In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

"Kill all the civilians?"

"Yes, kill all the people. There are only about 30,000 people left in Qingyang County. After we kill them all, we can use their corpses to claim they are Western barbarians. We can kill innocent people and claim credit, and get more rewards from the court."

But none of that matters; what matters is killing the emperor.

If we kill her, we can gain the support of that person in the capital.

If we don't kill her, and she manages to return to the capital by some stroke of luck, we will definitely face retribution!

Therefore, no matter what method is used, the emperor must be killed! Even if it means taking all the people of Qingyang County with him!" Cui Tianhe calculated, "I implore you, Governor, to be ruthless and not be swayed by womanly compassion!"

"How could I, Li Huaiyi, be so sentimental? There is some truth to what you have said, so let's do as you say." Li Huaiyi spoke casually, as if in his eyes, the lives of tens of thousands of people were no different from those of ants.

He immediately summoned Yang Ke and ordered him to lead 10,000 Black Spirit Army soldiers to Qingyang County the next day. After the city was captured, he was to massacre all the civilians, leaving no one alive!

Yang Ke had followed Li Huaiyi for many years. Although Li Huaiyi kept some secrets from him, Yang Ke was the one who brought Li Huaiyi to do all the shady things.

Not only did he not find anything wrong with Li Huaiyi's orders, but he also thought that he could go on a killing spree, and his mustache stood on end with excitement.

"Yes, but my men have found some information about Shen An. I wonder if the military governor would like to hear it?" Yang Ke asked.

Tell me about it!

"Shen An used to be from Shenjia Village in Qingyang County. His parents were killed by your order many years ago. The remaining survivors were divided: the women became prostitutes and the men became slaves. He and his brother were assigned to be corpse carriers."

"Shen An is so arrogant, it seems he's here to avenge his parents!" Yang Ke's words were laced with disdain: "This fool, with only five or six thousand men, dares to challenge... The mindset of the lower classes is truly that of the lower classes; they can't imagine just how powerful your forces are, Governor!"

"Funny, fun!"

Li Huaiyi was very excited and immediately picked up a pen and paper to write down all of Shen An's information: "Given Shen An's experience, he was able to rise from slavery to become the lord of a city in just a few months."

He is an absolute role model of inspiration. His story could be written into a bestseller, titled "The Rise of the Corpse Carrier in a Chaotic and Famine-Stricken Era."

To learn more details about him, once you breach the city, you must capture him alive, sparing his life.

After giving the order, Li Huaiyi picked up his pen and began to write, thinking of Shen An's identity and his deep-seated hatred.

Li Huaiyi was then filled with inspiration and entered a state of complete absorption.

Yang Ke and Cui Tianhe both knew Li Huaiyi's hobby: to write his novels by killing other people and controlling their fates, thus creating inspiration for his novels.

Upon leaving the tent, Cui Tianhe reminded Yang Ke, "Commander Yang, everyone around Shen An must be killed. The military governor might be looking for someone among his men!"

"How can you be so sure? According to my investigation, Shen An is surrounded by locals from Qingyang County. Those people are all useless. Who is worth the governor looking for?" Yang Ke remained disdainful.

"Have you ever thought about how Shen An went from being a slave to becoming the lord of a city in just a few months? There must be someone protecting him behind the scenes, and that person must be the one the governor is looking for! So you must kill him!" Cui Tianhe said.

"What you said this time makes some sense, I understand!" Yang Ke yawned and stopped talking to him. He immediately mustered his troops and prepared to set off early the next morning.

Cui Tianhe then looked towards Qingyang County: "Emperor, Emperor, no matter how you try to hide this time, you must die. Only when you die can that person in the capital have a chance to ascend the throne, and only then can I, Cui Tianhe, rise to prominence!"

Early the next morning!

Yang Ke then set off, leading 10,000 soldiers toward Qingyang County.

In the late afternoon, Shen An was drinking at home with Dugu Meng and others.

Liao Bing then came to report: "My lord, the Marquis Ci has come to report that Yang Ke, the Commander of the Army under Li Huaiyi, is leading ten thousand elite troops! They are expected to arrive at the walls of Qingyang City in about an hour!"

Whether it's Shen An or Dugu Meng!

Their faces were filled with undisguised joy.

This was not only an opportunity to make a name for themselves, but also a chance for Shen An to test the strength of their army against regular troops and see just how much of an advantage they had.

Shen An exclaimed impatiently, "They've finally arrived! Isn't Yang Ke Li Huaiyi's top general?"

"Yes, that's the person."

"Excellent! Quickly muster the troops and have them perform their duties according to the tactics discussed last night!"

"Yes!" Liao Bing had been waiting for this day for a long time. He nodded and accepted the order, then went to make the arrangements.

"Dugu Yue, come with me to the city wall. You must really want to see Li Huaiyi's army suffer heavy losses!" Shen An asked.

"Um!"

Dugu Meng was chased by Li Huaiyi's men and almost died. She had been holding this grudge for a long time.

As they made their way to the top of the city wall, outside the wall appeared a man and a horse, both clad in the armor of the Black Spirit Army.

The man shouted, "I am Wang Meng, the surrender envoy under the command of the military governor!"

Shen An, Liao Bing, Liu Wenyuan, your indiscriminate killing of innocent people is an act of treason.

If the people in the city collude with them, you will be punished the same as them once the city falls!

"If you want to live, capture Shen An and the others immediately, and open the city gates to welcome General Yang Ke!"

This person was probably born to be trained in declaring war; his voice was very penetrating, and even people living near the city walls could hear it clearly through the walls.

Their expressions changed drastically, and they immediately started running.

"My lord, they are really good at sowing discord. Should I go and calm the people down?" Liu Wenyuan asked.

"There's no need to be stable. Those who are afraid genuinely believe that Li Huaiyi's Black Spirit Army is more powerful, so whatever you say is useless."

It would be better to wait for the Black Spirit Army to appear, have a big fight with them, and then they will naturally know who to support.

This is also a good opportunity to see who is not loyal to us, and we will deal with them after the war!

Shen An chuckled lightly, looked at the still-shouting surrender envoy Wang Meng, and ordered, "Whoever kills him will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold!"

"Hmph, so you must be Shen An. How dare you! In war, envoys are not to be killed. If you dare to lay a hand on me, not only will the military governor not spare you, but the people of the land will drown you in their spittle!" Wang Meng's voice grew louder, adopting a lecturing tone towards Shen An: "You'd better know your place!"

Shen An wanted to laugh out loud. He had already rebelled, yet he still cared that Li Huaiyi couldn't get away with it?

As for the opinions of the people?

Shen An didn't care. His voice turned cold: "Since no one else is going to make a move, I'll kill this Wang Meng myself!"