Before Wu Chaoyue left Nanjing, the letters that persuaded Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing to surrender were taken away from Nanjing by messengers selected from Yang Youqing's surrendered soldiers and sent them to Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing's army respectively. For another Taiping Army Ji Wenyuan's unit active on the battlefield in Shandong, Wu Chaoyue knew very well that his character would never surrender, so he did not take any trouble.

Relying on the familiarity of the road and the troops garrisoned along the way, the two subordinates who surrendered to Wu quickly followed Yang Youqing and rushed to Xuzhou area in just ten days and found two armies of Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing who had been confronted here for a long time. Because the news that Nanjing City had been broken by the Wu army had already reached Xuzhou, Yang Fuqing, who was worried that the old nest Yangzhou was confiscated, had also begun to retreat slowly. Yang Yuanqing, who deeply hated Yang Fuqing's betrayal of Yang Xiuqing, took the opportunity to chase him. Therefore, the war was not over yet. The two messengers of the Wu army were also treated as spies to seize the Taiping Army. It took quite a lot of effort to make Yang Yuanqing and Yang Fuqing's soldiers believe their identities. Finally, they met two Yang warlords one after another and presented Wu Chaoyue's letter of surrender.

Let’s first look at Yang Fuqing’s reaction. After carefully reading the conditions for surrender offered by Wu Chaoyue, Yang Fuqing was not polite and immediately laughed: “The third-rank general, save his life and property, reward three thousand taels of silver, and still have to incorporate my army? Super Little Demon is stingy enough. Such unsincere conditions will also surrender to him with my army and territory?”

"Guozong, King Zhennan is really sincere to you." Wu Jun's messenger persuaded: "Although you have heavy troops and occupy the Yangzhou city, no matter how many troops you have, can you have more troops than King Zhong Qiansui? No matter how big or strong Yangzhou city is, can you be as big and strong as Tianjing? If King Zhennan is willing, he can send troops to take Yangzhou at any time. It is already good that he can offer you such conditions."

"Li Xiucheng can't beat the Super Little Demon, but I may not be able to beat it. I am loyal to the Kingdom of Heaven and the King of Heaven. How can I surrender to the Super Little Demon easily?" Yang Fuqing said swearing and contradictory, and then said: "Go back and tell the Super Little Demon that it is not impossible to negotiate if I want me to surrender to him, but the conditions he offered are not good."

"So what conditions do you want in Guozong?" Wu Jun's messenger asked quickly.

After a while of consideration, Yang Fuqing opened his mouth and said, "First of all, I must be appointed as the first-class admiral. I must be a real position. Don't use the empty title to shake me. Then I will keep all the troops and continue to lead them. As for the silver reward, it's easy to say, 3,000 taels are only 3,000 taels, but I have to help me replenish some military pay, money and food, at least half a year."

"Guozong, this..." Wu Jun's messenger smiled bitterly and said, "Is the asking price a little high?"

"If I think I want the price to be high, don't come to me. Let's talk on the battlefield." Yang Fuqing answered confidently and domineeringly, and said, "But when you want to recruit me to reduce it, the price will definitely be different again. Okay, you can leave. Because Yang Youqing is my clan's brother, I will let you go this time."

Let’s take a look at the situation on Yang Yuanqing’s side. Unlike Yang Fuqing, who was arrogant and domineering and directly negotiated terms, after seeing the messenger of Wu Jun, Yang Yuanqing didn’t even read the letter of surrender. He kept asking about Yang Xiuqing’s situation. When he learned that Yang Xiuqing had been strangled and his other two brothers had been killed, Yang Yuanqing burst into tears and kowtowed in the direction of Nanjing, deeply begging himself for being incompetent and unable to kill back to Nanjing to rescue his brothers and brothers. Others advised him for a long time, but Yang Yuanqing was still crying.

Then, after carefully reading Wu Chaoyue's letter of surrender under the reminder of his subordinates, Yang Yuanqing, who had never had any opinion, did not speak for a long time, neither bargained with the Wu army nor expressed his clear rejection. The messenger of the Wu army took the opportunity to speak and said, "Guozong, King Zhennan still wants to give you a small sentence. King Zhennan said that although he and your brother Dongwang Jiuqiansu had never met, they always regarded Dongwang Jiuqiansu as a confidant brother. Although Dongwang Jiuqiansu colluded with Qing Yao to betray him, he had never blamed Dongwang. He also said in person that if he was in the position of Dongwang Jiuqiansu at that time, he would definitely do the same like Dongwang Jiuqiansu, so Zhennan had no complaints about Dongwang Jiuqiansu."

"The King of Zhennan is still very sorry that he failed to break through Tianjing early and rescue Dongwang Jiuqiansui in time. So the King of Zhennan said that as long as you surrender to him, he will definitely not treat you badly. Dongwang Jiuqiansui helped him before, and he would return all the favors to you and let your Yang family Ronghua be his life."

