905 Surrender, if you want to win, you have to win beautifully
That night, the Imperial Guards searched eighteen households, including the Feng Mansion, in the name of catching an assassin. The entire imperial city was under martial law, but after a whole night of hard work, they didn't even find a single bird.
The Imperial Guards returned empty-handed and went back to the palace to report. They thought that the Emperor would at most reprimand them, but they did not expect that the Imperial Guards were not as lucky as Fu Lin. The Emperor was very dissatisfied with the performance of the Imperial Guards and directly dismissed several of them. The commander of the Imperial Guards was replaced by a man named Wang.
Afterwards, Wang Jinling learned about this and smiled in an unfathomable manner. He knew that this was the emperor's way of comforting the Wang family and expressing his satisfaction with the Wang family's performance.
This is the emperor. With just a small favor, he wiped out the damage done to the Wang family. At the same time, he told Wang Jinling that the Wang family should do something to repay the emperor’s kindness.
The incident of the Imperial Guards imposing martial law throughout the city to capture the assassin caused a huge uproar and could not be concealed at all. Seeing the emperor's approach, he had no intention of concealing it either, and the next day the emperor summoned Ye Ye to the palace.
"Cousin, the emperor summoned you, it must be related to the death of my uncle. When you see the emperor in the palace, you must not get angry with him, and don't tell him what to do. My uncle died in Dongling. Even if we do nothing, the emperor must give us an explanation." Su Wan tidied up Ye Ye's clothes and reminded him carefully.
In just three days, Ye Ye looked like a different person, as if he had aged dozens of years overnight. The arrogance between his eyebrows was replaced by a sinister look, and his fair and handsome face became darker and thinner, looking a lot more mature.
The young master of Yecheng, who was once high-spirited and ignorant of the immensity of the world, has finally grown up, but the price of this growth is too high.
"I understand. Don't worry, Wanwan." Ye Ye has changed, but his love for Su Wan has not changed. Gently stroking Su Wan's injured cheek through the gauze, a hint of guilt flashed in Ye Ye's eyes.
Su Wan smiled gently: "Cousin, go quickly, don't keep the emperor waiting for too long."
Ye Ye nodded and left quickly. After Ye Ye left, Su Wan could no longer hold on to the smile on her face. She reached out and touched the injured half of her face, and two lines of tears slowly fell...
Just as Feng Qingchen thought, the death of Lord Ye City was a heavy blow to Ye Ye and Su Wan. From then on, Ye Ye had to shoulder the rise and fall of Ye City.
The current Ye City is no longer what it used to be. Without the protection of the Lord of Ye City, Ye Ye must seek external aid if he wants to support Ye City. The best way to seek external aid is through marriage, and the object of the marriage can never be Su Wan.
Both Ye Ye and Su Wan are very clear about this. Even if they don't need to rely on marriage to win over forces, Ye Ye must marry a wife whose maternal family is powerful, and Su Wan is definitely not a good choice.
"Ye Ye meets the emperor. Long live the emperor." Ye Ye has complicated feelings towards Dong Ling. His father died in Dong Ling, but now he has to rely on Dong Ling.
"No need to be polite. Please take a seat." The emperor was quite kind to Ye Ye, which made Ye Ye's mental pressure much less. After all, the incident he had caused in Feng Mansion before was not really pretty.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I wonder what the Emperor wants to talk to you about, Ye Ye?" Ye Ye sat down and went straight to the point.
The emperor signaled to the eunuch beside him and handed a box to Ye Ye: "I am very sad about the death of City Lord Ye. The thief dared to kill in Dongling. I feel ashamed of City Lord Ye. Fortunately, I have found the person who killed him. This can be regarded as comforting City Lord Ye's spirit in heaven."
"Xi Ling? How could he be from Xi Ling?" Ye Ye looked at the evidence in front of him with confusion.
Ye Ye is not an idiot. It is impossible for him to believe everything the emperor says. Besides, it is unbelievable that the murderer is from Xiling.
Ye Ye believed that there was no hatred between Yecheng and Xiling. How could Xiling risk offending Dongling and Yecheng by killing the Lord of Yecheng in Dongling?
"Come to think of it, this is still my fault." The emperor sighed and asked the eunuch to give another wooden box to Ye Ye.
Ye Ye opened it and jumped up from his chair. "What? My father signed a surrender treaty with Dong Ling and became a vassal of Dong Ling. Dong Ling can send troops to Ye City. How is this possible?"
This is a complete loss of power and humiliation to the city. If this treaty comes into effect, the Ye family will no longer be the king of Ye City, but rather the subjects of Dongling. Dongling's army can enter Ye City, and the Ye family's control over Ye City will also be weakened.
Ye Ye's reaction was within the emperor's expectations. The emperor was not angry, but the smile on his face disappeared. He said in a businesslike manner: "Young Master Ye, you can verify whether this clause was signed by your father. There is no need for me to falsify such a thing.
You probably don't know the situation in Yecheng. Yecheng is about to become a deserted city. Even if your Ye family controls the entire Yecheng, you can't afford the Ye family cavalry.
Of course, this clause was signed between me and Lord Ye. Now Lord Ye is dead, and I am not such a tyrannical person. I hope that Lord Ye is willing to submit to Dongling. If Lord Ye is unwilling, this clause will be considered non-existent. "
The emperor's indifference and dominance made Ye Ye stunned. He didn't know how to respond for a moment and just stared at the terms of the country and the city.
