Chapter 408

"Search everywhere else; do not let a single person escape!" Vice General Wang shouted.

193. Night Encounter with a Patrol

Vice General Wang led his soldiers in a search in all directions, while the troops ambushed in the four directions also emerged and converged toward the center.

Under such tight arrangements, not a single one of Peng Xiang's special guards escaped; all were killed.

This news immediately reached Zheng Zili.

He personally led people over and on the spot declared that Wei Pao and others were committing treason, and that they had previously come only because they had been deceived by Wei Pao.

Now that they knew they had been deceived, they had decided to accept the surrender appeals of the First Emperor and the New Emperor.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt very pleased.

They were very clear in their hearts about the situation in recent times; there was simply no possibility of defeating the Great Qin army.

Not to mention anything else, just Li Yuanba alone was impossible to deal with.

Furthermore, the opposing side possessed numerous cannons, great generals such as Li Xin, Wang Li, and Fu Hao, strategists like Zhuge Liang, and crucially, the support of both the First Emperor and the New Emperor.

Therefore, the lower-ranking generals and soldiers had long since had no desire to fight.

It was only due to the strict military discipline that they were forced to fight.

Now that even Zheng Zili was preparing to surrender, the others naturally had no objections.

Under the cover of night, Vice General Wang personally led a squad of scouts toward the position held by the government troops.

As they approached the enemy camp, they slowed their pace.

There were surely patrol soldiers and sentries on the other side; if they were mistaken for launching a surprise attack, they might get shot with a few arrows, which would be disastrous.

Vice General Wang ordered his men to hold the prepared white flags in their hands, then slowly walked forward.

At the same time, they no longer concealed their forms but intentionally chose paths without vegetation or cover.

This would allow the other side to discover them faster and see the white flags in their hands immediately.

The moonlight was fine tonight; the white moonlight spilled over the earth as if frosting the ground with a layer of frost.

Soon, the movements of Vice General Wang and his group were discovered by the patrol team of the government troops.

At first, they thought these were scouts sent by the enemy to gather intelligence, but they immediately spotted the white flags in these people's hands.

Recalling that their superiors had mentioned the possibility of people coming over to surrender, the patrol captain immediately led his men to meet them.

"Who goes there?" the patrol captain shouted.

"Don't shoot arrows; we are here to surrender!" Vice General Wang waved the white flag in his hand.

"Is it just the few of you?" the patrol captain asked.

"It is just the few of us; there are many more behind us who wish to surrender. We have come first to arrange the method of surrender," Vice General Wang explained.

"Method of surrender? What method of surrender?" the patrol captain asked.

"There are tens of thousands of people on our side who wish to surrender; if we do not agree on this beforehand, it will easily cause a misunderstanding that we are here to raid the camp," Vice General Wang said.

"So many people coming to surrender?" The patrol captain was stunned.

"Our General has long wished to return to Great Qin, but he was closely monitored by Wei Pao and others, so he never found an opportunity."

"Please take me to see your commander; I need to discuss the details of the surrender with him in person."

Vice General Wang said.

"Follow me!" the patrol captain said.

Realizing the matter was of great importance, he immediately took Vice General Wang and his men into the military camp.

Soon, Vice General Wang was brought before a commander of a thousand.

When this commander of a thousand learned that Vice General Wang's rank was even higher than his own, he took Wang to see a great general.

By early the next morning, Vice General Wang was brought before Li Xin.

After Li Xin asked in detail about what had happened on that side, he felt extremely pleased.

It seemed Zhuge Liang's strategy had worked.

Those kites released earlier had already provoked the nobles into fighting among themselves!

"There is no time to lose; return immediately and have General Zheng bring his troops to this location. I will dispatch an army to advance from this direction to cover your rear flank."

"Then I will send people to take over; at that time, you will follow my men to the rear."

Li Xin said, pointing at the map.

"I understand; I will return immediately!" Vice General Wang said.

"Good, I will send someone to escort you!" Li Xin said.

Thus, Vice General Wang returned to his own military camp.

As soon as he explained Li Xin's plan, Zheng Zili immediately ordered the troops to move out.

By this time, it was already the dawn of the third day after Peng Xiang had been killed.

Fortunately, the matter of killing Peng Xiang had not leaked, and since their unit was located at the front lines in a separate defense sector, the large-scale movement was not immediately discovered.

It was only when tens of thousands of people left the mountains and forests to move toward the designated position that they were discovered by scouts from other units.

Soon, the news spread.

By the time it reached Wei Pao, everything was already too late; Zheng Zili had already brought his troops over to the government side.

This nearly made Wei Pao spit blood from anger!

He had struggled to devise a method to monitor and control these generals, but he had not expected Zheng Zili to act so quickly and so decisively!

Now, the matter of Zheng Zili could no longer be pursued, and even more troublesome matters lay ahead...

When the frontline troops saw Zheng Zili surrender, their morale would surely become unstable, and thoughts of surrender would arise.

"Quick, immediately issue an order to summon all the great generals; say there is an urgent matter to discuss!" Wei Pao instructed his subordinates.

As soon as his subordinate left, Wei Pao immediately ordered someone to summon Young Master Jiang Lu and the others.

When he mentioned that Zheng Zili had led his team to flee, everyone was greatly shocked.

One must remember that Zheng Zili was a great general, and moreover, a private soldier recruited by Wei Pao.

If such a person departs, it is a tremendous blow to the stability of the army's morale.

"I have already ordered all the great generals to be summoned; once they arrive, we will move to place them under house arrest!"

"From now on, all great generals must be replaced by our own people!"

Wei Pao said.

"This is equivalent to stripping those great generals of their military power; if they learn of this, they will surely harbor rebellious thoughts. This matter must be handled with extreme caution!" Jiang Lü said.

"You are right. Therefore, all of us must stay together from now on; no one may act alone!" Wei Pao said.

"Cannot act alone? Is Lord Wei implying he does not trust us?" Young Master Gao said discontentedly.

"Young Master, do not think that way. How could I possibly distrust you two Young Masters? Furthermore, I have complete trust in everyone present!"

"It is merely for everyone's safety and to avoid mutual suspicion among us that we should not separate."

Wei Pao said.

"Lord Wei speaks correctly. When we are together, we discuss matters jointly, share blessings, and face hardships together!" Wang Wan chimed in.

The others heard this and raised no objections.

For at this moment, whoever raises an objection would only increase their own suspicion.

Among them, Young Master Jiang Lü and Young Master Gao could not help but silently groan.

They originally had the opportunity to escape.

The message on the kite was very clear: they were of the Wang Zu, the direct sons of the First Emperor; if they turned back in time, they could at least avoid execution.

That is to say, they had a way out.

But Wei Pao was different; both Wei Pao and Wang Wan were not permitted to surrender, so they had no retreat.

Now it was obvious that Wei Pao wanted to drag everyone into the water with him.

Apart from the two Young Masters, others not on the kill list held similar thoughts.

They had originally been hesitating whether to secretly leave and surrender.

Who would have thought that now even the chance to surrender was gone.

194. The Centurion Bringing News

Outside the main tent, a centurion hurriedly approached.

"Halt!" A guard at the tent entrance immediately stepped forward to block him.

"I have come to deliver wild fruits," the centurion said, pointing to several soldiers standing more than ten meters behind him.