The Splendor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 85 Interrogation (Thanks to the patron "Kindergarten Food Snatcher" for the generous donation)

"Spare your life!"

Kuang Zan hurriedly shouted, fearing that if he was even a little slower, he would be beheaded.

Xiao Yi slowly lowered his sword, placing it on the trembling neck. The blade was like a mirror, reflecting goosebumps.

"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me! I'm just a useless actor. I was a bit rude just now because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep the soldiers in line. When I saw Murong Yanchao's head, I knew you were a general of the Northern Army. I'm willing to surrender!"

When Hou Kuangzan begged for mercy, he looked pitiful, a stark contrast to his previous arrogance. His ability to change his expression was truly masterful.

"Put your swords away immediately! How dare you draw your swords against General Xiao?"

Just as the soldiers were about to draw their swords, they immediately withdrew them.

"Disarm."

"Yes Yes."

Soon, all the knives were placed on the ground. Hua Nong kicked them all aside, picked one up, and stood guard beside Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi glanced at Sun Zhong, about to speak.

"I surrendered first...I surrendered first..."

Sun Zhong couldn't wait to kneel down on the ground, his fierce face full of a fawning smile.

"Brother Xiao, no, General, I beg you, General, give me a chance to submit to Lord Guo. You good-for-nothing... no, Brother Hua, I've treated you well in the past. Over the years, out of consideration for the old constable's kindness, I've always protected you when you were being bullied..."

Xiao Yi raised his hand to stop Sun Zhong's nonsense and said, "I know where your home is. If you dare to make any moves, I will kill your whole family."

"I wouldn't dare, absolutely not."

"Hua Nong, you take Sun Zhong and first take control of the city gate guards."

"Here!"

When Hou Kuangzan saw that Sun Zhong was not being held by a knife, he hurriedly said, "General, I surrendered first, and I am more loyal to you, General."

"Nonsense! You're a lackey of this tyrant! The one who cleanses the court is a treacherous official like you!" Sun Zhong retorted. "How could your eloquent flattery and deceitful behavior compare to my loyalty to the general?"

"Waaah, I am willing to persuade the general to surrender the troops I brought."

Xiao Yi asked, "Why are you asking me if I'm going to Shanzhou to see Li Hongxin?"

Hou Kuangzan didn't answer immediately; he lowered his head and his eyes darted around.

Xiao Yi felt that this kind of close attendant of the emperor must be very cunning, so he swiftly chopped off one of his fingers with a swift stroke.

"Ah! Ah!"

"Stop howling, talk!"

"Yes, yes... Waaah... I was just guessing. I heard that Murong Yanchao was defeated and was preparing to flee, but I found... I found that all the gold and silver treasures in the imperial treasury were gone!"

"what for?"

"Since the Emperor is not in the city, it can only be Li Ye who took it. I just heard that Li Ye sent a general and Cao Wei out of the city on business, and I suspect that he had you deliver the gold and silver to Shanzhou."

"anything else?"

"No, that's all. I've only been to the Imperial Treasury twice, once today and once in early October. There was a lot of gold piled up there. As for the rest, I really don't know anything else."

"stand up."

Xiao Yi sheathed his sword and, together with Hua Nong, led Hou Kuangzan and Sun Zhong to pacify the troops.

Later, Kuang Zan's men, who were already planning to flee, and Sun Zhong's men, whose morale was low, all chose to surrender without resistance.

Hua Nong selected the disobedient members of Sun Zhong's forces, disarmed them, and tied them up with Hou Kuangzan's men, imprisoning them in the hidden military cave.

Thus, the nearly forty men Xiao Yi brought into the city changed into the armor of the garrison, expanding the force to more than 150 men. They occupied the south city, patrolling and guarding it. They also exchanged secret signals with Hu Deng to be ready to receive the main army when they entered the city.

After finishing all this, Li Chongjin was overjoyed and said, "Haha, Kaifeng City is in our hands!"

"That's good," Liu Tingrang said. "The royal army has successfully entered the city."

