Chapter 816: The Surrender Memorial

"Commander, this Shu army came to die, and collapsed at one blow. Why won't you let me lead the pursuit? If you had given me those five hundred cavalry from the camp earlier, that Zhao Jiwen absolutely would not have escaped! I could even have seized the chance to push straight into Chengdu, and we could have slept inside the city tonight!" At dusk, with heavy evening mist hanging low, Dang Jin strode into the commander's tent with a sword at his hip, complaining to Zhao Kuangyin, who was buried in paperwork at the desk.

On the commander's desk lay a large stack of military dispatches concerning the northern route of the Han army—some seized from Shu government offices, others sourced from Great Han spies. Zhao Kuangyin was studying them carefully.

"Sit!" Hearing Dang Jin's words, Zhao Kuangyin raised his head, looked at him, pointed to a seat, then explained: "It's not that I'm unwilling—it's that the troops have marched nearly three hundred li since disembarking at Suizhou, and they urgently need rest. In today's battle, had the Shu army not taken the initiative to attack, I would not have wanted to fight. Right now, letting the men eat their fill and sleep soundly, conserving their strength, is what matters most!"

Hearing this, Dang Jin still felt it was a pity, and said: "But the opportunity is right before us. To give it up like this, I truly cannot accept it!"

Looking at Zhao Kuangyin, Dang Jin couldn't help but say: "Commander, you led us on a swift march with light troops—wasn't it all for Chengdu? Now Chengdu is right before our eyes. This merit of being first to take the city and destroy the Meng Shu—doesn't it move you, doesn't it make you anxious?"

Seeing Dang Jin's restless agitation, Zhao Kuangyin smiled and said to him calmly: "The army has come this far, and Chengdu is within sight. It will eventually be absorbed into the Great Han—why the urgency? Moreover, with our soldiers weary and our forces thin, how could we possibly control a city as vast as Chengdu? To attack rashly would only invite great chaos!"

"Sigh! You always have a reason!" Dang Jin muttered.

Zhao Kuangyin remained composed, and asked: "Are the prisoners properly settled? How goes the mopping-up?"

Dang Jin replied: "The Shu people are weak. These Shu soldiers fight with utter cowardice, but as prisoners they are quite well-behaved!"

"Don't underestimate the Shu army or look down on the Shu people. If they seem so inept, it's because they were misused by their leaders!" Zhao Kuangyin waved the military report in his hand and said: "In this campaign into Shu, the Huaide and Huaiwei armies to the north have earned no small merit—bloody battles to break through stockades and defeat the enemy—and most of their soldiers are former Shu troops!"

Dang Jin was somewhat surprised, and continued: "Then I did underestimate them! The surrounding areas have all been cleared, and the remaining prisoners have been escorted back to camp under guard. There shouldn't be many scattered among the populace!"

Zhao Kuangyin nodded and said: "Well done! With this many Shu soldiers, if large numbers were to escape and scatter, the damage they'd cause to the localities would be ten times worse than bandits. Within Shu's borders, the people are already uneasy and public sentiment is greatly disturbed—such a situation must be avoided at all costs! We came here to seize territory, cities, and subjects for the Great Han. When the war ends, pacification must come first, so that they may be smoothly brought under Great Han rule. One must think long-term..."

Hearing Zhao Kuangyin lecture on such matters, Dang Jin's head began to ache, and he hastily changed the subject: "Oh, right—several Shu generals wish to request an audience with you, Commander. They say they had already made contact with the army earlier, hoping to serve, and wish to report on Chengdu's true state of affairs! These Meng Shu commanders..."

"I had overlooked them! Come, let's go meet them!" Zhao Kuangyin said.

"I'll pass!" Dang Jin was clearly uninterested, and said: "I'd rather go inspect the camp defenses!"

"Wait!" Zhao Kuangyin called him back, rose from the desk, picked up two jars of wine, and handed them to Dang Jin with a smile: "You fought well in this battle, and the journey was hard. These two jars are tribute wine bestowed by His Majesty—take them!"

