The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 761: Death of Chiyo
Liu Kan and Liu Yufei, brother and sister, both consider themselves the creators of heaven.

The heaven that the two men dream of is actually incompatible with each other. What's more terrible is that both of them have a large number of followers behind them. Whether they are willing or not, the war can only continue until death.

After Yunmeng was conquered, the army continued to advance northwest, and Xiangyang became the next target of attack.

Before Emperor Guangde reached Xiangyang, a massive army had already gathered around the ancient city. Deng Changxiong had assembled a force of over 50,000 men east of Xiangyang. Troops stationed in Xinyang and Nanyang also began advancing from north to south, pinning down the rebels' flanks.

Liu Kan sent the chief eunuch Li Juying to inform Deng Changxiong that other preparations needed to be made before the army attacked Xiangyang.

The so-called preparation was to execute all the families of the rebels who participated in the rebellion before the Battle of Xiangyang.

On the third day after the anti-rebellion army surrounded Xiangyang, Li Juying, along with a group of followers, escorted hundreds of rebel families to Nanzhang.

Nanzhang was the location of Deng Changxiong's central military camp. When Eunuch Li arrived in Nanzhang, the royal army had just recaptured the county town. The royal army and the rebels fought a small but bloody battle here.

At this time, wisps of green smoke were rising everywhere in the city, flames were on the roofs of some houses, the streets were littered with unclaimed corpses, and the moat was dyed black with human blood. Some surviving monks and Taoists were beating wooden fish, walking and stopping, and performing rituals at the East Gate where the most deaths had occurred.

A team of soldiers cleared the way ahead, and killed the wounded but not dead rebels on the ground one by one.

Li Zongguan's carriage was surrounded by soldiers in front and behind, and rumbled through Nanzhang Street.

Screams and shouts were heard in his ears. Li Juying opened the curtains and glanced out the window. He turned a blind eye to the dead bodies on the roadside. He caught a glimpse of a rebel soldier surrounded by three or four soldiers at the end of the alley not far from him. The rebel was waving his weapons desperately and still resisting stubbornly. More and more soldiers surrounded him. Perhaps fearing that the desperate rat would bite the cat, the soldiers took two steps back, removed the bayonets on the front of their rifles, and aimed their guns at the wounded rebel who was out of ammunition and food and was forced into a desperate situation.

Li Juying showed a contemptuous smile:
"To try to stop a chariot with a mantis arm is to overestimate one's own abilities! Such a stubborn person should be sent to work in the mines!"

The curtains were drawn and the carriage continued to move forward. Soon, a burst of dense gunfire was heard behind them.

Emperor Guangde's strategy for suppressing the rebellion was very clear. Simply put, it was to kill everyone. Except for those who voluntarily surrendered and came to their senses, all other people in the prefectures and cities who participated in the rebellion would be executed as long as they had any connection with the rebels.

Liu Kan's edict actually condoned the massacre of the city by various military groups.

Although the Qi army had strict military discipline, they soon discovered that this time the rebellion was different from the previous ones. In addition to dealing with the rebels who refused to give up an inch of land, the people in various prefectures also volunteered to act as the rebels' eyes and ears, and some people even took the initiative to participate in defending the city.