The messenger Wu Jun was quite eloquent, and he was quite moved by persuasion. At the same time, Yang Yuanqing, who was attacked from all sides, was in a difficult situation and had to make a choice as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Yang Yuanqing was an unintentional person. After hesitating for a long time, he was still unresolved. Finally, he said: "You go down first, I will think about it, and when there is a result, I will send someone to tell you to see you."

It would be fine if Yang Yuanqing didn't think about it, but there were twists and turns after a moment of consideration. After a few days, Yang Yuanqing's army had just chased and drove Yang Fuqing's army to Suqian. Liu Fan, the younger brother of Luo Bingzhang's confidant Liu Rong, came to Yang Yuanqing with Luo Bingzhang's handwritten letter, submitted a letter to persuade Yang Yuanqing to surrender to the Qing army. He also cleverly provoked the hatred between the Yang brothers and Wu Chaoyue, and vigorously encouraged Yang Yuanqing to lead his army to surrender to the Qing army and join forces with the Qing army to avenge Yang Xiuqing.

"...General Yang, think about how many of your comrades-brothers have died in the hands of Wu Chaoyue's traitor over the years? We and you all fight to the death on the battlefield, and each of them is their own masters, and they have to fight to the death. But Wu Chaoyue's traitor is treacherous and despicable. While brutally slaughtering your soldiers and brothers from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, secretly preserve their strength and use your strength to strengthen his army and pretend to join forces with you. In fact, it is to encourage you to fight hard battles with us, so that both of us will fight to the death and both of us will be injured, so that he can enjoy the success."

"My brother Dong Wang was deceived by him. Both Northern Expeditions were all damaged and the generals were lost. The time you went north from the sea, you were almost wiped out. But Chaoyue Xiao Yao deliberately stopped moving and refused to provide you with any support. In the end, he just wanted to take the opportunity to eliminate the main cavalry force of our Qing court and also wanted to take the opportunity to destroy your remaining troops. Fortunately, you were strictly guarded at that time, so the traitor Wu Chaoyue did not dare to take action."

"My brother Dong Wang finally joined forces with us because he saw through the treacherous face of Wu Chaoyue's traitor and knew that Wu Chaoyue's traitor would attack him sooner or later, so he had to take the initiative and choose to join forces with us to destroy the thieves. General Yang, you are the second brother of Dong Wang. Dong Wang was bullied and played with by Wu Chaoyue's traitor. As a brother, shouldn't you avenge your brother?"

"General Yang, don't forget that your Yang family has an irreconcilable grudge with Wu Chaoyue's traitor! Your brother Yang Xiuqing sent someone to Shanghai to chase Wu Chaoyue's traitor's only son and almost killed his grandfather. With this, Wu Chaoyue's traitor will definitely not let you go! If you make a fool of yourself and believe his sweet words, your fate will only be worse than your brother!"

After talking endlessly, Liu Fan listed the conditions for surrendering that Luo Bingzhang had issued to grant Yang Yuanqing as a first-class admiral, and was awarded a single-eyed peach feather, a yellow jacket, a Batulu, and a twenty jade pieces, ten eastern pearls, and ten slaves (beauties). In addition, Liu Fan also promised to reconcile the conflict between Yang Yuanqing and Ji Wenyuan, so that Yang Yuanqing, who had been troubled by Ji Wenyuan, had no worries about it.

The Qing court was already at a dead end. Of course, Yang Yuanqing, the official position of the Qing Dynasty promised by Luo Bingzhang, was not very interested. At the same time, the collection of gold in the prosperous times, the jewelry and jade that Luo Bingzhang promised to give was not worth a lot of silver in this era. Yang Yuanqing, who was not stupid, knew this very well. However, Liu Fan reminded that Wu Chaoyue would settle the accounts with Yang Yuanqing after quitting the account, but he really hit his vitals. Yang Yuanqing was too clear about how many dirty things Yang Xiuqing did to Wu Chaoyue, so he was naturally afraid that Wu Chaoyue would do one thing, and first used sweet words to trick him down his weapons and surrender, and then slaughtered him with one knife!

It was precisely because of this worry that Yang Yuanqing did not dare to refuse Liu Fan's surrender. He could only hesitate and said, "Let me think about it, and I will tell you the result."

Knowing that it would not be so easy to surrender, Liu Fan did not force Yang Yuanqing to make a decision immediately, but nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll wait for your good news from General Yang. But General Yang, I must remind you again, your time is not too much. The Wu thief has taken Jiangning, and it will soon lead the troops eastward and the troops are coming to Yangzhou. At that time, once Yang Fuqing surrenders Wu thief, he will definitely advance north again immediately. Yang Fuqing has a grudge with you, and Wu Chaoyue traitors also hate you deeply. Maybe they will have the idea of ​​lent a knife to kill people. They deliberately indulge Yang Fuqing to kill you and indirectly avenge him. This is a specialty of the Little Demon, and it is a foregone conclusion."

