Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 389: 140,000 men laid down their arms, and not one of them was a true man!

"Meng Chang is quite an interesting person."

Outside Chengdu, Lin Dao pointed to the tall and majestic city wall and said, "Planting so many hibiscus flowers on such a beautiful city wall, it is quite lovely."

The generals around him all laughed, and the echoing laughter made the soldiers guarding the city wall feel uneasy.

Chengdu is called Rongcheng, which originated from Meng Chang's personal preference.

He planted hibiscus flowers all over the city walls of Chengdu, and from then on Chengdu was called Rongcheng (Hibiscus City).

"These flowers."

Lin Dao smiled and instructed, "Don't damage it after entering the city; it's quite beautiful."

One of the generals asked in bewilderment, "Commander-in-Chief, you can't afford to worry about these flowers and grasses when you're attacking a city."

“I don’t think we need to attack the city,” Lin Dao said. “A letter of persuasion to surrender might be enough for Meng Chang to come out of the city and surrender on his own initiative.”

This is not because he was overly optimistic, but because there is historical evidence to support it.

Nine years later in history, Zhao Kuangyin dispatched a large army to attack the Shu Kingdom.

Then Meng Chang surrendered after resisting for sixty-six days.

At that time, the Shu Kingdom still had 140,000 soldiers, which is why Lady Huarui has a famous saying that has been passed down through the ages.

'One hundred and forty thousand men laid down their arms; not a single one of them was a true man!'

Compared to the environment at that time, Meng Chang was in a much worse situation now.

Lin Dao's army directly approached the city of Chengdu, which was poorly defended.

Recalling the records in historical books, Lin Dao was slightly moved.

"I've heard that there's a talented woman in Meng Chang's palace named Lady Huarui. Are you all aware of her?"

Shi Shouxin and the others immediately understood the implied meaning from the sound of the strings.

They all expressed their intention to find this woman once they entered Chengdu, so that the Commander-in-Chief could assess her talent and thoroughly examine whether she was truly a talented woman.

Lin Dao sent a letter urging surrender, but there was no response from within the city.

After waiting for a long time without any movement, Lin Dao thought for a moment and gave instructions to his generals.

“Each of them went to the surrounding villages and towns to hire people to cut down trees and make siege weapons.”

“Wang Shenqi, you lead your troops, hang tree branches on the tails of your horses, and come into the camp from the north.”

"After leaving the camp, go around to the north and come back again, and repeat this process."

"Each unit set up camps and planted flags everywhere."

"Keep the drums and bugles going!"

After a moment's thought, he understood Meng Chang's thoughts; he was hesitant.

Since that's the case, then let's take the initiative to help him make a decision.

All the previous arrangements were intended to mislead the garrison, making Meng Chang believe that the main force of the Zhou army was gradually arriving.

Meanwhile, all the other parts of Shu had lost the opportunity to send reinforcements.

This put immense psychological pressure on Meng Chang, forcing him to surrender.

After taking one last look at the beautiful hibiscus flowers covering the walls of Chengdu, Lin Dao rode his horse back to camp.

He will send another letter urging surrender into the city early tomorrow morning.

This letter will be extremely harsh in its language, filled with threats.

At the same time, Meng Chang was required to surrender before nightfall, otherwise, once the city was breached, not a single person would be spared!

Disguise and intimidation are useless against people with strong wills.

But it has a huge effect on the weak.

Meng Chang was essentially similar to Liu Shan, except that he was more talented.

However, in terms of personality, he is still weak and easily bullied.

Since he can be bullied, then we should bully him as much as possible!

The next morning, Meng Chang, who hadn't slept all night, shook his head, wanting to pick up the exquisite porcelain bowl in front of him and eat something.

But the letter Lin Dao sent made him lose his appetite instantly.

The menacing and threatening words in the letter brought Meng Chang to tears.

"How could this be? How did it come about?"

"Could Zhou Jun possibly fly?"

"Where is my army?"

"Where are my trusted confidants?"

Even now, Meng Chang still couldn't figure out how Zhou Jun had suddenly appeared outside Chengdu.

What has become of the cities and lands of the Shu Kingdom in the north?

He knew nothing but that large numbers of Zhou troops were arriving.

Previously, in order to deal with Zhao Kuangyin's fierce attack on Qin and Feng, Meng Chang had appointed Wang Zhaoyuan, Zhao Yantao and others as generals to lead the mobile forces of Shu to rush to the aid.

At this time, there were only a mere 20,000 troops defending Chengdu.

This small force terrified Meng Chang, who couldn't believe he could defend the city.

"Not even a chicken or a dog should be spared?"

With a deathly pale face, Meng Chang put down the letter with trembling hands.

"I remember that when the Han Dynasty fell, Jinyang was also massacred by that traitor Chai Rong."

"If Chengdu also suffers such a calamity, it will all be my fault."

After hesitating for a while, Meng Chang asked the eunuch.

"What are the officials and military officers in the court saying?"

"Your Majesty," a trusted eunuch bowed and reported, "some believe the city cannot be defended, and there is no news from the troops far away. They should surrender."

"General Shi Jun said that the force outside the city was just a surprise force, which came looking for a way, just like Deng Ai did back then."

"We can hold out. We just need to wait for the troops outside to return, and we can defeat the enemy."

The lack of consensus among the civil and military officials in the court further confused and troubled the indecisive Meng Chang.

He sighed, "The Yinping Ancient Road is heavily guarded. How could the Zhou army possibly repeat the events of the Shu Han period?"

"It must be because the garrison troops along the way either surrendered or were defeated that the Zhou army was able to reach this place."

Panicked and disoriented, Meng Chang did not believe that the Zhou army had sneaked in, but thought it must be the result of the complete collapse of various places in the north.

