flstandardbreds Chapter 318 He Qi Wants to Surrender, Luo Tong Sets His Sights on the Steel Plant
Chapter 318 He Qi Wants to Surrender, Luo Tong Sets His Sights on the Steel Plant
After entering the prefect's mansion, Xie Chong not only did not make things difficult for He Qi, but also held a grand banquet to welcome him and even invited Yu Shaoquan and others to the banquet to entertain him.
These people are, after all, comrades-in-arms who fought alongside He Qi. They should at least be allowed to meet and share their feelings with each other.
Once everyone had arrived, Xie Chong toasted them and then stood up, making up a lame excuse that someone needed to use the restroom, and pulled Cheng Li away.
Xie Chong knew he was not well-liked by the people in the hall, and that if he stayed any longer, no one would feel comfortable with him, so he wisely left, leaving the space to He Qi, Yu Shao, and the others.
After the two of them left, the banquet hall became the private space for He Qi and his group.
He Qi looked at everyone for a moment before sighing and raising his cup, saying, "I have implicated you all. I will punish myself with three cups to apologize. Rest assured, when we meet General Guan, I, He Qi, will take full responsibility for all the crimes and try my best not to implicate you. When Lord Wu returns, you will still be meritorious officials of Eastern Wu."
Although he was annoyed by Yu Shao's act of pledging allegiance, he realized that it was pointless to blame anyone or try to shift the blame now; he should take responsibility and try to make amends.
After all, he was in charge of this operation and had served as a clan chief and leader. The most important responsibility of a leader is to take responsibility. If you don't even dare to take responsibility, who the hell will follow you?
More importantly, he has the title as a shield, so Xie Chong wouldn't dare to do anything to him. By taking responsibility, he can also do Yu Shaoquan and others a favor. Even if he is gone in the future, these people will take care of the He family because of his initiative in taking responsibility. Even if they don't take care of them, they won't kick him when he's down.
But if they desperately try to shift the blame and push all these people to the opposite side of the family, how will the Shanyin He family survive in Kuaiji in the future?
It has to be said that He Qi's vision is far superior to that of Yu Shaoquan and others; no wonder he is the head of the family.
Upon hearing this, everyone present lowered their heads in shame. Yu Shao downed three cups in a row before sighing, "Lord Wu is most likely not coming back. General, you came here by taking a detour from the Wei army, so you probably don't know that General Han and General Xu Sheng have already died in battle, do you?"
"What?!" He Qi's expression changed drastically, and he slammed down his wine glass, exclaiming sharply, "How is this possible?"
I've only been gone a few days, and Han Dang's side has already suffered a defeat?
And the defeat was so crushing that even Han Dang and Xu Sheng were killed in battle?
Is Guan Xing really that powerful? Is he Han Xin resurrected?
He Qi felt dizzy, as if struck by lightning, but Yu Shao ignored his emotions and handed him the letter, saying, "This is Guan Xing's battle report to Xie Chong. Take a look for yourself."
The battle report was given to Yu Shao by Xie Chong last night. After reading it, he did not take it back, and Yu Shao did not throw it away either, keeping it with him.
He Qi took the battle report blankly and read it carefully. After reading it several times, he sighed helplessly, "It seems that the fate of the Han Dynasty is not yet over. The King of Hanzhong is very likely to succeed in the third restoration."
He Qi's words were not unfounded; he genuinely felt that way.
The favorable situation in the Battle of Xiangfan did not kill Guan Yu. Instead, he successfully launched a surprise attack on Jianye and established a foothold in Jiangdong. It would be extremely difficult to recover Jiangdong after that.
Most importantly, Guan Yu has produced a genius like Guan Xing. Guan Xing's two captures of Zhang Cheng could be attributed to luck, but what about now?
Now that Guan Xing has forced Han Dang to commit suicide and killed Xu Sheng, and easily captured tens of thousands of Wu soldiers, can you still say that he was just lucky? He is clearly a military genius comparable to Bai Qi and Han Xin.
What's even more despairing is that this genius is still very young, extremely young. He achieved comparable results to Huo Qubing at the same age as the champion. If he doesn't die young like Huo Qubing, let alone Eastern Wu, even Cao Wei, which dominated the Central Plains, would have to experience what despair is.
