Chapter 574 War Begins
Xie Shang took out a list. "This is the list of your spies planted in the Great Zhou. They will soon be joining you. You think you can bring down the Great Zhou? You're just a piece of trash."
Xie Shang remained calm and composed, exuding an air of authority. It would be a disgrace for him to let a petty thief like Song Peng escape, as it would undermine his dignity as the emperor of the Great Zhou Kingdom.
Looking at the name on the list, Song Peng was furious. "Ran Heng is a wicked man himself. How can you believe him? Make him come to see me."
He stared at Jiang Fenghua and wailed, "I really don't believe that Ran Heng and you only met once. Why did he choose to believe you and betray me? If I hadn't saved Ran Heng, he would have died long ago. What right does he have to betray me? I helped him. Tell him to come here so I can ask him why."
Song Peng was unaware that Ran Heng was dead. He could have escaped, but he was eventually arrested. The person who betrayed him was Ran Heng, and he couldn't understand it at all.
“It’s not that Ran Heng betrayed you, it’s that good and evil will eventually be rewarded. It’s not that there’s no retribution, it’s just that the time hasn’t come yet. You’ve committed many evils, and your death is coming.” Jiang Fenghua seemed to see his anger and said coldly, “Ran Heng will not come to see you. Knowing you was the beginning of his nightmare. He wished he could kill you. Now that you’ve been arrested, he can finally go home to see his parents.”
Song Peng said coldly, "His parents died long ago, who would he go home to see?"
Jiang Fenghua said, "You killed his parents?"
"He always wanted to go home, so he killed his family to stop him from worrying about them..."
Song Peng was acting like a madman: "Ran Heng, come out here!"
The next second, Jiang Fenghua blinded him, plunging him into complete darkness. He panicked and screamed, "My eyes! I can't see anything!"
“From this moment on, you will atone for everything you have done. I will gouge out your eyes, cut off your hands and legs, turn you into a human pig, and send you to the customs to hear the roar of the waves, filled with the cries of the lost souls you have killed, seeking your demise.”
Jiang Fenghua's voice was cold and deep, which frightened Song Peng so much that he hurriedly begged for mercy, "No, as long as you let me go, I will tell you everything, really, please let me go."
He had been stubbornly refusing to speak just moments before, but now he was afraid. The pain in his eyes was excruciating. He had never known that cutting himself with a knife would hurt so much; he had only ever used a knife to cut others.
"Who's behind you?" Jiang Fenghua pressed the knife against his fingers: "If you don't tell the truth, I'll slowly cut your fingers one by one. The ten fingers are connected to the heart. Let's see if you know the pain."
Song Peng only wanted to curse her as a vicious and venomous woman; he never expected her to be so ruthless.
"Tu Jun, the fourth prince of the vassal state, is also one of his men in disguise as pirates..."
After Jiang Fenghua and Xie Shang came out of the dungeon, she asked, "Now that we've found out who the mastermind is, what are you going to do?"
Xie Shang said, "The vassal states and the Great Zhou are separated by sea and have no interaction. However, since the vassal states dare to abduct the people of the Great Zhou without permission, no matter how far away they are, I will not let the culprits who harmed the people of the Great Zhou go unpunished."
Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "No matter how far away, we will punish them."
"This will make them dare not underestimate the Great Zhou Kingdom. This war is inevitable," Xie Shang said coldly.
On this day, Lu Yang, the customs commander, sent word that suspicious troops had been found harassing the border waters. The pretext they were using was that pirates from the Great Zhou Kingdom had forcibly entered the vassal state's waters, and that they were merely driving the pirates away.
In reality, it was a case of the vassal state crying "stop thief!" and deliberately stirring up trouble in order to enter the southern kingdom.
The mission sent by Tu Jun, the fourth prince of the vassal state, to stir up trouble in the internal affairs of the Southern Kingdom has backfired, so they are getting restless and preparing to seize an opportunity to launch a strong attack on the Southern Kingdom.
