Unlike the two cities of Shaping and Daxing, although Pingxing City was also built by the water, the water was not a stream surrounding the city, but a large desert lake.
It can be said that the entire Pingxing City is a huge oasis. The center of the city is a freshwater lake. Even small crops can be grown in the oasis, which is enough for the people of Pingxing City to be self-sufficient. It can be said that Pingxing City is the best and largest city in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
However, its location is a bit far from the center of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which makes it inconvenient to travel in the desert and meet with the king. Therefore, the first generation of kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty did not set the capital here.
Rong Chengxuan also knew the situation in Pingxing City long ago and had no intention of destroying it, so this time he followed Yun Wanwan's instructions and threw a grenade when entering the city gate, killing the commander of the Western Zhou army. He never threw a grenade again after that.
How precious was the Rongchengxuan Oasis to the desert? He hoped to take over the city peacefully, adopting a relatively gentle approach to both the oasis and its inhabitants. It was best not to use grenades or landmines in Pingxing City if possible.
After all, finding such an oasis in the desert was truly rare. Rong Chengxuan hesitated to attack Pingxing City, as he himself wasn't entirely certain he could capture it overnight. So, he could only gamble, betting that Jiang Younan would succumb to the pressure from the Western Zhou monarch and lead the Western Zhou army in a decisive battle against the Beichen army.
Facts proved that Rong Chengxuan's gamble was right. He successfully captured Pingxing City without using grenades or landmines. Apart from the bombing of the city wall, no other place in Pingxing City was destroyed.
Rong Chengxuan's desire not to destroy Pingxing City coincided with the people of Pingxing City. For years, the people of Pingxing City had lived the most comfortable and prosperous lives. While other cities relied on trade between the imperial court and Beichen for food distribution, Pingxing City, with its vast oasis, had everything it needed: grain, vegetables, and fruit, it was completely self-sufficient.
They naturally love peace and hate war. When the Western Zhou army was driven to Pingxing City, the prefect of Pingxing City, if it weren't for the fact that he was an official of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he really didn't want to even open the city gates to Jiang Younan. After all, if Jiang Younan was allowed to settle in Pingxing City, it would be very likely that he would bring the war to Pingxing City as well.
This was also what the people of Pingxing City feared most. They had heard the legend that the Beichen people possessed thunderbolts. They were also afraid that if the Beichen people attacked, they would use the thunderbolts in their hands to blow up the oasis that they had relied on for generations.
Finally, Jiang Younan died and the Western Zhou army fled. Now the Beichen army entered the city. Although they did not use any heavenly thunder, the thunder that destroyed the city wall still scared them to death.
Now that the Beichen army has entered the city, the people of Pingxing City are all worriedly wondering whether the Beichen people will be like the Western Zhou army, and will only destroy and plunder after entering the city?
I also heard that their leader was the regent of Beichen. He was extremely moody and liked to kill people indiscriminately when he was unhappy. Killing people would be fine, but if he were to drop thunderbolts on Pingxing City—the people of Pingxing City couldn't imagine what kind of disaster that would be.
If it was really as they suspected, they would fight to the bitter end, even if it meant sacrificing their lives. No matter what, they would not allow the Beichen people to touch the oasis they had relied on for so long. But if it was not, and if the Beichen people could treat this city with kindness, they would be willing to accept Beichen's rule unconditionally.
For the people of Pingxing City, it doesn’t matter who becomes the emperor. As long as Pingxing City still exists, as long as they can be given the peace and freedom they are used to, and as long as they can live carefree lives like before, that’s all that matters.
After all, they were not cities of the Western Zhou Dynasty before, but cities of a small country before the Western Zhou Dynasty. After the small country was destroyed by the Western Zhou Dynasty, Pingxing City was completely included in the map of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
They had experienced the loss of their country once, so they had already let it go. No matter who became the emperor, as long as they could give them a last piece of pure land, that is, as long as Pingxing City was still there, they would accept it.
Zhou Hang, the prefect of Pingxing City, was the first to walk onto the street to meet Rong Chengxuan's army, saying that he would take them to find a place to stay first.
When Zhou Hang met Rong Chengxuan, he behaved neither humbly nor arrogantly. He just bowed and settled Rong Chengxuan's army first before telling Rong Chengxuan the thoughts of the people of Pingxing City.
"Your Highness, Pingxing City was not originally a city of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was only after the defeat of the Hada Kingdom that Pingxing City and other cities of the Hada Kingdom were included in the map of the Western Zhou Dynasty."
"The people of Pingxing City are unlike those of other cities, who are incredibly loyal to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, the people of Pingxing City have sent an official to tell His Majesty that if He promises not to touch a single piece of Pingxing City's land, they are willing to submit to Beichen unconditionally. They are even willing to immediately become citizens of Beichen."
Rong Chengxuan just laughed after hearing this. When communicating with a real person like Zhou Hang, he didn't use any empty words and communicated with him with the most sincere heart.
Rong Chengxuan didn't say much to Zhou Hang. He just explained his plan for the future governance of Pingxing City and the current living conditions of the people in Shaping and Daxing. He then told him, "If you don't believe me, I can send someone to take you to Shaping and Daxing City in person. After all, seeing is believing."
"But no matter what, I can be sure that as long as your hearts are with Beichen and you are Beichen's people, then Beichen's army will never attack you."
Zhou Hang was a cautious man. When he heard Rong Chengxuan's proposal, he immediately nodded in agreement. However, he proposed another idea to Rong Chengxuan, "If the prince still wants to use me, then I can no longer leave."
"All matters, big and small, in the city must be handled by this humble official. So if Your Highness does not mind, please allow me to select a few civilians to go over and take a look at it for you."
Rong Chengxuan naturally agreed. After seeing Rong Chengxuan's agreement, Zhou Hang did not bother to be polite with Rong Chengxuan. He immediately selected ten people from Pingxing City and asked Rong Chengxuan to send them to the two cities for inspection as soon as possible.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
