Chapter 403

Next, Zhuge Liang selected soldiers from the army who knew how to fly kites, divided them into dozens of small squads, and sent them to fly kites in different directions around Huashan.

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

They only needed to find a safe spot on the front lines to fly them.

If the wind direction was suitable, the kites would easily drift into the rebels' territory.

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

But the sheer number of kites meant that some would inevitably be picked up by rebel soldiers.

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

"My lord, in this period I visited over a dozen families; only three were willing to send troops, while nearly ten others refused!"

"Moreover, even those three willing families had a condition: they would only send troops if they saw others doing so first!"

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

Feng Qiji could have anticipated such a result.

When the idea was first proposed, it was a sudden impulse without much thought for the details, so it seemed feasible.

After cooling down these past few days, he felt this method would be very difficult to realize.

Those with the will to resist Ying Su had already stood up and rebelled.

Those who did not stand up immediately were cowards afraid of trouble.

Now that their situation was dire, those people would even less dare to raise an army in rebellion.

"If not two hundred thousand troops, then what about one hundred thousand? Can we gather one hundred thousand troops?" Feng Qiji asked.

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

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

"What about fifty thousand troops?"

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"No, even twenty thousand would do."

"You cannot even gather ten thousand troops?"

Feng Qiji grew increasingly desperate.

"My lord, you do not 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 Qiji was shocked: "Why have we received no news of this?"

"The New Emperor only returned two days ago; as soon as I heard, I rushed here immediately, fearing that if time passed, I might not even be able to come."

"Those nobles were already afraid of the New Emperor; now that the New Emperor is in Xianyang, I see they will not dare to raise an army," Cheng Ze said.

"If they do not raise an army, do they just sit and wait to die?" Feng Qiji said.

"Not entirely; they just pay more taxes, and the remaining ten percent plus their past savings will allow them to get by," Cheng Ze said.

"You didn't mention it, or I would have forgotten; your Cheng family pays taxes most actively; the New Emperor must be very satisfied with you," Feng Qiji said coldly.

"My lord, you know the affairs of our Cheng family; my father broke his leg and cannot move, so we were forced to stay behind."

"As for paying taxes, it was unavoidable; if we did not pay, our land would be confiscated, and we Cheng family members would be beheaded!"

Cheng Ze cried out in protest.

"Enough, enough, I was just speaking," Feng Qiji waved his hand impatiently.

"My lord, there is one more thing I do not know whether I should say..." Cheng Ze said.

"Speak if you have words; what is there to hide from me?" Feng Qiji said.

188. Kites on the Battlefield

"Minister Feng, my father told me that the New Emperor seems to intend to pardon a portion of people," Cheng Ze said in a lowered voice.

"Pardon? Pardon whom?" Feng Qiji frowned.

"Us, these people." Cheng Ze paused here before continuing: "However, I feel this is not a good thing, because the New Emperor only intends to pardon a portion of us; some will not be pardoned. Thus, the New Emperor's goal is to divide us and create conflict among us!"

"Is this true? Do you know whom the New Emperor intends to pardon and whom he will not?" Feng Qiji asked immediately.

"I do not know that; my father received the news from the palace and only knew about the pardon itself, not the specific details. Furthermore, my father believes this news was intentionally revealed to him; the goal was to have me bring the message here so you would know!" Cheng Ze said.

He intentionally spoke the truth, because this would make it easier to gain Feng Qiji's trust.

There was another reason: the strategy devised by Ying Su and Zhuge Liang was an open scheme, and an open scheme requires no concealment from the enemy.

They simply tell you they intend to divide and dismantle you, adopting a strategy of pulling some while striking others; it is up to you how to handle it.

Among hundreds of thousands of troops, there will certainly be some who are tempted.

Setting aside other things, even Feng Qiji felt somewhat tempted.

Seeing that staying on Huashan offered no way out, and now Ying Su had offered a chance to survive, anyone would want to seize it.

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

"These are secrets; we could not possibly know." Cheng Ze shook his head: "However, since the New Emperor intends to pardon a portion of people, they will not attack immediately, right?"

"What you say makes sense." 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 resolute.

If people learned he was wavering, it would be extremely detrimental to army morale.

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

His mind was in chaos.

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

Also, was Meng Tian on the list? What about Wei Pao and those others?

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

And if, conversely, he himself were not on the list while General Meng Tian was, should he eliminate General Meng Tian?

Feng Qiji had a splitting headache.

This uncertainty about the future made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

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

After entering Huashan for so many days, the food rationed out had become less and less.

Fortunately, he had grown up in the mountains since childhood and knew how to find food in the mountains.

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

However, others were not so lucky; they could only eat until they were about seventy percent full.

If some time passed, he feared they wouldn't even be able to count on being fifty percent full.

Besides, other soldiers also learned from his example to pick wild fruits, and the surrounding wild fruits were almost all picked.

How could they go on living from then on?

He leaned against the tree trunk, worried.

Just then, he saw something flying down from the sky.

As that object drew closer, he finally made it out clearly.

It was a kite, and it looked gray.

"Who would be so idle as to fly a kite here? Must be stuffed with food!" the soldier muttered.

After a while longer, the kite with its broken line landed in a tree.

"Xiao Qi, 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, cursing the Squad Leader endlessly in his heart.

You have to know that climbing a tree takes strength.

Now that they couldn't even eat their fill, spending extra strength at a time like this was a huge disadvantage.

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

He climbed the tree, took the kite in his hand, and then returned to the ground.

At this moment, the Squad Leader and several other soldiers also gathered around.

"Are those characters on it?" one soldier asked.

"Of course they are characters; the writing is quite good," the Squad Leader said.

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