Chapter 413

On the other side, Wang Lun encountered a similar situation.

However, he dealt with it more easily because the people sent by Wei Pao were not as numerous as those from Ceng Hai's side; only a few dozen were dispatched.

This was probably because their garrison was located some distance from the front lines.

After killing the few dozen subordinates sent by Wei Pao, Wang Lun immediately ordered his deputy general to lead a detachment toward Ceng Sihai's defensive zone.

Both sides, having confirmed each other's actions without further doubt, led their two great armies away from Dashan together.

As their force of nearly a hundred thousand moved, it immediately alarmed nearby troops.

The great generals of the other units were not fools; they instantly guessed that Wang Lun and Ceng Hai had gone to surrender.

Moreover, Wei Pao's actions of sending people to seize power everywhere forced several great generals into rebellion.

Seeing the situation was wrong, the remaining people also fled one after another.

Some great generals were captured, and their seals of office were taken by Wei Pao's men, but the generals' subordinates refused to obey orders and left with their own troops.

Others directly led their soldiers to confront Wei Pao's men and forcibly rescued their own generals.

Hundreds of thousands of troops immediately split apart, some surrendering, others fighting amongst themselves.

Only fewer than twenty thousand troops remained loyal to Wei Pao.

On the other side, General Meng Tian's force of several hundred thousand remained relatively stable, with no one surrendering for the time being.

Late at night, a scout ran hurriedly toward General Meng Tian's tent.

One of his shoes was missing, his clothes were torn by branches, and there were several wounds on his face.

But he did not stop; instead, he ran desperately toward the tent.

"Halt!" The guard immediately appeared and shouted to stop him.

"Go quickly and report to General Meng; a great disaster has occurred!" the scout shouted loudly.

"The General is sleeping; I can only grant you an audience if it is urgent military news," the guard said.

"It is urgent military news!" the scout grew anxious: "I must see General Meng immediately!"

"Wait here!" After saying this, the guard hurriedly entered the tent.

At this moment, General Meng Tian had already awakened.

He had not been sleeping well during this period; any slight disturbance would wake him.

"What is it?" Before the guard could speak, General Meng Tian asked first.

"General, a scout has arrived to report urgent military news," the guard said.

"Quick, bring him in!" General Meng Tian said immediately.

Soon, the scout was brought in by the guard.

"Grand General, the army on Lord Wei's side has scattered!" the scout shouted loudly.

"What? It has scattered? What exactly happened?" General Meng Tian asked immediately.

"Grand General, seven or eight out of ten of the troops under Lord Wei have dispersed; most went to surrender, and only several ten thousand are still following Lord Wei," the scout said.

"Is this true?" General Meng Tian asked with a frown.

"This humble one overheard it from Lord Wei's close confidants. Judging by the panic among them, this matter should be true!" the scout said.

General Meng Tian took a deep breath.

He had long had a premonition that something would go wrong, but he did not expect it to come so quickly, nor that the scale of the surrender would be so great.

General Meng Tian ordered the scout to go down and rest first, then commanded someone to invite Feng Qiji, while simultaneously sending more personnel to spy on Wei Pao's side.

In a short while, Feng Qiji rushed over.

When General Meng Tian saw Feng Qiji, he immediately recounted the intelligence obtained by the scout.

"Lord Feng, have you already received this news?"

After General Meng Tian finished speaking and saw no expression of shock on Feng Qiji's face, he asked.

"The news I received was that several ten thousand people left Lord Wei's side; I did not know that hundreds of thousands surrendered. However, I am not surprised; I believe this was an inevitable occurrence."

"The troops on Lord Wei's side were all temporarily recruited, and Lord Wei himself has never led troops; his control over his subordinates is not as strong as yours, General."

"When the generals on his side felt they had no retreat, it was easy for them to think of surrendering."

Feng Qiji analyzed.

"Indeed, we find it difficult to oppose Ying Su's great army, and our grain and fodder are running low," General Meng Tian sighed.

"General, Lord Wei's side has already collapsed; now only we remain. What should we do next?" Feng Qiji asked.

General Meng Tian did not answer Feng Qiji's question; he stood up and paced back and forth inside the tent.

After a while, General Meng Tian stopped.

