The two men soon arrived at the city gate, and Fan Chou shouted from outside the city: "Fan Chou, a certain Zhongjian Colonel, and Zhang Ji, a certain Hu Cavalry Colonel, have come to surrender to the imperial court."
By this time, Wang Ding had already gone back to sleep.
I stayed up all night last night and discussed the formation with Zhang Liao and Gao Shun this morning. I yawned again and again, so I had to hand over the city defense to Gao Shun and return to the mansion to rest.
At this moment, Gao Shun was on the city wall. He called over the original Xiliang army and asked, "Are these two people below the city Fan Chou and Zhang Ji?"
He was just a captain in the Forbidden Army before and had no contact with the Xiliang Army. Zhang Ji and Fan Chou also followed Niu Fu and had been fighting Zhu Jun near Luoyang.
The Xiliang Army who was called over looked at it carefully for a while and then replied: "It's them, there's nothing wrong with it."
Gao Shun nodded, but did not open the city gate, but just threw down two baskets.
Fan Chou and Zhang Ji looked at the fallen basket and felt very aggrieved, but he still got off the horse, jumped into the basket, closed his eyes, and let the soldiers on the wall pull them up.
When the two men were pulled up, Gao Shun clasped his fists and said, "It is a blessing for the court that the two generals are willing to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side."
Zhang Ji and Fan Chou both said they didn't dare, saying: "We are sinners and we never dare to call ourselves generals."
Gao Shundao: "If you two sincerely submit to the imperial court, how can you not become generals with your abilities?"
Gao Shun's words made the two of them very happy.
However, Gao Shun only brought the two of them into Chengdu and settled them down, but did not take them to see Wang Ding immediately.
At the same time, he also asked the two of them about the current situation of the Xiliang army outside the city. He increasingly believed that Li Jue and Guo Si were sincerely surrendering.
But Wang Ding was resting and Gao Shun settled Zhang Ji and Fan Chou, so there was no other action.
Outside the city, Li Jue and Guo Si watched Zhang Ji and Fan Chou being pulled up to the city wall, and waited in the military camp for another hour, but no news came back. They were as anxious as ants on a hot pot, and kept circling back and forth in the camp.
"Sir, it's been so long, why is there still no news? The two of them couldn't have been killed, right?" Li Jue said.
Jia Xu stroked his beard. He couldn't understand the situation in the city now.
Logically speaking, it is impossible for Wang Ding to kill Zhang Ji and Fan Chou who surrendered at this time, but such a long time has passed and no news has come out.
Jia Xu didn't want to understand, but still comforted him: "General, there is no need to worry. If Zhang Ji and Fan Chou were killed, their heads would have been thrown out by now."
Li Jue said: "But why, no news has come out for a long time, so what does Wang Ding Xiao'er mean?"
Jia Xu said: "Perhaps he feels that the general's sincerity is not enough?"
The three of them waited until dusk and saw that the sun was about to set but Wang Ding had not sent anyone yet. Li Jue became more and more uneasy.
Wang Ding slept soundly, and Diao Chan sat next to him, gently shaking the cattail leaf fan.
When he woke up, he only saw a gorgeous sunset on the horizon.
Zhang Yu saw that Wang Ding was awake, so he came to report: "Today, Zhang Ji and Fan Chou came to surrender and have been placed in the city."
Wang Dingdao: "I will go and see where it is placed."
Zhang Yu led the way, and the place where the two of them settled was near Wang's house.
This area is almost all the residences of imperial ministers.
Zhang Ji and Fan Chou also sat in the yard all day.
They thought they would be summoned by Wang Ding soon. As time passed, the two of them became very uneasy. They thought they had been placed under house arrest here many times.
Wang Ding walked in and said with a smile: "My lord, Wang Ding, I am very happy to see you two generals."
Zhang Ji and Fan Chou hurriedly jumped up from their chairs, clasped their fists and said, "General Zhang Ji and Fan Chou, please pay homage to the right general."
No matter how young Wang Ding looks, neither of them dares to have the slightest contempt in their hearts.
Wang Dingdao: "May I ask the two generals, besides Li Jue and Guo Si, who else can make plans for the troops outside the city now?"
Fan Chou said: "Now the army's strategy is to take over from Jia Xu, the independent bookkeeper."
Wang Dingdao: "I see, the two generals have surrendered to the imperial court. I will go to see Your Majesty to ask for a reward for the two generals."
Fan Chou was overjoyed and said, "Thank you very much, general. I am willing to serve you to the death for the general from now on."
Zhang Ji also thanked him: "I am willing to go up mountains of swords and seas of fire for the general."
To put it mildly, they won’t lose a hair.
Wang Dingdao: "With two generals helping us, why should the great man be unhappy?"
Wang Ding did not lie to the two of them. While the palace door was still open, he went directly into the palace to ask for an audience with Liu Xie.
He doesn't come to Miyagi often now, but no matter when he comes, no one dares to stop him.
He is not involved in political affairs now, but in military affairs, the ministers in the DPRK cannot interfere.
It was just a few edicts of appointment. After Wang Ding wrote them, he asked Liu Xie to stamp them with a jade seal.
In addition to the appointment edicts from Zhang Ji and Fan Chou, there were also those from Li Jue, Guo Si, and Jia Xu. None of them were left behind by Wang Ding.
Zhang Ji and Fan Chou were both generals with mixed titles. One was appointed as a backbone general, and the other was a general of Hu Qi. They were just promoted from the rank of captain to general.
In addition, Li Jue and Guo Si were also given generals with miscellaneous titles.
As for Jia Xu, Wang Ding gave him a casual knight. His salary was incomparable to that of a general.
But he is a person close to the emperor. Wang Ding does not want to participate in political affairs, but it does not mean that he does not care at all.
After coming out of the palace, Wang Ding handed several edicts to Zhang Ji and Fan Chou, and then said: "I know Li Jue and Guo Si, but you still don't believe me. You two take the edicts, go out of the city, and order the three of them.
Enter the city early tomorrow morning."
"No."
The two of them accepted the order and were a little excited inside.
Surrender is indeed a good way out.
Zhang Ji and Fan Chou happily went out of the city to meet Li Jue and Guo Si.
Wang Dingze stood on the city wall, looking at the military camp in the distance, with smoke rising from the sky.
"With Zhang Ji and Fan Chou's persuasion, Li Jue and Guo Si should probably enter the city."
Unless they really have ulterior motives.
Outside the city, Li Jue, Guo Si, Jia Xu and three others each held an imperial edict in their hands.
"He wants us to enter the city tomorrow?" Li Jue asked in a deep voice.
Fan Chou nodded and said: "General, don't worry, the imperial court does intend to recruit us. If we hesitate, it will make the imperial court suspicious."
Li Jue looked at Jia Xu and said, "What do you think, sir?"
Jia Xu put away the edict and said: "Looking at this edict, the imperial court should be sincerely seeking surrender."
Li Jue said: "Can't we bring a large army into the city?"
Fan Chou shook his head and said: "No, the right general is afraid that it will cause a disturbance."
Although Fan Chou was anxious all afternoon in the city today, he was completely relieved after seeing Wang Ding.
He couldn't find any reason why Wang Ding wanted to kill him.
If he really killed them, how could Wang Ding control the soldiers and horses outside the city?
Li Jue hesitated again and again, and finally said: "Okay, then we will enter the city early tomorrow morning."
He and Wang Ding must always compromise. Now that his army is short of food and grass, there is no way to delay. If he does not enter the city tomorrow, his 50,000-strong army will also be hungry.