Chương 231: Victory Report Sent to Luoyang, Zhao Yun in the Imperial Court

The queen's crying stopped abruptly, her eyes filled with fear as she watched Yuwen Chengdu approach step by step, too afraid to move.

Ah↗Ah↗Ah↑......

Not long after, melodious singing drifted out from the tightly closed Queen's palace, carrying a hint of something indescribable. It reached outside the palace and elicited laughter from the lined-up guards.

Meanwhile, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were in the front hall, had just finished killing the imperial relatives and ministers when they heard the singing from afar. Zhang Fei scratched his head and said to Guan Yu, "Second Brother, that kid from Chengdu certainly knows how to enjoy himself!"

Guan Yu stroked his long beard, glanced in the direction of the Queen's palace, and snorted coldly, "Let him be. As long as the remnants of the royal family are wiped out, these are trivial matters not worth mentioning."

Having said that, he picked up his sword and turned to report back to Liu Ce, completely disregarding the erotic scene in the hall—after all, in this chaotic world, a royal family that has lost its country has no right to talk about dignity.

Soon after, Guan Yu returned to report, and the Goguryeo royal family was destroyed.

Liu Ce sat on the throne, looked at the empty hall, and smiled.

"Let's pack up and distribute some of our grain to the people of Goguryeo to appease them. From now on, Goguryeo will be the granary of Youzhou."

"Yes!" Xue Rengui accepted the order and left.

Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai came over, the two rascals' eyes darting around.

"My lord," Guo Jia said with a smile, "Although the Goguryeo royal family has been destroyed, there are still many powerful clans in the regions. Perhaps...?"

"Hmm," Liu Ce nodded, "You guys handle it. Kill those who deserve it... In short, I want Goguryeo to become a complete part of Youzhou, not some vassal state."

"Got it!" The two rascals left happily, now they had more work to do.

...

Liu Ce left Xue Rengui and others, along with the army, to guard the area, and led the main force back to Youzhou.

Before leaving, he stood on the city wall of the country, looking at this unfamiliar land, and thought to himself: Another country has been destroyed.

Although Goguryeo was not a large country, it was still a country.

This adds another achievement to the list.

...

One week later, at the Prefectural Governor's Office in Zhuo County.

Liu Ce is back.

Inside the governor's mansion, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Xun Yu, and others were already waiting.

Upon seeing Liu Ce enter, everyone bowed in unison and said, "Welcome back in triumph, our lord!"

"Alright, alright, enough with the formalities." Liu Ce waved his hand and plopped down in the main seat.

"Is the victory report ready?"

"It's finished." Fang Xuanling presented a letter, "A report of the great victory against the Xianbei. As per the lord's wishes, it has been written in detail but without exaggeration."

Liu Ce took the brush, glanced at it, nodded, and added a line at the end: "Your subject Liu Ce, thanks to Your Majesty's divine might and the soldiers' valiant efforts, has achieved a small merit. I offer this sacrifice at Langjuxu to Heaven to inform my ancestors, awaiting the imperial decree for a final decision."

He deliberately wrote the words "minor achievement." It was out of modesty; he wanted to leave his superiors some room to maneuver.

After finishing writing, I sealed it with a "snap".

Fang Xuanling then brought in another letter and said, "My lord, the victory report from Goguryeo has been prepared. The heads of King Go Nam-mu and the main ministers have been sealed in boxes."

Liu Ce glanced at it; the content was pretty much the same, nothing more than the usual "defeate the enemy army, capture the king alive, and execute the traitors."

He stacked the two victory reports together and handed them to Zhao Yun, saying, "Zilong, it's been a lot of work for you on this trip. Take the victory reports and those heads with you, and also bring along the representatives of the Xianbei tribes to Luoyang."

"Your subordinate obeys!" Zhao Yun took the report of victory and carefully tucked it into his robes.

Then they went to pick up the head boxes—good heavens, more than a dozen nanmu boxes, heavy with weight.

