Zhao Hanzhang had already arranged personnel and was just waiting for Shi Lei to wake up.

As soon as Shi Lei awoke, she immediately brought people to see him, formally announcing Shi Lei’s surrender.

In front of everyone, Zhao Hanzhang appointed Shi Lei as Great General, commanding all military affairs of Youzhou, and concurrently Governor of Youzhou.

Wang Jun, the current Governor of Youzhou who was out seizing territory from Liu Kun: …

All the officials: …

They exchanged glances and then lowered their heads. The Governor was becoming increasingly shameless. Youzhou wasn’t in her hands, and this appointment was essentially ordering Shi Lei to compete with Wang Jun for territory, wasn’t it?

Shi Lei’s expression remained unchanged as he accepted, looking at Zhao Hanzhang with great gratitude.

Zhao Hanzhang gently consoled him: “Shi’s army is currently scattered outside, leaderless, and has committed many acts disturbing the common people. They should be recalled as soon as possible.”

She said, “I’ll send people to summon them back. You’ll continue to command them.”

Shi Lei gratefully accepted and also pushed forward Shi Jian, expressing that he deeply regretted his mistakes and was willing to atone for his crimes through merit, so he would lead them to bring back the scattered Shi army.

Zhao Hanzhang readily agreed.

She assigned this task to Ji Yuan and Xie Shi, having them divide into two routes to accept the surrenders.

Shi Lei still had three armies outside. Not counting the one in Shunyang Commandery, two more were out there.

Following Shi Lei’s originally established strategy, they were looting grain and supplies all the way north, planning to converge outside Anping.

Marching outside, their intelligence wasn’t very current, but Shi’s army had dedicated messengers to relay news.

Moreover, the news of Zhao Hanzhang’s encirclement and annihilation of Shi Lei at Wu’an was enormous. News of this battle flew everywhere as if on wings, and they naturally heard it too.

While they were hesitating whether to continue following orders northward or go support Shi Lei, they heard that Shi’s army had been defeated and Shi Lei had died in battle.

The army was in turmoil. The two armies were in different locations but showed the same behavior—continuing northward according to original orders while being fearful and worried.

Just at this time, they heard news of Shi Lei surrendering to Zhao Hanzhang.

Those who believed and those who didn’t each made up half. The army’s morale became scattered. In just two days, several hundred men deserted. Finally, the commanding generals turned ruthless and beheaded several deserters before stemming this trend.

Then, precisely at this moment, Shi Jian arrived with Shi Lei’s personal letter, followed by the Zhao family army.

The general of this army, Zhang Si, really wanted to suspect this was a conspiracy by the Zhao family army, but Shi Lei’s letter was too hard to forge.

Previously, Shi Lei couldn’t read or write and hadn’t studied. After becoming Great General, he liked having people read books to him and tell stories, and he learned to recognize some characters himself.

To handle official documents, he naturally had to learn to write. It was just that the characters he wrote were…very distinctive. So distinctive that it was hard for anyone to imitate his writing—it was too ugly. This kind of imitation was simply making things difficult for educated people.

After reading the letter, Zhang Si couldn’t understand. He pulled Shi Jian aside, away from Xie Shi, and asked, “Why did the Great General pledge allegiance to Zhao Hanzhang? We have quite a few grievances with the Zhao family army. Isn’t this jumping into a fire pit?”

Shi Jian said expressionlessly, “Over at Anping, the King of Chu has ascended the throne.”

Zhang Si paused, then pondered for a long while before saying, “Then we should pledge allegiance to Zhao Hanzhang. Zhao Hanzhang is still better than the King of Chu.”

Shi Jian’s eyes widened. “You actually think Zhao Hanzhang is better than the King of Chu?”

“Why not?” Zhang Si snorted coldly. “That King of Chu looks down on our General. When the late emperor was alive, he already had his nose in the air. Now that he’s become emperor, when the Great General sees him, won’t he raise his chin even higher to look at people?”

