As soon as he entered the county government hall, Han Shouxin saw Han Shouzhong, Wu Deming, the commander of Heye County, and several other generals surrounding the sand table in Heye County--making the sand table was a trick that Han Shouzhong learned when he was working with Zou Zhenyuan--next to him, frowning and thoughtful. It's just that their attention doesn't seem to be on the sand table, but on a blank piece of paper full of words in Han Shouzhong's hand. When he got closer, Han Shouxin realized that what Han Shouzhong was holding in his hand was nothing else, it was the letter of surrender that the Zhou army had projected into the city at the end of the previous attack.

Since he was reading the letter of persuasion, it meant that Han Shouzhong was probably trying to persuade other generals and the county commander Wu Deming to surrender, so as to prepare for the implementation of the plan of Lord Zuo. Therefore, Han Shouxin temporarily hid his doubts in his heart, ready to see how Han Shouzhong acted next before making plans.

Seeing Han Shouxin and others coming in, Han Shouzhong hurriedly put down the letter of persuasion in his hand, motioned for everyone to sit down, and drove out all the idle people in the house, and ordered his own soldiers to strictly guard the door, and no one was allowed to enter without his own order, and then picked up the letter of persuasion again, and asked straight to the point: "Everyone must have seen the power of the Zhou army just now." However, in just half an hour, the city wall of Beicheng was bombarded by the Zhou army's artillery and was crumbling. If the Zhou army did such a bombardment again, it is estimated that the wall of the northern city would be completely destroyed. At that time, we will have to fight against the 20,000 tiger and wolf division of the Zhou army with 8,000 weak brigades, and everyone should know what the result will be. Now that Zhou Jun's letter of persuasion has been thrown into the city, where are the soldiers and civilians of Heye City going, let's get an idea together! ”

Although Han Shouzhong neither circulated nor read the letter of surrender in public, there were no less than 10,000 copies of the letter of surrender that Zhou Jun projected into Heye City, and the officials and generals present had already read it in various ways before they came to the county government hall, and they knew its contents even more well—some of them even carried one in their arms now. Therefore, as soon as Han Shouzhong's voice fell, the officials present would put forward their opinions with you and me.

Although there were a few straight-hearted, solid-eyed generals and lieutenants who were halfway through the first attack of the Zhou army, and the loss of their own soldiers was only two or three hundred, they felt that they might not lose to the Zhou army by knife to knife and gun to gun, so they shouted there that they would fight to the death with the Zhou army, and it was a big deal to give their more than 100 catties to Heye City. But Han Shouxin watched coldly and found the problem - including those generals and captains, the people who spoke their opinions were all from the Liaoyang reinforcements, and they were all ordinary officers with simple backgrounds and no foundation. Whether it was Han Shouzhong's cronies, or the henchmen of Sun Delu, the deputy general of the Liaoyang reinforcements, or the county commander Wu Deming and the crane field guards under him, they all kept silent and did not say a word.

In Han Shouxin's opinion, although Han Shouzhong and Wu Deming did not speak, judging from their expressions, it seems that they have reached a consensus on whether to descend or not, and they have made up their minds, but they feel that the time is not yet ripe, so they are not in a hurry to throw out their opinions. Sun Delu, the deputy general of the Liaoyang reinforcements, was obviously waiting and watching, and after the officials and generals present expressed their positions on surrender and battle, they would then fall to the stronger side. In other words, except for the few smug and straight-hearted generals, most of the people in the room, including themselves, were watching the wind and looking at the shape, waiting for others to say the word "surrender" first, and then decide whether to fight or surrender according to everyone's reaction.

Thinking of this, Han Shouxin, who had a secret mission, planned to be the one who pierced the window paper. After all, Lord Zuo Xiang's orders must be carried out, whether it is a battle or a surrender, he has to force Han Shouzhong to express his position, even if doing so will make the latter feel unhappy or even annoyed. Because only in this way can we decide whether to assassinate Zou Zhenyuan as planned, or replace Han Shouzhong with Zuo Xiang's secret order, and lead the army to fight the Zhou army to the death. And at this time, the old god was there, and while drinking tea, Han Shouzhong, who patiently "listened" to the opinions of the generals and captains, suddenly raised his head, looked at Han Shouxin, and glanced at him vaguely, signaling him to stand up and speak. So, Han Shouxin no longer had any scruples, immediately cleared his throat, grabbed the conversation, and began to contradict the generals who fought the main battle, advocating that for the sake of the lives of the 8,000 defenders in the city and the lives of tens of thousands of people, surrender to the Zhou army.

