Chapter 328: Fang La's Decision

Sometimes Zhang Jie also envied other protagonists.

How come when they release their kingly aura, scholars who are rare in history and as wise as Zhuge;

peerless warriors who are unparalleled in martial arts, taking the heads of generals from among ten thousand troops as if it were nothing,

like the reincarnation of Li and Xiang, "Li being the best general, Xiang being the best king,"

would bow down under their jeans, and their loyalty would be maxed out, never betraying them no matter what.

When it comes to him, there are all sorts of messy things,

even those who followed him from the very beginning have their own little thoughts,

most of them are either openly or secretly expanding their own spheres of influence,

wanting to increase their own authority, moving up one step or even several steps,

forcing him to work hard to maintain the balance of the court and avoid any one side becoming too big.

And then there is the need to better govern various places and accept the rapidly expanding territory,

forcing him to accept a portion of the officials from the Great Song period.

Although the officials he accepted were those with good reputations and relatively restrained behavior,

they all had the faults that Great Song officials should have,

and one by one they were still dreaming the beautiful dream of the Great Song's "Emperor and scholar-officials sharing the world."

As for other corruption and bribery, er, receiving summer ice gifts and winter charcoal gifts, that was even more common.

Zhang Jie expressed: are those officials drifting, or can he, Zhang Jie, no longer lift his knife?

This medicine... the major cases cannot stop!

"Surrender?"

On Fang La's side, Deng Yuanjue and the others began to formally consider this question.

Although they had been prepared to have their heads and bodies separated since they raised their troops, or even to be defeated and sliced into a thousand pieces,

or executed by slow slicing, they were not afraid of death, but they didn't want to die in vain.

Great Gan first unified the north of the Great Song, then crushed the Great Liao; it could be said,

except for the Western Army and Western Xia, whose movements were currently unclear, Great Gan had no threats left in the north.

And carrying such a momentum of great victory, as long as the Western Army was not stupid, they would surrender.

By then, could they, these people, resist the strong army of Great Gan that could defeat the Great Liao's seven hundred thousand troops and march south?

After thinking left and right, they found that Great Gan's move was like Taishan pressing down,

purely using momentum to suppress people; their Holy Duke State's winning percentage was truly slim.

It wasn't quite a mantis trying to stop a chariot, but it was close.

"Everyone, the Western Army has already surrendered to our Great Gan. From now on,

there will be no more Great Song Western Army; there will only be the Great Gan Western Army!"

Qin Gui looked around at the thoughtful crowd, smiled slightly, and dropped another bombshell.

"What, the Western Army has already surrendered?!"

The generals were shocked again.

Although they had guessed that the Western Army would surrender, they didn't expect them to kneel so quickly.

Weren't they the most elite border troops of the Great Song? How could they kneel so smoothly?

Thinking of Great Gan crushing the Great Liao's seven hundred thousand troops in one stroke, and even the Emperor Yelu Yanxi being forced to tour south,

what were a mere few tens of thousands of Western Army troops in the face of this momentum?

If they were really prepared to fight Great Gan to the death,

using their lives to be loyal to the Great Song, which had already been buried in the soil, that would be the strange thing.

At the same time, they also felt Great Gan's determination this time.

If they refused this time, I'm afraid the next step would be the army pressing down and sweeping everything away.

They couldn't help but look at Fang La one after another, wanting to know his inner thoughts.

The one who could decide whether to fight or surrender now was the Holy Duke they were loyal to.

Fang La felt the pressure: having struggled at the bottom of society since he was young,

from a hired hand to the leader of the Manichaean Sect, and taking advantage of Zhang Jie's uprising in the north to raise his own,

seizing cities and territory, capturing more than a dozen counties, establishing the Holy Duke State,

and calling himself the "Holy Duke," how could he not see the thoughts in the hearts of the generals.

"The hearts of the people are scattered; the team is not easy to lead."

He couldn't help but sigh faintly in his heart.

He knew that if he decided to resist to the end and fight Great Gan to the death in front of Hangzhou City,

these generals wouldn't say anything now, but when Great Gan's army pressed down,

maybe someone would surrender the city, or even turn their weapons around.

Hope is as light as a feather, and as heavy as Taishan.

The Great Song didn't give them any hope of living, so they rebelled.

Now Great Gan's momentum is like thunder in the sky; how can mere mortals go against heaven?

Seeing no hope of victory, the generals under him who were still somewhat loyal to him were shaken.

If others knew about this, I'm afraid there would be a big wave of desertion in the military camp tonight.

If they really waited until Great Gan's troops were at the city walls, except for a few die-hards like his nephew Fang Yu who shared his glory and shame,

and couldn't be separated from him, Fang La was afraid he would become a lonely man.

This "lonely man" is not the "lonely man" who calls himself "I,"

but a lonely man whose orders cannot go five steps, whose words cannot command three people, and whose actions cannot leave the mansion.

"What conditions does the Gan Emperor want to offer for our surrender?"

With a long sigh, Fang La's heart turned a hundred times,

and despite his unwillingness, he could only make this decision.

Surrendering means tying his life, death, glory, and shame to the hands of the Gan Emperor Zhang Jie,

and he might not live, but resisting to the end will definitely lead to death!

Qin Gui, knowing that Fang La's heart had been shaken, was overjoyed,

and hurriedly stated the conditions Zhang Jie had offered Fang La and the others one by one:

"My Lord is very sincere..."

"Hmm, the Gan Emperor is indeed very sincere."

Hearing the rewards Zhang Jie gave them, Deng Yuanjue and the others nodded secretly.

Except for Fang La, who was the leader and was to be enfeoffed as a Marquis, they, the generals, also had their own rewards.

Although these positions were certainly not the current Protector of the State,

Great General of the State, National Teacher, Tathagata, and Minister of the Six Ministries;

but how could the official positions of a Holy Duke State that couldn't even hold a corner compare to

the official positions of a great empire that was about to unify the realm, with achievements surpassing the Great Song,

and hoping to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Han and Tang?

To tell the truth, a miscellaneous general of Great Gan was more valuable than their current Great General of the State,

Great Marshal of the State, and Baoguang Tathagata.

Moreover, their Holy Duke State and Great Gan were still in a hostile state, mortal enemies,

and the Gan Emperor, who occupied the absolute upper hand, could have wiped out all the high-level officials of their Holy Duke State to eliminate all future troubles, and no one would have said a word.

Fighting for the dragon, if you don't succeed, you die; it's that cruel!

"Please ask the envoy to tell the Gan Emperor, I, Fang La, surrender."

Fang La, having obtained satisfactory conditions, spoke slowly.

Although he lost the entire Holy Duke State and could no longer realize his ambition of dominating the world,

at this moment, he felt much more relaxed.

At the very least, he didn't have to worry day and night, racking his brains to expand territory,

playing power games with those surrendered Great Song officials, and even less did he have to worry that one day Great Gan's army would arrive,

turning him and the Holy Duke State into flying ash, leaving him without a place to be buried. ===== CHAPTER 329 =====

and engage in petty infighting with those Song officials who have surrendered, nor do they need to worry that one day, once the Great Gan army arrives,

it will reduce him and the Holy Duke State to flying ash, leaving him with no place to be buried.