Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

After receiving Lu Chen's second letter, Du Yongyuan did not immediately choose to surrender.

However, the Northern army did not launch an attack for the next few days, and the soldiers in Ziyang City were on high alert.

Most soldiers knew that the reason the northern soldiers hadn't attacked after the city walls collapsed was mainly because the northern king was trying to persuade their general to surrender.

The soldiers were terrified. After seeing the Xia soldiers killed by artillery fire, they had lost all will to fight. They only wanted to surrender, but the court would not allow them to surrender. If they surrendered, their families would likely suffer.

Of course, whether or not to surrender was not up to these lowly soldiers; it depended on the opinions of their general and his deputies.

A few days later, Du Yongyuan summoned his trusted deputy general, Gao Yong, to his study.

When Gao Yong saw that Du Yongyuan had come to him alone, he realized that Du Yongyuan must have something important to ask him to do.

Du Yongyuan led Gao Yong to a secret underground room. After confirming that no one was eavesdropping, Du Yongyuan spoke, "Deputy General Gao, do you know why I've summoned you?"

Gao Yong said directly, "General, I was trained by you and have participated in many wars with you. I will definitely obey your orders. If you have any special tasks for me, just say so, and I will definitely complete the tasks you assign."

Du Yongyuan patted Gao Yong on the shoulder and said, "With your words, I can rest assured."

Then Du Yongyuan said, "I plan to withdraw from Ziyang City with 100,000 soldiers. You will stay in Ziyang City to draw the attention of the Northern army."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yong was stunned. He had thought that Du Yongyuan was planning to surrender to the Northern King, but he did not expect that Du Yongyuan's true intention was to escape Ziyang City.

It's not impossible for them to escape, but after Du Yongyuan took away 100,000 soldiers, the remaining 100,000 soldiers in Ziyang City would have even less chance of stopping the Northern army's advance.

It's likely that the 100,000 troops remaining in Ziyang City will eventually be blown to pieces by the mysterious weapons of the Northern Kingdom.

Seeing that Gao Yong was stunned, Du Yongyuan continued, "After we withdraw, your 100,000 soldiers should also prepare to withdraw."

"I have pretended to agree to the Northern King's surrender, which will keep them in check for a while. They should not discover our movements."

Gao Yong asked with some concern, "General, does the Northern King truly believe you will surrender?"

Du Yongyuan said, "The Northern King will believe it. He is young, arrogant, and complacent. With such terrifying weapons in the North, he will surely think that I will surrender to him out of fear of the North's weapons."

Gao Yong continued, "If you retreat like this, and then lose Ziyang City, wouldn't His Majesty...?"

Gao Yong didn't continue speaking. He felt that if Du Yongyuan escaped like this, he would probably be executed even if he returned to the capital.

Running away means certain death, and not surrendering also means certain death, so it's better to just surrender to the Northern King.

Du Yongyuan sighed and then said, "I'm not trying to escape. I just plan to retreat to another city and seek the help of Prince Qi."

Gao Yong immediately bowed and said, "Your subordinate will certainly defend Ziyang City and buy the general enough time to retreat."

At this moment, Du Yongyuan seemed to remember something and continued, "By the way, after I retreat, I will have someone send you a letter. When you see the letter, you should also prepare to evacuate."

Gao Yong replied, "Yes, General!"

……

The next morning, while it was still dusky, Du Yongyuan led 100,000 imperial soldiers to quietly withdraw from the south gate. They made very little noise, fearing that they would be discovered by the northern soldiers.

Seeing Du Yongyuan leading his soldiers away, Gao Yong sighed deeply. Although he had always followed Du Yongyuan and was promoted by him, he still felt uncomfortable being treated as the rearguard.

Du Yongyuan could have led his 200,000 troops to retreat in one go, but he didn't. He was obviously afraid that the northern soldiers would find out and catch up, which would eventually make it impossible for them to escape.

With 100,000 troops covering the rear, even if the Northern army discovers that Du Yongyuan is trying to escape, these 100,000 soldiers can buy Du Yongyuan enough time to escape.

Soon, Du Yongyuan's 100,000-strong army left Ziyang City. However, not long after they left Ziyang City, when they passed through a canyon, deafening cannon fire came from not far away.

Before long, Du Yongyuan and his 100,000-strong army were trapped in the canyon by the Northern Army.

The soldiers were immediately gripped by panic.

When did the northern soldiers run to the back of Ziyang City?

At this moment, Du Yongyuan shouted, "Don't panic! Follow me and charge out!"

At this point, Du Yongyuan drew his sword.

However, at that moment, deafening cannon fire rang out in the distance. In an instant, cannons bombarded the 100,000-strong army from the front and back, raising dust and terrifying the Great Xia soldiers so much that they had no idea where to run.

However, the shelling ended not long afterward. It was clear that the North was using this method to intimidate them and tell them that they had nowhere to escape.

Soon, the shouts of the northern soldiers came from the mountaintop: "Our king has decreed that you are all subjects of the Great Xia. Anyone who abandons his troops and surrenders will be spared, and you may choose whether to return home after the war ends."

