Chapter Seventy-One: The Moon Shines Over the Water, Its Cold Light Flickers
As soon as the three rode out of the county seat, they saw that the streets were full of people gathered together, loudly denouncing Jie Liang. The streets were as bustling as before, but the guards and the soldiers patrolling around the area had all changed.
Zhong Li'an gazed at the street scene, which was no different from that morning, and even more bustling than before. He couldn't help but look at Bai Ming with admiration, "Good job, Zhao Qing, you're so efficient!" He chuckled and pointed to the shops along the street, "Is this really the scene after the siege? How come it's even more lively than before?"
"You still ask?" Bai Ming chuckled and shook his head. "All their troops' attention is on your banquet. How could they possibly have the mind to fortify the city's defenses?"
“That makes sense,” Zhongli Shuo replied, bowing to the crowd that had gathered along the street. “Thank you all for your kindness!”
The surrounding crowd erupted in waves of noise, seemingly marveling at the rapid and inexplicable change in the city lord.
Suddenly hearing a commotion in the distance, Yang Xiao looked up and saw someone flailing their arms and arguing at the city gate. Yang Xiao frowned slightly and turned to Bai Ming, "I'll go take a look."
Before Bai Ming could reply, Yang Xiao spurred her horse and galloped towards the city gate. There, she saw several members of the Eagle Cavalry Team surrounding the former guards, arguing about something.
"What's going on? What's all this chaos?" Yang Xiao pulled on the reins and looked down at Zhang Ping, who was at the head of the group.
Zhang Ping shrugged, both amused and exasperated. “General, look at this man,” he pointed to the guard, “he doesn’t believe that the actor who promised him was you, General, and he insists on standing here and waiting.”
"Is that so?" Yang Xiao laughed upon hearing this. She spurred her horse forward, gently lifted the guard's chin with the tip of her spear, and looked down at him condescendingly. "Look up and see if you still recognize me."
The guard was forced to look up at Yang Xiao, and when his eyes met hers, he was startled, "This... really is you..."
Yang Xiao snorted coldly, throwing the gun in her hand with utter disdain. "I don't know how Jie Liang disciplines you, but from now on, if anyone dares to coerce a woman to achieve his despicable goal again, let me know." She glared at the trembling guard, raising the gun to his throat. "Then bring me your head."
"Good! Well said!" Before they knew it, a crowd of people had gathered behind Yang Xiao, and soon the guard's head was covered with vegetable leaves. "He should be killed! These soldiers have done far too many rotten things!"
Seeing this, Yang Xiao frowned and raised her hand to stop the group of indignant people. "Gentlemen, please listen to me."
The surroundings immediately fell silent. Yang Xiao, with a wry smile, cupped his hands to the crowd and said, "The military and the people are of one body and one mind. How could things have gotten so out of hand? The former prefect has indeed done many heinous things, and I have already captured him."
She sighed softly, turned around and pointed to the guards behind her, "Such an inhuman soldier is just an isolated case. After all, they all came from your side. If we say he is of bad character, it is only him personally. If we take this out on all the soldiers in the city, how can we expect them to fight for the people in times of crisis?"
"This..." The surrounding people couldn't help but sigh. Yang Xiao frowned slightly, then clasped his hands in a fist and said to the crowd, "Let's put aside the old scores for now. From now on, there will be no more corruption and bribery by officials. The army fights for the people. I also ask you all to stop being hostile to the government and soldiers in the future, okay?"
The people began to stir again. The old woman who had been throwing vegetables most enthusiastically earlier couldn't help but sigh with deep emotion, "If Jie Liang had even half of General Yang's insight, how could Nanyang County have fallen to such a state?"
"That's why people always say that the people under Lord Lunhong are like one big family," an old man said, bowing to Yang Xiao with his hands clasped in a gesture of respect. "Seeing it today, it's really true."
Seeing this, Yang Xiao jumped off his horse, clasped his hands in a fist and smiled at the crowd, saying, "This is not just for today, but will continue to be so in the future. I am new here, so please forgive me if I do anything inappropriate."
"General Yang, what are you saying? We're overjoyed that you've come," the people chattered. The old man then looked up at Yang Xiao and asked, "Now that Jie Liang has been arrested, will Lord Zhongli still come?"
