Seeing the figure of his henchman disappear into the twilight, Han Deshu's complexion slowly eased, and he sat on the chair and breathed a sigh of relief. With this henchman by his side, even if Han Shouzhong can't bear to attack his original righteous brother and can't bear to sacrifice the lives of nearly 10,000 people in Heye City, at least he can ensure that the defenders in the city and the Zhou army will fight to the death, and will not surrender without a fight, so as to buy even a day for his side to save Da Liao and protect the Son of Heaven.

Speaking of which, Han Deshu, as the prime minister of Tokyo Province, still has a relatively clear understanding of the strength comparison between Liao and Zhou. When he learned that the Zhou army had crossed the sea and that Da Liao had no way to retreat, he did not have the idea of responding to the imperial court and waiting for an opportunity to surrender to Zhou. It's just that after many trade-offs and careful consideration, Han Deshu still gave up this idea. First, judging from past experience, although the Zhou army usually treated the Liao officials who surrendered voluntarily, the Han officials among them were able to retain their original official positions and continue to appoint them for a short time. However, as time passed, after the Zhou court took full control of the place, the middle and low-level officials who were indeed capable of these retained officials would be transferred from their original posts and sent to other places as officials. Other incompetent middle- and low-level officials and high-ranking officials will be dismissed from their posts and returned to their homes. With his identity as the left minister of Tokyo Daozuo, Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, Xingshizhong, and Yue Guogong, it is obviously impossible to retain the original position, and even whether he can be a peaceful apartment is between the two. After all, the Han family was an official in the three generations of the Great Liao Dynasty and received the favor of the emperor in the world, so they could be regarded as hardcore supporters of the Great Liao Imperial Court, and staying would be a potential threat to the rule of the Zhou Imperial Court over Tokyo Province.

Second, even if the Zhou court was full of self-confidence and disdained to kill itself, it would not let itself continue to stay in Liaoyang City, but would move its family to Beiping Mansion or Kaifeng Mansion to live in order to be able to monitor nearby. In that case, I am afraid that I will inevitably have to intersect with Han Deyi, a distant brother who was not looked down upon by me and often believed in the lessons. In the past, he relied on a high lord, although he found a position as a magistrate in the Nanjing Left-behind Mansion for him because of his fellow clansmen, but he never took this distant brother seriously, not only did he not treat him politely, but always treated him as a subordinate official. Later, Han Deyi voted for the court of Zhou during the Battle of Youyun, and because of his son-in-law Wang Kunjun, he has been prosperous in official fortune. If he surrendered to the Zhou State, he would face Han Deyi, who was an official and a civilian, even if the other party did not take the opportunity to humiliate him, how could he grovel in front of this clan brother who was unwilling to look at him in the past. Rather than this, it is better to fight to the death now, at least to earn a reputation for himself as a loyal minister who is loyal to the monarch and patriotic, and would rather die than surrender.

Therefore, in a sense, Han Deshu is likely to be the most resolute Liaoguo official in Liaoyang Prefecture and even in the entire Tokyo Province.

Han Deshu was bent on "dying the king" in Liaoyang City and being loyal to the Great Liao, but Han Shouzhong, who was in Heye City, was still hesitant. Especially after watching the main general of the Zhou army in the distance at the head of the city, ninety percent of them have confirmed that this Zou Zhenyuan is Zou Zhenyuan, Han Shouzhong's mind has been fighting between heaven and man. On the one hand, there is the Great Liao Tokyo Dao Zuo Xiang, Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Xingshizhong, and Yue Guo Gong Han Deshu, who has the grace of knowing himself and has served his family since his grandfather's generation; On one side are the sworn brothers who have eight bows with him, have made an oath to heaven and earth, and do not seek to be born on the same day and month of the same year, but to die on the same day and month of the same year, as well as 8,000 guards and nearly 10,000 innocent people in Tsuruno City. Which is more important, Han Shouzhong couldn't make a decision for a while, it was difficult to choose, and he couldn't sleep at night.

