December 2nd

  5 AM .

  The night attack ended as Dong Zhuo’s men withdrew from the battle before the sunrise . From the initial number of 10,000 soldiers, they returned with 6,000 men, which was on a high ratio as they went against the defenders with more troops .

  On the other hand, Liu Yu and his army suffered a disastrous blow in the night siege . His soldiers had been fighting for two nights without sleeping, so their physical and mental strength was at the lowest . Their morale was at the abyss while the attackers were elites and fresh .

  Even a rookie in a battle could tell the outcome .

  *BOOM*

  *GONG*

  The war drums resounded again as the main army of Dong Zhuo returned after a good night rest .

  Liu Yu, who had black bags under his eyes, watched the incoming troops in despair . He had believed that with a similar number of soldiers, he could have won the defensive battle with ease . He had not thought that there was this kind of tactic, not allowing them to rest for a night .

  "C-Clan head . Let’s surrender . We can’t fight like this . "

  Listening to his lieutenants, Liu Yu turned to check his subordinates . Sure enough, his men’s could barely stand at this point . If they insisted on fighting for another day, they would have been wiped out .

  "Raise the white flags and open the gate . Also sent someone to inform Wang Yun and his daughter . Tell them to get out of the palace as quickly as possible . Have them exit the east gate, so they can escape from Dong Zhuo . "

  Liu Yu’s lieutenants breathed out a sigh of relief as they did not have to fight this hopeless battle anymore . Only less than 20,000 soldiers were remaining in the city, including militia reserves . On the other hand, Dong Zhuo Army had lost less than 40,000 soldiers since the first day of the battle .

  The massive casualty in these two days battle was heartbreaking .

  "What about you, sir?"

  "We’ll head out to surrender," Liu Yu sighed, "We shall face our fate as losers . " ……

  Wang Yun was watching the battle from afar . It was not hard for him to see the soldiers on the wall waving white flags .

  "Two days . We can only hold for two days . "

  Wang Yun was not angry at Liu Yu for surrendering as he had received the reports about the night assault and the fake assault from his men . It was understandable for Liu Yu to lose this fight since his troops had not slept for two days straight .

  "Go and begin packing food and water . Leave unnecessary things behind . We’ll escape from the city as soon as possible," Spoke Wang Yun .

  He rushed back to the inner palace and carried the unconscious Diao Chan with him . Because he did not know about the Imperial Seal and Emperor Sword, Wang Yun left the palace with only a few bodyguards and food supplies, leaving treasures inside the Capital .

  Wang Yun had not realized this yet . One of his subordinates packed the edict, which Diao Chan had forged about herself being the successor of the throne, along with the food supplies .

  This person was a spy of the Xun family of Xuchang . He was planning to bring this family to his lord’s territory . ……

  Hua Xiong and Li Ru led their soldiers forward to meet with the representative of the defenders . As they had expected, Liu Yu showed up along with his subordinate officials .

  The face of Liu Yu revealed his weakened condition . Meanwhile, Hua Xiong and Li Ru looked as healthy as ever .

  "You looked terrible . Have you slept well last night?" Li Ru sarcastically asked Liu Yu .

  \r \r \r

  The questioned loser did not answer the winner . Liu Yu knelt and cupped his fist .

  "We wish to surrender to Lord Dong Zhuo . I hope you can spare my men . "

  Li Ru nodded, "Good decision . Disarm your troops and guide them in front of the gate . If I see any soldier in the city, I’ll treat it as you’ve fooled me and I’ll burn the city down!"

  Liu Yu bowed . He slowly turned to his subordinate to relay the order .

  One hour later .

  All surviving garrison soldiers took off their weapons and armors . They obediently formed a square formation in front of the wall .

  Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo also arrived at the front of the gate .

  After he had suffered the mental attack by Diao Chan, he had been bed-reddened up till now . Hearing the news that Liu Yu had surrendered, he rushed here hoping to punish the little girl that scared him .

  "Where’s Wang Yun and that little wench!?" Dong Zhuo roared at Liu Yu, who was tied and knelt on the cold ground .

  Liu Yu shook his head, "She has been unconscious since the day we started fighting . Wang Yun went back with her, and I haven’t heard about them since . "

  "Where is she carried to?"

  "The inner palace . Her room is there . "

  Dong Zhuo snorted, "Hua Xiong! Take your men and storm the palace! Kill everybody in there beside women!"

  Hua Xiong cupped his fist and left with his troops, leaving Li Ru, Dong Zhuo, and the prisoners .

  "And these fools!" Dong Zhuo glared at Liu Yu and the surviving soldiers, "Kill them all!"

  Li Ru frowned as he disagreed with this action .

  "My lord, Liu Yu is the clan head of the Imperial family . Killing him is like declaring a rebellion against the Han Court . All loyalists will resent you for this . "

  Dong Zhuo peered at Li Ru for a minute, "We have already crossed the line . No need for façade anymore . Kill everyone!"

  Li Ru slowly exhaled as this was not what he had in mind . If they took action as commanded by Dong Zhuo, the repercussion by the other lords would be severe . All governors in this country would band together to get rid of Dong Zhuo .

