"General, could this be a trap?" Qin Shen's first thought was that Prince Yong was feigning surrender.
After a moment of contemplation, Lu Yanzheng spoke, "Regardless of whether it's a feigned surrender or not, I will not accept this letter of surrender."
"Huh?" Qin Shen asked in confusion, "Didn't the general dislike fighting the most?"
Now that Prince Yong has stopped fighting, their general wants to fight again?
Lu Yanzheng looked into the distance and spoke after a long while, "Prince Yong is ambitious. Even if he submits, it will only be temporary. Rather than guarding against his betrayal in the future, it is better to completely subdue him now."
War naturally results in death. Whether it's the Yongwang Army or the border troops, they are all people of Dayue, and deep down he doesn't want to see such things happen.
But if we don't fight now, we'll probably lose even more lives later.
Qin Shen fell silent upon hearing this. The general's vision was far more far-reaching than his own, and he certainly couldn't afford to be careless when dealing with Prince Yong.
Leaving aside the battle in Chengguan Town, at the same time, a truly significant event was taking place in Dingshui Village.
New Year's Eve should have been a time for families to reunite and celebrate the Spring Festival. However, before the festive atmosphere in Dingshui Village had subsided, a piece of bad news struck, catching everyone off guard.
"Erleng, do you smell anything burnt?" Liu Erleng's wife asked as she turned over the sweet potatoes in the ash pit in the house.
Liu Erleng glanced at her hands and said speechlessly, "Isn't it just that you were roasting something? The sweet potato got burnt?"
Liu Erleng's wife glared at him, "Are you stupid? Is this what burnt sweet potatoes taste like?"
"I didn't smell anything either..." Before Liu Erleng could finish speaking, he heard someone shouting outside the courtyard.
"Fire! Fire!"
Liu Erleng's wife's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately extinguished the embers in the ash pond. "Quick! The fire's raging, let's go check it out!"
At this moment, Liu Erleng had already rushed to the water vat in the yard, picked up the bucket, and ran outside.
"Where is the fire? Where is the village chief? Has anyone been assigned to put out the fire?" Liu Erleng shouted as soon as he came out.
But no one responded to him, and the people who ran out were few and far between. As far as Liu Erleng could see, the whole village was ablaze with flames!
Not only that, but a raging fire had already broken out at the location of Old Lu's house at the entrance of the village, and the Chen family's house next door was also on fire!
Liu Erleng rushed towards the village entrance, telling his wife to go to the village chief's house to call for help as he ran, "Everyone's been drinking today, the village chief's probably still napping at home, hurry up and go!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Erleng's wife ran to the village chief's house without saying a word.
Her husband didn't drink tonight because he had a stomach upset a few days ago, and Doctor Gu told him not to drink alcohol, otherwise he would definitely be lying on the bed right now.
When Liu Erleng arrived at the village entrance, many villagers, young and old, who were still awake, had already arrived.
"Where are Lao Lu and his wife? They're all home!"
"Hey, you'd better stop talking and go inside to call for help!"
Li Dachui was extremely anxious and shouted, "Liu Yazi, quickly wet a quilt, I'll go call your Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu!"
Liu Yazi had already cleverly brought over a thin blanket, which was completely soaked in the water vat of the Chen family next door. When Li Dachui called out, he had already wrapped the soaked blanket around himself.
"Dad, I'm going in. You and all the uncles, break down Uncle Lu's door first!" Liu Yazi's teeth were chattering from the cold, but he didn't immediately take off his quilt.
Li Dachui felt sorry for his son and wanted to yell at him, but then Village Chief Li arrived.
"What are you all doing crowding here? Break down the door, save people!" Village Chief Li shouted angrily, all the alcohol he had drunk that night dissipating.
With him there, everyone felt like they had a pillar of support. Some immediately went to break down the doors of the Lu family and Jiang Qinyu's house, while others helped the Chen family salvage their belongings.
The fire here is too big; it's simply impossible to put it out.
The gate to the Lu family's house was kicked open, and Liu Yazi, with a wet quilt over his head, was the first to rush in, shouting as he ran, "Uncle Lu, Aunt Lu, where are you?"
He called out several times but no one answered, and he immediately realized something was wrong. He turned to the others and said, "I'll go inside and look for it. The fire is too big. Don't come in yet!"
After saying that, he rushed into the main house where the fire was the most intense.
Outside the courtyard, Chen Shao had already taken most of their belongings. He raised his arm to wipe his face and said, "It seems like no one is home at Brother Zheng's house. At Uncle Lu's house, it's just the three of them and Chen Xiuer. It's impossible for everyone to be sleeping so soundly, right? Has something happened?"
Aunt Qin also said, "When we were all having New Year's Eve dinner tonight, Sister Chen was chatting and laughing with me. There's no way they couldn't have heard such a commotion."
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Li became anxious. He glanced at Jiang Qinyu's house and saw that no one was living there. He gritted his teeth and said, "Da Chui, take some men and move all of A Zheng's belongings out of his house. Lao Meng and I will go in and rescue them immediately!"
No need to think about it, the Lu family elders have most likely met with some trouble!
With Lu Yanzheng and his wife not home, if he can't even take care of his two elderly relatives, how can he have the face to be the village chief in the future?
In the blink of an eye, Village Chief Li and Meng Tianze rushed into the fire at Lao Lu's house, their heads covered in wet quilts, while Li Dachui led his men into Jiang Qinyu's house.
Surprisingly, Li Dachui quickly grabbed a woman and ran out.
"Chen Xiuer?" Chen Shao looked at the person Li Dachui had thrown to the ground in shock. "What are you doing at Brother Lu's house?"
Chen Xiuer chuckled, "I'm already married to my cousin, so of course I have to live at his house!"
"My goodness, has Chen Xiuer gone mad?" someone exclaimed immediately.
Chen Shao frowned as he looked at her, sensing that something was off about Chen Xiuer. "Didn't you know that Brother Lu's house caught fire?"
"I know!" Chen Xiuer laughed even more heartily, pointing at Chen Shao and chuckling, "I set the fire, I set fire to all of your houses... I was going to burn you all to death!"
"If I burn it, no one can stop my cousin from marrying me! Heh... Not even my aunt. She wants to send me away, but I'll let those two old hags go first!"
Grandpa Jiang had only had a little wine tonight, and by now he was mostly sober. Hearing Chen Xiuer's words, he stomped his feet in anger, "What a disaster! Arrest this crazy woman immediately!"
Hearing this, Chen Shao finally snapped out of his shock. He, who never hit women, was now furious and kicked Chen Xiuer. "You really are an ingrate! What have Uncle Lu and the others done to you? Who in our village has offended you? You actually want us all to die!"
"Brother, I just went to check. All the fires in the village that were burning so fiercely were because they were doused with oil!" Chen Hong glared at Chen Xiuer hatefully and spat at her. "That woman is too ruthless!"
Chen Xiuer, seemingly oblivious to the pain, continued laughing, "I poured all the oil from those two families into the village! Burn it! Burn you to death! Hahaha..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
