When the Yanling army first entered the city, the people of Dongning regarded them as wolves, tigers, leopards, and beasts of the flood, and everyone was worried for fear of being slaughtered and retaliated. At this moment, the palace transferred all the soldiers back to the inner city, completely ignoring the lives of the people, disappointing all the people, and despairing the Lan royal family.

In times of crisis, these royal dignitaries only think of themselves.

And those official eunuchs and family members have long fled into the imperial city, except for their loved ones, they don't bring any outsiders, and even their personal subordinates are thrown in the mansion regardless of whether they live or die.

People reveal their true nature at the moment of life and death, and powerful people pride themselves on being superior and do not regard others as human beings, so they do not believe in outsiders. When they encountered difficulties, they were afraid that these subordinates who had been oppressed in the past would plot against them, so they fled and left those subordinates to fend for themselves, even though most of these people served them for half their lives.

The capital of Dongning soon fell into a panic. However, this panic came and went quickly, and Sima Hongyan immediately sent Ban Lingruo to lead the troops to post notices throughout the city to appease the people while the Dongning soldiers retreated to the imperial city, saying that the Yanling army only crusaded against the Dongning royal family and had nothing to do with the innocent people. As long as you stay at home and don't go out, you won't suffer any harm.

At the same time, Sima Hongyan sent people back to the city gate to ask Guo Zidi to count the troops of his family in the capital, as long as they promised not to make trouble for the Yanling army, they could be let go home to guard their families.

This move made the Dongning soldiers cheer, because nearly one-third of the soldiers were in the capital, but they didn't expect that at this time, the Lord of Yanling Feng was willing to let them go home, and they were all grateful.

After getting everyone's assurance, Guo Zidi followed Sima Hongyan's order and immediately let them go home, and when they left, they also let them receive food, saying that the capital is now under martial law, and it is inconvenient to buy and sell, and these grains are so that they can survive the war in peace.

The Yanling army was full of benevolence and righteousness, and the Dongning soldiers sighed secretly. They are all monarchs and ministers, and Yanling is much stronger than Dongning. Since those surnamed Lan are unkind and unjust, why should I work for them again!

The soldiers who were able to go home were gone, and the rest of the people were more calm, they were completely convinced that the Yanling people would not embarrass their little soldiers. In addition to being restricted in freedom every day, but the management of good food and drink is much better than working hard outside. Many soldiers even thought that it was actually quite good to be a prisoner of Yanling!

Sima Hongyan has always been convinced first, so that the people of Dongning have lost confidence in the imperial power of Dongning, so how much more storm can the Lan clan set off? Those who lose the hearts of the people lose the world! Do a bunch of gold and silver wastes think they can sit back and relax by hiding in the imperial city? It's so naïve and ridiculous!

At first, they didn't believe it, but later some soldiers' families risked their lives to come to the imperial city to find their husbands and children to persuade them to go home, and said that as long as they were willing to go home, the lord of Yanling Feng would not be held accountable, regardless of the previous suspicions. This time the defenders really believed it.

The soldiers of Dongning are actually benevolent and righteous people, and they are also loyal to Dongning, but the emperor is incompetent, selfish, and greedy for life and afraid of death, which really chills the hearts of the soldiers. In the past, there was Wenhai, and the soldiers still had followers. Now that Wen Haizheng is dead, there is no one who can win everyone's hearts. As for the rest of the generals, all they think about is how to get promoted and make a fortune, and they never take the lives of their subordinates seriously, so naturally no one is willing to follow.

This time the defenders were also shaken, and many people secretly ran away with their families at night. The commander in command of the defenders was furious, and with nowhere to vent, he turned his anger on others and killed many innocent soldiers in public, on the charge of knowingly failing to report them.

Such a brutal and stupid act infuriated the defenders, and the next day more people fled, and before leaving, the commander who had ordered the murder was hacked to death.

At this time, before the Yanling army reached the gate of the imperial city, the defenders of the imperial city ran away by nearly half.

The red-faced female army has spread all over the capital, and this situation quickly returned to Sima Hongyan's ears, she smiled and said nothing after hearing this, and still led the army to the imperial city slowly.

The Dongning royal family is like a high-rise building, on the surface, it looks majestic and majestic, but in fact, the interior is already full of holes and weak. The internal problems are usually not visible, but once an external force intervenes, it is immediately revealed that it cannot withstand the wind and rain at all.

Not only Dongning, but any selfish ruling imperial power will face such a problem, and this is their death hole, its fatal weakness.

Sima Hongyan was deeply impressed by the soldiers who surrendered without a fight, she knew that she could not conquer anyone by killing, and she had been preparing for the conquest of the world since she was benevolent in Yanling.

The people in the world can see at a glance who is good and who is bad, their purpose is very simple, that is, to live a stable life, if they can't even give this, no matter how noble the ruler is, it is bullshit to them. The reincarnation of the true son of heaven and the true dragon can't be used as food or clothing, so the foolish people may be okay for a while, but for a long time, they are self-deceiving.

In recent years, the enhancement of Dongning's military capability is actually a superficial phenomenon, and the army built entirely by power is actually strong and capable, I am afraid that except for the subordinates of King Hong Lan Shengwu and the great general Wen Haizheng, there is still some combat effectiveness, and the other generals are a group of mediocre people who talk about the army on paper.

This is the case in Dongning now, without a commander of good generals, no soldier will obey by tyranny. Soldiers are first and foremost ordinary people, and if they lose hope in their country and imperial power, they are not willing to make unnecessary sacrifices.

