Emotions of panic and anger, like underground undercurrents, quietly gathered and surged in Jinyang City.
Despite Xiao Lie's strict blockade, news such as "The Prince is still alive", "Xiao Lie is in contact with Di", and "The Black Wind Valley suffered a disastrous defeat" still spread tenaciously through rumors in the streets, children's singing, and even anonymous posters on the wall.
The morale of the army was shaken even more.
Some lower-level soldiers began to slack off, were listless during patrols, and disobeyed their superiors' orders.
The officers were in a panic. Some secretly expressed their loyalty to Xiao Cheyun, while others took a wait-and-see attitude, determined to defect if the wind was not right.
Xiao Lie felt this fatal undercurrent.
He became more suspicious and violent.
The dungeons in Jinyang City were overcrowded. Anyone suspected of being in cahoots with the "Crown Prince's Party" or having "inappropriate" words or deeds was arrested, tortured, and then publicly executed, with their heads hung at the city gates for public display.
The tragedy of property raids and family annihilation occurred almost every day. Rich families were arbitrarily framed with crimes and their property was confiscated to fill the increasingly scarce military budget.
Jinyang City was shrouded in extreme terror, and everyone was in danger.
However, high-pressure policies have not brought about obedience, but deeper resentment and disunity.
Xiao Cheyun cleverly used this fear to spread rumors such as "Xiao Lie wants to purge all non-direct descendants" and "On the day the city is broken, no one from Xiao's party will be left alive, and those who were forced to follow him will not be questioned", further dividing and disintegrating Xiao Lie's camp.
At the same time, Wang Pan, Bai Shouren and Zhou Dequan, three merchants who defected to the Northern Di, were active on another level.
They received secret orders from Han Yanshou in Yanyun.
Han Yanshou secretly provided them with huge amounts of funds, which they used to buy up food, pig iron and other military supplies in the city.
Ostensibly, it was to help Xiao Lie defend the city, but in reality, he enriched himself and secretly stockpiled some strategic materials in preparation for the Northern Di invaders.
The shops and restaurants they opened also became bases for Tartar spies to operate.
Following the instructions of King Loufan, they also secretly spread rumors:
"Crown Prince Yinji has long been controlled by Zhao Muyun of Shuozhou and has become a puppet!"
"Zhao Muyun's ambitions are even greater than those of the Northern Di! If he enters the city, he will surely unleash his troops to plunder and take all of Hedong's wealth to Shuozhou! We will all be dead without a burial place!"
They tried to muddy the waters and disrupt the audition.
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