Wei and Jin did not submit to Zhou

Chapter 151 Sacrificing Oneself for Righteousness

"Open the city gate!"

Hu Yuan shouted to the guards at the north gate of Chengdu.

A moment later, the general shouted from the city wall, "General Hu, no one is allowed to enter the city without a military order. Do you have a military order?"

"Of course there's a military order. Lower the basket down!"

Hu Yuan called out.

Soon, the guard at the north gate lowered the basket. Shi Shouxin climbed into the basket, and he and the basket were lifted onto the city wall.

No one knows what he said to that gatekeeper. Anyway, the city gate was opened in just a few breaths.

Hu Yuan led his army into the city.

Shi Shouxin walked down the city wall, drew his sword, and walked at the front with a murderous aura. Hu Yuan led several personal guards to protect him.

The massive army marched into Chengdu, heading straight for the imperial palace, without stopping anywhere.

After walking for a while, they arrived at a crossroads in front of the palace. Li Liang and his men were waiting there, with Shi Shouxin's main force behind them, all fully armored and ready.

"Supervisor Shi, there are no unusual movements within the palace. As per your instructions, after completing our business in the suburbs, we have been stationed outside the Chengdu palace and have prepared siege equipment! We are just waiting for your order."

Li Liang stepped forward, bowed to Shi Shouxin, and said...

They were also very anxious, fearing that Shi Shouxin would be unable to persuade the Wei army in the camp outside the city. In fact, according to Li Liang and others, their troops were enough to launch a fierce attack on the palace; there was no need to seek out any "friendly forces"!
"Order your troops to form ranks on the north, east, and west sides of the palace. Under no circumstances should a single soldier leave the palace. General Hu Yuan will lead the main attack from the south. My troops are not allowed to enter the Chengdu palace or participate in the siege. Anyone who violates this rule will be executed immediately. Do you understand?"

With a serious expression, Shi Shouxin instructed Li Liang and his men Meng Guan, Ma Long, Zhao Lun, Xi Zuo, and others: "Don't give them any room for bargaining!"

"Order!"

Without a word, everyone accepted the order and left.

Shi Shouxin turned to Hu Yuan and instructed, "Your troops will attack the palace and rescue the trapped generals. My main force will guard the outer perimeter to prevent any thieves from escaping. That's settled."

"Supervisor Xie Shi has arrived!"

Hu Yuan said gratefully, "Shi Shouxin is giving me the favor of saving someone's life. How could I not know that?"

As for the rest, I can't worry about that now. The die is cast, so I have to go for it!
On the south gate of the palace wall, Zhang Yi, who was on patrol, suddenly saw that all the soldiers under Shi Shouxin who were guarding the gate had withdrawn and gone around to the side gates. His heart skipped a beat and he thought to himself that something was wrong.

He hurriedly sent someone to inform Jiang Wei. By the time Jiang Wei arrived at the palace wall, Hu Yuan had already led a massive Wei army to the palace gate.

"Hu Yuan! What are you doing! Don't you know that you are not allowed to enter the city without military orders?"

Jiang Wei roared at Hu Yuan outside the palace gate.

"Zhong Hui is plotting a rebellion, detaining all the commanders! He even wants to join forces with Jiang Wei to kill us all!"
Brothers, don't waste words with him, break down the door! Kill the traitors! If we don't kill them, we'll die!

Hu Yuan, young and impetuous, shouted a command, and a group of soldiers carrying logs behind him began to ram the south gate of the palace.

The others were not to be outdone. They placed the ladders that Li Liang and the others had prepared on the palace walls and immediately began their attack!

"You stay here and keep watch, I'll go and inform Zhong Hui!"

Jiang Wei's face was ashen. After giving Zhang Yi some instructions, he hurriedly climbed down the palace wall and headed towards the imperial study.

At that moment, Zhong Hui was waiting for Shi Shouxin and Zhong Yong to return to the palace. When he saw Jiang Wei rushing in, he immediately looked puzzled.

He asked, "What happened?"

"Hu Lie's son, Hu Yuan, has led a mutiny. There's a huge, dark mass of people outside the palace, probably no less than ten thousand!"