Yang Xiao smiled and looked at the old man, "It will probably be within three days before our lord comes here in person. According to custom, whenever a new city is recaptured, our lord will definitely come here in person to see the local customs."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in cheers and commotion once again. As the sun began to set, Yang Xiao smiled as she looked at the crowd, their hair bathed in the glow of the sunset. She then glanced at Bai Ming and Zhong Lishuo, who were sitting on the saddle bridge not far away. With a gentle smile, she reached out and took the old woman's arm. "Gentlemen," she said, "it's getting late. Please head home soon and don't let it interfere with your livelihood."
"Good, good, good," the crowd echoed again, and the old man's face beamed with joy. They all clasped their hands in greeting to Yang Xiao, "General, you should also get some rest. We'll take our leave now."
Yang Xiao nodded with a smile, letting the warm glow of the sunset drape over her back. "Farewell, everyone."
-
No secret can stay hidden forever, and fire can never be kept forever. Within half a day, news that the Prefect of Nanyang had framed Zhongli Shuo and then, in a clumsy attempt, lost the city reached Xiao Yan's ears like a gust of wind.
The jade cup between her fingers spun lightly, emitting a few glints of cold light that reflected in her cold, colorless eyes. She put down the jade cup, straightened her crossed legs, snorted coldly, and stood up, gazing at the palace gate that blocked out most of the sunlight.
“Lu Qi,” she said with a light laugh, glancing at the white-robed scholar beside her, “summon all the officials, especially Xiao Yun.”
"yes."
Sunlight streamed through the window lattices, bathing the Zhu Yang Hall in its warmth. The soft, delicate Lantian jade bricks on the floor gently reflected the sunlight, attempting to melt away the chill that permeated the hall with their gentle glow.
The grand hall, filled with officials, was deathly silent, utterly devoid of life. The only sound, barely a breath, echoed in the vast Zhu Yang Hall, the gentle clinking of a cup lid against the rim of a bowl sending a chill down one's spine.
Xiao Yan took a sip of the hot tea in her bowl, then looked up at the group of officials with their heads bowed. She couldn't help but chuckle. She gently placed the teacup on the table and waved to someone behind her, "Lu Qi."
"Your subject is here." A clear voice came from behind her, and a young man in white robes, looking ethereal, put away his fan, walked around from behind her chair, and bowed to her with clasped hands.
"You all seem to be unaware of why I have summoned you here," Xiao Yan leaned back in his chair and looked up at the assembled ministers. "Recently, the news of the fall of Nanyang has been widely circulated. I fear that you are unaware of the details, so I have asked Lu Qi to explain it to you."
Lu Qi nodded slightly and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xiao Yan, "Yes, sir." He looked up at the crowd below the stage and said, "Prefect Jie Liang of Nanyang sent someone to Jizhou to invite Zhong Li'an to a banquet, using Nanyang County as bait to lure him there alone, in order to coerce Zhong Li'an into demanding the four provinces of Ji, Yu, Qing and Xu from the rest of Jizhou."
As he spoke, a smile involuntarily crept into his eyes. He waved the fan in his hand and nodded slightly. "Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The one who came to the banquet was not Zhongli An, the ruler of the four states, but his younger brother Zhongli Shuo."
"When Jie Liang smashed the cup and attempted to assassinate, Zhong Lishuo was unarmed. He swung his heel and knocked the assassins in the room out of their wits. Meanwhile, the soldiers in the city had already been restrained by Yang Xiao, who had infiltrated the city, and the city was full of three thousand ambush troops led by Bai Ming."
Upon hearing the name "Yang Xiao," a military officer in the audience involuntarily clenched his fist.
Lu Qiwei let out a barely perceptible sigh, suppressing the smile in his eyes. He raised his eyes and looked expressionlessly at the assembled officials. "Nanyang City was thus captured by Zhong Li'an in one fell swoop, and the root cause was the secret plot between Jie Liang and General Xiao..."
"Lu Qi! Don't you dare slander me!" Upon hearing this, Xiao Yun, the head of all officials, raised his finger at Lu Qi in a fit of rage and shouted, "It's just rumors among the common people! How dare you frame me, the general, in the main hall!"
