Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 738: The Fall of Wei
Chen Qun and Wei Zhen stayed in the Han camp for one day and returned to Yecheng with the conditions offered by Zhuge Liang.

Cao Rui was furious when he learned that he had to change his surname to Liu before he could surrender to the Han Dynasty. However, under the earnest persuasion of Chen Qun, Wei Zhen, Liu Fang and others, and because the Han army was constantly approaching Yecheng, Cao Rui had to agree to Zhuge Liang's conditions.

On June 27, Cao Rui issued an edict of surrender to the Han Dynasty to all the officials in the city, ordering officials to sort out the household register, money and grain in the treasury, registered soldiers, prefectures, townships, mining and water conservancy, transportation maps and other documents, so that they could be handed over to the Han officials on the day of surrender to show that Cao Wei was sincere in surrendering.

On the day Cao Rui issued the edict of surrender, the officials in the country were in mixed emotions. Wu Zhi died of illness in his house due to grief and anger; Xu Chu was so sad about the loss of his country that he cried and vomited blood; Xin Pi was worried and worried about his future; Chen Qun wrote furiously, ready to make contributions to the Han Dynasty.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang received a letter of thanks from Cao Rui for his surrender, and knew that the matter had been settled, so he asked Liu Chan to go north from Hanoi to be responsible for accepting Cao Wei's surrender.

At the end of June, Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang led the Southern Han army to Yecheng. Cao Rui sent envoys to offer food and wine, and the two sides agreed on the date and process of surrender.

On the first day of July, the morning sun rises in the east.

The gates of Yecheng were wide open, and tens of thousands of Han infantry and cavalry, led by Jiang Ji, took over the defense of Yecheng from the Wei army soldiers. From the city walls to the palace, the city roads, streets, and corridors were all filled with Han soldiers.

With the city defense properly handed over, the surrender ceremony officially began.

Amid the attendant's loud shouts, Cao Rui stripped naked from the waist up, revealing his white flesh. He had hemp ropes tied around his upper body, a white jade in his mouth, his eyes red, and endured all kinds of strange looks from the crowd, feeling extremely ashamed.

Guo, Sun Ying, Mao and other concubines of Cao Wei took off their gorgeous clothes and put on white linen clothes. From time to time, some of them sobbed quietly. Many of them had never expected that they would experience the disaster of losing their country. For the sake of their pitiful self-esteem, the concubines followed Cao Rui step by step.

Behind Cao Rui were not only concubines from the harem, but also civil and military officials who had surrendered. They were dressed in court robes, but without ceremonial hats on their heads. In their hands were official documents that they had recently sorted out, and their expressions were particularly gloomy.

"The criminal Cao Rui, together with the civil and military officials of the country, begs for surrender to His Majesty the Han Dynasty."

Cao Rui had his face tied and a jade disk in his mouth, unable to speak, so he had to let his attendant Xin Pi speak for him.

Liu Chan drove the emperor's carriage and rode with Zhuge Liang. He looked down at the queue of hundreds of people, suppressed his joy, and said.

"allow!"

Xin Pi spread out his scarf and recited with a sad tone: "I have been divided into two kingdoms, and I have encountered a profound situation. I am connected to the East, and I have committed a crime... I am weak and wicked, and I have been greedy for the legacy. I have been following the teachings for many years, and I have not led the great cause. Now that Your Majesty has raised an army, it has frightened Hebei, and the majesty of heaven has shaken Xia. All people and ghosts are afraid, and I dare not change my ways, so I will just obey your orders!"

"Rui Zhe ordered all the generals to lay down their weapons and armor, and all the treasures in Ye were intact. The three states and counties opened their gates to welcome the emperor's troops, waiting for the emperor to take over the old borders. I hope the great Han Dynasty will spread its virtue and influence... Minister of the Interior Chen Qun, General Qin Lang, and Palace Attendant Wei Zhen will present the seals, documents, and books. The emperor will decide whether to grant us life or death."

When Wei Zhen finished reading Cao Rui's letter of surrender, Cao Rui couldn't help but shed tears. In order to hide his emotions, he kowtowed to Liu Chan in the carriage.

When his forehead touched the soft sand, Cao Rui closed his eyes in pain, and his tears flowed drop by drop into the sand, soaking it.

Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang stepped down from the carriage. Chen Qun, Qin Lang, Wei Zhen and Gao Rou respectively held the imperial seal, household register, map and list to welcome Liu Chan.

