Following Mu Ying's loud shout, the cavalry on both wings immediately moved, but at this moment, a sharp shrill whistle was heard from the sky. Mu Ying's face suddenly changed when he heard the sound. Just as he raised his hand to give the order, he froze.
"Dudududu..." A cloud of dust rose between Mu Ying's army and Li Xiuning. When the dust settled, a row of neatly arranged feather arrows appeared.
Mu Ying saw it clearly and knew that this was a warning from the archers on the city wall, and it was also a distance measurement. If anyone crossed the position of the feather arrow, it would be regarded as an invasion, and the battle between the two sides would begin. The range of the feather arrow would be the attack area of the archers on the city wall.
Mu Ying's eyes were already bloodshot as he watched Li Xiuning return to the city. This was the first time he was threatened like this. But just when he was about to launch an attack at all costs, Fei Ju beside him whispered to him.
"Marquis Xiping, His Majesty's decree does not instruct us to deal with these people. If we waste our energy on these rioters, I'm afraid it will ruin His Majesty's plan. You must think twice!"
Mu Ying's eyes flashed fiercely when he heard this. He was quite tempted, but he couldn't keep it to himself. He said stubbornly, "All land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects!"
"These insurgents, simply because they didn't receive timely relief, have become resentful of the imperial court. Not only have they secretly built a city here, but they have also rejected my good intentions. This behavior is absolutely intolerable."
"If everyone follows this example in the future, won't the Ming Dynasty be in chaos?"
Fei Ju was quite disapproving of Mu Ying's words, but Mu Ying was now the commander-in-chief, and as his deputy, he only had the right to make suggestions. He could only continue to dissuade him, saying, "My Lord, if they really don't agree to surrender, do you mean we really have to attack them?"
"We came here lightly, with the intention of attacking King Liang's lair. Now that our intention has been exposed, I'm afraid the siege equipment we currently have would be a bit of a stretch. Should we consider the long-term plan?"
Hearing Fei Ju's words, Mu Ying was actually convinced in his heart, but he was still unhappy. "Then let's use courtesy first and then force. Shoot a letter of persuasion to the city and see how they respond."
"Prepare for an expedited journey of eight hundred miles immediately and report the situation here to His Majesty."
After hearing Mu Ying say this, Fei Ju already understood the meaning behind it. It was just a way to save face.
But he did not dare to delay and immediately ordered a letter of surrender to be shot into Songming City, and at the same time, an express message was sent out over 800 miles.
In Fei Ju's opinion, the people of Songming City would definitely not agree to leave the city and surrender now, so there was no need to wait for a reply.
After Li Xiuning returned to the city, she immediately went up to Desheng Tower, where Zhu Chong and others were waiting for her arrival.
"My lord, as you expected, Mu Ying wanted us to open the city and surrender, but this general refused. They just shot a letter of surrender into the city, hoping to negotiate with us. Please let your lord know."
"Surrender is impossible. Submission is negotiable, but we will only submit and not accept Ming rule. Songming City must have full autonomy. If you do not agree to these conditions, then there is no need for peace talks."
It was impossible for Zhu Chong to give away his carefully crafted work to the court for free, even if the emperor was his father.
"Then I understand." After hearing this, Li Xiuning immediately wrote a letter and shot it out of the city. Mu Ying soon got Li Xiuning's handwritten letter. After reading only a few lines, he became furious and almost ordered an attack on the city.
Fei Ju took the letter and read only a few lines before quickly grabbing Mu Ying's horse reins, fearing that he would do something irrational. Of course, in his opinion, the people in Songming City were courting death!
They are willing to submit, but do not accept the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, nor do they pay tribute or taxes to the court, and they do not accept any assignment or dispatch of Songming City by the court. They demand autonomy from the court. What kind of behavior is this?
If you want to be a local emperor, this is not the way to do it. You even dare to say such shameless things at the end of the letter. If you don’t agree, just come on. Do you really think that the Ming army is made of paper?
"Okay, very good. Songming City, I will remember that I will raze this place to the ground one day. Humph!" Mu Ying did not lose his mind after all.
His strategic intentions had been exposed, and there were new enemies before him. He had to consider the overall situation, so he immediately ordered to turn around and return to Qujing. More than 100,000 Ming troops quickly evacuated the Songming area.
Looking at the Ming army retreating, Li Xiuning couldn't help but remind Zhu Chong, "My lord, after today, Songming City will never have peace again. My lord, I think you should make plans early!"
"Exactly," Lin Shu echoed from the side. "What Mu Ying just said has actually exposed the Ming army's current strategic intentions. Someone in Yingtian Prefecture is probably preparing to wipe out the remnants of the former Yuan Dynasty. I'm afraid the situation in Yunnan and Yunnan will soon change."
"Let them fight as they please. As long as they don't fight us, everything is fine. But if they dare to be rude to us, then we'll have to fight them." Zhu Chong looked indifferent.
He is not afraid of Mu Ying at all now. As long as he is given enough time, he will not even be afraid of his father.
But as the old saying goes, although you may despise the enemy tactically, you still have to take the enemy seriously strategically. Zhu Chong did not forget about the subsequent development of Songming City because of this.
Of course, there is no way to forget it. Now the system is working hard every day to give him "rewards" continuously!
Before Yingtian Prefecture gave Mu Ying a clear order, Songming City would definitely be safe for the time being.
Since Zhu Yuanzhang chose to go to war with the Mongols at this time, his main strategic intention must be the Mongols, and he would not lose sight of the main goal and target himself. After all, in the eyes of Zhu Yuanzhang, Mu Ying and others, Songming City was just a group of rioters and was not worth mentioning.
So Zhu Chong decided to start the expansion project of Songming City. Development must keep pace with the times. Even a rabbit has three nests. After all, Zhu Chong is a time traveler. How could he put all the treasures in one place?
So the expansion project of Songming City was immediately launched, and all the people of Songming City were mobilized and enthusiastically devoted themselves to the process of building their own homes.
On the other hand, just as Zhu Chong expected, after returning to Qujing, Mu Ying's attitude towards Songming City became a blind eye.
However, Mu Ying's army did not sit idle because of this. He and Fei Ju's 200,000 troops soon launched a full-scale attack on King Liang.
The former Yuan forces in the Yunnan and Yunnan regions became panic-stricken and saw enemies everywhere. The tribal coalition army that was previously sent out by King Liang and led by his left prime minister Dade immediately retreated when they heard that Zhu Yuanzhang was going to attack Yunnan and Yunnan.
When the tribal leaders came back and learned that Prince Liang was at the gate of Songming City and was scared away by Mu Ying, they all went to Prince Liang to ask for an explanation and what to do next. The pro-war and pro-peace factions quarreled with each other in front of Prince Liang every day.
But before King Liang could come up with a plan, Mu Ying's army had already made a detour and entered Kunming.
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