"The Commander is willing to part with these?" Dang Jin's eyes lit up slightly.

Zhao Kuangyin was extremely fond of drinking, and Dang Jin knew it. In his view, sharing wine with him was no small gesture of friendship.

"Remember, no getting drunk!" Zhao Kuangyin said sternly.

"Yes!"

After the battle, the Han camp on the outskirts had actually relaxed in atmosphere. As night fell, it sank into tranquility, and the flickering campfires somehow radiated a sense of peace.

But in the city of Chengdu not far away, the atmosphere was utterly different—tense and oppressive. With Zhao Jiwen's defeat, no one harbored any hope of repelling the Han army anymore; that was far too extravagant a notion. Chengdu no longer had the means to resist the enemy. And this was merely a detached force—once the main Han army arrived from the north, the outcome was easy to imagine.

Inside the Shu palace, just one day later, Meng Chang again summoned several ministers into the palace. The atmosphere was even heavier than before.

"Where is Zhao Jiwen?" After the ruler and his ministers sat in silent confrontation for a long while, Meng Chang asked.

"Your Majesty, after General Zhao returned to the city, he has been urgently deploying troops and horses to prepare for a Han assault on the city!" Ouyang Jiong replied in a muffled voice.

Hearing this, Meng Chang smiled bitterly: "At such a pass, he still dares to fight the Han army, still willing to serve the court loyally and defend the city?"

No one answered.

Scanning the room and looking at the utterly silent ministers, Meng Chang let out a dejected sigh and said: "Ministers, Zhao Jiwen rashly sallied out and was defeated again at the hands of the Han army. Most of the soldiers surrendered, and there is no one left in the city who can resist. Under these circumstances, what are we to do?"

Most of the ministers lowered their heads. Seeing this, Meng Chang's tone grew increasingly bitter: "My father and I fed and clothed you in plenty for thirty years. Yet when the enemy comes, not one of you can loose a single arrow eastward for me. Now that the enemy is at the gates, no one is willing to die for the cause—how tragic!"

Then he said to them all: "All of you seated here have governed Shu with me for many years, enjoying every luxury. Now the state is in peril, the ancestral temples are about to be destroyed, and my family's very lives are at stake. Can none of you utter a single word to relieve my family's distress?"

At these words, the ministers' heads sank even lower.

Seeing this, Meng Chang looked toward Li Hao: "Minister Li, will you not speak a word either?"

Called upon by name, Li Hao, who had been like a meditating old monk, came back to life. A trace of embarrassment appeared on his face. He looked up and met Meng Chang's eyes, and could sense certain meanings flickering within their depths.

After thinking for a moment, he let out a light sigh, clasped his hands, and said: "Your Majesty, things have come to this—there is no turning back. Liu Shan received the title of the Anle Duke, and Shubao was granted the title of the Marquis of Changcheng—both because they submitted and thus preserved their lives. For the sake of the city's officials and people, for the safety of the imperial house, it would be best to seal the treasuries, preserve the army and the city, and present a memorial of surrender to welcome the Han forces!"

After saying these words, Li Hao lowered his head and sighed silently. Meng Chang, by contrast, seemed quite relaxed, and asked the others: "What do you ministers think? Minister Wu?"

"Your Majesty! I—I concur!" Wu Zhaoyi rose, prostrated himself, knocked his head on the ground, and wailed loudly.

"I concur!" Ouyang Jiong also let out a melancholy sigh, rose, and knelt. He did not cry aloud, but his eyes were brimming with tears. The emotional display of a scholar was easy to evoke sympathy.

"I concur!" Wang Zhongfu, the Governor of Chengdu.

"I concur!"

Soon, the Shu palace halls were filled with weeping. One high official after another behaved like weeping maidens, tears and mucus streaming down their faces—each trying to outdo the other in volume and sorrow.

