Behind the desk, King Chong, Chu Yan, had a gloomy face, holding a letter from Lu Sheng in his hand.

The letter was almost wrung into a twist by Chu Yan.

After a long time, Chu Yan said dejectedly, "There are no reinforcements at all. The matter of reinforcements was something I deceived you about..."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, the study was in uproar, faces showing shock. Although they didn't dare to say anything, in their hearts, they wished they could curse King Chong's mother.

With Lu Sheng's reinforcements, they could still fight.

Without them, they were certain to lose.

If we had known this, we would have run away long ago.

"Prince, without reinforcements, how can we withstand the Chen Army? Including logistics, there are less than five thousand troops in the city, certainly no match for the Chen Army," a general said destitutely, still with a trace of sobbing in his voice.

"Your Highness, why don't we surrender?" an official boldly suggested. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But he was quickly glared at by Chu Yan, who then had someone come in and drag the official out to be executed.

The news of Prince Huai's death had already spread, and he wanted to surrender?

How is that different from walking into a trap?

Yes, although the rumor spread by Chen Mo was that Prince Huai committed suicide at Dragon-locking Mountain.

But in the eyes of a group of clever people, they believed that Chen Mo was just looking for an excuse.

Seeing that Chu Yan wasn't surrendering either, the people in the study became even more panicked.

If they could beat Chu Yan, they would all think of tying up Chu Yan and offering him to Chen Mo.

"A bunch of cowards, like you. Fit to be officials of the Great Song? The court feeds you high positions and generous salaries, and now when you hear the rebel army is coming, you all look like what?"

Chu Yan saw their demeanor, slapped the table angrily, and was furious at their lack of fight.

Everyone was so frightened that they lowered their heads and dared not speak.

Of course, Chu Yan didn't intend to kill them, he was simply venting.

After venting, Chu Yan sighed and said, "I have decided to abandon Chongzhou and retreat to Luonan."

Chu Yan had asked Lu Sheng for reinforcements.

But Lu Sheng politely refused.

He said he had thoroughly investigated the situation of the Song Family Slope battle.

Gongsun Yan and Luo Qingyang were indeed shot dead by one arrow from Chen Mo.

Therefore, Lu Sheng suspected that Chen Mo might have already stepped into the Second Grade.

In which case, Chongzhou couldn't be defended.

Even if he personally led troops as reinforcements, it wouldn't be as fast as the Chen Army.

He advised Prince Chong to preserve his strength and come to Luonan to discuss strategies against Chen Mo, and by no means to confront the Chen Army directly.

Despite being extremely unwilling, Prince Chong had no choice but to comply.

Fortunately, given the current situation, Lu Sheng needed him as well, and even if he reached Luonan, Lu Sheng wouldn't do anything to him.

...

On December 16th.

In the afternoon.

Below Chongzhou City.

"Report." Sun Meng rode up to Chen Mo, clasped his hands, and said, "Marquis, the scouts in front have reported that Chongzhou City seems to be an empty city, and King Chong has already fled..."

"Fled?"

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow and immediately ordered, "Sun Meng."

"Yes, General."

"Convey my order to send a battalion of the Xianzhen Guard into the city to investigate and confirm the situation within."

"Yes, sir."

In less than half an hour.

News came back.

Chongzhou City was indeed an "empty city." Apart from the common folk at the lower levels, all the defending troops, noble gentry, anyone who could run, had run, and it had already been three days.

"Chongzhou is King Chong's stronghold. If he fled, it means he abandoned the noble commoners of the Western River Land. This is a grave matter, where could he have gone?" Jiang Li said.

"Where else could he go, besides Luonan, he has nowhere else to go," Xiao Jing said.

"Congratulations to Duke An for taking Chongzhou. Luonan is within reach. To eliminate the rebels and rectify the court has never been closer," Liu Ji could not suppress his excitement. After taking Chongzhou, the entire world was at hand, with only the final step left.

The remaining vassal kings and powers were all just minor nuisances, not worth worrying about.

Chen Mo was also a bit excited, but in front of so many subordinates, he remained calm, glanced down at the flapping robe in the cold wind, and said, "Winter has arrived, huh."

Saying that, he squeezed the horse's belly and shouted, "Into the city!"

