I, Altria, only want to rule China.

Now that there would be results tomorrow, the worry on Leah's face disappeared.

"Your Majesty, have you come up with an idea?" Seeing the gradually relaxed expression on Leah's face, the generals below asked curiously.

"Well, it's not an idea. Imperial Master Merlin happens to be in Luoyang City. He has already told me about this matter. I think there may be a result tomorrow."

Looking at everyone's curious looks, Leah smiled slightly.

"Is State Master Merlin in Luoyang? State Master Merlin suddenly disappeared before. It turns out that he has sneaked into Luoyang!" When the generals heard Leah say that Merlin was in Luoyang, they were all surprised.

"Well, with Master Merlin lobbying inside, I think someone might send in a letter of allegiance tomorrow." A smile appeared on Leah's face.

You have to know that the army is now approaching, the emperor Tuoba Tao was killed by eunuchs, and the new emperor is incompetent. In order to protect their own interests, many of these nobles will definitely take the lead in surrendering.

Throughout history, there have been many cases of surrender.

Especially for the nobles, any war would harm their interests, and they probably don't want war more than anyone else.

However, in order to get these ministers to surrender to her voluntarily, she might have to promise them a lot of benefits.

So everyone decided to go back to the tent to rest first, and wait until tomorrow to see if it was as Leah said.

Shortly after dawn, Leah received news from her subordinates that the other side had sent an envoy, who was already waiting outside the tent.

Moreover, the person who came was a minister holding the position of one of the Three Dukes.

Leah knew at a glance that these ministers had already compromised with her, and now it depended on whether she could accept the conditions they proposed.

"Let the other person in." Leah asked someone to let the other person in.

"Envoy from Wei, Liu Junyue greets Her Majesty Queen Arthur of Wu!" Seeing Leah sitting at the head seat in the tent, Grand Tutor Liu immediately saluted to Leah.

“Why don’t you kneel and kowtow to the Emperor of our Wu State?” The generals in the tent frowned when they saw that the other party just made a bow with his hands.

Chapter 110: The Conditions of the Aristocratic Families

Liu Taifu just chuckled and said calmly: "I am not a subject of your country, why should I kneel down and worship? Of course, if Her Majesty the Empress of Wu Kingdom becomes the monarch of our country, I will naturally respect the etiquette of Wu Kingdom."

Although they have thought about surrendering, they have not done so yet. He is still an envoy of Wei State and he still has to save some face.

Leah waved her hand gently, signaling her subordinates not to speak. Since the other party came to propose conditions, they should not embarrass them. If they lost face and things didn't get done, it would not be good for anyone.

"I don't know what Lord Liu's conditions are? There's no need to beat around the bush, just say it directly." Leah just smiled gently.

"In that case, I will just speak frankly." Master Liu nodded.

Soon the two sides started talking about the matter.

"So, Master Liu means that all ministers and officials in Luoyang will remain loyal to me while their positions remain unchanged?" Leah looked at the envelope the other party gave her, which contained a letter signed jointly by a group of ministers from the State of Wei.

"Yes." Tutor Liu nodded.

"That's no problem, but there's one thing I can't agree to." Leah said to Master Liu after reading the contents.

"I wonder what the Queen is talking about?" Liu Taifu was shocked, but he still said slowly.

"Regarding the issue of land, I can agree to your other requests, but I will never agree to this one." Leah said directly.

"Your Majesty, the land originally belongs to the aristocratic families. According to the policy set by you, Your Majesty, what is the difference between this and robbery?" When Master Liu heard Leah talking about the land, he hurriedly said.

"Humph, since you guys mentioned the issue of land, then let me ask you, what kind of reasons would cause the people to be unable to survive? Even at the risk of being beheaded, would they not hesitate to resist?"

Liya looked at Master Liu in front of her and asked.

There was almost no need to think about this. After a moment's thought, Master Liu replied, "Of course it's food."

Leah nodded.

"Yes, for the people, if they want to live a good life, they must ensure that they have enough food and clothing. But the question is, how can we ensure that the people have enough food and clothing?" Leah continued to ask.

Leah's words made Master Liu fall into deep thought. Having enough food and clothing seemed to be just a very common thing for ministers like them.

But why can't the people still have enough food and warm clothes? Are they not working hard enough? Of course not, on the contrary, the people are working very hard, so why can't they still have enough food?

"That's because above every common people, there are you. You own thousands of acres of fertile land, and all you have to do every day is lie at home and wait for the common people to work for you."

Taifu Liu wanted to countersue because the land belonged to them. There was nothing wrong with them lending the land to the common people and then collecting grain taxes from them.