Chen Qun was the first to present the imperial seal and said, "I am a criminal who does not know the will of heaven, has occupied the territory and snooped on the sacred artifacts. This is indeed a serious crime. Fortunately, Your Majesty is kind and has pity on me and his subjects, and has pardoned my death sentence. Here is the imperial seal, and I will hand it over to Your Majesty."

Liu Chan reached out and took the jade seal that symbolized the orthodox dynasty. He could not help but fold it in his hands. Seeing the words "Received the Mandate from Heaven, May You Live Long and Prosper" engraved on the bottom, he smiled and said, "When Wang Mang usurped the throne, Empress Dowager Yuan smashed the seal on the ground, so the corner is broken. Now that I have the jade seal, can it be said that it has been returned intact to Zhao?"

"The Han Dynasty has the Mandate of Heaven, and the jade seal belongs to the emperor. It can be said that the jade has been returned intact to Zhao!" Chen Qun boasted.

"good!"

Liu Chan handed the seal to the doctor in charge of seals and seals, and then walked up to Cao Rui, who was face-tied and holding a jade disk in his mouth.

In order to show his magnanimity, Liu Chan stood in front of Cao Rui, looked at the kneeling people, and said with a smile: "I am not a cruel king. Now that you have surrendered, you will all be my subjects from now on."

As he spoke, Liu Chan looked down at Cao Rui who was kneeling on the ground and said, "Since you surrendered your country and made great contributions, I grant you the surname Liu and the title of Duke of Meiyang County. From now on, you will have no connection with the Cao family."

Hearing this, Cao Rui closed his eyes, his heart was bleeding. Changing his surname to Liu meant that he was no longer a member of the Cao family and had no kinship with Cao Cao and Cao Pi. When his descendants worshiped him, they would write Liu Rui on the spirit tablet instead of Cao Rui.

Granting the surname Liu may seem like a good thing, but now it is a disguised way to exterminate the Cao family. After all, in ancient society, surnames were more important than blood ties, and adopted sons with legal procedures had inheritance rights under the patriarchal system.

For example, Liu Bei adopted Liu Feng as his adopted son in the early days, which actually meant that Liu Feng was his heir. If Liu Chan had not been born, Liu Feng would have most likely become the monarch of Southern Han.

Therefore, from one perspective, Cao Cao has no descendants in the patriarchal society, and no one will worship Cao Cao in the future. If Liu Rui and Liu Zhi dare to worship Cao Cao, they will be imprisoned for treason, die, and their clan will be exterminated.

Liu Chan reached out to take the jade from Cao Rui's mouth.

Ok?
Somewhat difficult to pull out!

After another strong pull, Cao Rui chose to open his mouth and let Liu Chan take out the jade that symbolized destiny.

The one with the jade disk in his mouth and bound on his face had his body bound to show that he was harmless; the one with the jade disk in his mouth was asking for forgiveness for surrendering to the country. The jade disk was an instrument for offering sacrifices to heaven, and now that it was taken away by Liu Chan, it represented the demise of the country or the transfer of destiny.

Cao Rui, who was finally able to speak, held back the tears in his eyes and choked up and said, "I, the criminal Liu Rui, surrender to you the three states of Ji, Bing, and You, more than 20 counties, a million registered civilians, 60,000 soldiers, and 40,000 officials. The rest of the details are all in the documents and official documents. Please accept the surrender."

"The guilty ministers Chen Qun and Sun Zi... pay their respects to Your Majesty!" everyone said with mixed feelings.

Liu Chan held his hands up and said to comfort the crowd: "Let's not worry about the past. You should serve the new dynasty with all your heart and soul in the future!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Liu Chan simply appeased them and told everyone in the Wei court to hand over the documents and official documents to the Han officials. He also had people take Cao Rui and his family away and escort them directly to live in Guanzhong.

After Liu Rui, Mao and Sun Ying left crying, Liu Chan looked at the new Han officials present and asked, "Cao Zhen and Cao Hong now hold a large army. I wonder who is willing to serve me. Bring the order of Duke Meiyang and send two envoys to surrender with their troops and quickly go to Yecheng to accept my orders."

"Your Majesty, I have known Cao Hong for a long time, and I am willing to serve as your Majesty's envoy."

"I have a close relationship with Cao Zhen and am willing to serve as an envoy to Your Majesty."

