With Cao Cao by my side, what do I have to fear from the world?

Sun Quan looked at Zhang Zhao kneeling before him, tears streaming down his face, and remained motionless for a long time, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Before the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhang Zhao advised him to surrender. Although Sun Quan was disappointed and heartbroken at the time, he could understand to some extent.

After all, Jiangdong had few soldiers and generals, and was in a weaker position.

However, persuading someone to surrender is one thing, but it is completely different from writing a letter of surrender in private. Writing a letter of surrender is already equivalent to surrendering.

Sun Quan was both heartbroken and furious; he was truly angry.

For a fleeting moment, a cold glint flashed in his eyes as he stared at Zhang Zhao, but it quickly disappeared.

Sun Quan knew that this was not an isolated case, and that Zhang Zhao was not the only one who had done this.

If even Zhang Zhao wanted to surrender to the imperial court, then it's clear that many others did the same.

Especially in times like these, Sun Quan must control his emotions and not act impulsively. If he were to punish Zhang Zhao in a fit of anger, others would also lose heart.

After figuring it out, Sun Quan suppressed all his dissatisfaction and personally helped Zhang Zhao up from the ground.

“Master Zhang, not to mention you, even I once had the thought of surrendering. I am very pleased that you took the initiative to tell me this. All that is in the past. Fortunately, Jiangdong is safe and sound now. In the future, we will have to rely on you a lot.”

Zhang Zhao felt both ashamed and moved. Sun Quan helped Zhang Zhao up and used his sleeve to wipe away Zhang Zhao's tears.

After a while, Zhang Zhao reminded him, "Since the court sent someone to contact me at this time, I believe that others will also receive replies one after another. My lord must not take this lightly."

Sun Quan sighed, "The war is already over, but the emperor has to make his move at this time. It seems he doesn't want Jiangdong to be at peace. As for the others, I don't know exactly who they are. Do you know?"

Zhang Zhao quickly shook his head, "I don't know who exactly they are."

If Sun Quan knew exactly who was involved, he could have responded promptly. However, seeing that Zhang Zhao genuinely didn't know, Sun Quan was in a dilemma.

After much deliberation, Sun Quan finally decided to gather everyone together and publicly announce that he would not hold these people accountable for their past actions.

But before this idea could be implemented, something went wrong.

Zhang Zhao's two sons, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xiu, were not at home that day; they had gone out of town to hunt.

The hunting grounds weren't far away, and no one expected that several men dressed as hunters would suddenly ambush them. These men bypassed their guards and kidnapped Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xiu directly in the woods.

By the time the guards realized something was wrong, the man had already disappeared.

Unable to find anything, the guards returned to report to Zhang Zhao. Zhang Zhao immediately sent people to search, but they found no trace of the person. Just before nightfall, a teenage beggar came to the door with a letter.

The steward handed Zhang Zhao the letter, which read: "Zhang Zhao has mocked the court and betrayed His Majesty. This matter will not end here. Your two sons are already in our hands. Don't expect to find them. Keep an eye on your other family members; it would be best if they never left the house."

Zhang Zhao only has two sons, both of whom are now missing and he is being threatened, which makes Zhang Zhao both anxious and afraid.

While sending people to continue searching for his son, Zhang Zhao instructed the rest of the family to stay at home and not go anywhere.

Sun Quan was also very anxious and sent people everywhere to search for him. The meeting of ministers had to be postponed for the time being.

The next day, Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xiu's bodies were found by a small river, but their heads were missing.

Zhang Zhao was heartbroken at the loss of her beloved son and fell seriously ill.

This matter quickly spread throughout Jiangdong, and everyone with discerning eyes knew that Zhang Zhao had brought about his death because he had betrayed the imperial court.

Moreover, this was just the beginning. Two days later, a distant relative of Zhang Zhao went out on the street and was stabbed to death right there.

The murderer escaped in the chaos, and a note was found on the body: "You mocked the imperial court; you deserve to die!"

Zhang Zhao's relatives and clansmen were all in a state of panic and were too frightened to go out.

At this time, Sun Quan convened another meeting to appease the civil and military officials of Jiangdong, but it did not have a very good effect.

Those who had written letters of surrender all saw Zhang Zhao's fate and were afraid that the same thing would happen to them.

Not only were the people of Chaisang filled with fear, but the atmosphere throughout Jiangdong also became strange. At this time, all places strengthened their checks, but even so, Liu Biao and his men were still able to infiltrate everywhere.

These men had all been wandering knights in their youth, possessing not only exceptional skills but also an adeptness at disguising their identities. Sun Quan couldn't possibly send protectors to every household, and besides, he didn't know exactly who had written to the court, making his approach extremely passive.

A few days later, Yu Fan also received a letter, delivered by another beggar.

Someone gave the beggar a few copper coins to deliver a message. Yu Fan couldn't very well arrest the beggar, could he?

