They naturally wanted to return to Bingzhou. They had lived there for nearly a hundred years. Not only them, but even their fathers’ generation had been born and raised in Bingzhou, having long since regarded Bingzhou as their second homeland.

Although Zhao Hanzhang didn’t immediately agree, her words already showed she was wavering, giving them the feeling that she was about to agree. The expressions on the Xiongnu people’s faces improved further.

For the Xiongnu who persistently refused to surrender, Zhao Hanzhang had no intention of forcefully attacking and massacring them. She still hoped that Liu Yi and the others could persuade them to surrender. To this end, she formulated a series of surrender strategies, most of which required the Xiongnu people themselves to implement.

Among the people Liu Yi and his group brought out, besides soldiers, there were quite a few ordinary Xiongnu civilians. Wonderfully, they had people from all five Xiongnu tribes, and they were all related to each other by marriage.

At this time, they were outside Anle County in the state of Yan. Defending Anle County were the Xiongnu state’s Minister of Ceremonies Liu Yan and Liu Cong’s eldest son Liu Jie, while Liu Cong himself had already retreated from Lu County to Hunu County, which was east of Anle County.

Lu County had already been captured by Beigong Chun, who was now attacking Hunu County from the south, while Zhao Ju was east of Hunu County. As long as Zhao Hanzhang took Anle County, Liu Cong would be trapped and besieged in Hunu County.

Oh, and north of Hunu County was Hunu Mountain—not easy for a large army to pass through.

Following orders, Liu Yi had people find dozens of women who were related by marriage to the defending soldiers, and they stood below the city gate to persuade them to open the city and surrender.

“Ah Jin, your mother was left behind in the homeland. Can you bear to abandon her there alone?”

“Huyan Xin, of your family’s four brothers, only you remain. If the fighting continues, your family line will be extinguished,” an old woman shouted loudly. “Just consider it preserving a bloodline for your family—surrender.”

The cries from below the city walls made the Xiongnu soldiers in the city restless, their emotions involuntarily following the words being shouted. They too had family members—some still moving with the army, some lost along the way, or even still in Bingzhou, never having come out.

In this battle, they didn’t know if they would live or die. Even if they survived, it would be very difficult to live within the passes, let alone return to Bingzhou.

So this parting might truly be forever.

They didn’t understand the calculations of those in power, nor did they understand political struggles. They just thought: what was the point of continuing to fight this battle?

Their wise Emperor had died. The new Emperor had been on the throne less than three months before being replaced again. Though the Grand General was formidable, he still fell far short of Emperor Gaozu.

At least Emperor Gaozu wouldn’t have continuously lost territory. By now, they could only huddle in two county cities, still surrounded by the Zhao family army.

Could they really break through?

Where would they go after breaking through?

It would be better to do as the Prince of Beihai said—surrender to Zhao Hanzhang. She would give them a piece of land and let them live as their ancestors had. It was just returning to the past.

They were willing to return to the past.

As the soldiers’ emotions were being stirred up, the two defending generals had grave expressions. Liu Jie immediately ordered: “Archers, prepare. Shoot and kill all those people below the city who are spreading lies and misleading others!”

Liu Yan quickly stopped him: “Your Highness the Crown Prince must not! Those are all our clansmen. If we kill them, I fear we’ll lose the people’s hearts.”

Liu Jie demanded harshly: “What clansmen? They’ve all surrendered to Zhao Hanzhang now—they’re traitors and no longer our people. Could it be that Minister Liu wishes to learn from Chen Yuanda?”

At the mention of Chen Yuanda, Liu Yan felt grief in his heart, but he didn’t dare strongly object again. He only quietly offered a suggestion: “Why not drive them away and intimidate them a bit—that should suffice.”

Liu Jie refused. He wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys—to warn not only the surrendered Xiongnu, but also their own city defenders. As long as anyone dared to surrender, he would kill them!

He didn’t believe that with a blade hanging over them, anyone would still dare to surrender!

As soon as the archers appeared on the city wall, Zeng Yue immediately beat the drum to order a retreat. The envoys saw this and immediately turned and ran back in a rush.

The Xiongnu soldiers on the wall had received the order, but as for archery—some were accurate, and some were not. So this time, they were all inaccurate. The arrows hadn’t even reached the envoys before they stuck into the ground with a swish, still quite far from the people.

Liu Jie was furious. “You dare to obey in appearance but oppose in reality!”

Immediately, a soldier protested: “I wouldn’t dare. This is…”

Before he could finish, Liu Jie drew his sword and struck him down.

Gripping his blade with a face full of cold menace, he stared at them: “Useless people should also be killed. One last time—do you know how to shoot arrows?”

The soldiers’ expressions changed drastically. Following the order, they drew their bowstrings fully and shot the arrows out…

The arrows first flew high into the air, then stuck down far away. The soldiers who had received orders from Zeng Yue ran forward carrying shields, passing those women and raising the shields. The falling arrows clanged against the shields, most being blocked.

A few scattered arrows flew over the shields, but they were also knocked down by the Zhao family army wielding swords, injuring no one.

In that time, the women had already run far away, beyond the range of the arrows.

Seeing that their expressions hadn’t changed much and they could still gather together chattering and go to Liu Kun to claim their reward of grain, Zeng Yue couldn’t help but say: “Worthy of being Xiongnu people—they really are bold.”

Liu Kun was surrounded by a group of middle-aged and elderly women and could only smell their body odor assaulting his nostrils. He could only hold his breath and shout: “The money is over there—come one at a time.”

He didn’t want to do this kind of miscellaneous work. He quickly called over his personal attendant and had him distribute the rewards.

Liu Kun squeezed out of the crowd and only dared to breathe after getting far away.

He lowered his head to smell his sleeve with a disgusted expression—he hadn’t bathed in over half a month.

Liu Kun went to find Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang was sitting on the ground writing and drawing, discussing battle plans with the generals. Seeing Liu Kun arrive, she asked him: “What was the effect?”

“Liu Jie was enraged and humiliated, wanting to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys. Fortunately, they ran fast and didn’t even get a scratch.”

Liu Kun squatted on the ground and looked at the diagram she had drawn in the dirt, asking: “When will we attack the city? I’m willing to lead an army.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “To climb the siege ladders?”

Liu Kun didn’t respond.

Besieging a city—if there was no clever stratagem, then it was just a matter of controlling the rhythm of the siege. As a general, what was there to request about that? He wasn’t going to climb the siege ladders himself.

Seeing him downcast and unhappy, Zhao Hanzhang patted his shoulder and said: “Don’t worry, we have plenty of opportunities. I’ll definitely let you go to the battlefield once.”

Liu Kun’s eyes brightened slightly: “Really?”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded.

If she didn’t let him go once, how would he know what he was truly capable of and be willing to obediently go to Xuzhou?

Zhao Hanzhang decided to select a good opponent for him.

She said: “Since Liu Jie is enraged and humiliated, that shows it had some effect. Continue tonight. Elder brother’s musical troupe can be put to use now.”

Liu Kun had specially trained a musical troupe that played Xiongnu folk tunes from their homeland, using instruments like the barbarian reed pipe and barbarian fiddle.

Zhao Hanzhang also had Liu Yi find her over a hundred Xiongnu people who sang long tunes particularly well—authentic ones. Late at night when all was quiet, they would play music and sing outside the city.

Since he could use the barbarian reed pipe to repel the enemy, naturally he could also use it to lower people’s will to fight and make those in the city want to surrender.

Zhao Hanzhang made full use of both things and people.

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