Chapter 38
Absolute Ruler
The soldiers spread out, and the military horse carrying an armored man appeared in their line of sight.
Everyone’s hands froze in unison.
His arrogant gaze swept across everyone. When his gaze landed on Bai Wutong and the others’ huge convoy, he smiled in satisfaction.
Very good. His trip had not been in vain.
When his gaze landed on Qing Feng’s face, who was being held by Bai Wutong’s axe, his eyes widened in shock. Then, he laughed arrogantly. “I was wondering who it was. To dare to fight in Beiyun City, it turns out to be the honorable commander of the Dark Guards Team!”
“The late emperor has pa.s.sed away. Are you so eager to follow him? Your head actually landed in the hands of a woman. I wonder if you relied on your b.u.t.t to become a commander… Hahaha…”
w.a.n.g Qiong was originally a small general under Duke Ping and had a blood relationship with Consort Ping. After Duke Ping killed the emperor, his status also rose.
On the day Duke Ping ascended the throne, he immediately sent a pigeon to give w.a.n.g Qiong an important task. He sent troops from Liyang to the Beiyun City to become the garrison commander. Now, even the magistrate of the Beiyun City had to listen to his orders.
Such glory, he had thought, but he had not expected it to come so soon.
In that case, he had to protect this hard-won right.
After the Fengming City, which was guarded by Lord Ning Yuan to death, was the Jiangyuan City and the Beiyun City.
Duke Ping had secretly recruited less than 300,000 troops, and 50,000 of them were elite troops that he dispatched to protect the Imperial City.
Of the remaining 250,000 troops, Fengming City had 150,000 soldiers, while Jiangyuan City and Beiyun City had 50,000 each.
If Lord Ning Yuan was defeated, how could they resist the 200,000 cavalry of Duke Chu?
Naturally, he had to plan for himself.
Beiyun City originally only had 10,000 troops. In addition to the 50,000 troops he had brought with him now, as well as the people he had recruited at the last minute, there were less than 80,000 people.
How could 80,000 people be enough to fight a war!
And most importantly, there was a shortage of food.
Fuyang was rich in water and soil. It was possible to support a certain area usually, but the Yan Kingdom was suffering from a severe famine and Duke Ping had moved into the palace and transported most of the rations to the Imperial City to win over the people.
Lord Ning Yuan was probably starving while waiting for the emperor’s reinforcements.
If there was food, they would definitely not land at Beiyun City.
On the way here, he had his eyes on the 300,000 citizens of the Beiyun City.
The citizens in the city definitely still had some food. As long as he filled up the granary first and gained confidence, they naturally did not have to be afraid.
Therefore, he wanted to use the excuse of sharing the emperor’s worries and difficulties to get the people to hand over all their food and force the men above the age of 15 to serve in the military.
If anyone dared to resist, they would kill their families.
Of course, w.a.n.g Qiong would not go too far.
After handing over the food, they set up a porridge shack in the city and rewarded these people with a bowl of porridge every day. This ensured that these people would beither starve to death nor be full. The men would then be forced to serve in the army and stay obedient, without any thoughts of escaping.
He had already calculated carefully. If the army expanded to 150,000 and Duke Ping could still gather some troops and rations, he might even have the ability to fight against Duke Chu and become a general with more prestige and power than Lord Ning Yuan.
The more w.a.n.g Qiong thought about it, the more he felt that it was feasible. He excitedly led his men to deal with the late emperor’s trusted subordinates as soon as he landed. This would prevent these people from trying to instigate a rebellion. Then, he quickly took advantage of the fact that the commoners were not prepared and searched their houses overnight to capture them.
The Beiyun City was so big. The reason why Bai Wutong and the others were targeted so quickly was because someone wanted to please w.a.n.g Qiong and told him that Lin Yue had an entire book of banknotes.
When w.a.n.g Qiong heard that Lin Yue could casually take out 10,000 taels of silver to enter the city, he thought that his household would definitely have more money.
He immediately brought a large number of people over.
He happened to b.u.mp into Bai Wutong and the others packing up to escape.
The 20 carriages really surprised him.
Immediately after, he saw the commander of the Dark Guards Team, Qing Feng, who he had once admired, land in a sorry state in the hands of a woman.
His indignance immediately turned into humiliation.
“What did you say? The late emperor died?” Qing Feng asked in shock, ignoring the axe in Bai Wutong’s hand.
When she left, the emperor was still excitedly preparing to welcome Duke Ping. He even wanted to tell Duke Ping that as long as the Dark Guards Team captured Sheng Huaixuan and obtained rations and silver to fill the treasury, the two brothers would definitely be able to weaken the Duke Chu’s influence and stabilize the Yan Kingdom.
If he died… then it was definitely not a coincidence!
Who would have thought that Duke Ping, who looked mediocre and only knew how to enjoy himself, would choose to rebel at such a critical moment without any warning!
Did he not care about the consequences? At this moment, it would only make the Imperial Court and the Yan Kingdom even more chaotic.
Qing Feng’s shock made w.a.n.g Qiong even more smug. “You’re a stray dog now, and I’m a goshawk spreading my wings in the sky. Instead of dying at the hands of a woman, you might as well cut off your head and give it to me as a gift to the new emperor. If I remember you during the holidays, I might be able to burn more incense paper for you! Hahaha…” Qing Feng was the first lackey of the previous emperor, and Duke Ping would definitely kill her. w.a.n.g Qiong wished he could carry her head back and take credit for it.
In his excitement, he actually laughed like a pig.
w.a.n.g Qiong coughed lightly to hide his embarra.s.sment and said to the other members of the Dark Guards Team, “Quickly surrender and I’ll leave your corpses intact.”
He had so many people on his side, so what was there to be afraid of?
If Qing Feng was really powerful, he wouldn’t have been stopped by a woman’s axe.
As for these people, since they were targeted by the Dark Guards Team, there must be something unusual about them. If they were captured and interrogated carefully, he might be able to make another great contribution.
“The new emperor…” Qing Feng looked at w.a.n.g Qiong in a daze, a strange expression on her face.
The other members of the Dark Guards Team also revealed the same expression as Qing Feng.
When Qing Feng suddenly smiled strangely, Bai Wutong frowned and looked over. He actually saw an extremely strong sense of relief and determination in Qing Feng’s bloodshot eyes.
Bai Wutong did not know that the commander of the Dark Guards Team could only be loyal to one emperor. Now that she knew from w.a.n.g Qiong that Qing Feng would not be accepted by Duke Ping, she immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
In that case, Qing Feng wouldn’t have to hold Stinky hostage and force Sheng Huaixuan to hand over his a.s.sets.
Everyone present seemed to have ignored his words. w.a.n.g Qiong lowered his eyes and waved his hand gloomily. “Attack! Take them down, dead or alive!”
Under w.a.n.g Qiong’s command, the soldiers swarmed forward.
He did not care that there were still a group of commoners there.
Qing Feng and Bai Wutong looked at each other and understood what the other party meant. Bai Wutong retracted her axe, and Qing Feng raised her sword. She gave orders to everyone in the Dark Guards Team, “Kill them!”
“Yes!”
Bai Wutong ordered Lin Yue and Zhao Pengfei, “Clear a path outside and cover the team as they leave the city!”
“Yes!”
w.a.n.g Qiong laughed. “It’s not that easy to get out of the city!” The city gate had long been closed by him. The refugees could not enter, and the commoners could not leave. Only then could the Beiyun City be absolutely safe.
And he was the absolute ruler of the Beiyun City!
As soon as he finished speaking, Qing Feng led the members of the Dark Guards Team and arrived in front of him.