Jiang Wei reported anxiously, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Mutiny? How could he mutiny?"

Zhong Hui was still puzzled, wondering why Hu Yuan had such audacity.

It's not that I don't trust Hu Yuan, but if Hu Yuan dared to do this, he would have done it long ago, instead of waiting until now.

Seeing that Zhong Hui was still in a daze, Jiang Wei said with great distress, "It must have been that Shi Shouxin who tipped us off! How dare that brat Hu Yuan do such a thing?"

"Shi Shouxin? Why? He's not one of Sima Zhao's confidants?"
Why should he side with Sima Zhao?

Zhong Hui was stunned and asked in return, not understanding what the problem was, or rather, why Shi Shouxin would "betray" him.

Seeing that Jiang Wei did not answer, Zhong Hui panicked and asked, "Then what should we do now?"

"Kill those imprisoned generals, then raise an army! Fight for survival!"

Jiang Wei said firmly.

Zhong Hui nodded. At this point, the only option was to kill these generals first, and then hold off this wave of chaotic troops. Without their commanders, the more than 100,000 Wei soldiers would soon descend into chaos like headless flies.

As long as things fall into chaos, opportunities will arise, and victory is not out of the question!

"You lead your troops to block the palace gates, and I'll have Qiu Jian lead his troops to kill them."

Zhong Hui gave instructions to Jiang Wei.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei nearly fainted from anger.

At this point, can't you take a knife, lead your personal guards, and kill them yourself? Why do you have to rely on others?
"Ugh!"

Jiang Wei sighed, drew his sword from his waist, and walked outside, too lazy to argue with Zhong Hui anymore.

Zhong Hui left the imperial study, where the southern part of the palace was already in chaos. He summoned Qiu Jian and ordered him, "Quickly, take your personal guards and kill all those imprisoned prisoners, leave no one alive!"

Hearing this, Qiu Jian was taken aback. He looked to the south and saw that the noise was getting louder and louder, with shouts, crying, and various footsteps all mixed together.

He glanced at Zhong Hui, whose expression was unfriendly, and his mind was in turmoil. For a moment, he was speechless.

"Go quickly!"

Zhong Hui urged.

"Yes, sir. I will go immediately."

Qiu Jian summoned more than a hundred personal guards and went to the place where the Wei generals were being held, and began to push open the door.

Then they found the door blocked, and they couldn't push it open! "Open the door, and I'll let you out!"

Qiu Jian shouted into the room, trying to bluff the imprisoned general.

The person inside shouted, "Qiu Jian, it's not too late for you to abandon the darkness and embrace the light. Once Supervisor Shi leads his men into the palace, you're doomed no matter what! With us pleading for you, perhaps you can still survive!"

The person who shouted was Li Fu.

Qiu Jian gritted his teeth and ordered his personal guards to continue banging on the door.

The guards smashed the door open, and upon seeing the people inside, they drew their swords and began to slash. Screams of agony echoed from inside the room.

However, only a few doors were opened; the rest could not be opened for the time being.

Inside the room, where the door hadn't yet been smashed open, someone shouted, "Qiu Jian, if you don't stop, we'll kill your entire family afterwards! As long as one of us survives, we'll return to Luoyang and tell Duke Jin what you've done. Even if you're already dead, we'll guarantee your whole family will be wiped out, your entire clan will be exterminated!"

Before Qiu Jian could give the order to stop, it was his personal guards who stopped.

The crowd looked at each other, then sheathed their swords and retreated in silence.

They left without even saying goodbye, and soon scattered like birds and beasts.

After all, Qiu Jian might not be afraid of his family being killed, but they were!

You can't earn much money in a year of military service. It's really not worth risking your family's lives for such a small amount of money!

Qiu Jian looked left and right and found that he was all alone, with no one following him. In the end, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

He arrived at the door of the room where Hu Lie was being held and shouted to Hu Lie inside: "General Hu, I was once your subordinate. Now I have gone astray and deserve to die, but my family is innocent. I will commit suicide now to atone for my sins. Please take care of my family."

After saying this, without waiting for Hu Lie's reply from inside, he drew his sword and committed suicide!

……

At the south gate of the palace, a fierce battle raged.

