The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the Somersault Cloud, Old Zhu was so envious he cried!

"The first thing," Xu Miaoyun said expressionlessly, "those dozen or so prisoners cannot be spared; they must all be executed."

Wang Defa and Huang Zi'an were both stunned.

They never expected that Xu Miaoyun, a young girl, would be so ruthless.

The very first order was to kill prisoners. More than a dozen lives were taken without batting an eye.

But it was precisely this order that made the two of them feel at ease.

She truly is a daughter of a military family.

I originally thought that Miss Xu's insistence on staying was just youthful impetuosity and a momentary act of bravery.

Now, seeing her decisive and ruthless actions, it's clear that she has thoroughly planned this battle from beginning to end.

Staying isn't out of bravado; there's a real plan.

With such a backbone, we can win this battle.

"Magistrate Wang," Xu Miaoyun said, "I'm entrusting this first task to you."

Wang Defa readily accepted the order.

He clasped his hands in a fist salute, his back ramrod straight, just like when he received military orders in the army back in the day.

Without hesitation, without asking any questions, there was only one word: "Yes, sir."

As he turned around, he suddenly felt that this was probably God's will.

He was saved from a pile of corpses by General Xu.

I've owed this for so many years and have never been able to pay it back.

Tonight, General Xu's daughter gave an order, which allowed him to settle this score completely.

He stepped out of the yard.

The night was deep outside the door, and the moonlight covered the ground.

At the base of the wall, a dozen or so figures were still squatting, bound together with ropes.

Some people heard footsteps, looked up as if to say something, but when they met Wang Defa's expressionless face, they all lowered their heads again.

Wang Defa walked over without stopping.

He had seen far more dead people on the battlefield than this, and he had also seen off the person who slept next to him.

For him, tonight's trip was just a chore.

He handled it efficiently and cleanly.

When the people inside heard the noise again, the footsteps had already returned.

"Miss," Wang Defa said, bowing as he entered the room, "the matter has been settled."

When Wang Defa entered the room, the night wind blew in, bringing with it a faint smell of blood.

Xu Miaoyun took a breath, her brows furrowed slightly, but she quickly relaxed them.

She then realized—this was the first time she had ordered a murder.

Before, when she lived in the manor, she only listened to her father leading troops into battle.

She simply memorized the Xu family rules.

They can talk a good game on paper, but when it comes to actually speaking, they're completely out of touch.

Fate is not a word; it refers to the lives of the dozen or so people living under the wall.

A wave of nausea washed over me, and a sour feeling rose straight to my throat.

She bit her tongue, swallowing back the nausea, her face remaining impassive.

She couldn't show weakness.

Wang Defa and Huang Zi'an then entrusted their hearts to her.

If she turns pale or her legs go weak right now, all the authority she's built up will crumble.

She is worthy of the title "the daughter of a general," and she must carry it to the end.

"Hmm." She responded in a flat voice, as if she were talking about something trivial. "The second thing—gather everyone together, I have something to say."

Wang Defa and Huang Zi'an exchanged a glance and went off to do their respective tasks.

Everyone arrived quickly.

In the open space in front of the house, more than twenty people were crammed into a circle.

Some people whispered among themselves, muttering in hushed tones: "What is Miss Xu planning to do by gathering everyone together like this?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the door creaked open.

The moonlight shone perfectly on the doorway.

Xu Miaoyun changed into a blue dress and stood under the door frame. The moonlight gilded her with a clear edge, making her look clean and pure, like a fairy who had stepped out of a painting.

The people below were all stunned, and even their previous whispers stopped.

Xu Miaoyun ignored the stares.

She glanced at the crowd below and silently counted in her mind—twenty-eight.

It was more than she had imagined.

She originally thought that it would be good if she could gather a dozen or so.

I didn't expect there to be twenty-eight.

She nodded to herself, feeling a slight relief.

More people means a greater chance of winning.

She was even more confident in this battle.

"Everyone," Xu Miaoyun began, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, "Now that everyone is here, let's start with the first thing."

