The morning after killing Li Tingwen, before anyone noticed the head hanging at the city gate, Zhang Xing had Xu Dalang escort the Bai woman and her party across the river, including the maidservants washing clothes in the side courtyard... He certainly did not dare let Jia Yue's lot take them over, and even transferred those men elsewhere first... All he could say was that, fortunately, they had agreed on this beforehand, and not much time had passed.
After Bai Erniang entered the camp across the river, Guan Xu, the former magistrate of Puyang and now a right-wing leader of the Exorcising the Dragon Gang and deputy branch master of Puyang, also successfully entered the besieged city of Chanyuan, where he explained matters to Niu Da and the local rebels.
By afternoon, Meng Shangong, the commandant of Ji Commandery, had gone inside to "accept their surrender."
But things did not go entirely smoothly-some of the local rebels who had taken Chanyuan and contacted the Exorcising the Dragon Gang voiced fierce dissatisfaction and anger. They were not all from Chanyuan; a substantial number were fighting men from elsewhere in Ji Commandery, and even neighboring Wuyang Commandery. Their ultimate goal was to sweep back to their hometowns!
Niu Da, who had endured nearly a month of intermittent siege alongside these men, felt rather embarrassed and ashamed, and fumbled his response.
Guan Xu, the old bureaucrat, remained composed and handled matters appropriately. He volunteered that everyone was free to stay or leave, and that those leaving would receive money, grain, and weapons. He also guaranteed that they could return to Chanyuan for shelter whenever necessary, and that their contributions in delivering and defending the city would be remembered in the ledgers and... er, in Dragonhead Zhang's heart.
Only then was the matter more