Upon opening it, I found it filled with lime-preserved figures: Kui Tou, Ke Bineng, Gao Nanwu... each with a glaring head, looking quite creepy.

Zhao Yun remained calm and directed his personal guards to tie the box to the horse's back. He then mustered fifty elite light cavalry and finally had the Xianbei representatives follow at the rear of the procession. These men were quite skilled riders, but their faces were deathly pale, probably from fright.

The group, in a grand procession, headed towards Luoyang.

...

October of the third year of Zhongping, Luoyang, the imperial palace.

Inside Deyang Palace, the autumn air was crisp and clear, but the atmosphere was subtle.

Yuan Wei, Yuan Feng, Yang Ci, and other powerful figures from prominent families were whispering amongst themselves.

"I heard the fighting in Youzhou was fierce, and Liu Ce suffered considerable losses..."

"If the war goes badly, we must persuade His Majesty to send reinforcements."

"But if Liu Ce loses, that's fine too, it'll just weaken his military power..."

Just as they were muttering to themselves, the sound of a young eunuch running wildly and shouting at the top of his lungs suddenly came from outside the hall:

"Your Majesty! Great news! The messenger sent by the Marquis of Champion to deliver the news of victory has arrived! He is waiting outside the palace!"

Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, was lounging on his dragon throne, listlessly picking at his nails—he had taken in a new beauty yesterday and kept her up until midnight, so he wasn't feeling well today.

Upon hearing this, he jumped up so high that he almost tripped over the hem of his dragon robe.

"Quickly! Summon him in!" Liu Hong shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Make sure all the civil and military officials prick up their ears and listen!"

Well, this is going to be interesting.

Within half a quarter of an hour, the Deyang Hall was packed with civil and military officials.

Everyone craned their necks, curious—good news? What good news? Did they win? Did they lose?

Zhao Yun, clad in silver armor, strode in—this was his first time entering the palace, and he was a little nervous, his hands and feet stiff.

But he forced himself to remain calm, walked to the center of the hall, and gave Liu Hong a proper military salute—not the kind of bow given by a civil official, but the fist salute of a military general, with a standard posture and full force.

"This humble general, Zhao Yun, has come on the orders of General Liu Ce to present Your Majesty with reports of the great victories on the grasslands and Goguryeo!"

The voice was loud and clear, echoing throughout the hall.

He paused, then added, "Outside the palace are the heads of the leaders of various Xianbei tribes, the head of the King of Goguryeo and his ministers, as well as representatives from smaller Xianbei tribes who have come to sue for peace and submit, awaiting Your Majesty's summons!"

"Good! Good!" Liu Hong's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter. He quickly winked at Zhang Rang, "Quick! Bring me the victory report and read it aloud to me! Louder, so everyone can hear!"

Zhang Rang hurriedly stepped forward, took the Xianbei victory report, unfolded the letter, cleared his throat, and began to read it aloud in a hoarse voice:

"Your Majesty, I, Liu Ce, report: Eighty thousand Xianbei cavalrymen launched a major invasion of You and Bing. I laid an ambush in the valleys and annihilated more than thirty thousand of them. Later, in a decisive battle in the heart of the grasslands, I annihilated another thirty thousand, and beheaded dozens of leaders, including Kui Tou, Qian Man, and Ke Bineng.

Afterwards, I personally led four thousand elite troops to strike directly at the Xianbei's stronghold, killing the families and elders of the eastern and central tribes, as well as the royal court and other major tribes, thus eradicating future troubles..."

Upon hearing this, some people in the hall gasped in shock.

Yuan Wei nearly dropped his ceremonial tablet—all 80, 000 cavalrymen had been routed? They'd even captured their stronghold and killed their families and elders? Liu Ce was too ruthless!

Yang Ci's hands were trembling as he stroked his beard.

The ministers below whispered among themselves:

"Eighty thousand cavalry... wiped out just like that?"

"They even chased him all the way to Langjuxu Mountain? Did they seal off Langjuxu?"

"My God, this is Huo Qubing reincarnated..."