Before the veterans of Ji Han had passed away, a young player emerged with invincible talent. As Ji Han's opponent, He Qi felt a sense of powerlessness, thinking that it was better to give up than to fight.
After reading the battle report twice more, He Qi put it down and sighed, "Forget it, stop struggling and just surrender obediently. I'll hand over all of the He family's secret treasuries to Xie Chong and actively cooperate with Xie Chong's land reform. At the same time, I'll write letters to persuade the Wu County gentry to cooperate with the land reform as well, so as to win some dignity for the family."
He was still somewhat resentful when he was captured last night, but when he saw Guan Xing's battle report, all his resentment and unwillingness vanished. Even Han Dang was forced to commit suicide, so his own defeat and capture didn't seem so hard to accept.
The main reason was that he saw no hope of Sun Quan returning to Jiangdong. Since he couldn't count on Sun Quan, he had to find another way to make a living. He couldn't possibly take his entire family with him to be buried with Sun Quan, could he?
Upon hearing He Qi's words, Yu Shaoquan and the others breathed a sigh of relief as if a knot had been untied in their hearts, and long-lost smiles appeared on their faces.
Since He Qi was already prepared to surrender, it wasn't a big deal for them to surrender as well. After all, it wasn't that they hadn't tried, but that they simply couldn't win.
Is it wrong to admit defeat and call someone "brother" when you can't win?
Besides, He Qi was the one who led the surrender; they were just following orders. Even if Sun Quan returns, he won't blame them, right?
With this in mind, the group, having resolved their inner conflicts, began to drink heartily and fully enjoy the delicacies of the Prefect's residence.
Damn Xie Chong, where did he find this chef? The food he makes is so delicious.
They didn't care about wasting other people's things, and soon they were completely drunk and had to be carried back by Xie Chong's men.
He Qi was carried back by Xie Chong himself. He sobered up the next day at noon. After waking up, he immediately found Xie Chong and explained his intention to surrender.
However, Xie Chong could not handle this matter; it had to be decided by Guan Yu.
It should be noted that He Qi held the title of Marquis, and theoretically, any decision regarding his promotion or dismissal had to be made by Emperor Liu Xie.
Although Guan Yu and Liu Bei can handle this privately now, according to procedure, Liu Bei must report to Emperor Liu Xie and King Cao Cao after he has done so. Cao Cao can't do anything to Liu Bei for the time being, so he may pretend not to see it and keep it in the dark. But if he defeats Liu Bei in the future, he will definitely use He Qi as an excuse to settle scores with Liu Bei later. At the very least, he can give Liu Bei another crime to pin on him.
Therefore, Xie Chong, a mere prefect, could not handle such a complicated matter. He could only kindly reassure He Qi and ask him to rest for a few more days. After he had rested, he would send someone to take him to see Guan Yu.
As for Yu Shaoquan and the others, let them remain imprisoned. They have no noble titles to protect them, so they can only wait obediently until the Guan family father and son finish their battle and are free to deal with them.
After calming He Qi down, Xie Chong led the He clan members assigned by He Qi to the He family's secret treasury to begin collecting the family's emergency relief funds and grain.
This time, Cheng Li did not go with them. Instead, he briefly explained things to Xie Chong and returned to Zhuji. Cheng Li had originally planned to leave yesterday, but he got drunk last night, so he rested for a night and set off today.
The two bid farewell in front of the prefect's mansion. After exchanging a few casual words, Cheng Li mounted his horse and left. Cheng Li, who had just set off, was unaware that a major event was taking place at the Wushang Steel Plant while he was on his way.
Because another general, Luo Tong, who was sent by Lu Xun to carry out a secret mission, finally returned to his hometown of Wushang after many days of travel. He planned to kidnap or turn the steel mill craftsmen to defect and bring them back to Jiangling to establish the Eastern Wu's own steel mill.
At this moment, Luo Tong was standing on the mountain southwest of the steel plant, looking at the thick smoke billowing from the chimneys that were taller than buildings and thicker than water tanks, and asked, "Uncle Cheng, how are your preparations going? Have you found the beauty? Have you found out the list and background of the steel plant's craftsmen?"