The enraged Wei soldiers fought fiercely and relentlessly, launching a brutal attack on the city.

They were originally outsiders in Sichuan, and if they were truly betrayed by the locals, they would be doomed. The mutiny was not for the sake of generals like Hu Lie; it was purely a counterattack in self-defense.

Jiang Wei's former Shu troops were completely unprepared, and the palace walls began to crumble, allowing a large number of Wei soldiers to scale the walls and enter.

Soon, a loud "bang" was heard.

The large lock on the south gate was broken, and the Wei army, dressed in black uniforms, surged into the palace like a tide.

Zhang Yi shouted from behind the palace gate: "Kill the traitors! Be loyal to His Majesty!"

His voice was deafening, but to no avail. The former Shu soldiers in front of him were scattered by the Wei army. An unknown Wei soldier saw Zhang Yi, rushed over, and slashed him across the neck, blood splattering everywhere!
Zhang Yi lay in a pool of blood, surrounded by a jumble of corpses, including former Shu soldiers with red ribbons wrapped around their arms and right arms, as well as those from the Wei army camp outside the city.

Inside the Taiji Hall, Zhong Hui sat on the dragon throne, while a row of former Shu troops under Jiang Wei stood guard outside the hall.

As for Qiu Jian's main force, following the general's suicide, they scattered like birds and beasts, and no one knows where they went.

The Wei army charged so fast that Zhong Hui had no time to escape, and Jiang Wei didn't have time to gather all the old Shu troops in the palace to guard the south gate.

At this moment, a large number of Wei troops from the camp outside the city poured into the palace, killing anyone they saw, much like a locust plague.

Suddenly, Wei soldiers armed with crossbows rushed to the gate of Taiji Hall and started shooting at anyone they saw. Arrows rained down, and soon the old Shu soldiers in front of the gate were shot down.

The remaining people retreated into the main hall. Zhong Hui stood up from the dragon throne and drew his sword. He took a few steps forward, about to shout, but was riddled with crossbow bolts, his body riddled with more than a dozen arrows. No one knew who had shot him.

However, these crossbow bolts were all fired by nameless soldiers in the Wei army.

Jiang Wei was also hit in the shoulder by an arrow, but he was skilled in both literature and martial arts. He used his sword to deflect several arrows and dodged behind a thick pillar, blood dripping down his arm.

"Jiang Wei, lay down your weapon, and I'll spare your life!"

Hu Yuan shouted at Jiang Wei behind the pillar.

Seeing that the overall situation was settled, Hu Yuan was no longer so anxious.

"hahahahahahahahahahaha!"

A burst of wild laughter came from behind the pillar.

"How come it's you, some nobody? Where is that cowardly scoundrel Shi Shouxin?"

Jiang Wei, sword in hand, surveyed the Wei soldiers surrounding him and asked, his imposing manner striking!

“Jiang Boyue is a famous scholar in Shu. If you are content with your lot, you may one day be able to become a marquis.”

"What was the point of ending up in this state?"

Shi Shouxin stepped out from the crowd and looked at Jiang Wei.

"Shi Shouxin, there's no need for you to feign regret here."

The Cao Wei regime was inherently a rebel regime, and the Sima clan was the most rebellious of all rebels.

Jiang felt a surge of satisfaction watching them fight like dogs!

You possess such talent, yet you succumb to bandits; I, Jiang, despise you! You are the truly pitiful one!

Jiang has devoted himself to the Han Dynasty; what is there to regret?

My plan failed; it is fate!
"I, Jiang, am ashamed before Your Majesty and can only repay you with my life! I will never live on in disgrace!"

Jiang Wei pointed his sword at Shi Shouxin, and after speaking, he slit his own throat on the spot, dying with his eyes wide open in disbelief!

The crowd fell silent for a long time.

Shi Shouxin stepped forward and gently brushed his hand across Jiang Wei's wide-open eyes, finally closing them.

"Go and rescue those imprisoned generals. I'll take care of things here at Taiji Hall."

Shi Shouxin gave Hu Yuan an instruction, and the latter bowed respectfully to him before leading his troops away from the Taiji Hall.

(End of this chapter)