Cui Yan still agreed to surrender, and very conscientiously began helping Gan Ning persuade the local commandery soldiers to surrender and stabilize the situation within the city. Seeing that even Cui Yan had surrendered, Cheng Ping and the others, who had been forcibly escorted there by Gan Ning, obediently settled down as well.
Gan Ning also trusted Cui Yan considerably more. Although the Cui Clan of Qinghe had yet to reach its peak, it was still a prestigious and influential clan. Gan Ning was not afraid of Cui Yan making any trouble—unless he wanted to drag the entire Cui Clan down with him.
Since Cui Yan was cooperating, Gan Ning did not mind revealing a little more information. The more Cui Yan learned, the more he felt that Liu Bei had hidden himself far too deeply.
Regardless of what Cui Yan thought, Gan Ning was feeling rather miserable from having too little to do on one hand, while on the other, he felt that he had too few troops!
With only ten thousand soldiers under his command, his central breakthrough had been beautifully executed. Now, he had clearly seized the entire Hejian Commandery at the fastest possible speed, while the surrounding commanderies and counties remained completely unaware. Yet he lacked the manpower to expand his gains further, and Gan Ning was practically itching with frustration.
A greater achievement was right before his eyes, but he could do nothing about it. Only four days had passed since the agreed-upon date for sending out troops. The other forces might have only just entered combat. How to expand his gains further had become the greatest problem before Gan Ning.
By the sixth day, Zhou Tai had also taken Zhongshui City. At this point, all nine counties of Hejian Commandery in the plan had