Zhou Lin's brows furrowed with worry. "But there are too many able-bodied men. Even if we go, we can't guarantee they'll have enough to eat and wear."
The army in Hulin was also short of food supplies.
Su Jinxia said, "Let's do as Achen says. I will go back to Lishui first and send over the provisions. Leave the food and clothing issues to me. What you need to do is to quell public resentment and stabilize morale. It sounds simple, but it's not easy to do."
"Yes!" Zhou Chen nodded heavily. "I will definitely live up to my sister's expectations."
Zhou Lin still had doubts. He was not clear about the grain situation in Lishui and felt that Su Jinxia had exaggerated a bit.
Of course, he will soon be proven wrong!
The southeastern region is already fertile and prosperous. This year, the weather has been favorable, resulting in a bumper harvest. In addition, Zhuang Jun's impartial management has ensured that the people have enough to eat and wear and live a stable life. They have even begun to resume civil engineering, water conservancy projects, talent selection, and other measures that benefit the people.
While the powerful and wealthy in the Central Plains still looked down on the rebel army, the people in the southeast had already regarded the rebel army as their only master, waiting for the rebel army to unify the world and ascend the throne as emperor!
——
Su Jin did not linger in the Tiger Forest Army camp. After discussing the next steps, she took Yue Ziqi back to Lishui.
The first thing Su Jin did after returning was to spread the rumors.
Afterwards, the actions of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor gradually spread among the people.
In the past, the common people only knew that the imperial court's disaster relief efforts were ineffective and that the people lived in poverty. They had no idea what kind of lives the powerful and wealthy lived in the magnificent palace and what kind of sordid things they did. Even the enormous sums spent on rebuilding the palace and the daily revelry before the war were things that were difficult for the common people to hear about.
The emperor's cruelty was so great that even the most powerful and influential people who had heard a little bit about it dared not gossip, for fear of being reported and having their entire families executed.
The emperor had done this many times before, so how could they not be afraid?
But somehow, some fearless people spread these secrets.
Once someone takes the lead, more and more people start talking about it, and it becomes unclear who is stirring up trouble.
The key point is that these secrets are detailed, well-founded, and believable.
This included countless loyal and virtuous people who suffered injustice and died tragically under the tyranny of the imperial court.
The imperial court's reputation plummeted!
Su Jin herself hadn't expected that her plan would cause such a huge reaction.
Su Jinxia had only obtained some royal secrets and a few tragic cases from the spies. She then embellished the story and spread rumors about the emperor and empress dowager's character, with the aim of later revealing that Zhou Chen had been framed and making the people believe that Zhou Chen was innocent.
Unexpectedly, this caused a huge uproar, with royal secrets being revealed one after another.
Ultimately, it was the imperial court that committed too many evil deeds.
At this time, Su Jinxia exposed Zhou Chen's affair, and the people did not disbelieve it. They all felt sorry for Zhou Chen, who had suffered so much injustice and grievance at such a young age, and was even sent to the Southern Kingdom as a hostage. They did not even know if he was alive or dead!
Some commoners even petitioned the government to ask the court to return our hostage to the Southern Kingdom so that we would no longer suffer this humiliation!
The emperor and empress dowager were already overwhelmed with their own problems and had no time to spare for such matters, so they pretended not to hear anything.
But Su Jinxia knew that when Zhou Chen really stood up, when the people knew that it was Zhuang Jun who brought Zhou Chen back, Zhuang Jun would completely shake the hearts of the people in the Central Plains!
Su Jinxia always knew the importance of one thing: the will of the people!
Therefore, it kills two birds with one stone!
Qilin Pass.
Shen Qianxue gazed at the moonlight as she listened to Shen Xi's report.
"We have taken advantage of the situation to push all the evidence of the emperor's tyranny that we have in hand to the people. As expected, the court has not only lost the support of the people, but even the powerful and influential parties have begun to waver and extend olive branches to us."
After Su Jinxia spread the rumors, Shen Qianxue was the first to secretly fuel the fire; otherwise, Su Jinxia's plan would not have progressed so smoothly.
Shen Xi smiled and said, "With the officials in the court we contacted before, we have at least half of the power in the capital. Now that Zhuang Jun is busy conquering the Northeast, this may be a good opportunity for us to take over the capital in one fell swoop."
Shen Qianxue nodded gently; he shared the same plan.
Shen Qianxue withdrew her gaze and focused on the map, tracing a line with her finger. "We'll go from here, take Fuyan City along this road, and then head directly to the rear of the imperial army's garrison. Together with Ji City, we'll form a pincer movement, completely destroy the imperial army, kill the emperor who is personally present, and then take the imperial city!"
"When do we set off?" Shen Xi's eyes lit up; he was already eager to get started.
Before Shen Qianxue could speak, a soldier suddenly ran in from outside the door and urgently reported, "Commander, urgent report from Jicheng."
Shen Xi went out and presented the urgent report. Shen Qianxue opened the letter and saw only two words: Return immediately!
Signed: Zhou Ji.
Shen Qianxue frowned deeply.
Qilin Pass is a strategically important military location. Having finally captured it, Shen Qianxue needs to take this opportunity to further expand Qilin Pass's influence and implement the newly deployed plan. Therefore, it is not the time to go back.
Zhou Ji knew this too, so why did he urge Shen Qianxue to return so quickly?
Zhou Ji did not explain the reason in the letter, so Shen Qianxue could not judge the seriousness of the matter, let alone come up with a suitable solution.
This is really upsetting!
"Qu Yi," Shen Qianxue called softly.
Qu Yi flew directly in through the window and landed in front of Shen Qianxue.
"Any news from Jicheng?"
"A message was just sent back yesterday, and there were no abnormalities."
Shen Qianxue was even more puzzled. Looking at the note, she asked, "Then why is this?"
Qu Yi didn't understand either.
Shen Qianxue thought for a moment, then asked, "How's the investigation going with the group that hurt Zizi that I asked you to investigate?"
Zhou Ji immediately understood and replied, "We've been chasing them and have captured two people, but they were both assassins who would do anything to commit suicide once captured, so there's no evidence to prove they were working for the Seventh Prince. Moreover, they are very vigilant and have been hiding from our people, never engaging in direct confrontation."
Qu Yi was also having a headache. This was a group of extremely well-trained assassins, and they were very difficult to deal with.
The toughest and most troublesome people in Phoenix Pavilion are undoubtedly the spies and secret agents of Team Four, but Qu Yi felt that this group was even more troublesome than Team Four.
Even though Qu Yi already knew from Su Jinxia that Zhou Ji was behind Zizi's incident, he still couldn't find any evidence to prove that Zhou Ji was really involved.
Evidence is very important; even if a guess is true, you can't present it to anyone.
Moreover, whether Su Jinxia's words are true or false remains to be verified.
Su Jinxia is a man of many kinds, both genuine and deceitful, making him difficult to discern. Qu Yi dared not fully trust him.
Shen Qianxue tapped her fingers lightly on the table. After a long while, she gave the order: "Shen Xi will stay and guard Qilin Pass. Qu Yi will come back with me."
"Yes!" the two replied.
Shen Qianxue immediately explained the detailed plan to Shen Xi and then hurried back to Jicheng.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
