The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 221 I have to die! If I don't die, how will they live? (3k)

The army camp was in complete chaos.

However, only the central command tent remained steadfast and unshakable.

Because all the soldiers here are veterans who followed General Yingtian from the very beginning!

The severe drought in Southwest China began three years ago.

After the New Year, no more rain fell. However, this place was known as a water town in the southwest, with rivers and lakes everywhere, so neither officials nor civilians were overly worried at first and continued to farm as usual.

Even the elders who were well-versed in the weather believed that the harvest would at most be slightly less than in previous years, and certainly not a complete loss. Many officials and even ordinary people were quite pleased that there had been no torrential rain.

After all, the southwest region is a land of plenty!
Severe droughts have been unheard of since the previous dynasty; instead, floods have been a frequent occurrence.

No torrential rain means no flooding, and no flooding means a good harvest no matter what.

But it wasn't until the rainy season was almost over and not a single drop of rain had fallen that people slowly realized something terrible might be about to happen.

But by then, it was too late. Or rather, ordinary people have no power to resist such natural disasters from the very beginning.

In the first year of a severe drought, local areas could still rely on their past savings to weather the storm. In the second year, even though the imperial court requisitioned grain from various regions for disaster relief and the emperor led a hunger strike to pray for blessings, it was still to no avail.

Who has ever seen a drought so severe that rivers have dried up?
As a result, in the third year, the Southwest Uprising broke out.

And the one who lifted the curtain on this grand event was none other than the General Yingtian, who was currently nailed to the central command tent!
They watched as countless soldiers thronged behind a certain figure in the rain, pressing forward.

These veterans, who had been holding out here for days, hurriedly got up, put down their spears, and prepared to fight the enemy.

Externally, they still saw no hope of victory. Internally, they were shocked to discover that the rebel army had already fallen apart.

They were only kept together by the powerful imperial court.

Moreover, they all knew that the general was truly on his deathbed.
No one is stupid, and there are always a few insightful people in a group. They had already foreseen that once the general breathed his last, the rebel army would fall into chaos. And the most fatal flaw was that some general would seize this moment and force the general to abdicate!
So even though the general was almost speechless, they still voluntarily stayed here to guard the place.

The purpose was to allow the general to pass away peacefully.

There weren't many of them, but they all remembered what General Yingtian meant to them!
"Have you forgotten that it was the General who gave us a way to live? So stop right now!"

The centurion, who was in charge, drew his sword and tried to stop the advancing soldiers.

This statement did indeed cause them to pause for a moment, but the leader continued to stride forward.

They followed suit.

"You really?"

Bai Chang was in a panic and was about to draw his sword to rush forward when he suddenly stopped making a sound.

Because he saw that the one leading the troops was not one of the generals of the rebel army.

Instead, it was a young gentleman I had never seen before.

"Who...no, who are you?"

He could sense the young man's distinct personality, so he unconsciously changed how he addressed him.

Looking at the young general in front of him and the old soldiers who were blocking his way, he saw...

Du Yuan said earnestly:

"I come from Hansong Mountain, and today I have come specifically to see the General."

After saying that, Du Yuan looked at the group of soldiers behind her who had come to regard her as their leader and sighed:

"They came here simply to follow me; they have no other intentions. After all, they have no one else to rely on these days."

The generals on the left and right routes are both dead, and even the Grand General is about to die of illness. The rest of the soldiers are insignificant. Under such circumstances, who can these soldiers rely on besides the immortal who is right next to them?
Bai Chang nodded blankly.

Du Yuan continued:

"Could you please make way, young general?"

The centurion hurriedly stepped aside, and the veterans also made way for Du Yuan to reach the central command tent.

Du Yuan cupped her hands in greeting to them and then stepped forward.

Seeing the immortal heading to the Great General's place, the centurion knelt down with a thud and said to Du Yuan:

"My lord, I... I'm not good with words, I'm illiterate, and I don't know what to say right now, but I want you to know."

"When we were on the verge of starvation, neither the imperial court nor the powerful clans came to our aid. It was the general who gave us a bowl of hot porridge, giving us a way to survive!"

With this beginning, the remaining veterans, and even those soldiers who had come with Du Yuan, all knelt on the ground one after another, each speaking differently, yet all saying the same thing:

"I was originally planning to commit suicide so that I could leave some meat for my child. It was the general who found food for my family!"

These words came from an old soldier with a weathered face. He sounded young, but in reality, he had been ravaged by the corruption in the southwest and was like a candle flickering in the wind.

"Of the more than three hundred men from our village, half of them starved to death before they followed the general. After they joined the general, no one went hungry, and no one died under mysterious circumstances!"

These words came from a man with a limp and an empty sleeve hanging from his arm. He had been guarding this place with his last hand, propping up his knife.

It's easy to imagine that if anyone dared to invade, even if he lost his last hand, he would still rush up with bloodshot eyes and bite off a few pieces of flesh.