Thinking of the holidays between him and Yang Fuqing, the traitor of the Yang family, Yang Yuanqing subconsciously shook his mind and became more and more shaken. Fortunately, Yang Yuanqing did not immediately make up his mind and said, "Thank you for your teachings, please come and ask Mr. Liu to rest at the inn. You must have a good hospitality and not neglect it."

"There is no need for an inn." Liu Fan bowed and thanked him, saying, "General Yang, I have a reluctant request, I hope to fulfill my wish. I want to go south from General Yang's defense zone to Yangzhou to meet Yang Fuqing and General Yang, and advise him to surrender to our Qing court. Here in Xuzhou, I will leave a deputy waiting for your decision. General Yang, if you have any requests or have made up your mind, you can contact him at any time."

"Mr. Liu, do you still want to surrender Yang Fuqing?" Yang Yuanqing asked in surprise.

"That's of course. As long as you are an enemy of the Wu bandits, our Qing court will never be stingy with the rewards of official positions." Liu Fan replied frankly, and said, "Please rest assured General Yang, this matter is also beneficial to you. If you can persuade General Yang Fuqing to submit to the court and join the royal army, your southern line will not only be able to rest assured immediately, but also use Yang Fuqing to block the Wu bandits' front and no longer be threatened by the southern line."

Of course, Yang Yuanqing would not refuse such a good thing as driving the wolf and fighting the tiger. He immediately agreed to borrow the road. However, Liu Fan had an idea and quickly thanked him. He said with great difficulty: "General Yang, now the area of ​​Huaibei is in chaos and the bandits are rampant. The road is not safe enough. If possible, can you ask a small army to escort the south to Yangzhou? Of course, the journey of this army will be borne by the following."

"This matter is easy to deal with. There is no need for you to spend money on Mr. Liu. I will send thirty soldiers to protect you from the south and send you directly to Yang Fuqing's defense zone." Yang Yuanqing agreed, but did not notice at all. Liu Fan thanked again and showed a smug smile on the corner of his mouth.

In this way, at Liu Fan's request, Yang Yuanqing really sent 30 soldiers to protect Liu Fan to surrender Yang Fuqing. As a result, when he was on the road, although Yang Yuanqing was still awake, he asked the escort soldiers to strictly keep Liu Fan's identity confidential in advance to avoid revealing and shaking the morale of the army. However, he could not resist Liu Fan's money and bribed the hearts of the people. So soon, the thirty escort soldiers quickly got together with Liu Fan and treated Liu Fan as a relative. Fortunately, Liu Fan did not deliberately attract attention on his way south, and never did anything to make the escort soldiers embarrassed. He was always happy and harmonious.

Finally, when he arrived at the shore of the old Yellow River Road, only one river away from Yang Fuqing's controlled land, Liu Fan made a small request to the escort soldiers sent by Yang Yuanqing to go to Yang Fuqing's defense zone to show his special identity. The grassroots generals of Yang Yuanqing's army who led the team to escort Liu Fan south saw that there was no one around and only one or two miles away from Yang Fuqing's defense zone, and then agreed to Liu Fan's request. Liu Fan thanked happily, quickly changed into the fifth-rank official uniform that Luo Bingzhang asked for him, and asked his entourage to take a white flag. Then he continued to go south under the escort of Yang Yuanqing's soldiers, wearing the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, and appeared in front of Yang Fuqing's army in a swagger.

It is conceivable that Liu Fan did this sensation. When he saw Liu Fan wearing the Qing Dynasty official uniform appearing on the north bank of the old Yellow River Road, the first reaction of Yang Fuqing generals and soldiers was that he could not believe his eyes. After rubbing his eyes repeatedly and seeing clearly that it was Yang Yuanqing's soldiers who were protecting Liu Fan's southwards. Yang Fuqing's generals and soldiers screamed in shock, "God of Heavenly Father! Am I dreaming? How did Yang Yuanqing protect the Qing Yao officials? Did Yang Yuanqing surrender to Qing Yao?!"

Then, Liu Fan sent his entourage to the nearby place with a white flag, directly explaining his identity and purpose to persuade Yang Fuqing to surrender to the Qing court, the soldiers of Yang Fuqing, who were guarding the border, did not dare to neglect. They quickly welcomed Liu Fan into the country according to the rules, and hurriedly reported the situation to their superiors. The news quickly arrived in Yangzhou by fast horses and reported to Yang Fuqing. As a result, Yang Fuqing was also shocked when he heard this and blurted out: "Yang Yuanqing sent someone to send a Qing Demon official? Could he have surrendered to Qing Demon? If he surrendered to Qing Demon, how could I bargain with the demon soldiers?"
Chapter completed!