The Beacon of Kyushu

That night, the moonlight was dim and the wind was blowing hard.

Sun Quanxing was lying on the bed, about to close his eyes and fall asleep, when there was a knock on the door. Hearing the knock, he sat up alertly, put his hand on the long sword beside the bed, and shouted sternly: "Who is it!"

"General Sun, General Fan has a secret order, open the door quickly." The person speaking outside the door had a very young voice. If you listen carefully, you can hear a bit of Qu Yue accent. It was the soldier who had persuaded Sun Quanxing to join Qu Yue before.

Sun Quanxing quickly got out of bed, opened the door, and asked the soldier to quietly enter the room. Then, he looked around and confirmed that there was no one around, and quickly locked the door. "Why, General Fan needs me? Is he ordering me to kill Liu Cheng and surrender the city?"

The soldier carefully took out a note from his sleeve. It was written in Fan Jubei's handwriting. "Kill Liu Cheng and stop the Song army." Although there were only eight short words on the note, in Sun Quanxing's opinion, the difficulty was no less than asking him to swallow eight steel knives. "What? You really want me to kill Liu Cheng? This is probably very difficult to do. If he finds out by mistake, I will be beheaded!"

"General Sun, you are both civil and military, and you are loyal to Qu Yue. You will definitely be able to do such a small thing perfectly, don't you think?" The soldier smiled, and his voice still sounded humble, but upon closer inspection, there was a hint of sarcasm.

Sun Quanxing's body trembled slightly, his brows knitted into a "川" shape, and after thinking for a long time, he said: "Well, since it is General Fan's order, I naturally have no reason to disobey. However, it is impossible to accomplish this in a hurry, otherwise not only will I fail to kill Liu Cheng, but I will also suffer from him!"

The soldier spread his hands and said helplessly, "General Sun, I know this is difficult. But General Fan said that the Song envoy will arrive in Huabu in five days at the latest. If you don't get this done before the Song envoy arrives, you can imagine the consequences."

Sun Quanxing didn't expect Fan Jubei to be so anxious. The time given was really limited, so he kept pacing in the room. Seeing this, the soldier smiled and said, "General Sun, General Liu doesn't suspect that you and Qu Yue are cooperating yet. Why don't you go to him tonight to discuss military intelligence and persuade him to surrender to Qu Yue. If he refuses, you can take advantage of his unpreparedness and stab him to death with a sword. Wouldn't that fulfill General Fan's trust?"

"No! No!" Sun Quanxing refused repeatedly, pacing faster and faster. "It wouldn't matter if I killed Liu Cheng, but Liu Shan would definitely notice it. His martial arts are better than mine, and I would be in great danger! We must think of a comprehensive solution."

The soldier said disapprovingly: "General Sun, this is easy. After you kill Liu Cheng, just shout that there is an assassin, and Liu Shan will definitely lead his troops to protect Liu Cheng. At that time, you will take advantage of Liu Shan's unpreparedness and stab him to death. The remaining Song soldiers will be leaderless and will naturally be at your disposal."

Sun Quanxing held his chin with his hand and thought: "Well... this is not a good idea, but time is tight, so this is the only way."

At this time, in the prefectural government office where Liu Cheng was, only the room where he was staying had a faint glow of fire. After Liu Cheng met with Wang Shize and others a few days ago, he was looking forward to the truce between the two countries. In addition to looking forward to peace, he had to devote another part of his energy to guarding against the enemy's sneak attack. Therefore, even though it was late at night, he still sat in front of the topographic map and read by lamplight.

Suddenly, he heard a series of knocks on the door, followed by Sun Quanxing's voice, "General Liu, have you rested? I have something to discuss with you."

When Liu Cheng heard that the visitor was Sun Quanxing, he was not on guard and responded casually: "General Sun, you haven't slept either. Since you want to see me, please come in." Sun Quanxing gently opened the door and walked in timidly, "General Liu... General Liu, do you think Li Huan will make peace? What if he insists on continuing to fight with the Song Dynasty?"

Liu Cheng pointed to the chair next to him and said, "General Sun, please sit down first. I have some plans for this, but they are not mature yet. We need to..." As he spoke, he gestured on the topographic map with his hands, as if he wanted to explain to Sun Quanxing. However, Sun Quanxing seemed to have not heard what he said at all, and did not pay attention to the movements of his hands. He just stepped closer to the table in front of Liu Cheng.

