Chapter 1283
Seeking the Great Righteousness of the Qin Family
Chapter 1283 Seeking the Great Righteousness of the Qin Family
"Hahaha!" Commander Yu laughed loudly, emerging from the defensive hut inside the city gate. Pointing at Su Wenlu, he said, "Then tell me frankly, what should the government troops at the two gates and the Prince of Ye do to demonstrate their ability to win to the people of Wei?!"
Yu Qianhu exuded a murderous aura that came from years of bloodshed, which made Su Wenlu somewhat timid.
"What, have you lost your tongue? If you don't have the guts, then what are you doing here causing trouble?!" Commander Yu said directly, "If the Wei army wants to win, it must kill the enemy. But you scholars want to speak up for the people, yet you dare not speak frankly? Are you afraid that if you say everything, it will affect your career, nail you down, and leave you with no way to recover?!"
These words struck a nerve with Ma Zibai, Zhang Yuanfu, Wang Huming, Qiu Nianen, Su Wenlu, and others.
"Su Wenlu, didn't you bring this up earlier? Why don't you continue to press the issue?" Commander Yu pressed on relentlessly, looking down on them.
A bunch of useless trash!
Master Kang cursed them in his heart, feeling very anxious. If Su Wenlu and his group didn't bring up the topic, the third step—begging the Qin family for righteousness and handing over the formula for the weapon—would be impossible to carry out.
"Waaah, let me go! I'm innocent! It was Liu Qing's wife who resented her parents-in-law and wanted to kill them!" Yang Ming's mother, Old Lady Yang, had already been captured by Wei's army and was shouting that she was innocent.
"Old hag, do you think our Wei army is blind? The soldiers on the city wall saw you hand a poisoned dagger to Liu Tianshi!" The soldiers quickly bound Old Lady Yang, saying, "You are one of the murderers, you can't escape!"
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Yang turned pale with fright. If she were convicted, her son Yang Ming and her grandsons would also be implicated.
That wretched woman only cares about her own survival and is unwilling to help her husband and son plan for the future, so her mother-in-law has to step in.
Now that she's been caught, her whole family will be implicated, sob sob sob!
“If you students dare not speak, then I, an old woman, will!” Old Mrs. Yang knew that only by framing the murder case in the spirit of justice could her family escape being implicated and her descendants be safe. So she took a risky step and became the one to speak out.
"The strength that enabled Great Wei to win is the divinely bestowed weapon of thunder. We must make the Qin family hand over the formula for this weapon. Only the people of the capital city will know how to make it. Only when every household has this weapon can we, the people of Wei, stay in the city with peace of mind to fight the enemy and protect the country!"
"I, Old Woman Yang, am willing to be the villain who persecutes the Qin family, even at the cost of my life, to plead for the Qin family's righteousness! I plead for the Qin family's righteousness!!"
After shouting, she couldn't catch her breath and fainted.
"Ha, men, wake her up, take her aside and make her kneel. Then bring her husband's family and her own family here and make them kneel until this matter is over!" Commander Yu ordered.
Splash! A bucket of cold water was splashed onto Old Lady Yang's face. Her face twitched, and she continued to pretend to faint, but Wei Jun beat her twice with sticks, making her scream in pain.
Upon seeing this, Su Wenlu and the others were enraged. They immediately took the moral high ground and rebuked the Wei army: "Stop! The Great Wei governs the world with loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and righteousness. How can you Wei soldiers treat an old man of such righteousness like this?!"
"Righteousness? Ha, are you sure Granny Yang is truly righteous?" Commander Yu retorted, then issued a new order: "Men, bring the families of all those who volunteered here. If you're going to be heroes, then the whole family should be heroes together. Don't leave anyone out!"
This?
Master Kang hurriedly said to Councilor Su, "Lord Su, this is against the rules. The civil service should advise against it, otherwise where is the benevolent governance?"
Councilor Su also felt this was inappropriate and spoke up, "Commander Yu, they are citizens of Wei. Although their behavior was improper and suspected of coercing the meritorious Qin family, their intentions were good, and they were acting on the side of righteousness..."
