Chapter Forty-Seven: Righteousness and Lofty Demeanor Revealed
Upon hearing this, everyone exchanged glances, then jogged forward, lifted the curtain, and entered the room.
"My lord," Qi Kun frowned, stepped forward, and clasped his hands in greeting, "we are late."
“Brother…” Zhongli Shuo had just clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhongli An when he caught sight of the person standing in front of him, bound hand and foot, “Qin Yi?”
Qin Yi, with his hands tied behind his back, completely ignored the people who had just entered. As if he had heard everything, he stared down at Zhong Li'an's toes, but never lowered his head.
Zhong Li'an stood in front of the main seat, smiled and nodded at Qi Kun and his group, then turned his expression and glared at Qin Yi, "Your lord Zhao Yue is in Yuzhou but does not intend to submit. The descendant of a founding minister is actually colluding with Xiao Yan and his ilk."
As he spoke, he stepped out from behind the table and approached Qin Yi step by step. "If he had behaved himself, that would have been fine, but he insisted on coming to provoke our bottom line on behalf of Xiao Yan." He stopped in front of Qin Yi and shouted sternly, "This is intolerable! If he dares to offend my Runan today, will he dare to send troops to occupy my Jizhou and Yuzhou tomorrow?"
“I do not wish to cause trouble, but I am absolutely capable of dealing with your underhanded tricks. Today I will consider it an unintentional act by Zhao Yue. I will not attack your Yingchuan; nor will I kill you.”
Zhongli Shuo stared intently at Qin Yi, his face expressionless. "Your tripwire can't hold my general, and your soldiers can't even set foot in Runan. You've seen the situation today, so I don't need to say more. If your lord or Xiao Yan dares to offend me again in the future, I will make sure they never return."
Qin Yi stood still, without raising his head. He exhaled softly, hesitated for a long time, then looked up at Zhong Li'an earnestly, "You... won't kill me?"
“Kill you? There’s no need.” Zhong Li’an glanced at Qin Yi. “If you want to stay, I’ll welcome you; if you want to leave, I won’t stop you.” He also breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Qin Yi. “You’re working for Zhao Yue, so I won’t make things difficult for you. The path is yours to choose, and you can decide for yourself how to walk it.”
He looked up at Qin Yi, who was standing there in a daze, and couldn't help but chuckle. He turned his head and called to the soldier outside the door, "Someone come here!"
The soldier immediately entered the tent, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Present."
Zhong Li'an nodded. "Come here and untie him."
The soldier nodded and swiftly cut all the ropes binding Qin Yi.
Qin Yi's immobilized limbs instantly relaxed, and the numbness and soreness spreading throughout his body made him momentarily dazed. He looked up at Zhong Li'an, who was calm and composed in front of him, as if he were a completely different person from before.
"My lord..." He frowned as he looked at Zhongli An, a hint of fear creeping in his eyes, "You really want to let me go?"
Zhong Li'an couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, "I've already untied you, how could it be fake?"
Qin Yi moved his hands and feet slightly again, looking at his hands as if he didn't believe it, and then looked up at Zhong Li'an.
He closed his eyes, let out a long sigh, and as if having made up his mind, solemnly clasped his hands towards Zhongli An and said, "I thank you for sparing my life, my lord. I am unwilling to accept defeat in this battle. If I am ever defeated by you again in the future, I will wholeheartedly serve you and I will not utter a single word of jest."
Zhong Li'an smiled at him and nodded gently.
Qin Yi nodded and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the people around him. “Gentlemen, we’ll meet again someday.” After saying that, he took two steps back and left the governor’s office.
The cold atmosphere inside the room eased, and the warm incense that had been burning seemed to suddenly appear, flowing into everyone's hearts.
Zhong Li'an turned to look at everyone, his face immediately regaining its usual warm smile, "Why are you still standing? You just rushed back from outside, aren't you tired? Come sit down and have some hot tea to rest your feet."
“Brother, just now…” Zhongli Shuo finally came to his senses and pointed at Zhongli An, “Your aura just now was truly unprecedented.”
"What," Zhong Li'an chuckled, glancing at Zhong Li Shuo before returning to his seat, "Isn't it okay for me to have a little temper?"
Everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere in the room immediately lightened considerably.
Yang Xiao also sat down with a smile. "I just didn't expect you, my lord, to be so decisive." She looked around at everyone with a smile. "You usually treat us with gentleness and kindness, but I never expected you to be so forceful when interrogating Qin Yi."
Upon hearing this, Qi Kun smiled and pointed at Yang Xiao, "Now you know how good our lord has been to us, right?"
"What are you saying?" Yang Xiao looked at Qi Kun with a defiant smile. "Isn't it common knowledge that our lord is respectful to the virtuous and kind to others?"
Qi Kun chuckled and shook his head, then looked at Zhong Li'an with concern, "But... my lord, are you just going to let him go like this?"
