The Unyielding Ruler and His Ministers of Lancang

"Left Chancellor of Lan Xang, Li Chajia, pays respects to Commandery Duke Gao of the Great Qian."

"Enough, enough. We are in the military, so there aren't that many rules here. Tell me, why did you run over here in the middle of the night?"

"Our sovereign wishes to... wishes to discuss the matter of surrender with Commandery Duke Gao. What do you think..."

"Easily done, easily done. Since you wish to surrender, I naturally welcome it with open arms. Come, come, honored envoy, please sit. Someone, serve tea!"

Gao Yuan's smiling appearance made Li Chajia feel uneasy; he couldn't help but feel that if he drank this tea, he would be selling out his country completely.

"Speaking of which, I am an old friend of your sovereign. I wonder which day he plans to open the city gates and surrender, so I can prepare accordingly!"

Li Chajia choked on a mouthful of tea, nearly spitting it out. He managed to swallow it with difficulty before speaking timidly:

"Well... Commandery Duke Gao, before surrendering, our sovereign still has some small requests..."

Gao Yuan revealed an 'as expected' expression and gestured for Li Chajia to speak.

"Our sovereign says he hopes to be enfeoffed by the Great Qian as the King of Lan Xang, with Vientiane City, Location, Location, Chaiyaphum, Location, and Location as his fiefdom, to forever guard the Southwest frontier for the Great Qian. We can offer tribute every year and pay homage annually..."

Gao Yuan's eyelids twitched, and he directly interrupted Li Chajia.

"Enough, enough. Your sovereign doesn't look like much, but his imagination is quite beautiful. 'Forever guard the frontier,' indeed. Go back and tell Khon Kham that I have three conditions."

"Please enlighten me, Commandery Duke."

Gao Yuan held up three fingers.

"First, he must surrender all power and go to Luoyang to pay respects to the Emperor of the Great Qian and accept the enfeoffment;

Second, all troops must march out of the city to be received and reorganized by our army;

Third, all Lan Xang nobles must surrender their land and population, and relocate inland."

"This... these conditions are likely..."

"You may choose not to accept. Once we storm Vientiane City, you will be treated as prisoners. If you surrender now, I can still guarantee that you will be able to live as wealthy, idle people in the future."

Li Chajia truly felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. After struggling for a long time, he finally squeezed out a sentence:

"This matter is of great importance. I... I must return to consult with our sovereign."

"Very well, I will give you ten days to consider. When my army finishes receiving Location and other places and returns, you will have no more opportunities."

"I will remember that. Farewell!"

Li Chajia could be said to have fled in a panic. He couldn't understand why, when facing Gao Yuan's soft and handsome face, he felt an oppressive sensation that made it hard to breathe.

Upon returning to Vientiane City and recounting Gao Yuan's conditions, the Lan Xang nobles were in an uproar.

"Impossible! If we surrender our land and slaves, how will we live in the future?"

"Exactly! And they want us to relocate inland? I am old; I cannot walk that far!"

"Sovereign, we still have some manpower in our hands. We can scrape together five or six thousand troops and fight him to the death."

"Right! As the Han people say, this is called 'better to be broken jade than a whole tile.'"

Khon Kham listened to Gao Yuan's conditions and looked at the indignant crowd; his heart began to waver.

His gaze swept across the crowd, and seeing Li Chajia sitting there without a word, Khon Kham asked:

"Why is the Left Chancellor silent?"

Seeing that he had been called upon, Li Chajia had no choice but to bite the bullet and express his thoughts:

"Based on what I saw during my trip to the Qian Army camp, the winning chance for our Lan Xang Imperial Guards against the Qian Army should be less than twenty percent."

"Li Chajia, why do you boost others' morale and extinguish your own prestige? Our Lan Xang Imperial Guards..."

Li Chajia ignored the person questioning him and continued:

"The entire Qian Army is covered in iron lamellar armor, and every soldier is tall and sturdy, far superior to the Imperial Guards. Furthermore, everyone, do not forget that Vientiane City has less than three months of food supplies left."

"Then we shall defend for three months. Who knows, maybe the situation will change?"