Since Han Shouxin had started, his cronies naturally followed suit and expressed their approval. The county commander Wu Deming and the henchmen of the main general Han Shouzhong also followed, echoing Han Shouxin's opinion and putting forward more reasons and basis. As the wind of the meeting quickly tilted towards the main faction, Sun Delu, the deputy general who had a wait-and-see attitude, also broke his silence and spoke in favor of dedicating the city to Zhou.

Although there is still some unwillingness in his heart, although he has a rough temperament, the generals and captains who were the main battles before are not stupid. Seeing that more and more people are expressing their stance in favor of degrading Zhou, their side is obviously at a disadvantage, and most of the officials and generals with the highest status are surrendering, not only will they not have any effect if they insist on it, but they will also be removed as a stumbling block that hinders people's lives, they will naturally no longer be stubborn, but close their mouths, step aside, and give the right to speak and decision-making to the main general Han Shouzhong, who has not spoken.

Seeing that the main faction had the absolute upper hand, Han Shouzhong no longer remained silent, but took the right to speak back to his own hands in a timely manner, and "reluctantly" accepted everyone's advice and agreed to sacrifice the city and return to Zhou.

Now that it has been decided to reduce the week, the next step is naturally to involve the method and process of the week. In this regard, Wu Deming, the county commander, preemptively said that although it was a surrender, he could not fall into the limelight of the officials and generals of the Great Liao. The party should send an official or general with a moderate official position out of the city, first contact the Zhou army outside the city, negotiate the conditions, and set the time and method of surrendering the city to Zhou. Then Han Shouzhong, the main general of his own side, and the main general of the Zhou army outside the city reached an agreement in person, signed and detained, and then they could do the act of dedicating the city to Zhou.

Although some of the officials and generals present felt that Wu County's order was completely redundant and unnecessary, it would cause the disgust and dissatisfaction of the Zhou army, and then affect the matter of surrendering the city to Zhou. However, with the support of Han Shouzhong, Wu Deming's arguments, and Han Shouxin's encouragement, this proposal was still approved by most people. As for the candidates to go out of the city for negotiation, after some recommendation, self-recommendation and discussion by everyone, it fell on General Han Shouxin Han, a partial general of the Liaoyang reinforcement army, who had a moderate official position, could speak well, and had a dignified appearance, showing the demeanor of a Liao official and general.

Although he faintly felt that there was something wrong with him being determined as a candidate for negotiation out of the city, if he insisted on resigning, he would inevitably be regarded by others as greedy for life and afraid of death, and sabotage everyone's plan to dedicate the city to Zhou; Second, Zuo Xiang's order must be carried out, and going out of the city to negotiate with the Zhou army and facilitating a meeting between the two commanders is the most critical step in the implementation of this order. Therefore, no matter how unreliable you feel in your heart, this city Han will be trustworthy. Of course, just in case, while Han Shouxin led a group of henchmen and his own soldiers out of the city to negotiate with the Zhou army, he still arranged for several cronies to stay in the city to monitor Han Shouzhong's every move, and handed over Han Deshu's secret orders and tokens to these people. At the same time, they repeatedly told them that once Han Shouzhong made any changes, he would immediately show the secret order and token of Zuo Xiang, behead him, seize his military power, and notify him to return to the city as soon as possible to preside over the overall situation.

Although he was interrogated and inspected by several waves of Zhou army scouts and scouts after leaving the city, with his wit and flexibility, Han Shouxin and his entourage still arrived safely at the gate of the Zhou army's camp. Soon after revealing his identity to the intention of the trip, a Zhou army officer wearing the unique colorful military uniform of the Zhou army, with two silver vertical lines and three silver five-pointed stars embroidered on the dark green collar badge at the neckline, claiming to be the head of the Third Independent Cavalry Regiment of the former army of the Northern Expedition of the Zhou Army (equivalent to the commander rank of the commander of the Great Liao generals), Yan Shengwu, came to the gate of the camp to receive Han Shouxin and his party, and after reconfirming their identities and the intention of the trip, they were brought into the camp of the Zhou army. Of course, before entering the camp, all the blades on Han Shouxin and his entourage were confiscated by the sentries at the gate of the camp on the grounds of safety. Although being disarmed made Han Shouxin and the others feel a little uncomfortable, considering that this was originally a routine rule for negotiations between the enemy and us, in the end, everyone did not fight for this, but honestly handed over their blades.

