Chapter 295 Selling Oneself
The emperor's ruthlessness instilled fear in everyone, and they dared not ask the emperor to release the people. They could only turn to the seemingly easy-going King of the Northern Frontier for help.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is a common human failing. Seeing that everyone present was elderly, weak, women and children, Wen Zhiming unusually restrained his intimidating demeanor, but what he gained was an attempt to take advantage and morally blackmail him.
Wen Zhiming smiled faintly and said, "Does everyone believe that if I withdraw my troops, your families will be safe and your officials can return to their posts?"
Everyone saw that although the King of the Northern Frontier was smiling, his aura had clearly turned cold.
Knowing he was unhappy, but thinking of his family members who might die at any moment, someone still mustered up the courage to say, "His Majesty's words are law, and what he said himself should not be false. If no one rebels, there is no need for His Majesty to kill officials."
"That's right. His Majesty usually values my master highly. If he weren't in such dire straits, he wouldn't have threatened an official's life."
"An emperor who would push his officials to their deaths when faced with danger, what makes you think he would keep his word?" Wen Zhiming chuckled softly. "He is extremely suspicious. Even if I withdraw my troops and he temporarily releases the officials, do you think these officials who have witnessed his ruthlessness and cunning will be safe?"
He certainly wouldn't kill them all at once, but rather eliminate them gradually.
Who can guarantee that their own family member won't be among the first? And then who can they turn to for help?
No one dared to answer. They knew a little about the emperor's character and that he was not very trustworthy, but since they could die later, no one wanted to die now.
I'll live one more day as long as I can.
However, Wen Zhiming's current attitude clearly indicated that he was unwilling to comply with their wishes. If they continued to argue, the Northern Frontier King might also lose his temper, and his hundreds of thousands of troops would be no laughing matter.
No one knows who started it, but everyone else followed suit and knelt down.
"I beg the King of the Northern Frontier to save my husband's life. If he is saved, my whole family will serve the King of the Northern Frontier without any disloyalty."
"I beg the King of the Northern Frontier to save my father. I am willing to follow the King of the Northern Frontier and storm the palace together."
"From this day forward, all descendants of the Liu family will follow the lead of the King of the Northern Frontier without hesitation, even unto death!"
"..."
They were all relatives of officials, and few of them were fools.
Since the emperor can't be relied on no matter what, it's better to seek refuge with the King of the Northern Frontier, whose reputation is far superior to that of the emperor.
Once you've become one of the Northern Frontier King's own people, you won't worry about him not saving you.
Wen Zhiming's expression remained indifferent. He showed no anger when he was morally blackmailed by the crowd, nor did he feel any pride when the crowd followed and begged him.
Ye Guhong looked at his disciple, who was beaming with joy but not anger, and nodded in satisfaction. "Not bad," he thought, "this silly boy has the composure and calmness of a king or emperor."
After a while, Wen Zhiming had his men help everyone up.
"As I said before, I will do everything in my power to rescue all the officials. Even if it's a perilous situation, I will ensure the hostages return home safely. You may all go back now and await good news!"
This time, no one lingered. After thanking them, they quickly dispersed.
Wen Zhiming and Ye Guhong walked inside, their expressions no longer as cheerful as before. They had finally managed to rescue the last hostage, only to suddenly find themselves facing over a hundred more.
Ye Guhong frowned and pondered, "Yue Jiaoman is not easy to talk to. She just rescued one person. If we ask her to rescue so many hostages, she might not agree. Yue Jiaoman does dote on her junior sister Yue Jiaoluo. Why don't you, disciple, suffer a little loss and sacrifice your charm to win over Yue Jiaoluo, and then let Yue Jiaoluo win over Yue Jiaoman. So many lives, it's not too bad in the end."
Wen Zhiming was at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Just a quarter of an hour ago, Ye Guhong warned him to be careful of Yue Jiaoluo, but now, in order to save her, he's immediately asking him to sacrifice his virtue.
“Master, this group is large and under the Emperor’s special protection. Yue Jiaoman may not have such great abilities. Moreover, I have a wife and children. I cannot sell myself for the sake of justice or the lives of others,” Wen Zhiming said helplessly.
"What do you mean by selling yourself?" Ye Guhong laughed. "You put it so harshly. This is a heroic act of saving lives. Alright, if you don't want to, fine. If you keep going, your master will sound like a brothel madam forcing people into prostitution. Whether Yue Jiaoman can do it or not, or whether she'll agree or not, there's no harm in asking her. Maybe she has other ideas."
Wen Zhiming originally wanted to hold a meeting with his subordinates to discuss the matter, but he felt that his master's words made sense, so he went to see Yue Jiaoman with Ye Guhong.
After hearing what Ye Guhong said, Yue Jiaoman shook her head decisively.
“You overestimate me. The reason I saved that girl before was because the Cold Palace was remote and she was petite. But now all the civil and military officials who are imprisoned are men, and they are all heavily guarded. Even if I had three heads and six arms, I would not be able to rescue them.”
If a tunnel needs to be dug quickly, it can only be a passage that can just accommodate one or two people; the wider the passage, the more time it takes to dig.
Furthermore, the air in the tunnel is not circulating, so you have to come out quickly. Ordinary people can't climb out of the tunnel fast, and they usually have to be carried out by her.
Putting aside the differences between men and women, rescuing Meng Xiyao alone had exhausted most of her strength. Now she simply didn't have the energy to bring anyone else out. Moreover, the place was crowded and chaotic, and if she showed herself, it might cause a disturbance and be discovered by the soldiers.
All these factors combined make it almost impossible for her to save these people.
Ye Guhong was slightly disappointed after hearing this, but Wen Zhiming had already anticipated this outcome.
"We were being presumptuous, please forgive us, senior."
Yue Jiaoman didn't even bother to speak to him again and turned to leave.
Ye Guhong snorted at the back of the moonlit figure and said to Wen Zhiming, "What's there to be proud of? My most beloved junior sister still can't have my disciple."
Normally, Wen Zhiming would always respond to his master's teasing, but now that the lives of all the officials were at stake, he had no mood to argue with his master anymore.
Seeing that Wen Zhiming was summoning his generals to discuss important matters, Ye Guhong, in order to avoid suspicion, did not want to go in and simply waited outside.
Wen Zhiming knew that Ye Guhong's hearing was good enough to hear clearly even outside. His master wanted to join in the fun but didn't want him to be criticized, so Wen Zhiming didn't insist. He instructed his subordinates to bring Ye Guhong a stool and then treated his master as a guard at the gate without any qualms.
While Wen Zhiming and his generals were pondering a good plan, someone had already knocked on the door of Meng Lingge and the others' room.
"Your Highness, it was the King of Northern Frontier who sent me to fetch you. The King of Northern Frontier has already entered the capital and is staying at the Prince of Anshun's residence. He is worried about you, so he specially ordered me to take you there tonight to meet him."
The soldier who opened the door was indeed wearing the uniform of the Tiger Soaring Army, and he addressed Meng Lingge as Princess, which shows that he knew her true identity. No outsiders knew about this place.
On the surface, it seemed that Wen Zhiming had indeed sent someone to pick her up and take her to the capital.
But Meng Lingge felt something was off. Given Wen Zhiming's attention to her and his caution, even if he couldn't come in person, he should have chosen one of his three generals (Cao Ran, Ren Yang, and General Liu) to pick her up.
Instead of sending a round-faced soldier she didn't recognize at all, who only brought four soldiers with him.
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