Emperor Chongzhen was too extreme.

Chapter 159 A single thought of killing arises, and suddenly the world seems vast.
Zhu Youjian's last words echoed through the crowd.

Everyone present was deeply moved by those words.

Yes, are these people citizens of the Ming Dynasty or slaves of the powerful lords?

They wouldn't have dared to even consider this question in the past.

Because anyone who has ever had such an idea and then made it public has invariably met a tragic end.

But now, it was the emperor himself who said those words.

What this signifies is self-evident.

His Majesty is not afraid of these common people being treated as "human beings".

Not only are they not afraid, His Majesty also wants to help them become "people".

More and more people who had been kneeling on the ground with their heads bowed slowly raised their heads because of Zhu Youjian's words.

Even the spies sent by those aristocratic families were shaken by these words.

Just as the crowd fell silent, someone suddenly shouted, "Your Majesty! We are subjects of the Great Ming!"

"We want to be human! We are not slaves!"

As soon as these words were uttered, tens of thousands of people responded with similar roars, as if a chain reaction had occurred.

In this scene where tens of thousands of people shouted together.

Slowly, various insults and curses targeting the aristocratic families and wealthy households began to emerge from the crowd.

Officials come and go, but the gentry remain constant.

In the past, even if people knew who was exploiting them, they dared not speak out against it.

But it's different now.

In particular, Zhu Youjian's words just now completely woke them up.

These bastards have ripped so much money off us, and now they think they can buy us off with a mere ten taels of silver!
They think we're idiots!

What's even more infuriating is that they wouldn't even leave us ten taels of silver; they were still trying to extract more from us.

Tolerable or unbearable!
If that's the case, then none of us should fucking die.

You're not willing to give us a single penny, are you? Then we don't want it either.

If I kill you all, then everything, whether it's silver or land, will naturally be returned to its rightful owner!
At this moment.

Only then did the common people truly understand what it meant for a single thought of killing to suddenly feel the vastness of the world.

There has never been any god or immortal.

The only thing that can save us ordinary people is the steel knife in our hands.

Looking at the almost frenzied crowd below the stage, Zhu Youjian nodded in satisfaction.

He turned and walked off the podium toward Sun Chengzong.

As Sun Chengzong watched His Majesty approach, he immediately stopped sobbing and knelt down.

Upon seeing this, the other members of the Sun family and officials of Shuntian Prefecture also hurriedly followed suit, kowtowing heavily to the ground.

This time, everyone knelt down out of genuine admiration.

Because His Majesty has once again saved the Ming Dynasty from dire straits.

With these people whose fighting spirit had been ignited, defending Baoding Prefecture was no longer a problem.

It's not impossible that the capital could even expand its strategic territory further.

Once they have land and population, they will have the real confidence to compete with powerful families.

No longer relying solely on the hopes of the people as before.

Zhu Youjian came to Sun Chengzong's side and helped him up: "Commander-in-Chief, I will temporarily entrust all matters in Baoding Prefecture to you. I have other things to do tonight."

"Also, don't forget our agreement."

Sun Chengzong composed himself, looked at the young emperor before him, and replied in a hoarse voice with three words: "Your subject obeys the decree!"

Done.

Zhu Youjian ignored everyone else.

He then led Xiao Hongzi and a group of Shenwei Camp guards away slowly.

Lu Xiang-sheng has already sent back more intelligence.

The Shijia Group's troops in Shuntian Prefecture have been transferred to Tianjin.

Therefore, it is the most appropriate thing to take over Shuntian Prefecture while taking advantage of this precious opportunity.

Once Shuntian Prefecture was under control, Yongping Prefecture would naturally follow suit.

That's why he told Sun Chengzong not to forget the agreement.

The advantages of having a high-level inside contact are fully demonstrated at times like this.

Everyone from top to bottom is one of my men, what do you have to fight me with?

After Zhu Youjian left.

Only then did Sun Chengzong's sons and grandsons dare to get up and approach him, unable to contain their excitement, to ask:
"Father! What is His Majesty planning to do? Is he going to lead his men to conquer several cities within Shuntian Prefecture and thoroughly crush the arrogance of those bastards!"

Sun Chengzong had calmed down by now. He glanced at everyone expressionlessly and shook his head.

It wasn't until everyone was determined to get to the bottom of things that they finally understood.

Sun Chengzong then spoke calmly:

"His Majesty has no intention of conquering cities and seizing territories; he only plans to take the entire Shuntian Prefecture as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, everyone was once again stunned, just like before.

If it were in the past, no! Even if it were the day before.