Xie Shang and Jiang Fenghua led their men on a journey that lasted several days, and they arrived at the southern border in just five days. Upon arrival, they quickly put their battle plan into action.
The chase with the pirates lasted only five days, and the pirates disappeared from the border waters, leaving the vassal state with no more excuse to attack the southern kingdom.
But Tu Jun was waiting for an opportunity to act. Since Song Peng and the others had not sent any news, he guessed that all the people he had sent to the South had been arrested.
On that day, they hung the heads of the vassal state's people and Song Peng's mutilated body directly on a sailboat and sent them to the enemy camp, which frightened the vassal army into retreating immediately.
When they recognized Song Peng, they quickly went to report to the Fourth Prince.
Tu Jun was enraged upon seeing the ship full of corpses. Song Peng, who was also blind, immediately cried for help when he heard Tu Jun's voice: "Your Highness, save me!"
Tu Jun was furious. "How did you get into such a mess?"
Song Peng recounted everything that had happened in the Southern Kingdom, and finally said, "They are ruthless, which is why I have been tortured so badly by them. Your Highness, please avenge me!"
Just when he thought he would be saved once he returned to the vassal army camp, Tu Jun stabbed Song Peng in the chest with a knife. "I do not keep useless people. You made a pledge that you would not let me waste a single soldier and would hand over the Southern Kingdom to me. Now your plan has failed. Keeping you around will only bring me bad luck."
Song Peng never expected that he would die at the hands of the fourth prince of the vassal state. The prince had taken him in when he was on the verge of death, and Song Peng thought that he was already a citizen of the vassal state.
Even as Song Peng breathed his last, he was thinking that Ran Heng had already returned to the Great Zhou Kingdom and started a new life!
He had always been loyal to the vassal state, but he hated the Great Zhou Kingdom and wished that the vassal state's army would invade the Great Zhou to avenge the humiliation of the past. In fact, his actions were the real disgrace.
He even started to think about the questions Jiang Ruan had asked him. Why did he work so hard to cheat, swindle, burn, kill, and rob? Was it for power, fame, profit, money, or women? He had none of those. He was gambling on a sliver of pride, betting that someone could destroy the Great Zhou and wash away his shame.
Tu Jun learned from Song Peng that the Southern Kingdom and the Great Zhou had joined forces. He was actually afraid, but after planning for so long, how could he give up so easily? He was also unwilling to give up.
Who is this person from the Great Zhou Kingdom who has such great ability to turn the tide of the Southern Kingdom's politics?
Xie Shang's act of sending out heads did not stop him, nor was it merely intended to intimidate. His military campaign was not only to annihilate Tu Jun, but also to give the vassal state a warning.
Yuan Li quickly said, "For safety's sake, it's best to let General Lu lead the troops, since he is familiar with the coastal waters and has rich combat experience."
Jiang Jinyan also volunteered: "Your subject is willing to assist Commander Lu."
Shen Ao also said, "Your subject also requests to fight."
Xie Shang ordered Lu Yang to be appointed as the commander-in-chief, Yuan Li and Jiang Jinyan to each lead a team, General Shen to lead his men to occupy a sea area, and Guo Xiao to lead a team of soldiers. Five days later, the five teams that went out to besiege the vassal state army in the coastal area officially set out.
The momentum of the Great Zhou Kingdom is unstoppable.
At the same time, Tu Jun received the news and gathered the vassal state's army to fight back. It was only in this battle that the vassal state's army truly realized the strength of their opponent. When the vassal state's army was halfway there, they were so afraid of the five armies of the Great Zhou Kingdom that they hurriedly retreated to their vassal state camp.
With the support of the Great Zhou Kingdom from the rear, Lu Yang's army suddenly gained confidence. He pressed his advantage and no longer had to worry about the impact of war between the Southern Kingdom and the vassal states on the Southern Kingdom. They fought with increasing ferocity, defeated the vassal army, and fought their way into the vassal army's customs camp.
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