Xiao Yi wanted more than just to help the army enter the city; he wanted to take Kaifeng without bloodshed.

He once again brought Sun Zhong and Hou Kuangzan to the city tower for careful interrogation.

"Give me your current information on the situation in Kaifeng, and I'll see whose intelligence is useful."

"First of all, humble duty..."

“Let me speak first! Li Ye is in charge of the defense of Kaifeng. He claims that he will spare no expense to send troops to defend the capital, but he is definitely planning to escape. Under Li Ye, Liu Zhu is in charge of security, and Li Hongjian is temporarily in charge of the Imperial Guards.”

"Li Hongjian?"

"This man is Li Ye's elder brother. He is the commander of the Imperial Guards. After Nie Wenjin accompanied the emperor to Chigang, he became the commander of the Imperial Guards in the city."

"Where is he?"

"Recently, he has been stationed at the Imperial Guard Headquarters."

"General," Sun Zhong interjected, "I also have important intelligence: Li Hongjian comes to inspect the southern city every day at 3:45 PM!"

Liu Tingrang suddenly stood up, glanced at the sky, and said, "There are less than two hours left."

"It's alright." Wang Chengxun smiled faintly and said, "I know Li Hongjian."

A confident expression of strategist appeared on his face. He stood up, paced in front of Guo Xin, and began to speak eloquently.

“Previously, I sent someone with Li Hongwei’s letter to Li Hongjian, explaining the advantages and disadvantages and persuading him to protect the Wang family and Cao Wei’s family in the capital. Knowing that the power of treacherous officials would not last long, he did not harm the families of the two families and even provided them with food.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yi subconsciously looked at Guo Xin. Sure enough, she was touched on a painful topic, and her eyes dimmed. Then, she happened to look up.

Their eyes met, and Xiao Yi turned his head away.

Over there, Li Chongjin snorted at Wang Chengxun, displeased, and said, "What are you pretending to be, Zhuge Liang? It's just because the commander-in-chief's army is in charge that these clowns are intimidated and dare not touch your little brat."

"You black bastard..."

"enough."

Xiao Yi stopped the two men and said, "Sun Zhong, tell me about Li Hongjian's arrival, how many men he brought, from which direction, and what your relationship is with him. Tell me everything you know."

"Yes, he leads a battalion of soldiers to patrol along the city walls every day, coming from the west on odd-numbered days and from the east on even-numbered days. He is kind and easy to talk to..."

"Nonsense, you don't understand him." Hou Kuang praised, "Li Hongjian is very hypocritical. The reason he didn't kill Cao Wei and Wang Yin's family is not because he knew the consequences, as this young man claims, but simply because he used them as a shield!"

The two of them took turns explaining the situation in increasing detail. Xiao Yi listened patiently.

Li Chongjin interrupted, asking, "Where is Liu Zhu? I will kill that scoundrel!"

"Liu Zhu also had a considerable number of troops stationed at the north gate."

Wang Chengxun glanced at Guo Xin, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Can you lure him to the South Gate?"

Kuang Zan was immediately in a dilemma.

“I have a plan,” Sun Zhong said. “We can send someone to inform him that the Flying Dragon Envoy, Kuang Zan, tried to escape from Kaifeng but was blocked by me. Please ask him to bring reinforcements.”

"Great idea!" Li Chongjin's eyes lit up. "Let's do it this way and chop this bastard up."

Wang Chengxun said, "I will set up an ambush and capture this scoundrel alive."

"Now..."

"Don't worry."

Xiao Yi had no choice but to raise his hand to stop them again, saying, "Now that we have captured the South Gate, the North Gate is no longer the key. Li Hongjian will definitely arrive at Shenshi (3-5 PM), so we must take him down first. After that, we should immediately deal with Li Ye and take control of the Imperial Guard headquarters."

Li Chongjin said, "But Fifth Sister came here for..."

"We came here first to take Kaifeng, and only second to kill Liu Zhu."

Wang Chengxun smiled and said, "Young Master Xiao, I think it's best to kill Liu Zhu first. The city can't be taken. It would be a pity if Liu Zhu escaped."