Therefore, the best solution for dealing with all the prefectures involved in the rebellion is to slaughter all the people in the city regardless of age after breaking the city.

~~~
A prison van creaked across the suspension bridge and entered Nanzhang City. The person imprisoned in the van was Lin Zhenyu's mother, Fujiwara Chiyoko, who was held hostage by the court.

Fujiwara Chiyoko is over 40 years old this year. Her jet-black temples are already covered with silver hairs. Youth and beauty are leaving this mixed-race beauty.

Over the years, Chiyoko has experienced a series of blows, including the death of her husband in battle and the murder of her brother.

Now, her son Lin Zhenyu will most likely die before her. This is probably what it means when an old man sends a young ghost away.

Fortunately, Chiyoko's life as a hostage is about to end, and she will soon be truly free.

Freedom was not because the emperor was merciful and decided to give this mixed-race woman a chance to live, but because she could go to another world and reunite with her husband.

Chiyoko's prison van was wrapped in black cloth, so the prisoners could not be seen from the outside. I don't know why they did this. After all, there were not many living people in Nanzhang City now.

The prison van circled the streets and alleys, and finally stopped in front of the gate of the county government office with a creaking sound. The county government office was now Deng Changxiong's central military camp.

Eunuch Li, surrounded by a group of eunuchs, came before the Grand Marshal who was fighting against the rebels.

Deng Changxiong sat in the seat of the Nanzhang County Magistrate with a worried look on his face, with battalion commanders and instructors sitting on both sides of him.

Li Juying pulled up a grandmaster chair and sat down in front of Deng Changxiong. She bowed and smiled, "Marshal Deng, it's been almost two months since we last met in Nanjing. His Majesty, mindful of your hardships during the war, specifically sent me to Xiangyang to visit you brothers. I heard that Duke Cheng has made great contributions, having broken through several enemy cities. At this rate, the army will soon completely wipe out the bandits. This is truly cause for celebration!"

Li Juying waved her fan, trying to appear heroic. The generals looked at this ambivalent old eunuch with disdain on their faces. "General Manager Li, thank you for your compliment. I wonder where Your Majesty is now?"

"The Emperor will arrive in Nanzhang tomorrow. Duke Cheng, His Majesty has asked me to ask you, how long will it take to capture Xiangyang?"

Deng Changxiong looked embarrassed. "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. The war in Huguang is going smoothly. Please ask General Manager Li to go back and inform His Majesty and tell him not to worry. The battle in Xiangyang requires long-term planning. After all, Xiangyang is not a small city like Nanzhang or Yunmeng..."

After Deng Changxiong finished speaking, he gently pushed the tea forward and made a gesture to see the guest off.

The instructor stepped forward to escort him away, but Li Juying refused to leave. Besides supervising Deng Changxiong's suppression of the rebellion, he had another, more pressing matter to attend to in Nanzhang.

"Duke Cheng's words make sense. His Majesty said that Duke Cheng is a veteran of the battlefield, and all matters concerning the war must be handled by him. Since Duke Cheng is not in a hurry, I will just pass on my message. However, I have another important matter to discuss."

Deng Changxiong quickly said, "Oh? What's the matter? Please tell me, sir."

Li Juying thought to herself, you are so shameless, Deng Changxiong. You pretend to be ignorant even though you know the truth. You clearly saw the prison van parked at the camp gate, but you still said you didn't know about it.

"It's not a big deal, actually."

Li Juying clapped her hands, and soon a eunuch came in with a prisoner in a red prison uniform. The prisoner had iron chains on his hands and body, and the prison uniform was torn to pieces by the whip.

The eunuch shouted at the prisoner to kneel down, but the prisoner was quite stubborn and refused to kneel down.

Just as the two eunuchs were about to strike them with their clubs, Li Juying waved her hand impatiently and said, "Forget it. She's the Marquis of Zhennan's wife, after all. Treating her like this would make the court seem mean and ungracious, and it wouldn't look good if word got out. You all, retreat!"

After the two eunuchs left, Li Juying examined the prisoner and said with a smile, "Lin Zhenyu let the princess go and even joined the rebels in Yunmeng. Are you really unaware of this?"

The prisoners in the prison van were silent.

"Your son has now committed the crime of exterminating his entire clan and tarnishing the reputation of the Marquis of Zhennan. You, a foreign barbarian woman, have failed to raise your son properly. You deserve to be beheaded."

When she heard Li Juying mention the child, Fujiwara Chiyoko's mood changed slightly.

"Where is Zhenyu? What did you do to him? His father is in heaven and will protect him."

Li Juying waved her hand, and two eunuchs stepped forward and dragged Chiyoko out. As Chiyoko walked out, she shouted:

"You are betraying the Emperor and Da Qi. You are traitors! My son is innocent!"

Li Juying spat and gritted her teeth, "It's a waste that His Majesty trusted Lin Zhenyu so much, giving you a house and money, but you are all stubborn and ungrateful people! You deserve to be killed!"

Deng Changxiong was about to scold him when Li Juying spoke first, "Duke Cheng, you must be aware that Lin Zhenyu has already surrendered to the rebels and is colluding with Liu Yufei. Do you think he should be killed for such a traitor?"

Deng Changxiong was silent.

"Not only must we kill them, but we must also let all the Xiangyang rebels watch and let them know what the consequences are for opposing the imperial court!"

After Li Juying finished speaking, she turned to look at Deng Changxiong and said word by word, "Since Duke Cheng is willing to plead for her, we are not heartless people. Let her live for a few more days. When the army attacks Xiangyang, we will bring this Chiyoko out and behead her in public outside the city so that Lin Zhenyu can see it with his own eyes!"

Deng Changxiong shook his head slightly. The generals sitting next to him glared at him, waiting for the commander-in-chief's order to go forward and chop the dead eunuch into meat paste.

"May I ask, sir, is this your intention or His Majesty's?"

Li Juying glanced at Deng Changxiong impatiently. "How can we, the ministers, guess what His Majesty means? We just need to do our job for His Majesty. If Duke Chengguo refuses to help His Majesty, we won't be able to report to His Majesty when we return. In short, this mixed-blood woman must die."

(End of this chapter)