Chapter 98: My Dearest part 1
The night had already grown deep.
The military meeting was finally coming to a close with Ying Xi’s summary.
Numerous pairs of eyes were fixed upon the Emperor. The generals were eager for the Emperor’s choice, and naturally, they hoped even more that he would adopt their own suggestions.
“Your Majesty?”
The generals called out.
Ying Xi was hurriedly skimming through the CEO novels. To him, the business world was like a battlefield. He ignored the steamy scenes; the books the Sweet System liked were actually quite interesting.
He sensed everyone looking at him and closed the CEO novel, pulling his thoughts back. His voice was clear and bright as he spoke: “Every general has a point. I will not limit how you attack the city; however, I am unwilling to see the common people suffer.”
“If the citizens in the city fight the Imperial Court out of desperation, even if we take Xindu, we would have to spend a massive amount of resources to rebuild it.”
“But in reality, Li Yilong’s hold on the people’s hearts has already crumbled.”
Ying Xi continued, “I want him to dissolve from the inside out.”
The Emperor surely had a countermeasure in mind.
The generals bowed their heads to listen to the decree.
Ying Xi said, “I will not hold any rebel soldiers accountable. If there are those who surrender, I will instead distribute land to them.”
“The estates in Yangzhou have long been usurped by Li Yilong. He has distributed plenty of good land to his confidants and the families of his favored concubines.”
“He didn’t dare touch the existing fiefs, which is why he ‘pre-granted’ land that hasn’t been conquered yet. If he won’t give it, I will. We shall distribute the land of Yangzhou right now.”
The meaning behind these words wasn’t hard to grasp.
He was using land to entice the rebel soldiers and citizens to defect.
Lu Heyu asked, “But Your Majesty, the soldiers’ families are all still inside the city. How could they surrender?”
Lian Qing added, “Didn’t many of them die?”
“Yes,” Ying Xi said leisurely. “He caused the deaths of a group of generals’ families. Those people must hate the rebel Li to the bone. I only need to give them an opportunity, and they will turn their blades to seek revenge against him.”
Once the train of thought was opened, a general under his command suggested:
“This subordinate believes we can attack three city gates simultaneously, leaving the last gate for defense only—to accept those seeking amnesty.”
“After granting amnesty, they will disarm, surrender their weapons, and be given fertile land.”
“As long as someone actually receives land, the news will surely spread. The Imperial Court hasn’t lied; these are tangible benefits. It’s far better than the ‘big cakes’ the rebel Li pre-granted to the people!”
This was not “drawing a big cake” at all.
Ying Xi nodded slightly and issued the decree: “Then we shall proceed as such.”
The next day at Xindu, three gates were attacked simultaneously.
The generals responsible for each gate utilized every skill in their repertoire beneath the city walls to earn merit.
Since morning, the soldiers had been shouting frantically below the walls. Catapults were loaded with massive stones, bombarding the city towers with thunderous roars. Horses neighed, the wounded wailed, and the sounds of the siege echoed everywhere.
Only the main gate of Xindu was starkly different from the others.
At the main gate, the observation platform had been removed. The soldiers had retreated two or three miles back, forming a battle formation purely for defense rather than offense.
The rebels had originally concentrated heavy troops at the main gate, but seeing no movement from the Imperial Army, they couldn’t help but send out scouts, their hearts full of doubt.
To their surprise, the moment the scout team left the city, they were surrounded by the Jiangbei Army.
The rebels were prepared to die for their cause, but the Jiangbei soldiers instead politely invited them to the front of the formation to observe.
The scouts were completely bewildered and could only follow along. As they drew closer, they saw two red banners erected at the amnesty station outside the Jiangbei camp. Eight characters were written upon them in regular script: “Surrender is Blameless, Defection Earns Land.”
The scouts were greatly shocked, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down their faces. They replied that they would rather die than surrender, for their families were still in the city.
However, the Jiangbei Army didn’t force them at all. After introducing the amnesty policy, they politely sent the men back.
Thus, the news of the Jiangbei Army granting amnesty outside the city was brought into Xindu, gradually spreading far and wide.
Inside Xindu.
