Three Kingdoms: Start by buying a governor.

Liu Ce reined in his horse, frowning as he looked at the scene.

Lu Bing had been waiting there for a while. When he saw him return, he quickly stepped forward and reported, "My lord, these people have been waiting for three or four days. They are all leaders of small and medium-sized Xianbei tribes. They heard that the major tribes had been wiped out, and they were terrified and came to surrender."

Liu Ce glanced at it.

Good heavens, there were at least tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, thousands of horses, and their hides piled up like small mountains.

There were also various crude gold and silver artifacts, bone carvings, leather goods...

Although it wasn't worth much money, the attitude was right.

An elderly Xianbei man, the oldest among them, stepped forward shakily and cried out in broken Chinese, "Your Excellency, the Champion Marquis of the Great Han! We, a small Xianbei tribe, are willing to submit to the Great Han, pay tribute, and come to court every year, never to rebel again! We only beg Your Excellency to spare our lives!"

As he spoke, he knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly.

Hundreds of people followed suit and knelt down, the sound of their kowtowing echoing like drums.

Liu Ce sneered, "If you had just behaved yourself earlier, things wouldn't have come to this."

Everyone heard it clearly.

The Xianbei people trembled with fear and kowtowed even louder.

"Champion Marquis, spare my life! Champion Marquis, spare my life!"

"We will never dare to do it again!"

"We beg the Marquis of Champions for mercy!"

Liu Ce looked at them for a while before slowly saying, "Send your representatives to Luoyang with my men to personally plead guilty to His Majesty. If His Majesty is merciful and spares your lives, then you should behave yourselves and not harbor any more evil thoughts."

That's a clever way of putting it—it's like passing the buck to Liu Hong.

Anyway, he's done everything he was supposed to do. How to deal with these surrendered tribes is a headache for the imperial court.

"Thank you, Marquis Champion! Thank you, Marquis Champion!"

The Xianbei people were overjoyed, as if they had been granted a pardon.

Liu Ce waved his hand and said to Lu Bing, "Make arrangements. Have them send a few representatives back to Zhuoxian to wait. Once the situation with Goguryeo is resolved, send them all to Luoyang."

"yes!"

Liu Ce then asked, "How's it going on in Goguryeo?"

Lu Bing laughed and said, "I was just about to report to the lord. General Xue has penetrated deep into Goguryeo, defeated the Goguryeo army, and conquered most of the territory. He is now besieging the capital, Gungnae. Chief Minister Guo and Chief Clerk Xi used some 'tricks,' and I estimate they will break through the city soon."

Liu Ce nodded and said, "Good, that's fast enough!"

He immediately ordered: "The entire army will not rest, turn immediately, and head for Goguryeo!"

"My lord, the soldiers have just returned from a long march..." Xu Da reminded him.

"It's alright, we can rest when we get to Goguryeo," Liu Ce laughed. "Anyway, Xue Rengui is besieging the city but not attacking, so let's go join in the fun and put some more pressure on the King of Goguryeo."

Lu Bing said with some surprise, "General Xue should be able to handle it..."

Liu Ce laughed and said, "After all, it's a victory for conquering a country, so I have to show my face. Besides, the soldiers have worked so hard for so long, I have to go and celebrate their victory in person."

Lu Bing understood—his lord was going to wrap things up and, incidentally, firmly grasp the credit.

That makes sense, though. It wouldn't make sense for the commander-in-chief not to be present during a war that destroys a nation.

...

A week later, inside and outside the city of Goguryeo.

Xue Rengui has been staking out this place for over a month.

The city walls were made of rammed earth and were very thick; a direct assault would certainly result in heavy casualties.

Therefore, Xue Rengui strictly followed Liu Ce's orders: surround without attacking, cut off supplies and reinforcements, and win hearts and minds.

The Han army camp outside the city was heavily fortified, complete with trenches, barricades, and arrow towers.