"Are you prepared to let Vientiane City be filled with corpses from starvation?"

Both sides no longer cared about their image; they started arguing directly in the main hall, faces red and necks thick, nearly coming to blows.

Khon Kham rubbed his buzzing head and waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, but unfortunately, no one paid him any mind.

When everyone finally grew tired of arguing, Khon Kham finally had the chance to speak:

"In my view, let it be this way. Li Chajia, you go out of the city one more time and talk to Gao Yuan. We can accept some of the conditions, but we hope he can exchange some land for us in the Great Qian. We also hope to take all our wealth with us, and furthermore, we hope to bring some guards to ensure our safety."

A nice thought, but unfortunately, Gao Yuan's reply was just two words: "Not possible."

Where would he find the spare money to buy land for these people in the Great Qian? And bringing guards—wasn't this just wanting to retain some military power?

The Great Qian would face turmoil in a few years. Who knew if these people would stir up trouble in the heartland of the Great Qian? He would absolutely not bury such a hidden danger for his own people.

In the original timeline, the Western Jin accepted large numbers of ethnic minorities to relocate inland but did not disperse them, eventually becoming one of the triggers for the Uprising of the Five Barbarians.

As expected, after Li Chajia returned to the city, there was another uproar, and it was impossible to form a unified opinion.

At the end of August, the Nanzhou Army, excluding the Second Division and Third Division, marched south to fight under the command of Wen Pin.

Having lost their main forces, Location and Location were unable to resist. In just half a month, both places were pacified, except for the garrison commander of Chaiyaphum, who directly surrendered to the Khmer.

The Khmer dispatched twenty thousand troops to station in Chaiyaphum and engaged in a standoff with the Nanzhou Army. Wen Pin did not dare to start a war without authorization and sent someone to fly a report to consult Gao Yuan.

"Heh, the Khmer actually want to come and pick the peaches? They think too highly of themselves!"

Gao Yuan sneered after reading the battle report and looked at Liu Rengui beside him.

"Zhengze, what is your opinion?"

"This humble general believes we must give the Khmer a heavy lesson, otherwise they will think we are weak and easy to bully."

"Pass the order: Xia Luqi is to lead the Third Division south. Tell Wen Zhongye that we can forgo the territory, but the population and warehouses must be emptied out for me. As for the Khmer army, since they are seeking death, I don't mind having a few more prisoners."

"My Lord, the Third Division has marched south. With only the Second Division left here in Vientiane City, will it..."

"No matter. I am hoping that Khon Kham will come out of the city and fight me!"

The Second Division was a proper army possessed by the martial soul of the Wei Wu Soldiers; after being equipped with iron armor, their combat power soared.

The four or five thousand troops in Vientiane City were not even enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.

Liu Rengui hesitated for a moment, then looked at Gao Yuan's confident expression; after evaluating it in his heart, he went to execute the order.

Gao Yuan's movements were naturally discovered by the people in the city. Taking advantage of the less tight encirclement, the Lan Xang monarch and ministers immediately sent people out of the city to investigate what had happened.

The news of the Khmer dispatching troops truly shocked and delighted the Lan Xang monarch and ministers.

To be backstabbed by an ally again made them very sad, but the Khmer's military dispatch had dispersed Gao Yuan's forces, which gave them hope once again.

"Great King, now that Gao Yuan only has three or four thousand troops left here, why don't we send troops out of the city for a desperate fight? As long as we can capture Gao Yuan alive..."

"That's right! As long as we can capture Gao Yuan alive, we can not only resolve the crisis of Vientiane City but also take the opportunity to recover our lost territory."

"Right! As long as we can retake Luang Namtha, the initiative will be in our hands from then on."

The temptation was too great. Khon Kham admitted that he was tempted, especially after confirming that Gao Yuan only had twenty-five hundred men by his side; he felt that he was capable again.

On the tenth day of the ninth month in the second year of the era name Daye of the Great Qian, the last of the Lan Xang army—the Lan Xang Imperial Guards combined with the noble private soldiers, totaling over five thousand three hundred men—marched out of Vientiane City, prepared for a final life-or-death battle with the Nanzhou Army.