She didn't continue, but turned to look at Wang Defa and Huang Zi'an:

"Could you two please take the contents out and distribute them to everyone?"

Wang Defa and Huang Zi'an responded, selected a few people, and went inside together.

The people outside were completely bewildered. They looked at each other and muttered in hushed tones, "What is this?"

Before they could even come up with a coherent explanation,

The person who went inside has already come out.

Wang Defa walked at the front, carrying a heavy wooden box in his arms.

The people following behind were carrying and lifting things, their arms full of bright yellow objects.

Everyone was stunned at first, then their eyes widened like saucers—

Because they were holding gold in their arms.

The gold ingots were plentiful, bright yellow, and dazzling under the moonlight.

Xu Miaoyun was not stingy and directly instructed Huang Zi'an:

"Master Huang, give each of the brothers fifty taels of gold first."

Fifty taels is equivalent to five gold ingots.

Huang Zi'an responded and ordered someone to open the wooden box and distribute the ingots one by one.

Five gold ingots fell heavily into each person's hands.

The crowd, holding the gold, were still in shock for a long time.

What's going on?

They gathered everyone up in the middle of the night, thinking it was going to be a fight between Zhao An and his gang, but instead they gave each person five ingots of gold first.

Is the first thing they do upon meeting you gold?

They looked at each other, then down at the gold ingots in their hands, and it all seemed somewhat unreal.

After all the gold had been distributed, the people below were all beaming with joy, stuffing the gold ingots into their pockets.

Xu Miaoyun waited until they had finished celebrating before speaking again:

"Please keep quiet while I say what I'm about to say."

She paused for a moment: "Whatever you do, don't let anyone outside hear this."

The crowd fell silent, and everyone nodded, even their movements of putting away the gold became lighter.

Xu Miaoyun then continued:

"You've probably all heard about the situation from those thieves."

"There are thirty or forty people from the Zhao and Hu families guarding the door, ready to rush in at any time."

No one spoke; everyone was listening intently.

"They outnumber us," Xu Miaoyun said confidently, "but they're in the open, while we're in the shadows. And—"

She glanced at everyone and said, "I still have a magical artifact bestowed upon me by the Sixth Prince. I might still have a chance to defeat them."

A magical treasure bestowed by the Sixth Prince?

The crowd fell silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted in a buzz.

They had all witnessed what happened during the day.

The Sixth Prince, riding a cloud chariot with the Empress in tow, took off from the ground and flew away in an instant.

With a "whoosh," it flew off from the sky and disappeared without a trace.

That's not some kind of magic trick.

It was truly flying in the sky.

Those below had long since concluded that the Sixth Prince was a divine being.

How could something bestowed by the gods be an ordinary object?

Now, Miss Xu possesses a treasure bestowed upon her by a deity.

What else is there to say?

Let's just fuck them!

Xu Miaoyun waited for them to catch their breath before speaking again, her voice low:

"However, I need everyone's cooperation. After we eliminate the enemy—"

She paused, then said, word by word, "Each person will receive an additional one hundred taels of gold as a reward."

At this point, the crowd could no longer contain themselves.

The previous five ingots of gold were a gift, but this hundred taels—is money earned by risking one's life.

After this battle,

Everyone's pockets were full.

Such a good thing is hard to find even with a lantern.

Like pouring a ladle of hot oil into a pot of water, everyone's eyes lit up instantly.

Some people were so excited they were trembling, some clutched the gold in their hands tightly, and some were panting with their mouths open.

Someone, unable to contain themselves any longer, was about to shout out—

"Get him!"

"Hmm!"

Before he could finish speaking, someone next to him covered his mouth and forced him to swallow his words.

"Are you an idiot?!" the man hissed, furiously, whispering in his ear, "What if the enemy outside hears us?! What did Miss Xu tell you? Keep it all quiet!"

The person whose mouth was covered finally realized what was happening, trembled in fright, nodded repeatedly, and shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.