She drew her longsword and said to the others behind Fu Zhe, "Those who are willing to continue to follow me, Li Chengye, will not be treated unfairly."
Things are different now. We are no longer raising troops in the mountains, but at a critical juncture where we are fighting for our future and survival. Our 30,000 troops can only have one master.
"If there are those who harbor disloyal intentions like Fu Zhe, then let's see what their fate will be."
Ye Zhen accused Fu Zhe of disloyalty and greed for credit.
Fu Zhe clutched his chest, staring wide-eyed as he breathed his last.
As a result, the others suspected that Fu Zhe might have really done something to offend his master, which was why his master was so angry.
Some people also felt that Fu Zhe had served his master for twenty years, and it was ungrateful of his master to kill him so easily.
But some people were also eager to take over; with Fu Zhe dead, they had a chance to rise to power.
Ye Zhen saw everyone's expressions and smiled slightly.
What we want is for people's morale to be low.
She explained, “Ten thousand troops each in southern and northern Jiangsu are enough. As Fu Zhe said, once the court learns of this, it will surely dispatch troops from nearby areas to quell the rebellion.”
Leaving 10,000 troops in hiding serves both to coordinate with those inside the city and to set up an ambush outside.
Someone suddenly realized, "We understand now."
Ye Zhen nodded and pointed at Shi Yan, "Then you will lead the ten thousand troops."
Everyone looked at him. This man was the master's most trusted and valued guard. It was normal for him to lead the 10,000 troops. No one doubted it.
After giving a few more brief instructions, Ye Zhen told everyone to go and make their own preparations.
Shi Yan and the others were left behind, with two people standing guard outside the door.
Ye Zhen breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed.
Shi Yan watched with a smile and gave her a thumbs up.
My daughter did a great job!
Ye Zhen also smiled.
This method was suggested to her by her father: divide the 30,000 troops into three groups and lure them into the garrison's encirclement. As long as a few important leaders and troublemakers are killed, the rest of the soldiers are not a threat.
However, there were not many troops stationed nearby. Even with the emperor's secret order, they could only mobilize a maximum of 15,000 troops, which was not enough to contend with 30,000 troops.
Then the only option is for Father to lead 10,000 troops into the deep mountains and deal with them at different times.
Only Father can do this well.
Shi Yan instructed the other men in black, "Protect the princess well. If anything happens to her, bring me your head."
These people were the ones who followed Shi Wuxia to Dongwu, and were later sent by Shi Yan to keep an eye on Li Chengye.
Whether Shi Yan came from Dawei to Dayuan or from the capital to Sunan, he used teleportation, and the people below couldn't keep up, so they were still floating at sea.
There weren't enough people, so he had to take matters into his own hands.
Fortunately, Yin Jiuniang came along this time, and she is currently contacting various forces in the martial arts world.
With them protecting him, Ye Zhen should be safe.
But he still gave Ye Zhen a few more instructions before leaving the inn with one of the survivors.
The survivor had witnessed the torture of skinning and had been poisoned. Ye Zhen also promised that if he cooperated, he would be spared and would not dare to do anything reckless.
Ye Zhen was very confident about Shi Yan's trip.
Actually, she herself was confident, but Shi Yan, being an old father, always had more worries.
As dusk approached, various lively sounds began to fill the city.
People celebrate New Year's Eve by setting off firecrackers or banging on empty jars.
Li Chengye used the excuse that the guests from afar could not return home to book the inn for New Year's Eve, so the owner was unable to close down.
Ye Zhen asked the inn to prepare some dishes and invited everyone who was staying at the inn to come and eat together.
She picked up a cup of tea.
"Today is New Year's Eve. The city will be more lively in the first half of the night, so it's not convenient to make a move. We'll wait until the second half of the night when they've had their fun and the city guards are more relaxed before we make our move. I have important business to attend to today, so I can't drink alcohol. I'll offer you all tea for now, and we'll drink heartily after we've accomplished our mission."
Some people's expressions changed slightly. Why did their master change his mind again?
As previously mentioned, there are few cities to defend in southern Jiangsu, so the attack can begin at nightfall. By then, the wealthy families in the city will have just finished preparing their New Year's Eve dinner, which the soldiers can then enjoy after the attack.
Now that it's the Lunar New Year, are we going to leave the soldiers cooped up outside the city until the wee hours of the morning? Won't they complain?
But when it came to Ye Zhen killing Fu Zhe, no one dared to speak out. They all picked up their teacups and drank them down in one gulp.
He collapsed and died shortly afterward.
Ye Zhen had the body disposed of and instructed, "Send a message to the 10,000 troops outside the city, saying that they will wait until Li Chengye has finished celebrating the New Year's Eve and paying respects to his ancestors before they enter the city. Also, mention the falling out between Li Chengye and Fu Zhe."
The private soldiers who had been lying in wait outside the city, ready to attack and capture Sunan City, immediately began to complain when they learned that Li Chengye was lavishly eating and drinking in the city while they were starving and freezing.
They thought that once Li Chengye finished eating, they would receive the signal to enter the palace, but to their surprise, by midnight, the city gates had been rotated, and Li Chengye still hadn't sent a message.
As everyone's patience wore thin, they finally saw the signal, but by then the morale of the troops had already collapsed.
Before they could even begin their rampage upon entering the city, Yin Jiuniang, leading a group of martial arts masters, slaughtered all the leaders of the ten thousand-strong army with overwhelming force.
After the imperial garrison commander shouted that those who surrendered would not be killed, a group of scattered soldiers laid down their weapons.
The people of southern Jiangsu were undisturbed, and the 10,000-strong army was completely subdued. Ye Zhen, along with a few guards, rushed to northern Jiangsu overnight to repeat the same tactics as in southern Jiangsu...
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