"General Sun." Liu Cheng glanced at him and found something wrong, so he looked up at Sun Quanxing. Sun Quanxing had already shown a grim smile on his face, and pulled out a long sword worn by Qu Yue from his waist, staring at Liu Cheng fiercely, "General Liu, a man who knows the times is a hero. As the commander of the Eastern Army, you can neither protect the commander of the Central Army nor destroy Qu Yue along the Eastern Route. If one day Song and Qu Yue really negotiate peace, don't you think about how the government will deal with you?"

Liu Cheng was startled and said, "General Sun, what do you mean? Right now our army is short of soldiers and food. We are lucky to be able to save Hua Bu. Do you still expect me to capture Hua Lu and kill Li Huan?"

Sun Quanxing shook his head and said, "I know you don't have that ability, otherwise how could you have been trapped in the isolated city for so long? What I mean is that you should surrender to Qu Yue like me, and stop trying to stick to Huabu and your pitiful reputation! Otherwise, you will die if the two countries go to war, and you will also die if the two countries negotiate peace. For your life and for the life of your nephew, you'd better think things through."

Liu Cheng stared at Sun Quanxing with eyes wide open in disbelief, and at the same time reached out to the bedside to draw his sword. Sun Quanxing would never let him resist with a sword, and stabbed him through the chest with a sword. Liu Cheng looked at the bloody wound on his chest, opened his mouth to call for help, but before he could make a sound, he died. Although he was dead, his eyes were still fixed on Sun Quanxing, and he died with his eyes open.

Sun Quanxing sneered in his heart when he saw this, and then shouted, "Someone come! It's bad! General Liu was assassinated!"

As Liu Cheng's nephew, Liu Shan was the first to rush over with his men when he heard that his uncle had been killed. However, he arrived too late and could do nothing except witness his uncle's tragic death. "Uncle!" Liu Shan shouted as he rushed to Liu Cheng's body and hugged his uncle's body in his arms. He thought that the assassin who assassinated his uncle was sent by Qu Yue, so he was naturally not on guard against Sun Quanxing. He turned his back to the enemy who killed his uncle and cried.

Seeing that the people Liu Shan brought were all standing at the door and did not come in, Sun Quanxing thought to himself, "Killing one is killing, killing two is also killing, so why not just do as that soldier Qu Yue said and get rid of Liu Shan today!" After he thought about it, he quietly came behind Liu Shan, and before Liu Shan noticed, he took out a dagger from his sleeve, aimed it at Liu Shan's back and stabbed it with all his strength.

"Ah!" Liu Shan felt a sharp pain in his back and screamed. He turned around and saw that it was Sun Quanxing who killed him. He understood everything in an instant. Unfortunately, like his uncle Liu Cheng, he understood it too late. Even if he had killed Sun Quanxing a moment earlier, he could have avenged his uncle. However, things in the world cannot be assumed. The fact is already like this. Liu Shan had to fall to the ground with anger in his heart and died instantly.

The soldiers Liu Shan brought were stunned for a moment. Although everyone instinctively drew their swords, no one dared to take a step forward. They just stared at Sun Quanxing and the bodies of Liu Cheng and Liu Shan, and no one knew what to do. Seeing this, Sun Quanxing shouted: "Everyone, you are soldiers of the Eastern Army, but you did not protect the life of the commander. Even if you rush together to kill me, this crime will be difficult to wash away. It is better to follow me and surrender to Qu Yue. There is still a glimmer of hope. Don't be stubborn!"

Everyone looked at each other, and although they all felt disgusted with what Sun Quanxing had done, what he said was right. The Eastern Army had been fighting poorly, and had lost cities one after another. Now the commander had been killed. With Zhao Guangyi's character, how could he let them live? On the other hand, even if they could not enjoy high positions and generous salaries, at least they would not have to worry about their lives. Everyone knew which one was better. In addition, Sun Quanxing's confidants Jia Xi and Wang Zhen responded in time. There was no hesitation for everyone. They threw their swords on the ground one after another, knelt in front of Sun Quanxing and shouted, "General Sun, we are willing to surrender to Qu Yue!"

Sun Quanxing was overjoyed to see that everyone was willing to surrender. But at the same time, how to kill the Song envoys with the existing forces and make sure that none of them survived became his top priority. (End of this chapter)