...

The news of Chen Mo's capture of Chongzhou spread across the world like a flying bird.

The story of Chen Mo was also spread remarkably, evolving into all sorts of tales for people to sing and admire.

A light snow fell on Yan State, in a tavern in Yuan County, idle rogues gathered in the hall, with a fire pit under each table.

The storyteller eloquently narrated the events from the front of Chongzhou: "As the story was told before, our Duke An, Chen Mo, at Song Family Slope of Huai State, with a horse and bow, shot an arrow and killed the Third-Grade General under King Chong's command, Gongsun Yan, shot another arrow and killed Luo Qingyang of Huai King's command, slaughtering a million enemies, blood flowed like rivers, corpses sprawled all over. As for who was Luo Qingyang, you can guess?"

"How could we little commoners at the bottom know about such significant figures..."

"Hurry up and tell us..."

The listeners urged eagerly.

The storyteller teased them before enthusiastically beginning, "You all know the Seven Great Noble Families, right? And Luo Qingyang was the Patriarch of the Luo Family, one of these noble families. Not only that, even the Patriarch of the Liang Family, Liang Mu, was captured by Duke An. As to why Duke An killed Luo Qingyang but spared Liang Mu, I do not know. But today, I want to talk about something related to this.

A story goes that after King Chong's great defeat, he was so frightened by Duke An that when the Duke led his army to Chongzhou, those who surrendered did, those who fled did, with no one daring to hold out, when King Chong learned that Duke An was approaching, he simply abandoned the city and fled like a stray dog."

"Ah? What about Princess Consort Chong? Did she also flee?"

These were clearly not the stories the listeners wanted to hear. They wanted to hear tales of Chen Mo within Chongzhou, exploiting men and seizing women.

After all, Chen Mo had a history of doing so.

The former Prefect of Yuzhou, Liang Song's remarriage.

Princess Consort Huai and several of Prince Huai's consorts.

They were all seized by Chen Mo.

Chen Mo's reputation for favoring married women was known throughout the world.

Therefore, what they wanted to hear more about were the antics of Chen Mo with Princess Consort Chong after taking Chongzhou.

The storyteller: "..."

Could he dare to make up such tales?

The storyteller quickly cleared his throat a couple of times and diverted the topic: "What I want to say is that Duke An had origins just like ours, a common peasant. Externally, he expelled foreign invaders to the north, reclaiming lost lands, spreading the prestige of our Great Song. Internally, he eradicated rebels, pacified the two kings, ensuring peace for the common people.

Do you know how old Duke An was when he took Chongzhou? Just twenty-three! Unheard of in history."

"Twenty-three?"

"How is that possible!"

The crowd was in an uproar, and immediately someone said, "Duke An is already a First-Class Duke. If he crushes the rebels this time, what rank would he be bestowed?"

"Higher than a First-Class Duke, naturally a Prince, an Alien King!"

"An Alien King? Does that look down on anyone? Now the north, Yu State, Linzhou, Huai State, Fengzhou, Yan State, Jiangdong, Jiangnan, Chongzhou, all are in Duke An's grasp, at least sitting on that Dragon Throne in Jinluan Hall..."

It was unclear if it was said in high spirits, someone uttered a statement of great treason.

However, the surrounding people's reaction wasn't shock, distancing themselves from the speaker, but rather agreement, nodding in approval.

Rumors were already circulating in the streets, that Duke An was born with heavenly mandate, the new True Dragon Emperor.

Dai Ling, in the tavern, was the only one fearing causing trouble, leaving the tavern quickly upon hearing the treasonous statement.

Dai Ling had actually arrived at the southern part of Huai State long ago.

But because the Chen Army was still in Yan State and the travel ban wasn't lifted, Dai Ling only now returned to Yuan County.

He was from Taoyuan County in Yan State.

Taoyuan County was less than a hundred miles from Yuan County.

As a traveling merchant, he had a packhorse for carrying goods.

That night, he hurried back to Taoyuan County.

After returning home, he didn't linger long, unloading his goods and then quickly headed to Dai Tu's house, knocking on the door.

"Is Dai Tu home?" Dai Ling knocked and shouted, eager to confirm the matter.