Chapter 336

Next, Zhuge Liang selected people from the army who knew how to fly kites, then divided them into dozens of small teams to fly the kites from different directions toward Huashan.

Because the kites flew high and far, they did not need to come into contact with the rebel army.

They only needed to find a safe place on the front line to fly them.

If the wind direction was right, the kites would easily fly into the rebel territory.

Although the landing positions of the kites were unpredictable, most of them would get caught in trees or fly to other places.

But the advantage was that the number of kites was large, so there would always be some kites picked up by rebel soldiers.

On the other side, Cheng Ze arrived at Meng Tian's camp in Huashan and met with Feng Feng Qiji alone.

"My lord, during this period I have visited more than ten families, of which only three are willing to send troops, while nearly ten others have refused!"

"And even those three who are willing to send troops have a prerequisite: they want to see others send troops before they do!"

After meeting Feng Feng Qiji, Cheng Ze described the situation outside the mountain.

Feng Feng Qiji could have imagined such a result.

At the time, he had come up with this idea on a whim without thinking through many details, so he felt it was feasible.

After calming down these past few days, he felt that this method was very difficult to realize.

Those who had the will to resist Ying Su had already stood up to rebel long ago.

Those who did not stand up at the first opportunity were all timid and fearful people.

Now that their situation was not good, those people would be even less likely to raise an army to rebel.

"Without two hundred thousand troops, what about one hundred thousand? Can one hundred thousand troops be gathered?" Feng Feng Qiji asked.

Although he knew the matter was difficult to handle, he still would not give up.

"One hundred thousand troops... if given time, perhaps we could think of a way, but gathering one hundred thousand troops in the short term is basically impossible." Cheng Ze shook his head.

"Then what about fifty thousand troops?"

0 .0

"No, twenty thousand will do."

"Can't even ten thousand troops be gathered?"

Feng Feng Qiji became increasingly desperate.

"My lord, you don't know the situation outside. Now that the new Emperor Ying Su has returned, those nobles are even more afraid to act rashly." Cheng Ze said.

"What? The new Emperor has returned?" Feng Feng Qiji was greatly shocked: "Why haven't we received any news here?"

"The new Emperor just returned two days ago. As soon as I found out, I rushed over, fearing that if time dragged on, I wouldn't even be able to come."

"Those nobles were already afraid of the new Emperor, and now that the new Emperor is in Xianyang, I think they won't dare to raise an army." Cheng Ze said.

"If they don't raise an army, are they just going to sit and wait for death?" Feng Feng Qiji said.

"Not necessarily. It's just that the taxes paid are a bit more, and the remaining ten percent plus previous savings can still allow them to live." Cheng Ze said.

"You didn't say it, but I forgot. Your Cheng family pays taxes the most actively. The new Emperor must be very satisfied with you, right?" Feng Feng Qiji said coldly.

"My lord, you know about our Cheng family's affairs. It was because my father broke his leg and couldn't move that we were forced to stay behind."

"As for paying taxes, that's something that can't be helped. If we don't pay, our land will be confiscated, and our Cheng family members will be beheaded!"

Cheng Ze cried out in grievance.

"Alright, alright, I was just saying." Feng Feng Qiji waved his hand impatiently.

"My lord, there is one more thing I don't know whether I should say..." Cheng Ze said.

"If you have something to say, say it. What else is there to hide from me?" Feng Feng Qiji said.

188. Kites in the Battlefield

"Lord Feng, I heard from my father that the new Emperor seems to want to pardon a portion of the people." Cheng Ze said in a low voice.

"Pardon? Pardon whom?" Feng Feng Qiji frowned.

"It's us people." Cheng Ze paused here and then said: "But I feel this is not a good thing, because the new Emperor only intends to pardon a portion of them, and for some people, he will not pardon them. So the new Emperor's goal is to divide us and create conflict for us!"

"Is this true? Do you know who the new Emperor wants to pardon and who he won't pardon?" Feng Feng Qiji asked immediately.

"I don't know about that. My father got the news from the palace; he only knows about this pardon, but doesn't know the specific content. Additionally, my father believes this news was intentionally leaked to him, with the goal of letting me bring the news over for you to know!" Cheng Ze said.

He intended to tell the truth, because that would make it easier to gain Feng Feng Qiji's trust.

There was another aspect: the strategy set by Ying Su and Zhuge Liang was an open plot, and an open plot did not need to be hidden from the enemy.

Just tell you directly that I want to divide and disintegrate you, take a strategy of winning over a portion and fighting a portion, and see what you do about it.

With hundreds of thousands of troops, surely some people would be tempted.

Not to mention others, even Feng Feng Qiji was a little tempted.

Seeing that there was no way out staying in Huashan, and now Ying Su had given a chance to live, anyone would want to grasp it.

"Cheng Ze, have you heard any other news outside? For example, will the new Emperor send more troops, and when will they launch an attack?" Feng Feng Qiji said.

"These belong to classified information; it's impossible for us to know." Cheng Ze shook his head: "However, since the new Emperor intends to pardon a portion of the people, he won't attack immediately, right?"

"What you say makes sense." Feng Feng Qiji nodded.

He wanted to ask if he was on the pardon list, but finally held back.

As one of the main leaders of the rebel army, his attitude must be firm.

If it were known that he was wavering, it would be extremely detrimental to the morale of the army.

After arranging for Cheng Ze to stay, Feng Feng Qiji paced back and forth in the tent alone.

His heart was in a mess.

If he were on the pardon list, should he surrender?

Also, was Meng Tian on the list? What about those people like Wei Pao?

If he were on the list and Meng Tian was not, would Meng Tian strike first and kill him?

And if it were the other way around, he was not on the list and Meng Tian was, should he eliminate Meng Tian?

Feng Feng Qiji had a splitting headache.

This uncertainty about the future made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

On the other side, in the dense mountain forest, a soldier was leaning against a tree trunk to rest.

Having been in Huashan for so many days, the food distributed was getting less and less.

Fortunately, he had grown up in the mountain forest since he was a child and knew how to find food in the mountains.

Combined with the wild fruits and edible grass roots he picked, he could barely eat his fill.

However, others were not so lucky and could only eat about seventy percent full.

If it went on for another period, he feared they wouldn't even be able to count on fifty percent full.

Also, other soldiers were learning from him to pick wild fruits, and the wild fruits in the surrounding area had been picked almost clean.

How would they live after this?

He leaned against the tree trunk and worried.

Just at this moment, he saw something flying over in the sky.

As that object got closer, he finally saw it clearly.

It was a kite, looking gray.

"Who has nothing better to do than fly a kite here? Must be full and bored!" the soldier muttered.

After a while, the kite with the broken string landed in a tree.

"Xiao Qi, you go up and take a look." The squad leader's shout came from nearby.

"It's just a kite." The soldier said.

"I told you to go, so go!" The squad leader said impatiently.

The soldier dared not talk back, only cursing the squad leader in his heart.

You have to know that climbing a tree takes effort.

Now that he couldn't even eat his fill, spending extra effort at such a time was a very disadvantageous thing.

The little bit of food he had eaten could have lasted until the next meal, but he estimated that after climbing the tree, he would be hungry before mealtime.

Climbing the tree, he took the kite in his hand and then returned to the ground.

At this time, the squad leader and several other soldiers also gathered around.

"Are these words on it?" a soldier asked.

"Of course they are words, and they are written quite well." The squad leader said.

"What is written on it?" another person asked.