Opening the letter, it read: "Zhang Zhao has betrayed the court. The court will make sure his entire family dies before him, so he can experience the pain of a parent outliving their child, the agony of losing all his relatives. So what about you? Do you want to follow Zhang Zhao's example, or do you want to serve the court? If it's the latter, go to Ganlu Temple in the west of the city tomorrow at noon."

Although Liu Xie's attitude towards Zhang Zhao was somewhat harsh, he couldn't be blamed for it. He had long anticipated that it was impossible for these people to be wholeheartedly willing to submit to the court.

Especially for Zhang Zhao, the more noble his status, the greater the possibility of him refusing, so there's no need to be polite.

Liu Xie wanted to make these people understand that no one could mock the court, and anyone who did would have to pay a bloody price.

When there was danger in Jiangdong, you could surrender whenever you wanted. Now that the danger has temporarily passed, you can go back on your word whenever you want. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Playing games with the imperial court is absolutely unacceptable.

By using Zhang Zhao as an example, Liu Xie wanted to make an example of him to warn others that being fickle with the court would have serious consequences.

Yu Fan returned to his study with a heavy heart, then locked himself in his room. He thought about it for a long time. He didn't want to repeat Zhang Zhao's tragedy, where his family was too scared to go out and lived in a terrifying shadow every day.

After much deliberation, Yu Fan skipped dinner and ultimately made a decision different from Zhang Zhao's.

There were many people like Yu Fan; more than half of them wrote letters of surrender, all expressing their willingness to submit.

Liu Xie was very satisfied and soon sent someone to deliver the latest instructions, telling Yu Fan and his men to calm down and lie low in Jiangdong, gathering intelligence on Jiangdong at any time.

Liu Xie would also send people to constantly monitor these people to see if they were loyal enough to the court.

As for Zhang Zhao, Liu Xie also gave Liu Biao a death order: to exterminate his entire clan!

On this day, Liu Biao gathered several key members together, including Zhan Fei, Li Kui, and Wei Zhi, who were all important members of the outer Dragon Guard.

"His Majesty wrote a letter saying that he would exterminate Zhang Zhao's three clans and make this public to the world, so that everyone would understand that Zhang Zhao was fickle and had betrayed the court."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Liu Biao got straight to the point and told everyone what was going on: "I know that Zhang Zhao's residence is heavily guarded now, and Sun Quan has also sent a large number of troops to protect their safety. However, since it is His Majesty's order, we must complete this task."

Zhan Fei sneered and said, "As for Zhang Zhao, I think we shouldn't touch him yet. Let's kill his relatives first, find a few capable people to infiltrate their mansion, and then we can coordinate from the inside and find an opportunity to kill them all."

Zhan Fei was previously in charge of contacting Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. Although he was thin, he was a master swordsman and extremely ruthless.

Wei Zhi was a big fat man, like a fat Arhat. His weapon was the newly developed Hundred-Refined Blade of Tianwu Pavilion. He nodded and said, "I agree. Let's start with the easy ones. Brothers, these years we have lived freely and happily thanks to the Emperor. As the saying goes, 'An army is raised for a thousand days to be used for one.' Now that His Majesty needs us, we can't let him down."

Li Kui took a sip of wine and shouted, "That's right! We were originally a bunch of roughnecks who fought and killed in the martial world. We used to seem carefree and happy, but as long as we killed someone, we would worry about being wanted by the government. In recent years, we have all joined the Dragon Guard. It's like living a life of righteous indignation and revenge. As long as we see injustice, we can take action directly without any restrictions. All of this is thanks to His Majesty. This time, I will risk my life to kill Zhang Zhao's entire clan!"

After saying that, Li Kui gulped down the rest of the wine in the bowl, and then smashed the bowl on the ground with a loud crack, shattering it into pieces.

Li Kui has a quick temper and a fiery temper.

Liu Biao nodded and advised, "Don't be too anxious. I'll gather men right away. We need to make Sun Quan understand that even in Jiangdong, no one can protect anyone the Dragon Guards want to kill!"

After some discussion, Liu Biao frequently mobilized his men, some disguised as merchants, some as pedestrians, and some as refugees. The group was dispatched in batches, while others infiltrated the mansion of Zhang Zhao's relatives in advance to serve as servants.

On a dark and stormy night, the residences of Zhang Zhao's two distant relatives were completely massacred.

After the killing, Liu Biao swaggered up to the wall at the scene and wrote in blood: "Zhang Zhao betrayed the court, and the Dragon Guard was ordered to exterminate his clan!"

These two families, totaling nearly two hundred people, were all wiped out.

This news shook the entire Jiangdong region. Upon receiving the news, Yu Fan secretly felt fortunate for his decision.

The Dragon Guards were sent by the imperial court, so even if Sun Quan knew about it, there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Zhao's condition had just begun to improve when he learned of this devastating news, causing him to vomit blood on the spot and worsen his condition once again.

Zhang Zhao's family was terrified. Once, his grandson Zhang Zhen asked him, "Grandfather, will we all die?" (End of Chapter)