"What do you think?" General Meng Tian handed the difficult problem back to Feng Qiji.

"I..." Feng Qiji sighed: "I also do not know what to do."

"Let us speak of it tomorrow; let me think it over properly," General Meng Tian sighed.

Feng Qiji had no choice but to leave first.

Just as he stepped out of the tent, Cheng Ze, who had come with him, rushed forward to meet him.

"My lord, what did General Meng say?" Cheng Ze asked.

"The situation is worse than we thought; we only knew that several ten thousand surrendered on Lord Wei's side, but in reality, the army on Lord Wei's side has scattered!" Feng Qiji said.

"What? Scattered? Did hundreds of thousands of troops all surrender?" Cheng Ze was greatly shocked.

"Only several ten thousand remain following Lord Wei," Feng Qiji sighed.

199. General Meng Tian Surrenders

"Now Lord Wei is finished; now the official government army will surely focus its attack on our side!" Cheng Ze said hurriedly.

"Indeed, the strength of Ying Su's great army was already superior to ours; now that more than half of our troops have suddenly surrendered, we are even less of a match for Ying Su," Feng Qiji said.

"My lord, I have a word I do not know whether to speak!" Cheng Ze seized the opportunity to say.

"At a time like this, what is there that should not be said? Speak." Feng Qiji said.

"My lord, both you and General Meng Tian are on the list of those who can be pardoned. Now, while you still hold leverage, surrender quickly! If the officers below surrender first, then your surrender will have no value!" Cheng Ze said.

When Feng Qiji heard the word "surrender," his face instantly changed; he instinctively wanted to reprimand Cheng Ze.

But after finishing Cheng Ze's words, he instantly calmed down.

Yes, now there is still leverage in hand; there are still hundreds of thousands of troops here.

Surrendering with hundreds of thousands of troops and surrendering only when there is no way out are two different matters.

Perhaps when only he himself remains at the end, Ying Su might not even want to accept his surrender.

"My lord, Lord Wei's side has already collapsed. Make a decision quickly while the news has not spread through the army, or once the various generals in the army learn what happened on Lord Wei's side, they will likely leave on their own!" Cheng Ze urged.

Hearing this, Feng Qiji's face changed; he and Cheng Ze had thought of the same thing.

Such a big matter happened on Wei Pao's side; it cannot be hidden.

Perhaps some armies have already heard the wind of it now!

Thinking this, Feng Qiji immediately said to Cheng Ze: "You and I will go together to see General Meng!"

The two entered the main tent together. Before Meng Tian could speak, Feng Qiji said first: "General Meng, Lord Wei's side has collapsed; this matter will surely spread through the entire army by tomorrow morning. By then, I fear the General will not be able to restrain them even if he wants to!"

"Do you mean they will decide on their own to surrender?" Meng Tian asked.

"General, we originally rose in rebellion against Ying Su at the invitation of Wei Pao and the others. Now that Wei Pao himself has collapsed, we have no reason to persist."

"Furthermore, the First Emperor is still on the opposite side. If the other side uses the First Emperor to persuade our generals and soldiers to surrender, I believe they will very likely betray the General!"

Feng Qiji spoke rather euphemistically, bringing up the First Emperor and stating that the rebellion was at Wei Pao's invitation.

In fact, this was giving Meng Tian a way to save face.

With Meng Tian's strength, how could he have risen in rebellion because of Wei Pao?

"Lord Feng, do you have any good ideas?" Meng Tian asked.

"General, this is my nephew Cheng Ze, whom I mentioned to you before. We previously sent him to negotiate with Zhuge Liang."

"Although he could not negotiate any results with Zhuge Liang, he heard some news from Zhuge Liang... Cheng Ze, tell General Meng again what you told me last time."

Feng Qiji glanced at Cheng Ze.

"General, when this humble one went to Zhuge Liang last time, he intentionally revealed a piece of news to me, saying the new emperor does not wish to kill everyone."

"Now they have publicly issued a surrender letter using kites. I believe this is precisely the opportunity for the General and Lord Feng to defect to the First Emperor."

Cheng Ze said.

Like Feng Qiji, he brought up the First Emperor, also to give Meng Tian face.

Regardless, they had not publicly declared their betrayal of the First Emperor.