"Oh?" Zhongli An glanced at Qi Kun with a smile. "Could it be that the strategist has a use for keeping him around?"
“Since he was sent by Zhao Yue, he must know some of Xiao Yan’s background,” Qi Kun pondered for a while, then looked at Zhong Li’an, “Why not take this opportunity to find out more from him?”
Zhong Li'an nodded, then poured himself a cup of hot tea. "What the strategist said is not something I haven't considered, but..." He glanced at Qi Kun, "From Qin Yi's perspective, we won this battle with superior numbers, and I imagine he's not convinced."
After saying that, he turned and looked at Zhongli Shuo with a smile, "The tripwire tripped Fei Mo, but he still couldn't hurt Yu De in the slightest. Instead, he lost a deputy general and got himself involved. No matter what, he must be furious."
“If that’s the case,” he chuckled and looked at Qi Kun, “even if he knows Xiao Yan’s background, why would he hand it all over to us? If I press him directly, I’m afraid it will backfire.”
"So, my lord, you might as well do him a favor?" Qi Kun nodded knowingly with a smile, then looked up at Zhong Li'an.
“Yes,” Zhong Li’an nodded with a light laugh, “Although I’m letting him go, I won’t let him go directly. How I treat him today will determine how my army will be perceived in Xiao Yan’s army in the future.”
Qi Kun smiled knowingly at Zhong Li'an, "My lord, I understand. You are using him to pass on a message to Xiao Yan and Zhao Yue, right?" He nodded approvingly, "Indeed brilliant. In this way, Xiao Yan will also know the spirit of our army."
Cen Xun, holding his teacup, glanced at the two people talking beside him and couldn't help but interject, "It's not just in Xiao Yan's heart, my lord, he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world."
Zhong Li'an couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this. "Tongxi is absolutely right, Gu Fan," he pointed at Qi Kun and teased, "Ever since Tongxi went north, your position as strategist has become somewhat precarious."
"My lord..." Qi Kun smiled and shook his head, then looked up at Cen Xun, "Tongxi, you mustn't undermine me."
Everyone burst into laughter. Zhongli Shuo took a sip of herbal tea, looked up at Zhongli An, then at Cen Xun, and asked, "Why are you all jumping around so fast? So how did this bring up public sentiment?" He looked at Yang Xiao, puzzled, "Did you understand?"
Yang Xiao crossed her arms and nodded with a smile, "Of course I understood."
"So what?" Before Yang Xiao could tease him, Zhong Lishuo waved his hand. "It's not shameful for me to ask if I don't understand." He then looked up at Cen Xun with a smile. "Right, Tongxi? Tell me about it."
Looking at Zhong Lishuo's bright eyes, Cen Xun couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head. His gaze was full of tenderness and patience as he looked at Zhong Lishuo. "Everyone knows that Xiao Yan murdered the emperor and usurped the throne. Now she has sent her henchmen to test our army's strength. This is truly an unjust act."
She smiled and looked at Zhong Lishuo, "Even when Qin Yi fought against us, his insidious act of using a tripwire was consistent with the style of Xiao Yan and Lu Qi. Faced with such rudeness, our actions fully demonstrated the demeanor of our army."
“I know that,” Zhongli Shuo nodded seriously and interjected, “They came to test us, and we won a great victory. From now on, our army’s prestige will be established, and they will not dare to invade us again.”
Cen Xun nodded approvingly, “That’s right, and the same applies to the lord’s repeated criticisms of Qin Yi. But that’s only one aspect. Compared to their surprise attack, we won honorably. You weren’t injured in the slightest by the tripwire, and instead took the opportunity to kill the enemy general’s warhorse; we won the battle but didn’t seize the city, captured the enemy but didn’t launch an attack, and showed leniency to Qin Yi. In this way, we have done everything we could to be benevolent and righteous.”
“I see,” Zhongli Shuo looked up at Cen Xun with a knowing smile. “Brother’s demeanor and attitude are completely different from Xiao Yan’s. Anyone with eyes can see that. In this way, the world will know that we are both benevolent and virtuous, and we are not afraid of foreign invasions at all.”
Zhongli An stood up with a smile, gently patting Zhongli Shuo's shoulder. "What do you mean by 'the world will know'? It's clearly true." He chuckled as he looked at Zhongli Shuo and the others around him. "You all made great contributions in this battle, so logically..."
"A celebration banquet!" Zhongli Shuo also stood up, put his arm around Zhongli An's shoulder, and smiled at everyone. "It's getting dark, everyone, let's go quickly."
Yang Xiao glanced at Zhong Lishuo, then exchanged a look with Bai Ming, and shook her head with a light laugh. "They've been talking about this since the way here." She also put down her teacup, stood up, and said, "Let's go too, the soldiers must be getting impatient soon."
“Okay,” Bai Ming nodded with a smile, stepped to the door, lifted the curtain, and looked back at Yang Xiao with a smile, “Let’s go together.”
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