on his fingers, but just roughly estimated, "Probably, it should be twenty-two or twenty-three years."

Liu Bei shook his head and sighed.

"In a few years, you and I will probably be grandfathers."

"Time... passes by so fast!"

Liu Jian smiled and said, "So, we should quickly accept Cao Cao's surrender, while we are still young and can still move, and do more for future generations."

Liu Bei sighed and said, "It should be so!"

……

Three days later, Liu Jian's troops arrived outside Jianye City. He set up camp and divided the troops into five camps, which were stationed along the Yangtze River to Jianye. He also conducted military exercises outside Jianye City every day to demonstrate his military prowess.

Sun Qian once again entered Jianye as an envoy.

Afterwards, after an agreed date, Cao Cao led a group of people out of the city to surrender to Liu Jian.

On the day of surrender, Liu Jian was fully armored and riding on a warhorse, looking at Cao Cao who was slowly coming out of Jianye and walking towards him, feeling filled with emotion.

After many years, we have finally reached this point.

Liu Jian looked up at Cao Cao who was walking towards him alone... His steps were slow and his body was a little hunched, but his mental state was still good.

Sure enough, he is getting older now, and is completely different from when he was in Luoyang.

As for the generals and counselors of Cao's army, they were all at the city gate not far behind Cao Cao. They did not come with Cao Cao, but looked at him from afar.

Liu Jian woke up and rode his horse slowly towards Cao Cao.

Soon, the two men were face to face.

To be more precise, it is a person on a horse looking at the person standing below.

"Meng De, you are old."

Cao Cao said: "How can I not grow old if I am the enemy of the Prime Minister?"

"Prime Minister, from today on, the Han Dynasty will be unified again. The prestige of the four seas will be vested in the Prime Minister alone. This is enough to make your name go down in history."

Liu Jian shook his head: "These are not what I care about."

"Meng De, I noticed that over the years, you have been imitating my northern policies, opening up more farmlands in the south, paying attention to people's livelihood, and even imitating my decrees and laws. What's the meaning?"

Cao Cao said: "I am a Han official. I imitate the policies of the court and apply them to the local areas. What's wrong with that?"

Liu Jian shook his head. "Not only is it correct, but it is also very right... The development of Jiangdong is very important to the Han Dynasty, and your achievements in Jiangdong over the years have set a good example for me to develop many industries in Jiangnan the next day. I thank you on behalf of the court."

Liu Jian's words touched Cao Cao's heart.

He sighed with emotion: "To be able to receive such an evaluation from the Prime Minister, what Cao has done in Jiangnan for ten years is worth it."

At this time, Liu Bei also came to Cao Cao.

However, he did not stay on the horse all the time. Instead, he dismounted and bowed to Cao Cao.

"Brother Meng De, you and I have been at loggerheads for many years. Today we finally have the opportunity to sit together again. To be honest, your soldiers are really hard to fight."

Cao Cao also said after hearing this: "Xuan De, don't be too modest. You are also the greatest enemy I have ever seen in my life."

Liu Jian laughed loudly and then waved to the back.

Afterwards, Zhao Yun and others brought Cao Ren to Cao Cao.

Seeing that Cao Ren was in good condition and dressed cleanly, Cao Cao knew that Liu Jian did not abuse Cao Ren but treated him with great courtesy.

This is also normal. Cao Ren is Liu Bei's brother-in-law. How could Liu Jian make things difficult for him?

After meeting Cao Ren, the biggest stone in Cao Cao's heart suddenly fell.

He walked up to Liu Jian's warhorse and stretched out his hand to hold the horse for Liu Jian.

But Liu Jian waved his hand and refused.

"Prime Minister, Cao is a surrendered minister, so it is only natural for me to lead your horse."

Liu Jian said, "You and I are both Han officials. We should work together for the Han Dynasty in the future. How can I let you lead my horse?"

"Besides, with Meng De's talent, if he just holds my horse, wouldn't that be a waste of his talent?"

"Meng De, please lead us into the city!"

Cao Cao nodded immediately and led Liu Jian and his elite troops towards Jianye.

When Liu Jian entered Jianye, the Han Dynasty, which had been in chaos for many years, was finally reunified.

A new era has arrived.

(End of this chapter)