Chapter 1519
The Final Battle, Seeking Rewards from His Majesty
Chapter 1519 The Final Battle, Seeking Rewards from His Majesty
Looking at the vast horde of Wei people ahead, the King of Ye took a deep breath and, in one fell swoop, informed the Wei people of the agreed-upon strategy: "On the 24th day of the tenth month of the fourth year of Wuxing, based on the battle situation in the capital city, and after discussions among all parties, I, the King, have decided as follows..."
Tsk, his opening is quite official.
"From this moment forward, the disease zones will be dismantled, and the epidemic prevention measures will cease. Every household can return home to reunite with their families. On the 26th, the entire nation will prepare for war. On the 27th, the entire nation will leave the city to fight and fight the enemy to the bitter end!"
"If you are unwilling to obey this king's order, you may stay in the ward, but no more doctors from the imperial guards will come to treat you!"
"If you are unwilling to leave the city to fight, or if you want to survive after the city falls, then you will have to bear the consequences!"
"As for what consequences the Wei people will face after the city falls, the captured Wei people from Tianmang Prefecture who were rescued some time ago have already shown you the consequences!"
Qi the Angel dutifully repeated the King of Ye's words three times.
Upon hearing this, Wei Min, who was present, did not feel sad or bitter. Instead, he felt a sense of relief, as if he was finally free from feeling stifled.
The King of Ye then bowed deeply and kowtowed three times in the direction where the Wei people had gathered, and shouted: "Anong of the Wei royal family apologizes to all the Wei people on behalf of the Wei royal family! In the face of this great invasion and calamity, the Wei royal family failed to protect you well, and this is the fault of the Wei royal family!"
"I and the Qi envoy have already written a letter and sent it to the capital, requesting the court to erect a monument and write a book to commemorate you all; and to reward your relatives who are in other places, as an apology and to repay the great Wei heroes for their patriotism and loyalty!"
Well, how should I put it, Wei Ren was quite moved.
But all that sentimentality is pointless and brings tears to our eyes. We've already suffered so much; what everyone's really concerned about is: "Is what the Prince of Ye said true? Will our deaths really be recorded in a monument and a book by the court? Does His Majesty care about us that much?"
"That's right! If His Majesty cared about us, he would have sent reinforcements to rescue us long ago!"
Hey, don't say things that hurt feelings.
Lord Yan hurriedly signaled the messenger to beat the drum.
The drumbeats interrupted these hurtful words.
The Prince of Ye said, “Please rest assured, everyone. His Majesty has always remembered the Wei people of our northeastern state, and General Chu is one of the reinforcements sent by His Majesty. However, the northwestern state is also fighting against the Rong bandits.”
Now that things had come to this, the King of Ye no longer concealed anything and said directly: "This time, it is a joint operation between the Western Rong and the Eastern Mo, which started from the northwest and northeast respectively, first by poisoning the city with plague, and then by attacking the city with force to destroy Wei!"
"The fighting situation in the Northwest is even more dire than here."
"So it's not that His Majesty doesn't want to send more reinforcements to the Northeast, but that he has to take care of both fronts, which leads to a shortage of reinforcements."
"But rest assured, everyone, His Majesty will not forget our efforts to exhaust the enemy's strength and help Great Wei resist the enemy. He will surely reward us handsomely!"
"Really? Does His Majesty really remember our contributions? After all, we're bound to die." The Wei people were somewhat skeptical of Emperor Wuxing.
This emperor has only been on the throne for a few years, hasn't achieved anything yet, has only run into bad luck, and has no reputation. How can people trust him?
"Pah, pah, pah, what's with all this talk about dying? What if we survive? Don't forget the enemy is also infected. Maybe we won't even need to leave the city to fight; the enemy will just die of the disease themselves, and then we'll win without lifting a finger!"
"Hahaha, Luo Xiaofang, you sure know how to dream!"
"We're about to die, and you won't even let me dream? I'll dream!" Luo Xiaofang retorted defiantly, then shouted towards the high platform, "Prince Ye, Envoy Qi, Lord Yan, General Chu, Deputy General Lang, Elder Qiong, Master Qin, if we don't die and win this battle, will His Majesty bestow upon us great rewards?"
