He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Some of the garrison troops inside the city were responsible for guiding Liu Bei's army, while those guarding the city gates simply had to open the gates.

Of course, many officers wanted to fight to the death during this process, but after being taught a lesson by the soldiers' fists and feet, they quickly realized their situation and stopped resisting fiercely.

With several city gates opened, Liu Bei's main force rushed into Jiqiu City, encountering no resistance along the way and smoothly taking over all the important locations within the city. There were some resistances during this process, but they were too scattered to cause any significant trouble.

Meanwhile, the team tasked with capturing Chang Xi was also heading towards one of the biggest objectives of the operation, and soon they arrived at Chang Xi's residence. They burst through the door, and several guards rushed to stop them, but with the help of powerful sleeping pills in their hands, they all fell into a deep sleep from which they would never wake again.

Seeing the crowd surge into the room, Chang Xi, who was putting on his armor, was startled: "What are you doing?! What are you doing?!"

Suddenly, Chang Xi spotted a familiar face in the crowd and exclaimed, "You're here too?! Deputy General Xiao!"

It turned out that in the chaos, Chang Xi's deputy had also mixed into the ranks. Upon hearing this, he blushed and quickly lowered his head, but pointed directly at Chang Xi and said, "That is Chang Xi."

In an instant, Changxi wondered if it was just his imagination, but everyone present seemed to have golden eyes, as if he were not a person, but some rare treasure.

Changxi knew that things could not be resolved peacefully today, so he drew his sword and prepared to fight to the death. Seeing this, the soldiers also raised their weapons and grinned ferociously.

Seeing that the group of Zang Ba's soldiers, who were clueless about the market, seemed about to cause trouble, several of Liu Bei's soldiers quickly warned them, "Brothers, be careful! If you kill them, the bonus will be much less!"

Upon hearing this, the crowd raised their weapons, changing their thrusting spears to downward strikes, causing Changxi to howl in pain as he desperately tried to protect his head and charge into the crowd.

Immediately, a bold soldier stepped forward and delivered a "Asanagi Fist" blow, striking Chang Xi hard in the abdomen. The intense pain caused Chang Xi to curl up like a shrimp, rendering him unable to resist, and he was quickly bound.

"We've caught Changxi!"

Seeing Changxi bound hand and foot, no one continued to resist and laid down their weapons.

Thus, from the moment Liu Bei set out to the capture of Chang Xi, a total of more than ten days had passed. This game between Liu Bei and Zang Ba came to an end, with Liu Bei emerging victorious and Zang Ba receiving a score of only 3.0.

The next day, a scholar came to the camp of Zang Ba's envoy Sun Guan and said to him, "General Sun, our Prefect has arrived, and we can continue the negotiations."

Sun Guan was anxiously awaiting news. The commotion last night had given him a very bad feeling. He asked the scholar, "Then... Jiqiu City..."

The scholar then revealed a proud smile, puffed out his chest, and said arrogantly, "Last night, you all heard the commotion. Jiqiu City has fallen, Chang Xi has been captured, and Deputy General Xiao hope rebelled before the battle. Now, all the garrison troops in the city have also surrendered, and the war is over."

--------

In Kaiyang City, Zang Ba was burning the letters he had exchanged with certain people. As he watched the silk cloths gradually turn to ashes in the flames, Zang Ba's thoughts had already flown out of the city and into Liu Bei's camp.

What is Liu Bei doing right now? Is he celebrating? Or preparing to continue the attack?

Zang Ba then laughed again. These were not things he should be thinking about now. He was out of the game and had no chance to participate in the struggle for hegemony among the feudal lords.

He brushed the dust off his clothes and called over his old comrades who were still by his side.

"It's my own fault that I've come to this point. I'm where I am today because I always wanted the best outcome and wanted to take advantage of everything. But there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Zang Ba looked at his old brothers beside him and said, "Brothers, there's no need to be dissatisfied. This is not the defeat of the Taishan Army, but my personal defeat."

Yin Li and the others were speechless. Zang Ba indeed harbored his own ambitions and wanted to climb higher; at the same time, he was doing his best to help everyone find a way out. His constant maneuvering was all for the sake of having a stable place to live in this chaotic world. Now that things had come to this, the Taishan generals' dream of separatist rule had to end.

"You guys should inform Sun Guan that as long as the conditions aren't too outrageous and he doesn't chop off the brothers' heads, he can probably agree."

Unlike the somber and mournful atmosphere in Kaiyang, Xiapi, Tanxian and other places were filled with a joyful atmosphere.

Liu Shijun won another victory in Xuzhou. As for why it was fought on Xuzhou's own territory? Don't ask me that.

The people of Xuzhou were eager for victory not only because they admired Liu Bei as their ruler, but also because, according to Liu Bei's custom, a victory would be followed by generous rewards. This would mean the soldiers' families would have money to spend, and the merchants would also benefit. The entire Xuzhou would reap the rewards of the war, so naturally, they strongly supported Liu Bei's campaign.

Some people were still whispering among themselves, thinking that Liu Bei was too kind and should have just started a war against everyone around him, beheading people everywhere, so that his family could become rich from all those heads.

Of course, with the common people so happy, Liu Bei was naturally even happier.

During negotiations with Sun Guan, all the generals of Mount Tai surrendered, relinquished all military power, and retained only the most basic private army. All the cities controlled by Zang Ba were handed over to Liu Bei. All the generals of Mount Tai would immediately rise and come to Jiqiu to await Liu Bei's decision.

After this battle, he would essentially have one and a half commanderies under his control. This includes Langya Commandery and most of Taishan Commandery. Langya Commandery, needless to say, is a wealthy and prosperous place. Although Taishan Commandery was under the jurisdiction of Cao Cao, the governor of Yanzhou, most of it had broken away from Cao Cao's control due to Lü Bu's previous attack and was now cozying up to Zang Ba and others.

Even after Cao Cao recaptured Yanzhou, the only territory he could control in Taishan Commandery was the plains in the northwest corner. Although this part was the essence of Taishan Commandery, Liu Bei valued the other mountainous areas more, especially the three cities in the Wushui River basin: Nanwuyang City, Fei County, and Hua County.

If Cao Cao wanted to attack from the north of Xuzhou, he would have to either follow this route, attack through Lu, or simply bypass it from Qingzhou. Now that Liu Bei controls these strategic locations, the northern defense line is complete. Unless a major warlord like Yuan Shao attacks, he won't be able to penetrate Xuzhou.

From an economic perspective, controlling these two counties also brought a large amount of resources, and these resources all had supporting infrastructure, such as cultivated fields and built mines, which Liu Bei's people could start using immediately.