HCT – Chapter 245 Lord of Changping Summons the Rain

Lian Po had already made thorough preparations.

The King of Wei had only three possible choices: surrender, flee, or hold the city. Once the number of soldiers atop the walls decreased, it meant the king was left with only two options—surrender or escape.

If the King of Wei chose to surrender, Lian Po didn’t need to do anything at all. Therefore, all his preparations focused on dealing with the king’s attempt to flee.

It was nearly impossible for Wei troops to break out directly through the Qin encirclement. With Lian Po’s many years of battlefield experience, he was certain the King of Wei would drive a huge crowd of civilians ahead as shields, then blend into the masses to escape.

Having guessed the king’s plan, Lian Po ordered the Qin army: if the city gates opened, they were not to attack the Wei people unless someone approached their battle lines. They were to let them flee.

He then set ambushes along the main roads leading out from Daliang to other cities. There was no need to distinguish identities—just seize anyone dressed in luxury or carrying baggage.

To Lian Po, the King of Wei himself was utterly beneath notice. Even if the king escaped, it didn’t matter. His decapitation strategy was aimed solely at toppling the capital of Wei. Once Daliang fell, not only would Wei’s morale collapse, but there would also be no more fortified cities capable of stopping Qin’s advance. Every subsequent battle would be easy.

He even thought that letting the Wei king run around in panic might make the destruction of Wei happen even faster.

Since Zhu Xiang had said he could handle it, Lian Po brought him along to watch this entire “farce.”

Zhu Xiang gripped the reins tightly, the leather cutting red marks into his palms. He said nothing as he watched the tragedy the King of Wei inflicted upon his own people. His thoughts churned, then gradually sank into a deep, still calm.

After the gates of Daliang opened, some Wei scholars and their families surrendered to Qin.

From them, Zhu Xiang learned what had happened in the Wei court.

The King of Wei might have wanted to surrender. But that loyal official who chose to die for his country had forced the king into a corner, making it impossible for him to utter a word of submission.

As for surrendering for the sake of the common people—that concept didn’t exist among nobles of this era.

Besides, if the King of Wei truly wished for such fame, he should have hanged himself from the beam, then ordered his ministers to open the gates and surrender, begging the Qin army to spare every citizen in Daliang.

Had he done that, even if Wei perished, it would have become a ticking time bomb within Qin.

Unfortunately, he lacked such awareness. And even if he had it, he likely wouldn’t have had the courage.

Zhu Xiang thought of Sima Shang, the defender of Yanmen Commandery.

“Almost time,” Lian Po said coolly. “Sound the war drums.”

The Qin drums thundered. The panicked Wei people instantly turned back, surging into Daliang once more.

As the crowd reversed direction, many were trampled or crushed into the moat and drowned.

Meanwhile, many guards and private soldiers of the nobles had not yet left the city. The fleeing masses collided with them, blocking their escape routes.

The nobles, hearing the Qin drums, grew frantic. They ordered their retainers and guards to cut down the Wei civilians blocking their way.

The Qin army did not move even after the drums sounded. They simply watched coldly as the Wei people slaughtered one another.

By the time Lian Po ordered the Qin troops to advance and clean up, corpses already covered the ground at the city gate, as if a great battle had taken place.

The Qin army had not lost a single soldier—every casualty was due to Wei-on-Wei bloodshed.

Lian Po looked at Zhu Xiang with a strange expression. “Is your luck… unusual?”

Zhu Xiang’s heart had been heavy, but now he blinked in confusion. “Why?”

Lian Po withdrew his gaze. “Perhaps it’s not your luck that’s strange. Perhaps it’s Qin’s luck.”

Zhu Xiang was even more bewildered. “What do you mean?”

Lian Po replied, “I’ve fought battles all my life, but what happened at Xinzheng and now at Daliang… These are things I’ve never seen before.”

“…”

Zhu Xiang’s expression also turned complicated.

Though the actions of the kings of Han and Wei were common in China’s long history, for Lord Lian, they were indeed astonishing. After all, the Warring States was still an era that prized courage and honor.

Unfortunately, courage mostly lived in the shi class. The kings of the Warring States were not shi.

With Zhu Xiang present, Lian Po couldn’t be bothered to handle the complicated work of pacifying the populace.

Seeing the banner of the Lord of Changping and hearing his name, the terrified Wei people gradually stopped resisting, nervously selecting respected individuals to help the Qin army restore order in Daliang.

Their first task: put out the fires.

When the King of Wei fled Daliang, he had set fires to the palace and major granaries. To create more chaos and slow the Qin army, he had torched the households along the streets as he escaped.

Daliang had become a sea of flames.

When the King of Wei looked back, his face twisted with malice. He hoped that even if Qin captured Daliang, they would gain nothing—and perhaps the fire might even kill some Qin soldiers.

But to their utter surprise, before they had gone very far…

The dark, heavy sky suddenly began to rain.

Even with pursuers behind him, the King of Wei couldn’t help but pull on his reins, stunned into stopping.

“Why? Why is this happening?” The King of Wei looked utterly desolate. “Has Heaven chosen to favor the Qin?!”

Someone collapsed to their knees, pressing their forehead firmly against the rapidly dampening earth. “It’s Lord Changping… it must be Lord Changping! Lord Changping summoned the rain!”

Many people showed an expression of sudden realization.

“Go! While it’s raining, hurry and flee!” Someone, caring nothing about the fate of Daliang, urged everyone to run for their lives.

