E'luguan said nothing, but just lowered his head and shed tears.

"So what about you guys?" Zhao Jiu knew that this person was trying to escape, so he didn't bother to pay attention and just continued to confront the group of surrendered people behind him. "Does anyone have anything to say?"

"Your Majesty." Just when most people followed the Sixth Prince's example and said nothing, someone suddenly stepped out with his hands clasped. It was the pale-faced Imperial Tutor's slave. "If the Fourth Prince were here, he would definitely agree to the peace talks... Your Majesty must have misunderstood!"

“No misunderstanding!”

Zhao Jiu sighed loudly. "This matter has nothing to do with whether or not to make peace. It's just that Wuzhu fought from Huaishang to Nanyang, from Nanyang to Yaoshan, from Yaoshan to Hedong, from Hedong to Huolu... He fought again and again despite repeated defeats. He can be called a remarkable man... So to put it nicely, I will not be at peace until this man is dead! To put it bluntly, even after fighting so many battles, I have to kill someone to vent my anger!"

At this point, Zhao Jiu glanced at all the surrendered people and reiterated: "I want him dead... If we negotiate peace, you come and kill him. If we don't negotiate peace, I will send troops to kill him!"

Everyone was completely silent.

"Let's go!" Zhao Jiu suddenly stood up, waved his sleeves, and went directly towards Zhending City. There, Han Shizhong had already led the left army of the imperial camp to take control.

Under the dragon banner, everyone hurriedly followed, and the Jin Kingdom's Sixth Prince Eluguan and a group of fifty or sixty surrendered people did not dare to be negligent and prepared to catch up in a hurry.

However, after taking two steps, Zhao Jiu turned back and said coldly, "Sixth Prince... I am not asking you to follow me into the city when I ask you to leave... I am saying that since the matter is over, you might as well return to Yanjing early and bring my eight internal and external rules to report."

Eluguan and the others were stunned, and only then did they realize that the other party was actually going to let them go? In fact, not to mention Eluguan, even Hong Ya, who was still a powerful figure last night, was stunned... and he really didn't dare to say a word.

"Hurry up and leave!" Zhao Jiu urged. "You want to see me today for two reasons. One is to surrender the city to save your life; the other is to negotiate peace with me on behalf of the Jin Kingdom... Adding the two together, I should have let you go earlier... But the war horses are precious, so I can't give you a single one, and you have to find your own way. The surrendered soldiers in the city will not be easily let go, so don't think too much."

After saying this, the official set off directly without looking back. The generals, soldiers, and close ministers around him followed him one after another... After a while, there were only a few soldiers coming and going at the surrender site on the riverside, and they were escorting the surrendered troops from Zhending.

E'erluguan and the others did not dare to move at first. They waited for a long time, and after making sure that no one paid attention to them, they bypassed Zhending City and headed north to Xinle... Even Hong Ya hesitated for a long time, and seeing that no one paid any attention to him, he had no choice but to stomp his feet and grit his teeth to follow.

You know what, after bypassing Zhending City and making sure they had escaped, the Zhending surrendered people, numbering about fifty or sixty in number, although they had no horses, were all agile as flying. In the evening of that day, they arrived at Zishui in the north, but regardless of their fatigue, they hurriedly looked for a bridge to cross the river, and then they relaxed temporarily.

Then, they found a small village on the river bank that was still empty, and asked the Sixth Prince to sit down. They then followed the orders of Minister Hong Yahong, who had managed to cheer himself up. They started a fire and tried to find a few pottery jars in the village to boil some hot water. After a short rest, they would make further efforts and cross the Sha River again tonight to reach Xinle.

No matter what, it is always wonderful not to be a prisoner and to continue to be a superior person.

However, just as everyone started to boil water, suddenly, there was the sound of horse hooves, and nearly a hundred riders came in an orderly manner from the north.

The crowd was half wary and half hopeful.

What is incredible is that although the cavalry was powerful, they only had three horses for each man, and there were only about 20 to 30 knights. They were in a very bad state, with no armor or long weapons, but only some simple bows and crossbows and short blades. They were obviously not the Song Army or Jin Army that everyone was familiar with.

"It's the Mongols!"

Seeing the other party rushing directly to the fire, in the evening light, the Sixth Prince, who was stationed in Datong Prefecture all year round, suddenly guessed who it was and then felt relieved. "The Mongols are all ruled by Zhao Song, so nothing should happen... That official is not a person who breaks his promise."

"But there's no need to cause trouble." Hong Ya, who had been feeling uneasy since he started on the road again, whispered. "These people obviously came from the north, and they may not know that we have been pardoned... Moreover, we are all wearing single clothes, without armor or weapons, and we are tired and hungry... If they have bad intentions, we will just be targets."

The Sixth Prince immediately nodded in approval.

However, the Sixth Prince and Hong Ya were worrying too much. These Mongolian cavalrymen were obviously busy and equally exhausted. They hurried to the campfire, and several of them who could speak Chinese came forward. They asked where the Zishui Ferry Bridge was in the south, and asked for some hot water to mix with the mare's milk, preparing to take a short rest and replenish their energy.

It is said that the surrendered people from Zhending included both civil and military officials, but because of their surrender, they left the city alone and had nothing. They had been walking for the whole afternoon and were very tired. When they saw the mare's milk, some of them took the initiative to talk to them and begged for it.

The Mongols on the opposite side were quite friendly and directly shared a lot of mare's milk, which made the atmosphere between the two sides more harmonious.

However, whether it was the Sixth Prince or Hong Ya, who could go to the Zhao Song government to surrender in person? Which of them was not well-dressed and well-fed? So after taking a mouthful of the sour and pungent mare's milk, they were immediately overwhelmed by the smell, and many of them made a fool of themselves... which caused the Mongols to laugh again.

But at this moment, the Tai Shi Nu who had remained silent was revealed, because he drank the mare's milk without any obstruction at all.

"Are you not the master's slave?"

Suddenly, a knight who spoke Chinese but was dressed in Mongolian clothes recognized the other person directly by the afterglow and the firelight. "Aren't you following the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom? Why are you here?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!