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Cao's army went south again, Zhang Yun surrendered, Cao's army cavalry drank horses on the Han River. For a moment, Xiangyang was shocked and the people were in turmoil. Tens of thousands of people flocked out of the city and fled towards Jiangxia.

In order to prevent the situation from getting out of control, Cai Mao ordered Xiangyang City to close the gates and prevent people from fleeing. However, people living outside the city and counties still fled on a large scale, setting off a second wave of refugees after Cao's army headed south.

In the prefectural yamen meeting hall, Cai Mao urgently summoned important officials in Xiangyang to discuss countermeasures. At this time, there was a division in Xiangyang County. The Xiangyang County Magistrate Wang Ji and the army Pang Ji had already defected to Nanjun. However, to Cai Mao's surprise, Deng Yi did not leave during the administration and remained in Xiangyang.

In the lobby, in addition to Cai Mao, there were Kuai Yue, Han Song, Deng Yi, Li Gui, Chen Zhen and others. Everyone had a very serious expression. Cai Mao sighed and said to everyone: "You have also seen the current situation. Prime Minister Cao led a large army, Zhang Yun has surrendered, the people's hearts are in turmoil, the army's morale is unstable, and Xiangyang is in a predicament. If we do not surrender to Prime Minister Cao, we will be defeated by Jiangxia and Jiangling sooner or later. Since this is the case, it is better to surrender to the court early, and everyone can plan a future."

Speaking of this, Cai Mao took out a letter, Yang Yang, and said to everyone: "This is a handwritten letter written to me by Prime Minister Cao. The letter is very clear. As long as we surrender, we will not only guarantee our current status, but will also be further promoted in the future, and will be awarded the title and glorious of the ancestors. I hope you can advance and retreat with me."

There was silence in the lobby. Although this decision was expected by everyone, when it really came, everyone felt it was difficult to accept it. After all, they could not explain to Liu Biao who had died soon.

At this time, Kuai Yue pondered for a while and asked: "I don't know what kind of state the governor of the state is?"

Although Kuai Yue asked implicitly, the old official gangsters in the lobby immediately reacted that as long as Liu Cong surrendered, they surrendered with Liu Cong, with no hindrance to their reputation and benefited from it.

Cai Mao was a little hesitant. This was Liu Cong who took on moral responsibility. Although there was no pressure on Kuai Yue to propose this plan, Liu Cong was his nominal son-in-law after all. Not to mention the relationship between a father-in-law and son-in-law, at least the support and use over the years made him feel a little guilty towards Liu Cong.

Everyone saw Cai Mao’s hesitation, and Han Song added with a smile: “He is our lord, of course he should have decided to surrender to Cao. Degui will persuade him.”

Everyone responded one after another, and Li Gui also smiled and said, "More importantly, Prime Minister Cao hopes that the provincial governor will surrender, and I also suggest that the military advisors go and persuade the provincial governors."

Li Gui is Cai Mao's confidant, and even he agrees to encourage Liu Cong to surrender, and Cai Mao has no choice but to do anything. In fact, Liu Cong's surrender is not good for him.

Thinking of this, Cai Mao nodded, "Since everyone thinks so, then I'll talk to him and try to convince him to see the situation clearly."

Seeing everyone's faces showing excitement, Cai Mao couldn't help but curse: "A group of cunning guys."

.........

"I don't want to surrender. If you want to surrender, you will surrender, don't even think about my idea."

In the room, Liu Cong clenched his fists and shouted loudly at Cai Mao, his face flushed, his expression and eyes seemed to be an angry beast, "My father's body is not cold, you are going to surrender. Are you worthy of his father's entrustment?"

Liu Cong's angry scolding made Cai Mao a little angry. He squinted his eyes and said coldly: "There is nothing sorry. Your father did not entrust his orphan before his death. Even if he entrusts his orphan, he would not entrust you."

"you"

Liu Cong took a step back, and the huge humiliation made him feel ashamed. He stared at Cai Mao tightly, and after a while, a sentence burst out from his teeth, "Despicable"

Cai Mao looked at him with some pity. He knew that Liu Cong had already understood his identity. He was just a puppet and could not have his own ideas. He was the master who manipulated him. He asked him to surrender, but he actually dared to bargain.

Liu Cong turned around and walked back to his house. Suddenly, a faint green thing was thrown out of the house. With a bang, a corner was broken. The wrapped satin spread out, and it turned out to be Liu Cong's seal of the provincial governor. Cai Mao was stunned and looked into the house with anger.

Liu Cong appeared at the door and said coldly: "Aren't you going to be the scapegoat of the state governor? You just find a beggar on the street and let him be the state governor. Anyway, I won't play with you anymore. If you want to kill or cut it, you will be as good as you."

"You bastard"

Cai Mao jumped violently, he clenched his fists and rushed up to beat Liu Cong. At this time, Mrs. Cai appeared. She glanced at the treasure seal on the ground, stopped her brother and smiled, "It's nothing big, brother, go first, let me persuade him."

Cai Mao glared at Liu Cong fiercely, turned around and rushed away angrily. Mrs. Cai winked at the two maids behind her, and the two maids also retreated.

Mrs. Cai then slowly walked into the house, but Liu Cong turned his back to her, and his tone was as cold as ice, "I know what you want to say, I'm no longer afraid of anything you want to say. Just go and say it, it's too late to apologize."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Mrs. Cai walked behind him and sat down, smiling and said, "Surrendering to Cao Cao is actually a chance for you. I don't believe that you have always been willing to be a puppet. If you surrendering to Cao Cao, you may be free. Can't you think of it?"