Lu Qi looked up at Xiao Yun calmly, and couldn't help but sigh with a smile, "I'm afraid the General hasn't even seen the letter sent by Chen Rang's men yet?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yun's raised hand froze in mid-air. "What did you say?"
"When General Yang Song was doing his morning exercise yesterday, he happened to run into a soldier returning with a message. When he stopped him and asked him questions, the soldier stammered and gave irrelevant answers. General Yang felt that something was wrong, so he brought the letter back with him."
Seeing this, Xiao Yun glared angrily at Yang Song, then winked at Cheng Feng beside her, before glaring resentfully at Lu Qi.
“Now that things have come to this,” Xiao Yan chuckled, raising his eyes to look at Xiao Yun, “why don’t you tell me about the scheme you’ve set up?”
Xiao Yun clenched his fist and reluctantly took two steps forward: "The governor of Nanyang is ambitious. He dares not invade our army, but he covets the land of Zhongli An. That's why he came up with this plan with me."
He looked up at Xiao Yan and said, "If Zhong Li'an attends the banquet as agreed, Jie Liang can ambush him in front of the hall and kill him at this moment. Then we can reap the benefits and directly send troops to seize the land of Ji and Yu."
Xiao Yan picked up his teacup, chuckled softly, and glanced at him, "What if Zhong Li'an doesn't come to the banquet at all?"
"Then we will use his breach of trust with the people as a pretext to launch an attack."
“Breaking the trust of the people,” Xiao Yan said, setting down the long-cold teacup on the table. He stood up and slowly walked toward Xiao Yun. “How could you come up with such a reason?”
Upon seeing this, Xiao Yun frowned. "Sister, I also want to pacify the world as soon as possible. A country cannot be without a ruler for a single day..."
"If a tyrant ascends the throne, it would be better to have no ruler at all," Xiao Yan interrupted Xiao Yun sharply. "You want to launch an attack on Zhongli An just because he didn't attend the banquet. Putting aside the fact that this move is illegitimate and lacks legitimacy, our foundations are not stable. How much chance do you have of winning against the generals under Zhongli An?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yun became interested. He stepped forward, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xiao Yan, and said, “Zhongli An only has three famous generals under his command, while we have hundreds of generals. What do we have to fear from them? Moreover, among those three, there is a female general.” He pointed confidently towards the door, “Leaving aside the strength of the other two, how can Yang Xiao, a mere woman, possibly contend with us?”
"You..." Before Xiao Yan could speak, Yang Song in the crowd clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he looked at Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yan stood up, looked up at Yang Song, and nodded gently at him as if to reassure him. She looked past the laughter that filled the room and turned to Xiao Yun, "I am also a woman, do you all look down on me so much?"
“This…” Xiao Yun quickly stepped back and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xiao Yan. “I had no such intention, but,” he chuckled, “what woman goes to the battlefield? I suppose her reputation is just a boast.”
Looking into his arrogant eyes, Xiao Yan couldn't help but sneer, "Fine, then you're allowed to go out and fight Yang Xiao." She raised her eyes to look at the arrogant general behind Xiao Yun, "Cheng Feng."
"Here!" Cheng Feng strode to the front of the hall and confidently bowed to Xiao Yan.
"I appoint you as the deputy commander of this expedition to conquer Chenliu. During the battle, you must always look after the commander and act according to the circumstances."
Cheng Feng accepted the order and bowed deeply to Xiao Yanshen, saying, "Understood."
“As for the commander-in-chief,” Xiao Yan stood up, raised his eyes and looked gently at Yang Song, whose eyes were full of concern, “it is none other than Yang Song.”
Seeing this, Yang Song quickly stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting to Xiao Yan, and said, "As you command, I will certainly not fail in my duty."
Xiao Yan nodded, then looked up at Xiao Yun. "If we lose this battle, you'll have to put away your clumsy tricks from now on. Don't let me find out which forces you're secretly colluding with to commit unjust acts again." She then turned her piercing gaze to others. "If anyone follows Xiao Yun's lead and oppresses the people and frames accomplices, they'll be beheaded!"
The hall was immediately filled with a hum of agreement from all the officials. Xiao Yan stood up and waved his sleeve, "Dismiss the banquet!"
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