Upon hearing that there was an opportunity to make merit, many Wei officials, in order to gain Zhuge Liang's appreciation, immediately expressed their willingness to persuade the two men to surrender on behalf of the Han Dynasty.

"Father?"

Liu Chan did not become overconfident after accepting the surrender of Cao Wei. Instead, he gave the choice to Zhuge Liang and let him be responsible for the Northern Expedition.

Zhuge Liang looked at the officials who had come out and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to select talented people."

"good!"

After chatting for a while, Liu Chan and Zhuge Liang drove into Yecheng under the guidance of the surrendered minister.

On the carriage, Liu Chan asked, "Father, if I were to order Cao Hong and Cao Zhen to surrender, what would be the conditions?"

Zhuge Liang stroked his feather fan and said, "Your Majesty, Cao Zhen and Cao Hong have strong personalities. If we humiliate them, they will be forced to rebel, which will be detrimental to our country. Cao Zhen's original surname was Qin, but he was later adopted by Cao Cao. Now we can let Cao Zhen change his surname to his original one."

"Cao Hong can keep his surname unchanged for now and do his best to appease him. When the two Caos come to Yecheng to pay homage to Your Majesty, we can open the tombs of Cao Cao and Cao Pi, father and son, collect their skulls and hide them in the treasury to observe their reactions in secret."

Hearing this, Liu Chan immediately understood and said with a smile: "My father wants to pretend to appease the two Caos, and when the two Caos leave the army, we can easily capture and kill you!"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Zhuge Liang said, holding his fan and bowing.

Zhuge Liang was obviously trying to lure Cao Cao into rebellion by deliberately appeasing Cao Cao and Cao Cao and tricking them into leaving the army. Once Cao Cao and Cao Cao left the army, he would use the excavation of Cao Cao's and his son's tombs as a trigger to force Cao Cao to rebel.

If the two Caos rebelled, they could be easily dealt with by sending a few soldiers to capture and kill them. The troops under the two men's command were under the control of Lu Xun and Huo Fan, so they could not disrupt the overall situation in Hebei.

Of course, if the two Caos had not rebelled, Zhuge Liang might have saved his life. After all, Zhuge Liang was a man of political principles, and he would not kill anyone who surrendered. After the fall of Cao Wei, establishing credibility in the Central Plains was the top priority for the Han Dynasty.
As the carriage passed through the city gate, Zhuge Liang thought of something and said, "Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has already chosen Longshou to the south of Chang'an as the place to build a new capital. Therefore, Guanzhong is in need of reconstruction. Water conservancy, water transport, and capital construction all require manpower. However, Guanzhong has a small population, so it is advisable to move the great families from Guandong into the pass."

Zhuge Liang lowered his voice and said, "All the high-ranking officials and nobles from the Xiahou and Huan families in Qiao County, the Xun, Guo, and Chen families in Yingchuan, and the Sima family in Henei should be relocated westward to avoid them from causing trouble in Guandong."

The founder of the westward migration of the great families from Guandong was Ying Zheng. In order to prevent the remnants of the six kingdoms from causing chaos in Guandong, Ying Zheng deliberately migrated the nobles of the six kingdoms to the west.

After Liu Bang established the Western Han Dynasty, in order to enrich the population and continue to reduce the influence of the descendants of the six kingdoms in Guandong, he followed the example of Qin Shi Huang and moved people to Guanzhong.

In order to enable long-term migration of people, the Western Han Dynasty even created the mausoleum town system.

The mausoleum town system was not only a tool to weaken the powerful families in Guandong, but also a military stronghold for defending against the Xiongnu in the early Western Han Dynasty.

Chang'an City is in the south of Wei, while the Changling Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu, the Anling Mausoleum of Emperor Hui, and the Yangling Mausoleum of Emperor Jing are mostly in the north of Wei, lined up along the Zhengguo Canal. When the Xiongnu invaded Guanzhong, the mausoleum towns in the north of Wei would be the frontline strongholds.

Liu Chan pondered for a moment and said, "In order to enrich the population of Guanzhong and revitalize the production of Zuofengyi, we might as well restore the mausoleum system. The late emperor's mausoleum is in Wuhan, which is far away from Chang'an. We can move the late emperor's mausoleum to Weibei."

"Ok!"

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and agreed, saying: "Now Guanzhong is exhausted, the mausoleum system is a strategy to strengthen the root and weaken the branches, we must restore the old system!"

(End of this chapter)