Zhang Heng was searching the whole city for spies at this time. The Han army that raided the camp last night was well prepared, and someone must have leaked the news. He was almost captured by Zhang Fei again, and he still feels scared when he thinks about it.
Just when he was furious, Wang Shuang came to report that all the captives had been released, and dozens of them were from Liang Xing's army, who had escaped back to the camp among the captives.
Zhang Heng was puzzled and immediately called several captains to question them. He saw that their faces were flushed and some even smelled of alcohol.
These people were Zhang Heng's old subordinates who had followed him for many years. They blamed him for concealing military intelligence, causing them to have a false alarm and being disloyal.
Zhang Heng was in a state of confusion and asked carefully. After hearing this, he shouted, "Liu Qi is trying to harm me!"
Several captains were still laughing at Zhang Heng's acting, thinking that it was selfish not to share the credit with his brothers.
Zhang Heng was furious and drove them away. He was about to send someone to the tent to explain everything, but Wang Shuang pulled him aside and whispered, "Many of Liang Xing's men just returned to the camp. I'm afraid he has already become suspicious."
Zhang Heng was so angry that his face turned blue. He cursed Liu Qi for being despicable, but he could do nothing about it.
All his subordinates were released, and Liang Xing's troops were detained. Now he can't explain himself even if he has a mouth full of words.
Wang Shuangyan said, "Now that things have come to this, I see that none of the generals have any intention of objecting. Why don't you just go all out and join Liu Qi and kill Liang Xing to gain merit?"
"Liang Xing and I have a deep friendship, how can I betray him?" Zhang Heng gritted his teeth, unable to make a decision.
At this time, Liang Xing outside the city was furious, cursing Zhang Heng for being treacherous and had already surrendered to Liu Qi and wanted to harm him and the candidates.
While he was cursing, suddenly several of his trusted men escaped back from the camp and said that Liu Qi had persuaded them to surrender, saying that Liang Xing and Hou Xuan would definitely be defeated.
"How cruel Zhang Heng is!" Liang Xing had no doubts anymore and decided to raise an army to take revenge.
The deputy general hurriedly advised: "Zhang Heng has surrendered to Liu Qi. If we attack the city now, if Liu Qi attacks us, we will surely be defeated."
Liang Xing gnashed his teeth and said, "If I don't avenge this, I will not be a human being!"
The deputy general said, "It is not difficult to take revenge. Since Zhang Heng wants to make a contribution, he will come again. It is better to pretend that he does not know about it and invite him to come again to discuss the strategy of fighting the enemy. Then we can trick him out of the city and kill him."
"Hongmen Banquet?" Liang Xing's eyes lit up and he immediately sent someone into the city to invite Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng felt ashamed upon hearing the news and sighed, "I didn't expect Brother Liang to trust me so much. I will go right away."
As he was ordering his men to prepare their horses, Wang Shuang advised, "Since someone has returned to the camp to report the news, but Liang Xing has not mentioned a word about it, I'm afraid there must be something fishy going on."
Zhang Heng frowned and said, "General Liang and I are close friends. What's wrong with seeing through Liu Qi's plan to sow discord?"
Wang Shuangyan said: "In this case, why not invite Liang Xing into the city to discuss matters? If he dares to come, it means he trusts his adoptive father. If he doesn't dare to come, he must have some evil plan."
Zhang Heng was also worried about Liang Xing's revenge at this time, so he replied to the messenger and told Liang Xing that a banquet had already been set up in the city and invited Liang Xing to come in to discuss matters.
When the messenger returned to the camp, Liang Xing thought that Zhang Heng was also holding a Hongmen Feast, and angrily shouted, "Zhang Heng, you bastard, you actually want to kill me! How can this be possible!"
The deputy general's face turned pale: "It seems that Zhang Heng has indeed surrendered to Liu Qi. It is already dark now and we cannot retreat. If they send out troops overnight and attack us from both inside and outside, wouldn't that be..."
"Ah, this..." Liang Xing was shocked, and immediately a cold sweat broke out on his back. He could no longer care about cursing and asked anxiously, "What should I do?"
The deputy general hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Zhang Heng surrendered to Liu Qi, so why can't we surrender? Han Sui has not been able to defeat Ma Chao, and has lost his son-in-law Yan Xing. I think Ma Chao will strike back for revenge sooner or later. With Liu Qi's help, Han Sui will surely be defeated. If we don't want to be retaliated by Ma Chao, we have to surrender to Liu Qi first."