The soldiers patrolled in shifts, and smoke rose from the cooking fires every day—deliberately for the city to see, to show that we had plenty of food and could slowly wear them down.

The situation in the city is dire.

After a week without food, the people started gnawing on tree bark, the soldiers were too hungry to draw their bows, and even the warhorses were slaughtered for meat.

The palace can barely hold on, but it won't last long.

That day, Xue Rengui was playing chess in the camp with Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai—actually, he was watching the two strategists play and trying to learn a few moves himself.

Suddenly, a personal guard came to report: "General! The lord has arrived! He's outside the camp!"

Xue Rengui jumped to his feet, his white robe fluttering, and shouted, "Quickly! Go out and greet them!"

Outside the camp gate, Liu Ce arrived in a grand procession with over ten thousand cavalry.

Xue Rengui, accompanied by generals Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and others, hurried forward, bowing respectfully: "My lord! You've finally arrived!"

Liu Ce dismounted and patted Xue Rengui on the shoulder with a smile: "You've worked hard, Rengui. How's the situation in the city?"

"Thanks to my lord!" Xue Rengui straightened up, his tone relaxed. "The city walls here are thick, and the rammed earth is solid. A direct attack would result in too many losses. So, as you instructed, we will surround the city without attacking."

He pointed to the city wall and said, "We've been besieging it for over a month, and the city has long since run out of food. I heard that the people have started eating tree bark, and the soldiers are so hungry they can't even draw their bows. Half of the eunuchs and maids in the palace have run away, and the ministers are in a huge uproar."

Liu Ce listened with great interest: "What dirty tricks have those two lads, Fengxiao and Zhicai, come up with this time?"

"There are many."

Xue Rengui counted on his fingers: "The first move was to cut off food and reinforcements. The city was surrounded like an iron barrel; not even a bird could fly in. The second move was to spread rumors. We sent in the Imperial Guards to spread the word that the King was going to abandon the city and flee, making the soldiers take the blame—the inner court was in an uproar. The third move was to bribe an inside man. We secretly bribed several palace eunuchs and the captains guarding the city gates; now, we're just waiting for the signal!"

He paused, then added, "Chief Guo has calculated that at most, we'll surround the city for another week. Without losing a single soldier, the city will descend into chaos on its own."

Liu Ce laughed heartily and said, "Good! Let's do it your way. No rush, we can take our time. We have plenty of supplies, we can afford to wait."

He looked at Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and the others and said, "Brothers, you must be feeling cooped up for over a month, right?"

Zhang Fei grinned and said, "That's right, brother! I've been staring at the city walls every day, itching to get my hands on them! If Rengui hadn't stopped me, I would have rushed in long ago!"

Guan Yu stroked his beard and said, "Third brother, don't worry, your elder brother has a plan."

Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, and others also gathered around, reporting the battle situation in their own words.

In short: Goguryeo was already trapped and could be taken down at any time.

Liu Ce was very satisfied and ordered, "The entire army should set up camp and rest well. Wait for the signal from the city."

...

At the same time, inside the royal palace in the domestic city, the atmosphere had become extremely oppressive.

Gao Nanwu sat on the throne—if you could even call that "sitting."

He slumped in the chair, his face ashen, his eyes sunken, looking like a consumptive.

Since being besieged, he hasn't had a good night's sleep and lives in constant fear.

They feared the Han army attacking the city, their subordinates rebelling, and the people rising up in rebellion.

The ministers below were all dejected, looking like wilted eggplants.

Suddenly, a soldier stumbled in, his voice trembling with tears: "Your Majesty! Something terrible has happened! More than ten thousand Han cavalry have arrived outside the city! Their banners bear the name 'Liu,' it must be Liu Ce! He has come in person!"

"Thump!"

Gao Nanwu was so frightened that he slid off the throne and fell to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

"Liu Ce... Liu Ce is here?" he muttered to himself, like chanting a mantra. "He even wiped out 80,000 Xianbei cavalry... Was I out of my mind? Why did I agree to go with the Xianbei to seize Youzhou..."