Chapter 112: This Glory, We Share Together! |
Only the person at the very front sat down.
When Song Shi'an invited them with a smile, the rest became uneasy and restless.
They hadn't expected anyone would actually dare to sit.
And the moment Song Shi'an's brow furrowed slightly, everyone quickly dropped to their knees in unison.
The brainless fool who had sat down also scrambled to his feet, but stumbled and fell to the ground. Taking advantage of his prostrate position, he kowtowed repeatedly to Song Shi'an: "This humble one has no eyes... this humble one knows his error!"
"Look at me."
Song Shi'an spoke coldly.
The man kowtowing immediately raised his head to look at him, his forehead smeared with blood.
The remaining few people also trembled as they gazed at this man who had achieved heaven-defying merit.
This question terrified them so badly their hearts nearly stopped—not one person dared to speak.
"So none of you wrote them?" Song Shi'an asked in return.
"This subordinate wrote one!" Soon, one person answered. "This subordinate was ignorant, this subordinate was foolish, this subordinate is the most treacherous and wicked beast!"
"This lowly one also wrote one, this lowly one knows his crime, it was all because that Zhang... Zhang Wen coerced us!"
"This old fool... will never dare again, Laoye, please spare this old fool..."
Immediately, wails filled the air.
Everyone was confessing their crimes.
There was no point denying it—it would all be investigated eventually.
So to lie at this point—did they think Song Shi'an's blade wasn't sharp enough?
Song Shi'an found these voices grating and took no pleasure in them.
After all, as his opponents, they weren't worthy.
"I want to kill one to warn the rest, just like when I killed Zhang Wen's son earlier."
Song Shi'an raised his finger and pointed at them: "I see no loyalty in you, no filial piety. I must use execution to make you feel ashamed."
As soon as these words left his mouth, they all began to shake.
Was he going to randomly kill one person to intimidate the others?
Song Shi'an stared at them.
The people below were falling apart.
It was pure torture.
And he seemed to be looking at each and every one of them.
"Laoye! We have loyalty to you, we have filial piety!" Finally one person couldn't take it anymore and spoke up, his voice trembling but his logic clear: "We made mistakes before, we were unfilial, even ten thousand deaths wouldn't be enough, but please, Laoye, give us a chance to reform."
"How do you plan to reform?" Song Shi'an asked.
"The impeachment letters may have already reached the court, we all signed them and left blood seals, so we can't take them back..."
He looked like he'd been thrown into an ice cellar, his face twitching constantly as he spoke: "But we can go to Sheng'an, go to the court and confess our crimes, testify that we were coerced by Duke Zhang and forced to submit, that we wrote such things to falsely accuse such a good Laoye!"
Looking at him, Song Shi'an smiled without warmth.
"Laoye! We're willing to leave all our family members and children in Shuofeng prison. We'll go to Sheng'an alone." He spoke resolutely. "We will definitely retrieve those impeachment letters."
"Can you guarantee it?" Song Shi'an asked.
"This was our mistake in the first place, causing Laoye such enormous trouble. If we fail, you can kill all our family members!" he said painfully.
"Do you all agree with this?" Song Shi'an pressed.
Everyone nodded repeatedly, docile and obedient.
Slowly, Song Shi'an stood up: "All the farmland you own outside the city, I will confiscate entirely. Your household servants and tenant farmers will all belong to the court. All able-bodied men in your families will be conscripted. When your women reach age, the court will arrange their marriages. Are you satisfied?"
No one dared hesitate for even a moment. After kowtowing, they said in unison: "Thank you for Laoye's mercy!"
"You should be satisfied. Being allowed to live, you should be grateful."
Song Shi'an walked down from the platform.
As he passed by them, they slowly raised their heads, turned around, and watched Song Shi'an about to leave the hall.
Suddenly, he paused.
Without a second thought, everyone simultaneously bowed toward Song Shi'an's back...
Xinyue had long known that Song Shi'an was never benevolent.
He only needed to make one opening, and he could be decisive to the end.
Duke Zhang's son had been an excellent sacrifice.
"Should we go see Duke Zhang?"
As they were leaving, Xinyue asked curiously.
"Why would I go see him?" Song Shi'an asked.
"You argued with him before about dignity and made a bet." Xinyue herself took no pleasure in such things, but she knew men enjoyed it: "Why not go see his regretful, begging face now?"
"Xinyue, you underestimate me. I don't even want to see these people."
Showing off to small-time trash went against the way of power fantasy novels. For Uchiha Little Song, Duke Zhang was now just a chunin at best. Therefore, he displayed magnanimity and generosity: "I've already reconciled with past enemies."
Xinyue understood his meaning: "So Duke Zhang won't see you again until he's judged by the court for treason and his entire family is executed?"
"Yes."
"Are you about to cause even bigger trouble?"
Xinyue looked at him with subtle amusement.
"What, are you afraid?"
"I don't have that emotion."
Xinyue didn't think she had anything to fear—after all, she had no nine generations of relatives.
Moreover, some people deserved to die.
But after speaking, she suddenly realized something.
She was Wei Wusheng's personal guard. If Song Shi'an caused trouble, why should she be afraid?
His nine generations of relatives wouldn't include her no matter how you counted.
"After a thoroughly satisfying victory, celebration is of course more important than settling accounts."
Song Shi'an smiled and instructed a county clerk: "Take out all the wine stored in the city. We'll need it tomorrow night."
.........
After the great battle, it took a full day and a half to collect all the fallen Yu soldiers who hadn't been burned or buried earlier. They were interred together in over fifty large pits outside Shuofeng city, and over fifty tombstones were erected.