Of course, not all of these tears were necessarily feigned. After all, they had served the Shu state for many years; it would be impossible to feel no attachment at all. Additionally, they were worried about their own futures—in Shu they held lofty positions, wielded great power, and enjoyed every luxury, but under the Han, that might not be the case...

Only after their voices went hoarse from crying and their tears ran dry did Meng Chang entrust Li Hao with drafting the surrender memorial. Li Hao withdrew, and in less than half an hour, returned, presenting a memorial of surrender—its words sincere, candid, and genuine...

After reading it, Meng Chang signed his name, affixed the imperial seal, and instructed: "Take this and give it to Zhao Jiwen. Tomorrow, you and he shall present this memorial at the Han army camp, offer it to the Han commander, and convey our intent to submit!"

He also instructed Wu Zhaoyi to prepare a batch of grain, wine, meat, and vegetables to reward the army, to be transported to the Han camp.

It was already deep into the night. Inside the military office, Zhao Jiwen was brooding. He had secretly sent a trusted confidant to the Han camp to contact Zhao Kuangyin about defecting. He had originally assumed that even if the Han army was not overjoyed, they would at least treat him with courtesy. But instead, Zhao Kuangyin's reply had been somewhat ambiguous—telling him to temporarily pacify Chengdu and be sure not to cause unrest. Zhao Kuangyin seemed in no hurry to enter Chengdu.

But now, facing Li Hao who had come in person, and looking at Meng Chang's surrender memorial, he felt even more frustrated. He had wanted to switch sides and earn merit, but Zhao Kuangyin wouldn't accept him—and now Meng Chang wanted to surrender instead. If Meng Chang surrendered, where would his usefulness lie? How could he atone for his crimes with merit? Considering his rash attack during the day, wouldn't he become an obstinate holdout who had resisted the imperial army...

For a brief moment, Zhao Jiwen truly wanted to go to the palace and advise Meng Chang not to surrender so hastily. But he didn't dare actually do so—otherwise, wouldn't he truly become a diehard, and with his wavering between two sides, who could guarantee he wouldn't be purged?

Zhao Jiwen had it hard!

Li Hao sat to one side, sipping tea. His still somewhat swollen eyes watched Zhao Jiwen, who held the surrender memorial with an inscrutable expression, and felt somewhat puzzled. In his view, since Meng Chang had decided to surrender and there would be no more fighting, Zhao Jiwen should have felt relieved and at ease—why such complex emotions showing on his face?

"General Zhao, is there a problem?" Li Hao couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, nothing!" Zhao Jiwen snapped back to himself, took a deep breath, sighed, and said to Li Hao: "Since His Majesty has made his decision, I will simply obey orders! Tomorrow at dawn, I shall go to the Han camp together with you, Lord Li."

At dawn, Zhao Kuangyin, having risen early, was patrolling the camp with Dang Jin amid the cold dew of late autumn. Dang Jin, like a nagging wife, chattered in Zhao Kuangyin's ear: "Commander, yesterday you said our forces were too few to control Chengdu. But since that Zhao Jiwen has voluntarily offered his allegiance, why did you refuse him?"

Zhao Kuangyin stretched his limbs as he walked, and said: "Zhao Jiwen attacked us first, and after his initial defeat he sent someone to offer surrender. Such fickleness—how can he be trusted lightly..."

Hearing that Zhao Kuangyin always had a reason, Dang Jin felt somewhat helpless. After walking a while, he suddenly said: "Commander, you seem not to want to enter Chengdu?"

Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin's steps faltered, and he instinctively glanced at him: "You noticed?"

Dang Jin raised an eyebrow and said bluntly: "I may be slow-witted, but I can sense that ever since we reached Chengdu, you've been weighed down with worries, hesitating at every turn!"

A smile curled at the corner of his mouth. Zhao Kuangyin's gaze turned northward, and he said softly: "I may be the commander of the eastern route, but Commander Xiang is the Commander-in-Chief of the Two Chuan! Our army arriving here is already great merit. If we were to take the city first, I fear it would breed resentment among the northern route troops..."