Chapter 197: Chen Guo’s loneliness

On April 20, the 15th year of Qianyuan, the Deng army occupied Runan County in full. In response to the request of the Wei army, after occupying the entire county of Runan County, Xue Rengui recalled all his troops back to Pingyu City.

On April 25, the 15th year of Qianyuan, Xue Rengui stayed at Gao Siji, and Wu Yun summoned two troops to stay in Runan, leading more than 20,000 troops. Generals Wang Yanzhang and Li Cunxiao went north to Chencheng.

Since the main forces of the Chen army were all on the Xinping and Ningping front line, and there were no troops stationed in the southern part of Chen County, Xue Rengui led the Deng army to march straight into the city on the 28th.

At this time, Chencheng had only two thousand soldiers, and most of them were new recruits who had never been on the battlefield. As soon as Deng's army arrived, the whole Chencheng was in chaos.

After Xue Rengui arrived in Chencheng, he did not attack the city as soon as possible. Instead, he sent Xun You into the city to persuade him to surrender. Now all the main forces of the Chen army are fighting with the Wei army on the northern front and cannot retreat at all. Even if he can retreat unscathed, he cannot save Chencheng. Therefore, the Chen State now has no hope.

In the palace of King Chen, King Chen sent people to summon Xie Xun back to defense immediately before Deng's army ended. However, due to the restraint of the Wei army, Xie Xun was unable to evacuate Xinping and Ningping. After Deng's army besieged the city, King Chen summoned all civil and military officials to the palace to discuss matters, but except for the prime minister Pei Xing, Zong Zheng Chen Tai, and the son-in-law Yuan Zheng, all other ministers were absent.

King Chen looked at the few people in the hall and felt a sense of desolation. The country was in trouble and thought about loyal ministers. When Chen State was prosperous, people were rushing in this hall, especially after the Central Plains War, Chen State followed Qi, Chu and Deng to fight against the Central Plains War. In Wei and Zhao, everyone thought that King Chen was the lord of Zhongxing, but now in just a few years, Chen State has reached the end.

Xun You walked into the hall and saw King Chen sitting on the throne. He saluted: "Foreign minister Xun You pays homage to King Chen!"

"There is no need to be too polite to the Lord. Now that the two countries are fighting, I don't know what the Lord will do to see me?" King Chen was not in the mood to be polite with Xun You, but asked him directly about the purpose of his visit today.

Xun You smiled and said, "Go back to King Chen, now our army is at the city, and there is no soldiers to defend Chencheng. However, General Xue is unwilling to attack for the sake of the people of Chencheng, so he sent foreign ministers to come, hoping that King Chen can follow the times and open the city to surrender, so that the people of Chencheng can avoid the murder of war!"

"Hmph!" King Chen saw Xun You's expression of calmness and said dissatisfied: "What's the point of Zun Jia? I'm in Xinping, and there are still tens of thousands of elite troops in Ningping. As long as Chen Cheng can persevere until General Xie returns, Zun Jia thinks that your army can break through Chen Cheng with only 20,000 or 30,000 troops?"

Xun You couldn't help laughing when he heard that King Chen was still stubborn, shook his head and said, "Why should King Chen deceive himself? If General Xie can really return to the rescue, why should he wait until today? And with the group of old, weak, sick and disabled in Chen City, how can he withstand the tens of thousands of lions in our army? I hope King Chen can recognize the facts and think about the people of Chen City and the ancestral temple of the State of Chen State. Don't mislead yourself. General Xue said that he will wait for you for three days. Three days later, if King Chen refuses to open the city to surrender, our army will forcibly attack the city. At that time, life will be devastated and blood flows into a river. I hope King Chen will think three days."

After saying that, Xun You walked out of the hall with a swagger under the angry eyes of the king and ministers of Chen State.

After Xun You left, King Chen sat on the throne weakly and his eyes were closed, and he remained silent for a long time.

Pei Xing, Chen Tai and Yuan Zheng below all looked at King Chen with expectant eyes. Today, the few people who came here have shown their loyalty to Chen State, but loyalty is loyal, but they are all human beings and have selfish intentions. Although they are all willing to sacrifice their lives for Chen State, they are all people with families and families, and they have to think about their families. If they can live without death, who would think about dying? So they all hope that King Chen can open the city.

