The Empress Kneels in Her Palace to Admit Her Mistakes After Slaying Her Ways in the Female-Oriented

"What?"

Zhang Shi was stunned for a moment.

The city lord is dead?

They were bombarded to death?

In other words, Hu Shaoyou was killed by artillery fire?

Zhang Shi's first reaction was disbelief.

The Red Cannon originated in Yunjing, and its power is something that people near Yunjing certainly know more about than those in the capital.

Yuancheng is near Yunjing, so there's no reason why Hu Shaoyou wouldn't know.

Knowing the power of the red-coated cannons, why did you deliberately stand on the wall, waiting to be bombarded?

Isn't that stupid?

"My comrades, follow me into battle!"

Zhang Shi's momentum grew even stronger. His Jade Lion, which spurred itself on, galloped wildly, leading his brothers like an arrow released from a bow, straight towards the source of the sound.

Along the way, they were practically unstoppable!

After two brief acts of resistance, the remaining soldiers of Yuancheng, upon seeing Zhang Shi leading his men charging towards them, threw down their weapons and knelt on the ground without a word.

They shouted in unison.

"We are willing to surrender! We are willing to surrender!"

"Please, General, don't kill us."

"Lord Duke, we were forced into this!"

……

These soldiers spoke from the heart.

They were really forced into it.

After all, Yuancheng originally belonged to the imperial court, and they were soldiers of the imperial court. But the city lord, Hu Shaoyou, had gone mad for some reason and insisted on going against the imperial court.

Even when the city was under siege, they put up a desperate resistance, refusing to surrender. They were all just following orders and had no choice but to obey.

Now that they had a chance to live, they naturally all surrendered.

As a result, not long after the city fell, most of the soldiers in Yuancheng had surrendered. The remaining soldiers who did not surrender were mostly Hu Shaoyou's personal guards and confidants, and they were almost all hunted down and killed by Zhang Shi.

Yuancheng is now completely settled.

However, Zhang Shi still did not find Hu Shaoyou's body.

"Report, report..." the captured soldier stammered, "The city lord's body was taken away by the military doctor, who said it was to be sent to the city lord's mansion and given to the lady..."

"Go!" Zhang Shiyi spurred his horse, which turned and rode off towards the city lord's mansion.

Not only because Hu Shaoyou's body was sent to the city lord's mansion, but more importantly, Hu Shaoyou's wife is also currently at the city lord's mansion.

After attacking Huai'an, Zhang Shi felt that things were different now and he was very clear about the importance of his wife. He dared not hesitate or delay for even a moment.

……

Yuancheng, the city lord's mansion, and the accounting room.

Hu Shaoyou's wife, Gu Qing, frowned deeply, holding an abacus in one hand and fiddling with an account book in the other, calculating everything.

The more she calculated, the deeper her brows furrowed.

Her once flawless, porcelain-like face now appeared ashen, clearly a result of long-term overwork, lack of sleep, and constant worry.

However, Gu Qing wasn't worried about her slightly pale complexion, or rather, she simply didn't have the mind to worry about such things right now.

What she's worried about is being in debt!

"Too many!"

"Too many!"

"My husband has borrowed so much money and grain! Such a huge debt, a full ten million taels of silver! How are we ever going to pay it back?"

Gu Qing's anxiety intensified.

Yuancheng is not a large city. Although its defenses are protected by mountains, making it somewhat dangerous, it is far from being a place where one man can hold off ten thousand.

Her husband needed a large amount of money, silver, and provisions to defend Yuan City. She couldn't dissuade him and could only follow him, but...

Feeling something was off, she came to check the ledgers today.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

In such a short period of time, my husband, Hu Shaoyou, has managed to borrow so much money...

Even if one day they could really defeat the imperial army, they didn't know when they would be able to pay off these debts!

and……

The proportion of military supplies borrowed by Hu Shaoyou from the surrounding cities was severely unbalanced.

They managed to borrow everything else, even large sums of silver, but they were completely stumped by the lack of provisions...

I didn't borrow much!

"Soldiers should prioritize provisions. My husband has made so many preparations, but we are lacking provisions. How can we possibly withstand the imperial army?"

"My husband has always been shrewd, especially when it comes to military affairs, he knows a great deal about them, but now he has actually missed out on such important supplies."

"Husband, what's wrong?"

"Could it be that the pressure was too great, causing him to misjudge the situation?"

"But the situation is so simple, even I, a mere woman, can see it clearly at a glance. Husband, how could you make such a grave mistake?"

Gu Qing and Hu Shaoyou had a very close relationship and had always been through thick and thin together. Now that things had gone wrong, and given her calm and rational personality, she knew that arguing was useless and that she had to find a way to fix the problem first.

"It seems we have no choice but to urgently send people to fetch those sweet potatoes. Although they are not as precious as rice or flour, they are sweet and plentiful. With them, my husband can hold out for a while longer!"

After making up his mind, Gu Qing did not delay and immediately sent people to the manor outside the city and the Gu family's crops in various parts of Yuancheng to fetch sweet potatoes.

No sooner had this arrangement been made than a deafening wail erupted in the distance.

"Madam, Madam..."

"Something terrible has happened..."

"Something terrible has happened..."

The voice was shrill and startled Gu Qing, who then heard her personal guards arrive and say, "Madam, Lord Hu has unfortunately been killed by cannon fire!"

Boom!

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in the sky!

In an instant, Gu Qing's body swayed precariously.

She could hardly believe what she was hearing. She grabbed the armor of the soldier who had come to report and asked urgently, "You, you, what did you say?"

"Shao, Shaoyou, what's wrong?"

"Madam..." the guard cried, "The enemy general outside the city launched a general attack and brought in cannons. Amid the roar, the city lord, who was supervising the battle on the city wall, was unfortunately hit and killed by a cannon."

"The military doctor has transported his body back to the Gu residence..."

Gu Qing swayed and fell to the ground.

Her face was streaked with tears, and she didn't know when it had started.

It was a sudden, overwhelming despair that caught her off guard, almost causing her to lose her breath and nearly take her own life along with Hu Shaoyou.

After a long while, she finally let out a cry of despair.

"what……"

The cries were deafening.

Her husband, Hu Shaoyou, is dead, dead...

How could they... just leave her behind, leaving her all alone in this world, and then let her pass away like that?

If she had known it would turn out this way, she would have risked her life to stop her husband, Hu Shaoyou, from doing this.

That Xu Shang is from Yunjing.

He was merely the acting city lord of Yunjing Huai'an City. He and Yuan City belonged to two different camps and had always kept to themselves.

Even if we had some dealings in previous years, it was just normal dealings. I don't know why my husband, Hu Shaoyou, insisted on taking in Xu Shang.

At the time, she tried her best to persuade him, and I don't know how many times she did it.

Regardless, Yuancheng still belongs to the imperial court. General Zhang Shi came to demand people, but they didn't give them to him the first time. The second time, he even brought an imperial edict, but they still didn't give them to him.

This is an act of treason!

At that moment, she wished she could surrender in place of her husband, Hu Shaoyou, but the bond between them, especially their mutual respect, made her suppress the impulse.

As Hu Shaoyou's wife, I have no choice but to risk everything to help him!

Can,

My husband is dead?

My husband... how could he have died?

She died on the battlefield, what will become of her?

……