Liu Cong looked down on both Jie people and Han people.

And Zhang Si was Han.

If Han was under Liu Cong’s control, then in the future he would have no prospects and might even endanger his life.

So even though they had been fighting the Zhao family army desperately before, Zhang Si quickly accepted the surrender and led Shi’s army to follow Xie Shi to Wu’an County.

On the other side, Ji Yuan also brought another Shi army soldier and one of Shi Lei’s letters to recruit another army.

This army had fewer people but was quite fierce. When Ji Yuan arrived, they were attacking a city, trying to break through the encirclement and return to Wu’an County.

Because he brought an ordinary soldier, it was difficult to gain their trust. But Ji Yuan still managed to talk them down with the letter in hand and his eloquent tongue, then led them back to Wu’an County.

Upon returning to Wu’an County, all surviving Shi army generals saw Shi Lei and were completely convinced that Shi’s army had surrendered.

From now on, Shi’s army would need an additional prefix: Zhao Clan’s Shi Army.

When the news spread, the remaining scattered soldiers of Shi Lei came to surrender one after another. As Zhao Hanzhang and her forces continued northward, the cities along the way fell like tofu—one push and they toppled, one push and they toppled.

They had barely arrived at some city gates and hadn’t even reached the stage of negotiating when the other side opened the gates to welcome them in.

In Bingzhou and Jizhou, many places were already inhabited by more Jie people who had long pledged allegiance to Shi Lei and naturally followed his commands.

The remaining scattered small cities that stubbornly resisted could be quickly captured, or they could bypass them and head straight for Anping.

Their military might was so prosperous and their battle spirit so sharp that the whole world knew Zhao Hanzhang wanted to press forward in one effort and take down the Xiongnu Han state.

When news of Shi Lei’s surrender reached Jiangdong, the Prince of Langya felt as if a bone was stuck in his throat. He knew that if he didn’t act, once Zhao Hanzhang pacified the north, he would be next to be pacified.

So he urgently sought to see Wang Dao.

But Wang Dao wasn’t in Jianye—he had secretly gone to see Wang Dun.

The Wang brothers received the news a day earlier than the Prince of Langya. After confirming the authenticity, Wang Dao sighed to Wang Dun: “Heaven’s mandate is with her.”

Wang Dun pressed his lips together and said, “I don’t believe in Heaven’s mandate.”

The thought that had arisen in Wang Dao’s mind earlier surfaced again, this time bubbling insistently, tormenting him internally. “Second brother, are we really going to disregard the realm for our own selfish interests?”

Wang Dun’s heart was hard as iron. “If the nation falls into Zhao Hanzhang’s hands, there will be chaos and unrest afterward.”

Wang Dao: “I used to think the same, but now I doubt my judgment.”

Wang Dun stopped talking, though his expression remained stubborn.

Wang Dao spoke his piece and let it go, not forcing Wang Dun to immediately come around or give him an answer.

But Wang Dun kept it in his heart. Within two days, he said to Wang Dao, “Since you believe in Heaven’s mandate, I’ll let you see Heaven’s mandate.”

Wang Dao was puzzled.

Wang Dun said, “I had someone bring Guo Jingchun here. You take him to see the Prince of Langya.”

Wang Dao’s eyes widened. “Bring? Did you invite him or kidnap him?”

Wang Dun didn’t care. “Is there a difference? He wasn’t willing either way.”

Wang Dao: …

Guo Jingchun, named Guo Pu, was a very famous diviner in Jin. Now thirty-five years old, his ancestral home was in Yuzhou, but he had fled south to escape disaster years ago and now had a great reputation in Jiangnan and Jiangdong.

It was said that some people were willing to send him beauties and cartloads of jewels just to get one divination from him.

Wang Dun himself didn’t believe in this, but since Wang Dao was changing his mind because of Heaven’s mandate and other nonsense, he would let him have a good look at Heaven’s mandate.

—