Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2561 Kong Rong submits a letter of surrender, Jian Yong surrenders to the Great Jin Dynasty
In Qinghan, south of the Yellow River, Guo Ziyi was responsible for facing Liu Bei, while Tian Dan was responsible for confronting Xue Rengui.

Because Xue Rengui mobilized 80,000 troops and handed them over to Qi Jiguang to go directly to northern Qingzhou via the Yellow River, neither Xue Rengui nor Guo Ziyi made any significant progress south of the Yellow River.

Compared to Lian Po, who made numerous military achievements north of the Yellow River, Xue Rengui and Guo Ziyi made much slower progress here.

After all, Xue Rengui's strategy from the beginning was to use the Yellow River to divide and conquer Qingzhou, first pacify the northern part of Qingzhou, and then launch a pincer attack on the southern part of Qingzhou.

Although this strategy was being implemented effectively, unfortunately, Lian Po intervened in the process.

The previous naval raids on Xuzhou from the sea, which yielded some results, further boosted the morale of Qing and Han.

However, this period of good fortune did not last long. As Guo Ziyi dispatched light cavalry back, the Qing-Han navy, while still able to harass the enemy, no longer dared to act as recklessly as before.

Meanwhile, after resolving the battle in northern Qingzhou, Lian Po led his troops across the river in a grand manner, directly changing the battle situation in southern Qingzhou.

With the sudden addition of Lian Po's army of over 100,000 men, plus Guo Ziyi's original troops, the combined forces of these two groups were already four or five times the size of Liu Bei's army.

Moreover, they attacked from both the north and south, and within a short period of time, the situation that Liu Bei had painstakingly maintained completely collapsed.

Gaotang, Luoyin, and Zhuoxian fell directly, and Liu Guangshi, a member of the Han imperial family, surrendered to the Jin dynasty during this process.

The series of defeats dealt a huge blow to Qinghan.

The land of Qingzhou stretches long from east to west, with too many places to defend, which is obviously extremely disadvantageous for Qinghan, whose military strength is severely inferior.

With limited troops, no matter how Qinghan defends, it is impossible to cover every aspect.

Therefore, when Lian Po's army stormed in, Qinghan suffered a complete rout.

Not long after, Kong Rong, one of the three dukes of the Qing-Han dynasty, formally submitted a letter of surrender to the Han dynasty, which dealt a huge blow to Qing-Han.

Kong Rong was a descendant of a sage.

Even during the era when Confucianism was the sole state ideology and all other schools of thought were suppressed, their influence was still quite profound.

Liu Ba, who was also a member of the Han imperial family, was among those who accompanied Kong Rong in drafting the surrender document.

Liu Ba's surrender to Jin caused an even greater uproar.

Firstly, this person is a true member of the Han imperial family.

Secondly, although this person was not one of Liu Bei's original core members, he was someone who came from Yizhou after Liu Che's defeat.

Even after the original owner's defeat and death, they still traveled thousands of miles to the distant Qinghan. Logically speaking, people like this must have a firm belief in restoring the Han Dynasty.

But who would have thought that they would just throw it out so easily?

In fact, Liu Ba genuinely wanted to restore the Han Dynasty. However, this was contingent on him seeing a glimmer of hope. If he could see any hope of restoring the Han Dynasty, he would absolutely be willing to go all out.

However, with the war now so dire, and the country seemingly on the verge of collapse, he had completely lost all hope of reviving the Han Dynasty. At this moment, Liu Ba was more "decisive" than the others.

However, although Liu Ba surrendered, he was unwilling to serve as an official in the Jin Dynasty, but instead requested to live a carefree life as a hermit.

Just as there were those who surrendered, there were also those who resisted. Zhao Ponu, Pi Tong, Zhang Song, Jia Yi, and Liu Tuo were all staunch resisters.

Meanwhile, among these staunch resistance fighters was Takahashi Shōun, a Japanese man.

When Takahashi Shōun, a Japanese, fought valiantly for the Han Dynasty, it was Liu Guangshi and Liu Ba, members of the Han imperial family, who acted like spineless cowards. As a result, both of them suffered poor reputations in both the Han and Jin dynasties. During Lian Po's conquest of Han, every soldier refused to surrender, and Lian Po could only grant them the dignity they deserved. Even after they died on the battlefield, he ensured they were given a proper burial.

On Guo Ziyi's southern front, after Lian Po's army crossed the Yellow River, they also officially began to exert their strength.

It was at this time that Jian Yong formally surrendered to the Jin Dynasty.

Who was Jian Yong? He was not just a simple veteran in Liu Bei's group.

He followed Liu Bei for almost as long as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

His relationship with Liu Bei was no less than that of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Compared to the other two, he only lacked the title of brotherhood, but in reality, Liu Bei treated him just like his own brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

Even Liu Bei and Zhang Fei regarded him as one of their own.

After all, when Liu Bei was in his early days and in dire straits, besides Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, this person was also one of the candidates to follow Liu Bei.

Moreover, Liu Bei treated this veteran official with exceptionally generous treatment, not only making him one of the Nine Ministers but also directly bestowing upon him the title of County Marquis.

County Marquis was the highest rank of nobility in the Han Dynasty.

Throughout the world, everyone knows that this man is an absolute die-hard loyalist of Liu Bei.

Therefore, when Jian Yong suddenly sent someone to contact him about surrendering to Jin, Guo Ziyi's first reaction was that it was a feigned surrender.

However, sometimes this is the helplessness of intelligent people.

After his initial reaction, Guo Ziyi sensed that something was amiss.

If it were truly a feigned surrender, wouldn't any one of the Liu Bei group, besides Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, be more convincing than Jian Yong?

Therefore, at this point, even Guo Ziyi was unsure.

However, Jian Yong's bait was too big, making it difficult for Guo Ziyi to give up.

After all, Jian Yong was selling out none other than Liu Bei himself.

If the other party truly surrenders, then this would be an unparalleled achievement.

The last person to achieve such an unparalleled feat was Chang Yuchun.

It was precisely because of his achievement in killing Zhu Yuanzhang that Chang Yuchun not only surpassed Bai Qi and Xue Rengui in official rank, but also reached the top in noble title, overtaking a large number of top generals of the Jin Dynasty.

Furthermore, Chang Mao was also granted a noble title as a result.

The fact that two members of one family were marquises is truly a glorious achievement.

Therefore, even though he had a bad feeling, Guo Ziyi was still prepared to take the bait.

Of course, sensing that something was amiss, Guo Ziyi did not send all his troops in at once, but instead held back a large number of his forces.

He only deployed a small portion of his troops initially, so he could adapt to any situation that went wrong. If Jian Yong was truly surrendering to Jin, then he could commit his entire army.

With Jian Yong acting as an inside agent, the city gates of Gaomi County, which had remained impregnable for several months, were opened wide, and a large number of Jin troops poured into the county.