Though Xue Rengao lacked ability, he wasn’t completely stupid. Knowing that letting Du Ruhui and the others continue speaking would make his situation increasingly dangerous, he shouted angrily, “Shoot arrows! All of you shoot arrows! Kill them! As long as Li Shimin dies, the Tang army will be nothing to worry about.”

Faced with his shouting, not a single soldier raised their bow and arrow. He roared again, and still the same result. Xue Rengao became both panicked and afraid, saying with outward ferocity but inner cowardice, “You all refuse to obey me – are you trying to rebel? Do you believe I’ll kill you?!”

Under his threats and scolding, those soldiers finally raised their bows and arrows, shooting toward Li Shimin and the others as ordered. But Xue Rengao quickly saw they were just going through the motions, because not one of those arrows could shoot beyond five zhang, all falling to the ground within five zhang due to lack of force, posing no threat whatsoever to Li Shimin and his men standing ten zhang away.

“You… you!” Xue Rengao was so angry he couldn’t speak. The next moment, he seized the bow and arrow from a nearby soldier, drew it full, and shot an arrow toward Li Shimin with a sharp whistling sound. This arrow was indeed accurate, but unfortunately, when it was still one zhang away from Li Shimin’s face, it was deflected by Yin Kaishan, achieving nothing.

“Xue Rengao, you have no way out. Surrender now and there’s still a thread of hope. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.” Before Li Shimin finished speaking, Xue Rengao had already spat viciously on the ground atop the city wall. “Bah! Do I need your mercy? Li Shimin, let yourself be smug for a few days. When my Western Qin reinforcements arrive, I will definitely take your life. After killing you, I’ll capture Chang’an and make your so-called Great Tang disappear from this world.”

“Stubbornly obstinate!” Throwing down these words, Li Shimin turned and left. As for Yin Kaishan, Du Ruhui and the others, they continued following Liu Hongji’s instructions, shouting those same words over and over, making Xue Rengao stamp his feet in rage!

What terrified him even more was yet to come. Although only those on the city wall had heard their conversation at the time, it quickly spread – from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, and soon everyone knew.

Every time he saw those soldiers whose gazes were different from before, Xue Rengao felt very uneasy, wishing he could kill all these people. But after killing them all, who would guard this city? Who would follow his orders? So no matter how uneasy and resentful he felt, he could only endure temporarily, even having to follow his deputy general’s advice and take out some of the food he had specially saved for himself to feed the soldiers, trying to win them over.

Little did he know, this action had exactly the opposite effect. Previously the soldiers hadn’t known, thinking Xue Rengao faced the same food shortage dangers as they did. They never imagined he had secretly hoarded so much food – with this amount, even if besieged for a year and a half, it would be enough for Xue Rengao to eat.

The more those soldiers thought about it, the more unwilling they became to risk their lives for Xue Rengao. Several hundred soldiers fled at night on the second day, wanting to surrender to Li Shimin. Unfortunately, Xue Rengao was already prepared. Before they reached the city gate, they were intercepted. The result was predictable – all were executed by cruel torture, none survived.

To intimidate the soldiers in the city and prevent them from acting rashly or betraying him again, Xue Rengao deliberately carried out the executions in front of everyone.

Xue Rengao’s calculation wasn’t wrong, but he underestimated human nature. Sometimes the more brutal the suppression, the more intense the resistance. Within just three days, several more groups of soldiers fled the city, each group numbering over a thousand. Though they were all intercepted, Xue Rengao felt increasingly overwhelmed.

Now he could still intercept several thousand, but what if it were tens of thousands, or even over a hundred thousand? How would he stop them then?

Moreover, his own guard of over ten thousand was also becoming increasingly wrong. When he ordered them to kill people, they hesitated repeatedly, and some fools even pleaded for those people, asking him to show mercy and spare the deserters’ lives.

He worried that if this continued, even his own guards would desert. Every time he thought of this, Xue Rengao couldn’t sleep peacefully or taste his food. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he had to acknowledge that he had indeed reached a dead end.

What to do? What to do?

Xue Rengao desperately thought of solutions, but what made him despair was that given the current situation, aside from opening the city and surrendering, he had no other options.

The city was about to run out of food, yet grain was still nowhere to be seen. The soldiers, because of Li Shimin and the others’ shouting, were all becoming alienated from him. He even worried that while he slept, someone might slash his throat, giving him no chance to wake up again. Thinking of this, he didn’t even dare to sleep, keeping his eyes open until dawn.

In the morning, his deputy general came in and was startled to see his appearance – eyes full of red veins and stubbled face. He probed cautiously, “Your Majesty, did you not sleep at all last night?”

Xue Rengao stared at him without saying a word. When the latter began to feel uncomfortable under his gaze, he finally spoke, “Are we truly at a dead end?”

The deputy general’s heart trembled. He lowered his head, not daring to speak. Only when Xue Rengao asked again did he reluctantly say, “The city is about to run out of food, and below there are heavy troops besieging us. I’m afraid… we truly cannot hold out any longer.”

“Cannot hold out…” Xue Rengao laughed with resentful anger. When his laughter stopped, he said hatefully, “Back then, Liu Gan had only thirty thousand soldiers, also cut off from supplies, yet he could defend Jingzhou for so long. We have a full three hundred thousand, yet you tell me we can’t hold out. Don’t you find that absurd?”

The deputy general said softly, “This general knows Your Majesty has great talent and strategy and is unwilling to be defeated by Li Shimin like this, but… given the current situation, we truly cannot withstand it!”

Xue Rengao ignored his words, only saying resentfully, “Why did Liu Gan have such loyal subordinates, while I only have a bunch of ungrateful wolves under me? Why?!”

Even at this point, Xue Rengao still didn’t know where he had gone wrong. His defeat… was truly not unjust at all.

No matter how unwilling he was, the defeat was certain, and nothing he could do would change it!

Back when Xue Ju was alive, seeing that Xue Rengao was even more bloodthirsty than himself and didn’t treat his subordinates as human beings, he had predicted that his foundation would be destroyed in his son’s hands. He just never imagined it would be destroyed so quickly – only three months had passed since his sudden death.

On the ninth day of the twelfth month, Xue Rengao led the military and civilians of Zhezhi City out to surrender.

The Western Qin campaign that had lasted half a year finally ended. Li Shimin not only avenged his previous humiliation but also achieved ultimate victory, making the generals and soldiers who had been holding back their frustration cheer with joy.

Though Xue Rengao had been defeated, he was not resigned to becoming an ordinary citizen. He believed that with his abilities, he would surely gain Li Shimin’s important appointment. Therefore, that very day he recommended himself to Li Shimin.