While the envoy of King Liang was mediating with Liang Guang, a group of assassins sneaked into the city at some point, intending to rob the prison and rescue King Liang's grandson. Fortunately, the duty of guarding inside and outside the city was temporarily taken over by Feng Ye, and they did not succeed.

After failing to rescue the people, Prince Liang agreed to surrender as long as the court promised to protect his wealth and glory.

However, Zhao Fuyi learned from a spy planted in the rebel army that the King of Liang was pretending to surrender and actually wanted to attack them at night when they were off guard.

Zhao Fuyi received intelligence that the Jiujiang navy had already set out, so he decided to take advantage of the situation and promised King Liang, while deliberately relaxing his guard.

Late one night, the Liang army went upstream and attacked the navy of the rebel suppression army. The rebel suppression army pretended to be defeated and fled in panic, leading the Liang navy into a narrow waterway called Fucha Bay. There was another branch of the waterway nearby. Hundreds of warships were ambushed in the dark waters.

The Liang prince's navy pursued the rebel-suppressing army all the way to the Picha Bay, where they fell into a trap. The ambush warships swarmed out and cut off the Liang prince's navy in the middle. The front army was attacked from both sides and failed to break out several times. Seeing that they were about to be wiped out, the rear army had no choice but to retreat and try to escape back to Dongting Lake.

But by this time, reinforcements from Jiujiang had arrived and broke through the weakly defended Dongting Lake camp, completely cutting off the rebels' retreat.

The battle lasted from late night until dawn. There was incessant sound of artillery fire and lingering flames on Dongting Lake. The ten-mile Xiang River was dyed red and the murderous aura was overwhelming.

When Yan Sikong and Feng Ye woke up in the morning, they had already received good news that the army had won a disastrous victory. King Liang knew that he would not have a good end, so he drew his sword and committed suicide.

When Yan Sikong heard the news, his legs went weak and he sat in the chair, unable to move for a long time.

Feng Ye roared excitedly, shook Yan Sikong's shoulders and said, "We won! We won!"

Yan Sikong took a long breath and said in a trembling voice, "That's great, we won, winning is good." He felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from him, and even his breathing became smoother.

The rebellion suppression army was victorious, and the task of reducing the power of the feudal lords would be accomplished. Prince Liang was dead, and Ge Zhong would die without any evidence. This was the best outcome!

There was celebration in Jingzhou City. Liang Guang began to prepare for the celebration banquet early. Zhao Fuyi and Di Rong's army will retreat to Jingzhou to rest and recuperate, while waiting for the imperial edict to decide how to punish King Liang's relatives.

Yan Sikong had already taken advantage of Feng Ye's visit to Prince Liang's mansion to arrest people and hid his forged letter in Prince Liang's study. When the rebel army returned to the city, they also brought back the prisoners of war and everything in Prince Liang's camp.

The victory report was soon reported back to the capital. Emperor Zhaowu was overjoyed and ordered Liang Guang and Zhao Fuyi to conduct a thorough investigation on the spot about the accomplices of Prince Liang in his rebellion. To avoid suspicion, officials from the two lakes were not allowed to intervene.

Zhao Fuyi immediately raided Prince Liang's home and found a large amount of correspondence, including all the letters he brought back from the rebel camp in Dongting Lake. He handed them over to Liang Guang, who naturally handed them over to Yan Sikong and Xu Kai to sort out.

Yan Sikong mixed his forged letter into the mail without anyone noticing.

He and Xu Kai worked on the documents for several days and nights. Xu Kai was the first to discover the letters. He was shocked and stood up in panic with the letters in his hand.

Yan Sikong asked in confusion: "Brother Xu, what did you find?"

Xu Kai was quite jealous of Yan Sikong, so he would not let Yan Sikong take the credit. He walked out quickly and said, "I will go find the Chief Secretary right away."

Yan Sikong smiled grimly, then stood up and chased after him: "Brother Xu, it's late at night, you are disturbing the rest of the Chief Secretary..."

"I can't care about that much."

Xu Kai found Liang Guang in a flash. Liang Guang was also investigating the case by candlelight and had not rested yet. When Yan Sikong came, he saw Liang Guang holding the letter, looking horrified and panic-stricken.

Yan Sikong asked, "Master Liang, have you found any important people involved in the case?"

Liang Guang glanced at Yan Sikong and handed the letter to him.

Yan Sikong opened the stall and took a look, his eyes widened: "This... this is the Governor..."

Liang Guang sighed and said, "This matter is of great importance. We need to report it to General Zhao before making any plans." He put away the letter and said, "Before that, please do not let the news leak out. Otherwise, I will hold you accountable."

The two of them bowed quickly: "Yes."

After Yan Sikong returned to the dormitory, he did not rest, but knocked on the wall three times softly. Soon, there was a response from the other side.

After a while, Feng Ye pushed the door open and walked in, then quietly closed the door: "You're back so late again."

Yan Sikong's face was solemn: "Something big is going to happen."

Feng Ye asked: "What's wrong?"

Yan Sikong whispered, "Xu Kai, we found the correspondence between Ge Zhong and King Liang."

"Could it be that Ge Zhong was also involved in the rebellion?" Feng Ye was surprised, "Then why did King Liang put him under house arrest?"

"From the letter, it seems that Ge Zhong is definitely involved. King Liang promised that after the matter is accomplished, he would confer the title of Marquis of Wanhu upon Ge Zhong, making him one of the Three Dukes."

Feng Ye frowned deeply: "Did Xu Kai compare the handwriting?"

"After comparing, it is indeed Ge Zhong's handwriting." Yan Sikong said in a deep voice, "Tomorrow, the Chief Secretary will discuss this matter with General Zhao. Ge Zhong is the Governor-General of the two lakes, an important official of the court, and a frontier official. This matter is of great importance."

"Perhaps these two are playing a trick of self-torture. Didn't you wonder before why King Liang didn't kill Ge Zhong or even put him in jail, but just kept him under house arrest? He had already rebelled, so why should he treat Ge Zhong with such courtesy? Perhaps this is the answer."

Yan Sikong sighed: "I did find it strange at first, but I didn't expect..."

Feng Ye snorted coldly: "That Ge Zhong took advantage of my youth and openly lied about the military rations. Maybe he did it on purpose."

"This makes me very uneasy." Yan Sikong said, "If the two of them really conspired to rebel, we are still staying safely in the city..." He made a surprised expression, "Those prison robbers, you have never found out how they sneaked into the city, maybe they are Ge Zhong's men, and one of them was in the city from the beginning."

Feng Ye slammed the table with his palm and said angrily: "This Ge Zhong should be executed for his crime."

Yan Sikong patted Feng Ye on the shoulder and said, "If Ge Zhong is really involved in the rebellion, General Zhao and Lord Liang will definitely get to the bottom of it."

Feng Ye said in a deep voice: "In the case of Prince Liang, 30,000 soldiers were killed or injured, and the people of the two lakes suffered a lot. None of these traitors and villains should be let off!"

Yan Sikong said calmly: "That's right, no one can be let go."