Lu Tu waved his hand and said, "Get up. You are also loyal to the Great Yu. I know you have had a hard time. Take your food and leave!"

"Thank you, General Lü! We are extremely grateful!"

As they spoke, they hurriedly took some food from the cart, not daring to take more than their own, and then left under the watchful eyes of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Sun Meng, who had somehow acquired a feather fan, was putting on airs and stood next to Lü Tu with a smile, saying, "Brother, you have some clever tricks up your sleeve. You've planted a seed in the armies of these vassal kings with just some food."

Lu Tu glanced at him sideways: "Why did you suddenly change your style?"

Sun Meng chuckled: "I was listening to a storyteller at a teahouse in Longcheng not long ago, and that's when I thought of this. If you don't like it, I won't slap you. But I think the most important thing for us right now is to act quickly and take the capital before all the other princes can react. That would be most advantageous for us."

Lu Tu ignored him and simply waved his hand: "Let's go!"

Guided by the banners, Nie Yun, Tuoba Yue, and Xiang Ze led their elite troops in three separate groups to attack Zhang Chengyan.

Lu Tu had absolutely no worries about the outcome; it was a sure thing.

He personally led his army directly to the capital. The journey of 30 miles would take half a day for 400,000 troops. Calculating the progress, he figured they would arrive in the capital just as Zhang Chengyan was defeated.

On the way, Lu Tu's scouts kept reporting the progress: "General Lu, Deputy General Nie has led his men into Zhang Chengyan's army formation. With just one charge, the enemy is already showing signs of collapse!"

"General Tuoba launched a bombardment from the other side using detonators carried by his bow and arrow, and Zhang Chengyan's army has already been routed!"

...

"General Xiang blocked Zhang Chengyan's route of escape to the south. Before I arrived, General Xiang had already captured Zhang Chengyan alive!"

The moment Lü Tu arrived at the east gate of the capital, his scouts gave their final report: "General Lü, our army has won a great victory in this battle. In addition to capturing Zhang Chengyan, the Prince of Yan of the Red Turban Army, the three generals also captured 180,000 Red Turban soldiers. What should be done with them?"

Lu Tu glanced at the somewhat flustered government troops on the city walls of the capital, then turned to his scout and ordered, "Demote all Red Turban soldiers to military slavery. Have these three set up camps in various directions around the capital and prevent any force or army from entering the capital!"

"Yes, sir!"

When the soldiers from the rear arrived, Lü Tu looked impatiently at the guards on the city wall: "Sun Kuang, go and tell them to open the gate!"

"yes!"

Sun Kuang had been waiting impatiently for a long time. If it weren't for Lü Tu holding him back, he would have rushed up and started hurling insults at him long ago.

Having received Lu Tu's order, he spurred his horse forward without fear of the arrows raised on the city wall, shouting, "I am Sun Kuang, the deputy general under the command of General Anbei! I have come to the capital to defend the emperor in order to follow the general. The Red Turban Army has been completely annihilated by us. You must open the city gates at once!"

The soldiers guarding the city wall looked at each other, none of them daring to utter a sound for a moment. After a long while, someone finally spoke up: "General Lü, I have long admired you. I am Hu Ce, the Left Protector of the Divine Strategy Army in the capital! To tell you the truth, I just received an imperial edict. His Majesty said that General Lü has come from afar to rescue the capital. I am at ease. His Majesty has ordered General Lü to lead his troops to retreat thirty miles and then enter the capital alone to meet the Emperor!"

These words caused an uproar in the audience!

The soldiers behind Lü Tu had followed him all the way from the northern border to the capital. Some of them had come from even further west, from Huaihuang Town. Now that they had arrived in the capital, they had driven back the Red Turban Army and were even unable to enter the city gates.

Everyone felt resentful and aggrieved. The Red Turban Army had even driven them to the capital, yet they were still treated so arrogantly. In an instant, the 400,000 soldiers behind Lü Tu felt even more dissatisfied.

Sun Kuang glanced back at Lü Tu and, seeing that Lü Tu's expression remained unchanged, understood.

He then turned and yelled at Hu Ce upstairs, "You bastard, you actually forged an imperial edict! We received the Emperor's secret decree and came to the capital to defend the Emperor. Now that you have the Emperor under your control, you want General Lü to enter the city alone. Do you want to kill General Lü? Huh!"

As the last word was uttered, Sun Meng, standing next to Lü Tu, raised his hand, and in an instant, tens of thousands of mounted archers in front of him raised their composite bows and aimed at the defenders on the city wall.

This scene immediately startled all the guards, including Hu Ce, causing them to shrink back.

They had seen it clearly from the city wall and had also witnessed the power of the composite bow from other directions. Now that Lu Tu was leading the main force, a total of more than 300,000 troops, to the city gates, equipped with many times more composite bows than the other three routes, how could they not panic?

Hu Ce was indeed flustered. He had heard about Lü Tu before, and as the nominal commander of the Shence Army, although he was not in Ye Qingyu's group, they were still colleagues. He naturally knew in advance that Lü Tu had killed members of the Shence Army.

Looking at the composite bows that emitted a unique metallic glow, Hu Ce's heart pounded. If Lü Tu were to attach those detonators to the arrows again, just a few volleys would be enough to breach the gates of the capital, based on the power he had just observed.

Hu Ce raised the yellow silk handkerchief in his hand: "General Lü! Everything I have said is the truth as stated in the imperial edict! Please do not make things difficult for me, General Lü!"

Even though Hu Ce's official rank was even higher than Lu Tu's third rank, strength was king and military power was the key to authority. The awe in his words was almost overflowing.

Lu Tu smiled wickedly: "Since that's the case, then go back and tell His Majesty that I'll wait here for him to open the city gates and let me in. I promised the Second Princess Qingyao that I wouldn't be at ease until I see His Majesty safe and sound!"

Hu Ce secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Lü Tu would directly order an attack on the city. Lü Tu's intentions were now obvious, but he had not yet revealed them. Hu Ce naturally did not dare to do so either.

"General Lü is a man of great principle. Please wait a moment while I personally go and inform him!"

Seeing Hu Ce's figure disappear on the city wall, Lü Tu called Sun Kuang back. Sun Kuang acted as if he had won a battle, which was normal. Being able to challenge the capital city, the first city of the Great Yu Dynasty, was quite a show of his prowess.

Lu Tu ordered, "Someone, have someone write down leaflets, tie them to arrows, and shoot them into the city so the people can see them."

Soon, leaflets were tied to the arrows with their arrowheads removed, and a volley of arrows rained down on the capital. A gasp quickly rose from within the city: "These are letters? They must be for us!"