At the same time, all the usable Yu and Qi armor was collected, hastily repaired, and then equipped on all the remaining able-bodied men, forming a fully-armored army.
In ancient times, armor was far more valuable than soldiers' lives.
Captured armor was also an important strategic resource.
Armies were distinguished mainly by the standardized undergarments beneath the armor and the helmets.
Moreover, after such a brutal battle, those who survived were all demons from a Shura purgatory—their combat ability had significantly improved.
Such prolonged real combat could transform new recruits into veterans in a short time.
This was Wei Wusheng's precious foundation.
Compared to noble princes like Jin and Wu, Little Wei possessed something they didn't—battle-hardened personal troops.
So on the second day, after all the corpses were completely cleared, the burials and tombstones completed, and Ji Yuan's great army had thoroughly retreated, Shuofeng city began its grand celebration.
Of course, since Shuofeng's position was too critical and too close to Chishui River, half the soldiers still needed to rotate guard duty.
"You're not going to drink?"
That night, Ran Jin walked over to Zhao Xiang, who was lying on the ground sulking, and asked.
"I'm just a common soldier, who am I supposed to drink with?" Zhao Xiang glared at him. "With those peasants?"
Like Han Yuan, he came from generations of marquises and dukes.
He couldn't endure such humiliation.
Even though he'd been demoted and stripped of everything, he was still the son of Marquis Xun Zhao Lun!
Sitting beside him, Ran Jin reminded him: "You'd better not provoke that Song Shi'an."
"His father is merely the Sheng'an Magistrate, while my father is Marquis Xun. Why should I fear him?" Zhao Xiang sat up, somewhat agitated as he asked back.
Hearing this, Ran Jin finally showed his disgust and demanded: "Zhao Xiang, do you actually understand how badly we lost this battle?"
"..."
This one sentence left Zhao Xiang completely stunned.
Of course he knew how badly they'd lost.
If Shuofeng hadn't held, and all of Northern Liang was lost, Great Yu wouldn't have even the slightest barrier left.
That's why he'd said things like 'commit suicide and return to heaven,' trying to use a self-torture scheme to gain the Emperor's sympathy and save his life.
"Now we've lost."
Pointing at himself, Zhao Xiang argued: "But we're meritorious nobility. Once this matter passes, if I earn some more military merit, I can return to my position. The army will be returned to us too."
"Your brain really is broken."
Ran Jin was immediately speechless and said bluntly: "The army is only so big. If the Sixth Prince has earned merit and enters, then who exits?"
"..."
In an instant, Zhao Xiang was enlightened.
The total number of troops didn't change—it even decreased.
If someone had to enter, someone definitely had to leave.
And the one giving up their position... was the Zhao family!
Times had changed.
It wasn't like Xia Chun, who could keep his position despite some defeats.
Because if he was replaced, no one could take over—surely they wouldn't hand power to Jiangnan aristocratic families?
But now, even Ji Yuan acknowledged Wei Wusheng.
So everyone was replaceable.
"If you don't go suck up to Song Shi'an now, you won't even get a deputy general position."
Ran Jin stood up and patted the dust off his rear.
"We're meritorious nobility, how can we suck up to Song Shi'an?" Zhao Xiang still couldn't accept it, but couldn't be as stubborn as before. He said in a daze: "At most, he should be the one to recruit me, and then I'd join His Highness's faction..."
Just then, a cavalryman holding a torch announced throughout the city: "His Highness orders all Forbidden Army troops from Sheng'an to gather at the county office!"
Hearing this, Ran Jin smiled, looking at Zhao Xiang who looked as pitiful as a clown: "Recruit you? There's no place for you there at all."
.........
A sixth-rank civil official entered the office and reported to Song Shi'an, a seventh-rank official: "Song-daren, all personnel have been counted. With the original troops plus the other able-bodied men from the city reorganized, we have approximately a four-thousand-man army. The remaining civilians plus wounded and unusable soldiers total about fifteen thousand people."
In total, nineteen thousand people.
In these four-plus months, Shuofeng had lost twenty-six thousand people.
On Ji Yuan's side, the estimate was thirty-five to forty thousand soldiers, and about eighty thousand laborers had died.
At least one hundred forty thousand people, not counting the wounded.
What the hell—there were only about three hundred thousand people total.
The Battle of Shuofeng was already the most brutal major battle in the world in nearly a decade.
Add in the three campaigns at Tongmen, Wuwei, and Zhao Xiang's battles—the entire Northern Liang war had claimed over two hundred thousand lives...
Truly cruel.
"What about the Forbidden Army from Sheng'an?" Song Shi'an asked.
"Oh right, two hundred ninety-eight remain in total."
"Mm." Song Shi'an nodded, then looked at him. "Then you can go out and drink and celebrate with the soldiers, daren. The other county officials and clerks in the office should go too."
"..." The civil official froze, then bowed to Song Shi'an. "Very well, Song-daren."
Just like that, he led 'the others' out.
In the entire county office, there wasn't a single person left except the Forbidden Army.
The arriving Forbidden Army troops were all sitting on the ground throughout various spaces in the office, chatting and laughing together.
Although they didn't know why they'd been called here, since they were all brothers-in-arms, just talking together was quite enjoyable.
"San Gou, take a group of brothers and move all the wine from the storehouse outside."
Song Shi'an ordered.
"Yes!"
San Gou obeyed.
Song Shi'an then slowly walked out from the main hall.
As he entered the courtyard, the two hundred-plus men in various locations all rose and knelt on one knee, fists clenched.
Facing Song Shi'an, their expressions were resolute.
The original one thousand Forbidden Army troops, loyally united around Little Wei and Song-daren, would make Great Yu great again.
United! In! Heart!