"When my father was forced to his death by powerful figures for a few bites of food, it was the General who led us to tear down that scoundrel Sun's gate!"

These words were spoken by a young soldier with several gruesome scars on his face—not knife scars, but all from whipping. There were probably many more unseen marks on his body.

Amidst the chaotic sounds, some were wiping away tears, some had red eyes, and the youngest one, who looked more like a child than a soldier, was sobbing uncontrollably: "My mother said before she died that even if she died, she had to kowtow three times to the general, saying that he not only gave us a way to live, but also told us that we were fighting not to be dogs for anyone, but to earn a way to live for ourselves!"

Finally, someone started it, and hundreds of people slowly began to speak in unison:

"Please, Immortal Lord, have mercy and save the General! We'd be willing to sacrifice our own lifespans to extend his life by a few more days!"

Both the imperial court and the common people were talking about the sorcerers in the southwest who possessed magical powers and could turn beans into soldiers.

In reality, it was just a Taoist priest who couldn't bear to see people starving to death, so he gave them a handful of beans.

So they became his soldiers!

Du Yuan did not answer, but simply cupped her hands in greeting and walked towards the central command tent.

This is what Du Yuan most wants to see, and also what she most fears seeing.

Because this means that he came to save a group of real people, not demons who look like people.

However, the dragon painted on his head, which Heaven has forcibly retained to this day, almost clearly indicates that this great general's fate may have ended here.
After sighing, Du Yuan lifted the curtain of the central command tent.

As soon as I entered, I heard a violent coughing sound.

Following the sound, one could see an elderly man draped in a sheet, struggling to get up.

"Outside, what's going on outside? Have they come? Let them in! Don't fight them for my sake!"

After struggling for a long time, he couldn't even get up and could only prop himself up on the bed and roar.

Fortunately, Du Yuan had already reached him and helped him up, saying:

"Don't overthink it, just rest easy. It's not them who have come, it's me who has come to see you."

Looking at the completely unfamiliar yet exceptionally dazzling young man in front of me.

After a moment of stunned silence, the old man blurted out:
"Could it be that the immortal lord from Cold Pine Mountain has arrived?"

Du Yuan nodded slightly:

"Indeed, it is I, a humble Taoist priest."

These words put the old man at ease, not because he felt he was saved, but because he knew the immortal was there, so the great chaos he feared would not occur.

"Now that you've arrived, I think... cough cough, this ordeal is finally coming to an end!"

Having said that, he bowed slightly to Du Yuan and said:
"I am but a mortal, yet I presumptuously call myself an immortal. This is indeed extremely presumptuous. I hope the immortal lord will not take offense, because, because I really can't find any other way."

Du Yuan smiled and patted his hand, saying:
"How could I possibly blame you!"

The old man smiled, then asked:

"Old Taoist priest, I've actually been thinking about a question these past few days: have I wronged the imperial court?"

He led the rebellion because he couldn't see any action from the imperial court; every time it was all talk and no action.

Over time, the sight of people starving everywhere became unbearable for him.

But as the situation progressed, he slowly began to understand something—it seemed that the court was not to blame?
After a moment of silence, Du Yuan nodded and said:
"The severe drought in the southwest has nothing to do with the people, while the chaos in the southwest is entirely due to the evil spirits. The imperial court has indeed tried its best, but has repeatedly failed."

A bunch of ordinary people really have no way to deal with those old fogies.

The old man lay listlessly on the bed:

"So, does that mean I've actually harmed everyone?"

Du Yuan shook her head and said:
"No, because if you don't fight back and don't give in to their desires, even more people will die in the southwest. So you can't be blamed."

Neither the rebel army nor the government troops were perfect in this matter, but neither can be blamed on anyone else. In fact, if it had been someone else, things might have been even more chaotic.

The old man breathed a sigh of relief:

"That's good, that's good. I was really afraid of making another mistake, old Taoist priest."

He was initially full of enthusiasm, believing that he could save people from suffering.

But once it actually started, he realized he knew neither military strategy nor governance. All his supposedly brilliant plans turned out to be problematic in practice. On several occasions, they even nearly led to their complete defeat.

Thus, his sharp edges were smoothed out, and he gradually accepted the involvement of other forces, so that those who truly understood these matters could join the rebel army.

Thinking of this, the old man grasped Du Yuan's hand again and said:
"My lord, I, an old Taoist priest, have a favor to ask of you."

Du Yuan leaned forward slightly and said:

"Please speak!"

"That means, don't listen to them, and whatever you do, don't save this wretched life of mine!"

Du Yuan was startled, then looked at the old man with confusion.

The other party smiled and said:
"I'm not exactly a smart person, but I've realized one thing these past few days. That is, I have to die! Only if I die can they have a way to live!"

Du Yuan only realized at this moment why even he subconsciously felt that he couldn't save this person.

Because in the last moments of his life, this old man was not afraid of death, but of living!
He survived, but how are the others supposed to survive?

This is the only situation that Du Yuan cannot save!

(End of this chapter)