As the phoenix lord of Yanling, Sima Hongyan wants to dominate the world. Any people are also the people of the world, not Yanling, not Dongning, not any of the five countries. So her war is only against the hegemon, not against thousands of innocents.

Emperors are suspicious and feel that everyone is coveting his country and throne, so they think about themselves all the time. Even if it's a loved one, they won't believe it. And regimes without a foundation of trust are simply vulnerable, as is the case in Dongning.

Now all the magnates of Dongning are hiding in the imperial city, wanting to rely on the sacrifice of the soldiers to delay time, waiting for King Hong to come to the rescue, but they don't know that their soldiers have begun to disintegrate from the inside, and the last barrier has quietly collapsed without any external force.

No matter how slow Sima Hongyan's army goes, there is a time to go.

When the Yanling army arrived in front of the imperial city, the defenders had less than 50,000 men left. And these people can stay, one is because most of them are lonely and have nothing to worry about. The second is that the Dongning royal family promised heavy profits and made promises with money and high positions, which forced them to stay. But what can such an army resist?

However, when Sima Hongyan arrived, there was a special person in Dongning who was already waiting here, and he wanted to fight for Dongning for the last time. This person is Dongning Taishi Zhou Hongde!

Zhou Hongde was born as a literati, and he came to the position of the Taishi step by step by relying on his talent and morality, and he was a talent personally supported by the Emperor of Dongning. However, after Lan Shengwen succeeded to the throne, he was very tired of this master who admonished all day long, if it weren't for the fact that he was an old minister with high morality and was his own master when he was a child, I am afraid that Lan Shengwen would have dismissed him as an official long ago.

Now that Dongning is facing the collapse of the building, the usually majestic guys are now hiding behind the wall and shivering, but this old minister has stepped forward at this time.

When the two armies faced each other, Zhou Taishi ordered someone to push open the inner city gate and walked out, he faced Yanling's thousands of troops and horses without changing his face, and said loudly: "I am Dongning Taishi Zhou Hongde, please pass on a word for me, the old man wants to ask to see Yanling Fengzhu!" ”

Sima Hongyan doesn't have a good impression of the whole Dongning, but this Zhou Hongde is the only one who has respect. Because his reputation for talent and virtue is known all over the world, he is a veritable virtuous minister.

It's a pity that he is not reused, if Emperor Dongning could listen to half of this old minister's advice, Dongning would not be where he is today.

Hearing that it was rumored that Zhou Hongde was asking to see him, Sima Hongyan immediately rushed from the Chinese army, and rushed to meet Zhou Hongde while asking people to set up a tent to make tea in the open space.

In order to show his respect for this loyal and brave old minister, Sima Hongyan dismounted from afar and walked on foot. After seeing Zhou Hongde, he bowed deeply and said respectfully: "Mr. Zhou, I have heard your name for a long time, Sima Hongyan has saluted you!" ”

Sima Hongyan's move shocked the two armies, and no one expected that the Yanling Phoenix Lord, who was in full swing, would deign to salute Zhou Hongde today, and his attitude was as respectful as if he had seen an elder.

And the most surprised person is Zhou Hongde himself, at this time the lord of Yanling Feng has owned most of the land in the world, and his ability and courage are far beyond ordinary people.

Unexpectedly, when they met, they were such a polite and beautiful girl, which was really unexpected by him.

Zhou Hongde hurriedly wanted to return the gift, but was held up by Sima Hongyan, and only listened to her: "Mr. Zhou, you are an elder in terms of age, and you are a model in the world in terms of morality." And I'm just a little woman, with no ink, no virtue and no ability, how dare I accept your gift, this will make me lose my life. ”

Sima Hongyan's words moved Zhou Hongde inexplicably, thinking that he had not received such courtesy for decades, but he didn't expect that what he was given today was the supreme commander of the enemy.

Sima Hongyan hugged Zhou Hongde's arm and said, "Mr. Zhou, you are old, let's go over there and sit down and talk!" ”

Zhou Hongde looked forward along Sima Hongyan's direction, and saw that a pergola was already standing not far away, with a table and two chairs placed below, and a beautiful and delicate girl was making tea inside.

Naturally, it will not harm him to greet him like this, and besides, Zhou Hongde has already put life and death aside when he dares to come out of the imperial city, even if he dares to go through the sword mountain and the sea of fire, let alone a pergola? But Sima Hongyan's polite treatment made Zhou Hongde's body tremble slightly, and he looked a little excited.

Sima Hongyan helped Zhou Hongde into the pergola in full view of the two armies, and the woman who made tea immediately put down the objects in her hand, and also bowed deeply to Zhou Hongde, and said: "The younger generation of poetry is Jinyan, I have heard the name of Mr. Zhou for a long time, and I can finally see it today, which is really a blessing for three lives!" ”

Zhou Hongde hurriedly picked up Shi Jinyan and said: "It turns out that you are the poet girl who is known as the first talented woman in Yanling, and the old man has also admired you for a long time!" ”

Hearing that Zhou Hongde actually knew that he was very happy, Shi Jinyan was extremely happy, and hurriedly came up and helped the old man to sit down with Sima Hongyan, and then Sima Hongyan sat down on the chair opposite. Shi Jinyan continued to make tea for the two, but Shi Jinyan, who had always been cold-faced, was full of smiles at this time, and it seemed that she was very excited to see Zhou Hongde.