Although the three princes of Kushan put aside their grudges, they were unable to support each other in the face of the all-out attack of the three Han armies.

Coupled with years of civil war, the Kushan people had long lost the support of the people. Wherever the Han army went, the local people not only did not help the Kushan army defend the city, but also attacked the garrison and led the Han army to the right path.

By this time, two months had passed since the army entered Kushan territory.

Along the way, the Han army made exceptionally smooth progress, and now all the cities in northern Kushan have fallen under the control of the Han army.

The army led by Lü Bu, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Liao, responsible for attacking the second prince, had already besieged the city and surrounded him.

Xu Huang and Xu Chu's group were less than two hundred miles away from the capital of the eldest prince.

The large army led by Liu Hong and Cao Cao was only a hundred miles away from the eastern capital of the third prince.

Unfortunately, the weather turned against them. Just as the Han army was preparing to launch its final offensive, a heavy snowfall forced them to temporarily halt their advance.

Just as Cao Cao predicted, all resistance forces within the Kushan territory could be completely eliminated by the spring of the following year.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the lull in the Han army's attack, the three princes mobilized all available troops to their respective cities, preparing for a final, desperate battle.

Of course, the three princes did consider peace talks, but Lu Bu, Xu Huang, Zhang He, and other generals, who were eager to gain the merit of destroying a country, directly rejected the request for peace talks.

Liu Hong did not interfere much with the behavior of his subordinates.

As the third prince concentrated all his military forces, the other cities under his control became deserted and undefended.

The first day of the first month of the twenty-first year of the Kaiyuan era.

"The Kushan Empire is gone, the sun and moon have been replaced, and the world is blessed!"

On this day, with Zhang Jiao's shout, millions of Taiping believers scattered throughout the Kushan Empire, all wearing red turbans and carrying weapons, launched an attack on the local government offices and noble residences.

Faced with the sudden uprising of a million Taiping believers, those poorly defended cities fell one after another.

When the news spread, the Kushan people in various regions also gathered together to respond to the Taiping Rebellion.

In just half a month, all the cities in southern Kushan fell into the hands of the Taiping Rebellion Army.

At this point, only three cities remained in the entire Kushan Empire, guarded by the three princes.

February 5th.

Inside the Han army camp, within the emperor's temporary residence.

Liu Hong put down the military report in his hand and looked at Cao Cao with a smile.

"Mengde, do you have any plans for attacking these last three cities?"

"Your Majesty, I have already sent people to contact Zhicai, Wenhe, and Benchu ​​respectively. When Lü Bu and Xu Huang attack, we will coordinate from the inside and outside to take them down in one fell swoop."

As for the Third Prince's territory in the Eastern Capital, His Majesty will need to issue an edict to the Fourth Prince, Hachi!

Liu Hong nodded and said "Mm," then asked, "Has Mengde considered the issues after conquering Kushan?"

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the Kushan region is far from the Han homeland. If we want to strengthen the court's control over this area, in addition to building several highways, we should also establish a secondary capital in Xinzhou."

In addition, I also think that Your Majesty could establish Kushan as a fiefdom for one of the princes, and send a prime minister, chief clerk, and other officials to assist the prince in governing!

"Establish fiefdoms...?"

Cao Cao said solemnly, "That's right, Your Majesty. The future reach of the Han Dynasty will not be limited to the Kushan region. It is completely impossible for the court to control all the territories."

Therefore, the only way to safeguard the central and supreme status of the Han Dynasty is to establish various regions as fiefdoms and enfeoff them to His Majesty's princes.

In this way, even if the various vassal states become independent in the future, their rulers will still be of His Majesty's blood, and the subjects of the vassal states will still consider the Han Dynasty as their homeland.

"Haha, very good! Mengde's idea is exactly what I wanted." Liu Hong laughed upon hearing Cao Cao's words.

As the saying goes, starting a business is easy, but maintaining it is difficult.

For Liu Hong at this time, the newly opened territories might not pose any problems during his lifetime, but after two or three generations, it was hard to guarantee that they would not split apart.

After all, even people from the same family become estranged after three generations, let alone those in territories far from the center of the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the enfeoffment system proposed by Cao Cao was undoubtedly the most suitable. In any case, as long as the people ruling these places were still Han Chinese, that was enough.

Half a month later, the weather warmed up and the snow melted. The army, which had been resting for a long time, finally set off to attack the last three target cities.

Liu Hong and Cao Cao also moved their headquarters to the military camp.

Outside the Eastern Capital.

Looking at the wide moat and the towering, sturdy city walls ahead, Liu Hong couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

Fortunately, he had made preparations in advance and placed his own forces inside the city.

Otherwise, even with the Han army's current equipment, it would still take a considerable price to capture this city.

Subsequently, under Cao Cao's command, one hundred catapults in the army continuously bombarded the walls of the eastern capital. During the bombardment, the soldiers also began to fill in the moat.

After ten days of attack, the moat was finally filled in, and several breaches were smashed into the city of Dongdu.

However, Liu Hong did not rush to launch an attack. Instead, he had some Kushan scholars write a proclamation.

The content of the announcement was quite simple: the Emperor of the Han Dynasty was ordained by Heaven to launch this campaign against the Kushans because he could not bear to see the suffering of the Kushan people. Therefore, he was acting on behalf of Heaven to carry out the campaign in order to save the Kushan people. In order to prevent innocent people from being killed, all Kushan soldiers were given an opportunity to abandon their evil ways and surrender. Three days later, the Han army would carry out the punishment on behalf of Heaven.

After several days of hard work, the group of Kushan scholars copied out five thousand leaflets.

As for how to distribute these leaflets, Liu Hong came up with a new product – a hot air balloon.

Under Liu Hong's guidance, the army's engineering corps, after several days of hard work, finally produced ten huge hot air balloons.

Moreover, these hot air balloons also feature dragon patterns and the words "May the Han Dynasty last forever."

On a low hill outside the Eastern Capital, Liu Hong looked at the ten hot air balloons neatly arranged and smiled slightly.

As the saying goes, attacking the city is inferior to attacking the mind; if we can demoralize the defending troops inside the city, it will greatly benefit the subsequent siege.

"ignition!"

"Here you go!"

One of the guards standing next to Liu Hong agreed and then stepped forward to relay Liu Hong's order.