After a long time, King Chen said, "You all go down first, let me think about it carefully."

"Yes! I'm going to leave!" After that, the few people left the hall.

After Pei Xing and others left, King Chen came to the Taimiao of Chen State alone. King Chen knelt in front of the throne of the kings of Chen State for generations and murmured: "The ancestors are above, and the unworthy descendants Chen Yao have come to apologize to you. You hand over the country and country of Da Chen to Chen Yao, but Chen Yao did not keep it. Today, Da Chen finally reached the last moment. Chen Yao did not want to surrender. I also want to be like the King of Hunan to die in the country. But I cannot be so selfish and cannot take the people of Da Chen to bury me with me, so I can only choose to let my ancestors down. I hope that my ancestors and ancestors will understand. When Chen Yao will apologize to you in person in the future."

In the next two days, King Chen stayed alone in Taimiao and refused to see anyone, which made the civil and military ministers of Chen very anxious. Seeing that the three-day period given by Deng was about to arrive, but whether it was a war or a surrender, King Chen did not have a clear letter yet. How could they not be in a hurry? They also went to Taimiao several times to ask for the King Chen, but no one in Chen saw him, and they had no choice.

Just as everyone was anxious, King Chen issued an order from the Taimiao. Tomorrow morning, the city would surrender. When everyone received the order, they were relieved and they would not have to die now.

On the first day of the fifth month of the 15th year of Qianyuan, early in the morning, when Xue Rengui led his troops to the city of Chencheng, King Chen had already held the seal of King Chen and led all the civil and military officials of Chen to kneel at the gate of the city, waiting for Xue Rengui's army to arrive.

When Xue Rengui saw this scene, he turned over and dismounted, and brought Wang Yanzhang and Li Cunxiao to King Chen.

When King Chen saw Xue Rengui, he lowered his head and said, "General Xue Rengui is above. The criminal Chen Yao did not know the time of heaven, and he wanted to fight against the heavenly soldiers. Fortunately, the general was kind-hearted, which finally made Chen Yao wake up. Today, he specially presented the seal of King Chen and the yellow population book to surrender to the general. I hope the general will be grateful."

Xue Rengui walked forward, helped King Chen up, and said with a smile: "The king was able to judge the situation, think about the people of Chencheng, and abandon the country. Xue Rengui admired him very much. This general here guarantees the king that after our army enters the city, we will definitely not be in trouble and ensure the safety of the people of Chencheng's value and property."

After saying that, Xue Rengui took the seal of King Chen from King Chen, and then took the yellow list of Chen's population from Prince Pei Xing, and then appeased the king and minister of Chen, and led a large army into the city.

After entering Chencheng, Xue Rengui took over the Chen treasury and Chencheng treasury under the guidance of the king and ministers of Chenguo. After careful calculation, Xue Rengui realized that he had made a lot of money and food that had accumulated over the years of Chenguo's accumulation was enough for ten years for Deng's troops to eat. Even in wartime, he could eat for five years, which was enough to support Deng's country to start an unprecedented war.

After King Chen wrote to Xie Xun and Ren Ping surrendered to the Wei army, Xue Rengui sent someone to escort King Chen and the civil and military ministers of Chen State and their families, as well as the gold, silver, treasures, food, grass and weapons from Chen State to Wancheng.

In fact, Xue Rengui had thought of accepting all the Chen army on Xinping and Ningping front lines. In this way, Deng's strength could reach a higher level and even form another guard. However, under Xun You's persuasion, he decided to leave these Chen army soldiers to the Wei army. Because this time, Deng not only took over Runan, a large county in the Central Plains, but also obtained the wealth accumulated by Chen State for many years. If these troops were taken over, Wei State would turn its back on it.

However, the troops could be given to the Wei State, but Xie Xun and Ren Ping, as the commander of the Chen army, were ordered by King Chen to return to Chencheng and join Deng's army at the instruction of Xue Rengui. In order to prevent Xie Xun and Ren Ping from disagreeing, Xue Rengui took their families to Wancheng together with the decision.
Chapter completed!