With the rain lowering visibility, it was the perfect chance to escape.

Only now did the King of Wei snap his whip and flee in haste together with those disguised as soldiers.

Inside Daliang, the rain fell harder and harder.

The sky had been heavy with dark clouds for days. Lian Po had been waiting for a single rainfall—once it arrived, he would be able to flood the entire city of Daliang.

Now that Daliang was on fire, the ash rose with the heat, providing abundant condensation nuclei in the thick clouds above. The long-brewing rain began to pour immediately.

When fire met rain, steam and smoke surged skyward, and the scattered drizzle instantly turned into a downpour. The flames were immediately suppressed.

Lian Po’s eyes darted, and he roared, “It was Lord Changping who summoned the rain and saved the city of Daliang!”

Zhu Xiang had just exhaled in relief as he looked up at the sky. Lian Po’s bellow—loud enough to frighten timid enemies clean off their horses—nearly ruptured his eardrums.

Right after Lian Po’s shout, the Qin army burst into cries of “Lord Changping!” and “Lord Zhu Xiang!”

Many Wei people also echoed the cries.

Numerous civilians turned toward Zhu Xiang. They knelt in the muddy water and kowtowed over and over, smashing their foreheads open until blood mixed with the rain.

If Daliang burned to the ground, they would all become refugees. Generations of their family wealth would be reduced to ashes.

Even if Qin allowed them to settle, they would inevitably become the lowest of the low.

But Lord Changping had summoned a downpour and extinguished the flames—they were saved!

Zhu Xiang opened his mouth, hesitated, and finally let out a long sigh. He didn’t deny it.

He knew very well why this rain had come. Even if Lian Po didn’t understand the scientific mechanism, he knew it had nothing to do with Zhu Xiang—it was coincidence.

But this was not the time to dispel superstition.

Zhu Xiang was no longer as naïve as before, insisting on arguing right and wrong.

A little superstition attached to him now would quickly win the hearts of the Wei people, making it far easier to restore order. So he allowed the misunderstanding to stand.

Keeping a stern expression, he ordered the Qin soldiers to accelerate the firefighting efforts.

The palace had caught fire first, and oil and wine had been thrown on it. Even with heavy rain, the flames could not be extinguished immediately—manual firefighting was still required.

The first thing Zhu Xiang rushed to save was Wei’s imperial library and its records.

The King of Wei had fled in such haste that he carried off only gold, silver, valuables, and seals. All the books and household registers remained in the palace.

Those who set the fires had avoided burning these areas. Whether they hoped to return one day and still use these archives, or were scholars themselves unwilling to destroy books, was unclear.

Their mercy allowed Zhu Xiang to rescue Wei’s books and population records.

Zhu Xiang sealed away the books and archives, taking nothing else for himself. All other recovered valuables he handed to Lian Po as rewards for the army.

Such substantial rewards were absolutely necessary to prevent the Qin soldiers from plundering the city.

They were not only rewarded with wealth—there were also people among the spoils.

Even if Lian Po ordered “Do not disturb the civilians,” it was impossible to enforce completely. Armies of this era simply did not maintain such strict discipline. If Lian Po forced it too harshly, mutiny was possible.

Soldiers were like bandits; wherever they passed, the people suffered.

All Lian Po could do was restrain them as much as possible.

Hearing the cries echoing throughout Daliang, Zhu Xiang rubbed his ear, then stepped into an undamaged government office to use as a temporary residence. He began sorting through the population archives.

With these documents, he could quickly stabilize the order of Daliang—and eventually all of Wei.

After King Zheng of Qin learned that Daliang had fallen, he sent many young scholars from Xianyang Academy.

These students would receive training from Zhu Xiang and become local officials in Wei, replacing the native Wei aristocracy.

But it wasn’t a simple “replacement.” King Zheng had specifically chosen students of Wei descent and also publicly recruited lower-class scholars with ties to Wei.

To make the Wei people submit quickly, using their own people as officials was the best approach.

Zhu Xiang had once mentioned the principle of “governing outside one’s hometown,” but after consideration, King Zheng believed it unsuitable for the current circumstances.

On the contrary, he intended to appoint locals, using their social networks to replace the old Six States nobility. These new local elites, eager to secure their newfound positions, would tightly align with Qin and suppress the former nobles.

Once they became the new local powers, the influence of the old aristocracy would vanish.

As for the problem of local magnates becoming uncontrollable—well, that could be dealt with later.

There were no perfect solutions in governance.

If drinking poison could stave off thirst long enough to find a cure—why not?

Zhu Xiang could already foresee that future generations would face powerful regional elites capable of influencing the central court.

But he also knew that King Zheng had foreseen the same.

So he raised no objections.

As expected, the Wei-born scholars from Qin worked enthusiastically to help reorganize Wei’s political structure and quickly gained the trust of the locals.

Although all seven kingdoms still used the Zhou court’s formal language officially, the spoken dialects among civilians differed widely.

Faced with an official whose speech they couldn’t understand, the Wei people naturally preferred one who spoke their dialect.

With Zhu Xiang’s newfound prestige and local scholars rebuilding the bureaucracy, order in Daliang stabilized quickly.

Zhu Xiang then rode to the other cities Lian Po had taken, rebuilding order in each one and assigning officials accordingly.

By the time Lian Po finally captured the King of Wei, Zhu Xiang was already supervising preparations for spring planting.