After Che Chengren fell in battle, pierced by ten thousand arrows, the rebel generals were struck by a wave of chilling fear.
They worried about their own families’ situations, but they were even more shocked that Che Chengren, who had achieved such great merit, had actually died at the hands of his own people.
Would Master Fan’s next target for slaughter be one of them?
Did the Lord still have any room in his heart for these brothers who had once fought bloody battles for him?
Was it still necessary to persist in this bitter struggle?
The convictions of the rebel generals had begun to waver.
Among the officers guarding the main gate was a Vice General named Chen Anlan. His family had been confined in Mingren Hall, and they were among those caught in the chaos that night, slaughtered by the Lord’s guards.
Now, Chen Anlan was utterly despondent. His original dream of reuniting with his wife and children and fighting for a piece of fertile land to live a peaceful life had now turned into bubbles.
Death is more terrifying than poverty.
Forcing the living to mourn the dead stretches the pain infinitely; there is only despair and no way to change it.
Chen Anlan was soul-shattered.
During the day, he often saw his wife and children being helplessly cut down by chaotic blades. They lay in pools of blood, their eyes staring at the sky with resentment.
“Father, it hurts…”
“Husband, save us.”
“Mingren Hall held over a thousand elderly, weak, women, and children. Yet, just a wall away, the Lord’s concubines each had their own courtyards to live in peace.”
The flames of war could not reach the Lord’s family, for the Lord had turned his butcher’s knife toward others.
Then why should I still protect this city?
—I want to avenge them!!!
Chen Anlan led a small squad and charged out of the main gate.
Braving the rain of arrows, more than half of these few dozen men were lost. When they arrived at the Jiangbei Army’s amnesty station, they were not treated as enemy spies. Instead, they were personally received by the Jiangbei Emperor.
The Emperor of Jiangbei was extremely young.
His appearance was strikingly beautiful, and his body appeared slightly sickly. He was frugal and diligent; there wasn’t even a single concubine in his tent.
Chen Anlan and the brothers in his squad were all granted land.
But more overwhelming than receiving land was the fact that Ying Xi actually cast aside his pride as an Emperor to tell him something that no one in all of Great Qin dared to mention—the story of the Prince and Princess Consort of Yongning being killed by the Late Emperor’s secret guards.
“I am like you, a person who has lost his dearest kin. I endured for ten years before becoming Emperor.”
“I know the bone-deep pain, and I do not wish to inflict it upon others. That is why I set up this amnesty station, hoping to reduce casualties and reclaim Xindu.”
“A perfect, unbroken realm is My lifelong wish. The dead are gone; your family surely wouldn’t want to see you live in despondency. I hope the General takes care of himself.”
The Emperor of Jiangbei possessed an indescribable charm that drew people in, making them want to pledge their loyalty to him.
Chen Anlan’s heart was moved. He wept bitterly in the Jiangbei camp, the sound of the large man’s crying heart-wrenching.
After surrendering, Chen Anlan and the others were granted fertile land, becoming the first group of Xindu people to receive the “dividend.”
The news took flight and spread even faster!
More and more commoners heard of this.
The hardships of everything inside the city, contrasted with the different world outside, caused the citizens to gradually awaken from the dream woven by the Southern Dynasty.
In the future, when land is distributed, how can it be as practical as getting it right now?
This matter was handled cleanly. The land being distributed was the estates of Li Yilong’s confidants and his concubines’ families—all of which were the most fertile land.
The Emperor of Jiangbei was wealthy and generous, possessing ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains; he didn’t care about giving away a few hundred hectares of land.
The “Redistribution of Land” that the rebels once held as a faith and shouted as a slogan—Li Yilong couldn’t fulfill it for them, but Ying Xi, who had led his army from a thousand miles away, was instead sparing no effort to complete it.
Therefore, more and more commoners began to contemplate escaping the shackles of Xindu.
If only one or two thought this way, it wouldn’t have formed a scale.
But when many people wanted to leave the city—and even the soldiers responsible for watching the citizens wanted to take their own families out—the strict laws became mere decorations. The people of Xindu each sought their own path, longing for freedom.
A miraculous scene occurred.
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