Chapter 48 Settling Mengmu

Amidst this growth, when Yao Shouxin arrived before the capital of Mengmu with his army, the original 80,000 men had more than doubled, reaching 160,000!

Adding to this the 30,000 or so men who came to join them, the total was a formidable 200,000!

With 200,000 troops surrounding the capital of Mengmu, Yao Shouxin was in no hurry to launch a direct assault.

In everything, one should have a justifiable reason, and Yao Shouxin was no exception.

He wrote a long letter and sent it into the city.

After the ruler of Mengmu finished reading it, he flew into a rage and immediately summoned Hamuheng, throwing the letter in front of him.

"Hamuheng, take a look at this letter! Does it say you did these things?"

Hamuheng picked it up and read it, immediately breaking out in a cold sweat.

The content of the letter did indeed describe his actions.

But these actions were done with the tacit approval of the ruler.

Now that the capital was surrounded, the ruler was going to use him as a scapegoat, and he knew very well what the outcome would be.

Hamuheng's mind raced, and he quickly came up with an excuse: "Your Majesty, this wasn't my idea, it was all Situ Quan's! I was deceived by Situ Quan!"

Now, he could only shift the blame to Situ Quan.

Yao Shouxin had also mentioned Situ Quan in his letter, and upon hearing this, the ruler immediately said, "Arrest him at once!"

Thus, Situ Quan, who was waiting at Hamuheng's residence for news of a breakthrough, was seized by soldiers and brought before the ruler.

"So, you're the one who incited my Mengmu army to attack Great Wei, is that right?"

The ruler's face was full of anger.

Although he had previously condoned and tacitly approved of this matter, what he wanted was news of victory, not news of being besieged!

In addition, the people of Mengmu harbored hatred for the armies everywhere, which filled him with regret.

But finding someone to take the blame is a common human trait, and Situ Quan unfortunately became the scapegoat for the ruler of Mengmu and Hamuheng.

Situ Quan's face was frighteningly pale; he never imagined that in less than a month, he would go from being a guest of honor at Hamuheng's residence to a prisoner.

And he could foresee what would happen in the future.

If he was lucky, he would die on the way back to the capital of Great Wei.

If he was unlucky, he would be sent back to the capital of Great Wei to be executed by slow slicing.

Thinking of this, Situ Quan became even more alarmed and uneasy.

"Just kill me!" Situ Quan shouted.

Dying cleanly and neatly here was better than being sent back to the capital to be sliced to pieces.

However, how could the ruler of Mengmu and Hamuheng lay their hands on Situ Quan?

The ruler of Mengmu quickly made a decision, and Hamuheng, the "accomplice," was ordered to personally escort Situ Quan outside the city.

As soon as he saw Yao Shouxin, Hamuheng unconsciously bent his back.

"Lord Yao, my name is Hamuheng. The ruler has ordered me to hand Situ Quan over to you."

Yao Shouxin looked at Hamuheng: "Didn't your ruler say anything else?"

Hamuheng was stunned, then remembered the secret letter the ruler had given him before he left, and quickly took it out.

"Lord Yao, this is a secret letter that the ruler instructed me to personally deliver to you."

Yao Shouxin took it, and after reading it, a smile appeared on his face.

"General Ha, why don't you take a look as well?"

Hamuheng was curious about what was written in the letter, and upon hearing this, he quickly took it.

But after reading only one line, Hamuheng was struck by lightning, and his entire body froze in place, his face as pale as death.

The content of the letter was simple: the ruler of Mengmu wanted to explain to Yao Shouxin that the attack on Nan Zhao had nothing to do with him, and that it was all the work of Hamuheng and Situ Quan.

Now, he was handing over the two culprits to Yao Shouxin to deal with.

Hamuheng never expected that the ruler, who had previously spoken so well of using Situ Quan as a scapegoat, would turn around and sell him out!

If the ruler of Mengmu knew what Hamuheng was thinking, he could only smile bitterly.

He couldn't help it; who told the Great Wei army to surround the capital?

Yao Shouxin unceremoniously accepted this great gift from the ruler of Mengmu, and imprisoned both Hamuheng and Situ Quan.

Then, he wrote a letter to the ruler of Mengmu, stating that he had achieved his goal and was preparing to return to Great Wei.

Seeing this letter, the ruler of Mengmu was naturally overjoyed.

Finally, he had managed to deceive them!

To show his sincerity, the ruler of Mengmu immediately replied, expressing his sorrow at Yao Shouxin's departure.

After reading the letter, Yao Shouxin smiled slightly and ordered the soldiers to pack their things and prepare to retreat.

This order puzzled the soldiers.

Now that they had an army of 200,000, it would not be difficult to conquer the capital of Mengmu, so why did Yao Shouxin want everyone to retreat?

Yao Shouxin still did not explain.

This time, no one questioned Yao Shouxin.

Because every decision Yao Shouxin made had proven to be correct afterward.

This time was no exception.

When the ruler of Mengmu saw the Great Wei army beginning to retreat, he was overjoyed.

But soon, the smile on his face froze.

Because he discovered that there was still an army of nearly 100,000 men that had not retreated.

He quickly wrote a letter asking Yao Shouxin why he was not keeping his promise.

After reading the letter, Yao Shouxin smiled and wrote a reply.

The ruler of Mengmu received the letter and quickly opened it, then stared in disbelief, breaking out in a cold sweat.

In the letter, Yao Shouxin stated that he had kept his promise, and that all 120,000 Great Wei soldiers had retreated under his command.

The 100,000 soldiers who had not retreated, however, were not Great Wei soldiers, but his own soldiers from Mengmu.

That had nothing to do with him.

The ruler of Mengmu finally remembered the series of village massacres that had occurred within Mengmu after he issued the call to arms.

He never expected that the bitter fruit would come so quickly!

These 100,000 Mengmu soldiers, filled with anger and resentment, quickly conquered the capital of Mengmu.

Subsequently, the ruler of Mengmu was killed, and the generals were also successively killed by their own soldiers.

Half a month later, Mengmu was controlled by a man named Cao Heng.

Then, he personally came to Nan Zhao and expressed his desire to submit to Great Wei to Yao Shouxin.

Yao Shouxin did not dare to neglect this matter and immediately arranged for the army to return to court, then first took Cao Heng back to the capital of Great Wei.

Hearing that Yao Shouxin had returned, Jiang Chen was overjoyed.

This time, Yao Shouxin had completely pacified Mengmu.

In the secret letter, Yao Shouxin had mentioned that this Cao Heng was the most suitable candidate he had found.

And the assassinated generals of Mengmu could not have all been killed by Mengmu soldiers; Yao Shouxin had also played a significant role in this.

Of course, after reading all of this, Jiang Chen destroyed it all.

Yao Shouxin brought Cao Heng to the Hall of Diligent Governance to meet Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen smiled and told them both to rise.

"Minister Yao, you have performed a great service this time!" Jiang Chen praised him without reservation.

Yao Shouxin cupped his fist to Jiang Chen: "This is all due to Your Majesty's skillful command."

This was not Yao Shouxin being polite, but a heartfelt statement.

According to Yao Shouxin's initial plan, Great Wei would directly flatten Mengmu with its army.

But Jiang Chen had proposed letting Mengmu solve its own problems.