They would never believe that the Ming Dynasty could have this capability.

Everyone felt that being able to defend Baoding Prefecture was already a pipe dream.

At that time, all they could think about was how to hold onto their small piece of land in the capital after the defeat in Baoding.

But after witnessing His Majesty's methods firsthand, everyone felt that the impossible might soon become possible.

Therefore, looking ahead to incorporating Shuntian Prefecture into the Ming Dynasty's territory doesn't seem so excessive at this moment.

After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd responded to Sun Chengzong's answer with extreme excitement.

Then someone else asked him, "Father, what was the agreement His Majesty mentioned between you just now?"

This time, Sun Chengzong didn't remain expressionless. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Even he felt that this whole thing was somewhat unreal.

Who could have imagined that His Majesty would prepare to take over three prefectures in such a short period of time?
Let alone in a time of national turmoil, even during the height of the Ming Dynasty, such capability was not guaranteed.

"His Majesty has ordered me to continue overseeing operations at Shanhaiguan," Sun Chengzong said calmly.

Finish this sentence.

Sun Chengzong turned and left with his hands behind his back. Whether it was unintentional or intentional, it gave people the feeling that he had accomplished his task and left without a trace, keeping his merits and fame hidden.

Inside Baoding Prefecture, the anger in the hearts of the people had been completely stirred up.

Before long, a strong army of tens of thousands of young men will be able to be raised in Baoding Prefecture.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that Sun Chengzong will be very busy in the future.

How many people should be stationed in each city, how should these newly recruited soldiers be given basic training, how should provisions be requisitioned, and how should officials and generals be appointed?
There are so many things to do that I can't keep up.

Why waste time bragging to young people?
After Sun Chengzong left.

The remaining people were stunned once again.

However, unlike the previous times, this time it took everyone a long time to recover.

Half a day later.

In the dead of night.

Lu Xiang-sheng, inside Shuntian Prefecture, received a secret report from Zhu You-jian, informing him that His Majesty would lead a surprise attack on Shuntian Prefecture tonight.

Furthermore, the main purpose of the surprise attack on Shuntian Prefecture was to eliminate the bandits' fighting force.

Therefore, he must do everything he can to help His Majesty weaken the strength of the powerful family army in Shuntian Prefecture.

at this time.

The aristocratic army is almost at the vicinity of Tianjin, and is currently encamped in a city to discuss the enemy situation.

Lu Xiang-sheng turned his attention to Huang Wei, the commander of this army. After spending the past few days together, Lu Xiang-sheng had completely figured out that Huang Wei was an amateur.

At least in military matters, he was a complete novice.

He's the kind of person who looks handsome and has read a lot of military books; he can talk a lot of eloquently about military strategy.

But in actual combat, they immediately expose their underwear.

It's hard to understand why someone like that could become the commander-in-chief of an army.

But within the context of aristocratic families, this is not actually a rare occurrence.

During his time undercover, Lu Xiang-sheng did more than just pass on intelligence.

He continued to observe this vast group of aristocratic families from within.

you could put it that way.

It is true that the Ming Dynasty had many deep-seated problems, but the powerful families were no better off.

It's just that for various reasons, they haven't directly brought this fatal flaw to the surface before.

Now, whenever something happens, they start to expose their true colors.

However, these are ultimately just side topics for now.

At present, Lu Xiang-sheng's most important task is to quickly deceive Huang Wei and get them to hand over the soldiers in Shuntian Prefecture.

Therefore, when discussing the enemy situation.

Lu Xiang-sheng then suggested that they should launch a surprise attack on the enemy while they were still unsettled, because Lu Xiang-sheng knew that they would be attacking Shuntian Prefecture that night.

Therefore, if Huang Wei really chooses to lead his troops into battle, his only fate will be to be surrounded and wiped out.

However, since Lu Xiang-sheng made the proposal, there will naturally be people who oppose it, and there are quite a few of them.

The main reason is that Lu Xiang-sheng climbed too fast, and such a rapid rise naturally aroused the jealousy of others.

But Lu Xiang-sheng didn't care about other people's opinions; he just kept repeating his advice to Huang Wei.

Since Huang Ze and the other old guys were not there, only Huang Wei had the final say on this army.

At this moment, Huang Wei was also in a state of distress.

He could certainly see the discord among his men.

In the past, he would have been happy to accept this.

but now.

If he could, he really wanted to drag all of these people out and chop them up.

What the hell is going on? People are still scheming and plotting at a time like this!

If he doesn't handle things well this time, he might as well not go back to report and just kill himself.