"We must not reverse the order of importance." Xiao Yi insisted, looking at Guo Xin, and said, "I said, it's fine to bring you here, but you can't let it interfere with our plans."

Li Chongjin quickly comforted her, "Fifth Sister, don't be angry..."

"Shut up, all of you, listen to him."

"Oh."

"Now set up an ambush on Li Hongjian. The key to this matter is not only to capture him, but also to ensure that none of his entourage escapes to report the incident. Cui Yanjin and Haijin, you each take men to familiarize yourselves with the arrow tower. When you see anyone trying to escape, shoot them immediately."

"Here!"

"..."

With everything arranged, everyone was finally able to rest and eat.

Xiao Yi ate three large bowls of soup noodles with mutton, then got up.

Hua Nong said, "Commander, you can go to the second floor of the city tower and take a nap."

"No, thank you." Xiao Yi glanced at the sky; it was still early. He said, "I will go into the city and deliver the commander's reply to Lord Xinchen, asking them to persuade the officials to surrender the city."

Wang Chengxun chuckled and shook his head, saying, "The attitude of civil officials is not important at all."

“On this point, the powdered-faced man is not wrong,” Li Chongjin said. “Once the army enters the city, they will have no choice but to surrender it.”

Xiao Yi actually knew that the civil officials of the court were indeed powerless.

“While civil officials may not be of much help in taking down a city, they can quickly stabilize the situation and quell the unrest. When the commander-in-chief arrives and sees a submissive and orderly capital, he will naturally not order looting.”

Li Chongjin said, "I see. Okay."

Liu Tingrang and Guo Shouwen also nodded.

"Commander Xiao is of great righteousness."

Once everything was ready, Xiao Yi summoned Zhang Mantun, Lü You, Fan Si, and Wei Liang and gave them a few instructions in private.

"Your family is all in the city, so I'm sure you're worried. Here's what we'll do: split up and contact your old comrades and friends. Make sure they're trustworthy. Right now, the Northern Army is coming with great momentum. Anyone who isn't blindly loyal to the Emperor won't be hard to persuade to surrender."

"Look at what the commander is saying. The Han Dynasty has only been established for three years. How many people can be blindly loyal?"

Wei Liang said, "It should be said that apart from the ringleaders who must be executed, everyone wants to surrender."

Fan Si said, "They need to know the situation too; the damned court is keeping the news from them."

"I was worried about Ah Chou," Lü You said. "The commander is thinking of us. I will remember this kindness. From now on, we brothers will give our lives to the commander!"

"Once I've hidden my parents well, I'll recruit a few comrades to serve under the commander!"

"Same!"

Seeing this, Zhang Mantun said, "Alright, my family is still in the hands of the Imperial Guards. Let me go and rescue my family first, and then I will live and die with you."

"Don't rush. Go and contact the Grand Tutor's old subordinates first, find someone you can trust," Xiao Yi said. "Come back to see me at the beginning of the evening, and we'll take over the Imperial Guard headquarters."

"Yes, sir!"

“Look, if Ah Chou is in the Imperial Guard headquarters, let him coordinate from the inside.”

Go ahead, but be careful.

Xiao Yi was about to set off when he saw Guo Xin standing not far away, watching them, holding the sword he had given her.

"what happened?"

Are you planning to go alone?

"Okay." Xiao Yi said, "I'll be right back."

"I'll bring men to protect you."

"No need, I will be in no danger."

"I'm getting restless staying here," Guo Xin said, frowning. "I want to find something to do."

"You are hunting, and hunting requires waiting and resting."

"Oh...and also, I didn't mean to bother you. What they said wasn't what I meant. I don't need comforting, much less sabotage the plan. Just going along with me would only make me look like..."

"I know."

"Hmm." Guo Xin turned her head slightly with a hint of pride and muttered, "That's good."

"gone."

Xiao Yi hurried past her and headed towards the Li residence.

After descending from the city wall, he vaguely sensed a gaze behind him. He glanced back and saw Guo Xin still standing there watching him, though he didn't know why.

(End of this chapter)