After entering the camp of the Zhou army, Han Shouxin and others turned left and right under the leadership of Yan Shengwu, the commander of the cavalry, and finally came to a spacious tent. After entering the account, Yan Shengwu said: "General Han Bi will sit here for a while, and wait for Yan to invite General Yuhou Wu, the deputy capital of the former army, to come and talk with General Han Bi in detail." After speaking, he turned around and walked out of the big tent, leaving only four soldiers with firearms standing at the door of the big tent to accompany each other - saying that they were accompanied, judging from the eyes of these four people and the way they held firearms, it was clear that they were monitoring or watching Han Shouxin and others.

While Han Shouxin and his cronies were sitting in the big tent waiting for the so-called General Yuhou Wu, the former deputy capital of the Zhou army, Han Shouzhong and Wu Deming in Heye City were not idle. The two first transferred some of the soldiers and horses commanded by Han Shouxin's cronies to the school field in the city to stand by in the name of changing guards, and then summoned the few henchmen left by Han Shouxin to monitor the county government in the name of discussing the matter of returning the city to Zhou. Then a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, the generals of the lineage were sent to lead the army to take over the Han Shouxin lineage soldiers and horses on the school field to prevent them from changing; On the other hand, the ambush soldiers went out in all directions, and killed Han Shouxin's henchmen who had just stepped into the county hall on the spot, and found Han Deshu's secret orders and tokens from them, and destroyed them on the spot.

After smoothly taking over Han Shouxin's descendants and decisively disposing of Han Shouxin's henchmen, the Zhou army's personal guards, who returned to the city with Han Shouzhong, took out their flare guns from their arms and fired three green flares into the sky, representing a qiēshun lì in the city. And with these three green signal flares rising into the air, Yan Shengwu, the cavalry commander who had disappeared for a long time, also returned to the big tent where Han Shouxin was. It's just that the one who came back with him was not General Yuhou Wu, the former deputy capital of the army, but a platoon of Zhou soldiers with guns and knives.

After entering the big tent, Yan Shengwu couldn't help but say something, and ordered Han Shouxin and his entourage to be dragged out of the tent and beheaded the sacrificial flag. Seeing this, although Han Shouxin knew that he was afraid that he would be in danger of being doomed this time, he still struggled and shouted: "The two countries will fight each other, and they will not be killed." If your army acts like this, I wonder if there is still that big Liao city that dares to surrender to your army in the future. ”

Yan Shengwu pursed his lips disdainfully when he heard this, and said contemptuously: "Han Shouxin, Han Shouxin, don't you still understand the matter?" Do you really think that Han Shouzhong, Wu Deming, Sun Delu and others will disregard the lives of themselves, their families, and the 8,000 defenders and tens of thousands of people in Heye City in order to protect Han Deshu's so-called 'loyal ministers', carry out the plan to assassinate the main general of our army, and burn jade with our Great Zhou Northern Expeditionary Army? To tell you the truth, as early as when you led your army to resist our army's feint, Han Shouzhong had already sneaked out of Heye City to meet with my master and general secretly after receiving the full support of the county commander Wu Deming. He not only revealed Han Deshu's conspiracy and tricks, but also agreed to unconditionally dedicate Heye City to the Great Zhou. The meeting in the county hall before you came was also a bureau that had been arranged a long time ago, the purpose of which was to confirm the attitude of other people towards surrendering and sacrificing the city, and second, to nominate you as a candidate to negotiate outside the city. In this way, Han Shouzhong and Wu Deming can show their skills in the city without scruples and firmly control the situation in their own hands. If Yan is not mistaken, at this time, these people have already eliminated all your close henchmen who left in the city, and Shun Lì has taken over your descendants. ”

While Yan Shengwu's words made Han Shouxin suddenly realize, he also made him completely desperate and discouraged, lowered his head and didn't speak again, and let the soldiers of Zhou drag him out of the big tent.

On the evening of May 28 of the lunar calendar of the seventh year of Jianlong, the former soldiers of the Right Route Army of the Northern Expedition of the Great Zhou Dynasty captured Heye City without blood.