The surprise attack by the false emperor had already caused him to lose the trust of the elders of the aristocratic families.

A scion of a noble family who has lost the trust of his family is no different from a corpse.

So he actually has mixed feelings of love and hate towards Lu Xiang-sheng.

What he resented was that if Lu Xiang-sheng hadn't stolen the show that night, he wouldn't have felt so humiliated in comparison.

What he loves is that Lu Xiang-sheng is indeed a fierce general, and he now needs to use this man to fight against the false emperor.

Huang Wei was already somewhat tempted by Lu Xiang-sheng's suggestion—proposals from professionals are always more convincing.

However, for various reasons, Huang Wei was still hesitant, looking left and right.

Lu Xiang-sheng was also very anxious about this.

You have to deliver it; how can you not deliver it?

Just as Lu Xiang-sheng and Huang Wei were both feeling equally agitated.

A general in charge of intelligence suddenly rushed into the tent and dropped a bomb inside, shocking everyone.

No one expected that the Northern rebel emperor would be able to truly incite the people of Baoding Prefecture with his sweet words.

This news caught everyone off guard, including Lu Xiang-sheng himself.

He was extremely agitated, and seemed to have been somewhat overwhelmed by the false emperor.

But only Lu Xiang-sheng himself knew that this was the only way he could vent his emotions.

Otherwise, if someone couldn't help but laugh out loud in such a sorrowful and indignant situation, it might not have a good impact.

Huang Wei responded with a deathly pale face and a furious rage.

Damn it, my situation was already a bit precarious, and now this is just making things worse!
Lu Xiang-sheng, looking at Huang Wei, immediately and keenly seized an opportunity.

He offered his advice to Huang Wei again.

It was said that taking advantage of the fact that the pseudo-emperor was only inciting the people and had not yet truly gained power, it would be the best choice to send the army to Tianjin to launch a surprise attack.

Because those people's target is Tianjin, which is currently at its weakest and most unstable point.

If we don't take advantage of this moment to give the enemy a hard time, once Baoding Prefecture really gains momentum, Shuntian Prefecture will be completely finished.

When faced with such a powerful pseudo-emperor's army, they would only suffer repeated defeats and retreat little by little to southern Hebei.

Now, as long as we can weaken the strength of the false emperor's army, even if it comes at a heavy price, it will still be considered an achievement.

To some extent, Lu Xiang-sheng's analysis makes a lot of sense.

So these words really hit Huang Wei right in the heart.

He really couldn't afford to stop making any progress.

The ruthless nature of powerful families isn't limited to dealing with outsiders.

If he were to sit idly by and watch the false emperor grow stronger, as Lu Xiang-sheng suggested, he would be labeled as "raising a bandit to enhance his own power," and his entire family would die along with him.

Those veterans were already suspicious of the possibility of a traitor within the army, something Huang Wei was well aware of.

So after Lu Xiang-sheng gave him another round of advice.

Without further hesitation, Huang Wei ordered his troops to launch a night attack to ambush the army that Zhu Youjian had sent to feign an attack on Tianjin.

in fact.

If Huang Wei had moved an hour or two later...

He was almost certain to run right into the army personally led by Zhu Youjian.

Because Zhu Youjian led that army to march at an extremely fast pace.

Each cavalryman was equipped with three warhorses, and their marching speed even exceeded that of the scouts sent out by aristocratic families to gather intelligence.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian's army could directly attack Shuntian Prefecture before the scouts even brought back the intelligence.

that's it.

Huang Wei led his men on a rapid march and found the army that had feigned an attack on Tianjin.

But what Huang Wei didn't expect was...

The army did not panic upon the appearance of the large force as he had imagined; on the contrary, they were on high alert, as if they had anticipated it.

Huang Wei sensed something was wrong, but now it was time to act.

Although Huang Wei is an outsider.

But he was also very clear about it.

If we choose to retreat at this point, the enemy will definitely pursue us, and then our side will collapse.

I just had to bite the bullet.

To boost morale and also to save his own life.

This time, Huang Wei didn't act like a coward like before, but instead chose to rush to the front of the group amidst the crowd.

Huang Wei mounts his horse, Huang Wei charges forward...

Huang Wei suddenly noticed the sound of a large group of people approaching from afar...

Huang Wei caught a glimpse of the dragon banner and Zhu Youjian, clad in golden armor…

Huang Wei is dead.

It was to be expected.

With the death of Huang Wei and the loss of a large number of his men.

Within the entire Shuntian Prefecture, no one will be able to stop Zhu Youjian's iron hooves from conquering.

(End of this chapter)