Yecheng allowed Dongling to send 50,000 troops to garrison in Yecheng, and allowed the people of Dongling to settle in Yecheng and do business in Yecheng. Dongling provided Yecheng with 300,000 taels of military funds every year and guaranteed the dominant position of the Ye family in Yecheng.
This treaty did indeed cause the Ye family to lose control of Ye City, but on the other hand, it also saved Ye City and gave the Ye family enough face. If Ye City surrendered to Dong Ling, it could still retain its cavalry and the position of city lord of the Ye family.
With soldiers and horses in hand, there will be a possibility of turning things around in the future. When the Lord of Ye City signed the clause that day, it was not a blind surrender. The economy of Ye City suffered a severe blow and Ye City could not afford soldiers and horses. If it did not rely on Dongling, it would be unknown how long Ye City could last. Relying on Dongling at least bought Ye City a few years.
The content written in this clause is only temporary. Political struggle can never be maintained by a piece of paper. Strength is the hard truth. The final result is that either the Ye family borrows money from Dongling to make the cavalry stronger and drive Dongling's troops out of Yecheng, or Dongling's infiltration is successful and controls Yecheng and the Yecheng cavalry bit by bit.
It is best to attack with a strategic plan. It only takes some military effort and no soldiers are needed to capture Night City and the Night City Cavalry. This is definitely a good deal for Dongling.
Of course, whether or not Yecheng can be taken over is still unclear. After all, the Ye family is the natives of Yecheng, and it is not easy for Dong Ling to infiltrate the management of Yecheng. It will depend on who has the better strategy at that time.
There is no free lunch in this world. Dong Ling would not help Ye Cheng without any reason. Ye Ye understood this very well. It was because of this that he believed that this clause might have been signed by his father and Dong Ling.
The 50,000 soldiers of Dongling in Yecheng are no match for the Iron Cavalry of Yecheng and cannot affect the control of Yecheng. Many people have left Yecheng and business has basically lost order. If the people and merchants of Dongling are willing to enter, it will be beneficial to the recovery of Yecheng.
Ye Ye did not answer the emperor's words, but was calculating the pros and cons in his mind. Should he agree to this clause? Should he accept Dong Ling's assistance and submit to Dong Ling?
The emperor was not in a hurry and waited quietly for Ye Ye to express his opinion. The emperor knew that Ye Ye would definitely agree because Ye Ye had no other choice.
For Ye Ye, the Lord of Ye City died at the hands of Xiling, so it is impossible for Ye Ye to cooperate with Xiling. The civil strife in Nanling is serious, and Nanling Jinfan is busy taking care of himself, so how can he take care of the Su family and Ye City? As for Beiling, they still need rescue from other countries, so how can they help Ye City?
The situation in Night City is very bad. In the past period of time, prices have skyrocketed, causing a large amount of silver and money to be lost. People are scrambling to stockpile daily necessities, and there are not many reserve materials such as food left.
It has become a trend to purchase supplies within Yecheng, but merchants have withdrawn from Yecheng and no longer cooperate with Yecheng. Yecheng cannot buy things from outside, and local supplies cannot be sold to the outside world. Now Yecheng has almost no source of silver and money. With the storage of the Ye family, it can only support the Yecheng cavalry for half a year at most. And this is the case when Dongling does not suppress it. If Ye Ye does not depend on Dongling, then the emperor will not be lenient.
The emperor has been keeping an eye on Yecheng. When problems in Yecheng broke out, the emperor also secretly increased pressure. In the emperor's view, Yecheng's surrender was only a matter of time, and the death of Yecheng Lord was also within the emperor's plan.
Compared to City Lord Ye, the Emperor is more willing to cooperate with someone like Ye Ye. If City Lord Ye is still around, Dong Ling’s chances of winning are slim, but if it’s Ye Ye, Dong Ling has at least a 70% chance of winning.
The Emperor used a killer from Xiling to assassinate the Lord of Ye City, and deliberately created confusion to pin the blame on the Ninth Prince and Feng Qingchen. Later it was discovered that the murderer was related to Xiling. When Ye Ye became suspicious, he threw out a contract for Ye City to submit to Dongling.
The emperor didn't need to say anything. When Ye Ye saw these things, he would naturally think that Xiling was unwilling to see Yecheng submit to Dongling, so he assassinated the Lord of Yecheng in Dongling's territory and put the blame on Dongling and the Ninth Prince, thus destroying the cooperation between Yecheng and Dongling.
Once the cooperation between Dong Ling and Ye Cheng was broken, Ye Cheng would have no choice but to rely on Xi Ling. In Ye Ye's mind, Xi Ling wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Not only could he use Ye Ye to get rid of Feng Qing Chen and destroy the cooperation between Ye Cheng and Dong Ling, but he could also subdue Ye Cheng and make Ye Cheng work for him.
At this time, Ye Ye was completely led by the emperor. As the emperor expected, Ye Ye thought again and again, and knelt in front of the emperor: "Your servant Ye Ye is willing to submit to Dongling, and the people of Yecheng are the people of Dongling."
"Hahaha~~Okay, okay, please stand up, my dear." After getting the answer he wanted, the emperor stood up with satisfaction, walked around the desk, came in front of Ye Ye, and helped Ye Ye up.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your grace." Ye Ye felt a little unnatural when he said the word "Your Majesty", but the emperor did not take it to heart. In the emperor's eyes, Ye Ye's performance was good enough.
If he hadn't acted like this, the emperor would have been worried about him returning to Yecheng and taking over the position of Lord of Yecheng...