Han Shouzhong was in a dilemma there, but the county commander Wu Deming did not have the slightest psychological pressure. After receiving Han Shouzhong's approval, he not only sent his henchmen to secretly go out of the city overnight to contact the Zhou army, but also arranged in advance, secretly ordering the leaders of the Han army in this county, who were also his cronies, to secretly send people to monitor the generals, officials, and captains at all levels who came with Han Shouzhong to reinforce him, so as to prevent these people from not having the same heart as Han Shouzhong and bringing unnecessary trouble to the secret city dedication.

In response to the goodwill of the Tsuruno defenders who actively sought to prevent the flames of war from spreading to the city, the Zhou army outside the city also gave full cooperation. Therefore, although it was only a personal staff member of the Heye County Order who went out of the city on the order of Wu Deming to make initial contact with the Zhou army on the matter of dedicating the city, Zou Zhenyuan, the former commander-in-chief of the Right Route Army of the Great Zhou Northern Expedition, still sent his former army Duyu Marquis to come forward to talk with him.

One side was proactive and the other side was happy to see it come to fruition, because the talks between Wu Deming's personal staff and the former military capital of the Right Route Army, Yuhou, were friendly and smooth, but a preliminary consensus was reached in less than half an hour.

A soldier who can surrender without a fight is the highest state of a general. Zou Zhenyuan was also very satisfied with the results of such talks. Therefore, although he was a little dissatisfied with the other party's insistence that the commanders of the two sides hold face-to-face talks and finally finalize the surrender of Tsuruno Castle, out of consideration for appeasing the officials and guards in the city and the gentry and the common people, Zou Zhenyuan still agreed to this seemingly unnecessary step, and promised to meet with the supreme commander of the defenders in the city in the afternoon of the next day to discuss and confirm the matters of receiving the city, reorganizing the defenders, and pacifying the people. As for the location of the talks, although Zou Zhenyuan did not believe that the officials and guards of Heye City would dare to take the opportunity to assassinate him at the cost of the lives of the people and defenders of the city, he still accepted the construction of his subordinates and set it in his own camp - after all, the experience of the assassination of the founding uncle Zeng Zhilin Jurong was there, and the officials and generals under his command did not dare to take even the slightest risk in this regard.

After receiving the reward of his personal staff, Wu Deming, the county commander, was naturally overjoyed. On the one hand, as a Han official, giving up the Liao court of the Khitans, which had little hope, and turning to the Zhou court of the Han people, not only did not have any psychological obstacles and pressures, but there would be a kind of relaxation and relief to get rid of oppression and return to orthodoxy. On the other hand, according to past experience, Han middle and low-level officials like himself were generally retained in their original positions in the short term by the Zhou court. Even if it is likely to be transferred to another place after a period of time, there will not be much change in the grade, treatment, and responsibilities. Anyway, after all, he is an official, whether he is an official of Da Liao, a minister of Da Zhou, a county magistrate in Heye, or a parent official in other places, there is no difference between him Wu Deming and Master Wu. What's more, it is said that the Great Zhou court gave officials a lot more money than the Great Liao court. In this way, you can not only get a good reputation of caring for the people under your rule and making their names suffer from the swords and soldiers, but also get more benefits in terms of money. Not only do you have to do it, but you have to do it quickly and satisfactorily.

Therefore, Wu Deming sent his personal staff to the account to receive the reward, and at the same time hurried to Han Shouzhong's residence to report the good news to him, and agreed on the way to leave the city tomorrow and the accompanying personnel.

Because he had something in his heart, although Wu Deming was dancing and happy next to him, Han Shouzhong was a little absent-minded, just casually perfunctory, and promised to go out of the city tomorrow afternoon to meet with the Zhou army lord, and sent away the unfulfilled Wu County order.

Wu Deming happily went to prepare for going out of the city tomorrow to negotiate the surrender, but Han Shouzhong did not sleep all night, until he made a decision in the past five days, then he closed his clothes and took a nap.