  Despite his disagreement, Li Ru bowed and confirmed the order to his soldiers . He returned to Liu Yu’s side and whispered to him .

  "I’m sorry . I’ve tried to save you . "

  A bitter smile appeared on Liu Yu’s face . He nodded, "I understand . Please finish it in one blow . "

  The prisoners of war were carried away one by one . Soldiers with sharp blade arranged them in rows as they began beheading the surrendered soldiers .

  Liu Yu’s subordinates and soldiers cried and begged to spare their lives, yet the executioners ignored their pleas and completed their jobs . They also wanted to save these poor people, but they could not as Dong Zhuo was glaring at them . Disobeying his order would spell death to them as well .

  The fat lord watched the execution in glee . Several female slaves that Dong Zhuo brought with him brought wine and fruits to serve their master .

  Dong Zhuo was sitting on the prepared seat as he enjoyed watching the cry of the prisoners .

  "This is boring . Wenyou, stop!"

  "My lord?"

  "Don’t behead them! Instead, I want you to gorge their innards and hang their head with their own intestines on the wall!"

  The slaves and Li Ru sucked in cold breath as the command was too gruesome .

  "My lord, it takes manpower and ……"

  "DO AS I SAID!"

  Li Ru gulped and bowed . He returned to the side of Liu Yu and drew his sword . He hoped that at least he would secretly kill Liu Yu and free this clan head from Dong Zhuo’s sadistic torture .

  "Hey, Wenyou! Leave that guy for the last! I’ll use another way to kill him!"

  Li Ru bit his lower lips and gazed at Liu Yu to gesture his apology .

  Liu Yu noticed it and nodded . He glared at Dong Zhuo before he shouted .

  "Traitor Dong! You may have stolen the Han Dynasty, but you will never claim my life!"

  Liu Yu proceeded to bit his tongue with his front teeth . The sharp sensation of pain rushed down his nerve to his brain, and the excruciating pain shocked his body, which made it spasmed .

  Liu Yu fell unconscious . The shock did not stop at making his brain shutting down . His blood circulation system also suffered from the nerve-shock, and the heart stopped beating .

  Li Ru had expected this, so he touched Liu Yu’s neck to feel his pulse . No pulse could be felt on this body anymore .

  "My lord, Liu Yu has committed suicide . He’s dead . "

  "Of course, I can see that! FOOking coward . Get rid of his body!" ……

  Dong Zhuo and his men entered the city in the afternoon, three hours after they had finished dealing with the surrendered soldiers .

  The fat tyrant did not care about the dead soldiers on both sides . On the contrary, he was glad that annoying people were gone, and he could move his base into this city .

  "Good riddance! We can finally get a proper base for my paradise!"

  Dong Zhuo fantasized of having a country full of beautiful girls for himself . He gazed into a distance while he was drooling and laughing .

  Meanwhile, Li Ru peered at the east gate with a frown . It had been a long time since Hua Xiong entered the palace, yet he had not returned with the news about Diao Chan and Wang Yun .

  Li Ru was thinking if Wang Yun and Diao Chan were to escape from the city when Liu Yu was surrendering, they should have left via the east gate .

  "My lord, we should dispatch our troops to secure Hulao Pass . Since we have taken the city, we should secure the garrison troops at the pass and replenish our elite legions . "

  "Huh? Why not conscripting soldiers from the civilians? Is there something important over there? I thought it was just an ancient gate?"

  "It’s a strategic location to defend Luo Yang from invaders, my lord . Also, we should gather our reserve troops from the west in Hongnong, so we can have an exit plan if Yuan Shu of Wan were to try anything funny down south . "

  "Why should they do that? Once I’m the Emperor! They are the one that has to bow to me, or their nine generations will be traitors . "

  Li Ru’s corner of his mouth twitched, "My lord, being prepared won’t hurt us . It might be annoying to you, but for your subordinates, it’s a necessary procedure . "

  Li Ru gave up trying to explain his reasons to Dong Zhuo . His lord’s temperament was as terrible as a teenager in puberty . His skills and leadership might be useful when he was at the border as he was a cunning general, but his ability to foresee the future was limited .

  Explaining to this narrow-minded fatso would be a waste of time .

  Dong Zhuo’s reputation was terrible to begin with after the deeds in Henei . From today onward, everyone would deem Dong Zhuo as a traitor or a rebel, which had to be eradicated .

  Dong Zhuo’s status was now similar to Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong, and they were at risk of being preyed by the neighbor lords!

  ’I should have chosen to serve a different lord . This idiot fatty is too lusty to the point that he doesn’t care about the future . If it weren’t because of his generous wage, I would have quit a long time ago . ’

  "My lord, can you give me your command tokens? There are too many things that I have to do in our new city . It will waste your precious time if I keep bothering you every time if I need to do something . "

  Dong Zhuo nodded, "Right, I’ll get annoyed if that happens . Here, take all the tokens and do what you want . Make sure you take the female slaves from our home here . I’ll go scout for a good maid in the palace to bed me tonight!"

  Speechless, Li Ru took all command tokens and left .