Wei Ji's so-called "glimmer of hope" still came from a conversation he had with Jiang Ming three years ago!
At that time, Jiang Ming was still the King of Chu, and also the governor of the Great Gan Empire.
In Luoyi City, Wei Ji, Zhao Yong, and Han An, the head of the Han family, were discussing what constitutes a truly successful ruler.
This was actually a test for them by Jiang Ming!
With the division of Jin into three states, each of them wanted to become the ruler. Jiang Ming naturally wanted to see if they were qualified.
Faced with the questions posed, Zhao Yong, Wei Ji, and Han An's answers invariably revolved around themes of military strength, national prosperity, fairness and justice, and even etiquette and moral education...
But Jiang Ming scoffed at their argument!
Jiang Ming believes that the key to whether a country is well-governed lies in the happiness of its ordinary people.
One of the most important indicators is the smiles on the faces of ordinary people's children...
Children are known for their innocent and unfiltered speech; they are the least likely to hide their emotions and feelings.
Adults, due to considerations of self-interest, often disguise their emotions; even when they are very angry, they still pretend to be happy and laugh...
But children don't. Children can cry when they want to cry and be happy when they want to be happy.
Their true feelings are written all over their faces; they are also a barometer of whether a country's ruler is governing well...
If a ruler can make the children of his people smile every day, then he has succeeded in governing!
The lives of ordinary people are truly happy!
......
Listen carefully to the underlying meaning... Wei Ji discerned some hidden meaning in Jiang Ming's words.
Originally, he thought Jiang Ming was a powerful and ruthless figure who ruled the world by virtue of his personal abilities and formidable martial prowess! Moreover, he was vengeful and ruthless! In fact... he was extremely cruel, often subjecting others to torture or wiping out entire families.
However... after this conversation, Wei Ji discovered that Jiang Ming wasn't entirely like that!
Or perhaps, this is only one side of Jiang Ming!
His other side, and the deepest side, is still about people's livelihood!
He hoped that ordinary people could live good lives, especially that children would be cherished...
It must be said that Wei Ji's ability to see through people's hearts was quite remarkable!
Others don't understand Jiang Ming, and even... Chen Damei and Dugu Yan don't necessarily understand Jiang Ming very well, but Wei Ji does!
In truth, Wei Ji also deeply respected Jiang Ming, and even admired him!
If it weren't for the fact that it involved the interests of his own descendants, he wouldn't have rebelled and risked his life against Jiang Ming!
Unfortunately, the limitations of their social class directly led to their eventual estrangement...
Wei Ji was in a desperate situation: surrendering was not an option, fighting was not an option, and defending was not an option either. In desperation, he came up with a terrible idea: to capture all the children in the entire city of Daliang and put them on the city wall as hostages!
If Jiang Ming continues to attack Daliang City, he will throw all these children off the city wall and let them fall to their deaths!
He also knew that this move would greatly anger Jiang Ming, and it might not even be effective. It would only make the people in the city hate him to the bone and give them a better opinion of Jiang Ming.
But given the current situation, he had no better options...
This is the only way to perhaps soften Jiang Ming's heart and force him to withdraw his troops, thus buying time for Qi's reinforcements.
This also shows...
In the eyes of the feudal landlord class, the lives of ordinary people were not even worth mentioning!
As long as it protects themselves, using them and their children as shields isn't too much to ask...
When Wei Ji shared his ideas with the entire court of civil and military officials, they were all dumbfounded...
They even suspected that Wei Ji might have lost his mind...
"Your Majesty! This is unacceptable!"
Wei Xiang advised, "Although our Wei Kingdom is in a critical situation right now, the people still support us. If we take their children hostage and put them on the city walls to force Jiang Ming to withdraw his troops, the people of Wei Kingdom will hate us to the core!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The Minister of Justice of Wei also advised, "If we do this, it will make Jiang Ming appear to be a benevolent and righteous leader... which will cause us to lose the hearts of our people!"
"Bullshit about public opinion!"
Wei Ji cursed, "What do you bunch of idiots know? Right now... survival is the key! Yes! Jiang Ming is indeed hateful, but he also has admirable qualities... But right now, we really can't worry about that anymore. Otherwise, when Jiang Ming's army storms into the city, your wives and children, your property, and even your human skin will all be cut off by Jiang Ming..."
Upon hearing this, everyone present felt a chill run down their spines and exchanged bewildered glances.
"Jiang Ming, oh Jiang Ming..."
Wei Ji sighed and said, "You are a remarkable person, but... you also have weaknesses. Don't think I can't see them. Others' benevolence is just superficial benevolence... your benevolence is true benevolence!"
Having said that, Wei Ji stopped wasting words with the court officials and directly issued the royal decree.
In a short time, tens of thousands of soldiers in Daliang City plundered children from the common people. The oldest were seven or eight years old, and the youngest were still in swaddling clothes. All of them were captured by the Wei soldiers and tied together with ropes...
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