The one who wanted to kill Di Xiu was the emperor himself, so he naturally wouldn't listen to his sophistry and raised his voice, saying, "Deceiving the emperor is deceiving the emperor. Wei Zixiao, stop with your clever words and attempts to cover up your mistakes. I order you to commit suicide immediately."
The two young generals closest to Di Xiu quickly grabbed his arms, lest he be a die-hard loyalist who would die if the emperor wanted him to.
Di Xiu broke free and stood facing the emperor from a distance, but his attitude was clear: he would not commit suicide.
The emperor was enraged by his attitude: "All soldiers, listen to my command! I order you to immediately execute this treacherous Wei Zixiao."
A soldier spoke up to plead for the emperor: "Your Majesty, deceiving the emperor was neither He nor Wei's intention. Please, Your Majesty, consider Wei's many merits and allow him to make amends and forgive him."
"Your Majesty, please forgive General Wei."
One shout after another rang out. The soldiers behind them were confused, but they could see that the situation was not good. Although they did not know which general Wei was, they still subconsciously shouted along.
A soldier in the front row suddenly cried out in grief, "General, whether you are General Wei or General He, I only know that you led us to the battlefield to protect our country, and you led all of us brothers through life and death. We will never hurt you."
His voice was louder than the emperor's, and the soldiers, who had been completely bewildered, immediately reacted. Led by someone, they shouted in unison, "We will never harm the general!"
The roar was deafening, scalding the emperor's face until it turned red, his eyes filled with crimson, and his heart pounded like a drum. His vision blurred, and he pressed himself against the battlements, his gaze fixed on "Wei Zixiao," the enemy who had killed his beloved daughter.
He shouted "Insolence!" almost breaking his voice: "Are you trying to rebel?"
This stumped everyone who heard it, and even the imperial guards on the city wall couldn't help but murmur among themselves.
Rebellion was something no one dared to even think about, but the emperor's actions chilled the hearts of the soldiers on the southern expedition and also made the imperial guards feel uneasy.
The soldiers of the Southern Expeditionary Army didn't care who became emperor, but they cared about the general who led them to victory after victory and brought them back to their hometown in glory. Upon receiving this reminder, the thought of "why not rebel?" suddenly sprouted in their minds.
Everyone looked at the general at the front, waiting for his orders, but some were also uneasy, as they were not yet mentally prepared to rebel.
No one answered. The emperor waved his hand, and once again, ten thousand arrows were fired.
Having withstood the barrage of arrows, Emperor Xiu ordered a retreat of five miles.
The Zhaodu Imperial Guards number around 100,000. It's impossible for the emperor to send them to fight this fierce army that has just come from the battlefield. If a fight were to break out, the emperor would wait for reinforcements from various regions to come to his aid.
At night, all the soldiers gathered in the main tent of the Emperor.
"Old Tu, let me say this first. I heard of General Wei when he was an official in the capital. It was you who developed cement, which allowed us to build stronger city walls. Now, it is you who led us to victory. You changed your name because you had no choice, but your achievements cannot be faked. Your merits and demerits cancel each other out, and you should not have ended up like this."
A young general spoke up; his family was quite prominent in Zhaodu, and he was well-informed: "I've heard some rumors that the general was forced to resign because of His Majesty's targeting. Initially, it seemed to be because he refused to marry the princess, but later it was..."
The young general glanced at Di Xiu, and seeing that he didn't stop him, his face darkened. "The eldest princess loved the general but couldn't have him, so she harbored resentment and tried to frame the general for treason. After the plot was exposed, His Majesty wanted to protect the eldest princess, but was stopped by the Chamberlain and others. So he came up with the idea of switching the princess with someone else to die. In the end, someone killed the eldest princess and others at the gate of the imperial prison. It is probably because of this that His Majesty hates the general."
The crowd gasped in disbelief.
"This is too absurd. What wrong did the general do? Just because he refused to marry the princess, he has to suffer this disaster."
The young general continued, "Moreover, the general was already engaged at the time."
After the chaos, they dug up all sorts of dark history about the emperor. First, they mentioned the various foolish decisions made by Consort Chen and her daughter Mu Ruoling. Then they mentioned his biased use of people based on personal likes and dislikes. They also brought up the things they heard on the way back to the capital, such as his indulgence in the harem and his killing spree in the court.
When they realized the topic had gone completely off track and hurriedly steered it back, they realized that their general had remained silent the whole time.
Old Tu slammed his hand on the table, staring intently at Di Xiu: "General, the current emperor is incompetent and foolish, let's rebel!"
"His Majesty is narrow-minded, cruel, and lacks the benevolence of a wise ruler. General, you are skilled in both literature and military strategy, and you love the people. Why can't you take his place and bring peace and prosperity to the world?"
"General, are you really prepared to be executed? If so, we soldiers will probably not live past tomorrow."
"We swear to follow the general to the death."
"General, His Majesty is forcing us to rebel."
"..."
Di Xiu closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time before letting out a long sigh, his eyes revealing murderous intent: "Then we'll rebel."
Everyone was waiting for him to say this, and upon hearing it, they all replied, "This humble general will go and make the arrangements immediately."
The young man at the back hesitated for a moment, but ultimately swallowed the words that were about to come out.
The tent was empty. 001 praised Emperor Xiu for his good acting, then asked, "What about Consort De?"
"Someone will protect her."
Unsure whether the protection of the Wei family should include the already married Consort De, Emperor Xiu naturally assumed it should.
In Zhaodu, he had the virtuous men indirectly sent by Mu Ruoling, as well as some people he had won over by using his control over the future. He did not seek repayment for favors, but he would not fail to repay those he had chosen.
As I said before, someone who can gain Mu Ruoling's approval must be of good character.
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