"Fan Qiong didn't surrender either!"

"Is it so important to surrender to the Jin?" The man stood up angrily, but was held down by two soldiers. "In terms of actions and reasons, we are much more innocent than Fan Qiong... You must know that it was the Zhao family who was incompetent and abandoned the country first!"

"How dare you!" Wang Yuan shouted, and the generals around him drew their swords together.

"Let him speak." Zhao Jiu didn't care.

"Why don't you dare to speak?" The man stood up and looked up. His hair and beard were all stained with dirt, but his eyes were red with anger. "The world must belong to you, the Zhao family, and we, the people of Jingxi, were abandoned by you, the Zhao family. The Jin army is at the gates of the city, and you, the official, are nowhere to be found. Your parents and children are right beside you. If you don't surrender to the Jin, who will protect your family?"

"You are right. I am wrong, and the two saints are wrong too. If this battle really causes countless casualties, I can issue an edict of self-blame after the war, or I can issue an edict of self-blame on behalf of my father and brother... Moreover, I also know that some of you are indeed wronged and innocent." Zhao Jiu answered calmly, as if he had seriously thought about this issue a long time ago. "But I just can't negotiate with the surrendered Jin rebels! I still say that if you come to surrender, you will open the city and surrender, and then let me deal with you, that's all."

"Officials."

The man suddenly calmed down again. "You must know that there are still thousands of people in the city..."

"You look like an educated person." Zhao Jiu was not afraid. "Then you should know that there has been a similar rule since the Han Dynasty. Those who coerce hostages will be attacked and killed. If you really want to do this, it will only make it more severe when I deal with you later!"

The man stared at each other in astonishment, and after a moment he asked again, "Is it true that the government does not want to leave us a way out?"

"I just want you to surrender unconditionally and let me do whatever I want." Zhao Jiu responded bluntly. "That's what I want to say. If you have nothing else to do, go back and tell me!"

The messenger sighed, no longer reluctant to linger, and turned away, seemingly decisively.

As soon as the man left, Wang Yuan leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty, this man was just threatening with empty words. You must know that the battle was urgent that day. They followed Wanyan Yinshu to Dengzhou, but their families stayed in this place... For this reason, how could they dare to do such a thing that would offend the world?"

Zhao Jiu nodded, but was unwilling to say more about it.

But there were some people around who were blind, so Liu Ziyu could no longer bear it and asked, "Sir, are you really going to bury tens of thousands of people in the city like this? This is not what a wise ruler does!"

"When did I say I would kill 10,000 people?" Zhao Jiu responded coldly. "Even if they were to punish them, at most they would behead the leader, and the others who were guilty would be sent to do forced labor, to work as boatmen on the river for a few years. As for the rest of the innocent soldiers, why would they be charged without reason? Maybe they would just pick out the ones with outstanding physiques and use them. If there were any young people, I'm afraid they would have to be given money and food on the spot to let them go home."

"I think so too." Liu Ziyu breathed a sigh of relief. "If that's the case, why not give them a hint? As long as they understand, they will surrender immediately given their current attitude."

"We just can't talk about it." Zhao Jiu sighed and continued to look down at the notes on the table. "This matter is not about the guilt, but about not being able to talk about it... Because if we talk about it today, what will happen tomorrow? If we talk about it in Dengzhou, what will happen to the hundreds of military states in Lianghe, Central Plains, and Guanxi in the future? This is the rule of the war between Song and Jin. Once it is shaken, countless people will have a fluke mentality when the war comes. Am I not forcing this matter?"

"Your Majesty has made careful considerations." Liu Yanxiu was solemn, but also slightly embarrassed. "It is also because your vision is too narrow."

Zhao Jiu was too lazy to pay attention to him, but since he had come to this point, the official couldn't help but put down the note, looked around at the generals in the tent who looked quite embarrassed, and took the opportunity to say:

"Did you understand what I just said? I did not pardon Dengzhou today, not because they have committed many misdeeds in the two months since they surrendered to the Jin, but because I want to use them to warn you, the remaining generals... There are thousands of things in the army, and the most fundamental thing is to surrender to the Jin. This is even more intolerable than Liu Guangshi's escape! Disobeying orders and fleeing at the sight of the wind will make the army empty and useless. At most, I will only kill the generals, and their troops can be reorganized and used. Moreover, if they really cannot fight, retreat and transfer are common after reporting in advance. If there is a mistake in the middle, we can always discuss it. Liu Guangshi also spoke to me in front of the emperor before his death; but once they surrender to the Jin, they are enemies, not friends, and I can't even talk to them! I hope you will remember it!"

Wang De, Huyan Tong and others were fine. They didn't have such an option in their minds at all. They just bowed casually to show that they accepted the order, and then lamented about the old story of Liu Guangshi. However, Fu Qing and others were quite awe-inspiring.

Nothing happened that night. The next day, April 12, unexpectedly, the four gates of Dengzhou City were suddenly opened, and the rebels abandoned their weapons and surrendered.

"Who were the envoys who left the city twice before, and where are they?" Zhao Jiu hurried out of the tent and looked at a group of officers kneeling in the mud in front of him, and couldn't help but think of someone.

"Good instructor, the man is Li Shang, the inspector of Caizhou, and a general appointed by Yin Shuke. He led us to Fan Qiong." Someone raised his head with all his strength. "After he came back yesterday, he knew he could not escape punishment, so he gathered the generals of various tribes in the city, surrounded and killed them first, then summoned us to surrender, and finally committed suicide. Those who leave the city today are no more than team commanders."

Zhao Jiu stood there with his hands behind his back, looking at the table in silence… He wanted to say, "If I had known this would happen, I would have done it in the first place," but he didn't know where to start.

PS: The title is wrong... embarrassing