Luo Xiaofang chirped loudly, "After all, a stone tablet can appease a group of dead people, but a group of living people is not so easy to deal with. His Majesty will not deny it, will he? If so, my family will not leave the city to fight the enemy. We would rather lie in the city and sleep, and die after the enemy army enters the city!"
"Hey, what are you saying? This is utterly treasonous!" Si Pei, who had followed up to the platform to take notes, was furious. Pointing at Luo Xiaofang, he said, "Why did you put Sister Qin's name last? Sister Qin is the one who created the Heavenly Thunder Weapon; her merit is higher than anyone else's!" That's right, higher than the Prince of Ye.
The Prince of Ye's uncle has been taking advantage of the Qin family's achievements. If it were just the Prince of Ye alone, without the Qin family's powerful tools to help him, who would listen to him!
Si Feng, Wen Xiangnan, Qi Yucong, Shen Yinming and others were very angry and cursed Si Pei in their hearts: You are a young master from a noble family, a student of Taizhou Academy, and a disciple of a famous scholar, how can you be such a lackey to the Qin family girl?
Even if the Qin family girl is very capable, you should still respect yourself and not be arrogant. Otherwise, you will be disgracing our Tai Zhou Academy.
Tsk tsk, you're all about to die, please stop pretending and be more like ordinary people.
"Because Master Qin doesn't hold any high-ranking official position, and I respect Master Qin very much, I didn't even mention Commander Jiang's name!" Luo Xiaofang said, indicating that being singled out by him was already a sign of exceptional talent.
Uh, what is this?
Si Pei agreed: "That's true."
Jia Xiang, Xue Mingyi, Uncle Qin, and the others all looked at Jiang Dalang: "..."
Jiang Dalang completely ignored them.
However, even in this desperate situation, they still had time to gossip about him and Su Su, which shows their strong will.
"Prince Ye, although Luo Xiaofang is unreliable, he has asked the right question. If we are lucky enough to win and survive, will His Majesty give each of us the reward we deserve?" Many Wei people asked, "We need real, substantial rewards, such as land, not small favors to appease us!"
Tsk tsk, what's this called? It's called that the tigers are still on the mountain, and they've already discussed what to buy for their homes after selling the tiger skin.
But at this moment, the Wei people cared deeply about this and wanted to get to the bottom of it, because: "This concerns whether it's worth dying for the Great Wei?!"
They want a single empty word, a lie, otherwise what does their death even mean?
But this question truly stumped the honest King Ye.
He was a prince, and was only allowed to sit in command by imperial decree, but he was not allowed to get involved in matters of favor or reward, after all, it concerned the national treasury and involved making decisions on behalf of His Majesty... This was a taboo.
A prince, you're acting on behalf of His Majesty, what are you trying to do? Want to die?
"Don't make things difficult for my uncle. As his status, he can't answer this question on behalf of His Majesty, but I, Qin Su, can!" Qin Xiaomi, dragging the red-tasseled spear given to her by the Duke of Yan, walked up to the high platform again.
She walked leisurely, but the way she dragged the spear was too arrogant, creating an arrogant yet leisurely demeanor.
Click, click, click—the sound of a spear being dragged up and down the steps.
A moment later, she walked to the platform, and with a flick of her hand, a red-tasseled spear was planted upright on the platform. Standing there with a spear, she looked down at the Wei people, smiled, and said, "I can assure you all that as long as we win and survive, His Majesty will surely grant us a great reward of more than ten acres of land and exemption from all kinds of corvée labor and exorbitant taxes for more than ten years!"
"Wow!" Everyone gasped in shock, then said to her, "Master Qin, you're just bragging. What if we win, but His Majesty doesn't give us such a reward?!"
Qin Xiaomi smiled upon hearing this...
Uncle Qin's heart skipped a beat, and a premonition that "my whole family is doomed" rushed to his head. He ran towards the high platform to stop Qin Xiaomi from speaking.
Unfortunately, it's too late.
Qin Xiaomi said, "If His Majesty doesn't give it to us, we'll march to the capital and demand a reward from him!"
Thump, thump—bang, bang—several heavy objects fell to the ground.