"What did you say"

Liu Cong slowly turned around and stared at Mrs. Cai in surprise, "I don't understand what you mean."

"Cong'er, listen to me, calm down first."

Mrs. Cai's tone was very gentle. She rarely spoke to Liu Cong like this. "I know you don't want to surrender to Cao Cao because you feel guilty and lost your father's foundation. I can understand it, but in fact, you are not the governor of Jingzhou. Whether it is your father's intention or reality, Jingzhou's governor is Liu Jing. The court has already recognized him. You are not even the guardian of Xiangyang now."

Liu Cong lowered his head and said nothing. Mrs. Cai really knew this child. Although she was not her own child, she knew him better than her own child.

She knew that Liu Cong's personality weaknesses, inferiority, cowardice, timidity, and lack of opinion. His superficial toughness was just a layer of shell. As long as he broke this layer of shell, he could only let others squeeze it.

What she has to do now is to find the weakest part and break his shell. Mrs. Cai knows more than anyone else where the weakest part of this shell is.

"Cong'er, in fact, the military advisors can completely put aside you. You are not the governor of Jingzhou. It doesn't matter whether you surrender or not. But if you really do this, do you think of your own result and you have nothing left and no place to go. Maybe someone will think of you as the first lord and give you a bite of food. Is this kind of life what you want?"

Liu Cong sighed softly. The shell in his heart had been cracked. He hugged his head with both hands, pulled his hair hard, muttering something in his mouth. Although he was vague, Mrs. Cai understood. He was talking about what I should do.

"Think about it yourself. Now the military advisors are taking you as their lord. They negotiate with Cao Cao in front of Jingzhou. Whether you are the real governor of Jingzhou or not, Cao Cao will treat you well. At least your official position will not be lost. In that case, will you be completely free from the current position of this puppet?"

Liu Cong suddenly raised his head and stared at Mrs. Cai with wide eyes, "Why do you want to help me? What's the benefit for you?"

Mrs. Cai smiled indifferently, "After all, I am still your nominal mother, and I want to give your father an explanation. Since your position as the governor of the state can't be satisfactory, at least you will have a good result, and I am worthy of your father."

Speaking of this, the shell wrapped in Liu Cong's heart was finally knocked open. Liu Cong nodded silently, "Okay, I'll follow your arrangements."

...........

In the afternoon, Li Gui crossed the river by boat and arrived at Fancheng Camp. He formally submitted a surrender letter to Cao Cao. In the tent, Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and read the surrender letter, and smiled at Li Gui, "You have done a good job over the years, thank you for your hard work."

Li Gui knelt down and shed tears and said, "I will serve the Prime Minister, and I will never refuse to die."

Cao Cao comforted him with kind words, and then asked him to sit down, and then turned the topic to what he was concerned about, "I want to know how much food and how many troops there are in Xiangyang."

"Report to the Prime Minister, there are about 200,000 stones of grain in the Xiangyang warehouse, with 15,000 troops and more than 1,000 war horses, of which 10,000 troops were stationed in Jiangbei, 10,000 troops were stationed near Jiangxia, and 10,000 troops were stationed near Nanjun. Then there are 5,000 people in Xiangyang City, and there are no troops in Fangling County."

Cao Cao nodded and asked again: "How much wood is there for building warships? I know you don't have warships, but there should be wood for building ships."

Li Gui showed shame on his face, "We didn't expect the Prime Minister to go south this year, so we made a deal with Jiangxia and exchanged the warehouse wood and Jiangxia for Jiangbei land. Now most of the wood is now."

Before he could finish speaking, Cao Cao interrupted him impatiently, "I know these, I just want to know how much is left now."

"There are about ten thousand giant trees that can build dozens of thousand-stone warships."

Cao Cao was really unhappy. This was like Jiangxia County had not left any useful resources for him. What else could he use for them?

But he had no choice but to comfort him: "I understand. My army will officially cross the river tonight. You can prepare the ferry in advance and accept the surrender tomorrow morning. I will tell Gong Cong and Military Advisor Cai that I will not treat them unfairly."

Lee Kyu was overjoyed, "I will go back and tell them to prepare for a grand welcome ceremony."

"No need to be Shanda, keep a low profile"

Cao Cao suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. After all, Liu Cong was not the real governor of Jingzhou. If Liu Jing surrendered tomorrow, it would be necessary to hold a grand welcome ceremony. What a pity.

Li Gui was stunned for a moment, and he suddenly understood a little and quickly said goodbye.

Cao Cao walked to the account with his hands behind his back, looking into the southeast from afar, Jiang Xia there. He remembered what Liu Jing said. Liu Jing said he was looking forward to a battle with him on the Yangtze River. In fact, he was also looking forward to Liu Jing surrendering to him in the end. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, but he knew that at least he would have to wait next year.

.........

There were closest ships in Xiangyang and the newly built ferry. Cao's army crossed the river overnight. The next morning, nearly 20,000 troops crossed the Han River, and Cao Cao also crossed the river. He rode on the war horse and slowly sailed towards Xiangyang City surrounded by thousands of soldiers.

At the gate of Xiangyang, Liu Cong led dozens of Xiangyang officials, including Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, and dozens of Xiangyang officials, who had been waiting for a long time. He had a large seal and a ribbon hanging around his neck, and was silently waiting for the last moment.

When Cao Cao's army approached, Liu Cong knelt down and said tremblingly: "The criminal Liu Cong bowed to the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty."

"Keep the Prime Minister"
Chapter completed!