Upon hearing this, some soldiers immediately dropped their weapons. Seeing this, Du Yongyuan roared, "No surrender! Anyone who dares to surrender will be killed by this general!"

By this time, no soldiers obeyed Du Yongyuan's orders, and more and more soldiers dropped their weapons.

Seeing that all was lost, Du Yongyuan looked up to the sky and roared, "Your Majesty, it is my incompetence that I failed to defend Ziyang City. I will atone with my death!"

At this point, Du Yongyuan raised his sword and slit his own throat.

Seeing that even Du Yongyuan had committed suicide by cutting his own throat, the soldiers who had originally planned to try to charge had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​resistance.

In the end, all 100,000 soldiers were captured.

at the same time.

Gao Yong also noticed the commotion in the south. Realizing that something was wrong, he quickly sent scouts to investigate, and he himself went to the south city wall.

Not long after, the scouts returned, looking extremely flustered and pale.

Gao Yong quickly asked, "Tell me, what happened!"

A soldier replied, "General Gao was ambushed by the Northern army. Seeing that he could not escape, he committed suicide!"

This……

Gao Yong's face turned deathly pale, and he collapsed weakly to the ground. "How could this be..."

"The Northern army actually circled around to the rear of Ziyang City and laid an ambush..."

Wars in this era mostly required the capture of cities one by one. If cities were not captured, enemy troops inside might escape and cut off supplies. If supplies were cut off, the soldiers fighting on the front lines would likely collapse.

Gao Yong was somewhat surprised that the Northern army did not follow the usual practice and bypassed Ziyang City, instead heading to the rear of the city.

What should we do now...?

The northern army has reached the rear of Ziyang City, which means that Ziyang City has been besieged.

Du Yongyuan had already taken away 100,000 troops, leaving only 100,000 soldiers in Ziyang City. In addition, the city walls of Ziyang City had been breached, and the Northern Kingdom possessed such powerful weapons. Once the Northern Kingdom launched an attack, Ziyang City would have no chance of holding out.

Gao Yong looked dejected and sighed deeply.

At this moment, a soldier from the northern kingdom suddenly appeared below the city gate and shouted, "General Gao, there is a letter on General Du's person here. Please take a look."

Upon seeing that the letter was delivered by soldiers from the northern kingdom, Gao Yong frowned, realizing it was a letter urging surrender.

Gao Yong then had his men bring in the letter from the northern soldiers.

However, when Gao Yong received the letter, he was stunned. It was not a letter urging surrender, but a letter from Du Yongyuan.

What's going on?

Gao Yong then opened the envelope and looked at its contents.

The letter was very simple, telling Gao Yong that if their evacuation failed, they should just surrender, as if Du Yongyuan knew their fate in advance.

Gao Yong sighed deeply again. He had no doubt that the letter was written by someone impersonating Du Yongyuan, after all, Du Yongyuan had told him yesterday that a letter would be sent.

At this moment, Gao Yong asked the northern soldiers from the city wall, "Is General Du really dead?"

The northern soldier replied, "General Gao, General Du has indeed committed suicide."

Having received a definitive answer, Gao Yong stopped struggling and directly told his subordinates, "Raise the white flag!"

Hearing this, the people behind Gao Yong breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that Gao Yong would think of avenging Du Yongyuan and then recklessly fight the Northern Army to the death. They had already prepared to join forces to kill Gao Yong and then surrender.

Since Gao Yong has surrendered voluntarily, there's nothing more to say.

Surrender, their general has already committed suicide anyway.

In the end, Gao Yong led the remaining garrison of Ziyang City out of Ziyang City and surrendered to the Northern Kingdom.

Several hours later.

Lu Chen's study.

Lu Chen sat at his desk, looking at the burly man before him, and said, "General Du, what do you think of my arrangements?"

Du Yongyuan immediately knelt down and said, "Thank you for sparing my life, Your Highness. I am willing to serve you from now on."

Lu Chen continued, "I have already sent people to protect your family. After the news of your suicide reaches the capital, I believe the court will not make things difficult for them. I will bring them to the Northern Kingdom in a while. During this time, you should stay in Anping City and not show your face."

Du Yongyuan continued, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

For Lu Chen, these 200,000 prisoners of the Great Xia Dynasty were still of great use.

In ancient warfare, the most difficult part was not conquering cities, but rather how to defend the conquered land.

After Lu Chen conquers the Qi Kingdom, he will need a large number of soldiers to occupy the conquered cities. If the Northern Kingdom soldiers occupy all those cities, how many people will be left when he arrives in the capital?

Now these 200,000 prisoners will come in handy. He can send people to do ideological work on these 200,000 soldiers and turn them into his own soldiers. He doesn't need these soldiers to be absolutely loyal, since he doesn't plan to distribute the weapons from the North to them so soon anyway.

With the Northern Kingdom's weapons as a deterrent, they dared not easily antagonize the Northern Kingdom. (End of Chapter)