Liang Xing narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment and asked, "Will Liu Qi accept us?"
The deputy general said, "General, have you forgotten what the man who escaped just now said? The brothers in front have stayed in the Han camp."
Liang Xing gritted his teeth and said, "That Zhang Heng tricked me. When will I be able to take revenge?"
The deputy general stamped his feet and said, "Zhang Heng first persuaded us to surrender. He has already thought of our old friendship. We have no choice but to do this. If we hesitate any longer, they will send troops from two directions and we will definitely be defeated. It is important to save our lives first. It will be too late if we delay!"
"That makes sense!" Liang Xing's face was gloomy, and he sighed, "It seems that Zhang Heng's knowledge is far better than mine."
He immediately sent people to Liu Qi's camp to ask for surrender, fearing that he would be one step too late and be attacked from two directions, and it would be too late to regret.
Zhang Heng waited on the city wall for a full hour, but saw that the camp outside the city was brightly lit, but there was no movement. Liang Xing neither entered the city nor replied.
"Liang Xing has not been heard from, so he must have been suspicious!" Wang Shuang frowned and suddenly exclaimed: "Could it be..."
Zhang Heng asked, "What's the matter?"
Wang Shuang took a deep breath and asked, "Could it be that Liang Xing had already surrendered to Liu Qi?"
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!" Zhang Heng shook his head and said, "Liang Xing wanted to surrender to Liu Qi, and he would have listened to my advice a long time ago. Why bother doing this?"
Wang Shuang said, "How can voluntary surrender be compared with my adoptive father's persuasion to surrender? Liang Xing was afraid that my adoptive father would take all the credit, so he deliberately made us enemies with Liu Qi and surrendered first. In the past two days, he seemed to be sending troops, but in fact he had already secretly contacted us and said bad things about my adoptive father. He raided the camp last night to deliberately lure us out of the city so that Liu Qi could take action."
"Hiss—" Zhang Heng sucked in a breath of cold air. Thinking of everything that had happened before, he suddenly felt a chill on his back. He said in a deep voice: "Liang Xing is a bastard. I treated him with my sincerity, but he actually wanted to ruin my merit. How can I let him go?"
Just as they were about to send out the order to charge out of the city, Wang Shuang said, "Liang Xing has surrendered to Liu Qi. If we send out troops now, won't we be making an enemy of Liu Qi? We just invited him into the city, so he must be suspicious. I'm afraid the camp has already made preparations."
Zhang Heng said anxiously: "The candidates have not arrived yet, what should we do?"
Wang Shuang then advised: "Lintao has become an isolated city now. Liu Qi released our people. Although he did it on purpose, it also shows his willingness to accept us. The soldiers in the city also consider themselves as Han soldiers. Why not follow the trend?"
Zhang Heng sighed, "I wanted to surrender, but Liang Xing plotted against me. Now that things have come to this, I have no choice."
Wang Shuang was overjoyed and clasped his fists, saying, "There is no time to lose. I am willing to go to see Liu Qi tonight and express my intention to surrender, so as to avoid Liang Xing taking the first place."
Zhang Heng said with emotion: "It was a gift from heaven that I was able to meet you back then. How lucky I am!"
Wang Shuang took the order to leave the city and finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to fight. Not only did he save Zhang Heng's life, but he could also be a colleague with his idol Ma Chao. He felt much more relaxed.
After releasing the captives, Liu Qi ordered a banquet to be held in the camp to celebrate the victory, which lasted until late at night. After all the generals had a great time, he sat alone in the tent, reading by lamplight.
Zhang Fei was also in high spirits. Seeing the lights on in the tent, he came in and asked, "Sir, why don't you go to bed early?"
Liu Qi smiled and said, "Third Uncle, you've arrived just in time. The person you're waiting for will be here soon."
"Who am I waiting for?" Zhang Fei was stunned, and suddenly asked in surprise: "Sir, are you saying that Wang Shuang is coming?"
Liu Qi smiled confidently: "Not bad!"
"Hahaha, this kid finally got it!" Zhang Fei was overjoyed. He carried the jar of wine into the tent, and the two of them chatted by candlelight.
At three o'clock in the morning, the guards came to report that someone really wanted to see him. Zhang Fei laughed and went out to greet him: "You finally... Hey, you are not Wang Shuang?"
Liu Qi heard something wrong with the voice, and when he looked up, Zhang Fei poked his hairy head in and burped: "Sir, you lied to a drunk man like me, is that okay?"