Of course, Liya knew what the other party wanted to say, so she stopped him and continued, "Actually, this is nothing. You provide the fields and they provide the labor, which can be considered a labor relationship. But there is a very serious problem here, and that is the uneven distribution."

Leah directly told the cruel truth.

"You might be tempted to say that this is the same as renting out something and then collecting the rent money, right? But I can tell you clearly that you are totally wrong!"

"Because you are forcing people to buy and sell! You haven't given the people the fruits of their labor. Their hard work has not been rewarded!"

"Why do the common people in every dynasty rebel? It's because they didn't get what they wanted with their efforts, even though the previous dynasty had been reducing taxes to avoid this outcome."

"But the result is that the nobles occupy tens of thousands of acres of land without having to pay taxes, but the common people who are tenant farmers get no benefits at all and still have to pay taxes to the state in the form of a poll tax."

"Once the country can no longer collect taxes from the people, not only will the country be ruined, but the people will also revolt. It is said that a country only lasts a hundred years, but aristocratic families last a thousand years."

"Why is this?"

Liya stared at the already hairy Master Liu and continued, "This is because the food and money of the noble families are never exhausted, so they will naturally be fine. But what about the country? Every year, they have to provide disaster relief, disaster relief."

"Where does all this money and grain come from? Is it contributed by the noble families? Of course not, it comes from the common people. But if even the common people have no food, then where does the country's food come from?"

Every word Leah said was insightful and to the point, and she directly pointed out why the people chose to rebel.

Liu Taifu thought for a moment and said, "What if we follow what you, the Queen, said and reduce taxes?"

Liya glanced at Master Liu and said, "Although I have thought of this method, the people still don't have their own land, and the right to speak is still in the hands of those landowners. Once they want to do something, it will be too difficult to control them, so I won't take this risk."

To put it bluntly, the land is in the hands of the aristocratic families, and the current situation cannot be changed.

By then, the emperor is far away, and the landowners will still have the final say, right?

"And don't tell me that after the noble families handed over their land, some of them would not be able to survive? No, for the benefit of the majority, sacrificing a few people is inevitable."

"So no matter what the factors are, they can't change my decision to make changes to this piece of land. If anyone advises me to change this, there is only one word for it."

"kill"!"

After hearing Leah's last harsh words, Master Liu fell silent.

It can be said that these words of Leah completely reveal the truth about the people, and these words make it impossible to refute.

"Okay! Your Majesty, you are absolutely right! But even so, those noble families will not agree." Liya's determination had to be praised by Master Liu.

But even so, those aristocratic families would not agree, because Leah had indeed affected their interests.

"Then go back and tell them that if they don't agree, then we'll fight! When the city is captured, it won't be as simple as just the land. Don't even think of getting any of the conditions you proposed. Don't think you can defend us with the soldiers in Luoyang. Go back and ask those who escaped from Hangu Pass how they broke through. Humph!

Leah snorted coldly, her tone full of threats.

Upon hearing this, Master Liu frowned.

Chapter 111: The Abnormal Wu Kingdom

The soldiers who escaped from Hangu Pass naturally told how Hangu Pass was broken. The Wu State had a kind of black cannon, and it was with the help of that black cannon that Hangu Pass was directly flattened.

During the frontal combat, they were holding strange things that looked like guns but were not guns, and almost half of them died in close combat.

It was precisely because of this that, after facing these terrifying weapons, all the defenders and soldiers at Hangu Pass abandoned the pass and fled.

"Okay, show him out!" Leah gestured to one of her generals and had him send Master Liu out.

"But Your Majesty, we have run out of cannon shells. The dozen or so remaining are not enough." After Tutor Liu left the tent, a general came up and said to Leah.

"Do you need me to say this? Don't I know it?" Leah said, looking at the generals below.

"But if that's the case, then why is Your Majesty still?" The general still didn't quite understand why Leah said that.

"We are out of shells, but does the enemy know that? When the time comes, we can just roll out the cannons and fire a few rounds to scare them, isn't that enough?"

Leah said calmly.

If we can't scare them, we can only attack with force. We can't just come here and then retreat.

After Liu Taifu returned, Liya also asked all the soldiers to prepare for the siege.

After returning, Master Liu told Leah about her conditions. She could agree to all the conditions they proposed, except the one about land.

When the ministers of the Wei Kingdom heard this, they all showed worried expressions on their faces. What if Luoyang could not be defended?

Before they could think carefully about their future plans, the battle drums had already sounded outside Luoyang City. The "dong dong dong" sound was particularly harsh. It seemed that the enemy was planning to attack the city directly. Was this not giving them time to think?

These people hurried to the city wall to watch, and saw that the soldiers of the Wu State were lined up in rows. Several soldiers pushed out more than a dozen black cannons from the army formation.