"Lord Su, this is wartime, and wartime military law applies. Since they dare to threaten suicide to coerce meritorious officials, they must be prepared to bear the consequences." Commander Yu stood firm, then asked sarcastically, "Do you think you can get away with this without taking any responsibility? How wishful thinking!"
This?
Councilor Su: "But we can't be too forceful. After all, they are Wei citizens, not enemy soldiers. They are acting out of a sense of righteousness..."
"Are they truly acting out of righteousness? Are their demands truly reasonable?" Yu Qianhu asked, staring at Councilor Su.
The final question was practically a direct instruction to Councilor Su. However, some charges couldn't be revealed now, otherwise it would be helping these troublemakers, and Commander Yu wouldn't do that.
So he only said, "If Councilor Su thinks my actions are inappropriate, then go and complain to General Chu and the King of Ye. But for now, please do not interfere with the Wei army's work!"
"You are truly an unruly and ignorant brute!" Councilor Su angrily pointed at Commander Yu and cursed.
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm a brute, I don't care about etiquette, so Councilor Su, hurry up and sue me." Commander Yu was very straightforward, almost making Councilor Su faint with anger.
"What are you waiting for? Quickly go to their registered addresses and bring their families here to be heroes!"
"Yes!" The Wei soldiers quickly sprang into action, forming groups of three, and dozens of groups of Wei soldiers rushed towards various homes in the city.
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" Old Lady Yang screamed in fright, and tried to move her body, attempting to bang her head against the ground to kill herself. However, this only attracted the attention of the Wei soldiers, who lifted her up and tied her to the execution rack, preventing her from killing herself.
"Old woman, you think you can get rid of your sins by dying after causing trouble? There's no such thing as a free lunch. You people have to pay the price before you die!"
"And your deaths are meaningless. The truly valuable deaths are those that result in killing the enemy on the battlefield!" The young Wei soldier cursed at her before being dragged away by the veteran.
"Don't waste your breath on her, just focus on your own work."
"Yes," the young soldier replied, and went to tie up the others who were still threatening to kill themselves.
The farce at the East Gate quickly spread throughout the capital city.
"Have you heard? Something happened at the East Gate! Dozens of people crashed into the gate and died! But the Wei army is unreasonable; they tied up those who pleaded for the dead and made them kneel at the gate!"
"Not only that, not only that, the commander Yu guarding the city gate also had the Wei army arrest the families of the dead and the families of those who pleaded for mercy, and they were to be forced to kneel at the city gate as well!"
"How dare this rude and barbaric man be so savage! He must be eliminated, or the entire city will die at his hands sooner or later!"
"Shh! Shut up! We're using wartime military law now. Are you trying to get yourselves killed by talking like that?!"
The story has been distorted beyond recognition; it's obvious without asking that it was the work of Master Zheng and Chief Tong.
However, some reasonable people asked, "This sounds rather nonsensical. Why would the people of Wei kill themselves in front of the city gate? There must be some reason, right?"
The men of Master Zheng and Chief Tong said, "Of course there is a reason. They said that the city is running out of food and there are no new reinforcements. They are afraid that the capital city will become a second Tianmang Prefecture. The old people do not want their children and grandchildren to be slaughtered, so they begged the Wei army to open the city gates so that the Wei people in the city can escape for their lives."
"Being trapped in the city means certain death. We must escape before the enemy's main force besieges the city!"
After hearing this, everyone nodded: "That reason makes some sense... Who wouldn't be afraid after hearing about the massacre of Tianmang Prefecture?"
"That's right. Some students, who are well aware of the fears of the city dwellers, spoke up for them, saying that only a powerful weapon can eliminate the fears of the city dwellers."
"We urge the Qin family to uphold righteousness and hand over the formula for these powerful weapons, so that every household can help make them. With enough weapons, everyone can fight the enemy and won't have to think about fleeing the city to find a way to survive out of fear of the enemy. With powerful weapons, we can fight our way to survival!"