Chapter 1991: Every Side Watching with Eyes About to Burst

"Oh—" everyone stared blankly at the proclamation, "If the state name isn't changed, does that mean the Great hasn't perished?"

"Of course! The Grand Pillar General follows the Great Jiao's system; you're in me, I'm in you, as long as this Tianshui City still stands, the Great Jiao still stands!"

The crowd felt relieved, yet also felt something was off.

The explainer spoke sternly: "What's off? Jiao land plus Jiao people, isn't that the Jiao state? Otherwise you tell me,

what is the Great?"

The crowd stalled at once. Right, as long as the Grand Pillar General doesn't change the state name, everyone is still Jiao people.

Continuing down the proclamation, it listed in heavy ink the ten great crimes of the Jiao King and the original Yan Court.

For instance, the Jiao King was "muddleheaded and without the Way, a parasite of the state, selling offices and titles" and so on;

Jiao court ministers, especially the group of ministers slaughtered by Bai Tan, "formed cliques to attack dissenters, mediocre and incompetent, harming the public to enrich themselves" and so on, and an example was cited: the three great clans whose entire families were slaughtered by Bai Tan, "confiscated wealth amounting to a hundred million, fat and oil filling thirty large warehouses, transport oxen and horses dropping dead by the dozens."

When confiscating the three great clans, just the oxen and horses pulling the carts for transport were exhausted to death by the dozens.

Commoners looked at their own coarse cloth clothes, then heard the proclamation's mention of "fat and oil," and memories of those corrupt officials and old filth of the former Jiao were dug up again.

Yeah, back then everyone also lived badly; the Jiao court top to bottom, from the king to officials, only cared about pocketing money, who cared whether commoners like them lived or died?

It's just that everyone had been Yan people for ten-odd years, the motherland was suddenly burned by Bai Tan, this anger and hatred instantly covered up the dissatisfaction with the former Jiao.

Besides, human memory self-beautifies. Commoners don't want the state to perish, so they selectively forget its past badness.

Qiyang's move for Bai Tan was to shake people awake again, let dead memories attack them once more.

Must tell them: the former Jiao wasn't much either, not worth your endless nostalgia; under Qiyang's direction, this official document used the most space to harshly criticize the Jiao King and the Nine Nether Great Emperor's collusion on the Youhu Villa and Tianshui New City projects, saying they were in cahoots, using Tianshui City people's longing for peaceful livelihood and yearning for a beautiful new life, turning originally beneficial projects into disasters that harmed the state and people, "sucking dry the people's fat to fill private treasuries to perfection."

Commoners "households without surplus wealth, living on debt."

Officials and nobles "sitting dividing money, bowls full basins full."

Tianshui New City "one house exhausts five generations' savings, one corner drains the Jiao state's vital energy"

Jiao state's chaos reaches this point, tracing to the root, the king is the chief culprit, the Nine Nether Great Emperor and the ministers are all accomplices.

The Grand Pillar General upholds the heavenly divine will, eliminates evil and supports the weak, digs out rot and preserves truth, impartial and selfless, only thus can the Great Jiao's foundation remain evergreen, and so on.

And the Grand Pillar General loves the people like children, always transporting grain to war and famine stricken lands for relief; in three months, that is, at the autumn harvest, will issue new orders, reduce taxes and lighten levies.

The official document once again exposed the "Reincarnated Dragon God" scam, mocking the so-called Nine Nether Great Emperor for offering flattering words, harboring malicious intent, stealing faith, plotting to overthrow the Great Jiao, and will soon raise troops to invade. The Grand Pillar General will rise to meet them, repel the enemy beyond the national gates, escorting the Great Jiao's brand new departure.

This pacification proclamation released, from Tianshui City to the localities, stirred up layer upon layer of waves among the populace.

Some cursed Bai Tan, some defended him.

Some criticized the Nine Nether Great Emperor, some believed he truly was the Dragon God reincarnated.

Some were excited, some were bewildered.

But generally speaking, popular sentiment was soothed to a certain degree.

Although doubting voices were still loud, over the next month, the Grand Pillar General's decrees were obviously easier to implement, and officials and generals rarely encountered assassinations anymore.

The method Qiyang taught Bai Tan could only slightly ease internal contradictions in the short term.

But this was enough.

In this vast Shanjin War, Qiyang no longer hoped to win relying on herself and Bai Tan alone. She knew very well her task was to drag out every moment, drag out every month, must hold out until Between Between Between Beijia and the Heavenly God's reinforcements arrive.

Should—also be soon, right?

Spring at Youhu Cottage, right in the tender red where peach blossoms quietly bloom. This is Qiyang's favorite season, letting her feel morning vigor and vitality.

She stood under the tree looking west.

The Emperor sending people from Between Between Between Beijia is too far, but another strong reinforcement should appear first, right?

? $$$$

Counting from the start of battle at Mian City, within this month and a half spiritual rain came every three or five days, repeating unpredictably like the plum rain season, almost no pattern to speak of.

This is because the Divine Nectar about to descend to the mortal world is truly too abundant, even Heavenly Gods cannot predict the accurate arrival time.

The Divine Nectar's arrival disrupted the Shanjin Plain's war rhythm, adding infinite variables to it.

The city's grain reserves have already hit bottom; right after the Divine Nectar eruption just ended, the famine burned deep in Mian City people's memory actually appeared again, people starved to death one after another; spiritual Qi can alleviate hunger but cannot replace grain. Ordinary people after all still need to eat rice, cannot live just by absorbing spiritual Qi.

Magistrate Huang once said reinforcements would arrive within half a month, but now three full fifteen-day periods have passed, Mian City people have watched until their eyes nearly popped out, yet haven't caught sight of the Black Armor Army main force's shadow!

An ordinary small city able to withstand Guo Bai Yu's great army for a full month and a half, can be called a miracle. Before this, he destroyed other counties and districts, at most seven or eight days, at least one night.

But miracles won't last forever; commoners went from hope to despair, complaints filling the air.

A person's belly too hungry, awareness won't be high.

Spies sent in by Guo Bai Yu began stirring up trouble, spreading rumors: saying the Dragon God abandoned Mian City, saying the Dragon God deceived Mian City people, saying the Dragon God suffered several defeats in a row in the north and east, heavy troop losses, no longer able to consolidate territory, and so on.

Mian City took in a large number of outside refugees in a short time, mixing in so many people isn't strange. Magistrate Huang followed the vine to get the melon and caught over a dozen, but the city was already full of hostile qi, theft and robbery prevailed, surrender talk repeatedly banned but never ceased.

Mian City seems about to turn back into the Mian City before the Dragon God rescued it.

Magistrate Huang anxious until his mouth blistered, yet also had no plan. Every conceivable method, every ounce of morale to drum up, had been used this past month and more.

No rice to eat, people can't hold on, this is an iron law.

However this day bird yaos circled in the sky, suddenly returned early, reporting a piece of great news:

The crops in the southern suburbs actually ripened!

This is probably because the recent Divine Nectar was too abundant, ripening the crops early.

Magistrate Huang received this news, eye sockets moist, lips trembling: "Heaven leaves no road to a dead end, heaven leaves no road to a dead end ah!"

He hurriedly summoned all city commoners, Tu Shanfang jumped onto the high platform behind the city wall in public, giving the great army a mobilization before deployment.

Down below someone spoke coldly: "Can't win going out the city, Dragon God isn't coming, we have no grain, what use saying so much? Isn't it just tricking us into selling our lives to die!"