Dragon's Soul Chapter 85: White Crane

This man controlled nearly fifty percent of the city's rice and salt trade in his hands and was the owner of a very large trading company called the White Crane Trading Company that did business all over the province. If Aurora was able to obtain his support, then running Twilight City would be a breeze because as one of the richest men in the province Mi Zhu certainly would have many connections throughout the province and by obtaining his support they would in turn again those connections. Then to top things off the Aurora Army needed military provisions to continue their invasion and this man could supply them with what they needed.

Certainly Sima Yi was not short sighted and forget to have his men bring lots of provisions but if he were able to secure a steady supply line then even if the campaign dragged on would be able to feed his armies. If he requested supplies from Aurora, there was a possibility that the supplies could be intercepted or would take too long to arrive but if he obtained the support of the merchants of the Heavenly Sword Province then there was no need to worry about food and supplies.

Upon arriving at the front of a large pair of sturdy wooden gates decorated with gold in the form of a beautiful looking crane. Seeing his arrival Sima Yi's soldiers who had surrounded the mansion saluted and proceeded to open the mansion gates.

"My lord, mister Mi Zhu has been instructed to wait for your arrival in the main hall." A soldier said while saluting Sima Yi.

"Lead the way." Sima Yi said excitedly.

"Hopefully this man isn't an imbecile, I'm tired of having to negotiate to imbeciles…" Sima Yi thought with a sigh. He truly loathed having to negotiate or strike deals because of how often fools reject his proposals due to their idiocrasy. In one particular village that he and his men took over there were many fools spouting nonsense about how the soldiers of Aurora were going to slaughter them all if they surrendered thus a large portion of its populace, consisting of farmers and the like took up arms. Thankfully all they had were simply farming equipment and no real weapons or else the repercussions would have been disastrous.

Only after quelling the rebellion, detaining everyone involved, and then executing the one who had spread the nonsense was Sima Yi and the Aurora Army able to continue their invasion.

With a contract signed Mi Zhu

"It appears not everyone is an imbecile." He chuckled as he headed back to Four Seasons Inn to rest for the night before heading out tomorrow to meet the other wealthy and elite of Twilight City.

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After concluding his business in Twilight City and establishing a supply line Sima Yi's invasion of the Heavenly Sword Province proceeded as swift as a raging river, every obstacle in his path was crushed and every village and city was taken over. With a more direct supply line in the Heavenly Sword Province Sima Yi no longer feared that his men would go hungry if their supplies from Aurora were cut off thus his attacks against the Heavenly Sword Province became many times more aggressive.

Currently the forces of Aurora had Heavenly Sword City surrounded from all sides and were making preparations to take over the city. Once Heavenly Sword City was taken the remaining thirty percent of the province would automatically fall under Aurora's rule and with only a roughly twenty thousand soldiers there was little hope of repelling Sima Yi's forces. Most of these twenty thousand men were conscripted and forced to join their lords final stand, this meant that most of them had no actual combat experiences or were even properly trained.

While the last of the Heavenly Sword Army stood atop the walls they witnessed thousands of soldiers clad in black or white armor below. Despite having arrived for many days these soldiers did not begin attacking the city but rather all they did was march to the front of the city every day. Of course they stood out of the range that any archer could shoot so they were perfectly safe but they did not show a signs of attacking the city.

Sima Yi's forces had simply surround Heavenly Sword City and cut off all access to it. Sima Yi even had his men set up a makeshift dam to block all of the water that traveled into the city by river. His goal was to make the city exhaust its supply of water and after a few days it would be ready for the taking.

Unlike the Beast's Gorge where water and food was abundant, a city had a set amount of provisions and once that was gone there was no way of obtaining more with the blockade outside.

"My lord a correspondence has arrived from Aurora." A soldier said peeking his head in through the tent's curtain.

"Bring it here." Sima Yi said while placing his book down on his desk. A few short moments later a letter was in Sima Yi's hands.

The letter basically thanked Sima Yi for his service to Aurora and that he would be awarded for heavily upon his return to Aurora. It stated for him not to worry about the soldiers that had fled from Aurora because after receiving word of what Sima Yi was doing Zhang personally set off to keep those fleeing soldiers to pursue those fleeing soldiers. These men will most likely never make it back alive with Zhang, Gan Ning and Lu Xun on their tails.

It also asked him to return to Aurora as soon as possible because in six months Zhang and the four beauties will be getting married and they wished for him to attend their wedding. It would be a huge event with many dignitaries attending and they a very important announcement will be made so all officers of Aurora should be present.

In the provincial lord's mansion an elderly man was sitting in a large hall filled with people. Dressed in golden robes with a small crown atop his head of grey hair from his clothing and the crown alone one could tell that this elderly man was definitely the lord of the Heavenly Sword Province.

"Lord Yuan Shao what should we do the entire city has been surrounded and the men we sent to Aurora are nowhere to be seen and those that went to the Green Clover Province never returned either. We still haven't received word from General Zhuge Dan nor General Chao Chang either." A middle aged man dressed in red robes said, one can tell that this man was most likely a minister of sorts.

"On top of that our provisions are running low, we have at most enough food to feed the entire city for another four months and after that we will all die from starvation and that is to say we can make it without water because the Xunsu River has been dammed and no water is flowing into the city." Another middle aged man said.

"If we stopped giving food to those peasants then we can last for a year or two!" A third man with a balding head dressed in brown robes said.

"I believe we should rather the riches of the city and then surrender. They said that if we surrender we may leave if we please. With all of the wealth of the capital we can go to another province and acquire large armies then come back and reclaim our land or we bid our time and take control of a few other provinces and when we are strong enough wipe out Aurora." A young man in golden robes said with a sly look on his face.

"Yuan Shang you're telling me to give up the land that our ancestors fought and died for?" Yuan Shao said while looking at his son.

"Only for the time being father, man takes revenge, ten years is not too late; one should bide one's time and wait for the right opportunity to seek vengeance." Yuan Shang said proudly.

After some thought Yuan Shao began giving orders for as much wealth as possible to be gathered in the provincial lord's mansion. He would then store all of it into his interspatial ring, once this was done then they would open the city gates and surrender. As an act of kindness he did not take the possessions of the common folk of the city but had the province's treasury emptied along with the wealth of many of his ministers.

A day after Sima Yi's messenger was sent white flags could be seen hung atop Heavenly Sword City while the city gates were wide open. The Heavenly Sword Province had officially declared their surrender to the Aurora Province and this marked the end of the bloodshed and war between the two, well at least for now.

Well hello there >_> <_< I'm back >:D hehehehe also Mi Yang one of my favorite chinese actresses <3

Chapter end