Given this, continuing to hold on is pointless.

In his heart, he was already inclined to surrender.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Chai Rong and Zhao Kuangyin's main opponents were both weaklings.

Figures like Meng Chang, Li Jing of the Southern Tang, Qian Chu, the King of Wuyue, and even Liu Jiyuan of the Northern Han all ended in surrender.

These people may be talented, but they lack the toughness of true men. At noon, clinging to a last shred of hope, Meng Chang personally climbed the city wall.

I used to love the hibiscus flowers that covered the city walls, but now I have no interest in them at all.

Meng Chang looked out with trembling hands.

As far as the eye could see, there were countless Zhou army camps outside the city.

Countless soldiers and horses galloped back and forth, their drums and horns resounding throughout the heavens and earth.

His gaze turned to the north, where he saw a large army bearing the banners of the Zhou army, raising clouds of dust that blotted out the sky, rushing in relentlessly.

When he saw the siege equipment that was beginning to take shape, his last bit of luck was shattered.

"Can't keep it."

Meng Chang sighed and shook his head. "It's impossible to protect it."

After descending the city wall and returning to the palace, Meng Chang sat in a daze for the entire afternoon.

It wasn't until dusk that the hunger in his stomach brought him back to his senses.

"Quickly, summon the prime minister to an audience."

Li Hao, the prime minister of Shu, hurriedly arrived at the palace.

Meng Chang didn't waste any words, he only said one sentence.

"Write downgrade form~"

Li Hao was a civil official who compiled the "Veritable Records," so his literary talent was naturally outstanding.

The surrender document was written in hundreds of words, full of quotations and brilliant writing.

Moreover, his handwriting is very beautiful.

After the surrender document was written, Meng Chang took out his official seal and stamped it.

Li Hao personally led the surrender document through the city gates to Lin Dao's camp.

Lin Dao, who had been waiting for the city to surrender, was wondering if Meng Chang had changed his ways and was now so tough.
He was even planning to drive an excavator over and tear down the city walls of Chengdu.

Fortunately, the price reduction finally came.

When Li Hao entered the military camp, all he saw were burly soldiers, each one exuding murderous intent, their fierce eyes seeming to want to devour someone.

The new recruits selected by Lin Dao for the Palace Guard were, apart from the men he brought back from the Northern Han, good men from various prefectures and counties in the Central Plains.

"Good family background" refers to one's family background and environment, not that the person is inherently kind.

Even the kindest person can become ruthless after undergoing rigorous training and experiencing brutal battles on the battlefield.

Those who couldn't be fierce would have died long ago.

At this moment, when the soldiers were filled with murderous intent, Li Hao, who was good at writing, was so frightened that he lowered his head and trembled.

The more he acted this way, the more the soldiers felt he was weak and easily bullied, and their eyes widened even more.

This applies to individuals, and it also applies to nations.

The Song Dynasty was weak, so the Tanguts, Khitans, Jurchens, Mongols, and others all wanted to trample on them, preferably to kill them.

The Han and Tang dynasties were not weak; even when they were on the verge of collapse, no one dared to bully them.

Li Hao, trembling with fear, entered Lin Dao's tent without daring to raise his head, and immediately performed a deep salute.

They presented the surrender document with both hands and confessed their guilt.

I took the table and opened it to read.

Lin Dao wanted to roll his eyes at those hundreds of words.

Of course he could understand it, but precisely because he could understand it, he had no interest in this kind of nonsense literature.

The statement of reduction, which was several hundred words long, could be condensed into just two words in his eyes.

Please descend!

"That's it."

Lin Dao lowered the surrender document and solemnly instructed, "Before 7 PM, I want to see Meng Chang leading all the officials, presenting the imperial seal, and surrendering outside the city!"

"If you don't come by the appointed time, you will all die."

The art of intimidation lies in making sure the intimidation is thorough.

Only after he has complete control of Chengdu and disarmed the garrison will Lin Dao show his gentle side.

Li Hao dared not delay, and after repeatedly responding, he hurriedly left.

Such a performance naturally drew ridicule from the other generals.

"Such a timid person is actually the prime minister."

Zhao Er, who was qualified to appear in the main tent because of his great merit, said sarcastically, "No wonder the Shu Kingdom is weak."

Lin Dao looked at him strangely.

After a moment, he finally spoke, "This is the true face of literati."

“If they were to rule the world, they would inevitably be just as wretched.”

"At that time, it will mean the destruction of the country and the extinction of the race!"

While the rampant rule of warriors has its drawbacks, at least the country won't be destroyed by them.

However, if scholars were to rule the world, the subsequent Song and Ming dynasties would be the best example of this.

Lin Dao would rather let martial artists roam the world than give scholars the opportunity to hold power.

As for Zhao Er, who historically advocated emphasizing civil affairs over military affairs, he would say such things.

Lin Dao could understand.

This is because the chairs you sit on make your thoughts different.

Once you become emperor, you want stability and you want to eliminate military threats.

Scholars are easier to control; at least they won't resort to violence like warriors.

Lin Dao's reasoning is completely understandable.

The civil and military officials in the city had already gathered at the palace.

After Li Hao returned, Meng Chang led them out of the city and surrendered to Lin Dao.

Before leaving the city, he even studied historical allusions and held a ceremony.

He took off his dragon robe, bared his arms, and carried a few brambles on his back, then apologized to Lin Dao.

Those who have read books might agree.

But the barbarians and nomads didn't understand and only brought shame upon themselves.

Seeing this, Lin Dao felt nothing but contempt.

His gaze was contemptuous, and he kept sneering.

"Coward!"

(End of this chapter)