That thick, black gun barrel looks particularly creepy.

"Could that be the 'Liya Cannon' named after the Queen of Wu State?" The Wei officials who saw the cannon for the first time couldn't help but think.

Leah glanced at the ministers on the Luoyang city wall, revealed a hint of contempt, and waved to the soldiers beside the cannons.

After receiving the signal from Her Majesty the Queen, the soldiers immediately nodded and began to prepare.

Soon, after checking that there were no problems, the soldiers began the final work on the cannon.

Ignite, fire!

With a loud bang of the cannon, a cannonball was fired towards the city wall at a speed that was invisible to the naked eye. With a loud "bang", a big hole was immediately blown into the city wall that was hit by the cannonball!

A soldier behind the city wall was blown to pieces, with blood and internal organs scattered everywhere. The faces and bodies of the people around him were covered with the flesh and blood of the soldier who was killed in the explosion.

They touched the warm liquid on their faces in a daze, then looked in front of their eyes and found that their faces were covered in blood. There was no doubt that it was part of the soldier who had just been hit by the shell and disappeared.

"Let go!" followed by Leah's voice.

"Boom boom boom!!!" This time it was the sound of more than a dozen cannons firing simultaneously. Without exception, these shells hit the city wall again, smashing holes in the wall and directly killing the soldiers and ministers on the wall.

After seeing this horrific scene, the ministers panicked and hurriedly retreated away from the city wall. The soldiers also panicked and all squatted down with their legs and feet huddled up. At this moment, there was no one standing on the city wall.

Of course, these people don’t know that Leah’s ammunition is now empty and she is just a paper tiger.

Seeing that the ministers and soldiers in Luoyang were frightened, Liya immediately sent someone to shout, "Li Zhi, go over and tell them to surrender."

After receiving Liya's signal, Li Zhi immediately rode his horse to the city of Luoyang. After gathering his strength, he shouted, "Listen, people in Luoyang City. Her Majesty has said that she will give you one last chance. Otherwise, the city will be destroyed and everyone will die. You will only have one hour to consider!"

After shouting three times in a row, Li Zhi rode back to Liya's side and said, "Your Majesty, I have already said it."

Leah nodded and looked towards Luoyang City. Now it all depended on what the other party thought.

The people in Luoyang City naturally heard what Li Zhi shouted. At this moment, a group of ministers gathered together, all with panicked looks on their faces.

Leah's cannons really frightened them. If the other side continued to use cannons to attack, Luoyang would definitely not be able to be defended.

"Lord Cui Yu, tell me, what should we do?" A group of ministers from aristocratic families gathered around a man whose hair had turned somewhat gray.

"Yes, Lord Cui, you are the boss here now, and only you can make the decision. Should we surrender or defend Luoyang to the death?"

"Everyone, don't panic. I have a question. If we choose to defend to the death, can we hold on to Luoyang?" The person being questioned by the ministers was named Cui Yu. He was considered the most powerful person among the civil officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty and was already the Grand Tutor.

After hearing this, everyone fell into deep thought.

"Lord Cui, we have also seen the enemy's artillery. If they continue to attack, the city wall will definitely be blown up. Although Luoyang also has 20,000 troops, these troops have never seen blood on the battlefield. I am afraid they cannot resist the army of Wu."

At this time, Liu Taifu stood up

"Then Lord Liu, do you think there is any solution?" Seeing this, everyone continued to ask.

"If we rely on the city walls, we can still resist the army of Wu. Then the surrounding troops will come to support the king, and the army of Wu will retreat. But now we can't even hold on for half a day. I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Master Liu sighed.

"Is our Wei Kingdom going to perish today?" Some ministers who were loyal to the Northern Wei Dynasty immediately burst into tears and held their heads.

Seeing these ministers crying in pain, Liu Taifu sighed.

Since the establishment of the Wei Kingdom, there have been three generations of emperors. If Emperor Taiwu were still alive, he would never have fallen into such a desperate situation. How dare the hateful eunuchs do this!

But in the final analysis, it is because the Wu Kingdom is too abnormal. From a rebel last year to the current Empress of the Wu Kingdom, it has developed to such an extent in just over a year. It is really terrifying.

Even the phrase "brave and cunning" is not enough to describe him, right?

Could it be that this is the result of a series of policies put forward by the other party? That is why Wu State is so powerful now?

Chapter 112: Kaesong Surrender

Apart from this, he really couldn't think of anything else. In just over a year, he was able to defeat the Wei Kingdom, which occupied half of the Central Plains. Although it was a bit tricky, how could he do it without such insight?

Thinking about what he talked about with the other party in the enemy camp, those words were really wise. Only an emperor who loves his people like his own children can win the hearts of the people.