Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 343 Poison?
Her movements were so swift that Murdon was caught off guard and actually managed to get a hit; the icy chill of the spear tip almost pierced the skin of his throat. At this critical moment, a stone flew from the left and hit Murdon hard on the head, knocking his head two inches to the right. The spear tip just grazed the left side of Murdon's neck, drawing a line of blood.

Jiu Que glanced at Namtso, who was panting heavily behind him, and couldn't help but sigh.

"I must say, you two are truly brothers. Your bond is genuine and deep..."

Namtso, who rushed back, scoffed at this. He and the big guy had no real affection for each other; they clearly wished the other dead. However, the other wouldn't utter such arrogant words.

Jiu Que sheathed his spear, looking helplessly at the scene before him, and muttered to himself.

"I see myself as a kind and sincere good person, so how come I seem like a complete villain in front of you two brothers? Sigh, I still hope my opponent is a complete scoundrel, so I won't hold back when I start fighting. You two seem to have such a deep brotherly bond, it makes me feel embarrassed to take action."

Namtso swallowed the blood that was about to enter his mouth and forced a pale smile onto his face.

"Although Lord Ying said that, he showed no mercy to his men."

"Of course, you and I are absolute enemies. To be lenient with the enemy is to be cruel to oneself. I'm not so ignorant as to not understand this."

"Ah, that's it."

"I originally wanted to beg Lord Ying to spare my brother's life, but now it seems unlikely."

Jiu Que brandished his spear, glanced up at the sun's position, and couldn't help but smile. It seemed the time was almost up. Did he really think he'd been dawdling for so long because he had nothing better to do?

Morton and Namtso didn't know why the woman opposite them had suddenly stopped. They were watching her warily and retreating cautiously when, in the next moment, they heard painful screams coming from all around them.

"Ahhh—it hurts so much! Mom, help me—"

Murdon watched helplessly as the nearest steppe warrior suddenly began to scratch his exposed skin violently. His once smooth face and arms were instantly covered in bloody scratches, making him look utterly wretched and pitiful.

Not only that, but pimples seemed to suddenly appear all over his face, red and swollen. These red spots seemed to be the culprits causing his unbearable pain and itching. He watched as the other person scratched those red spots and pimples hard, and pale yellow pus flowed all over his face. Then, the places where the pus had spread quickly sprouted one red spot after another.

This is a vicious cycle!
Seeing him like that, Murden felt an itch spreading across his face and body. No! He really felt itchy all over, and looking down in disbelief, he immediately saw that his hands were covered in raised red bumps!

At the same time, a deep, bone-chilling itching and pain made even a man like Murdon want to scratch it violently, but before he could, Namtso grabbed him. "Don't scratch! There's something wrong with these red dots!"

Murden wasn't someone who couldn't tolerate pain, but the extreme combination of itching and pain made his hands and feet go numb, and he felt an urge to scratch.

Namtso was not spared either; his relatively fair face was covered with red spots and pimples. He was certainly enduring great pain, but he was still able to keep himself composed.

At this point, he finally connected everything, and a deep hatred flashed in his eyes.

"I never imagined that the descendant of General Ying would be so venomous! During the battle, you actually poisoned us!"

Ying Jiuque was somewhat innocent.

"Let's not even talk about the fact that I didn't poison you at all. Even if I did, so what? Did you think smallpox in my Great Jing just appeared out of nowhere? You certainly have a good father, Khan! To unify the world, you even came up with such a vicious method as smallpox, capable of wiping out your entire race! Your delegation traveled south to the capital, infecting countless innocent people along the way. How many people died because of it? Don't tell me you knew nothing about it. There were also people on the grasslands who died from smallpox, weren't there? And what did you do about it? Didn't you just stand by and watch?"

There's a saying that goes, "You won't feel the pain until you're hit on the head."

"You think it's perfectly justified for you to poison Da Jing, but when you turn around, you're accused of being heartless? Where does that logic come from? It's like you're the one who calls the shots in this world. We might as well just shut up and play dead."

"...The Central Plains have always valued benevolence. Lord Ying doesn't seem like a person from the Central Plains."

"So what has your centuries of benevolence earned you? Do you have the slightest respect for the Central Plains? Centuries ago, you were nothing more than a small vassal state of the Central Plains. Now that you've grown strong, you want to rise up and become the masters? Fine. Battles between nations have always been unavoidable, unless one side is so powerful that the other dares not even harbor any covetous thoughts. I can understand your desire to become the stronger one, but for so many years you've harassed the people on the borders, abducted countless young men, and left women to be violated and forced to give birth to mixed-race children, their lives stained with blood and tears. Why didn't you show any mercy then?"

The two people opposite him were speechless, and Jiu Que sighed deeply.

She wasn't actually a talkative person, but she couldn't help but want to argue in situations like this. Putting aside everything else, among the aunties and sisters in the Women's Army, none of those captured by the enemy had ever had a good ending!
Even for their sake, Jiu Que could not possibly show mercy to this group of grassland people who were at a disadvantage! You are only temporarily at a disadvantage, yet you make such a fuss. The Central Plains were backward for decades before, and countless soldiers and civilians died in the war. Back then, did anyone have any sympathy or pity for them?
"It seems that you are all unwell. It's a pity that we are on the battlefield and cannot give you time to seek medical treatment."

Jiu Que flicked his wrist slightly, and the heavy spear whistled through the air. At that sound, Jiu Que saw his comrades-in-arms behind him. They roared and charged forward; they had waited so many years for this golden opportunity, how could they possibly give it up so easily?

"Brothers, let's attack together!"

Amidst the deafening roar, a sense of desolation arose spontaneously at Namtso Lake. Wise people often see further ahead; it seems that from this day forward, the nearly century-long dominance of the grasslands will be shattered. Will they, too, taste the suffering endured by the people of the Central Plains over the past century?
(End of this chapter)